If someone devotes a significant part of their life to affectionately caring for plastic flowers, there is something wrong with them. Not so in the case of real, living plants. This points to me to the idea that life as such, and not just conscious life or the life of animals, is a valuable thing.
I don’t want to say that it’s always bad to affectionately care for artifacts. When the artifacts have an intimate and significant connection with human beings, as in the case of a chair that grandma made or a work of art, such affectionate care can make sense. But having an affectionate care for plants makes sense even in the absence of a connection to human beings.
What about microscopic forms of life? Can it make sense to fondly feed a bacterium? I think so, but I agree that the case is less clear.
