As the earliest signs of spring unfurl in the mild climates–think snowdrops manzanita, the earliest narcissus, wild iris and Daphne odora , hmmm!–the earliest pollinators are paying even more attention than we are. This week we learn more about some of our earliest and BEST native pollinating bees – the orchard mason bees. We’re in conversation with Thyra McKelvie, who loves “these sweet little bees". And it was this love that brought her to gardening in her adulthood. Based

You know the hundreds of thousands of flowers, floral bouquets, candles, and other bits of personal importance that people are called to leave at the physical locations of traumatic events? These flowers and other ephemera, and the human impulse behind them, are what catalyze Tanja Hollander. This week on Cultivating Place , host Ben Futa is in conversation with Tanja, an artist & activist Gardener based in the US Northeast. Tanja works with gardens, social practice, photogra

For our final episode of January, we honor gardening and Cultivating Place  often in spite of the odds. It ’s been a full year since the devastating fires of Los Angeles, California in January of 2025. Many lives were lost, many acres and homes were burned. And many gardens, cultivated spaces, and gardeners were profoundly impacted. This week, we check - in with two humans who are cultivating their place with care in the wake of this catastrophe. Leigh Adams and Shawn Maestr

In honor of the new year fresh-faced and open-hearted in front of us, Ben Futa, Abra Lee and I together this week for a first-ever check in as we review 2025 and look forward to all that we will grow together in 2026.\   Including now being on the airwaves on the Western Slope of Colorado on KVNF Community Radio for their winter months! So glad to meet all you Western Slope Gardeners!   Happy Holidays! Follow Us Online: cultivatingplace.org and on Instagram: @cultivating_Plac

This week on Cultivating Place we celebrate one woman’s long-standing and loving cultivation of place in rural New Jersey. Janet Mavec is the steward and student of Bird Haven Farm, which after many years of learning from and loving, she now celebrates in word and image in her new place-based memoir: "Bird Haven Farm: The Story of An Original American Garden" . Bird Haven Farm is written by Janet and photographed by Ngoc Minh Ngo , out now from Rizzoli Press. This week's is

This week on Cultivating Place , host Ben Futa is in conversation with Rebecca McMackin, a dedicated public servant working in the context of ecological horticulture. Rebecca is on a mission to empower more people to grow more plants in more places while cultivating empathy, compassion, and advocacy for the natural world. We last heard from Rebecca here on CP in 2021, and a lot has happened in her growing life since then! Rebecca is an ecologically obsessed horticulturist and

This week, we finish up Artober on CP, in conversation with artist Mary Jackson, a renowned  sweetgrass basket weaver known for combining traditional methods with contemporary designs.  Based in the Low Country of South Carolina, Mary is the descendant of generations of Gullah basket weavers. Born in 1945, in 2008, Mary was awarded a MacArthur Foundation fellowship ("Genius Grant") for "pushing the centuries-old tradition in stunning new directions" .  From the 1970s throug

This week on CP, host Abra Lee is joined in conversation by Tracy Qiu, a horticulturist, researcher, advocate, and artist who explores how plants, stories, and culture intersect. Tracy holds a masters in Public Horticulture from the University of Delaware, is a Longwood Fellow , and is finishing her doctoral thesis at Concordia University in Montreal. Tracy's work explores the colonial roots of botanical gardens, and in this conversation, Tracy and Abra will follow Tracy’s jo

Welcome to our next airing of a CP LIVE* , this time in celebration of Artober in conversation with Sofia Laçin and Hennessy Christophel, of LA-based Studio Tutto . On highway underpasses, school walls, public park welcome centers, and city water towers, the epic hand-crafted murals of Studio Tutto are telling visual stories of invisible nature to help people connect and become familiar with what is surrounding us, but we often do not notice. Their “ thoughtful site-specific

In a world that needs a great deal from us right now, we can almost never go wrong by igniting our creativity. This week on CP we dive...

This week on Cultivating Place , in honor of this first week of Autumn, and the idea of passing time, looking back, and the importance of...

This week on Cultivating Place , we lean into The Art of CP, exploring how the act of Cultivating Place is artful, and how the creative...

In 2008, Cincinnati, Ohio, AKA the Queen City, developed the program that has earned them their secondary nickname: Green City. The Green...

This week on Cultivating Place , host Abra Lee dives into the world of pathways to plant professions with Jazmin Albarran, Executive...

The garden in summer is at its fullest sensory delight and overwhelm – the peak of sunlight, growing hours, heat, and growth, ripening...

This week we’re getting back to nature for summer camp: ALL ages invited. We’re in conversation with Rebecca Schwarz and Paige Manges of...

This week on Cultivating Place you are in for a real summer adventure on a global garden armchair tour of sorts with a plantswoman who...

Have you ever heard of a Moth-er? Yes, it is the moth equivalent of a birder–someone who loves and follows and studies the incredible...

Every year since 2007 when the US Senate passed sanctions declaring it, the third week of June is celebrated as National Pollinator Week....

Summer makes it easy to move your body – to get out for a walk, to work in the garden, to hike, bike, stroll, boat, climb, swim, dance...