Ok I could make it easier by saying go to page 107. There, beneath the BBC podcast entitled Camilla: Portrait of a Queen is a review of Our Plant Stories. It says:

The independent podcast of former Radio 4 producer Sally Flatman is now well into a second series. In each monthly episode, a gardener tells their story though one plant. For Janet, Saxifraga “London Pride” takes her back to childhood, while Kathy recalls how sowing radishes restored her after burnout. And in an “Offshoot” episode, conservationist Mary Colwell talks about regaining lost knowledge with the new GCSE in Natural History that she successfully campaigned for: What a hero. Fiona Hughes

When I was a radio producer making features and documentaries for Radio 3, 4 or 5, it was a great moment if you managed to get your programme reviewed in the side bar of the radio section called ‘Today’s Choices’. I also recall how in the very early days of my career it wasn’t a given that you would have taken photographs to accompany your programme, which of course they also wanted. Hmm the world before mobile phones. Bridget (her grandmother grew passion flowers - series 1) was the first to text me saying “you didn’t say you were being featured in the Radio Times!!!!” Truth was I had written to the magazine a couple of weeks earlier, asking if they might consider reviewing the podcast, explaining how I had returned to making audio after many years away but still remembered the excitement of being featured in their pages. I hadn’t heard anything so it was a joy to receive Bridget’s text. My hope was that people who read the Radio Times like stories and some of them like audio so maybe its a good place to find your listener. Finding your listener is one of the first pieces of advice you get when you start to make your podcast. You are encouraged to imagine your listener and then work out where they hang out, what they read or listen to. My experience is I find listeners in all kinds of curious places - Gill was crossing the field at Malvern with a tray full of camassia and went on to join the Coffee Crew supporting the podcast. Yesterday at a Museum of Homelessness garden party I met a lady who loves gardening and audio, she was telling me how deer had just eaten some prized plants - I commiserated. And I thought I had problems with slugs! I am hoping she will become a listener.

In other news this week there are a lot of different plants in my head. Lindy’s disocactus x hybridus went out on Tuesday and if you haven’t listened to it on a podcast app - it is below. It turned out that cacti are quite complicated - working out when a Epiphyllum Ackermannii is not an Epiphyllium Ackermannii but a disocactus x hybridus.

Regular readers will recall that I got very excited when I found that San Diego zoo has an Epiphyllum trail - well I heard back from them last night so watch this space! However in the meantime I have been speaking to the author of a book called The Cactus Hunters. He had incredible stories of criminals literally steeling thousands of cacti in California, sometimes just putting them in the post to Korea! That Offshoot will be coming soon.

However also in my head are 3 other plant stories. One will take us on a walk around some extraordinary detached gardens in Warwickshire, another will feature one of my favourite flowers - dahlias and there’s another apple story on the horizon.

I have mentioned previously that it is great if you have the time to leave a review for the podcast on your podcast app, it really makes a difference as to how Our Plant Stories shows up in the feeds of other people who like plant podcasts. I was really thrilled to see a couple of new reviews on Apple podcasts this week - Thank You to those who left them …they may not be blog readers but in case they are! Also if you are growing a plant as a result of a story you heard on Our Plant Stories I’d love to hear from you….there is a small end of year idea beginning to form.

Have a lovely weekend

Sally

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