Hi, everybody. This is Joe Lampel, the Joe behind Joe Gardner, and welcome to the Joe Gardner Show.

If you're a gardener in the UK, there's a very good chance you already know the name Alice Fowler.

From her early rise as a young gardening prodigy, steeped in orchards and walled gardens,

trained at prestigious institutions like Q and the New York Botanical Garden and ultimately appearing on BBC

television screens, such as a regular presenter on Gardner's World and her own series, The Edible

Garden, Alice was once the face of a new generation of horticulturist, smart, curious, and

deeply attuned to the natural world. So in the first half of this conversation today,

we traced that remarkable journey. From a childhood on a small holding in the English countryside

to becoming a celebrated writer and TV presenter, you'll hear how a lifelong love of plants

evolved into something far more layered, more ecological,

more reflective, and ultimately more radical. And that brings us to part two, because while this

is a story of a gardener, it's also the story of someone who chose to leave behind a very

successful media career to follow a quieter, deeper calling, Pete Lans,

those ancient, wild, and often overlooked ecosystems that hold extraordinary power, both in

their carbon-storing capabilities and in their quiet beauty.

Alice's newest book, Pete Lans, is a love letter and a call to action. So in the second

half of our conversation, we explore why she chose to write it, why these bogs matter so much,

and what we can all do, especially as gardeners, to protect them. This is a story in two parts

with one powerful through line, the enduring connection between

people, plants, and place.

So let's get into it, and as we do, thanks to our sponsor for today's episode, DRAM.

For as long as I've been a gardener as my passion and my profession, I've been a fan and

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