Drama Queens - Gather & Grow with Plant Kween

Episode Date: June 17, 2026

Does a better life start with a single leaf? Sophia digs into that question and more with Christopher Griffin, author of "You Grow, Girl: Plant Kween's Lush Guide to Growing Your Garden." Christopher shares the wisdom passed down from his grandmother and explains why the "green thumb" is a myth. In this live recorded conversation, brought to you by our friends at Miracle-Gro, the two exchange tips and tricks for plant parents at every level to begin their own growth journeys in the garden and beyond. Plus, they explore what tending plants can teach us about tending, and loving, ourselves." Follow @miraclegro on social media or head to miraclegro.com to start your growth journey! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Hi, everyone. It's Sophia. Welcome to Work in Progress. Hello, hello. I'm Will Pearson President of IHeart Podcast. Incredibly excited to be here for a live podcast with our very own Sophia Bush for an episode of Work and Progress.

Incredibly excited. This is brought to you by us here at IHart Podcast and our friends from Miracle Grow. Let's give it up to Miracle Grow for making tonight possible. and I'm really excited for tonight's guest. I have a brand new best friend in the whole wide world. Like, I'm not kidding, and you will also tonight after this. Christopher Griffin, also known as the Plant Queen, has a huge following that he is brought to understand plant care

and how to do that with confidence and joy, something that we all need to learn. It's also the author of a book that is one of my favorite book covers. You Should Check this out. I love the name of it. It's called You Grow Girl. Plant Queen's lush guide to growing your garden. So without further ado, let me welcome Sophia and Christopher.

Come on up. Hi, everyone. Hi. You all look so cute. You look so cute. Thank you, darling. Oh, guys, I'm so happy to be here. Anyone who knows me, like some of my dearest in the front,

know that I sort of still can't believe, which I know is crazy. I started this podcast in 2019. Like, girl, get over it. You have one. But I still kind of can't believe that this is my job. Because basically, I just bamboozled everyone into letting me work, doing the thing I like to do the most, which is meet fabulous people and ask them interesting questions. So I owe a very big thank you to my team at IHeart for continuing to let me nerd out in

literally every department, including plants. it's kind of the privilege of my life and I'm really, really thrilled that we are launching a new partnership with Miracle Grow. I sort of feel like at this point like branded content, partnerships, everyone's just like, kill me now.

And then sometimes they happen in ways that you're like, well, that was great. Also, this is chic. I'm like, where did these plants come from? I'm kidding, I met the team upstairs. They're unbelievable. But really, we're very lucky to kind of be in this moment.

where I think the overwhelm of content in a way has made people really want to make sure they actually vibe. And then nights like tonight get to happen. So thank you all for letting me pretend this is work. What? Like it's hard. One of the things that you have inspired, I promise I'm going to ask you a question soon. I'm long-winded.

No, I can listen to you talk for days. Continue, Sophia. Bless. I have to tell you guys, Christopher and I met in my backyard. in 2022, and within five minutes, the whole video team that had come was like, could you two shut up? Like, we were just on one. Truly one of my favorite souls.

But one of the things that you do that particularly, well, that I particularly love, is that you remind people that you don't need, like, a massive outdoor space. You can start with a few square feet, un square foot, if you will. And I don't know if you all are like me, but sometimes I get lost in the rabbit hole of Pinterest and the el decor world and fabulous goals. But I think, like, unless I have Martha Stewart's Bedford Estate, I can't possibly have a garden. And that is not at current my reality, though I love her. And your work and our wonderful sponsors tonight really, I think, do such a good job at reminding people. You can start small.

You can experiment. you can learn your green thumb. If you have a plant diet, it's not your fault. Maybe they just said that to me. But really, you can cultivate a love of a hobby the way you can cultivate a garden. So thank you to Miracle Grow for reminding me. I don't have to be Martha. And all of you can go to MiracleGrow.com to check out all of their very easy-to-use products.

