Cultivating Place

Latest Episodes:

High Elevation Balancing Act, Jennifer Bousselot, Colorado State University Jul 30, 2026

Show notes

At the height of summer, we head to the mile-high city to think more about cultivating place at elevation: human-made and natural elevations, in the service of people and their places. We’re in conversation with Professor Jennifer Bousselot, who leads the Green Roof and Urban Agriculture Program, Growing Food for People and Pollinators, at Colorado State University. Dr. Bousselot is motivated by balance. The author and co-author of many titles, including Trees & Shrubs of Colorado and Trees and Shrubs of New Mexico, she has also published widely on the power (pun intended) of green roofs and agrivoltaics, a stacking-functions, mixed-use approach that combines solar power and agriculture. And that’s all while introducing students to the mix. Join us! Cultivating Place now has a donate button! We thank you for listening over the years, and we hope you'll continue to support Cultivating Place. We can't thank you enough for making it possible for this young program to grow and engage in even more conversations like these. The show is available as a podcast on SoundCloud and iTunes. To read more and for many more photos, please visit www.cultivatingplace.com.

Rooted in Relationships, Plantsman Allen Bush Jul 23, 2026

Show notes

Allen Bush is an esteemed plantsman and lifelong advocate for the joy of gardening. He joins Cultivating Place Host Abra Lee in conversation this week to share more. From his work with Jelitto Perennial Seeds to his decades sharing rich garden stories as a Garden Rant writer, Allen’s life and work invite us to look more closely at the remarkable diversity of plants and the endless opportunities they offer for curiosity, discovery, and connection. Through decades of sharing plants and knowledge with gardeners, he reminds us that our gardens are never truly finished; they are living places that continue to teach us, season after season, and our local garden histories matter. Listen in this week! Cultivating Place now has a donate button! We thank you for listening over the years, and we hope you'll continue to support Cultivating Place. We can't thank you enough for making it possible for this young program to grow and engage in even more conversations like these. The show is available as a podcast on SoundCloud and iTunes. To read more and for many more photos, please visit www.cultivatingplace.com.

A Path For All, Reeves-Reed Arboretum, Summit, NJ Jul 16, 2026

Show notes

What does accessibility mean in the garden? In a public garden? Reeves-Reed Arboretum in Summit NJ, an historic estate and garden, has been considering these questions intensely. How to increase accessibility for visitors and yet maintain the equally important sense of being in and with nature. One result of their thoughtful deliberations is their Path For All, which opened in May of 2026. Three members of their team join Jennifer Jewell this week to share more about their 130-plus-year history as a garden and their 50+-year history of increasing accessibility for all to loving, living with, and learning from wild and cultivated landscapes. Listen in! Cultivating Place now has a donate button! We thank you for listening over the years, and we hope you'll continue to support Cultivating Place. We can't thank you enough for making it possible for this young program to grow and engage in even more conversations like these. The show is available as a podcast on SoundCloud and iTunes. To read more and for many more photos, please visit www.cultivatingplace.com.

Slow Design, Thoughtful Places, Andrew Fisher Tomlin Jul 09, 2026

Show notes

Planting design is an essential skill in garden design writ large, for the health and beauty of a site– functionally, environmentally, and psychologically. Andrew Fisher Tomlin is widely acknowledged as leading the development of a distinct professional career path in planting design through his own work and as a Director of Environmental Design at the London College of Garden Design in London and Melbourne, where he has mentored some of the most exciting new designers coming out of the UK and Australia over the past 20 years. His work bridges design, education, and industry, and he is especially known for his planting design skills and experience on outstanding landscapes over his 30-year career. A synthesis of his understanding and teaching about planting design to date, Andrew’s new book, “The Modern Professional Planting Designer,” was published by Rizzoli, New York, in September of 2025. In March of this year, Andrew received the Royal Horticultural Society’s highest honour, the RHS Elizabeth Medal of Honour, an award conferred on "those of any nationality who have significantly impacted the advancement of the science, art, or practice of horticulture for the benefit of all generations and the environment.” Andrew joins Cultivating Place this week to share more. Listen in! Cultivating Place now has a donate button! We thank you for listening over the years, and we hope you'll continue to support Cultivating Place. We can't thank you enough for making it possible for this young program to grow and engage in even more conversations like these. The show is available as a podcast on SoundCloud and iTunes. To read more and for many more photos, please visit www.cultivatingplace.com.

Sunchoke Farms, Next in the Cultivating South Bend Series Jul 02, 2026

Show notes

Cultivating Place well so often comes down to sharing the abundance of growing from a place of love and a strong sense of community and home. Susan Greutman is the founder and owner of Sunchoke Farms, an urban homestead-turned-family farm in South Bend, Indiana, growing chemical-free produce on formerly vacant city lots. Susan has been farming since 2018 and also happens to be growing right in Ben Futa and Botany's neighborhood. Their conversation is filled with so many lessons derived from all of this abundance of place, and is the second in Ben’s Cultivating South Bend series, leading up to the Cultivating Place: The Power Of Gardeners, South Bend 2026 Symposium this September! Listen in! Cultivating Place now has a donate button! We thank you for listening over the years, and we hope you'll continue to support Cultivating Place. We can't thank you enough for making it possible for this young program to grow and engage in even more conversations like these. The show is available as a podcast on SoundCloud and iTunes. To read more and for many more photos, please visit www.cultivatingplace.com.

