Growing Greener

Brother James Lockman of the Franciscan Order, whose personal ministry is ecological restoration, discusses the nature-embracing spirituality of St. Francis of Assisi, founder of his order, and how it has inspired the ecological activism of the current Pope

When Carol Bouska and her siblings inherited the family farm in Iowa, they seized the opportunity to commit to restoring the soil, enhancing wildlife habitat, and bolstering the community in which they had grown up ­– and used this process to reinforce family ties

Join pioneering nurseryman and ecologist Neil Diboll for the second half of our conversation about how gardeners can familiarize themselves with the natural characteristics of the soil on their site and use that knowledge in selecting a community of adapted, self-sufficient native plants for their gardens.

Traditional gardening emends the soil to suit the needs of the selected plants; pioneering nurseryman and ecologist Neil Diboll takes the character of the soil on site as the foundation of garden design and key to the selection of an adapted, ecologically functional, and self-sufficient plant palette

Internationally acclaimed landscape designer Edwina von Gal’s Perfect Earth Project uses imaginative strategies to connect landowners big and small with nature-based, chemical-free  and biodiversity friendly management practices

Garden activist and educator Cathy Ludden describes her encounters with hydrangeas and how transforming the flower heads to suit human aesthetics has proved both harmful and beneficial to pollinators

Richard Hayden, Senior Director of Horticulture at New York’s magical garden, the High Line, describes how it integrates  North American native plants with carefully chosen exotic species to create a whole that delights human visitors while also supporting wildlife and providing a powerful reconnection with nature

Many homeowners who admire the beauty and environmental benefits of native plants don’t care for the wilderness look of the typical naturalized native plant garden.  Garden designer Britney O’Donnell shares tricks for designing and maintaining a more domesticated native plant landscape, one that fits better a neater suburban context

Skeptics say that invasive species are not a serious threat to biodiversity, that “Nature will heal itself” despite the looming, man-made mass extinction. Today, paleobotanist Dana Royer describes the five mass extinctions of the past, and why recovery from such episodes typically took millions of years

Karen Bussolini of historic nursery White Flower Farm makes the case for how a mix of native and non-native flowers can feed pollinators better throughout the growing season

Environmentalists say the traditional lawn must go, but homeowners commonly love their turf.  Organic lawn specialist Shay Lunseth outlines how we can “meet in the middle,” and explains why fall is the critical season for organic lawns

Amanda Douridas of the Ohio State University Extension Service describes cover cropping, an ancient practice that can move your vegetable garden toward healthier, richer soil with less dependence on synthetic fertilizers and herbicides.

In a conversation recorded in February, 2020, Benjamin Vogt discusses his pioneering book, A New Garden Ethic, and the need for gardeners to become activists in this era of existential challenges to the plants and animals with which we share this planet

Dr. Rebecca Barak describes the collaboration between the Chicago Botanic Garden, Chicago Park District, Northwestern University, and the University of Michigan–Flint to develop native, biodiverse lawn alternatives that can withstand and moderate the effects of climate change

Alex Critchley and Sarah Johnson of The Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester & North Merseyside describe the growing movement in Britain to ban the sale of peat and peat-based gardening projects, and their organization’s efforts to preserve and restore peatlands, a key piece in the battle against global climate change

Established in 1875, American Forests is a non-profit that was an enormously influential pioneer in addressing the over-exploitation and destruction of our nation’s forestlands.  Listen as Benita Hussain, chief program officer for tree equity, describes how the organization has pivoted to assisting communities across the country bolster urban forests and fight climate change in economically challenged neighborhoods.

Dr. Anurag Agrawal of Cornell University describes the many ways that plants defend themselves against locally indigenous insects, and how the insects defuse and even become dependent on the plants’ defense mechanisms

Dr. Claire Rutledge of the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station describes the ingenious use of native and non-native insects to control the damage done by this introduced, tree-killing pest

Bats play many positive, essential roles in the ecosystem, says Lee Mackenzie of Austin Bat Refuge – learn how to make your garden hospitable to these good and harmless neighbors

Sam Hoadley, the manager of the trial garden at the Mt. Cuba Center in Hockessin, Delaware explores the native sedges of Genus Carex, a diverse, largely untapped source of groundcovers, foliage plants, and turfgrass substitutes that thrive with little maintenance.

Distinguished horticultural educator Carol Reese shares a lively exploration of transexual plants and  other reproductive mysteries displayed in your garden (originally broadcast in January 2022).

In this revelatory book Dr. Lars Chittka of Queen Mary University of London explores the psychology of bees, their extraordinary learning abilities and their individual personalities.

Sara Weaner Cooper, Executive Director of New Directions in The American Landscape, describes her organization’s dynamic educational programing and her success in transitioning a front lawn into native meadow without the use of herbicides, smothering plastics, or turf removal

Although beloved by gardeners, earthworms are not native to the northern half of North America and can cause extreme changes in soil ecology there, with disastrous effects on native plants and animals.  A recent study Dr. Jérome Mattieu of the Sorbonne and colleagues reveals routes by which 70 species of alien earthworms are spreading throughout the United States

Ecological landscaping trail blazer Larry Weaner explains the importance of the long-term conversations you hold with your plants, letting them inform you about the role they can play in the garden ecosystem

Traditional gardeners shun plants that spread aggressively, but Ben Vogt, renowned natural garden designer, describes the positive roles they can play in an ecologically-based landscape

Amanda Freund of the Freund Dairy Farm describes how her family’s ingenuity has transformed manure from an environmental liability into a source of renewable energy, a means of recycling waste paper and cardboard, and “Cowpots,” a horticulturally superior replacement for environmentally destructive peat pots.

Dr. Amara Dunn-Silver of Cornell University discusses the advantages and limitations of biopesticides, and how, if properly used, they can often provide a more environmentally friendly alternative to conventional chemical treatments

Megan Edge of Victoria, British Columbia shares how her lifelong interest in foraging for wild foods and herbs set the stage for her current practice as a natural healer while also informing her passion for gardening.

Tom Knezick of Pinelands Nursery, one of the largest producers of native plants in the U.S., tells how his family’s business has mastered growing natives from locally collected seed, producing plants that are genetically diverse and regionally adapted.  The nursery industry as a whole claims this is too difficult and labor intensive; Tom describes how Pinelands has succeeded.

Dr. Matthew Kleinhenz of Ohio State University describes the ancient history of “biostimulants,” and how contemporary researchers are identifying natural bacteria and fungi that help crops cope with the extreme weather events of climate change

When automotive engineer Shubhendu Sharma met Japanese botanist Akira Miyawaki, Sharma found the cause he had been looking for.  Today, Sharma’s company Afforestt is the global leader in creating Miyawaki’s transformational tiny forests

Shubber Ali, CEO of Garden for Wildlife, a new venture of the National Wildlife Federation, describes how his company makes it almost effortless to order site-adapted, locally native plants that provide the maximum benefits for wildlife. 

Lady Bird Johnson put native plants on the map with her program to plant wildflowers alongside our nation’s highways in the 1960’s.  Her legacy, the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, continues to play a key role by providing gardeners with extraordinary and free online resources about selecting and growing native plants in every U.S. state.

As the first Executive Director of Homegrown National Park, Brandon Hough talks about his unconventional journey to conservation, and how this non-profit makes it easy for homeowners to find plants that give the maximum boost to the local ecosystem while also, at least in Brandon’s case, relieving eco-grief.

Coordinator of the New York Botanical Garden’s Gardening Education Program, Daryl Beyers has developed a fresh approach to teaching the fundamentals of the craft, one that not only provides a strong foundation for novices to go on and build their own skills, but which has proved valuable to experienced practitioners who want to move beyond the old-fashioned, often environmentally harmful practices they may absorbed at the beginning of their careers.

Annuals offer unique advantages for the ecological gardener, growing fast to stabilize disturbed soils, and providing quick color for new plantings.  In this conversation, master plantsman Ethan Dropkin of Larry Weaner Landscape Associates shares his pick of the best native annuals native to eastern North America.

