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When Pop Culture Plants the Seed
64 Plays2 days ago
This episode of Hort Culture wanders (joyfully) from overflowing lemon trees and dragon fruit mishaps to the pop-culture moments that quietly shaped our love of plants. The crew swaps stories about greenhouses, houseplants, and being accidental victims of horticultural success, then dives into how movies, books, and cartoons—from FernGully to The Secret Garden—sparked lifelong connections to the natural world. It’s a laid-back, nostalgic conversation about growing plants, growing up, and how plants have always been part of the story.
Questions/Comments/Feedback/Suggestions for Topics: hortculturepodcast@gmail.com
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Transcript
The Lemon Tree Story
00:00:16
Alexis
Hi, everybody.
00:00:18
Plant People
Hello again.
00:00:19
Brett
but i What up,
00:00:20
Alexis
Hello. i ah Can I have a not-so-humble brag on here?
00:00:24
Plant People
yes by all means.
00:00:26
Alexis
Listen, my lemon tree, she...
00:00:27
Brett
post.
00:00:28
Plant People
Go shoot.
00:00:31
Alexis
she be producing and I know of so many like I tried to space them out like I've been harvesting them right and just like letting them hang on the tree and different stuff but they're so ripe now they're just falling off the tree when I like accidentally bump into it so now I have huge bag of lemons and I'm like oh
00:00:34
Brett
Wow.
00:00:42
Plant People
Okay.
00:00:47
Brett
Flex.
00:00:51
Plant People
So is this like in a greenhouse or inside your home? Where's this lemon tree at?
00:00:55
Alexis
This is ah currently, she is in a stock tank in the greenhouse. Stock tank on a cart in the greenhouse.
00:01:01
Plant People
Gotcha.
00:01:04
Alexis
So.
00:01:04
Brett
This is the one that you you took custody of from a ah ah person, right?
00:01:04
Plant People
And apparently very happy.
00:01:08
Brett
That you...
00:01:08
Alexis
Yes, yes. She has been mine for about six years-ish. And what was I know and I can't either.
00:01:15
Brett
Oh, wow. I can't believe it's been that long. It seems its like those not that long ago.
00:01:17
Alexis
i thought about that. um Maybe a little bit longer because it went through at least one winter in another location. so ah
00:01:24
Plant People
Mm-hmm.
00:01:24
Alexis
But yes, i it was it was brought with a friend from Colorado and she brought it to Kentucky and had it in a greenhouse in Kentucky.
00:01:35
Alexis
And it was in the stock tank when I got it.
00:01:36
Plant People
i
00:01:37
Alexis
It's probably not really grown, but she'd be producing some lemons. and Super happy. She also has scales, so I'm not that great of ah a citrus grower because it also has insect problems.
00:01:48
Alexis
But... Lots of lemons. i'm not I made a lemon cake yesterday and I was like, all going to make a lemon cake. It used all of like two and a half lemons. ah I'm going to need to make a lot of cake.
00:01:58
Plant People
You're a lot of zest on hand at some point.
00:02:01
Alexis
ah
00:02:02
Brett
You should make limoncello.
00:02:03
Alexis
Well, I looked into that and apparently, I mean, you can do it, but like the Meyer lemon I grow as a thin skin.
00:02:04
Plant People
Yes, you should.
00:02:10
Alexis
And so they usually recommend a thick skin because there's less white pith involved. But I might do it anyways because I have a lot of lemons. So,
00:02:19
Brett
I would do it anyway.
00:02:20
Plant People
I mean, make lemonade, you know, this winter has been tough.
00:02:20
Alexis
Yeah. But then I need to like, I'm like, do I just juice those lemons and freeze the lemon juice if I don't have an immediate use for it Because once you take the skin off, you know.
00:02:23
Plant People
So.
00:02:27
Plant People
Hmm.
Owning a Greenhouse: From Dream to Reality
00:02:32
Plant People
The clock is ticking.
00:02:34
Alexis
I know, there's ah it's two parts here.
00:02:37
Brett
When you, did you, would you say that you had in aspiration to to grow lemons at some point, or is this more of a, an issue of worlds collide, things happen, you're a plant person, so it makes sense?
00:02:48
Plant People
Victim of your own success, kind of thing. Hmm.
00:02:52
Alexis
i I think I didn't really realize it was a possibility until I met somebody with a greenhouse. And then at that point, you're kind of like, oh, well, I'll never have a greenhouse.
00:02:59
Plant People
oh
00:03:01
Alexis
That would be really cool and I would love to do it, but that won't be me.
00:03:02
Brett
Well,
00:03:05
Alexis
It's not that my life. And it became it. So it's ah it's a mix of both.
00:03:09
Plant People
It's your whole personality.
00:03:09
Alexis
Like, I never don't want to but grow a plant, I feel like.
00:03:10
Plant People
So, yeah.
Pop Culture's Influence on Plant Enthusiasm
00:03:14
Plant People
I feel like figs are maybe in your future as well. All these things.
00:03:17
Alexis
Oh, totally.
00:03:17
Plant People
then
00:03:18
Alexis
Mm-hmm.
00:03:18
Plant People
Yeah. I could say, I could see that, you know, I could see it with you.
00:03:21
Alexis
Mm-hmm.
00:03:21
Brett
but you know, some people, they'll like see something somewhere and they'll be like, That's what I want to do.
00:03:27
Alexis
Mm-hmm.
00:03:27
Brett
Like at some point in my life, I am going to grow lemon tree or like there'll be people who ask me like, Oh, did you see bonsai in karate kid?
00:03:27
Alexis
Yeah.
00:03:34
Alexis
yeah
00:03:39
Brett
And then you wanted to do that for forever. And I was like, uh, no, because until the first time that I was asked that, you know, people find out that a lot of people say that, but the first time I was asked that it reminded me that that was even a part of the plot of karate kid too.
00:03:54
Alexis
Yeah, I wouldn't have talk thought about it from Karate Kid, but yeah.
00:03:54
Brett
Maybe.
00:03:58
Plant People
That's one of the first things I think about with a karate kid. I don't know why that and those beautiful old cars and the bonsai tree.
00:04:01
Brett
Yeah.
00:04:05
Plant People
Yeah.
00:04:05
Brett
But it did not, that did not, i remember much more the like, like wax on wax off followed by like punching the wooden thing.
00:04:11
Plant People
Punching.
00:04:12
Alexis
Wax on, wax off, yeah.
00:04:12
Plant People
we
00:04:14
Alexis
Sweep the leg!
00:04:16
Brett
Alexis
00:04:17
Plant People
Absolute legend. Absolute legend.
00:04:19
Brett
and I remember that more.
00:04:19
Plant People
Isn't that awesome?
00:04:20
Brett
And and also just, just ah Ralph, was it Ralph Macchio? His cute little, you know, dimples.
00:04:25
Plant People
Mm-hmm.
00:04:25
Alexis
Mm-hmm.
00:04:27
Brett
And i remember that as well, but.
00:04:29
Plant People
I may have dressed up as that shower from that movie at multiple events in my life. The shower curtain that he goes into, because it's an easy one, and you just kind of put the pipe up your back.
00:04:35
Brett
Wow.
00:04:39
Plant People
and yeah this It's an easy one, but i was always disappointed when you walked into the room and they just thought you were weird. They had no idea of the reference. I'm like, come on, people. Where's my 80s babies at?
00:04:49
Brett
Or if people people love shower, like you found out that you love shower curtains and they're like, oh, do you love them because of the karate kid? And you're like, no, I just have an independent passion for this. Okay.
00:04:56
Plant People
Yeah, just, I really love it. I really like the movie Saco, the shower scene in Saco.
00:04:58
Brett
Not all of it came from that moment.
00:05:02
Plant People
Yeah, that's not it, people. That's not It's Karate Kid, okay?
The Greenhouse Inhabitants: More Than Just Lemons?
