I Dig Your Story

Sometimes a business idea starts in the most unexpected places—even in the cracks of a driveway.

Lucas Picciolo, founder of Mossify, has been an entrepreneur for as long as he can remember. From selling homemade bookmarks in elementary school to developing an assistive sleep device as a teenager, Lucas has always been driven by curiosity, creativity and a desire to build something of his own.

But it was a patch of particularly vibrant moss growing between the pavers in his driveway that sparked the idea for Mossify. What began as custom wood-and-moss decor eventually grew into a company known for its innovative bendable moss poles and a growing range of products for plant enthusiasts.

We talk about learning from early business setbacks, how a pandemic-era bonsai hobby inspired one of Mossify's signature products, and what happened when Lucas took his business to Canada's Dragon's Den. We also explore the company's 15-acre moss farm, some unexpected applications for moss, and why Lucas is embracing technology to make more room for creativity and innovation.

In This Episode:

• How a determined young entrepreneur turned a childhood knack for making money into a growing business.
• The bonsai-inspired idea that changed the direction of Mossify—and caught the attention of the plant community.
• What Lucas learned from Dragon's Den, building a business without outside investors, and finding new opportunities for moss.

Find Lucas and Mossify:
Mossify: https://mossify.ca

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mossify/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@mossify

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucas-picciolo/

Landscape Moss Projects: https://landscapemoss.com/

Mossify Retail Website: https://www.mossify.ca/
Mossify Wholesale USA: https://mossifywholesale.com/
Mossify Wholesale Canada: https://mossifywholesale.ca/
Order on Faire Direct: https://mossify.faire.com

Connect with Our Show Sponsors:

Seed Your Future: https://www.seedyourfuture.org/

National Garden Bureau: https://ngb.org/

Enjoyed this conversation? Follow I Dig Your Story wherever you listen to podcasts, and share it with someone who has a story worth digging into!

A north-facing window box that didn’t go quite as planned might seem like an unlikely beginning for a gardening journey. But for Erin Schanen, better known as The Impatient Gardener, that early gardening mishap sparked a desire to understand what went wrong—and eventually grew into a thriving online community and business.

Erin grew up around gardening, thanks to her mother, but it wasn’t until she bought her first home that she dove headfirst into learning everything she could about plants. In 2009, she started a blog to document her rapidly expanding garden. As the online gardening world evolved, she moved to YouTube, bringing viewers along for an honest, unfiltered look at her garden, whether it was thriving or a bit of a wreck.

In this conversation, Erin shares how connecting with fellow garden enthusiasts led to unexpected opportunities in the horticulture industry, including a pivotal trip to California Spring Trials (CAST) that transformed her understanding of how plants get from breeders to gardeners. We also talk about the value of reliable, unsung garden plants, why she believes in planting more to control weeds, and the importance of remembering that gardening is supposed to be fun.

In This Episode:

• How a failed window box sparked a deeper interest in gardening and led to The Impatient Gardener blog.
• How Erin’s transition from blogging to YouTube—and a revealing look inside the horticulture industry—helped turn her passion into a business.
• Why every garden needs its reliable “backup singers,” and why gardeners don’t need to worry so much about perfection.

Find Erin:
Website: The Impatient Gardener (https://www.theimpatientgardener.com/)
YouTube: The Impatient Gardener (https://www.youtube.com/@TheImpatientGardener)
Instagram: @ImpatientGardener (https://www.instagram.com/impatientgardener)

Connect with Our Show Sponsors:

Seed Your Future: http://www.seedyourfuture.org (https://www.seedyourfuture.org/)

National Garden Bureau: http://www.ngb.org (https://ngb.org/)

Flowers have been part of Katie Elzer-Peters’s life for as long as she can remember. They are her “thing.” Today, she combines her love of plants with a passion for making art, from botanical drawings and watercolors to cyanotype prints made with leaves, flowers, and even weeds.

A horticulturist by training, Katie spent years working in public gardens before building The Garden of Words, a marketing agency that helps horticultural businesses connect with their audiences. But in 2020, drawing flowers with her mother over Zoom opened a new creative chapter—and a new way of experiencing the plants around her.

In this conversation, Katie shares how art has become an important part of her life, why making things with plants deepens her appreciation for gardening, and how we can find new ways to connect with the natural world by following our curiosity.

In This Episode:

• Katie's journey from public horticulture to marketing for the green industry.
• How rediscovering art in 2020 helped her find a creative outlet and a new perspective on the plants around her.
• How to turn garden plants into art through cyanotypes, leaf prints, and other hands-on projects—and why you don't have to be an artist to begin.

Resources

• Katie Elzer-Peters: The Garden of Words (https://thegardenofwords.com) and on Instagram:@katie_gardenofwords (https://www.instagram.com/katie_gardenofwords/)
• Art from the Garden by Kerry Michaels (https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/kerry-michaels/art-from-the-garden/9781643264172/)
• Florals by Hand by Alli Kochs (https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/624162/florals-by-hand-by-alli-koch/)
• Art Toolkit, compact art supplies for sketching on the go (https://arttoolkit.com)
• Sign up for Katie’s occasional and extremely well-written e-newsletter at http://tinyurl.com/gownewsletter (http://tinyurl.com/gownewsletter)
• Connect with Katie on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/katieelzerpeters/)

Listen to the episode and discover new ways to bring plants into your creative life!

Connect with Our Show Sponsors:

Seed Your Future: http://www.seedyourfuture.org (http://www.seedyourfuture.org)

National Garden Bureau: http://www.ngb.org (http://www.ngb.org)

Sonya Harris loved teaching special education, but a struggling first-grade math lesson led her and a colleague to discover that nature is the ultimate classroom. With no gardening experience at all, Sonya reached out to a celebrity gardener for help—and the resulting school garden changed the direction of her work.

As founder of the Bullock Garden Project, Sonya went from helping children understand math through gardening to teaching educators, families, and communities how to grow food. When COVID-19 underscored how close many people are to food insecurity, her mission expanded. Retirement didn't mean stopping her work as an educator; it meant finding new ways to help others learn, grow, and thrive.

Today, Sonya is exploring garden-based learning as a way to help children cope with trauma, while championing more inclusive community gardens and reminding us that plants offer far more than beauty and food.

In This Episode

• How a math lesson, a little ingenuity, and an unexpected outreach to a TV gardening personality sparked a school garden.
• How the Bullock Garden Project grew from supporting students to helping people address food insecurity and learn to grow food.
• How gardens can support children facing trauma—and how plants provide fibers, dyes, building materials, and opportunities for connection.

Resources

• Sonya Harris is NJGardenTeacher on Instagram – http://www.instagram.com/njgardenteacher
• Watch the Bullock Children's Garden video created by Rich Laru – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5aEIdCWOQE

Kate Santos has built a career that crosses some of horticulture’s most distinct boundaries: from applied research and greenhouse production to breeding and global operations—and now public horticulture at Longwood Gardens.

As Associate Vice President of Science at Longwood, Kate brings that commercial and scientific experience to a place where horticulture is about growing beautiful plants—and so much more. Her work connects production, conservation horticulture, biodiversity, climate resiliency, sustainability, research—and most importantly she’s helping to connect these to the 1.7 million people who visit Longwood Gardens because they simply love plants and nature.

In this conversation, Kate talks about feeling disconnected from plants despite moving upward in her career, and eventually taking a year away to ask the hard questions and figure out what truly mattered to her. She also explains how Longwood is using horticulture as a tool for conservation and stewardship, and what it means to help carry the responsibility of a garden of such distinction.

