508: Seed collecting, apple pruning, and wildflowers
From Gardening with the RHS by Royal Horticultural Society
August 20, 2026 · 30 min
About this episode
The episode discusses seed collecting, apple pruning techniques, and the joy of wildflowers while addressing listener questions.
Even though it's still August, the signs of autumn are starting to show. False autumn is a survival-driven stress response where trees shed leaves and change colour prematurely due to extreme heat and drought, and you may find yourself doing the autumn jobs a little early this year. We dive headlong into seed collecting with RHS horticulturist Lucie Rudnicka, plus find out how best to prune your trained apple and pear trees with RHS Garden Wisley’s fruit tree expert Jim Arbury. And finally, we relish in the joy of wildflowers with our very own Gareth Richards, as today sees the publication of RHS Wildflowers: A Pocket Guide. Plus we answer questions from the listener inbox on late sowings of salads, raspberry pruning and hornets. Host: Gareth Richards Producers: Dan Cocker, Poppy Waring Contributors: Lucie Rudnicka, Jim Arbury, Jenny Laville Links: Seed: collecting and storing Apples and pears: pruning RHS Wildflowers: A pocket guide Send your questions to [email protected]
People in this episode
Host: Gareth Richards
Guests: Lucie Rudnicka, Jim Arbury
Topics covered
- seed collecting
- apple pruning
- wildflowers
- autumn gardening
- listener questions
Keywords
- seed collecting
- apple pruning
- wildflowers
- autumn gardening
- RHS
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Royal Horticultural Society
Books & works: RHS Wildflowers: A Pocket Guide
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