Ellen and C.L. talk about three interesting edibles from the True Leaf Market catalog, explain what they’re working on and catch up with some listener emails. They end by talking about seven seed starting tips offered by our friends at Gardeners Supply Company, and invite listeners to join them at the Northwest Flower and Garden Show in Seattle.
:30 What’s For Dinner: Our top picks from the True Leaf Market catalog
7:23 Eat/Drink/Grow: What's new with the Plantrama team.
19:46 Insider Information: 7 tips for seed starting
We’re talking about garlic and crabapples, plants that are new to our hearts, and some interesting research on bulbs done at Cornell University. Plus some words of appreciation for all of our listeners…Plantrama people are the best!
See the bulb research information here.
:27 What’s For Dinner: What C.L.and Ellen love for tasty meals.
5:14 Eat/Drink/Grow: New Plants…new to us, that is.
15:21 Insider Information: Bulb research from Cornell University
23:03 Love Letters and Questions: We’re entering a dormant period, but here’s our shout out to all of our listeners.
Learn about turning Hydrangea flowers blue, how to tell if you’re looking at Queen Anne’s lace or the poison hemlock, and not enough room for all these plants! Plus C.L. loves listening to the Audible version of Michael Pollen’s book, This is Your Mind on Plants.
:29 True or False: To turn Hydrangeas blue, place rusty nails in the ground
3:48 Eat/Drink/Grow: Queen Anne’s Lace and Poisonous Look-Alikes
15:04 Check This Out: Michael Pollen’s book “This is Your Mind on Plants”
20:30 Love Letters and Questions: Candace writes: “There isn’t room in my house for all of these plants…not if I want to say married. Help!”
In this episode Ellen and C.L. discuss some favorite peppers, and answer common listener questions about drought-damaged plants and helping their gardens recover from a hot, dry summer. We share an exciting new plant from Proven Winners, and answer a listener’s question about clover lawns.
:36 What’s For Dinner: Peppers!
10:39 Eat/Drink/Grow: Recovering From A Hot, Dry Summer
19:45 Insider Information: Excited about Queen Tut Papyrus
21:35 Love Letters and Questions: Sandy writes: “Do you like clover lawns?”
Link to Queen Tut on the Proven Winners Website: https://www.provenwinners.com/plants/cyperus/graceful-grasses-queen-tut-dwarf-papyrus-cyperus-prolifer
In this Encore presentation from 2017, Ellen and C.L. start the end-of-summer party off with suggestions for snacks and garden hors d’oeuvres. The second segment offers ways that you benefit from an outdoor office, and no, it’s not the low rent.
Our main segment suggests ways you can spruce up (horticultural pun intended) your yard and gardens for summer gatherings. Whether you’re holding a simple barbecue, birthday celebration, rehearsal dinner, cocktail party or other event, here are ideas for hiding eyesores, improving what you’ve got and adding color.
Our fourth segment addresses a plant noob’s question: “Will this plant will come back to life or is it dead?” We end with an email from a listener who asks about end-of-year bargain plants.
In this end-of-August episode, C.L. and Ellen discuss how to tell why the leaves on your plant are turning yellow. They explain that noticing which leaves are yellowing, and where they are, can help explain why this is happening. Next the Plantrama team explains some botanic terms, and discusses what to forage for or plant in your vegetable garden right now. The episode ends with advice to Sandy about when to bring her houseplants back inside after they have spent the summer out of doors.
:38 Plant Noob: Yellow Leaves – how to know what causes this?
9:42 Insider Information: Angiosperm and Gymnosperm – what do these terms mean?
11:26 Eat/Drink/Grow: Fall Planting and Foraging
22:23 Love Letters and Questions: Sandy wonders “when does houseplant summer camp end?”
https://backyardforager.com/rose-hip-soup-recipe-nyponsoppa/
Ellen and C.L. discuss whether the use of mulch robs the soil of nitrogen, and we take a dive into the Polygonaceae family…smart weeds and knotweeds. We give you the scoop on two informative webinars for anyone interested in growing hydrangeas, and answer a question about the odd, jelly-like forms that a listener has found on some junipers.
1:42 True or False: Mulch robs the soil of nitrogen.
6:21 Eat/Drink/Grow: Is your weed smart or knot?
12:31 Insider Information: Hydrangea webinars given by C.L.
16:33 Love Letters and Questions: Aliens in the juniper!
Thanks to our sponsors at Dramm Rainwands!
In this encore episode, Ellen explains what to make with under-ripe wild grapes and C.L. persuades listeners to combine some creamy brie cheese with those homegrown tomatoes. Next we explain that the end of the summer is the ideal time to propagate everything from woody ornamentals to annuals and perennials. Now that cooler weather is on the horizon, we discuss what can be transplanted in the fall, and answer a listener’s concern about importing bugs into the house when she brings potted houseplants back in for the winter.
:32 What’s for dinner: End of Summer Flavors! Partially ripe wild grapes and home grown tomatoes with creamy brie and fresh basil.
5:48 Eat/Drink/Grow: taking cuttings. If you want to propagate a favorite shrub, perennial or tree, now is the time for making cuttings.
21:22 Did You Know? Fall transplanting. Which plants can be moved early in the fall?
28:02 Love Letters and Questions: bring your houseplants indoors but leave the bugs outside.
What can you pickle this summer? Should you buy a tree that’s tiny? Ellen and C.L. discuss these topics, plus what to do with bare or just unattractive spots in the garden, and whether summer planting makes sense in July.
:29 What’s for dinner: Pickles.
7:12 Insider Information: Don’t be afraid to start with small shrubs and trees!
12:30 Eat/Drink/Grow: Dealing with bare areas where plants have died or construction had to happen.
22.52 Love Letters and Questions: Bailey wrote about moving to a new property in the heat of the summer.
Brought to you by our friends at https://rainwand.com/
Have you wondered how, or if, mulch kills weeds? Have you tried to grow a citrus plant from a seed? Ellen and C.L. discuss these topics, and answer Dianna’s question about her kousa dogwood that isn’t doing well. Plus C.L. tells Ellen and our listeners about a robot that weeds in gardens.
:28 Plant Noob: Does mulch kill weeds?
6:47 Eat/Drink/Grow: Some considerations when growing citrus from Seed.
14:02 Check THIS Out!: Tertill: a solar-powered, robot weeder.
18:13 Love Letters and Questions From Dianna: “I purchased a kousa dogwood from a landscaper and they installed it for me.”
Have you seen the photo of plastic forks, tines up, in the garden? Wondering about spraying fertilizer on the leaves of plants to give them added nutrients? And how about that auto-flowering type of Cannabis…should you be harvesting in July?
:36 True or False: Plastic forks in the garden?
7:21 Eat/Drink/Grow: Foliar feeding.
18:20 Love Letters and Questions: Manny asks about Cannabis
Ellen and C.L. talk about the difference between raspberries and blackberries, give suggestions for plants that grow well in the tiny spaces in rock walls, and discuss whether you should panic when you see bugs on a plant. We end with a listener’s question about a perennial garden filled with early-summer bloomers.
:30 What’s For Dinner: Raspberries
6:32 Eat/Drink/Grow: Plants to grow in Rock Walls
18:19 Plant Noob: What to assume when you see an insect?
22:24 Love Letters and Questions: Leddy wonders if the perennials she bought in May can be brought into flower again.
C.L. and Ellen have suggestions for edible flower petals, whether you want to use them for visual or taste appeal. Hear a discussion about taproots - what are they and what they mean for you – and hear if you need to be concerned about crop rotation.
:38 What’s For Dinner: Flowers petals!
5:53 Eat/Drink/Grow: Tap roots.
20:18 Love Letters and Questions: Amanda asks: “Can you recommend any books or reliable resources for crop rotation?
Ellen and C.L. discuss ways to use the mint you grow, the basics of harvesting garlic, and ways of supporting vegetables and newly planted trees. Plus we answer a listener’s question about spraying fertilizer directly onto foliage.
:33 What’s for dinner: Mint beyond mojitos
4:12 Insider Information: Harvesting Garlic
17:46 Eat/Drink/Grow: Plant supports.
26:40 Love Letters and Questions: Karen asks about spring fertilizer directly on plants.
Ellen and C.L. talk about a common insect that causes damage in many vegetable gardens: flea beetles. Next they address questions and issues that arise when houseplants have been put outside for the summer, review an inspiring new book, and answer Ryan’s question about possible ground cover crops for weed suppression in flower farms.
:28 Plant Noob: Flea beetles
7:37 Eat/Drink/Grow: So your houseplants are out for Summer Camp
18:12 Book Review: The Urban Garden
22:12 Love Letters and Questions: From Ryan about weed control in a flower farm.
C.L. and Ellen discuss what to do if your tree dies, and what actions to take when something has already happened and you need to respond or do your best to fix it.
:30 True or False: You should remove dead trees from your property
6:24 Eat/Drink/Grow: After the fact. Or, I’ve already done it! Now What???
22:00 Love Letters and Questions: Sandi asks: “When early flowering perennials such as blue salvia, peonies, or penstemon stop blooming, what do I do with them?
:38 What’s For Dinner: Dill.
8:59 Eat/Drink/Grow: “Is it too late to plant?”
20:14 Insider Information: What alliums do.
22:42 Love Letters and Questions: Donna re: miniature lemon cypress tree
In this first of five June episodes, C.L. and Ellen talk about growing dill, planting in the summer, and what allium foliage does when these bulbs come into bloom. Plus we answer a listener’s question about growing lemon cypress trees indoors…was she given bad advice?
In this end-of-May episode Ellen and C.L. discuss using lettuce to wrap tasty fillings, for a meal or snack. We explain what a botanist does, the importance of several types of diversity in our yards and gardens, and answer Pete’s question about applying Mediterranean style to a Minnesota garden.
:28 What’s for dinner: Lettuce Wraps
3:22 Insider Information: What is a botanist?
7:33 Eat/Drink/Grow: Garden Diversity
21:58 Love Letters and Questions: From Pete about “Mediterranean Gardening”
The Plantrama team discusses the best way to fill a raised bed, why the practice called hugelkulture is getting so much buzz, a podcast recommendation, and finding a garden mentor.
:30 Plant Noob: Why you shouldn’t fill a raised bed with only compost.
5:24 Eat/Drink/Grow: Hugelkultur
16:29 Check THIS Out!: a plant podcast that C.L. loves.
18:48 Love Letters and Questions Morgan in Michigan writes about finding garden mentors.
Have you ever bought an envelope of seeds that had no instructions on it? Do you have clay soils where you garden? Ellen and C.L. start the program with these topics, then move onto invasive plants in the landscape, and the differences between different types of potting media.
:30 True or False: It’s okay to send out seeds without any germination information.
5:12 Eat/Drink/Grow: Gardening in Clay
21:18 Insider Information: Inspired by Carol invasives in the landscape
25:16 Love Letters and Questions: From Adriana any difference between potting soil and seeding-starting mix?
Brought to you by our friends at Rainwand.com
It’s pasta for dinner, and everything coming up roses in this episode of Plantrama. Ellen shares her nettle pasta recipe, and C.L. talks about a quick way to use any garden greens with linguine. We discuss the highs and lows of growing roses, and end by answering a listener’s question about catkins.
:37 What’s For Dinner: A go-to garden or foraged pasta.
6:55 Eat/Drink/Grow: Roses.
24:50 Love Letters and Questions: Diedre asked What is a catkin?
Brought to you by our friends at Rainwand.com
In this episode Ellen and C.L. celebrate spring salads, discuss organic fertilizers and discuss the many ways to grow vining Clematis.
:28 What’s for dinner: Spring Salads
6:24 Insider Information: Organic fertilizers
11:03 Eat/Drink/Grow: Clematis
This episode is brought to you by our friends at Rainwand.com
The Plantrama team gives those new to vegetable gardening some advice about raised beds...how deep, what to fill them with, and whether they need a weed barrier underneath. We talk about how to remember what you’ve planted, without sticking ugly labels next to every plant in your garden. In a new segment, we tell you about a couple of great things that we’ve discovered.
:45 Plant Noob: Raised bed Tips
10:46 Eat/Drink/Grow: Methods for remembering what you’ve planted
21:36 Check THIS Out!: C.L. raves about Fleurs de Villes and Ellen talks about Spice Jungle!
https://www.fleursdevilles.com/
Our podcast is supported by our friends at Dramm – check out all of their wonderful products at https://rainwand.com/
Do you need a special fertilizer for Cannabis budding? Do you need special fertilizers for different types of plants? Do some fertilizers work better than others, and can you make your own out of food scraps? These questions answered and more in this episode.
:33 True or False: In order to get Cannabis to bud, you have to use special “bloom” fertilizers
3:22 Eat/Drink/Grow: Fertilizer Facts and Fantasies
20:06 Love Letters and Questions: Shelley wrote: “Is it true that the roots of plants only go out to the dripline?
The Plantrama team gets their fingers sticky with strawberry juices today as we talk about foraging for wild berries, and how to grow strawberries in your garden. Hear about the types of plants, protecting berries from critters, using this plant as groundcover, and more. We end with some thoughts about soil temperatures.
Here is a great chart from the Cooperative Extension-Sacramento County, showing how long seeds take to germinate in different soil temperatures.
:38 What’s For Dinner: Strawberries
3:45 Eat/Drink/Grow: Strawberries
19:25 Insider Information: The importance of soil temperatures
Spring Greens, Plants for Arbors, and Forced Bulbs
In the last episode for March Ellen and C.L. answer the last batch of questions collected at the Northwest Flower and Garden Festival in Seattle. Many of these focus on plants for arbors and pergolas.
:28 What’s for dinner: Spring Greens
3:37 Insider Information: Can a night blooming Cereus grow indoors in AK?
5:27 Eat/Drink/Grow: Plants for arbors, pergolas and trellises 18:16 Love Letters and Questions: From Rachel about a forced hyacinth bulb
Ellen and C.L. address more questions from the Northwest Flower and Garden Festival in Seattle. We discuss the herb that gets no respect, Parsley, plus keeping outdoor furniture dry, escaping the insect invasion in your outdoor living areas, and how we started a podcast...and how you might start a garden business too!
:40 What’s for dinner: Parsley
4:19 Insider Information: Garden furniture in rainy climates
10:57 Eat/Drink/Grow: Keeping mosquitoes out of the garden
16:05 Plant Empowerment – How Plantrama came to be
With thanks to our sponsor: www.rainwand.com
Hear about how to garden if you move frequently, creating consistent gardens in sun and shade, colors that work together, and growing strawberries in a greenhouse. That and keeping the neighbor’s dogs from killing plants when they urinate on them.
With thanks to our sponsors:
Storey Publishing, Gardener's Supply Company and Botanical Interest Seeds!
1:06 Plant Noob: The neighbor’s dogs kill my plants on the sidewalk!
4:42 Eat/Drink/Grow: Designing Gardens – questions from the Northwest Flower and Garden Festival
17:09 Insider information: purple hyacinth beans...edible or poison?
17:57 Love Letters and Questions Growing strawberries in greenhouses
Questions from the 2022 Seattle flower show continue, with blue, mophead hydrangea blooming and pruning in our main segment. Ellen and C.L. also talk about pH for vegetable gardens and peonies that stop blooming.
This episode brought to you by our friends at Dramm - makers of rainwands and other garden gear.
:45 The Plant Noob: How important is soil pH for vegetables
6:56 Eat/Drink/Grow: Hydrangea Happiness
18:17 Love Letters and Questions: 30 year old peony stopped blooming.
C.L. and Ellen answer questions that were submitted at the Northwest Flower and Garden Festival in Seattle. They discuss pruning raspberries, great plants with white flowers, and how to get rid of fungus gnats.
1:31 What’s For Dinner: Raspberries!
10:14 Eat/Drink/Grow: Gardens with White Flowers.
21:56 Insider Information: Fungus Gnats
With thanks to our sponsors at the NWFGS: Storey Publishing.
Gardener's Supply Company, and Botanical Interest Seeds.
If you’re bored with your usual breakfast, this episode is for you. We also explain photoperiodism, talk about starting pepper seeds and growing them in the garden, and answer a listener’s question about Lantana.
:30 What’s for dinner: Breakfast Alternatives
8:11 Insider Information: Photoperiodism
10:56 Eat/Drink/Grow: Peppers
25:55 Love Letters and Questions: Sam writes to ask about Lantana
Link to Ellen's Clafouti recipe.
Link to C.L.'s Oatmeal Cups recipe.
Do you grow citrus indoors for at least part of the year? Learn to be the bee! We also suggest plants for the “COVID cranky” (and who isn’t?) plus becoming a local or niche garden expert.
:34 Plant Noob: Pollinating Citrus You’re Growing Indoors
4:24 Eat/Drink/Grow: Plants for the Covid Cranky
18:36 Plant Empowerment: Becoming a local or niche garden guru.
Have you ever wondered if plants talk to each other? Do you want to have a big number of perennial plants cheaply? Would you like to know what it takes to grow Cannibis from seed? Ellen and C.L. cover these topics in this episode.
:30 True or False: Plants talk to each other.
7:22 Eat/Drink/Grow: Growing Perennials From Seed
21:06 Love Letters and Questions: R.B. wrote: “Last year I tried growing Cannabis from seed and it was a failure.
