Revisiting a conversation from August 2023 with Dr. Bethany Bradley of the University of Massachusetts, who describes how plants introduced from outside our ecosystems may remain quiescent for decades before turning invasive, and how climate change is threatening to explode this threat.

Wildlife biologist Ken Bevis discusses the many benefits to biodiversity of “snags,” standing dead trees, and how to incorporate them safely and aesthetically into our gardens.

In a replay of a conversation from September of 2023, Sheri Crabtree of Kentucky State University describes the northernmost species of the tropical custard apple family, the pawpaw, which offers delicious tropical flavor, a creamy texture, and thrives in the backyard garden as far north as USDA Zone 5.

William Cullina, a leading expert on the propagation of native plants, describes the special insights about a species’ adaptations and ecology that starting from seed provides, and offers simple tips for success with this endeavor.

‘Good fences make good neighbors,’ especially, according to Vermonter Susan Shea, when it comes to gardeners and woodchucks. A nature writer and photographer, Shea details the extraordinary abilities of this native mammal, the important ecological and cultural roles it plays, and how to install a woodchuck-proof fence.

Everything that grows on your property – its “biomass” – should remain there even after death, says this award-winning garden designer and founder of the Perfect Earth Project.  Fallen branches, leaves, even tree trunks as they decay reactivate a cycle essential to Nature’s health, and are an opportunity for a different kind of beauty.

Overlooked by many gardeners, moths are actually more efficient as pollinators than bees and are the basis of the food chain for everything from bats and songbirds to grizzly bears

Expert tracker Jason Knight shares how to develop the ability to read animal tracks and signs to keep current with wildlife visits and to resolve wildlife problems peacefully and effectively.

Richard Hayden, senior director of horticulture for the High Line, describes how plants and gardeners collaborate in this ever-changing urban paradise

Beth Ginter, executive Director of the Chesapeake Conservation Landscaping Council, describes her organization’s successful program to enlist an often-resistant profession as advocates for environmental activism.

How Village and Wilderness fosters diverse local solutions to a global problem

John Pitroff chose composting when his daughter’s birth sparked dreams of leaving her a better world – and now he’s addressing environmental problems while making a living helping local gardeners and farmers. 

Peter Del Tredici, Senior Research Scientist Emeritus of Arnold Arboretum and Visiting Lecturer of Applied Ecology and Planning at MIT explains the history of these garden pests why they can play an essential role in this era of climate change.

An accomplished and progressive garden designer, Pam Penick, author of “Gardens of Texas,” shares ideas for ideas for using native plants in traditional and formal gardens garnered from her reporting on private landscapes of the Lone Star State

Leader of the Ecological Gardening movement Rebecca McMackin shares reasons why in a time of discouragement, gardening can restore optimism.

Last May Growing Greener featured the challenge that Plan it Wild, a rewilding design and installation firm, posed to American homeowners: to replace 25 square feet of lawn with locally indigenous plants.  Today we hear how nearly 10,000 people in 49 states committed to this 12-week online program, how backyard biodiversity flourished as a result, and how the challenge is expanding through neighborhoods to reach people who hadn’t previously considered devoting their landscapes to reinforcing the regional ecosystem.

Nancy DuBrule-Clemente, a pioneer of organic land care, extolls the outstanding aesthetic and ecological contributions of goldenrods, a genus of native flowers too seldom seen in our gardens.

Edwina Von Gal, founder and president of the Perfect Earth Project, interviews Growing Greener host, Tom Christopher, about what led him from an education steeped in traditional gardening to helping found ecological gardening in the United States

Andrea Hurd of Oakland, California describes the way she structured Mariposa Gardening and Design Cooperative, Inc. to provide employee equitability and management experience for women breaking into the field, and the firm’s commitment to celebrating the local landscape by enhancing habitat and working with indigenous materials.

Switching to more environmentally friendly practices is too often resisted by landscape professionals afraid to stray from familiar routines.  Mariah Whitmore and Tony Piazza, both prominent landscape business owners in the eastern end of Long Island, New York, discuss how they are increasing profits by adding Nature friendly land care to their repertoire.

Claire Chambers, founder of Meadow Lab, describes the roll-out sod her company is producing that can transform a landscape into a blooming, mature meadow of native flowers and grasses in a single growing season

A replay of a conversation from April of 2021 with Pollinator Conservationist Heather Holm about her multi-award-winning book, Wasps, Their Biology, Diversity, and Role as Beneficial Insects and Pollinators of Native Plants.

Jenica Allen and Matt Fertakos of Northeast RISCC describe the invaluable free online guide they helped to create that provides all a gardener needs to know about selecting native plants that will flourish not only today but also persist as the local climate changes

Julia Cavicchi and Tatiana Schreiber of the Rich Earth Institute talk of curbing water pollution by removing human urine from the waste stream, and how you can repurpose it to feed your plants

Michael Bone, Curator of the Steppe Collection at Denver Botanic Gardens, relates Denver’s native flora to similar grasslands around the world and explains how this knowledge can inspire and enrich the local gardening.

Understanding this concept provides the foundation for creating a high functioning, stable, and resilient landscape – anywhere you garden

When a freak tornado swept through Ambler Arboretum, the staff and university administration took the opportunity to turn its recovery into an exploration of natural resilience in the face of climate change

Dr. Eve Beaury’s research reveals the outsize role American gardeners still play in supporting the propagation and spread of plants that are known to be invasive.

Plan it Wild’s “Less Lawn More Life” challenge offers a fun, easy, and free initiation into natural gardening that’s exploding across the country, drawing thousands of ecosystem novices young and old