I felt tempted to start this post by listing all the cliches about millennials that I could possibly think of, complete with a list of all the industries they’re killing. Alas, I’ll spare both myself and you from this unwanted taxonomy of millennial shortcomings. And if I could call this demographic group any other way, I would. But somehow the headline “people aged 20-38 also enjoy growing houseplants” doesn’t have the same ring to it.
It turns out that millennials are bringing back houseplants … with a vengeance. And not only are the newspapers taking notice (just as I’m writing this, The New York Times has published a post about plant-loving millennials at home and at work; The Washington Post noticed the same trend a few months back), but so are vendors.
What’s the houseplant attraction, you ask. Let me count the ways (and the whys):
1. Millennials are people too renters.
In 2016, the share of Americans under 35 years old who owned a home was 35 percent, according to Pew Research center. A vast majority of this generation is renting their accommodation, either because they want to keep the flexibility and mobility of a short-term lease, or simply because home ownership is an unattainable goal.
Being at the beck-and-call of landlords or rental agencies is not exactly the height of freedom when it comes to making your house feel like a home.
Rental units often don’t allow pets. And if they do, the unit comes at a steep price. One apartment I rented in a mid-size U.S. city asked for an extra $200 for your first cat plus double the security deposit. I didn’t have a cat at the time, but if I had, Madam Fluffy McMeow would have had to earn her own living – perhaps through a feline YouTube channel of sorts.
We still have the urge to take care of something – preferably a living something – so this is the point when we turn to houseplants to satisfy that itch. (Fingers crossed that landlords don’t catch on to that and slap a fee on flower pots per square foot.)
2. Millennials like gardening, but can’t afford it.
Let’s stick to the topic of renting in the city. A lot of millennials don’t live in places where gardening is easily accessible. We happily walk to the farmer’s market (if we’re lucky) and support local growers, but we can’t afford to start a garden.
There’s no getting into the housing market for us, and even if we do, places near cities (you know, where the jobs are) rarely have a plot for gardening. (Who am I to have a backyard? Rockefeller?) Growing houseplants is the next best thing to satisfy our green thumb itch.
Yes, we like the perks of living in cities. But we also want to be close to nature. And we can’t really afford to take our Patagonia gear on hikes as often as we’d like to. So we substitute that by bringing in a bit of nature to look at every night.
3. Millennials live digital lives.
I, like virtually 90 percent of my millennial friends and acquaintances, spend 10-12 hours a day in front of a screen. When I’m away from my laptop, I’m probably checking another screen, usually my phone.
This is part choice and part necessity. I need to spend time in front of a computer for work, but also for basic maintenance chores (such as paying bills or looking up a recipe for dinner), and for keeping in touch with my friends and family who are spread out all over the world. (Even my mother now prefers a video call to a phone call.)
Amidst all this pixelation of life, I’m craving a non-digital existence, something an older millennial like myself would call “IRL.”
In my non-digital life, I want tangible objects that I can take care of and nurture. And since there’s only so much love and care I can give to my Chemex (my coffee pour over pitcher), plants are the solution.
Plant-ownership forces me to disconnect, if only for a few fleeting minutes, from the pull of the myriad of notifications with which I’m playing a losing game of whack-a-mole. After all, there’s only so much screen tapping I can do when my fingers are buried in a pot of dirt.
4. Millennials are looking for mindfulness.
Speaking of living a hectic digital life, that often translates to having countless mental browser tabs open when I lay my head down at night. I need to meditate for my own mental well-being. (There’s a reason why Headspace ads have been following me everywhere I go online for the past six months.)
Meditation doesn’t always come easy, but taking care of houseplants does. There’s something restorative and contemplative to watering, repotting and dusting plants. I can’t exactly tell you why it happens, but ask any houseplant enthusiasts and they’ll confirm it.
5. Millennials crave community and connections.
As millennials – chasers of opportunities and passions, but sometimes just stuck where the job market is – we often live our lives away from family and lifelong friends. I currently live hundreds of miles away (in all directions) from my parents, my sibling, and most of my college friends. And that is a gap I feel every single day. And it pushed me to chase connection and community based on common interests.
But throughout nurturing this houseplant hobby of mine, I’ve discovered that the houseplant community is a positive one, with people helping each other, offering each other tips, and generally being nice and encouraging. And let’s face it, that’s becoming a rarity in online communities.
Do these interactions with strangers replace the banter with the close friends I’ve grown apart from? Not entirely. But the casual chats do drip some human connection into a void that would otherwise be poorly filled with Netflix marathons and avocado toast. (Ha! I pity the fool who thought they’d read an article about millennials with no mention of this faux budget-buster – I’ve sneakily inserted at the end, yo!)
What I’ve been trying to say for the past 1000 words or so is this: millennials have just been bitten by the houseplant bug, and it’s not going away soon. You can bet your next disruptive startup idea on it.
Photos by Brina Blum on Unsplash
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