The Sims is no stranger to sneaking in references from earlier franchise installments. Just recently, a family cropped up in Enchanted By Nature who have been a staple throughout every generation of the game so far. Meta references are peppered throughout most of The Sims 4’s neighbourhoods, Build/Buy Mode, and in all kinds of other places.
While replaying The Sims 2 a few months back, I ran into a premade household that I hadn’t seen in over a decade: Riverblossom Hills’ Greenman family.
This little family of three consists of a PlantSim, her human husband, and their toddler daughter. Having played with the family a bunch back in the 2000s, loading up their household again almost felt like running back into old friends. In a dystopian, Matrix-ish kind of way.
The Greenmans (or Greenmen, maybe) are arguably iconic among the fanbase. Let’s Plays featuring the family have racked up hundreds of thousands of views, including one by Juno Birch and another by Pleasant Sims. And to boot, the family’s matriarch, Rose, is even debatably the first PlantSim officially introduced.
With Enchanted By Nature improving loads of functionality surrounding PlantSims, it seems like a real shame that Rose, along with her husband Jason and daughter Daisy, didn’t make a reappearance. Even besides the occult refresh, there are a few other reasons why the family would fit right into a cute little glass property in Innisgreen’s Sprucederry Grove.
Back up. What exactly are PlantSims again?
PlantSims are an occult type in The Sims 2, 3, and 4. You can tell them apart from human Sims – if Sims are technically humans – by the fact that they’re, well, green.
A few other things set PlantSims apart from regular Sims. They’re kind of like humanoid plants, with a need to photosynthesise and be watered. Think along the lines of Poison Ivy, but without all of the ecoterrorism, and with worse hair.
Wait, weren’t PlantSims in The Sims 1?
Kind of. Back in The Sims: Makin’ Magic, you could use a charm called Beauty or Beast. This allowed your Sims to cast a glamour where they could appear a certain way of their choosing – if you cast it correctly.
One of the appearances you could choose was very PlantSim-esque. The whole look was even complete with green skin, a leafy dress, and a big white floral hat (or maybe a super bleached pixie cut). Your Sim’s new look didn’t change them into an occult in any meaningful way, though, as the charm was purely cosmetic.
It’s incredibly likely that the Beauty or Beast charm planted the seed (sorry) for PlantSims, but I don’t feel like they really count as the first PlantSims per se. They don’t have any special powers or needs, and weren’t even named as such yet.. At the very least, they aren’t PlantSims in the way we know them now.
With all of that in mind, Rose is the first proper PlantSim in The Sims, wherein the occult is actually a distinct type of Sim. Sure, you could make your own PlantSim, but she’s still the blueprint.
The PlantSims of Riverblossom Hills
Riverblossom Hills was a neighbourhood shipped with The Sims 2: Seasons. The Expansion Pack completely revolutionised The Sims as we knew it by throwing seasonal change at Simtopia. Suddenly, Sims could get caught out in the rain or burn out in the summer sun.
A new world and climate weren’t all Seasons introduced – it also brought in PlantSims as we now know them. You could transform Sims into their planty counterparts by tending to your perfect garden – another feature added with Seasons (Cottage Living, eat your heart out). Or, you could jump right in and start playing with two premade PlantSims straight away.
According to The Sims Wiki, Gabe O’Mackey and Jason Greenman (nee O’Mackey) stumbled across PlantSim Rose on the outskirts of Riverblossom Hills. Sometime after their hike, Rose and Jason married and raised Daisy together.
The three live together in a greenhouse-inspired property at 110 Old Farm Road. The second level of the property is made entirely out of glass, with a huge glass roof perched on top. The space is clearly designed for photosynthesising while doing your daily chores – or doing general baby stuff, in Daisy’s case. Seems perfect for a couple of sun-loving PlantSims.
Likely locals of Sprucederry Grove
The household would’ve been a great fit for a few reasons. First up, as we’ve covered, Rose and Daisy are PlantSims. Innisgreen mostly revolves around occults and foliage, and added extra options for our own jolly green (not so) giants. What better time to reintroduce the original PlantSims?
Even architecturally, their original family home could’ve fit right in. As mentioned, their original property in Riverblossom Hills was pretty heavy on the glass. What major Build Mode feature was added in a patch for Enchanted By Nature? Glass walls.
The Greenman family home would’ve been an ideal pick to show off the new feature. Admittedly, a lot of Innisgreen leans into the old-fashioned, village vibe instead, but I think that just means that the sharp contrast would make the build more impactful.
The Greenman family tree has other echoes of Innisgreen
The actual Green Man is super significant to Innisgreen’s iconography. In case you don’t know, the Green Man is a historic motif regularly found in carvings and stained glass. It depicts a leafy-looking, humanoid mask. The foliate figure also often crops up in folklore.
In terms of The Sims specifically, you can spot him on a mysterious tree stump in Innisgreen. He’s also probably represented by one of Innisgreen’s key NPCs. Spruce Almighty, a fabulist and the local Garden Pal, strongly evokes the Green Man in all of his rugged greenery. A distant relative of Rose’s, perhaps?
Maybe obviously, Rose’s family name is derived from this idea of the Green Man. It makes sense, really – she is a foliage person herself after all, by virtue of being a PlantSim. Do you really get much greener than that?
Rose’s surname isn’t the only thing that ties back to Innisgreen, either. According to The Sims Wiki, Innisgreen is inspired by Ireland. These inspirations are made clear on a linguistic level, with many areas of the world being based on Gaeilge.
Back in The Sims 2, the Éire influence can also be seen in the Greenman family tree. Jason’s parents and grandparents each have Irish surnames, or names that were derived from Irish names.
Before he took on his wife’s surname and became a legal Greenman, he was named O’Mackey. This is thought to come from Ó Macdha, or McKay. Meanwhile, another name in the Greenman tree is O’Hara. See where I’m going with this?
Where on earth is Rose Greenman?
She’s not in Innisgreen, that’s much is certain. But the area would’ve been perfect for them to lay their roots in. Honestly, it feels like a missed opportunity that she didn’t come back at all.
Despite the fact that they’d have blended right into Innisgreen’s enchanted tree canopy, the Greenman household is nowhere to be seen. Not as a household, nor a reference.
It’s kind of like they were all a long-forgotten folk tale. Or something.
