Growing Greener

"Naturalism" is the dominant design style in ecological gardening, but what exactly is it?  Is Naturalism just mimicry of nature, or does it allow for the designer to include aesthetic principles to please the human eye?  Can it allow the gardener to enjoy favorite plants not indigenous to the area?  Duncan Brine, co-proprietor with his wife Julia of design/build firm Garden Large explains how he has defined Naturalism to create some of the most celebrated new gardens of New York's Hudson River Valley.

Are you troubled about supporting industrial agriculture and its mistreatment of animals by purchasing by-products such as manures and blood meal to maintain your garden's fertility?  British gardener John Walker, an award-winning environmental writer, shares the techniques he has used to make his garden cruelty free, self-sustaining, and sustainable in a conversation first shared in May of 2023.

Award-winning investigative journalist Carey Gillam exposed the corruption and suppression of evidence involved in the Environmental Protection Agency's original approval of the use of the herbicide Roundup and its active ingredient glyphosate on American gardens and farms.  In today's conversation she details the on-going suppression of evidence of its harmful impact on human and environmental health and discusses how the case about Roundup currently before the Supreme Court is designed to deprive its victims of recourse, and why Donald Trump has made increasing its production a matter of national security.

In a conversation first shared in February of 2024, farmer and author Joseph Lofthouse describes how to foster  "landraces," strains of vegetables and fruits adapted to the unique conditions in your garden.

James Hitchmough, an eminent British garden designer and former professor of horticultural ecology asserted on a previous episode that research confirms that gardens rich in alien plants support a greater diversity of insects.  Today, Matthew Shepherd of the Xerces Society, an organization founded to promote insect and invertebrate conservation shares a different understanding of the science.

In this revelatory book Dr. Lars Chittka of Queen Mary University of London explores the psychology of bees, their extraordinary learning abilities and their individual personalities.

Dr. Bethany Bradley, an ecologist at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, talks about the effects of climate change in enhancing invasive plants, and what gardeners can do to fight back

Dr. Bethany Bradley, an ecologist at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, talks about the effects of climate change in enhancing invasive plants, and what gardeners can do to fight back

Landscape architect Claudia West, co-author of "Planting in a Post-Wild World" describes her techniques for returning nature to our neighborhoods and cities, and for creating living landscapes that are robust, diverse, and visually harmonious