Everybody wants a silver bullet for plant pests and diseases, but they usually end up causing more issues than they solve in the long run.

Integrated Pest Management, or IPM, is an approach to managing pests in accordance with nature's rhythms. Instead of reaching straight for a chemical control, we can influence a number of factors that put pests on the back foot without harming the local ecosystem.

In this episode, I discuss 6 types of pest control that we can use in an Integrated Pest Management approach:

1. Genetic (right plant, right place)
2. Physical (mechanical)
3. Cultural (environmental)
4. Biological (predators, etc.)
5. Chemical (last resort)
6. Regulatory (biosecurity)

Find your next job, or post a job ad: https://hortpeople.com

FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Twitter: @PlantsGrowHere / Facebook: @PlantsGrowHerePodcast - Join our Facebook group!

VISIT OUR WEBSITE
www.PlantsGrowHere.com
You’ll find heaps of educational blog articles, including How To Prune For Natural Shape, What Relationships Do Plants Have With Other Organisms?, and What Is Healthy Soil, And How Can We Build It?.

LET'S WORK TOGETHER
Are you in the industry or an enthusiast with something of value to share? We're always on the hunt for interesting people, doing interesting things. If you'd like to work with us send a message via our online form or a direct email to [email protected].

Most people wouldn't consider a permaculture mindset for a public park or an ornamental garden. But that's a missed opportunity, because it could help individuals, organisations and councils reduce their maintenance budgets while increasing plant health and positive biodiversity outcomes.

The 12 principles of permaculture can be applied whether or not you're growing food. They're simply a way to get us back in tune with nature's systems so that we can work with them instead of against them. Why should we row against the stream when we can roll with it instead?

This episode doesn't have a guest, it's just me getting up on my soapbox.

The 12 principles of permaculture are:

1. Observe and interact
2. Catch and store energy
3. Obtain a yield
4. Apply self-regulation and accept feedback
5. Use and value renewable resources and services
6. Produce no waste
7. Design from patterns to details
8. Integrate rather than segregate
9. Use small and slow solutions
10. Use and value diversity
11. Use edges and value the marginal
12. Creatively use and respond to change

Find your next job, or post a job ad: https://hortpeople.com

FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Twitter: @PlantsGrowHere / Facebook: @PlantsGrowHerePodcast - Join our Facebook group!

VISIT OUR WEBSITE
www.PlantsGrowHere.com
You’ll find heaps of educational blog articles, including How To Prune For Natural Shape, What Relationships Do Plants Have With Other Organisms?, and What Is Healthy Soil, And How Can We Build It?.

LET'S WORK TOGETHER
Are you in the industry or an enthusiast with something of value to share? We're always on the hunt for interesting people, doing interesting things. If you'd like to work with us send a message via our online form or a direct email to [email protected].

This week, we're celebrating 200 episodes! My mentor, Karen Smith, editor of Hort Journal Australia, interviews me about my picks for the "best" 10 episodes.

To pick only 10 episodes was an impossible task, but I've narrowed it down to a few essential chats that I believe all my listeners should listen to at least once. From Integrated Weed Management (IWM) to magical musical plants, make sure you don't miss any of these episodes!

Find your next job, or post a job ad: https://hortpeople.com

FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Twitter: @PlantsGrowHere / Facebook: @PlantsGrowHerePodcast - Join our Facebook group!

VISIT OUR WEBSITE
www.PlantsGrowHere.com
You’ll find heaps of educational blog articles, including How To Prune For Natural Shape, What Relationships Do Plants Have With Other Organisms?, and What Is Healthy Soil, And How Can We Build It?.

LET'S WORK TOGETHER
Are you in the industry or an enthusiast with something of value to share? We're always on the hunt for interesting people, doing interesting things. If you'd like to work with us send a message via our online form or a direct email to [email protected].

Did you get a chance to see Peter Donegan's phenomenal garden design A Moment In Time at the Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show (MIFGS) this year?

