‘Plantdemic’ Chronicles

“Why will I buy plants this pandemic time? They’re not basic needs! They cannot be
eaten.”
These were the words I reciprocated to Jane who was so obsessed of looking for
plants with her Aunt Sol. They even went to the market as early as 4:00a.m. just to
catch up with the cheaper plants.
“You see, you have eaten your words, Ading.” Jane added who used to call me
Ading. She graduated two degrees in doctoral but look at her, she loves to collect plants.
“When I retire, these plants will be my leisure,” she added. Those were her words
as she told me, gardening is the thing for the oldies. I wondered her notion about gardening
that it is for the oldies because even I was young, all of my family members loved to garden,
sweeping the ground, planting ornamentals, watering the plants, grooming them after
waking up in the morning to find out that nobody was cooking at the kitchen to prepare for
the meals.
But these pandemic times, everybody becomes the plantita and plantito. These are
coined terms from the words plant and tita or tito referring to the men and women in all
ages and even the celebrities became such. Some of the very popular of these celebrities
presenting their expensive plant collections in the social media are Jinky Pacquiao, Aubrey
Miles, and Gretchen Fulido. These people love to post their plants or collections in their
Instagram, Facebook, and other social media platforms. They actually call their new
collection as “babies” referring to the different floras and foliage they newly bought, planted,
and collected. Even Ethel Booba had a spoof of her pricey indoor plant collection from other
countries which are eggplant and banana in a pot and placed inside the house.
There are other plants which were sensationalized just like the Mimosa pudica
(sensitive plant) or commonly known as makahiya that I thought only as a grass in the
fields but is being sold in the gardens. It is called sensitive plant because when one touches it,
the leaves fold. But be careful, you will be pricked because of its thorns. It is like shy person
that can retaliate when being hurt or touched.
Another is the Queen of the Night (Epiphyllum oxypetalum), a special kind of
orchid cactus with white flower resembling water lily and grows from leaf cuttings. It is very
expensive flower in other countries like India, and Sri Lanka because this nocturnal plant
shows its petals late at night for two hours only. Not only that, it blooms only once every
three to five years and the petals’ extract can be used as perfume. Sometimes it is called
“wishing flower” as people say, you can wish if the petals are open. There was even a belief
that fairies are attracted because of its fragrance. Sometime in 2012, I was able to take
picture of its petals. It was beauty in the dark, majestic yet exclusive and the scent was so
strong and irresistible. I even went back inside the house right away after taking a picture
thinking that there were bad spirits around. That was almost 12 midnight when I witnessed
it.
“Here’s your soil, Ate.” Mike, my cousin called me from inside the house because I
started planting during the Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) time. I have already
different collections before the pandemic because every festival at the oval plaza, I always
buy plants for my collections. Other plants came from my parents which they bought from
Makilala, North Cotabato wherein there are both vast and small gardens just along the
National Highway. In other words, I was already plantita even before the plants became
sensationalized. It means that the prices of the plants puffed up even the pots, the pumice,
and other garden supplies.
 “I should have tried what you taught Mike to this giganteum variegata. I
was so excited and I cut and planted it,” I told Mike regretting of what I’ve done. He
told me some techniques how to plant that is to half cut the stem, let it stay for a week
or month before totally removing from the mother plant. You will see the cutting is
already dry and consequently will not rot and die. I did this way of propagating to my
other philodendron large foliage just like Jose Buono, dark lord, black majesty, and
melalonii and it worked. The plant did not adjust so much and the leaves did not
wither.
After finishing my job related tasks, I go directly to my backyard garden and
check my plants. I talk to them when they look sad, and appreciate them when I see
them lively and vibrant. After the rain, they look revived, taken a bath, and
refreshed. Looking at these plants, I can see the wonders of God’s creation. Just
imagine the different genus of plant with different species, and each has its own
beauty, design, and characteristics. For instance, I was so amazed by the peperomia
genus that it can be propagated through its leaves. It has 1,000 species but what I
have collected are only peperomia scadens, watermelon peperomia, peperomia
obtusifolia, and pepperomia obtusifolia variegata. That means I still do not have
the 996 kinds of peperomia varieties. (Variegata is a botanical term being used to
indicate that the leaves or the stems have variegation, patches or spots in different
colours because of mutation or genetics.)
One time I bought an army and pink rose caladiums from an online seller
together with the anthurium magnificum but the leaves were torn. “If not because of
my daughter’s medicine, I would not sell my plants,” he said. Well, I said, at least I
was an instrument by God that this man can buy medicine for his ailing child. His
not so pretty and small anthurium magnificum now flaunts its magnificence and
thanking me for the care that I gave.
However, I had also bad experience when I was really attracted at the pictures
of hosta plants available in seeds posted in the one of the ornamental groups in
Facebook in South Cotabato. The pictures posted were very colourful and vibrant in
different colors of pink, yellow, and yellow green with variegations. I let my husband
picked the seeds in Digos City. After a week or two, it grew but very, very far from
what I expected. It was a zinnia flower (resembling sunflower tribe.) It is sad to
know that there are people who would fool others even during crisis just to make
money.
Looking at the plants would mean inspiration. It rejuvenates me, it makes me
busy taking care of them that I am already satisfied staying at home. The
repercussion is so strong that it gives me inner peace, joy, and contentment. It
means hope, that when I see a budding leaf, a shoot, or another flower, it implies
that’s God’s grace is there. If God blesses them with beauty and let them grow, how
much more we, His people who are very precious in His eyes.
-Esther D. Vinson
 Creative Nonfiction Analysis Framework
Guide Questions Answers

A. Themes
1. What are the underlying themes
in the text?

2. Can you quote lines from the

text to support your answer?
B. Techniques
1. Does the author show what is
Scene really happening? Support
your answer if it is evident.

Figure of speech 2. What figures of speech are

being used by the writer? Cite
them.

Symbolism 3. Does the text use symbols to

represent something? If there is,
briefly explain your answer.
Exposition 4. Is there an exposition part in
the text? If yes, support your
answer.
Dialogue 5. Does the character/s have the
throwing of dialogues?
Provide an example.

Imagery 6. Are there images in the text?

What kinds of imagery are
they?

Irony 7. Is there a statement of irony

from the text? If yes, support
your answer.