Episode 184: The Houseplant Expert by Dr David Hessayon - the book that launched my houseplant obsession
Just some of my collection of Dr DG Hessayon’s ‘Expert’ series of books. Photograph: Jane Perrone.
Transcript
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Dr David Hessayon’s book The Houseplant Expert has inspired indoor gardeners for decades, including me! I talk to two fellow horticulturists who knew him well, and reflect on his legacy. Plus I answer a question about moving a 5ft cactus, and we hear from a ten-year-old houseplant fan in Meet The Listener.
This week’s guests
Peter Seabrook is the Sun newspaper’s gardening columnist and the host of podcast This Week in The Garden. You can hear him interviewing me on that show here. Patreon subscribers at the Ledge End and Superfan level can listen to an extended interview with Peter here.
Christine Walkden is a plantswoman, author and presenter with many books and TV appearances to her name.
Many thanks to James Wong, Ben, Gwyn, Jonathan, Lynn, Jenni, Cynthia, and Michael Perry and Ellen Mary from The Plant Based Podcast for sharing their thoughts on Dr Hessayon and his books.
More on Dr David G Hessayon
Hessayon wrote his first houseplant book in 1961 - it was titled Be Your Own Houseplant Expert. The book has been through many editions since. In my opinion, the absolute best edition is the one titled The Gold plated Houseplant Expert, which has a red cover (see the picture at the top of the page to look at some of my collection of Hessayon books).
Hessayon’s books introduced generations of people to the delights of growing plants, but that wasn’t his only goal: he used his books to promote products made by Pan Britannica Industries, the firm he worked for, including the iconic houseplant feed Baby Bio.
in 2005 he was reported to have made £26 million from his gardening books, which covered everything from bulbs to trees and shrubs.
Hessayon retired from writing in 2013, in a speech at the GMG awards. I’d totally forgotten about this photo - but my colleague (and On The Ledge guest) Alys Fowler won an award and she wasn’t able to be there, so I went to receive it on her behalf and was mistaken for Alys!
QUESTION OF THE WEEK
Zosia got in touch for advice on how to move a 5ft tall old man of the Andes cactus, Oreocereus celsianus. I recommended laying it carefully on its side wrapping it in layers of bubble wrap and corrugated cardboard, supported with bamboo canes to prevent snapping.
I also suggest taking cuttings of venerable plants such as this as an insurance policy - if a cactus has multiple stems you can sometimes remove one of them and pot up separately, or slice off a stem, let it callus over for a few days, then pot into gritty compost.
Want to ask me a question? Email ontheledgepodcast@gmail.com. The more information you can include, the better - pictures of your plant, details of your location and how long you have had the plant are always useful to help solve your issue!
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CREDITS
This week's show featured the tracks Roll Jordan Roll by the Joy Drops, The Road We Use To Travel When We Were Kids by Komiku, Chiefs and Endeavour by Jahzzar, and Time to Move and Motivate by The Insider. The ad music was Dill Pickles and Whistling Rufus, both by the Heftone Banjo Orchestra. All tracks licensed under Creative Commons.