We spoke about it in Ep.181 A Daydream Supported By A Series of Equations, but I wanted to touch in after the event finished to get his perspective on how everything went, and if he actually managed to pull off installing a real fighter plane into the construction.

In this episode, we speak about an old-fashioned plant palette, an exquisite green roof, the smallest water feature of the Show, and the little details that made all the difference.

Check the links below to see images of the garden, as well as two of his other builds that we discuss.

EPISODE LINKS
Follow Peter on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/peterdonegan
Follow Peter on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/peterdonegan
Visit Peter's website: https://doneganlandscaping.com/

Read more about the design: https://www.semken.com.au/projects/a-moment-in-time-presented-by-daisys-garden-supplies-designed-by-peter-donegan-mifgs-2024

View A Moment In Time:
-https://www.instagram.com/melbflowershow/p/C4zwGe2szua/
-https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=929772495273858
-https://doneganlandscaping.com/blog/tag/moment-in-time/

View Bam Stone Garden:
-https://doneganlandscaping.com/blog/tag/mifgs2023/
-https://www.instagram.com/p/CqWW0JzBjRM/

View Gardens of Peace, Péronne, France
-https://doneganlandscaping.com/blog/2018/06/14/peronne-france/
-https://horticultureconnected.ie/news/peter-donegan-garden-design-unveils-jardin-philophrosyne-at-chateau-de-peronne-france/

MIFGS: https://melbflowershow.com.au/
Boutique Gardens: https://melbflowershow.com.au/show-features/boutique-gardens/
Achievable Gardens: https://melbflowershow.com.au/show-features/achievable-gardens/
Border Gardens: https://melbflowershow.com.au/border-garden-competition/
Landscape Design Gardens: https://melbflowershow.com.au/show-features/landscape-design-show-gardens/

Hort People: HortPeople.com

FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Twitter: @PlantsGrowHere / Facebook: @PlantsGrowHerePodcast - Join our Facebook group!

VISIT OUR WEBSITE
www.PlantsGrowHere.com

The Melbourne International Flower & Garden Show has wrapped for another year!

In this episode, I interview the designers behind three show garden highlights from this year's Show. We'll get to hear the inspiration behind the story and message behind each of their gardens, and we'll chat about their creative choices with materials and plant palettes.

EPISODE LINKS
Daniel Althaus “Mother Ocean”:

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/daniel-althaus-402baa219_here-is-the-first-sneak-preview-of-our-garden-activity-7168056049839661056-xOMv

https://www.facebook.com/althauslandscapedesigns/

https://www.instagram.com/althaus_landscape_designs/

Anika Zetterman and Kasja Bjorne “New Nordic Notes”:

https://melbflowershow.com.au/annika-zetterman-and-kajsa-bjorne-pocket-profile/

https://melbflowershow.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/DSC01198-scaled.jpg

Emmaline Bowman “Through The Looking Glass”:

https://melbflowershow.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/DSC01128-3-scaled.jpg

https://www.innercitynews.com.au/melbourne-international-flower-and-garden-show-blooms-with-success/

Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show:

https://melbflowershow.com.au/

https://www.instagram.com/melbflowershow/

https://twitter.com/melbflowershow

https://www.facebook.com/melbflowershow

https://melbflowershow.com.au/news/

https://melbflowershow.com.au/peoples-choice-award/

https://melbflowershow.com.au/show-features/boutique-gardens/

https://melbflowershow.com.au/show-features/achievable-gardens/

https://melbflowershow.com.au/border-garden-competition/

https://melbflowershow.com.au/show-features/landscape-design-show-gardens/

FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Twitter: @PlantsGrowHere / Facebook: @PlantsGrowHerePodcast - Join our Facebook group!

The Melbourne International Flower & Garden Show has wrapped for another year! Each year, we like to interview some of the garden designers to get an insight into what ideas, philosophies, trends, and plants are floating in the cultural zeitgeist.

Friend of the show, Dr Ian Smith interviews some of the Boutique, Achievable and Border garden designers. He also shares his impressions of some of the Landscape Design Show gardens.

