Speaking Part 2 · NatureForecast: May–Aug 2026
Describe a Plant or Flower You Like
In short
“Describe a Plant or Flower You Like” is a common IELTS Speaking Part 2 cue card. You get 1 minute to prepare and should speak for 1–2 minutes, covering all four points below. This page gives you a Band 9 model answer, an idea map so you can make it your own, the Part 3 follow-up questions with answers, and the vocabulary examiners reward.
The task card
Describe a Plant or Flower You Like. You should say:
- •What the plant or flower is
- •Where you have seen it
- •What it looks like
- •And explain why you like it
Band 9 model answer
The plant I'd like to talk about is the money plant — I believe the proper name is pothos — which is this trailing green vine with heart-shaped, glossy leaves that you'll find in practically every household back home. It's about as far from an exotic choice as possible, but the specific one I have in mind has a story attached, which is why I'm choosing it.
The one I'm thinking of sits on my kitchen windowsill in a repurposed glass jar, and it's actually a cutting from my grandmother's plant — which was itself, family legend claims, a cutting from her mother's. That's the lovely thing about this species: you snip off a stem, drop it in water, and within weeks it grows roots and becomes a whole new plant. So this unremarkable vine on my windowsill is, in a strange botanical way, a living piece of my great-grandmother's house, passed down like an heirloom that happens to be alive.
In terms of appearance, it's modest but genuinely pretty: long trailing stems that spill over the edge of the jar, and those heart-shaped leaves in deep green marbled with streaks of yellow-gold. Mine has climbed halfway up the window frame along a piece of string, so on sunny mornings the light comes through the leaves and throws green patterns across the kitchen counter. For a plant that costs nothing, it earns its keep aesthetically. Guests almost always comment on it, usually with some version of 'is that still your grandmother's plant?', which it both is and isn't — a question I enjoy far more than I can reasonably explain.
Part of why I like it is its sheer resilience — it's famously the plant you cannot kill. It tolerates shade, survives my forgetful watering, and if it starts looking sad, you cut it back and it returns with double the enthusiasm. As someone who has murdered more delicate plants than I care to admit, there's something reassuring about a living thing that meets neglect with forgiveness. People at home also believe it brings prosperity, hence the name — I'm not sure I believe that, but I notice I've never thrown one away, just in case.
But the deeper reason is what it represents. When I moved into my own place, my grandmother arrived with a cutting in a jam jar as a housewarming gift, the same way her mother once did for her. Watching it root and take over my window has quietly become a symbol of settling in — proof that something can be uprooted, put in new surroundings, and not just survive but flourish. Given that I was going through exactly that myself at the time, I've developed what is probably an irrational emotional attachment to a very common vine. I've already promised cuttings to two friends, so the chain continues.
Make it your own: three angles
A plant passed down or gifted
The heirloom-cutting angle turns a simple plant into a family story, covering 'why you like it' with genuine emotion rather than botany.
A flower tied to culture or festivals
A national flower or one used at weddings and festivals lets you fold cultural detail into the answer — strong material for Part 3 comparisons.
A plant you grew yourself
The pride of growing something from seed gives a clear narrative arc — planting, setbacks, first flower — and shows process language.
What the examiner is listening for
Botanical vocabulary is nice but not the point — the band difference on this card comes from making a plant mean something. Describe its appearance concretely (shape, colour, where it sits), then attach it to a person, belief or moment in your life. The symbolism paragraph, where the plant stands for something like continuity or settling in, is what turns an ordinary topic into a band 9 answer.
Part 1 warm-up questions
- Do you have any plants at home?
- Are flowers important in celebrations in your country?
- Have you ever grown anything yourself?
- Do you prefer natural places or cities?
Part 3 follow-up questions & answers
Why do people like keeping plants in their homes?
At the simplest level, they're living decoration — cheaper than art and constantly changing. But I think the appeal runs deeper: caring for something that responds to you is quietly satisfying, and a bit of greenery seems to calm people, which research on hospital patients and office workers appears to confirm. For city dwellers especially, a houseplant is a small ambassador from the natural world.
Do flowers have special meanings in your culture?
Very much so. Certain flowers are inseparable from certain occasions — marigolds for weddings and religious ceremonies, white flowers for mourning, roses for romance — and giving the wrong one can genuinely misfire. Some carry national symbolism too, appearing in poetry, songs and even the independence story. It's a whole silent vocabulary that everyone reads fluently without ever being taught.
Why do people give flowers as gifts?
Partly convention, but there's a logic under the convention: flowers are beautiful, universally acceptable, and — crucially — useless in the best way. They serve no practical purpose, so they communicate pure sentiment rather than utility. Their short life is part of the message too; something that blooms and fades says 'this moment mattered' better than any permanent object could.
Is gardening more popular with older people than younger people?
Traditionally yes — gardening rewards patience and time, which retirees have and young renters don't, and you can't build a garden on a balcony you'll leave next year. But the stereotype is eroding: houseplants have become genuinely fashionable with people my age, partly through social media. I'd say the instinct is constant across generations; only the scale changes — a windowsill instead of a garden.
Do children today learn enough about nature?
Probably not through direct experience, which is what actually counts. Many urban children can identify a hundred cartoon characters but not five trees, simply because screens are nearer than fields. Schools compensate with garden projects and field trips, which genuinely help, but I think the deficit is structural — childhood has moved indoors within a generation, and knowledge of nature moved with it.
How important are parks and green spaces in cities?
I'd rank them as essential infrastructure rather than decoration. They're where city dwellers exercise, cool off, and remember what unpaved ground feels like, and there's solid evidence linking green space to better physical and mental health. They also cool cities measurably during heatwaves. A city that treats parks as land waiting for development is quietly taxing its residents' wellbeing.
Should governments do more to protect plant species?
Yes, and not only the photogenic ones. Plants are the unglamorous foundation of every ecosystem — the food chains, the crops, half our medicines trace back to them — yet plant conservation gets a fraction of the attention that charismatic animals receive. Protecting habitats, funding seed banks and controlling invasive species are cheap compared with losing species we haven't even studied yet. It's insurance for the whole biosphere.
Useful vocabulary
| Word / phrase | Meaning |
|---|---|
| a cutting | a piece cut from a plant to grow a new one |
| an heirloom | a valued object passed down through generations of a family |
| glossy | smooth and shiny on the surface |
| marbled | patterned with irregular streaks of colour |
| resilience | the ability to survive difficulty and recover quickly |
| to take root | to grow roots; to become established in a new place |
| to flourish | to grow or develop in a strong, healthy way |
| uprooted | removed from the place where you grew or lived |
| to earn its keep | to be useful enough to justify its place |
| a housewarming gift | a present given to someone moving into a new home |
More cue cards
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