August 15, 2024 • 24 mins
Janey’s friend Maria Failla from Growing Joy with Maria is joining her on the podcast today! Join them to talk about Maria’s fascinating journey from Broadway actress and plant killer to full-time happy plant lady!
They will also discuss easy, practical tips from picking the right plant for your lifestyle, understanding your indoor light and much more! Maria is a wealth of information for all of you beginner “plant parents!” She is here to help you to care for houseplants successfully and still get the benefits of gardening, but inside. If you’re looking to start your houseplant journey this is a must listen.
Maria is an author, podcast host, educator and Plant Killer Turned Happy Plant lady! If you like what you heard, please check her out:
Listen to her podcast. On apple. On Spotify.
Check out Maria’s Website and take the plant parent personality quiz!
Maria on YouTube
Maria on Instagram
Maria on Facebook
Order her book
Love what you’re hearing?
Make sure to check out more from Janey:
Store
Facebook
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Dig, Plant, Water, Repeat is produced in association with Caloroga Shark Media. Hear other shows from Caloroga Shark along with subscription info and Merch with free shipping here!
They will also discuss easy, practical tips from picking the right plant for your lifestyle, understanding your indoor light and much more! Maria is a wealth of information for all of you beginner “plant parents!” She is here to help you to care for houseplants successfully and still get the benefits of gardening, but inside. If you’re looking to start your houseplant journey this is a must listen.
Maria is an author, podcast host, educator and Plant Killer Turned Happy Plant lady! If you like what you heard, please check her out:
Listen to her podcast. On apple. On Spotify.
Check out Maria’s Website and take the plant parent personality quiz!
Maria on YouTube
Maria on Instagram
Maria on Facebook
Order her book
Love what you’re hearing?
Make sure to check out more from Janey:
Store
YouTube
Dig, Plant, Water, Repeat is produced in association with Caloroga Shark Media. Hear other shows from Caloroga Shark along with subscription info and Merch with free shipping here!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Support for this podcast comes from Proven Winners, the plant
brand that gardeners of all experienced levels trust the most,
and the brand that I have personally trusted in my
own gardening journey since twenty twenty. Proven Winners selections, including annuals, perennials, shrubs, trees, bulbs,
and even houseplants are simply amazing and all are trialed, tested,
(00:22):
and specifically chosen for one purpose and one purpose only
to ensure gardener success. Visit Provenwinners dot com and find
your next favorite plant today.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Callarogashawk Media.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
Hi everyone, Jane here, Welcome back to my garden and
welcome to the Dig Plant, Water Repeat Podcast. I am
so excited to have you on today. Maria, what an honor.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
I'm so excited to be here. New friend, the indoor,
the outdoor to my indoor. I love it, yes, exactly.
So everyone, let me introduce you. I'm sure you already
know Maria from Growing Joy with Maria she is, I
mean talk about slash.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
You are author, slash podcast host, slash speaker, slash educator,
slash plant killer turned happy plant.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
Lady, which I absolutely love. Welcome, Thank you. Yeah, A
lot of hats a lot of different hats.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
So Maria and I met earlier this year. We met
at the Northwest Flower and Garden Festival. Well, I mean
I stucked you online, Maria. I knew we were already
like bye. Yes, So Maria is the house plant lady. Like,
if you need to know anything about house plants, she
has got it. Her podcast, Growing Joy with Maria Growing
(01:54):
Joy podcast is fabulous. It's fabulous. I will listen to it.
I know this is awkward, but I'll listen to it
while I'm putting my makeup on and getting dressed on
the wine love that, yeah, because it's just so easy,
you know what I mean. And so I just love
love your podcast, and I just want to thank you
so much for being online.
Speaker 4 (02:12):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
And I'm you know, I'm your newest like obsessed YouTube
subscriber because I've moved. I'm moving to a warm climate.
So I'm like Janie, teach me everything. You know, I'm
an idiot when it comes to outdoor gardening. So yeah, there,
we all have our our fortes right, yes, our blind
spots as you would say, but yes, I'm here to
help everyone care for house plants successfully and grow joy
(02:36):
in their lives by doing so.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
Yay, So Maria, tell my audience a little bit about
your background, because it is so freaking interesting. Please include
your broad off Broadways.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
For sure, sure, sure, sure, And I'll make it as
short as possible, because it's kind of an insanely long,
windy journey that got me here to the professional plant
lady that I am today. But yeah, I used to
be an big plant killer. I was a professional Broadway actress.
I would travel the country with Broadway shows I've performed
on Broadway before. I would travel and i'd go, like
(03:08):
live in DC for three months while I was doing
a show at the Shakespeare Theater there. So plants were
never on my area.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
You know.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
I lived in a three bedroom apartment on one hundred
and eighty first Street in New York City, and I
lived in the renovated living room for my first six years,
you know, that classic New York City actress vibe, and
so house plants, gardening that was not on my calendar.
I mean, I was trying to keep myself alive, let
alone plants. So things changed for me when I moved
(03:38):
in with my boyfriend he's my husband now, and I
wanted to nest and when I was looking at all
of the different magazines and pinterests, the plants were in
every esthetic photo that I pinned or saved, and so
I thought, okay. I was in Broadway at the time,
so I had some expendable income, and I was like,
let me give plants one more try. I've got this
epic history of killing every plant I bring home. I
(04:00):
did everything wrong with my houseplants, but let me like
google my way out of this.
Speaker 4 (04:04):
Plant killer.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
Dum as a big podcast listener at that time, and
there were no podcasts about houseplants. Similar to like how
you had no content about hot climate gardening, I had
no content about houseplant care. This was in twenty seventeen,
and I started bringing plants home while I was in
Cats and actually I had a little herb garden and
every Sunday I would bring like a bundle of herbs
(04:26):
to Cats and I would trade different cast members who
would get to go home with the herbs that day.
