A Way To Garden https://awaytogarden.com/ 'horticultural how-to and woo-woo' with margaret roach, head gardener Fri, 06 Nov 2026 19:52:45 +0000 en-US hourly 1 9651199 going native: the ‘gardening for nature survey’ results, with tom kaye https://awaytogarden.com/the-gardening-for-nature-survey-with-tom-kaye/ https://awaytogarden.com/the-gardening-for-nature-survey-with-tom-kaye/#respond Fri, 06 Nov 2026 19:49:10 +0000 https://awaytogarden.com/?p=59689 IT’S NOT NEWS that more and more gardeners are trying their hand at landscaping with native plants in recent years—often by converting a piece of lawn to something more diverse as a first step. But how’s it going? An environmental nonprofit headquartered in the Western U.S. fielded a survey recently of native plant gardeners to find out from them what worked and what didn’t – and what they wished they’d known before they got started, and more. The Gardening for Nature Survey report, prepared by the Institute for Applied Ecology in collaboration with Design Native Northwest landscape design company, is just out, and one of its authors is my guest today. I talked with Tom Kaye, the founder and chief scientist of the Institute for Applied Ecology, about some of the takeaways from the recent Gardening for Nature Survey. He is an associate professor in the Department of Botany and Plant Pathology at Oregon State, and his research and policy work focus on endangered species conservation, habitat restoration, pollination biology, and responding to global change. Our conversation ranged from practicalities, like how sheet mulching atop cardboard was the favored method of lawn-smothering preparation for a new native planting, to how […]

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]]> https://awaytogarden.com/the-gardening-for-nature-survey-with-tom-kaye/feed/ 0 59689 our native ‘weeds,’ with the brandywine’s renée kemmerer https://awaytogarden.com/our-native-weeds-with-the-brandywines-renee-kemmerer/ https://awaytogarden.com/our-native-weeds-with-the-brandywines-renee-kemmerer/#comments Fri, 30 Oct 2026 20:04:36 +0000 https://awaytogarden.com/?p=59664 WHAT’S IN A NAME—specifically when it’s the common name of a plant that includes the word “weed”? When you hear of plants like jewelweed or pokeweed or clearweed, to name a few, what does it make you think? All of those are native plants, but they’re also often treated more like that suffix in their names—like weeds, something gardeners are inclined to cast out. I read recently about an upcoming webinar entitled “Weed by Name, Native by Nature” by Renee Kemmerer, the senior horticulturist at the Brandywine Conservancy and Museum of Art in Pennsylvania. It promises to offer a closer look at such misunderstood native plants and their ecological value, and how we can embrace them—not eliminate them. Since I intentionally make room for various natives called “weed,” I knew I wanted to talk her. On the evening of Wednesday, Nov. 11, Renee is giving the Zoom webinar called “Weed by Name, Native by Nature,” and in our conversation she offered some of her takeaways about these too-often-maligned plants. Read along as you listen to the Nov. 2, 2026 edition of my public-radio show and podcast using the player below. You can subscribe to all future editions on Apple Podcasts […]

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]]> https://awaytogarden.com/our-native-weeds-with-the-brandywines-renee-kemmerer/feed/ 10 59664 the art of crevice gardening, with kenton seth & paul spriggs https://awaytogarden.com/the-art-of-crevice-gardening-with-kenton-seth-paul-spriggs/ https://awaytogarden.com/the-art-of-crevice-gardening-with-kenton-seth-paul-spriggs/#comments Sat, 24 Oct 2026 11:35:32 +0000 https://awaytogarden.com/?p=59656 I’VE NEVER HAD a rock garden, I confess, but a book about a modern and extreme form of the art caught my attention when it was published. It’s called “The Crevice Garden: How to Make the Perfect Home for Plants from Rocky Places,” and its authors joined me in a conversation in this reprise edition of the podcast about why you might want to make room for one, and the plants it can support. Colorado-based Kenton Seth and Paul Spriggs from British Columbia are garden designers with a particular specialty in rock gardens. When the pair appeared on the popular Garden Masterclass webinar series, British host Noel Kingsbury said this in his way of introducing them: “Rock gardening will no longer elicit a yawn because this is the future.” We did a “New York Times” garden column together a few years ago, and I wanted to learn more. I was so glad to talk with them in 2022 to give us a peek into this brave new world. (Above, from the book, part of a crevice garden at Denver Botanic Gardens.) Plus: Enter to win a copy of the new book by commenting in the box near the bottom of […]

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