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

Plant friends, if you’ve hung around the plant community for any amount of time, you know some sub-groups go deep, and one of the most passionate is the Alocasia lovers/enthusiasts . These people are ferocious about their alocasias, and one of their most controversial topics is corm propagation . If you’ve never heard of it, I hadn’t either until Instagram kept showing me those little plant “nugge...

The monstera might just be the most iconic houseplant of all time. Those bold, split leaves show up everywhere in logos, restaurant décor, and home goods, making it instantly recognizable. But bringing a monstera home and helping it thrive so it grows big, beautiful, and full of those signature splits takes a little know-how. Today, we’re revisiting one of my very first 20 episodes of Growing Joy...

What if I told you that the most dominant plant in your garden isn't the rose that you love or the towering sunflower, but the  little clover , the little guys creeping along the ground?  They're called groundcovers, and they fight weeds, save water, prevent erosion, and can even replace your lawn. I had an amazing conversation with  Kathy Jentz , author of “ Groundcover Revolution ,” and we talke...

I'm thrilled to be sharing this planty conversation with my #plantfriendIRL, Kevin Espiritu from Epic Gardening! Kevin and I recently met IRL in San Diego and clicked immediately. He is a wonderfully curious Botanical Bro who has the most incredible Urban Gardening setup in his home in San Diego. Our journeys to plant parenthood are very similar but revolve around different passions: indoor (mine)...

You've probably heard the phrase, “ Go touch grass. ” It's usually thrown around online when someone needs to log off and reconnect with reality. But the act of touching grass, literally putting your bare feet or hands on the earth, is scientifically proven to reset your mood. It's known as earthing (or grounding), and it's been proven to reduce inflammation, boost your energy, improve sleep, and...

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, advanced, and interesting low-light-tolerant plant choices we can make. We discuss how to truly understand if we have low light and several hacks to capitalize on the light we have, and she...

Plant friends, I have to tell you about someone who has completely blown my mind this gardening season! Her name is Lily, and she happens to be my brother's girlfriend, which means I've had a front-row seat to watch her absolutely blossom as a first-time gardener. She nailed it on her first try, and I mean that she has had the most incredible success I think I have ever seen from a beginner. In th...

Garlic is a staple in so many savory dishes, but if you've only ever cooked with the sad grocery store bulbs, it's time to see garlic's true potential by growing your own. The depth of flavor and variety that homegrown garlic offers blows store-bought out of the water. Lucky for us, plant friends, growing our own garlic at home is so easy! In this episode, homesteader extraordinaire Jill Winger wa...

If you love your dog as much as you love your monstera or other houseplants, you’ve probably run into this dilemma: how do you keep your plants alive without putting your pup at risk? This has been a problem for plant parents who are also pet parents. Some plants are toxic, some dogs are curious nibblers, and sometimes it feels like your plants and your pets are destined to clash. To figure this o...

If you’re an edible gardener, chances are you’ve found yourself staring at a heaping bowl of tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, or carrots, wondering how on earth you’re going to eat them all before they go bad. In this Best of  Growing Joy  replay, I’m revisiting my conversation with Stephanie Thurow, a certified master at food preservation and bestselling author of several books on canning and ferme...

What do a theater kid, a Venus flytrap, and a million TikTok followers have in common?  Abundance… and my new plant friend Brian from Redleaf Ranch! Brian is the viral TikTok gardener you've probably come across if you spend any time in plant social media. He's the guy who makes you say "abundance!" out loud, and he’s here to talk about his approach to abundance and gratitude, plus how he used gar...

What if your next plant project wasn’t just a container of soil and greenery—but a living, breathing world? In this Best of Growing Joy episode, we revisit a wonderful conversation I had a couple years back with terrarium expert Patricia from Doodle Bird Terrariums to explore the captivating art of creating terrariums, paludariums, and vivariums—miniature ecosystems that blend plants, animals, wat...

If you’ve ever watched your fiddle leaf fig drop all its leaves, battled fungus gnats that fly into your ear, or poured water on your plant only to watch it run straight through the pot without soaking in, this is your wake-up call. I called in the big guns for this one with my plant friend Mandi from  Happy Happy Houseplant . Between our two communities, these are  the  plant problems we get aske...

