Our Plant Stories

"If you grow plants you are inherently an optimist".I love this thought from Richard Hayden, shared as we wandered along the New York High Line, this summer. Richard is the Senior Director of Horticulture on the High Line. We talk about the magic of this garden in the sky, it's history - the trains that were once delivering the ingredients for oreo cookies to Nabisco and the plants - of course the plants.Richard explains Pete Oudolf's vision for the High Line and his regular visits to edit and add new plants. Don't tell anyone but Richard reveals a few weeding secrets too!If you like the idea of green spaces in urban places then this is for you. And next month we'll catch up on the Castlefield Viaduct in Manchester and plans for a High Line in London, which we first visited last year.And if you want to some photographs then do take a look on the Our Plant Stories website.Every month I will make a plant story but stories often lead to more stories and I end up publishing Offshoot episodes. So if you 'Follow' the podcast on your podcast app you will never miss an episode.It also makes a real difference if you can spare the time to rate and/or review an episode after you have listened. Spotify and Apple look at these ratings and it helps to get the podcast promoted to other plant lovers. Independent podcasts like Our Plant Stories depend on their listeners for help with the costs of making the podcast such as the hosting platform and the editing programme.Using the Buy Me A Coffee platform you can make a one off online donation of £5 and that money will go towards making more episodes. Everyone who buys a 'virtual coffee' will get a shout out on the podcast. The support of listeners means a lot to me. Buy Me A Coffee Our Plant Stories is presented and produced by Sally FlatmanThe music is Fade to Black by Howard LevyThis podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: OP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy

Sometimes in life you come across a book that just speaks to you - you and the author are on the same page and they have articulated all the things you have been thinking.This plant story is about such a book and the influence it had on a young woman who was just starting out in business in Norfolk.The book is called How To Make A Wildlife Garden and it was written by Chris Baines. It has been republished several times - perhaps you have a copy. The young woman was Anne Harrap and this is her plant story.Every month I will make a plant story but stories often lead to more stories and I end up publishing Offshoot episodes. So if you 'Follow' the podcast on your podcast app you will never miss an episode.It also makes a real difference if you can spare the time to rate and/or review an episode after you have listened. Spotify and Apple look at these ratings and it helps to get the podcast promoted to other plant lovers. Can I share my plant story with you? YES PLEASE! I called this OUR Plant Stories for a reason and that is that I love to hear from listeners wherever you are in the world!You can email me Sally@ourplantstories.com and tell me your plant story. That's all you need to do - I'll do the rest. I'll work out who we can talk to. Can we find someone who shares your passion for the plant, they maybe in the same country as you or the other side of the world. Can I dig into more plant stories?YES! You can check out the website where there are lots of photographs of plants and how to grow instructions. Our Plant Stories website You can also follow the weekly blog where you will get the behind the scenes lowdown on making the podcast and you could also contribute - readers have suggested gardens to visit, plants to feature, experts to contact. Our Plant Stories blog And you can follow more plants over on my Instagram account Instagram Our Plant Stories is presented and produced by Sally FlatmanThe music is Fade to Black by Howard LevyThis podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: OP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy

Back in July I was lucky enough to host a conversation at the British Library between Poppy Okotcha and Adam Frost. Hear a trailer for the episode which will be out next Tuesday. Poppy's new book is called A Wilder Way and Adam's is called For the Love of Plants and over the course of an hour and a half they discussed how they came to be gardeners, safe spaces, foraging, special plants, special people and compost.I learned so much both from reading their books and sharing this conversation and thanks to the British Library, I am excited to be able to share it with you next week as a podcast episode.Our Plant Stories is presented and produced by Sally FlatmanThe music is Fade to Black by Howard LevyEvery month I will make a plant story but stories often lead to more stories and I end up publishing Offshoot episodes. So if you 'Follow' the podcast on your podcast app you will never miss an episode.It also makes a real difference if you can spare the time to rate and/or review an episode after you have listened. Spotify and Apple look at these ratings and it helps to get the podcast promoted to other plant lovers. This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: OP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy

In 1976 Fay Ballard had just finished her first term at university and heading home for Christmas she was looking for a gift for her father who was the author J.G. Ballard. This episode is the story of that gift! It may have started as a small Yucca pot plant but almost 50 years on - it has a great story to tell.For those of us of a certain generation, the Yucca plant will be familiar. Back in the 70's and 80's Marks and Spencer had shelves full of them. But why?And along with the story of Fay's Yucca and the answer to the question why M&S were selling them, we have Colin Smith, who holds a National Collection of Yuccas. He knows so much about these plants and shares with us how to grow them.Every month I will make a plant story but stories often lead to more stories and I end up publishing Offshoot episodes. So if you 'Follow' the podcast on your podcast app you will never miss an episode.It also makes a real difference if you can spare the time to rate and/or review an episode after you have listened. Spotify and Apple look at these ratings and it helps to get the podcast promoted to other plant lovers. Independent podcasts like Our Plant Stories depend on their listeners for help with the costs of making the podcast such as the hosting platform and the editing programme.Using the Buy Me A Coffee platform you can make a one off online donation of £5 and that money will go towards making more episodes. Everyone who buys a 'virtual coffee' will get a shout out on the podcast. The support of listeners means a lot to me. Buy Me A Coffee Can I dig into more plant stories?YES! You can check out the website where there are lots of photographs of plants and how to grow instructions. Our Plant Stories website You can also follow the weekly blog where you will get the behind the scenes lowdown on making the podcast and you could also contribute - readers have suggested gardens to visit, plants to feature, experts to contact. Our Plant Stories blog And you can follow more plants over on my Instagram account Instagram Our Plant Stories is presented and produced by Sally FlatmanThe music is Fade to Black by Howard LevyThis podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: OP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy

In this offshoot episode of Our Plant Stories, we step into Garden Futures - Designing with Nature — an imaginative new exhibition at the V&A Dundee. With help from one of the curators, Francesca Bibby, and one of the exhibitors. Andrew Flynn, we hear about garden design from both historical and futuristic perspectives; from knitted sculptures embedded with seeds by Alice Marie Archer to flat pack plant pots by Potr.Our Plant Stories is presented and produced by Sally FlatmanThe music is Fade to Black by Howard LevyEvery month I will make a plant story but stories often lead to more stories and I end up publishing Offshoot episodes. So if you 'Follow' the podcast on your podcast app you will never miss an episode.It also makes a real difference if you can spare the time to rate and/or review an episode after you have listened. Spotify and Apple look at these ratings and it helps to get the podcast promoted to other plant lovers. Independent podcasts like Our Plant Stories depend on their listeners for help with the costs of making the podcast such as the hosting platform and the editing programme.Using the Buy Me A Coffee platform you can make a one off online donation of £5 and that money will go towards making more episodes. Everyone who buys a 'virtual coffee' will get a shout out on the podcast. The support of listeners means a lot to me. Buy Me A Coffee This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: OP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy

This is a special week in the horticultural calendar. It is the RHS Chelsea Flower show and over the course of the week thousands of people will visit the show and millions will watch the BBC coverage of it on television.There will be incredible show gardens, conceived months and months ago with designers and growers and build teams coming together to create something beautiful. But where do these gardens go when the show ends on Saturday?This episode tells the story of one garden - Hospitalfield Arts Garden. We visit a beautiful walled garden in Arbroath and a school that must be one of the closest to the sea in the UK. The children aren't allowed to eat snacks in the playground because of the swooping seagulls! And they are linked by a Nigel Dunnett designed sand garden, funded by Project Giving back which is on show this week at RHS Chelsea.I hope you enjoy this story.Independent podcasts like Our Plant Stories depend on their listeners for help with the costs of making the podcast such as the hosting platform and the editing programme.Using the Buy Me A Coffee platform you can make a one off online donation of £5 and that money will go towards making more episodes. Everyone who buys a 'virtual coffee' will get a shout out on the podcast. The support of listeners means a lot to me. Buy Me A Coffee Our Plant Stories is presented and produced by Sally FlatmanThe music is Fade to Black by Howard LevyThis podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: OP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy

I think this Offshoot episode will make you pause next time you find yourself in front of a colourful wall of seed packets. As with many seemingly simple things, the story of a small seed, can in fact be a lot more fascinating and complicated than it might at first appear. So take a journey into the history and science of seeds. We'll ponder the Portuguese, spreading pepper seeds around the world and seed banks in St Petersburg, Syria and the Arctic Circle. We'll hear about the skills of Ethiopian farmers. Adam Alexander, also known as the seed detective and a self confessed vegetable anorak is endlessly curious about seeds and in his new book The Accidental Seed Heroes he is on the trail of the growers who are championing traditional varieties and breeding new ones that will adapt to our changing climate.What can these seed heroes teach us, as we think about what to grow this April?.Takeaways: The inception of plant breeding can be traced back to our Neolithic ancestors, who began selecting wild relatives for cultivation approximately 12,000 years ago, primarily focusing on cereals. Adam Alexander, the author of The Accidental Seed Heroes, emphasises the significance of traditional plant breeding and the critical need to preserve genetic diversity in crops for future food security. The podcast highlights the remarkable adaptive capabilities of open-pollinated crops, which are essential for resilience against climate change and environmental fluctuations. The discussion reveals the importance of seed banks and living collections, such as the Vavilov Institute, in maintaining genetic diversity and supporting agro-biodiversity. Adam Alexander describes his travels to Ethiopia and Albania, where he learned from indigenous farmers who practice sustainable agriculture and maintain a rich diversity of crops. The episode sheds light on the necessity of evolving our agricultural practices to ensure food security in the face of climate change, advocating for the cultivation of diverse and adaptive crop varieties. This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: OP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy