Sometimes an interest in all things green and tropical draws plant people together. Other times, plant parents meet for totally unrelated reasons and discover their mutual obsession by happy accident.
That was the case for the winners of our recent Houseplant Photo Contest. Emma, Kayla, Madison, and Sarah are the fun and witty group behind @plantsof1107, an Instagram account devoted to sharing photos, interesting facts, and humorous takes concerning their rather large – and always growing – collection of houseplants.
Recently, we had a chance to chat with two of these self-described plant moms – Emma and Kayla – about what brought them together, what inspires them about their collection, and what it’s like to become the resident plant gurus among their friends and family.
A Common Love for Plants
Emma, Kayla, Madison, and Sarah are students in Lincoln and members of the Pi Beta Phi sorority. Their fields of study are diverse – nursing, fashion merchandising, marketing, speech pathology – but when move-in time came at the apartment they share, it became apparent they had more in common than they first thought. Each of them arrived with multiple houseplants in tow – and when one apartment becomes home to around fifty houseplants, friends take notice. Friends also start asking for advice. From there, the idea for an Instagram account sprouted, and it’s brought more attention than they ever thought it would to their little urban jungle.
Plants with Personality
Emma’s first foray into plant parenthood came her freshman year when she was gifted a jade plant, who is now known as Seymour. Since then, Seymour has grown quite a bit and sparked an ongoing interest in succulents and weird cacti. Other characters in the collection include a Norfolk Island pine named Alvin the Tree, a spider plant called Mary Jo, and an ailing lemon cypress named Cyrus. The names are sometimes inspired by people they know, and sometimes inspired by where the plants came from. When asked, they realized the Opuntia subulata from their winning photo didn’t have a name yet – but they immediately agreed that it should obviously be “Mulhall.” Emma and Kayla say people names help them connect with their plants on a more personal level. The names also help them keep track of all their plants’ individual needs.
Lessons Learned + Shared
Emma and Kayla say that one lesson they’ve learned from living with so many plants is the importance of paying attention. For a successful plant collection, regular interaction with the plants and ongoing education is important. The internet has proven an invaluable educational tool as their experience grows – experience they’re more than happy to share with friends. Recently, Kayla revived a friend’s sad-looking spider plant – an act that has earned the group a reputation for being houseplant miracle workers. But, they’re quick to stress everything they know is out there for anyone to find – you just need to do your research and talk with other enthusiasts about their experiences.
What’s Next for @plantsof1107
If you’re like us, you might wonder what other plants the group of plant-collectors have on their “must have” list. For quite a while, it was lithops that topped the list – those strange little succulents that look like stones – until the group recently got ahold of some for their collection. They’d also love to have a fiddle leaf fig, but with the low light their apartment provides, it’s probably not in the cards right now. So, the next best thing is a weekend trip to Mulhall’s to use that first-place gift card and load up on new and interesting cultivars of the plants they already love. Emma says the best thing about having a large houseplant collection is just sitting and enjoying the good vibe and fresh air they bring to the space.
Another Exciting Photo Contest
We had a lot of fun with this year’s Houseplant Photo Contest as part of January’s Houseplant Month celebration. Thank you again to Emma, Kayla, Madison, and Sarah from @plantsof1107 and everyone who participated. We’d also like to congratulate @claire_passmore and @dhstewartjames, our second and third place winners. To see all the beautiful entries from our contest, head over to Instagram and check out #mulhallsplantcontest.
