I’m the Rare Plant Fairy. I sell exotic plants to customers worldwide.

Jocelyn Ho started selling rare plants during the pandemic. Now, business is budding. “We have our ‘rare plant drops’ every Friday, which our customers know to set their alarms for.”

Jocelyn Ho, also known as the Rare Plant Fairy, started selling plants during the pandemic out of her spare bedroom in Detroit. Now, Ho and a team of employees operate the business from two locations, with hopes of expanding across Canada. The Rare Plant Fairy offers more than 100 species—the world’s rarest exotic plants—with some starting at $35 and others priced well into the thousands. This is her story. 

—As told to Tara De Boer

I love everything about life science. I studied birds, I had aquariums, I did reef research with the University of Toronto. But I never thought I’d be interested in plants to this extent. 

I moved to Toronto at age two from…