I have noticed that individuals working from home in news broadcasts seem to almost always have live plants and flowers in the background. Is this just because of the pandemic or are people using plants more in home and office situations?
I have noticed the same as you have observed. As a horticulturist, it pleases me to see people using more plants. In my opinion, plants — just like music — make a home more livable. As we are forced to spend more time at home because of the pandemic, it is only natural for us to want to improve its livability.
Plant growers and stores have definitely found a surge in orders for seeds, plants and supplies both for indoor and outdoor use. I recently read that the supply of large size nursery plants are in very short supply. It takes several years to grow a large tree or shrub. Apparently this year’s supply of large plants was mostly sold last year in addition to normal sales.
I have also noticed a larger supply of plants both for indoor and outdoor use in other stores besides garden stores. Big box stores, grocery stores and drug stores have an increased offering of plants and cut flowers. For example, I saw a display of 50 orchid plants in one big box store. Forty years ago orchids were expensive plants. Now you can buy an orchid plant with several flowers for $15. And the plants continue to bloom for a month or longer, three times that of a mum plant. They also do well even under lower light conditions.
