Links to podcast of garden radio show, Tribune plants story

So, I survived my broadcasting trial by fire, guest-hosting the Mike Nowak Show on WCPT-820 AM yesterday while he was supposed to be goofing off (although it turns out he was really listening). Here's a link to the podcast at Mike's Web site. Here's a link to a post with lots of links referred to in the show.

Was it the most polished and dynamic radio you ever heard? No. I was pretty stiff and fell down in the banter department.

As I was driving home afterward I was listening to talk radio in the car and realizing that all the seemingly time-wasting joshing and kidding around that annoys me so much is actually necessary for lubrication and aeration. That's why so many radio shows have two hosts, I guess. If you just have one nervous banter-deficient novice, you get . . . well, me.

It was what they call a learning experience. But everybody's got to start somewhere. I shudder to recall my stumbling beginner news stories all those years ago.

On the other hand, we did chat with the folks from the National Garden Bureau about seeds, and with garden designer Andrea Green and The Conservation Foundation's Jim Kleinwachter about rain garden design, and with Rick DiMaio about why we're not getting as much snow this year as the folks down South. So you might consider listening to the podcast anyway.

And/or you might want to check out this story I wrote for the Chicago Tribune last weekend. They've posted it on their web site in the form of a story gallery. There's good info here about some recommended garden plants, but it's also an advance on the Midwest Gardening Symposium at The Morton Arboretum in Lisle March 5-7.

Despite a very tempting lineup, I won't be there. In fact, I've never been to one of the arboretum's Midwest Gardening Symposiums (or Symposia) because they always hold them on the first weekend of the Chicago Flower & Garden Show, and that's where I always am. But if you can postpone your visit to the flower show at Navy Pier, you might want to check out the symposium schedule.

Got a garden question? I recommend you call or e-mail the Plant Clinic of The Morton Arboretum in Lisle, the Master Gardeners of the University of Illinois Extension or the Plant Information Service of the Chicago Botanic Garden in Glencoe .

All contents of this post are copyright Beth Botts. Feel free to link or share a brief excerpt with a link, but please do not reproduce photos or any other part of this blog without my express permission.

Some links from radio show

On Feb. 21, at an indecently early hour for a Sunday morning, I am hosting Mike Nowak's radio show on WCPT. This here post is a collection of links to things that I might (or might not) mention on the air tomorrow, which I am posting so I can say, "for more information on any of this stuff, see my blog, growinginChicago.org." Crafty, huh?

And if I don't get around to mentioning any of them, or all of them, they are still here to be clicked on if they look interesting anyhow.

All-America Selections

National Garden Bureau

Andrea T. Green, Gardens by Design

The Conservation Foundation's Conservation@Home program

Midwest Gardening Symposium, Morton Arboretum, Lisle, March 5-7.

Midwest Ecological Landscaping Association annual conference, Feb. 25, Chicago Botanic Garden, Glencoe.

Family Farmed Expo, March 11-13, UIC forum, Chicago

49th Ward farmers' market chili cook-off fundraiser, Feb. 21, noon-3 p.m.

Chicago Botanic Garden Antiques & Garden Fair, Glencoe, April 16-18

Public hearings on reorganization of University of Illinois Extension, March 2 in St. Charles and march 12 in Countryside

Chicago Flower & Garden Show, March 6-14, Navy Pier

On the radio Sunday, talking about rain gardens

I'm behind on my blogging; too much else going on, too few hours in the average day.

One new adventure for me: This coming Sunday, Feb. 21, I am going to guest-host the Mike Nowak Show, Mike's gardening-and-greening radio show from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. on WCPT 820-AM in Chicago. I've been a guest on the show several times, and now Mike has snookered me into soloing while he goes off cross-country skiing or snowshoeing or something. More likely goofing off on the couch.

Now, this is not a monster radio station, but apparently if you can't get the signal at 820 AM, it also is broadcast on the FM dial at 92.5 (if you're toward the west of the city), 92.7 (north) and 99.9 (south). There also are streaming audio and podcasts of previous shows at the station's web site.

I've got two different conversations lined up. First, we're going to talk to folks from All-America Selections and the National Garden Bureau, a related trade organization for the garden seed industry based out in Downers Grove. I'm going to ask them to explain about the All-America Selections trials and to give us some tips on shopping for seeds.

Then, we're going to talk rain gardens. The rain garden idea has been around for a while; there are a lot of government and nonprofit programs to promote the idea (there is a lot of information online, but here's one representative sample, a Web page from Minneapolis).

It seems so simple and appealing: Help control storm water and prevent pollution by collecting rain that falls on roofs and driveways into a low-lying garden so it has time to sink in to the ground rather than run off into the storm sewer.

In places like Chicago and the older suburbs--where the storm sewers empty right into the sanitary sewers, and the clean rain becomes polluted water that requires sewage treatment before it is released into rivers and lakes--keeping rain where it falls and out of the sewers in the first place has the theoretical potential to greatly reduce the amount of polluted water that we have to treat.

So, why doesn't everybody have a rain garden? And what can we do to encourage people to plan their landscaping so they keep the rain water that falls on their homes on their own property?

I'll be talking with Jim Kleinwachter, who heads the Conservation@Home program for The Conservation Foundation in Naperville, and Andrea Green of Gardens by Design in Oak Park, a garden designer and board member at the Oak Park Conservatory. On March 6, Andrea will be speaking on the topic "Design a Prettier Rain Garden" at the Midwest Gardening Symposium at The Morton Arboretum in Lisle.

And I hope we'll have time to get to a few garden questions. To call in during the show, the number is 773-838-WCPT(9278). You also can e-mail mike@wcpt820.com.

My Twitter handle is @chicagogardener. Mike's is @MikeNow. The Twitter hashtag for the show is #MikeNow. I do not, however, plan to be tweeting during the show; I expect to have my hands full figuring out what I'm supposed to do next. The only thing standing between me and the wrath of the FCC will be Heather, the valiant producer.

See you on the radio...

Got a garden question? I recommend you call or e-mail the Plant Clinic of The Morton Arboretum in Lisle, the Master Gardeners of the University of Illinois Extension or the Plant Information Service of the Chicago Botanic Garden in Glencoe .

All contents of this post are copyright Beth Botts. Feel free to link or share a brief excerpt with a link, but please do not reproduce photos or any other part of this blog without my express permission.

Competitive urge? Horticulture competition at Flwoer & Garden Show

One of the features of this year's Chicago Flower & Garden Show at Navy Pier March 6-14 is a new horticultural competition. The Chicago Botanic Garden drew up the rules, in cooperation with serious plant societies, so it conforms to the strict traditional flower show guidelines. That means the rules are very finicky, so read carefully. See the rules here.

Anybody can enter. There are categories for various kinds of houseplants--so you might already have a winner in your living room--and for planting window boxes. The competition includes a photo contest. Deadline for the photos is Feb. 17 (postmarked by Feb 16).