In 2015 landscape architect Thomas Rainer and his professional partner Claudia West stirred the gardening world with their best-selling book, “Planting in a Post-Wild World.”  Now Rainer shares his arguments for thoughtful optimism regarding gardening and its potential impact on our ecological challenges.

In the 1990’s Lauren Springer helped pioneer a new, regionally focused gardening style in Colorado, an “undaunted garden” that celebrated the Rocky Mountain landscape and the plants, native and introduced, that were at home there.  In this conversation, Springer recalls those times and details how her design style has continued to evolve, and what comes next.

The American chestnut was a foundational species of eastern forests until an imported blight killed virtually all mature specimens back to stumps in the early 20th century.  Jared Westbrook, Science Director of the American Chestnut Foundation discusses how a project to genetically engineer a blight-resistant American chestnut has revealed the complexity of applying this process to tree species.

When it was founded in 1900, the Native Plant Trust was the first plant conservation organization in the United States.  Its new CEO, Tim Johnson describes how, more than a century later, the Trust continues to break new ground, defining how an organization such as this can rise to meet the challenges currently facing our native flora.

Too often we regard snow as merely an annoyance, but Kim Eierman, ecological garden designer and educator, makes the case for snow as a natural source of great and sometimes surprising benefits for the garden.

Hybrid fruit and vegetable seeds are like thoroughbred horses –  extraordinary performers but not resilient or good at coping with adverse conditions.  When they didn’t succeed in Joseph Lofthouse’s Utah garden, he created his own “landraces”, biodiverse crop strains that “promiscuously pollinate” and speedily evolve to thrive in local conditions and adapt to the gardener’s style of cultivation.

Why are invasive plants so effective in muscling out native species?  Research by Dr. Susan Kalisz of the University of Tennessee Knoxville details how the invaders commonly release chemicals into the soil that disrupt the functioning of native plants and even the soil fungi and bacteria that help them grow.

Jim Sirch of Yale University’s Peabody Museum shares gardener-friendly resources and an easy, nearly foolproof method for starting natives from seeds, together with tips for finding locally collected seeds wherever you garden in the United States.

Brooklyn’s Prospect Park, one of Frederick Law Olmsted’s greatest masterpieces, was failing by 1989 when Joseph Doccola signed on to restore its tree canopy. Over the next decade he replanted lost trees, matching adapted native species to each site, helping to turn Prospect Park into a pioneering example for urban parks across the United States.

There are thousands, millions of weed seeds lying dormant in your garden soil – the “weed seed bank” – waiting for a chance to emerge and invade your plantings.  Listen as Dr. Bryan Brown of Cornell University shares strategies for drawing down the account before those seeds become a problem.

Robert Kourik, a pioneering gardener in Santa Rosa, California shares a new understanding of roots and how gardeners can better foster these hidden but foundational elements of their plants

As Director of Horticulture at Brooklyn Bridge Park, Rebecca McMackin played a leading role in transforming 85 acres of abandoned piers and pavement into a series of vibrant ecosystems that are a model of what an urban park can be.  We talk with her about her subsequent year of study at Harvard and her new endeavors to make ecological landscaping the mainstream.

Invasive plants flourish in part because in their transition to North America they leave behind the co-evolved pests that help keep them in check in their homelands. Dr. Lisa Tewksbury, Director of the University of Rhode Island Biocontrol Laboratory, describes the painstaking process of introducing to our landscape organisms that can control the invasive plants without harming our native species.

Join us for a replay of our 2020 interview with Dr. Elaine Ingham, internationally renowned expert on the soil food web about how to make your soil far more fertile and productive using only natural, scientifically proven inputs

Uli Lorimer, Director of Horticulture at the Native Plant Trust, discusses the role gardeners can play in maintaining biodiversity without sacrificing their favorite, non-native plants.

Trevor Smith has won awards with his expert design that brings damaged landscapes back to a fuller function. He’s applied that experience to his second passion: educating young people, home gardeners and professionals about how they too can heal the landscape.

Jacob Suissa and Ben Goulet-Scott, two young PhD botanists, have launched an educational non-profit. “Let’s Botanize,” that demonstrates online and for free how accessible and fun plant science can be.

Kat Tancock and Domini Clark, founders and editors of Rewilding Magazine (available for free online) explore the restoration of local habitats and ecosystems worldwide, with reports from Asia, Africa, and Australia as well as Europe, Canada, and the United States.  A rare, truly international perspective.

Drs. Michael Balick and Gregory Plunkett of the New York Botanical Garden share results of their research in the Pacific nation of Vanuatu, where local informants have shared with them a calendar based on clues from indigenous plants – a calendar that governs residents interactions with nature and which is automatically adjusting to the dislocations of climate change

Ecological landscape designer and educator Kathleen Connolly takes a deep dive into her new approach to putting the garden to bed in fall.  Leave the leaves but keep the beauty.

They sound great – something you apply to a seed or plant and which spreads throughout the organism to provide protection against any insect attack.  The reality, though, as described by Sharon Selvaggio,  Pesticide Program Specialist at the Xerces Society, reveals the way these highly toxic chemicals cause indiscriminate death and persist in the soil for years.

Landscape architect Marissa Angell has worked with premier firms on high profile projects, but today she’s sharing her personal experience with tips for an overlooked demographic: the more than 15 million, largely younger gardeners who rent rather than own.

A hot topic in gardening circles is the relative value of exotic versus native plants for supporting native insect populations, a foundation of the food chain for birds and other wildlife.  Listen to Dr. Douglas Tallamy, best-selling author and professor of insect ecology at the University of Delaware, explain what the data actually reveals.

American gardening, which had been for the most part a lesser copy of European landscapes, began an exciting new chapter with the explosion of innovative, regionally adapted gardening styles in the 1980’s.  No one played a larger role in this than the late David Salman of Santa Fe, New Mexico.  Linda Churchill, Director of Horticulture at the Santa Fe Botanical Garden discusses Salman’s contributions and the tribute garden that the Botanical Garden is planning.

Ecological garden designer Christine Cook discusses the beauties and benefits of dragonflies, and how you can make your garden a haven for these exquisite creatures.

Dr. Luis Mata of the University of Melbourne Australia details how the installation of just 12 native plant species turned a small urban greenspace almost overnight into a hotspot for native insect biodiversity

As “chief seed sower” at Devine Native Plantings, LLC, Jean Devine takes time out from habitat revitalization to mentor students in “Biodiversity Builders,” a paid, six-week program that introduces participants to working in partnership with nature while also building a business

Compact, beautiful, and trouble-free, the pawpaw is the northernmost representative of a tropical fruit family, a North American native tree that bears large fruits with a delicious, exotic flavor over an extended season, while also supporting a host of native butterflies and moths.  Sheri Crabtree of Kentucky State University’s Pawpaw Program explains why this gem never made it into commercial fruit orchards and why it is ideal for the home garden.

Naturalist, gardener, and journalist Nancy Lawson talks about her new book, “Wildscape,”  which introduces readers to details of how very differently wildlife perceives our gardens, and the extraordinary relationships between plants and animals we can observe in our own backyards.

When our native flowering dogwood tree was laid waste by an imported fungus in the 1970’s, the east Asian kousa dogwood was widely planted as a disease-resistant replacement.  After 50 years, however, it has turned invasive.  Dr. Bethany Bradley of the University of Massachusetts Amherst explains that such a “lag period” is common among introduced plants and why this makes plant introduction a very risky gamble.

Policy makers have promoted tree planting as a way to sequester carbon and fight climate change, but grassland advocates say that native prairie is more effective in some circumstances and provides unique ecological benefits.  Dr. Jessica Gutknecht of the University of Minnesota examines the opportunities and limitations of this approach, and the potential impact of backyard prairies such as her own.

Gardening consumes an enormous amount of plastics, 1.66 billion pounds annually in the U.S. according to the most recent figures, most of it in the form of single-use, unrecyclable pots.  Ecological landscape designer Marie Chieppo has made it her mission to change this.  Learn about how her work is promoting recycling, changes in design to use less plastic, and a switch where possible to biodegradable and compostable substitutes.

