Down The Garden Path Podcast

Plants are more than just pretty; many have unique uses and fragrances. Tonight on the show, landscape designers Joanne Shaw and Matthew Dressing welcome NYC Aromatica's Amy Anthony to the Down the Garden Path podcast. Amy discusses growing aromatic plants and essential oils and how you can make them a dynamic part of your garden and landscape.

About Amy Anthony

Amy is a certified clinical aromatherapist and aromatic gardener who left her career in marketing research to pursue what is closest to her heart: working with plants. As a certified aromatherapist, aromatherapy educator, herbalist, gardener, certified master composter and artisanal distiller, Amy is one of NYC's top aromatherapy practitioners.

Host of the Essential Aromatica podcast, Amy also tends her own aromatic garden on the North Fork of Long Island where she distills her unique products.

Listed as one of America's most influential aromatherapists, Amy Anthony is currently the New York State representative for the Alliance of International Aromatherapists. Her private practice, NYC Aromatica, includes one-on-one customized aromatherapy sessions, online class offerings, corporate consulting and article writing.

Tune in to hear Joanne and Matt speak with Amy Anthony about aromatherapy gardening.

Here are some of the questions and topics covered in this episode:

• What defines a plant as being aromatic?
• What are some of the best aromatic plants?
• What are some situations we'd employ aromatic plants in the garden?
• How do we best design with these plants in the garden?
• If our listeners are looking to start gardening with aromatic plants, what would be your top three low-maintenance plant recommendations?
• With winter coming, what can we do to bring the benefits of aromatic plants from the garden indoors?
• What are essential oils and where do we get them from?
• How are essential oils produced?
• Can we make essential oils at home from plants in our own gardens?
• How do we get the most from using essential oils?

Where to find Amy:

• Website: www.nycaromatica.com
• Podcast: www.nycaromatica.com/podcast/
• LinkedIn: @amy-n-anthony
• Instagram: @nycaromatica
• Facebook: @nycaromatica

Down the Garden Path Podcast

Each week on Down The Garden Path, professional landscape designers Joanne Shaw and Matthew Dressing discuss down-to-earth tips and advice for your plants, gardens and landscapes.

As the owner of Down2Earth Landscape Design, Joanne Shaw has been designing beautiful gardens for homeowners east of Toronto for over a decade. A horticulturist and landscape designer, Matthew Dressing owns Natural Affinity Garden Design, a landscape design and garden maintenance firm servicing Toronto and the Eastern GTA. Together, they do their best to bring you interesting, relevant and useful topics to help you keep your garden as low maintenance as possible.

In their new book, Down the Garden Path: A Step-By-Step Guide to Your Ontario Garden, Joanne and Matthew distill their horticultural and design expertise and their combined experiences in helping others create and maintain thriving gardens into one easy-to-read monthly reference guide. It's now available on Amazon.

There's nothing quite like a fresh bouquet of flowers in the house. This week, landscape designers Joanne Shaw and Matthew Dressing welcome Heather Moran of Heirloom Heather Flower Farm to the Down the Garden Path podcast. Heather shares her tips and tricks on how to grow summer flowers and cheerful spring bulbs to create a cut flower garden of your own.

About Heirloom Heather Flower Farm

Heirloom Heather started as a small-scale flower farm in 2021. Dedicated to farming sustainably and using organic methods, they preach low waste and try to be as eco-conscious as they can when making decisions about the farm. Currently, they are learning about soil health, low tiling, and regenerative farming.

Named after the Scottish flower, Heather is the Head Farmer Florist at Heirloom Heather. She does all the planning, prepping, and planting. She has a background in Graphic Design and loves to make stunning colour palettes with flowers. In 2020, newly sober Heather found solace in gardening when the world was basically turned upside down. Heirloom Heather started as a way to spread happiness and joy through flowers when people needed it most.

Tune in to hear Joanne and Matt speak with Heather Moran of Heirloom Heather Flower Farm.

