This episode is what happens when two people’s loves for venus flytraps, spooky season, and movie musicals collide. Yes, we’re doing nerdy Halloween horticulture by analyzing the representation of carnivorous plants in the classic musical Little Shop of Horrors—specifically the 1986 movie version. If you  haven’t seen the show, don’t worry; we set the stage for you and save any late-story spoilers for the very end. For the most part, we’re interested in one question: based on our knowledge of real-world carnivorous plants, how reasonable were Seymore’s guesses when he first tried to care for Audrey II? This requires, of course, an exploration of Venus flytraps’ habitat and habits, how they reproduce, and of the care they need to thrive in our homes. The movie does raise one more hypothetical, and I’ll put this in code for our listeners who still need to watch it: that ending. Would it really have worked? We get a buzz out of exploring the idea.Comments? Feedback? Want your garden question to be featured in a future Q&A segment? Email us (mailto:plantsalwaysinpodcast@gmail.com), reach out over social media, or get Q&A priority by supporting us on Patreon (http://patreon.com/PlantsAlwaysWinPodcast). Discord: https://discord.gg/K6wF9dY4Ja (https://discord.gg/K6wF9dY4Ja) Bluesky: @plantsalwayswin.com (https://bsky.app/profile/plantsalwayswin.com) TikTok: @plantsalwayswinpodcast (https://www.tiktok.com/@plantsalwayswinpodcast) YouTube: @plantsalwayswinpodcast (https://www.youtube.com/@PlantsAlwaysWinPodcast)Website: www.plantsalwayswin.com (http://www.plantsalwayswin.com) CreditsWebsite Design and Illustration by Sophia AlladinIntro and Outro Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):

It’s the versus episode they said couldn’t be done.

This episode is for anyone who has ever daydreamed about starting a community garden and for anyone who needs the boost of a good-news gardening story.  

Dr. Dana Green, a.k.a. "The Eyepatch Biologist" is back for part two! This free-flying conversation just couldn't be contained to a single hour.We plunge straight in this week with an urgent question: how do bats relieve themselves without dribbling on their own heads? From there the facts come thick and fast: microchiroptera (our local insect-eating, echolocating bats) vs. megachiroptera (bigger fruit-eating bats from other climates that don't echolocate); the truth about bats' sense of sight; and the unexpected songs of silverhair bats. Dana shares how to attract bats to our properties without welcoming them into our homes, and we delve into the devastating consequences of pesticide use in the ecosystem—and how to report it when you witness someone applying pesticides illegally. Throughout the interview we also get some of Dana's opinions on the quality of bat representation in media, including Daredevil, Dungeons and Dragons, Batman and vampire books. The episode wraps up with a lightning round of facts, favourites, and myth busting—and a promise to bring Dana back for even more ecological eloquence in the future!Learn More:Dana's website: https://www.danagreeneco.com/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@theeyepatchbiologistInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/eyepatchbiologist/Comments? Feedback? Want your garden question to be featured in a future Q&A segment? Email us, reach out over social media, or get Q&A priority by supporting us on Patreon (http://patreon.com/PlantsAlwaysWinPodcast).Bluesky: @plantsalwayswin.com (https://bsky.app/profile/plantsalwayswin.com)TikTok: @plantsalwayswinpodcast (https://www.tiktok.com/@plantsalwayswinpodcast) YouTube: @PlantsAlwaysWinPodcast (https://www.youtube.com/@PlantsAlwaysWinPodcast)Website: www.plantsalwayswin.com (http://www.plantsalwayswin.com/)Discord: https://discord.gg/K6wF9dY4Ja (https://discord.gg/K6wF9dY4Ja)Timestamps00:12 Introduction01:00 How do Bats Relieve Themselves?01:58 Flying Foxes, or Megachiroptera, a Subgroup of Bats

Dr. Dana Green is a bat expert who is known online as The Eyepatch Biologist. As a science communicator, a pun connoisseur, and a woman who knows a good joke when it's staring her in the f...

