June 17, 2026 • 42 mins
Does a better life start with a single leaf? Sophia digs into that question and more with Christopher Griffin, author of "You Grow, Girl: Plant Kween's Lush Guide to Growing Your Garden." Christopher shares the wisdom passed down from his grandmother and explains why the "green thumb" is a myth. In this live recorded conversation, brought to you by our friends at Miracle-Gro, the two exchange tips and tricks for plant parents at every level to begin their own growth journeys in the garden and beyond. Plus, they explore what tending plants can teach us about tending, and loving, ourselves.
Follow @miraclegro on social media or head to miraclegro.com to start your growth journey!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi everyone, it's Sophia Welcome to Work in Progress.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Hello.
Speaker 3 (00:15):
Hello, I'm Will Pearson, president of iHeart podcast Incredibly excited
to be here for a live podcast with our very
own Sophia Bush for an episode of Work in Progress.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Incredibly excited.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
This is brought to you by us here at iHeart
Podcasts and our friends from Miracle Grow. Let's give it
up to Miracle Grow for making tonight possible. And I'm
really excited for tonight's guest. I have a brand new
best friend in the whole wide world. Like I'm not kidding,
and you will also tonight after this. Christopher Griffin, also
known as the Plant Queen, has a huge following that
(00:49):
he is brought to understand plant care and how to
do that with confidence and joy, something that we all
need to learn. It's also the author of a book
that is one of my favorite book covers. You should
check this out.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
I love the name of it.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
It's called You Grow Girl, Plant Queen's lush Guide to
Growing your Garden. So, without further ado, let me welcome
Sophia and Christopher.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Come on up.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Hi everyone, you all look so cute. You looks so cute, guys.
I'm so happy to be here. Anyone who knows me,
like some of my dearest in the front, know that
I sort of still can't believe, which I know is crazy.
I started this podcast in twenty nineteen, like, girl, get
(01:39):
over it, you have one. But I still kind of
can't believe that this is my job because basically I
just bamboozled everyone into letting me work doing the thing
I like to do the most, which is meet fabulous
people and ask them interesting questions. So I owe a
very big thank you to my team at iHeart for
(02:00):
continuing to let me nerd out in literally every department,
including plants. It's kind of the privilege of my life.
And I'm really really thrilled that we are launching a
new partnership with Miracle Grow. I sort of feel like
at this point, like branded content partnerships, everyone's just like
kill me now, And then sometimes they happen in ways
(02:23):
that you're like, well that was great. Also, this is chic.
I'm like, where did these plants come from? I'm kidding.
I met the team upstairs. They're unbelievable. But really we're
very lucky to kind of be in this moment where
I think the overwhelm of content in a way has
made people really want to make sure they actually vibe
(02:45):
and then nights like tonight get to happen. So thank
you all for letting me pretend this is work. What
like it's hard. One of the things that you have inspired.
I promise I'm gonna ask you questions soon. I'm long
winded people. Plus I have to tell you guys. Christopher
and I met in my backyard in twenty twenty two
(03:07):
and within five minutes, the whole video team that it
come was like, could you too shut up? Like we
were just on one truly one of my favorite souls.
But one of the things that you do that particularly well,
that I particularly love is that you remind people that
you don't need like a massive outdoor space. You can
(03:30):
start with a few square feet, oh square foot if
you will. And I don't know if you all are
like me, but sometimes I get lost in the rabbit
hole of Pinterest and the el decor world and fabulous goals.
But I think like, unless I have Martha Stewart's Bedford estate,
I can't possibly have a garden. And that is not
at current my reality. Though I love her and your
(03:53):
work and our wonderful sponsors tonight. Really, I think do
such a good job at reminding people, well, you can
start small, you can experiment, you can learn your green thumb.
If you have a plant diet, it's not your fault.
Maybe they just said that to me, but really you can.
You can cultivate a love of a hobby the way
you can cultivate a garden. So thank you to Miracle
(04:17):
Grow for reminding me I don't have to be Martha
and all of you can go to miracle grow dot
com to check out all of their very easy to
use products. We'll talk about those later, but start a
growth journey please. It really is great. Now now I'm
going to just ask you all the things you've heard.
Christopher is an incredible educator, author, add to Karte, Take
(04:40):
out your Phones, ad to Kart. Plant Queen is one
of my favorite accounts to follow on Instagram, and one
of the things that sort of gets me is that
you bring unbridled joys exactly who you are are to
(05:01):
the world, which knocked my socks off half a decade ago,
but especially in a moment I think where individualism, queer joy,
black boy joy is not exactly being lauded in the
way it should. You are like, honey, you can't stop me.
(05:22):
And so I'm really curious because you talk a lot
about who you are, who you've always been. You give
joy as resistance and fuel and this sort of relentless
happiness in a way that I think feeds everyone who
follows you. And I wonder if you got to interact
(05:46):
with the little black boy you used to be, like
Christopher at eight years old today, Like, if he were
in the garden, would you see yourself in him? Do
you think he would be astounded by your life that's
now his?
Speaker 2 (06:00):
Yes, I'll probably like hey girl, he played Hey Girl.
I actually had some home videos digitized because I was
I'm in the process of writing a children's book and
so I friends, yes I haven't made that announcement, but yes,
(06:20):
I'm in the process of working on it. And my
editor really challenged me to go into my childhood, and
so I worked with my dad. My dad was always
documenting everything camcorder, just place it and kind of just
watch the family. And I'm really grateful that he did that.
And I was a flamboyant little queen. I was like, damn,
(06:44):
like it was beautiful to watch me just exist unapologetically
as my flamboyant self. Obviously I didn't have the term
to you know, define myself, but my family allowed me
space to explore and be playful and to just show
(07:06):
up in the ways that I wanted to. And so
I think we would be like best friends. Like I
really I looked at you know, those videos, and I
was like, oh, my goodness, Like I'm still the same person,
like still in front of the camera, still being playful,
still being joyful, still being flamboyant. So yeah, I think
(07:26):
we would be really good friends. And I think my
younger self we'd be like, yeah, this makes sense, Like
it makes a lot of sense.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
I love that in any of the videos were you
were you out in nature a lot.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
We did a lot of family trips, and so somewhere
of us in the park we lived. I grew up
in Philadelphia, and so some of the videos were like
on this large porch of the apartment building that we
lived in, and there were gardens in front of the
apartment fielding. I actually went back and took photos with
(08:03):
my dad at the apartment a few years ago, and
it was really beautiful. But yeah, I was always outside
just like frolicking around, Go frolic. We need the frolic more.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
Everybody needs to get outside literally, go touch grass please please.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
And I mean we're in New York City and I
do a lot of partnerships with a lot of the
green spaces here. So how many folks have heard of
the New York Restoration Project? Fuck you all right, there's
not enough hands raised? Look them up and YRP. They
stew it over fifty community gardens here called the Five Boroughs,
and they're doing such amazing work to make sure that
(08:40):
the city remains green. I've done work with Prospect Park,
Central Park, Botanic Garden, New York Botannic Garden. There are
a lot of green gyms here, and so I think
it's important that folks understand that we all have a
role to play. Go volunteer, go visit theth parks, lay
in the grass. It's really important we do.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
Yeah. I'm curious, you know, because you mentioned growing up
in Philly, which is an iconic city much like New York.
Where did your connection to nature really start? Was it
in the apartment garden or was there somewhere in Philly
that you would go and you went, oh, this is
for me.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
My grandmother Andrew Griffin, she was the original plant queen.
She's the original og plant queen. She grew up in Clayton, Georgia,
and my great grandmother's farm, and the land sheltered them,
it fed them. They had a deep appreciation for the land.
And so when she decided to bring my mother and
(09:41):
my uncle up to Philadelphia at the single mom there
was a program back in the day where you could
buy like a rundown house for one dollar. I wish
that program exifted today, Please bring it back. And so
she brought the house. He bought the house, and she
curated a garden for her th well, and it was
a small, little garden, nothing big. And when I was
(10:04):
brought into the world, I was always like a flamboyant person, right,
So even from a young age, I think my grandmother
clock like a little sugar in his teeth. He had
a lot of sugar. Baby, there was a lot of sugar. Honeys. Hello, Hello.
