Growing Greener (Tom Christopher)

Shubber Ali, CEO of Garden for Wildlife, a new venture of the National Wildlife Federation, describes how his company makes it almost effortless to order site-adapted, locally native plants that provide the maximum benefits for wildlife. 

In the 1990’s Lauren Springer helped pioneer a new, regionally focused gardening style in Colorado, an “undaunted garden” that celebrated the Rocky Mountain landscape and the plants, native and introduced, that were at home there.  In this conversation, Springer recalls those times and details how her design style has continued to evolve, and what comes next.

This week, in a re-posting of a program first heard in August 2021, ecologist and author Tom Wessels discusses his “Forest Forensics,” the system of simple visual clues you can use to read the history of your woodland acreage

Established in 1875, American Forests is a non-profit that was an enormously influential pioneer in addressing the over-exploitation and destruction of our nation’s forestlands.  Listen as Benita Hussain, chief program officer for tree equity, describes how the organization has pivoted to assisting communities across the country bolster urban forests and fight climate change in economically challenged neighborhoods.

Sports fields and swimming beaches are essential, but public parks can also play a crucial role in maintaining biodiversity.  As Curator of Natural Resources for the Westchester County New York Park system, Leah Cass designs management regimes for thousands of acres of habitat, coordinating the needs of residents, wildlife, and more than a thousand species of native plants.

Sam Hoadley, the manager of the trial garden at the Mt. Cuba Center in Hockessin, Delaware explores the native sedges of Genus Carex, a diverse, largely untapped source of groundcovers, foliage plants, and turfgrass substitutes that thrive with little maintenance.

Gardening can be the heart of a community, as the Rochester, Minnesota Seed Library demonstrates.  Librarian Keri Ostby describes how the seed library brings together vegetable seeds for all the groups within the community, providing a source of superior fresh foods and for exploring mutual foodways.  By encouraging seed saving the seed library also fosters the development of locally adapted strains of vegetables

Ecological garden consultant Kim Eierman discusses her book, The Pollinator Victory Garden, and easy ways you can turn your yard into a beautiful and hospitable habitat for these essential and threatened creatures.

Dr. Matthew Kleinhenz of Ohio State University describes the ancient history of “biostimulants,” and how contemporary researchers are identifying natural bacteria and fungi that help crops cope with the extreme weather events of climate change

Distinguished horticulturist and in-demand speaker Wambui Ippolito discusses her experience as an East African immigrant in American gardening, and the special gifts that immigrants can and have brought to the re-invention of the American landscape

Dr. William Welch of Texas A&M University and co-author of The Rose Rustlers discusses the ways in which heirloom plants, survivors from old gardens, can enhance the sustainability of your garden

Paul Tukey, author of the classic guide, The Organic Lawn Care Manual, shares his prescription for listening to, and learning from, the weeds in your lawn

Are you dreaming of a white Christmas?  Or a snowy Hanukkah or Kwanzaa?  Or just a personal celebration of the winter solstice?  EcoBeneficial designer and educator Kim Eierman will share you the many gifts that a blanket of snow gives to the garden.

Artist Robert Adzema talks about his unique sun sculptures and how sundials can fix us in time while serving as a bridge to connect the garden with the heavens

Aimee Code, Pesticide Program Director for the Xerces Society, discusses the problems with many conventional mosquito control programs, and how the same goals can be achieved with less environmental impact

Dr. Jared Westbrook of the American Chestnut Foundation explores a controversial subject:  the use of genetic engineering by his foundation to create blight-resistant American chestnut trees and return this once iconic species to the eastern woodlands

Distinguished horticultural educator Carol Reese shares a lively exploration of transexual plants and  other reproductive mysteries displayed in your garden (originally broadcast in January 2022).

An interview with Douglas Tallamy, University of Delaware Professor of Entomology and award-winning author of Bringing Nature Home, talking about the need to include insects in your garden. 