So plants ended up being so much more than the
aesthetic that I thought they would be. They ended up
being the best wellness tools in my life. I've struggled
with depression and anxiety my entire adult life, and I
found my life lessons I needed to know were being
reflected by the plants that were on my windowsill or
(04:47):
you know, in my house, and they just it felt
like a part of my heart was dormant for a
really long time, and when I started caring for plants,
that part of my heart like woke up. It had
this spring awakening of sorts. And yeah, so my contract
at Cats ended. I was unemployed because as an actress,
you're you know, on Broadway and then literally collecting unemployment.
Speaker 4 (05:10):
The next month.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
It's a crazy lifestyle. And I thought, you know what,
let me just figure out how to make a podcast.
Literally watched YouTube videos. Was while I was babysitting, like
while the kid went to bed. I borrowed a friend's microphone,
and I thought, I'll do ten episodes of a podcast
just like basics how to care for houseplants, because I
learned how to care for plants obviously as I went
(05:31):
through this awakening. And then I was like, and then
I'm going to book another Broadway show and I'm going
to be too busy to do this, Like this is
just going to be a ten episode you know, creative
artistic project and long story short, I didn't book another
Broadway show as quickly as I thought. The downloads kept
doubling for the podcast, and I connected with this incredible
online community of houseplant lovers and I haven't looked back.
(05:55):
So in the pandemic, I was still a working performer
for a long time. So like in twenty nineteen, I
went on tour with Cats, and I took my podcast
down the road with me, and I was able to
do live tapings and all the different cities the show
was in, which was incredible. But in the pandemic, I
lost my job as a performer and I got a
book deal out of nowhere about my podcast. So I
was like, okay, Universe, the energy is showing me where
(06:19):
to go. And you know, now I am a full time,
full time plant lady with the Growing Joy with Plants
podcast and the YouTube channel I'm following in your footsteps
on YouTube and you know socials and the book Growing Joy.
So I can't believe this is my life. I would
have never imagined this was my life, even in twenty nineteen.
So it's been a crazy journey, but it's been a
(06:40):
lot of fun.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
Yeah, I mean, it's just so interesting to hear you
tell this story and just like to hear it like
cat like cats.
Speaker 3 (06:50):
I mean, it's just I was in a unitard for
two years.
Speaker 4 (06:52):
I was wearing that spandex.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
Oh my god, but how wonderful of it. You had
plants that you had the healing nature of plants before
everything went to you know what with the pandemic, and
I know it hit Broadway really really hard, and so
you had some you had something there to get you through,
which I just think is is just huge. It's thank goodness,
thank goodness. So I started my gardening career. I tell people,
(07:19):
I started my garden career with house plants. That's how
I got started.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
They're a great gateway, gateway gateway.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
They are a gateway plant. And it's because I was
I was renting, and I didn't have a garden that
I felt was worth my time. And so yeah, it
was house plants one hundred percent. I do not I
am not an expert in houseplants at all, but I
still love them so much. Like I'm looking at Maria
right now and behind her as all these beautiful house plants,
and I'm jealous.
Speaker 4 (07:46):
Most of them are proven Winter's leaf. Joy.
Speaker 3 (07:49):
I'm the indoor proven winner's girl. You're the outdoor proven
winters girl.
Speaker 4 (07:52):
One hundred percent. We got team up absolutely.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
So I wanted to have Maria on here to kind
of to kind of help all of us out with
our house plant journey. You know, I still think that
there is so much wonderful things about houseplants, especially for
those of us who have seasons winters. Yeah, how great
to still get the benefits of gardening and nature inside.
So can you help us, Maria, can you help us,
(08:20):
help help someone that's new with houseplants. What tips would
you give somebody that wants to start their house plant journey?
Speaker 4 (08:27):
It would be my honor.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
And also I'm always tickled and curious about gardeners who
are into house plants. Like I've had multiple conversations with
different gardeners about, you know, the similarities and the differences
between houseplant people and gardeners. And you know, I think
even if you are primarily ninety percent of your energy
is focused on your garden, I think there's a world
in which you can totally have houseplants, because if you do.
(08:51):
Live right now, I'm in Zone six B. You know,
we have winter for like eight months. It's nice to
have house plants when you're in the winter, right it's
I used to have a houseplant in your bedroom so
you can look at nature instead of your phone, you know,
when you wake up in the morning. Like, you don't
have to be an expert to have houseplants thrive. It's
just about picking the right plants for your lifestyle. So
(09:11):
I think my first tip for beginner plant parents, and
the issue that I see so many people making, is
that you pick the wrong plant for your lifestyle, you
bring it home, you kill it because the plant was
never set up to thrive under your care. You label
yourself a plant killer, and then you never try houseplants
again because you're like, oh, well, I can't keep a
plant alive. But someone who travels a lot for work,
(09:34):
or is a mother to a lot of young kids
and is chasing a bunch of kids around doesn't necessarily
have time to be like watering and missing their plants
every day. If that person brings a fern home, fern
is something that needs a lot of water, a lot
of care, eyeballs on it at all times to make
sure that nothing is going to go awry. That person
is going to kill that fern real quick and feel
(09:55):
so bad about themselves. But if that person brings home
a snake plant or a philodendron or a zezy plant,
something that can handle a little bit of something that's
drought tolerant, that can handle a little bit of neglect,
that plant could do.
Speaker 4 (10:09):
Great in your home.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
Right.
Speaker 3 (10:11):
So it's all about picking the right plants for your lifestyle.
And if this is something that you struggle with, I
do have a plant parent personality test on my website.
Speaker 4 (10:21):
I love that. I was just going to say, how
do you know, YEA, which one's going to be good?
Speaker 3 (10:26):
At this point, I've spoken to like thousands of my listeners,
and I have seen these five different archetypes of different
types of houseplant parents. There's the mindful plant parent, which
is someone who interacts with their plants on a daily
basis and wants to be wants to be using plants
as part of their mental health journey or their morning routine.
