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The death of Mikayla Raines was a shock to the conservation world and in today's show, John speaks with Dan Cole of SavAFox rescue about their work and the consequences of cyber bullying.

John & his wife Susana have been traveling & visiting Ecuador for over thirty years and today they sit down with their good friends Norby & Susana Lopez of Biotropica Expeditions to review a trip they took together.

We're joined today by Dr. Tjite deVries former head of Biology at La Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador. A long time friend of John & Susana's and one of the first scientists to be stationed in the Galapagos Islands studying birds. Listen in as he tells us of his history in Ecuador and biology.

Happy Father's Day everyone!  New Dad Chris Fehlhaber sits down with Uli Lorimer and Tim Johnson of the Native Plant Trust to talk about gardening and fatherhood and lessons learned along the way.

Today's episode is dedicated to John's Dad (Sam) who despite growing up during World War 2 and living in downtown Toledo, Ohio still managed to raise food for his family through always having a 'victory garden', a practice he carried on his entire life and passed on to his children teaching them the importance of being able to raise your own food. Tonight's guest; Maggie Stuckey has authored many books, but tonight, she and John will be discussing her latest; The Container Victory Garden which shows that even the smallest of gardens can be used wisely to help keep fresh foods within reach. We hope you enjoy.

Uli Lorimer is director of Horticulture at Garden In The Woods, in Framingham, Massachussettes. Previously, he was curator of Brooklyn Botanic Garden's Native Flora Garden until early 2019. The Delaware native grew up with an interest in all things green, and after receiving an honors degree from the University of Delaware in landscape horticulture, he moved to New York City to become the woodland gardener at Wave Hill. 

Wild Seed Project builds awareness of the vital importance of native plants and provides all people with the tools to restore biodiversity in their own communities. They equip community members, public officials and municipalities, and land-holding individuals and organizations – from farmers to land trusts – with the skills and resources they need to collectively repopulate landscapes with native plants that expand wildlife habitat, support biodiversity, and build climate resilience.

John sits down with legendary Landscape Designer Piet Oudolf and discusses his new book- 'at Work', landscape design, working with others and a few other topics. There are even a few dog stories.

Gardening Author and Landscape Designer Owen Wormser drops by to spread some wisdom on eliminating lawn and replacing it with habitat, just like he does in his book 'Lawns Into Meadows, Growing a Regenerative Landscape'

OK, so we're not the most organized people in the world- we're sorry. We originally spoke to Don last year, but in an unfortunate sorting incident, we lost the file for a time. We're very glad to have found it though as it is a wonderful piece of entertainment and education. Garden Designer Donald Pell is known for his use of native plants in the landscape and ecological approach to design, but it turns out he also enjoys a good laugh and a craft brew. Welcome to the show Don, we're happy to have you.

John & Susana team up to get us started this year by describing a pretty incredible trip to Ecuador over the winter where they visited Antisana and Chimborazo volcanos and the cloudy forest of Papallacta (pronounced- Papayakta). They also update us on co-hosts and joke around a bit while celebrating their 30th wedding anniversary. Thanks for joining us once again, we hope you'll enjoy another great season of the Native Plant Podcast.

One of the most influential landscape architects in practice today, Laurie Olin has created designs for the Washington Monument grounds and the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden in Washington, D/.D., Bryant Park in New York City, Getty Center in Los Angeles, and many other iconic landscapes. More recent projects include the AIA award-winning Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia, Apple Park in Cupertino, and Simon and Helen Director Park in Portland Oregon. All of these works were realized under the auspices of OLIN, the firm he cofounded in 1976. Laurie is a prolific writer and a Practice Professor of Landscape Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania. He began his career studying civil engineering at the University of Alaska and ended up earning a degree from the University of Washington where Richard Haag encouraged him to focus on landscape. (for those of you who don’t know of Richard Haag, google Gasworks Park in Seattle and Bloedel Reserve on Bainbridge Island). He is a fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects, a fewllow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and recipient of the 1998 Award in Architecture from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He is the recipient of the 2012 National Medal of Arts, the highest lifetime achievement award for artists and designers bestowed by the National Endowment for the Arts and the President of the United States. He also holds the 2011 American Society of Landscape Architects Medal, the society’s highest award for a landscape architect.

Jeff Lorenz is the founder of Refugia Design, an ecological landscape design/build and stewardship firm, based out of Narberth, PA. Since 2015, Refugia has been offering distinctive native landscape design for both residential and commercial green spaces throughout the Greater Philadelphia Area and Jersey Shore. Annual major exhibitor and award-winners at the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society’s Philadelphia Flower Show, Refugia is known for an immersive, naturalistic design aesthetic and meadow expertise at projects ranging in size from city yards to suburban estates.

James Golden’s garden design has been featured in national and international magazines, in The New York Times, and in several books on garden design. He has been the recipient of national awards and is widely known in the gardening world through his garden blog View from Federal Twist (www.federaltwist.com). James’ Federal Twist garden regularly appears on tours of the Garden Conservancy, the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, the Hardy Plant Society, and on numerous private tours. Recently retired, he has started a garden design practice.