His participation in a Bioblitz introduced Brian Stewart to the fascination of the local insect life.  A dozen years later he had photographed some 400 species in his own back yard, including many strange and beautiful creatures.  Brian shares his story and tips for insect identification in this program first broadcast in November of 2019

If you are frustrated by the poor selection of native plants at local garden centers, check out Izel Native Plants.  Listen as founders and owners Amanda McLean and Claudio Vasquez explain how they have made the wares of leading wholesale growers accessible to amateur gardeners, and how their company emphasizes education as much as sales.

Maya K. van Rossum shares what she observed at the recent trial in Montana, where 16 young natives of that state charged the legislature with deliberately violating the guarantee of “a clean and healthful environment…for present and future generations” in Montana’s state constitution

Gardening is changing, and our understanding of the field must keep pace. Veteran horticulturist and longtime teacher Joe Seals rises to this challenge in his new book, "Back to the New Basics: A Practical Guide and New Reference Manual to the Ways, the Whys, and the New Sciences of Better, Easier Gardening." A great introduction for the novice and a quick update for experienced gardeners, this is an invaluable book.

This week, in a re-posting of a program first heard in August 2021, ecologist and author Tom Wessels discusses his “Forest Forensics,” the system of simple visual clues you can use to read the history of your woodland acreage

As our climates grow warmer and frequently drier, gardeners need the drought and heat tolerance, and innate sustainability of our native grassland plants more than ever.  In their new book, The Gardener’s Guide to Prairie Plants, Neil Diboll and Hilary Cox have combined their decades of experience to produce an indispensable tool for beginners and veterans alike, with invaluable advice about how to create functioning grassland ecosystems inside and outside the prairie states.

“Grow Your Own” is a cornerstone of sustainability, but our vegetable gardens are being challenged by increasingly erratic weather as the climate changes.  John Traunfeld, Program Director at the University of Maryland’s Home & Garden Information Center shares his experiences in making food gardens more climate resilient, and how this can even draw our communities closer together.

Lead contamination is common in soils of many residential neighborhoods in urban, suburban, and even rural settings.  Soil scientist Clay Robinson – “Dr. Dirt” – details where this problem is most likely, how to test your soil, and how appropriate gardening can provide protection.

Artist Robert Adzema discusses his history of creating ingenious and innovative sundials, and what sundials can teach the gardener about plants’ primary fuel.

Dan Jaffe Wilder’s response to the polluting sterility of the traditional lawn?  Plant strawberries.  And that’s only one of many intriguing – and tested - proposals made by this talented native plants pioneer. 

Robert Kourik, a pioneer of sustainable gardening, draws on his 45 years of experience with Permaculture to explore the strengths and weaknesses of this controversial gardening movement

Will “volcano mulch” the landscaper piled around the bases of your trees kill them?  And is a mulch made of ground-up shipping pallets really beneficial for your plants?  You may be surprised by the science-based insights about common organic mulches that Dr. Linda Chalker-Scott of Washington State University shares in the most recent “Growing Greener.”

Ecological gardening leader Larry Weaner details how you can get all the benefits of conventional mulch, plus boosting biodiversity and wildlife, with a well-designed and beautiful groundcover of native plants

Maya K. van Rossum discusses Green Amendments for the Generations, the movement she founded to bring an amendment to every state constitution guaranteeing residents’ basic human right to clean air and water, and a healthy environment

John Walker, a horticulturist who trained at the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew and a multi award winner environmental writer, shares advice on Veganic Gardening, an approach that combines organic practices with plant-based nurturing of the soil with resources found or grown on-site for maximum sustainability.

Buying topsoil is a quick and popular fix for many garden problems – but buyer beware says Dawn Pettinelli, Director of the University of Connecticut’s Soil & Nutrient Analysis Lab.  There are no industry standards, not even a definition, of what makes a good topsoil. Dawn shares tips on making sure the topsoil you buy is non-toxic and of a quality that will benefit your plants.

“Gardeners are the worst threat to native plants.”  Hostility toward horticulturists is common within the ecological restoration community. But, John Gedraitis of Van Berkum Nursery says, it’s an impediment to growers such as him who want to expand the availability of local ecotype plants, genetically adapted natives grown from locally collected wild seed.

Elizabeth Licata, a passionate promoter of Garden Walk Buffalo, the nation’s largest free open garden tour, and a longtime contributor to the popular blog “Garden Rant” takes on gardener anthropomorphism, our appealing but destructive habit of ascribing human emotions and characteristics to plants.

Landscape architects Wolfgang Oehme and James van Sweden electrified the gardening world in 1975 when they introduced a new horticultural richness and a concern for sustainability with their “New American Garden Style.”  Eric Groft, current CEO of Oehme, van Sweden discusses the firm’s new book, “Beyond Bold,” describing how the successor generation has remained true to that legacy while pursuing new avenues of environmental sensitivity.

Dr. Douglas Tallamy, the University of Delaware entomologist who has been awakening homeowners to the need to plant natives and join our plots together in a giant “homegrown national park,” has found a new audience.  He has just released a young readers’ edition of his best-selling book, “Nature’s Best Hope.”  Learn how you can enlist your children in the campaign to save our ecosystems.

Founded in 2013 by internationally acclaimed garden designer Edwina von Gal, the Perfect Earth Project seeks to introduce landscape professionals to toxin-free, sustainable approaches to their craft, while reaching out to their customers to create a market for these skills.  Listen to the Project’s new Executive Director Matt Jeffery discuss the many new programs the organization is pursuing.

Jeff Lorenz, founder of the acclaimed Refugia Design Build, explains why the pandemic was a boom time for a landscaper committed to native plants, and how his firm’s “Ecological Greenway Network” is transforming neighborhoods

Nebraskan Benjamin Vogt, a leader in nature-based gardening, has just published Prairie Up, a book that is sure to become a go-to tool for those designing and installing landscapes rooted in our native grassland flora.  With its many insights how the dynamics of native plants will shape a native landscape, Prairie Up offers invaluable lessons to nature-based gardeners everywhere

My quest for tomatoes that will bear in my cool, cloudy climate led me to Dr. James Myers of Oregon State University.  He shared with me the cultivars he had bred for that purpose, then described a program to produce vegetables better adapted to organic cultivation, and his collaboration with chefs

Horticultural Educator Carol Reese explains why feeding your garden in springtime with a “complete” fertilizer can be a mistake, and describes a “lazy” style of gardening that can help heal the environment while drastically reducing your work.

Plant explorers, once the rock stars of the horticultural world, have suffered a loss of status as gardeners turn to native plants.  Listen to plant explorer extraordinaire Panayoti Kelaidis of the Denver Botanic Gardens discuss why his quest is still important to making our gardens more sustainable, as well as beautiful.

Gratify your Indiana Jones fantasies by joining the Plant Conservation Volunteers.   Your work will have you hiking into overlooked corners of the wild to monitor surviving populations of rare and endangered native plants, and work with landowners to combat threats.

Are your beloved native plants actually “noxious weeds”?  Too often town or homeowner association officers say yes and invoke anti-weed ordinances to force gardeners back to old-fashioned lawns and foundation plantings.  Listen to attorney and native plants advocate Rosanne Plante tell you how you can fight back, and win.

Starting plants from seed is economical and opens up a world of species and cultivars you’ll never find in the garden center.  Seed starting is also easy and fun if you use the winter-sowing technique that Dolly Foster teaches. 

Since 1827, the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society has been leading the way in American gardening.  Listen this week as its Vice President of Horticulture, Andrew Bunting, describes the trends to look for in 2023, and why sustainability concerns are at the top of the list.

Michael Starkey understands that not everyone shares his enthusiasm for snakes, but as founder and Executive Director of Save the Snakes he believes that humans and snakes, even venomous snakes, can coexist.  As a wildlife biologist, Michael shares techniques for making your landscape less – or more – attractive to snakes and how education can protect against snake bites and enhance your enjoyment of these amazing creatures

In the early years of the 20th century an introduced fungal blight killed an estimated 4 billion American chestnut trees, effectively eliminating what had been a foundational species of eastern North American woodlands.  Scientist Andrew Newhouse of the State University of New York explains how his university is preparing to release a race of American chestnuts genetically engineered to withstand the blight, so that this essential tree may flourish in the forest once again.

Popular gardener and garden blogger Helen Battersby of Toronto, Canada describes the impact of Ontario’s ban of pesticide use for ornamental purposes in this conversation from 2020

Award-winning garden designer and writer Tony Spencer introduces the New Perennial Movement that has brought a revolutionary naturalistic ethic to gardens worldwide

Combining native plants gardening with land preservation and a museum of extraordinary regionally focused art has made the Brandywine Conservancy a unique celebration of the local landscape.  Join Horticultural Coordinator Mark Gormel as he explains how this all begins with locally collected seeds, and how home gardeners can duplicate this in their own back yards.

One of the most important events of my gardening year is the extraordinary collection of gardeners, designers, and ecologists who assemble to exchange ideas every January at the New Directions in the American Landscape’s two-day annual symposium.  Join executive director of NDAL, Sara Weaner, to learn about this year’s line-up of extraordinary speakers and topics.  It’s a don’t miss opportunity

One of the great success stories of American wildlife, black bears are returning throughout their historic range and even moving into the suburbs.  Confrontations with human inhabitants have fed calls for hunting seasons to curb their numbers.  Wildlife ecologist Laura Simon explains why this is unlikely to resolve the problem, and shares proven strategies for reducing black bear problems

Join Collin Thompson, the Farm Manager at Johnny’s Selected Seeds, as he discusses how planting “cover crops” in your garden can benefit not only the health of the soil and the plants you grow on it but also enhance pollinator populations and curb weeds, all while reducing your carbon footprint and fighting the spread of plant pests and diseases

Hedgerows, informal borders of intermingled shrubs and trees, are a familiar feature of the British countryside, serving not only to enclose farmers’ fields but also providing a refuge for wildlife and a source of foods for humans, birds, and pollinators alike.  Dr. Annabel Renwick, the curator of native plants at the Sarah P. Duke Gardens in Durham, North Carolina, describes how she is using southeastern shrubs and trees to translate this environmentally beneficial, beautiful, and useful feature to American Gardens.

Dr. Leigh Whittinghill of the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station is extending that storied institution’s research into a new landscape:  the rooftops of Connecticut’s city neighborhoods.  Enhancing city-dwellers’ diet can also benefit the local environment

Mike Lizotte, the “Seedman” of American Meadows and High Country Gardens discusses his companies’ program to provide locally adapted wildflower and native grass seed mixes throughout the United States, and the growing enthusiasm among gardeners nationwide for environmentally beneficial plantings

In his fascinating new book, “The Mind of a Bee,” Dr. Lars Chittka explores not only bees’ ability to learn and process information, but also the evidence that individual bees possess distinctive personal psychologies.  His research transformed my understanding of pollinators and enriched my garden experience.

One of my favorite gardening tools is the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, the #1 resource for gardeners who want to know more about the birds in their landscapes.  Join Dr. Emma Greig to explore the apps and online courses the Lab offers to help you identify and foster feathered visitors, and citizen science programs you can support to promote bird conservation.

Senior and physically challenged gardeners have a special interest in sustainable landscapes, according to Toni Gattone, author of The Lifelong Gardener: Garden With Ease and Joy At Any Age.  Join her for guidance on everything from saving your back by reducing resource inputs to ergonomically adapting favorite tools.

Native garden designer and pollinator ecologist Alicia Houk details how incorporating reseeding native annuals makes your garden self-healing, weed-resistant, more colorful, and more wildlife friendly

Cathy Ludden epitomizes the role individual gardeners can play in transforming their local landscapes to meet our current environmental challenges.  An avid student of native plants and wildlife, she has worked with great success at a personal, neighborhood, and county level to make her community biologically richer, ecologically healthier –and more beautiful.

Inheritor of a century-old family tradition of supplying the best spring-flowering bulbs to American gardeners, Brent Heath details the important role that they can play in today’s sustainable gardens.  Flourishing without the use of chemicals, these plants furnish reliable early spring color and food for early season pollinators; follow Brent’s growing tips and your bulbs will return year after year as the toughest of perennials. 

Fostering wildlife and native plants – making our landscapes contributors to the local ecosystem – has become a goal of so many gardeners.  In her new book, “Wild By Design: The Rise of Ecological Restoration,” Laura J. Martin traces how this became so.  Introducing a remarkable band of ecologically minded pioneers, many of them women, Martin describes how this consciousness spread through the land preservation and gardening communities, how the understanding of restoration has changed over time, and what the future may hold with climate change.

American gardeners typically turn to England when looking for inspiration abroad, but they’ll find a far more imaginative approach to integrating nature with human needs in contemporary Dutch gardening.  Carrie Preston, an American designer who has made a career there, takes us for a tour.

Gardeners are busy now planting Dutch bulbs for a spring show, but there is an environmentally more beneficial alternative: native spring ephemerals.  Neil Diboll, founder and president of Prairie Nursery, shares how to use these early blooming natives to create truly perennial early spring color while also benefiting pollinators and other wildlife.

Too often environmentally conscious gardeners look for the “silver bullet” for our sustainability and resource issues, rather than contenting ourselves with what Kathy Connolly describes as “two percent solutions.”  Kathy, an in-demand natural garden designer and educator, is referring to small changes that cumulatively can have a big impact.  Listen to her describe her use of rain barrels as a convenient, inexpensive way to conserve drinking water, reduce energy usage, and make gardening more fun.

Late summer through early fall, according to Shay Lunseth, is the ideal time to put your lawn on a more environmentally friendly path.  Shay’s got advice about boosting the health of your grass without chemicals, reducing or ending inputs of fertilizer and water, and even making your lawn pollinator friendly

Biochar has been touted as a valuable soil amendment that fosters better plant growth and stretches fertilizer budgets.  Will Hessert and Javaughn Henry have also found in it a means to sequester carbon and confront global climate change.  Listen as Will describes how they are putting in place a project to convert municipal landscape waste into biochar on a grand scale

Starting native plants from locally sourced seed is the most economical and ecologically advantageous way to rewild domestic landscapes. In the past, though, this has been perceived as tricky and demanding, a process only for experts.  Anna Fialkoff, Ecological Programs Manager of the Wild Seed Project in North Yarmouth, Maine, describes how her organization makes starting native plants from seed affordable and easy, even for novices

Admirers of exotic garden plants have taken to claiming that their foreign-born treasures are just as good nutritionally for our North American pollinators.  Proponents of native plants insist that their flora supplies a better diet.  We ask Dr. Harland Patch of Pennsylvania State University for the facts

Managing water is the crucial task of the summertime garden, especially as climate change boosts the heat and the frequency of droughts.  Join Nancy DuBrule-Clemente, founder of the pioneering woman-owned landscape company and garden center, Natureworks, as she brings her organic gardening sensibility to bear on ways to reduce watering while weathering our warming summers.

Looking at plants is one thing; learning to truly see them is another.  Carrie Roy, Acting Curator of Art, introduces us to one of the world’s great collections of plant portraits, the Hunt Institute For Botanical Documentation in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and shares how the artist’s vision can delight and inform gardeners, changing the very way we see

Rebecca McMackin, a visionary horticulturist, has spent the last decade supervising the transformation of Brooklyn Bridge Park, 85 acres of abandoned shipping piers, into a complex of functioning ecosystems that serve as havens for wildlife and an accessible means for city dwellers to reconnect with nature.  Now she’s moving on to new adventures.  In our conversation she reflects on the accomplishments of Brooklyn Bridge Park’s remarkable horticultural staff, the acute need for such landscapes in a rapidly urbanizing world, and how gardening can influence not only our relationship with the natural world but also with each other.

