We all want eye-catching plants—but we also want (and need) plants with a purpose.Ken and I invite you to a free webinar showcasing the real standouts they recommend that combine both form and function in sometimes unexpected ways.To just
21.07.2023 - 22:09 / awaytogarden.com / Ken Druse
THEY’RE THE garden’s biggest residents, relative space-hogs who also dictate a lot of what goes on with the patterns of light and shade. I’m talking about trees. Ken Druse and I named some names of favorites, our desert-island trees, if you will—the ones we can’t imagine gardening without.You probably knew it when you heard us try to narrow down our lists of desert-island shrubs a month or two ago on the podcast, that trees would be next. Special ones, like Ken’s ‘Morioka Weeping’ katsura, above.
You all know Ken, great gardener, great friend of many years, and author and photographer of 20 great gardening books.
Plus: Just for fun, I’m going to give away a copy of “A Way to Garden,” my 2019 book. Enter the giveaway by commenting in the box at the bottom of the page.
Read along as you listen to the December 28, 2020 edition of my public-radio show and podcast using the player below. You can subscribe to all future editions on Apple Podcasts (iTunes) or Spotify or Stitcher (and browse my archive of podcasts here).
trees to love, with ken druseMargaret Roach: Shrubs versus trees: We did shrubs last time, both are woody plants, they’re a little bit different, but there’s not this precise difference. It has more to do with, it has a trunk a certain amount of the way up before it branches out into other stems. Is that the idea of tree versus shrub?
Ken Druse: Versus shrub, sure. It can be [broadleaf] evergreen, or it can be needled evergreen, or it could be deciduous, losing its leaves in the Fall.
Margaret: Yeah. I have two trees among my favorite trees that are shrubs. [Laughter.] Oh, well, never mind-
Ken: [Laughter.] I know just what you mean.
Margaret: …sorry, I just screwed the whole thing up. The native Eastern white pine,
We all want eye-catching plants—but we also want (and need) plants with a purpose.Ken and I invite you to a free webinar showcasing the real standouts they recommend that combine both form and function in sometimes unexpected ways.To just
Like a carefully crafted sentence, the garden needs proper punctuation to read well, and clearly convey what’s going on. On the November 28, 2016 edition of my public-radio show and podcast, Ken and I discussed design challenges that these tall and narrow things answer; the technical difference between the columnar and fastigiate plants; and some of his favorites.Read along as you listen to the Nov. 28, 2016 edition of my public-radio show and podcast using the player below. You can subscribe to all future editions on iTunes or Stitcher (and browse my archive of podcasts here).columnar tree and shrub q&a with ken druseQ. You got me thinking on our phone call the other morning—we were talking about earthworms and all these other crazy things…A. [Laughter.]Q. …and then you started talking abo
The selection is unlike in the early 1990s, when Ken published his first big shade-garden book and most people knew maybe two, hostas and astibles. Then, gardeners cursed shady areas of their yards as a liability to be eliminated instead of a refuge to be celebrated and expanded upon.Ken has been called the “guru of natural gardening” by “The New York Times,” but I just call him my old friend and the longtime master of the shade, and I’m was glad to welcome him back to my public-radio program to talk about making gardens in th
In Part 2 (transcript at this link coming shortly) we tackled powdery mildew prevention and aftercare, and what to do when an abundance of roly-poly or sowbugs and pillbugs has descended on the garden. Should you use copper-based fungicides against tomato blight—and what to do after an infestation by the garlic bloat nematode?Ken, of Ken Druse dot com, is a longtime garden writer, author and photographer and all-around great gardener—and great friend. If you have a question for a future show, you can submit it in the comments on either of our websites, or use the contact form to send us an email from either site, or ask us on
