Speaker 1: Hey there, I'm Mongisatiular're a co host of Part Time Genius,
Speaker 1: one of the founders of Mental Flaws, and this is
Speaker 1: Humans Growing Stuff, a collaboration from My Heart Radio and
Speaker 1: your friends at Miracle Grow. Our goal is to make
Speaker 1: this the most human show about plants you'll ever listen to,
Speaker 1: and along the way, we'll share inspiring stories, tips and
Speaker 1: tricks to nurture your plant addiction, and just enough science
Speaker 1: to make you sound like an expert. We are on
Speaker 1: summer break right now, but the truth is Molly and
Speaker 1: I can't stop our plant addiction, so we're bringing you
Speaker 1: some sunny mini episodes to enjoy before we return with
Speaker 1: a brand new season. Throughout the summer, we'll be dropping
Speaker 1: incredible stories from growers, fun advice we get from experts,
Speaker 1: and we'll have some fun conversations around fascinating plants. So
Speaker 1: for this bonus episode, Molly and I went on a
Speaker 1: field trip to the plant nursery. We wanted to explore
Speaker 1: what kind of interesting, fun plants we can discover and adopt,
Speaker 1: and we were not disappointed with our options. Start looking
Speaker 1: where you want to go? Yeah, do you know what
Speaker 1: this is? I have no idea what stage apparently so.
Speaker 1: At the start of summer, Molly and I met up
Speaker 1: in Brooklyn one day and we went on a field
Speaker 1: trip to a local plant nursery to find our next plants.
Speaker 1: Do you know what sort of plants you're looking for?
Speaker 1: I think I'm going to look at basil like herb plants,
Speaker 1: if that makes plants. What are you looking for me?
Speaker 1: I got a dragon at last weekend, like one of
Speaker 1: those dragon plants, and it's really really sweet. And I
Speaker 1: found out it's part of the asparagus family, which is crazy.
Speaker 1: I had no idea, but um but I was thinking
Speaker 1: about maybe getting it a companion or I also really
Speaker 1: want to get like a palm of some sort from
Speaker 1: my office. I like it. Let's see it, let's see what.
Speaker 1: There's so much here, Yeah, I know, it's beautiful. It's
Speaker 1: so fun to be here. And eventually we found ourselves
Speaker 1: completely entranced by all of the different flora around us.
Speaker 1: These are so these are Yeah. I'm always fascinated by
Speaker 1: the fact that, like the different colors or the different
Speaker 1: acidity in the soil right like makes it different colors.
Speaker 1: I love those purple ones back there. Yeah, that's really pretty. Yeah,
Speaker 1: what do you think this. Oh, it looks a little
Speaker 1: bit like Oscar the grouches fluff, doesn't it. It's a
Speaker 1: silver mound. It's sweet, right, I just want to pet it.
Speaker 1: They all had the most clever and whimsical names. This
Speaker 1: is amazing. It's got so many little seculents in there.
Speaker 1: It's called hens and chicks. Oh my god, that's very cute.
Speaker 1: I like all these names, little miss Sunshine, Jewel of
Speaker 1: the desert. So we decided to have some fun and
Speaker 1: tried naming a few of them ourselves. Okay, not look
Speaker 1: at this. What would you mean this planet? It is
Speaker 1: of first, I've describe it right now. It just looks
Speaker 1: like it's got green pointy leaves. But um, but it
Speaker 1: looks like it's supposed to grow pink and beautiful. Um.
Speaker 1: I would call it an emerald slipper. Oh, it's named Gina.
Speaker 1: His name is Gina. I would have called with leroy.
Speaker 1: I guess if I know that, being more conventional names.
Speaker 1: But works. Eventually, it was way too hot out for
Speaker 1: us to stay outdoors, so we headed into the house
Speaker 1: plant area inside where they had ponytail palms and zz
Speaker 1: plants and snake plants, and it was there among all
Speaker 1: this greenery that we discovered a little gem of a plant,
Speaker 1: a spotted bagonia, that I knew I had to take home.
