Hello, my friends, coming to you from Studio A at Proven Winners Color
Choice Shrubs. It's time for the Gardening Simplified Show with Stacy Hervella me,
Rick Weiss, and our engineer and producer Adrianna Robinson. Stacy, how about
some veggie tales. You know, we make it to mid July, the
vegetables should be filling out, big, growing, growing like crazy. It's
time to maybe talk about how we care for those vegetable plants. Yeah,
especially this year. You know, some years it seems like vegetable gardening is
as easy as falling off a log, and they have fears like this where
we've got trout and crazy temperature swings and it becomes a little bit more difficult.
You bet, So did you feed when you planted? You're going to
want to feed and maybe a supplemental feeding right now. I'm a firm believer
in minerals in the soil, and I believe healthy soil equals healthy plants,
which equals healthy you. Because well, we're gonna be we're gonna be eating.
Yeah, we're gonna be eating the fruit and the vegetables, and of
course, well there's a little bit of controversy attached to that. We touched
on it last week, things like calcium or magnesium, you know, the
micronutrients, not the big three. I'm a big proponent of Again, like
I've said, when you buy package products from the garden center industry, it's
party on the front, business on the back, read the back. I
like calcium in the fertilizers that I apply to vegetable plants. Conversely, Stacy
people will argue that things like magnesium or calcium are readily available in the soil
and you don't have to supplement. However, bear in mind that a lot
of people today are enjoying growing vegetables in containers, and in that situation,
maybe a good idea, right, Because the potting mix that you use when
you're growing in containers is not soil, That's why we call it potting mixed
or container mix. Soil is made from weathered rock, and that's why it
has a certain mineral content to it, Whereas the potting mixes that you're putting
in your containers are just a mixture of organic matter. So you've got you
know, pete and compost or bark, vermiculate, all those types of things,
and that mineral content can be quite low. Now, I think it's
important when we're talking about fertilizers. Just because certain essential plant nutrients are labeled
as micronutrients does not mean they're any less essential. They are just as essential
as a so called Big three nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus. They are
just needed in smaller quantities. But if one of them, just because they're
a micronutrient, were to be missing, it would be detrimental to the plant
growth. Now, of course, in mid July, watering is going to
be super super important. By the way, for people who have sent me
a message asking, hey, Rick, what's in that mug that you know
you're sipping from, Usually it's sparkling water. As a matter of fact,
I just spilled someone myself here. I just wet my plants, But you've
got to do the same for your vegetable plants. I encourage people again water
at the base. I love drip poses. Stacy has talked to us before
about being a proponent of using watering wands and again getting that water down at
the base, not watering in the evening hours and leaving that foliage wet.
For our YouTube video YouTube, folks watching on YouTube, I'm sure, Adriana
will pop up a picture here for you of my cucumbers. I grow them
on a wire mesh screen to keep them up off the ground and be able
to water at the base of the plants. And that's you know, especially
important with q curbits, our pumpkins, our cucumbers, our squash stacy because
downy mildew, those sorts of things certainly can become a problem in the heat
of summer. Well yeah, they, I mean, all those kirky bits,
like you said, are susceptible to a number of different kinds of They
can get powdery mildew, down emildew. But also some of the insect pests
will be easier to spot and manage if you can keep that foliage nice in
airy. You know, I so squash vine borer. I love zucchini,
and when I have tried to grow it in my garden here in West Michigan,
every single year, my plants have just been destroyed by squash fine bars.
I've never been able to be the butt of the joke of like sneaking
your zucchini into strangers cars because because of the squash fine bores. But you
know, if you are able to recognize their eggs, and their eggs are
like a tiny little ruby red egg. So if you're able to access your
foliage, you know, and get to it easily, you can just take
a piece of duct tape and just lift those eggs right off the foliage and
get them before they even become a problem. Yeah, And that's a lot
easier when you use like a frame like you do and that kind of thing.
And the method I use with the squash is fill a bag, put
it on the neighbor there's front steps, ring the doorbell, and run.
Okay, Well, so that's an equally valid method. Unfortunately, not one
I will be able to enjoy any time to see them. The problem with
q curbits in the Midwest is it's been so dry. We're experiencing drought and
uh, and so the plants are growing, but development of the fruit or
vegetables if you want to call them, I think it a pumpkin would be
a fruit technically, but well it's it's technically a fruit, but it's culturally
a vegetable. Okay. But the point is it's probably eighty to ninety percent
water content, and so without sufficient rainfall, we can we can see undersized
fruit and cracking and scabbing and all that kind of stuff which I think,
you know, as a home gardener, of that kind of stuff, you're
like, all right, this guy's got a big, ugly scab on them,
but I'm eating it anyway, because if I worked darn hard for this
exactly, you might not have the same standard at the grocery store. But
yeah, when you when you do it at home, you realize it's not
that big of a deal. It's just a little bit of a cosmetic thing.
But it is important too. I think, be you know, gentle
on yourself as a vegetable gardener and not blame yourself if this isn't going to
be your best year. But you know what I've always found when we have
extreme conditions like the drought this year, I learned so much. You know,
if you have this so called ideal garden season, which really never happens,
but if you have these ideal conditions, you're not really learning that much.
And I think, you know, when we undergo these extremes, it's
a great learning opportunity to see, you know, how things really grow without
your care and what your care does. And yeah, I guess I like
most gardeners. I'm an optimist. Life is like that. We learn more
from our failures than our successes. That now along that line of water also,
tomatoes and peppers, good consistent watering. Don't let them dry out in
between watering. We're gonna see zippering and cracking of the fruit. We're gonna
see blossom and rot. So make sure that again we're watering at the base
and the watering is consistant. Don't let them get dust dry between waterings.
Things to spot that tomato plants are stressed out. We talked about this last
week. I want to touch on it a minute. Magnesium and manganese two
different things, and magnesium deficiency is much more common. And as we learned
from Stacy last week, let's not use the EPSOM salts to correct this problem.
But well, if it's a problem, you can use the EPSOM salts,
of course, but don't assume without a soil test that EPSOM salt's going
to solve all your right. If you do indeed have a magnesium deficiency,
go ahead, put the EPSOM salts. You can tell them. I said
that you need to know you do first, and that's the whole point here
is that there's a difference between magnesium and manganese. You're going to see it
differently in the foliage, Stacy, that telltale dark green veins with the yellowing
in between, usually on lower leaves. Magnesium is shared with the plant kind
of like a bank account. It shares the the benefits moves up the plant,
whereas manganese is a little different. So familiar familiarize yourself with that.
And by the way, manganese something we don't talk about often. I had
read somewhere that if you add carrot tops to your compost pile, that's helpful.
Also sounds like you need to add a lot of carrot tops, but
certainly not going to hurt if you put your carrot tops in that compost pile.
Make sure the beans are getting watered well. They're gonna need a lot
of water. You should be harvesting, pinching your herbs, your chives,
you your reganeau using it right now. And Stacy, I wanted to ask
you, how about the garlic, I mean, going to be harvesting very
soon, yeah, and you know, yeah, so the plants are starting
to yellow. I think I should be harvesting very shortly. I you know,
I think that what you were saying about the undersized fruits, I am
expecting that somewhat in my garlic. One of the things about growing garlic is
that the if the stem above ground is very thick, that's typically indicative of
a larger and if it's on the thinner side, the ball that you harvest
is probably going to be a little bit smaller. So I am seeing kind
of a mixture. But I would say, you know, they're probably about
seventy percent on the smaller side, So I'm expecting to get, you know,
a good harvest, but I'm not expecting like a bonanza. I mean,
I've been doing supplemental watering, I've been doing fertilizing, but you know,
it's just it's been a rough year. So when I do harvest,
they'll definitely take a picture. And then we think about the onions. A
couple factors that contribute to them being under sized would be drier than normal weather,
shallow rotting, we start to see the tops fall over. Even when
the tops fall, the onions still can put on growth in size, so
some tipover is not a problem. In Stacy, how do you feel about
that whole knee high by the fourth of July thing with corn, Well,
I grew up hearing that from my mom and daddy all the time, so
yeah, you know, to me, it's kind of just like one of
those things. But most of the time when you see corn, you're kind
of driving by, like fifty five miles hour at least, so you know,
you're not exactly measuring, You're just like, yeah, yep, it
looks knee high by the fourth of July. Shure, that's true. Although
with the dry weather, yeah, maybe a little short old. You know,
generally we we see corn a little taller than knee high by the fourth
of July, but again dry weather. Pay attention to it in your personal
garden, be watering properly, in care for those vegetables. Were right in
the thick of it, the heat of it. Indeed, coming up next,
plants on trial here on the Gardening Simplified Show, Proven winners. Colored
Choice Shrubs cares about your success in the garden. That's why we trial and
test all of our shrubs for eight to ten years, making sure they outperform
everything else on the market. Look for them in the distinctive white container at
your local garden center. Greetings, Gardening friends and who welcome back to the
gardening Simplified at show Rick. We just spent the first sega giving a bunch
of advice to people about gardening and vegetable gardening. But we didn't talk much
about what you're doing. So I'm wondering, how many spatoes do you have?
I have six tomato play Oh okay, I got five? Yeah,
six tomatoes? Anything else specially So we talked about the cucumbers a little bit.
Love the beans. I just love growing beans. They're they're gorgeous.
And of course the herbs. It's fun. You know, if you if
you make a dinner, to go outside and chop the tops off the chives
or some of the herbs, that's fun too. But growing beans. I
love growing beans, and I think the reason I love it so much is
because it's so easy. Would you call it falling off a log? I
did say that. So do you grow bush beans or pull beans? Bush
beans? Okay? Yeah, I tried the pull bean thing. Uh you
know, I really I saw how they grew them at Monticello in Thomas Jefferson's
garden. I'm like, I want to do that. But I got a
lot of foliage, but not much in the way of I was doing something
wrong. So bush beans, okay, yeah, I like bush beans one.
Yeah. Anyway, it's such a good time of year and looking forward
to harvesting everything. And you know, when we talk about vegetable gardens,
I think the vegetable gardens look good when they have some sort of seasonal,
more year round element, you know, something that gives them a presence or
feature in your garden beyond just the summer, because you know, a vegetable
garden, if you're doing it, you know properly, generally, you're not
going to have really any even much of anything over winter. You know,
you might have some like kale, collared greens, some of those really hardy
greens that can withstand cold, but for the most part, you know,
when we clean up our vegetable garden at the end of the season, there's
nothing there to see. So I think it's a really good idea to put
something like today's plant on trial gin Fizz juniper in your vegetable garden to give
it a little bit of year round interest. I would agree. And of
course the berries are of great benefit throughout history. But I agree with you
there, Stacy, And and we've talked about this before, but I love
adding cut flowers also to the vegeta. I think they are the perfect compliment
to a vegetable garden, and they attract a lot of pollinators, so that'll
help your vegetable garden. So gin Fizz is a juniper, and a lot
of people I know right now are probably potentially hopefully not getting ready to change
the channel because a lot of people really dislike junipers. Yeah, I'm sure
you've heard this at the garden center, right And they dislike junipers because they're
prickly, and because a lot of the shorter ground covering type of junipers they
get weeds growing up through them, and then you've got to manage the weeds,
and then you're trying to reach under their reach up, you know,
trying to pull the weeds, and the junipers are scratching you. And people
just say, why would anybody ever plant a juniper? But I am a
juniper champion. I like junipers a lot, and they're handsome. There are
many native species gin Fizz, the one we're talking about today in Plants on
Trial is not actually a North American native juniper, but we do have a
number of junipers. You SMA. You drive along any highway pretty much anywhere
here in the US from north to south, and this is a tall or
juniper. It's a tall conical juniper, so you're not really going to get
that issue of the weeds coming up through it where you're going to be all
scratched up. And I love junipers because I do think they're handsome. I
think they have wonderful fragrance. The foliage has like a resine kind of evergreen,
you know, almost Christmas tree type smell. And they are generally very
dear resistant and very sun tolerant and very drought tolerant, and those are three
things that I really need in my garden. And they look great year round.
So a lot of other evergreens, you know, they can turn kind
of like bronze or yellow. You know, they're still around in the winter,
and they're better than looking at nothing, but they get you know,
they're they're trying to deal with all the stress of winter and winter sunlight.
Junipers stay a beautiful green all year round. They really are just so hard
working. And you know, I like those plants that I don't have to
work super hard at to look really great because then it frees you up to
work more in your vegetable gard. I think it's a great description. I
think that word handsome. I think it is a handsome plant. And if
you have a dry spot and it's sunny, you have some deer pressure.
There are a lot of people along lakeshore areas here in Michigan who have that
juniper just may fill the bill. Yeah, and you know, junipers are
a wonderfully diverse group. You can find a juniper for just about any landscape
application that you can possibly dream up. Now, I will say gin fizz
juniper is on the larger size, so it is going to reach about up
to ten to eighteen feet tall, so that's pretty tall. And it's conical,
so anywhere from seven to ten feet wide at the base, so it's
going to be narrower at the top wider at the bottom. So this is
a plant that you are going to want to have some space for. But
if you do have space, again, I think it's so useful, whether
you're planting it around the vegetable garden where it would make a wonderful hedge to
enclose your vegetable garden, or as a backdrop for a vegetable garden. You
know, my garden is kind of along the back edge of my property,
and I just actually played in different junipers. The gin Fizz is a little
too tall for my quarter acre, too wide form my quarter acre city lot.
Didn't want to give up quite that much real estate. Um. But
it makes a really handsome backdrop, um, and it really helps the vegetables
pop. So it's aesthetic and it's useful, and it will help to control
the deer. Now, Ricky mentioned the berries yes on gin Fizz juniper,
And as you might guess, or maybe you already know, the berries of
juniper are what favorite, what flavors to drink gin and very healthy for you,
not the gin, but the berries. Let's say, wow, okay,
antioxidant. I learned something that I um. And you know, they're
often used, and a lot people were asking what's in that cup. A
lot of the of recipes is particularly in like Eastern Europe and Scandinavia, do
incorporate some juniper berry, like a lot of braises and stews and that kind
of thing. Obviously, you want to use it sparingly or you could really
end up making it taste very resinous. But it adds a nice fragrance.
They're used in all sorts of fragrance preparations, and so you can just harvest
your own, you know, if you are making something like that and you
have a juniper like gin Fizz, and it doesn't just have to be this
species. Pretty much any juniper berry is edible in this way, although some
of them just don't have a nice fragrance that might just be much more medicinal
or much more resiny. So if you have a juniper and want to use
the berries in a stew or whatever, just pick one off and then just
kind of like you know, cut into it with your fingernail and give it
a sniff and that will give you a good sense. But the ones on
gin Fizz are perfectly lovely to use in any of those kind of preparations.
They aren't technically berries because juniper is a conifer and conifers are not flowering plants,
so berries are fruits that can only develop on flowering plants, and because
conifers like juniper don't truly they have flower like structures, but they're not considered
flowers for a number of taxonomical reasons that we're not gonna go into right now.
Because it take the rest of the show. But we use berries.
It's just kind of a colloquial term because that's what they look like. So
just you know, in case anyone out there is as pedantic as I am
and is like, hey, she's using the wrong way. I feel you.
There's that word again, pedanta. That's actually the second time I've used
it, just today and it's still early, so you know, but you
know, you're right about the flavoring. It is used to flavor meat,
soup, sauces, stews, stuffing, and there's a lot of talk about
it's vitamin C value, antioxidants, oxidants, and then of course in my
reading, I have read that it's very good to improve your HDL good cholesterol
and reduce the triglyceride levels and LDL cholesterol. So I'm thinking about taking some
juniper berries as a supplement. Okay, Yeah, it's just eating them right
off the plant. Just a public service message there. Now you may continue.
Thank you appreciating that. So you know, gin fizz juniper, Like
I said, we selected it because it has really abundant berry production. Even
if you never intend to eat them, it is very ornamental. It just
adds a beautiful color because they're kind of like a bluish green color. Beautiful
color, beautiful texture, and so it's just a really nice year round plant.
And like I said, it's so easy to care for as long as
you've cited it properly in you know, full sun, that it frees you
up. So it does. It provides all this beauty. But while it
frees you up to do things like work in your vegetable garden, work on
your cut flowers, and it's not requiring a lot of care. And that's
one of the things I love about it is their junipers are just low maintenance
and they just look great all year round and you barely had to do anything.
I think in the Midwest in November and December when we lack color in
the landscape, they're gorgeous. Yeah, they really are. So you know,
there's not much else to say about growing them to just put them in
the sign. Of course, they're going to want water as they get established,
as any new planting would, but beyond that they can kind of just
be left to their own devices. They don't really need a lot of pruning,
especially a conical one like gin Fizz, it will just naturally take on
that kind of pyramidal shape as it grows. Uh. And yeah, that's
why I loved Universe. They just they give a lot but require so little.
And that certainly includes gin Fizz, which you can find in the distinctive
white Proven Winners container at your local garden center if you are interested. I
don't have a mug next week maybe, so listen, we're gonna take a
little break. When we come back, we're opening up that garden mail bag
and helping you with your garden questions, so please stay tuned. At Proven
Winner's Color Choice, We've got a shrub for every taste and every space.
Whether you're looking for an easy care rose and forgettable hydrangia, or something new
and unique, you can be confident that the shrubs and the white containers have
been trialed and tested for your success. Look for them at your local garden
center. Greetings, gardeners, and welcome back to the Gardenings Simplified Show.
I love helping people with their garden problems because when I help you with your
garden problem and you get that aha moment, I'm hoping that you will fall
in love with gardening as much as I have. And when things make sense,
you know, it's a lot easier to like things. And one of
the ways we do that is by answering your garden questions. So if you
have a garden question, please don't hesitate to reach out to us. Gardening
Simplified on air dot Com as our website, you'll find our show notes as
well as a contact us tab where you can write your message. You can
even attach a photo, which is always helpful when you're dealing, particularly with
garden problems. But you know, if people are celebrating something in their garden
and they just don't have a lot of good gardening friends who get that,
you can also write us with that because we will celebrate right alongside you.
We love that just as much as we love helping people with their questions.
So what's in the mailbag today, Rick Well? Lisa in Michigan rights to
us. Lisa has a plant that I also have in my landscape and love
the Kodiak Dear Vella, and she planted it a couple of years ago in
her landscape. Her Natalie Carmoli here at Proven Winners colored Choice shrubs. She
was on my show, a show that I was doing a few years ago
and was inspired to try them their summer flowers are pretty. They're doing well,
but there's some flop to the perimeter branches. Some have broken off.
Do I prune these off? Now? That's interesting. So Kodiak red Durvilla
is a native shrub. It grows pretty abundantly, particularly in northern Michigan.
We've selected a couple different varieties here at proven winners colored choice like Kodiak red,
Kodiac Black, Kodiak Orange, that have really nice new growth. So
it's a very durable plant that just had some color. It's not the showiest,
flashiest plant, but it's a hard working plant that's really nice for pollinators
because it has small yellow flowers in the summer. Um and I also grow
a bunch of dervilla, and I have not seen this problem happening on mine.
Have you seen this issue that that least is describing a little bit on
mine? But only because the deer we're tromping through there and a few branches
broke. But I have found the plant to be relatively deer resistant. It
is pretty deer resistant. Now. I have seen some feeding in the spring,
you know when that new growth is coming out, and they're particularly hungry.
But overall it is is quite deer resistant. And yet you know,
my first thought too was that this was potentially some physical damage from an animal.
It could be a dog, it could be a meter reader readers.
But you know my meter reader that comes into my yard. Um, they
you know, read my meter and I don't have a fence, so they
walk across the backyard and they read my neighbor's meter from over the fence.
Oh so yeah, they could go into my garden and I'm sure inadvertently but
potentially break branches. So um. You know, overall, this isn't a
plant that experiences like poor stem strength or flopping. Its shape aid tolerant,
so you know a lot of times when things flop, my first thought is
it's in too much shade. So I wonder if there was some sort of
physiological damage that you're not aware of. If you have a dog, maybe
think about the dog. If you don't, you know, who knows what
goes on in our backyards when we're asleep or not home or whatever. So
if they have broken, no problem whatsoever to just go ahead and remove them,
or if they're on the ground. I have found that if they are
on the ground, they will root and kind of expand the clump. So
if you don't want that to happen, just go ahead and cut them off.
This is a plant that you really don't have to worry about being fussy
around. So I don't think it's any disease issue or cultural problem like that.
I think it was probably just like a one time something happened. But
yet don't hesitate to go ahead and cut off whatever you like, and the
plant will be none the worse for the wear and for those meter readers out
there, we love you, We really do. All our listeners and viewers
we love you. So do your job and all will be well. Robert
in Michigan inspired by a planting of castor bean plants he saw in Chicago and
is growing them this year. They're growing fast in the hot weather. Do
I need to stake them or provide support? I have found that myself,
Stacy, the foliage gets so large on castor bean plants that I got to
provide a little bit of support to the plant if storms come along or it's
windy. I have found that that works best. And by the way,
with the castor bean plants, talk about a plant that can handle drought and
deer pressure, it does well. It's extremely toxic, so it's not surprised
don't eat it. Sometimes they do know apparently what's best for them. So
what do you use to stake castor beans when you stay? I use bamboo
steaks with a stretchable type horticultural tie and that helps hold them in place.
And you're right, they're native to East Africa. Some people will will have
problems touching the foliage and get a rash. I think when the seeds come
on the plant, it's probably best to take the seeds off. And as
you are correct, I think it's rysome Yeah, that's that's what it is.
And you know, dramatic, Oh it's you know, it is a
plant that like if people see one, they are what is that? You
know what that is? That? It is very cool exactly, and I
can't blame them. They do put them in a lot of the downtown Chicago
plantings. I've seen them there because they are so showy. Especially so there's
green varieties and red varieties, and the red variety is the most commonly grown.
The seed pods are cool, but yeah, that they are quite toxic,
and particularly if you live in a warmer climate, it can be self
self sower. So if you don't want your castor beans to continue popping up
year after year, it is a good idea just to be on the safe
side and go ahead and snip off and discard. Do not compost those seed
heads. But yeah, you know, Robert, if you feel like you
need to stake them, there's really no harm in staking something like an annual.
And you know, sometimes it's not just a matter of hey, the
plant needs to support. It's the look that you're going for. So if
the way you've planted them, you want that more upright look, by all
means, get out the bamboo, stake them up and let them do their
thing. And without the plant, how else could we have castor oil?
Right? Is that castro Yeah, I believe it is. I think it's
extracted from the plant. I don't know, correct me, let me know.
I send us a comment here on gardening simplify. I think it's the
castor oil we used to drive moles out of the yard as a repellent.
Anyhow, Marcia asks, wondering if you know what's going on with my beloved
bobo hydranges. They perform so well for me the past eight years. I'm
worried about brown spots on the leaves suggestions for treating them. Yeah, so,
and Marcia did include a photo, so I'm not just guessing here.
I don't put that photo, of course, in the show notes at Gardening
Simplified on air dot com. You know, when I first looked at this
photo, my first thought was sunburn. And it's pretty The damage to me
is very typical of sunburn. But then I thought, wait a minute,
now, Marsha's in Michigan, and there's really no reason that a panical hydrangel
like Bobo would normally get sunburn here in Michigan. And so I was talking
to some people around here and some growers, and saying, like, you
know, this looks like sunburn. Actually I didn't even I didn't want to
put the idea in their head. So I just said, what do you
think it's happening here? And they all said sunburn as well, And I
thought, okay, but how is that happening in Michigan? And someone said,
I wonder if there had been some trees trimmed or branches lost, so
that the plant was actually, you know, started emerging in one condition,
but the sunlight increased in the foliage was not prepared for the more intense sunlight,
kind of like when we bring our house plants out on the deck after
winter, exactly very similar to that. So I, you know, I
don't know exactly what the cause for sunburn is in your particular case, but
it's it's not a leaf spot. It's on a fungal leaf spot. It's
not a disease. So I think that whatever had happened that caused that sunburn
probably has moved on on. Any new foliage the plant puts out now is
going to be adapted to full sun you know. But I did want to
mention when we talk about leaf spots on hydrangees, particularly at this time of
year, a lot of people mistake the damage of the four lined plant bug.
Very familiar with that for a fungal disease. Now the four line plant
bug is this nifty little bug. Well, I mean, they're kind of
cute, but they're cute and they're not that destructive. But they're damage is
very distinctive, so as when they're nymphs or small insects, they just leave
these neat little hole. They're not a hole in the leaf. It's just
like a hole in the top layer. So they're these little brown spots and
they're very organized, you know, like the way that they feed. They're
they're very like methodical about it, and it kind of goes across and so
it's a little cluster of very neat holes. And people's first thought is,
oh, my gosh, this has a fungal leaf spot disease. What do
I spray? What fungicide do I spray? So they go to the garden
center. They say, my hydrange has a leaf spot. And hydrange is
very often do get leaf spots. So they say, okay, here,
put on this fungicide, and then they do it and then they're like,
nothing happened. And that's because it wasn't a fungus in the first place.
So if you're seeing spots on your Hydrangea and you're concerned about are they a
leaf spot? Definitely first look up four lined plant bugs. So that's the
number four lined, like is in a line because it has four lines across
its back. Um look that up first, and of course we'll put notes
in the show notes about the four lined plant bug. But um, not
a cause for concern, doesn't really you know, harm the plant at all.
And if you catch them in the act. It's kind of interesting to
watch. Yeah, very organized in their work. They're kind of like those
people that always have a neat desk. That's not me, but that's how
great things happen, and creative. There are new connections with things. I'm
with you on that one. We're going to take a little break. When
we come back, We've got branching news and you won't want to miss that,
so please stay tuned. The Gardening Simplified Show is brought to you by
Proven Winners Color Choice Shrubs. Our award winning flowering shrubs and evergreens have been
trialed and tested for your success so you enjoy more beauty and less work.
Look for Proven Winners Color Choice Shrubs in the distinctive white container at your local
garden center. Welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show. By the way,
I'm gonna have to ask our wonderful engineer and producer Adrianna Robinson for our YouTube
videos to put on the bottom on the screen here that your name is Stacy,
not Tracy, and my last name is Vised with a T not Vice.
I ce because people look for us and then they're like, where's that
Vice character? And it's a vuy st So there you go. That's true.
I am not Tracy, yes, and I'm Stacy with any stacy.
Now that we got that cleared up, branching news, as I realized a
deer had eaten the blossoms off my about to bloom Miss Molly. That happened
this week, No no, and I needed help with my blood pressure,
so I wrote a limb a rick. My limerick this week is delight is
in finding out, not knowing. When things get tough, you keep going,
so don't ever give up. Real gardeners never grow up. They just
keep right on growing. That's true. Hanging there and stick with it,
you know. That is It's so frustrating how dear have a knack for getting
flowers just when they're but the flowers are their favorite part. Just like a
few weeks ago, we're talking about the Japanese beetles. When animals eat plants,
they do tend to like the flowers. They're tender, they've got nectar,
there's just so much good stuff about them. But at this time of
year, you know, those fawns are out, they're learning about the world,
and they might sample things like a butterfly bush, that they don't normally
eat, and I'm really sorry that happens to you. That's super disappointing.
But the good thing is there's always more flowers where that comes from. On
butterfly bush. Yeah, I took a picture in my neighborhood of the deer
mom and dad taking the little fawns around, showing them which of the landscapes
were the tastiest the best. I watched them. They were out there teaching
the fawns and then if the fawns behave afterwards, they all had to Starbucks
or Deery Queen for a treat. So it's frustrating to watch. So how
did your garden rank on the tastiest lay? I loved it. Let me
tell you you got a fourth star review. Yeah, four star review,
by the way, and this is no joking matter. The wildfire season this
yew wow. It's begun in many places around the world, of course here
in the Midwest, dealing with smoke from wildfires in Canada. Brooke Edmonds,
a plant scientist and community horticulturist with Oregon State University Extension, talked about how
plants also can suffer from pollutants and small particulate matter landing on the plants,
blocking sunlight essential for photosynthesis, and we're gonna put that story on the website
Gardening Simplified OnAir dot com the link there so you can read about it.
And she also advises don't clean off plants with leafblowers. So yeah, I
was gonna say, I can't believe that needs saying, but it does need
saying. And you know, water is a good choice. You know,
usually we say just water at the base, and that is true if you're
just watering, but you know, when it comes to like dust and you
know, the smoke particles and all that, watering them overhead sometimes to wash
off the leaves not really going to be a problem. And you know,
if there are things blocking the leaves, then that does actually diminish the photosynthesis
the plants capable of doing. So it's there's exceptions to everything in horticulture.
So this has been a difficult thing and very difficult for a lot of people.
It's it's it's been a struggle and for folks who want be outside but
can't be outside. So yeah, it is. I would say we all
need to take a coffee break, cu ghy. But again, if I
have to spell it. It's not a good pun. So I'll move along.
