Plants Grow Here - Horticulture, Landscape Gardening & Ecology

Amanda Brezzell from Fennigan's Farms is back! She's brought her friend Tepfirah Rushdan, a.k.a. Tee, to speak about community gardening, and why it's such an important part of the black community in their home city of Detroit. EPISODE LINKS Check out the Fennigan's Farms website: https://fennigansfarms.com/ Follow Fennigan's Farms on Twitter: https://twitter.com/fennigans...

Dr Richard Bate is back! The orchid family is one of the most beloved groups of plants known to humankind, and they're a passion of Richard's. In this episode, he explains how we can identify a true orchid, how we can differentiate between different types of orchids, and why they have such a special place in so many gardener's hearts. EPISODE LINKS Dr Richard Bate on Twitter: https:...

Andrew Whitelaw (a.k.a. Wheat Watcher) is an agricultural market analyst and podcaster that is here to tell us how we can fit agricultural roles into our horticultural careers. There are skills we can learn as horticulturists out in the country that can make us much better pro gardeners, such as pruning, soil conditioning and hard manual labour. Not to mention the fact that the vacuum left by back...

Some differences aren't easy to spot. In this episode, Candra Burns helps us become more compassionate to the different ways our brains work so that we are able to retain staff, and create a happier workplace. She's a podcaster, social media consultant and content creator that's had extensive experience with workplace inclusivity. Don't forget to subscribe to both the Plants Gr...

Compost is a gardener's best friend. It feeds your plants, amends your soil, and it's made of so-called "waste". Mark Valencia from Self Sufficient me is back for this episode, because he's the compost king, and the best person to explain this important topic. EPISODE LINKS The Self Sufficient Me YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJZTjBlrnDHYmf0F-eYXA3Q The...

I've got a good news story for you! In this episode, Tim Park, manager at  Ōtari Native Botanic Gardens, speaking about how reintroducing the kaka beak plant into gardens in Wellington has brought the native kaka bird back from the brink of extinction. This is a story of the mutualistic relationship between a bird and a plant, and it demonstrates a number of principles that can be widely appl...

Part 2 of the 2 part MIFGS series is even bigger than the first part. Join me as I make my way through a fair chunk of the Melbourne International Flower & Garden Show. EPISODE LINKS MIFGS: https://melbflowershow.com.au/ Travellers Aid: https://www.travellersaid.org.au/ Beyond Blue: https://www.beyondblue.org.au/ Garden City Plastics: https://www.gardencityplastics.com/ Denis Crawford's O...

MIFGS, a.k.a. the Melbourne International Flower & Garden Show, is back in 2022 after  a 2 year hiatus. I was lucky enough to attend for each of the 5 days, where I networked, volunteered, and interviewed people doing interesting things in the gardening space. This is part 1 of the 2 part MIFGS series. EPISODE LINKS MIFGS website: https://melbflowershow.com.au/ Hort Journal Australia: https://...

Have you ever looked at your pruning and wondered, "did I do that right?" If you're uncertain of your pruning skills, you're probably getting it wrong, which causes damage to your precious trees and causes unsightly epicormic growth. Luckily, Gary Moran is back! And in this episode, he's going to teach us how to prune trees correctly. Much of what he has to say applies to...

Shout out to Eucalyptus regnans! The Eucalypt of the Year for 2022, and also the tallest flowering plant in the world. There's been a technical issue that's prevented us from releasing the fourth part in our eucalypt series, but don't worry! It'll be ready for you to listen to in a few weeks. EPISODE LINKS Visit the Eucalypt Australia website: https://www.eucalyptaustralia.org....

Are eucalypts widow makers? Do they poison the soil? Do they destroy buildings? We're celebrating #NationalEucalyptDay by busting some eucalypt myths with Dean Nicolle, a botanist, arborist and gum nut that manages the largest collection of eucalypt species in the world, at Currency Creek Arboretum. This is the third episode in our four-part eucalypt series - look forward to next week's...

What if we mixed exercise with plant appreciation?  That's exactly what we're talking about in this episode with Dr Meg Hirst and Georgia Warren, who are running an exciting program at the Royal Botanic Gardens of Victoria (RBGV) with participants from the public. Make sure you subscribe to Hort Journal Australia so you receive a physical copy of the magazine every month to read in the s...

