Flower Power Garden Hour

Latest Episodes:

Flower Power Garden Hour 30: Houseplants – Care and Feeding, part 2 Nov 07, 2018

Show notes

Alan Yip, Masters in Horticulture and Biodiversity, joins for Part 2 on a discussion around everything houseplants. Here we focus on tips and tricks about how to optimize your indoor plants. Topics include:

Potting soils – how to choose or make your own
Make your plants shiny (?)
Protecting plants from cats
Treat fungal gnats
Dispelling common myths
Common issues, such as leaf browning

To ask questions for future shows, submit them at Flower Power Garden Hour Facebook page, The Plant Lady Facebook page, or Instagram. You can also email Marlene questions, future show topic requests and feedback at msimon@marlenesimon.net

Flower Power Garden Hour 29: Houseplants – Retro, Easy and Stylish, part 1 Nov 04, 2018

Show notes

Alan Yip, Masters in Horticulture and Biodiversity, joins today for a discussion on houseplants. Alan is an expert on orchids, and we will do an upcoming episode specifically on those. Here we talk about all things houseplants, focusing on ones which are easy to grow, tips for making them thrive, and common problems and solutions. We also dive into which houseplants are the popular ones currently. We've gone retro, because 1970's houseplants are in! Popular plants discussed include Monstera and Ficus lyrata (aka Fiddle Leaf Fig).

Flower Power Garden Hour 28: Winchester Mystery House, with Delmar Duldulao Oct 28, 2018

Show notes

Delmar Duldulao was the Head Gardener at the Winchester Mystery House in San Jose, CA for over 20 years. The Winchester House is an 161 room estate in the heart of Silicon Valley, originally built by Sarah Winchester in the early 1900's. Originally on 160 acres of fruit orchards, the house still sits on 4.5 acres, with 2 being manicured gardens. The Winchester House is where I had my first job and introduction into gardening, where I worked with Delmar as Assistant Gardener in my late teenage years. Delmar was the perfect teacher – a genius at mixing science & art applied to the incredible variety of plants we worked with. Here we discuss the unique plants, challenges & history of the gardens at the Winchester House.

Delmar owns The Garden Samurai, a landscaping companying in Silicon Valley.

Flower Power Garden Hour 27: Plant Communication and Defense, with Dr. Richard Karban Oct 22, 2018

Show notes

Dr. Richard Karban is a researcher at UC Davis, where he is an expert in the field of plant defenses and plant-insect interactions. His studies with sagebrush and how they "communicate" to decrease herbivore predation has been groundbreaking. Plant communication has been a hotly contested discussion for the better part of a decade. Although the general consensus in the scientific community now is that plant communication DOES occur, the mechanism(s) by which this happens is not well known or agreed upon.

Watch Dr Karban's TED-Ed talk on Plant Communication here

Check out Wired Magazine's article on Dr Karban here

Find Dr Karban's book Plant Sensing and Communication here

Succulents and Unique, Rare Plants Oct 11, 2018

Show notes

Brendan Wilce is a UCD graduate with a BA in Environmental Horticulture & Urban Forestry. He is a nursery industry veteran, currently working at El Dorado Nursery in Shingle Springs, CA. Brendan is a longtime friend and colleague, and has an amazing collection of succulents (Pachypodium, Stapeliads, Aloes, Agaves, dwarf Cactus), maples, oaks, woodland perennials, & rhododendron species. He is an amazing resource of knowledge in the above and has a relentless interest in anything rare, unique, or simply odd.

Check out his collection & plant photos at theplanimal on Instagram.

Flower Power Garden Hour 25: Listener Mailbag Sep 28, 2018

Show notes

A listener questions episode this week featuring:

Leaf curling on citrus trees
Geriatric Christmas Cactus not blooming
Difficulty growing Rhododendron in Northern California
Mosaic Virus (or some other virus) in vegetables such as zucchini, tomatoes, cucumber
Gnats infiltrated hibiscus
Stubborn Plumeria not blooming

Flower Power Garden Hour 24: Unusual Edible Plants Sep 15, 2018

Show notes

Tony Lord first developed his love of exotic edible plants while working as a social anthropologist in Micronesia. After his retirement as an Anthropology Professor at Long Beach State, he continued this passion in his Sacramento garden. Scouring plant & seed catalogs, Tony is intrigued by any plant that says, "will amaze your neighbors". He is driven by the challenge of a difficult plant to cultivate. This could be anything from sugar cane to Moringa…. amazing because Tony grows in a Mediterranean zone as opposed tropical, yet he has continued success. We discuss many unusual plants we both have tried & Tony shares his tips & tricks.

Flower Power Garden Hour 23: Fall/Winter Vegetable Garden Preparation Aug 26, 2018

Show notes

It's late August which means…time to start preparing and planting your Fall/Winter vegetable garden NOW!! Marlene discusses:

Strategy to plant Winter vegetables when summer garden still going well
Direct sow seeds or plant starters (small plants)
Types of winter vegetables and containers/locations they can be grown in (Kale, broccoli, brussel sprouts, beets, carrots, radishes, onions, potatoes, cabbage, etc)
Critical aspects of success, including cover crops for nitrogen fixing (such as fava beans, red clover)
Proper soil amendment (compost, potting soil, garden soil)
Pests and treatment at different points in Fall/Winter season

Flower Power Garden Hour 22: Listener Q&A….Fruit Focus Aug 12, 2018

Show notes

A listener Q&A episode this week featuring:

Seedless green & red grapes producing very small fruit – why and how to fix
How to know when a watermelon is ripe and ready to harvest
Avocado trees grown indoors – when and how to move outside
Edible weeds – example, Purslane
Techniques to propagate a Crape Myrtle from a sucker
Azalea health
Best soil type for raised vegetable beds
Yellow spots – causes and how to fix

Flower Power Garden Hour 21: Albino Redwoods – Mutant Takeover Aug 05, 2018

Show notes

Mutations happen, just ask the X-Men. Zane Moore, a PhD student at UC Davis, wants to know why. More specifically he wants to know what possible long term ramifications can be – an effect known as "mutational meltdown". Zane's particular area of study are Albino Redwoods, mutant trees that lack chlorophyll. He has been studying these since he was 16 years old after hearing a radio interview about them. We discuss the possible evolutionary benefits of having no chlorophyll such as acting as a heavy metal sink, clonal populations and associated risk/rewards, how redwoods grow, and the rarity (maybe…) of these trees.

Zane Moore – the Professor X of Redwoods.

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