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Two issues faced by agriculture are the synchrony of germination and the production of highly homogeneous crops. The corresponding question in developmental biology is what sets the level of phenotypic variability. On the one hand, seed germination may feature significant phenotypic variability within the same genotype and environment. On the other hand, flowers of an individual plant have almost identical shapes and sizes, in striking contrast with heterogeneity of cell growth. Because heterogeneous growth induces mechanical stress in tissues, we have explored the biomechanical basis of growth and morphogenesis in Arabidopsis and in Marchantia. By combining approaches from developmental biology (molecular genetics, live imaging), and mechanics/physics (mechanical measurements, models), we are unravelling unexpected cellular patterns and behaviours. During this talk, I will discuss some of our recent results on morphogenesis of Arabidopsis sepals and on germination of Marchantia vegetative propagules.