This week we’re exploring small but useful nuggets of information that have the potential to change the way we interact with our surroundings this growing season. We’re getting seasonal tips on GYO – things like training and pruning apple trees and preparing allotments for the busiest time of year. And, we’re delving into plant names – and the system behind our classifications. 
 
Presenter: Guy Barter
Contributors: Andy Lewis, Jenny Laville, James Armitage

Contact: podcasts@rhs.org.uk

Links:
 
Apples and pears: winter gardening
 
The Newt in Somerset – an RHS Partner Garden
 
Allotments: getting started
 
RHS Practical Latin for Gardeners
 
Untangling Latin Names

Apple Pruning, Allotment Preparation, and the Thinking Behind Plant Names

This week, we’re investigating what exactly makes a plant hardy, how tropical plants survive British winters, and the ways in which what thrives here may be changing – especially in urban environments like London. Presenter Gareth Richards and RHS botanist James Armitage take a tour of weird and wacky tender trees that have survived here against all odds. And, Hillary Collins of Grafton Nursery gives us a behind the scenes look at what you can do to help your eucalyptus withstand British winters.

Presenter: Gareth Richards

Contributors: James Armitage and Hilary Collins

Contact: podcasts@rhs.org.uk

Links:

Mediterranean garden plants

RHS hardiness ratings

Hardy Eucalyptus (Grafton Nursery)

Notes on Hardiness

This week’s show is all about growing something new. We’re spreading the word about exciting plant species, cultivars, and hybrids from those that love them most. Legendary plantsman Roy Lancaster chats about shrubby honeysuckles, Canadian horticulturist Grahame Ware makes the case for a curious genus called Syneilesis, and Wisley horticulturist Jack Aldridge shares the stories behind flowering dogwood hybrids.

All the stories in this show are based on articles from the March issue of The Plant Review. You can find information on how to subscribe here.

Presenters: Gareth Richards & James Armitage

Contributors: Roy Lancaster, Grahame Ware, and Jack Aldridge

Links:

Shrubby honeysuckle

Flowering dogwood

Something New!

For this week’s show, we take a behind the scenes look at the ways spring is fighting its way into the picture at RHS Garden Wisley. We go behind the scenes at the Alpine Display House, we get a masterclass on pruning wisteria, and we dive into the life and work of the eccentric and influential horticulturist Ellen Willmott – and explore a theory for why she may have missed her Victoria Medal of Honour ceremony. 

Presenter: Guy Barter

Contributors: Alex Hankey, Matthew Pottage, Suzanne Moss

Links:

Visiting Wisley

Narcissus bulbocodium 

How to get wonderful Wisteria: Buying, planting, pruning and care tips

“Gardens have provided solace, opportunity and inspiration for LGBTQ+ people”

Miss Willmott’s Ghosts: the extraordinary life and gardens of a forgotten genius

Alpine Delights, Wisteria Pruning, and the Great RHS Award Snub

In this week’s show, we’re zeroing in on how to stretch the money we spend on our gardens as far as possible. We hear from gardening influencer Anya Lautenbach - aka Anya the Garden Fairy – on her money-saving tips. We explore the science behind cuttings with botanist and editor James Armitage. And we take an inside look at the RHS apprenticeship programme.

Presenter: Guy Barter

Contributors: Anya Lautenbach, James Armitage, Sheila Das, Rory Doyle

Links:

The Money-Saving Gardener

Propagation techniques

New Shoots

RHS Apprenticeships

Growing on a Budget

This week’s show is all about cultivating change – whether in your own garden, in your local neighbourhood, or in a magical National Trust property. We’re chatting guerrilla gardening with Ellen Miles, getting top tips from Wisley advisors, and taking a look at all the work that goes into maintaining the laburnum arch at Bodnant Garden (one of our most beloved partner gardens!)
 
Presenter: Guy Barter
 
Contributors: Ellen Miles, James Lawrence, Becky Mealey, Michaela Freed, and Lucy Bidgood
 
Links:
 
Guerrilla gardening and reclaiming urban spaces
 
Get Guerrilla Gardening
 
Nature is a Human Right
 
The Laburnum Arch at Bodnant Garden
 
Horticulture Careers Discovery Week
 
Diploma in Horticulture Practice

Guerrilla Gardening, Seasonal Advice, and Maintaining a World-Famous Laburnum Arch

As gardeners, we all have plants we love to hate – think aucubas or heathers. And in winter, especially, it seems that these common but unpopular plants play a really important role in our gardens, adding structure, berries, or cheery variegated leaves when we need it most. So today, we’re addressing the overlooked. We’re giving mahonias a well-deserved second chance. We’re revisiting houseplants, which may or may be looking worse for wear after the chaotic holiday season. And finally, we’re taking a look at the work The Glasshouse, a nursery in Kent, does to give women in prison a fresh start. 

