John Dromgoole wears a lot of hats. Sun hats mostly, but also figurative ones: founder of the Natural Gardener, former host of the long-running garden call-in radio show Gardening Naturally on Newsradio KLBJ, regular TV presenter on PBS’ Central Texas Gardener and KXAN’s The Weekend Gardener; the list goes on. On this episode, your hosts (both form…

In this episode, we talk about seed sharing and food justice with Hayden Kesterson and DJ Needelman from the Cooperative Gardens Commission. The CGC is an international grassroots collective of volunteers working to increase community food production, resource-sharing, and food sovereignty. Founded in 2020 in response to the Covid pandemic, one of …

New developments are afoot here at Horticulturati HQ! More episodes of this podcast are on the way. In the meantime, you will find Colleen's radio show, Horticulture Hangover, on a separate podcast feed. Please subscribe to Hangover to get your weekly dose gardening advice: Apple podcasts Spotify Audible/Amazon Podcasts Player for web browser Leah …

Colleen Dieter, co-host of the Horticulturati podcast also hosts the Horticulture Hangover Radio Show, a call-in (or text-in) show for gardening questions. Tune in to Horticulture Hangover live on Saturdays at 8-9 am CST: 99.7 AM and 590 FM. ATXgardens.com

Colleen Dieter, co-host of the Horticulturati podcast also hosts the Horticulture Hangover Radio Show, a call-in (or text-in) show for gardening questions. Tune in to Horticulture Hangover live on Saturdays at 8-9 am CST: 99.7 AM and 590 FM. ATXgardens.com

Colleen Dieter, co-host of the Horticulturati podcast also hosts the Horticulture Hangover Radio Show, a call-in (or text-in) show for gardening questions. Tune in to Horticulture Hangover live on Saturdays at 8-9 am CST: 99.7 AM and 590 FM. ATXgardens.com

Colleen Dieter, co-host of the Horticulturati podcast also hosts the Horticulture Hangover Radio Show, a call-in (or text-in) show for gardening questions. Tune in to Horticulture Hangover live on Saturdays at 8-9 am CST: 99.7 AM and 590 FM. ATXgardens.com

Colleen Dieter, co-host of the Horticulturati podcast also hosts the Horticulture Hangover Radio Show, a call-in (or text-in) show for gardening questions. Tune in to Horticulture Hangover live on Saturdays at 8-9 am CST: 99.7 AM and 590 FM. ATXgardens.com

Colleen Dieter, co-host of the Horticulturati podcast, also hosts the Horticulture Hangover Radio Show, a call-in (or text-in) show for gardening questions. Tune in to Horticulture Hangover live on Saturdays at 8-9 am CST: 99.7 AM and 590 FM. ATXgardens.com

What can we plant in the vegetable garden now? How should I fertilize my fruit trees? Get the answers for Central Texas now! Colleen Dieter, co-host of the Horticulturati podcast also hosts the Horticulture Hangover Radio Show, a call-in (or text-in) show for gardening questions. Tune in to Horticulture Hangover live on Saturdays at 8-9 am CST: 99.…

Colleen Dieter, co-host of the Horticulturati podcast also hosts the Horticulture Hangover Radio Show, a call-in (or text-in) show for gardening questions. Tune in to Horticulture Hangover live on Saturdays at 8-9 am CST: 99.7 AM and 590 FM. ATXgardens.com

Colleen Dieter, co-host of the Horticulturati podcast also hosts the Horticulture Hangover Radio Show, a call-in (or text-in) show for gardening questions. Tune in to Horticulture Hangover live on Saturdays at 8-9 am CST: 99.7 AM and 590 FM. ATXgardens.com

Colleen Dieter, co-host of the Horticulturati podcast also hosts the Horticulture Hangover Radio Show, a call-in (or text-in) show for gardening questions. Tune in to Horticulture Hangover live on Saturdays at 8-9 am CST: 99.7 AM and 590 FM. ATXgardens.com

