Growing Joy with Plants - Wellness Rooted in Nature, Houseplants, Gardening and Plant Care

I am so excited to share the magic of our first live taping at Folia Collective in Los Angeles with my special guests Danae from Folia Collective and Christine from Work Hard Plant Hard. You will remember them from Episode 24 on How to Start a Plant Shop where Danae took us behind the scenes of how she grew Folia Collective into the Planty mecca it is now and Episode 17 on The Studies Behind Why Plants Make People Happy and Healthy where Christine, who is a practicing physician, walks us through the scientific studies that prove that plants improve the quality of our lives. These two women are such special friends to me, and such pillars in this planty community and I’m so thrilled to be sharing this special conversation with you. We dive into all things plant community: how to first become a part of it, how to grow within it and also how to behave as part of it. I was surprised at how inspiring and helpful the etiquette section of the conversation was, and hope you have some great take aways from it. Special thanks to Ahus Akvavit, Rt1home, Modern Sprout, Bloem Living and Hemleva for partnering with us to make it happen! You’ll hear more about them at the end of the episode.   In this episode we learn: How Christine and Danae got started in the Plant Community Advice for how to get started in the online Plant Community How to start your own plant swap How to approach a plant shop to work on an event together Some etiquette guidelines for social media in the Plant Community How to keep you relationships with plants happy and healthy   Thank you Danae and Christine for such a wonderful conversation. I hope you all feel inspired to continue to contribute to this wonderful community of plant friends we are a part of. If your looking for a way to engage with the community and haven’t already joined the Bloom and Grow Garden Club, that’s a great place to start! https://bloomandgrowradio.com/garden-club   Thank you to Mountain Crest Gardens for sponsoring this episode. If you are looking for high quality succulents shipped to your door, check out mountaincrestgardens.com/bloom to get your discount code for 15% your first purchase. The variety of succulents they have is unbelievable and their shipping packing is incredible! Go give them a look at mountaincrestgardens.com/bloom for 15% off.   Mentioned in the episode: The Small and Savage Wild Shelves @delaplants hashtag: Your City + indoor jungle like #tucsonindoorjungle Airplantman: Michelle Breau- Holistic Nutritionist @iammichellebreau   Our wonderful gift bag sponsors! Ahus Akvavit: https://www.ahusakvavit.com/en/ Rt1Home Propagation Cone: https://rt1home.com/collections/accessories/products/prop-cone-white Modern Sprout Pollinator Push Gardens: https://store.modsprout.com/products/pollinator-push-garden-3-pack Bloem Living Bloem Bagz: https://bloemliving.com/ Hemleva Planty Pins: https://www.hemleva.com/flair     Follow Danae and Folia Collective: IG:  @foliacollective  @danaerolynhorst Website: www.foliacollective.com and www.jungalow.com/plant-o-pedia   To Follow Christine and Work Hard Plant Hard: Instagram: @workhardplanthard www.workhardplanthard.com   Follow Maria and Bloom and Grow Radio: Instagram and Facebook: @BloomandGrowRadio Website: www.bloomandgrowradio.com Join the (free) Garden Club: www.bloomandgrowradio.com/garden-club Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Plant Friends, I’m so excited to welcome Summer Rayne Oakes of Homestead Brooklyn back on the show to talk about an issue we’ve all probably run into: finding a plant you love at a garden shop or nursery that doesn’t have a name tag… and what to do! We’ve learned through out these episodes that one of the most important things we can do as plant parents is to find out what kind of light and humidity our homes get, and to bring plants home that will thrive in our unique indoor environments. So… how are you supposed to be able to do this if you don't know what the plant is!? I know this is an issue I’ve come across and thought Summer Rayne would be the perfect person to chat about the general clues we could get from looking at a plant, that might lead us to get a general idea for the light and care it may need. Disclaimer: obviously we speak in generalities here, there will always be an exception to the rule, BUT it’s great to arm ourselves with as much general knowledge as humanly possible, to zoom out and understand the bigger picture. Summer Rayne also recently launched an amazing online houseplant master class which I took, and we chat about it at the end of the episode!   