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Meet the ‘Crazy Plant Lady’ of New York who turned her apartment into an indoor forest
Model and activist Summer Rayne Oakes has hundreds of plants growing in her 1,200-square-foot Brooklyn apartment.
Bringing the outdoors indoors — New York style
Like most New York apartments, Summer Rayne Oakes’ 1,200-square-foot Brooklyn home lacks a garden, so in the absence of an outdoor space she’s done the next best thing and brought the outdoors in. Among all the greenery is a hammock, a compost bin, and some beneficial (and invited) insects. Besides all the plants, Summer has also incorporated plenty of pattern and colour into her home. The colours are vibrant, and the abundant foliage is both inviting and relaxing.
“I feel like one of the best ways to warm up a home is get another living entity in there”
Summer Rayne Oakes, 33-year-old model, author, entrepreneur and Eco-activist, who created a green oasis in her New York City apartment about eight years ago when her roommate moved out. Oakes, the self-professed “crazy plant lady” who has a degree in environmental science and entomology from Cornell University, seized the chance to embrace her passion for bringing nature indoors, starting with the freshly vacated room in her apartment.
It all began with an almost 4-foot-tall fiddle-leaf fig, a relatively easy indoor plant to grow. "I feel like one of the best ways to warm up a home is get another living, breathing entity in there. For me, it wasn’t another roommate but a plant," Oakes told Bianca Brosh, for TODAY.
Before she knew it, the tree grew to the ceiling, towering more than 14 feet tall. Seeing that plant thrive sparked an obsession for the nature-lover, who now has more than 670 plants in her apartment.
"It’s become an avocation for me," Oakes said. "I love it and it brings me joy and if that’s considered an obsession, then sure, I’ll take it."
Source: TODAY