By Neo Kolane
A penchant to express herself through plants led Palesa Attinger to start a business, but she opted for succulent plants because they not too expensive and are relatively easier to maintain.
The 28-year old business woman who hails from Bela-Bela says she has always loved plants, from a young age and her parents have been supportive of her passion all the way.
Attinger told theReporter that after graduating in 2013, she joined her husband’s farming project, which is where she developed her love for plants.
She describes succulents as plants with thick fleshy leaves or stems adapted to storing water. They are everywhere, can be found at grocery stores, farmers’ market and even clothing stores.
“I am not doing it for the money entirely, when I see plants which are mostly green, I smile, they change my mood.
“Nothing beats the fact that a person can plant something and in the next days or months, it grows into something else, there’s a magic in all that growth.”
Attinger says it is hard to pursue certain business ideas because parents do not see a future in a lot of things.
“For me, my late dad has always been our biggest supporter in our farming business, even though in the past years there was drought or too much rain and we suffered because some of our vegetables would get ruined,” she explained.
Attinger also stated that her mother-in-law had succulent plants and she took a few and wanted to see if they would survive the heat and, luckily enough, they did and she made sure they propagated as many as they could.
Attinger had a plan in mind – selling the plants for Christmas when people had money, but unfortunately her dad got sick so she had to put her plan on hold.
“People actually love my succulents because it’s only been two weeks since I revived the business but I am already getting support.
“I would like for my business to be bigger, well-known and for people to know what I sell. I would like to get a variety of succulents and cacti,” Attinger said.
She also enthused that the plants lighten up the room, they bring peace to a person. “They are therapeutic looking at a plant and marveling at God’s creation. Succulents are small and I wanted to leave out the concept of flower pots which are made of cement or sandstone, making them expensive and hindering people to have flowers in as much as they wanted.”
She realized that using mugs and bowls was a cheaper option to have flowers in their houses. I therefore thought it was cute and I thought it’s something people can love with a few decorations to it, like using colourful mugs or bowls.
“Succulents are not hard plants to find; they grow both indoors and outdoors. They purify the air, produce oxygen. They hold the soil because they multiply easily. They are low maintenance and can make the perfect desk centerpiece in offices. I want to have the biggest garden shop in Lesotho,” she concluded.