On this episode, we’re sinking our toes into St. Augustine grass (Stenotaphrum secundatum), icon of the Texas lawn from Hank Hill’s house to the State Capitol grounds. Millions of acres of prime farmland and front yards are dedicated to this non-edible crop. St. Augustine is so ubiquitous in our landscape it’s almost invisible. But what paradoxes a…

We’re back with an Old Farmers’ Almanac episode! Continuously published since 1792, the Almanac is an American institution, rife with weather forecasts, recipes, gardening tips, and snake oil. Long advertised on its cover as “useful, with a pleasant degree of humor,” the new edition provides tips on the best days in 2024 to wash your floors, perm y…

Here's the September 24 episode of Horticulture Hangover, our radio broadcast on KLBJ. Colleen reports back from the International Society of Arboriculture's Texas Tree Conference, and we take questions about Texas Madrones, hardy hibiscus, night-blooming cereus, and more. Check out the Austin Organic Gardeners' Fall Plant Fundraiser on September 3…

This week, Colleen is out of town, so Leah invited a guest host, horticulturist Willy Glenn from It's Your Nature and @yournativenursery. We discuss adapting our plant palette due to climate change, the challenges of propagating natives, and the beauty of grasses in the landscape. We also field some questions about planting wildflowers. Tune in to …

When you picture a butterfly garden, you probably envision big, colorful flowers. But did you know that over 100 butterfly species in Texas use native grasses and sedges as their larval host plants? In this episode, Leah makes the case for adding grasses to your pollinator garden. The majority of grass-obligate butterflies – skippers and satyrs—are…

On this week's radio show, landscape designer Michele Fonzi joins Leah to talk about framing the garden with hardscaping. Michelle is a landscape construction expert, horticulturist, and project manager who builds commercial and residential spaces with her company, Michele Fonzi Designs. We discuss the architectural side of garden design -- dry cre…

Here's the July 29 episode of Horticulture Hangover, our radio broadcast on KLBJ. Leah reports on her visit to Braken Cave -- the world's largest bat colony! -- summer home to 15-20 million bats, then we talk about multi-trunked red oaks tendency to fall apart, watering trees, dealing with invasive grasses (KR bluestem and Johnsongrass), and the ma…

When the phones are down, the show must go on! Here's the July 22 episode of Horticulture Hangover, our radio broadcast on KLBJ. We talk about ants and aphids, when to pick melons, growing grapes, and transplanting stuff when it's not quite the right time. Tune in to Horticulture Hangover live on Saturdays at 8-9 am CST online here, or on the airwa…

Can a native plant garden be maintained without year-round pruning? In this episode, Colleen articulates her front-yard scheme for a super-low-maintenance native garden design for Central Texas, a cumulative idea inspired by past episodes of this very podcast. Her working title is “The Everything Garden.” First, we introduce a corrections segment c…

Here's the July 15 episode of Horticulture Hangover, our radio broadcast on KLBJ. We talk about karst ecosystems, ticks in Texas, Navajo or "Indian" peaches, harvesting figs, and a native plant that's on our wish list: velvet leaf mallow (Allowissadula holosericea). Tune in to Horticulture Hangover live on Saturdays at 8-9 am CST online here, or on…

Here's the July 8 episode of Horticulture Hangover, our radio broadcast on KLBJ. We talk about measuring a tree's critical root zone, when to cut back canna lilies to keep them blooming, and how to root-prune trees in pots. Tune in to Horticulture Hangover live on Saturdays at 8-9 am CST online here, or on the airwaves: 99.7 AM and 590 FM. Join our…

Here's the July 1 episode of Horticulture Hangover, our radio broadcast on KLBJ. We get calls about planting sweet potato slips; four o'clocks failing to bloom; when to mow wildflowers; and how to collect sunflower seeds. Enjoy! Austin listeners, don't miss Colleen's free class, Native Plant Maintenance, at the Natural Gardener on July 8 at 10am. T…

