The Garden Lady is a weekly, hour-long call-in radio program hosted by plant expert C.L. Fornari. It airs on WCAI 90.1, WNAN 91.1, and WZAI 94.3, Saturdays at 1 p.m. On The Garden Lady, Fornari takes listener questions and discusses a wide range of topics around gardening, horticulture, and nature, with a special focus on helping the Cape and Islands community make the most of every season, regardless of their level of plant experience.
Call our Listener Line with your gardening questions: 866-999-4626
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More about C.L. Fornari:
C.L. Fornari is the author of nine books, including The Cocktail Hour Garden, Sand and Soil, and her latest work, Hydrangea Happiness, which will be published by Brandeis University Press in 2026. She’s a professional speaker, the former host of GardenLine on WXTK and co-host of the Plantrama podcast. She has worked for Hyannis Country Garden, a family-owned independent garden center, for 30 years. In 2015 C.L. launched the Cape Cod Hydrangea Festival, a ten-day regional celebration of gardens that typically raises over $100,000.00 for local non-profits every year and draws public attention to Hydrangeas, and horticulture. C.L. grows vegetables, flowers, shrubs, trees and numerous other plants at Poison Ivy Acres on Cape Cod.
Regular features on The Garden Lady:
A Postcard from Plants: What if Mother Nature, The Green Man, or a particular plant could send you a postcard with a condensed message that will help you be a better garden maker or plant person?
Plant People: I welcome a variety of guests to discuss plants, gardens and the wonders of the natural world.
Houseplant Highlights: We’ll regularly speak about the plants that are grown indoors, from highlighting wonderful varieties to discussions about common problems.
In The Know: What’s happening with plants right now - weather/growing conditions/timing.
Calls From Listeners: What's on your mind? What's happening in your garden? From lawns to lilacs, holly to hydrangeas, and petunias to peace lilies, give me a call. On The Garden Lady, it’s all plants considered.
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On The Garden Lady today, C.L. starts off with a postcard about holes in leaves. Then she welcomes Dabney Day, Writer, Producer and Director of the film “The Gardener.” This movie, screening in selected theaters, invites the audience to slow down, listen and feel. Then the program moves from the metaphorical to the practical with plant questions from listeners about herbs, potatoes, blueberries and other June gardening matters. -
The Garden Lady was broadcast live from the CAI Studios today. C.L. Fornari's guest was Horticulturalist George Chapman, who is the Director of the gardens at Highfield Hall in Falmouth, MA. Members of the audience asked questions about hydrangeas, a birch tree that is dropping leaves, and Rhododendrons that aren't flowering. -
The Garden Lady spoke to the Insect Lady today as Margie Patlak, author of Insect Safari, was C.L. Fornari's guest. C.L. took calls from listeners who were asking about squirrels, woodchucks, peonies and more. -
This episode began with a postcard from American Holly, a plant that is naturally shedding the old leaves as it grows new foliage. C.L. welcomes Jim Long, author of Wildcrafter Garden Structure: Making Bentwood Trellises, Arbors, Gates and Fences. Listeners called in with questions about lilacs, azalea pruning, tomatoes and more. -
In this episode of The Garden Lady C.L. starts off program with a postcard from azalea gall. She discusses favorite herbs and where to plant them, and takes calls from listeners about rejuvenating lilacs, boxwood problems, and why dahlias dried up in storage. -
This program starts off with a postcard from Robin's plantain, aka fleabane. C.L. explains the advantages and disadvantages to tilling or not tilling vegetable gardens, and callers asked questions about peony buds filled with ants, invasive perennials and a Japanese maple tree that has some dieback. -
The Garden Lady opens the program with a postcard from plants for the cutting garden. C.L. then focused on pruning of hydrangeas, explaining that different species get pruned in separate ways. Calls from listeners covered many topics, from great varieties of tomatoes to black spot on roses, and possible suggestions for replacement shrubs where a burning bush once grew. -
The guest on The Garden Lady was Jon Laurie, Director of Municipal Outreach for the Black Earth Compost Company. Among other spring topics, callers to the program asked about squirrels eating the new growth on trees, groundcover for hot, dry areas, and getting rid of pea-gravel mulch. -
C.L. talks to Rhonda Fleming Hayes, author of Garden For Life and answers your questions. -
It's a spring planting extravaganza as The Garden Lady talks with Katie Rotella, of Ball Horticultural, about four top performing plants for 2026.
