Monk Druid (Maybe Ranger) Multiclass tips

Long story short, i have a level 7 OH monk x/ranger 1 (hes an ex butler and the dagger nick, flurry of blows build most fit the flavor i wanted for him) who over the course of the campaign, it was established that the ranger part of his class came from a long period of time he had to spend alone in the woods. This made him grow closer to nature in a way he didnt expect.

At this point, it is making ALOT of sense for him to lean further into the natural. His fighting style up to this point has been elegant dagger play and martial skill, with nature magic via ranger spells, magical items, and story buffs cropping up more and more. A story driven class change is on the horizon.

Heres what im HOPING for: Monk ?/Druid ? build, where melee combat is still priority but nature magic is much more accessible (combat usefulness is 2nd priority behind pure flavor and RP usefulness for the magic). Wild shaping as a main source of druid based damage would be super cool but isnt my only idea. I would like unarmed combat to still be viable. I know this sometimes requires deviations from RAW depending on interpration (looking at you natrual weapons). My character is already proficient in daggers and quarterstaffs so either of those could still come into play if possible. I know that anything monk/druid or even druid/monk will not be the best. I want to optimize as well as i can and accept that it wont be perfect. Extra context, i already frequently use my Ranger 1 spells. i have limited wild shape ability due to a magic item. I have a magic world tree seed that lets me cast two different combat spells. And i have a companion crow that can grow to giant eagle size and be ridden.

Flavor wise i dont want to just ditch all of my martial arts fighting to go full druid. If anyone has any cool ideas or tidbits i would love to hear it. This could be RAW, homebrew, flavor reskins, favorite builds that dont have anything to do with my question, any and everything as im still working on ideas myself. My DM stays close to RAW but he isnt enslaved to it, and of course he loves homebrewing on top of that.

Since you already have 7 levels of Monk, you could try taking one more level of Monk for a feat and take Grappler for feat choice. Once you get a couple of Druid levels, you could use Spike Growth, then is Flurry of Blows to grapple your enemies and run them back and forth along the Spike Growth for 2d4 damage per 5' you move them. With your 45' move speed, you would do 18d4 damage just by moving, and if they are still Grappled on your next turn you could do it again while still getting to make 5 attacks on your turn (including Flurry of Blows), all with Advantage thanks to Grappler. 

You are now a sprinting cheese-grater.

There are some other spells that would work well if you don't want to do the Spike Growth shenanigans.

Enlarge/Reduce can add 1d4 damage to each of your 5 attacks.

Summon Fey can add an extra allied body to the battlefield, which is always useful

Conjure Woodland Beings does damage to enemies in a 10' Emanation around yourself, which works really well with your high speed

Conjure Minor Elementals adds a whopping 2d8 of elemental damage to every attack you make, and it upcasts to add an extra 1d8 per level as your spell slots scale.

ranger multiclasses better because their spells known and spell slots will combine with the druids for more and upcast spells, and their fighting style will combine with whatever path you opt into. A shillelagh'd club or quarterstaff works well with Dueling fighting style, but be mindful of bonus action and spellcasting economy.

Beast master's pet HP is tied to ranger level, so if your goal is 5ish levels for extra attack and then bailing, you're gonna have a squishy pet. Hunter, Swarmkeeper, Fey Wanderer, and Gloomstalker are all solid options if majority of levels are not-ranger.

Monk multiclass will be stifled because of the ki resource pool being capped, but it does allow for naked AC and more mobility which makes for good flavor.