If Pets are the New Babies, Plants are the New Pets
Why the recent cult obsession with houseplants?
In the last few years, and especially during the pandemic, houseplants have seen a huge boom in popularity. A recent survey found that 12% of people who had purchased a houseplant since March 2020 were first-time plant buyers. A quick scroll through social media reflects the trend, too, with plant stylists like Hilton Carter garnering almost 500K Instagram followers and a Target line, and plant memes seeing reposts by the thousands. When it comes to home decor, plants are officially a staple. Why is that?
Attention to Home Aesthetic
Most millennials are reaching a phase of life when home aesthetic and interior decor take high priority. Although houseplants earn more affection and emotional attachment than a wall hanging might, they are still, in part, an artistic choice and a vehicle for expressing the homeowner’s personality. Plants have a way of brightening up a space and bringing other elements of a room together, and tying in natural elements with aspects of modern design has a stunning effect.
Recent Lifestyle Shifts
Many young adults practice a fairly more transient lifestyle than previous generations did, changing jobs and homes and even states more frequently. It’s easier to move a few plants than it is to pack up a child’s room or even to transport a few pets across multiple state lines.
Millennials travel more than their parents used to, too, so they look toward pastimes that don’t require nonstop care. We want something to look after, something to nurture - but also something we can leave alone in the house for a week or so while we go visit our friends in Europe. Plants tick those boxes with ease.
Still, the question remains: why now, in the past year, have houseplants seen this popularity hike? Like most trends of 2020, COVID-19 seems to be the culprit. For starters, people simply had more time at home to look after and think about plants. Not only were we more invested in making our homes feel nice, but we also trusted our schedules enough to know we’d be home to water, repot, and care for our new leafy friends. Plus, with air quality top-of-mind like never before, the air filtration and oxygen-providing benefits of keeping houseplants played a huge role as well.
Self-Sustainability
Boosted in part because of the pandemic but also because of growing concerns about the environment and consumer-driven damage to it, a push toward self-sustainability also plays a role in the popularity of houseplants. In the survey mentioned above, 57% of people who purchased houseplants since March 2020 reported doing so to grow their own food.
Especially in a time when our hobbies were mostly confined to our homes, decorating and growing food with live plants became understandably common. Something to care for and direct our attention to, and to watch grow day by day, offered peace and a sense of control that was difficult to find for a while.
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