For what I have heared the plants can only spawn somewhere when the player(s) are/is not looking there, maybe a simple growth animation for plants can make it so that spawning them on-screen looks normal enough for them to do so?
Plants would start out just underground, the growth animation would be the plant getting bigger and the leaves unfolding (slowly tilting from vertical to horizontal) and getting bigger too, until it is in its final form and stops growning. After being fully grown it could be harvested.
Plants would start out just underground, the growth animation would be the plant getting bigger and the leaves unfolding (slowly tilting from vertical to horizontal) and getting bigger too, until it is in its final form and stops growning. After being fully grown it could be harvested.