Focus on Flowers

Indiana Public Media

About

Focus on Flowers is a weekly podcast and public radio program about flower gardening hosted by master gardener Moya Andews.

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1918 episodes

The Benefits of Clay

Clay soil is heavy and hard to dig compared to sandy soil, but it is also more moisture and nutrient retentive.

2m
Mar 21
Usually Deer Proof

No plant, it seems to those of us plagued with deer, can be called really deer proof.

2m
Mar 14
Pruning Flowering Shrubs

Regular pruning benefits all woody plants, such as shrubs, trees, and vines. Pruning keeps them vigorous and healthy, as well as improving their shape.

2m
Mar 07
Cutting Back

Cutting back plants, even small ones, helps to stimulate growth. But don't cut off all of the leaves!

2m
Feb 29
Climbing Clematis

There are so many lovely varieties of clematis available today. Even a single bloom floating is a bowl looks perfect.

2m
Feb 22
Forcing

In late winter, after months without garden flowers, we are eager to see flowers in our homes. However, there is a wonderful feeling we get when we force branches of early spring-blooming trees and shrubs.

2m
Feb 15
Roses From the Past

All of the poems I will read today are about roses and all are from times long past.

2m
Feb 08
February Saints

The flowers associated with St. Valentine were, in Roman times, the yellow crocus and the tricolor viola that both bloom in the early spring in our gardens today. But there are also other saints associated with February...

2m
Feb 01
Christo's Final Years

In 1993, Christopher Lloyd hired Fergus Garrett as his head gardener and together they turned the traditional 80-year-old rose garden into an exotic tropical area. Christo was amused by the consequent criticism from traditionalists.

2m
Jan 25
The Long Border

Great Dixter's Christopher Lloyd created his famous term "succession planting" to describe continuous bloom month after month, beginning in March and ending in October.

2m
Jan 18
The Great Dixter

One of Britain's most celebrated gardens, Great Dixter is a magnificent place where one can learn and be inspired. A trip there should be on every gardener's bucket list.

2m
Jan 11
Medieval Gardens

In AD 830, St. Benedict said that gardening was appropriate manual labor for monks and that all monasteries should have a psychic garden, kitchen garden, cellar garden, an orchard, and a private garden for monks of high office.

2m
Jan 04
1st Century Gardens

The Romans were the first to create pleasure gardens in Britain.

2m
Dec 28, 2023
The Winter Solstice

The winter solstice marks the day with the fewest hours of sunshine in the year, which means that it is described as the shortest day.

2m
Dec 21, 2023
Bioengineering

Bees, butterflies, moths, and other insects used to be the only creatures who transferred pollen from flower to flower. Nowadays, it is often a person with a fine brush.

2m
Dec 14, 2023
Eleanor of Aquitaine

The idea of private pleasure gardens during the Middle Ages in England was espoused by Eleanor of Aquitaine.

2m
Dec 07, 2023
Gnats: Pesky Little Devils

Most of us occasionally get little black flies that look a bit like fruit flies around our houseplants. They're fungus gnats and essentially harmless, mostly...

2m
Nov 30, 2023
Wild William Robinson

One of the most influential horticulturalists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries was William Robinson, the first to promote the idea of a wild garden.

2m
Nov 23, 2023
Garden Cleanup

Fall is a great time to collect the seed pods from shrubs like baptisia and hardy hibiscus and store them in paper envelopes indoors until next spring.

2m
Nov 16, 2023
Houseplants That Bloom

Houseplants that bloom help us to get through winter while awaiting next year's flowers in the garden. But often houseplants suffer from problems that we must address promptly to save a plant's life.

2m
Nov 09, 2023
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

Betty Smith is the author of the book A Tree Grows in Brooklyn about a young girl who is inspired by a tree. Unfortunately, the tree happens to be an invasive species.

2m
Nov 02, 2023
The Mimosa Tree

You do not want this junk tree anywhere near your garden, as it self-seeds aggressively and many people are highly allergic to its pollen.

2m
Oct 26, 2023
Cutting Down Plants

Continually cut back plants that have done their stuff to allow more room for those whose bloom period is yet to come.

2m
Oct 19, 2023
Continuous Color

If you need something in bloom all through the growing seasons in your garden, check that you have these plants.

2m
Oct 12, 2023
Naked Ladies

There are many common names for the pink lilies, Amaryllis belladonna, that pop up in our gardens during the hot days of August/September: naked ladies, magic lily, autumn lily, surprise lily, and resurrection lily.

2m
Oct 05, 2023
Carefree Crepe Myrtle

Native to the Far East, crepe myrtles can be trees or but in my zone 6 garden, they usually die back to the ground each winter.

2m
Sep 28, 2023
Clivia miniata

The winter-blooming clivia plant is one of the very few house plants that will produce flowers indoors in the dead of winter.

2m
Sep 21, 2023
Shrubs for All Seasons

If you are looking for deer resistant shrubs to plant in your unfenced yard, the safest evergreens are spruce, juniper, and boxwood.

2m
Sep 14, 2023
Recognizing Reality

Early on, I longed for all the more pretentious perennials, but now I prefer the tried and true.

2m
Sep 07, 2023
Angelonia

Angelonia produces stalks of little flowers, similar to stock flowers, that last a long time on the plant, flowering steadily all through till late summer.

2m
Aug 31, 2023