1 00:00:03,560 --> 00:00:08,640 Coming to you from Beautiful Studio a here at proven winner's color choice shrubs. 2 00:00:08,919 --> 00:00:13,960 It's time for the Gardening Simplified Show with Stacy Hervella me, Rick weisst and 3 00:00:14,119 --> 00:00:19,679 our engineer and producer Adrianna Robinson. Stacy, We're familiar with spa Day for 4 00:00:19,879 --> 00:00:25,000 your plants. It was well made popular by all the people enjoying houseplants after 5 00:00:25,120 --> 00:00:30,039 winter, taking their houseplants out for a walk, dusting them, basically giving 6 00:00:30,079 --> 00:00:35,359 their plants a little bit of pampering. But why not have a SPA day 7 00:00:36,039 --> 00:00:39,479 for your outdoor plant. I think it's a fantastic idea. Yeah, I 8 00:00:39,560 --> 00:00:42,439 think so too. Now, of course, as people, you know, 9 00:00:42,520 --> 00:00:48,399 we have a SPA day and I'm amazed at everything you can do. It's 10 00:00:48,520 --> 00:00:53,200 unreal. The hydrotherapy, jet bath, massage, pedicure or manicure, mud 11 00:00:53,280 --> 00:00:59,240 bath, micro derm abrasion, salt scrub, clay or herbal body mass I 12 00:00:59,359 --> 00:01:03,920 like that cucumber on the eyes thing, you know, that looks really comforting 13 00:01:03,960 --> 00:01:06,640 to me. I've never done it. Oh well, it's very simple and 14 00:01:06,719 --> 00:01:10,000 very refreshing. You should try, especially if its cucumber is very cold and 15 00:01:10,079 --> 00:01:11,680 your eyes are kind of you know, hot and dry. I like it. 16 00:01:12,000 --> 00:01:18,040 I like it, seaweed, body wrap, aromatherapy, acupuncture, waxing, 17 00:01:18,200 --> 00:01:22,000 reflexology, massage, saw on a hot storm treatment, beer bath, 18 00:01:22,079 --> 00:01:27,760 hydrotherapy, steam room, oxygen face, etc. Etc. Unreal and waxing. 19 00:01:27,799 --> 00:01:33,840 When they tear the hair off, that's a rip off in my mind. 20 00:01:34,159 --> 00:01:37,079 Sorry, bad pun right at the start. Now, when I think 21 00:01:37,120 --> 00:01:41,359 about spade for our outdoor plants, one of the first things that pops into 22 00:01:41,400 --> 00:01:45,640 my mind is Epsom salt. Oh gosh, Now, people love I know. 23 00:01:45,680 --> 00:01:49,840 That's why I'm bringing it up. People love in Epsom salt bath. 24 00:01:49,000 --> 00:01:53,599 It's relaxing. Well, what about for your plants? Stacy online, there's 25 00:01:53,680 --> 00:01:57,439 you know, and these are the salts that are not for your French fries. 26 00:01:57,319 --> 00:02:01,599 Epsom comes from a place in England. I think it's south of London. 27 00:02:01,959 --> 00:02:07,759 Their mineral salts. And the argument is they add magnesium, which is 28 00:02:07,800 --> 00:02:13,759 important for photosynthesis for your plants. You would balk at that. People use 29 00:02:13,800 --> 00:02:16,719 it on roses, tomatoes and peppers. Why do you bulk? Okay, 30 00:02:16,960 --> 00:02:23,039 So I get that people like to, you know, have something that's like 31 00:02:23,759 --> 00:02:27,800 we're pulling a fest when on the system we're beating the man by using epsom 32 00:02:27,800 --> 00:02:30,680 salts and not fertilizer. Like I get that, you know, people like 33 00:02:30,800 --> 00:02:36,199 those kind of hacks. And it's true. The actual central molecule of chlorophyll 34 00:02:36,280 --> 00:02:39,800 is magnesium, and UPSOM salts are magnesium sulfate or magnesium sulfite. I don't 35 00:02:39,800 --> 00:02:46,159 remember which, but any chemists out there don't know. Okay, But the 36 00:02:46,280 --> 00:02:52,639 simple fact is that the majority of residential landscapes and gardens are not deficient in 37 00:02:52,719 --> 00:02:59,039 magnesium, and so it does absolutely no good and can't actually do harm to 38 00:02:59,159 --> 00:03:02,639 apply this less you know it's needed. And so because it's like this household 39 00:03:02,680 --> 00:03:06,520 thing and you know, you know, if you've soaked your feet or taken 40 00:03:06,560 --> 00:03:09,039 a bath and up some salts that it's it's good for you, they just 41 00:03:09,080 --> 00:03:13,759 think it's this harmless household thing that they can just you know, put willy 42 00:03:13,879 --> 00:03:16,479 nilly on their plants. But there's two potential issues. Well, first of 43 00:03:16,479 --> 00:03:20,280 all, there's three. The first one is that it's just a waste of 44 00:03:20,360 --> 00:03:24,080 money and resources if the plants don't need them and there's no benefit. Second 45 00:03:24,120 --> 00:03:30,879 of all, if it's salt, so you are salting your soil every time 46 00:03:30,919 --> 00:03:36,000 you apply magnesium or magnesium sulfate. And while it's true that salt is held 47 00:03:36,199 --> 00:03:42,280 very lightly to soil molecules and it can be washed out very quickly just from 48 00:03:42,360 --> 00:03:46,520 rain or irrigation, you are still salt, literally salting your soil when you 49 00:03:46,520 --> 00:03:50,680 apply up some salts. And third of all, if you are applying an 50 00:03:50,680 --> 00:03:55,919 abundance of magnesium, you can induce a deficiency in calcium. So all of 51 00:03:55,960 --> 00:04:00,840 the essential nutrients for plants in the soil they worked together and they have these 52 00:04:00,879 --> 00:04:04,439 relationships. So if something gets like way out of balance, it can actually 53 00:04:04,560 --> 00:04:11,680 tie up or make unavailable to the plant other nutrients due to various chemical reactions. 54 00:04:12,039 --> 00:04:15,319 So you're applying magnesium sulvader or app some salts, and you're actually can 55 00:04:15,839 --> 00:04:19,040 repeated use because you think, oh, hey, this is this harmless household 56 00:04:19,040 --> 00:04:23,040 thing, and I can just I can't possibly harm my plants, would do 57 00:04:23,079 --> 00:04:28,040 anything wrong by applying this, you could actually induce a calcium deficiency in your 58 00:04:28,040 --> 00:04:32,639 garden. Let's leave the epsom salts home for our spa day and save a 59 00:04:32,720 --> 00:04:35,519 fare our self. Fellow gardeners. You might need them at the end of 60 00:04:35,560 --> 00:04:40,319 the day of gardening, but your plants almost certainly do not. How about 61 00:04:40,399 --> 00:04:44,199 hydrotherapy. Stir the mulch. I like to stir the mulch in my landscape. 62 00:04:44,240 --> 00:04:48,279 Mulch can become hydrophobic, and in summer to allow the mulch to breathe. 63 00:04:48,560 --> 00:04:55,759 I think that that's a spa approach for your plants. A mud bath, 64 00:04:56,160 --> 00:05:00,600 maybe top dressing with a good organic material. We've talked in past about 65 00:05:00,639 --> 00:05:04,959 dairy do but some kind of organic matter that you could add to the soil. 66 00:05:05,160 --> 00:05:09,360 And I like a jet bath. Okay, I don't know how you 67 00:05:09,399 --> 00:05:14,319 feel about this stacy, but take for example, dwarf Alberta spurs. Okay, 68 00:05:14,480 --> 00:05:17,399 it's hot and dry outside. The mites are gonna like that. Oh 69 00:05:17,439 --> 00:05:20,240 they are gonna love it. And so I like to take a hose and 70 00:05:20,480 --> 00:05:26,120 blastsom jetwater right into the center of some of these dense plants and you can 71 00:05:26,199 --> 00:05:31,480 almost hear them go. But you're not using the car washing nozzle right now, 72 00:05:33,680 --> 00:05:40,439 not getting it a little shower spoil your soil. How about slow release 73 00:05:40,879 --> 00:05:46,000 fertilizer. Don't forget to feed the plants do need to be fed in again, 74 00:05:46,319 --> 00:05:47,839 you know, when you pick out that fertilizer, you can get some 75 00:05:47,879 --> 00:05:53,240 fertilizers that are just quick release, here today, gone tomorrow. But as 76 00:05:53,279 --> 00:05:58,199 you know, I like the prills that last for three to three to four 77 00:05:58,360 --> 00:06:01,319 months. So when you check the package of a product, a gardening product 78 00:06:01,360 --> 00:06:04,879 that you buy for your plants or your garden, I always like to look 79 00:06:04,920 --> 00:06:09,800 at it this way, and that is with these packages, it's party on 80 00:06:09,839 --> 00:06:14,519 the front, business on the back. So flip the package over and read 81 00:06:14,600 --> 00:06:16,639 the back of the package and what's in that package. Because the front of 82 00:06:16,639 --> 00:06:20,199 the package is going to have cute kids kicking around a soccer ball in this 83 00:06:20,319 --> 00:06:26,399 beautiful yard and everything is great. Yeah, it's so important to any product 84 00:06:26,399 --> 00:06:29,560 that you're buying for your garden, whether it's a fertilizer, some sort of 85 00:06:29,639 --> 00:06:32,680 pesticide, what you know, micro rise, a wish. We've also talked 86 00:06:32,720 --> 00:06:36,399 about always read the back. It's so important because you know, it's not 87 00:06:36,439 --> 00:06:40,000 just what's in it, it's also how you're going to apply it, when 88 00:06:40,040 --> 00:06:42,279 you're going to apply it, and there's so many things that like, the 89 00:06:42,360 --> 00:06:46,720 timing is very crucial, and so you might be buying something only to come 90 00:06:46,759 --> 00:06:48,160 home read the instructions and say, well, shoot, I can't apply this 91 00:06:48,240 --> 00:06:50,879 until next spring. Then it sits in your garage, it goes bad, 92 00:06:50,959 --> 00:06:54,959 you forget about it. So you know it pays to do your reading and 93 00:06:55,040 --> 00:07:00,680 stacy. As a talented professional copywriter like you, you want people to read 94 00:07:00,720 --> 00:07:06,399 the directions. Oh, I definitely want because everyone wants them to be successful. 