Matthew Shepherd of the Xerces Society details ways to get the garden ready for winter without harming over-wintering insects and other foundational wildlife

Dr. Enrique Salmon, a native American of the Raramuri people and professor of ethnic studies at California State University East Bay, discusses his new book, Iwigara about the ethnobotanical traditions and science of American Indians

Internationally acclaimed landscape designer Edwina von Gal’s Perfect Earth Project uses imaginative strategies to connect landowners big and small with nature-based, chemical-free  and biodiversity friendly management practices

Senior and physically challenged gardeners have a special interest in sustainable landscapes, according to Toni Gattone, author of The Lifelong Gardener: Garden With Ease and Joy At Any Age.  Join her for guidance on everything from saving your back by reducing resource inputs to ergonomically adapting favorite tools.

Elizabeth Licata, a passionate promoter of Garden Walk Buffalo, the nation’s largest free open garden tour, and a longtime contributor to the popular blog “Garden Rant” takes on gardener anthropomorphism, our appealing but destructive habit of ascribing human emotions and characteristics to plants.

Author William Bryant Logan discusses his most recent book, "Sprout Lands," and the revival of pollarding, the basis of an ancient and mutually beneficial relationship between trees and people

An interview with Dr. Bethany Bradley, ecologist at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, about the pros and cons of implementing assisted migration of native plants as a response to climate change

Jeff Lorenz, founder of the acclaimed Refugia Design Build, explains why the pandemic was a boom time for a landscaper committed to native plants, and how his firm’s “Ecological Greenway Network” is transforming neighborhoods

Nash Turley of the University of Central Florida discusses the program he and colleague Barbara Sharanowski have developed to help homeowners nationwide convert areas of lawn to pollinator habitat painlessly and quickly with the help of their mobile phones.

David Wolfe, professor of plant and soil ecology at Cornell University, details how to keep your landscape flourishing in a time of changing climate

Author Benjamin Vogt discusses his provocative book, "A New Garden Ethic: Cultivating Defiant Compassion for an Uncertain Future", and calls for a radical, less human-centric approach to the landscape

Join Collin Thompson, the Farm Manager at Johnny’s Selected Seeds, as he discusses how planting “cover crops” in your garden can benefit not only the health of the soil and the plants you grow on it but also enhance pollinator populations and curb weeds, all while reducing your carbon footprint and fighting the spread of plant pests and diseases

Russ Cohen discusses his foraging career and his current role as Johnny Appleseed of raising and restoring to the wild edible native plants

Director of Horticulture at the Native Plant Trust in Framingham, Massachusetts, and former Curator of Native Flora at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Uli Lorimer has written a new book, The Northeast Native Plant Primer, 235 Plants for an Earth-Friendly Garden.  An outstanding introduction to gardening with native plants, it is especially relevant for residents of the northeastern United States but has much to offer to gardeners in other regions of the country as well.  In our conversation, we explore such matters as what is a native plant and why species-type native plants are better for the “earth-friendly” garden

Slugs are the Rodney Dangerfield of garden wildlife – our only interest is in exterminating them.  Yet as Dr. Jann Vendetti of the Los Angeles County Natural History Museum explains, they lead fascinating and, in many ways, very useful lives

Ethan Dropkin of Larry Weaner Landscape Associates describes the invaluable role our native annuals can play in the ecological landscape

Looking to reconnect with nature?  Try Brooklyn Bridge Park, six concrete shipping piers on New York’s East River transformed into a series of vibrant ecosystems rich with native wildlife.  Director of Horticulture Rebecca McMackin describes how salvaged materials make this 85-acre, organically maintained landscape sustainable as well as beautiful. 

Since 1827, the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society has been leading the way in American gardening.  Listen this week as its Vice President of Horticulture, Andrew Bunting, describes the trends to look for in 2023, and why sustainability concerns are at the top of the list.

One of the most important events of my gardening year is the extraordinary collection of gardeners, designers, and ecologists who assemble to exchange ideas every January at the New Directions in the American Landscape’s two-day annual symposium.  Join executive director of NDAL, Sara Weaner, to learn about this year’s line-up of extraordinary speakers and topics.  It’s a don’t miss opportunity

James Golden’s new book, “The View from Federal Twist: A New Way of Thinking About Gardens, Nature and Ourselves” delivers in full everything the title promises.  In this conversation, the author discusses the birth and evolution of his remarkable garden, and how it changed him and his relationship to his landscape.

Hybrid fruit and vegetable seeds are like thoroughbred horses –  extraordinary performers but not resilient or good at coping with adverse conditions.  When they didn’t succeed in Joseph Lofthouse’s Utah garden, he created his own “landraces”, biodiverse crop strains that “promiscuously pollinate” and speedily evolve to thrive in local conditions and adapt to the gardener’s style of cultivation.

