Explore every episode of the podcast Plants Always Win
| Title | Pub. Date | Duration | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ep.3 Garden Education with Paul Zammit | 24 Dec 2024 | 00:57:37 | |
In this interview episode, Sean chats with Paul Zammit about the life of a garden communicator. Paul has had a long career in horticulture and is presently a professor of Horticulture and Environmental Studies at Niagara College as well as CBC’s Ontario Today gardening expert—although “expert” is a term he would like to contest. After all, we never stop learning, and that’s especially true in the garden. Paul and Sean talk about selfish gardening (taking space from nature for ourselves) compared to building a biodiverse space that wildlife can enjoy alongside us—even if that means broadening our definition of beauty. They lament the spread of incomplete and untrue gardening tips online, although they’re still excited about the information-sharing power of social media. And although they’d happily talk forever, they force themselves to wrap up the conversation by answering some listener questions about insect-afflicted ash trees and re-blooming orchids. Find Paul on Instagram at @paulsplantpix Paul Zammit is a professor at Niagara College’s School of Environment and Horticulture. He can be found giving garden advice on CBC’s Ontario Today program He occasionally co-leads international tours of public and private gardens. Comments? Feedback? Want your garden question to be featured in a future Q&A segment? Email us, reach out over social media, or get Q&A priority by supporting us on Patreon. Instagram: @plantsalwayswinpodcast Facebook: plantsalwayswinpodcast TikTok: @plantsalwayswinpodcast Website: www.plantsalwayswin.com Credits Website Design and Illustration by Sophia Alladin Intro and Outro Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/soundroll/when-my-ukulele-plays License code: GWOIMMBAS15FG6PH 0:45 Preamble 1:15 Interview 2:33 Paul’s Impressive Résumé 4:04 Leading Garden Tours 7:11 “Garden Expert”, and Other Misnomers 13:07 Gardening is different everywhere! 15:25 Biodiversity: If You Plant it, They Will Come 16:24 Invasive Species and Constructive Conversations 21:30 Rethinking Beauty 24:03 Cultivars Aren’t Evil 26:24 Gardening for Ourselves and for Nature 35:20 Social Media and Iffy Plant Hacks 42:07 Intermission 42:50 Q&A 44: 26 Emerald Ash Borers 46:35 Re-Blooming Orchids 53:12 Paul's Shout-Outs 56:20 Outro | |||
| Ep.2 Poinsettia VS Amaryllis | 18 Dec 2024 | 00:48:07 | |
In this “versus” episode, Erin and Sean face off with two big holiday plants: Poinsettias and Amaryllis. Erin comes in swinging with the fraught history of settler (Poinsettia) and Indigenous (cuetlaxochitl) names for her plant, but Sean pushes back with the romantic (or is it?) mythology behind amaryllis. Both contenders shatter misconceptions (Poinsettias are not toxic! Some amaryllis are imposters!) and share care tips for keeping these festive flora in good shape during the holidays and year round. A few tangents slip in about specialist insects that thrive on toxic plants and the way plants interpret light and darkness. And of course we get a plant rant about florists and nurseries using spray paint and glitter. The episode wraps up with a listener question about how late she can plant an evergreen tree. Who won the Plant Face-Off? Was it Erin with poinsettias or Sean with amaryllis? You decide! Send your vote by email or on Instagram, TikTok, or Facebook with the hashtag #PAWFaceOff. Comments? Feedback? Want your garden question to be featured in a future Q&A segment? Email us, reach out over social media, or get Q&A priority by supporting us on Patreon. Instagram: @plantsalwayswinpodcast Facebook: plantsalwayswinpodcast TikTok: @plantsalwayswinpodcast Website: www.plantsalwayswin.com Credits Website Design and Illustration by Sophia Alladin Intro and Outro Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/soundroll/when-my-ukulele-plays License code: GWOIMMBAS15FG6PH Citations Cultural history of poinsettias Kohfeld, M. (2024, November 30). Cuetlaxochitl: A cultural history of the Poinsettia. Swansons Nursery. https://www.swansonsnursery.com/blog/history-of-poinsettias Chart of specialist insects who sequester the toxins (glycocides) in milkweed sap Holdrege, C. (n.d.). The Story of an Organism: Common Milkweed — The Nature Institute. The Nature Institute. https://www.natureinstitute.org/article/craig-holdrege/the-story-of-an-organism-common-milkweed Commercial production of poinsettias Environmental Horticulture Department - UF/IFAS. (n.d.). Production Guidelines - Poinsettia Cultivation. Commercial Floriculture. https://hort.ifas.ufl.edu/floriculture/poinsettia/production_guidelines.shtml Dr. Ing-Ming Lee’s research into phytoplasmas Ing-Ming Lee. (n.d.). The American Phytopathological Society (APS). https://www.apsnet.org/members/give-awards/awards/Fellows/Pages/Ing-MingLee.aspx Care and reblooming of poinsettias Schnelle, M. (2017, April 1). Poinsettia Care. Oklahoma State University Extension. https://extension.okstate.edu/fact-sheets/poinsettia-care.html Weisenhorn, J. (2024). Growing and caring for poinsettia. UMN Extension. https://extension.umn.edu/houseplants/poinsettia Plants in the amaryllis family Petruzzello, M. (2016, March 8). List of plants in the family Amaryllidaceae | Amaryllis, Narcissus, Hyacinth. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/list-of-plants-in-the-family-Amaryllidaceae-2058006 Facts about Amaryllis DeJohn, S. (2024, October 17). Amaryllis Legends and Fun Facts. Gardeners Supply Company. https://www.gardeners.com/how-to/amaryllis-facts/8660.html
Amaryllis and hippeastrum Mahr, S. (n.d.). Amaryllis, Hippeastrum. Wisconsin Horticulture. https://hort.extension.wisc.edu/articles/amaryllis-hippeastrum/ 0:51 What’s Growing On? 0:56 Winter Prep (and lack thereof) 1:57 Sean Got a Puppy! 2:51 The Plant Face-Off 3:30 Poinsettias and Pronunciation 4:22 Cottoneaster Tangent 4:42 Pointsettia Etymology 5:40 Poinsettia Sap: Not Toxic! 8:25 The Euphorbia Plant Family 10:16 Turning Shrubs into House Plants 12:12 Tricking Plants with Light 14:17 Spray-Painted Poinsettias 17:31 Poinsettia Care 21:50 How (not) to Research Plants Online 23:45 What is—and isn’t—an Amaryllis? 25:01 Amaryllis Relatives 26:26 The Amaryllis Identity Crisis 28:48 Naturalized vs. Invasive Plants 29:58 600+ Amaryllis Cultivars 30:50 Romantic(?) Amaryllis Mythology 31:43 How Amaryllis Grows 38:14 Amaryllis Care 44:47 Q&A: Can You Plant a Tree in Late Fall? 47:28 Contact Us & Outro | |||
| Ep.1 Erin VS Sean | 15 Dec 2024 | 00:43:07 | |
In this pilot episode of Plants Always Win, Erin and Sean give the Plant Face-Off a trial run…with a twist. Instead of competing for viewers’ votes with the most interesting information about a plant or gardening concept, they go head to head with competing interviews of each other. Find out what theft has to do with Erin’s early forays into gardening, why she makes content about gardening with chronic illness and disability, and how talking about plants every week complements her literary life. Then learn how Sean’s mom got him into a horticulture career, explore the pros and cons of the profession, and get excited about Sean’s dreams for a botanical garden in Muskoka, Ontario. We wrap up with some impromptu (and impassioned) tangents on invasive plants in garden centres, cities that plant only male trees, cultivars vs. nativars, and permaculture.
Find Sean online at @GardenGuyMuskoka on TikTok and Instagram. Find Erin online at @EarthUndaunted on TikTok, @ErinAlladin on Instagram, and at https://earthundaunted.com/.
Comments? Feedback? Want your garden question to be featured in a future Q&A segment? Email us, reach out over social media, or get Q&A priority by supporting us on Patreon.
Instagram: @plantsalwayswinpodcast Facebook: plantsalwayswinpodcast TikTok: @plantsalwayswinpodcast Website: www.plantsalwayswin.com
Credits Website Design and Illustration by Sophia Alladin
Intro and Outro Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/soundroll/when-my-ukulele-plays License code: GWOIMMBAS15FG6PH
00:52 What's Growing On? 1:00: Erin vs. Quack Grass 2:17 Sean's Zone 4 Fruit Trees 3:27 Raccoons 1 | Chickens 0 4:50 First Frosts 6:24 Plant Face-Off 7:00 Sean's topic: Erin 7:52 Stealing Gardens from Parents 8:50 Gardening with Chronic Illness 12:40 Why Erin Agreed to Do This Podcast 13:52 Our Wives Think We’re Big Nerds 15:37 Erin's Least Favourite Thing About Gardening 19:15 Erin's Topic: Sean 19:20 Blame it on Sean's Mom 21:16 The Garden Labour Trap 22:57 The Master Gardeners of Ontario 24:00 Running a Landscaping Business 26:09 The Muskoka Botanical Garden Dream 27:26: Why Sean Started This Podcast 28:53: Sean's Rant: Stop Selling Invasive Plants 33:51 Erin's Rant: Male-Only City Trees 33:22 Nativars and Cultivars 38:17 Selfish Gardening vs. Permaculture 41:26 Contact Us & Outro | |||
| Ep.4 Bay Leaves VS Mustard Seed | 31 Dec 2024 | 00:47:08 | |
In this Versus episode, it’s the battle of herbs and spices. Get your fill of these fascinating aromatic plants that have flavoured our food and changed our history since paleolithic times. Learn why they bother smelling so good—and what you can do to make the most of their flavour—then get ready to cast your vote in the Plant Face-Off. Sean is representing the herbs with bay laurel, a plant not to be confused with the many other bays and laurels in the world—especially not the toxic ones. Learn how it grows, how to preserve the leaves, and why there are so many misconceptions about its safety. Erin follows up with mustard seed and how to grow and prepare it…but first she shakes things up with some tasty knowledge about spices around the world. Who won the Plant Face-Off? Was it Sean with bay leaves or Erin with mustard seed? You decide! Send your vote by email or on Instagram, TikTok, or Facebook with the hashtag #PAWFaceOff. Comments? Feedback? Want your garden question to be featured in a future Q&A segment? Email us, reach out over social media, or get Q&A priority by supporting us on Patreon. Instagram: @plantsalwayswinpodcast Facebook: plantsalwayswinpodcast TikTok: @plantsalwayswinpodcast Website: www.plantsalwayswin.com Credits Website Design and Illustration by Sophia Alladin Intro and Outro Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/soundroll/when-my-ukulele-plays License code: GWOIMMBAS15FG6PH Citations What is a spice? Hogeback, J. (n.d.). What’s the difference between an herb and a spice? Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/story/whats-the-difference-between-an-herb-and-a-spice Essential Oils/Volatile Oils Biology Online. (2023, September 15). Volatile oil - Definition and Examples - Biology Online Dictionary. Biology Articles, Tutorials & Dictionary Online. https://www.biologyonline.com/dictionary/volatile-oil iHerb.org’s Herbs of the Year International Herb Association. (2023, May 30). Herb of the Year™. https://www.iherb.org/herb-of-the-year/ Bay laurel’s history and use Belsinger, S. (2009, March 18). Bay (Laurus nobilis): From Legend and Lore to Fragrance and Flavor. Fine Gardening. https://www.finegardening.com/article/bay-laurus-nobilis-from-legend-and-lore-to-fragrance-and-flavor?srsltid=AfmBOoonN-BDS8stQ2WPnnKPaq6O6XNdSRjOD1nROnT2zNqDeIo7KlEC The toxicity of laurel hedges Hopes Grove Nurseries. (2024, September 23). Are Laurel hedges poisonous?. https://www.hopesgrovenurseries.co.uk/knowledge-base/are-laurel-hedges-poisonous/#:~:text=You%20are%20here%3A%20Home%20%C2%BB%20Are,cause%20serious%20complications%20if%20ingested Medicinal uses and side effects of bay laurel BAY LEAF: Overview, uses, side effects, precautions, interactions, dosing and reviews. (n.d.). WebMD. Retrieved December 27, 2024, from https://www.webmd.com/vitamins/ai/ingredientmono-685/bay-leaf The biology of white mustard (also known as yellow mustard) Canadian Food Inspection Agency. (2022, May 6). The biology of Sinapis alba L. (mustard). inspection.canada.ca. https://inspection.canada.ca/en/plant-varieties/plants-novel-traits/applicants/directive-94-08/biology-documents/sinapis-alba#a24 Growing saffron in Ontario Balzer, D. (2024, November 6). Growing saffron – in a cool Canadian climate! Donna Balzer. https://donnabalzer.com/growing-saffron-in-a-cool-canadian-climate/ Timestamps 00:12 Intro 00:53 What’s Growing On? 01:07 Erin Gets Native Seed Mail 02:17 This Episode is Dedicated to Siblings 02:58 The Plant Face Off 03:08 Herbs and Spices: Definitions 04:25 How Bias Affects Research 06:00 Sean’s Plant: Bay Laurel 08:05 The Laurecea Plant Family 08:45 A Laurel by Any Other Name Might be Toxic 10:02 Mediterranean Evergreens 11:22 Tree Genders 13:28 Medicinal Uses of Bay Laurel 14:40 Bay Leaves: They’re Sharp 17:49 Preserving Bay Leaves 19:40 Growing Bay Laurel 20:40 Aromatics to Deter Pests 23:50 Erin’s Spice Journey 24:59 Preserving Spice Potency 26:41 Spice Fun Facts 28:56 Erin’s Plant: Mustard 29:12 The Fascinating Brassica Family 32:28 Making Your Own Mustard 36:26 Mustard Types 39:13 Q&A: Low-Fuss, Low-Light Houseplants 43:23 Listener Feedback 45:41 Contact Us & Outro | |||
| Ep.5 Pokemon Ecology with Alex Meinders | 07 Jan 2025 | 00:44:10 | |
We’re always pretty nerdy on Plants Always Win, but in this interview episode Alex Meinders helps us take it to a whole new level. He’s a wildlife biologist and videogame enthusiast whose passion project is the YouTube and TikTok channel Geek Ecology. He uses his real-world science know-how to analyze the biology and ecology of Pokémon—yes, those quirky monsters from the cartoon, card game, and video games. This week Alex speculates with us about the plant-inspired class of grass-type Pokémon. We consider their place in the food web (are they animals or vegetables?), their evolutionary history (what environmental pressure caused them to look like plants?) and their methods of reproduction (do they create clones by seed and genetic diversity by egg?). If you’re worried about missing out on real-world plant talk, never fear! We dig into some fascinating plants along the way, including the parasitic corpse flower, the piratical ghost pipe, and mandrakes, which really do look like that. Find Alex on YouTube, TikTok, and Twitter at @GeekEcology. Fact Check: We promised some fact-checking during the episode! Here are the results: Alex brought up the subject of a tissue-culture mammoth meatball that made news headlines. This was created in 2023 by Australian company Vow as a way to bring attention to their cultivated meat products. It turns out the meatball was not eaten since no one knows how our immune systems will react to protein from 10,000-year-old DNA. If someone wanted to eat it, the company would need to re-do the process with closer attention paid to the needs of regulators. But it’s a great story! The Pokémon Grimer was part of Generation 1, which came out in Japan in 1996. Points to Sean for remembering that accurately. It was actually four different fish who beat Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire, since, for health reasons, their owner swapped in a different one every twelve hours. But, yes, the notoriously fail-proof game has been beaten by the random movements of fish swimming around a tank with quadrants mapped to the controller buttons. We also mention the Feejee Mermaid. It turns out there were many such “mermaids” made from combining the bodies of fish and monkeys. They have cultural significance as “ningyo” in Japan, but when westerners like PT Barnum got their hands on them in the nineteenth century, shenanigans ensued. Comments? Feedback? Want your garden question to be featured in a future Q&A segment? Email us, reach out over social media, or get Q&A priority by supporting us on Patreon. Instagram: @plantsalwayswinpodcast Facebook: plantsalwayswinpodcast TikTok: @plantsalwayswinpodcast Website: www.plantsalwayswin.com Credits Website Design and Illustration by Sophia Alladin Intro and Outro Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/soundroll/when-my-ukulele-plays License code: GWOIMMBAS15FG6PH Citations The mammoth meatball (which was not, in fact, eaten by anyone): Carrington, D. (2023b, March 28). Meatball from long-extinct mammoth created by food firm. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/mar/28/meatball-mammoth-created-cultivated-meat-firm?CMP=share_btn_url P.T. Barnum’s Feejee Mermaid (one of many from the 1800s): Szalay, J. (2016, September 9). The Feejee Mermaid: Early Barnum Hoax. livescience.com. https://www.livescience.com/56037-feejee-mermaid.html The meaning behind the name Oddish: Fandom. (n.d.). Oddish. Codex Gamicus. Retrieved December 10, 2024, from https://gamicus.fandom.com/wiki/Oddish Mandrakes: The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. (1998, July 20). Mandrake | Description, Species, & Traditions. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/plant/mandrake-Mandragora-genus#ref202668 Corpse flower, Rafflesia arnoldi, definitely the inspiration behind Vileplume Rafflesia arnoldi. (n.d.). Kew Royal Botanic Gardens. Retrieved December 10, 2024, from https://www.kew.org/plants/rafflesia-arnoldi Ghost pipe, a mycoheterotroph: Ghost pipe. (n.d.). Nature Conservancy Canada. Retrieved December 10, 2024, from https://www.natureconservancy.ca/en/what-we-do/resource-centre/featured-species/plants/ghost-pipe.html Timestamps 00:46 Introduction 01:56 Pursuing wildlife biology because Jurassic Park isn't real 3:54 What is Geek Ecology? 5:08 Pokémon Food Webs 10:27 The Fish who beat Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire 11:30 Why “grass type” and not “plant type”? 13:02 Are Pokémon their own kingdom of life? 14:00 A discussion on evolution 18:07 Angiosperms (flowering plants) and gymnosperms (non-flowering plants) 19:09 Impatiens would make good Pokémon 20:30 Plant Pokémon reproduction: seeds AND eggs?? 22:10 Sean wants a Pokémon breeding simulator 12:45 Do Pokémon need to be pollinated? 25:29 What plant inspired the Oddish? 30:58 Vileplume: it’s just a corpse flower, right? 34:45 Parasitic plant tangent 29:25 Pokémon with fake Latin names 40:50 Find Geek Ecology online 42:55 Contact Us & Outro | |||
| Ep.7 Winter Sowing Native Plants with Amanda Jewell | 21 Jan 2025 | 00:52:22 | |
