Growing Trends Ann Miller & Chris Coope

 Gardentopia – Jan Johnsen’s go to landscape book for Homeowners.

A few years ago Ann and I were fortunate to interview Jan Johnsen about a fascinating book she had written about gardens.

Jan’s book “Gardentopia” for the home owner with 135 lushly illustrated garden and planting ideas that aim to inspire and inform you. They are fun, easy to remember and can be implemented in any size yard. Designed to help you with the process of accessing, sketching, designing, laying out and finally creating their own garden.

Jan’s writing style allows the reader to follow the thinking process to such an extent that you are able to ‘join all the dots’ resulting in a much easier understanding of what can be quite a complex process.

Jan’s extensive knowledge of plants for a purpose, shines through in the selection on plants she recommends in the closing chapters of this delightfully, inspiring and easy to read book.

You can listen – below– to our truly fascinating interview with Jan Johnsen or if you prefer on iTunes at Growing Trends

We would love to hear from you, with your comments or ideas for shows write to us at info@growingtrends.org

 

 

Ann and Chris

 

 

Ann and I were fortunate to interview Jenny Peterson, just after her new book was published. Jenny is an amazing, extremely positive lady who is an inspiration for us all.

A Garden that Heals

Pittsburgh, Pa. (October 5, 2015): When Jenny Peterson was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2012, it rocked her world. Her cancer treatment was hard, emotional and often deeply depressing. But Peterson, a garden designer and Master Gardener, did not let the cancer diagnosis define her. She used her desire to garden and dig in the dirt again to pull her out of the darkness. And she discovered that gardening is good medicine –for the body, mind and spirit.

The Cancer Survivor’s Garden Companion: Cultivating Hope, Healing and Joy in the Ground Beneath Your Feet

(St. Lynn’s Press, January 2016) tells Peterson’s story and explores the therapeutic benefits of this vital “earth connection,” including inspirational profiles of other cancer survivors, both men and women, whose gardens became their partners in healing.

With gentle empathy, beautiful photographs and easy how-to steps, Peterson shows others how to create their own backyard haven for healing – a personal restorative garden – with well-grounded guidance about diet, exercise, mental focus and spiritual renewal. Her book adds a fresh voice to the growing fields of horticultural therapy and therapeutic gardens.

What others are saying about The Cancer Survivor’s Garden Companion:

“Jenny’s tips for incorporating gardening into your life for mind, body, and spiritual health are ingenious! As a cancer coach, I will definitely be suggesting this book to my clients.” – Susan Gonzalez, BSN, CPCC, co-author of 100 Perks of Having Cancer Plus 100 Health Tips for Surviving It, and editor of The Savvy Sister blog

“Jenny’s beautiful book reminds us all that life can be found in the healing, meditative act of gardening. By lovingly tending a garden, we can learn to nurture ourselves, restoring our mind, body and spirit in the process.” – Ray Anne Evans, Executive Director, Breast Cancer Resource Centers of Texas

“Jenny’s connection with gardening, garden design, and simply being in nature remained strong throughout her cancer diagnosis, treatment, and recovery. In fact, it was part of what helped her through. And now she is helping others to learn from her powerful experience.” – Naomi A. Sachs, Founding Director, Therapeutic Landscapes Network; co-author, Therapeutic Landscapes: An Evidence-Based Approach to Designing Healing Gardens and Restorative Outdoor Spaces

The Cancer Survivor’s Garden Companion will teach readers how to use the garden to heal, find hope and feel joy.

About the Author

Jenny Peterson is a landscape designer and Master Gardener specializing in xeriscaping and small urban spaces. She is a cancer survivor who found hope and healing in her garden, even during the darkest days of chemotherapy and radiation. In the process, she made deep connections with the cancer support community, including physicians, nutritionists, bodywork practitioners, psychologists and spiritual counselors. Peterson co-authored Indoor Plant Décor: The Design Stylebook for Houseplants (St. Lynn’s Press, 2013) with Kylee Baumle. She lives in Austin, Texas, with her fiancé, 19 chickens, two dogs, two quails and a goat.

You can listen to the interview here :   Interviewing Jenny Peterson

If you would like to purchase the book : The Cancer Survivors Garden Companion

 

Ann and I had the pleasure of interviewing Linda Stanley  after she had completed this 1000km walk.

Linda undertook this walk on her own, it took the best part of 8 weeks to complete and more than three months to prepare for.

Linda isn’t your average walker by any means,  she suffered some serious injuries  breaking her back in an accident. Being a somewhat determined lady she set about challenging herself  to literally get back on her feet again.

We interviewed Linda in her new home, a beautiful chestnut farm in Nannup, Western Australia just after the launch of  the children’s book she wrote about her journey.

‘Grandy’s Long Walk’ is written for young children, superbly illustrated about her walk.

Linda wrote the book out of a concern that children today spending less and less time with nature and more and more time in front of the small screen. She hopes to encourage more children to get outside and discover the same senses of wonder and joy of nature that she had experienced on her long walk in the forest.

You can listen to her telling us all about this amazing journey below.

We were so curious about this really long walk that during our research we found some youtube videos of other people who travel from all over the world to walk this track.

Darren is one such person, he created  a video and kindly gave us permission to include it in this article. His video is just a part of the walk, you can view it here Bibbulmun track video   Darren is raising money for Diabetes  you can see his web site here   Darren’s website

There is also a specialist web site filled with information for those who want to plan their own walk..The BIbbulman Track

 

Kerry Mendez has a passion for gardening, in her latest book “The right-sized Flower Garden” she discusses how to develop a garden that you can manage, often this will reduce the amount of work involved. As she explains it’s all about making the right choices, whilst at the same time making simple design changes. Here is a practical book with sensible tips, lists, time and energy saving suggestions that will help the beginner and the experienced.

Come take a listen, I’m sure you will learn something new.

 

Ann & Chris continue their interview with Bill Sosinsky , CEO of Energime University. Bill has recently returned from a trip to China. He talks to us about how the Chinese are adapting, planning and coping with the enormous growth the country has seen over the past few years.

 

Hello everyone, we hope you like our new logo ?

We have some great interviews planned for the next few months.

Our first is with Bill Sosinsky , CEO of Energime University. Bill has recently returned from a trip to China. He talks to us about how the Chinese are adapting, planning and coping with the enormous growth the country has seen over the past few years.

Cities of 5 – 10 million people built in under 10 years !

This type of growth brings staggering infrastructure issues or as Bill says ” This is a big deal !”

The interview is one of those must listen to events…  we all have seen or heard of the Great Wall of China, a quite amazing feat of building, as seen here.



I wonder how many of us can comprehend the current building program?

100 million homes in the next 5- 10 years…!

That’s almost one third of the total housing in the USA



Truly a monumental task of ingenuity, engineering and collaboration, Ann and I were just amazed  talking to Bill about the growing issues they are trying to solve.

We will have two parts to this fascinating interview you can listen to the first part here….

We would love to hear from you with ideas or suggestions on programs, either fill in the form below or just send us an email to info@grotrends.com

Ann & Chris