Maryah Greene aka Greene Piece is a New York based, Japan-bred Plant Stylist & Consultant.
What started as an Instagram account full of plant tips and tricks, has blossomed into a full-blown business. She established her position as New York’s go-to plant stylist following appearances and features in The New York Times, Vogue, Good Morning America and more.
As Maryah shifted from studying formal education to cultivating green spaces through Greene Piece, she understood that the same relationships and methods she developed in the classroom shaped her introduction of houseplant care and education to new and experienced plant parents alike. Much like her plants, Maryah knows what it's like to start from seed and has no intention of stopping anytime soon.
Ahead of the Grounded x Greene Piece collab - we had the pleasure of visiting Maryah's Brooklyn apartment to learn more on how nature influences her work, her favorite plant, and more!
- Who are you + what do you do?
I’m THAT GIRL. Jk, I’m Maryah Greene, founder of Greene Piece which is a plant doctoring and styling company in NYC. I help people understand their plants. Whether it’s picking the right one to bring home, understanding why leaves are dropping off, repotting or fully designing your home with plants, I want to be a part of the process.
2. Tell us about your brand(s) and the messaging behind it.
I always feel so weird calling it a brand. I make plant education accessible and pay my bills in the process. There's SO much information out there about how to care for your plant(s) and I always found it either really intimidating or just straight up wrong (i wouldn't know it was wrong until my plant died).
Greene Piece believes that every person’s plant journey looks different. There's a reason I feel confident in caring for every plant and it’s because at one point or another…I’ve killed every plant! Over the past 4 years, I made a career out of figuring out what NOT to do so that I can support others on their plant care journey.
3. Which creation of yours are you most proud of?
I’m most proud of my feature on Good Morning America. I got to share my method of repotting on national television and my mom was there to see it happen live. It was by far the craziest moment of my life but it was also the same moment that validated that my career change was headed in the right direction.
4. How does nature influence your work?
Nature influences everything I do and the way I teach people how to care for their plants. Simply put, I believe in just letting things be. We often feel so compelled as humans to plan for the future or sit and remember the past. However, plants force me to be present whether it’s admiring their leaves, noticing a sprout of new growth or just trying to figure out what type of plant something is. Nature is that thing that reconnects me to the here and now and I try to share that with anyone else who comes my way.
5. What’s your favorite plant?
The Monstera Deliciosa always has and always will be my favorite plant. I could go on for days about why I love it so much but the main reason is because it forces me to stop and notice. From the fenestrations in the leaves, symmetry/or lack thereof, to stem height, leaf shape and new growth, I never know what to expect from a baby monstera and it feels like everyone is so different. Every time i get a new leaf with more fenestrations than the next, I feel like I did something right. It’s that instant validation that I needed when I started caring for houseplants and it’s one of the reasons I kept going.
6. What do your plants mean to you?
My plants serve as a marker of time and growth to me. Regardless of what's going on in the world or in my life, they just keep on growing. And on my hardest/saddest days, that reminder is what keeps me going. Regardless of the season and how much they decide to grow, they’re still living at their own pace. Without this reminder, I think I'd be overworked, underfed, and under rested.
The plant girls also remind me to drink my damn water. Like damn, how do I remember to water plants all day and not take a sit of water my damn self?
7. What have your plants taught you?
They’re taught me patience and appreciation for the journey. We’ve all seen that gorgeous dream plant in the window that we want to bring home and watch thrive in our space. And a few months after bringing it home, you’ve likely experienced every emotion in caring for that damn thing, no matter how “easy” they said it was to keep alive. And then once you get the hang of it, it feels like riding a bike. You know exactly how much water your plant wants. You know how much light it wants. You know what its yellow leaves mean, etc. And you get to look back at your journey of seeing it grow under your care and feel really proud of yourself.
8. What inspires you?
Children inspire me every single day. They’re so creative and fearless. Every idea is a great idea to a kid. I believe that finding peace as an adult is just reconnecting to the inner child in ourselves. I’m a former elementary school teacher and I find that I’ve brought a lot of my favorite moments and experiences from the classroom into the way that I run a business and live my life everyday.
9. What activities or practices do you engage in to help you disconnect + decompress?
I love treating myself to a fresh bouquet of flowers and an obnoxiously priced candle that I have no business buying. I get home, throw those suckers in a vase and light that new thang and I am in HEAVEN. Might binge watch Love Island or go back and watch old Flavor of Love episodes. Either way, setting the energy in whatever space I'm in is the key.
I also enjoy a good book in the park or on the stoop. It’s my way of enjoying someone else’s story and getting out of my own for a second. I wish I had more time for this but reading is something I've loved since I was a kid.
10. How do you practice keeping your mental health intact?
Whew, child… Hmmmmm. That's a good one. I think the most direct answer is limiting my information intake. Whether it’s limiting my time on social media, limiting alone time or time with friends…I just have to set limits on things. Not in that over obsessed planner way but in a way that allows me to have balance in my life since there seems to be another unprecedented disaster after the next. Starting my day with social media has had such a negative effect on the way that I start my day because I found that I’m overly consuming so much information and unable to give my chance to decide how I want my day to look before it even begins. For me, it’s setting limits and balance.
11. What does wellness mean to you?
Wellness means finding peace with anything that may come my way. Much easier said than done, I know. But I like to think that wellness is centered around the love that we give to ourselves because we ALWAYS deserve it rather than earning it.
12. What would make the world a better place?
If we gave children more of a say on how society should run. Children are honest, often unbiased and have a limited space for ego to drive decision making. Not saying that our president should be a 3rd grader, but I genuinely believe that the same children that are going to grow up and live in the world that we’re currently creating probably have some amazing ideas on how to create the future we want and the future that they deserve.
13. What can we expect from you this year?
Lots of Good Things.
To stay connected + updated with Maryah, be sure to follow her on Instagram @Greene.piece and Tik Tok
