So much so, potted plants are flying off shelves at garden stores and florist shops around Dunedin.
Fallow and Fox (Mornington and Octagon) owner Linda McKenzie said she restocked her shelves with about 120 plants each week, and most would sell within 48 hours.
"There’s a resurgence in pot plants. It’s like the 1970s have returned.
"They are the new thing. They are more popular than most of the trends of the moment.
"They fly off the shelves."
She said Fallow and Fox was initially a florist shop, but it had branched out into house plants to take advantage of the trend.
It had become fashionable overseas and social media had helped spread the trend to New Zealand, she said.
"People absolutely love them and they are spending good money on them."
A Hoya plant recently sold online for more than $6000.
"I just hope they’re able to keep them alive for that sort of money."
She said most of her customers were young people.
Residence on Blacks Road owner Sara Jackson-Falconer said most of her customers were people who did not own their own houses.
Rather than putting their money into a garden at a rented property, they were creating their own "jungles" inside, which they could take with them if they moved house, she said.