Our gardens are winding down for the season, but our audience is putting on a growth spurt! This crop of new listeners has seeded our Q&A inbox with a flush of questions, which we love to see. And while we’d normally answer these at the end of our versus episodes, we currently have a backlog of recorded episodes and we don’t want folks to have to wait for answers. That means it’s time for another Q&A special!We start with questions inspired by Sean’s recent video about an apple tree sold with its graft and root flare buried well below soil level. If you want to understand how fruit trees are grafted and sold, how to plant them successfully, and what to expect from them as they grow, keep your ears peeled for this conversation.Next, we move on to plants that listeners are hoping to get rid of, touching briefly on bindweed (covered more thoroughly in episode 31) before digging into horsetail, that pervasive prehistoric plant. The question was “How do I get rid of it?” and we do address that—but you’ll find some options you might not have expected in our answers.Finally, we chat about an anecdote that was shared with us: “This year I learned that cosmos don’t like fertilizer.” It’s true that feeding nitrogen to flowering plants will push them to produce more greenery than blooms. But we’re here to offer some education on what you can do to give them a boost.Comments? Feedback? Want your garden question to be featured in a future Q&A segment? Email us (mailto:plantsalwaysinpodcast@gmail.com), reach out over social media, or get Q&A priority by supporting us on Patreon (http://patreon.com/PlantsAlwaysWinPodcast). Discord: https://discord.gg/K6wF9dY4Ja (https://discord.gg/K6wF9dY4Ja) Bluesky: @plantsalwayswin.com (https://bsky.app/profile/plantsalwayswin.com) TikTok: @plantsalwayswinpodcast (https://www.tiktok.com/@plantsalwayswinpodcast) YouTube: @plantsalwayswinpodcast (https://www.youtube.com/@PlantsAlwaysWinPodcast)Website: www.plantsalwayswin.com (http://www.plantsalwayswin.com)

Do you make compost at home? Do you delight in the experience? If your answer to either of those questions is no, this week’s guest is here to help.

“I am very enthusiastic about [gardening]. I don't know if I'm that great at it. I'm not very knowledgeable. I can't really answer any of your garden questions, but I love getting my hands dirty.”Gardening is for everyone! We’ve interviewed plenty of experts on Plants Always Win who’ve mastered everything from groundcovers to home hydroponics, but every so often we like to bring you a less experienced guest who is already skilled in one crucial area: gardening with joyful abandon.In their day job, Chris Paul Rainbows is a speaker and strategist who helps organizations create spaces where everyone belongs. In their own space at home, Chris has tapped into the joy that 80s and 90s children’s television once brought them, designing whimsical gardens inspired by Polkadot Door, Mr. Dressup, Sesame Street, and more. They take us back to the urban-farm inspiration that led them to buy their current home, and the transformation it has undergone with chickens, rabbits, and a surprise pumpkin patch that led to some heartwarming community building. Community, gardening, and cultivating joy are inextricable subjects for Chris, who is an activist for queer and trans visibility. We talk hostas, native plants, managing invasive bindweed, and Chris’ upcoming debut book for 2026, Guinea Pigs Don’t Wear Pants. Now come on into the pumpkin patch through the Polkadot Door and remind yourself just how FUN gardening can be. Find Chris Paul Rainbows Onlineat their website, where you can also find information about Chris’ upcoming picture book, Guinea Pigs Don’t Wear Pants: https://www.chrispaulrainbows.com/ (https://www.chrispaulrainbows.com/) on TikTok: tiktok.com/@chrispaulrainbows (http://tiktok.com/@chrispaulrainbows)on Instagram: instagram.com/chrispaulrainbows/ (http://instagram.com/chrispaulrainbows/)on YouTube: youtube.com/@chrispaulrainbows (http://youtube.com/@chrispaulrainbows) on Facebook: facebook.

Are you finding yourself thirsty for a little soda pop this summer? How about for some botanical knowledge about soda pop’s history?In this plant face-off episode, Erin and Sean put some fizz into the competition with the plants behind two iconic flavours: the cola nut that gives cola its kick, and the sassafras that puts the root in root beer. Or, at least, the plants that did serve those roles before the advent of artificial flavouring. Erin takes the first swig with a dramatic overview of the North American Sassafras albidum, an aromatic tree with a long history of use for medicine, food, furniture, and one nautical beverage that almost saw it hunted to extinction. She peers into the muddy waters surrounding its first use in root beer and, later, its controversial ban by the FDA, speculates about Choctaw influence on its use in gumbo, and delights over the Kanien’kéha (Mohawk) name, wenhákeras, meaning “smelly thing.”  Sean takes his kick at the can with the cola nut, the key ingredient behind the flavour and caffeine of cola beverages. He discusses the flavourful Malvaceae family tree of the West African cola tree (also spelled kola) (Cola nitida and Cola acuminata) and its surprising identity as a broad-leaf evergreen before serving up some knowledge about the fruit’s growing habits and its cultural history as a stimulant and a beverage ingredient. After some medical meanderings and a look at modern-day distribution, we wrap up Coca-Cola origins and its present-day ingredients.Who had the most interesting facts to share today? Vote for your favourite by tagging us on social media and using the hashtag #PAWFaceOff. Comments? Feedback? Want your garden question to be featured in a future Q&A segment? Email us (mailto:plantsalwaysinpodcast@gmail.com), reach out over social media, or get Q&A priority by supporting us on Patreon (http://patreon.com/PlantsAlwaysWinPodcast). Discord: https://discord.gg/K6wF9dY4Ja (https://discord.gg/K6wF9dY4Ja) Bluesky: @plantsalwayswin.com (https://bsky.app/profile/plantsalwayswin.com)

This week we’re celebrating the difference that can be made when a regional government supports its people and businesses in taking climate action. Get inspired by impactful local initiati...

This week we talk about the activism embedded in native plant gardening and the creation of pollinator habitat with Lorraine Johnson.Lorraine styles herself as a “cultivation activist”. It’s a term she came up with to describe the common purpose at the intersection of everything she does, from writing books to giving talks to supporting the fight against harmful grass and weed bylaws. This episode is for anyone who:* feels guilt or overwhelm when they think about gardening, native plants, and invasive species* feels anger or frustration about garden centres promoting invasive plants* needs tools and resources to fight bylaws that make it hard to grow ecologically responsible gardens (even in cities that have signed pollinator pledges and are investing in flood protection!)* wants to feel re-energized about the value of gardening as activismYou can find Lorraine online at https://lorrainejohnson.ca (https://lorrainejohnson.ca/), where she shares her bibliography, her presentation topics, a blog with lots of updates on native-plant advocacy, and a (sometimes up-to-date) list of upcoming events where she’ll be presenting. Here are the resources Lorraine shared for bylaw advocacy:Network of Nature’s interactive map for finding a native plant nursery near you: https://networkofnature.org/where-to-buy.htm/ (https://networkofnature.org/where-to-buy.htm/) Ecological Design Lab’s Bylaws for Biodiversity toolkit for municipalities: https://ecologicaldesignlab.ca/site/uploads/2024/07/EDL_Bylaws-Biodiversity_ToolkitforMunicipalities.pdf (https://ecologicaldesignlab.ca/site/uploads/2024/07/EDL_Bylaws-Biodiversity_ToolkitforMunicipalities.pdf)The David Suzuki Foundation Action Alert Bylaw toolhttps://davidsuzuki.org/action/bylaws-for-biodiversity/ (https://davidsuzuki.org/action/bylaws-for-biodiversity/) The 1000 Islands Master Gardeners’ post about the Kingston, Ontario bylaw reform on which they collaborated: https://1000islandsmastergardeners.ca/2024/07/29/prohibited-plants-in-kingstons-new-bylaw/ (https://1000islandsmastergardeners.ca/2024/07/29/prohibited-plants-in-kingstons-new-bylaw/)A news story about Kyla Moore’s advocacy on Thunder Bay, Ontario’s bylaw change: https://www.tbnewswatch.

