Episode 333: The grief lesson hidden inside a houseplant - my chat with Krystal Duran
transcript
Transcript © Jane Perrone. Originally published at janeperrone.com. Please do not reproduce or republish without permission.
Jane Perrone (00:09) Hello, I'm Jane Perrone and welcome to On the Ledge Podcast. And this week I am joined by Krystal Duran. Welcome to the show, Krystal. Thank you very much for joining me.
Krystal Duran (00:22) Yay, thank you, Jane. Thank you for having me.
Jane Perrone (00:25) well I've been reading your book and digging deep into your social media and the first thing I have to say to you, Krystal, is I need you, not just because it's fungus gnat season, but I need you to say the word that's spelt P-U-P-A. Because I just it it brings me so much joy. It really does.
Krystal Duran (00:48) The poopa.
But I know it's not that way. It's just that's what popped into my head first. The poop-ae. But the poopah rhymes with another
Jane Perrone (00:56) The
Krystal Duran (00:58) word that is commonly used.
Jane Perrone (01:00) Yes, I know. I I
I just love that. It made me absolutely ruck up. see here in the UK we would say pupa. Pewpa. and my Canadian
Krystal Duran (01:08) Hugh
Jane Perrone (01:13) family think it's hilarious. Anyway, it just made me laugh so much. And this is the wonderful
Krystal Duran (01:16) Ha ha ha.
Jane Perrone (01:17) thing about your social media, is if I'm looking if I'm feeling a bit down, I'm looking for something that's gonna just make me feel good about the world, I can pretty much always rely on your Instagram.
to provide me with not only good houseplant info but also some serious fun. So that's a by way of introduction to say no
Krystal Duran (01:35) Yay, thanks.
Jane Perrone (01:39) wonder you've got I don't know how many is it two million followers on Insta now? One million? I can't even remember.
Krystal Duran (01:46) on Instagram,
yes, it's over over a million now. Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Jane Perrone (01:50) Wow. I mean
what's a million among friends?
Krystal Duran (01:55) I sat back, I was at a concert recently and I sat back and the stadium housed sixty thousand people and it really puts it into perspective. It's like, Wow, that's a lot of stadiums So I'm I'm very
Jane Perrone (02:05) Yeah.
Krystal Duran (02:05) grateful for the support.
Jane Perrone (02:07) Do you ever get recognized? Do people ever say, Krystal! As you sort of, you know, you're in, I don't know, Walmart or something and somebody spots you.
Krystal Duran (02:16) yeah, I think the the most fun I've had with someone recognizing me is someone screamed outside of their window as they were driving, 'drown that ho'. because that's a term that I use to to share that you should water your plants thoroughly. And so immediately as I heard that I whipped around and she was just very enthusiastic and so that was a lot of fun. So I have moments like that. Yeah.
Jane Perrone (02:41) That. Yeah,
I love that. I love that. now we're here to talk about your new book, and the thing about books is that there's a lot of them out there, but this one I loved for its realness, I think is is the way I would sum that up, and and it talk you talk very, very honestly about how things can go wrong with your plants as well as the stuff that goes right, and you also
inevitably and you know completely rationally talk about the experience of of losing your husband. I actually hate that phrase. Do you hate that phrase 'losing your husband'? Like you didn't lose is it
Krystal Duran (03:23) He he
did that. He i it's hard. It's I
Jane Perrone (03:26) It's hard it's hard to come up with the words.
Krystal Duran (03:28) it's hard to come up with the word. I and I have dark humor gets me through a lot of things. So
Jane Perrone (03:34) Mm-hmm.
Krystal Duran (03:35) I you know, losing sounds like he went through a forest and then, you know, I was never able to get him back. But whatever makes people feel comfortable, I've learned with grief, there's just no right or wrong way to go about things.
Jane Perrone (03:49) Mm.
Krystal Duran (03:49) So yeah, he's no longer here with me, but
Jane Perrone (03:52) Yeah.
Krystal Duran (03:53) Yeah, I guess. Yeah.
Jane Perrone (03:54) so you've got you've you've you've you've got an experience which has put something really tragic in your life, but you still have your husband's plant, an agglonema. Now that must carry a great freight of symbolism for you, I'm sure, because he loved this plant, you've still got it. but
Do you ever feel like, gosh, this is such a responsibility to keep this plant alive? How how do you feel about the agenema now?
