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We’re berry excited for this extra delicious plant face-off. 

In this week’s shrub showdown, our hosts go head to head with serviceberries and haskaps. Sean represents the former, a member of the Amelanchier genus also known as saskatoons, juneberries, and shadbushes, among other names. With cocky confidence of a guaranteed win, he extols their hardiness (down to zone 1!), their robust hybridization, and their independence when it comes to fertilization. Who needs a pollenizer? Not serviceberry! Sometimes they don’t even need pollinators. With tangents into breeding seedless fruits and food-as-medicine research, we savour serviceberry’s taste, versatility, abundance, ecosystem benefits, and ability to thrive across North America.

Erin swings in second with haskaps, a relatively new fruit on the commercial block. She tells us about breeding programs in near-polar regions around the world that are crossing varieties from Canada, Russia, and Japan for taste and resilience. While haskaps do need pollenizers to set fruit, Erin argues for their ease of care, their long lives, and their bountiful all-at-once harvests. The conversation delves into humane ways of bird-proofing berry crops, the perils of “superfood” marketing, and the fragility of fruit trees that bloom too soon. Haskap blossoms, by the way, can survive a -7 C frost. 

Who made you want to grow their berry of choice in your own garden? Vote for your favourite by tagging us on social media and using the hashtag #PAWFaceOff. 

Citations

Serviceberry Species in Ontario

Muma, W. (n.d.). Serviceberries Group. Ontario Trees and Shrubs. https://ontariotrees.com/main/group.php?id=81

The Downy Serviceberry Tree

Tree Canada, Arbres Canada. (2017, August 6). Downy serviceberry (Amelanchier arborea) – Tree Canada. Tree Canada. https://treecanada.ca/resources/trees-of-canada/downy-serviceberry-amelanchier-arborea/ 

The cultivar “Altaglow”, a dwarf Saskatoon, is hardy to zone 1

Mahr, S. (n.d.). Serviceberry, Amelanchier spp. Wisconsin Horticulture. https://hort.extension.wisc.edu/articles/serviceberry-amelanchier-spp/ 

Serviceberry phytochemical research

Donno, D., Cerutti, A., Mellano, M., Prgomet, Z., & Beccaro, G. (2016). Serviceberry, a berry fruit with growing interest of industry: Physicochemical and quali-quantitative health-related compound characterisation. Journal of Functional Foods, 26, 157–166. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jff.2016.07.014

Haskap resilience.

Camerise Québec. (2025, January 21). Grow haskap – Camerise Québec. https://camerisequebec.com/en/grow-haskap/

Growing haskaps in Canada resource from the University of Saskatchewan breeding program

Bors, B. & University of Saskatchewan. (n.d.). Growing haskap in Canada. https://research-groups.usask.ca/fruit/documents/haskap/growinghaskapinCanada.pdf

Antioxidants and Vitamin C in haskaps: Specialty Croppertunities

Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. (n.d.-a). Haskap. Specialty Croppertunities. https://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/CropOp/en/spec_fruit/berries/hask.html

Haskap care for home gardeners

Haskaps – Gardening at USASK – College of Agriculture and Bioresources. (n.d.). Gardening. https://gardening.usask.ca/gardening-advice/gardenline-nested-pages/food-plant-pages/fruit/haskap.php

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 Introduction 

1:12 What’s Growing On: Erin’s Weeding Adventures

1:58 What’s Growing On: Sean’s Woodchips and Natural Wall

06:12 Should Have Asked for a Hoe

09:15 The Plant Face Off: Serviceberries, Sean’s Guaranteed Win?

10:20 A Serviceberry By Any Other Name

13:30 Range and Growing Habits

17:35 Sean’s Ode to the Beauty of the Serviceberry

20:50 Apomixis: This Plant Don’t Need No Man (or Woman)

22:40 Diploids and Polyploids: Making Seedless Plants

26:35 Serviceberry Hardiness Zones

29:30 Serviceberry Pests and Diseases

32:16 When Will Western Medicine Research More Food?