In this episode Ellen and C.L. talk about cilantro and coriander...one in the same plant. We have agreeing opinions about Stevia, and explain the reason that it takes awhile for some new introductions to reach the marketplace. The podcast ends with Anne’s question about hauling weeds to the compost...necessary?
:30 What’s For Dinner: Coriander/Cilantro
10:38 Eat/Drink/Grow: Plants that are natural sweeteners...beyond sugar.
19:41 Insider Information: How the horticultural supply chain works
22:25 Love Letters and Questions: Anne wonders if she can leave the weeds in the garden after pulling
This episode starts with ideas for cooking with dried mushrooms. We explain how to tell the difference between pine, fir and spruce trees, do a dive into Ericaceous plants, and end with a question about taking cuttings and transplanting houseplants in the winter.
:30 What’s for dinner: How to cook with dried mushrooms
9:16 Insider Information: Pines, firs and spruce.
14:11 Eat/Drink/Grow: Ericaceous plants
22:11 Love Letters and Questions: Shannon wrote about repotting houseplants now.
The Plantrama team discuss a botanic term for plants that put leaves straight up out of the ground (no stems!), and answer a listener’s question about a Bromeliad that hasn’t made more blooms. Ellen and C.L. present a new segment: Plant Empowerment, which explains how to make a passion for plants into a profession. We start with custom container plantings.
:33 Plant Noob: Acaulescent plants
2:38 Eat/Drink/Grow: Plant Empowerment!
25:33 Love Letters and Questions Jennifer wrote about a Bromeliad that isn’t flowering.
The Plantrama team discusses the common belief that eggshells provide quick calcium for plants. Next we look at the myths, misunderstandings and misuse of moss, and end with a question about making a terrarium.
:30 True or False: Eggshells are good calcium for gardens
4:45 Eat/Drink/Grow: Moss.
21:37 Love Letters and Questions: Ricci asks about terrariums
Ellen and C.L. talk about eating chestnuts, the perennial plant that’s commonly called hellebores, and what it means when you are talking about pesticides. We end with a listener’s question about growing foxglove plants from seed.
:34 What’s For Dinner: Chestnuts
6:31 Eat/Drink/Grow: Helleborus
17:50 Insider Information: Define “Pesticide”
21:38 Love Letters and Questions: Lynn asked about propagating foxgloves
We start out discussing what can be substituted for rice when you cook. Our main segment is about grafted plants, and we end with a discussion about vegetable seeds that you might want to start in the winter, and whether it’s worth it to save a poinsettia from year to year.
:30 What’s For Dinner Alternatives to rice
9:58 Eat/Drink/Grow: Grafting and Grafted Plants
18:46 Insider Information: Vegetable seeds that get started early.
22:29 Love Letters and Questions: Kenny wrote: Poinsettia…save it or not?”
In this just-after-the-solstice episode, Ellen and C.L. discuss how to use juniper berries, supporting heavy amaryllis flowers, taking cuttings and Cyclamen.
:30 What’s for dinner: What can you use juniper berries for?
5:00 Insider Information: Supporting heavy Amaryllis flowers
9:57 Eat/Drink/Grow: Taking Cuttings – which plants should you take cuttings from, how and when.
22:22 Love Letters and Questions: How to keep Cyclamen alive.
In this episode C.L. and Ellen explain what “bare root plants” are and why you might want them. Next, they talk about the genus Dracaena, which includes some of the most popular houseplants. They end by disagreeing about general rules for pruning (sorry Morgan).
:27 Plant Noob: Bare Root plants
11:55 Eat/Drink/Grow: Dracaena
20:21 Love Letters and Questions: Morgan requests some easy rules of thumb about pruning.
If you’re wondering if you need to protect your perennial plants with a winter mulch, this episode is for you. Ellen and C.L. go on to talk about the moth orchids, the most commonly sold orchid and an easy one to grow. The show ends with a discussion about the pros and cons of leaving the leaves in your landscape and gardens.
:30 True or False: Perennials have to be protected with a “Winter Mulch.”
5:35 Eat/Drink/Grow: Phalaenopsis – The most common orchid sold today.
23:43 Love Letters and Questions: Allison wonders about if it’s wise to leave the fallen leaves in her gardens.
Ellen and C.L. give ideas for the best low-tech kitchen tools, gift suggestions for all on your list, and tips for why ordering your seeds now is a good idea. We end with some audible plant-based listening suggestions for a listener.
:29 What’s For Dinner: Some suggestions for must-have, low-tech kitchen equipment
8:42 Eat/Drink/Grow: Our suggestions for plant/garden related gifts for the new homeowner, the first-time vegetable gardener, the houseplant lover, and the forager.
18:19 Insider Information: Seed orders now?
20:13 Love Letters and Questions: Morgan asks for other plant-based listening suggestions.
From roots to leaves to flowers! C.L. and Ellen talk about the difference between yams and sweet potatoes, explain what a root nodule is, and discuss leaf-spot fungus, especially on house plants. The episode ends with a listener question about flowers for a Florida garden.
:30 What’s for dinner: Yams Vs Sweet Potatoes
2:52 Insider Information: What are root nodules
4:31 Eat/Drink/Grow: Fungal Leaf Diseases
18:04 Love Letters and Questions: Chris asks about flowers for a Florida garden.
It’s all houseplants all the time in this episode of Plantrama. Ellen and C.L. give advice about cleaning the leaves of indoor plants, talk about the many Calatheas that grow well with less light, and answer a question abot the tropical known as “money plant.”
:36 Plant Noob: Ways to clean off houseplants in the winter
6:52 Eat/Drink/Grow: Calatheas – low-light house plants.
22:07 Love Letters and Questions Nicki asks: “How do I grow Pachira aquatica, aka money plant?
The Plantrama team discusses the advice to hang herbs upside down for drying, and whether you should prune evergreens now. We end with a letter from a listener about doing battle with the birds.
:31 True or False: Hanging herbs upside down to dry them helps the flavors (or in the case of Cannabis, the cannabinoids) drain into the leaves/buds.
2:27 Eat/Drink/Grow: Pruning evergreens now.
18:52 Love Letters and Questions: Alexander and the battle with the birds.
Ellen and C.L. talk about cranberry recipes that go beyond the traditional “cranberry sauce.” They discuss potting “soils” and their composition, and give a listener advice about a Dracaena fragrans (aka corn plant) that has gotten too tall.
:31 What’s For Dinner: Cranberries
8:23 Eat/Drink/Grow: Potting Mixes
24:26 Love Letters and Questions: From Bailey, a tale of the too tall dracaena
C.L. and Ellen give you some different ideas for using apples this season, discuss planting bulbs with an auger on a drill, explain the term “old wood” and answer a listener’s question about tomatillo plants.
:30 What’s for dinner: Apples or crabapples, anyone?
7:54 The Plant Noob: Using a hand drill and an auger to plant lots of bulbs.
14:19 Eat/Drink/Grow: What is meant by the term “old wood.” As in “these hydrangeas flower on old wood.”
21:49 Love Letters and Questions: Paula wrote: “I planted a Tomatillo plant for the first time in my vegetable garden and got no fruit.
The Plantrama team discusses the importance of soil temperature when planting bulbs for spring bloom. In the main segment we talk about handling the amaryllis bulbs you have kept from last winter, and how to bring them into flower in December. We end with a question about how frequently houseplants should be fertilized.
:29 Insider Information: Bulbs have their own “anti-freeze!”
7:16 Eat/Drink/Grow: Amaryllis in the fall
16:22 Love Letters and Questions: Peter asks about fertilizing houseplants.
Ellen and C.L. discuss what root stimulator products are and if they are necessary when you plant. They also address why houseplants might drop leaves when you bring them back inside for the winter, and how to fit even more plants in your house.
:32 True or False: You should use a “root stimulator” that is high in phosphorous
9:14 Eat/Drink/Grow: Why houseplants and tropicals drop leaves when you bring them in for the winter.
19:43 Love Letters and Questions: Kim asks how to fit more plants in her apartment.
In this episode we are making purées for use later in the winter, and considering when you might need to water in the fall. Ellen and C.L. discuss managing those pesky fungus gnats (tiny black flies) that can emerge from your houseplants, and we answer a question about using red pepper to deter rabbits, deer and other critters.
:29 What’s For Dinner: Fall purées
6:53 Eat/Drink/Grow: Fall watering.
14:48 Insider Information: Fungus gnats – again.
21:18 Love Letters and Questions: Anne asks about using hot pepper flakes for animal repellants.
Hear about nuts for dinner, houseplants that will make you smile, and late-to-migrate hummingbirds. We also answer Kim’s question about perennial garden cleanup in the fall.
:30 What’s For Dinner Nuts!
11:17 Eat/Drink/Grow: House Plants that will make you happy all winter
20:30 Insider Information: Supporting late-to-migrate hummingbirds.
23:18 Kim writes: Do I need to clear out a perennial garden? Does a garden really need to be “put to bed?”
Hear about nuts for dinner, houseplants that will make you smile, and late-to-migrate hummingbirds. We also answer Kim’s question about perennial garden cleanup in the fall.
:30 What’s For Dinner Nuts!
11:17 Eat/Drink/Grow: House Plants that will make you happy all winter
20:30 Insider Information: Supporting late-to-migrate hummingbirds.
23:18 Kim writes: Do I need to clear out a perennial garden? Does a garden really need to be “put to bed?”
Hear about nuts for dinner, houseplants that will make you smile, and late-to-migrate hummingbirds. We also answer Kim’s question about perennial garden cleanup in the fall.
:30 What’s For Dinner Nuts!
11:17 Eat/Drink/Grow: House Plants that will make you happy all winter
20:30 Insider Information: Supporting late-to-migrate hummingbirds.
23:18 Kim writes: Do I need to clear out a perennial garden? Does a garden really need to be “put to bed?”
Ellen and C.L. talk about root crops – potatoes, and sunchokes – and what “open pollinated” means. We discuss the pros and cons of protecting plants for the winter, and answer a listener’s question about plants that draw flies.
:36 What’s for dinner: Root Crops: Potatoes and Sunchokes
5:55 Insider Information: What does “open pollinated” mean?
10:34 Eat/Drink/Grow: Should Your Plants be protected for the winter?
23:00 Love Letters and Questions: Chris emails: “First time writer, long time listener. I have a fly question.”
In this episode Ellen and C.L. talk about how to decide which tender or tropical plants to save indoors through the winter, how to preserve your garden or foraging harvest, and whether weeds choose to grow where they blend in.
:32 Plant Noob: Deciding which tropicals/annuals to try and save through the winter.
9:05 Eat/Drink/Grow: Preserving The Harvest
19:45 Love Letters and Questions Morgan smart, chameleon weeds?
Is compost – homemade or purchased – a good substitute for fertilizer? What is that thick growth in a tree? Ellen and C.L. answer these questions and respond to a listener about uses for pressed flowers.
:26 True or False: Compost is fertilizer.
3:50 Eat/Drink/Grow: Witches’ Brooms
19:58 Love Letters and Questions: Kelly asks for ideas about what to do with pressed flowers.
Check out the pressed flower art by Peggy Turner Zablotny
The Plantrama Partners-in-Plants start by discussing how to eat the parts of plants we often toss out or put into the compost. Next, we talk about growing new plants from the seeds that you might see right now in your perennial garden. We end by answering a listener’s question about what might make a shrub or tree turn bright colors very early in autumn.
:36 What’s For Dinner: Parts of plants we often ignore: Carrot stems, beet stems and queen Anne’s lace flowers.
11:12 Eat/Drink/Grow: Growing perennials from the seeds you find in your garden
19:28 Love Letters and Questions: Shelley writes: What would cause a tree to turn colors and drop its leaves early in the fall?
In this end-of-August episode, C.L. and Ellen discuss how to tell why the leaves on your plant are turning yellow. They explain that noticing which leaves are yellowing, and where they are, can help explain why this is happening. Next the Plantrama team explains some botanic terms, and discusses what to forage for or plant in your vegetable garden right now. The episode ends with advice to Sandy about when to bring her houseplants back inside after they have spent the summer out of doors.
:38 Plant Noob: Yellow Leaves – how to know what causes this?
9:42 Insider Information: Angiosperm and Gymnosperm – what do these terms mean?
11:26 Eat/Drink/Grow: Fall Planting and Foraging
22:23 Love Letters and Questions: Sandy wonders “when does houseplant summer camp end?”
The link to Ellen's rose hip soup recipe: https://backyardforager.com/rose-hip-soup-recipe-nyponsoppa/
The Plantrama team talks about ideas for pasta salad and reipes using pineapple weed. We get you thinking about transplanting in the fall, discuss how to manage plants that self-seed just a bit too enthusiastically, and answer a listener’s question about scale.
:30 What’s for dinner: Pasta Salad and Pineapple Weed
5:14 Eat/Drink/Grow: Preparing for Fall Transplanting
15:10 Insider Information: Preventing plants from self-seeding too much.
21:09 Love Letters and Questions Shannon asks about scale.
The Plantrama duo discuss caffeine as an insecticide, and talk about corn, which is a grass and a great deal more. The episode ends with a discussion of picking green apples.
:36 True or False: Caffeine is a natural insecticide.
7:42 Eat/Drink/Grow: Corn: it’s a vegetable! It’s a biofuel! It’s livestock food! It’s an autumn decoration!
18:49 Love Letters and Questions: Mary wrote to ask about picking green apples.
In this 200th episode of Plantrama, Ellen and C.L. celebrate with cake! Hear about Ellen’s berry pudding cake and C.L.’s beet cake. Next we talk about where to plant if you’re running out of room (remember topsy-turvy tomatoes?) and whether it’s okay to pack vegetables into a raised bed.
2:45 What’s For Dinner: Unusual cakes
8:13 Eat/Drink/Grow: What to do when you’re running out of room….
16:38 Love Letters and Questions: Dense planting in raised beds.
Here’s the link to my berry pudding cake recipe: https://backyardforager.com/black-raspberry-pudding-cake-recipe/
In this episode Ellen and C.L. talk about the blueberry harvest, soil acidity or alkalinity, Hydrangea paniculata plants, spraying foliage with water in hot weather and a magical way to control weeds. (And no, there is not magic wand for weeds…let’s just get that cleared up before falsehoods start to be spread.
:40 What’s for Dinner: Blueberries
7:00 The Plant Noob: All about soil pH
15:04 Eat/Drink/Grow: Panicle hydrangeas
25:03 Insider Information: Should you water your plant’s leaves in hot weather
28:42 Love Letters & Questions: Is there a magic wand for weeds?
The Plantrama team talk about your outdoor office; making places on decks, patios, porches or even in the woods where you can work and create. We take a deep dive into Daylilies, and answer a listener’s question about mosquitoes. This episode is being brought to you by our friends at www.rainwand.com
1:30 Insider Information: Your Outdoor Office
5:57 Eat/Drink/Grow: A Deep Dive into Daylilies
18:09 Love Letters and Questions: Mosquitoes Control
C.L. and Ellen celebrate the summer season by talking about grilling, fertilizing, and carnivorous plants. We also discuss dealing with deer and growing edible plants in windy, urban situations such as rooftops and terraces.
:38 What’s for Dinner ; Grilling: farmed and forager
6:00 Plant noob: Fertilizing
13:05 Eat/Drink/Grow: carnivorous plants
19:50 Insider Info: Battling Bambi
25:57 Love Letters & Questions: Chelsea asks about growing edibles on a windy NYC terrace.
We begin with summer cocktails in this best of Plantrama episode, then go on to talk about summer pruning, hail and dealing with storm damage. Ellen and C.L. are also united in their dislike of landscape fabric.
1:51 What’s for dinner: Summer Cocktails
6:46 Insider Information: Hail
9:36 Eat/Drink/Grow: Summer Pruning
14:54 The Plant Noob: Landscape Cloth
21:57 Love Letters & Questions: Summer Storm Damage
In this “best of Plantrama” episode Ellen and C.L. encourage you to roast your veggies and foraged foods, whether you’re serving them immediately or freezing them for the future. We badmouth the use of mothballs in the garden, talk about the role of bacteria and answer a question about gardening in clay soils.
:42 What’s for dinner: Roasted vegetables and foraged edibles
5:28 True or False: Use mothballs to repel animals in the garden?
7:56: Eat/Drink/Grow: Bacteria…the good, the bad, and the ugly
15:10 Love Letters & Questions: Chelsea asks about gardening in clay.
In this “best of Plantrama” episode Ellen and C.L. encourage you to roast your veggies and foraged foods, whether you’re serving them immediately or freezing them for the future. We badmouth the use of mothballs in the garden, talk about the role of bacteria and answer a question about gardening in clay soils.
:42 What’s for dinner: Roasted vegetables and foraged edibles
5:28 True or False: Use mothballs to repel animals in the garden?
7:56: Eat/Drink/Grow: Bacteria…the good, the bad, and the ugly
15:10 Love Letters & Questions: Chelsea asks about gardening in clay.
The Plantrama team presents farmed and foraged edibles for the end of June, and discusses how to tell if your plant-ID app has given you a correct identification. We celebrate The Year of the Monarda, and why beebalm has a place in most gardens. Plus Ellen and C.L. and talk about Japanese beetle control.
:37 What’s for dinner: End of June foraged food and the first crop of broccoli.
6:35 Insider Information: Ways to check accuracy of plant-identification apps.
11:03 Eat/Drink/Grow: It’s the year of the Monarda!
20:50 Love Letters and Questions: Kim wrote about a problem with Japanese beetles.
Check out the Mt Cuba Monarda Trials: https://mtcubacenter.org/trials/monarda/
See the National Garden Bureau’s Year of the Monarda information: https://ngb.org/year-of-the-monarda/ 
C.L. and Ellen discuss how weed seeds have an amazing ability to rest dormant in the soil for years. We peel back the layers of Artichokes, review a book about growing a mini fruit garden, and discuss keeping citrus trees happy indoors.
:36 Plant Noob: Weed seeds remain viable for decades…so
6:43 Eat/Drink/Grow: Artichokes
17:49 Book Review: Grow Your Own Mini Fruit Garden: Planting and Tending Small Fruit Trees and Berries in Gardens and Containers
19:52 Love Letters and Questions: Rachel asked about growing citrus trees indoors.
We reference this article from the New York Times.
Ellen and C.L. discuss whether human urine helps with critter control in the garden and they talk about a favorite shrub, Sambucus, aka elderberry. The episode finishes with a discussion of changing the pH for a potted hydrangea so that the flower turns from pink to blue.
:40 True or False: Urinating around the garden can keep deer or rabbits away.
5:20 Eat/Drink/Grow: Everything Elderberry, or the Sensational Sambucus
17:18 Love Letters and Questions: Charlotte writes from Germany about her potted hydrangea.
In this episode of Plantrama Ellen and C.L. answer a listener’s question about growing male Cannabis plants. They explain why it’s good to pinch many newly planted annuals, what nitrogen-fixing plants are, and celebrate an early summer cocktail hour.
:27 What’s For Dinner: It’s the cocktail hour in June!
3:58 Eat/Drink/Grow: Nitrogen-fixing plants.
16:39 Insider Information: Pinching annuals.
21:15 Love Letters and Questions: Is there value in a male Cannabis plant?
Photo below is Ellen's Butterfly Kiss cocktail.
In this episode Ellen and C.L. discuss plants to grow or forage for with the barbeque in mind. They explain that not all microorganisms are good for all plants, give suggestions for great annuals, and talk about cutworm protection.
:40 What’s for dinner: Gearing up for the BBQ season.
7:30 Insider Information: Mycorrhizae and beneficial bacteria
12:04 Eat/Drink/Grow: Great annuals to grow this summer.
23.43 Love Letters and Questions: Paper cups around veggie stems?
Do you need shade for your outdoor office? Want a low-maintenance, colorful landscape? Do you hand-water your vegetable plants or want to make your hydrangea flowers blue? This episode addresses all of these issues!
:29 Your Outdoor Office: Ways to make shade
7:10 Eat/Drink/Grow: Dwarf Conifers
20:19 Insider Information: Hand-watering your vegetable
25:03 Love Letters and Questions: Coffee ground for blue hydrangeas
C.L. and Ellen discuss the internet-based rumor that you should dig a square hole when planting trees, and give suggestions for plants to grow on small trellises and arbors. We finish with a discussion about how to know if a perennial plant will reliably return, or if it’s a “temperennial.”
:40 True or False: Plant trees in square holes
7:41 Eat/Drink/Grow: Plants for small arbors and trellises
20:51 Love Letters and Questions: Rick writes to ask how you can tell if a perennial plant will live for many years or not.
The Plantrama team discusses growing and foraging for asparagus, reviews a lovely book about public gardens you ought to see, and answers a listener’s question about the weed called nightshade. They also disagree about topiary…C.L. loves them, Ellen? Not so much.
:32 What’s For Dinner: Asparagus ~ wild and garden grown
9:48 Eat/Drink/Grow: Topiary
22:01 Book Review: George Weigel’s 50 American Public Gardens You Really Ought to See
24:28 Love Letters and Questions: Is nightshade a bad neighbor?
C.L. and Ellen tackle the myth that earthworms can grow once cut in half. They extol a favorite vine, the Passiflora, celebrate World Carnivorous Plant Day with margaritas, and discuss water-filled plant protectors.
:27 True or False? Earthworms regrow.
3:53 Eat/Drink/Grow: Passion flower vines
14:05 Insider Information: World Carnivorous Plant Day is May 5th
17:35 Love Letters and Questions: Reginia asks if we can comment on water-filled tomato protection.
Spring plants are first and foremost in this episode as we talk about cress, foraged and farmed, the Year of the Hyacinth, and two spring flowers, Ranunculus and Bellis perennis. Ellen and C.L. tell Paul why old carpet might not make the best mulch.
:40 What’s for dinner: Cress wild and tame.
10:13 Insider Information: The National Gardening Bureau says it’s the year of the Hyacinth.
14:02 Eat/Drink/Grow: About 2 Spring Plants
23:07 Love Letters and Questions: Paul asks, “Does old carpet make good mulch in a vegetable garden?”
In this episode we talk about the white perlite in potting mixes, spend the main segment talking about edible flowers, and answer a question about why a listener’s zucchini plants aren’t producing well.
:30 Plant Noob: What are the white specks in my pots?
3:41 Eat/Drink/Grow: Growing Edible Flowers
17:43 Love Letters and Questions What’s with the lack of zucchini?
Ellen and C.L. talk about whether fertilizing is always a good thing, and they take a deep dive into the genus Rhododendron, which includes what we commonly call azaleas. Then they answer Candace’s question about whether her spouse’s pruning of the blue hydrangeas is grounds for divorce.
:33 True or False: Fertilizing never hurts…right?
7:57 Eat/Drink/Grow: Rhododendrons and Azaleas
24:21 Love Letters and Questions: Pruning blue hydrangeas, and can this marriage be saved?
Today we discuss garden-grown and foraged food with earthy flavors, and do a deep dive into the importance of soil temperatures for planting, soil activity, seed germination and growth rates. We end with a discussion about what you can expect from houseplants in the winter, and how to decide which plants are appropriate for an area that’s sunny in the winter and shaded in the summer.
:30 What’s For Dinner: Earthy flavors.
6:59 Eat/Drink/Grow: The Importance of Soil Temperatures.
18:18 Insider Information: Should your houseplants be growing in the winter?
20:39 Love Letters and Questions: Planting for appropriate outdoor light
If you think that pesto has to be made of basil, think again! Ellen and C.L. talk about spring pestos, how quickly plants start to photosynthesize, and discuss the pros and cons of various types of mulch. We end with a question about the best fennel to grow if you want the seeds.
:34 What’s for dinner: Spring Pestos! Make pesto before the basil has even germinated.
4:58 Insider Information: How quickly does photosynthesis start?
8:48 Eat/Drink/Grow: Much about Mulch
24:15 Love Letters and Questions: Cassy asks about growing fennel for seeds, not greens or bulbs.
In this episode we define some terms that plant geeks toss around, and give you a recipe for figuring out what’s wrong with your houseplants. If you’ve ever wondered why fertilizer is called “plant food” or how lichen can grow on a rock or your roof, this is your podcast!
:28 Plant Noob: Semi-Evergreen? Sub-shrub?
3:39 Eat/Drink/Grow: Diagnosing problems on houseplants.
17:45 Focus on Fertilizer: Why fertilizer shouldn’t be thought of as plant food.
19:24 Love Letters and Questions Nina asked “How the heck does lichen grow/stay alive on stones and dead branches?”
C.L. and Ellen rave about green flowers, explain the difference between aggressive and invasive plants, and discuss the common belief that sunflowers poison other plants. Plus we answer Meredith’s question about why cut flowers don’t grow roots.
:40 True or False: Sunflowers poison other plants
5:19 Eat/Drink/Grow: Green Flowers!
14:51 The Plant Noob: The difference between aggressive and invasive plants.
19:31 Love Letters and Questions: Meredith asks “What makes some plants easy to propagate, and others not-so-easy?”
Did you know that a spring tonic doesn’t have to be a drink? Hear Ellen and C.L. talk about tonics, what to do if you’ve started your seeds too early, the definition of direct sowing and vegetables for hot climates.
:30 What’s For Dinner: What’s your spring tonic?
4:57 Eat/Drink/Grow: Starting seeds too early.
15:31 Insider Information: What does it mean to direct sow?
19:50 Love Letters and Questions: Erik writes about growing vegetables in Texas.
In this episode you’ll hear about ways to prepare the chard, kale or other greens you froze last summer. Learn why water beads up on some leaves, all about Cannas, and if hydrogen peroxide is a good thing to use on plant problems.
:30 What’s for dinner: Greens from the freezer
4:22 Insider Information: What are “Hydrophobic leaves?”
8:55 Eat/Drink/Grow: Cannas
17:42 Love Letters and Questions: Samantha asked about using hydrogen peroxide in the garden
Ellen and C.L. explain what a “standard form” plant is and why you might want to plant the perennial yarrow in your landscape. Hear a rave review of Jessica Walliser’s new book about science-based companion planting, and learn about vole trails.
:30 Plant Noob: What’s a “standard?”
4:13 Eat/Drink/Grow: Achillea, aka yarrow
14:16 Product Review: Plant Partners book review
19:45 Love Letters and Questions: Tedi wonders about the trails she sees in her garden after a snow melt.
If you’re wondering about sterilizing soil for seed starting, growing peppers in your vegetable garden, or the best water for your houseplants, this episode is for you.
:30 True or False: You should bake garden soil in the oven, then use it to start your seeds indoors.
5:35 Eat/Drink/Grow: Growing Peppers
19:53 Love Letters and Questions: Kari wrote to ask about chlorine in water for houseplants.
:30 What’s For Dinner: Fennel
7:04 Eat/Drink/Grow: Epiphytes – what they are, some common houseplants that are epiphytic, and what this means for how we care for those plants.
15:03 Insider Information: What are pelleted seeds?
19:44 Love Letters and Questions: Melissa writes about paperwhite narcissus.
Ellen and C.L talk about growing fennel, what an epiphytic plant is, and why you may want to try some pellitized seeds. We answer Melissa’s question about why some paperwhite narcissus are more fragrant than others.
Link to Brent and Becky’s Bulbs: https://www.brentandbeckysbulbs.com/Narcissus/Ziva/Narcissus
In this episode of Plantrama we talk about essential herbs to grow or forage for, pinching plants to make them bushy, African violets and a Zoom houseplant event in February.
:28 What’s for dinner: Essential herbs to grow or forage for.
7:40 Insider Information: “Pinching” tips off of plants to make them bushier.
12:33 Eat/Drink/Grow: African violets – Saintpaulia
21:02 Connections: Zoom with us the Plantrama Team!
Ellen and C.L. discuss plants that male or female, how some plants are used to remove harmful substances from the soil, and why it might be good to test old seed instead of automatically tossing it out.
:27 Plant Noob: Dioecious plants
8:33 Eat/Drink/Grow: Phytoremediation
16:48 Love Letters and Questions: Karen wrote to ask about the seeds she has left from past years.
The Plantrama team discusses the clearly fake rainbow tomatoes, growing the wonderfully real jade plants indoors, and Ellen’s new craft cocktail class.
:30 True or False: Rainbow Tomato Seeds
3:17 Eat/Drink/Grow: Jade plants: Crassula
13:29 Insider Information: Ellen’s online craft cocktail course
17:30 Love Letters and Questions: Anthony writes asking why lichen seems to shrink and grow.
Hear ideas for making quiche or frittatas, learn about earthworm castings and why it’s good for plants, and discover a cactus that grows in most of North America.
:36 What’s For Dinner: Quiche or Frittata
5:55 Eat/Drink/Grow: Earthworm Castings.
15:52 Insider Information: Opuntia humifusa, prickly pear cactus
21:56 Love Letters and Questions: Anne writes about blue flowers.
In this New Year’s Eve podcast, Ellen and C.L. raise a glass to toast a better year ahead. Hear about small in-home greenhouse/terrariums, learn about “pencil cactus,” and listen to our answer for Quinn, who wants to fertilize his Ohio lawn in the winter.
:30 What’s For Dinner: Celebratory Cocktails
6:04 Eat/Drink/Grow: Tiny Home Greenhouses
12:57 Plant Noob: Euphorbia tirucalli 'Sticks on Fire'
21:00 Love Letters and Questions: Quinn wrote to ask about whether it’s too late to fertilize his lawn in Ohio.
Hear about an easy and elegant houseplant as Ellen and C.L. talk about Hoyas. Learn about determining your garden style, and discover how plants without leaves might still be photosynthizing.
:30 Insider Information: All about hoyas
8:34 Eat/Drink/Grow: Knowing or learning what your garden style is.
20:24 Love letter and Questions: Did you know that green stems are capable of photosynthesis?
Looking for an amazing houseplant that flowers all year? Worried that the seeds you buy might be GMO’s? Could you use a good book to read this winter? All of these topics and using shredding paper in the garden, in this episode.
29 Plant Noob: Are some seeds available to home gardeners GMO?
4:21 Eat/Drink/Grow: Amazing Anthuriums
14:15 Product Review: Good winter reads – fiction that features plants.
22:16 Love Letters and Questions Karl wrote asking if the stuff from his paper shredder would make good mulch.
Ellen and C.L. explain that yes, it is possible to have too much compost in the soil. We discuss the lovely Helleborus niger, aka the Christmas rose, and answer a question about spider plants.
:28 True or False: Healthy soil has a high percentage of organic matter in it.
4:55 Eat/Drink/Grow: The Christmas Rose – Helleborus niger
13:49 Love Letters and Questions: Ken wrote asking about spider plants, aka ribbon plant, aka airplane plant.
Hear about some savory/sweet cookies, learn about ferns that make attractive houseplants, discover the meeting of the term “entire margins,” and find out if you should clear out your vegetable garden…all in this week’s episode of Plantrama.
:32 What’s For Dinner: Cookies!
5:31 Eat/Drink/Grow: Ferns as houseplants.
17:40 Insider Information: What does “entire leaf margins” mean?
18:46 Love Letters and Questions: Deb asks if she has to clear the dead vegetables out of her vegetable garden now.
Discover spice rubs, a hot “Curio” houseplant, and hear what to do with the bulbs and other plants you haven’t yet placed into the ground.
:30 What’s for dinner: Spice Rubs for Meat and Tofu
5:18 Insider Information: A suddenly “hot houseplant” - Curio rowleyanus, syn. Senecio rowleyanus
9:34 Eat/Drink/Grow: When you forgot to put bulbs or other plants into the ground.
17:24 Love Letters and Questions: Did you start a “Covid Garden?” How was your experience? We want to hear your stories. How did planting make you feel? What was the most problematic thing, and what was the most joyful aspect of the process? Email us!
The Link for Ellen’s Wild Spice Cabinet online course: https://backyard-forager.thinkific.com/courses/The-Wild-Spice-Cabinet
In this episode we consider how drought and snow effect plants, creating a plant-filled Zoom Room, and spring bulbs that come up before spring.
:30 Plant Noob: Is snow hard on plants?
7:05 Eat/Drink/Grow: Drought! The long-term consequences of dry periods.
14:23 A Plant-Filled Zoom Room: How to create a lush environment for your virtual work.
20:30 Love Letters and Questions Cara writes: “Some of my bulbs are coming up! I think they believe it’s spring…
Hear Ellen and C.L. discuss fertilizers for houseplants, the amazing avocado, and cranberries, wild and cultivated.
:30 True or False: You have to use special fertilizer for each type of indoor plant.
5:23 Eat/Drink/Grow: Avocados are AMAZING!
14:40 Love Letters and Questions: Do cranberries grow under water?
Learn about eating juniper berries, bodacious begonias, pots for orchids and keeping cats away from plants.
:30 What’s For Dinner: Juniper berries
6:49 Eat/Drink/Grow: Growing Begonias
17:50 Insider Information: Do you need special orchid pots for your orchids?
20:40 Love Letters and Questions: Mark: My cat continues to want to climb my large monstera and dracanea plants!
Link to American Begonia Society: https://www.begonias.org/
In this episode Ellen and C.L. discuss the herb that gets no respect, parsley. We also talk about planning garden trips for the spring, what evergreens will grow in containers on a balcony, and providing supports for indoor plants.
:28 What’s For Dinner: Parsley.
6:42 Eat/Drink/Grow: Plan a garden trip for next spring or summer.
13:55 Insider Information: Plant supports for indoor plants
22:36 Love Letters and Questions: Yolanda wrote to ask what evergreen she might plant in a large pot on an apartment balcony.
C.L. and Ellen explain that succulents are easy to propagate, and talk about why we should care about the life cycle of insects. The episode ends with a discussion about collecting rainwater for houseplants.
:30 Plant Noob: How to propagate succulents
9:41 Eat/Drink/Grow: Life cycle of most insects…
18:42 Love Letters and Questions: Paul writes: “A friend told me that I should be collecting rainwater for my houseplants. True?”
For better or worse, in this episode Ellen and C.L. are delving into Pumpkin Spice. We start talking about allspice, and then do a deep dive into the plants that produce the flavors in the most popular seasonal latte offered at local coffee shops.
:30 True or False: Allspice is a mix of several spices.
3:44 Eat/Drink/Grow: Where do real pumpkin spices come from?
22:32 Love Letters and Questions Megan writes to ask if dried herbs and spices can go bad.
