Plant Parenthood: Why Mother Earth Can Have Hope For Us As Plant Parents
Photo by Olivia Ghalioungui
Written by Cassell Ferere [Originally published May 12, 2020]
“How many house plants are too much?”
It will likely not be a question you hear from a Plant Parent. If you live in an urban setting, surrounded by industrial innovations of a major city, then you know how much plants can turn the austere apartment into an adorned manifestation. As beautiful as it sounds, there is an effort necessary to living the plant-life and being a Plant Parent that the current quarantine and isolation have enhanced. Plants are still life, and like children, they need attention and sunlight to thrive. Planting a tree? Get tree service fort pierce who has professional arborists that can help.
Money Trees Are The Perfect Place For Shade
I have had what the some [friends] call a “money tree” or the Jade plant [Pachira aquatica] for a few years now, and have accumulated some other, smaller, planting pots to fill. These pots I have filled with seeds immediately available to me; this includes seeds from fruits, mainly apples, and the occasional cannabis seed, usually female which produces the flower. At one point I tried the ancient Japanese art of Bonsai tree growing. Unsuccessfully, I could not master the planting rituals described on the box of which the soil and pot from that are still in use.
I make a daily effort to tend to my precious plants, watering them, talking to them as suggested, realizing plants absorb exactly what we exhale, CO2. This is me in my Plant Parenthood. Having house plants are therapeutic and permeates an ambiance into your space, calming your cabin fever qualm. Plants and planting are intricate parts of life, more than we regularly think. We, as humans have taken plants from an organism that lives off the land and brought them into our worlds.
It may take a bit of sunlight coming through your window to create that greenhouse effect of a sort. Greenhouses have advantageous effects when allied with growing all kinds of plants. Between methane, CO2, oxygen, water, and UV rays, passing through a plant, the science behind planting can be fun, you can even step your game up and do a little in-home composting.
Coolaustralia.org
The Learning Curve
Planting is a task that can be a great learning experience and life skill worth having; like swimming. Growing a plant for their beauty is an accomplishment of time and patience and the return can be great. This can be cost-saving as you can grow your vegetables, fruits, and garnishes.
Plants are “pleasing to the eye” describes Darryl, plant parent, and social media plant influencer. They are living things that realize a life that flourishes in many ways, and with humans can become, according to Darryl, “long-term, botanical companions.”
Building That Relationship
The relationship we have with our plants is the relationship we can have with our environments; including, our food intake, our beloved wardrobes, and the everyday oxygen we breathe. We learn to appreciate the life around us and respect its omnipresent forms.
With the time passing and our visual sense are overstimulated with the digital waves, plants happen to be a great alternative to mindfulness and consciousness when escaping the virtual blurs of the day. And sometimes they smell great like Gum trees, also known as Eucalyptus, or look dangerously cool, like Cactus plants, or succulents, which don’t require as much attention daily.
Nick, plant parent and social media influencer, says,
“For me, even before quarantine, plants teach us patience. They teach us to slow down and to appreciate nature in a new way that isn’t built on instant gratification or perfection. It’s nature not furniture after all, and during a time when we can’t leave our homes as much, plants are vital to keeping our connection with the outside world alive.”
Nick suggests that we can learn to be patient at this time of angst. Coping with our isolation, in this time we can admit to our imperfections, thus, plants remind us of how we grow as beings. Tasked with daily watering and minimal operation, plants are perfect ways to meditate through repetition and taking care of another living thing; a gentler creature rather.
Planting Your Seeds
Boxed Water has a whole campaign dedicated to planting one million more trees, as they accomplished their first ‘milli’ this year, 2020. This goal was set five years ago, according to Cheif Marketing Officer and former Hush Puppies President and Timberland Executive, Rob Koenen. Considering Boxed Water as a luxury brand, with placement in retail spaces for AG Jeans, Rag & Bone, and Diane Von Furstenberg it shows that their message is more than selling water - rather, they want to emphasize the importance of a balanced ecosystem.
Boxed Water is encouraging its audience to live consciously through practice. Growing your house plants, boxed water wants you to name your plant, as well as, they will plant a tree in honor of your social media sharing efforts, tagging Boxed Water and #BetterPlanet. Koenen also shares an affinity for the house plant, or office plant rather, that he has named ‘Sam’ after his daughter Samantha. Naming your plant to create a connection not only to your house plant but to the environment in which we share with these living things.
