Roots Planted

BY ALEX DE VORE alex@sfreporter.com

Studies have shown music can have an effect on plant growth, but it might not work the way you think. Plants, of course, lack ears, so the how and why of the effect of music on their growth really comes down to vibrational stimuli. In other words, sound waves, particularly musical sound waves, can reportedly alter a plant’s destiny, or at least how their cells jive within their structure, through vibration. Some claim certain types of plants prefer certain styles of music over others (eg, gentle songs versus harsher styles; classical versus metal). And though it’s an interesting line of thought to follow, it does not likely have realistic real-world applications in most cases. The vast majority of nurseries don’t much have the time to worry about curating musical experiences for their offerings; plants, music or no, are going to grow. But there’s still something to the idea, and those who love and/or care for flora are finding interesting ways to merge music and botany.

Enter Chlorophyll Fine Houseplants (922 Shoofly St. Unit B, chlorophyllfinehouseplants.com) at the Trailhead in the Baca Street Railyard (right across from Cafécito)—a combination retail shop for all types of houseplants and musical gallery owned by local enthusiasts/self-taught horticulturists, botanists and life partners, Mara Lafferty and Daniel Murphy. Chlorophyll has its roots in both world travel and the stricter days of the COVID lockdowns. Today, it’s just about two years old, but years prior to that whole world health crisis thing, Murphy and Lafferty spent several months in Madrid, Spain, circa 2008—where Murphy was born. While there, Lafferty explains, the couple lived mere blocks from and would often visit the Royal Botanic Garden, where they developed a deep love for lesser-seen plants, tropical varieties and other wildcard plants, and for the possibilities of transforming interior spaces into greenery-laden paradises.

“When you see 500-year-old trees that were planted by Prince Phillip...that was something that made us bring more plants into our home,” Murphy adds.

Around the time they returned to the states, Lafferty dug in to the world

Chlorophyll Fine Houseplants grows its scope at the intersection of botany and music

of plants. She took a job with Santa Fe Greenhouses, then, later, with Newman’s Nursery and Payne’s Nursery. At the latter, she worked her way up to the manager of tropical plants before kicking off her own business, Frond Plantscapes. The endeavor began as a service to bring more exotic plants into homes and businesses, with Lafferty handling their care and maintenance through regular house calls.

“It really started out as going to people’s homes and helping them fix their plant problems,” Lafferty explains. “In a place like Florida, it’s a normal part of the industry of restaurants, hotels—plants are implied and assumed for interiors.”

Though Lafferty would gravitate back to nursery work while becoming a selfmade botanist and horticulturist, the idea to create her own brick and mortar business persisted, even as COVID lockdowns spawned more Santa Feans looking to beautify their home interiors, many of whom made use of Lafferty’s services. Frond Plantscapes made way for Chlorophyll.

“The plants made me do it, for real,” she says with a laugh. “Several times I tried to quit working with plants, but they pulled me back in.”

For Murphy’s part, his grandfather Jonas Kolker was a Freudian psychiatrist with a borderline obsessive bonsai hobby. According to Murphy, his grandfather’s love of bonsai stewardship led him to amass quite a collection and he bequeathed 70 of his own trees to the Smithsonian, which would play a role in the founding of the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum in Washington, DC. That history, coupled with the Spain trip, set up Murphy to be a lifetime aficionado. Still, as a one-time member of local mathy metal act Fields of Elysium—and a celebrated solo master of improvisational and experimental guitar-based music—his contributions to Chlorophyll are twofold: both as an expert in plants and as a recording artist. The store is open Wednesday through Sunday, and each day Murphy records a 16-minute piece of music based in ambient loops, audio effects and improvisation (think Brian Eno’s Music for Airports, but, like, for plants). That piece plays during business hours and he destroys it at the end of the day, similar to the ethos of the gorgeous yet impermanent sand mandala. Murphy offers, however, a permanent collection of songs—the aptly titled Welcome to Chlorophyll, which features similarly effects-laden compositions that evoke his relationship to plant life.

Today, the marketplace for a local shop specializing in houseplants continues to evolve. Lafferty no longer travels to clients’ homes and Murphy’s improv pieces have grown more refined. Chlorophyll holds a USDA license to source certain plants from sustainable growers, too, with Lafferty and Murphy even cultivating their own seeds for potential future sale, though those might just as easily wind up in their personal collection. The greenery spilling across the walls, floors and shelves and casting enticing smells throughout the space makes it a lovely shop.

“Without plants there would be nothing,” Lafferty muses. “Almost everything we interact with is a plant—our food, utensils, rubber...”

“Even if you eat meat, your meat is eating plants,” Murphy adds. “This is leading into what we see as a possible tropical conservatory here in Santa Fe, with public access, educational tours and resources to understand habitats and eco commerce.”

That’s down the road, of course. And at least for now, both are happy to surround themselves with plants, to drink it all in.

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