Coming to you from Studio A at Proven Winners Color Choice Shrubs. It's time
for the Gardening Simplified Show with Stacey Hervella, me, Rick Weist, and
our engineer and producer Adrianna Robinson. So today Stacey, we talk about the
decorators, the people who just want to decorate with plants. Forget the science,
forget the origin of the plant, forget the rules. It's all about
decorating. And I loved these people when I owned and ran a garden center,
I loved the decorators. They were some of our best customers. Well,
you know, you've got to love a person who comes in with a
vision. You know, they want the color that they want, They've got
an idea, and all they want is to just get in, get out,
and get that stuff in the ground and make it look pretty exactly.
It's understanding your garden style. It allows you to narrow down your plant selection,
flower choices and design elements that best suit your personal taste or the personal
taste of the individual you're working for. Now. Often in the garden,
I recommend working in threes. Three is an easy number, it's not overwhelming,
it looks natural, and you can basically decide on a color scheme and
mood you want to convey. That's what I liked about the decorators. They
had an idea of what they wanted before they got to the garden center.
Then they took plants and put them in groupings of three on their carts,
knowing where they were going and what they were going to do, what they
wanted to accomplish. Is kind of like you Stacey with your mom on Mother's
Day weekend, right, Yeah, you know. But I do have to
say it is great if you go into the garden center with that mentality,
but I don't. I actually don't. I don't go I have an idea
of what I want, but you always have to keep your options open.
So I want to say that, you know, even though we're talking about
this idea of being a decorator and going in there and being confident and you
know, just having this this drive to make it about the color and about
accentuating your space, much like an interior decorator would, it's okay if you're
not that. You know, there's there's These are both valid ways to shop.
And I think that a lot of people who you know, we've talked
a lot recently about reluctant gardeners or hesitant gardeners, scared gardeners taking that decorator
aspect, like you don't go into you know, like home Goods or some
store like that, afraid that you're going to pick the wrong throw pillow for
your sofa. You just pick the pillow and if it doesn't work out,
well, then it doesn't work out. It's not that way. You have
a deal. You can take that same approach with gardening exactly. Now I've
used for folks who aren't necessarily decorators or designers, I've used proven plant pairings.
So we'll have this link at the website Gardening Simplified on air dot com.
But it's proven plant pairings and essentially you take a simple four step quiz.
So I took the quiz yesterday. I went with pink and orange only
because I love that combination. And the recommendation after taking the quiz was miss
Molly, butterfly bush at last rose and color coded orange orange, you awesome
cone flower. And I thought that was great. So then I took the
quiz again four steps, this time putting in another combination I love blue and
yellow, and I got this recommendation Decadence, false Indigo, stand by me
Clematis and Tuscan gold sunflower. Both of them worked. Oh I love both
of those worked. One of those plants and so fun to do that.
Now. Another thing that you can do is you can also use a recipe
search Proven Winners makes that available to you. As a matter of fact,
when I went to it the other day, I saw that there were over
one thousand, two hundred combinations. Fantastic. For example, I was drawn
to a re called home Style, and we're gonna put that link in the
show notes. Home style included a plant I know you love, Stacy Vermillionaire
firecracker plant kuf oh, I love it, gotta have it every year,
Calibricoa tropical sunrise, color Blaze Colius, Sedona Sunset, super Tuna, Bermuda
beach and Illusion Pennilaz sweet Potato vine. And of course that combination Stacy uses
a plant that I recommend if you want to have decorating style in your landscape
this summer, the Colius, the color blade Blaze, Colius. It's almost
like I liken it to painting a wall or putting up wallpaper. It is
that foliage provides season long color. You know, colias are such a great
choice no matter what your gardening skill level is. And I'm thinking right now
of my mom, who hopefully we will be able to find these colius that
she likes to put in her front planners. Every year she picks these dark
red kind of colius, and we've used a couple of different ones that we've
been able to find, and she puts them in two great, big containers
on either side of the garage and they echo the color of her front door.
And she has had people stop their cars and ask her what they were
because they look so beautiful and they have just the right conditions. She waters
them, she fertilizes them, and I mean she looks like a rockstar gardener,
and she, you know, is not quite that. Love you Mom,
but I think she'd be the first to admit that. But like she
loves how great they make the yard look. And all she had to do
was again pick up on that color of the front door, find that in
the colius, and run with it. And essentially that's the goal of proven
Winner's plant genetics, and that is the plants are going to perform for you,
make you look like a rock star make you look like a decorator.