And like the Postal Service, we did so despite the weather, each of us snowed in at our respective homes, unable to reach the radio studio (where it was also likewise a whiteout) therefore recording via a less-than-ideal remote hookup. Forgive the audio hiccups; a consequence of our weather workaround.This episode is the second of Ken Druse’s and my promised monthly reader Q&A series. Submit a question for a future show on Facebook, in the comments on this post, or in the contact form here, too.I could best describe Ken as my kooky old friend from whom I have learned much about plants over the years…but here’s the formal version: Ken, an award-winning garden photographer and author of more books
And extra good news: For those subscribing or listening to the podcast version instead of ion live radio, each month’s Q&A show will be longer than a normal broadcast—like a doubleheader with bonus minutes, so we can get to even more of your questions if you subscribe free on Stitcher or iTunes. Part 2 of the first call-in program—where we talked more about peas, and took questions on gardening under black walnuts, growing strawberries in pots, and badly pruned hydrangeas, is at this link.Ken, an award-winning garden photographer and author of more books than I can count, including “The New Shade Garden” and “Making More Plants,” produced his own “Real Dirt” podcast for 10 years, until summer 2016. The Real Dirt podcast archive and much more from Ken is available on the newly re-launched website KenDruse dot com…and is still
Thanks for submitting lots of good Urgent Garden Questions this month to me and Ken. You can always ask us anything, urgent or otherwise, on Facebook, or in comments on this website, or using the contact form here or on Ken Druse dot com.Plus: We’re giving away a copy of Ken’s book “Making More Plants.” See details for entering at the bottom of the page.ligustrumRead along as you listen to the Jan. 29, 2018 edition of my public-radio show and podcast using the player below. You can subscribe to all future editions on iTunes or S
When everyone else is headed to work at 7:30 AM or so, Ken‘s done with his morning shoot session—and doesn’t head back outside until late afternoon. It’s all about chasing that good, subdued, light.“White flowers disappear in the sun—and the greens all gets ‘black,’” he explains.” But besides the technical solutions Ken pursues, “I want to communicate the feeling of the place,” Ken says, “to explain in each image, ‘What does this place feel like?’”q&a on photography with ken druseQ. Let’s talk gear for a minute: In the days of film, I know you used to travel with an outfit of six or s
You can ask us anything, urgent or otherwise, on Facebook, or in comments on this website or on Ken Druse dot com, or by using the contact form on either one of our websites.Read along as you listen to the February 19, 2018 edition of my public-radio show and podcast using the player below. You can subscribe to all future editions on iTunes or Stitcher (and browse my archive of podcasts here).q&a with ken drusehow soon to start the cleanup?Q. Fro
(Spoiler alert: probably not the sexiest stuff, but it’s what we really rely on.)Garden writer Ken Druse is author most recently of “The Scentual Garden,” a big, beautiful book about fragrant plants. Besides top tools, we also gave a sneak peek about some of the promises we made to ourselves as we put the garden to bed—what we’ll do differently next year, our early resolutions.Read along as you listen to the December 9, 2019 edition of my public-radio show and podcast usi
My longtime friend Ken, an award-winning garden photographer and author of many books, including “The New Shade Garden” and “Making More Plants,” produced his own “Real Dirt” podcast for 10 years, all available on KenDruse dot com.Read along as you listen to the May 15, 2107 edition of my public-radio show and podcast using the player below. You can subscribe to all future editions on iTunes or Stitcher (and browse my archive of podcasts here).The May show is a doubleheader; this transcript is the “overtime” segment, starting at about 24 minutes into the audio file, and Part 1’s transcript is at this other link, including how to work around wet spring so
I’ve rounded up some of the best to tackle in the monthly Q&A segment with help from my friend Ken Druse. Ken, an award-winning garden photographer and author of more books than I can count, including “The New Shade Garden” and “Making More Plants,” produced his own “Real Dirt” podcast for 10 years, all available on KenDruse dot com (and still available on iTunes, too).Read along as you listen to the March 6, 2107 edition of my public-radio show and podcast using the player below. You can subscribe to all future editions on iTunes or Stitcher (and browse my archive of podcasts here). This is the second segment of the March Q&A program—find the first