Is your plant stone dead? Or is it merely resting?

We find out in today's episode of On the Ledge.

I'm joined by Matt Kandaius of the In Defence of Plants podcast and now book to find out all about dormancy this week.

And I share some of your tales of woe about the plants that didn't make it.

When I'm thinking about plants of mine that aren't doing very well,

perhaps they've got one dead leaf,

or sometimes the whole thing has just turned to dust, I often think of Monty Python's parrot sketch,

because I'm wondering to myself, is it actually dead, or is it just resting? The botany of dormancy is something that I've had a lot of questions about from listeners over the years.

So it felt like time to turn this latest leaf botany episode into an examination of what's really going on when our plants go dormant.

What is the leaf botany series?

Well, it's a very occasional episode covering different aspects of how our plants grow.

We've covered pigments.

We've covered shape.

And this week, Matt Kandaius of the In Defensive Plants

podcast is here to talk to us about when our plants decide to take a break.

Hi Jane, I'm Matt Kandaius. I'm a community ecologist by training with a specific

focused in plants. I'm also the host of the In Defensive Plants podcast and blog, and I've recently

dived into the world of authorship. I wrote a book called In Defensive Plants and Exploration

Into the Wonder of Plants, and it is an absolute honor to be back on the podcast with you today.

The topic that I want to get into with you today is Dormancy, because I've had a lot of listener questions about what

dormancy is, what it means, what it does to the plant. And I'd love to have your professional

viewpoint on this, or not viewpoint, professional chapter and verse, because I really don't know the

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