Podcast #3 – Plants, Drugs and Rock and Roll

I’m starting to have fun with these!  This week the podcast has some fun items about the wide world of plant secondary compounds, which are all those interesting chemicals that aren’t related to the basic building blocks of life (the carbohydrates, proteins, lipids, and nucleic acids).  Plus there’s a myth segment on how music affects plants – is “acid rock” as bad for plants as it is for young developing brains?

And the highlight is my interview with Robin Haglund – Seattle gardener and urban beekeeper.  Both she and Corky Luster, owner of Ballard Bees, describe what it takes to open a bee hotel on a small urban lot.  My son Jack took some great photos of Robin’s garden, some of which are below:


Linda, Robin and Corky

Bee fountain

Bee heaven – nectar and lots of water

Corky opens the hive

Bees and honey!

Art and the garden

Please let me know what you think of the podcast; you can email me directly or post a comment on the blog. Suggestions for future podcasts are most welcome!

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Linda Chalker-Scott

Dr. Linda Chalker-Scott has a Ph.D. in Horticulture from Oregon State University and is an ISA certified arborist and an ASCA consulting arborist. She is WSU’s Extension Urban Horticulturist and a Professor in the Department of Horticulture, and holds two affiliate associate professor positions at University of Washington. She conducts research in applied plant and soil sciences, publishing the results in scientific articles and university Extension fact sheets. Linda also is the award-winning author of five books: the horticultural myth-busting The Informed Gardener (2008) and The Informed Gardener Blooms Again (2010) from the University of Washington Press and Sustainable Landscapes and Gardens: Good Science – Practical Application (2009) from GFG Publishing, Inc., and How Plants Work: The Science Behind the Amazing Things Plants Do from Timber Press (2015). Her latest effort is an update of Art Kruckeberg’s Gardening with Native Plants of the Pacific Northwest from UW Press (2019). In 2018 Linda was featured in a video series – The Science of Gardening – produced by The Great Courses. She also is one of the Garden Professors – a group of academic colleagues who educate and entertain through their blog and Facebook pages. Linda’s contribution to gardeners was recognized in 2017 by the Association for Garden Communicators as the first recipient of their Cynthia Westcott Scientific Writing Award. "The Garden Professors" Facebook page - www.facebook.com/TheGardenProfessors "The Garden Professors" Facebook group - www.facebook.com/groups/GardenProfessors Books: http://www.sustainablelandscapesandgardens.com

4 thoughts on “Podcast #3 – Plants, Drugs and Rock and Roll”

  1. Excellent! These keep getting better and better each week. I would suggest that a written list of plants and other things mentioned would be helpful. Not knowing the spelling can make further research difficult. Thanks for doing this. I can’ wait until you’re doing videos!

  2. I love the podcasts. Regarding honeybees, folks should know that beekeeping is actually raising livestock. These little girls need to be fed and cared for just like any other animals that we take into our care. As with all forms of keeping livestock, there is a certain amount of enxpense. Be prepared for investing money in addition to time. Harvesting honey does not have to be a part of keeping bees. Many gardeners are simply interested in learning.

  3. a cool podcast, i really love how you covered the topic about honey bees, or i think i am just very keen about these bees,
    it would be good if you could also post some kind of video along with your podcast

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