In today's episode Part 1 of From Broadway Lights to Botanical Delights with Maria Failla, we dive into the leafy world of green gurus and botanical wizards!
Maria Failla, a plant killer turned plant lady, shares her inspiring journey of overcoming fear and cultivating a fearless mindset. We explore her transformation from struggling performer to thriving plant enthusiast and host of the top-rated houseplant podcast, Growing Joy with Plants.
Embark on a green-fingered journey with us as we sit down with the ever-radiant Maria Faella, who's left the bright lights of Broadway to illuminate the world of botany. From her humble beginnings as someone who couldn't keep a cactus alive, Maria has blossomed into a true plant savant, and she's here to share the soil of her wisdom. Together, we unpack her transformation and how, through nurturing her leafy friends, she's unearthed a wellspring of joy. And it's not just about the plants; Maria's insights weave through the importance of maintaining an open heart and the sweet - and sometimes savory - treats that make the journey of plant parenthood a delectable one.
Feel the soil beneath your fingers as we delve into the emotional tapestry that gardening weaves into our lives, often becoming a poignant reflection of our family ties and spiritual beliefs. Our conversation with Maria takes root in the very essence of human connection, as we explore how plants can become the living legacy of our loved ones, evoking memories and forging new friendships in the shared language of the botanical world. We also traverse the fertile ground of 'plantpreneurship', following Maria's footsteps from stage to seedling, and investigate how this shift harmonizes with age-old agricultural traditions and the deep-rooted culture of local farming communities, all while unearthing the courage it takes to cultivate a life-altering career change. Join us for this 3 part episode which promises to plant seeds of inspiration in the gardens of your mind.
Key Takeaways:
- How to find joy and connection through caring for plants
- Embracing a growth mindset to overcome fear
- The power of community and shared passions
- Uncovering hidden talents and unexpected career paths
Action Items:
- Gather your open heart, open mind, journal, dedicated window, and snacks!
- Reference page 8 of Maria's book, "Growing Joy with Plants" for her top tips
- Repurpose your unused items for plant care (think: ice tea as a mister!)
- Embrace the "crazy plant person" connection and find your tribe
Highlighted Quotes:
- "Sometimes the best wellness tools are the most affordable ones." - Maria Failla
- "I came for plants for the aesthetic, and I stayed for the wellness." - Maria Failla
- "The theater industry has its ups and downs. And I ended up connecting with this incredible community of plant people..." - Maria Failla
Excellent Reference Material:
- Book: Growing Joy with Plants by Maria Failla https://a.co/d/3uOlfOM
- Podcast: Growing Joy with Plants https://growingjoywithmaria.com/podcast/
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
you, you, okay, everybody.
So hi, welcome to the FearlessRoad podcast.
I am your host, michael DeVue.
We're in studio with a veryspecial episode this time, for
the first time actually, we'rein the studio with a co-host, my
co-host, phaedra Chonyaki, whowill be joining me today.
To interview this incredibleguest on board has been sort of
(01:26):
a long thing in the process ofgetting germinating To get us
here.
I'm very excited.
I don't know if I've spokenabout this before in our past
episodes.
I'm pretty sure I mentioned mymother and Phaedra's art.
We share a mom and our journeywith plants and her love of them
, and so for me this is a verypersonal, joyful and wonderful
opportunity to sort of explorewhat I think is a bit of a geek
(01:47):
and nerd part of my life aboutloving plants, and I will get
into some of the weird thingsthat I do with them a little bit
later to share that with you,but let me jump into the
introduction.
So okay, here we go.
In today's episode, we dive intothe leafy world of green gurus
and botanical wizards.
(02:07):
Maria is a plant killer turnedplant lady.
She's on a mission to helpeveryone successfully care for
plants and make the world akinder and greener place.
After learning to care forplants successfully and
experiencing the exponential joycaring for plants brought to
her life.
The exponential joy caring forplants brought to her life.
She founded the Growing Plantswith Joy podcast to learn
alongside her listeners as sheinterviews experts and all of
(02:29):
the aspects of plant care.
Growing Joy with Plants hasgrown into the top home and
garden house plant gardeningpodcast in the world, closing in
on 3 million downloads, and wasa 2020 Webby honoree.
And in 2022, she authoredGrowing Joy, the Plant Lover's
Guide to Cultivating Happinessand Plants Awesome.
(02:52):
Maria spent the last decade asa professional musical theater
performer Thank you very muchand has been seen on Broadway
musicals, on the Great White Wayand around the world.
She's thrilled now to use hervoice to help people grow more
joy in their lives through plantcare and to use her voice here
on the Fearless Road podcast.
Ladies and gentlemen, pleasewelcome Maria Faella Faella.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
Faella, faella, faella, but no one.
That was awesome.
Yeah, no one pronounces my namecorrectly, so I'll never hold
it against you, so weird.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
Well, ladies and gentlemen, that's the first F up
of this episode, so don't mindme.
Yay, welcome, maria.
Thank you, I didn't want topause all the way around.
Thank you, we're so excited tohave you.
I can't believe this.
Like I said before, you know,this has like been a journey to
get us here.
Both Phaedra and I got yourbook and we've been sort of
reading your book and leafingthrough it.
(03:46):
It's terrible, all these puns,but before we begin our journey,
I would like, for all of us, ifyou guys have the book and
you've already picked it upfantastic, you're good listeners
.
Congratulations, you get a starfor today.
We're going to reference Ibelieve it's page eight.
We're going to take a littlecue out of Maria's book with
(04:08):
Growing Joy Parent Lovers Onpage eight.
These are the tips she said weneed to go on our journey.
So before we begin our journeytogether, gather around, ladies
and gentlemen.
One you need an open heart andan open mind, which you already
have, because you know that'swhat you bring when you come and
listen to our show to a journalto expand on the writing
prompts and tips and tricks thatwe're going to be talking about
(04:28):
today.
So make sure you write thisstuff down.
Keep these notes.
I have my journal here and mynotes on the street.
Phaedra's got hers and has aleaf on it.
A little flower.
Oh, a plant or two.
You can see mine here and thisone.
Yay, mine here and this one.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
This is gonna be our representative for today I don't
know if they show or not, butand then fedra has hers in the
background and maria's got acouple uh.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
Maria's not in her normal uh habitat, so she
brought a bit of habitat withher uh to her parents yeah, my
normal where she is currently mynormal office I have about 40
plants.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
I've completely changed my bookshelf into a.
I installed grow lights in mybookshelf to have a bunch of
plants.
But sadly I'm at my but myparents are in Florida and
Florida is where, like all ofour houseplants just grow
naturally outside.
So I'm still enjoying thescenery.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
All right.
Well, the next thing we need isa dedicated window, and that is
because we always need light inour lives, right?
We need light to come in and weneed to absorb that light.
I have one here.
The sunlight's shining throughand bouncing off my table From
the morning light here in themountains in New Mexico.
Phaedra has a big window oflight behind her, Maria does too
.
And the last thing, but this isreally important snacks.
Snacks are important.
(05:38):
I have Ritz crackers and anapple.
Phaedra's got her little fruit.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
This is no fun.
We are prepared, Yep everybody.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
take a sip.
I've got my iced tea.
We are prepared.
Ladies, you guys curl up, rollup, get up, snuggle up, whatever
you gotta do.
We're going to get into thiswith Maria Paella and our guest
Growing Joy.
We'll be right back, okay.
So before we get started, let'sget a little background on you.
(06:13):
Know, I love to get backgroundon my guests.
For those of the audience whodon't know Maria, maria, can you
catch us up a little bit onyour journey to get here as the
plant killer turned plant lady?
We already mentioned that youcame from Broadway, so I assume
that your journey has been a bitof a winding road.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
A very winding, fearless road, shall we say.
So yeah, I mean, I used to bean epic plant killer.
Couldn't keep a plant alive ifsomeone paid me money.
I really viewed plants as a lotlike if I had ten dollars to
spend on a bouquet of flowers orten dollars to spend on like a
(06:52):
you know little snake plant ororchid at Trader Joe's, I would
always buy the plant because itwould die slower, like I felt
like I would get more out of myinvestment.
But I never even thought thatthese plants could like thrive
in my home.
And I used to be a musicaltheater performer, which we have
that in common.
I spent my first 10 years my allof my 20s, luckily enough, you
(07:13):
know performing, living my dream, singing, singing and dancing
and musicals, traveling aroundthe world, performing on
Broadway.
And because of that, you know,I was very transient.
I hadn't, I had apartments inNew York City but they never
really felt like home.
I was always picking up to go,move, to go on tour, to go do
you know?
A regional contract in adifferent city for three weeks.
(07:34):
So I was never really focusedon cultivating like a long-term
sense of home because I was justso transient, because of my job
.
Um, things changed when Ifulfilled my dream of being on
Broadway.
I was in Cats, the musical onBroadway, and I moved in with a
was.
Yeah, I don't know what I wasthinking back then, first time
(08:09):
living with my boyfriend in sucha tiny space, but it had
beautiful southern exposure,like it was.
There was so much natural lightand a tiny little Juliet
balcony garden.
So it was nine square feet.
Like you couldn't sit Sorry,not garden a Juliet balcony you
couldn't sit on it, you couldn'teven really stand on it.
It's like a teensy, tinybalcony that had a door.
(08:30):
And you know, I was in this likefirst time nesting experience.
We were living in most of myboyfriend's, or my husband I
guess we'll call him now hisfurniture and so I thought, ok,
how can I breathe some life intothis place?
How can I nest?
I think plants would do thetrick.
Even though I have this likehorrific, you know graveyard of
dead plants from my past.
(08:51):
Let's try plants one more time.
The trail dead bot, thegraveyard, yes, but this time
the difference was I actuallytried to empower myself with
education, so I knew that Icouldn't do it on my own.
I knew I didn't have theintuition to be able to care for
them successfully.
So Google was my best friendand I Googled my way to kind of
(09:13):
figuring out the basics of plantcare.
There were also some greatplant shops in New York City.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
Sorry, I'm cutting an apple.
I just pardon me for the.
Oh yeah, please continue.
Yeah, I'm just gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna have my snack, have
your snack while I tell thestory.
Speaker 3 (09:29):
So, yeah, so I made friends with our local plant
shop owners and asked them foradvice, and I connected with a
lot of people on Instagram.
There were all of these likeplant fluencers, plant
influencers, but people onInstagram that all liked plants
and they were kind enough toanswer my DMs.
And you know about questionsthat I had Plantpreneurs yes,
(09:51):
plantpreneurs, exactly.
So.
You know, I like to say that Icame for plants for the
aesthetic and I stayed for thewellness because I really did.
I came for them because I feellike when I looked at Interior
Design Magazine, there wereplants everywhere and what I
didn't realize was plants.
You know, I'm a wellness junkie.
I've read every self-help book.
(10:13):
I've been in therapy my wholelife.
You know, I go on the wellnessretreats, I do the yoga, I do
the juice cleanse, I do all thatkind of stuff, and so at that
point I had spent thousands ofdollars on wellness and I was
shocked that these affordable,tiny little pots of plants were
one of the best wellness toolsthat I had ever encountered.
Once I started caring forplants and seeing them grow,
(10:33):
seeing life unfold before myeyes, this like dormant corner
of my heart opened up and Istarted experiencing such joy
and connection to somethinglarger than me in a way that I
had never experienced it before,and I wanted to talk to all my
friends about it and no onewanted to listen to me.
None of my performer friendswanted to hear about my tomato
(10:55):
plant.
So I took to the internet and Ifound friends online and at
that point there were nopodcasts about houseplant care.
I was an avid podcast listenerand I was searching for episodes
on houseplants and I couldn'tfind any.
And my contract to Katz wasending and I thought you know
what?
I'm sure I'm going to bookanother Broadway show
(11:16):
immediately, but until then, whydon't I just like figure out
how to make a podcast?
It'll be my love letter toplants.
It'll be kind of an activeservice for other millennials
like me living in urbanenvironments disconnected to
nature.
And I just YouTubed my way intolaunching a podcast.
I used GarageBand, I borrowed afriend's microphone for my
(11:37):
first 20 episodes.
I launched the podcast and thenkind of thought after 10
episodes I'd be done, I'd bookanother show, I'd move on with
my life.
And I did not book another showsoon after because, you know,
the theater industry has its upsand downs and I ended up
connecting with this incrediblecommunity of plant people and
(11:57):
the downloads kept doubling and,you know, the energy in my life
was just naturally flowingtowards plants and the podcast
and I feel like I had a lot ofdivine intervention of doors
opening and doors closing, youknow, closing on my performing
career and opening in this, inthis podcast career, to kind of
allow for this to unfold andbloom, and I haven't looked back
(12:20):
.
So, like you said, you know Ithink we're seven years in and I
get to be a full time plantypodcaster.
It's like who?
Who thought, yeah, thoughtthat's a real job, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
That's a, that's a.
Your journey is, is is one ofmany I mean many podcasters who
discover that they just want tosort of video journal, something
that they're fascinated with.
They're fascinated with and theum, pardon me, the gift of the
internet, uh has afforded us theopportunity to find our people,
(12:54):
you know, and, and when you dothat, like to be supported and
get that kind of spread, thatjoy, spread that impact, spread
that love.
Um, it's such a cool journey tosee it happening.
Uh, as I mentioned, I think,before, youhaedra and I have a
very unique experience and veryunique background.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
Yes, tell me more about this, because you
mentioned with your mom.
I want to know more.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
Phaedra, will you please tell the story a little
bit about our relationship bothwith our mom and plants, and
let's get the audience a littlebit.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
So Michael's mother and my dad married gosh, almost
what 25, 30 years ago.
It's been well, 25 plus.
It's been a long time, um, youknow.
So we're, we're technicallystepbrother and stepsister, but
we've we've been in each other'slives so long.
We don't see a difference.
So he's my brother, I'm hissister, um, and then people see
(13:48):
us together and they're likewhat, that doesn't make sense,
um and uh, and so, um, hismother was very much a second
mother to me.
I was truly blessed, um, and thestepmother that that I received
in life, and she was a motherto me, um, in all the ways that
my mother couldn't be and wasn'tequipped to be.
(14:11):
And so I called her mom.
And you know, mom was aprolific gardener.
She was much more with outsidegardening than she was with
houseplants indoors.
She had a couple and she alwayshad the best garden on the
block.
It was always a haven.
There was always some sort ofwater feature, there was herbs,
(14:34):
there was flowers, there wasroses, and you know, she would
spend a lot of time outsidebecause for her, that was her,
that was her prayer time, thatwas when she communicated with
god, was when her hands were inthe dirt.
Um, so it was, uh, veryimportant for her.
Um, just, it was beyond a hobby, you know, spiritual um, and so
(15:00):
, yeah, it was very much aspiritual practice for her and,
uh, you know, michael and I bothspent time with her in the
garden and you know we, we tooka lot of inspiration from that.
What are your?
Speaker 1 (15:13):
plant selections look like individually now Well, I
guess what's funny is like whenwe when we had to move our
parents up to the we I don'twant to call it a retirement
home.
This is our family home.
That's been in our family forlike they were tired as two.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
Yes, and so we were moving them from Texas up there,
and I moved a 20-foot truckwith about 100 plants Up there
for her, and, even though shepassed away, we inherited a few
of these plants.
My sister, our other sister,michelle, inherited some of
these plants.
Daddy Leon got the bulk of whatwas left over and I don't think
(15:50):
very many of them are leftbecause he didn't have the green
thumb that she did.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
He's not a plant man.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
But one of the things that Phaedra and I have done
and kept up to this date whichis both our love of the plants
and our mothers is taking theirashes and putting them in our
plants.
So, like I, I I put them inthere so that when I talk to my
plants, the irony of this waswhen I started talking to them
because her ashes were there.
It's like I'm talking to mymother, and one of the things
(16:17):
that that she said to bothPhaedra and I right before she
passed away, it had to have beenthat week that we had moved her
up there, cause she used toalways say, she used to gather
us together and always say mybabies.
But she said I, I am thegardener and you are my flowers,
I will always be watching overyou.
So if I ever pass from thisplanet or this earth, know that
(16:38):
I will always be in the sun andin the sky shining down on my
little garden and and andwatching over my babies.
And it makes me cry, but it'slike we always knew she'd be
there for us, taking care of us,and this is sort of our little
journey.
You know where we get to dothis with our plants and they
get to bring us joy.
So this connection that I havewith you over what the joy that
(17:00):
plants and the caring of plantsand even the loss of plants can
teach you about life andself-care and self-love, it's
super important and it's super.
Speaker 3 (17:11):
It's really deep.
It's really deep, I mean, your.
