Our Plant Stories

One Summer Lucy Houliston, aged just 6, set herself the mission of raising awareness of weeds as plants that deserve love and attention, just like everything else. And so The Weed Trust was born.

She also had a passion for insects, she remembers having pockets full of woodlice!

Adult Lucy is now working in urban ecology and she shares the story of The Weed Trust and where it has led her.

We went together to the Eden Nature Garden to meet Benny Hawkesbee, who describes himself as a wildlife gardener, he greeted us wearing his favourite dandelion teeshirt!

There will be bees, beetles and frogs along the way!

Independent podcasts like Our Plant Stories depend on their listeners for help with the costs of making the podcast such as the hosting platform and the editing programme.

Using the Buy Me A Coffee platform you can make a one off online donation of £5 and that money will go towards making more episodes. Everyone who buys a 'virtual coffee' will get a shout out on the podcast.

The support of listeners means a lot to me.

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Every month I will make a plant story but stories often lead to more stories and I end up publishing Offshoot episodes. So if you 'Follow' the podcast on your podcast app you will never miss an episode.

It also makes a real difference if you can spare the time to rate and/or review an episode after you have listened. Spotify and Apple look at these ratings and it helps to get the podcast promoted to other plant lovers.

Our Plant Stories is presented and produced by Sally Flatman

The music is Fade to Black by Howard Levy

Imagine 1500 different snowdrops, roaming around an arboretum. Sometimes a new one joins, sometimes a group is divided, sometimes one just wanders off on its own. You need a snowdrop shepherd and at Thenford Arboretum that is Emma Thick.

This is the perfect time to grow our knowledge about snowdrops and I think I have found the perfect person, a galanthophile, to help us. If you know the podcast well, you won't be surprised that I am drawn to an expert because in my experience their passion for the plant can prove contagious.

So if you want to know which snowdrop to buy, when or where to plant it, how they spread and why they can sometimes be miffy - well you have come to the right podcast!

My guests are Emma Thick, a gardener and Rupert Heseltine whose parents developed this garden and I met them both at Thenford Arboretum.

The book I mention is called Thenford - The Creation of an English Garden by Michael & Anne Heseltine

Our Plant Stories is presented and produced by Sally Flatman

The music is Fade to Black by Howard Levy

Independent podcasts like Our Plant Stories depend on their listeners for help with the costs of making the podcast such as the hosting platform and the editing programme.

Using the Buy Me A Coffee platform you can make a one off online donation of £5 and that money will go towards making more episodes. Everyone who buys a 'virtual coffee' will get a shout out on the podcast.

The support of listeners means a lot to me.

Buy Me A Coffee

This podcast episode delves into the inspiring story behind the Daffodil Project, a community-driven initiative that has resulted in the planting of over 12 million daffodil bulbs across New York City since its inception in the wake of the 9/11 tragedy.

Sally Flatman speaks with Constance Casey who was working for the New York Parks Department when the gift of one million daffodil bulbs , was given to the city by Hans van Waardenburg and the city of Rotterdam following on from the attack on the World Trade Centre.

That Autumn as the community took on the task of planting the bulbs, they were creating "a ribbon of yellow around the island of Manhattan" that would bloom the following Spring.

Adam Ganser, the Executive Director of New Yorkers for Parks, joins the conversation to discuss the ongoing efforts to maintain and expand this initiative, emphasising the importance of community involvement and equitable access to parks. The episode highlights not only the significance of the daffodil project as a living memorial but also the broader impact of green spaces on public health and community wellbeing.

Of course we also learn how to grow the plant ourselves though as Adam assures us: "its hard to screw it up"!

Our Plant Stories is back and once again we will be sharing stories about plants.

Independent podcasts like Our Plant Stories depend on their listeners for help with the costs of making the podcast such as the hosting platform and the editing programme.

Using the Buy Me A Coffee platform you can make a one off online donation of £5 and that money will go towards making more episodes. Everyone who buys a 'virtual coffee' will get a shout out on the podcast.

