Also known as the Butterfly Bush it's the purple buddleja that you see growing in the cracks of pavements and walls, along the railway sidings. It comes from China and the first seeds arrived at Kew gardens, 130 years ago.

Jess Turtle is the co-founder and director of the Museum Of Homelessness in Finsbury Park in North London and this plant story was recorded in the museum garden which has been built by the community. People and plant communities have more in common than we might think.

Signup here so all episodes of the podcast arrive in your inbox on the day I publish them.

Mentioned in this episode:

Buy Me A Coffee

Museum of Homelessness

The museum's new exhibition: Criminal - An Untold Story of Homelessness, Resistance and Survival runs for 10 weeks from the 21st May - 25th July.

Our Plant Stories website

Plants go in and out of fashion, but how do we ensure that those garden plants that we love will still be available for future generations to enjoy?

Well you could be part of the solution...

Can I dig into more plant stories?

YES! You can check out the website where there are lots of photographs of plants and how to grow instructions. Our Plant Stories website

You can also follow the weekly blog where you will get the behind the scenes lowdown on making the podcast and you could also contribute - readers have suggested gardens to visit, plants to feature, experts to contact.

Our Plant Stories blog

And you can follow more plants over on my Instagram account Instagram

Every month I will make a plant story but stories often lead to more stories and I end up publishing Offshoot episodes. So if you 'Follow' the podcast on your podcast app you will never miss an episode.

It also makes a real difference if you can spare the time to rate and/or review an episode after you have listened. Spotify and Apple look at these ratings and it helps to get the podcast promoted to other plant lovers.

Luke's childhood memories are of a cottage garden with roses and peonies and tulips - 'exotics' and in the garden there were blackbirds and thrushes. He has now created his own cottage garden and plants thousands of tulip bulbs each year, opening his garden for a tulip festival.

Yet the plant he wanted to talk about was a New Zealand native - Harakeke, swamp flax. It is the soul of his garden, giving a sense of place, woven in amongst the cottage plants.

Luke admits he is still learning about native plants so his conversation with Edith Rolls a Māori weaver focus on the significance of this plant to the Māori and I think connections are forged again through plants.

If you enjoy this episode and want to hear about another native New Zealand plant then seek out the episode called Mona's Corokia.

Can I share my plant story with you?

YES PLEASE! I called this OUR Plant Stories for a reason and that is that I love to hear from listeners wherever you are in the world!

You can email me Sally@ourplantstories.com and tell me your plant story. That's all you need to do - I'll do the rest. I'll work out who we can talk to. Can we find someone who shares your passion for the plant, they maybe in the same country as you or the other side of the world.

Independent podcasts like Our Plant Stories depend on their listeners for help with the costs of making the podcast such as the hosting platform and the editing programme.

Using the Buy Me A Coffee platform you can make a one off online donation of £5 and that money will go towards making more episodes. Everyone who buys a 'virtual coffee' will get a shout out on the podcast.

The support of listeners means a lot to me.

Buy Me A Coffee

Mentioned in this episode:

Buy Me A Coffee

I love following journeys - a venture undertaken over months even years. If you are a regular listener you will know this from my return visits to the Castlefield Viaduct and the proposed Camden Highline each season.

The Offshoots for the next few months will follow the journey of the Plant Heritage Missing Collector Garden from sketches on paper to a show garden at the RHS Chelsea flower show.

The garden will showcase the work of the charity Plant Heritage at the heart of which are the National Collection holders; conserving plants for all of us, ensuring they don't disappear from cultivation. Over the next few months we will learn all about this work.

The show garden is possible thanks to Project Giving Back which has sponsored 63 charity gardens since 2022.

So in Part 1 we find out how this garden came about and the crucial call from the hairdressers.

I think I could have named this episode 'seize the moment'.

Can I share my plant story with you?

YES PLEASE! I called this OUR Plant Stories for a reason and that is that I love to hear from listeners wherever you are in the world!

You can email me Sally@ourplantstories.com and tell me your plant story. That's all you need to do - I'll do the rest. I'll work out who we can talk to. Can we find someone who shares your passion for the plant, they maybe in the same country as you or the other side of the world.

Independent podcasts like Our Plant Stories depend on their listeners for help with the costs of making the podcast such as the hosting platform and the editing programme.

Using the Buy Me A Coffee platform you can make a one off online donation of £5 and that money will go towards making more episodes. Everyone who buys a 'virtual coffee' will get a shout out on the podcast.

The support of listeners means a lot to me.

Buy Me A Coffee

Mentioned in this episode:

Buy Me A Coffee

Our search will take us from a graveyard in Sussex to a gardener's cottage on the Gravetye estate where once thousands of clematis were being propagated by Miriam Markham's husband Ernest and the owner of the estate William Robinson.

We piece together this story with thanks to Sam Fry, a gardener at Gravetye and Raymond Evison a multi-award winning clematis grower. They'll also teach us how to grow these plants.

And we're asking you - have you seen Miriam?

Can I share my plant story with you?

YES PLEASE! I called this OUR Plant Stories for a reason and that is that I love to hear from listeners wherever you are in the world!

You can email me Sally@ourplantstories.com and tell me your plant story. That's all you need to do - I'll do the rest. I'll work out who we can talk to. Can we find someone who shares your passion for the plant, they maybe in the same country as you or the other side of the world.

Our Plant Stories is presented and produced by Sally Flatman

The music is Fade to Black by Howard Levy

Mentioned in this episode:

Buy Me A Coffee

The Royal Horticultural Society have just announced that this year in the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2026 - the charity Plant Heritage has an All About Plants garden. It is sponsored by Project Giving Back and supported by the Shanly Foundation.

Plant Heritage is the home of the National Plant Collections and plant conservation is going to be taking centre stage in this Missing Collector garden and we'll be meeting the designers, finding out about the plants, watching the build.

Our first Plant Story of this new series is the tale of a plant that has disappeared but could it be growing somewhere, in someone's garden?

Remember that there are over 60 episodes of the podcast available to listen to now!

Can I share my plant story with you?

YES PLEASE! I called this OUR Plant Stories for a reason and that is that I love to hear from listeners wherever you are in the world!

You can email me Sally@ourplantstories.com and tell me your plant story. That's all you need to do - I'll do the rest. I'll work out who we can talk to. Can we find someone who shares your passion for the plant, they maybe in the same country as you or the other side of the world.

Every month I will make a plant story but stories often lead to more stories and I end up publishing Offshoot episodes. So if you 'Follow' the podcast on your podcast app you will never miss an episode.

It also makes a real difference if you can spare the time to rate and/or review an episode after you have listened. Spotify and Apple look at these ratings and it helps to get the podcast promoted to other plant lovers.

Mentioned in this episode:

Buy Me A Coffee

Back in November 2024, I visited the Castlefield Viaduct in Manchester and the route of the proposed Camden Highline in London. Now regular listeners will know that I love high lines and I have walked the ones in Paris and New York. (For the latter check out episode 17)

I promised in 2024 that we would revisit both the UK projects, one year on and in this episode we catch up with Kate Picker and Simon Pitkeathley. And treacle features quite a lot!

Then there is the amazing idea of twinning your garden with a farmer in rural Africa thanks to the charity Ripple Effect. I worked with this charity under its former name 'Send a Cow' when I was the BBC Radio 4 Appeals Producer and I was thrilled to learn, thanks to Claire - the Garden Editor, that the charity has another brilliant idea.

So enjoy this episode and perhaps any others you have missed during this series; they feature Napolean, Adam Frost and Poppy Okotcha, alongside a million daffodil bulbs, ancient seeds, enormous yucca plants and tiny snowdrops - there are lots to choose from.

Ripple Effect

https://rippleeffect.org/get-involved/giving/garden-twinning

Claire - The Garden Editor

https://www.gardeneditor.co.uk/about

Independent podcasts like Our Plant Stories depend on their listeners for help with the costs of making the podcast such as the hosting platform and the editing programme.

Using the Buy Me A Coffee platform you can make a one off online donation of £5 and that money will go towards making more episodes. Everyone who buys a 'virtual coffee' will get a shout out on the podcast.

The support of listeners means a lot to me.

Buy Me A Coffee

Can I share my plant story with you?

YES PLEASE! I called this OUR Plant Stories for a reason and that is that I love to hear from listeners wherever you are in the world!

You can email me Sally@ourplantstories.com and tell me your plant story. That's all you need to do - I'll do the rest. I'll work out who we can talk to. Can we find someone who shares your passion for the plant, they maybe in the same country as you or the other side of the world.