Listen for:

• How Kate bridged the gap between commercial and public horticulture—and why her perspective on the transition matters.
• The extraordinary amount of work behind Longwood’s 1,000-bloom chrysanthemum—and why it takes 18 months to create.
• Kate’s must-see list for a short visit to Longwood, including the meadow, conservatories, fountains, and ornamental kitchen garden.

Connect with Kate:
Website: http://www.longwoodgardens.org
Email: ksantos@longwoodgardens.org

Connect with Our Show Sponsors:

Seed Your Future: http://www.seedyourfuture.org

National Garden Bureau: http://www.ngb.org

In this quarterly bonus I Dig Your Story sub-pod we call Fifth Tuesdays, host Ellen Wells does a follow-up with a former guest, Roshan Patel.

When we first talked, Roshan was getting his hands dirty at Mack Park Farm in Salem, Massachusetts, and discovering just how much community can grow around a garden. Now, several months later, he has plenty to report.

Roshan talks about a busy growing season, creating garden videos, and the expanding impact of Mack Park Farm—including nearly 5,000 pounds of donated food and a growing volunteer base. He also fills us in on a new community garden at the Plummer House and the new Friends of Mack Park Farm, a nonprofit created to help secure the farm’s future.

And, of course, Ellen has to ask: Has Roshan finally made peace with kale? Plus, a peek at fatherhood and Roshan’s hopes for introducing baby Blake to the garden.

Resources:

Roshan Patel: Growing Community Through Urban Agriculture - podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/roshan-patel-growing-community-through-urban-agriculture/id1856208214?i=1000779882808

Roshan’s Instagram: - https://www.instagram.com/drizzleranch/

Jonathan Bardzik has built a life around curiosity, creativity, and bringing people together. From growing up in his family’s Massachusetts garden center to working in horticulture, cooking for others, writing books, and creating retreats, his path has rarely been linear—and that’s exactly the point.

In this conversation, Jonathan shares how his relationship with plants began, why following curiosity has shaped so many of his choices, and how cooking became a way to create connection and joy. We also talk about his experience spending more than nine months on solo retreats, what he learned from stepping away from everyday demands, and why he now creates that space for others.

Jonathan keeps close to his heart this advice: “Make connection a priority in your life. It is the greatest source of joy that you will have.”

Listen for:

• How Jonathan’s childhood in a garden center—and his strong sense of self—influenced the life he ultimately created.
• Why following curiosity has led him from horticulture into cooking, storytelling, writing, and television.
• What Jonathan discovered during his extended periods of solo retreat—and the surprising value of unstructured time.
• Why he believes “Connection is the greatest source of joy in our lives.”

Connect with Jonathan:
Website: www.jonathanbardzik.com
Instagram: www.instagram.com/jonathanbardzik
YouTube: www.youtube.com/@JonathanBardzik
Jonathan’s All-America Selections recipes: https://all-americaselections.org/jonathan-bardzik-to-produce-videos-and-custom-recipes-with-aas-winners/

What happens when two friends get excited about school gardens and then decide to start taking their viewers inside some of the most interesting gardens around Central California?

Christy Calderon and Shelley Joyner are the creators of Between Two Shrubs, a YouTube show that’s a little like MTV’s Cribs, but for gardens. They tour home landscapes, talk with the people who created them, and show viewers what’s growing, what’s working, and generally what’s happening just out of sight.

But their interest in gardening and their friendship started before their viral backyard videos. Christy and Shelley became involved with the garden program at their children’s school because they saw the garden as a place where kids could learn by doing and have access to fresh food. Their work has grown into a hands-on educational garden with a full curriculum, gardening activities, events, and plenty of opportunities for students and parents to get their hands in the soil.

