MARGARET ROACH A WAY TO GARDEN

Until I met today’s guest, James Young, early in 2025, it hadn’t really registered in my brain that some of the familiar annuals I grow from seed, like cosmos and marigolds and even purple basil, could also double as dye... Read More ›

I’m letting myself be transported away from the winter scene outside my window, burying my nose not in the snow but instead in the spring-into-summer possibilities depicted in seed-catalog pages. I have familiar, favorite varieties I grow every year –... Read More ›

I put out my first bird feeder of the season around Thanksgiving or so each year and get the party started. But there’s more to feeding the birds than just filling the feeders, like how to keep them safe in... Read More ›

The earliest references to people cultivating trees date back to 6000 B.C., and there are records of tree-care tactics in the Bible, too, and from ancient Egypt. These person-to-tree interventions were the start of the science and art of arboriculture,... Read More ›

Not so many years ago, relative to the history of horticulture, even a now-ubiquitous phrase like “pollinator plant” wasn’t part of our everyday gardening language and mindset the way it is today. Our collective consciousness about the importance of native... Read More ›

If I say: quick, name a holiday flower, you might first answer poinsettia. But the poinsettia wasn’t always synonymous with this time of year, today’s guest tells me – like once upon a time more than a century ago the... Read More ›

I can’t imagine life without my admittedly oddball collection of houseplants, many of whom have been with me for several decades already. So I was delighted recently to meet today’s guest, Rob Moffitt, whose Los Angeles-based botanical design studio specializes... Read More ›

When I bought my place decades ago it was nestled in a tiny piece of former farmland with a little 1880s house and no garden. There were, however, five giant apple trees, at least a century old even then –... Read More ›

Once upon a time the seed catalogs came out around the start of the New Year, but these days the very first ones may arrive by Thanksgiving, and their listings may be posted online even earlier. So I guess what... Read More ›

Besides their native-heavier plant palette and looser style, ecologically designed landscapes have another difference: The way we maintain them is not the same as with more traditional, ornamentally-focused gardens. I’m asked again and again by gardeners who have planted a meadow-like... Read More ›

Today’s guest didn’t have to convince me to be wild about woodpeckers, because I already am—utterly so. These charismatic, hardworking birds make oversized ecological contributions to the environments they inhabit and to the other creatures that they share them with... Read More ›

Every gardener has certainly heard the rallying cry each recent autumn to “leave the leaves”, invoking us to go gentler with our cleanup to support a diversity of beneficial invertebrates who call the fallen leaves their home.  Now a recently... Read More ›

Kevin West begins his newest book, called “The Cook’s Garden,” like this:  “This is a book about flavor,” he writes. “It is a book about how to become a better cook by stepping into the garden.”  His is not just... Read More ›

Almost 10 years ago on this program, I talked about making sourdough starter with today’s guest, Sarah Owens, on the occasion of the publication her book called “Sourdough.” Now a 10th anniversary edition of the James Beard Award-winning book is about... Read More ›

Most of us have something to hide – in our gardens, that is, some view of something we’d like to erase. It could be the telephone pole across the street that we can see from certain spots, or the neighbor’s... Read More ›

The “what plant goes where?” aspect of gardening is the hardest part for a lot of us. And as we increasingly shift our plant palette and gardening style to more native and ecologically focused, decisions about design might seem even... Read More ›

In recent growing seasons, the “new normal” of a changing climate has sometimes been making me feel like my Northeastern garden has relocated farther to the South. So maybe that’s part of what caught my attention when I saw news... Read More ›

The fall bird migration is under way, and that means the cast of characters we’re seeing and hearing in the garden is changing quickly – as we say goodbye for now to some species, and keep a close eye out... Read More ›

In the age of climate change, my guest on today’s reprise edition of the podcast told me, we can expect “more poison ivy and meaner poison ivy,” and I’d say from what I see growing around me and the rashes... Read More ›

Today’s guest and I were sitting having a cup of tea together recently and talking abou guess what? Plants! What came up pretty fast was how lately we both sometimes cringe at the results to our online searches about one... Read More ›

Patrick McDuffee believes that everyone should have at least one scented geranium on their windowsill year-round, for an on-demand invigorating whiff of fragrance, or to admire its colorful flowers…or to make a homebrewed cup of herbal tea from its leaves.... Read More ›

The last time I spoke to Alla Olkhovska from her home and garden in Ukraine, she confessed to growing about 120 different types of Clematis—a number that after seeing her recently published e-book “Clematis Passports,” which profiles 140 kinds, I suspect... Read More ›

On the weekend of Aug. 8 and 9, the beloved Seed Savers Exchange will celebrate its 50th anniversary of preserving our seed heritage with festivities at its homebase in Decorah, Iowa. I wanted to celebrate Seed Savers here a little, too,... Read More ›

For each of us, it’s probably safe to bet that our most familiar piece of the natural world is the outdoor space right beside the place we live – our own yard. But how well do we really know even... Read More ›

There may be no moment in the year when my friend Ken Druse and I are more grateful for the range of textures and colors of foliage we made room for in our gardens than we are right now –... Read More ›

Today’s guest returned from a 1979 trip visiting English gardens inspired to do some garden-making of his own. His canvas was a northwestern Connecticut hillside and not the Cotswolds, and the home he’d just purchased wasn’t a grand manor house... Read More ›

A couple of ravens have been shouting at each other across the garden each day this spring-into-summer, and their loud-mouthed antics reminded me of a somewhat less bawdy conversation about crows and ravens that I had a decade ago on... Read More ›

A big old copper beech tree is a focal point of my garden, and each time I look out the window at it admiringly these days, I feel the same love and gratitude I always have for its grandeur –... Read More ›

Today we’re going to do some pruning, but not the same old straight-forward kind. Instead we’re going to talk topiary, and its transformative powers – not just on the plant that is the subject that’s getting clipped, or on the... Read More ›

Some of us plant a row of particular annuals with the intention to cut them for bouquets in their moment of bloom – and some of us think bigger have a whole cutting garden within our landscape. I feel like... Read More ›

We may know one when we see it, but what word best describes an ecological landscape? Compared to traditional, more formal gardens, such native-plant-forward designs are variously labeled as looser, or naturalistic, or wildish—all perfectly accurate. Is there perhaps a... Read More ›

I’ve answered a lot of garden questions in my time as a garden journalist, but nobody has asked more of them than today’s guest—who’s also the person I’ve known longer than anyone else on the planet. My baby sister, Marion... Read More ›

Again and again, as I was reading the recent book “Bad Naturalist” by Paula Whyman, I kept thinking: Good thing I only have a couple of acres of land. Whyman tackled 200 acres on a Virginia mountaintop, dreaming of reshaping... Read More ›

The first issue of “American Gardener,” the newly redesigned member magazine of the American Horticultural Society, arrived recently, and in it are lots of good reads—including an article by today’s guest, Nancy Lawson, aka “The Humane Gardener.”  She writes about... Read More ›

When I first started gardening, it wasn’t unusual to hear other gardeners lamenting the shady areas of their landscapes – wishing for more, more, more sun. But my friend Ken Druse never looked at the lower-light areas that way –... Read More ›

Woody plants—the trees and shrubs—can be pure ecological powerhouses, but most of us don’t have room for an entire forest in our backyards. So on a garden scale, which shrubs in particular really get the job done best? Dan Wilder, a longtime native plant... Read More ›

I look forward to spring for many reasons, not the least of which is the emergence and bloom time of the trilliums. There’s a saying that good things come in threes, and trilliums are certainly proof of that.  I talked... Read More ›

So you think you’re  familiar with marigolds and zinnias? Well, it’s time to take another look, I think, as I have been longingly in the seed list from Oregon-based Peace Seedlings.  Among their offerings are multi-toned zinnias in shades you won’t... Read More ›

It’s hard to think of a brighter botanical bright spot than the one that Coleus creates—whether in a container design, or planted in a garden bed.  And it’s hard to think of a more Coleus-filled place than Rosy Dawn Gardens,... Read More ›

