‘Life is more beautiful surrounded by plants’: Hamilton man turns home into urban jungle

Mikel Coates' first love" was a calathea orbifolia - a conspicuous houseplant with large, silvery leaves and dark green veins from midrib to edge, giving it a ribbed effect.

It was the first plant I saw on Instagram where I was like ... that's gorgeous. What is that? I need to know what that is. I need to have it," he said. It stood out among the rest."

The plant is part of a green wall beside his bed, nestled in among a lemon lime maranta, with leaves that appear to have spines, a polka-dotted begonia maculata, an alocasia zebrina, which has broad green leaves atop long zebra-striped stems, and at least a dozen more.

Over the last three years, the 31-year-old has filled empty spaces left by his penchant for minimalist, mid-century decor with about a hundred houseplants because life is more beautiful surrounded by plants."

Waking up in this bed and just seeing all of this, to me, there's no better feeling," he said.

Coates isn't alone in his new-found love for houseplants. A so-called botanic boom," a trend on the rise for years, intensified during the pandemic as cooped-up Canadians spent more time at - and on - their homes. According to Statista, $886 million in potted plants were sold in Canada in 2020 - up from about $790 million in 2017.

Some of Coates' plants tell a story.

The first he owned, a treelike dracaena, was given to him five years ago by his grandma when she moved into a retirement home. At the time, he wasn't even into plants."

The first he bought, a bird of paradise, which blossoms an orange, cranelike flower, reminded him of a tropical vacation. Within three months, he had amassed about 70 plants.

It was wild how fast I got swept up in the excitement of discovering new plants," he said.

Other plants serve a purpose. Like many carnivorous plants, the Venus flytrap Coates purchased last week can consume fungus gnats - a common houseplant pest - by attracting them to its sweet nectar.

He uses potted greens - one palm, in particular - as staging props for his full-time business, selling vintage furniture online from his Gage Park-area apartment.

The Instagram account for his urban jungle" has 14,000 followers, allowing him to get sponsored - in kind and cash - for promoting plant-care products.

Though plants are part of Coates' brand and decor, they're also like pets, requiring about an hour a day of care.

I kind of look at them as a part of my family, just like my cat is," he said, referring to five-year-old Muzzer, a rescue with grey hair and green eyes. We all need to exist in this space and be happy."

But Coates says there's a false narrative" in the houseplant community - particularly on social media where they can be made to look just so for a photograph - that some people are born with green thumbs."

It actually takes a lot of failures," he said, adding that his leafy crush," the calathea orbifolia, is his third of the variety. I've killed more plants than I've actually kept alive, and that is the reality of doing this. But you kind of learn your way."

Kate McCullough is an education reporter at The Spectator. kmccullough@thespec.com