Do you enjoy Plant Ditty Podcast. Do you find yourself listening to us going
on and on about plants after more than one hundred episodes, then consider supporting
us on Patreon, where official patrons get access to our show ad free with
a little bonus after show that we started recently as well, Or you could
just fund us a cup of coffee to keep the plantytalk coming, or tell
a friend or leave a positive review, and as always, thank you for
listening and supporting us in any way that works for you. And we're live.
This is Plant Ditty Podcast. I'm Matthew and I'm Stephen. Happy end
of Pride month. It's become hot and sunny in Seattle after a rather mild
and gray and pretty wet spring, so I've got a Hibiscus Lacroix and iced
coffee to keep me hydrated as we record. How is your Pride weekend?
Though this is plant themed already, I see with your drink selection. Oh
yeah, it was a nice weekend overall. I'm usually a go with the
flow type on Pride weekends, so I go into it content to do an
event or two leave the weekend without feeling hungover or sunburns. Yeah. Yeah,
I achieved that this year while also seeing more people and going out a
bit more than normal. Maybe it's because it's like one of the first since
the pandemic got slightly more under control. Knock on wood. Yeah, but
anyway, I'm now old enough that it's more of a time to check in
with local friends, run into people I haven't seen in a while, that
sort of thing. Grandpa Steven had a really good time. Oh that's good.
I'm glad to hear it. So I don't know if most of our
listeners are going to be familiar with pansy As Ceramics. They're Instagram is private
for a reason, but they're a Toronto based business that makes well, there's
no way around it, just overtly sexual, really sex positive, really queer
ceramics that are like high art twists on antique china or vintage choch keys and
home to core pieces. Yeah. Just go check them. Yeah. In
the spirit of pride, they were kind enough to send us a few of
their pieces. I got a Chuck Taylor looking sneaker shape vase. Matthew got
a planter in the shape of a torso wearing a jockstrap. You sizzling sounds.
Yeah. So I've just been thinking about what I'm going to pot up
in mind since it arrived. I have a few choices that I'm considering,
but I think that's going to be my afternoon project. You'll see what I
end up putting in that planter on Instagram later this week. It is such
a fun and over the top piece of decor that the plant choice has to
be really on, you know. Certainly, I think I'm going to put
something carnivorous in mine, and I'll share that when it's set up too nice.
So, as we head into our summer break, we thought we'd share
our summer plant reading recommendations. So Stephen, what do you have to suggest?
Okay, As I've mentioned on this show before, I'm not the biggest
book reader lately, so I thought I would break this episode concept right away
by picking a podcast I want to catch up on instead. Great, Okay,
Yeah, So I mean, like I still read, but I read
the Internet in quotes a lot more often, as people say, like,
book reading is almost exclusively a travel activity for me now and then I'll typically
pick some kind of biography or like nonfiction, and it's a little bit like
far from planty, I guess. Yeah, Okay. Anyway, around the
same time I found on the Ledged podcast, well before we started Plant Daddy
podcast, I found in Defensive Plants. Oh yeah. I think it was
a carnivorous theme plant episode that got me started, and I've been a fan
since for years now. If you've heard the show before, you know it's
about plants, but from a very different point of view than you know we
take. Yeah. Yeah. The host Matt interviews almost exclusively scientists working on
a specific plant related effort or research topic, and the episodes go deep into
the guests specialties, their stories, their other interests that are related. You
might be like, wait, I thought this was botany, apathetic Stephen talking
here, so like, what's going Oh yeah, for sure. But I
love it because I feel like I get glimpses of the real lives of plant
scientists, which to me feels so far from my home and horticultural focus plant
life, and I get to hear about areas of study that are totally new
to me, like prehistoric plants or efforts to save a particular tree in like
a faraway place or even nearby. I still think about this episode from a
year or to ago about someone trying to save the ozark chinkapin, a tree
that used to grow all over the eastern United States before nearly going extinct from
logging a chestnut blight that nearly killed all of the trees. They are making
progress growing new trees if you're curious, That story alone is fascinating. Nice.
So yeah, like, if you're wondering where to start with this podcast,
I would just pick an episode that sounds interesting to you. Even skip
around the very big catalog. There are a few about carnuvous plants, like
I mentioned where there's one about the astor plant family that I really loved.
But you know, there are options like LG car first, cashews, wasps,
and plants, just about anything that you could think of. And it
is on the denser side, so it may not be one that you can
binge as easily as some other shows, but that's okay, all right.
Yeah, so just pick one. You'll probably hear about some amazing research projects,
some newly discovered information that could be inspiring or interesting, and you know,
it's very possible that you had no idea it was even happening. Yeah.