The support of listeners means a lot to me.

Buy Me A Coffee

Our Plant Stories is presented and produced by Sally Flatman

The music is Fade to Black by Howard Levy

Takeaways:

• The Daffodil Project began as a response to the tragedy of 9/11, aiming to bring beauty and hope to New York City.
• Every fall, thousands of volunteers participate in planting daffodil bulbs.
• The project has distributed around 12 to 13 million daffodil bulbs over 23 years, making it a significant and beloved initiative.
• Daffodils are hardy and easy to grow, making them accessible for both new and experienced gardeners alike.
• The initiative highlights the importance of parks and open spaces in urban areas, fostering a sense of community.
• New Yorkers for Parks advocates for equitable funding for parks, ensuring all neighbourhoods have access to green spaces.

Season 3 of Our Plant Stories will be starting on the 4th February 2025.

These plant stories will once again take us all over the world. We'll be meeting gardeners, botanists and historians and along the way of course we will all learn how to grow the plants.

If you have a story that you would like me to follow up in this new series you can email me - [email protected]

To find out about the plants featured in all the episodes just go to the websiteOur Plant Stories website

where you can also subscribe to the blog Our Plant Stories blog which will mean you'll be first to hear about upcoming episodes.

The series is presented and produced by Sally Flatman.

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You may well have heard about the New York High Line but did you know that there are plans afoot for a Highline in London? It has got the same design team as the NY one and Piet Oudolf will be doing the planting but before we get to the plants - there's a 'bit of treacle' to wade through.

Take this audio tour so you can start to become familiar with this incredibly exciting venture and hear about seeing 'trains in the wild'! I hope in the podcast we will follow its progress. There's plenty of imagination and tenacity at work here and we as plant lovers, can get on board too.

Simon Pitkeathley, the CEO of the Camden Highline is our guide.

Our Plant Stories is presented and produced by Sally Flatman

The music is Fade to Black by Howard Levy

Take an audio walk through a park in the sky above Manchester. We’ll walk a route that spans 130 years of history; where once there were trains now there are plants and pedestrians.

We perhaps associate the National Trust with stately homes, grand gardens and stretches of countryside but this episode may make you think again.

And how does the Castlefield viaduct link with an iconic structure in a famous British seaside town?

Kate Picker from the National Trust is our guide.

Our Plant Stories is presented and produced by Sally Flatman

The music is Fade to Black by Howard Levy

Picture yourself in a garden. Do you get your phone out to take photos of the plants and send them to friends and family? Maybe a swift selfie! Perhaps like me you google the plants - wanting to identify them.

Now picture a bench in the same garden but this time you and anyone else around you are just sitting, not a phone in sight. You're in the equivalent of the 'quiet carriage on the train' - and as you sit, you start to experience the garden in a different way.

Welcome to Silent Space the brainchild of garden writer Liz Ware.

Our Plant Stories is presented and produced by Sally Flatman

The music is Fade to Black by Howard Levy

Independent podcasts like Our Plant Stories depend on their listeners for help with the costs of making the podcast such as the hosting platform and the editing programme.

Using the Buy Me A Coffee platform you can make a one off online donation of £5 and that money will go towards making more episodes. Everyone who buys a 'virtual coffee' will get a shout out on the podcast.

The support of listeners means a lot to me.

Buy Me A Coffee

Some of us (I think I mean me!) buy flowers, rummage for a vase, search for the scissors and then maybe tweak them a little bit before standing back to admire our handiwork. This is lovely but it is not art.

In this podcast episode we travel to Strawberry Hill flower festival where floral artists take British grown flowers to a whole new level and they do create art. Follow up and down the stairs of this small gothic mansion, as it is transformed for one weekend into a feast of flowers. The theme this year is 'Nature unbound.' At the end of this sustainable flower festival all that will be left is a compost heap.

Guests:

Leigh Chappell and Janne Ford are the co-founders and creators of this festival now in its sixth year.

