Plants left in my care meet a premature end. I sing to them, water them, give them plenty of light and love, and they never stick around for very long. My mother has the greenest thumb on the planet. She sticks a dead twig in the ground and the Garden of Eden emerges overnight. I didn’t get that gene.
But I love plants, and so I keep trying. I took myself over to the Plant Shed last weekend and picked up a few Impatiens. I came home tonight and found one of them limp and wilted. I just watered it yesterday! How could this be? I filled her up with water and pruned away the dead leaves in despair. And then something amazing happened. Within an hour, the plant perked right back up. The limp leaves suddenly found their life again. Maybe I’m not a bad gardener, just a bad pruner. Maybe I let the dead leaves stick around for too long, dragging the rest of the plant down with it.
I think this may be true in life, too. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve let dead-end everything hang around my door. Brian and I have been working on clearing it all out. My yoga teacher, Johanna, talks about this act as “letting go of what doesn’t serve.” Intellectually this makes sense. It takes times and guts to put into practice. It wasn’t until I saw this wilted little plant, flopped over like Charlie Brown’s Christmas tree, that I finally understood this idea in my heart.
If we let the dead leaves hang on, they will suck the life out of the rest of the plant. When we prune away the dead leaves, the plant’s going to look a little odd, a little lopsided. But in time, it’s going to come around aga
in, with a little water and sunshine and room to breathe. If you’ve found this to be true in your life, or your garden, I’d love to hear how it worked for you.
Published by Christa Avampato
IN BRIEF
Author, journalist, digital product manager, and licensed New York City tour guide. Creator and host of NYC's Secrets and Lies. Alumna of the University of Pennsylvania (BA), the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia (MBA), Arizona State University (Biomimicry), and the University of Cambridge (MSt in Sustainability Leadership).
I build digital media platforms, report on urban climate resilience and biodiversity, and produce live narrative experiences that connect communities to history, nature, and place.
THE DEEP DIVE
My work centers on a single thread: building systems and stories that foster deep connection to our shared world. Across digital streaming, environmental reporting, and live civic storytelling, I design experiences that help people understand complex ideas and the environments around them.
DIGITAL PRODUCT STRATEGY & MEDIA LEADERSHIP
At Carnegie Hall, I serve as Digital Product Manager, leading product strategy, operations, and technical delivery for the video streaming platform Carnegie Hall+. I translate artistic mission into scalable, high-performance streaming architecture that reaches audiences globally. Previously, I led agile product and delivery teams across operations and compliance at American Express, managed Broadway theatrical productions and national tours, and guided strategic initiatives across cultural institutions.
ENVIRONMENTAL JOURNALISM & AUTHORSHIP
As a freelance journalist, I investigate how living systems, urban infrastructure, and human culture intersect. My reported features on urban decarbonization, biodiversity, coastal resilience, and biomimicry appear in publications including Smithsonian Magazine, The Washington Post, Mongabay, Natural History Magazine, and Foreign Policy Magazine. In fiction, I write the Emerson Page young adult novel series, alongside upcoming historical fiction and nonfiction works on New York history, mythology, and human resilience. I also write Togetherhood, a LinkedIn newsletter focused on urban ecology and community restoration, and co-host the podcast Frameworks in the Wild.
LIVE EXPERIENCE & CIVIC STORYTELLING
As a licensed New York City tour guide and live event producer, I transform urban landscapes into shared narrative encounters. I created, produce, and host NYC's Secrets and Lies, an interactive live storytelling series staged across cultural landmarks including the New York Transit Museum, the South Street Seaport Museum, and the historic tall ship Wavertree. I also design and lead site-specific walking tours exploring coastal ecology, food history, and neighborhood evolution, often with partners at Climate Week NYC and the Natural Areas Conservancy.
DOUBLE OR NOTHING MEDIA
Through my independent production studio, Double or Nothing Media, I develop ventures across media, ecology, and public history:
Digital Products & Strategy: Architecting scalable digital platforms, streaming experiences, and operational models for mission-driven institutions.
