Garden Futurist

Read the companion article here . Garden Futurist is highlighting examples of innovative programs in the Pacific region that are truly preparing students for the future of horticulture within a variety of careers. There has been some alarm in the last decade around the loss of horticulture and plant related degree and certificate programs. Can we get to the bottom of the conflict in views between...

Summer 2024  Read the companion article here . We are highlighting examples of innovative programs in the Pacific region that are truly preparing students for the future of horticulture within a variety of careers. There has been some alarm in the last decade around the loss of horticulture and plant related degree and certificate programs. Can we get to the bottom of the conflict in views between...

Spring 2024  Read the companion article  here . “On all scales, at a time when nature biodiversity is facing enormous challenges because of urbanization and climate change, the garden in the broadest sense should be a place where we can celebrate the beauty of plants and the functionality of that space—it should also serve nature.” Internationally acclaimed horticulture writer, garden, and plantin...

Read the companion article  here . “On all scales, at a time when nature biodiversity is facing enormous challenges because of urbanization and climate change, the garden in the broadest sense should be a place where we can celebrate the beauty of plants and the functionality of that space—it should also serve nature.” Internationally acclaimed horticulture writer, garden, and planting designer No...

Spring 2024  Read the companion article  here . Learning to garden with fruit trees can connect you to unimaginable flavor experiences, a romance with non-commercial cultivars, and a willingness to try grafting.  We spoke with Dr. Rachel Spaeth, Interim Curator of the Prunus Collection for the USDA Agricultural Research Service in Davis, CA about ways to support biodiversity conservation for real...

Spring 2024  Read the companion article  here . Learning to garden with fruit trees can connect you to unimaginable flavor experiences, a romance with non-commercial cultivars, and a willingness to try grafting.  We spoke with Dr. Rachel Spaeth, Interim Curator of the Prunus Collection for the USDA Agricultural Research Service in Davis, CA about ways to support biodiversity conservation for real...

Spring 2024  Read the companion article  here . For those who love a good mystery, the work to rediscover rare and thought-to-be-extinct heirloom varieties of apples is an incredible story. 17,000 named apple varieties were at one point cultivated in North America. Today, only a fraction remains. David Benscoter, Founder of the Lost Apple Project, shares how committed sleuthing has led to the mira...

Read the article here . We know that the tree canopy plays a huge part in climate resilience. Urban centers are often the sites of first introductions of invasive pests and pathogens. Knowing what to look for can help us avoid unhealthy plants in our own gardens, but a bit of knowledge might just prevent real disaster. Protecting our urban forests takes all of us working together, professionals an...

Winter 2024 Read the companion article  here . We know that the tree canopy plays a huge part in climate resilience. Urban centers are often the sites of first introductions of invasive pests and pathogens. Knowing what to look for can help us avoid unhealthy plants in our own gardens, but a bit of knowledge might just prevent real disaster. Protecting our urban forests takes all of us working tog...

Read the companion article  here . Invertebrates do so many important things. But beyond the benefits they provide to ecosystems, they’re fascinating creatures. When you look at them closely, bees are all sorts of metallic colors. There is a beautiful diversity of butterflies. Parasitoid wasps have amazing antenna that are branching in different directions. A lot of us just aren’t aware of them wh...

Winter 2024 Read the companion article here . Invertebrates do so many important things. But beyond the benefits they provide to ecosystems, they’re fascinating creatures. When you look at them closely, bees are all sorts of metallic colors. There is a beautiful diversity of butterflies. Parasitoid wasps have amazing antenna that are branching in different directions. A lot of us just aren’t aware...

Winter 2023 Read the companion article here . This is a really special time of year and at Pacific Horticulture we are attempting to connect with nature in a way that may feel a bit off-kilter to many of us gardeners- we are embracing the darkness!   Helping to introduce this topic, we have Katherine Renz, author of the recent article “The Night Garden: Design for Pollinators and People that Thriv...

Winter 2023 Read the companion article here . This is a really special time of year and at Pacific Horticulture we are attempting to connect with nature in a way that may feel a bit off-kilter to many of us gardeners- we are embracing the darkness!   Helping to introduce this topic, we have Katherine Renz, author of the recent article “The Night Garden: Design for Pollinators and People that Thriv...

