"This particular network of greenhouses, outside Aurora, Oregon, holds heartbreakingly beautiful flowering cacti, cultivated over a series of years, and funny little lithops, a.k.a. "living stones," which resemble nothing else so much as the backside of a toad. There are jade plants and mesembs, Pachypodium and Tylecodon, Stapelia and Haworthia and Agave guadalajarana. All told, Rancho Cacto grows thousands—"maybe even tens of thousands," says Molly Malecki—of individual and hybrid cultivars from hundreds of plant genera."
"Malecki is Rancho Cacto's founder, proprietor, horticulturalist, curator, marketer, and delivery driver. Originally from Whidbey Island, with a graduate degree in art history from the University of Washington, Malecki started as a hobbyist gardener, haunting plant shops around the Pacific Northwest and layering the patio of her student apartment with various buds and tendrils."
"Among the many unexpected knock-on effects of the COVID-19 pandemic was a houseplant boom: Nearly 80 percent of garden centers in the US and Canada saw an increase in houseplant sales in 2021. After years as a plant broker—connecting wholesale plant growers to nurseries and landscapers—Malecki struck out on her own, launching Rancho Cacto in 2022."
Rancho Cacto operates as a specialized greenhouse network near Aurora, Oregon, housing thousands of individual and hybrid cultivars from hundreds of plant genera, including flowering cacti, lithops, jade plants, and various succulents. Founder Molly Malecki, who holds a graduate degree in art history from the University of Washington, transitioned from hobbyist gardener to plant broker before launching Rancho Cacto in 2022. Malecki serves as the operation's founder, proprietor, horticulturalist, curator, marketer, and delivery driver. The business capitalizes on the significant houseplant sales surge that occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic, when nearly 80 percent of garden centers in the US and Canada experienced increased houseplant sales in 2021. Currently, Rancho Cacto supplies direct to more than 50 plant shops across the Pacific Northwest region.
#specialty-horticulture #cacti-and-succulents #small-business #houseplant-industry #wholesale-plant-distribution
Read at Portland Monthly
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