Down The Garden Path Podcast

In this episode of Down the Garden Path , landscape designers Matthew Dressing and Joanne Shaw continue their month-long discussion of popular flowering trees with a look at some of the other popular flowering tree cultivars we often see in the landscape. Tune in this week as Joanne and Matt discuss: The following popular flowering tree groups, their preferences, size, zones, and recommended culti...

In this episode of Down the Garden Path , landscape designers Matthew Dressing and Joanne Shaw continue their month-long discussion on flowering trees with a look at some of the popular flowering species of dogwood. Tune in to learn more about how to successfully include dogwoods in your garden. Joanne and Matt discuss: Where does the term 'dogwood' come from? Common species, their popular cultiva...

In this episode of Down the Garden Path , landscape designers Matthew Dressing and Joanne Shaw continue their month-long discussion on flowering trees with a look at some of the medium-sized flowering landscape specimens. Tune in to learn more about how to incorporate medium-sized flowering trees in your garden. Joanne and Matt pick up where they left off last week and expand their answers to some...

This week, landscape designers Matthew Dressing and Joanne Shaw start the month exploring a new topic on Down the Garden Path : flowering trees. In this episode, they begin with a look at small flowering trees, which are referred to as standard trees. Tune in to learn more about how to incorporate standard flowering trees in your garden. Joanne and Matt discuss: What is considered a "standard" flo...

This month on Down the Garden Path , landscape designers Matthew Dressing and Joanne Shaw explore some of the most popular shrubs to grace nursery benches and gardens. In this episode, they take a look at weigelas, their colourful foliage, seasons of bloom, and the different sized cultivars to fit perfectly in any garden. Tune in to learn more about how to successfully grow weigelas in your garden...

This month on Down the Garden Path , landscape designers Matthew Dressing and Joanne Shaw explore some of the most popular shrubs to grace nursery benches and gardens. In this episode, they discuss the many colourful ninebarks, their multiple seasons of interest, and the different cultivars which fit perfectly in any garden. Tune in to learn more about how you can include ninebarks in your garden....

This month on Down the Garden Path , landscape designers Matthew Dressing and Joanne Shaw explore some of the most popular shrubs to grace nursery benches and gardens. In this episode, Matt and Joanne finish up where they left off in last week's conversation about hydrangeas. To listen to Hydrangeas Part One, click here . Tune in for the second in a two-part series on hydrangeas. In Hydrangeas: Pa...

This month on Down the Garden Path , landscape designers Matthew Dressing and Joanne Shaw take a deep dive into some of the most popular shrubs which grace the nursery benches and our gardens. In this episode, they begin their discussion with a two-part series on hydrangeas. Tune in for the first in a two-part series on hydrangeas. In Hydrangeas: Part 1 – Annabelle & Oakleaf, Joanne and Matt discu...

This week on Down the Garden Path , landscape designers Matthew Dressing and Joanne Shaw wrapped up their deep dive into some of the colourful and resilient staples of the perennial garden with a look at a favourite of many, perennial geraniums, or cranesbills. Tune in to learn more about perennial geraniums. Matt and Joanne explain: the difference between hybrid, cultivar and variety; this is con...

This month on the podcast, landscape designers Matthew Dressing and Joanne Shaw take a deep dive into some of the colourful and resilient staples of the perennial garden. Last week on Down the Garden Path , they examined Echinacea & Rudbeckia, and in this episode, they discuss perennial foliage plants. No garden is complete without some interesting perennial foliage. Tune in as Matt and Joanne dis...

This month on Down the Garden Path podcast, landscape designers Matthew Dressing and Joanne Shaw take a deep dive into some of the colourful and resilient staples of the perennial garden. Last week's topic was Salvias and Speedwells and in this episode, they discuss Echinacea & Rudbeckia, also known as Purple Coneflower and Black-eyed Susan. Tune in to learn more about Echinacea & Rudbeckia. Disco...

This week on Down the Garden Path podcast, landscape designers Matthew Dressing and Joanne Shaw take a look at salvias and speedwells, the colourful and resilient staples of the perennial garden. Tune in and learn more about how to include salvias and speedwells in your garden. Perennial Salvias (also known as "sage") are a must-have for the garden border, blooming early summer to autumn! Planted...