Your story is so beautiful andI've heard so many different
versions of it throughinteracting with so many
different listeners and otherplant people like plants and
your relationship with nature isso emotional, many times
because of this ancestry, youknow, ancestry that you feel.
(17:32):
Or you know I can't tell youhow many people I've interviewed
where they say I grew up withplants, I took them for granted,
my mom had all these plants.
I went to college I didn't haveplants, and that's when I
realized how important they were, you know.
Or people who have difficultrelationships with their mom,
where, where it used to bedifficult to connect, um, for me
I've, I experienced thisancestral reclamation of this
(18:02):
lineage of italian gardeners andfarmers in my family that I
feel like as I come into my yeah, like as I come into my um
ability to garden and and havemy you know, green, my green
thumb, I feel like I'mconnecting with the lineage of
ancestors.
Or people feel very negatively,like there's either a very
(18:24):
positive association or there'sa very negative association,
like, oh, I kill plants, I can'tkeep them alive.
Or, you know, oh, my mom alwaysused to make me cut the lawn
and it used to make me so mad,you know.
So I do think it's veryinteresting.
I don't, you know, when youlook at other hobbies, I don't
feel like knitting is asemotional as plants can be, like
(18:45):
, you know, the emotional and,you know, don't come at you know
, the knitters, don't come at me.
But you know, I just think thatit is a very special, deep
hobby that requires commitment.
And I think when you,especially as an adult now and
I'm sure you guys haveexperienced this to an extent,
(19:07):
we're experiencing it with eachother Once you see another plant
person, like, once you meetanother plant person, it really
doesn't matter where they comefrom, who they are, what their
job is, whatever, like, if youmeet another plant person at a
party, you're in the corner for30 minutes talking about your
roses, trading, cuttings.
It is such an equalizer, it'ssuch a mode of connection that
(19:30):
is so beautiful, that alsoinstant, yes, and so instant.
It's like the crazy.
You like see the crazy in eachother's eyes about your plants,
you know, and there's just thisinstant connection.
And I think that's so special,especially, you know, for adults
, because it's hard to makefriends as adults, but I always
say, like it's not as hard tomake plant friends, you know.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
Yes, well, and your journey?
Well, both your lineage andyour journey.
You know Italy.
Ladies and gentlemen.
If you haven't been to Italy,you got to go first.
I mean, come on, just you gotto get there.
Phaedra and I had the amazingopportunity this past summer to
go to my friend's wedding inSorrento.
We stayed in Sorrento, italy,and I'm telling you, italy's
(20:14):
floral game is en poix.
I mean, it's not a joke.
These people have been doingthis for hundreds and hundreds
and hundreds of years.
They have created environmentsand circular economies that are
reliant on the plants, thefarming, the product and produce
(20:34):
that is created from it.
And then it goes back into itand it's so seamless and it's so
beautiful.
And in June, late May, june,during the budding and floral
season, what is southern Italy?
You gotta go.
It's incredible.
The citrus.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
Yeah, the citrus, I mean just incredible.
Speaker 3 (20:52):
So it's so funny, you mentioned it, I'm the trees
growing down the side of theroad.
I am uniquely obsessed withcitrus and Italian citrus.
One of my favorite books iscalled the Land when Lemons Grow
and it's all about the historyof citrus in Italy and how it's
actually.
Wars were created like themafia.
(21:12):
The creation of the mafia was,in part, created to to um,
protect the southern italiancitrus farmers.
Like it's fascinating.
Um and uh does not.
Yeah, and I have a wholeepisode on my podcast.
If anybody wants to go down thenerd, like you know, if you
want a whole hour on thisspecific topic, um, I have an.
(21:33):
Recently I released an episodeon my podcast interviewing the
author of that book on thehistory of Italian gardening and
Italian citrus.
It's really fascinating.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
Is it a she or a he that wrote it?
Does she talk about how lemonsare not grown from lemon trees?
Speaker 3 (21:51):
Yes, well, yeah, how they're stocked.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
Yeah, yeah, we went on a farm tour and it's
fascinating, you know, and theytalked about you know how,
because it's all grafted onto adifferent type of tree that
grows faster.
Speaker 3 (22:04):
So they can yield and produce fruit.
Yeah, the book dives deep intothat.
If you, you guys shoulddefinitely read the book.
It's called the Land whenLemons Grow by Helena Atlee.
Speaker 1 (22:16):
Yes, and the Land when Lemons Grow.
Ladies and gentlemen, if youever get a chance to tour and
see one of these farms, thescaffolding, the gardening, the
landscape and the hills and theterrain, and all of this builds
this really unique world, thisunderbelly world where people
(22:36):
climb these little ladders andthey climb across scaffolds and
they graft these plants ontolittle orange trees and tree
stubs, Like it is a living,breathing, unique world.
It's like going through theWitch and the Wardrobe.
You know what I mean.
Like you open the door and youcome out the other side Getting
its.
Narnia yeah, it's very Narnia.
It's such a different world ofplant, if you really like plants
(23:00):
Such a different world and Icould totally see why the mafia
got started there, Because it'sso.
I can see how it's embedded intheir culture.
But it's not just theirlivelihood, it feels like it is
very rooted in who they areculturally speaking, yes recipe,
(23:21):
so I could see why, defendingit.
Yeah, it's, it's fascinating.
Well, I loved it when we wereat the farm and, uh, the, the
young gentleman that was there,he and his brothers, they'd been
farming that farm for 200 yearsbut they just acquired it over
the last 90 years, and we wereall sitting there, you know,
after our little tour andeverything, and he had told us
all of the cute little stuffabout the pigs eat this, and
then the poop this, and then itgoes back in and they bury it
(23:43):
here and you grow more of thisand it comes back out, and then
mama, over here, she makes thefood and this, this is a farmer
to table, right, literally,literally.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
Yeah, yeah, literally , and we were like it was, we
were so tired.