Krystal Duran (04:23) I to be honest, it wasn't a plant that was in my collection that I actually really enjoyed even back then. it was more so his favorite. And so even now I I have this I don't want to say love hate because hate sounds like too strong of a word, but I have this stubbornness with this plant where I'm like, you you put me through so much as well, but it has such a significance that I cannot let it go. And so
Aglionema is here with me, so I brought it to show.
Jane Perrone (04:54) Nice.
Krystal Duran (04:55) but yeah, Avatar is the Av Agleonima's name. And we've just been through so much. I think it's more of like a a trauma response now to have it together. So So to have So yeah, here
Jane Perrone (05:08) Yeah.
Krystal Duran (05:08) here it is. But I
Jane Perrone (05:10) Why
was that your plant husband's favourite plant? What did he like about it, do you know?
Krystal Duran (05:15) I don't even
know either I I know he liked the colors of it. I I know he his favorite
Jane Perrone (05:20) Mm.
Krystal Duran (05:20) movie was was Avatar. And so
Jane Perrone (05:23) Mm.
Krystal Duran (05:24) he said that it reminded him of something you would find in the movie. And so as far as it being you know, colorful like it, like Avatar in the movie, that makes sense. But it's not really one that people lean towards anyway. So, I don't know, it's one of his his things.
Jane Perrone (05:44) That's really nice. my the only plant that my husband has who is alive.
Krystal Duran (05:50) Mm-hmm.
Jane Perrone (05:52) I I often I was thinking about this. I was thinking, God, this I mean I mean I dark humour also is something that I I mean I'm a journalist by training, right? Dark humor.
Krystal Duran (06:00) Yeah.
Jane Perrone (06:00) I used to do breaking news. I did breaking news for seven years during the period
2000 to 2007. So dark humour got me through a lot.
Krystal Duran (06:09) Yeah.
Jane Perrone (06:10) But my husband has this Dracina,
which is just over there, and I did think to myself, gosh, if he went, what what would I do with this blimmin' Dracina? Which is not a great popular well not a favourite plant of mine, but we do we do sort of, you know, embody these plants with you know, y he's given it a name and and I mean, do you name a lot of your plants? Do you find that helps you or is that the road to ruin?
Krystal Duran (06:36) No, it's usually the energy that they give off, especially if they look more I don't know, sometimes they look more like a he or she or they. I I just don't I don't it's just their energy. And so I but
Jane Perrone (06:46) Mm-hmm.
Krystal Duran (06:47) I have too many to name them and to remember their names. I hardly remember my name half the time and so it's a name
Jane Perrone (06:53) Yeah.
Krystal Duran (06:53) them. I I just try to stick to their common name or their actual name. So yeah.
Jane Perrone (06:59) Yeah. Well it's hard.
I mean, you know you've got a dog or dogs, you know, just hard enough remembering the dog's name, right? You know It's like, what's your name? Who are you? yeah. I
Krystal Duran (07:05) Exactly. Exactly. Right. Yeah.
Jane Perrone (07:12) mean, you've had this experience of bereavement with at such a young age. I I think what would I I would love to know, because I'm sure there's so many people out there who've been in this situation of having a relative or a friend who is grieving.
And not knowing, as we said, not knowing the words, not having the words. Is there anything if you've got a planty friend who's who's going through this, what is it can we give any advice or is the advice just to be there?
Krystal Duran (07:41) Gosh. So I I have both perspectives. I have the perspective of myself that's gone through loss. And then I also have had a lot of conversations with people that dealt with me through my loss, specifically my parents. And so
Jane Perrone (07:54) Mm. Mm-hmm.
Krystal Duran (07:56) for me, what I really just wanted is for someone to be there with me. Sometimes it was just the silence was more than enough. And the
Also, when someone would say, Call me if you need anything, I'm not gonna call you. I'm not we just don't have the ability to do that. And so I loved when I had my parents that would just come over, even though I didn't think that I wanted somebody over, it was nice for them to just sit with me.
