Yolanda Palmer leads visitors through the foliage, past towering ferns, hanging ficus and monstera with leaves that resemble Swiss cheese, to the 90-square-metre green hotel behind her plant boutique.
Here, nearly a dozen clivias, hibiscus plants and succulents enjoy the sun under floor-to-ceiling windows. On cloudy days, powerful infrared grow lights help the stems become green and lush. Palmer repots, fertilizes and sprays neem oil so insects don’t get too comfortable. She puts all her visiting plants on strict water schedules — too much water is worse than too little.
Bruised leaves heal. Soil viruses are cured. Plants flourish. And when owners return from vacations abroad and months-long business trips, their agaves, cacti, and snake plants are happy, healthy, and, most importantly, ready to thrive at home.
“I’ve always had a lot of plants and animals,” said Palmer, who charges $75 a week for her in-store plant-hoteling services and for sitting plants in clients’ homes. “And when I was traveling, I always wished I had someone to take care of them. …”
Palmer, 52, grew up in Southwest Philly in the ’80s and ’90s and to stay out of trouble, her mother demanded she have a hobby. Taking care of plants became her thing.
She worked for 14 years as an accountant and billing coordinator at Public Health Management Corp., where she became an expert at spreadsheets and balancing budgets. Palmer left PHMC in 2019 to turn her hobby into a business and started selling plants at pop-ups. She needed a place to stock her plants, so she set up shop at Jerry’s Corner, a flea market in Southwest Philly, where she sold plants three days a week.
Palmer consulted with potential plant parents. People who travel should buy snake plants, ponytail palms, and cacti because they don’t need watering often. Those with pets may want to purchase ferns or hoyas because their leaves are not poisonous.
In 2021, when the space at 8139 Germantown Ave. – a teahouse turned antique shop – became available, she made a leap.
“What sets me apart is that I really help people take care of their plants,” Palmer said. “It takes time, dedication and space,” she said. And it requires a special eye, because plants can’t tell you what they need or want. And by the time you notice a yellowed leaf or brittle stem, it’s too late.
Everything from the wrought iron gates that separate the rooms in Foliage to the wine racks has a leaf on it. Terrariums filled with multicolored sand and succulents line the windowsills next to rows of tiny plants that Palmer grows for party favors. Spring-scented candles and evergreens are scattered throughout the store. Palmer walks through Foliage, untangling hanging potted plants overflowing with dangling strands of fish hooks. She stops to braid the long, thin leaves of a snake plant.
Cindy Boughton entered. She moved from Texas to Philadelphia a few years ago and was unable to take her beloved, nearly 3-foot-tall Euphorbia with her. It is a succulent plant with spiny glochids that give it a cactus-like appearance.
Boughton bought a Euphorbia from Palmer a few weeks ago, but didn’t take it home right away because she had to make room for it. Palmer took care of the plant until she returned. She helped Boughton load him into the car. “I really missed my plant,” Boughton said. “They…this store…It’s just so amazing.”
A steady stream of customers walked in and out of Foliage, praising Palmer for her dedication and green thumb. “I’m so happy that I was able to turn my passion into a business,” Palmer said.
