Your Garden Pro Radio host, Peter Felix welcomes Jim Beard, Landscape Architect and Horticulture Instructor at Fox Valley Technical College in Appleton, Wisconsin. A very young 68 years old, Jim feels he's the luckiest guy alive getting out of bed everyday and making it down to the college to do something he really loves… teaching young people (ages 18-55+) and exploring the wonders of Mother Nature on a daily basis. Jim has earned national certification in Organic Landcare from the Northeast Organic Farming Association (NOFA). In association with Green Bay Botanical Gardens, Jim also teaches classes; such as "Garden Design Basics" and "Garden Carpentry". He's a member of the Gardener's Club of Green Bay, Wisconsin.

Jim's students at Fox Valley Technical College oversee and work a 30-acre area and 30-50,000 plants yearly; in addition to caring for all the lawns at the college.

Find out what's new in Horticulture Education these days. Are they really going organic? Have they embraced composting and compost tea? What about beneficial fungi?  Find out today!

Welcome back to Garden Pro Radio. This is our first show of 2010 and we're so glad to have Peter Felix back behind the earth-friendly Green Microphone. Peter's very special guest is Organic Advocate, Paul Tukey, who first appeared with Peter and Ken Six back in the days of the Arbor Talk radio show.

Paul Tukey is the author of The Organic Lawn Care Manual. He hosted "People, Places and Plants" with Roger Swain on HGTV ; and is the Founder and Chairman of SafeLawns.org. Paul is currently touring the country with his new documentary film "A Chemical Reaction", visiting with Environmental Groups, State Regulators and Legislators, Companies and people in the streets.

Laura Brown is a certified Health Counselor and owner of Intuitive-Wellness. Laura gives great insight into the benefits of "going organic"; from health benefits, to the environment, to everyday advice and tips on life and living.

 William Gustafson, Peter's College Roommate has spent a good portion of his life working with plants and and the great outdoors and has started his own business in Northern California, Restorative Organics.

This proves to be a great show devoted to "green" living, health and life!

P.S. We were quite impressed with Ms. Brown and her expertise. Below is a Profile of her Company, Intuitive-Wellness:

Laura Brown is a Certified Health Counselor (CHC) and the founder of
Intuitive Wellness. A Certified Health Counselor is a nutrition expert, wellness authority and a supportive coach.

Laura is passionate about helping people achieve their highest level of wellness. For over thirty years, Laura has pursued an interest in personal growth and alternative healing and in exploring the mind/body connection.

In 2007, Laura took that passion a step further when she earned her (CHC) designation at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition (IIN), studying an approach that enabled her to integrate the many paths to wellness she has traveled in her life into a powerful program for helping others.

Laura received her training to practice Health Counseling at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, which is the only nutrition school integrating all the different dietary theories — from traditional philosophies to modern concepts like the Blood Type Diet, The Zone, raw foods and superfoods — enabling practitioners to tailor the best nutritional program for their individual client.

Integrative Nutrition practitioners focus on bio-individuality, the recognition that one person’s medicine is another one's poison. Integrative nutrition also emphasizes “crowding out” unhealthy foods and lifestyle choices with good ones — a common sense approach to dietary change that keeps the individual from feeling deprived — and thus much more likely to stay on course.

The Institute for Integrative Nutrition, in alliance with Columbia University’s Teacher’s College, is the only school of its kind in the world. It features such esteemed faculty as Deepak Chopra, Dr. Andrew Weill and Dr. Mehmet Oz.

Testimonials

“Working with you has helped me increase my awareness of my personal relationship with food and that has led to changes I couldn't have imagined – and my health just keeps getting better.”
- Kathy Tucker, Direct Marketing Manager

“To me, you're just a ‘wise woman’, with all your experience, your incredible intuition, your knowledge of food and nutrition. I just think you have a gift.”
- Jonni Vann, Feng Shui Consultant

A very special Garden Pro Radio show featuring Mr. Ed Lyon,  Garden-Director of the

A public garden, Allen Centennial Gardens are located on campus and serve as a teaching garden for the Department of Horticulture. Open 7 days a week this public garden is not funded by the school; but exists through monetary contributions from the public; and time and love by volunteers and students.

What new projects are in store for these gardens? What can these gardens and other public gardens provide to their communities and the public at large? Is there a greater emphasis on "going green" and "organic gardening" now? What about Aquaponics, Composting, and other earth-friendly "technologies"?

