The Native Plant Podcast

Today's episode is dedicated to John's Dad (Sam) who despite growing up during World War 2 and living in downtown Toledo, Ohio still managed to raise food for his family through always having a 'victory garden', a practice he carried on his entire life and passed on to his children teaching them the importance of being able to raise your own food. Tonight's guest; Maggie Stuckey has authored many books, but tonight, she and John will be discussing her latest; The Container Victory Garden which shows that even the smallest of gardens can be used wisely to help keep fresh foods within reach. We hope you enjoy.

Uli Lorimer is director of Horticulture at Garden In The Woods, in Framingham, Massachussettes. Previously, he was curator of Brooklyn Botanic Garden's Native Flora Garden until early 2019. The Delaware native grew up with an interest in all things green, and after receiving an honors degree from the University of Delaware in landscape horticulture, he moved to New York City to become the woodland gardener at Wave Hill.

Wild Seed Project builds awareness of the vital importance of native plants and provides all people with the tools to restore biodiversity in their own communities. They equip community members, public officials and municipalities, and land-holding individuals and organizations – from farmers to land trusts – with the skills and resources they need to collectively repopulate landscapes with native plants that expand wildlife habitat, support biodiversity, and build climate resilience.

John sits down with legendary Landscape Designer Piet Oudolf and discusses his new book- 'at Work', landscape design, working with others and a few other topics. There are even a few dog stories.

Gardening Author and Landscape Designer Owen Wormser drops by to spread some wisdom on eliminating lawn and replacing it with habitat, just like he does in his book 'Lawns Into Meadows, Growing a Regenerative Landscape'

OK, so we're not the most organized people in the world- we're sorry. We originally spoke to Don last year, but in an unfortunate sorting incident, we lost the file for a time. We're very glad to have found it though as it is a wonderful piece of entertainment and education. Garden Designer Donald Pell is known for his use of native plants in the landscape and ecological approach to design, but it turns out he also enjoys a good laugh and a craft brew. Welcome to the show Don, we're happy to have you.

John & Susana team up to get us started this year by describing a pretty incredible trip to Ecuador over the winter where they visited Antisana and Chimborazo volcanos and the cloudy forest of Papallacta (pronounced- Papayakta). They also update us on co-hosts and joke around a bit while celebrating their 30th wedding anniversary. Thanks for joining us once again, we hope you'll enjoy another great season of the Native Plant Podcast.

One of the most influential landscape architects in practice today, Laurie Olin has created designs for the Washington Monument grounds and the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden in Washington, D/.D., Bryant Park in New York City, Getty Center in Los Angeles, and many other iconic landscapes. More recent projects include the AIA award-winning Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia, Apple Park in Cupertino, and Simon and Helen Director Park in Portland Oregon. All of these works were realized under the auspices of OLIN, the firm he cofounded in 1976. Laurie is a prolific writer and a Practice Professor of Landscape Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania. He began his career studying civil engineering at the University of Alaska and ended up earning a degree from the University of Washington where Richard Haag encouraged him to focus on landscape. (for those of you who don’t know of Richard Haag, google Gasworks Park in Seattle and Bloedel Reserve on Bainbridge Island). He is a fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects, a fewllow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and recipient of the 1998 Award in Architecture from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He is the recipient of the 2012 National Medal of Arts, the highest lifetime achievement award for artists and designers bestowed by the National Endowment for the Arts and the President of the United States. He also holds the 2011 American Society of Landscape Architects Medal, the society’s highest award for a landscape architect.

Jeff Lorenz is the founder of Refugia Design, an ecological landscape design/build and stewardship firm, based out of Narberth, PA. Since 2015, Refugia has been offering distinctive native landscape design for both residential and commercial green spaces throughout the Greater Philadelphia Area and Jersey Shore. Annual major exhibitor and award-winners at the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society’s Philadelphia Flower Show, Refugia is known for an immersive, naturalistic design aesthetic and meadow expertise at projects ranging in size from city yards to suburban estates.

