Hi, everybody, it's Joe. As my team and I enjoy these final days of the year with some time away,

I didn't want to leave you without a great encore episode that I picked for today. It is a fun and

fascinating episode about 13 of 39 plants that author Amy Stewart wrote about in her New York

Times best-selling book, Wicked Plants. And yes, as you are about to hear,

these plants are indeed certifiably wicked. So sit back and enjoy the conversation, and I'll see you

on the backside.

Hi, everybody, it's Joe Lampbell, the Joe Behind Joe Gardner, and welcome to the Joe Gardner show.

A few episodes back, you likely recalled a wonderful conversation I had with Amy Stewart

about her New York Times best-selling new book, The Tree Collectors. Today, we are back in conversation

with Amy and another one of her best-selling books, Wicked Plants. This is a timeless

book. With 39 plants featured to be wicked in one way or another, you'll recognize many

of these plants, in fact. It's not unlikely that right now you have at least one of them growing

in your very own yard. And that was one of my biggest ahas from her book,

one of the deadliest seeds grown in a pod from a vine that was very prominent in my

childhood backyard.

And it's amazing that I'm still here today because that seed could easily be mistaken

for candy.

And you'll hear what I mean in just a minute.

Amy Stewart is a prolific writer. In fact, she's written 14 books so far, with over 1 million copies sold and translations into 18 languages.

And here's a fun fact related to the book we're talking about today.

In 2009, Wicked Plants was adapted

into a national traveling exhibit that terrified children at Science Museums nationwide for over a

...