Cultivating Place

The International Rescue Committee's New Roots Program-base in Denver & non-profit ReGeneration Now

10 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

This week is a timely and rich with agency conversation on gardens by and for refugee populations. Areti Athanasopoulos is a Denver, Colorado-based la...

Restorative Economics = Flower House Detroit + Detroit Black Farmer Land Fund

03 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Lisa Waud is a collaborative, large-scale floral and installation artist who likes to invite people in to enjoy flowers, and from there into a convers...

Winter Gardens, in conversation with UK based photographer Andrew Montgomery

24 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Deep into the Winter season, with February’s full moon behind us, this week Cultivating Place is in conversation with British-based garden photograp...

Conserving Plant Diversity, with the Nature Conservancy and the Native Plant Trust

17 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Reports from around the globe in the last 25 years about the alarming loss of biodiversity on our planet sit heavily with every gardener I know. With...

Plantlife International, in conversation with CEO Ian Dunn

10 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Plantlife International is a British conservation charity working nationally and internationally to save threatened wild flowers, plants, and fungi. ...

Coming to fruition, Fruition Seeds, with Petra Page-Mann

03 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Coming up on Cultivating Place this week, we’re in conversation with a new generation seed farmer, Petra Page-Mann. Petra is a co-founder with her h...

Larner Seeds for The California Landscape, Judith Larner Lowry

27 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Judith Larner Lowry is the plantswoman behind Larner Seeds – Seeds for the California Landscape – Restoring California One Garden At A Time, found...

BEST OF The Palestine Heirloom Seed Library, Vivien Sansour

20 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

On Cultivating Place this week, as we revisit a Best Of conversation with Vivien Sansour, the heart and head behind The Palestine Heirloom Seed Librar...

Johnny's Selected Seeds, Independent Home and Market Grower Seed Supplier

13 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

As seed catalogues continue to arrive in our mailboxes and in-boxes daily, filling our notebooks and dreams, we take a behind the scenes look at an in...

The Seed Keeper(s), with Diane Wilson

06 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

To welcome the new year, Cultivating Place stays with the theme of seeds – this time focusing on seeding our imaginations in conversation with Diane...

New Year & Brave New Seed, Kellee Matsushita-Tseng

30 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

As a farewell to the calendar year that has been, and a welcome/seeding for the new year that will be, I am joined by seed person and agent of growing...

Conservation of Generosity & Relationships, Gary Paul Nabhan

23 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Gary Paul Nabhan is a gardener, an agricultural ecologist, an ethnobotanist, and an ecumenical Franciscan Brother based in Patagonia, Arizona. He is...

Welcoming Dormancy & Sabbatical, Devorah Brous

16 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Winter in the Northern Hemisphere is a time of dormancy for the plant and animal kingdoms alike. While it may look relatively still and quiet, it is i...

Trophic Cascades with poet & gardener Camille Dungy

09 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

As another offering to all of you in your gardens tending toward the Solstice in just a few weeks on December 21st, this week we are in conversation w...

The Three Tree Geeks of San Francisco & Their #CovidTreeTour

02 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Mike Sullivan is the author of "The trees in San Francisco", Jason Dewees is a horticulturist and author of "Designing with Palms", and Richard Turner...

THANKFUL FOR FARMERS: Matthew Martin, Pyramid Farms

25 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This week I’m thankful for my own garden, of course, but also for the good fresh food grown for all of us by so many hard-working souls wherever you...

Kinship - Belonging in a World of Relations, with Gavin Van Horn & Rowen White

18 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

As a gardener and a human in this exact time on our planet, and in this specific season of the year - a season of communal gathering and thankfulness ...

The Wild Seed Project, with Heather McCargo

11 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Fall and early winter are the perfect time in much of the Northern Hemisphere to plant bulbs, woody shrubs and trees, herbaceous perennials, and peren...

Garden History & Hindsight, The Garden Museum, London with Director Christopher Woodward

04 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Last week on Cultivating Place, we looked at Gardens and history through the lens of a historic Garden Cemetery – this week we look at Garden Histor...

Green & Sacred Space, Historic Mt. Auburn Cemetery

28 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Just in time for Samhain, All Hallow’s Eve, and Day of the Dead observances, this week we explore the sacred, green and communal space of a cemetery...

