Living Wild | Hilton Carter
Intro: Welcome to the one and only interior design book podcast, Decorating by the Book, hosted by Suzy Chase from her dining room table in New York City. Join Suzy for conversations about the latest and greatest interior design books with the authors who wrote them.
Hilton Carter: My name is Hilton Carter, and my latest book is called Living Wild.
Suzy Chase: Hilton Carter, plant and interior stylist, designer, photographer, filmmaker, artist, and author, you are the guide on my journey in greenery. You were my premiere guest on the very first episode of this podcast, so welcome back.
Hilton Carter: It's good to be back.
Suzy Chase: It's so awesome to have you. When we chatted last time, your daughter, Holland, was 14 days old-
Hilton Carter: Oof.
Suzy Chase: ... and you were exhausted.
Hilton Carter: Of course, oh my God, that was the case. A lot of that is a blur at this point in time. She'll be 19 months next week.
Suzy Chase: Oh my God, she is darling. I just want to tell everyone, she's interspersed throughout this book. Did you ever think you would be writing a chapter about styling a child's room?
Hilton Carter: Well, I figured if I was lucky enough to have kids myself that, if I was going to tell folks how to style their homes with plants or how to care for plants at one point in time if I had a child, I would probably also introduce them to what works for me for plants that can go into a child's room, or the best looks when it comes to plants in the child's room. So I didn't really think about it, but I figured it might be something that would fall into my path one day.
Suzy Chase: You write about how over the years you've taught us how to keep our plants happy and thriving, leading with your passion for plant care. Now for you, it's time. It's time for you to show us the artistry of plant styling and how the right design choices can transform a space and bring a sense of contentment and happiness. So how is this book different from the last?
Hilton Carter: Well, I think the first three, Wild at Home, being the first, was an introduction for those who weren't familiar with me and my journey, so I walk you through how I kind of fell into the whole thing. I talk to you about some of the plants that I love and how to care for them, propagating a few little DIY projects. The second book was a book that showcased the green-loving community, others like me and how they, across the world, tend to their plants and how their spaces feel and look and hearing about how they started in their journeys in greenery.
Then my thoughts on perfect plants for particular rooms in your home and places that make you feel special and relaxed and wild, let's say. Some of the most, I would say, lush and luxurious conservatories, botanical gardens, restaurants, things that are full of plants, those things, and that was Wild Interiors. Wild Creations was basically a walkthrough all of these hacks and DIY projects that most of us could do while at home during the pandemic. I think that's how that book was birthed. Here are care guides for you to understand what you should do. Wild Creations, I'll say, I have a whole section, Plant Rants.
Suzy Chase: Talk about your plant rants.
Hilton Carter: It was basically brought about because during my first book tour for Wild at Home, I felt like there were a lot of individuals who had fell into the "I want to have plants, and I want them now. I want this look that you have inspired me to create in my home. I want to have as many plants as possible to create that and to feel immersed and comfortable surrounded by plants." Yet, no one had taken the right steps to understand what those plants needed to thrive in their homes.
There were so many people who were just like, "I have 100 plants. I have 200 plants. I have..." They just kept throwing out numbers of how many plants they had as if that number would, I guess, solidify them as a green thumb award winner but, at the same time, struggling so much with care. I'd go on my tour and I would go, "You can't..." Literally, I went into these rants where it's just like, "You can't allow yourselves to go full steam ahead, like this want to have all of these living things in your homes without understanding the care that they need, understanding that you have to start with light first," and just really digging into that. How can you make that plant a part of your living space and thought about with intention as you do with all the other things in your life and in your home that puts you and your space together in a way that you feel like you've done something that is challenging, one, but also beautiful?
Suzy Chase: On that note, can you pivot to understanding color theory? Because I think that is such an interesting idea that you talk about when styling with plants.