You might think a gardening podcast would focus on guests who have a lifetime of gardening expertise and plenty of credentials. But we want to emphasize that anyone can garden, and amateurs everywhere find niches to flourish in. That’s why we invited Amanda Jewell to share her adventures in learning to grow native plants from seed. Amanda is a vision therapist by trade. In her free time, she uses her postage-stamp urban yard in Northern Ontario to grow hundreds of native wildflowers every year. She describes for us the joy she felt the first time she discovered that her garden was supporting local insects and how the focus on bringing more wildlife to her yard drove her interest in native plants. She also explains how winter sowing has become such an effective technique for her, in spite of mishaps along the way, and how leaning in to nature’s lack of orderliness is both useful and liberating. We wrap up with conversation about finding community among gardeners and about resources and seed sources for listeners who want to try starting their own native plants. Amanda’s Shout-Outs: The Ottawa Wildflower Seed Library distributes free seeds to organizations and gardeners every winter: https://wildflowerseedlibrary.ca/ The Butterflyway Project supports the creation of connected patches of butterfly habitat throughout neighbourhoods: https://davidsuzuki.org/take-action/act-locally/butterflyway/ The Miskwaadesi native garden is a new garden in North Bay, Ontario created by the North Bay Indigenous Friendship Centre: https://www.miskwaadesi.ca/ Timestamps 00:51 Intro 01:25 Gardening in Urban Northern Ontario 03:20 Observe Before You Grow 04:16 Becoming a Disney Princess for Hornets 08:10 A Cheap, Low-Maintenance, Wildlife-Friendly Garden 10:00 Growing Native Perennials Is Beginner Friendly! 11:23 Why Some Seeds Need Cold Stratification 13:57 What is Winter Sowing? 15:22 Organization Not Necessary 17:05 When to Open your Winter-Sowing Greenhouses 18:56 Collecting Native Seeds 21:29 Wildlife Garden With Their Poop! 22:07 Amanda’s Native-Plant Wishlist 23:19 Making a Microclimate for a Southern Plant 25:08 Making a Rain Garden or Pond 26:18 The Miskwaadesi Native Plant Garden in North Bay 28:29 Garden Centres vs. Nurseries 30:41 The Nativar Debate 36:26 Pollination and Genetic Diversity in the Garden 37:23 Understanding Your Garden Ecosystem 38:40 Add Rotting Wood to your Garden 43:40 A Warning about Growing Seeds in Mulch 47:20 Amanda’s Shout-Outs and Tips | |||
| Ep.6 Milkweed VS Beardtongue | 14 Jan 2025 | 00:50:00 | |
This versus episode is a battle of the native wildflowers. Sean leads with penstemon, also known as hairy beardtongue, a charmingly fairytale-looking native perennial genus with species that grow across North America. Points in this plant’s favour: it has few pests and diseases, pollinators love it, and Sean lets us in on the secret to increased blossoms. Also: tube-shaped flowers = hummingbirds and adorably wiggling bee butts. Not to be outdone, Erin pushes back with common milkweed Asclepias syriaca, another native perennial that’s important for pollinators and a range of specialist insects, including monarch butterflies. Its sweet-smelling ball-shaped flower clusters seem engineered for human appeal, but this plant’s genes are wild and free. Erin explains what kind of garden space you need to grow them and addresses some common fears about the toxins in milkweed’s sap. And then both our hosts get into The Milkweed Controversy. Tangents this week include rhizomes, informational websites with no dates on them, the ethics of merch, and the menace of black swallow-wort, a.k.a. dog strangling vine. Who won the Plant Face-Off? Was it Sean with beardtongue or Erin with milkweed? You decide! Send your vote by email or on Instagram, TikTok, or Facebook with the hashtag #PAWFaceOff. Fact Check We weren’t quite certain, but our memories were right: monarch butterflies are listed as endangered in Canada and, as of December 2024, threatened in the United States. However, it’s also important to know that provinces also have their own systems of classification. In Ontario, the monarch is only a species of “special concern,” which doesn’t come with the protections that “endangered” and “threatened” do. La Grassa, J. (2024, December 13). Canadian monarch enthusiasts, experts welcome possible new protections for butterfly in U.S. CBC. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/monarch-butterflies-southwestern-ontario-1.7407440#:~:text=In%20Ontario%2C%20the%20monarch%20is,receive%20species%20or%20habitat%20protection.%22 Comments? Feedback? Want your garden question to be featured in a future Q&A segment? Email us, reach out over social media, or get Q&A priority by supporting us on Patreon. Instagram: @plantsalwayswinpodcast Facebook: plantsalwayswinpodcast TikTok: @plantsalwayswinpodcast Website: www.plantsalwayswin.com Credits Website Design and Illustration by Sophia Alladin Intro and Outro Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/soundroll/when-my-ukulele-plays License code: GWOIMMBAS15FG6PH Citations Moving Penstemon from Scrophulariaceae to Plantaginaceae Gerry. (2016, January 24). Genus Penstemon Moved from Scrophulariaceae to Plantaginaceae. USWildflowers.com Journal. https://journal.uswildflowers.com/2016/01/genus-penstemon-moved-from-scrophulariaceae-to-plantaginaceae/ Penstemon Basics: Hairy Beardtongue. (2025, January 8). Ontario Native Plants. https://onplants.ca/shop/penstemon-hirsutus/ TWC Staff. (2023, February 22). Penstemon hirsutus (By The University of Texas at Austin). Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=PEHI The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. (1998b, July 20). Penstemon | Native, perennial, flowering. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/plant/Penstemon A Beginner’s Guide to Native Penstemons Native Penstemons: A Beginner’s Guide. (2024, December 22). The Plant Native. https://theplantnative.com/plant/penstemon/ Medicinal uses of Wildflowers Medicinal uses (By Oregon State University). (2019, March 13). College of Agricultural Sciences. https://agsci.oregonstate.edu/mes/sustainable-wildflower-seed-production/medicinal-uses Ellen Zachos, author of the books Backyard Forager: 65 familiar plants you didn’t know you could eat, The Forager’s Pantry: Cooking with wild edibles, and How to Forage for Wild Foods Without Dying: An absolute beginner’s guide to identifying 35 wild, edible plants, and more Zachos, E. Backyard forager. Retrieved January 8, 2025, from https://backyardforager.com/ The David Suzuki Foundation Butterflyway Project The Butterflyway Project. (2025, January 8). David Suzuki Foundation. https://davidsuzuki.org/take-action/act-locally/butterflyway/ Your local Native Plant Society will have information about the milkweed that grows in your area. Native Plant Societies. (n.d.). North American Native Plant Society. Retrieved January 8, 2025, from https://nanps.org/native-plant-societies/ The Xerces Society Milkweed Finder can help you find seeds if you want to grow your own. Milkweed Finder. The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Protection. Retrieved January 8, 2025, from https://xerces.org/milkweed/milkweed-seed-finder Raising monarch butterflies Pasternak, Carol. How to Raise Monarch Butterflies: A Step-By-Step Guide for Kids (How it Works). E-book ed., Firefly Books Ltd., 2015. The life cycle and migration of monarch butterflies “Life Cycle”, Monarch Joint Venture, https://monarchjointventure.org/monarch-biology/life-cycle. Accessed 20 November, 2024. A close study of milkweed and the species it hosts Holdrege, Craig. “The Story of an Organism: Common Milkweed”, The Nature Institute, 2010, www.natureinstitute.org/article/craig-holdrege/the-story-of-an-organism-common-milkweed Timestamps 00:11 Intro 01:04 What’s Growing On? 01:50 Sean’s Puppy Update 02:03 Erin’s New Book 05:00 The Plant Face-Off 05:23 Face-Off Results for Poinsettia vs. Amaryllis 06:30 Sean’s Plant: Penstemon, a.k.a. Beardtongue 06:57 The Reclassification of Penstemon 08:58 The Value of Dates on Research Materials 11:03 Penstemon Species and Ranges 12:19 Penstemon In Your Garden 14:21 Penstemon Pollinators, Featuring Bee Butts 16:38 Learning Medicinal Uses for Plants 19:30 Tending Penstemon 23:58 Erin’s Plant: Common Milkweed 25:56 What is Rhizome? 27:51 National Garden Bureau’s Year Of the Asclepias 28:55 Milkweed Misnomers 30:14 The Destruction of Common Milkweed 31:43 Toxic Sap and Nuanced Conversations 35:09 Would You Eat (cooked) Milkweed? 35:58 When Growing Milkweed Kills Monarchs 39:52 How to Source Milkweed for Your Region 41:23 Saving Monarchs—who, how, and why 46:00 The Problem of Dog-Strangling Vine 48:16 Outro | |||
| Ep.8 Peace Lily VS Phalaenopsis Orchid | 28 Jan 2025 | 00:58:37 | |
This versus episode kicks off with a discussion about creating a safe space on social media for respectful, loving communication about everything plants and gardens, then digresses into a discussion of Latin pronunciations in botanical, liturgical, and classical settings. When we make it to the Plant Face-Off, Erin leads with peace lily, or Spathiphyllum spp. She explains why some plants in the Spathiphyllum genus have Big Spadix Energy, then explores the fascinating physical mechanism that makes biting a peace lily a bad idea. She explains how to approximate the conditions of its home in the understory of tropical rainforests and how to treat problems, then digs into why she and others are so darned allergic to its pollen. Finally, Erin and Sean dissect the infamous NASA Clean Air Study that still prompts publications to insist that peace lilies can purify your air of household toxins. In the second half of the episode, Sean confidently takes the stage to predict a win for his favourite plants, Phalaenopsis orchids, also known as moon orchids or moth orchids (for their moth-like flowers). He explains how they grow hanging in the air, attached to trees or stones, and describes the various options for propagating them. Next he covers such controversial topics as what media to grow orchids in, how to water them, and where to position them for the best kind of light. As someone who has rehabilitated many a box-store orchid, he is well equipped with advice on helping them re-bloom and thrive. Sean closes his segment with some history and surprising medical uses for Phalaenopsis. Who won the Plant Face-Off? Was it Erin with peace lilies or Sean with Phalaenopsis orchids? You decide! Send your vote by email or on Instagram, TikTok, or Facebook with the hashtag #PAWFaceOff. Instagram: @plantsalwayswinpodcast Facebook: plantsalwayswinpodcast TikTok: @plantsalwayswinpodcast Website: www.plantsalwayswin.com Shout-Outs: Southern Ontario Orchid Society: https://soos.ca/ Central Ontario Orchid Society: http://coos.ca/ Knotmoth Micro Crochet: https://www.instagram.com/knotmoth/ Credits Website Design and Illustration by Sophia Alladin Intro and Outro Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/soundroll/when-my-ukulele-plays License code: GWOIMMBAS15FG6PH Citations Phalaenopsis Culture Sheet Phalaenopsis Culture Sheet - American Orchid Society. (n.d.). https://www.aos.org/orchid-care/care-sheets/phalaenopsis-culture-sheet The Phalaenopsis group on Missouri Botanical Garden’s Plant Finder Phalaenopsis (group). (n.d.). Missouri Botanical Garden. https://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?taxonid=264608&isprofile=1&basic=phalaenopsis An updated version of a 1956 article in the American Orchid Society Bulletin Phalaenopsis, the Genus - Beginner’s Handbook, XXIII. (n.d.). American Orchid Society. Retrieved January 21, 2025, from https://www.aos.org/orchid-care/orchid-care-and-culture-sheets/phalaenopsis-culture-sheet/phalaenopsis-the-genus Research into medical uses for commercial orchid waste Minh, T., Khang, D., Tuyen, P., Minh, L., Anh, L., Quan, N., Ha, P., Quan, N., Toan, N., Elzaawely, A., & Xuan, T. (2016). Phenolic compounds and antioxidant activity of phalaenopsis orchid hybrids. Antioxidants, 5(3), 31. https://doi.org/10.3390/antiox5030031 The history of orchids Hill, E. (2021, March 26). The history of orchids. Love Orchids. https://www.loveorchids.co.uk/blogs/home/four-things-about-the-history-of-orchids-you-might-not-know?srsltid=AfmBOooOu7XYkq-RGQmlx8YUl1JBoj50X_3xPH1wgEjo3CmOf20X1hMR Peace lilies’ relatives: plants in the Araceae family Grant, B. L. (2021, August 11). Arum plant information: Learn about common varieties of arum. Gardening Know How. https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/houseplants/hpgen/arum-plant-information.htm Information about spathes and spadixes Ellis, M. E. (2021, November 29). What is a spathe: Learn about the spathe and spadix in plants. Gardening Know How. https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/garden-how-to/info/what-is-a-spathe.htm Spathiphyllum overview, including pests and diseases Spathiphyllum (Peace lily, Spathe flower, White sails) | North Carolina Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox. (n.d.). Retrieved January 21, 2025, from https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/spathiphyllum/#poison Treating pests and diseases of Spathiphyllum Spengler, T. (2021, May 29). Diseases in spathiphyllum: Tips on treating peace lily diseases. Gardening Know How. https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/houseplants/peace-lily/diseases-spathiphyllum-tips-treating-peace-lily-diseases.htm How calcium oxalate crystals in peace lily leaves cause reactions Wismer, T. (2015). Feline toxins. August’s Consultations in Feline Internal Medicine, 7, 791–798. https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-323-22652-3.00079-7 Spathiphyllum as an unusually bad trigger for allergies among houseplants egás, V. H., Duch, G. D., García, V. G., De La Losa, F. P., Fernández, M. C., Velandia, D. G., & Jané, P. G. (2019). Allergy to Spathiphyllum wallisii, an Indoor Allergen. Journal of Investigational Allergology and Clinical Immunology, 29(6), 453–454. https://doi.org/10.18176/jiaci.0419 Debunking popular NASA Clean Air Study interpretations Editorial Staff. (2017, February 15). Getting into the Weeds: Do Houseplants Really Improve Air Quality? American Lung Association. https://www.lung.org/blog/do-houseplants-really-improve-air-quality#:~:text=This%20NASA%20study%20showed%20that,long%20history%20of%20health%20impacts NASA’s own account of the Clean Air study Plants clean air and water for indoor environments. (2007). NASA Spinoff. https://spinoff.nasa.gov/Spinoff2007/ps_3.html A deeper dive into the study and how houseplants really benefit your home Russel, E. M. (2020, September 7). Debunked: Despite NASA clean air study claims, houseplants don’t effectively purify air. Clean Air Gardening. https://www.cleanairgardening.com/do-houseplants-clean-air/ Timestamps 00:57 Intro 01:13 What’s Growing On? 01:15 Opening our Discord to the Gardening World 2:45 Booking Some Public Gigs 04:20 The Plant Face-Off 04:43 Face-Off Results for Milkweed vs. Beardtongue 05:30 Pronouncing Latin: A Context Sport 07:05 Erin’s Plant: Peace Lily 07:22The Arum Family (Araceae) 08:20 Spathes and Spadixes 09:02 Corpse Flower Amorphophallus titanum: Big Spadix Energy 11:05 Peace Lily’s Not-so-Peaceful Toxic Reaction 14:09 Caring for your Peace Lily 19:52 Peace Lily Allergies 21:55 The Infamous NASA Clean Air Study 31:55 Sean’s Plant: Phalaenopsis Orchid 33:13 Orchid Taxonomy (and What’s Taxonomy, Anyway?) 33:06 Orchid Origins 36:33 Epiphytes on Trees and Lithophytes on Rocks 37:22 Three Ways to Propagate an Orchid 40:22 What to Grow your Orchid In 42:59 How to Have a Happy Orchid 48:50 Orchid Pests, Pestilence, and Stress 50:00 History Time, Featuring Orchid Delirium 53:30 Orchids in Medical Research 55:09 Shout-Outs 55:13 Ontario Orchid Societies 55:37 Knotmoth Micro Crochet 57:17 Contact Us and Outro | |||
| Ep.9 Garden Classrooms with Lauren MacLean | 04 Feb 2025 | 00:44:51 | |
Have you learned to read your garden? This week we sit down with Lauren MacLean, a teacher, author, and podcaster from Richmond, British Columbia. She’s a big advocate for how outdoor classrooms help kids learn better, but a few years ago she had a learning experience of her own when her school built a new garden classroom. In this interview she shares with us her background as an outdoor educator and explains the magic of “sit spots” for creating a relationship with our environment—something we should all do in our own gardens. Lauren explains how even though she was new to gardening when her school dug into its new project, she was helped by the nature literacy she and her students already possessed. “Reading” the plants and the species who live in relationship to them is key. Throughout today’s conversation we celebrate the value of garden failures and what they can teach us and the children who follow our example. We extend grace to ourselves and all gardeners (and houseplant parents!) who struggle to help their plants thrive. Lauren also offers advice for teachers to keep their garden classrooms afloat when the first bloom of ambition fades, and celebrates the community connections they can forge. Finally, we wrap up by trouble-shooting problems like summer watering, wildlife interactions, and weed identification. If you want to learn more from Lauren about outdoor learning, check out… Lauren’s Courses: Nature’s Path: a Year of Monthly Sparks—monthly outdoor-learning professional development for educators and homeschooling families Thrive Outside: Grow Your Teaching Space—a five-week program for teachers and homeschooling parents to grow their teaching into the outdoors Lauren’s Books: Me and My Sit Spot—a picture book about choosing and using a sit spot Finding Common Ground—a story set in an outdoor classroom Sitting with Nature: An Educator’s Guide to Sit Spots—the book that brought Lauren and Erin together as author and editor, a resource that introduces why and how to use sit spots in the classroom (with lesson plans included!) Lauren’s Online: Teach Outdoors is Lauren’s podcast about outdoor learning. teachoutdoors.ca is her website. Lauren’s Social Media Instagram: @teachoutdoors.ca Facebook: Lauren MacLean-Douglas Bluesky: @teachoutdoors.bsky.social Timestamps 00:34 Intro 01:12 Lauren’s Outdoor-Learning Origin Story 02:40 Sit Spots: Building a Relationship with Nature 08:34 Lauren’s Garden-Classroom Learning Curve 10:10 Developing Plant Literacy 11:30 The Value of Failure in the Garden and the Classroom 16:55 Taking the Whole Curriculum Into the Garden 20:56 How Not to Abandon Your Garden Classroom 24:05 Classroom Gardens and Community 24:30 Summer Watering 27:47 Mulch and Acidity (worry less about it) 29:40 What Does Your (School) Garden Grow? 30:30 Fruit Trees in Schools? 30:50 An Ode to the Serviceberry 34:25 Lauren’s Home Gardening Mishap 35:00 Plant Propagation 38:54 The Importance of Weeding Guides 41:27 Lauren’s Courses, Books, and Podcast 43:33 Outro Books and Experts Referenced in this Episode Monty Don’s Down to Earth, in which he talks about building a place to sit in every garden Don, M. (2020). Down to earth: Gardening Wisdom. National Geographic Books. Megan Zeni, Outdoor Educator Zeni, M. (2025). Megan Zeni - Room to Play Consulting. MeganZeni.com. https://meganzeni.com/ Robin Wall Kimmerer’s The Serviceberry Kimmerer, R. W. (2024). The ServiceBerry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World. Simon and Schuster. Erin’s picture book Outside, You Notice Alladin, E. (2021). Outside, you notice. Pajama Press. | |||
