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Dr. Dana Green is a bat expert who is known online as The Eyepatch Biologist. As a science communicator, a pun connoisseur, and a woman who knows a good joke when it’s staring her in the face, she says of herself, “What a wonderful bat advocate to go half blind.”

In Dana’s interview with Sean, she tells us about her master’s degree studying grasshopper mice (predatory, solitary, highly aggressive mice that howl) and her PhD in bat ecology, which she completed at the University of Regina in Saskatchewan. We learn about echolocation and other bat chatter, fact check Hank Green’s viral video (Do we know where bats go in winter? Not entirely…) and learn about bat species in Canada. We assuage some fears about bats carrying disease, explore the challenges of tracking bat migration, exclaim over the mysteries of bat reproduction, and celebrate their benefits in the garden. The episode is as wide-ranging as these fascinating mammals are, but we spend time especially on the lives of hoary bats, pallid bats, New Zealand’s flightless bats, and the Mexican free-tailed bat…or at least their smell! 

Craving even more bat facts? Then you’re in luck! Part two of this interview will be posted next week. 

Learn More

Dana’s website: https://www.danagreeneco.com/

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@theeyepatchbiologist

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eyepatchbiologist/

Scientists and Communicators

Sean and Dana drop a lot of names in this conversation. Here are the experts they mention: 

• Hank Green, science communicator: https://hankgreen.com/ 
• Dr. Brock Fenton, bat researcher and mentor of bat researchers: https://letstalkscience.ca/careers/brock-fenton
• Mark Brigham, Dana’s supervisor at the University of Regina: https://www.uregina.ca/science/biology/directory/academic-staff-and-adjuncts/mark-brigham.html  
• Robert Barclay, bat researcher: https://profiles.ucalgary.ca/robert-barclay 
• Ted Weller, migratory hoary bat researcher: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Theodore-Weller 
• Sophiane, aka @honkifurhoary, science communicator: https://www.instagram.com/honkifurhoary/

Comments? Feedback? Want your garden question to be featured in a future Q&A segment?

Email us, reach out over social media, or get Q&A priority by supporting us on Patreon.

Bluesky: @plantsalwayswin.com

TikTok: @plantsalwayswinpodcast

YouTube: @PlantsAlwaysWinPodcast

Website: www.plantsalwayswin.com

Discord: https://discord.gg/K6wF9dY4Ja

Citations

Bat Reproduction Fact Check

H, T. (2020, October 16). BAT Reproduction – Illinois BAT Conservation program. https://www.illinoisbats.org/bat-reproduction   

Timestamps

00:12 Introducing Dr. Dana Green

01:36 Bats, Grasshopper Mice, and Going Feral: Dana’s Education Journey

04:55 Sound Bite: Grasshopper Mouse

05:01 Can You Hear Echolocation? 

05:30 Sound Bite: Echolocation

07:25 Dana’s Retinal Detachment

15:40 Dana Caused Sean’s First TikTok Violation

16:53 Bat Species in Canada

19:00 The Bat Research Community

21:30 Do We Know Where Bats Go In Winter?

25:53 Bats’ Unique Relationship with Disease

28:47 Tangent: Funding Rant

31:00 Back to Bat Tracking

34:45 Ted Weller, Bat Pregnancy, and Pups

41:36 The Pallid Bat, Potential Pollinator and Centipede Eater

44:00 Bats as Garden Friends

47:33 Outdoor Cats are Ecological Disasters

51:42 Bats’ Horrendous Smell

53:46 Conclusion and Contact Us

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Our gardens are winding down for the season, but our audience is putting on a growth spurt! This crop of new listeners has seeded our Q&A inbox with a flush of questions, which we love to see. And while we’d normally answer these at the end of our versus episodes, we currently have a backlog of recorded episodes and we don’t want folks to have to wait for answers. That means it’s time for another Q&A special!

We start with questions inspired by Sean’s recent video about an apple tree sold with its graft and root flare buried well below soil level. If you want to understand how fruit trees are grafted and sold, how to plant them successfully, and what to expect from them as they grow, keep your ears peeled for this conversation.

Next, we move on to plants that listeners are hoping to get rid of, touching briefly on bindweed (covered more thoroughly in episode 31) before digging into horsetail, that pervasive prehistoric plant. The question was “How do I get rid of it?” and we do address that—but you’ll find some options you might not have expected in our answers.

Finally, we chat about an anecdote that was shared with us: “This year I learned that cosmos don’t like fertilizer.” It’s true that feeding nitrogen to flowering plants will push them to produce more greenery than blooms. But we’re here to offer some education on what you can do to give them a boost.

Comments? Feedback? Want your garden question to be featured in a future Q&A segment? 

Email us, reach out over social media, or get Q&A priority by supporting us on Patreon. 

