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, and WGBH 89.7, 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, Hydrangea Happiness, 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 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 today's program C.L. talks about some of the garden maintenance that you might want to do right now, and what you can or should ignore. C.L. talks with Dave Burton, maker of the Burton Cape Cod Weeder about precision weeding, and goes on to list some of the need to do, the nice to do, and the NUTS to do fall garden tasks. Listeners called about assorted topics including groundcovers, dying ivy, and moving plants before construction. -
On The Garden Lady C.L. welcomed Horticulturalist Leslie Halleck, author of Home Greenhouse Revival: Growing Year-Round Foliage, Flowers, and Food. She opened the program with a postcard from biennials, and listeners called in with questions about timing for bulb planting, growing citrus indoors, growing plants under a Norway maple, and how to grow upright Nippon daisies. -
In this episode of The Garden Lady C.L. starts with a postcard from oak trees about why some years there is an abundance of acorns. Bryon Martin, co-author of the book Edible Houseplants was her guest and they talked about plants that can be grown indoors for fruit and seeds. Among other topics, listeners called in about paw-paw trees, overwintering tropical hibiscus plants, and the care of a new meadow. -
The program begins with a postcard from Chrysanthemums. Kathy Tracy, co-owner of Avant Gardens, is C.L.'s guest and talks about her favorite mums for fall flowering. Listeners called in with questions about hardy cyclamen, plant recommendations for under trees, older Christmas Cactus and more. -
The Garden Lady starts the program with information about Christmas and Thanksgiving Cactus, and bringing Amaryllis back indoors. She talks with lilac expert Jack Alexander about a leaf fungus on lilacs, and takes listeners' calls about getting a Poinsettia to color up again, moving peonies, growing garlic in buckets, rooting annual cuttings and more. -
After starting off with a postcard from Asters, C.L. welcomed Steve Conaway, director of Horticulture at the New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill. They talked about plants that are spectacular in the fall, and enjoying the change of seasons at the NEBG. Callers asked about plants for a privacy screen, an overgrown staghorn fern, transplanted hydrangeas and black knot on fruit trees. -
On The Garden Lady Brittany Clark, Propagator at Polly Hill Arboretum explained about how and why we should save seeds of native plants. Although C.L. Fornari's "dumb luck method" worked, Brittany talked about why cleaning the seeds and storing them properly might work even better. C.L. also answered listener's questions about red bud trees, powdery mildew, Cymbidium orchid flowering and leaf spot on Hydrangeas. -
The Garden Lady started off with a postcard from trees, and C.L. Fornari's guest today was Scott Lajoie Communications Director of the Buzzards Bay Coalition. They spoke about significant trees. Callers were wondering about planting garlic, shrub recommendations, beefing up a lawn, and ground covers for "socks and shoes" around shrubs. -
The Garden Lady begins with a discussion about shrubs and trees that flower in the late summer and fall. We consider the Franklinia, blue mist shrub, and panicle hydrangeas. Callers ask a variety of questions including wondering about the ripening watermelons, pesto pizza, service berry trees with rust, and scale on houseplants. -
The Garden Lady begins by talking about the care of mid-summer containers, and the importance of deadheading annuals. C.L. Fornari answers calls from listeners about moving a maple tree, keeping a potted rose over the winter, a plague of squash bugs, weeds in a lawn, and more.