In this episode we learn: How to handle finding a plant you like in a garden shop but not having a name tag on it Understanding how the plants are cared for in the garden center and what that transition is like for them How to “zoom out” and look at a plant more holistically, to better empower ourselves to understand plants without being dependent on a care card Key indicators to help you under that care a plant requires   Thank you Summer Rayne for a wonderful chat. I hope this conversation might help you plant friends zoom out and understand more general cues we can take to understand plant care, and not rely solely on a care card. If you are looking to take your plant knowledge to the next level, I highly recommend Summer Raynes course! You can sign up using my affiliate code here- that means that a portion of the sale will go to supporting Bloom and Grow Radio! http://bit.ly/SROmasterclass   Thank you to Mountain Crest Gardens for sponsoring this episode. If you are looking for high quality succulents shipped to your door, check out mountaincrestgardens.com/bloom to get your discount code for 15% your first purchase. The variety of succulents they have is unbelievable and their shipping packing is incredible! Go give them a look at mountaincrestgardens.com/bloom for 15% off.   Check out the Bloom and Grow Plant Friend Apparel line! http://bit.ly/plantfriendsapparel   Join us in SAN DIEGO this week on Saturday April 20th at 10 am at Barrels & Branches Nursery for a DIY Make Your Own Succulent Crown Tutorial as we do a LIVE TAPING! https://www.barrelsandbranches.com/events/diy-succulent-crown-workshop Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

I’m thrilled to have Dave Hunter, the founder of Crown Bees on the show to talk about pollinators and how important they are for our environment. Dave is a native bee expert that shares so much information about pollination, bees in general, why the honey bee might not be the king of the bee world as we know it, and how we can help pollinators continue to help our local environments literally bloom and grow. Pollinators are something I knew little about and Dave really walks us through everything we need to know about them. In this episode we learn: What pollinators are, and why they are important Why the Honey Bee might not be the most effective pollinator How many types of bees there are, and what they do How do bees pollinator flowers What is a native bee Why are bees threatened? How can we help - Thank you Dave for all of your incredible information. If you are interested in learning more about pollinators, or possibly installing one of Daves amazing bee kits, I highly suggest heading over to https://crownbees.com/ to learn more! - Thank you to Mountain Crest Gardens for sponsoring today’s episode. I can’t say enough wonderful things about how impressed I am with Mountain Crest Gardens.  To see the amazing variety of succulents for yourself, visit Mountaincrestgardens.com/bloom to get a coupon code for 15% off your order! - Check out the Plant Friends Apparel line of shirts, sweatshirts and accessories inspired by Bloom and Grow Radio by clicking here!  - Join me for a LIVE TAPING of Bloom and Grow Radio in San Diego on April 20th at 10 am at Barrels & Branches! Participants will learn along side me as Rachael from Infinite Succulent teaches us how to craft our own living succulent crowns! Click here to get your tickets! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Today’s episode is a community episode, featuring YOU, the Bloom and Grow Radio Listeners sharing their stories and empowering and educating our community.             Plant Fails, everyone take a moment of silence to bow our heads for the plants we’ve lost in our plant parenthood journeys. Because plant friends… I don’t care how gorgeously curated your IG feed is…. we ALL have a plant fail in our history. But for some reason, we feel shame when they happen. I think it’s hard to stomach our not so perfect plant parenthood moments, when we are surrounded by perfect photos of gorgeous plants, in our curated IG feeds and in the garden centers that get the perfect amount of light and fertilizer to make them truly thrive. I had the idea for this episode when I was struggling with this problem last month. I was surprised at how much shame I felt about this plant fail, and knew I wanted to turn to our community for support and help, and this episode is the result of that!             Thank you to Brie, Eva (@rootboundbotany), Jesse, Larayne (@larrydoom), Mara (@ohimara), Becca (@delaplants), Leanna (@naturalleegreen), Lat (@laura_turns), Leslie (@leslieiswhat), Kelly (@plantmamakelly), Lat (@dr_Badvibes) and Ellie (@Heirloomplantsisters) for their vulnerability, humor and honesty in sharing their plant fails! I learned from each and every one of you!   Check out the new Bloom and Grow Radio Plant Friends Apparel Line of Shirts, Sweatshirts and Accessories! Express your inner Plant Lady or Botanical Bro and Support Bloom and Grow Radio! Click here! Thank you to Maria, (@_forestfloor) for co-designing this line with me!      Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