Just unearthed from the archives, here's the 5/27 recording of Horticulture Hangover, our radio broadcast on KLBJ. We talk about the difference between Bti (Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis) and Btk (Bacillus thuringiensis kurstaki), propose solutions for invading Bermuda grass, and give a classic answer to a question about the best time to plant…

Here's the June 24 episode of Horticulture Hangover, our radio broadcast on KLBJ. We talk about National Pollinator Week, heat stress on citrus, and the pros and cons of various types of irrigation. We also get two calls about unruly vines driving people crazy. Austin listeners, don't miss Colleen's free class, Native Plant Maintenance, at the Natu…

Why do we mow our lawns? That’s the question posed by our guest, artist and urban ecologist Chris Kennedy of the Urban Systems Lab and Central Texas Mycological Society; the answer is a tangle of municipal policy, attitudes toward property ownership, and status anxiety. Chris joins the pod to tell us about his research into city lawn ordinances and…

Here's the 6/17 recording of Horticulture Hangover, our radio broadcast on KLBJ. We got a little silly this week, and answered questions about pruning boxwoods, how much to water, leaf footed bugs, wild pumpkins, and more. Austin listeners, don't miss Colleen's free class, Native Plant Maintenance, at the Natural Gardener on July 8 at 10am. Tune in…

Here's the 6/10 recording of Horticulture Hangover, our radio broadcast on KLBJ. This week, we covered transplant shock, twining vs. clinging vines, and poison ivy. Tune in live on Saturdays at 8am CST online here, or on the airwaves: 99.7 AM and 590 FM Join our Patreon for early access to Horticulturati episodes, bonus content, and more!…

Colleen did the show solo on June 3 because Leah skipped town! She got a lot of great questions. Topics include crabgrass, live oak suckers, and sneaky squirrels scheming on stonefruits. Have a question you want us to answer on the podcast? Email info@horticulturati.com. Tune in live and call or text your questions next week at 8-9 am CST on KLBJ's…

Here’s the May 20 episode of Horticulture Hangover, our live call-in show on Newsradio KLBJ. We talk about how to deal with mosquitoes, making room for poisonous plants in the garden, staking plants in pots, and the radical difference of gardening in Texas vs. California. Have a question you want us to answer on the show? Email info@horticulturati.…

More garden questions answered! Here’s the April 13 episode of Horticulture Hangover, our live call-in show on Newsradio KLBJ. Have a question you want us to answer? Email us at info@horticulturati.com Or, tune in live and call or text your questions next Saturday from at 8-9 am CST on KLBJ's website, or on the airwaves: 99.7 AM and 590 FM. Support…

Here’s a double dose of Horticulture Hangover, our live call-in show on Newsradio KLBJ, recorded April 29 and May 6. Due to various travel plans and life events, we each did our first solo episodes of the radio show. So many technical surprises and goofs! Tune in live and call or text your questions next week at 8-9 am CST on KLBJ's website, or on …

On this episode, we’re tackling Phosphorus – an element, crucial to life on earth, which exists in both abundance and scarcity. We cover how humans got hooked on P fertilizers, the political and environmental impacts of mining and pollution, and what might be done about it. Mentioned in this episode: City of Austin Algae Mitigation;Toledo Junction …

Here's the 4/22 broadcast recording of Horticulture Hangover, our NEW live show on Newsradio KLBJ. Saturday's chat included a rundown of our busy weekend of garden events, plus listener questions about compost tea, grass alternatives for deep shade, poisonous plants, tender tropical bulbs, and more. Tune in live and call or text your questions next…

Here's the recording of this week's Horticulture Hangover, our new radio broadcast on KLBJ. This week's coversation includes: plant swap tips, dividing muhly grasses, protecting young trees from deer damage, transplanting milkweeds, and more. Tune in live next week at 8-9 am CST online here, or on the airwaves: 99.7 AM and 590 FM! Check out these e…