Here are some of the questions and topics covered in this episode:

• Tell us more about the farm. How did it get started?
• We met at the Toronto Flower Market.
• What plant do you grow throughout the different seasons?
• Can people visit the farm?
• Some of the flowers you grow are bulbs. Do you have some to lift for the winter?
• Do you have to start some things inside?
• What hardy bulbs are you planting this season?
• Do you plant all new bulbs every year?
• How do we take care of bulbs?
• What is your bulb subscription?
• What is your fresh flower subscription?
• What other services do you offer?

Other resources discussed: www.johnnyseeds.com

Where to find Heather:

• www.heirloomheather.ca
• Instagram: @heirloomheather
• Facebook: @heirloomheather

Down the Garden Path Podcast

Each week on Down The Garden Path, professional landscape designers Joanne Shaw and Matthew Dressing discuss down-to-earth tips and advice for your plants, gardens and landscapes.

As the owner of Down2Earth Landscape Design, Joanne Shaw has been designing beautiful gardens for homeowners east of Toronto for over a decade. A horticulturist and landscape designer, Matthew Dressing owns Natural Affinity Garden Design, a landscape design and garden maintenance firm servicing Toronto and the Eastern GTA. Together, they do their best to bring you interesting, relevant and useful topics to help you keep your garden as low maintenance as possible.

In their new book, Down the Garden Path: A Step-By-Step Guide to Your Ontario Garden, Joanne and Matthew distill their horticultural and design expertise and their combined experiences in helping others create and maintain thriving gardens into one easy-to-read monthly reference guide. It's now available on Amazon.

This week, Down the Garden Path presents an encore presentation of the October in the Garden podcast from 2019.

With gardening chores changing so much from month to month, staying on top of your outdoor to-do list can be a challenge. In this week's episode of Down the Garden Path, Joanne and Matthew discuss what's happening this month in your garden, offering down-to-earth tips and advice for your plants, gardens and landscapes.

Tune in to hear Joanne and Matthew discuss the do's and don'ts for your October garden.

Some of the topics discussed this month:

• The importance of watering weekly, especially newly planted evergreens
• Stars in your fall garden
• How to plant bulbs
• What to do with your annuals and perennials
• How to clean and care for your lawn and fruit/vegetable garden
• General home and garden maintenance that will make for less work in the spring

Down the Garden Path Podcast

Each week on Down The Garden Path, professional landscape designers Joanne Shaw and Matthew Dressing discuss down-to-earth tips and advice for your plants, gardens and landscapes.

As the owner of Down2Earth Landscape Design, Joanne Shaw has been designing beautiful gardens for homeowners east of Toronto for over a decade. A horticulturist and landscape designer, Matthew Dressing owns Natural Affinity Garden Design, a landscape design and garden maintenance firm servicing Toronto and the Eastern GTA. Together, they do their best to bring you interesting, relevant and useful topics to help you keep your garden as low maintenance as possible.

In their new book, Down the Garden Path: A Step-By-Step Guide to Your Ontario Garden, Joanne and Matthew distill their horticultural and design expertise and their combined experiences in helping others create and maintain thriving gardens into one easy-to-read monthly reference guide. It's now available on Amazon.

This week, landscape designers Joanne Shaw and Matthew Dressing welcome Aaron Deacon from BIOS Nutrients to the Down the Garden Path podcast to talk about how feeding your indoor plants naturally improves their soil health.

About Aaron Deacon

Aaron first learned about the environmental damage caused by synthetic fertilizers and pesticides during college and set out after graduation to begin growing for himself. He received a license from Health Canada to grow medicinal cannabis and decided to go completely organic. He was discouraged by the results from products that were available on the market and began studying soil to learn how plants grow naturally. After discovering biology within soil that feed on organic matter is what feeds plants, he began practicing fermentation to add biology and organic matter back to the soil and mimic mother nature. Through six years of research and testing, he now makes completely natural fertilizers and pesticides that heal soil and educates communities on how mother nature grows.

Tune in to hear Joanne and Matt speak with Aaron Deacon feeding your indoor plants naturally improves their soil health.

