How better to take advantage of the experience, skill, and time of others than to buy and plant a plumped-up, pumped-up, ready-to-bloom-for-you bulb?

Or maybe two hundred.

When perennials need a couple years, shrubs insist on commitment, and trees require a selfless gift to future generations; bulbs are all about YOU — and it’s time to indulge. Granted, it’s the you of six months from now — but where else in life can you successfully pull off a surprise party for yourself? And afford the florist?

Today, Leslie and Marianne explore all the options. Which ones will delight the senses, which ones will delight the critters, and which tools can help you get them in the ground. It’s not too late to grab those last-minute deals and give yourself the spring surprise party your family keeps meaning to throw.

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Cool air and warm soils mean that it’s a great time to divide and multiply the plants that you love, and Leslie and Marianne want to help you do it easily, efficiently, and with the least amount of plant pain as possible.

What are they dividing in their gardens and how are they doing it? And why is it so good for the plants to rip them from happy homes just when they were thinking of taking a well-earned nap? For that matter, why aren’t the girls sipping pumpkin lattes and waiting ‘till spring?

Set down that bulb planter and grab those two forks, because it’s all about FREE this week on The Garden Mixer.

(Just for the record Marianne hates pumpkin lattes. Leslie's a fan.)

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Today, The Garden Mixer is highjacked by two jetlagged women drinking way too much coffee and trying to pull themselves together to adequately describe the many sights, tastes, and eureka moments of nine days visiting gardens in Cornwall and the Southwest of England.

From new naturalism and earthworks at Wildside, to the breathtaking views across Tresco Island, to extraordinary fairy tale hotels, the girls discuss special moments and numerous takeaways — both for their gardens at home, and for future visits to this very special area of the UK, often under-visited by American garden-trippers looking for “The Big Five.”

(Though which gardens constitute “The Big Five” is still up for debate.)

For the WHOLE story, this is an episode you’ll particularly appreciate by following up on The Garden Mixer Youtube channel, where the video version is #jamfirst packed with photos and snark. (Even if Marianne insists it should be #creamfirst.)

What the heck is she talking about? By the end of this episode, you’ll not only know what clotted cream is, but you’ll be well versed in the right way to layer it on a scone.

At least according to Marianne.

Plus, microscopes, dahlias, & unbelievably, Beavis and Butthead. All on this week’s Garden Mixer.

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September has snuck up on most of us and cold weather is right around the corner.

Suddenly it’s time to walk through your garden and decide who’s making the travel team and who’s sitting out this season in the great hereafter. Can you set aside sentiment and choose the strongest and healthiest to make winter a joy instead of a chore? Do you know when to bring them in? (And what you can get away with?)

From bathing them, to babying them, Leslie and Marianne share personal anecdotes and practical tips for managing houseplants and storage plants, addressing pest control, and deciding which plants to prioritize based on space, aesthetics, sentiment, and good old-fashioned guilt. The girls are not always on the same page, but they’re generally aiming for the same ending: To avoid the last-minute first-frost scramble and a herniated disk.

Plus, Damn I Wish I Planted That for the late September garden, ritualistic flogging in Clear Up Corner, and a fine red wine lessened un peu by a lousy French accent — all on this week’s episode of The Garden Mixer.

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Pumpkin spice may have snuck itself onto the shelves (and into Leslie’s cheesy introduction), but that doesn’t mean that the pollinating insects in your garden have stopped searching for pollen to store and nectar to sip. On today’s episode, Leslie and Marianne discuss some late blooming species you can grow to keep those pollinators healthy and gearing up for winter — and which will also make you smile as the garden moves from summer-sizzle to autumn-fizzle.

Soil is warm, bugs are low, temps are cool, rains are coming, and nurseries are selling. Time to give that hard-working garden a few new picks to extend the bloom season until (and sometimes after) frost. Between them, the girls will give you nine terrific choices. But wait there’s more! A set of Ginsu knives, AND two further great plants for this time of year in Damn I Wish I’d Planted That.

