It’s the first Monday after Labor Day so start it with a bang. “Flowers” comes at you quick with a joyful burst of New-Orleans-style drumline, which then mellows with a sort of jazz lounge overlay that makes the drums feel more symbolic than factual. One introspective verse repeats throughout the song: “Prettiest things could sour, when the seasons change. S*** don’t smell like flowers, sunshine turns to rain.” It’s not clear whether it wants to be happy or sad or even ambivalent; it’s just zen, accepting inevitable change. Not a bad mood for a Monday.
Do your plants go hungry while you’re away? Are you worried about their health but can’t find a plant sitter? The world has innovated a solution for you: the houseplant hotel. Patch, a UK plant purveyor along the lines of The Sill, has been running a pop-up hospitality joint in London where plants get fed and watered and offered “wellness checkups” and “spa treatments” for the duration of your vacation. Yes, they have a bellhop, and yes, they expect your plants to have human names, but beyond the gimmick, this doesn’t seem like the worst idea for a year-round business. The London pop-up closed on the 5th, so, plant people, consider this a free idea and run with it.
The plant people have us wrapped around their little fingers, but let’s face it: so does everybody else. Regular brands are also snaring us in with leaves and vines at planty pop-ups everywhere. You know what they say: more moss, more makeup sales. Or was it, “shrubs sell shoes.” In any case, when Hendricks, Glossier and Everlane throw piles of plants next to their products, they 1. do a better job than we ever will of constructing the perfect(ly photographable) ~lifestyle,~ suggesting their products might help us approach that level of perfection, and 2. imply that they’re next to nature, which surely means they can’t be evil… right?