James Golden’s garden design has been featured in national and international magazines, in The New York Times, and in several books on garden design. He has been the recipient of national awards and is widely known in the gardening world through his garden blog View from Federal Twist (www.federaltwist.com). James’ Federal Twist garden regularly appears on tours of the Garden Conservancy, the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, the Hardy Plant Society, and on numerous private tours. Recently retired, he has started a garden design practice.

We’re all about the graminoids this week with our long-time friend and boomerang guest, Shannon Currey. Since taping the show, Shannon has transitioned from her role as marketing director with Hoffman Nursery to pursue a career in horticulture communication, education, and consulting. Her wealth of knowledge when it comes to grasses and sedges for the market (especially natives), has no equal, and we had a great time talking about all our favorites (and some new things to try as well)! We hope you’ll enjoy listening as much as John & Preston had recording the episode. Thanks Shannon, and good luck with your new journey!

Jared Barnes, Ph.D., started gardening when he was five years old, and since then has enthusiastically pursued how to best cultivate plants and minds. He currently fulfills those passions as an award-winning associate professor of horticulture at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, TX. He educates the public with his weekly newsletter PlantEd and more recently through his Podcast- "The Plantastic Podcast". His passion has been recognized by peers in interviews in Organic Gardening, Greenhouse Grower, AmericanHort Connect, Ken Druse’s Real Dirt, and Nursery Management, and his articles have appeared in The American Gardener, Fine Gardening and Carolina Gardener and now here, on the Native Plant Podcast.

Laurie is a distinguished teacher, author, and one of the most renowned landscape architects practicing today. From vision to realization, he has guided many of OLIN’s signature projects, which span the history of the studio from the Washington Monument Grounds in Washington, DC to Bryant Park in New York City. His recent projects include the AIA award-winning Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Simon and Helen Director Park in Portland, Oregon.

Sean received a Bachelor's in Horticulture and a Master's degree in Plant & Environmental Science from Clemson University where he focused on nutrient media in tissue culture propagation. His professional background includes private residential horticulture, greenhouse and nursery production, plant nutrient management in soil-less media, and temperate woody plant propagation and conservation. As the Arnold Arboretum's Plant Propagator, Sean continues a 150 year tradition of growing woody temperate species from seed, cuttings, grafts, layers, and more; as well as being given the honor to travel and wild collect plants for the Arnold Arboretum.

Before serving as Horticulturist of Haskell Public Gardens, Mc Cullin was the Senior Horticulturalist at The Native Plant Trusts Garden in the Woods. Prior to that, McCullin was selected as a Garden Club of America and Royal Society of Horticulture Scholar to intern at a variety of important public gardens in the UK. She also served as an apprentice at Harvard University’s Arnold Arboretum in Boston, and as a Landscape Coordinator at the Central Park Conservancy in New York City. McCullin has a Bachelor of Science in Landscape Architecture from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She lives in Acushnet, Massachusetts with her horticulturist husband Nate and their daughter Kalmia.

Jenn Myers drops by to chat with John and Preston about things that landscape companies can do to attract and maintain professional staffs

Miles Hilton Connors is Director of Parterre Ecological, a specialized division within Parterre Garden Services that integrates principles of ecology and horticulture to protect, promote and restore native plant communities.

Chris & John host Andrea Amaya with all of her plant knowledge and work she's helping the Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center do, she's a wealth of information.

Kyle Lybarger is a Forester, a conservation influencer, and a life long outdoorsman from Hartselle, Alabama. Kyle holds a Bachelors degree in Forestry ,with a concentration in Forest Science, from Alabama A&M University. His love for the outdoors and wildlife led him to native plants since they are the foundation of wildlife habitat. With his presence on TikTok (@NativePlantTok) and his passion for managing native ecosystems he has started the Native Habitat Project where he’s continuing to save what’s left of forgotten ecosystems and conserving the important plant species that exist there.