This month's episode of The Plantastic Podcast with Patrick Cullina is a master class in naturalistic planting. Here's 12 things I learned from our conversation: Patrick’s approach to categorizing plants to simplify design (8 minute mark), his preference for gravity over novelty in plant choice (20 minute mark), crafting narratives in landscapes (24 minute mark), his design process with three groups — grasses, long-lived perennial anchors, and blooming elements (33 minute mark), how changing the context alters plant perception (43 minute mark), the pros and cons to the block versus matrix/blended style of planting (50 minute mark), how to make landscapes that consume less (59 minute mark), thinking of flowers for their shapes instead of just their color (1:01 minute mark), how to tell stories for visitors to the High Line (1:07 minute mark), how to train someone on editing a planting (1:14 minute mark), the importance of regional ecologies (1:29 minute mark), and how we can propagate the love for plants by telling stories and rewarding interest (1:38 minute mark).