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Dee and Carol discuss some of their favorite topics from the past year as they sign off for 2025. 

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Insect of the Week

Snow fleas, a type of springtail, and Snow Fleas?! Yes, They’re Real and Found in Indiana

Flowers:

Recaps of favorite flowers from 2025 episodes

1. Zinnias
2. Pansies
3. Lisianthus
4. Signet Marigolds
5. Violas

Vegetables:

Recaps vegetable topics

1. Cole crops - have we talked people out of them?
2. Why Dee doesn’t grow squash (Burpee’s self-pollinating squash is ‘Sure Thing.’)
3. Microgreens!
4. Start as early as you can in the spring (Peas!)
5. Green beans

On the Bookshelf:

Recaps of favorite books from 2025 episodes.

Carol: Pansies: How to Grow, Reimagine, and Create Beauty with Pansies and Violas by Brenna Estrada (Amazon Link)

Dee: The New Romantic Garden by Jo Thompson (Amazon Link), also Vintage Roses by Jane Eastoe

Dirt:

Forget Pantone's Cloud Dancer… All the colors of the year for 2026…from The Spruce, and 

Rabbit Holes:

Dee: Songlever on Instagram

Carol: Another Lost Lady of Garden Writing, Thalassa Cruso

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Dee and Carol talk about winter plants for the garden, veggie cookbooks, chestnut trees, square foot gardening and more.

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Question of the Week: 

What about root washing before planting? Is there a benefit? Seems traumatic to the tree or shrub! Good to do, according to the Garden Professors and Garden Myths

Insect of the Week

Buffalo treehopper. 

Flowers:

Christmas-y Plants for your Garden 

Hellebores - The Christmas Rose, Helleborus niger 

Red-twig dogwood (Cornus sericea) and Yellow-twig Dogwoods (Cornus sericea ‘Budd’s Yellow) 

Any Hollies with Berries 

Fancy Evergreens - The Conifer Society

Plants for the Winter Garden: Perennials, Grasses, Shrubs, and Trees to Add Interest in the Cold and Snow by Warren Leach (Amazon Link)

Vegetables:

Veggie Cookbooks including: 

Six Seasons, A New Way With Vegetables, by Joshua McFadden (Amazon link)

and

Tender: A Cook and his Vegetable Patch, by Nigel Slater. (Amazon link)

On the Bookshelf:

Square Foot Gardening - Fourth Edition (Amazon link)

Dirt:

The American Chestnut: Finding full-grown trees is a holy grail for some and efforts to restore them

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Dee and Carol talked about plants for Christmas, growing root vegetables, two books on Christmas plants, and more!

For more information, check out our newsletter.

To watch this episode on YouTube, click here. 

 Flowers mentioned:

• Amaryllis 
• Christmas Cactus  
• Rosemary 
• Poinsettia 
• Paperwhites

Carol’s article about Christmas Plants in Family Handyman is still out there!

Dee has a post on how to grow amaryllis and paperwhites indoors. 

Vegetables:

Getting to the root of things. Root vegetables:

Vegetables discussed included: 

• Sweet Potatoes 
• Parsnips 
• Potatoes 
• Turnips 
• Carrots

On the Bookshelf:

Decking the Halls: The Folklore and Traditions of Christmas Plants by Linda Allen (2000) 

and

Decking the Halls: Trees, Flowers, Herbs & Greenery to Celebrate the Holiday Season by Janet Melrose and Sheryl Normandeau (2025)

Dirt:

Disney’s Record Breaking Tomato Tree

Rabbit Holes:

Dee: King and Conquerer on Amazon Prime.

Carol:  Lost Ladies of Garden Writing who wrote Christmas-themed books  

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We appreciate all our listeners and readers, and love it when you send us suggestions. Do you have a suggestion for a topic we should discuss or for our We Do Not Care segment? If so, send it our way!

Have a great week, everyone!

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Dee and Carol talk about flowers and veggies with 'viridis' as the species name, plus a book on houseplant propagation, and more.

For all the details, check out our newsletter

To watch this episode on YouTube: click here

Insect of the Week: Paper Wasps

Flowers:

Ephedra viridis - Morman Tea 

Helleborus viridis - Green Hellebore

Asclepias viridis - Green Milkweed 

Crataegus viridis - Green Hawthorn

Acer palmatum ‘Viridis.’

