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Plant People

New York Botanical Garden

Plant People explores the ways our relationships with plants are tied to current environmental issues, and how art and culture reflect our connection to the ecosystems we rely on to thrive. Through lively stories and conversations with scientists, gardeners, artists, and experts, join the New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) for deep dives into everything from food systems and horticulture to botanical breakthroughs in the lab and the field, and the many ways our daily lives are sustained by plants. Then stay for discussions on how we can return the favor, protecting what we have—and cultivating what we need—to ensure plants and people continue to support each other for future generations. Host Jennifer Bernstein, NYBG’s President & CEO, guides you through the role of humans in caring for our shared planet, whether you’re in your backyard garden, tending a window sill full of houseplants, or finding your love of nature in a concrete jungle. Let NYBG—rooted in NYC’s cultural fabric for over 130 years and a beloved respite in the heart of the Bronx, the city’s greenest borough—be your anchor for understanding how plants make a difference in your life, and our world, every single day—in ways both big and small. Listen and subscribe to Plant People every two weeks starting May 20, 2024.

© 2024 The New York Botanical Garden

Plant People explores the ways our relationships with plants are tied to current environmental issues, and how art and culture reflect our connection to the ecosystems we rely on to thrive. Through lively stories and conversations with scientists, gardeners, artists, and experts, join the New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) for deep dives into everything from food systems and horticulture to botanical breakthroughs in the lab and the field, and the many ways our daily lives are sustained by plants. Then stay for discussions on how we can return the favor, protecting what we have—and cultivating what we need—to ensure plants and people continue to support each other for future generations. Host Jennifer Bernstein, NYBG’s President & CEO, guides you through the role of humans in caring for our shared planet, whether you’re in your backyard garden, tending a window sill full of houseplants, or finding your love of nature in a concrete jungle. Let NYBG—rooted in NYC’s cultural fabric for over 130 years and a beloved respite in the heart of the Bronx, the city’s greenest borough—be your anchor for understanding how plants make a difference in your life, and our world, every single day—in ways both big and small. Listen and subscribe to Plant People every two weeks starting May 20, 2024.

© 2024 The New York Botanical Garden
5hr 32min
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Thumbnail for "The African American Garden".
Thumbnail for "Eating To Extinction".
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Thumbnail for "What Do Plants Have To Do With Flooding?".
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NYBG’s Marc Hachadourian joins us for a chat on the ways conservatory and botanical garden horticulture have influenced our day-to-day lives with plants.
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Dr. Evelyn Beaury joins us for a look at the state of invasive plant species in the United States, and ways that the everyday person can make a difference in protecting their local ecosystems.
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Michael Dockry, Assistant Professor of Forestry Studies at the University of Minnesota and a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, explores the state of our forests—and the increased threat of wildfires in today’s climate.
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We're joined by landscape designer Edwina von Gal, founder of Perfect Earth Project, for a chat exploring America's love of grass—and the ways that changing our relationship to our lawns can help suburban landscapes work for the good of our planet.
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In Plant People's inaugural episode, get to know Rhonda Evans, Director of NYBG's LuEsther T. Mertz Library, and Dr. Emily Sessa, Director of the Steere Herbarium, as they take us inside the archives of botanical books and plant specimens that represent so much of humanity’s plant knowledge.
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Welcome to Plant People!

Decay is an Ally

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September 23, 202428min 4sec

In our final episode of the season, we sit down with Merlin Sheldrake, biologist and author of Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds, and Shape Our Futures, to talk fungi. Mushrooms are a culinary sensation, but they’re also lifeforms that we’re still trying to understand. Join in as we learn how the grim work of fungi—death, decay, and “the end” of organic life—is key to the survival of all living things, and far from a foraging fad, mycology is at the root of Earth’s ability to function. 

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Decay is an Ally
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