Our Plant Stories

When Andrea moved to a new home, 12 years ago, there was a Monkey Puzzle tree in the front garden. She wasn't keen, it was marked down to go but it is still there. Find out why in this Monkey Puzzle Plant Story. These trees first came to the UK in 1795 but they didn't really start to become popular till the 1850s. Queen Victoria saw the tree and wanted one for Prince Albert. We have a Chilean bota...

Who were the celebrity gardeners of the 1850's and why were they important to a fledgling charity called Perennial? The charity still exists today. It's dedicated to looking after people working in horticulture and their families, at any stage of life. The charity's roots go back almost 200 years and garden historian, Francesca Murray has, for her Phd, spent many hours in its archive. She shares a...

Never say to Mona Abboud - "this plant is only for trade". This is a wonderful story of one woman's hunt for a plant, there's detective work, there's blackmail! The result is a beautiful New Zealand garden in North London created by a woman who has never set foot in New Zealand. Mona is on a one woman mission to get us all to love corokia - see if she can persuade you too, aided by Fiona Eadie, th...

"What is a Purdom" by Vicky Aspin's own admission this was her first reaction to being sent to the Purdom bed in Holehird gardens. Then her curiosity was aroused by a name plaque on a bench: For Three Native Lakeland Gardeners, William Purdom and sons William and Harry and from that her hunt began...who was William Purdom? Her searches before the era of the internet, led her eventually to China an...

Season 2 of Our Plant Stories is here! And we begin with a very beautiful story from Penn Allen, a listener to the podcast who contacted me with a plant story that takes us to the Lake District. Diaries from Penn's Great Grandmother Alice Hough and her husband Harry reveal a garden built with love in the midst of loss and a friendship with Will Purdom that spanned years and continents leading to p...

Our Plant Stories is back for a second season and once again the plant stories are going to take us all over the world. To follow and dig into the stories we'll be meeting gardeners, botanists and historians and along the way of course we will learn how to grow the plants. Season 2 starts 12th January 2024. If you have a story that you would like me to follow up in this new series you can email me...

Welcome to a bumper crop of plant stories! I'm looking back over some moments from this years episodes but I also invited 3 other plant podcasters to do the same with their podcasts - hence the 'friends'. We've all picked some clips from the past year that we hope you will enjoy. So thanks to Jane Perrone from On the Ledge , Sarah Wilson from Roots and All and M.T. O'Donnell of Scotland Grows . Th...

I'd like to transport you to Levens Hall and a garden that was created in 1694 when topiary was the height of fashion and taste. Over the intervening 329 years this Lake District garden has had only 10 Head Gardeners and each has cared for and clipped that topiary. We first met the current head gardener, Chris Crowder, in Episode 8 in conversation with Diana Boston about the slow nature of gardeni...

A short bonus episode to help us celebrate the UK's National Apple Day! Listen for just 15 minutes and you will have some fascinating facts both historical and horticultural to share with others this weekend or just anytime! And I hope you will look at the trees, the apples and the pips in a slightly different light. See pictures of the Reverend Wilkes on the website along with links to all the or...

In October, 140 years ago, Mr R. Gilbert of 'the Gardens Burghley House in Stamford' exhibited the Peasgood's nonsuch apple at the National Apple conference held by the RHS in Chiswick. In Episode 5 , we learned of the Peasgood's nonsuch; apples the size of small training footballs. Mr R. Gilbert was a prize winning Victorian gardener in charge of the walled and pleasure gardens at Burghley House....

We return to two lovely florists with a passion for flowers in this Offshoot episode. We first met Hannah and Maya in Episode 9 , when Hannah told us the story of her plant tattoos, which honour and remind her of her mum. Maya introduced us to floriography - the language of flowers. Hannah offered to take me to New Covent Garden Market where she goes to buy flowers which is a place I have always w...

We first visited the Manor in Hemingford Grey in Episode 8 , admiring the topiary: crowns and orbs that were shaped for the Queen's coronation. But this is a garden that holds many stories, including airmen from the second world war, picnicking on the lawn and the adventures of the children from the Green Knowe story books. You can see photographs of this special garden on the episode page. Check...