We'll talk about those later. But start a growth journey, please. It really is great. Now, now I'm going to just ask. you all the things. You've heard Christopher is an incredible educator, author, add to cart, take out your phones, add to cart. Plant Queen is one of my favorite accounts to follow on Instagram. And one of the things that sort of gets me is that you bring unbridled joy as exactly who you are to the world, which knocked my socks off half a decade ago, but especially in a

moment, I think, where individualism, queer joy, black boy joy, is not exactly being lauded in the way it should. You are like, honey, you can't stop me. And so I'm really curious, because you talk a lot about who you are, who you've always been, you give joy as resistance and fuel and this sort of relentless happiness in a way that I think feeds everyone who follows you. And I wonder if you got to interact with the little black boy you used to be like Christopher at eight years old today. Like if he were in the garden, would you see yourself in him? Do you think he would be astounded by your life that's now his? I'll probably like, hey girl. He's like, hey girl.

I actually had some home videos digitized because I'm in the process of writing a children's book and so You heard it here first, friends. Yes, I haven't made that announcement, but yes, I'm in the process of working on it. And my editor really challenged me to go into my childhood. And so I worked with my dad. My dad was always documenting everything. Camcorder, just place it and kind of just watched the family. And I'm really grateful that he did that. And I was a flamboyant little queen. I was like, damn. Like it was beautiful to watch me just exist unapologetically as my flamboyant self. Obviously, I didn't have the terms to

you know, define myself, but my family allowed me space to explore and be playful and to just show up in the ways that I wanted to. And so I think we would be like best friends. Like I really, I looked at, you know, those videos and I was like, oh my goodness, like I'm still the same person. Like still in front of the camera, still being playful, still being joyful, still being flamboyant. So yeah, I think we would be really good friend. And I think my younger self, we were like, yeah, this makes sense. Like, it makes a lot of sense. I love that.

In any of the videos, were you out in nature a lot? We did a lot of family trips. And so somewhere of us in the park, we lived, I grew up in Philadelphia. And so some of the videos were like on this large porch of the apartment building that we, lived in and there were gardens in front of the apartment building. I actually went back and took photos with my dad at the apartment a few years ago and it was really beautiful. But yeah, I was always outside just like frolicing around. Go frolic. We need to frolic more. Everybody needs to get outside. Literally go touch grass. Please. It's so nice. And I mean, we're in New York City and I do a lot

of partnerships with a lot of the green spaces here. So how many folks have heard of the New York Restoration Project? From you. All right. There's not enough hands raised. Look them up. NYRP, they steward over 50 community gardens here across the five boroughs. And they're doing such amazing work to make sure that the city remains green. I've done work with Prospect Park, Central Park, Brooklyn Botanic Garden, New York Botanic Garden. There are a lot of green gyms here. And so I think it's important that both understand that we all have a role to play. Go volunteer.

Go visit these parks. Lay in the grass. It's really important that we do. Yeah. I'm curious, you know, because you mentioned growing up in Philly, which is an iconic city, much like New York. Where did your connection to nature really start? Was it in the apartment garden?

Or was there somewhere in Philly that you would go and you went, oh, this is for me? My grandmother. Andrea Griffin. She was the original plant queen. She was the original OG plant queen. She grew up in Clayton, Georgia, and my great-grandmother's farm, and the land sheltered them, it fed them, they had a deep appreciation for the land. And so when she decided to bring my mother and my uncle up to Philadelphia as a single mom,

there was a program back in the day where you could buy, like, a rundown house for $1. I wish that program existed today. Please bring it back. And so she brought the house. She bought the house. And she curated a garden for herself. And it was a small little garden, nothing big. And when I was brought into the world,

I was always like a flamboyant person, right? So even from a young age, I think my grandmother clock, I'm like, hmm, a little sugar in his tea. There was a lot of sugar, baby. There was a lot of sugar, honey. They were like two spoonful, honey. Hello, hello. And so I think my grandmother understood that the world would not yet appreciate my uniqueness, my flair.

And, you know, she being a single black mother, she had to create spaces for her own joy. And she did that through gardening. And she was like, you know what? I think Christopher's probably going to have to make sure, like, I want Christopher to understand that. he is the agent and author of his own joy. And so she kind of showcased to me that gardening was the way that she found joy and created joy for herself. And so that's how I was introduced to plant in nature as a pathway to joy, as a pathway

to healing. And it's, I mean, it's grown into such a beautiful journey. So that's when it started. Very young age, not for only the sake of understanding that we all have a role to play and tending to the land, but that also it can be a healing and joyful relationship. That's beautiful. Did you choose plant queen to honor Andrea? Or did it come from somewhere else as a nickname of a brand identity?