95 00:07:06,519 --> 00:07:12,120 You know that's important. How about a steam room. Some plants in 96 00:07:12,160 --> 00:07:16,480 your landscape can get overshadowed by other plants as they grow and want some more 97 00:07:16,560 --> 00:07:19,399 sunlight. So a little bit of pruning, a little bit of pinching, 98 00:07:19,879 --> 00:07:24,680 little bit of deadheading. I really believe that that's got to be a part 99 00:07:25,160 --> 00:07:29,000 of a spade for our outdoor plants. Well, that is happening in a 100 00:07:29,040 --> 00:07:31,319 big way in my garden right now. You know, I have a lot 101 00:07:31,319 --> 00:07:34,120 of native plants, and so they start out in the summer or in the 102 00:07:34,120 --> 00:07:38,079 spring they look all, you know, small, and I start planting new 103 00:07:38,160 --> 00:07:40,560 stuff, and next thing I know, I'm like, WHOA, that got 104 00:07:40,680 --> 00:07:43,600 huge. Even though I've been growing this thing for you know, seven years, 105 00:07:44,920 --> 00:07:48,600 it still always exceeds my expectations on exactly how much it's going to grow 106 00:07:48,639 --> 00:07:51,680 and how big it's going to get. So I have a lot of exactly 107 00:07:51,720 --> 00:07:56,759 that on my garden list for this weekend. I agree and with people. 108 00:07:56,800 --> 00:08:01,240 Of course, I mentioned microderm abrasion, you know, working on wrinkles and 109 00:08:01,519 --> 00:08:05,879 acne. Well, how about in our landscape to focus on the weeds and 110 00:08:05,920 --> 00:08:09,000 get rid of the weeds they're competing with our favorite plants. And if you 111 00:08:09,040 --> 00:08:11,079 want to give your outdoor plants a spa day, how about we do a 112 00:08:11,120 --> 00:08:15,879 little bit of weeding. Oh always, You know, I actually don't mind 113 00:08:15,879 --> 00:08:18,360 weeding all that much. There's certain weeds I really detest, but overall, 114 00:08:18,360 --> 00:08:24,360 it's not my least favorite garden shore and it's always really interesting and it's always 115 00:08:24,399 --> 00:08:28,160 satisfying. You know, after you've weeded even a small area of your garden, 116 00:08:28,240 --> 00:08:31,120 you step back and you're like, that looks a lot better. You 117 00:08:31,120 --> 00:08:33,440 can tell I spent some time on that, and that's a good feeling. 118 00:08:33,559 --> 00:08:37,879 Take me to your weeder. You've got it, so pinch deadhead, take 119 00:08:37,960 --> 00:08:41,519 care of those weeds. It's almost like a manicure, you know. Yeah, 120 00:08:41,559 --> 00:08:43,639 that's a good way to think about it. Get a manicure. You 121 00:08:43,879 --> 00:08:52,480 nailed it, ah reck here marks grow more polished every day. Hey. 122 00:08:52,519 --> 00:08:56,279 By the way, when we talk about spa hot tubs can you use the 123 00:08:56,320 --> 00:09:01,840 hot tub water on your plants now, provided it's not a salt water hot 124 00:09:01,879 --> 00:09:05,960 tub. You know, we tend to change the water in our hot tubs 125 00:09:05,000 --> 00:09:09,039 every three months. So if you took the cover off and let it sit 126 00:09:09,159 --> 00:09:13,960 for a couple of days, maybe ran the jets and tested for chlorine, 127 00:09:15,159 --> 00:09:20,639 bromine, check the pH arguably you could use that water on your plants, 128 00:09:20,639 --> 00:09:24,679 like to if you drain it. Yeah, yeah, sure, yeah, 129 00:09:24,759 --> 00:09:28,039 not scooping it out of the tub while you're in there and watering the pansies, 130 00:09:28,120 --> 00:09:31,399 but to you know, But anyhow, at the end of the day, 131 00:09:31,440 --> 00:09:33,919 as we've learned on this show. We talked about it a few weeks 132 00:09:33,960 --> 00:09:37,600 ago, Stacy, you can talk to your plants, you can touch your 133 00:09:37,600 --> 00:09:43,240 plants and they'll enjoy it. And you can just look at them and enjoy 134 00:09:43,279 --> 00:09:48,080 their beauty and don't forget to enjoy the interactions that they're having with each other, 135 00:09:48,559 --> 00:09:50,120 with the insects and the birds and all of that. I mean that 136 00:09:50,200 --> 00:09:54,559 to me is where the most value enjoy comes from gardening, I agree, 137 00:09:54,600 --> 00:10:00,840 And not only that interaction with the atmosphere. Again, check your or tomato 138 00:10:00,960 --> 00:10:05,200 towers, your steaks, your supports, make sure that there's good airror movement 139 00:10:05,279 --> 00:10:09,559 between the plants. We're getting good light to the plants, especially the lower 140 00:10:09,639 --> 00:10:16,399 leaves. Those have all got to be considerations too for plant spa DA Just 141 00:10:16,519 --> 00:10:20,679 no epsom salts. That's it. That's right good. Coming up next, 142 00:10:20,720 --> 00:10:22,960 Plants on Trial, Stacy's going to introduce us to a plant. Don't miss 143 00:10:24,000 --> 00:10:33,840 it. That's next here on the Gardening Simplified Show. Proven Winners. Colored 144 00:10:33,879 --> 00:10:37,840 Choice Shrubs cares about your success in the garden. That's why we trial and 145 00:10:37,879 --> 00:10:41,759 test all of our shrubs for eight to ten years, making sure they outperform 146 00:10:41,840 --> 00:10:45,440 everything else on the market. Look for them in the distinctive white container at 147 00:10:45,480 --> 00:10:52,519 your local garden center. Greetings gardening friends, and welcome back to the Gardening 148 00:10:52,600 --> 00:10:54,679 Simplified at Show. You know, we were just talking about giving your plants 149 00:10:54,679 --> 00:10:58,840 a spa day, and I think part of giving your plants a spot a 150 00:11:00,000 --> 00:11:03,840 specially if you have hanging baskets, is giving them a little trim because you 151 00:11:03,879 --> 00:11:07,639 know, they can get a little bit draggled at this point in the season. 152 00:11:07,639 --> 00:11:09,840 They grow so much, they're so vigorous, and they can kind of 153 00:11:09,960 --> 00:11:13,480 look a little maybe too long, and they just don't have that cute compact 154 00:11:13,519 --> 00:11:18,279 look that you bought them for. So one of my tips, particularly for 155 00:11:18,320 --> 00:11:20,840 this time of year, as it's a good idea to trim your hanging baskets, 156 00:11:20,840 --> 00:11:24,960 particularly if you have like you know, supertunias, anything that grows kind 157 00:11:26,000 --> 00:11:30,759 of longer. And I always recommend to people that they do this just before 158 00:11:30,759 --> 00:11:33,039 they go on vacation and then that way you don't have to see it, 159 00:11:33,120 --> 00:11:35,440 you know, kind of grow out of that haircut. You cut it, 160 00:11:35,759 --> 00:11:39,720 you drive away, you're gone for a week, you come back and the 161 00:11:39,759 --> 00:11:41,559 thing looks great. Yeah, And you know, along the lines of SPA 162 00:11:41,720 --> 00:11:46,600 Day, we talked about salt scrub well as far as baskets hanging baskets are 163 00:11:46,639 --> 00:11:50,720 concerned, I'd like to get out of trash can fill it with water and 164 00:11:50,799 --> 00:11:54,399 dunk the whole bask Maybe you do you're pruning, then you dunk the baskets. 165 00:11:54,399 --> 00:11:58,320 So we get the root ball good and soaked and we're good to go 166 00:11:58,360 --> 00:12:03,039 to go on vacation. You know. Vacation is also my recommendation for people 167 00:12:03,080 --> 00:12:07,360 whose hydrangees don't bloom and they're frustrated, I say, just go on vacation. 168 00:12:07,679 --> 00:12:13,399 Pretend you missed it. Come back. Everything's fine. Vacation is a 169 00:12:13,440 --> 00:12:18,080 solution for so so many. This gardening stuff is easy. Just pretend it 170 00:12:18,080 --> 00:12:20,960 never happened. But it's the time of the show where we put a plant 171 00:12:22,000 --> 00:12:24,600 on trial, which is to say that we tell you all about one of 172 00:12:24,600 --> 00:12:28,440 the three and twenty proven winner's color choice shrubs, and you can decide for 173 00:12:28,480 --> 00:12:31,960 yourself if it's going to earn a spot in your garden or landscape. And 174 00:12:31,000 --> 00:12:33,600 you know, I always try to tie it into whatever we're talking about in 175 00:12:33,600 --> 00:12:39,639 the first segment. And so today's plant on trial is at Last rose, 176 00:12:39,200 --> 00:12:45,639 a plant that does not really need spa days. Why because it is a 177 00:12:45,720 --> 00:12:48,519 self cleaning rose. And that's that's a term that goes around a lot, 178 00:12:48,519 --> 00:12:52,120 but people don't necessarily you know, is it like a self cleaning cat litter 179 00:12:52,240 --> 00:12:56,960 box? Like how does that work? What exactly does this mean? And 180 00:12:56,000 --> 00:13:01,080 now it doesn't have like built in windshield wipers or anything like that. The 181 00:13:01,360 --> 00:13:05,960 what it means is that the flowers fall off naturally when they fade. So 182 00:13:07,039 --> 00:13:11,039 the opposite of a self cleaning rose is one and I'm sure you've seen this 183 00:13:11,159 --> 00:13:13,399 and our listeners have seen this in gardens, if not in their own garden. 184 00:13:15,000 --> 00:13:18,360 So when those rose blooms start to fade, they just kind of like 185 00:13:18,559 --> 00:13:24,039 turn into a gross brown clump. Mush a clump, Yeah, gross brown 186 00:13:24,120 --> 00:13:28,440 clump that just started stays on the plant and it kind of like nods down 187 00:13:28,639 --> 00:13:35,000 and looks super sad and just clumpy. And so it's clumpy and it turns 188 00:13:35,039 --> 00:13:37,799 brown, and it attracts pest like especially Japanese beetles. They're gonna love that. 189 00:13:39,000 --> 00:13:43,080 And in a self cleaning rose like at Last Rose, what happens is 190 00:13:43,120 --> 00:13:46,440 that as the blooms start to fade, the petals just start to fall off, 191 00:13:48,000 --> 00:13:50,279 and that means you don't get those like clumpy petals sticking on the plant. 