Vegetables:

Collard Greens - Brassica oleracea var. viridis 

Callaloo - Amaranthus viridis

Cucumber Viridis F1 

On the Bookshelf:

The Ultimate Guide to Houseplant Propagation: Step-by-step techniques for making more houseplants… for free! By Lindsay Sisti from @alltheplantbabies on Instagram (Amazon Link)

Dirt:

Why do ginkgo trees lose their leaves all at once? On Instagram

Rabbit Holes:

Dee: Where does rose oil come from? An article, an Instagram link, and an article about how it’s used!

Carol: The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion, Volume 3 by Beth Brower, and The Killer Question by Janice Hallett. 

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Dee and Carol continue to focus on different species names and this week it's "repens."

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To watch them on YouTube, use this link!

Insect of the Week: giant leopard moth. 

Flowers:

Trifolium repens - White clover 

Ajuga reptans - Carpet bugleweed (“reptans” is close enough to “repens” for us!)

Veronica repens - Creeping speedwell 

Mahonia repens - Creeping Oregon grape.

Callisia repens - Turtle vine 

Vegetables:

Wild Strawberries:  Fragaria repens

Rubus repens - Star Violets aka False Violets aka Runaway Robin

On the Bookshelf:

Vintage Roses: Beautiful Varieties for Home and Garden by Jane Eastoe, Photographs by Georgianna Lane (Amazon Link) 

Dirt:

 A Fond Farewell From Farmer’s Almanac.

Rabbit Holes:

 Lost Lady of Garden Writing, Florence Knock. 

Carol’s weekly newsletter, “In the Garden With Carol”

Dee’s Instagram Reel on things to do in the garden now and what you can wait to do.

The garden fairies wrote a post on Carol’s blog.

Dee’s Instagram Reel about structure in your garden.

Carol’s Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day post.

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On Instagram: Carol: Indygardener, Dee: RedDirtRamblings, Our podcast: TheGardenangelists.
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Dee and Carol talk about flowers, herbs, and even a weed that all have the species name of "officianalis." Plus, they review a new book about growing vegetables for preserving.

To find out more, check out our weekly newsletter on Substack

Watch us on YouTube!

Insect of the week:

Mole Crickets: 

Flowers:

With “officinalis” as the species name.

• Primula officinalis - Cowslip (also called Primula veris) 
• Pulmonaria officinalis - Lungwort 
• Saponaria officinalis - Soapwort aka Bouncing Bet 
• Verbena officinalis - Common vervain 
• Hyssopus officinalis - Hyssop

Vegetables:

Herbs with “officinalis” as the species name.

• Salvia officinalis - Common sage 
• Rosmarinus officinalis - Rosemary (now generally classified as Salvia rosmarinus) 
• Melissa officinalis - Lemon balm,
• Calendula officinalis - Pot marigold 
• Borago officinalis - Borage 
• Levisticum officinalis - Lovage 

On the Bookshelf:

The Preserver’s Garden: How to Grow a Garden for Fermenting, Canning, Pickling, Dehydrating, Freeze Drying & Moreby Staci & Jeremy Hill (Amazon Link)

Dirt:

Taraxacum officinale - Common dandelion

Rabbit Holes:

Dee: CBD creams 

Carol:  Cozy mysteries and  talking flowers 

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We appreciate all our listeners and readers, and love it when you send us suggestions. Do you have a suggestion for our We Do Not Care segment? If so, send it our way!

Have a great week everyone!

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On Instagram: Carol: Indygardener, Dee: RedDirtRamblings, Our podcast: TheGardenangelists.
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Dee and Carol talk about plants with species name of "texensis" and briefly talk about the species name "cardinalis." They also talk about a new book, pollen banking, and some of their rabbit holes.

For more links and details, check out our newsletter.

To watch on YouTube, click here.

Flowers we discussed. 

Lupinus texensis - Texas bluebonnet or Texas lupine, info from the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. 

Carex texensis - Texas sedge, info from the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center

Clematis texensis - Scarlet Clematis, Info from Gardenia

Vegetables:

Cercis canadensis var. texensis - Texas redbud, Info from Missouri Botanical Garden

Columbrian texensis - Texas hog plum, info from the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center

Quercus texana -Texas Red Oak, Info from Missouri Botanical Garden

On the Bookshelf:

Vibrant Harvest: Cultivating a Kaleidoscope of Colors in Your Vegetable Garden with Heirlooms, Modern Hybrids, and More by Sandra Mao of Sandra.UrbanGarden (Amazon Link) Publishes December 2. Sandra’s Instagram.