33:59 All Hail Alexis Nikole, AKA Black Forager

36:42 The Plant Face-Off: Haskaps

35:06 Haskap Etymology: Hasukappu, Honeyberry, Lonicera caerulea

38:36 The Endless Loop of Inter-Referential Internet Research

40:27 The Cultivation History of Haskaps

43:10 The University of Saskatchewan Breeding Program

45:00 Using Fruit Tree Pollenizers

49:17 What’s a Haskap Like Anyway? Totally Tubular.

48:53 How to Know Your Haskap Berries are Ripe

50:11 Safe Bird Netting for Berries

51:43 Haskaps Tolerate Cold, Clay, Damp, Disease, and Pests

54:25 Haskap Uses: Food, Medicine and Superfoods

56:45 Plant Care: Growing Haskaps at Home

58:55 Patented Plants

1:02:00 Outro and Contact Us

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Cole Imperi is known for her trailblazing work in thanatology, the study of death, dying and grief. But she’s also a master gardener: someone who helps others learn how to make life flourish. In this interview, she shows us how grief and gardening have much in common, from the importance of community engagement and cultural sensitivity to the roles of healing, resistance, and emotional well-being. After all, gardening can’t be separated from cultural practices and traditions. Everything in gardening connects back to broader societal themes. 

On a more pragmatic level, Cole and Sean compare notes on how the Master Gardeners in Ontario (Sean) and Los Angeles (Cole) are trained, and what role they serve in their communities. The Master Gardener mandate is to offer free, unbiased gardening advice to the public, but how they do that can vary from place to place. Cole also reveals to our hosts the existence of master preservers in the United States, and the wealth of safe, tested recipes available from the National Center for Home Food Preservation. The conversation touches on the roles of citizen science and the Master Gardeners in the wake of the 2025 LA wildfires, the potential gardening has to spark social change, California’s unique gardening sunset zones, the right to rot, and the role of embalming in various cultures. 

Trigger warnings: death, dying, embalming, LA wildfires

For more on grief, loss, gardening, and thanobotany, visit Cole’s website at coleimperi.com.

You can also find Cole on social media:

TikTok: @coleimperi

Instagram: @imperi

The Curious Spirit newsletter: https://imperi.substack.com/ 

Cole’s Plugs

The University of California Master Gardeners: https://ucanr.edu/statewide-program/uc-master-gardener-program 

The National Center for Home Food Preservation: nchfp.uga.edu 

Sunset Zones: https://sunsetplantcollection.com/climate-zones/ 

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

00:38 Introducing Cole Imperi

1:27 Thanatology: the Study of Death, Dying, Grief, and Loss

06:42 How Cole Came to the Master Gardeners of LA

08:02 Master Gardeners in the United States

11:44 How Sean Came to the Master Gardeners of Muskoka

16:16 The Mission of the Master Gardeners

20:33 Community Loss and Gardening in Glassell Park, Los Angeles

23:15 Training Master Gardeners in Grief and Trauma after the LA Wildfires

27:15 Soil Samples, Citizen Science, and The Plants that Survived the Fires

29:05 Plant Names: Accessibility and Decolonization

33:05 Garden Plots and Cemetery Plots: What is Permanent?

35:08 The Master Food Preserver Program

39:30 Water Break

40:19 The Land We Take Up After Death

44:18 Culture and the Embalming Spectrum

50:28 Cole’s Favourite Plant: The Sunchoke

52:04 Hardiness Zones and Sunset Zones

58:10 Find Cole Online

58:57 Cole’s Plugs

59:28 Outro and Contact Us

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Every spring, the gardening and sustainability side of the internet explodes with posts: Practice No Mow May! Let your lawn bloom! Support pollinators! But does a lawn and garden initiative begun in the UK have the same environmental impact in North America? That’s the subject under scrutiny in this episode as we examine whether well-meaning horticulture advice can be exported around the world. 