I can almost taste it now: the flavors of the first spring crops, whether homegrown, or from your CSA share, or even ethically foraged…with the promise of a whole growing season of the freshest, tastiest produce to come. It’s the... Read More ›

More isn’t always better, of course, but in the case of the gardens profiled in the new book “Garden to the Max,” it definitely is, whether more color, more texture, more drama or all of the above, and then some,... Read More ›

Though the calendar says that spring started on March 20, the many clues that nature offers to those who watch and listen add up to a more complex and layered unfolding over time. Inspired by a new book called “Phenology,”... Read More ›

Anyone who has heard of or even better visited Chanticleer Garden in Pennsylvania knows that it is home to some of the country’s most exceptional examples of horticultural creativity and innovation.  A multi-year biodiversity survey of the Chanticleer property has... Read More ›

We’ve all heard about what plants and other features figure into making a garden for the birds, or a pollinator garden … but what about a frog garden? I’m crazy about frogs and would like to think my place is... Read More ›

If another houseplant dropped all its leaves for several months each year, you’d think you killed it. But with some of Ken Druse’s and my favorite indoor companions, from Boweia to Jatropha and more, a regular dormant period is just... Read More ›

The sight of Eastern bluebirds rates high on my happiness scale, so I say bring them on. But what makes a place look like inviting habitat to these charismatic birds, encouraging them to maybe stick around during breeding season? And... Read More ›

One of the tallest perennials in my garden is New York ironweed, Vernonia noveboracensis, but basically my knowledge of the genus starts and ends there. Or at least it did until just recently, when Mt. Cuba Center, the renown native... Read More ›

You probably know the popular Seed Savers Exchange catalog, which this year features 600 varieties of seed to choose from, and supports the beloved nonprofit preservation organization, which in 2025 is turning 50 years old.  But maybe you haven’t clicked... Read More ›

Have you ever replied, “I don’t know; that’s just the way I’ve always done it” when someone asked why you performed a certain garden task in a particular way? Sometimes we stay stuck even when there’s evidence there’s a newer,... Read More ›

Anybody in the mood for something just plain pretty at the moment, something to search the seed catalogs for, choosing among the many wildly colorful varieties, and then get ready to sow? Something hopeful and bright? Me too! After I... Read More ›

How’s winter shaping up where you are so far – or more to the point, how’s the winter garden looking? What’s your view out the window this time of year, and could it be improved with some strategic enhancements?  That’s... Read More ›

As many of us heavy up on native plants, and transition larger areas of our landscapes toward more naturalistic styles of design, there is a lot to learn – or maybe un-learn, if our gardening experience up until now was... Read More ›

I messaged to my arborist neighbor the other day to just say, “Happy holidays.” And at the end of my note, I also said this: “See you soon.”  Winter may be the quiet season up North here in the garden... Read More ›

Whether out loud here on the podcast or just between us on one of our periodic late Friday afternoon phone calls, I always benefit from catching up with today’s guest, Joe Lamp’l (aka Joe Gardener). Probably no time for talking... Read More ›

Did you have an abnormally dry growing season this year—one where it felt like you just couldn’t keep up with the watering, maybe? Today’s guest, naturalist and artist Julie Zickefoose, and I both did in our otherwise different garden locations—places... Read More ›

The message has become increasingly clear: By shifting the palette of what we plant toward native, and refining the practices we employ in caring for our landscapes, we gardeners can make a contribution to the greater ecology. We can create... Read More ›

She has had various job titles in her career, but writer Margaret Renkl says one consistent role in her life for decades has been that of “a window-gazer,” someone who watches what’s going on out there. Even better, she gets... Read More ›

It’s practically December, but like many gardeners I’m already thinking about spring. One big element of that thinking is how to maximize the power of flower bulbs, and though you might have already planted some in the ground earlier this... Read More ›

I was invited recently to be a guest on a podcast called The Wildstory from The Native Plant Society of New Jersey that talks about plants, of course, and ecology … but unlike other garden-related  podcasts, it also explores poetry. I was intrigued,... Read More ›

When cold weather approaches, we humans often have it easy: We can retreat to the shelter of central heating, or pile on more layers of clothing. The path to survival is a lot more complicated for birds, of course, and a new... Read More ›

