The Horticulturati

We're back at Colleen's picnic table to reflect on what we've learned (horticulturally and emotionally) in the year since Uri, the crippling 2021 snow-and-ice storm that plunged Texas into single-digit temperatures and left 40% of Austin residents without power and/or water for days. Last year we recorded a few episodes about the immediate aftermath of the Snowpocalypse ; now we're examining the s...

Here's a preview of our Patreon bonus segment, "In The Weeds." To hear the full episode and get other exclusive content, join The Horticulturati for $5 a month at  patreon.com/horticulturati.

This podcast is two years old! To celebrate, Colleen announces the release of her new BOOK and Leah brings you to the dark side of the plant kingdom with sinister tales of the horticultural uncanny. Journey with us to "Flytrap Gulch," the Alnwick Poison Garden , and a greenhouse full of googly eyes . In the words of Michael Pollan: "A garden should contain all the colors of human emotion, even the...

Here's a preview of our Patreon bonus segment, "In The Weeds." To hear the full episode and get other exclusive content, join The Horticulturati for $5 a month at patreon.com/horticulturati. Once you sign up, mark your calendars and join us for a live ASK US ANYTHING session on Friday, February 18 at 7pm CST! A link to this Google Hangout event will be provided to all our Patreon patrons. 

Wintry mix and Stage 5 Restrictions have us turning once again to the bookshelf. In this episode, we're diving into Thomas Rainer and Claudia West's instant classic Planting in a Post-Wild World: Designing Plant Communities for Resilient Landscapes (Timber Press, 2015). Rainer and West write that the "vast wild spaces" that once covered North America have been tamed into abstraction; due to indust...

Happy New Year! We're back from vacation with a discussion of a book that is very much in the Horticulturati wheelhouse, The Know Maintenance Perennial Garden . Author Roy Diblik , a Wisconsin-based designer and plantsman, argues that anyone can build a "design-magazine-worthy garden at home" by thoughtfully combining perennials to form functional plant communities that need little more than an an...

If you have a passion for plants, you probably love plant shopping. Our local garden centers are more than just a place to source nursery stock; they're a designer's trove of botanical information and inspiration. After untold hours spent perusing the grounds of Barton Springs Nursery , we finally sat down for a chat with two of the new owners, designer Amy Hovis and horticulturist Willy Glenn.  F...

A year ago, we recorded a long and rambly episode on garden design. Now we're making it an October tradition! Revisiting the subject, we realize our approaches to design have changed, but we're still hell-bent on questioning basic tenets. How important is color? Are foundation shrubs necessary? Should we flip the script on "seasonal interest?" Does "timesharing with plants" really work? Join us at...

When you have too many plants, it's time to make more! That's gardener logic for you. Fall is a great time to divide perennials and save seeds - but how? We dig into these methods of backyard propagation and again give you permission to be ruthless and/or lazy in the garden. Go ham on that root ball! Let the veggies bolt! Plants can handle it. Up first: Leah has a design question and Colleen scour...

Fresh off a hometown visit to Cleveland, Colleen brings us the story of the Cuyahoga: a river once so polluted with industrial sludge, it burned. At least thirteen times. While the largest and most damaging conflagration occurred in 1952, it was the 1969 river fire that made national headlines, thanks to Mayor Carl Stokes . As one of the first Black mayors of a major American city, the charismatic...

At long last, here's the second installment of our bee-stravaganza. Leah interviews beekeeper Tara Chapman, owner of Two Hives Honey , about the intricate connection between bees, plants, and weather. Then, your hosts discuss how to be a good steward to honeybees--and native bees and other pollinators as well. Even if you're not a beekeeper, there are many things you can do (or not do) to be a fri...

Enter the hive with us for another classic critter topic: BEES! We recorded so much on bees that we have to split this bee-nanza into a two-parter! In part one, Leah suits up for a tour at Two Hives Honey in Manor, Texas, and investigates honeybee ecology. In part two, we'll focus on how, as a gardener, you can support our honey-making friends (along with native bees and other pollinators).  What...

When American gardeners hear the word espalier, we tend to imagine installations in the formal French style: hoity-toity, high-maintenance, and baroquely decorative. Yet the ancient technique of training trees flat on a wall or frame has its roots in space-saving, yield-boosting practicality. In this episode, Colleen argues that this charming art of vertical gardening is uniquely suited to our urb...

