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The Garden Log

Ben Dark

Welcome to a strange green world. This is the audio journal of award-wining British author, gardener and plant historian Ben Dark. A witty and intelligent window into the remarkable life of plants and the beautiful places they grow.

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  • 28 episodes
  • weekly
  • Avg 31 min
  • English

Episodes 28

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  • Thursday · 32 min

    Abutilon, Abutilon!

    Celebrating the beauty and strangeness of plants. This week we lope into the half-shade with graceful Magnolia kobus, elegant Abutilon 'Patrick Synge' and the monstrous Hydrangea aspera 'Bellevue', before bursting into the light with golden Acacia pravissima (the sawtooth wattle), duskyVitis vinifera 'Incana', and the tiny-leaved Myrtus communis subsp. tarentina. Also featuring one of the finest accounts of plant hunting The Mountains of the Moon and a recommendation of what to read in gardening this this week. https://www.thegardencollective.uk/ben-dark/ https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/463428/green-kingdom-by-dark-ben/9781847928337

  • September 17 · 31 min

    Sisyphus on the Lawn

    An existential defence of high maintenance gardening. Why should we strive for ease when working outside feels so good? With some carex, some meristems and some plant morphology for good measure. And thank you for preordering Green Kingdom! https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/463428/green-kingdom-by-dark-ben/9781847928337

  • September 10 · 25 min

    So farewell Monty Don

    In this post-rain episode of cult gardening podcast The Garden Log we say goodbye to the universal uncle Monty Don who is to retire from Gardeners' World. But our Gardeners' World keeps turning, so also enjoy introductions to the gorgeous autumn snowflake (Acis autumnalis) and the Corsican knotweed (Polygonum scoparium) a must-have evergreen perennial for the dry garden.

  • August 27 · 19 min

    Heavenly Dishevelment

    Are the best gardens designed or created? Why are there beetles crawling on my World of Interiors magazine? What cut flowers would go with my collection of pornographic postcards? These and other important questions answered in the guide to effortless good taste. For more of this sort of thing join me at https://www.thegardencollective.uk/ben-dark/

  • August 21 · 36 min

    Flight of the aspidistra

    Two very different 3am trips to the garden this week as heat gives way to rain. Also, using soft cuttings and plastic cups to make plants from plants, some Musa basjoo, some Clerodendrum trichotomum, some Solanum laciniatum and some flower crab spiders, plus of course, aspidistra: ‘They’re a dashed important subject,' And here's the link to the How to Academy event: https://tickets.howtoacademy.com/the-epic-family-history-of-plants-tickets/worldwide-live-stream/2026-10-27-18-00 Love to all you gardeners and gardening people

  • August 14 · 34 min

    Grey sedge, smuggled cuttings, a watering disaster and the new garden at Grosvenor Square

    How will our gardens look in the future? Ben visits the new garden in Grosvenor Square with its Nigel Dunnett planting to find out. Also featuring: tragedy at bathtime; some borrowed seedlings; a 4000 year old stumpery and Tom Stoppard's Arcadia at the Duke of York Theatre. And if you enjoyed any of that then of course you must pre order my book https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/463428/green-kingdom-by-dark-ben/9781847928337

  • August 7 · 21 min

    Old roses, strange apples: finding beauty in the bleached bones of an English summer

    Is Thomas Knight the greatest villain in the history of fruit growing? And how does a Frenchman's marriage influence the rose gardens of England? These and other very important questions answered in an episode of The Garden Log recorded in the bleached white of a Herefordshire summer. If you enjoyed any of this history, gardening and plants podcast then consider preordering my book here: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/463428/green-kingdom-by-dark-ben/9781847928337

  • July 30 · 23 min

    In praise of shadow, featuring Baroque hornbeams and Emily Brontë

    We find ourselves at the mercy of forces beyond our control and hide from the wind and sun under a leafy bowers of the Baroque garden at Gammel Holtegård. A gardening podcast. Here is the mega-discount for Americans https://www.amazon.com/Green-Kingdom-Family-History-Plants-ebook/dp/B0H5D7H8PZ/ref=sr_1_1?crid=RP2TBN1HHA7K&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.Bo_HP2EzIae79kSPW1fmkfmTi9cnIVFFedPWaFTKxy0IhNjqQnZmyw-9-Z9S3g2jUQyqpYp_2RZl8cdrCj0pn2uM4vQuzbP_WVV8Qfhn4oqoQqDoC8jNUq0lTckYckglCI7jTvkCL2wOhWxoyDf544YrlxKILoJeqIL-hlNBtaY.JA2A3bZ2AXgmhMakyG53ufPM7AVr6d6RpTFwXDD6vsM&dib_tag=se&keywords=green+kingdom+a+family+history+of+plants&qid=1785172825&s=books&sprefix=green+kingdom+a+family+history+of+plan%2Cstripbooks%2C349&sr=1-1 Lots of love

  • July 24 · 37 min

    Green Fingers are the Extensions of a Verdant Heart: Russell Page and Redcurrants

    Just after the summer's hinge, Ben eats his neigbours' soft fruit, considers the lily and reads that all-time classic of garden writing The Education of a Gardener. Here's the link to the Garden Collective: https://www.thegardencollective.uk/ben-dark/ Green Kingdom here: https://www.thegardencollective.uk/ben-dark/

  • July 17 · 28 min

    Green Ghosts and Fading Clones

    Welcome to season 2 of the Garden Log. Ben says goodbye to the Danish garden and prepares to return to London. Featuring, seeds, clones and the horticultural spirits that linger when we leave.

  • Apr 26, 2022 · 36 min

    #99 Wildflowers, Tyrants and Sweet Magnolia: A Gardening Podcast

    Ben discusses Ornithogolum, irises, poppies and golden fleece. Also featuring a trip to the Boboli gardens in Florence and a reading from The Grove: A Nature Odyssey in 19 1/2 Front Gardens - recently described by The Daily Telegraph as 'the best gardening book of 2022' and available to order from everywhere here: linktr.ee/bendark https://ko-fi.com/bendark

  • Apr 1, 2022 · 34 min

    #98 [On Location] The good, the mad and the hyggeligt: front gardens of Hellerup

    In this special episode of The Garden Log Ben walks out one mid-spring morning in search of beauty and blossom. The pavements brings him plants, thoughts, birdsong and some sort of helicopter, all of which are lovingly reported on. For more of this sort of thing try The Grove: Available to order now: https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-grove/ben-dark/9781784727383

Showing 1–20 of 28 episodes