Dr. Tallamy kindly agreed to chat with us again, this time on invasive plants.  You may recall we did an episode on this topic a couple years ago, as use of invasives in floral design and in gardens is a serious issue in our industry.   Dr. Tallamy talks about the most important reasons, and the science behind them, for not ever using invasive plants. 

Please note, invasiveness varies from state to state, province to province.  Please, please, please talk to your agricultural extension officers or google noxious weeds/ invasive plants for your location before buying plants.   And if a plant is labelled as invasive somewhere near you, don't introduce it to your garden, choose a wonderful native plant instead!  And even better, if you see invasives offered at your local garden centers tell them this is not acceptable- consumer pressure is powerful!

For our listeners in Alberta the following are some great links:

Alberta Ag Noxious Weeds List

Alberta Ag Prohibited Noxious Weeds List

Our theme music was composed and performed by Heather's son Callum, and the challenging job of audio editing done by the uber-talented Laura Eccleston.

This week is part 1 of Heather's chat with our fabulous friend, Lorna Jackson of Ninebark Farm about how the implementation of her business plan went and about the book Lorna recommended to Heather, The Day the World Stops Shopping,  and what it means for their flower businesses and business in general. 

Our theme music was composed and performed by Heather's son Callum, and the challenging job of audio editing done by the uber-talented Laura Eccleston.

We address the feedback we received on our episode with Sharon at Xerces in this episode.  

Once again please please download Xerces Buying Bee Safe Plants document and keep asking the questions of everyone you buy plants from and be sure to ask about their use through the ENTIRE supply chain.

Our theme music was composed and performed by Heather's son Callum, and the challenging job of audio editing done by the uber-talented Laura Eccleston.

This week is the second part of our  fun and informative conversation with the lovely Grace Lam of Fivefork Farms near Boston.  Grace shares the development of her business and how she approaches staying sustainable with a 500 member CSA and an uber-successful on-farm market and u-pick operation, including why she isn't using annuals much anymore!

Our theme music was composed and performed by Heather's son Callum, and the challenging job of audio editing done by the uber-talented Laura Eccleston.

This was a bombshell of an interview for us.  We were horrified and brought to tears by what we learned from Sharon in this conversation.  Please please please download the two excellent guidelines for consumers and retailers about what to ask suppliers about the persistent systemic insecticides that may be present in your nursery bought plants-  ESPECIALLY if you buy from big box stores. 

Buying Bee Safe Plants

Offering Bee Safe Plants: Guide for Nurseries

You can also learn so much from Xerces webinars on these topics:

Buying Bee Safe Plants Webinar

Sharon's top notch webinar about pesticides, which will teach you so much can be found here:

Pesticides and Pollinators - Sharon's excellent webinar

You think you are buying plants to help the pollinators- when in fact you are luring them to a potentially toxic plant that will kill them or prevent them from multiplying.  Yes, it is horrific... we all have to put pressure on the nursery industry- retail and wholesale to come clean about what they are doing.

The essential references mentioned in the conversation:

Understanding Neonicotinoids

All the other systemic insecticides the nursery and ag industries are using

And lastly, but by no means least- a timeline of the regulation (lack thereof) in Canada by the good folks at Edmonton Chapter of the Council of Canadians and Mark Stumpf-Allen of Alberta Organic Master Gardeners

Neonicotenoid Timeline Canada

Our theme music was composed and performed by Heather's son Callum, and the challenging job of audio editing done by the uber-talented Laura Eccleston.

This week is the first of two episodes containing our fun and informative conversation with the lovely Grace Lam of Fivefork Farms near Boston.  Grace shares the development of her business and how she approaches staying sustainable with a 500 member CSA and an uber-successful on-farm market and u-pick operation, including why she isn't using annuals much anymore!

Our theme music was composed and performed by Heather's son Callum, and the challenging job of audio editing done by the uber-talented Laura Eccleston.

We were a little star struck this episode, having the opportunity to chat with Dr. Doug Tallamy, professor of entomology at the University of Delaware and author of several best selling books on conservation, sustainable gardening and insects 

Nature's Best Hope: A New Approach to Conservation That Starts in Your Yard

Bringing Nature Home: How Native Plants Sustain Wildlife in Our Gardens

The Nature of Oaks: The Rich Ecology of Our Most Essential Native Trees

In this interview we focused on his recent paper in Nature Communications about the key trees that support 80% - yes you read that right, 80% of the lepidoptera species in North America.  If you can include some of these trees in your yard, garden, farm you will be helping these critical insects immeasurably.

You can find this important paper at this link:

Few keystone plant genera support the majority of Lepidoptera species

Narango, D.L., Tallamy, D.W. & Shropshire, K.J. Few keystone plant genera support the majority of Lepidoptera species. Nat Commun 11, 5751 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-19565-4

From this paper the top 5 genera were:  Quercus (‘Oaks’, mean
score: 0.79), Salix (‘Willows’, 0.55), Prunus (‘Cherries, Plums,
Peaches, etc.’, 0.51), Pinus (‘Pines’, 0.46), and Populus (‘Poplars,
Aspens, and Cottonwoods’, 0.44).

Dr. Tallamy has several excellent youtube videos, a recent one on keystone plants is:

Native Keystone Plants for Wildlife - Doug Tallamy You Tube  

Our theme music was composed and performed by Heather's son Callum, and the challenging job of audio editing done by the uber-talented Laura Eccleston.

Back in September 2021 Dr. Hammett published a series of comprehensive instagram posts about taking cuttings from dahlias.  We just had to follow up with him and, as always, he was so generous about chatting with us about his methods. 

His series of posts on instagram are an absolute must if you are interested in taking dahlia cuttings - his first post on this was September 7, 2021 and proceeded through the fall. Find them all here:  Dr. Hammett's Instagram 

Our theme music was composed and performed by Heather's son Callum, and the challenging job of audio editing done by the uber-talented Laura Eccleston.

This week we caught up with Jen Gruninger the vibrant woman behind Farm Fresh Florals, a successful u-pick flower farm and intimate event venue located just SW of the city of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.  Jen generously shares details of her journey developing her farm and business and the things she's learned along the way. 

Our theme music was composed and performed by Heather's son Callum, and the challenging job of audio editing done by the uber-talented Laura Eccleston.

Talking about our most profitable flowers in 2021 this week.

Our theme music was composed and performed by Heather's son Callum, and the challenging job of audio editing done by the uber-talented Laura Eccleston.