You Grow, Gurl!: Plant Kween's Guide to Growing Your Garden

by Christopher Griffin

Discover the joys and self-nurturing benefits of plant parenthood, from learning how to begin building your own lush plant family to getting into those fun tips on how to care for your green gurls, with this beautiful, illustrated guide from the dazzling creator of the @plantkween Instagram account.

"We all love some new growth, dahling."

Six years ago, Christopher Griffin was just beginning the plant parenthood journey with one small Marble Queen Pothos. Today, this Black Queer non-binary femme plant influencer known as Plant Kween tends to a family of more than 200 healthy green gurls in the Brooklyn apartment they call home. You Grow, Gurl! is Kween's fun and fabulous guide to becoming a plant parent and keeping your green gurls growing and thriving.

Anyone can be a plant parent! It's all about TLC--taking the time and energy to focus on a plant's needs, and ultimately your own. Featuring 200 full-color photos and illustrations, practical instructions and tips--on everything from propagating to measuring humidity to repotting--activities, and stories, this fun and joyful guide shows how to green-up any space and have it serving those lush lewks.

Self-care takes many forms and tending to your plants' needs helps you grow too. In addition to information and advice on plant care, Kween provides meditations, mindfulness activities, playlists, and more to help you practice self-care through plant-care. As Kween says, "We can learn a lot about how we treat ourselves, how we treat others, and how we navigate the world from these green lil creatures."

Healing and growing your heart, body, and soul takes time, love, and focus. Taking care of plants teaches you to apply that same attention and love to yourself and helps you find new pathways to explore on your own botanical adventure to self-love.

Genres: Gardening, Nonfiction, Plants, Reference, Nature, Self Help

224 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 22, 2022

Reviews

[Quirkyreader · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was FABULOUS!

It is also a good introduction for growing indoor plants. If you are grow curious, and like fabulous people, give this book a try.

[AMAO · Rating 5 out of 5]

You Grow, Gurl!: A Lush Guide to Plant Parenthood by Christopher Griffin
Published February 22nd 2022

<3 The pictures of his/her outfits, pumps and plants was worth the read on its own. <3

Discover the joys and self-nurturing benefits of plant parenthood, from learning how to begin building your own lush plant family to getting into those fun tips on how to care for your green gurls, with this beautiful, illustrated guide from the dazzling creator of the @plantkween Instagram account.

"We all love some new growth, dahling."

Six years ago, Christopher Griffin was just beginning the plant parenthood journey with one small Marble Queen Pothos. Today, this Black Queer non-binary femme plant influencer known as Plant Kween tends to a family of more than 200 healthy green gurls in the Brooklyn apartment they call home. You Grow, Gurl! is Kween's fun and fabulous guide to becoming a plant parent and keeping your green gurls growing and thriving.

Anyone can be a plant parent! It's all about TLC—taking the time and energy to focus on a plant's needs, and ultimately your own. Featuring 200 full-color photos and illustrations, practical instructions and tips—on everything from propagating to measuring humidity to repotting—activities, and stories, this fun and joyful guide shows how to green-up any space and have it serving those lush lewks.

Self-care takes many forms and tending to your plants' needs helps you grow too. In addition to information and advice on plant care, Kween provides meditations, mindfulness activities, playlists, and more to help you practice self-care through plant-care. As Kween says, "We can learn a lot about how we treat ourselves, how we treat others, and how we navigate the world from these green lil creatures."

Healing and growing your heart, body, and soul takes time, love, and focus. Taking care of plants teaches you to apply that same attention and love to yourself and helps you find new pathways to explore on your own botanical adventure to self-love.

[Terri · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun and engaging read/resource book for the non-plant parent people like me! I love their IG and was delighted to see they had a book put!

[Jenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve been following the author’s instagram for a while now and it brings me such joy. They are so brilliant and warm and funny and creative. When I found out they had written a book I reserved it right away. Such a fun and helpful tome. 🪴

[Dolly · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an absolute joy. I really felt the genuine care and enthusiasm PlantKween has for their "green gurls." I'm inspired to start my own little indoor garden. There were plenty of great tips and ideas for a beginner.

[Moriah · Rating 5 out of 5]

A vibrant, informative how-to for any plant parent, whether just breaking in or finding yourself wanting to branch out after a few years of taking care of some plant babies. Christopher's commitment to sharing joy jumps off the page in between serious discussions on everything from how to invest in a humidifying system to how plant care can translate to self-care. Christopher's energetic voice is honored by photographer Phoebe Cheong's gorgeous and tranquil images. You Grow, Gurl! is book you can read again and again and keep learning something new.

