The Horticulturati is a biweekly-ish gardening talkshow cohosted by Austin-based landscape designers Leah Churner and Colleen Dieter. Join us for gossip, gripes, and fun plant facts!
Listeners of The Horticulturati that love the show mention: gardening.
John Dromgoole wears a lot of hats. Sun hats mostly, but also figurative ones: founder of the Natural Gardener, former host of the long-running garden call-in radio show Gardening Naturally on Newsradio KLBJ, regular TV presenter on PBS' Central Texas Gardener and KXAN's The Weekend Gardener; the list goes on. On this episode, your hosts (both former employees of the Natural Gardener), sit down with John to hear his story, from his early adventures in Laredo (exporting bell bottoms into Mexico and booking one of ZZ Top's first shows) to his long career in Austin as a media personality and nurseryman. An early proponent of organic gardening, John discusses butting heads with conventional horticulturists, proving his point with demonstration gardens, and learning from his mentor, Malcolm Beck. We chat about designing with native plants, “the art of watering,” and the influence of the Natural Gardener as a training ground for countless plant people in Austin. Email us! info@horticulturati.com
In this episode, we talk about seed sharing and food justice with Hayden Kesterson and DJ Needelman from the Cooperative Gardens Commission. The CGC is an international grassroots collective of volunteers working to increase community food production, resource-sharing, and food sovereignty. Founded in 2020 in response to the Covid pandemic, one of the CGC's main projects is seed distribution: sourcing commercial seed companies' surplus inventory and distributing shipments of seeds to a network of hundreds of “seed hubs'' around the US and Canada, which in turn share the seeds with local communities. One of these hubs is Central Texas Seed Savers, founded by Horticulturati co-host, Colleen Dieter. Hayden and DJ run the CGC's Seed Distribution initiative from the organization's home base in Philadelphia. We discuss food apartheid and mutual aid; the challenges of organizing in the wake of the pandemic's (ongoing) economic catastrophe; and why Hayden and DJ are motivated by the mighty power of seeds. Find the Cooperative Gardens Commission at https://www.coopgardens.org and support their 2024 Seed Distribution Fundraiser! This interview is part of Colleen's research for her upcoming book for A&M Press about seed saving and seed libraries. Editor Leah's note: We talk about Covid in the past-tense here. Ironically, Colleen had Covid at the time we recorded this episode, testing positive a few days later. She's recovered, but this little piece of context stands out as a reminder of how the pandemic continues to intervene into our lives, even as we imagine ourselves in a "post-Covid" world.
New developments are afoot here at Horticulturati HQ! More episodes of this podcast are on the way. In the meantime, you will find Colleen's radio show, Horticulture Hangover, on a separate podcast feed. Please subscribe to Hangover to get your weekly dose gardening advice: Apple podcasts Spotify Audible/Amazon Podcasts Player for web browser Leah will also be releasing Season 2 of her other podcast, Hothouse. It's all about climate change and climate anxiety! Please subscribe to Hothouse: Apple podcasts Spotify Google podcasts Player for web browser As always, if you want to support us (and get every podcast we release on a single feed), join our Patreon!
Colleen Dieter, co-host of the Horticulturati podcast also hosts the Horticulture Hangover Radio Show, a call-in (or text-in) show for gardening questions. Tune in to Horticulture Hangover live on Saturdays at 8-9 am CST: 99.7 AM and 590 FM. ATXgardens.com
Colleen Dieter, co-host of the Horticulturati podcast also hosts the Horticulture Hangover Radio Show, a call-in (or text-in) show for gardening questions. Tune in to Horticulture Hangover live on Saturdays at 8-9 am CST: 99.7 AM and 590 FM. ATXgardens.com
Colleen Dieter, co-host of the Horticulturati podcast also hosts the Horticulture Hangover Radio Show, a call-in (or text-in) show for gardening questions. Tune in to Horticulture Hangover live on Saturdays at 8-9 am CST: 99.7 AM and 590 FM. ATXgardens.com
Colleen Dieter, co-host of the Horticulturati podcast also hosts the Horticulture Hangover Radio Show, a call-in (or text-in) show for gardening questions. Tune in to Horticulture Hangover live on Saturdays at 8-9 am CST: 99.7 AM and 590 FM. ATXgardens.com
Colleen Dieter, co-host of the Horticulturati podcast also hosts the Horticulture Hangover Radio Show, a call-in (or text-in) show for gardening questions. Tune in to Horticulture Hangover live on Saturdays at 8-9 am CST: 99.7 AM and 590 FM. ATXgardens.com
Colleen Dieter, co-host of the Horticulturati podcast, also hosts the Horticulture Hangover Radio Show, a call-in (or text-in) show for gardening questions. Tune in to Horticulture Hangover live on Saturdays at 8-9 am CST: 99.7 AM and 590 FM. ATXgardens.com
What can we plant in the vegetable garden now? How should I fertilize my fruit trees? Get the answers for Central Texas now! Colleen Dieter, co-host of the Horticulturati podcast also hosts the Horticulture Hangover Radio Show, a call-in (or text-in) show for gardening questions. Tune in to Horticulture Hangover live on Saturdays at 8-9 am CST: 99.7 AM and 590 FM. ATXgardens.com