This week, Sean comes armed with research while Erin is equipped with curiosity. Is practicing No Mow May in Ontario helpful, harmful, or neutral? Does a lawn full of imported dandelions somehow hinder our pollinators? What native plants should they be visiting in spring? Sean shares the history of the No Mow May initiative, the research that has been undertaken in recent years, and the nuance needed to consider non-pollinating insects as well. And of course our hosts both make sure to send you on your way equipped with ideas for lawn care and landscaping that really do result in healthy soil and thriving wildlife and insects for your Ontario garden. 

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 World Wildlife Fund’s suggestions for better practices than No Mow May

Jakubowski, E. (2024, May 1). Does ‘No Mow May’ really help pollinators? – WWF.CA. WWF.CA. https://wwf.ca/stories/no-mow-may-help-pollinators/?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=10648121956&gbraid=0AAAAADtP0wTPs9QPnyYBcokUaZZXTAaOt&gclid=CjwKCAjwiezABhBZEiwAEbTPGLUOHJp-q4gXd_Nb2UdOWbyxzZeeJUjZRQwsA1thuLTxyKe-4roM0hoC5YcQAvD_BwE

A discussion of what will pop up from your lawn’s seed bank if you don’t mow

Vogt, B. (2023, April 9). Just say no to no mow may. Monarch Gardens. https://www.monarchgard.com/thedeepmiddle/just-say-no-to-no-mow-may



Timestamps

00:12 Intro

2:06 What’s Growing On: Erin’s Spring Bulbs

3:22: What’s Growing On: Sean’s Client Gardens…with Erin!

6:05 Water Break

06:15 What is No Mow May (and Mo-Mo May)?

07:42: Does No Mow May Work in North America?

08:15 The Harms of Not Mowing in May in Ontario

11:15 Our Native Pollinators Visit Shrubs in May

12:38 Studies Conducted on No Mow May

14:10 Tree Seedlings vs. Meadows (Who Will Win?)

15:00 Lawn-Cutting Equipment Options

18:15 Pros of No Mow May

19:50 How to Help Your Lawn Support Insects

23:46 Converting Lawn to Wildflowers

30:25 Better Ways to Help Pollinators

38:00 Doing Without Pesticides, Herbicides, and Synthetic Fertilizers

43:00 Say No to Absolutes, Usually

44:23 Conclusion and Contact Us

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Have you ever wanted to go a step beyond organic gardening and buzzword-y sustainable practices? To grow food, flowers, community, and even society in relationship with the land? This week’s guest, Debby Ward of Prior Unity Garden, helps her clients and students do just that in their own yards. This week she joins Erin to talk about two systems she draws on in her work: permaculture and biodynamics.

Debby shares her own journey in organic gardening and her mission to help clients understand their gardens, not just to maintain them. She and Erin compare notes on the principles of permaculture (Observe and interact! Use small, slow changes! Stack functions!) and the ethics that underpin it (earth care, people care, fair share). Then Debby introduces Erin to biodynamics, another holistic approach to food production that seeks to marry the scientific and the spiritual. The conversation emphasizes the debt owed to Indigenous ways of knowing, the interconnectedness of gardening practices, and the importance of building community relationships with both the human and the more-than-human worlds.

Debby offers courses, coaching, blog posts, and resources a-plenty at her website: http://priorunitygarden.com/

You can also find her on social media: 

Pinterest: https://ca.pinterest.com/priorunitygarden/ 

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8PXaUp3Y5_8QXmu4Wt2vKQ 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/priorunitygarden/?ref=embed_page#

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

00:48 Introducing Debby Ward

2:07 Prior Unity Garden

05:17 Defining Permaculture: Integrated, Evolving Systems

07:00 The Permaculture Ethics: Earth Care, People Care, Fair Share

08:25 The Permaculture Principles

11:12 Permaculture Origins

15:20 How Debby Applies Permaculture with Clients

18:32 Water Break: Giveaway!

