Love for plants grows into thriving family business

George Gitau’s passion for plants runs deep. Growing up, he woke up at dawn, went about his daily activities, and called it a day at dusk surrounded by plants. Over the years, that seed sown more than 30 years ago has grown into a thriving family business.

In their Tigoni farm in Kiambu County, everyone in Mr Gitau’s family has their work cut out for them. His wife, a director in the business, is the main grower; Mr Gitau propagates and looks for new varieties while their two adult daughters oversee the sales.

“When I married my wife, she knew nothing about plants. Over time, she has adapted, and now she is the main grower,” says Mr Gitau when BD Life finally manages to pry him from the Kenya Horticultural Society’s plant sale, which was recently held at Karen, Nairobi, on April 6, 2024.

Horticultural vendors from all over the country came to display their best plants during the one-day sale.

Mr Gitau’s family business, Ravenswood Plants, offers various quality houseplants. At the sale, bromeliads and philodendrons were on display, but anthuriums took the prize.

Mr Gitau says that entering this business has made him not only an entrepreneur but also an explorer.

“I have travelled to Holland twice to look for variety and pick out interesting ideas. There are so many new things to learn from other plant designs,” he says.

“Visiting these countries gives you new ideas. If you go to the flower supermarkets abroad, you can see the interesting ones you know will do well in your market. You also find out how the plants are grown and maintained, and what other varieties have come along because nowadays, there is a lot of cross-breeding, especially in flowers,” adds Mr Gitau.

The choice of anthurium as the anchor plant during the sale was not accidental. It was informed by market surveys that have kept the business ahead of the growth curve.

Besides the income Ravenswood Plants earns from auctions such as the Kenya Horticultural Society, which is held twice a year, the events are invaluable sources of information on what plant lovers want.

Picking the hot sellers

“Plants are like fashion; every season has its choice. We grow what people want. There are plants that, if you grow them for two years, are no longer interesting, so you stop, but you don’t get rid of them completely. You just keep them and bring them back after probably five years to revive them on the market,” he offers from his bag of tricks.

But this isn’t the only thing that made him focus on the anthurium this year.

The striking indoor plant adds jazz to green plants with its shiny, heart-shaped leaves and bright flowers that make it a real eye-catcher. Its beauty is radiant, from bold red and soft pink to bright white flowers. Its ability to bring colour, texture, and form in any set wh,ether modern or rustic, is unparalleled.

“I prefer to call them veranda plants because they are best grown under shade. They are flowering plants that can be potted and used for decoration in flower arrangements to beautify the home,” says Mr Gitau.

Evolving market

Being in the plant business for decades now, he takes the pulse of the market. There is a growing interest in plants among Kenyans, unlike in the past, and most of the plants are now sold to Africans and some to a few collectors who want new species, he says.

In his display, the cheapest anthurium cost Sh3,000 while the expensive one was going for Sh5,000.

“They can cost from Sh500 up to Sh10,000 or even more depending on the size of the plant. Most anthurium will grow to about a metre or a metre and a half, but the wild ones will grow up to ten feet,” he says.

He explains that as the plant keeps growing, it becomes bulky, so at the farm they split them to make another plant. A single split can make ten plants.

“Once we divide it, each plant will have roots. We just cover it with compost just above the roots, and the plant will continue to grow.”

A plant for every room

Mr Gitau says anthuriums will always thrive whether placed in the living room, bedroom or even the bathroom.

“Their flowers start from white going to light pink then to pink then goes into red, you would also see other shades of purple and avocado green for the leaves,” he says.

As for watering, Mr Gitau says that overwatering can kill the plant.

“I would not give specific weekly or daily intervals to predict when the plant needs water. Sometimes, the plant may lose moisture more quickly than other times because of the weather. You have to touch the compost that you planted it in to check if it’s dry or still moist, that’s how you can know that the plant needs water.”

He adds, “We use coco peat, charcoal and leaf compost for the potting mix. Once you plant it in that, you don’t even have to feed it because it has all the nutrients.”

Plant costing

The more unique the plant, the more expensive it will be.

“What you see here are the hybrids, which come in all kinds of flowers and leaf shapes. They are imports, we go to shops where they bring plants from abroad and we buy probably two or three plants, each costing from Sh5,000. If it is a hybrid the prices go up, as it becomes common the prices come down.”

The joy of having unique plants is when people admire them, he attests.

“We are on the lookout for new plants, and as soon as we see them on the roadside we stop growing them. The value of the plants also drops once they reach the local market. There are plants that I used to buy for Sh500 and sell for Sh400, but they are now being sold for Sh50.”

Preserving value

The value of the plants Mr Gitau brought to the plant sale was Sh100,000, which he confirms he does not display for sale on the roadside to preserve their value.

He says you can grow your own plants from their flower seeds and plant them. It takes about two years to grow a plant from a seed to a plant you can sell.

“Because of pollination, you might not get the same flower from the plant. It might not necessarily change the colour of the flower, you might see the change in the colour of the leaves. If you grow it from seed, you might be lucky enough to get a new breed that people don’t have. ”

In the Netherlands, he goes on, ‘If you have a new variety, you have the rights to it, so even when people buy the plants, they are paying for the rights to that flower. You can even name it.”

Has he ever come up with a new breed?

“Yes, I have had unique breeds, but always with a slight difference that only the breeder might notice, not the buyer.”

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