Growing Flavor Past & Present, Chef Dave Smoke-McCluskey & Corn Mafia

21 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This week on Cultivating Place we’re in delicious conversation with Chef Dave Smoke McCluskey, founder of Corn Mafia, and a grower/producer of such...

The Greenhorns Envisioning A More Fertile Future, with Severine Von Tscharner Fleming

14 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

As we enter the season of seed saving, of easing into dormancy, beginning to consider next season through the lens of the last season, of forward plan...

Gardening in Summer Dry Climates, with photojournalist Saxon Holt

07 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In our second episode focusing on the inspiring beauty of dry gardens and the plants and people who love them, Cultivating Place is joined this week...

High Style, Dry Gardens with Designer Daniel Nolan

30 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

As we near the close of a dry, dry season in the generally dry climates of much of the US west, this week Cultivating Place has the first of a two-epi...

Planting A Bridge For Our World, With Ernesto Alvarado

23 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Ernesto Alvarado is a Mexican-born, Southern California-based native plant and seed teacher and student. He is currently the Native Plant Nursery Assi...

Seasons Of Our Joy, With Rabbi Arthur Waskow

16 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

September, October, and November are traditional harvest celebration months in the Northern Hemisphere from variations on Octoberfests to those around...

Lenses On The Everyday & Seasonally Sacred, With London-Based Artist And Photographer Kristin Perers

09 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

As we tend toward the Autumnal Equinox on September 22nd here in the Northern Hemisphere, we are deep in a period of time full of sacred seasonal cele...

CapRadio Garden @ Sac State's Summer Concert Series, W/ Jennifer Reason & Nicole McDavid

02 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

On Cultivating Place this week we celebrate (and say farewell) to the fullness of summer at its calendar-end with Labor Day weekend in full view here ...

Ecological Lessons From The Human Built, Brooklyn Bridge Park, W/Rebecca McMackin

26 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In our final episode focusing specifically on ecologically rich and contributing gardens, we learn some innovative lessons in built ecology. Literally...

LAWNS INTO MEADOWS, With Owen Wormser

19 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

At a time when our gardens large and small often feel more important than ever, I think our focus on exactly what our gardens contain and consist of i...

The Order Of Energy, A Field Trip To The Regenerative Urban Food Forest Of Matthew Trumm

12 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In the heat of the dog days of summer, Cultivating Place celebrates the farms and gardens striving to not draw down resources but to contribute resour...

The Land Beyond The Trees, The Betty Ford Alpine Gardens in Vail, Colorado

05 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This week on Cultivating Place we continue our high-elevation garden view, now in Vail, Colorado at The Betty Ford Alpine Gardens, leaders in the rese...

Joy & Wonder at (8,000') Elevation - Isa Catto's Mojo Gardens, Woody Creek, CO

29 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This week on Cultivating Place we gain a little perspective with a lot of altitude as we begin a two-part series on 'Gardening at Elevation’. Isa C...

THE OUTSIDER: Botanize Globally, Grow Locally, With The UK's Hannah Gardner

22 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Hannah Gardner is a gardener, writer, and mother. She is a garden designer and plantswoman with a passion for traveling the world to learn about and m...

ADVENTUROUS DESIGN & CIVILIZATION BUILDING, David Godshall TERREMOTO LA

15 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

David Godshall is a landscape architect, gardener, and meta-garden philosopher making his way with his young family and his Terremoto Landscape Archit...

Finding Solace in the Soil, Gardens and Gardeners of the Amache Japanese American Prison Camp

08 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Bonnie J Clark is a professor of anthropology at the University of Denver. Her new book "Finding Solace in the Soil, Archaeology of Gardens and Garden...

Cultivating Intention: Traditional Ecological Knowledge, Ali Meders-Knight, Mechoopda

01 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Ali Meders-Knight is a Mechoopda tribal member whose traditional and present homelands are based in interior Northern California, a mother of five, an...

New Naturalism With Iowa-Based Plantsman, Kelly Norris

24 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

At a time in the gardening world when we're hearing the phrase "ecologically functional gardens" and "ecological landscape design" with great regulari...

Growing Garden Life w/ Jessica Walliser

17 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Jessica Walliser is an avid gardener and professional horticulturist – working in the business of plants and gardening since the tender age of 15. A...

Growing Gently: Honeysuckle & Hilda, The Floral Work Of Claire Bowen, UK

10 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Through the many twists and turns of life, hers including a life-threatening battle with an auto-immune disorder and lung cancer, Claire’s organizin...