Hey ya'll, check out this new episode of Leah's other podcast, Hothouse. We'll be back to our regularly scheduled Horticulturati programming soon. For now, w elcome to Hothouse Season 2! If you follow any flower farmers on Instagram, the romance may be all too tempting: picture yourself quitting the city, fixing up an old farmhouse, and spending your days harvesting flowers and arranging bouquets...

Chestnuts roasting in an ideological fire! Colleen shares the history of Castanea dentata , a once ubiquitous, now virtually extinct species that has become an unlikely sticking point in the controversy over genetically modified organisms. But first, we talk about late season burnout, and COLLEEN'S FORTHCOMING BOOK! (Stay tuned for news about book release!) PS. Leah will be presenting a free lectu...

Springtime is owl time. Owlets be hatching. Fledglings be fledging. Owl cams be streaming. Enter, with us, the kingdom of the night, as we celebrate these mysterious and beautiful birds. Drop us a line at www.horticulturati.com or call the Hotline at 347-WAP-HORT. Please join our Patreon !  Mentioned:  Merlin and Minerva's website , Instagram , and live Twitch stream ; Austin Birds on Facebook;  "...

We're live from Zone 8b with a tell-all about the "epistemological quandary" that is the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map . What is hardiness? How is it quantifiable? And how useful is the USDA's classification system for gardeners grappling with extreme weather ? Listen to find out.  First up, some tree news -- some of it shady. Last but not least, we get our first-ever call to the Horticulturati Ho...

We return from hiatus with tales of the Snowpocalypse -- or  Snowmageddon, Snowvid, whatever you want to call it -- to document the record-breaking winter weather that broke Texas' electric grid and ushered in a scary new climate reality for the plants and people of the Lone Star State. Your hosts discuss personal trauma, a jumble of conflicting post-freeze plant advice, and a bunch of anecdotes a...

On this episode, we discuss virtual foliage, time travel, and big trees. Colleen looks into how video games might play a role in curing plant blindness, and Leah shines a light on the remarkable life and legacy of Margret Hofmann (1925-2012), whose 1970s "Think Trees" campaign introduced Austinites to a majestic urban forest hidden in plain sight.  Leave us a voicemail at 347-WAP-HORT or drop us a...

Fertilizers...oxidizers...explosions! We're still trying to wrap our brains around Ammonium Nitrate over here, so we called on science superstar Dr. Kate Biberdorf , aka Kate the Chemist, to help us out. What is Ammonium Nitrate, and why is this volatile chemical so ubiquitous? What are the conditions that create fertilizer explosions? Is synthetic fertilizer safe? We ask these questions and more,...

Autumn has come to Texas at long last! To celebrate, we watched the documentary   Five Seasons: The Gardens of Piet Oudolf (2017) by Thomas Piper, and we're now  officially card-carrying Piet stans sporting Dutch accents, asymmetrical haircuts, and scythes. We discuss Oudolf's "mathematics" of design, seasonal ambience, and the art of garden editing. How might we translate Oudolf's temperate palat...

Crossover alert! This episode is a twofer. In part one, we check in about the busy fall planting season. After many months of Zooming, we're back to in-person, social-distance recording from Colleen's backyard! As we test out our new remote podcasting equipment, the conversation drifts from back-braces to bulb-mania to the monk parakeets of Austin. Part two is our guest appearance on another great...

On this mega-episode, we're tackling garden design--our approaches, our anxieties, and our gripes about "expert" sources of mystifying advice and misleading photography. Garden design books are rife with the jargon of art theory. How well does this translate to the living medium of plants in the landscape? Google Image Search puts pictures of every plant imaginable at our fingertips, which is grea...

Why are we putting explosives on our plants? On this episode, Colleen charts the history of ammonium nitrate, the synthetic fertilizer that propelled the rise of industrial agriculture in the 20th century--cheap to manufacture, but spectacularly costly in terms of lives lost. This highly explosive compound has caused some of the worst industrial accidents of all time (Oppau, 1921, Texas City, 1947...

Turtle rabbit. Shell possum. Roadkill. Whatever you call it, the nine-banded armadillo is a mysterious, ancient, and unfairly maligned mammal. Find out everything you ever wanted to know (and more) about this Texas icon. Leah traces the armadillo's bizarre migratory history, its role in medical research, and its rise as a symbol of the Austin music scene. We'll bust some armadillo myths, meet some...