Painted pumpkin faces in our illustration were done by our friend, artist and illustrator John Sullivan.
We’re celebrating fall with autumnal beverages, talking about applying fertilizer in the fall, and discussing cleaning up houseplants when you bring them back indoors.
:31 True or False: Winter is a good time to fertilize gardens.
4:38 Eat/Drink/Grow: Fall Cocktails and other garden or plant-based beverages.
17:58 The Plant Noob: Cleaning up houseplants when you bring them back inside. Repotting now? Cut back? Fertilize? Insects?
26:24 Love Letters and Questions: Liz asks about the shownotes.
Kale-tini
For Two Cocktails
2 cups tightly packed kale
1 cup water
juice two limes
4 oz vodka or gin
1 Tbls agave syrup
The Process: Cut enough kale into pieces to fill a 2-cup measure. Cover these pieces with water and place in a food processor or blender. Puree for a minute.
Strain the solids out of the pureed kale with a fine sieve, pressing with a spatula to get as much juice from the leaves as possible.
Squeeze the limes and add the lime juice, vodka, and agave syrup. Mix well or shake in a mason jar to combine. Pour into glasses over ice. Garnish with a small kale leaf.
It’s time to take stock of the vegetable garden and consider what thrived and which crops were a bust. Ellen and C.L. discuss why Ellen loves to forage for chestnuts, and how she cooks them, plus we answer a question about dandelion foliage in the lawn.
:35 What’s For Dinner: Chestnuts!
8:02 Eat/Drink/Grow: Veggie Garden Wrap Up
22:35 Love Letters and Questions: Neil emails about the dandelions in his lawn.
Link to Ellen’s recipe for chestnut soup.
Link to Ellen’s recipe for chestnut mousse.
Hear what plant people mean when they talk about “the canopy,” learn about a must-have book if you grow perennials, and find out what you can do in perennial gardens in the fall. Plus a look at what’s growing in C.L.’s “bunny bin.”
:40 Plant Noob: What is “the canopy?”
2:26 Insider Information: the “bunny bin”
5:54 Book Review: Herbaceous Perennial Plants – Fourth Edition by Allan Armitage
10:19 Eat/Drink/Grow: The perennial garden in autumn.
22:13 Love Letters and Questions: A shout out to Andree.
In this episode we talk about foraged silverberries, cherry tomatoes, saving seeds, and whether fall is the best time for planting. Ellen and C.L. end with a question from Jenna about possible uses for carrot tops.
:27 What’s for dinner: Silverberry and Cherry Tomatoes
7:27 Eat/Drink/Grow: Saving Seeds. When to do so, how to save, pros and cons.
16:32 True or False: Fall is the best time for planting.
22:14 Love Letters and Questions From Jenna: using carrot tops.
Ellen and C.L. give you ideas for using all of that mint that has exploded in your gardens over the summer. We explain how to keep container plants through the winter without pot or plant death, and answer a listener’s question about transplanting in the fall.
:42 What’s For Dinner: What Can You Do With Mint?
7:43 Eat/Drink/Grow: Keeping Plants in Pots Through the Winter
19:47 Love Letters and Questions: Sandra emailed to ask if September is a good time to move shrubs.
Learn the truth about calcium and the black blossom end rot on your tomatoes, hear about preserving the herbs you’ve grown, discover a better way to prone large shrubs, and find out why a Cannabis plant isn’t budding.
Our sponsor today is Territorial Seeds.
:40 True or False: Lack of calcium in the soil causes blossom end rot in tomatoes
8:05 Eat/Drink/Grow: Preserving Herbs
16:42 Insider Information: Limbing Large Shrubs UP
20:43 Love Letters and Questions: Cannabis not budding
C.L. and Ellen and talk about ways to prepare eggplant, protecting your fall crops from frost, taking cuttings of shrubs and tender plants, and drying white hydrangea flowers.
:47 What’s for dinner: Eggplant
11:08 Insider Information: Protecting fall crops if an early freeze is predicted.
16:56 Eat/Drink/Grow: Taking cuttings of woody plants and tender perennials.
26:26 Love Letters and Questions: Kya writes to ask if she can dry her Hydrangea paniculata flowers
In this episode Ellen and C.L. give you a way to identify grasses, sedges and rushes, we discuss the mildew that you might be seeing on various plants, and answer a listener’s question about where to find unusual plants.
:39 Plant Noob: Sedges, grasses and rushes.
9:19 Eat/Drink/Grow: A deep dive into MILDEW.
23:44 Love Letters and Questions: Ellen asks where to find the plants we speak about.
Wondering if your zucchini can cross with the neighbor’s pumpkins? Want to know about planting where a tree used to grow? Ellen and C.L. talk about those topics plus finding inexpensive plants for shade and curling tomato leaves.
:37 True or False: Zucchini can cross with pumpkins so that you get weird fruit.
3:11 Eat/Drink/Grow: Why a plant might not grow when put near where a tree used to be.
13:27 Plant Noob – Inexpensive plants for shade? An email from Madeline.
16:44 Love Letters and Questions: Ted asks why on some days the foliage on his tomato plant is curled.
Hear about two cocktails that use edible flowers, learn about the ways vines support themselves or climb structures, and discover how to tell which flowers are male or female on your summer squash. Plus we answer a listener’s question about fall vegetable plantings.
:45 What’s For Dinner: Flower Power Summer Cocktails
6:08 Eat/Drink/Grow: Vines – how they grow, when to go annual or perennial.
16:07 Insider Information: How to tell male from female flowers on summer squash
20:42 Love Letters and Questions: Keri writes saying that she has open areas in her vegetable garden where the plants have finished.
Ellen and C.L. give ideas for making your outdoor office (or Zoom Room) greener. We talk about the maintenance of daylilies, and answer a listener’s question about controlling mosquitos.
:32 Your Outdoor Office: Still working from home? You need greenery.
4:47 Eat/Drink/Grow: A Deep Dive into Daylilies.
16:58 Love Letters and Questions: Paul asks if there is a natural way to help control mosquitos and if some plants really repel them.
Ellen and C.L. give ideas for making your outdoor office (or Zoom Room) greener. We talk about the maintenance of daylilies, and answer a listener’s question about controlling mosquitos.
:32 Your Outdoor Office: Still working from home? You need greenery.
4:47 Eat/Drink/Grow: A Deep Dive into Daylilies.
16:58 Love Letters and Questions: Paul asks if there is a natural way to help control mosquitos and if some plants really repel them.
Ellen and C.L. give ideas for making your outdoor office (or Zoom Room) greener. We talk about the maintenance of daylilies, and answer a listener’s question about controlling mosquitos.
:32 Your Outdoor Office: Still working from home? You need greenery.
4:47 Eat/Drink/Grow: A Deep Dive into Daylilies.
16:58 Love Letters and Questions: Paul asks if there is a natural way to help control mosquitos and if some plants really repel them.
Hear how to use all the summer squash from your garden, learn about the new foraging calendar from Amber Lotus Publishing, and listen to Ellen give her top plants for foraging in the Midwest and Northeast. In our main segment we’ll talk about why a plant might change growth habits, or develop different foliage and flower colors.
1:30 What’s for dinner: It’s zucchini mania!
8:45 Insider Information: Ellen’s Backyard Foraging Calendar is out!
11:32 Eat/Drink/Grow: Why some plants “revert” changing growth patterns or color
20:31 Love Letters and Questions: Sara asks if Ellen will name her top 5 plants to forage for in the Northeast or Midwest
Order Ellen's calendar here:
https://www.amberlotus.com/backyard-foraging-2021-wall-calendar
Wondering why your salad, broccoli or radishes are flowering? Thinking that the houseplants you put out for the summer aren’t looking fantastic? Learn about attractively arranging houseplants outside, summer orchid care, what “bolting” means in the veggie garden, and a good time to transplant a tree.
:30 Plant Noob: Why some vegetables “bolt”
8:53 Eat/Drink/Grow: Summer orchid care, houseplants at summer camp, and using indoor plants for outdoor décor
22:55 Love Letters and Questions Fred writes that he wants to move a small maple tree that was planted in the wrong place.
Ellen and C.L. discuss whether the use of mulch robs the soil of nitrogen, and we take a dive into the Polygonaceae family…smart weeds and knotweeds. We give you the scoop on two informative webinars for anyone interested in growing hydrangeas, and answer a question about the odd, jelly-like forms that a listener has found on some junipers.
1:42 True or False: Mulch robs the soil of nitrogen.
6:21 Eat/Drink/Grow: Is your weed smart or knot?
12:31 Insider Information: Hydrangea webinars given by C.L.
16:33 Love Letters and Questions: Aliens in the juniper!
With thanks to our Dramm, our sponsor. Find their great products at RainWand.com
The Virtual Hydrangea classes that C.L. recorded are: Mopheads and Lacecap Hydrangeas, and https://bit.ly/panicle_smooth Hydrangeas.
This episode will inspire you to make an omelet using vegetables you’ve grown or foraged for. Ellen and C.L. take a deep dive into peonies and all the questions people have about them not flowering, when to move them, how to control mildew and more. Finally, we clue you in about the fascinating (and mostly harmless) round growths on oak leaves, and advise a listener about the use of soap in the garden.
:33 What’s For Dinner Omelet Ideas, Farmed and Foraged
6:36 Eat/Drink/Grow: Peonies They’re finished flowering but you’ve got questions!
21:35 Insider Information: Oak Galls
25:19 Love Letters and Questions: My wife likes putting Irish Spring soap in our vegetable garden…
If you’re wondering about growing blackberries or raspberries, want to know how to use a hoe for weed control or how to pinch your cannabis plants for bushy growth, this episode will help. Plus foraging for pineapple weed and growing pineapple sage.
:35 What’s for dinner: Pineapple weed, pineapple sage
6:32 Insider Information: When to use a hoe to control weeds in vegetable/annual/perennial gardens.
9:33 Eat/Drink/Grow: Brambles! Black raspberries, blackberries, raspberries
22:53 Love Letters and Questions: Tim writes to ask about pinching cannabis plants grown outside.
Ellen and C.L. talk about the possibility of pruning to reduce a plant’s size, plus information about milkweed. We discuss pine needles in compost and how to keep a hanging basket looking great.
With thanks to our sponsor at Rainwand.com
1:15 Plant Noob: Can I make my shrub or tree smaller?
8:49 Eat/Drink/Grow: A deep dive into Milkweed.
17:15 True or False: Putting pine needles in a compost bin.
19:39 Love Letters and Questions: How to take care of a flowering hanging basket.
How to germinate milkweed seeds information here.
This episode addresses if eggshells are beneficial in a veggie garden, along with roses: fertilizing, deadheading, insects and diseases. Plus a question about the tall verbena.
:30 True or False: Eggshells are good for the vegetable garden.
4:31 Eat/Drink/Grow: Roses in early summer.
25:16 Love Letters and Questions: From Billie about Verbena bonariensis
If you’re wondering if you can still plant vegetables, or you’re seeing your new plants being eaten, this episode is for you. Learn what to do about holes and bites out of young plants, hear how to repot houseplants now, and find out which indoor plants should be sent “to summer camp.”
:39 What’s For Dinner Planting in early June
5:00 Eat/Drink/Grow: Seeds that don’t germinate, seedlings that disappear, and young plants that are being eaten.
19:29 Insider Information: Repotting houseplants.
23:25 Love Letters and Questions: A question from Bailey about putting a Norfolk Island Pine outside for the summer.
Hear about eating unripe apricots and growing the tiny, tasty cucamelons. Learn how to plant for better weed management, discover the exotic, fragrant Brugmansia plant and learn what thinning seedlings is all about.
:33 What’s for dinner: Unripe Apricots and cucamelons.
7:04 Insider Information: Planting for easier weed management.
13:43 Eat/Drink/Grow: Growing Brugmansia, aka Angel’s Trumpets
19:44 Love Letters and Questions: Kipper wonders what “thinning” means.
Ellen and C.L. talk about how often plants need fertilizer, and several flowering vines you should know and grow. They review a product that treats poison ivy and poison oak and Ellen explains the difference between elderberry shrubs.
:38 True or False: I need to fertilize all my gardens every year, right?
8:43 Eat/Drink/Grow: Flowering Vines
17:37 Product Review: Zanfel for Poison Ivy/Poison Oak
20:51 Love Letters and Questions From one of the attendees of the Northweest Flower and Garden show: What’s the difference between the blue and purple elderberry flowers?
Learn when to cut back lavender, how to grow herbs in pots, and why your perennials may need dividing. Discover where to plant herbs. Hear about pruning lilacs and wisteria, brought to you by Dramm Rainwands.
:28 Plant Noob: Dividing perennials - how, why and when.
9:13 Eat/Drink/Grow: Herb Garden Questions from the Northwest Flower and Garden Festival
20:57 Love Letters and Questions: When should I prune lilacs and wisteria.
:32 What’s For Dinner Dandelion Flowers
4:51 Eat/Drink/Grow: The Edible Landscape – Vegetable Gardens and Perennial Edibles aka “Foodscaping”
21:35 Love Letters and Questions: I have a plant that won’t flower.
In this episode, brought to you by Dramm Rainwands, we talk about eating dandelion flowers, foodscaping, and what to do with a plant that won’t flower. Is fertilizer the answer?
Learn about planting in galvanized containers, if hyacinth beans are edible, and underplanting trees with shrubs. Hear Ellen and C.L.’s picks for their three top garden ingredients for cocktails, what plants like coffee grounds, and C.L.’s favorite variety of kale. Plus more questions that came in from the audience at the Northwest Flower and Garden Festival in Seattle.
:40 Just For Fun: Galvanized containers for plants.
5:25 Eat/Drink/Grow: Questions from Seattle Flower Show
16:04 Love Letters and Questions What is your favorite kale and why? And, Coffee grounds for plants?
This episode was recorded live at our appearance at the Northwest Flower and Garden Festival in Seattle. This week, the second part of our talk on Flower Power and the Cocktail Hour. In this episode we give examples of flower-fueled cocktails you can make.
This episode was recorded live at our appearance at the Northwest Flower and Garden Festival in Seattle. This week, the first part of our talk on Flower Power and the Cocktail Hour. We discuss great plants and how to create a flower-filled environment for gathering in the evening.
In this episode Ellen and C.L. tackle a myth about box stores selling plants that have been raised with neonicotinoids, we discuss the amazing bamboo, and answer a question about saving a houseplant.
:34 True or False: Box store plants are raised using neonicotinoids
4:54 Eat/Drink/Grow: Bamboo
20:25 Love Letters and Questions: A listener asks if her money tree houseplant can be saved
Be inspired to make lettuce wraps for dinner, hear about growing coriander, and learn about plant pheromones. Plus hear how Ellen and C.L. advise Don about his ugly junipers.
:32 What’s For Dinner: “Lettuce Wraps”
4:30 Eat/Drink/Grow: Coriander
14:44 Insider Information: What are plant pheromones?20:09 Love Letters and Questions: Don asks what to do with ugly junipers.
This podcast will inspire you to create more chopped salads, explain leaf spot fungus, and provide a list of plants that will attract hummingbirds. We also explain some flower terminology and answer a curious listener’s email.
:40 What’s for dinner: “Chopped Salad”
5:18 Insider Information: Leaf spot fungus.
17:00 Eat/Drink/Grow: Plants to Attract Hummingbirds
22:08 Did You Know: Difference between a single, semi-double, and double flower forms.
25: 08 Love Letters and Questions: Meg writes: What does CL stand for?”
:32 Plant Noob: How to make your own plant-able pots for starting seeds in.
5:57 Eat/Drink/Grow: Perennials that don’t spread very much.
16:21 Product Review: Book: Growing Weed in the Garden by Johanna Silver
22:15 Love Letters and Questions Pippa asks about using products that make houseplants have shiny leaves.
Link to the YouTube video about making square newspaper pots: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dlGQP81yfo
The list of perennials we covered:
Peony (Paeonia)
Butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa)
Stokes aster (Stokesia laevis)
Monkshood (Aconitum)
Balloon flower (Platycodon grandiflorus)
Bugbane (Actaea racemosa)
Agastache ‘Blue Fortune' (Agastache foeniculum ‘Blue Fortune’)
In this episode C.L. and Ellen discuss research into growing plants in salty soils, aerating lawns with spiky shoes, and a plant that’s a three some. We end explaining why it’s possible to have too much manure in your soil.
:47 Did You Know: From the world of Plant Science: salty soils
3:50 True or False: You can aerate your lawn by walking on it with golf shoes.
7:57 Eat/Drink/Grow: Lichen: The plant that’s a threesome?
14:44 Love Letters and Questions: Tim writes, “Is it possible to have too much manure in your garden soil?”
Link to the article about salty soils and bacteria: https://news.byu.edu/intellect/byu-scientists-discover-way-to-make-crops-grow-in-salt-damaged-soil
Get inspired to make a spring salad containing flower petals, hear about how a native plant in one area might be invasive elsewhere, and learn about a lemon-scented herb. The episode ends with a question about coconut coir.
:31 What’s For Dinner: Spring tonic salads
4:28 Eat/Drink/Grow: A plant that’s native in one place (and oh-so-beneficial) might be harmful in another location.
13:01 Insider Information: All about the herb called Lemon Balm.
