Episode seventeen: Seeking Pilea peperomioides - why everyone wants the Chinese money plant

Summary: Instagram is awash with it; but where do you lay your hands on a specimen of the Chinese money plant, Pilea peperomioides? If you are in many parts of the world, this plant is in such demand that they sell for fifty dollars or more for a small one. Despite the Chinese money plant’s superstar status, the story of how it came to be so popular isn’t so well known: it's a tale that takes in a street of houses in a London suburb, a Soho hairdresser, a Norwegian au pair, a journalist at the Telegraph and a missionary to China. Question of the week tackles how to grow the tropical pitcher plant, Nepenthes, successfully in the home.