Meet Ann Atkin, the founder of a sanctuary for thousands of garden gnomes

Calling all green thumbs, the As It Happens archives are in full bloom and ripe with stories ready for the picking.

The theme for this episode of our summer series As It Happened: The Archive Edition is "The Secret Life of Plants." Here are some of the highlights from this episode.

There's no place like gnome

If you ask Ann Atkin, every forest and garden needs a guardian. A protector, a keeper, and defender — ideally, adorned with a little red wizard hat and whimsical grin. 

Atkin is the founder of a garden gnome sanctuary in Abbots Bickington, England, which is home to the world's largest collection of gnomes and pixies.

In 2001, former As It Happens host Mary Lou Finlay spoke with Atkin about the Gnome Reserve and her love of the enchanting garden ornaments.

"They're not just garden ornaments," Atkin said. "Creative imagination personified, I think."

The sanctuary is open to the public and home to over 2,000 gnomes and pixies. Atkin makes her own ornaments as well.

"You need different ways to make you see things fresh," Atkin said. "I like to turn everybody into gnomes when they come — lend them a gnome hat!"

Tour de forest

There aren't any gnomes guarding the rhododendron forests of the Knockmealdown Mountains in County Tipperary, Ireland. But thankfully, there's local volunteer rescue worker Jimmy Barry.

Back in 2014, a couple were hiking in the area when they veered into the beautiful rhododendron forests. They quickly realized they couldn't find their way out.

As It Happens host Carol Off spoke with Barry about how he finally helped rescue the couple from the dense thickets of flowering plants.

"Within 10 metres of going into the rhododendron, we knew things had changed. There was no light in there, all the ground cover that was outside, everything was dead, and it had turned into basically mush," Barry said.

"It turned into a jungle."

Head over peels

Whether it's rows of rhododendron or a backyard banana tree, plants often grow in mysterious and unpredictable ways.

For 10 years, Aird Flavelle lovingly tended to his banana tree, even though he knew the tropical plant would probably never bear any fruit.

Flavelle lives in Abbotsford, B.C., which does not exactly have a banana-growing climate. But in 2015, the tree started sprouting.

"I'm going to be having one heck of a banana party," Flavelle told As It Happens guest host Matt Galloway.

Flavelle said he welcomed the unlikely bananas, but that he was split between wanting to celebrate the fruit and worrying about what its arrival said about climate change.

"We're feeling really bad that we have a climate situation where we can grow bananas in Canada," Flavelle said. "[But] with a great deal of guilt, I was absolutely thrilled."

You can hear these stories and more on "The Secret Life of Plants" episode of As it Happened: The Archive Edition.