Of People and Plants by Matthew Wells

Of People and Plants

Of People and Plants by Matthew Wells Bachelor of Design May 2015 DES481: Graphic Design hesis Assistant Professor Jรถrg Becker he University of Illinois at Chicago; School of Design

it, I wondered, that led to this passion for my plant brethren? What would they say to me if they could speak? Perhaps they would speak words of love and companionship or, quite possibly, words of malice at the memory of when I last uprooted them to replant or â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;mutilatedâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; them in act of pruning.

As I lay on my bed, staring around my room and pondering the many things that a person may ponder at days end, I tilt up my head and gaze at the delicate, fern-like leaves of my Grevillae robusta (Silk Oak). Still young and new to the world, it quietly exists in the self-watering Lechuza pot that I placed it in. A few minutes passed, and I nearly found myself anticipating for it to speak to me, to tell me something profound. Turning around, I scanned the rest of my living space, taking a moment to observe the many plant specimens I had collected over the years; from big to small, broad-leafed to wispy-leafed, full-bodied to sparse, some standing irm while others cascade in a symphony of vines that crawl over one another in a pattern of chaotic, yet organized, spatial execution. What was

My mind continued to dive deeper into the topic. Wondering what it was, exactly, that my plants said about me, inluences of culture, relections of personal identity, and thoughts on my own aesthetic taste were the irst to pop into my head. Vague biological and psychological factors followed these notions. How did I come to choose the types of plants that I chose? More than that, I was curious to know

I will irst begin by summarizing insights gained through a series of eight interviews with employees at Sprout Home, a garden center located in Chicago’s West Town neighborhood, and how these insights shed light on various subjects within the topic of people-plant relationships, such as communication, symbolism, history, aesthetics, human behavior, culture, space, and ritual practice.

why I had left a comfortable part-time job of several years in the food industry to pursue a job in gardening and landscape installation. My love for plants themselves, as well as the act of gardening, didn’t come into question too frequently. It wasn’t until I began my research on the topic of plantpeople relationships that I found this to be signiicant to the majority of people: we do not question or consciously analyze the nature that we surround ourselves with, nor do we think twice about the reasons that be. hese very questions ignited my curiosity and, consequently, inspired an investigation that would lead me down a path of incredible insight and personal discovery, one on the relationship between people and plants.

Drawing upon Green Nature/Human Nature: The Meaning of Plants in Our Lives (1996) by author Charles A. Lewis as a primary resource, I will discuss how his indings provide insight into the workings of culture and individual experience, using his examples of evolution, biology, history, psychology, and culture as a means of ar-

licts with the greater scientiic moral law, represent aspects biological, psychological, and spiritual aspects of the relationship between plants and people.

guing for a symbiotic dependency between people and plants, and how the causality of these elements presents, in itself, this relationship. Referencing Tovah Martin’s Once Upon a Windowsill: A History of Indoor Plants (2009), I will briely touch upon the role of the twentieth century Victorian parlor and its signiicance in the integration of houseplants into the middleclass home environment, how plants developed a relationship to certain spaces of the average home, more speciically, the front ‘parlor’ or ‘living room.’ Using The Secret Life of Plants (1989) by Peter Tompkins and Christopher Bird, I will discuss the scientiic experiments conducted in the late twentieth century by Cleve Backster and Marcel Vogel, respectively, and how these experiments, even in their ethical con-

Finally, I will present my own indings from a online survey I conducted based on the various insights given to me through previous research pertaining to personal identity, culture, aesthetic preference, emotional efects, as well as symbolic and sentimental practices, to further relect upon prior insights. his thesis looks at the relationships between people and plants within (but not limited to) the home environment. With historical, cultural, biological, psychological, spiritual, and symbolic context as its

criteria, an understanding of the relationship between people and plants may be exempliied to a cohesive degree. hrough this, I wish to gain meaningful insight into who I am as a person, why I do the things that I do and why I like the things that I like, opening the doors to the mechanisms behind them. As a gardener, landscaper, and plant hobbyist, this has value in deepening my appreciation for how I interact with plants; shaping and expanding my knowledge and perspective on the numerous ways people, both past and present, interact with plants for reasons such as communication, aesthetic design, or even simply inding new reasons to plant a tree.

