Tune In To Plant Delights
Tony Avent was horticultural child prodigy, and by the age of three he was exploring the woods around his home for plant treasures. That borne desire has morphed into an international plant explorer, award-winning plantsman, freelance garden writer, and proprietor of Plant Delights Nursery and Juniper Level Botanic Garden.
Tony grew up Raleigh, NC, received his B.S. in Horticultural Science at North Carolina State University and for 30 years expanded Juniper Level Botanic Garden into a 28-acre not-for-profit private research and botanic garden with over 23,000 different plants. He passionately promotes ex-sito conservation, and dissemination of these diverse plants for the world to enjoy. Tony is also a hybridizer, author, and world renowned lecturer in the horticultural industry. Known for his exuberance, passion for plants, and tell-it-like-it-is delivery which is engaging, humorous, and educational, Tony expands upon a variety of topics giving listeners hours of engaging information through podcasts and lectures.
AWayToGarden.com - "aroids, with tony avent: jack in the pulpits to elephant ears and more"
March 24, 2018
If you've got pots of elephant’s ears or calla lilies, or some jack-in-the-pulpits in your shade garden, or maybe philodendron indoors on your windowsill, you’re well on your way to a collection of the plants called aroids. I don’t know anyone with more of these diverse and curious creatures than Tony Avent, who wants to tempt us to collect some, too. Click to listen to the podcast and read the transcript.
The Native Plant Podcast - "Tony Avent of Plant Delights Nursery"
April 11, 2017
Tony chats about gardening and landscaping with the hosts of The Native Plant Podcast. Click to listen to the podcast.
AWayToGarden.com - "growing trilliums, with tony avent of plant delights"
March 11, 2017
Tony Avent of Plant Delights Nursery and the Juniper Level Botanic Garden in North Carolina operates one of the largest trillium-propagation programs in the world, with nearly 10,000 plants in production. Me? I started with three, and now I have a bunch more—but I’m no less crazy about them than Tony. Click to listen to the podcast and read the transcript.
AWayToGarden.com - "fern secrets, fern sex and fern gardening, with tony avent"
March 2, 2015
Their is nothing–and everything–new about ferns, ancient plants that have lately been getting breeders’ increased attention. Yet how many of us really know how to use ferns effectively, or can even ID more than one or two kinds? Tony Avent of Plant Delights Nursery in Raleigh, North Carolina, can say yes to both questions, with almost 1,000 fern taxa in his collection, and extensive gardens where ferns play key roles. Click to listen to the podcast and read the transcript.
AWayToGarden.com - "6 lessons about hosta, with tony avent"
June 4, 2013
Hostas are so familiar, you probably think as I did that you know plenty about them. Yet in a conversation with Tony Avent, founder of Plant Delights Nursery in North Carolina and a longtime hosta breeder, it was one hosta “aha” after another. Click to listen to the podcast and read the transcript.
We Dig Plants - "EPISODE 36 PLANT DELIGHTS"
September 26, 2010
This week on We Dig Plants Alice and Carmen speak to a mail-order “plantsman” and a fauna seeking adventurer on the level of Indiana Jones: Tony Avent of Plant Delights. Tony recounts some plant seeking adventures including being at the business end of a shotgun and hurtling through canyons at breakneck speed. Tony also shares some important practical info, such as gardens DON’T need ANY inorganic anything (“let nature work for you!”, and even the most untamed looking garden is the result of constant work. This episode was sponsored by Hearst Ranch: purveyors of fine grass-fed beef from the California coast. Click to listen to the podcast.