Relished Garden

About Relished Garden

Welcome to The Relished Garden, where we have conversations about the intersection between your garden and your life. Hosted by Claire Lidell Hanna, founder and award-winning designer of Relish Gardens, this podcast explores everything from garden design, seasonal maintenance, food, preserving, and creating spaces for connection. Gardening doesn’t have to be all-or-nothing. You can grow cut flowers without having a flower farm, preserve food without selling your house and moving to a homestead, and care for your garden while still making time for the rest of your life. We share real stories from the gardens we design and maintain for clients—plus practical, approachable ideas to help you create personal garden spaces that are beautiful, functional, and uniquely yours. If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed or like your garden just isn’t coming together, this show is for you. Let’s talk about how to design a space you love—and how to truly relish your garden, season after season.

Publisher

Claire Lidell Hanna

Category

education · leisure

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

14 Oct 2025

Latest episode

22 Apr 2026

Latest episodes

27 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   22 Apr 2026

   Transforming an Asphalt Driveway into a Garden Courtyard (Live Garden Design Coaching), Part 1

   Last summer, I sat down with Nicole, our marketing director and the producer of this podcast, to work through a front yard project that had been stalling for years. She had a vision. She had a graphic design degree and a huge artistic background. And she was completely stuck. Having an eye for design and knowing how to apply it in your own garden are two completely different things. Nicole knew what she wanted the space to feel like, but every time she started making decisions, she'd hit a logistical wall and shut the whole thing down. So we decided to record the whole process, start to finish. This is Part 1. In this episode, I cover: Why garden projects stall before they start, and what the pattern of indecision is usually telling you How to diagnose a flow problem in your outdoor space, because when the shortest paths are all in the wrong places, no amount of planting fixes it The single decision that was blocking everything else in Nicole's courtyard, and why you can't move forward until that one thing is resolved Why moving raised beds or existing garden elements can feel like a loss, even when you know the change is the right call How to think about a courtyard space that needs to work for grilling, kids, dogs, and guests without turning into a renovation you never finish Connect With Us Relish Gardens Website Follow us on Instagram Watch on YouTube If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and share it with your gardening friends. Until next time, I hope you find something in your garden to truly relish.

2. 

   9 Apr 2026

   25: Where to Start When Your Spring Garden Feels Overwhelming

   One year ago this week, I sat down to record the first episode of this podcast. This episode has been sitting in the vault for exactly one year. It was the first one I ever recorded, back when we had a plan and an idea and genuinely no idea what we were getting ourselves into. We didn't even have a real mic yet. So here we are, one year later, right back in that same moment. And everything I said still holds. If you've ever walked outside in April and felt your stomach drop a little at everything staring back at you, this one's for you. Spring has a way of making us feel like we're already behind, like we woke up late and now we have to make up for it. But gardens don't actually work that way, and this episode is my case for slowing down, picking a corner, and letting the rest wait. In this episode, I cover: Why spring overwhelm is so common, and why the "this is the year I transform everything" mindset sets you up for more stress than satisfaction The case for working in sections, starting with your entry points and the spaces where you actually live, rather than trying to tackle it all at once Why weeding a little every day is one of the highest-return things you can do this spring, and how it can actually feel good once you get out of your own head about it Practical spring tasks to focus on now, including mulching areas you won't get to, lawn care in the Pacific Northwest, and soil pH basics for grass and moss How designing over time leads to better choices, less rework, and a lot less overwhelm Resources If you need more help knowing where to start in your spring garden, download our free Spring Gardening Guide. Connect with Us Relish Gardens Website Follow us on Instagram Follow us on YouTube If you loved this conversation, make sure to subscribe. We've got new episodes every week. And if you know a gardening friend who'd love this, send it their way. Sharing the show helps grow our little garden-loving community. Until next time, I hope you find something in your garden to truly relish.

3. 

   2 Apr 2026

   24: How Place and Landscape Shape the Gardens We Design with John Coghlan

   After years of crossing paths at the Northwest Flower and Garden Show and never quite having enough time, we finally got to sit down for a real conversation with John (from Vashon), and I'm so glad we did. John Coghlan is a landscape designer and gardener based on Vashon Island, where he runs HomeGrown Organics, and this one is good. We get into his love of Vashon, what shaped his plant palette, and the winding road that led him to where he is today. In this episode, we discuss: How the landscapes John has lived in, from the Pacific Northwest to Southern California to the highlands of Guatemala, show up directly in his plant palette, and why you can see that progression clearly when you look back at his show gardens over the years How sedges caught John's attention early in his landscaping career through Seattle's RainWise program, digging out lawns and redirecting water back to where it wanted to be, and how that early love culminated in his 2026 Northwest Flower and Garden Show garden, uplifting sedges into something truly special John's deep love of Vashon after moving there with his family 13 years ago, the island's incredible horticultural history and roots, from the Beall Greenhouses, once one of the most well-respected orchid growers in the world that sheltered Kew Gardens specimens during World War II, to Mukai Farm and Garden, to the magic of the Whispering Firs Bog, one of only three intact peat bogs left in the lower Puget Sound The gift John hopes to give every client through their garden, getting them outside and actually in their space, wandering around with no agenda, noticing things, and knowing he's done his job when someone texts him a photo of the morning light hitting their plants from their coffee cup How we tend to overlook the beauty right in our own backyard and find it instead in the places we travel, from Claire growing up annoyed by manzanita everywhere to people in Guatemala pulling orchids out of trees like weeds, to John coming home from an International Oaks Society trip with a whole new appreciation for the plants that are abundant in his own backyard Resources: John Coghlan HomeGrown Organics HomeGrown Organics on Instagram HomeGrown Organics on Facebook Places mention: Mukai Farm and Garden Beall Greenhouses Whispering Firs Bog Maury Island Marine Park North Creek Park Boardwalk Connect with Us Relish Gardens Website Follow us on Instagram Follow us on YouTube If you loved this conversation, make sure to subscribe. We've got new episodes every week. And if you know a gardening friend who'd love this, send it their way. Sharing the show helps grow our little garden-loving community. Until next time, I hope you find something in your garden to truly relish.

Contact Relished Garden

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.