With some surprise and not a little relief, the garden is hurtling towards late middle age by mid-September. The promise of spring and the relentless drive of summer have departed, and with them the cultural expectation that the garden needs to look good in a crop top and pretend that it’s still May.

There are some big bonuses to late middle age. With lowered expectations now the norm for those around you who don’t garden, your plot is well positioned to surprise and delight visitors with color, texture & not a little sass. It may be the Golden Hour, but that doesn’t mean you can’t rock it.

This week, Marianne and Leslie remain so dedicated to their craft and the proposition that ‘rock it’ is more than just a salad green, that they bring the Show with them on vacation to Normandy. (Or at least Leslie was on vacation when the girls recorded this episode — Marianne was working her derrière off).

However, since they had a fine coachload of exceptional gardeners whose ideas they could harvest for fall color ideas (including a group of professional container designers) they didn’t have to work too hard.

It’s LIVE-ish from Normandy, with a surprise or two — and don’t forget to check out the YouTube silliness. Today on The Garden Mixer.

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Gardeners in cold climates dabbling with tropical and subtropical plants in their summer gardens are about to come to a hard stop: First Frost.

If you’re a gardener who loves these plants outside, but doesn’t particularly want them rubbing shoulders with you over the winter, you may be interested in which ones Marianne terms “Best Friends” in her last book, Tropical Plants and How To Love Them — plants that can be stored in dark, dormant conditions in a frost-free location.

Today on One More Sip the girls discuss the plants that can take this kind of treatment, the ones that can’t, and encourage you to safely experiment to add even more to your list.

From digging those rhizomes to the details of storage — they’ll make it easier than ever to bring some of your favorite “Best Friend” plants through the winter so you can enjoy them in your garden for years to come.

It’s planting season once again for many of us in the Northern Hemisphere – which of course means buying season, and splurging season, and did-I-really-need-that-many-clearance-plants season.

Need a strategy? Today we welcome Louisa Zimmermann Roberts, co-owner of Thanksgiving Farms in Frederick, Maryland who’s been watching the buying habits of customers for decades, and has more than a little insight on what you should be doing when you fill that cart.

She’ll have you examining that root system, squinting at plant tags, rethinking your potting soil, and generally becoming the smartest gardener on the block. Today on the Garden Mixer.

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On this Barrel Aged and decanted episode of One More Sip of The Garden Mixer, Leslie and Marianne go full listicle and shelve the “Do!” for the “Better If You Don’t Do” on a range of issues in the garden — from design considerations, to maintenance considerations, to yes…psychological considerations.

While gardening is a creative, subjective exercise, we can definitely make it harder on ourselves than it needs to be — and the girls try their best to help you learn from their mistakes (…and the mistakes of others). Join them as they put together the gardener’s ultimate Honey Don’t Do list.

Each year, millions of gardeners prowl the globe seeking ‘aha!’ moments that they can bring back to their own gardens at home. Are you one of them?

Leslie has been visiting gardens abroad for decades, and over the last two years, Marianne has built a company dedicated to bringing great gardens to great groups of people. Together they’re heading to Normandy next week to see gardens such as Giverny, Jardins d’Etretat, Chateau de Boutemont, Le Jardin Plume, and Chateau Champ de Bataille. And they want to do it right.

So what is the BEST way to see a garden when you finally decide to go? Do you study? Do you wing it? Do you spend hours behind your phone taking the perfect shot only to find you can’t remember the garden because you never experienced it? And what on earth do baby faces have to do with a garden anyway?!?

Thankfully, you don’t need a visa or a VISA to journey with them today.

All aboard! Next stop: Garden Inspiration!

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This week, Leslie & Marianne dive into the sticky world of beekeeping as a gardener.

Leslie is buzzing with questions (and incredibly bad puns) and mercilessly questions Marianne who kept bees for over 15 years and can’t let go of the possibility to do so again (just as soon as she gets her resident bear problem under control and/or moves out of her valley). Is she delusional or just in love?

Whether you’re thinking about plunging into this fascinating world — or simply need motivation to keep harvesting those 50 pound supers in the heat of summer, you’ll appreciate the helpful hints and honest perspective on a hobby that captivates gardeners and non-gardeners world-wide.

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In the heat of August, it’s not just gardeners that want to check out — it’s their plants. But there’s a lot plants can tell us about the conditions we’re all navigating, so it’s worth paying attention when the temperatures soar.

To channel those thoughts, Leslie and Marianne welcome Carol Reese — horticulturist, writer, humorist, retired University of Tennessee extension specialist, and keeper of approximately three to four hundred dogs — though not all at once.

Carol gardens on 118 acres in West Tennessee, where the heat index routinely clears 105°F and the garden operates on something close to feral principles. So does she, and she’s ready to dish on what survives in serious heat, why it’s hard to watch Europeans complain about their new normal, and why giving people plants you know they should be growing is a public service — even if you have to grab a shovel and plant them yourself.

You might want to pull up a chair somewhere shady — it’s time for a long cool drink with The Garden Mixer.

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Botanical Names: Those complicated, two-part, dead language elements of tongue- torture that every gardener looking for a special plant will face at some point in their horticultural journey.

Should you embrace the challenge, and feel vulnerable? Or dismiss the challenge and [possibly still] feel vulnerable?

This week on One More Sip of The Garden Mixer, Leslie and Marianne discuss the third option — studying with curiosity, speaking with confidence, and ignoring those who use botanical nomenclature as a weapon in conversation.

Bet you can think of a few peeps that fit THAT bill.

If you find yourself mumbling botanical names in horticultural circles in the profound hope that no one hears you; or vainly sifting through seven types of ‘wood fern,’ searching for the one you want, it’s time to get resources, get confident, and get communicating better in this discipline that you love!

Every gardener has a tchotchke threshold — the point at which a garden stops being a garden and starts being a yard sale with better plants. But where exactly is that line, and who gets to draw it?

After decades of embracing, avoiding, judging, and occasionally defending their own questionable choices, Leslie and Marianne weigh in on the art of garden ornamentation — how to use it well, when to put the hedgehog down, and why Fergus Garrett's favorite garden in Hastings has hardly any plants in it at all.

Toads or total chaos? Today on The Garden Mixer.

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Full Show Notes at⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Garden Mixer Podcast’s Substack⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

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It’s mid summer and if you haven’t been staking your floppiest floppers, the chance is you haven’t quite gotten away with it. Some plants stand tall on their own. Others need a little help.

In this Barrel Aged One More Sip of The Garden MIxer Leslie Harris and Marianne Willburn tackle one of gardening's most practical—and most overlooked—skills: staking. They discuss which plants are worth staking, which ones are better left alone, how to make supports nearly invisible, and why choosing the right plants in the first place can save you a lot of work.

Along the way they share techniques learned at Great Dixter, the beauty of traditional pea-sticking, why timing matters, and a few confessions about staking jobs that never quite happened.

Whether you're growing peonies, delphiniums, dahlias, grasses, or other tall perennials, this conversation will help you keep your garden looking natural instead of looking like a tomato patch.

Gardening shouldn't be boring.