Every month I will make a plant story but stories often lead to more stories and I end up publishing Offshoot episodes. So if you 'Follow' the podcast on your podcast app you will never miss an episode.

It also makes a real difference if you can spare the time to rate and/or review an episode after you have listened. Spotify and Apple look at these ratings and it helps to get the podcast promoted to other plant lovers.

Our Plant Stories is presented and produced by Sally Flatman

The music is Fade to Black by Howard Levy

Mentioned in this episode:

Buy Me A Coffee

As part of the Being Human Festival - the UK's national festival of the humanities , historian Francesca Murray and musician Osnat Schmool gathered a group of people to explore these glees. A chance to be transported back to a lost world of gardening.

And I composed a glee!

Our Plant Stories is presented and produced by Sally Flatman

The music is Fade to Black by Howard Levy

Every month I will make a plant story but stories often lead to more stories and I end up publishing Offshoot episodes. So if you 'Follow' the podcast on your podcast app you will never miss an episode.

It also makes a real difference if you can spare the time to rate and/or review an episode after you have listened. Spotify and Apple look at these ratings and it helps to get the podcast promoted to other plant lovers.

Independent podcasts like Our Plant Stories depend on their listeners for help with the costs of making the podcast such as the hosting platform and the editing programme.

Using the Buy Me A Coffee platform you can make a one off online donation of £5 and that money will go towards making more episodes. Everyone who buys a 'virtual coffee' will get a shout out on the podcast.

The support of listeners means a lot to me.

Buy Me A Coffee

Mentioned in this episode:

Buy Me A Coffee

Working as the Supervisor of the Arboretum Nursery at Kew Gardens, she has many plants to look after though she does have her favourites!

Her curiosity about how plants spread goes back to childhood. And she would love everyone to have a go at propagating. Just: "don't come after my job".

In this episode we learn about the tree gang who go out collecting seeds and the landscape succession plan for trees we might be growing in the UK in 50 to 90 years time. And we learn the definition of 'naturally sourced material.'

Our Plant Stories is presented and produced by Sally Flatman

The music is Fade to Black by Howard Levy

Every month I will make a plant story but stories often lead to more stories and I end up publishing Offshoot episodes. So if you 'Follow' the podcast on your podcast app you will never miss an episode.

It also makes a real difference if you can spare the time to rate and/or review an episode after you have listened. Spotify and Apple look at these ratings and it helps to get the podcast promoted to other plant lovers.

Mentioned in this episode:

Buy Me A Coffee

I love this thought from Richard Hayden, shared as we wandered along the New York High Line, this summer. Richard is the Senior Director of Horticulture on the High Line. We talk about the magic of this garden in the sky, it's history - the trains that were once delivering the ingredients for oreo cookies to Nabisco and the plants - of course the plants.

Richard explains Pete Oudolf's vision for the High Line and his regular visits to edit and add new plants. Don't tell anyone but Richard reveals a few weeding secrets too!

If you like the idea of green spaces in urban places then this is for you. And next month we'll catch up on the Castlefield Viaduct in Manchester and plans for a High Line in London, which we first visited last year.

And if you want to some photographs then do take a look on the Our Plant Stories website.

Every month I will make a plant story but stories often lead to more stories and I end up publishing Offshoot episodes. So if you 'Follow' the podcast on your podcast app you will never miss an episode.

It also makes a real difference if you can spare the time to rate and/or review an episode after you have listened. Spotify and Apple look at these ratings and it helps to get the podcast promoted to other plant lovers.

Independent podcasts like Our Plant Stories depend on their listeners for help with the costs of making the podcast such as the hosting platform and the editing programme.

Using the Buy Me A Coffee platform you can make a one off online donation of £5 and that money will go towards making more episodes. Everyone who buys a 'virtual coffee' will get a shout out on the podcast.

The support of listeners means a lot to me.

Buy Me A Coffee

Our Plant Stories is presented and produced by Sally Flatman

The music is Fade to Black by Howard Levy

Mentioned in this episode:

Buy Me A Coffee

In this Offshoot episode, I wander around the gardens with Anne, accompanied by many buzzing insects which you will hear as they whizz past the microphone!

She picks out some of her favourite plants to attract butterflies and bees and I'll share the names of them on the website - Ourplantstories.com

Our Plant Stories is presented and produced by Sally Flatman

The music is Fade to Black by Howard Levy

Can I share my plant story with you?

YES PLEASE! I called this OUR Plant Stories for a reason and that is that I love to hear from listeners wherever you are in the world!

You can email me Sally@ourplantstories.com and tell me your plant story. That's all you need to do - I'll do the rest. I'll work out who we can talk to. Can we find someone who shares your passion for the plant, they maybe in the same country as you or the other side of the world.

Mentioned in this episode:

Buy Me A Coffee

This plant story is about such a book and the influence it had on a young woman who was just starting out in business in Norfolk.

The book is called How To Make A Wildlife Garden and it was written by Chris Baines. It has been republished several times - perhaps you have a copy. The young woman was Anne Harrap and this is her plant story.

Every month I will make a plant story but stories often lead to more stories and I end up publishing Offshoot episodes. So if you 'Follow' the podcast on your podcast app you will never miss an episode.

It also makes a real difference if you can spare the time to rate and/or review an episode after you have listened. Spotify and Apple look at these ratings and it helps to get the podcast promoted to other plant lovers.

Can I share my plant story with you?

YES PLEASE! I called this OUR Plant Stories for a reason and that is that I love to hear from listeners wherever you are in the world!

You can email me Sally@ourplantstories.com and tell me your plant story. That's all you need to do - I'll do the rest. I'll work out who we can talk to. Can we find someone who shares your passion for the plant, they maybe in the same country as you or the other side of the world.

Can I dig into more plant stories?

YES! You can check out the website where there are lots of photographs of plants and how to grow instructions. Our Plant Stories website

You can also follow the weekly blog where you will get the behind the scenes lowdown on making the podcast and you could also contribute - readers have suggested gardens to visit, plants to feature, experts to contact.

Our Plant Stories blog

And you can follow more plants over on my Instagram account Instagram

Our Plant Stories is presented and produced by Sally Flatman

The music is Fade to Black by Howard Levy

This conversation was recorded at the British Library in July as part of the events programme for an exhibition called Unearthed - The Power of Gardening. (Sadly now over) Both Poppy and Adam have recently published books about their own gardens. Poppy's is called A Wilder Way - How Gardens Grow Us and Adam's is called For the Love of Plants.

With thanks to the British Library for allowing me to share this with you as a podcast episode.

I'll put links to Poppy and Adam's books on the podcast website.

Independent podcasts like Our Plant Stories depend on their listeners for help with the costs of making the podcast such as the hosting platform and the editing programme.

Using the Buy Me A Coffee platform you can make a one off online donation of £5 and that money will go towards making more episodes. Everyone who buys a 'virtual coffee' will get a shout out on the podcast.

The support of listeners means a lot to me.

Buy Me A Coffee

Every month I will make a plant story but stories often lead to more stories and I end up publishing Offshoot episodes. So if you 'Follow' the podcast on your podcast app you will never miss an episode.

It also makes a real difference if you can spare the time to rate and/or review an episode after you have listened. Spotify and Apple look at these ratings and it helps to get the podcast promoted to other plant lovers.

Mentioned in this episode:

Buy Me A Coffee

Hear a trailer for the episode which will be out next Tuesday.

Poppy's new book is called A Wilder Way and Adam's is called For the Love of Plants and over the course of an hour and a half they discussed how they came to be gardeners, safe spaces, foraging, special plants, special people and compost.

I learned so much both from reading their books and sharing this conversation and thanks to the British Library, I am excited to be able to share it with you next week as a podcast episode.

Our Plant Stories is presented and produced by Sally Flatman

The music is Fade to Black by Howard Levy

Every month I will make a plant story but stories often lead to more stories and I end up publishing Offshoot episodes. So if you 'Follow' the podcast on your podcast app you will never miss an episode.

It also makes a real difference if you can spare the time to rate and/or review an episode after you have listened. Spotify and Apple look at these ratings and it helps to get the podcast promoted to other plant lovers.

Mentioned in this episode:

Buy Me A Coffee

I know that any day now Autumn bulb catalogues will start to drop through my letterbox and garden centres will soon start to sell daffodil bulbs again but I wanted to know where are those bulbs in July? And how do you grow them commercially?

