Tony: Yes. So this was part of the old barn. This was used to store grain, and hay, and what have you and then this was, oh... that was the swallows! The swallows are nesting. Jane: So people won't have seen this when they saw you on Gardeners' World, if indeed they did see that, so this is the new setup. There's space here. Tony, what's happening!? You haven't filled it yet!? This isn't any ordinary houseplant book. In fact, there is nothing ordinary about these extraordinary plants. From growing his own collection, Tony Le-Britton of Not Another Jungle, shows you how to grow and care for the world's most sought after plants. Jane: Is it something intrinsic, as somebody who likes Aroids but doesn't feel so passionate about it?

Well sandwich bag yeah, absolutely. But you must be doing something, you know, like the fact that you're growing that and Kew's failed. Maybe it's just that, you know, Kew's got a lot of plants, you've got a lot of plants, but maybe on a scale that when you can keep particular, yeah, you're gonna take particular care of it. Jane: These are really thirsty. These are so thirsty. I find all those forest cacti drink enormous amounts of water. Tony: It got left behind and it's running, but I got it as just a one leaf and I've grown it, but now I can propagate it. I get it on a pole and its leaves will get really big.Tony: This one is called Tina; Tina Turner! I don't name my plants but they just have comedy names. That one is Bob; Bob Marley. Can you see that? Jane: Yes, exactly. You're Mr Aroid! You have a greenhouse in your house, in this new house, you have a greenhouse, kind of, in your house, we'll go and look at. Lots of people are putting in IKEA cabinets and things, but for those of us who aren't at that stage yet, or don't have the room, or the inclination for that, what are the Aroids that really will do well in - that's a very difficult thing to describe, "an average home" - but just what are the real toughies that we can rely on to do well? Tony: No, I just let myself run wild. I'm just very much like, "If you want to do something, if it's not hurting anybody else, just do it. If something brings you joy, just go for it!". So anything, if I commit to doing something, I'm going to do it 110% and I just had to do it. Jane: It looks like it's been folded. When it was folded, it's got damaged, somehow, because you can see... This isn’t any ordinary houseplant book. In fact, there is nothing ordinary about these extraordinary plants. From growing his own collection, Tony Le-Britton of Not Another Jungle, shows you how to grow and care for the world’s most sought after plants.

Tony’s desert island plant: Anything from the alocasia family as they produce big leaves which you can shelter under and you can eat the tubers!

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Tony: There is no right and wrong because botanical Latin isn't the real, set-out language. It's such a mixture. In this week’s episode, we’re talking about (amongst other things), bees! We all know that we should be making our gardens into pollinator friendly habitats but why exactly and how easy is it? Thankfully this week I’m joined by a true authority on all things bees, Dave Goulson. Dave is famous for his love of bees and his multiple books on the subject, including ‘A Sting In The Tale’, ‘Bee Quest’ and ‘Gardening for Bumblebees’. Join me and Dave as we discuss our buzzy friends and so much more. More than most houseplant books, Not Another Jungle goes into the science behind growing, explaining photosynthesis, pollination, and thigmomorphogenesis – where plants react to movement.

Key types are the banana skin, used as houseplant fertiliser. He says: “Bananas have loads of potassium, and people think that means their plants are going to get loads of potassium. This is so wrong. Even if it [the skin] did have lots of potassium – which it doesn’t – that’s not what plants need. If plants are going to grow healthily, they need a balanced fertiliser and different plants require different levels of NPK (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium)." Jane: Oftentimes, with plant names, something just pops into my head and more often than not, it's right. I'm sure I've seen this on your social media this super, super tiny orchid with this incredible really quite bizarre flower Corybas caudatas. This is something you seem to be particularly fascinated by. I know it's been in your socials. I mean, I'm looking at that and thinking, yeah, it's okay.Jane: I think that is the best tip ever. I think people spend so much money. I'm all up for artisanal pot makers and supporting those people, but I'm also up for having my plants in pots because I can't afford to have everything in an artisanal pot. So if I can get a waste paper bin, great! Jane: I was going to say they look like they're starting to reshoot. We'll get into a bit more, sort of really geeky stuff in a little bit of Patreon content, but that's the unicorn that we've all heard about. It's never Obliqua, but here we are, it is Obliqua, so what's the story behind your getting hold of the Obliqua?