In this episode, we talk about:

• Why school gardens became important to Christy and Shelley
• What a garden can teach kids beyond how to grow food
• The evolution of their school garden and curriculum
• How Between Two Shrubs became the garden version of Cribs

Connect with Christy & Shelley:

Between Two Shrubs on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@BetweenTwoShrubs

Between Two Shrubs on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/betweentwoshrubs/

Between Two Shrubs School Garden Planning Materials - https://www.etsy.com/shop/BetweenTwoShrubsShop

Sunset Magazine article: https://sunset.com/home-garden/garden-basics/how-to-start-a-school-garden

Rayne Gibson grew up in family-owned wholesale nursery in Louisiana, learning the business from the ground up. By the time he graduated from LSU with a horticulture degree, he had a very specific vision: build up the operation into a multi-state container nursery business and become one of the best nurserymen in the industry.

Then everything changed.

In this episode of I Dig Your Story, Rayne talks about leaving the family business after realizing the future he had been promised wasn’t going to happen—and how that difficult decision ultimately led him to opportunities he never expected. He shares the story of turning around a struggling wholesale nursery in Fort Worth, rebuilding its team and operations, and discovering what good leadership really looks like.

Today, through Taproots Horticulture Consulting, Rayne helps horticulture businesses that struggle with production planning, operational efficiency, sales coaching, team building and leadership, helping them become the best nurseries and people they can be.

The conversation also touches on:

• Family business dynamics
• Consultant or counselor?
• Building a healthy workplace culture
• His philosophy of becoming the leader he wished he had

Resources:

• Taproots Horticulture Consulting – www.taprootsconsulting.com
• Rayne Gibson on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/rayne-gibson-6056381aa

Laura Kunkle’s career has taken some unexpected turns—from wanting to be a professional piano player at the Olympics, to sports broadcasting, accounting at Highlights for Children, and eventually a decades-long career in the green industry. Today, she’s the executive director of America in Bloom, an organization helping communities across the country become better places to live, work, visit, and invest in.

In this episode, Laura and I talk about how America in Bloom uses trees, flowers, environmental stewardship, heritage preservation, and—most importantly—volunteerism to help communities see themselves differently. Laura shares the remarkable transformation of Castle Rock, Washington, and explains why communities need to “be in it for the long haul” to create lasting change.

We also get into why plants are more than pretty, how beautiful communities can make us feel good (and encourage us to spend time and money there), and why community involvement is at the heart of lasting change.

And because this is I Dig Your Story, we go beyond the professional story. Laura reveals her hidden talents—juggling! spinning a ball on her finger!—and explains why pickleball became an unexpected way for this self-described shy person to build community.

In this episode:

• Laura’s winding path from sports broadcasting to the green industry
• The 25-year story of America in Bloom
• Why volunteerism is the program’s most powerful ingredient
• How flowers helped transform Castle Rock, Washington
• Why plants are more than pretty

Connect with Laura:

America in Bloom – http://www.americainbloom.org

Gardens Across America – http://www.americainbloom.org/programs/gardens-across-america

Ashley Vernon’s relationship with plants began with childhood curiosity—tasting honeysuckle, exploring her grandmother’s grapevines, and growing her first strawberry patch—but the path to her career in community orchards was anything but predictable.

Adopted as a baby, Ashley grew up curious about her background and where she came from. That curiosity became a kind of wanderlust, leading her from nursing to political science, international studies, and journalism, then to Belize, the Peace Corps in Mauritania and Rwanda, and eventually to social work. Along the way, she developed a fascination with understanding people, places, and how interconnected our stories are.

That curiosity led to Ashley becoming Co-Executive Director of The Giving Grove, a national organization helping communities establish and sustain community orchards.

In this episode:

• How adoption shaped Ashley’s curiosity and career trajectory
• Her unexpected journey from nursing and journalism to community orchards
• How The Giving Grove puts communities—not organizations—in the driver’s seat
• The remarkable scale: 17 cities, 850+ community orchards, nearly 2,000 trained orchard stewards, almost 14,000 trees, and access to nearly a million people
• Why community engagement is just as important as pruning, pest management, and harvesting

Plus, Ashley shares the story of the first apple tree she grafted—and why she calls one particularly wicked-looking tree in her yard “Maleficent.”