Born in North America in the 1980’s, “Rewilding” has taken off in Europe, where it’s inspiring a return of broad tracts of marginal farmlands to functioning wild ecosystems.  In this episode Canadian journalists Kat Tancock and Domini Clark discuss their new online magazine, “Rewilding,” which introduces readers to the basics of this fascinating worldwide movement, while helping them to apply its dynamics to their own back yards

Krissy Boys, Natural Areas Horticulturist of the Cornell Botanic Gardens, describes her chance encounter with a naturally compact grass native across North America, and how that led her to create a biodiverse, wildlife friendly, and largely self-sustaining lawn of native grasses and perennials

Veteran investigative journalist Carey Gillam introduces her award-winning book, “Whitewash: The Story of a Weed Killer, Cancer, and the Corruption of Science,” sharing its account of the collaboration between chemical manufacturer Monsanto and governmental agencies to cover up the disastrous health hazards of the omnipresent weed killer, Roundup

Dan Mabe, founder of AGZA, the American Green Zone Alliance, has taken on one of the bitterest impasses of contemporary suburbia.  So many residents hate the noise and fumes of gas-powered landscape equipment, and its unsustainable thirst for fossil fuels.  Landscape maintenance contractors reply that they cannot provide the services their customers demand at a price they will pay without it.  AGZA has developed analytical tools that can help owners reduce the carbon footprint of their landscape by a half or even more.  It also works with landscape industry professionals to help them explore alternate tool systems, cleaner burning or battery powered, that can enable them to accomplish maintenance goals at less environmental cost and typically far more quietly.  Listen to Dan describe how AGZA resolves the conflicting dynamics.

#NoMowMay is an international movement that has been gaining widespread popularity in the United States.  Its goal is to persuade gardeners to stop mowing their grass during the month of May so that lawn weeds such as dandelions and white clover may flower and provide early spring pollen and nectar for insect pollinators. A laudable impulse, but Dr. Sheila Colla of York University and her colleagues biologist Heather Holm and native plants stalwart Lorraine Johnson have published an article in Rewilding Magazine detailing why this isn’t the best means of fostering native pollinators in North America

If each of us enriched our personal landscape with native plants, making it hospitable to pollinators, birds, and other wildlife, what an immense cumulative impact we would have!  In Saving Nature One Yard At A Time, veteran naturalists and gardeners David Deardorff and Kathryn Wadsworth show us just how we can accomplish that, while also joining together to boost the ecological health of our communities as well.  Framed as a series of stories profiling individual animals and plants, this book is as entertaining as it is informative, and is thoughtfully designed to apply no matter where in the continental United States you happen to garden

Colleen Murphy-Dunning, director of the Urban Resources Initiative, describes how Yale University’s School of the Environment partnered with the New Haven community to design and implement a very successful program to enhance the urban ecosystem in a way that directly benefits residents while also educating students. 

Director of Horticulture at the Native Plant Trust in Framingham, Massachusetts, and former Curator of Native Flora at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Uli Lorimer has written a new book, The Northeast Native Plant Primer, 235 Plants for an Earth-Friendly Garden.  An outstanding introduction to gardening with native plants, it is especially relevant for residents of the northeastern United States but has much to offer to gardeners in other regions of the country as well.  In our conversation, we explore such matters as what is a native plant and why species-type native plants are better for the “earth-friendly” garden

Dr. Toni DiTommaso of Cornell University explains how familiarity with the ecology of weeds can help a gardener control their impact on the garden without resorting to toxic chemicals, and shares the web address of a free book-length guide to the subject

With roots in traditional Korean agriculture, Bokashi composting has much to offer the contemporary gardener.  Conway School graduate Boris Kerzner describes the process, explaining how you can pursue this process for recycling kitchen wastes – including meat scraps and dairy – to enrich your garden’s soil in just weeks. 

Water is a resource plants cannot do without, and maintaining the right level of moisture in your soil – not too little and not too much – is critical to gardening success.  That’s why pioneering horticulturist Robert Kourik holds irrigation to be one of the gardener’s most powerful tools.  Join him for details about the techniques he has found most precise and efficient, methods of irrigation that can reduce your water use by a half or more while also boosting your harvest of fruits and flowers.

For 40 years, Larry Weaner, founder of Larry Weaner Landscape Associates, has been exploring the intersection of ecology with landscape and garden design, creating a style of planning, planting, and management that is founded in the natural dynamics of the site. One of the most powerful of these dynamics is succession, the inherent tendency of landscapes and their flora to evolve and change.  By learning how to work with succession, how to channel and direct it down desirable paths, Larry has succeeded in creating landscapes that are not only biologically richer but also far easier to manage than conventional gardens designed around a static, change-resistant plan.  Join the conversation and listen to Larry Weaner discuss how to incorporate succession into a habitat that addresses the needs and desires of both people and nature.

Share my discovery of a Nebraska treasure: the Prairie Plains Resource Institute.  For more than 40 years this organization has been perfecting low-tech methods of wild grassland restoration while reconnecting people with the richness of their prairie heritage.  Join us for a visit with executive director Amy Jones

To trace the impact of climate change on the plants and animals of Massachusetts, Dr. Richard Primack of Boston University turned to an unconventional source: the journals of 19th century philosopher Henry David Thoreau.  In these documents, Dr. Primack discovered a wealth of relevant, closely observed data.  Learn about this and Dr. Primack’s other intriguing discoveries in this week’s Growing Greener.

Gardening can be a prime source of aches and pains, from a bad back to tendonitis – now “GardenFit,” the new public television series, combines inspiring visits to extraordinary gardens with professional advice on how to keep your gardening healthy.  Join hosts Madeline Hooper and Jeff Hughes in their project to make your gardening more rewarding horticulturally and physically.

Jeanine Scheffert, co-chair of the Community Seed Network details the ways in which her organization can help gardeners to achieve success in seed saving and sharing and join a community of like-minded gardeners

James Golden’s new book, “The View from Federal Twist: A New Way of Thinking About Gardens, Nature and Ourselves” delivers in full everything the title promises.  In this conversation, the author discusses the birth and evolution of his remarkable garden, and how it changed him and his relationship to his landscape.

Horticulturist Jessica Walliser is fascinated by the insects in our gardens, the vast majority of whom play positive roles in these domesticated ecosystems.  We discuss the fruits of her studies and the new, updated edition of her award-winning book, “Attracting Beneficial Bugs to Your Garden, a Natural Approach to Pest Control.”  Learn how your landscaping can bolster the work of these essential garden allies.

In 2017 Benjamin Vogt captivated the gardening world with his book, “A New Garden Ethic,” in which he explored the need to radically redesign our domestic landscapes to accommodate all the other creatures of North America.  Since then this award-winning author, horticulturist, and educator has been promoting this message in the gardens he designs, his many articles and talks, and his on-line classes.  Today we discuss these classes, and how they present an engaging and easy-to-master introduction to his special, eco-friendly, style of gardening.

Gardening can be the heart of a community, as the Rochester, Minnesota Seed Library demonstrates.  Librarian Keri Ostby describes how the seed library brings together vegetable seeds for all the groups within the community, providing a source of superior fresh foods and for exploring mutual foodways.  By encouraging seed saving the seed library also fosters the development of locally adapted strains of vegetables

Alina Harris of the Xerces Society discusses the ecological importance of invertebrates, and how you can use your mower more strategically to convert a field to a thriving pollinator meadow without herbicides

Bill Melvin of Ecoscape Environmental Design in Boulder, Colorado discusses appropriate management of the human landscape in a region where wildfire is endemic.  What were the lessons for gardeners in the recent Marshall Fire, and how can they adapt their craft to better suit the dynamics of their local environment?

What is a naturalistic garden and how does it differ from a natural landscape?  Duncan Brine is a principal with his wife Julia Brine of Garden Large, a garden design firm based in Pawling, New York.  In our conversation, he discusses his concept of naturalistic gardening, the way it informs his design work, and how it has shaped the remarkable 6-acre garden he and Julia have created around their home.