Merlin Tuttle, founder of Bat Conservation International and Merlin Tuttle's Bat Conservation, details the important roles of bats in the garden and the environment, and addresses the charge that they are the source of the Covid-19 virus.

Dr. Claire Rutledge of the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station describes the ingenious use of native and non-native insects to control the damage done by this introduced, tree-killing pest

Neil Diboll, president of Prairie Nursery and pioneer of the prairie gardening movement, discusses the ecological strengths of our native meadow flowers and grasses

Shay Lunseth of Organic Lawns by Lunseth discusses her use of fine fescue grasses to create lawns that flourish with little or almost no mowing, less fertilizers and weed control, and far less summertime irrigation

Plant explorers, once the rock stars of the horticultural world, have suffered a loss of status as gardeners turn to native plants.  Listen to plant explorer extraordinaire Panayoti Kelaidis of the Denver Botanic Gardens discuss why his quest is still important to making our gardens more sustainable, as well as beautiful.

Forest steward Adrian Ayres Fisher describes the profound impact that uncontrolled deer populations have on native woodlands and their ecology

Willie Crosby of Fungi Ally discusses the wonders of fungi and the cultivation of mushrooms for the home gardener

Naturalist, gardener, and journalist Nancy Lawson talks about her new book, “Wildscape,”  which introduces readers to details of how very differently wildlife perceives our gardens, and the extraordinary relationships between plants and animals we can observe in our own backyards.

Horticulturist and author Robert Kourik shares his research on understanding and enhancing plant roots in this program originally posted in June of 2019

Two experts, Dr. Thomas Mather, Director of the University of Rhode Island's Tick Encounter Resource Center, and Kathy Connolly, designer of native gardens and proprietor of Speaking of Landscapes, LLC, discuss ways to avoid tick bites and manage the landscape so it is less hospitable to these dangerous pests

Conservationist and gardener Suzanne Thompson goes viral with her organic approach to controlling invasive threat Japanese knotweed

Author Heather Holm discusses her new book, "Wasps," and the fascination of these maligned creatures and the many beneficial roles they play in our gardens

When it was founded in 1900, the Native Plant Trust was the first plant conservation organization in the United States.  Its new CEO, Tim Johnson describes how, more than a century later, the Trust continues to break new ground, defining how an organization such as this can rise to meet the challenges currently facing our native flora.

Kat Tancock and Domini Clark, founders and editors of Rewilding Magazine (available for free online) explore the restoration of local habitats and ecosystems worldwide, with reports from Asia, Africa, and Australia as well as Europe, Canada, and the United States.  A rare, truly international perspective.

Sculptor Dan Snow shares the process by which he creates structures both practical and fantastic with stone, building without the use of mortar and commonly with materials collected from the landscape.

Will “volcano mulch” the landscaper piled around the bases of your trees kill them?  And is a mulch made of ground-up shipping pallets really beneficial for your plants?  You may be surprised by the science-based insights about common organic mulches that Dr. Linda Chalker-Scott of Washington State University shares in the most recent “Growing Greener.”

Artist Sam Van Aken explains how he uses grafting to create living sculptures from heirloom fruit trees while preserving our historic fruit heritage

Fruit grower and author Michael Phillips discusses an approach to maintaining an orchard that involves enhancing the ecology rather than a reliance on synthetic pesticides

Join us for a replay of our 2020 interview with Dr. Elaine Ingham, internationally renowned expert on the soil food web about how to make your soil far more fertile and productive using only natural, scientifically proven inputs

Trevor Smith has won awards with his expert design that brings damaged landscapes back to a fuller function. He’s applied that experience to his second passion: educating young people, home gardeners and professionals about how they too can heal the landscape.

