For those of you who have plants in your home, have you noticed that your plants don’t look as healthy after you return home from a trip? I have consistently noticed in the past year that whenever I go on a trip, at least one of my plants is drooping, exhibiting brown leaf edges, or some other sign of less than optimal health.  I didn’t mind it quite as much last winter, when I only had six plants inside my residence, but by my second out of town trip in September, I had over 30 plants, and wasn’t very pleased by the fact that I came home to see half a dozen droopy, sad plants.  Four of my plants swung back to perfect health within three days, while two of them ended up in the houseplant graveyard.  Thing is, I was only gone for four days, and I returned the day before my regular weekly plant watering day.

Then in November, I made another four-day trip, and by that time I had over 50 plants.  I scheduled my trip so that I would once again return home the day before my weekly plant watering/assessment day, yet I once again returned to a number of plants which were not looking very happy.  I’m thankful that they bounced back to health, but I still can’t figure out why this keeps happening.

I only devote one hour, one day per week, to assess the watering needs of my plants, water the ones which need a drink, spray orchid plant food on all my Hoyas (Hoyas love it), and rotate the pots by 90 degrees clockwise.  I don’t fuss over my plants daily like some people do, not because I don’t care about my plants, but because my plate is always so full that I avoid plants which are fussy and require that type of attention.

 

Now that my indoor plant collection exceeds 100, I truly wonder what would  happen if I were to take a short trip out of town.  And though plants don’t have feelings per se, why is it that my plants are so much healthier and perkier when I spend more time at home?  As weird as this may sound, I’m almost convinced that plants pick up on our energies, and since I admire my now sizeable plant collection and appreciate every single specimen, I believe my plants sense that.  I know that in general, I have a very green thumb, and had discovered that talent about a quarter century ago, but my recent foray back into houseplant cultivation somehow seems different.  I feel much more connected to the plants in my home, and though I don’t talk to them, simply looking at them makes me happy.  I think they know how I feel.

I read this comment on a blog post about plants on The Smiling Gardener which I found quite interesting:

 

Feel free to check out the links below, both of which explore the idea of whether plants have feelings.  At the very least, there is scientific evidence that plants send chemical signals to each other through the air or soil.  Could my plants be chatting it up about how groovy my home is, how the humidity and the grow lights and natural light are (hopefully) just right?

https://www.houseplantscorner.com/post/do-plants-get-lonely

https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/do-plants-have-feelings-expert-answer