17:38 Love Letters and Questions Cory wants to know what coconut coir is used for.
This episode of Plantrama gives you a heads up about two great plants, talks about what happens when people find a new plant and want to either patent it or otherwise bring it to market. We end with advise for Helen about her boxes in San Francisco.
:30 Insider Information – Plant Reviews: Burpee Silky Sweet Hybrid turnip and Agastache ‘Glowing Embers’ from High Country Gardens
6:01 Eat/Drink/Grow: What to do if you’ve found/discovered a new plant.
19:24 Love Letters and Questions: Helen writes to ask for our suggestions for plants in her boxes in San Francisco. She says, “Currently I have dead chrysanthemum plants in there and wanted something that would be more permanent.”
Discover why you should grow Cannas, hear about easy perennials to grow from seed (more plants!), and learn about the wild wintergreen plant…teaberry flavor from a foraged berry?
:28 Plant Noob: Cannas – how, when, where, why. We mention ordering from Brent and Becky's Bulbs.
8:56 Eat/Drink/Grow: The easiest Perennials to grow from seed.
20:31 Love Letters and Questions: Nathan emailed us to ask about wintergreen berries.
Ellen and C.L. provide the 1-2-3 steps to planting window boxes, discuss some really bad plant advice seen online, talk about easy vegetables to grow from seed, and answer a question about winter protection.
:35 Plantrama 1 2 3: I want to put window boxes on the front of my house.
8:20 True or False: Putting used diapers in the bottom of a hanging basket!
11:20 Eat/Drink/Grow: Easiest Vegetables to Grow From Seed
20:22 Love Letters and Questions: Harry asks ”Is it too late to wrap plants?”
In this episode you’ll learn how to make fritters (vegan and not), discover annuals that are easy to grow from seed, and hear about two opportunities to connect with your Plantrama hosts, live in 2020.
:28 What’s For Dinner: Fritters Foraged and Farmed
6:50 Eat/Drink/Grow: Easiest Annuals To Grow From Seed
21:31 Love Letters and Questions: Two opportunities to meet us and learn more about plants.
Northwest Flower and Garden Show
GardenComm Save the Date for the annual meeting in 2020.
You can make a lasagna without pasta! We offer several ideas. Plus we explore seed starting terms such as thinning, damping off and seed leaves, and end with a discussion about the succulent flapjack plant (Kalanchoe thyrsiflora).
:30 What’s For Dinner: Lasagna without the pasta.
5:26 Eat/Drink/Grow: Thinning, damping off, and “seed leaves” – some seed starting basic terms.
18:41 Love Letters and Questions Emma writes about a flapjack plant.
This episode starts with talk about bitters, what they are, why you want them in a cocktail, and how to make your own. We go on to talk about the basics for making a terrarium and end with a question from a listener about using heat mats for starting seeds.
:30 What’s for dinner: Bitters. The link to Ellen's Recipes for bitters.
9:07 Eat/Drink/Grow: Terrariums
23:57 Love Letters and Questions: Hannah writes, “Do I need to use heat mats?”
We begin this episode with the types of roses that are available for gardens, and which are the easiest to grow. Next we discuss the cottony bug that plagues many houseplants, the mealy bug. And we end with a question from a listener about the sensitive plant, a mimosa with leaves that close when you touch them.
:29 Plant Noob: The types of roses.
9:30 Eat/Drink/Grow: Mealy Bug.
17:12 Love Letters and Questions Byron writes that he’s a parent and wants to find some Sensitive Plant for his kids.
Do you want to know what it takes to successfully grow a Monstera? Ellen and C.L. explain the first three things you need to know about this stylish plant. In the main segment we discuss options for DIY brides…or anyone planning to have a large event in their yard or garden. The episode ends by talking about what type of lights are needed for starting vegetable seedlings.
:33 Plantrama 1 – 2 – 3: “I want to grow a Monstera plant.”
4:41 Eat/Drink/Grow: Grow Your Own Wedding.
17:02 Love Letters and Questions: Gabby writes: “I want to grow my own vegetable plants from seeds this year. What kind of lights do I need?”
In this episode of Plantrama we talk about vegan Nachos, growing a Clivia plant, why some plants go dormant, and how to keep a frosty fern alive.
:31 What’s For Dinner: Nachos! C.L.'s Vegan nachos can be seen here.
5:07 Eat/Drink/Grow: Considering Clivia
13:25 Did You Know: What is a “dormant period” and do plants need one?
18:29 Love Letters and Questions: Meghan writes to ask how to keep her ‘frosty fern’ alive.
In this episode we talk about using Sumac as a spice, how to keep those huge and how to prevent those heavy Amaryllis flowers from falling over and breaking off. In the main segment we discuss seed catalogs and end with Fred’s question about how he can keep his houseplants alive when he’s away on vacation. Plus a link to The Wild Spice Cabinet, Ellen’s online course.
:30 What’s for dinner: Using Sumac as a spice. Check out Ellen's Foraged Spice Class Here.
5:39 Insider Information: Supporting Amaryllis flowers
13:25 Eat/Drink/Grow: The seed catalogs are out!
19:15 Love Letters and Questions: Keeping houseplants alive while you’re on vacation.
We begin this episode with the importance of planting something new “at ground level.” Next Ellen and C.L. discuss what to do if your gardens have grown too large or unmanageable. We give garden design tips and end with Kerry’s request for different holiday plant suggestions.
:30 Plant Noob: The importance of digging a large enough hole.
6:21 Eat/Drink/Grow: What to do if your garden beds have “gotten away from you.”
17:27 Garden Design Tips: Straight lines are formal, groups are less so. Why odd numbers are important.
21:24 Love Letters and Questions Kerry asks for suggestions for holiday plants that aren’t Christmas Cactus, Cyclamen or Poinsettias.
This episode gives you some hints about growing and cooking with rosemary. Ellen and C.L. discuss what makes a plant deserve the label of “invasive” and we talk about Panicum virgatum, aka switch or panic grass. And speaking of panicking…P.J. writes about mold on his Cannabis buds.
:30 What’s for dinner: Rosemary
6:27 True or False: A plant that spreads quickly is invasive and should be avoided.
11:51 Eat/Drink/Grow: Panicum virgatum – aka switch grass
16:45 Love Letters and Questions: P.J. writes to say that his cannabis plants molded!
Learn about an easy, vegetable comfort dish and the Norfolk Island Pine houseplant. Discover great holiday gifts and find out what is meant by “genus and species.” There are no stupid questions here, as long as the topic is plants!
:30 What’s For Dinner: Twice Baked Potatoes
6:42 Eat/Drink/Grow: Norfolk Island Pine Araucaria heterophylla native to Norfolk Island, a small island between Australia and New Zealand and not really a pine.
14:34 Insider Information: The Plantrama Gift List
21:28 Love Letters and Questions: Could you please explain the terms species and genus?
Have you wondered why some plants can live underwater but your houseplants die if you give them too much water? Hear why this is, which houseplants Ellen and C.L. recommend, and learn about “Secret Suppers” in this episode of Plantrama.
:33 Insider Information: Why some plants can grow under water while others rot and die in too much water.
9:20 Eat/Drink/Grow: Houseplant Debate!
20:12 Did You Know: A Secret Supper Learn more here.
24:58 Love Letters and Questions: Paul wants to know if there are palm trees that are cold hardy.
Are you wondering if the plant with yellow leaves will recover and turn green again? Have you ever wondered if we can indeed compare apples to oranges? And what plants are good for a slope in part sun? Ellen and C.L. discuss all of these, and C.L. tells a story about a late-to-migrate hummingbird.
:27 Plant Noob: When leaves turn yellow, are they likely to turn back to green again?
5:04 Eat/Drink/Grow: Comparing Apples to Oranges
8:18 Story: A late to migrate hummingbird.
16:34 Love Letters and Questions Sue wrote asking for recommendations for plants to hold soil on a slope that gets morning sun.
Do you like that nice, crisp line that edging a lawn provides in your landscape? Are you hungry for a delicious stuffing to prepare this Thanksgiving? Ellen and C.L. have thoughts and suggestions. They are also anxious to introduce you to the new kids on the block…not the band, but some great new varieties of a native shrub. All of that plus a discussion about the importance of the size of pots for indoor or outdoor containers.
:28 What’s for dinner: Wild mushroom and chestnut stuffing…foraged or store bought
3:50 True or False: Garden beds need to be “edged” every year.
11:02 Eat/Drink/Grow: New Kid On The Block: Diervilla shrubs!
17:30 Love Letters and Questions: Barbara wrote saying, “My question is about pots for container plantings.
Should you really plant pansies in the fall? Why didn’t my plant bloom well this year when last year it was beautiful? Are you tired of kale yet? These are some of the deep questions that Ellen Zachos and C.L. Fornari consider in this episode of Plantrama. Oh….and evergreen plants for stylish winter containers.
:28 What’s For Dinner: Tuscan Kale!
6:09 Eat/Drink/Grow: Planting Pansies in the Fall.
13:21 Insider Information: Why some plants bloom heavily one year and not the next.
16:33 Love Letters and Questions Gail writes, wondering if she can plant small evergreens in her window boxes for the winter.
In this autumnal episode Ellen Zachos and C.L. Fornari talk about the pros and cons of straw bale gardens…fantastic or a fad? We talk about burdock (one person’s weed is another’s dinner) and keeping that potted bay tree over the winter indoors.
:28 Plant Noob: What is burdock?
3:33 Eat/Drink/Grow: straw bale gardens
12:42 Did You Know: Overwintering bay trees
22:54 Love Letters and Questions The myth of sweet acorns
C.L. and Ellen explain how you can make your ornamental grasses look amusing and fun for the fall into the winter holidays. We discuss the benefits and drawbacks to not raking the leaves out of your gardens, and talk about wild grape vines. The episode ends with Sara’s question about her houseplants that got frosted.
:30 Just For Fun: Making ornamental grasses look festive.
3:33 Insider Information: Should you be leaving the leaves?
11:28 Eat/Drink/Grow: Grapes growing wild!
21:50 Love Letters and Questions Sara writes about her plants that got frosted.
Have you wondered what people mean when they talk about a plant’s dripline, or if you can still put plants in the ground in October? Do you want to know if you can leave your outdoor furniture in the elements over the winter, or if it’s possible to have one of those Pinterest-posted green walls indoors? If so, this episode is for you!
:30 Plant Noob: What’s a “dripline?”
3:03 Eat/Drink/Grow: Is it too late to plant or transplant?
16:43 Your Outdoor Office: Bring the chairs and tables inside or leave them out?
20:02 Love Letters and Questions: Tina asks how to make a green wall indoors
In this episode Ellen and C.L. talk about a great way to prepare fresh sage leaves for a garnish, whether hanging herbs and other plants upside down to dry is important, the basics of compost, and how long carrots can be left to grow in the ground.
:27 What’s for dinner: Fried Sage Leaves
4:22 True or False: You have to hang plants you’re drying upside down
8:37 Eat/Drink/Grow: Compost 101
25:45 Love Letters and Questions: Carol asks how long she can leave carrots in the ground.
Here's a taste of what the Plantrama Podcast is all about.
We start off this podcast with a toast to fall as Ellen presents an autumnal cocktail…a frozen persimmon margarita! We discuss protecting plants for the winter (should you?) and growing figs in cold climates. The glorious, fall-flowering goldenrod is a plant we celebrate, and we’re happy to announce the arrival of Plantrama shirts and other merch.
:31 autumnal cocktails
4:35 winter protection
13:10 figs
23:04 goldenrod
27:34 Plant 911/merch
Do you need to repot an orchid? Want to grow a cup-a-Joe in your living room? Maybe you’re interested in saving seeds from plants you’ve grown in your garden, or you need a handy tool for deadheading and cutting flower bouquets. If any of this is of interest, have we got a podcast for you!
:28 Plant Noob: How to repot an Orchid
10:42 Eat/Drink/Grow: Coffee plants
18:27 Product Review: Product review…garden snips by Corona and Dramm
22:17 Love Letters and Questions: Randi asks about saving seeds.
1:06 What’s for dinner: Dahlias!
4:44 True or False: You need a different fertilizer for each type of plant.
9:40 Eat/Drink/Grow: Hot & Cold…Fire pit plantings and over-wintering plants in outdoor containers.
19:42 Love Letters and Questions: Making sense of the markings on rain gauges.
Ellen and C.L. celebrate their 100th episode with talk about keeping potted plants alive through the winter, plantings that make your fire pit experience more fragrant or beautiful, and fertilizers for every type of plant. We begin by revisiting how dahlia tubers and petals are edible and end with a question about rain gauges.
In this episode the Plantrama team talks about creating colorful flower garlands for a celebration, fall fix-ups for containers, gardens and curb appeal, and quince bushes or trees. We end with a question from Torry about what “soil amendments” are and what they can do.
:29 Just For Fun: Flower garlands
5:48 Eat/Drink/Grow: Fall fix ups
15:31 Insider Information: Quince plants and their fruits
22:24 Love Letters and Questions: What on earth is soil amendment?
Ellen and C.L. discuss what to do with green tomatoes, saving tropical plants over the winter, and how plants get their names. We end by answering Kirk’s question about raccoons eating the sweet corn he grew this year.
:31 What’s For Dinner: Green Tomatoes.
4:48 Eat/Drink/Grow: Saving Caladiums, Mandevilla and Cannas for next year.
16:55 Insider Information: How plants get their names
23:47 Love Letters and Questions: Kirk says the raccoons ate all his corn!
Join Ellen and C.L. as they talk about silverberries (Elaeagnus umbellata), an easily grown herb with edible flowers (Borage), and what to do when the population of critters explodes. All that and some discussion about leaf shapes and cooperative extention services.
:28 What’s for dinner: Foraging for silverberries
4:02 Plant noob: Let’s talk about the borage plant.
8:19 Eat/Drink/Grow: Leaf shape vocabulary
15:47 Insider Information: Critter population explosion!
21:43 Love Letters and Questions: Maria reminds us about the importance of Cooperative Extension Services.
In this episode Ellen and C.L. squash a lot of information into about 25 minutes. We talk about how to prepare summer squash flowers, ways to judge if a winter squash is ripe, and coping with squash vine borers and powdery mildew on squash plants. Once we’ve been fully squashed, we move onto the berries on Staghorn Sumac.
:35 What’s for dinner: Eating squash flowers
5:26 Insider Information: How to tell if winter squash is ripe
10:08 Eat/Drink/Grow: Pests of Summer Squash
22:03 Love Letters and Questions: Are Sumac berries poisonous or edible?
Can you move plants now, in the summer? Is it smart to buy end of summer sale plants? Would you like the Earthkind Mosquito repellant? Could cinnamon be used for fungus control by putting it into the soil? These are the questions that C.L. and Ellen consider and answer in today’s episode.
:30 Plant Noob: Should you wait to plant or transplant in the fall?
8:30 Eat/Drink/Grow: Should you buy end of the summer sale plants?
18:30 Announcement: Live Plantrama Events on Cape Cod
19:10 Product Review: Earthkind Mosquito repellant
22:20 Love Letters and Questions: A question about cinnamon fungicide from Kristy
Stuffing vegetables gets this episode off to a tasty start. Ellen and C.L. also consider the watering of lawns, how to grow plants in cracks of pavers, and what might cause a peony not to flower well.
:45 What’s for dinner: Stuff it! Stuffed vegetables and flowers.
6:03 True or False: Lawns need to be watered every other day.
13:23 Eat/Drink/Grow: Planting in the cracks.
20:57 Love Letters and Questions: Peony blooming question from Elizabeth
Ellen and C.L. start this episode out by discussing painted rocks. Are you painting them this summer? Are your kids painting on rocks? Do you love finding a rock with a message on it when you go to the beach or woods, or do you hate this practice? Next we talk about powdery mildew: what it is and when to treat or ignore. We end by answering a question about bringing cannabis into bud.
:30 Just For Fun: Painted rocks…love them or hate them?
4:11 Eat/Drink/Grow: Powdery Mildew
18:52 Love Letters and Questions: Cannabis flowering.
After C.L. and Ellen discuss hailstorms, summer pruning and landscape fabric you’ll be ready to just relax with a summer cocktail and consider foraging. Ellen gives a recipe for a “Bear Bait” cocktail that contains milkweed, and C.L. encourages listeners to use other herbs instead of mint in a traditional drink.
:33 What’s for dinner: Summer Cocktails – foraged and garden.
5:28 Insider Information: Hail! What to do when pellets of ice have damaged your garden.
8:18 Eat/Drink/Grow: Summer pruning. Is it smart to cut in July?
13:25 Did You Know: Landscape fabric smack-down!
20:38 Love Letters and Questions: What do people commonly ask about foraging?
Ellen and C.L. talk about the insect pest known as whitefly, and discuss several ways of controlling summer weeds. We end by answering Robie’s question about how to know when an underground crop is ready for harvesting.
:30 Plant Noob: Whitefly. What this insect is, what it does, and which plants it often attacks.
7:46 Eat/Drink/Grow: Weeds: No Easy Way Out! Various methods of weed control.
18:20 Love Letters and Questions Robie asks how you know when to harvest potatoes.
We start this episode with information about roasting vegetables, and C.L. claims that roasted garden green beans taste as good as French fries. We then go on to trash the idea that mothballs can be used to repel animals in the garden, and talk about bacteria…the good, the bad, and the ugly. The episode ends with Chelsea’s question about growing plants in clay.
