Upside Down Tulips - A Gardening Podcast
Hi! I am Christy – a backyard gardener from Colorado. Lately, my friends and I have noticed more and more people picking our brains for tips and trouble-shooting about gardening. We think it’s kinda funny, because we’re not experts. We just learned a lot about gardening from the mistakes we made along the way. You always hear about Victory gardens – but what about all the garden failures? Gardening is about learning, experimenting and rolling with the punches. Every other week we share our most epic garden failures and our biggest garden lessons. Most gardens are the result of trial and error. To reduce your chance of failure, join us in our gardens. And learn why you should plant your tulips butt side down. Winner of Best New Podcast at 2020 Colorado Podcast Awards!
Christy Montour-Larson
My love of plants started with my mom and I still lovingly take care of the descendants of her spider plants. One can always see sunflowers and marigolds in my garden, because that is what my mom grew. And maybe that is why I always use Tide to wash clothes and eat Jiff peanut butter… For a time, we had a vegetable garden that I hated weeding, which is weird because I love weeding now. Because I am from Minnesota, I still have a lawn and can’t bear to part with it. Last year, I winter sowed 30 containers. As a theatre director and educator, I feel gardening teaches me creativity, discovery, patience and proper fingernail cleaning. Also, it is good to get out of a dark theatre and into the sun for a bit. If you wear sunscreen. Learn more about Christy’s theatre work at christymontourlarson.com
Cohosts - Like-minded, gardening friends stop by to share the mic with Christy
Karen Slack, I suppose I’ve got the gardening bug running all through my veins. My mom and dad have always had a garden and houseplants, and my mom can name any nearly any plant she sees. All the men on my dad’s side were avid gardeners, my great-grandpa, great uncle, and my grandpa. My great grandpa even made his own gardening tools! I am an actor, and one of the hardest things I’ve had to do was in a play called “God of Carnage”. I had to rip an entire vase of beautiful live tulips to shreds every night. I will never forget the smell and the tulip blood on my hands. As penance, I promptly planted a slew of tulip bulbs in my garden!
Kathryn Gray, Growing up on a farm in eastern Kansas I learned gardening from my Mom and my Grandma because the gardens fed us! When it came time to buy a house I couldn’t wait to grow tomatoes because there is nothing that tastes as good as a garden grown tomato! And I bought a house with a magnificent rhubarb plant. A few years back I started creating beds of perennials specifically for the pollinators. I also have added a few herbs for medicinal uses here and there as I have two close friends who are magnificent herbalists. But most everything is for the pollinators and birds. I do love watching the small finches chow down on the sunflowers and Echinacea in the fall. It wasn’t until I retired that I finally had real time for my garden and now I find it very meditative to spend time weeding and nourishing the green growing things around my house. My next project is slowly turning my front yard into a no-dig perennial bed.
Also in The Garden:
Edith Weiss, co-founder and partner for the first 88 episodes. “One of my early memories is watching my dad study Rodale’s Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening. He was so happy when he worked in our small backyard garden. Another early memory is of me running around the yard and picking up my aunt’s cigarette butts and her giving me a penny for each one. To this day I’m not sure why she didn’t just use an ashtray. Well, it was a complicated time. Organic gardening stuck with me. So, for a long time, did smoking. Theater was something I got into in college and have managed to make a life out of – directing, acting, writing for the theater. I combined my love of gardening and theater in a play I wrote for young students called “The Little Red Hen Explains it All for You”.” Find out more about Edith’s theatre life here: edithweiss.com
Mark Montour-Larson, our patient and wise editor and excellent yet enigmatic engineer. He is also an Emmy ® Award winning broadcast and media professional with years of experience in graphic design, animation, video editing and photography. markmontourlarson.com
Denise Gentilini, who skillfully wrote and beautifully performed the Upside Down Tulips Theme Song. Denise is a three time Emmy ® Award winning composer/songwriter with 40 years of experience writing music for film and producing artists. Using her music for social justice, Denise focuses on writing songs with intention – gardening podcasts included! Please check out The Denise Gentilini Project at denisegentilini.com.
Our Talented and Generous Friends who share their amazing acting talents and warm hearts on our hand crafted “pod plays”: John Ashton, Benjamin Bonefant, Abby Apple Boes, Paul Borrillo, LuAnn Buckstein, Adrian Egolf, Abner Genece, Kathryn Gray, Damon Guerrassio, Bill Hahn, GerRee Hinshaw, Josh Hartwell, Jim Hunt, Drew Horwitz, Nathan Jones, Brian Kusic, Jason Maxwell, Billie McBride, Emma Messenger, John Moore, Michael Morgan, Leslie O’Caroll, Lindsey Pierce, Kate Poling, Hal Rayle, Jessica Robblee, Jamie Ann Romero, Maggie Roswell, Mathew Schneck, Michael Shalhoub, Karen Slack, David Sloan, Luke Sorge, Mare Trevathan and Emily van Fleet.