It’s Part II of the nightshade party!Sean and Erin plunge back in with tomatoes and peppers, covering cultural hi...

In this shady plant face-off, Sean and Erin explore two of the gardening world’s favourite nightshades: tomatoes and peppers. Both are members of the family Solanaceae, and have plenty of traits in common, so rather than splitting the episode in half our two hosts try a livelier approach this week, passing the stage back and forth to talk about their chosen plant’s botany, etymology, growing habits, and pest and disease management. Prepare for a wealth of interesting information (did you know the Spanish word for tomato references an old belief in their aphrodisiac qualities?) alongside practical gardening tips (make sure you don’t feed your pepper plant too late in the season). And what about our other usual categories of cultural history, culinary and medical uses, and fascinating facts? Well, there’s just so much to say about these delicious horticultural staples that you’ll have to tune in next week to hear the rest. Comments? Feedback? Want your garden question to be featured in a future Q&A segment? Email us, reach out over social media, or get Q&A priority by supporting us on Patreon. Discord: https://discord.gg/K6wF9dY4Ja Bluesky: @plantsalwayswin.com TikTok: @plantsalwayswinpodcast YouTube: @plantsalwayswinpodcastWebsite: www.plantsalwayswin.com CreditsWebsite Design and Illustration by Sophia AlladinIntro and Outro Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/soundroll/when-my-ukulele-playsLicense code: GWOIMMBAS15FG6PHCitationsTomato overview and etymologySolanum lycopersicum (Tomato, Tomatoes). (n.d.). North Carolina Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox. https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/solanum-lycopersicum/#:~:text=The%20genus%20name%2C%20Solanum%2C%20is,when%20they%20came%20to%20EuropeA History of TomatoesThe University of Vermont. (n.d.). A History of Tomatoes. University of Vermont Extension. https://www.uvm.edu/extension/news/history-tomatoes#:~:text=Tomatoes%20have%20undergone%20centuries%20of,Andes%20of%20western%20South%20America Heirloom VegetablesHeirloom vegetables. (n.d.). Wisconsin Horticulture. https://hort.extension.wisc.edu/articles/heirloom-vegetables/ Adventitious Roots on TomatoesGrant, A. (2021, June 19). Bumpy tomato stems: Learn about white growths on tomato plants. Gardening Know How. https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/vegetables/tomato/white-growths-on-tomato-plants.

Smart hydroponics pioneer Jennifer Holston grows a living pantry in her home through all seasons. And so can you. When most of us hear the word “hydroponics,” we picture sprawling operations in a warehouse or basement, possibly constructed from home-drilled PVC pipes and buckets. We might also have a very specific idea of the kind of plants that are grown hydroponically. But over the last decade, attractive, compact, and easy-to-use home-scale hydroponic systems have become available. This week’s guest, Jennifer Holston, was an early adopter and she uses her bookshelf-sized indoor garden to grow everything from the expected herbs and lettuce to tomatoes, cucumbers, and even an experimental pumpkin. Jennifer wants everyone to feel comfortable embracing hydroponic gardening—not necessarily as a replacement for growing plants in soil, but as a complement to it. She explains how the technology in today’s hydroponic systems (including AI features in some) has taught her to be more sensitive to her plants’ needs, and how this kind of gardening is both surprisingly sustainable and prodigiously productive. The conversation addresses nutrient management, plant care, disease prevention, maintenance, and resources where listeners can learn more (see below for that list). Jennifer is working on the first comprehensive book for home hydroponic gardeners, Arable: Modern Indoor Hydroponics to Sustain and Fulfill (coming in 2026). Stay tuned for announcements (and read Jennifer’s blog posts) on her website at www.Gardening-anywhere.com (http://www.gardening-anywhere.com/).You can also find Jennifer on social media:Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GardeningAnywhere (https://www.facebook.com/GardeningAnywhere)Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gardeninganywhere (https://www.instagram.com/gardeninganywhere)Online ResourcesCornell University—Agriculture and Life Sciences, www.greenhouse.cornell.edu (http://www.greenhouse.cornell.edu) University of Arizona—www.ag.arizona.edu/hydroponic (http://www.ag.arizona.edu/hydroponic) U.S. Department of Agriculture—www.usda.gov (http://www.usda.gov) National Library of Medicine (search here for studies about hydroponics)—

