Dear Gardener (Ben Dark)
Explore every episode of Dear Gardener
| Pub. Date | Title | Duration | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15 Nov 2022 | Wisteria and water trees: The gardens of Santa Cruz, Brockley and the River Stour | 00:55:55 | |
In this episode of Dear Gardener we journey to California, East Anglia and South East London to hear about mothers and friendship, Sissinghurst and slugs, and roses and rills. Support the show: https://linktr.ee/deargardener The Dear Gardeners on Instagram: Gavin: https://www.instagram.com/gardeninggavin/ Melanie: https://www.instagram.com/saari.farms/ Vanina: https://www.instagram.com/thebonbongirl/ Episode links: The Butchart Gardens, British Columbia: https://www.butchartgardens.com/ Euphorbia stygiana subsp. santamariae https://www.cotswoldgardenflowers.co.uk/product/euphorbia-stygiana-subsp-santamariae/ Rosa 'Perle d'Or': https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosa_%27Perle_d%27Or%27 Rosa 'Munstead Wood': https://www.davidaustinroses.co.uk/products/munstead-wood?_ga=2.141225842.1185186591.1668450625-963987581.1668450625 Rosa 'Cécile Brünner': https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosa_'C%C3%A9cile_Br%C3%BCnner' Rosa ''Madame Alfred Carrière': https://www.davidaustinroses.co.uk/products/mme-alfred-carriere The NGS (National Gardens Scheme): https://ngs.org.uk/ Thank you for listening | |||
| 04 Jul 2023 | [Solo Episode] A Chronicle Botanical: Parham House, Uppark, and the joy of stolen plants | 00:29:09 | |
On this episode of Dear Gardener, host Ben Dark explores gardening life and gardening death. From the ranunculus flower’s writhing stem - a cut flower snake, trying to find its way back into the garden - to tulips drooping in a vase, the importance of writing accurately about plants is emphasised. Literary comings and goings-on are explored on a visit to Parham House and hints are given for those of us in temporary gardens (aren’t we all?) We look at how to string a tomato and take soft-wood summer cuttings from a grape vine. Also, what to do with your moat and why hippoptamuslike plants are no good at all. https://ko-fi.com/bendark www.bendark.com | |||
| 22 May 2023 | [Roving Episode] Hop Poles and Wild Garlic: A Hampshire Hangers Walk | 00:27:45 | |
On this episode of Dear Gardener, Ben Dark takes us on a journey through the wooded Hampshire Hangers, discussing plants and history along the way. Passing cowslips, wild garlic, incongruous copper beech, and wildly inappropriate bamboo, Ben shares his love-hate relationship with these plants and how they fit in the changing English countryside. Our host also delves into the writing of William Cobbet and his critical commentary on the landscape while relating his own experiences with managing meadows and creating a space for both people and wildlife. Tune in to learn more about the beauty and challenges of gardening. https://ko-fi.com/bendark https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9cs657k9Q4 Episode breakdown: [00:00:06] Podcast discusses the potential reason behind gardeners' dislike of the colour orange, possibly due to its association with plant blight. [00:05:42] The English countryside is going through significant change as ash trees are being lost, allowing new plants and vistas to emerge. This is similar to the aftermath of the great storm of 87, which led to a boom in gardening as people were freed up to create something new. [00:09:50] William Cobbet as inspiration for J. C. Louden. Weather and its importance to nature writers [00:11:19] Forest floor covered in wild garlic due to deer agitating it in the dawn [00:14:49] Trees grow conjoined with roots exposed. [00:18:13] Dan Pearson's newsletter Dig Delve and artisanal tulip bulbs [00:21:24] Eric Newby's wife and her drunken suitors. [00:26:05] Description of a house with symmetrical plantings including a native white beam tree and a fantastically shaggy bamboo. | |||
| 07 Jun 2023 | [Solo Episode] Losing and Finding Beauty: Munstead, Laburnums and the Afterlife of Gardens | 00:38:06 | |
