First it was toilet paper and alcohol wipes. Then it was hair color, followed by flour and yeast.
During the coronavirus pandemic, people cleared the shelves of basic items they were desperate to find. Next, it was things they needed to entertain themselves, Who knew there would be a rush on baking bread at home? In the third wave, people looked around at their homes which were now also their offices and their kids’ schools and realized something important was missing.
House plants! They are flying off the shelves and out of the garden centers.
The National Gardening Association is fielding half a million questions a week from gardeners.
Good Earth Plant Company is also hearing from our friends running nurseries and my plant styling colleagues across the U.S. there is a run on house plants. Expert gardeners and horticulturalists are being asked tons of plant troubleshooting questions. There is a run on seeds, too.
Here’s another reason I know there are a lot of new plant parents: our blog posts with advice on caring for your plants suddenly have their highest reader numbers since I started my blog in 2012. People need help answering questions, and they are finding their answers here. We’re glad to help!
Want to know what they’re reading? Here are the top six blog posts in the last two months:
Don’t Bug Me! House Plants That Resist Pests
Keep your indoor plants healthy and pest free with gentle cleaning. Photo: Madiase/Flickr – Creative Commons License
Getting Rid of the Fungus Gnats Among Us
You’re not seeing spots, you’re seeing fungus gnats on your plants.
Should I Put My Indoor Plants Outside In The Rain?
Six Ways To Revive a Dying House Plant Before It’s Too Late (uh oh…)
How Long Do Plants Live?
My 43-year-old Marginata. Photo: Bill Meade
When Should I Repot My Plants?
Pottery at the 2019 Tropical Plants Industry Expo in Florida. Photo: Jim Mumford
And… Your Questions About Moss Walls Answered. I’m not sure people are putting up their own moss walls at home, but if you’re interested you know where to find us!
It isn’t a big surprise really. People have an instinctive connection to nature. This is what the science of biophilia is all about. They gravitate to gardening because they are self-soothing, and trying to find a calming, productive activity to distract themselves – and also to improve their surroundings.
House plants were already rising in popularity especially among millennials. Even before the coronavirus kept us indoors for most of the time, people were buying up house plants and also office plants in record numbers. But still, the pandemic is pushing up plant popularity.
If there is one positive outcome to this epidemic, it’s our new appreciation and embrace of nature. When we lost touch with Nature, we felt it – and we took action to bring it inside around us.
I’m hopeful people will continue this trend long after things go back to “normal,” however it gets defined. I hope you will take a house plant you’ve enjoyed while working from home back into the office with you. Talk to your boss and your co-workers – wouldn’t you feel a lot better about being back at work in a healthier, more soothing environment? If you need any help, feel free to pass along this blog post, or this one, or maybe this one too.
Let us know how we can support you – We enrich people’s lives with plants at Good Earth Plant Company!
