Growing Greener

Dr. Elic Weitzel of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History describes the thousands of years of association between deer and people, how they long ago came to prefer human-created landscapes, and why their population has exploded

In a conversation recorded in December of 2019 Shannon Currey, a leading educator in the native plants industry, describes how the unique adaptations of warm season grasses make them winners in an era of climate change as well as invaluable in the late summer garden.

In a conversation from January of 2021, Dan Snow tells how, using locally sourced stone, he expresses the intrinsic beauty of a site in bold constructions held together only by gravity, friction, and history.

Goats love invasive plants, says Elijah Goodwin, Director of Ecosystem Monitoring at New York's Stone Barns Center; and with careful timing and regulation the Center's herd is restoring ecological balance to its 80-acre campus and hundreds of acres of a famous nature preserve.

Revisiting a conversation from August 2023 with Dr. Bethany Bradley of the University of Massachusetts, who describes how plants introduced from outside our ecosystems may remain quiescent for decades before turning invasive, and how climate change is threatening to explode this threat.

Wildlife biologist Ken Bevis discusses the many benefits to biodiversity of "snags," standing dead trees, and how to incorporate them safely and aesthetically into our gardens.

In a replay of a conversation from September of 2023, Sheri Crabtree of Kentucky State University describes the northernmost species of the tropical custard apple family, the pawpaw, which offers delicious tropical flavor, a creamy texture, and thrives in the backyard garden as far north as USDA Zone 5.

William Cullina, a leading expert on the propagation of native plants, describes the special insights about a species' adaptations and ecology that starting from seed provides, and offers simple tips for success with this endeavor.

'Good fences make good neighbors,' especially, according to Vermonter Susan Shea, when it comes to gardeners and woodchucks. A nature writer and photographer, Shea details the extraordinary abilities of this native mammal, the important ecological and cultural roles it plays, and how to install a woodchuck-proof fence.

Everything that grows on your property – its "biomass" – should remain there even after death, says this award-winning garden designer and founder of the Perfect Earth Project.  Fallen branches, leaves, even tree trunks as they decay reactivate a cycle essential to Nature's health, and are an opportunity for a different kind of beauty.

Overlooked by many gardeners, moths are actually more efficient as pollinators than bees and are the basis of the food chain for everything from bats and songbirds to grizzly bears

Expert tracker Jason Knight shares how to develop the ability to read animal tracks and signs to keep current with wildlife visits and to resolve wildlife problems peacefully and effectively.

Richard Hayden, senior director of horticulture for the High Line, describes how plants and gardeners collaborate in this ever-changing urban paradise

Beth Ginter, executive Director of the Chesapeake Conservation Landscaping Council, describes her organization's successful program to enlist an often-resistant profession as advocates for environmental activism.

How Village and Wilderness fosters diverse local solutions to a global problem

John Pitroff chose composting when his daughter's birth sparked dreams of leaving her a better world – and now he's addressing environmental problems while making a living helping local gardeners and farmers. 

Peter Del Tredici, Senior Research Scientist Emeritus of Arnold Arboretum and Visiting Lecturer of Applied Ecology and Planning at MIT explains the history of these garden pests why they can play an essential role in this era of climate change.

An accomplished and progressive garden designer, Pam Penick, author of "Gardens of Texas," shares ideas for ideas for using native plants in traditional and formal gardens garnered from her reporting on private landscapes of the Lone Star State

Leader of the Ecological Gardening movement Rebecca McMackin shares reasons why in a time of discouragement, gardening can restore optimism.

Last May Growing Greener featured the challenge that Plan it Wild, a rewilding design and installation firm, posed to American homeowners: to replace 25 square feet of lawn with locally indigenous plants.  Today we hear how nearly 10,000 people in 49 states committed to this 12-week online program, how backyard biodiversity flourished as a result, and how the challenge is expanding through neighborhoods to reach people who hadn't previously considered devoting their landscapes to reinforcing the regional ecosystem.

Nancy DuBrule-Clemente, a pioneer of organic land care, extolls the outstanding aesthetic and ecological contributions of goldenrods, a genus of native flowers too seldom seen in our gardens.

Edwina Von Gal, founder and president of the Perfect Earth Project, completes her interview of Growing Greener host, Tom Christopher, exploring his path to ecological gardening, the hope he finds in the remarkable contributions of young colleagues, and the most effective ways to reach out to the broader gardening public.

