Our Plant Stories

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Our Plant Stories

A podcast that digs into the stories that plants tell us about people and places.

25/09/2026

I have had the most lovely day today recording a future episode of the podcast Kew Gardens

I learned so much from a conversation with Hélèna from the Kew Kitchen garden and Catrina Fenton head of the Heritage Seed library Garden Organic UK

We talked about seeds and stories, maggots and bees and quite a lot inbetween. Back in June we had to postpone this talk, part of Kew’s Community Open Week because of the heatwave. So big thanks to Jane Rogers, the Community Horticultural co-ordinator for getting us together today.

And also had a lovely wander around the Henry Moore exhibition that is currently in the gardens.

At the moment I am recording for the 5th series of the podcast but if in the meantime you would like to hear some plant stories then there are about 80 of them, sitting on all the podcast apps or my website - ourplantstories.com

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23/09/2026

It’s the Autumn equinox …when gardener’s minds turn to Spring! 🤣

A friend messaged me yesterday saying
“Best place for tulip bulbs”?
I replied:
“Anywhere the squirrel’s can’t get them”!

Then I realised that wasn’t the question!

If you would like to win some bulbs then read on!

Taylors Bulbs where I went for the podcast, to see how they harvest daffodil bulbs, have kindly offered some of their bulbs as a prize and the only thing you need to do to be eligible for the draw is sign-up to the Plant Postcards newsletter via the Our Plant Stories website.

That’s it! And I’ll draw a name from there, in a week’s time, on the 30th September.

🌼

20/09/2026

It is very exciting that Our Plant Stories has been nominated in the Independent Podcast Awards

Listeners have shared some poignant and beautiful, fascinating and fun plant stories. And if you want to hear some of them (there are about 80!) then just head to any podcast app and search Our Plant Stories or check out the website of the same name.

This is a totally independent podcast and trust me - supporting, sharing, buying ‘a coffee’ for any independent podcast to which you listen means so much to creators.

14/09/2026

One of the first episodes I ever made of the Our Plant Stories podcast was about Fig trees. remembers how every year, he would watch his father, wrap their Fig trees. The trees didn’t cope well with a Boston winter.

The story led us to Mary Menniti with her stories of Fig tree cuttings sewn into the hems of skirts or jackets, as Italians headed to new homes in America.

As I began to make the episode (which you’ll find on any podcast app - it’s Ep 3) I noticed a big Fig tree on my way to the tube station.

But it’s not there anymore…

13/09/2026

I have just been to the wonderful Strawberry Hill Flower Festival. Think sculpture with flowers. It makes you look, really look, at the individual flowers. Sustainable, British grown or foraged with so many of the installations, making us think about our relationship with nature and with the seasons both of nature and of life.

In 2024, I recorded here for the podcast and it was so lovely to see Leigh Chappell again. Demonstrating how she makes a bouquet, so skilled, she told us when it comes to picking and putting flowers together we should all “dance to our own tune” - what a beautiful way to put it.

And if you haven’t visited Strawberry Hill House & Garden, it’s the most extraordinary house - an 18th century gothic house.

02/09/2026

I’ve been looking back at the Spring and Summer episodes of Our Plant Stories podcast.

The people we have met or who have met each other.
The plants we have learned about and the places we have been.

As season 4 of the podcast wraps up, I am turning my thoughts towards season 5, which I will be working on through the Autumn and Winter. I called the podcast Our Plant Stories because I hoped it would be just that - stories given to me by listeners. And it has!

This season, we’ve had Sam’s gooseberries and Paul’s bananas, Liz’s compost and Luke’s harakeke to name just a few.

So if you have a story you would like to share now is a good time to contact me! [email protected].

To keep in touch till we listen again, I can send you a Plant Postcard. Every month a virtual postcard filled with planty things and planty people! .

I am also planning plant giveaways of some of the plants we have learned about in the podcast. To have a chance of winning you just need to sign up to receive the Plant Postcards which you can do via the Our Plant Stories website, link in bio.

With so many thanks to

Sam Longbush Cottage Garden Full Grown - Growing Beautiful Furniture Museum of Homelessness Planting Design Collective Plant Heritage liz elton Jo Lax Oldroyd's Corner Yorkshire CIC Helen Hutchings Cox | Wildlife gardening 🌱 Raymond Evison Clematis

And the others who are not on Instagram, for so generously sharing their plant stories with us.

And yes that is Dame Judy Dench sitting on Gavin and Alice’s chair (Listen to the Chair Farmer episode!) at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show - a bit of a dream come true for them.

27/08/2026

There’s always something special about going back to the places you went as a child, though it wasn’t always as sunny as this!
I know that unlike most of my posts, it’s not about plants 🤣 but being by the sea is one of my favourite places to be.

10/08/2026

Last Friday I visited the new Queen Elizabeth ll garden in Regent’s Park. Noel Kingsbury was explaining how he has put tulip trees into the design. They will be pollarded. The foliage - those beautiful large leaves will compliment the other plants, whilst the tree does not become enormous. I found that fascinating, never having thought of it.

I love tulip trees and I was reminded of sitting beneath a magnificent one in Kew Gardens, listening to Jerry Spencer as he told me his plant story.

Jerry had spent several years homeless, living on the streets. He joined a community gardening project at Kew and when he came across this tree, he immediately remembered its Latin name: Liriodendron tulipifera.

In that moment, he discovered memories buried deep, of being a gardener and coming to Kew because his mum worked in the office.

He’d told his mum before she died, that one day he would come back to Kew but he told me he didn’t really believe it himself and yet now here he is, a volunteer in the community allotment and wearing the Kew uniform.

To hear Jerry’s story, search for Our Plant Stories on any of the podcast apps and look for Jerry’s Tulip tree at Kew or you can find the episode on the podcast website in the bio.

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http://www.ourplantstories.com/

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