Sprout it from the rooftops. Today we talk seed, starting here on the
Gardening Simplified Show, coming to you from Studio A at proven Winners Color Choice
Shrubs. It's Stacy Hervella, me, Rick Weist, and our engineer and
producer Adrianna Robinson. Okay, talking seed, starting here we go. Everyone,
please be seeded. This is gonna be fun. Stacy. You know,
I was thinking the other day, gaining three minutes of light every day
here starting in mid February, all the way to the summer solstice in June.
I think it's June twentieth this year. Three minutes a day, and
if I do the calculation, that gives me an extra six hours by the
time we get there. What I can do with six hours of time?
Yeah, And you know you can already feel it, even though it's mid
February. I think that the difference in the light already is so so noticeable,
especially after work. I love it. I love it. Now it's
great time to plant, and well plant indoors. Some seeds. Shop for
some seeds. I kind of to me, it's like buying Christmas decorations in
July, or buying a swimsuit in the middle of winter, or buying a
snowblower on Labor Day a great thing to do, and we're going to encourage
you to do that. By the way, best time to buy a lawnmower
or patio furniture September October. Oh yeah, they want to clear it out
so they can make room for those snowblowers. So the concept here, no
pressure, great selection, and with any activity, the anticipation is half the
fun. I do know, having worked in the garden center industry for years,
they see that garden seeds and bulbs are two things that are often bought
on impulse and never get planted. Oh my gosh, guilty as charged.
Not bulbs, So I mean, I've had my share of unplanted bulbs,
but seeds, for sure. You know, seeds are the perfect example or
the gardening example of I don't know what the exact version would be, but
your eyes are bigger than your stomach. Your enthusiasm when you're shopping for seeds
might just be a little bit more than your space, your time, your
energy, in which case, you know, I feel you you're in good
company. It's like visiting the buffet in Las Vegas. So let's touch on
a few quick things. Number one, resist the urge to start seedlings too
early a stretched on you. Right, seeds exist in a state of dormancy,
but once the ideal conditions arrive, which you're going to provide, these
seeds will sprout and hopefully start to go. Now it's an ideal time to
use some recycled containers and one of my favorites stacy uh huh yogurt cup my
yogurt cups for those of you watching us on YouTube. I think yogurt cups
are perfect for the occasion. And who would want to grow uncultured seedlands anyhow?
Indeed? Right, yeah, so there you go. You want to
be legenddairy, make sure to put holes in the bottom like I did here
with my yogurt cup for drainage, because one of the key things with seeds
starting, Stacey and germination is that we need the soil to be moist but
not soggy or wet. We can rot, but at the same time they
can dry out too, So it's a little bit of a dance. And
I like to water from the bottom up. I find that works well.
Really, even when you have a little tiny seedling that doesn't have the roots
down there to actually bring up the moisture. You can get enough moisture into
that soil, and that brings up a key component, and that is most
people will use soiliss mixes, a good quality soilist mix that is lightweight and
yet is able to hold some moisture. And then we have to provide warmth.
Warmth is very very important. Prior to doing that, for folks who
carry over seeds from year to year, maybe you want to test these seeds
and check the germination rate. Yep, easy to do and the math is
easy too. If you pick out ten seeds ten seeds, roll them up
in a paper a moist paper towel, put them in a plastic baggie,
and then wait for a little while, and once they've sprouted, wait a
little bit longer, giving all of them a chance. And then, of
course, with ten seeds of seven seeds have germinated, obviously we have a
seventy percent germination rate, and you can see whether or not it's worth it
for you to put the effort into it. That said, again, so
much fun to go out and buy some new seeds and enjoy doing that.
Now, damping off as far as seeds are concerned is a disease that it
can occur. Suddenly all your seedlings have flopped over. We want to provide
plastic or a cover over the top to increase the humidity. But once they've
sprouted, boy, we've got a tent. That thing allow a little air,
maybe a little fan to run to allow some circulation on the seed links.
Otherwise we're going to experience damping off. That said, throughout the years,
a fifty percent milled sphagnum over the top of the soil has worked well
for me. But in my reading the other day, Stacy, I read
star chicken grit, finely ground stone. Have you heard that? I have
heard that. Yeah, the fine chicken grit so not the course chicken grit.
Now, if you don't have chickens, it might not be worth it
for you to buy a giant sack of chicken grit to do this, But
other similar things will work. I mean, you can use like a coarse
sand I've seen that people use, and we use frequently here at the nursery,
Vermicky lte and perlite. It will work as well. Anything that just
kind of keeps that soil surface covered and with lots of airspace on top of
it, so nothing too fine and something that packs in like that. That
makes sense, and that's part of the reason why I like the watering from
the bottom, also because I like to try to keep the foliage dry once
the seedlings have emerged. And then again circulation is very very important. Now,
once those shoots emerge, the seed initially held whatever that new seedling needed
to get it off to the races. But then once the plant develops,
leaves starts to photosynthesize. Very important. That we're applying a water soluble fertilizer,
we're going to have to add some nutrient well, So it really to
me, it depends on if you are buying, if you're starting with a
fresh soil list mix from the garden center, which is going to have fertilizer,
yes, or if you're recycling. Now, I usually recycle my potting
soil. I just go out to where I store it for the winter and
fill my containers with it. People might say, oh, are you worried
about those fungal diseases and all of that, And the answer is I'm not
so. First of all, my soils kept dry over the winter. It's
in a big plastic bin and Second of all, overall soilist mixes like we
using containers and for seed starting generally don't hold on to a lot of moisture.