'Mossin' Annie' Martin, author of "The Magical World of Moss Gardening" and proprietor of Mountain Moss Enterprises discusses the beauties and environmental benefits of these primitive but highly adaptable plants.  Topics include how to rescue mosses and establish a moss garden, and the role mosses play in reducing the carbon dioxide in our atmosphere

Horticulturist Krissy Boys describes her project to create a biodiverse "native lawn" at the Cornell University Botanic Gardens

Dr. Bethany Bradley, an ecologist at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, talks about the effects of climate change in enhancing invasive plants, and what gardeners can do to fight back

Gardening Icon Ruth Rogers Clausen talks about gardening with her granddaughter, and Sarah Pounders of KidsGardening.org discusses her organization's free online educational resources for parents, grandparents, and children

Edward Toth, Director of New York's Greenbelt Native Plant Center, discusses the mission of the country's only municipal native plants nursery and seed bank, and its role in preserving local races of the vegetation native to NY's five boroughs.

Dr. Chantel White of the University of Pennsylvania uses archaeological techniques to identify plants that grew in the garden of pioneering plant collectors John and William Bartram.  Thanks to her work, a long-gone garden is re-emerging into the light.

Nebraskan Benjamin Vogt, a leader in nature-based gardening, has just published Prairie Up, a book that is sure to become a go-to tool for those designing and installing landscapes rooted in our native grassland flora.  With its many insights how the dynamics of native plants will shape a native landscape, Prairie Up offers invaluable lessons to nature-based gardeners everywhere

Dr. Eric Watkins of the University of Minnesota discusses the university's program to create more sustainable lawns that support native bees and other pollinators

Do you hate the noise and stink of gasoline-powered blowers and mowers rampaging through your neighborhood?  Matthew Benzie of Indigenous Ingenuities in Doylestown, Pennsylvania is doing something about that.  He’s switched his maintenance crew to zero-emission, quiet, battery-powered equipment transported on a bicycle-powered cart.  He’s designing his landscapes for greener, sustainable maintenance too.  Learn about this revolutionary rethinking of the landscape business on this week’s episode.

Garden activist and educator Cathy Ludden describes her encounters with hydrangeas and how transforming the flower heads to suit human aesthetics has proved both harmful and beneficial to pollinators

Dr. Meredith Cornett discusses the program the Nature Conservancy has undertaken to help the forest of northern Minnesota adapt to a warming climate

In 2015 landscape architect Thomas Rainer and his professional partner Claudia West stirred the gardening world with their best-selling book, “Planting in a Post-Wild World.”  Now Rainer shares his arguments for thoughtful optimism regarding gardening and its potential impact on our ecological challenges.

As Director of Horticulture at Brooklyn Bridge Park, Rebecca McMackin played a leading role in transforming 85 acres of abandoned piers and pavement into a series of vibrant ecosystems that are a model of what an urban park can be.  We talk with her about her subsequent year of study at Harvard and her new endeavors to make ecological landscaping the mainstream.

Award-winning landscape designers Marilee Kuhlman and Tom Rau explain the techniques they use to harvest rain water and make their gardens more climate adapted and sustainable

Artist Robert Adzema discusses his history of creating ingenious and innovative sundials, and what sundials can teach the gardener about plants’ primary fuel.

Dr. Josef Gorres of the University of Vermont discusses the environmental threat posed by invasive Asian Jumping Worms and the methods he is exploring for their control in our forests and gardens

Aaron von Frank discusses his book, “The Impractical Guide to Keeping Pet and Backyard Ducks” and details the services a flock can provide in controlling weeds and pests, as well as furnishing a supply of eggs and fertilizer.

Dr. Linda Chalker-Scott of The Garden Professors blog and Facebook page, as she discusses the work of these groups and the importance of applying peer-reviewed science to the issues and problems of gardeners.

Marc Wolf, executive director of the Mountain Top Arboretum, escorts us through its stunning native habitats, homegrown education center, and ecological gardens 

In 2017 Benjamin Vogt captivated the gardening world with his book, “A New Garden Ethic,” in which he explored the need to radically redesign our domestic landscapes to accommodate all the other creatures of North America.  Since then this award-winning author, horticulturist, and educator has been promoting this message in the gardens he designs, his many articles and talks, and his on-line classes.  Today we discuss these classes, and how they present an engaging and easy-to-master introduction to his special, eco-friendly, style of gardening.

Award-winning garden designer and writer Tony Spencer introduces the New Perennial Movement that has brought a revolutionary naturalistic ethic to gardens worldwide

Dan Jaffe, a rising star of the new generation of native plants experts and co-author of Native Plants for New England Gardens discusses the many practical advantages of gardening with natives.

