Down The Garden Path Podcast

This week, Joanne welcomes Ellen Zachos, author of 11 books on plants, including her latest, Mythic Plants: Potions and Poisons from the Gardens of the Gods.

About Ellen

A Harvard graduate, Ellen's first career was on Broadway (Les Miz), but the gift of a peace lily on opening night opened her eyes to the wonderful world of plants. Ellen taught at the New York Botanical Garden for many years and also served as Coordinator of the Gardening Department in Continuing Ed, before moving to Santa Fe, NM. She was named a Great American Gardener by the Epcot Flower and Garden Festival. Her 11th book, Mythic Plants: Potions & Poisons from the Gardens of the Gods, was published this year.

Inspiration & Research

• Grew from Ellen's Greek heritage and lifelong love of mythology and plants.
• Greek mythology felt personally significant; she wasn't drawn to Norse or Indian myths.
• Extensive research across historical texts; citations couldn't fit in the print book, but are available online.

Plant Stories & Mythology Connections

• Nepenthe (Poppy):
  • In Homer's Odyssey, Helen of Troy prepared Nepenthe—an "anti-sorrow" drink of wine and opium poppy.
  • Calmed grief temporarily. Linnaeus later named the tropical pitcher plant Nepenthes after this myth, believing its beauty could lift sorrow.

• Moly (Snowdrop):
  • Hermes gave Odysseus "Moly" to protect him from Circe's spells.
  • Described as a plant with black roots and white flowers—likely the snowdrop (Galanthus).
  • Contains galantamine, which counters hallucinations—aligning with the myth's antidote effect.
  • Modern research explores galantamine for Alzheimer's treatment.

• Fig:
  • Valued food in ancient Greece, consumed fresh or dried before refrigeration existed.
  • Special laws governed fig harvesting; penalties for theft were severe.
  • Ancient figs required complex pollination (caprification).
  • Some myths surrounding figs are notably "saucy."

• Pine Tree:
  • Associated with violent origin myths, but also practical uses.
  • Pine nuts were a staple food; pine resin sealed wine vessels, the origin of Retsina wine.
  • Modern Retsina has a milder pine flavour, enjoyed especially in Greek summer settings.

• Aconitum (Monkshood):
  • Misunderstood as poisonous to touch—false. Dangerous only if ingested.
  • Blooms beautifully when few others do; it is resistant to deer and rabbits.
  • Ellen wishes for a "Plant Mythbusters" show to debunk misinformation about plant toxicity.
• Daffodil (Narcissus):
  • Linked to the myth of Narcissus falling in love with his reflection.
  • Also central to the Persephone story, Zeus created a daffodil to lure her before Hades abducted her.
  • Explains the origin of winter and spring cycles through Demeter's grief and renewal.

Themes & Insights

• Plants in Greek mythology were deeply symbolic, medicinal, and magical.
• Many ancient uses align with modern scientific knowledge.
• The book groups plants thematically into short, easy-to-read chapters, ideal for bedtime or book clubs.
• Appeals to gardeners, historians, herbalists, and mythology enthusiasts.

Ellen's Life & Work Today

• Now based in Santa Fe with a small, fully edible garden.
• Enjoys discovering new drought-tolerant plants in a vastly different climate.
• Former rooftop gardener in New York City; designed and maintained terrace gardens.
• Also teaches and speaks across the U.S.—including the upcoming Herb Society of America Conference in Texas (April).
• Other popular books: How to Forage for Wild Foods Without Dying, Backyard Foraging, The Wildcrafted Cocktail, The Forager's Pantry.
• Advocates for safe, informed foraging and appreciation of wild edibles.
• Mythic Plants features beautiful botanical illustrations by Lisel Ashlock.

Mythic Plants makes a great gift and is available on Amazon! Find Ellen Zachos on Instagram.

Down the Garden Path: A Step-By-Step Guide to Your Ontario Garden

On Down The Garden Path, professional landscape designer Joanne Shaw discusses 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. She does her best to bring you interesting, relevant and useful topics to help you keep your garden as low maintenance as possible.

In Down the Garden Path: A Step-By-Step Guide to Your Ontario Garden, Joanne and fellow landscape designer Matthew Dressing 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.

Get your copy today on Amazon.

Don't forget to check out Down the Garden Path on your favourite podcast app and subscribe! You can now catch the podcast on YouTube.

This week on the podcast, Joanne welcomes Brandie, the Suburban Gardenista, an avid gardener passionate about supporting pollinators with native plants.

Brandie is Pollinator Stewardship Certified by Pollinator Partnership Canada and loves sharing her learnings through podcasts, workshops, and social media.

You can find her online on YouTube and Instagram @thesuburbangardenista.

Brandie's Gardening Journey

• Began gardening ~20 years ago after moving into a home with no plants
• Inspired by her mother's lush gardens
• Discovered native plants through growing Obedient Plant — her "gateway" plant
• Realized the importance of planting natives to support local ecosystems and pollinators
• Certified through Pollinator Partnership Canada (Pollinator Stewardship Certification)
• Shares gardening insights via YouTube, Instagram, and workshops

Native vs. Non-Native Plants

• Native plants provide critical support for specialist pollinators (those reliant on specific species)
• Non-natives mainly support generalist pollinators
• Balance between natives, non-natives, and invasives is key
• Common aggressive natives: Canada Anemone, Obedient Plant, Common Milkweed
• Alternatives like Butterfly Milkweed and Swamp Milkweed are more contained

Managing Aggressive or Invasive Species

• Important to research before planting
• Remove known invasives such as English Ivy, Vinca/Periwinkle, Lily of the Valley
• Learn plant behaviour (spreading, seeding, etc.) before adding to the garden

Designing with Natives in Small Spaces

• Small gardens can host a wide variety (Brandie has 70+ species)
• Focus on the right plant, right place, rather than "low maintenance" alone
• Use design creativity: logs, natural materials, and container plants to fill early gaps

Community and Education

• Shares excess seedlings with neighbours; encourages community planting
• Label plants with signs to spark curiosity and conversation
• Promotes pollinator education through advocacy and her YouTube channel

Pollinator Partnership Canada Certification

• The program includes 3 components:
  1. Education: 8 in-depth classes
  2. Habitat Creation: Build pollinator-supportive space
  3. Advocacy: Share learnings through outreach (e.g., YouTube video)
• Highly recommended by Brandie; new cohorts start in February
• Includes regional eco-guides and plant-pollinator charts

YouTube & Monthly Garden Tours

• Started in 2020 to document native garden progress
• Monthly updates show plants' life cycles and seasonal variations
• Helps gardeners identify seedlings and avoid weeding out young natives
• Encourages patience and learning through real-life, imperfect gardening videos

Key Takeaways

• Start small—one native plant at a time
• Do research: focus on scientific names, avoid hybrids if aiming for ecological impact
• Natives can thrive in containers and urban spaces
• Real gardens are messy, evolving, and full of learning opportunities
• Supporting native pollinators starts with curiosity and one plant

Brandie's Favourite Natives

• Obedient Plant (despite its unruly habits)
• Swamp Milkweed – fragrant and pollinator-friendly
• Eastern Redbud Tree – long-term vision for beauty and ecosystem support

How to Support Pollinators

• "Start with one plant. Once you see the pollinators arrive, you'll be hooked."
• Gardening with natives isn't about perfection—it's about participation in the ecosystem.

Native Plant Resources Mentioned

• Books:
  • A Garden for the Rusty Patched Bumblebee
  • Gardener's Guide to Native Plants of the Southern Great Lakes Region
• Online Resource:
  • Rick Gray's interactive North American map of native plant sources
• Organizations: Pollinator Partnership Canada

Please let me know what other topics you would like me to discuss.

Email your questions and comments to [email protected], or connect with me on my website: down2earth.ca

Find Down the Garden Path on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube: @downthegardenpathpodcast.

On Down The Garden Path, professional landscape designer Joanne Shaw discusses 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. She does her best to bring you interesting, relevant and useful topics to help you keep your garden as low maintenance as possible.

In Down the Garden Path: A Step-By-Step Guide to Your Ontario Garden, Joanne and fellow landscape designer Matthew Dressing 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.

Get your copy today on Amazon.

Don't forget to check out Down the Garden Path on your favourite podcast app and subscribe! You can now catch the podcast on YouTube.

If your summer containers still look surprisingly lush, don't toss them out just yet. This week on the podcast, Joanne discusses how, with a little care, you can enjoy them again next year.

Topics discussed:

• Many annuals are still looking great in mid-October — don't toss them yet!
• You can successfully overwinter several annuals to save money and enjoy them again next year.
• There's no single foolproof method; success depends on the type of plant, growing conditions, and care.
• Joanne shares three main methods: bringing the whole plant indoors, taking cuttings, and storing tubers.

Method 1: Bring the Whole Plant Indoors (Treat as a Houseplant)

• Works well for mixed containers where some plants still look healthy.
• Steps:
  • Scoop out healthy plants, repot in fresh soil.
  • Use a tray or boot tray with gravel to create humidity.
  • Lightly water (avoid soggy soil).
  • Treat with Safer's insecticidal soap, diatomaceous earth, or Bios Nutrients herbal plant soap to remove insects.
  • Keep in a cool location with indirect light (e.g., basement or bright garage that doesn't freeze).
  • Reduce watering through winter; keep soil barely moist.
  • Trim plants back slightly.
  • Begin fertilizing lightly again as days lengthen (Feb–March).

Examples:

• Coleus
• Geraniums (Pelargoniums)
• Million Bells (Calibrachoa) — heavy feeders; need more light

Method 2: Take Cuttings

• Ideal for plants like Coleus, Cigar Plant (Cuphea ignea), Geraniums, and others with soft stems.
• Process:
  • Take small cuttings (3–4 inches).
  • Remove lower leaves.
  • Root in water until roots form.
  • Pot rooted cuttings in small pots (3-inch) with fresh soil.
  • Use Ziploc bags or plastic covers to maintain humidity if needed.
  • Grow under indirect light or with grow lights.
• Benefits:
  • Saves space compared to bringing in full plants.
  • Allows propagation of multiple new plants.

Method 3: Save Tubers (Overwinter Dormant)

• Best for plants like Tuberous Begonias, Canna Lilies, and Dahlias.
• Steps:
  • Let the plant naturally die back (reduce watering).
  • After foliage dries up, gently remove tubers from soil.
  • Do not wash — just brush off soil and roots.
  • Allow to dry completely.
  • Store in paper bags, cardboard boxes, or vermiculite/newspaper.
  • Keep in a cool, dark, dry location all winter.
  • In late February/March, inspect tubers for rot or mildew.
  • Pot them up with fresh soil and water lightly until new growth appears.

General Tips & Insights

• This process helps extend your garden budget and reduce spring costs.
• Overwintering annuals is an experiment — expect variable results.
• Minimal maintenance: check occasionally for dryness or rot.
• Grow lights can improve success, especially for tropical plants.
• Try both full-plant and cutting methods to compare results.
• Share propagated plants with friends and neighbours!
• Think ahead when choosing annuals next spring — pick varieties worth saving.

Final Thoughts

• Overwintering annuals is low-cost and low-risk — a great winter experiment.
• Use it as a way to stay connected to your garden through the cold months.
• Even if you missed the window this year, plan to try it next fall.
• The reward: saving money, learning new skills, and keeping your garden thriving year after year.

Resources Mentioned in the Show:

Down the Garden Path: A Step-By-Step Guide to Your Ontario Garden

Please let me know what other topics you would like me to discuss.

Email your questions and comments to [email protected], or connect with me on my website: down2earth.ca

Find Down the Garden Path on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube: @downthegardenpathpodcast.

On Down The Garden Path, professional landscape designer Joanne Shaw discusses 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. She does her best to bring you interesting, relevant and useful topics to help you keep your garden as low maintenance as possible.

In Down the Garden Path: A Step-By-Step Guide to Your Ontario Garden, Joanne and fellow landscape designer Matthew Dressing 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.

Get your copy today on Amazon.

Don't forget to check out Down the Garden Path on your favourite podcast app and subscribe! You can now catch the podcast on YouTube.

This week on the podcast, Joanne discusses the importance of watering your trees and evergreens throughout October and November.

Topics discussed:

• This summer was the driest summer on record, with only 96 millimetres of rain
• Although 2024 had more rain, half of it came in a single storm: our rainfall patterns are inconsistent and insufficient
• By late July or early August, many people give up on watering their gardens and lawns due to the dry conditions
• Water trees, especially a the drip line rather than just the trunk, once or twice a week until the ground freezes
• Consider using tree bags for young trees to provide slow, consistent watering
• Provide winter protection for Japanese maples by staking and wrapping with burlap
• Pool owners, pay special attention to the trees surrounding your pool, as there is generally not a lot of space between the pool patio and the garden, and the trees take a lot of abuse
• While many people may not consider it their responsibility to water city trees, doing so benefits the entire community
• How to water trees effectively, including targeting the drip line and using tree bags for young trees
• Evergreens and ornamental trees need to be watered well before winter, as they may not show signs of stress until it's too late
• Be proactive in caring for your trees: the investment in water is worth it for the long-term health and beauty of the trees in your yard

Down the Garden Path: A Step-By-Step Guide to Your Ontario Garden

Please let me know what other topics you would like me to discuss.