Here are some of the questions and topics covered in this episode:

• How did you discover the biology within soil?
  • Can you share with us how you came to the "ah ha!" moment that started it all? Why is this soil biology so important?
  • Started looking for better soil nutrients while growing cannabis
  • Noticed improved yield and better plant health when used on cannabis and realized it would be beneficial with all types of plants
• What are BIOS nutrients?
• How does BIOS work to improve soil and plant health?
• Is BIOS safe for humans and pets?
  • How does it relate to human health?
• What can we use BIOS on?
  • Is it just for indoor plants?
• If used outside, will the bacteria overwinter in colder regions?
• Can it be used with other natural soil improvement products?
• How do we apply BIOS?
  • How often do we need to reapply it?
• Do we need to feed our plants traditionally after using BIOS?
• What other products does BIOS Nutrients offer?
  • Yucca Extract and Probiotic

Get a free sample of BIOS

Visit www.biosnutrients.ca and sign up to get your free sample of BIOS. Enter coupon code DTGP15 in the order comments to let Aaron know where you heard about BIOS and use DTGP15 at checkout to receive 15% off all of your purchases.

Down the Garden Path Podcast

Each week on Down The Garden Path, professional landscape designers Joanne Shaw and Matthew Dressing discuss down-to-earth tips and advice for your plants, gardens and landscapes.

As the owner of Down2Earth Landscape Design, Joanne Shaw has been designing beautiful gardens for homeowners east of Toronto for over a decade. A horticulturist and landscape designer, Matthew Dressing owns Natural Affinity Garden Design, a landscape design and garden maintenance firm servicing Toronto and the Eastern GTA. Together, they do their best to bring you interesting, relevant and useful topics to help you keep your garden as low maintenance as possible.

In their new book, Down the Garden Path: A Step-By-Step Guide to Your Ontario Garden, Joanne and Matthew distill their horticultural and design expertise and their combined experiences in helping others create and maintain thriving gardens into one easy-to-read monthly reference guide. It's now available on Amazon.

This week, Matthew Dressing and Joanne Shaw welcome amateur butterfly enthusiast Lisa-Rae Cormack to the Down the Garden Path podcast to talk about harvesting milkweed and how to grow it from seed.

About Lisa-Rae Cormack

An HR professional from Whitby, Ontario, Lisa-Rae began raising monarch butterflies when she became an empty nester five years ago. To date, she has raised and released close to 400 monarch butterflies. This wouldn't be possible without the monarch caterpillars' only source of food: milkweed.

What started as a small indoor project has grown over the years to incorporate an outdoor enclosure, vast pollinator gardens and two variations of milkweed. Her operation is coined "#FlyBeFree" and in 2020, she was officially certified as a registered monarch waystation by MonarchWatch.org. Through trial-and-error, Lisa-Rae has taught herself how to harvest, stratify and germinate common milkweed for this purpose.

Tune in to hear Joanne and Matt speak with Lisa-Rae Cormack about harvesting and growing milkweed.

Here are some of the questions and topics covered in this episode:

• What got you started down this path?
  • Lisa-Rae was mesmerized by witnessing the caterpillars' transformation
• How did you learn?
  • Self-taught, through trial and error and lots of internet research
• Describe your setup.
  • She has a full cycle operation: from egg to caterpillar to pupa to butterfly and repeat
• Monarchs on the endangered species list; Lisa-Rae feels like she's a part of something big
  • Only 3% survive the full life cycle in "the wild" whereas she has a 98% success rate (this year was 100%)
• Why milkweed?
  • This is the monarch caterpillars' only source of food
  • Lisa-Rae's is organic and chemical-free
• Why the decline in the monarch butterfly's population?
  • The lack of viable milkweed along the migration path to Mexico (and back) is the main reason
• What types of milkweed do you use?
  • Experienced with two types: common and tropical
• Collected common milkweed seeds from pods on the side of the road; once pods open and fluff starts to emerge, it's ready to harvest (Oct – Nov)
• Common milkweed needs to be stratified
  • Can be done in the freezer
  • Can be difficult to germinate
• Start seeds indoors with grow lights and a fan at end of March and move outside end of May once four full leaves have formed.
  • Issues to deal with include mold, too much/little water
• Takes two years for common milkweed to really establish; the container method works well
• Tackling milkweed pests and threats: aphids, ants and wasps, humans (weed killers)
• What's your favourite type? Both!
  • Tropical because it is easy to grow (germinates fast and doesn't need to be stratified) and has gorgeous orange and yellow flowers; it's an annual
  • Common is hearty and has beautiful blooms in its second year; monarchs love it; it's native and it's a perennial