Edwina Von Gal, founder and president of the Perfect Earth Project, interviews Growing Greener host, Tom Christopher, about what led him from an education steeped in traditional gardening to helping found ecological gardening in the United States

Andrea Hurd of Oakland, California describes the way she structured Mariposa Gardening and Design Cooperative, Inc. to provide employee equitability and management experience for women breaking into the field, and the firm's commitment to celebrating the local landscape by enhancing habitat and working with indigenous materials.

Switching to more environmentally friendly practices is too often resisted by landscape professionals afraid to stray from familiar routines.  Mariah Whitmore and Tony Piazza, both prominent landscape business owners in the eastern end of Long Island, New York, discuss how they are increasing profits by adding Nature friendly land care to their repertoire.

Claire Chambers, founder of Meadow Lab, describes the roll-out sod her company is producing that can transform a landscape into a blooming, mature meadow of native flowers and grasses in a single growing season

A replay of a conversation from April of 2021 with Pollinator Conservationist Heather Holm about her multi-award-winning book, Wasps, Their Biology, Diversity, and Role as Beneficial Insects and Pollinators of Native Plants.

Jenica Allen and Matt Fertakos of Northeast RISCC describe the invaluable free online guide they helped to create that provides all a gardener needs to know about selecting native plants that will flourish not only today but also persist as the local climate changes

Julia Cavicchi and Tatiana Schreiber of the Rich Earth Institute talk of curbing water pollution by removing human urine from the waste stream, and how you can repurpose it to feed your plants

Michael Bone, Curator of the Steppe Collection at Denver Botanic Gardens, relates Denver's native flora to similar grasslands around the world and explains how this knowledge can inspire and enrich the local gardening.

Understanding this concept provides the foundation for creating a high functioning, stable, and resilient landscape – anywhere you garden

When a freak tornado swept through Ambler Arboretum, the staff and university administration took the opportunity to turn its recovery into an exploration of natural resilience in the face of climate change

Dr. Eve Beaury's research reveals the outsize role American gardeners still play in supporting the propagation and spread of plants that are known to be invasive.

Plan it Wild's "Less Lawn More Life" challenge offers a fun, easy, and free initiation into natural gardening that's exploding across the country, drawing thousands of ecosystem novices young and old

Alicia Houk, natural garden designer and educator, describes how native, reseeding annuals can make your plantings self-renewing, weed resistant, and resilient in the face of disturbance

Co-founder of Pollinator Pathway, Louise Washer saw this project go viral, spreading from one Connecticut community to nationwide in just 8 years.  Listen as she shares the approach that has made her other environmental activism so effective.

Jennifer Campbell, a sustainable landscape designer in New Hampshire, built herself a natural swimming pool that saves energy, nurtures native plants, serves wildlife, and cost her only $10,000 to install.

Assisted migration, helping native plants move to escape the effects of a rapidly changing climate, is a controversial topic among ecologists.  Thomas Nuhfer of the University of Massachusetts Amherst shares a new understanding of how to make these moves without destabilizing existing ecosystems.

Award-winning landscape designer Edwina von Gal describes her Perfect Earth Project's dual approach to changing the culture of land care in the United States: building a constituency among land owners and gardeners for ecologically-based, toxin-free design and maintenance while educating landscapers in how to serve this new market.

The National Plant Germplasm System has protected U.S. farmers against crop diseases and now climate change for over a century; DOGE has defunded its $40 million annual budget, imperiling our $1.5 trillion food system

Award-winning landscape architect Michael Geffel describes how he used precisely targeted and timed mowing to convert a brownfield into a flowering grassland and a vibrant public recreation area.

