MARGARET ROACH A WAY TO GARDEN

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Named a "top-5 garden podcast" by The Guardian newspaper, A Way to Garden is hosted by Margaret Roach, one of America's best-known garden writers. The show, produced by NPR affiliate Robin Hood Radio, covers organic gardening, garden-to-table cooking and nature topics, featuring top experts in a lively interview format, from horticulturists, garden designers, plant breeders and nursery owners to top cookbook authors, plus bird and insect experts and more.

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A Way to Garden with Margar...

02.26.2021

Any gardener shopping at a local nursery or paging through perennial plant catalogs can’t help but notice there are a lot of Echinacea, or coneflowers, on the market—more every year, including in unexpected colors and some with extra-showy double flowers. ...

MARGARET ROACH A WAY TO GARDEN episodes:

02.26.2021 A Way to Garden with Margaret Roach – March 1, 2021 – Sam Hoadley on Echinacea Any gardener shopping at a local nursery or paging through perennial plant catalogs can’t help but notice there are a lot of Echinacea, or coneflowers, on the market—more every year, including in unexpected colors and some with extra-showy double flowers. ...
02.20.2021 Far Reaches Farm on Unusual Perennials – A Way to Garden with Margaret Roach – February 22, 2021 On the website of Far Reaches Farm rare plant nursery, shoppers can filter the plant listings by the usual expected things, like shrub or fern, or shade or sun, or hardiness zone. But there’s also a filter for “shop by... ...
02.13.2021 Ellen Ogden on Heirloom Vegetable Gardens – A Way to Garden with Margaret Roach – February 15, 2021 The subtitle of Ellen Ecker Ogden’s latest book, “The New Heirloom Garden,” tells it all. “Designs, Recipes, and Heirloom Plants for Cooks Who Love to Garden,” is how it reads. Throughout her career of writing, and lecturing, and teaching about... ...
02.06.2021 Ken Druse on Native Spring Perennials – A Way to Garden with Margaret Roach – February 8, 2021 Facing a forecast of heaps of snow the other day, Ken Druse and I got to dreaming on the phone together of more colorful times ahead. Of the emergence, not so very long in the future, of spring’s first woodland... ...
01.30.2021 Phil Simon on Carrots – A Way to Garden with Margaret Roach – February 1, 2021 How do you build a better carrot for organic farms and gardens, and how do you grow one for the best results? I discussed those topics with longtime carrot breeder Dr. Phil Simon, who shared a fascinating little carrot history,... ...
01.23.2021 Laura Parker on Seed Shopping – A Way to Garden with Margaret Roach – January 25, 2021 It will come as no surprise to regular listeners that I’m mad about small farm-based companies that sell seed grown without chemicals and with a regional focus. Seed matched to a particular set of conditions for best results. Today’s guest... ...
01.16.2021 Leslie Halleck on Seed Starting Lights – A Way to Garden with Margaret Roach – January 18, 2020 I’m on my third generation of seed-starting lights, a journey that began back in the day when shop lights with so-called cool-white and warm-white fluorescent tubes combined were all we gardeners knew. Eventually I moved up to newer, high-output fluorescents,... ...
01.09.2021 Nate Kleinman on Seed Shopping – A Way to Garden with Margaret Roach – January 11, 2021 Parsley that was bred not for its leaves, but as a root crop. Or a winter squash with vivid green flesh, instead of orange. And perennial onions called potato onions that multiply. These are just a few of the wonders... ...
01.02.2021 Niki Jabbour on Cold Frames – A Way to Garden with Margaret Roach – January 4, 2021 A neighbor with a new cold frame emailed me the other day, seeing colder weather finally in the forecast and wanting to know how to extend his season even longer inside the unit. Well, serendipitously, later that day I went... ...
12.26.2020 Ken Druse on Desert Island Trees – A Way to Garden with Margaret Roach – December 28, 2020 They’re the garden’s biggest residents, relative space-hogs who also dictate a lot of what goes on with the patterns of light and shade. I’m talking about trees. Today, Ken Druse and I are going to name some names of favorites,... ...