19:30 Biodynamics: Relationship with the Spirit of the Land

22:15 Applying Biodynamics as a Home Gardener

24:10 Provings, Research, and Radishes

26:45 Using Biodynamics with Clients: Everything is Connected

29:09 Resources and Contact Debby

30:08 What the Horticulture Industry Could Learn from Holistic Practices

32:20 Find Debby on Social Media

33:49 Outro and Contact Us

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How much expertise does a children’s author need to write about monarch butterflies? In this episode, we find out.

It’s a special show for a special day. Our co-host Erin Alladin is launching her second picture book, Wait Like a Seed, and we’re testing just how much research she did….and how much she retained. Wait Like a Seed uses the relationship between monarch butterflies and milkweed to teach kids the life cycle of a seed, and at the back of the book are nine extra pages of information about both monarchs and milkweed. We know from Episode 6: Milkweed vs. Beardtongue that she knows her stuff on asclepias. But what about Danaus plexxipus? 

Sean comes in hot with some challenging questions from his young daughter (How do monarchs fly so far?). “How long do monarchs live” is a trick question, but Erin is ready for it. The conversation wings its way through life cycles (egg, larva, pupa, adult), migration (incredible), and the threats they face (numerous). If you’d like to help monarchs in your own garden, community, or region, Erin and Sean tell you how to grow a butterfly garden, join a conservation initiative, and access excellent resources online.  

For more information about Wait Like a Seed, contact your local bookstore or visit https://pajamapress.ca/book/wait-like-a-seed/. You might also enjoy Erin’s previous picture book, Outside, You Notice: https://pajamapress.ca/book/outside-you-notice/.  

Find information about Erin’s life as an author, editor, and presenter (she does great nature-based school visits!) at https://erin-alladin.com/. 

Follow her on social media:

TikTok (Gardening account): https://www.tiktok.com/@earthundaunted 

TikTok (Writing and Editing Account): https://www.tiktok.com/@erinalladin

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/erinalladin.bsky.social 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erin-alladin/ 

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 

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

Learn More and Help Monarchs

The Butterflyway Project: https://davidsuzuki.org/take-action/act-locally/butterflyway/ 

Xerces Society Milkweed Finder: https://www.xerces.org/milkweed/milkweed-seed-finder

North American Native Plant Society: https://nanps.org/native-plant-societies/

Canadian Wildlife Federation Garden Habitat Certification: https://cwf-fcf.org/en/explore/gardening-for-wildlife/action/get-certified/ 

The Mayors’ Monarch Pledge: https://www.nwf.org/MayorsMonarchPledge 

iNaturalist: https://www.inaturalist.org/ 

Monarch Joint Venture: https://monarchjointventure.org/

Monarch Watch: https://monarchwatch.org/ 

Citations

How fast monarchs fly

Davis, A. (2017, January 1). How fast does a monarch fly? A close look at the science. monarchscience. https://www.monarchscience.org/single-post/2016/12/31/how-fast-does-a-monarch-fly-a-close-look-at-the-science 

Monarch migration and daily travel distances

Fall Migration – How do they do it? (2022, August 11). Monarch Joint Venture. https://monarchjointventure.org/blog/fall-migration-how-do-they-do-it 

Monarch Migration. (n.d.). Monarch Watch. Retrieved April 28, 2025, from https://monarchwatch.org/migration/ 

The monarch life cycle

Life cycle. (2024, September 19). Monarch Joint Venture. https://monarchjointventure.org/monarch-biology/life-cycle

Livestock eating milkweed

Milkweed (Asclepias spp.) : USDA ARS. (n.d.). Retrieved April 28, 2025, from https://www.ars.usda.gov/pacific-west-area/logan-ut/poisonous-plant-research/docs/milkweed-asclepias-spp/

What Monarchs do during the Winter

Monarch Joint Venture. (2022, May 26). Overwintering. https://monarchjointventure.org/faq/overwintering

The rumored, presumably false, Lake Superior detour

Inglis-Arkell, E. (2013, May 24). Butterflies remember a mountain that hasn’t existed for millennia. Gizmodo. https://gizmodo.com/butterflies-remember-a-mountain-that-hasnt-existed-for-509321799