We’re berry excited for this extra delicious plant face-off. In this week’s shrub showdown, our hosts go head to head with serviceberries and haskaps. Sean represents the former, a member of the Amelanchier genus also known as saskatoons, juneberries, and shadbushes, among other names. With cocky confidence of a guaranteed win, he extols their hardiness (down to zone 1!), their robust hybridization, and their independence when it comes to fertilization. Who needs a pollenizer? Not serviceberry! Sometimes they don’t even need pollinators. With tangents into breeding seedless fruits and food-as-medicine research, we savour serviceberry’s taste, versatility, abundance, ecosystem benefits, and ability to thrive across North America.Erin swings in second with haskaps, a relatively new fruit on the commercial block. She tells us about breeding programs in near-polar regions around the world that are crossing varieties from Canada, Russia, and Japan for taste and resilience. While haskaps do need pollenizers to set fruit, Erin argues for their ease of care, their long lives, and their bountiful all-at-once harvests. The conversation delves into humane ways of bird-proofing berry crops, the perils of “superfood” marketing, and the fragility of fruit trees that bloom too soon. Haskap blossoms, by the way, can survive a -7 C frost. Who made you want to grow their berry of choice in your own garden? Vote for your favourite by tagging us on social media and using the hashtag #PAWFaceOff. CitationsServiceberry Species in OntarioMuma, W. (n.d.). Serviceberries Group. Ontario Trees and Shrubs. https://ontariotrees.com/main/group.php?id=81 (https://ontariotrees.com/main/group.php?id=81)The Downy Serviceberry TreeTree Canada, Arbres Canada. (2017, August 6). Downy serviceberry (Amelanchier arborea) - Tree Canada. Tree Canada. https://treecanada.ca/resources/trees-of-canada/downy-serviceberry-amelanchier-arborea/ (https://treecanada.ca/resources/trees-of-canada/downy-serviceberry-amelanchier-arborea/) The cultivar “Altaglow”, a dwarf Saskatoon, is hardy to zone 1Mahr, S. (n.d.). Serviceberry, Amelanchier spp. Wisconsin Horticulture. https://hort.extension.wisc.edu/articles/serviceberry-amelanchier-spp/ (https://hort.extension.wisc.edu/articles/serviceberry-amelanchier-spp/)

Cole Imperi is known for her trailblazing work in thanatology, the study of death, dying and grief. But she’s also a master gardener: someone who helps others learn how to make life flouri...

Every spring, the gardening and sustainability side of the internet explodes with posts: Practice No Mow May! Let your lawn bloom! Support pollinators! But does a lawn and garden initiative begun in the UK have the same environmental impact in North America? That’s the subject under scrutiny in this episode as we examine whether well-meaning horticulture advice can be exported around the world. This week, Sean comes armed with research while Erin is equipped with curiosity. Is practicing No Mow May in Ontario helpful, harmful, or neutral? Does a lawn full of imported dandelions somehow hinder our pollinators? What native plants should they be visiting in spring? Sean shares the history of the No Mow May initiative, the research that has been undertaken in recent years, and the nuance needed to consider non-pollinating insects as well. And of course our hosts both make sure to send you on your way equipped with ideas for lawn care and landscaping that really do result in healthy soil and thriving wildlife and insects for your Ontario garden. Comments? Feedback? Want your garden question to be featured in a future Q&A segment? Email us (mailto:plantsalwaysinpodcast@gmail.com), reach out over social media, or get Q&A priority by supporting us on Patreon (http://patreon.com/PlantsAlwaysWinPodcast). Discord: https://discord.gg/K6wF9dY4Ja (https://discord.gg/K6wF9dY4Ja) Bluesky: @plantsalwayswin.com (https://bsky.app/profile/plantsalwayswin.com) TikTok: @plantsalwayswinpodcast (https://www.tiktok.com/@plantsalwayswinpodcast) YouTube: @plantsalwayswinpodcast (https://www.youtube.com/@PlantsAlwaysWinPodcast)Website: www.plantsalwayswin.com (http://www.plantsalwayswin.com) CreditsWebsite Design and Illustration by Sophia AlladinIntro and Outro Music