12.19.2020 Duncan Himmelman on Native Groundcovers – A Way to Garden with Margaret Roach – December 21, 2020 I’ve spoken recently on the show about my personal war on certain groundcovers I planted years ago that have turned out to be hideous thugs. Many other gardeners I hear from have likewise come to lament their overly cooperative, spreading... ...
12.11.2020 Kate Spring on Microgreens – A Way to Garden with Margaret Roach – December 14, 2020 A “New York Times” column I did recently happily put me back in touch with organic farmer Kate Spring, who in our past conversations has always taught me how to think smarter about when to start seeds—like how to time... ...
12.05.2020 Chris Smith on Collard Greens – A Way to Garden with Margaret Roach – December 7, 2020 Heirloom tomatoes and pumpkins you’ve heard of, but why shouldn’t heirloom collards get just as much love—and space in our gardens? Tell the truth: Have you ever even grown collards, whether an old-time variety or otherwise? You should, and to... ...
11.27.2020 Ali Stafford on Baking Books – A Way to Garden with Margaret Roach – November 30, 2020 Yes, apparently more people gardened in 2020 than ever. And even before the holiday season was upon us, as it suddenly is, everyone was baking more than ever in this oddball year, too—and it seems publishing baking cookbooks at a... ...
11.21.2020 Katrina Kenison on Comfort Books – A Way to Garden with Margaret Roach – November 28, 2020 You’ve heard of comfort food and oh boy, have we all been hungry for that non-stop this crazy year. But how about comfort books—whether to keep yourself company as winter takes hold or to consider for gifting? That’s today’s topic... ...
11.21.2020 Bjorn Bergman on Seedlinked – A Way to Garden with Margaret Roach – November 23, 2020 What if I told you there’s a new way to shop for seed where your purchase yields not just the packets, but also educational support, and the invitation to share your feedback—to participate in a virtual seed trial essentially, citizen-science... ...
11.14.2020 Emma Greig on Feeder Birds – A Way to Garden with Margaret Roach – November 16, 2020 A Way to Garden with Margaret Roach – November 16, 2020 – Emma Greig on Feeder Birds A flock of robins visited my garden recently for a three-day long field day. By the time they decamped, I was down about ...
11.07.2020 Ken Druse on Desert Island Shrubs – A Way to Garden with Margaret Roach – November 9, 2020 Shrubs: I think of them as the sort of human-sized plants, and they definitely are the backbone of the garden. Ken Druse and I each have a lot of different shrubs, and I asked him the other day, “If you... ...
10.31.2020 Duncan Himmelman on Weed Control – A Way to Garden with Margaret Roach – November 2, 2020 “There’s always a weed out there, no matter when.” That’s what today’s guest, education manager Duncan Himmelman of Mt. Cuba native plant center in Delaware, said the other day to me on the phone. And that means now, even as... ...
10.24.2020 Heather Holm on Bee-Friendly Gardens -A Way to Garden with Margaret Roach – October 26, 2020 In a recent conversation with Doug Tallamy about ecologically minded fall cleanup, he raised the name of Heather Holm, and how some of the pollinator research she’s been part of lately is informing how he shifts his approach to... Read ...
10.17.2020 Ken Druse on Groundcovers- A Way to Garden with Margaret Roach – October 19, 2020 What the word “groundcover” means has really changed in the years Ken Druse and I have been gardening. And I’ll admit right here, some of the choices that I made to do the job of covering the ground under... Read ...
10.10.2020 Julie Zickefoose on Bird Feeding – A Way to Garden with Margaret Roach – October 12, 2020 One of the ways many of us have been getting through the last few months is by taking comfort in the outdoors, in all that nature and the garden has to offer—by slowing down, looking around, and connecting. One person... ...
10.03.2020 Dennis Schrader on Overwintering Tropicals – A Way to Garden with Margaret Roach – October 3, 2020 I think of them as investment plants, plants that might not be hardy where I garden, but that with a little extra work and the right strategy can be carried over year to year, even without a greenhouse or the... ...
10.03.2020 A Way to Garden with Margaret Roach – October 5, 2020 – Doug Tallamy on Ecological Fall Cleanup When I last talked to Doug Tallamy in February around the publication date of his latest book, “Nature’s Best Hope,” I didn’t want to go on and on about the advice in it about smart fall cleanup, which is... Read ...
