The Gardenangelists: Flowers, Veggies, and All the Best Dirt

Send us Fan Mail Dee and Carol talk about the health benefits of gardening Question of the Week: What’s wrong with Carol’s clematis? Clematis Wilt, most likely. More info on Epic Gardening Insect of the Week: Back to wasps… cicada-killing wasps are here! Flowers: Gardening for wellness. How gardens make us healthier. Vegetables: Why growing vegetables makes us healthier. On the Bookshelf: The Well-Gardened Mind: The Restorative Power of Nature by Sue Stuart-Smith ( Bookshop , Amazon ) Dirt: Green Colour Psychology: What it actually does to your brain and body Rabbit Holes: Dee: Crape Myrtle ‘ Tightwad Red ’ Carol: Rachel Peden , the latest Lost Lady of Garden Writing, (check out her books on Amazon , Bookshop ) plus Wendell Berry. Check out the Berry Center website , where you can buy the 50th anniversary edition of The Unsettling of America . And What an Owl Knows by Jennifer Ackerman ( Amazon , Bookshop ) A Garden to Visit: Yew Dell BotanicalGardens , Crestwood, KY Thank you: As always, we appreciate all of you for listening to our podcast and for reading this newsletter! If you’d like to support us, check out our affiliate links here . Book links are also affiliate links. And, if you have suggestions for topics for us to discuss, send us an email or leave a comment. Support the show On Instagram: Carol: Indygardener , Dee: RedDirtRamblings , Our podcast: TheGardenangelists . On Facebook: The Gardenangelists' Garden Club . On YouTube .

Send us Fan Mail Dee and Carol talk about buying and planting bulbs, garlic, and butterflies this week. For more info, check out our Substack newsletter . To watch us on YouTube, click here . Question of the Week: What’s really wrong with Carol’s Black-eyed Susans? Septoria leaf spot, most likely. And particularly susceptible is ‘Goldsturm.’ Listen to Hans Hansen talk about it on Instagram . Insect of the Week Butterflies, and how now is a great time to see them in your garden. The adults are flitting and mating and moving on. Flowers: Bulbs. Vegetables: Garlic On the Bookshelf: The Language of Butterflies: How Thieves, Hoarders, Scientists, and Other Obsessives Unlocked the Secrets of the World’s Favorite Insect by Wendy Williams ( Amazon , Bookshop ) Dirt: State Animals Rabbit Holes Carol: I listened to The Book of Margery Kempe , by Margery Kempe, and is working on the next Lost Lady of Garden Writing . A Garden to Visit: Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden , in Richmond, Virginia Thank you: As always, we appreciate all of you for listening to our podcast and for reading this newsletter! If you’d like to support us, check out our affiliate links here . Book links are also affiliate links. And, if you have suggestions for topics for us to discuss, send us an email or leave a comment. Support the show On Instagram: Carol: Indygardener , Dee: RedDirtRamblings , Our podcast: TheGardenangelists . On Facebook: The Gardenangelists' Garden Club . On YouTube .

Send us Fan Mail Dee and Carol talk about flowers that shine in the waning days of summer, winter squash and more. For more info and links, check out our Substack newsletter To watch this episode on YouTube, click here Insect of the Week: Thread Waisted Wasp Flowers: Flowers and plants that peak or look great waning at the end of summer Winning Zinnias from All-America Selections Vegetables: Winter squashes and why we don’t grow them On the Bookshelf: A Green and Pleasant Land: How England’s Gardeners Fought the Second World War by Ursula Buchan ( Bookshop , Amazon ) Dirt: People who read live longer: Instagram Rabbit Holes Another Lost Lady of Garden Writing, Alice Lounsberry . A Garden to Visit: Biltmore House and Garden , Asheville, NC Thank you! As always, we appreciate all of you for listening to our podcast If you’d like to support us, check out our affiliate links here . Book links are also affiliate links. And, if you have suggestions for topics for us to discuss, send us an email or leave a comment. Support the show On Instagram: Carol: Indygardener , Dee: RedDirtRamblings , Our podcast: TheGardenangelists . On Facebook: The Gardenangelists' Garden Club . On YouTube .

Send us Fan Mail Carol and Dee talked about refreshing container plantings for fall, new veggies for the vegetable garden, a book of garden columns, and more. Check out our Substack newslette r for more info. To watch us on YouTube, click here: Insect of the Week Great Black Wasp … a solitary pollinator. Flowers: Is it worth refreshing annuals in late summer for fall? Vegetables: It’s not too soon to plan for 2027. All-America Selections Winners for 2026: Tomato BadaBing! F1 Kale Rubybor F1 Pole Bean ‘Majesty’ Butter Lamp F1 Winter Squash Basil Treviso - New Varieties sent to Carol from Burpee Akoya Small-Fruited Tomato Sweet 150 Small-Fruited Tomato Pick N Pop Orange Sweet Pepper Monteverde Late Flowering basil On the Bookshelf: Back to the Garden by Ursula Buchan (2009) ( Amazon for used copies) Dirt: The five plants every pollinator garden needs Rabbit Holes: Judi Dench’s Shakespeare: The Man Who Paid the Rent. Carol’s blog post for Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day . A Garden to Visit: Holcomb Gardens at Butler University and the Indiana Native Plant Society (INPS) Thank you: As always, we appreciate all of you for listening to our podcast and for reading this newsletter! If you’d like to support us, check out our affiliate links here . Book links are also affiliate links. And, if you have suggestions for topics for us to discuss, send us an email or leave a comment. With a shared love of gardening… Support the show On Instagram: Carol: Indygardener , Dee: RedDirtRamblings , Our podcast: TheGardenangelists . On Facebook: The Gardenangelists' Garden Club . On YouTube .

Send us Fan Mail Dee and Carol discuss favorite summer annuals, what to do I the veg garden in August, and many books. For more information, check out our Substack newsletter To watch us on YouTube, click here . Links, etc: Question of the Week: What’s wrong with my tomatoes? Insect of the Week: Black Saddlebags Dragonfly Flowers: Our favorite summer garden annuals. Branching out from perennials and native plants obsession. Vegetables: Timely reminders for August On the Bookshelf: In the Land of the Blue Poppies: The Collected Plant-Hunting Writings of Frank Kingdon Ward (2003) ( Amazon , Bookshop ) Dirt: Hydrangea Pruning: What Stays, What Goes and When by Lorraine Ballato ( Amazon ) Rabbit Holes: The Churchill Sisters by Dr. Rachel Tretheway. ( Bookshop , Amazon ). The Kennedys and the Windsors: T he Story of Two Dynasties, One Born, One Made by Caroline Hallemann ( Bookshop , Amazon ) Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent by Judi Dench ( Amazon , Bookshop ). (Listen to Judi Dench recite Shakespear on Instagram ) Adele Dawson , another Lost Lady of Garden Writing. Dear Hugo by Molly Claverly ( Amazon , Bookshop ), and sloes, the fruit of blackthorn . The Artist and the Feast by Lucy Steeds. ( Amazon , Bookshop ) Dee’s buying Bulgarian food A Garden to Visit: Tulsa Botanic Garden Thank you: As always, we appreciate all of you for listening to our podcast and for reading this newsletter! If you’d like to support us, check out our affiliate links here . Book links are also affiliate links. And, if you have suggestions for topics for us to discuss, send us an email or leave a comment. With a shared love of gardening… Carol and Dee Support the show On Instagram: Carol: Indygardener , Dee: RedDirtRamblings , Our podcast: TheGardenangelists . On Facebook: The Gardenangelists' Garden Club . On YouTube .

