Living with plants is like living with an alien species. All life on Earth is interrelated, and humans and plants actually share a common ancestor. Both humans and plants are Eukaryotes, which means that our cells have membrane-bound nuclei. Certain regions of plant and human DNA are the same, further proving our shared ancient lineage. All of this begs the question, if humans and plants have such marked similarities, can they communicate with each other? In answer, we’re not completely sure what the communication potential is between humans and plants is, but we have a pretty good idea.

First of all, plants and humans don’t experience the world in the same way. Humans think, using memory to recall past events and imagination to picture the future. Humans have emotions, which are subjective “feelings-based” representations of physical and mental states. These states are made possible by our brains and highly complex nervous systems.

Plants don’t have nervous systems, but they are able to transmit electrical signals, even communicating with other plants using chemicals. In all probability, plants can “feel” in a way not totally dissimilar to the way humans do. Plants then “react” to this sensation through the production and transfer of various compounds, the movement of leaves and branches, the production of nutrition through photosynthesis, etc.

So. Your homegrown chaste tree plants are sort of like quiet little buddies who can’t move (very quickly or far, at least), see, hear, or (for the most part) think. They can, however, “feel” in a way that you can sort of relate to - for example, sensing changes in temperature or humidity, and producing internal changes accordingly. Similarly, plants may also have a kind of “taste”, registering the nutritional and moisture contents of soil and reacting accordingly with root growth and hormone production.

Considering all of the above, a cultivated blessed thistle essentially “knows” when it’s being treated well. Anyone who has ever worked with plants understands what is meant, colloquially, when a plant is said to be “happy”. This plant looks healthy and vibrant, its leaves and branches move gradually and fluidly throughout the day, and it shows visible growth throughout its most active seasons. Learning to promote “happiness” in your plant, and feeling happy in response, is the essence of Plant Therapy.

Similarly, a mistreated or neglected plant will look “sad”. It won’t grow well, it will droop and grow slowly, and it may gradually dry up and die. We’ve all seen people who respond similarly to mistreatment, exhibiting signs up distress and failure to thrive. This is not to say that plants have the same complexity of “emotion” that humans do, but insofar as a plant is able to “experience” (in an inner life sense) its own physiological wellbeing, it may have more in common with human beings than we sometimes assume.

We say all of this to say that, yes, in some ways, humans and plants can be said to communicate. Though we can probably never completely know, plants almost surely don’t have the higher-order consciousness that humans do (memories and dreams and enjoyment of Game of Thrones and whatnot), but they can “experience” and “know,” if only in the instantaneous reaction to physical stimuli.

Therefore, you probably can’t have a psychic experience with your salad, but you can have an interactive relationship with living plants in your home. As you learn to care for them, to read their needs and externalized representation of inherent wellbeing, you can respond with care accordingly. In giving the plant what it “wants” (external appearance and behavior expressing inner need), you can learn to help your plants thrive.