Our Plant Stories

David Gedye's mum told him a plant story when he was just 10 years old. It involved a very famous Monkey Puzzle tree and his great great grandfather, a head gardener. That story has led him on a lifetime trail, 68 years so far, to learn more about head gardener Philip Frost and to find out about that tree. Could the story be true - did his great great grandfather carry Monkey Puzzle seed in a tin in his waistcoat pocket and plant the famous Dropmore Monkey Puzzle tree?

He shares his story here. Do take a look at the episode page on the website to see the wonderful photograph of David's great great grandfather beside the tree.

Our Plant Stories is presented and produced by Sally Flatman

The music is Fade to Black by Howard Levy

Can I dig into more plant stories?

YES! You can check out the website where there are lots of photographs of plants and how to grow instructions. Our Plant Stories website

You can also follow the weekly blog where you will get the behind the scenes lowdown on making the podcast and you could also contribute - readers have suggested gardens to visit, plants to feature, experts to contact.

Our Plant Stories blog

And you can follow more plants over on my Instagram account Instagram

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

Can I share my plant story with you?

YES PLEASE! I called this OUR Plant Stories for a reason and that is that I love to hear from listeners wherever you are in the world!

You can email me [email protected] and tell me your plant story. That's all you need to do - I'll do the rest. I'll work out who we can talk to. Can we find someone who shares your passion for the plant, they maybe in the same country as you or the other side of the world.

When Andrea moved to a new home, 12 years ago, there was a Monkey Puzzle tree in the front garden. She wasn't keen, it was marked down to go but it is still there. Find out why in this Monkey Puzzle Plant Story.

These trees first came to the UK in 1795 but they didn't really start to become popular till the 1850s. Queen Victoria saw the tree and wanted one for Prince Albert.

We have a Chilean botanist in the podcast to help us understand the tree, learn how to grow it and unravel that story about the original Monkey Puzzle nuts being stolen off a dinner table in Santiago.

Our Plant Stories is presented and produced by Sally Flatman

The music is Fade to Black by Howard Levy

Can I dig into more plant stories?

YES! You can check out the website where there are lots of photographs of plants and how to grow instructions. Our Plant Stories website

You can also follow the weekly blog where you will get the behind the scenes lowdown on making the podcast and you could also contribute - readers have suggested gardens to visit, plants to feature, experts to contact.

Our Plant Stories blog

And you can follow more plants over on my Instagram account Instagram

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

Can I share my plant story with you?

YES PLEASE! I called this OUR Plant Stories for a reason and that is that I love to hear from listeners wherever you are in the world!

You can email me [email protected] and tell me your plant story. That's all you need to do - I'll do the rest. I'll work out who we can talk to. Can we find someone who shares your passion for the plant, they maybe in the same country as you or the other side of the world.

Expert Guest: Eduardo Olate

Eduardo is from Chile and is an experienced lecturer, horticultural advisor, and business development consultant specializing in the agricultural sector, with over 25 years of expertise in plant propagation, plant tissue culture, plant breeding, and crop physiology in ornamental plants. He was a co-founder of the Chilean Native Plants Conference. He loves the Monkey Puzzle tree; Latin name - Araucaria araucana. It's the National tree of Chile

Timeline of the episode:

00.35. Intro to what listeners have been growing thanks to the podcast.

01.16   Every Monkey Puzzle leaf can last for 25 years!

01.42. Andrea’s plant story about the Monkey Puzzle tree in her front garden

04.25 Who planted the tree?

05.18. What do passers-by think of the tree?

06.37.  What do the seed pods look like?

07.55. Introducing Eduardo Olate, a horticulturalist from Chile and one of the co-founders of the Chilean Native plants conference

08.47. When did the Monkey Puzzle tree first arrive in the UK and where does the name come from?

09.44. How do the Indigenous people in Chile use this tree?

10.43 So how does this tree end up in English gardens?

14.28. When did they start to become popular in the UK?

15.25. Andrea asks Eduardo about the seedpods

20.23  Eduardo tells us about their native habitat in Chile of a Monkey Puzzle tree

24.00 Were they around when dinosaurs walked the earth?

27.46. How to grow a Monkey Puzzle tree

32.00 How to plant a Monkey Puzzle seed

Who were the celebrity gardeners of the 1850's and why were they important to a fledgling charity called Perennial?

The charity still exists today. It's dedicated to looking after people working in horticulture and their families, at any stage of life.

The charity's roots go back almost 200 years and garden historian, Francesca Murray has, for her Phd, spent many hours in its archive. She shares a fascinating story for this Offshoot episode. You can see photographs of original documents on the website: Our Plant Stories.com

Our Plant Stories is presented and produced by Sally Flatman

Fade to Black by Howard Levy

https://ourplantstories.captivate.fm/buy-me-a-coffee

Never say to Mona Abboud - "this plant is only for trade". This is a wonderful story of one woman's hunt for a plant, there's detective work, there's blackmail! The result is a beautiful New Zealand garden in North London created by a woman who has never set foot in New Zealand.

