A recent study from Britain’s Royal Horticultural Society has found a link between women’s voices and plant growth. Over a month, tomato plants spoken to by women tenders grew significantly faster than those chatted up by men. Some of the men’s plants actually grew at a slower rate than those left completely alone. Researchers don’t know why, but in a recent Telegraph article, one speculates that “It could be that [women] have a greater range of pitch and tone that affects the sound waves that hit the plant. Sound waves are an environmental effect just like rain or light.”

This makes me think of my mom, a great talker-to of her plants. Over the years she has nurtured my leafy cast-offs into veritable jungles of flora–some even sprouting blossoms for the first time. She talks conversationally and kindly to them and they seem to respond well.

Do you talk to your plants? Do you think it helps?

 [Image via: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tomato_grass_backdrop.jpg]