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A north-facing window box that didn’t go quite as planned might seem like an unlikely beginning for a gardening journey. But for Erin Schanen, better known as The Impatient Gardener, that early gardening mishap sparked a desire to understand what went wrong—and eventually grew into a thriving online community and business. Erin grew up around gardening, thanks to her mother, but it wasn’t until she bought her first home that she dove headfirst into learning everything she could about plants. In 2009, she started a blog to document her rapidly expanding garden. As the online gardening world evolved, she moved to YouTube, bringing viewers along for an honest, unfiltered look at her garden, whether it was thriving or a bit of a wreck. In this conversation, Erin shares how connecting with fellow garden enthusiasts led to unexpected opportunities in the horticulture industry, including a pivotal trip to California Spring Trials (CAST) that transformed her understanding of how plants get from breeders to gardeners. We also talk about the value of reliable, unsung garden plants, why she believes in planting more to control weeds, and the importance of remembering that gardening is supposed to be fun. In This Episode: How a failed window box sparked a deeper interest in gardening and led to The Impatient Gardener blog. How Erin’s transition from blogging to YouTube—and a revealing look inside the horticulture industry—helped turn her passion into a business. Why every garden needs its reliable “backup singers,” and why gardeners don’t need to worry so much about perfection. Find Erin: Website: The Impatient Gardener (https://www.theimpatientgardener.com/) YouTube: The Impatient Gardener (https://www.youtube.com/@TheImpatientGardener) Instagram: @ImpatientGardener (https://www.instagram.com/impatientgardener)   Connect with Our Show Sponsors: Seed Your Future: www.seedyourfuture.org (https://www.seedyourfuture.org/) National Garden Bureau: www.ngb.org (https://ngb.org/)

Flowers have been part of Katie Elzer-Peters’s life for as long as she can remember. They are her “thing.” Today, she combines her love of plants with a passion for making art, from botanical drawings and watercolors to cyanotype prints made with leaves, flowers, and even weeds. A horticulturist by training, Katie spent years working in public gardens before building The Garden of Words, a marketing agency that helps horticultural businesses connect with their audiences. But in 2020, drawing flowers with her mother over Zoom opened a new creative chapter—and a new way of experiencing the plants around her. In this conversation, Katie shares how art has become an important part of her life, why making things with plants deepens her appreciation for gardening, and how we can find new ways to connect with the natural world by following our curiosity. In This Episode: Katie's journey from public horticulture to marketing for the green industry. How rediscovering art in 2020 helped her find a creative outlet and a new perspective on the plants around her. How to turn garden plants into art through cyanotypes, leaf prints, and other hands-on projects—and why you don't have to be an artist to begin. Resources Katie Elzer-Peters: The Garden of Words (https://thegardenofwords.com) and on Instagram:@katie_gardenofwords (https://www.instagram.com/katie_gardenofwords/) Art from the Garden by Kerry Michaels (https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/kerry-michaels/art-from-the-garden/9781643264172/) Florals by Hand by Alli Kochs (https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/624162/florals-by-hand-by-alli-koch/) Art Toolkit, compact art supplies for sketching on the go (https://arttoolkit.com) Sign up for Katie’s occasional and extremely well-written e-newsletter at tinyurl.com/gownewsletter (http://tinyurl.com/gownewsletter) Connect with Katie on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/katieelzerpeters/) Listen to the episode and discover new ways to bring plants into your creative life! Connect with Our Show Sponsors: Seed Your Future: www.seedyourfuture.org (http://www.seedyourfuture.org) National Garden Bureau: www.ngb.org (http://www.ngb.org)