In the face of shifting weather patterns influenced by a changing climate, the garden can be a really confusing place these days. What stressors are coming next, and which plants will have the resilience required to stand up to whatever... Read More ›

The garden is my favorite escape from stress, of course, but as I have confessed before on the podcast, I sometimes succumb to the lure of swiping my way through Instagram during non-garden hours, like so many millions of us... Read More ›

Today’s guest, Sara Weaner Cooper, and her husband, Evan Cooper, bought their first home a couple of years ago, and before long undertook transitioning the front lawn organically from mown grass into a meadow. Sara’s here to tell us about... Read More ›

It was almost two years ago to the day when today’s guest, Joan Strassmann, last visited me on the show, right around the time her book “Slow Birding” was released. Now, as then, I’ve seen what are pretty much my... Read More ›

When I read the other day that Native Plant Trust, the nonprofit plant conservation organization in New England, had successfully raised the money to complete the endowment fund needed to save its region’s most imperiled native plants in a seed... Read More ›

Increasingly in recent years, my garden “weeds” include more and more tenacious opponents – and the landscape along the roadsides nearby and pretty much everywhere I drive is one of hedgerows formed of a tangle of non-native shrubs and vines.... Read More ›

If you have ever tried creating, and then caring for, a habitat-style garden with native plants … well, let’s just say it’s not exactly the same thing as combining a group of hostas with some astilbes an a couple of... Read More ›

“Plants tell the story of a place,” says field botanist and native plant nursery owner Jared Rosenbaum. “If you want to be rooted on the earth you live on, you can look to plants to interpret that story.”  With his... Read More ›

Organic farming and gardening have always been based on the principle of “feed the soil, not the plant.” In a recent interview, I got some expert advice for doing that, and also learn why our diligent soil-consciousness matters so much,... Read More ›

Have you done your bulb shopping yet? It’s ordering time—both for fall-blooming treats like Colchicum, which you can only buy now if you hurry, and for the ever-wider assortment of fall-planted, spring-into-summer blooming species.  Ken Druse and I both have... Read More ›

I was scrolling through Instagram the other day – yes, sometimes I just cannot help myself – when I saw a post by Matt Mattus about Christmas cactus. Even though it was still high summer, it made me long for... Read More ›

I suspect I’m not alone when I say that weather extremes in recent growing seasons have made me feel a bit like a stranger in a strange land in my own garden—wondering what will bloom when, and when to do... Read More ›

When most of us think of growing herbs each spring, what we probably put into our shopping cart, whether from online seed catalogs or at the garden center, are the culinary must-haves: the basil, the parsley, the dill and such.  ... Read More ›

It’s Hydrangea season, and in the Northeast, in particular, this summer, it’s REALLY been a crazy hydrangea season in 2024, with billows of blue bloom from big-leaf hydrangeas on view everywhere, it seems—which is not always the case, in colder... Read More ›

We’re going to talk about collectibles today, but not the kind you score at a flea market or from an online auction. We’re going to talk about collectible trees. Yes, trees. A new book by Amy Stewart called “The Tree... Read More ›

Are you thinking about the possibility of transitioning an area of your lawn into something more diverse, like maybe a meadow? A question I’m asked a lot is how to go about it – the actual preparatory steps – so... Read More ›

It’s one of the best-known naturalistic gardens anywhere, and yet it’s perched in the most unnatural spot imaginable, 30 feet high above New York City traffic on an abandoned elevated railway line. The High Line on Manhattan’s West Side is... Read More ›

Some of the many unusual fruits that Allyson Levy and Scott Serrano grow in their arboretum in the Hudson Valley of New York, like goji berries or maybe Schisandra, are ones you’re more likely to see on ingredient labels of... Read More ›

Nobody wants to get the IRS notice in the mail that they’re being audited, heaven forbid. But when it comes to gardens, Rodney Eason believes that the occasional audit is a very positive process, and encourages us to perform one... Read More ›

What’s one of the best sources of inspiration and information about gardening you can get outside of a classroom, and that is also wonderfully entertaining? By making time to go visit other people’s gardens, we can open ourselves up to... Read More ›

