This year our expert RHS panel comprises Fiona Davison (Head of Libraries and Exhibitions), Chris Young (Editor of The Garden magazine) and Guy Barter (Chief Horticulturist). They share their favourite gardening publications of 2020, and look forwards to some exciting new titles for 2021. We also speak to award-winning author Robert Macfarlane, who, like many people, was dismayed to discover that many nature-related words such as 'bluebell', 'acorn' and 'jay' were being lost from children's dict...
Dec 10, 2020•32 min•Ep. 243
Snakebark maples, winter-flowering camellias and a sacred Central American shrub that makes itself at home on our windowsills... there are many amazing plants that give us colour and interest in even the darkest months. We visit the Sir Harold Hillier Gardens* to discover an incredible range of hardy plants that look great all winter. Garden designer Juliet Sargeant gives her seasonal tips for adding interest to your garden at home and we uncover the surprising story of a perennial Christmas fav...
Dec 03, 2020•25 min•Ep. 242
Hear the incredible story of EK Janaki Ammal, a pioneering scientist who overcame race, class and gender discrimination to become the first female botanist at RHS Garden Wisley. Dr Chris Thorogood of Oxford Botanic Garden shares insight into the weird world of mutualism – plants and animals cooperating in unexpected ways to make the most of tough conditions. Plus the RHS gardening advisors gather to answer questions on roses (can you grow them in shade and can you move them?), a passionflower th...
Nov 26, 2020•22 min•Ep. 241
This week we meet Andrew Forsyth of Weasdale Nurseries in Cumbria who explains the challenges of gardening 850ft up in the hills of Cumbria, and shares tips on how to garden in cold and exposed situations. Kate Risely, head of pioneering research project Garden BirdWatch, explains what changes have been observed since the project launched in 1995. Plus RHS advisors share insight on epiphytic plants and how to encourage birds into your garden.
Nov 19, 2020•21 min•Ep. 240
This week we're unwrapping lots of gardening goodness, from expert seasonal advice and untold stories to wildlife tips. Nursery owner and plantswoman Claire Austin shares inside information on what the people who produce plants for our gardens are doing at this time of year (it's much more than you might think!); Zehra Zaidi tells the little-known story of John Ystumllyn, an 18th century African gardener in North Wales and Helen Bostock heads into the undergrowth to share tips on how to help hed...
Nov 12, 2020•24 min•Ep. 239
This week we're all about planning for the months ahead. RHS Gardening Advisor James Lawrence offers tips on how to keep your houseplants happy and healthy through the winter. We visit Holehird Gardens* in Cumbria for inspirational seasonal planting ideas. Plus garden designer Flo Headlam offers tips on how to really make the most of fragrant plants in your garden. *Holehird Gardens are looking forward to welcoming visitors after lockdown. The gardens are un-manned and visitors are encouraged to...
Nov 05, 2020•21 min•Ep. 238
Join us on a Halloween spooktacular! Dr Chris Thorogood of Oxford Botanic Garden delves into the weird and wonderful world of parasitic 'vampire' plants including the rainforest giant Rafflesia, the largest flower in the world; to one you can grow at home. Plus RHS gardening advisors Leigh Hunt and Becky Mealey talk death in the garden, with a guide to telling if your plants are ill or just resting, and how to rescue them from a near-death experience. Sometimes Frankenstein-style surgery really ...
Oct 29, 2020•20 min•Ep. 237
From Japanese digging knives to LED growing lights, tools and technology are transforming the way we garden. In this episode RHS experts share some unusual favourite gardening implements. We discuss how technology – from 19th century lawnmowers to 21st century sensors and apps – has changed and continues to change the face of gardening. Chelsea designer Hay Joung Hwang describes how she incorporates technology into her gardens. Paul Myers of Farm Urban explains how a zero-waste underground farm ...
Oct 22, 2020•20 min•Ep. 236
In week's programme we’re going wild for weeds. Author and designer Jack Wallington sings the praises of these much maligned plants and offers ideas for using them in gardens. RHS gardening advisor Nikki Barker offers insight on dealing with Japanese knotweed. California-based educator Indy Srinath shares her love of dandelions and writer Gareth Richards offers insight into the secrets of weeds’ success.
Oct 15, 2020•24 min•Ep. 235
If you thought that fungi are just toadstools, think again. In this episode we discover how they make food, both help and hinder plants, and even inspire music. Featuring author and biologist Merlin Sheldrake, mushroom grower Ann Miller and RHS gardening experts.
