Episodes

Gardentopia – Jan Johnsen’s go to landscape book for Homeowners. A few years ago Ann and I were fortunate to interview Jan Johnsen about a fascinating book she had written about gardens. Jan’s book “Gardentopia” for the home owner with 135 lushly illustrated garden and planting ideas that aim to inspire and inform you. They are fun, easy to remember and can be implemented in any size yard. Designed to help you with the process of accessing, sketching, designing, laying out and finally creating t...

Ann and I were delighted to be able to interview Anurag Agarwal the founder and CEO of www.juniorexplorers.com Junior Explorers motto is “Inspiring a new generation of environmental stewards” come take a listen and hear just how they are achieving this. ABOUT JUNIOR EXPLORERS Our mission is rooted in the belief that you only protect something that you love and you can only love things you are connected to. From this belief, Junior Explorers was developed as a program to develop kids’ understandi...

Ann and I were fortunate to interview Jenny Peterson, just after her new book was published. Jenny is an amazing, extremely positive lady who is an inspiration for us all. A Garden that Heals Pittsburgh, Pa. (October 5, 2015): When Jenny Peterson was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2012, it rocked her world. Her cancer treatment was hard, emotional and often deeply depressing. But Peterson, a garden designer and Master Gardener, did not let the cancer diagnosis define her. She used her desire to...

Ann and I had the pleasure of interviewing Linda Stanley after she had completed this 1000km walk. Linda undertook this walk on her own, it took the best part of 8 weeks to complete and more than three months to prepare for. Linda isn’t your average walker by any means, she suffered some serious injuries breaking her back in an accident. Being a somewhat determined lady she set about challenging herself to literally get back on her feet again. We interviewed Linda in her new home, a beautiful ch...

Kerry Mendez has a passion for gardening, in her latest book “The right-sized Flower Garden” she discusses how to develop a garden that you can manage, often this will reduce the amount of work involved. As she explains it’s all about making the right choices, whilst at the same time making simple design changes. Here is a practical book with sensible tips, lists, time and energy saving suggestions that will help the beginner and the experienced. Come take a listen, I’m sure you will learn somet...

Ann & Chris continue their interview with Bill Sosinsky , CEO of Energime University. Bill has recently returned from a trip to China. He talks to us about how the Chinese are adapting, planning and coping with the enormous … Continue reading →

Hello everyone, we hope you like our new logo ? We have some great interviews planned for the next few months. Our first is with Bill Sosinsky , CEO of Energime University. Bill has recently returned from a trip to China. He talks to us about how the Chinese are adapting, planning and coping with the enormous growth the country has seen over the past few years. Cities of 5 - 10 million people built in under 10 years ! This type of growth brings staggering infrastructure issues or as Bill says " ...

Ann is in Paris, France talking to Valerie Langendorff, President of a Women’s Garden Executive Club. Valerie looks at Garden Centers from the ladies perspective in France, her ladies group have identified a number of interesting trends.. Women make 70% of … Continue reading →

Garden Centers have evolved over the years, there are Independent Garden Centers often in a local neighborhood, there are larger groups with multiple locations. Many of the big box ‘Do it Yourself stores’ have larger and larger ‘Garden Center’ sections. The question recently has been where are they all heading. So Ann asked Sid & John – “If I were to open a Garden Center today what would be your recommendations?” Sid Raisch CEO of Horticultural Advantage (www.AdvantageDevelopmentSystem.com) , pr...

It’s not often you find a garden that was founded in 1673. Which is when the Apothecaries’ Garden was formed. Ann was on a trip to Europe recently and dropped in on the beautiful Chelsea Physic Garden. Situated on the side of the River Thames in London. The gardens original purpose was to train apprentices in identifying plants. With the gardens location close to the river creating a warmer microclimate. This significantly increased the many non-native plants that could be grown. In 1700 the gar...

Ann and I interviewed John Stanley of John Stanley Associates recently about his new book, he jointly wrote with his wife Linda, Food Tourism – A Practical Marketing Guide. The fastest growth in tourism today is the culinary sector. Listen … Continue reading →

A few years ago I read a paper about how grasses 'moved' to music, then I read about the effects of harmonious sounds on plant growth. Why do I mention this ? Well a few weeks ago we were talking … Continue reading →

There has been quite a revival or is it renaissance in growing herbs and vegetables at home recently ? The beauty of growing at home is that the gardener knows where this food has come from, what he has used to grow it. (https://picagardi.files.wordpress.com/2015/03/mel1.jpg) The produce tends to be fresh, packed full of nutrients, tastes delicious. More and more people are joining in this healthy pursuit. There are a number of experts in the field of 'How to Grow ' today we are interviewing the...

Today’s interview is really fascinating, our friends Bill Sosinsky and Rich Sapienza of Energime University discuss, coming trends, in particular the growing sense of community involvement. Community gardens - the modern name for an ‘Allotment’ is a case in point. (https://picagardi.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/allotment.jpg) The growing popularity of farmers markets, are helping to provide locally grown produce, that is grown in season, rather than having all food always available. There are som...

When we started this latest series of interviews with Bill Sosinsky and Joe Ravet we soon realised how important Algae is to life on our planet. (https://picagardi.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/algae-3.jpg?w=300&h=225) We never realised how interesting or how much interest these interviews would generate. (https://picagardi.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/algae-5.jpg?w=300&h=199) Here’s the second part, it’s fascinating, informative and what the future holds for us all. (https://picagardi.files.wo...

Our interview this week is with Bill Sosinsky and Joe Ravet, it's all about the amazing properties of algae and the work being done today that could transform many areas of our lives. This fascinating interview is in two parts, with the second part coming next week. (https://picagardi.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/algae2.jpg) Algae has some fascinating uses :- As an Energy Source - a 737 plane flew from Houston to Chicago on fuel derived from algae, way back in 2011 (https://picagardi.files.wordpr...

It's that time of year again, as we move from Spring into Summer all sorts of tasty treats abound in our gardens, our interview today is with a lady who has taken this to a new dimension. (http://growingtrends.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Eat-your-roses002-300x243.jpg) Ann & I caught up with Denise Shreiber recently to interview her about her fascinating book, all about edible flowers. Being a transplanted 'Brit' it was interesting to hear that her book was born after a trip to England where s...

It’s allergy awareness week in England . (https://picagardi.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/aaw15poster.jpg?w=211&h=300) A subject that has become more and more important to my family over the past few years. My grandson Callum was born with severe allergies , which appear at the slightest opportunity, so much so that my daughter Nathalie has developed a huge number of allergy free recipes, started a company to help others with young children with allergies, has been featured in the newspapers, maga...

(http://growingtrends.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Children-eating-salad-300x300.jpg) Is this really salad ? it tastes so good like this ! Ann & I were fortunate to talk to three amazing ladies from Tennessee a little while ago. They wanted to start a school garden at their school, here is their story, the school garden is now in its third year. (http://growingtrends.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Cuttings-22060_2595531c-300x187.jpg) Some of the main points we heard were:- It's essential to ha...