Have you ever wanted to go a step beyond organic gardening and buzzword-y sustainable practices? To grow food, flowers, community, and even society in relationship with the land? This week’s guest, Debby Ward of Prior Unity Garden, helps her clients and students do just that in their own yards. This week she joins Erin to talk about two systems she draws on in her work: permaculture and biodynamics.Debby shares her own journey in organic gardening and her mission to help clients understand their gardens, not just to maintain them. She and Erin compare notes on the principles of permaculture (Observe and interact! Use small, slow changes! Stack functions!) and the ethics that underpin it (earth care, people care, fair share). Then Debby introduces Erin to biodynamics, another holistic approach to food production that seeks to marry the scientific and the spiritual. The conversation emphasizes the debt owed to Indigenous ways of knowing, the interconnectedness of gardening practices, and the importance of building community relationships with both the human and the more-than-human worlds.Debby offers courses, coaching, blog posts, and resources a-plenty at her website: https://priorunitygarden.blog/ (https://priorunitygarden.blog/)You can also find her on social media: Pinterest: https://ca.pinterest.com/priorunitygarden/ (https://ca.pinterest.com/priorunitygarden/) YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8PXaUp3Y5_8QXmu4Wt2vKQ (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8PXaUp3Y5_8QXmu4Wt2vKQ) Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/priorunitygarden/?ref=embed_page# (https://www.facebook.com/priorunitygarden/?ref=embed_page#)Comments? Feedback? Want your garden question to be featured in a future Q&A segment? Email us (mailto:plantsalwaysinpodcast@gmail.com), reach out over social media, or get Q&A priority by supporting us on Patreon (http://patreon.com/PlantsAlwaysWinPodcast). Discord: https://discord.gg/K6wF9dY4Ja (https://discord.gg/K6wF9dY4Ja) Bluesky: @plantsalwayswin.com (https://bsky.app/profile/plantsalwayswin.com) 

How much expertise does a children’s author need to write about monarch butterflies? In this episode, we find out.It’s a special show for a special day. Our co-host Erin Alladin is launching her second picture book, Wait Like a Seed, and we’re testing just how much research she did….and how much she retained. Wait Like a Seed uses the relationship between monarch butterflies and milkweed to teach kids the life cycle of a seed, and at the back of the book are nine extra pages of information about both monarchs and milkweed. We know from Episode 6: Milkweed vs. Beardtongue (https://www.plantsalwayswin.com/podcast/episode/52e02fa2/ep6-milkweed-vs-beardtongue) that she knows her stuff on asclepias. But what about Danaus plexxipus? Sean comes in hot with some challenging questions from his young daughter (How do monarchs fly so far?). “How long do monarchs live” is a trick question, but Erin is ready for it. The conversation wings its way through life cycles (egg, larva, pupa, adult), migration (incredible), and the threats they face (numerous). If you’d like to help monarchs in your own garden, community, or region, Erin and Sean tell you how to grow a butterfly garden, join a conservation initiative, and access excellent resources online.  For more information about Wait Like a Seed, contact your local bookstore or visit https://pajamapress.ca/book/wait-like-a-seed/ (https://pajamapress.ca/book/wait-like-a-seed/). You might also enjoy Erin’s previous picture book, Outside, You Notice: https://pajamapress.ca/book/outside-you-notice/ (https://pajamapress.ca/book/outside-you-notice/).  Find information about Erin’s life as an author, editor, and presenter (she does great nature-based school visits!) at https://erin-alladin.com/ (https://erin-alladin.com/). Follow her on social media:TikTok (Gardening account):

Susie of Stoned Affection is a practicing entomologist who has been raising moths and butterflies—and raising awareness of them—since 2014. She als...