09.26.2020 Way to Garden with Margaret Roach – September 28, 2020 – “Uprooted,” a Book by Page Dickey The word “downsizing” was spoken more than once when Page Dickey and her husband were making plans a few years back to leave their beloved home and big old garden, called Duck Hill, in Westchester County, New York, for a... ...
09.18.2020 Marc Hachadourian on Houseplants – A Way to Garden with Margaret Roach – September 21, 2020 Who are you going to tuck in with this fall and winter, as the garden starts to rest and we are all indoors more? Do you have any hand-me-down houseplants from a relative maybe, or plants that you bought that... ...
09.11.2020 Dan Hinkley on Making Windcliff Garden – A Way to Garden with Margaret Roach – September 14, 2020 I have a running joke with today’s podcast guest, a joke I suspect thousands of other former customers just like me email him about regularly, too. Every spring cleanup I come up with more distinctive turquoise plastic labels in my... ...
09.04.2020 Ken Druse on Saving and Sowing Seed – A Way to Garden with Margaret Roach – September 7, 2020 Maybe you can feel it where you garden, too. A slight shift in the weather, which combined with shortening days, means summer is loosening its grip. It’s not fall yet. It’s not cleanup time, but what time is it... Read ...
08.28.2020 Jenny Elliott on Flowers for Drying – A Way to Garden with Margaret Roach – August 31, 2020 A reader emailed me not long ago, asking if I’d ever written a story or done a podcast about dried flowers—which ones to grow and how to dry them and so on. And no, I hadn’t, I had to admit,... ...
08.22.2020 Matt Mattus on Bulbs You Should Grow – A Way to Garden with Margaret Roach – August 24, 2020 I suspect that you each have several mail-order bulb catalogs on hand, and also that each catalog devotes page after page to gorgeous photos of Narcissus and tulips, often right up front. Don’t get me wrong, I love both of... ...
08.15.2020 Owen Wormser on Lawns Into Meadows – A Way to Garden with Margaret Roach – August 17, 2020 A new book came my way recently with a title that just said it all. “Lawns Into Meadows” is what it’s called, and its author, landscape designer Owen Wormser, gave me a short course on meadow-making in a recent conversation... ...
08.08.2020 Ken Druse on Rejuvenation and Propagation – A Way to Garden with Margaret Roach – August 10, 2020 Today’s show came out of a phone conversation that Ken Druse and I were having the other day, when I found myself confessing to him that I’d let things in my containers get, shall we say, a tad overgrown this... ...
07.31.2020 Ecology Lessons From Mt. Auburn Cemetery – A Way to Garden with Margaret Roach – August 3, 2020 Years ago, a friend who founded a botanic garden in Massachusetts took me to visit a landscape that he had long loved and admired. It was not just beautiful, but a designated National Historic Landmark—and one that was also a... ...
07.24.2020 Michael Balick on Poisonous Plants – A Way to Garden with Margaret Roach – July 27, 2020 A surprising number of people ask me about whether this plant or that plant in my garden or theirs is poisonous. And so when I saw news from the New York Botanical Garden about a just-published, fully-updated edition of a... ...
07.18.2020 Ken Druse on Leaves First – A Way to Garden with Margaret Roach – July 20, 2020 Ken Druse and I both love leaves, and so do the naughty furbearing herbivores who have been visiting our gardens with a vengeance this season—but that’s another story. Today’s topic is leaves to love from the gardener’s point of view,... ...
07.10.2020 Niki Jabbour on Season Extending – A Way to Garden with Margaret Roach – July 13, 2020 Season Extending with Niki Jabbour – A Way to Garden with Margaret Roach – July 13, 2020 Longtime gardeners and first-timers went all out in this craziest of years, bringing the expression “victory garden” back into the headlines. We all... ...
07.04.2020 Uli Lorimer on Native Plants – A Way to Garden With Margaret Roach – July 6, 2020 As more gardeners shop for native plants each year, more plant descriptions in catalogs and on nursery labels use the blanket phrase “pollinator-friendly” to catch our attention. But is that the whole story behind each plant that’s so labeled, and... ...
