Ep. 3-14: The Common Milkweed Nursery | Jennifer Kleinrichert & Steve Ross

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Several years ago I started reading a blog called The Common Milkweed. I think I was searching for other nature and garden bloggers and came across Jennifer’s blog—but honestly I can’t remember how I landed on the website—however, I was hooked! Over the years they added in The Common Milkweed Nursery and slowly I began interacting more with comments on the blog—call it my way of making up for the way social media has overridden bloggers—we all miss the comments we used to get on our blogs.

I invited Jennifer and Steve onto the podcast to talk not only about their nursery but also offer some perspective on their ethic for gardening and land management, and to talk a bit about being “nature nuts”. I encourage you to take a deep dive into their blog and soak in some of the things they write about. I often find myself at loss of how to appropriately write how I feel when I’m out hiking and exploring natural spaces and I think Jennifer and Steve are able to express those feelings that I’m not able to put down on this virtual paper we call blogging.

It’s a longer episode than usual because I felt they had so much to offer, so please stick with it! You’ll find something interesting out in almost every segment and I definitely came away wanting to dig deeper and be an even better steward of our own property than we already are.

If you enjoyed the episode, leave me a comment down below or hop over to iTunes or Stitcher and leave a rating and review!

PS: The milkweed in the photo above is Asclepias perennis—not common milkweed. It doesn’t grow in Texas endemically so I don’t have a photo of it!

Music: “New Day” by Lee Rosevere


Show Notes
+The Common Milkweed YouTube Channel
+NRCS Funding Opportunties
+Nursery Manual for Native Plants & alternate link at the USFS Nursery Manual for Native Plants

Updates from Podcast Guests
+Amy Stross, of Tenth Acre Farm and guest on episode 2-13 had her book The Suburban Micro-Farm picked up by Chelsea Green Publishing! Big news! If you want to pre-order you can use the discount code SMF40
to get 40% off if you order by January 31, 2018 on the publisher’s website. You can also pre-order on Amazon, too!
+Jill McSheehy from the Beginner’s Garden Podcast, who was on episode 3-3 has created an online class called The Beginner’s Garden Short Cut for newbie edible gardeners wanting to learn a bit more before diving into their first garden.

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Ep. 3-13: All The Seeds

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I’m working on getting more guests scheduled for upcoming episodes but until then you’ve got me once again for a solo episode! I recently made a seed purchase from Botanical Interests after I received a gift certificate from my friend Chel. Chel had sent it as a thank you over Christmas for keeping tabs on her while she went through Hurricane Irma. You can read Chel’s hurricane entires here. Chel and I used to run Sprout Dispatch along with my brother—take a look through the archives, there’s a lot of good garden writing there! I thought I’d share some of the seeds I ordered and talk a little bit about what they were!

At the end I mention a ‘wintry mix’—I recorded this on 1/15—the mix is happening now! Everything is iced up, we had some issues with our well pump being frozen and it is going to be a mess!

On to the seed order. Here’s what I bought:
Calendula Pacific Beauty
Echinacea ‘Purple Coneflower’
Echinacea ‘White Swan’
Spinning Gourd
Black Velvet Nasturtium
Palmer’s Penstemon
Black Swan Poppy
Lauren’s Grape Poppy
Holy Basil/Tulsi
Mrs. Burn’s Lemon Basil
Dill ‘Bouquet’
Dill ‘Tetra’
New Zealand Spinach
Shiso Perilla
Cucamelon
Habanada Pepper
Pink Banana Winter Squash
Daikon Radish
Red Siberian Tomato
Glacier Tomato
Bluebonnet ‘Sundial

+My experience growing Lauren’s Grape Poppy.
+Holy Basil from You Grow Girl
+Polyploidy

Music: “New Day” by Lee Rosevere


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Ep. 3-12: Bamboo, Plant Obsessions, and Creating Ninth Ward Nursery | Mark Sanders

Welcome to the Jungle

A post shared by Ninth Ward Nursery (@ninthwardnursery) on

What if you took that step from selling the extra cuttings and propagated plants from your garden on Craigslist and Ebay to the next level and upped the game to build your own full-fledged nursery? Sounds like a dream, right? Well, Mark Sanders of Ninth Ward Nursery in New Orleans, Louisiana did just that in a few short years, from selling bamboo in his backyard to purchasing an empty lot in the Ninth Ward and converting it into a plant nursery. Soon he was expanding the business into providing landscape design and consulting services. And in five years??? Who knows!

My conversation with Mark covers his passion for bamboo, how he turned that bamboo obsession into a business, general plant geekery, and what it is like to fly by the seat of your pants when creating a business from scratch. I’ve been following a lot of different New Orleans and Louisiana gardeners and landscape designers over the last year or so and it was great to finally get to chat with one of them. Even if you aren’t familiar with gardening in the south, muchless in Louisiana or New Orleans, you will really enjoy this episode!

Music: “New Day” by Lee Rosevere


Show Notes
+Ninth Ward Nursery
+@ninthwardnursery on Instagram

A few photos from Mark:

Our spray paint layout in our flower garden.

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Ep. 3-11 : Good Garden Reads

I love reading and gardening books are one of my favorite non-fiction genres to read! In this episode I talk about the garden/garden adjacent books I read this year and I hope you share books you read!

Music: “New Day” by Lee Rosevere


All links go to the author’s website.
Books Mentioned:

  1. Second Nature by Michael Pollan
    +Weeds Are Us

  2. This Life is In Your Hands: One Dream, Sixty Acres, and a Family Undone by Melissa Coleman
  3. Bird Watcher’s Digest Butterflies Backyard Guide: Identify, Watch, Attract, Nature, Save by Erin Gettler
    +Erin’s podcast episode

  4. Epic Tomatoes: How to Select and Grow the Best Varieties of All Time by Craig Lehoullier
    +Media listing for Craig Lehoullier

  5. Grow Curious by Gayla Trail
    +Gayla’s What’cha Growin’? Podcast

  6. Gaia’s Garden by Toby Hemenway
  7. The Humane Gardener: Nurturing a Backyard Habitat for Wildlife by Nancy Lawson
    +Nancy’s podcast episode

  8. Bringing Nature Home: How Native Plants Sustain Wildlife in Our Gardens by Doug Tallamy
    +Dr. Tallamy on the Native Plant Podcast
    +Dr. Tallamy on the Joe Gardener Podcast
    +Dr. Tallamy on the Timber Press Podcast

  9. A New Garden Ethic: Cultivating Defiant Compassion for an Uncertain Future by Benjamin Vogt
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Ep. 3-10 : Raising Monarch Butterflies

This episode covers my experience as a newbie keeper of monarch caterpillars. I raised a couple of sets of monarchs this summer and thought it would be worthwhile to pass on some of this information to other people interested in raising monarch butterflies, too. I am by far not an expert in this so if you hear something that I got wrong, please speak up and let me know! Please read through the links I attach as well before you embark on raising caterpillars on your own. The more knowledge you have going into this the better your experience will be!

Music: “New Day” by Lee Rosevere


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Milkweed tussock moth caterpillar—they use milkweed, too.

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Oleander aphids on tropical milkweed.

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Monarch egg

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My egg raising container. Very fancy!

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Initial cage set up when no plant is inside.

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Chowing down!

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Fat and happy—not too long before they will pupate.

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In the J shape they sit in before they fully pupate.

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A caterpillar only minutes before, the chrysalis portion of the life cycle has begun.

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When a caterpillar eats around your chrysalis!

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Chrysalides that have been moved and re-hung with floss.

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Almost ready to eclose!

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Just out of the chrysalis!

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Ready to fly!

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Asclepias viridis, green milkweed.

Show Notes:

+Rearing Monarch’s Responsibly
+How to Raise Monarch Butterflies Indoors: 21 Monarch Survival Tips
+How to Raise Monarch Butterflies at Home Part I
+How to Raise Monarch Butterflies at Home Part II
+Tropical Milkweed: To Plant it or Not, it’s Not a Simple Question
+Tropical Milkweed OK for Monarch Butterflies, “Just Cut the Dang Stuff Down”
+Raising Monarch Butterflies
+Butterfly FAQ: Is Relocating a Monarch Chrysalis OK? Yes, and Here’s Tips On How to Handle Them With Care
+Butterfly FAQ: How to move a Monarch butterfly chrysalis
+How to Easily Move a Monarch Chrysalis
+Rearing Monarchs
+Is Your Caterpillar Cage Killing Monarch Butterflies?
+Milkweed Locator from Grow Milkweed Plants
+Asclepias results from Native American Seed
+Milkweed Seed Finder from the Xerces Society
+Asclepias results from Prairie Moon Seeds
+Asclepias results from Johnny’s Selected Seeds
+Asclepias results from Botanical Interests
+What is OE
+Cold Stratification of Milkweed Seeds
+Parasites in Monarchs
+Pesticide contaminated milkweed
+How to Help Monarchs without poisoning them

