I’ve always been a «fake plastic plant» kind of guy. Never cared too much about what plants needed to be alive, and watering them was just not in my schedule.

Since I hate anything that is fake, the result is that I didn’t have plants at all, neither real nor plastic. Apart from an almost dead sanseviera and a couple lucky bamboos.

Recently I took some determination to actually take care of plants, and found myself actually enjoying it. I was able to resurrect some of my absolutely neglected plants and am now actually getting new ones. Turns out the Sanseviera is an astoundingly resilient plant: it has the ability to overcome serious droughts. So after watering it down a bit and removing the ugly leafs, it now looks gorgeous.

Since I don’t have the slightest clue about plants, and everything in my life needs to have some amount of technology, I looked towards my phone for help. I found an app that lets you snap an image of any plant, and detect its species. Then, I get instructions on how to take care of it, and reminders of when the plant needs to be watered or fertilized. It’s kind of a swiss knife that detects plant’s illnesses, problems, lack of light, etc. I don’t want to mention the specific app because I know there’s many alternatives out there, but it will take you less than 2 minutes to find it on the iOS App Store.

It’s impressive how much life a bunch of plants can inject in your house. It’s no wonder all interior design catalogs incorporate them: they can turn a cold impersonal space into a cozy and familiar «home». It makes life better in a way that probably goes into our subconscious, into some deep primitive instinct that connects us with nature. If that makes any sense, and I’m not the kind of person who’s into new-age crap.

It’s also helped me on a personal level: all the hobbies I’ve ever had always had some connection with technology. Taking care of plants only takes a few minutes a day (at most) and is an activity that lets me disconnect from technology and the negativity that can come out of it.