Slow Flowers for Summer, with Debra Prinzing

03 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Debra Prinzing is the founder and leader of The Slow Flowers Society – She joins Cultivating Place in this first week of summer (after Memorial Day ...

On Refugia: Growing Connection

27 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Just outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, a team of plant folks known as Refugia is growing connection among places and people from their beautifull...

Fearless Gardening, With The Danger Garden's Loree Bohl

20 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Loree Bohl is the Portland Oregon-based founder and visionary gardener behind the well-known and well-loved Danger Garden Blog. In true Danger Garde...

Being Radicle, A Conversation W/Landscape Architect Christie Green, Santa Fe, NM

13 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This week on Cultivating Place, we have the second of a two-part series celebrating the publication of Under Western Skies in conversation with landsc...

Gardens of Soul, Under Western Skies, with photographer Caitlin Atkinson

06 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

CAITLIN ATKINSON is a photographer of places, spaces, and all things botanical. She has been my partner this past 2 + years in creating our new book U...

Our Hunger, Heartache & Identities Healed In The Vegetable Garden, Claire Ratinon

29 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Claire Ratinon is a gardener, a writer, and a passionate advocate for the growing a food no matter where you live or how small a space you might live ...

Seasonal & Elemental: Calling All Tomatomaniacs, With Scott Daigre

22 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

It’s spring in the northern hemisphere (even though snow is still making visitations to parts of North American right now), and gardeners across the...

In Advance Of California Native Plant Week, A Conversation With CNPS

15 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

April 17 through 24th 2021 is California Native Week, designated by the California State Legislature in 2010 as an annual celebration of the fantastic...

REIMAGINING THE FOODSHED: AMYROSE FOLL, THE VIRGINIA FREE FARM

08 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Amyrose Foll is a mother, a farmer, and a big thinker. As the executive director and founder of the multifaceted Virginia Free Farm at Spotted Pig Hol...

Talking About A Revolution, A Foodscape Revolution With Brie Arthur BEST OF

01 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Just in time for spring and that itch we gardeners - new and long time - have to get the summer vegetables into the ground, Cultivating Place revisit ...

GARDENS IN TIME & SPACE: Laura Ekasetya, Former Director Lurie Garden, Chicago

25 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Having just moved across the seasonal threshold of the Vernal Equinox here in the Northern Hemisphere, this week we continue our focus on land and lan...

The PERFECT EARTH PROJECT: EDWINA VON GAL

18 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Here we are – mid-way into Women’s History Month, one year after the publication of The Earth in Her Hands. In honor of these two thresholds, this...

Balanced Systems Thinking & TEK, with Lorena Gorbet, Maidu Summit Consortium

11 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

As the vernal equinox is imminent for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, a conversation on balance and our importance as humans in the balance of...

Season Extending: In The Garden With Niki Jabbour

04 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

It’s the first week of March and true spring let alone summer is still a ways off for many of us. This week on Cultivating Place, we lean into the l...

Gardener Growing: Uprooted, With Page Dickey

25 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This week on Cultivating Place, we’re back stateside to visit with a longtime gardener and garden writer also engaged in a new level of relationship...

To The Forest, With Midori Shintani And Dan Pearson

18 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

As Lunar New Year celebrations continue, we travel to Hokkaido, a northern Island of Japan to celebrate an amazing intertwining of the wild and cultiv...

LUNAR NEW YEAR, A Conversation With Taiwanese American Plantsman Eric Hsu

11 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

On February 12th, the Lunar New Year begins. Celebrated by Asian cultures across the globe, this week Cultivating Place speaks with Eric Hsu, a plants...

MAKING A LIFE, with MELANIE FALICK BEST OF

04 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This week to welcome February we revisit a favorite conversation from our last season - a good reminder to mind the way you spend your days - added to...

Tu B'Shevat (New Year Of The Trees), With Karen Flotte

28 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This week on Cultivating Place we lean into the spirit of the season and the traditional Jewish festival Tu B’Shevat, or New Year of the Trees in co...

BIG IDEAS and Public Horticulture, MaryLynn Mack, South Coast Botanical Garden SOCAL

21 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

MaryLynn Mack is a renaissance woman and leading voice in the world of public gardens today. After beginning her career in the Navy, her experiences h...