Hilton Carter: I love the idea of pushing and pulling with darker and lighter foliage together. Let's say you just have a bunch of hanging plants, cascading vines, different types of pothos. Maybe you have a silver pothos next to a satin pothos. Your silver pothos is going to have this more, I would say, whites and pale greens, while your satin pothos is going to have more of those olive and darker greens and how you're creating depth with just those two plants next to each other. That push and pull that really feels bold and brighter than if you just went with the same shade of green or the same type of plant.
But when it comes to styling, it's like, well, what's going to work best in this light? Then, because now we know what type of light we need, we have all these plants that can fit really well in this type of light, let's think about the other things that are in the room that we are styling or that we have here. What kind of textures do we have? What type of colors do we have? If our walls are white, what might be a really nice pop of color? You don't always have to have color created with your inanimate objects like your throw pillows or your bookshelf and having all your books color coordinated, I've seen a lot of that around, or if you're thinking about a rug and how the colors there react to your wallpaper.
You can have a nice plant that has that sort of pop or the kind that, over time, releases these little pops of color, like blooming plants that throw out colorful flowers, like anthuriums, maybe orchids, things like that that are forever changing and showing off later, that can reveal something later that's really special. So I think that's what most plant stylists would, I'm throwing out some air quotes over here, but that's how they would operate when going into a space.
Suzy Chase: That leads me to your term, designer plant. Like you just said, a plant can shape a room the same way a rug, a piece of art, or a couch might do. My favorite designer plant is the Philodendron brandtianum, brandy.
Hilton Carter: You got it, brandtianum, yeah, brandy. Let's just go with brandy. It's a beautiful plant, coined as designer plants just because anytime I saw something that had a almost designer quality as in its pattern, in its quality of texture, whether it was very delicate, whether it was very bold and tough as far as its feel, or if it was just based on the actual look of the plant itself and sometimes it's cost. There are a lot of rare plants out there that have a nice price point where you're just like, "That plant is more than I paid for my car, so let's not buy that plant right now." At the end of the day, it's all art at some point mimicking life. So a lot of these plants just have things that mimic what we already have in our homes.
The one plant that I just can't ever get over will be the Monstera albo, which is this beautiful variegated plant that obviously, when it comes to variegation, it's unpredictable. You can have a leaf that is mainly white with a bit of speckled green and dark greens and light greens, or you can have a leaf that is mainly green but with a little splash of white in it as if someone threw some paint at it. But then you also have all these splits and they'll have a few holes in them. That plant, to me, has a direct connection to marble. So when I see it, when I see that plant, I think marble right away. I go, "That's what marble looks like to me."
If you have a plant like that, whether it's the Alocasia cuprea, which is Latin for copper, this plant looks like any of the, I would say, pieces of fluted furniture because there are so many fluted pieces out there. I actually came out with a fluted plant stand when I had my first Target collection. That sort of style is so in right now that that cuprea, when placed in the room, when you're looking at that plant and you also have another fluted piece in the room, it'll pull your eye from that plant back to that other piece that kind of resembles that look.
I think that's what designer plants do. They remind you of something else that is in a living space that can make a space feel a bit more exciting, a bit more special. So the brandy, to me, feels just like if it was a direct pull from deep, I would say, wood grain walnuts or a red maple. So whenever I try to style these plants, I try to make sure that, I said this earlier, but there's a lot of either, I would say, push and pull with that plant versus the planter that it's in or a particular piece of furniture, texture, color that is also close to that plant.
Suzy Chase: Moving from designer plants to the biggest celebrity plant there is, last time we chatted about Frank, your fiddle-leaf fig. You've renovated since the last time we talked, so where is he situated today living his best life?
Hilton Carter: Frank is living his best life in the sunroom of our home. I think the thing that makes his life better now is that we actually have a home, which means we have an outdoor area, whether he gets to sit on the north side of our house, the south side, west side, east side. Clearly, he has to always be on the north side or on the east side. He can't take the light of the south or the western lights outdoors because he'll get fried. But he's in our sun room for most of the year. We have these beautiful, large windows on two sides of him that he gets to look out of every day. It's weird to talk about him like this.