I suspect every gardener has for years now, over and again, heard the warnings about the most widely used pesticides in the US, neonicotinoids – or neonics for short.  In 2013 the American Bird Conservancy issued a report, warning of... Read More ›

Interest and awareness around native plants has been trending in recent years, and it makes them almost feel new. But of course natives are the original plants of an area—and even in certain specialty corners of the nursery industry they... Read More ›

Most people call in an arborist when they think it’s time for a tree to be removed—a costly process both financially and environmentally, since trees are critical drivers of diversity. Today’s guest runs a tree-care company and also a tree-focused... Read More ›

Landscape design may be part of the green industry, but sometimes rethinking a garden space, or creating a garden where there didn’t used to be one, can create a lot of very un-green waste material—especially true when you’re designing in... Read More ›

Today’s topic is orchids, but not the ones you might be growing as a flowering houseplant. Our subject is native terrestrial types that are more often than not under great pressure in the wild, their numbers dwindling.  Now, thanks to... Read More ›

The area around Philadelphia is well-known for its richness of public gardens, including many historic ones, but the region is also home to an impressive roster of distinctive private landscapes—from formal 19th century European-style estates to mid-century modern residences and contemporary... Read More ›

You’ve probably heard the expression No Mow May in recent years, a campaign borrowed from an effort in the UK meant to increase diversity by leaving lawns unmown for the one spring month, but is that the answer for US... Read More ›

It’s that time of year when we gardeners are shopping, shopping, shopping, often in hot pursuit of just the right plant that will make the design of a bed or the larger landscape hang together—that elusive missing ingredient. But what... Read More ›

I for one have a number of houseplants that would look a whole lot better right now if given a pinch or two or three, plus I could potentially enjoy the benefit of more plants from those trimmings, whether to... Read More ›

I confess to something of a weakness for Japanese maples, and I suspect I’m not alone. Now, thanks to breeding work by experts like today’s guests, there are more and more varieties being made available that are suited to a... Read More ›

You know how it goes, especially in those tempting first spring-like days: You’re barely out of bed before you’re out in the garden having at it. And then, by day’s end, your body’s screaming that maybe, just maybe, you overdid... Read More ›

Wait! Before you find yourself at the garden center grabbing up every irresistible thing that calls out to you, figuring you can somehow find a role for it in this season’s container designs, think again: What’s your plan for this year’s seasonal... Read More ›

In a recent phone call, today’s guest, Tim Johnson, used the phrase “bio-productive gardens,” and it stopped me. What does he mean by that, I thought? And then he explained:  There are ways to manage our landscapes, he said, so... Read More ›

Some people collect art, others collect vintage cars, or maybe stamps or coins. Darryl Cheng collects houseplants, and in his latest book, “The New Plant Collector,” Darryl suggests some gorgeous possibilities, with detailed guidelines for figuring out how to make... Read More ›

Early on in making my garden decades ago, I bought a nursery pot of bluestar, or Amsonia, at a native plant sale, and planted it in a border here. It has never asked anything of me, never had any pests... Read More ›

When shopping the seed catalogs, I realize I’m probably more likely to consider a tomato or pepper I haven’t grown before, or some unusual annual flower, than to try some new-to-me herb. But what a shame.  I need to modify that... Read More ›

Maybe more than any other topic, the use of native plants has consistently figured among the top garden trends in recent years. Just how popular is the movement toward a more ecological focus in the way we design and care... Read More ›

Watching birds lifts my spirits, as it has for decades, and who couldn’t use their spirits lifted right about now? But there’s another much bigger potential benefit, which is that sharing my sightings helps scientists understand what’s going on with... Read More ›

What’s not to love about zinnias? Organic seed farmer and breeder Don Tipping of Siskiyou Seeds and I both vote an emphatic “yes” in favor of making zinnias a part of every garden year. But what goes into creating the... Read More ›

As she often does, naturalist and nature writer Nancy Lawson—perhaps known better to some of you as the Humane Gardener after the title of her first book—caught my attention the other day.  “My yard isn’t overgrown and neither is yours,”... Read More ›