EP #1094: How Gardening is Wonderful Self-Care

Send us Fan MailLisa is joined by Marcus Bridgewater, aka Garden Marcus who talks about his book, How to Grow: Nurture Your Garden, Nurture YourselfMarcus Bridgewater, widely known as Garden Marcus, is an author, plant enthusiast, and CEO & Founder of Choice Forward. He began gardening when he bought his first house nearly seven years ago. After killing nine of his original 16 plants, he found himself determined to learn how to care for all living things. He now has around 500 plants at his Texas home. He developed his internet presence by connecting his observations in his garden to greater life lessons, and has been featured in the New York Times, Vogue, and the Los Angeles Times. When he is not in his garden, he is leading presentations, workshops, and seminars with Choice Forward. His first book, “How to Grow: Nurture Your Garden, Nurture Yourself,” (HarperOne, 2022) debuts May 24th.Book Description: In this transformative guide, TikTok’s most popular gardener, Marcus Bridgewater—aka Garden Marcus—offers lessons for growth rooted in lessons from the plant world to help cultivate the soul.Marcus Bridgewater has been compared to Bob Ross and Mister Rogers for his soothing TikTok videos that relate botany to humanity. A gardener “who shares tips about caring for one’s plants and oneself” (New York Times) and “is not only a trove of information if you’re looking to flex your green thumb, but a balm for the pandemic-induced chaos happening in the world” (Vogue), his soothing observations on plants and life have made him a social media star. In caring for over 600 plants, Marcus has gained invaluable wisdom. Life inside us yearns to grow; like plants, humans maximize their potential when presented with the right conditions. Through care and attention, he reminds us, we can successfully cultivate growth. Centered on a trinity of wellbeing—Mental Health, Physical Fitness, and Spiritual Awareness, How to Grow weaves together insights from the garden with stories from Marcus’s life to help you foster personal development. With lessons rooted in his experiences gardening—from how a replanted flourishing sweet potato vine is a reminder that all living things benefit from a change of scene, to how to embrace patience to foster growth—this inspiring guide helps you do “the dirty work” (pun intended) to discover kindness, patience, and positivity within. “We cannot make anything grow,” he advises. “But we can foster an environment where it may grow.”How to Grow isn’t a gardening book. It is a self-help book that draws inspiration from the garden. Original, timely, and filled with nurturing wisdom, it takes perennial knowledge from plants to teach us about ourselves and opens our eyes to what we are capable of achieving.