I felt it important to delve into the mind of those people whose passions and interests in plants could only be described as inspiring, if not slightly eccentric. A series of eight interviews was conducted with employees at Sprout Home, a garden center located in Chicagoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s West Town neighborhood, and my current employer. Opening in 2003, Sprout Home functions as both a plant boutique and a service provider for loral arrangements, garden installation, landscape design, and maintenance for many people living in the city of Chicago. Sprout Home has a second location in the Brooklyn neighborhood of New York in 2007, which is run by Taraâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s friend and business partner Tassy de Give. he employees working at the Chicago location, including myself, could be seen as nothing

To begin to understand the nature of the relationship between people and plants,

“What I like about lowers is that they can never mean anything truly negative,” she explains. Flowers hold various meanings, based on species, color, texture and, through various arrangements, have the potential to communicate things otherwise unspoken of between two people. his practice, known as “loriography,” or the “language of lowers,” 1, has been in used throughout history, even dating back to pre-modern humans. “Our love of lowers, too, is undoubtedly of ancient origin…Excavation of Neanderthal burial sites in Iraq has revealed an abundance of pollen grains in each grave. A sign that lowers were part of that inal act of mortal recognition. Some scientists theorize that the purpose of the lowers was purely practical—allowing the dead to carry a kind of sustenance into

less than self-described “plant enthusiasts.’ Interviewees were asked a series of questions inquiring about their interests on the topic of plants, how they had come to work in the ield, they’re relationships to plants, observations made on customers who come in for help, as well as any notable insight that could be given in relation to the relationship between people and plants. he collective insights given from these interviews have come to shed light on the topic from many angles and from many diferent types of personalities. Ellen, whose responsibilities consist largely of horticultural and loral arrangement, was irst asked what it was that interested her most about plants. She mentioned that, lowers interested her the most.

the next world. But perhaps it relected a basic response that we also share: Might these creatures not have loved lowers simply because they were beautiful? 2. Ellen’s interest in lowers and loriography are strongly tied to the American Victorian era. During this time period, the popularity of using lowers to communicate to one another grew immensely. She had continued on the impact lower language had on interpersonal communication, stating that it was a practice that is still widely used today. Another aspect that interested her was symbolism, using the example of the lily of the Fleur-de-lis, a French symbol with several contextual meanings. Lastly, when asked what observations she’s made in terms of consumer choice, she stated that plants, especially lowers, are trendy,

going in and out of fashion as the years progress. For instance, tilandsias, or ‘air plants,’ are one of the contemporary plants of choice by people today. Terrariums, another example, were quite popular during the 1970’s and now they’re everywhere: restaurants, retail shops, oices, and of course homes. When asked what he found most interesting about plants, Stephen, a gardener and horticulturalist designer at Sprout Home, mentioned that history, beneits on human well-being, and language were of predominant value to him. “Every plant has a history,” he elaborates. He inds it intriguing the way in which plants were irst integrated into the home setting. Field studies conducted by botanists throughout

the nineteenth century inspired a boom in the trade of exotic plant specimens, which further sparked curiosity in people in the West. he growth of the glass manufacturing industry played a strong role in the collection and practice of creating terrariums, many of which graced the homes of the Victorian family. Botany and horticulture have stayed consistent throughout history, something that Stephen inds curious. On well-being, he simply puts it that, “plants make me happy.” In terms of language, he inds that the Latin nomenclature as a standard in the scientiic community will occasionally become mixed and conlicted as to serve whichever colloquial spin put on it by various botanists. When asked about his observations on customers who come in, Stephen notes that their curiosities are

often “supericial,” and that consumers tend to care more about the aesthetics of plants above anything else. When asked what his thoughts were on the relationships between people and plants, he states that relection of personality, sentimentality, and symbolism are of key value. Sentimentality and the emotions evoked when one presses lowers or plants a tree in memoriam acts as a powerful connection, a connection that is made through the symbolic act using nature as the medium. In addition to this, Stephen recalls a moment when a customer came into Sprout Home and, with a wind of excitement and happiness, notices that one of the plants being sold was a species native to her home country.

