Who is Ketzel Levine
and Why Should You Care?

by Della, La Beagle

She asks herself the same thing, which is really dumb, and is no way to promote a website, so we've restricted her access to this page in order to tell you who the Doyenne Of Dirt really is.

First off, she's not really a doyenne because she's still too young (isn't it great how baby boomers glorify middle age?). The title DoD was first used by NPR’s Scott Simon: He had some clout so the name stuck (never mind that it wasn't even his idea, but editors never get credit. Sorry, Steve). Anyway, Ketz (that's what Scott and her sisters call her) has been NPR's gardening expert since 1992, chatting regularly on Weekend Edition Saturday, and doing gardening features on Morning Edition.

But don't let all this horticulturalism fool you. Ketzel's got quite the checkered past. With an academic background in classical music and first-hand knowledge of locker room behavior in the major leagues, she turned heads as the first American to broadcast sports on the BBC. She scored big time as NPR's sports director, coaxing baseball legend Red Barber out of retirement and onto NPR's air. Then, as the network's arts reporter (the girl wore more hats than Bella Abzug), she hobnobbed with the likes of Baryshnikov and Leonard Bernstein, and took abuse from movie stars as bitchy as Bette Davis.

How'd Ketzel end up in horticulture? To maintain her sanity. She took to it like gunnera in water and has been immersed in it ever since. She lives in Portland, Oregon, with me, Della - by day, a diminuitive pet but by night, Sumo Beagle (how else could I get her to surrender the bed?).

Anyway, welcome to Talking Plants and our life according to the Doyenne Of Dirt!