Down The Garden Path Podcast

In our second episode of the month on the Down the Garden Path podcast, we continue our discussion about deciduous and evergreen shrubs. Join us each week in July as we discuss native shrubs, when and how to prune, and new and noteworthy deciduous and evergreen shrubs. On this week's podcast, we take a look at evergreen shrubs.

Here are some of the topics we cover this week:

• Understand the difference between evergreens vs. conifers
• Tips on watering and caring for your evergreens
• What types of evergreens thrive in the shade
• Best ways to prune your evergreens (listen to last week's episode on pruning)
• How Dwarf evergreens are not the same as your grandparent's evergreens

Tune into the Down The Garden Path podcast each week in July for our discussions on deciduous and evergreen shrubs.

• 20th: New Shrubs for 2020
• 27th: Pruning Shrubs

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.

And Matthew Dressing is a horticulturist and landscape designer. He owns Natural Affinity Garden Design, a landscape design and garden maintenance firm servicing Toronto and the Eastern GTA. Together, Joanne and Matthew do their best to bring you interesting, relevant and helpful topics. Their goal is to help you keep your garden as low maintenance as possible.

A new month means a new topic on the Down the Garden Path podcast. This month, we're talking all about deciduous and evergreen shrubs. Join us each week as we discuss native shrubs, when and how to prune, and new and noteworthy deciduous and evergreen shrubs. On this week's podcast, we discuss pruning.

Here are some of the topics we cover this week:

Evergreens:

• Pruning conifers
• Pruning hedges
• Hiding the cut on spreading evergreens

Deciduous:

• Pruning fruit and shade trees
• Tips for pruning vines
• How to keep groundcovers under control
• Keeping your rose bushes beautiful and healthy with pruning

Tune into the Down The Garden Path podcast each week in July for our discussions on deciduous and evergreen shrubs.

• 13th: Evergreens
• 20th: New Shrubs for 2020
• 27th: Pruning Shrubs

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.

And Matthew Dressing is a horticulturist and landscape designer. He owns Natural Affinity Garden Design, a landscape design and garden maintenance firm servicing Toronto and the Eastern GTA. Together, Joanne and Matthew do their best to bring you interesting, relevant and helpful topics. Their goal is to help you keep your garden as low maintenance as possible.

Don't forget to check out Down the Garden Path on your favourite podcast app and subscribe!

This week on the Down the Garden Path podcast, we've reached the end of our month-long discussion about perennials! Each week in June, we discussed a variety of perennial-related topics. We covered caring for your perennials, new perennials for 2020, peonies and ornamental grasses. And in this episode, we finish off with a discussion about perennials that attract beneficial insects.

Here are some of the topics we cover this week:

• It's about more than just bees! What are beneficial or predatory insects?
• The different types of beneficial insects and the plants you can grow to attract them.
• Discover tips and tricks for attracting beneficial insects.
• Learn more about biodiversity, natives, groupings, water source, minor infestations, mulches, pesticides and artificial attractants.
• And finally, what perennial should you plant to attract beneficial insects.

Tune into the Down The Garden Path podcast in July as we shift our focus from perennials to growing deciduous and evergreen shrubs.

• 6th: Native Shrubs
• 13th: Evergreen Shrubs
• 20th: New Shrubs for 2020
• 27th: Pruning Shrubs

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.

And Matthew Dressing is a horticulturist and landscape designer. He owns Natural Affinity Garden Design, a landscape design and garden maintenance firm servicing Toronto and the Eastern GTA. Together, Joanne and Matthew do their best to bring you interesting, relevant and helpful topics. Their goal is to help you keep your garden as low maintenance as possible.

This month on the Down the Garden Path podcast, we are talking all about perennials! From caring for your perennials and new perennials for 2020, to peonies and ornamental grasses. This month, we'll have you growing back for more! In this week's episode of the Down the Garden Path podcast, we continue our month-long perennial theme with a discussion about ornamental grasses.

Here are some of the topics we cover this week:

• The difference between cool season and warm season and what it means for your perennials
• How to care for ornamental grasses during the cool season
• Some examples of cool-season ornamental grasses
• Joanne and Matt's favourite cool-season ornamental grasses
• How to care for ornamental grasses during the warm season
• Some examples of warm-season ornamental grasses
• Joanne and Matt's favourite warm-season ornamental grasses
• Some key ornamental grasses to avoid

Join us next Monday as we close off our perennial-themed podcasts with more helpful tips on growing and caring for your perennials. Next up:

• June 29th: Unique Pollinator Plants/Attracting Beneficials

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, Mattthew Dressing owns Natural Affinity Garden Design. Natural Affinity is a landscape design and garden maintenance firm servicing Toronto and the Eastern GTA. Together, Joanne and Matthew do their best to bring you interesting, relevant and helpful topics. Their goal is to help you keep your garden as low maintenance as possible.

This month on Down the Garden Path, we are talking all about perennials! From caring for your perennials and new perennials for 2020, to peonies and ornamental grasses...this month we'll have you growing back for more. In this week's episode, we continue our month-long perennial discussion with a trip into the world of groundcovers.

• What is groundcover?
• How is groundcover used as mulch?
• What are the uses for groundcover in the garden?
• Are groundcovers invasive?
• Native groundcovers for each area of your garden receiving sun, partial and shade
• Perennial groundcovers for each area of your garden receiving sun, partial and shade

Our perennial-themed podcasts continue for all of June.

Join us each Monday in June for more helpful tips on growing and caring for your perennials. Next up:

• 22nd: Ornamental Grasses
• 29th: Unique Pollinator Plants/Attracting Beneficials

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. We do our best to bring you interesting, relevant and helpful topics to help you keep your garden as low maintenance as possible.