I had friends that would just drop off food. That was great because most of the time I didn't even know what I was gonna be eating. And so that part I think is really important for friends or family or anyone that's experiencing loss with with someone else is just to be there with them. for someone like my parents that were going through it alongside with me, they said I didn't know how to help. I didn't know how to fix it.
And I would tell them, you unfortunately you can't. But just being there was more than enough. So, you know, to answer the question about plants and having plants and should we buy someone plants when they're going through loss, I think it's a lot of it's a lot to put on someone when they can't even take care of themselves quite yet.
Jane Perrone (09:19) Mm-hmm.
Krystal Duran (09:21) And so I received a lot of plants and
Majority of those plants didn't even make it and I actually felt guilty. So it's like an another added layer of loss on top of that. So
Jane Perrone (09:30) Yeah. Yeah.
Krystal Duran (09:32) yeah, that was hard, but
Jane Perrone (09:34) Yeah, that is hard. And you I mean, I saw your reel about, you know, houseplant baskets, which are I kind of think the world's worst option in that you've then got like you're looking at it as a plant person going, my gosh, why have they put that fern in with that succulent? And you know, it I mean, if you don't have the bandwidth, you don't have the bandwidth, right? I j yeah,
Krystal Duran (09:46) Yeah.
Jane Perrone (09:55) I can totally understand that. And I think it's as you say, just the presence is all that's really required and
Yeah, I I I can I think that's excellent advice. I mean, this book though is obviously it it it's part of your who you are now, but this book isn't just about sad stuff. There's so much joy in here and so much sage advice, which has obviously come from somebody who's been growing plants and enjoying them and learning about them. I want to talk about two things that
Kind of come out of being a social media plant person and how that relates to one of your projects. the indoor pond. Now,
Krystal Duran (10:36) Mm-hmm.
Jane Perrone (10:38) you got a lot of pushback from your audience about this idea. And it sounds like me, this is the kind of thing I'd do. It's like, I've had this incredible idea, and you just expect everyone to go, yes, go for it. But
Krystal Duran (10:51) Mm-hmm.
Jane Perrone (10:51) you got a lot of pushback. give me the lowdown on the pond and
How that is sort of dealing with people you don't know telling you what to do, because that sounds hard to me.
Krystal Duran (11:03) Yeah, and I'm a bit stubborn by nature and I'm one I think maybe it's I call it the little woman syndrome where I'm I'm small in stature, right? I'm four eleven and so when someone would tell me, No, you can't do that because you can't reach it or whatever, I'd say, I show you otherwise, right? And so I feel in my big adult age I still have a lot of that. And so when I'm excited about something and then someone comes to burst my bubble, I'm like, No, don't you dare. So
I was very excited about the pond project and in theory it would have been amazing. but I'm here to report that I had to break it down unfortunately because life was life was coming at me fast and a lot of algae occurred in an indoor pond
Jane Perrone (11:48) Yeah.
Krystal Duran (11:48) inside if you're not treating it weekly, if you're not able to care for it as you should every week. So I still stand by the project, but I think it was wrong timing for sure.
Jane Perrone (12:01) You sound like you're a bit like me in that in your mind somewhere you think you're a retired person and therefore like you you c you
Krystal Duran (12:06) Yeah.
Jane Perrone (12:08) I am always doing this, coming up with like retired person projects. It's like,
Krystal Duran (12:09) Mm-hmm.
Jane Perrone (12:12) I think I'm gonna like create a hot frame in my garden to grow vegetables. Even though I've got no I've literally got no time to do it. But I just come up with these crazy ideas that would work if you're a retired person and had all the time in the world. But
you know, like when you have other lives happening, no. that's how I operate. So I totally understand
Krystal Duran (12:32) Yeah.
Jane Perrone (12:33) that.
Krystal Duran (12:34) Well, I think back of when I started it, it was right during the transition between summer and fall, and that's why I was trying to do that, so that I had some the lotus seeds I can bring them inside because we're getting ready for the cold season.
Jane Perrone (12:45) Mm.
Krystal Duran (12:46) But in the midst of that, I'm writing the book. I'm you know, and being in the depths of that is very it's a long process. And then also seasonal sadness occurs and so I'm trying to take care of myself and then
You know, I am I being fed well? Am I showering? Am I doing all these things right? And then I also have pets and then I have your family. And so all those things trying to balance it. It's like something has to give. So that that had to give, yeah.