HOMEGROWN HOPE, Doug Tallamy EnVisioning a Homegrown National Park

14 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This week on Cultivating Place, we continue our FRESH STARTS series in conversation with a long established friend in the gardening world, Doug Tallam...

GARDEN FUTURE FORWARD, The Botanic Garden, Tim Johnson & Jamil DePeiza-Kern

07 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

To kick off the new year, Cultivating Place offers out the first in what will be an ongoing and intermittent series exploring Fresh Starts in our hort...

GARDENING OUT LOUD, With Duron Chavis

31 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In honor of the losses, griefs, revisions, and transformations in our world this last year, and in honor of the hopes we all hold in our gardens and o...

GOOD MEDICINE, With Sayaka Lean Of The Herb Pharm

24 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In this first week of winter in the Northern Hemisphere, Cultivating Place speaks this week with medicinal and habitat gardener Sayaka Lean of the Her...

IMAGINE: A Conversation With Amber Tamm

17 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In honor of the Solstice on December 21st, Cultivating Place speaks this week with Brooklyn-born farmer/horticulturist/floral designer, activist, and ...

Something Wild & Composed for Winter, with Hort & Pott

10 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

This week on Cultivating Place we continue our winter greening cheer in conversation with Todd Carr and Carter Harrington of Hort and Pott, a botanica...

A Handful of Gratitude & Fortitude, Teresa Sabankaya "The Posy Book"

03 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

This week Cultivating Place kicks off December with a flourish in conversation with Teresa Sabankaya of the Santa Cruz-based Bonny Doon Garden Company...

Seed Lessons on Transformation, Vivien Sansour & The Palestine Heirloom Seed Library

26 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Join us this week on Cultivating Place for our final episode in the Seed Change series. We are in conversation with Vivien Sansour, heart and head beh...

SEEDBANKING A FLORISTIC PROVINCE II: Cheryl Birker, California Botanic Garden

19 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

This week on Cultivating Place, the third in our 4 part Seed Change series with Cheryl Birker, Seed Conservation Program Manager at California Botanic...

Seed Banking A Floristic Province, Naomi Fraga Of California Botanic Garden

13 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

This week on Cultivating Place, we continue our Seed Change series with Naomi Fraga, research assistant professor of Botany at Claremont Graduate Univ...

SEED CHANGE: Seeds And Their People, Owen Smith Taylor And Chris Bolden-Newsome

05 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

This week on Cultivating Place we continue our Seed Change series - a nod to faith and a vote for the next growing season. We’re joined this week by...

Best Of: Hope Springs - Growing Flowers From Seed, Clare Foster

29 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In this season of colliding urgencies and not infrequent dismay - the garden offers so many lessons. Among the largest of these, brought to you in the...

Beauty & Balance: Southwest High Desert Gardens with Judith Phillips Albuquerque, NM

22 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

This week on Cultivating Place we’re joined by award winning landscape designer Judith Phillips of Albuquerque NM. Her Design Oasis, characterized b...

VIRIDITAS & Attachment Gardening, With Sue Stuart-Smith

15 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

This week on Cultivating Place we speak with British gardener and psychiatrist/psychotherapist Sue Stuart-Smith, whose book, "The Well-Gardened Mind: ...

Tools For Building A Home In This World: Homeless Garden Project - Santa Cruz, CA

08 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

As we continue our exploration into creativity born of the garden –I share with you today a story and model for creativity coupled with kindness. On...

On Creativity: Life In The Studio (& Garden) With Frances Palmer

01 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

This week we kick off October with a dive into creativity – the way gardeners harness it, riff off it, and share its results forward with the larger...

Trusting The Nature Of Our Gardens & Selves, With Camilla Jorvad

24 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Camilla Jorvad is a photographer, a gardener, a mental health and rewilding habitat gardening advocate based on the Danish Island of Aero. Her home-fa...

FOR THE LOVE OF PLANTS, with Horticulturist Wambuii Ippolito

17 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Most gardens, gardeners, and gardening seasons are deeply informed first and foremost by a deep love of PLANTS. Of space, and design, and color, and f...

Sculptura Botanica With Dustin Gimbel

10 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Dustin Gimbel is a landscape designer and large scale outdoor ceramic artist inspired by the botanical world and based in Southern California. In a ne...

Back To School Special: The Little Gardener With Julie Cerny

03 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In this very unusual back-to-school season here in the US, we’re joined this week by Julie Cerny a gardener, an outdoor enthusiast, and educator. He...

