Plant care is highly meditative for most people. You don’t have to look far to find curated Instagram feeds filled to the brim with bright spaces, flourishing foliage, and smiling faces. For me, especially now, grounding myself by caring for my home jungle has kept me (mostly) sane throughout the tricky and confusing process of lockdown. So, here are four things my plants have taught me about myself and others during lockdown.
One: We must pay attention to our basic needs.
Watering, sunlight, soil, and seasonal changes. Plants have a bunch of little things they need to survive and thrive. As human beings, we need water, exercise, food… These are the things that help us make it through week to week, month to month, and year to year. They might be basic, but these needs are far from unimportant. They are the essentials.
Two: We must trim dead ends.
My plants have taught me that it’s perfectly fine to snip off the outlets I’ve been feeding, both emotionally and creatively, that are no longer bringing me happiness or contributing to my mental or physical health. It’s healthy to remove dead or dying leaves from an otherwise healthy plant; this prevents valuable energy from being directed towards a limb that’s just not pulling its weight anymore. Sometimes, older leaves will darken and die off when a plant is ready for fresh growth. It’s okay to say goodbye to the old and hello to the new.
Three: We can outgrow our space.
Repotting is another seemingly simple trick that you have to ‘figure out’ on your journey through plant parenthood. Through my experiences with my little urban jungle, I’ve learned that it’s perfectly fine to outgrow your circumstances, whether slowly or in great big shoots. There’s plenty of space to stretch out and enjoy the sun somewhere that’s better suited to you.
Four: We have different needs from others.
This is perhaps the most important thing I’ve learned from caring for my chlorophyll chums. My Swiss cheese plant’s leaves need to be misted, but my spider plant is happier without a shower. My elephant ear is a slow grower, but the pancake plant beside it has a dozen tiny green discs uncurling every week. Even my two peace lilies are different: one lasts longer without feeding than the other, despite being the same size and kept in similar conditions.
Plants come in all shapes and sizes, from tall and lean to small and round, delicate to robust, pale to dark. Every single plant is different, with its own needs, and that’s okay. Sometimes, we need a little more light, a little less poking and prodding, or a lot more pruning and care to reach our best, glossiest, healthiest selves.
Lockdown has been a tricky time for us all, and the simple joy of plant care has helped me understand my own needs more than I ever imagined it could. So, if you’re feeling a little low in these strange times, pick up a watering can and some clippers, and get up close and personal with some green queens this summer.
