Scott Beuerlein on air, hosting “In the Garden with Scott Beuerlein” on WKRC out of Cincinnati.

Naturally I follow fellow GardenRanter Scott Beuerlein on Facebook, where I was pleased to read his announcement in late February of a new gig – rather, yet ANOTHER gig:

Big news here. For 24 years Ron Wilson has hosted “In the Garden with Ron Wilson.” Rode through all kinds of changes in the media world and continued to build an audience. Now, the show is in something like 28 markets, 55 stations, has its own website and social media, and the show is streamed as a podcast. Today, Ron retired and next week I start hosting a new show. Same time, same stations.”

Next came generous praise for Ron, and then:

I will try to limit being bad to the bare minimum. And I hope people will bear with me as I figure things out. It will be a different show. I have to be me. I have no other choice. It’s not possible for me to be Ron Wilson and, to be honest, Ron, more than anyone else, would hate it if I tried. From day one he has insisted that this new show should have a fresh start with a new name and that I should make it my own…Tune in and enjoy my struggles until I find my groove. I’ll have lots of great guests and conversations as well. 

Where to watch/listen

So the new show, airing on Saturdays from 6 to 9 a.m., is “Let’s Garden with Scott Beuerlein,” and I’m happy to report that it’s quickly posted as a podcast with iHeart Radio, now available everywhere people get their podcasts.
 
So far, Scott has interviewed a slew of lively experts that includes Brie Arthur, Jared Barnes, Diane Blazek, Marianne Willburn, Sam Hoadley, Ed Lyon, Kris Bachtell, Teresa Woodard, Mark Wessel, and Dr. Bill Fountain. Upcoming guests include Joseph Tykonoviech, Kelly Norris, Jeff Epping and lots more.

The show has its own Facebook group – “In the Garden” –  where I found some really fun illustrations, presumably by AI.  (I love how the AI prompts gave him a fresh haircut and facelift and am eager to a try myself!) 

Btw, in searching for the program I found this comment on Reddit: “Scott is a pretty awesome conversationalist and knows a thing or two.” Indeed!

How’s it going?

I asked Scott for an update after six episodes, requiring getting up at 3:30 to be ready to go on the air at 6. (!!) He responded that he’s “playing to my strengths, which is having a lot of connections in the Hort World, so I can bring in wonderful guests.

Another strength is that I’m second career. I can empathize with people who haven’t been around horticulture all their lives, so I know what questions to ask. And I know when the question has been adequately answered and I’m willing to jump in and get back to information that both experts and newbies will find accurate and helpful. I’m always trying to hear the show as if I were a regular—but smart—homeowner out there in radioland.  

What else is Scott up to?

Then I found Scott’s announcement of his most recent columns – in PRINT!  

The Spring issue of Horticulture Magazine is out and includes, as always, my two columns. The interview column is an excerpt from a longer video conversation with Brent Horvath and Lisa Hilgenberg from Intrinsic Perennials. You can link to that video using the bar code. Well worth doing! Very interesting peek into the world of New plant introductions. The article also includes nice write ups on some of Brent’s plants

And as Scott was tackling his new radio gig, he was also organizing the latest in-person Urban Landscape Symposium at the Cincinnati Botanic Garden (and Zoo). Together with his posts to GardenRant, he certainly has the garden media landscape covered! 

Who’s that guy in the center, with brown hair and other unScott-like traits I won’t mention?

Congratulations to Scott on his exciting new assignment!! We just hope he doesn’t get too busy for his Rant readers!