Down the Garden Path Podcast

Each week on Down The Garden Path, professional landscape designers Joanne Shaw and Matthew Dressing discuss down-to-earth tips and advice for your plants, gardens and landscapes.

As the owner of Down2Earth Landscape Design, Joanne Shaw has been designing beautiful gardens for homeowners east of Toronto for over a decade. A horticulturist and landscape designer, Matthew Dressing owns Natural Affinity Garden Design, a landscape design and garden maintenance firm servicing Toronto and the Eastern GTA. Together, they do their best to bring you interesting, relevant and useful topics to help you keep your garden as low maintenance as possible.

In their new book, Down the Garden Path: A Step-By-Step Guide to Your Ontario Garden, Joanne and Matthew distill their horticultural and design expertise and their combined experiences in helping others create and maintain thriving gardens into one easy-to-read monthly reference guide. It's now available on Amazon.

Do you have some annuals that are still going strong? In this episode of Down the Garden Path podcast, landscape designers Joanne Shaw and Matthew Dressing discuss how some annuals can be saved and brought inside for you to use in your gardens next spring.

Tune in to hear Joanne and Matthew discuss ways you can save your annuals.

Here are some of the questions and topics covered in this episode:

• Annuals as houseplants?
  • Coleus, geraniums, tuberous begonias, and sweet potato vine are some of the annuals that we can bring indoors and use as houseplant over the winter.
  • How do you properly bring in plant material for the winter?
    • You can bring in the pot and treat it like a houseplant with indirect light, keeping it lightly watered.
    • You can treat it like a mother plant and take cuttings from it.
      • Put the cuttings in water in indirect light, as well, and plant them when you are ready. Keep in indirect light until they are ready to put out in the spring.
• Summer bulbs or tubers: Sweet potato vines, dahlias, cannas, and calls
  • How do you properly bring them indoors?
    • Dig them up and shake the dirt loose, but don't wash the tubers or introduce any moisture to them.
  • How do you store them for the winter?
    • Store them in a cool, dark place until February or so; then you can divide the tubers with a clean sharp knife and create even more plants than you started with.
• If you are looking for unusual or special bulbs, corms or tubers, now is the good time to look at online resources. Most mail-order places have a better variety than local stores and they will ship them in time for you to pot them up.
• Dahlia May Flower Farm will start taking orders soon: We encourage you to support smaller growers in your area and buy your plants from them.

Down the Garden Path Podcast

Each week on Down The Garden Path, professional landscape designers Joanne Shaw and Matthew Dressing discuss down-to-earth tips and advice for your plants, gardens and landscapes.

As the owner of Down2Earth Landscape Design, Joanne Shaw has been designing beautiful gardens for homeowners east of Toronto for over a decade. A horticulturist and landscape designer, Matthew Dressing owns Natural Affinity Garden Design, a landscape design and garden maintenance firm servicing Toronto and the Eastern GTA. Together, they do their best to bring you interesting, relevant and useful topics to help you keep your garden as low maintenance as possible.

In their new book, Down the Garden Path: A Step-By-Step Guide to Your Ontario Garden, Joanne and Matthew distill their horticultural and design expertise and their combined experiences in helping others create and maintain thriving gardens into one easy-to-read monthly reference guide. It's now available on Amazon.

This week on the Down the Garden Path podcast, landscape designers Matthew Dressing and Joanne Shaw are joined by Bob Osborne, author of Hardy Apples: Growing Apples in Cold Climates, to talk about how to select, grow, and care for our apple trees in cold climates.

