In this episode we meet Dr. Jean Burns and PhD candidate Yu Liu to learn about their research program focused on the science of gardening, they describe their recent findings on the important role of microbes that live in, on and around Rhododendron in determining plant growth and survival, they assure us that some microbes can actually be good for Rhododendrons, and we find out how the pure aesthetic joy of Rhododendron can lead to a deeper understanding of the basic biological process of plant-soil interactions that lead to species co-existence.

Now, that’s not so farfetched as it might seem, for as he sat alone in a garden, Isaac Newton in 1666, age 24, fell into a speculation on the power of gravity.