Our Plant Stories

• Poppy Okotcha and Adam Frost at the British Library

  I think we're in for a real treat. Listening to Poppy Okotcha and Adam Frost talking about their gardens, their 'safe spaces', their connections to nature. And in the best traditions of the podcast - the stories of plants and people are entwined. This conversation was recorded at the British Library in July as part of the events programme for an exhibition called Unearthed - The Power of Gardening. (Sadly now over) Both Poppy and Adam have recently published books about their own gardens. Poppy's is called A Wilder Way - How Gardens Grow Us and Adam's is called For the Love of Plants. With thanks to the British Library for allowing me to share this with you as a podcast episode. I'll put links to Poppy and Adam's books on the podcast website.Independent podcasts like Our Plant Stories depend on their listeners for help with the costs of making the podcast such as the hosting platform and the editing programme.Using the Buy Me A Coffee platform you can make a one off online donation of £5 and that money will go towards making more episodes. Everyone who buys a 'virtual coffee' will get a shout out on the podcast. The support of listeners means a lot to me. Buy Me A Coffee Every month I will make a plant story but stories often lead to more stories and I end up publishing Offshoot episodes. So if you 'Follow' the podcast on your podcast app you will never miss an episode.It also makes a real difference if you can spare the time to rate and/or review an episode after you have listened. Spotify and Apple look at these ratings and it helps to get the podcast promoted to other plant lovers. This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: OP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy

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• Poppy Okotcha and Adam Frost in Conversation Trailer

  Back in July I was lucky enough to host a conversation at the British Library between Poppy Okotcha and Adam Frost. Hear a trailer for the episode which will be out next Tuesday. Poppy's new book is called A Wilder Way and Adam's is called For the Love of Plants and over the course of an hour and a half they discussed how they came to be gardeners, safe spaces, foraging, special plants, special people and compost.I learned so much both from reading their books and sharing this conversation and thanks to the British Library, I am excited to be able to share it with you next week as a podcast episode.Our Plant Stories is presented and produced by Sally FlatmanThe music is Fade to Black by Howard LevyEvery month I will make a plant story but stories often lead to more stories and I end up publishing Offshoot episodes. So if you 'Follow' the podcast on your podcast app you will never miss an episode.It also makes a real difference if you can spare the time to rate and/or review an episode after you have listened. Spotify and Apple look at these ratings and it helps to get the podcast promoted to other plant lovers. This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: OP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy

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• Daffodils in July with Taylors Bulbs

  The joy of making this podcast is that sometimes I just get to be curious which Adam Frost says is key to our enjoyment of gardening. I know that any day now Autumn bulb catalogues will start to drop through my letterbox and garden centres will soon start to sell daffodil bulbs again but I wanted to know where are those bulbs in July? And how do you grow them commercially?My thanks to Ian Clark, the very patient Marketing Manager of Taylors Bulbs who answered all my questions so you too can discover how the bulbs are grown and harvested, how to store them, where to plant them and how to choose them for a long lasting 5 month display in 2026!Independent podcasts like Our Plant Stories depend on their listeners for help with the costs of making the podcast such as the hosting platform and the editing programme.Using the Buy Me A Coffee platform you can make a one off online donation of £5 and that money will go towards making more episodes. Everyone who buys a 'virtual coffee' will get a shout out on the podcast. The support of listeners means a lot to me. Buy Me A Coffee Every month I will make a plant story but stories often lead to more stories and I end up publishing Offshoot episodes. So if you 'Follow' the podcast on your podcast app you will never miss an episode.It also makes a real difference if you can spare the time to rate and/or review an episode after you have listened. Spotify and Apple look at these ratings and it helps to get the podcast promoted to other plant lovers. This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: OP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy

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• Fay's Yucca Plant

  In 1976 Fay Ballard had just finished her first term at university and heading home for Christmas she was looking for a gift for her father who was the author J.G. Ballard. This episode is the story of that gift! It may have started as a small Yucca pot plant but almost 50 years on - it has a great story to tell.For those of us of a certain generation, the Yucca plant will be familiar. Back in the 70's and 80's Marks and Spencer had shelves full of them. But why?And along with the story of Fay's Yucca and the answer to the question why M&S were selling them, we have Colin Smith, who holds a National Collection of Yuccas. He knows so much about these plants and shares with us how to grow them.Every month I will make a plant story but stories often lead to more stories and I end up publishing Offshoot episodes. So if you 'Follow' the podcast on your podcast app you will never miss an episode.It also makes a real difference if you can spare the time to rate and/or review an episode after you have listened. Spotify and Apple look at these ratings and it helps to get the podcast promoted to other plant lovers. Independent podcasts like Our Plant Stories depend on their listeners for help with the costs of making the podcast such as the hosting platform and the editing programme.Using the Buy Me A Coffee platform you can make a one off online donation of £5 and that money will go towards making more episodes. Everyone who buys a 'virtual coffee' will get a shout out on the podcast. The support of listeners means a lot to me. Buy Me A Coffee Can I dig into more plant stories?YES! You can check out the website where there are lots of photographs of plants and how to grow instructions. Our Plant Stories website You can also follow the weekly blog where you will get the behind the scenes lowdown on making the podcast and you could also contribute - readers have suggested gardens to visit, plants to feature, experts to contact. Our Plant Stories blog And you can follow more plants over on my Instagram account Instagram Our Plant Stories is presented and produced by Sally FlatmanThe music is Fade to Black by Howard LevyMentioned in this episode:Buy Me A CoffeeThis podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: OP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy

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• Trailer for a Yucca story

  Did you buy a Yucca from Marks and Spencer in the 1970s or 80s...many of us did!If you still have it, it could by now be very large. This months plant story is a beautiful one about a Yucca plant that Fay bought in 1976, for her dad, who was the writer J.G. Ballard. She wasn't sure if he would manage to keep it alive - he didn't have any other pot plants. If you can't wait for this story remember there are over 50 plant stories from the first three series of Our Plant Stories podcast for you to listen to. From fig tree cuttings sewn into the hems of skirts in preparation for the journey to America to passion flower cuttings, in South London, secreted in a handbag. There are stories of passions for dahlias, hostas, snowdrops and peonies. There are walks along viaducts and hoped for highlines. Stories from Australia, New Zealand, America and France.And with every plant story we learn how to grow the plant from generous gardeners who share their knowledge.If you have a plant story you would like to share you can contact me:[email protected] podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: OP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy

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