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What if the fewer the plants, the bigger the impact? Right now my house is a construction zone, and my plants are on their own. I have an eight-week-old baby, a '70s house we gutted mid-pregnancy, and a carpeted garage. So yes, a few plants have died. But something else is happening too! My taste is changing. I'm letting go of a lot of little plants, and I want one big beautiful plant for my bathroom instead. In fact, my friend Samantha Hermann of @houseplusplant and I are both in a transitional season of life. She’s moving into a house she designed around her plants… and cutting her collection from 300 to about 100. Here's what she taught me. Let's dive in!

 

In this episode, we learn:

• [01:42] Grab a mini course for whatever your plants need right now with the Growing Joy Academy!
• [02:57] Welcome back, Samantha of @houseplusplant
• [04:05] How much did her plants influence her home design aesthetic?
• [06:07] Instagram vs. reality: where do plant people actually keep their plants?
• [07:36] Cutting her collection from 300 plants down to 100 (intentional vs. collector)
• [10:11] Why she's only keeping big statement plants now
• [12:03] The guilt of letting a plant go
• [15:23] Experience the richness of single-origin honey with 3x more antioxidants with Manukora Honey!
• [19:22] What is she most excited about in the new house?
• [22:20] Renovating a 1970s house while I’m pregnant!
• [24:33] Collecting pieces with a story instead of getting them off Amazon
• [25:29] What are some plant styling rules for a calm home?
• [27:18] Samantha’s framed plant art
• [28:21] Treating a statement plant as art!
• [30:19] What makes a plant grouping actually work?
• [32:33] Does the rule of threes work for plants?
• [33:54] Why there's always a hoya in her groupings
• [36:49] Blooming houseplants that don't get enough credit!
• [37:49] The custom window shelves she's sad to take down
• [40:00] How to build grow lights into your house (outlets, dimmers, timers, and hiding cords)
• [42:16] Why spreading plants throughout your home makes you enjoy them more
• [45:20] What makes her book House + Plant different and QR codes to her DIYs
• [47:28] Pre-orders, the October 6th release, and where to find Samantha!

 

 

Order my book!

Growing Joy: The Plant Lover's Guide to Cultivating Happiness (and Plants) by Maria Failla, Illustrated by Samantha Leung

 

 

Why Fewer Plants Look Better

Samantha says she wants her collection to feel intentional versus collected. 

She sold her greenhouse cabinet. She kept the plants that are hard to replace, the ones she loves, her generational plants, and released anything she could grab at Home Depot tomorrow.

That includes the guilt. 

She gives plants away instead of tossing them, and she's clear about her rule: if it doesn't make her happy to look at, and she doesn't want to fix it, it goes.

 

 

Decorate with Statement Plants

Samantha's smallest plant is a six-inch trailing plant. That's it.

Little pots create visual noise and a lot of watering, so she groups them at the base of a tall plant, still in their own pots, sitting right on the soil. One watering, one arrangement… basically thriller, filler, spiller.

She also hangs a hoya from a branch of her Ficus altissima. She started doing that out of necessity. Now, she does it on purpose.

Note: The planter usually costs more than the plant. Buy it anyway. That's the piece doing the design work.

 

 

How to Group Plants Together

My planters were all over the place, and I couldn't figure out why my plant corner felt stressful to look at.

Here’s Samantha's formula that helped me design my space:

• Pick a planter style
• Vary your heights
• Mix leaf textures and shapes
• Match the light needs first

Color cohesion matters most. Stick to one family, earthy or bright, so your eye goes to the plants instead of the pots. Everything I own is terracotta now.

Then mix waxy with velvety, long and skinny with round and stripey like a watermelon peperomia.

 

 

Creative Ways to Display Plants

Get your plants off the plant stand. You can:

1. Frame them – Samantha hangs plants in frames with a hardwired picture light above them. She had an anthurium in hers, then swapped in a pothos when the light wasn't enough. She's hunting for antique oval frames next.
2. Clear window shelves – hers are custom cut by Beautiful Views Shelves. They filter harsh sun, block the view in from the street, and create curtains with your plants.
3. Hang one in a tree – a hanging pot on a sturdy branch of a big indoor tree.
4. Go vertical – ceiling hangs, pinned vines, green walls, shelving that exists purely for plants.

 

 

Grow Lights That Disappear

Samantha says that if all your plants live in one room, walking in feels like a chore list. Yellow leaves here, repotting there. Spread them out and you actually enjoy them!

You can put a ‘grow bulb’ in any lamp you already have. On LED, they cost pennies a month and they're cheaper than replacing a dead plant.

The good ones aren't blue anymore either. They're warm.

I had my electrician swap my office light for Highland track lights on a dimmer and a timer built into the wall. Samantha put outlets up high for ceiling-mounted lights.

 

 

Permission to Change Your Plant Style

Your collection is allowed to shrink. It's allowed to grow again later.

Just because it looked one way last year doesn't mean you're tethered to that. Samantha built her whole reputation on 300 plants, and she's walking into her dream house with 100.

The goal is to have houseplants that elevate your home instead of overwhelming it.

Samantha's book, House Plus Plant, is out October 6. It's a guidebook with real reader questions answered at the end of every chapter and QR codes that take you straight to her DIY videos.

After that, go look around your house and find one new spot for a plant!

 

 

 

Mentioned in our conversation:

• Growing Joy Academy
• House Plus Plant Equals Home by Samantha Hermann
• Beautiful Views Shelves
• Soltech Highland™ LED Track Light System (Use Bloom15 for 15% off)
• SANSI LED Grow Lights Collection for Indoor Plants
• Episode 235: How to Care for a Lot of Plants (AKA Have a Large Plant Collection) with Samantha of @houseplusplant

 

 

Thank you to our episode sponsor:

Manukora

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Go to manukora.com/bloom to get up to 31% off the starter kit that includes their 850+ Manukora honey jar, 5 honey travel sticks, a wooden spoon, and a guidebook, PLUS $25 worth of free gifts!

 

 

Follow Samantha:

Website
Instagram
YouTube
TikTok
Facebook

 

 

Follow Maria and Growing Joy:

Order my book: Growing Joy: The Plant Lover's Guide to Cultivating Happiness (and Plants) by Maria Failla, Illustrated by Samantha Leung

Take the Plant Parent Personality Quiz (Get the perfect plants, projects and educational resources for YOUR Lifestyle)

Support Growing Joy with Maria by becoming a Plant Friend on Patreon!

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