The Secret Language of Flowers

This week, James Alexander-Sinclair and Joe Swift rip up the Valentine’s rulebook and dive into The Secret Language of Flowers – aka the Victorian-era “Snapchat” where you sent a single bloom instead of a message you’d regret.

We cover:

– Birth-month flowers and what they supposedly say about you (James gets Hawthorn + Lily of the Valley – “humility” and “sweetness”… apparently)

– The dangerous art of sending the wrong flower (yellow blooms, narcissus, and accidental insults)

– Why Valentine’s Day roses can feel like the least romantic thing on earth

– The grim reality of petrol-station romance – miserable roses, nylon teddy bears, and out-of-season strawberries

– James’s most unhinged romantic flex – 200 red roses delivered in full kilt-era confidence

– And the modern reboot – if plants could send texts, what would you post through the letterbox?

YOU too can put your questions to James and Joe in real time and access ad-free listening by subscribing to the Garden Collective for just £1.

Follow, rate and subscribe on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts.

This episode is sponsored by Kress, leaders in robotic lawnmowing and battery landscaping tools. Learn more here.

Hot news for pod lovers...

We are going on tour: true, it is very short tour at the moment to Rosara at Nicholsons Nurseries in West Oxfordshire. On March 10th we will be there recording a podcast and answering questions from a live audience. We would love you to be there and to be a part of the podcast.

Bring your best questions (remember, no dead plants or dull questions) and the most outstanding will get to take home one of our coveted green gnomes.

Ticket details are here: March 10th. 7:00pm. Tickets £30.00 but £25.00 to members of the Garden Collective. There will also be wine (chosen by Joe).

We are very excited at the idea of meeting fellow Garden Collective members. See you there.

The future

We will be recording the podcast live every fortnight specially for members of the Garden Collective. Half the pod will be on a theme (feel free to suggest anything you would like us to talk about) and the second half will be questions. Collective members can listen anytime after the livestream has finished.

The pod will also be available in the usual places (Spotify,Apple Podcasts or YouTube) a week later. If you want to be up with the groovy people then you need to join the Collective here.

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. He is the RHS Ambassador for Garden Design and a Fellow of the Society of Garden Designers.

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.