Plant fiasco: Lidl & B&Q have been selling plants worth up to £5,000 for just £10

If you’ve recently purchased a plant from Lidl or B&Q, you could be sitting on a fortune.
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Popular supermarket chain Lidl, and retailers B&Q have been ‘accidentally’ selling plants that can be worth up to £4,000 for just £10.

Therefore, recently if you have purchased a plant from either of these stores, or received one for a gift for Christmas, you may be sitting on a little fortune.

Why are they worth so much?

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The plants in question have variations in them, that occur naturally in common plants, and this makes them extremely valuable. The reason the supermarkets and retailers sell them for so little, is because these naturally occuring variations can sometimes be mistaken for disease, and therefore, eager to get rid of a disease ridden plant, they sell them for a reduced price.

What plants can you find in stores?

Variegated Monstera Deliciosa

The Guardian labelled this plant the ‘Picasso of the indoor plant’ when it featured on their ‘houseplant of the week’ back in December 2021.

Despite the leaves being mildly toxic to pets and humans when ingested, this plant is surprisingly low maintenance. If you decide to keep it, you need to mist the leaves once a week, and the large leaves on the houseplant do collect dust, but this can be seen to with a damp cloth.

The Monstera Deliciosa is more commonly known as a Swiss Cheese plant because of the holes in its leaves, and the reduced amount of chlorphyll gives it these splotchy white marks.

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A six-leaf branch clipping on this plant is currently going for £4,612 and a 5ft version of the plant is being solid on Ebay for £4,000. Staggering money.

For that, you could buy a 2013 Volkswagen Polo, and still have money left over, 906 large Big Mac Meals and 10 PlayStation 5’s.

Variegated Monstera Adansonii

This plant may even be more valuable, as just a single leaf can fetch up to almost £1,200 , and is currently being sold on Etsy.

On Ebay, however, 3/4 clippings of this houseplant are currently on sale for £3,699.

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That could get you three nights at the Ritz in Paris, a week long-stay at Disneyland Paris twice over or 34 entrees and drinks at Gordon Ramsey’s restaurant in Chelsea.

Philodendron White Princess or White Knight

The Philodendron White Princess and White Knight look very similar, with glossy green leaves with white lines that might be mistaken for disease or damage by clueless shops.

The white princess is a little cheaper, with single leafs costing around £20, with the whole plant being around £400. That’s a 5-night-stay (flights included) trip to Rome!

However, the white knight is very expensive, and is currently going for £4,263 pounds on Ebay. That could afford you a two-week Caribbean cruise and still have £1700 left!

Pink Princess Philodendron

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Displaying a rather unique, and easier on the eye variegation that is pink instead of white, this little beauty could make any room look better.

One of these goes for as much as £2,228 on Etsy and a single leaf cutting could get you up to £200.

For one of these, you could have 10 Tomahawk rib-eye at the infamous ‘salt bae’ restaurant.

Monstera Obliqua

The damaged leaves on this plant, which is mistaken for the dwindling death of said plant or pest damage, is what makes this houseplant so unique.

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It’s actually more hole than leaf but the formations of the holes make it a desirable, and rare plant.

Requiring a lot of humidity, bobvilla.com states that a potted version of this plant can cost you £5,200.

That’s 1,347 pints of beer, 2,236 Goodfella’s Margherita Pizza’s from Sainsbury’s, or (and the best option) 5,200 sausage rolls from Greggs.

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