Dear Gardener

Jul 04 2023 14 ep. 44 mins 28
Dear Gardener Podcast artwork

Gardening walks and green thoughts from award winning writer Ben Dark and guests.

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[Solo Episode] A Chronicle Botanical: Parham House, Uppark, and the joy of stolen plants

Jul 04 2023 29 mins  
On this episode of Dear Gardener, host Ben Dark explores gardening life and gardening death. From the ranunculus flower’s writhing stem - a cut flower snake, trying to find its way back into the garden - to tulips drooping in a vase, the importance of writing accurately about plants is emphasised.Literary comings and goings-on are explored on a visit to Parham House and hints are

[Interview] The Thousand Year Old Garden: Inside the Secret Garden at Lambeth Palace with Nick Stewart Smith

Jun 14 2023 43 mins  
Nick Stewart Smith spent seven years as Head Gardener at Lambeth Palace. Here he tells Ben Dark about his hidden life as a link in thousand-year horticultural chain, about his unique philosophy of place-making and about how to work in dialogue with a garden.Nick's book: https://www.thehistorypress.co.uk/publication/the-thousand-year-old-garden/9781803993041/Wild Times in a London P

[Solo Episode] Losing and Finding Beauty: Munstead, Laburnums and the Afterlife of Gardens

Jun 07 2023 38 mins  
On this episode of Dear Gardener, host Ben Dark explores the legacy and afterlife of gardens. The starting points are: a Laburnum safari through Østerbro, a fence-climb into an abandoned garden, and a run through the acid-sands of West Sussex.Featuring Gertrude Jekyll, Edwin Lutyens and the National Trust in the news that Munstead Wood is 'to be preserved for the nation'Support th

[Roving Episode] Hop Poles and Wild Garlic: A Hampshire Hangers Walk

May 21 2023 27 mins  
On this episode of Dear Gardener, Ben Dark takes us on a journey through the wooded Hampshire Hangers, discussing plants and history along the way. Passing cowslips, wild garlic, incongruous copper beech, and wildly inappropriate bamboo, Ben shares his love-hate relationship with these plants and how they fit in the changing English countryside. Our host also delves into the writin

[Roving Episode] It was a day in spring

May 12 2023 32 mins  
Malus × domestica and Taraxacum officinale (apple and dandelion) take to May's springy stage in this special on location recording that starts deep in the beach woods and bursts into the orchard.https://ko-fi.com/bendarkEpisode overview:[00:00:16] Ben talks winter and spring weather and how it affects the growth of plants like apples and bird cherries, and why he decided

[Solo Episode] Bread for all, and roses too

May 03 2023 29 mins  
Tales of horticultural sin and floral redemption featuring Salvia, Nepeta, Carl the Murderous Gardener, Gypsophila and Hemerocallis.https://ko-fi.com/bendarkOrwell's Roses by Rebecca Solnit https://www.hatchards.co.uk/book/orwells-roses/rebecca-solnit/9781783785520Husbandry by Isabel Bannerman https://www.foyles.co.uk/book/husbandry/isabel-bannerman/9781914902949The Grove by Ben Da

[Solo Episode] The week in gardening

Apr 26 2023 25 mins  
In a solo episode that will probably be familiar to listeners of The Garden Log we discuss things horticultural. Some plants mentioned:Ipomoea noctiflora Euphorbia oblongataTropaelum peregrinumGood to be back!

The bird, the bees and the forest trees: the gardens of Brisbane, Devon and the Isle of Wight

Dec 12 2022 61 mins  
We visit a gardener fighting gales to bring life to Tennyson’s neglected garden, talk to the keeper of bees at RHS Rosemoore and hear about a bush turkey with a nest the size of a busSupport the show: https://linktr.ee/deargardenerhttps://ko-fi.com/bendarkThe Dear Gardeners on Instagram:Zara: https://www.instagram.com/bees_at_rhs_rosemoor/ Ellen: https://www.instagram.com/te

River floods and desert flowers: The gardens of Northern Kentucky, Bristol and Shrewsbury

Nov 21 2022 59 mins  
Dear Gardener hears tales of native planting in Northern Kentucky, garden design in Bristol and flooding on the banks of the beautiful Severn. Also featuring a behind the scenes look at gardening TV, iris hunting in the the Negev Desert and why horticulture is lot like tech metal. Support the show: https://linktr.ee/deargardenerhttps://ko-fi.com/bendarkThe Dear Gardeners on Instagr

Wisteria and water trees: The gardens of Santa Cruz, Brockley and the River Stour

Nov 14 2022 55 mins  
In this episode of Dear Gardener we journey to California, East Anglia and South East London to hear about mothers and friendship, Sissinghurst and slugs, and roses and rills.Support the show: https://linktr.ee/deargardenerhttps://ko-fi.com/bendarkThe Dear Gardeners on Instagram:Gavin: https://www.instagram.com/gardeninggavin/ Melanie: https://www.instagram.com/saari.farms/Vanina: