Plants
When I was working as a writer in psychedelics, I wondered what benefits household plants such as chamomile or sage might have. You know, just plants…though chamomile is technically psychoactive.
I started digging into medical studies and their histories and even their appearances in songs and poems.
I was blown away.
Plant Personalities
You want personality, raw talent? Beauty?
The plant kingdom is here.
Most have both male and female reproductive parts.
Plants get it — you can be you.
You can be all the things.
They are the lifeforms for today.
Be amazed
It’s the point.
Mocking celebrity culture a little bit, Plant Personalities redirects some of the spotlight to plants.
The praise, the disbelief, the importance, the controversy, even — I gotta be honest, the plants really impressed me.
I tried to find the words to capture their “je ne sais quoi” quality.
Anti-everything-unhealthy, growing wild and beautiful across the Himalayas, able to alter brain chemistry, making food better since the dawn of time, the plants make it look so easy. They even clean the air.
Blue Lotus was the original headband — Ancient Egypt was obsessed. Charlemagne loved Sage, but it was her appearance in “Scarborough Fair” alongside Parsley, Rosemary, and Thyme that inspired us to remember our innocence. Who cares about Paul Simon?
These are celebrities, truly.
I had fun imagining them as personalities since they have them. Blue Lotus was at a shisha bar in Berlin. Just please, Blue Lotus’ fame predates CE—hot. Echinacea was pink punk on Mulholland Drive listening to Joan Jett.
Here are the plants I’ve covered thus far:
Mucuna Pruriens for the brand Sun Potion
The spacious studio was drenched in sunlight, the air hot and humid. “I create optical illusions with my petals,” they said, motioning to a large canvas on the floor. “Birds, girls with pigtails, samurai, I just let it come through me.” At its heart, Velvet Bean has always been a theatrical plant, a true surrealist in the intuitive sense.
Click the image to read!
Illustration by Tamara Jafar
Sage
Walking up the cobblestone walkway to Sage’s bed and breakfast, you’d never guess that a superstar would choose to live in such a remote location. The limelight never interested Sage that much because, well, she’s always been there. After servicing so many gardens, Sage decided it was time to take care of her own. She settled in a place where she felt she truly belonged—Connecticut.
“Strange where you end up,” Sage told us over the phone.
Chamomile
Wearing a yellow “I’d Rather be Sunbathing” t-shirt and spick-and-span white keds, Chamomile’s bright and kind smile was unmissable at an undisclosed supermarket. One would have expected a horde of fans and paparazzi buzzing about it like bees, but shoppers zipped on by, barely batting a lash at the superstar.
“66 percent of all adults in the United States — use prescription drugs. ”
