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 in our Best of series with my plant friend Scott Cain, an Australian plant enthusiast with over 200 plants, including an incredible monstera collection. He’s the creator behind Boys With Plants on Instagram and Tropical Loco, and in this episode, we dive into care tips, design ideas, and strategies to help your monstera flourish. If you’ve got a monstera, listen in because your plant is about to get a whole lot happier.
In this episode, we learn:
- How family traditions inspired his current collection
- Scott breaks down the 200 plants that fill his apartment that are featured on his Instagram account, @tropicaloco
- How Scott has turned Instagram friends into #plantfriendsIRL
- His care secrets for dealing with the Australian summer/winter
- Why people who work from home should have plants
- Monstera care 101: light, watering, fertilizing
- Moss poles, what they are and why/if we need them
- Aerial roots, what they are and can we trim them?
- What fenestrations are
- What the difference is in deliciosa/borsigiana/adansonii/obliqua
- Scotts pruning practices for his Monstera collection
- How to take cuttings of your Monstera to make your plant look more full
- Troubleshooting for yellow and brown leaves
- Why the Monstera is such an sought after plant
- What’s up with variegation
- How and why he created @boyswithplants and why he is letting us know that he is the creator
- How to get featured on @boyswithplants
- The scoop on the new Boys with Plants Book!
Mentioned in our conversation:
Want your monstera to grow beautiful leaves?
Check out the full show notes and blog for Scott's top care tips and design ideas!
Follow Scott:
Scott's Graphic Design Company
Follow Maria and Growing Joy:
Order my book: Growing Joy: The Plant Lover's Guide to Cultivating Happiness (and Plants)by Maria Failla, Illustrated by Samantha Leung
Join the Bloom and Grow Garden Party Community Platform & App AKA the plantiest and kindest corner of the internet! Get your FREE 2-week trial here!
Take the Plant Parent Personality Quiz (Get the perfect plants, projects and educational resources for YOUR Lifestyle)
Support Bloom and Grow Radio by becoming a Plant Friend on Patreon!
Instagram: @growingjoywithmaria
Tiktok: @growingjoywithmaria
Subscribe to the Growing Joy Youtube channel! /growingjoywithmaria
Website: www.growingjoywithmaria.com
Pinterest: @growingjoywithmaria
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.