When I polled our listener community about your top requests for outdoor garden-related episodes, the number one request surprised me: it wasn’t managing fertilizer, succession planting, or garden design. It was how to manage pesky garden pests! Today, I have the answer to your prayers: Brie from briegrows.com walks us through such a comprehensive list of practices and solutions for managing pests...

I thought I had a pretty deep connection with plants.  I mean, this podcast is literally about talking to them (and about them). But after 300+ episodes, this is the only conversation that impacted my daily interaction with plants. My guest, LoriAnn Bird, an Indigenous Métis herbalist and author of Revered Roots, introduced a concept of “plants as our relatives.” Elders. Teachers. Sovereign beings...

We are joined by Chris today for another installment of our Plant Science Series featuring The Sill! Orchid 101 is near and dear to my heart because I STRUGGLE with orchids, and Chris has been my go-to resource for personal orchid care. So I knew he would be the perfect guest to have come on the show and answer your orchid care questions! If you don’t know already, The Sill is a plant brand with t...

Are you looking at your basket filled with zucchini (and cucumbers) that you’ve harvested this summer? You might also be wondering what you can do with them because there’s only so much roasted zucchini and pickled cucumber one person can take. You’re in the perfect place, because in this episode, I invited one of my favorite plant people,  Kaleb Wyse of Wyse Guide . Kaleb’s a modern homesteader,...

Today’s episode is about exactly what the title says: our brains… on plants, and what happens in our brains when we become plant people. When I was starting to move from plant killer to crazy plant lady, I noticed there were a few months at the beginning of my plant collection where I felt like the love for plants kind of took over my life. I was constantly buying new plants, going to plant shops,...

Your plant parent story might have started with some humble pothos.  It’s forgiving, fast-growing, and honestly, it’s probably the most underrated plant in most of our collections. But there is so much more to the pothos that you might be missing out on. So in this episode, we’re going to talk about pothos way beyond the basics with the help of my plant friend Justin Hancock of Costa Farms. Justin...

Indoor Plants are celebrated for their amazing foliage, but I think we overlook another amazing ability, a specific subcategory our favorite indoor plants have — the ability to bloom! Some people say we are intrinsically connected to flowers because, way back when, they signified fruit. Personally, I just think they are joyful as hell with their bright colors, and let's be frank, we all need a lit...

This year, I had the joy of hosting a live  Growing Joy  popup at the  Southeast Plant Show .  I’ve been fortunate to attend a few plant events lately, but this one felt special in a way that’s hard to describe. The energy was electric! The people were overflowing with joy, and the plants were everything. If you love to connect with plant people, discover trending varieties, and just soak up good...

I feel like there comes a time in every plant parent's life when we start to get really curious and excited about having a dedicated space for all of our plants.  If you are an outdoor gardener, the promise of a greenhouse for seed starts and overwintering plants is even more promising! I’ve had several different moments in life where I’ve Googled greenhouse kits but never crossed the finish line...

Have you ever felt drawn to a specific tree—and wondered why? You might already be receiving messages without realizing it. In this episode of Growing Joy , I sat down with intuitive nature expert and green witch Rachael Cohen of Our Infinite Nature to explore one of the most fascinating and overlooked topics in the natural world: tree communication . From the underground mycelial networks to intu...

Have you ever wondered what it’s like to be a homesteader?  A growing number of people are turning to self-sufficiency and sustainability in their way of living. However, homesteading can seem intimidating, especially when social media portrays it as an exclusive lifestyle requiring acres of land and living off the grid. The good news is that it doesn't have to be an all-or-nothing lifestyle! In t...

Did you know that some common outdoor plants have superpowers?  Some can survive atomic bombing, clean up radiation, and even outsmart insects. This is Part 2 of my conversation with David Domoney, author of  Plants with Superpowers , about the superpowers of outdoor plants. These plants can completely change how you walk down the street and look at nature. Listen to Part 1 of our conversation abo...