Plantrama - plants, landscapes, & bringing nature indoors

:35 What's For Dinner: Edible Landscaping

We discuss some of the plants that do double duty in the landscape: these are attractive and edible! The plants mentioned are: Roses, crabapple trees, plum trees, blueberries (Vaccinium corymbosum) old-fashioned quince (Chaenomeles japonica 'Toyo-Nishiki'), bee balm, ostrich fern (Matteuccia struthiopteris), Oregon grape (Mahonia aquifolium), potato-bean vine (Apios americana), doyle's thornless blackberry, rainbow chard, salad greens, and nasturtiums.

10:05 The Plant Noob: Buying Plants in 6 packs vs. 4" Pots

Those new to planting often wonder why some plants are sold in inexpensive six packs, while others are only available in small pots. Ellen and C.L. explain.

14:15 Eat/Drink/Grow: Growing Plants From Pits and Leftovers

Have you ever wondered if you can grow an apple or orange tree from the pit of the fruit you bought in the store? And how about making a houseplant from the top of a pineapple or the seed from an avocado?

21:25 Insider Information: Those Cheerful Supermarket Primroses…

They have round flowers in bright colors and make us believe that spring is, indeed, just around the corner. Ellen and C.L. talk about whether you can plant these outside once the warmer weather actually arrives.

29:00 Love Letters and Questions: Soil Treatments

Is it possible to treat the soil to get rid of all your insect and disease problems?

30 What's for dinner: Mustards, Cresses, and Peas Spring greens and Peas

What to forage for in early spring, and should you really plant peas on Saint Patrick's Day?

5:18 Insider Information: Cymbidiums

How to grow Cymbidium orchids, keep them alive through summer and bring them back into flower.

9:15 Eat/Drink/Grow: Cold Frames and Other Ways of "Pushing Spring"

Ellen and C.L. explore the ways we can jumpstart our spring growing with cold frames and other means of protection. See the lyrics for Lou and Peter Berryman's song that C.L. refers to on the Plantrama website.

21:57 Did You Know: Shamrocks

At this time of year garden centers and grocery stores are filled with several types of Oxalis plants, sold as signs of spring and symbols of St. Patrick's day. We talk about how to grow these as houseplants and use them in outdoor containers.

26:05 Love Letters and Questions:

Planting pansies as early as possible.

:33 What's For Dinner: Jams

Ellen is a big jam maker. Here how she saves fruit for cooking up jams later. She advises that people new to jams and jellies get the Ball Blue Book or So Easy To Preserve.

8:11 The Plant Noob: Lemon Cypress

This lime colored small tree is often sold at Christmas time as a holiday plant. Ellen and C.L. talk about how to keep it alive as a houseplant indoors, and where it can be planted outside.

14:10 Eat/Drink/Grow: Scale

One of the hardest insect pests to manage is scale. In this episode we talk about scales found on indoor and outdoor plants, how to identify this pest and what treatments you can use.

15:51 Insider Information: Seeds

If you're new to seed starting you'll want to know when seeds can be started inside on a widow sill or under lights. Ellen and C.L. caution not to plant seeds too early!

29:04 Love letters and questions: Greenhouse Gift Plants

Holding holiday gift plants until it's time to plant them outside in spring.

:35 – 6:10 What's For Dinner: Microgreens – you can grow these tasty, nutritious greens yourself, indoors, even in the winter time.

6:12 – 12:00 Insider Information: Spider mites – at this time of year you might find spider mites on your indoor plants.

12:05 – 23:23 Eat/Drink/Grow: Pruning – why we prune plants and a basic recipe for approaching most trees and shrubs.

23:26 – 27:56 Did You Know: Birds in your landscape – how to attract birds and provide for them in the coldest months of the year.

27:59 – end Love Letters and Questions: Miniature roses from a greenhouse…can they be planted outside later in the spring?

0:34 What's for dinner: Advance planning? Ordering veggie seeds for growing this spring and winter foraging.