:35 What’s for dinner Roasted vegetables and foraged edibles
5:21 True or False: Use mothballs to repel animals from your garden?
7:48 Eat/Drink/Grow Bacteria…the good, the bad and the ugly
15:01 Love Letters and Questions: Chelsea asks about gardening in clay.
Ellen and C.L. ignite the plant equivalent of fireworks in today’s episode. We revisit how pesto doesn’t have to be made only from basil, talk about harvesting garlic, and answer Vincent’s question about wildflower gardens.
:32 Just For Fun: Fireworks in the garden
6:32 Eat/Drink/Grow: Pesto revisited
12:42 Insider Information: Harvesting garlic
17:32 Love Letters and Questions: Wildflower garden
Ellen and C.L. discuss garden or foraged ingredients that can swing both ways (sweet or savory), we discuss how to respond to a plant crisis, and examine the practice of putting coffee grounds in the garden.
:31 sweet or savory
4:17 coffee in the garden
8:35 don’t panic!
18:16 garden tours
Link to the blancmange recipe that Ellen speaks about.
Cape Cod Hydrangea Festival ~ ten days of garden tours Cape-wide.
GardenWalk Buffalo ~ a weekend of hundreds of open gardens.
In this episode Ellen and C.L. talk about keeping your containers flowering and looking great all summer. You’ll learn about diagnosing plant problems, favorite product picks and sand in the compost.
:31 annual container maintenance
7:02 diagnosing plant problems
19:31 favorite product picks
26:08 sand in the compost
Product Picks:
C.L. and Ellen debate whether duct tape can be used to fix broken branches, discuss radishes, help a listener deal with a garden thug that’s disguised as a popular herb, and talk about the importance of mycorrhizae.
:30 radishes and milkweed
4:38 duct tape
8:37 mycorrhizae
19:49 lawn full of mint
Ellen and C.L talk about how to make ornaments for your garden from rocks or sticks you can find locally. We discuss what plants you can include in your perennial garden that are also edible and give tips for avoiding ticks and tick borne diseases. The episode ends with a question from Kelly about transplanting in June.
:32 Just For Fun: Foraged garden ornaments…accent your landscape for free!
6:12 Eat/Drink/Grow: The edible perennial garden.
16:44 Insider Information: ticks and tick borne illnesses
23:36 Love Letters and Questions: Kelly asks if it’s too late to transplant?
Listening to this podcast will help you choose some great plants for mixed containers. You’ll find out why peat moss doesn’t make good mulch and why you’ll want to give every young person you know that book Gardening With Emma. And you’ll discover that just because a plant or product isn’t labeled “organic” doesn’t mean that it’s necessarily problematic.
30 Did You Know: Does peat moss make good mulch?
5:41 Eat Drink Grow: Planting beautiful containers.
19:48 Review: Gardening with Emma, a book about plants for young people.
24:33 Love Letters and Questions: Kip asks if non-organic plants, seeds and products contain poisons.
In this episode you’ll hear what you can forage for in May, learn about what plants do in the nighttime, and discover the joy of planting annual sunflowers. Ellen and C.L. also explain how some plants deliver beauty inside during the winter and outdoors in the summer. Plus we answer Sara’s email asking if it’s too late to plant in her yard and gardens.
:32 What’s For Dinner: May foraging
4:27 Insider Information: What plants do at nighttime.
10:49 Eat/Drink/Grow: Why you should grow annual sunflowers.
17:00 Did You Know: Double duty plants. Why some plants can be used for outside décor and indoor plants.
22.39 Love Letters and Questions: Sara asks if it’s too late to plant.
In this episode Ellen and C.L. toast the month of May with spring cocktails, explain how to figure what amount of mulch you need, and talk about creating beautiful salads that are foraged or farmed. Plus we end with Pete’s question about liming lawns.
:35 What’s For Dinner? A toast to May! Spring cocktails.
4:48 Did You Know? How to calculate how much mulch or loam you need.
9:48 Eat/Drink/Grow: Gorgeous salads, gardened or foraged.
17:11 Love Letters and Questions: Pete asks about liming lawns
Formula for calculating cubic feet of mulch or soil: L (in inches) x W(in inches) x D (in inches) ÷ 1728 = cubic feet
Learn how you can eat dandelion flowers, the best method for planting shrubs and trees and why perennials may need to be split and divided periodically. Plus the Plantrama team talks about planting tomatoes with Tums… a good idea, or not?
:30 True or False: Plant your tomatoes with tums to prevent blossom end rot.
5:27 Plant Noob: What’s this I hear about dividing perennial plants?
13:45 Eat/Drink/Grow: planting trees & shrubs
21:21 Love Letters and Questions: How to eat dandelion flowers?
This episode of Plantrama was recorded live at the Northwest Flower and Garden Show in Seattle. Ellen and I talked about outwitting rabbits and deer, plus we argue about the benefit of pebble trays filled with water for humidifying plants. We had a great audience and the attendees asked many interesting questions.
:50 Did You Know: Rabbit & Deer in the garden…may The Force be with us!
10:25 True or False?: Pebble trays filled with water for houseplants…do they increase humidity or not?
12:50 Inside Information: Lessons from the flower show
14:52 Eat/Drink/Grow: The Leaf stack challenge and questions from the audience including the following: Can deer be trained? Why no egg repellant spray on edibles? Does cannabis repel deer? And more!
For the recipe to make C.L.’s homemade rabbit and deer repellent, go here.
In this Plantrama episode Dock and Dill are on the spring menu, we vow to make May baskets this year, and look at stems from the point of view of science, art, and dinner. We end with Todd’s question about squash bugs in his vegetable garden.
:30 What’s For Dinner: Dock and dill
9:05 Insider Information: May baskets
14:32 Eat/Drink/Grow: Stems
22:43 Love Letters and Questions: Dealing with squash bugs
C.L. and Ellen discuss what the weeds are telling you about your soil, the pros and cons of raised bed vegetable gardens, and the widespread myth about black walnut trees poisoning other plants.
:32 Did You Know: Signature weeds
4:56 Eat/Drink/Grow: Raised beds
18:46 Inside Information Black Walnut myth busting
In this episode Ellen and C.L. talk about growing and foraging for mustard greens, explain what is meant by the term “hardening off,” and discuss a favorite spring flower. We wonder why pansies are said to “have faces” and answer Carl’s question about the brown leaves on his rhododendron.
:30 What’s For Dinner: Mustard greens, wild & tame
5:34 Plant Noob: What is hardening off?
13:44 Eat/Drink/Grow: Pansies and Violas
23:23 Love Letters and Questions: Browned leaves on evergreen plants.
At the Northwest Flower and Garden Show in Seattle, Ellen and C.L. talked about foraging for garlic mustard and C.L.’s favorite summer squash. We give recommendations for plants that Bambi and Thumper don’t like, and take questions about succulents and mushrooms.
:35 What’s for dinner: garlic mustard and summer squash
7:40 Insider info: deer and rabbit resistant plants
19:58 questions: succulents indoors or outdoors and mushrooms in the garden
In this Plantrama episode we talk about eating the invasive Japanese knotweed, three of C.L.’s must-plant vegetable varieties, growing Mandevilla vine and poison green potatoes.
:32 What’s For Dinner: Foraged Japanese knotweed.
5:10 Insider Information: Three of C.L.’s must-grow vegetables: Black Beauty Eggplant, Chinese Red Noodle Beans, Bright Lights Chard
11:12 Eat/Drink/Grow: Mandevilla Vine – why you want to grow this tropical vine, which varieties to look for, and whether it is worth keeping it over the winter.
20:18 Love Letters and Questions: Mandy asks why it’s bad to eat green potatoes, and how to prevent the ones she grows from turning green again.
We start out talking about why you might eat stinging nettles, or just avoid these painful plants. Learn about varieties for your tomato garden and why heirloom tomatoes aren’t always the best choice. Plus dormant weed seeds and basil downy mildew disease.
:30 Did You Know: Nettles
7:12 Eat/Drink/Grow: Planning your tomato garden
Inside Information: Fiendish Weed Seeds
23:43 Love Letters and Questions: Paul asks why his basil keeps dying in mid-summer.
Go to the American Meadows website and use Code PODCAST19 for $5 OFF A $40 ORDER – AMERICANMEADOWS.COM
In this episode we mention an article on a weed seed experiment published in the January/February issue of The American Gardener magazine, published by the American Horticultural Society.
Discover which ferns to harvest for spring “fiddleheads,” why you shouldn’t start seeds in pots of garden soil, comparing and contrasting starting tomatoes and cannabis from seed, and the possibility of planting peas in July.
:32 What’s For Dinner: Fiddlehead ferns – new ostrich fern shoots.
6:54 Plant Noob: Why can’t I use garden soil to start my seeds in or for my outdoor containers?
10:14 Eat/Drink/Grow: Is Cannabis the “new tomato”? How are these plants similar for starting from seed?
Love Letters and Questions: Saul wants to know if he can plant a second crop of peas in July once the first crop finishes.
This episode covers how and when to make new gardens without tilling, witch hazel shrubs, growing hops vines, and dealing with the neighbors’ dogs.
:30 True or False? Do you have to turn up the soil when you’re creating new gardens?
7:18 Plant Noob: Witch hazel shrubs – fall or winter flowering.
10:49 Eat/Drink/Grow All about hops vines. Growing for ornament or beer.
19:55 Love Letters and Questons: Carolyn wonders how to keep her neighbors’ dogs from “doing their business” in her gardens.
Use the code PODCAST19 for $5 off of an order of $40 or more from our friends at AMERICANMEADOWS.COM
Check out Ellen's course: The Wild Spice Cabinet: 11 Foraged Herbs & Spices that Will Change the Way You Cook on her website.
Find out if you need to soak seeds before planting them, how to grow better root crops, and if it’s OK to put sawdust in the garden. We also talk about sorrel – the weed and the cultivated vegetable.
:34 What’s For Dinner: Sorrel – yes, it’s a weed. Yes, it’s a vegetable. Yes, it’s delicious.
4:10 Insider Information: Soaking seeds. You might have heard that all seeds should be soaked before planting. This isn’t necessarily true…
8:58 Eat/Drink/Grow: Root Crops – how to grow better edible roots.
20:26 Love Letters and Questions: John wants to know if it’s OK to put sawdust in his garden.
In this episode you’ll hear about how bees need both pollen and nectar, why you might be able to find Meyer Lemons without growing them, when roses should be pruned and a houseplant called “climbing onion.”
:30 Did You Know: Meyer Lemons might be foraged?
4:02 Eat/Drink/Grow: Making the bees happy with pollen and nectar.
14:40 Inside Information: There’s an easy to grow houseplant called the climbing onion. (aka Bowiea volubilis)
18:07 Love Letters and Questions: Sandy asks when roses should be pruned.
Learn about the best containers for starting seeds (and it’s not ice cream cones or eggshells), why leaf edges are important, and how to make “juice mousse.” Plus a discussion about how good potting mix can go bad.
:31 What’s For Dinner: Juice Mousse – (no, not moose juice!)
4:04 Plant Noob: What are the “leaf margins” and why is this information useful?
7:20 Eat/Drink/Grow: Containers for seed starting…and no, those cute photos on Pinterest or Facebook aren’t a good idea.
17:45 Love Letters and Questions: Pete asks if there is such a thing as “killer potting soil,” aka potting mix that makes you sick.
Double digging of soil, repotting plants in larger pots, and growing hot peppers, are on today’s episode. Discover starting peppers from seed and preserving them after harvest, plus learn if the “hot lips plant” is for real.
:28 True or False? Double digging – what is it and is it necessary when starting a garden?
6:47 Plant Noob: Do I need to use a larger pot when repotting a plant?
11:30 Eat/Drink/Grow Many like it hot! Everything you ever wanted to know about spicy peppers
23:05 Love Letters and Questons: Is the “hot lips plant” real?
C.L. and Ellen discuss wilted plants and how to tell why they are drooping, we recommend two newsletters to sign up for, and discuss the bark on trees…what it does and why it’s different on each type of tree. Ellen tells us the story of how she went from a Broadway performer to plant geek, and we answer Ami’s question about plants to put on a sunny slope.
:30 True or False? A wilted plant needs watering.
3:48 Plant noob: Great newsletters to subscribe to.
Ned Friedman’s observations from the Arnold Arboretum
Adam Haritan’s newsletter, Learn Your Land.
7:20 Eat/Drink/Grow: Tree Bark - what it is, what it does, and why it’s different for the various types of trees.
11:49 Story Time: Ellen’s story about how she became a “plant person.”
14:48 Love Letters and Questions Ami asks about planting on a sunny slope.
In Episode 67 Ellen and C.L. talk about oyster mushrooms, those creepy aphids, and houseplants that you can easily share with the world. We end by answering Patty’s question about GMO verses hybrid plants.
:30 What’s for dinner: Oyster mushrooms! Forage for them, grow them or buy them in the supermarket.
4:31 Insider Information: Creepy, crawly and ever-present aphids.
10:55 Eat/Drink/Grow: Pass along houseplants
Shout out to The Gardenangelists podcast.
19:09 Love Letters and Questions: Patty asks about GMO verses hybrid plants.
Pass-along Houseplants - Madagascar Jewel (Euphorbia leuconeura) Mother of Thousands (Kalanchoe daigremontiana) and Chinese money plant (Pilea peperomioides
This program explains why you might want to plant a hickory tree, and which flowers can be started indoors this spring. C.L. and Ellen also discuss how organic fertilizers work and why you should appreciate that they aren’t instantly available to plants. The episode ends with the mystery of the disappearing foxglove plants.
:30 Did You Know: What is a shagbark hickory tree and why should you care?
recipe for shagbark hickory syrup
Go Native Tree Farm in Manheim PA is a place you can order hickory
5:52 Eat/Drink/Grow: Yes, it’s time to start thinking about which flowers to grow from seeds.
18:07 Inside Information: How organic fertilizers work.
20:55 Love Letters and Questions: Portia is wondering why her foxgloves have disappeared.
This episode of Plantrama is brought to you by American Meadows.
Use the code PODCAST19 for $5 off of an order of $40 or more.
In this episode Ellen and C.L. talk about eating the tips off of spruce trees, what people mean when they say they are “forcing plants,” and which houseplants can bring fragrance into your home this winter.
:32 What’s for dinner: Spruce tips! Euell Gibbons was right…
5:35 Plant Noob: What does “forcing plants” mean?
9:13 Eat/Drink/Grow: Growing fragrant houseplants
16:00 Love Letters and Questions: Randall asks if the Plantrama team will be back in Seattle this winter for the Northwest Flower and Garden Show.
In Episode 64 C.L. and Ellen discuss the “rainbow rose scam,” how to handle the plants in a dish garden, growing and eating Jerusalem artichokes, and smaller sunflowers for the garden.
:28 True or False? You Can Grow Rainbow Roses From Seed
4:49 Plant Noob: What to do with a dish garden long term
8:19 Eat/Drink/Grow: Jerusalem artichokes - Helianthus tuberosus, aka sunchokes.
17:10 Love Letters and Questions: Sandy asks about growing dwarf sunflowers
This episode of Plantrama is brought to you by American Meadows.
Use the code PODCAST19 for $5 off of an order of $40 or more.
On this winter episode Ellen and C.L. consider a North American native plant that has been a favorite flavoring for gum, tea and toothpaste. We discuss why perennials bloom at a particular time of year, chat about why we love bromeliad plants, and explain how to care for them. At the end of the podcast we answer Paul’s question about GMO seeds.
:31 What’s For Dinner? Wintergreen – leaves and berries.
6:44 Insider Information: Why do perennials bloom at a particular time?
10:33 Eat/Drink/Grow: Bromeliads – what they are, and how to care for them.
19:57 Love Letters and Questions: Paul wonders if he should worry that the seeds he’s buying are genetically modified.
In this December episode Ellen and C.L. talk about nematodes (harmful and beneficial), and the amazing sex life of the avocado flower. C.L. gives her opinion about putting small berms in a landscape, and tells a story that her berm rant sparked from someone in her audience. We answer Ellen’s question about gardening when high…in an upper altitude, that is.
:27 Did You Know? What the heck are nematodes, and should gardeners care?
6:00 Eat/Drink/Grow: All about avocados. A pretty cool sex change for the flowers, and a fun houseplant to grow from a pit.
15:20 Story time: C.L. tells a story about garden design and berms, plus how this sparked a tale from an audience member that made us laugh.
18:40 Love Letters and Questions: Ellen wrote about growing plants when you’re in a Rocky Mountain high.
This small berm at the end of a driveway really looks like a grave!
In this episode Ellen and C.L. talk about the misinformation about edible juniper berries that you find online. We talk about growing banana plants, and why you might want to start perennials from seed. Lauren asks about germinating milkweed seed.
:30 What’s for Dinner? Juniper berries…really?
See Ellen’s post about Juniper berries on her blog.
7:16 Eat/Drink/Grow: Banana plants. Growing hardy varieties in cold climates or tropical types in containers.
17:53 Insider Information: Growing perennials from seed.
22:38 Love Letters and Questions: Milkweed seeds - we refer Lauren to this page on the American Meadows Website.