On this episode of Dear Gardener, host Ben Dark explores the legacy and afterlife of gardens. The starting points are: a Laburnum safari through Østerbro, a fence-climb into an abandoned garden, and a run through the acid-sands of West Sussex. Featuring Gertrude Jekyll, Edwin Lutyens and the National Trust in the news that Munstead Wood is 'to be preserved for the nation' Support the show on Kofi https://ko-fi.com/bendark Tickets to the Birmingham Talk here: https://www.bournvillehub.com/box-office/the-grove-a-nature-odyssey-in-19-1-2-front-gardens Episode Breakdown: [00:00:06] Lime tree mist season in Copenhagen. Excellent for spoiling cars [00:05:36] Tennyson praised for 'rosey plumelets bud the larch' [00:08:24] Golden chain tree and the particularity of its yellow [00:13:01] Lilac's use as a besmirching foil. The neighbour's trampoline of huge and surprising beauty [00:15:38] Father's death inspires thoughts on gardens. [00:19:16] Gertrude Jekyll and the Arts and Crafts movement [00:23:52] Gardens best seen after suffering? [00:27:32] The Canterbury tales as told on the Hidcot coach. [00:29:27] Small towns end abruptly. [00:32:41] Rhododendron ponticum invasive but lovely in the shade [00:35:50] Stalin's mimosa. | |||
| 03 May 2023 | [Solo Episode] Bread for all, and roses too | 00:29:49 | |
Tales of horticultural sin and floral redemption featuring Salvia, Nepeta, Carl the Murderous Gardener, Gypsophila and Hemerocallis. https://ko-fi.com/bendark Orwell's Roses by Rebecca Solnit https://www.hatchards.co.uk/book/orwells-roses/rebecca-solnit/9781783785520 Husbandry by Isabel Bannerman https://www.foyles.co.uk/book/husbandry/isabel-bannerman/9781914902949 The Grove by Ben Dark https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-grove-a-nature-odyssey-in-19-1-2-front-gardens-ben-dark/5044771?ean=9781784727413 Episode breakdown [00:00:20] The episode discusses the popularity of the ornamental cherry tree, particularly the Kanzan cultivar, and its rise in popularity throughout the 20th century. Ben briefly mentions his recent writing on lawns and their place in the Gardening World. [00:07:48] Heinous garden blunders include buying cheap plants from a supermarket. Reading about George Orwell's Woolworths roses. [00:16:05] The author had trouble with overcrowded Gypsophila elegans seedlings and shares their experience with propagation. They also discuss the fraught etiquette of giving plants as gifts and their own propagation progress with London pride (Saxifraga x urbium and Nepeta 'Walkers Low.' [00:22:33] Ben cuts back ivy for more light and space but the result is ugly, needs to go completely bare. Ivy on a wall needs constant cutting to maintain modern look, better to hide bulky stems in a small hedge. [00:24:23] Archaeobotany and the use of box hedges in Roman Britain. Recommendations for reading on garden history and a call to support the podcast.
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| 25 Oct 2022 | Dreaming of long borders: the gardens of Hampshire, Yaoundé and Philadelphia | 00:50:22 | |
We journey to Yaoundé, where the oil palms drip with ferns and a balcony gardener waits for the lemon grass harvest, Pennsylvania, where plants lead an architect astray and Hampshire, where meadows, lawns, hedges and fruit trees spring from land that once grew chicken sheds. Support the show: https://ko-fi.com/bendark Episode links: Tivoli Gardens: https://www.tivoli.dk/en/haven-og-forlystelser/skoenne-steder Narcissus ‘W. P. Milner’: https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/76761/narcissus-w-p-milner-(1)/details African plums, or Safou, Dacryodes edulis: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dacryodes_edulis The amazing black medic: https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/105551/medicago-lupulina/details For copies of Ben’s book, The Grove: A Nature Odyssey in 19 ½ Front Gardens go here: https://linktr.ee/deargardener The dear gardeners on Instagram: Jonathan: https://www.instagram.com/jbykowski/ Karen: https://www.instagram.com/mrsnorris34/ Christoph: https://www.instagram.com/christophsgaertli/ | |||
| 26 Apr 2023 | [Solo Episode] The week in gardening | 00:25:45 | |
In a solo episode that will probably be familiar to listeners of The Garden Log we discuss things horticultural. Some plants mentioned: Ipomoea noctiflora Euphorbia oblongata Tropaelum peregrinum Good to be back! | |||
| 12 May 2023 | [Roving Episode] It was a day in spring | 00:32:23 | |
