At Very Sad Lab in Georgetown, two artists help plant owners turn into plant healers
WASHINGTON (FOX 5 DC) -- Having healthy houseplants is easier said than done. Not all of us are born with a "green thumb" - and to those of us with a less than perfect track record of keeping plants alive, gardening can seem like a pretty intimidating art.
Very Sad Lab in Georgetown is described as a safe space for serial houseplant killers.
It's an idea that Valerie Wiseman brought to life last year as part of a show at Montgomery College in Silver Spring, Maryland.
Wiseman met Naoko Wowsugi through Transformer -- a D.C.-based non-profit that supports emerging visual artists.
At Very Sad Lab, Wiseman and Wowsugi's sole mission is to take in ailing houseplants for short or long-term stays where they both examine, diagnose and create treatment plans for each plant's forever home.
Their methods at Very Sad Lab include the use of music, including a gong. Most importantly, they say, plants - like all living things, need consistency.
"I think the sound waves and the study of sound waves and the plants and how they grow and I think they just elevate the plant," said Wowsugi.
"A plant generally wants to be watered once a week give or take so I say it's a way to consider it but they want the consistency they want a routine in the morning they want to wake up in the morning have the sunlight, they want to have their water in the evening," said Wiseman.