Identifying Males vs. Females

Male and Female Monarch Butterflies: How can you tell? (n.d.). Journey North. Retrieved April 28, 2025, from https://journeynorth.org/tm/monarch/id_male_female.html 

Monarchs’ Endangered Status

Monarch butterfly proposed for Endangered Species Act protection | U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. (2024, December 10). FWS.gov. https://www.fws.gov/press-release/2024-12/monarch-butterfly-proposed-endangered-species-act-protection 

Canada, E. a. C. C. (2025, February 18). Monarch Butterfly: profile of a species at risk. Canada.ca. https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/species-risk-public-registry/factsheets/monarch-butterfly.html

Monarch. (n.d.). ontario.ca. Retrieved April 28, 2025, from https://www.ontario.ca/page/monarch 

OE (Ophryocystis elektroscirrha), the protozoan parasite that affects monarch butterflies

University of Georgia. (n.d.). What is OE? | monarchhealth. Monarchhealth. Retrieved April 28, 2025, from https://www.monarchparasites.org/oe 

Natural history. (n.d.). Center for Biological Diversity. Retrieved April 28, 2025, from https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/species/invertebrates/monarch_butterfly/natural_history.html 

Pupae: They Go Runny

Jabr, F. (2024, February 20). How Does a Caterpillar Turn into a Butterfly? Scientific American. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/caterpillar-butterfly-metamorphosis-explainer/ 

Timestamps

00:21 Introducing Erin Alladin, Children’s Nonfiction Author

03:20 About the Picture Book Wait Like a Seed

6:48 Water Break: Contest Announcement

7:40 How Can Monarchs Fly for So Long?

10:05 Monarch Butterfly Life Cycle, Life Spans, and Migration

15:15 How Long and Far Monarchs Fly in a Day

17:35 Mass Migration Tangent

20:03 Identifying Male and Female Monarchs

21:15 Monarch Conservation Status

24:15 Threats Faced by Monarchs

25:13 Monarchs are Specialist Insects

27:32 Cocoon vs. Chrysalis

29:01 The Dangers of Tropical Milkweed and OE

32:15 Butterfly Metamorphosis

35:35 Is it Okay to Rear Butterflies?

39:45 Growing a Butterfly Garden

42:30 Protecting Butterfly Habitat in the Community

44:50 Monarch Predators and Toxicity

48:40 Plant Rant: You Don’t Need Pesticides

51:10 Outro and Contact Us

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Susie of Stoned Affection is a practicing entomologist who has been raising moths and butterflies—and raising awareness of them—since 2014. She also creates beautiful art from lepidoptera taxidermy. This week Susie joins Sean to talk about what it’s like to work with moths and butterflies, especially the ethical considerations that go into sourcing and raising both native and tropical species. If you’ve ever wondered about butterfly farming, butterfly houses, and sending live specimens through the mail, this is the episode to satisfy your curiosity. You’ll also find out what Susie thinks of lepidoptera in media, whether butterflies make good pollinators, and what the differences are between butterflies and moths. 

To learn more about Susie, her art, and her outreach, visit her website at www.stonedaffection.com, or catch a Twitch live stream at https://www.twitch.tv/stonedaffection.

You can also find Susie on social media: 

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

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

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

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 

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

00:46 Introducing Susie of Stoned Affection|

03:21 Name Origins: Plants Always Win

05:00 Ordering Insects by Post

07:45 The Difference Between Moths and Butterflies

11:40 The Family Lepidoptera

12:50 Butterflies are Surprisingly Nasty, Little Creatures

14:23 Moths That Can’t Eat

16:12 Are Butterflies Good Pollinators?

17:35 Making Silk from Silk Moths

19:25 What do Moths Get Up to at Night?

22:30 Ethically Sourcing Tropical and Local Insects

27:00 Farmed Tropical Insects

28:00 Butterfly Houses: Good or Bad?