Jane Perrone (13:14) Yeah, it's absolutely
something has to give and it and it's absolutely okay. And it's I think it's still great to try these projects. But when you get
Krystal Duran (13:19) Yeah. Yeah.
Jane Perrone (13:22) to the point where you're literally like walking into the kitchen and thinking, I've gotta cook food for myself again then probably
Krystal Duran (13:28) Yeah.
Jane Perrone (13:30) that's the moment where you think, Yeah, maybe I need to pull back. But it's hard. I think you're probably like me in that, you know, kind of person who's used to kind of do just doing stuff, getting on with it and and you know, and
then you have to kind of say, I've got to row back a little bit, which is sometimes really hard. I mean people love to tell you what to do on the internet though, don't you? Don't they? You know how do
Krystal Duran (13:51) Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Jane Perrone (13:53) you cope with that kind of necessarily sort of unwarranted feedback?
Krystal Duran (13:58) Think you you you see it and you say okay but then you also have to understand that you you've gotta do what feels good for you and so although I'm very appreciative of the the support in the community, you also have to to have your own feelings about things, and so if you feel passionate about something and it's something you want to do, then you do it and everyone's gonna have an opinion. and that's okay, they can have that.
And I'm gonna keep on with my project here and then we'll I'll show you along the way how it goes. So
Jane Perrone (14:28) Mm-hmm.
Krystal Duran (14:29) you have to have that separation for sure.
Jane Perrone (14:31) And you're very honest, you know, you do show things that have gone wrong, which I think is is great because oftentimes it can feel looking at you know plants to ground that everyone's got the perfect setup and everything's gone perfectly. Whereas, as we know, everyone's got you know a range of disasters that they haven't shown on camera. yeah, we've we've all got
Krystal Duran (14:49) Mm. Yes, absolutely.
Jane Perrone (14:53) them. I mean, my terrarium over here is like so
disastrously overgrown right now. A piece of the wall, back wall
Krystal Duran (14:57) Mm.
Jane Perrone (15:00) has fallen off. So I'm right in there. but yeah, exactly. At some point, but I don't have 1.2 million followers like watching everything I
Krystal Duran (15:03) Yeah. And we'll get to that later, at some point, right? Yeah.
Jane Perrone (15:12) do. So it doesn't feel quite so much pressure. But it you know, I think
Krystal Duran (15:15) Yeah.
Jane Perrone (15:15) that's the thing. Hopefully most of the time it's a great source of inspiration. But do you ever get to have a plant or be doing something with a plant and just think
This is an experience just for me. I'm not gonna be sharing this. I'm not thinking about this in terms of content. Does that become impossible where you are or is it still possible to kind of keep some stuff for yourself?
Krystal Duran (15:37) No, I think I've always been very, very very aware that I need to have things for myself. And so, many times on the weekends I do not go onto social media and that's really my time and that's my time with my with my parents and with my family or you know, being here in the quiet in my home.
And I do a lot of my plant care during that time too. So I play my music. Usually it's like an instrumental something. I found that I actually just need some of that Zen time. And so I'll put my music and and I do a lot of repottings during that time too. Or I do a lot of propagation during that. And so early on I felt like I had to film everything or this is everything is content. But that's not good for us. And so I I like to have that time to be able to just be me.
And my plants and my hands in the soil.
Jane Perrone (16:31) Yeah, absolutely. Otherwise, if you're just thinking about kind of camera angles all the time, it doesn't and and sometimes also I was
Krystal Duran (16:38) yeah.
Jane Perrone (16:38) thinking the other day about my I mean I know you're you're very honest and you know you do stuff, but I was thinking, gosh, I need to sort out my Thai constellation. I can make a video of that. And I was thinking, no, because it's just gonna be me going as I tried to get it out of the pot, giving myself a hernia. I don't think this is gonna make a good video. It's just gonna be lots of swearing.
Krystal Duran (16:59) You'd be surprised
because there's there's some videos that I even will go into it saying I'm not gonna talk much through this and a lot of it I I think of I had a big monkey tail cactus or rat tail cactus that I had to repot and I knew that this was gonna be a tough one and so really you're just gonna see me struggle.