I get that feeling often when I listen so, yeah, can you
tell I'm excited to start listening again? Okay, I love that. I
also love in defensive plants, but that was absolutely not an answer to my
question. So, Stephen, do you have like a physical, printed paper
book that you think might be a good one for someone to pick up the
summer in case they want some plant education in the form of a published book.
Well, I think they'll hear about that later. How is that for
an interview? Tease? Subtle? Good job? Okay, but are there
any honorable mentions for your you know, let's say broadly classified reading list that
you'd like to throw in. Okay, this is pretty different, but the
podcast a little bit culty if you're into that. I found it after watching
the Nexium documentary on HBO. Okay, and I'll say Reckoning by Magda's Zubanski.
Oh, she played Sharon on the Australian show Kath and Kim. We
just binged all of that a few weeks or months ago. Perfect timing.
Yeah, okay, okay. She wrote an incredible autobiography about her life like
growing up queer in Australia and a family of x spies rebels. It's gotten
amazing reviews. It's like her first book. Yeah, definitely, you know,
check it out. Okay, cool Annie. Who how about you,
Matthew M You know that I've you know, classically been a book reader.
I was a curious child who write Encyclopedia's National Geographic recreationally. I constantly used
the school in public libraries, and I was checking out, like really referenced
book sorts of stuff about specific types of animals or plants or into our garden
technique. Same, yeah, you know, and here we are. Yeah.
You kind of also have this experience that this was in the early days
of the Internet, when web design was awful and it hadn't quite developed into
the comprehensive resource that it is today. But I studied literature at university,
and it's amazing how reading a hefty pile of novels every quarter for a couple
of years really burns you out on reading for pleasure. Yep. Yeah.
So it's been a while since I've been a student, and like Steve and
I still read a lot, but it's mostly digital. And I do feel
like I might be a bit of an expert on Internet research because there are
just not many questions that I might come up with that I can't find any
answer to on a Google search. But as we mentioned when we chatted with
Jane Perrone when discussing Teloso Rousseau in episode ninety five, I have been trying
to build out my own personal plant reference book library more in a less decade
and a half. Obviously, I've gravitated towards online resources because there's quality stuff
there, and you can find in the moment updates about plants discoveries or reclassification
and taxonomy updates. There's care guides popping up about the newest plants that are
entering the market. And there's also always new technological innovations that give different options
for indoor gardenings, you know, stuff like that. But sometimes I just
don't need to wade through that cutting edge chatter. You kind of know how
that feels, Okay. So I'm refamiliarizing myself with the value of quality books
that are excellent references for established botanical sciences, and these might go into the
physiology and anatomy of plants, describe some of their basic and key functions,
or the sorts of books that are just to focus on general care and growing
of long understood plant families. Yeah, you're really building suspense here, Matthew.
I know, because I feel like you can kind of have to sell
this one a little bit because the book that I want to recommend is one
that my grandmother bought me when I was in sixth grade, and it's Orthos
All about Orchids. Okay, all right. Ortho is like the lawn and
gardening pesticidish company, which is fine, right, I'm just confirming That's why
there was a build up. I had to sell this, got it,
Okay, not a company I immediately associate with orchids, but I'm listening very
curious now, yeah, I mean it is endorsed by the American Orchid Society.
And as a young kid who is just getting hooked on plants in a
serious way, this book was outstanding. It's like, not very thick,
and it's an excellent introduction to what orchids are. Describes their growth habits and
the terminology used to talk about orchids, the general care parameters they need,
how to adjust your home growing conditions to suit their needs. And it also
separates popular genera out by the ease of growing for a beginner. So it
also talks a lot about the indoor environmental factors that are really good to understand
just for other plants as you get further into the hobby. So of course
it also gets into all the orchids specific things like common problems repotting, dividing
plants and all that. But what I appreciated the most as a sixth grader
was just how nicely it laid out what I needed to understand about the diversity
of orchids I was starting to get interested in them. It's really well illustrated.
There's lots of photos and graphics and figures, and it really helped me
understand where I might want to kind of put my energies in growing them myself.
There's also a really great, lengthy gallery of popular genera that kind of
get into the specifics for each one individually, and there's a lot of photos
of each. So that was actually where I really started to develop my tastes
that I still have for the orchans that I love today. In fact,
it's actually where I first learned about Brasiola nindosa and the jewel organs. Wow,
okay, I'm just letting this sink in. So where did you get
your taste in orchids? You'll be like, well, ortho, there was
a pesticide company. Okay, okay, this is a good late season bombshell.
I like this. This book is available to buy. We did check.
I'll include a link in the show notes. Yeah, and I'm always
starting to encourage people to consider orchids, as you know, as a community
of plant growers, so many of us are growing plants that are just straight
up as challenging or even more so indoors as the common and popular flowering orchids.