00:05:05
Brett
So Alexis, you just sort of generally manifested your plant love and the fact that you worked a bunch in the greenhouses at at the University of Kentucky while you were were studying and working there.
00:05:05
Plant People
Yeah.
00:05:09
Plant People
Mm-hmm.
00:05:15
Alexis
yeah chop the lemon tree yeah yeah send me your lemon recipes people
00:05:16
Brett
Now you have your own. So let's do this lemon thing. does that is that the main
00:05:23
Brett
Is that the main thing that you have in there that's like not a wild roots thing? Or is there what what other kind of stuff you got in there?
00:05:30
Alexis
Uh, whatever, like random plants that make me no money, but I hold onto them type of plants.
00:05:36
Brett
Those the ones, yeah. Mm-hmm.
00:05:37
Alexis
I, uh, I have, um, dragon fruit plants in there uh,
00:05:43
Brett
Mm-hmm.
00:05:43
Alexis
grew from seed just to see if I could. and now they are outrageous and they're very prickly because they are cacti and which makes them very difficult to move around.
00:05:52
Brett
Mm-hmm.
00:05:54
Alexis
And they are very floppy cacti. and ah they're they're normally trellised up in like production. They, you know, kind of get trellised because they almost almost like vine in a way.
00:06:06
Alexis
ah But they are...
00:06:07
Brett
Like if someone were producing the dragon fruit fruit.
00:06:10
Alexis
Yes, correct.
00:06:10
Brett
Is that what you're talking about? Yeah.
00:06:11
Alexis
Yep. Yep. So they they tend to, they're a creeper of a cacti if they're just left to their own devices.
00:06:16
Brett
Damn.
00:06:17
Alexis
Yep. And yeah, therefore it's like creeping out of its pot. So there's like these huge, you know, very prickly cacti. And so every time I go to move the flat they're in, I get stabbed.
00:06:30
Alexis
and But I raise these babies from seed. I can't, I've already let go of a lot of them. i feel like I can't kill these babies.
00:06:37
Plant People
You have investment. Yeah.
00:06:38
Alexis
I know, but there's such a pain in the butt.
00:06:39
Brett
it feels It feels a little bit like if you had hatched a dragon from an egg and you're like, I did this.
00:06:45
Alexis
Correct.
00:06:46
Plant People
You're the mother of dragons.
00:06:47
Brett
And yeah, it keeps keeps burning my hair and like scratching me and stuff.
00:06:47
Alexis
I mean, it's my child. I'm going to, like, take care of it, but I'm pissed about it
00:06:52
Brett
And like...
00:06:52
Plant People
Where is Jessica on the podcast when we make a Game of Thrones reference? You're the mother of dragons, literally.
00:06:58
Brett
Mmm.
00:06:59
Plant People
moon winter
00:06:59
Brett
Mother of dragon fruit.
00:07:00
Plant People
Yes, mother of dragons.
00:07:00
Alexis
Mother of dragon and fruit.
00:07:02
Plant People
We should have a whole special or a comment section dedicated to what's in Alexis, what random plants are in Alexis's greenhouse, unintentionally or intentionally, and just make it a kind of a guest segment where you guess on what it may be in there.
00:07:15
Plant People
I'm guessing like jade plant somewhere in the corner, like some kind of jade tree. I mean, I'm just i'm seeing some things emerge.
00:07:20
Alexis
Well, so there's there's like there's the house plants, then there's the... problem i I call it i called the propagation house because it's like, yes, it's technically a greenhouse, but I'm predominantly using it for the times when I'm propagating plants versus like when you think of a greenhouse, you think of year round plants are in there.
00:07:25
Plant People
Oh, OK. OK.
00:07:31
Plant People
Justification.
00:07:40
Alexis
In the summertime, I close it up, nothing's inside. It's just too high and I don't deal with it. So it's ah it's a propagation house and all my all my house plants are... in the house except for the dragon fruit and the lemon tree because I can't fit it.
00:07:54
Brett
Yeah, I was going to say the dragon fruit and the lemon tree are are size considerations. Is that the main?
00:07:59
Alexis
Yeah, size as well as just like ah I don't want to bump into it in the corner in my pajamas.
00:08:05
Plant People
Yeah.
00:08:05
Brett
the lemons might fall off.
00:08:05
Alexis
Yeah.
00:08:06
Plant People
Yeah.
00:08:07
Brett
No, I'm just teasing.
00:08:08
Plant People
The dragon.
00:08:08
Brett
We're having fun. ah So yeah, we were segued in and then I was just mainly curious what you were keeping in that greenhouse. but
00:08:16
Plant People
we're kind of, that kind of is it though, isn't it? I mean, how how did Alexis get here?
00:08:20
Brett
Yeah. what
00:08:21
Plant People
I mean, how do you get, I mean, what, what in your formative years led you to a greenhouse and dragon fruit, you know?
00:08:22
Brett
What happened to you as a child?
00:08:24
Alexis
well Well, the aliens dropped me off.
00:08:31
Brett
You see, on my planet, we do not have chlorophyll.
00:08:34
Plant People
When we do not have green,
00:08:38
Plant People
how do we get here?
00:08:38
Alexis
Oh.
00:08:40
Brett
But the idea of like, okay, I saw this in a movie when I was a kid. I think a lot of people have that experience and they may want to, it may inform what you want to do with your career, with
Pop Culture's Role in Shaping Environmental Interests
00:08:50
Brett
your life in general, or may inspire you to take a trip somewhere.
00:08:52
Alexis
Mm-hmm.
00:08:54
Brett
Like, you know, I really want to go see the, you know, the, the Alps because I saw them in a movie.
00:08:55
Alexis
Totally.
00:09:01
Alexis
New Zealand, because I watched The Hobbit.
00:09:03
Brett
Right. New Zealand.
00:09:04
Plant People
Absolutely. Yeah.
00:09:06
Brett
And So I was curious and I sent a text out to the pod squad to think about like, okay, what are some pop cultural references or experiences that you had as a kid that you think like maybe not impacted your decision to be a plant person, but they have like a distinct plant component that you're like, oh, that's pretty cool.
00:09:27
Brett
And I really like that. Or even you just remembered it could have maybe it terrorized you. Um, whatever, whatever variation on, on that you wanted.
00:09:35
Alexis
Need me see more? actually have a reference,
00:09:36
Brett
And I was just curious what was going to come, but what came to mind and, you know, our our lifespan, I think we spent time as children in the eighties, nineties and early two thousands, like as, as a group here.
00:09:50
Brett
um And so that's the time period we'll be reflecting on. So you won't get any, you know, 1920s references as far as I would expect.
00:09:58
Plant People
No. Unless we're channeling that.
00:10:00
Brett
Yeah.
00:10:01
Alexis
i actually have a nineteen fifty s reference but
00:10:04
Brett
Okay. Well then.
00:10:07
Plant People
ah yeah Yeah, and you you say we're talking about, I guess today, Brett, pop culture. Is that correct? Not necessarily our natural lived-in environment or growing up.
00:10:16
Brett
Yeah, yeah. that Not necessarily the academic journals we were reading as children or yeah, not not like, oh, grandma had a beautiful dogwood or like one of your other crazy folksy stories that makes me realize how hollow my childhood was, Ray.
00:10:18
Plant People
We're just... No, no, as an eight-year-old.
00:10:21
Alexis
Some sort of media or of.
00:10:25
Plant People
um yes yeah. It's the junk we used to watch. Yes.
00:10:33
Brett
Yeah.
00:10:33
Plant People
very favor We're talking Saturday morning cartoons.
00:10:35
Brett
We're looking for a shared like, oh, remember that movie that was out? And you had some good ones, right? That you texted back almost immediately.
00:10:41
Plant People
Yeah, I mean, I was thinking about like from the books you read to the shows you watch and and cultural references that you see. But, you know, we were talking a little bit about the show before the show, before we started recording today to see what kind of content we had. But, yeah, there's some things immediately popped out. And one of the first things I thought of um as we were talking as far as just being aware of plants, as far as pop culture.
