LIFESTYLE
BUSINESS IS BLOOMING How a passion for plants turned into Seicho Plant Co. CHLOE MACEACHERN cmaceachern@cjournal.ca
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ailey Koyata has loved plants since she was just a child. When Koyata moved out, she began collecting more plants in her home. This helped her realize just how beneficial they were. But it took that pandemic and a job loss to turn her passion into a business: Seicho Plant Co. While the business may only be a few months old, Koyata’s love of plants began early. “My grandparents were really huge gardeners and then my grandma was really huge into flowers and indoor plants so I’ve kind of always been around plants,” says Koyata. “They pretty much transformed their entire backyard into a garden.” In particular, Koyata can remember “walking through all the slats of everything and just like walking in between all the rows of vegetables and stuff and being like, ‘This is so cool. They just have everything here.’” Despite a strong attachment to plants early on, Koyata says she didn’t start keeping her own plants until after she moved to Calgary from Lethbridge. She adds that she “just started getting them more for the aesthetic.” Eventually, Koyata began noticing her plants were affecting her mood and mental health. “It’s actually crazy how much plants can really help with your stress and anxiety,” she says. “It’s definitely helped with the stress and anxiety of COVID, having yourself surrounded by plants.” That’s because working with her plants lets her “focus on something that I can actually control which is watering the plants and taking care of them and watching them flourish even if I’m not.”
18 MAY/JUNE 2021
CALGARYJOURNAL.CA
Koyata says her plants have helped her cope with the challenges brought on by COVID PHOTO: BAILEY KOYATA