Send us Fan Mail Dee and Carol talk about mandevillas, veggie cookbooks and more in this week's episode. For more info, check out our Substack newsletter . To watch us on YouTube, click here . Insect of the Week: Lily leaf beetle, prompted by a reader’s questions. Check Wisconsin Extension on how to identify and how to control. This site shows the range Flowers: Mandevillas and Bougainvillas Vegetables: More recipes from the garden. My New Roots: Inspired Plant-Based Recipes for Every Season: A Cookbook by Sarah Britton. ( Bookshop , Amazon ) Check out her website and her Instagram account Six Seasons: A New Way with Vegetables by Joshua McFadden ( Bookshop , Amazon ) On the Bookshelf: My Summer in a Garden by Charles Dudley Warner (1899) ( Bookshop, Amazon ) Dirt: Chatsworth Garden Design Revealed in the Drought Rabbit Holes: The Botanist’s Assistant by Peggy Townsend ( Bookshop , Amazon ) Lots of interesting deadly plants mentioned. Also Time Traveler by Merriam-Webster : Words that first appeared in print for the year you were born… A Garden to Visit: Beth Chatto’s Gravel Garden Thank you: As always, we appreciate all of you for listening to our podcast and for reading this newsletter! If you’d like to support us, check out our affiliate links here . Book links are also affiliate links. And, if you have suggestions for topics for us to discuss, send us an email or leave a comment. With a shared love of gardening… Carol and Dee Support the show On Instagram: Carol: Indygardener , Dee: RedDirtRamblings , Our podcast: TheGardenangelists . On Facebook: The Gardenangelists' Garden Club . On YouTube .

Send us Fan Mail Dee and Carol talked about decorative beans to grow for flowers, beans to dry, and other gardening topics. For more info, check out our Substack newsletter . To watch on YouTube, click here. Links! Verbena bonariensis 'Vanity’ from All-America Selections Insect of the Week June Beetles Info from Wisconsin Horticulture Extension Flowers: Hyacinth beans - Lablab purpureus Scarlet runner beans - Phaseolus coccineus Yardlong beans - Vigna unguiculata subsp. Sesquipedalis Corkscrew vine beans , Cochliasanthus caracalla Vegetables: Alternative beans to grow - black beans, kidney beans, northern beans - mostly for drying. General info from the Old Farmer’s Almanac . Seed sources for older varieties: Rancho Gordo , Seed Savers Exchange , and Southern Exposure Seed Exchange On the Bookshelf: Saving Seeds, Preserving Taste by Bill Best ( Amazon Link ) Dirt: Harkening back to last week’s episode on trees: Planting Trees at Waddesdon Manor Rabbit Holes: Lost Lady of Garden Writing, Danske Dandridge , The Garden at Rose Brake: Garden Writings of Danske Dandridge , Muv: The Story of the Mitford Girls’ Mother by Rachel Tretheway (2026) Slightly Foxed podcast . A Garden to Visit: Visit an All-America Selection garden near you! Thank you: As always, we appreciate all of you for listening to our podcast and for reading this newsletter! If you’d like to support us, check out our affiliate links here . Book links are also affiliate links. And, if you have suggestions for topics for us to discuss, send us an email or leave a comment. With a shared love of gardening… Carol and Dee Support the show On Instagram: Carol: Indygardener , Dee: RedDirtRamblings , Our podcast: TheGardenangelists . On Facebook: The Gardenangelists' Garden Club . On YouTube .

Send us Fan Mail Dee and Carol talked about trees, including what to consider when buying a tree, pawpaws and walnut trees around the veggie garden, a tree essay book, and more. For more info, check out our Substack newsletter . To watch us on YouTube, click here . A couple of miscellaneous links: Carol’s ritual of the first tomato blog post from 2006 and Play-Doh Blooms ( Amazon ) Question of the Week: Why did a big limb that looked healthy suddenly fall out of my tree? More info from Davey Tree Company Insect of the Week: Mimosa Webworms - Info from Purdue - a tale of two kinds of treatment. Flowers: How to choose trees for your garden Vegetables: Pawpaw trees - Check them out at Stark Bros Walnut trees - Info from Garden Professors Blog On the Bookshelf: Thirteen Ways to Smell a Tree: A celebration of our connection with trees by David George Haskell ( Amazon Link ). Haskell also wrote H ow Flowers Made Our World: The Story of Nature’s Revolutionaries a nd The Forest Unseen: A Year’s Watch in Nature . Check him out on Instagram . Dirt: Judi Dench and her passion for trees. A clip/intro to her documentary My Passion for Trees Rabbit Holes: Dee: A new cookbook, The HIgh Protein Plate , by Rachael DeVaux, RD. Carol: Three Bags Full by Leonie Swann (2005), a new biography about Katharine S. White ( The World She Edited: Katharine S. White at The New Yorker , by Amy Reading), and a new Lost Lady of Garden Writing . A Garden to Visit: United States National Arboretum Thank You: As always, we appreciate all of you for listening to our podcast and for reading this newsletter! If you’d like to support us, check out our affiliate links here . Book links are also affiliate links. And, if you have suggestions for topics for us to discuss, send us an email or leave a comment. With a shared love of gardening… Dee and Carol Support the show On Instagram: Carol: Indygardener , Dee: RedDirtRamblings , Our podcast: TheGardenangelists . On Facebook: The Gardenangelists' Garden Club . On YouTube .