So if you're on the fence or feeling intimidated by just the word orchid,
I honestly think the picking up an orchid book like this one is a
really good way to start. Okay, great, any honorable mentions you want
to include, Well, I didn't pick Botany for Gardeners by Brian Kappin.
I got this reference book recently. But the reason that I preferred the orchid
book is because Botany for Gardeners really goes into the science heavy things that aren't
necessary to know to grow plants well, but it's certainly going to enhance your
plant knowledge if you're interested in that area of plant science. It's super useful.
And then I've started binging the podcast Plant Personalities with PV Plant Guy,
who you probably know on Instagram and TikTok. Yeah, it's like a talk
show with plant fluencers that a lot of us know from social media. So
that's kind of fun cool. And then lastly, I need to get caught
up with the Potted Together podcast. So that is my summer reading and listening
list. Okay, some good ones in there. Yeah, so you a
few options already, but there's more. We had a chance to preview a
book that will release in the next few days, probably by the time you
heard this episode. And in addition to loving the book, we love the
author too. We listened to this interview after we recorded it, and we
even surprised ourselves by how excited we got. So enjoy all right, so
at this point she is our friend of the show. Who needs no introduction.
It's Maria F from BGR. Y'all Hey, then, Maria, Hi,
thanks for having me back again, Lucky number three. Yeah, it's
so nice to have you back again. And you've got some really exciting news,
some really exciting news. You guys are some of the advanced readers,
some of the first recipients. We feel very excited. Okay, so let's
dive right into your new book. Author interviews can be a little bit formulaic,
so I thought it might be fun for Matthew and I to give our
quick summaries and reviews then get your reaction. Yeah. I'm so excited about
this because at this point I'm kind of tired of talking about about the book,
so I'm so excited. I also really respect both of your opinions,
so I'm so excited to hear how your intro sounds and what do you think
of my book? This is so exciting. Yeah, I mean, first
of all, your note from the author and your introduction hit me so hard.
You and I have kind of related a lot recently, both like in
our own chats as well as on the last episode that we did together just
about how similar our own personal life paths have been recently. But you know,
perhaps I'm projecting a little bit, but I felt really emotional reading your
message because it was extraordinarily relatable to me and on levels that I wasn't anticipating,
kind of seeing how that process came to be a book for you and
how you developed these ideas. And I think that a lot of people are
going to have it experienced themselves, and as I got deeper into the book,
it just felt truly meditative, and it absolutely caught me off guard more
times than I can think, because it truly felt like you were just walking
me through precisely how you find joys in plants and also how you find moments
within nature to connect to yourself and your well being and the world around you.
It genuinely felt like taking a leisurely hike through a forest and then just
kind of like peeking through foliage to appreciate new little ferns and some flower that
you happen to catch at just the right moment to appreciate its fleeting blooms.
And that resonated for me because in the Pacific Northwest we have amazing forests.
That's why I love hiking. I love hiking at any time of years that
I get to take those things in, and I expect that I'm now going
to have a different experience both with my own plants that I'm growing at home,
but also when I'm out in nature or just taking walks around the neighborhood.
After reading Growing Joy, it has truly been a highlight of my recent
reading and honestly, it was such a beautiful way to enter the summer and
the active growing season. Like your timing was perfect. Then I was beyond
moved. It was beautiful. Thank you, Matthew. I think that's so
funny because you know, my pub date has been pushed back like four times.
The book was originally supposed to come out in April on my birthday.
Then it got pushed to June, early June, and then it got trapped
on a cargo ship in Turkey due to supply chain that hues and so it
got post factory of our weeks. So you know, I've been kind of
like moaning about how this book isn't you know, coming out, and oh
we missed Mother's Day, Oh we missed this, Oh we missed that.
But yeah, I really do feel like because if you're in the northern hemisphere,
this book is coming out really kind of in peak, almost the summer
equinox. You know, yeah, everything is lush, It's this book is
very accessible for people, even if they're in a winter colder period. But
yeah, the practices are even more accessible because everywhere you look outside, you
know, it's so easy to go experience plants. Right now. I feel
like chapters two and three like are perfect for right now. Yeah, and
that's that means so much. And also for those listening for the sweet listeners,
just to get some context for the very deep compliment Matthew gave me,
so Growing Joy, my book is a self help book. It's a self
care book about plant care. There are plenty of plantfluencers that have done books
about plant care, so this is actually a book about self care. And
in the author's note and the title is Growing Joy. And in the author's
note, I opened the author's note by saying, I wrote this book about
joy in essentially the least joyful period of my life and kind of unpack that.
And yeah, Matthew, just to reflect that back. Yeah, we've
been through a lot together and apart. And I think too, like plants,
stigma isn't the right word, but I think plants are expected to only
be positive. But plants have seasons like we all do. Right, So
it's you know, there's a whole chapter in Growing Joy on the dark side
of plant care and on the fact that you can be a plant parent and
be depressed or sometimes your plants don't bring you joy, and what does life
look like when that's the case, and how do you write the ship?