And so I think my grandmother understood that the world
(10:25):
would not yet appreciate my uniqueness, my flair. And you know,
she being a single black mother, she had to create
spaces for her own joy. And she did that through gardening,
and she's like, you know what, I think Christopher's probably
going to have to make sure, like I want Christopher
(10:48):
to understand that he is the agent and author of
his own joy. And so she kind of showcased to
me that gardening was the way that she found joy
and created joy for herself. And so that's how I
was introduced to plant in nature as a pathway to joy,
as a pathway to healing and is I mean, it's
(11:09):
grown into such a beautiful journey. So that's when it
started very young age, not for only the sake of
understanding that we all have a role to play and
tending to the land, but that also it can be
a healing and joyful relationship.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
That's beautiful. Did you choose plant Queen to honor Andrea
or did it come from somewhere else as a nickname?
Speaker 2 (11:36):
Yeah, so everybody know abba obviously come on now, like
come on, Dancing Queen is like one of my favorite songs.
And so I don't think I ever said this out loud.
The original name for the account was going to be
pretty plant please. I don't know where that came from
out like a literation. I'm an educator. I'm a sucker
for those things. And I was like, okay, pretty plant, please.
(11:58):
And then as I was saying that, I was the thing,
dance and Queen came on. I was like dancing Queen
a plant, queen flank Queen, but with a kW And
so that's how I was born.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
Yeah, Abba, I love it. I love it. So can
you tell me about the first plant you bought? Before there?
I mean, if you remember before there was there ever
a moment where there were no plants in the house.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
In my apartment, like in your.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
First my individual home.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
As you bought big girl apartment, I did not have plants.
I didn't. I didn't, oh child. I think it was
like maybe like three years of living in New York.
I had moved here for grad school. You know, I
was my head was elsewhere. I was like, I got
to build a social life and all that. Yeah, and
(12:54):
once I got you know too. And after I had
graduated grad school, I moved to a new apartment and
it was south facing windows and the walls were just
so bare, and I was like, I gotta have some
type of life in here. And I was like, I've
graduated grad school. I'm no longer a student like I
got to find my next journey, and so I was like, Okay,
(13:16):
I think it's time to invest in plants. And I
think buying a plant was a very serious endeavor for
me because I knew what it did. It was just
a special relationship, right. I knew that I wanted to
make sure I was honoring my grandmother's memory by making
sure I had time to actually care for the plant.
(13:38):
When I was in grad school, I wouldn't be able
to care for the plant, and so I bought a
Pothos Marble Queen Pothos. I still have that plant today.
I bought that eleven years ago. She's still with me.
She's still with me. I propagated. My friend Meredith has
a cutting of the plant. We've been friends for over
a decade now, so yeah, I've propagated her and now
(13:58):
all my friends have like little cuttings that original plant
to kind of just spark yes journey.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
That's so beautiful. I also shan't admit how many plants
I've bought and that have not survived in the last
eleven years. We don't need to talk about it. It happen.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
It happened to.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
Say that but our original Girly is still with us.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
She's still here.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
I will say I did because la is a good
climate for propagating a succulent, as we discussed in the
backyard in twenty twenty two, and you gave me a
few great tips. And if I do say so myself,
I propagated a few plants. Come on now, and I
can't explain to you how cool I felt like taking
home a chic little plant to my mom and taking
(14:43):
a cute little plant to one of my girlfriends for
a housewarming party. And they felt particularly great to me
because I live in a house that was lived in
previously by this fabular, fabular, fabulous. I'm fine. Older woman
named Annette. I knew her until she passed at ninety two.
(15:04):
She was so cool, and she used to tell me
that her and her husband would like get in a
convertible and go out to Palm Springs and watch Frank
Sinatra play jazz. And she was like, we got drunk
once and I cut some of his aloe plants in
his backyard and that's where these came from. And I
was like, you're so cool. So actually what I did
(15:25):
was I gave people propagated cuttings from Frank Sinatra stolen plants.
Thank you to Annette. She was my plant queen. And
it's like, weirdly, it's not an easy thing to keep
it alive, care for it, grow it, multiply it. But
it's like the simplest and most meaningful thing I think
(15:47):
to share with other people. Maybe because it's alive, Maybe
because if you're giving a friend or a family member
a piece of something you grew like, you really had
to love it enough to get it to be in
the place where you could share it with someone else.
Do you think that's true? Is it an energetic thing?
Speaker 2 (16:08):
I think yes, it's definitely an energetic thing. I think
there is, you know, I think the reason that I
chose to be an educator, I spent over a decade
working as a college counselor, and I worked in higher education,
then I worked in tech. Oh child, I'm all in
very like you know, guidance counselor y roles, right, and
(16:32):
so you know, I feel like I've always had a
lot of love to give, right, And I think the
beautiful thing about when you're caring for a plant, right,
is that there's just this interaction where you're giving something
love and care and the response you would hope is growth, right.
(16:54):
And so it's just a very simple interaction that I
think allows folks to practice what we all need to
be better at caring for ourselves and caring for each other. Right.
And so I now have over two hundred plants in
my Brooklyn apartment and they're all doing really lovingly. And
(17:17):
people will be like, girl, like, how the hell you water?
I don't know. We can curse, but how in the
world do you water? Turn on your plants, and it's
I don't know. It's a little party. I brew some tea,
I put on some music. Sometimes I'll call a friend.
And I've found that my plants are a great I
(17:37):
call them my green Girls. I'm a big Golden Girls fan. Here,
I'm a Green Girls. They are great accountability partners. Right.
There's something that I need to tend to every week
or every two weeks, and they remind me that I
need to care for myself. They remind me that I
need to show up for the people that I love.
And so I think it's when you're in close proximity
(17:58):
to nature. There's so many lush lessons that we can
learn so many Lutch lessons and the whole self care
community care journey is just one aspect of it.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
Right, Well, it sounds like it's very meditative.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
Oh very much so.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
So do you think about your plants wellness as an
extension of your own?
Speaker 2 (18:21):
Oh? Yes, completely completely. I had a moment and this
was when my mother was alive. She was watching me
in my poor roommates at the time. Child o lord,
I just took up space. I was like, look y'all,
y'all have to deal with this. I'm just bringing plants
(18:41):
and just go with it. Go with it. It was
so kind and so, you know, it was a Sunday
and I was beginning to build a routine, you know,
spacetimeing my mom. And she was like, oh, you're building
your garden. And she wasn't talking about the garden, the physical.
Whyn't you talking about my inner garden? Right? And she
(19:02):
could tell that, my You could just tell I was
moving differently through the world. And so after I had
that phone call and I was like, I'm always a
very reflective person. I was like, oh, well, you know,
I need water too, I need sunshine too, I need
room to grow too, I need nutrients too. I need
(19:24):
to prune some yellowing lead. We all have some leads
we need to prune, y'all all right, And so you know,
I think it again. It allowed me to practice all
the various different ways that I care for myself. So
these days, honey, I have a self care and menu.
I have a bunch of options of ways I can
(19:45):
care for myself. What's on it?
Speaker 1 (19:47):
Oh, darling, I'm like, can you give us.
Speaker 2 (19:50):
I'll I mean, you know, I for me personally, I
enjoy roller skating, So I do a lot of roller
skating and a lot of stuff I do by myself.
Like I I think, you know, being with people and
letting them fill your cup. I would say for me,
that's an easier thing to do to rely on someone
(20:12):
else to fill your cup. A little harder when you're
doing it by yourself. Right, So I roll escape by myself.
I'll go to a random roller rink and I'll do
it by myself. I do dinners by myself, movies, I've traveled.
I just went to Sri Lanka by myself for sixteen days.
Speaker 1 (20:28):
It's on his Instagram. Go look at it.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
Oh my god, Oh it was so much fun and
so I allow myself random little adventures and I just
kind of I'm good company with myself. I'm just I
can have a ball. Just give me a little adventure.
