The Beautiful Anthurium Golden Jenmanii aka “Cardboard” Plant

Plantitas and plantitos, do you already have Anthurium jenmanii in your collection? Are you interested in buying one? Some say this plant is a collector’s item for its rarity and its eye-catching giant, lush leaves.. A ‘must have’, some will push hehe. 

Is this plant really rare?

The Anthurium jenmanii is ultra rare but only in some parts of the Philippines like Cebu. This specie, though still rare, is a bit easier to find in Mindanao, especially in Bukidnon and South Cotabato where there are breeders of this specie. I’ve also seen jenmanii sellers and breeders based in Bulacan and Laguna too. Plus, they sell online. Nice!

Some say that propagating jenmaniis are notoriously difficult, hence the higher value given to this plant. Once my own plant is mature enough and ready for propagation, I’ll find out if it’s easy or difficult paramihin. 🙂 

Getting More Beautiful, Oh Jenmanii!

I’ve been taking care of my Anthurium golden jenmanii for about 10 months now. I think mine was grown from seeds. I really love its thick golden leaves, so thick that locally this specie is fondly called “cardboard plant”.

These days my jenmanii is becoming more and more golden with every new leaf sprout. The leaves are becoming bigger and bigger too! 

Getting pretty and more beautiful stunner. 🙂

This is my most expensive plant purchase to date. When I bought this, I said to my husband, that this plant will grow with us in our new home. At that time, our house construction was just about to be finished. 

I told him that when our 25th year wedding anniversary rolls around, this plant will be so huge, lush, and will command attention, like the P40,000+ Anthurium jenmanii we saw in the Arriba Plant Roadshow last year hehe. That P40k cardboard plant was HUGE, it was MASSIVE! I should have taken a picture of it, but I didn’t huhu.

That was also the time we bought our uprooted, juvenile plant at P1,000. 

Will be transferring my plant to a big white fiber pot soon. The crisp white will definitely highlight this plant’s foliage.

We also saw this regular dark green jenmanii in the Arriba plant expo. The regular varieties are cheaper versus the golden ones. This one was selling for P2,500, it already stands proudly with its big leaves. 

This pandemic days when sellers couldn’t open their garden shops to display their items, plant prices has become a bit higher as sellers resorted to online selling. Plus, plants are trending too so prices have gone up hehe.

My Anthurium jenmanii when I bought it during the Arriba plant roadshow last September 2019

Just a few days ago, my cousin from Zamboanga del Sur posted the ornamentals in her garden shop. Lo and behold I saw few pots of jenmanii! Sayang, my Ate Lia said that she have several of those plants when we last visited Mindanao, too bad I wasn’t into plants then yet, she said she would surely have given me a cobra jenmanii. 

When this pandemic is all-over, I’ll go visit her garden and raid her plants hahahah. Te Lia said that if there’s no more Covid, it’ll be great to go for a road trip and check garden shops and breeders in South Cotabato, it’s where there are lots of Anthurium jenmanii available. For now, she said that she will reserve and grow one for me to add to my own garden. Yeyyy! 

Potting Mix Tips

My Te Lia is already into selling jenmanii and other ornamental plants for years. She has lots of big cobra ferns, varieties of philodendrons and anthuriums, among others. 

I asked Te Lia the best potting mix for the anthurium jenmanii, she recommends using the “lata sa punuoan sa humay…”. Clueless, I asked if she means rice hull? She said nope, the one she’s talking about is part of the rice stalk. Then to mix it with rice hull. 

‘We don’t have that here’, sadly I said.

She said ‘sa basakan ra na’. It’s only in the rice fields. As an alternative she recommends using ‘bunot’ or coconut chips but to make sure to shred it tiny. 

I’ve been wondering why my golden jenmanii leaves are not as huge as the one I am seeing for sale online. It’s big now but not giant huge. I think the potting mix I used could be the culprit. I used pure vermicast, lol. Will be transferring this plant soon and when I’ll do, I’ll add in coconut chips in the mix.  Or maybe my plant is still too young to develop ultra giant leaves. 

I also asked if the plant will give offshoots or saha? Te Lia said it won’t. The way to propagate jenmanii is growing through seeds or via a top-cut, or splitting a mature plant, making sure each split or division has roots attached to the stems so each will continue to grow.

However, regarding planting via seeds – from further researched I found out that not all types of jenmaniis will produce flower that will produce seeds. Hope mine does when it matures.

Jenmanii Cardboard Plant Price Range

The demand and supply of anything affects the price. That’s simple economics. 

In Cebu, where the jenmanii is rare and there is a good demand coming from plant collectors, this anthurium is fetching high prices. I think it’s the same case in Manila.

In one plant group I’m a member of, someone posted asking for ideas if the P22K price tag on the golden jenmanii pictured below is normal. I replied that I think P22,000 is wayyy too expensive for the size of the plant. 

I also sent the picture to Te Lia asking her what would be the selling price of the plant if it’s in her garden shop? She replied that maybe around P3,000 to P3,500 for it’s golden; P2,000 and up if it’s the ordinary green.

Elsewhere were supply is low like here in Cebu, the same golden jenmanii cardboard pictured above could fetch from P5,000 to P8,000 but definitely not P22,000. LOL.

I’m curious, will you buy a plant costing over P10,000? I know, I won’t. Unless if I become a multi-times millionaire hehe but even then, I’ll still think twice if the price is worth to pay. 

My Anthurium Golden Jenmanii Is For Keeps!

This plant is for keeps. If and when I am able to propagate my jenmanii in the future, I might sell some of its clones or babies hehe.

When my plant gets more mature or if I visit a garden with available jenmaniis again, I’ll be uploading a video on my Youtube channel Plant Box by Penfires.

By the way, collectively in the local scene this anthurium specie is called cardboard. There are different varieties of jenmanii, there is also a silver color daw but I haven’t seen one yet, in person or online. The green bowl-type is usually referred to by locals as ‘cobra’ or ‘pagoda’, while the golden leaves is also called “lemon lime” or “king of kings”, meron ding varieties called “superbowl”, “mangkok”, and more.

Hmmm, will the jenmanii be your next major plant purchase? 🙂

*This plant is very popular and highly sought after in Indonesia and Thailand too.

If in case there are mistakes in my sharing, please do correct and give advises as well especially about how to take care of this plant. We all can learn from each other. Thank you.

To more beautiful plants in our gardens. Cheers!