Ask James & Joe: Rogue Pruning, Talking Plants & Gardening Heresy

It’s time for Ask James & Joe – where listener questions meet gardening rebellion, unexpected sermons, and the occasional Victorian murder mystery.

This week’s postbag takes us everywhere from “should you really wait a full year before changing your garden?” to whether plants gossip about us when we’re not looking. James confesses to breaking his own rules, Joe defends gardening instinct over perfection, and both agree that courage – not calendar dates – is the real secret to success.

Along the way we cover:

– Why waiting a year isn’t always the right advice

– Late bulb planting and breaking gardening “rules”

– Pruning roses with a hedge trimmer (yes, really)

– Storm damage, fallen trees, and why gardens always recover

– The most poisonous plant you probably already grow

– Which plants would be terrible witnesses in a Victorian crime

– Whether plants feel loved, threatened, or quietly judgemental

– Why gaps in gardens are actually a gift

There’s theology (again), questionable accents, plants on the run from the law, and a reminder that gardens are resilient, optimistic, and never finished – much like the people who love them.

Plus: news of James & Joe’s first ever live podcast, coming this March.

YOU too can put your questions to James and Joe in real time by subscribing to the Garden Collective for just £1.

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This episode is sponsored by Kress, leaders in robotic lawnmowing and battery landscaping tools. Learn more here: https://www.kress.com/en-gb/ 

About our hosts

James Alexander-Sinclair is a garden designer, writer and broadcaster. He is an RHS Vice-President and was awarded the Veitch Memorial Medal for outstanding contribution to horticulture in 2022. He is the RHS Ambassador for Garden Design and a Fellow of the Society of Garden Designers.

Joe Swift is a familiar face on television as a presenter of BBC TV’s Gardeners’ World and other gardening programmes. He is a garden designer, broadcaster, writer and design director of Modular.

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