Tending Your Metaphorical Garden

W E N, I encourage you to do so. Their posts are just magnificent and beautiful. Even if you are not a plant parent like me, you will want to take note of their fashion and their love of plants, how to care for them, how to grow your indoor garden, your outdoor jungle. Christopher and I will get into a conversation today about what plants can teach us, the energy that they provide, how we become more connected to ourselves and our spirit, the gratitude that comes out of watching

things grow. And I hope that all of you will enjoy my conversation with the Plant Queen Christopher Griffin that you should follow at Plant Queen, plant kwee M on Instagram. They are fantastic and I hope that you enjoy the conversation. Leave me comments in the comment section, Folks, I am so very excited to welcome to woke f for the very first time, hopefully not the last time. In my head, I plant bestie Christopher Griffin on Instagram known as plant Queen k w e e N with an immense three

hundred and forty three thousand followers. Can you just talk to me first? I don't even know where to start, but I want to start with your plant journey. I mean, the photos that you post are just absolutely spectacular. But how did you get into gardening? How did you get

into get in touch with with plants and begin your journey? No, of course, M. Well, first I would just say thank you for inviting me to your platform, your show, thank you, thank you, and so yeah, you know, I really started my plant parent journey when I was a little baby queen growing up in West Philadelphia and my grandmother grew up in Clayton, Georgia, and her mother had a farm, and so you know, from the beginning of you know, her childhood, my grandmother, uh was taught that nature was

something to be respected. UM, that was a part of our you know, family's legacy, that it was healing. And so she brought that with her when she came to Philly to raise my mother and my uncle. And so when my um, when my mother had me, I think my grandmother knew that the magic that I had, UM, but I didn't realize at the time, right. I think, as UM, black queer, non binary folks, the world tries to m captain shadow over our power and our magic UM. And so I think my grandmother knew that I had

something special. And she welcomed me into her world of gardening so willingly, so selfishly, and so we would go too. We would have like these little and I was like a sixth year old, a five year old hanging out with my grandmother, and it felt like we were just like absolute besties. And she took me to some of her favorite nurseries in Philadelphia, and she would let me take,

you know, pick out some of the plans. And there was such a light and joy that radiated from her when she was in that space that I feel, you know, really blessed that I was able to witness that and that she shared those moments with me. And so yeah, I really started with my grandmother. And my mother obviously was also a big gardener as well. So um, you know, my plant parent journey really stems from the you know,

powerful black women that I had in my life. And so moved into an apartment about six years ago in New York. It was my second apartment in Brooklyn, and it had a skylight, it had south facing windows, and I was like, Darlin, this is I gotta use this Oh like, I gotta use this face and so um, I went to a little hardware store and I bought I bought my first plant. I still have that queen from Marble Queen Posthos. She's on the other side of

this wall and she's about nine feet long. Now wow, And yeah, it started this journey that I didn't know that I was going to go on, a journey of exploring myself in ways that I can better care for myself, A journey of exploring what kind of nurturer I am, A journey of you know, really of tending not only to my indoor garden, but the metaphorical garden that is

my you know, heart, mind, body, and soul. U. So yeah, now I have about two hundred and twenty three twenty four plants and my little Brooklyn apartment and if less you's ever Oh my god. Okay, So first of all, you have just made me. I'm gonna take that sound by it and send it to all my friends that are telling me to stop buying plants, right because I

think that I think they're haters. They're like Danielle, I don't know where you're going to find room because my entire coffee table and part of my living room is

an indoor jungle. Um, I I love it so much. UM, talk to me about the ways in which you because it sounds to me and I feel similarly in that Karen for Plants has really helped me get in better touch with my self care and you know it and honestly really has been a part of my alignment and understanding of like energy and how energy shifts space, right, and and I see that with my plants on a regular basis. Um, how has tending to as you said,

your actual garden and your metaphorical garden? How has that, um come about? Like? How do you how do you explain that journey. Yeah, you know, it was a particular moment that I'm thinking of. And I'm a storyteller, so if I if I thought ranton, then yeah, we can pull me back. No. I love it. I love it. That's why, that's why you're here. You tell those you tell those stories on the Instagram and I'm sitting there

just in rapture, so please go. Oh my goodness. Um, but yeah'm thinking about this one particular moment where you know, I had accumulated a good amount of plants and this was you know, that deck an apartment with and all that stuff. And you know, praise be to my my roommates at the time because they put up with me because my plans took over that space. We've I had plants all over this space. Um, and my roommates for

patient with me, so God bless them. Um. But there was a particular moment where I had accumulated enough plants where I needed to start, Um, I needed a routine to water them. Right, It's like, Okay, I have enough of them. I have to build a routines. So I was like, Okay, Sundays is going to be my day. Sunday is going to be the day, I'm gonna, you know, take a break from everything and really just be present

right now as a busybody, as an extrovert. Um. You know, I'm quick to you know, oh y'all want to hang out. We gotta you know, social gathering. I wouldn't and b um, but I realized that, you know, extra virgin and intra virgin is on a spectrum, right Um. And just because I'm an extrovert doesn't necessarily mean that I don't appreciate shape and need my solitude. Right. So it sundays with like my solitude moment. And so as I'm watering my plant, you know, I was like, oh, I say, this is

