Josh Schneider

Here is a copy of a news article about the upcoming DIY channnel series that
our Josh will be hosting.
Bonsall is backdrop for new national gardening show
GARY WARTH
Staff Writer
Bonsall may not rival Los Angeles when it comes to television production,
but it does have something no fancy production company has: an outdoor
studio for a garden show.

"As far as I know, this is the only full-time free-standing outdoor garden
show set," said Eric Gardner, a partner in Gardner/Stimpson Entertainment
from Pasadena and the soundman on the set this day.


Gardner and Jim Stimpson are shooting "First Time Gardener" at EuroAmerican
Propagators in Bonsall. The show is produced by the Do It Yourself Network,
an offshoot of Home & Garden Television, and is scheduled to premiere in
late February or March 2003. It is not carried by Cox Communications or
Adelphia, but should be available on Cox Digital Cable, Stimpson said.

At 29, host Josh Schneider is one of the most in-demand horticulturists in
the country. He is the national spokesman for Proven Winners, a partnership
founded in 1992 by EuroAmerican Propagators and other growers, and has
traveled throughout Central America, Europe, South Africa and the United
Kingdom to collect new plants and talk about gardening.

"The plants here are some of the most beautiful in the world," Schneider
said about why the show is shot in Bonsall.

Shooting began in September and the crew has had to shoot around Schneider's
busy travel and lecture schedule.

"In the last six years, I've given 500 lectures to 500,000 people,"
Schneider said. "I should be running for something."

A natural at speaking to crowds ---- "My mother once said I always talk like
I'm doing a lecture," he said ---- Schneider had to change his style for the
television show.

"This was a challenge," explaining how he had to tone down his style for the
more intimate format of the television show.

Schneider kneels in front of a row of potted plants, strokes a plant that
smells like licorice when crushed and is stopped by Stimpson after the noise
from a passing airplane is picked up. Such interruptions are common, as the
crew has learned that rural Bonsall has more than its share of air traffic.

The beauty of the surroundings and the large open set ---- which includes a
koi pond, small waterfall and a row of trees to serve as a backdrop and
sound barrier ---- make up for the inconveniences. Within minutes the shoot
is back on.

This segment is on container gardening, which Schneider said is hot now with
aging baby boomers and first-time homeowners.

"Often people don't put the emphasis on the right thing," Schneider said.
"The key to container gardening is very simple: Buy a larger pot than you
think you need. Bigger is generally better with container gardening. It's
easier to keep things alive with more soil."

Other tips are to always use good potting soil and fertilize the plant
regularly.

Schneider said he first became interested in gardening through his
grandmother, and at 21 he established Mourning Dove Farms, a retail nursery
specializing in rare and unusual plants, in Mahomet, Ill.

By helping customers at the garden center, Schneider said he learned that
people need encouragement to become good gardeners, a lesson that is at the
heart of "First Time Gardener."

"I really think the most important thing when dealing with people who are
new at gardening is to work hard to make them a success," he said.

Schneider remembers the encouragement he felt when he started and had
success with a "bulletproof plant," a vinca, suggested by a woman in a
nursery. He planted it and watched it grow in the window box of his college
apartment.

"Even though I gardened as a child, that success on my own made me want to
know way more about gardening than when I started," he said.

On the show, Schneider plans to cover a wide range of gardening, but in a
way that the first-time gardener can understand.

"I think that what we're trying to do is give the average person who wants
to become a gardener a step-by-step approach on how to achieve that," he
said. "And we want to cover the fundamentals."

While explaining container gardening, Schneider gives examples of what
plants work well together to make beautiful arrangements. Keeping things
simple often is the key.

"Too many colors can make it complicated," he said. "You don't want it to be
like a jelly bean bowl."

Gardner said unlike HGTV, which shows beautiful gardens that people wish
they had, "First Time Gardener" and the "Do It Yourself" Network will show
people how to get results. Having picked up an interest in gardening
himself, he also appreciates Schneider's straight-forward approach to his
topics.

"Every book on container gardening is crap," he said. Schneider is writing a
book on the subject.

Schneider describes himself as a gardener "with an attitude," and doesn't
want to pamper plants that should just be taken out and replaced.

"There are so many people who write books or are on TV who say, 'This is a
nice plant, but it's just not doing well,' " he said. "Life is too short to
have nasty plants in your yard."

Contact staff writer Gary Warth at gwarth@nctimes.com or (760) 740-5410.

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