They're going to love ferns, Kalathia, alocacia, plants that love
(10:50):
to be watered, plants that love to sit in that
moist soil. You know, the opposite of that is going
to be the low maintenance plant parent, that mom that
young you know, that young parent, or the person that
travels a lot for work, or the person that like
wants plants in their home but doesn't want to make
it their whole personality. That's going to be great for philodendrons,
for snake plants, for ficus. Ficus is a great plant
(11:12):
for them. Then there's the design based plant parents. So
someone who's really coming to this for the esthetic, not
necessarily the wellness or anything. They're like, I just want
my living room to look good. Please don't make this
more than it needs to be. But they really want
plants that have really gorgeous leaf variegation or really cool
leaf structure. You know, that's where Ficus or monsterra is
going to be great for. So, you know, a big
(11:35):
question that I get often asked is what's the best
starter plant? And my answer is there isn't a right
starter plant for everyone. There's the right starter plant for
these different lifestyles. So yeah, so you can take my
plant parent Personality test at plant parentpersonality dot com or
on my website. But that's a that's a big thing.
Another thing I see people, and this is something interesting
(11:55):
that we just talked about on my podcast, is this
misunderstanding of light. So yes, you know, the light that
we get indoors is so much lower than the light
that you get outside. Even the shade outside is still
going to be more light volume on a twenty four
hour cycle than the brightest light indoors. Because if you
think about it, we're only getting light in our homes
(12:17):
coming through this window. It's just like a column of light.
You know, that's kind of spreading. And if you think
about DLI daily light integral, that's nerdy. But the volume
of light indoors is significantly less in the volume of
light outdoors. And we don't perceive light the same way
our plants do. So we might look at a room
and think, oh, yeah, it's a bright light room, but
maybe it has lights, maybe it has you know, some
(12:41):
bright indirect light, but our plants are going to perceive
most of that room to be low light. So what
I see a lot of people make mistakes, especially when
they're getting started, is misunderstanding and overestimating how much light
they have. The only bright light areas of your home
are going to be in your windowsills like close up
again your windows or undergrow lights. So I have one
(13:03):
hundred houseplants I have like ten, I have five grow
lights in my home. I have three grow lights in
a bookshelf that I have a lot of my plants on.
I have grow lights in a closet that I have
a lot of my plants in. You know, I get
creative because if you want a lot of highlight plants,
you're going to need to probably supplement a lot of
your light. So understanding the light in your home is
(13:25):
very important. I just worked on a video and podcast
with proven winner's leaf Joy breaking this down how to
measure your indoor light with your eyes, not with anything fancy,
so that you can make these good choices because you're
setting yourself up for failure if you don't understand.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
Yeah. So so on that note saying measure it with
your eyes, I always, well, you know, I will ask
houseplant people and I'll say, you know, how do I
tell if this room has highlight or low light or whatever?
And a lot of times I'll get the answer of
go get a light meter, Go get a light meter.
Speaker 4 (13:59):
And it's like, but who's doing that? Who's kind of
light meter? Come on now, want a light meter?
Speaker 2 (14:04):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (14:04):
Good, No, you don't need a light meter.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
Yeah, so give us a little sneak peak on the
I mean, I'll send everybody to that podcast, of course,
but give us a little sneak peak on like, like,
answer my question, how do I do it with the
light media?
Speaker 3 (14:17):
You know, great, and listen, I love I have a
three hundred dollars light meter that I play with all
the time. I'm not bashing light meters. But you don't
need it, right, And this is the thing. You don't
need to be an expert for houseplans to thrive. And
I want people to just be successful. You don't with
no money, right, Like, let's make this easy. So you
have to understand the exposure of your windows. So what
direction do your windows face? And that's just taking the
(14:39):
compass app on your phone out and walking up to
your window. If it's a southern exposure, it's going to
have the largest amount of light. If it's a northern exposure,
it's going to have the least amount of light. And
if you think about the sun rises in the east
and sets in the west, so western light is going
to be stronger than eastern light. Same for gardening right
outside exactly. Just like it's so funny how that works.
(15:01):
So you want to figure out your window exposure, and
then you'll get a general rule of thumb.
Speaker 4 (15:05):
But then you have to look.
Speaker 3 (15:06):
Out your window and you have to see are there
any obstructions. So you might have a big southern facing window,
but there might be a building in front of it
that's actually blocking the sun. So that southern facing window
that without that building would be a high light scenario
is now going to be a northern facing window low
light scenario. Interesting, so there's nuance here. And then what
(15:27):
you can also do is you can do something called
the hand test. So you can go up to wherever
your plant is and put your hand where the leaves are.
Speaker 4 (15:35):
If there's a shadow.
Speaker 3 (15:36):
Cast under your hand, that's kind of a general rule
of thumb to understand, like, if there's a shadow, that's
significantly bright light to cast that shadow right, But if
there's no if there's no shadow, it's probably lower light.
Another general rule of thumb. If you have that southern
facing window in the windowsill, it's going to be bright light.
(15:57):
Within six inches of the windowsill, it's going to be
bright light. And then after six inches away from that windowsill,
you're immediately into medium light territory. So the volume of
light like halves every foot from a window.
Speaker 4 (16:10):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (16:12):
So one issue that when I was a plant killer,
an issue that I had was I had southern facing windows,
but I only had windows on one side of my apartment.
So I had jade plants, which is a high light
plant on my kitchen counter, which was like fifteen feet
from my window. And I was like, well, I have
southern facing windows, it's highlight.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
No.
Speaker 4 (16:33):
So this is where nuance like comes in.
Speaker 3 (16:35):
And it's like the thing with I mean, it's very
similar to gardens, but everybody's indoor environment, particularly when it
comes to light, is very different. So if you and
I went shopping and we bought the same snake plant,
four inch snake plant, you know, and we went home
and you put it in your windowsill and I put
it in my windowsill, like that snake plant is going
(16:56):
to have a very different lighting experience. So that's where
once again, and it's like hard to to give general
but these are these are some good general rule of thumbs.
But also I do have on my website and understanding
natural Light worksheet you have to download. You have to
download a free app that will help you measure light.