Presenter: Gareth Richards

Contributors: Jack Aldridge, Tony Le-Britton, The Glasshouse Team

Contact us at podcasts@rhs.org.uk

Links:

Mahonia

Not Another Jungle: Comprehensive Care for Extraordinary Houseplants

Growing hope and houseplants in prison

The Glasshouse

Second Chances

We’re past the solstice, so it’s time to both revel in the present and prepare for what's to come as the days get longer and warmer. So, in this week’s show, we’re doing exactly that, taking note of winter wins – like winter-flowering camellias and snowdrops– and addressing RHS members’ questions as we look ahead to the growing season to come.
 
Presenter: Guy Barter
Contributors: Jack Aldridge, Naomi Slade, James Lawrence, Becky Mealey, Michaela Freed
 
Links:
 
Autumn and winter-flowering camellias
 
RHS The Winter Garden 
 
Wisteria: pruning
 
Snowdrops

Winter-Flowering Camellias, Cold Weather Inspiration, and Gardening Questions Answered

To start off the new year right, we decided to begin with a practical and sustainable guide on what you can get up to outdoors this year – it’s what we’re calling a sustainability health check for the garden. We’ll be chatting about the state of play on peat-free growing, hearing from a range of RHS experts for some top garden sustainability tips, and exploring the future of grow-your-own in our ever-changing climate.
 
Links:
 
Peat-free gardening
 
Peat- free nurseries
 
10 ways to be more sustainable in your garden
 
Edible: 70 Sustainable Plants That Are Changing How We Eat

A Sustainability Health Check for the Garden

For our final episode of 2023, we’re taking a look back at some of our favourite moments on the podcast and across the RHS from the year, exploring emerging trends, new beginnings, and time-honoured advice. Stay tuned for highlights from Director General Clare Matterson, Head of Editorial Tom Howard, Head of Libraries and Exhibitions Fiona Davison, and more. 

Presenters: Gareth Richards & Guy Barter
Contributors: Clare Matterson, Tom Howard, Fiona Davison, Jenny Laville, and Jenny Bowden

Links:

Rewilding Small Spaces

The Winter Garden

Maximising Minimal Space

2023 Highlights and Trends

As we approach the most festive time of year, we’ve decided to share a recipe for a plant-filled Christmas. In this episode, we’ll be returning to Bristol with Naomi Slade to hear how she decks her halls with things from the garden. We’ll then be making our way to the Frenchay Christmas Tree Farm to get a feel for life at the busiest point in their calendar. And finally, we’re exploring the curious world of parasitic plants, including a festive favourite: mistletoe.

Presenter: Guy Barter
Contributors: Naomi Slade, Simon Maughan, Alex Summers

Links:

RHS The Winter Garden

Frenchay Christmas Tree Farm

How to grow your own mistletoe

Christmas with the RHS

A Gardener’s Recipe for Christmas

This week, we’re wrapping up warm and heading out into our gardens to take a moment to really appreciate our garden birds. Wildlife sound recordist Gary Moore gives us a masterclass on recognising the calls of common birds at this time of year. Writer and wildlife gardening guru Kate Bradbury shares her top tips for making a bird-friendly garden. And finally, we delve into the story behind the remarkable number of American songbirds that made it across the Atlantic this autumn. 

Presenter: Guy Barter
Contributors: Gary Moore, Kate Bradbury, and Rob Jaques

Links:

Birds in your garden

Plants for birds

RHS Wildlife Gardening for everyone and everything, 

RHS How to Create a Wildlife Pond

Garden BirdWatch

BTO’s BirdTrack Migration Blog

For the Love of Birds

Weeds have many faces. They feed birds, butterflies, bees, and the like. They spread like wildfire, but are resilient. They compete with crops, yet can add colour and beauty at times when our gardens feel lacklustre. They’re complicated – and the way we regard them, even more so. So, in today's show, we’re taking a holistic look at the weeds in our gardens – discussing what constitutes a weed, how to deal with them safely, and how we can see them as more than the enemy. Chief horticulturist Guy Barter chats about this upcoming book What’s That Weed?, the students who brought together Wisley’s ‘What is a Weed?’ exhibition share their perspectives on these rapid spreaders, and finally, author Ann Treneman gives her advice on creating weed containers. 

Presenter: Gareth Richards
Contributors: Guy Barter, Ann Treneman, Students from St John the Baptist School

Links:

RHS Weeds: The beauty and uses of 50 vagabond plants

Identify common weeds

Controlling Weeds

Exhibition: What is a weed?

What's That Weed?

With the first cold snap hitting the UK this past week, it’s really starting to feel like winter. It’s a time of structural beauty, of evergreen supremacy, of frosty seedheads, and of low but magical light. So this week, we’re focusing in on all the mystery and enchantment of a winter garden. We’re chatting with author Naomi Slade about designing and revamping gardens in the colder months, leaning into year-round grow-your-own with garden manager Sheila Das, and exploring how to bring a bit of the winter charm inside with what’s available now to pick. 

