Gardens Illustrated's award-winning podcast, Talking Gardens, is returning with an all-new line-up of gardening guests for season 4.
The new season launches on Tuesday 22 October with an exciting guest for its launch episode: Monty Don, the TV presenter and writer, who will be speaking to podcast host and Gardens Illustrated editor Stephanie Mahon about his dream garden and more. Follow now wherever you get your podcasts to have this special episode lined up in your feed.
The veteran broadcaster and gardener joins us to talk about what he would include in his fantasy growing space, from the design smarts of Wollerton Old Hall in Shropshire to the character of Balmoral Cottage in Kent, and the dramatic views of a Fernando Caruncho design in Greece.
Find out all about his never-seen, second, secret garden, why he rails against the morality of rewilding and how having his own opinion works alongside presenting the RHS Chelsea Flower Show coverage each May (spoiler alert - he’s not a fan of beavers). Also discover why he doesn't care about scent in the garden, who his gardening hero is and why he likes to know absolutely nothing before visiting a garden, plus his top tips on making a flower bulb meadow.
You might also like:
- Talking Gardens with Alan Titchmarsh
- Talking Gardens with Alice Vincent
- Talking Gardens with Piet Oudolf
Tune in throughout the season to hear no-dig guru Charles Dowding's top composting tips, who designer Jinny Blom would invite round for a glass of champagne in the garden, and why nurserywoman Rosy Hardy let her lawn grow long. Other guests include designer Ulf Nordfjell, royal florist Shane Connolly, experimental gardener John Little and designer Butter Wakefield. The final episode in the season is a special bonus podcast recorded live with an audience at the Garden Museum in London recently, with first-time guest Sarah Raven and returning fan favourite Nigel Slater.
Each episode is a conversation between Stephanie and her guest, who is asked to choose the places and plants that they would most like to have in their fantasy garden. Who would they have as their imaginary head gardener? What are the little garden pleasures they couldn’t live without and what's the one thing they would never allow in the garden gate? There is also plenty of discussion about plants and gardens, as well as what’s going on in the horticulture industry, the nation's backyards, climate change, trends and more.
Episodes of season four of Talking Gardens will drop weekly on Tuesdays for nine weeks.
Click play to listen to the Season 4 trailer for the Talking Gardens podcast.
Talking Gardens launched in March 2023 and won the Garden Podcast of the Year Award at the Garden Media Guild Awards in November 2023. Previous guests include Piet Oudolf, Sarah Price, Nigel Dunnett, Fergus Garrett, Ann-Marie Powell, Andy Sturgeon, Troy Scott Smith, Kate Humble, Tom Stuart-Smith, Nigel Slater, Isabel Bannerman and James Wong.
