Growing Joy with Plants - Wellness Rooted in Nature, Houseplants, Gardening and Plant Care · Maria Failla- Happy Plant Lady and Author of Growing Joy: The Plant Lover's Guide to Cultivating Happiness

From Plant Care to Nature Therapy: A Solo Heart to Heart

January 13, 2026·29 min·1 clip

Maria explains that forest therapy is not hiking, camping, or backpacking.

1. Growing Joy with Plants opens Season 11 with an episode about Maria's shift from houseplant care toward nature therapy and self-care through plants. 2. Maria, the show's solo host and a former Broadway performer, frames the episode as a personal update about 2025, 2026, and the direction of the brand. 3. The episode asks what the show is for now: teaching plant care, or teaching people how to reconnect with nature and themselves. 4. Maria says 2025 was the year the podcast expanded from four episodes a month to eight episodes a month, with new Tuesday releases and the Thursday “best of growing joy” series. 5. She describes launching the Growing Joy with Plants Masterclass in February after distilling eight years of care experience, 150-plus interviews, and her own courses into an eight-module program. 6. Maria says listener feedback led her to break that course into mini-courses on plant pests, houseplant care basics, and how to shop for plants. 7. She explains that she is the only full-time person on the brand, with contractors including podcast manager Bailey, editors, and brand manager Callie. 8. Maria says in-person events at PlantCon, Southeast Plant Show, and the Northwest Flower and Garden Show showed her how listeners recognize her, sing the theme song, and show plant photos on their phones. 9. She says that lack of real-time feedback is a disadvantage for podcasters compared with YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok creators. 10. Maria says those events made her want more community opportunities after the earlier Growing Joy Garden Society was closed. 11. She says plant people are unusually kind because caring for plants requires sensitivity, patience, and attention to living things that cannot speak. 12. Maria shares that 2025 was her first full year living in Florida after moving from New York in 2024, and she says she worked on making friends and building local community. 13. She also mentions personal health struggles that she has not yet discussed publicly and says she has been tending to her body behind the scenes. 14. Maria says she has become less interested in making episodes about “how to waterhouse plants” because she has already created 350 episodes and a full digital course on that subject. 15. She says the new focus is “how do you water yourself?” and how plant life can act as a mirror for reconnecting with the self. 16. Maria says she wants to help every person disconnect from screens and reconnect with nature as the vehicle, while keeping the show rooted in plants and joy. 17. She says she has become certified as a sound practitioner after buying crystal bowls and wants to build sound-bath experiences that include singing in natural settings. 18. Maria explains that she enrolled in a six-month forest therapy guide certification with ANFT, or the Association of Nature and Forest Therapy Guides and Programs. 19. She describes the episode as personal, conversational, and vulnerable, with a lot of reflection, brand update, and direct address to the audience. 20. Listeners who want plant care plus nature-based self-care will likely stay, while listeners who only want technical watering tips may skip it.

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