Discord: https://discord.gg/K6wF9dY4Ja

Bluesky: @plantsalwayswin.com

TikTok: @plantsalwayswinpodcast

YouTube: @plantsalwayswinpodcast

Website: www.plantsalwayswin.com 

Learn More

About Horsetail: https://www.rhs.org.uk/weeds/horsetail

Find bare-root fruit trees grown in Ontario from:

Golden Bough Tree Farm (Marlbank, ON, in Tweed): https://goldenboughtreefarm.ca/ 

Northern Food Forest (Calvin, ON, near North Bay): https://northernfoodforest.ca/ 

Pineneedle Farms (Pontypool, ON, within Kawartha Lakes: https://www.pineneedlefarms.ca/ 

Silver Creek Nursery (Wellesley, Ontario, in the Waterloo region): https://silvercreeknursery.ca/

Whiffletree Farm & Nursery (Elora, ON): https://www.whiffletreefarmandnursery.ca/ 

Credits

Website Design and Illustration by Sophia Alladin

Intro and Outro Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/soundroll/when-my-ukulele-plays

License code: GWOIMMBAS15FG6PH

Timestamps

00:12 Intro

00:55 What’s Growing On? Erin’s Fall Fair Entries

04:46 What’s Growing On? Sean’s Fall Fruit Trees Planting

08:50 Water Break

10:42 Is a buried graft the reason my apple tree keeps dying?

11:43 What is a root flare? 

14:54 Do nurseries make mistakes like this on purpose to sell more trees?

16:36 Will a tree always die if its graft is below ground level?

19:07 If you let suckers from a root stock grow up, will they produce fruit?

21:40 If the tree survives having its graft buried, is everything okay?

23:00 I planted apples 3-4 years ago. They are suckering like crazy and haven’t produced any fruit. What can I do?

25:45 What fruit tree is best to plant in Ontario – something hardy and not fussy?

30:15 What if I need to eradicate field bindweed from my lawn instead of my garden?

35:42 How can I get rid of horsetail? I tried replacing all my soil and it still came back.

45:01 Fertilizing stopped my flowers from blooming. What should I have done?

56:00 Outro and Contact Us

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Do you make compost at home? Do you delight in the experience? If your answer to either of those questions is no, this week’s guest is here to help.

Delaina Arnold is the community programs manager with the Georgian Bay Mnidoo Gamii Biosphere, a UNESCO-designated “ecologically significant” landscape where people are striving to live in balance with nature. As part of that striving, the Biosphere launched a pilot project in 2025 to help people learn about home composting, to get started doing it themselves, and to troubleshoot any problems. Now we get to benefit from all that education, as Delaina answers Erin’s questions on the subject.

We begin with the big question: why bother rotting our kitchen scraps at all? Then it’s on to busting common myths before entering a crash course on home composting: where to place your bin, what type to make or buy, and how not to hate the container you use for collecting scraps. We troubleshoot common problems like wildlife, smell, and slow decomposition, then get into a tangent on the truth about using urine in your compost. Of course we also cover how to decompose your garden trimmings safely and what to do with manure. 

Ready to make some black gold with us? Then dive in to the interview.

Learn More

“Do the Rot Thing” webinar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74UODcc3IZE

All the Biosphere’s short, downloadable gardening guides, including “Composting 101”: https://georgianbaybiosphere.com/gardens/

The Biosphere’s community calendar: https://georgianbaybiosphere.com/events/     

The Georgian Bay Biosphere Reserve website: https://georgianbaybiosphere.com/

Citations

Urine and Soil Study

Rumeau, M., Pistocchi, C., Ait-Mouheb, N., Marsden, C., & Brunel, B. (2024). Unveiling the impact of human urine fertilization on soil bacterial communities: A path toward sustainable fertilization. Applied Soil Ecology, 201, 105471. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsoil.2024.105471

Follow the Biosphere On Social Media

On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gbtownship/ 

On YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@GBayBiosphere 

Comments? Feedback? Want your garden question to be featured in a future Q&A segment? 

Email us, reach out over social media, or get Q&A priority by supporting us on Patreon. 

Discord: https://discord.gg/K6wF9dY4Ja

Bluesky: @plantsalwayswin.com

TikTok: @plantsalwayswinpodcast

YouTube: @plantsalwayswinpodcast

Website: www.plantsalwayswin.com 

Credits

Website Design and Illustration by Sophia Alladin

Intro and Outro Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/soundroll/when-my-ukulele-plays

License code: GWOIMMBAS15FG6PH

Timestamps

00:12 Intro

00:47 Meet Delaina Arnold of the Georgian Bay Biosphere

01:50 What is the Georgian Bay Biosphere Reserve?

05:08 Why Home Composting Matters: Landfills, Methane, and Soil

09:09 The Seguin & Township of Georgian Bay Kitchen to Compost Pilot Project

11:33 Myths about Home Composting: Wildlife, Stirring, and What to Add

14:47 What if You Don’t Turn Your Compost? Erin’s Dirty, Little Secret

16:35 Where to Locate Your Compost Bin: Sun, Drainage, and Access

18:14 Choosing Your Compost Bin

20:09 Pick a Cute Countertop Compost Container

22:30 Composting Tips

23:27 Composting Troubleshooting

25:15 Wildlife Problems with Compost

29:19 Fact Check: Adding Urine to Compost

32:20 Brown Materials You Can Add

34:05 Can You Add Garden Clippings to Your Compost Bin? 