Fall 2023 Read the companion article here . From a gardener's hyperlocal natural history to raw, existential questions, in her new book What We Sow , Jennifer Jewell delves into researching the story of seeds. There is so much talk about biodiversity loss and climate change, yet the central, essential role of seeds is often missing from greater public discourse. Join us as we explore seed conserva...

Read the companion article  here . There is a very cool set of native plants that are related to the plants we eat. You can likely find these Crop Wild Relatives in areas around where you live. These plants can help us better understand how familiar plants evolved, while they hold keys to helping us adapt in the future. Meet two scientists who are passionate about maximizing biodiversity on our pl...

Read the companion article  here . If you knew it would reduce erosion risks, sequester more carbon, require less fuel, fertilizer, and pesticides to grow them, would you eat a new perennial grain?   The Land Institute states that: “Our science has demonstrated that new perennial grain crops can be developed, and that diverse, ecologically intensified cropping systems hold the potential to bring g...

Read the companion article  here . This episode explores the landscape history of cities as ecosystems, not ecosystems of business but actual living systems.   New research shows that urban gardens support a greater number of species than an equivalent sized semi-wild rural habitat. As gardeners, as horticulturists, we may want to curate these gardened environments. How much urban landscape should...

Summer 2023 Read the companion article  here . Joey Santore shares his enthusiasm for studying the diversity, evolution and ecology of the Earth’s plant life so we can see it’s the least boring topic there is! Shedding pretention to get real, this interview digs into why we should embrace Botanical Latin and a distaste for elitism as we rip out lawns and find plant exploration in unexpected places...

Read the companion article  here . “It’s going to take all peoples from all cultural backgrounds to grow and build a resilient and solid food system for our urban centers.”   Michelle Week is a first-generation female Native farmer. She owns and operates x̌ast sq̓it which translates to Good Rain in the traditional language of the Arrow Lakes peoples.   Michelle Week brings us a story that is about...

Read the companion article  here . Pollination ecologist Dr. Stephen Buchmann has been studying bee biology for more than four decades. His new book is  What a Bee Knows Exploring the Thoughts, Memories, and Personalities of Bees . “In every possible way, my life has been a wonderful and fascinating journey into the private lives of bees while discovering some of their innermost mysteries.” This e...

What happens when a landscape architecture firm started by an ecologist becomes a force for community change? Garden Futurist talks to Kate Hayes from Miridae about building immersive nature experiences that support plant communities, wildlife, and neighborhoods by embracing community science and gardening. Are you designing gardens that change the world? Show us Your Solutions Pacific Horticultur...

Alessandro Ossola is a scientist who gets very excited about the challenge of climate change allowing for an opportunity, and he describes it as an historic opportunity for all of us, scientists, gardeners and all types of decision-makers, to really challenge the status-quo and come up with innovative solutions. “Where we can change the narrative though, is we’ve always seen cities, this is true g...

Read the transcript here . “ Going from the mow and blow to a more horticulturally knowledgeable approach to maintaining the landscape. And that that’s a big change. That’s a really big change, but basically we’re increasing the canopy cover and we’re cooling, we’re greening, we’re storing more carbon. We’re providing all these benefits, and one of the biggest being the wildlife. All the nature th...

Read the Transcript Article  here , which includes links to resources and images from the panel’s presentations.  This episode was sponsored by:  Bartlett Tree Experts Welcome to Part Two of our special two-part episode of Garden Futurist, called “What Climate Is This?”, with Bart O’Brien, Adrienne St. Clair, Kathleen Norris Brenzel, Glenn Griffith, Ryan Longman, and Dan McKenney.  It is part of o...

Read the Transcript Article here , which includes links to resources and images from the panel's presentations. This episode was sponsored by: Bartlett Tree Experts Welcome to a special two-part episode of Garden Futurist, called “What Climate Is This?”, with Bart O'Brien, Adrienne St. Clair, Kathleen Norris Brenzel, Glenn Griffith, Ryan Longman, and Dan McKenney.  It is part of our series, “Multi...