Avant Gardeners

We are the founding members of the Jac Semmler Fan Club. This is the second time we've been lucky enough to interview Jac, celebrating the launch of what will become an absolute gardening book staple, Flower Power.
In this episode we answer a bunch of your questions, including 
-How and should I pivot to horticulture
-How do I get my poppies to germinate
-What are some surprising performers in the garden

We talk about changing climate, bogan pronounciation of plant names, the amazing work Jac's doing at Super Bloom, and so much more.

Before we get to that:
Maddie and Em are drinking a dirty cacao (cacao powder, maple syrup, cinnamon, sea salt, shot of coffee), we're talking agastache, liquorice plant, planting in pots (inspired by Connie Cao), Flannel Flower, Succulents, Mother in Law's Tongue.

Thanks for being here.

Emily & Maddie are back with so much chat this week. We go a little off topic, but that's pretty standard...right?

We cover:
Philodendron
Shrub (not of the plant variety!)
Spent flowers are self seeding
Ferment for Good - Sharon Flynn
Justin O'Brien's self-seeding success
Compost bins
Proteas not opening
Olive grove maintenance
Drowning in Plums
Different types of clematis - who knew!
Emily is on the hunt for the perfect garden basket from op shops near and far. 
Next week we're so excited to be releasing our chat with the amazing Jac Semmler of Super Bloom!

Emily and Maddie were lucky enough to meet Steven in Victoria late last year, having followed his journey for a long time. Steven began his career as a nurse, before studying horticulture, with no intention of fusing the two. But he delved deeper into therapeutic gardens, gaining a Churchill Fellowship to help support research, and he started the Therapeutic Garden at the Royal Talbot Rehabilitation Centre nearly 20 years ago, providing immeasurable benefit to patients, their families, friends and staff.

Steven recently downsized from a much-celebrated garden in the Melbourne suburbs, Steven now has a lush veranda in the clouds, overlooking Melbourne's CBD. This downsizing has given him time and space to focus on other passions and projects in his life.

Steven lives, works and gardens in Naarm / Melbourne, on the traditional lands of the Kulin Nation.  

Before we get to Steven's chat, Maddie and Emily are dreaming of fields of sunflowers - Emily is reminiscing about her time in Europe with sunflowers and cosmos all around. Maddie is reminiscing of her time on a farm stay in Portugal while staying in a yurt. 
We ask Steven for his favourite Evergreen plants, which are:
Agave Attenuata / Foxtail Agave
Variegated aspidistra
Bromeliads
And his tips for Textural Plants in a Sensory garden include Lambs Ear or Kalanchoe 'Oak Leaf'.

It's a Maddie & Emily chat this week.
Maddie is loving (despite calling the colour urine-esque) the White Gate Co White Blend and if you're in Tassie go book and wine shopping at Five Leaves Left. 
Emily was creating new neural pathways and happened upon a great side-street garden stall. Win!
We're lamenting the end of cherry season, but enjoying choc-covered cherries from a local stall.

We're rolling (metaphorically, not literally) in peastraw and alpaca poo.

Lettuce is ON!
Emily has has success with a poppy (yes, just the one), and it's reminding her of her grandfather. Maddie's hollyhocks have popped and it's reminding her of her grandmother.

Emily is recommending Death and the Gardener, and Maddie is recommending Recipe Tin Eats' scone recipe but a shout out to Lady Flo's Pumpkin Scones too.

Jo Thompson is one of the UK's most celebrated garden designers, known for creating deeply romantic, naturalistic gardens that feel timeless, layered and full of atmosphere.  Her projects span the UK and abroad - from wildflower meadows in the English countryside to rooftop terraces in New York and coastal gardens in Italy and Brazil. 
She's a multiple award-winner at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, with several Gold medals to her name, and her designs  - ranging from private landscapes to meaningful public projects - are widely admired. 
Beyond her design practice, she's a respected teacher, author and voice in the gardening world, sharing her knowledge through books, lectures and her much-loved newsletter, The Gardening Mind. Jo's work reminds us that gardens can be both art and refuge – spaces that connect us to beauty, memory and the natural world.
Before we get to Jo's chat, Maddie and Emily are talking about:

Agapanthas (sorry!)
Snakes
Wildflower Meadows
Emma Bowen of Rising Farm
Sea salt and olive oil on vanilla icecream
Then we get into glorious Jo's chat and we cover a lot. Highlights include:
Glasshouse Project
Women in horitculture / at the Chelsea Flower Show
Designing a garden
Trypophobia

Damsen Cocktail
Jo lists a bunch of her favourite roses:
Wild Rover
Meg - climber
The Lark Ascending
Felicite-Perpetue
Adélaide d'Orléans
Ghislaine de feligonde
Blush Noisette
Bengal Crimsen
Mutablis 
Gertrude JekyllMILsures
Olivia Rose Austin
Ispahan