So that means so much to me, especially knowing your literary background, So
thank you very much. Well, I just thought that it was really beautiful.
How you don't shy away from the fact that it's not all a beat
positivity. You give honor to the darkness, but you just technology this part
of life. But Stephen, I'm getting carried away and I mean, like
way too poetic about this. So Stephen, take us back down to the
steps. Yeah, thanks, I mean no, that that's interesting to hear,
Matthew. Right, Like one of my points is I think there's like
several levels to this book. That was surprising and impressive. But okay,
like when I think plant books, I typically think like big hardcover, glossy,
lots of direction books, so you know, usually right so right away
it's this kind of durable paperbacks an attached bookmark, and that kind of gives
you a clue I think as to like what's in store for you. So
you know, I picked it up. I read a chapter at a time
here there I was immediately struck just by the density of ideas in this Maria.
Um there's like media, it's three yeah, I didn't. Really is
too much. No, there's like a lot of meaty, kind of bite
size pieces all over the place. There's like diy ideas, there's plant facts,
um, ideas about how to look at things, which I think is
kind of signature Maria too. And I think it took me a few visits,
honestly, like to fully understand that this isn't a typical plant book,
like you know, how to grow succulents or like how to grow aeroids.
Um, It's okay. I think of it going out on a limb here.
I think of it as like a modern chic plant almanac. I don't
know if that if that speaks to you, if that feels right, but
it's it's one of those things where you go, you pick it up,
you go to any page there's something useful or something interesting or something to do,
and no chapter is more than like three pages. Most chapters are laying
four paragraphs there. It's really quick. Yeah, that's a great point.
So really it's like it's it's so well suited to kind of like oh,
that durable paperback that you're going to throw in a bag, like you're going
to have your bookmark in there. Somewhere and it's not like, oh I
forgot what was happening, not really like you can pick it up, you
know, anywhere, like pick up the story again. So I think that's
really unexpected. That's good, and it's it's not something that's gonna like sit
on your shelf so much like so many plant books, which are great,
they're so useful during a certain time, but this is there's something more universal
about it. And yeah, it's just so you Maria, right, like
knowing you now and then reading this, like Matthew said, you could hear
your voice in it, and I think, you know, so many of
us we think about plants. It's like a thing we do sometimes, like
in this way. But I just think a Maria and bloom and growth theme
is piercing the boundaries right of this hobby in a way that adds so much
to the hobby itself. So really, you read this book and you think
about how plants fit into your life, how it fits into our lives,
like how they could, how they should. Yeah, it's just unique and
it's so accessible and appealing. Like I you know, I did not know
this going in, right. I was kind of be like, oh,
like maybe this will be about mindfulness and you know the things that she likes
to talk about. It is a lot and which is me. I'm a
lot too. Oh no, No, you get way more than just what
I said right, Like you can kind of pick it up wherever. There's
a lot of levels. There's Yeah, there's so much depth and so much
simplicity. God, Steve, well, you know, Stephen, after our
last conversation of me being on your show, you know, I knew Matthew.
I was nervous for Matthew to read the book because I know of his
literary background. But I figured, knowing Matthew and my similarities, that a
lot of the stuff was going to jib with him, like he was going
to go for it. But I was really curious to hear your thoughts because
I know that you and I kind of do approach plants from kind of the
opposite sides of the spectrum. But I felt like I got I got in
there somewhere with you in the last the conversation we had really did Yes.
I don't know if Steven's gonna mind me saying this, but he dwelled on
that and it was like in his head for weeks afterwards, and we just
points while we were dealing with other episodes. Yeah, you got into it,
got under his skin. Yeah, I planted a seed that's germinating in
the back of this matter person. Yeah no, And I mean that's in
this book. But then kind of so much more right, like, okay,
even if you even if that didn't speak to you like it did to
me, Like, there's tons of projects in here. There are tons of
facts that I didn't know and I really loved, like the one about the
smell of wet earth. Oh my god, I forget both of the Yeah,
both of the cab words I forgot. But I was kind of like,
oh, like, this is something I want to tell you know my
dad right now. Absolutely, petroqualum. When water hits the earth, it
stimulates a the scent humans. Humans have been proven to be very sensitive to
this smell of wet earth. Yeah, that's interesting. Terrariums, Oh my
god. You know Billy. I have a little tiny terrarium, and Billy
will sometimes just open it and smell it and then put the top back on.
