With everything going on in the world, gardening, tending to my plants, and digging in the soil has always kept me grounded (see what I did there?) As a self-professed plant geek and prone to plant hoarding back home, I regularly fight the urge to purchase plants whilst being a traveller. Clothes, shoes, and kitschy souvenirs? Eh. But an unusual fern? I can’t resist and could probably be labelled a shopaholic when it comes to anything that’s green and leafy.
I wish I could just travel with a rolling greenhouse and bring my leafy friends everywhere I go. From Cassowary Coast natives, pothos the size of dinner plates, and banana trees of far-north Queensland to the prolific Birds of Paradise and Kangaroo Paws of Western Australia, I wish I could stick them all in a greenhouse and bring them home with me.
But the tragedy of travel is that toting plants around is that such an action would be both impractical (can you imagine flying with said rolling greenhouse) and illegal (ugh, customs…amiright)?
So what’s a plant geek to do!? Here are my tips for quelling your green craving (and no, not that kind of green).
Botanic Gardens One thing I love about Botanic Gardens (they drop the -al from Botanical here) in Australia is that they’re FREE! They’re treated like public parks and many rely on donations and volunteers. King’s Park is a major attraction in Perth and has an enormous array of WA natives like Banksias and silvery eucalypt varieties. Lots of botanic gardens will also have gift shops that sell books about native flora and fauna and crafts by local artists. (Hot tip: flat, lightweight items are far less expensive to ship than heavier, bulkier items, so prints and paintings are a great souvenir…and will get through customs).
Everything is disposable and replaceable Travel culture thrives of sharing, and you will need to cull your belongings at some point and give things away. Think of it like pruning. It’s a liberating experience and you learn to hold most material items loosely, give to those who need it, and hold tightly to what you absolutely love and will serve your future experiences and travels. For example, A camera and $10 journal are two of my most prized possessions because they’ve recorded my experiences.
I’ve given away most of the clothes I came with and try to not spend much on new items. Plants are much the same. But when I lived in Airlie Beach for 4 months, I couldn’t resist buying a tiny Schefflera to care for. I moved house with my little plant a few times and always gave it the best light and adequate water! When it came time to start a new adventure, I left my little plant for my housemates to enjoy, and I hope it makes someone else as happy as it made me!
Learn about plants and customs from around the world As you meet other travellers and locals, you’ll learn about plant-related events and customs from around the world! For example:
- The Netherlands are famous for their Tulip season in April
- New Zealand’s Lupin season in the summer is breathtaking
- Japan’s incredible cherry blossom season and Kyoto’s Arashiyama Bamboo Grove are otherworldly.
- Kew Gardens in London houses the largest and most diverse plant collection in the entire world!
- York, near Perth, has their gorgeous canola flower season coming up in mid-August!
I guarantee your bucket list will get longer and longer the more you travel and learn about the world’s different plants, and you can even plan your trips around when plants are in bloom. For me, Japan is at the top of my list right now!
Learn about the Indigenous relationship with plants Indigenous Australians and the Aboriginal culture hold so many secrets to the land. And sadly, much like Native Americans, due to being abused, enslaved, stolen, and murdered, some of that incredible knowledge and connection to the land was lost over time. In Australia, you can do tours and sample Bush Tucker, an Aussie term for the foods and medicines Australia’s traditional owners have consumed for millennia.
You can also learn about the techniques traditional owners used to manage plants. For example, for 50,000 years, bush fires were managed by controlled burns, meaning flammable bush was burned in a controlled environment to help eliminate the risk of an out-of-control bushfire. Because Australia is the dryest continent on earth, a single strike of lightning can create an impossible-to-control bushfire, evidenced by the tragic bushfires this past year.
Grass trees Xanthorrhoea are endemic to Australia, meaning they’re found nowhere else in the world. They are incredibly useful for Indigenous Australians and have a lifespan of 600 years! They’re also extremely flammable, and some species even evolved to be stimulated and generate new growth after being burned. So the best way to reduce the risk is to fight fire with fire and burn the plant in a controlled setting to reduce the hazard. This is an incredibly interesting plant, but to spare you a rambling paragraph about how awe-inspiring it is, here’s a link to an article from Beating Around the Bush if you’re interested.
Plants and travel are two of my passions in life, and travel has opened my eyes to an entirely new realm of plant-geekiness. 🌿