But basically over three days I'll take you through measuring
(17:18):
light throughout your house so that you can if you
want a little bit more concrete evidence and understanding.
Speaker 4 (17:24):
But you don't have to buy.
Speaker 3 (17:25):
A light meter to free download. So yeah, so that's
that's some general rule of thumb. That's some general general
guidelines for light. But I can get really nerdy about it.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
Yeah, I'm sure we all of us plant nerds can
get super nerdy about it. So picking the right plant
for your personality is key, which I think is just
I've never heard that before, Maria, Like that is that
is such good advice that is new to me. And
(17:58):
then uh, and then knowing your light which is which
is definitely tough. Do you have a third tip for
someone who's just beginning.
Speaker 3 (18:05):
Don't water your plants the way I used to when
I was a plant killer. So you know, watering isn't
necessarily intuitive for us with houseplants and different from gardening
where you have the rain outdoors.
Speaker 4 (18:18):
We have to be the rain.
Speaker 3 (18:19):
We have to be Mother Nature right when it comes
to watering our plants. So when I was a plant killer,
like I did the weirdest stuff to my houseplants. I
feel so bad, but I had a sprits bottle that
I would like sprits the leaves thinking that I was
watering it, or I would sprits the soil and I'd
like let the soil just get a little bit damp.
But basically, with houseplants in any any care aspect you
(18:44):
want to try and recreate, you know their tropical environment
to the best of your ability. Indoors, now most of
us indoors don't have tropical climates. But if you think
about how plants get watered outdoors, they get a heavy
rain and then it dries out. So my general recommendations,
and obviously depending on what plant you have, this might
(19:05):
change a little bit, but you should water your plants
thoroughly and not frequently. So if you're a beginner plant parent,
only put your houseplants in pots with holes in the bottom.
You want that drainage hole because you want water to
be able to run out the bottom of the pot
in case you overwater the plant. But when you're watering,
you want to make sure that when you water, water's
coming out the bottom of the pot, so the entire
(19:26):
pot of soil is saturated and those roots get to
grow down to the bottom of the pot. And the
roots get enough water to absorb for the plant to
get what it needs. Then you can let the water
sit in the bottom, you know, in the little tray
at the bottom, for like an hour and if there's
you know, it might the soil might absorb some water
vacapillary action, or you can just dump it at about
(19:47):
an hour after. But I would also say don't water
your plants with ice cubes. I know that's a great practice,
but if we think about tropical environment, plants are never
getting watered with freezing water. And also an ice cube
isn't really enough water for most plants. I know that
there are people that swear by watering their plants with
(20:08):
ice cubes, and to each their own, but I would
say use pots with drainage holes, water frequently, but not thoroughly,
and then understand the plant that you're watering. Right, So,
plants like Alocacia and thuriums, ferns Kaalathia, those plants want
generally evenly moist soil. They don't want the soil to
dry out. So you have to have this mindful eye
(20:31):
making sure that those plants soils, you know, stay moist.
If you have a fycis or a philodendron or a
monstera or a succulent. Those pots can pretty much dry
out before you water them again. So that's also another
watering tip I would say is don't water on a
watering schedule. Don't have like Sunday be your watering day
and then you just water your plants every Sunday no
matter what. You should be kind of interacting with your plants.
(20:53):
You can have Sunday be the day that you check
in with all your plants, but you should never water
moist soil. That's going to put you in a position
to get root rots. So water when the plants need it.
Our plants indoors do go through seasons, just like our
plants outdoors because the volume of light changes if you're
not using grow lights, so you know, you might have
to pull back watering in the winter or increase watering
(21:15):
in the winter if you have, you know, radiators near
your plants that all of a sudden dry all the
soil out. These are all nuances that like we dive
deeper into on my podcast, which you know, a basic
basic plant parent doesn't need to know, but those are
some good some good starter you know watering mistakes that
I've seen. Don't don't make the mistakes I've made.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
Right right as you say this stuff, Maria, I'm like,
oh shoot, I do that.
Speaker 3 (21:38):
Oh shoot, no shade, No shade though, Like literally any
weird thing anyone has ever done to a houseplant, I've
totally done. Like I am a safe space for whatever
embarrassing thing has happened. Like I'm just here to help
you correct the mistakes and you know, get caring for
plants successfully so you can enjoy the the emotional benefits
of caring for them.
Speaker 1 (21:59):
I love that. I do have to say we talked
about this because I was a guest on Maria's podcast,
Thank You. There's so many similarities between indoor house plants,
indoor plants and outdoor plants all that maybe.
Speaker 3 (22:16):
You're still another episode on that. I think that could
be a really fun conversation.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
Wouldn't that be fun? Because the more the more you're talking,
the more I'm like, oh, yeah, oh that makes sense.
And why I haven't really thought of it in terms
of outdoor gardening, I don't know. I don't know why
it just didn't didn't, you know, Like as soon as
I walked in my pat my back door it's like
a whole new world for me, and it's not it's
very very similar, just like you're saying, it's just this
(22:42):
is a tropical plant. This is a non tropical plant,
you know. So it's just so interesting to hear this. Maria,
thank you so much for giving us kind of an
intro on house plants. And I absolutely love how much
information you have to share with everybody. So I'm going
to make sure that I link your website, your your podcast,
your YouTube, all of that fun stuff, and you guys
(23:05):
can do a deep dive into and growing enjoy with Maria,
because I've already done that deep dive and it's just amazing.
Speaker 4 (23:11):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (23:11):
And if you guys are YouTubers, if you already watched Jane,
come over and watch the videos that I've been doing.
I'm newer to YouTube, but a lot of this stuff
takes physical, you know, demonstrations. So we've got how to
RePOP plants and you know, all sorts of really fun
stuff on our YouTube channel too, and of course the podcast.
