nativeplantpodcast's podcast

Tonight on the show we have gardener, writer, speaker and overall beneficial insect enthusiast Jessica Walliser. She is a former contributing editor for Organic Gardening and a regular contributor to many national gardening publications. Her two weekly gardening columns for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review have been enjoyed by readers for over ten years. Her book, Attracting Beneficial Bugs to the Garden: A Natural Approach to Pest Control, was awarded the American Horticultural Society's Book Award. Jessica received her degree in ornamental horticulture from The Pennsylvania State University. Jessica lives and gardens northwest of Pittsburgh with her husband and son, six chickens, two cats, two hermit crabs, and billions and billions of very good bugs.

Jeff Epping has been Director of Horticulture at Olbrich Botanical Gardens in Madison WI, since 1992 where he oversees horticultural operations and the garden designs of more than 15 inspirational garden areas showcasing fantastic plants for Southern Wisconsin. Jeff and his talented staff have practiced and preached sustainable gardening for years with environmentally conscious cultural practices and innovative, award-winning designs.

Sam Droege has spent most of his career at the USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center. He has coordinated the North American Breeding Bird Survey Program, developed the North American Amphibian Monitoring Program, the BioBlitz, Cricket Crawl, and FrogwatchUSA programs and worked on the design and evaluation of monitoring programs. Currently he is developing an inventory and monitoring program for native bees, online identification guides for North American bees at www.discoverlife.org, and with Jessica Zelt reviving the North American Bird Phenology Program. His group maintains high resolution photographs of insects an other macro natural history objects at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/usgsbiml/

A child of the Midwest, Mark Dwyer is a passionate gardener, plants person, designer, horticulture speaker, educator and author. He has degrees in landscape architecture (University of Illinois) and urban forestry (UW-Stevens Point) and is former Director of Horticulture at the Rotary Botanical Gardens in Janesville WI. Currently Mark is the proprietor of Landscape Prescriptions by MD where he brings good design and an innovative use of plants to create landscapes of beauty and function for clients. Mark's true passions lie not only in gardening, but in inspiring others to enjoy plants in both personal and public settings in our daily lives with everyone in any circumstance or venue.

Dr. Amy Venclik/ Johnson is a conservation scientist and Program Director for Virginia Working Landscapes, a community-based research program at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institiute. In this role, Amy leads a team that cultivates a dynamic network of private landowners, citizen scientists, NGO's, state agencies and research scientists to collectively investigate the impacts of conservation management and land use on biodiversity in the Shenandoah Valley and Piedmont regions of VA. In addition to research, she is committed to developing a strong outreach program that communicates research findings to help inform best management practices for regional conservation partners and the community. During her Ph.D. research with George Mason University, Amy focused on the impacts of conservation and land management on breeding and over-wintering grassland bird communities in Virginia. In her role as Program Director, she continues to explore knowledge gaps pertaining to grassland bird ecology by facilitating collaborative conservation and research efforts with Smithsonian scientists and local partners. Her current research projects focus on full annual cycle modeling of grassland birds and exploring best management practices for optimizing reproductive success in species that nest in working grasslands.

Former Cullowhee Scholarship winner and current Landscape Architect Sadie Walters drops by to chat with John & Preston about her new project promoting sustainable charging stations for electric vehicles.

This week, John & Chris sit down with Dr. Sara 'Fern' Fitzsimmons to talk about her love of one of America's most iconic trees- the American Chestnut (Castanea dentata) and to talk about it's chances of a future return to our forests.

• Eleanor Allen is the CEO of Water For People, a global nonprofit working in Africa, Latin America, and Asia to help develop sustainable water and sanitation services for millions of people. She's a social entrepreneur recognized by the Schwab Foundation, a TEDx speaker, a Water Environment Federation Fellow, and an influential Woman of Water. She serves on the board of Parametrix and the University of Colorado. We welcome her here today to talk with us about the Global Water Crisis.

Author, Naturalist and all around good guy, Dr. Doug Tallamy joins John Magee and Capital Naturalist Alonso Abugattas to discuss one of the most important trees we can add to our landscapes- the Oak (Quercus spp.). Known to support some 570 species of life, nothing can be more supportive to wildlife habitat than our most essential tree- the mighty Oak.

During a career spanning more than 30 years, Professor Jeff Ollerton has established himself as one of the world's leading experts on pollinators and pollination. The author of more than 120 articles and book chapters, his highly-cited, ground-breaking research has been used by national and international agencies to support efforts to conserve pollinators and their pollination services. Jeff is also in demand as an advisor and consultant to governments, local authorities, printed and broadcast media, and funding organisations