00:11:08
Plant People
And I consider literature pop culture one of my favorite things.
00:11:11
Brett
Yeah, yeah. It doesn't have to be visual media, anything.
00:11:12
Alexis
Yeah, I've got books as well. Okay, some of us are also into books.
00:11:12
Plant People
Yeah, yeah.
00:11:14
Brett
Could be could be fairyta fairy tales, too.
00:11:15
Plant People
Oh, yeah. We're bred. Alexis, all of a sudden, kind of, she chirped up. I mean, she's she's here for it. I know i knew Alexis would be, but I tried to think of the books that I loved as a child.
00:11:22
Brett
There will be books as well.
00:11:22
Alexis
Okay.
00:11:27
Plant People
And one of my first series box sets I ever read was like Little House in the Big Woods.
00:11:33
Brett
Hmm.
00:11:34
Plant People
And one of the characters was the environment, was trees. And that, you know, the Boxcar Children, did you know, ah that series, you know, it described the natural environment that they were in.
00:11:44
Plant People
And I gravitated towards literature that um I loved, you know, hearing about characters camping and going through the woods and the natural environment. And, you know, Tolkien, my other.
00:11:54
Brett
And little Little House in the Big Woods is Laurie Ingalls Wilder, right?
00:11:56
Plant People
Yes, yes, yes.
00:11:57
Brett
same Same as Little House on the Prairie, but different, different yeah.
00:11:59
Plant People
Yes. Yeah, it just it's that that series of books, the Little House books.
00:12:04
Brett
Mm-hmm.
00:12:04
Plant People
But ah to me, one of the main characters was the environment. ah there and the way that things were described. But my favorite all-time series, ah you know, i love J.R.R. Tolkien and I love the descriptions of the natural environment, the adventures that they had, and ants.
00:12:22
Plant People
I thought that trees talked for the longest time and I was so, when I read that, like that there was a children's book version of the longer work that I read later and I was so disappointed when I found out trees couldn't talk. I was really disappointed.
00:12:33
Plant People
I was like, man, yeah maybe they don't, maybe they don't.
00:12:34
Alexis
Maybe they just don't talk to you.
00:12:37
Brett
Maybe you're not listening, right?
00:12:38
Plant People
Maybe I am not doing the right kind of listening, but yeah, I think of literature right off the bat, you know, and things that I like to read as a kid, some of the first memories.
00:12:46
Brett
So just to be clear, you read the the adult Lord of the Rings as an ah as a child and the child one as an adult.
00:12:53
Plant People
Exactly. maybe simultaneously.
00:12:54
Brett
anas That That
00:12:55
Plant People
I read the abridged version of The Hobbit in sixth grade, and then I started Lord of the Rings when I was in eighth grade and then finished that when I was a freshman in high school.
00:13:03
Brett
ah feels beautiful. I really like that.
00:13:04
Plant People
Yeah, good stuff. But I mean, you know, it it described plants and the white tree of Gondor. I mean, what's not to love people?
00:13:09
Brett
Mm-hmm.
00:13:11
Plant People
Come on. I mean, to me, every time I see a sycamore tree like at Keeneland in central Kentucky, I start.
00:13:12
Brett
Yeah.
00:13:15
Brett
Totally, with the white mark.
00:13:16
Alexis
Oh yeah.
00:13:16
Plant People
Yeah, I'm like, that's the white tree of Gondor. I whisper to myself every single time, every single time.
00:13:20
Alexis
ah
00:13:21
Brett
Yeah, extremely ripped off by j George R.R. Martin, by the way, that they have these, whatever, doesn't matter, doesn't matter, doesn't matter.
00:13:26
Plant People
Yeah, we're not goingnna we're not going to talk about any crossover liberties. No, no, not going to mention anything. But yeah, that's some of the things that I think about that, you know, this didn't necessarily set me out with um my specific path and extension, but it sort of cultivated, no pun intended, sort of cultivated my interest in certain directions.
00:13:43
Brett
A very, so very slight Lord of the Rings thing about plants.
00:13:44
Plant People
Alexis is cringy and I love it.
00:13:48
Brett
I remember when they, ah when the the fellowship arrives, starts hanging out with the elves and the elves have like, in the movie, it's like charred, but they, and the the hobbits are like, what the heck is this?
00:14:01
Brett
Like, I'm more of a tater guy. And this is like some kind of leafy green. I remember thinking that was really funny. And also like, oh yeah, I haven't seen a lot ah lot of leafy veg in the Lord of the Rings so far.
00:14:08
Plant People
Hilarious.
00:14:13
Plant People
No.
00:14:13
Brett
um
00:14:14
Plant People
and Whether was Lambus Brad, we we don't know what that is.
00:14:14
Alexis
One
00:14:17
Plant People
before Yeah.
00:14:17
Alexis
one of my favorite quotes from The Hobbit when I'm like out eating salad or something with someone and I'm just like, I don't like green food. Mm-hmm.
00:14:26
Plant People
Yeah. And you can identify the people that's your people in the room when they look at you and they're like, yeah Yeah. Tolkien famously said, he said one of the main themes, and I think I sent this to you, Alexis, and I love it because he said his hero in the book, I mean, and it was a famous interview, I forget, with the BBC or whatever, years and years ago, was that his main character, the hero of the book was Sam, and he was a gardener, and he kind of did a reflection between growing things and a mechanized war, you know,
00:14:56
Plant People
the wars that were going on and kind of and the industrial things going on at that time period. But his hero was a gardener. And that was a very important theme in those books. And I always thought a lot about that. Once I learned that later on, I was like, yeah, horticulture.
00:15:10
Plant People
Yeah. I was like winning. Yes. Yes. So winning. But yeah, that's one of the things I think of.
00:15:16
Alexis
What about you, Brett?
00:15:18
Brett
I was going to ask you next.
00:15:19
Alexis
No, I want to know yours next.
00:15:20
Plant People
But like I was not prepared for this.
00:15:23
Alexis
Well, and we all have multiples, so like you can just do one and we'll round table it.
00:15:23
Brett
um
00:15:24
Plant People
We do. We do. Yeah, I'm very curious.
00:15:27
Brett
Well, i'll go it in different I'll go in a different direction ah than...
00:15:30
Plant People
Hmm.
00:15:32
Brett
either books or movies and say, and talk about ah in video games. So in, ah in Mario, it's this character that's like a, it's like a plant that like can chomp and bite.
00:15:40
Plant People
you
00:15:46
Brett
And it kind of has some similarities and carry over with the ah Rocky Horror Picture Show, kind of the energy of like this idea of carnivorous plants or of,
00:15:50
Alexis
Hmm.
00:15:56
Brett
Um, and I, I didn't, I don't remember feeling like afraid of them necessarily.
00:16:02
Alexis
m
00:16:03
Brett
i remember feeling like, Ooh, I mean, obviously i avoided it cause I wanted to win the game, but, um, and And otherwise, like it was a lot like mar supermarkt er Mario 64, from from the Nintendo 64, all of the other things were kind of flat, you know, flat planes. And it was green because it was grass. But that was this like, that was one one that came to mind. And then another one that came to mind was the ah the rose from Beauty and the Beast.
00:16:36
Alexis
Oh, uh-huh.
00:16:37
Brett
under the glass thing.
00:16:38
Plant People
Yeah.
00:16:39
Brett
It's sort of got this magic about it, symbol of senescence and the passage of time and the magic of regrowth.
00:16:41
Plant People
Slowly was declining. Yeah.
00:16:47
Brett
And um yeah, I thought that was a pretty, a pretty impactful one as far as it didn't necessarily, it didn't necessarily make me want to grow roses per se, but it cued me into that plant cycle.
00:16:58
Alexis
magic
00:16:59
Brett
Yeah. And you Alexis?
00:17:02
Alexis
okay well um i'm gonna tell you about one that ah a memory that has been fairly recently unlocked but like it's been unlocked in such a major way of oh just like all these memories of watching it uh it's a movie called a troll in central park
00:17:19
Plant People
Mm-hmm. who
00:17:19
Alexis
And it's from like 1994.