We've got two hundred and fifty episodes on every aspect
of plant care you could ever imagine. For houseplants. We
(23:33):
have an episode on it.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
That's what we should do, Maria, we should do a
collaboration on YouTube too that it's it's already done. Yeah,
everybody stay tuned for that day too. I hope you
all enjoyed this, and I hope you all have a
chance to get in your garden today. Thank you so
much to my podcast sponsor, Proven Winners. Visit your local
(23:56):
garden center today and look for the white containers featuring
the Proven Winner logo. There's a reason they're the number
one plant brand that gardeners like me trust the most.
Visit Proven Winners dot com for tips, ideas, and so
much more. Dig Plant Water Repeat is produced in association
with Calaroga Shark Media. It was written and hosted by
(24:18):
me Janie Santos, with marketing and production assistance from Courtney Clark.
Please consider subscribing and watch us on YouTube or follow
us on your favorite podcast app of choice to get
alerts on all new episodes. And hey, if you liked
the show, give us a review and hit those five
stars on Apple. Executive producers are Mark Francis, John McDermott,
(24:40):
and Janie
Speaker 2 (24:40):
Santos Calorogashark Media.
Support for this podcast comes from Proven Winners, the plant
brand that gardeners of all experienced levels trust the most,
and the brand that I have personally trusted in my
own gardening journey since twenty twenty. Proven Winners selections, including annuals, perennials, shrubs, trees, bulbs,
and even houseplants are simply amazing and all are trialed, tested,
(00:22):
and specifically chosen for one purpose and one purpose only
to ensure gardener success. Visit Provenwinners dot com and find
your next favorite plant today.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Callarogashawk Media.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
Hi everyone, Jane here, Welcome back to my garden and
welcome to the Dig Plant, Water Repeat Podcast. I am
so excited to have you on today. Maria, what an honor.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
I'm so excited to be here. New friend, the indoor,
the outdoor to my indoor. I love it, yes, exactly.
So everyone, let me introduce you. I'm sure you already
know Maria from Growing Joy with Maria she is, I
mean talk about slash.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
You are author, slash podcast host, slash speaker, slash educator,
slash plant killer turned happy plant.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
Lady, which I absolutely love. Welcome, Thank you. Yeah, A
lot of hats a lot of different hats.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
So Maria and I met earlier this year. We met
at the Northwest Flower and Garden Festival. Well, I mean
I stucked you online, Maria. I knew we were already
like bye. Yes, So Maria is the house plant lady. Like,
if you need to know anything about house plants, she
has got it. Her podcast, Growing Joy with Maria Growing
(01:54):
Joy podcast is fabulous. It's fabulous. I will listen to it.
I know this is awkward, but I'll listen to it
while I'm putting my makeup on and getting dressed on
the wine love that, yeah, because it's just so easy,
you know what I mean. And so I just love
love your podcast, and I just want to thank you
so much for being online.
Speaker 4 (02:12):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
And I'm you know, I'm your newest like obsessed YouTube
subscriber because I've moved. I'm moving to a warm climate.
So I'm like Janie, teach me everything. You know, I'm
an idiot when it comes to outdoor gardening. So yeah, there,
we all have our our fortes right, yes, our blind
spots as you would say, but yes, I'm here to
help everyone care for house plants successfully and grow joy
(02:36):
in their lives by doing so.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
Yay, So Maria, tell my audience a little bit about
your background, because it is so freaking interesting. Please include
your broad off Broadways.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
For sure, sure, sure, sure, And I'll make it as
short as possible, because it's kind of an insanely long,
windy journey that got me here to the professional plant
lady that I am today. But yeah, I used to
be an big plant killer. I was a professional Broadway actress.
I would travel the country with Broadway shows I've performed
on Broadway before. I would travel and i'd go, like
(03:08):
live in DC for three months while I was doing
a show at the Shakespeare Theater there. So plants were
never on my area.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
You know.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
I lived in a three bedroom apartment on one hundred
and eighty first Street in New York City, and I
lived in the renovated living room for my first six years,
you know, that classic New York City actress vibe, and
so house plants, gardening that was not on my calendar.
I mean, I was trying to keep myself alive, let
alone plants. So things changed for me when I moved
(03:38):
in with my boyfriend he's my husband now, and I
wanted to nest and when I was looking at all
of the different magazines and pinterests, the plants were in
every esthetic photo that I pinned or saved, and so
I thought, okay. I was in Broadway at the time,
so I had some expendable income, and I was like,
let me give plants one more try. I've got this
epic history of killing every plant I bring home. I
(04:00):
did everything wrong with my houseplants, but let me like
google my way out of this.
Speaker 4 (04:04):
Plant killer.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
Dum as a big podcast listener at that time, and
there were no podcasts about houseplants. Similar to like how
you had no content about hot climate gardening, I had
no content about houseplant care. This was in twenty seventeen,
and I started bringing plants home while I was in
Cats and actually I had a little herb garden and
every Sunday I would bring like a bundle of herbs
(04:26):
to Cats and I would trade different cast members who
would get to go home with the herbs that day.
So plants ended up being so much more than the
aesthetic that I thought they would be. They ended up
being the best wellness tools in my life. I've struggled
with depression and anxiety my entire adult life, and I
found my life lessons I needed to know were being
reflected by the plants that were on my windowsill or
(04:47):
you know, in my house, and they just it felt
like a part of my heart was dormant for a
really long time, and when I started caring for plants,
that part of my heart like woke up. It had
this spring awakening of sorts. And yeah, so my contract
at Cats ended. I was unemployed because as an actress,
you're you know, on Broadway and then literally collecting unemployment.
Speaker 4 (05:10):
The next month.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
It's a crazy lifestyle. And I thought, you know what,
let me just figure out how to make a podcast.
Literally watched YouTube videos. Was while I was babysitting, like
while the kid went to bed. I borrowed a friend's microphone,
and I thought, I'll do ten episodes of a podcast
just like basics how to care for houseplants, because I
learned how to care for plants obviously as I went
(05:31):
through this awakening. And then I was like, and then
I'm going to book another Broadway show and I'm going
to be too busy to do this, Like this is
just going to be a ten episode you know, creative
artistic project and long story short, I didn't book another
Broadway show as quickly as I thought. The downloads kept
doubling for the podcast, and I connected with this incredible
online community of houseplant lovers and I haven't looked back.