I'll go on my you know, on my own. It's
really fun. But those are some of the things that
(20:50):
I do. And then obviously, you know, I have my friends,
we have our little dates and all that jazz. But yeah,
if you haven't taken yourself out on a date, like
do it like the same thing you would do for
a romantic partner, like go all out do that ship
for yourself. It is. It's so fun. It's so fun.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
Get ready, put on the outfit.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
Put it on the outfit, get dressed, put on your prefume,
order the car like it's just and just treat yourself.
Bring a book if you want to. I've challenged myself
not to bring anything. And I people watch. I love
people watching. I'm nosy as well, so it lends itself.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
You know, you're you're just interested, which is also why
you're interesting. I would thank you people watching is it's
just it's.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
So funny little stories for people that you're watching, Oh darling,
good time.
Speaker 1 (21:45):
A couple of my friends and I used to do that.
We would go out to dinner and be like okay,
and we would we would like get figure out how
to sit like last supper style, you know, everybody's face
out and be like, okay, eleven o'clock red shirt, what
do you think he does? Does this date? Like him?
Or hate him? And we would just make up stories.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
For things to do in New York. I mean, come on,
there's so many interesting people here.
Speaker 1 (22:09):
And now for our sponsors. When you are out, whether
with friends or on your own, do you get distracted
by plants? Like do they lose you because you're.
Speaker 2 (22:24):
Like, well, look at this whatever?
Speaker 1 (22:25):
In Latin this is like oh, because I'm like that, like,
don't walk a cute dog by me, I will leave
the group I'm with and be like, well, no, I
have to go pat this animal. And I know it's
a little tough, but I feel like you could be
like and all right and make a left and then
suddenly at the end of the next block, nobody knows
where you are.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
I have been known to tell people who work at
Marrieth places that they need to move the plant or
if inmfestic what it needs need water? Oh, it's not
going to survive. Here, you need to repot it. I mean,
it's just like once you're in it and like you
see these things, it's hard to like not unsee these things.
(23:09):
I mean, I always identify the plants in any space
that I'm in just for funzies, it happened. But yes,
I've tried to dial back on giving folks directions on
the plants in their spaces. If I'm in a home
and I'm close to the friend, I will take it
upon myself to just like, Okay, I think we have
(23:29):
an intervention.
Speaker 1 (23:30):
I love that.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
I hate plant in dark bathroom. Oh my god, that's
one of the worst things you can do. If there's
no grow light. Even if there's a grow light, you
need to move that plant.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
What do you think are the and I know in
the book are many tips, but are there a few
things that you think everyone at every level needs to
know about plants in their space or is that complicated?
Like I'm thinking about the checklist for eat, sample of
your self care, take yourself on a date, Like is
(24:04):
there a universal checklist for plants or no? Because each
diva needs her own care.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
So universal checklist. I think it's important to start where
you are. I think that's, you know, the best route there.
I've tried to demystify the idea of the green thumb,
and I'll try to give you the short version of this,
just like the nature there. To me, I have to
get this out. The term green thumb had two potential origin,
(24:34):
all right, and when I was writing my book, I
had so much fun writing about this. One is that
there was this king of the old times where he
really enjoyed these peas when he had a subject pick
the peas. When you pick the peas that left a
green stain on your fingers, whoever picked the most peas
would be in favor of the king. So they have
green fingers or green thumbs. Means you were in favor
(24:57):
of the king because you most likely pick the most peas.
That later became like green thumb, green finger became you
were in good fortune. Nothing to do with taking care
of plants, mind you. The second was that horticulturalist botanists,
you know, maybe dealing with pots that have green algae
on them, it may stain their fingers. Again, nothing to
(25:19):
do with this instinctual knowledge that you have to have.
That the green thumb kind of lends itself to so
I tell folks, it's more like a green muscle. You
build it over time. Like all this stuff is learned.
I have a degree in psychology and a master's in
high education, and I wrote a plant book like It's
(25:39):
self tall, like allow yourself to be curious. Curiosity is
one of the best things that you can allow yourself
to go on when it comes to bringing nature into
your home.
Speaker 1 (25:52):
Well, I mean, obviously you inspire everyone who follows you,
who reads the book. How do you think about what
you've learned, you know, the the journey to self, self care,
self love, the kind of transformation plants can offer. I
know you think about it for community. I know you
(26:13):
think about it for your beautiful nieces, like from this
place as the person who has this in the world
and all the things you're working on. How do you
how do you think about the next waves of your inspiration?
What's next on the journey?
Speaker 2 (26:27):
Ooh, I really hope to be, you know, as an educator.
I'm a facilitator, Like I want to facilitate growth. I
want to expose folks to things that they didn't know
they needed, right, and so I am I think the future.
I'm hoping to work with a larger audience, Right, whether
(26:51):
that's the television show touring the various different green spaces
in the world and really showcasing all the behind the
scenes work that happens. Right, there's just so much behind
the scenes work that happens at these gardens, that happens
at these parks, and the folks who are doing this
(27:12):
work are often not applauded. Right. And you know something
that I'm really excited for for New York City that
I've been reading in the news. It's more funding for
New York City parks. One thing that folks may not
know is that less than one percent of the New
York City budget goes towards the maintenance of parks. Less
(27:33):
than one percent. And you think about I mean, I'm
sure the New York City budget is massive, but like
less than one percent. Shame, right, And so my hope
is to continue to expose folks to the wonders of
nature and understand help them understand that we all have
(27:54):
a role. We only have this one planet, and we
all have a role to play. We all have a
role to play. And so if I can get you
to care about the plant on your table, maybe you
care about the tree on your block. They just planted
a tree in front of my apartment with giddy for joy.
I was like, oh my god, how excited is happening? Right,
(28:14):
you care about that tree? Maybe the part then maybe
the forest right again, Meet people where they are and
help them understand that we are all active agents in
shaping the world that we're a part of.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
Yes, especially when you think about what these things do
for us. You know, the reality that plants clean our air,
like what you know, feed us, They feed us, they
enrich our lives. They're so beautiful. I mean the things
(28:48):
I've learned from you, even in your work with Tree Equity,
you know when you mentioned they just planted a tree
on your block, Like you know, this is joy, this
is fun. This is also education. We're like, you know,
low caate making sure people aren't getting the mess livelihood. Yes,
but like the reality is, folks, depending on where you
(29:12):
live in a city like this or in so many
cities around America, an affluent neighborhood is going to have
a very different landscape than a disenfranchised neighborhood. Yes, and
you know around the country you will see that black
and brown neighborhoods in particular have less trees, which makes
neighborhoods hotter, which means which also means people are more
(29:35):
exposed to low air quality, like all of these things. Lighting, yes, flooding,
natural disasters. I mean, we can't even talk about like
what happened during the last major rainstorm in Brooklyn. Oh my,
got like it. It's it's not just about oh yeah,
trees are nice, but the economy, gas prices. It's like no,
(29:55):
it's actually all connected so deeply. And and I think
for us figuring out ways to participate in community care
that are joyful. You know, I do a lot of
it that frankly isn't joyful. But I'm pissed off all
the time. So you're welcome, But like the joyful stuff.
I want to go to the Brooklyn Botanical Garden with
(30:16):
you and like, plant some trees. That's the best happiest
activism I will get to do this year. I'm in.
And I think that's an important thing to remind people of. Like, yes,
part of the reason we're here is because we want
you to start somewhere. Get a plant for your apartment,
if you have a little foot of earth outside, like
plant some herbs, it's spring, summer's coming. Can I ask
(30:38):
you some technical questions now that I'm gonna get off
my soapbox and just you know, I want I need
to know. I need to know, like what are the
must have products? And I say this again, like genuinely.
This came about not because they asked, but because I
sent my team a video of me why I'd missed
a call and I was planting things in the yard
(31:00):
for the bees. Everything's fine, I needed to get outside
and touch grass and I had my potting soil in
the thing, and they were like, oh, that's weird. They
just reached out to iHeart and I was like, say more,
my mom gave me this, so like I'm down. I
have the potting soil that Miracle Girl makes. There's one
for outdoor, one for indoor. You're welcome. I have this
(31:20):
little pair of like cool Japanese trimming shears with little
green chic. Yeah. They have like cute little green handles.
