My freshman year of college was the worst year of my life so far. I knew I was in trouble from the moment the door of my dorm room closed behind my mom and dad, and for the first time, I was utterly alone with my traitorous brain. I was in an unfamiliar town, far from home, with no friends, no noisy dogs, and as I would soon discover, a lot of untreated mental illness.
About halfway through the semester, help came from an unexpected corner- the west corner of my dorm room, the one with the window overlooking the circle drive. That’s where Bilbo lived.
Bilbo is a Haworthia Faciata, a spiky little succulent I had purchased on clearance at Walmart who spent his days sitting gray and stagnant on my windowsill. I brought Bilbo to Wayne from my parents’ house for a still-life prop in a drawing project, and I hadn’t gotten around to shuttling him back home after the deadline had passed. So in my room he sat, a little spot of life in the concrete cell I had come to dread returning to.
But things started to change once Bilbo came to live with me. I now had to interrupt my daily panic attacks to water, prune, and adjust the little cactus to catch sunlight. I had to venture off-campus to local stores to find potting soil. As I began to get the help I needed, Bilbo began to grow after a year of dormancy.
After months of living a painfully dull and solitary life, I finally had something nice waiting for me back in the dorms.
To everyone else, Bilbo was just a little cactus on the shelf of a weird shut-in with a taste for “Lord of the Rings”. But to me, Bilbo was a reason to keep up a routine, something I had to care for.
So, in case you haven’t realized where this story is heading, yes, I’m trying to sweet talk you into getting a houseplant, but I promise it’s for your own good.
The indoor plants dotted across campus aren’t just for decoration. According to a 2017 biotechnological study published by PubMed Central, people who work around live plants are much more productive and comfortable in their environment.
In a 2020 study of holistic therapy techniques, horticultural therapy, a therapeutic treatment where patients engage with plantlife, was effective in temporarily relieving symptoms of anxiety, depression and dementia, as working with plants can ground the senses, redirect attention to productive endeavors, and offer a sense of purpose and gratification.
Plants don’t discriminate; they grow the same no matter who’s looking after them. So long as they’re getting the right amount of sun, water and space in their pot, your houseplant will repay your patience and care with oddly gratifying growth.
If you’re one of the black thumbs of the world, someone who seems to kill every plant you touch before ever getting to see your plant grow, it’s probably not your fault. Just like people, different houseplants thrive in different conditions. Some tropicals need frequent watering and oodles of sun, while some cacti prefer dryer and lower light conditions.
I’ve found that the best plants for dorm life and busy schedules are cacti and aloes, which typically do best by a window with infrequent watering. They also have the benefit of being the weird little cousins of the plant world, who’ll keep you guessing as to what in the world they’re growing.
Even if you find your emotional support plant looking a bit sad, there’s almost always a simple way to fix it, so long as you read the signs. Helping your plant heal is another incredible boost for your mental health. There are few things better for your brain than working hard to fix a problem and getting tangible results.
For me, plantcare has grown beyond a hobby to keep me focused, or a chore to keep my mind off buzzing anxieties. Watching my plants thrive under my care has become something of a tangible reminder of how far I’ve come. How, at one point, I couldn’t see the point in feeding myself, and now I have raised a living thing from a sprout to a flourishing garden.
My plants help remind me that the progress of healing is slow, and that there will be bumps in the road, but all the while you will be growing and changing into someone new.