Sonya Harris loved teaching special education, but a struggling first-grade math lesson led her and a colleague to discover that nature is the ultimate classroom. With no gardening experience at all, Sonya reached out to a celebrity gardener for help—and the resulting school garden changed the direction of her work. As founder of the Bullock Garden Project, Sonya went from helping children understand math through gardening to teaching educators, families, and communities how to grow food. When COVID-19 underscored how close many people are to food insecurity, her mission expanded. Retirement didn't mean stopping her work as an educator; it meant finding new ways to help others learn, grow, and thrive. Today, Sonya is exploring garden-based learning as a way to help children cope with trauma, while championing more inclusive community gardens and reminding us that plants offer far more than beauty and food. In This Episode How a math lesson, a little ingenuity, and an unexpected outreach to a TV gardening personality sparked a school garden. How the Bullock Garden Project grew from supporting students to helping people address food insecurity and learn to grow food. How gardens can support children facing trauma—and how plants provide fibers, dyes, building materials, and opportunities for connection. Resources Sonya Harris is NJGardenTeacher on Instagram – instagram.com/njgardenteacher Watch the Bullock Children's Garden video created by Rich Laru – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5aEIdCWOQE

Kate Santos has built a career that crosses some of horticulture’s most distinct boundaries: from applied research and greenhouse production to breeding and global operations—and now public horticulture at Longwood Gardens. As Associate Vice President of Science at Longwood, Kate brings that commercial and scientific experience to a place where horticulture is about growing beautiful plants—and so much more. Her work connects production, conservation horticulture, biodiversity, climate resiliency, sustainability, research—and most importantly she’s helping to connect these to the 1.7 million people who visit Longwood Gardens because they simply love plants and nature. In this conversation, Kate talks about feeling disconnected from plants despite moving upward in her career, and eventually taking a year away to ask the hard questions and figure out what truly mattered to her. She also explains how Longwood is using horticulture as a tool for conservation and stewardship, and what it means to help carry the responsibility of a garden of such distinction. Listen for: How Kate bridged the gap between commercial and public horticulture—and why her perspective on the transition matters. The extraordinary amount of work behind Longwood’s 1,000-bloom chrysanthemum—and why it takes 18 months to create. Kate’s must-see list for a short visit to Longwood, including the meadow, conservatories, fountains, and ornamental kitchen garden. Connect with Kate: Website: www.longwoodgardens.org Email: [email protected] Connect with Our Show Sponsors: Seed Your Future: www.seedyourfuture.org National Garden Bureau: www.ngb.org

In this quarterly bonus I Dig Your Story sub-pod we call Fifth Tuesdays, host Ellen Wells does a follow-up with a former guest, Roshan Patel.   When we first talked, Roshan was getting his hands dirty at Mack Park Farm in Salem, Massachusetts, and discovering just how much community can grow around a garden. Now, several months later, he has plenty to report. Roshan talks about a busy growing season, creating garden videos, and the expanding impact of Mack Park Farm—including nearly 5,000 pounds of donated food and a growing volunteer base. He also fills us in on a new community garden at the Plummer House and the new Friends of Mack Park Farm, a nonprofit created to help secure the farm’s future. And, of course, Ellen has to ask: Has Roshan finally made peace with kale? Plus, a peek at fatherhood and Roshan’s hopes for introducing baby Blake to the garden.   Resources: Roshan Patel: Growing Community Through Urban Agriculture - podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/roshan-patel-growing-community-through-urban-agriculture/id1856208214?i=1000779882808 Roshan’s Instagram: - https://www.instagram.com/drizzleranch/

Jonathan Bardzik has built a life around curiosity, creativity, and bringing people together. From growing up in his family’s Massachusetts garden center to working in horticulture, cooking for others, writing books, and creating retreats, his path has rarely been linear—and that’s exactly the point. In this conversation, Jonathan shares how his relationship with plants began, why following curiosity has shaped so many of his choices, and how cooking became a way to create connection and joy. We also talk about his experience spending more than nine months on solo retreats, what he learned from stepping away from everyday demands, and why he now creates that space for others. Jonathan keeps close to his heart this advice: “Make connection a priority in your life. It is the greatest source of joy that you will have.”   Listen for: How Jonathan’s childhood in a garden center—and his strong sense of self—influenced the life he ultimately created. Why following curiosity has led him from horticulture into cooking, storytelling, writing, and television. What Jonathan discovered during his extended periods of solo retreat—and the surprising value of unstructured time. Why he believes “Connection is the greatest source of joy in our lives.” Connect with Jonathan: Website: www.jonathanbardzik.com Instagram: www.instagram.com/jonathanbardzik YouTube: www.youtube.com/@JonathanBardzik Jonathan’s All-America Selections recipes: https://all-americaselections.org/jonathan-bardzik-to-produce-videos-and-custom-recipes-with-aas-winners/