Yeah, it was amazing.
And there's something about youknow Sorrento lemons and citrus
from that area that is, that'sLimoncello land, baby, oh yeah,
it is beyond.
Yeah, it is beyond.
Speaker 1 (24:14):
I mean, you think you like lemons from here, like no,
it's a next level experiencefor sure, next level Pardon me,
I might eat another snack, soAll right, so let's talk.
This show is about the fearlessroad and it is about, sort of
like, how we deal with fear inyour unique experience as a
plantpreneur, podcaster, femaleentrepreneur making that
(24:39):
transition from your previouscareer which, by the way, for
those of us who are performersthe moment when you mentally
have to decide you're movingaway from what has consumed your
life, your body, your nurturing, your nurturing your nutrition,
your diets, your habits foryears and it's time to move on
(25:01):
right.
Talk to me a little bit aboutthat fear in that moment and how
that you addressed it, becauseyou talk a little bit about this
in the book how you addressedthis fear and what.
How this beautiful world ofplants provided you with a sort
of a different perspective andavenue to take this transition.
Speaker 4 (25:24):
And this concludes part one of the interview with
Maria Faella.
When we come back with part two, we'll find out what it was
like to leave Broadway andliterally move into the woods.
you, you, okay, everybody.
So hi, welcome to the FearlessRoad podcast.
I am your host, michael DeVue.
We're in studio with a veryspecial episode this time, for
the first time actually, we'rein the studio with a co-host, my
co-host, phaedra Chonyaki, whowill be joining me today.
To interview this incredibleguest on board has been sort of
(01:26):
a long thing in the process ofgetting germinating To get us
here.
I'm very excited.
I don't know if I've spokenabout this before in our past
episodes.
I'm pretty sure I mentioned mymother and Phaedra's art.
We share a mom and our journeywith plants and her love of them
, and so for me this is a verypersonal, joyful and wonderful
opportunity to sort of explorewhat I think is a bit of a geek
(01:47):
and nerd part of my life aboutloving plants, and I will get
into some of the weird thingsthat I do with them a little bit
later to share that with you,but let me jump into the
introduction.
So okay, here we go.
In today's episode, we dive intothe leafy world of green gurus
and botanical wizards.
(02:07):
Maria is a plant killer turnedplant lady.
She's on a mission to helpeveryone successfully care for
plants and make the world akinder and greener place.
After learning to care forplants successfully and
experiencing the exponential joycaring for plants brought to
her life.
The exponential joy caring forplants brought to her life.
She founded the Growing Plantswith Joy podcast to learn
alongside her listeners as sheinterviews experts and all of
(02:29):
the aspects of plant care.
Growing Joy with Plants hasgrown into the top home and
garden house plant gardeningpodcast in the world, closing in
on 3 million downloads, and wasa 2020 Webby honoree.
And in 2022, she authoredGrowing Joy, the Plant Lover's
Guide to Cultivating Happinessand Plants Awesome.
(02:52):
Maria spent the last decade asa professional musical theater
performer Thank you very muchand has been seen on Broadway
musicals, on the Great White Wayand around the world.
She's thrilled now to use hervoice to help people grow more
joy in their lives through plantcare and to use her voice here
on the Fearless Road podcast.
Ladies and gentlemen, pleasewelcome Maria Faella Faella.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
Faella, faella, faella, but no one.
That was awesome.
Yeah, no one pronounces my namecorrectly, so I'll never hold
it against you, so weird.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
Well, ladies and gentlemen, that's the first F up
of this episode, so don't mindme.
Yay, welcome, maria.
Thank you, I didn't want topause all the way around.
Thank you, we're so excited tohave you.
I can't believe this.
Like I said before, you know,this has like been a journey to
get us here.
Both Phaedra and I got yourbook and we've been sort of
reading your book and leafingthrough it.
(03:46):
It's terrible, all these puns,but before we begin our journey,
I would like, for all of us, ifyou guys have the book and
you've already picked it upfantastic, you're good listeners
.
Congratulations, you get a starfor today.
We're going to reference Ibelieve it's page eight.
We're going to take a littlecue out of Maria's book with
(04:08):
Growing Joy Parent Lovers Onpage eight.
These are the tips she said weneed to go on our journey.
So before we begin our journeytogether, gather around, ladies
and gentlemen.
One you need an open heart andan open mind, which you already
have, because you know that'swhat you bring when you come and
listen to our show to a journalto expand on the writing
prompts and tips and tricks thatwe're going to be talking about
(04:28):
today.
So make sure you write thisstuff down.
Keep these notes.
I have my journal here and mynotes on the street.
Phaedra's got hers and has aleaf on it.
A little flower.
Oh, a plant or two.
You can see mine here and thisone.
Yay, mine here and this one.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
This is gonna be our representative for today I don't
know if they show or not, butand then fedra has hers in the
background and maria's got acouple uh.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
Maria's not in her normal uh habitat, so she
brought a bit of habitat withher uh to her parents yeah, my
normal where she is currently mynormal office I have about 40
plants.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
I've completely changed my bookshelf into a.
I installed grow lights in mybookshelf to have a bunch of
plants.
But sadly I'm at my but myparents are in Florida and
Florida is where, like all ofour houseplants just grow
naturally outside.
So I'm still enjoying thescenery.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
All right.
Well, the next thing we need isa dedicated window, and that is
because we always need light inour lives, right?
We need light to come in and weneed to absorb that light.
I have one here.
The sunlight's shining throughand bouncing off my table From
the morning light here in themountains in New Mexico.
Phaedra has a big window oflight behind her, Maria does too
.