And I think Colius is ideal. Again when I first came in, not
to make myself look old here, but when I first came into the Garden
Center, Colius was only for shade. Oh yeah, that's it, and
you could only get Wizard mixed, and you could only you got it exactly
and just for the shade. Now you can grow them out in the full
sun. And of course the one in this mix, the color Blaze cos
Sodona mix. Boy, I love that. So the Container Garden recipe search
link is going to go on the show notes so that you can do the
same thing that I did here. And it's loads of fun even if you
don't act on these combinations, it's loads of fun just to search through them.
And you also don't have to take the whole combination. You know,
the one that you just listed sounds gorgeous, but that's like five different plants
exactly, you know, and you could certainly take bits and pieces of that.
And one of the really nice things about the proven Winner's combinations is it's
not just about the colors and the forms. They have attempted to match vigor
so that you don't have one plant that's completely overtaking everything else, and then
that makes it a high maintenance planting because you gotta pinch it, you gotta
prune it, and make sure it doesn't take over the whole container. So
they try to match plants with equal vigor. And so it's still a good
starting point even if you don't want to do all five plants. A super
important point. You are right on there, Stacey, because I take an
example of planting annuals in spring. I love the grass vertigo, but it's
very aggressive. You put super tunias with it, like bubblegum. They both
are very aggressive, so they manage to get along. So very very important.
You bet all right. I've got a decorator, limb a rick for
you. And as I said at the outset, having run and owned a
garden center, I love the decorators. I love these folks. Many of
them will walk into the garden center not looking like they're ready to sling around
bags of kalmanor nicely dressed, but they've got a plan, they know what
they want, and so here's my decorator, Limerick. My flowers are ideal,
my colors are surren My neighbors I impress, so drive by my address.
I live for curb appeal. My front walk is gold plate. I'll
never acclimate. My front door is jade green on the cover of a magazine
year round, I decorate my place has a pink trellis. My style is
well over zealous. You might call it vanity, this addictive insanity, but
I just think you're jealous. They say that I have a gift and others
got the short shrift. So each holiday I'll be giving subscriptions to Martha Stewart
Living to heal our neighborly rift. How is that that was wonderful? My
style is over zealous. You know, I love that because it fits you,
but it fits everybody because you know, you can go all the way
out when especially when it comes to annuals in the garden. Like it's so
you know, even if you don't like it, you only have to live
with it for like three months, and then by the end of the season,
you're like patting yourself on the thinking I'm going to do that again because
you realize, you know, going a little overboard is what you are supposed
to do with annuals. Stacy, do you ever put plants in pots?
And then two weeks later pull some out and move them. Oh heck,
yeah already. Oh yeah, of course they do say here, you know,
you don't. I think that there's a huge misconception and I feel like
I've said this before that gardeners get things right the first time, right,
And that's not the case at all gardeners. If gardeners are getting it right
the first time, it's only because they got it wrong the previous you know,
twenty seven times, and now they finally internalized it and can get it
right the first time. So yeah, I mean, there's no harm in
moving something even later on in the season if it's not working. Annuals are
very you know, amenable and very flexible like that, you bet. My
decorator friends, of course, no foliage is super important. We mentioned the
color blaze colius or things like hosta or lemon, coral seed them sun king
aurelia of course, ferns, cannas, hugh kuras love the heart to heart
kalladiums, what a great for decorating. You can go on and on,
and of course stacey grass is also the graceful grasses like fireworks, Queen king
or baby tut. I recently planted a favorite of mine vertigo and skyrocket.
And you can of course get perennial grasses to incorporate too, like prairie winds,
shy and sky Panicum. Just great plants for decorating. So try matching
some containers in your landscape. Favorite color you look for repetition in the landscape,
use window boxes and hanging baskets. And of course, Stacey, I
think hydranges and roses are perfect for decorating. They absolutely are. I want
to go back briefly. You mentioned King Queen and Prince Tut. Those are
papyrus, so like the same papyrus you learned about in elementary school with the
Egyptians, those are such a great choice. If you have one of those
containers, and we all have them, probably most of us do. You
bought this beautiful ceramic container and it has no drainage, and you think,
what do I do with it? Will you plant one of those tuts in
it? Because those can grow and standing water, they can grow in a
muddy soil. It will be all the better for it, And then you
know, talk about decorating. The reason we usually get attracted to those pots
is because they were so beautiful we couldn't resist them, and that's a great
choice for those containers with no drainage. You couldn't contain yourself exactly. So
there's so many great ones. I think easy color is important for decorating.
I got to give a shout out to Superbina verbinash because they have a color
range that's wide. They're very vigorous, so rock and Fuchia Salvia's so many
great plants to choose from, so little time. Speaking of which plant on
trial is next and we're going to see what plant Stacy Joe's to feature today
in our decorating show that's coming up next here on the Gardening Simplified Show.