Slugs are the Rodney Dangerfield of garden wildlife – our only interest is in exterminating them.  Yet as Dr. Jann Vendetti of the Los Angeles County Natural History Museum explains, they lead fascinating and, in many ways, very useful lives

Gardeners complain about clay soils, but Benjamin Vogt, a leading designer of natural gardens and landscapes notes that they offer many advantages for the ecologically based gardener

Shannon Currey, head of education and outreach for Izel Native Plants, shares how that transformative plant clearinghouse is as committed to the education of its customers as to providing them with biodiverse bargains

Molly Moore, master gardener and master naturalist, shares the online program she co-wrote with Marlene Smith which can set you on the path to success in starting plants from locally collected seeds without harming the wild populations

Brandon Carbary's pre-designed garden templates, shipped complete with plants, makes creating a locally adapted, aesthetically attractive display of native plants almost effortless

Ethan Kauffman, Director of Stoneleigh, describes the 9-year process his team has pursued, enriching a classic Philadelphia Mainline estate with thousands of species of native plants, to transform it into a model for how to honor traditional landscape aesthetics while boosting biodiversity and serving the local ecosystem

Starting vegetable and annual seedlings indoors is a skill every gardener needs to master and Dr. Steve Reiners of Cornell University shares tricks of the trade.  Grow your own locally adapted, disease-resistant cultivars for bigger harvests, better flavors, and a more resilient garden.

Judge's Farm Nursery is the newest venture in the Griswold family's 385-year association with their homestead at the mouth of the Connecticut River.  Co-founder Matt Griswold describes the nursery's program of growing native plants sustainably from locally collected seeds.

Aaron von Frank discusses his book, "The Impractical Guide to Keeping Pet and Backyard Ducks" and details the services a flock can provide in controlling weeds and pests, as well as furnishing a supply of eggs and fertilizer.

That bouquet of flowers you buy at the supermarket has a huge, unsustainable carbon footprint.  Join Debra Prinzing, founder of the Slow Flowers Society, for tips about sourcing locally grown flowers or growing your own year round for unique, locally rooted, and sustainable beauty.

It's not an either/or choice, native vs. introduced, for Claudia West of Phyto Studio when this leader of the ecological gardening movement develops a plant palette for one of her innovative landscapes.  What she seeks, besides selections that serve the customers' needs and delight the eye, are "high performing" species and cultivars that provide maximum benefits to the local ecosystem, regardless of place of origin.

"Your Natural Garden," Kelly D. Norris' new book, is sure to be one of the most essential gardening tools of 2025.  In this beautifully illustrated guide, Norris, who split his childhood between working in his grandmother's garden and exploring the 40-acre prairie a quarter mile up the road, shares insights he has gathered from his hands in the dirt-experience, studies of plant science, and his work as a nationally renowned ecological garden designer.

Sports fields and swimming beaches are essential, but public parks can also play a crucial role in maintaining biodiversity.  As Curator of Natural Resources for the Westchester County New York Park system, Leah Cass designs management regimes for thousands of acres of habitat, coordinating the needs of residents, wildlife, and more than a thousand species of native plants.

Are you dreaming of a white Christmas?  Or a snowy Hanukkah or Kwanzaa?  Or just a personal celebration of the winter solstice?  EcoBeneficial designer and educator Kim Eierman will share you the many gifts that a blanket of snow gives to the garden.

Gardeners mostly didn't focus on our native plants as such in 1988 when Steve Castorani and Dale Hendricks founded North Creek Nurseries to propagate them in bulk for distribution to retail nurseries. Learn how North Creek's innovations in the years since have continued to shape and expand the native plants movement.

Creating a native lawn, Dave Kaplow says, may require no more than a change in maintenance regimes.  And, the ecological restoration pioneer adds, it provides a biodiverse and sustainable turf that is friendly not only to people but also wildlife

Brother James Lockman of the Franciscan Order, whose personal ministry is ecological restoration, discusses the nature-embracing spirituality of St. Francis of Assisi, founder of his order, and how it has inspired the ecological activism of the current Pope

When Carol Bouska and her siblings inherited the family farm in Iowa, they seized the opportunity to commit to restoring the soil, enhancing wildlife habitat, and bolstering the community in which they had grown up ­– and used this process to reinforce family ties

Join pioneering nurseryman and ecologist Neil Diboll for the second half of our conversation about how gardeners can familiarize themselves with the natural characteristics of the soil on their site and use that knowledge in selecting a community of adapted, self-sufficient native plants for their gardens.