Leigh Chappell grew up in Wales where she studied Botanical Illustration. She later moved to London and worked in graphic design before decided she wanted to be a floral designer. She is passionate about flowers. Follow her Instagram account.

Janne Ford is a floral photographer. "I use natural light, composition and colour to create emotive floral imagery." She works from her garden studio at home, growing many of the flowers she uses in her designs. Follow her instagram account

In this episode you also hear from:

Philippa Stewart of Just Dahlias who you can also hear in two other episodes - 'Dahlia bonus' and 'Philippa's dahlias'.

Andy Monaghan - who on his website says: "With a background in dance, I bring movement to my floral work, crafting a free and natural aesthetic inspired by the vibrant, changing seasons".

Lucy Phillips who describes herself on her website as: "grower and supplier of unusual and unruly dried flowers. Part of the slow flower movement."

Kara Johnson of Floral Odyssey, Kara spent 14 years as a Creative Producer in the design industry before becoming a floral designer.

Our Plant Stories is presented and produced by Sally Flatman

The music is Fade to Black by Howard Levy

Independent podcasts like Our Plant Stories depend on their listeners for help with the costs of making the podcast such as the hosting platform and the editing programme.

Using the Buy Me A Coffee platform you can make a one off online donation of £5 and that money will go towards making more episodes. Everyone who buys a 'virtual coffee' will get a shout out on the podcast.

The support of listeners means a lot to me.

Buy Me A Coffee

Have you fallen in love with dahlias this year? Perhaps you have loved them for many years. But have you ever thought of harvesting the seed from your favourite blooms and creating your own unique flowers? Listen to hear how this is exactly what Philippa Stewart has been doing for the past few years.

We also learn about the relationship between the grower and the floral designer as Philippa in conversation with Leigh Chappell, describes how they work together to produce stunning installations using Philippa's flowers.

You can find Philippa Stewart, a dahlia farmer, at her Instagram account: Just Dahlias

Leigh Chappell is a floral designer - you can see her work on her website here. Or follow Leigh on Instagram.

Leigh will be designing with Philippa's unique dahlia blooms at the Strawberry Hill flower festival which takes place in Horace Walpole's 18th Century gothic villa (Twickenham, London) between the Friday 13th - Sunday 15th September 2024. 30 floral designers will be "pushing the boundaries of sustainable floristry". Booking is advised.

02.00 How do you become a dahlia farmer?

05.10  The first 70 dahlias

08.00 Selling the first bucket of flowers

09.45 Can you dry dahlia flowers?

12.27 Growing from seed

15.00 Working with a floral designer

20.20 What’s a floral installation?

22.30 The Japanese art of Ikebana

23.30 How to save dahlia seed

30.15 When to sow your dahlia seeds

Our Plant Stories is presented and produced by Sally Flatman

The music is Fade to Black by Howard Levy

Independent podcasts like Our Plant Stories depend on their listeners for help with the costs of making the podcast such as the hosting platform and the editing programme.

Using the Buy Me A Coffee platform you can make a one off online donation of £5 and that money will go towards making more episodes. Everyone who buys a 'virtual coffee' will get a shout out on the podcast.

The support of listeners means a lot to me.

Buy Me A Coffee

Hill Close was a pasture until 1845 when its owner decided to divide it up into gardens. Individual plots where Victorians could rent a space to tend their plants, build a summer house, relax with their family. These were detached gardens for people who had no outdoor space where they lived but a little bit of money to rent one nearby.

Once there were many such gardens in the UK. Where did they go? Why did Hill Close survive? And who were the people who gardened here?

Our Plant Stories is presented and produced by Sally Flatman

The music is Fade to Black by Howard Levy

Independent podcasts like Our Plant Stories depend on their listeners for help with the costs of making the podcast such as the hosting platform and the editing programme.

Using the Buy Me A Coffee platform you can make a one off online donation of £5 and that money will go towards making more episodes. Everyone who buys a 'virtual coffee' will get a shout out on the podcast.

The support of listeners means a lot to me.

Buy Me A Coffee

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