Clearly that I can't live without. Like once I got
them in my hand, my friend Jed gave them to
me and I was like, I do feel like Martha.
And now I have them on the West Coast and
the East Coast, Like I got one of the little
(31:42):
sprits misters for some of the plants. I don't know
if that's real or if I got got by an
Instagram ad, Like what do the people need to garden
for real?
Speaker 2 (31:54):
Okay? So in terms of tools that I I mean,
you could go down an end list lists. But some
of the things that I think folks would it would
be helpful for folks to have one is a humidifier.
Humidifiers are really really important. They're also great for our
bodies as well. Right, the typical air quality or air dryness,
(32:18):
and the average home is quite dry, right, And a
lot of the plant that we bring into our homes
or what tropical plants, right, And the best thing that
you can do for a plant is try to mimic
the natural habitat that the plant comes from. Right. We
want to trick the plants to think they're in the rainfar.
We can't really do that because humidity leveled in the
(32:38):
rainforest is quite high, and we don't. We can't do
that meldew, mold and all that jazz. Humidfiers are great,
the misters, that's not humidity. But tell me however, but
you can use them to sprint the leaf and then
wipe the leaf because dusting your plant it's really really important.
(33:01):
You want to make sure that there's no dust collecting
because the leaves are its meal ticket and that's how
it collects sunlight. We wanted to photo sensesize and all that.
Speaker 1 (33:08):
Yet wait, so if a plant gets dusty, it doesn't
get as much sunlight.
Speaker 2 (33:12):
It doesn't. Yeah, so you want to make sure you're wipping,
wiping the leaves occasionally overwatering. That's how I kill some
of my plants overwatering. Right, do not water your plant
every day. Don't do it. Like when I've heard somebody
say that, I was like, ooh girl, yeah, so a
soil probe is a soil probe, that's yeah, that's the
(33:36):
name of the you know I'm talking about. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
there is.
Speaker 1 (33:43):
Plants.
Speaker 2 (33:44):
It's like basically a little stick that has ridges in it.
You stick it in the soil, you pull it out,
and then you can feel the moisture from the little
ridges at different levels of the pot. Oh you could
use your finger as well, right, but I have an
expensive manicure and I want to make sure that I
can maintain it so that my little soil probe. Soil
(34:04):
Probe's really helpful. I also talk a lot about this
in my books. So this is a wonderful tool that
you can use as well. Right there we go. Cheers
are really fun scissors. You want to make sure you're
cleaning them before you go from plant to plant. Nutrients
is really important, and so one of the tools that
(34:28):
I use are. One of the products I use is
Miracle Grows Plant Food all Purpose plant Food wonderful. I
use that and nitrogen potassium and n KO phosphorus. There
we go, Thank you. I was like, I'm blank, and
I was like, I know I can relate on your girl.
(34:49):
We won't catch up after this. Those are the three
main nutrients, key nutrients that plants need. And while you could,
you know, make your own little concoction some coffee ground,
the banana pills and all that stuff, you're probably not
going to get the recipe right. So the all purpose
plant food has all those nutrients and micronutrients in it,
(35:11):
and so you want to make sure that you're giving
your plant the nutrient that it needs. Water, the nutrients
in sunlight is really really important.
Speaker 1 (35:22):
How do you know, because I know some plants need
some sun, some need constant. How do you know when
you're trying to figure out your plant how often to
leave it in the window and maybe when she needs
a little break.
Speaker 2 (35:37):
Honestly, you trial and error. Honestly, there's no like, yeah,
there's no secret recipe. I mean when you are bringing
your plants indoors, like in a place like New York City,
I know someplace some folks lead their plants outside in
the summertime. When you are bringing them back, you do
want to try to like bring it in for a
(35:57):
little bit and then leap and take it back outside leclimatize. Yeah,
so you know, let it spend more time indoors and
put it back and like just time that that's really helpful.
But when you are trying to figure out the place
that you want to put your plant in, do an
assessment of your space, know the direction of your windows,
(36:19):
understand the kind of light, watch the sunlight. It's also
very therapeutic, like figuring out where you're going to put
your plants. When I've moved into the place that I'm
in right now, I sat in an empty place. I
ordered some pizza, and I watched the sun move through
the apartment, an empty apartment. It was like one of
the most beautiful moments I had in that space, and
I was like, Okay, cool, I know that this spot
(36:41):
gets this sun in this season for this amount of time,
the sun doesn't touch this spot. And so it's also
you're you're just very present, right, Don't just be like, oh,
I'm just going to go buy a plant because it
looks pretty and I want to put it there and
hopefully it does well and great, Oh dial you had
another one, like really allow yourself the journey of like, Okay,
(37:02):
I'm bringing a living, breathing creature into my home. Let
me be a little respectful and do a little research
on the plant, the natural habitat, the native environment it
comes from, right, and then kind of just adjust it
to your space and don't be a helicopter plant parent,
just like, let the plant do his thing. Plants are
(37:22):
coming from nurseries, right, that are ideal conditions. It's not
going to grow the same way in your apartment, right,
And we have to also understand that the leaves that
were grown in the nursery are probably going to die.
We all have to let go of certain parts of
ourselves when we go into new environments, right, we have
(37:44):
to adapt, we have to grow in new ways. Plants
through the same thing. There's a lot of actually go
on metaphors, metaphors for days. Chi'a'll find me in the back.
I'll keep talking about it.
Speaker 1 (37:53):
I love it. I love it. I like that we
can take care of our space. Yeah, take care of
the planet, take care of ourselves by being a plant parent.
And like, bonus, no shade, I've you know, been I've
had animals most of my life. But like, you don't
have to pick up a plant, you know, that's nice.
Speaker 2 (38:15):
That's a bonus.
Speaker 1 (38:21):
Well, friends, you can obviously get a copy of You
Grow Girl anywhere books are sold. My darling, I want
to let everyone have fun and have the gorgeous meal
that's been prepared, and see what's in their gift baskets.
You really are. I'm so excited. There may or may
not be something from my bees in there. You know,
(38:44):
it feels fun terrifying. Shipping enough of said surprise from
Los Angeles in glass, I was like, please let the
box be okay. But we made it. We made it, y'all.
I would just love to know because we are having
a Kiki. But we're also on my show what in
(39:05):
this moment, and it could be something professional personal, a
mix of the two. But for Christopher today, what feels
like you're work in progress?
Speaker 2 (39:17):
Ooh, My work in progress is being more present in
the fruits of my labor. I put in a lot
of work throughout the years, and you know, I'm a
(39:42):
bit of an overachiever. I've always been straight a student
in school, graduated with honors throughout all my school experiences,
and I've always thought about the next thing, like, Okay,
what's the next thing I can achieve, right, which kind
of robbed me of the achievement that I made right.
(40:02):
And so right now I'm in a place where I'm
trying to help myself understand that this was the point,
like I'm here, enjoy it and use, you know, this
energy to help you get to the next level, but like,
enjoy the fruits of your labor. And so that's why
(40:25):
I'm just grateful for moments like these where we can
reflect and talk and hopefully inspire y'all to figure out
like how do you begin your garden, not your outdoor garden,
not your indoor gardener, your inner garden. Right for interesting times, right, now,
and I think it's important that we allow ourselves time
(40:47):
to be with ourselves and understand that we are we
are the garden, and we really have to figure out,
like how can we nourish ourselves and grow ourselves so
that hope our bloom can inspire other people.
Speaker 1 (41:03):
It's beautiful. You inspire me so much.
Speaker 2 (41:06):
You inspire me. Thanks for coming, Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (41:10):
Thanks for coming, guys, so lovely, so lovely. Follow our
friends and miracle girl who brought us here and check
out their website, like we said, for easy to use
products to start your growing journey. Take your inspiration. I
suggest maybe by a plant tomorrow, before life gets busy
(41:32):
and before you forget how good this ws like dive in.