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Ep. 3-9: Fall Flower Garden Tour

Today’s episode is another garden tour, this time of our flower garden! During the episode I blanked out on a couple of the names but I hope I covered some of them in the plant list below. This is by far not a comprehensive plant list but just a smattering of some of the ones I mentioned in the episode. They do not go to any particular site, just ones I thought worked best for the information at hand. Check out some of the photos of my garden below, too!

Music: “New Day” by Lee Rosevere


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Show Notes:
+Update on the Side Yard Garden
+Compost Bin Update
+Ft. Lauderdale airport baobab article
+Downtown Hollywood, FL baobab trees

Some of the plants mentioned:
+Variegated Turk’s Cap Hibiscus
+Butterfly Ginger
+Senna corymbosa
+American beautyberry
+Almond verbena
+Clematis pitcheri
+Mexican Flame Vine
+Brugmansia ‘Snowbank’
+Salvia elegans
+Texas mountain mint
+Copper Canyon Daisy
+White firewheel
+Flame acanthus
+Tropical milkweed
+Amorpha fruticosa
+Salvia hispanica
+‘Wendy’s Wish’ salvia
+False nettle
+Justicia spicigera
+Passiflora ‘incense
+Aristilochia fimbriata
+Baobab trees
+Rhododendron canescens
+Rhododendron austrinum
+Abelmoschus moschatus
+Aristolochia trilobata
+Pseuderanthemum alata
+Miracle Fruit

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Ep. 3-7: Fall Edible Garden Tour

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This is the first in a series of solo episodes for late fall/early winter. Back in October I recorded an audio tour of the the edible garden! I think you will enjoy this episode—there’s a chorus of crows to add some ambiance throughout the show!

All of the plants I mentioned are in the show notes. Links aren’t to any particular vendor, ie: not sponsored.

Music: “New Day” by Lee Rosevere


Show Notes:
+Seminole Pumpkin
+Freezer Pumpkin Butter
+Mary Washington asparagus
+Brunswick Cabbage
+Early Jersey Wakefield Cabbage
+Rosette tatsoi
+How to Make Ginger Bug
+Tonda di Parigi Carrots
+Parris Island Cos Lettuce
+Black Seeded Simpson Lettuce
+Fordhook Giant Chard
+Perpetual Spinach
+Easter Egg Lettuce
+French Breakfast Radish
+Nero di Toscana Kale

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Ep. 3-6: Bromeliads | Joanne Woolsey & Jimbo’s Nursery

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Today’s guest is Joanne Woolsey of Jimbo’s Nursery here in Greater Houston. As you will hear in the episode, Jimbo’s is specialty nursery focusing primarily on a variety of bromeliads as well as other tropicals, including succulents. This kind of nursery is very unique for the area! My first visit to Jimbo’s was back in August after a trip down to Galveston for the afternoon. We detoured off the beaten path to Jimbo’s on our way home to scope out what plants they had to offer. My husband, Chris, had been to the nursery once or twice before but I’d never had the opportunity to visit. It reminded us so much of the nurseries we would find in south Florida, the small, narrowly focused plant growers that would be tucked away off side streets, sometimes in people’s backyards!

After my visit I connected with Jimbo’s on Instagram and Joanne reached out to come on the podcast to talk a little bit about the nursery and some of the plants they offer. If you are in the Houston area this nursery is one to put on your list of must visit places!

Just a heads up: I had some problems with audio on my end for the first six or so minutes but it clears up after that! My apologies for weirdness!