Email your questions and comments to [email protected], or connect with me on my website: down2earth.ca

Find Down the Garden Path on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube: @downthegardenpathpodcast.

On Down The Garden Path, professional landscape designer Joanne Shaw discusses 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. She does her best to bring you interesting, relevant and useful topics to help you keep your garden as low maintenance as possible.

In Down the Garden Path: A Step-By-Step Guide to Your Ontario Garden, Joanne and fellow landscape designer Matthew Dressing 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.

Get your copy today on Amazon.

Don't forget to check out Down the Garden Path on your favourite podcast app and subscribe! You can now catch the podcast on YouTube.

In this encore presentation of October in the Garden, Joanne Shaw reviews some of the tasks you can do this month, but don't worry, it's not as labour-intensive as you think!

Tasks you can do this month:

Vegetable Gardens

• Clean up and remove the old stems of your tomato or pepper plants that have stopped producing.
• Sow cool-weather plants like lettuce and some spinach: they grow better in the shoulder seasons, late spring /early summer or fall.
• Buy plants at a garden centre or start seeds and sow them right into the garden.
• Top up the vegetable garden with some compost or manure to get ahead of next year.
• Take pictures so you know where plants are because next year you may need to put things in different places.
• Plant a cover crop.

Containers

• If you want to take advantage of the nice weather at the beginning of October, take your vegetables out of their containers and pop in an aster.

Annuals and Perennials

• Annuals: With no frost anytime soon, annuals are probably still doing okay. They may be a little bit leggy or sad-looking. Perk them up with water and fertilizer.
• Perennials: No need to cut them back. You can do some deadheading if things are really looking brown and not necessarily attractive.

Deciduous Trees and Shrubs

• Trees:
  • It is important to water deciduous trees, especially young ones, certainly ones that you just planted this year.
  • Water them deeply every week.
• Evergreen shrubs:
  • Enjoy the fall colour and shape of your shrubs. Cutting them back now is not necessary.
  • Keep newly planted shrubs well-watered. They need some extra time to get established. Being in a drought situation as they go into dormancy in winter is never a good thing.

Seeds and Bulbs

• It's a good time to buy and plant your garlic.
• Spring bulbs: find and buy bulbs – just don't plant them until the end of October, or the beginning of November!
• I recommend not planting tulips, but instead looking at the interesting varieties of daffodils or alliums
• Daffodils and alliums are poisonous to squirrels and other rodents, so they will leave them alone.

Lawn Care

• Time to apply fall fertilizer.
• Pay attention to the weeds, especially crabgrass which is prolific this time of year
• Apply corn gluten to act as a preemergent, preventing the weed seeds from germinating. It's best to apply during spring and fall.

Down the Garden Path: A Step-By-Step Guide to Your Ontario Garden

Please let me know what other topics you would like me to discuss.

Email your questions and comments to [email protected], or connect with me on my website: down2earth.ca

Find Down the Garden Path on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube: @downthegardenpathpodcast.

On Down The Garden Path, professional landscape designer Joanne Shaw discusses 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. She does her best to bring you interesting, relevant and useful topics to help you keep your garden as low maintenance as possible.

In Down the Garden Path: A Step-By-Step Guide to Your Ontario Garden, Joanne and fellow landscape designer Matthew Dressing 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.

Get your copy today on Amazon.

Don't forget to check out Down the Garden Path on your favourite podcast app and subscribe! You can now catch the podcast on YouTube.

In this encore episode of Down the Garden Path, Joanne discusses how to extend the blooming season in your garden by adding asters.

Topics covered in this week's episode:

• Gardens don't have to stop blooming in September. We can extend the season to October and November.
• It's very important to have because the pollinators still need something blooming.
• There are over 30 different species of asters.
• They have a huge variety of growing conditions, so there is an aster for whatever challenging growing condition you have.

Here are the five asters discussed:

• New England Aster, Symphyotrichum nova-angliae
  • The showiest, and likely the one you're most familiar with
  • Native to most U.S. states and provinces
  • It is large and very showy, with a bright, cozy blue flower with a yellow centre
  • The leaves on the stem are densely arranged on the stem
  • Prefer soil moist and they can grow in part shade
  • One of the larger varieties: up to six feet tall
• Whitewood Aster Eurybia divaricata
  • Delicate looking flowers
  • Grows in dry shade which means it makes a wonderful addition to the shade garden
  • Not super showy like most shade plants
  • Found in Ontario in dry, deciduous forests
  • So that's exactly what we want in our garden. If you have maple trees, pine trees, or something like that where the soil underneath is very dry and it's very shady, then this is something worth giving a try to
  • Only gets two to three feet tall
• Smooth Aster Symphyotrichum laeve
  • Similar to the New England Aster, it has leaves that are very smooth, lavender and blue
  • Has a daisy-type flower with a yellow centre
  • Blooms from August to October
  • A huge pollinator for butterflies and a larval host for the pearl crescent butterfly
• Heart leaf Aster Symphyotrichum cordifolium
  • Lavender to light blue
  • It is one of the latest ones to bloom and actually goes into November
  • An excellent pollinator for butterflies and bees at late in the season
  • Spreads slowly by rhizomes and it lightly self-seeds
  • Two to three feet tall, sandy to loam soil, and part shade to full shade
• Panicled Aster Symphyotrichum lanceolatum
  • This one blooms with sprays of white flowers, open spreading form, so also known as floppy
  • Best grown with other plants to kind of support it
  • If you already have a native garden, or if you're planting a native garden with other large tall plants, then this could be an addition if you want that
  • Prefers moist soil, but it likes full sun
• You can purchase seeds from Wildflower Farm and you can again, sprinkle them or plant them in your garden this fall
• You can also start them like you normally would do if you wanted them to grow in February/March under lights and go through that type of thing indoors and then put them out next year

Down the Garden Path: A Step-By-Step Guide to Your Ontario Garden

Fall Mums and Asters

We'd love to have you on the show! Click here to learn more. Find Down the Garden Path on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube: @downthegardenpathpodcast.

On Down The Garden Path, professional landscape designer Joanne Shaw discusses 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. She does her best to bring you interesting, relevant and useful topics to help you keep your garden as low-maintenance as possible.

In Down the Garden Path: A Step-By-Step Guide to Your Ontario Garden, Joanne and fellow landscape designer Matthew Dressing 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.

Get your copy today on Amazon.

Don't forget to check out Down the Garden Path on your favourite podcast app and subscribe! You can now catch the podcast on YouTube.

This week, Joanne welcomes Aaron Deacon from BIOS Nutrients back to the podcast to discuss the newest addition to his product line, a game-changing plant fertilizer in collaboration with Ryzome and the ZooShare Cooperative.

You can learn more about Aaron and BIOS Nutrients here.

Natural Fertilizer Innovation and Philosophy

• Aaron started BIOS Nutrients five years ago after being laid off during COVID, initially focusing on making natural fertilizers and pesticides for cannabis growing.
• Expanded from houseplants to gardening and commercial growing, developing a commercially registered liquid fertilizer made from food waste.
• Aaron explained his fermentation-based approach to creating fertilizers, which mimics natural soil decomposition processes and emphasizes the importance of microbial diversity in soil health.
• Healthy soil is more important than new soil, and local organic compost is crucial in building soil ecosystems that are adapted to specific local conditions.

BIOS + Rysome New Plant Fertilizer

• BIOS Nutrients has a new partnership with Lexi, who runs Rysome, a company that repurposes construction waste into plant fertilizers. Together, they developed a new liquid fertilizer that provides immediate nutrient availability, unlike their original dry formulation.
• BIOS Nutrients' collaboration with the Toronto Zoo's digester facility, which processes food waste into a fertilizer byproduct
• The development and testing of the new liquid plant fertilizer, "BIOS +Rysome," which has shown promising results with soybean farmers.
• The challenges of transitioning from synthetic to natural fertilizers, and the need for education and practical solutions for farmers.
• The importance of soil health and the use of cover crops like clover for nutrient replenishment.
• Aaron's shift from focusing on indoor cannabis growing to outdoor agriculture and houseplants was driven by a passion for teaching others about sustainable soil practices.

Natural Gardening Solutions with Yucca

• The benefits and uses of yucca extract and plant soap for gardening.
• Yucca extract is a natural soil rehydrator and wetting agent that can improve the effectiveness of fertilizers and pesticides by lowering surface tension.
• Plant soap made from deep-fried herbs in canola oil serves as an insecticidal soap and fungicide. Aaron recommended the plant soap for pest control while cautioning about its high pH and proper use.

