Plant Lady Podcasts: Tune in to Great Gardening Shows

A good gardening podcast doesn’t just hold your attention, it educates and inspires your inner green thumb, as well. And while the web is brimming with plant-friendly podcasts, separating the stellar ones from the so-so can often leave you in a sonic drought.

So to cultivate your proverbial and physical gardens, we’ve rounded up eight of our favorite botanical audio blogs for your consideration. Whether you’re a seasoned pruner or simply looking for decorating ideas, all of these podcasts are guaranteed to teach you something new about plant life—and hopefully, help your garden grow.

Looking for an eco-friendly approach to being a better gardener? You Bet Your Garden has the goods. For an hour a week, host Mike McGrath (Garden Editor for WTOP News Radio in Washington, D.C.) provides listeners with advice on fending off garden and household pests without the use of toxic chemicals, consciously caring for lawns and landscapes, and cultivating plants during difficult weather conditions (like extreme heat and nonstop rain).

The brainchild of four friends attending the Cullowhee Native Plant Conference in North Carolina, The Native Plant is all about educating listeners on, well, native plants in the landscape. Each week hosts Mike Berkley, John Magee, Jesse Turner, and Preston Montague chat with a new horticultural all-star to get the dish on indigenous flora and fauna. Meanwhile, they’ve captured the hearts and ears of plant lovers across the globe (us included).

With over 20 years of combined experience in the gardening world, it’s safe to say Carmen DeVito and Alice Michel Krieg—the hosts of We Dig Plants—know a thing or two about horticulture. Their clever podcasts cover a range of topics (from pets in the garden to the dark side of the flower business) attracting an audience of avid gardeners and black thumbs, alike. And with a tagline like “We Bring the Culture to Horticulture,” who could resist a listen?

If you’re searching for a one-stop podcast for all things indoor gardening, Jane Perrone has you covered. Her weekly podcast On the Ledge tackles everything from the best plants for bathrooms to in-depth interviews with Robin Stockwell (aka “The Succulent Guy”). Suffice to say this audio blog has a lot to offer your inner green thumb—and your houseplants, too.

Leave it to the BBC to provide a superior plant-loving podcast. Recorded in a new location every week, The Gardner’s Question Time features a panel of horticultural experts answering all kinds of gardening questions from a live audience. And considering they’ve been doing this for over seven decades, it’s safe to say we all have something to learn from these delightful 40-minute programs.

Dedicated to telling the stories behind a plethora of interesting plants, In Defense of Plants is a podcast about the history of the botanical world. Not only does host Matt Candeias take listeners through the origins and evolution of everything from redwood trees to duckweed, he tackles a range of current botanical issues including forest fires, clean air, and climate change.

Brought to you by the good folks at the National Gardening Association, All Things Plants is a weekly podcast devoted to new developments in the botanical world. Every week, hosts Dave and Trish Whitinger discuss important horticultural happenings as well as ways to improve your gardening skills in snappy segments like “All About Onions” and “Let’s Talk Tomatoes.”

Interested in learning more about the medical benefits of certain plants? Each week Flora Delaterre (aka NPR’s The Plant Detective) investigates a new medicinal plant somewhere around the globe—think: garlic, passionflower, and mistletoe—in a short-but-sweet minute-long audio recording.