For over a decade, the gardening world has seen the continuous rise in popularity of growing your own food and food security. One of the most popular plants of this growing movement are apple trees, and if you live in the northern part of the country where winters can be long and unforgiving, hardiness is just as important as flavour.

About Bob Osborne

Bob Osborne owns Corn Hill Nursery in New Brunswick, Canada. He is a gardening author, a columnist on CBC Radio and a member of several horticultural organizations.

Join Joanne and Matt as they welcome Bob Osborne, author of Hardy Apples: Growing Apples in Cold Climates.

Here are some of the questions and topics covered in this episode:

• Tell us a bit about your background as a gardener.
• How did you start Corn Hill Nurseries?
• How are apple trees produced for wholesale/retail?
• What are the top cultivars you recommend for first-time apple growers in northern climates?
• In your book, you have a note on taste.
  • Can you share that with us?
• When at the garden center, what should customers look for when purchasing an apple tree?
• What should customers consider before planting an apple tree?
• It's home and planted, now what?
  • How do we care for our apple tree?
• What are some of the common apple pests and diseases we'll see no matter where you're growing apples?
• In your dedication, you thank all the "apple explorers who are helping save countless cultivars from oblivion."
  • Can you tell us more about those efforts?

Find Bob Osborne online: Website: www.cornhillnursery.com Facebook: @cornhillnursery Instagram: @cornhillnursery

His book, Hardy Apples: Growing Apples in Cold Climates, is available for purchase on Amazon and Indigo.

Down the Garden Path Podcast

Each week on Down The Garden Path, professional landscape designers Joanne Shaw and Matthew Dressing discuss down-to-earth tips and advice for your plants, gardens and landscapes.

As the owner of Down2Earth Landscape Design, Joanne Shaw has been designing beautiful gardens for homeowners east of Toronto for over a decade. A horticulturist and landscape designer, Matthew Dressing owns Natural Affinity Garden Design, a landscape design and garden maintenance firm servicing Toronto and the Eastern GTA. Together, they do their best to bring you interesting, relevant and useful topics to help you keep your garden as low maintenance as possible.

In their new book, Down the Garden Path: A Step-By-Step Guide to Your Ontario Garden, Joanne and Matthew distill their horticultural and design expertise and their combined experiences in helping others create and maintain thriving gardens into one easy-to-read monthly reference guide. It's now available on Amazon.

How's your lawn faring after these past few months of hot dry weather? As summer winds to a close, landscape designers Joanne Shaw and Matthew Dressing discuss lawn care and lawn care alternatives.

Tune in to hear Joanne and Matthew discuss lawn care and lawn alternatives.

Here are some of the questions and topics covered in this episode:

• What should we be doing for our lawns in September?
• How do we apply nematodes?
• How do we fertilize at this time of year?
• Seeding and sodding; is now the time?
• What other activities can I do as temperatures cool and the lawn is healthy?
• What is biodiversity?
• What does "lawn alternative" stand for?
• What are some lawn alternatives?
• Do I have to make my lawn just one thing?
• How do incorporate some lawn alternatives into my existing lawn?
• How do I take care of lawn alternatives?

Resources mentioned during the show

Down the Garden Path podcast – Grub Control Natural Insect Control – www.naturalinsectcontrol.com West Coast Seeds – www.westcoastseeds.com Down the Garden Path podcast – Lawn Care: Artificial Turf Toronto Flower Market appearance Saturday September 10th – www.torontoflowermarket.ca Doug Tallamy's book: Nature's Best Hope.

Down the Garden Path Podcast

Each week on Down The Garden Path, professional landscape designers Joanne Shaw and Matthew Dressing discuss down-to-earth tips and advice for your plants, gardens and landscapes.

