The On-Demand Economy Brings Us Something Useful: Nature

Subscription services for plants could help reknit our frazzled souls, stimulate our boxed-in minds, and enliven our indoor world.

Last year, Adam Banzhoff was living in Bloomington-Normal, Illinois, working an IT job at a bank and feeling morose. “I was in a downswing, a little bit of a depression,” he tells me. Then one day, on a whim, he signed up for Horti, a new subscription service that ships members a plant every month. Soon a crispy wave fern arrived, a frisky-looking thing with rippling tendrils.

When the first new leaf appeared, it gave Banzhoff an electric thrill. He was hooked. A year later, between Horti’s regular shipments and pots he bought on his own, Banzhoff had transformed his house into a riot of green, with more than 120 plants. 

View source version on wired.com: https://www.wired.com/story/on-demand-economy-brings-us-something-useful-nature/