In this week's episode of Down the Garden Path, Matt and Joanne welcome returning guest Gardening Girl Julia Dimakos to discuss digging deep with veggies. Julia started growing food after having children and fell in love with it!  She gardens organically and tries to keep things simple while growing new and uncommon vegetables each year. Her garden is located in Mono, Ontario, on 25 acres on the N...

This week on Down the Garden Path, landscape designers Matthew Dressing and Joanne Shaw take a look at new and unusual annuals in the garden and the best way to care for them. Joanne and Matt discuss new and unusual annuals and how to care for them. Some of the topics include: What's the difference between annuals and perennials? How do we take care of our annuals in the garden? Conditions that ne...

May is a busy gardening month as we prepare our gardens for a new season. But what about ourselves?  How we get ready to garden is just as important. This week on Down The Garden Path , we're joined by chiropractor Dr. Geoff Smith with the tips and tricks we need to keep ourselves safe, healthy, and happy while working in our gardens. Dr. Geoff Smith is a chiropractor with 20 years of experience....

This week on Down the Garden Path, landscape designers Matthew Dressing and Joanne Shaw kick off the month by answering your questions about planting and what you should be doing in the garden in May. This week, Joanne Shaw and Matthew Dressing answer your May planting and gardening questions. They cover a variety of topics, including: The popularity of fruit trees: Matt discusses cocktail trees w...

This week on Down the Garden Path, landscape designers Matthew Dressing and Joanne Shaw wrap up their month-long discussion on lawn care with a look at the different ways to control white grubs and other pests in the lawn. Joanne and Matt answer your questions on grub control. What beetles are leaving white grubs in the lawn? What is the life cycle of these insect pests? What products are there? I...

This week on Down the Garden Path, landscape designers Matthew Dressing and Joanne Shaw continue their month-long discussion on lawn care by looking at the different lawn fertilizers and what works best when. Joanne and Matt answer your questions on lawn fertilizer. What times of the year do we put down lawn fertilizer? How do I apply lawn fertilizer? Can I apply it by hand? Synthetic vs. organic...

This week on Down the Garden Path, landscape designers Matthew Dressing and Joanne Shaw kick off their month-long discussion on lawn care by looking at where we are now with our lawn care and answering your questions. Joanne and Matt answer your questions and discuss where the lawn care season is so far. How did your lawn make it through the winter? What lawn issues do you have to address this spr...

Goodbye March and welcome to April!  This week on Down the Garden Path, landscape designers Matthew Dressing and Joanne Shaw discuss what NOT to do in your garden this month. Tune into this week's podcast to learn what you shouldn't be doing in the garden in April. Matt and Joanne covered four of their top "don'ts" for April: Rake and take away leaf debris Walk on soggy parts of the lawn and garde...

This week on Down The Garden Path , we wrap up our month-long talk about hardscaping with a look at water garden trends. Joining us is returning guest Ernest Williams from Aquascape. Ernest Williams is the Territory Sales Manager at Aquascape for Eastern and Northern Ontario. Aquascape is a manufacturer of water garden products and connects people to water the way nature intended. Homeowners have...

This week on Down The Garden Path , we speak with Connie Cadotte of Garden Retreats about pool design. Since 1997, Garden Retreats has been creating residential gardens across the GTA. Their philosophy is to create a garden that will reflect a family's lifestyle and provide years of enjoyment. Their goals is to achieve a balance between the client's wish list and the actual implementation of the g...

This week on Down The Garden Path , we speak with Aquatech Irrigation Systems' Paul Kostka about lighting and irrigation. Paul Kostka has worked in the irrigation business for 18 years with Aquatech Irrigation Systems. For the past nine years, he has specialized in landscape lighting with the creation of the lighting branch of the company, Lightech. Join us this week for our conversation about lig...

This week on Down The Garden Path , we speak with The Growing Season's Matt McFarland about landscape design. Matt McFarland grew up in a Landscape household and after 32 years in horticulture, he still gets excited about plants. Matt's father Jack ran Glen Echo Landscaping and Blue Jay Landscaping for 20 years. He instilled in Matt a love of the outdoors and the elegance of working with rocks and...

Goodbye February and welcome to March! With spring just a few weeks away and warmer weather creeping into our forecasts, we're looking ahead to landscape design projects. This week on Down the Garden Path, landscape designers Matthew Dressing and Joanne Shaw answer your (many!) hardscaping questions. Tune into this week's podcast and get Your Hardscaping Questions Answered. Matt and Joanne fielded...