Did you feel the dog days of summer WAY earlier than you usually do? Marianne Willburn and I talk about climate change in the garden and some good strategies to learn from what your plants are experiencing, without succumbing to the doom and gloom that generally accompanies the topic.

Podcasters often host interesting experts in the field on which they love to talk. This episode is no different, but because the expert, Scott Beuerlein, Director of Horticultural Outreach at the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden, does a monthly column interviewing all kinds of interesting people in horticulture, you are going to get a bigger bang for your buck. Scott and I talk about a lot of the different people in the industry that he and I find interesting and here's a bonus: Scott is very interesting all by himself!.

Marianne and I are home from our travels and in this episode we talk about the very successful first garden tour put together by Marianne and Andrea Gasper. So many fabulous English Gardens-- Rousham, Kiftsgate, Wisley, Blenheim, Waterperry, and that's just the half of it.

After a month away, I would like to re-introduce myself as the not serious and American garden Podcaster, Leslie Harris. I'll catch you up on how my garden fared with not much attention for over 30 days; what worked well in terms of planning for leaving it, and what didn't work as well.

Summer is coming and so are vacations. How do we prepare our gardens to get along without us? Marianne Willburn and I discuss tips and tricks on this topic and we also preview the fabulous garden tour in England that she and Andrea Gaspar have organized and I am attending!

What's the most important gardening tool? Your body, silly, which, if you are like me, isn't quite the same as it used to be. Is there a resource where you can learn about how to improve and maintain this tool? Yes, and it's the PBS show called Garden Fit. Can you have sneak peaks at other people's fabulous gardens at the same time? Oh yes, you can. Listen to Madeline Hooper tell us about this fabulous combination of physical maintenance and envy inducing garden surveillance.

Hydrangea pruning, bulbs (tulips... are they worth it? of course), transplanting polygonatum, tchotchkes in the garden (MA thinks no, Les likes a bit of whimsy), and quite a long side path of Magnolia discussion. Oh, and the MOST important spring "chore"? Pretty easy: Look. Every. Day.

A DOZEN plants of the week here, as Katie Dubow of the Garden Media Group and I discuss their favorite new plants. And listeners, I DID write a blog post with links, but now my website is down. :(

Still a great podcast episode and you can link to the new plants right here!

Just trying to make it clear that because Marianne toured my garden I didn't take very long. The plant of the week is a weeping Salix and I throw you a few early spring seasonal tips just in case you thought I was totally selfish.

Each year, the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society comes out with a list of trends that we should be on the lookout for in the gardening world. Erin the impatient Gardner and I break down this list and go through all 10 points, offering opinions, critiques, and support for some wonderful gardening ideas. You may be interested to know that halfway through our interview, there's a knock at the zoom door, and Marianne Willburn sort of lets herself in. Well, I did send her the link…. Lots of laughs and lots of good gardening information on episode 117.