What happens when two friends get excited about school gardens and then decide to start taking their viewers inside some of the most interesting gardens around Central California? Christy Calderon and Shelley Joyner are the creators of Between Two Shrubs, a YouTube show that’s a little like MTV’s Cribs, but for gardens. They tour home landscapes, talk with the people who created them, and show viewers what’s growing, what’s working, and generally what’s happening just out of sight. But their interest in gardening and their friendship started before their viral backyard videos. Christy and Shelley became involved with the garden program at their children’s school because they saw the garden as a place where kids could learn by doing and have access to fresh food. Their work has grown into a hands-on educational garden with a full curriculum, gardening activities, events, and plenty of opportunities for students and parents to get their hands in the soil. In this episode, we talk about: Why school gardens became important to Christy and Shelley What a garden can teach kids beyond how to grow food The evolution of their school garden and curriculum How Between Two Shrubs became the garden version of Cribs Connect with Christy & Shelley: Between Two Shrubs on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@BetweenTwoShrubs Between Two Shrubs on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/betweentwoshrubs/ Between Two Shrubs School Garden Planning Materials - https://www.etsy.com/shop/BetweenTwoShrubsShop Sunset Magazine article: https://sunset.com/home-garden/garden-basics/how-to-start-a-school-garden

Rayne Gibson grew up in family-owned wholesale nursery in Louisiana, learning the business from the ground up. By the time he graduated from LSU with a horticulture degree, he had a very specific vision: build up the operation into a multi-state container nursery business and become one of the best nurserymen in the industry. Then everything changed. In this episode of I Dig Your Story, Rayne talks about leaving the family business after realizing the future he had been promised wasn’t going to happen—and how that difficult decision ultimately led him to opportunities he never expected. He shares the story of turning around a struggling wholesale nursery in Fort Worth, rebuilding its team and operations, and discovering what good leadership really looks like. Today, through Taproots Horticulture Consulting, Rayne helps horticulture businesses that struggle with production planning, operational efficiency, sales coaching, team building and leadership, helping them become the best nurseries and people they can be. The conversation also touches on: Family business dynamics Consultant or counselor? Building a healthy workplace culture His philosophy of becoming the leader he wished he had Resources: Taproots Horticulture Consulting – www.taprootsconsulting.com Rayne Gibson on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/rayne-gibson-6056381aa

Laura Kunkle’s career has taken some unexpected turns—from wanting to be a professional piano player at the Olympics, to sports broadcasting, accounting at Highlights for Children, and eventually a decades-long career in the green industry. Today, she’s the executive director of America in Bloom, an organization helping communities across the country become better places to live, work, visit, and invest in. In this episode, Laura and I talk about how America in Bloom uses trees, flowers, environmental stewardship, heritage preservation, and—most importantly—volunteerism to help communities see themselves differently. Laura shares the remarkable transformation of Castle Rock, Washington, and explains why communities need to “be in it for the long haul” to create lasting change. We also get into why plants are more than pretty, how beautiful communities can make us feel good (and encourage us to spend time and money there), and why community involvement is at the heart of lasting change. And because this is I Dig Your Story, we go beyond the professional story. Laura reveals her hidden talents—juggling! spinning a ball on her finger!—and explains why pickleball became an unexpected way for this self-described shy person to build community. In this episode: Laura’s winding path from sports broadcasting to the green industry The 25-year story of America in Bloom Why volunteerism is the program’s most powerful ingredient How flowers helped transform Castle Rock, Washington Why plants are more than pretty Connect with Laura: America in Bloom – www.americainbloom.org Gardens Across America – www.americainbloom.org/programs/gardens-across-america