30:50 Susie’s Favourite Squeaking Moth Species

33:10 Susie’s Favourite Butterfly

35:19 What Happens when a Butterfly Pupates?

40:28 Lepidoptera in Movies and TV Shows

43:20 Susie’s Public Outreach Work

47:14 Sean’s Relationship with Insects

50:40 Jumping Spiders as Pets

54:52 Earthworms in North America

58:45 Susie’s Plugs

1:04:15 Susie’s Word of Wisdom

1:04:30 Conclusion and Contact Us

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As a changeable April wears on, spring-hungry northern gardeners are anxious to get seeds planted. But should they start those seeds indoors with grow lights or on a widow sill? Or can they put them directly in the ground outside (if the snow ever melts!)? That’s the subject of this versus episode.

Normally, Erin and Sean compete to see who can make their versus topic more interesting. This week, it’s more of a collaboration. Erin gives us the rundown on materials needed for direct sowing (not much but a rake and a gentle watering head are your friends) and Sean does the same for seed starting, covering grow lights, types of soil and soilless media, fans, and more. They compare the pros and cons of each method, which plants have a preference for one or the other, and what gardeners need to know about timing, growing season, and microclimates. They also shine a light on common seed-starting mistakes and explain how hardening off works. As always, accessibility and flexibility are Erin and Sean’s watchwords; as they say, failure is a common part of gardening and anything is worth an experiment. By the end of the episode, you’ll have your own ideas germinating about how to make the most of your gardening season .

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 

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 Introduction

00:44 What’s Growing On: Erin’s Seed Snails

02:50 What’s Growing On: Sean’s late-season winter sowing

05:17 The Plant Face-Off, Sort Of

05:32 Water Break

05:38 Definitions: Direct Sowing

06:16 Definitions: Seed Starting

07:05 When do I Direct Sow my Seeds?

12:35 Winter Sowing: a Hybrid

13:20 When do I Start Seeds Indoors?

18:46 Materials for Direct Sowing

21:33 Materials for Seed Starting

22:49 Soilless Media

24:02 “With Mycorrhizae” Advertising

31:04 Which Plants To Start Indoors or Out?

37:10 Containers and Up-Potting

37:43 Hardening Off and Transplant Shock

42:45 Pros of Starting Seeds Indoors

45:05 Pros of Direct Sowing Outdoors

48:14 Sean’s Biggest Problem: Managing Moisture

49:22 Erin’s Biggest Problem: Labels

53:06 Outro

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Plants always win…and to manage it, they need insects, arachnids, and other creepy-crawlies on their side. Of course, those creatures need plants too. In this episode, Sean and Erin are joined by Kelly and Amanda of Bugs Need Heroes. And what happens when you cross-pollinate a gardening podcast with one where an entomologist and an illustrator create bug-based superheroes? There’s a lot of laughter, a heaping scoop of science, and the birth of a new squad of garden defenders.

Insects and their compatriots come armed with some pretty impressive real-world superpowers that savvy gardeners can use to their advantage. This week’s discussion delves into the incredible diversity of insect species, the role biting insects play in pollination, the importance of leveraging friendly neighbourhood garden expertise for advice that suits your location, and the villainy of spraying for mosquitoes. Then there’s the highlight of the episode: superhero personas based on the denizens of the garden, including bumblebees, wolf spiders, and…well, you’ll have to listen to find out.

Want more of Kelly and Amanda? Visit the Bugs Need Heroes website at https://www.bugsneedheroes.com/ or find their Reddit at https://www.reddit.com/r/BugsNeedHeroes/. 

Fact Check:

The year of the last recorded death by black widow venom in the United States is stated on many websites as 1983. Wikipedia offers a link to the Clinical Toxicology paper this fact apparently comes from, although the link is broken.

If you have questions of your own or if you want to weigh in on these topics (we love learning new things through respectful discussion!), email us or reach out over social media.

Bluesky: @plantsalwayswin.com 

TikTok: @plantsalwayswinpodcast 

YouTube: @plantsalwayswinpodcast

Website: www.plantsalwayswin.com 

Remember that you can get Q&A priority and other perks by supporting us on Patreon. 

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

Citation

Bumblebee Proboscises by Rusty

Burlew, R. (2024, July 8). Hey bee, stick out your tongue and say “Ahh.” Honey Bee Suite. https://www.honeybeesuite.com/hey-bee-stick-out-your-tongue-and-say-ahh/

Timestamps

00:00 Introducing Bugs Need Heroes!

02:40 Bugs are everywhere

03:22 How Many Wolf Spiders? We Don’t Know. 

04:45 Plants vs. Insects: How they Make New Ones

07:40 Amanda’s Real Superhero Background

09:20 Kelly’s Real Bug Background

10:53 Mosquitoes are Essential, Actually (Stop Spraying!)

17:43 Context! Nuance! Location Matters.

21:26 The One Species Kelly would Remove from Earth

22:30 Yes, Sean has Mites in his Eyebrows (So Do You)

23:40 Insect Superheroes

24:56 Erin’s Insect Hero: Just a Happy Lil Bumblebee

30:45 Kelly’s Insect Hero: Wolf Spider

32:46 Black Widow Bites

37:16 Maman the Spider Sculpture in Ottawa

40:03 The Hunter Hunter Phagogenesis Tangent

42:15 Amanda’s Luck-Powered Hero Insect

47:50: Sean’s Serviceberry Hero

51:18 Is Superman a Plant?

57:33 Snail Teeth are Stronger than Diamonds

58:50 Our Hero Costumes

1:01:16 Shout-Outs

1:02:30 Outro and Contact Us

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We’re cultivating a safe space to ask gardening questions!

We have been plotting for some thyme to add some dedicated Q&A episodes to the recording schedule. While we love seeding quick questions into the end of a show, and while many of our most popular episodes have sprouted from a particularly juicy inquiry, there are plenty of other questions that merit ten minutes of discussion rather than sixty or two. In this inaugural Q&A special, we tackle a bushel of cedar and shrub questions and spend some time in the vegetable garden as well:

• Do you need to mitigate any environmental impacts when removing cedars near your home?
• Are the rumours true? Is using cardboard mulch in your veggie garden unsafe?
• Why do some people call Rose of Sharon a “dirty” tree?
• When an old cedar hedge develops gaps, how can they be filled?
• Can you shorten an established cedar hedge that’s giving too much shade?
• What’s the best soil-to-compost ratio to help a struggling vegetable garden?

If you have questions of your own or if you want to weigh in on these topics (we love learning new things through respectful discussion!), email us or reach out over social media.

Bluesky: @plantsalwayswin.com 

TikTok: @plantsalwayswinpodcast 

YouTube: @plantsalwayswinpodcast

Website: www.plantsalwayswin.com 

Remember that you can get Q&A priority and other perks by supporting us on Patreon. 

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

Understanding PFAS

Our current understanding of the human health and environmental risks of PFAS | US EPA. (2024, November 26). US EPA. https://www.epa.gov/pfas/our-current-understanding-human-health-and-environmental-risks-pfas

Figure out if your cardboard mulch has (significant amounts of) PFAS

Olson, T., & Olson, T. (2024, May 23). Is cardboard mulch toxic? – Mother Earth News. Mother Earth News – the Original Guide to Living Wisely. https://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/gardening-techniques/is-cardboard-mulch-toxic-zm0z24jjzols/

Debunking the anti-cardboard crusade

Hoag, M. (2024, April 2). Addressing the 2024 cardboard Sheet-Mulching myth madness. Transformative Adventures. https://transformativeadventures.org/2024/04/01/debunking-the-2024-cardboard-sheet-mulching-myth-madness/ 

Timestamps

00:11 Introduction

00:53 What’s Growing On? Erin’s False Spring

04:36 What’s Growing On? Sean’s Pupdate and Seedling Roulette

17:10 Water Break

17:26 Removing Cedars Near a House: Environmental Impacts?

