I Dig Your Story

Erin Schanen: A Failed Window Box Sparked a Gardening Passion

A north-facing window box that didn’t go quite as planned might seem like an unlikely beginning for a gardening journey. But for Erin Schanen, better known as The Impatie

Katie Elzer-Peters: Finding New Ways to See Plants Through Art

Flowers have been part of Katie Elzer-Peters’s life for as long as she can remember. They are her “thing.” Today, she combines her love of plants with a passion for makin

Sonya Harris: Finding an “In” Through Gardening

Sonya Harris loved teaching special education, but a struggling first-grade math lesson led her and a colleague to discover that nature is the ultimate classroom. With no

Kate Santos: Finding Her Way Back to Plants

Kate Santos has built a career that crosses some of horticulture’s most distinct boundaries: from applied research and greenhouse production to breeding and global operat

Fifth Tuesdays #3

In this quarterly bonus I Dig Your Story sub-pod we call Fifth Tuesdays, host Ellen Wells does a follow-up with a former guest, Roshan Patel.   When we first talked, Ros

Jonathan Bardzik: Finding Joy Through Plants, Food & Connection

Jonathan Bardzik has built a life around curiosity, creativity, and bringing people together. From growing up in his family’s Massachusetts garden center to working in ho

Christy Calderon & Shelley Joyer: From School Gardens to Garden “Cribs”

What happens when two friends get excited about school gardens and then decide to start taking their viewers inside some of the most interesting gardens around Central Ca

Rayne Gibson: From Family Nursery to “The Resource I Wish I Had”

Rayne Gibson grew up in family-owned wholesale nursery in Louisiana, learning the business from the ground up. By the time he graduated from LSU with a horticulture degre

Laura Kunkle: How Flowers Transform Communities

Laura Kunkle’s career has taken some unexpected turns—from wanting to be a professional piano player at the Olympics, to sports broadcasting, accounting at Highlights for

Ashley Vernon: How Curiosity Led to Community Orchards

Ashley Vernon’s relationship with plants began with childhood curiosity—tasting honeysuckle, exploring her grandmother’s grapevines, and growing her first strawberry patc

Leslie Halleck: Refusing to Stay in One Lane

What happens when a lifelong love of plants meets an insatiable curiosity about, well, just about everything? For horticulturist, author, educator and entrepreneur Leslie

Angelique Robb: Connecting the Branches of the Landscape Industry

Angelique Robb didn’t grow up dreaming of a career in horticulture. She studied engineering, worked in the oil industry, and moved to Scotland before gradually finding he

Roshan Patel: Growing Community Through Urban Agriculture

After a corporate layoff unexpectedly changed his career path, Roshan Patel traded digital marketing for community gardening—and found a new sense of purpose in the proce

Matt Lebon: What if Your Landscape Could Feed You?

In this episode of I Dig Your Story, host Ellen Wells talks with Matt Lebon, a.k.a. The Foodscaper, about the idea of foodscaping—creating landscapes that combine beauty,

Jennifer Rust: From the Corporate World to Biophilic Design Entrepreneur

Jennifer Rust spent years building a successful corporate career in sales and management consulting. But after stepping away from corporate life—and into what she jokingl

Jessica Turner-Skoff: How Public Gardens Connect Us to Nature, Science and Each Other

What if public gardens are much more than beautiful places to visit? Jessica Turner-Skoff firmly believes—and convinces her listeners—that public gardens are where beaut

Kelly Norris: Why Great Gardens Are Never Finished

Landscape designer, plantsman, author, and ecological steward Kelly D. Norris believes gardens aren't static works of art but are living communities. In this episode of I

Fifth Tuesdays #2

Fifth Tuesdays #2:   In this quarterly bonus I Dig Your Story sub-pod we call Fifth Tuesdays, host Ellen Wells is answering your questions!   In this episode, Ellen a

Joe Lamp'l: From Plant Geek to joe gardener

What happens when an eight-year-old sticks a broken branch in the ground and discovers it can grow roots? Mind blown! For Joe Lamp'l, that moment sparked a lifelong fasc

Marvin Miller (Part 2): The Analyst, the Cyclist, and the Photographer

In Part 2 of my conversation with horticulture industry veteran Marvin Miller, we go beyond the fascinating intersections of horticulture, data, and business and discuss