Best Garden Podcasts: What to Listen to for the Plant-Obsessed
Here at Gardenista, we love a good podcast, but niche-topic shows are often hard to find. Below you’ll find eight garden podcasts that either the Gardenista team loves or are recommended by trusted friends and colleagues. Margaret Roach was one of the judges in Gardenista’s Considered Design Awards in 2014. Photograph by Erica Berger. Perhaps the original garden podcast, Margaret Roach’s “A Way to Garden With Margaret Roach” is a 25-minute public-radio program that airs weekly on Connecticut’s Robin Hood Radio and as a podcast on all the major platforms. Each week Margaret hosts a garden expert to discuss a seasonally-relevant topic. Another public radio co-production (this one with North State Public radio), garden writer Jennifer Jewell’s “Cultivating Place” is less concerned with the daily activities of the garden... ...but rather “how and why we garden—what we mean when we garden.” Jennifer goes deep with her guests in every episode, and always leaves us with new ideas to consider. Jewell recommends this podcast from the Pacific Horticulture Society about “innovative thinkers contributing to a climate-resilient future through the power of gardens.” Jewell says, “I like how hard this podcast leans, with heart, into the academic “hard” sciences.” The podcast focusses on how gardens and gardeners can bfoster climate resilience and become leaders in the effort to slow climate change. The last time we rounded up our favorite podcasts was in 2017. Photograph by Mimi Giboin for Gardenista, from The Best Garden Podcasts of 2017. This show aims to show home gardeners how they can make their yards and gardens healthier and more sustainable. Growing Greener’s Christopher confessed that he is not much of a podcast listener himself, but he does enjoy episodes of “The Native Plant Podcast,” a multi-host effort that publishes episodes sporadically. The hosts, who originally connected at the Cullowhee Native Plant Conference, liken themselves to a “garage band,” but Christopher says the relaxed, conversational tone is exactly what he likes about the show. The podcast from Gardens Illustrated magazine asks its guests, “If you could create your dream garden from pieces of all of your favorite places, and if you could grow any plants in the world, what would you choose?” Despite the predictable format, garden designer Susan Nock told us that “it elicits super varying answers, and the host follows the guest’s lead and has really lovely conversations about their work and ideas.” Because this show is idea-based, it’s a fun listen for gardeners in different growing areas–not just the U.K. Another podcast from a magazine, “Let’s Argue About Plants” is hosted by editors Danielle Sherry and Carol Collins of Fine Gardening. Plant nerds, this one’s for you: Sherry and Collins talk exclusively about plants and host horticultural pros, who “offer their wisdom and opinions about what you might want to grow in your garden.” Hilton Carter with his beloved plants. Photograph taken from film by Toby Amies, from ‘Great Gardens’ on Nowness: Inside the Minds of the Most Influential Gardeners. A promising newcomer, this podcast is hosted by author and houseplant expert Hilton Carter and his colleague Mollie Lee. In addition to the conversations between Carter and Lee, they plan to sprinkle in guest features with plant community personalities, designers, and creatives, in general.