12:35 Is Cardboard Mulch Really Unsafe?

24:48 What Gives Rose of Sharon a “Dirty Tree” Reputation?

31:18 How Can You Fill in Gaps in a Sparse, Old Cedar Hedge?

37:10 Can You Shorten an Established Cedar Hedge?

48:55 What’s the Best Soil-to-Compost Ratio for Veggie Gardens?

57:37 Invitation to Conversation

58:39 Conclusion and Contact Us

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Carol Michel is a garden author and co-host of The Gardenangelists podcast. She boasts of having the world’s largest hoe collection…which is overshadowed only by her library-worthy collection of gardening books. Among the hundreds of volumes on her shelves are hard-to-find copies of books by a number of American women who were horticultural experts of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, but who have been all but forgotten by history. To honour them, Carol started a Substack called the Lost Ladies of Garden Writing. On this week’s episode of Plants Always Win, she invites us into some of their stories. 

Publishing styles and garden trends change over time, but some things stay the same. People want to know how to make their poinsettia re-bloom, how to get rid of pests, how to find the hottest new cultivar. Carol uses genealogical records, newspaper archives, and Google Books to piece together the lives of the women who were answering those questions in decades past, then shares them with her subscribers. It’s a project of passion and dedication, and it has given her some extraordinary stories to tell!

Lost Ladies featured in this episode include:

• Cynthia Westcott, who saved the Azaleas of the southern United States 
• Grace (G.A.) Woolson who was, as America’s foremost fern expert, often assumed to be a man
• Viola Brainerd Baird, whose 1940s Wild Violets of North America is still unmatched
• Kate Brewster, whose book The Little Garden for Little Money was somewhat hampered by her own wealth
• Alma C. Guillet moved from Toronto to New York City and catalogued all the trees and shrubs in Central Park
• Mrs. L.L. Huffman, who wrote under her husband’s initials and was actually called Minnie Enola

Some better-known ladies of garden writing are also mentioned:

• Cassandra Danz, A.K.A. Mrs. Greenthumbs
• Elizabeth Lawrence, whose Charlotte, North Carolina garden was so beloved it’s now part of a bird sanctuary
• Jean Hersey, whose book The Shape of the Year is still read and enjoyed

To enjoy more garden gab with Carol, find her in the following places:

• The Lost Ladies of Garden Writing Substack, which is updated weekly with new lost ladies
• Her helpful weekly gardening newsletter, In the Garden with Carol J Michel
• The Gardenangelists Podcast, which she co-hosts with Dee Nash
• Her website, caroljmichel.com, where you will also find her books of humorous and helpful gardening essays:
• Potted and Pruned: Living a Gardening Life
• Homegrown and Handpicked: A Year in a Gardening Life
• Seeded and Sodded: Thoughts from a Gardening Life
• Creatures and Critters: Who’s in my Garden
• Digging and Delighted: Live your Best Gardening Life

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 

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

00:30 Introducing Carol Michel

01:30 The World’s Largest Hoe Collection

04:45 Carol’s Gardening Book Library

07:40 The Lost Ladies of Garden Writing Project

10:30 Garden Writing Then and Now

11:34 Cynthia Westcott, PhD: The Gardener’s Bug Book

13:48 Can We Trust Old Gardening Books?

15:18 Buckner Hollingsworth, Gardening on Main Street

16:51 Carol convinces Sean to Become a Collector

19:57 G.A. (Grace) Woolson, Ferns

24:39 Elizabeth Lawrence, A Southern Garden

26:29 How Carol Does her Research

27:38 Writing Under their Husbands’ Names

29:33 Kate Brewster, The Little Garden for Little Money

30:41 Jean Hersey, The Shape of the Year

34:36 Alma C. Guillet, Make Friends of the Trees and Shrubs 

35:20 Cassandra Danz, Mrs. Greenthumbs

38:54 Carol’s “Humorous but Helpful” Gardening Books

39:07 Find Carol Online

40:53 Contact us and Outro