Ellen and C.L. talk about lucky bamboo; what type of plant it is and how to care them. We explain what bracts are and why some plants have very showy ones, talk about making more plants by air layering, and answer Sal’s question about pruning evergreens now so the greens can be used for holiday decorating.
:32 True or False? Lucky bamboo. Is it really bamboo? Is it lucky?
7:25 Plant Noob: Bracts. What are they?
12:20 Eat/Drink/Grow: Propagating plants by “air layering.”
17:51 Love Letters and Questions: Sal asks about pruning evergreens in December.
Hear Ellen and C.L. talk about the practice of putting human hair in the garden will keep critters away. Next we explain how to get a peace lily to flower again, and the difference been a plant that’s an epiphyte and one that’s a parasite. C.L. tells how she came to be a garden communicator (she never intended to write and talk about plants and gardens!) and we answer Sam’s question about when biennials flower.
:32 True or False? Will human hair keep critters out of the garden?
3:12 Plant noob: How to get a peace lily to flower again.
8:08 Eat/Drink/Grow: Plants that are epiphytes verses plants that are parasites. What is the difference?
15:12 Story: how CL became a garden communicator
20:19 Love Letters and Questions Sam asks about when biennials flower. Every other year? Odd years? Even years?
Acorn baklava and creamed chard start off this episode. Hear how holiday boxwood trees are made, and learn about providing your indoor plants with supplemental lighting. A listener asks about “seed FOMO” – should seeds be ordered now and will they still be good next spring?
:40 What’s for dinner: Ellen and C.L. talk about what dishes are on their Thanksgiving table. As usual, Ellen’s forager’s table is way more exotic than C.L.’s gardener’s table.
6:11 Insider Information: How are the boxwood trees you see for sale at this time of year made? Learn about these holiday decorations, and see how to make them below.
11:41 Eat/Drink/Grow: Do your plants need artificial light? What type of lights you can use, and how to place them most effectively.
21:05 Love Letters and Questions: A listener asks about “seed FOMO” – should seeds be ordered now so that you don’t miss out?
In this episode of Plantrama Ellen and C.L. talk about a very common (and edible) weed known as shepherd’s purse. They discuss how to successfully grow the large-foliaged houseplant, fiddle leaf fig, and explain the benefits of worm castings. Their question this week comes from Carson who wants to know how to prevent mouse damage in her house and shed.
:28 Did You Know: We talk about a common weed, Capsella bursa-pastoris, aka shepherd’s purse.
5:50 Eat/Drink/Grow: Learn about the current hot houseplant, the fiddle leaf fig. No, it’s not the fig that produces fruit for Fig Newtons… but it’s large houseplant for bringing greenery into your home.
14:26 Inside Information: Worm castings – why you might want to pick some up at your local garden center.
21:18 Love Letters and Questions: Carson wants to prevent the mice from damaging things in her shed over the winter.
On Plantrama today Ellen talks about cooking dandelion greens and then she and C.L. differ about bringing someone a plant as a gift. They agree about growing and how to over-winter tropical hibiscus, and explain how to store dahlia tubers.
:31 What’s For Dinner: How to cook dandelion greens.
Find Ellen's recipes and links on our website.
4:10 Plant Noob: Should you bring someone a plant as a gift? Ellen and C.L. disagree.
9:09 Eat Drink Grow: Tropical hibiscus – how to keep this lovely plant happy through the winter.
14:29 Love Letters and Questions: Bailey asks how to store dahlia tubers for the winter.
In this episode we talk about the common belief that the shells of sunflower seeds “poison plants.” We also discuss why some people can grow blue mop head hydrangeas but others have a hard time getting them to flower. You’ll learn about the importance of cattails in nature and to a forager, and hear about preserving a #LeafStackChallenge.
:28 True or false? Birdseed shells poison plants. Are they really allelopathic? (Allelopathy is a biological occurrence when an organism/plant produces one or more biochemicals that influence the germination, growth, or survival, of other organisms/plants.)
4:43 Plant Noob: Can you grow blue hydrangeas where you live?
14:47 Eat/Drink/Grow: Cattails (Typha latifolia)
21:17 Love Letters & Questions: Can I preserve my leaf stack challenge?
Ellen and C.L. begin by talking about walnuts, foraged and cultivated. Discover if banana peels are good for your roses and if you need to spray your evergreens with an anti-desiccant. Learn how to store seeds that you didn’t use last summer, and if common houseplants are edible.
:32 What’s For Dinner? English walnuts and foraged black walnuts.
4:22 Insider Information: Are banana peels really good for roses?
8:50 Eat/Drink/Grow: Anti-desiccants. What they are, what they do, and should you use them in the fall?
19:04 Did You Know? How to store seeds that you didn’t plant this season.
20:20 Love Letters & Questions: Are common houseplants edible?
Ellen and C.L. discuss why you might not want to do a “fall cleanup” of your perennials. Next, we discuss S-E-X among the photosynthesizing crowd. Male and female plants, what that means for your landscape, and what happens if you don’t have both sexes. We review Asclepias speciosa ‘Davis’ and bring you up to date about #LeafStackChallenge posts on Twitter and Instagram.
:33 Did You Know: Leaving perennials so the birds can eat the seeds.
5:35 Eat/Drink/Grow: Plant Sex! Male and female plants.
14:58 Product/Plant Review: Asclepias speciosa ‘Davis’
19:25 Love Letters and Questions: A #LeafStackChallenge update
Today we’re talking about carrots, wild and domestic. We explain that before a plant has fruit it comes into flower, and discuss the how, why, how often and when of repotting houseplants. This episode finishes with Sandy’s question,“Can I plant, or eat, the seeds we take out of the pumpkins that are being carved for Halloween?”
:30 What’s For Dinner: Carrots
4:52 Plant Noob: Flowers Before Fruit
8:28 Eat/Drink/Grow: Repotting Houseplants
20:50 Love Letters and Questions: Eating and Planting Pumpkin Seeds
In this episode Ellen and C.L. discuss staking trees and pinching plants. They give ideas for holding a harvest party, tell about the first plant they fell in love with, and answer Kip’s question about preserving garden and foraged foods.
:35 True or False? Staking Trees. Do you need to stake a tree when you plant it?
4:18 For The Plant Noob. What does it mean to “pinch plants” and why would you want to do so?
8:47 Eat/Drink/Grow. Harvest Party! Ideas for gathering with family and friends and celebrating the fall season.
18:08 Story Time. Ellen and C.L. remember “their first.”
20:06 Love Letters and Questions. Kip asks about the best method for food preservation.
In Episode 50 Ellen and C.L. talk about growing leeks, the fall classic Chrysanthemum, and how Robbie found lumpy tubers in the windowbox. Plus we discuss why plants that are in pots won’t grow as large as the same plant put into the ground.
:33 What’s for dinner: Leeks
5:30 Eat/Drink/Grow: Mums! Whether you call them Mums Chrysanthemum, or Dendranthema, do you love them or hate them? Or do you eat them?
13:25 Did You Know: Plants in a pot will stay smaller than those planted in the ground. What goes on below is reflected up above.
15:28 sweet potato vine tubers! Robbie cleared out window boxes and found some tubers in the soil. “I planted sweet potato vine,” Robbie writes, “are these edible sweet potatoes?”
In episode 49 Ellen and C.L. discuss how to get an orchid to rebloom, how to plant garlic this fall, and why you occasionally see a stem go crazy and grow in a flat, contorted manner. All this and a review of the Dramm One Touch Rain Wand.
:30 Plant Noob: What’s that weird stem on my plant? It could be the ever fascinating fasciation.
4:46 Eat/Drink/Grow: It’s garlic planting time, so we talk
11:31 Product Review: Dramm One Touch Rain Wand. What it is and why we love using it.
16:10 Love Letters and Questions: Kerry wrote an email that said “I’ve had a moth orchid plant for two years. I got it from a neighbor who was going to throw it out because it hadn’t re-bloomed for her. Is there any hope? Or should I toss it?”
In this episode we’re talking about apple recipes and getting your amaryllis to bloom again this year. We discuss whether a large crop of acorns really means it will be a long, cold winter, and answer a listener's question about bringing plants inside.
:30 What’s for dinner: Apples, wild and domestic.
4:58 True or False? A big crop of acorns means that there will be a hard winter.
8:03 Eat/Drink/Grow: Amaryllis, Part II. Bringing them indoors, chilling/resting, repotting (if needed) and waking them up again.
13.08 Love Letters and Questions: Kip wrote asking if she should take off the spotted or brown-tipped leaves when she’s bringing her plants in for the winter. “Just how careful do I need to be about cleaning them up?”
:55 Just For Fun: It’s the leaf stack challenge! Or we should say, #leafstackchallenge
4:00 Eat/Drink/Grow: Quick fixes to your landscape. Whether you’re having company or just want to spruce up the garden for your own pleasure, Ellen and C.L. offer 10-minute fixes anyone can do.
11:16 Insider Information: Myths about planting bulbs. Thanks to Bill Miller, Professor of Horticulture at Cornell for giving us the real dirt on planting bulbs. See the bulb planting machine here.
15:20 Love Letters and Questions: Monty wonders when someone should pull out or cut down flowering annuals in the fall.
In this episode Ellen explains what to make with under-ripe wild grapes and C.L. persuades listeners to combine some creamy brie cheese with those homegrown tomatoes. Next we explain that the end of the summer is the ideal time to propagate everything from woody ornamentals to annuals and perennials. Now that cooler weather is on the horizon, we discuss what can be transplanted in the fall, and answer a listener’s concern about importing bugs into the house when she brings potted houseplants back in for the winter.
:30 What’s For Dinner: Savory Tarts Pick your favorite vegetables or herbs, add some eggs and cheese, and make savory tarts for appetizers, lunch or dinner.
5:04 Plant noob: Lawn Substitutes. Tired of mowing? Is there really such a thing as a no-maintenance lawn substitute?
12:42 Eat/Drink/Grow: Hedges. What to plant, how and when to prune, keeping them full top to bottom, and when is a hedge better than a fence?
Morton Arboretum Hedge Collection
28:53 Insider Information: When to Say Goodbye. When do you cut bait on a plant? When is it time to say, “It’s been great, but now we have to say goodbye…”
32:36 Love Letters and Questions: Email from Tim: “People talk about the best containers for growing plants, but I remember my grandfather in San Diego was raising things in tin cans, wooden boxes and even old tires. He grew all kinds of stuff successfully, so what’s the deal with that?”
:40 What’s for dinner: Blueberries
6:54 Insider Information: Soil pH. In other words, how acid or alkaline your ground is, and why you should care.
14:58 Eat/Drink/Grow: Panicle Hydrangeas. Large or small, there is a dependable and beautiful plant for your landscape.
24:58 Did You Know: Is it helpful to water the leaves of a plant in hot weather?
28:35 Love Letters and Questions: Wouldn’t we all like a magic wand for getting rid of weeds!
:30 What’s for dinner: Throw it on the Barbie! Grilling, farmed and foraged.
5:52 Plant noob: How often do I have to fertilize annuals, perennials and containers?
12:58 Eat/Drink/Grow: “Feed Me!” Carnivorous plants… grow your own bug traps…just don’t try and feed them hamburger.
Carnivorous plants can be ordered online from Predatory Plants, Grow Carnivorous Plants, and Logees.
19:43 Insider Information: Battling Bambi – a few quick tips about deer control.
25:49 Love Letters and Questions Email from Chelsea who asks about growing edibles on a windy NYC terrace.
1:20 What’s For Dinner: Best Edibles
Ellen and I award a Golden Gnome to edible plants with surprising flavors.
3:56 Insider Information: Best desk bouquet Flowers
What a treat it is to gather flowers and foliage for small bouquets. And the Gnome goes to…
6:59 Eat, Drink, Grow: Science, Art and Dinner! And the Gnome goes to…
Best Gathering of The Plant Tribe, Wild Category: Wild Harvest Festival
Best Gathering of The Plant Tribe, Cultivated Category: Perennial Plant Association
Best Art Made With Plants, Wild Category: Mullbury Woods Frames
Best Art Made With Plants, Cultivated Category: Botanical collage by Peggy Turner Zablotny
Best Non-Plant Podcast That Featured Plants: Stuff You Should Know, January 2, 2018
Most Surprising Plant Book: An Arkansas Florilegium by Edwin Smith and Kent Bonar, published by the University of Arkansas Press
20.40 Did You Know: Best Fire Pit Plants:
Sedum acre and Thymus serpyllum… low, tough and…edible!
23.35 Love Letters and Questions: A love letter from Ellen and CL to other people. Best plant hashtag: #monsteramonday
In late June it’s time to talk about repeat sowings of salad greens, foraging for lamb’s quarters, sending houseplants to summer camp, and all about Rosa rugosa. Ellen and C.L. end the episode with advice about how to keep a hanging basket looking good all summer.
0:35 What’s For Dinner? Planting and foraging for a continual harvest.
6:25 For the Plant Noob Sending houseplants to “summer camp.”
13:00 Eat/Drink/Grow We talk about Rosa rugosa, aka the beach rose or wild rose. Why Ellen loves it, why C.L. is a bit less enthusiastic, and how to care for this rose.
21.51 Story Plant theft!
27:24 Questions or Love Letters Quinn wants to know how to keep a hanging basket looking good all summer.
:35 What’s For Dinner? How you can preserve the plants you forage for or grow by dehydrating.
6:07 Insider Information: Herbs: The Delightful Dozen – Ellen and C.L. talk about their must-grow herbs. Chives, Fennel, Thyme, Mint, Dill, French Tarragon, Lemon Verbena, Lavender, Sage, Rosemary, Basil, Cilantro.
18:42 Eat/Drink/Grow: Early summer perennial maintenance.
25:03 Did You Know: “Understudy Plants” Raising a few things as backup, because the show must go on!
30:40 Love Letters and Questions: Skylar wrote to ask if you can assume that if one flower is edible, does that mean all varieties of the same type are also edible.
:33 What’s For Dinner? Asparagus! What types to buy and how to grow this spring treat.
7:42 True or False? Marigolds We’ve all heard about it: “Plant marigolds to keep insects away from your vegetables.” But does it work?
11:32 Eat/Drink/Grow
28:07 Questions or Love Letters Lane asks, “Is it too late to plant?”
:40 What’s for dinner: Questions about wild-crafted cocktails and raised bed vegetables.
4:40 Plant noob: Can you have too much compost?
7:31 Eat/Drink/Grow: We answer questions about deer, smart pots, dahlias, Rhododendron mulch, and under-planting Japanese maples.
23:11 Insider Information: Emptying a Gardener’s Supply cart, our favorite gardening books and plants, yellow jackets in pots, and why Linda hasn’t heard of us before.
We end with a follow-up email from Ryan, who attended the show and now is a Plantrama regular. Thanks, Ryan!
:32 What’s For Dinner? Edible Flowers Whether you plant them or pick them in the wild, there are many spring flowers that will make your dinner table tastier and more attractive.
6:58 Insider Information: Skunk Cabbage If you’ve gone for a walk in a boggy area this spring, you might have caught sight of this strange and fascinating plant.
11:47 Eat/Drink/Grow: April Showers From rain chains to rain barrels, rain gauges and rain gardens...we’re all about drizzle and downpour.
23:29 Did You Know: Elevating Pots Raising outdoor boxes and containers can create a more dramatic display and give decks and patios some breathing room.
27:32 Love Letters and Questions: Micah wants to know about the best time for feeding Bulbs
Including the typical segments you’ll hear in every episode of the Plantrama podcast
:15 Introduction by Janet Endsley, NWFGS Program Director
2:14 Ellen and C.L. introduce each other. (One of us is a cat person, and another a dog person…)
4:04 What’s For Dinner?
The Merry Woodsman Cocktail
In a cocktail shaker full of ice, combine two ounces of spruce tip infused vodka with 3/4 ounces of elderflower liqueur, and 1 1/2 teaspoons ginger syrup. Shake for 30 seconds, then strain and pour into a martini glass. Add 1 1/2 ounces of seltzer and garnish with a spruce tip.
Nasturtium Leaf Hors d'oeuvres
Pick some of the largest leaves and add the filling of your choice. Suggestions include cream cheese mixed with herbs, goat cheese with olives, hummus, or finely chopped egg salad. Add a nasturtium flower and either fold or roll the leaves, place on a plate garnished with more nasturtium flowers and serve.
7:02 Eat/Drink Grow: Ellen and C.L.’s Essential Plant Picks for 2018
Saffron Sentinel Cornelian Cherry (Cornus mas) large shrub/small tree (Zone 4) For sun to part-shade; yellow flowers; tart, red fruit; red fall foliage; to 20’ tall
Bobo Hydrangea (Hydrangea paniculata ‘Ilvobo’) dwarf hydrangea shrub (Zones 3-8) For full sun to part shade; long lasting white flowers that age to pink. Bone hardy and good in containers too.
Monarda ‘Bee-Happy’ perennial (Zone 4) Sun - part-shade; mildew resistant; red flowers; to 18” tall; edible.
Variegated Spreading Salmon Sunpatiens annual grows to 18-24” tall and wide. Sun/Pt Shade.
