Do Your Friends Introduce You as the “Crazy Plant Person”?

When you water your herbs, sit quietly under a tree, or repot a root-bound friend, something subtle happens. You regulate your nervous system. You shift into presence. You re-enter rhythm. Plants operate in cycles of growth, rest, bloom, and decay. When we tend them, we entrain to those cycles. We remember that rest is natural. That shedding is necessary. That growth is rarely linear. For many plant lovers, gardening becomes a spiritual practice without ever labeling it that way. It is meditation with soil under your fingernails. It is prayer in photosynthesis form. It is grounding, literally.

I think sometimes friends and family probably think I am delusional and maybe you can relate. Do you talk to your plants, thank them while harvesting, feel emotional while transplanting something you grew from seed, or even sense the “mood” of your garden? You’re not delusional, you’re attentive. You are listening to what plants have to teach you. Plants teach patience, you cannot rush germination. They teach boundaries, overwater and they decline. They teach resilience, cut them back, and many return stronger. And perhaps most powerfully, they teach interconnection. Through underground fungal networks (often called the “wood wide web”), plants share nutrients and communicate stress signals. Forests function cooperatively, not competitively. There is a quiet spiritual truth there: thriving happens in community.

Now let’s talk science, because your “crazy plant person” status is backed by research. Spending time with plants has been shown to reduce cortisol (stress hormone) levels, lower blood pressure, improve mood and decrease symptoms of anxiety and depression. All things that have proven helpful in my own life.  Research has also shown growing and tending to plants can increase attention span and cognitive restoration, as well as support immune function through exposure to beneficial soil microbes. Practices like Sylvotherapy/forest bathing (originating in Japan as Shinrin-yoku) are now studied globally for their measurable physiological benefits. Sylvotherapy, along with spiritual herbalism has honestly been a life-saver for me. I am by no means a picture of perfect health. Having lived with auto-immune disorders for over 30 years has certainly taken a great toll and continues to do so, but plants and plant medicine has without a doubt enriched my life and my health in more ways than I can fully explain. Even indoor houseplants have carried me through, by improving air quality and increasing feelings of well-being. Tending plants gives us structured nurturing behavior, which increases oxytocin and feelings of connection. In other words, it’s not crazy, It’s regulatory. Our nervous systems recognize green life as safety.

Many self-described “plant people” are highly sensitive, intuitive, or empathetic. In addition to the many health benefits alredy mentioned, plants offer nonverbal companionship, predictable rhythms, quiet co-regulation and a sense of purpose and stewardship. Unlike social media, plants do not demand performance. Unlike modern work culture, they do not rush you. Unlike many human relationships, they thrive with consistency and presence rather than drama. When someone finds peace among plants, they are often reclaiming something ancient in themselves.

So the next time someone says, “She’s the crazy plant person,” you might respond by saying, “Yes. And I sleep better because of it, my blood pressure thanks me, I know how to grow my own medicine, and I understand seasons, both in gardens and in life.”

Being deeply connected to plants isn’t eccentric, it’s ancestral, embodied, preventative healthcare, and spiritual ecology. In a culture that prizes speed and consumption, tending living things is a quiet act of rebellion. Maybe the world doesn’t need fewer plant people, maybe it needs more.

Written by Alicia Billman Kraemer, Co-Owner of Acadiana Botanicals, LLC. February 2026.