Colleen Dieter, co-host of the Horticulturati podcast also hosts the Horticulture Hangover Radio Show, a call-in (or text-in) show for gardening questions. Tune in to Horticulture Hangover live on Saturdays at 8-9 am CST: 99.7 AM and 590 FM. ATXgardens.com
Colleen Dieter, co-host of the Horticulturati podcast also hosts the Horticulture Hangover Radio Show, a call-in (or text-in) show for gardening questions. Tune in to Horticulture Hangover live on Saturdays at 8-9 am CST: 99.7 AM and 590 FM. ATXgardens.com
Colleen Dieter, co-host of the Horticulturati podcast also hosts the Horticulture Hangover Radio Show, a call-in (or text-in) show for gardening questions. Tune in to Horticulture Hangover live on Saturdays at 8-9 am CST: 99.7 AM and 590 FM. ATXgardens.com
On this episode, we're sinking our toes into St. Augustine grass (Stenotaphrum secundatum), icon of the Texas lawn from Hank Hill's house to the State Capitol grounds. Millions of acres of prime farmland and front yards are dedicated to this non-edible crop. St. Augustine is so ubiquitous in our landscape it's almost invisible. But what paradoxes are hiding in plain sight? This coastal pioneer species, which grows on all continents except Antarctica, would seem to be an evolutionary success story. Why is it so plagued with weeds, diseases and pests? Its seeds likely floated on ocean currents to take root across the globe. Yet in its modern form, it can't be grown from seed at all. And despite being a host plant for numerous pollinators in its native range, it offers very little ecological value in manicured lawns. Why won't it grow under trees? WHAT IS IT FOR? Listen in for our totally unbiased opinions. First up, a special announcement! Colleen is writing a book about seed saving! Mentioned in this episode: “St. Augustine” by Richard L. Duble, Turfgrass Specialist, Texas Cooperative Extension; Diploids and triploids; “The biology of Stenotaphrum secundatum” by The Australian Government Department of Health; Houston Grass, YouTube; Becky Grubbs Bowling's talk, “Can Trees and Turf Coexist?” at the 2022 ISA Texas Trees Conference; Cobalt St. Augustine; Atrazine; Shade Friendly Wildflower Mix from Native American Seed.
We're back with an Old Farmers' Almanac episode! Continuously published since 1792, the Almanac is an American institution, rife with weather forecasts, recipes, gardening tips, and snake oil. Long advertised on its cover as “useful, with a pleasant degree of humor,” the new edition provides tips on the best days in 2024 to wash your floors, perm your hair, and make jams or jellies – according to the sun, moon, and stars. Colleen traces her complex personal history with this grocery-checkout-aisle stalwart, a jumble of what she calls “astrological hooey and astronomical fact,” from her childhood fascination with natural phenomena, like bird migrations and eclipses, to her current wariness about the blurred line between fun folk wisdom and dangerous pseudoscience. Despite ourselves, we find it pretty compelling. For a truly useful almanac, check out Colleen's new Digital Texas Fruit Tree Calendar! Learn from a Central Texas fruit tree expert about when to plan, prune, and feed your fruit trees in 2024. Viewable on any device, this resource syncs with your Google or IOS calendar to take the guesswork out of maximizing your fruit harvest of figs, citrus, apples, peaches, pears and plums! With this superpower in your pocket, you'll be empowered to care for your fruit trees with confidence. You'll receive the file, plus video and text instructions for installing your calendar in an email after you purchase. Mentioned in this episode: “The Quiet Mysticism of Almanacs” by Jess McHugh (Los Angeles Review of Books, July 11 2021); “The Old Farmer's Almanac Needs a Reboot” by Mark Athitakis (Washington Post, August 24 2022); “Farmer's Almanac: Literature to Poop To” (Stuff You Should Know podcast, August 22 2023) Join our Patreon for early access to Horticulturati episodes, bonus content, and more! Email: info@horticulturati.com
Here's the September 24 episode of Horticulture Hangover, our radio broadcast on KLBJ. Colleen reports back from the International Society of Arboriculture's Texas Tree Conference, and we take questions about Texas Madrones, hardy hibiscus, night-blooming cereus, and more. Check out the Austin Organic Gardeners' Fall Plant Fundraiser on September 30 from 10am-2pm at Zilker Botanical Gardens. More info: https://www.austinorganicgardeners.org/ Tune in to Horticulture Hangover live on Saturdays at 8-9 am CST online here, or on the airwaves: 99.7 AM and 590 FM. Join our Patreon for early access to Horticulturati episodes, bonus content, and more! Email: info@horticulturati.com
This week, Colleen is out of town, so Leah invited a guest host, horticulturist Willy Glenn from It's Your Nature and @yournativenursery. We discuss adapting our plant palette due to climate change, the challenges of propagating natives, and the beauty of grasses in the landscape. We also field some questions about planting wildflowers. Tune in to Horticulture Hangover live on Saturdays at 8-9 am CST online here, or on the airwaves: 99.7 AM and 590 FM. Support the Horticulturati by joining our Patreon!
