When I was in the plant store buying my succulent and Ā vegetables, I saw a sensitive plant.
The store had put a sign by it encouraging people to touch it and watch it move. Ā Sensitive plants have an unusual habit: If touched, they curl up their leaves. Ā I understand thatās fascinating, irresistible for many, and a good selling point for the store.
But most plants donāt like to be touched a lot, even if theyāre not sensitive plants. Ā Too much touching can result in part or all of the plant withering or dying.
Plants find it very hard to move. Ā This is why most plants move too slowly for people to see it. Ā Plants that move quickly are using up a huge amount of their energy reserves.
The sensitive plant with the sign next to it? Ā Leaves were already withering, turning brown, and dropping off. Ā It did not look happy. Ā It looked like it was being overworked by all the physical attention, and like if that kept up it might not even survive.
Just because something canĀ move, doesnāt mean it should spend its timein constant motionĀ just because people find it fascinating. Ā And just because something responds when you poke it doesāt mean poking it to see the response is the best idea -- this can be a metaphor for a lot of things but I really mean it literally too. Ā Sensitive plants canĀ move fast, but itās exhausting and not something they can keep up constantly. Ā They remind me of a spider I was trying to get onto a piece of paper to take it outside -- I never touched it, but it died of overwork, because that kind of spider was only designed for short bursts of energy. Ā Iām not a spider person (at the time, I was a barely-recovering full-blown arachnophobe) but I felt terrible when I learned what Iād done. Ā
So try not to poke the sensitive plants, even if you find their responses amazing or interesting. Ā Itās not very amazing or interesting to have a dead houseplant because you couldnāt resist poking at it.
