In Lewis Caroll’s Through the Looking Glass, Alice wanders into a garden with flowers that can talk — the “garden of Live Flowers”.  Of course, all plants are alive, but here the flowers are called “live” because they can talk.  One of the greatest examples of human arrogance might be our attitude towards plants.  We treat plants as objects, as part of the background, as mere things without any agency.  We tend to forget that they’re dynamic, complex living creatures that react and respond to their environment — just in unfamiliar ways and on a different timescale.  Continue reading →