Natural Gardening Products

• The benefits and affordability of natural gardening products, particularly liquid fertilizers and sulphur-based products.
• BIOS Nutrients has plans to offer commercial-sized liquid fertilizers in various volumes and Aaron highlighted the advantages of their sulphur product, which is more environmentally friendly and effective than traditional lime sulphur solutions.
• Aaron shared tips on cost-effective soil building using natural and free resources.

Plant-Based Packaging and Shipping Challenges

• Aaron explained that shipping costs and environmental concerns led them to focus on selling concentrates rather than premixed products.
• Sustainable packaging options, including aluminum and glass, and the challenges of recycling.

Sheridan Nurseries Product Expansion

• Aaron discussed his journey of getting BIOS Nutrients products into Sheridan Nurseries, a major gardening retailer in Ontario. His company's products, including plant soap, yucca, liquid and dry fertilizers, are now stocked in all seven of their locations.

Order from BIOS Nutrients online at www.biosnutrients.ca

Find BIOS Nutrients on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and YouTube.

Listen to Aaron's previous appearance on the Down the Garden Path Podcast here.

Down the Garden Path: A Step-By-Step Guide to Your Ontario Garden

We'd love to have you on the show! Click here to learn more.

Find Down the Garden Path on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube: @downthegardenpathpodcast.

On Down The Garden Path, professional landscape designer Joanne Shaw discusses 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. She does her best to bring you interesting, relevant and useful topics to help you keep your garden as low-maintenance as possible.

In Down the Garden Path: A Step-By-Step Guide to Your Ontario Garden, Joanne and fellow landscape designer Matthew Dressing 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. Get your copy today on Amazon.

Don't forget to check out Down the Garden Path on your favourite podcast app and subscribe! You can now catch the podcast on YouTube.

This week, Joanne Shaw discusses rain garden design with Michael Albanese, owner of AVESI Stormwater and Landscape Solutions and author of The Modern Rain Garden: Scrape, Shape and Plant.

About the Book: The Modern Rain Garden: Scrape, Shape, and Plant

The updated and expanded second edition for 2025 builds off the amazing success of the original release of Modern Rain Garden. As a professional rain garden builder, Michael gives an in-depth account of his experience designing, building, and managing rain gardens over the past 15 years. Readers will feel empowered to take ownership of their rain gardens so decisions can be made with confidence. The second edition also covers more topics and goes deeper into why and how the Scrape, Shape, and Plant method is one that lets nature do the work. This method has evolved by regularly assessing what's essential, effective, and improvable -- prioritizing simplicity over complexity.

Rain Garden Design and Benefits

• Michael explained his approach to rain garden design, emphasizing the importance of shaping the landscape to create a water-absorbing vessel rather than focusing solely on plant selection.
• Rain gardens can solve specific problems like water pooling; they also offer environmental benefits by managing stormwater and promoting biodiversity.
• The potential for rain gardens to help homeowners better manage water on their properties, especially in areas with extreme weather changes.
• Rain gardens can serve both problem-solving and environmentally sustainable purposes, catering to different client needs and preferences.

Rain Garden Construction Strategies

• Strategies for managing water on residential properties, focusing on the concept of active rainfall versus inactive rainfall.
• Michael explained his approach to rain garden construction, emphasizing the "scrape and shape" method which involves minimal soil disturbance and uses existing site materials.
• He described how this method avoids the resource waste and over-engineering often seen in traditional rain garden installations.
• The challenges of planting in different soil types and the importance of allowing plants to naturally improve soil conditions over time.

Rain Garden Design and Management

• Joanne and Michael discussed rain garden design and water management in residential landscapes. Rain gardens rely on infiltration rather than pond liners; its important to use materials properly.
• The challenges with new subdivisions where shared drainage systems can cause issues if not properly managed.
• The misconceptions about rain gardens and native plants.
• Rain gardens are typically dry and do not require water-loving plants, contrary to popular belief.
• The importance of proper maintenance and the challenges of using native plants, including issues with invasiveness and the need for regular care.

The Modern Rain Garden

• Michael discussed his journey of writing a book on rain gardens, sharing insights from his experience and the evolution of the second edition, which is more comprehensive with additional photos and content.

Landscaping Challenges and Solutions

• The challenges with new residential developments in areas like Brooklyn, where clay soil and tight spaces make landscaping difficult, and Joanne shared that she recently installed irrigation at her own property to manage water flow more effectively.