| Ep. 12 Groundcovers with Kathy Jentz | 18 Feb 2025 | 01:07:25 | |
This week we cover a lot of ground on the subject of groundcovers with Kathy Jentz. Kathy is the editor and publisher of Washington Gardener, the host of the Garden DC podcast, and the author of Groundcover Revolution, a book written to give inspiration and examples for turf grass substitutes that gardeners everywhere can use to find the best plants for their region. They can also use its attractive and accessible photographs to get their spouses and their HOA on board. We start our conversation by establishing some ground rules: what is a groundcover? Kathy says it’s any plant that covers the ground thickly enough to suppress weeds, which kicks off a conversation about turf substitutes, plant height, maintenance, and moss lawns. We reflect on the history of lawns, the aggressive nature of many groundcovers, and how to manage them through plant choice or through physical intervention. What about avoiding invasive species of groundcovers altogether? Kathy shares some favourites and some species she would never recommend in her region, Washington DC. Erin and Sean offer their own top and bottom choices for Central Ontario and discover, in spite of distance and very different growing seasons, some common ground. For more of Kathy, you can find her in the following places: Upcoming speaking engagements
Kathy’s Online Platforms • Washington Gardener Plant Store: • Washington Gardener Blog: www.washingtongardener.blogspot.com • Washington Gardener Archives: http://issuu.com/washingtongardener • Washington Gardener Discussion Group: https://groups.google.com/g/washingtongardener/ To join, send an email to - washingtongardener+subscribe@googlegroups.com • Washington Gardener Twitter Feed: • Washington Gardener Bluesky Feed: https://bsky.app/profile/wdcgardener.bsky.social • Washington Gardener Instagram Account: https://www.instagram.com/wdcgardener/ • Washington Gardener Pinterest Account: https://www.pinterest.com/wdcgardener/boards/ • Washington Gardener TikTok Account: https://www.tiktok.com/@wdcgardener • Washington Gardener Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/WashingtonGardenerMagazine/ • Washington Gardener Youtube: www.youtube.com/washingtongardenermagazine • Washington Gardener Amazon Affiliate Store: www.amazon.com/shop/wdcgardener • Washington Gardener Podcast: GardenDC Kathy’s Books The Urban Garden: 101 Ways to Grow Food and Beauty in the City Books and Experts Referenced in this Episode: The Magical World of Moss Gardening by Annie Martin, a.k.a. Mossin’ Annie Comments? Feedback? Want your garden question to be featured in a future Q&A segment? Email us, reach out over social media, or get Q&A priority by supporting us on Patreon. Bluesky: @plantsalwayswin.com TikTok: @plantsalwayswinpodcast YouTube: @plantsalwayswinpodcast Website: www.plantsalwayswin.com Credits Website Design and Illustration by Sophia Alladin Intro and Outro Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/soundroll/when-my-ukulele-plays License code: GWOIMMBAS15FG6PH Timestamps 00:45 Intro 01:10 Welcoming Kathy Jentz 1:53 What is a Groundcover, Anyway? 03:39 Moss Lawn Appreciation 06:03 Mossin' Annie, Moss Lawn Expert 08:07 Kathy’s New Book, Groundcover Revolution 09:25 Writing Gardening Books for an International Audience 11:52 Lawns, Landowners, and Historic Showing Off 14:55 Managing Aggressive and Invasive Groundcovers 20:39 A Native Lily of the Valley 24:45 Growing Conditions in Washington, DC 28:49 Growing Conditions in Central Ontario 31:50 Very Different Growing Seasons 34:50 Kathy’s Favourite Groundcovers 40:35 Erin’s Favourite Groundcovers 43:40 Sean’s Favourite Groundcovers 48:28 Gardening with Deer 50:47 Groundcovers Kathy Never Recommends 53:22 Groundcovers that Sean Never Recommends 54:54 Managing the Mint Family 57:47 Don’t Shame Your Neighbours 1:02:30 Erin’s Least Favourite Groundcover 1:04 Where to Find Kathy 1:05:53 Contact Us and Outro | |||
| Ep.11 Valentine's Day Special, Part 2, Carnation Nation | 14 Feb 2025 | 00:43:07 | |
This is the second instalment of our two-part Roses vs. Carnations Valentine’s Day special. After Sean eloquently shared his love for roses earlier this week, Erin barges in with the claim that roses are elitist and carnations are the flower of the people. Her focus is Dianthus caryophyllus, a cut-flower relative of some familiar garden flowers like pinks. She takes us back to the Carnation Revolution and other people’s uprisings in which carnations became important symbols, tells us what the name “pink” has to do with dianthus’ ruffled petals, and explores carnations’ aromatic uses. When Erin puts Sean on the spot to describe the science behind why putting food colouring in a carnation’s water source will dye it, he pulls it off admirably and gives us some bonus facts about mineral buildup on tap water-fed houseplants. The episode gathers steam with school carnation sales at Valentine’s Day (awkward), Mother’s Day symbology (touching), and the Vicorian language of flowers (not Erin’s favourite thing). Then it winds down with carnation care both in the garden and as cut flowers. Are you ready to join Carnation Nation? Or have roses won your heart? Cast your vote by tagging us on social media and using the hashtag #PAWFaceOff. Fact Check We promised to find out which was named first: pinking shears (which cut saw-toothed edges in fabric) or garden pinks (which have petals with saw-toothed edges). The answer is not clear-cut, but we highly recommend the Online Etymology Dictionary’s interesting entry about it: https://www.etymonline.com/word/pink Comments? Feedback? Want your garden question to be featured in a future Q&A segment? Email us, reach out over social media, or get Q&A priority by supporting us on Patreon. Bluesky: @plantsalwayswin.com TikTok: @plantsalwayswinpodcast YouTube: @plantsalwayswinpodcast Website: www.plantsalwayswin.com Credits Website Design and Illustration by Sophia Alladin Intro and Outro Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/soundroll/when-my-ukulele-plays License code: GWOIMMBAS15FG6PH Citations Carnations overview Dianthus caryophyllus “Vienna Mischung.” (n.d.). Missouri Botanical Garden. Retrieved February 6, 2025, from https://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?kempercode=z910 Carnations’ Caryophyllaceae relatives The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. (1999, May 4). Caryophyllaceae | Description, Taxonomy, Genera, & Species. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/plant/Caryophyllaceae Growing carnations NC State Extension. (n.d.). Dianthus caryophyllus. North Carolina Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox. Retrieved February 6, 2025, from https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/dianthus-caryophyllus/ Caring for your carnation bouquet Plant Addicts. (2023, April 5). Cut Carnation Flower Care | Plant Addicts. https://plantaddicts.com/cut-carnation-flower-care/?srsltid=AfmBOoomoX8SAtbDhtMp6O2aJ9c0bqjVF7i2Mxq12NotQoMiF1zWtRa- Carnations Flower Care. (n.d.). Farmgirl Flowers. Retrieved February 6, 2025, from https://farmgirlflowers.com/care/care-by-flower-type/carnations?srsltid=AfmBOoqvVyDnu1wEwiRoqpfa9sYsja3keUGZ6K8yqnNayTL4MsfB6k1Y Timestamps 1:00 Intro Erin’s Plant: Carnations 1:38 Dianthus caryophyllus and Family 3:37 Which Came First, the Pink or the Shears? 4:35 Carnation Etymology 6:15 How to Describe a Carnation 9:03 Transgenic Cultivars 11:18 A Symbol of the People 13:32 Aromatic Uses 15:15 The Science of Colouring Carnations with Food Dye 17:46 Mineral Buildup on Houseplants 20:06 Carnations’ Mild Toxicity 20:58 Valentine’s Day School Carnation Sales 22:48 The Motherhood Connection 22:30 The Victorian Language of Flowers 25:42 Growing Carnations at Home 29:59 Cover your Bare Soil! 32:09 Insects Hosted by Carnations 33:36 Caring for your Carnation Bouquet 40:13 Points per Pun 40:51 Contact Us and Outro | |||
| Ep.10 Valentine's Day Special Part 1: Roses | 11 Feb 2025 | 00:49:26 | |
This is a special two-part Plant Face-Off! We had so much to say about roses and carnations that we had to split the recording into two episodes. In this instalment, we start with some housekeeping, answering the listener question “What is Patreon?”, explaining why we’re phasing off the Meta platforms Facebook and Instagram, and reminding YOU to reach out if you’d like to join the conversation at our Plants Always Win Discord server. After that Sean takes us through history and around the world with the ever-sweet subject of roses. Learn about the surprising members of the rose family fruit tree, explore their history and symbolism, and learn how to take care of them in your garden—especially here in Ontario. Sean also answers some questions from the internet, such as “Can I regrow my rose bouquet?” “Are rose petals edible?”, and “How can I make my cut roses last?” But the face-off doesn’t end here. Come back later this week for Part II when Erin takes the floor with roses’ Valentine’s Day competitor, carnations. Then cast your vote by email on social media with the hashtag #PAWfaceoff. Comments? Feedback? Want your garden question to be featured in a future Q&A segment? Email us, reach out over social media, or get Q&A priority by supporting us on Patreon. Bluesky: @plantsalwayswin.com TikTok: @plantsalwayswinpodcast YouTube: @plantsalwayswinpodcast Website: www.plantsalwayswin.com Credits Website Design and Illustration by Sophia Alladin Intro and Outro Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/soundroll/when-my-ukulele-plays License code: GWOIMMBAS15FG6PH Citations Roses (native and not) that grow in Ontario Ontario Trees and Shrubs - Roses Group. (n.d.). http://ontariotrees.com/main/group.php?id=80 Distinguishing different types of roses The Different Types of Roses: An Ultimate Guide. (n.d.). Jackson & Perkins. Retrieved February 4, 2025, from https://www.jacksonandperkins.com/ultimate-guide-rose-types/a/types-of-roses/ General information about the Rosa genus roses (Genus Rosa). (n.d.). iNaturalist. https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/53438-Rosa Roses and their soil pH needs Jones, S. (n.d.). Balancing soil pH for growing roses. Santa Clarita Valley Rose Society. Retrieved February 4, 2025, from http://www.santaclaritarose.org/BalancePH.html Research into traditional medicinal uses of roses Schwarcz, J., PhD. (2023, February 8). Valentine’s Day! Time to smell the roses! McGill University Office for Science and Society. https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/history/valentines-day-time-smell-roses Timestamps 00:59 Intro 1:41: Audience question: What is Patreon? 4:37 Social Media Changes 5:59 Merch Update 6:50 Our Discord Server 8:10 The Plant Face-Off 8:32: Sean's Plant: Roses 9:45 The Surprising Rosaceae Family 12:15 The Symbolism of Roses 13:13 Greek and Egyptian History 14:35 Roses Come From Everywhere! 16:28 A Rose by Any Other Type... 18:16 Growing Roses in your Garden 19:02 Fertilizer Tangent: They Alter pH? 22:34 Pruning and Deadheading your Roses 24:32 Rosehips Don't Lie: Eating Roses 25:33 Reverting to Wild Rootstock 26:24 What Pests and Diseases? Basically All of Them. 30:01 Rose Fragrances: Perfumes, Oils, and your Grandma's Soap 31:35 Pigments, Dried Flowers, and Other Uses 33:24 Culinary and Medical Uses (and Speaking to the Deer) 38:10 Answering Internet Questions about Roses 40:49 Regrowing your Bouquet 43:05 Caring for your Cut Roses 46:20 Shoutout to Teacup Miniature Roses 48:14 Outro | |||
| Ep. 13 Beneficial Non-Natives? Borage vs. Cosmos | 04 Mar 2025 | 01:00:38 | |
It’s a concern being voiced by conscientious gardeners everywhere: is it okay to plant a non-native flower that feeds pollinators but also self-sows freely? One suspect that is being discussed in many online gardening groups in borage. It shows up in pollinator-garden seed mixes that the purchasers expected to be 100% native. It features at seed swaps and in seed libraries because its seeds are easy to collect, and established gardeners know it always brings the bees in. But it also sows itself aggressively, and it didn’t evolve alongside North American pollinators. The people want to know: is it problematic to grow it? Is an aggressive plant necessarily invasive? That’s the question that sets the stage for this week’s versus episode. Sean takes on the borage question while Erin examines her own potentially-problematic fave, cosmos. They look into each plant’s origins, its spread around the world, and how manageable it is once it’s in your garden. They examine studies about wildlife use and raise questions about nectar and pollen quality. Along the way, they uncover a treasure trove of interesting science…and a wealth of questions still to be answered. Who brought the most fascinating facts about their plant this week? Vote for borage or cosmos by tagging us on social media and using the hashtag #PAWFaceOff. Comments? Feedback? Want your garden question to be featured in a future Q&A segment? Email us, reach out over social media, or get Q&A priority by supporting us on Patreon. Bluesky: @plantsalwayswin.com TikTok: @plantsalwayswinpodcast YouTube: @plantsalwayswinpodcast Website: www.plantsalwayswin.com Credits Website Design and Illustration by Sophia Alladin Intro and Outro Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/soundroll/when-my-ukulele-plays License code: GWOIMMBAS15FG6PH Citations What is Borage? borage. (2025). In Merriam-Webster Dictionary. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/borage A broad overview of Borage Hageman, B. (2024, December 10). Borage: a beautiful herb with many benefits. Grow Organic. https://www.groworganic.com/blogs/articles/borage-a-beautiful-herb-with-many-benefits?srsltid=AfmBOorlAOi28B_PjvoYMORhIqEzDctHk2McssEbhsKe870WpYnYA8yn Use of borage for gamma-linolenic acid (GLA) Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. (n.d.). Specialty cropportunitites - borage. Specialty Cropportunities. Retrieved February 24, 2025, from https://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/CropOp/en/indus_misc/oil_crops/borage.html Borage’s medical potential BORAGE: Overview, uses, side effects, precautions, interactions, dosing and reviews. (n.d.). Web MD. Retrieved February 24, 2025, from https://www.webmd.com/vitamins/ai/ingredientmono-596/borage The origin of the word cosmos for the well-arranged flower and the well-ordered universe Liddell, H. G., & Scott, R. (n.d.). κόσμος. Henry George Liddell, a Greek-English Lexicon. Retrieved February 24, 2025, from https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0057:entry=ko/smos Kosmos Meaning - Greek Lexicon | New Testament (NAS). (n.d.). Bible Study Tools. Retrieved February 24, 2025, from https://www.biblestudytools.com/lexicons/greek/nas/kosmos.html Growing and keeping cosmos as cut flowers Boeckmann, C. (2025, February 7). Cosmos Flowers: Planting, growing, and caring for Cosmos. Almanac.com. https://www.almanac.com/plant/cosmos Care and wildlife use Iannotti, M. (2024, July 19). How to grow and care for cosmos. The Spruce. https://www.thespruce.com/how-to-grow-cosmos-4125538 An account of leafcutter bees using cosmos Burlew, R. (2017, March 31). Cosmos: a multipurpose bee flower. Honey Bee Suite. https://www.honeybeesuite.com/cosmos-a-multipurpose-bee-flower/ The food value of cosmos pollen and nectar Hicks, D. M., Ouvrard, P., Baldock, K. C. R., Baude, M., Goddard, M. A., Kunin, W. E., Mitschunas, N., Memmott, J., Morse, H., Nikolitsi, M., Osgathorpe, L. M., Potts, S. G., Robertson, K. M., Scott, A. V., Sinclair, F., Westbury, D. B., & Stone, G. N. (2016). Food for Pollinators: Quantifying the nectar and pollen resources of urban flower meadows. PLoS ONE, 11(6), e0158117. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0158117 Use of quercetin in cosmos rhizomes for treating malaria Ali, A. H., Sudi, S., Shi-Jing, N., Hassan, W. R. M., Basir, R., Agustar, H. K., Embi, N., Sidek, H. M., & Latip, J. (2021). Dual Anti-Malarial and GSK3Β-Mediated Cytokine-Modulating activities of quercetin are requisite of its potential as a Plant-Derived therapeutic in malaria. Pharmaceuticals, 14(3), 248. https://doi.org/10.3390/ph14030248 One of many personal accounts of using Sulphureus for dye Keegan, G. (n.d.). Cosmos. Graham Keegan. Retrieved September 5, 2023, from https://www.grahamkeegan.com/cosmos?srsltid=AfmBOooSp8-OAkqSDU6XCI6pd0VP-Ny6aGKZvqfDgCfORtTfFTHmEuRu Commentary on the potential invasiveness of cosmos Ask Mr. Smarty Plants. (2013, April 26). Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center - the University of Texas at Austin. https://www.wildflower.org/expert/show.php?id=9284 Timestamps 00:37 Should We Grow Non-Native "Beneficial" Flowers? 01:41 Erin’s Sentimental Attachment to Cosmos 03:53 The Plant Face-Off 04:14 Sean’s Plant: Borage 04:25 The Boraginaceae Family 05:19 Borage Etymology 05:58 True Annuals, and How They Die 12:12 What Makes a Flower Perfect? 14:15 Borage’s Native Range 15:11 Gamma-Linolenic Acid 17:20 Eating Borage 18:44 Borage Benefits and Warnings 21:35 Are Hairy Plants Pest Assassins? 25:05 Do Naturalized Plants Stay Non-Invasive? 30:56 Water Break 32:33 Erin’s Plant: Cosmos 34:01 Cosmos Name Origins 36:19 What’s a Half-Hardy Annual? 37:31 Uses for Cosmos 38:25 Seeking High-Quality Nectar and Pollen 42:22 Growing Cosmos 43:09 Can You Eat Cosmos? No One Agrees. 47:43 Medicinal Uses of Cosmos 49:25 Cosmos Range and Invasiveness 53:38 Do All Flowers Benefit Pollinators? 56:17 Deciding Whether to Plant Non-Native Flowers 57:46 The Things That Get You Gardening 58:56 Contact Us and Outro | |||
| Ep. 17 Plants Need Bugs | 08 Apr 2025 | 01:03:50 | |
