Plant Parenthood

Speaker 0 00:00:01 This is my roommate, Erin. Speaker 1 00:00:02 My name is Erin hotter. Speaker 0 00:00:05 Aaron is a proud plant parent. Speaker 1 00:00:07 It's a lot about the vibes. Um, you know, just the aesthetic of having a lot of plants around and appreciating their value for making me happy. Speaker 0 00:00:20 If you had to guess how many plants are in this house, dead or alive? Speaker 1 00:00:25 What would you go? Good question. Maybe like 20, no word. What do you think? Well, what's your guess, like 35, 35. We have Speaker 0 00:00:42 Eucalyptus hanging from our shower Speaker 1 00:00:44 Heads. Yes, we do also dead, but yeah. Speaker 0 00:00:49 Um, I counted and I was actually exactly right. There are 35, 4 alive, 26 dead and five in questionable condition. You see Aaron, isn't a particularly good plant parent. Speaker 1 00:01:01 I love them. I just don't express that love through taking care of them all the time. Speaker 0 00:01:10 In April of last year, Reuters reported that us seed companies were seeing record sales stuck at home because of the coronavirus pandemic. Many Americans were taking up a new hobby gardening, but with limited outdoor space in apartments and dorms, Northwestern students like Aaron stocked up on indoor potted plants with easy to care for succulents dominating the mix. Speaker 2 00:01:31 Um, so I have like a little house plants. Most of them are succulent. Um, some of them are like fighters plants. One of them is like a little Ivy dude. I don't know a lot about them. They're just like little and cute. And I just sit in my apartment. Speaker 0 00:01:47 That's Ryan Mueller. Her mom is an active plants parent. Speaker 2 00:01:51 She wanted me to have plants for air quality and like happiness or something. Speaker 0 00:01:57 Riaz, not as passionate at plant parents as Erin, but she's better at keeping her plant children alive. Speaker 2 00:02:02 I have nine alive plants that I've killed for Speaker 0 00:02:06 Ryan lives alone and says that she would certainly recommend the plant parent lifestyle to other Northwestern students. Speaker 2 00:02:12 I'm gonna call studio. So I think it's nice to have them around. Um, it looks nice. I want like bigger plants. Um, I think that was sort of a cute too. It just makes the space more lively, especially cause it's like gray and sat outside. Speaker 0 00:02:28 It's a strange kind of parenthood. We water them. We give them shelter, but if one dies and no big deal, I want it to talk to a really good plant parent, someone with both Aaron's passion and Riaz watering track record to see if they shared the same indifference toward their children's mortality. I asked around and found student Josh Perry. Speaker 3 00:02:51 I have a Jade plant. His name is Tom. Uh, I've had him since like junior or senior year of high school. And we're best friends. Speaker 0 00:03:01 Josh is without a doubt, a very involved planned. Speaker 3 00:03:04 All right, Tom is kind of short and stout. I had to trim him a little bit because he was getting top heavy. So these kind of like, um, a little bit closer to the ground than he was before, but, um, you know, very round leaves, very like, I don't know. He's very like full bodied. Um, I, I think I sound like a psychopath right now, Speaker 0 00:03:32 Tom. Isn't just another plant to Josh. He's a connection to Speaker 3 00:03:35 Home. Well, Tom is actually basically a gift from a very sweet neighbor. I had, um, she was this like old lady back in my hometown and she gave me a look at cutting her Jade plant. So I have treasured him ever since. Um, if he got sick or like froze to death or I forgot to water him for an extended period of time and he died, I would be very sad. I think I would even be devastated. I'm not sure how I would cope. Speaker 0 00:04:03 I guess what I've learned from reporting on household greenery is that there's no one right way to be a plant parent. If you cherish your one baby. Great. If they're green keeps you sane during gray Evanston winters. Awesome. If your plant children are plastic amazing, you probably won't kill them. But if you're content living in a literal plant graveyard, like I do, that's cool too. Our plants are really here to take care of us, not the other way around for WMUR news. I'm Sarah Kadara.