Whether you're into landscape design, construction, maintenance, or growing, you'll get to hear from some of the most exciting up-and-coming designers in the country (even if they're about to fly back home after the Show).

From plant palettes to materials, to colours, to sustainability, this episode will give you an insight into what's going on in the garden game in 2024.

EPISODE LINKS
MIFGS: https://melbflowershow.com.au/
Boutique Gardens: https://melbflowershow.com.au/show-features/boutique-gardens/
Achievable Gardens: https://melbflowershow.com.au/show-features/achievable-gardens/
Border Gardens: https://melbflowershow.com.au/border-garden-competition/
Landscape Design Gardens: https://melbflowershow.com.au/show-features/landscape-design-show-gardens/

FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Twitter: @PlantsGrowHere / Facebook: @PlantsGrowHerePodcast - Join our Facebook group!

VISIT OUR WEBSITE
www.PlantsGrowHere.com
You’ll find heaps of educational blog articles, including How To Prune For Natural Shape, What Relationships Do Plants Have With Other Organisms?, and What Is Healthy Soil, And How Can We Build It?.

LET'S WORK TOGETHER
Are you in the industry or an enthusiast with something of value to share? We're always on the hunt for interesting people, doing interesting things. If you'd like to work with us send a message via our online form or a direct email to [email protected].

A garden is never finished. It's going to change throughout the year, and the seasons. It should be getting better over time instead of worse.

And it should also provide you with multiple yields, whether that's a food crop, supporting biodiversity, reducing soil salinity, providing shade, making the space appear larger, or simply bringing you joy.

It's easy to roll your eyes when you hear terms like "sustainability" or "nature-based solutions". They've become cliches used by companies to greenwash, and individuals to virtue signal. But these ideas have real value when you look beyond the greenwashing.

Erik van Zuilekom is a plant scientist, permaculturist, landscape designer, and plant selection specialist who has come on the show to help us think deeply about landscape design, construction, and maintenance from a permaculture syntropics perspective.

We go beyond the typical surface-level discussion and go deep into topics like growing soil, tissue culture vs seed-propagated plants, green walls, terraforming, irrigation, and much, much more.

EPISODE LINKS
Erik's LindedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erikvanzuilekom/

FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Twitter: @PlantsGrowHere / Facebook: @PlantsGrowHerePodcast - Join our Facebook group!

VISIT OUR WEBSITE
www.PlantsGrowHere.com
You’ll find heaps of educational blog articles, including How To Prune For Natural Shape, What Relationships Do Plants Have With Other Organisms?, and What Is Healthy Soil, And How Can We Build It?.

LET'S WORK TOGETHER
Are you in the industry or an enthusiast with something of value to share? We're always on the hunt for interesting people, doing interesting things. If you'd like to work with us send a message via our online form or a direct email to [email protected].

Have you ever considered that plants can be broken into groups, just like plants?

By classifying plants into their taxonomic order, we can automatically understand a few things about them. For example, what type of mouth-part do they have, and what does that mean for the type of plant damage or predatory method they're capable of?

What types of chemicals work on them, and which ones don't? Which beneficials eat which pests? And are there any truly neutral insects out there, or are they all having some type of "positive" or "negative" impact on the garden?

Entomologist and ecologist Dr Ian Smith is back on the show, and he's going to break things down for us.
Here's the cheat sheet for which insects belong where:

Diptera (flys)

The Good

Hoverfly

Robber flies

The bad

Leaf miners

Fruit flies

The inbetween

Blowflies, bottle flies and house flies

Fungus gnats

Coleoptera (Beetles)

Beneficials

Ladybird (Coccinellidae)

Ground beetles (Carabidae)

Rove beetle (Staphylinidae)

The Bads

Leaf and flea beetles

Scarabaeidae

Weevils

The neutrals

Plague Soldier Beetle

Hymenoptera (wasps and ants)

The good

Parasitoid wasps

The bad

Gall wasps

The in-between

Ants

European wasps

Acariformes (Mites)

Predatory mites

Spider mites and earth mites

Hemiptera (True bugs)

The good

Assassin bugs (and similar)