That's the point. So a lot of disease does not develop because they
are well drained, and all of those conditions that would normally you know,
foster disease aren't actually occurring. So I so I'm always recycling that. So
I do use a fertilizer, but I probably would start it depending on the
crop, maybe like I do like every two weeks in a very low feed,
like a half strength. Yeah, yeah, like that, Yeah,
which makes perfect sense. All right. Let me give you a limerick on
my seed starting prowess, so to speak, which isn't always very good.
Today I planted some seed. Please grow to them, I plead. I've
got dirt and water on my floors growing something meant for outdoors, and results
are not guaranteed. Soon maybe they will sprout. I'll nurture day in day
out in the mess. They offer me hope and help me with winter to
cope even if they just peter out. I studied their germination estimator, but
I'm more of a terminator. The portrait is very nice in itself was worth
the price. I'll put the picture on my refrigerator. You know, it
does bring up a point. Stay see that buying these seed packets, they
have a lot of information on them, and it probably would make sense to
read the information. Oh definitely, there you can find out all sorts of
things. You know, whether or not the plant, the seed needs some
sort of pre treatment. Sometimes that might mean filing with a nail file or
you know, pre soaking in some cases, like I know, morning glories
and nasturtium, bigger seeds are often recommended that you pre soak them. There's
all sorts of stuff. Some things will need a little cold treatment. So
it's a good idea to get all of your ducks in a row with that
information before you embark on the actual planting. Because you know one thing about
seeds. Once they're planted, good luck recovering them. If you decide that
you wanted to make a change, you can't unring the bell usually the old
adage, you can't do that, So important to follow the directions on the
path, like the depth of the seeds. Some seeds, you know you
mentioned stratification or nicking the seed coat. Some seeds need light in order to
germinate, and you're not going to want to plant those two deep. Also,
soil temperature is important generally seventy to seventy five degrees, and in some
homes that may be a little difficult to achieve unless you add a little supplemental
Right, And you know, I finally, after many, many years of
starting seeds Indoors did invest in some seed starting mats, germination mats. It
makes such a difference. I mean, the seeds practically leap out of the
soil. They're not that expensive. It's just kind of one of those things
where I was like, well, they're growing, so why do I need
one? But the difference between them merely growing and really just jumping out of
the soil is night and day when you have those germination mats, and that's
less chance for something to go wrong during that really crucial germination period. Absolutely.
Also, the seedlings obviously are going to require light, maybe some artificial
light from you if you have a really good window, turning the little containers
or the flat so that they're not leaning in one direction, or if you're
providing that supplemental light, get it close enough to those seedlings right. Yeah,
And you know last year we talked a little bit about lights. Before,
you know, having lights was like this big thing, like, oh,
they're really serious. And now, especially LED lights, they're so powerful,
they're so inexpensive, they're cheap to run. I would highly, highly
recommend it because I'm not saying absolutely, don't grow seeds if you don't have
a grow light. But if you really want vegetable plants that are growing to
grow well, or flower plants for that matter, that are actually going to
grow well and have a good sturdy stem, you've got to get them off
to the best start. You can definitely play around with, you know,
just doing stuff for the fun of it, but if you're serious about the
crop that you're growing, a light's the way to go. So where do
you stand on the tickle camp? A lot of people say, get a
little paint brush and tickle the where do you stand in that? I usually
keep a fan on them for a certain amount of hours once they get a
little bit on the taller side. So that does it for me. Just
some kind of circular plants on trial is coming up next here on the Gardening
Simplified Show. We'll see what Stacy has in store and a reminder, of
course, you can visit us at our website Gardeningsimplified on air dot com and
we'll put the show notes there. Plants on trial next, stay tuned,
Proven winners, Color 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 and
the distinctive white container at your local garden center. Greeting's gardening friends, and
welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show. While we were on break, we
were chatting about seed starting and we got a helpful tip from Adriana, our
producer, that I just wanted to share out there for anyone who's getting all
excited about the heat germination mats. They are a great idea. They are
great for seedlings, but Adriana shares that they are also good for cats and
not surprising when you think about a cat and it's affinity for a sunlit patch
in your yard, in your room or whatever. Well, similarly, it
has an affinity for that warm seedling heat mat that you might be trying to
use, and no compunction whatsoever about knocking your seedlings out of the way to
get to that warmth. Instead of being a lap cat, it's a mat
cat. It's a matt cat. Yes. So anyway, a little word
of advice there from Adriana, who fortunately did not lose any seedlings last year,
but could have because of Fuego the heat mat loving cat, and I
did want to just add one lasting to our seed conversation from experience as well.
You know, when I first started gardening, I was just I would
read about you know, I had seed starting book and I would read the
packets and it would say, you know, so directly in the ground,
and I would say, yeah, for some people, maybe I'm starting the
stuff indoors. I can do this. Those rules are for other people.
And the simple fact is now with many years of gardening experience under the belt,
that it is good advice and you really should follow those instructions. And
when something says that it is best direct zone, which is to say,
putting it directly in the ground or container outside where you want it to grow,
that's true. I mean, you can certainly experiment, and I would
never want to say, oh, don't even try, but you know,
I would say if you're going to experiment, save some of your seed too,
so directly and you'll really you will notice the difference. I mean,
i've certainly. I think lettuce is a great example. You get real antsy,
you sew some lettuce seed indoors just to get a head start. It
grows that long stem and it's laying down on the on the soil, and
then you direct sow some lettuce and it comes up and it's beautiful and it
grows exactly like you think it should. So not to discourage a spirit of
experimentation, but you don't want to sow all your seed in one indoor basket,
as it were. I think it's a great point. Try both,
do both an experiment, and of course make sure to look at the timing
on the package. Also go to the last frost date, do a little
mathematics there as you get into them. Absolutely so anyway, all for planting
seed and seed is the inspiration for today's plant on trial, and today's plant
on trial is still waters. Clemitis. Now probably have a lot of people
out there going what clemitis and seed? What's going on here? But clemitis,
of course everybody loves clemenis for their flowers. They're large, they're super
colorful, they're super showy. But I personally think that the seed heads are
equally if not more, I mean, if not more, that might be
a little bit of a stretch, but at least equally as delightful as the
flowers on a cle This, wouldn't you agree? Certainly interesting? Yeah,
So I was asking around in the office today as I was thinking about the
show, what the seed pods of Clematis remind different people here of. So
a couple things. Fireworks, puffballs, pinwheels, something from a Doctor Seuss
book, especially the Truffle of trees, and if you are of a certain
age and fandom, tribbles from the classic Star Trek episode. That is great.