00:17:20
Brett
Hmm.
00:17:22
Alexis
and it's an animated movie.
00:17:22
Brett
Wow.
00:17:23
Alexis
And so this troll he just this sweet little troll. His name is Stanley. And he has a green thumb. And it's like visibly green. He's and he's magic, right? And so he can actually grow.
00:17:34
Alexis
he like pushes his thumb down on stuff and grows flowers and and like all kinds of stuff everywhere. And so have – i i have once that was like unlocked in my brain i just think I have all of these memories of just sitting down and watching that movie on VHS and yeah it's an old school animated movie and I think
00:17:53
Brett
Wow, this is like an animated movie.
00:17:55
Plant People
And I had forgotten that existed, yeah.
00:17:58
Brett
And he his thumb is like glowing green
00:18:00
Alexis
Glows green and he presses it and like creates these like sentient, you know, flowers and vines and all these different things. um And he takes these kids through Central Park ah and, you know, they're escaping the evil queen and all of these different things. But that's that one.
00:18:17
Alexis
I, it's like, it's so interesting. I'm like, i feel like I am Stanley now or I get to try to be Stanley now.
00:18:25
Brett
morning
00:18:26
Alexis
So I'm like, that one really,
00:18:27
Plant People
Literally, I mean, yeah.
00:18:29
Brett
the the vi The vibe of that is reminding me of another one that you mentioned earlier of Fern Gully.
00:18:35
Alexis
Yes, Fern Gully's also on my list. Uh-huh. Same time period.
00:18:38
Brett
It's kind of the spectrum of like, that one seems to be more of like a gardening, growing, that type of thing. Fern Gully is more about this... ah I would say environmental awareness about, you know, deforestation.
00:18:48
Alexis
Environmentalist.
00:18:51
Brett
And I remember there's a scene, what reminded me of it was his glowing thumb. And I was like, what is the memory that is that is triggering? And it was like, she's, I think it's the the main, the main female characters like holding a seed in her hand and it like glows.
00:19:02
Alexis
The sea. Uh-huh. Uh-huh.
00:19:05
Brett
And I was like, oh that reminded me of that. um
00:19:08
Alexis
Yep.
00:19:09
Brett
Yeah. What a, you you were talking about what a crazy cast that that had.
00:19:09
Alexis
Yeah, she plants it after they've Uh-huh. Uh-huh. There's so many good people. And when you rewatch it, it's like Fern Gully is streamable. And I watched it fairly recently because it was one of my favorite movies growing up. And you start hearing the voices. You're like, oh, that's, oh, and that's. And like i start, you know, IMDb-ing it and seeing all these really famous people who are in this movie. And a lot of them did it for... I think free or low money and all that money got went to like environmental agencies and stuff.
00:19:43
Alexis
But I could have made that up. That was a dream I had once. Okay.
00:19:47
Brett
Yeah. Well, that, that feel, it feels to me like that is fits in that and Ray brought up, uh, that, Ray's response was about the Ents and that's a lot of the Tolkien stuff, but also like you mentioned mall interior scapes in the eighty s what can you that out?
00:20:01
Plant People
Yes, absolutely.
00:20:05
Plant People
You know, and that's something I've always noticed, ah you know, the first thing I do, and i don't know if you guys do this, to this very day, I go feel if plants are real because, you know, the fake ones have gotten good, okay?
00:20:14
Alexis
Mm-hmm.
00:20:14
Plant People
And especially with like succulents, I'm like, is that real?
00:20:15
Alexis
Mm-hmm.
00:20:17
Plant People
And I go up and I have to know if it's real or not. But even in the 80s, I thought that it was so interesting to see these foccus trees or, you know, these different plants, you know, you see pothos or whatever you have that's on the interior scapes, the malls, trees and stuff.
00:20:33
Plant People
And bringing the outdoor environment in. was always so interesting to me and it felt so, for lack of a better word, felt so rich and luxurious. When you walked in a hotel lobby
Evolution of Plant Themes from the 80s to the 90s
00:20:45
Plant People
or you went into them, i always thought of malls because there's nothing more iconic in the eighties than malls.
00:20:48
Alexis
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
00:20:50
Plant People
But to see plants on the inside to bring the outside world in, i just it just felt like a luxury. It it felt like it kind of brought you know a different dimension inside.
00:20:56
Alexis
it
00:20:59
Plant People
And if you added water to that, even better. Other natural elements, but that really shaped a lot of my thinking. You know, early on, I associated with like interior plants, indoor plants as like with luxury.
00:21:11
Brett
Well, yeah, and go ahead.
00:21:11
Alexis
it's where that you i say It's weird that you bring this up because I just got a text message from a good friend of mine who was like, did you all know that you could just like be the person who like designs indoor plantscapes?
00:21:26
Alexis
And I was like, yeah.
00:21:27
Plant People
Yeah.
00:21:28
Alexis
I said, where do you think, who do you think planned out the malls?
00:21:29
Plant People
I did a little bit that, yeah.
00:21:31
Alexis
And she was like, I didn't know this was a real job.
00:21:34
Plant People
Somebody has to take care of those, right? And it takes a budget and it takes intentionality and yeah, it is it is.
00:21:37
Alexis
Yeah. it's It's hardcore, right? Like a plant dies and everybody and their brother sees it.
00:21:46
Plant People
I think it adds ah adds a layer, adds a dimension, yeah.
00:21:46
Brett
Well, that sense of luxury, I think, and it's a blend of luxury and it's also like there's a softness to it too.
00:21:49
Alexis
oh
00:21:55
Plant People
Mm-hmm, yep.
00:21:56
Brett
in ah in ah I'm thinking of an era where you're building a lot of very like angular metal, glass, corporate, chic, industrial feeling buildings.
00:22:02
Plant People
Yeah. Yeah.
00:22:03
Alexis
Industrial.
00:22:07
Brett
It was really important to do that.
00:22:07
Plant People
mm-hmm
00:22:09
Brett
And I think also like a lot of those malls would have glass, like part of the ceiling would be glass, like skylight, atrium kind of vibe.
00:22:12
Plant People
yeah like atrium kind of yeah
00:22:14
Alexis
Yeah.
00:22:17
Brett
And it it's the, it kind is like this recapturing of this, what I associate with like an old school English estate with a glass greenhouse on it.
00:22:26
Alexis
Mm-hmm.
00:22:28
Brett
And so again, back to that notion of luxury.
00:22:28
Alexis
yeah
00:22:31
Brett
um And I think about now, like the houseplants we have in our house, like all the plants we have in our house and stuff, it would feel really weird without them there, despite the fact that they weren't there for the first even eight, nine years we lived here.
00:22:40
Alexis
who
00:22:45
Brett
that's ah That's a funny one. But you Ray, you pointed out um like in the 80s, there was kind of maybe like a... How did how did you describe like the difference between the 80s and the ninety s Because for for me, the 90s, touchstone ah plant, the impact of the plants on the film was Jurassic Park.
00:23:06
Plant People
Yeah.
00:23:06
Alexis
Mm-hmm.
00:23:06
Brett
Where you just felt like, I mean, I think they filmed it in Borneo or somewhere, or maybe it was set and supposed to be set in Borneo or whatever, but like a rainforest. And if you're in and near a rainforest, you're going to have be dominated by plants and other, I mean, other organisms too.
00:23:21
Brett
But um what was the thing you were saying about the, like the nineties,
00:23:21
Plant People
Yeah, you're going into the green wall. Yeah.
00:23:26
Plant People
It seems like ah you know just thinking back, which you know that's looking back a long time now for me, okay people. That's going way back. I came of age in the 80s. I'm an 80s baby. I consider that. But it seems like in the 80s, trends were more, I don't know if it was kind of the domination of plants, ah that if you were a plant in the 80s, you were going to be sheared to a very formal shape.
