The Garden Mixer

In the heat of August, it’s not just gardeners that want to check out — it’s their plants. But there’s a lot plants can tell us about the conditions we’re all navigating, so it’s worth paying attention when the temperatures soar.
To channel those thoughts, Leslie and Marianne welcome Carol Reese — horticulturist, writer, humorist, retired University of Tennessee extension specialist, and keeper of approximately three to four hundred dogs — though not all at once.
Carol gardens on 118 acres in West Tennessee, where the heat index routinely clears 105°F and the garden operates on something close to feral principles. So does she, and she’s ready to dish on what survives in serious heat, why it’s hard to watch Europeans complain about their new normal, and why giving people plants you know they should be growing is a public service — even if you have to grab a shovel and plant them yourself.
You might want to pull up a chair somewhere shady — it’s time for a long cool drink with The Garden Mixer.
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Full Show Notes at⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Garden Mixer Podcast’s Substack⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
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Botanical Names: Those complicated, two-part, dead language elements of tongue- torture that every gardener looking for a special plant will face at some point in their horticultural journey.
Should you embrace the challenge, and feel vulnerable? Or dismiss the challenge and [possibly still] feel vulnerable?
This week on One More Sip of The Garden Mixer, Leslie and Marianne discuss the third option — studying with curiosity, speaking with confidence, and ignoring those who use botanical nomenclature as a weapon in conversation.
Bet you can think of a few peeps that fit THAT bill.
If you find yourself mumbling botanical names in horticultural circles in the profound hope that no one hears you; or vainly sifting through seven types of ‘wood fern,’ searching for the one you want, it’s time to get resources, get confident, and get communicating better in this discipline that you love!

Every gardener has a tchotchke threshold — the point at which a garden stops being a garden and starts being a yard sale with better plants. But where exactly is that line, and who gets to draw it?
After decades of embracing, avoiding, judging, and occasionally defending their own questionable choices, Leslie and Marianne weigh in on the art of garden ornamentation — how to use it well, when to put the hedgehog down, and why Fergus Garrett's favorite garden in Hastings has hardly any plants in it at all.
Toads or total chaos? Today on The Garden Mixer.
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Please hit the subscribe button so we can keep you smiling while you hit the beautiful mess [your garden] out there.
Full Show Notes at⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Garden Mixer Podcast’s Substack⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
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“French Bistro” theme by Adieu Adieu. License D0LZBINY30GGTBBW

It’s mid summer and if you haven’t been staking your floppiest floppers, the chance is you haven’t quite gotten away with it. Some plants stand tall on their own. Others need a little help.
In this Barrel Aged One More Sip of The Garden MIxer Leslie Harris and Marianne Willburn tackle one of gardening's most practical—and most overlooked—skills: staking. They discuss which plants are worth staking, which ones are better left alone, how to make supports nearly invisible, and why choosing the right plants in the first place can save you a lot of work.
Along the way they share techniques learned at Great Dixter, the beauty of traditional pea-sticking, why timing matters, and a few confessions about staking jobs that never quite happened.
Whether you're growing peonies, delphiniums, dahlias, grasses, or other tall perennials, this conversation will help you keep your garden looking natural instead of looking like a tomato patch.
Gardening shouldn't be boring.

Every gardener has them. The plant that ate the house, the catalog seduction that ended in tears, the tree you loved that didn’t love you. Regrets are how gardeners learn — or in Marianne’s case, how they beat themselves up while learning. Leslie chose the topic. Marianne suffered through it. Both of them had more material than an hour could possibly cover.

Welcome to a guided tour through the taxonomy of gardening mistakes — organized by category, confessed to with varying degrees of shame, and occasionally still present in the garden because nobody could bring themselves to finish the job. The girls are drinking deep from the well of regrets, and they’re fairly sure you’re going to relate. Today on The Garden Mixer.
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Please hit the subscribe button so we can keep you smiling while you hit the beautiful mess [your garden] out there.
Full Show Notes at⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Garden Mixer Podcast’s Substack⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
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Follow us on Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@thegardenmixer⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
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“French Bistro” theme by Adieu Adieu. License D0LZBINY30GGTBBW