Today’s show is fascinating as two very different "garden-pro’s" meet to compare notes and discuss their love of the outdoors and gardening strategies!

About the Allen Centennial Gardens:

The Allen Centennial Gardens is a horticultural teaching garden managed by the University of Wisconsin Department of Horticulture.  The mission of the Garden is to provide outdoor instructional and laboratory facilities for a broad range of disciplines in horticulture, landscape architecture, and related areas of interest.  A continuing goal of the Garden is to provide state-of-the-art demonstrations and information on the use of traditional and novel horticultural plants in diverse landscape settings.  To accomplish this goal, Allen Centennial Gardens is constantly evolving to reflect the most recent innovations in horticulture and landscaping.  The primary clientele of the Garden are students enrolled in formal university level course work related to the Garden’s mission.  As a commitment to the Wisconsin Idea, an additional important function of the Garden is to provide extension/outreach instructional facilities.  Clientele include K-12 students, garden clubs, Master Gardeners, the landscape and horticulture industries, and other groups and individuals with an interest in landscaping and horticulture.  A secondary mission of the Garden is to provide a pleasant horticultural setting for public enjoyment.  In this way, the seeds of interest in horticulture and landscaping may be sown.

Think an entomologist can’t be interesting and fun to learn from? Think again! Dr. Mike Raupp is always a lively, fun and interesting guest. He teaches in ways the rest of us can really understand.

How to deal with all these pests effectively, without hurting yourself, your pets and your kids? What products are safe and effective? Which are neutral, or even good for the environment?

And, what about various other pests, including scale-insects, arborvitae leaf miner, bag worms, tomato horn worm…you name it. Dr. Raupp has plenty to say.

How critical is diversity in our urban forest in keeping these and other pests from taking over?

Here’s a great question: We have a flowering plum tree that’s doing fine. Then, almost overnight, you can barely see the branches for the scale and "honeydew"? How does this happen? What does Dr. Raupp have to say about this?

These questions and more are explored by host Peter Felix and Dr. Mike Raupp.

So, what’s in today’s show?

SEGMENT 1: Peter tackles the very critical question of irrigating and watering in the heat of summer; in addition to the subject of pruning this late in summer. Should you or shouldn’t you?

SEGMENT 2: It’s the Monkey Puzzle (Chilean Pine) Tree for "plant of the week"; and Spider Mites as the "pest of the week".

SEGMENT 3: Ray Bahn from P.O. Bahn and Company, part 1.

SEGMENT 4: Ray Bahn, part 2.

PLEASE NOTE: Due to the length of today’s show, it comes to you several ways for download and listening: First, we give you the episode in its entirety if you wish to listen or download it complete. Then, the show is split into four separate segments if you wish to download or listen to each one separately.

Author, Actress, Gardening Consultant with a beautiful heart, Radio Personality and Media Consultant, Cynthia Brian joins Peter for a very special episode of Garden Pro Radio.

Learn about the love of gardening, organic growing, beneficial microbes, compost tea and so much more as "Garden Goddess" Cynthia and host Peter get down and organically-dirty in the garden.

Read about Cynthia, her foundation and her books. You can also sign up for Cynthia’s newsletters! Just, visit "CynthiaBrian.com"; "Be the Star You Are"; and "Star-Style"; all dedicated to a fulfilling life and helping everyone to truly "Be The Star You Are".

Cynthia Brian’s foundation "Be the Star You Are" gets special kudos for her work empowering women, families, and youth-at-risk through improved literacy and positive media. Hear about Cynthia’s new book:

Be the Star You Are for Teens!
"Cynthia Brian’s advice will make a big difference in your life so you can have more fulfillment and fun every day." 
Deepak Chopra

How much do you know about pruning your trees?  Should you cut it from the top or should you start at the bottom and move up?  Let our Garden Pro, Peter Felix fill you in on the proper way to prune and which tools to use.  And don’t miss the Plant of the Week as well as the Pest of the Week.  That nasty whitefly can be a real problem!

Peter also discusses the plant of the week, Hydrangeas. Wow. We really learned a lot with this segment. By the way, what’s the best plant to pair-up with a Hydrangea? Listen in, you’ll find out.

Not to be ignored, the Pest of the Week was Aphids. Should you immediately try to eradicate them when they show up? Do different kinds of aphids attack different types of trees? What blight follows an aphid-attack? What are the best organic treatments for aphids?

Ok, so you know a lot about gardening. Have you heard what the Garden Pro has to say? Listen in. Peter Felix is the Garden Pro.