Back in the COVID-19 shutdowns, Denverite had a short-lived series we called Houseplant of the Week, where we highlighted the green friends we made while locked away in our homes.
This holiday season, we wanted to revive the series for one last hurrah.
At the Ross-Cherry Creek Library, you’ll find Denverite’s Houseplant of the Year — a monstera with a weirdly sexy backstory.
Monstera plants are native to rainforests of Mexico and Central America, according to the New York Botanical Gardens. They have distinct leaves that make them good houseplants — they’re massive, making them a good centerpiece, and catch the eye, thanks to their unique Swiss cheese leaf pattern.
“I love monsteras,” said Tom Pastore, the custodian at the Ross-Cherry Creek library. “They're just very full and have really particular leaves that make it feel extra jungle-y and they're fairly easy to take care of, so that helps too.”
The library’s monstera sits in a room near the entrance, where sunlight is reflected by thick panes of textured glass.
It’s surrounded by other small potted plants brought in by Pastore and the library’s branch supervisor, Hillary Estner, but it stands out amongst the rest due to its size.
But it’s not just the plant’s stature — it’s the story.
The plant’s previous owner, Dan McDermott, worked at High Noon Entertainment, a production company that specializes in home renovation reality TV shows.
Among its portfolio is the 2022 Netflix show “How To Build a Sex Room,” where interior designer Melanie Rose built “erotic renovations for couples”. In the background for “talking head” segments, where subjects speak directly to the camera, there’s the library’s future monstera — exposed to hours of raunchy conversations and feedback about the show’s sex room designs.
After the show wrapped, McDermott took the monstera back to his office. When he left High Noon earlier this year, he determined it was too big to take to his home in Aurora, so he decided to give it away.
“I was with my daughter at Cherry Creek Mall, and we kind of went to the library to look around and we were talking in that room in the front of the library there, where all the plants are,” he told Denverite over the phone. “I just realized that somebody who worked there obviously had a green thumb, and it was a beautiful environment for house plants.”
After asking permission to donate the plant, McDermott left it with the Ross-Cherry Creek library — where he still occasionally drops by and visits it.
“Having it someplace public that I could still go visit is kind of special to me,” he said.