Struggling with a wet spot in your yard?  Join John Courtney of Kind Earth Growers to learn how to turn this difficulty into an asset.  John has more than 20 years of experience in growing native plants adapted to wet soils.  From collecting seed in the wild to mixing special soil blends, he understands wetland natives special cultural needs, and savors their special beauty.  Let John help you transform that wet spot into an ecological opportunity and beauty spot.

The flowers in your garden are not, as gardeners often think, aesthetic statements, they are invitations for sex. Ranging from plant incest to the brutality of dragonfly sex, Carol Reese, distinguished horticultural educator at the University of Tennessee, shares insights on the curious aspects of sexual relations between plants and the role that wildlife plays in promoting it.

Sam Hoadley, Mount Cuba Center’s Director of Horticultural Research deliberately neglects his plants.  His responsibility is to conduct the trials by which this renowned botanical garden in Hockessin, Delaware tests native plants to see which are garden stars – and attractive to pollinators – and which are garden and pollination duds.  After selecting a popular genus, Sam and his crew collect all the types they find available in nurseries, establish them side-by-side in the test plots, and leaves them to fend for themselves.  The results he collects into detailed, comprehensive reports, an invaluable resource that Mount Cuba makes available to gardeners for free. 

Dr. Philip Kauth, Director of Preservation, describes the history and activities of the Seed Savers Exchange, and how this remarkable organization is preserving tens of thousands of vegetable and fruit varieties that otherwise would have been lost.

Native plants enthusiasts Kristen Nicholson, Britt Drews, and Jasmin Callahan were frustrated by the lack of nearby sources on biodiverse, locally adapted plants.  So they started their own nursery, growing the plants from locally collected seeds.  Today Blue Stem Natives is a horticultural phenomenon and a haven for ecological gardeners in southeastern Massachusetts.    

Dr. Jared Westbrook of the American Chestnut Foundation explores a controversial subject:  the use of genetic engineering by his foundation to create blight-resistant American chestnut trees and return this once iconic species to the eastern woodlands

How to introduce Sefra Alexandra, “the Seed Huntress”?  She’s an agroecological educator with a masters degree from Cornell University and she’s worked as an ethnobotanist all around the world, including in her home town of Southport, Connecticut.  Sefra’s a “BOATanist” who plants seed-grown natives along riparian corridors by canoe, and she’s a member of The Explorers Club.  Currently Sefra is also the coordinator of the Northeast Organic Farming Association’s program to restore pollinator habitat, the EcoType Project.  For this project she’s supervising and assisting in the sustainable collection of wild type, locally adapted seed, and facilitating their cultivation so that these plants’ seeds can be harvested, processed, and delivered to local nurseries to be grown on and returned to the wild or gardens.  A Seed Huntress, it appears, is a person of many skills.

Eric Fleisher of F2 Environmental Design has been breaking new ground – literally ­– ever since he first began converting New York public landscapes to organic management 30 years ago.  By building up and managing the soil, and treating the landscape as a holistic system, he eliminates the needs for chemical inputs and turns garden wastes into an environmental resource. In this way he has transformed landscapes all over the country, from the Harvard University campus to the Museum of Modern Art Sculpture Garden. 

Being in the moment is a challenge in our busy, too-connected age, yet it is essential for appreciating and understanding the garden.   Poet Susan Brearley shares her practice for mindfulness: the on-the-spot composition of garden haiku.  Brearley, who has been teaching haiku workshops at the great Innisfree garden in Millbrook, New York, shares the basics of this classic Japanese poetic form, along with a look at the sensibility that traditionally informs it.

Do you hate the noise and stink of gasoline-powered blowers and mowers rampaging through your neighborhood?  Matthew Benzie of Indigenous Ingenuities in Doylestown, Pennsylvania is doing something about that.  He’s switched his maintenance crew to zero-emission, quiet, battery-powered equipment transported on a bicycle-powered cart.  He’s designing his landscapes for greener, sustainable maintenance too.  Learn about this revolutionary rethinking of the landscape business on this week’s episode.

Brooklyn’s famous cemetery builds on its heritage, becoming a community green space, an arboretum, and a center for environmental research

Matthew Shepherd of the Xerces Society details ways to get the garden ready for winter without harming over-wintering insects and other foundational wildlife

“Food Forests” are a central concept of Permaculture – in our discussion of his must-have new book, Sustainable Food Gardens, Robert Kourik details where Permaculture goes wrong, and explains how his book corrects the food forest for the North American landscape.

Looking to reconnect with nature?  Try Brooklyn Bridge Park, six concrete shipping piers on New York’s East River transformed into a series of vibrant ecosystems rich with native wildlife.  Director of Horticulture Rebecca McMackin describes how salvaged materials make this 85-acre, organically maintained landscape sustainable as well as beautiful. 

Dr. Josef Gorres of the University of Vermont discusses the environmental threat posed by invasive Asian Jumping Worms and the methods he is exploring for their control in our forests and gardens

Forest steward Adrian Ayres Fisher describes the profound impact that uncontrolled deer populations have on native woodlands and their ecology

Carol Bouska describes the process she and her three sisters have followed in transforming the family farm in northeastern Iowa into a model of regenerative agriculture.  They are sequestering carbon in the soil, reducing water pollution, and nurturing wildlife while also building community and reinforcing family ties.

Dr. Eric Watkins of the University of Minnesota discusses the university's program to create more sustainable lawns that support native bees and other pollinators

Gardener and writer Ginny Stibolt discusses “Climate-Wise Landscaping,” the book she co-authored with landscape architect Sue Reed, and how it can make your personal landscape more resilient and a force for positive environmental change

Innovative farmer Jesse Frost describes his focus on stewardship of the earth in his outstanding and useful new book,  “The Living Soil Handbook”

Los Angeles landscape Architect Greg Kochanowski discusses his study of landscape management in fire-adapted landscapes

Internationally renowned rosarian Stephen Scanniello teaches gardeners how to grow roses without all the chemical pesticides

Ecological landscape designer and consultant Marie Chieppo discusses the report on plastic nursery pots she compiled for the Association of Professional Landscape Designers, and the greener alternatives that she is promoting

Artist Robert Adzema talks about his unique sun sculptures and how sundials can fix us in time while serving as a bridge to connect the garden with the heavens

Ecologist Tom Wessels details how he reads the history of forested landscapes from visual clues – "Forest Forensics" – and describes his new book, New England's Roadside Ecology

Paul Tukey, author of the classic guide, The Organic Lawn Care Manual, shares his prescription for listening to, and learning from, the weeds in your lawn

Award-winning environmental journalist Fred Pearce discusses his book, The New Wild, and the positive role he believes that invasive species can play in our changing ecosystems

Nancy Dubrule-Clemente, founder of the pioneering, all-organic garden center and garden service, Natureworks, describes the. chemical-free methods she has developed for coping with weeds

Mary Philips of the National Wildlife Federation details her organization's new program to supply ready-to-plant wildlife gardens, customized for your climate and your garden conditions

Two experts, Dr. Thomas Mather, Director of the University of Rhode Island's Tick Encounter Resource Center, and Kathy Connolly, designer of native gardens and proprietor of Speaking of Landscapes, LLC, discuss ways to avoid tick bites and manage the landscape so it is less hospitable to these dangerous pests

Based in the Berkshire Hills of western Massachusetts, Helia Native Plant Nursery collects its stock locally, preserving and enhancing local genetic variants, while also maintaining a living seed bank to help its plants evolve in response to climate change.

Aimee Code, Pesticide Program Director for the Xerces Society, discusses the problems with many conventional mosquito control programs, and how the same goals can be achieved with less environmental impact

Mark Mandica, Executive Director of The Amphibian Foundation, discusses the threats that are causing a worldwide decline of amphibians, and what gardeners can do to make their home landscapes more hospitable to these essential creatures

Conservationist and gardener Suzanne Thompson goes viral with her organic approach to controlling invasive threat Japanese knotweed

Horticulturist and author Robert Kourik shares his research on understanding and enhancing plant roots in this program originally posted in June of 2019

“Because land doesn’t come with a manual,”  you need the Ecological Landscape Alliance!  Board member Dan Jaffe Wilder takes us on a virtual tour of this organization’s programs, many of them free to the general public, with others available to dues-paying members from all over the country.

