A few years back I went to speak at a flower show in Spain. While there, I attended a talk on bonsai plants. After listening, and watching, I decided I would never, ever support the creation of a bonsai. Not only, as soon as I got home, I started the process of liberating a bonsai plant that was given to me. It has taken almost three years for that tree to set its own roots and adapt to the sun, and it will probably take another year or two before I can plant it in the dirt, but at least now it is free.

As an interspecies researcher working specifically with plant intelligence, after seeing how the plants are bound to keep them small, I couldn't help but compare it to the bound feet of Chinese women centuries ago. This was done in the name of beauty, of honoring the woman by making her totally dependent on others. Many cultures have stories about crippling something or someone so that it can be kept close. And these were exactly the stories people kept telling about bonsai.

I realized there that if I really love plants, then I can't keep them bound so tightly. I need to honor their lives by giving them the freedom to express their true nature.