Imagine taking your 'babies' from show to show to show. That's what Vicky Meads has been doing with her Hostas all Summer. We first met Vicky back in May when she was gearing up for the season. I caught up with her first at RHS Malvern and then at the big one - the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. This is a chance to see the shows through the eyes of the grower. Can she achieve that prestigious Gold Medal...

Jane Perrone, as a small child was given a very responsible job in the school library, involving Spider plants and look what it has led to - a houseplant podcast called On the Ledge and a book ' Legends of the Leaf '. I hope, if you have a forgotten Spider plant somewhere in your home, this episode will inspire you to repot it and show it a little more love! We learn where and how Chlorophytum com...

In Episode 3 we heard about Fig Tree cuttings carried by the Italian Immigrants to new homes in America. In this Fig tree Off-Shoot we hear about Fig tree cuttings that were a gift from the Pope in Rome to the Archbishop of Canterbury, 500 years ago! And the three Fig Trees are still growing in the Lambeth Palace courtyard in London. Nick Stewart Smith has just published a book called The 1000 Yea...

Over 30 years ago Emma Dogliani planted a Magnolia tree. The reason she planted the tree was a sad one, a miscarriage in her first pregnancy. But that tree over the years also became a great source of joy. Recently she moved house. She would really like to take a cutting from that tree for her new home. She's tried once but it didn't work, can we help her? You can find all the advice and photos on...

It's 200 years since the first Camellia arrived at the Royal Botanic Garden in Sydney, Australia. This is truly a plant story that spans continents and history but it's not all about the past. A new Camellia garden is about to be planted and there's been a 'Camellia Ark' to find and collect plants from across Australia. You can find photographs, information and bonus audio on the website www.ourpl...

As Summer approaches and we shed the sweaters, I am sure you will start to notice people's tattoos. Hannah is a florist, so if you met her, you might not be surprised by her plant tattoos. But the selection of each plant has a story and they are interwoven with her Mum. This is an episode that touches on love, grief and memory. You can see Hannah's plant tattoos and learn this week how to grow fre...

"The individual trees take on their own character - it's like your garden is peopled and generations of humans have passed by, scurrying about at their feet". Two gardeners discuss slow gardening; topiary. Planting a yew bush that could live up to 1000 years. Find lots of pictures and information on the website: www.ourplantstories.com Fade to Black by Howard Levy Presented and Produced by Sally F...

Hostas - discuss them with your friends and you inevitably end up talking about slugs and snails. Unless you are Alison, whose hostas grow unchallenged with not a snail in sight. For the rest of us, Vicky Meads of New Forest Hostas is a fount of knowledge. Who knew you could eat them and that a sacrificial lamb may save your hostas from snails. There is lots of information in the show notes on the...

A Willow tree on a beautiful English river bank. A big pillow of nature where you can sit surrounded by leaves. Known also to the artist Andrew Carter as 'the tree I fell out of' and the inspiration for a wonderful print. Can we recreate that special place in our own gardens? Find pictures and information in the show notes at www.ourplantstories.com Presented and Produced by Sally Flatman Music: F...

Andy Peasgood has a childhood memory of hopping around under a huge apple tree that had apples the size of small footballs. Is his memory playing tricks? Anna in BC says her Great Grandmother grew the tree from an apple pip but can we find Anna? The story of the Peasgood's nonsuch apple tree takes us on a journey and we learn that apples are like humans! Find masses of information about this in th...

This week we share a story about mint, picked for a tea and a time to sit and talk. Except that is not so easy when you are now in London and your family are in Kyiv, but still Anya describes it as 'a plant which keeps us together.' We hear about a chain of gardening knowledge passed through 4 generations of Ukrainian women. We also talk about how people garden even in the midst of war with war jo...

In Dion's backyard in Boston there was a Fig tree. Every Fall, his dad, watched by the six children, would wrap it up to protect it against the Winter weather. But where did the Fig tree come from and why was it so important to him? Mary Menniti runs the Italian Garden Projec t and she knows the answers to these questions. She has travelled across America gathering the stories of these Fig trees....

A Passion flower, Passiflora in a South London garden that seemed as glamorous and exotic as the grandmother who grew it; both a little mysterious. A grower - Myles Steward Irvine, who read an article in a Sunday paper, sent off for a catalogue and ended up breeding them. What is the attraction of this plant? Spanish priests called it - La flor de las cinco heridas or the flower with fiv...