Nature all around
with Caro Langton
Welcome to the second series of the Gardens, weeds & words podcast – hard to believe we’ve been going for a year. If you’ve not had a chance to check out the 15 episodes in the first series, you can find them all in this section of the blog, complete with full show notes, as well as on your favourite podcast app.
This time I’m joined by Caro Langton of RoCo, joint author of some of my favourite books on houseplants and an expert with design business partner Rose Ray on how to perk up your workspace with plants. We have a wide-ranging chat on how they found themselves designing spaces with plants, the ways in which a plant-filled environment can benefit us, and how communities, tribes and stories build up around a shared love of vegetable matter. You can find full show notes below, with links to the books mentioned and some of the research done on plants and productivity in the workplace.
I hope you enjoy this episode – please continue to share the podcast on social media, and if you’d really like to brighten my day, leave a review on iTunes or your podcast app of choice. Or drop me a note in the comments section below, having listened on the embedded player on this page.
Gardens, weeds and words podcast, S02E01 show notes
A blend of slow radio, gardening advice and conversation, and readings from the best garden and wildlife writing.
These notes may contain affiliate links.
Garden soundtrack
Autumn is here
Nature all around us
Reading 03:40
To Autumn by John Keats
Read by Rose White, Richard Chivers and Rachel Coldbreath.
05:55 Nature Unnoticed
07:28 The pot of basil
Interview with Caro Langton 08:46
09:25 House of Plants
10:09 Where did the journey into plant obsession begin for Caro?
13:41 What’s going on in the plant:person equation?
The Moth Snowstorm: nature and joy by Michael McCarthy
https://amzn.to/2m5XmOn
17:23 Plant tribes and communities
The Houseplant Festival at the London Garden Museum, 21 September 2019
https://gardenmuseum.org.uk/events/houseplant-festival/
21:04 Plant installations
23:42 What makes a garden?
26:15 A deep connection with plants in a short space of time.
31:34 What’s next in the RoCo story?
Huge thanks to Caro for making time to talk to me about her work and her life with plants. You can find out more about Caro and the work she does with Rose Ray as RoCo here:
website: https://www.ro-co.uk
instagram: http://instagram.com/studio.roco
House of Plants: living with succulents, air plants and cacti
by Rose Ray and Caro Langton, published by Frances Lincoln 2016
https://amzn.to/2nxOtNP
Root, Nurture, Grow: the essential guide to propagating and sharing houseplants
by Caro Langton and Rose Ray, published by Quadrille 2018
https://amzn.to/2ls8IvO
You can read my review of Root, Nurture, Grow here
https://gardensweedsandwords.com/gwwblog/rootnurturegrow
The effect of plants in the workplace on productivity…
Nieuwenhuis, M., Knight, C., Postmes, T., & Haslam, S. A. (2014). The relative benefits of green versus lean office space: Three field experiments. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 20(3), 199-214.
https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2014-30837-001
Do plants increase workplace productivity?
https://www.goget.com.au/blog/plants-in-the-office/
With thanks to all my listeners for your continued support and reviews, I really do appreciate them. You can support the podcast by buying its producer a virtual cup of coffee for three quid, at https://ko-fi.com/andrewtimothyOB. Proceeds will go towards equipment, software and the monthly podcast hosting fees.
website: gardensweedsandwords.com
email: gardensweedsandwords@gmail.com
Instagram: instagram.com/AndrewTimothyOB
Twitter: twitter.com/AndrewTimothyOB
You can hear find the podcast trailer and the first four episodes here, either on iTunes or on Switcher.
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Hello! I’m Andrew, gardener, writer, photographer, and owner of a too-loud laugh, and I’m so pleased you’ve found your way to Gardens, weeds & words. You can read a more in-depth profile of me on the About page, or by clicking this image.