In Brief:
- Upland (official site) enabled planting for Birds of Paradise, the latest species added to its Life gameplay system.
- Seeds trade as Legits, but planting burns the Legit and permanently ties the plant to a property, where it must be fed STEM or it dies.
- The release continues a staged rollout that began with nurseries in November 2025 and seed generation in December 2025.
Upland made Birds of Paradise plantable, adding the tropical flower to the species players can put on their properties.
“Birds of Paradise are now live to plant in Upland!” the company said in a post on X. “Add a tropical splash to your properties and start planting today.”
Birds of Paradise are now live to plant in Upland!
Add a tropical splash to your properties and start planting today.@UplandView on X ↗
The release follows the pattern Upland has used throughout its Life rollout. Seed types become available to generate at nurseries first, then get switched on for planting later. Violet seeds went through the same sequence, generating at nurseries for a stretch before Upland said they weren’t ready to plant yet.
How planting works
Seeds exist as Legits, the tradable asset class players buy and sell at nurseries. Planting one burns it. The plant that results is permanently tied to that property and can’t be traded.
From there it’s a maintenance problem. Plants grow and evolve over time, but only with care, and Upland has said neglected plants may wither away. Death is permanent.
Phase 2, previewed in February 2026, split care into two systems. Health is maintained by feeding the plant, which Upland has compared to watering. Wellbeing improves when players pet their plants.
STEM is the running cost
STEM arrived in April 2026 as a conversion from Protem, the resource Upland sold ahead of the Life launch. It’s the third resource token after UPX and Sparklet, and it exists solely to sustain living things.
It isn’t tradeable and never will be. Upland calls it “ever-inflationary by design.” The company has also said the $1 to 1,000 STEM rate is a starting point rather than a guarantee, and that it reserves the right to adjust costs for gameplay balance.
Where seeds come from
Nurseries are a Metaventure type players buy from the Upland store and build on their properties. They went on sale Nov. 13, 2025, as a permanent store item with no cap on how many a player can build.
Seed generation went live the following month. Totem-enabled nurseries, meaning properties holding one of the 5,555 Totems, let any visiting player spend $SPARKLET to create a random seed Legit, with the property owner compensated. That made seed generation the first $SPARKLET spend mechanic to create Legits, as laid out in the token white paper. Selling seeds doesn’t require a Totem.
At launch players could generate 17 seed types across three categories: trees, shrubs and flowers. Rarity runs standard, limited, rare and ultra rare, and it shifts by climate zone. Cold zone cities including New York, Chicago, Detroit, London and Park City favor evergreens, roses and tulips. Mild zone cities like San Francisco, Tokyo, Lisbon, Paris and Sydney skew toward shrubs. Hot zone cities including Miami, Las Vegas, Dallas, Hong Kong and Madrid favor heat-loving species such as oil palm, orange daisy and lavender.
Lawn grass generates in every zone. White rose and purple tulip are ultra rare and hard to pull anywhere.
Background
Upland ran Blossom Season missions starting April 14, 2026, including a Seed Surge week mission through April 21 that asked players to generate five seeds at any nursery.
On May 28, 2026, the company said farming is coming, aimed at players who want to specialize in large-scale production while casual players keep participating in the troves ecosystem at their own pace. It’s still under development, and Upland opened an early sale for players willing to buy in before the feature ships.
The Sparklet economy shifted in March 2026, when Upland cut in-app Sparklet packages by 35% and moved larger bundles to web only. The stated goal was pushing players toward exchanges where “real player demand” sets the price. $SPARKLET trades on Uniswap.
Caring for plants is meant to feed back into Troves, Upland’s progression layer. That connection was flagged in the same November 2025 update that removed send limits and pulled sends from the store, a change the company said was needed for features that depend on unrestricted travel, including Residents, Uppies and Troves.