06.28.2020 Reprise of Stephen Shunk on Woodpeckers (2016) – A Way to Garden with Margaret Roach – June 26, 2020 When I got my copy of the new “Peterson Reference Guide to Woodpeckers of North America,” I tracked down the author’s email address at once, and sent him a message: “I’m mad for woodpeckers,” I wrote, and Stephen Shunk wrote... ...
06.26.2020 Daryl Beyers on How to Water – A Way to Garden With Margaret Roach – June 29, 2020 Summer: It’s what I refer to as the season of dragging hoses, and for me at least this year, the fact that it seems to have stopped raining with any regularity or measurable impact is making it worse. This is... ...
06.20.2020 Adrian Higgins of the Washington Post – A Way to Garden With Margaret Roach – June 22, 2020 The world is shifting focus again now toward opening up this time, several months after much shutting down. But as we do, I for one hope we won’t turn too quickly away from awareness of the solace that the garden... ...
06.13.2020 Bill Noble on Garden Design – A Way to Garden with Margaret Roach – June 15, 2020 Garden designer Bill Noble starts his new book with this promise, “I’m going to tell you a story of the pleasures and challenges, both aesthetic and practical, of creating a garden that feels genuinely rooted to its place.” His book,... ...
06.05.2020 Carol Gracie on Summer Wildflowers – A Way to Garden with Margaret Roach – June 8, 2020 The beloved wildflowers of springtime—the trilliums, the mayapples, the Virginia bluebells—are probably gone till next year, but don’t despair. Here comes the next cast of players, the wildflowers of summer. The acclaimed naturalist Carol Gracie looks beyond their surface beauty... ...
05.29.2020 Ken Druse on Remembering Fallen Plants – A Way to Garden With Margaret Roach – June 1, 2020 I was crawling around weeding the other day and there it was, yet another turquoise colored plastic label I knew was from the original Heronswood Nursery near Seattle, which has been closed about 15 years. No plant, just a label.... ...
05.22.2020 David Sibley on Being a Bird – A Way to Garden with Margaret Roach – May 25, 2020 If you’re a bird person, as I am, you may feel as if you know today’s guest, because one of his field guides, illustrated with his artwork to help you figure out who’s who, is probably within reach at all... ...
05.15.2020 Craig LeHoullier on Tomato Success – A Way to Garden with Margaret Roach – May 18, 2020 Tomato Success With Craig LeHoullier – A Way to Garden With Margaret Roach – May 21, 2020 Every gardener has his or her own tomato secrets, tips, and tricks they’re sure will bring earliest fruit or the biggest harvest. Some... ...
05.08.2020 Ross Bayton on Botanical Latin – A Way to Garden With Margaret Roach – May 11, 2020 I’m grateful that when I began gardening, I fell in with a bunch of plant nerds who spoke not in common names but in botanical Latin, and turned me on to oddball mail-order nurseries whose entire lists were likewise... Read ...
05.01.2020 Ken Druse on Post-Spring Garden Tuneups – A Way to Garden with Margaret Roach – May 4, 2020 A famous gardener Ken Druse and I know often says this one-liner: “Anyone can do spring.” What he means is: and then what happens after that? What happens after the current tender colorful parade of beauty, with flowers everywhere and ...
04.24.2020 Brett DeGregorio on Amazing Bird Nests – A Way to Garden with Margaret Roach – April 27, 2020 I’m mad for birds, so much so, that I’ve been looking expectantly lately at the interactive migration maps on the BirdCast website and browsing reports coming in from ares to the south of me on eBird.com, wondering when my fair-weather,... ...
04.17.2020 Cooking with What You Have with Lukas Volger – A Way to Garden with Margaret Roach – April 20 2020 Cook With What You’ve Got with Lukas Volger – A Way to Garden with Margaret Roach – April 20, 2020 Just before things shifted in our world, I bought a new vegetarian cookbook called “Start Simple,” by Lukas Volger. Little... ...
04.10.2020 Dividing Perennials With Ken Druse – A Way to Garden with Margaret Roach – April 13, 2020 One of my favorite books by our friend Ken Druse is called “Making More Plants,” and though it’s about all kinds of propagation, Ken and I talked the other day about what is maybe the easiest way of all to... ...

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