My thanks to Ian Clark, the very patient Marketing Manager of Taylors Bulbs who answered all my questions so you too can discover how the bulbs are grown and harvested, how to store them, where to plant them and how to choose them for a long lasting 5 month display in 2026!

Independent podcasts like Our Plant Stories depend on their listeners for help with the costs of making the podcast such as the hosting platform and the editing programme.

Using the Buy Me A Coffee platform you can make a one off online donation of £5 and that money will go towards making more episodes. Everyone who buys a 'virtual coffee' will get a shout out on the podcast.

The support of listeners means a lot to me.

Buy Me A Coffee

Every month I will make a plant story but stories often lead to more stories and I end up publishing Offshoot episodes. So if you 'Follow' the podcast on your podcast app you will never miss an episode.

It also makes a real difference if you can spare the time to rate and/or review an episode after you have listened. Spotify and Apple look at these ratings and it helps to get the podcast promoted to other plant lovers.

Mentioned in this episode:

Buy Me A Coffee

For those of us of a certain generation, the Yucca plant will be familiar. Back in the 70's and 80's Marks and Spencer had shelves full of them. But why?

And along with the story of Fay's Yucca and the answer to the question why M&S were selling them, we have Colin Smith, who holds a National Collection of Yuccas. He knows so much about these plants and shares with us how to grow them.

Every month I will make a plant story but stories often lead to more stories and I end up publishing Offshoot episodes. So if you 'Follow' the podcast on your podcast app you will never miss an episode.

It also makes a real difference if you can spare the time to rate and/or review an episode after you have listened. Spotify and Apple look at these ratings and it helps to get the podcast promoted to other plant lovers.

Independent podcasts like Our Plant Stories depend on their listeners for help with the costs of making the podcast such as the hosting platform and the editing programme.

Using the Buy Me A Coffee platform you can make a one off online donation of £5 and that money will go towards making more episodes. Everyone who buys a 'virtual coffee' will get a shout out on the podcast.

The support of listeners means a lot to me.

Buy Me A Coffee

Can I dig into more plant stories?

YES! You can check out the website where there are lots of photographs of plants and how to grow instructions. Our Plant Stories website

You can also follow the weekly blog where you will get the behind the scenes lowdown on making the podcast and you could also contribute - readers have suggested gardens to visit, plants to feature, experts to contact.

Our Plant Stories blog

And you can follow more plants over on my Instagram account Instagram

Our Plant Stories is presented and produced by Sally Flatman

The music is Fade to Black by Howard Levy

Mentioned in this episode:

Buy Me A Coffee

If you still have it, it could by now be very large. This months plant story is a beautiful one about a Yucca plant that Fay bought in 1976, for her dad, who was the writer J.G. Ballard. She wasn't sure if he would manage to keep it alive - he didn't have any other pot plants.

If you can't wait for this story remember there are over 50 plant stories from the first three series of Our Plant Stories podcast for you to listen to. From fig tree cuttings sewn into the hems of skirts in preparation for the journey to America to passion flower cuttings, in South London, secreted in a handbag. There are stories of passions for dahlias, hostas, snowdrops and peonies. There are walks along viaducts and hoped for highlines. Stories from Australia, New Zealand, America and France.

And with every plant story we learn how to grow the plant from generous gardeners who share their knowledge.

If you have a plant story you would like to share you can contact me:

Sally@ourplantstories.com

Mentioned in this episode:

Buy Me A Coffee

With help from one of the curators, Francesca Bibby, and one of the exhibitors. Andrew Flynn, we hear about garden design from both historical and futuristic perspectives; from knitted sculptures embedded with seeds by Alice Marie Archer to flat pack plant pots by Potr.

Our Plant Stories is presented and produced by Sally Flatman

The music is Fade to Black by Howard Levy

Every month I will make a plant story but stories often lead to more stories and I end up publishing Offshoot episodes. So if you 'Follow' the podcast on your podcast app you will never miss an episode.

It also makes a real difference if you can spare the time to rate and/or review an episode after you have listened. Spotify and Apple look at these ratings and it helps to get the podcast promoted to other plant lovers.

Independent podcasts like Our Plant Stories depend on their listeners for help with the costs of making the podcast such as the hosting platform and the editing programme.

Using the Buy Me A Coffee platform you can make a one off online donation of £5 and that money will go towards making more episodes. Everyone who buys a 'virtual coffee' will get a shout out on the podcast.

The support of listeners means a lot to me.

Buy Me A Coffee

Mentioned in this episode:

Buy Me A Coffee

How it got there is part of the story, a gift from Napoleon Bonaparte to the chateau owner, bought back from his last expedition to Louisiana in 1802!

So through a plant story about a Bald Cypress, we bring together two countries, and a moment in history in 1803, remembered by one nation, perhaps forgotten by the other as Napoleon sells Louisiana to the Americans.

You can see photographs of the tree and find links to the chateau on the Our Plant Stories website www.ourplantstories.com

Our Plant Stories is presented and produced by Sally Flatman

The music is Fade to Black by Howard Levy

Every month I will make a plant story but stories often lead to more stories and I end up publishing Offshoot episodes. So if you 'Follow' the podcast on your podcast app you will never miss an episode.

It also makes a real difference if you can spare the time to rate and/or review an episode after you have listened. Spotify and Apple look at these ratings and it helps to get the podcast promoted to other plant lovers.

Mentioned in this episode:

Buy Me A Coffee

There will be incredible show gardens, conceived months and months ago with designers and growers and build teams coming together to create something beautiful. But where do these gardens go when the show ends on Saturday?

This episode tells the story of one garden - Hospitalfield Arts Garden. We visit a beautiful walled garden in Arbroath and a school that must be one of the closest to the sea in the UK. The children aren't allowed to eat snacks in the playground because of the swooping seagulls! And they are linked by a Nigel Dunnett designed sand garden, funded by Project Giving back which is on show this week at RHS Chelsea.

I hope you enjoy this story.

Independent podcasts like Our Plant Stories depend on their listeners for help with the costs of making the podcast such as the hosting platform and the editing programme.

Using the Buy Me A Coffee platform you can make a one off online donation of £5 and that money will go towards making more episodes. Everyone who buys a 'virtual coffee' will get a shout out on the podcast.

The support of listeners means a lot to me.

Buy Me A Coffee

Our Plant Stories is presented and produced by Sally Flatman

The music is Fade to Black by Howard Levy

Mentioned in this episode:

Buy Me A Coffee

This is a beautiful and very personal plant story of the journey back to Kew and one special tree that played an important role in that journey.

Plants can trigger even the deepest most forgotten memories so join us as Jerry and I sit beneath the tree as he tells his plant story and then together we find out more about that tree from Simon Toomer Curator of Living Collections at Kew.

I love that Simon as a forester has a totally different time scale to many of us, thinking in tree years is perhaps a skill we should all cultivate.

Independent podcasts like Our Plant Stories depend on their listeners for help with the costs of making the podcast such as the hosting platform and the editing programme.

Using the Buy Me A Coffee platform you can make a one off online donation of £5 and that money will go towards making more episodes. Everyone who buys a 'virtual coffee' will get a shout out on the podcast.

The support of listeners means a lot to me.

Buy Me A Coffee

Every month I will make a plant story but stories often lead to more stories and I end up publishing Offshoot episodes. So if you 'Follow' the podcast on your podcast app you will never miss an episode.

It also makes a real difference if you can spare the time to rate and/or review an episode after you have listened. Spotify and Apple look at these ratings and it helps to get the podcast promoted to other plant lovers.

Can I share my plant story with you?

YES PLEASE! I called this OUR Plant Stories for a reason and that is that I love to hear from listeners wherever you are in the world!

You can email me Sally@ourplantstories.com and tell me your plant story. That's all you need to do - I'll do the rest. I'll work out who we can talk to. Can we find someone who shares your passion for the plant, they maybe in the same country as you or the other side of the world.

Our Plant Stories is presented and produced by Sally Flatman

The music is Fade to Black by Howard Levy

Mentioned in this episode:

Buy Me A Coffee

So take a journey into the history and science of seeds. We'll ponder the Portuguese, spreading pepper seeds around the world and seed banks in St Petersburg, Syria and the Arctic Circle. We'll hear about the skills of Ethiopian farmers.

Adam Alexander, also known as the seed detective and a self confessed vegetable anorak is endlessly curious about seeds and in his new book The Accidental Seed Heroes he is on the trail of the growers who are championing traditional varieties and breeding new ones that will adapt to our changing climate.