Traditional gardening emends the soil to suit the needs of the selected plants; pioneering nurseryman and ecologist Neil Diboll takes the character of the soil on site as the foundation of garden design and key to the selection of an adapted, ecologically functional, and self-sufficient plant palette

Internationally acclaimed landscape designer Edwina von Gal's Perfect Earth Project uses imaginative strategies to connect landowners big and small with nature-based, chemical-free  and biodiversity friendly management practices

Garden activist and educator Cathy Ludden describes her encounters with hydrangeas and how transforming the flower heads to suit human aesthetics has proved both harmful and beneficial to pollinators

Richard Hayden, Senior Director of Horticulture at New York's magical garden, the High Line, describes how it integrates  North American native plants with carefully chosen exotic species to create a whole that delights human visitors while also supporting wildlife and providing a powerful reconnection with nature

Many homeowners who admire the beauty and environmental benefits of native plants don't care for the wilderness look of the typical naturalized native plant garden.  Garden designer Britney O'Donnell shares tricks for designing and maintaining a more domesticated native plant landscape, one that fits better a neater suburban context

Skeptics say that invasive species are not a serious threat to biodiversity, that "Nature will heal itself" despite the looming, man-made mass extinction. Today, paleobotanist Dana Royer describes the five mass extinctions of the past, and why recovery from such episodes typically took millions of years

Karen Bussolini of historic nursery White Flower Farm makes the case for how a mix of native and non-native flowers can feed pollinators better throughout the growing season

Environmentalists say the traditional lawn must go, but homeowners commonly love their turf.  Organic lawn specialist Shay Lunseth outlines how we can "meet in the middle," and explains why fall is the critical season for organic lawns

Amanda Douridas of the Ohio State University Extension Service describes cover cropping, an ancient practice that can move your vegetable garden toward healthier, richer soil with less dependence on synthetic fertilizers and herbicides.

In a conversation recorded in February, 2020, Benjamin Vogt discusses his pioneering book, A New Garden Ethic, and the need for gardeners to become activists in this era of existential challenges to the plants and animals with which we share this planet

Dr. Rebecca Barak describes the collaboration between the Chicago Botanic Garden, Chicago Park District, Northwestern University, and the University of Michigan–Flint to develop native, biodiverse lawn alternatives that can withstand and moderate the effects of climate change

Alex Critchley and Sarah Johnson of The Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester & North Merseyside describe the growing movement in Britain to ban the sale of peat and peat-based gardening projects, and their organization's efforts to preserve and restore peatlands, a key piece in the battle against global climate change

Established in 1875, American Forests is a non-profit that was an enormously influential pioneer in addressing the over-exploitation and destruction of our nation's forestlands.  Listen as Benita Hussain, chief program officer for tree equity, describes how the organization has pivoted to assisting communities across the country bolster urban forests and fight climate change in economically challenged neighborhoods.

Dr. Anurag Agrawal of Cornell University describes the many ways that plants defend themselves against locally indigenous insects, and how the insects defuse and even become dependent on the plants' defense mechanisms

Dr. Claire Rutledge of the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station describes the ingenious use of native and non-native insects to control the damage done by this introduced, tree-killing pest

Bats play many positive, essential roles in the ecosystem, says Lee Mackenzie of Austin Bat Refuge – learn how to make your garden hospitable to these good and harmless neighbors

Sam Hoadley, the manager of the trial garden at the Mt. Cuba Center in Hockessin, Delaware explores the native sedges of Genus Carex, a diverse, largely untapped source of groundcovers, foliage plants, and turfgrass substitutes that thrive with little maintenance.

Distinguished horticultural educator Carol Reese shares a lively exploration of transexual plants and  other reproductive mysteries displayed in your garden (originally broadcast in January 2022).

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

Sara Weaner Cooper, Executive Director of New Directions in The American Landscape, describes her organization's dynamic educational programing and her success in transitioning a front lawn into native meadow without the use of herbicides, smothering plastics, or turf removal

Although beloved by gardeners, earthworms are not native to the northern half of North America and can cause extreme changes in soil ecology there, with disastrous effects on native plants and animals.  A recent study Dr. Jérome Mattieu of the Sorbonne and colleagues reveals routes by which 70 species of alien earthworms are spreading throughout the United States

Ecological landscaping trail blazer Larry Weaner explains the importance of the long-term conversations you hold with your plants, letting them inform you about the role they can play in the garden ecosystem

Traditional gardeners shun plants that spread aggressively, but Ben Vogt, renowned natural garden designer, describes the positive roles they can play in an ecologically-based landscape

Amanda Freund of the Freund Dairy Farm describes how her family's ingenuity has transformed manure from an environmental liability into a source of renewable energy, a means of recycling waste paper and cardboard, and "Cowpots," a horticulturally superior replacement for environmentally destructive peat pots.