When you picture a butterfly garden, you probably envision big, colorful flowers. But did you know that over 100 butterfly species in Texas use native grasses and sedges as their larval host plants? In this episode, Leah makes the case for adding grasses to your pollinator garden. The majority of grass-obligate butterflies – skippers and satyrs—are small, brown, and understudied. Leah argues that our aesthetic preference for the “charismatic megafauna” of the world of Lepidoptera has created a blind spot for conservationists and gardeners alike, and this spells bad news for little brown butterflies. This leads us down a philosophical rabbit hole, so we bring in rhetorician Eric Dieter (Colleen's husband) to discuss the role of aesthetic biases, gaps in scholarly literature, and data collection in contributing to the problem of ecological “unknown unknowns.” Then we talk about one researcher who is studying this topic, Diane Narem, and cover her recommendations for using native grasses and sedges to support a more diverse butterfly habitat. Mentioned: Butterfly Gardening For the South by Geyata Ajilvsgi (Taylor, 1990); “St. Augustine grass” (Stenotaphrum secundatum) by Richard L. Duble (Texas Cooperative Extension, A&M); “Native Plant Myth Number One” by Shirley Denton (Florida Native Plant Society blog, 2013) “Meadows for Home Gardens: More Than Just Wildflowers” by Craig Huegel (Palmetto, the Quarterly Journal of the Florida Native Plant Society, 2020); “Mitigating The Effects Of Climate Change On Grassland Butterflies” by Angela Laws (Xerces Society, September 2020); “Satyrinae” (nymphalidae.net); Native Host Plants for Texas Butterflies by Jim Weber, Lynne Weber, and Roland H Wauer (2nd printing, A&M Press 2021); Little Bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium); Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center's Native Plant Information Network; National Wildlife Federation's Native Plants Finder; “The Importance of a Rare Butterfly” by Diane Narem (TEDxBrookings, 2014); Gardening with Native Grasses in Cold Climates and a Guide to the Butterflies They Support by Daine Narem and Mary Hockenberry Meyer (ebook from University of Minnesota 2020). For more info on this topic, check out these past Horticulturati episodes: Design for Conservation (June 12, 2022) Metamorphosis and Victory Gardens (May 17, 2020) Pocket Prairies with John Hart Asher (May 14, 2022) Support the Horticulturati on Patreon! Email us at info@horticulturati.com
On this week's radio show, landscape designer Michele Fonzi joins Leah to talk about framing the garden with hardscaping. Michelle is a landscape construction expert, horticulturist, and project manager who builds commercial and residential spaces with her company, Michele Fonzi Designs. We discuss the architectural side of garden design -- dry creek beds, pathways, stairs, and stonework -- and her life lessons from being a woman in a male-dominated field. Follow Michele on on Instagram and Facebook. Colleen will be back on the mic next week! Join our Patreon for early access to Horticulturati episodes, bonus content, and more! Email: info@horticulturati.com
Here's the July 29 episode of Horticulture Hangover, our radio broadcast on KLBJ. Leah reports on her visit to Braken Cave -- the world's largest bat colony! -- summer home to 15-20 million bats, then we talk about multi-trunked red oaks tendency to fall apart, watering trees, dealing with invasive grasses (KR bluestem and Johnsongrass), and the marvelous mistflowers. Tune in to Horticulture Hangover live on Saturdays at 8-9 am CST online here, or on the airwaves: 99.7 AM and 590 FM. Join our Patreon for early access to Horticulturati episodes, bonus content, and more! Email: info@horticulturati.com
When the phones are down, the show must go on! Here's the July 22 episode of Horticulture Hangover, our radio broadcast on KLBJ. We talk about ants and aphids, when to pick melons, growing grapes, and transplanting stuff when it's not quite the right time. Tune in to Horticulture Hangover live on Saturdays at 8-9 am CST online here, or on the airwaves: 99.7 AM and 590 FM. Join our Patreon for early access to Horticulturati episodes, bonus content, and more! Email: info@horticulturati.com
Can a native plant garden be maintained without year-round pruning? In this episode, Colleen articulates her front-yard scheme for a super-low-maintenance native garden design for Central Texas, a cumulative idea inspired by past episodes of this very podcast. Her working title is “The Everything Garden.” First, we introduce a corrections segment called the “Concession Stand,” and Leah wonders what the heat dome has to do with the surprising amount of debris in the road. Mentioned: Native Texas Gardens: Maximum Beauty, Minimum Upkeep by Sally Wasowski and Andy Wasowski. Past Horticulturati episodes discussed here (scroll down through your podcast player of choice): June 12, 2022 “Design for Ecology and Conservation” January 7, 2022 “Designing for Maintenance and ‘The Soul of a Farmer'” May 16 2022 “Pocket Prairies with John Hart Asher” Nov 27 2022 “Growing a Vision with Amy Hovis and Willy Glenn” January 23 2022 “Plant Communities and Vertical Layers” Nov 29 2020 Five Seasons Total Landscaping- also mentioned Four Seasons Piet Oudolf Documentary Support The Horticulturati by joining our Patreon. Email us at info@horticulturati.com
Here's the July 15 episode of Horticulture Hangover, our radio broadcast on KLBJ. We talk about karst ecosystems, ticks in Texas, Navajo or "Indian" peaches, harvesting figs, and a native plant that's on our wish list: velvet leaf mallow (Allowissadula holosericea). Tune in to Horticulture Hangover live on Saturdays at 8-9 am CST online here, or on the airwaves: 99.7 AM and 590 FM. Join our Patreon for early access to Horticulturati episodes, bonus content, and more! Email: info@horticulturati.com
Here's the July 8 episode of Horticulture Hangover, our radio broadcast on KLBJ. We talk about measuring a tree's critical root zone, when to cut back canna lilies to keep them blooming, and how to root-prune trees in pots. Tune in to Horticulture Hangover live on Saturdays at 8-9 am CST online here, or on the airwaves: 99.7 AM and 590 FM. Join our Patreon for early access to Horticulturati episodes, bonus content, and more! Email: info@horticulturati.com
Here's the July 1 episode of Horticulture Hangover, our radio broadcast on KLBJ. We get calls about planting sweet potato slips; four o'clocks failing to bloom; when to mow wildflowers; and how to collect sunflower seeds. Enjoy! Austin listeners, don't miss Colleen's free class, Native Plant Maintenance, at the Natural Gardener on July 8 at 10am. Tune in to Horticulture Hangover live on Saturdays at 8-9 am CST online here, or on the airwaves: 99.7 AM and 590 FM. Join our Patreon for early access to Horticulturati episodes, bonus content, and more! Email: info@horticulturati.com
Just unearthed from the archives, here's the 5/27 recording of Horticulture Hangover, our radio broadcast on KLBJ. We talk about the difference between Bti (Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis) and Btk (Bacillus thuringiensis kurstaki), propose solutions for invading Bermuda grass, and give a classic answer to a question about the best time to plant wildflowers: It depends! Austin listeners, don't miss Colleen's free class, Native Plant Maintenance, at the Natural Gardener on July 8 at 10am. Tune in live on Saturdays at 8am CST online here, or on the airwaves: 99.7 AM and 590 FM. Join our Patreon for early access to Horticulturati episodes, bonus content, and more! Email: info@horticulturati.com
Here's the June 24 episode of Horticulture Hangover, our radio broadcast on KLBJ. We talk about National Pollinator Week, heat stress on citrus, and the pros and cons of various types of irrigation. We also get two calls about unruly vines driving people crazy. Austin listeners, don't miss Colleen's free class, Native Plant Maintenance, at the Natural Gardener on July 8 at 10am. Tune in live on Saturdays at 8am CST online here, or on the airwaves: 99.7 AM and 590 FM Join our Patreon for early access to Horticulturati episodes, bonus content, and more! Email info@horticulturati.com
Why do we mow our lawns? That's the question posed by our guest, artist and urban ecologist Chris Kennedy of the Urban Systems Lab and Central Texas Mycological Society; the answer is a tangle of municipal policy, attitudes toward property ownership, and status anxiety. Chris joins the pod to tell us about his research into city lawn ordinances and weed-control laws in the United States. In the City of Austin, having “grass and weeds more than 12 inches in height is considered an unsanitary condition and a code violation,” and many homeowners' associations mandate that turfgrass must comprise a minimum of 25% of a front yard, despite local water restrictions. We discuss how these strictures are rooted in redlining practices and fear of the natural world, how they stand in opposition to sustainable or regenerative landscaping practices, and what citizens here in town, and around the country, are doing about it. Mentioned in this episode: Austin's Tall Weeds and Grass Ordinance; the municipal code; a cringe video about weeds on the city's official YouTube page; “Rethinking The American Lawn” by Will McCarthy in Texas Monthly, about Lewisville, Texas; “Weeding Out Bad Vegetation Ordinances” by Bret Rappaport and Bevin Horn; Sustainable Development Code; updates to codes to allow managed natural landscapes in Minneapolis, Austin; pushback from residents in Ontario and Chicago in 2018 and 2019; a sunflower citation in south Austin in 2021; complaints about how the city fails to follow its own rules; San Antonio DSA's Code Busters; Texas Senate Bill 198 “relating to restrictive covenants regulating drought-resistant landscaping or water-conserving natural turf;” Joan Nassauer's “Cues to Care”; and the “NYC Glyphosate Map” by Reverend Billy. Music: “Egypt” by Weldon Irvine and “Don't Forget Your Neighborhood” by Cola Boyy and Avalanches. Support The Horticulturati by joining our Patreon. Email us at info@horticulturati.com
Here's the 6/17 recording of Horticulture Hangover, our radio broadcast on KLBJ. We got a little silly this week, and answered questions about pruning boxwoods, how much to water, leaf footed bugs, wild pumpkins, and more. Austin listeners, don't miss Colleen's free class, Native Plant Maintenance, at the Natural Gardener on July 8 at 10am. Tune in live on Saturdays at 8am CST online here, or on the airwaves: 99.7 AM and 590 FM. Join our Patreon for early access to Horticulturati episodes, bonus content, and more!
Here's the 6/10 recording of Horticulture Hangover, our radio broadcast on KLBJ. This week, we covered transplant shock, twining vs. clinging vines, and poison ivy. Tune in live on Saturdays at 8am CST online here, or on the airwaves: 99.7 AM and 590 FM Join our Patreon for early access to Horticulturati episodes, bonus content, and more!
Colleen did the show solo on June 3 because Leah skipped town! She got a lot of great questions. Topics include crabgrass, live oak suckers, and sneaky squirrels scheming on stonefruits. Have a question you want us to answer on the podcast? Email info@horticulturati.com. Tune in live and call or text your questions next week at 8-9 am CST on KLBJ's website, or on the airwaves: 99.7 AM and 590 FM. Join our Patreon for early access to Horticulturati episodes, bonus content, and more!
Here's the May 20 episode of Horticulture Hangover, our live call-in show on Newsradio KLBJ. We talk about how to deal with mosquitoes, making room for poisonous plants in the garden, staking plants in pots, and the radical difference of gardening in Texas vs. California. Have a question you want us to answer on the show? Email info@horticulturati.com Tune in live and call or text your questions next week at 8-9 am CST on KLBJ's website, or on the airwaves: 99.7 AM and 590 FM. Support the Horticulturati on Patreon for early access to shows, bonus content, and our undying gratitude.
More garden questions answered! Here's the April 13 episode of Horticulture Hangover, our live call-in show on Newsradio KLBJ. Have a question you want us to answer? Email us at info@horticulturati.com Or, tune in live and call or text your questions next Saturday from at 8-9 am CST on KLBJ's website, or on the airwaves: 99.7 AM and 590 FM. Support the Horticulturati on Patreon to get early access to episodes, bonus content, and our undying gratitude.
Here's a double dose of Horticulture Hangover, our live call-in show on Newsradio KLBJ, recorded April 29 and May 6. Due to various travel plans and life events, we each did our first solo episodes of the radio show. So many technical surprises and goofs! Tune in live and call or text your questions next week at 8-9 am CST on KLBJ's website, or on the airwaves: 99.7 AM and 590 FM. Support the Horticulturati on Patreon and get early access to episodes and bonus content.
On this episode, we're tackling Phosphorus – an element, crucial to life on earth, which exists in both abundance and scarcity. We cover how humans got hooked on P fertilizers, the political and environmental impacts of mining and pollution, and what might be done about it. Mentioned in this episode: City of Austin Algae Mitigation;Toledo Junction Coalition Interview; Points North Podcast; US EPA explanation of phosphorus processing waste product storage; Florida Public Radio story about Florida mine disasters; Atlas Obscura podcast: “The Belt and Berm” Part 1 and Part 2; Atlas Obscura text: Moroccan Western Sahara Wall; Soil is Sexy Support us by subscribing to our Patreon! Email info@horticulturati.com
Here's the 4/22 broadcast recording of Horticulture Hangover, our NEW live show on Newsradio KLBJ. Saturday's chat included a rundown of our busy weekend of garden events, plus listener questions about compost tea, grass alternatives for deep shade, poisonous plants, tender tropical bulbs, and more. Tune in live and call or text your questions next week at 8-9 am CST on KLBJ's website, or on the airwaves: 99.7 AM and 590 FM. Join our Patreon for early access to Horticulturati episodes, bonus content, and more! Email: info@horticulturati.com
Here's the recording of this week's Horticulture Hangover, our new radio broadcast on KLBJ. This week's coversation includes: plant swap tips, dividing muhly grasses, protecting young trees from deer damage, transplanting milkweeds, and more. Tune in live next week at 8-9 am CST online here, or on the airwaves: 99.7 AM and 590 FM! Check out these events next weekend! April 22: Central Texas Plant People's Spring Plant Swap 1-4 pm at Tillery Street Plant Co (801 Tillery, Austin) April 23: Leah is hosting a workshop with the Central Texas Mycological Society: Sheet Mulching With Mycelium (Mushrooms!): Build Resilient Planting Beds 2-4 pm at Ruiz Branch Library (1600 Grove Blvd, Austin) Join our Patreon for early access to Horticulturati episodes, bonus content, and more! Email: info@horticulturati.com
We're doing a call-in gardening show the radio! It's called "Horticulture Hangover" and it airs on Saturdays from 8-9 am CST on KLBJ 590AM/99.7 FM. You can also stream it live here. We'll still bring you deep dives into topics on the Horticulturati podcast, but now you get a bonus show in this feed. Horticulture Hangover is a live Q&A format program where we take listener questions. Here are our first two episodes, recorded April 1 and April 8.
On this episode, we're gettin' down and dirty with sheet mulch. Sheet mulching is a no-till, no-dig gardening practice of removing unwanted vegetation and building fertile soil by layering organic matter and letting it compost in place. While the layers suppress weeds by blocking sunlight, subterranean soil biology goes to work to break down the layers into new soil. The beauty of this simple practice is that you can do it at any time of year with materials you have on hand (like cardboard, shredded paper, and leaves) or can source for free from local sources (arborist wood chips, coffee grounds, and spent mushroom substrate). We discuss the reasons for sheet mulching, when and how to do it, and what to use. Then we dive into the corrugated controversy around cardboard and ponder the role of science in gardening. Mentioned in this episode: “Pocket Prairies with John Hart Asher” (Horticulturati podcast episode, 2022); JHA pocket prairies ep of Horticulturati; Gaia's Garden: A Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture by Toby Hemenway (2001); “Fungal Vision with Daniel Reyes” (Hothouse podcast episode, 2018); Mycelium Running by Paul Stamets (2005); Teaming with Microbes: The Organic Gardener's Guide to the Soil Food Web by Jeff Lowenfels and Wayne Lewis (2006); “Mulches: The Good, The Bad, and the Really, Really Ugly” by Dr. Linda Chalker Scott (presentation to the Clackamas County Master Gardeners, 2019); “The Cardboard Controversy” by Chalker-Scott (Garden Professors blog, 2015); “Permaculture - More Concerns” by Chalker-Scott (Garden Professors blog, 2010). Join us on Patreon for bonus episodes! Email us info@horticulturati.com
"Fruit trees need hands-on care." That's the motto of our guest, Susan Poizner of OrchardPeople.com. Susan is an urban orchardist, teacher, journalist, and filmmaker. She is the author of Growing Urban Orchards (2014), cofounder of the Ben Nobelman Park Community Orchard in Toronto and the host of the Urban Forestry Radio podcast. She also teaches fruit tree classes on her website. Colleen was eager to interview Susan after taking her online courses. Susan gives us the basics on why fruit trees need human intervention to thrive; we also discuss urban orchards, heirloom species, food forests, and Susan's transition from journalism to horticulture. Then Colleen and Leah discuss the impact of Austin's recent ice storm on fruit trees. Mentioned in this episode: North American Scion Exchange (Facebook group). Join our Patreon for early access to episodes and bonus content! Email us at info@horticulturati.com or call the Horticulturati Hotline at 347-WAP-HORT.
In this roundtable, we talk about drafting and drawing with Lisa Nunamaker, of Paper Garden Workshop, and Amy Fedele, of Pretty Purple Door, two fabulous garden educators who offer online courses in landscape graphics. Leah took courses from both instructors this year -- Lisa's Garden Graphics Toolkit and Amy's Great at Procreate. We discuss why the fundamentals of hand-drafting remain so valuable to the design process; the role of digital design programs like AutoCAD; and how tablet apps provide a new, hybrid avenue of digital hand-drafting. Then we turn to to the subject of emotional baggage: Why is drawing so scary for so many adults? How can we gain confidence as creatives and develop our own unique visual style? Mentioned in this episode: the tablet apps (Procreate, Adobe Fresco, Morpholio Trace, Concepts); The Creative Habit by Twila Tharp (2006). Contact us! info@horticulturati.com Join our Patreon for early access to shows and bonus episodes!
