I met today’s guest, Helen O’Donnell, at a plant sale a couple of springs ago, before the pandemic scuttled most such big public events. Spring sales like that, where multiple small growers of unusual specialty plants gather, are my favorite place to shop because I get not just unexpected new things to bring home, but also I get to learn from the proprietors as I browse about what each goody is and how to grow it.
So second-best, I’ve been inviting some of them to the radio show and podcast this year to browse with us aloud, including Helen O’Donnell of Bunker Farm Plants in Vermont, who’s here to talk about special annuals and perennials we may want to seek out for our gardens.
Helen owns Bunker Farm Plants, part of a family farm operation in Vermont that produces meat and maple syrup, besides Helen’s own selection of exceptional garden flowers that she raises mostly from seed. She’s also a garden designer, so her choice of plants always includes their ability to perform.
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