[Nan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the best, and most fun and entertaining, house plant book I’ve read since I started keeping plants and researching how to care for them. Make no mistake, this book has the straight scoop on plants and plant care, as well as how to derive joy from them. It has plant profiles of the most common plants, as well as a handful of the author’s personal faves. And I’ll likely be making pilgrimages to plant shops, though I don’t know that I’ll be able to appear quite as fabulous as the author there! Lavishly and lushly illustrated.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great plant book. Filled with sound advice and lush photos, it's a great read for new and experienced plant parents. One thing that really set this plant book apart was Griffin's inclusion of recommended self care tips, as well as plant care tips. It's such a thoughtful and lovely inclusion. I also appreciated Griffin's accessible language and no-judgment advice (a sort of "do this if you can, no worries if you can't" or "let's find another option" approach). If you follow Griffin on Instagram, you know what I mean!

This is an invaluable addition to my plant book collection.

[Courtney · Rating 4 out of 5]

I started this as a Kindle book and purchased the hard copy because the information is so useful in my plant parenting. I feel like a lot of books I’ve read about plants have been about species of plants and their individual needs. While that’s part of the book, I most appreciate Griffin’s discussion of soil mixtures, repotting and other logistics. Unexpected bonus— FASHION and gorgeous styling in each photo.

[Meg · Rating 4 out of 5]

When browsing the library’s garden section, I picked this up purely due to the cover. I realized when starting it it’s about maintaining indoor plants (not really feasible in this season of life with 3 small children and a young dog), however I still enjoyed reading and gleaning information. The design and photography is gorgeous. This book would be especially great for those in and around Brooklyn as Plant Kween references several plant shops in the Brooklyn area.

[Paige · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is some very valuable and accessible information for plant care and consideration in this book. I really enjoyed the notes on the relationship between people and plants throughout. I’m definitely not the target audience for this book and had to skim over a lot of the pop culture references. The photography and graphics are stunning and I know many people who will love this in their lives.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the best books I've seen for being the best plant parent you can be. The Shadow Test is brilliant. The advice is spot on. I borrowed this from the library because I've found that plant books are really hit or miss. I don't want to spend money on something I won't ever refer to. This was a hit and I went ahead and bought it.

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this book! It's a warm-hearted and sassy guide to everything houseplants and, in turn, self care. I've been gardener and house plant parent for decades now and I still had plenty to learn here, but it's definitely meant as a broadly sweeping introduction to growing your own "green gurls." Looking forward to keeping this as a reference book and gifting other copies to other plant lovahs.

[Skye · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book met me exactly where I needed it with great clear fulsome instructions on what I needed to know as a novice plant mama. The lighthearted uplift throughout was fun and kept me reading. The pictures of the author looking rapturous with healthy plants were inspiring! I’ll return to this book as a guide in the future.

[Ruth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm a huge fan of Plant Kween's instagram, so I was pretty excited to get this book from the library!

I read the whole thing with his voice in my head - hah!

Lots of good information and a fun read.

[Tryon Hilton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Over the top kweenliness with lush photography, it’s a great beginners book. I was hoping for more info about individual plants and less about individual stores (smacks of sponsorship, insta-style), but it’s engaging and a very quick read if you mostly know your way around your own jungalow.

[Joy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wish this would have had more plant varieties in it but overall it is a really great book. And for it to add in self-care is really unique. Because plant books are just plant books and self-care books are just self care books but to combine them for people that love those things is beautiful.

[Rev · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the author's energy! Most of the information was things I'd already learned earlier in my plant parenting journey, but I still really enjoyed reading this, and I feel like more newbie plant parents would be able to make use of the information provided.

[Jeffrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chris' book is a magical, joyous exploration of plant life and how to cultivate it in your home. Read this book with an open mind and heart to see how caring for green gurls can teach us volumes about ourselves--and encourage self-growth as well. ::moans with pleasure::

[Tammie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice guide for beginner to set up the space and journey for exploring.
Would like to know more on the soil section though, very visual! Pleasant read!

[Brooke Wingren · Rating 4 out of 5]

I absolutely love how this book explains the connection between plants and people. We need each other. This book radiates that positivity! I appreciate the soil mixtures as well.

[SassieMolassie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! Loved the jungle-y plant arrangements, loved the guide, and above all I LOVED the Plant Kween! Absolutely joyous. Smiled throughout.

[Suzi Loosen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Even if you're not into plants, it's worth reading this book for the energy that pops off the pages.

[Flo Rouk · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read many books on houseplants and this one is among the most thorough ones. I particularly appreciated the chapters on soil mixtures, fertilizers and care.

[Alison Mirabella · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the few houseplant books that really covers the basics- looking forward to growing my green fam!

[Colleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful book! Both physically and emotionally.

[Michelle Hart · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot of great information and super fun to read!

[Sammi Hughes · Rating 5 out of 5]

it was literally like sitting down with a good friend to learn about everything you want to know about being a plant parent

[Deirdre · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of good information in here! I wasn’t certain if I could make it through the super repetitive use of: hunty, werk, lewk, bawdy and kween. To my surprise, the content was good enough for me to overlook all of that filler and fluff. I like that the author includes tips on how to make plant ‘parenthood’ more social and even shares some of the ways in which you can plan plant-focused ‘self-care’.

[Danielle · Rating 4 out of 5]

A delightful and useful read!