We're doing a call-in gardening show the radio! It's called "Horticulture Hangover" and it airs on Saturdays from 8-9 am CST on KLBJ 590AM/99.7 FM. You can also stream it live here. We'll still bring you deep dives into topics on the Horticulturati podcast, but now you get a bonus show in this feed. Horticulture Hangover is a live Q&A format progra…

On this episode, we’re gettin’ down and dirty with sheet mulch. Sheet mulching is a no-till, no-dig gardening practice of removing unwanted vegetation and building fertile soil by layering organic matter and letting it compost in place. While the layers suppress weeds by blocking sunlight, subterranean soil biology goes to work to break down the la…

"Fruit trees need hands-on care." That's the motto of our guest, Susan Poizner of OrchardPeople.com. Susan is an urban orchardist, teacher, journalist, and filmmaker. She is the author of Growing Urban Orchards (2014), cofounder of the Ben Nobelman Park Community Orchard in Toronto and the host of the Urban Forestry Radio podcast. She also teaches …

In this roundtable, we talk about drafting and drawing with Lisa Nunamaker, of Paper Garden Workshop, and Amy Fedele, of Pretty Purple Door, two fabulous garden educators who offer online courses in landscape graphics. Leah took courses from both instructors this year -- Lisa's Garden Graphics Toolkit and Amy's Great at Procreate. We discuss why th…

A rose by any other name would smell as sweet, but some of the common names we use for plants downright stink! In this episode, we're diving into problematic colloquial names. Some common names are geographically misleading (“Jerusalem artichoke”); others are xenophobic, racist, or antisemitic ("wandering Jew"); while still others are an unfortunat…

Attention plant lovers! Central Texas Seed Savers is hosting a Seed Swap at the Austin Central Library (710 W. Cesar Chavez St) on Saturday, October 29 from 11-1pm. This event is free and open to the public. Bring seeds to share! Or just come get some seeds! For more info, visit https://www.centexseedsavers.org and https://library.austintexas.libgu…

In this episode, Colleen unearths as much as she can about the largely unwritten history of plant pots. When did humans start growing plants in containers? How did innovations in materials and technology lead to the domestication of plants, plant collecting, and the growth of the nursery industry? Why are plant pots so overlooked as a facet of indu…

We're back with a salute to Monty Don, beloved British gardening expert, author, and fashion icon, whose infectious passion for plants is boosting our spirits through this bummer summer. Though little known in the US, jaunty Monty is a big celebrity across the pond, as the host of the BBC's Gardener's World, Big Dreams, Small Spaces, and Around The…

On this episode, we dive into ecologist Douglas Tallamy's books Nature's Best Hope (2019) and The Living Landscape (2014, with Rick Darke). Tallamy's work takes native plant gardening and wildlife gardening to another level by focusing not just on species diversity, but on diversity of species interaction to promote ecological conservation. Accordi…

Here's a preview of our bonus segment. To hear the full bonus epsidode, subscribe to our Patreon! Compost is a mysterious product. Gardeners prize it as “black gold,” but few of us know how it is manufactured on an industrial scale. In this bonus, John Hart Asher breaks down the difference between traditional compost (the kind we might make at home…

We sat down at the picnic table with John Hart Asher, host of Central Texas Gardener and Cofounder/Senior Environmental Designer at Blackland Collaborative to talk about pocket prairies. What’s a pocket prairie? It’s a very small prairie. What’s a prairie? It’s a community of native grasses and forbs wildflowers that have evolved along with microbe…

Tropical milkweed...Monarchs' friend or foe? We dip a toe into contested territory with a look at Asclepias curassavica, the most controversial milkweed of all. Up first: we chat about the spring rush and a secondhand ringtail cat sighting. Want more? Join our Patreon for bonus content, early access to episodes, and fun classes. Mentioned in this e…

We're back at Colleen's picnic table to reflect on what we've learned (horticulturally and emotionally) in the year since Uri, the crippling 2021 snow-and-ice storm that plunged Texas into single-digit temperatures and left 40% of Austin residents without power and/or water for days. Last year we recorded a few episodes about the immediate aftermat…