And the struggle was something
Jane Perrone (17:21) Yeah.
Krystal Duran (17:22) that people could relate to.
Jane Perrone (17:24) Yeah.
Krystal Duran (17:24) And so you would be surprised, Jane, if you recorded yourself grunting and cursing. I'm sure many would appreciate it.
Jane Perrone (17:32) Yeah, I mean absolutely. or there would
be like a a cry of horror as I discover a root mealybug or something. You it's gonna it's gonna go south, no doubt.
Krystal Duran (17:42) Right. Right.
Jane Perrone (17:43) I mean, but that's what you're you're known for, I think, is just producing some content that is just incredibly magnetic because it's either funny
Krystal Duran (17:52) Thank you.
Jane Perrone (17:54) or it's just very relatable. So in that brings me neatly on to the chunky soil mix dance. I mean
I this is I mean it reminds I was thinking, gosh, this is like sounds like the inside of my brain. Like I I'm an earworm person. I'm I'm I think I probably have about fifty different thoughts going on at once. And I after going back to that chunky soil mix videos, I'm like, okay, now I'm doing the chunky soil mix all day. Where did it come from?
Krystal Duran (18:22) Just from a whim. It's the things that are in my brain that I just said out loud. And that was a video that I truly I was just sharing how to create a chunky soil mix. I have never claimed the term chunky soil mix because that's not mine, right? It's been a term that's been used for many, many years. But I wanted to
remind people to use additional amendments in their soil, it can be helpful for growing many of our plants. And so the way that I learn and that I've learned throughout the years is through song and dance. Even when I was in my spelling bee class, I was doing a dance to try and remember how to spell onomonopeia. And so I just did and I think I was extra tired that day because I think the weirdness comes out when I'm extra tired. And so I just did
Jane Perrone (19:15) That's very
relatable.
Krystal Duran (19:16) Yeah. And so
I just started gyrating my body to the chunky soil mix. And lo and behold, that was something that people resonated with and it became a thing. And so now it's a dance that when I go to plant shows or plant events, it's something that others want to dance along. And I'm I'm thrilled. My body is a little bit stiff after
the chunky soil mix dances after,
Jane Perrone (19:43) Ha ha ha.
Krystal Duran (19:44) you know, a couple hours. But I love to dance. I love to just I'm bouncing around and so it's a lot of fun and I'm I'm happy that other people are having fun with it too.
Jane Perrone (19:55) See, if we were in the 80s, you would be create you'd be you'd be signed up to create a chunky soil mix aerobics video, which would be available on VHS and Betamax. I'm this old. and that would be the a best seller. A best seller. I mean, what
Krystal Duran (20:06) Jane Fonda
Jane Perrone (20:11) fun like combining exercise and plants. I joke, but d does it ever sort of get I
Krystal Duran (20:14) Yeah, of course.
Jane Perrone (20:17) mean I I don't know. I'm I find myself I'm so boring. I just I'm I want
I pack my podcast full of plant facts because I want people to learn stuff, but actually I think you've got to have the fun element, which is what you bring so beautifully. But are you ever surprised by what goes really viral and what doesn't quite make the mark?
Krystal Duran (20:36) Yeah, I think I've learned early on that I you can't really guess what's gonna hit or not, just like the chunky soil mix or your e even some of the other terms that I've said throughout the time that people have like shimmy that shoil. It was just something that I said and then people really resonated with. So I've just learned that I'm just gonna put out what what I'm proud of and what I'm passionate about and then the people that enjoy it are gonna find me along the way. And that's just kinda how it's been.
Jane Perrone (21:06) Yeah, yeah, exactly. And I mean I do think, you know, I mean it's getting a message across. People are gonna look at soil and go, That's not chunky. That's not right. I gotta I've gotta get some more chunks in there. Yeah, exactly.
Krystal Duran (21:16) I need some perlite in here. I I need
something because this bag is too thick. So yeah. Yeah.
Jane Perrone (21:21) Yeah, exactly. Exactly.
one of the other things that's that's as I said before, your book is very down to earth. and you've got some great down to earth styling advice. Now you are a short queen, you've said it yourself.