Following What Flourishes, with Amanda Hannah Jun 25, 2026

Show notes

Amanda Hannah is the Director of Botanical Garden Horticulture at Holden Forests & Gardens in Cleveland, Ohio. Amanda’s path into horticulture has taken her from the agricultural landscapes of Idaho and Utah to studying in Argentina, living in Seattle, and moving through the Longwood Fellows Program. This week, Amanda and Cultivating Place Host, Abra Lee, dive into plants, the role of public gardens, conservation, and how following an unexpected passion can transform the course of a life. Listen in! Cultivating Place now has a donate button! We thank you for listening over the years, and we hope you'll continue to support Cultivating Place. We can't thank you enough for making it possible for this young program to grow and engage in even more conversations like these. The show is available as a podcast on SoundCloud and iTunes. To read more and for many more photos, please visit www.cultivatingplace.com.

Summer Solstice Special–SummerHome Garden's Lisa Negri, Denver, CO Jun 18, 2026

Show notes

We are finally at peak daylight and the Summer Solstice–which officially takes place June 21st this year. Summer speaks of garden parties and holidays at the beach, or lake, by rivers, or in the mountains. Summer speaks directly to our connection to the wild places we love and perhaps long for– and which, through our gardens, can be right here at home. SummerHome Garden in Denver, CO, is a playful and powerful twist on the idea that our gardens can be our summer homes. Lisa Negri of SummerHome Garden joins us this week to share more. Listen in! Cultivating Place now has a donate button! We thank you for listening over the years, and we hope you'll continue to support Cultivating Place. We can't thank you enough for making it possible for this young program to grow and engage in even more conversations like these. The show is available as a podcast on SoundCloud and iTunes. To read more and for many more photos, please visit www.cultivatingplace.com.

Preparing for International Pollinator Week with Krystle Hickman, Author, Artist, Native Bee Adventurer Jun 11, 2026

Show notes

The conservation of biodiversity writ large is directly tied to the conservation of native bees, crucial pollinators in our cultivated and wildland ecosystems across most regions of the world. This week, we look forward to International Pollinator Week, which always falls in the third week of June, tied to the summer solstice. We’re in conversation with Krystle Hickman, award-winning conservation photographer, author, artist, and National Geographic Explorer. Her passion is native bees wherever she finds them, starting in her home place of California. Known online as BeeSip, Krystle’s newest book, including her extraordinary photography, is The ABCs of California’s Native Bees. Listen in for so much more! Cultivating Place now has a donate button! We thank you for listening over the years, and we hope you'll continue to support Cultivating Place. We can't thank you enough for making it possible for this young program to grow and engage in even more conversations like these. The show is available as a podcast on SoundCloud and iTunes. To read more and for many more photos, please visit www.cultivatingplace.com.

Turning Space into PLACE: ReGen South Bend Jun 04, 2026

Show notes

What makes a place a place, versus just any space? Tyler Kanchazeski is a sustainability advocate and the founder and owner of ReGen South Bend, an incremental development and community catalyst company based in the Near Northwest Neighborhood of South Bend, Indiana. Tyler brings business leadership, logistics, resiliency, and community experience to his work alongside neighbors to transform space into place, in order to cultivate people and their places well. Tyler joins Cultivating Place Host Ben Futa this week to share more. Listen in! Cultivating Place now has a donate button! We thank you for listening over the years, and we hope you'll continue to support Cultivating Place. We can't thank you enough for making it possible for this young program to grow and engage in even more conversations like these. The show is available as a podcast on SoundCloud and iTunes. To read more and for many more photos, please visit www.cultivatingplace.com.

Sustainability and Stewardship – A Conversation with Brent “Fig” Figlestahler May 28, 2026

Show notes

This week on Cultivating Place, public gardens as living classrooms, the quiet power of trees in city life, and how tending landscapes can cultivate resilience, curiosity, and belonging. Host Abra Lee is in conversation with Brent “Fig” Figlestahler, horticulturist, landscape architect, educator, and devoted steward of public green spaces from the cultivated collections and urban woodlands of Cylburn Arboretum Friends, to classrooms, community gardens, and neighborhoods across the city of Baltimore, Maryland. Fig shows what it means to care deeply for plants — and for the people and places connected to them. Listen in! Cultivating Place now has a donate button! We thank you for listening over the years, and we hope you'll continue to support Cultivating Place. We can't thank you enough for making it possible for this young program to grow and engage in even more conversations like these. The show is available as a podcast on SoundCloud and iTunes. To read more and for many more photos, please visit www.cultivatingplace.com. ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF Brent Figlestahler, All Rights Reserved.

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