Vegetal and human temporality are not identical. Human ontology derives not from life itself but from its finiteness. Plants, lacking awareness of their finiteness, fully subordinate their existence to life. Human time-consciousness is disjointed and heterogeneous, constantly projecting future selves. In contrast, plants, unaware of self, align solely with environmental rhythms—the succession of night and day, changing seasons, and cyclical growth, embodying Nietzsche’s eternal return (Ewige Wiederkunft). Although plants exist according to a different temporal framework, their existence is still fragile and finite, giving it significance.

In The Metamorphosis of Plants, Goethe emphasises growth and metamorphosis rhythms. Plants’ continuous reaction to environmental rhythms and nutrient flow resembles a tune, synchronising mechanically like music.

The Garden of Persistence is a kinetic installation with fifteen antique metronomes on a floating table, each pendulum adorned with nineteenth-century herbarium plants. Once wound up, the metronomes move chaotically, eventually synchronising due to kinetic energy transfer, and this pattern repeats, mimicking synchronizations found in vegetal communication.There are several other examples of synchronisation in vegetal communication: it is also the cause of the periodical flashing of light produced by fireflies, the simultaneous chirping of crickets, the synchronised distress signals of frogs and the interlinking lightning activity in distant storm centres.

Plants’ photoreceptors regulate activities, acting as a circadian clock, similar to human timing machinery, synchronising physiological processes like metabolism, growth, and flowering. Unfortunately, an increasing number of indicators show that global warming disrupts this circadian clock, confusing plant life cycles and harming ecosystems by disturbing plant communication, crucial for resource distribution, environmental adaptation, and animal interaction. The proper function of plants’ molecular metronome is vital for ecosystem health.