Proven Winner's 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. You know I wanted to when we're talking about
decorating. You know, it's one thing to talk about decorating with annuals because
annuals are mostly just for decorating. You get your containers, you put them
on the deck where you're going to be enjoying, you know, the summer
and barbecues and all of that. But you know, when it comes to
perennials, shrubs and trees, those have an element of decorating as well.
And I know it's a lot higher stakes when you're investing a bigger commit into
you know, a shrub or perennial or a tree, and so that gives
people a lot of paralysis. And I think that a lot of that same
paralysis is what bleeds over into the annual shopping, even though again it's much
lower stake. So we understand how difficult that can be for people and how
many choices you have and you want to make the right choice. So we
have started a new playlist, a new feature on our YouTube channel that we're
calling Plant Panel, And what we do is we have people right in with
the places they need a plant suggested, a shrub, you know, suggested
for in their yard. They send a picture and a little description of you
know, what their situation is, sunshade, their hardiness, own obviously all
the things we'd need to know to recommend a plant, and then myself,
my colleague Natalie, and Christina we sit down and we all make our plant
recommendations and say why we have recommended those specific plants. Fun. It's almost
like a game show. It is a little bit like a game show and
the dating game or I don't know which game show Wood Squares. But it
has been really fun and it's a great opportunity for you to get some perspective
and ideas, and then you get three different ideas instead of just one.
You know, I have always I've always kind of dreaded when people have asked
plant recommendation questions because I'm like, well, I don't know what your style
is. You know. They never say like, oh I like this or
I love this color. They're just like, I don't know what to put
here. Help me, And this kind of gives us an opportunity to all
weigh in. We had a lot of fun doing it and we're going to
continue to do it. So you can check that out on our YouTube channel.
And if you want to submit your own garden for consideration by the plant
panel, you can just go to Provenwinner's Color Choice dot Com click the contact
tab. There is a special contact form just for plant panel in there,
so please, please please, if you're going to submit something for plant panel,
include a photo. It's so hard to try to suggest plants without a
photo because for me, you know, I like to pick up on those
cues of what's the house architecture, Look, what's the vibe, you know,
what else is there? And that to me helps me kind of create
that whole narrative. And I definitely in the plant panels we have done so
far, I have definitely created a narrative, probably more than the than the
askers have wanted. But in any case plant panel, but of course you
have to throw environment into that also when you're looking at these various plants.
I like a landscape to tell a story, and you know, I like
the stories behind plants, and that's why we do Plants on Trial in fact,
is so we can kind of tell the story behind the plants and tell
me all about the plants. Which brings me to today's Plants on Trial,
and that is Anna's magic ball arborviting. I love that plant. And I'm
going to challenge you a minute, and I'm going to say, let's go
right to the story of the individual who brought this plant to the market.
Yeah, it's kind of like this. Yeah, and I'm going to link
this in the show notes so you can actually read it yourself. But this
plant came to us from a former nurserate is now closed down, Van Vloten
Nursery in Canada. So Casey van Vloten, he was a nurseryman himself,
from a nursery family. Do you know him. I love that name.
Oh well, yeah, it's Dutch. He's Dutch. I love it.
And that's why I wanted you to go there. Okay, well, you
know nursery in the Dutch they kind of go hand in hand. I mean,
the Netherlands to this day is sort of the world capital of ornamental horticulture,
and it's why we also have so many nurseries here in West Michigan.
So because of the Dutch heritage. So Casey van Vloten selected this. And
even though the name is Anna's Magic Ball, the cultivar, so the trademark
name is Anna's Magic Ball, the cultivar is Anna van Vloten, and that
was named for his mother, and so we used the Anna's part in the
name and Anna's Magic Ball. It was the name that we chose, and
so I was looking up Anna because of course I wanted to make sure that
he was naming this for his mother and not someone else. And she was
indeed his mother, and she unfortunately passed away in two thousand and seven,
but lived a truly extraordinary life. I'm going to link her obituary in the
show notes at Gardening Simplified on air dot com so you can read it.
But you know, she was born and raised in the Netherlands. Her family
joined the resistance during World War Two, and she refused to sign a pledge
of loyalty to the Germans. And it's just it's a fantastic story. So,
uh, take a moment to read about the namesake Anna van Vloaton.