If you are frustrated by the poor selection of native plants at local garden centers, check out Izel Native Plants.  Listen as founders and owners Amanda McLean and Claudio Vasquez explain how they have made the wares of leading wholesale growers accessible to amateur gardeners, and how their company emphasizes education as much as sales.

Popular gardener and garden blogger Helen Battersby of Toronto, Canada describes the impact of Ontario’s ban of pesticide use for ornamental purposes in this conversation from 2020

Dr. Matthew Koski of Clemson University describes his research into the colors of common wildflowers and their response over the last 75 years to changes in the climate and resulting changes to levels of ultraviolet light.  These color changes threaten to affect relationships with pollinators and the flowers' reproductive success.

Todd Forrest, vice president of horticulture and living collections at the New York Botanical Garden describes the 50-acre first growth forest flourishing in the Bronx and the lessons it can teach us about gardening and ecological restoration

Too often we regard snow as merely an annoyance, but Kim Eierman, ecological garden designer and educator, makes the case for snow as a natural source of great and sometimes surprising benefits for the garden.

Jeff Lowenfels, the author of Teaming With Microbes, details how to work with the soil food web to achieve a healthier, greener, and more productive garden

Pioneering horticulturist Brad Roeller discusses the research into sustainable gardening he carried out at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, NY, and shares insights into the future of the field

Rick Carr, Master Composter and Farm Director of the Rodale Institute, share tips for easy, more effective composting

Admirers of exotic garden plants have taken to claiming that their foreign-born treasures are just as good nutritionally for our North American pollinators.  Proponents of native plants insist that their flora supplies a better diet.  We ask Dr. Harland Patch of Pennsylvania State University for the facts

Horticulturist and forager Ellen Zachos discusses her book, The Wildcrafted Cocktail, about incorporating the flavors of wild-collected plants into a unique and delicious mixology

Tom Knezick of Pinelands Nursery, one of the largest producers of native plants in the U.S., tells how his family’s business has mastered growing natives from locally collected seed, producing plants that are genetically diverse and regionally adapted.  The nursery industry as a whole claims this is too difficult and labor intensive; Tom describes how Pinelands has succeeded.

Judge’s Farm Nursery is the newest venture in the Griswold family’s 385-year association with their homestead at the mouth of the Connecticut River.  Co-founder Matt Griswold describes the nursery’s program of growing native plants sustainably from locally collected seeds.

For 40 years, Larry Weaner, founder of Larry Weaner Landscape Associates, has been exploring the intersection of ecology with landscape and garden design, creating a style of planning, planting, and management that is founded in the natural dynamics of the site. One of the most powerful of these dynamics is succession, the inherent tendency of landscapes and their flora to evolve and change.  By learning how to work with succession, how to channel and direct it down desirable paths, Larry has succeeded in creating landscapes that are not only biologically richer but also far easier to manage than conventional gardens designed around a static, change-resistant plan.  Join the conversation and listen to Larry Weaner discuss how to incorporate succession into a habitat that addresses the needs and desires of both people and nature.

Ecological landscape designer and educator Kathleen Connolly takes a deep dive into her new approach to putting the garden to bed in fall.  Leave the leaves but keep the beauty.

Brooklyn’s Prospect Park, one of Frederick Law Olmsted’s greatest masterpieces, was failing by 1989 when Joseph Doccola signed on to restore its tree canopy. Over the next decade he replanted lost trees, matching adapted native species to each site, helping to turn Prospect Park into a pioneering example for urban parks across the United States.

The flowers in your garden are not, as gardeners often think, aesthetic statements, they are invitations for sex. Ranging from plant incest to the brutality of dragonfly sex, Carol Reese, distinguished horticultural educator at the University of Tennessee, shares insights on the curious aspects of sexual relations between plants and the role that wildlife plays in promoting it.

Robert Kourik, author of Understanding Roots, discusses the nature and needs of plant roots and how to foster them for a lusher, healthier garden

Karen Bussolini of historic nursery White Flower Farm makes the case for how a mix of native and non-native flowers can feed pollinators better throughout the growing season

Brian Stewart describes his backyard insect safaris, and the hundreds of different and beautiful insect species he has found, photographed, and identified in his own small garden