What can these seed heroes teach us, as we think about what to grow this April?

.Takeaways:

• The inception of plant breeding can be traced back to our Neolithic ancestors, who began selecting wild relatives for cultivation approximately 12,000 years ago, primarily focusing on cereals.
• Adam Alexander, the author of The Accidental Seed Heroes, emphasises the significance of traditional plant breeding and the critical need to preserve genetic diversity in crops for future food security.
• The podcast highlights the remarkable adaptive capabilities of open-pollinated crops, which are essential for resilience against climate change and environmental fluctuations.
• The discussion reveals the importance of seed banks and living collections, such as the Vavilov Institute, in maintaining genetic diversity and supporting agro-biodiversity.
• Adam Alexander describes his travels to Ethiopia and Albania, where he learned from indigenous farmers who practice sustainable agriculture and maintain a rich diversity of crops.
• The episode sheds light on the necessity of evolving our agricultural practices to ensure food security in the face of climate change, advocating for the cultivation of diverse and adaptive crop varieties.

Mentioned in this episode:

Buy Me A Coffee

These seeds, stored in Oxo tins and match boxes, sparking memories of a bygone era, lead to a conversation with the Seed Detective, Adam Alexander, who discusses their potential for germination despite their advanced age.

Richard's passion for gardening, is deep rooted and these seeds with their potential to put the colour back into the black and white photos of uncle Eric's garden are more precious than any everyday object. But the seeds have been 'asleep' for so many years, can he get them to grow? If Richard can get them to germinate - they will emerge into a very different climate.

Adam, the Seed Detective, talks about why we should all save seeds and shares his knowledge about storing and growing seeds and the need to store them in cool , dry, dark conditions.

Have great uncle Eric's seeds survived in the potting shed?

Follow the podcast to find out what happens!

Independent podcasts like Our Plant Stories depend on their listeners for help with the costs of making the podcast such as the hosting platform and the editing programme.

Using the Buy Me A Coffee platform you can make a one off online donation of £5 and that money will go towards making more episodes. Everyone who buys a 'virtual coffee' will get a shout out on the podcast.

The support of listeners means a lot to me.

Buy Me A Coffee

Our Plant Stories is presented and produced by Sally Flatman

The music is Fade to Black by Howard Levy

Mentioned in this episode:

Buy Me A Coffee

She shared her plant story with us in series 2 in an episode called Kathy's Radishes. As we sat by her veg patch she explained why it was so powerful to see life in the soil and discover its potential to grow food. In the conversation in this Offshoot episode she tells us why it was so important for her to get those lessons down on paper.

We talk about what she wants readers to take away and as she explains; a book like this when she was struggling would not have solved her problems but she would not have felt so alone. And we find out how a cow can perhaps teach all of us something about just being present.

And Kathy being so generous with her recipes and her expertise - I ask her for some advice on what to grow this year!

Independent podcasts like Our Plant Stories depend on their listeners for help with the costs of making the podcast such as the hosting platform and the editing programme.

Using the Buy Me A Coffee platform you can make a one off online donation of £5 and that money will go towards making more episodes. Everyone who buys a 'virtual coffee' will get a shout out on the podcast.

The support of listeners means a lot to me.

Buy Me A Coffee

Every month I will make a plant story but stories often lead to more stories and I end up publishing Offshoot episodes. So if you 'Follow' the podcast on your podcast app you will never miss an episode.

It also makes a real difference if you can spare the time to rate and/or review an episode after you have listened. Spotify and Apple look at these ratings and it helps to get the podcast promoted to other plant lovers.

Our Plant Stories is presented and produced by Sally Flatman

The music is Fade to Black by Howard Levy

Mentioned in this episode:

Buy Me A Coffee

She also had a passion for insects, she remembers having pockets full of woodlice!

Adult Lucy is now working in urban ecology and she shares the story of The Weed Trust and where it has led her.

We went together to the Eden Nature Garden to meet Benny Hawkesbee, who describes himself as a wildlife gardener, he greeted us wearing his favourite dandelion teeshirt!

There will be bees, beetles and frogs along the way!

Independent podcasts like Our Plant Stories depend on their listeners for help with the costs of making the podcast such as the hosting platform and the editing programme.

Using the Buy Me A Coffee platform you can make a one off online donation of £5 and that money will go towards making more episodes. Everyone who buys a 'virtual coffee' will get a shout out on the podcast.

The support of listeners means a lot to me.

Buy Me A Coffee

Every month I will make a plant story but stories often lead to more stories and I end up publishing Offshoot episodes. So if you 'Follow' the podcast on your podcast app you will never miss an episode.

It also makes a real difference if you can spare the time to rate and/or review an episode after you have listened. Spotify and Apple look at these ratings and it helps to get the podcast promoted to other plant lovers.

Our Plant Stories is presented and produced by Sally Flatman

The music is Fade to Black by Howard Levy

Mentioned in this episode:

Buy Me A Coffee

This is the perfect time to grow our knowledge about snowdrops and I think I have found the perfect person, a galanthophile, to help us. If you know the podcast well, you won't be surprised that I am drawn to an expert because in my experience their passion for the plant can prove contagious.

So if you want to know which snowdrop to buy, when or where to plant it, how they spread and why they can sometimes be miffy - well you have come to the right podcast!

My guests are Emma Thick, a gardener and Rupert Heseltine whose parents developed this garden and I met them both at Thenford Arboretum.

The book I mention is called Thenford - The Creation of an English Garden by Michael & Anne Heseltine

Our Plant Stories is presented and produced by Sally Flatman

The music is Fade to Black by Howard Levy

Independent podcasts like Our Plant Stories depend on their listeners for help with the costs of making the podcast such as the hosting platform and the editing programme.

Using the Buy Me A Coffee platform you can make a one off online donation of £5 and that money will go towards making more episodes. Everyone who buys a 'virtual coffee' will get a shout out on the podcast.

The support of listeners means a lot to me.

Buy Me A Coffee

Mentioned in this episode:

Buy Me A Coffee

Sally Flatman speaks with Constance Casey who was working for the New York Parks Department when the gift of one million daffodil bulbs , was given to the city by Hans van Waardenburg and the city of Rotterdam following on from the attack on the World Trade Centre.

That Autumn as the community took on the task of planting the bulbs, they were creating "a ribbon of yellow around the island of Manhattan" that would bloom the following Spring.

Adam Ganser, the Executive Director of New Yorkers for Parks, joins the conversation to discuss the ongoing efforts to maintain and expand this initiative, emphasising the importance of community involvement and equitable access to parks. The episode highlights not only the significance of the daffodil project as a living memorial but also the broader impact of green spaces on public health and community wellbeing.

Of course we also learn how to grow the plant ourselves though as Adam assures us: "its hard to screw it up"!

Our Plant Stories is back and once again we will be sharing stories about plants.

Independent podcasts like Our Plant Stories depend on their listeners for help with the costs of making the podcast such as the hosting platform and the editing programme.

Using the Buy Me A Coffee platform you can make a one off online donation of £5 and that money will go towards making more episodes. Everyone who buys a 'virtual coffee' will get a shout out on the podcast.

The support of listeners means a lot to me.

Buy Me A Coffee

Our Plant Stories is presented and produced by Sally Flatman

The music is Fade to Black by Howard Levy

Takeaways:

• The Daffodil Project began as a response to the tragedy of 9/11, aiming to bring beauty and hope to New York City.
• Every fall, thousands of volunteers participate in planting daffodil bulbs.
• The project has distributed around 12 to 13 million daffodil bulbs over 23 years, making it a significant and beloved initiative.
• Daffodils are hardy and easy to grow, making them accessible for both new and experienced gardeners alike.
• The initiative highlights the importance of parks and open spaces in urban areas, fostering a sense of community.
• New Yorkers for Parks advocates for equitable funding for parks, ensuring all neighbourhoods have access to green spaces.

Mentioned in this episode:

Buy Me A Coffee

These plant stories will once again take us all over the world. We'll be meeting gardeners, botanists and historians and along the way of course we will all learn how to grow the plants.

If you have a story that you would like me to follow up in this new series you can email me - sally@ourplantstories.com

To find out about the plants featured in all the episodes just go to the websiteOur Plant Stories website

where you can also subscribe to the blog Our Plant Stories blog which will mean you'll be first to hear about upcoming episodes.

The series is presented and produced by Sally Flatman.