Landscape Contractor Oversight Challenges

• Joanne shared her frustration with contractors bullying clients into starting landscape projects without proper planning, leading to disappointed homeowners and suboptimal results. She emphasized the importance of design and proper execution, highlighting cases where clients regretted not having a detailed plan.
• Michael agreed, noting that post-planting management is crucial for a design's success, and shared a challenging case where neglect led to the failure of a rain garden installation.
• Both discussed the need for better contractor oversight and client education to ensure satisfaction with landscape projects.

You can find AVESI Stormwater and Landscape Solutions on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube.

The Modern Rain Garden: Scrape, Shape and Plant

Down the Garden Path: A Step-By-Step Guide to Your Ontario Garden

We'd love to have you on the show! Click here to learn more.

Find Down the Garden Path on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube: @downthegardenpathpodcast.

On Down The Garden Path, professional landscape designer Joanne Shaw discusses 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. She does her best to bring you interesting, relevant and useful topics to help you keep your garden as low-maintenance as possible.

In Down the Garden Path: A Step-By-Step Guide to Your Ontario Garden, Joanne and fellow landscape designer Matthew Dressing 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. Get your copy today on Amazon.

Don't forget to check out Down the Garden Path on your favourite podcast app and subscribe! You can now catch the podcast on YouTube.

In this encore episode of Down the Garden Path, Joanne shares tips for choosing fall mums and asters.

Topics covered in this week's episode:

• Chrysanthemums, many horticultural varieties and cultivars exist including tender florist mums (a favourite of mine because of how long they stay blooming in a vase).
• Or Garden mums, more commonly known as fall mums.
• All Chrysanthemums are native to East Asia and Northeastern Europe. They became popular in North American gardening during the early to mid-20th century.
• Overall, fall or autumn gardening in the U.S. became particularly prominent in the 1950s and 1960s. Their popularity grew thanks to their vibrant colours of mums—ranging from deep reds and oranges to yellows and purples—this made them a popular choice for fall displays.
• Their ability to bloom late into the season and withstand cooler temperatures also contributed to their popularity in autumn gardening.
• Fall mums grown for our gardens are fertilized and pruned heavily to maintain their dense growth while in containers.
• It is possible to overwinter them in the garden but without regular maintenance, they can get quite large (tall and wide over a season or two).
• You often hear of gardeners or articles mentioning mid-summer to cut back or pinch back the foliage on garden mums that are being grown in the garden to slow down their growth and size.
• If growing in the garden, they benefit from mulching to protect them from the freeze and thaw most of us experience in our Ontario gardens or gardens in zones 4-6.
• They can be prone to spider mites and aphids as well as powdery mildew. Mildew especially if they are allowed to get large in the garden and then crowd with other plants and especially when there is high humidity and/or overhead watering.
• The downside of mums:
  • As a designer, my goal is to create gardens that are all season with something happening at all times and for there really not be a need for high-maintenance annuals. I do realize that there are times and places in the yard where one might want a pop of colour -- even me!
  • Potted mums perform much better in cooler temperatures. Unfortunately, garden centres seem to start selling them earlier and earlier each season.
  • They are thirsty plants when in pots, especially in the heat.
  • If the pots aren't watered regularly they die very quickly and I think homeowners think they can revive them.
  • Once they have dried out, they are a throwaway plant. Don't get me started on the plastic waste they generate!
• A better plant option for fall: asters!
  • There are 32 different species of aster in Ontario and over 100 species in North America.
  • There is a place for one in every garden or even a pot if you choose!
  • While some pollinators might visit garden mums for pollen that is where the benefit ends.
  • Asters not only supply pollen for honeybees and native bees, they also feed adult butterflies and we all want more of those in our gardens.
  • They are host plants or over 100 species of caterpillars, nature's bird feeders. Where there are caterpillars, there will be birds!
  • You may be lucky to find New England asters in pots at your big box store.
  • They are transplantable and will overwinter in the garden.
• In addition to the New England asters, there are several other native varieties that are sold in the perennial section of your garden centres.
• There is a variety of aster for every garden.
  • New England Asters Symphyotrichum novaeangliae: (purple, light purple) Full to part sun, blooms August to October, moist average soil.
  • Swamp Aster Symphyotrichum puniceum: (purple, light purple) Full to part sun, August to October, wet garden area
  • White Wood Eurybia divaricate: Part shade to full shade, September to October and will grow in a garden from moist to dry.
  • Heart Leaf Aster Symphyotrichum cordifolium: (lavender to light blue) Part shade to full shade, September to October, medium to dry soil
• Note: It is also recommended to pinch back or cut back asters in June to prevent them from getting too big and floppy.