There's no time like the present. Friends, thanks for being here. Everyone,
I see you over there, will hike.
Speaker 2 (41:43):
Let's cart up one more time for Sophia and Christopher.
Thank you so much,
Hi everyone, it's Sophia Welcome to Work in Progress.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Hello.
Speaker 3 (00:15):
Hello, I'm Will Pearson, president of iHeart podcast Incredibly excited
to be here for a live podcast with our very
own Sophia Bush for an episode of Work in Progress.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Incredibly excited.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
This is brought to you by us here at iHeart
Podcasts and our friends from Miracle Grow. Let's give it
up to Miracle Grow for making tonight possible. And I'm
really excited for tonight's guest. I have a brand new
best friend in the whole wide world. Like I'm not kidding,
and you will also tonight after this. Christopher Griffin, also
known as the Plant Queen, has a huge following that
(00:49):
he is brought to understand plant care and how to
do that with confidence and joy, something that we all
need to learn. It's also the author of a book
that is one of my favorite book covers. You should
check this out.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
I love the name of it.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
It's called You Grow Girl, Plant Queen's lush Guide to
Growing your Garden. So, without further ado, let me welcome
Sophia and Christopher.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Come on up.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Hi everyone, you all look so cute. You looks so cute, guys.
I'm so happy to be here. Anyone who knows me,
like some of my dearest in the front, know that
I sort of still can't believe, which I know is crazy.
I started this podcast in twenty nineteen, like, girl, get
(01:39):
over it, you have one. But I still kind of
can't believe that this is my job because basically I
just bamboozled everyone into letting me work doing the thing
I like to do the most, which is meet fabulous
people and ask them interesting questions. So I owe a
very big thank you to my team at iHeart for
(02:00):
continuing to let me nerd out in literally every department,
including plants. It's kind of the privilege of my life.
And I'm really really thrilled that we are launching a
new partnership with Miracle Grow. I sort of feel like
at this point, like branded content partnerships, everyone's just like
kill me now, And then sometimes they happen in ways
(02:23):
that you're like, well that was great. Also, this is chic.
I'm like, where did these plants come from? I'm kidding.
I met the team upstairs. They're unbelievable. But really we're
very lucky to kind of be in this moment where
I think the overwhelm of content in a way has
made people really want to make sure they actually vibe
(02:45):
and then nights like tonight get to happen. So thank
you all for letting me pretend this is work. What
like it's hard. One of the things that you have inspired.
I promise I'm gonna ask you questions soon. I'm long
winded people. Plus I have to tell you guys. Christopher
and I met in my backyard in twenty twenty two
(03:07):
and within five minutes, the whole video team that it
come was like, could you too shut up? Like we
were just on one truly one of my favorite souls.
But one of the things that you do that particularly well,
that I particularly love is that you remind people that
you don't need like a massive outdoor space. You can
(03:30):
start with a few square feet, oh square foot if
you will. And I don't know if you all are
like me, but sometimes I get lost in the rabbit
hole of Pinterest and the el decor world and fabulous goals.
But I think like, unless I have Martha Stewart's Bedford estate,
I can't possibly have a garden. And that is not
at current my reality. Though I love her and your
(03:53):
work and our wonderful sponsors tonight. Really, I think do
such a good job at reminding people, well, you can
start small, you can experiment, you can learn your green thumb.
If you have a plant diet, it's not your fault.
Maybe they just said that to me, but really you can.
You can cultivate a love of a hobby the way
you can cultivate a garden. So thank you to Miracle
(04:17):
Grow for reminding me I don't have to be Martha
and all of you can go to miracle grow dot
com to check out all of their very easy to
use products. We'll talk about those later, but start a
growth journey please. It really is great. Now now I'm
going to just ask you all the things you've heard.
Christopher is an incredible educator, author, add to Karte, Take
(04:40):
out your Phones, ad to Kart. Plant Queen is one
of my favorite accounts to follow on Instagram, and one
of the things that sort of gets me is that
you bring unbridled joys exactly who you are are to
(05:01):
the world, which knocked my socks off half a decade ago,
but especially in a moment I think where individualism, queer joy,
black boy joy is not exactly being lauded in the
way it should. You are like, honey, you can't stop me.
(05:22):
And so I'm really curious because you talk a lot
about who you are, who you've always been. You give
joy as resistance and fuel and this sort of relentless
happiness in a way that I think feeds everyone who
follows you. And I wonder if you got to interact
(05:46):
with the little black boy you used to be, like
Christopher at eight years old today, Like, if he were
in the garden, would you see yourself in him? Do
you think he would be astounded by your life that's
now his?
Speaker 2 (06:00):
Yes, I'll probably like hey girl, he played Hey Girl.
I actually had some home videos digitized because I was
I'm in the process of writing a children's book and
so I friends, yes I haven't made that announcement, but yes,
(06:20):
I'm in the process of working on it. And my
editor really challenged me to go into my childhood, and
so I worked with my dad. My dad was always
documenting everything camcorder, just place it and kind of just
watch the family. And I'm really grateful that he did that.
And I was a flamboyant little queen. I was like, damn,
(06:44):
like it was beautiful to watch me just exist unapologetically
as my flamboyant self. Obviously I didn't have the term
to you know, define myself, but my family allowed me
space to explore and be playful and to just show
(07:06):
up in the ways that I wanted to. And so
I think we would be like best friends. Like I
really I looked at you know, those videos, and I
was like, oh, my goodness, Like I'm still the same person,
like still in front of the camera, still being playful,
still being joyful, still being flamboyant. So yeah, I think
(07:26):
we would be really good friends. And I think my
younger self we'd be like, yeah, this makes sense, Like
it makes a lot of sense.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
I love that in any of the videos were you
were you out in nature a lot.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
We did a lot of family trips, and so somewhere
of us in the park we lived. I grew up
in Philadelphia, and so some of the videos were like
on this large porch of the apartment building that we
lived in, and there were gardens in front of the
apartment fielding. I actually went back and took photos with
(08:03):
my dad at the apartment a few years ago, and
it was really beautiful. But yeah, I was always outside
just like frolicking around, Go frolic. We need the frolic more.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
Everybody needs to get outside literally, go touch grass please please.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
And I mean we're in New York City and I
do a lot of partnerships with a lot of the
green spaces here. So how many folks have heard of
the New York Restoration Project? Fuck you all right, there's
not enough hands raised? Look them up and YRP. They
stew it over fifty community gardens here called the Five Boroughs,
and they're doing such amazing work to make sure that
(08:40):
the city remains green. I've done work with Prospect Park,
Central Park, Botanic Garden, New York Botannic Garden. There are
a lot of green gyms here, and so I think
it's important that folks understand that we all have a
role to play. Go volunteer, go visit theth parks, lay
in the grass. It's really important we do.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
Yeah. I'm curious, you know, because you mentioned growing up
in Philly, which is an iconic city much like New York.
Where did your connection to nature really start? Was it
in the apartment garden or was there somewhere in Philly
that you would go and you went, oh, this is
for me.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
My grandmother Andrew Griffin, she was the original plant queen.
She's the original og plant queen. She grew up in Clayton, Georgia,
and my great grandmother's farm, and the land sheltered them,
it fed them. They had a deep appreciation for the land.
And so when she decided to bring my mother and
(09:41):
my uncle up to Philadelphia at the single mom there
was a program back in the day where you could
buy like a rundown house for one dollar. I wish
that program exifted today, Please bring it back. And so
she brought the house. He bought the house, and she
curated a garden for her th well, and it was
a small, little garden, nothing big. And when I was
(10:04):
brought into the world, I was always like a flamboyant person, right,
So even from a young age, I think my grandmother
clock like a little sugar in his teeth. He had
a lot of sugar. Baby, there was a lot of sugar. Honeys. Hello, Hello.