I'm just like, you're so weird. But Steven, that means so
much to me because I think when I approached this book. You know,
this is technically a self help book, a self improvement book. It's not
a plant book, right, it's not. There's a plant care appendix at
the at the back of the book. It's a plant killer to plant person
crash course for those of us who might pick up the book for mindfulness purposes
and not be a plant person and need you need the basics. But it's
really a wellness book, how to live a happier life. That's what the
majority of the practices are. And you know, I had a lot of
imposter syndrome writing this book, because I'm also someone who's read every self help
book in the world. I've been on every yoga retreat, I've struggled with
mental health, so I'm like, who am I to write this book?
But I think my approach to writing it was no matter where someone falls on
the spectrum of super analytical, super kind of straightforward like Stephen, or super
woo woo like me, I want everyone after reading Growing Joy to be able
to immediately implement something that resonates and smile one more time than they would have
if they hadn't read it. Like that's the ultimate goal. I'm not a
guru. That's saying, you know, you have to follow this practice,
you have to do things this way, you have to do that, Like,
absolutely not. The book is written the way I'm talking to you right
now, being like, hey, have you thought of this? Have you
tried this? What about this? What about this? I really like that,
you know, and you know, take those One of my favorite it's
inspired a lot by one of my favorite self help books called You Are a
Badass by Jensin Sarah, and I've read it six times by this point,
and she's like, take what works and leave what does it? And I
think that's the beauty of plant care, right even if you look at the
Plant Daddy podcast versus the Blooming Grow radio podcast, like we all nerd out
about really different things. Yeah, some people approach plants for a spiritual reason,
some people approach them for a design aesthetic reason, some people approach them
for other things. And there's no prescription really, But the more tools you
can have in your tool kit to lead a more joyful life and to have
the most enriching, fulfilling version of this hobby, the better. And so
that's kind of what they enjoy is and it feels so nice to have that
reflected back to me. No one's put it that way yet, who's read
the book before? And yeah, that's definitely part of it. There's a
lot, and one might even argue it's a little all over the place sometimes,
but that's also kind of who I am, and that's how plants are,
right, kind of wacky. Some of them grow kind of all over
the place. I just want to say, like the way that you kind
of not putting you on the spot. You almost ended apologetic when you said
that it's all over the place. But I think that what's so beautiful about
that is that Steven and I both approach media in very different ways. It
doesn't matter kind of what it is. I tend to start something at the
beginning and work my way through to the end chronologically. Steven will pick points
here and there if the chronology isn't important. But it worked for both of
us, and I still have some reading of the book to do before I
reached the end, and I'm really excited for that. But it appeals to
both people. And even if you have a density of ideas, you kind
of hit them in a way that they're very digestible. They're brief moments that
you can get something really salient and important, or you can sit down and
just like pour through them with a cup of tea and like rain hitting your
window outside if that's some crappy weather here in Seattle recently. But with all
this together, Stephen thinks of it as an almanac. I think of it
as like an exploration of how plants fit into a person's life. You think
of it as kind of a self help book. But what is what is
your favorite part of the book, Like, not not conceptually, but what's
what's your favorite discrete part of the book that you feel the most proud of.
Hmm. I think I love this question, and I want to give
you two answers. Okay, both because I did a lot of research for
the book and personally learned a lot. Yeah, so there are things that
like I'm practicing. Well, no, I'll go what's my true, true
favorite part of the book. Um, this was just the most vulnerable thing
I've ever done, the storytelling of the book. Yeah. With Blooming Grove
Radio, which I've you know, it's a podcast that I've had feels like
since the beginning of time now five or six years, I've always felt like
I've been able to hide behind my guests, and I've always had this weird
imposter syndrome feeling of like my listeners might not necessarily be interested in me.
They're interested in the information that they're getting from my guests, and my job
is to pull that from my guests and like not really center the conversation around
myself. And all of a sudden, I got given this book and I
had to distill like my worldview about plants, which for me is very emotional,
somewhat private or not private. But yeah, I don't speak about it
as much on the podcast. I do, but not as deeply as I
really share in this book because I'm like super woo woo and brilliant to plants.
And I think people would you kind of consider it almost like a spiritual
or kind of like like personal mantra. Yeah, like manifesto. Yeah yeah,
yeah. So the book has over sixty practices that people could immediately start
implementing. You don't need to know any of my story to look at a
plant before you look at a screen, or do the heart shaped leaf gratitude
practice, or go forest baining. But I think the most exciting thing was
weaving my stories of my personal growth and transformation and actually sharing that side of
myself vulnerably in hopes that people, like you know, math, you resonate
with that author's note or resonate with these different stories. Yeah. So I
think that the storytelling probably was my favorite part writing. I would say the
piece of research that I think has stayed with me very deeply that I wasn't
really practicing before I started researching for this book is the power of scent and
the brain and plants, Which is funny because you brought up the geosman thing.
So there's one chapter of the book that's exploring your five different senses with
plants. Yeah, the smell chapter I had to do a lot of research
on, and your olfactory system is just incredible and the power of that sense.