00:23:47
Plant People
You were going to be controlled and, you know, put in a certain way. And now that you can't apply that universally, but just that was just kind of an armchair observation I had made looking back on the 80s that there wasn't such a focus that the 90s had. Once we got to the 90s, people, we had like Rainforest Cafe went mainstream. OK, there was restaurants dedicated two jungle themes. There was Captain Planet, and we mentioned Ferngully, Once Upon a Forest, and all of these other movies and pop culture. Something shifted between the 80s and the 90s.
00:24:19
Plant People
I don't know if it was a certain amount of social awareness or what exactly, you know, what group and or series of events.
00:24:22
Alexis
Mm-hmm.
00:24:25
Alexis
Environmental groups.
00:24:26
Plant People
Yeah, what led to that, but there was ah there's definitely a shift for me going from the 80s to the 90s that there's much more awareness you know than there was it just for me personally once again probably not a universal ah true to them
00:24:39
Brett
Yeah, I don't know. I think that's i think that's pretty right on, like a kind of focus on on alleged progress in technology and modernization through the 80s, along with kind of like –
00:24:42
Alexis
Mm-hmm.
00:24:50
Brett
a certain um ah economic optimism followed by a real lack of economic optimism coming into the nineties. And then you have like the kind of Clinton year resurgence of, okay, it it's the economy and we're going to fix that. And we're going to, but it turns out there's all these other environmental reports coming out that, you know, global warming as they called it then, and that the ah pollution and other things are having these effects. And you have this emergence of like a, I guess that was the,
00:25:18
Brett
third wave of feminism or like ah a new wave of feminism, a new wave of sexual revolution, et cetera, kind of parallel in the sixties, that there was this reconnection with nature in a similar way of the flower children of the sixties.
00:25:21
Alexis
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
00:25:28
Plant People
Yeah.
00:25:30
Brett
I don't, I don't think that that's off like super off at all.
00:25:30
Plant People
I kind of felt that.
00:25:33
Brett
I think it's, it ah was really like, Oh yeah. And, and I would be very curious to see a media media studies piece about that.
00:25:36
Plant People
i mean.
00:25:40
Plant People
Yeah, I'd love to see it I mean, for me to notice that at that age or to reflect back on it must have been big for it to get through this thick demeanor.
00:25:41
Alexis
of
00:25:47
Plant People
It must it must have it but must have been it must have been pretty significant because, you know, and it's easier to see once I look back on it, we got to talking about it.
00:25:48
Alexis
ah
00:25:48
Brett
Oh, we all know that's not true, Mr. Blue Side of the Mountain.
00:25:57
Plant People
I was like, yeah, I kind of you guys mentioned all these really super cool pop references. i was like, yeah, I kind of felt that in the 90s. And of course, I attended a certain type of college at that time in the mid 90s.
00:26:08
Plant People
And, you know, it was, First and foremost, it and Ag and Natural Resources became sustainable Ag and Natural Resources degree.
00:26:15
Alexis
Mm-hmm.
00:26:16
Plant People
You know, even the degrees were changing names at that time in academia. There started to be, you know, this a huge wave of talk of sustainability and considerations beyond the now.
00:26:27
Plant People
ah So, yeah.
00:26:27
Brett
Mm-hmm.
00:26:28
Plant People
Yeah, I don't know. Yeah. like I said, environmental groups, if that was the genesis of that or just, you know, the environmental factors or what led to that. But I felt it yeah in pop culture and it was expressed all across pop culture.
00:26:40
Plant People
You guys had mentioned even more, you know, pop culture references. The jungle theme was, you know, throughout.
00:26:48
Alexis
And like the Jungle Book came out in the 90s.
00:26:50
Plant People
i was going to say Kipling. Yeah.
00:26:52
Alexis
And
00:26:53
Plant People
The book and the other Disney. Yeah.
00:26:55
Alexis
um what what what was the movie the jung with the game?
00:26:55
Plant People
yeah
00:27:01
Alexis
The Jungle Game?
00:27:01
Plant People
Jumanji, yeah.
00:27:02
Alexis
Jumanji. Yeah.
00:27:04
Brett
Oh, Jumanji.
00:27:05
Plant People
Yeah, I think about the drums in Jumanji.
00:27:05
Alexis
hu the The vines that were like, so you know, attacking you you had get through them and ah all the different
00:27:11
Plant People
Oh, yeah, all of that.
00:27:13
Alexis
all the different ones. Yeah.
00:27:15
Plant People
But it was a good it was a good time.
00:27:16
Alexis
What else? Who else has got one? Brett, you got another one?
00:27:22
Brett
me think.
00:27:22
Alexis
Other than the Karate Kid?
00:27:24
Plant People
Yeah, you you mentioned, you started mentioning...
00:27:24
Brett
Other than the Karate Kid, which set me on my path to become a bonsai guy.
00:27:27
Plant People
Which, Brett, did I hear you right when you said, oh I didn't really think about the Bonsai much when I was watching Craig? Did you just say that?
00:27:33
Brett
Correct.
00:27:34
Plant People
I was shocked.
00:27:34
Brett
I did not even remember that it happened.
00:27:36
Plant People
I was absolutely shocked when you said that.
00:27:36
Alexis
Mm-mm.
00:27:36
Brett
i didn't, there was no, cause like in it, in the first one, it's like this tool of discipline or like this tool to demonstrate discipline and and peace and whatever.
00:27:43
Alexis
Mm-hmm.
00:27:46
Brett
And I think in the second one, one of his bones, I get stolen.
00:27:47
Alexis
I was say, yeah this... Yeah, there's one where he's like in Japan, like collecting the bonsai.
00:27:51
Brett
and i i could be making this up.
00:27:51
Plant People
Yeah.
00:27:53
Plant People
Yeah. And they they did...
00:27:55
Alexis
Yeah.
00:27:56
Brett
And they like pull it up with a rope or something.
00:27:58
Alexis
Yeah.
00:27:58
Brett
Um,
00:27:59
Plant People
It became one of the characters, yeah.
00:28:01
Brett
Yeah. I mean, I'm, you know, Ray, I'm not a big Hollywood guy. I'm more about, more about, more about Broadway than I am about, or more about main street than I am about wall street.
00:28:05
Alexis
ah
00:28:10
Brett
Um, or I don't know, whatever, whatever other thing I need to say to, no, I, I just never, I never thought about it.
00:28:11
Plant People
You know, it's the kind of vibe. It's the kind of vibe, yeah.
00:28:17
Brett
Cause, cause honestly, I wasn't really a big plant person until I was older. Um, like much, much older, ah And so that's why I was kind of curious from your all's perspective, if you had some formative memories of plants or something that, you know, that you you saw.
00:28:36
Brett
ah Alexis, you said that you you were ah a sacred garden or sacred garden, a secret garden ah girly back in the day.
00:28:43
Alexis
Yeah, you just said that and it just made me think of like, but Like plants have always been like a part of some like point into my life in the way of, of it wasn't like, it doesn't feel formative in the same way of like, oh, there was this revolution in my brain of like, oh, you know, plants are here and I can do something. It was just sort of like, they've always been there. It'd be weird if they weren't. And, and so it was more, it'd be, it's more like that. Like, yes, I took it a lot further and was like, I'm going to have all of these degrees, but, uh,
00:29:16
Alexis
It was, it was just, you know, we had the garden. My mom loved her, you know, um flower, like had a really large established flower gardens outside.
00:29:21
Plant People
Mm-hmm.
00:29:25
Alexis
Like she knew about trees. It was just like, you spent time in the woods and i don't know, it just was, you know, there was just like this nature of, I don't know any other way to be.
00:29:33
Brett
Yeah.
00:29:35
Alexis
So I'm just going to take it to the next level. Yeah.
00:29:38
Brett
Hmm.
00:29:39
Plant People
Yeah.
00:29:39
Alexis
um
00:29:39
Plant People
My grandmother always had like dried, always thought it was so fascinating. She would have things drying on her porch all the way around, whether it was shucky beans or whether it was garlic braided.