Plants always win…and to manage it, they need insects, arachnids, and other creepy-crawlies on their side. Of course, those creatures need plants too. In this episode, Sean and Erin are joined by Kelly and Amanda of Bugs Need Heroes. And what happens when you cross-pollinate a gardening podcast with one where an entomologist and an illustrator create bug-based superheroes? There’s a lot of laughter, a heaping scoop of science, and the birth of a new squad of garden defenders. Insects and their compatriots come armed with some pretty impressive real-world superpowers that savvy gardeners can use to their advantage. This week’s discussion delves into the incredible diversity of insect species, the role biting insects play in pollination, the importance of leveraging friendly neighbourhood garden expertise for advice that suits your location, and the villainy of spraying for mosquitoes. Then there’s the highlight of the episode: superhero personas based on the denizens of the garden, including bumblebees, wolf spiders, and…well, you’ll have to listen to find out. Want more of Kelly and Amanda? Visit the Bugs Need Heroes website at https://www.bugsneedheroes.com/ or find their Reddit at https://www.reddit.com/r/BugsNeedHeroes/. Fact Check: The year of the last recorded death by black widow venom in the United States is stated on many websites as 1983. Wikipedia offers a link to the Clinical Toxicology paper this fact apparently comes from, although the link is broken. If you have questions of your own or if you want to weigh in on these topics (we love learning new things through respectful discussion!), email us or reach out over social media. Bluesky: @plantsalwayswin.com TikTok: @plantsalwayswinpodcast YouTube: @plantsalwayswinpodcast Website: www.plantsalwayswin.com Remember that you can get Q&A priority and other perks by supporting us on Patreon. Credits Website Design and Illustration by Sophia Alladin Intro and Outro Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/soundroll/when-my-ukulele-plays License code: GWOIMMBAS15FG6PH Citation Bumblebee Proboscises by Rusty Burlew, R. (2024, July 8). Hey bee, stick out your tongue and say “Ahh.” Honey Bee Suite. https://www.honeybeesuite.com/hey-bee-stick-out-your-tongue-and-say-ahh/ Timestamps 00:00 Introducing Bugs Need Heroes! 02:40 Bugs are everywhere 03:22 How Many Wolf Spiders? We Don't Know. 04:45 Plants vs. Insects: How they Make New Ones 07:40 Amanda's Real Superhero Background 09:20 Kelly's Real Bug Background 10:53 Mosquitoes are Essential, Actually (Stop Spraying!) 17:43 Context! Nuance! Location Matters. 21:26 The One Species Kelly would Remove from Earth 22:30 Yes, Sean has Mites in his Eyebrows (So Do You) 23:40 Insect Superheroes 24:56 Erin's Insect Hero: Just a Happy Lil Bumblebee 30:45 Kelly's Insect Hero: Wolf Spider 32:46 Black Widow Bites 37:16 Maman the Spider Sculpture in Ottawa 40:03 The Hunter Hunter Phagogenesis Tangent 42:15 Amanda's Luck-Powered Hero Insect 47:50: Sean's Serviceberry Hero 51:18 Is Superman a Plant? 57:33 Snail Teeth are Stronger than Diamonds 58:50 Our Hero Costumes 1:01:16 Shout-Outs 1:02:30 Outro and Contact Us | |||
| Ep. 16 Q&A Special: Cedars, Compost, and Cardboard Mulch | 01 Apr 2025 | 01:00:08 | |
We’re cultivating a safe space to ask gardening questions! We have been plotting for some thyme to add some dedicated Q&A episodes to the recording schedule. While we love seeding quick questions into the end of a show, and while many of our most popular episodes have sprouted from a particularly juicy inquiry, there are plenty of other questions that merit ten minutes of discussion rather than sixty or two. In this inaugural Q&A special, we tackle a bushel of cedar and shrub questions and spend some time in the vegetable garden as well:
If you have questions of your own or if you want to weigh in on these topics (we love learning new things through respectful discussion!), email us or reach out over social media. Bluesky: @plantsalwayswin.com TikTok: @plantsalwayswinpodcast YouTube: @plantsalwayswinpodcast Website: www.plantsalwayswin.com Remember that you can get Q&A priority and other perks by supporting us on Patreon. Credits Website Design and Illustration by Sophia Alladin Intro and Outro Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/soundroll/when-my-ukulele-plays License code: GWOIMMBAS15FG6PH Citations Understanding PFAS Our current understanding of the human health and environmental risks of PFAS | US EPA. (2024, November 26). US EPA. https://www.epa.gov/pfas/our-current-understanding-human-health-and-environmental-risks-pfas Figure out if your cardboard mulch has (significant amounts of) PFAS Olson, T., & Olson, T. (2024, May 23). Is cardboard mulch toxic? – Mother Earth News. Mother Earth News – the Original Guide to Living Wisely. https://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/gardening-techniques/is-cardboard-mulch-toxic-zm0z24jjzols/ Debunking the anti-cardboard crusade Hoag, M. (2024, April 2). Addressing the 2024 cardboard Sheet-Mulching myth madness. Transformative Adventures. https://transformativeadventures.org/2024/04/01/debunking-the-2024-cardboard-sheet-mulching-myth-madness/ Timestamps 00:11 Introduction 00:53 What's Growing On? Erin's False Spring 04:36 What's Growing On? Sean's Pupdate and Seedling Roulette 17:10 Water Break 17:26 Removing Cedars Near a House: Environmental Impacts? 12:35 Is Cardboard Mulch Really Unsafe? 24:48 What Gives Rose of Sharon a "Dirty Tree" Reputation? 31:18 How Can You Fill in Gaps in a Sparse, Old Cedar Hedge? 37:10 Can You Shorten an Established Cedar Hedge? 48:55 What's the Best Soil-to-Compost Ratio for Veggie Gardens? 57:37 Invitation to Conversation 58:39 Conclusion and Contact Us | |||
| Ep. 15 Lost Ladies of Garden Writing with Carol Michel | 25 Mar 2025 | 00:41:56 | |
Carol Michel is a garden author and co-host of The Gardenangelists podcast. She boasts of having the world’s largest hoe collection…which is overshadowed only by her library-worthy collection of gardening books. Among the hundreds of volumes on her shelves are hard-to-find copies of books by a number of American women who were horticultural experts of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, but who have been all but forgotten by history. To honour them, Carol started a Substack called the Lost Ladies of Garden Writing. On this week’s episode of Plants Always Win, she invites us into some of their stories. Publishing styles and garden trends change over time, but some things stay the same. People want to know how to make their poinsettia re-bloom, how to get rid of pests, how to find the hottest new cultivar. Carol uses genealogical records, newspaper archives, and Google Books to piece together the lives of the women who were answering those questions in decades past, then shares them with her subscribers. It’s a project of passion and dedication, and it has given her some extraordinary stories to tell! Lost Ladies featured in this episode include:
Some better-known ladies of garden writing are also mentioned:
To enjoy more garden gab with Carol, find her in the following places:
Comments? Feedback? Want your garden question to be featured in a future Q&A segment? Email us, reach out over social media, or get Q&A priority by supporting us on Patreon. Bluesky: @plantsalwayswin.com TikTok: @plantsalwayswinpodcast YouTube: @plantsalwayswinpodcast Website: www.plantsalwayswin.com Credits Website Design and Illustration by Sophia Alladin Intro and Outro Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/soundroll/when-my-ukulele-plays License code: GWOIMMBAS15FG6PH Timestamps 00:30 Introducing Carol Michel 01:30 The World's Largest Hoe Collection 04:45 Carol's Gardening Book Library 07:40 The Lost Ladies of Garden Writing Project 10:30 Garden Writing Then and Now 11:34 Cynthia Westcott, PhD: The Gardener's Bug Book 13:48 Can We Trust Old Gardening Books? 15:18 Buckner Hollingsworth, Gardening on Main Street 16:51 Carol convinces Sean to Become a Collector 19:57 G.A. (Grace) Woolson, Ferns 24:39 Elizabeth Lawrence, A Southern Garden 26:29 How Carol Does her Research 27:38 Writing Under their Husbands' Names 29:33 Kate Brewster, The Little Garden for Little Money 30:41 Jean Hersey, The Shape of the Year 34:36 Alma C. Guillet, Make Friends of the Trees and Shrubs 35:20 Cassandra Danz, Mrs. Greenthumbs 38:54 Carol's "Humorous but Helpful" Gardening Books 39:07 Find Carol Online 40:53 Contact us and Outro | |||
| Ep. 14 Living Soil with Michelle Bruhn | 18 Mar 2025 | 01:04:35 | |
Soil is the foundation of a healthy garden…or homestead…or farm. For sustainable gardening that gives us nutritious food without depleting the land, we need to know how to feed and maintain living soil. After all, it’s the community of living things in the soil that feeds the plants we eat ourselves. That’s where Michelle Bruhn comes in. Michelle is a suburban homesteading author, speaker, and educator who manages the online information hub Forks in the Dirt. This week, she joins Erin (who’s always excited about home-scale regenerative agriculture) to talk about how she has turned a sandy suburban lot into a tiny paradise that produced almost seven hundred pounds of food in 2024. Through the course of this conversation, Michelle gives us the dirt on a range of organic practices that build soil, feed it, and maximize its effectiveness, even in a short growing season. We’re talking composting in place with sheet mulching, lasagna gardening, and hügelkultur; supporting healthy soil food webs with companion planting, mulch, and cover crops; and extending the growing season with cold frames, hoop houses, and even plastic bins. If you think you’re already a master of all these things, so did Erin—and this interview got her out gardening in the early-March snow to try something she’s never done before. If you want to keep learning from Michelle Bruhn, check out…
You can also find her on social media:
Citations: Jeff Lowenfels’ book Teeming with Microbes, which discusses how adding Nitrogen fertilizer to soil decreases the Nitrogen produced by bacteria: Lowenfels, J., & Lewis, W. (2010). Teaming with Microbes: The Organic Gardener’s Guide to the Soil Food Web. Timber Press (OR). Michelle’s recommended source on nutrients and wood decomposition (correction: from USDA, not US Forest Service): Marcot, B. G. (2023, February 10). Ecosystem processes related to wood decay. DecAID. https://apps.fs.usda.gov/r6_decaid/views/ecosystem_processes.html The study on nitrogen immobilization with wood decomposition that Erin referenced: van der Wal, A., de Boer, W., Smant, W. et al. Initial decay of woody fragments in soil is influenced by size, vertical position, nitrogen availability and soil origin. Plant Soil 301, 189–201 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-007-9437-8 Sepp Holtzer, Hügelkultur expert Holzer, S. (n.d.). Huegel Culture Design. Sepp Holzer Permaculture. Retrieved March 10, 2025, from https://www.seppholzer.info/huegel-culture-design/ Michigan State Extension Services study on the pest suppression abilities of mustard as a cover crop Snapp, S., Date, K., Cichy, K., O’Neil, K., & Michigan State University, Department of Crop and Soil Sciences. (2006). Michigan farmers rely on a wide range of cover crops as vital management tools. In Michigan Farmers Rely on a Wide Range of Cover Crops as Vital Management Tools. https://midwestcovercrops.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/MI_2006_Mustards-A-Brassica-Cover-Crop-for-Michigan.pdf Utah State Extension publication on squash beetles and blue Hubbard squash USU Extension IPM program. (2021). Blue hubbard squash as a trap crop to suppress squash bugs. In USU Extension IPM Program. https://extension.usu.edu/planthealth/ipm/veg/Trap-Crops-Squash-Bugs.pdf Comments? Feedback? Want your garden question to be featured in a future Q&A segment? Email us, reach out over social media, or get Q&A priority by supporting us on Patreon. Bluesky: @plantsalwayswin.com TikTok: @plantsalwayswinpodcast YouTube: @plantsalwayswinpodcast Website: www.plantsalwayswin.com Credits Website Design and Illustration by Sophia Alladin Intro and Outro Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/soundroll/when-my-ukulele-plays License code: GWOIMMBAS15FG6PH Timestamps 00:11 Introduction 01:00 Michelle Bruhn and Forks in the Dirt 03:10 Michelle’s Suburban Homestead 03:26 Lawns for Bees and for Kids 06:03 Growing Neighbours through Gardening 08:28 Sheet Mulching for No-Dig Garden Beds 11:39 Urban and Suburban Pollinator Habitat 17:22 Why Compost Instead of Chemicals? 23:10 Water Break 25:00 Leaf Mulch and the Law of Return 28:55 Lasagna Gardening 30:25 Hügelkultur: Turn Wood Debris into Soil 37:58 Fungal Decomposition Beats Bacterial Decomposition 38:48 Permaculture and Indigenous Knowledge 40:47 Companion Planting: Optimize the Plant Community 43:15 Using Trap Crops for Aphids 46:01 Yellow Mustard and Cover Crops 48:23 Growing Zones and Frost Dates 53:42 Season Extension in Cold Climates 1:02:36 Find Michelle Online 1:03:44 Outro and Contact Us | |||
| Ep. 18 Seed Starting vs. Direct Sowing | 15 Apr 2025 | 00:54:35 | |
As a changeable April wears on, spring-hungry northern gardeners are anxious to get seeds planted. But should they start those seeds indoors with grow lights or on a widow sill? Or can they put them directly in the ground outside (if the snow ever melts!)? That’s the subject of this versus episode. Normally, Erin and Sean compete to see who can make their versus topic more interesting. This week, it’s more of a collaboration. Erin gives us the rundown on materials needed for direct sowing (not much but a rake and a gentle watering head are your friends) and Sean does the same for seed starting, covering grow lights, types of soil and soilless media, fans, and more. They compare the pros and cons of each method, which plants have a preference for one or the other, and what gardeners need to know about timing, growing season, and microclimates. They also shine a light on common seed-starting mistakes and explain how hardening off works. As always, accessibility and flexibility are Erin and Sean’s watchwords; as they say, failure is a common part of gardening and anything is worth an experiment. By the end of the episode, you’ll have your own ideas germinating about how to make the most of your gardening season . Comments? Feedback? Want your garden question to be featured in a future Q&A segment? Email us, reach out over social media, or get Q&A priority by supporting us on Patreon. Bluesky: @plantsalwayswin.com TikTok: @plantsalwayswinpodcast YouTube: @plantsalwayswinpodcast Website: www.plantsalwayswin.com Credits Website Design and Illustration by Sophia Alladin Intro and Outro Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/soundroll/when-my-ukulele-plays License code: GWOIMMBAS15FG6PH Timestamps 00:12 Introduction 00:44 What's Growing On: Erin's Seed Snails 02:50 What's Growing On: Sean's late-season winter sowing 05:17 The Plant Face-Off, Sort Of 05:32 Water Break 05:38 Definitions: Direct Sowing 06:16 Definitions: Seed Starting 07:05 When do I Direct Sow my Seeds? 12:35 Winter Sowing: a Hybrid 13:20 When do I Start Seeds Indoors? 18:46 Materials for Direct Sowing 21:33 Materials for Seed Starting 22:49 Soilless Media 24:02 "With Mycorrhizae" Advertising 31:04 Which Plants To Start Indoors or Out? 37:10 Containers and Up-Potting 37:43 Hardening Off and Transplant Shock 42:45 Pros of Starting Seeds Indoors 45:05 Pros of Direct Sowing Outdoors 48:14 Sean's Biggest Problem: Managing Moisture 49:22 Erin's Biggest Problem: Labels 53:06 Outro | |||
| Ep. 19 Moths and Butterflies with Stoned Affection | 22 Apr 2025 | 01:05:49 | |
Susie of Stoned Affection is a practicing entomologist who has been raising moths and butterflies—and raising awareness of them—since 2014. She also creates beautiful art from lepidoptera taxidermy. This week Susie joins Sean to talk about what it’s like to work with moths and butterflies, especially the ethical considerations that go into sourcing and raising both native and tropical species. If you’ve ever wondered about butterfly farming, butterfly houses, and sending live specimens through the mail, this is the episode to satisfy your curiosity. You’ll also find out what Susie thinks of lepidoptera in media, whether butterflies make good pollinators, and what the differences are between butterflies and moths. To learn more about Susie, her art, and her outreach, visit her website at www.stonedaffection.com, or catch a Twitch live stream at https://www.twitch.tv/stonedaffection. You can also find Susie on social media: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@stonedaffection Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stonedaffection/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stonedaffection Comments? Feedback? Want your garden question to be featured in a future Q&A segment? Email us, reach out over social media, or get Q&A priority by supporting us on Patreon. Bluesky: @plantsalwayswin.com TikTok: @plantsalwayswinpodcast YouTube: @plantsalwayswinpodcast Website: www.plantsalwayswin.com Credits Website Design and Illustration by Sophia Alladin Intro and Outro Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/soundroll/when-my-ukulele-plays License code: GWOIMMBAS15FG6PH Timestamps 00:46 Introducing Susie of Stoned Affection| 03:21 Name Origins: Plants Always Win 05:00 Ordering Insects by Post 07:45 The Difference Between Moths and Butterflies 11:40 The Family Lepidoptera 12:50 Butterflies are Surprisingly Nasty, Little Creatures 14:23 Moths That Can't Eat 16:12 Are Butterflies Good Pollinators? 17:35 Making Silk from Silk Moths 19:25 What do Moths Get Up to at Night? 22:30 Ethically Sourcing Tropical and Local Insects 27:00 Farmed Tropical Insects 28:00 Butterfly Houses: Good or Bad? 30:50 Susie's Favourite Squeaking Moth Species 33:10 Susie's Favourite Butterfly 35:19 What Happens when a Butterfly Pupates? 40:28 Lepidoptera in Movies and TV Shows 43:20 Susie's Public Outreach Work 47:14 Sean's Relationship with Insects 50:40 Jumping Spiders as Pets 54:52 Earthworms in North America 58:45 Susie's Plugs 1:04:15 Susie's Word of Wisdom 1:04:30 Conclusion and Contact Us | |||
| Ep. 20 Ask Erin Anything about Monarch Butterflies | 29 Apr 2025 | 00:52:44 | |
