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On the Down the Garden Path Radio Show and Podcast, landscape designers Joanne Shaw and Matthew Dressing discuss down-to-earth tips and advice for your plants, gardens, and landscapes.

Joanne and Matthew believe it's important and possible to have great gardens that are low maintenance.

Each week, they educate their listeners on how to seasonally manage their gardens and landscapes. Joanne and Matt learn right along with their listeners, from each other, from their research, and from the many guests who join them on their show. 

Listen live at www.realityradio101.com on Monday’s at 7 pm ET or subscribe to download this show and past episodes from your favourite podcast app. 

Check out the website for even more garden tips and tricks.

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  2. Tiny Plants

Tiny Plants

Nov 2, 2021

In this week's episode of Down the Garden Path, Matt and Joanne welcome horticulturist and author Leslie Halleck. Tune in as they discuss Leslie's latest book, Tiny Plants, and explore the fascinating world of tiny indoor plants, inspiring you to creatively get growing indoors.

Leslie began her career in horticulture in 1992, where she worked at and helped run a retail plant nursery while operating her own small gardening business. In December 1998, she started at the Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden as Curator of Plants, and then Director of Horticulture Research. One of her specific duties included the creation of their nationally recognized plant trials program and gardens, design, and plant selection for all the display gardens, plant collections management, teaching, and website development.

In 2000, Leslie launched Halleck Horticultural which she operated in addition to her position at the Dallas Arboretum. For almost a decade, Halleck Horticultural has provided a variety of services to the green industry, including horticultural consulting, marketing, and branding plants and development -- as well as garden center design -- and consulting. Leslie has won multiple awards for writing, creative direction, and marketing from the Turf & Ornamental Communicators Association, including the coveted Gardner Award for Writing in 2017.

Don't miss our conversation on tiny plants with author Leslie Halleck.

  • Leslie shared that during an internship in Puerto Rico to study the effects of Hurricane Hugo. she discovered a colony of tiny orchids (Lepanthes rupestris) growing and this led to a lifelong interest in “tiny plants” and inspired her latest book.
  • Tiny Plants are defined as species that are genetically determined to grow under 6 inches.
  • During the show, Leslie breaks down the basic plant classification based on how plants grow and uses that to explain the differences in a variety of “tiny” plants in the book.
  • These classifications help us to determine how to best group these plant types together, and the best way in our indoor environments (e.g., window sills vs grown under glass)
  • The book outlines some great ways to display our tiny plants
  • What is the difference between a terrarium and a cloche?
  • Leslie answers some listener questions about indoor lighting and bonsai and tells us about the Garden Society Project.

Where to find Leslie Halleck online:

  • You can order all of her books (Tiny Plants, Gardening Under Lights, Plant Parenting) on her website: www.lesliehalleck.com
  • Twitter: @lesliehalleck
  • Pinterest: lesliehalleck
  • YouTube: lesliehalleck
  • Instagram: @lesliehalleck

Each week on Down The Garden Path, professional landscape designers Joanne Shaw and Matthew Dressing discuss down-to-earth tips and advice for your plants, gardens and landscapes.

As the owner of Down2Earth Landscape Design, Joanne Shaw has been designing beautiful gardens for homeowners east of Toronto for over a decade.

And Matthew Dressing is a horticulturist and landscape designer. He owns Natural Affinity Garden Design, a landscape design and garden maintenance firm servicing Toronto and the Eastern GTA. Together, Joanne and Matthew do their best to bring you interesting, relevant and helpful topics. Their goal is to help you keep your garden as low maintenance as possible.