Find Ashley:
The Giving Grove: givinggrove.org
Free fruit-tree education: Visit Giving Grove for resources (www.givinggrove.org/resources) on tree selection, pest and disease management, and fruit-tree care.

What happens when a lifelong love of plants meets an insatiable curiosity about, well, just about everything? For horticulturist, author, educator and entrepreneur Leslie Halleck, it has made for one fascinating career.

Leslie and I go way back, so this conversation was a chance to talk not just about what she does, but how she got there. From growing up as an Army brat and gardening with an adopted German “Oma” to studying botany, working at a garden center, conducting research trials and eventually building her own horticultural consulting business, Leslie has never been a one-lane kind of person.

We talk about her career in public gardens and retail, how writing became such an important part of her work, and the three-legged stool that is Halleck Horticultural: supporting the horticulture industry, teaching the next generation of horticulturists, and providing scientifically accurate gardening information to consumers.

Leslie also shares why she thinks gardeners need to be especially careful about the information they find online, what she teaches her horticulture students about evaluating sources, and why she believes learning new things—and even picking up new hobbies—is an important part of who she is.

In this episode, we talk about:

• Leslie's unconventional path into horticulture
• The role writing and teaching have played in her career
• How to separate good horticultural information from gardening misinformation
• Reinvention, curiosity and embracing your many interests

Listen to Leslie's story on I Dig Your Story—and find out what happens when a horticulturist refuses to stay in just one lane.

Find Leslie:
Halleck Horticultural: http://www.halleckhorticultural.com – sign up for her newsletters here!
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lesliehalleck//
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lesliehalleck/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HalleckHorticultural

Angelique Robb didn’t grow up dreaming of a career in horticulture. She studied engineering, worked in the oil industry, and moved to Scotland before gradually finding her way into landscape design and build. Along the way, she discovered that the problem-solving, project management, and visualization skills she developed as an engineer were remarkably useful in the landscape industry.

Today, Angelique is the owner of SYNKD, a media and events platform created to connect the many disciplines that make up the landscape industry. In this episode, we talk about her unconventional career path, the lessons she learned running a landscape design/build business, and why she believes collaboration—not working in silos—is one of the keys to moving the industry forward.

In This Episode

• How designing and building her own gardens on two different continents sparked Angelique’s interest in plants.
• What engineering and the oil industry taught her about landscape design, construction, and project management.
• Why a frustrating experience with a landscape contractor inspired her to start her own design/build business in Scotland.
• How a move back to Louisiana led to the creation of SYNKD—and why Angelique wanted to bring the landscape industry’s many disciplines together.
• Why communication, collaboration, and sharing what works are essential to solving the industry’s biggest challenges.

Connect with Angelique Robb and SYNKD

Visit SYNKD at synkd.io for the publication, events, podcasts, videos, and more.

Angelique welcomes feedback and ideas from landscape professionals about what the industry needs. Contact her at Angelique@synkd.io

After a corporate layoff unexpectedly changed his career path, Roshan Patel traded digital marketing for community gardening—and found a new sense of purpose in the process.

In this episode, Roshan shares how volunteering at Mack Park Farm in Salem, Massachusetts, grew into a passion for urban agriculture, food security, and community engagement. He also talks about using social media to make gardening more approachable and why getting your hands dirty can change much more than what's growing in the garden.

In This Episode

• Roshan's journey into urban agriculture
• How Mack Park Farm serves the Salem community
• Gardening, food security, and building connections
• Making gardening accessible through social media
• Why everyone should spend more time outdoors
• It is indeed possible to learn to love kale

Links & Resources

• Drizzle Ranch on Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/drizzleranch
• Mack Park Farm: https://mack-park-farm-salemma.hub.arcgis.com/

Enjoyed this episode? Subscribe to I Dig Your Story, leave a review, and share this episode with someone who loves plants, gardens, and the people behind them. Keep digging!

