Super Cool Plants - Formerly Known as Let's Argue About Plants

Over the course of the past several years, the staff of Fine Gardening has visited A LOT of flower and garden shows across North America. But one show that takes place every February in Seattle consistently rises to the top: The Northwest Flower and Garden Festival. The display gardens are more than just impressive—they’re truly inspiring and feature an incredible array of diverse plants. These are gardens that not only have the wow-factor, but also give attendees solid ideas for their own backyards that are achievable. This year was no exception. Join Steve and Danielle as they walk through the show and share what they saw, from a cottage garden with swarms of live ladybugs to a variegated daphne so fragrant, you can almost smell it through your headphones.

Expert testimony: Courtney Olander, landscape designer from Seattle, Washington.

It may seem weird to talk about a garden having “architecture”, but it’s an essential component of a good design.  Plants with stunning form—be it shockingly upright, or maybe acutely weeping—are what tends to draw the eye in a landscape.  These plants are often focal points, and we like to think our gardens can never have enough of them. In today’s episode Steve and Danielle talk about their favorite architectural plants, and surprisingly, they’re not all trees and shrubs.

Expert testimony: Susan Morrison, owner and principle designer for Creative Exteriors Landscape Design in Concord, California.

We’re taking the podcast on the road again and this time we traveled to Logee’s Greenhouses in Danielson, Connecticut. Known countrywide as a mecca for houseplant and tropical plant lovers, this unique business is the ideal location to visit if you need to chase away the winter blues. Join us as we step into the 80° F, subterranean greenhouses to check out trees adorned with lemons the size of footballs and fragrant jasmines that almost anyone can grow (even Steve and Danielle).  We also get the inside scoop on caring for some of these exotic plants from Byron Martin, the co-owner of Logee’s. And, in case you’re sad that you couldn’t join us on this adventure, Logee’s ships plants across the country, so you can order any of the jewels we discovered on this visit and have them delivered to your doorstep.

Expert testimony: Byron Martin, co-owner of Logee’s Greenhouses, in Danielson, CT.

Since we’ve been at this podcasting game for 2+ years now, we figured it was time we asked you guys—our loyal listeners—what pressing plant questions you have. We got questions about design, zone 4 recommendations, and one brave listener even wrote in to ask about our favorite PINK plants (yikes!) There were a handful of questions that left us clueless, so we called in a few bonafide experts to help out. After all, if there’s one thing we have figured out through the course of this show, it’s that we don’t know it all--even you, Steve.

Expert testimony #1: Richie Steffen curator of the Elisabeth C. Miller Botanical Garden in Seattle, Washington.

Expert testimony #2: Ed Gregan nurseryman from Bailey Nurseries in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Some people say plant all native plants. Some people say plant a mix of native and ornamental options. Whichever side you may be on, the plants we highlight today are some stellar selections no matter where they hail from—but they’re all North American natives that we adore. It’s hard to do a show about our experiences with native plants, because what is native here in the Northeast (where we live and make this wonderful podcast) may not be native to your region. We kept that in mind however, and selected a few options outside of our area of the country—native plants from other parts of North America that have left a lasting impression while traveling. Just to be sure we covered all our bases, we asked Andrea DeLong-Amaya, director of horticulture at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in Austin, Texas (a premier authority on all things native plants) to weigh in and tell us about some of her favorite natives.

Expert testimony: Andrea DeLong-Amaya, director of horticulture at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in Austin, Texas

On this episode we’re daring to dream big and talking about which plants we’d be willing to spend an entire paycheck on. We’re calling these coveted gems, Splurge Plants. A hefty price tag isn’t the only way a plant can make this list, though.  It could be a plant that’s not hardy to our particular zone but we’d be willing to set up a heater by its side all winter just to have it in our gardens. Other selections made our list because we’ve seen it, drooled over it, but haven’t had the opportunity to add it to the garden lineup…yet. You get the gist. And before you start thinking this is our “fantasy” episode, we decided these all had to be real plants. No blue roses or unicorn trees.

Expert testimony: Richie Steffen, is curator of horticulture for the Elisabeth C. Miller Botanical Garden in Seattle, Washington.

What better to way to wrap up the year of gardening with an airing of our grievances against all those plants that never quite lived up to their potential this season? (Think of that infamous Seinfeld episode featuring the Costanzas  Festivus celebration). However, we didn’t want to end 2019 on an entirely negative note so we decided to mention those plants that exceeded our expectations, as well. There were some surprises from seemingly exotic choices that appeared to enjoy the drought this summer and some let downs from plants that are supposedly built for the unpredictable weather swings, but ended up shriveling in defeat. Steve even talks those plants that made it through an entire season in a pot, on the side of his driveway, and lived. If those selections can survive those conditions, just think how well they’d do in your garden with a little more attention! Expert Paula Gross, who previously oversaw a botanic garden, makes us all feel better by highlighting some of her triumphs (like Gloriosa superba 'Rothschildiana', Zones 8-10) and failures, too.

Expert testimony: Paula Gross, former Associate Director of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte Botanical Gardens.

Happy holidays LAAP listeners! It’s hard to believe that another gardening season is now (nearly) in the books. As we think ahead to the New Year—and spring 2020—we’re thinking about which plants are going onto our holiday wish lists. Now, we don’t expect our loved ones to buy us plants this time of year, but a nice gift certificate to a favorite nursery would be ideal…hint, hint. With those magical garden center certificates, we’d pick up a few specific treasures that we’ve been pinning for. Aside from Steve and Danielle’s wish lists, we reached out to Stacey Hirvela of Spring Meadow Nursery to see what someone who has access to acres upon acres of plants is wishing for in 2020. And be sure to stay tuned in for Peter’s end of year musings, they’re sure to give you a giggle—which we could all use while rushing around completing our pre-holiday tasks.

Happy New Year from all of us at Let’s Argue About Plants!

Expert testimony: Stacey Hirvela shrub specialist for Spring Meadow Nursery in Grand Haven, Michigan.

As gardeners, we love ornamental grasses for a plethora of reasons: They have great texture, they attract wildlife, many are native to North America. But, there are several options out there that give ornamental grasses a bad name. These noxious weeds spread aggressively, become invasive, and/or are just plain beasts that swallow up any garden neighbors. In this episode we discuss the stars of this category of plants—grasses that are stunning in three seasons (if not four) and don’t require a teenage back to divide. We even sing the praises of an airport authority that chose a truly wonderful grass to landscape their parking circles. Which one? You’ll have to listen to the episode to find out!

Expert testimony: Brent Horvath, owner and plant breeder at Intrinsic Perennials in Hebron, Illinois.

Wow! We done 50 episodes so far of Let’s Argue About Plants and to celebrate that achievement we decided to do two things. First, we’ll drink lots of champagne (well, at least Danielle will). Second, we’re going to give you guys a breakdown of our favorite 50 plants of all-time. These are tried-and-true varieties that never seem to let us down. They’re attractive, have multiple seasons of interest, and are low-care (after all, we’re talking about Steve here—self-proclaimed as the laziest garden on earth). This is the list that we wished we’d had when first starting out in gardening. Do you have some of these star plants in your landscape? Listen now to find out.

Expert testimony: Jared Barnes  assistant professor of horticulture in the Arthur Temple College of Forestry and Agriculture at Stephen F. Austin State University in Texas.