Weed, Read, Weed, Read and Listen for Some Gardening Tips!

Season 5, Episode 40, August 16, 2023

Phlox paniculata ‘David’ in my garden

In this week’s episode, we talked about tall garden phlox, Joy Larkcom, a new book, and a very old book.

Would you like to read about a little behind-the-scenes of what it is like when I’m editing an episode?

As I listen for things to cut out, I hear again that Dee’s favorite flower this week is ‘Meteor Mix’ zinnias. So I text her to ask her for a picture.

Here’s that picture!

Dee’s ‘Meteor Mix’ zinnias

Then I text back, “And if you can think of the other gardener “back east” that was around the same time frame as Rosalind Creasy that you couldn’t think of yesterday… who was that?”

Dee answers back with clues!

“You and I both know her. She’s really sweet. I was on a panel with her once in Seattle.”

Seattle? I don’t think I was there for that event, so I reply, “Okay, I’ll try to conjure her up from that description.”

Then finally, the answer. Ruth Rogers Clausen! More on her in a bit.

While editing the audio file and texting with Dee—expecting instant answers, of course (ha!)—I kept glancing out my window to where the birdfeeders are, where I planted flowers that I hope survive growing in the mess a birdfeeder creates, and I spotted a hummingbird zipping around the Agastache ‘Blue Fortune,’ a flower we’ve mentioned many times.

Then after writing that little part and deciding that the photos I took looking through the blinds were too terrible to show, I saw a goldfinch “pigging out” on the seeds of one of the coneflowers. Sweet! My dream of having flowers growing around the birdfeeder to draw in birds and pollinators is coming true!

Where were we?

Editing the podcast…, which I finally finished. I have a lot of links for you, so lean in, take notes, and enjoy this episode!

I mentioned a Big Leaf floor pad for babies, which I bought on Amazon. I think everyone knew I’d zero in on that in the gift registry as the gift to get for a new baby arriving in October. I did not disappoint.

Our favorites this week were both flowers. For Dee, it was ‘Meteor Mix’ zinnias, and for me, it was Van Gogh’s Fantasy mix sunflowers from Sunflower Steve, which are aging gracefully.

Carol’s sunflowers.

This week’s flower topic was tall garden phlox, Phlox paniculata. We have three links for you: Phlox paniculata 'Jeana,’ the PPA Plant of the Year, Phlox paniculata 'Cover Girl', and  Luminary Ultraviolet phlox | Plant Addicts.

For our vegetable topic, we discussed Creative Vegetable Gardening by Joy Larkcom. (Amazon link) which came out in the late 90s. Old enough to be a classic? We think so! If you want to know more, The Garden Museum in England had a small display earlier this year called Joy Larkcom: The Queen of Vegetables. Plus, I found a nice article about Joy in The Guardian. And I showed Dee my other Joy Larkcom book, The Organic Salad Garden (Amazon), which she then promptly bought.

Dee then brought up Rosalind Creasy and her inspirational books on growing beautiful vegetable gardens, including Edible Landscaping (Amazon). This made her think of Ruth Rogers Clausen’s book Dreamscaping (Amazon), which isn’t about vegetable gardens but has many good ideas in it.

None of those books are new, but you should be able to find them at your library or find good used copies for sale online.

But it’s not always about old books. On our bookshelf is a brand new book coming out on August 29 which we both love. It’s Garden Maker’s Book of Wonder: 162 Recipes, Crafts, Tips, Techniques, and Plants to Inspire You in Every Season, by Allison Vallin Kostovick (creator of Finch & Folly on Instagram) (Amazon link).

Still reading? Just a few more links. In our dirt, we talked about a recent article about the 2024 trends report from Garden Media Group.

And down in our rabbit holes, I talked about The Solitary Summer by Elizabeth von Arnim, written in 1899, the oldest of all the books we mentioned in this episode.

Do you have any book recommendations for us? A favorite phlox to tell us about? Leave a comment and let us know!

And now for the business-y stuff

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For more info on Carol, visit her website or blog, May Dreams Gardens.
For more info on Dee, visit her website, Red Dirt Ramblings.

On Instagram: Carol: Indygardener, Dee: RedDirtRamblings, Our podcast: TheGardenangelists.
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