192 00:13:50,279 --> 00:13:54,840 But also it looks really beautiful because then you have rose petals kind of 193 00:13:54,879 --> 00:13:58,720 scattered all over the ground and everybody loves that. Look. I've seen this 194 00:13:58,759 --> 00:14:03,200 in the garden center where you have a number of at Last Roses on display, 195 00:14:03,240 --> 00:14:05,559 and when they do that, it's gorgeous. It's almost like you know, 196 00:14:05,559 --> 00:14:09,279 when the little kid goes down the aisle and a wedding and throws the 197 00:14:09,399 --> 00:14:15,080 rose. Beautiful flower kid, flower kid. Yeah, every days boys and 198 00:14:15,120 --> 00:14:16,960 girls do it, right, Yeah, just girls, Yeah, well, 199 00:14:18,000 --> 00:14:20,200 the boys usually the ring bearer. The little girl's sprinkling the flowers, okay, 200 00:14:20,200 --> 00:14:24,320 and so little girl and they're they're cutely walking down the aisle. At 201 00:14:24,360 --> 00:14:26,039 Last Rose is a great choice for that. In fact, speaking of weddings, 202 00:14:26,679 --> 00:14:31,679 at Last is one of the reasons that we named this rose at Last 203 00:14:31,720 --> 00:14:35,200 because at Last by Edda James is such a popular wedding song. So we 204 00:14:35,279 --> 00:14:39,720 thought that this beautiful rose would be the perfect way for people who had that 205 00:14:39,879 --> 00:14:43,279 as their wedding song to kind of commemorate that. But it also has another 206 00:14:43,320 --> 00:14:48,159 meaning, and that is that it is one of the first fragrant landscape roses. 207 00:14:48,200 --> 00:14:52,120 Oh, I was gonna bring that up. I love the aroma on 208 00:14:52,159 --> 00:14:54,960 this rose. It's beautiful. I love to stick my face in it and 209 00:14:56,039 --> 00:14:58,000 take a good whiff it is. It really is beautiful. So it's kind 210 00:14:58,000 --> 00:15:05,080 of an apricot peachy orange color and it has a classic rose fragrance. So 211 00:15:05,120 --> 00:15:07,720 the at last as in finally comes from the fact that you know, as 212 00:15:07,759 --> 00:15:11,360 we've talked about on the show many times, landscape roses are great. They're 213 00:15:11,440 --> 00:15:15,039 disease resistant. You don't need to spray them, you don't need to worry 214 00:15:15,039 --> 00:15:18,799 about pruning them. They bloom perpetually, but for many, many years they 215 00:15:18,840 --> 00:15:22,480 just didn't have fragrance. And at first people were like, hey, that's 216 00:15:22,480 --> 00:15:24,159 cool. You know what, I don't mind just having this easy to care 217 00:15:24,200 --> 00:15:26,120 for rose. It's just going to bloom its head off. But then they 218 00:15:26,120 --> 00:15:28,720 started saying, yeah, you know what, I kind of missed the fragrance. 219 00:15:30,080 --> 00:15:33,559 So at Last is really one of the first roses to combine that classic 220 00:15:33,639 --> 00:15:39,399 rose fragrance, really high pedal count, so big, full flowers, but 221 00:15:39,919 --> 00:15:43,960 with good disease resistance. And when we say disease resistance on something like at 222 00:15:43,000 --> 00:15:48,039 Last, we mean primarily powdery mildew and black spot, the two biggest, 223 00:15:48,200 --> 00:15:52,279 you know, diseases that roses get. So not only is it self cleaning, 224 00:15:52,320 --> 00:15:56,879 it's disease resistant, it's fragrant, it's beautiful. This is a little 225 00:15:56,879 --> 00:15:58,679 bit of a taller rose, so probably more in like the three to four 226 00:15:58,679 --> 00:16:03,200 foot range. A lot of our OsO easy roses tend to be quite small 227 00:16:03,200 --> 00:16:06,679 and ground covering, so it's a shrub rose. You know you're gonna want 228 00:16:06,679 --> 00:16:10,799 to plant it like so it has plenty of space and good presence, but 229 00:16:11,080 --> 00:16:15,440 it will bloom all summer without deadheading. Now, unfortunately, it is not 230 00:16:15,559 --> 00:16:18,919 resistant to Japanese beetles. And I know Japanese beetles are on a lot of 231 00:16:18,919 --> 00:16:23,679 people's minds right now. No roses are truly resistant to Japanese beetles. Now, 232 00:16:25,080 --> 00:16:29,919 a lot of times landscape roses like at Last. Part of their ability 233 00:16:29,960 --> 00:16:34,080 to withstand all those common rose diseases comes from the fact that their foliage is 234 00:16:34,600 --> 00:16:41,759 thicker and more leathery, and that is a little bit less preferred by Japanese 235 00:16:41,759 --> 00:16:45,200 beetles. But I think it's still a stretch to say it's Japanese beetle resistant, 236 00:16:45,240 --> 00:16:48,279 because if you were to say have at last, because you said, 237 00:16:48,320 --> 00:16:49,279 hey, they eat all my other ones, I'm just going to plan at 238 00:16:49,360 --> 00:16:53,879 last, the Japanese beetles are still going to come right fire shot across the 239 00:16:53,960 --> 00:17:00,960 bow and apply your controls and anticipating the Japanese beetles just as you would with 240 00:17:02,159 --> 00:17:04,119 any other Yeah, and you know, if you don't want to use any 241 00:17:04,160 --> 00:17:07,880 kind of chemical control. One of the great things about proven winners color choice 242 00:17:07,960 --> 00:17:12,880 roses, since they do bloom perpetually without deadheading, is I know it can 243 00:17:12,920 --> 00:17:17,200 be a little bit difficult for some people, but you know, just go 244 00:17:17,240 --> 00:17:19,640 ahead and cut the whole thing back, like right about now, when the 245 00:17:19,680 --> 00:17:23,240 Japanese beetles are at their worst. I know it can be painful, but 246 00:17:23,279 --> 00:17:27,920 it's also very painful seeing your rose covered in Japanese beetles and eating your flowers. 247 00:17:29,000 --> 00:17:30,160 So just cut the whole thing back, take the flowers off, because 248 00:17:30,160 --> 00:17:33,759 the flowers are their favorite. That's what they're primarily going for. Cut your 249 00:17:33,799 --> 00:17:37,319 whole thing back. I know it's going to be a little painful. Keep 250 00:17:37,359 --> 00:17:41,880 watering it, keep fertilizing it for the next month or so, and it 251 00:17:41,920 --> 00:17:45,599 will start to bloom. And when that bloom starts up again, the Japanese 252 00:17:45,599 --> 00:17:49,599 beetles will be far diminished and you won't have that issue. So it's kind 253 00:17:49,640 --> 00:17:52,039 of like a having your cake and eating it too if you don't want to 254 00:17:52,079 --> 00:17:57,759 apply chemical controls. And like many landscape roses, as the temperatures start to 255 00:17:57,759 --> 00:18:03,400 cool in September, it really comes into its own again and is just beautiful, 256 00:18:03,440 --> 00:18:07,960 covered in flowers, beautiful color, and tons and tons of fragrance. 257 00:18:08,079 --> 00:18:11,759 As Josephine would say, let them eat cake. It was Josephine, right, 258 00:18:12,119 --> 00:18:15,799 No, that was Marie Antoinette. Oh that's right. Shoot, I 259 00:18:15,880 --> 00:18:19,640 was trying to tie in roses because Josephine loved roses. But you are correct, 260 00:18:19,680 --> 00:18:22,440 hey, Stacy. I was going to send a note to our gardening 261 00:18:22,519 --> 00:18:27,000 mail bag Gardening Simplified on air dot Com, as many people do, to 262 00:18:27,079 --> 00:18:32,359 ask you a question, and that is, I love my roses in my 263 00:18:32,480 --> 00:18:36,799 landscape, but I have a problem. The chipmunks eat the flowers. So 264 00:18:36,839 --> 00:18:38,480 this is you know, you don't have to write me. Yeah, I 265 00:18:38,519 --> 00:18:41,519 know. That's why I'm asking you right now. Okay, good. I 266 00:18:41,519 --> 00:18:45,960 have never heard of that before, and it sounds like it's the first time 267 00:18:45,960 --> 00:18:48,079 you've seen anything. And I think it's because it's so hot and dry. 268 00:18:48,160 --> 00:18:52,680 I did a little research on the internet and it sounds like other people have 269 00:18:52,799 --> 00:18:59,359 that issue too. They just clip them right off the flower blossom. Yeah, 270 00:18:59,400 --> 00:19:00,920 it's frustrated. Well, you know, and when you think about it, 271 00:19:02,119 --> 00:19:06,680 rose petals are so succulent, they're just full of moisture um, and 272 00:19:06,799 --> 00:19:11,400 most roses are actually all rose flowers are edible. Some don't taste as good 273 00:19:11,440 --> 00:19:15,759 as others. Um. Some are actually quite lovely to eat. And so 274 00:19:15,839 --> 00:19:19,240 not only is the chipmunk getting this, you know, moisture source at a 275 00:19:19,240 --> 00:19:23,359 time, where it's incredibly dry here in West Michigan. They're also getting a 276 00:19:23,440 --> 00:19:26,160 delicious rose. But you know, maybe they are on a date and they 277 00:19:26,200 --> 00:19:33,640 need to impress their date with some roses. I don't know. Yes, 278 00:19:33,400 --> 00:19:37,319 yes, and at Last does have thorns. Like most roses, they're kind 279 00:19:37,319 --> 00:19:41,079 of spread out, they're large or easy to deal with, and really it's 280 00:19:41,079 --> 00:19:42,680 an easy care rose. Now, of course, the thing to know about 281 00:19:42,799 --> 00:19:47,200 roses always full sun. You know, we're not going to recommend that you 282 00:19:47,240 --> 00:19:51,039 plan at Last rose or any other rose unless you can give it at least 283 00:19:51,279 --> 00:19:55,000 six hours of good, bright sun every day. That's going to help that 284 00:19:55,039 --> 00:19:57,960 disease resistance. That's going to help you get more flowers, better color on 285 00:19:59,000 --> 00:20:03,720 those flowers. So sun is really I think the most crucial part of being 286 00:20:03,720 --> 00:20:07,119 successful with roses. Even if you pick a very easy to grow, disease 287 00:20:07,160 --> 00:20:10,720 resistant landscape rose like at Last, unless you planet in full sun, you're 288 00:20:10,799 --> 00:20:12,559 probably not going to be that happy with the results. I endorse it. 289 00:20:12,839 --> 00:20:18,240 Marie Antoinette, I'm sorry I misquoted you and Stacy with at Last. The 290 00:20:18,400 --> 00:20:22,359 color on that rose is gorgeous. Yeah, it's you know, there's so 291 00:20:22,359 --> 00:20:26,599 many different ways to describe it like I said, Apricot peache. It's just 292 00:20:26,720 --> 00:20:30,599 it's a classic, beautiful color that goes with so many different colors in the 293 00:20:30,599 --> 00:20:33,599 garden, so many different house colors. So I think it's a great choice. 