With so many people staying at home to beat the COVID-19 outbreak, dallying with plants and flowers has become the latest trend. Potted plants like Swiss cheese plants, succulents and yew plum pines are all very popular and are becoming a new favorite for people to spend time on at home, and they are selling briskly both online and in physical stores.
The level 3 epidemic prevention measures are causing people to go out less than usual, so many of us have no choice but to stay at home watching TV and following drama series. Potted plants have also become a fashionable trend that is boosting sales of all kinds of plants. Home deliveries are doing especially well, with business on the up and up.
A Pingtung County gardening business owner surnamed Liu says that in the past plant fanciers were mostly those who like to stay at home or are getting on in years, but recently, with the rise of the Internet, potted plants can also be delivered to your doorstep. With the serious outbreak preventing people from going out, some young people have also started mucking around with plants. Succulents, for example, are mostly grown in small pots, are quite cheap and do not require much care. One kind of houseplant that is currently popular is Swiss cheese plants. They are easy to care for, look pretty and are not particularly expensive, so they are very popular with consumers. Sales of Swiss cheese plants for home growing have grown by about three to four times since the current disease-control measure were imposed. As for yew plum pines, they are relatively expensive and a bit tricky for first-time growers, so you need to know a thing or two about plants to make them grow well and look beautiful.
Photo: Yeh Yung-chien, Taipei Times照片：自由時報記者葉永騫
The stay-at-home economy during this epidemic-control period is as hard to predict as the outbreak itself.
(Translated by Julian Clegg, Taipei Times)
防疫宅在家，拈花惹草成了最近的流行趨勢，不管是龜背芋、多肉、羅漢松等盆栽植物都相當受歡迎，成了宅在家消磨時間的新寵，不管是網路或者實體店面都熱銷。
Photo: Yeh Yung-chien, Taipei Times 照片：自由時報記者葉永騫
三級防疫少出門，許多人只好待在家，看電視、追劇，而玩盆栽最近也成為流行的趨勢，使得各種盆栽植物的銷量大增，尤其是宅配更是夯的不得了，業務量大增。
屏東劉姓園藝業者表示，以往拈花惹草都是喜歡在家或有些年紀的人居多，但最近因為網路興起，盆栽也能宅配送達，在疫情嚴峻、無法出門的情況下，也有年輕人開始玩起了盆栽植物，像多肉盆栽是以小盆栽為主，價格便宜、不必管理；現在流行的觀葉植物龜背芋則是照顧容易，外型漂亮，價格不是特別高，所以相當受到消費者歡迎，在這段防疫期間龜背芋的宅配銷售量更增加了約三到四倍，而羅漢松則是價格較高，入門的技巧有難度，因此玩的人對植物要有一定的了解，才能讓植物長的好又漂亮。
防疫期間的宅經濟就像疫情一樣，讓人難以預料。
（自由時報記者葉永騫）
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