During a house cleaning binge on a snowy Chicago day, I bought a houseplant.

When I walked into Home Depot, my sole intention was to find some adequate storage containers, pack away everything in my room that I didn’t use, and de-clutter my room down to a minimalist nirvana. But when I absentmindedly wandered into the gardening section and saw some Bird of Paradise plants, I knew that I had to get one.

This wasn’t the first time I had bought a houseplant in Chicago. On an equally, cold, snowy date in early 2018, I wandered into a community centre in Evanston to speak to small-batch farmers about how they sold to restaurants. I walked out with a bag of frozen blueberries and a kale plant. The plant worked out so well that I would occasionally prune the leaves and make a small salad. Sadly, my summer travels put an end to that plant (which died an unceremonious death) and so I entered second year sans-foliage.

So why did I have to buy a Bird of Paradise plant?

Connection with nature

In our modern lives, we are almost completely divorced from nature in any real way. The extent of our interaction with the outdoors is limited to the brief time we spend outside on the weekends (because the working week is almost entirely confined indoors) or when we travel. This is especially true if you live in a cold weather city like Chicago where everything beautiful outside simply disappears for a significant part of the year. Not having greenery all year round made the transition to Chicago more difficult than I had imagined.

So when a houseplant brings a connection with nature into your everyday life, it is something incredibly special and restorative. It isn’t just that plants clean air in indoors space. There is some sort of primal connection that affects you on a much deeper level.

Additionally for me, having a plant from a tropical climate is especially heartwarming, serving as a reminder of the sunnier shores from where I come.

My Bird of Paradise plant genuinely gives me a sense of emotional wellbeing and adds a layer of serenity to an otherwise chaotic life.

Beauty / aesthetics

Beyond the connection with nature, a houseplant brings beauty.

It’s not a surprise that every hipster café or store has indoor plants. The infinite combinations of plants, and ways of displaying them mean that you can adapt a houseplant to any aesthetic

For me, I like the way that my houseplant complements my grab-bag art collection and the Danish minimalist I’ve tried to get going in my room.

Take care of something alive

While a houseplant is easy to maintain, it’s just as easy to kill. Owning a house plant requires some level of responsibility, but far less than require for a pet. At the same time, a house plant still provides you with the flexibility to travel without worrying about kennels etc. For me, this is the ultimate balance.