Stay ConnectedIf you could create your dream garden from pieces of all of your favourite places, and if you could grow any plants in the world, what would you choose? Who would you have as your imaginary head gardener, or garden designer?
In Talking Gardens, the podcast from the team behind Gardens Illustrated, host Stephanie Mahon asks the great and the good of the gardening world to construct their ultimate fantasy growing space.
Copyright: © Our Media
Legendary plantswoman and TV presenter Carol Klein talks to Stephanie about her life and career, her hatred of garden makeover shows and miniature plants, her recovery from cancer last year and why Valerie Finnis once gave her a banana as a consolation prize. Find out what and who she would have in her fantasy garden and when she plans on retiring.
Talking Gardens is created by the team at Gardens Illustrated magazine. Find lots more garden inspiration and planting ideas at www.gardensillustrated.com
Enjoyed this episode? Tell a friend, make sure to leave a review, or a comment to let us know who you would like to hear talking about their dream garden next time. Follow now so you never miss an episode.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Steph talks to lauded landscape designer Dan Pearson about his dream garden and what he would want to include in his fantasy space, from a temple garden in Kyoto and the landscape of Joshua Tree National Park to the architecture of Mexico and the high glades of the Himalaya. He talks through his design process and the plants he would love to grow, and discusses how to manage client’s expectations and some of his new projects plus why he can’t stand tennis courts.
Talking Gardens is created by the team at Gardens Illustrated magazine. Find lots more garden inspiration and planting ideas at www.gardensillustrated.com
Enjoyed this episode? Tell a friend, make sure to leave a review, or a comment to let us know who you would like to hear talking about their dream garden next time. Follow now so you never miss an episode.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
What would you have in your dream garden? That's what we ask our guests on Talking Gardens, the podcast from Gardens Illustrated. We've got more amazing guests this season with top designers going for gold at the Chelsea Flower Show, as well as much-loved gardeners and expert plants people who will be telling all about their fantasy growing spaces. Discover Dan Pearson's approach to garden design, why Manoj Malde left fashion for horticulture, how Tom Massey is bringing AI into our gardens, and what advice Jo Thompson gives to women who want to do a Chelsea Show Garden.
We'll also be talking to national treasure Carol Klein, Head Gardener Tom Coward, planting maestro James Hitchmough and Horticulturist Alys Fowler.
New episodes drop every Tuesday. Hit follow now so you never miss an episode.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
This special bonus episode was recorded with a live audience at the Garden Museum in London. Stephanie talks to new guest Sarah Raven and returning listener favourite Nigel Slater about their fantasy gardens.
Nigel has the chance to add all the small things he forgot when he first constructed his dream garden, including a mossy rill and a climbing plant. We hear why Sarah would also include a rill in her dream garden, but how it would be different to Nigel’s as her space would be set into the hillside in Crete.
We hear about why Sarah would love for her father, who passed away when she was 17, to be a part of her dream garden and why an outdoor kitchen would be a must. We also hear why Nigel would love to share his space with someone who doesn’t have access to a garden.
Talking Gardens is created by the team at Gardens Illustrated magazine. Find lots more garden inspiration and planting ideas at www.gardensillustrated.com
Enjoyed this episode? Tell a friend, make sure to leave a review, or a comment to let us know who you would like to hear talking about their dream garden next time. Follow now so you never miss an episode.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
In this episode of Talking Gardens, Stephanie talks to Swedish garden designer Ulf Nordfjell about his fantasy space. From the Villa Gamberaia in Tuscany and the enduring influence of the Renaissance on his work, to his love of the flora local to his home in northern Sweden, we hear about all of the things he would have to include in his dream garden.
Learn why he was blown away by the Noguchi Garden in California and why garden gnomes would never be allowed through the garden gate. He also tells us why Penelope Hobhouse would be invited to share his garden and how a sun-lounger would be an essential.
