The right-sized Flower Garden

Kerry Mendez has a passion for gardening, in her latest book “The right-sized Flower Garden” she discusses how to develop a garden that you can manage, often this will reduce the amount of work involved. As she explains it’s all about making the right choices, whilst at the same time making simple design changes. Here is a practical book with sensible tips, lists, time and energy saving suggestions that will help the beginner and the experienced.

Come take a listen, I’m sure you will learn something new.

The right-sized flower garden

The Chelsea Physic Garden – Linking people to plants & nature

It’s not often you find a garden that was founded in 1673. Which is when the Apothecaries’ Garden was formed. Ann was on a trip to Europe recently and dropped in on the beautiful Chelsea Physic Garden. Situated on the side of the River Thames in London. The gardens original purpose was to train apprentices in identifying plants. With the gardens location close to the river creating a warmer microclimate. This significantly increased the many non-native plants that could be grown.

   

In 1700 the garden had started an international botanic garden seed exchange system, which continues to this day.

chelsea physic garden

The gardens cover some four acres and are leased on what is known as a peppercorn ( very low) rent in perpetuity.

They are with out doubt one of London’s secret ‘gems’ and thoroughly worth a visit.

chelsea physic garden

The gardens mission  ” Linking people with plants and nature”

The interview starts with Ann talking for around 8 minutes to a group of school children on a field trip, the gardens have over 100 such visits a year.  Ann then talks to Michael a very knowledgeable and extremely helpful member of staff. We kept all the typical inner city sounds on the recording – the enthusiasm of the children is very heartening.

Integrated pest management is the preferred method of bug control…

They have a project called “Shelf Life’ it is just an incredible way to show children where their food comes from

You can also listen to Ann’s interview on iTunes at Growing Trends

We would love to hear your comments and suggestions for a show… just send us an email to Growing Trends

Heaven is a Garden

A few years ago I read a paper about how grasses ‘moved’ to music, then I read about the effects of harmonious sounds on plant growth.

Just using white summer bedding is very effective in such a large garden

Why do I mention this ? Well a few weeks ago we were talking about Tesla and his discoveries, which led us to talking about vibrations, sound waves, force fields etc., then a strange thing happened.

Ann and I interviewed a wonderful lady landscape architect Jan Johnsen, about her new book “Heaven is a Garden” we talked a little about how at a very young age she discovered during a science fair competition – which against all the odds she won – the effects early morning birds singing have on plants. The sound waves, which are similar to a violin stimulate a plant to open its stomata taking in carbon-dioxide to help it grow quicker.

Fushia

Jan has written a new book called Heaven is a Garden, it’s a really fascinating and informative read.  Jan has ‘connected’ the dots so as to speak, between the natural world and our emotions. How the Four Winds are important when laying out a space,the careful use of curves, and my favorite Golden Rectangles and the Divine Proportion. – Phi is the mathematical proportion ( 1 : 1.618) we see in every natural form. Using this proportion ensures a sense of harmony in any outdoor space that contains it. I’ve always tried to use these proportions in my designs.

Jan then talks about Trees – natures rechargers as she puts it… The Celts  shunnache,  the Hindu tree devas, and Greek dryads are really references to light energy? The Chinese call this energy chi…the Japanese consider the health giving properties of trees the basis of a medical therapy called ‘ Forest bathing’, it helps reduce stress.

Jan then discusses the magnetic attraction in a Zen garden – rocks in these gardens reflect a deep understanding of the geomagnetic properties of stone and its impact on a place.

Finally the benefits of color in a garden.

Be inspired by Jan Johnsen's Book
You can listen to our truly fascinating interview with Jan Johnsen  or if you prefer on iTunes at Growing Trends
We would love to hear from you, with your comments or  ideas for shows write to us at info@grotrends.com
Ann and Chris

GT114 Eat your Roses

It's that time of year again, as we move from Spring into Summer all sorts of tasty treats abound in our gardens, our interview today is with a lady who has taken this to a new dimension.

Eat your roses

Ann & I caught up with Denise Shreiber recently to interview her about her fascinating book, all about edible flowers.

Being a transplanted 'Brit' it was interesting to hear that her book was born after a trip to England where she sampled 'Rose Petal Ice Cream', Here I was, under the illusion that everyone visited our wonderful gardens and stately homes for the good old English cuppa with perhaps a scone, butter, jam and clotted cream !