Follow podcast

Buy Me A Coffee

Instagram

Mentioned in this episode:

Buy Me A Coffee

Take this audio tour so you can start to become familiar with this incredibly exciting venture and hear about seeing 'trains in the wild'! I hope in the podcast we will follow its progress. There's plenty of imagination and tenacity at work here and we as plant lovers, can get on board too.

Simon Pitkeathley, the CEO of the Camden Highline is our guide.

Our Plant Stories is presented and produced by Sally Flatman

The music is Fade to Black by Howard Levy

Mentioned in this episode:

Buy Me A Coffee

We perhaps associate the National Trust with stately homes, grand gardens and stretches of countryside but this episode may make you think again.

And how does the Castlefield viaduct link with an iconic structure in a famous British seaside town?

Kate Picker from the National Trust is our guide.

Our Plant Stories is presented and produced by Sally Flatman

The music is Fade to Black by Howard Levy

Mentioned in this episode:

Buy Me A Coffee

Now picture a bench in the same garden but this time you and anyone else around you are just sitting, not a phone in sight. You're in the equivalent of the 'quiet carriage on the train' - and as you sit, you start to experience the garden in a different way.

Welcome to Silent Space the brainchild of garden writer Liz Ware.

Our Plant Stories is presented and produced by Sally Flatman

The music is Fade to Black by Howard Levy

Independent podcasts like Our Plant Stories depend on their listeners for help with the costs of making the podcast such as the hosting platform and the editing programme.

Using the Buy Me A Coffee platform you can make a one off online donation of £5 and that money will go towards making more episodes. Everyone who buys a 'virtual coffee' will get a shout out on the podcast.

The support of listeners means a lot to me.

Buy Me A Coffee

Mentioned in this episode:

Buy Me A Coffee

In this podcast episode we travel to Strawberry Hill flower festival where floral artists take British grown flowers to a whole new level and they do create art. Follow up and down the stairs of this small gothic mansion, as it is transformed for one weekend into a feast of flowers. The theme this year is 'Nature unbound.' At the end of this sustainable flower festival all that will be left is a compost heap.

Guests:

Leigh Chappell and Janne Ford are the co-founders and creators of this festival now in its sixth year.

Leigh Chappell grew up in Wales where she studied Botanical Illustration. She later moved to London and worked in graphic design before decided she wanted to be a floral designer. She is passionate about flowers. Follow her Instagram account.

Janne Ford is a floral photographer. "I use natural light, composition and colour to create emotive floral imagery." She works from her garden studio at home, growing many of the flowers she uses in her designs. Follow her instagram account

In this episode you also hear from:

Philippa Stewart of Just Dahlias who you can also hear in two other episodes - 'Dahlia bonus' and 'Philippa's dahlias'.

Andy Monaghan - who on his website says: "With a background in dance, I bring movement to my floral work, crafting a free and natural aesthetic inspired by the vibrant, changing seasons".

Lucy Phillips who describes herself on her website as: "grower and supplier of unusual and unruly dried flowers. Part of the slow flower movement."

Kara Johnson of Floral Odyssey, Kara spent 14 years as a Creative Producer in the design industry before becoming a floral designer.

Our Plant Stories is presented and produced by Sally Flatman

The music is Fade to Black by Howard Levy

Independent podcasts like Our Plant Stories depend on their listeners for help with the costs of making the podcast such as the hosting platform and the editing programme.

Using the Buy Me A Coffee platform you can make a one off online donation of £5 and that money will go towards making more episodes. Everyone who buys a 'virtual coffee' will get a shout out on the podcast.

The support of listeners means a lot to me.

Buy Me A Coffee

Mentioned in this episode:

Buy Me A Coffee

We also learn about the relationship between the grower and the floral designer as Philippa in conversation with Leigh Chappell, describes how they work together to produce stunning installations using Philippa's flowers.

You can find Philippa Stewart, a dahlia farmer, at her Instagram account: Just Dahlias

Leigh Chappell is a floral designer - you can see her work on her website here. Or follow Leigh on Instagram.

Leigh will be designing with Philippa's unique dahlia blooms at the Strawberry Hill flower festival which takes place in Horace Walpole's 18th Century gothic villa (Twickenham, London) between the Friday 13th - Sunday 15th September 2024. 30 floral designers will be "pushing the boundaries of sustainable floristry". Booking is advised.

02.00 How do you become a dahlia farmer?

05.10  The first 70 dahlias

08.00 Selling the first bucket of flowers

09.45 Can you dry dahlia flowers?

12.27 Growing from seed

15.00 Working with a floral designer

20.20 What’s a floral installation?

22.30 The Japanese art of Ikebana

23.30 How to save dahlia seed

30.15 When to sow your dahlia seeds

Our Plant Stories is presented and produced by Sally Flatman

The music is Fade to Black by Howard Levy

Independent podcasts like Our Plant Stories depend on their listeners for help with the costs of making the podcast such as the hosting platform and the editing programme.

Using the Buy Me A Coffee platform you can make a one off online donation of £5 and that money will go towards making more episodes. Everyone who buys a 'virtual coffee' will get a shout out on the podcast.

The support of listeners means a lot to me.

Buy Me A Coffee

Mentioned in this episode:

Buy Me A Coffee

Once there were many such gardens in the UK. Where did they go? Why did Hill Close survive? And who were the people who gardened here?

Our Plant Stories is presented and produced by Sally Flatman

The music is Fade to Black by Howard Levy

Independent podcasts like Our Plant Stories depend on their listeners for help with the costs of making the podcast such as the hosting platform and the editing programme.

Using the Buy Me A Coffee platform you can make a one off online donation of £5 and that money will go towards making more episodes. Everyone who buys a 'virtual coffee' will get a shout out on the podcast.

The support of listeners means a lot to me.

Buy Me A Coffee

Mentioned in this episode:

Follow, Rate and Review Our Plant Stories

Follow podcast

Buy Me A Coffee

Jared Margulies research led him to the extraordinary illegal trade in these plants. Hear him talk about his work and his book The Cactus Hunters. Who are stealing the cacti and where are they taking them?

Independent podcasts like Our Plant Stories depend on their listeners for help with the costs of making the podcast such as the hosting platform and the editing programme.

Using the Buy Me A Coffee platform you can make a one off online donation of £5 and that money will go towards making more episodes. Everyone who buys a 'virtual coffee' will get a shout out on the podcast.

The support of listeners means a lot to me.

Buy Me A Coffee

Our Plant Stories is presented and produced by Sally Flatman

The music is Fade to Black by Howard Levy

Can I share my plant story with you?

YES PLEASE! I called this OUR Plant Stories for a reason and that is that I love to hear from listeners wherever you are in the world!

You can email me Sally@ourplantstories.com and tell me your plant story. That's all you need to do - I'll do the rest. I'll work out who we can talk to. Can we find someone who shares your passion for the plant, they maybe in the same country as you or the other side of the world.

Mentioned in this episode:

Buy Me A Coffee

Follow, Rate and Review Our Plant Stories

Follow podcast

In finding out about Sally who gave the original cutting we also learn how to get these cacti to bloom, what "soil' you should use to pot them up and where you should put them. This is all thanks to Sarah Gerrard Jones who is also known as The Plant Rescuer, who says:

“I just think there is something so... beautiful about all the care and attention that has gone into nurturing this plant and when that person passes away I feel all that love is still contained there within every single cell of those plants and I feel that's something you can really feel.”

Our Plant Stories is presented and produced by Sally Flatman

The music is Fade to Black by Howard Levy

Can I share my plant story with you?

YES PLEASE! I called this OUR Plant Stories for a reason and that is that I love to hear from listeners wherever you are in the world!

You can email me Sally@ourplantstories.com and tell me your plant story. That's all you need to do - I'll do the rest. I'll work out who we can talk to. Can we find someone who shares your passion for the plant, they maybe in the same country as you or the other side of the world.

Can I dig into more plant stories?

YES! You can check out the website where there are lots of photographs of plants and how to grow instructions. Our Plant Stories website

You can also follow the weekly blog where you will get the behind the scenes lowdown on making the podcast and you could also contribute - readers have suggested gardens to visit, plants to feature, experts to contact.

Our Plant Stories blog

And you can follow more plants over on my Instagram account Instagram

Independent podcasts like Our Plant Stories depend on their listeners for help with the costs of making the podcast such as the hosting platform and the editing programme.

