Crime Pays But Botany Doesn't

Latest Episodes:

The Conspiracy to Drain The Great Salt Lake Nov 13, 2023

Show notes

In this episode we talk with Zach Frankl from www Utahrivers.org about the (intentional ) crisis afflicting the Great Salt Lake and why one of the largest inland bodies of water in the world may soon cease to exist, all to enrich lobbyists and feed a sprawling mass of suburban lawns and Alfalfa.
More info at :
www.4200GSL.org
and
www.UtahRivers.org

A Conversation with Doug Tallamy Nov 06, 2023

Show notes

Doug Tallamy is an entomologist, professor, and the author of a number of books, including "Bringing Nature Home" & "The Nature of Oaks". He has been instrumental in educating people about Native Plants and why removing lawn to plant native plants and restore habitat is essential to mitigating ecological - and civilizational - collapse.
Check out www.homegrownnationalpark.org to learn more.

Make Your Own Soil & KILL YOUR LAWN Oct 30, 2023

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Jeremy Tidd runs Bona Terra Nursery, a native plant nursery in the DC area that grows native plants and also does native landscape installations for people looking to kill their lawns. In this episode we talk about making your own potting soil and fertilizer, using local native ecotypes, regional ecology and the native plant movement in the DC area.

DC Botany, Ghost Plant Seeds, Invasion Bio, etc Oct 26, 2023

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In this episode we rant about DC / Baltimore area botany, filming kill your lawn season 2, the glory of Texas leaf cutter ants, the seeds of ghost plant and the whole friggin' phylogeny really, invasion biology and why it's stupid to say "humans are invasive" and more.

Kill Your Lawn Recap Oct 22, 2023

Show notes

Very little botany-related content in this session with Al Scorch during an interim during the shooting of Kill Your Lawn Season 2 in College Park, Maryland

Native Bee Ecology with Sam Droege Oct 18, 2023

Show notes

Sam Droege is a scientist who studies bees and bee behavior based out of Maryland. In this episode we talk bee ecology, how to attract them to your yard, their nesting and habitat requirements, why the honey bees are the least of our concerns, what are the kinds of bees that pollinate Peyote, and why our solitary native bees deserve the most attention.
Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab
https://www.usgs.gov/centers/eesc/science/native-bee-inventory-and-monitoring-lab

KILL YOUR LAWN... & MAKE IT THE LAW. Oct 16, 2023

Show notes

This episode is an interview with Jeff & Janet Crouch, who sued their Maryland HOA in 2019 and ended up changing state law. Legislation that was enacted in 2021 now makes it illegal for HOAs in the state of Maryland to force people to have lawns or remove native plant and pollinator gardens in their front yard.

Ethnobotany & Plants You've Never Heard of w/ Anthony Basil Rodriguez Oct 09, 2023

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Anthony Basil Rodriguez is an ethnobotanist from the Bronx, New York that has traveled the world studying wild bananas. In this episode we talked about his travels all over the world and other notable and incredible plants he has encountered, as well as the people that utilize them.

Butterflies and Border Walls Oct 07, 2023

Show notes

Marianna Wright is the director of the National Butterfly Center in Mission, Texas, which provides critical habitat for wildlife in the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas. The National Butterfly Center was targeted by extreme right-wing activists and conspiracy theorists in 2019/2020, including two of the now-convicted fraudsters behind the private border wall project.

Cornell Herbarium, Brooklyn Cactus, VA Buckwheat Sep 29, 2023

Show notes

This episode consists of a 90 minute rant about the wonders of Cornell University Herbarium (1 million specimens you schmuck), how a cactus came to grow in Brooklyn, Botanizing a filthy industrial creek in Queens New York, the enigmatic Appalachian shale buckwheat (Eriogonum allenii) of Virginia, giving a talk on plant evolution in lower Manhattan, and more.