You can listen to Denise here…

GT113 Do you suffer from Allergies?

It’s allergy awareness week in  England .

Allergy Awareness

A subject that has become more and more important to my family over the past few years.

My grandson Callum was born with severe allergies , which appear at the slightest opportunity, so much so that my daughter Nathalie has developed a huge number of allergy free recipes, started a company to help others with young children with allergies, has been featured in the newspapers, magazines and on television.

You can read more here – The Intolerant Gourmand

This prompted Ann and I to start some research to see how many children and adults are affected.

We were really surprised at how many people suffer severe allergic reactions, how this has exploded across the whole of the USA, partly it seems due to the demise of the Elm trees. You can hear more about this from Tom Ogren in our latest interview.

Nathalie  had explained  Callum, was a baby boy with severe eczema & food allergies,makes for an interesting journey of discovery!

Callum

We found only one food pantry offering  exclusively gluten free and allergy free food in the USA.

in OVERLAND PARK, Kan. – It’s opening next month in Overland Park, Kan.

The ReNewed Health Food Pantry, it’s located at 87th and Antioch, will be holding its grand opening on May 13th.

In England rules for premises selling food changed back in December 2014, This has resulted in all premises selling food, whether freshly made or packaged, to provide details of any of the top 14 allergens used. It is still early days, and there has been some resistance, but there are signs that eating out with allergies is improving.

The medical profession in England is also beginning to realise the prevalence of allergies and how many more people are now presenting with serious allergic reactions in hospital – 20,000 attendances last year alone, with over 12,500 of those being an emergency situation!

Here in the USA , Ann and I were fortunate to interview Tom Ogren about his fascinating , very informative book  about Allergies in the garden, this is a must read for avid gardeners everywhere.

Allergy-Fighting Garden, cover

You can hear our interview with Tom  at www.growingtrends.org or on iTunes at Growing Trends

We would love to hear your thoughts and comments,

 

GT112 School Garden Projects have many positives, you can hear many of them here.

Children-eating-salad

Is this really salad ? it tastes so good like this !

Ann & I were fortunate to talk to three amazing ladies from Tennessee a little while ago. They wanted to start a school garden at their school, here is their story, the school garden is now in its third year.

Raised beds

Some of the main points we heard were:-

It's essential to have teacher as well as parent support.

Take time to plan carefully

Initially growing from seed is harder , due to the school calendar. 

Choose plants that will fit into this schedule.

The children want to take ownership of their plants !

Educating children in the different choices of produce increases the varieties they will eat.

Children really take pride in taking home to their family the produce they have grown.

In a blind radish test, the children could tell which were home grown as opposed to store bought and much preferred home grown !

strawberry picking

Ann & I would love to hear from you.  info@grotrends.com

If you would like us to put you in touch with these wonderful ladies,or if you would like more information on starting your own school garden just send us an email to Growing Trends and we will be in touch. If you would like us to interview you, send us a picture of your garden along with contact details, we will be adding a section to our web site www.grotrends.com specially on School garden projects.

Thank you Penny, Peggy and Emily, this was a fascinating interview.

Ann & Chris

 

 

 

 

GT101:Kelly’s Garden

Kelly was an inspiration, sitting in her beautiful garden was almost spellbinding.

Take a listen and tell us what you think ?

"Finding happiness in a garden – how it's done at the Kelly Gallery"

kelly_Gallery_garden_rev

 

GT100:Iconic Gardens of Kansas City – a must visit when in town

Ann & Chris sit down with Duane Hoover horticulturist at the Kauffman Memorial Gardens Kauffman memorial garden 2 and then Jan Schall , Sanders Sosland Curator of Modern & Contemporary Art at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art

Hello world!

Growing Trends is about people, people who are passionate about their environment, their gardens & landscapes and the experts who help them.

Ann & Chris

Ann & Chris bring together interesting  topics  on the environment, gardening and landscaping  then discuss them with fascinating people from around the world

February's & March's programs

We are concentrating on sustainability, with our second interview with Bill Sosinsky, then a fascinating series of interviews with Rich Sapienza discussing , solar power,  fracking , food production, simple solutions to growing environmental issues.

We will also include some interviews with authors of some really interesting books – you can see who on our Book Review pages on www.grotrends.com

We welcome comments and suggestions… just drop us a line at info@grotrends.com