Your plants don’t want comfort as you do; they want change.
Plants are creatures that do not demand the constant, unyielding comfort we often assume they need. In fact, if plants were as pampered as our modern selves, they might never grace us with their vibrant blooms.
Our human inclination to live in a carefully controlled, machine-regulated environment year-round has led to an interesting dilemma for our green companions. We’ve become averse to even the mildest of temperature fluctuations. At the first hint of summer’s warmth, we retreat indoors to crank the air conditioning to a chilly 72 degrees or less. Likewise, at the merest whiff of winter’s chill, we turn up the heater to a toasty 76, a temperature that would be deemed unbearable in the summertime. Even the lush landscapes of Hawaii can’t claim to possess a climate as artificially consistent as the one we’ve created for ourselves.
However, it’s a grave mistake to assume that your leafy housemates thrive under the same unyielding conditions.
Some fortunate individuals have delighted us by sharing photos of their night-blooming cereus, flourishing in its full, radiant splendor. Yet, a significant number of plant enthusiasts continue to send inquiries about why their big-flowered, vine-like cacti refuse to bloom, despite the affection they lavish upon them.
The explanation is surprisingly straightforward: The cacti that remain reluctant to bloom are prisoners of the so-called “ideal” conditions, designed for machines and individuals who believe they should never perspire or don a sweater.
Many plant species require an element of change in their living environment to trigger the flowering process. This change could manifest as variations in the length of day and night, bountiful rains following a prolonged dry spell, or the unmistakable transition of seasons, where temperatures shift from the sweltering days of a hurricane summer to the crisp, dry embrace of autumn.
In this dance of nature, it becomes evident that some level of unpredictability is precisely what our green companions need to reveal their splendid blooms, teaching us an invaluable lesson in flexibility.