Send us Fan Mail Dee and Carol talk about coneflowers, share some new veggie recipes Dee is trying, discuss a book on wildflowers and more. For more info, check out our Substack newsletter . To watch on YouTube, click here. Question of the Week: How do I grow a wildflower meadow from seed? Mini Meadows , by Mike Lizotte. He explains it well. Insect of the Week Blue Orchard Mason Bee . You can make nesting boxes for them or buy commercial ones Flowers: The Enterprise of Echinaceas, and why do we have so many varieties? We are speaking of Echinacea purpurea. Watch out for aster yellows, a disease that can infect coneflowers. More info from Missouri Botanical Garden Vegetables: Let’s share some summer recipes! Authentic Shopska Salad Recipe Cold Yogurt Cucumber Soup - Tarator Princesses (Bulgarian Ground Meat Sandwiches) Recipe - Food.com Dee’s Zucchini Squash Challenge on her blog On the Bookshelf: A Naturalist’s Book of Wildflowers: Celebrating 85 Native Plants of North America by Laura C. Martin (2021) ( Amazon ) Dirt: Another dose of cuteness on Instagram, a farmer-gardener with his two young daughters, the two “supervisors”. Meet Jeremiah_Farmer .They also have pigs! Rabbit Holes: Lost Lady of Garden Writing, Katharine S. White . And Carol’s tips for getting your garden to produce more veggies . A Garden to Visit: Dallas Arboretum . One hot place when we visited! Thank you: As always, we appreciate all of you for listening to our podcast and for reading this newsletter! If you’d like to support us, check out our affiliate links here . Book links are also affiliate links. Support the show On Instagram: Carol: Indygardener , Dee: RedDirtRamblings , Our podcast: TheGardenangelists . On Facebook: The Gardenangelists' Garden Club . On YouTube .

Send us Fan Mail Dee and Carol discuss rooting cuttings in water, mid-summer in the vegetable garden, and a new herbal book, plus discuss if ducks grow on trees. To watch this episode on Youtube, click here . For more information, check out our Substack newsletter . Other links: Insect of the Week: Leaf cutter bees . Flowers: 31 plants you can root in water, from Epic Gardening On the Bookshelf: Collected Curiosities; more stories and recipes from the historical apothecary cabinet by Amanda Edmiston ( Amazon ) Dirt: Do ducks grow on trees? Dictionary Diva on Instagram Rabbit Holes: Rural Free: A Farmwife’s Almanac of Country Living by Rachel Peden (1961) A Garden to Visit: Tall Grass Prairie Preserve (If you’d like to support us, check out our affiliate links here . Book links are also affiliate links.) Support the show On Instagram: Carol: Indygardener , Dee: RedDirtRamblings , Our podcast: TheGardenangelists . On Facebook: The Gardenangelists' Garden Club . On YouTube .

Send us Fan Mail This week, we talked about all the senses your garden awakens in you. Here's a link to watch us on YouTube . Favorites This Week You can see Carol’s lilies on Instagram and on Substack . Dee’s favorite flowers include Calibrachoa ‘Lemon Slice’ and dwarf morning glory (Evolvulus glomeratus ), also known by its cultivar names ' Blue My Mind ' or 'Blue Daze,' Insect of the Week Awful, horrible Japanese beetles. Flowers: Touchable flowers Article - How to Design a Healing Garden: Veggies: Vegetable garden as a wellness garden On the Bookshelf: Good Nature: Why Seeing, Smelling, Hearing, and Touching Plants Good for Our Health by Kathy Willis ( Amazon ) and Botanicum: Welcome to the Museum by Kathy Willis, Illustrated by Katie Scott ( Amazon ) Rabbit Holes: Dee: American food week in Bulgaria on Instagram Carol: Carol’s secret source for UK published books… Blackwell’s Another lost lady of garden writing, Caroline Dormon , friend of Elizabeth Lawrence. Clarkson’s Farm A Garden to Visit: Kew Gardens . Thank you! (If you’d like to support us, check out our affiliate links here . Book links are also affiliate links.) Support the show On Instagram: Carol: Indygardener , Dee: RedDirtRamblings , Our podcast: TheGardenangelists . On Facebook: The Gardenangelists' Garden Club . On YouTube .

