Retro plants - the 1970s are back

With my finger on the pulse of the latest trends (why are you laughing?), it seemed only right that we should watch Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? recently (highly recommended – still full of fun and pathos after all these years). And we were transfixed. Not by a particular witticism or bravura acting, but by the wallpaper…and the carpet…and the sofa…and the curtains. Each was patterned. Differently. It reminded me why I was so glad that the '70s ended.

But, of course, the '70s are back. We’ve had flares (sorry, boot-cuts) for some time and now big patterned wallpaper and hideously patterned china have hit the shops. And, as observed by Apartment Therapy, plants from the '70s are also back; a fiddle-leaved ficus is pictured here in the Peter Dunham interior in an article in Elle Decor.

For anyone wondering what a plant from the seventies might be, we’re talking Rubber Plant, Spider Plant, Jade Plant or Crassula Ovata (that’s Money Plant to a lot of us, though not the one that's much loved in feng shui, which is Pachira Aquatic, often grown as bonsai), Snake Plant (or Mother-in-Law’s Tongue). All, you’ll notice, large leaved and boldly shaped (so you could pick them out against those competing patterns) and mostly, doggedly green (so you could pick them out… etc., etc.).

The other advantage for those days of stagflation was that they’re pretty independent (I did once kill a Spider Plant but only with grim determination), which perhaps, as we’re all going to have to work like navvies in these straitened times, is why they’re enjoying a comeback now.

Comments

[Oak Furniture Bromley, Kent]

Having a pot of plants inside the living would really add a fresh and comfy look for the whole room...