00:29:46
Alexis
good
00:29:50
Plant People
But I was like, I was like, my granny's a witchy woman.
00:29:51
Alexis
Yeah.
00:29:52
Plant People
I didn't know, I didn't know what to call it, but like there's all these herbs and stuff that grandmother always had drying out on a kind of an old tin porch and It was just interesting. Like you said, Alexis, I mean, that's not pop culture.
00:30:03
Plant People
I know we're diverging off little bit, but I mean, these are the things that, you know, big things that formed us.
00:30:04
Alexis
No, yeah, sorry. It's not pop culture, but.
00:30:09
Plant People
And we've talked some about that before, you know, as far as our experience, just experiences in general growing up.
00:30:14
Alexis
i I have a book that I brought up before, but for a different like reason.
00:30:14
Plant People
And I remember that.
00:30:19
Alexis
ah You know, those of you who've been listening for a while know that like my goal is to one day be a falconer. And one of the books that inspired me when I was really young was My Side of the Mountain. But like one of the things before I like kind of knew falconry was a real thing, like when I was younger, the reason I loved My Side of the Mountain is because he lived in a tree.
00:30:40
Alexis
Like that was, that was the best part was like, he lived in a tree, like said, lived off the land.
00:30:41
Brett
Mmm.
00:30:46
Alexis
And then like, he had this Falcon that helped him live off the land.
00:30:50
Plant People
You make me think of a children's book, Alexis.
00:30:50
Alexis
But that was like,
00:30:52
Plant People
What's with the little bunny curled up in a hollow tree? i am a bunny.
00:30:56
Alexis
um, oh, I don't know that one.
00:30:56
Plant People
I am a bunny. That's the, that's like ah when you said that, but yeah, i that's one of the first kids books I ever remember. And I've forgotten about that until this time, but I am a bunny.
00:31:04
Alexis
oh really? Yeah. Yeah, I just like, I wanted to live in a tree in the woods.
00:31:09
Alexis
Like I still kind of want to live in a tree.
00:31:09
Plant People
So cool.
00:31:10
Plant People
Yeah.
00:31:12
Alexis
I still absolutely want to live in a tree in the woods.
00:31:12
Plant People
Still you have aspirations. Yeah, absolutely.
00:31:16
Alexis
So any book where it was like someone was like living off the land, but like in the forest. I don't know how, why I didn't become a forester. Somehow I got into another direction, but.
00:31:24
Plant People
I almost did. Yeah, I was infatuated with ah forestry and, and, you know, that that started my love of, you know, like what you're describing there is love of ecosystems and systems in general, ah just as they relate to each other.
00:31:26
Alexis
Yeah.
00:31:34
Alexis
yeah
00:31:37
Plant People
And then I went down the mushroom path, you know, while I was in college and, you know, the micro-arisol kind of things. And yeah, the the systems working together.
00:31:44
Alexis
Apparently I've been like planning for the apocalypse and to live off the land since I was a child. All my favorite books were like, someone is lost in the wilderness and they must survive.
00:31:57
Brett
Yeah, that checks that checks a lot ah checks out a lot.
00:32:02
Plant People
That checks a lot of boxes, Alexis, yeah.
00:32:02
Brett
and did i'll I'll share something about myself that gives a count. It's not about plants, but it's a counter that when I was a kid, I legitimately, the boogeyman concept was specifically ah Saddam Hussein in my closet.
00:32:21
Plant People
Very specific, very specific.
00:32:24
Alexis
But not the what was the other one you were threatened with the toe?
00:32:28
Brett
The tow woman was more of a cultural thing.
00:32:31
Alexis
Okay, creepy.
00:32:31
Brett
In my family, it was a woman who had a necklace where her, her, the, the jewels on the necklace were the, the toe bones of children who didn't have, who were caught out of bed without permission.
00:32:37
Plant People
Kind of terrifying.
00:32:45
Brett
So that's, that was a trans, that was transplanted.
00:32:47
Alexis
But the boogeyman.
00:32:47
Plant People
little
00:32:48
Brett
Right. But I was more about the WMDs that were, turns out, let's not, you know, we're going all the way back because this is making me realize as we talk about all the other things, as you all talk about, you know, you became plant people.
00:33:01
Brett
I still, and I should have known, you know, white guy in America wasn't good, wasn't good odds, but I still have not painted with all the colors of the wind.
00:33:11
Plant People
Oh, man, you're going back to Disney. I love it.
00:33:13
Brett
every Yeah, I never heard the wolf cry to the blue corn moon.
00:33:14
Plant People
Disney references.
00:33:15
Alexis
Chef's kiss.
00:33:16
Plant People
Yeah.
00:33:17
Brett
i and i haven't i've been met a greeting bobcat to ask why he grins.
00:33:18
Alexis
Wow.
00:33:21
Plant People
You even mentioned like Beauty and the Beast.
00:33:21
Alexis
Wow.
00:33:23
Plant People
I mean, the the plant references in that group of work by that company is pretty amazing when you consider, you know, all the animated series and stuff like that.
00:33:28
Brett
andh
00:33:32
Alexis
Grandmother Willow, ah the best.
00:33:32
Brett
Yeah.
00:33:34
Plant People
Yeah.
00:33:34
Brett
Yes.
00:33:35
Plant People
Mm-hmm.
00:33:35
Brett
Yes. Yes.
00:33:37
Alexis
but as it It doesn't get better than Grandmother Willow.
00:33:39
Brett
So powerful.
00:33:39
Plant People
I was like, oh, that's the Entwives. I thought immediately as a child when I first saw that, I thought that's the Entwives. And and ah no, it wasn't. Unfortunately, I was dashed.
00:33:48
Brett
So, okay, here's a little side side quest question for you. If you could have an ancient tree spirit whom you could go and seek for counsel or just hang out and vibe with or whatever, movable like an ant or not, either way, what species do you think you would pick that you would want to to that you would want for your spirit homie to be
00:34:16
Alexis
American beach.
00:34:16
Plant People
earn
00:34:18
Brett
You're obsessed with it.
00:34:20
Plant People
Not a tricolor.
00:34:21
Alexis
I mean, first of all, can you blame me? Second of all, the American beach is like the, the bark, the skin, like I could just see like the, the creases of the, the ancient wise, you know, spirits like it's.
00:34:25
Brett
No.
00:34:31
Brett
Mm-hmm.
00:34:34
Plant People
And it's very ghostly in the woods.
00:34:34
Brett
Mm-hmm.
00:34:35
Plant People
It looks like a spirit.
00:34:37
Alexis
Yeah. And in the winter time, it just like holds on all of its leaves. So it looks like a little ghosty, um,
00:34:43
Brett
Mm.
00:34:44
Alexis
I feel like you judged me right there for that, but I'm going to let it go.
00:34:46
Brett
So no, I'm saying let's get one planted because that's like, you want to get one planted.
00:34:47
Alexis
My 2026 goal. Yeah, there's.
00:34:51
Brett
And I'm like, if you, if you want, let's get it in the ground so that your tree homie can start taking root.
00:34:58
Plant People
Literally.
00:34:59
Brett
Yeah, literally.
00:35:00
Plant People
Walk in a garden plant a seed. We've not even talked about music, by the way. What was that? I veered off there. planet to see That's lyrics, but yeah, I digress.
00:35:11
Brett
Let me, let me, something about peaches and shaking the tree.
00:35:11
Plant People
I forget what that song is.
00:35:11
Alexis
others
00:35:13
Plant People
What is that? Yeah, well, Millions of Peaches for Free.
00:35:15
Alexis
The watermelon crawl? What?
00:35:17
Plant People
That's a different song. Yeah. and Watermelon Crawl. That features a plant ah that prominently features a horticultural thing.
00:35:26
Alexis
Sorry, I'm a horticulturist, so watermelon.
00:35:27
Plant People
and me I love the fact that you immediately went to watermelon crawl. I did you not see that coming.