In my interview with Tara Heibel, the owner of Sprout Home, I decided to ask her why she started the business. She answered that the decision came from a need for an urban plant shop with “nontraditional aesthetic values,” as well as a need for a larger inventory of plants not otherwise found in the majority of plant shops. It also stemmed from the need for a “like-minded community” of creative people, creating a place for novice gardeners and more advanced gardeners who enjoyed art, design and craft. When asked what interested her most about plants in their relationships with people, she noted that it was the partaking in the symbiotic relationship with nature, both inside and outside the home, as this interaction with nature is otherwise incapable of being truly

obtained in the urban environment/lifestyle. In terms of her personal relationship with her own plants, no speciic relationship was present. Rather, it was a curiosity, especially for that of “exotic specimens” and, what she describes as the “odd types.” “he ‘odd’ types hold more interest, as nature in itself is ‘odd.’” When asked about her observations on consumer interest and behavior, she estimates a 50/50 split between ‘creative-type’ novice gardeners and avid gardeners. he “avenue of expression,” Tara states, “is something that draws those people in, welcoming them into a sense of larger community.” When asked what she considered important factors when arranging plants within a living space, she answers that this is solely dependent on the individual. For one, practicality within

the environment is key. Plants within the living space provide an “environmental connection,” the same “symbiotic relationship with nature” as previously mentioned. “Design direction,” another factor, embodies the aesthetic taste and intent of a person. he “projection of the individual,” similar to Stephen’s belief that plants relect their owner’s personality, comes into play when one buys a plant and places it within the home environment. Lastly, depending on the intent of the plant owner and their aesthetic preferences, some people will either “spotlight” their plants, making the plants a focal point within the home, while others prefer not to. When asked what interested him most about plants, Jef, a landscape architect,

noted that farming, cultivation, psychology, and efects on human well-being were most interesting to him. he act, more speciically, of farming was personally signiicant. Jill, another landscape architect, inds her interests lying in the arrangement of space. he act of creating spaces for people and, subsequently, creating the “sense of place,” as can be seen in green systems within urban systems, such as New York’s Central Park. his, she noted, creates an “intimacy” between people, an “intimacy,” between people and nature, and an “intimacy” between nature and urban environments. Jessica, who works primarily in loral and horticultural arrangement, states that what interests her most are the acts between peo-

ple, with plants as the medium, which hold symbolic and sentimental value. One such example, “living heirlooms,” are plants passed down in inheritance or as gifts from seeds or cuttings, were an act of sharing, friendship, community, good will, and that such actions held to a “priceless” sentimental quality. When asked what type of inferences she could make on consumer behavior, she pointed out a trend in “bettering oneself,” that healthy trends and the need for clean air. Trends in healthy lifestyles, to Jessica, seemed to inluence people’s needs to buy plants, including which plants they bought. his led her to raise the question, “why do people choose plants over things?” Plants, as living organisms, hold a higher priority over non-living objects. Not only that, but the feelings evoked when observ-

ing plants and nurturing them, the fulillment in watching them grow, the way they spark creativity within the minds of people, and the fact that plants were responsive to the care given to them by their human counterparts, were all beneicial on a physical, mental, and emotional range. When asked what interested her most about plants, Emily, a gardener and landscaper, told a story about how she had not always been interested in plants. One day, Emily’s roommate brought home a houseplant. At irst, she didn’t care much for the plant. To her, plants were simply “things.” When the plant died, however, Emily found herself wanting to know why this happened. Her curiosity sparked, and suddenly she saw plants as more than just