RSVP HERE    So excited to have a "Botanicals and Brunch" Bloom and Grow Radio Listener Meet up at Cultivate Propagate in SEATTLE this Saturday March 30th from 1030-noon!   Join us for Brunch Cocktails, Coffee, Raised Doughnuts and more! It will be a wonderful way to meet your local planty community members and make new #plantfriendsIRL!   I'll be hosting informal interviews about what your favorite Seattle Planty Places are!    Chelsea (the shop owner) will be saving some Philodendron Pink Princess and Painted Lady and Rhaphidophora Tetrasperma to go on sale in shop during the event!   Please RSVP by clicking this link so we know how much stuff to get!   Botanicals and Brunch Partners: Cultivate Propagate Raised Doughnuts Marseille Food and Wine  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Today's episode is a short and sweet nugget of love about my trip to the Redwood Forest. Tune in for some mushy feel good vibes and inspiration. Use #bagplantlatinchallenge and post a photo of one of your plants with the latin name! Educate our community! Join the Bloom and Grow Garden Club for exclusive access to early offerings for events, episodes, the free download of the Molly Mansfield Keep Blooming Print and the password to our private facebook group!  https://bloomandgrowradio.com/garden-club Follow Maria and Bloom and Grow Radio on Instagram for behind the scenes shots and... plants! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Plant Friends! I’m so excited to have my dear friend and Botanical Bro Chris Satch back on the show, to help demystify the latin names of our houseplants we love so dearly. Today we dive into plant latin, some history, troubleshooting, and learn LOTS of nerdy latin words. We hope this episode helps you better understand your houseplants, what families they come from and maybe just gives you some fancy words to pull out at parties and sound fancy with. Stay tuned till the end of the episode because we’ve come up with a fun challenge for our community to participate in, you wont want to miss it- I can’t wait to see what you come up with! In this episode we learn: Why Plant Latin is so important to know for our houseplants Who Carl Linneus was why he’s important to Plant Latin General Pronunciation guidelines Kingdom, division, class, order, family, genus, species- how these names apply to our plants How houseplants are broken down in Plant Latin What the cultivar and special exceptions for Plant Latin are Resources   Resources mentioned in this episode: Mr Plant Geeks Rude Botany Line  ICBN  USDA Plants Database  Kew Gardens Resource    Post your #BAGPlantLatinChallenge by taking a photo of your plant and telling us the latin name, translation and care instructions for it! Let’s learn as a community!  Join the Bloom and Grow Garden Club for exclusive access to early offerings for events, episodes, the free download of the Molly Mansfield Keep Blooming Print and the password to our private facebook group!  https://bloomandgrowradio.com/garden-club Join me on March 18th at Folia Collective for a Botanical and Booze Happy Hour and Live taping with Work Hard Plant Hard!  https://foliacollective.com/products/botanicals-booze-bloom-grow-radio-live-at-folia  Follow Chris on Instagram  Follow Maria and Bloom and Grow Radio on instagram  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Today’s guest caught my eye on social media because of his incredible travel itinerary and his obvious passion for finding the plants we know and love as houseplants, in their natural habitats around the world. Michael Mittermeier is a passionate plant professional who has traveled the world and documents his findings of rare and unusual plants on his instagram account @mickmitty. He also has one of the largest private collections of Monstera, Syngonium, Scindapsus and Raphidophora in the country. I invited him on the show today to discuss his experience with our favorite houseplants in nature, but the conversation blossomed into a fun chat about how to plan trips for plant sightseeing, how to take your plant obsession to the next level, what these plants are like in nature and lots and lots of information about Monstera in the wild and he even teaches us a thing or two about Adansonii vs Obliqua. I hope this conversation encourages you to learn more about where these plants we love to keep indoors actually come from and inspires you to bring a new type of plant home! In this episode we learn: how Mick gets to travel and experience the plants we love as houseplants out in the real world travel hacks to help get you to see plants IRL Micks experience seeing houseplants in the Wild Mick’s experience with Monstera Xanthospetha (and also what that is) Monstera Adansonii Vs Obliqua Why it’s hard to identify rare plants as a houseplant parent Micks hack for making the best moss poles Visit www.bloomandgrowradio.com/mick for photos of the plants we discussed in today's episode! Come Hang with me in LA at Folia Collective on March 18th! https://foliacollective.com/products/botanicals-booze-bloom-grow-radio-live-at-folia Follow Mick: Instagram  facebook   Follow Bloom and Grow Radio: Instagram  Join the (free) garden club: https://bloomandgrowradio.com/garden-club Thank you to Wallygro for sponsoring this episode and month of Bloom and Grow Radio. Head to Wallygro.com to see all of your indoor and outdoor options for your own green wall and use code BLOOM20 at checkout for 20% off. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Today I’m joined by my plant friend Darryl of Houseplant Journal to discuss the importance of soil aeration and having plants in low Light environments. Houseplant Journal is known for it’s amazing instagram account, blog and now watering can and his forthcoming book! Darryl's instagram bio says “an engineers approach to plant care” and I think that sums Darryl up so well, he has the clinical, thoughtful, inquisitive brain of an engineer, and the passion and enthusiasm of the best of the best plant parents. Darryl is passionate about helping people understand their lighting environment so I thought he would be the perfect guest for this episode on what to do if you are a Plant Person living in a low light home. Plant friends, we get real in this episode. We might say things you don't want to hear, but it's important information to understand how to best set our plants up for success! In this episode we learn: What’s new with Darryl as he’s built the Houseplant Journal brand and what exciting things he’s up to Aeration, what it is and why it’s important for our houseplants Thriving vs surviving in a low light environment Why understanding our light environment is so important and how Darryl measures his light in his apartment The tough truth about low light apartments, whether you want to hear it or not :) Darryl’s lighting hacks for his low light office Strategies and plants to choose if you live or work in a low light space Low light Hacks Mentioned in the Episode: Episode 08: Dirty Talk with Darryl  Darryl’s watering can  Episodes on Natural Light with Leslie  Bloom and Grow Radio Resources Page  (Maria has her grow lights with discount codes on the resource page!) Bloom and Grow Radio Amazon storefront  (Maria has a section on low light plants in the storefront!) **Join us for our first LIVE taping at Folia Collective on March 18th in Los Angeles! ** https://foliacollective.com/products/botanicals-booze-bloom-grow-radio-live-at-folia Follow Darryl and Houseplant Journal: Preorder Darryl's New Bool! The New Plant Parent: Develop Your Green Thumb and Care for Your House-Plant Family *BAGR amazon affiliate code* Instagram and Facebook: @houseplantjournal Twitter: @houseplantjrnl Website: www.houseplantjournal.com Patreon: www.patreon.com/houseplantjournal Follow Bloom and Grow Radio: Instagram and Facebook: @BloomandGrowRadio Website: www.bloomandgrowradio.com Join the (free) Garden Club: www.bloomandgrowradio.com/garden-club Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Plant Friends, you’ve heard me talk about my “Plant Co Parent” on this podcast, you’ve seen in him in our Botanicals and Booze Happy Hour Insta-stories, or maybe in our most recent Wallygro Install insta-story, and now, it’s time for me to officially introduce to the love of my life, and “partner in plants,” Billy Morrissey, to you. This past year and a half has been big for me with leaving my Plant Killer Ways and becoming a Crazy Plant Lady, but it’s also been a whirlwind for my live in boyfriend, Billy. He has been there every step of the way as I’ve built our Urban Jungle, and this podcast, and let me tell you… although the process has been magical and I wouldn’t change a thing, it hasn’t been the easiest. He has had this intense hobby thrust upon him, and over this past year or so, we’ve learned a lot about how to manage my new found passion while still having a healthy relationship and a happy (and uncluttered) home. So plant friends… this episode isn’t necessarily for YOU… it’s for your partners, your friends, your roommates, the people in your lives that indirectly benefit (I hope they think benefit, they might think suffer) from our planty hobby. Billy prepared a bunch of tips he’d like to share that he’s learned along the way in dealing with my 0-60 planty explosion in our apartment. I’d love for you to share this episode with those “plant co-parents” in your life, but also I hope this episode inspires you to take a minute and admire and respect those who embrace our hobby with open arms, and maybe inspire some ideas for projects for you and your partners in the future! Quick reminder that today is the deadline for submission for the Plant Fail Lessons episode that I want to feature YOU in. Details and instructions below. In this episode we learn: the secret behind the Bloom and Grow Radio themesong how Billy first reacted when I went crazy about plants how we’ve grown and learned to communicate about my new hobby tips from Billy on how to live with a Crazy Plant Person For discount codes to the products mentioned in today's episode (Modern Sprout Grow Bar, Soltech Solutions lights, and more) check out https://bloomandgrowradio.com/resources Instructions for participating in the upcoming Listener “Plant Fail Lessons” episode of Bloom and Grow Radio 1) Call (267) 478-2521 2) Please spell your name and email at the beginning of the message so I can contact you! 3) The google voice only allows for a 3 minute message, so you might want to write out your story, or jot some thoughts down on paper to allow for you to effectively tell your story without getting cut off. If your story requires more than 3 minutes, you can call back and leave back to back messages. Follow Billy: IG: www.instagram.com/allagashbilly Twitter: https://twitter.com/allagashbilly Follow Bloom and Grow Radio: Instagram and Facebook: @BloomandGrowRadio Website: www.bloomandgrowradio.com Garden Club: www.bloomandgrowradio.com/garden-club Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.