37:45 Resources and Contact for the Georgian Bay Biosphere

39:30 Outro and Contact Us

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“I am very enthusiastic about [gardening]. I don’t know if I’m that great at it. I’m not very knowledgeable. I can’t really answer any of your garden questions, but I love getting my hands dirty.”

Gardening is for everyone! We’ve interviewed plenty of experts on Plants Always Win who’ve mastered everything from groundcovers to home hydroponics, but every so often we like to bring you a less experienced guest who is already skilled in one crucial area: gardening with joyful abandon.

In their day job, Chris Paul Rainbows is a speaker and strategist who helps organizations create spaces where everyone belongs. In their own space at home, Chris has tapped into the joy that 80s and 90s children’s television once brought them, designing whimsical gardens inspired by Polkadot Door, Mr. Dressup, Sesame Street, and more. They take us back to the urban-farm inspiration that led them to buy their current home, and the transformation it has undergone with chickens, rabbits, and a surprise pumpkin patch that led to some heartwarming community building. Community, gardening, and cultivating joy are inextricable subjects for Chris, who is an activist for queer and trans visibility. We talk hostas, native plants, managing invasive bindweed, and Chris’ upcoming debut book for 2026, Guinea Pigs Don’t Wear Pants. 

Now come on into the pumpkin patch through the Polkadot Door and remind yourself just how FUN gardening can be. 

Find Chris Paul Rainbows Online

at their website, where you can also find information about Chris’ upcoming picture book, Guinea Pigs Don’t Wear Pants: https://www.chrispaulrainbows.com/ 

on TikTok: tiktok.com/@chrispaulrainbows

on Instagram: instagram.com/chrispaulrainbows/

on YouTube: youtube.com/@chrispaulrainbows 

on Facebook: facebook.com/Chrispaulrainbows/

on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/chrisfarias/ 

Learn More About The Unicorn Fund:

https://www.chrispaulrainbows.com/blog/unchained-philanthropy-hamilton

Comments? Feedback? Want your garden question to be featured in a future Q&A segment?

Email us, reach out over social media, or get Q&A priority by supporting us on Patreon. 

Discord: https://discord.gg/K6wF9dY4Ja

Bluesky: @plantsalwayswin.com

TikTok: @plantsalwayswinpodcast

YouTube: @plantsalwayswinpodcast

Website: www.plantsalwayswin.com 

Credits

Website Design and Illustration by Sophia Alladin

Intro and Outro Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/soundroll/when-my-ukulele-plays

License code: GWOIMMBAS15FG6PH

Timestamps

00:25 Introduction and Housekeeping

01:55 Meet Chris Paul Rainbows

03:10 Gardening as Play

06:29 Protesting for Urban Chickens

07:47 Female and Male Gingko Biloba Trees

09:35 Corpse Flowers and Little Shop of Horrors

11:30 Pest Control and Fertilizer: Chickens Will Provide

13:45 Can You Go to Jail for an Overgrown Lawn?

15:17 Invasive Micro-Clover Lawn Replacement

16:29 Militant Native Plant Communities

17:23 Chris’ Inner Child Garden Project

19:47 300 Accidental Pumpkin Plants

21:54 The Unicorn Fund and the Most Sincere Pumpkin Patch

24:14 Pumpkin Care and Powdery Mildew

27:30 Strange and Fun Pumpkin Types

29:15 Hand Pollinating Pumpkins

30:30 The Importance of Queer and Trans Joy

33:50 Plant Sexes and Pollination

37:15 Chris and Sean Talk Parrots and Budgies

41:03 Dealing with Field Bindweed

47:27 Chris’ Children’s TV-inspired Garden Plans

48:39 Relationship Roles: The Problem Maker and the Problem Solver

49:36 How Oscar the Boxwood Grouch Started Everything

52:09 Find Chris Online

52:46 Chris’ Upcoming Picture Book, Guinea Pigs Don’t Wear Pants

53:56 Outro and Contact Us

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Are you finding yourself thirsty for a little soda pop this summer? How about for some botanical knowledge about soda pop’s history?

In this plant face-off episode, Erin and Sean put some fizz into the competition with the plants behind two iconic flavours: the cola nut that gives cola its kick, and the sassafras that puts the root in root beer. Or, at least, the plants that did serve those roles before the advent of artificial flavouring. 

Erin takes the first swig with a dramatic overview of the North American Sassafras albidum, an aromatic tree with a long history of use for medicine, food, furniture, and one nautical beverage that almost saw it hunted to extinction. She peers into the muddy waters surrounding its first use in root beer and, later, its controversial ban by the FDA, speculates about Choctaw influence on its use in gumbo, and delights over the Kanien’kéha (Mohawk) name, wenhákeras, meaning “smelly thing.”  Sean takes his kick at the can with the cola nut, the key ingredient behind the flavour and caffeine of cola beverages. He discusses the flavourful Malvaceae family tree of the West African cola tree (also spelled kola) (Cola nitida and Cola acuminata) and its surprising identity as a broad-leaf evergreen before serving up some knowledge about the fruit’s growing habits and its cultural history as a stimulant and a beverage ingredient. After some medical meanderings and a look at modern-day distribution, we wrap up Coca-Cola origins and its present-day ingredients.