“things.” As time went by, Emily had begun collecting houseplants as a hobby. She decided to get a job at Chicago’s Gethsemane Garden Center, working through art school and simultaneously pursuing her newfound interest in gardening. Emily has stated that she’s happier around plants, and that this was noticeable to both family and friends. She believes that the act of taking care of plants can counter feelings of loneliness, and that this act is, in her own words, a “cathartic” experience. She believes that plants provide an opportunity to feel nurturing to another living thing on a physical level, while not requiring any emotional commitment, as plants have no emotional needs. In addition to the positive efects on a person’s well-being, Emily mentions that her interests also stem from

a desire to learn from plants and that this type of education is “valuable” and relates to her personal interests in environmentalism. She concludes that both plants and human beings are “primal,” sharing similar biological functions, and are afected by similar external and environmental factors. Plants and people, she believes, share more similarities than what is often initially perceived. he last of the interviews was with Michael, a gardener and landscaper, and when asked what he found most interesting about plants and gardening, he answered that his interest comes less from thought, and more from intuition. Gardening is a part of his identity, as he describes it. He enjoys being outside, teaching others, as well as learning

new things everyday. When asked what he appreciates most about the experience, he mentioned that it was the physical labor that gives him the most satisfaction. When asked about the inferences he can make based on his experiences with customers, he believes that when people come to buy a plant, they often buy plants to produce a “natural climate” within their living spaces. he act of keeping plants within the home may relect the perceived ideal space that someone wants to live in. He notes that this is one reason people enjoy tropical plants in their home, because it reminds them of warmer, perhaps more exotic, environments. hrough this, he says, people can recreate their personal “Eden” in their very own homes. Ironically, Michael owns not a single plant. “he last

thing I want to do when I get home from work is take care of more plants,” he said with a laugh. From these interviews, many themes, some overlapping, emerged. From eight diferent perspectives at least seventeen concepts pertaining to people and plants came to light. he history, symbolism, language, aesthetics, consumer trends, psychology, design, community, space, agriculture, sentimentality, emotion, mentality, health and lifestyle trends, personality, culture, and ritual practices including ceremonial treeplanting and “living heirlooms” all spoke of the complexity of the connection we, as people, have to plants and nature.

In his book, Green Nature / Human Nature: The Meaning of Plants in Our Lives (1996)3, the late Charles A. Lewis, examines the topic of people and plant relationships irst by arguing an ancient relationship to nature, one held by the ancestors of human beings today 4. Evolutionarily speaking, Lewis argues that peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s relationship with plants begins with the ancestors of humans and how their evolution was completely dependent on how they interpreted the changes that occurred within their natural settings 5. his helped them ind adequate environments, which were rich in food, water, and provided protection from the elements and predators. he changes in season could also be observed, signifying a precursor to scarcity in vital resources, changes in animal migrations,

and harsh weather. hese changes also signiied a precursor to a growing abundance of those same vital resources 6. he relationship to be found here is a fundamental part of how the human species came to be. Humans,â&#x20AC;&#x2122; and their ancestorsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; relationship to nature was one of commensalism. Humans and their ancestors needed nature, however, nature did not need humans. At this point in history, nature was lucky enough to be unscathed by the problematic overwhelm of humanity that exists today. Before this, when the earth was young and life was just beginning to ledge, there may have been a crossover in the biological origin of plant and animal. Lewis points out that scientists have made discoveries that strongly compare the chlorophyll molecules

Gardeners, predecessor of the Royal Horticultural Society, was formed in response to this burgeoning fascination with exotic lora,” Lewis writes. 10 he relationship to be found here is one of human curiosity and fetish. In my opinion, the Eurocentric mindset of the seventeenth century and the colonization of the New World may be its catalyst. he same fascination with the ‘Other’ human being as ‘exotic’ and needFast forward to the seventeenth century. ing of ‘domestication’ comes to parallel the People’s curiosity in the botanical world exploration and trade of lora during this takes of as English explorers and botatime in history, though; the trade of lora nists, in their expeditions to the ‘exotic’ cannot be compared to the numbers of huNew World, discover many a new species of plants. hey promptly do as the spirit of man lives afected by colonization and slave the time insisted: they shipped them back trade. here was an interest in everything home 9. As these previously unknown spec- non-European. hings were to be collected, imens became known to people in the west and plants were no exception. their curiosity lourished. “he Society of

of plants to the hemoglobin found in mammalian blood plasma 7. To this he argues that there may be a “common origin” between plant and animal. he relationship to be found here is biological, and presents a possible connection between the two distinct organisms that binds them in an imperceptible way. 8