You sound like it doesn't affect you, but do you ever sort of think, gosh, if I put that up there, I'm gonna have to have a step every time I need to get to it? Is it a factor?
Krystal Duran (21:44) Yes, I have what's called object permanence and if I don't see it, it is no longer there. And so the same goes with plants. I have this space that's in my bedroom specifically that I look at every time I lay down. Like, plants would look really great there. But I know that if I have to pull out a ladder or if I don't see it because it's tucked away, then I'm gonna forget that it's there.
So I really have to have and you would think that being my size, I would look up more often, but I'm really just at this level all the time. And so yeah, I have to have it either if it's up top, it would be in a self-watering pot so I can go a little longer in between watering, or everything stays eye level or on the ground. So that's my jam right
Jane Perrone (22:32) Yeah.
Krystal Duran (22:33) there.
Jane Perrone (22:33) Yeah, I totally understand. In fact, when I'm giving talks, I I sometimes put up a picture of my kitchen windowsill and I'm like, These are the plants that need to be watched. Because when I'm at the
Krystal Duran (22:42) Mm-hmm.
Jane Perrone (22:43) ki I'm at when I'm at the sink, which is more than I would wish to be, I can then be like,
Krystal Duran (22:46) Hm.
Jane Perrone (22:49) I see you scale or whatever's happening and I can
Krystal Duran (22:50) Mm-hmm.
Jane Perrone (22:52) immediately deal with it. I was actually thinking the other day, I'm planning to do a sort of a a plant room revamp 'cause we've got to have the room
the roof redone and I was
Krystal Duran (23:00) Okay.
Jane Perrone (23:01) thinking I'm gonna get shorter shells that are like only go up to eye height because the top shelf
Krystal Duran (23:07) Yeah.
Jane Perrone (23:08) plants are a nightmare and like you I'm just like how can we not see them but yeah it's it's tough it's tough I mean yeah exactly exactly
Krystal Duran (23:13) They're there. They're there, but we're not gonna get to it. Yeah.
Jane Perrone (23:20) I guess also it's the things it just me means that the stuff that you put at the top is not like the maidenhair fern or something that's gonna be really miserable.
Krystal Duran (23:27) I Yeah,
I did the I I had a issue with a golden pulsos that I put in my bathroom. I have a window there and again thinking it would be a beautiful plenty bathroom with the window and the plants there and I should have put it on a pulley of some kind. They have those pulleys that you could
hang on the ceiling and then you can bring them down like that. But I just had it up on the hook and then I realized, it's been
However long I haven't watered and then there was a mealybug infestation on the top and at that point it's so beyond infested that you're better off just tossing it. And I
quickly learned, yeah, that hook is just gonna be empty or it's gonna have a fake plant, which did I say that here, but I think it's for the better.
Jane Perrone (24:14) Yeah, I agree with you. Like why why put yourself through the torture? There are some places
which just put something else beautiful there, whatever it may be, a picture of a plant. Take a photo of a plant, stick it in a
Krystal Duran (24:23) Yeah. Exactly.
Jane Perrone (24:28) frame and put it there instead.
Krystal Duran (24:30) Exactly. It doesn't have to be a live something up there.
Jane Perrone (24:34) there's so much
stuff out there on plants now. You know, w it's great, it's fantastic that you know, the the whole sort of pandemic brought this huge surge in interest in houseplants. But is there one piece of really terrible plant advice that you wished you could just strike from the internet record completely?
Krystal Duran (24:53) I think I struggle when we're starting to incorporate food items into our plants. You know, you hear about
the the coffee grounds or the eggshells or the banana peels and and it's really about understanding the whole process of it could essentially be a fertilizer, but it needs to be broken down before you're actually adding it into the plant like that. And so that kind of thing really it's like
And then I'm constantly
Jane Perrone (25:19) Yeah.
Krystal Duran (25:20) fighting the the ice cubes with the orchids or just watering like your poinsettias as well. You'll see that a lot during this time of this time of year and the holidays. And so that bugs me. also the when there is this need to add so many products to the plants, when for me it's the your main thing is light. And then
So you're watering and then there's your fertilizing. But I think we put a lot of we put a lot of impact on fertilizing and that's the end all be all to your plant's health where it's more so your light. And so that sometimes just like you don't need all the things, but you know, that's for
Jane Perrone (26:05) Yeah.