So I've actually been kind of changing my view of my plant collection,
trying to really intentionally bring in houseplants that have scented blooms or that have scented
leaves. Stephen, do you hear that other people care about plant Frighterances?
I never said you were alone. This is such a key thing for me.
Sent links me back to my childhood getting inspired in plants like that's why
I grow so many fragrant flowers, So like that was actually something that really
stood out and was particularly relevant to me. I love that's for example,
Oh my God, and learning about theocs. And you know, there's a
cool anecdote about like fresh cut grass in the book that like that smell of
fresh cut grass is actually the plant blades communicating with each other saying like danger,
something's eating us. So there's like these fun little scientific nuggets like peppered
in there too. But you know, like now I spend time like smelling
my herb garden every morning, and way more intentionally now that I kind of
understand the data and science that goes into it, and diving into essential oil.
So I feel like that that's probably one of my favorite aspects of the
book that I'm actively practicing on a daily basis. I love that. Okay,
Yeah, and that kind of leads into the next question, right,
like we're wondering through the writing of this book, how have you changed as
a plant parent? To me, this red kind of like the kind of
like the complete Maria thesis in some ways, like totally like my worldview distilled
through plants. Yeah yeah, So okay, so you said sent you're you're
noticing that more? I mean, are there are other you know, planty
things that you want to explore from here or non planty things? Are you
done with some parts? Do you think of this experience? Yeah? I
love this question, and I think I talk about this in my author's note.
You know, as I was writing the book, I experienced a bunch
of adversity in my life, which you can read the book to learn to
learn the details of. But um, I was very depressed in the middle
of writing this book, and I had this crazy moment where I'm writing this
book about joy, I'm looking at my plants and my plants look miserable,
and oh my god, what a hypocrite. How did I let this happen?
Blah blah blah, And then I had to really put the book to
work again. This book that I was writing, because I was talking about
these practices from an almost former perspective, I didn't really understand what a depressive
state I was in. But then I started like, Okay, you're going
to look at a plant before you look at a screen every morning. That's
still something I tell myself every day because I struggle with screen addictions. So
some of the stuff I talk about in the book isn't necessarily easy, but
there's a huge payoff to it. So I think like I had to really
stress test the book in the last year of my life as I've been working
on the book and kind of struggling with mental health. So I think in
general, I've kind of worked my way through all the practices. Again,
I would say a lot of the practices that I talked about I started doing
when I was living in five hundred square feet in New York City. I
had a nine square foot balcony, I had no space, so I had
a lot of house plants. And now I'm in five acres in the middle
of nowhere with huge woods city girl transplant in the country. And so what
I've noticed is like farest bathing feels different to me. Sound also scent and
sound. The effect that sound can have on your day to day wellness is
absolutely incredible. It's huge bird songs, Like I live in the suburbs of
a city instead of like the nightlife district, and waking up to the sound
of birds singing brings me so much joy to start my day. Yes,
And so then we can talk about one of the things I talked about in
the book. And this was a big ship that I started doing when I
started researching for the book, is that there's like science proving that humans were
so innately attracted to birds song and nature sounds. So I found a YouTube
video that's an eight hour clip of it's either birdsong or its forest sounds,
Okay, And as I work throughout the day, I'll play that YouTube video
in the background so that I have those videos underscoring yeah, my work day,
And oh my god, it makes such a freaking difference. I can't
believe it. I don't even need the science. I don't need the studies
to prove it, Like it's the days that I do that. And also
because it's eight hours at the end of the video, I'm like, oh,
Maria, you've worked eight hours already today. Maybe think about winding it
down clever. Yeah, So I would say, yeah, like, I'm
very fortunate now too, there's a hummingbird, like at my hummingbird feeder right
now, I'm very fortunate that I have a lot of bird song here.
But yeah, like those little shifts, so I feel like I'm still and
now I think that I'm in book mode. I really am trying to walk
the walk. I really am trying to like do as many of the practices
every day as possible. You know. Yeah, that's great. Yeah,
that kind of leads into our next question again, like you're doing a really
good job of finding those transitions for us. But I guess I would say,
if readers could take one thing away from this book, what would you
like it to be? And before you answer, I'm just going to throw
out that I think that it's very powerful that you wrote a book about joy
when you weren't feeling that and you were surrounded by plants that weren't thriving,
Like we have recorded a podcast while I'm sitting around mealy bug infested plants.
Yeah, get been there, you know, but there is something powerful about
that. And so what I would take away is that you can remind yourself
of these things regularly without living them fully because you can get there. Yeah.