We're celebrating #NationalEucalyptDay by discussing the chemistry of eucalypts and their oils with Professor Ros Gleadow, a board member for Eucalypt Australia and Professor of Plant Sciences at Monash University. This is the second episode in our four-part eucalypt series - look forward to next week's episode with Dean Nicolle about eucalypt mythbusting. EPISODE LINKS Visit the Eucalyp...

How can we keep bees ethically and sustainably while harvesting their delicious honey? In this episode, Cormac Farrell, head beekeeper at the Parliament of Australia, explains what bees do, how they do it, and how we as humans can responsibly use them as livestock to obtain a yield for ourselves. As a professional gardener, it's a topic that comes up from time to time, and even if you have no...

All throughout March we're dropping an episode every week to celebrate National Eucalypt Day with Eucalypt Australia! We're kicking this 4 part series off with an introduction to eucs with Linda Baird, who's the CEO of Eucalypt Australia. We had a wide-ranging chat covering topics such as their unique flower structures, their benefits for native wildlife, and the contended title for...

So you'd like to start, or progress, your horticultural career. This episode with John Sheely, who's the head gardener at Warrnambool Botanic Gardens, is designed to give you a bird's eye view of the different pathways you can take in parks and gardens, production horticulture, agriculture, and a range of other sectors within the horticultural industry. Make sure you check out my la...

We have some stunning native flora in Victoria, as well as around the rest of Australia, and many of the most beautiful plants you can imagine are at-risk or endangered. What if we brought some of those plants into cultivation in order to preserve them? Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria (RBGV) is doing just that with their Raising Rarity program, and in this episode, Karen Smith, editor for our spons...

Ben Courtice is back to talk about pollinator preferences for flowers, with a focus on native insect pollinators. He's an ecologist, botanist and bush regenerator that's done his honours research on the button wrinklewort, an endemic aster in Victoria, and was trying to figure out why they were declining. We discuss floral constancy, density, shape, and a range of other factors that play...

Karen Smith is back for a second landscape business episode, and this time she's brought landscape business coach, John Corban along for the ride. He's going to take us deeper into the world of landscape business ownership and will teach anybody looking to start a new landscape business, or anyone looking to advance their existing business, some of the tricks he's picked up along hi...

Tom Wall is a guitarist that plays music with plants, using a device that translates a plant's electromagnetic output into music. In this episode, he tells us about his journey from Michigan to California to make music with the giant redwoods and sequoias. EPISODE LINKS This is the source of the audio used in the intro: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atZFZW8a5W0 Check out the Cosmic Knot web...

Have you ever wondered what it takes to start a landscape business of your own? In this episode, Karen Smith helps us understand how we can start a landscape business of our own, including setting up your business, branding and marketing, employing staff, and more. EPISODE LINKS Visit Hort Journal Australia: https://hortjournal.com.au/ Contact Hort Journal Australia: https://hortjournal.com.au/con...

Good horticulture and agriculture begins with the soil. So why did Jake Hamilton, a grain and legume farmer in QLD, spend untold amounts to level his land? In this episode, he answers this question and explains how we can start our own soil levelling journey using the right technology and equipment, and he also explains some of the tech and equipment that didn't work so well for him and his f...

The Australian 2019-20 bushfire season is still fresh in our memories, but many people aren't educated on how to plan for fire in their gardens. In this episode, Karen Smith interviews Lesley Corbett, author of the wonderful book Safer Gardens: Planning For Fire & Plant Flammability. Learn which plants are more flammable than which other plants, and learn about what factors make any plant...

The palm family (Aracaceae) consists of plants that we can easily recognise, with their tall stems and crown of fronds at the tip. But did you know there are branching palms, and some that even climb as a vine? Listen to this episode to take a closer look at these wonderful plants through a botanic lens. EPISODE LINKS Scott's Twitter: https://twitter.com/Scott_Zona Scott's Instagram: htt...

How is the horticultural industry changing? In this episode, I chat about long-term trends such as workplace diversity, ecological awareness, the move from petrol to lithium-ion and much more with my mentor Karen Smith (who's also the editor for this episode's sponsor Hort Journal Australia). Whether you know you're a bit stuck in the past with your practices, or you reckon you are...