Who had the most interesting facts to share today? Vote for your favourite by tagging us on social media and using the hashtag #PAWFaceOff. 

Comments? Feedback? Want your garden question to be featured in a future Q&A segment? Email us, reach out over social media, or get Q&A priority by supporting us on Patreon. 

Discord: https://discord.gg/K6wF9dY4Ja

Bluesky: @plantsalwayswin.com

TikTok: @plantsalwayswinpodcast

YouTube: @plantsalwayswinpodcast

Website: www.plantsalwayswin.com 

Credits

Website Design and Illustration by Sophia Alladin

Intro and Outro Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/soundroll/when-my-ukulele-plays

License code: GWOIMMBAS15FG6PH

Citations

Common names for sassafras

Wood and charcoal indentification in southern MD. (n.d.). https://apps.jefpat.maryland.gov/woodandcharcoalid/Webpages-trees/Sassafras.htm

Indigenous names for sassafras

Plenty Canada. (2024). SaSSaFras. Greenbelt Indigenous Botanical Survey. https://gibsurvey.ca/species/sassafras

Furniture uses

Packard Forest Products. (2011, October 30). Sassafras – Packard Forest products. https://packardforestproducts.com/lumber/hardwood-lumber/species-guide/sassafras/

Food and medicine uses

MacKinnon, A., & Kershaw, L. (2016). Edible and medicinal plants of Canada. Publishing Partners.

Root beer’s origins and the banning of safrole oil

Verberg, S. (2023, November 30). Root beer: the quintessential American soda. American Homebrewers Association. https://homebrewersassociation.org/beyond-beer/root-beer-the-quintessential-american-soda/

Sassafras oil and toxicity

https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/pharmacology-toxicology-and-pharmaceutical-science/sassafras

The history of sassafras in North America

Sassafras: Native gem of North America. (2022, October 10). Cornell Botanic Gardens. https://cornellbotanicgardens.org/sassafras-native-gem-of-north-america

Sassafras in Ontario

Sassafras. (n.d.). ontario.ca. https://www.ontario.ca/page/sassafras

Growing sassafras

Sassafras albidum (Cinnamon Wood, Common Sassafras, Mitten Tree, Sassafras, White Sassafras) | North Carolina Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox. (n.d.). https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/sassafras-albidum/

Hassani, N. (2025, May 7). How to grow and care for sassafras. The Spruce. https://www.thespruce.com/sassafras-tree-plant-profile-5199214

Cola nut overview

Kola Trees (Genus Cola). (n.d.). iNaturalist. https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/132989-Cola

Wikipedia contributors. (2025, July 18). Kola nut. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kola_nut

Cola nut etymology

Kola – Etymology, Origin & Meaning. (n.d.). Etymonline. https://www.etymonline.com/word/kola

Medicinal uses for cola nut and caffeine

Cola nut: health benefits, side effects, uses, dose & precautions. (2021, June 11). RxList. https://www.rxlist.com/supplements/cola_nut.htm#:~:text=Cola%20nut%20is%20used%20for,used%20as%20a%20flavoring%20ingredient

Timestamps

00:11 Introduction

01:13 What’s Growing On? Sean’s Fruit Shrubs and Willow Wall

03:38 What’s Growing On? Reciprocity in Erin’s Vegetable Garden

06:03 The Range of Serviceberry Taste

06:51 Water Break: Regionalisms

07:19 The Plant Face-Off

08:25 Sassafras Albidum, an Aromatic Shrub

09:08 The Etymology of Sassafras 

11:10 Indigenous Names for Sassafras

12:55 The Distinct Look of a Sassafras Tree

15:47 Wildlife, Building and Dye Use of Sassafras

16:16 Sassafras’ Medicinal Properties

20:00 Eating Sassafras leaves, stems, and pith

21:49 How Sassafras Gave Us Root Beer…And What Went Wrong

25:27 The Great Sassafras Hunts for Saloop

27:33 The Invention of Root Beer

28:50 Making Fermented vs. Carbonated Root Beer

30:24 Growing Sassafras for Beauty, Hedges, Specimen Trees, and Remediation

36:05 Water Break: Love Your Library

37:28 Cola Nut? Kola Nut? Pick Your Spelling.

39:54 West African Names for Cola Nut

40:58 The Etymology of Cola Nut

42:56 The Cola Tree, Both Evergreen and Deciduous

43:55 Cola’s Unusual Flowering and Fruiting Habit

45:45 Cola Range and Cultivation

46:44 The Cola Nut: A Fleshy Pod

47:57 Culinary and Medicinal Uses of Cola

51:00 Cultural and Hospitality Uses in West Africa

52:29 Cola Nut Harvesting

53:20 The Invention of Coca Cola

54:40 1880 Ad for Coca Cola, an “Intellectual Beverage”

56:11 Conclusion and Contact Us

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This week we’re celebrating the difference that can be made when a regional government supports its people and businesses in taking climate action. Get inspired by impactful local initiatives in Muskoka, Ontario, like:

• the Climate Hero Program, which awards individuals and businesses Bronze, Silver, and Gold rankings for the climate-friendly actions they take (including planting a pollinator garden!)
• the Muskoka EnvironHub website packed with resources
• the Muskoka GeoHub, an online web mapping portal featuring floodplain mapping, real-time water levels, shoreline videos, and more
• a Community Energy and Emissions Reduction Plan
• and, importantly, a Corporate Greenhouse Gas Initiative since the onus for change cannot be on residents alone.

