Pots of luck: Customers at Fang Kiat Florist in Sungai Buloh shopping for plants to beautify their homes and offices for Chinese New Year. — YAP CHEE HONG/The Star
Nurseries in the Klang Valley stock up on auspicious plants with symbolic meanings to meet customers’ demand as they usher in Year of the Rabbit.
SPRING is considered a time for new beginnings and renewal.
In China, Chinese New Year (CNY) is also known as the Spring Festival. Flowers and plants hold special significance during this festival, as they symbolise prosperity, good luck and hope for a better year ahead.
Besides promoting these festive must-haves, some nurseries in the Klang Valley are going the extra mile by selling decorated centrepieces for customers’ convenience and taking in requests for special orders.
Beautifying homes, offices
Lime trees of different heights, from small ones measuring 0.9m to giants towering at 2.4m, are likely to greet visitors at Fang Kiat Florist in Jalan Hospital, Sungai Buloh.
“We sell two kinds of lime trees here. The ones from Ipoh are more commonly known as kumquat. The other one is known as chu sha which are imported from China,” said project manager Khoo Kay Wen.
“The chu sha lime has a shorter lifespan as they can last only about four months, while the local variety can last a year.
Wong says customers buy plants for different reasons when celebrating CNY. — Photos: YAP CHEE HONG and LOW BOON TAT
“Some corporate clients favour the chu sha lime plants as they are more lush. But both corporate clients and long-time customers like tall lime plants due to their impressive height.”
Lime trees are often displayed at home or the office and are given as gifts, as the plant symbolises both wealth and good luck.
Other plants preferred for prosperity and good fortune, according to Khoo, are lucky bamboo (dracaena sanderiana), US dollar plant (pachira aquatica), money plant or Zanzibar gem (zamioculcas zamiifolia) and red pineapple (ananas bracteatus).
Feng shui practitioners will also place these plants at certain corners of a property to enhance the owners’ wealth and luck.
Fang Kiat offers almost anything a customer would want to decorate their place with this CNY, ranging from table centrepieces all decorated with ribbons, figurines and trimmings to carefully potted plants and elegant bonsai to stalks of lucky bamboo in varying heights and pussy willows in assorted colours.
Khoo said prices range from RM15 for a potted money plant to RM888 for a 0.9m potted bamboo plant.
Table centrepieces with ribbons, figurines and trimmings are are popular decorations for the home.
All of Fang Kiat’s potted plants are labelled with the names of the plant and care instructions, such as amount of sunlight, water and fertiliser needed.
“Before the Covid-19 pandemic, people were more generous with buying plants and spending to beautify their homes. Sales have dropped over the past couple of years as movement restrictions meant people visited less, cutting down the need to decorate their homes,” said Khoo.
“We are hopeful that business will go back to normal soon.
“It is a bit early to gauge what sales will be like, since the shorter period between Christmas 2022 and CNY 2023 means we have a smaller time frame to sell plants and have to be more mindful of stock orders and shipping periods.”
Fang Kiat is part of I Green Landscape, a company that provides wholesale and retail plant products, accessories, supplies and landscaping services.
Khoo estimates that 80% of Fang Kiat’s business is from individual customers while the rest are corporate customers such as offices and shopping malls.
He added that regular customers would book certain plants as far as two months ahead.
Popular, unique plants
Chrysanthemum blooms of varying colours, shapes and sizes are sure to catch the eye of visitors at Sister Nursery.
“We are even able to source for a specific colour or shape that a customer would like, if those on display are not to their liking,” said co-owner Leong Mei Yun.
Chrysanthemums are often associated with longevity; those with golden blooms are associated with wealth and luck.
“Other plants popular during the Chinese New Year season are lime trees, pussy willows (both white and coloured versions) and lucky bamboos.
“As for flowering plants, customers like azaleas and kalanchoes. Both have blooms in a variety of colours like pink, red, orange and purple,” said Leong, adding that kalanchoes were often grown as houseplants.