Dr. Amara Dunn-Silver of Cornell University discusses the advantages and limitations of biopesticides, and how, if properly used, they can often provide a more environmentally friendly alternative to conventional chemical treatments

Megan Edge of Victoria, British Columbia shares how her lifelong interest in foraging for wild foods and herbs set the stage for her current practice as a natural healer while also informing her passion for gardening.

Tom Knezick of Pinelands Nursery, one of the largest producers of native plants in the U.S., tells how his family's business has mastered growing natives from locally collected seed, producing plants that are genetically diverse and regionally adapted.  The nursery industry as a whole claims this is too difficult and labor intensive; Tom describes how Pinelands has succeeded.

Dr. Matthew Kleinhenz of Ohio State University describes the ancient history of "biostimulants," and how contemporary researchers are identifying natural bacteria and fungi that help crops cope with the extreme weather events of climate change

When automotive engineer Shubhendu Sharma met Japanese botanist Akira Miyawaki, Sharma found the cause he had been looking for.  Today, Sharma's company Afforestt is the global leader in creating Miyawaki's transformational tiny forests

Shubber Ali, CEO of Garden for Wildlife, a new venture of the National Wildlife Federation, describes how his company makes it almost effortless to order site-adapted, locally native plants that provide the maximum benefits for wildlife. 

Lady Bird Johnson put native plants on the map with her program to plant wildflowers alongside our nation's highways in the 1960's.  Her legacy, the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, continues to play a key role by providing gardeners with extraordinary and free online resources about selecting and growing native plants in every U.S. state.

As the first Executive Director of Homegrown National Park, Brandon Hough talks about his unconventional journey to conservation, and how this non-profit makes it easy for homeowners to find plants that give the maximum boost to the local ecosystem while also, at least in Brandon's case, relieving eco-grief.

Coordinator of the New York Botanical Garden's Gardening Education Program, Daryl Beyers has developed a fresh approach to teaching the fundamentals of the craft, one that not only provides a strong foundation for novices to go on and build their own skills, but which has proved valuable to experienced practitioners who want to move beyond the old-fashioned, often environmentally harmful practices they may absorbed at the beginning of their careers.

Annuals offer unique advantages for the ecological gardener, growing fast to stabilize disturbed soils, and providing quick color for new plantings.  In this conversation, master plantsman Ethan Dropkin of Larry Weaner Landscape Associates shares his pick of the best native annuals native to eastern North America.

In 2015 landscape architect Thomas Rainer and his professional partner Claudia West stirred the gardening world with their best-selling book, "Planting in a Post-Wild World."  Now Rainer shares his arguments for thoughtful optimism regarding gardening and its potential impact on our ecological challenges.

In the 1990's Lauren Springer helped pioneer a new, regionally focused gardening style in Colorado, an "undaunted garden" that celebrated the Rocky Mountain landscape and the plants, native and introduced, that were at home there.  In this conversation, Springer recalls those times and details how her design style has continued to evolve, and what comes next.

The American chestnut was a foundational species of eastern forests until an imported blight killed virtually all mature specimens back to stumps in the early 20th century.  Jared Westbrook, Science Director of the American Chestnut Foundation discusses how a project to genetically engineer a blight-resistant American chestnut has revealed the complexity of applying this process to tree species.

When it was founded in 1900, the Native Plant Trust was the first plant conservation organization in the United States.  Its new CEO, Tim Johnson describes how, more than a century later, the Trust continues to break new ground, defining how an organization such as this can rise to meet the challenges currently facing our native flora.

Too often we regard snow as merely an annoyance, but Kim Eierman, ecological garden designer and educator, makes the case for snow as a natural source of great and sometimes surprising benefits for the garden.

Hybrid fruit and vegetable seeds are like thoroughbred horses –  extraordinary performers but not resilient or good at coping with adverse conditions.  When they didn't succeed in Joseph Lofthouse's Utah garden, he created his own "landraces", biodiverse crop strains that "promiscuously pollinate" and speedily evolve to thrive in local conditions and adapt to the gardener's style of cultivation.