Prologue_Together but not each other's everything
Plant layout
What you need before welcoming your green friend

Part 1 Living Room and Veranda_Even if you can't understand the language of plants

As multifaceted as a woman's herb
Sweet potatoes are my best friends
Something like Sansevieria
Living hard like a monstera
Forward like a rubber tree
Strong as a rose
Green Friend's Enemy
Enemy of root flies

Part 2: Kitchen and Room - If the house in my heart becomes wider

A huge success like Skindapsus
Luck belongs to the lucky tree
Too much… Gaeunjuk
Perfect, Areca Palm
A bad bat
It takes time like Hoya

Epilogue_The Green Friends Who Left Me
How to Care for Ida's Plants
Plant log in our house
Find the right green friend for you
Green Friend Outside the House
Author's Note

Using plants as a mirror
Looked at with a sensitive and delicate gaze
Reflections and thoughts on inner self and human relationships

As I periodically change the water in my hydroponic flower pot, I think about the similarities I have with the docile Sansevieria, which 'only needs to be left alone to grow well', and secretly envy the Monstera, which 'always does its best to grow'.
Looking at the rubber tree, which 'gets ahead no matter what', we reevaluate the tendencies we have viewed negatively, and we also discover the resilient vitality of a weed in the rose, which we had misunderstood as 'flashy and arrogant'.
In the space that Ida cultivates and cares for, the plants become individuals with their own personalities, and soon establish themselves as 'good friends' who maintain a comfortable distance.
"You need to grow a big pillar, why do you keep growing small branches?" "Just because it's okay doesn't mean it's good, right?" While grumbling and worrying, Ida and the plant build a strong friendship in the process of understanding the plant.
This is the moment when each and every plant that we pass by in our daily lives is reborn as a ‘friend’ through the eyes of ‘professional observer’ Ida.

Ironically, the more plants you kill, the better they grow.
This is an experience that all 'food butlers' share in unison.
Ida also goes through this process, but at the same time, he compares it to the way he cultivates mature human relationships.
Behind the bold and refreshing drawing style and witty jokes lies a uniquely delicate and sharp insight.
Human relationships are difficult for everyone.
The process of forming good relationships is difficult, and the process of cutting off bad relationships is even more difficult.
After cutting down, killing, and reconciling with so many plants, you come to one truth.
There is no such thing as an 'easy to grow' plant in the world.
But there are plants that are 'just right' for me.
Even plants that fit well in this place and time can drift apart like estranged friends in that place and time.
Just as plants have a unique personality that only someone who has personally grown them can understand, each line of the writing is imbued with the resignation, self-loathing, and affection that only someone who has struggled with human relationships can express.


“Life is long, and green friends are many!”
The belief that we can get to know each other even if we don't know each other well

As an observer living in nature and the city, the writer Ida has been expanding the realm of her own world. In "Green Friend," she turns her gaze inward, deeply looking into her inner self, and carries out the work of uncovering buried emotions.
The plants you plant, care for, and nurture at this time, like good friends often do, become clear lenses through which you reflect yourself.
In the episode "Enemy of the Rootfly," Ida reflects on her experience of abruptly breaking off a relationship with the carnivorous plant Nepenthes.

"If I bring Nepenthes next time, will I be able to become a better person? Will I be able to have a good relationship with Nepenthes? I don't know.
But I want to meet you again.
No matter how it ends, we have no choice but to live together again.”
- From the text

A person like a bat that endures by saying it's okay, a person like a sansevieria that withers if given too much attention.
The appearance of these green friends is the appearance of myself that I have observed for a long time and the appearance of the people I have formed relationships with.
In this book, Ida honestly and calmly shows the process of accepting her own imperfections.
The emotions I feel as I continue to relate to plants soon lead to a process of reconciliation with myself and understanding the people who have passed me by.


Just as there is no perfect green friend, there is no perfect person.
Knowing that imperfection, you can get to know your green friend and become a 'friend close to perfection'.
I believe that we can get to know each other even if we don't know each other well.
Green Friends is the comfort and courage that they give us.

I want to meet my green friend for a long time
Tips for Readers

This book includes an appendix with tips from Ida for readers who are new to Green Friends.
"What you need before welcoming a green friend" and "How to care for Ida's plants" are useful advice for readers who want to welcome a green friend.
If you want to know more detailed 'nurturing' information about the green friends that I have been caring for, check out "My House Plant Log."
It is packed with big data obtained by killing countless plants.
If you are still hesitant to raise a green friend, watch "Green Friend Outside the Home" and slowly build a relationship.
Another way to find a green friend who's a perfect match for you is to use "Let's find a green friend who's a perfect match for me!" What kind of story awaits your green friend? Perhaps you'll drift apart, or even part ways forever.
That's okay though.
You just have to get along well with your next green friend.
Because Green Friend will always be waiting for you.