Philly Man Takes 3 Days to Finish Watering All His Houseplants — Even Made a Special Room for Them

Those who have never stopped by to gaze at the bewitching beauty of nature might look at Nakia Maples (@phillyplantguy) and think that he has gone bananas. Some will call it a frantic obsession. But a green thumb would know why Maples has more plants than humans living in his house. Dubbed “The Plant Guy,” Maples is a resident of South Philadelphia. Step inside his house and you’ll be welcomed by a sizable family of over 350 plants, some juveniles, and some grown-ups. He recently sat down with The Spruce to spill details of his plant family in the “In The Weeds With Plant People” series.

The Inspiration

Maples has been attracted to plants ever since he was a child. In the interview, he fondly recalled an episode wherein he visited the apartment of his friend’s parents, which they had turned into a plant house. “As soon as you walked through the door, there were just plants everywhere, and I remember the very first time I saw that house. I knew that that’s how I wanted to live,” he described. Fast forward to the present moment, and he tends to a collection that is 10 years old. Naturally, one may think that he must be spending a lot of time watering all of them. Turns out, it’s way more than you can imagine. Half a week, to be precise.

Members of his plant family

Venture on a scrolling trip through Maples’ Instagram page and you’ll find yourself dropping jaws, popping eyes, giggling, blushing, and swooning at the vistas of his house jungle. Tucked to the wall sides are stacks of flowering and exotic plants. Jutting out of one of these pots are the silver-speckled leaves of Scindapsus. Then there’s an Elephant Ear sitting at the windowside, awaiting spring.

A black planter is holding the teal green leaves of a begonia. Dark and handsome. There’s also a pink starfish cactus, featuring wiggly dark patterns on its seductive petals. The showstopper, however, is the cactus with stunning, long, cascading tendrils that resemble a noodly-shaped head of a spooky monster.

Life lessons

For Maples, tending to these plants is not a job or a task. It’s a moment of meditative self-care. “When I’m gardening, I’m not thinking about the world,” he shared with Plant Pop. Some of his plant babies have also taught him harsh lessons about life. For instance, when he tried to treat his Kalanchoe to revive it back to life, he was disappointed. The plant had decided to pass away. “Through experience, I’ll learn how to take care of more like it,” he told The Spruce.

Love talk

Maples babysit and nurses his plants as if they were real humans. While he spends his days living with them, he talks to them all the time. He asks questions while he’s moving them, watering them, trimming their leaves, whatever. Oftentimes, he asks them about their moods and feelings, and basically what’s up with them. “I believe that plants have feelings. They definitely drive the way I feel,” he shared with Plant Pop.

Special room for spooky babies

Maples's intense love for plants isn’t just limited to the delicate, soothing types. There are also ghosts that he needs to deal with. Take his most expensive plant, the Variegated Florida Ghost, which cost him $900. To accommodate this plant and others like Anthurium radicans, he has assigned a special room in his house. Rumbling with a glowing silence, this room is dedicated to all these tropical plants that need wet and humid conditions to thrive.

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