Suzy Chase: Your other child.
Hilton Carter: Exactly. First child, I'll say. He's really enjoyed this transition from our apartment where he really got to showcase himself to a space that has become his because he does overlook everything else in the room because he is the biggest plant in there.
Suzy Chase: He's the star.
Hilton Carter: He's a star. He's a star. Just like I talk about, and I did talk about this in Wild Creations, talk about star plant, it's like if you have multiple children, you don't think about one as the star of your children. It's the same case when it comes to plants. There were so many people really focusing on these high-priced plants that, when you do get high-priced one, I understand it. You don't want that plant to die, so you put a lot of energy in trying to make sure that they stay alive. But in doing so, all your other plants don't receive attention, and they kind of fall to the wayside. Now you have a bunch of plants that are just dying because their value isn't as perceived as this other plant that has a dollar value versus a "I'm a living thing" value.
So I really have to lean into that whole idea of that, yes, Frank, I'll say, he's my first born. I love Frank so much. But Frank's value is the same level as this new plant I just brought in. It is my job to make sure that both of them get the exact amount of care. When I see that plant suffering, it makes me feel bad, and that's not something that I want. Plants are living things. They're going to change, and they're going to shift towards what their new environment is.
When they're at the greenhouse or the nursery that you're purchasing them from, they didn't start off in that space. They started off in a really bright greenhouse with great humidity and getting all of this light, and now we're honestly forcing them inside of your home. These are all plants that would prefer to be living outside or in a really nice humid greenhouse with tons of bright, indirect light. So when it comes to the idea of styling them in a space, you have to be considerate of that light first, and then you can just have the fun. You can play with all of these ideas of color, texture, shape. What sort of designer plants can I now put on a pedestal to make it feel like art, this living art that's here in my home? To me, that's the fun after you understand what will work in your home.
Suzy Chase: You just said the word pedestal. In the book you were talking about how you're over the term plant stand.
Hilton Carter: That was just a small wink as far as... I love plant stands, but let's elevate it a bit. Let's make it feel a bit more special. Anything on a pedestal stands alone. If you're putting a piece of art on a pedestal, you're trying to tell us, anyone coming into your home or to yourself that this is special. When you're talking about putting up people on pedestals, those are people who are made to feel special.
When it comes to your plants, they should be made to feel special. So if you have a plant stand, consider it a pedestal. It helps to lift a plant higher in a space. Like a smaller plant in a smaller pot now has presence, is not just alone in a windowsill or on a little table. It's now there to be seen, to be pushed into someone's face to say, "Look at me. I am awesome." I think that, it's something special that all of us who are considering bringing plants in should start to look for. There are so many beautiful pedestals/plant stands out there. They allow for this almost tiering or leveled look where you can stack them together and have a plant that's maybe only a foot off the ground, or you have one that's three feet off the ground, or you have this big tree that's above all of them, and it creates that sort of outdoor-esque look in your space.
Suzy Chase: Last question, and it's the future of plant care. Are there any trends you're excited about in 2023 or any emerging technologies you're excited about for 2023?
Hilton Carter: What am I excited about? I'm excited about everyone getting involved into, I would say, the more challenging plants. Of course, in understanding care, there's a lot of apps that are being created. People are working on a lot of apps that can help you better understand care, that can help you make sure that you are tending to your plants. There's a lot of beautiful living wall setups that are going to be made not just for corporate or commercial spaces, but for the home that are easier to install that are really nice. I'm excited for that part of it.
I really want people to start thinking about their homes in a way when it comes to plants as a blank canvas of sorts, where they are now applying plants not just for that added bit of greenery or life in it, but to see it as, how does that placement of that plant, how does that planter with that plant, the stand or pedestal that it's on, how does that affect not just the room, but affect me and how I exist in my space? So that's what I'm excited for.
