The Gloves are Coming Off
Introducing Hothouse, a new podcast about design, ecology, and the way we garden now. Hosted by Leah Churner, a landscape designer in Austin, Texas, Hothouse is a meeting of the minds for plant people...
View ArticleGardening is a Political Act | Colleen Dieter
Welcome to the first episode of Hothouse, a podcast about design, ecology, and the way we garden now. Join your host, Leah Churner, as she sits down with organic gardening aficionado Colleen Dieter of...
View ArticleHealing Spaces | Jenny Peterson, The Cancer Survivor's Garden Companion
Join your host, Leah Churner, as she sits down with Jenny Peterson, author of The Cancer Survivor's Garden Companion (St. Lynn's Press, 2016) to talk about the therapeutic power of gardening. As a...
View ArticleMyths and Misconceptions | Linda Lehmusvirta
Leah sits down with Linda Lehmusvirta, the producer of KLRU’s Central Texas Gardener, to find out what goes on behind the scenes of this long-running, award-winning public television show. Linda’s been...
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Fungal Vision | Daniel Reyes
On this episode, we venture into the strange and mysterious kingdom of fungi. Join Leah as she sits down to talk mushrooms with mycologist Daniel Reyes, the founder of MycoAlliance, a science and...
View ArticleFrom Amaranth to Zinnias | Farmer-Florist Gretchen O'Neil
Farmer-florist Gretchen O'Neil dishes the dirt on growing cut flowers. Gretchen is the founder of Petals, Ink, a floral design studio, mobile flower truck, and women-run farm in Manor, Texas. She'll...
View ArticleConservation & Identity | Park Ranger LaJuan Tucker
On this episode, we'll examine the relationship between natural history and social history. Join Leah as she sits down with park ranger LaJuan Tucker to talk about the conservation of urban wildlife,...
View ArticleNothing Natural About Capitalism (Part 1 of 2)
Capitalism: Can't live with it, can't live without it! Or can we? And what is the connection between capitalism and what we eat, how we work, and who bears the impacts of climate change? For a lot of...
View ArticleNothing Natural About Capitalism (Part 2 of 2) with Ryan Rosshirt
In Part 2 of the series “Nothing Natural About Capitalism,” Leah talks to Austin-based activist Ryan Rosshirt about permaculture design and the challenge of building a society that supports meaningful...
View ArticleGone to Seed | Colleen Dieter
Colleen Dieter, co-founder of the the Central Texas Seed Library, talks about how saving, swapping, and sharing seeds can help us build community, reclaim lost agricultural knowledge, and preserve...
View ArticleHouseplant Confidential with Jane Perrone
On this episode, we’re taking an intimate look at the the most domesticated plants of all: houseplants. My guest, Jane Perrone, is a London-based journalist and the host-producer of the indoor...
View ArticleHothouse Season 2 Preview
The upcoming season of Hothouse is devoted to climate change. I'll be talking to activists, artists, farmers, and journalists about the new normal that we face in 2019. How is climate change already...
View ArticleIntroducing The Horticulturati: New episode Feb 7!
Hi Hothouse listeners! Hothouse Season 2 is still in the works, but guess what! I'm launching a spinoff podcast: The Horticulturati! The Horticulturati is a biweekly gardening talkshow I'm cohosting...
View ArticleThe Horticulturati: Xeriscape and the Hundredth Meridian
Shake off those umbrellas! On episode 2 of The Horticulturati, Austin-based garden designers Colleen Dieter and Leah Churner discuss Central Texas’ mercurial climate. Specifically, the rain. And the...
View ArticleThe Horticulturati: Time-Lapse Photography & Arboriculture
How did the invention of time-lapse photography revolutionize our understanding of plants? Leah checks in with Charles Darwin and Barbara Streisand on this subject. Colleen explains how to get...
View ArticleThe Horticulturati: Music & Plants
Best wishes to everyone! Here is a little plantastic escapism to entertain you. [We recorded this episode on 2/28 and added a little corona check-in intro on 3/21. Episode begins around 4:19.] Can...
View ArticleHorticulturati: Metamorphosis & Victory Gardens
On this Horticulturati, we bring you stories of adaptation and change. Leah has been studying up on butterfly holometabolism -- that is, complete metamorphosis -- with assistance from her niece,...
View ArticleThe Horticulturati: Crap(e) Myrtles & Cushaw Squash
Hothouse is returning from hiatus! From here on out this podcast feed will be all Hothouse, so if you want to keep hearing The Horticulturati, please subscribe to that feed HERE (for Apple Podcasts) or...
View ArticleThe Horticulturati: Armadillos!
Turtle rabbit. Shell possum. Roadkill. Whatever you call it, the nine-banded armadillo is a mysterious, ancient, and unfairly maligned mammal. Find out everything you ever wanted to know (and more)...
View ArticleHorticulturati: Garden Design
On this mega-episode of the Horticulturati, we’re tackling garden design--our approaches, our anxieties, and our gripes about “expert” sources of mystifying advice and misleading photography. Garden...
View ArticleThe Horticulturati: Five Seasons Total Landscaping
Autumn has come to Texas at long last! To celebrate, we watched the documentary Five Seasons: The Gardens of Piet Oudolf (2017) by Thomas Piper, and we're now officially card-carrying Piet stans...