And the last thing, but this isreally important snacks.
Snacks are important.
(05:38):
I have Ritz crackers and anapple.
Phaedra's got her little fruit.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
This is no fun.
We are prepared, Yep everybody.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
take a sip.
I've got my iced tea.
We are prepared.
Ladies, you guys curl up, rollup, get up, snuggle up, whatever
you gotta do.
We're going to get into thiswith Maria Paella and our guest
Growing Joy.
We'll be right back, okay.
So before we get started, let'sget a little background on you.
(06:13):
Know, I love to get backgroundon my guests.
For those of the audience whodon't know Maria, maria, can you
catch us up a little bit onyour journey to get here as the
plant killer turned plant lady?
We already mentioned that youcame from Broadway, so I assume
that your journey has been a bitof a winding road.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
A very winding, fearless road, shall we say.
So yeah, I mean, I used to bean epic plant killer.
Couldn't keep a plant alive ifsomeone paid me money.
I really viewed plants as a lotlike if I had ten dollars to
spend on a bouquet of flowers orten dollars to spend on like a
(06:52):
you know little snake plant ororchid at Trader Joe's, I would
always buy the plant because itwould die slower, like I felt
like I would get more out of myinvestment.
But I never even thought thatthese plants could like thrive
in my home.
And I used to be a musicaltheater performer, which we have
that in common.
I spent my first 10 years my allof my 20s, luckily enough, you
(07:13):
know performing, living my dream, singing, singing and dancing
and musicals, traveling aroundthe world, performing on
Broadway.
And because of that, you know,I was very transient.
I hadn't, I had apartments inNew York City but they never
really felt like home.
I was always picking up to go,move, to go on tour, to go do
you know?
A regional contract in adifferent city for three weeks.
(07:34):
So I was never really focusedon cultivating like a long-term
sense of home because I was justso transient, because of my job
.
Um, things changed when Ifulfilled my dream of being on
Broadway.
I was in Cats, the musical onBroadway, and I moved in with a
was.
Yeah, I don't know what I wasthinking back then, first time
(08:09):
living with my boyfriend in sucha tiny space, but it had
beautiful southern exposure,like it was.
There was so much natural lightand a tiny little Juliet
balcony garden.
So it was nine square feet.
Like you couldn't sit Sorry,not garden a Juliet balcony you
couldn't sit on it, you couldn'teven really stand on it.
It's like a teensy, tinybalcony that had a door.
(08:30):
And you know, I was in this likefirst time nesting experience.
We were living in most of myboyfriend's, or my husband I
guess we'll call him now hisfurniture and so I thought, ok,
how can I breathe some life intothis place?
How can I nest?
I think plants would do thetrick.
Even though I have this likehorrific, you know graveyard of
dead plants from my past.
(08:51):
Let's try plants one more time.
The trail dead bot, thegraveyard, yes, but this time
the difference was I actuallytried to empower myself with
education, so I knew that Icouldn't do it on my own.
I knew I didn't have theintuition to be able to care for
them successfully.
So Google was my best friendand I Googled my way to kind of
(09:13):
figuring out the basics of plantcare.
There were also some greatplant shops in New York City.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
Sorry, I'm cutting an apple.
I just pardon me for the.
Oh yeah, please continue.
Yeah, I'm just gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna have my snack, have
your snack while I tell thestory.
Speaker 3 (09:29):
So, yeah, so I made friends with our local plant
shop owners and asked them foradvice, and I connected with a
lot of people on Instagram.
There were all of these likeplant fluencers, plant
influencers, but people onInstagram that all liked plants
and they were kind enough toanswer my DMs.
And you know about questionsthat I had Plantpreneurs yes,
(09:51):
plantpreneurs, exactly.
So.
You know, I like to say that Icame for plants for the
aesthetic and I stayed for thewellness because I really did.
I came for them because I feellike when I looked at Interior
Design Magazine, there wereplants everywhere and what I
didn't realize was plants.
You know, I'm a wellness junkie.
I've read every self-help book.
(10:13):
I've been in therapy my wholelife.
You know, I go on the wellnessretreats, I do the yoga, I do
the juice cleanse, I do all thatkind of stuff, and so at that
point I had spent thousands ofdollars on wellness and I was
shocked that these affordable,tiny little pots of plants were
one of the best wellness toolsthat I had ever encountered.
Once I started caring forplants and seeing them grow,
(10:33):
seeing life unfold before myeyes, this like dormant corner
of my heart opened up and Istarted experiencing such joy
and connection to somethinglarger than me in a way that I
had never experienced it before,and I wanted to talk to all my
friends about it and no onewanted to listen to me.
None of my performer friendswanted to hear about my tomato
(10:55):
plant.
So I took to the internet and Ifound friends online and at
that point there were nopodcasts about houseplant care.
I was an avid podcast listenerand I was searching for episodes
on houseplants and I couldn'tfind any.
And my contract to Katz wasending and I thought you know
what?
I'm sure I'm going to bookanother Broadway show
(11:16):
immediately, but until then, whydon't I just like figure out
how to make a podcast?
It'll be my love letter toplants.
It'll be kind of an activeservice for other millennials
like me living in urbanenvironments disconnected to
nature.
And I just YouTubed my way intolaunching a podcast.
I used GarageBand, I borrowed afriend's microphone for my
(11:37):
first 20 episodes.
I launched the podcast and thenkind of thought after 10
episodes I'd be done, I'd bookanother show, I'd move on with
my life.
And I did not book another showsoon after because, you know,
the theater industry has its upsand downs and I ended up
connecting with this incrediblecommunity of plant people and
(11:57):
the downloads kept doubling and,you know, the energy in my life
was just naturally flowingtowards plants and the podcast
and I feel like I had a lot ofdivine intervention of doors
opening and doors closing, youknow, closing on my performing
career and opening in this, inthis podcast career, to kind of
allow for this to unfold andbloom, and I haven't looked back
(12:20):
.
