The Beet: A Podcast For Plant Lovers
Feb 23, 2026 · 1 hr 6 min · 20 segments
This week on The Beet, Jacques sits down with Ben Goulet-Scott and Jacob Suissa to talk plants, passion, and the power of good botany. The duo behind Let’s Botanize shares how they first fell for the…
Jacob SuissaGuestJacquesHost
Ben Goulet-ScottGuestYeah, I mean, it's something about being outside and just being able to observe and learn from the world is just like such a cool, powerful thing.
And for me, like my gateway into that kind of space was rocks and geology.
And I remember like hiking through the Grand Canyon when I had left engineering program.
I was just like looking around, I'm like, why are all these rocks red? And then I'm like walking a little bit further.
I'm like, why is everything green? And I was like, I have to go figure this out.
And it really just kind of like these questions that just on an observational level, you could kind of look around and really learn a lot.
And it's one of the cool things that you guys encourage, which I love this kind of science that it's like tactile.
It's you could go out there and you could experience it and see it for yourself.
And I think that's one of the things that's always been exciting about, because I've been following you guys probably like pretty early on from when you guys started posting on like social media or like Instagram and under the Let's Botanize.
And it's just so much fun because I'm into the world of growing vegetables and gardening, but I never...
You know, I took AP Biology in high school.
I don't have, like, a deep background in the horticulture, like, what's going on.
And I've learned a lot of that over the years, but it's just so much fun to see it in practice and in nature.
And you guys even put this book together called Let's Botanize 101 Ways to Connect with Plants.
And the cool thing about this is that it actually reminds me a little bit of birding, which is something that I've been really into over the past couple years.
And so before we get into the book, I do want to discuss this term botanize.
Is this something that you guys kind of coined? Because it's not something I was ever familiar with.
But now that I've gone through this book, I'm like, oh, it's like birding.
That's like my closest analogy on how to think about it.
So to quickly define it, botanize is the natural history hobby of just looking at plants and appreciating plants and learning about plants and enjoying them, just like birding or birdwatching is for birds.
Yeah, I mean, it's something about being outside and just being able to observe and learn from the world is just like such a cool, powerful thing.
And for me, like my gateway into that kind of space was rocks and geology.
And I remember like hiking through the Grand Canyon when I had left engineering program.
I was just like looking around, I'm like, why are all these rocks red? And then I'm like walking a little bit further.
I'm like, why is everything green? And I was like, I have to go figure this out.
And it really just kind of like these questions that just on an observational level, you could kind of look around and really learn a lot.
And it's one of the cool things that you guys encourage, which I love this kind of science that it's like tactile.
It's you could go out there and you could experience it and see it for yourself.
And I think that's one of the things that's always been exciting about, because I've been following you guys probably like pretty early on from when you guys started posting on like social media or like Instagram and under the Let's Botanize.
And it's just so much fun because I'm into the world of growing vegetables and gardening, but I never...
You know, I took AP Biology in high school.
I don't have, like, a deep background in the horticulture, like, what's going on.
And I've learned a lot of that over the years, but it's just so much fun to see it in practice and in nature.
And you guys even put this book together called Let's Botanize 101 Ways to Connect with Plants.
And the cool thing about this is that it actually reminds me a little bit of birding, which is something that I've been really into over the past couple years.
And so before we get into the book, I do want to discuss this term botanize.
Is this something that you guys kind of coined? Because it's not something I was ever familiar with.
But now that I've gone through this book, I'm like, oh, it's like birding.
That's like my closest analogy on how to think about it.
So to quickly define it, botanize is the natural history hobby of just looking at plants and appreciating plants and learning about plants and enjoying them, just like birding or birdwatching is for birds.
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