I like that. So one of those things hopefully spoke to you as
you are listening to the show, or if you're watching on YouTube, then
you've already hopefully seen the picture that Adrianna is going to put in the YouTube
show. But they are they're so neat, So they the seed head.
You know, the center of a clematist is fairly fluffy in and of itself,
but that seed head that the flower becomes, it's just this beautiful round
ball of these sort of stems with feathery, silky white almost feathers on them,
and they're absolutely gorgeous when the flower fades in you know, springer summer.
Depending on the type of clematists you have, in the case of still
Waters, that's going to be the first bloom is going to start winding down
by early summer, and they have this just silky white and green look,
and then as the season progresses those turn brown and then again that feathery stuff
kind of develops, and so it's just this swirly, fluffy ball on your
plant. And they're so interesting. Yeah, it's as fun as the flowers.
And to me it's fireworks. They go cub bloom. Yeah, it's
just really cool. So you know, it's kind of one of those things
that I think it's really unsung, and I think it's even nicer to use
in an arrangement later in the season and to just keep an open mind about
the ornamentation that these seed pods, even if you bought a clematis for its
flowers, bring to the garden in addition to those flowers. But let's get
to still Waters clemists, and so that is today's plan on trial and what
we are focusing on now. I do want to say it's seedheads are not
out of the ordinary. They are just as fabulous as any other clematists out
there. But its flowers are very very interesting, and I have found it
difficult to find the right words to describe their color, and the closest I
can come is icy violet. Icy violet. Yes, so they kind of
have like a they have a cool purple bluey tone, but also like some
white in there, and it almost gives it kind of like a glowing effect
in the gardens, So a pale, a lighter color, but certainly with
those purple and blue tones, and just like I said, sort of an
iciness. It's really kind of ethereal, almost skylike, and it's not one
that you find in a lot of other plants. I can think of few,
if any, you know. I love the crystal spires azure salvia from
proven Winner perennials. This is much more purple than that. So I was
kind of racking my brain and I can't quite think of anything that comes close
to the flowers of Stillwater's clematis. So if you're watching YouTube you'll see them.
Otherwise, check us out at Gardening Simplified on air dot Com for some
photos, or our Instagram page to see what that looks like now. I
one of the most incredible combinations that I have ever seen in my time working
here for proven Winter's Color Choice Shrubs was when a gardener planted Stillwater's clematis with
black lace elderberry. Oh wow. And it was just studying now. Black
lace elderberry is a plant that does not need any further ornamentation. It's a
very highly ornamental plant with black foliage and finally dissected. But the color of
those two and I think that that is a really great point of inspiration for
using Stillwater's clamatis in your garden is that it can take any of those darkly
foliaged plants or dark leaf plants, whether it's a black leaf, a purple
leaf, trees, shrubs, perennials, and a lot of times, as
much as I love that dramatic dark foliage, it can kind of turn into
a black hole in the landscape. I can kind of just like suck all
the lights out of the landscape. And by combining it with this really unique
color, it just brings light and life and interest to the combination. You're
on a roll here. I'm just letting you go. This is inspirational because
I want to see this in my landscape. Regardless of whether or not you
pronounce it clematis or rightly clematis. You know that's okay. I you know,
there's no wrong pronunciations, only wrong spellings. As we say, as
long as as long as you can walk into the garden center and get the
plant that you're looking for, you did good personally. I like the way
you say it better than I do. I can help old habits die hard,
I definitely feel that. So so this is a great plant for that.
And it's a great plant as our any clematis vining clematists to spruce up
any kind of hedge or evergreen. And this is that I learned as a
rooftop gardener in New York City. Is plant a clematist by the base of
like an arbor idy hedge, and let it use that shrub or treat as
a support for the plant, and the clementists will have no trouble finding its
way, you know, all through the plant, and it will come out
and these fabulous flowers will just peek out where you least expect them. It's
like letting nature do your gardening for you and it just looks amazing. And
I think sometimes when you take yourself out of the equation and let those surprises
happen, that's when you find it to be, you know, really rewarding
and you can take full credit. Don't worry, we won't tell I'm an
inspider. This is excellent. Now, Stacy, Uh, where is this
plant developed? So? This was developed in the Netherlands by a world renowned
clematist expert named Rim Snoyer. I don't speak Dutch, so forgive me mister
Snoyer and Company if I have mispronounced your name. But he is. He's
written books on clematists. He's a clematist, breeder and appreciator extraordinaire. And
he's also the breeder of some of our other clemitists in the proven Winter's line,
and certainly still Waters is one of our absolute favorites from him. So
it's Hardy from USAA zones four through nine. So I think we're covering the
needs of our cold climate and warm climate friends with this one. So wide
range gonna be about four to seven feet tall and about three to five feet
wide. Always hard to judge those sizes with a vine, but it's gonna
want support. This is a full vining clematis, and like other clematis,
you're gonna want the feet in the shade and the head and the sun.
So plant it where the roots are gonna be shaded. Another great reason to
plant it, you know, at the base of a shrub or tree,
where that's going to provide that shade, and then the colemitists can figure out
the rest of it on its own. But then you want sun or parts
on on those leaves and flowers for the best results. But those roots,
they need to stay cool and they do not like heat. They don't like
to dry out. They don't like it to be too wet. And when
you plant your clematis, you're gonna find out why, because you're gonna see
they have these thick, fleshy roots that's really like nothing else, and so
they need a little bit of special care. Well, we'll give you all
the special care instructions on growing still Whattters Clemenists or any clemitist in your garden
at Gardeningsimplified on Air dot Com. But right now we've got to take a
break. Quas when we come back. We're answering 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 easycare rose and unforgettable
hydrangea, 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. Creeting's Gardening friends and welcome back to the
Gardening Simplified Show. It's time to answer your gardening questions. You're pressing horticultural
issues tis this season. The issues are only going to become more pressing for
the next couple months when things start to emerge or not and pruning and people
have a lot of questions, so you're always welcome to reach out to us
at help HLP at Gardening Simplified on air dot com, or just visit Gardening
Simplified on air dot com, use our contact form, leave a comment on
YouTube, leave a comment on Instagram. We all talk to each other.
We'll get it and we'll get you the information that you need. And the
questions are definitely rolling in because people are thinking about the gardening. So what's
in the mail bag today? Well, in the mail bag, Randy writes
to us, I'm gonna buy your one gallon size let's dance, big band
and wee bit grumpy high ranges for pots. I live either zone six or
seven. Things have changed in the zones. Yeah, you're right about that,
Randy, most of us got to raise this past year. I live
in between Charleston and Huntington, West Virginia. I'd like to know the proper
sized pot for them, best soil or miniature and other pointers for them.
Yeah. So the zone here is going to be fairly irrelevant to the answer
that I'm going to give you. But generally speaking, and especially when it
comes to big leaf hydranges and other plants that can be quite sensitive to overwatering,
I recommend that you don't go with your ultimate sized container at the start.
Yes, yes, correct, Yeah, so you know you certainly will
see those really huge containers. And I do recommend again, when a plant
is relatively susceptible to overwatering, that you don't want to start with a plant
with a container that's going to leave a lot of extra soil around the plant
that the roots haven't grown into because what happens is that just holds on to
water. It's like surrounding your plant with sponges. Now, some plants are
more sensitive to this than others, but I would recommend basically starting with something
that's only about anywhere from two to four maybe six inches larger in diameter than
the size of the container that you purchase. So Randy said that he's looking
at one gallon size Dance Big Band and wee Bit Grumpy, which yes,
is its real name. I don't think we've covered that on Plants on Trial
yet, but we'll have to tell the story of Grumpy's name when we do
those one gallon sizes and a proven winner's colored choice one gallon container are going
to be ten to twelve inches in diameter, So across the top, it's
not named after me, is it? No? It's not? Okay,
good continue so, and you're never grumpy, so it definitely couldn't even be
named after you. We Bit Giddy, on the other hand, maybe so
ten to twelve inches, So you're going to one look similarly for a container
that is somewhere in that twelve to sixteen inch range, so that we don't
have a ton of extra soil. The plant's going to be able to live
in that for a good three years, if not longer. And you know,
people also need to remember that the container itself has a dwarfing effect on
the plant. By being having its roots contained, that has the effect of
keeping the plant a little bit smaller. That's why bone size work. Right.
There are huge trees that you cram into this little container, and by
restricting their root room, it does in turn restrict the overall size of the
plant. So I don't like to start off with, you know, putting
it in a giant twenty four inch municipal container. I like to go along
and you know that it will be time to transplant it when it's really hard
to keep your plant watered. When it falls down very often, you know,
it blows over in the wind, or it's flowering really becomes diminished.
But it should last a good i'd say three seasons at least. It's great.
So you're recommending not to do the set it or forget it thing where
we right away put it into a big pot. Now. Of course,
when I was on Cape Cod this past summer, they were putting them into
these larger fabric type containers. But they were sinking them into the ground.
So in this case you're recommending to monitor the plant and upsize when we need
to. So definitely go larger than the container that you're purchasing, but don't
go extreme, you know, again, go in that four to maybe six
range. The more sensitive your plant is to overwatering, the more dry conditions
it needs, the more careful you need to be with that. And along
those same lines, plants that are very sensitive to water or are very very
drought tolerant, you can put those into shallower one into shallower bowl type containers.
But if they need a lot of water, you're going to want one
of the more proportional equally tall as wide, sort of like the classic flower
pot shape. Fantastic. Okay, Stacey, we have a question from on
about a snowball plant. My snowball plant has some kind of worms that eat
all the leaves to skeleton like I search online and found out it might be
Viburnum leaf beetle. How do I get rid of them? Yeah, so
great question, and definitely if you have skeletonized viburnum leaves VLB Viburnum leaf beetle
is almost certainly the culprit. They have very distinctive damage, but very very
wide spread damage. And you know, I love insects, and normally when
it comes to insects on plants, I'm like, Eh, they can tolerate
it. You know, it's okay, hand pick them if you see them,
but don't lose any sleep over it. Well, Viburnum leaf beetle is
definitely an exception to that because they are extremely destructive and because they do skeletonize
the plant so badly, very often they can't recover, and one or two
seasons of that and you will lose your viburnum. Now, we did have
a question I think on viburnum leaf beetle last season during the viburnum leaf beetle
season, which for us we're in Michigan is usually around June early July.
But I'm really glad that On wrote this question because now is the time to
start looking for viburnum leaf beetle eggs on your plant. And this is the
best most effective chemical freeway to manage viburnum leaf beetle because the way that they
lay their eggs on the viburnum stems is very, very distinctive and they'll be
very easy to spout right now without any foliage on the plant, and they
look kind of like pits or bumps depending on how old the egg sites are,
and they're going to be all in a line on your viburnum stems.
So I'm going to post some links at the show notes at Gardeningsimplified on air
dot com, so you can look and get familiar with what it looks like
and then go out and inspect your plants very carefully. Now, most of
the pictures that I see, they tend to be the egg laying sites tend
to be more on thinner, newer growth, so it's not going to be
usually weighed down at the base of the plant on the really thick growth.
But once you know what to look for, they're going to really stand out
to you when you're looking at your viburnum plant, and then you can take
them and just snip them out. Now, that is going to mean that
you are removing flowers, because viburnums bloom on old wood, so that means
that they have their flower buds on the plant right now to bloom this spring.
But in this case, I would say, you know, if the
question here is a non toxic, completely effective pest control method that reduces flowers.
But over time you're going to disrupt that life cycle and hopefully your plant
won't continue to get leaf beetle. It's worth it. It's not going to
harm the plant to have those cut off. Of course, it will harm
perhaps your enjoyment of it, but so well, if I burn a leaf
beetle, so to me, it's kind of worth it to just do that.
And of course if you are snipping them out, you're going to want
to make sure that you throw them away. Don't just drop them on the
ground under the plant, don't put them in your compost pile. These are
plants that you're going to want to take a plastic sack out with you and
fill it up, tie it tightly and put it in the garbage can and
throw them away. February and March great time to be out scouting in the
landscape. It really is. Poyne is well taken. You want to be
out there and you want to be looking. The other day I went into
the compound and the compound was breached. Oh no, buy a rabbit,
ate ate my roses down to the nubs. Oh no, yeah, I
was frustrated, but I was out there scouting, and that's what you want
to do in February and March. And by the way, to the mail
bag, I sent a picture to Adriana of the deer around my home and
it proves the point that deer can read. I put up signs that said
no deer aloud, and I have a picture of a deer that's standing there
reading the sign. Well, I guess you're gonna need a no rabbits allowed
sign now, because whether or not they'll read it, I don't know,
but I might as well cover all your bases. So yeah, winter is
a great time for scouting and dealing with these pests in a way that again
does it require any chemicals. A couple of other things you can be looking
for if you are out there is tent caterpillars. So tent caterpillars have a
very distinctive egg mass that would be on your suceptible plants, so your cherries,
your crab apples, regular apples, that kind of thing. Very easy
to spot those masses, especially in a tree where you've had tent caterpillars in
the past, and you can just take a putty knife and scrape that mass
right off and get rid of it. And in a more timely concern,
Spotted lantern fly eggs can also be spotted, can also be scouted in winter.
I know me too. You do want to look, of course,
at what both of these look like. The lantern fly eggs have kind of
a gross, putty looking yellow or gray, kind of clumpy look. But
if you have them, you can scrape them off, you can put them
into a bag, a bucket of soapy water, alcohol. There's a lot
of different things you can do with them. But we'll put all the resources
out there now. But it's a good way, especially if we have a
nice day and you want to be outside but you don't really know what you
should be doing. Scouting for some of these pest eggs is a great way
to spend that time. Get out there and scout do it. Yeah,
it makes a difference. Gina has a challenge on her hands. How can
I get rid of my zebra grass? It's in a tight space and I
can't get a shovel under it. Stacy, I'm thinking she's probably talking about
the miscanthus yeap and those clumps can get very very large. Now I have
some novel ways to do it, which involve a toast strap. But if
you don't have a pickup or a bumper hitch or whatever, maybe not you're
going to need a little bit of help. It's just work, you know,
ornamental grasses, and everyone who's listened to the show has hurt us sing
their praise and I know especially you are a fan. But if and when
the day comes that you need to remove one, that is when their liabilities
truly make themselves known. That's when you cash in on ways you've helped your
neighbors over the past year and get them in on the ass. Yes,
it's not an easy tak The roots are very fibrous, they're very dense,
and you know, when you have that thick sort of crown of the planet
is very hard to get into. And poor Gina, it sounds like it's
making it even worse that she's in a tight space and can't really get any
leverage with a shovel. So I don't even think it would be that easy
to remove with a truck, because how are you going to get the something
around the just joking. Really, technically the way to do it, and
I have done this very sharp shovel sharpen the edge of the shovel and divide
it in two quarters before trying to lift it out of the ground. And
then once it's divided into quarters, it's easier to pull out. You can
share it with friends and neighbors. Yeah, or if you just want it
gone, which you probably will by the time you finish the job and are
in a tight space. GENA. One thing you could consider is investing in
a good sharp mattic or pickaxe, which is going to give you a lot
more of a chopping effect. So you're gonna, you know, be using
a lot of upper body strength and a lot of shoulders into it. But
that sharp, it's almost like hacking at it with an axe or something.
You can get a better swing. You don't need as much space, and
as long as that's sharp, and I think sharpness is the key here.
No matter what you're using, you should hopefully be able to get it out.
Good luck, Gina. I don't want to be flip about it,
but it is not a job. And whatever you do, wear safety glasses.
And I'm not joking here, I mean, boy, oh boy.
You're using an axe or sharp shovel or a pickaxe, use wear some safety
glasses. Yeah, I want. I want to. Saw a neighbor trying
to dig out an ornamental grass and I said, oof, that's a tough
job. I don't envy you. And next thing I came back, I
thought, Oh, I wonder if you got that grass out. No,
he just abandoned the project. So anyway, thank you all so much for
your questions. I hope those answers were helpful and give you something actionable for
your next steps. If you have a question for us, you can always
reach us at help Hilp at Gardeningsimplified on air dot com. We're going to
take a little break now, but when we come back, we have a
special guest for branching news, so 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 and the distinctive white
container at your local garden center. Welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show.
It's time for branching news, and today we have a talk with Ben Wright,
who is the national account manager for leaf Joy by proven Winners. Of
course, houseplants have foliage plants have been very, very popular throughout the years,
but there was, boy, quite the explosion in interest in twenty twenty,
and certainly the selection provided by leaf Joy. Fascinating to take a look
at all this interest in houseplants, fueled by Instagram and social media and a
new generation of plant lovers, supply and demand. But what keeps it going?
Ben? Thanks so much for joining us here on the Gardening Simplified Show.
Yeah, happy to be here. Thank you for having me. Thanks
so much, so, Ben, What does keep it going now? I
personally believe that the high interest in houseplants continues if number one people have success,
and I know you you guys do a lot to ensure the fact that
the consumer has success with leaf Joy plants bringing nature inside and then also new
cultivars. But let's start with the success. You know, I've seen a
lot of houseplants throughout the years working in the garden center industry, but boy,
leaf joy is is different and interesting because of the information you provide the
consumer right there at the point of purchase. I think that that will really
help keep this interest in houseplants moving forward. Yeah, you're spot on about
that. The tag is really important. We want to make sure consumers always
have the information they need to succeed. But that starts a lot earlier than
just at this tag level that they see at their local garden center. It
starts with how we grow our plants and where we grow them. We're actually
located in Stuart Straft, Virginia, in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains,
and the reason we're here is all about temperature and light levels. We're
actually able to maintain a nice average daily temperature here below eighty five degrees,
so our foliage always grows consistent and with the same quality, whether it be
the middle of summer or the dead of winter. One of the great advantages
of that is our controlled environment growing and so the consumer does better because we
can control the humidity, the light levels, the temperatures in our greenhouse.
We even have our own carbage capture system where we can capture CO two and
pump it into the greenhouse to encourage more growth, and so the consumer gets
a plant that's more resilient and they see more success. It's really about this
holistic approach to growing houseplants. So it starts with how you grow them and
then making sure you give people the right information and those tags they identify where
the plants should go in the home through really easy to understand information. Great
example was a low light plant we call all cortoon collections. These are plants
perfect for interior rooms, spostine humidity loving plants perfect for a bathrooms atrium collection,
highlight loving plants perfect for an exterior room, and work life space gaving
plants perfect for a home office. So when we identify spaces in the home
and then give variety specific care information about watering, fertilizers, light levels,
and the name of the plants, the consumer is armed with more information to
succeed. And we think it just takes all of that drive and success.
Yeah, I think that's absolutely key, Ben, because again I have seen
that, for example in the bulb industry when people try to grow bulbs or
whatever. If they are successful in that first venture, and boy, if
I had a dime for everybody who's come up to me and said I have
a brown thigh, everything I touched eyes or I can't grow a cactus or
whatever. Going in here, Ben, you are you're basically sowing the seeds
for success right from the very start. Yeah, we believe here at least
joy that more people have a green thumb than they realize. They're not just
given, they're just not given the right plants or the right information to succeed
exactly. So if you give someone that information and they succeed the first time,
they're going to keep giving it a try and discover a new passion and
love and they do, in fact have a greens up. So Ben,
going back to what you said when you're talking about how different things are growing
at your facility there, can you kind of pay the picture for our listeners
of what it looks like inside a greenhouse where houseplants are being produced. Yeah,
so our houseplants are grown a little bit differently. Most tractful foliage in
the United States has grown in the South in fields with shape, and there's
a few disadvantages we see with that, and we think we answered of our
facility here, and one of them is it's not a controlled environment. So
you have a lot of bugs that can stress the plants. Your humidity levels
wing quite a bit with every weather system that comes through, and then you
can't control your moisture or rain levels like you can in a greenhouse. And
so we grow in a five acre greenhouse, now expanding to add another five
acres, which is really exciting. But our greenhouse, when you walk into
it, the first thing you're gonna notice is how tall it is. We
have twenty one feet from the gutters to the floor. And what that does.
It means our plants that ground level. Even on a hot summer day,
they don't get warm because it takes all days that heat to get down
to ground level. And then it really is more than just the height of
the building. One thing you'll notice is all the of powder coated white.
Have any of you ever leaned up against the hoop house with bare metal poles
in the summer that is really really warm, right, You're likely to burn.
And so every pole is powder coated white, so that way they don't
hold that heat in and then radiate it at night. So we keep the
temperature down and keep the plants happy so they don't enter summer dormancy. And
then our climate system is completely automated, state of the art out of Europe,
and so it includes two layers of shade cloth that we can set the
exact light levels from each area in the greenhouse depending on what we're growing.
And then we have high pressure foggers to set the humidity levels in those spaces.
And watering is really important. We want to make sure the plants are
targeted with exactly the water they need and not too much so they have crown
rot or root rot issues, right. And so we use an incredible flooding
floor system called earth Good forliing. And what's so cool about it is I
can fill a bay from below and drain it in another fifteen minutes with no
sitting water. And so we make sure every single plant leaves this greenhouse really
just as happy as it can be. And what makes me really happy is
how sustainable that is. We actually capture that water and it goes back into
our large fifty thousand gallons folding tanks and is reused, so we don't waste
any water, there's no runoff. And then even our natural gas boilers that
are used to heat the greenhouse in the winter, we capture that CO two.
Like I mentioned earlier, we pump it into the greenhouse to encourage more
growth so the plants are more resilient and healthy. And then because we're not
outdoors. We can use good bugs to control the bad bugs. So when
you have bugs, we can use an integrated pest management approach to attack the
things we don't want on our houseplants and make sure the consumers don't bring a
plant home that's infested with some sort of paste that affect the other plants well.
And that's absolutely key. And folks, we're talking to Ben Wright.
He's national account manager of leaf Joy by Proven Winners. Ben, I would
agree with you because throughout the years working in the garden center industry, I've
been a purchasing agent for foliage plants, many bought from tropical regions and stacy
when they arrive sometimes those boxes are so con wet, collapsing and you never
know what's going to crawl out of the thing. So this is this is
fantastic. Ben, talk to us about cultivars because looking at your website the
leaf Joy plants, I love the names that you've given to many of these
plants. But talk to us about cultivars because people get excited about new introductions.
The house plan industry is no longer unger a Boston fern and a pothos
and a Philly in the corner. It is the cultivars being produced in this
golden age of plant breeding, our famulus. Yeah, they truly are.
And some of it is not only about the new varieties, but some of
it is taking the old varieties and bringing new genetics into it. One of
my favorite varieties we call our clingedon pycus benjam mina. And what I love
about that plant is it doesn't drop leaves. When you think of a pycus,
you remember the one your grandmother had or you got as a wedding gift
twenty five years ago, and anytime you looked at it wrong, or you
know, breathed on it, or you change the temperature in the house one
degree, it will lose all of its leaves. And I have some personal
experience with this. My mom and my father got a pycus from my grandfather
as a wedding gift twenty five years ago, and I always remember every single
year we would lose the leaves on that tree about twice a year because you
know, the change in temperature or humidity, or when we bring it outside
in the summer. And to now have a pychius that doesn't drop leaves is
just absolutely mind boggling. Me and I think that is really cool, So
I do want to mention that one as something that I think is special.
But in regardless to these new cults of ours, we're really excited to be
actively working with breeders that have over five hundred species of hoya in a variety
of colors to appeal to everyone. And so that is the line we're actively
expanding. And then of course the variegated sport, the plants that people are
craving in the world, they're starting to become more commercially viable as work is
being done to stabilize those genetics. So when you think of a monsterra Thie
constellation or a philadeldron white wizards, these are those plants of whites and green
and beautiful colors that at one point may have cost hundreds of dollars. There's
a lot of work being done behind the scenes with the breeders to make them
more approachable to the common consumer. And your plant collector can now approach a
plant and they have been out of their budget before, which has been very
excited. So ben I always ask folks who we interview to give our listening
and viewing audience. A couple of favorites, your personal favorites that you could
share with folks, and why so give me a couple of personal favorites of
yours. We mentioned the ficus, of course, and I agree. Boy,
here in Michigan, the minute we hit October or November, fifty percent
of the foliage falls off. So that's a great introduction. But give me
two favorites of yours personally that you have got to have in your home.
Yeah, I first thought, absolutely love our hydroponic line of houseplants. We
call them our H two oh series. And I travel a lot in my
role. I'm gone for sometimes a week at a time, and it can
be stressful to leave the plants at home, and so what I love about
these plants is I can be gone if I didn't have other plants for up
to a month at a time, and still come home to beautiful foliage.
So they really are the easy care house plants, perfect for a busy professional
or someone who travels a lot. Beautiful foliage in a black bowl of a
cork with just a little bit of water and actually best used regular task water.
It's easy for the consumer, and so that is one of my favorite
items. I also love our living lace ferns of Vana. It is a
beautiful fern with distinctly ruffled and scalloped arching bonds, and it's got these incredible
leaves that emerge light green and then they develop a powderly kind of blue green
patina as they age, and those are just absolutely stunning. Most people run
when they see burned, so they're so delicate. But I found this to
be very hardy burned and it just draws my eyes in every single time.
I love that one. It is, and it's not one that I would
have thought, you know, would be easy for people to grow under normal
household conditions. So what's your tip for growing that one successfully in a normal
home? Yeah? My tip that plant belongs in our atrium collection, and
I believe our spoking collection if I have the information it's the top of my
head correctly. But you know, I really think it's important not to overlove
your houseplant. I think that's where a lot of people have a hard time.
We tend to overwater them or overhear for them, and so, you
know, I'm a simple houseplant person. I've discovered my passion for it in
the last two to three years, and for me, it's as simple as
I stick my finger in the soil and if that top inches soil is dry,
then at that point I look at watering it. I don't stick to
a regular schedule because depending on whether your air conditioner has kicked on or off,
or you've got your heater running, or it's been a cloudy week with
low light, your plants may have not used the water you gave them the
week before and they may not need additional water. So I think it's important
to be successful with this kind of variety or others, but to make sure
you're flexible in your water and schedule, really checked the moisture content of the
soil instead of just blindly giving your plant the same amount of water every week
on a schedule. We're chatting with Ben Wright. He's the national account manager
leaf Joy by Proven Winners in Stuart's Draft Virginia. Ben, you mentioned the
H two Z line beautiful Plants in really fun containers to grow house plants.
But I'm sure for our listeners and our viewers, one of the one of
the questions in their mind is how long can a plant last in just pure
water? In other words, how often do you need to change the water.
What's your position on that. Yeah, I have seen plants in these
water globes go for one to two years, and so we choose varieties that
are going to do well in this environment. Eventually it might get too big
for that container. But every single variety we've chosen to be in our waterline
is successful in that environment. Our advice is to change in the water every
one to two months or as needed to fill it up, so all your
roots are submerged in water. And that's it is designed to be easy,
set it and forget it. Well, Ben, I was in Tampa,
Florida, and I went to an exhibit of leaf joy plants, and I
can tell you that the people I was with and other folks there, they
gravitated towards growing plants in just water. They loved it. They were attracted
to it. So if you could get a plant to do well for a
year or two, I would think that that would really be appealing to the
general consumer. Yeah. Absolutely. What I love about it is we all
love gifting flowers, But what if you could get a live plan that you
don't have the stress or the guilt factor of gifting to someone? Like you
said with a browns arms and they kill it. So the what is so
cool about these is all of a sudden, instead of gifting flowers or gifting
in addition to flowers, now we can give house plants without that guilt of
oh, maybe this person isn't in a position to care for it, right,
and so it becomes a new option of gifts for friends and families.
I love it as a good housewoman presidence. I have some friends who just
bought a house, and first thing I thought of was, let's get them
some bowls for every room in their house. Yeah, yeah, no,
that's great. Yeah, I love it. And you know, I've seen
you guys. It's not just oh this is just a little you know,
aisle full of water. You're doing all sorts of interesting things, different shapes,
really unexpected new ways to enjoy houseplants. And I think that that,
you know, really just again opens up a new world, just as is
the plant breeding and coming up with new varieties does. Yeah. Absolutely,
it's making people reconsider how they grow plants that are what they grow them to
be successful in in the environment. We're always working with our breeders to bring
us new varieties that will do well in both soil and water. So we
have more options for the consumer as time goes. Ben, as far as
the breeders are concerned, question for you just a curiosity thing for me.
Who creates the names for the plants? I think you've got great names,
you know, like you take a pothos and calling it beaut to fall for
a trailing plant, you come up with some really creative names. Who comes
up with these names? Because I do believe the name of a plant is
important, You're you're absolutely right, really important. It helps establish that connection
that someone has to a plant. The number of people in our team who
tell me they create their own personal names for their plants when they get home
is always staggering to me and makes me smile some of the fun names people
come up with. But here at leastly we work closely with our partners that
proven winners to help come up with a list of potential names, and then
our team here at the Greenhouse votes on them, and so we really take
a collaborative approach to choosing names for our new foliage. So that way,
not only does it make sense for the variety, but our team here at
the Greenhouse is a sense of ownership in those new names they get to say,
wow, I helped come up with beautiful or a living lace Divanna with
my idea, and so it's really exciting to have that kind of team approach
to these sort of things. I know, the feeling the names of my
of plants that I have, you know, suggested that have won. You
do have a different approach to that plant than you would if it wasn't your
idea. I feel that. So, you know, you guys have had
so many interesting new ideas, new packaging, new varieties. So what's next
for the leaf Joy line. Yeah, we're really excited to bring our Leaf's
Joy Little's line, which is our small nine centimeter friendly house like consumer friendly
houseplant. So those with a budget in mind. They're perfect for a standalone
pottery or a dish garden. And there's lots and lots of colors. We
have beautiful fetonias and pinks and reds and whites and greens, and so we
have all these really beautiful plants and what's about a three and a half inch
container at a really approachable low price point, almost like a sampler houseplant.
And so if you're nervous about houseplants or you think you have a brown thumb.
This really enables someone to get that proven winner's quality that they know they
can trust at a price point that's more approachable, and so they can put
their toes in the stand. As someone would say. With houseplants, so
the n is the diameter of the container, not the size of the plant,
that's correct. I just want to make sure in case anyone's tried to
do math about the size of the plant in their car or whatever right now.
And these some like they would be perfect for like shower gifts, favors,
that kind of thing. Yeah, they make a great gift item as
well. And so I just love the emphasis we've done on making sure there's
a bright collection of colors to really make anyone smile. We really pride ourselves
here at leaf Joy and having over one hundred and twenty different varieties in our
program, so we really think there's a plant for everyone, and so we
hope we've got the assortment for those people. Ben just a couple more quick
questions. One National Plant of the Year, National house plant of the Year,
I believe is an Allocationia am I correct one? That? Yeah,
that's correct. It's our mythic alocasia dragonite. It is a beautifully textured out
casia that has a small, unp stature growth, so it's perfect in any
room in the home. It won't take up a lot of space. And
the texture, people don't believe it's real. It almost feels like plastic.
If you were in Tampa and you had the pleasure of feeling that plant,
I always tell people you got to feel this plant. You won't believe it's
real. It is incredible. Ben If folks are interested in going to their
favorite garden center or their local garden center and saying I want you to carry
leaf Joy by Proven Winners because I want to buy these plants, what's the
best way folks can get more information about leaf Joy? Is there a website
they can visit? Yeah, there's a couple of really great resources. First,
if you want to know one of your local garden centers carry leaf Joys,
you can go on to Provenwinners dot com and they've got a storefinder.
It's really convenient. You can type in your zip code and they'll tell you
exactly what garden centers near you currently carry leaf Joys. And then, if
you're a garden center looking to bring meak Joy to your consumers, and your
customers. You can reach out to us just stop on our website at the
Plant Company dot com or contact us at sales at the Plant Company dot com.
That's fantastic. His name is Ben Wright, National account Manager, Leaf
Joy by Proven Winners. Ben, thanks so much for joining us on the
Gardening Simplified Show today. Yes, it's been my pleasure. Thank you for
having me. All right, anyone got a fever for a new house plant?
I know, I do, I do well. I will be out
shopping this weekend to make my indoors a little bit splash here and I hope
you will too. So thanks so much to Ben from Leaf job I Proven
Winners. Thank you Rick, and thanks to Adriana, and of course thanks
to all of you for listening. We really appreciate your support and we'll see
you next week