Cole Imperi is known for her trailblazing work in thanatology, the study of death, dying and grief. But she’s also a master gardener: someone who helps others learn how to make life flourish. In this interview, she shows us how grief and gardening have much in common, from the importance of community engagement and cultural sensitivity to the roles of healing, resistance, and emotional well-being. After all, gardening can’t be separated from cultural practices and traditions. Everything in gardening connects back to broader societal themes. 

On a more pragmatic level, Cole and Sean compare notes on how the Master Gardeners in Ontario (Sean) and Los Angeles (Cole) are trained, and what role they serve in their communities. The Master Gardener mandate is to offer free, unbiased gardening advice to the public, but how they do that can vary from place to place. Cole also reveals to our hosts the existence of master preservers in the United States, and the wealth of safe, tested recipes available from the National Center for Home Food Preservation. The conversation touches on the roles of citizen science and the Master Gardeners in the wake of the 2025 LA wildfires, the potential gardening has to spark social change, California’s unique gardening sunset zones, the right to rot, and the role of embalming in various cultures. 

Trigger warnings: death, dying, embalming, LA wildfires

For more on grief, loss, gardening, and thanobotany, visit Cole’s website at coleimperi.com.

You can also find Cole on social media:

TikTok: @coleimperi

Instagram: @imperi

The Curious Spirit newsletter: https://imperi.substack.com/ 

Cole’s Plugs

The University of California Master Gardeners: https://ucanr.edu/statewide-program/uc-master-gardener-program 

The National Center for Home Food Preservation: nchfp.uga.edu 

Sunset Zones: https://sunsetplantcollection.com/climate-zones/ 

Comments? Feedback? Want your garden question to be featured in a future Q&A segment? Email us, reach out over social media, or get Q&A priority by supporting us on Patreon. 

Discord: https://discord.gg/K6wF9dY4Ja 

Bluesky: @plantsalwayswin.com 

TikTok: @plantsalwayswinpodcast 

YouTube: @plantsalwayswinpodcast

Website: www.plantsalwayswin.com 

Credits

Website Design and Illustration by Sophia Alladin

Intro and Outro Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/soundroll/when-my-ukulele-plays

License code: GWOIMMBAS15FG6PH

Timestamps

00:38 Introducing Cole Imperi

1:27 Thanatology: the Study of Death, Dying, Grief, and Loss

06:42 How Cole Came to the Master Gardeners of LA

08:02 Master Gardeners in the United States

11:44 How Sean Came to the Master Gardeners of Muskoka

16:16 The Mission of the Master Gardeners

20:33 Community Loss and Gardening in Glassell Park, Los Angeles

23:15 Training Master Gardeners in Grief and Trauma after the LA Wildfires

27:15 Soil Samples, Citizen Science, and The Plants that Survived the Fires

29:05 Plant Names: Accessibility and Decolonization

33:05 Garden Plots and Cemetery Plots: What is Permanent?

35:08 The Master Food Preserver Program

39:30 Water Break

40:19 The Land We Take Up After Death

44:18 Culture and the Embalming Spectrum

50:28 Cole’s Favourite Plant: The Sunchoke

52:04 Hardiness Zones and Sunset Zones

58:10 Find Cole Online

58:57 Cole’s Plugs

59:28 Outro and Contact Us