D LIFE
DISCOVER By Paris Giles
PLANTS HAVE AN ALMOST DIVINE ABILITY TO BREATHE LIFE NOT JUST INTO A ROOM BUT INTO US.
Plant Positive 8 BLAC • AUGUST 2020 • BLACdetroit.com
Fill a hospital room with foliage and watch a patient bounce back more quickly. Maybe it was the prayers – but maybe it was the plants. For Alexis Sims, it was the plants that brought her back to life. Last year, Sims found herself divorced with a weeks-old baby and living in a house under construction. Her mom brought over a couple plants to warm up the space for the baby, but they also served to steady Sims. “Repotting them, watching them grow, cleaning off the leaves, pruning them, all of that just helped me stay in that moment versus having those anxious thoughts where you’re wondering what’s going to happen,” she says. Caring for the plants proved therapeutic for Sims, and, in the year of the bizarre, she thought others may also be able to benefit – and so Leaf Me bloomed on Juneteenth. This online plant boutique responds to the increasingly intimate way in which people, especially young consumers, like to shop. So rather than a swipe-thank you-come again approach, Leaf Me’s plants are available to rent for photo shoots and events, and they also offer repotting and plant styling – which means they’ll show you how best to care for and arrange your new plant in your favorite space. Sims currently sources most of her plants from nurseries in sunshiny states like Florida and California, taking care to consider which will thrive in the homes of her mostly Michigan-based clientele. Though, she has plans to eventually grow her own plants and control the supply chain. “As Black people, we participate as consumers in all these markets, but we really don’t tap in on the business side. So, I thought this was a good opportunity to pay homage to my ancestors” – she says green thumbs run in her family – “and provide this therapeutic service.”