294 00:20:33,640 --> 00:20:34,400 If you want to see pictures of it, of course, you can 295 00:20:34,440 --> 00:20:40,759 always go to Gardening Simplified OnAir dot com and we'll have photos there all of 296 00:20:40,799 --> 00:20:42,920 the information you need to grow it, and you can of course find it. 297 00:20:44,000 --> 00:20:48,440 That's your local garden center that sales Proven Winners Color Choice shrubs. All 298 00:20:48,519 --> 00:20:52,400 right, sol Hey, by the way, let me get back to Josephine 299 00:20:52,440 --> 00:20:56,200 a minute. She would always have roses in her garden because she had bad 300 00:20:56,240 --> 00:20:59,440 teeth, and so if she smiled, she'd have a rose at the ready 301 00:20:59,480 --> 00:21:03,079 to cover. Is that true? I think it is. I've never heard 302 00:21:03,119 --> 00:21:07,480 that send them to us at Gardening Simplified on a dot com. Well, 303 00:21:08,160 --> 00:21:11,880 even if you have perfect teeth, you will love at Last Cross. We're 304 00:21:11,880 --> 00:21:14,839 gonna come back with a garden mail bag in just a moment, so please 305 00:21:14,839 --> 00:21:23,880 stay tuned. At Proven Winner's Color Choice, we've got a shrub for every 306 00:21:23,920 --> 00:21:30,319 taste and every space. Whether you're looking for an easycare rose an unforgettable hydrangea 307 00:21:30,519 --> 00:21:33,599 or something new and unique. You can be confident that the shrubs and the 308 00:21:33,599 --> 00:21:37,640 white containers have been trialed and tested for your success. Look for them at 309 00:21:37,680 --> 00:21:44,359 your local garden center. Greetings, gardeners, and welcome back to the Gardening 310 00:21:44,480 --> 00:21:48,000 Simplified Show. It's one of my favorite times of the show because I love 311 00:21:48,079 --> 00:21:51,000 helping people with their gardening problems, and I know you do too. Yeah, 312 00:21:51,079 --> 00:21:55,119 I like the show. I know you like helping people with their garden 313 00:21:55,160 --> 00:21:57,559 problems. I hope you like this show. If you do have a gardening 314 00:21:57,559 --> 00:22:00,839 problem, we'd be happy to help you as well. All you have to 315 00:22:00,880 --> 00:22:04,079 do is go to Gardening Simplified OnAir dot com and click the contact tab, 316 00:22:04,559 --> 00:22:07,000 or if it's easier, you can go to You can just send us an 317 00:22:07,000 --> 00:22:14,640 email at help HLP at Gardening Simplified OnAir dot com, as these people have 318 00:22:14,720 --> 00:22:17,960 done. So what's our first question in the mail direct Stacy? First one 319 00:22:18,000 --> 00:22:22,160 from Kelly in Michigan says, something is feasting on my roses? Who is 320 00:22:22,200 --> 00:22:26,880 the likely culprit? Where do I look for clues? And Kelly sent us 321 00:22:26,920 --> 00:22:30,319 a picture? Right, So, since Kelly sent us a picture, and 322 00:22:30,319 --> 00:22:33,240 thank you very much, for doing that, Kelly, I can confirm it 323 00:22:33,279 --> 00:22:37,000 is not chipmunks. It's weird the picture, and of course he'll put this 324 00:22:37,039 --> 00:22:41,599 in the show notes that gardening simplified on air dot Com. The picture of 325 00:22:41,759 --> 00:22:48,000 Kelly's rose shows some sort of how would I describe it, like narrow oval 326 00:22:48,440 --> 00:22:53,559 type of holes in the leaves and they're all over the leaves and it is 327 00:22:53,680 --> 00:22:57,839 a very easy pest to diagnose for me. It's a very widespread pest. 328 00:22:57,920 --> 00:23:03,720 And it is known as a rose slug, and it's not a slug, 329 00:23:04,200 --> 00:23:08,319 and it doesn't actually look all that much like a slug either. Um, 330 00:23:08,359 --> 00:23:12,200 I guess that they people probably call them rose slugs because the damage looks a 331 00:23:12,240 --> 00:23:15,519 bit resembles a bit of what slugs would do to something like a hosta or 332 00:23:15,559 --> 00:23:21,480 something like that. So it's actually a saft fly, and a saft fly 333 00:23:21,599 --> 00:23:22,359 even though it has a fly in the name. We're just going to make 334 00:23:22,400 --> 00:23:26,079 things real confusing here, but it's not our fault. We're gonna blame the 335 00:23:26,160 --> 00:23:30,359 entomologists on this one. Uh So, a saft fly is actually a relative 336 00:23:30,759 --> 00:23:34,279 of bees, wasps, and ants um and it's you know, non singing 337 00:23:34,319 --> 00:23:38,720 and basically what happens. The adult is a small flying insect and they lay 338 00:23:38,720 --> 00:23:45,400 their eggs on roses, and the little larva that hatches out is on the 339 00:23:45,559 --> 00:23:48,400 underside of the leaf. So this is another reason why people have so much 340 00:23:48,400 --> 00:23:52,359 trouble, you know, identifying a rose slug. Is the issue is because 341 00:23:52,359 --> 00:23:56,640 they're on the underside of the leaf. Up, yes, they're like what 342 00:23:56,680 --> 00:24:00,559 happened? And what happens is when that little larva is very tiny, it's 343 00:24:00,720 --> 00:24:04,640 little mouth can't make it all the way through the leaf tissue, so it 344 00:24:04,720 --> 00:24:10,240 only will eat one layer of the leaf. So when the rose slugs are 345 00:24:10,240 --> 00:24:14,119 first getting established on your plant, you get this kind of like window like 346 00:24:14,359 --> 00:24:17,680 damage and you might not even really notice it because it's small because the pests 347 00:24:17,680 --> 00:24:22,000 are small. But then as that little larva starts to mature, then it's 348 00:24:22,000 --> 00:24:23,440 able to get through the whole leaf, and that's when you start to see 349 00:24:23,440 --> 00:24:29,640 those oval kind of you know, full holes through the leafs. The other 350 00:24:29,680 --> 00:24:34,720 tricky thing about rose slugs is, like many plant eating insects, they turn 351 00:24:34,839 --> 00:24:40,920 the exact color of the plant that they're eating, and it gives them I 352 00:24:40,920 --> 00:24:44,279 mean, it makes sense right that whatever they're they're kind of clearish, so 353 00:24:44,359 --> 00:24:48,319 whatever they're internalizing is going to turn them that color. But it's also very 354 00:24:48,319 --> 00:24:52,920 good camouflage. If you are a soft insect that a bird would love to 355 00:24:52,960 --> 00:24:57,920 find and chow down on, it gives them perfect camouflage. So even though 356 00:24:57,960 --> 00:25:02,839 I find the damage to rose slug to be very distinctive, a lot of 357 00:25:02,839 --> 00:25:06,400 people don't see the insects because you do kind of need to train your eye 358 00:25:06,480 --> 00:25:10,559 to look for them. So I, you know, a small infestation of 359 00:25:10,640 --> 00:25:14,240 rose slug in here in Michigan, we only usually have one generation a year, 360 00:25:14,279 --> 00:25:17,200 so they kind of get the damage out of their system and move on. 361 00:25:18,720 --> 00:25:22,359 I do usually manage them by hand picking. They tend to congregate more 362 00:25:22,400 --> 00:25:25,000 at the tops of plants. So again, if you have a disease resistant 363 00:25:25,079 --> 00:25:29,119 landscape rose that will bloom, you know, pretty much continually all summer, 364 00:25:29,480 --> 00:25:33,359 give it a little trim throw away all of those you know, top growth 365 00:25:33,400 --> 00:25:36,720 with the rose slugs on them. That's a pretty easy, non toxic way 366 00:25:37,200 --> 00:25:40,680 to manage them. But it's a very widespread pest. Yeah, I do 367 00:25:40,759 --> 00:25:44,599 some trimming. Yeah, because spraying, like you said, one generation, 368 00:25:44,680 --> 00:25:49,519 well then it becomes a revenge spraying. So a little bit of trimming exactly. 