“With social isolation becoming a way of life, we are spending more time in our spaces. I believe that now more than ever we need to carve out healthier spaces for ourselves.” — Shauntelle Henry, The Plant Desk

The Plant Desk is a positive nuance of avant-garde pandemic gardening with a fresh and innovative flavour.

A self-professed and proficient “plant nerd”, Shauntelle Henry’s plant enthusiasm emanates from the social distancing phenomenon. With a penchant for “things natural and sustainable”, she paints a vivid evolutionary picture of her personal journey:

“Picture it: March 2020, and work-from-home is becoming the new normal. Like a lot of us, I had a lot more time to devote not only to my family but also to myself. In my spare time, as a devout student of YouTube university, I found myself going down a rabbit hole of videos when I came upon a video about plant propagation. I thought, propagation? What is that? As I watched, I learned that propagation involves strategically cutting a portion of one plant to create a whole new plant. This blew my mind!”

True to form, the good student and newly realised plant enthusiast went outside her home where the popular Golden Pothos grows wild, took her cuttings, and voila! Four weeks later, she had successfully achieved propagation, with lots of new leaves to boot!

In her own words, the entry into gardening via the art of propagation “springboarded me into collecting more plants and multiplying my collection”. In fact, her supportive loved ones further enabled her green thumb by giving her plants and cuttings to widen her repertoire.

The desk

“When my place of employment enforced the work-from-home order, I was lucky enough to be allowed to do just that. Of course, I had my work desk in my bedroom, an old computer desk that I had since childhood. Nothing fancy. When I started propagating and collecting plants, I realised the desk was in the perfect position to take advantage of the sunlight, which plants absolutely need. What started out as one or two plants on the desk became 10 and then pretty soon there was no space for my computer. It was me or the plants, so you know I promptly relocated to another room. The Plant Desk was born.”

The network

In May 2020, Shauntelle started @theplantdesk on Instagram with the hope that she would find at least 10 people who shared her plant passion. She explains, “I hadn’t realised at the time but I really needed a way to connect with people. Isolation was hard.”

After posting on the social media network, Shauntelle attracted her Jamaican plant tribe and met “some really amazing people”. Applauding the rock society, she quips, “The Jamaican plant community really allowed me to see the good in people again… plant people are the best people.”

Shauntelle endeavours to grow her creative online platform by sharing her experience, Do-It-Yourself videos and home styling hacks to which we can all subscribe and easily execute.

The vibe

Always focused on the heart and soul of the grower, the Unlikely Gardener had to delve inquisitively into the passion personality of The Plant Desk as a uniquely distinctive occupant of the rock’s indoor garden scene. Happy to divulge, the personality behind the Desk proffered, “I think The Plant Desk brand is a product of this time in history and a reaction to it… The space you inhabit has a direct link to your mood level and outlook. I haven’t studied feng shui but I believe that your living space should bring you peace the moment you walk in. If your office or work desk is your living space, it is even more important. My goal is to share that peace is attainable without breaking the bank.”

Transforming your space

Staying true to her theory that one’s living space should embody one’s vision of nirvana, Shauntelle had the opportunity to renovate a space for her comfort and that of her spouse and her three-year-old son. Fashioning it “the ideal space for us”, the interior stylist quickly got to work by ensuring that it would be “a space that [my family] would want to come home to”. From there, she started immersing herself in plant styling and interior design, again proving her philosophy that one need not break the bank to be comfortable.

“I sketched the floor plant and collaborated with my contractor to create something special. Just in our space, on our own time, on our own budget, and believe me the budget is tight,” she shares.

In the similar vein that many of us believe that ‘love don’t cost a thing’, I hope that you are equally inspired that creating a loving and nature friendly environment or workspace can be achieved without shelling out lots of unbudgeted coins. It’s as simple as bringing something from outside to live inside. Transform your space; indulge in nature.

The future

By the end of March 2021, look out for The Plant Desk’s foray into e-commerce which will surely be to the fancy of plant aficionados, collectors and indoor gardeners. The offerings will include locally made products and plants that can be easily incorporated into your space and assist you to maintain your Zen and equilibrium, as the home is now the office and the office the home.

Embracing the new normal, e-commerce and the female entrepreneur whose commercial spirit was born out of global crisis! #Checkout #ThePlantDesk