Our guest, Lauren Saville, is the Community Climate Initiatives Coordinator in Muskoka. Her work takes her into the heart of a cottage-country community where “the environment is the economy and the economy is the environment.” She helps residents understand how the changing climate is impacting their wallets and ways of life, and offers them opportunities to make real change. She gives presentations to schools and to the public, inspiring and equipping them to take action in their own lives. And she’s involved with a huge range of initiatives that make life better for people AND the planet. 

Listen now and get motivated by the interconnectedness of environment, economy, and community well-being. 

Access Muskoka’s excellent community resources:

The Climate Hero Program: https://www.engagemuskoka.ca/climate-heroes

The Muskoka EnviroHub: https://www.muskoka.on.ca/en/environment/EnviroHub.aspx

Upcoming Outreach and Education Events with Lauren: https://www.muskoka.on.ca/en/environment/outreach-and-education.aspx 

The Muskoka GeoHub: https://www.muskoka.on.ca/en/environment/maps.aspx 

segment? Email us, reach out over social media, or get Q&A priority by supporting us on Patreon. 

Discord: https://discord.gg/K6wF9dY4Ja

Bluesky: @plantsalwayswin.com

TikTok: @plantsalwayswinpodcast

YouTube: @plantsalwayswinpodcast

Website: www.plantsalwayswin.com 

Credits

Website Design and Illustration by Sophia Alladin

Intro and Outro Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/soundroll/when-my-ukulele-plays

License code: GWOIMMBAS15FG6PH

Timestamps

00:50 Introducing Lauren Saville, Community Climate Initiatives Coordinator

02:20 Tackling Climate Change at the Community and Corporate Levels

06:43 Insurers are Motivated to Mitigate Climate Change

07:51 How the Community Responds

09:37 Climate Complacency: When Nature’s Beauty Backfires

11:10 Sean Joins the Climate Hero Program

15:04 Lauren’s Community and School Talks

18:58 Pollinator Plants, Shoreline Greening, and Love Your Lake

23:30 Partnering with Other Organizations Drives Change!

25:48 What Is a Watershed?

27:03 What Lauren Loves About her Job

32:15 Love for Muskoka, Love for Nature

33:55 Lauren’s Home Garden Projects

35:15 Find Muskoka’s EnviroHub and Stewardship Outreach

36:22 We Can All Make Change

38:25 Outro and Contact Us

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This week we talk about the activism embedded in native plant gardening and the creation of pollinator habitat with Lorraine Johnson.

Lorraine styles herself as a “cultivation activist”. It’s a term she came up with to describe the common purpose at the intersection of everything she does, from writing books to giving talks to supporting the fight against harmful grass and weed bylaws. This episode is for anyone who:

• feels guilt or overwhelm when they think about gardening, native plants, and invasive species
• feels anger or frustration about garden centres promoting invasive plants
• needs tools and resources to fight bylaws that make it hard to grow ecologically responsible gardens (even in cities that have signed pollinator pledges and are investing in flood protection!)
• wants to feel re-energized about the value of gardening as activism

You can find Lorraine online at https://lorrainejohnson.ca, where she shares her bibliography, her presentation topics, a blog with lots of updates on native-plant advocacy, and a (sometimes up-to-date) list of upcoming events where she’ll be presenting. 

Here are the resources Lorraine shared for bylaw advocacy:

Network of Nature’s interactive map for finding a native plant nursery near you: https://networkofnature.org/where-to-buy.htm/ 

Ecological Design Lab’s Bylaws for Biodiversity toolkit for municipalities: https://ecologicaldesignlab.ca/site/uploads/2024/07/EDL_Bylaws-Biodiversity_ToolkitforMunicipalities.pdf

The David Suzuki Foundation Action Alert Bylaw tool

https://davidsuzuki.org/action/bylaws-for-biodiversity/ 

The 1000 Islands Master Gardeners’ post about the Kingston, Ontario bylaw reform on which they collaborated: https://1000islandsmastergardeners.ca/2024/07/29/prohibited-plants-in-kingstons-new-bylaw/

A news story about Kyla Moore’s advocacy on Thunder Bay, Ontario’s bylaw change: https://www.tbnewswatch.com/local-news/thunder-bay-could-be-a-leader-says-boulevard-garden-advocate-9982234 

Comments? Feedback? Want your garden question to be featured in a future Q&A segment? Email us, reach out over social media, or get Q&A priority by supporting us on Patreon. 

Discord: https://discord.gg/K6wF9dY4Ja

Bluesky: @plantsalwayswin.com

TikTok: @plantsalwayswinpodcast

YouTube: @plantsalwayswinpodcast

Website: www.plantsalwayswin.com 

Credits

Website Design and Illustration by Sophia Alladin

Intro and Outro Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/soundroll/when-my-ukulele-plays

License code: GWOIMMBAS15FG6PH

TImestamps

00:11 Introducing Lorraine Johnson

01:29 Cultivation Activist: Making Change with Plants

07:53 Native-Plant Gardening for Joy, not as a Burden

11:16 Tips to get Started with Native Plants

12:40 Finding Your Community of Pollinator People

15:52 Relieving the Burden: Do the Best You Can

17:50 What has Changed in Four Decades of Native-Plant Gardening

23:13 Meet People Where they’re at

25:45 Reclaiming Responsibility as a Joy

27:14 Plants as our Kin

27:20 Changing Language: Naturalized vs. Native

31:44 Changing Language: Invasive Species and Groundcovers

34:46 Native Groundcover Options

38:00 Gardening Isn’t Just for Humans

40:00 Reforming Grass and Weeds Bylaws

45:00 Convincing Municipalities to Change Bad Bylaws

46:00 Kyla Moore’s Successful Bylaw Campaign in Thunder Bay, Ontario

47:41 Proactive Bylaw Reform in Kingston, Ontario

48:48 Native Plant Suggestions for New Developments

51:07 Street Trees and Project Swallowtail in Toronto

54:01 The Canadian Coalition for Invasive Plant Regulation

58:50 “Nothing Will Grow Here.” Working with the Land

1:05:55 2025: A Year of Abundance

1:09:01 Shout-Out: David Suzuki Foundation Action Alert Bylaws

1:11:12 Finding Lorraine Online

1:14:04 Outro and Contact Us

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It’s Part II of the nightshade party!

Sean and Erin plunge back in with tomatoes and peppers, covering cultural history, culinary and medical uses, and fun facts about these garden staples of the nightshade family. If you could look back thousands of years to see gardens in the Andes mountains, you would find both of them growing there. Find out how peppers once acted both as a trade good and a discipline tool, where tomatoes have spread most around the world, and the truth about the fantastical-sounding tomato-potato. 

If you want to know more about growing tomatoes and peppers or to explore their botany and etymology, be sure to check out Part I of this plant face-off. 

Who brought the most fascinating facts about their plant this week? Vote for borage or cosmos by tagging us on social media and using the hashtag #PAWFaceOff. 



Comments? Feedback? Want your garden question to be featured in a future Q&A segment? Email us, reach out over social media, or get Q&A priority by supporting us on Patreon. 

Discord: https://discord.gg/K6wF9dY4Ja

Bluesky: @plantsalwayswin.com

TikTok: @plantsalwayswinpodcast

YouTube: @plantsalwayswinpodcast

Website: www.plantsalwayswin.com 

Credits

Website Design and Illustration by Sophia Alladin

Intro and Outro Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/soundroll/when-my-ukulele-plays

License code: GWOIMMBAS15FG6PH

Citations

The biggest global tomato-growing nations today

Solanum lycopersicum (Tomato, Tomatoes). (n.d.). North Carolina Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox. https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/solanum-lycopersicum/#:~:text=The%20genus%20name%2C%20Solanum%2C%20is,when%20they%20came%20to%20Europe

Tomato varieties, history, and misconceptions of toxicity

The University of Vermont. (n.d.). A History of Tomatoes. University of Vermont Extension. https://www.uvm.edu/extension/news/history-tomatoes#:~:text=Tomatoes%20have%20undergone%20centuries%20of,Andes%20of%20 western%20South%20africa 

Heirloom vegetables

Heirloom vegetables. (n.d.). Wisconsin Horticulture. https://hort.extension.wisc.edu/articles/heirloom-vegetables/ 

Carnivorous tomatoes!

Chase, M. W., Christenhusz, M. J. M., Sanders, D., & Fay, M. F. (2009). Murderous plants: Victorian Gothic, Darwin and modern insights into vegetable carnivory. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 161(4), 329–356. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1095-8339.2009.01014.x 

Toxicity of capsaicin

Rohrig, B. (2013). Hot peppers: Muy caliente! In Chemmatters. American Chemical Society. https://www.acs.org/chemmatters 

The debate about weaponizing capsaicin

Peppers as non-lethal weapons. (2022). In The Royal Society of Chemistry eBooks (pp. 145–155). https://doi.org/10.1039/9781839160646-00145

Chili peppers in cultural history

Kelly, V. a. P. B. C. P. (2021, March 5). The Trail of Fire: The Story of the Chili Pepper. Synaptic Space. https://synapticspace.wordpress.com/2019/05/02/the-long-journey-of-the-chili-pepper/

The capsaicin isn’t in the pepper seeds

Cronin, J. R. (2002). The chili pepper’s pungent principle: capsaicin delivers diverse health benefits. Alternative and Complementary Therapies, 8(2), 110–113. https://doi.org/10.1089/10762800252909865 

Timestamps

00:11 Introduction

01:28 Culinary and Medicinal Uses of Peppers

04:30 Pepper Spray Throughout History

05:55 Is Capsaicin Toxic? 

