Author Talk: YOU GROW GURL! | @Plantkween's Christopher Griffin in conversation with Alex Elle

In partnership with Community Book Center, Cafe Noir, Bottom Knoxville, Kindred Stories

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.

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Christopher Griffin (they/she/he pronouns) was born and raised in West Philadelphia, and is currently based in Brooklyn, New York, where they work in education and care for over 200 green gurls in their lil Brooklyn oasis of an apartment. Being an educator at heart, Christopher started their Instagram account (@plantkween) in 2016 as a way to share the many lessons, lush adventures, and simple joys that come with being a plant parent. Their social media presence has been rooted in a journey of self-care, joy sharing, and community building all through the wonders of those green little creatures we call plants. As a Black queer nonbinary femme, Christopher enjoys exploring creative and accessible ways to use plants as a vehicle to incite further conversations centering on Black joy and resilience, LGBTQ+ advocacy, and the need to increase the visibility, representation, and empowerment of QTPOC (Queer and Trans People of Color) in the lush world of horticulture. Their aspirations are to continue to serve lush lewks and new growth realness right along-side their green gurls, have fun with it all, and bring folks along for the wild botanical ride.