369 00:25:49,599 --> 00:25:53,000 So, uh, let me tell you, when you start to look 370 00:25:53,000 --> 00:25:56,000 at the damage of rose slugs, it will become second nature to you to 371 00:25:56,000 --> 00:26:00,680 to diagnose this issue as well. So please do go to gardening somelified OnAir 372 00:26:00,680 --> 00:26:03,960 dot com. We'll put some of my favorite resources there that I share with 373 00:26:03,000 --> 00:26:07,880 gardeners all the time who deal with this, and then you'll be able to 374 00:26:07,880 --> 00:26:11,319 see the roast slug yourself. It's pretty interesting. I don't know, I'd 375 00:26:11,319 --> 00:26:14,920 like it very interesting, all right, Janet in Michigan, I want to 376 00:26:15,000 --> 00:26:18,400 I want to wait until fall to plant an area in front of my deck. 377 00:26:18,440 --> 00:26:22,640 Of course falls a great time to plant. How do I manage the 378 00:26:22,799 --> 00:26:26,519 area until then? It's bare dirt? And I would say to Janet bear 379 00:26:26,640 --> 00:26:32,319 dirt is not a natural condition. Something's going to grow there now. In 380 00:26:32,359 --> 00:26:36,440 the past, when people have faced this issue, Stacy, one thing I've 381 00:26:36,480 --> 00:26:40,839 suggested is using some annual rye. We use it underneath shade trees also, 382 00:26:40,960 --> 00:26:44,319 just for a temporary cover, and then you can till it in. Yeah, 383 00:26:44,319 --> 00:26:47,039 and then it adds organic matter to the soil. But yeah, in 384 00:26:47,079 --> 00:26:49,480 addition to you know, who knows what kind of horrible weeds growing in the 385 00:26:49,519 --> 00:26:53,079 area, you're also getting soil erosion, you know, weather, through rain, 386 00:26:53,200 --> 00:26:59,119 irrigation, when all of those things will cause your soil to erode a 387 00:26:59,160 --> 00:27:03,920 bit. And because organic matter or the good stuff in your soil is lighter 388 00:27:03,000 --> 00:27:07,960 in weight than your soil particles like clay, sand in salt, it's the 389 00:27:07,000 --> 00:27:10,640 first to go. So when you let your soil, if you were to 390 00:27:10,720 --> 00:27:12,839 let your soil a road like that, you'd be losing all the organic matter 391 00:27:12,920 --> 00:27:17,079 that is going to be so beneficial when you do plant. So another option 392 00:27:17,119 --> 00:27:21,599 would be mulch, and you don't have to go out and invest in fancy 393 00:27:21,720 --> 00:27:23,880 mulch, which you're just going to have to move out of the way when 394 00:27:23,880 --> 00:27:29,279 you do plant the area. I would recommend that you just get arborist wood 395 00:27:29,359 --> 00:27:33,319 chips, and these are not going to be the prettiest, but they are 396 00:27:33,359 --> 00:27:37,559 going to be highly effective. And you can pile those suckers on a good 397 00:27:37,880 --> 00:27:42,079 six to ten inches deep, which sounds absurd except that because this is raw 398 00:27:42,119 --> 00:27:45,640 wood that's just been chipped from the tree, it has a lot of airspace 399 00:27:45,680 --> 00:27:51,079 in it and it hasn't decomposed a bit like the mulch has, so even 400 00:27:51,119 --> 00:27:53,440 after you put a very thick layer like that. Within a matter of weeks, 401 00:27:53,519 --> 00:27:57,200 especially at the height of summer, it's going to start compressing down into 402 00:27:57,319 --> 00:28:02,200 a normal size layer of mulch. And then you know by the time you're 403 00:28:02,240 --> 00:28:04,039 ready to plant. First of all, you're not worried about like, oh, 404 00:28:04,160 --> 00:28:08,559 I'm wasting all this expensive mulch that I bought it. If it gets 405 00:28:08,559 --> 00:28:11,920 into the soil, no problem. If you just move it aside and reuse 406 00:28:11,920 --> 00:28:14,160 it, at that point it would be ready to use as a mulch. 407 00:28:14,200 --> 00:28:18,680 So that would be my recommendation, Janet, Thank you very mulch. And 408 00:28:18,839 --> 00:28:22,640 sometimes arborus woodchips are even free or if not extremely low cost, very very 409 00:28:22,680 --> 00:28:26,240 true. Not something you want to walk barefoot, that's for sure. If 410 00:28:26,240 --> 00:28:29,359 this is near your deck in a place where you walk, you might want 411 00:28:29,400 --> 00:28:33,960 to put some stepping stones or something like that. But a good low cost 412 00:28:33,039 --> 00:28:37,960 way to manage it and have fun planting this fall. I Lean sent some 413 00:28:37,000 --> 00:28:41,960 photos of her little quick fire hydrange. Of the leaves don't have that dark 414 00:28:41,000 --> 00:28:45,640 green color. Instead, they almost look green Knon. This is their second 415 00:28:45,680 --> 00:28:49,240 year and they receive four hours of direct sun. I thought it could be 416 00:28:49,279 --> 00:28:56,559 an iron deficiency and I applied Espoma iron tone, but I don't see much 417 00:28:56,960 --> 00:29:00,079 change, okay, and I lean, like she said, did sense some 418 00:29:00,160 --> 00:29:03,359 photos which we will put on the show notes and what Eileen is seeing. 419 00:29:03,359 --> 00:29:07,079 So basically, if you can kind of imagine this, the foliage has like 420 00:29:07,359 --> 00:29:11,119 a kind of lighter ring around it, not quite like variegation, but the 421 00:29:11,240 --> 00:29:15,920 edges of the foliage have kind of a yellowish cast. And I have seen 422 00:29:15,960 --> 00:29:21,720 this numerous times on hydrangeas, even here in our trial garden where they're expertly 423 00:29:21,759 --> 00:29:26,680 cared for. I don't know exactly what the cause is. I've seen it 424 00:29:26,799 --> 00:29:30,279 sometimes over an entire hydrangea. I've seen it sometimes just here and there in 425 00:29:30,319 --> 00:29:34,359 a single hydrangea. But I did want to address Eileen's use of iron. 426 00:29:34,400 --> 00:29:40,559 So there's nothing wrong with applying that iron necessarily, but if the iron didn't 427 00:29:40,559 --> 00:29:44,200 work, when you apply iron too for an iron deficiency, the results are 428 00:29:44,240 --> 00:29:48,480 usually quite fast, much faster than applying like a regular fertilizer. But one 429 00:29:48,480 --> 00:29:52,920 of the issues with iron is that it can be tied up in the soil 430 00:29:52,920 --> 00:29:56,519 with phosphorus. So earlier in the show we were talking about calcium getting tied 431 00:29:56,599 --> 00:30:00,000 up if you have too much magnesium if you've been appl apps and salt and 432 00:30:00,119 --> 00:30:07,160 inducing a calcium deficiency in your plants. So similarly, phosphorus. High phosphorus 433 00:30:07,160 --> 00:30:10,680 in the soil can induce an iron deficiency. So it's not that the iron 434 00:30:10,799 --> 00:30:15,359 isn't there, it's that it's chemically bound in the soil due to the presence 435 00:30:15,400 --> 00:30:18,559 of the phosphorus, and it can't be freed up for the plants to take 436 00:30:18,680 --> 00:30:21,039 up. Now, one of the issues, of course, is that all 437 00:30:21,039 --> 00:30:26,480 commercial fertilizers pretty much are very unnecessarily high in phosphorus. And this goes back 438 00:30:26,480 --> 00:30:30,240 to the early days in fertilizer where someone said, hey, you know what, 439 00:30:30,359 --> 00:30:36,000 I think nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium are the most essential plant detrius, 440 00:30:36,319 --> 00:30:38,720 the big three. And it's true they are some of the most limiting. 441 00:30:40,079 --> 00:30:44,920 But phosphorus, especially here in North America, not really all that deficient 442 00:30:45,200 --> 00:30:48,160 in most soils, and a lot of places, municipalities and so forth have 443 00:30:48,279 --> 00:30:53,039 actually banned high phosphorus fertilizer because the runoff is leading to algae blooms. So 444 00:30:53,079 --> 00:30:59,079 if you've been fertilizing with a conventional fertilizer that's high or even medium and phosphorus. 445 00:30:59,480 --> 00:31:03,799 One thing to consider is that it could actually be tying up the iron 446 00:31:03,920 --> 00:31:06,480 in your soil, in which case not even the iron that you apply is 447 00:31:06,559 --> 00:31:10,319 really going to have much effect. So I would say if you are fertilizing 448 00:31:10,359 --> 00:31:15,359 regularly with any kind of fertilizer that contains phosphorus, I would recommend backing off 449 00:31:15,400 --> 00:31:18,200 of that or switching to a fertilizer very low or hopefully non existent in phosphorus. 450 00:31:18,519 --> 00:31:22,200 Hopefully we'll get more options that way. As this is more awareness comes 451 00:31:22,200 --> 00:31:26,839 to this issue, So back off on the other fertilizer and CEF that helps. 452 00:31:26,839 --> 00:31:30,000 But don't worry, Eileen. I've seen the pictures of your plant and 453 00:31:30,079 --> 00:31:33,240 there's nothing to worry about. It's still a healthy, vigorous plant and should 454 00:31:33,240 --> 00:31:37,039 boom just fine this season. Coming up next week when we have veggie tails, 455 00:31:37,480 --> 00:31:44,680 we'll talk about the difference between magnesium and manganese and Stacy, I think 456 00:31:44,680 --> 00:31:48,000 you bring up a good point that people often overlook, and that is checking 457 00:31:48,359 --> 00:31:52,400 the soil pH Yeah, oh yeah, that's always important too. All right, 458 00:31:52,440 --> 00:31:55,799 listen, thank you so much for all of your questions. We'd be 459 00:31:55,839 --> 00:31:59,079 happy to help you too. Just visit gardening Simplified OnAir, dot com and 460 00:31:59,160 --> 00:32:02,640 contact us when we come back. We have got a special guest and he's 461 00:32:02,640 --> 00:32:07,079 going to tell us all about gardening in the South Soap. Please stay tuned. 462 00:32:12,640 --> 00:32:15,839 The Gardening Simplified Show is brought to you by Proven Winners Color Choice Shrubs. 