Krystal Duran (26:05) people to to learn along the way in their plant care journey. And so I'm just I'm here to be a guide. And I also I'm
I don't want to be the kind of person that is saying you shouldn't do that because I think you should learn from your own experience. But I want to guide you. If you were to ask me and say, why don't we try this way instead? And
Jane Perrone (26:26) Ha ha ha
Krystal Duran (26:27) see how this goes. But I want it to be a place where anybody can come and ask questions and not feel like they're being judged for their for what they're doing with their plants.
Jane Perrone (26:38) Yeah, I totally agree. as you say, people are gonna do stuff anyway. we all have free will and they'll they'll find out. Fafo or whatever the phrase is. but also I mean,
Krystal Duran (26:44) Yeah, exactly. Yeah. yeah. Exact and who am I to tell you what to do with your things, right?
Jane Perrone (26:54) you're also reminding me, I don't know if you've seen this woman on Instagram, but I she seems to pop up a lot for me and it always makes me laugh. But I also think she's in in a plant sense, she's right. And she's she I think she's called Economicat.
And she's like, You do not need anything from Walmart. You do not
Krystal Duran (27:09) Ha ha ha.
Jane Perrone (27:11) need anything from Amazon today. You do not and she's just I'm like,
Krystal Duran (27:14) No, I
Jane Perrone (27:15) Yeah. This is this is the planty version of that would be, you know, you don't need to buy that extra fertile you've already got three different fertilizers, you don't need another one. You don't need to buy that, you know, like weird twisty steak, like
Krystal Duran (27:31) You don't need the propagation that's gonna hold on to the one stem of the propagation. It's just
Jane Perrone (27:36) Ha ha ha
Krystal Duran (27:37) one item and one jar of water. Just get just get tape or rubber bands or just get a smaller jar, you know? And so, but again, you do whatever you want to do with your plants and your money with the plants, but I'm just gonna try and guide you to the the easier way to do the things.
Jane Perrone (27:57) The Path of Enlightenment. Well, I think you're certainly doing
that. This sounds like a really weird question, but I'm gonna go with it anyway. I having read your book,
Krystal Duran (28:05) Mm-hmm.
Jane Perrone (28:05) the thing that kept kind of popping up into my mind was, what are houseplants actually for?
And and then I saw your recent post where somebody had criticized you for not growing food and saying, Why are you growing all these decorative plants when you should be growing food? And you know, I thought maybe what maybe that's the question. So I just I wanted to ask you I don't know if I know the answer, but what are house plants for?
Krystal Duran (28:32) I think for someone to say if you're not growing food, then why are we growing anything at all is kind of it's a little rude in my opinion because not everybody has the space. not everyone has the yard or even has bright enough windowsills to be able to pull off a full garden, right? Or even a porch. And so I think for someone that is looking for something green and something lively or something to liven up their space, I think a
Houseplant is a wonderful addition to the house. Now, for many of us also that live in a climate that has all four seasons, we don't necessarily have a garden all year round. And so we're looking for something else that's green that we could have in our house that brings some life to it. And so I think houseplants does that. So yes, I have a garden and yes, I'm outside a lot during the spring and the summer, but during the fall and the winter, I'm a hermit inside.
And so I want to look to my spaces that look a little jungly. And I wanna sit under that grow light and lay on the ground and maybe scream into the abyss because it's sad seasonal sadness. No, no. I want
Jane Perrone (29:43) Well it's not just me then. I'm glad to hear it.
Krystal Duran (29:48) to have those moments with my plants. And I think it brings us a lot of life when we need it. And it gives us something to have our hands in the soil, right? It gives us that time to actually just be immersed in.
in our inside plants. And so, yeah, I would hate to say you're not doing it right if you don't have a garden. I think it's just an a an addition if you do have plants inside. That's great too. So we can have both.
Jane Perrone (30:15) Yeah,
and the other thing about that is, you know, I think historically, I mean I haven't studied this in any great depth, but as I understand it, people have been bringing decorative plants inside for forever. You know, like it's not
Krystal Duran (30:27) Yeah.