How much expertise does a children’s author need to write about monarch butterflies? In this episode, we find out. It’s a special show for a special day. Our co-host Erin Alladin is launching her second picture book, Wait Like a Seed, and we’re testing just how much research she did….and how much she retained. Wait Like a Seed uses the relationship between monarch butterflies and milkweed to teach kids the life cycle of a seed, and at the back of the book are nine extra pages of information about both monarchs and milkweed. We know from Episode 6: Milkweed vs. Beardtongue that she knows her stuff on asclepias. But what about Danaus plexxipus? Sean comes in hot with some challenging questions from his young daughter (How do monarchs fly so far?). “How long do monarchs live” is a trick question, but Erin is ready for it. The conversation wings its way through life cycles (egg, larva, pupa, adult), migration (incredible), and the threats they face (numerous). If you’d like to help monarchs in your own garden, community, or region, Erin and Sean tell you how to grow a butterfly garden, join a conservation initiative, and access excellent resources online. For more information about Wait Like a Seed, contact your local bookstore or visit https://pajamapress.ca/book/wait-like-a-seed/. You might also enjoy Erin’s previous picture book, Outside, You Notice: https://pajamapress.ca/book/outside-you-notice/. Find information about Erin’s life as an author, editor, and presenter (she does great nature-based school visits!) at https://erin-alladin.com/. Follow her on social media: TikTok (Gardening account): https://www.tiktok.com/@earthundaunted TikTok (Writing and Editing Account): https://www.tiktok.com/@erinalladin Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/erinalladin.bsky.social LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erin-alladin/ Comments? Feedback? Want your garden question to be featured in a future Q&A segment? Email us, reach out over social media, or get Q&A priority by supporting us on Patreon. Bluesky: @plantsalwayswin.com TikTok: @plantsalwayswinpodcast YouTube: @plantsalwayswinpodcast Website: www.plantsalwayswin.com Credits Website Design and Illustration by Sophia Alladin Intro and Outro Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/soundroll/when-my-ukulele-plays License code: GWOIMMBAS15FG6PH Learn More and Help Monarchs The Butterflyway Project: https://davidsuzuki.org/take-action/act-locally/butterflyway/ Xerces Society Milkweed Finder: https://www.xerces.org/milkweed/milkweed-seed-finder North American Native Plant Society: https://nanps.org/native-plant-societies/ Canadian Wildlife Federation Garden Habitat Certification: https://cwf-fcf.org/en/explore/gardening-for-wildlife/action/get-certified/ The Mayors’ Monarch Pledge: https://www.nwf.org/MayorsMonarchPledge iNaturalist: https://www.inaturalist.org/ Monarch Joint Venture: https://monarchjointventure.org/ Monarch Watch: https://monarchwatch.org/ Citations How fast monarchs fly Davis, A. (2017, January 1). How fast does a monarch fly? A close look at the science. monarchscience. https://www.monarchscience.org/single-post/2016/12/31/how-fast-does-a-monarch-fly-a-close-look-at-the-science Monarch migration and daily travel distances Fall Migration - How do they do it? (2022, August 11). Monarch Joint Venture. https://monarchjointventure.org/blog/fall-migration-how-do-they-do-it Monarch Migration. (n.d.). Monarch Watch. Retrieved April 28, 2025, from https://monarchwatch.org/migration/ The monarch life cycle Life cycle. (2024, September 19). Monarch Joint Venture. https://monarchjointventure.org/monarch-biology/life-cycle Livestock eating milkweed Milkweed (Asclepias spp.) : USDA ARS. (n.d.). Retrieved April 28, 2025, from https://www.ars.usda.gov/pacific-west-area/logan-ut/poisonous-plant-research/docs/milkweed-asclepias-spp/ What Monarchs do during the Winter Monarch Joint Venture. (2022, May 26). Overwintering. https://monarchjointventure.org/faq/overwintering The rumored, presumably false, Lake Superior detour Inglis-Arkell, E. (2013, May 24). Butterflies remember a mountain that hasn’t existed for millennia. Gizmodo. https://gizmodo.com/butterflies-remember-a-mountain-that-hasnt-existed-for-509321799 Identifying Males vs. Females Male and Female Monarch Butterflies: How can you tell? (n.d.). Journey North. Retrieved April 28, 2025, from https://journeynorth.org/tm/monarch/id_male_female.html Monarchs’ Endangered Status Monarch butterfly proposed for Endangered Species Act protection | U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. (2024, December 10). FWS.gov. https://www.fws.gov/press-release/2024-12/monarch-butterfly-proposed-endangered-species-act-protection Canada, E. a. C. C. (2025, February 18). Monarch Butterfly: profile of a species at risk. Canada.ca. https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/species-risk-public-registry/factsheets/monarch-butterfly.html Monarch. (n.d.). ontario.ca. Retrieved April 28, 2025, from https://www.ontario.ca/page/monarch OE (Ophryocystis elektroscirrha), the protozoan parasite that affects monarch butterflies University of Georgia. (n.d.). What is OE? | monarchhealth. Monarchhealth. Retrieved April 28, 2025, from https://www.monarchparasites.org/oe Natural history. (n.d.). Center for Biological Diversity. Retrieved April 28, 2025, from https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/species/invertebrates/monarch_butterfly/natural_history.html Pupae: They Go Runny Jabr, F. (2024, February 20). How Does a Caterpillar Turn into a Butterfly? Scientific American. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/caterpillar-butterfly-metamorphosis-explainer/ Timestamps 00:21 Introducing Erin Alladin, Children's Nonfiction Author 03:20 About the Picture Book Wait Like a Seed 6:48 Water Break: Contest Announcement 7:40 How Can Monarchs Fly for So Long? 10:05 Monarch Butterfly Life Cycle, Life Spans, and Migration 15:15 How Long and Far Monarchs Fly in a Day 17:35 Mass Migration Tangent 20:03 Identifying Male and Female Monarchs 21:15 Monarch Conservation Status 24:15 Threats Faced by Monarchs 25:13 Monarchs are Specialist Insects 27:32 Cocoon vs. Chrysalis 29:01 The Dangers of Tropical Milkweed and OE 32:15 Butterfly Metamorphosis 35:35 Is it Okay to Rear Butterflies? 39:45 Growing a Butterfly Garden 42:30 Protecting Butterfly Habitat in the Community 44:50 Monarch Predators and Toxicity 48:40 Plant Rant: You Don't Need Pesticides 51:10 Outro and Contact Us | |||
| Ep. 21 Permaculture and Biodynamics with Debby Ward | 06 May 2025 | 00:35:13 | |
Have you ever wanted to go a step beyond organic gardening and buzzword-y sustainable practices? To grow food, flowers, community, and even society in relationship with the land? This week’s guest, Debby Ward of Prior Unity Garden, helps her clients and students do just that in their own yards. This week she joins Erin to talk about two systems she draws on in her work: permaculture and biodynamics. Debby shares her own journey in organic gardening and her mission to help clients understand their gardens, not just to maintain them. She and Erin compare notes on the principles of permaculture (Observe and interact! Use small, slow changes! Stack functions!) and the ethics that underpin it (earth care, people care, fair share). Then Debby introduces Erin to biodynamics, another holistic approach to food production that seeks to marry the scientific and the spiritual. The conversation emphasizes the debt owed to Indigenous ways of knowing, the interconnectedness of gardening practices, and the importance of building community relationships with both the human and the more-than-human worlds. Debby offers courses, coaching, blog posts, and resources a-plenty at her website: http://priorunitygarden.com/ You can also find her on social media: Pinterest: https://ca.pinterest.com/priorunitygarden/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8PXaUp3Y5_8QXmu4Wt2vKQ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/priorunitygarden/?ref=embed_page# Comments? Feedback? Want your garden question to be featured in a future Q&A segment? Email us, reach out over social media, or get Q&A priority by supporting us on Patreon. Discord: https://discord.gg/K6wF9dY4Ja Bluesky: @plantsalwayswin.com TikTok: @plantsalwayswinpodcast YouTube: @plantsalwayswinpodcast Website: www.plantsalwayswin.com Credits Website Design and Illustration by Sophia Alladin Intro and Outro Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/soundroll/when-my-ukulele-plays License code: GWOIMMBAS15FG6PH Timestamps 00:12 Intro 00:48 Introducing Debby Ward 2:07 Prior Unity Garden 05:17 Defining Permaculture: Integrated, Evolving Systems 07:00 The Permaculture Ethics: Earth Care, People Care, Fair Share 08:25 The Permaculture Principles 11:12 Permaculture Origins 15:20 How Debby Applies Permaculture with Clients 18:32 Water Break: Giveaway! 19:30 Biodynamics: Relationship with the Spirit of the Land 22:15 Applying Biodynamics as a Home Gardener 24:10 Provings, Research, and Radishes 26:45 Using Biodynamics with Clients: Everything is Connected 29:09 Resources and Contact Debby 30:08 What the Horticulture Industry Could Learn from Holistic Practices 32:20 Find Debby on Social Media 33:49 Outro and Contact Us | |||
| Ep. 22 No Mow May...Debunked? | 14 May 2025 | 00:45:49 | |
Every spring, the gardening and sustainability side of the internet explodes with posts: Practice No Mow May! Let your lawn bloom! Support pollinators! But does a lawn and garden initiative begun in the UK have the same environmental impact in North America? That’s the subject under scrutiny in this episode as we examine whether well-meaning horticulture advice can be exported around the world. This week, Sean comes armed with research while Erin is equipped with curiosity. Is practicing No Mow May in Ontario helpful, harmful, or neutral? Does a lawn full of imported dandelions somehow hinder our pollinators? What native plants should they be visiting in spring? Sean shares the history of the No Mow May initiative, the research that has been undertaken in recent years, and the nuance needed to consider non-pollinating insects as well. And of course our hosts both make sure to send you on your way equipped with ideas for lawn care and landscaping that really do result in healthy soil and thriving wildlife and insects for your Ontario garden. Comments? Feedback? Want your garden question to be featured in a future Q&A segment? Email us, reach out over social media, or get Q&A priority by supporting us on Patreon. Discord: https://discord.gg/K6wF9dY4Ja Bluesky: @plantsalwayswin.com TikTok: @plantsalwayswinpodcast YouTube: @plantsalwayswinpodcast Website: www.plantsalwayswin.com Credits Website Design and Illustration by Sophia Alladin Intro and Outro Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/soundroll/when-my-ukulele-plays License code: GWOIMMBAS15FG6PH Citations The World Wildlife Fund’s suggestions for better practices than No Mow May Jakubowski, E. (2024, May 1). Does ‘No Mow May’ really help pollinators? - WWF.CA. WWF.CA. https://wwf.ca/stories/no-mow-may-help-pollinators/?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=10648121956&gbraid=0AAAAADtP0wTPs9QPnyYBcokUaZZXTAaOt&gclid=CjwKCAjwiezABhBZEiwAEbTPGLUOHJp-q4gXd_Nb2UdOWbyxzZeeJUjZRQwsA1thuLTxyKe-4roM0hoC5YcQAvD_BwE A discussion of what will pop up from your lawn’s seed bank if you don’t mow Vogt, B. (2023, April 9). Just say no to no mow may. Monarch Gardens. https://www.monarchgard.com/thedeepmiddle/just-say-no-to-no-mow-may Timestamps 00:12 Intro 2:06 What's Growing On: Erin's Spring Bulbs 3:22: What's Growing On: Sean's Client Gardens...with Erin! 6:05 Water Break 06:15 What is No Mow May (and Mo-Mo May)? 07:42: Does No Mow May Work in North America? 08:15 The Harms of Not Mowing in May in Ontario 11:15 Our Native Pollinators Visit Shrubs in May 12:38 Studies Conducted on No Mow May 14:10 Tree Seedlings vs. Meadows (Who Will Win?) 15:00 Lawn-Cutting Equipment Options 18:15 Pros of No Mow May 19:50 How to Help Your Lawn Support Insects 23:46 Converting Lawn to Wildflowers 30:25 Better Ways to Help Pollinators 38:00 Doing Without Pesticides, Herbicides, and Synthetic Fertilizers 43:00 Say No to Absolutes, Usually 44:23 Conclusion and Contact Us | |||
| Ep. 23 Life, Death, & Master Gardeners with Cole Imperi | 20 May 2025 | 01:01:22 | |
Cole Imperi is known for her trailblazing work in thanatology, the study of death, dying and grief. But she’s also a master gardener: someone who helps others learn how to make life flourish. In this interview, she shows us how grief and gardening have much in common, from the importance of community engagement and cultural sensitivity to the roles of healing, resistance, and emotional well-being. After all, gardening can’t be separated from cultural practices and traditions. Everything in gardening connects back to broader societal themes. On a more pragmatic level, Cole and Sean compare notes on how the Master Gardeners in Ontario (Sean) and Los Angeles (Cole) are trained, and what role they serve in their communities. The Master Gardener mandate is to offer free, unbiased gardening advice to the public, but how they do that can vary from place to place. Cole also reveals to our hosts the existence of master preservers in the United States, and the wealth of safe, tested recipes available from the National Center for Home Food Preservation. The conversation touches on the roles of citizen science and the Master Gardeners in the wake of the 2025 LA wildfires, the potential gardening has to spark social change, California’s unique gardening sunset zones, the right to rot, and the role of embalming in various cultures. Trigger warnings: death, dying, embalming, LA wildfires For more on grief, loss, gardening, and thanobotany, visit Cole’s website at coleimperi.com. You can also find Cole on social media: TikTok: @coleimperi Instagram: @imperi The Curious Spirit newsletter: https://imperi.substack.com/ Cole’s Plugs The University of California Master Gardeners: https://ucanr.edu/statewide-program/uc-master-gardener-program The National Center for Home Food Preservation: nchfp.uga.edu Sunset Zones: https://sunsetplantcollection.com/climate-zones/ Comments? Feedback? Want your garden question to be featured in a future Q&A segment? Email us, reach out over social media, or get Q&A priority by supporting us on Patreon. Discord: https://discord.gg/K6wF9dY4Ja Bluesky: @plantsalwayswin.com TikTok: @plantsalwayswinpodcast YouTube: @plantsalwayswinpodcast Website: www.plantsalwayswin.com Credits Website Design and Illustration by Sophia Alladin Intro and Outro Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/soundroll/when-my-ukulele-plays License code: GWOIMMBAS15FG6PH Timestamps 00:38 Introducing Cole Imperi 1:27 Thanatology: the Study of Death, Dying, Grief, and Loss 06:42 How Cole Came to the Master Gardeners of LA 08:02 Master Gardeners in the United States 11:44 How Sean Came to the Master Gardeners of Muskoka 16:16 The Mission of the Master Gardeners 20:33 Community Loss and Gardening in Glassell Park, Los Angeles 23:15 Training Master Gardeners in Grief and Trauma after the LA Wildfires 27:15 Soil Samples, Citizen Science, and The Plants that Survived the Fires 29:05 Plant Names: Accessibility and Decolonization 33:05 Garden Plots and Cemetery Plots: What is Permanent? 35:08 The Master Food Preserver Program 39:30 Water Break 40:19 The Land We Take Up After Death 44:18 Culture and the Embalming Spectrum 50:28 Cole’s Favourite Plant: The Sunchoke 52:04 Hardiness Zones and Sunset Zones 58:10 Find Cole Online 58:57 Cole’s Plugs 59:28 Outro and Contact Us | |||
| Ep. 24 Serviceberry vs. Haskap | 27 May 2025 | 01:03:38 | |
We’re berry excited for this extra delicious plant face-off. In this week’s shrub showdown, our hosts go head to head with serviceberries and haskaps. Sean represents the former, a member of the Amelanchier genus also known as saskatoons, juneberries, and shadbushes, among other names. With cocky confidence of a guaranteed win, he extols their hardiness (down to zone 1!), their robust hybridization, and their independence when it comes to fertilization. Who needs a pollenizer? Not serviceberry! Sometimes they don’t even need pollinators. With tangents into breeding seedless fruits and food-as-medicine research, we savour serviceberry’s taste, versatility, abundance, ecosystem benefits, and ability to thrive across North America. Erin swings in second with haskaps, a relatively new fruit on the commercial block. She tells us about breeding programs in near-polar regions around the world that are crossing varieties from Canada, Russia, and Japan for taste and resilience. While haskaps do need pollenizers to set fruit, Erin argues for their ease of care, their long lives, and their bountiful all-at-once harvests. The conversation delves into humane ways of bird-proofing berry crops, the perils of “superfood” marketing, and the fragility of fruit trees that bloom too soon. Haskap blossoms, by the way, can survive a -7 C frost. Who made you want to grow their berry of choice in your own garden? Vote for your favourite by tagging us on social media and using the hashtag #PAWFaceOff. Citations Serviceberry Species in Ontario Muma, W. (n.d.). Serviceberries Group. Ontario Trees and Shrubs. https://ontariotrees.com/main/group.php?id=81 The Downy Serviceberry Tree Tree Canada, Arbres Canada. (2017, August 6). Downy serviceberry (Amelanchier arborea) - Tree Canada. Tree Canada. https://treecanada.ca/resources/trees-of-canada/downy-serviceberry-amelanchier-arborea/ The cultivar “Altaglow”, a dwarf Saskatoon, is hardy to zone 1 Mahr, S. (n.d.). Serviceberry, Amelanchier spp. Wisconsin Horticulture. https://hort.extension.wisc.edu/articles/serviceberry-amelanchier-spp/ Serviceberry phytochemical research Donno, D., Cerutti, A., Mellano, M., Prgomet, Z., & Beccaro, G. (2016). Serviceberry, a berry fruit with growing interest of industry: Physicochemical and quali-quantitative health-related compound characterisation. Journal of Functional Foods, 26, 157–166. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jff.2016.07.014 Haskap resilience. Camerise Québec. (2025, January 21). Grow haskap - Camerise Québec. https://camerisequebec.com/en/grow-haskap/ Growing haskaps in Canada resource from the University of Saskatchewan breeding program Bors, B. & University of Saskatchewan. (n.d.). Growing haskap in Canada. https://research-groups.usask.ca/fruit/documents/haskap/growinghaskapinCanada.pdf Antioxidants and Vitamin C in haskaps: Specialty Croppertunities Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. (n.d.-a). Haskap. Specialty Croppertunities. https://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/CropOp/en/spec_fruit/berries/hask.html Haskap care for home gardeners Haskaps - Gardening at USASK - College of Agriculture and Bioresources. (n.d.). Gardening. https://gardening.usask.ca/gardening-advice/gardenline-nested-pages/food-plant-pages/fruit/haskap.php Comments? Feedback? Want your garden question to be featured in a future Q&A segment? Email us, reach out over social media, or get Q&A priority by supporting us on Patreon. Discord: https://discord.gg/K6wF9dY4Ja Bluesky: @plantsalwayswin.com TikTok: @plantsalwayswinpodcast YouTube: @plantsalwayswinpodcast Website: www.plantsalwayswin.com Credits Website Design and Illustration by Sophia Alladin Intro and Outro Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/soundroll/when-my-ukulele-plays License code: GWOIMMBAS15FG6PH Timestamps 00:12 Introduction 1:12 What's Growing On: Erin’s Weeding Adventures 1:58 What’s Growing On: Sean’s Woodchips and Natural Wall 06:12 Should Have Asked for a Hoe 09:15 The Plant Face Off: Serviceberries, Sean’s Guaranteed Win? 10:20 A Serviceberry By Any Other Name 13:30 Range and Growing Habits 17:35 Sean’s Ode to the Beauty of the Serviceberry 20:50 Apomixis: This Plant Don’t Need No Man (or Woman) 22:40 Diploids and Polyploids: Making Seedless Plants 26:35 Serviceberry Hardiness Zones 29:30 Serviceberry Pests and Diseases 32:16 When Will Western Medicine Research More Food? 33:59 All Hail Alexis Nikole, AKA Black Forager 36:42 The Plant Face-Off: Haskaps 35:06 Haskap Etymology: Hasukappu, Honeyberry, Lonicera caerulea 38:36 The Endless Loop of Inter-Referential Internet Research 40:27 The Cultivation History of Haskaps 43:10 The University of Saskatchewan Breeding Program 45:00 Using Fruit Tree Pollenizers 49:17 What’s a Haskap Like Anyway? Totally Tubular. 48:53 How to Know Your Haskap Berries are Ripe 50:11 Safe Bird Netting for Berries 51:43 Haskaps Tolerate Cold, Clay, Damp, Disease, and Pests 54:25 Haskap Uses: Food, Medicine and Superfoods 56:45 Plant Care: Growing Haskaps at Home 58:55 Patented Plants 1:02:00 Outro and Contact Us | |||