463 00:32:16,240 --> 00:32:21,559 Our award winning flowering shrubs and evergreens have been trialed and tested for your 464 00:32:21,640 --> 00:32:25,480 success so you enjoy more beauty and less work. Look for Proven Winners Color 465 00:32:25,559 --> 00:32:32,319 Choice Shrubs in the distinctive white container at your local garden center. It's time 466 00:32:32,359 --> 00:32:37,440 for branching news. Here from Studio A at Proven Winners Color Choice Shrubs, 467 00:32:37,640 --> 00:32:45,559 and today an interview with doctor Judson Lecompte. Judson is a product development manager 468 00:32:45,640 --> 00:32:50,079 for Proven Winners and one of those people who's traveling North America and the rest 469 00:32:50,079 --> 00:32:53,559 of the world looking for great shrubs for gardeners. Judson, it's pleasure to 470 00:32:53,599 --> 00:32:55,759 have you on the show. It's great to be here. Oh this is 471 00:32:55,799 --> 00:33:00,480 fun. I tell you what research and development you know, research and development 472 00:33:00,559 --> 00:33:05,279 in plants. Maybe this doesn't isn't on a lot of people's radar, but 473 00:33:05,759 --> 00:33:12,519 it's uh. It's an investment and your work essentially is to be innovative, 474 00:33:12,799 --> 00:33:15,400 right it is. We want to find the best genetics from around the world, 475 00:33:15,640 --> 00:33:19,839 bring them back here to spring Meadow, evaluate them, see how well 476 00:33:19,880 --> 00:33:23,240 they do, and then hopefully get them into the catalog. So innovation Judgson 477 00:33:23,279 --> 00:33:27,440 in other roods, Would it be fair for me to say that you're a 478 00:33:27,519 --> 00:33:30,920 risk taker? Very much? So? I think to travel certainly as a 479 00:33:30,920 --> 00:33:34,960 horticulturists. Most horticultureists like to stay put. They'd like to stay with their 480 00:33:35,000 --> 00:33:38,079 plants, But I love to travel. I got some really scary stories on 481 00:33:38,079 --> 00:33:42,640 that. For I want to hear the almost got blown up in Turkey one 482 00:33:42,640 --> 00:33:46,079 time. Yeah, that's scary. That was an adventure, made it out 483 00:33:46,079 --> 00:33:52,359 of that. Okay, my mom maybe lost a few years from that one. 484 00:33:52,240 --> 00:33:57,000 But no, we are always hunting for the best new plants. Will 485 00:33:57,079 --> 00:34:00,559 take risks on plant generas that a lot of companies just wouldn't, you know. 486 00:34:00,599 --> 00:34:06,279 We certainly focus on our major categories like hydrangea and ladilla and roses, 487 00:34:06,880 --> 00:34:09,400 but we want to stretch and press the boundaries a little bit and offer people 488 00:34:10,039 --> 00:34:15,360 a few newer genetics that they might not be exposed to. So no, 489 00:34:15,679 --> 00:34:20,280 I detected a bit of a southern accent. Yes, yes, And so 490 00:34:20,360 --> 00:34:24,800 I know that one of your roles here is specifically trying to expand the Southern 491 00:34:24,840 --> 00:34:29,519 plants for proven winners color trade shrubs. And you know, because of the 492 00:34:29,519 --> 00:34:31,079 podcast and the YouTube show, we have listeners from all over the country and 493 00:34:31,119 --> 00:34:37,519 they were frequently asked to give a little more love to those in hotter climates. 494 00:34:37,039 --> 00:34:40,280 And along those lines, I've always wanted to ask you, like, 495 00:34:40,679 --> 00:34:44,840 what, now that you've lived in Michigan for three years, what do you 496 00:34:45,000 --> 00:34:50,880 miss most and least about gardening in the South? Oh man, what do 497 00:34:50,920 --> 00:34:53,679 I miss most? Is it camelias? Because that's probably what I'd say it 498 00:34:53,800 --> 00:34:59,159 is. So my PhD was actually in Chamelias. So I studied tea production 499 00:34:59,719 --> 00:35:04,079 for Mississippi actually when I was in Mississippi. Um, but as an Alabama 500 00:35:04,119 --> 00:35:07,679 boy, of course, as camellias, it is our state flower. Oddly 501 00:35:07,760 --> 00:35:13,239 enough, not native, beautiful, beautiful. A lot of chameilias came in 502 00:35:13,239 --> 00:35:15,519 and out of the port of Mobile. So that's why chameilias are very important 503 00:35:15,559 --> 00:35:22,440 to Alabama. Well, I misleast definitely the weed pressure. Weed pressure up 504 00:35:22,480 --> 00:35:28,480 here is much lower. Um. I was hoping I wouldn't have um nuts 505 00:35:28,559 --> 00:35:34,119 edge, but we still have that. We got no judgson. Is it 506 00:35:34,199 --> 00:35:37,320 true in Alabama that if you're on a country road parked at a stop sign 507 00:35:37,639 --> 00:35:40,480 at the cuds, if you sit there too long, the kudzoo will grow 508 00:35:40,480 --> 00:35:44,519 into your through your window. Yes, maybe it may just come in there, 509 00:35:44,639 --> 00:35:46,000 reach in and grab you. You know, kuds is actually not as 510 00:35:46,039 --> 00:35:49,639 bad as we once thought it was. Um. You know, we always 511 00:35:49,639 --> 00:35:51,920 say it's the vine that ate this out. I'm not saying that it's so 512 00:35:51,960 --> 00:35:53,679 good. It was a good plant choice, um, but it does like 513 00:35:53,760 --> 00:35:59,000 being in those disturbed areas, so edges of forests, roadways things like that, 514 00:35:59,599 --> 00:36:01,679 um, which is where we see it because we're most rat so it's 515 00:36:01,719 --> 00:36:06,719 not going into the forest and really not like valuable natural areas as much as 516 00:36:06,840 --> 00:36:08,679 people would assume an invasive plant. Yes, but it was brought in to 517 00:36:08,800 --> 00:36:14,480 be with erosion control and be cattle feed. But it doesn't have a very 518 00:36:14,480 --> 00:36:16,280 extensive root system and cattle don't like to eat it, so well that's a 519 00:36:16,280 --> 00:36:22,000 problem. Yeah, but it does grow exceptionally fast feet a day, so 520 00:36:22,079 --> 00:36:27,719 wow, that's that's impressive. So you know, as you look at bringing 521 00:36:27,960 --> 00:36:30,480 more southern or hot climate not just southern because I know you're looking at plants 522 00:36:30,519 --> 00:36:35,320 from you know, Mexico and plants that are appropriate for arid climates as well. 523 00:36:36,440 --> 00:36:40,000 What do you think are some of the most exciting introductions that we've made 524 00:36:40,039 --> 00:36:44,360 in the proof of Warner's color choice line that people in warmer climates should be 525 00:36:44,400 --> 00:36:47,199 aware of. So I'm very, very excited about the bouvardia that we're coming 526 00:36:47,199 --> 00:36:51,000 out with. We've got a few different bouvardias still on trial, so there's 527 00:36:51,039 --> 00:36:55,239 more coming. But the first was Estralada little star just flowers its head off 528 00:36:55,280 --> 00:36:58,840 all summer. As long as it's warm, it's going to be in full 529 00:36:58,840 --> 00:37:02,639 flower. And talk about hummingbird magnet. So most people don't know buvaria. 530 00:37:02,760 --> 00:37:05,440 If they know what, they know it as a cut flower. For me, 531 00:37:05,480 --> 00:37:08,800 it was a completely new genera as well, so as a cut flower 532 00:37:09,039 --> 00:37:13,920 commonly used in Europe. In the Netherlands they grow it, but it gets 533 00:37:13,920 --> 00:37:17,920 like six feet tall in the wild. It's from Texas Mountains of Texas, 534 00:37:17,960 --> 00:37:23,000 Mexico, Central America, but it grows in very dry, arid deserts. 535 00:37:23,000 --> 00:37:27,079 I was just in Chihuahua and you could see it growing on the side of 536 00:37:27,119 --> 00:37:30,960 cliffs and hat and rained in months and just tough as now. Well, 537 00:37:31,000 --> 00:37:37,639 seeing it in the wild is never a problem because it's flowers a scream out 538 00:37:37,280 --> 00:37:39,199 from the landscape. And that's one of the reasons that the common name, 539 00:37:39,239 --> 00:37:44,119 since people don't necessarily know Buvardia, the common name we've given it is firecracker 540 00:37:44,119 --> 00:37:46,719 bush. Yes, because the flowers do kind of they got like a star 541 00:37:46,840 --> 00:37:50,760 like quality. They come in a little cluster. Well, it's nice like 542 00:37:50,800 --> 00:37:53,000 a firework. Two. When they open, they're going to open an orangish 543 00:37:53,039 --> 00:37:57,119 red and then they fade the insides due to a light pink, so you 544 00:37:57,159 --> 00:38:00,320 get a little colored contract. So I've grown est eat a little star our 545 00:38:00,400 --> 00:38:05,719 introduction of Bouvardia as a container plant on my patio because if the color is 546 00:38:05,760 --> 00:38:08,920 so irresistible, And even though I started with a little tiny court, it 547 00:38:09,239 --> 00:38:13,719 really quickly grew went on to flower like a lot like a mandevilla. You 548 00:38:13,760 --> 00:38:17,559 know, Mandevilla's have become really popular as like backyard container plants. I really 549 00:38:17,639 --> 00:38:21,639 think there's a lot of potential. And what I love the most about it 550 00:38:21,679 --> 00:38:24,000 is it attracted a ton of houmny yards. Yes, and the ticket with 551 00:38:24,119 --> 00:38:28,960 it is is to just grow it dry so again from the desert. So 552 00:38:28,960 --> 00:38:30,400 we want to treat it like we would a butterfly bush or a budleia. 