Down the Garden Path: A Step-By-Step Guide to Your Ontario Garden

We'd love to have you on the show! Click here to learn more.

Find Down the Garden Path on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube: @downthegardenpathpodcast.

On Down The Garden Path, professional landscape designer Joanne Shaw discusses 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. She does her best to bring you interesting, relevant and useful topics to help you keep your garden as low-maintenance as possible.

In Down the Garden Path: A Step-By-Step Guide to Your Ontario Garden, Joanne and fellow landscape designer Matthew Dressing 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. Get your copy today on Amazon.

Don't forget to check out Down the Garden Path on your favourite podcast app and subscribe! You can now catch the podcast on YouTube.

Although September marks the end of summer and the gradual change to fall, it doesn't have to signify the end of the gardening season. In this episode, Joanne offers some practical tips and advice for making the most of your September garden.

Topics covered in this week's episode:

September Reset

• Reality check: Hot, dry summer stressed many plants. Use September's cooler nights/rain to reassess.
• Goal: Keep what thrived, replace what struggled with drought-tolerant options.
• Evaluate & Document

Walk-through: List plants that thrived, survived, and failed

• Take photos now: Capture beds to guide spring moves and timing of blooms.
• New gardens: Observe 1–2 seasons before big changes.

Disease: Powdery Mildew

• Look for: White, talc-like film on peony, lilac, ninebark, and perennials.
• Fix: Improve airflow, remove affected leaves, or cut peonies down.
• Don't: Cut everything back—September still has interest.

Divide & Relocate

• Peonies: Divide/move now; eyes at original depth (shallow).
• Hostas: Move sun-stressed clumps to cooler/shadier spots; fall divisions avoid leggy spring growth.

Rescue Stressed or New Plants

• Priority: Root establishment, not top growth.
• Steps: Trim crispy foliage, keep plant tags, and water consistently through September–October.

Clearance Rack Buying

• Inspect roots, not leaves: Healthy = firm, white/tan roots with soil; avoid slimy/sour/rotting roots.
• Perennials: "Sleep, creep, leap," cosmetic top damage is fine if roots are good.

Soil Care

• Add: Compost, composted mulch, or manure (not more "garden soil").
• Why: Better nutrients + moisture retention for next year.

Lawn Strategy (Early Fall)

• Dormant does not mean dead: Expect rebound with dew + cooler nights.
• Mow high: Especially before/through heat.
• Weeds: Pull crabgrass before seed set; clear curb/edge weeds to limit spread.
• Overseed/top-dress: Mostly an October task; focus on moisture now.

Japanese Beetles

• Apply nematodes (late Sept): Only if you can water deeply and consistently; they're swimmers.
• Deterrence: Avoid their favourite plants; instead, place annual geraniums in your garden as they act as a mild repellent.

Tropicals & Houseplants

• Temperature trigger: Start bringing in when nights drop below 16 °C.
• Prep: Inspect, rinse, insecticidal soap, flush soil; stage in garage if needed.
• Figs in pots: Can overwinter in unheated garage; prune in fall to encourage fruiting.

Late-Season Colour (Pollinator-Friendly)

• Shade structure: Sun King aralia (chartreuse), bugbane (burgundy foliage + white spikes).
• Perennials: Japanese anemone, toad lily, native asters (choose over mums; better for insects).
• Compact shrubs: Panicle hydrangeas—'Bobo', 'Fire Light Tidbit', 'Little Lime Punch'

Evergreens: Critical Watering

• Need: Deep, infrequent soakings going into winter (cedars, conifers).
• Why: Prevents winter burn; burlap/windscreens are last resort—moisture is key.

Down the Garden Path: A Step-By-Step Guide to Your Ontario Garden

We'd love to have you on the show! Click here to learn more.

Find Down the Garden Path on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube: @downthegardenpathpodcast.

On Down The Garden Path, professional landscape designer Joanne Shaw discusses 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. She does her best to bring you interesting, relevant and useful topics to help you keep your garden as low-maintenance as possible.

In Down the Garden Path: A Step-By-Step Guide to Your Ontario Garden, Joanne and fellow landscape designer Matthew Dressing 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. Get your copy today on Amazon.

Don't forget to check out Down the Garden Path on your favourite podcast app and subscribe! You can now catch the podcast on YouTube.