Spring’s flower garden starts with fall bulb planting. To share everything you need to know to plant and grow flowering bulbs successfully, Brent Heath of Brent and Becky’s Bulbs, the celebrated mail-order bulb company, joins me on the podcast.  Podcast Links for Show notes Download my free guide - Fall Bulbs 101: Selecting, Planting, and Caring for Bulbs Subscribe to the joegardener® email list to receive weekly updates about new podcast episodes, seasonal gardening tips, and online...

Even in an urban environment, nature is all around, if you know where to look. This week, writer Joanna Brichetto joins me to discuss her essay collection, “This Is How a Robin Drinks: Essays on Urban Nature,” and the benefits of becoming attuned to wildlife. Podcast Links for Show notes Download my free eBook 5 Steps to Your Best Garden Ever - the 5 most important steps anyone can do to have a thriving garden or landscape. It’s what I still do today, without exception to get incredible...

Poisonous plants like poison ivy and giant hogweed can cause irritation, pain and scarring, but there are other plants — wicked plants — that are downright deadly. Joining me this week to discuss the stories behind the world’s most dangerous plants is New York Times bestselling author Amy Stewart. Podcast Links for Show notes Download my free eBook 5 Steps to Your Best Garden Ever - the 5 most important steps anyone can do to have a thriving garden or landscape. It’s what I still do today,...

A naturalized bulb lawn provides beautiful blooms each spring continuously with no need for additional plantings. In this week’s encore, I’m joined by horticulturist Peggy Anne Montgomery to discuss the history and techniques behind bulb lawns and to share how to start your own. Podcast Links for Show notes Download my free eBook 5 Steps to Your Best Garden Ever - the 5 most important steps anyone can do to have a thriving garden or landscape. It’s what I still do today, without exception...

“Leave the leaves” is a slogan you must have heard by now. Each fall, conservationists encourage homeowners to keep leaves on their property rather than sending them off to landfills. There are a number of reasons to do so, chiefly to support wildlife and reduce contributions to climate change. For a deep dive into why leaving the leaves is such a game-changer, returning to the podcast this week is National Wildlife Federation naturalist David Mizejewski. Podcast Links for Show notes ...

When we pause to observe the natural world more closely and record those observations and the way they make us feel, we gain a greater understanding of nature and ourselves. Writer Margaret Renkl, who has a new prompt journal out now as a companion to her best-selling book “The Comfort of Crows: A Backyard Year,” joins me this week to discuss the benefits of a nature journal. Podcast Links for Show notes Download my free eBook 5 Steps to Your Best Garden Ever - the 5 most important steps...

There are around 4,000 species of wild, native bees in North America, though imported, domesticated honeybees seem to be the bees that get all the attention when it comes to conservation. To help us learn about native bees and their value, joining me on the podcast this week is entomologist and wild bee expert Dr. Jessica Forrest. Podcast Links for Show notes Download my free eBook 5 Steps to Your Best Garden Ever - the 5 most important steps anyone can do to have a thriving garden or...

Citizen scientists are key to tracking bird populations in North America and identifying which birds are growing in numbers and range — and which are on the decline. To explain the value of bird counts, what can be learned from the data and how anyone can get involved, joining me on the podcast this week is Project FeederWatch project leader Dr. Emma Greig. Podcast Links for Show notes Download my free eBook 5 Steps to Your Best Garden Ever - the 5 most important steps anyone can do to have...

Gardening burnout happens when a garden becomes so much more work than you can keep up with and a source of disappointment — one disaster after another — rather than a source of joy. It’s the feeling of not just being overwhelmed but wanting to give up gardening altogether (at least for now). This week, I identify the sources of gardening burnout and the adjustments gardeners can make so they never get to that point. Podcast Links for Show notes Download my free eBook 5 Steps to Your Best...

Tree collectors come in many different fashions, as author Amy Stewart explores in her new book, “The Tree Collectors: Tales of Arboreal Obsession.” Amy joins me on the podcast this week to discuss tree collecting, what inspired her to write this book, and 10 of the 50 tree collectors she featured in the book. Podcast Links for Show notes Download my free eBook 5 Steps to Your Best Garden Ever - the 5 most important steps anyone can do to have a thriving garden or landscape. It’s what I...

Margaret Roach is one of those heroes in horticulture and gardening media who I really admire. She excels at communicating her fundamental understanding of the natural world and reminds her readers and listeners to keep on digging, in more ways than one. She has been a guest on this podcast many times, and this week I am revisiting her first appearance, from back in 2017, where Margaret joined me to share simple yet timeless garden design lessons. Podcast Links for Show notes Download my...

The annual monarch butterfly migration south starts this month, so I thought it would be a good time to revisit my conversation with ecologist and evolutionary scientist Dr. Anurag Agrawal, an expert on monarch butterflies and milkweed — the only type of plant that monarchs lay their eggs on. Podcast Links for Show notes Download my free eBook 5 Steps to Your Best Garden Ever - the 5 most important steps anyone can do to have a thriving garden or landscape. It’s what I still do today,...