This month on Down the Garden Path, we're talking all about perennials! From caring for your perennials and new perennials for 2020 to peonies and ornamental grasses, this month we'll have you growing back for more. On this week's show, we continue our month-long perennial discussion with a trip into the world of peonies.

• The different types of peonies: garden, tree and Itoh
• Learn how to care for each (placement, planting, watering, deadheading, dividing)
• The notable varieties of garden, tree and Itoh peonies
• Types of peony flowers: single, Japanese, anemone, semi-double (chrysanthemum and rose types), double (hydrangea globular, golden circle), double-bomb type
• Peonies bloom from late spring through early summer: discover how you can extend that period by planting various timed cultivars
• Issues keeping your peonies from flowering
• Virtual Peony Festival

Join us in June for our "Perennial" themed podcasts.

• 15th: Groundcovers as Mulch
• 22nd: Ornamental Grasses
• 29th: Unique Pollinator Plants/Attracting Beneficials

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. We do our best to bring you interesting, relevant and helpful topics to help you keep your garden as low maintenance as possible.

With a new month, comes a new topic on Down the Garden Path. This month we're talking all about perennials! From caring for your perennials and new perennials for 2020, to peonies and ornamental grasses, this month we'll have you growing back for more. Tonight, we begin our month-long perennial discussion with an intro to perennials, their care and what's new for 2020.

• An introduction to 2020 perennials
• What are perennials and the best ways to care for them
• Dancing Queen, the 2020 Hosta of the Year
• Perennial Plant Association's pick for Perennial of the Year: Aralia cordata 'Sun King'
• Proven Winners' pick for Perennial of the Year: Denim 'n Lace Russian Sage
• Matt's favourite perennial: Toad Lily
• Joanne's favourite perennials: Catmint, Rozanne Geranium, Caradonna Salvia

Join us in June for our "Perennial" themed podcasts.

• 8th: Peonies
• 15th: Groundcovers as Mulch
• 22nd: Ornamental Grasses
• 29th: Unique Pollinator Plants/Attracting Beneficials

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. We do our best to bring you interesting, relevant and helpful topics to help you keep your garden as low maintenance as possible.

This month on Down the Garden Path, we're exploring "Gardening Beyond the Basics." In this episode, we conclude our month-long discussion on how to take your gardening to the next level with a look at what you should be doing after your garden is planted.

• Now is the time to bring your houseplants outside and slowly integrate them into your outdoor landscape (hint: very slowly).
• Joanne and Matthew remind listeners to fertilize indoor flowering plants with high middle-number fertilizer.
• The importance of watering your vegetable gardens often and deeply.
• Temperatures are ideal to apply grass seed to your lawn.
• Now is a good time to do your spring application of nematodes to treat for grubs.

Join us in June for our "Perennial" themed podcasts.

• 1st: Intro to Perennials
• 8th: Peonies
• 15th: Groundcovers as Mulch
• 22nd: Ornamental Grasses
• 29th: Unique Pollinator Plants/Attracting Beneficials

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. We do our best to bring you interesting, relevant and helpful topics to help you keep your garden as low maintenance as possible.

This month on Down the Garden Path, we're exploring "Gardening Beyond the Basics." In this episode, we continue our month-long discussion about how to take your gardening to the next level with a look at straw bale gardening. Our guest is author, speaker and straw bale gardening expert Joel Karsten.

A farm boy who grew up tending a soil garden like other gardeners have for centuries, Joel shook up the gardening world with his first book describing his breakthrough straw bale gardening concept. The New York Times called Straw Bale Gardening "a revolutionary gardening method."

His ideas have been enthusiastically embraced globally, making his books bestsellers in many languages. Joel earned a Bachelor of Science in Horticulture from the University of Minnesota and spends his summers tending his vegetable garden, doing research, and experimenting with new ideas and methods he can pass along to his followers. He is a popular speaker, making appearances around the world at events celebrating innovation, garden enthusiasts and healthful lifestyles.

Joel is renowned for his social media presence, blog and online impressions. He has inspired tens of thousands of first-time gardeners and a legion of "seasoned" growers who found a new and better way to pursue their passion. He has inspired many "retired" gardeners to begin gardening again once they learn how his method eliminates the physical challenges found in traditional soil gardening.

We discuss Joel's journey into straw bale gardening, his time in Cambodia, and ask him:

• How easy is it to start a straw bale garden?
• Can you explain how straw bale gardening works?
• How long can you use straw bales?
• What do you do with the bales when they're used up?
• Can you make your own straw bales if you don't have any?

You can find Straw Bale Gardens online at www.strawbalegaredens.com and on social media:

• Facebook: @learntogrowastrawbalegarden
• Instagram: @strawbalegarden
• Twitter: @strawbalegarden
• Pinterest: strawbalegardens.com

Join us on Monday, May, 25th for the last podcast in our "Gardening Beyond the Basics" series: It's All Planted. Now What?

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. We do our best to bring you interesting, relevant and helpful topics to help you keep your garden as low maintenance as possible.

This month on Down The Garden Path, we're exploring "Gardening Beyond the Basics." In this episode, we continue our month-long discussion about how to take your gardening to the next level with unique container gardens. We hope you were able to join us last week as we explored the key elements involved in low-maintenance gardening.

Some of the topics we discuss:

• The kind of soil for container gardening.
• The benefits of using compost in your containers.
• How to choose the right container size.
• The use of hanging baskets for an instant wow-factor.
• The difference between thriller, filler and spiller.
• Trees, shrubs and perennials: thinking beyond annuals for your containers.
• Designing with groups of containers.
• Creating a water garden in a container.

18th - Straw Bale Gardening

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. We do our best to bring you interesting, relevant and helpful topics to help you keep your garden as low maintenance as possible.

Remember to check out Down the Garden Path on your favourite podcast app and subscribe.