Our Mission
My journey with plants and gardening has transformed my life and the way I view the world around me. Like many other plant lovers, I grew up with grandmothers that loved their gardens; they sang to their flowers and spent hours daily tending to them. I didn’t really catch the plant bug until I took on a second job at a local farm while I was also working in restaurants. My name is Cheyan DuVal, but I am better known on the internet as CheyDPlantLady.
Working on a farm was physically demanding, but incredibly rewarding as I got to see the process from germination to harvest and cooking. I also noticed a side effect I hadn’t expected, an improvement in my mental health. This led me to purchase my first few plants (Succulents and cacti were my first plant loves.) and diving headfirst into learning about propagation, care, lighting, and everything else I needed. Learning how to care for their needs and watching them grow became an extension of nurturing myself. While it isn’t a magic cure, people all over the world anecdotally agree that gardening helps improve their mental health, and studies suggest the same.
CheyDPlantLady was founded in the Seattle area in early 2019 from my bedroom; I had two shelving units, along with some shelves installed in the window. I was shocked when I made my first sale- an Echeveria Laui I grew from seed. I was so nervous about packing it and making sure it arrived safely. Some of the key principles I founded the company with were ethical and sustainable sourcing and growing, desire to give back to the world around me, and sharing the healing of gardening with other plant lovers from novices to experts. I’m still fiercely dedicated to those aspects as the company grows. Through The Plant Rescue Box initiative, over 10,000 plants were rescued in 2023, and given another chance to thrive to their full potential.
My philosophy toward gardening is to attempt replicating a plant’s native habitat and giving optimal conditions to thrive. I love the idea of growing a plant to maturity, so I can see for myself what experiencing one in nature might be like. However, plants are incredibly resilient, and can acclimate over time to a variety of conditions, which was another connection I made to my mental health.
Ethical and sustainable sourcing can be a tricky beast to handle, especially in the modern world, where popularity on the internet can lead to the decimation of natural habitats. My process for vetting suppliers is long, and tedious, but also based on building relationships with like-minded growers, who wish to protect and help restore the beautiful habitats of the world we live in. I am continuously working towards different goals to ensure a sustainable and ethically conscious future as we continue to grow. In the future, I plan to implement conservation and restoration work into CheyDPlantLady’s mission, to help ensure we’re doing our part to give back to the beautiful planet we live on.