Send us Fan Mail Dee and Carol talk about sound in the garden, inspired by a new book. To watch this episode on YouTube, click here . For more info and links, check out our Substack newsletter I Fireflies or Lightning Bugs. Such a loved little beetle, it has its own website . Flowers: Listen to your garden to hear how healthy it is: Vegetables: You better hear the hum of bees because you need pollination for so many crops, including squash and cucumbers. On the Bookshelf: Garden Voices: A Year of Gardeners’ Writing , Edited by Claire Masset ( Amazon ) Dirt: Control Mosquitoes with a Mosquito Bucket. ( News Report ) Rabbit Holes: Carol revisited Elizabeth Lawrence to write about her as the latest Lost Lady of Garden Writing. A Garden to Visit: Longwood Gardens - Famous for their fountains. That’s it for this week! As always, we appreciate all of you for listening to our podcast and for reading this newsletter! (If you’d like to support us, check out our affiliate links here . Book links are also affiliate links.) Support the show On Instagram: Carol: Indygardener , Dee: RedDirtRamblings , Our podcast: TheGardenangelists . On Facebook: The Gardenangelists' Garden Club . On YouTube .

Send us Fan Mail Dee and Carol talk about how to fix the lulls in your garden, or not, plus a new book on garden design and more. For more info and links, check out our Substack newsletter . To watch on YouTube, click here . Salvia ‘Blue by You’, Proven Winners Shiny Blue Beetles . On the Bookshelf: The New Garden Designer’s Handbook: How to Design Useful Gardens from Start to Finish , by Daryl Beyers, Illustrations by Elara Tanguy Dirt: Poison Hemlock On Instagram , Instagram Rabbit Holes: Land by Maggie O’Farrell Garden to Visit: Monticello - Thomas Jefferson’s Garden. (If you’d like to support us, check out our affiliate links here . Book links are also affiliate links.) Support the show On Instagram: Carol: Indygardener , Dee: RedDirtRamblings , Our podcast: TheGardenangelists . On Facebook: The Gardenangelists' Garden Club . On YouTube .

Send us Fan Mail Carol and Dee talk about British awarding winning plants, vegetable gardens and more. For more info, check out our Substack newsletter To watch on YouTube, click here Links: Flowers: Winning flowers at Chelsea Flower Show. More info RHS site Hosta ‘Red Ninja’ if you want to buy it. All-America Selections ! Vegetables: The classic British vegetable garden… what do they grow: On the Bookshelf: My Gardening Life by Mary Berry ( Amazon ) Mary Berry’s Country House Secret on PBS Dirt: The tree growing grandmother from Yorkshire. Via Instagram . Also, this article Rabbit Holes: Louise Riotte , the last Lost Lady of Garden Writing. A Garden to Visit: A Garden to Visit: Sissinghurst Sissinghurst: An Unfinished History: The Quest to Restore a Working Farm at Vita Sackville-West’s Legendary Garden by Adam Nicolson ( Amazon ) Thank you for being a listener! (If you’d like to support us, check out our affiliate links here . Book links are also affiliate links.) Support the show On Instagram: Carol: Indygardener , Dee: RedDirtRamblings , Our podcast: TheGardenangelists . On Facebook: The Gardenangelists' Garden Club . On YouTube .