I don't know about technologies themselves and what is going to happen there. I'm a big believer in the hands-on part of, I would say, plant care. While there's self-watering planters, I don't get joy out of letting something else just do the work for me. It's the tending to process that I reap real tangible benefits from when it comes to plant care. I like to go through those motions. I like to fill up a watering can. I like to pour water slowly and watch it be absorbed by the soil. I like to wait and see water trickle out of the drainage hole into a base tray. I enjoy those moments. Those are the things that got me to this point that are making me excited and passionate about plants and plant care and plant people. I like being in it.
I speak about this in my last book, Wild Creations, because I felt like that was the book to talk about it with is that plant care, to me, tending to plants taught me not just how to be better for plants. It taught me how to be better for all the living things that are in my life: how to tend to them, how to sit and be patient. Don't react to the first thing right away because that could be just acclimation. When you're early into it, you're like, "No, I just got this plant. It's dying. What happened?" You just don't know. It's acclimating to your space. Your best friend could be acclimating to what information you just provided them with. Allow them to take it in, absorb it, react to it, and then maybe you sit back, be patient. Then as they are reacting to it, then you respond or then tend to it.
To me, it opened so many other doors, not only in my life but in myself, in my idea of who I am, in my heart. How can I be better for everything around me now? And that was it. That was the process. It was the tending to, it was the getting a bit overwhelmed by what was happening with Frank. Being in there and going, "What is going on with you, Bud? I can't figure this out. Do you need to be over here? Do you need this? Do you this type of water?" I thought about it. I was like, "I never even give that sort of attention to my best friend, my mom, the real relationships in my life." Oh, yeah, I did say a certain thing that probably affected the way this individual reacted to that. Instead of reacting the way I did, I should have just changed that feeling and thought of it, or I should have saw it earlier because I was paying attention to those small changes and those shifts, like I do when Frank has all of a sudden a smaller leaf that grows after he just grew something really big. What happened here?
When it comes to technology and allowing technology to do that work for you, there is something being missed. While I am excited about technology when it comes to plant here because I think everyone would benefit from not killing plants, I do think the best part of plant care is the tending to plants part. That's when you find that happiness. So when plants make you happy, that's why, and that's how it all comes together.
Suzy Chase: Where can we find you on the web and social media?
Hilton Carter: You can find me on Instagram @hiltoncarter. You find me on TikTok @theplantstylist. You can find me on my website at thingsbyhc.com. You can find me on the Magnolia Network on many workshops about plant care. You can find my book where books are sold, definitely at Target. You can find my new Target collection planters, plant pedestals, let's say, and faux greenery at Target starting April 2nd. Yeah, that's where you can find me. If you're out in the world, you might just find me just on a book tour because I'll be on the book tour starting March 28th. I'm going to be in many cities throughout the US, and then I'm going to travel abroad as well.
Suzy Chase: Wow. Today, we went to the Plant Church of Hilton Carter.
Amen.
Hilton Carter: This is literally how my tour is going. That's how these things come together. Look, the idea of sitting with other plant people or talking to people who love plants, we can talk forever, so that, to me, is important to get that stuff out. That's how my wife was like, "All you do is just rant." I was like, "I need to put a chapter in my book called Plant Rants," and that's how it came up. She's like, "You really go up there, and you just start going in." Some people feel excited about it. Some people feel seen. They're like, "Oh, yeah, he's right." Some people feel like I'm attacking them. But that is like church. I guess that is, and I'm not going to say that Living Wild is a Bible. It's more of a designer bible when it comes to plants. But plant people feel it. They understand the true joy of plants, and they want that as well. When I'm preaching about plants, it's like I'm preaching to the choir. So it's awesome.
Suzy Chase: Well, thanks for joining me today on Decorating by the Book podcast. It was so great to have you back.
Hilton Carter: It was so great to be back. I really appreciate it, Suzy. Thank you so much.
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