WPTF’s Weekend Gardener is an award-winning radio talk show that has been on the air for 39 years in Raleigh. Mike Raley has been the Host since the show went on the air in January 1985. Wake County Extension Agent Erv Evans was the first Co-host. Retired N.C. State University Professor and Master Gardener Dr. Anne Clapp joined the program as Co-host in 1992. She retired after 30 years on the show. Rufus Edmisten has been a Co-host for more than 17 years and is North Carolina’s former Attorney General, Secretary of State, and was council on the Senate’s “Watergate Committee.” Edmisten is also an extraordinary gardener.

Many Extension Agents and Master Gardeners from across the Tar Heel state have been guest commentators on the program. In addition, nationally-renowned gardeners such as P. Allen Smith and Jim Wilson and Mel Bartholomew of the Victory Garden have been guests on the show.

Weekend Gardener is an extension of The Tar Heel Gardener, a show that was on the air for 40 years and was hosted by N.C. State University Horticulture Professor John H. Harris. It was a 15-minute program during which John answered listener letters.

Weekend Gardener began as a 30-minute show, but has evolved into a three-hour talk show during the last three decades.

WPTF covers most of the state of North Carolina as well as a part of Virginia during the daytime. The show is also heard all over the world on the web.