Scroll forward to present day. If Lewis’s arguments on evolutionary and biological relationships were to be considered, then what should be made of culture and its impact on people and plant relationships? According to Lewis, the answer comes as a mix of both biology and culture. 11 People’s clear preferences for natural scenes as opposed to urban scenes have been well documented 12, but this preference alone may further be dissected.13 People, Lewis summarizes, prefer “diversity” in species, “mixed borders,” “open woods,” and “order,” rather than the latter. 14 he relationship to be found here could be hastily described as ‘aesthetic’ preference, but taking into account the possible evolutionary signiicance wherein humans and their ancestors heavily depended on the language

of a landscape for survival, it begs a primal purpose. his concept might be so simple; then again, these studies referenced were cross-cultural. 15 Lewis states that, our initial perceptions of an object are interpreted through sensory experiences. What we see, hear, smell, touch, and taste determines our experiences, and these experiences determine what we come to feel and think of said objects, thus creating some form of relationship between person and object. 16 Apart from these senses, the exchange of culture may also come to afect how a person experiences something. Lewis uses the Ailanthus altissima, as an example demonstrating the paradigms of diferent global and social environments. He mentions that American

landscape architects dislike the plant, inding it unit for their designs. To those who live in the “inner city” where life is harsh and socio-economic struggle is rampant, this plant, which is known for its weedlike persistence and resilience, is seen as a “survivor,” rather than a nuisance. To those in the Netherlands and Korea, he states, the tree is seen as desirable and commonly planted in parkways. 17 As a personal anecdote relating to Lewis’s own experiences, I recall the time when I was irst learning the ropes of gardening and landscaping maintenance. To my humility, I would often have to call on my co-workers to aid me in properly identifying what was a ‘weed’ and what was not. Every so often, I would stumble upon a

rather charming specimen while gardening. Sometimes these plants had interesting shapes or beautiful lowers that captivated my attention. Sometimes they stood their ground and blended so well into the lora around them that I couldn’t so easily discern them from the intended garden. What is a weed? then, I thought. he image of the typical weed, in my mind, was malevolent in intent and riddled with thorns that would stab the lesh, followed by an outcry of pain and frustration. As most people are taught when they are young, weeds are not good things. Weeds make gardens ugly and harm plants. While, yes, weeds are, in fact, invasive and parasitic in nature, they, too, are plants and whether or not they are considered ‘ugly’ is purely subjective. Something I had heard growing up sums up the

We have been taught to understand the world in terms of subject and object. What we are trying to envision in people-plant interactions is a unity, person and plant It would be a rare occurrence to meet a joined together, the human experience of person who warmly welcomes weeds into their garden, but what of the garden itself? a non-human object.” Here exists a relahe act of gardening, according to Lewis, tionship between people and plants that is formed from the action of gardening. exists as one of the closest relationships people have with plants 18. He writes, “Our Gardening has many functions, whether participation through physical and mental it is community-oriented, food, therapy, investment draws us into a deeper level of physical activity, or meditation. he act in itself is the key proponent in maintaining experience, creating a closer plant-person a true relationship, in some ways symbirelationship than occurs for passive obotic, in other ways commensal. Either way, servers. he most intimate person-plant the outcome is positive and the beneits in relationship occurs in gardening, where well-being, community, physical activity, we personally participate in maintaining green nature. We water and fertilize, pinch and meditation are achieved. and stake, and note the color and size of leaves to determine the success of our care. question raised here: “Is a weed considered a weed in a forest?”