553 00:38:30,519 --> 00:38:34,920 We want to have super well drained soil. And a lot of people may 554 00:38:34,960 --> 00:38:37,480 think I lost my budleia over winter because it wasn't cold hearty. Well, 555 00:38:37,480 --> 00:38:43,119 it was really that it died from being too wet. Yeah, so perfect 556 00:38:43,119 --> 00:38:46,599 plant if you're in a cooler region to use as a container plant stick in 557 00:38:46,679 --> 00:38:50,199 the garage in the winter and bring it back out in the spring. And 558 00:38:50,239 --> 00:38:53,159 what about your family in Alabama and the South would because they are a more 559 00:38:53,239 --> 00:38:57,519 humid climate. Is Bouvardia appropriate for them as well? It would be. 560 00:38:57,639 --> 00:39:00,480 They just really need to watch out. I've told Mom and Dad got one, 561 00:39:00,559 --> 00:39:02,400 so like, don't plant it in the clay, you know, you 562 00:39:02,440 --> 00:39:07,119 want to have it in well drained soil, just so that you can make 563 00:39:07,119 --> 00:39:08,760 it through the winter. Right, that's the biggest clue, the biggest issue 564 00:39:08,800 --> 00:39:14,199 for sure. That's fantastic. We're chatting with doctor Judson Lecomte. He is 565 00:39:14,239 --> 00:39:19,280 a product development manager for Proven Winners. Here at Proven Winners Color Choice Shrubs 566 00:39:19,320 --> 00:39:23,239 and Judson a question for you, and that is in twenty twenty. Twenty 567 00:39:23,280 --> 00:39:28,519 twenty one, we saw a lot of new gardeners join into the ranks of 568 00:39:28,559 --> 00:39:32,960 those who love what it is we do. And as a product development manager, 569 00:39:34,000 --> 00:39:37,719 as someone who goes out and seeks new varieties of plants, you're like 570 00:39:37,760 --> 00:39:44,159 a rock stuck. So my question for you would be that the characteristics you're 571 00:39:44,159 --> 00:39:45,840 looking for for me, off the top of my head, I would say 572 00:39:45,840 --> 00:39:52,960 the top three characteristics would be deer resistance, fragrance, and heat. Would 573 00:39:52,960 --> 00:39:57,000 you agree with that or am I missing something? No? I think those 574 00:39:57,000 --> 00:39:59,559 are very good boxes to check. We have a lot of different things that 575 00:39:59,599 --> 00:40:02,119 we look for or plants and upcoming trends. One of the big trends that 576 00:40:02,159 --> 00:40:07,079 I'm looking at now is that my generation is finally able to purchase a home, 577 00:40:07,639 --> 00:40:12,840 even though interest rates aren't so great. Yeah, so they're finally able 578 00:40:12,880 --> 00:40:15,920 to purchase a home. They've had house plants, certainly through the pandemic. 579 00:40:15,960 --> 00:40:20,119 They needed something to do. They were able to educate themselves, they had 580 00:40:20,159 --> 00:40:23,480 time to research about a plant, so they brought them inside. Big foliage, 581 00:40:23,679 --> 00:40:29,119 bright foliage. I think that's now going to transfer outdoors. So as 582 00:40:29,280 --> 00:40:32,360 we're able to buy houses, we're going to be looking for more foliage color, 583 00:40:32,599 --> 00:40:37,519 larger foliage, glossy things, so trying to find that tropical look and 584 00:40:37,679 --> 00:40:40,760 extend that to colder regions. I'm definitely hunting for plants to fit that niche. 585 00:40:42,480 --> 00:40:47,400 But edibles also very important. Certainly when there's times of financial worry, 586 00:40:47,840 --> 00:40:52,360 people turn to edibles very quickly. They just feel some peace of mind having 587 00:40:53,199 --> 00:40:57,519 something produced from home. Do you, by the way, do you have 588 00:40:57,559 --> 00:41:00,760 a favorite season? Oh, let's see, I know that's a tough question. 589 00:41:01,000 --> 00:41:05,400 Is you have a favorite season of year? What is definitely not winter? 590 00:41:06,880 --> 00:41:10,639 Okay? You know when first moved here and a first node, he 591 00:41:10,800 --> 00:41:13,599 I was like, so what do you think? He's like, I love 592 00:41:13,639 --> 00:41:16,440 it. It's so no right, and you have you And I was like, 593 00:41:16,480 --> 00:41:20,320 okay, your first snowfall maybe a little exciting, but talk to me 594 00:41:20,360 --> 00:41:22,639 in March. Okay, So the snow I still love. I still like 595 00:41:22,760 --> 00:41:28,480 the snow. I find pleasure from shoveling my driveway. Oh okay, I 596 00:41:28,960 --> 00:41:31,599 feel a sense of accomplishment when I'm done. I can see the progress. 597 00:41:31,679 --> 00:41:37,280 Yea. Um. But yeah, the like fourteen days of sun over winter, 598 00:41:38,239 --> 00:41:42,199 not about that, not about that life. But I will say it's 599 00:41:42,239 --> 00:41:46,599 the best spring, summer, and fall I've ever had. Is it worth 600 00:41:46,599 --> 00:41:50,320 it or you're still jury's still out on that it's worth it. Because if 601 00:41:50,320 --> 00:41:52,519 you're in Alabama right now, I'll call this summer winter right so, it's 602 00:41:52,559 --> 00:41:55,360 so hot you don't even want to go outside, so you're staying inside. 603 00:41:55,400 --> 00:41:59,400 So I actually spend more time outside in Michigan than I ever did in this 604 00:41:59,480 --> 00:42:00,599 so interesting because I think people just think, oh, well, you can 605 00:42:00,639 --> 00:42:05,400 be outside all winter and it's totally great. Yes you can. It could 606 00:42:05,400 --> 00:42:10,039 be ninety at Christmas. Wow. Really, but I'm still I'm still not 607 00:42:10,159 --> 00:42:14,639 skiing. Everybody here tries to give me your skiing and snowboarding. I'm not 608 00:42:14,679 --> 00:42:19,599 trying to get sunny bonoed down the hill. That's not my thing. Yeah, 609 00:42:19,760 --> 00:42:22,000 I'm with you on that, but I know you also said that we're 610 00:42:22,000 --> 00:42:24,840 talking about favorite season, not your least favorite. But one thing that really 611 00:42:24,840 --> 00:42:29,760 interested me that you said over winters here is that the winter is not so 612 00:42:29,840 --> 00:42:32,559 brown. Yes, the winter is very green here. So for us in 613 00:42:32,599 --> 00:42:37,320 the South, all of our in this mostly relies around turf grass, unfortunately, 614 00:42:37,360 --> 00:42:39,840 but all of our turf grass goes dormant, and so it turns brown. 615 00:42:40,159 --> 00:42:44,599 And because we use cool season grasses here, as soon as the snow 616 00:42:44,639 --> 00:42:49,320 goes away, it's bright and green and everything's crisp. And I get to 617 00:42:49,360 --> 00:42:55,280 have really great bulbs here down south. You know, your tulip will come 618 00:42:55,360 --> 00:42:59,760 up even the first year and it's kind of wonky looking off to the side. 619 00:43:00,360 --> 00:43:01,320 It's true, the blobs are pretty good, because I mean, there's 620 00:43:01,440 --> 00:43:05,639 very few plants that are as rewarding. Right you put them in the ground, 621 00:43:05,920 --> 00:43:07,199 they go out for years, they look amazing. You look forward to 622 00:43:07,280 --> 00:43:12,679 them. I was never a paeony fan, but now I've grown to really 623 00:43:12,679 --> 00:43:17,039 appreciate paeonies. So, yeah, what about lilacs. Yeah, you can 624 00:43:17,079 --> 00:43:20,639 be honest, it's okay. It's so still not a fan of the lilac. 625 00:43:21,559 --> 00:43:23,880 When we go and we evaluate plants every week, and we go and 626 00:43:23,920 --> 00:43:30,199 look at whatever's looking great that week in our trials, and so of course 627 00:43:30,280 --> 00:43:32,920 early in spring we go and look at lilacs, and I always try to 628 00:43:32,920 --> 00:43:37,360 travel that week. Don't don't tell the bosses. I always try to travel 629 00:43:37,400 --> 00:43:40,519 that week because the fragrance is so strong. It actually makes me a little 630 00:43:40,599 --> 00:43:45,119 nauseous. It gives me a headache, it makes me nauseous. But everybody 631 00:43:45,440 --> 00:43:47,920 from the North is so excited to gre and evaluate him, and as one 632 00:43:47,960 --> 00:43:52,239 of two Southern people here, it just makes me a little bit nauseous. 633 00:43:52,280 --> 00:43:58,360 But now Guardenia Week all about Guardenia Week. So the guardenias are in full 634 00:43:58,400 --> 00:44:00,559 flower right now in the greenhouse. Theyll amazed. I agree, they smell 635 00:44:00,599 --> 00:44:05,960 amazing. It's just what you're raced with and what you know, childhood fragrances. 636 00:44:06,079 --> 00:44:07,840 Sure, and you know, I have heard from so many gardeners who 637 00:44:07,880 --> 00:44:12,039 have moved to the South or California and they're just like, please tell me 638 00:44:12,079 --> 00:44:15,320 I can grow with lilac, And well you can. The bloomerings, I 639 00:44:15,320 --> 00:44:17,320 mean, do really well in the heat if you're gonna if you're gonna shoot 640 00:44:17,320 --> 00:44:22,000 for a lilac, right, not the strong super fragrance, but really good 641 00:44:22,039 --> 00:44:25,400 repeat bloom and get the color. The color can handle heat. And you 642 00:44:25,400 --> 00:44:28,599 can always have lilocks as a cut flower. If you live in a hot 643 00:44:28,639 --> 00:44:31,000 climate and can't grow, yeah, well I'll plan on not bumping into you 644 00:44:31,079 --> 00:44:37,880 at the Lilac Festival year on the East coast. Yeah. Along that line, 645 00:44:37,880 --> 00:44:40,760 though, Judson, again as an individual who travels the world and is 646 00:44:40,840 --> 00:44:46,119 interested in developing new plant varieties. When I interview folks in the industry, 647 00:44:46,199 --> 00:44:50,000 I always like to put them on the spot and have them give me two 648 00:44:50,079 --> 00:44:54,440 plants that are your favorites that you can share with our YouTube viewers, with 649 00:44:54,519 --> 00:45:00,920 our listeners. Two favorites, folks, listen up, He's gonna share two 650 00:45:00,000 --> 00:45:06,039 favorites with us that you should have in your yard. Okay, So off 651 00:45:06,079 --> 00:45:12,840 the top, Um, I have always loved Catinus Winecraft black. The foliage 652 00:45:12,840 --> 00:45:17,400 color has always been great. When when you first start here in the company, 653 00:45:17,440 --> 00:45:21,840 to ask you what your favorite plane is on easy, Um, it's 654 00:45:21,840 --> 00:45:24,440 just the color is so nice. You can prune it hard, you can 655 00:45:24,559 --> 00:45:29,000 do whatever you want to get the nice smoke. And so for our audience, 656 00:45:29,039 --> 00:45:30,880 this is a smoke bush. Sorry, no, it's okay. You 657 00:45:30,920 --> 00:45:34,320 says cool like I do the same thing. But so smoke wush and people 658 00:45:34,360 --> 00:45:37,039 know smoke bush because but winecraft black really does it want better with that with 659 00:45:37,119 --> 00:45:44,320 that dark foliage color. Um. But as a personal hobby, my grandmother 660 00:45:44,360 --> 00:45:51,000 was a dailily collector and hybridizer, and so wow, I continue I continue 661 00:45:51,639 --> 00:45:55,960 love dailies. I moved from the South with a U haul ful and but 662 00:45:57,360 --> 00:46:00,559 what do you like about daylilies? They're tough, toughest nails except for the 663 00:46:00,559 --> 00:46:04,519 deer. Except for the deer. Um. Likely I have a fence in 664 00:46:04,519 --> 00:46:07,239 backyard, so that's good. UM. But you can grow them in concrete. 