House Planted

Introduction


I ve always loved plants. Growing up, I was inspired by my grandmas June and Rafaela, who were
the quintessential plant ladies. Both sets of grandparents had large fruit and vegetable gardens at home, and I recall following them around the garden and assisting them with planting and harvesting as a child. I was too young to understand the science of what they were doing, but I was enamored nevertheless. As a young adult in New York City, I dreamed of filling my first apartment with a variety of interesting plants, but achieving that dream wasn t as simple as I d hoped. I bought many plants only to then watch them die a slow and painful death all due to my lack of plant knowledge and desire to buy plants based purely on appearance. I became frustrated and decided to learn as much as I could about plants and what makes them flourish. I read books, researched online, asked questions at the plant shops, bought more plants to practice with, and enrolled in plant-care classes at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and ta-da! Here I stand, a plant lover who can t stop buying plants, talking about plants, learning about plants, and dreaming about plants. After a lot of diligence, education, and trial by error, I have been fortunate to be able turn my love of plants into a career as an interior plant designer who has the pleasure of selecting, styling, and caring for plants. With that comes educating new plant parents as well as expanding my own education.


The first two houseplants that I was able to keep alive were a peace lily I named Patsy (after Patsy Cline) and a small money tree I named Robert Plant (after, you guessed it, Robert Plant). I learned very quickly that Patsy was an emotional lady who would droop when she was thirsty but would perk back up an hour after having a big drink of water. When the foliage of Robert Plant was becoming discolored, I couldn t pinpoint the cause. But after some trial and error, I was able to find him a sweet

Lisa Muñoz is an interior plant designer who worked in New York City plant shops before launching Leaf and June, a Brooklyn-based plant design company for residential and commercial spaces as well as editorial features and events. Her passion for visual design is grounded in over fourteen years of experience as a visual effects producer for clients such as MoMA, HBO, and Google. Muñoz earned a certificate in horticulture at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and her work has been featured on Design*Sponge and in Vogue, Architectural Digest, and The New York Times.