Chanel Stitt
Detroit Free Press
WWR Article Summary (tl;dr) Alex Sims is the owner of the “Leaf Me” plant boutique.” Sims says she wanted to establish “Leaf Me” as a “space in the Detroit community to gather and connect as plant people, and to share the idea that plants can be therapeutic and a medium for healing.”
Detroit
Filling a home with plants may help lift your mental health and make the space more relaxing with greenery.
It can also give you the routine of taking care of the plants and teach you life lessons.
That’s what Leaf Me Plant Boutique owner Alexis Sims hopes she is accomplishing in her business. Demand was so high for her plants and accessories that she recently opened a storefront location at 9618 Joseph Campau in Hamtramck to store and sell her items.
Since last June, Sims has sold about 500 plants and accessories. She receives plants from distributors in Michigan and Florida, and before she got her store, she had a storage unit with 90 plants.
“I wanted to establish Leaf Me as a space in the Detroit community to gather and connect as plant people, and to share the idea that plants can be therapeutic and a medium for healing,” said Sims, 27, of Detroit. “I’m hoping to start events soon — some plant swaps, intentional pruning sessions and healing sessions. That’s my next venture.”
Sims also wanted the space to sell her plant food called The Growth Elixir, a concentrated liquid that is $15.95 per bottle and contains nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and magnesium, and other accessories like spray bottles, pots and merchandise. She’s also selling the products of other small businesses. You can find products from Paisley Paper Co., a greeting card and paper goods company, in the space, along with herbal tinctures, essential oils and tea.
“The goal for me is if this is going to be a space for people to find plants as a medium for healing, I really thought it was important to exhibit how plants show up in different ways,” Sims said. “I wanted people to come in for a plant and leave with everything to support themselves or someone else.”
Sims said plants are an affordable option that can lift your mental health and will “grow as you grow.” Many Black-owned plant, flower and accessory stores, like Plant Economy, which is based in Detroit, and Detroit Flower Company, have opened over the last few years with goals to spread positive messages with their products.
“I think, especially as Black people, we have such a complicated relationship with nature and water,” said Sims, who says the complexity comes from the trauma many enslaved African Americans and their descendants have experienced. She hopes that plants can begin healing the relationship with nature.
“I think that this time has been very still in a lot of ways, so we’ve been able to open ourselves up to different things that non-pandemic life didn’t allow for.”
Each plant comes with a specific message behind it, like the pothus plant that comes with the message of fast growth, and the monstera plant that comes with a message encouraging rest.
Camille Upshaw, 26, a customer of Leaf Me Plant Boutique, said she has learned a lot from taking care of her plants and is implementing new values into her life because of it.
Upshaw said she learned that “you have to move into different spaces in order to flourish. You can’t stay in the same pot. You can’t stay in the same vase. So, me, I can’t stay in the same environment if I want to grow. I have to give myself room and space in order to be the best version of myself.”
Upshaw owns nine plants, and most of them are from Leaf Me. She has been a customer of the plant business since last year, and was buying plants every week for quite some time. Upshaw says she is an entrepreneur, and to see Sims, another Black woman, succeeding in her business is really inspiring to her.
Plants may help your mental health
Sims came up with the business idea after having her own experiences with plants. Two years ago, she had just had her son and her home was being renovated. The renovations were not going well, so her mom brought over some plants to make the space feel better.
“That was helpful to me during that time being a new mom,” said Sims. “So I just kept buying plants. Later on, I was like, this would be a good business. I held onto it. I registered everything but didn’t do anything until a year later. We launched on Juneteenth of 2020.”
Sims said plants have assisted her in her mental health, where she was depending on her plants to get her through the loss of her grandmother and the pandemic. She has 35 plants in her home, and she’s constantly watering and cleaning plants for herself and for her business, while taking care of her 2-year-old son.
Research from the U.S National Library of Medicine shows that psychological and physiological stress may be reduced through interaction with indoor plants. This happens when the nervous system slows down and blood pressure drops , while comfort, soothing and natural feelings increase.
“More people need to understand that this is a very therapeutic thing,” Sims said. “I couldn’t always afford therapy. Plants were my therapy. I have plants from my grandmother’s funeral. So they really got me through those tough times. In the same fashion that my mom gave me those plants during that difficult time I was having, I thought it would be cool to do that for other people, especially in the city of Detroit.”
“It’s been really transformative for me, and I just hope that people see these plants and can get through another day.”
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