Ashley Vernon’s relationship with plants began with childhood curiosity—tasting honeysuckle, exploring her grandmother’s grapevines, and growing her first strawberry patch—but the path to her career in community orchards was anything but predictable. Adopted as a baby, Ashley grew up curious about her background and where she came from. That curiosity became a kind of wanderlust, leading her from nursing to political science, international studies, and journalism, then to Belize, the Peace Corps in Mauritania and Rwanda, and eventually to social work. Along the way, she developed a fascination with understanding people, places, and how interconnected our stories are. That curiosity led to Ashley becoming Co-Executive Director of The Giving Grove, a national organization helping communities establish and sustain community orchards. In this episode: How adoption shaped Ashley’s curiosity and career trajectory Her unexpected journey from nursing and journalism to community orchards How The Giving Grove puts communities—not organizations—in the driver’s seat The remarkable scale: 17 cities, 850+ community orchards, nearly 2,000 trained orchard stewards, almost 14,000 trees, and access to nearly a million people Why community engagement is just as important as pruning, pest management, and harvesting Plus, Ashley shares the story of the first apple tree she grafted—and why she calls one particularly wicked-looking tree in her yard “Maleficent.” Find Ashley: The Giving Grove: givinggrove.org Free fruit-tree education: Visit Giving Grove for resources (www.givinggrove.org/resources) on tree selection, pest and disease management, and fruit-tree care.

What happens when a lifelong love of plants meets an insatiable curiosity about, well, just about everything? For horticulturist, author, educator and entrepreneur Leslie Halleck, it has made for one fascinating career. Leslie and I go way back, so this conversation was a chance to talk not just about what she does, but how she got there. From growing up as an Army brat and gardening with an adopted German “Oma” to studying botany, working at a garden center, conducting research trials and eventually building her own horticultural consulting business, Leslie has never been a one-lane kind of person. We talk about her career in public gardens and retail, how writing became such an important part of her work, and the three-legged stool that is Halleck Horticultural: supporting the horticulture industry, teaching the next generation of horticulturists, and providing scientifically accurate gardening information to consumers. Leslie also shares why she thinks gardeners need to be especially careful about the information they find online, what she teaches her horticulture students about evaluating sources, and why she believes learning new things—and even picking up new hobbies—is an important part of who she is. In this episode, we talk about: Leslie's unconventional path into horticulture The role writing and teaching have played in her career How to separate good horticultural information from gardening misinformation Reinvention, curiosity and embracing your many interests Listen to Leslie's story on I Dig Your Story—and find out what happens when a horticulturist refuses to stay in just one lane. Find Leslie: Halleck Horticultural: www.halleckhorticultural.com – sign up for her newsletters here! Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lesliehalleck// LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lesliehalleck/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HalleckHorticultural

Angelique Robb didn’t grow up dreaming of a career in horticulture. She studied engineering, worked in the oil industry, and moved to Scotland before gradually finding her way into landscape design and build. Along the way, she discovered that the problem-solving, project management, and visualization skills she developed as an engineer were remarkably useful in the landscape industry. Today, Angelique is the owner of SYNKD, a media and events platform created to connect the many disciplines that make up the landscape industry. In this episode, we talk about her unconventional career path, the lessons she learned running a landscape design/build business, and why she believes collaboration—not working in silos—is one of the keys to moving the industry forward. In This Episode How designing and building her own gardens on two different continents sparked Angelique’s interest in plants. What engineering and the oil industry taught her about landscape design, construction, and project management. Why a frustrating experience with a landscape contractor inspired her to start her own design/build business in Scotland. How a move back to Louisiana led to the creation of SYNKD—and why Angelique wanted to bring the landscape industry’s many disciplines together. Why communication, collaboration, and sharing what works are essential to solving the industry’s biggest challenges. Connect with Angelique Robb and SYNKD Visit SYNKD at synkd.io for the publication, events, podcasts, videos, and more. Angelique welcomes feedback and ideas from landscape professionals about what the industry needs. Contact her at [email protected]

