The Gardenangelists: Flowers, Veggies, and All the Best Dirt

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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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On Instagram:  Carol: Indygardener, Dee: RedDirtRamblings, Our podcast: TheGardenangelists.
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Dee and Carol talked about plants for Christmas, growing root vegetables, two books on Christmas plants, and more!

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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!

Support the show

On Instagram:  Carol: Indygardener, Dee: RedDirtRamblings, Our podcast: TheGardenangelists.
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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.

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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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On Instagram:  Carol: Indygardener, Dee: RedDirtRamblings, Our podcast: TheGardenangelists.
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Dee and Carol continue to focus on different species names and this week it's "repens."

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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.

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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!

Support the show

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

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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. 

Support the show

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

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Carol and Dee talk about phenology, no-dig gardening, a new book on gardens in literature and more.

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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.

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Dee and Carol talk about snapdragons, giant vegetables, a new book on perennials and several other topics!

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Insect of the Week:

Boxelder bugs and milkweed bugs

Flowers:

Snapdragons, Antirrhinum majus

All-America Selections of snapdragons

Vegetables:

Growing giant vegetables

Pumpkinista in Maine

On the Bookshelf:

Essential Guide to Perennial Gardening from American Horticultural Society (Amazon link)

Dirt:

Carol’s blog post “What you do when the first frost of fall arrives tells us a lot about how you garden, and Gardening is good for you, from Martha Stewart

Rabbit Holes:

Dee: Golden kiwis. Can we grow them?

Carol: Catharine Osgood Foster, Lost Lady of Garden Writing

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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.