All this and competing tropical cocktails, Choppin’ Broccoli, and some serious cultural confusion over Matthew Perry resolved, on this week’s episode of The Garden Mixer.

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As a gardener, you are not just creative, you are a creative. Your job is to go out there and create your tail off. But the other job you must strive to do well is that of an editor, tightening the voice of your garden with strategic cuts that help it shine and become the garden you envisioned (even when those cuts seem counterintuitive).

This means that cruel things are going to happen. Cruel, and perhaps unusual.

In this episode, Leslie and Marianne talk about everything from volunteer seedling strategies to de-browning the borders. Get ready to yank flowers, cut limbs, discard seeds, and mop your brow. It’s going to be bloody, but it’s going to be good.

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You’re tired. You’re hot. You’re yearning for autumn to set you free. But how your garden looks right now has everything to do with the choices you made in past planting seasons and a lot to do with foliage.

Have you capitalized on the resilient summer foliage options that keep working when the lobelia has melted and the poppies are so over?

This week on The Garden Mixer, Leslie and Marianne explore six of their favorite foliage plants for summer — each choosing a perennial, a shrub, and a tender perennial (aka ‘temperennial’) — and then choose their favorite option from the suggestions sent in by listeners on The Garden Mixer Chat on Substack.

Overall, the girls are in remarkable agreement this week…except for one, notable exception.

What are we looking for in summer foliage? Are flowers a necessity or a bonus? And, how many times, precisely, should a gardener kill a plant before giving up?

All this and Leslie learning the meaning of FFS, on this week’s The Garden Mixer.

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They’re deer resistant, drought resistant, and boredom-resistant — and they’re not without controversy. Ornamental grasses might be the magic texture your garden has been missing all these years.

Whether you want to ‘blur and merge’ as per Grasses for Gardens and Landscapes author Neil Lucas, or ‘punch and soften’ as per the more violent of your two co-hosts, Marianne Willburn — using ornamental grasses strategically can help your garden relax and sway into summer, filling gaps, feathering edges, and giving you three-season architecture without the bagworms.

Join Leslie and Marianne as they share with listeners their top ten ornamental grasses and discuss why they are willing to risk censure and scorn for more than one of them.

Plus, Marianne confesses to a criminal act. And it’s not displaying her bare over-50 arms either.

Leslie’s criminal act this week is using the term “Tips and Tricks” before Marianne takes a sip of something that can help her cope with hearing it.

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You’d like to go on vacation. Your family wants you to go on vacation. But you don’t know how to leave your garden. So you don’t go on vacation.

Wrong answer.

You NEED a vacation. You just need to prep your garden and make it Vacay-Ready.

This week Leslie and Marianne dive into what it really takes to leave your garden without the guilt. From prepping your plants to prepping your mindset, they want to help you take a break without sacrificing your blooms.

Whether you’re heading to the beach or taking a long weekend right in the middle of the growing season, you can come home to a thriving garden. With the right prep, your beans will be just fine.

All this plus the puzzling but indisputable link between testicles, armpit hair, and tomatoes.

It's another wildly inappropriate episode of The Garden Mixer, so carpe your diems and get that garden Vacay-Ready!

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Welcome back! The girls are rested, refreshed, reenergized, and ready to tackle the overgrown gardens that await them with the tools they love this week.

From can't-be-without pruners to surprising new finds, Leslie and Marianne dish the dirt on the implements that help them dig it.

Are brand names important? What’s a seckie? How do you pronounce Okasune? And what on earth is Marianne’s problem with the hori-hori and will the woman ever let it rest?

Apparently not.

Also up for discussion — herons, rabbits, the elusive golden shovel, and why these hard-working gardeners aren’t eating breakfast these days. Yep, it’s a random mix of wonderful and we’re so glad you’ve joined us.

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