Penelope Hobhouse Vista Lecture

Well, not a lecture really ... a question and answer session with Tim Richardson and Noel Kingsbury at the recent Vista get together in London.

I'm apparently one of the few who can find time to listen to podcasts, probably because I drive from the city to the country and back (two hours each way) every week. Ms. Hobhouse talks about how she started gardening, her thoughts on herself as a garden designer vs. a writer, the history of the garden, especially the "Paradise Garden" of the Middle East, and Islamic influences on gardening. Was the European garden tradition directly influenced by Islamic gardening via Sicily? We won't know for sure until Ms. Hobhouse finds time to research and write the definitive book on this subject. But this is one of many topics of discussion I found fascinating.

You can get the podcast via the Gardens Illustrated website here, or for free on iTunes. You can also listen on your computer. For a first-hand report on the evening, go to Noel's Garden Blog.

I'm a podcast fan, but I find there are far too few interesting podcasts on gardening. If you know of good ones, please let me know by leaving a comment.