In our ongoing exploration of who gardeners are, where gardeners are, and all that they are growing in this world, this week in particular, I am delighted to be in conversation with a longtime and inspiring plantsperson.
Tony Spencer is the plantsman cultivator, naturalistic planting designer, and creative behind the Canadian-based endeavor for the last decade known as The New Perennialist. Under this name, Tony is also a writer, a digital content creator, and an ecologically minded, biodiversity-replenishing, planting designer self-described as "exploring the frontiers of naturalistic planting and garden design." An inspired rooftop garden of his was awarded top honors by the Perennial Plant Association earlier this year.
Even as a young child, Tony expressed a love of words, plants, and their allies. At six, he wrote a sort of haiku to a beloved willow tree and its companion caterpillars.
Tony's first career in marketing was a creative incubator but one whose corporate structure asked him to sublimate other life-giving instincts like working in his family’s garden and playing music. It was in his late 30s when his mother was diagnosed with macular degeneration, with a prognosis of full blindness in a matter of years, that he was brought back to the garden as a true source of meaning.
In our conversation, he talks about sharing his own learning process as a plantsperson and creative hungry to learn more, know more, do more with his own plantings, and he started with diving deeply into the work of Piet Oudolf, and Noel Kingsbury - leaders in The New Perennial movement. Tony also shares his renewed and catalyzing dedication to this source of joy to his mother – and himself.
Enjoy!
Follow Tony Online:
And on Instagram:
Photos courtesy of Tony Spencer, All rights reserved.
If you enjoyed this program, you might also enjoy these
Best of CP programs in our archive:
JOIN US again next week, when in honor of the season of gratitude,
festivities, long nights, rest, and reflection upon us we revisit a BEST
OF conversation with Robin Wall Kimmerer, whose newest book The
Serviceberry is out now and exactly what you need in this exact season. That's right here, next week.
Cultivating Place is made possible in part by listeners like you and by generous support from
supporting initiatives that empower women and help preserve the planet through the intersection of environmental advocacy, social justice, and creativity.
Thinking out loud this week...
Hey, it’s Jennifer,
Ahhh in this mid-mark through November, post-national elections here in the U.S. – Tony’s description of his emotional response to images and experiences of landscapes – specifically to the evocative, complex communities created in the work of some of the most influential plantspeople of our time, to say nothing of Nature herself – really resonates with me. Invites me towards a sort of turning to ground and ground-level communities in this late fall to early winter season.
Life in general, but maybe especially as a gardener in this life, is an emotional experience.
My response to this community of gardeners, plants, and community tenders within ears length of Cultivating Place this past 9 years – 460 episodes and counting - is emotional. A deeply heartfelt emotional response to a sense of unity within a cradle of profound and extravagant diversity, of community, of common ground in plants, of common ground in sensing that when we nurture and support the plants and plants people among us – in word, in deed, in recognition, in dollars and in thanks – we are in fact nourishing and incubating the resources and strengths we believe to be essential to a world we want to live in, to a world we want to pass to future generations.
When we live and garden into that, we are closer to being - as so many land-based and Indigenous cultures raise their citizens to be – the ancestors all children of this planet deserve. We are true Gardeners.
So I have been thinking a lot about the form that Cultivating Place grows into in the coming seasons. How does it serve the audience that finds it more fully? And I for one am feeling a real need for a little more consistent community interaction. I love so much the alchemy that happens in person – when I am in person in a place for a talk, for a CP LIVE event. And these last few weeks, in-person gatherings of community shared with me by friends and family have sparked me to wonder: should we as a group meet up online every now and then? To just say hi, to check in, to share thoughts, resources, strengths, and plants with one another?
Maybe this is redundant to your other groups, your garden clubs and books clubs, and lecture series large and small, but maybe there is a community garden gap here for some of you that could be filled by a virtual gathering every now and then – every quarter? I am not sure, but I figured why not ask you all? Is this of interest? If it is, what form makes sense to you? What topics would you like to have this community group offer, share more about, and brainstorm around?
Let us know – you can do this by sending me an email at: cultivatingplace@gmail.com or sending us a DM over on Instagram: @cultivating_place.
I like this idea of an occasional meta community garden club – looking forward to hearing from you if you do too!
WAYS TO SUPPORT CULTIVATING PLACE
Cultivating Place is a co-production of North State Public Radio, a service of Cap Radio, licensed to Chico State Enterprises. Cultivating Place is made possible in part listeners just like you through the support button at the top right-hand corner of every page at Cultivating Place.com.
The CP team includes producer and engineer Matt Fidler, with weekly tech and web support from Angel Huracha, weekly communications support by Sheila Stern and Carley Bruckner, transcripts by Doulos Transcription, and regular guest hosting by Abra Lee and Ben Futa. We’re based on the traditional and present homelands of the Mechoopda Indian Tribe of the Chico Rancheria. Original theme music is by Ma Muse, accompanied by Joe Craven and Sam Bevan.
SHARE the podcast with friends: If you enjoy these conversations about these things we love and which connect us, please share them forward with others. Thank you in advance!
RATE the podcast on iTunes: Or wherever you get your podcast feed: Please submit a ranking and a review of the program on Itunes! To do so follow this link: iTunes Review and Rate (once there, click View In Itunes and go to Ratings and Reviews)
DONATE: Cultivating Place is a listener-supported co-production of North State Public Radio. To make your listener contribution – please click the donate button below. Thank you in advance for your help making these valuable conversations grow.
Or, make checks payable to: North State Public Radio - with Cultivating Place in subject line
and mail to: Cultivating Place
PO Box 37
Durham, CA 95938
Comments