Send us Fan Mail Dee and Carol discuss all things bananas in the garden. For more info, check out our Substack newsletter To watch on YouTube, click here Question of the Week: Why does my plant need potassium? Info from the University of Minnesota : Insect of the Week Banana slugs, info from National Park Service Flowers: Growing bananas in the flower garden. Tropical Plants and How to Love Them , by Marianne Wilburn. Everything you ever wanted to know about bananas from Brittanica Vegetables: High Potassium Veggies info from My Food Data On the Bookshelf: Plant by Number: Design your Dream Garden With 24, Step-by-Step Planting Plans by Stacy Tornio ( Amazon) (Publishes on May 26. Thank you to Timberpress for review copies) Dirt: Banana Peel Water for fertilizer ? No. Rabbit Holes: Dee: Roses and the Rose Chat podcast Carol: old but good gardening books including Rose Recipes from Olden Times by Eleanour Sinclair Rohde and An Island Garden by Celia Thaxter A Garden to Visit: Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens in Pittsburgh. Thank you for listening (If you’d like to support us, check out our affiliate links here . Book links are also affiliate links.) Support the show On Instagram: Carol: Indygardener , Dee: RedDirtRamblings , Our podcast: TheGardenangelists . On Facebook: The Gardenangelists' Garden Club . On YouTube .

Send us Fan Mail Dee and Carol talk all things herbal this week. For more info, check out our Substack newsletter . To watch us on YouTube, click here . Question of the Week: What herbs grow well with roses? Insect of the Week: Mayflies, Good info from Birds & Blooms Flowers: Herbs to grow for the flowers More info from Epic Gardening Vegetables: Herbs for the vegetable garden Basil ‘Monteverde’ from PanAmerican Seed , for sale from Burpee . What makes an herb good for the vegetable garden? On the Bookshelf: Carol recently bought Time Traveller’s Herbal: Stories and recipes from the historical apothecary cabinet by Amanda Edminston , an herbal storyteller ( Amazon link ) She’s on Instagram . She has another book coming out on June 30th: Collected Curiosities: more stories and recipes from the historical apothecary cabinet . ( Amazon link ) Dirt: National Herb Week - May 7th - 13th - Always the week leading up to Mother’s Day, per the International Herb Association . The Herb Society of America , and why you might want to join it. Rabbit Holes: Dee: ‘Kazanlik’ rose from Antique Rose Emporium Carol: Anthropomorphism, where animals are given human characteristics… Watership Down by Richard Adams, Shady Hollow by Juneau Black, the new movie, The Sheep Detective , which is based on the book, Three Bags Full by Leonie Swann. Beanstack app for reading challenges. Also the latest lost lady Elda Haring, who was all about growing plants from seed. A Garden to Visit: The Chelsea Physic Garden (visited by Dee) and Florilegium Society As always, we appreciate all of you for listening to our podcast and for reading this newsletter! (If you’d like to support us, check out our affiliate links here . Book links are also affiliate links.) Support the show On Instagram: Carol: Indygardener , Dee: RedDirtRamblings , Our podcast: TheGardenangelists . On Facebook: The Gardenangelists' Garden Club . On YouTube .

Send us Fan Mail Dee and Carol talk about growing flowers and veggies in containers. For more info, check out our Substack newsletter. To watch on YouTube, click here . Links: From Southern Living Plant Collection It’s A Breeze® Ivory Blush Rose . Carol’s garden fairies reviewed her performance so far this spring in a blog post . Carol’s blog post on forcing peonies into bloom in July . Insect of the Week Crane flies . Flowers: Queen Tut papyrus Tattoo™ Papaya Vinca Vegetables: Examples of veggies good for containers from Burpee : On-Deck Corn, Patio Baby Eggplant, Sweetheart of the Patio Tomato, Mocha Swirl Sweet Peppers, Hamburg Lettuce. On the Bookshelf: The Creative Container Garden by Anders Royneberg with Erik Schjenven ( Amazon ) Plus A Year Full of Pots: Container Flowers for All Seasons by Sarah Raven ( Amazon ) Dirt: Carol’s spinstercore gardening , and a search on Pinterest… for Unusual Plant Containers . Rabbit Holes: Five for Sorrow, Ten for Joy , by Rumer Godden (19 79). Watership Down by Richard Adams. And another Lost Lady of Garden Writing , Elda Haring A Garden to Visit: Wing Haven in Charlotte, North Carolina, the gardens of Elizabeth and Edwin Clarkson, and Elizabeth Lawrence. (If you’d like to support us, check out our affiliate links here . Book links are also affiliate links.) Support the show On Instagram: Carol: Indygardener , Dee: RedDirtRamblings , Our podcast: TheGardenangelists . On Facebook: The Gardenangelists' Garden Club . On YouTube .