Oct 08, 2020•26 min•Ep. 234
This week we're turning young fingers green in a programme dedicated to the gardeners of tomorrow. Alana Cama and RHS Young Ambassador George Hassall hear heartwarming stories of people involved with the RHS Campaign For School Gardening; including last year's School Gardening Champion of the Year, Michelle Jones. Plus Lee Connelly, aka the Skinny Jean Gardener shares tips on how to engage children in gardening.
Oct 01, 2020•31 min•Ep. 233
If you love spring bulbs but aren't sure where to start, we've got you covered. RHS Gardening Advisor Jenny Bowden gives her bulb planting 101 with lots of handy hints and tips; plus some lovely recommendations of which varieties to plant. Organic food grower and writer* Claire Ratinon tells the story of how she got into an ecologically-based way of gardening, and why it matters. Claire gives tips for organic growing in small spaces and containers. Plus garden designer Tom Massey's love letter t...
Sep 24, 2020•23 min•Ep. 232
This week's show is all about saving. Jack Wallington is saving veg for the winter – who doesn't love being able to reach into the freezer or pantry for a quick taste of summer on a cold November day? RHS Water Scientist Janet Manning shares some expert tips on how to make the very best use of water and mulches in your garden, revealing some surprising facts along the way. And as ever our resident gardening guru Guy Barter is full of useful info and gardening tips too.
Sep 17, 2020•20 min•Ep. 231
This week we've a bumper crop of help and advice to get your garden into shape for autumn. RHS experts give timely tips on everything from picking seasonal bedding plants, smartening up your plot, growing lemons and how to prune a purple-leaf elderberry. Horticulturist and TV presenter Flo Headlam gives a garden designer's take on how to get the best from your garden in autumn and shares her favourite plants for late-season impact.
Sep 10, 2020•22 min•Ep. 230
This week we're exploring the weird, wild and wonderful world of foraging with activist Indy Srinath. Dr Chris Thorogood from Oxford Botanic Garden explains the deadly secrets of some of our most common plants and garden designer Juliet Sargeant shares her love of a particular hebe which has some really useful qualities in the garden.
Sep 03, 2020•19 min•Ep. 229
This week we’re exploring the colourful world of floral arrangements. We’re taking a journey from the field to the florist, starting with sustainable British grower Cel Robertson from Forever Green Flower Company. Then, we’re heading to one of the most famous floral centres in the world, New Covent Garden Market, to hear about its history. We’re meeting florist to the stars Simon Lycett in LA as he shares some of his career highlights: from arranging royal wedding flowers, to film set bouquets. ...
Aug 27, 2020•28 min•Ep. 228
The transformative power of gardening has never been more evident – or more necessary – than it is now. This week guest presenters TV gardener Danny Clarke and Alana Cama from the RHS Campaign for School Gardening explore communal urban gardens tackling inequality and food poverty in Los Angeles with activist Indy Srinath. Closer to home we meet Tayshan Hayden-Smith. He's CEO of Grow2Know, a non-profit organisation born from the ashes of the Grenfell Tower disaster, that now empowers young peopl...
Aug 20, 2020•26 min•Ep. 227
From growing exotic veg and making Middle Eastern spice mixes to the fascinating world of fermentation, this week's show is dedicated to all things edible.
Aug 13, 2020•24 min•Ep. 226
Seed saving can be a powerful and life-affirming act – permaculture designer Poppy Okotcha shares her thoughts on how and why we should all be saving our own seeds. Resident gardening guru Leigh Hunt dispenses timely gardening advice with his top 10 jobs for August, and RHS advisors discuss rain gardens. Plus: how long can seeds and plants last? Dr Chris Thorogood of Oxford Botanic Garden reveals some surprising facts.
Aug 06, 2020•26 min•Ep. 225
Did you know that the lotus leaf inspired the creation of self-cleaning glass and paints? Or that some tropical carnivorous plants get so big they can eat shrews? Plant hunter and scientist Dr Chris Thorogood shares some of the incredible floral feats that made him fall in love with plants. Garden writer Pattie Barron recounts a meeting with plant that makes a fragrant waterfall of edible foliage with an unmistakeable Mediterranean ambience. Terry Richardson (aka 'The Black Thumb') is a plant pa...
Jul 30, 2020•28 min•Ep. 224
This week we join in with Tatton Park at Home, as our much-loved Cheshire flower show heads online. Meet designers whose careers have been kickstarted by the show's Young Designer of the Year competition. Last year young designer Charlie Hartigan's 1 in 10 garden won the People's Choice award; hear her story and tips for aspiring designers. We speak to Ruth Bolam from English Country Gardeners to get advice for anyone starting a career as a professional gardener, and hear heuchera tips from the ...