Ecological landscape designer Sarah Middeleer shares her experience in identifying natives that can replace popular, but ecologically less beneficial and often invasive introduced shrubs

Jackie Algon, one of the founders in 2017 of Pollinator Pathways in Wilton, Connecticut describes the ways in which her organization is fostering pollinators and other wildlife, and how it has set off a burgeoning national movement

Author Heather Holm discusses her new book, "Wasps," and the fascination of these maligned creatures and the many beneficial roles they play in our gardens

Greg Peterson, creator of The Urban Farm, a residential "food forest" in Phoenix, Arizona, details the techniques he uses to capture and utilize storm water and gray water on his landscape

Ecological garden consultant Kim Eierman discusses her book, The Pollinator Victory Garden, and easy ways you can turn your yard into a beautiful and hospitable habitat for these essential and threatened creatures.

Organic lawn expert Shay Lunseth details the green-up program she applies to 1,500 lawns every spring

Fruit grower and author Michael Phillips discusses an approach to maintaining an orchard that involves enhancing the ecology rather than a reliance on synthetic pesticides

Horticulturist Krissy Boys describes her project to create a biodiverse "native lawn" at the Cornell University Botanic Gardens

Native plants expert Gregg Tepper discusses the new book he has co-authored with Ruth Rogers, Deer-Resistant Native Plants for the Northeast, and lays out strategies for co-existing with these voracious herbivores

Todd Forrest, vice president of horticulture and living collections at the New York Botanical Garden describes the 50-acre first growth forest flourishing in the Bronx and the lessons it can teach us about gardening and ecological restoration

Tom Coward, head gardener at Gravetye Manor, details the legacy of the garden's founder, William Robinson, the Irishman who revolutionized English gardening in the 19th century.

Dr. Douglas Tallamy, author of best-selling Bringing Nature Home and Nature's Best Hope, discusses a new on-line initiative, Homegrown National Park

Marc Wolf, executive director of the Mountain Top Arboretum, escorts us through its stunning native habitats, homegrown education center, and ecological gardens 

Author and garden designer Ellen Ecker Ogden shares her book, The New Heirloom Garden, and details the environmental and culinary advantages of heirloom vegetables and fruits

Mary Menniti describes her program to recognize and document the wonderful, resource-efficient and eco-friendly gardens of the Italian-American immigrant community.

Chris Wiesinger of The Southern Bulb Company describes his adventures in exploring the back roads and rural homesteads of Texas in pursuit of regionally adapted, heirloom flower bulbs.

Author and horticulturist Kelly D. Norris discusses his brand new book,  New Naturalism: Designing and Planting a Resilient, Ecologically Vibrant Home Garden

Sculptor Dan Snow shares the process by which he creates structures both practical and fantastic with stone, building without the use of mortar and commonly with materials collected from the landscape.

Kathleen Groll Connolly of, noted creator of native landscapes, details natural, herbicide-free techniques she uses to clear a site of invasive species and prepare it for replanting

Carrie Brown-Lima, Director of the New York Invasive Species Research Institute, discusses the evolving threat from invasive plant and animal species, and how they are reacting to a changing climate

"Sustainable" gardening is not enough, according to landscape designer Trevor Smith, past president of the Ecological Landscape Alliance.  Trevor's goal is to restore the landscape to full health with his "regenerative landscaping."

Distinguished horticulturist and in-demand speaker Wambui Ippolito discusses her experience as an East African immigrant in American gardening, and the special gifts that immigrants can and have brought to the re-invention of the American landscape

Distinguished horticulturist and author Robert Kourik shares his research on the benefits – and potential liabilities – of garden mulches, with tips on how to use this garden stand-by most effectively.

Dr. Matthew Koski of Clemson University describes his research into the colors of common wildflowers and their response over the last 75 years to changes in the climate and resulting changes to levels of ultraviolet light.  These color changes threaten to affect relationships with pollinators and the flowers' reproductive success.

Distinguished horticulturist Abra Lee shares her research into the stories of her African-American predecessors and how their contributions helped shape the American landscape

Horticulturist and forager Ellen Zachos discusses her book, The Wildcrafted Cocktail, about incorporating the flavors of wild-collected plants into a unique and delicious mixology

Dr. Chantel White of the University of Pennsylvania uses archaeological techniques to identify plants that grew in the garden of pioneering plant collectors John and William Bartram.  Thanks to her work, a long-gone garden is re-emerging into the light.

Panayoti Kelaidis, Senior Curator and Director of Outreach at the Denver Botanic Gardens, discusses his love affair with the rock garden plants of Colorado and how he has traveled the world seeking adapted plants from climatically similar "steppe" regions

Nicholas Geron of Clark University describes his research into the effects of tree cover on urban landscapes, and how economically disadvantaged communities are, due to lack of trees, already experiencing the heat predicted elsewhere for the next generation of global warming.

Dr. Desirée Narango of the University of Massachusetts Amherst describes her research that reveals the essential connection of songbird breeding success with the percentage of native plants in the surrounding landscape.

Dr. Enrique Salmon, a native American of the Raramuri people and professor of ethnic studies at California State University East Bay, discusses his new book, Iwigara about the ethnobotanical traditions and science of American Indians

Laura Hansplant, Director of Design at RoofMeadow describes her firm's pioneering work with "elevated landscapes" and the habitat for wildlife and people it creates on roof tops

Merlin Tuttle, founder of Bat Conservation International and Merlin Tuttle's Bat Conservation, details the important roles of bats in the garden and the environment, and addresses the charge that they are the source of the Covid-19 virus.

Rick Carr, Master Composter and Farm Director of the Rodale Institute, share tips for easy, more effective composting

Willie Crosby of Fungi Ally discusses the wonders of fungi and the cultivation of mushrooms for the home gardener

Award-winning garden blogger, Helen Battersby of Toronto, Canada details the success of the cosmetic pesticide ban in her province – with potential lessons for U.S. gardeners

Plant Explorer Daniel Hinkley discusses his new book, Windcliff: A Story of People, Plants, and Gardens, and the ecology that underpins his collection of exotic plants

Ethan Dropkin of Larry Weaner Landscape Associates describes the invaluable role our native annuals can play in the ecological landscape

Dr. Carole Cheah of the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station describes her institution's successful program to protect eastern hemlocks, a foundational species of woodland habitats, from the hemlock woolly adelgid, an introduced pest that has too often proved fatal in other regions.

Award-winning landscape designers Marilee Kuhlman and Tom Rau explain the techniques they use to harvest rain water and make their gardens more climate adapted and sustainable

Master Naturalist Ben Pfeiffer, founder of Firefly Conservation and Research, discusses the wonders of fireflies, the challenges they face, and how gardeners can foster these intriguing insects

Artist Sam Van Aken explains how he uses grafting to create living sculptures from heirloom fruit trees while preserving our historic fruit heritage

The co-founders of Wildflower Farm discuss this pioneering nursery's 3-decade history of innovation and its impact on environmentally based gardening.

Maggie Redfern of the Connecticut College Arboretum discusses planting native species as street trees and restoring urban habitat

Nash Turley of the University of Central Florida discusses the program he and colleague Barbara Sharanowski have developed to help homeowners nationwide convert areas of lawn to pollinator habitat painlessly and quickly with the help of their mobile phones.