If your curb lacks appeal, chances are so do you. New research
suggests, now here's some controversy for your. Recent survey two thousand people who
are dating and own or rent a home with an outdoor space revealed that the
exterior of a person's home influences their level of attraction to them. Eighty six
percent of people equated being able to take care of an outdoor space with a
potential partner's caring ability. Wow, and that's something we're going to post this
on the website. Check this out. A neatly trimmed yard can do the
trick as well as trimmed hedges, clean walkways, driveways at etc. And
your attention to those projects can indicate to another individual how long the relationship's gonna
last. Wow, this is you know. I wonder what happens when two
horticulturists get together like this. Now, you know, that's that's gonna be
a whole new ballgame, I think exactly. I mean, you know,
and all these things that give your home curb appeal, trimmed hedges, clean
walkways, sidewalks, driveways, porch seating, if you have seating on your
porch. I guess if you balk on new patio furniture, you'll be sitting
on the fence. Garden lights, clear gutters, a stone walkway, a
new fence, a new mailbox. It only works if your name is Bill.
Best thing about a mailbox joke the delivery and I bombed there. Okay,
so anyhow, check out that story. Now that is really interesting to
me. Outdoor do it yourself activities people would do with a romantic partner.
Number one on the list was planting a garden, creating an outdoor seating area,
landscaping, building a fire pit, building a fire pit, laying out
a walkway or a path. That's the path of least resistance. I guess
pressure washing your house. Well, there's a black Do it together and see
if your relationship is going to last. Again, that story going on the
website Gardening Simplified on air dot com. Okay, today for snow and tell
Mountain snow in Utah is turning shades of red, pink, and orange.
Have you seen that? I did see that news article. Yeah, now
that's interesting. I have to say, I don't understand it. It's a
phenomenon called watermelon snow. Scientists say it's a natural phenomenon caused by a blooming
green algae. So the snow algae produces a pigment that basically darkens their cells
and it acts as a protection against u V. But the end result is
they kind of have a melt down there and the snow turns red, pink,
and orange. Watermelon snow. Don't eat it, thought, don't eat
it. Oh, never eat colored snow, any color, exactly, all
right, going on vacation. Top seven road trip snacks. Chips are number
one, makes a mess in the car, But chips are number one,
chocolate, cookies, nuts and seeds, candy, fruit and granola bars.
You know, fruit in the car maybe seems like a good idea. You're
trying to be healthy, but hey, it's sticky and b you're gonna have
to get rid of almost always something appel, a coal or something. So
you know you're on a road trip, you might as well make it wait
until you get into the rest stop. Right, Yeah, or that works
too. You can watch her for it. I'm like, now, just
eat the junk food. Can I give you a dad joke real quick?
Yeah? All right, because I can do that because I'm a dad,
a raising a peanut and an oat. Sit down and order a drink.
The bartender says, what do you think this is a granola bar? See,
that's a dad joke. It's so bad it's good. Adrian is laughing
pretty hard at Adrianna. Appreciate that, all right? And again getting back
to no laughing matter. I've been following this driven by drought, heat loving
grasshoppers are thriving in Alberta, Canada. You know, if they haven't had
enough to do with these these wildfires this year, now they have these grasshoppers
threatening to devour crops in central and southern parts of the province. They're taking
wing early this year. And they say that like they can consume a half
an acre of wheat in just a matter of of days. They interviewed this
gentleman who said the ground was literally moving with them. It was bare,
you could see the soil. They just eat it to nothing. Oh gosh,
isn't that's something that's horrible. Hot dry weather, of course, is
fueled historic wildfires in Alberta. And now this this batch of grasshoppers that are
threatening to strip already stunted crops. Hey, our thoughts are with you that
that's tough to go through. Yeah, I can't even imagine. It's got
to be so Discouragingly, it has been an amazing year for weather. Well,
yes, it's been something else. Anyhow, that's your branching news here
today on the Gardening Simplified Show, as it is every week. A pleasure
and privilege to do the show with you Stacy and you Adrianna Robinson, and
of course thank you to our listeners and our viewers look for the podcast.
Thanks for listening to us on radio and watching us on YouTube. Have yourself
a great h