A New York Times writer and editor recently suggested houseplants as a cure for loneliness.
How can you mend a broken heart? For one New York Times associate editor, the path to healing started with houseplants, specifically pothos.
In the newspaper’s regular “I Recommend” column, Jazmine Hughes recently suggested that the humble houseplant deserved more credit.
“ is among the hardiest houseplants and thus one of the most common: My bodega has one, my laundromat has two and my own home, I am somewhat ashamed to confess, now has three,” she wrote. “A pothos is an undemanding plant, capable of thriving in various light strengths (bright, indirect, low) and hosts (sitting water, soil). They are easy to find — you can get them in a grocery store — easy to pot, easy to prune and near-impossible to kill. It is the perfect plant to lend to a mildly depressed spinster with a black thumb, a black heart and nothing else to do.”
Hughes goes on to note that there’s been a noticeable uptick in interest in gardening and houseplant in recent years: Five million Americans between 18 and 34 took up gardening for the first time in 2015; in all, 37 percent of millennials are growing plants and herbs indoors.
Read Hughes’ entire entertaining column, which includes info on how that first pothos became a “gateway drug” to 25 additional plants.
The column could be great fodder for your social media pages—or consider referencing Hughes’ pathos love in your next blog, with a link to university research from the Society of American Florists that proves the health benefits of flowers and plants.
Look for much more on the new wave of plant love, along with insight from florists who are successfully finding and selling unique houseplants, in the July issue of Floral Management.
