Cultivating Place

This week on Cultivating Place, a best of conversation with a home gardener who has moved not just gardens, but continents and hemispheres. As we just reached the height of sunlight with our summer solstice, she eased into her winter. She shares a gardening story of learning, community and adaptability. Pen Pender is a gardener, mother, wife, voracious reader, community activist, bee keeper, cook and novice potter living near Mt. Macedon in Victoria, Australia. While I might never see kangaroos in my garden, and she may never hear the sound of a congregation of acorn woodpeckers, we are still gardening together in some sense. As she digs in and looks appreciatively up at winter over there, I dig in and look up in anticipation of a long hot summer over here. Pen shares her story of gardening under Australian skies. For photos visit cultivatingplace.com. The show is available as a podcast on SoundCloud, iTunes, Google Play and Stitcher.

Leslie Bennett is a garden designer of both English and Jamaican descent working out of Oakland, CA. With a Jamaican-born husband, a two year old son, and knowledgeable, passionate views about the importance of cultural heritage, on cultivating Place this week, Leslie shares her journey navigating the marriage of beauty, function, cultural property and the radical activism of gardening. Join us! For photos visit cultivatingplace.com. The show is available as a podcast on SoundCloud, iTunes, Google Play and Stitcher.

The garden is a full contact playground engaging us at all levels: We can hear, we can taste, we can see and smell - touch and feel. Tovah Martin is gardener and garden writer who explores the truth and the manifold joys of this truth in her new book “The Garden in Every Sense and Season” out now from Timber Press. Tovah joins us this week on Cultivating Place to share more. Listen in! For photos visit cultivatingplace.com. The show is available as a podcast on SoundCloud, iTunes, Google Play and Stitcher.

The New England Wild Flower Society is one of the oldest native plant conservation organizations in the country and represents the New England states. Their new book Native Plants for the New England Gardens is a perfect reference for their ecological and pollinator garden workshops being held across New England this summer. On Cultivating Place this week, we learn more. Join us! For photos visit cultivatingplace.com. The show is available as a podcast on SoundCloud, iTunes, Google Play and Stitcher.

In May of this year, the gardening world – specifically the ecologically based gardening world – lost one of it’s great leaders, Beth Chatto. This August her gardens and educational trust are hosting a symposium to honor her life and her work. On Cultivating Place this week we hear more about the woman and her legacy – join us! For photos visit cultivatingplace.com. The show is available as a podcast on SoundCloud, iTunes, Google Play and Stitcher.

This week we’re joined by two native plantspeople – Julie Nelson and Michael Kauffmann - to delve into the unsettling case of the poached Dudleya this last year here in California – join us as we explore the interesting, sometimes bothersome issues an incident like this brings up for us gardeners. For photos visit cultivatingplace.com. The show is available as a podcast on SoundCloud, iTunes, Google Play and Stitcher.

In preparation for the 4th of July holiday, this week we visit our nation’s capital and the U.S. Botanic Garden. We’re joined by Devin Dotson, exhibits specialist and Nekisha Durrett, a featured artist in an epic summer mural exhibit at the Gardens - join us! For photos visit cultivatingplace.com. The show is available as a podcast on SoundCloud, iTunes, Google Play and Stitcher.

On Cultivating Place today we celebrate National Pollinator Week in the US when we’re joined by British biologist, conservationist and Professor of Biology at the University of Sussex in England, Dave Goulson. A gardener and bumblebee expert, Dave is the founder of the Bumblebee Conservation Trust dedicated to growing the awareness and appreciation for the life and importance of the bumblebees - and all insects of our world - join us! For photos visit cultivatingplace.com. The show is available as a podcast on SoundCloud, iTunes, Google Play and Stitcher.

It is now officially summer vacation for most public school districts in the US. Today, Cultivating Place takes a little field trip to visit Sacramento high school teacher Kevin Jordan’s garden program which adds fresh air and fresh thinking in the classroom and out, in all weather and all seasons. Join us! For photos visit cultivatingplace.com. The show is available as a podcast on SoundCloud, iTunes, Google Play and Stitcher.

In the global gardening world, Piet Oudolf is synonymous with a naturalistic planting style - rich in sweeps of grouped flowering perennials (often North American wildflower and prairie plants) and characterized by dramatic seasonal dynamics and ecological grounding . A new film "Five Seasons: The Gardens of Piet Oudolf" opens in New York this month celebrating this man and his work. On Cultivating Place this week, we learn more when we’re joined by filmmaker Thomas Piper. Join us. For photos visit cultivatingplace.com. The show is available as a podcast on SoundCloud, iTunes, Google Play and Stitcher.