Malus × domestica and Taraxacum officinale (apple and dandelion) take to May's springy stage in this special on location recording that starts deep in the beach woods and bursts into the orchard. https://ko-fi.com/bendark Episode overview: [00:00:16] Ben talks winter and spring weather and how it affects the growth of plants like apples and bird cherries, and why he decided to record the episode in the woods rather than at his desk. The ground is covered in beach kernels and dry leaves, making a crunching noise when stepped on. [00:02:48] The winter aconites are blooming staggered, possibly for an advantage. The area will soon be deserted of pollinators, but was once covered in flowers. The author wishes they could experience the beauty forever. They walk past an understory U tree. [00:05:12] Discussion of spring in the UK and Denmark, including the appearance of dandelions and their potential use in producing rubber for car tires. We also examines the anatomy and function of dandelions, including their papas and role in seed dispersal. [00:13:59] Blowing dandelion seeds not all bad. Dandelions hard to grow, try not cutting lawn too short. Seed-eating beetles help reduce dandelions. Leave lawn longer for fewer dandelions. [00:16:20] Apple blossom time is perfect when buds are half open and half closed. The king bud produces the best fruit. Apples need cold for proper formation of flowers and lack of cold causes poor pollination. [00:24:01] Observations of diverse species in grassy understory with small apples on dwarfing stock, well-pruned for fruit. Seeing a variety of heritage apple trees with grafted and non-grafted roots. Also, discussion of a recent planting project and a classic rose ACA flowering. [00:30:50] Bee landed in hair, hair wild, no time for vines, thanking supporters. | |||
| 08 Nov 2022 | Our tastes aligned: The gardens of Skipton, Bavaria and the Yorkshire Wolds | 01:01:25 | |
In this episode of the global gardening podcast we pitch up under the moors where a deck juts out over a grass and perennial garden, visit Bavaria and a terrace garden hidden behind veils of trailing tomato, hear tales from a fading walled garden and visit a unique garden full of rooms, owls, compost and ideas. Support the show: https://linktr.ee/deargardener Episode links: Emma’s tulip Slawa: https://www.sarahraven.com/products/tulip-slawa Dan Pearson Studio: http://danpearsonstudio.com/ Emma's garden designer Matt Haddon: https://haddon.studio/ Some heritage tomatoes: https://www.allotment-garden.org/vegetable/how-to-grow-your-own-tomatoes/heirloom-heritage-tomatoes/ Phlomis tuberosa ‘Amazone’: https://www.rhsplants.co.uk/plants/_/phlomis-tuberosa-amazone/classid.2000022949/ Sweet Woodruff: https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/7595/galium-odoratum/details The Dear Gardeners on Instagram: Emma: https://www.instagram.com/paddockwoodgarden/ Bianca: https://www.instagram.com/plants_and_whiskers/ Liam: https://www.instagram.com/liamdaviesgardens/ Thank you for listening | |||
| 13 Dec 2022 | The bird, the bees and the forest trees: the gardens of Brisbane, Devon and the Isle of Wight | 01:01:23 | |
We visit a gardener fighting gales to bring life to Tennyson’s neglected garden, talk to the keeper of bees at RHS Rosemoore and hear about a bush turkey with a nest the size of a bus Support the show: https://linktr.ee/deargardener The Dear Gardeners on Instagram: Zara: https://www.instagram.com/bees_at_rhs_rosemoor/ Ellen: https://www.instagram.com/tennysons_gardener/ Episode links: Farringford: https://farringford.co.uk/ RHS Rosemoor: https://www.rhs.org.uk/gardens/rosemoor Save Our Waterways Now (SOWN): https://sown.com.au/ The Helen Allingham Society: https://www.helenallingham.com/ Maud, and Other Poems: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/56913/56913-h/56913-h.htm | |||
| 01 Nov 2022 | Delivering Joy: The Gardens of Minnesota, Buenos Aires and Pennsylvania | 00:59:14 | |