Building on the historical relationship between plant and person as described by Lewis, reference should be made to the trend that arose in American culture during the Victorian era that had stemmed from the boom in exotic lora trade and loriography. In her book, Once Upon a Windowsill: A History of Indoor Plants (2009) 20, Tovah Martin discusses how, exactly, houseplants as we know them now, came to be. She describes the role than the “middle class Victorian family” played in the integration of plants into the home, and that this was not instantaneous. 21 “he houses along Main Street may vary in size and grandeur—they were not the best homes in town nor the worst. hey were the residences of the professionals, the tradesmen and merchants, the

average citizens in the area. hey were constructed, decorated and inhabited by families who had come a long way, but still had much further to travel. heir original occupants toiled long hours to provide the wherewithal to inance such a home and furnish such a room. hose abodes embodied every man’s little piece of Paradise—his personal Eden.”22 Plants were likely to be housed in the front parlor back then, as the parlors functioned in the same way as the ‘living rooms’ of today.23 he parlor was a place for social gathering—a speciic space within the home that was dedicated to interpersonal interaction, leisure, and entertaining. If the nature of the Victorian parlor is to be considered as relective of the home environment, a “hearth” as the author puts it, then what resided in that

ited a response to danger or threat. First, he tried dunking a leaf into steaming hot cofee. here was no response. Next, he thought of burning a leaf. According to Backster, the readings on the graph made a sudden and dramatic change.26 What was interesting to Backster was that he had not yet acted on his intentions. Upon leaving to grab matches and then reenterIn their book, The Secret Life of Plants ing the room, additional activity from 24 (1989) , Peter Tompkins and Christopher the graph occurred. As he burnt the leaf, there was slight activity from the graph, Bird compose an anthology of scientiic experiments that investigate the possibility but less of it. Pretending to burn the leaf, that plants may be higher forms of life then Backster found no response. He concluded previously thought. It began with what was that plants must have some ability to read known as the “Backster Efect”.25 In 1966, people’s minds and perceive their intenCleve Backster attached electrodes from his tions.27 While today, the scientiic commugalvanometer onto one of the leaves of his nity sees Backster’s experiments as ‘pseudracaena, curious to see if the plant elicdoscience’; the very idea that sparked his space more than likely had a function as well. Hence, a relationship between people and plants is formed through the function of a space that itself has a speciic role in people’s daily lives. Today, the ‘parlor palm,’ or Chamaedorea elegens, stands as a living example of this period in time just by its colloquial name alone.

curiosities was as honest as a gardener’s love for gardening. Backster wanted to know if plants could react, and, subsequently communicate with him. His initial thought was that ESP, or extrasensory perception, was a deinite possibility.28 Marcel Vogel, a research chemist 29 who had conducted similar experiments and was drawn to a similar conclusion. “What particularly fascinated Vogel were Mesmer’s theory of a universal luid whose equilibrium or disturbance explained health or disease…and the postulates of various writers on ‘psychic energy,’ a term popularized by Carl Jung, who, though he diferentiated it from physical energy, believed it to be incommensurable”.30 Others have conducted their own versions of the experiment, and arising themes included of, “electromagnetic” com-

munication, and inter-dimensional energies within a “fourth dimensional, nonmaterial world”.31 Here, the relationship between plants and people can be seen, theoretically, as an otherwise, perhaps universal, factor unbe knownst to modern science. To Backster and Vogel, the relationship was “psychic,” yet unspeciied whether it be of biological, psychological, or even spiritual functioning. To others, it was possible that the relationship rests within a diferent, or higher realm of physical existence. Communication, however, is the key idea. here are those out in the world that desire to know what connection people have to plants, and if there were, wonder how to best utilize this resource.

