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

Today we welcome back Marc Hachadourian from the New York Botanical Garden to the show! You might remember Marc from Episode 50: Maranta, Calathea and Stromanthe 101 where he gave so many amazing tips and tricks for caring for this finicky but beautiful group of plants. Now he is back for an in depth review of the world of Begonias! He gives us the history of these plants and tips and guidelines t...

So excited to welcome my MOM back to Bloom and Grow Radio today! It feels very fitting to have her joining us so close to Mother's Day! You might remember her from Episode 20: Talking Tomatoes when she gave us her Italian secrets to tomato gardening, and now she's back to talk about what she's learned with 5 years of edible landscaping under her belt (and a lifetime of general gardening experience...

I’m so excited to finally welcome Jane Perrone of On the Ledge Podcast to the show. Jane and I have both been podcasting for almost three years now and, if we do say so ourselves, are the OG houseplant centered podcast on the airwaves. It’s only taken three years and a pandemic to make our schedules clear enough to pull our heads out of the production of our own shows to finally visit each other s...

So excited to welcome Toby Adams, the Director of the Edible Academy for the New York Botanical Garden onto the show to talk all things vegetable gardening! The NYBG Edible Academy is a state-of-the-art educational facility featuring hands-on activities and innovative programs that help children, families, teachers, and the general public learn about growing and preparing vegetables, fruit, and he...

Today's episode is simply me sharing things that are inspiring me in this weird time for our country. There is so much to be scared of, but so much to be thankful for and inspired by. A lot of people are feeling helpless and alone, and this is a list of ways that you can help those in need and yourself in the Age of Corona! Resources Mentioned in Today's Episode: #PlantOneForward Initiative Summer...

My Fiance, Billy, joins me today to give you the inside scoop on what the last year has looked like for us. As most of you know I left home for an entire year to travel with Cats the Musical, and Billy was left to care for all of our 150 plants all by himself. This was a HUGE undertaking for him, as I was the "primary caretaker" for our plants when we lived together, so we break down exactly how b...

Brittany Gowan, the plant lady behind @ihavethisthingwithurbanjungle s on IG and the Pause with Plants Podcast has been a #plantfriendIRL for a while now and a lovely lady. She has been practicing and teaching her Pause with Plants Method and we thought today would be the perfect time to discuss how to use plants to reduce stress. There has never been a better time than to have houseplants and pra...

I’m excited to have another podcaster join me today on the podcast! Today we welcome Colah B Tawkin of the Black in the Garden Podcast who created the podcast to bring more of a voice and presence for the stories and voices of Black Gardeners and Plant People. Today, in a belated Black History Month episode (since I didn’t air the podcast last month) Colah shares amazing stories about some histori...

African Violets are having a comeback, plant friends! You heard it here first. I know a lot of people feel like African Violets are their "grandma's houseplants", but this flowering gesneriad brings cute fuzzy leaves and bright, multi-colored blooms to the tropical landscape of our urban jungles. What's not to love! They can sometimes be thought of as finicky, so Lisa the "Houseplant Guru" joins m...

Thrilled to be bringing you the audio from the Live Taping on Herbal Mixology done in 2019 in Dallas at the Gardenuity HQ! The entire evening was built around my two favorite things: herbs and drinks! We had an amazing panel of female founders talking about how liquor and spirits are made (spoiler alert, they come from plants!), how to incorporate herbs and veggies into our cocktails and how to gr...

I’m in Canada and connected some my favorite Canadian plant friends for a fun discussion on the winter months (while we are in the midst of a cold Toronto December). Today I have Darryl from @houseplantjournal and Jaz from @gardenstead to not only discuss how to care for our plants the winter months, but to more importantly, how to “zoom out” to think about what is actually happening to light and...

Today Leslie Halleck ("Her Highness of Horticulture") joins me again to talk about the topic I was most excited to cover this season: ROOTS (or as we call it "root-ology". We spend so much time thinking about the “above soil” section of the plant, and often times, disregard the unbelievable root structure underneath the soil that is responsible for keeping the plant alive! So today Leslie walks us...

Today I speak with several people about various aspects of laws around plants- whether it’s importing plants from abroad or seeking to patent plants in the states. First we hear a tale from a friend of the show, Alessia from @apartmentbotanist , about how the USDA seized a plant that was illegally shipped to her. Then I speak to Lydia Colon, Head of the Plant for Planting Policy Unit at the USDA A...