A rose by any other name would smell as sweet, but some of the common names we use for plants downright stink! In this episode, we're diving into problematic colloquial names. Some common names are geographically misleading (“Jerusalem artichoke”); others are xenophobic, racist, or antisemitic ("wandering Jew"); while still others are an unfortunate combination of both (“Turk's cap”). While it's probably too much to expect everyone to start using Latin names for plants, we can adapt new common names that are more culturally sensitive and accurate. Like the plants themselves, common names are organic, living things that need to evolve over time. First up, some armadillo drama and an update on Colleen's super-low-maintenance front yard renovation inspired by the writing of Roy Diblik (here's our original episode about that.) Mentioned: Great at Procreate, an online digital drawing course from instructor Amy Fedele; "Problematic Common Names" (House Plant Hobbyist, 2021); How Plants Get Their Names by L.H. Bailey (Macmillian, 1933); Native Flora of Texas by the Texas Highway Department (undated, ca. 1960); The Better Common Names Project of the Entomological Society of America; and Potentially Problematic Common Names, a study by the American Public Gardens Association (2021). Like the show? Please support us on Patreon! Email us at info@horticulturati.com or leave us a message on the Hotline at 347-WAP-HORT.
Attention plant lovers! Central Texas Seed Savers is hosting a Seed Swap at the Austin Central Library (710 W. Cesar Chavez St) on Saturday, October 29 from 11-1pm. This event is free and open to the public. Bring seeds to share! Or just come get some seeds! For more info, visit https://www.centexseedsavers.org and https://library.austintexas.libguides.com/seedsandsustainability
In this episode, Colleen unearths as much as she can about the largely unwritten history of plant pots. When did humans start growing plants in containers? How did innovations in materials and technology lead to the domestication of plants, plant collecting, and the growth of the nursery industry? Why are plant pots so overlooked as a facet of industrial design? (We can rattle off several iconic chair designs, but flowerpots? Not so much.) Why don't the standardized names of nursery pot sizes correspond to their actual volume in the US? We have more questions than answers, folks. First up, Leah is practicing her drawings. And we need an alternative name for the tricky season that comes between summer and fall in Texas. Join our Patreon for bonus episodes and more! Email us at info@horticulturati.com or call the Hotline to leave a voicemail at 347-WAP-Hort. Mentioned in this episode: Rain lilies (Cooperia drummondii); Paper Garden Workshop; “Elevation to Plan” technique; Plan to Elevation (Leah's sketch); The Artist's Way (1992) by Julia Cameron; Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain (1979) by Betty Edwards; Willy Guhl designs on Artnet; a bio of Guhl; history of flowerpots from the Salem Maritime National Historic Site; “Plastic Pots and the Nursery Industry: Production, Use, Disposal, and Environmental Impacts” (2020) by the APLD; Eric Soderholtz.
We're back with a salute to Monty Don, beloved British gardening expert, author, and fashion icon, whose infectious passion for plants is boosting our spirits through this bummer summer. Though little known in the US, jaunty Monty is a big celebrity across the pond, as the host of the BBC's Gardener's World, Big Dreams, Small Spaces, and Around The World in 80 Gardens. With his soothing temperament and sharp insights, he's a bit like a cross between Anthony Bourdain and Mr Rogers. We discuss differing approaches to horticulture and land stewardship in the US and the UK and how Big Dreams, Small Spaces has informed our thinking about the role of the landscape designer as consultant. Then we follow Monty's 80 Gardens journey to Mexico City to visit perhaps the oldest perennial flowering gardens in the world: the floating chinampas of Xochimilco. (Where to watch these shows in the US? Gardener's World and Big Dreams are currently available on Amazon Prime. The full 80 Gardens series is on Youtube.) Mentioned in this episode: Around The World in 80 Gardens (book) by Monty Don. The Horticulturati is cohosted by Leah Churner and Colleen Dieter. Want more? Please join our Patreon to hear our bonus podcast, "In the Weeds," and early access to episodes!
On this episode, we dive into ecologist Douglas Tallamy's books Nature's Best Hope (2019) and The Living Landscape (2014, with Rick Darke). Tallamy's work takes native plant gardening and wildlife gardening to another level by focusing not just on species diversity, but on diversity of species interaction to promote ecological conservation. According to Tallamy, "native" plants are those which have "evolved in a given place over a period of time sufficient to develop complex and essential relationships with a diversity of animals." Native plants, then, are organisms that have interacted with insects, birds, and mammals for thousands, if not millions, of years. We discuss Tallamy's perspective and the how we might tackle the challenge of implementing a conservation design -- and convincing homeowners to think of themselves as land stewards. Up first: It's hot here in Austin, so we are talking about what early triple-digit temps mean for gardeners. Leah is looking for her niche, taking inspiration from specialist insects. Support us by joining our Patreon! $5 a month gets you early access to episodes, bonus content, and our deep gratitude. Mentioned in this episode: National Wildlife Federation's Native Plant Finder web tool; The Know Maintenance Perennial Garden (2014) by Roy Diblik; Planting in a Post-Wild World (2015) by Claudia West and Thomas Rainer. Also - after recording, we found this article from the NWF about yucca moths. (Their caterpillars eat the yucca seeds and flowers, not the leaves! Then the moths pollinate the yuccas in return!)