The bad

Aphids (Aphididae family)

Whiteflies (Aleyrodidae family)

Leafhoppers (Cicadellidae family)

Stink bugs (Pentatomidae family)

Lace bugs (Tingidae family)

Mealybugs (Pseudococcidae family)

Scale (Coccoidea)

Lepidoptera

Moths

Butterflies

Blattodea

Cockroaches

Termites

Others

Araneae (Spiders)

Lacewing (Neuroptera)

Dragonflies (Odonata)

Praying mantis (Mantises)

EPISODE LINKS
Follow Ian on Twitter: https://twitter.com/EcologIan
Ian's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/driansmith
My LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-fuller-180908208/

Rove beetle wing folding video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNrXvdOjylA
Velvet mite images: https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=8b94fdf9c54254b4&rlz=1C1UEAD_en-GBAU938AU938&sxsrf=ACQVn0_5qreTzLiKH2svJl2lB_o_9HUVOQ:1710052567103&q=velvet+mite&tbm=isch&source=lnms&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiDrbyeiumEAxXLsFYBHUWRC-YQ0pQJegQIDRAB

FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Twitter: @PlantsGrowHere / Facebook: @PlantsGrowHerePodcast - Join our Facebook group!

VISIT OUR WEBSITE
www.PlantsGrowHere.com

LET'S WORK TOGETHER
We're always on the hunt for interesting people, doing interesting things. If you'd like to work with us send a message via our online form or a direct email to [email protected].

Have you ever wondered whether plants can communicate?

And if they can, how do they do so?

Katia Hougaard is back, and this time we explore the science behind plant communication. We discuss VOCs, plant blood tests, visual signs, sounds, Venus fly traps, predators, pests, and much more.

We even ponder what science has yet to prove or disprove regarding plant communication using the Music of the Plants device that translates plant electromagnetic output as music.

EPISODE LINKS
Katia Plant Scientist:
-https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrTJmyTzyGzm46Ncq9JNUYQ
-https://m.facebook.com/Katiaplantscientist/
-https://www.instagram.com/katia_plantscientist/?hl=en
-https://www.linkedin.com/in/katia-hougaard-19b169100/
-https://www.tumblr.com/katiajewelbox

Find horticulture industry jobs: HortPeople.com

FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Twitter: @PlantsGrowHere / Facebook: @PlantsGrowHerePodcast - Join our Facebook group!

VISIT OUR WEBSITE
www.PlantsGrowHere.com

LET'S WORK TOGETHER
Are you in the industry or an enthusiast with something of value to share? We're always on the hunt for interesting people, doing interesting things. If you'd like to work with us send a message via our online form or a direct email to [email protected].

In this episode, we go over more than a dozen topics quickly, based around the Hort Journal's editor's best article picks for 2023.

Karen Smith is my mentor and also the editor for our Australian horticulture industry's best magazine, and she has her finger on the pulse when it comes to amenity hort in this country. You'll hear about emerging pest problems, weed potentiality in cultivated plants, green infrastructure, careers, and much, much more.

Check the links below if you'd like to get in touch with either myself or the Hort Journal team, to subscribe to the Journal, or to browse upcoming industry events.

This episode is sponsored by Hort Journal Australia.

EPISODE LINKS
Visit Hort Journal Australia: https://hortjournal.com.au/
Contact Hort Journal Australia: https://hortjournal.com.au/contact/
Subscribe to Hort Journal Australia: https://hortjournal.com.au/plans/hort-journal-subscriptions/
Hort Journal industry events: https://hortjournal.com.au/category/industry-event/

Search for horticulture jobs: HortPeople.com

FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Twitter: @PlantsGrowHere / Facebook: @PlantsGrowHerePodcast - Join our Facebook group!

VISIT OUR WEBSITE
www.PlantsGrowHere.com

LET'S WORK TOGETHER
Are you in the industry or an enthusiast with something of value to share? We're always on the hunt for interesting people, doing interesting things. If you'd like to work with me, send a message via my online form or a direct email to [email protected].