😴 Burnout retreats are big

In 2021, a white variegated Rhaphidophora tetrasperma auctioned for ~$19.2k in New Zealand. And here I thought my $25 lemon-lime prayer plant was a splurge.

Per The Washington Post, purveyors of rare foliage drop big bucks and engage in bidding wars for the most coveted plants, but — unlike the biblical baby that revealed Solomon’s wisdom — they can be split in half.

In fact, one collector has turned propagation into a side hustle, selling her replantable clippings on Etsy.

Yet even more common plants have shot up in price as demand has increased.

Houseplants surged in popularity…

… amid the pandemic, as people stuck mostly inside craved nature and new hobbies. In 2020, sales for potted foliage increased 23%, per Business Insider, and in 2021, the plant-growing industry was worth $16B.

Why do plants have such staying power? Some say it’s because we’re, well, sad.

• Younger plant parents — locked out of homeownership — love house plants because they can’t have yards.
• An essay in The Atlantic pondered if plant collecting was a manifestation of eco-grief on a dying plant. Another in The Independent chalked it up to career instability and delayed parenthood (of human children, not succulents).

Less grim?

Social media, where #planttok has 4.5B views and particularly winsome plants — like the philodendron pink princess — can become instant sensations.

The same is true of seasonal plants; in 2021, pumpkin farmer Mark Craven told The Hustle that the Pinterests and Martha Stewarts of the world influence which varieties are hot every Halloween.

Fun fact: One of the most expensive plants is the bonsai tree, which can endure for centuries with proper maintenance. At a 2011 convention in Japan, a stunning white pine tree sold for ~$1.3m.

Nearly eight in 10 Americans say they’ve experienced burnout at work, according to Deloitte.

Fortunately — at least for those with loads of cash to burn — burnout is increasingly a problem you can throw money at.

Luxe burnout retreats…

… are on the rise, with rehab-esque programs treating stress popping up around the globe, per Bloomberg Businessweek.

Istana is one provider filling this lucrative void, running clinics in Bali, Barbados, and Ibiza.

• Istana’s individualized programming can integrate many treatment options you’d expect — psychotherapy, massage therapy, yoga, and meditation.
• But also some you may not, like psychedelic-assisted therapy, art therapy, and EMDR therapy.
• The clinic now offers a “reset retreat” in Mexico featuring transformational breathwork, crystal healing, and nature activities like surfing and horseback riding.

Istana’s founder says admission for burnout has risen 600% since March 2020, with many clients seeking concurrent treatment for PTSD, substance abuse, and depression.

It won’t come cheap…

Popular retreats range from five-night escapes to monthlong sabbaticals. The price tags vary considerably as well.

• Bloomberg Businessweek highlighted its “ultimate burnout spas,” which range from $5k to $10k/week.
• Istana’s starting prices run between $30k to $55k/week.
• The Rolls-Royce of rehab, Swiss clinic Kusnacht Practice, can cost $133k/week.

OK, but I’m not that elite: There are emerging options if you can’t spare that kind of time or money — UK-based celebrity trainer Harry Jameson, for one, will establish burnout-fighting regiments in $310/hr sessions.

1) New York City isn’t wasting any time solving its heaping, 24m-pound-per-day trash problem, and with a new $1.6m, 95-page study — a great read by the way — the city may have bagged a solution with a process known as waste containerization. The biggest drawback? The plan could get rid of 150k (10%) of New York’s residential parking spots… Oh, and cost hundreds of millions of dollars.

2) Five… Five billion… Five billion in financing for the footloooong. Subway, valued at $10B+, has been seeking a sale since at least February, and adviser JPMorgan is now offering a $5B debt financing package to help sweeten the deal. That’s a lot of bread! Despite closing a net of 3.2k domestic stores between 2020 and 2023, Subway leads US restaurants with nearly 20.6k stores. Starbucks, in second place, has 16k.

3) Taylor Sheridan’s cowboy dramas have been a cash cow for Paramount, to the tune of $500m+ annually. Costs have included $500k per minute of the first season of “1923,” renting Sherdian’s $25-per-cow cattle herd, and up to $50k a week to film shows on Sheridan’s 266k-acre Four Sixes ranch in Texas, which he bought in 2022 for $341m+. ​​Talk about vertical integration.

4) The cost of this weekend’s coronation proceedings for King Charles III ran in the £50m-£100m range ($63m-$125m). For reference, when Queen Elizabeth II took the throne in 1953, the pomp and pageantry cost an inflation-adjusted ~£50m, and George VI’s coronation in 1937 rang up a more thrifty ~£24.8m. With the holiday weekend, the UK’s leisure industry is expecting some royal treatment of its own by way of a £350m boost.