Yeah, so everybody know Abba, obviously. Come on now. Like, oh, come on. Dancing Queen is like one of my favorite songs. And so I don't think I ever said this out loud. The original name for the account was going to be Pretty Plant Please. I don't know where that came from. I was like, Alliteration.

I'm an educator. I'm a sucker for those things. And I was like, okay, pretty plant please. And then as I was saying that, I was listening Dancing Queen came on. I was like, Dancing Queen, Plant Queen. Plant Queen. But it was a KW. And so that's how I was born.

Yeah, Abba. Wheel to Abba, honey. I love it. I love it. it. So can you tell me about the first plant you bought before there, I mean, if you remember, before there, was there ever a moment where there were no plants in the house? In my apartment or my childhood home. Yeah, like in your first individual home. Is there a first plant you bought? Big girl apartment. I did not have plant. I didn't. I didn't. How long?

Ooh, child. I think it was like maybe like three. years of living in New York. I had moved here for grad school, you know, my head was elsewhere. I was like, I've got to build a social life and all that jazz. And once I got, you know, two, and after I had graduated grad school, I had moved to a new apartment and south facing windows. And the walls were just so bare. And I was like, I got to have some type of life in here. And I was like, I've graduated at grass school. I'm no longer a student. Like, I got to find my next journey. And so I was like, okay, I think it's time to invest in plants. And I think buying a plant was a very serious endeavor for me because I knew what it did. It was just a special relationship, right? I knew that I wanted

to make sure I was honoring my grandmother's memory by making sure I had time to actually care for the plant. When I was in grad school, I wouldn't be able to care for the plant. And so I bought a potos. Marble Queen Posos. I still have that plant today. I bought that 11 years ago. She's still with me. She's still with me. I propagated. My friend Meredith has a cutting of the plant. We've been friends for over a decade now. So yeah, I've propagated her and now all my friends have like little cuttings of that original plant to kind of just spark this journey. That's so beautiful. I also shan't admit how many plants I've bought and that have not survived in the last 11 years. We don't need to talk about it.

It happened. It happens. I killed plants too. I didn't say that. But our original girlie is still with us. She's still here. I will say I did, because LA is a good climate for propagating a succulent, as we discussed in the backyard in 2022. And you gave me a few great tips.

And if I do say so myself, I propagated a few plants. Come on now. And I can't explain to you how cool I felt like taking home a chic little plant. to my mom and taking a cute little plant to one of my girlfriends for a housewarming party. And they felt particularly great to me because I live in a house that was lived in previously by this fabulous. Fabulous. I'm fine. Older woman named Annette. I knew her until she passed at 92. She was so cool. And she used to tell me that her and her husband would like get in a convertible and go out to Palm Springs and watch Frank Sinatra play jazz.

And she was like, we got drunk once, and I cut some of his aloe plants in his backyard. And that's where these came from. And I was like, you're so cool. So actually what I did was I gave people propagated cuttings from Frank Sinatra's stolen plants. Thank you to Annette. She was my plant queen. And it's like weirdly, it's not an easy thing to keep it alive. Care for it, grow it.

Yeah. Multiply it. But it's like the simplest and most meaningful thing, I think, to share with other people. Maybe because it's alive, maybe because if you're giving a friend or a family member a piece of something you grew, like you really had to love it enough to get it to be in the place where you could share it with someone else. Do you think that's true? Is it an energetic thing? I think, yes.

It's definitely an energetic thing. I think there is, you know, I think the reason I chose to be an educator, I spent over a decade working as a college counselor. Then I worked in higher education. Then I worked in tech. Ooh, child. All in very, like, you know, guidance counselory roles, right? And so, you know, I feel like I've always had a lot of love to give, right? And I think the beautiful thing about when you're caring for a plant, right, is that there's

just this interaction where you're giving something love and care and the response you would hope is growth, right? And so it's just a very simple interaction that I think allows folks to practice what we all need to be better at, caring for ourselves and caring for each other, right? And so I now have over 200 plants in my Brooklyn apartment. And they're all doing really lovingly. And people are like, girl, like, how the hell you water? I don't know what being cursed, but how in the world do you water?

You can say whatever you want on the show. And it's, I don't know, it's a little party. I brew some tea. I put on some music. Sometimes I'll call a friend. And I found that my plants are a great. I call them my green girls. I'm a big golden girls fan here.