Jul 22, 2020•21 min•Ep. 223
This week's programme is dedicated to perhaps the quintessential foliage plant, the fern. Firstly, garden designer Danny Clarke shares his love of the majestic tree fern, Dicksonia antarctica. Then we head into the dark and mysterious Stumpery at RHS Garden Rosemoor to meet a magnificent cast of ferns luxuriating in the cool, moist conditions there. Author and journalist Richard Mabey explores a fern frenzy that swept Victorian Britain, the catchily-named Pteridomania. And finally, RHS horticult...
Jul 16, 2020•24 min•Ep. 222
Writer, broadcaster and houseplant obsessive James Wong encourages us to face our fear of killing plants and reap the incredible benefits of indoor gardening. There's never been a better time to think outside the (plant) pot, curating miniature worlds at home and getting creative with alternative planting spaces such as terrariums. Head of RHS Libraries Fiona Davison explores the history of plant medicine prior to next week's launch of the Healing Garden online exbitition. Erin Lovell Verinder, ...
Jul 09, 2020•30 min•Ep. 221
This week we're gardening on barges, balconies and in bathrooms in a programme dedicated to urban gardening. Writer Alice Vincent dispenses tips on plants, pots and more from her London balcony garden 40ft above the ground. Freddie Blackett of Patch Plants talks about the changing ways we're buying and using houseplants, and permaculture designer Poppy Okotcha shares her experiences gardening on a houseboat in the heart of the city.
Jul 02, 2020•25 min•Ep. 220
Join us on a globetrotting plant extravaganza! Sally Miller from the Barbados Horticultural Society takes us on a totally tropical tour of her paradise island garden. Danny Clarke – aka The Black Gardener – offers trolley-fuls of advice and design tips for making a garden so gorgeous you'll never want to leave it. Dr Chris Thorogood of Oxford Botanic Garden leads us into the steamy jungles of Borneo in search of the world's biggest flower, revealing some of its curious habits along the way. Plus...
Jun 25, 2020•28 min•Ep. 219
This week we're talking all things edible with a programme entirely devoted to growing your own fruit and vegetables. Award-winning garden designer Juliet Sargeant shares veg garden wisdom in a piece that's a must-listen for anyone starting out on a homegrown journey. Allotment holder and Instagram gardener Kirsty Ward shares her life-long love of gooseberries, along with tips on how to grow them. Plus the RHS Gardening Advice Team answer listeners' questions on crop rotation, Florence fennel an...
Jun 18, 2020•21 min•Ep. 218
This week we have an ode to oaks as we celebrate grandfather of British native trees. Wisley Curator Matthew Pottage shares his personal love for Quercus, and wisdom on how to garden with them. Professor Fiona Stafford from the University of Oxford, (author of 'The Long, Long Life of Trees') reveals their history and folklore. Plus Nikki Barker from the RHS Gardening Advice team offers extra advice on ways to use oaks in your garden.
Jun 11, 2020•21 min•Ep. 217
This week we're talking green roofs with designer Ula Maria (past winner of the RHS Young Designer of the Year competition). We have part two of our chat about houseplants with biophilic designers and Virtual Chelsea exhibitors Studio Roco; plus the Gardening Advice team answer members' queries on dealing with lily beetle, groundcover shade planting and growing olives.
Jun 04, 2020•19 min•Ep. 216
Plants might not seem like front-line weapons in our fight to stay healthy, but as our contributors to this week's programme show, green is good for everything from coronavirus to PTSD. My Little Allotment Kirsty Ward tells the story of how she used an allotment to help her rebuild her mental health after being diagnosed with PTSD following a traumatic childbirth experience. Nurse Kate Tantam (who cared for the 84 year old explorer we featured in last week's show as he was recovering from Covid-...
May 28, 2020•20 min•Ep. 215
Show Manager Katherine Potsides takes us on a tour of this year's virtual version of the 'Greatest Flower Show on Earth'. Featuring biophilic design from Studio Roco, who give houseplant tips and talk us through their inspiration from artist, film-maker and activist Derek Jarman's renowned seaside garden in Kent. Meanwhile, Fiona Davison, RHS Head of Libraries, explores the show's history and origins, including a look at how the gardens have changed over time. Award-winning designer Tom Massey t...
May 21, 2020•29 min•Ep. 214
