The podcast for people who love plants—but not always the same ones. Brought to you by the editors of Fine Gardening, this fun, informative podcast tackles all things topical in gardening. You’ll listen to the insights (and arguments) of Editor-in-Chief Steve Aitken and Senior Editor Danielle Sherry as they discuss various horticultural subjects on a deeper level. You will also hear from today’s leading horticultural minds who will offer their wisdom and opinions about what you might want to ...
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Episode 165: Not Your Typical Ground Covers
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The best ground covers are multi-purpose workhorses, suppressing weeds, preventing soil erosion, and adding another level of interest to garden beds. Naturally, we’d prefer them not to be invasive, and to look good over a long season. But why do so many gardeners seem to fall back on the same few choices? In this episode, Danielle, Carol, and exper…
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Episode 164: The Joys of Plant Exploration with Mark Weathington
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Mark Weathington is the director of the JC Raulston Arboretum at NC State University in Raleigh, North Carolina and author of Gardening in the South: The Complete Homeowner’s Guide. Mark is a frequent FG contributor, covering a wide range of topics including magnolias, redbuds, compact shrubs, and unexpected replacements for overused plants. Some o…
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It’s late-July and we’re officially HOT. And so are our gardens. Now is the time that we start to truly sit up and take notice of the plants that seem to be gliding through summer’s worst without skipping a beat. Today’s episode pays tribute to all those perennials and shrubs that take a lickin’ and keep on tickin’. We found some stars that thrive …
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Episode 162: Cultivating Connections with the Next Generation with Jared Barnes
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Jared Barnes is an associate professor of horticulture at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas, where he and his students cultivate The Plantery, a botanic garden complete with a native plant trial garden. Jared shares his love of plants with a wider audience through his gardening newsletter and The Plantastic Podcast, and he is…
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Episode 161: A Field Trip to the New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill
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There’s nothing nicer than being outside on a beautiful late spring day, especially if it means you get a whole day away from your desk. Danielle, Carol, and digital editor Christine Alexander recently played hooky from their editorial duties and went on a horticultural adventure at one of New England’s great public gardens. Located in Boylston, Ma…
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Episode 160: The RHS Chelsea Flower Show with Annie Guilfoyle
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Did you ever wonder what it would be like to get exclusive access to the RHS Chelsea Flower Show? Well, your dreams have come true because in this exclusive interview we got an all-access pass to THE horticultural event of the year thanks to Annie Guilfoyle, a 2024 judge. Annie is co-founder of Garden Masterclass in the UK and an award wining garde…
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Episode 159: Plants that Take Sun and Shade
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Chances are, you’ve got mixed conditions in your garden. One area might be in full sun, while another spot a bit farther away is in full shade. Even beds that have the same exposure on paper may have larger plants that shade out the ground below. This presents a challenge for developing a cohesive look within a landscape. As gardeners, we’ve been t…
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Episode 158: Plants That Earn Their Keep with Irvin Etienne
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Irvin Etienne is the curator of herbaceous plants and seasonal garden design at Newfields, a 152-acre campus with art galleries, performance spaces, world-class public gardens, and a nature park in Indianapolis. Irvin has been a frequent contributor to Fine Gardening, sharing his horticultural expertise through informative articles like A Bright Id…
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Episode 157: Flowering trees for every season
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Due to their size and expense, gardeners tend to put a lot more thought into the trees they ultimately buy for their landscape. While a perennial might only live for 6 or 7 years, a tree might grace your garden for 50 years or more—outliving the person who so carefully selected it, in fact. Here at Fine Gardening, we feel strongly that trees should…
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Episode 156: Finding Design Inspiration with Jay Sifford
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Jay Sifford is an award-winning landscape designer based in North Carolina. Several of his garden designs have been featured in Fine Gardening, including a one-of-a-kind modern meadow garden and a series of beautiful, functional dry creek beds. Jay’s immersive, naturalistic landscape designs are based around four cornerstones: art, magic, story, an…
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One of the worst sights you can ever see in the garden is a plant that has been browsed by deer. (Sidenote: we don't love the gentle word “browsed” in this instance. A more appropriate term might be “obliterated.”) If the munching is particularly bad, that perennial, tree, or shrub becomes unrecognizable. And in many cases, this can mean instant de…
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Episode 154: Putting Plants to the Test with Richard Hawke
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Richard Hawke is the Director of Ornamental Plant Research at Chicago Botanic Garden, where he oversees comparative evaluations of ornamental plants. The CBG Plant Evaluation Program has included 117 distinct trials over the past four decades, with 26 comparative trials currently underway in three evaluation areas. In 2011, Richard began reporting …
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Episode 153: Compact Plants for Tight Spaces
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Every gardener wishes they had 25 acres to garden on, right? Well maybe not, but most of us do dream of a healthy amount of ground to build beds and borders to our hearts’ desire. The reality of homeowners today, however, is that land is expensive and typical suburban lots have decreased in size steadily since the 1970s. And smaller lots mean small…
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Episode 152: Best of LAAP: Best of Our Listener Q & As
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One of our favorite things to do here on the pod is dig through emails and social media shout outs from our listeners. It is always nice to hear about what problems you may be having in your gardens and to be able to offer advice from our decades of horticultural experience. And we’re lucky to have scores of experts at our fingers tips if we don’t …
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Episode 151: Underappreciated Plants for Winter Interest
1:01:53
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During the winter months many plants reveal subtle patterns, fine details, and a new range of colors that help us to see familiar beds and borders with fresh eyes. This is an excellent time to get outside, evaluate your garden’s bones, and make some plans for spring planting. In this episode Danielle, Carol, and their guest will explore some of the…
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Episode 150: Design Rules of Thumb with Stacie Crooks
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Stacie Crooks is a Seattle-based garden designer who has created beautiful, ecologically friendly, low-maintenance gardens throughout the Pacific Northwest. She is also a contributing editor for Fine Gardening magazine and has shared her insights with our readers through 10 feature articles and several departments over the past 17 years. In this ep…
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Plants with a silvery sheen stand out beautifully against the sea of green that fills most garden beds. In this episode, Danielle, Carol, and their guest will highlight some shimmering shrubs, drought-tolerant perennials, a tiny dwarf conifer, and even an unusual silvery vine with a bit of a back story. Perhaps one of these lovely, luminous plants …
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