Is jungle planting a bloke thing? And more importantly, does a man who wants a garden that requires no gardening actually deserve one?
James Alexander-Sinclair and Joe Swift throw the horticultural handbook out of the window again, this time for a full mailbag. What starts as a reasonable question about exotic planting ends up somewhere near cacti societies, edible hostas, whether Walter Raleigh really brought back the potato, and a gnome doing something regrettable in a nightclub.
Along the way: why James's curves are superior to your wiggles, the wall he wants built in the shape of his own signature, a listener who drove from New York to Florida listening exclusively to this podcast until her sat nav gave up in protest, and the one garden ornament James never wants to see again (it involves a Jack Russell, and it is not the end you are expecting).
This week's questions come from Mrs Lang Shani on jungle planting and gender, Colin in Cardiff and his paved yard that looks like a car park, Gillian on curves versus straight lines, Nina in Melbourne on what gnomes get up to after dark, and Carmilla on the one garden trend that should never come back.
Fair warning: one listener gets told, live on air, that he does not deserve a garden. We stand by it.
TIMESTAMPS
00:00 Intro06:17 Is jungle and exotic planting a bloke thing?14:47 Exotic planting in small city gardens18:10 Why aren't there more women designing at Chelsea?19:52 Low maintenance planting for a paved yard26:31 Curves or straight lines in garden design?38:54 Garden trends that should never come back
ASK US A QUESTION
To ask us a question email gnome@jamesandjoegarden.com or go to our website www.jamesandjoegarden.com. Answer well and you are in with a chance of winning the most coveted prize in horticulture, our gnome, Jekyll.
THE GARDEN COLLECTIVE
For ad free listening and bonus content then join us at the Garden Collective.
Not only will you get us but new articles every week from some of the best garden writers around and access to a bulging archive from (without wishing to drop names) the likes of Alan Titchmarsh, Ann-Marie Powell, Tom and Sue Stuart-Smith, Advolly Richmond, Jan Etherington and many others. Come and join the Collective for essays, seasonal notes, reflections and stories.
ABOUT OUR HOSTS
James Alexander-Sinclair is a garden designer, writer and broadcaster. He is an RHS Vice-President and was awarded the Veitch Memorial Medal for outstanding contribution to horticulture in 2022.
Joe Swift is a familiar face on television as a presenter of BBC TV's Gardeners' World and other gardening programmes. He is a garden designer, broadcaster, writer and design director of Modular.
SEE US LIVE
Yeo Valley Organic Garden Festival, Holt Farm, Blagdon, Somerset. 17 September 2026.
The Garden Museum, London. 10 November 2026, city gardens versus country gardens, with an audience vote.
FOLLOW
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www.jamesandjoegarden.com
Only two rules apply. No dead plants and no dull questions.
