Leaf & June / 8 Houseplants For Every Home
I can't wait to introduce you to a new friend and talk plants today, but first I need to be honest about something. These past few months since Tabby was born, I'd fallen into a horrible funk about our house. I say "our house", it's not actually ours because we're renting it and, having owned a home, had the sale of "the house" we were buying fall through and taking a last minute rental just so we could catch our breath took some getting used to. We're still adjusting to it. Last week I had myself a little pity party and wrote this horribly draining post about how much I hated living in this house because I wasn't allowed to fall in love with it-it's not mine, so how could I? Then last week we sat down together, Rob and I, and made plans for our next move. It felt good to reboot and realign and the following morning I woke up feeling slightly more optimistic. I deleted that post and decided to carry on as before-hanging the curtains, painting the walls and making it feel like home for as long as we're here. And it felt good to have made that decision. Sure, my home isn't a show room, it's not catalogue ready packed with design classics, but it's real and human.And so part of my plan is to introduce an abundance of indoor planting. The one thing I love about my mum's house is the sheer number of plants she has, everywhere. In fact, I'm here now in her living room and as I type I can see seven in this one space. I want that for my home too and if you're renting it's one of the easiest ways to bring in some life and personality without committing to anything more permanent. Question is, where on earth do I start in choosing the right plant for the right space?
Enter Brooklyn based horticulturalist and plant designer Lisa Muñoz of Leaf and June. She is awesome. Born and raised in San Antonio, Texas, she grew up alongside her green fingered grandparents who cultivated her passion for gardening, producing fruit and vegetables in their backyard. They nicknamed her 'Leaf', a name which she combined with her grandmother's (June) to create the name for her newest business venture.
With a background in Animation and Visual Effects and producing commercials for the likes of Google and MoMa, you can see how beautifully her talent for the visual translates into her design portfolio. She has worked for Sprout Home and as Director of Horticulture for The Sill helping New Yorkers find and fall in love with their perfect houseplant before moving on to launch Leaf and June, designing for residential and commercial spaces as well as editorial and events.
Isn't her style utterly gorgeous? Luscious green everywhere! I'm told she has over 50 plants in her apartment, too, which she names after 70s soul singers. A girl after my own heart. And because she's so amazing, Lisa's put together a selection of plants for us that thrive in great light, and plants more at home in a shady environment-the aim of which is to encourage you to introduce botanicals into your own space and to do it successfully.
|1| Bird's Nest Fern (Asplenium indues) |2| Swiss Cheese Plant (Monstera deliciosa*) |3| String of Pearls (Senecio rowleyanus) |4| White Bird of Paradise (Strelitzia reginae) |5| Button Fern (Pellaea rotundifolia) |6| ZZ (Zamioculcas zamifolia) |7| Baby Rubber (Peperomia obtusifolia) |8| Baby's Tears (Soleirolia)
* This plant is toxic
Lisa has also designed a plant plan for our living space according to what we already have successfully growing and what will flourish elsewhere (she loved my monstera which also happens to be her favourite plant) so I'm going to spend a little time sourcing and planting before I share the reveal with you in a few weeks. I'm really excited to see and feel the room soften and come to life and hope that it inspires you to do the same.
Have you been inspired by Lisa's work? Follow her here for more beautiful botanicals...
Follow Leaf and JunePinterestTwitterFacebookInstagramAll photography © Erica Gannett.