Thrilled to have the OG Botanical Bro of Bloom and Grow Radio, Chris Satch back today to discuss a very hot topic- Variegation. What the heck is it, why does it occur and how can we foster and encourage it in our plants. I love when Chris comes on the show because we always get nerdy, and this episode explains so much. I’m not going to say anything more about it- because the conversation speaks fo...

Plant Side Chats are shorter episodes with just Maria as she shares life lessons learned in the garden. Today's topic is: What to do when your orchid or plant doesn't bloom when you want it to.    THANK YOU TO TODAY’S EPISODE SPONSORS! SOLTECH SOLUTIONS  MAKES LUXURY GROW LIGHTS THAT LOOK LIKE HIGH END MODERN LIGHT FIXTURES WITH CUTTING EDGE GROW SPECTRUM FOR HOUSEPLANTS AND DWARF FRUITING TREES....

Today’s episode is exciting for me to share with you because the topic was something I was completely confused and bewildered by: this “semi-hydro” craze. Semi Hydro- (which is not a correct term, it’s actually called “passive hydro” standing for “passive hydroponics”) is the growing practice of using LECA balls, which are puffed clay balls that look like coco-puff cereal, to grow your houseplants...

Very excited to welcome Rob from Farm. One to the podcast today for a conversation about beginners Hydroponics. Rob is doing Hydroponic Gardening at an incredibly high level at Farm. One- a hydroponic, vertical farm that grows rare and exotic produce indoors, year-round, pesticide- free in a basement in NYC. I met Rob last year when I was fortunate enough to tour Farm. One and was blown away by th...

Plant Friends- I'm so happy to have brought you the wonderful conversation this week on The Science of Soil. It's important for us to understand what makes our soils our plant babies grow so happily (or unhappily) in. I realize in this conversation, I stumbled upon a hot topic that I was unaware of: whether or not peat moss is sustainable. I've had conversations with members of our communities and...

So excited about this highly request episode on the science of soil. Finding a “soil expert” was kind of tough, but when I met Dr Mark Yelanich on a recent visit to Metrolina Greenhouse, I knew I had found the answers to my prayers. Dr. Mark has been the Director of Research at Metrolina Greenhouses for the past 14 years. Metrolina Greenhouse is the single-site heated greenhouse in the United Stat...

Thrilled as always to welcome Leslie Halleck back on the show. You will remember Leslie from our two part series on Understanding Natural Light and Propagation 101. She has two books, Plant Parenting- a guide to plant propagation and Gardening Under Lights. Today Leslie joins me to discuss everything we need to know about grow lights. Winter is coming plant friends, and many of us might need to ta...

Plant friends this is an excited episode for two reasons, #1 we hear from you! This is a community episode in response to it being National Indoor Plant Appreication week and I asked you to call in with a story of you and your plants. We have tales of plant wins, plant heirlooms, crazy plant person moments and even some fails. We we learn from every one of you today, and that fills my heart. What...

I’m so excited to welcome Joe Lamp'l of JoeGardener.com back on the show today! You might remember him from our episode on Living Christmas trees, but he is my outdoor gardening guru who is going to walk us through some fun things for us to do in our outdoor gardens this Fall. Joe Lamp’l is the creator, Executive Producer and Host of the Emmy-award-winning national PBS series, Growing a Greener Wo...

Today I welcome Lisa Eldred Steinkopf, otherwise known as the “Houseplant Guru” to the show for an enlightening conversation about how to care for plants in low light environments, and what the best beginner and advanced and interesting low light tolerant plant choices we can make. We discuss how to truly understand if we have low light, several hacks to capitalize on the light we have and she sug...

Thrilled to bring you part two of the Growing Cannabis episode series! In this conversation I’ve sat down with Rooney Bloom, a home grower of cannabis, and Chudy Azuogu, a commercial grower of cannabis, for a “compare and contrast” conversation on growing Cannabis from seed to harvest. Last week, on Episode 69 we discussed set up, seed starting and the vegetative stage, today we discuss flowering,...

While I was in Denver, I had the opportunity to tour The Garden, a 7000 square foot commercial Cannabis grower with my plant friend, and cannabis home grower, Rooney Bloom. In that tour, it was incredibly clear to me that I needed to sit down with the founder of The Garden, Chudy Azuogu and Rooney to discuss their different approaches to growing Cannabis, from seed to harvest. Cannabis is obviousl...