Davis Showy milkweed (Asclepias speciosa ‘Davis’) perennial (Zone 4) For sun to part-shade; wildlife resistant; drought tolerant; multiple edible parts
Pepper Mad Hatter F1 – unique, early & delicious. Not spicy. Stake to support pepper-laden branches. Sun
Malabar spinach, Basella alba annual vine/vegetable. This is a pretty plant for garden or container. Full sun; attractive, fast-growing vine; heat tolerant edible green
King Tut Papyrus (Cyperus papyrus) annual except in zones 10 and 11. Dramatic! Tall! Graceful! And totally deserving of three exclamation points! Sun, gardens or containers, average moisture.
19:08 Insider Information: Tools For Success
Ellen and C.L. use all of these tools
Smart Pot Grow bags in many sizes and shapes. Portable, long lasting! www.SmartPots.com C.L. grows potatoes and so much more in these, plus lines large containers such as metal troughs. There are even Smart Pots that create instant raised beds, round or rectangular. Unfold, fill & plant!
Cobra Head Weeder Versatile weeder and planting tool. www.CobraHead.com
Wireless Deer Fence Different and effective way to control Bambi. www.WirelessDeerFence.com
Gardener’s Supply Cart Easier than a wheelbarrow, endlessly useful. www.Gardeners.com
26:40 For The Plant Noob (aka beginner, newbie, Plant Geek 101) Ellen and C.L. have walked through the Northwest Flower and Garden Show looking for the “news you can use.” Here are some of the garden design tips that they found in the displays this year.
Larger groups of plants look better than singles, unless the single plant is large. Sometimes more is more. Groupings and swaths make a better visual display. Want Wow? Plant more.
Odd numbers are visually appealing. The human brain likes to see odd numbers, so planting in groups of one, three, five, seven or more usually looks better. If you have two plants, put them very far apart or use them to frame something such as a path, set of stairs, or birdbath.
Contrast is important. A well-designed garden contains plants with contrasting foliage colors and/or textures and different sizes and shapes. Contrast the textures of foliage with solid structures or stone. Consider using contrasting colors or shapes/sizes of flowers.
We love landscapes that visually say “leisure” or “tribe gathering.” The reason furniture, firepits and fireplaces are appealing in a garden is that they remind us of relaxation. But don’t just add these to your landscape…use them! Sit with a cup of tea or a cocktail and watch the natural world. Invite friends over, put aside digital devices, and reconnect with nature and each other.
33:10 Audience Questions
:40 What’s for dinner: Rhubarb & Knotweed Fresh stems and shoots are on the menu today – from cultivated rhubarb to the wild Japanese knotweed (Fallopia japonica). Early spring crops are what's for dinner.
5:16 Insider Information: Curb Appeal What, specifically, is curb appeal? How can we all get more, and does it mean a total landscape makeover?
11:30 Eat/Drink/Grow: The Invasion of The Garden Gnomes (aka Garden Ornaments) The gnomes are taking some good-natured heat today as we talk about ornaments in the garden.
19:39 Did You Know: Chickweed It’s a petite, kind of sweet and good to eat weed. The bane of a all-grass-lawn-lover, and a something to pull from flowerbeds. But Ellen tells you how to turn your reaction from “oh no” to ‘oh boy!”
25:15 Love Letters and Questions: Harper asks if the soil in window boxes needs to be changed every year.
:35 What’s For Dinner: Edible Landscaping
We discuss some of the plants that do double duty in the landscape: these are attractive and edible! The plants mentioned are: Roses, crabapple trees, plum trees, blueberries (Vaccinium corymbosum) old-fashioned quince (Chaenomeles japonica 'Toyo-Nishiki’), bee balm, ostrich fern (Matteuccia struthiopteris), Oregon grape (Mahonia aquifolium), potato-bean vine (Apios americana), doyle's thornless blackberry, rainbow chard, salad greens, and nasturtiums.
10:05 The Plant Noob: Buying Plants in 6 packs vs. 4” Pots
Those new to planting often wonder why some plants are sold in inexpensive six packs, while others are only available in small pots. Ellen and C.L. explain.
14:15 Eat/Drink/Grow: Growing Plants From Pits and Leftovers
Have you ever wondered if you can grow an apple or orange tree from the pit of the fruit you bought in the store? And how about making a houseplant from the top of a pineapple or the seed from an avocado?
21:25 Insider Information: Those Cheerful Supermarket Primroses…
They have round flowers in bright colors and make us believe that spring is, indeed, just around the corner. Ellen and C.L. talk about whether you can plant these outside once the warmer weather actually arrives.
29:00 Love Letters and Questions: Soil Treatments
Is it possible to treat the soil to get rid of all your insect and disease problems?
30 What’s for dinner: Mustards, Cresses, and Peas Spring greens and Peas
What to forage for in early spring, and should you really plant peas on Saint Patrick’s Day?
5:18 Insider Information: Cymbidiums
How to grow Cymbidium orchids, keep them alive through summer and bring them back into flower.
9:15 Eat/Drink/Grow: Cold Frames and Other Ways of “Pushing Spring”
Ellen and C.L. explore the ways we can jumpstart our spring growing with cold frames and other means of protection. See the lyrics for Lou and Peter Berryman’s song that C.L. refers to on the Plantrama website.
21:57 Did You Know: Shamrocks
At this time of year garden centers and grocery stores are filled with several types of Oxalis plants, sold as signs of spring and symbols of St. Patrick’s day. We talk about how to grow these as houseplants and use them in outdoor containers.
26:05 Love Letters and Questions:
Planting pansies as early as possible.
:33 What’s For Dinner: Jams
Ellen is a big jam maker. Here how she saves fruit for cooking up jams later. She advises that people new to jams and jellies get the Ball Blue Book or So Easy To Preserve.
8:11 The Plant Noob: Lemon Cypress
This lime colored small tree is often sold at Christmas time as a holiday plant. Ellen and C.L. talk about how to keep it alive as a houseplant indoors, and where it can be planted outside.
14:10 Eat/Drink/Grow: Scale
One of the hardest insect pests to manage is scale. In this episode we talk about scales found on indoor and outdoor plants, how to identify this pest and what treatments you can use.
15:51 Insider Information: Seeds
If you’re new to seed starting you’ll want to know when seeds can be started inside on a widow sill or under lights. Ellen and C.L. caution not to plant seeds too early!
29:04 Love letters and questions: Greenhouse Gift Plants
Holding holiday gift plants until it’s time to plant them outside in spring.
:35 – 6:10 What’s For Dinner: Microgreens – you can grow these tasty, nutritious greens yourself, indoors, even in the winter time.
6:12 – 12:00 Insider Information: Spider mites – at this time of year you might find spider mites on your indoor plants.
12:05 – 23:23 Eat/Drink/Grow: Pruning – why we prune plants and a basic recipe for approaching most trees and shrubs.
23:26 – 27:56 Did You Know: Birds in your landscape – how to attract birds and provide for them in the coldest months of the year.
27:59 – end Love Letters and Questions: Miniature roses from a greenhouse…can they be planted outside later in the spring?
0:34 What’s for dinner: Advance planning? Ordering veggie seeds for growing this spring and winter foraging.
6:37 Plant noob: Why you should know about Sansevieria, the Swiss Army Knife of Plants.
11:37 Eat/Drink/Grow: The Art, Science and Dinner of Seeds
23:12 Insider Information: Methusela…the story of the 2000 year old palm seed that sprouted.
26:58 Love Letters and Questions
Reese wants to know how we record Plantrama if we’re not in the same location.
0:37 – 4:33 What’s for dinner: Foraged Pesto and Winter Squash Soup
4:37 – 10:56 Insider Information: “Breathing Room”
11:03 – 25:15 Eat/Drink/Grow: The Art, Science and Dinner of Orchids
25:25 – 30:33 Did You Know: How to keep an Amaryllis from year to year.
30:36 – 35:15 Love Letters and Questions: A love note from Kerry.
0:30 – 5:37 What’s for Dinner: Calamondin Citrus
5:43 – 11:51 Did You Know: Paperwhite Narcissus
12:02 - 20:08 Eat/Drink/Grow: Cyclamen
20:14 – 24:53 Insider Information: The Franklinia Story
24:56 – 27:28 Love Letters and Questions: Addison asks about weeds to eat from the lawn.
What’s For Dinner :40 Winter cocktails are on the menu in this episode. Ellen gives a recipe for a foraged Carob Horchata and C.L. talks about using the rosemary plant your brought indoors to create a Rosemary Gin Gin. Links to recipes at Plantrama.com
Insider Information 4:20 Mice! How to prevent mouse damage on newly planted trees and in other garden situations.
Eat/Drink/Grow 10:02 In this section you’ll find out how C.L. feels about poinsettias (pro) and Ellen doesn’t hold back about her opinion (con) of Euphorbia pulcherrima. We discuss the history, care and advantages of this popular holiday plant. And if you think that Ellen and C.L. disagree about the merits of poinsettias in general, just wait until C.L. mentions spray-painting the plant…
Did You Know 21:01 After the total disagreement about Euphorbia pulcherrima, it’s back to common ground with a discussion of luminarias and celebrating the solstice.
Love Letters and Questions 25:25 Today Ellen and C.L. give the recorded equivalent of thank you notes, expressing appreciation for people who wrote such great reviews of Plantrama on iTunes.
00: What’s For Dinner - we discuss what is on a forager’s Thanksgiving table, and what is on a vegetable gardener’s spread. Find links to the recipes here:
8:59: The Plant Noob - Today’s topic is common cooking sage, aka Salvia officinalis.
12:59: Eat, Drink, Grow - We’re growing Christmas cactus and Thanksgiving cactus in this episode. What they are, keeping them alive, and how to be sure they came into flower every year.
20:34: Insider Information – Just in time for your Shop Small Saturday, it’s time for Ellen and C.L.’s holiday gift suggestions.
30:19: Love Letters and Questions – We heard from Freddi who asked if it’s too early to put down “winterizer” fertilizer.
Have you ever wondered if you could eat black walnuts? Or maybe you're undecided about using a winter protective mulch on your perennial garden...do our plants really need a down blanket to keep them warm? And in our Eat/Drink/Grow segment we talk about the science, art and dinner of pumpkins.
We're pleased to take you into the world of garden communicators and garden tourism in this episode. Fresh out of the GWA annual meeting and trade show, Ellen and C.L. share what they've learned about new plants and products for the home landscape. We talk about how GardenWalk Buffalo is a model for other regions when it comes to tourism dollars and community development. We talk about new plants and products that we discovered at the Garden Writers Association meeting. And we answer a listener's question about bringing Meyer lemons indoors.
In this episode we talk about how to tell if winter squash is ripe and how to preserve it. We discuss saving annuals from year to year, and give the pros and cons of fall yard cleanups. Ellen and C.L. also invite you to become inspired by the artist Andy Goldsworthy.
I'm hoping that you'll try the barbecued chard recipe we talk about in this episode - even non-vegetable eaters and kids often love this dish! We also give you several ways to preserve the bounty from your garden. Whether you dry or can it, as Ellen prefers, or roast and freeze it as C.L. does, you'll enjoy your garden-grown or foraged harvest through the winter with these methods. We also speak about your firepit plantings, and give our favorite "secret six" tools that will make your outdoor adventures easier. (Link to barbecued chard: http://coffeeforroses.com/barbecued-chard/ )
Ellen and C.L. give you ideas for making the most delicious, fresh pesto on earth...and then move on from great taste to horrible smells! Yes, after talking about garden-grown pesto we discuss stinkhorn fungi...a creepy and spooky fungus that smells like dead meat. After a trip to the all together ooky we move on to the practical: how to water your outdoor containers. And as always we answer a listener's emailed question. Art, Science and Dinner: it's all in your own backyard!
In late-August it's time to relax and celebrate the end of the summer season. Ellen and C.L. start this party off with suggestions for snacks and garden hors d’oeuvres. The second segment offers ways that you benefit from an outdoor office, and no, it's not the low rent. Our main segment suggests ways you can spruce up (horticultural pun intended) your yard and gardens for summer gatherings. Whether you're holding a simple barbecue, birthday celebration, rehearsal dinner, cocktail party or other event, here are ideas for hiding eyesores, improving what you've got and adding color. Our fourth segment addresses a plant noob's question: "Will this plant will come back to life or is it dead?" We end with an email from a listener who asks about end-of-year bargain plants.
In this episode C.L. and Ellen celebrate plants in summer. They begin by suggesting ways you can add color, flavor and fragrance to your beverages and food with flowers, foliage and herbs from your own backyard. Next we consider flowers that are wilted or dead and offer suggestions for why these should be taken out of the garden. (Deadheading: why, how, and "Do I have to?") In the main segment we consider how plants are watered. Sprinklers? Soaker hoses? Drip irrigation? Hand-watering from a hose? And as often happens, Ellen and C.L. may not agree... We end by talking about adding plant experiences into your trips and vacations, and offer two tips for our garden/plant destinations of choice.
Is there a way to repel insects from your outdoor office? Ellen has a short answer for this question...and we discuss the down-and-dirty truth. We also sing the praises of sending houseplants to summer camp and help you sort out problems you might be having with your tomato plants. Ellen offers Insider Information about getting started with foraging, and the program ends with a question from a listener about plants that attract flies.
What's for dinner? In this episode Ellen and C.L. begin by discussing summer squash, aka zucchini. We mention the use of organic fungicides for controlling powdery mildew, and the variety Zephyr for continued production even after the plant has mildew. For The Plant Noob: Next, we discuss the ways to get an accurate identification of a plant. Eat, Drink, Grow: In this segment we talk about growing blueberries and blackberries. Insider Information: In section discusses an article from Garden Design Magazine. We finish off the program by answering an email about daylily maintenance. Learn more about Garden Design Magazine by going to https://www.gardendesign.com
Ellen and C.L. both love arugula, and C.L. talks about how easy it is to grow from seed. But Ellen prefers to forage for her greens, so in this episode it's Arugula vs. Garlic Mustard! For the plant noob we offer information about the type of plants you'll find in the landscape, and begin our series about Your Outdoor Office. Finally, we are inspired by the article about peach recipes in the summer issue of Better Homes and Gardens, and offer some insider information about growing your own delicious fruit. An email about "blooming on old wood" finishes up this episode.
Ellen and C.L. start celebrating the planting season by talking about herbs in containers. Next they answer the question, "What the heck are hardiness zones?" In the main part of the podcast the topic is planting. Does your planting have to be done by a certain date? Do you really have to add peat moss to a planting hole? And what about removing that burlap or wire basket? All of these planting questions are answered, followed by a Sunflower Story and an email from a listener. It's planting season...let's play in the dirt!
In this episode we disagree about how to pronounce "Plantrama" which leads to a discussion about the pronunciation of plant names. We also talk about successfully growing herbs by the kitchen window, and answer a listener's emailed question.
In this episode we talk about two lovely self-seeding annuals, being worried that a plant problem will spread, and growing random acts of kindness.
In this episode C.L. gives a tip for growing strong seedlings under lights, we talk about dealing with weeds in the yard (spoiler alert: Ellen wants you to eat them!) and we share some of our favorite "What's for dinner?" plants.
In this episode we talk about two of our favorite plants for fragrance, rant a bit about the practice of putting rocks and shards in the bottom of pots, and discuss the pros and cons of heirloom plants.
What's for dinner? In the fall, the answer might be mushrooms and eggplant. We begin by talking about growing and cooking eggplants and foraging for mushrooms. Next we talk about aphids on plants and then move on to discussing planting for privacy.
Did you grow succulents in your window boxes or strawberry jar this year because they are drought tolerant and just look so cool? If so, you might be wondering if you can keep them for next year. This episode explains the hows and whys of saving succulents. We also talk about an under appreciated plant, moss, and ask each other, "What's for dinner?"
Fall is the time for planting bulbs, but how deep should you plant them? And how can you prevent the squirrels (aka, those bastards!) from digging them up? In this episode we talk about bulbs, why evergreens just might have "better clothing" and keeping container grown plants through the winter.
The combination of plants commonly sold as dish gardens or gift baskets usually need the plants to be separated and repotted after a month or so. Today Ellen and C.L. talk about this, and explain how to know if your seeds from previous years are still good to grow. We also talk about insects and why it's good to know about their different mouth parts.
Sometimes the preconceptions that we come to the landscape with don't do us any favors. For instance, did you know that the leaves that come down from the trees in the fall are GOLD for your garden? Have you considered that the lowly dandelion might be a desirable plant? And if you've been told that Epsom Salt is the cure for just about everything, we're here to ask you to think again...
Like you, Ellen and C.L. love good food. So part of today's program is about what's for dinner. We also look at why diversity in a landscape is important, and put a special focus on one of the most treasured flowers for the cutting garden: dahlias. Ellen explains why you might want to think about dahlias for your dinner table, not just for the centerpiece.
Looking for a plant that will impress everyone who comes to your yard or garden? Do you wonder why your plants have dried up even though it seemed like last week was so rainy? Perhaps you've heard that many acorns foretell a long, cold winter. Ellen and C.L. discuss these topics, along with story time and a listener's question.
Take a deep breath because today we're talking about one of our favorite herbs, lemon verbena. We'll also discuss fertilizers and making beverages from your garden.
In this episode we talk about planting in livestock troughs, how the hours of daylight are important for bringing plants into bloom, and what plants to use around your firepit. Plus story time and an answered email.