Plants are the New Millennial “Pet”
Millennials // Boomers made fun of us for spending our money on avocado toast, Gen Z makes fun of us for our middle parts and skinny jeans.
Most of us millennials are in our late 20s/early 30s and we are thriving in our “adult money” phase. A lot of us are choosing to have kids later in life (or maybe not at all). A lot of us are renting and we’re hoping to buy a home. Why? So our pets can have a yard to run in 🥲.
Many of us treat our pets like our children, so where does that leave room in our lives for the actual “pet” role? Plants. A friend told us this and I haven’t stopped laughing/thinking about it since. The accuracy of this statement was so great.
I’ve been a lover of plants for years but honestly had such a black thumb. Almost 7+ years later and a good few plants that are no longer with us, I am a proud plant parent. I had a plant or two, that slowly grew to three or four, which has now grown into a mini jungle in our living space. I will say that there are so many resources on how to be a good plant parent and keep them alive. I’ve learned a lot of tips and tricks over the years and my plants are honestly living a great life (I wouldn’t say best because I’m sure there are still way better plant parents out there lol).
I’m slowly converting all of my friends to be plant lovers and parents and my favorite way to do that is by propagating my plants. Since we’ve been working from home, I have a lot of time to take breaks and tend to my plants. It’s been such a joy to see plants grow, for cuttings to grow roots, and for those cuttings to eventually become a whole new plant. 🥲
Since we only have one main window in our apartment that gets a decent amount of light, it’s been a tad bit crowded. I recently changed the setup that I have photographed above, but before I did that I wanted to find a new way to place my propagated pieces without using up all the window space. I had seen variations of wall hanging propagation options and while some were larger and required holes in the wall, I was looking for something that was a bit more renter-friendly. I came across these wall mounted propagation tubes that are attached with magnets to little stones that attach to the walls with a little gorilla glue tape. They’re sturdy enough to not fall down but easy enough to remove when they need to come down.
My advice for buying plants and pots is about the same as my advice for furniture, slow and steady! Take time to see what you can handle and make sure that you have the space for it. I’ve kept a lot of plants just in their standard nursery pot on top of a plate or saucer. Once I know the plant will survive (lol) I’ll start looking for a pot. One of my earlier mistakes was removing plants from their nursery pot and packing them straight into the decorative pot. Keeping them in the nursery pot makes it easy to water them, to check for root rot, and just easily switch things up. I will still put my dirt/plants straight into a terracotta pot as long as there is a drainage hole at the bottom in a saucer so I can easily drain the plant.
I’ll admit that I’m a bit boring with my plant pots and go with two themes: terracotta and white(-ish). I like it though and it ends up looking nice and synchronized. I do have a few outlier pots that are darker in color that add a nice accent *pop* amongst all the simple ones. I’ve become quite a crazy plant lady throughout quarantine and the last few years so get ready for some more posts as I share my amateur plant tips!
What are your thoughts on plants? Do you think that plants have taken over as the new millennial “pet”?
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