Return of the Gardening Queen

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When will Melinda Myers become a show regular?

(November 11, 2018)  To answer the headline question, perhaps when the Gardening Queen gets paid for joining us on the program. And, after looking at my bank account, I see that’s not going to happen right now. So, for the moment, she’s still a semi-regular, which is fine with me. I hope that works for her, too.

When Melinda Myers joined Peggy and me on the program in June, she was just about to do a presentation called “Low Maintenance Perennials for a Beautiful Landscape.” When she was with us in March of this year, it was just before her appearance at the Chicago Flower & Garden Show. She was also with us in August of 2017, just after having been inducted into the Hall of Fame for the GWA: The Association for Garden Communicators.

For those of you who wonder what kind of gardening issues you can talk about on November 11, here’s a list that Melinda sent to me earlier this week:

• Winterize your landscape – everything from leaving plants stand or cutting back for winter, heeling in plants that did not get planted (looks like we may have a few more weeks to do this – at least I am hoping), winter protection….
• Managing insect pests on indoor plants – things that moved in with the plants you are overwintering indoors
• Improving success with tropicals and other plants you are trying to save over winter
• Windowsill herb garden – fresh herbs for your winter meals

Here’s one more. As you can see, we’re never at a loss for horticultural topics, regardless of the season. So give us a call at 877-711-5611 if you have any questions about any of your plants, indoors or out.

She’s a longtime columnist and contributing editor for Birds & Blooms magazine and writes the twice monthly “Gardeners’ Questions” newspaper column. Myers writes a regular column for Chicagoland Gardening and Wisconsin Gardening magazines, and she has written more than 20 gardening books, including Can’t Miss Small Space Gardening and the Midwest Gardener’s Handbook.

In fact, we will be giving away a DVD from the Great Courses series this morning. So pay attention!

Following up on the 2018 elections and more

In case you didn’t notice, there was an election in our country this week, and it might actually affect our environment in a few ways. So Peggy and I will be looking at that and a few other stories that have been making headlines this week. Here you go.

• Business Insider reports that

The US just elected 9 new scientists to Congress, including an ocean expert, a nurse, and a biochemist. Here’s the full list.

The members of the current 115th Congress include one physicist, one microbiologist, and one chemist, as well as eight engineers and one mathematician. The medical professions are slightly better represented, with three nurses and 15 doctors, as well as at least three veterinarians.

The new winners will bolster those science ranks. The Democratic candidates who won all ran successful campaigns with the support of a nonprofit political action committee called 314 Action, which started in 2016 and is dedicated to recruiting, training, and funding scientists and healthcare workers who want to run for political office. (One Republican engineer turned businessman won a race in Oklahoma, without support from the PAC.)

• David Attenborough: too much alarmism on environment a turn-off

Okay. Sure. Your house is on fire but if I tell you to leave it, I’m just being Debbie Downer. Got it. Let’s move on.

• Climate Fwd: What the midterms mean for climate change

There will be a new class of House committee leaders taking up environmental issues as they take over from Republican leaders hostile to climate science. Representative Eddie Bernice Johnson of Texas, who is poised to take over the House Science Committee from Lamar Smith, who disputes the scientific consensus on climate change, vowed the issue would be front and center for her.

One of her goals, Ms. Johnson said last night, will be to “address the challenge of climate change, starting with acknowledging it is real.”

Meantime, Democrats have promised hearings on the Trump administration’s regulatory rollbacks at the Environmental Protection Agency and the Interior Department, as well as the ethics questions that have dogged Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke.

Next year promises to be a wild ride.

• Did Illinois just elect the most pro-environment General Assembly ever?

Is this a dream team, or will the Democrats figure out a way to screw it up?

• Judge Blocks Disputed Keystone XL Pipeline in Setback for Trump

We’ll see how long that lasts.

We’ll talk about even more environmental issues, but that should give us a good head start.