Talking Gardens is created by the team at Gardens Illustrated magazine. Find lots more garden inspiration and planting ideas at www.gardensillustrated.com
Enjoyed this episode? Tell a friend, make sure to leave a review, or a comment to let us know who you would like to hear talking about their dream garden next time. Follow now so you never miss an episode.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
In this episode Stephanie talks to award-winning garden designer Jinny Blom about her fantasy garden. Jinny chooses the plants, places and people that would make up her dream garden, from her experiences exploring Hidcote in the 1960s to why she’d have to include a piece of the Atacama Desert.
We learn why a fountain in Italy inspired her so much she’s recreating it in her own garden as a space for birds to enjoy and how she chopped down one of her neighbour’s retirement presents. Learn why Jinny would love to have a begonia house in her fantasy space, and why she’d never allow bad art into her garden.
Talking Gardens is created by the team at Gardens Illustrated magazine. Find lots more garden inspiration and planting ideas at www.gardensillustrated.com
Enjoyed this episode? Tell a friend, make sure to leave a review, or a comment to let us know who you would like to hear talking about their dream garden next time. Follow now so you never miss an episode.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
In this episode Stephanie talks to John Little about his fantasy garden. We learn why community spaces would be a key, even in his dream garden, and hear about the work he’s done to bring greenery to communities in urban settings throughout his career.
Listen to John struggling to choose between a sandpit and an industrial site as a landscape he’d like a piece of for his fantasy space and hear him talk about the places he played in as a child that have influenced him. Hear why he’d have to include a shopping trolley in his dream garden and why he wants his council to leave a fly-tip alone to assess its biodiversity benefits.
Talking Gardens is created by the team at Gardens Illustrated magazine. Find lots more garden inspiration and planting ideas at www.gardensillustrated.com
Enjoyed this episode? Tell a friend, make sure to leave a review, or a comment to let us know who you would like to hear talking about their dream garden next time. Follow now so you never miss an episode.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Floral designer Shane Connolly joins Talking Gardens this time to talk about sustainable floristry, his own garden in Worcestershire and the places he would have to include a piece of in his dream garden, from Villa Cimbrone in Italy and The Mezquita of Cordoba in Spain to Glenarm Castle garden in Northern Ireland. The renowned event florist, who holds the Royal Warrant and was famously commissioned for two royal weddings, Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral and HM The King’s Coronation, also explains which shrub he can’t stand, who he would have as his dream garden designer and why no garden is complete without scent.
Talking Gardens is created by the team at Gardens Illustrated magazine. Find more gardening inspiration and planting ideas at www.gardensillustrated.com
Enjoyed this episode? Tell a friend and make sure to leave a review, or a comment to let us know who you would like to hear talking about their dream garden. Follow now so you never miss an episode.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
In this episode, award-winning garden designer Butter Wakefield constructs her fantasy garden. From the landscape of Maine to the gardens at Chatsworth, we learn about all of the things she would have to include in her fantasy space.
Find out more about Butter’s career, from starting out at Christie’s to her training in garden design and learn how she acquired her unique name. Butter tells us all about her favourite garden plants and why she’s a maximalist and we find out why she would never allow plastic rattan furniture into her dream garden.
Talking Gardens is created by the team at Gardens Illustrated magazine. Find lots more garden inspiration and planting ideas at www.gardensillustrated.com
Enjoyed this episode? Tell a friend, make sure to leave a review, or a comment to let us know who you would like to hear talking about their dream garden next time. Follow now so you never miss an episode.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
No-dig gardening guru Charles Dowding creates his dream garden from all of the places he has been and seen. We find out why he loves the landscapes of the island of Iona in Scotland, his adventures in growing in France and Wales, and how he discovered the no-dig method.
Discover his tips on building your social media and learn about Charles’ tried-and-tested methods of composting - plus, what he would never allow into his dream garden.
Talking Gardens is created by the team at Gardens Illustrated magazine. Find lots more garden inspiration and planting ideas at www.gardensillustrated.com
Enjoyed this episode? Tell a friend, make sure to leave a review, or a comment to let us know who you would like to hear talking about their dream garden next time. Follow now so you never miss an episode.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Our TOPPODCAST Picks 