665 00:46:08,199 --> 00:46:12,880 You can grow them from coast to coast, north to south. UM. 666 00:46:13,000 --> 00:46:15,840 And I can breed those. So if I breed a shrub, you 667 00:46:15,880 --> 00:46:20,960 know, I feel responsibly that should give it to spring meadow. Okay, 668 00:46:21,000 --> 00:46:23,440 gotcha, you know day lily. I could take that. I still go 669 00:46:23,519 --> 00:46:27,880 into proven winter. Right, So what UM like? What style of daylilies 670 00:46:27,880 --> 00:46:32,000 do you like? UM? I tend to like diploids, so just because 671 00:46:32,159 --> 00:46:36,039 what does that mean for um? So this is going to be generally smaller 672 00:46:36,079 --> 00:46:39,840 flowered, UM, but more flowers UM. And then your tetraploids will have 673 00:46:39,920 --> 00:46:45,079 larger flowers, larger foliage, but generally less flowers. They're the bigger show 674 00:46:45,119 --> 00:46:50,199 your ones, right. UM. So I can't grow day lilies because of 675 00:46:50,199 --> 00:46:53,039 the deer. And that's fine because I they're definitely not my favorite plant. 676 00:46:53,320 --> 00:46:58,159 But if I did, if I if I could grow one, if I 677 00:46:58,199 --> 00:47:00,679 could grow one, I would grow automniac because I love like those really tall 678 00:47:01,360 --> 00:47:06,079 really open flowers, and I hear those aren't really like fashionable, they're not 679 00:47:06,159 --> 00:47:10,920 fashionable. Um right now, I'm my two favorite, going bananas. Yeah 680 00:47:12,000 --> 00:47:16,519 that's first to bloom every spring. It's a simple yellow, but it flowers 681 00:47:16,719 --> 00:47:22,840 its head off and then tiger swirl. Oh yeah, honking big flower, 682 00:47:22,239 --> 00:47:28,159 really really big big. There's some Alabama for you, really really big flowers 683 00:47:28,199 --> 00:47:30,599 and flowers on a on a large scape as well, so nice. Yeah. 684 00:47:30,639 --> 00:47:34,960 I uh. Years ago, I was talking to someone from Provomer's Perennials 685 00:47:35,000 --> 00:47:39,519 and they said that going Bananas dailily got its name from the breeder's wife because 686 00:47:40,039 --> 00:47:43,280 you know, she was like walking into the house and she said, oh 687 00:47:43,320 --> 00:47:45,559 man, that new yellow dailily you're working on is going bananas out there, 688 00:47:46,039 --> 00:47:49,920 and that was how it got its name. It doesn't surprise me that you 689 00:47:50,079 --> 00:47:55,639 like the taller daililies because Judson she uses words like clumpy, doesn't like like 690 00:47:55,639 --> 00:47:59,519 like garden mums. Right, yeah, I'm not the big I like. 691 00:47:59,679 --> 00:48:04,719 I like plants with spaces. Yeah, I coins into light the meatballs. 692 00:48:05,400 --> 00:48:07,519 There's something for everybody, right, I know. Yeah, she's got the 693 00:48:08,519 --> 00:48:14,719 naturalistic look and I want mine. It's good. It's all good. Yeah, 694 00:48:14,760 --> 00:48:16,440 you know what, that's the great thing about gardening is there's something for 695 00:48:16,480 --> 00:48:22,719 everybody, and everybody's taste and preferences can be accommodated. And if your taste 696 00:48:22,719 --> 00:48:25,280 and preferences changed, you can always just change your garden. Yes, it's 697 00:48:25,320 --> 00:48:29,880 like so dynamic. You're never yes, hide from trees, you're really not 698 00:48:30,039 --> 00:48:32,400 very locked in. And even then, well, even then, so um. 699 00:48:32,559 --> 00:48:36,239 I have a very good friend in Tennessee, Miss Eleanor Fries. She 700 00:48:36,280 --> 00:48:38,159 was one hundred and three years old. She was a conifer collector. Um. 701 00:48:38,360 --> 00:48:43,639 She's an amazing person and one of her favorite sayings was if she dies, 702 00:48:43,800 --> 00:48:47,199 she dies, and that was her motto. With gardening. You get 703 00:48:47,239 --> 00:48:50,639 it, you plan it. If it dies, it dies, do your 704 00:48:50,679 --> 00:48:53,519 research, do make a knowledgeable choice, and try to put the plant in 705 00:48:53,519 --> 00:48:57,199 the right place. But you got to realize we're working with a living thing, 706 00:48:57,239 --> 00:49:00,480 and sometimes it just doesn't work out. I agree. Always said, 707 00:49:00,519 --> 00:49:02,320 if you haven't killed any plants, you're not trying hard. Yeah, you're 708 00:49:02,320 --> 00:49:07,400 not a real horroriculturist. You know how many plants we gosh? I know 709 00:49:07,440 --> 00:49:12,719 we're all like looking at each other suspiciously, like it's our personal our personal 710 00:49:12,760 --> 00:49:17,440 plants better be tough exactly, but aside from clumpy plants, and what do 711 00:49:17,519 --> 00:49:22,760 you call them? Judgson? Meatballs, meat meat honking meatballs. Hankins, 712 00:49:22,960 --> 00:49:28,280 Yeah, Hankins. Question for you. A plant helped me out here. 713 00:49:28,320 --> 00:49:31,639 And by the way, we're we're chatting with doctor Judson Lecompton. He is 714 00:49:31,679 --> 00:49:37,960 a product development manager here for proven winners Color Choice Shrubs. Judson, just 715 00:49:37,360 --> 00:49:43,239 a quick comment on using native plants in the landscape, because you know there's 716 00:49:43,280 --> 00:49:45,880 so many great new varieties. Now, how do you feel about me? 717 00:49:46,320 --> 00:49:51,280 I love native plants. Actually, during my master's research, I work with 718 00:49:51,320 --> 00:49:55,280 a forest service I'm working with Sarah Sny or a pitcher plant um Sara Senny 719 00:49:55,320 --> 00:50:00,920 or Rubro where we are or where he's pitcher plant um to propagate from a 720 00:50:00,119 --> 00:50:04,880 bog that they couldn't incorporate fire into. So fire is very important in southern 721 00:50:05,599 --> 00:50:08,360 forests, and so we actually propagated that and got it into a bog that 722 00:50:08,440 --> 00:50:13,079 they could manage, and so that population is now flowering and reproducing. So 723 00:50:13,440 --> 00:50:17,199 very passionate about native plants. The only problem with native plants is that they've 724 00:50:17,320 --> 00:50:22,000 not been developed for long, or if they have been, it's been in 725 00:50:22,079 --> 00:50:27,960 Europe. So we'll travel to Europe often to find our natives that have had 726 00:50:28,079 --> 00:50:31,559 breeding work done to them to have better habit, better size, more uniform 727 00:50:31,639 --> 00:50:37,199 that we would look for in a horticultural plant. You look at roses or 728 00:50:37,280 --> 00:50:40,800 hydranges, they've had hundreds and hundreds of years of breeding and improvement where a 729 00:50:40,880 --> 00:50:45,639 lot of our natives haven't. So it gives us a great opportunity to find 730 00:50:45,679 --> 00:50:50,440 some really awesome natives and that we see every day and just underappreciate. Sure, 731 00:50:50,719 --> 00:50:54,400 we know the demand is continuing to grow for native plants, but I 732 00:50:54,480 --> 00:50:59,519 don't want us to get one sided either. It's about having a diverse landscape. 733 00:51:00,079 --> 00:51:05,360 Um. You know, if we if we were to only eat the 734 00:51:05,519 --> 00:51:09,639 plants from northern Africa, where people originated from, we would be very limited 735 00:51:10,199 --> 00:51:16,079 in our diet. So insects and pollinators and birds, they eat a lot 736 00:51:16,119 --> 00:51:20,039 of different things, not just native things. UM, don't see me hate 737 00:51:20,079 --> 00:51:23,880 mail. But it's about having a diverse landscape full of natives as well. 738 00:51:24,079 --> 00:51:29,960 Do you have a favorite place to travel too in your work? If you 739 00:51:30,039 --> 00:51:31,599 were to pick one, sing, yeah, this is on the agenda. 740 00:51:31,840 --> 00:51:37,639 I'm I love going Asia is very fun I like Asia a lot. M 741 00:51:37,320 --> 00:51:40,280 The food is good, the people are good. Um. For me, 742 00:51:40,599 --> 00:51:45,199 it is. The plants are very important, but I'm like a talent agent. 743 00:51:45,320 --> 00:51:49,800 The people are so important for me. I want I want our breeders 744 00:51:49,840 --> 00:51:53,760 to be successful. I want to promote them as much as possible. And 745 00:51:53,920 --> 00:51:58,199 so you make friends everywhere you go. So there's not a bad place, 746 00:51:58,719 --> 00:52:00,599 Um, when you're dealing with plant people. That's true. I agree. 747 00:52:01,039 --> 00:52:05,400 Well, it's been a pleasure to get to know you, Judson and having 748 00:52:05,480 --> 00:52:08,880 you join us here on the Gardening Simplified Show. I call it a kick 749 00:52:08,920 --> 00:52:13,960 in the plants, but it's always fun to meet people like you. You're 750 00:52:14,000 --> 00:52:17,440 just so enthusiastic about plants and we learn from you, and thanks for all 751 00:52:17,480 --> 00:52:20,960 the work you do. Well, thank you, it's great to be here. 752 00:52:21,400 --> 00:52:23,239 Well, I think Judson said it best. Plant people are the best 753 00:52:23,320 --> 00:52:27,559 people. That means you, that means Adriana, that means all of you 754 00:52:27,760 --> 00:52:30,519 too, So thank you so much for listening, and we will see you 755 00:52:30,639 --> 00:52:30,960 next week.