My name is Stephanie, I’m 30 years old, and I’m a little bit obsessed with plants.
I know I’m not the only one. Whether it’s owning them, taking pictures of them, framing them or standing in front of a pretty shopfront for the ‘gram, I think it’s safe to say that our generation has gone a bit plant-crazy.
Even the recent increase in bursts of foliage-lined front doors and cafe-fronts popping up around London speaks to the power and influence that platforms such as Instagram can wield over our surroundings.
Admittedly, I never used to be green-fingered. In fact, I used to actively avoid anything botanical due to my terrible hayfever and general lack of interest in plant life.
My mother, on the other hand, is an absolute green-fingered fiend, and has a beautiful garden filled with the most exotic flowers and plants to prove it.
‘But Steph!’ she’d say, ‘It’s fun watching something you’ve worked so hard for, grow and flourish. At least they aren’t messy and don’t talk back.’ The shade of it all.
Despite my mum’s enthusiasm, I didn’t understand what the big deal was. I’d always seen gardening as a hobby for old people. But like your mum’s beige corduroy flares from the 70s, trends from the days of old eventually catch up to us.
My mind slowly began to change once I started using our garden as a photo backdrop for my fashion blog. I realised I was taking the framing of my photos more seriously, colour-coordinating with specific flowers, and making sure that the plants in my photos always looked healthy – which meant no brown leaves or wilting stems.
From here, I took up an interest in the different kinds of plants available, as well as their various uses and properties. Slowly, I realised that I quite enjoyed it.
I first bought an aloe vera as I thought it was a pretty basic, yet durable plant to get. After all, I told myself, ‘I have asthma, and this will clean the air! I’m not participating in a trend, I’m improving my health!’
Well, eight plants later, I have to admit that I’ve been completely sucked into the green rabbit hole. I have ferns, ZZ plants, snake plants, orchids, spider plants and money trees, and the list is ever-growing.
Like me, I think most people’s current plant obsessions began as purely an Instagram aesthetic thing. While scrolling down my feed over recent months, I’d see an increase in old-school bicycles adorned with baby’s breath bouquets, hotels with wisteria draped around the entrances, and east London cafes lined with mini palm trees.
I mean, there’s even a hashtag for it (#PlantsOfInstagram), and companies who carry out home deliveries of plants advertise heavily on the platform.
But there’s more to it than looks and trends. There’s something about looking after a plant and seeing it grow and thrive that makes me feel quite content and peaceful, almost like raising a family on The Sims, or, you know… raising a family in real life.
I suppose how I’m feeling isn’t really surprising. One leading theory claims that plants do indeed make us feel like grown-ups and for a generation that finds the traditional markers of adulthood – marriage, homeownership, children – to be delayed or otherwise out of reach, it’s comforting to come home to something that depends on you. Plants, although costly, are still cheaper than kids, TBH.
As someone who is single and childless and yet to own a home, I’d pretty much agree with this theory.
And plants also support our wellbeing. Some are excellent at improving the air quality around them (hello succulents and ferns!), and are generally said to be great at reducing stress (due to the calming effects of being in an aesthetically pleasant environment), while fulfilling our desire to nurture and interact with nature.
So, who cares if the current boom in plants started as an Instagram fad?
Plants have, and always will be, crucial to our survival as human beings, and having a little bit of nature in your home can never be a bad thing, really.
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