Music: “New Day” by Lee Rosevere


Show Notes:
+Jimbo’s Nursery on Instagram
+Houston Bromeliad Society
A few of the tillandsias mentioned:
+Tillandsia ionantha
+Tillandsia stricta
+Tillandsia bulbosa
+Tillandsia funckiana

A few more photos from my visit to the nursery:

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Ep. 3-5: Humane Gardening | Nancy Lawson

Are you interested in taking your garden to the next level? To branch out, learn a little more about how to take your gardening for wildlife further? Then this podcast is for you! Honestly, it’s for everyone—all gardeners of every skill level. As you will hear in the episode, I came across Nancy’s book The Humane Gardener over the summer when it kept popping up in my recommendations for my library’s digital lending service and once I clicked on it and downloaded it to read, I was instantly hooked! It was everything I had been pondering about and more this summer when it came to rethinking and challenging my own beliefs about what wildlife gardening meant.

Nancy and I had a fascinating conversation about humane gardening, cultivating a different ethic around wildlife in our yards and gardens, as well as working to challenge and change the beliefs we’ve all been taught. It’s something I’m still working on and, of course, isn’t something that changes over night. You’ll hear some interesting tidbits about landscape design regarding wildlife I hadn’t thought about, and that’s why this conversation is so good—you probably haven’t thought about these either!

We could have chatted for much longer than we did and I hope to have Nancy back on at a later date to explore this subject deeper. You’ll hear some blips in the podcast I tried to edit out. I usually have really good connection with Google Hangouts On Air but whoa did we have some problems this go around! It’s Skype that usually gives me grief!

Be sure to check out Nancy’s website for more ways to think outside the box when it comes to landscaping for wildlife and definitely read her book! Pair it with Bringing Nature Home by Doug Tallamy and A New Garden Ethic by Benjamin Vogt!

Music: “New Day” by Lee Rosevere


Show Notes:
+The Humane Gardener Website
+Upcoming Events and Talks with Nancy
+The Humane Gardener book on Amazon
+Buzz Pollination
+Nancy on the Food For Thought podcast with Colleen Patrick Goudreau
+Nancy on The Urban Farm podcast

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Ep. 3-4: A Good Garden Conversation | Julie Rorrer

We ventured out of the garden recently, because it’s September which is when all the prickly pears (tunas) are ripe, and came back with 220 pounds of prickly pears. We peeled them (which takes a long long time as you try to avoid getting any glochids in your hands), juiced them, strained them, strained them a couple more times, cooked them, and then ended up canning a little over 8 dozen jars of prickly pear syrup. * * * The one question we get most is…What do you do with prickly pear syrup? There’s so many delicious ways to use it, but we frequently use it in our beverages. Here’s 5 of our favorite drinks to make with prickly pear syrup in case you ever find yourself with a jar ?: • • 1. make a frozen margarita (use the good tequila) and pour over the top and serve 2. make a frozen limeade and pour on top and serve (similar to above, but kid friendly) 3. squeeze a glass full of texas grapefruit and add a dash on top 4. add a little to a bottle of Topo Chico 5. make a prickly pear smoothie • • Also, don't forget to drink the juice plain (before making the syrup), it's delicious!

A post shared by Gardenkeepr (@gardenkeepr) on

I first had Julie on the show last year in Episode 2-1. I had known her about six months or so and was intrigued by her garden planner business as well as her garden outside of Austin. Since then, Julie and I have become internet garden friends, exchanging emails and pleasantries via Instagram. I’m constantly intrigued by her foraging efforts and everything she does in her garden! Fast forward to this summer and I invited Julie to come back on the podcast to talk about biodynamic gardening. A series of problems with scheduling and then problems with getting our call to work and record, well, we didn’t get a chance to sit down and talk until recently. All of that worked out for the best! We had a great chat, just talking about various aspects of our gardens—something you might do if you had a friend over to walk about the garden and hang out for the morning!

Don’t forget to submit your “Why” for gardening! See Ep 3-0 for more information! Feel free to drop me an email over there —> on the side bar or sign up for the newsletter above! And if you listen on iTunes or Stitcher, don’t forget to leave a rating and review over there to help the show reach more listeners! Thanks!

Music: “New Day” by Lee Rosevere


Show Notes:
Gardenkeepr.com to stay up to date with Julie’s happenings!
Masanobu Fukuoka
Julie’s Prickly Pear Recipe
Biodynamics
Extinguish Plus Fire Ant Control

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