So, like you said, you know Ithink we're seven years in and I
get to be a full time plantypodcaster.
It's like who?
Who thought, yeah, thoughtthat's a real job, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
That's a, that's a.
Your journey is, is is one ofmany I mean many podcasters who
discover that they just want tosort of video journal, something
that they're fascinated with.
They're fascinated with and theum, pardon me, the gift of the
internet, uh has afforded us theopportunity to find our people,
(12:54):
you know, and, and when you dothat, like to be supported and
get that kind of spread, thatjoy, spread that impact, spread
that love.
Um, it's such a cool journey tosee it happening.
Uh, as I mentioned, I think,before, youhaedra and I have a
very unique experience and veryunique background.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
Yes, tell me more about this, because you
mentioned with your mom.
I want to know more.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
Phaedra, will you please tell the story a little
bit about our relationship bothwith our mom and plants, and
let's get the audience a littlebit.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
So Michael's mother and my dad married gosh, almost
what 25, 30 years ago.
It's been well, 25 plus.
It's been a long time, um, youknow.
So we're, we're technicallystepbrother and stepsister, but
we've we've been in each other'slives so long.
We don't see a difference.
So he's my brother, I'm hissister, um, and then people see
(13:48):
us together and they're likewhat, that doesn't make sense,
um and uh, and so, um, hismother was very much a second
mother to me.
I was truly blessed, um, and thestepmother that that I received
in life, and she was a motherto me, um, in all the ways that
my mother couldn't be and wasn'tequipped to be.
(14:11):
And so I called her mom.
And you know, mom was aprolific gardener.
She was much more with outsidegardening than she was with
houseplants indoors.
She had a couple and she alwayshad the best garden on the
block.
It was always a haven.
There was always some sort ofwater feature, there was herbs,
(14:34):
there was flowers, there wasroses, and you know, she would
spend a lot of time outsidebecause for her, that was her,
that was her prayer time, thatwas when she communicated with
god, was when her hands were inthe dirt.
Um, so it was, uh, veryimportant for her.
Um, just, it was beyond a hobby, you know, spiritual um, and so
(15:00):
, yeah, it was very much aspiritual practice for her and,
uh, you know, michael and I bothspent time with her in the
garden and you know we, we tooka lot of inspiration from that.
What are your?
Speaker 1 (15:13):
plant selections look like individually now Well, I
guess what's funny is like whenwe when we had to move our
parents up to the we I don'twant to call it a retirement
home.
This is our family home.
That's been in our family forlike they were tired as two.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
Yes, and so we were moving them from Texas up there,
and I moved a 20-foot truckwith about 100 plants Up there
for her, and, even though shepassed away, we inherited a few
of these plants.
My sister, our other sister,michelle, inherited some of
these plants.
Daddy Leon got the bulk of whatwas left over and I don't think
(15:50):
very many of them are leftbecause he didn't have the green
thumb that she did.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
He's not a plant man.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
But one of the things that Phaedra and I have done
and kept up to this date whichis both our love of the plants
and our mothers is taking theirashes and putting them in our
plants.
So, like I, I I put them inthere so that when I talk to my
plants, the irony of this waswhen I started talking to them
because her ashes were there.
It's like I'm talking to mymother, and one of the things
(16:17):
that that she said to bothPhaedra and I right before she
passed away, it had to have beenthat week that we had moved her
up there, cause she used toalways say, she used to gather
us together and always say mybabies.
But she said I, I am thegardener and you are my flowers,
I will always be watching overyou.
So if I ever pass from thisplanet or this earth, know that
(16:38):
I will always be in the sun andin the sky shining down on my
little garden and and andwatching over my babies.
And it makes me cry, but it'slike we always knew she'd be
there for us, taking care of us,and this is sort of our little
journey.
You know where we get to dothis with our plants and they
get to bring us joy.
So this connection that I havewith you over what the joy that
(17:00):
plants and the caring of plantsand even the loss of plants can
teach you about life andself-care and self-love, it's
super important and it's super.
Speaker 3 (17:11):
It's really deep.
It's really deep, I mean, your.
Your story is so beautiful andI've heard so many different
versions of it throughinteracting with so many
different listeners and otherplant people like plants and
your relationship with nature isso emotional, many times
because of this ancestry, youknow, ancestry that you feel.
(17:32):
Or you know I can't tell youhow many people I've interviewed
where they say I grew up withplants, I took them for granted,
my mom had all these plants.
I went to college I didn't haveplants, and that's when I
realized how important they were, you know.
Or people who have difficultrelationships with their mom,
where, where it used to bedifficult to connect, um, for me
I've, I experienced thisancestral reclamation of this
(18:02):
lineage of italian gardeners andfarmers in my family that I
feel like as I come into my yeah, like as I come into my um
ability to garden and and havemy you know, green, my green
thumb, I feel like I'mconnecting with the lineage of
ancestors.
Or people feel very negatively,like there's either a very
(18:24):
positive association or there'sa very negative association,
like, oh, I kill plants, I can'tkeep them alive.
Or, you know, oh, my mom alwaysused to make me cut the lawn
and it used to make me so mad,you know.
So I do think it's veryinteresting.
I don't, you know, when youlook at other hobbies, I don't
feel like knitting is asemotional as plants can be, like
(18:45):
, you know, the emotional and,you know, don't come at you know
, the knitters, don't come at me.
But you know, I just think thatit is a very special, deep
hobby that requires commitment.