| Ep. 25 Smart Hydroponics with Jennifer Holston | 04 Jun 2025 | 00:56:04 | |
Smart hydroponics pioneer Jennifer Holston grows a living pantry in her home through all seasons. And so can you. When most of us hear the word “hydroponics,” we picture sprawling operations in a warehouse or basement, possibly constructed from home-drilled PVC pipes and buckets. We might also have a very specific idea of the kind of plants that are grown hydroponically. But over the last decade, attractive, compact, and easy-to-use home-scale hydroponic systems have become available. This week’s guest, Jennifer Holston, was an early adopter and she uses her bookshelf-sized indoor garden to grow everything from the expected herbs and lettuce to tomatoes, cucumbers, and even an experimental pumpkin. Jennifer wants everyone to feel comfortable embracing hydroponic gardening—not necessarily as a replacement for growing plants in soil, but as a complement to it. She explains how the technology in today’s hydroponic systems (including AI features in some) has taught her to be more sensitive to her plants’ needs, and how this kind of gardening is both surprisingly sustainable and prodigiously productive. The conversation addresses nutrient management, plant care, disease prevention, maintenance, and resources where listeners can learn more (see below for that list). Jennifer is working on the first comprehensive book for home hydroponic gardeners, Arable: Modern Indoor Hydroponics to Sustain and Fulfill (coming in 2026). Stay tuned for announcements (and read Jennifer’s blog posts) on her website at www.Gardening-anywhere.com. You can also find Jennifer on social media: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GardeningAnywhere Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gardeninganywhere Online Resources Cornell University—Agriculture and Life Sciences, www.greenhouse.cornell.edu University of Arizona—www.ag.arizona.edu/hydroponic U.S. Department of Agriculture—www.usda.gov National Library of Medicine (search here for studies about hydroponics)—https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ Books Howard Resh, Hobby Hydroponics 2nd ed. Donald L. Coan, Toward a Hydroponic Future Fact Check The name of the bacterium sometimes used to counter Pythium (root rot) in hydroponic systems is Bacillus amyloliquefaciens. Jennifer was reaching for remembered details of a study that compared nutrients in tomatoes grown hydroponically vs. in soil. Here’s the study she was referencing: Verdoliva, S. G., Gwyn-Jones, D., Detheridge, A., & Robson, P. (2021). Controlled comparisons between soil and hydroponic systems reveal increased water use efficiency and higher lycopene and β-carotene contents in hydroponically grown tomatoes. Scientia Horticulturae, 279, 109896. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scienta.2021.109896 Comments? Feedback? Want your garden question to be featured in a future Q&A segment? Email us, reach out over social media, or get Q&A priority by supporting us on Patreon. Discord: https://discord.gg/K6wF9dY4Ja Bluesky: @plantsalwayswin.com TikTok: @plantsalwayswinpodcast YouTube: @plantsalwayswinpodcast Website: www.plantsalwayswin.com Credits Website Design and Illustration by Sophia Alladin Intro and Outro Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/soundroll/when-my-ukulele-plays License code: GWOIMMBAS15FG6PH Timestamps 00:34 Introducing Jennifer Holston, Smart Hydroponics Pioneer 02:06 Growing Hydroponically through Texas Summers and Michigan Winters 03:00 Buttons, Lights, and AI: What’s New in Modern Home Hydroponics 06:30 Using and Maintaining Your Hydroponic System 12:00 Air, Pruning, and Pollination (with Dinosaurs?) 16:50 Using Nutrient Mixes for Abundantly Nutritious Produce 18:44 Sustainability and Resource Use in Hydroponics 25:04 Comparing Hydroponics to Traditional Gardening 26:15 AI in Gardening: Not Scary, it Turns Out 30:20 Beyond Cannabis: Hydroponics Preconceptions 37:38 Growing Vining Plants in Your Home 39:30 Keeping it Clean: Avoiding Disease in a Hydroponic System 43:18 Dealing with Hard Water and Chlorinated Water 46:47 Graduating from the Garden AI’s Mentorship 50:00 Resources for Aspiring Hydroponic Gardeners 52:29 Where to Find Jennifer Online 53:11 Jennifer’s Upcoming Book on Home Hydroponics 54:38 Conclusion and Contact Us | |||
| Ep. 26 Tomato vs. Pepper Part I | 12 Jun 2025 | 01:01:16 | |
In this shady plant face-off, Sean and Erin explore two of the gardening world’s favourite nightshades: tomatoes and peppers. Both are members of the family Solanaceae, and have plenty of traits in common, so rather than splitting the episode in half our two hosts try a livelier approach this week, passing the stage back and forth to talk about their chosen plant’s botany, etymology, growing habits, and pest and disease management. Prepare for a wealth of interesting information (did you know the Spanish word for tomato references an old belief in their aphrodisiac qualities?) alongside practical gardening tips (make sure you don’t feed your pepper plant too late in the season). And what about our other usual categories of cultural history, culinary and medical uses, and fascinating facts? Well, there’s just so much to say about these delicious horticultural staples that you’ll have to tune in next week to hear the rest. Comments? Feedback? Want your garden question to be featured in a future Q&A segment? Email us, reach out over social media, or get Q&A priority by supporting us on Patreon. Discord: https://discord.gg/K6wF9dY4Ja Bluesky: @plantsalwayswin.com TikTok: @plantsalwayswinpodcast YouTube: @plantsalwayswinpodcast Website: www.plantsalwayswin.com Credits Website Design and Illustration by Sophia Alladin Intro and Outro Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/soundroll/when-my-ukulele-plays License code: GWOIMMBAS15FG6PH Citations Tomato overview and etymology Solanum lycopersicum (Tomato, Tomatoes). (n.d.). North Carolina Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox. https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/solanum-lycopersicum/#:~:text=The%20genus%20name%2C%20Solanum%2C%20is,when%20they%20came%20to%20Europe A History of Tomatoes The University of Vermont. (n.d.). A History of Tomatoes. University of Vermont Extension. https://www.uvm.edu/extension/news/history-tomatoes#:~:text=Tomatoes%20have%20undergone%20centuries%20of,Andes%20of%20western%20South%20America Heirloom Vegetables Heirloom vegetables. (n.d.). Wisconsin Horticulture. https://hort.extension.wisc.edu/articles/heirloom-vegetables/ Adventitious Roots on Tomatoes Grant, A. (2021, June 19). Bumpy tomato stems: Learn about white growths on tomato plants. Gardening Know How. https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/vegetables/tomato/white-growths-on-tomato-plants.htm Carnivorous Tomatoes! Chase, M. W., Christenhusz, M. J. M., Sanders, D., & Fay, M. F. (2009). Murderous plants: Victorian Gothic, Darwin and modern insights into vegetable carnivory. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 161(4), 329–356. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1095-8339.2009.01014.x Bell pepper overview Capsicum annuum Grossum Group (Bell Pepper, Green Pepper, Red Pepper, Sweet Pepper). (n.d.). North Carolina Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox. Retrieved June 2, 2025, from https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/capsicum-annuum-grossum-group/#:~:text=The%20Grossum%20Group%20of%20this,plant%20grows%20upright%20and%20bushy. Hot pepper overview Capsicum frutescens (Bird Pepper, Capsicum, Hot Pepper, Tabasco Pepper). (n.d.). North Carolina Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox. Retrieved June 4, 2025, from https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/capsicum-frutescens/ Growing peppers in Canada College of Agriculture and Bioresources. (n.d.). Peppers. Gardening at USASK. Retrieved June 2, 2025, from https://gardening.usask.ca/gardening-advice/gardenline-nested-pages/food-plant-pages/vegetables/peppers.php Planting conditions for peppers: home gardeners Jeavons, J. (2012). How to Grow More Vegetables, eighth edition: (and Fruits, Nuts, Berries, Grains, and Other Crops) Than You Ever Thought Possible on Less Land Than You Can Imagine (8th ed.). Random House Digital, Inc. Growing peppers profitably as a market gardener Fortier, J., & Bilodeau, M. (2014). The market gardener: A Successful Grower’s Handbook for Small-scale Organic Farming. New Society Publishers. Toxicity of capsaicin Rohrig, B. (2013). Hot peppers: Muy caliente! In Chemmatters. American Chemical Society. https://www.acs.org/chemmatters Timestamps 00:12 Introduction 01:08 What's Growing On: Erin's doing EVERYTHING 01:35 What's Growing On: Sean's Grafting, Chickens, and Late Frosts 03:40 Canada in June: A Compressed Garden Season 05:24 Water Break: Fruits vs. Vegetables 07:38 Botanical Background: Solanaceae, the Nightshade Family 10:50 Tomato Taxonomy 11:53 The Native Range of Tomatoes 14:07 Hot Peppers, Bell Peppers, and Cayenne Pepper 16:37 Aztec Empire Tangent 18:19 Etymology and Black Pepper vs. Capsicum Peppers 20:03 Caring for Tomatoes 22:36 How Deep do you Plant Your Tomato? 24:59 Starting Tomatoes from Seed 26:56 Soil and Fertilization for Tomatoes 29:53 Grafting Tomatoes 31:35 Tomato Toxins 34:33 How Peppers Grow 37:40 Don't Fertilize Peppers too Late 39:35 Should You Top Your Pepper Plants? 42:16 How Market Gardeners Grow Peppers 43:30 Irrigation and Blossom-End Rot 45:26 Pests and Diseases of Peppers 46:50 Pests and Diseases of Tomatoes 52:05 How to Mitigate Pests and Disease 59:41 Outro | |||
| Ep. 28 Cultivation Activism with Lorraine Johnson | 25 Jun 2025 | 01:15:32 | |
This week we talk about the activism embedded in native plant gardening and the creation of pollinator habitat with Lorraine Johnson. Lorraine styles herself as a “cultivation activist”. It’s a term she came up with to describe the common purpose at the intersection of everything she does, from writing books to giving talks to supporting the fight against harmful grass and weed bylaws. This episode is for anyone who:
You can find Lorraine online at https://lorrainejohnson.ca, where she shares her bibliography, her presentation topics, a blog with lots of updates on native-plant advocacy, and a (sometimes up-to-date) list of upcoming events where she’ll be presenting. Here are the resources Lorraine shared for bylaw advocacy: Network of Nature’s interactive map for finding a native plant nursery near you: https://networkofnature.org/where-to-buy.htm/ Ecological Design Lab’s Bylaws for Biodiversity toolkit for municipalities: https://ecologicaldesignlab.ca/site/uploads/2024/07/EDL_Bylaws-Biodiversity_ToolkitforMunicipalities.pdf The David Suzuki Foundation Action Alert Bylaw tool https://davidsuzuki.org/action/bylaws-for-biodiversity/ The 1000 Islands Master Gardeners’ post about the Kingston, Ontario bylaw reform on which they collaborated: https://1000islandsmastergardeners.ca/2024/07/29/prohibited-plants-in-kingstons-new-bylaw/ A news story about Kyla Moore’s advocacy on Thunder Bay, Ontario’s bylaw change: https://www.tbnewswatch.com/local-news/thunder-bay-could-be-a-leader-says-boulevard-garden-advocate-9982234 Comments? Feedback? Want your garden question to be featured in a future Q&A segment? Email us, reach out over social media, or get Q&A priority by supporting us on Patreon. Discord: https://discord.gg/K6wF9dY4Ja Bluesky: @plantsalwayswin.com TikTok: @plantsalwayswinpodcast YouTube: @plantsalwayswinpodcast Website: www.plantsalwayswin.com Credits Website Design and Illustration by Sophia Alladin Intro and Outro Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/soundroll/when-my-ukulele-plays License code: GWOIMMBAS15FG6PH TImestamps 00:11 Introducing Lorraine Johnson 01:29 Cultivation Activist: Making Change with Plants 07:53 Native-Plant Gardening for Joy, not as a Burden 11:16 Tips to get Started with Native Plants 12:40 Finding Your Community of Pollinator People 15:52 Relieving the Burden: Do the Best You Can 17:50 What has Changed in Four Decades of Native-Plant Gardening 23:13 Meet People Where they're at 25:45 Reclaiming Responsibility as a Joy 27:14 Plants as our Kin 27:20 Changing Language: Naturalized vs. Native 31:44 Changing Language: Invasive Species and Groundcovers 34:46 Native Groundcover Options 38:00 Gardening Isn't Just for Humans 40:00 Reforming Grass and Weeds Bylaws 45:00 Convincing Municipalities to Change Bad Bylaws 46:00 Kyla Moore's Successful Bylaw Campaign in Thunder Bay, Ontario 47:41 Proactive Bylaw Reform in Kingston, Ontario 48:48 Native Plant Suggestions for New Developments 51:07 Street Trees and Project Swallowtail in Toronto 54:01 The Canadian Coalition for Invasive Plant Regulation 58:50 "Nothing Will Grow Here." Working with the Land 1:05:55 2025: A Year of Abundance 1:09:01 Shout-Out: David Suzuki Foundation Action Alert Bylaws 1:11:12 Finding Lorraine Online 1:14:04 Outro and Contact Us | |||
| Ep. 27 Tomato vs. Pepper Part II | 17 Jun 2025 | 00:49:10 | |
It’s Part II of the nightshade party! Sean and Erin plunge back in with tomatoes and peppers, covering cultural history, culinary and medical uses, and fun facts about these garden staples of the nightshade family. If you could look back thousands of years to see gardens in the Andes mountains, you would find both of them growing there. Find out how peppers once acted both as a trade good and a discipline tool, where tomatoes have spread most around the world, and the truth about the fantastical-sounding tomato-potato. If you want to know more about growing tomatoes and peppers or to explore their botany and etymology, be sure to check out Part I of this plant face-off. Who brought the most fascinating facts about their plant this week? Vote for borage or cosmos by tagging us on social media and using the hashtag #PAWFaceOff. Comments? Feedback? Want your garden question to be featured in a future Q&A segment? Email us, reach out over social media, or get Q&A priority by supporting us on Patreon. Discord: https://discord.gg/K6wF9dY4Ja Bluesky: @plantsalwayswin.com TikTok: @plantsalwayswinpodcast YouTube: @plantsalwayswinpodcast Website: www.plantsalwayswin.com Credits Website Design and Illustration by Sophia Alladin Intro and Outro Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/soundroll/when-my-ukulele-plays License code: GWOIMMBAS15FG6PH Citations The biggest global tomato-growing nations today Solanum lycopersicum (Tomato, Tomatoes). (n.d.). North Carolina Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox. https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/solanum-lycopersicum/#:~:text=The%20genus%20name%2C%20Solanum%2C%20is,when%20they%20came%20to%20Europe Tomato varieties, history, and misconceptions of toxicity The University of Vermont. (n.d.). A History of Tomatoes. University of Vermont Extension. https://www.uvm.edu/extension/news/history-tomatoes#:~:text=Tomatoes%20have%20undergone%20centuries%20of,Andes%20of%20 western%20South%20africa Heirloom vegetables Heirloom vegetables. (n.d.). Wisconsin Horticulture. https://hort.extension.wisc.edu/articles/heirloom-vegetables/ Carnivorous tomatoes! Chase, M. W., Christenhusz, M. J. M., Sanders, D., & Fay, M. F. (2009). Murderous plants: Victorian Gothic, Darwin and modern insights into vegetable carnivory. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 161(4), 329–356. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1095-8339.2009.01014.x Toxicity of capsaicin Rohrig, B. (2013). Hot peppers: Muy caliente! In Chemmatters. American Chemical Society. https://www.acs.org/chemmatters The debate about weaponizing capsaicin Peppers as non-lethal weapons. (2022). In The Royal Society of Chemistry eBooks (pp. 145–155). https://doi.org/10.1039/9781839160646-00145 Chili peppers in cultural history Kelly, V. a. P. B. C. P. (2021, March 5). The Trail of Fire: The Story of the Chili Pepper. Synaptic Space. https://synapticspace.wordpress.com/2019/05/02/the-long-journey-of-the-chili-pepper/ The capsaicin isn’t in the pepper seeds Cronin, J. R. (2002). The chili pepper’s pungent principle: capsaicin delivers diverse health benefits. Alternative and Complementary Therapies, 8(2), 110–113. https://doi.org/10.1089/10762800252909865 Timestamps 00:11 Introduction 01:28 Culinary and Medicinal Uses of Peppers 04:30 Pepper Spray Throughout History 05:55 Is Capsaicin Toxic? 07:00 Why Capsaicin Burns 09:44 Health Benefits of Capsaicin 12:24 Nutritional Benefits of Tomatoes 16:15 A Brief History of Tomatoes 20:41 A Brief History of Peppers 27:00 Tomato Fun Facts 30:00 Heirloom Varieties 38:43 The Tomato Potato 40:36 Tomatoes are Carnivorous? 43:22 Pepper Seeds are not Where the Heat Is! 44:45 The Scoville Scale to Measure the Heat of Peppers 37:37 Outro and Contact Us | |||