Photo: boxwaterirbetter.com
Farmer’s Choice
“Yes! I love it. Not only do the plants purify the air it’s yummy to eat!”
says conscious social media influencer, Thania Peck of Catcher In The Style about her plants.
Thania has dived into the in-home farming game. She grows small veggies and garnishes which she is cooking with, while also saving money and trips to the market into the COVID unknown. She tips us off to the fact that “It’s also more affordable right now to grow food at home. Things are getting very pricey at the stores.” Purified air and food for thought, plants are here to serve us as long as we serve them, only then we can reap the benefits.
Even if you made it back to your hometown from your normal living situation in a major city, like Maryah did, interior plant stylist and influencer, plants have an attachment to your being that develops over time.
Maryah says,
“I’ve actually been away from my plants during my period of quarantine since I left NY to be with my family. That being said, not only have I realized how much I miss their presence, but doing virtual consulting has helped me to re-appreciate everyone else’s personal journey in plant parenthood! This looks so different for everyone and its a beautiful reminder that your relationship with your plants is as personal and intimate as you make it.”
Long Term Growth
Planting is a life-long journey that someone like Shamini Dhana, founder of Dhana Inc. specializing in circular memory jackets of sentimental value, has known her whole life. A journey that is innate to our discovery of life in general, plants can live with you throughout - they are our omnipresent relatives.
Shamini divulges,
“From childhood to adult, I’ve always had an affinity to Nature - her beauty, abundance, and color. My mother was a stellar gardener and at one point, I remember us having close to a thousand plants and trees in our garden - from ferns to flowering, fruit to vegetables, green and color, scented and textures of all varieties. I learned the joy of engaging with the earth through gardening -, digging, planting seeds, tending, watering, pruning, and caring for our green plants and trees. Planting and gardening offer connection like no other - it allows me to silence the mind, to be in the moment, to connect to the Earth, in every aspect, and with all the senses. It is Life.”
We can thank the plants - the air, the sun, the soil, and the water - for our existence today and our presence here on Earth tomorrow. Granted, we treat the planet’s most vulnerable, delicate, and decorative features with respect and dignity.
Shamini ‘s backyard farm.
Dhana Inc. Founder continues,
“With gardening, we are the facilitators, the connectivity tissue between soil, plant, and food; we together are bonded and there is imprinting that happens when you plant a seed or bulb. As you travel through life, the plant too travels its path and you are forever enjoined in this discovery. I’ve always felt that just like trees, plants have a “quiet intelligence” about them. We are, after all, intertwined with the same life energy - that which keeps us alive and that we share as one - air, water, sun.”
As others explore the avenues of growing plants, others are consciously adopting these habits out of necessity and compassion for the essential-workers of our society. Stacie, mixologist and social media influencer known as the Garden Cocktail has dedicated her life to growing herbs and garnishes for her specialty cocktails.
Photos of Stacie: Courtesy of LG by Cassell Ferere
Stacie elaborates,
"Plants have always been a draw for me because I love taking care of things. Dogs, coworkers, roommates. I’ve always had houseplants but things exploded when I got my first place with outdoor space about five years ago. I started growing a cocktail garden of obscure things for garnishes and drinks and that hobby has continued to today. When quarantine hit, my hobby felt a lot less like a hobby and I started thinking about the things I grow more as necessities than cocktail party tricks.
She continues,
It’s made me respect our supply chains and agriculture so so much more as some ingredients become difficult to procure. This summer I’m growing more items and specifically more cooking herbs vs things just for fun. I’m so dang thankful for our groceries, our farmers, and the people who make it possible to get the variety of ingredients we experience here in NYC on a regular (even quarantined) basis."
Quarantine has shifted thinking for a lot of entrepreneurs and businesses. Now there is an incentive to think more circular in every aspect of life and Stacie and the others are cultivating Green New Deals with their landlords and exploring the beauty and application of growing plants.
Stacie digressed,
"I’m still growing some weird things this summer, though. I’ve got some teeny Charapita peppers from Brazil that I’m most excited about."
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