Environmental Reporting & Publications: Delivering long-form reporting, books, and newsletters grounded in climate resilience and regenerative design.
Site-Specific Live Storytelling: Producing immersive live shows and educational walking tours that engage public audiences in community history.
CONNECT
Website & Production Hub: doubleornothingmedia.com and christaavampato.com
Newsletter: Togetherhood on LinkedIn - linkedin.com/newsletters/togetherhood-7273771832221089792/
Instagram & Threads: @christarosenyc
Emerson Page Novels: emersonpagebook.wordpress.com/
View all posts by Christa Avampato
in, with a little water and sunshine and room to breathe. If you’ve found this to be true in your life, or your garden, I’d love to hear how it worked for you. 
This is so true – Christa. I have a hard time putting this in practice (even just cleaning out stuff in my house to clear the space to create my space for new energy). But I try a little one day at a time…sometimes it’s even hard to recognize what those elements are, but I think having awareness is the first step!
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Hi Laura,
It is such a hard practice. I struggle with it, too. Old habits die hard, but if we keep working on new, healthier habits I think our lives turn out better.
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Christa:
Yeah, right: you sure can say that again.
In my case, however, the plant died on me because of my lousy singing voice.
Whenever I sing, I sound like Barbara Streisand on drugs.
The problem?
I don’t do drugs and I am a guy!
I tried watering the plant, but the plant told me to “get lost, buddy, and get yourself a life. Don’t hang around these parts.”
The plant sounded like John Wayne without a swagger and the pea-shooters.
I love plants, but they don’t respond to me positively.
A neighbor’s plant has started to dance for me, but that’s because she thinks I am Brad Pitt. I am only Tom Cruise.
Anyway, love your delicious sense of humor in this particular post. Keep up the good work and cheerio!
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Babs on drugs. Archan, your comment cracked me up. It is amazing how many moments for learning are all around us, even in potted plants!
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This makes perfect sense to me. Sometimes the pruning hurts but tis necessary …
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Hi Alexandra,
So true. I have founding the pruning particularly difficult and not without pain. But you’re right, a necessary act.
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Another way to put it is focus on less and do your best. That’s what actually happens with plants. Less leaves means more nutrients per leave which results in healthier plants. However here is a question. In some cases when flowers start to get old and not as alive then is when fruits start to grow inside. So how do you know holding an old flower won’t give you some fruits in the future?
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Bouncing off your blog again š http://scottfree2b.wordpress.com/2010/05/12/a-message-from-ficus-benjamina/
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That’s what’s it here for, Trish. Bounce any time! And thank you š
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What a lovely analogy! As an aside, in Ireland, impatiens are called busy lizzie and are considered indoor plants. I couldn’t ever make one last as long as or grow as beautifully as my former mother-in-law, who constantly gave me new plants to kill.
I grew up, though, and managed to cultivate a green thumb. But still have trouble letting go of what doesn’t serve. Another lesson.
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Hi Lisa,
Thank you so much! That is so cool to know that story about impatiens. I had no idea. I love the busy lizzie nickname. Very appropriate for me!
I hopped over to you site. I love your blog Letters to Famous People. What a fab idea!
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The same philosophy holds for getting rid of accumulated stuff around the house – mementos, old clothes, books, etc. We hold onto things because of the memories associated with them, or because we’re saving it because we might need it in the future. But do that enough and you wind up with a house full of stuff that ends up just weighing you down. Remember when you could fit all your possessions in the back of a Volkwagen? Or in a backpack? And because you could you could go anywhere? At some point along the line, I stopped wanted to accumulate stuff and started wanting to get rid of it. Maybe it was after someone told me not to worry about not having everything I needed: trust that the universe will provide it for you, they said. So I do. That doesn’t mean my house is empty – I still live with people who like stuff. But I feel better about what I do or don’t have.
Michelle Rafter
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