P. Allen Smith is one of the headliners of the 25th Southeastern Flower Show and Antiques

Apart from the acres of landscaped vignettes, a big draw will be the lineup of speakers including Vince Dooley, Tara Guerard, Walter Reeves, Kevin Gillespie and garden/lifestyle titan P. Allen Smith. Without ever leaving his stomping grounds in Little Rock, Ark., Smith has built a multimedia empire, from books to television and a YouTube channel. If you want it in your garden, he can tell you how to plant it. If you want to renovate your house, he can tell you how to do that too. We caught up with him via phone as he was leaving his second home, the sprawling Moss Mountain Farm just outside Little Rock where he tapes many of his shows, for a quick check-in with him for a little advice in advance of this weekend’s event.

Q: With spring showing up earlier and earlier and with summer now being synonymous with drought, how are you changing the way you plant your gardens and what advice would you have for gardeners in this region?

A: In my own garden I've been leaning toward plants that are more resilient against sudden climatic change. I'm choosing plants that have really strong genetics and can take cooler temperatures and really withstand the longest hottest days of summer. Some of the things that have performed very, very well are Citrus Blend lantana, and there's no better petunias than Supertunias. You don't want to plant them before the last frost, but the last frost is coming earlier and earlier

Q: People can get lifestyle and gardening advice from any blog, podcast or magazine these days. Do you ever worry that you’ll be crowded out? Popularity and fame are nothing if not cyclical.

A: We just continue as we have for the last 20 years, providing accurate, quality information that is tried and true. All of the things that I talk about on my shows or in social media are things that we are actually trying. I take a hands-on approach to everything.

Q: Are there times when you try something out and it fails miserably are you loath to share that with your viewers and listeners?

A: Just yesterday we were taping a segment for my YouTube channel, and it was about the savoy cabbage that I'm growing in my garden. What I showed was that I did not apply enough compost this past year and so the size of the cabbage heads was not as large as it could have been if I had gotten the compost into the ground and worked the soil properly. So we want to help mitigate the fear factor.

Q: With all that you have going on, how do you ever take a break?

A: I draw. It's like a meditation. It's a great way to zone out. I turn on music that I like and I have a fireplace in my studio so I'll build a fire and just begin to draw. I'll spend hours and hours and hours in there on the weekend.

Q: You breed heritage turkeys and chickens, but do you eat them?

A: We have seven breeds of chickens from the 19th century, great old breeds that fed our great-grandparents. And we have two breeds of turkeys. We use them in multiple ways, but we sell the eggs in local markets.