Jac Semmler is a plant practitioner, a multi-disciplinary, creative, high skilled horticulturist, and the human behind an epic new book and the Australian-based plant practice known as (The) Super Bloom.
Jac believes that "there is a hunger for beauty. Plants are essential to our practice of bringing living beauty. We recognize the increasing importance of plant biodiversity and the role of plants in our bodies, hearts, and minds."
As our Northern Hemisphere gardens and landscapes settle into whatever their annual dormancy and winter rest might be, we head to the Southern Hemisphere in conversation with Jac Semmler. Her philosophy (of more flowering plants, everywhere, all the time) behind her work Super Bloom gives us so much to dream about in our coming deep-winter sleeps.
The many growing experiences that have grown her to her current practice include writing for Georgina Reid’s genius Australian-based journal and website: Wonderground (formerly known as The Plant Hunter), and having served as Seed Manager for the Australian equivalent of a National Horticultural Society known as The Diggers Club.
A mini gift version of Super Bloom known as The Super Bloom Handbook: Maximum Flowers, Miminal Effort is also out now, and Jac is already at work on her next book focused on the practice of gardening. Both books are available now from Thames & Hudson Books USA.
In this tiny lull between the mostly happy hubbub of the winter holidays, sweet flowery dreams!
You can follow Jac's work on line at: www.thesuperbloom.com.au/about
and Instagram: @jac.semmler
All images courtesy of Jac Smmler, many by talented photographer Sarah Pannell, all rights reserved.
HERE IS THIS WEEK'S TRANSCRIPT by Doulos Transcription Service:
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JOIN US again next week, when we’re in conversation with a storied name in these fields of horticulture, specifically organic horticulture. Author, gardener, CEO and mother, Maria Rodale joins us to share more about her journey documented in her newest book: Love Nature Magic: Shamanic Journey's Into The Heart of My Garden– listen in!
Speaking of Plants & Place sprouting back up soon....
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Thinking out loud this week....
SO I want to repeat what I mentioned two week’s ago: It’s rare that I have the chance to thank you as listeners and participants as well in this effort of Cultivating Place.
I have that chance right now, and I am going to take it. The only way this podcast has grown in the flourishing healthy word of mouth way that it has grown with listeners and depended upon financial supporters without me hustling for commercial sponsors, without me hustling to take on consumer-based advertising - is through you. It is through the very pedestrian pathways of people sharing episodes with other people of people, commenting, or posting in newsletters, email groups, and on social media about an episode that particularly resonated with them, or what the weekly conversations add to their lives – it is by people rating and writing reviews for Cultivating Place in places like Apple podcasts, Amazon, and wherever else people write reviews.
So I have an offer I would like to make. I have 5 gift codes to download the audio version of What We Sow. I would like to send them out to 5 of you. For anyone that is called to write a review in any of these places, to make a facebook or Instagram or linked in post about why this program and podcast matter to you and send me a screenshot of that rating and review or post, I will add your name to a hat, and on December 21, the winter solstice itself, I will draw 5 names out of that hat, and I will send those 5 people a gift code to the audio version read by me of What We Sow.
Thank you in advance for considering this generous, mutual flourishing and sharing of things we love. It’s how we (all) grow.
ALSO - PSSSSSS - Did you notice how both the ideas of plants as superheores in our lives and our gardening lives as practices have come up multiple times in the past few weeks? I think this repetition and this relationship of us to the great world bears looking at – appreciating, tuning into, and reminding ourselves of. Keep practicing, and keep looking to your heroes…the plants (and even plants people) who grow us.
WAYS TO SUPPORT CULTIVATING PLACE
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The CP team includes producer and engineer Matt Fidler, with weekly tech and web support from Angel Huracha, and this summer we're joined by communications intern Sheila Stern. 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.
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