TopPodcast.com
Menu
  • Home
  • Top Charts
  • Top Networks
  • Top Apps
  • Top Independents
  • Top Podfluencers
  • Top Picks
    • Top Business Podcasts
    • Top True Crime Podcasts
    • Top Finance Podcasts
    • Top Comedy Podcasts
    • Top Music Podcasts
    • Top Womens Podcasts
    • Top Kids Podcasts
    • Top Sports Podcasts
    • Top News Podcasts
    • Top Tech Podcasts
    • Top Crypto Podcasts
    • Top Entrepreneurial Podcasts
    • Top Fantasy Sports Podcasts
    • Top Political Podcasts
    • Top Science Podcasts
    • Top Self Help Podcasts
    • Top Sports Betting Podcasts
    • Top Stocks Podcasts
  • Podcast News
  • About Us
  • Podcast Advertising
  • Contact
Not in our directory?
Add Show Here
Podcast Equipment
Center

toppodcastlogoOur TOPPODCAST Picks

  • Comedy
  • Crypto
  • Sports
  • News
  • Politics
  • True Crime
  • Business
  • Finance

Follow Us

toppodcastlogoStay Connected

    View Top 200 Chart
    Back to Rankings Page
    Earth Sciences

    Plant People

    Plant People explores the ways our relationships with plants are tied to current environmental issues, and how art and culture reflect our connection to the ecosystems we rely on to thrive. 

    Through lively stories and conversations with scientists, gardeners, artists, and experts, join the New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) for deep dives into everything from food systems and horticulture to botanical breakthroughs in the lab and the field, and the many ways our daily lives are sustained by plants. Then stay for discussions on how we can return the favor, protecting what we have—and cultivating what we need—to ensure plants and people continue to support each other for future generations. 

    Host Jennifer Bernstein, NYBG’s President & CEO, guides you through the role of humans in caring for our shared planet, whether you’re in your backyard garden, tending a window sill full of houseplants, or finding your love of nature in a concrete jungle. Let NYBG—rooted in NYC’s cultural fabric for over 130 years and a beloved respite in the heart of the Bronx, the city’s greenest borough—be your anchor for understanding how plants make a difference in your life, and our world, every single day—in ways both big and small. 

    Advertise

    Copyright: © 2024 The New York Botanical Garden

    • Apple Podcasts
    • Google Play
    • Spotify

    Latest Episodes:
    Kelp with Dr. April Ridlon Jun 08, 2026
    Show notes

    In our final Plant People episode of Season 3, we explore forests of a different sort—those that live beneath the ocean’s waves. Along many of the world’s coastlines, kelp forests offer food and shelter for a wide variety of animal species among their countless waving fronds of seaweed, while protecting our coasts from erosion and even benefiting our economy. Listen in as host Jennifer Bernstein, CEO & The William C. Steere President of NYBG, is joined by Dr. April Ridlon of the Monterey Bay Aquarium to discuss the vast importance of kelp forests and the ways humans have thrown their environment off balance.


    Cycads with Dr. Dennis Stevenson May 25, 2026
    Show notes

    On this episode of Plant People, host Jennifer Bernstein—CEO and The William C. Steere Senior President of NYBG—joins Dr. Dennis Stevenson, previously NYBG’s Vice President for Botanical Science, to explore some of our planet’s oldest plants. At least as far back as 200 million years ago, cycads grew in abundance—and at the peak of their distribution, they even fed the dinosaurs. These so-called “living fossils” have changed little since then, yet today, they face their greatest threats in poaching, habitat destruction, and climate change. To preserve their future will require a team effort.


    Giant Water Lilies with Brie Langley & Vanessa Callahan May 11, 2026
    Show notes

    On this episode of Plant People, host Jennifer Bernstein—CEO and The William C. Steere Senior President of NYBG, joins Vanessa Callahan of Denver Botanic Gardens and Brie Langley of Royal Botanic Gardens Kew to chat about one of the plant world’s most gargantuan figures: the giant water lily. From its unique leaf structure, which allows its pads to hold well over 100 pounds in some cases, to the 10-foot diameter that some Amazonian specimens can achieve, these larger-than-life plants are some of our planet’s most fascinating lifeforms.


    Cacao with Professor Pathmanathan Umaharan Apr 27, 2026
    Show notes

    In this episode of Plant People, host Jennifer Bernstein, CEO and The William C. Steere Sr. President of NYBG, sits down with Professor Pathmanathan Umaharan, Director of the Cocoa Research Centre at the University of the West Indies, to talk chocolate. Together they explore the ancient history of cacao tree cultivation, dating at least as far back as the Olmec civilization in what is now Mexico. Today, crops of cacao and the many types of chocolate they produce face threats in climate change and plant diseases, creating serious challenges for the future of this important food.