| Ep. 29 Climate Action with Lauren Saville | 17 Jul 2025 | 00:39:43 | |
This week we’re celebrating the difference that can be made when a regional government supports its people and businesses in taking climate action. Get inspired by impactful local initiatives in Muskoka, Ontario, like:
Our guest, Lauren Saville, is the Community Climate Initiatives Coordinator in Muskoka. Her work takes her into the heart of a cottage-country community where “the environment is the economy and the economy is the environment.” She helps residents understand how the changing climate is impacting their wallets and ways of life, and offers them opportunities to make real change. She gives presentations to schools and to the public, inspiring and equipping them to take action in their own lives. And she’s involved with a huge range of initiatives that make life better for people AND the planet. Listen now and get motivated by the interconnectedness of environment, economy, and community well-being. Access Muskoka’s excellent community resources: The Climate Hero Program: https://www.engagemuskoka.ca/climate-heroes The Muskoka EnviroHub: https://www.muskoka.on.ca/en/environment/EnviroHub.aspx Upcoming Outreach and Education Events with Lauren: https://www.muskoka.on.ca/en/environment/outreach-and-education.aspx The Muskoka GeoHub: https://www.muskoka.on.ca/en/environment/maps.aspx segment? Email us, reach out over social media, or get Q&A priority by supporting us on Patreon. Discord: https://discord.gg/K6wF9dY4Ja Bluesky: @plantsalwayswin.com TikTok: @plantsalwayswinpodcast YouTube: @plantsalwayswinpodcast Website: www.plantsalwayswin.com Credits Website Design and Illustration by Sophia Alladin Intro and Outro Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/soundroll/when-my-ukulele-plays License code: GWOIMMBAS15FG6PH Timestamps 00:50 Introducing Lauren Saville, Community Climate Initiatives Coordinator 02:20 Tackling Climate Change at the Community and Corporate Levels 06:43 Insurers are Motivated to Mitigate Climate Change 07:51 How the Community Responds 09:37 Climate Complacency: When Nature's Beauty Backfires 11:10 Sean Joins the Climate Hero Program 15:04 Lauren's Community and School Talks 18:58 Pollinator Plants, Shoreline Greening, and Love Your Lake 23:30 Partnering with Other Organizations Drives Change! 25:48 What Is a Watershed? 27:03 What Lauren Loves About her Job 32:15 Love for Muskoka, Love for Nature 33:55 Lauren's Home Garden Projects 35:15 Find Muskoka's EnviroHub and Stewardship Outreach 36:22 We Can All Make Change 38:25 Outro and Contact Us | |||
| Ep. 30: Sassafras vs. Cola Nut | 12 Aug 2025 | 00:57:21 | |
Are you finding yourself thirsty for a little soda pop this summer? How about for some botanical knowledge about soda pop’s history? In this plant face-off episode, Erin and Sean put some fizz into the competition with the plants behind two iconic flavours: the cola nut that gives cola its kick, and the sassafras that puts the root in root beer. Or, at least, the plants that did serve those roles before the advent of artificial flavouring. Erin takes the first swig with a dramatic overview of the North American Sassafras albidum, an aromatic tree with a long history of use for medicine, food, furniture, and one nautical beverage that almost saw it hunted to extinction. She peers into the muddy waters surrounding its first use in root beer and, later, its controversial ban by the FDA, speculates about Choctaw influence on its use in gumbo, and delights over the Kanien’kéha (Mohawk) name, wenhákeras, meaning “smelly thing.” Sean takes his kick at the can with the cola nut, the key ingredient behind the flavour and caffeine of cola beverages. He discusses the flavourful Malvaceae family tree of the West African cola tree (also spelled kola) (Cola nitida and Cola acuminata) and its surprising identity as a broad-leaf evergreen before serving up some knowledge about the fruit’s growing habits and its cultural history as a stimulant and a beverage ingredient. After some medical meanderings and a look at modern-day distribution, we wrap up Coca-Cola origins and its present-day ingredients. Who had the most interesting facts to share today? Vote for your favourite by tagging us on social media and using the hashtag #PAWFaceOff. Comments? Feedback? Want your garden question to be featured in a future Q&A segment? Email us, reach out over social media, or get Q&A priority by supporting us on Patreon. Discord: https://discord.gg/K6wF9dY4Ja Bluesky: @plantsalwayswin.com TikTok: @plantsalwayswinpodcast YouTube: @plantsalwayswinpodcast Website: www.plantsalwayswin.com Credits Website Design and Illustration by Sophia Alladin Intro and Outro Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/soundroll/when-my-ukulele-plays License code: GWOIMMBAS15FG6PH Citations Common names for sassafras Wood and charcoal indentification in southern MD. (n.d.). https://apps.jefpat.maryland.gov/woodandcharcoalid/Webpages-trees/Sassafras.htm Indigenous names for sassafras Plenty Canada. (2024). SaSSaFras. Greenbelt Indigenous Botanical Survey. https://gibsurvey.ca/species/sassafras Furniture uses Packard Forest Products. (2011, October 30). Sassafras - Packard Forest products. https://packardforestproducts.com/lumber/hardwood-lumber/species-guide/sassafras/ Food and medicine uses MacKinnon, A., & Kershaw, L. (2016). Edible and medicinal plants of Canada. Publishing Partners. Root beer’s origins and the banning of safrole oil Verberg, S. (2023, November 30). Root beer: the quintessential American soda. American Homebrewers Association. https://homebrewersassociation.org/beyond-beer/root-beer-the-quintessential-american-soda/ Sassafras oil and toxicity https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/pharmacology-toxicology-and-pharmaceutical-science/sassafras The history of sassafras in North America Sassafras: Native gem of North America. (2022, October 10). Cornell Botanic Gardens. https://cornellbotanicgardens.org/sassafras-native-gem-of-north-america Sassafras in Ontario Sassafras. (n.d.). ontario.ca. https://www.ontario.ca/page/sassafras Growing sassafras Sassafras albidum (Cinnamon Wood, Common Sassafras, Mitten Tree, Sassafras, White Sassafras) | North Carolina Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox. (n.d.). https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/sassafras-albidum/ Hassani, N. (2025, May 7). How to grow and care for sassafras. The Spruce. https://www.thespruce.com/sassafras-tree-plant-profile-5199214 Cola nut overview Kola Trees (Genus Cola). (n.d.). iNaturalist. https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/132989-Cola Wikipedia contributors. (2025, July 18). Kola nut. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kola_nut Cola nut etymology Kola - Etymology, Origin & Meaning. (n.d.). Etymonline. https://www.etymonline.com/word/kola Medicinal uses for cola nut and caffeine Cola nut: health benefits, side effects, uses, dose & precautions. (2021, June 11). RxList. https://www.rxlist.com/supplements/cola_nut.htm#:~:text=Cola%20nut%20is%20used%20for,used%20as%20a%20flavoring%20ingredient Timestamps 00:11 Introduction 01:13 What's Growing On? Sean's Fruit Shrubs and Willow Wall 03:38 What's Growing On? Reciprocity in Erin's Vegetable Garden 06:03 The Range of Serviceberry Taste 06:51 Water Break: Regionalisms 07:19 The Plant Face-Off 08:25 Sassafras Albidum, an Aromatic Shrub 09:08 The Etymology of Sassafras 11:10 Indigenous Names for Sassafras 12:55 The Distinct Look of a Sassafras Tree 15:47 Wildlife, Building and Dye Use of Sassafras 16:16 Sassafras' Medicinal Properties 20:00 Eating Sassafras leaves, stems, and pith 21:49 How Sassafras Gave Us Root Beer...And What Went Wrong 25:27 The Great Sassafras Hunts for Saloop 27:33 The Invention of Root Beer 28:50 Making Fermented vs. Carbonated Root Beer 30:24 Growing Sassafras for Beauty, Hedges, Specimen Trees, and Remediation 36:05 Water Break: Love Your Library 37:28 Cola Nut? Kola Nut? Pick Your Spelling. 39:54 West African Names for Cola Nut 40:58 The Etymology of Cola Nut 42:56 The Cola Tree, Both Evergreen and Deciduous 43:55 Cola's Unusual Flowering and Fruiting Habit 45:45 Cola Range and Cultivation 46:44 The Cola Nut: A Fleshy Pod 47:57 Culinary and Medicinal Uses of Cola 51:00 Cultural and Hospitality Uses in West Africa 52:29 Cola Nut Harvesting 53:20 The Invention of Coca Cola 54:40 1880 Ad for Coca Cola, an "Intellectual Beverage" 56:11 Conclusion and Contact Us | |||
| Ep. 31: Joyful Gardening with Chris Paul Rainbows | 26 Aug 2025 | 00:55:10 | |
“I am very enthusiastic about [gardening]. I don't know if I'm that great at it. I'm not very knowledgeable. I can't really answer any of your garden questions, but I love getting my hands dirty.” Gardening is for everyone! We’ve interviewed plenty of experts on Plants Always Win who’ve mastered everything from groundcovers to home hydroponics, but every so often we like to bring you a less experienced guest who is already skilled in one crucial area: gardening with joyful abandon. In their day job, Chris Paul Rainbows is a speaker and strategist who helps organizations create spaces where everyone belongs. In their own space at home, Chris has tapped into the joy that 80s and 90s children’s television once brought them, designing whimsical gardens inspired by Polkadot Door, Mr. Dressup, Sesame Street, and more. They take us back to the urban-farm inspiration that led them to buy their current home, and the transformation it has undergone with chickens, rabbits, and a surprise pumpkin patch that led to some heartwarming community building. Community, gardening, and cultivating joy are inextricable subjects for Chris, who is an activist for queer and trans visibility. We talk hostas, native plants, managing invasive bindweed, and Chris’ upcoming debut book for 2026, Guinea Pigs Don’t Wear Pants. Now come on into the pumpkin patch through the Polkadot Door and remind yourself just how FUN gardening can be. Find Chris Paul Rainbows Onlineat their website, where you can also find information about Chris’ upcoming picture book, Guinea Pigs Don’t Wear Pants: https://www.chrispaulrainbows.com/ on TikTok: tiktok.com/@chrispaulrainbows on Instagram: instagram.com/chrispaulrainbows/ on YouTube: youtube.com/@chrispaulrainbows on Facebook: facebook.com/Chrispaulrainbows/ on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/chrisfarias/ Learn More About The Unicorn Fund:https://www.chrispaulrainbows.com/blog/unchained-philanthropy-hamilton Comments? Feedback? Want your garden question to be featured in a future Q&A segment?Email us, reach out over social media, or get Q&A priority by supporting us on Patreon. Discord: https://discord.gg/K6wF9dY4Ja Bluesky: @plantsalwayswin.com TikTok: @plantsalwayswinpodcast YouTube: @plantsalwayswinpodcast Website: www.plantsalwayswin.com CreditsWebsite Design and Illustration by Sophia Alladin Intro and Outro Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/soundroll/when-my-ukulele-plays License code: GWOIMMBAS15FG6PH Timestamps00:25 Introduction and Housekeeping 01:55 Meet Chris Paul Rainbows 03:10 Gardening as Play 06:29 Protesting for Urban Chickens 07:47 Female and Male Gingko Biloba Trees 09:35 Corpse Flowers and Little Shop of Horrors 11:30 Pest Control and Fertilizer: Chickens Will Provide 13:45 Can You Go to Jail for an Overgrown Lawn? 15:17 Invasive Micro-Clover Lawn Replacement 16:29 Militant Native Plant Communities 17:23 Chris' Inner Child Garden Project 19:47 300 Accidental Pumpkin Plants 21:54 The Unicorn Fund and the Most Sincere Pumpkin Patch 24:14 Pumpkin Care and Powdery Mildew 27:30 Strange and Fun Pumpkin Types 29:15 Hand Pollinating Pumpkins 30:30 The Importance of Queer and Trans Joy 33:50 Plant Sexes and Pollination 37:15 Chris and Sean Talk Parrots and Budgies 41:03 Dealing with Field Bindweed 47:27 Chris' Children's TV-inspired Garden Plans 48:39 Relationship Roles: The Problem Maker and the Problem Solver 49:36 How Oscar the Boxwood Grouch Started Everything 52:09 Find Chris Online 52:46 Chris' Upcoming Picture Book, Guinea Pigs Don't Wear Pants 53:56 Outro and Contact Us | |||
| Ep. 32: Home Composting with Delaina Arnold | 02 Sep 2025 | 00:41:01 | |
Do you make compost at home? Do you delight in the experience? If your answer to either of those questions is no, this week’s guest is here to help. Delaina Arnold is the community programs manager with the Georgian Bay Mnidoo Gamii Biosphere, a UNESCO-designated “ecologically significant” landscape where people are striving to live in balance with nature. As part of that striving, the Biosphere launched a pilot project in 2025 to help people learn about home composting, to get started doing it themselves, and to troubleshoot any problems. Now we get to benefit from all that education, as Delaina answers Erin’s questions on the subject. We begin with the big question: why bother rotting our kitchen scraps at all? Then it’s on to busting common myths before entering a crash course on home composting: where to place your bin, what type to make or buy, and how not to hate the container you use for collecting scraps. We troubleshoot common problems like wildlife, smell, and slow decomposition, then get into a tangent on the truth about using urine in your compost. Of course we also cover how to decompose your garden trimmings safely and what to do with manure. Ready to make some black gold with us? Then dive in to the interview. Learn More“Do the Rot Thing” webinar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74UODcc3IZE All the Biosphere’s short, downloadable gardening guides, including “Composting 101”: https://georgianbaybiosphere.com/gardens/ The Biosphere’s community calendar: https://georgianbaybiosphere.com/events/ The Georgian Bay Biosphere Reserve website: https://georgianbaybiosphere.com/ CitationsUrine and Soil Study Rumeau, M., Pistocchi, C., Ait-Mouheb, N., Marsden, C., & Brunel, B. (2024). Unveiling the impact of human urine fertilization on soil bacterial communities: A path toward sustainable fertilization. Applied Soil Ecology, 201, 105471. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsoil.2024.105471 Follow the Biosphere On Social MediaOn Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gbtownship/ On YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@GBayBiosphere Comments? Feedback? Want your garden question to be featured in a future Q&A segment?Email us, reach out over social media, or get Q&A priority by supporting us on Patreon. Discord: https://discord.gg/K6wF9dY4Ja Bluesky: @plantsalwayswin.com TikTok: @plantsalwayswinpodcast YouTube: @plantsalwayswinpodcast Website: www.plantsalwayswin.com CreditsWebsite Design and Illustration by Sophia Alladin Intro and Outro Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/soundroll/when-my-ukulele-plays License code: GWOIMMBAS15FG6PH Timestamps00:12 Intro 00:47 Meet Delaina Arnold of the Georgian Bay Biosphere 01:50 What is the Georgian Bay Biosphere Reserve? 05:08 Why Home Composting Matters: Landfills, Methane, and Soil 09:09 The Seguin & Township of Georgian Bay Kitchen to Compost Pilot Project 11:33 Myths about Home Composting: Wildlife, Stirring, and What to Add 14:47 What if You Don't Turn Your Compost? Erin's Dirty, Little Secret 16:35 Where to Locate Your Compost Bin: Sun, Drainage, and Access 18:14 Choosing Your Compost Bin 20:09 Pick a Cute Countertop Compost Container 22:30 Composting Tips 23:27 Composting Troubleshooting 25:15 Wildlife Problems with Compost 29:19 Fact Check: Adding Urine to Compost 32:20 Brown Materials You Can Add 34:05 Can You Add Garden Clippings to Your Compost Bin? 37:45 Resources and Contact for the Georgian Bay Biosphere 39:30 Outro and Contact Us | |||
| Ep. 33 Establishing Apples, Eradicating Horsetail & Fertilizing Flowers | 09 Sep 2025 | 00:58:04 | |
Our gardens are winding down for the season, but our audience is putting on a growth spurt! This crop of new listeners has seeded our Q&A inbox with a flush of questions, which we love to see. And while we’d normally answer these at the end of our versus episodes, we currently have a backlog of recorded episodes and we don’t want folks to have to wait for answers. That means it’s time for another Q&A special! We start with questions inspired by Sean’s recent video about an apple tree sold with its graft and root flare buried well below soil level. If you want to understand how fruit trees are grafted and sold, how to plant them successfully, and what to expect from them as they grow, keep your ears peeled for this conversation. Next, we move on to plants that listeners are hoping to get rid of, touching briefly on bindweed (covered more thoroughly in episode 31) before digging into horsetail, that pervasive prehistoric plant. The question was “How do I get rid of it?” and we do address that—but you’ll find some options you might not have expected in our answers. Finally, we chat about an anecdote that was shared with us: “This year I learned that cosmos don’t like fertilizer.” It’s true that feeding nitrogen to flowering plants will push them to produce more greenery than blooms. But we’re here to offer some education on what you can do to give them a boost. Comments? Feedback? Want your garden question to be featured in a future Q&A segment?Email us, reach out over social media, or get Q&A priority by supporting us on Patreon. Discord: https://discord.gg/K6wF9dY4Ja Bluesky: @plantsalwayswin.com TikTok: @plantsalwayswinpodcast YouTube: @plantsalwayswinpodcast Website: www.plantsalwayswin.com Learn MoreAbout Horsetail: https://www.rhs.org.uk/weeds/horsetail Find bare-root fruit trees grown in Ontario from:Golden Bough Tree Farm (Marlbank, ON, in Tweed): https://goldenboughtreefarm.ca/ Northern Food Forest (Calvin, ON, near North Bay): https://northernfoodforest.ca/ Pineneedle Farms (Pontypool, ON, within Kawartha Lakes: https://www.pineneedlefarms.ca/ Silver Creek Nursery (Wellesley, Ontario, in the Waterloo region): https://silvercreeknursery.ca/ Whiffletree Farm & Nursery (Elora, ON): https://www.whiffletreefarmandnursery.ca/ CreditsWebsite Design and Illustration by Sophia AlladinIntro and Outro Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/soundroll/when-my-ukulele-plays License code: GWOIMMBAS15FG6PH Timestamps00:12 Intro 00:55 What’s Growing On? Erin's Fall Fair Entries 04:46 What's Growing On? Sean's Fall Fruit Trees Planting 08:50 Water Break 10:42 Is a buried graft the reason my apple tree keeps dying? 11:43 What is a root flare? 14:54 Do nurseries make mistakes like this on purpose to sell more trees? 16:36 Will a tree always die if its graft is below ground level? 19:07 If you let suckers from a root stock grow up, will they produce fruit? 21:40 If the tree survives having its graft buried, is everything okay? 23:00 I planted apples 3-4 years ago. They are suckering like crazy and haven’t produced any fruit. What can I do? 25:45 What fruit tree is best to plant in Ontario - something hardy and not fussy? 30:15 What if I need to eradicate field bindweed from my lawn instead of my garden? 35:42 How can I get rid of horsetail? I tried replacing all my soil and it still came back. 45:01 Fertilizing stopped my flowers from blooming. What should I have done? 56:00 Outro and Contact Us | |||