Speaker 1: The plant is also known as a trout bagonia or
Speaker 1: a polka dot plant. Oh wow, it's polka dot. That's
Speaker 1: really lovely, right, yeah. It has these the most large
Speaker 1: comma shaped leaves and uh, and they have polka dots
Speaker 1: on them, and like white polka dots on green. And
Speaker 1: then underneath there they've got this lovely like red pink
Speaker 1: color like a watermelon. I canna get one. It's just
Speaker 1: kind of neat. But what should we name them? One
Speaker 1: of the simplest things I always do at the nursery
Speaker 1: is to ask the staff about the plant before I
Speaker 1: purchase it. I'm always a little intimidated, but I do
Speaker 1: it because that way you'll know if you have some
Speaker 1: finicky plant on your hands, you know exactly how it
Speaker 1: has to be cared for. My new bagonia, for example,
Speaker 1: thrives in diffuse sunlight. In fact, if you put it
Speaker 1: in a space that's too dim, it won't flower. So
Speaker 1: I found a corner that wasn't front and center in
Speaker 1: the window, but close enough where it wasn't in the
Speaker 1: dark either and still got a decent amount of light.
Speaker 1: I also learned from the nursery team that this plant
Speaker 1: needs to dry out completely between waterings. Not as dry
Speaker 1: as a cactus, but the top couple inches of the
Speaker 1: soil should be dry before you water it again. It's funny.
Speaker 1: When I went home, I read up on bigonias, and
Speaker 1: the first story I found in the New York Times
Speaker 1: was headlined it takes a rebel and a show off
Speaker 1: to love a Bagonia. The article explained that because bigonias
Speaker 1: had peaked in popularity in the nineteen forties, they're kind
Speaker 1: of a bargain and you have to be a rebel
Speaker 1: to love them, and since they're over a thousand species
Speaker 1: of begonia, you can show off your knowledge and looked
Speaker 1: like a plant expert. I, for the record, am neither
Speaker 1: rubble nor a show off, but it is exciting that
Speaker 1: the small, cute plant I bought, which is probably no
Speaker 1: bigger than the height and width of my hand, is
Speaker 1: going to get pretty big. In fact, on average, the
Speaker 1: polka dot pagonias will get anywhere between two to three
Speaker 1: ft in height. For me, the best part about wandering
Speaker 1: around in garden center or nursery is stumbling into these
Speaker 1: unexpected and wondrous plants you never knew existed, and then
Speaker 1: getting the chance to learn all about them. I went
Speaker 1: home that day with the snake plant and the polka
Speaker 1: dot pagonia. But I left the nursery feeling the same
Speaker 1: way I often do, excited and inspired and smiling a
Speaker 1: little wider than when I had walked in. And now
Speaker 1: for another poetry Corner, Nursery Rhyme Edition, two podcasters sought
Speaker 1: to find perfect plants, one with bright colors not covered
Speaker 1: with ants. So they traveled as far as the subway
Speaker 1: would take them to a nursery in Brooklyn with enough
Speaker 1: plants to placate them. They found flowers with funny names,
Speaker 1: and shrubs that like shade, all sorts of perennials and
Speaker 1: cactus and jade. But they searched and they scoured, and
Speaker 1: they turned up their noses because, unlike the Bachelor, they
Speaker 1: refused to accept roses. So after hunting and pecking through
Speaker 1: each and every pot, they finally found one, a tiny
Speaker 1: plant with big polka dots. Are you buying it? Asked Molly.
Speaker 1: Mango said, Oh I am, it'll look great. On my
Speaker 1: sill and even better on the gram. But what's it called,
Speaker 1: said Mango, who's not very smart. A spotted begonia, said Molly,
Speaker 1: you threw it in the cart. But before they could, hey,
Speaker 1: the staff offered some warnings. It will need to dry
Speaker 1: out between every watering. Also, they chorused, it likes a
Speaker 1: lot of light, but don't put in a window because
Speaker 1: that'll be too bright. But then they whispered the best
Speaker 1: part of all, if you treat this plant right, it'll
Speaker 1: grow big and tall. This plant, it had spunk, It
Speaker 1: was dotted with fun. So the podcasters decided it had
Speaker 1: to be the one, and along with the snake plant,
Speaker 1: who they gave the name Sonja, they adopted this house
Speaker 1: plant from the family big going, Yeah, thank you. That's
Speaker 1: it for today's bonus episode, but check back here again
Speaker 1: soon for more bonus episodes this summer. And don't forget
Speaker 1: no matter what season it is or where you're at
Speaker 1: in your gardening journey, there's some incredible resources waiting for
Speaker 1: you on the America Will Grow website. Humans Growing Stuff
Speaker 1: is a collaboration from I Heart Radio and your friends
Speaker 1: at Miracle Grow. Our show is written and produced by Molly,
Speaker 1: Sosha and Ni mug Shit together. Thank you so much
Speaker 1: for listening.