Presenter: Guy Barter
Contributors: Naomi Slade, Sheila Das, Gareth Richards, Hazel Gardiner, and Shane Connolly

Links:

RHS The Winter Garden

Vegetables: growing for winter

Winter Flowers Week

The Winter Garden

It’s that time of year again… Our annual book special is here! Today, Helen Griffin, RHS Book Publishing Manager, chats with Fiona Davidson, Guy Barter, and Arthur Parkinson about their top gardening book picks of 2023. Tune in for a discussion on the future of GYO and resilient planting, the relevance of gardening history, and wildcard topics like cut flowers, winter gardening, and yes, even murder. 

Presenter: Helen Griffin
Contributors: Fiona Davidson, Guy Barter, Arthur Parkinson, and Matt Pottage

Books Discussed:


Botany of the Kitchen Garden by Helena Dove


Rekha’s Kitchen Garden: Seasonal Produce and Home-Grown Wisdom from One Gardener’s Allotment Year by Rekha Mistry


RHS The Winter Garden by Naomi Slade


England’s Gardens: A Modern History by Stephen Parker


Gardening can be Murder: How Poisonous Poppies, Sinister Shovels, and Grim gardens Have Inspired Mystery Writers by Marta McDowell


Not Another Jungle: Comprehensive Care for Extraordinary Houseplants by Tony Le Britton


Chatsworth: The gardens and the people who made them by Alan Titchmarsh


A Year Full of Veg: A Harvest for All Seasons by Sarah Raven



The Cut Flower Sourcebook by Rachel Siegfried

The Best Gardening Books of 2023!

As the surrounding world starts looking a little bleaker, we’ve decided to explore how to best turn our homes into verdant oases. RHS Digital Editor Jenny Laville chats with Gareth Richards about the best low-maintenance houseplants, fun climbers for indoors, and underrated care tips and tricks. Social historian Catherine Horwood regales us with the history of ever-changing houseplant trends. And finally, author and podcaster Alice Vincent reveals the role houseplants played in her own gardening journey.
 
Presenters: Gareth Richards and Jenny Laville
Contributors: Catherine Horwood and Alice Vincent
 
Links:
 
Picking the right houseplant
 
Houseplants for different locations
 
Houseplants for students
 
Potted History: How Houseplants Took Over Our Homes
 
Why Women Grow: Stories of Soil, Sisterhood and Survival
 
Rootbound: Rewilding a Life

Crazy About Houseplants: Top picks & tips and the stories behind our obsession

This week, we’re journeying back through time, taking stock of a few significant moments in botanical history. We’re unravelling their mysteries, considering their reverberations, and imagining what this all might mean for the future. We're starting with a tale on the first flowering of the giant waterlily in cultivation, then discovering how ‘Midwinter Fire’ gave Cornus sanguinea a whole new reputation, and finally, we're taking a look at the life and legacy of Arthur Bulley, founder of Ness Botanic Gardens. Each of these stories draws inspiration from articles in the December issue of The Plant Review.

The Plant Review

RHS A Plant for Every Day of the Year

Foggy Bottom: A Garden to Share

Ness Botanic Gardens

Travelling Back in Time

This week, we journey through RHS Garden Wisley, capturing some of its autumnal beauty while also looking ahead as winter edges ever closer. Garden Manager Sheila Das chats with us about her no-dig journey, entomologist Dr. Seirian Sumner fills us in on wasps’ winter preparation, and finally, Wisley advisors provide a seasonal Q&A. 
 
Links:

How to grow a No-Dig Garden
 
How to improve your soil with the ‘No Dig’ technique
 
Endless Forms: Why We Should Love Wasps
 
Leafmould
 
Mulches and mulching
 
Preventing winter damage
 
Autumn-interest shrubs

Winter Preparation & The Case for No-Dig

This month – October – is UK Black History Month – and the theme for 2023 is “Saluting our Sisters,” highlighting the influence Black women have had in shaping history and inspiring change. So for today’s show, we’re exploring a few of the extraordinary stories of Black women gardeners who’ve made and continue to make a difference in the world of horticulture — all while looking ahead to what we can do to create a more equitable future. Award-winning garden designer Juliet Sargeant is sharing the stories behind her designs. We’re getting a look at the life and work of Mrs Annie Vann Reid – an American nurserywoman who built a plant empire almost 100 years ago. And, finally, we’re chatting with floral artist Hazel Gardiner about making an impact through plants. 

Links:

The history of Black British gardeners is one of resistance

The Garden History Podcast

A Short History of Flowers

Juliet Sargeant: Gardens & Landscapes

Hazel Gardiner Design

Hidden Roots: Extraordinary Tales from Black Women Gardeners

This week, with all the glorious leaf colour on display, we’re exploring the entangled wonder of the arboreal world, getting a behind the scenes look at what trees are up to now and chatting about how best to incorporate them within our gardens. Renowned nurseryman Nick Dunn is back on the podcast to talk crab apples. Silvologist and author Dr Gabriel Hemery is lifting the veil on what exactly is happening with trees at this time of year. And finally, garden designer Arit Anderson and scientist Dr Henrik Sjoman discuss what to keep in mind when choosing what to plant.

Links:

RHS guide to trees

RHS The Garden Magazine

The Tree Almanac 2024

The Essential Tree Selection Guide

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