After a corporate layoff unexpectedly changed his career path, Roshan Patel traded digital marketing for community gardening—and found a new sense of purpose in the process. In this episode, Roshan shares how volunteering at Mack Park Farm in Salem, Massachusetts, grew into a passion for urban agriculture, food security, and community engagement. He also talks about using social media to make gardening more approachable and why getting your hands dirty can change much more than what's growing in the garden. In This Episode Roshan's journey into urban agriculture How Mack Park Farm serves the Salem community Gardening, food security, and building connections Making gardening accessible through social media Why everyone should spend more time outdoors It is indeed possible to learn to love kale Links & Resources Drizzle Ranch on Instagram: instagram.com/drizzleranch Mack Park Farm: https://mack-park-farm-salemma.hub.arcgis.com/   Enjoyed this episode? Subscribe to I Dig Your Story, leave a review, and share this episode with someone who loves plants, gardens, and the people behind them. Keep digging!

In this episode of I Dig Your Story, host Ellen Wells talks with Matt Lebon, a.k.a. The Foodscaper, about the idea of foodscaping—creating landscapes that combine beauty, food production, ecological diversity, and water management. Matt shares the winding path that took him from business school and the Peace Corps to organic farming, permaculture, and eventually designing food-producing landscapes for homeowners. He and Ellen talk about food forests, edible front yards, rain gardens, resilient plants, and how you can rethink the landscape you already have. Whether you're interested in growing more of your own food or simply want to make your landscape more useful, this conversation will give you plenty to think about. In this episode: What foodscaping is—and what it can look like at home Why your front yard might be the perfect place to grow food Food forests and multilayered landscapes How rain gardens can help manage water Choosing resilient, low-maintenance plants Find Matt: The Foodscaper: thefoodscaper.com Instagram: Matt The Foodscaper - https://www.instagram.com/matt.the.foodscaper/ Resources mentioned: Free Plant Guide: https://www.thefoodscaper.com/ YouTube Resources: The Foodscaper - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8X1D7AD9xc2i4tZye61FNQ

Jennifer Rust spent years building a successful corporate career in sales and management consulting. But after stepping away from corporate life—and into what she jokingly calls her "post-corporate therapy" of pulling weeds in her own yard—she discovered that the business she was searching for had been growing alongside her passion for plants all along. Today, Jennifer is the founder of Jennifer Rust Botanicals and Studio JRB, where she creates everything from seasonal container gardens to biophilic designs for luxury hotels and commercial spaces. In this conversation, she shares how corporate experience became an unexpected advantage, why community was essential to launching her business, and how evidence-based biophilic design improves both human well-being and business performance. Along the way, Jennifer offers practical container gardening advice and encourages anyone with a dream that it's never too late to build a thriving business around what you truly love. Whether you're a gardener, entrepreneur, designer, or someone considering your own second act (or even third!), Jennifer's story is a reminder that sometimes the path forward begins by listening to the passion that's been there all along. In This Episode Growing up in a military family where gardening always meant home How working at Crabtree & Evelyn foreshadowed a future in plants Leaving a successful corporate career and finding "post-corporate therapy" in the garden Why container gardens became the foundation of Jennifer Rust Botanicals The value of finding community through Digging In What biophilic design really means—and the research behind it How Studio JRB helps hotels and commercial spaces improve guest experience through plants Jennifer's favorite container garden design principles The overlooked garden center section where "the good stuff" lives Why it's never too late to build a business around your passion Connect with Jennifer Jennifer Rust Botanicals: https://jenniferrustbotanicals.com/ Studio JRB: https://studiojrb.com/ Follow Jennifer on Instagram: @jenniferrustbotanicals - https://www.instagram.com/jenniferrustbotanicals/ @studiojrb - https://www.instagram.com/studio_jrb/   More: The Psychology Today article on biophilia mentioned in Shovel Ready - https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/biophilia   Keep listening—because everyone has a story worth digging into.