Growing Food And Community: Urban Farming Institute, Boston

27 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

This week on Cultivating Place we’re focused on growing food and community when we’re joined by Patricia Spence, President and CEO of the Urban Fa...

The Lifelong Gardener, Toni Gattone

20 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Toni Gattone is a businesswoman, a master gardener, and a lifelong gardener of Italian descent. After struggling herself with a bad back, and the limi...

Collaborative Growing: Farmer Meg

13 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Farmer Meg is an urban beekeeper turned flower and market grower turned farmer. Meg has been farming in NJ and NY city and state for almost a decade. ...

Black Culture + Horticulture: Black In The Garden, With Colah B. Tawkin

06 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

This week on Cultivating Place we get a booster shot of energy and inspiration as we enter the dog days of summer when we’re joined by Colah B. Tawk...

The Transformational (Garden) Art Of Jasna Guy

30 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Jasna Guy is an artist whose visionary and liminal work is based in close observation of the plants and pollinators – specifically bees – of her g...

The Garden Curator - Art in and of the Garden, Colleen Southwell, Australia

23 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In the throes of high summer, Cultivating Place continues to explore the fruits of the imaginative nature of the garden. We begin a two-part series on...

Botanical Mythology And The Imagination Of Plants With Matt Hall, NZ

16 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

A good read often plumbs the depths of imagination, for Matthew Hall - gardener & researcher at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand – it’...

Writing Wild: 25 Women Poets, Ramblers & Mavericks w/ Kathryn Aalto

09 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

This week on Cultivating Place we take a summer amble with British-based Californian Kathryn Aalto – a historian, designer, and writer whose most re...

Botany, Geography, History & Power At The Heart Of The Garden, W/ Jamaica Kincaid

02 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In honor of the Fourth of July, Cultivating Place is joined this week by the acclaimed writer and gardener Jamaica Kincaid, whose work "My Garden (Boo...

Summer Garden Gems: The Melon, With Amy Goldman

25 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Amy Goldman is a gardener, author-artist, and longtime advocate for seed saving, plant breeding, and heirloom fruits and vegetables. Her mission has f...

FOR THE LOVE OF 'BUGS' (INSECTS) with Entomologist Nadia Ruffin

18 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Nadia Ruffin is an entomologist, gardener, and educator. She is the founder of Agricademy Inc and Urban Farm Sista based in Cincinnati, Ohio. A lover ...

Wedding(FLOWERS)Season, With Philippa Craddock, UK

11 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

June is traditionally a month in which many, many weddings are celebrated with family, food, and FLOWERS. With many of these weddings on hold this ye...

Unabashed Gratitude, Delight & Structures Of Care - Ross Gay, Poet Gardener

04 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Ross Gay is a gardener - he is also an award-winning poet and a professor. A founding board member of the Bloomington Community Orchard, a food justic...

MAKING A LIFE, With MELANIE FALICK

28 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Melanie Falick is a maker of many things by hand, and in her work from knitting to gardening, welding to baking, she explores the connection between w...

Growing Weed In The Garden, Johanna Silver

21 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Johanna Silver is a gardener, writer and editor, formerly the garden editor at Sunset Magazine and regular contributor to Martha Stewart Living, Bette...

For The Love Of Roses, With Rose Devotee Fallon Shea

14 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Fallon Shea is a self-described rose devotee and roseologist currently making her life with roses in Southern California as a grower, designer, artist...

The Comfort Of Roses, With Michael Marriott Of David Austin Roses

07 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Cultivating Place kicks off the month of May - with two-episodes focused on ROSES – we start off this week before Mother’s Day here in the U.S., w...

Navigating By Plants: Uli Lorimer, Native Plant Trust

30 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Uli Lorimer is the director of Horticulture for the Native Plant Trust in Massachusetts. His work as a native plant and biodiversity advocate is infor...

FIBERSHED - Growing A Healthier Economy & Environment

23 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Rebecca Burgess is a gardener, weaver and natural dyer. She is the executive director of Fibershed, the chair of the Carbon Cycle Institute, and the a...

Seedkeeper: Ira Wallace THE EARTH IN HER HANDS Series

18 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

This week on Cultivating Place, a BEST OF in which we revisit our seedkeeping series. IN this one, we’re joined by plantswoman, seed advocate, farme...