In this episode of I Dig Your Story, host Ellen Wells talks with Matt Lebon, a.k.a. The Foodscaper, about the idea of foodscaping—creating landscapes that combine beauty, food production, ecological diversity, and water management.

Matt shares the winding path that took him from business school and the Peace Corps to organic farming, permaculture, and eventually designing food-producing landscapes for homeowners. He and Ellen talk about food forests, edible front yards, rain gardens, resilient plants, and how you can rethink the landscape you already have.

Whether you're interested in growing more of your own food or simply want to make your landscape more useful, this conversation will give you plenty to think about.

In this episode:

• What foodscaping is—and what it can look like at home
• Why your front yard might be the perfect place to grow food
• Food forests and multilayered landscapes
• How rain gardens can help manage water
• Choosing resilient, low-maintenance plants

Find Matt:
The Foodscaper: https://www.thefoodscaper.com/
Instagram: Matt The Foodscaper - https://www.instagram.com/matt.the.foodscaper/

Resources mentioned:
Free Plant Guide: https://www.thefoodscaper.com/

YouTube Resources: The Foodscaper - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8X1D7AD9xc2i4tZye61FNQ

Jennifer Rust spent years building a successful corporate career in sales and management consulting. But after stepping away from corporate life—and into what she jokingly calls her "post-corporate therapy" of pulling weeds in her own yard—she discovered that the business she was searching for had been growing alongside her passion for plants all along.

Today, Jennifer is the founder of Jennifer Rust Botanicals and Studio JRB, where she creates everything from seasonal container gardens to biophilic designs for luxury hotels and commercial spaces. In this conversation, she shares how corporate experience became an unexpected advantage, why community was essential to launching her business, and how evidence-based biophilic design improves both human well-being and business performance.

Along the way, Jennifer offers practical container gardening advice and encourages anyone with a dream that it's never too late to build a thriving business around what you truly love.

Whether you're a gardener, entrepreneur, designer, or someone considering your own second act (or even third!), Jennifer's story is a reminder that sometimes the path forward begins by listening to the passion that's been there all along.

In This Episode

• Growing up in a military family where gardening always meant home
• How working at Crabtree & Evelyn foreshadowed a future in plants
• Leaving a successful corporate career and finding "post-corporate therapy" in the garden
• Why container gardens became the foundation of Jennifer Rust Botanicals
• The value of finding community through Digging In
• What biophilic design really means—and the research behind it
• How Studio JRB helps hotels and commercial spaces improve guest experience through plants
• Jennifer's favorite container garden design principles
• The overlooked garden center section where "the good stuff" lives
• Why it's never too late to build a business around your passion

Connect with Jennifer

Jennifer Rust Botanicals: https://jenniferrustbotanicals.com/

Studio JRB: https://studiojrb.com/

Follow Jennifer on Instagram:
@jenniferrustbotanicals - https://www.instagram.com/jenniferrustbotanicals/
@studiojrb - https://www.instagram.com/studio_jrb/

More:

The Psychology Today article on biophilia mentioned in Shovel Ready - https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/biophilia

Keep listening—because everyone has a story worth digging into.

What if public gardens are much more than beautiful places to visit?

Jessica Turner-Skoff firmly believes—and convinces her listeners—that public gardens are where beauty, science, conservation, and human connection come together.

As Associate Director of Science Communications at Longwood Gardens, Jessica helps translate groundbreaking plant research into stories that inspire visitors, volunteers, and gardeners alike. But her own story begins on a hobby farm in rural Ohio, where farm chores, medicinal plants, and a lifelong sense of wonder shaped the path that eventually led her to one of the world's great gardens.

In this episode of I Dig Your Story, Jessica shares how her childhood fascination with nature evolved into a career that blends biology, communication, conservation, and storytelling. Along the way, we explore American ginseng, the hidden science happening inside public gardens, and why every one of us already has a relationship with plants—even if we don't realize it.