They are great accountability partners, right? There's something that I need to tend to every week or every two weeks. And they remind me that I need to care for myself. They remind me that I need to show up for the people that I love. And so I think it's when you're in close proximity to nature, there are so many lush lessons that we can learn. So many lush lessons. And the whole self-care, community care journey is just one aspect of it.

Right. Well, it sounds like it's very meditative. Oh, very much so. So do you think about your plants wellness as an extension of your own? Oh, yes. Completely. Completely. I had a moment, and this was when my mother was alive,

she was watching me and my poor roommates at the time child oh lord i just took up space i was like look y'all y'all y'all have to deal with this i'm just bringing plants and just go with it go with it it was so kind um and so you know it was a sunday and i was beginning to build a routine and i was face-time and my mom and she was like oh you you're building your garden and she wasn't talking about the garden, the physical garden, she was talking about my inner garden, right? And she could tell that my,

she could just tell I was moving differently through the world. And so after I had that phone call, and I was like, I'm always a very reflective person. I was like, oh, well, you know, I need water too. I need sunshine too. I need room to grow too. I need nutrient too.

I need to prune some yellowing, leave. We all have some leaves. We need to prune y'all. All right. Um, uh, and so, you know, I think it, again, it allowed me to practice all the various different ways that I care for myself. So these days, honey, I have a self-care menu. I have a bunch of options of ways I can care for myself. What's on it? Oh, darling. I'm like, can you give us the cheat codes? I'll, uh, I mean, you know, I, um, for me personally, I enjoy roller skating, so I do a lot of roller skate and a lot of stuff I do by myself. Like I think, you know, being with people and letting them fill your cup, I would say for me,

that's an easier thing to do to rely on someone else to fill your cup. It's a little harder when you're doing it by yourself, right? So I roller skate by myself. I'll go to a random roller rink and I'll do it by myself. I do dinners by myself. Movies. I've traveled. I just went to Sri Lanka by myself for 16 days.

That trip. It's on his Instagram. Go look at it. Oh, my God. Oh, it was so much fun. And so I allow myself random little adventures. And I just kind of, I'm good company with myself. I'm just, I can have a ball. Just give me a little adventure. I'll go on my, you know, on my own. It's really fun. But those are some of the things that I do. And then obviously, you know, I have my friends. We have our little dates and all that jazz. But yeah, it haven't taken yourself out on a date, like do it. Like the same thing you would do for a romantic partner, like go all out. Do that shit for yourself. It is, oh, it's so fun. It's so fun. Get ready. Put on the outfit. Put on the outfit. Get dressed. Put on your favorite cologne perfume. Order the car. Like, oh, it's just, and just treat yourself. Bring a book if you want to. I've challenged myself not to bring anything. And I people watch. I love people watching. I'm nosy as well. So it lends itself, you know. You're, you're just interested. Which is also why you're interesting. Oh, well, thank you. People watching is, it's just study. It's so fun. There. Can you little stories for people

that you're watching. Oh, darling. Good time. A couple of my friends and I used to do that. We would go out to dinner and be like, okay. And we would like figure out how to sit like last supper style, you know, everybody face out and be like, okay, 11 o'clock red shirt, what do you think he does? Does his date like him or hate him? And we would just make up stories for people. It's one of the best things to do. Oh, my God, it's so fun. I mean, and if you're in New York.

I mean, come on. There's so many interesting people here. And now for our sponsors. Experience, you and a pal in Montreal and Oceaga, with four nights at residents in downtown Montreal, flights from Porter Airlines, two weekend gold tickets, and $1,000 cash. Lord, Zara Larson, Dave McRae, Sombor, 21 pilots, and more. Download IHeart Radio. Listen to IHeart new music for 10 minutes and enter to win.

Oshiaga, 26. Every day you listen is another chance to win. When you are out, whether with friends or on your own, do you get distracted by plants? Like, do they lose you? Because you're like, well, look at this, whatever in Latin this is. Like, because I'm, I'm like that. Like, don't walk a cute dog by me. I will leave the group I'm with and be like, hold on.

I have to go pet this animal. And I know it's a little tough. But I feel like you could be like, and all right, and make a left. And then suddenly at the end of the next block, nobody knows where you are. I have been known to tell people who work at various places that they need to move the plant or it's infested. It's not getting what it needs. Neat water. Oh, it's not going to survive here.

You need to repot it. I mean, it's just like once you're in it and like you see these things, it's hard to like not unsee these things. I mean, I always identify the plants in any space that I'm in just for fun zies. It happened. But yes, I've tried to dial back on giving folks directions on the plant in their spaces. If I'm in a home and I'm close to the friend, I will take it upon myself. to just be like, okay, I think we have an intervention. I love that.

I hate plants and dark bathroom. Oh, my God, that's one of the worst things you can do. If there's no grow light, even if there's a grow light, you need to move that plant. What do you think are the, and I know in the book are many tips, but are there a few things that you think everyone at every level needs to know about plants in their space? or is that complicated? Like I'm thinking about the checklist, for example, of your self-care, take yourself on a date. Like, is there a universal checklist for plants or no? Because each diva needs her own care.

So universal checklist, I think it's important to start where you are. I think that's, you know, the best route there. I've tried to demystify the idea of the green thumb. and I'll try to give you the short version of this, just like the nature nerding me, I have to get this out. The term green thumb has two potential origin,

all right? And when I was writing my book, I had so much fun writing about this. One is that there was this king of the old times where he really enjoyed these peas. When you, he had a subject picked the peas. When you pick the peas that left a green stain on your fingers,

whoever picked the most peas would be in favor of the king. So to have green peas, So to have green fingers or green thumbs meant you were in favor of the king because you most likely picked the most peas. That later became like green thumb, green finger became you were in good fortune. Nothing to do with taking care of plants, mind you. The second was that horticulturalist, botanist, you know, maybe dealing with pots that have green algae on them and may stain their fingers. Again, nothing to do with this instinctual knowledge that you have to have. that the green thumb kind of lends itself to.

So I tell folks, it's more like a green muscle. You build it over time. Like all this stuff is learned. I have a degree in psychology and a master's in higher education. And I wrote a plant book. Like, it's self-talk. Like, allow yourself to be curious. Curiosity is one of the best things that you can allow yourself to go on

when it comes to bringing nature into your home. Well, I mean, obviously you inspire everyone who follows you, who reads the book. How do you think about what you've learned, you know, the journey to self, self-care, self-love, the kind of transformation plants can offer? I know you think about it for community. I know you think about it for your beautiful nieces. Like, from this place, as the person who has this in the world and all the things you're working on, How do you think about the next waves of your inspiration? What's next on the journey?

Ooh. I really hope to be, you know, as an educator, I'm a facilitator. Like I want to facilitate growth. I want to expose folks to things that they didn't know they needed, right? And so I am, I think the future, I'm hoping to work with a larger audience, right? whether that's a television show, touring the various different green spaces in the world, and really showcasing all the behind-the-scenes work that happens, right? There's just so much behind-the-scenes work that happens at these gardens, that happens at these parks.

And the folks who are doing this work are often not applauded, right? And, you know, something that I'm really excited for for New York City that I'm I've been reading in the news, it's more funding for New York City parks. Yeah. One thing that folks may not know is that less than 1% of the New York City budget goes towards the maintenance of parks, less than 1%. And you think about, I mean, I'm sure the New York City budget is massive, but like one person, less than 1% shame, right?

And so my hope is to continue to expose folks to the wonders of nature and understand and help them understand that we all have a role. We only have this one planet. And we all have a role to play. We all have a role to play. And so if I can get you to care about the plant on your table, maybe you care about the tree on your block. They just planted a tree in front of my apartment.

I was giddy for joy. I was like, oh, my God. How exciting. It's happening. Right? If you care about that tree, maybe the park. It may be the forest, right? Again, meet people where they are and help them understand that.

we are all active agents in shaping the world that we're a part of. Yes. Yeah. Especially when you think about what these things do for us, you know, the reality that plants clean our air. Like, what? They feed us. They feed us. They enrich our lives.

They're so beautiful. I mean, the things I've learned from you, even in your work with trees. tree equity. You know, when you mentioned they just planted a tree on your block. Like, you know, this is joy, this is fun. This is also education. We're like, you know, low-key making sure people are getting the mess. Our livelihood. With the snacks. Like our livelihood. Yes. Yeah. Like the reality is, folks, depending on where you live in a city like this or in so many cities around America, an affluent neighborhood is going to have a very different landscape than a disenfranchised neighborhood. And, you know, around the country you will see that black and brown neighborhoods in particular have less trees, which makes neighborhoods hotter.