And so I think my grandmother understood that the world
(10:25):
would not yet appreciate my uniqueness, my flair. And you know,
she being a single black mother, she had to create
spaces for her own joy. And she did that through gardening,
and she's like, you know what, I think Christopher's probably
going to have to make sure, like I want Christopher
(10:48):
to understand that he is the agent and author of
his own joy. And so she kind of showcased to
me that gardening was the way that she found joy
and created joy for herself. And so that's how I
was introduced to plant in nature as a pathway to joy,
as a pathway to healing and is I mean, it's
(11:09):
grown into such a beautiful journey. So that's when it
started very young age, not for only the sake of
understanding that we all have a role to play and
tending to the land, but that also it can be
a healing and joyful relationship.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
That's beautiful. Did you choose plant Queen to honor Andrea
or did it come from somewhere else as a nickname?
Speaker 2 (11:36):
Yeah, so everybody know abba obviously come on now, like
come on, Dancing Queen is like one of my favorite songs.
And so I don't think I ever said this out loud.
The original name for the account was going to be
pretty plant please. I don't know where that came from
out like a literation. I'm an educator. I'm a sucker
for those things. And I was like, okay, pretty plant, please.
(11:58):
And then as I was saying that, I was the thing,
dance and Queen came on. I was like dancing Queen
a plant, queen flank Queen, but with a kW And
so that's how I was born.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
Yeah, Abba, I love it. I love it. So can
you tell me about the first plant you bought? Before there?
I mean, if you remember before there was there ever
a moment where there were no plants in the house.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
In my apartment, like in your.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
First my individual home.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
As you bought big girl apartment, I did not have plants.
I didn't. I didn't, oh child. I think it was
like maybe like three years of living in New York.
I had moved here for grad school. You know, I
was my head was elsewhere. I was like, I got
to build a social life and all that. Yeah, and
(12:54):
once I got you know too. And after I had
graduated grad school, I moved to a new apartment and
it was south facing windows and the walls were just
so bare, and I was like, I gotta have some
type of life in here. And I was like, I've
graduated grad school. I'm no longer a student like I
got to find my next journey, and so I was like, Okay,
(13:16):
I think it's time to invest in plants. And I
think buying a plant was a very serious endeavor for
me because I knew what it did. It was just
a special relationship, right. I knew that I wanted to
make sure I was honoring my grandmother's memory by making
sure I had time to actually care for the plant.
(13:38):
When I was in grad school, I wouldn't be able
to care for the plant, and so I bought a
Pothos Marble Queen Pothos. I still have that plant today.
I bought that eleven years ago. She's still with me.
She's still with me. I propagated. My friend Meredith has
a cutting of the plant. We've been friends for over
a decade now, so yeah, I've propagated her and now
(13:58):
all my friends have like little cuttings that original plant
to kind of just spark yes journey.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
That's so beautiful. I also shan't admit how many plants
I've bought and that have not survived in the last
eleven years. We don't need to talk about it. It happen.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
It happened to.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
Say that but our original Girly is still with us.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
She's still here.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
I will say I did because la is a good
climate for propagating a succulent, as we discussed in the
backyard in twenty twenty two, and you gave me a
few great tips. And if I do say so myself,
I propagated a few plants. Come on now, and I
can't explain to you how cool I felt like taking
home a chic little plant to my mom and taking
(14:43):
a cute little plant to one of my girlfriends for
a housewarming party. And they felt particularly great to me
because I live in a house that was lived in
previously by this fabular, fabular, fabulous. I'm fine. Older woman
named Annette. I knew her until she passed at ninety two.
(15:04):
She was so cool, and she used to tell me
that her and her husband would like get in a
convertible and go out to Palm Springs and watch Frank
Sinatra play jazz. And she was like, we got drunk
once and I cut some of his aloe plants in
his backyard and that's where these came from. And I
was like, you're so cool. So actually what I did
(15:25):
was I gave people propagated cuttings from Frank Sinatra stolen plants.
Thank you to Annette. She was my plant queen. And
it's like, weirdly, it's not an easy thing to keep
it alive, care for it, grow it, multiply it. But
it's like the simplest and most meaningful thing I think
(15:47):
to share with other people. Maybe because it's alive, Maybe
because if you're giving a friend or a family member
a piece of something you grew like, you really had
to love it enough to get it to be in
the place where you could share it with someone else.
Do you think that's true? Is it an energetic thing?
Speaker 2 (16:08):
I think yes, it's definitely an energetic thing. I think
there is, you know, I think the reason that I
chose to be an educator, I spent over a decade
working as a college counselor, and I worked in higher education,
then I worked in tech. Oh child, I'm all in
very like you know, guidance counselor y roles, right, and
(16:32):
so you know, I feel like I've always had a
lot of love to give, right, And I think the
beautiful thing about when you're caring for a plant, right,
is that there's just this interaction where you're giving something
love and care and the response you would hope is growth, right.
(16:54):
And so it's just a very simple interaction that I
think allows folks to practice what we all need to
be better at caring for ourselves and caring for each other. Right.
And so I now have over two hundred plants in
my Brooklyn apartment and they're all doing really lovingly. And
(17:17):
people will be like, girl, like, how the hell you water?
I don't know. We can curse, but how in the
world do you water? Turn on your plants, and it's
I don't know. It's a little party. I brew some tea,
I put on some music. Sometimes I'll call a friend.
And I've found that my plants are a great I
(17:37):
call them my green Girls. I'm a big Golden Girls fan. Here,
I'm a Green Girls. They are great accountability partners. Right.
There's something that I need to tend to every week
or every two weeks, and they remind me that I
need to care for myself. They remind me that I
need to show up for the people that I love.
And so I think it's when you're in close proximity
(17:58):
to nature. There's so many lush lessons that we can
learn so many Lutch lessons and the whole self care
community care journey is just one aspect of it.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
Right, Well, it sounds like it's very meditative.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
Oh very much so.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
So do you think about your plants wellness as an
extension of your own?
Speaker 2 (18:21):
Oh? Yes, completely completely. I had a moment and this
was when my mother was alive. She was watching me
in my poor roommates at the time. Child o lord,
I just took up space. I was like, look y'all,
y'all have to deal with this. I'm just bringing plants
(18:41):
and just go with it. Go with it. It was
so kind and so, you know, it was a Sunday
and I was beginning to build a routine, you know,
spacetimeing my mom. And she was like, oh, you're building
your garden. And she wasn't talking about the garden, the physical.
Whyn't you talking about my inner garden? Right? And she
(19:02):
could tell that, my You could just tell I was
moving differently through the world. And so after I had
that phone call and I was like, I'm always a
very reflective person. I was like, oh, well, you know,
I need water too, I need sunshine too, I need
room to grow too, I need nutrients too. I need
(19:24):
to prune some yellowing lead. We all have some leads
we need to prune, y'all all right, And so you know,
I think it again. It allowed me to practice all
the various different ways that I care for myself. So
these days, honey, I have a self care and menu.
I have a bunch of options of ways I can
(19:45):
care for myself. What's on it?
Speaker 1 (19:47):
Oh, darling, I'm like, can you give us.
Speaker 2 (19:50):
I'll I mean, you know, I for me personally, I
enjoy roller skating, So I do a lot of roller
skating and a lot of stuff I do by myself.
Like I I think, you know, being with people and
letting them fill your cup. I would say for me,
that's an easier thing to do to rely on someone
(20:12):
else to fill your cup. A little harder when you're
doing it by yourself. Right, So I roll escape by myself.
I'll go to a random roller rink and I'll do
it by myself. I do dinners by myself, movies, I've traveled.
I just went to Sri Lanka by myself for sixteen days.
Speaker 1 (20:28):
It's on his Instagram. Go look at it.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
Oh my god, Oh it was so much fun and
so I allow myself random little adventures and I just
kind of I'm good company with myself. I'm just I
can have a ball. Just give me a little adventure.
I'll go on my you know, on my own. It's
really fun. But those are some of the things that
(20:50):
I do. And then obviously, you know, I have my friends,
we have our little dates and all that jazz. But yeah,
if you haven't taken yourself out on a date, like
do it like the same thing you would do for
a romantic partner, like go all out do that ship
for yourself. It is. It's so fun. It's so fun.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
Get ready, put on the outfit.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
Put it on the outfit, get dressed, put on your prefume,
order the car like it's just and just treat yourself.