Whether you're a gardener, plant professional, science communicator, or simply someone who enjoys spending time outdoors, Jessica's perspective may forever change the way you experience a garden.

In this episode we discuss:

• Why every person has a relationship with plants
• From aspiring zoo keeper to plant scientist
• Researching American ginseng and conservation in Appalachia
• Why public gardens are scientific powerhouses—not just beautiful destinations
• Jessica's TEDx talk on reconnecting people with nature
• Her advice for anyone considering a career working with plants

Jessica also shares one of the simplest challenges you'll gladly participate in:

Take 30 seconds to think about all the ways plants make your life better.

You may never look at the world quite the same way again.

Connect with Jessica:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessicabturnerskoff/
• Longwood Gardens: https://longwoodgardens.org

• GrowerTalks article regarding Christmas poinsettias at Longwood: https://www.growertalks.com/Article/?srch=1&articleID=27630

Landscape designer, plantsman, author, and ecological steward Kelly D. Norris believes gardens aren't static works of art but are living communities. In this episode of I Dig Your Story, Kelly shares the remarkable path that led him from running a mail-order iris nursery as a teenager on his family's Iowa farm to becoming one of the country's leading voices in ecological landscape design.

Kelly explains why he prefers the word stewardship over maintenance, why curiosity has shaped every chapter of his career, and why the best compliment someone can give his work is to say it doesn't look designed at all.

Whether you're tending a backyard garden, managing a public landscape, or simply wondering how to create more meaningful connections with the natural world, this conversation will leave you looking at plants—and your own landscape—a little differently.

In this episode, Kelly and host Ellen Wells talk about:

• How a 14-year-old convinced his parents to buy a mail-order iris nursery
• Why Kelly believes plants are collaborators, not landscape objects
• The difference between maintaining a landscape and stewarding one
• Leaving security to build an entrepreneurial design studio
• The philosophy behind Kelly's motto, "Just Keep Planting."
• Why asking better questions matters more than having all the answers

Learn more about Kelly and his work at:

https://kellydnorris.com

Fifth Tuesdays #2:

In this quarterly bonus I Dig Your Story sub-pod we call Fifth Tuesdays, host Ellen Wells is answering your questions!

In this episode, Ellen answers:

• What’s your earliest plant memory?
• But Ellen, are you a good gardener?
• How do I keep our Wisteria from taking over our small urban yard?
• Do coffee grounds really help plants?
• Do you have a hack for bugs and other pests?

Ellen also shares the latest IDYS news:

• The IDYS website launches this July! – www.idigyourstory.com
• The IDYS Substack newsletter is coming at the end of the month
• Request the IDYS Media Kit and learn how you can support the show
• Nominate someone (or yourself!) to be a guest on the show

Questions? IDigYourStory@gmail.com

Did you know there’s an IDYS Instagram page? Check it out at http://www.instagram.com/idigyourstory

What happens when an eight-year-old sticks a broken branch in the ground and discovers it can grow roots? Mind blown!

For Joe Lamp'l, that moment sparked a lifelong fascination with plants that eventually led him from a corporate career in finance to becoming one of the most recognizable voices in gardening media.

Known to millions as joe gardener, Joe joins Ellen Wells on I Dig Your Story to share the story behind his career. As they talk, he reveals how a childhood obsession with plant propagation evolved into television hosting, podcasting, online education, and environmental advocacy – with only a brief diversion in a suit-and-tie job.

Joe and host Ellen Wells discuss:

• the unexpected contact that launched his television career
• the challenges of producing 52 episodes of a scripted gardening show
• why audio remains his favorite medium
• the gardening practice Joe believes is most underrated
• and his next move into ecological gardening and native plants

Their conversation goes beyond gardening to explore the nurturing of curiosity, persistence and entrepreneurial drive, and the power of following a passion.

Connect with Joe:

Web: www.joegardener.com
Instagram: www.instagram.com/joegardener
YouTube: www.youtube.com/@joegardenerTV