So that's that is what I take away from this. But I want
to hear what you and sorry ahead, no, no, And I was
just gonna say, you're gonna have good days and you're gonna have bad days,
right, you have to honor both of those, And that goes back
to the power of like really understanding the seasons. Right in the book,
I have a whole plant life parallel section that's very powerful. I've learned so
many life lessons from my plants. Yeah, honoring your dormancy, honoring your
winter, your internal winter, honoring oh my god, like I had such
a winter internally this past ironically winter. But honoring those seasons within yourself,
and honoring the fact that you are nature too, and that you are,
you know, part of this process. And so maybe I'll change the question,
but maybe for those of you who are struggling right now. I think
a lot of us are struggling, as like the world opens back up and
all of a sudden we have social calendars again, and those I've forgotten how
to be. So oh my gosh, I went out for a drink.
We're recording this on a Wednesday. I went out for a drink, for
like a social drink on a Tuesday yesterday, and it was so weird.
I hadn't gone out for a social drink in two years, like on a
weeknight. What Yeah, I was just like, what do you mean?
I used to do this all the time before the pandemic. So I think
there's a lot of overwhelm coupled with you know, a lot of US pandemic
plant parents got a ship ton of plants in the pandemic, and now as
the world opens up, we're we're all kind of struggling to cope with those
two hundred plants and to care for them in the same way. When we're
not home all the time, the time we can devote to care is shifting
rapidly. Yeah, So I would say if people are in those moments of
overwhelm, you know, growing Joy has a million different practices that you can
read and pull from, but you know, to give you one for free,
I feel like number one, honoring the season and allowing yourself to like
ebb and flow and change, like your plants and your plant collection. Sometimes
you might have to prune back. Sometimes you're going to have to reduce your
plants. Maybe you're going to be in a season where you're going to want
to, you know, increase them, but allowing for them. And also,
I think one of the biggest problems that we're all struggling is this screen
addiction that I talk a lot about in my book, and how social media
addicted we are and how you know on our phones we are and if you
can just like take some intentional time in the morning to look at a plant
before you look at a screen. It's the first practice I talk about in
my book. I'm obsessed with it. I struggle with it. You know.
Some days I don't do it, some days I fell prey to the
Instagram scroll. But on the days that I do, I feel so much
better. So, you know, if you're getting in that overwhelmed stage like
paring back, you know, finding your quiet, finding that time with yourself,
I like that. Yeah, gosh, and you know, I'll just
kind of tack onto this. We've answered this one to death maybe. But
my take then is like, yes, you guys are coming from that sort
of broader thematic place for me. I just open this up and I'm like,
you know, it's this reminder. It's like there's always something you can
do, like some little thing. Yep, there's all always some new little
spin or a new way to look at something. Yeah, so I get
maybe the bite sized version of maybe that same feeling right when I'm like,
okay, well, this is how this is how I start, right,
this is what I can do differently with this If I'm frustrated or overwhelmed,
or like I can't think of what to do, or this is dying,
or I'm bored of it or yeah so, and like I think the visual
that I got in my head from listening to you talk about it was like,
take the book to your local park and let it fall open to anything,
and there's probably something that you can do, you know, that would
be different. I'm fortunate that my publisher gave me a bunch of copies to
share with some select members of my virtual garden society that I have and hearing
from them even like what some of them said, which I was not prepared
to get this feedback about the book, was that a lot of it actually
just kind of reminds you what you know, but like encourages you to expand
on it. Yeah, that's a beautiful way to put that. I fully
agree. Yeah, like people understand that you need to have a plant routine,
you know, but yeah, how can you really make it enriching and
just having it as a reminder instead of feeling that you need to like completely
change, you know, everything about your play of practice. I'm not trying
to change anybody's I'm not trying to make anyone do anything they don't want to
do. I just want to make everyone be as happy and fulfilled as possible.
Yeah, that comes across. Well. The version of that feedback kind
of train of thought that I had was that you touched on things that were
new to me. You also touched on things that are already part of my
routine. But kind of, like Steven said, it gave me a different
perspective on it, so that, yes, as I'm going about my day
and I'm taking time to like smell my howya flowers, like thinking differently about
like what I'm getting out of that, and as I'm doing things like dusting
off my plant leaves, which I take us kind of a meditative practice to
begin with. But now I'm thinking, all right, so I'm taking care
of my plant by removing things that doesn't need Is there anything in my life
that I can just dwell on in this five minutes that I might be able
to, you know, dust off and move forward from. Like it's these
new ideas that are part of routines and thought processes that we already have.
That's like I found particularly beautiful. Oh man, that makes me so happy
that that chart there's a chart in the book that kind of does that plant
routine thought prompts for your plant routine for you personally, and that Oh my
god, this is honestly so exciting just to hear people have, you know,
people who have read the book like what resonates. It's it's so exciting
the thought that I might be able to contribute like a small shift or change
or anything. You know. I know you guys feel this way with your
podcast, right, It's just this is also exciting. Yeah, and Maria,
like, there's so much in this in in good ways, there's a
lot of layers. I think you're going to be surprised, you know what
people get out of it, Like people are going to come back and give
you feedback that you don't even Yeah, this is not you're right, It's
not like a simple list of like steps or something. So there's it's like
a living thing a little bit more so interesting brand a lifestyle. Well you
know what, Okay, Target, give me a call. Who else?