Bring a book if you want to. I've challenged myself
not to bring anything. And I people watch. I love
people watching. I'm nosy as well, so it lends itself.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
You know, you're you're just interested, which is also why
you're interesting. I would thank you people watching is it's
just it's.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
So funny little stories for people that you're watching, Oh darling,
good time.
Speaker 1 (21:45):
A couple of my friends and I used to do that.
We would go out to dinner and be like okay,
and we would we would like get figure out how
to sit like last supper style, you know, everybody's face
out and be like, okay, eleven o'clock red shirt, what
do you think he does? Does this date? Like him?
Or hate him? And we would just make up stories.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
For things to do in New York. I mean, come on,
there's so many interesting people here.
Speaker 1 (22:09):
And now for our sponsors. When you are out, whether
with friends or on your own, do you get distracted
by plants? Like do they lose you because you're.
Speaker 2 (22:24):
Like, well, look at this whatever?
Speaker 1 (22:25):
In Latin this is like oh, because I'm like that, like,
don't walk a cute dog by me, I will leave
the group I'm with and be like, well, no, I
have to go pat this animal. And I know it's
a little tough, but I feel like you could be
like and all right and make a left and then
suddenly at the end of the next block, nobody knows
where you are.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
I have been known to tell people who work at
Marrieth places that they need to move the plant or
if inmfestic what it needs need water? Oh, it's not
going to survive. Here, you need to repot it. I mean,
it's just like once you're in it and like you
see these things, it's hard to like not unsee these things.
(23:09):
I mean, I always identify the plants in any space
that I'm in just for funzies, it happened. But yes,
I've tried to dial back on giving folks directions on
the plants in their spaces. If I'm in a home
and I'm close to the friend, I will take it
upon myself to just like, Okay, I think we have
(23:29):
an intervention.
Speaker 1 (23:30):
I love that.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
I hate plant in dark bathroom. Oh my god, that's
one of the worst things you can do. If there's
no grow light. Even if there's a grow light, you
need to move that plant.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
What do you think are the and I know in
the book are many tips, but are there a few
things that you think everyone at every level needs to
know about plants in their space or is that complicated?
Like I'm thinking about the checklist for eat, sample of
your self care, take yourself on a date, Like is
(24:04):
there a universal checklist for plants or no? Because each
diva needs her own care.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
So universal checklist. I think it's important to start where
you are. I think that's, you know, the best route there.
I've tried to demystify the idea of the green thumb,
and I'll try to give you the short version of this,
just like the nature there. To me, I have to
get this out. The term green thumb had two potential origin,
(24:34):
all right, and when I was writing my book, I
had so much fun writing about this. One is that
there was this king of the old times where he
really enjoyed these peas when he had a subject pick
the peas. When you pick the peas that left a
green stain on your fingers, whoever picked the most peas
would be in favor of the king. So they have
green fingers or green thumbs. Means you were in favor
(24:57):
of the king because you most likely pick the most peas.
That later became like green thumb, green finger became you
were in good fortune. Nothing to do with taking care
of plants, mind you. The second was that horticulturalist botanists,
you know, maybe dealing with pots that have green algae
on them, it may stain their fingers. Again, nothing to
(25:19):
do with this instinctual knowledge that you have to have.
That the green thumb kind of lends itself to so
I tell folks, it's more like a green muscle. You
build it over time. Like all this stuff is learned.
I have a degree in psychology and a master's in
high education, and I wrote a plant book like It's
(25:39):
self tall, like allow yourself to be curious. Curiosity is
one of the best things that you can allow yourself
to go on when it comes to bringing nature into
your home.
Speaker 1 (25:52):
Well, I mean, obviously you inspire everyone who follows you,
who reads the book. How do you think about what
you've learned, you know, the the journey to self, self care,
self love, the kind of transformation plants can offer. I
know you think about it for community. I know you
(26:13):
think about it for your beautiful nieces, like from this
place as the person who has this in the world
and all the things you're working on. How do you
how do you think about the next waves of your inspiration?
What's next on the journey?
Speaker 2 (26:27):
Ooh, I really hope to be, you know, as an educator.
I'm a facilitator, Like I want to facilitate growth. I
want to expose folks to things that they didn't know
they needed, right, and so I am I think the future.
I'm hoping to work with a larger audience, Right, whether
(26:51):
that's the television show touring the various different green spaces
in the world and really showcasing all the behind the
scenes work that happens. Right, there's just so much behind
the scenes work that happens at these gardens, that happens
at these parks, and the folks who are doing this
(27:12):
work are often not applauded. Right. And you know something
that I'm really excited for for New York City that
I've been reading in the news. It's more funding for
New York City parks. One thing that folks may not
know is that less than one percent of the New
York City budget goes towards the maintenance of parks. Less
(27:33):
than one percent. And you think about I mean, I'm
sure the New York City budget is massive, but like
less than one percent. Shame, right, And so my hope
is to continue to expose folks to the wonders of
nature and understand help them understand that we all have
(27:54):
a role. We only have this one planet, and we
all have a role to play. We all have a
role to play. And so if I can get you
to care about the plant on your table, maybe you
care about the tree on your block. They just planted
a tree in front of my apartment with giddy for joy.
I was like, oh my god, how excited is happening? Right,
(28:14):
you care about that tree? Maybe the part then maybe
the forest right again, Meet people where they are and
help them understand that we are all active agents in
shaping the world that we're a part of.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
Yes, especially when you think about what these things do
for us. You know, the reality that plants clean our air,
like what you know, feed us, They feed us, they
enrich our lives. They're so beautiful. I mean the things
(28:48):
I've learned from you, even in your work with Tree Equity,
you know when you mentioned they just planted a tree
on your block, Like you know, this is joy, this
is fun. This is also education. We're like, you know,
low caate making sure people aren't getting the mess livelihood. Yes,
but like the reality is, folks, depending on where you
(29:12):
live in a city like this or in so many
cities around America, an affluent neighborhood is going to have
a very different landscape than a disenfranchised neighborhood. Yes, and
you know around the country you will see that black
and brown neighborhoods in particular have less trees, which makes
neighborhoods hotter, which means which also means people are more
(29:35):
exposed to low air quality, like all of these things. Lighting, yes, flooding,
natural disasters. I mean, we can't even talk about like
what happened during the last major rainstorm in Brooklyn. Oh my,
got like it. It's it's not just about oh yeah,
trees are nice, but the economy, gas prices. It's like no,
(29:55):
it's actually all connected so deeply. And and I think
for us figuring out ways to participate in community care
that are joyful. You know, I do a lot of
it that frankly isn't joyful. But I'm pissed off all
the time. So you're welcome, But like the joyful stuff.
I want to go to the Brooklyn Botanical Garden with
(30:16):
you and like, plant some trees. That's the best happiest
activism I will get to do this year. I'm in.
And I think that's an important thing to remind people of. Like, yes,
part of the reason we're here is because we want
you to start somewhere. Get a plant for your apartment,
if you have a little foot of earth outside, like
plant some herbs, it's spring, summer's coming. Can I ask
(30:38):
you some technical questions now that I'm gonna get off
my soapbox and just you know, I want I need
to know. I need to know, like what are the
must have products? And I say this again, like genuinely.
This came about not because they asked, but because I
sent my team a video of me why I'd missed
a call and I was planting things in the yard
(31:00):
for the bees. Everything's fine, I needed to get outside
and touch grass and I had my potting soil in
the thing, and they were like, oh, that's weird. They
just reached out to iHeart and I was like, say more,
my mom gave me this, so like I'm down. I
have the potting soil that Miracle Girl makes. There's one
for outdoor, one for indoor. You're welcome. I have this
(31:20):
little pair of like cool Japanese trimming shears with little
green chic. Yeah. They have like cute little green handles.