(05:55):
So in the pandemic, I was still a working performer
for a long time. So like in twenty nineteen, I
went on tour with Cats, and I took my podcast
down the road with me, and I was able to
do live tapings and all the different cities the show
was in, which was incredible. But in the pandemic, I
lost my job as a performer and I got a
book deal out of nowhere about my podcast. So I
was like, okay, Universe, the energy is showing me where
(06:19):
to go. And you know, now I am a full time,
full time plant lady with the Growing Joy with Plants
podcast and the YouTube channel I'm following in your footsteps
on YouTube and you know socials and the book Growing Joy.
So I can't believe this is my life. I would
have never imagined this was my life, even in twenty nineteen.
So it's been a crazy journey, but it's been a
(06:40):
lot of fun.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
Yeah, I mean, it's just so interesting to hear you
tell this story and just like to hear it like
cat like cats.
Speaker 3 (06:50):
I mean, it's just I was in a unitard for
two years.
Speaker 4 (06:52):
I was wearing that spandex.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
Oh my god, but how wonderful of it. You had
plants that you had the healing nature of plants before
everything went to you know what with the pandemic, and
I know it hit Broadway really really hard, and so
you had some you had something there to get you through,
which I just think is is just huge. It's thank goodness,
thank goodness. So I started my gardening career. I tell people,
(07:19):
I started my garden career with house plants. That's how
I got started.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
They're a great gateway, gateway gateway.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
They are a gateway plant. And it's because I was
I was renting, and I didn't have a garden that
I felt was worth my time. And so yeah, it
was house plants one hundred percent. I do not I
am not an expert in houseplants at all, but I
still love them so much. Like I'm looking at Maria
right now and behind her as all these beautiful house plants,
and I'm jealous.
Speaker 4 (07:46):
Most of them are proven Winter's leaf. Joy.
Speaker 3 (07:49):
I'm the indoor proven winner's girl. You're the outdoor proven
winters girl.
Speaker 4 (07:52):
One hundred percent. We got team up absolutely.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
So I wanted to have Maria on here to kind
of to kind of help all of us out with
our house plant journey. You know, I still think that
there is so much wonderful things about houseplants, especially for
those of us who have seasons winters. Yeah, how great
to still get the benefits of gardening and nature inside.
So can you help us, Maria, can you help us,
(08:20):
help help someone that's new with houseplants. What tips would
you give somebody that wants to start their house plant journey?
Speaker 4 (08:27):
It would be my honor.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
And also I'm always tickled and curious about gardeners who
are into house plants. Like I've had multiple conversations with
different gardeners about, you know, the similarities and the differences
between houseplant people and gardeners. And you know, I think
even if you are primarily ninety percent of your energy
is focused on your garden, I think there's a world
in which you can totally have houseplants, because if you do.
(08:51):
Live right now, I'm in Zone six B. You know,
we have winter for like eight months. It's nice to
have house plants when you're in the winter, right it's
I used to have a houseplant in your bedroom so
you can look at nature instead of your phone, you know,
when you wake up in the morning. Like, you don't
have to be an expert to have houseplants thrive. It's
just about picking the right plants for your lifestyle. So
(09:11):
I think my first tip for beginner plant parents, and
the issue that I see so many people making, is
that you pick the wrong plant for your lifestyle, you
bring it home, you kill it because the plant was
never set up to thrive under your care. You label
yourself a plant killer, and then you never try houseplants
again because you're like, oh, well, I can't keep a
plant alive. But someone who travels a lot for work,
(09:34):
or is a mother to a lot of young kids
and is chasing a bunch of kids around doesn't necessarily
have time to be like watering and missing their plants
every day. If that person brings a fern home, fern
is something that needs a lot of water, a lot
of care, eyeballs on it at all times to make
sure that nothing is going to go awry. That person
is going to kill that fern real quick and feel
(09:55):
so bad about themselves. But if that person brings home
a snake plant or a philodendron or a zezy plant,
something that can handle a little bit of something that's
drought tolerant, that can handle a little bit of neglect,
that plant could do.
Speaker 4 (10:09):
Great in your home.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
Right.
Speaker 3 (10:11):
So it's all about picking the right plants for your lifestyle.
And if this is something that you struggle with, I
do have a plant parent personality test on my website.
Speaker 4 (10:21):
I love that. I was just going to say, how
do you know, YEA, which one's going to be good?
Speaker 3 (10:26):
At this point, I've spoken to like thousands of my listeners,
and I have seen these five different archetypes of different
types of houseplant parents. There's the mindful plant parent, which
is someone who interacts with their plants on a daily
basis and wants to be wants to be using plants
as part of their mental health journey or their morning routine.
They're going to love ferns, Kalathia, alocacia, plants that love
(10:50):
to be watered, plants that love to sit in that
moist soil. You know, the opposite of that is going
to be the low maintenance plant parent, that mom that
young you know, that young parent, or the person that
travels a lot for work, or the person that like
wants plants in their home but doesn't want to make
it their whole personality. That's going to be great for philodendrons,
for snake plants, for ficus. Ficus is a great plant
(11:12):
for them. Then there's the design based plant parents. So
someone who's really coming to this for the esthetic, not
necessarily the wellness or anything. They're like, I just want
my living room to look good. Please don't make this
more than it needs to be. But they really want
plants that have really gorgeous leaf variegation or really cool
leaf structure. You know, that's where Ficus or monsterra is
going to be great for. So, you know, a big
(11:35):
question that I get often asked is what's the best
starter plant? And my answer is there isn't a right
starter plant for everyone. There's the right starter plant for
these different lifestyles. So yeah, so you can take my
plant parent Personality test at plant parentpersonality dot com or
on my website. But that's a that's a big thing.
