Jessica Walliser

Horticulturist Jessica Walliser is an award-winning radio host on KDKA Radio’s “The Organic Gardeners” in Pittsburgh. She’s the author of five gardening books, including the Amazon-bestseller Good Bug Bad Bug, winner of the 2014 AHS Book Award Attracting Beneficial Bugs to Your Garden: A Natural Approach to Pest Control, and her newest title Container Gardening Complete: Creative Projects for Growing Vegetables and Flowers in Small Spaces.

Jessica Walliser co-hosts “The Organic Gardeners” on KDKA-Radio in Pittsburgh, PA. She is a former contributing editor for Organic Gardening magazine and a regular contributor to many national gardening publications. In addition, Jessica is the Acquisitions Editor for Quarto Publishing Group’s gardening imprint, Cool Springs Press.

Her two weekly gardening columns for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review have been enjoyed by readers for over ten years. Her fourth book, Attracting Beneficial Bugs to the Garden: A Natural Approach to Pest Control, was released by Timber Press in January of 2014 and was awarded the American Horticultural Society’s Book Award. Jessica’s 2018 title, Container Gardening Complete, teaches gardeners how to grow anything and everything in containers.

The former owner of a 25-acre organic market farm, Jessica received her degree in ornamental horticulture from The Pennsylvania State University. She’s taught a diverse array of gardening topics for over 25 years and is a former faculty member of Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens.

She is author of the Amazon best-seller Good Bug, Bad Bug: Who’s Who, What They Do, and How to Manage Them Organically, and her forthcoming book, Gardener’s Guide to Compact Plants, is slated for publication in June of 2019. Jessica is a co-owner of the popular gardening blog SavvyGardening.com where you’ll find her writing about a wide diversity of gardening subjects.

Jessica lives and gardens northwest of Pittsburgh with her husband and son, six chickens, two cats, two hermit crabs, and billions and billions of very good bugs.

Books in order of publication:

Grow Organic: Over 250 Tips and Ideas for Growing Flowers, Veggies, Lawns, and More – 2007

A Gardener’s Notebook: Life With My Garden – 2008

Good Bug Bad Bug: Who’s Who, What They Do, and How to Manage Them Organically – 2008

Attracting Beneficial Bugs to Your Garden: A Natural Approach to Pest Control – 2013

Container Gardening Complete: Creative Ideas and Essential Knowledge for Small-Space Growing – 2017

Gardener’s Guide to Compact Plants: Edibles and Ornamentals for Small-Space Gardening – 2019

Plant Partners: Science-Based Companion Planting Strategies for the Vegetable Garden – 2020