Flora & Fauna Podcast

Episode 19: New gardens with Ian Leatt

Faced with the very arduous task of building a new gardening bed, Shauna Dobbie, editor of Canada’s Local Gardener magazine, turns to veteran gardener Ian Leatt to hear about his experiences. In addition to being a long-time grower of vegetables and flowers, Ian is the former president of Pegasus Publications, the company that publishes Canada’s Local Gardener.

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Episode 18: Seeds with Kevin Twomey

It is seed starting time across Canada. From March through June, depending on where your garden is, you may be starting seeds indoors and out. Kevin Twomey, former owner of T and T Seeds in Winnipeg, has grown vegetables and flowers from seeds throughout his life. Shauna Dobbie, editor of Canada’s Local Gardener print magazine, talked to Kevin about what she’s done right, what she’s done wrong, and what she should do next year.

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Episode 17: Garden power tools with Kris Kiser

For many gardeners, power tools sound like something their partner or friend would be more interested in. But at some point, even the luddite might be interested in getting jobs done faster and with less pain, if a little more noise. Shauna Dobbie, editor of Canada’s Local Gardener print magazine, talked to Kris about lawn mowers and leaf blowers, what’s out there and what she needs to tend to a medium-sized urban garden.

For more info about Flora & Fauna Episode 17, click here.

Episode 16: Nutrients in the garden with Robert Pavlis

Every year, growers, distributors and hybridizers of plants work on new species, and every year some of those new species make it to the market. New shrubs, flowers and vegetables come out with slight improvements and other distinguishing characteristics over the ones that have come before.

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Episode 15: Plant introductions for 2023 with Dorothy Dobbie

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Episode 14: Emerald ash borer with Ryan Statham

Since 2002, Canada has been watching the emerald ash borer kill our native ash trees, starting in Ontario and moving east and west from there. Ryan Statham, the District Manager for Davey Tree in Strathroy, Ontario, is on the front lines of the battle against this beetle. Shauna Dobbie, editor of Canada’s Local Gardener magazine, talks to Ryan about the fight and about how we can deal with emerald ash borer.

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Episode 13: Growing berries with Sheryl Normandeau and Janet Melrose

Strawberries and raspberries have been growing in gardens across Canada since we became a country. Haskaps, sea buckthorn and ground cherries are more recent introductions for many of us. Shauna Dobbie, editor of Canada’s Local Gardener magazine, talks to Sheryl and Janet about their book and about growing fruit, mostly berries, particularly on the Prairies.

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Episode 12: Edible Flowers with Erin Facer

The Edible Flower is a thick book with gorgeous photos. Erin and Jo write about how to grow edible flowers and how to use them for cooking. Erin uses flower petals in salads, but also in a larger way in recipes like folding them into a babka for a colourful display when it’s cut or pressing them into the dough when making pasta.

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Episode 11: Climate change and trees with Dan Herms and Joe Steinfeld

Given that Earth is getting warmer rapidly, what is the consequence for trees? This is a concern for Davey Tree experts Dan Herms, Vice President of Research, and Joe Steinfeld, who works in Urban Forestry and Arboriculture in the Toronto office. Shauna Dobbie, editor of Canada’s Local Gardener magazine, spoke with both of them about the state of trees today and what is coming in the near future.

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Episode 10: Poison Ivy with Susan Pell

Forget about oceans of calamine lotion, this is the real dirt on poison ivy and all of its kin. Susan Pell, executive director of the United States Botanic Garden. She did her PhD on members of the pistatchio family (Anacardiaceae), which includes the genus Toxicodendron, of which poison ivy, poison oak and poison sumac are members.

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Episode 9: Monarch Butterflies with Joan Harvey and Julianne Labreche

People of all ages become fascinated with the monarch butterfly when they learn about its long flight from Canada to Mexico in a single generation. Joan Harvey is a member of Monarch Teacher Network, and she joined Master Gardener Julianne Labreche in an event called Meet the Monarch last summer.

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Episode 8: Mario Doiron on Food Security

Mario Doiron is a modern homesteader in New Brunswick who raises fowl and grows vegetables on a small farm. Shauna Dobbie, editor of Canada’s Local Gardener magazine, talks with him about how he grow vegetables and what gardeners can do to maximize their efforts and save money.

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Episode 7: Growing Bamboo with Garry Hedberg

Bamboo is a kind of plant in the grass family (Poaceae) with over 100 genera. Most of them are tropical, but a few will survive and even thrive in Canada. Garry Hedberg and his wife Brenda had several clumps of them growing in South Surrey, in the Vancouver area, some as tall as 60 feet.

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Episode 6: Peace Garden

Dorothy Dobbie is the originator of Canada’s Local Gardener magazine, a former Member of Parliament, President of the International Peace Gardens on the border of Manitoba and North Dakota…

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Episode 5: Houseplant

Darryl Cheng is an industrial engineer who became interested in houseplants a few years ago. He would do time-lapse videos of his plants on social media, and that led to a huge Instagram following and book deals, including his popular book The New Plant Parent.

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Episode 4: Indigenous Gardening

Mehdi Sharifi is a research scientist at the Summerland Research Station in British Columbia and Dana Johnson was a research assistant there who was partially responsible for developing the first federal Indigenous Demonstration Garden at the site. Shauna Dobbie, editor of Canada’s Local Gardener magazine, talked to them both about planning and instituting the garden.

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Episode 3: Garlic

Greg Auton is a garden writer and podcaster from Nova Scotia who grows hundreds of garlic plants every year. Although he is a very prolific writer, has a family of four and maintains a 2500-square foot vegetable garden, these are things he does in his spare time, when he is not working as a civil servant.

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Episode 2: Sweet Potatoes

Tiffany Grenknow started to plant sweet potatoes in 2012. In 2014, Grenkow sold 3,000 sweet potato slips and approached two Winnipeg garden centres who agreed to sell them to their customers. Over the years, Grenkow expanded her production, yet her crop consistently sold out online before the season began.

For more info about Flora & Fauna Episode 2, click here.

Episode 1: Apples

Bob Osborne is a grower of apple trees in New Brunswick and he has recently published Hardy Apples: Growing Apples in Cold Climates. This book tells you not only all about how apples grow and how you can encourage them, but also talks about over 90 cultivars of apples that are hardy to Zones 2, 3 and 4, which means that most Canadian gardeners will be able to grow at least a few.

For more info about Flora & Fauna Episode 1, click here.