The post-pandemic years have seen an absolute explosion of interest in exotic aroids. With their dramatic, architectural foliage and dazzling leaf patterns, they have sold for tens of thousands of pounds online – not even rooted plants, but individual stem cuttings. This has caused an unprecedented boom, with growers in places like Indonesia and Thailand all rushing to propagate them to satisfy a surging global market. Yet while so many in the west have been clamouring for these rare plants that originate on the other side of the world, we have somehow managed to overlook the spectacular hardy aroids that grow literally outside our back doors here in the UK.
