We Need Stories
The headline read, “ODIFEROUS PLANT DRAWS CROWD”.  The article that followed this attention grabber described in detail the titan arum plant.  It explained how this unusual plant only bloomed every 5 years or so, that the bloom only lasted a few days, and that the nauseating smell it gave off reminded its visitors of garbage or the stench of a corpse.   Still, thousands of people came to see it.  In fact, crowds jammed the U. S. Botanic Gardens to see (and smell) this horticultural oddity.  Over the next few days, accounts of the titan arum plant appeared on TV and in magazines and newspapers across the country.  It was big news.

 We Need More Stories
Then, I began to wonder.  How could we ‘scapers, plant people all, elicit more attention and enthusiasm for our own palette of interior plants?  Is there a lesson we can learn from the foul smelling titan arum?

There Are Lots of Unique Stories  
Clients, for the most part, lump all our plants into one all encompassing entity - “green plants”.  Oh, some may recognize a few by name, the ficus, pothos, and the ubiquitous “corn plant”, but usually clients do not differentiate one plant from another.  I believe this is because they do not know the unique story each possesses and that is a major failing on our part.  It’s the same as attending a Dog Show and seeing all the entries as “just dogs” when, in fact, there are hundreds of different breeds each with a unique coat or color or personality.  So, just as the announcer educates the audience about the difference between the Dalmatian and the Bloodhound, we need to tell our plants stories.

What Stories You Ask?
  Well, take for example the Kentia Palm - besides residing in almost every hotel known to Man, the client might just find it fascinating that the Kentia is grown from seed.  It takes years and years to reach the height of 7 feet and because of this slow growth are more costly than many other plants the same height.  Or, what about the Pothos plant?  Have we explained how this plant grows in the Rainforest under a thick canopy of foliage and that to survive it has to climb and climb and climb to reach light?  It almost brings a tear to the eye.  And, what about the twisty Drac Marginata?  Have you explained that every place there is ridge on its stalk that is where a leaf used to be?  I did this once and the client was in absolute awe.  Hand to heart, I heard her repeating this fact in hushed tones to other co-workers all that afternoon as we installed the other plants.  Trust me, this particular client never again thought of a Drac Marginata as “just a plant”.  And, I’ll bet she will never empty her leftover coffee into its container either.

We Need to Look With Fresh Eyes
Probably, we fail at this story telling because we see the plants day in and day out and maybe, over time, we have lost some of our amazement.  I’d like to see us get it back again and share these stories with our clients.  I’d like to see us develop a database of all the stories for all the plants we work with.  Then when you get a new client give them a printout of the stories for each of the plants you just installed.  Keep the stories unique and romantic and not about care or pests.  And get creative about how you present the information.  Fill a Baby Scrapbook or a School Yearbook.  Suggest they share this information with the other employees.  Maybe this will stop all of them from dumping coffee.  Suggest they print a Plant Profile in the company Newsletter.  Sounds crazy I know but these efforts encourage bonding with the plants.  Don’t laugh, you know that clients bond with their plants all the time without any input from us.  Can you imagine what might happen if we encouraged it?  Just one more way to form a tie with your client, promote your product, and differentiate you and your service. 

Thanks "Corpse Plant" 
Now, if you do this and it has positive results, you can thank that rank smelling, once every 5 year blooming, crowd drawing plant the titan arum.