Raleigh nursery’s plant catalog spoofs Biden and Kama Sutra. Some see a link to QAnon.
For more than 20 years, Tony Avent has decorated his nursery’s plant catalog with a series of satirical cartoon covers, drawing raves and outraged letters for his spoofs with a horticultural twist.
In 2005, the catalog showed perennials at Wake County’s Plant Delights trying to escape a vegetative version of Guantanamo Bay prison, some of them shackled to cement walls or trying to jump concertina wire made from ivy.
In 2007, his catalog featured a Gardening Jihad, where a cartoon Kim Jong-il trimmed the hedges and Iran’s president mowed the grass.
But this year, Plant Delights’ catalog has generated its biggest pile of hate mail in a decade.
‘Plant Parenthood’
Avent’s cover is titled “Plant Parenthood,” showing President Joe Biden in a rocking chair reading to children from the “Kama Seedtra,” and Vice President Kamala Harris demonstrates “Seedtra Positions” with a wink. Children in the cartoon puzzle over plants bent into impossible angles.
Avent told the N&O his cover is meant as a play on “The Princess Bride,” where a grandfatherly Biden reads a bedtime story about how plants reproduce.
But critics — of which there are many — see a connection to far-right QAnon conspiracy theories that erroneously tie Democrats to a pedophilia ring. And even without conspiracies, they bristle at plants bearing an uncomfortably close resemblance to sex toys.
Posted on the Plant Delights Facebook page, the spring catalog cover had drawn 253 comments by Wednesday morning. One critic, Samantha Bowers, wrote the N&O in outrage.
“There is no doubt whatsoever the intention of this catalog cover is one that further incites division in our country,” she wrote. “It is wrong to associate children with sex, i.e. children reading about sex positions, and thereby normalize pedophilia. It is abhorrent. It is disgusting. And I hope it is punishable.”
Avent, who once wrote a gardening column for the N&O, shrugged and called himself confused. Satire is a form of humor that risks misunderstanding, especially when it comes in the form of a plant catalog. But until this week, he said he’d never heard of QAnon.
“I had to look that one up,” he said. “People actually believe this stuff? Are you kidding? We’ve heard from the far-left. We’ve heard from the far-right. Both of them hate it. What am I missing here?”
Previous catalog controversies
Despite the bad reviews, Plant Delights has seen worse.
In 2012, he spoofed Penn State University, aided by Raleigh artist Jack Pittman, who also drew “Plant Parenthood.”
The catalog showed assistant coach and convicted sex offender Jerry Sandusky chasing three boys, dressed as the cowardly lion from “Wizard of Oz” and sporting what appeared to be a Penn State logo. The cover triggered an investigation for possible trademark infringement, not to mention backlash from alumni.
“We had people threaten to come down and shoot everybody,” he said. “We had police out.”
Avent’s biannual attempts at satire does have fans, who chuckled a little more guiltily this year but chuckled nonetheless.
“I’m a little bummed there’s no mention of Four Seasons Landscaping!” Pam Hamilton wrote on Facebook, citing the Trump defense team’s botched press conference in Philadelphia.
“They skewer politicians on both sides of the spectrum,” wrote Sharon Campen. “As a die hard party loyalist, even I can find humor in evenly distributed pot shots.”
Bowers noted the nursery operated Juniper Level Botanic Garden, a nonprofit, and as a result should be restricted from political activity. Biden’s rocking chair is labeled “Product of Ukraine,” a joke that has nothing to do with plant reproduction.
“Did y’all seriously send this out?” Jenny McLean posted on the Plant Delights page. “Holy bad decisions, Batman.”
In his nursery’s defense, Avent points out that Pittman, his artist, is a church deacon. He just wanted to offer one take on “all the craziness” in the world.
“Everyone now is angry,” he said. “We want everyone to laugh because you can’t be angry and laugh at the same time.”
This story was originally published January 20, 2021 at 10:47 AM.