The Garden Mixer

Latest Episodes:

On Garden Wedding Planning with Robin Stafford, 95 May 27, 2023

Show notes

Binx and Andrew announced their engagement in March of 2022, and the great day is June 10, 2023. If you had over a year to make your garden look amazing for a wedding, how would you do it? Listen to my conversation with Robin Stafford-- tips, tricks and timing!

Doug Tallamy on "Nature's Best Hope" for young readers; Zizia aurea, 94 May 20, 2023

Show notes

"Nature's Best Hope" was the first Doug Tallamy book I read, and although it points out some dire facts such as mass extinction, it does give hope to the situation of each property owner all over the world being able to help remedy the current insect and bird loss. Now it has been re-written for children, who have more time to truly be nature's best hope --although Dr. Tallamy points out that we can't wait for them to grow up; these individual and simple changes to the way humans interact with nature need to start now. The Plant of the Week is the Zizia aurea, and I talk about how to deal with bulb foliage and the end of peony season.

Garden Marcus, the Clover, 93 May 06, 2023

Show notes

Marcus Bridgewater, known as Garden Marcus, author of "How to Grow: Nurture Your Garden, Nurture Yourself" talks about his book and how positivity and balance can help us to be better people and gardeners. The Plant of the Week is the common clover, which is colonizing all over my lawn these days. Also included: what is happening in the early May garden.

Brie the Plant Lady and Her New Native Garden, the Chokeberry, 92 Apr 22, 2023

Show notes

Brie Arthur is a horticulturist, author, speaker and now an Air BNB hostess! She has created the Carolina Garden House in Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina, outside of Raleigh. I talk to her about her new, almost completely native garden, which is next-door to her longtime personal garden. The Plant of the Week is the Aronia melanocarpa or chokeberry, and I give tips on daffodils.

Kate Daly of the Monarch Messengers and Forget Me Not, 91 Apr 08, 2023

Show notes

Probably everybody's favorite butterfly is the Monarch, and Kate Daly has formed a group of Instagrammers who are teaching us what we all can do to help this wonder of nature. She and I discuss how to help out and also talk about the flower farm she is starting down in Alabama. The Plant of the Week is the Myosotis sylvestris and you will hear Scott Beuelein and Marianne Willburn talk about their writing relationship on Garden Rant and their trip to California to see the latest plants breeders have dreamed up.

Jenny Williams of the Laundry Garden, Special Historic Garden Week Addendum, 90 Mar 25, 2023

Show notes

I chat with Jenny Williams, who gardens in northern Wales (@thelaundrygarden). Jenny and I chat about the origins and development of her garden, and the challenges and joys of having it open to the public via Instagram, UK Open Days, and the Retreat accommodation. The Plant of the Week is the Bougainvillea (I know; incongruous, but I visited Jamaica), and The Play List talks about what is going on the in garden right now.

Matt Berry of Dos Amigos Landscaping and Electric Equipment, 89 Mar 11, 2023

Show notes

Besides the soul sucking noise of mowers and blowers in your neighborhood, are you aware that the internal combustion engines that make these machines run contribute more than their fair share of pollutants to our air? Matt Berry of Dos Amigos Landscaping is doing something about it. Every time a piece of equipment needs to be replaced, Dos Amigos is adding another electric battery powered tool to their arsenal. They have two electric vehicles and plan to get more. What if YOUR landscape crew could do this? What if EVERY landscape crew could? I hope you listen to this episode, but more than that I hope you share it.

The Plant of the Week is the Daffodil, and in the Play List you will hear a little primer on rose pruning.

Seth Pearsoll of the Philadelphia Flower Show, the Crocus 88 Feb 25, 2023

Show notes

The Philadelphia Flower Show and the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society pre-date the Chelsea Flower show and the Royal Horticultural Society. If that weren't impressive enough, the money raised because of this important event goes to community service efforts all over the state of Pennsylvania. Seth Pearsoll, the Creative Director of the show, fills us in on the history and behind the scenes information on what it takes to put on something of this scale. The Plant of the Week is the Crocus, and spring is coming!!

Amanda the Ever Hopeful Gardener on Compost Tea, etc, 87 Feb 11, 2023

Show notes

We all garden a little bit differently and I love to check in on Amanda the Ever Hopeful Gardener on Instagram to see what she's up to because she's always trying something new. In this episode we discuss compost tea and why you may or may not want to go to the trouble to make some. We also have a regular old garden chat about just about anything that occurs to us. In addition, I summarize four gardening presentations I heard at the Piedmont Landscape Association from Thomas Rainer, Cole Burrell, Peggy Cornett, and Doug Tallamy. The Plant of the Week is the Galanthus, or Snow Drop.

Richard Hawke and Perennial Trials at the Chicago Botanic Garden, 86 Jan 28, 2023

Show notes

This is a long one, but worth it in terms of information gleaned about some of the best perennials you can choose. Richard Hawke runs the famous evaluations at the Chicago Botanic Garden and in this episode he talks about the evaluations and what they mean and how they can help any gardener to know WHICH darned plant to choose. We talk about the process and then I insist that we go over the ones that I was basically forced to buy after hearing him talk at Speaking of Gardening at Asheville last summer. Forced is strong-- how about 'Unable to Resist'?

Apropos of nothing other than a little vacation I took in Florida recently, the Plant of the Week is the Banyan Tree (Ficus benghalensis), and in The Play List I talk about seed starting and winter pruning.

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected