Growing Greener

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Growing Greener Each week our podcast brings you some expert who puts you in touch with a different aspect of working in partnership with nature in the garden.

Our goal is to make your landscape healthier, more beautiful, more sustainable and more fun.

01/06/2024

I just heard from a listener of my Growing Green podcast about an inspiring effort in the Hudson River Valley, the Wild Woods Restoration Project (https://wildwoodsrestorationproject.org/). One of the threats to forests cited on the organization's website is, not surprisingly, over-browsing by deer. My immediate thought about that was that we really need to restore some apex predator such as wolves to eastern woodlands. Then I thought about the visitation of egg-laying turtles to my front yard last weekend which left pits and mounds all over the front yard, and has turned my wife Suzanne and me into turtle egg stewards for the summer. And my on-going disagreement with a large black bear and the electric fence I need to install around my vegetable garden to keep it from tearing down the expensive fence I had to install after we cooperated with the state of Massachusetts in creating habitat for endangered New England Cottontail Rabbits -- not surprisingly, that effort was followed by rabbit attacks on our vegetables. The only viable solution to the bear's intrusions seems to be another, parallel electrified fence. There are the beavers who cut down and carried off a little orchard's worth of cider apple trees (necessitating another fence). As Suzanne noted, the wolves would probably move in with us as their ancestors did 30,000 years ago. Would our dog tolerate the new housemates? This business of co-existing with wildlife is necessary and fascinating, and I love the sightings, but there are times I feel beleaguered and wish the critters wouldn't take "coexistence" quite so literally.

Under the category of "challenges they never taught you about in horticulture school." Right now, two large snapping tu...
27/05/2024

Under the category of "challenges they never taught you about in horticulture school." Right now, two large snapping turtles are digging pits so that they can bury eggs in the little rectangle of turf I had imagined as a decorative contrast to the cobbled pavement in front of my house in southwestern Massachusetts. They do this every year, which is one reason the turf looks so disheveled. Now I get to spend the summer preventing my dog Finn from digging up and eating the turtle eggs. I love our view of a beaver pond, and I really like snapping turtles, but I do wish this pair would find another spot for their nests. I doubt they are going to do so, however. Before we had Finn I used to p*e on the nests to keep raccoons from stealing the eggs, which was quite effective

I certainly get the "Okay Boomer" impatience of the rising generation. Older Americans seem so determined to hang onto ...
09/04/2024

I certainly get the "Okay Boomer" impatience of the rising generation. Older Americans seem so determined to hang onto their dominance of politics and the economy, even in a time when young people face so many challenges and need to be heard and allowed to make fundamental changes. But let's also give credit to older people who are still fighting to make a difference and trying to leave behind a better world. Kudos to the women in this article from Reuters:

The European court's decision on the case, brought by more than 2,000 women, could have a ripple effect across Europe and beyond, setting a precedent for how some courts deal with the rising tide of climate litigation argued on the basis of human rights infringements.

Coordinator of the New York Botanical Garden’s Gardening Education Program, Daryl Beyers has developed a fresh approach ...
03/04/2024

Coordinator of the New York Botanical Garden’s Gardening Education Program, Daryl Beyers has developed a fresh approach to teaching the gardening fundamentals, one that provides a strong foundation for novices to continue building skills, and which has helped experienced practitioners move beyond the environmentally harmful practices they may have absorbed at the beginning of their careers. https://www.thomaschristophergardens.com/podcasts/daryl-beyers-shares-a-fresh-approach-to-gardening-fundamentals

In the 1990’s Lauren Springer created a revolutionary “undaunted garden” style for Colorado that celebrated the Rocky Mo...
13/03/2024

In the 1990’s Lauren Springer created a revolutionary “undaunted garden” style for Colorado that celebrated the Rocky Mountain landscape and the plants that were at home there. In this conversation, Springer recalls those times, details how her design has continued to evolve, and what comes next. https://www.thomaschristophergardens.com/podcasts/celebrating-regional-beauty

Once the monarch of our eastern forests, the American chestnut was virtually exterminated by an imported blight a centur...
06/03/2024

Once the monarch of our eastern forests, the American chestnut was virtually exterminated by an imported blight a century ago. Jared Westbrook, Science Director of The American Chestnut Foundation describes what has been learned from efforts to genetically engineer a blight-resistant American chestnut, and how this may benefit other threatened native tree species. https://www.thomaschristophergardens.com/podcasts/can-genetic-engineering-help-save-north-american-trees-from-imported-threats

For 124 years the Native Plant Trust has worked to preserve the indigenous flora of New England, pioneering new practice...
28/02/2024

For 124 years the Native Plant Trust has worked to preserve the indigenous flora of New England, pioneering new practices and approaches that have been models to the rest of the country. In today’s program, the Trust’s new CEO Tim Johnson discusses what has worked for the organization and new opportunities for progress in a time of change. https://www.thomaschristophergardens.com/podcasts/a-new-ceo-for-the-native-plant-trust

I’ve long dismissed snow as a seasonal nuisance, but Kim Eierman, ecological garden designer, educator, and author recen...
21/02/2024

I’ve long dismissed snow as a seasonal nuisance, but Kim Eierman, ecological garden designer, educator, and author recently set me right. Listen as Kim describes all the benefits a blanket of snow brings to your landscape from free fertilization to insulation from cold and helping native seeds break dormancy. https://www.thomaschristophergardens.com/podcasts/poor-mans-fertilizer

01/02/2024

I spent Tuesday, Jan. 30th at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden at the annual Plant-O-Rama jobs fair and symposium sponsored by Metro Hort Group, an association for New York City area horticulturists. The talks and panel discussions were great and it was energizing to meet with younger people coming up in the field. These younger professionals come from a much broader variety of backgrounds than was common when I was a horticultural student back in the 1970's, and this increased diversity is reflected in the many very different and often brilliant takes on how we can relate in a healthy and rewarding way to the landscape. This meeting filled me with optimism, and a sense of gratitude for the quality of my younger colleagues. Hurray!

Frederick Law Olmsted’s Prospect Park is one of the great masterpieces of American landscape design, but more than a cen...
24/01/2024

Frederick Law Olmsted’s Prospect Park is one of the great masterpieces of American landscape design, but more than a century of visitor traffic had taken a toll, especially on the trees. Joe Doccola discusses the pioneering restoration of the park’s canopy with native tree species, and how he boostd the new plantings’ survival rate from 90% failure to 97% success. https://www.thomaschristophergardens.com/podcasts/restoring-the-canopy-of-an-olmsted-masterpiece

20/01/2024

Today, The New York Times ran a very belated obituary for the creator of Peter Rabbit, Beatrix Potter. Potter died on December 22nd, 1943, and the Times somehow overlooked this event at the time. I have a complicated relationship with Potter's books. Even as a child, I felt it was unfair that Peter Rabbit was able to ravage Mr. McGregor's garden and get off essentially Scot-free. This attitude only hardened as I became a gardener myself. Indeed, in one of my books about gardening, I titled the chapter on pest control "Peter Rabbit Had ity Coming," and I once queried the New Yorker about writing an article on that subject, which I suggested might include rabbit recipes for gardeners. I wish I still had the rejection letter, which was definitively negative but very polite, perhaps because the editor feared I might show up at their office with my air rifle. As I've learned more about Potter herself, though, I've grown to admire her as a person and a quiet pioneer for women's rights. She was also an exeptional conservationist who shared my love of the countryside. I can almost forgive her for being so soft on garden nemeses.

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Videos

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ICYMI: I spoke with Chriss Wiesinger. Dubbed “the Bulb Hunter” by The New York Times, Chris has driven the back roads of rural Texas, seeking self-sufficient, adapted – and beautiful – flower bulbs in old gardens and abandoned homesteads. Join us for our conversation about his success, and how you can duplicate it in your garden. Listen to the rest of this #retroepisode at https://bit.ly/3hwxgOJ Apple: https://apple.co/3eYAOI9 Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3zwK1OY

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ICYMI: I spoke with Kelly D. Norris, who spent his childhood exploring the forty-acre tallgrass prairie remnant next to his grandmother’s Iowa farm, and transplanting to his garden the wildflowers he discovered as roadside weeds. A former director of horticulture and education at the Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden, Kelly has published his fourth must-read book: New Naturalism: Designing and Planting a Resilient, Ecologically Vibrant Home Garden. Listen to the rest of this #retroepisode at https://bit.ly/3Bi2xfW Apple: https://apple.co/3riiBJP Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3kwI94w

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ICYMI: I spoke with Kathy Connolly of Speaking of Landscapes LLC. A major dilemma of ecological landscaping is that returning a garden to a more natural state most often begins with resorting to synthetic herbicides to remove existing invasive plants. Kathy Connolly, however, has perfected a number of all natural, chemical-free techniques. Listen to the rest of this #retroepisode at https://bit.ly/3qIVXdu Apple: https://apple.co/36emrdq Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3hfsJQ8

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ICYMI: I spoke with Carrie Brown-Lima, Director of the NY Invasive Species Research Institute. Why is the northeastern United States a special target for invasive plants and animals? And why is this crisis predicted to increase as climate change wakens “sleeper species” in our woods, fields, and gardens? Carrie addressed these issues on Growing Greener, explaining the special risks Northeasterners face and their relevance to the rest of North America. Listen to the rest of this #retroepisode at https://bit.ly/3gEG4Bk Apple: https://apple.co/3qahWcN Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3zw5aKd

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ICYMI: I spoke with Trevor Smith, who says sustainable gardening is not enough. Do we really want to sustain our landscapes at their present low level of function? A past president of the Ecological Landscape Alliance, Trevor insists on “regenerative design"; he aims to restore the landscape to a higher level of ecological function and make it a source of environmental renewal. Listen to the rest of this #retroepisode at https://bit.ly/35O4YIJ Apple: https://apple.co/3zzK51j Spotify: https://spoti.fi/35xeY8S

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ICYMI: I spoke with Dr. Matthew Koski of Clemson University. Is climate change affecting the appearance of your flowers? They may be unrecognizable if you are a pollinator. An increase in temperatures and resulting changes in atmospheric ozone have been transforming the arrangement of ultraviolet absorptive and reflective pigments, degrading the “target” patterns pollinators use to home in. Listen to the rest of this #archiveepisode at https://bit.ly/2SfyNyx Apple: https://apple.co/3w1Hj2Q Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3z9eDXC

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ICYMI: I spoke with Abra Lee. Even as an undergraduate in Ornamental Horticulture at Auburn University, she had discovered a passion for uncovering the history of her predecessors, African-Americans who had made powerful contributions to the history of American horticulture. We discussed gardening traditions that survived the Middle Passage and how a vibrant African-American gardening tradition has affected the way our landscape looks and functions. Listen to the rest of the #archiveepisode at https://bit.ly/3ubEhXT Apple: https://apple.co/3bSmHSG Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3ug7Szu

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ICYMI: I spoke with Chris Wiesinger. Dubbed “the Bulb Hunter” by The New York Times, Chris Wiesinger has driven the back roads of rural Texas, seeking self-sufficient, adapted – and beautiful – flower bulbs in old gardens and abandoned homesteads. Listen to the rest of our conversation about his success, and how you can duplicate it in your garden: https://bit.ly/3hwxgOJ Apple: https://apple.co/3eYAOI9 Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3onRqvE #archiveepisode

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ICYMI: I spoke with rising star, Wambui Ippolito, of the New York horticultural world. Ippolito has gardened for clients such as Martha Stewart and David Letterman, and is much sought after as a speaker. An immigrant from East Africa herself, she is passionate about the contributions that immigrants make to American gardening. Successive waves of immigrants have traditionally been the backbone of the landscape industry in the United States, but too often, says Wambui, they leave behind their special perspectives in the effort to become American. In this conversation, Wambui discussed how she connected with the land as a child in Kenya, and makes the case for how the American landscape can be enriched if all of us re-discover our immigrant roots. Listen to the rest of the episode at https://www.thomaschristophergardens.com/podcasts/the-immigrant-impact-on-the-american-landscape #archiveepisode

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ICYMI: I spoke with Nicholas Geron of Clark University. He described his research into the effects of tree cover on urban landscapes, and how economically disadvantaged communities are, due to lack of trees, already experiencing the heat predicted elsewhere for the next generation of global warming. Listen to the rest of the episode at https://www.thomaschristophergardens.com/podcasts/environmental-justice-and-the-urban-forest #archiveepisode

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ICYMI: I spoke with Dr. Chantel White of the University of Pennsylvania. In this episode, we discussed how Dr. White uses archaeological techniques to identify plants that grew in the garden of pioneering plant collectors, John and William Bartram. Thanks to her work, a long-gone garden is re-emerging into the light. Listen to the rest of the episode at https://www.thomaschristophergardens.com/podcasts/archaeobotanist-chantel-white-helps-reconstruct-a-lost-garden-in-philadelphia #archiveepisode

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ICYMI: I spoke with Dr. Enrique Salmon, a native American of the Raramuri people and professor of ethnic studies at California State University East Bay. We discussed his new book, Iwigara, about the ethnobotanical traditions and science of American Indians. Listen to the rest of the episode at https://www.thomaschristophergardens.com/podcasts/iwigara-the-kinship-of-plants-and-people #archiveepisode

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