    Pawpaws with Anya Stansell Apr 13, 2026
    Show notes

    In this episode, we’re joined by Anya Stansell, Western New York Small Fruits Specialist for Cornell Cooperative Extension, to discuss the largest fruit native to the United States—one that you may never have heard of. Sometimes called a Custard Apple, the Pawpaw grows throughout much of the eastern wilderness, and was long a staple in many Indigenous diets. So why is it so obscure to most of us today? Listen in as host Jennifer Bernstein, CEO and the William C. Steere Sr. President of the New York Botanical Garden, joins Anya to uncover the story of this unique fruit.

    UPDATE: While squash are botanically considered a fruit, the large ones are a result of domestication and human selection. Pawpaw is the largest wild fruit native to the United States, and squash is the largest native only if you include domesticated crops.


    Pitcher Plants with Dr. Rob Naczi Mar 30, 2026
    Show notes

    In this episode, we’re joined by Dr. Rob Naczi, Arthur J. Cronquist Curator of North American Botany at the New York Botanical Garden. Listen in as he and host Jennifer Bernstein, NYBG President and CEO, discuss pitcher plants—carnivorous plants with unique leaves that function as traps for insects. They might look exotic, but there’s even a species native to New York. In summer, you can find them growing alongside the boardwalk here in the Native Plant Garden! Come explore why these important plants still have much to teach us, and the environmental threats they currently face.


    Ghost Orchid with Dr. Melissa Abdo Mar 16, 2026
    Show notes

    In this episode we’re joined by Dr. Melissa Abdo, a Floridian whose work in conservation has brought her face to face with countless captivating yet threatened plants in the swamps of the southeast—including the ghost orchid. Long coveted by poachers, and central to the plot of author Susan Orlean’s bestselling book, The Orchid Thief, this ethereal flower faces an uncertain future, inspiring calls for its protection under the Endangered Species Act. Join us as we dive into this orchid’s story, one of passion and even obsession.


    The American Chestnut with Michael Goergen Mar 02, 2026
    Show notes

    In this week’s episode of Plant People, Michael Goergen of The American Chestnut Foundation joins us to discuss the tragic history—and hopeful future—of one of North America’s most iconic trees.

    In the early 20th century, chestnut blight arrived in North America, a parasitic fungus that went on to kill an estimated four billion American chestnut trees. But more than a century later, work is underway to cultivate a chestnut tree that can resist the fungus—and thrive doing it.


    Turkey Tail Fungi with Eugenia Bone Feb 16, 2026
    Show notes

    In this episode, we’re joined by amateur mycologist, food and nature writer, and NYBG instructor Eugenia Bone to revisit the world of fungi—the not-quite-plant, not-quite-animal lifeforms that keep our planet’s biological processes churning. And as researchers continue to find, mushrooms can benefit our own human processes, too. Listen in as Bone and host Jennifer Bernstein, NYBG CEO & President, explore the ways that species like turkey tail can help our bodies fend off disease, and the promising scientific studies investigating psychedelics.


    Moss with Robin Wall Kimmerer Feb 02, 2026
    Show notes

    Have you ever stopped to admire a patch of green moss—really gotten up close and SEEN the tiny forest of plantlife in all its complexity? For the first episode of Plant People Season 3, we’re doing just that.

    Today we’re joined by botanist and best-selling author Robin Wall Kimmerer, who sees moss and other up-close experiences in nature as the doorway to greater curiosity about our world. In today's episode, Kimmerer and host Jennifer Bernstein, NYBG CEO & President, explore the things ancient plantlife can teach us about surviving and truly thriving as people.


    1 2 3 4 Next

    Related Podcasts

    Quirks and Quarks – CBC

    1

    Quirks and Quarks – CBC Earth Sciences
    Climate One

    2

    Climate One Earth Sciences
    MinuteEarth – Minute Earth

    3

    MinuteEarth – Minute Earth Earth Sciences
    I Know Dino: The Big Dinosaur Podcast

    4

    I Know Dino: The Big Dinosaur Podcast Earth Sciences
    Eat For The Planet with Nil Zacharias

    5

    Eat For The Planet with Nil Zacharias Arts
    The Weather Junkies

    6

    The Weather Junkies Earth Sciences
    footer-logo

    Contact Us

    Toll Free: 844-670-7747

    Links

    • Home
    • Top Charts
    • Networks
    • Apps
    • Independents Podcasts
    • Podcast Advertising
    • Podcast News
    • Contact Us
    • About Us
    • Analytics & Insights

    Stay Connected

      Privacy, Terms of Use & Our Code of Ethics Protecting Content Creators Copyrights