The sun hangs low and red, and the air smells faintly of burning wood. A summer afternoon looks more like an apocalyptic sunset and an air alert pop oops and an alert pops up on your phone. Air quality is unhealthy. Today we're heading north into the vast boreal forest to look into why all these wildfires are happening.

By August, the hostas have lost a bar fight with the slugs. The daylilies are wearing yesterday's makeup, and half the garden has stopped returning emails. Meanwhile, perennial grasses arrive backlit, windswept, feeding birds, sheltering insects, and acting like they were booked for a fall-fashion campaign. Today, we're talking about the beauties, the floppers, and the native grasses doing ecological work while looking fabulous.

Eating foraged plants should only be done by experts, eating foraged plants may result in being poisoned. While the edibility of plants is discussed in this podcast, you should not consume foraged plants or mushrooms without the in-person advice from an expert.

The Petal & Plot Pod features seasonal plant origin stories and seasonal garden tips. Hosted by Aneesa Adams and Eric Ketchum, owners of Petal & Plot Garden Design in Minnesota.

Email garden questions to: petalnplot@gmail.com

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Theme music by Mia Calhan Burgstede and CB Compton.