| Ep. 34 Bat Ecology with Dr. Dana Green, Part 1 | 16 Sep 2025 | 00:55:06 | |
Dr. Dana Green is a bat expert who is known online as The Eyepatch Biologist. As a science communicator, a pun connoisseur, and a woman who knows a good joke when it's staring her in the face, she says of herself, "What a wonderful bat advocate to go half blind." In Dana's interview with Sean, she tells us about her master's degree studying grasshopper mice (predatory, solitary, highly aggressive mice that howl) and her PhD in bat ecology, which she completed at the University of Regina in Saskatchewan. We learn about echolocation and other bat chatter, fact check Hank Green's viral video (Do we know where bats go in winter? Not entirely...) and learn about bat species in Canada. We assuage some fears about bats carrying disease, explore the challenges of tracking bat migration, exclaim over the mysteries of bat reproduction, and celebrate their benefits in the garden. The episode is as wide-ranging as these fascinating mammals are, but we spend time especially on the lives of hoary bats, pallid bats, New Zealand's flightless bats, and the Mexican free-tailed bat...or at least their smell! Craving even more bat facts? Then you're in luck! Part two of this interview will be posted next week. Learn MoreDana's website: https://www.danagreeneco.com/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@theeyepatchbiologist Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eyepatchbiologist/ Scientists and CommunicatorsSean and Dana drop a lot of names in this conversation. Here are the experts they mention:
Email us, reach out over social media, or get Q&A priority by supporting us on Patreon. Bluesky: @plantsalwayswin.com TikTok: @plantsalwayswinpodcast YouTube: @PlantsAlwaysWinPodcast Website: www.plantsalwayswin.com Discord: https://discord.gg/K6wF9dY4Ja CitationsBat Reproduction Fact Check H, T. (2020, October 16). BAT Reproduction – Illinois BAT Conservation program. https://www.illinoisbats.org/bat-reproduction Timestamps00:12 Introducing Dr. Dana Green 01:36 Bats, Grasshopper Mice, and Going Feral: Dana's Education Journey 04:55 Sound Bite: Grasshopper Mouse 05:01 Can You Hear Echolocation? 05:30 Sound Bite: Echolocation 07:25 Dana's Retinal Detachment 15:40 Dana Caused Sean's First TikTok Violation 16:53 Bat Species in Canada 19:00 The Bat Research Community 21:30 Do We Know Where Bats Go In Winter? 25:53 Bats' Unique Relationship with Disease 28:47 Tangent: Funding Rant 31:00 Back to Bat Tracking 34:45 Ted Weller, Bat Pregnancy, and Pups 41:36 The Pallid Bat, Potential Pollinator and Centipede Eater 44:00 Bats as Garden Friends 47:33 Outdoor Cats are Ecological Disasters 51:42 Bats' Horrendous Smell 53:46 Conclusion and Contact Us | |||
| Ep. 35 Bat Ecology with Dr. Dana Green Part 2 | 23 Sep 2025 | 00:43:33 | |
Dr. Dana Green, a.k.a. "The Eyepatch Biologist" is back for part two! This free-flying conversation just couldn't be contained to a single hour. We plunge straight in this week with an urgent question: how do bats relieve themselves without dribbling on their own heads? From there the facts come thick and fast: microchiroptera (our local insect-eating, echolocating bats) vs. megachiroptera (bigger fruit-eating bats from other climates that don't echolocate); the truth about bats' sense of sight; and the unexpected songs of silverhair bats. Dana shares how to attract bats to our properties without welcoming them into our homes, and we delve into the devastating consequences of pesticide use in the ecosystem—and how to report it when you witness someone applying pesticides illegally. Throughout the interview we also get some of Dana's opinions on the quality of bat representation in media, including Daredevil, Dungeons and Dragons, Batman and vampire books. The episode wraps up with a lightning round of facts, favourites, and myth busting—and a promise to bring Dana back for even more ecological eloquence in the future! Learn More:Dana's website: https://www.danagreeneco.com/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@theeyepatchbiologist Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eyepatchbiologist/ Comments? Feedback? Want your garden question to be featured in a future Q&A segment?Email us, reach out over social media, or get Q&A priority by supporting us on Patreon. Bluesky: @plantsalwayswin.com TikTok: @plantsalwayswinpodcast YouTube: @PlantsAlwaysWinPodcast Website: www.plantsalwayswin.com Discord: https://discord.gg/K6wF9dY4Ja Timestamps00:12 Introduction 01:00 How do Bats Relieve Themselves? 01:58 Flying Foxes, or Megachiroptera, a Subgroup of Bats 03:30 Bats Aren't Blind 04:48 Echolocation Representation in Daredevil 06:00 Bats that Jam Each Other's Echolocation Signals 07:28 Singing Silverhair Bats 10:25 Creating Bat Habitat at Your Home 12:00 Pesticides in the Ecosystem 20:15 Lightning Round 20:28 Should We Be Concerned about Diseases in Bats? 20:46 Are Bats Attracted to Long Hair? 21:17 Do Bats Suck Blood? Should We Worry? 23:03 Do Bats Mate for Life? What's a Bat Leck? 23:48 Hammerhead Bats' Big Honkers 24:40 The World's Biggest Bat 26:00 The World's Smallest Bat 28:39 Cutest Bat Struggles 29:40 The World's Ugliest (and Wrinkliest) Bat 31:00 A Bat Scientist's Opinion on Batman 34:20 Great Bat Representation in Kids' Books and Movies 36:00 Dana's Love of Vampires 39:15 Find Dana Online 41:44 Outro and Contact Us | |||
| Ep. 36 Community Gardens with Jessica Letteer | 30 Sep 2025 | 00:40:46 | |
This episode is for anyone who has ever daydreamed about starting a community garden and for anyone who needs the boost of a good-news gardening story. Our guest is Jessica Letteer, who founded the Wilkes-Barre Area Community Gardens five years ago and kicked off a local movement of soil building and community gardening in an area marked by poverty, blighted soil, and food deserts. Jess’ home in Pennsylvania’s Wyoming Valley bears the contamination left behind by abandoned coal mines, and services and infrastructure are chronically under-resourced. But she and a small group of other volunteers reached out to their city council, solicited donations, and started a program that now grows and distributes food, teaches regenerative agriculture skills, and puts on community events—all for free. Longtime listeners will know that our co-host Erin Alladin also founded a community garden: Garden@Kimbourne Community Permaculture Project in Toronto, Ontario. In this episode, she and Jess compare notes on the steps they each took to start their projects and how they and their fellow volunteers kept them going. Jess also tells us about the process of establishing a nonprofit, about the other community organizations her group has partnered with, the ways they're funding the garden, and—of course—all the incredible projects they have lined up for the future. Learn More:The Wilkes-Barre Area Community Gardens Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/wilkesbarreacg/ Organizations Named in this EpisodeEastern Pennsylvania Coalition for Abandoned Mine Reclamation: https://epcamr.org/home/ Food Dignity: https://fooddignitymovement.org/ Rising Tide Wellness: https://risingtide-wellness.org/ WIC: https://www.fns.usda.gov/wic The Horti AwardsVote for Wait Like a Seed here! Scroll to the very bottom and select it from the Books drop-down menu. You don’t have to vote in every category. Comments? Feedback? Want your garden question to be featured in a future Q&A segment?Email us, reach out over social media, or get Q&A priority by supporting us on Patreon. Bluesky: @plantsalwayswin.com TikTok: @plantsalwayswinpodcast YouTube: @PlantsAlwaysWinPodcast Website: www.plantsalwayswin.com Discord: https://discord.gg/K6wF9dY4Ja Timestamps00:14 Introduction to Jessica Letteer 02:12 Introduction to Wilkes-Barre Area Community Gardens 03:35 How Wilkes-Barre Area Community Gardens Got Their Start 08:19 How Garden@Kimbourne Got its Start 09:58 Water Break: Wait Like a Seed and the Horti Awards 10:33 Concerns about Crime and Community Gardens 12:67 Healing the Community through Gardening 13:55 Becoming a Nonprofit 15:01 Partnering with Other Organizations 17:50 Food Dignity: Paying Farmers, Feeding People for Free 19:55 More Energy and Infrastructure Projects in the Gardens 21:55 Why Is Running All This With You??? 25:36 Funding! 26:44 Gardening in a Former Coal Town 32:27 Creating an Accessible Garden for People with Disabilities 35:15 What's Next for Wilkes-Barre Community Gardens 36:18 Find The Garden Community Online 37:00 Shout-Outs 38:58 Outro and Contact Us | |||
| Ep. 37 Sunflower vs. Sunchoke | 08 Oct 2025 | 00:53:03 | |
It’s the versus episode they said couldn’t be done. Well, okay, not sure who “they” are, but something has certainly been conspiring against it. We first attempted an episode on sunchokes, also known as Jerusalem artichokes, in the fall of 2024, before Plants Always Win was launched. It got left on the cutting room floor. Then in September of this year we recorded a proper Sunchokes vs. Sunflowers face-off, spending two hours in the recording studio. We later found out that Sean’s audio had quit after six minutes. But if you’re reading these words, we have finally succeeded! With the last of the warm autumn sunshine, we are bringing you sunflowers vs. sunchokes. Or, to put it another way, annual sunflowers vs. one of their many perennial sunflower cousins. Both are native to North America, and both are prolific food crops. The first, though, has been bred for its seed while the second is used for its tubers. And only one of them was at the centre of a $25 million scam that threw parts of the United States and Canada into an uproar in the 1980s. Find out which one that is one by listening…and then reach out by email or social media to tell us which sunflower YOU feel won this week’s plant face-off. The Horti AwardsVote for Wait Like a Seed at bit.ly/hortiawards. Scroll to the very bottom and select it from the Books drop-down menu. You don’t have to vote in every category. Comments? Feedback? Want your garden question to be featured in a future Q&A segment?Email us, reach out over social media, or get Q&A priority by supporting us on Patreon. Discord: https://discord.gg/K6wF9dY4Ja Bluesky: @plantsalwayswin.com TikTok: @plantsalwayswinpodcast YouTube: @plantsalwayswinpodcast Website: www.plantsalwayswin.com Credits Website Design and Illustration by Sophia Alladin Intro and Outro Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/soundroll/when-my-ukulele-plays License code: GWOIMMBAS15FG6PH CitationsSunflower etymology Sunflower - Etymology, Origin & Meaning. (n.d.). Etymonline. https://www.etymonline.com/word/sunflower Sunflowers as composite flowers Common sunflower. (n.d.). https://www.fs.usda.gov/wildflowers/plant-of-the-week/helianthus_annuus.shtml Sunflowers in Ontario top Native Sunflowers for Ontario Gardens — In Our Nature. (n.d.). In Our Nature. https://www.inournature.ca/sunflowers-of-ontario The too-many-to-read-out traditional uses of the annual sunflower USDA, NRCS, National Plant Data Center. (n.d.). ANNUAL SUNFLOWER. https://plants.usda.gov/DocumentLibrary/plantguide/pdf/pg_hean3.pdf Sunflower oil chemistry and uses Sunflower oil. (n.d.). Science Direct. Retrieved September 30, 2025, from https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/chemical-engineering/sunflower-oil Growing sunflowers Spengler, T. (2023, February 10). Sunflower planting pros and cons. Gardening Know How. https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/gardening-pros-cons/sunflower-planting-pros-and-cons Allelopathy Allelopathy. (n.d.). Science Direct. Retrieved September 30, 2025, from https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/agricultural-and-biological-sciences/allelopathy The world’s tallest sunflower Associated Press. (2025, September 15). World’s tallest sunflower blooms in an Indiana backyard as a tribute to Ukraine. Spectrum News 1. https://spectrumnews1.com/oh/columbus/news/2025/09/15/world-s-tallest-sunflower-indiana Anishinaabe use of sunchokes, a.k.a. Giisisoojiibik Geniusz, M. S. (2015). Plants have so much to give us, all we have to do is ask: Anishinaabe Botanical Teachings. U of Minnesota Press. The Jerusalem artichoke multi-level marketing scam 1980s Farm Crisis: Origins, myths and realities: Jerusalem artichoke miracle crop was a sign - Agweek | #1 source for agriculture news, farming, markets. (2023, June 12). Agweek. https://www.agweek.com/business/1980s-farm-crisis-origins-myths-and-realities-jerusalem-artichoke-miracle-crop-was-a-sign The Great Jerusalem Artichoke Circus: The Buying and Selling of the Rural American Dream, by Joseph A. Amato, 1993, University of Minnesota Press, 280 p. Identify your turfgrass Different types of grass: Identifying your lawn’s grass type. (n.d.). Scotts. https://scotts.com/en-us/learn/different-types-of-grass-identify-your-grass.html Timestamps00:40 The Sunchoke Curse 02:29 What's Growing On: Erin's Garden-Fresh Meals and Horti Awards 04:20 What's Growing On: Sean's 1,001 Projects and Propagations 06:00 Water Break 06:15 The Plant Face-Off: Sunflowers 07:51 About the Name Sunflower 08:13 How Sunflowers Grow 08:55 Perennial Sunflowers of Ontario 10:25 Uses of the Annual Sunflower 12:00 Sunflowers are Composite Flowers 12:45 Heliotropism and Phototropism 14:35 The Benefits of Heliotropism 15:50 Sunflowers and Allelopathy 18:06 A Sunflower Guild 19:40 Garden-Nerd D&D Tangent 24:12 The Plant Face-Off: Sunchokes 24:45 The Only Tuberous Sunflowers 25:14 Eating Sunchoke Tubers...Without the Gas 26:25 Harvesting and Managing the Tubers 29:20 Anishinaabe Communities and Giisisoojiibik 30:30 Sunchokes' Invasiveness in Central Europe 31:00 Get Familiar with New Foods You Can Grow 33:45 Jerusalem Artichoke Height and Appearance 35:49 The Jerusalem Artichoke Pyramid Scheme 42:00 Musings About Fuel from Sunflowers 45:59 Listener Question: How Do I Know What Kind of Grass I Have? 51:55 Conclusion and Contact Us | |||
| Ep. 38 Little Shop of Horrors | 31 Oct 2025 | 00:49:30 | |
This episode is what happens when two people’s loves for venus flytraps, spooky season, and movie musicals collide. Yes, we’re doing nerdy Halloween horticulture by analyzing the representation of carnivorous plants in the classic musical Little Shop of Horrors—specifically the 1986 movie version. If you haven’t seen the show, don’t worry; we set the stage for you and save any late-story spoilers for the very end. For the most part, we’re interested in one question: based on our knowledge of real-world carnivorous plants, how reasonable were Seymore’s guesses when he first tried to care for Audrey II? This requires, of course, an exploration of Venus flytraps’ habitat and habits, how they reproduce, and of the care they need to thrive in our homes. The movie does raise one more hypothetical, and I’ll put this in code for our listeners who still need to watch it: that ending. Would it really have worked? We get a buzz out of exploring the idea. Comments? Feedback? Want your garden question to be featured in a future Q&A segment?Email us, reach out over social media, or get Q&A priority by supporting us on Patreon. Discord: https://discord.gg/K6wF9dY4Ja Bluesky: @plantsalwayswin.com TikTok: @plantsalwayswinpodcast YouTube: @plantsalwayswinpodcast Website: www.plantsalwayswin.com CreditsWebsite Design and Illustration by Sophia Alladin Intro and Outro Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/soundroll/when-my-ukulele-plays License code: GWOIMMBAS15FG6PH CitationsLittle Shop of Horrors Oz, F. (Director). (1986). Little shop of horrors. The Geffen Company. Venus flytrap Overview Venus flytrap (Dionaea muscipula). (n.d.). iNaturalist. https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/52666-Dionaea-muscipula Venus flytraps benefit from fires Venus Flytrap. (n.d.). National Wildlife Federation. https://www.nwf.org/Educational-Resources/Wildlife-Guide/Plants-and-Fungi/Venus-Flytrap A chemical signal from the flytrap’s prey stimulates the secretion of enzymes. Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center - the University of Texas at Austin. (n.d.). https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=dimu4 Overwintering your venus flytrap Little Shop of Horrors. (2025, January 12). Overwintering Venus flytraps. Littleshopofhorrors.co.uk. https://www.littleshopofhorrors.co.uk/over-wintering-venus-flytraps/ Timestamps00:39 Introduction 01:35 What's Growing On: Sean's Winter Prep 02:20 What's Growing On: Erin's Tomatoes and Greenhouse Build 03:10 Sean's Pumpkin-Deer Showdown 05:48 Water Break 06:00 Setting the Scene: Little Shop of Horrors 07:44 How Carnivorous Plants Eat 11:26 Can a Carnivorous Plant Survive on Human Blood? 12:46 Venus Fly Trap Etymology 15:50 How the Venus Fly Trap Grows 18:35 Audrey II's Structure vs. Venus Fly Trap Structure 21:39 Taking Care of Audrey II vs. a Venus Fly Trap 32:24 Overwintering Your Venus Fly Trap 34:51 SPOILER WATER BREAK 35:20 Propagating a Venus Fly Trap vs. Audrey II 41:28 Ethical Purchasing of Venus Fly Traps 42:49 Buying Cool Cultivated Varieties 43:33 Can You Kill a Plant with Electrocution? 47:29 Conclusion and Contact Us | |||