And I think when you,especially as an adult now and
I'm sure you guys haveexperienced this to an extent,
(19:07):
we're experiencing it with eachother Once you see another plant
person, like, once you meetanother plant person, it really
doesn't matter where they comefrom, who they are, what their
job is, whatever, like, if youmeet another plant person at a
party, you're in the corner for30 minutes talking about your
roses, trading, cuttings.
It is such an equalizer, it'ssuch a mode of connection that
(19:30):
is so beautiful, that alsoinstant, yes, and so instant.
It's like the crazy.
You like see the crazy in eachother's eyes about your plants,
you know, and there's just thisinstant connection.
And I think that's so special,especially, you know, for adults
, because it's hard to makefriends as adults, but I always
say, like it's not as hard tomake plant friends, you know.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
Yes, well, and your journey?
Well, both your lineage andyour journey.
You know Italy.
Ladies and gentlemen.
If you haven't been to Italy,you got to go first.
I mean, come on, just you gotto get there.
Phaedra and I had the amazingopportunity this past summer to
go to my friend's wedding inSorrento.
We stayed in Sorrento, italy,and I'm telling you, italy's
(20:14):
floral game is en poix.
I mean, it's not a joke.
These people have been doingthis for hundreds and hundreds
and hundreds of years.
They have created environmentsand circular economies that are
reliant on the plants, thefarming, the product and produce
(20:34):
that is created from it.
And then it goes back into itand it's so seamless and it's so
beautiful.
And in June, late May, june,during the budding and floral
season, what is southern Italy?
You gotta go.
It's incredible.
The citrus.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
Yeah, the citrus, I mean just incredible.
Speaker 3 (20:52):
So it's so funny, you mentioned it, I'm the trees
growing down the side of theroad.
I am uniquely obsessed withcitrus and Italian citrus.
One of my favorite books iscalled the Land when Lemons Grow
and it's all about the historyof citrus in Italy and how it's
actually.
Wars were created like themafia.
(21:12):
The creation of the mafia was,in part, created to to um,
protect the southern italiancitrus farmers.
Like it's fascinating.
Um and uh does not.
Yeah, and I have a wholeepisode on my podcast.
If anybody wants to go down thenerd, like you know, if you
want a whole hour on thisspecific topic, um, I have an.
(21:33):
Recently I released an episodeon my podcast interviewing the
author of that book on thehistory of Italian gardening and
Italian citrus.
It's really fascinating.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
Is it a she or a he that wrote it?
Does she talk about how lemonsare not grown from lemon trees?
Speaker 3 (21:51):
Yes, well, yeah, how they're stocked.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
Yeah, yeah, we went on a farm tour and it's
fascinating, you know, and theytalked about you know how,
because it's all grafted onto adifferent type of tree that
grows faster.
Speaker 3 (22:04):
So they can yield and produce fruit.
Yeah, the book dives deep intothat.
If you, you guys shoulddefinitely read the book.
It's called the Land whenLemons Grow by Helena Atlee.
Speaker 1 (22:16):
Yes, and the Land when Lemons Grow.
Ladies and gentlemen, if youever get a chance to tour and
see one of these farms, thescaffolding, the gardening, the
landscape and the hills and theterrain, and all of this builds
this really unique world, thisunderbelly world where people
(22:36):
climb these little ladders andthey climb across scaffolds and
they graft these plants ontolittle orange trees and tree
stubs, Like it is a living,breathing, unique world.
It's like going through theWitch and the Wardrobe.
You know what I mean.
Like you open the door and youcome out the other side Getting
its.
Narnia yeah, it's very Narnia.
It's such a different world ofplant, if you really like plants
(23:00):
Such a different world and Icould totally see why the mafia
got started there, Because it'sso.
I can see how it's embedded intheir culture.
But it's not just theirlivelihood, it feels like it is
very rooted in who they areculturally speaking, yes recipe,
(23:21):
so I could see why, defendingit.
Yeah, it's, it's fascinating.
Well, I loved it when we wereat the farm and, uh, the, the
young gentleman that was there,he and his brothers, they'd been
farming that farm for 200 yearsbut they just acquired it over
the last 90 years, and we wereall sitting there, you know,
after our little tour andeverything, and he had told us
all of the cute little stuffabout the pigs eat this, and
then the poop this, and then itgoes back in and they bury it
(23:43):
here and you grow more of thisand it comes back out, and then
mama, over here, she makes thefood and this, this is a farmer
to table, right, literally,literally.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
Yeah, yeah, literally , and we were like it was, we
were so tired.
Yeah, it was amazing.
And there's something about youknow Sorrento lemons and citrus
from that area that is, that'sLimoncello land, baby, oh yeah,
it is beyond.
Yeah, it is beyond.
Speaker 1 (24:14):
I mean, you think you like lemons from here, like no,
it's a next level experiencefor sure, next level Pardon me,
I might eat another snack, soAll right, so let's talk.
This show is about the fearlessroad and it is about, sort of
like, how we deal with fear inyour unique experience as a
plantpreneur, podcaster, femaleentrepreneur making that
(24:39):
transition from your previouscareer which, by the way, for
those of us who are performersthe moment when you mentally
have to decide you're movingaway from what has consumed your
life, your body, your nurturing, your nurturing your nutrition,
your diets, your habits foryears and it's time to move on
(25:01):
right.
Talk to me a little bit aboutthat fear in that moment and how
that you addressed it, becauseyou talk a little bit about this
in the book how you addressedthis fear and what.
How this beautiful world ofplants provided you with a sort
of a different perspective andavenue to take this transition.
Speaker 4 (25:24):
And this concludes part one of the interview with
Maria Faella.
When we come back with part two, we'll find out what it was
like to leave Broadway andliterally move into the woods.
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