Another thing I see people, and this is something interesting
(11:55):
that we just talked about on my podcast, is this
misunderstanding of light. So yes, you know, the light that
we get indoors is so much lower than the light
that you get outside. Even the shade outside is still
going to be more light volume on a twenty four
hour cycle than the brightest light indoors. Because if you
think about it, we're only getting light in our homes
(12:17):
coming through this window. It's just like a column of light.
You know, that's kind of spreading. And if you think
about DLI daily light integral, that's nerdy. But the volume
of light indoors is significantly less in the volume of
light outdoors. And we don't perceive light the same way
our plants do. So we might look at a room
and think, oh, yeah, it's a bright light room, but
maybe it has lights, maybe it has you know, some
(12:41):
bright indirect light, but our plants are going to perceive
most of that room to be low light. So what
I see a lot of people make mistakes, especially when
they're getting started, is misunderstanding and overestimating how much light
they have. The only bright light areas of your home
are going to be in your windowsills like close up
again your windows or undergrow lights. So I have one
(13:03):
hundred houseplants I have like ten, I have five grow
lights in my home. I have three grow lights in
a bookshelf that I have a lot of my plants on.
I have grow lights in a closet that I have
a lot of my plants in. You know, I get
creative because if you want a lot of highlight plants,
you're going to need to probably supplement a lot of
your light. So understanding the light in your home is
(13:25):
very important. I just worked on a video and podcast
with proven winner's leaf Joy breaking this down how to
measure your indoor light with your eyes, not with anything fancy,
so that you can make these good choices because you're
setting yourself up for failure if you don't understand.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
Yeah. So so on that note saying measure it with
your eyes, I always, well, you know, I will ask
houseplant people and I'll say, you know, how do I
tell if this room has highlight or low light or whatever?
And a lot of times I'll get the answer of
go get a light meter, Go get a light meter.
Speaker 4 (13:59):
And it's like, but who's doing that? Who's kind of
light meter? Come on now, want a light meter?
Speaker 2 (14:04):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (14:04):
Good, No, you don't need a light meter.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
Yeah, so give us a little sneak peak on the
I mean, I'll send everybody to that podcast, of course,
but give us a little sneak peak on like, like,
answer my question, how do I do it with the
light media?
Speaker 3 (14:17):
You know, great, and listen, I love I have a
three hundred dollars light meter that I play with all
the time. I'm not bashing light meters. But you don't
need it, right, And this is the thing. You don't
need to be an expert for houseplans to thrive. And
I want people to just be successful. You don't with
no money, right, Like, let's make this easy. So you
have to understand the exposure of your windows. So what
direction do your windows face? And that's just taking the
(14:39):
compass app on your phone out and walking up to
your window. If it's a southern exposure, it's going to
have the largest amount of light. If it's a northern exposure,
it's going to have the least amount of light. And
if you think about the sun rises in the east
and sets in the west, so western light is going
to be stronger than eastern light. Same for gardening right
outside exactly. Just like it's so funny how that works.
(15:01):
So you want to figure out your window exposure, and
then you'll get a general rule of thumb.
Speaker 4 (15:05):
But then you have to look.
Speaker 3 (15:06):
Out your window and you have to see are there
any obstructions. So you might have a big southern facing window,
but there might be a building in front of it
that's actually blocking the sun. So that southern facing window
that without that building would be a high light scenario
is now going to be a northern facing window low
light scenario. Interesting, so there's nuance here. And then what
(15:27):
you can also do is you can do something called
the hand test. So you can go up to wherever
your plant is and put your hand where the leaves are.
Speaker 4 (15:35):
If there's a shadow.
Speaker 3 (15:36):
Cast under your hand, that's kind of a general rule
of thumb to understand, like, if there's a shadow, that's
significantly bright light to cast that shadow right, But if
there's no if there's no shadow, it's probably lower light.
Another general rule of thumb. If you have that southern
facing window in the windowsill, it's going to be bright light.
(15:57):
Within six inches of the windowsill, it's going to be
bright light. And then after six inches away from that windowsill,
you're immediately into medium light territory. So the volume of
light like halves every foot from a window.
Speaker 4 (16:10):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (16:12):
So one issue that when I was a plant killer,
an issue that I had was I had southern facing windows,
but I only had windows on one side of my apartment.
So I had jade plants, which is a high light
plant on my kitchen counter, which was like fifteen feet
from my window. And I was like, well, I have
southern facing windows, it's highlight.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
No.
Speaker 4 (16:33):
So this is where nuance like comes in.
Speaker 3 (16:35):
And it's like the thing with I mean, it's very
similar to gardens, but everybody's indoor environment, particularly when it
comes to light, is very different. So if you and
I went shopping and we bought the same snake plant,
four inch snake plant, you know, and we went home
and you put it in your windowsill and I put
it in my windowsill, like that snake plant is going
(16:56):
to have a very different lighting experience. So that's where
once again, and it's like hard to to give general
but these are these are some good general rule of thumbs.
But also I do have on my website and understanding
natural Light worksheet you have to download. You have to
download a free app that will help you measure light.
But basically over three days I'll take you through measuring
(17:18):
light throughout your house so that you can if you
want a little bit more concrete evidence and understanding.
Speaker 4 (17:24):
But you don't have to buy.
Speaker 3 (17:25):
A light meter to free download. So yeah, so that's
that's some general rule of thumb. That's some general general
guidelines for light. But I can get really nerdy about it.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
Yeah, I'm sure we all of us plant nerds can
get super nerdy about it. So picking the right plant
for your personality is key, which I think is just
I've never heard that before, Maria, Like that is that
is such good advice that is new to me. And
(17:58):
then uh, and then knowing your light which is which
is definitely tough. Do you have a third tip for
someone who's just beginning.
Speaker 3 (18:05):
Don't water your plants the way I used to when
I was a plant killer. So you know, watering isn't
necessarily intuitive for us with houseplants and different from gardening
where you have the rain outdoors.
Speaker 4 (18:18):
We have to be the rain.