Historical ecologist Michael Gaige details how he reads clues in the landscape to reveal its past and understand its present

Award-winning broadcaster Jennifer Jewell discusses her new book, The Earth in Her Hands: 75 Extraordinary Women Working in the World of Plants

Leading ecological landscape designer Larry Weaner describes how to have a garden that largely plants itself, while minimizing the task of weeding

Russ Cohen discusses his foraging career and his current role as Johnny Appleseed of raising and restoring to the wild edible native plants

Dr. Meredith Cornett discusses the program the Nature Conservancy has undertaken to help the forest of northern Minnesota adapt to a warming climate

Christine Cook of Mossaics Ecological Landscape Design discusses the unique beauties of dragonflies and details how she creates gardens designed to attract and foster these insects

Pollinator conservationist and award-winning author Heather Holm introduces us to the "secondary pollinators," the amazing insects other than bees that contribute to pollinating our native plants

Grant Sizemore of the American Bird Conservancy details how house cats can coexist with garden birds, and Matthew Shumar of the Ohio Bird Conservation Initiative describes how to make your yard more bird safe..

Uli Lorimer, Director of Horticulture for the Native Plant Trust, discusses the challenges involved in sourcing and growing locally adapted native plants

Dan Jaffe, a rising star of the new generation of native plants experts and co-author of Native Plants for New England Gardens discusses the many practical advantages of gardening with natives.

Shay Lunseth of Organic Lawns by Lunseth discusses her use of fine fescue grasses to create lawns that flourish with little or almost no mowing, less fertilizers and weed control, and far less summertime irrigation

Adrian Ayres Fisher, Sustainability Coordinator for Triton College in River Grove, Illinois explains how an easy change in gardening practice can remove carbon dioxide gas from the atmosphere and help mitigate global warming

Christie Higginbottom of Old Sturbridge Village, the famous museum village in Sturbridge, Massachusetts, details the advantages of heirloom vegetable varieties that make them superior to modern hybrids for the contemporary victory garden.

Gardening Icon Ruth Rogers Clausen talks about gardening with her granddaughter, and Sarah Pounders of KidsGardening.org discusses her organization's free online educational resources for parents, grandparents, and children

Edwina von Gal, the internationally renowned landscape designer, discusses her personal journey to environmental activism and her current work with the Perfect Earth Project

Author William Bryant Logan discusses his most recent book, "Sprout Lands," and the revival of pollarding, the basis of an ancient and mutually beneficial relationship between trees and people

Dr. William Welch of Texas A&M University and co-author of The Rose Rustlers discusses the ways in which heirloom plants, survivors from old gardens, can enhance the sustainability of your garden

Andrew Madden of the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife and Dr. Tracy Rittenhouse of the University of Connecticut discuss the migration of black bears into our exurbs and suburbs, with tips for co-existence

Dr. Douglas Tallamy, an insect ecologist at the University of Delaware, discusses his new, best-selling book, "Nature's Best Hope"

Internationally renowned soil microbiologist Dr. Elaine Ingham discusses her research with the soil food web that is revolutionizing gardening, and her Soil Food Web School

An interview with garden photographer and writer Karen Bussolini who discusses her work with the camera and how it informs her gardening, as well as describing her career as an "eco-friendly" garden coach.

'Mossin' Annie' Martin, author of "The Magical World of Moss Gardening" and proprietor of Mountain Moss Enterprises discusses the beauties and environmental benefits of these primitive but highly adaptable plants.  Topics include how to rescue mosses and establish a moss garden, and the role mosses play in reducing the carbon dioxide in our atmosphere

Author Benjamin Vogt discusses his provocative book, "A New Garden Ethic: Cultivating Defiant Compassion for an Uncertain Future", and calls for a radical, less human-centric approach to the landscape

Dr. Linda Chalker-Scott of The Garden Professors blog and Facebook page, as she discusses the work of these groups and the importance of applying peer-reviewed science to the issues and problems of gardeners.

Dr. Bethany Bradley, an ecologist at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, talks about the effects of climate change in enhancing invasive plants, and what gardeners can do to fight back

Dr. Bethany Bradley, an ecologist at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, talks about the effects of climate change in enhancing invasive plants, and what gardeners can do to fight back

Dr. Bethany Bradley, an ecologist at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, talks about the effects of climate change in enhancing invasive plants, and what gardeners can do to fight back

Janice Hand, past president of "Wild Ones" discusses this organization's successful programs to boost native plants, promote the restoration of natural landscapes, and educate young people.

Edward Toth, Director of New York's Greenbelt Native Plant Center, discusses the mission of the country's only municipal native plants nursery and seed bank, and its role in preserving local races of the vegetation native to NY's five boroughs.

Pioneering horticulturist Brad Roeller discusses the research into sustainable gardening he carried out at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, NY, and shares insights into the future of the field

Jeff Lowenfels, the author of Teaming With Microbes, details how to work with the soil food web to achieve a healthier, greener, and more productive garden

Brian Stewart describes his backyard insect safaris, and the hundreds of different and beautiful insect species he has found, photographed, and identified in his own small garden

Dr. Josef Gorres, Professor of Plant and Soil Science at the University of Vermont, discusses the invasive earthworms which are changing the ecology of the soil in Northeastern forests, and prospects for their control

We expose the crackpot "research" that underlies most popular lists of companion plants, and then interview Robert Kourik about a science-based version of this method for enhancing plant growth

Louis Bauer, Senior Director of Horticulture at Wave Hill, New York City's premier public garden, describes how he and his gardeners identify and make use of "microclimates" to grow a greater diversity of plants more sustainably.

Horticulturist Lee Reich, the author of "Weedless Gardening" explains his no-dig, all organic, and hassle-free gardening system that nurtures the soil to yield bigger harvests

Landscape architect Claudia West, co-author of "Planting in a Post-Wild World" describes her techniques for returning nature to our neighborhoods and cities, and for creating living landscapes that are robust, diverse, and visually harmonious

Landscape architect Claudia West, co-author of "Planting in a Post-Wild World" describes her techniques for returning nature to our neighborhoods and cities, and for creating living landscapes that are robust, diverse, and visually harmonious

Shannon Currey of Hoffman Nursery discusses the special qualities of warm season grasses that make the superior performers in heat and drought, and ideal for an era of climate change

Dr. Lisa Tewksbury discusses the work of the URI Biocontrol Laboratory and the role it plays in controlling invasive plants and insects

Neil Diboll, president of Prairie Nursery and pioneer of the prairie gardening movement, discusses the ecological strengths of our native meadow flowers and grasses

Horticulturist Ruth Rogers Clausen, author of "50 Beautiful Deer-Resistant Plants: The Prettiest Annuals, Perennials, Bulbs, and Shrubs  that Deer Don't Eat," discusses the best ways to protect your garden from hungry deer 

Celebrated landscape designer Larry Weaner, co-author of Garden Revolution, discusses his style of design which harnesses the natural ecology of the site to produce a garden that largely plants and maintains itself.

Alyssa Rosemartin of the USA National Phenology Network explains how natural phenomena such as the blooming of common plants can help gardeners schedule tasks more accurately.

An interview with award-winning author and landscape restorationist Heather Holm about the thousands of native pollinators that can serve your garden.  Learn how to attract and foster these invaluable and essential insects.

An interview with award-winning author and landscape restorationist Heather Holm about the thousands of native pollinators that can serve your garden.  Learn how to attract and foster these invaluable and essential insects.

An interview with Dr. Bethany Bradley, ecologist at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, about the pros and cons of implementing assisted migration of native plants as a response to climate change

An interview with Margaret Roach, in which the celebrated host of "A Way to Garden" discusses the tools she used to educate herself about the environmental aspects of her craft, and her latest book, "A Way To Garden."

An interview with Dr. Jared Westbrook of the American Chestnut Foundation, in which he describes how his organization is using genetic engineering to return the American Chestnut to our forests, and discusses the implications of this work for other endangered trees

An interview with Douglas Tallamy, University of Delaware Professor of Entomology and award-winning author of Bringing Nature Home, talking about the need to include insects in your garden. 

David Wolfe, professor of plant and soil ecology at Cornell University, details how to keep your landscape flourishing in a time of changing climate

Robert Kourik, author of Understanding Roots, discusses the nature and needs of plant roots and how to foster them for a lusher, healthier garden