this is the work. Okay, you don't have a small amount. It takes you through brunch like it. It's what I'm thinking about. I'm like, you're starting at twelve o'clock, you know, free mimosas, and by by four o'clock you're still out there boring you better know my life? Who that is hilarious. Um. But yeah, So there was a moment I was like, whoa,

this is work. And then as I'm you know, um, you know, giving my plants water, I was like, oh, I was like my I was like, I'm a little thirsty, and I was like, why haven't I drinking water yet? I was like, I haven't been outside yet, but I'm concerned about the sunlight and where their place. And there was a moment that switched in my head and I

was like, oh, my goodness, like the same. You know, sometimes it be a simple things, right, just things will be right in front of our faces and it takes its time to realize them, right, um, And so the moment, I was like, wow, you know, I'm always worried about the amount of water and that my plants are hydrated. I need to do that for a body too, right, And then you know, I'm gonna I fertilize my plans

for a schedule and I'm very intentional about that. And I was like, well, I do for the nutrients that my body needs to So I think that moment, and you know, that day, my mother actually called me and I was like, yeah, I'm just having had some music on, I had my memosa and I was having my moment, and you know, my mom called me and we had like a little moment and she was showing me some of her plants. I was showing her some of my plants and you know, you remind me of your grandmother.

And then you know, the ootional moment and she was like, you're growing your garden, and so it was like, only was that growing a green girl that I love in a door, um, but I think she also meant like, you're taking care of yourself and that's that's beautiful. So so that was that was that was a moment um and then yeah, it kind of just took off from there where I was like, you know what, I have to be protective of my energy, have to be protective

of um. You know how I navigate this world in a way that um just feels good for me, you know, you know it's so it's so important. I think it's funny. I feel that the older I get, the more that my my both of my grandparents have passed away. But the older I get, the more I realized that I'm becoming like them. Right how people say you become your parents, you become and God willing, you had good people around

you to emulate. But you know the care that you know, my grandfather took with his outdoor garden, with the with the food garden, the care that my grandmother took with you know, the indoor garden. I'm, you know, a child of immigrants. My family came to the United States from Jamaica, and you know, to create that essence of like tropics and you know and greenery. Um, they did so by bringing in so much beauty into the home, but then

also really teaching us to slow down as well. Um, what are some of the things that came up for you, Christopher, because for a lot of folks, a lot of people became plant parents during the pandemic, you know, during twenty twenty. Um, I know that I did. It was when you know, you're inside and you're like, I need to create the beauty inside. Um that I used to go after outside. And so for you, you know what came up for

you during during the during the pandemic. And I'm certain your phone was probably ringing off the hook, people texting me off the hook talking about child come over here and help me because I needed to do something. I'm about to lose my mind. No, um. Yeah, So you know, the pandemic was a very interesting time. I so there

was definitely more plants. I came into my space and actually I had moved into this sphase in January, and so there was still a lot for me to do in this space and it kind of just became like a little project. I was like, I need something to think my mind into, um, and it became decorating and greening up and making this space feel like home. And you know, I kind of used my Instagram to like

kind of document that journey. And so yeah, that was a lot of the pandem MAC for me, honestly, just decorating my space and making myself feel you know, it was I think it was me doing a lot of reflection and giving myself the time to just sit still

and learn how to enjoy my own company. I think that was a big you know, and I think there's been you know, parts of my life where I've been you know, allowed myself to explore that, um, but it had been a while since I've explored that with myself and you know, this current time, in this current space and where I was in my life at that particular time. So yes, my phone was blowing up, both you know, personal friends and loved ones being like, girl, like I

need to make this space better for me. How can I do that? And I was like, well, there's a multitude of different ways, right. Um, you know, plants is just one of the avenues that um, you know, you can you know go down in terms of you know, making a space feel like yours. Um. But I did a lot of meditation. I started working out at home and trying to craft that for myself. UM. I bought a bike and started biking. UM. Started writing a lot more um perst for myself. UM. And I'm a plantner,

so did a lot of like plant research. Started buying a lot of plant books. UM, started doing some reading. UM. So yeah, but I think the core of the pandemic was a lot of what you said in terms of just learning to slow down and just reanalyzing, um, you know, the things that were you know in my life, UM, dreams that I had, you know, put aside, and being like let me dust those all and like, let's revisit some of those dreams to see if those are ones

I'm ready to embark one now. Analyzing my own fears and anxieties and you know, just really coming to peace with where I was and enjoying and appreciating the journey. Right. And there was a quote that I read that we need to appreciate, we need to appreciate how temporary things are. Yea, So it was I was trying to like really just exist in the moment and honestly just let my my being guide me through what I needed. That is it

for today's wok F Daily podcast. To hear more from me, including five full hour long shows every single week, exclusive guest interviews, and more, support me on Patreon at patreon dot com. I'm slash woke AF. Power to the people and to all the people. Power, get woke and stay woke as fuck.