Here's a preview of our bonus segment. To hear the full bonus epsidode, subscribe to our Patreon! Compost is a mysterious product. Gardeners prize it as “black gold,” but few of us know how it is manufactured on an industrial scale. In this bonus, John Hart Asher breaks down the difference between traditional compost (the kind we might make at home) and the kind that you can buy by the bag or the yard. Commercial compost is a waste byproduct defined by the US Composting Council. Manufacturers don't have to tell you precisely what's in it, and in fact they're legally prohibited from doing so due to the way compost is regulated in Texas. As John Hart explains, this lack of transparency, along with the “windrow” form of manufacturing, can be a real problem for large-scale ecological restoration projects. He describes his work on Mission Reach, an 8-mile stretch of the San Antonio River restored by the city of San Antonio from 2002-2012. Rehabilitating the degraded riparian soil on this site required 35,000 cubic yards of compost – roughly the equivalent of 2,500 dump trucks– and a lot of trial and error. John Hart shares his findings about the shortcomings of commercial compost production and offers up some practical solutions. patreon.com/horticulturati
We sat down at the picnic table with John Hart Asher, host of Central Texas Gardener and Cofounder/Senior Environmental Designer at Blackland Collaborative to talk about pocket prairies. What's a pocket prairie? It's a very small prairie. What's a prairie? It's a community of native grasses and forbs wildflowers that have evolved along with microbes, plants, and animals over millennia. This "disturbance-driven ecology" historically relied on periodic fire and low-frequency, high-intensity grazing to function. John Hart sees the "millions-year-old technology" of the American prairie as a replicable system that we can borrow in our own yards to sequester carbon, manage stormwater runoff, and support the essential interconnections between life forms that make up the food-soil web. As Douglas Tallamy writes in his book Nature's Best Hope, "If each American landowner made it a goal to convert half of his or her lawn to native plant communities...[we] could collectively restore some semblance of ecosystem function to more than twenty million acres of what is now ecological wasteland." We discuss the role of wildfires and buffalo grazing in Texas before European settlement, the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center's research on prescribed burning, and how to prepare, install, and maintain a pocket prairie. John Hart insists that we must rethink our approach to landscape design, gardening, land ownership, and even our concept of "nature" if we are to sustain life on earth. He describes prairie restoration as "a trajectory, not an intervention" -- a process, rather than a product -- which can help us reconnect with the web of life, reduce climate anxiety, and make our homes more beautiful to boot. Mentioned in this episode: Nature's Best Hope: A New Approach to Conservation that Starts in Your Yard by Douglas Tallamy; the USDA Web Soil Survey; Black Owl Biochar; KR Bluestem. Please join our Patreon for bonus episodes, early access, and more!
Tropical milkweed...Monarchs' friend or foe? We dip a toe into contested territory with a look at Asclepias curassavica, the most controversial milkweed of all. Up first: we chat about the spring rush and a secondhand ringtail cat sighting. Want more? Join our Patreon for bonus content, early access to episodes, and fun classes. Mentioned in this episode: "For the Monarch Butterfly, A Long Road Back," New York Times (2014); "Tropical Milkweed: A No-Grow," Xerces Society (2018); Flight of the Butterflies (2012); "Tropical Milkweed OK for Monarch Butterflies, Just Cut the Dang Stuff Down" (2015).
We're back at Colleen's picnic table to reflect on what we've learned (horticulturally and emotionally) in the year since Uri, the crippling 2021 snow-and-ice storm that plunged Texas into single-digit temperatures and left 40% of Austin residents without power and/or water for days. Last year we recorded a few episodes about the immediate aftermath of the Snowpocalypse; now we're examining the storm's lingering effects on local gardeners, growers, and plants. Which species fared the best and worst? How has the storm changed our approach to landscape design? And what are we expecting for the coming spring? Just in time for yet another cold snap, join us for a chat about "marginally hardy" plants, the role of microclimates and eco-regions, and every Texan's favorite topic: the weather. Mentioned in this episode: Central Texas Seed Savers; TreeFolks.
Here's a preview of our Patreon bonus segment, "In The Weeds." To hear the full episode and get other exclusive content, join The Horticulturati for $5 a month at patreon.com/horticulturati.
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