Our Plant Stories

Hostas - discuss them with your friends and you inevitably end up talking about slugs and snails. Unless you are Alison, whose hostas grow unchallenged with not a snail in sight. For the rest of us, Vicky Meads of New Forest Hostas is a fount of knowledge. Who knew you could eat them and that a sacrificial lamb may save your hostas from snails.

There is lots of information in the show notes on the website www.ourplantstories.com

Presented and produced by Sally Flatman

Music: Fade to Black by Howard Levy

A Willow tree on a beautiful English river bank. A big pillow of nature where you can sit surrounded by leaves. Known also to the artist Andrew Carter as 'the tree I fell out of' and the inspiration for a wonderful print. Can we recreate that special place in our own gardens?

Find pictures and information in the show notes at www.ourplantstories.com

Presented and Produced by Sally Flatman

Music: Fade to Black by Howard Levy

Andy Peasgood has a childhood memory of hopping around under a huge apple tree that had apples the size of small footballs. Is his memory playing tricks? Anna in BC says her Great Grandmother grew the tree from an apple pip but can we find Anna? The story of the Peasgood's nonsuch apple tree takes us on a journey and we learn that apples are like humans!

Find masses of information about this in the show notes on the website: www.ourplantstories.com

Music: Fade to Black by Howard Levy

Our Plant Stories is produced and presented by Sally Flatman

This week we share a story about mint, picked for a tea and a time to sit and talk. Except that is not so easy when you are now in London and your family are in Kyiv, but still Anya describes it as 'a plant which keeps us together.' We hear about a chain of gardening knowledge passed through 4 generations of Ukrainian women. We also talk about how people garden even in the midst of war with war journalist Lalage Snow. And Jean Levy the holder of a National Mint collection shares her passion for this plant.

You can find all the names of the plants mentioned in the show notes on the website: Ourplantstories.com

Music: Fade to Black by Howard Levy

Our Plant Stories is produced and presented by Sally Flatman

In Dion's backyard in Boston there was a Fig tree. Every Fall, his dad, watched by the six children, would wrap it up to protect it against the Winter weather. But where did the Fig tree come from and why was it so important to him? Mary Menniti runs the Italian Garden Project and she knows the answers to these questions. She has travelled across America gathering the stories of these Fig trees.

Music by Howard Levy

Show notes on the website www.ourplantstories.com

A Passion flower, Passiflora in a South London garden that seemed as glamorous and exotic as the grandmother who grew it; both a little mysterious. A grower - Myles Steward Irvine, who read an article in a Sunday paper, sent off for a catalogue and ended up breeding them. What is the attraction of this plant? Spanish priests called it - La flor de las cinco heridas or the flower with five wounds: ‘A lot of people think the passion is to do with love but of course it’s the crucifixion.’

Show notes at www.ourplantstories.com

Music: Fade to Black by Howard Levy

There was one plant in Lynne and Gilly McCadden's childhood garden that the sisters were never allowed to go near or to touch. It was one of their mum's favourite plants - a peony. Now Lynne is desperate to find out it's name, all she knows is it was scarlet. Can Claire Austin, plantswoman and nursery owner with 40 years of experience in horticulture, identify the lost peony? She certainly shares a wealth of advice and knowledge to help all of us grow this glamorous plant.

Show notes at www.ourplantstories.com

Music: Fade to Black by Howard Levy

Listen to this short trailer of a brand new podcast featuring plant stories.

Series one will start on the 2nd April.

Do get in touch via www.ourplantstories.com if you have a plant story you would like to share. You can also get a sneak preview of some of the forthcoming stories via the website.

The series is presented and produced by Sally Flatman and you can see more about the series on the Instagram account @ourplantstories_podcast