07:00 Why Capsaicin Burns

09:44 Health Benefits of Capsaicin

12:24 Nutritional Benefits of Tomatoes

16:15 A Brief History of Tomatoes

20:41 A Brief History of Peppers

27:00 Tomato Fun Facts 

30:00 Heirloom Varieties

38:43 The Tomato Potato

40:36 Tomatoes are Carnivorous?

43:22 Pepper Seeds are not Where the Heat Is!

44:45 The Scoville Scale to Measure the Heat of Peppers

37:37 Outro and Contact Us

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In this shady plant face-off, Sean and Erin explore two of the gardening world’s favourite nightshades: tomatoes and peppers. Both are members of the family Solanaceae, and have plenty of traits in common, so rather than splitting the episode in half our two hosts try a livelier approach this week, passing the stage back and forth to talk about their chosen plant’s botany, etymology, growing habits, and pest and disease management. Prepare for a wealth of interesting information (did you know the Spanish word for tomato references an old belief in their aphrodisiac qualities?) alongside practical gardening tips (make sure you don’t feed your pepper plant too late in the season). 

And what about our other usual categories of cultural history, culinary and medical uses, and fascinating facts? Well, there’s just so much to say about these delicious horticultural staples that you’ll have to tune in next week to hear the rest. 

Comments? Feedback? Want your garden question to be featured in a future Q&A segment? Email us, reach out over social media, or get Q&A priority by supporting us on Patreon. 

Discord: https://discord.gg/K6wF9dY4Ja 

Bluesky: @plantsalwayswin.com 

TikTok: @plantsalwayswinpodcast 

YouTube: @plantsalwayswinpodcast

Website: http://www.plantsalwayswin.com 

Credits

Website Design and Illustration by Sophia Alladin

Intro and Outro Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/soundroll/when-my-ukulele-plays

License code: GWOIMMBAS15FG6PH

Citations

Tomato overview and etymology

Solanum lycopersicum (Tomato, Tomatoes). (n.d.). North Carolina Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox. https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/solanum-lycopersicum/#:~:text=The%20genus%20name%2C%20Solanum%2C%20is,when%20they%20came%20to%20Europe

A History of Tomatoes

The University of Vermont. (n.d.). A History of Tomatoes. University of Vermont Extension. https://www.uvm.edu/extension/news/history-tomatoes#:~:text=Tomatoes%20have%20undergone%20centuries%20of,Andes%20of%20western%20South%20America 

Heirloom Vegetables

Heirloom vegetables. (n.d.). Wisconsin Horticulture. https://hort.extension.wisc.edu/articles/heirloom-vegetables/ 

Adventitious Roots on Tomatoes

Grant, A. (2021, June 19). Bumpy tomato stems: Learn about white growths on tomato plants. Gardening Know How. https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/vegetables/tomato/white-growths-on-tomato-plants.htm 

Carnivorous Tomatoes!

Chase, M. W., Christenhusz, M. J. M., Sanders, D., & Fay, M. F. (2009). Murderous plants: Victorian Gothic, Darwin and modern insights into vegetable carnivory. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 161(4), 329–356. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1095-8339.2009.01014.x 

Bell pepper overview

Capsicum annuum Grossum Group (Bell Pepper, Green Pepper, Red Pepper, Sweet Pepper). (n.d.). North Carolina Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox. Retrieved June 2, 2025, from https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/capsicum-annuum-grossum-group/#:~:text=The%20Grossum%20Group%20of%20this,plant%20grows%20upright%20and%20bushy. 

Hot pepper overview

Capsicum frutescens (Bird Pepper, Capsicum, Hot Pepper, Tabasco Pepper). (n.d.). North Carolina Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox. Retrieved June 4, 2025, from https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/capsicum-frutescens/

Growing peppers in Canada

College of Agriculture and Bioresources. (n.d.). Peppers. Gardening at USASK. Retrieved June 2, 2025, from https://gardening.usask.ca/gardening-advice/gardenline-nested-pages/food-plant-pages/vegetables/peppers.php 

Planting conditions for peppers: home gardeners

Jeavons, J. (2012). How to Grow More Vegetables, eighth edition: (and Fruits, Nuts, Berries, Grains, and Other Crops) Than You Ever Thought Possible on Less Land Than You Can Imagine (8th ed.). Random House Digital, Inc.

Growing peppers profitably as a market gardener

Fortier, J., & Bilodeau, M. (2014). The market gardener: A Successful Grower’s Handbook for Small-scale Organic Farming. New Society Publishers.

Toxicity of capsaicin

Rohrig, B. (2013). Hot peppers: Muy caliente! In Chemmatters. American Chemical Society. https://www.acs.org/chemmatters 

Timestamps

00:12 Introduction

01:08 What’s Growing On: Erin’s doing EVERYTHING

01:35 What’s Growing On: Sean’s Grafting, Chickens, and Late Frosts

03:40 Canada in June: A Compressed Garden Season

05:24 Water Break: Fruits vs. Vegetables

07:38 Botanical Background: Solanaceae, the Nightshade Family

10:50 Tomato Taxonomy

11:53 The Native Range of Tomatoes

14:07 Hot Peppers, Bell Peppers, and Cayenne Pepper

16:37 Aztec Empire Tangent

18:19 Etymology and Black Pepper vs. Capsicum Peppers

20:03 Caring for Tomatoes

22:36 How Deep do you Plant Your Tomato?