Which also means people are more exposed to low air quality. Like all of these things are. Flooding. Yes, flooding natural disasters. I mean, we can't even talk about like what happened during the last major. rainstorm in Brooklyn. Oh my God. Oh, yeah. Like it's it's not just about oh yeah, trees are nice, but the economy, oh, gas prices. It's like, no, it's actually all connected so deeply. And I think for us figuring out ways to participate in community care that are joyful, you know, I do a lot of it that frankly isn't joyful, but I'm pissed off all the time. So you're welcome. But like the joyful stuff,

I want to go to the Brooklyn Botanical Garden with you and like plant some trees. That's the best happiest activism I will get to do this year. I'm in. And I think that's an important thing to remind people of like, yes, part of the reason we're here is because we want you to start somewhere. Get a plant for your apartment. If you have a little foot of earth outside, like plant some herbs. It's spring. Summer's coming.

Can I ask you some technical questions now that I'm going to get off my soapbox and just, you know, I need to know. I need to know something. Like, what are the must-have products? And I say this again, like, genuinely this came about, not because they asked, but because I sent my team a video of me why I'd missed a call and I was planting things in the yard for the bees. Everything's fine. I needed to get outside and touch grass.

And I had my potting soil in the thing. And they were like, oh, that's weird. They just reached out to I heart. And I was like, say more. My mom gave me this. So like I'm down. I have the potting soil that Miracle Grow makes. There's one for outdoor, one for indoor.

You're welcome. I have this little pair of like cool Japanese trimming shears with little green. So chic. Yeah, they have like cute little green handles, clearly, that I can't live without. Like once I got them in my hand, my friend Jed gave them to me. And I was like, I do feel like Martha. And now I have them on the West Coast and the East Coast. Like, I got one of the little sprits misters for some of the plants.

I don't know if that's real or if I got got by an Instagram ad. Like, what do the people need to garden for real? Okay. So in terms of tools that I, I mean, you could go down an endless list, but some of the things that I think folks would, it would be helpful for folks to have. One is a humidifier. humidifiers are really, really important. They're also great for our bodies as well, right?

The typical air quality or air dryness and the average home is quite dry, right? And a lot of the plant that we bring into our homes are wet tropical plants, right? And the best thing that you can do for a plant is try to mimic the natural habitat that the plant comes from, right? We want to trick the plant to think they're in the rain bar. we can't really do that because humidity levels in the rainforest is quite high and we don't we can't do that mill do mildew mold and all that jazz um humidifiers are great the misters that's not humidity i got got it's okay you can tell me but however um you can use them to sprit the leaf and then wipe the leaf because dusting your uh plant is really really important you want to make sure that there's no dust collecting because the leaves are its mill ticket and then That's how it collects sunlight. We wanted to photosynthesize and all that, yes. Wait, so if a plant gets dusty, it doesn't get as much sunlight.

It doesn't. Yeah, so you want to make sure you're wiping the leaves occasionally. Okay. Overwatering. That's how I kill some of my plants overwatering, right? Do not water your plant every day. Don't do it. Like, when I've heard somebody say that, I was like, ooh, girl.

Yeah, so a soil probe is. I'm sorry, a what? A soil probe. That's, yeah, that's the name of the, you know what I'm talking about. Yeah, yeah, yeah. There is. I'm like, okay, plants after hours. It's like basically a little stick that has ridges in it.

You stick it in the soil. You pull it out and then you can feel the moisture from the little ridges at different levels of the pot. Oh, okay. You could use your fingers well, right, but I have an expensive manicure and I want to make sure that I can maintain it. So I have my little soil probe. Okay. So your probe is really hard. helpful. I also talk a lot about this in my book. So this is a wonderful tool that you can use as

well. All right. There we go. Cheers are really fun scissors. You want to make sure you're cleaning them before you go from plant to plant. Nutrients is really important. And so one of the tools that I use or one of the products I use is Miracle Grows plant food, all-purpose plant food. wonderful. I use that. And nitrogen, potassium, and NCO. Phosphorus, there we go. Thank you. I was like, girl, I'm blanking. I was like, I know I can relate on you. Girl. Hey, boo. What's up girl? We're going to catch up after this. Those are the three main nutrients, key nutrients that plants need. And while you could, you know, make your own little concoctions from coffee grounds and banana pills and all that. you're probably not going to get the recipe, right?

So the all-purpose plant food has all those nutrients and micronutrients in it. And so you want to make sure that you're giving your plant the nutrients that it needs. Water, the nutrients in sunlight is really, really important. How do you know, because I know some plants need some sun, some need constant. How do you know when you're trying to figure out your plant, how often to leave it in the window and maybe when she needs a little break? Honestly, the trial and error. Honestly, there's no secret. Yeah, there's no secret recipe.

I mean, when you are bringing your plants indoors, like in a place like New York City, I know some place, some folks leave their plants outside in the summertime, when you are bringing them back, you do want to try to like bring it in for a little bit. and then leave then take it back outside like let it acclimatize yeah so you know let it spend more time indoors and put it back and like just time that that's really helpful okay but when you are trying to figure out the place that you want to put your plant in do an assessment of your space no direction of your windows understand the kind of light watch the sunlight it's also very therapeutic like figuring out where you're going to put your plants when i moved into the place that I'm in right now. I sat in an empty place.

I ordered some pizza and I watched the sun move through the apartment, an empty apartment. It was like one of the most beautiful moments I had in that space. And I was like, okay, cool. I know that this spot gives this much sun in this season for this amount of time. The sun doesn't touch this spot. And so it's also, you're just very present, right? Don't just be like, oh, I'm just going to go by a plant because it looks pretty

and I want to put it there and hopefully it does well. great oh it's dial him you to another one like really allow yourself the journey of like okay i'm bringing a living breathing creature into my home let me be a little respectful and do a little research on the plant the natural habitat the native environment it comes from right and then kind of just adjust it to your space and don't be a helicopter plant parent just like let the plant do its thing plants are coming from nurseries right that are ideal conditions it's not going to grow the way in your apartment, right? And we have to also understand that the leaves that were grown in the nursery are probably

going to die. We all have to let go of certain parts of ourselves when we go into new environments, right? We have to adapt. We have to grow in new ways. Plant through the same thing. There's a lot of, I can go on metaphors, metaphors for days. I'll find me in the back. I'll keep talking about it.

But I love it. I love it. I like that we can take care of. our space, take care of the planet, take care of ourselves by being a plant parent. And like bonus, no shade I've, you know, been, I've had animals most of my life. But like, you don't have to pick up a plant's, you know, that's nice. That's a bonus. You don't.

That's why I got to run your plant and no pets. Well, friends, you can obviously get a copy of You Grow Girl, anywhere books are sold. my darling i want to let everyone have fun and have the gorgeous meal that's been prepared and see what's in their gift baskets oh darling you're in for a treat you really are i'm so excited there may or may not be something from my bees in there you know feels fun terrifying shipping enough of said surprise from los angeles in glass i was like please let the box be okay But we made it. We made it, y'all. I would just love to know, because we are having a Kiki, but we're also on my show. What in this moment, and it could be something professional, personal, a mix of the two, but for Christopher today, what feels like your work in progress?

Ooh. My work in progress is being more present in the fruits of my labor. I put in a lot of work throughout the years. And, you know, I'm a bit of an overachiever. I've always been a straight-A student in school. graduated with honors throughout all my school experiences. And I've always thought about the next thing. Like, okay, what's the next thing I can achieve, right? Which kind of robbed me of the achievement that I made, right? And so right now I'm in a place where I'm trying to help myself understand that this was the point. Like, I'm here.

Enjoy it. And use, you know, this energy. to help you get to the next level, but like, enjoy the fruits of your labor. And so that's why I'm just grateful for moments like these where we can reflect and talk and hopefully inspire y'all to figure out, like, how do you begin your garden? Not your outdoor garden, not your indoor garden or your inner garden, right? We're in interesting times right now. And I think it's important that we allow ourselves, time to be with ourselves and understand that we are the garden. We really have to figure out like how can we nourish ourselves and grow ourselves

so that hopefully our blooms can inspire other people. It's beautiful. You inspire me so much. You inspire me. Thanks for coming. Thank you for having me. Thanks for coming, guys. So lovely. So lovely.

follow our friends at Miracle Grow who brought us here and check out their website, like we said, for easy-to-use products to start your growing journey, take your inspiration. I suggest maybe buy a plant tomorrow before life gets busy and before you forget how good this was. Like, dive in. There's no time like the present friends.

Thanks for being here, everyone. I see you over there, Will. Hi. All right, let's get it up one more time for Sophia and Christopher. Thank you so much. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.