Clearly that I can't live without. Like once I got
them in my hand, my friend Jed gave them to
me and I was like, I do feel like Martha.
And now I have them on the West Coast and
the East Coast, Like I got one of the little
(31:42):
sprits misters for some of the plants. I don't know
if that's real or if I got got by an
Instagram ad, Like what do the people need to garden
for real?
Speaker 2 (31:54):
Okay? So in terms of tools that I I mean,
you could go down an end list lists. But some
of the things that I think folks would it would
be helpful for folks to have one is a humidifier.
Humidifiers are really really important. They're also great for our
bodies as well. Right, the typical air quality or air dryness,
(32:18):
and the average home is quite dry, right, And a
lot of the plant that we bring into our homes
or what tropical plants, right, And the best thing that
you can do for a plant is try to mimic
the natural habitat that the plant comes from. Right. We
want to trick the plants to think they're in the rainfar.
We can't really do that because humidity leveled in the
(32:38):
rainforest is quite high, and we don't. We can't do
that meldew, mold and all that jazz. Humidfiers are great,
the misters, that's not humidity. But tell me however, but
you can use them to sprint the leaf and then
wipe the leaf because dusting your plant it's really really important.
(33:01):
You want to make sure that there's no dust collecting
because the leaves are its meal ticket and that's how
it collects sunlight. We wanted to photo sensesize and all that.
Speaker 1 (33:08):
Yet wait, so if a plant gets dusty, it doesn't
get as much sunlight.
Speaker 2 (33:12):
It doesn't. Yeah, so you want to make sure you're wipping,
wiping the leaves occasionally overwatering. That's how I kill some
of my plants overwatering. Right, do not water your plant
every day. Don't do it. Like when I've heard somebody
say that, I was like, ooh girl, yeah, so a
soil probe is a soil probe, that's yeah, that's the
(33:36):
name of the you know I'm talking about. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
there is.
Speaker 1 (33:43):
Plants.
Speaker 2 (33:44):
It's like basically a little stick that has ridges in it.
You stick it in the soil, you pull it out,
and then you can feel the moisture from the little
ridges at different levels of the pot. Oh you could
use your finger as well, right, but I have an
expensive manicure and I want to make sure that I
can maintain it so that my little soil probe. Soil
(34:04):
Probe's really helpful. I also talk a lot about this
in my books. So this is a wonderful tool that
you can use as well. Right there we go. Cheers
are really fun scissors. You want to make sure you're
cleaning them before you go from plant to plant. Nutrients
is really important, and so one of the tools that
(34:28):
I use are. One of the products I use is
Miracle Grows Plant Food all Purpose plant Food wonderful. I
use that and nitrogen potassium and n KO phosphorus. There
we go, Thank you. I was like, I'm blank, and
I was like, I know I can relate on your girl.
(34:49):
We won't catch up after this. Those are the three
main nutrients, key nutrients that plants need. And while you could,
you know, make your own little concoction some coffee ground,
the banana pills and all that stuff, you're probably not
going to get the recipe right. So the all purpose
plant food has all those nutrients and micronutrients in it,
(35:11):
and so you want to make sure that you're giving
your plant the nutrient that it needs. Water, the nutrients
in sunlight is really really important.
Speaker 1 (35:22):
How do you know, because I know some plants need
some sun, some need constant. How do you know when
you're trying to figure out your plant how often to
leave it in the window and maybe when she needs
a little break.
Speaker 2 (35:37):
Honestly, you trial and error. Honestly, there's no like, yeah,
there's no secret recipe. I mean when you are bringing
your plants indoors, like in a place like New York City,
I know someplace some folks lead their plants outside in
the summertime. When you are bringing them back, you do
want to try to like bring it in for a
(35:57):
little bit and then leap and take it back outside leclimatize. Yeah,
so you know, let it spend more time indoors and
put it back and like just time that that's really helpful.
But when you are trying to figure out the place
that you want to put your plant in, do an
assessment of your space, know the direction of your windows,
(36:19):
understand the kind of light, watch the sunlight. It's also
very therapeutic, like figuring out where you're going to put
your plants. When I've moved into the place that I'm
in right now, I sat in an empty place. I
ordered some pizza, and I watched the sun move through
the apartment, an empty apartment. It was like one of
the most beautiful moments I had in that space, and
I was like, Okay, cool, I know that this spot
(36:41):
gets this sun in this season for this amount of time,
the sun doesn't touch this spot. And so it's also
you're you're just very present, right, Don't just be like, oh,
I'm just going to go buy a plant because it
looks pretty and I want to put it there and
hopefully it does well and great, Oh dial you had
another one, like really allow yourself the journey of like, Okay,
(37:02):
I'm bringing a living, breathing creature into my home. Let
me be a little respectful and do a little research
on the plant, the natural habitat, the native environment it
comes from, right, and then kind of just adjust it
to your space and don't be a helicopter plant parent,
just like, let the plant do his thing. Plants are
(37:22):
coming from nurseries, right, that are ideal conditions. It's not
going to grow the same way in your apartment, right,
And we have to also understand that the leaves that
were grown in the nursery are probably going to die.
We all have to let go of certain parts of
ourselves when we go into new environments, right, we have
(37:44):
to adapt, we have to grow in new ways. Plants
through the same thing. There's a lot of actually go
on metaphors, metaphors for days. Chi'a'll find me in the back.
I'll keep talking about it.
Speaker 1 (37:53):
I love it. I love it. I like that we
can take care of our space. Yeah, take care of
the planet, take care of ourselves by being a plant parent.
And like, bonus, no shade, I've you know, been I've
had animals most of my life. But like, you don't
have to pick up a plant, you know, that's nice.
Speaker 2 (38:15):
That's a bonus.
Speaker 1 (38:21):
Well, friends, you can obviously get a copy of You
Grow Girl anywhere books are sold. My darling, I want
to let everyone have fun and have the gorgeous meal
that's been prepared, and see what's in their gift baskets.
You really are. I'm so excited. There may or may
not be something from my bees in there. You know,
(38:44):
it feels fun terrifying. Shipping enough of said surprise from
Los Angeles in glass, I was like, please let the
box be okay. But we made it. We made it, y'all.
I would just love to know because we are having
a Kiki. But we're also on my show what in
(39:05):
this moment, and it could be something professional personal, a
mix of the two. But for Christopher today, what feels
like you're work in progress?
Speaker 2 (39:17):
Ooh, My work in progress is being more present in
the fruits of my labor. I put in a lot
of work throughout the years, and you know, I'm a
(39:42):
bit of an overachiever. I've always been straight a student
in school, graduated with honors throughout all my school experiences,
and I've always thought about the next thing, like, Okay,
what's the next thing I can achieve, right, which kind
of robbed me of the achievement that I made right.
(40:02):
And so right now I'm in a place where I'm
trying to help myself understand that this was the point,
like I'm here, enjoy it and use, you know, this
energy to help you get to the next level, but like,
enjoy the fruits of your labor. And so that's why
(40:25):
I'm just grateful for moments like these where we can
reflect and talk and hopefully inspire y'all to figure out
like how do you begin your garden, not your outdoor garden,
not your indoor gardener, your inner garden. Right for interesting times, right, now,
and I think it's important that we allow ourselves time
(40:47):
to be with ourselves and understand that we are we
are the garden, and we really have to figure out,
like how can we nourish ourselves and grow ourselves so
that hope our bloom can inspire other people.
Speaker 1 (41:03):
It's beautiful. You inspire me so much.
Speaker 2 (41:06):
You inspire me. Thanks for coming, Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (41:10):
Thanks for coming, guys, so lovely, so lovely. Follow our
friends and miracle girl who brought us here and check
out their website, like we said, for easy to use
products to start your growing journey. Take your inspiration. I
suggest maybe by a plant tomorrow, before life gets busy
(41:32):
and before you forget how good this ws like dive in.
There's no time like the present. Friends, thanks for being here. Everyone,
I see you over there, will hike.
Speaker 2 (41:43):
Let's cart up one more time for Sophia and Christopher.
Thank you so much,
Host
Sophia Bush
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