24:59 Starting Tomatoes from Seed

26:56 Soil and Fertilization for Tomatoes

29:53 Grafting Tomatoes

31:35 Tomato Toxins

34:33 How Peppers Grow

37:40 Don’t Fertilize Peppers too Late

39:35 Should You Top Your Pepper Plants?

42:16 How Market Gardeners Grow Peppers

43:30 Irrigation and Blossom-End Rot

45:26 Pests and Diseases of Peppers

46:50 Pests and Diseases of Tomatoes

52:05 How to Mitigate Pests and Disease

59:41 Outro

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Smart hydroponics pioneer Jennifer Holston grows a living pantry in her home through all seasons. And so can you. 

When most of us hear the word “hydroponics,” we picture sprawling operations in a warehouse or basement, possibly constructed from home-drilled PVC pipes and buckets. We might also have a very specific idea of the kind of plants that are grown hydroponically. But over the last decade, attractive, compact, and easy-to-use home-scale hydroponic systems have become available. This week’s guest, Jennifer Holston, was an early adopter and she uses her bookshelf-sized indoor garden to grow everything from the expected herbs and lettuce to tomatoes, cucumbers, and even an experimental pumpkin. 

Jennifer wants everyone to feel comfortable embracing hydroponic gardening—not necessarily as a replacement for growing plants in soil, but as a complement to it. She explains how the technology in today’s hydroponic systems (including AI features in some) has taught her to be more sensitive to her plants’ needs, and how this kind of gardening is both surprisingly sustainable and prodigiously productive. The conversation addresses nutrient management, plant care, disease prevention, maintenance, and resources where listeners can learn more (see below for that list). 

Jennifer is working on the first comprehensive book for home hydroponic gardeners, Arable: Modern Indoor Hydroponics to Sustain and Fulfill (coming in 2026). Stay tuned for announcements (and read Jennifer’s blog posts) on her website at www.Gardening-anywhere.com.

You can also find Jennifer on social media:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GardeningAnywhere

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gardeninganywhere

Online Resources

Cornell University—Agriculture and Life Sciences, www.greenhouse.cornell.edu 

University of Arizona—www.ag.arizona.edu/hydroponic 

U.S. Department of Agriculture—www.usda.gov 

National Library of Medicine (search here for studies about hydroponics)—https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ 

Books

Howard Resh, Hobby Hydroponics 2nd ed.

Donald L. Coan, Toward a Hydroponic Future

Fact Check

The name of the bacterium sometimes used to counter Pythium (root rot) in hydroponic systems is Bacillus amyloliquefaciens. 

Jennifer was reaching for remembered details of a study that compared nutrients in tomatoes grown hydroponically vs. in soil. Here’s the study she was referencing: 

Verdoliva, S. G., Gwyn-Jones, D., Detheridge, A., & Robson, P. (2021). Controlled comparisons between soil and hydroponic systems reveal increased water use efficiency and higher lycopene and β-carotene contents in hydroponically grown tomatoes. Scientia Horticulturae, 279, 109896. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scienta.2021.109896

Comments? Feedback? Want your garden question to be featured in a future Q&A segment? Email us, reach out over social media, or get Q&A priority by supporting us on Patreon. 

Discord: https://discord.gg/K6wF9dY4Ja 

Bluesky: @plantsalwayswin.com 

TikTok: @plantsalwayswinpodcast 

YouTube: @plantsalwayswinpodcast

Website: www.plantsalwayswin.com 

Credits

Website Design and Illustration by Sophia Alladin

Intro and Outro Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/soundroll/when-my-ukulele-plays

License code: GWOIMMBAS15FG6PH



Timestamps

00:34 Introducing Jennifer Holston, Smart Hydroponics Pioneer

02:06 Growing Hydroponically through Texas Summers and Michigan Winters

03:00 Buttons, Lights, and AI: What’s New in Modern Home Hydroponics

06:30 Using and Maintaining Your Hydroponic System

12:00 Air, Pruning, and Pollination (with Dinosaurs?)

16:50 Using Nutrient Mixes for Abundantly Nutritious Produce

18:44 Sustainability and Resource Use in Hydroponics

25:04 Comparing Hydroponics to Traditional Gardening

26:15 AI in Gardening: Not Scary, it Turns Out

30:20 Beyond Cannabis: Hydroponics Preconceptions

37:38 Growing Vining Plants in Your Home

39:30 Keeping it Clean: Avoiding Disease in a Hydroponic System

43:18 Dealing with Hard Water and Chlorinated Water

46:47 Graduating from the Garden AI’s Mentorship

50:00 Resources for Aspiring Hydroponic Gardeners

52:29 Where to Find Jennifer Online

53:11 Jennifer’s Upcoming Book on Home Hydroponics

54:38 Conclusion and Contact Us