Plantrama - plants, landscapes, & bringing nature indoors

In this episode we are making purées for use later in the winter, and considering when you might need to water in the fall. Ellen and C.L. discuss managing those pesky fungus gnats (tiny black flies) that can emerge from your houseplants, and we answer a question about using red pepper to deter rabbits, deer and other critters.

:29 What's For Dinner: Fall purées 6:53 Eat/Drink/Grow: Fall watering. 14:48 Insider Information: Fungus gnats – again. 21:18 Love Letters and Questions: Anne asks about using hot pepper flakes for animal repellants.

Hear about nuts for dinner, houseplants that will make you smile, and late-to-migrate hummingbirds. We also answer Kim's question about perennial garden cleanup in the fall.

:30 What's For Dinner Nuts!

11:17 Eat/Drink/Grow: House Plants that will make you happy all winter

20:30 Insider Information: Supporting late-to-migrate hummingbirds.

23:18 Kim writes: Do I need to clear out a perennial garden? Does a garden really need to be "put to bed?"

Hear about nuts for dinner, houseplants that will make you smile, and late-to-migrate hummingbirds. We also answer Kim's question about perennial garden cleanup in the fall.

:30 What's For Dinner Nuts!

11:17 Eat/Drink/Grow: House Plants that will make you happy all winter

20:30 Insider Information: Supporting late-to-migrate hummingbirds.

23:18 Kim writes: Do I need to clear out a perennial garden? Does a garden really need to be "put to bed?"

Hear about nuts for dinner, houseplants that will make you smile, and late-to-migrate hummingbirds. We also answer Kim's question about perennial garden cleanup in the fall.

:30 What's For Dinner Nuts!

11:17 Eat/Drink/Grow: House Plants that will make you happy all winter

20:30 Insider Information: Supporting late-to-migrate hummingbirds.

23:18 Kim writes: Do I need to clear out a perennial garden? Does a garden really need to be "put to bed?"

Ellen and C.L. talk about root crops – potatoes, and sunchokes – and what "open pollinated" means. We discuss the pros and cons of protecting plants for the winter, and answer a listener's question about plants that draw flies.

:36 What's for dinner: Root Crops: Potatoes and Sunchokes 5:55 Insider Information: What does "open pollinated" mean? 10:34 Eat/Drink/Grow: Should Your Plants be protected for the winter? 23:00 Love Letters and Questions: Chris emails: "First time writer, long time listener. I have a fly question."

In this episode Ellen and C.L. talk about how to decide which tender or tropical plants to save indoors through the winter, how to preserve your garden or foraging harvest, and whether weeds choose to grow where they blend in.

:32 Plant Noob: Deciding which tropicals/annuals to try and save through the winter. 9:05 Eat/Drink/Grow: Preserving The Harvest 19:45 Love Letters and Questions Morgan smart, chameleon weeds?

Is compost – homemade or purchased – a good substitute for fertilizer? What is that thick growth in a tree? Ellen and C.L. answer these questions and respond to a listener about uses for pressed flowers.

:26 True or False: Compost is fertilizer.

3:50 Eat/Drink/Grow: Witches' Brooms

19:58 Love Letters and Questions: Kelly asks for ideas about what to do with pressed flowers.

Check out the pressed flower art by Peggy Turner Zablotny

The Plantrama Partners-in-Plants start by discussing how to eat the parts of plants we often toss out or put into the compost. Next, we talk about growing new plants from the seeds that you might see right now in your perennial garden. We end by answering a listener's question about what might make a shrub or tree turn bright colors very early in autumn.

:36 What's For Dinner: Parts of plants we often ignore: Carrot stems, beet stems and queen Anne's lace flowers.

11:12 Eat/Drink/Grow: Growing perennials from the seeds you find in your garden

19:28 Love Letters and Questions: Shelley writes: What would cause a tree to turn colors and drop its leaves early in the fall?

In this end-of-August episode, C.L. and Ellen discuss how to tell why the leaves on your plant are turning yellow. They explain that noticing which leaves are yellowing, and where they are, can help explain why this is happening. Next the Plantrama team explains some botanic terms, and discusses what to forage for or plant in your vegetable garden right now. The episode ends with advice to Sandy about when to bring her houseplants back inside after they have spent the summer out of doors.

:38 Plant Noob: Yellow Leaves – how to know what causes this?

9:42 Insider Information: Angiosperm and Gymnosperm – what do these terms mean?

11:26 Eat/Drink/Grow: Fall Planting and Foraging

22:23 Love Letters and Questions: Sandy wonders "when does houseplant summer camp end?"

The link to Ellen's rose hip soup recipe: https://backyardforager.com/rose-hip-soup-recipe-nyponsoppa/

The Plantrama team talks about ideas for pasta salad and reipes using pineapple weed. We get you thinking about transplanting in the fall, discuss how to manage plants that self-seed just a bit too enthusiastically, and answer a listener's question about scale.

:30 What's for dinner: Pasta Salad and Pineapple Weed

5:14 Eat/Drink/Grow: Preparing for Fall Transplanting

15:10 Insider Information: Preventing plants from self-seeding too much.

21:09 Love Letters and Questions Shannon asks about scale.