View ArticleHorticulturati: Thawing Out
On this Horticulturati, we return from hiatus with tales of the Snowpocalypse -- or Snowmageddon, Snowvid, whatever you want to call it -- to document the record-breaking winter weather that broke...
View ArticleThe Horticulturati: Owl Hours
Springtime is owl time. Owlets be hatching. Fledglings be fledging. Owl cams be streaming. Enter, with us, the kingdom of the night, as we celebrate these mysterious and beautiful birds. Drop us a...
View ArticleBeyond Permaculture with Cassiopeia Farm
Welcome to Hothouse Season 2! If you follow any flower farmers on Instagram, the romance may be all too tempting: picture yourself quitting the city, fixing up an old farmhouse, and spending your days...
View ArticleHorticulturati: Gardener's Guide to Honeybees (Part I of II)
Enter the hive with us for another classic critter topic: BEES! We recorded so much on bees that we have to split this bee-nanza into a two-parter! In part one, Leah suits up for a tour at Two Hives...
View ArticleHorticulturati: A Gardener's Guide to Honeybees (Part 2)
At long last, here's the second installment of our bee-stravaganza! Leah interviews beekeeper Tara Chapman, owner of Two Hives Honey, about the intricate connection between bees, plants, and weather....
View ArticleHorticulturati: Cleveland and the Cuyahoga River Fires
Fresh off a hometown visit to Cleveland, Colleen brings us the story of the Cuyahoga: a river once so polluted with industrial sludge, it burned. At least thirteen times. While the largest and most...
View ArticleHorticulturati: Dividing & Multiplying Plants
When you have too many plants, it's time to make more! That's gardener logic for you. Fall is a great time to divide perennials and save seeds - but how? We dig into these methods of backyard...
View ArticleHorticulturati: Garden Design Part II
A year ago, we recorded a long and rambly episode on garden design. Now we're making it an October tradition! Revisiting the subject, we realize our approaches to design have changed, but we're still...
View ArticleHorticulturati: Growing a Vision with Barton Springs Nursery
If you have a passion for plants, you probably love plant shopping. Our local garden centers are more than just a place to source nursery stock; they’re a designer’s trove of botanical information and...
View ArticleHorticulturati: Designing for Maintenance & "The Soul of a Farmer"
Happy New Year! We’re back from vacation with a discussion of a book that is very much in the Horticulturati wheelhouse, The Know Maintenance Perennial Garden. Author Roy Diblik, a Wisconsin-based...
View ArticleHorticulturati: Botanical Horror!
The Horticulturati is two years old! To celebrate, Colleen announces the release of her new BOOK and Leah brings you to the dark side of the plant kingdom with sinister tales of the horticultural...
View ArticleHorticulturati: Pocket Prairies with John Hart Asher
We sat down at the picnic table with John Hart Asher, host of Central Texas Gardener and Cofounder/Senior Environmental Designer at Blackland Collaborative to talk about pocket prairies. What’s a...
View ArticleHorticulturati: Conservation Design
On this episode, we dive into ecologist Douglas Tallamy's books Nature's Best Hope (2019) and The Living Landscape (2014, with Rick Darke). Tallamy's work takes native plant gardening and wildlife...
View ArticleHorticulturati: The Full Monty Don
We're back with a salute to Monty Don, beloved British gardening expert, author, and fashion icon, whose infectious passion for plants is boosting our spirits through this bummer summer. Though little...
View ArticleHorticulturati: Humble History of the Flowerpot
In this episode, Colleen unearths as much as she can about the largely unwritten history of plant pots. When did humans start growing plants in containers? How did innovations in materials and...
View ArticleSeed Swap!
Attention plant lovers! Central Texas Seed Savers is hosting a Seed Swap at the Austin Central Library (710 W. Cesar Chavez St) on Saturday, October 29 from 11-1pm. This event is free and open to the...
View ArticleHorticulturati: Thorny Common Names
A rose by any other name would smell as sweet, but some of the common names we use for plants downright stink! In this episode, we're diving into problematic colloquial names. Some common names are...
View ArticleHorticulturati: The Art of Graphics with Lisa Nunamaker and Amy Fedele
In this roundtable, we talk about drafting and drawing with Lisa Nunamaker, of Paper Garden Workshop, and Amy Fedele, of Pretty Purple Door, two fabulous garden educators who offer online courses in...
View ArticleHorticulturati: Fruit Tree Care with Susan Poizner
"Fruit trees need hands-on care." That's the motto of our guest, Susan Poizner of OrchardPeople.com. Susan is an urban orchardist, teacher, journalist, and filmmaker. She is the author of Growing Urban...
View ArticleHorticulturati: The Multilayered Magic of Sheet Mulch
On this episode, we’re gettin’ down and dirty with sheet mulch. Sheet mulching is a no-till, no-dig gardening practice of removing unwanted vegetation and building fertile soil by layering organic...
View ArticleHorticulturati: The Phosphorus Paradox (Part 1)
On this episode, we’re tackling Phosphorus – an element, crucial to life on earth, which exists in both abundance and scarcity. We cover how humans got hooked on P fertilizers, the political and...
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