Send us Fan Mail Dee and Carol talk about plants to leave behind, basics of vegetable gardening, a new book on gardening as you grow older and more! For complete info, check out our Substack newsletter . To watch us on YouTube, click here . Flowers: What flowers and plants to leave behind as you grow older in the garden. Vegetables: Back to basics. Honestly, start with good soil and you are 99% there. On the Bookshelf: Garden for Life: Strategies for Easier, Greener, More Joyful Gardening as We Age , by Rhonda Fleming Hayes ( Amazon Link ) Dirt: Boomers have a lot of stuff, an article , and on Instagram Nick Fox Radio Rabbit Holes: Books mentioned include Matilda by Roald Dahl, Raising Hare: A Memoir by Chloe Dalton, and The Lark by E. Nesbit A Garden to Visit: Gibb’s Garden in Georgia, in a place called Ball Ground, north of Atlanta. As always, we appreciate all of you for listening to our podcast and for reading this newsletter! (If you’d like to support us, check out our affiliate links here . Book links are also affiliate links.) Support the show On Instagram: Carol: Indygardener , Dee: RedDirtRamblings , Our podcast: TheGardenangelists . On Facebook: The Gardenangelists' Garden Club . On YouTube .

Send us Fan Mail Dee and Carol talked about different kinds of hydrangeas, failures in their vegetable gardens, using corn starch in your garden and a new book on hydrangeas. For more info, check out our Substack newsletter . Insect of the Week Mitchell’s Satyr Butterfly via Central Indiana Land Trust on Instagram . (The invasive plant Carol was trying to think of was Purple Loosestrife. Flowers: Hydrangeas Proven Winners has an explanation of the five main types. Vegetables: How to learn from your failures and not throw in the trowel, partially inspired by an essay in American Gardener, from American Horticultural Society . On the Bookshelf: Hydrangea Happiness: Planting, Pruning, and Blooming by C. L. Fornari ( Amazon link ) (Publishes April 30) Dirt: Using cornstarch in the garden, via Martha Stewart Rabbit Holes: Dee: Heritage Rose Foundation and her upcoming talk on Old Garden Roses and Their Companions. The pelargonium Dee was trying to remember was ‘Mrs. Pollock.’ Carol: Working on her presentation on Tips and Tricks to Spring into Gardening for Franciscan Senior Promise, local group. A Garden to Visit: Atlanta History Center and in particular the Cherokee Garden Library . That was very special. As always, we appreciate all of you for listening to our podcast and for reading this newsletter! (If you’d like to support us, check out our affiliate links here . Book links are also affiliate links.) Support the show On Instagram: Carol: Indygardener , Dee: RedDirtRamblings , Our podcast: TheGardenangelists . On Facebook: The Gardenangelists' Garden Club . On YouTube .

Send us Fan Mail Dee and Carol talked about self-sowing plants, how to shop at your local farmer's market and other gardening topics! For more info and links, check out our Substack newsletter . To watch on YouTube, click here Why didn’t my daffodils bloom? Info from the American Daffodil Society Insect of the Week Hyles lineata , White-lined Sphinx moth. Info from Wisconsin Extension On the Bookshelf: Plantiful: Start Small, Grow Big With 150 Plants That Spread, Self-Sow, And Overwinter by Kristin Green ( Amazon Link ) Dirt: Folks, This Ain’t Normal: A Farmer’s Advice for Happier Hens, Healthier People, and a Better World, by Joel Salatin Rabbit Holes: The Lost Lady of Garden Writing, Mrs. H. B. Tillotson Also, books by David George Haskell , including How Flowers Made Our World, The Forest Unseen: A Year’s Watch in Nature, T he Songs of Trees: Stories of Nature’s Great Connectors , and Thirteen Ways to Smell a Tree ( Blackwells ) from the library. A Garden to Visit: University of Washington Botanical Garden , home of the Eleanor C. Miller Horticultural Library, As always, we appreciate all of you for listening to our podcast and for reading this newsletter! (If you’d like to support us, check out our affiliate links here . Book links are also affiliate links.) Support the show On Instagram: Carol: Indygardener , Dee: RedDirtRamblings , Our podcast: TheGardenangelists . On Facebook: The Gardenangelists' Garden Club . On YouTube .