COVID-19 Trend: People Turn To Gardening To Ensure Mental Well-Being

Mumbai: Most nurseries and e-tailers have seen a spurt in demand for gardening variety plants through the lockdown.

Some prefer the plastic kind, others prefer the real deal. Some do it for their health, others to make their homes beautiful. Indoor plants are giving people a chance, in a limited way, to try their hand at gardening. Reasons apart, plants have begun to magically appear in houses across India, as COVID-19 forced people to stay confined to their homes.

Besides, watering the plants and nurturing them also helps in ensuring emotional and mental well-being.

E-tailers like furniture retailers, Ikea and Pepperfry meanwhile have witnessed a rise in demand for indoor and outdoor natural and artificial plants. Outdoor plants on the Ikea platform are priced between Rs 69 and Rs 599, while artificial plants are available from Rs 99 onwards, according to a Moneycontrol report.

“In general, there is a greater interest in planting and growing; we presume this is due to people spending more time than ever at home,” Kavitha Rao, Country Commercial Manager – India, at the IKEA Group, was quoted as saying by Moneycontrol.

Apart from the usual garden varieties, people have turned to nurseries for plants that are medicinal in nature and supposed to help boost immunity.

“We have sold more than 500 saplings of medicinal or immunity-boosting plants,” said Kishan Yadav, owner of a nursery located at Byculla in Mumbai.

Moreover, wellness experts, believe that in addition to acting as a natural filter for toxins in the air, plants also function as an element of nature that people can engage with, without having to step outside.

Reputed for their medicinal and immunity benefits, harad, baheda, amla, arjun, morang, tejpatra, giloy, tulsi, fennel, ashwagandha and triphala are among the saplings that have been sold the most in the past few months. Of these, giloy and ashwagandha have topped the list.