Plants where you already are
PILF puts plants in the places you already go, so you can take one home.
Why PILF exists
I’m a wannabe hippie (recovering consultant) in Wicker Park. I’ve always appreciated nature and owning / learning about plants, though never became that guy who recites their Latin names and soil types while drinking wine pinky-up from non-IKEA glassware. I just loved having plants around.
For years, my houseplants were around for me, but I wasn’t always there for them.
I worked 65-hour weeks and often forgot to water them (sometimes for months) and never had time to properly pot and prune. Many died, but a tough bunch survived — whenever my friends and coworkers saw my collection, they were always amazed and thought I was a “plants guy.” The truth is, they were only seeing the hardy survivors that had forgiven me time and again for neglect.
Through lots of therapy and a few trips to Hawaii — where I saw plants in ideal conditions still battling pests and root rot — I’ve learned to give myself grace. If mother nature can have imperfect plants on her doorstep, then so can I. Soil and fertilizer still confuse me. Plants still die on me. And that’s okay.
One day, after leaving my corporate job, I was sitting at the dentist. For once, I didn’t have to work plan while getting my teeth cleaned, and so I thought. I noticed the room had no plants. I asked why. “We don’t have the right light, space, or time,” my dentist said, “but it’d be nice.” I told her mine at home had survived worse.
I thought some more. “What if I lent you some of mine,” I asked, “in exchange for letting your patients buy any they like to take home?” She liked the idea, and my mind raced. I began to build PILF as a way to give people and places permission to own plants by focusing on the most forgiving. It gives me energy.
So here I am inviting you to have a plant. If you’re a business, borrow mine. If you’re a person, take theirs. Consider this your permission to PILF.
PILF makes plants possible
- People want plants but think they can’t
- Scanor tap the tag
- Payon your phone
- Showproof of purchase
- Takethe plant home
- Places want plants but think they shouldn’t
Local businesses finally get the plants they deserve, just by saying yes. PILF designs and installs them, visits 2‑3 times a month to water and restock, and everything else happens online.
Where the plants come from
Many start as cuttings of cuttings of plants that have lived in Wicker Park for years: the survivors. Some, the slow growers that are hard to start from a cutting, come from local dealers that are small businesses too.
These plants have to survive real places with minimal care, so we pick a hardy and forgiving selection and provide practical tips to give you the confidence to care for them: no more ‘water when dry’.
Why “PILF”?
PILF is short for pilfer: to take something small from somewhere you typically shouldn’t. Walking out of your go-to coffee shop with the best-looking plant in the room feels exactly like that. The difference here is you pay for the permission, so it goes home guilt-free. Scan to swipe. Tap to take. Pay to PILF.