Using the Buy Me A Coffee platform you can make a one off online donation of £5 and that money will go towards making more episodes. Everyone who buys a 'virtual coffee' will get a shout out on the podcast.

The support of listeners means a lot to me.

Buy Me A Coffee

Mentioned in this episode:

Buy Me A Coffee

Follow, Rate and Review Our Plant Stories

Follow podcast

Why does she do it? And how an earth did she get started?

Our Plant Stories is presented and produced by Sally Flatman

The music is Fade to Black by Howard Levy

Independent podcasts like Our Plant Stories depend on their listeners for help with the costs of making the podcast such as the hosting platform and the editing programme.

Using the Buy Me A Coffee platform you can make a one off online donation of £5 and that money will go towards making more episodes. Everyone who buys a 'virtual coffee' will get a shout out on the podcast.

The support of listeners means a lot to me.

Buy Me A Coffee

Can I dig into more plant stories?

YES! You can check out the website where there are lots of photographs of plants and how to grow instructions. Our Plant Stories website

You can also follow the weekly blog where you will get the behind the scenes lowdown on making the podcast and you could also contribute - readers have suggested gardens to visit, plants to feature, experts to contact.

Our Plant Stories blog

And you can follow more plants over on my Instagram account Instagram

Can I share my plant story with you?

YES PLEASE! I called this OUR Plant Stories for a reason and that is that I love to hear from listeners wherever you are in the world!

You can email me Sally@ourplantstories.com and tell me your plant story. That's all you need to do - I'll do the rest. I'll work out who we can talk to. Can we find someone who shares your passion for the plant, they maybe in the same country as you or the other side of the world.

Mentioned in this episode:

Follow, Rate and Review Our Plant Stories

Follow podcast

Buy Me A Coffee

In this episode we hear how one woman came up with the idea for a GCSE in Natural History - a way for children to be introduced to nature. So where did the idea come from, what would an exam look like, and how far has she got? She had the idea in 2011.

In this episode we learn what it takes to introduce a new exam and the reasons that despite many setbacks, Mary Colwell is not giving up, indeed she is determined to see this through.

Our Plant Stories is presented and produced by Sally Flatman

The music is Fade to Black by Howard Levy

Can I dig into more plant stories?

YES! You can check out the website where there are lots of photographs of plants and how to grow instructions. Our Plant Stories website

You can also follow the weekly blog where you will get the behind the scenes lowdown on making the podcast and you could also contribute - readers have suggested gardens to visit, plants to feature, experts to contact.

Our Plant Stories blog

And you can follow more plants over on my Instagram account Instagram

Independent podcasts like Our Plant Stories depend on their listeners for help with the costs of making the podcast such as the hosting platform and the editing programme.

Using the Buy Me A Coffee platform you can make a one off online donation of £5 and that money will go towards making more episodes. Everyone who buys a 'virtual coffee' will get a shout out on the podcast.

The support of listeners means a lot to me.

Buy Me A Coffee

Can I share my plant story with you?

YES PLEASE! I called this OUR Plant Stories for a reason and that is that I love to hear from listeners wherever you are in the world!

You can email me Sally@ourplantstories.com and tell me your plant story. That's all you need to do - I'll do the rest. I'll work out who we can talk to. Can we find someone who shares your passion for the plant, they maybe in the same country as you or the other side of the world.

Mentioned in this episode:

Buy Me A Coffee

Lee Connelly is also a bit obsessed by this thing and he's on a mission to make sure we don't miss out on it....and even if we weren't given it as children, like Janet was, he promises we can still get it.

And learn to grow a plant that you can literally fit anywhere - it only requires the tiniest of spaces and it's guaranteed to spread.

Our Plant Stories is presented and produced by Sally Flatman

The music is Fade to Black by Howard Levy

Can I dig into more plant stories?

YES! You can check out the website where there are lots of photographs of plants and how to grow instructions. Our Plant Stories website

You can also follow the weekly blog where you will get the behind the scenes lowdown on making the podcast and you could also contribute - readers have suggested gardens to visit, plants to feature, experts to contact.

Our Plant Stories blog

And you can follow more plants over on my Instagram account Instagram

Independent podcasts like Our Plant Stories depend on their listeners for help with the costs of making the podcast such as the hosting platform and the editing programme.

Using the Buy Me A Coffee platform you can make a one off online donation of £5 and that money will go towards making more episodes. Everyone who buys a 'virtual coffee' will get a shout out on the podcast.

The support of listeners means a lot to me.

Buy Me A Coffee

Can I share my plant story with you?

YES PLEASE! I called this OUR Plant Stories for a reason and that is that I love to hear from listeners wherever you are in the world!

You can email me Sally@ourplantstories.com and tell me your plant story. That's all you need to do - I'll do the rest. I'll work out who we can talk to. Can we find someone who shares your passion for the plant, they maybe in the same country as you or the other side of the world.

Remember if you listen on Google Podcasts you need to switch to a new podcast app which you can find here:

https://ourplantstories.captivate.fm/listen

Mentioned in this episode:

Buy Me A Coffee

Lally Snow has written a book called My Family and Other Seedlings and in this episode she tells us how she has woven this history into her own experiences of growing food on an allotment with the aid of 3 under 5 year olds.

Our Plant Stories is presented and produced by Sally Flatman

The music is Fade to Black by Howard Levy

Can I dig into more plant stories?

YES! You can check out the website where there are lots of photographs of plants and how to grow instructions. Our Plant Stories website

You can also follow the weekly blog where you will get the behind the scenes lowdown on making the podcast and you could also contribute - readers have suggested gardens to visit, plants to feature, experts to contact.

Our Plant Stories blog

And you can follow more plants over on my Instagram account Instagram

Independent podcasts like Our Plant Stories depend on their listeners for help with the costs of making the podcast such as the hosting platform and the editing programme.

Using the Buy Me A Coffee platform you can make a one off online donation of £5 and that money will go towards making more episodes. Everyone who buys a 'virtual coffee' will get a shout out on the podcast.

The support of listeners means a lot to me.

Buy Me A Coffee

Can I share my plant story with you?

YES PLEASE! I called this OUR Plant Stories for a reason and that is that I love to hear from listeners wherever you are in the world!

You can email me Sally@ourplantstories.com and tell me your plant story. That's all you need to do - I'll do the rest. I'll work out who we can talk to. Can we find someone who shares your passion for the plant, they maybe in the same country as you or the other side of the world.

Mentioned in this episode:

Buy Me A Coffee

Hear her in conversation with Lally Snow, who we first met in Mint. Lally has just published a book about the history of allotments in the UK woven with her own story of taking on a plot and growing vegetables with the help of 3 under 5 year olds. They discuss their shared attitude of just 'having a go'.

And of course we also learn how to grow the plant. 5 weeks from now you too could be eating a radish slammer, made with your own radishes, just add butter and salt!

Our Plant Stories is presented and produced by Sally Flatman

The music is Fade to Black by Howard Levy

Can I dig into more plant stories?

YES! You can check out the website where there are lots of photographs of plants and how to grow instructions. Our Plant Stories website

You can also follow the weekly blog where you will get the behind the scenes lowdown on making the podcast and you could also contribute - readers have suggested gardens to visit, plants to feature, experts to contact.

Our Plant Stories blog

And you can follow more plants over on my Instagram account Instagram

Independent podcasts like Our Plant Stories depend on their listeners for help with the costs of making the podcast such as the hosting platform and the editing programme.

Using the Buy Me A Coffee platform you can make a one off online donation of £5 and that money will go towards making more episodes. Everyone who buys a 'virtual coffee' will get a shout out on the podcast.

The support of listeners means a lot to me.

Buy Me A Coffee

Can I share my plant story with you?

YES PLEASE! I called this OUR Plant Stories for a reason and that is that I love to hear from listeners wherever you are in the world!

You can email me Sally@ourplantstories.com and tell me your plant story. That's all you need to do - I'll do the rest. I'll work out who we can talk to. Can we find someone who shares your passion for the plant, they maybe in the same country as you or the other side of the world.

Mentioned in this episode:

Buy Me A Coffee

In this bonus episode we learn about planting tubers, she shares how to select your varieties and there is promise of gathering dahlia seeds in the future.

Do follow Philippa on Instagram at Justdahlias.

Our Plant Stories is presented and produced by Sally Flatman

The music is Fade to Black by Howard Levy

Can I dig into more plant stories?

