I reconnected with a long-ago friend who confessed that she talks to herself while gardening. She doesn’t do this anywhere else – only in the garden. I’ve seen photos of her garden, and her plants must find her as insightful and interesting as I do. She has a lot to say, and both she and her plants are thriving.
England’s new King Charles III, way back when he was Prince Charles, shared his gardening habits in an interview: “I just come and talk to the plants, really. Very important to talk to them; they respond.”
If it’s good enough for King Charles III, why not give it a go, or have a go, as the Brits say. You both might benefit. It’s free and it hurts no one. And you can’t say that about many things these days.
Once considered loony, science backs his royal habit. Don’t believe me? Would the Royal Horticultural Society lie? In a small study, they found that the vibration of the human voice turns on two genetic growth boosters, while the carbon dioxide from the human voice speeds photosynthesis.
The theory that plants benefit from the human voice began in 1848 when Gustav Fechner published Nanna (Soul-Life of Plants). But cull cyberspace and you’ll find a researcher and skeptic at Penn State. This scientist doubts that the human voice could produce enough carbon dioxide to stimulate growth.
You would have to talk a lot, which I’m fully capable of doing. He also found that while it’s true that vibrations of the human voice are like wind, and plants in windy climates produce a substance that does make them shorter and sturdier, you would have to be a long-winded talker. Literally. We’re talking all day and full of hot air. (I’ve asked my husband to withhold comment on my abilities in this last sentence.)
We are different in the garden. Calmer. Nature allows us to be our better selves. I sing in the garden. I also sing in the shower, but I really belt out those old Lutheran hymns in the garden. My Lutheran friends have advised me that you don’t belt out hymns, you belt out barroom songs. Okay, but I do fill my lungs, tip my head back and sing loudly. My theory: there is nothing to distract me. No electronic devices, no husband in need of finding a lost item; my mind is free to remember and sing:
I come to the garden alone,
While the dew is still on the roses;
And the voice I hear, falling on my ear…
The only distractions in the garden are the ones I create. I do interrupt myself. I once heard my husband describe how easy it is to distract me: “Just dangle a piece of string in front of her.”
Bottom line: I don’t know if plants benefit from my speaking to them. I know I do. I know they are listening.
Learn about a small research study from the Royal Horticultural Society.
https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/garden-how-to/info/should-you-talk-to-your-plants.htm
https://www.psu.edu/news/research/story/probing-question-does-talking-plants-help-them-grow/