In the stunning Colour Gardens at The Newt In Somerset, Joe Dransfield explains how a monochrome approach to flowers can deliver dazzling impact. Liz Mooney shares grow your own tips from the World Food Garden at RHS Garden Wisley, including peas, radishes and cardoons. And we hear the inspirational and unconventional story of Roka Brings Flowers – a grower and florist who started a wonderful cut flower business from a narrowboat with a floating greenhouse in tow.  Presenter: Gareth...

Desert roadcuts, abandoned pasture, heathland and marshy thickets inspire naturalistic planting ideas from Kevin Philip Williams and Michel Guidi, whose new book Shrouded in Light draws from wild shrubscapes. We also visit RHS Garden Rosemoor in North Devon, where Peter Adams gives us a tour of the extensive fruit and vegetable gardens with top tips for growing parsnips, shallots, cloching potatoes and protecting peas. Jenny Laville and James Armitage return to the podcast to debunk more...

Do you ever fall in love with a plant, buy it, but then not know what to pair it with? Principal Horticultural Advisor James Lawrence introduces his guide to creating planting combinations that don’t just look good, but have a sustainability impact too. Guy Barter shares seasonal tips for establishing tomatoes, beetroot, and winter pumpkins and squash – helping you to set up for the Grow Your Own season. And Jack Aldridge, a horticulturist who looks after Oakwood at RHS Garden Wisley, will be...

Often referred to as “the greatest living landscape designer” and a leading figure of the New Perennial movement – Piet Oudolf joins curator Matthew Pottage to talk about his new landscape at RHS Garden Wisley. Helen Bostock also introduces the new Bumbles on Blooms project, and the plants you should choose to help support over 250 species of bees in the UK - some with rather particular tastes. Plus, Sam Gallivan, Leader of the Nursery and Propagation team at Wisley talks about propagating...

Garden designer and writer Ann Treneman shares ideas from her new book RHS Greener Gardening: Containers, explaining how you can create sustainable ecosystems whatever size your space. Jenny Laville speaks with RHS botanist James Armitage to untangle taxonomy, and discuss why plant names keep changing. And Gareth Richards meets David Ford, the holder of the National Plant Collection of Chaenomeles in Surrey, to talk about his love affair with the plant and why they’re due a mainstream...

This week Guy Barter and RHS Sustainability Fellow Chloe Sutcliffe react to a recent study published in the journal Nature Cities that claims that urban agriculture has a carbon footprint up to 6 times bigger than conventional agriculture – discussing what this means for allotmenteers and community gardeners, and how we should be thinking about our environmental impact. Entomologist and wasp defender Serian Sumner explains why spring is the perfect time to make peace with yellowjackets, as...

This week, we’re trying to honour March in all its glory. We’re delving into tasty and blight-resistant tomato varieties. We’re exploring how to build and renovate harmonious and colourful borders. And finally, to celebrate International Women’s Day and the 220th anniversary of the RHS, we’re turning back the clock to honour a few of the women who’ve shaped the organisation. Presenter: Guy Barter Contributors: Simon Crawford, Susie Pasley-Tyler, Fiona Davison Contact:...

This week we’re exploring small but useful nuggets of information that have the potential to change the way we interact with our surroundings this growing season. We’re getting seasonal tips on GYO – things like training and pruning apple trees and preparing allotments for the busiest time of year. And, we’re delving into plant names – and the system behind our classifications.    Presenter: Guy Barter Contributors: Andy Lewis, Jenny Laville, James Armitage Contact:...

This week, we’re investigating what exactly makes a plant hardy, how tropical plants survive British winters, and the ways in which what thrives here may be changing – especially in urban environments like London. Presenter Gareth Richards and RHS botanist James Armitage take a tour of weird and wacky tender trees that have survived here against all odds. And, Hillary Collins of Grafton Nursery gives us a behind the scenes look at what you can do to help your eucalyptus withstand British...

This week’s show is all about growing something new. We’re spreading the word about exciting plant species, cultivars, and hybrids from those that love them most. Legendary plantsman Roy Lancaster chats about shrubby honeysuckles, Canadian horticulturist Grahame Ware makes the case for a curious genus called Syneilesis, and Wisley horticulturist Jack Aldridge shares the stories behind flowering dogwood hybrids. All the stories in this show are based on articles from the March issue of The...

For this week’s show, we take a behind the scenes look at the ways spring is fighting its way into the picture at RHS Garden Wisley. We go behind the scenes at the Alpine Display House, we get a masterclass on pruning wisteria, and we dive into the life and work of the eccentric and influential horticulturist Ellen Willmott – and explore a theory for why she may have missed her Victoria Medal of Honour ceremony.  Presenter: Guy Barter Contributors: Alex Hankey, Matthew Pottage, Suzanne...

In this week’s show, we’re zeroing in on how to stretch the money we spend on our gardens as far as possible. We hear from gardening influencer Anya Lautenbach - aka Anya the Garden Fairy – on her money-saving tips. We explore the science behind cuttings with botanist and editor James Armitage. And we take an inside look at the RHS apprenticeship programme. Presenter: Guy Barter Contributors: Anya Lautenbach, James Armitage, Sheila Das, Rory Doyle Links: The Money-Saving...