YES! You can check out the website where there are lots of photographs of plants and how to grow instructions. Our Plant Stories website

You can also follow the weekly blog where you will get the behind the scenes lowdown on making the podcast and you could also contribute - readers have suggested gardens to visit, plants to feature, experts to contact.

Our Plant Stories blog

And you can follow more plants over on my Instagram account Instagram

Independent podcasts like Our Plant Stories depend on their listeners for help with the costs of making the podcast such as the hosting platform and the editing programme.

Using the Buy Me A Coffee platform you can make a one off online donation of £5 and that money will go towards making more episodes. Everyone who buys a 'virtual coffee' will get a shout out on the podcast.

The support of listeners means a lot to me.

Buy Me A Coffee

Can I share my plant story with you?

YES PLEASE! I called this OUR Plant Stories for a reason and that is that I love to hear from listeners wherever you are in the world!

You can email me Sally@ourplantstories.com and tell me your plant story. That's all you need to do - I'll do the rest. I'll work out who we can talk to. Can we find someone who shares your passion for the plant, they maybe in the same country as you or the other side of the world.

Mentioned in this episode:

Buy Me A Coffee

Judith has written a book - Finding Quiet Strength which I think draws inspiration from these strong and flexible trees.

Our Plant Stories is presented and produced by Sally Flatman

The music is Fade to Black by Howard Levy

Can I dig into more plant stories?

YES! You can check out the website where there are lots of photographs of plants and how to grow instructions. Our Plant Stories website

You can also follow the weekly blog where you will get the behind the scenes lowdown on making the podcast and you could also contribute - readers have suggested gardens to visit, plants to feature, experts to contact.

Our Plant Stories blog

And you can follow more plants over on my Instagram account Instagram

Independent podcasts like Our Plant Stories depend on their listeners for help with the costs of making the podcast such as the hosting platform and the editing programme.

Using the Buy Me A Coffee platform you can make a one off online donation of £5 and that money will go towards making more episodes. Everyone who buys a 'virtual coffee' will get a shout out on the podcast.

The support of listeners means a lot to me.

Buy Me A Coffee

Can I share my plant story with you?

YES PLEASE! I called this OUR Plant Stories for a reason and that is that I love to hear from listeners wherever you are in the world!

You can email me Sally@ourplantstories.com and tell me your plant story. That's all you need to do - I'll do the rest. I'll work out who we can talk to. Can we find someone who shares your passion for the plant, they maybe in the same country as you or the other side of the world.

Mentioned in this episode:

Buy Me A Coffee

David has been researching this tree and its links to his family for the past 68 years. He wrote a book about it, sadly sold out but luckily for us he shares his knowledge here.

Our Plant Stories is presented and produced by Sally Flatman

The music is Fade to Black by Howard Levy

Can I dig into more plant stories?

YES! You can check out the website where there are lots of photographs of plants and how to grow instructions. Our Plant Stories website

You can also follow the weekly blog where you will get the behind the scenes lowdown on making the podcast and you could also contribute - readers have suggested gardens to visit, plants to feature, experts to contact.

Our Plant Stories blog

And you can follow more plants over on my Instagram account Instagram

Independent podcasts like Our Plant Stories depend on their listeners for help with the costs of making the podcast such as the hosting platform and the editing programme.

Using the Buy Me A Coffee platform you can make a one off online donation of £5 and that money will go towards making more episodes. Everyone who buys a 'virtual coffee' will get a shout out on the podcast.

The support of listeners means a lot to me.

Buy Me A Coffee

Can I share my plant story with you?

YES PLEASE! I called this OUR Plant Stories for a reason and that is that I love to hear from listeners wherever you are in the world!

You can email me Sally@ourplantstories.com and tell me your plant story. That's all you need to do - I'll do the rest. I'll work out who we can talk to. Can we find someone who shares your passion for the plant, they maybe in the same country as you or the other side of the world.

Mentioned in this episode:

Buy Me A Coffee

He shares his story here. Do take a look at the episode page on the website to see the wonderful photograph of David's great great grandfather beside the tree.

Our Plant Stories is presented and produced by Sally Flatman

The music is Fade to Black by Howard Levy

Can I dig into more plant stories?

YES! You can check out the website where there are lots of photographs of plants and how to grow instructions. Our Plant Stories website

You can also follow the weekly blog where you will get the behind the scenes lowdown on making the podcast and you could also contribute - readers have suggested gardens to visit, plants to feature, experts to contact.

Our Plant Stories blog

And you can follow more plants over on my Instagram account Instagram

Independent podcasts like Our Plant Stories depend on their listeners for help with the costs of making the podcast such as the hosting platform and the editing programme.

Using the Buy Me A Coffee platform you can make a one off online donation of £5 and that money will go towards making more episodes. Everyone who buys a 'virtual coffee' will get a shout out on the podcast.

The support of listeners means a lot to me.

Buy Me A Coffee

Can I share my plant story with you?

YES PLEASE! I called this OUR Plant Stories for a reason and that is that I love to hear from listeners wherever you are in the world!

You can email me Sally@ourplantstories.com and tell me your plant story. That's all you need to do - I'll do the rest. I'll work out who we can talk to. Can we find someone who shares your passion for the plant, they maybe in the same country as you or the other side of the world.

Mentioned in this episode:

Buy Me A Coffee

These trees first came to the UK in 1795 but they didn't really start to become popular till the 1850s. Queen Victoria saw the tree and wanted one for Prince Albert.

We have a Chilean botanist in the podcast to help us understand the tree, learn how to grow it and unravel that story about the original Monkey Puzzle nuts being stolen off a dinner table in Santiago.

Our Plant Stories is presented and produced by Sally Flatman

The music is Fade to Black by Howard Levy

Can I dig into more plant stories?

YES! You can check out the website where there are lots of photographs of plants and how to grow instructions. Our Plant Stories website

You can also follow the weekly blog where you will get the behind the scenes lowdown on making the podcast and you could also contribute - readers have suggested gardens to visit, plants to feature, experts to contact.

Our Plant Stories blog

And you can follow more plants over on my Instagram account Instagram

Independent podcasts like Our Plant Stories depend on their listeners for help with the costs of making the podcast such as the hosting platform and the editing programme.

Using the Buy Me A Coffee platform you can make a one off online donation of £5 and that money will go towards making more episodes. Everyone who buys a 'virtual coffee' will get a shout out on the podcast.

The support of listeners means a lot to me.

Buy Me A Coffee

Can I share my plant story with you?

YES PLEASE! I called this OUR Plant Stories for a reason and that is that I love to hear from listeners wherever you are in the world!

You can email me Sally@ourplantstories.com and tell me your plant story. That's all you need to do - I'll do the rest. I'll work out who we can talk to. Can we find someone who shares your passion for the plant, they maybe in the same country as you or the other side of the world.

Expert Guest: Eduardo Olate

Eduardo is from Chile and is an experienced lecturer, horticultural advisor, and business development consultant specializing in the agricultural sector, with over 25 years of expertise in plant propagation, plant tissue culture, plant breeding, and crop physiology in ornamental plants. He was a co-founder of the Chilean Native Plants Conference. He loves the Monkey Puzzle tree; Latin name - Araucaria araucana. It's the National tree of Chile

Timeline of the episode:

00.35. Intro to what listeners have been growing thanks to the podcast.

01.16   Every Monkey Puzzle leaf can last for 25 years!

01.42. Andrea’s plant story about the Monkey Puzzle tree in her front garden

04.25 Who planted the tree?

05.18. What do passers-by think of the tree?

06.37.  What do the seed pods look like?

07.55. Introducing Eduardo Olate, a horticulturalist from Chile and one of the co-founders of the Chilean Native plants conference

08.47. When did the Monkey Puzzle tree first arrive in the UK and where does the name come from?

09.44. How do the Indigenous people in Chile use this tree?

10.43 So how does this tree end up in English gardens?

14.28. When did they start to become popular in the UK?

15.25. Andrea asks Eduardo about the seedpods

20.23  Eduardo tells us about their native habitat in Chile of a Monkey Puzzle tree

24.00 Were they around when dinosaurs walked the earth?

27.46. How to grow a Monkey Puzzle tree

32.00 How to plant a Monkey Puzzle seed

Mentioned in this episode:

Buy Me A Coffee

The charity still exists today. It's dedicated to looking after people working in horticulture and their families, at any stage of life.