The 20-year-old nursery, also along Jalan Hospital, Sungai Buloh, also has unique and exotic plants, including imported ones. These plants are brought in just for CNY and may have a limited lifespan.
Potted succulents from Taiwan, for those who want low-maintenance houseplants.
These include hyacinth (a fragrant perennial spring bulb), jade plant (an indoor succulent from Taiwan), Jerusalem cherry (resembles a chilli plant but its fruits are poisonous) and goldfish plant so named because its bright orange flowers resemble tiny goldfish.
“We also have the sakura or cherry blossom, so customers need not travel all the way to Japan to view these delicate flowers,” joked Leong.
“The sweet lime or mosambi can be considered an alternative to kumquat, as this citrus fruit has a sweet taste.
“Some customers buy certain plants for feng shui purposes, such as bonsai and peace lilies. So we have to keep up with feng shui trends to know which are the preferred plants.”
She said prices range from RM10 for a potted plant to over RM300 for a 1.2m lime tree.
Leong (right) says some customers make repeated visits to check what fresh stocks are available.
Leong said Sister Nursery’s customers started coming since late December to place special orders and even made repeated visits to check stocks for the festive season.
“Some customers from as far as Kedah and Johor to Klang Valley to visit relatives or for a holiday, then stop by Sungai Buloh to buy plants for the festive season.
“Due to limited stock, we’ve sold out the taller lucky bamboo stems and only have the 30cm to 40cm ones left,” she said.
On purchasing trends, Leong said prior to the pandemic, customers spent more on a variety of plants that appealed to them.
“They are now more prudent with their spending and stick to only what is necessary. Some prefer buying succulents or blooms that can last throughout the year, for both indoor or outdoor plants.”
One-stop garden centre
Similar to its original store in Jalan Sungai Buloh, SWS Nature World along Jalan Puchong Batu serves as a “one-stop garden centre” to cater to the needs of those residing in Puchong, Putrajaya, Cyberjaya, Bangi and surrounding neighbourhoods.
A giant inflatable God of Prosperity can be seen welcoming customers to this nearly three-year-old nursery that also offers gardening advice and landscaping services.
“We started selling a number of festive-related plants in December last year. These were early bird customers who wanted chrysanthemums, kalanchoes, lucky bamboos and money plants,” said branch manager Eric Wong.
“Additional stock arrived during the first week of January to cater to this demand.
“For lucky bamboo, we have both the curly type (with spiral ends) and tower type (shaped like wedding cakes). The former ranges in height from 40cm to 100cm.
“For lime trees, we have the kumquat and another called limau bali sunkist that bears sweet-tasting fruits resembling mini pomeloes.”
Chrysanthemums are believed to attract good luck and symbolise happiness and vitality.
SWS Nature World also offers a variety of US dollar plants, money plants, chrysanthemums and kalanchoes. The first two come in both decorated and non-decorated versions.
According to Wong, US dollar plants and money plants are associated with fortune and prosperity, chrysanthemums are believed to attract good luck and symbolise happiness and vitality, while kalanchoes are linked to love, persistence and prosperity.
“Customers buy plants for different reasons such as to beautify their homes, to usher in luck or for feng shui purposes,” he said.
“Some prefer elaborately decorated plants while others prefer simpler versions. We sell a range of plant decorations as well and are able to do the decorations for customers at an additional fee.”
Other festive plants that are popular during CNY season are the bromeliad, bonsai, orchid, pussy willow and assorted podocarpus species.
Wong added that flowering plants such as the petunia, periwinkle, melampodium and marigold also sold well, although the flowers could only bloom for a short period.
He estimated that about 30% of their customers were from the corporate sector, with the company supplying plants both on a purchase and rental basis.
Prices for festive plants range from RM5 to over RM200 per unit.
Wong said the store in Puchong, which is SWS Garden’s third in the Klang Valley, was established during the first quarter of 2020.
The original store in Jalan Sungai Buloh, which is being relocated due to highway and road-widening works, is expected to close by the end of this year.
The second store is located in Jalan Merbau, Kampung Melayu Subang.
The store also accepts online orders.