This week’s show is all about cultivating change – whether in your own garden, in your local neighbourhood, or in a magical National Trust property. We’re chatting guerrilla gardening with Ellen Miles, getting top tips from Wisley advisors, and taking a look at all the work that goes into maintaining the laburnum arch at Bodnant Garden (one of our most beloved partner gardens!)   Presenter: Guy Barter   Contributors: Ellen Miles, James Lawrence, Becky Mealey, Michaela Freed, and Lucy...

As gardeners, we all have plants we love to hate – think aucubas or heathers. And in winter, especially, it seems that these common but unpopular plants play a really important role in our gardens, adding structure, berries, or cheery variegated leaves when we need it most. So today, we’re addressing the overlooked. We’re giving mahonias a well-deserved second chance. We’re revisiting houseplants, which may or may be looking worse for wear after the chaotic holiday season. And finally, we’re...

We’re past the solstice, so it’s time to both revel in the present and prepare for what's to come as the days get longer and warmer. So, in this week’s show, we’re doing exactly that, taking note of winter wins – like winter-flowering camellias and snowdrops– and addressing RHS members’ questions as we look ahead to the growing season to come.   Presenter: Guy Barter Contributors: Jack Aldridge, Naomi Slade, James Lawrence, Becky Mealey, Michaela Freed   Links:   Autumn and winter-flowering...

To start off the new year right, we decided to begin with a practical and sustainable guide on what you can get up to outdoors this year – it’s what we’re calling a sustainability health check for the garden. We’ll be chatting about the state of play on peat-free growing, hearing from a range of RHS experts for some top garden sustainability tips, and exploring the future of grow-your-own in our ever-changing climate.   Links:   Peat-free gardening   Peat- free nurseries   10 ways to be more...

For our final episode of 2023, we’re taking a look back at some of our favourite moments on the podcast and across the RHS from the year, exploring emerging trends, new beginnings, and time-honoured advice. Stay tuned for highlights from Director General Clare Matterson, Head of Editorial Tom Howard, Head of Libraries and Exhibitions Fiona Davison, and more.  Presenters: Gareth Richards & Guy Barter Contributors: Clare Matterson, Tom Howard, Fiona Davison, Jenny Laville, and Jenny...

As we approach the most festive time of year, we’ve decided to share a recipe for a plant-filled Christmas. In this episode, we’ll be returning to Bristol with Naomi Slade to hear how she decks her halls with things from the garden. We’ll then be making our way to the Frenchay Christmas Tree Farm to get a feel for life at the busiest point in their calendar. And finally, we’re exploring the curious world of parasitic plants, including a festive favourite: mistletoe. Presenter: Guy...

This week, we’re wrapping up warm and heading out into our gardens to take a moment to really appreciate our garden birds. Wildlife sound recordist Gary Moore gives us a masterclass on recognising the calls of common birds at this time of year. Writer and wildlife gardening guru Kate Bradbury shares her top tips for making a bird-friendly garden. And finally, we delve into the story behind the remarkable number of American songbirds that made it across the Atlantic this autumn.  Presenter:...

Weeds have many faces. They feed birds, butterflies, bees, and the like. They spread like wildfire, but are resilient. They compete with crops, yet can add colour and beauty at times when our gardens feel lacklustre. They’re complicated – and the way we regard them, even more so. So, in today's show, we’re taking a holistic look at the weeds in our gardens – discussing what constitutes a weed, how to deal with them safely, and how we can see them as more than the enemy. Chief horticulturist...

With the first cold snap hitting the UK this past week, it’s really starting to feel like winter. It’s a time of structural beauty, of evergreen supremacy, of frosty seedheads, and of low but magical light. So this week, we’re focusing in on all the mystery and enchantment of a winter garden. We’re chatting with author Naomi Slade about designing and revamping gardens in the colder months, leaning into year-round grow-your-own with garden manager Sheila Das, and exploring how to bring a bit...

It’s that time of year again… Our annual book special is here! Today, Helen Griffin, RHS Book Publishing Manager, chats with Fiona Davidson, Guy Barter, and Arthur Parkinson about their top gardening book picks of 2023. Tune in for a discussion on the future of GYO and resilient planting, the relevance of gardening history, and wildcard topics like cut flowers, winter gardening, and yes, even murder.  Presenter: Helen Griffin Contributors: Fiona Davidson, Guy Barter, Arthur Parkinson, and...

As the surrounding world starts looking a little bleaker, we’ve decided to explore how to best turn our homes into verdant oases. RHS Digital Editor Jenny Laville chats with Gareth Richards about the best low-maintenance houseplants, fun climbers for indoors, and underrated care tips and tricks. Social historian Catherine Horwood regales us with the history of ever-changing houseplant trends. And finally, author and podcaster Alice Vincent reveals the role houseplants played in her own...

This week, we’re journeying back through time, taking stock of a few significant moments in botanical history. We’re unravelling their mysteries, considering their reverberations, and imagining what this all might mean for the future. We're starting with a tale on the first flowering of the giant waterlily in cultivation, then discovering how ‘Midwinter Fire’ gave Cornus sanguinea a whole new reputation, and finally, we're taking a look at the life and legacy of Arthur Bulley, founder of Ness...