plants of merit, with missouri botanical’s daria mckelvey

One feature I look forward to each year is the garden’s annual Plants of Merit list. I spoke recently with Daria McKelvey there about those standout varieties, from showy begonias to a summer-blooming small native tree with excellent fall color, just in time to guide my springtime plant shopping.

Daria is supervisor of the Kemper Center for Home Gardening at Missouri Botanical, where she oversees indoor gardens, its Plant Doctor answer line, and a lot of the website features I rely on so much.

Read along as you listen to the April 11, 2022 edition of my public-radio show and podcast using the player below. You can subscribe to all future editions on Apple Podcasts (iTunes) or Spotify or Stitcher (and browse my archive of podcasts here).

Margaret Roach: You are one busy person, Daria. I see on your Instagram and on the garden’s Instagram that tulip season is beginning.

Daria McKelvey: Yes. Just this past week, a lot of them started popping out. So hopefully within the next month or towards the middle of the month, we’ll really start seeing all of our displays in just beautiful color.

Margaret: Yeah. It looks beautiful. So I hear, first of all, congratulations are in order, because you are one of two recipients of the American Horticultural Society’s Emerging Horticultural Professional Award. And it’s interesting, Sam Keitch from Pennsylvania Horticultural Society was just on the show a couple weeks ago, and he’s the other recipient.

Daria: Oh,