Jane Perrone (30:28) a new thing. I think that sometimes we've got quite a short sighted view and we're just thinking, this is just something that's been done since the year twenty nineteen. But you know, people have been bringing plants in to decorate their homes or strew on the floor or make a nice smell
Krystal Duran (30:40) Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Jane Perrone (30:43) like forever.
It just seems like it's
Krystal Duran (30:45) Absolutely.
Jane Perrone (30:46) a human instinct to do that.
Krystal Duran (30:49) Right. It's great for our mental health. It's great for us to have something that we can take care of also. So why not have them in our house? What does it hurt if you have house plans? Our our pocket wallets sometimes, but that's a whole nother conversation.
Jane Perrone (31:01) Yeah, exactly. Exactly. yeah, that is true. That is true. Yeah. I
mean that said, I think one of the other things that's nice about this book is you've got some really achievable projects in here, they feel
elevated but accessible and in the extra leaf podcast episode I'm gonna do with you for Patreon we're gonna talk about Pinnguiculas and having a a Pinguicula garden but when you were coming up with those ideas did that flow really easily and and how did you choose the ideas that you put in?
Krystal Duran (31:41) Like you mentioned, I wanted something that everyone felt like they can tackle, and I wanted something that also many people already have some of these items, so I wanted to incorporate things like that. And one of the projects that I have that includes a propagation, like a mystery propagation container. I have done it myself and I've shared plants that way, and so with that, you could also convert other people to being plant parents by incorporating that project.
Jane Perrone (32:08) Uh-huh.
Krystal Duran (32:10) So it's a fun way to pass.
along plants and also just to yeah try something different.
Jane Perrone (32:16) I've always feel like the reason why I'm giving you cuttings is because I need to talk about plants. Even though I've got a podcast about plants, I need more people
Krystal Duran (32:23) Yeah.
Jane Perrone (32:24) to have planty conversations with. Therefore, I must convert you to my way.
Krystal Duran (32:30) I know, I know. That's why I
started creating on social media in the first place. No one cared about what I was growing. They didn't care about the tomatoes in the backyard and they didn't care about my new leaf unfurling. And so I was looking for planty friends to share my passion for plants. And so I found this community and so I hope having projects like that can help others find more planty friends.
Jane Perrone (32:54) Well, that is a brilliant note to end on. Thank you so much for joining me today, Crystal. Just tell us before you go where people can find your book and all of those details that we need to know. If anyone's not following you,
Krystal Duran (33:07) Yeah.
Jane Perrone (33:07) I mean there's 1.2 million, but there might be a few more after this. So give us all the info.
Krystal Duran (33:12) Yeah, so you can find me on all platforms. my name is Plants with Crystal, and then my book is available right now for pre-order anywhere that books are sold, and it will be in everyone's hands on November 3rd. So I'm excited for everybody to have it.
Jane Perrone (33:28) Yes, so am I and hopefully we will be able to convert a few more people to the way of the house plant. There's we our our work continues. It's so exciting. But thank you so much for joining me, Crystal. And anyone who's a Patreon subscriber can go and hop on over to hear us talk about the delights of the Pinguicula shortly. So thank you so much.
Krystal Duran (33:50) Thank you, Jane, for having me.
Plant edu-tainer Krystal Duran joins me to talk about her new book More Than Just a Plant, how plants helped her cope with bereavement and so much more - plus, how ‘chunky soil mix’ became a dance, not just an approach to repotting houseplants.
Want more? Join my Patreon! You can join for free or choose one of my paid tiers. There’s 25% off annual and monthly memberships right now until the end of October 2026 - use code JOINME. Members at the Ledge End and Superfan tiers can watch an extra chunk of chat with Krystal about Pinguiculas and more in my bonus podcast An Extra Leaf 136.
This week’s guest
Krystal has enchanted the houseplant community with her funny, educational and relatable Instagram account @_plantswithkrystal_.
You can find Krystal’s website here.
Krystal’s new book More Than Just a Plant is out on November 3 2026, published by Cool Springs Press.
CREDITS
This week's show featured Whistle by BenJamin Banger (@benjaminbanger on Insta; website benjaminbanger.com).