You've heard of "dog moms." Now get ready for "plant parents." More people are discovering their green thumb, as interior design and social media trends expose people to beautiful flora in all shapes and sizes. House plant enthusiasts say it's about more than aesthetics: plants provide their own form of companionship.
What started with an enticing photo on Facebook has evolved into an obsession for Elizabeth Feathers, who bought her first houseplants at the beginning of COVID-19 lockdown.
Elizabeth Feathers started her plant collection at the beginning of COVID lockdown. It's since grown from three plants to nearly 50.
"I started with three. Now, I think I have about 50 plants," Feathers said. "I'm kind of a plant sherpa for some of my friends, just getting them started with plants. It's such a piece of my identity now, I can't believe it's only been a year."
John Fegan, head of the houseplant department at Casey's Garden Shop in Bloomington, said he's met a lot of people picking up their first plants. They often become regulars. "I kid you not, I have customers who live nearby and they will come in when I have a truck on the side of Main Street because they'll say, 'Oh my gosh, I know you got a new shipment and I want to be the first to have dibs," Fegan said. "I feel like we're selling Pokemon cards to 10-year-olds.”
Fegan said the industry hasn't seen this big of boom in decades. He said house plants were big in the '70s and '80s. Interest fell off for a while, but Fegan said the Internet has revived the craze.
"I think that people are just rediscovering what a lot of horticulturists and botanists have known forever," he said. "There are a lot of people who have kind of, I think, due to social media seen a lot of new houseplants species that they didn't even know existed—colors and shapes and textures and sizes of plants that are just absolutely wild.”
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