Yeah, that's right, we'll call us first target and call us all a
selection of pots and lights, exact lays, and scented candles just to live
your best growing joy life. Baby. Yes, okay, So, needless
to say, we enjoyed it. There was lots to enjoy. Different people
will enjoy this and all of that that we said. When and where can
we order this book? Well, if all things go to plan, this
episode comes out the day before it hits bookshelf. So yeah, okay,
you so you can pre order tonight. It's sold everywhere books are sold.
Support your indie local booksellers, but it's also on Amazon, bookshop dot org.
You can get signed copies on my website if you'd like me to sign
it, and you can swing by your local bookshop tomorrow and go pick it
up and request it. A lot of our Tuesday Morning listeners, you can
listen to this and then run over to your favorite little bookstores and run to
the store and then tag me and tag the plant Daddies too, but tag
me Bloom and Grow Maria on Instagram. I want to shout out and share
all of the content that's being created. We're actually the day the book goes
live. Also, you can head over to Bloom and Grow Radio if you
want to listen to m I'm doing an episode where I sourced my listener community
for their stories about how they grow joy because you know, this book is
all about me and my story. But what I know for a fact is
that my story is not unique. We all have these emotional experiences about how
plants have changed us, and I'll be sharing a lot of really heartwark.
If you want a good cry, you can go over to Blooming Grow Radio
and listen after you're done with this episode. I love a cathartic cry,
a good cathartic cry with some of these sweet listener entries. But yeah,
go buy the book and let me know what you think. And I sincerely
hope it brings you, guys more joy in your growing season, because it's
the growing season up here in the Northern Hemisphere right now. Yeah, all
right, Oh that's really great. This has been such a fun read.
I've said this before. I was an English major. I love books.
I have a ton of novels. I have read so little during the pandemic,
and so this was a really good kind of reminder, just a moment
for me to re engage with that. Yeah, I'm so glad that we've
had you here to discuss it. And I really hope that people get their
hands on a copy of this so that they can pour through the pages themselves
and see what we're talking about. Yeah, this is a table book,
not a shelf book. Even go on the shelf eventually, but you're going
to be you're gonna be looking at this on this on your nightstand, on
your coffee table. It's in my travel bag already. So that's the quote.
I want Matthew's quote from the beginning of this episode, and then I
want Steven's quote from the end of this episode for my list of celebrity endorsement
to do it. Yeah. Absolutely, Oh my god, you guys for
the basketball. Thank you for having me on again, and can't wait to
have you guys back on Blooming Grow Radio soon. Okay, thank you.
Absolutely. Now I think we're going to maybe hang around for a couple of
additional questions that might go in our after show. Is that okay with you?
Oh for sure? Yeah, yeah, that's fine. Okay, So
if you want to hear us chat a little bit more with Maria, We've
got a couple more questions for her. Plus we might do a guided meditation
that will be on our social media, so keep an eye out for that
too. Let's do it as usual. That was a delight. Yeah,
we'll post the links to Maria's book in our social media and in the show
notes for today's episode. Yeah. Men, Honestly, if you want some
enjoyable summer reading, growing enjoy really as ideal or those all about orchids is
nice, but it's not a beach read. But if you're like Stephen,
you can always spend your reading time listening to podcasts and I guess yeah.
In this week's after show, we hang out with Maria and ask a few
more questions, including who she'd picked to read her audio book if she could
choose anyone. She's a vocalist, so I was pretty interested here. Her
answer, all right, anything else? Well, I think it's important to
mention that we are gutted by several of the recent political developments here in the
US. Yeah, And though we're lucky to live in a liberal coastal state,
everyone needs to be activated so we can correct this. And the truth
is that a single election cycle can change so much. We may sometimes overlook
the privileges that we have living in a liberal city on the West coast,
particularly as Cisca. Men, but it's impossible to ignore what's going on right
now in the United States and not say anything. We stand with women,
they're right to choose what is correct for them, their health, and their
families, and implore everyone to use their voice to support all forms of human
dignity at the voting booth. Definitely this has been played. Ditty podcast.
Thanks for listening, don't forget to let it. Subscribe, tell your friends
about us, and if you enjoy what you've heard, please give us a
five star rating that I'll have others us To see images of things that we
discussed in our episodes, check out our Pinterest and Instagram or visit our TikTok.
If you want to be in touch, email us at plant Eddy Podcast
at gmail, or check out our website plant eddy podcast dot com. Until
next week, Thanks for listening and happy growing