As the owner of Down2Earth Landscape Design, Joanne Shaw has been designing beautiful gardens for homeowners east of Toronto for over a decade. A horticulturist and landscape designer, Matthew Dressing owns Natural Affinity Garden Design, a landscape design and garden maintenance firm servicing Toronto and the Eastern GTA. Together, they do their best to bring you interesting, relevant and useful topics to help you keep your garden as low maintenance as possible.

In their new book, Down the Garden Path: A Step-By-Step Guide to Your Ontario Garden, Joanne and Matthew distill their horticultural and design expertise and their combined experiences in helping others create and maintain thriving gardens into one easy-to-read monthly reference guide. It's now available on Amazon.

This week on the Down the Garden Path podcast, landscape designers Joanne Shaw and Matthew Dressing close off the month of August by answering listener questions about the seasonal stressors we're experiencing in our gardens.

Tune in to hear Joanne and Matthew discuss seasonal stressors in your August garden.

Here are some of the questions and topics covered in this episode:

• Is it one or two inches of water every week for our lawns?
  • What about in this drought here in the GTA? More water?
• Reminder to water newly planted trees.
• Using water timers on hoses to help with watering.
• Any tips for choosing an apple tree for my yard?
• How do we apply nematodes?
  • When's the best time?
• Watering for a week at night for nematodes: won't that do the damage you talk about for our lawn?
• Is fall a good time to plant?
• Growing an aloe plant

Resources mentioned during the show

Suzanne Poizner's Urban Forestry Show on RealityRadio101.com.

Applying Nematodes

Down the Garden Path Podcast

Each week on Down The Garden Path, professional landscape designers Joanne Shaw and Matthew Dressing discuss down-to-earth tips and advice for your plants, gardens and landscapes.

As the owner of Down2Earth Landscape Design, Joanne Shaw has been designing beautiful gardens for homeowners east of Toronto for over a decade. A horticulturist and landscape designer, Matthew Dressing owns Natural Affinity Garden Design, a landscape design and garden maintenance firm servicing Toronto and the Eastern GTA. Together, they do their best to bring you interesting, relevant and useful topics to help you keep your garden as low maintenance as possible.

In their new book, Down the Garden Path: A Step-By-Step Guide to Your Ontario Garden, Joanne and Matthew distill their horticultural and design expertise and their combined experiences in helping others create and maintain thriving gardens into one easy-to-read monthly reference guide. It's now available on Amazon.

In this episode of the Down the Garden Path podcast, landscape designers Joanne Shaw and Matthew Dressing answer questions about their new book, Down the Garden Path: A Step-By-Step Guide to Your Ontario Garden, on The Food Garden Life Show, a podcast hosted by Emma Biggs and Steven Biggs.

Tune in to hear Joanne and Matt answer questions about their book on The Food Garden Life Show.

Steven and Emma ask Matt and Joanne a variety of questions:

• Tell us more about you and your podcast. How did you start working together?
• How do your approaches to gardening differ?
• What was the inspiration for a book that follows the seasons?
• What are your top tips from the book?

Listen to Steven and Emma on past Down the Garden Path podcasts:

Talking Tomatoes

Growing Figs in Cold Climates

Growing Lemons

The Food Garden Life Show

Find them online at www.foodgardenlife.com, on Instagram and Facebook.

You can also find Emma online here, as well as on Instagram.

Down the Garden Path Podcast

Each week on Down The Garden Path, professional landscape designers Joanne Shaw and Matthew Dressing discuss down-to-earth tips and advice for your plants, gardens and landscapes.

As the owner of Down2Earth Landscape Design, Joanne Shaw has been designing beautiful gardens for homeowners east of Toronto for over a decade. A horticulturist and landscape designer, Matthew Dressing owns Natural Affinity Garden Design, a landscape design and garden maintenance firm servicing Toronto and the Eastern GTA. Together, they do their best to bring you interesting, relevant and useful topics to help you keep your garden as low maintenance as possible.

In their new book, Down the Garden Path: A Step-By-Step Guide to Your Ontario Garden, Joanne and Matthew distill their horticultural and design expertise and their combined experiences in helping others create and maintain thriving gardens into one easy-to-read monthly reference guide. It's now available on Amazon.