00:35:32
Brett
uh watermelon crawl wow yeah that's a good it's a good outside guess that's a ah sort of 90s uh anthem for
00:35:33
Plant People
Not in a million years. I kind of did. I kind of, bit kind of we were we went from, yeah, we went from ethereal, beautiful, ghostly beach trees to crawling, you know, doing a watermelon crawl.
00:35:46
Brett
take taking the stance against against impaired driving might i add if you drink don't drive to the watermelon crawl uh
00:35:50
Plant People
Yes. Yes. a Absolutely.
00:35:51
Alexis
true what's your ancient spirit tree should we be so lucky
00:35:51
Plant People
Yeah. Well, what's your tree, Brent? I don't want to move on without knowing your tree. Yeah.
00:35:58
Brett
I don't know. I'm kind of looking for i'm kind of looking for good ideas. um I think i think a a Hemlock could be really cool.
00:36:07
Plant People
Yeah.
00:36:08
Brett
I tend to be like an evergreen kind of guy.
00:36:12
Alexis
that like like suga canadensis
00:36:14
Brett
Willow is a really good shout for one. obviously for the you know ah the Was it Mother Willow?
00:36:16
Plant People
Yeah.
00:36:18
Alexis
Grandmother Willa.
00:36:19
Brett
Grandmother Willow.
00:36:20
Alexis
Grandmother Willa.
00:36:20
Plant People
Yeah.
00:36:20
Brett
yeah um That's a good really good shout. I don't know. Do you have one, Ray?
00:36:27
Plant People
I'd probably have to go back to Sycamore. I mean, just because i absolutely love the bark on that.
00:36:30
Brett
Oh, that's right.
00:36:30
Alexis
Mm-hmm.
00:36:31
Brett
That's right. You said that.
00:36:32
Plant People
And the white, it's the white. I love that on that.
00:36:34
Alexis
Mm-hmm.
00:36:34
Plant People
It's very...
00:36:35
Brett
well the branch then were All the crazy branch angles on of Wars are also just in insane.
00:36:35
Plant People
it
00:36:38
Plant People
Yeah. And the exposure in the wintertime. it's got little balls that can fly down hit you in the head. I mean, it's great.
00:36:44
Alexis
idiot.
00:36:45
Plant People
It's wonderful.
00:36:46
Alexis
Why did you do
00:36:46
Plant People
Yeah. It's like here, if it has projectiles it can throw. Absolutely. alex It's absolutely.
00:36:50
Alexis
that?
00:36:51
Plant People
Yeah.
00:36:52
Alexis
If Josh were here, he would say like a burr oak or something, probably.
00:36:56
Plant People
Oh, probably some very fun and functional.
00:36:57
Alexis
a chinkapin oak.
00:37:00
Plant People
Yeah.
00:37:01
Alexis
Yeah.
00:37:01
Plant People
I'm trying to think that's a tough one, Brett. Yeah. a Good question.
00:37:04
Brett
I just feel i feel like i i want some money I want one that's like a little more zany. You know, I feel like an oak tree or ah like a sycamore. I mean, not a sycamore. A redwood or something like that is sequoia.
00:37:15
Plant People
Brit is a smoke tree.
00:37:15
Alexis
Willow.
00:37:17
Plant People
Yeah.
00:37:18
Brett
It's a little it's a little like, okay, cool, cool, cool.
00:37:18
Alexis
too obvious.
00:37:21
Plant People
It's a little on my nose, yeah.
00:37:23
Brett
like
00:37:24
Plant People
You wanna be a sneaky understory tree?
00:37:24
Brett
That's why i like I like willow as an option. A ginkgo would probably be wild.
00:37:30
Plant People
Ancient tree? Yeah.
00:37:31
Brett
It'd be like...
00:37:32
Plant People
I'm dropping all of my leaves at the same room.
00:37:32
Alexis
Imagine, imagine, um, grandmother ginkgo throwing stinky fruit at you and just be like, you idiot.
00:37:37
Brett
Mm-hmm.
00:37:38
Plant People
Perfect, yes.
00:37:39
Brett
You fool.
00:37:40
Plant People
People that we don't like, we claim their spirit tree is Bradford pears. then Don't put that on anyone.
00:37:47
Brett
You are giving Bradford Pear tree spirit right now.
00:37:50
Plant People
Negative.
00:37:50
Brett
And let's just
00:37:51
Alexis
energy.
00:37:51
Plant People
ah Do not need to do that. Yeah.
00:37:54
Brett
So it.
00:37:54
Alexis
I think that might be my, um, what I'm gonna, like, if I'm have to be mean to people or like call them off, I'm just gonna be like, you know, you're really giving some Bradford pair energy right now.
00:37:55
Plant People
Nice.
00:38:04
Alexis
And I'm going need you to switch that up to something better.
00:38:05
Plant People
Nice.
00:38:05
Brett
Mm-hmm.
00:38:07
Alexis
Thanks.
00:38:08
Brett
Before I break your branch off.
00:38:10
Alexis
An ice storm is coming for you, Bradford pair.
00:38:10
Plant People
Or if you,
00:38:13
Alexis
Yeah.
00:38:14
Plant People
an ice storm is coming, winter is coming. Just say winter is coming.
00:38:16
Alexis
when The windstorm is coming.
00:38:19
Plant People
Yeah.
00:38:19
Alexis
I am the wind.
00:38:20
Brett
I sense a strong wind out of the West.
00:38:21
Plant People
That's a that's a that's throwing literal shade, Alexis. That's throwing literal shade.
00:38:25
Brett
Oh,
00:38:26
Plant People
When you tell somebody they have weak weak branch angles, don't ever do that. With a botanist, you're going to cause a fight.
00:38:32
Alexis
You call that a branch angle?
00:38:34
Plant People
Yeah, wow.
00:38:35
Alexis
out of here.
00:38:35
Plant People
Your embedded bark is hideous. Yeah, just go at them. Go at them, yeah.
00:38:41
Brett
Well, so what about any more recent? Any, any but like, do you have?
00:38:45
Plant People
Avatar.
00:38:46
Brett
Yeah, okay.
00:38:46
Plant People
Avatar. How do we forget Avatar?
00:38:47
Alexis
Yeah.
00:38:48
Plant People
That's a systems movie.
00:38:48
Alexis
Yeah,
00:38:49
Plant People
You guys mentioned Trees, Brett. and And I haven't watched the latest Avatar. There's a third one. But the first and second...
00:38:55
Alexis
yeah it's in theater.
00:38:56
Brett
I haven't seen either of the sequels.
00:38:57
Plant People
Like they, ah the original one was, i mean, prominently featured the forest and how the forest interacted as a one singular system.
00:39:02
Alexis
Mm-hmm.
00:39:05
Plant People
You know, in there, there was a mythology of Gaia, this, you know, overarching entity, but it basically was a forest system, an ecosystem where things are interconnected.
00:39:05
Brett
Yeah.
00:39:05
Alexis
Mm-hmm.
00:39:12
Alexis
Mm-hmm.
00:39:14
Plant People
But that's more modern, I was thinking. Yeah.
00:39:16
Brett
Yeah, I kind of saw that as like a blend of of forest and fungal networking energy, you know, which was really cool.
00:39:22
Alexis
Yeah.
00:39:22
Plant People
Yes, the fungal angle. Yeah, exactly. Yeah.
00:39:25
Alexis
yeah Like the Aspens and yeah.
00:39:26
Plant People
Yes, one single large you know organism.
00:39:27
Brett
Mm hmm.
00:39:30
Plant People
I was trying to think in and more recent, I'm trying to think.
00:39:34
Brett
One of the movies, you you talked about like the um the like the environment being a big part of the of the movie or of the whatever. ah One of them that I go back and watch regularly, not for the plot, but just because of the feel of it, including a lot of trees and plants, is The Revenant.
00:39:48
Alexis
Mm-hmm.
00:39:51
Plant People
oh
00:39:51
Alexis
oh
00:39:52
Plant People
Oh, yeah. Which environment versus man kind of thing almost.
00:39:53
Brett
Leo DiCaprio? So brutal. Because like, yeah, the bear attack got a lot of hype and it yeah it was intense, but like...
00:39:57
Plant People
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
00:40:02
Brett
Just the, these, trees like thinking that these trees that have survived dozens, hundreds of years have gone through this cycle that he's experiencing this one time over and over and over again.
00:40:07
Plant People
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
00:40:14
Brett
And like how, yeah, the interaction, I watched a really interesting YouTube video called reading and just recently called reading the forested landscape. um It's by this dude, it was this, it featured this guy who's a professor up at a place called Antioch College. And he was talking about like,
00:40:33
Brett
essentially being able to do a little bit of like a forensic botanical analysis of the space just by like seeing different things. And he talked about these things called ah pillows and cradles where like uprooted trees have fallen over and created a pillow. And what's behind is a cradle. And if it's anyway, it just made me think about that kind of ah that movie and that feeling of like,
00:40:59
Brett
existing within, within the environment of the plants and and just focusing on how humanity is just a part of that. And often at our, at, to, to our damage.
00:41:08
Plant People
Yeah. ah
00:41:10
Alexis
that movie I like have a vivid memory of watching for the first time and being like
00:41:15
Plant People
It's very visceral. Yeah.
00:41:17
Alexis
what is what is happening and I was young I watched with my parents yeah and I was like I don't know if I should be watching this like I was like I don't I don't they were like it's rated r but it's not like you know the kind you've rated r you can't watch and I was like oh okay and I remember just being I don't I don't actually think I should be watching this I don't
00:41:19
Brett
It's so visually intense. Yeah. Yeah.
00:41:22
Plant People
um You mentioned, yeah, I didn't feel it. Yeah.
00:41:32
Brett
Don't worry.
00:41:35
Plant People
It's very intense.
00:41:35
Brett
You won't see any nudity, but you will see a dude getting his absolute self getting ripped up by a grizzly bear.
00:41:38
Alexis
yeah yeah yeah yep
00:41:39
Plant People
It's, it's not call of the wild. Like you remember.
00:41:41
Brett
Hmm.
00:41:42
Plant People
Yeah. Yeah. You know, we, I'm going to bring it back to books. Cause that's what I do. Uh, I think of all the, like the Hemingways of the world. And I think of, uh, you know, Jack London.
00:41:53
Plant People
and how you know they prominently featured all this, or or more modern books. like I'm thinking Alexis, like um Naomi Novik's Pruited, where you know was the pride the primary character was a forest.
00:42:03
Alexis
Oh, yeah.
00:42:05
Plant People
ah But yeah, literature, I'm thinking, you know I still read books about plants to this very day.
00:42:10
Alexis
Or what was that other book? I think, I don't know if you sent it to me or I sent it to you. It's like Dark Window or something like that.
00:42:16
Plant People
Yes, yeah, basically herbology, yeah, and plants.
00:42:17
Alexis
And all of the... all of the Yeah, all of the names in the book were Latin names for plants.
00:42:23
Plant People
Yes.
00:42:23
Alexis
And if you knew enough about um if you knew enough about plants and how they're related, you could you you kind of figured out the end because she like paired these families.
00:42:34
Alexis
you know They have two different last names, but they were both in the same like genus. And you like you figure it out in the end because you're like, wait a second.
00:42:42
Plant People
They're compatible.
00:42:42
Alexis
theses are And I was like, it was so brilliantly done for like it didn't ruin anything for anybody. But like it gave plant nerds like a little little extra. o
00:42:50
Plant People
I know. That's definitely one of those.
00:42:52
Brett
inside track on figure it out.
00:42:52
Plant People
it It's so specific. It felt like a niche book, in other words.
00:42:56
Brett
Hmm.
00:42:57
Alexis
Yeah.
00:42:58
Plant People
Yeah. and And I think all the magazines, and I'm really dating myself now, is I think about all the actual real-world physical magazines of, you know, Mom used to go to these flea markets. She she knew that I loved, you know, old magazines, old and new.
00:43:10
Plant People
It didn't matter if was National Geo or Good Housekeeping or Southern Living. any i loved to look through magazines. One of my favorite things was, like, all the cottagecore stuff. all the cozy looking log cabins with plants on the inside and dried lavender bunches.
00:43:21
Brett
Hmm.
00:43:25
Plant People
It's that kind of vibe you got going on. I think of all the magazines, I guess the equivalent now would be all the digital, you know, formats that everything's in nowadays.
00:43:32
Alexis
Pinterest.
00:43:33
Plant People
Yeah. Well, Pinterest basically, I get on there all the time. I'm looking in for my intensive square foot gardening stuff, but yeah. And I love the fact that social media has brought a lot of this stuff, elevated it back, you know, things ebb and flow, you know, in themes, but, uh, I feel like right now we're on kind of a high note for like, you know, indoor plant spaces and things.
00:43:51
Plant People
If you look at all the content on like TikTok or Pinterest, I mean, this stuff is really prominently featured as, you know, things that are commonly searched for, you know, that's kind of comes to the top of things.
00:44:01
Alexis
the
00:44:03
Plant People
And I love that. And we've, we've alluded to that on the show before with, even with different guests and they've mentioned, you know, the prominence of plants featured in social media. And I really enjoy that. And, you know, great.
00:44:12
Alexis
Or even just like a, you know, natural wood and, you know, how it softens a space and, you know.
00:44:17
Plant People
Yeah, we had that cool discussion, you know, with Robinson Center representatives and stuff. And yeah, perfect. Perfect. Bringing the outdoor world in.
00:44:25
Alexis
Well, hopefully we've unlocked some memories for you people.
00:44:26
Brett
Well, yeah.
00:44:28
Alexis
If you're like the troll in Central Park, and I'm immediately going to figure out how i need how I can own it because I need to watch it.
00:44:29
Brett
yeah
00:44:35
Plant People
I have to go back and watch that now, Alexis. I barely remember that. And I love the fact you brought that up because now I need to it's bugging me that I can't get that completely formed in my mind.
00:44:45
Alexis
There was another one that came out at the same time that was also like featured around Central Park, but like not planty, but it was like ah dinosaurs, I think is what it was called or something dinosaurs.
00:44:45
Plant People
It's awesome.
00:44:57
Alexis
um Yeah. So I'll, it's not the same one, but it all came out like this.
00:45:00
Plant People
No, not the same one, yeah.
00:45:03
Alexis
same I remember at all those VHS or at like the same time and I just cycled through them.
00:45:08
Plant People
Yes, I'm so sad I got rid of most of my VHS collection. I am so sad. I want them back so badly.
00:45:15
Brett
So if we have any clear omissions that we, how can these morons not have thought of this one?
00:45:23
Plant People
And there are plenty, I'm sure, and we want to know about them.
00:45:25
Brett
Please leave a comment, send send us a comment or leave them a comment on Instagram, on one of our platforms and let us know. And if we get enough of those, we will do a second episode and episode two featuring all of our errata about the terrible omissions that we made along with everything else.
00:45:43
Brett
that we think about that we think of between now and then. um I've already thought of a couple, but I won't spoil it.
00:45:49
Alexis
Jessica probably has some really good ones too.
00:45:50
Plant People
Oh, she would have.
00:45:50
Alexis
So we we'll have to bring them out.
00:45:51
Brett
Yeah, bet so.
00:45:51
Plant People
Yeah, for sure.
00:45:53
Alexis
Yeah.
00:45:53
Plant People
yeah
00:45:55
Alexis
Awesome. Well, we appreciate you guys being here, listening, leave us a review with what we forgot. When you leave us your, your five stars, hopefully go watch some good movies or read some books that channeled you into the plant life, or the plant lifestyle. But we appreciate you being here and we hope you join us next time.
00:46:14
Alexis
Have a great one.