Putting to work the collective insights gained from both interviews and readings, I conducted an online survey entitled, “Of People and Plants,” 32 beginning with a few key concepts: personality, culture, and aesthetic preferences. When asked whether they were ‘introverted’ or ‘extraverted,’ 54% described themselves as ‘introverted,’ while 34% listed ‘extroverted,’ and 11% listed ‘both.’ When asked which, if any, culture they identiied with, the majority of respondents listed ‘American’ as their answer. All answers, however, pertained strictly to heritage. his question was also skipped the most by respondents, signifying that ‘culture’ was either not important to people or something they did not think about consciously. When asked to select their aesthetic preferences, a great majority

of respondents listed ‘simplicity,’ ‘functionality,’ and ‘organic’ among others. Respondents were also questioned whether or not they owned any houseplants, and, if so, how many. Answers given ranged from 0 to over 200. “Contentment,” “peace of mind,” and “self-empowering responsibility,” were common emotions felt when people tended to their plants. “Visual interest,” “appreciation for nature,” and “desire to nurture,” were common reasons respondents listed for owning plants. When asked to describe the actual relationships they had with their plants, people mainly listed “simple,” humble,” “aesthetic,” and “emotional.” 50% of respondents they themselves had, or knew someone who had, received or given living plants through inheritance or gifts. Lastly, 40% of respondents had a tree planted at

cal, mental, emotional, cultural, spiritual, sentimental, aesthetic, sensory, commensal, and symbiotic. All have meaning and all serve a diferent function. hat function depends on the person. By exploring the People and plants share many relationships, it seems. When life began on earth, historical, cultural, biological, psychohumans and plants may have had common logical, spiritual, and symbolic contexts in origin. he early humans and their ances- which people interact with plants within tors learned to read the natural landscape and outside of the home environment, I believe that an understanding can be made in order to survive. English explorers personal identity, behavior, and the mechaduring the seventeenth century collected plants, inspiring trends back home. Victori- nisms behind them. Appreciation grows an middleclass families shaped their home in unison with changes of perspective and environment by welcoming plants into the an increase in awareness. his, in turn, leads to new opportunities for self-growth parlor. Scientists, eager to ind newways of communicating with plants, conducted and seeing the same thing a million diferent ways, much like a tree whose branches experiments to do so. In so many words, these relationships can be described as evo- grow to accommodate the ebb and low of lutionary, biological, psychological, physi- life itself. their birth or the death of a loved one or saved lowers and plants from weddings and funerals.

Works Cited 1. http://www.prolowers.com/blog/loriography-language-lowers-victorianera 2. Lewis, Charles A. Green Nature/human Nature: The Meaning of Plants in Our Lives. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1996. / Rose S. Solecki, “Shanadar IV: A Neanderthal Burial Site in Northern Iraq,” Science 28 (1975): 880-81 3. Lewis, Charles A. Green Nature/human Nature: The Meaning of Plants in Our Lives. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1996. 4.Ibid., 23 5. Ibid., 13 6. Ibid. 7. Ibid., 4 8. Ibid. 9. Ibid., 27 10. Ibid. 11. Ibid., 19 12. Ibid., Roger Ulrich, “Natural versus Urban Scenes: Some Psychological Efects,” Environment and Behavior 13 (September 1981): 523-66; Stephen Kaplan, Rachel Kaplan, and John S. Wendt, “Rated Preference and Complexity for Natural and Urban Visual Material,” Perception and Psychophysics 12, no.14 (1972): 354-56 13. Ibid., Stephen Kaplan, “Environmental Preference in a Knowledge-seeking, Knowledge-using Organism,” in The Adapted Mind: Evolutionary Psychology and Generation of Culture, ed Jerome H. Barlow, Leda Cosmides, and John Tooby (New York: Oxford University Press, 1992), 590. 14. Ibid., 13-14 15. Ibid. 16. Ibid., 25 17. Ibid., 26 18. Ibid., 49 19. Martin, Tovah. Once upon a Windowsill: A History of Indoor Plants.

Portland, Or.: Timber Press, 1988. 20. Ibid., 1 21. Ibid., 6 22. Ibid., 5-6 23. Tompkins, Peter, and Christopher Bird. The Secret Life of Plants. New York: Harper & Row, 1973. 24. Ibid., 4 25. Ibid., 5 26. Ibid. 27. Ibid., 6 28. Ibid., 17 29. Ibid., 19 30. Ibid., 44-45 31. Wells, Matthew. “Of People and Plants,” Online Survey.

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