Mona is on a one woman mission to get us all to love corokia - see if she can persuade you too, aided by Fiona Eadie, the author of 100 best native plants for New Zealand gardens. As always this is the podcast where knowledgeable, passionate people will be teaching you how to grow the plant they love.

All the information, photographs and growing advice is on the website.

Presented and Produced by Sally Flatman

Music: Fade to Black by Howard Levy

https://ourplantstories.captivate.fm/buy-me-a-coffee

"What is a Purdom" by Vicky Aspin's own admission this was her first reaction to being sent to the Purdom bed in Holehird gardens. Then her curiosity was aroused by a name plaque on a bench: For Three Native Lakeland Gardeners, William Purdom and sons William and Harry and from that her hunt began...who was William Purdom?

Her searches before the era of the internet, led her eventually to China and the Purdom Memorial Forest Park and you can hear the story of her search and Purdom's life in this Offshoot episode recorded on a sunny Autumn day, sitting on the Purdom bench in Holehird Gardens in Cumbria. As always there are photographs on the website.

Presented and produced by Sally Flatman

Music: Fade to Black by Howard Levy

https://ourplantstories.captivate.fm/buy-me-a-coffee

Season 2 of Our Plant Stories is here! And we begin with a very beautiful story from Penn Allen, a listener to the podcast who contacted me with a plant story that takes us to the Lake District.

Diaries from Penn's Great Grandmother Alice Hough and her husband Harry reveal a garden built with love in the midst of loss and a friendship with Will Purdom that spanned years and continents leading to plants from China being planted on a rock overlooking Windermere.

To understand more about mindset of Will Purdom, we talk to Tom Hart Dyke who has built the World Garden at Lullingstone Castle. We also learn how to grow the Viburnum thanks to wonderfully knowledgeable gardeners at Holehird gardens in Cumbria.

All the information about the podcast is on the website.

Presented and Produced by Sally Flatman

Music: Fade to Black by Howard Levy

https://ourplantstories.captivate.fm/buy-me-a-coffee

Our Plant Stories is back for a second season and once again the plant stories are going to take us all over the world. To follow and dig into the stories we'll be meeting gardeners, botanists and historians and along the way of course we will learn how to grow the plants.

Season 2 starts 12th January 2024.

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 website where you can also subscribe to a weekly blog which will mean you'll be first to hear about upcoming episodes.

The series is presented and produced by Sally Flatman.

Instagram: ourplantstories_podcast

Welcome to a bumper crop of plant stories! I'm looking back over some moments from this years episodes but I also invited 3 other plant podcasters to do the same with their podcasts - hence the 'friends'. We've all picked some clips from the past year that we hope you will enjoy. So thanks to Jane Perrone from On the Ledge, Sarah Wilson from Roots and All and M.T. O'Donnell of Scotland Grows.

There are conversations about spiders and sacrificial lambs (well hostas actually), difficult decisions about felling trees and the value of researching local hedgerows. Jane, Sarah and M.T also talk about making their podcasts. I love the way Sarah describes herself as 'a kid chasing a butterfly'. All are connecting people with a passion for plants and it's been a real joy to talk to these fellow podcasters.

I will put all the details of their podcasts on the website www.ourplantstories.com

If you have a plant story you want me to investigate, you can email me:

[email protected]

Music: Fade to Black by Howard Levy

https://ourplantstories.captivate.fm/buy-me-a-coffee

I'd like to transport you to Levens Hall and a garden that was created in 1694 when topiary was the height of fashion and taste. Over the intervening 329 years this Lake District garden has had only 10 Head Gardeners and each has cared for and clipped that topiary.

We first met the current head gardener, Chris Crowder, in Episode 8 in conversation with Diana Boston about the slow nature of gardening with topiary. You can of course listen to that Plant Story and its Offshoot.

Hearing Chris talk about his annual job of clipping some 100 pieces of topiary was fascinating, so I went to find out more. I hope you enjoy this visit to the garden and you can see photographs on the website.

Produced and Presented by Sally Flatman

Music: Fade to Black by Howard Levy

https://ourplantstories.captivate.fm/buy-me-a-coffee

A short bonus episode to help us celebrate the UK's National Apple Day! Listen for just 15 minutes and you will have some fascinating facts both historical and horticultural to share with others this weekend or just anytime! And I hope you will look at the trees, the apples and the pips in a slightly different light.

See pictures of the Reverend Wilkes on the website along with links to all the organisations and charities mentioned in this episode.

Here's the original Plant Story and Offshoot about apples.

Presented and Produced by Sally Flatman

Music: Fade to Black by Howard Levy

https://ourplantstories.captivate.fm/buy-me-a-coffee