Speaker 3 (18:19):
We have to be Mother Nature right when it comes
to watering our plants. So when I was a plant killer,
like I did the weirdest stuff to my houseplants. I
feel so bad, but I had a sprits bottle that
I would like sprits the leaves thinking that I was
watering it, or I would sprits the soil and I'd
like let the soil just get a little bit damp.
But basically, with houseplants in any any care aspect you
(18:44):
want to try and recreate, you know their tropical environment
to the best of your ability. Indoors, now most of
us indoors don't have tropical climates. But if you think
about how plants get watered outdoors, they get a heavy
rain and then it dries out. So my general recommendations,
and obviously depending on what plant you have, this might
(19:05):
change a little bit, but you should water your plants
thoroughly and not frequently. So if you're a beginner plant parent,
only put your houseplants in pots with holes in the bottom.
You want that drainage hole because you want water to
be able to run out the bottom of the pot
in case you overwater the plant. But when you're watering,
you want to make sure that when you water, water's
coming out the bottom of the pot, so the entire
(19:26):
pot of soil is saturated and those roots get to
grow down to the bottom of the pot. And the
roots get enough water to absorb for the plant to
get what it needs. Then you can let the water
sit in the bottom, you know, in the little tray
at the bottom, for like an hour and if there's
you know, it might the soil might absorb some water
vacapillary action, or you can just dump it at about
(19:47):
an hour after. But I would also say don't water
your plants with ice cubes. I know that's a great practice,
but if we think about tropical environment, plants are never
getting watered with freezing water. And also an ice cube
isn't really enough water for most plants. I know that
there are people that swear by watering their plants with
(20:08):
ice cubes, and to each their own, but I would
say use pots with drainage holes, water frequently, but not thoroughly,
and then understand the plant that you're watering. Right, So,
plants like Alocacia and thuriums, ferns Kaalathia, those plants want
generally evenly moist soil. They don't want the soil to
dry out. So you have to have this mindful eye
(20:31):
making sure that those plants soils, you know, stay moist.
If you have a fycis or a philodendron or a
monstera or a succulent. Those pots can pretty much dry
out before you water them again. So that's also another
watering tip I would say is don't water on a
watering schedule. Don't have like Sunday be your watering day
and then you just water your plants every Sunday no
matter what. You should be kind of interacting with your plants.
(20:53):
You can have Sunday be the day that you check
in with all your plants, but you should never water
moist soil. That's going to put you in a position
to get root rots. So water when the plants need it.
Our plants indoors do go through seasons, just like our
plants outdoors because the volume of light changes if you're
not using grow lights, so you know, you might have
to pull back watering in the winter or increase watering
(21:15):
in the winter if you have, you know, radiators near
your plants that all of a sudden dry all the
soil out. These are all nuances that like we dive
deeper into on my podcast, which you know, a basic
basic plant parent doesn't need to know, but those are
some good some good starter you know watering mistakes that
I've seen. Don't don't make the mistakes I've made.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
Right right as you say this stuff, Maria, I'm like,
oh shoot, I do that.
Speaker 3 (21:38):
Oh shoot, no shade, No shade though, Like literally any
weird thing anyone has ever done to a houseplant, I've
totally done. Like I am a safe space for whatever
embarrassing thing has happened. Like I'm just here to help
you correct the mistakes and you know, get caring for
plants successfully so you can enjoy the the emotional benefits
of caring for them.
Speaker 1 (21:59):
I love that. I do have to say we talked
about this because I was a guest on Maria's podcast,
Thank You. There's so many similarities between indoor house plants,
indoor plants and outdoor plants all that maybe.
Speaker 3 (22:16):
You're still another episode on that. I think that could
be a really fun conversation.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
Wouldn't that be fun? Because the more the more you're talking,
the more I'm like, oh, yeah, oh that makes sense.
And why I haven't really thought of it in terms
of outdoor gardening, I don't know. I don't know why
it just didn't didn't, you know, Like as soon as
I walked in my pat my back door it's like
a whole new world for me, and it's not it's
very very similar, just like you're saying, it's just this
(22:42):
is a tropical plant. This is a non tropical plant,
you know. So it's just so interesting to hear this. Maria,
thank you so much for giving us kind of an
intro on house plants. And I absolutely love how much
information you have to share with everybody. So I'm going
to make sure that I link your website, your your podcast,
your YouTube, all of that fun stuff, and you guys
(23:05):
can do a deep dive into and growing enjoy with Maria,
because I've already done that deep dive and it's just amazing.
Speaker 4 (23:11):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (23:11):
And if you guys are YouTubers, if you already watched Jane,
come over and watch the videos that I've been doing.
I'm newer to YouTube, but a lot of this stuff
takes physical, you know, demonstrations. So we've got how to
RePOP plants and you know, all sorts of really fun
stuff on our YouTube channel too, and of course the podcast.
We've got two hundred and fifty episodes on every aspect
of plant care you could ever imagine. For houseplants. We
(23:33):
have an episode on it.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
That's what we should do, Maria, we should do a
collaboration on YouTube too that it's it's already done. Yeah,
everybody stay tuned for that day too. I hope you
all enjoyed this, and I hope you all have a
chance to get in your garden today. Thank you so
much to my podcast sponsor, Proven Winners. Visit your local
(23:56):
garden center today and look for the white containers featuring
the Proven Winner logo. There's a reason they're the number
one plant brand that gardeners like me trust the most.
Visit Proven Winners dot com for tips, ideas, and so
much more. Dig Plant Water Repeat is produced in association
with Calaroga Shark Media. It was written and hosted by
(24:18):
me Janie Santos, with marketing and production assistance from Courtney Clark.
Please consider subscribing and watch us on YouTube or follow
us on your favorite podcast app of choice to get
alerts on all new episodes. And hey, if you liked
the show, give us a review and hit those five
stars on Apple. Executive producers are Mark Francis, John McDermott,
(24:40):
and Janie
Speaker 2 (24:40):
Santos Calorogashark Media.
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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.
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.