Episode #1
S02E18: Coopetition Over Competition with Veronica Moore of Plants Are Therapy
Tanya's back from Corsica (barely rested, extremely tanned in spirit) and Jos has news about the UK's Plant Heritage — a royal-patronage plant conservation charity with over 600 protected collections, four of which now belong to King Charles III himself. It kicks off a real conversation about colonial extraction in the plant world, plus an update on the Monstera Stan bracket tournament (RIP to your wallet, congrats to Mexican Mint) and a citizen science detour into bird counts and Cape Cod sunfish patrols. Then Veronica Moore — @brownskinplantmama, host of the brand-new Plants Are Therapy podcast — joins for a conversation that goes way deeper than plant care. She tells the story, for the first time publicly, of why Brown Skin Plant Mama started faceless and anonymous in 2020, and how a year of talk therapy and a lot of grief turned plants into something sacred. She breaks down her "plants as a mental health mirror" philosophy, talks candidly about representation in the plant and wellness space, and unpacks the "coopetition" mindset she lives by — community over competition, always. Stick around for Hot or Nah (an Alocasia, a Nepenthes, and a Begonia with a name none of us should have googled live) and Rate That Weird Plant, where a Ceropegia earns two perfect 10s for looking like something out of the Addams Family. Find Veronica: @brownskinplantmama / @plantsaretherapypodcast For the full article and images for this episode, visit our Substack !
