Garden Lady - Episode 43

By C.L. Fornari

Published October 25, 2025 at 1:04 PM EDT

On this episode of The Garden Lady, C.L. Fornari explains why spiders and spiderwebs are popular Halloween decorations. These non-aggressive spiders rarely bite and are beneficial in our gardens, but there are good reasons that they’re more visible in October.

She also speaks with Uri Lorimer about fall cleanup and some indigenous plants that are beautiful in fall and winter. Uli is the author of the Northeast Native Plant Primer: 253 Plants for an Earth-Friendly Garden. He’s also director of Horticulture at Native Plant Trust in Framingham, MA.

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C.L. Fornari

C.L. Fornari is the author of eight books, including Coffee for Roses and The Cocktail Hour Garden. She’s a professional speaker, the former host of GardenLine on WXTK, and co-host of the Plantrama podcast. She is a frequent speaker to groups nationwide, and has worked for a family-owned independent garden center for 25 years. C.L. grows vegetables, flowers, shrubs, trees and numerous other plants at Poison Ivy Acres on Cape Cod. 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 gardening.

See stories by C.L. Fornari