PodcastsHome & GardenThe Garden Mixer

The Garden Mixer

Leslie Harris and Marianne Willburn
The Garden Mixer
Latest episode

179 episodes

  • The Garden Mixer

    Container Gardening Hacks Beyond “Thriller, Spiller, Filler”

    2026-05-29 | 1h 13 mins.
    HACK YOUR POTS: SMART PLANTS. PERFECT PLACEMENT
    It’s prime container gardening season, and everywhere gardeners are spending more than they should to achieve the dream of pots that stop people in their tracks and make their neighbors slightly jealous. But as anyone who has watched a lovingly assembled pot turn into a crispy disappointment knows — it’s not quite as simple as thriller, spiller, filler.
     
    (Those words. So useful. So annoying.)
     
    Today on The Garden Mixer, Leslie and Marianne are getting into the real business of containers: placement, proportion, pairing, and the hacks that professional container gardeners actually use — the ones they learned the hard way, so you don’t have to.
    There will be opinions about sweet potato vine. There will be strong feelings about saucers. And somewhere in there, a 95-year-old gardener named Donna is going to redefine your potting vocabulary. If Leslie can remember what she said.
     
    Grab your trowel. And maybe a dark and stormy.
    ___________________
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    Full Show Notes at⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Garden Mixer Podcast’s Substack⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
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    “French Bistro” theme by Adieu Adieu. License D0LZBINY30GGTBBW
  • The Garden Mixer

    Hot Flashes in the Garden! (actually, microclimates)

    2026-05-22 | 25 mins.
    Before “microclimates” became a gardening buzzword, Leslie and Marianne were already having hot flashes in the garden. 🔥🌿
    In this vintage One More Sip episode of The Garden Mixer, we talk about:
    • hot vs cool pockets in the garden
    • why some plants fry in summer and freeze in spring
    • raised beds, slopes, walls, and heat traps
    • tropicals, hostas, wisteria heartbreak, and elephant ears
    • Thomas Jefferson’s surprisingly clever vegetable garden design
    • and how understanding your own garden is the real gardening superpower
    Also included:
    🍸 Marianne’s legendary goddess dress
    🍸 Leslie comparing gardening to golf bunker shots
    🍸 Hot Girl Summer Gardening™
    🍸 More botanical pronunciation adventures than anyone asked for
    This episode originally aired for paid One More Sip subscribers and is now being released publicly one year later.
    #gardening #gardenpodcast #microclimates #gardeningtips #plants #thegardenmixer #horticulture #gardendesign
  • The Garden Mixer

    High Impact, Low Effort Flowers

    2026-05-15 | 1h 16 mins.
    HIGH IMPACT, LOW EFFORT FLOWERS THAT DO THE WORK FOR YOU
     
    When the growing season is moving at breakneck speed, an easy win in the form of copious, gorgeous, hey-I-forgot-about-THOSE! flowers is not only cherished, but longed for. Even gardeners who insist on making things more difficult for themselves (ahem…Marianne?) can enjoy the guilty pleasure of high impact, low effort blooms that do a disproportional amount of the work, and make you look like you know what you’re doing.
     
    In this week’s episode of The Garden Mixer, Leslie and Marianne share some of their favorite flower-power plants, and confess that sometimes, their best laid plans are made better by plants who showed up, grabbed a drink, and quietly got on with the business of being beautiful.
    ___________________
    Please hit the subscribe button so we can keep you smiling while you hit the beautiful mess [your garden] out there.
    Full Show Notes at⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Garden Mixer Podcast’s Substack⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
    ____________________
    Socials – Pick Your Platform:
    Follow us on Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@thegardenmixer⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
    Indulge us on TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@the.garden.mixer⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
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    “French Bistro” theme by Adieu Adieu. License D0LZBINY30GGTBBW
  • The Garden Mixer

    The Big Fat Peony Episode

    2026-05-01 | 1h 13 mins.
    Flamboyant, sophisticated, blousy and beautiful - the peony tops the favorites chart of so many gardeners (and non-gardeners), that we had to devote a spring episode to them.

    They are delicate, but tough, and can live for up to a century -– so it makes sense to figure out what you want and where you want it before you plant one. Leslie & Marianne start that conversation with their favorites today, on The Garden Mixer.
    ___________________
    Please hit the subscribe button so we can keep you smiling while you hit the beautiful mess [your garden] out there.
    Full Show Notes at⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Garden Mixer Podcast’s Substack⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
    ____________________
    Socials – Pick Your Platform:
    Follow us on Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@thegardenmixer⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
    Indulge us on TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@the.garden.mixer⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
    Spar with us on X⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@gardenmixerpod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
    “French Bistro” theme by Adieu Adieu. License D0LZBINY30GGTBBW
  • The Garden Mixer

    Flowering Ground Covers: Beauty & Protection, or Future Regret?

    2026-04-17 | 1h 2 mins.
    Leslie and Marianne have ground to cover today. And possibly, so do you.
    Spring hits, everything wakes up and suddenly your garden looks like it’s got a bad case of bedhead. Bare spots and awkward tendrils abound. What can pull everything together and literally connect the dots? Our suggestion is a strategic toupee in the form of a good ground cover that also protects the soil, cools the roots, & pampers the wildlife.
    But which ones? Some ground covers don’t just fill in, they take over. And what makes a ground cover anyway? It’s time to expand our definition beyond the ubiquitous three-inch mondo grass.
    Ground covers. The ones that behave, the ones that absolutely do not, and how to tell the difference before you plant yourself into a corner.
    And what do eighties big hair and cheesecake pans have to do with gardening anyway? Today on the Garden Mixer.

    ___________________
    Please hit the subscribe button so we can keep you smiling while you hit the beautiful mess [your garden] out there.
    Full Show Notes at⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Garden Mixer Podcast’s Substack⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
    ____________________
    Socials – Pick Your Platform:
    Follow us on Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@thegardenmixer⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
    Indulge us on TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@the.garden.mixer⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
    Spar with us on X⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@gardenmixerpod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
    “French Bistro” theme by Adieu Adieu. License D0LZBINY30GGTBBW
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About The Garden Mixer
The Garden Mixer is a bi-weekly gardening podcast hosted by Marianne Willburn, garden author and columnist, and Leslie Harris, host of Into the Garden with Leslie. Each episode blends practical gardening advice for beginners, thoughtful insight for experienced gardeners, and plenty of humor, as Marianne and Leslie mix opinions, strategies, listener questions, expert guests, and the occasional cocktail. If you’re looking for a gardening podcast that’s honest, informative, and genuinely fun — not preachy or perfect — this is your place. 🌱 Gardening shouldn’t be boring. 📺 Full video episode
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