Periodically, rather than recording a podcast from my studio, I like to get out into my garden and record an audio journal on-site, so I can talk in real time about what I’m seeing, the wins and challenges of the season, what’s worked, what hasn’t and what I plan to change. In this edition, I touch on many things you may have noticed in your own garden this year, and I share how I make the transition from the summer growing season to fall. Podcast Links for Show notes Download my free...

Soil bacteria perform many essential tasks to enable plant growth, including cycling nutrients and fixing nitrogen. To explain the fascinating things that researchers have discovered about soil bacteria in recent years, my guest on this encore presentation is gardening columnist and author Jeff Lowenfels. Podcast Links for Show notes Download my free eBook 5 Steps to Your Best Garden Ever - the 5 most important steps anyone can do to have a thriving garden or landscape. It’s what I still do...

Fumigation film and drip tape inaugurated changes in agriculture that made it easier and far more efficient to grow food crops in difficult climates, and now artificial intelligence is bringing about advancements in weed and pest control, among other promising developments. To discuss innovations in agriculture and how they could also benefit home gardeners, joining me on the podcast this week is Dr. Nathan Boyd, a professor of horticulture and weed science at the University of Florida.  ...

Plants can do some marvelous things — in addition to being “light eaters” they have their own ways of seeing, hearing and feeling. My guest this week, environmental reporter and author Zöe Schlanger, is here to discuss her new book, The Light Eaters, on the concept of plant intelligence and how it changes our understanding of plant life. Podcast Links for Show notes Download my free eBook 5 Steps to Your Best Garden Ever - the 5 most important steps anyone can do to have a thriving garden...

Many apple varieties that have not been commercially available for decades have been lost to history, but there are people called “apple hunters” who go in search of once-popular apples to save them from extinction. My guest this week, Jude Schuenemeyer is an apple hunter who is here to share a success story: the rediscovery of the Colorado Orange apple. Podcast Links for Show notes Download my free eBook 5 Steps to Your Best Garden Ever - the 5 most important steps anyone can do to have a...

The insect crisis is one leg of the biodiversity loss problem that has cascading effects on the ecosystem and threatens human survival. To share the causes of and the solutions to insect decline, joining me this week is Oliver Milman, author of “The Insect Crisis: The Fall of the Tiny Empires That Run the World.” Podcast Links for Show notes Download my free eBook 5 Steps to Your Best Garden Ever - the 5 most important steps anyone can do to have a thriving garden or landscape. It’s what I...

Aldo Leopold is considered to be one of the most consequential conservationists of the 20th century. In his posthumously published book “A Sand County Almanac,” he put forward the “land ethic” — the idea that the fates of humans and land are intertwined. To talk about Leopold’s influence on the conservation movement, joining me on the podcast this week is Aldo Leopold Foundation senior fellow Dr. Curt Meine. Podcast Links for Show notes Download my free eBook 5 Steps to Your Best Garden...

Groundcover plants require far less maintenance than a turfgrass lawn and can also offer erosion control and ecological services, among many other benefits. To discuss groundcover solutions to lawn troubles, joining me this week is Kathy Jentz, author of “Groundcover Revolution.” Podcast Links for Show notes Download my free eBook 5 Steps to Your Best Garden Ever - the 5 most important steps anyone can do to have a thriving garden or landscape. It’s what I still do today, without exception...

Extreme temperatures, drought and flooding are all becoming more frequent and severe due to climate change, creating new challenges for gardeners. To explain how to gird a garden for the effects of a warming planet, joining me on the podcast this week is Kim Stoddart, who literally wrote the book — two books, in fact — on climate change-resilient gardening. Podcast Links for Show notes Download my free eBook 5 Steps to Your Best Garden Ever - the 5 most important steps anyone can do to have...

Of the many reasons to garden, the presence of beautiful and interesting birds is among the most delightful. To explain how to make your garden bird-friendly, joining me on the podcast this week is Jen McGuinness, aka Frau Zinnie, the author of “Bird-Friendly Gardening: Guidance and Projects for Supporting Birds in Your Landscape.” Podcast Links for Show notes Download my free eBook 5 Steps to Your Best Garden Ever - the 5 most important steps anyone can do to have a thriving garden or...

About 80% of the population is allergic to the oily resin urushiol, the compound found in poison ivy that causes dermatitis — a burning, itching rash. Reactions to poison ivy range from mild to life-threatening, and I am among those who have ended up in the ER due to poison ivy exposure. As this three-leaved menace is in its peak season, I am revisiting my conversation with Dr. Susan Pell, a botanist with a deep expertise on the family of plants that poison ivy belongs to. Podcast Links for...

Controlling deer is a challenge for many gardeners, whether they have ornamental gardens or are raising vegetables, not to mention rabbits, squirrels, groundhogs, raccoons, moles and voles. To explore the most effective ways to control nuisance wildlife, I spoke with wildlife damage management specialist Marne Titchenell, who shared her advice on which deterrents work and which are just wishful thinking. Podcast Links for Show notes Download my free eBook 5 Steps to Your Best Garden Ever -...