Dirt:

Pollen banking and a tiny unrelated tidbit: favorite crayola crayon colors

Rabbit Holes:

Dee: Gianni Rodari plus The Flowers of Little Ida by Hans Christian Andersen 

Carol: Harriet Klamroth Morse, a Lost Lady of Garden Writing. Plus she’s on Volume 3 of The Unselected Journals of Emma C. Lion.

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We appreciate all our listeners and readers. Have a great week everyone!

For more info, check out our Substack newsletter. 

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On Instagram: Carol: Indygardener, Dee: RedDirtRamblings, Our podcast: TheGardenangelists.
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Dee and Carol talk about plants with a species name of virginina, a book on romantic garden and more in this week's episode.

For more info, check out our newsletter!

To watch this week’s episode on YouTube, click here.

Flowers:

Tradescantia virginiana (Virginia Spiderwort). ‘Sweet Kate’ has lime-green foliage.

Physostegia virginiana (Obedient Plant) Dee’s reel on this flower. 

Persicaria virginiana (Virginia Knotweed) Trees and shrubs

Juniperus virginiana (Eastern Redcedar) 

Magnolia virginiana (Sweetbay Magnolia) 

Rosa virginiana (Virginia Rose) 

Vegetables:

American persimmon, Diospyros virginiana

On the Bookshelf:

The New Romantic Garden by Jo Thompson (Amazon Link). Jo’s Substack is The Gardening Mind.

Dirt:

Prue’s Great Garden Plot

Carol’s blog post from last week. 

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We appreciate all our listeners and readers. Have a great week everyone!

For more info, check out our Substack newsletter. 

Support the show

On Instagram: Carol: Indygardener, Dee: RedDirtRamblings, Our podcast: TheGardenangelists.
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To watch this episode on: click here

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Carol’s  Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day post

Ruth Stout, a Lost Lady of Garden Writing.

Flowers:

Gardening with vulgare flowers

Leucantheum vulgare - Ox-eye daises

Syringa vulgaris - Common lilac 

Aquilegia vulgaris - Columbine

Primula vulgaris - Primroses. 

Silene vulgaris - Bladder Campion. 

Filipendual vulgaris - Dropwort. 

Vegetables:

Growing with vulgare in the vegetable garden.

Some herbs:

Origanum vulgare - oregano

Thymus vulgare - common thyme

Foeniculum vulgare - fennel

Tanacetum vulgare - Tansy - don’t grow it. 

Beta vulgaris - beets - what’s new in the beet world? There’s an AAS Winner from 2015 - Avalanche, which is white. The history of beets. 

On the Bookshelf:

Love Letter to a Garden by Debbie Millman (Amazon Link)

Thank you to TimberPress for review copies!

Dirt:

Screaming Plants: 

Rabbit Holes:

The Many Lives & Secret Sorrows of Josephine B. by Sandra Gulland

The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion, Vol 1 by Beth Brower. 

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We appreciate all our listeners and readers. Have a great week everyone!

Support the show

On Instagram: Carol: Indygardener, Dee: RedDirtRamblings, Our podcast: TheGardenangelists.
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Carol and Dee talk about phenology, no-dig gardening, a new book on gardens in literature and more.

For more details, check out our weekly newsletter.

To watch this week’s episode, click here.

Carol’s garden fairies wrote a blog post and Carol built Lego mini bonsai trees. 

Insects of the week:

Wooly worms

Assassin bug. Wheel bug. Ugh bug. Info from the Missouri Dept. of Conservation

Flowers:

Phenology

Indiana Phenology and National Phenology Network, b

Vegetables:

Ruth Stout’s How to Have a Green Thumb Without an Aching Back. (1955) (Amazon)

Patricia Lanza’s Lasagna Gardening (Amazon)

Just say no to cardboard: the science from the garden professors

On the Bookshelf:

The Literary Garden: Imaginary Gardens of Writers and Poets by Sandra Lawrence, illustrations by Lucille Clerc (Amazon)

Dirt:

Cramscaping

Rabbit Holes:

A few books: 

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce (Amazon)

Peace Like a River by Leif Enger (Amazon)

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We appreciate all our listeners and readers. Have a great week!

Support the show

On Instagram: Carol: Indygardener, Dee: RedDirtRamblings, Our podcast: TheGardenangelists.
On Facebook: The Gardenangelists' Garden Club.
On YouTube.