The charity's roots go back almost 200 years and garden historian, Francesca Murray has, for her Phd, spent many hours in its archive. She shares a fascinating story for this Offshoot episode. You can see photographs of original documents on the website: Our Plant Stories.com

Our Plant Stories is presented and produced by Sally Flatman

Fade to Black by Howard Levy

https://ourplantstories.captivate.fm/buy-me-a-coffee

Mentioned in this episode:

Buy Me A Coffee

Mona is on a one woman mission to get us all to love corokia - see if she can persuade you too, aided by Fiona Eadie, the author of 100 best native plants for New Zealand gardens. As always this is the podcast where knowledgeable, passionate people will be teaching you how to grow the plant they love.

All the information, photographs and growing advice is on the website.

Presented and Produced by Sally Flatman

Music: Fade to Black by Howard Levy

https://ourplantstories.captivate.fm/buy-me-a-coffee

Mentioned in this episode:

Buy Me A Coffee

Her searches before the era of the internet, led her eventually to China and the Purdom Memorial Forest Park and you can hear the story of her search and Purdom's life in this Offshoot episode recorded on a sunny Autumn day, sitting on the Purdom bench in Holehird Gardens in Cumbria. As always there are photographs on the website.

Presented and produced by Sally Flatman

Music: Fade to Black by Howard Levy

https://ourplantstories.captivate.fm/buy-me-a-coffee

Mentioned in this episode:

Buy Me A Coffee

Diaries from Penn's Great Grandmother Alice Hough and her husband Harry reveal a garden built with love in the midst of loss and a friendship with Will Purdom that spanned years and continents leading to plants from China being planted on a rock overlooking Windermere.

To understand more about mindset of Will Purdom, we talk to Tom Hart Dyke who has built the World Garden at Lullingstone Castle. We also learn how to grow the Viburnum thanks to wonderfully knowledgeable gardeners at Holehird gardens in Cumbria.

All the information about the podcast is on the website.

Presented and Produced by Sally Flatman

Music: Fade to Black by Howard Levy

https://ourplantstories.captivate.fm/buy-me-a-coffee

Mentioned in this episode:

Buy Me A Coffee

Season 2 starts 12th January 2024.

If you have a story that you would like me to follow up in this new series you can email me - sally@ourplantstories.com

To find out about the plants featured in all the episodes just go to the website where you can also subscribe to a weekly blog which will mean you'll be first to hear about upcoming episodes.

The series is presented and produced by Sally Flatman.

Instagram: ourplantstories_podcast

Mentioned in this episode:

Buy Me A Coffee

There are conversations about spiders and sacrificial lambs (well hostas actually), difficult decisions about felling trees and the value of researching local hedgerows. Jane, Sarah and M.T also talk about making their podcasts. I love the way Sarah describes herself as 'a kid chasing a butterfly'. All are connecting people with a passion for plants and it's been a real joy to talk to these fellow podcasters.

I will put all the details of their podcasts on the website www.ourplantstories.com

If you have a plant story you want me to investigate, you can email me:

Sally@ourplantstories.com

Music: Fade to Black by Howard Levy

https://ourplantstories.captivate.fm/buy-me-a-coffee

Mentioned in this episode:

Buy Me A Coffee

We first met the current head gardener, Chris Crowder, in Episode 8 in conversation with Diana Boston about the slow nature of gardening with topiary. You can of course listen to that Plant Story and its Offshoot.

Hearing Chris talk about his annual job of clipping some 100 pieces of topiary was fascinating, so I went to find out more. I hope you enjoy this visit to the garden and you can see photographs on the website.

Produced and Presented by Sally Flatman

Music: Fade to Black by Howard Levy

https://ourplantstories.captivate.fm/buy-me-a-coffee

Mentioned in this episode:

Buy Me A Coffee

See pictures of the Reverend Wilkes on the website along with links to all the organisations and charities mentioned in this episode.

Here's the original Plant Story and Offshoot about apples.

Presented and Produced by Sally Flatman

Music: Fade to Black by Howard Levy

https://ourplantstories.captivate.fm/buy-me-a-coffee

Mentioned in this episode:

Buy Me A Coffee

Mr R. Gilbert was a prize winning Victorian gardener in charge of the walled and pleasure gardens at Burghley House. His staff: 120 gardeners! The walled gardens have hardly been touched since the late sixties.

The current Head Gardener has a passion for walled gardens and a vision to bring this one back to life and there will be Peasgood's nonsuch apples in there. Join Joe Whitehead for a tour.

You can see pictures of the fruit galleries, mushroom house and walled garden on the website.

Music: Fade to Black by Howard Levy

https://ourplantstories.captivate.fm/buy-me-a-coffee

Mentioned in this episode:

Buy Me A Coffee

Hannah offered to take me to New Covent Garden Market where she goes to buy flowers which is a place I have always wanted to go. So this Offshoot takes us to the market and hears more from Hannah and Maya about working as florists.

You can see pictures of New Covent Garden Market on the website.

Music: Fade to Black by Howard Levy

https://ourplantstories.captivate.fm/buy-me-a-coffee

Mentioned in this episode:

Buy Me A Coffee

You can see photographs of this special garden on the episode page.

Check out Episode 8 for everything you need to know about topiary including how to start your own.

Presented and Produced by Sally Flatman

Music: Fade to Black by Howard Levy + Abide with Me - Ernest Lough

https://ourplantstories.captivate.fm/buy-me-a-coffee

Mentioned in this episode:

Buy Me A Coffee

Check out Episode 7 and the shownotes for everything you need to know about growing hostas.

Presented and Produced by Sally Flatman

Music: Fade to Black by Howard Levy

https://ourplantstories.captivate.fm/buy-me-a-coffee

Mentioned in this episode:

Buy Me A Coffee

You can find lots of photographs of these plants growing in the wild and more information about them on the website ourplantstories.com

If you have a plant story you want me to investigate you can email me: sally@ourplantstories.com

Music: Fade to Black by Howard Levy

Mentioned in this episode:

Buy Me A Coffee

You can find all the information about this episode on the website www.ourplantstories.com

Presented and Produced by Sally Flatman

Music: Fade to Black by Howard Levy

Mentioned in this episode:

Buy Me A Coffee

You can find all the advice and photos on the website www.ourplantstories.com

Presented and Produced by Sally Flatman

Music: Fade to Black by Howard Levy

Mentioned in this episode:

Buy Me A Coffee

You can find photographs, information and bonus audio on the website www.ourplantstories.com

Presented and Produced by Sally Flatman

Music: Fade to Black by Howard Levy

Mentioned in this episode:

Buy Me A Coffee

This is an episode that touches on love, grief and memory.

You can see Hannah's plant tattoos and learn this week how to grow freesias, on the website.

Music: Fade to Black by Howard Levy

Presented and produced by Sally Flatman

Mentioned in this episode:

Buy Me A Coffee

Find lots of pictures and information on the website: www.ourplantstories.com

Fade to Black by Howard Levy

Presented and Produced by Sally Flatman

Mentioned in this episode:

Buy Me A Coffee

There is lots of information in the show notes on the website www.ourplantstories.com

Presented and produced by Sally Flatman

Music: Fade to Black by Howard Levy

Mentioned in this episode:

Buy Me A Coffee

Find pictures and information in the show notes at www.ourplantstories.com

Presented and Produced by Sally Flatman

Music: Fade to Black by Howard Levy

Mentioned in this episode:

Buy Me A Coffee

Find masses of information about this in the show notes on the website: www.ourplantstories.com

Music: Fade to Black by Howard Levy

Our Plant Stories is produced and presented by Sally Flatman

Mentioned in this episode:

Buy Me A Coffee

You can find all the names of the plants mentioned in the show notes on the website: Ourplantstories.com

Music: Fade to Black by Howard Levy

Our Plant Stories is produced and presented by Sally Flatman

Mentioned in this episode:

Buy Me A Coffee

Music by Howard Levy

Show notes on the website www.ourplantstories.com

Mentioned in this episode:

Buy Me A Coffee

Show notes at www.ourplantstories.com

Music: Fade to Black by Howard Levy

Mentioned in this episode:

Buy Me A Coffee

Show notes at www.ourplantstories.com

Music: Fade to Black by Howard Levy

Mentioned in this episode:

Buy Me A Coffee

Series one will start on the 2nd April.

Do get in touch via www.ourplantstories.com if you have a plant story you would like to share. You can also get a sneak preview of some of the forthcoming stories via the website.

The series is presented and produced by Sally Flatman and you can see more about the series on the Instagram account @ourplantstories_podcast

Mentioned in this episode:

Buy Me A Coffee