6:37 Plant noob: Why you should know about Sansevieria, the Swiss Army Knife of Plants.

11:37 Eat/Drink/Grow: The Art, Science and Dinner of Seeds

23:12 Insider Information: Methusela…the story of the 2000 year old palm seed that sprouted.

26:58 Love Letters and Questions

Reese wants to know how we record Plantrama if we're not in the same location.

0:37 – 4:33 What's for dinner: Foraged Pesto and Winter Squash Soup

4:37 – 10:56 Insider Information: "Breathing Room"

11:03 – 25:15 Eat/Drink/Grow: The Art, Science and Dinner of Orchids

25:25 – 30:33 Did You Know: How to keep an Amaryllis from year to year.

30:36 – 35:15 Love Letters and Questions: A love note from Kerry.

0:30 – 5:37 What's for Dinner: Calamondin Citrus

5:43 – 11:51 Did You Know: Paperwhite Narcissus

12:02 - 20:08 Eat/Drink/Grow: Cyclamen

20:14 – 24:53 Insider Information: The Franklinia Story

24:56 – 27:28 Love Letters and Questions: Addison asks about weeds to eat from the lawn.

What's For Dinner :40 Winter cocktails are on the menu in this episode. Ellen gives a recipe for a foraged Carob Horchata and C.L. talks about using the rosemary plant your brought indoors to create a Rosemary Gin Gin. Links to recipes at Plantrama.com

Insider Information 4:20 Mice! How to prevent mouse damage on newly planted trees and in other garden situations.

Eat/Drink/Grow 10:02 In this section you'll find out how C.L. feels about poinsettias (pro) and Ellen doesn't hold back about her opinion (con) of Euphorbia pulcherrima. We discuss the history, care and advantages of this popular holiday plant. And if you think that Ellen and C.L. disagree about the merits of poinsettias in general, just wait until C.L. mentions spray-painting the plant…

Did You Know 21:01 After the total disagreement about Euphorbia pulcherrima, it's back to common ground with a discussion of luminarias and celebrating the solstice.

Love Letters and Questions 25:25 Today Ellen and C.L. give the recorded equivalent of thank you notes, expressing appreciation for people who wrote such great reviews of Plantrama on iTunes.

00: What's For Dinner - we discuss what is on a forager's Thanksgiving table, and what is on a vegetable gardener's spread. Find links to the recipes here:

8:59: The Plant Noob - Today's topic is common cooking sage, aka Salvia officinalis.

12:59: Eat, Drink, Grow - We're growing Christmas cactus and Thanksgiving cactus in this episode. What they are, keeping them alive, and how to be sure they came into flower every year.

20:34: Insider Information – Just in time for your Shop Small Saturday, it's time for Ellen and C.L.'s holiday gift suggestions.

30:19: Love Letters and Questions – We heard from Freddi who asked if it's too early to put down "winterizer" fertilizer.

:50 Did You Know...about the pros and cons of Winter Protection? Think you should wrap your evergreen shrubs in burlap for the winter? Ellen explains how to correctly construct a protective screen, and C.L. wonders why anyone would want to upholster their shrubs. 4:45 Eat/Drink/Grow: Crabapples.How to choose a tree, which varieties C.L. and Ellen are lusting after, and what to do with the fruit. The two varieties mentioned are Chestnut and Dolgo. C.L. directs you to two helpful crabapple sites. One from The Morton Arboretum and a chart from J. Frank Schmidt. Ellen gives this link on her website for crabapple recipes. 16:45 Insider Information: Last Chance Harvesting. Cool weather greens such as curly dock (for foragers), Tuscan kale, carrots, pak choi, chard and Brussels sprouts (for gardeners). Ellen also talks about ginkgo nuts. Have you heard the saying, "Stinko ginkgo?" 21:05 Love Letters and Questions: Fungus Gnats and Fruit Flies Robbie writes "Help! I've got fruit flies in my kitchen."