A potted history of houseplants

The English Heritage Podcast goes live! Host Amy Matthews records in front of a live audience at Audley End House during the 2026 Gardeners’ World Autumn Fair. Joined by English Heritage experts Andrew Hann, Michael Klemperer and Emily Parker, Amy explores how gardening evolved f ...  Show more

In this episode, we explore how a simple piece of Roman pottery - a red Samian bowl - can reveal the hidden lives of people living in Britain nearly 2,000 years ago. Found at Corbridge Roman Town, this artifact features a unique bit of ancient graffiti translating to "Nico slave ...  Show more

How did plants power imperialism? Gardening may be a quintessentially British hobby, but many of the familiar plants in our lives have a global – and colonial – history. From “fern-mania” leading wealthy Victorians to decimate environments around the world collecting ferns for t ...  Show more

Houseplants are having a moment right now. In 2020, 66% of people in the US owned at least one plant, and sales have skyrocketed during the pandemic. Meanwhile, Instagram accounts like House Plant Club have a million followers. Over the past decade there has been a steady stre ...

Interest in houseplants has exploded in recent years. But what causes floral trends, and prices, to grow? Zachary Crockett sows a few seeds.

Ben, Noel and super producer Casey Pegram dive back into the weeds of the surprisingly ancient (and ridiculous) art of trimming flora into bizarre and elaborate shapes. It’s a practice that had a habit of falling in and out of fashion depending on the whims of whoever was in powe ...  Show more