Podcast

Earlier this year, freelance horticulturist Yoke van der Meer spoke with PlantNetwork about her career and her blog which seeks to make weeds more popular!

Meet Cal Stewart – gardener, educator, mixologist and dandelion fan! Cal has recently moved from being a full-time gardener to a full-time garden educator to better share a passion for all things plant and garden related.

To celebrate the PlantNetwork Year of Sustainability, we will be exploring sustainability issues and projects as part of the PlantNetwork podcast series. In the first of these special episodes, we find out about the challenges and opportunities posed by “The Tangled Bank” project at St Andrews Botanic Garden with curator Beccy Middleton.

In the first podcast for 2022, PlantNetwork speaks with Jess Brown of RZSS Edinburgh Zoo about gardening for pandas among many other animals. Find out more about the working life of a zoo horticulturist – and join us in February for a webinar focusing on zoo horticulture.

PlantNetwork talks to Doug Stewart, a ‘general practitioner’ of horticulture. We discuss careers, perceptions of horticulture and sustainability as well as favourite plants…

Meet a young horticulturist who is also a passionate spokesperson for the industry! PlantNetwork talks to Mollie Higginson of New Leaf Plants and co-founder of the Young People in Horticulture Association (YPHA). Find out how Mollie found her way into horticulture and what she and the YPHA are doing to help other young horticulturists get the most out of horticulture.

Meet Richard Baines, the Curator of Logan Botanic Garden, author and a truly passionate horticulturist who has definitely taken his work home with him. In this episode, he tells us about curating an exotic garden in Scotland, his love of rhododendrons and his horticultural journey. Listen in to learn where to find rare gems in Logan Botanic Garden, plant exploration abroad, and the most spectacular place in the UK to see daffodils.

Frances Porter has just completed a three year Professional Gardeners’ Guild Traineeship – we hear about her experiences as a trainee, horticultural inspirations and what will be Frances’ next steps as she embarks on an horticultural career.

Piers Horry talks to Sam Hickmott, a young head gardener looking after a Grade 1 listed landscape garden in a World Heritage Site. We hear how Sam started his horticultural career, his thoughts on what we need to do to encourage more young people to embark on a career on horticulture and the Young Hort of the Year competition.

What is it like gardening in a zoo? We talk to Phil Esseen about some of the unique challenges that his team face on a day-to-day basis, and find out how Phil came to be a zoo curator – of plants!