Episode Details

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DR. NOEL KINGSBURY BIO

Dr. Noel Kingsbury is internationally known as a writer about plants, gardens, and the environment. Best known for promoting a naturalistic approach to planting design, he has written some 25 books on plants and gardens, four in collaboration with Dutch designer Piet Oudolf. He has also written for Gardens Illustrated, The Daily Telegraph, The Guardian, The Garden, Hortus, The New York Times, and many other publications.

He does planting design and consultancy, mostly for landscape architects in the public sector, with his main current project being the Queen Elizabeth II Garden in London's Regent's Park, as part of the HTA Landscapes team. He does an increasing amount of teaching and lecturing, and is also available as a garden/planting designer and horticultural consultant for private garden work too.

Research is key to his approach. In the mid-2000s he undertook PhD research with the Landscape Department at the University of Sheffield, into the ecology and behavior of ornamental perennials, followed up with further research into long-term performance, documented at perennialdirectory.org.

He's become increasingly involved in education — his first career was in fact in adult education, and he's passionate about improving how knowledge and skills are communicated within horticulture. He teaches for Learning with Experts.  And with Annie Guilfoyle, he runs Garden Masterclass, which has built up a major profile since 2020 as a provider of online education for garden and landscape professionals and keen amateurs. With naturalistic experts, he also runs the popular Naturalistic Planting Design Course for Garden Masterclass. 

He's also keen that those interested in gardens and landscape engage with the world beyond the garden walls, and he dabbles in art, society, politics, philosophy, economics, and the wider natural environment.

THE PLANTASTIC PODCAST

The Plantastic Podcast is a monthly podcast created by Dr. Jared Barnes.  He's been gardening since he was five years old and now is an award-winning professor of horticulture at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, TX.  To say hi and find the show notes, visit theplantasticpodcast.com.

You can learn more about how Dr. Jared cultivates plants, minds, and life at meristemhorticulture.com.  He also shares thoughts and cutting-edge plant research each week in his newsletter plant•ed, and you can sign up at meristemhorticulture.com/subscribe.  Until next time, #keepgrowing!