We journey to a plant person’s garden between the Great Lakes and the Appalachian Mountains, an apartment amid the Palos Borrachos of Buenos Aires and an oak-topped bluff above the Minnesota River Valley. Support the show: https://ko-fi.com/bendark Episode links: The trees of Buenos Aires: https://landingpadba.com/buenos-aires-tree-guide/ Tsubo-niwa (pocket gardens): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsubo-niwa The Bluet Houstonia caerulea: https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/houstonia-caerulea/ A Pattern Language: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Pattern_Language For copies of Ben’s book, The Grove: A Nature Odyssey in 19 ½ Front Gardens go here: https://linktr.ee/deargardener The dear gardeners on Instagram: Alicia: https://www.instagram.com/kalijardin | |||
| 17 Oct 2022 | Stone frogs and thirsty parrots: the gardens of Oxford, Long Island and The Cradle of Mankind | 00:46:47 | |
We visit Oxford, where the Head Gardener of Trinity College is preparing her winter displays, Long Island, where the director of the Madoo Conservancy practises 'forensic horticulture' to preserve the vision of poet, painter and plantsman Robert Dash, and the Granite Grasslands northwest of Johannesburg where Viqui is waiting for rain and the flowers it will bring. Support the show: https://ko-fi.com/bendark Episode links: The landscapes of Fernando Caruncho: https://web.fernandocaruncho.com/en/ The Gardens of Trinity College: https://www.trinity.ox.ac.uk/gardens-grounds The Madoo Conservancy: https://www.madoo.org The dear gardeners on instagram: Kate Burtonwood: https://www.instagram.com/cultivatedgardener/ Alejandro Saralegui: https://www.instagram.com/alemadoo/ Viqui (thepotagergardener): https://www.instagram.com/thepotagergardener/ Buy Ben's brilliant book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Grove-Nature-Odyssey-Front-Gardens/dp/1784727385 Happy gardening! YxN7dVCRBIMpxioAO5iC | |||
| 22 Nov 2022 | River floods and desert flowers: The gardens of Northern Kentucky, Bristol and Shrewsbury | 00:59:36 | |
Dear Gardener hears tales of native planting in Northern Kentucky, garden design in Bristol and flooding on the banks of the beautiful Severn. Also featuring a behind the scenes look at gardening TV, iris hunting in the the Negev Desert and why horticulture is lot like tech metal. Support the show: https://linktr.ee/deargardener The Dear Gardeners on Instagram: Brandon: https://www.instagram.com/uncommonlycultivated/ Charlotte: https://www.instagram.com/c_nuttgens_gardendesign/ Rob: https://www.instagram.com/scarlettdesignuk/ Episode links: Nuttgens Garden Design https://www.charlottenuttgens.co.uk/ Wyeth and Willow (Brandon George) https://wyethandwillow.wixsite.com/wyethandwillow Two Thousand Trees festival https://www.twothousandtreesfestival.co.uk/ Arctangent festival https://arctangent.co.uk/ Roundstone Native Seed Company: https://roundstoneseed.com/ Friends of Jerusalem Botanic Garden: https://www.friendsjbg.org/ The Garden Design School and Bristol Botanic Garden: https://www.gardendesignschool.co.uk/ Longwood Gardens: https://longwoodgardens.org/ | |||
| 15 Jun 2023 | [Interview] The Thousand Year Old Garden: Inside the Secret Garden at Lambeth Palace with Nick Stewart Smith | 00:43:16 | |
Nick Stewart Smith spent seven years as Head Gardener at Lambeth Palace. Here he tells Ben Dark about his hidden life as a link in thousand-year horticultural chain, about his unique philosophy of place-making and about how to work in dialogue with a garden. Nick's book: https://www.thehistorypress.co.uk/publication/the-thousand-year-old-garden/9781803993041/ Wild Times in a London Park by Nick Stewart Smith: https://www.thehistorypress.co.uk/articles/wild-times-in-a-london-park/ Support Dear Gardener on Kofi: https://ko-fi.com/bendark Episode Breakdown: [00:00:03] Podcast intro: introducing Nick Stewart Smith, author of "The Thousand Year Old Garden" [00:04:07] The personal nature of the book. [00:06:23] Gardeners and garden features as links in a very long chain. [00:09:38] Creating a dialogue with the garden. [00:13:26] Life at Overbecks, the eccentric National Trust garden of rock face and banana. [00:16:07] Exploring the book’s focus on the forgotten gardeners of Lambeth Palace [00:21:50] The Glades, Nick’s signature effect with colourful perennials and nomadic annuals. [00:27:56] Gardening, finding balance, small scale focus. [00:29:33] Awareness of nature crisis, positive gardening, adaptation. [00:32:36] Tolstoy, Levin and the transcendental power of scything. [00:35:57] Van Gogh & Dürer - painters as inspiration. [00:40:51] Farewell and thanks to guest, Nick. | |||