Has anyone else noticed that suddenly everyone is posting pictures of their new “plant baby”?
As we approach our 4th month under quarantine, we’ve seen the rise of different quarantine “trends”. You can range from sourdough bread baker, the next Masterchef, and the plant parent. First it starts out with maybe a cute little succulent, and before you know it, you’re following plant shops on Instagram, knowing words like “umbrella tree” or “snake plant”, and dreaming of your bedroom filled with artfully-decorated vines and hanging pots.
Having house plants for design isn’t a new concept. In fact, it’s been a trend ever since the Victorian era, when houseplants were considered as “a luxury of the wealthy”. However, the catalyst for the spread of houseplants was after World War 2. They started out as decorations for the office and then slowly made their way into the households of almost everyone around the world.
Despite this, it has to be noted that the surge we’re seeing now is pretty unprecedented. Earlier this year, Money.com even reported that millennials are spending thousands on houseplants. If we try to track the different factors that go into this claim, a lot of pretty reasonable explanations come into view.
One of the most popular reasons is the fact that millennials aren’t the types to buy houses (which may come with your typical backyard and lawn). A lot of independent millennials are buying, or renting apartments with very little green spaces. Houseplants are an easy way to bring life into a condo unit, and breathe more air into the space. Coupled with the fact that working millennials often situate themselves in urban cities with not much options for outdoor plants or parks, and you’ll get a strong reason to recreate that freshness of the outside in your apartment.
Another prominent reason is that you have to care for houseplants to make them live. They’re not too fussy or high maintenance like a dog or a baby, but it’s also not like you can easily ignore them for days on end. Owning a houseplant (or houseplants) can help soothe anxiety by giving the owner a sense of structure or purpose to take care of another living being.
Based on these reasons, we’re actually happy that more and more people are becoming plant parents. If it gives them happiness or a reason to care, we’re all for it.
