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Growing Greener

246 episodes - English - Latest episode: 1 day ago - ★★★★★ - 64 ratings

Your weekly half-hour program about environmentally informed gardening. Each week we bring you a different expert, a leading voice on gardening in partnership with Nature. Our goal is to make your landscape healthier, more beautiful, more sustainable, and more fun.

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Episodes

Native Annuals of the Eastern United States

March 27, 2024 10:00 - 29 minutes - 40.1 MB

Annuals offer unique advantages for the ecological gardener, growing fast to stabilize disturbed soils, and providing quick color for new plantings.  In this conversation, master plantsman Ethan Dropkin of Larry Weaner Landscape Associates shares his pick of the best native annuals native to eastern North America.

Thomas Rainer: A Case for Thoughtful Optimism

March 20, 2024 10:00 - 29 minutes - 40.1 MB

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.

Celebrating Regional Beauty

March 13, 2024 10:00 - 29 minutes - 40.1 MB

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.

Can Genetic Engineering Help Save North American Trees From Imported Threats?

March 06, 2024 11:00 - 29 minutes - 40.1 MB

The American chestnut was a foundational species of eastern forests until an imported blight killed virtually all mature specimens back to stumps in the early 20th century.  Jared Westbrook, Science Director of the American Chestnut Foundation discusses how a project to genetically engineer a blight-resistant American chestnut has revealed the complexity of applying this process to tree species.

A New CEO for the Native Plant Trust

February 28, 2024 11:00 - 29 minutes - 40.1 MB

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.

“Poor Man’s Fertilizer”

February 21, 2024 11:00 - 29 minutes - 40.1 MB

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.

Create Your Own Locally Adapted Garden Seeds

February 14, 2024 11:00 - 29 minutes - 40.1 MB

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.

Invasive Plants Waging Chemical Warfare

February 07, 2024 11:00 - 29 minutes - 40.1 MB

Why are invasive plants so effective in muscling out native species?  Research by Dr. Susan Kalisz of the University of Tennessee Knoxville details how the invaders commonly release chemicals into the soil that disrupt the functioning of native plants and even the soil fungi and bacteria that help them grow.

Easy Hacks for Starting Native Plants from Seed

January 31, 2024 11:00 - 29 minutes - 40.1 MB

Jim Sirch of Yale University’s Peabody Museum shares gardener-friendly resources and an easy, nearly foolproof method for starting natives from seeds, together with tips for finding locally collected seeds wherever you garden in the United States.

Restoring the Canopy of an Olmsted Masterpiece

January 24, 2024 11:00 - 29 minutes - 40.1 MB

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.

Bankrupting Your Garden’s Weed Seed Bank

January 17, 2024 11:00 - 29 minutes - 40.1 MB

There are thousands, millions of weed seeds lying dormant in your garden soil – the “weed seed bank” – waiting for a chance to emerge and invade your plantings.  Listen as Dr. Bryan Brown of Cornell University shares strategies for drawing down the account before those seeds become a problem.

Roots Revealed

January 10, 2024 11:00 - 29 minutes - 40.1 MB

Robert Kourik, a pioneering gardener in Santa Rosa, California shares a new understanding of roots and how gardeners can better foster these hidden but foundational elements of their plants

Rebecca McMackin and the Innovative Beauty of the Ecological Landscape

January 03, 2024 11:00 - 29 minutes - 40.1 MB

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.

Biocontrol – Beating Back Invasive Plants

December 27, 2023 11:00 - 29 minutes - 40.1 MB

Invasive plants flourish in part because in their transition to North America they leave behind the co-evolved pests that help keep them in check in their homelands. Dr. Lisa Tewksbury, Director of the University of Rhode Island Biocontrol Laboratory, describes the painstaking process of introducing to our landscape organisms that can control the invasive plants without harming our native species.

Exploring the Soil Food Web with Elaine Ingham

December 20, 2023 11:00 - 29 minutes - 40.1 MB

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

Biodiversity and Its Importance in the Garden

December 13, 2023 11:00 - 29 minutes - 40.1 MB

Uli Lorimer, Director of Horticulture at the Native Plant Trust, discusses the role gardeners can play in maintaining biodiversity without sacrificing their favorite, non-native plants.

Innovative Education Programs from a Regenerative Landscape Designer

December 06, 2023 11:00 - 29 minutes - 40.1 MB

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.

Botany Made Fun

November 29, 2023 11:00 - 29 minutes - 40.1 MB

Jacob Suissa and Ben Goulet-Scott, two young PhD botanists, have launched an educational non-profit. “Let’s Botanize,” that demonstrates online and for free how accessible and fun plant science can be.

The International Reach of Rewilding Magazine

November 22, 2023 11:00 - 29 minutes - 40.1 MB

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.

A Gardening Calendar For the Era of Climate Change

November 15, 2023 11:00 - 29 minutes - 40.1 MB

Drs. Michael Balick and Gregory Plunkett of the New York Botanical Garden share results of their research in the Pacific nation of Vanuatu, where local informants have shared with them a calendar based on clues from indigenous plants – a calendar that governs residents interactions with nature and which is automatically adjusting to the dislocations of climate change

Leave the Leaves Without Banishing Beauty

November 08, 2023 11:00 - 29 minutes - 40.1 MB

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.

The Special Hazards of Systemic Insecticides

November 01, 2023 10:00 - 29 minutes - 40.1 MB

They sound great – something you apply to a seed or plant and which spreads throughout the organism to provide protection against any insect attack.  The reality, though, as described by Sharon Selvaggio,  Pesticide Program Specialist at the Xerces Society, reveals the way these highly toxic chemicals cause indiscriminate death and persist in the soil for years.

Garden-Making for Those Who Own No Land

October 25, 2023 10:00 - 29 minutes - 40.1 MB

Landscape architect Marissa Angell has worked with premier firms on high profile projects, but today she’s sharing her personal experience with tips for an overlooked demographic: the more than 15 million, largely younger gardeners who rent rather than own.

Native vs. Exotic Plants: Support for Insect Populations

October 18, 2023 10:00 - 29 minutes - 40.1 MB

A hot topic in gardening circles is the relative value of exotic versus native plants for supporting native insect populations, a foundation of the food chain for birds and other wildlife.  Listen to Dr. Douglas Tallamy, best-selling author and professor of insect ecology at the University of Delaware, explain what the data actually reveals.

Tribute to David Salman

October 11, 2023 10:00 - 29 minutes - 40.1 MB

American gardening, which had been for the most part a lesser copy of European landscapes, began an exciting new chapter with the explosion of innovative, regionally adapted gardening styles in the 1980’s.  No one played a larger role in this than the late David Salman of Santa Fe, New Mexico.  Linda Churchill, Director of Horticulture at the Santa Fe Botanical Garden discusses Salman’s contributions and the tribute garden that the Botanical Garden is planning.

Designing the Dragonfly Garden

October 04, 2023 10:00 - 29 minutes - 40.1 MB

Ecological garden designer Christine Cook discusses the beauties and benefits of dragonflies, and how you can make your garden a haven for these exquisite creatures.

Cityscapes as Native Insect Refuges

September 27, 2023 10:00 - 29 minutes - 40.1 MB

Dr. Luis Mata of the University of Melbourne Australia details how the installation of just 12 native plant species turned a small urban greenspace almost overnight into a hotspot for native insect biodiversity

“Biodiversity Builders” Cultivates a New Generation of Native Plant Entrepreneurs

September 20, 2023 10:00 - 29 minutes - 40.1 MB

As “chief seed sower” at Devine Native Plantings, LLC, Jean Devine takes time out from habitat revitalization to mentor students in “Biodiversity Builders,” a paid, six-week program that introduces participants to working in partnership with nature while also building a business

An Overlooked Native Fruit Finds Its Niche

September 13, 2023 10:00 - 29 minutes - 40.1 MB

Compact, beautiful, and trouble-free, the pawpaw is the northernmost representative of a tropical fruit family, a North American native tree that bears large fruits with a delicious, exotic flavor over an extended season, while also supporting a host of native butterflies and moths.  Sheri Crabtree of Kentucky State University’s Pawpaw Program explains why this gem never made it into commercial fruit orchards and why it is ideal for the home garden.

A Brilliant New Book for Gardeners

September 06, 2023 10:00 - 29 minutes - 40.1 MB

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.

How Introduced Plants May Behave Like Ecological Time Bombs

August 30, 2023 10:00 - 29 minutes - 40.1 MB

When our native flowering dogwood tree was laid waste by an imported fungus in the 1970’s, the east Asian kousa dogwood was widely planted as a disease-resistant replacement.  After 50 years, however, it has turned invasive.  Dr. Bethany Bradley of the University of Massachusetts Amherst explains that such a “lag period” is common among introduced plants and why this makes plant introduction a very risky gamble.

Benefits Big and Small of Grassland Planting

August 23, 2023 10:00 - 29 minutes - 40.1 MB

Policy makers have promoted tree planting as a way to sequester carbon and fight climate change, but grassland advocates say that native prairie is more effective in some circumstances and provides unique ecological benefits.  Dr. Jessica Gutknecht of the University of Minnesota examines the opportunities and limitations of this approach, and the potential impact of backyard prairies such as her own.

Greening the Green Industry

August 16, 2023 10:00 - 29 minutes - 40.1 MB

Gardening consumes an enormous amount of plastics, 1.66 billion pounds annually in the U.S. according to the most recent figures, most of it in the form of single-use, unrecyclable pots.  Ecological landscape designer Marie Chieppo has made it her mission to change this.  Learn about how her work is promoting recycling, changes in design to use less plastic, and a switch where possible to biodegradable and compostable substitutes.

A Personal Exploration of the Beauty of Back Yard Insects

August 09, 2023 10:00 - 29 minutes - 40.1 MB

His participation in a Bioblitz introduced Brian Stewart to the fascination of the local insect life.  A dozen years later he had photographed some 400 species in his own back yard, including many strange and beautiful creatures.  Brian shares his story and tips for insect identification in this program first broadcast in November of 2019

Izel Native Plants, Expanding the Palette and Knowledge-Base of American Gardeners

August 02, 2023 10:00 - 29 minutes - 40.1 MB

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.

A Youth Uprising in Montana

July 26, 2023 10:00 - 29 minutes - 40.1 MB

Maya K. van Rossum shares what she observed at the recent trial in Montana, where 16 young natives of that state charged the legislature with deliberately violating the guarantee of “a clean and healthful environment…for present and future generations” in Montana’s state constitution

Back to the New Basics

July 19, 2023 10:00 - 29 minutes - 40.1 MB

Gardening is changing, and our understanding of the field must keep pace. Veteran horticulturist and longtime teacher Joe Seals rises to this challenge in his new book, "Back to the New Basics: A Practical Guide and New Reference Manual to the Ways, the Whys, and the New Sciences of Better, Easier Gardening." A great introduction for the novice and a quick update for experienced gardeners, this is an invaluable book.

A Sherlock Holmes of the Forest

July 12, 2023 10:00 - 29 minutes - 40.1 MB

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

Grassland Gardens for Our Era

July 05, 2023 10:00 - 29 minutes - 40.1 MB

As our climates grow warmer and frequently drier, gardeners need the drought and heat tolerance, and innate sustainability of our native grassland plants more than ever.  In their new book, The Gardener’s Guide to Prairie Plants, Neil Diboll and Hilary Cox have combined their decades of experience to produce an indispensable tool for beginners and veterans alike, with invaluable advice about how to create functioning grassland ecosystems inside and outside the prairie states.

Making Our Vegetable Gardens More Climate Resilient

June 28, 2023 10:00 - 29 minutes - 40.1 MB

“Grow Your Own” is a cornerstone of sustainability, but our vegetable gardens are being challenged by increasingly erratic weather as the climate changes.  John Traunfeld, Program Director at the University of Maryland’s Home & Garden Information Center shares his experiences in making food gardens more climate resilient, and how this can even draw our communities closer together.

Gardening on a Lead-Contaminated Soil

June 21, 2023 10:00 - 29 minutes - 40.1 MB

Lead contamination is common in soils of many residential neighborhoods in urban, suburban, and even rural settings.  Soil scientist Clay Robinson – “Dr. Dirt” – details where this problem is most likely, how to test your soil, and how appropriate gardening can provide protection.

Sculpting Sunlight

June 14, 2023 10:00 - 29 minutes - 40.1 MB

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

Beautiful and Field Tested Native Lawns

June 07, 2023 10:00 - 29 minutes - 40.1 MB

Dan Jaffe Wilder’s response to the polluting sterility of the traditional lawn?  Plant strawberries.  And that’s only one of many intriguing – and tested - proposals made by this talented native plants pioneer. 

A Critical Look at Permaculture

May 31, 2023 10:00 - 29 minutes - 40.1 MB

Robert Kourik, a pioneer of sustainable gardening, draws on his 45 years of experience with Permaculture to explore the strengths and weaknesses of this controversial gardening movement

More about Mulch

May 24, 2023 10:00 - 29 minutes - 40.1 MB

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.”

Plant a Living Mulch

May 17, 2023 10:00 - 29 minutes - 40.1 MB

Ecological gardening leader Larry Weaner details how you can get all the benefits of conventional mulch, plus boosting biodiversity and wildlife, with a well-designed and beautiful groundcover of native plants

Guaranteeing Your Right to a Healthy Environment

May 10, 2023 10:00 - 29 minutes - 40.1 MB

Maya K. van Rossum discusses Green Amendments for the Generations, the movement she founded to bring an amendment to every state constitution guaranteeing residents’ basic human right to clean air and water, and a healthy environment

An Introduction to Veganic Gardening

May 03, 2023 10:00 - 29 minutes - 40.1 MB

John Walker, a horticulturist who trained at the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew and a multi award winner environmental writer, shares advice on Veganic Gardening, an approach that combines organic practices with plant-based nurturing of the soil with resources found or grown on-site for maximum sustainability.

Shopping for Topsoil

April 26, 2023 10:00 - 29 minutes - 40.1 MB

Buying topsoil is a quick and popular fix for many garden problems – but buyer beware says Dawn Pettinelli, Director of the University of Connecticut’s Soil & Nutrient Analysis Lab.  There are no industry standards, not even a definition, of what makes a good topsoil. Dawn shares tips on making sure the topsoil you buy is non-toxic and of a quality that will benefit your plants.

A Rift in the Native Plant World

April 19, 2023 10:00 - 29 minutes - 40.1 MB

“Gardeners are the worst threat to native plants.”  Hostility toward horticulturists is common within the ecological restoration community. But, John Gedraitis of Van Berkum Nursery says, it’s an impediment to growers such as him who want to expand the availability of local ecotype plants, genetically adapted natives grown from locally collected wild seed.