But you probably want to know what it looks like before you decide if you're
going to actually add this wonderful plant to your landscape. Now, I do
want to say I went. I really was like all of the plant choices
were churning in my head for the special decorating episode. You know, how
do I pick, like what's the most decorative? And yeah, my brain
immediately goes to hydrangeas Because I cannot tell you. Over the years, the
number of interior designers who have reached out two proven winners and asked for recommendations.
Oh, I'm an interior designer, and I'm going to I want to
see a Hydrangea from the window in the interior colors or this, and you
know which one would you choose? They get very you know, into the
color. So my first thought was Hydrangea's But then I thought, you know,
when you're when you're quote unquote decorating or landscaping with shrubs, do you
really want to invest in something that only looks good for a few months of
the year. And Hydrangees, for all of their wonderful qualities, they're kind
of like they got a little bit of a short windows in terms of,
you know, if you look at the whole year. Sure, And I
also want something that possibly I could put into a planter or yeah, so
lots of decorative choices as well, So I thought a lot. And I,
you know, usually try to save all the evergreens for winter plants on
trial when they make a little more sense. But no, I said,
I'm going with an evergreen because that is what you want when you are quote
decorating your garden with trees and shrubs is something that's going to provide year round
interest in year round beauty, and Ana's magic ball does that in a couple
of different ways. So it is an evergreen, it's an arbor id,
and it naturally grows with this just darling, round, dense shape and people
love that, right. I mean, you know when people see those like
tidy little evergreens, it's just like it's like seeing a puppy or a kitten
or something thing. It's like the plant version of that. They just go
crazy. It feels like all is well, everything's in order, right,
everything's just like it's it's tidy. They know that it's not going to like
grow out of control. They feel like they can predict what it's going to
do. And so in addition to that nice and tidy little shape, anath
magic ball arborviety is also right cold. Is that why it's called magic ball?
You can kind of predict what it's going to do. I didn't pick
up on that, but I like it. Does it predict the future?
I have not shaken it up to ask it, but uh, I forget
what the answers are. Answer is unclear at this time. Okay, proceeding
right, so it reaches two to three feet tall and wide, so a
really great and useful shape. And I think when you have this really tidy
kind of shape for landscaping, there's so many possibilities, and I think the
possibilities become a lot more obvious than if you have something where you don't really
know how will this look in the landscape. When you have this little kind
of like oversized bowling ball shape, it's a little bit easier to predict.
So classic choice would be, for example, planting it on either side of
your front porch, you know, one on either side of your steps or
something like that. But we have it planted in the trial gardens here as
kind of a low hedge with space in between them, and we put supertunias
between them, and so they kind of become like they're kind of rolling in
this frothy meadow of flowers, which is really pretty. You can plant them
closer together and get that kind of lumpy, undulating hedge look, and you
can plant my containers and that's what you were just talking about. It's fantastic.
And you know, some time ago we did a show on plants you
want to touch? Oh yeah, this is a plant that fits. It's
just so cute. It's so cute. And arbor vitis I feel like they're
always that kind of plant you want to touch because the way that their branches
grow, they're soft, they look kind of like coral, they're fragrant.
I mean, arborvity is an extremely touchable plant. And I you know,
in terms of seeing this in a container, I think it would be gorgeous
in an urn because it is kind of a smaller plant, and so an
urn would really help to you know, get it up higher into a visual
plane in your yard so you can see it a lot better. Classic a
pair of anas, magic bowl arboridi and urns on either side of your front
door would be beautiful if you want them there all year. Just of course,
make sure they are made out of a weatherproof material. It's not going
to leave you with soil on the on the ground in the middle of January
because it's all cracked and broken. Can I put Christmas lights on it?
Can you put Christmas lights on it? Can you? Ever? You know,
I think that's an underrated feature of plants for decorating. And I,
you know, I used to work at tevern on the Green restaurant a place
that was known for having like lights and just being really over the top,
and in my time there, I quickly discovered what a nightmare it is to
try to put lights on plants that don't really necessarily have a lot of structure.
I get those dwarf elbird of spruces and containers. Couldn't be easier,
you know, They're just that little triangle, and so Ana's magic ball is
similar. It's got that nice round shape. You can even use those net
lights and just kind of cast it right over there and it will make you
look like a professional. And that's you know, So that's another way that
you can use this plant to decorate. Now, it is hardy down to
USDA Zone three heat tolerant through USDA Zone eight, much more heat tolerant than
a lot of people had assumed arborvedy were. But Judson lacompt Are Southern native
and new plant director, new plant management director, he has he's grown it
successfully in Texas and is confident in that USDA Zone eight heat tolerance definitely is
gonna want mulch in that area. So Arburvidy in general have very shallow roots,
so mulch is very very helpful for keeping those roots cool and moist all
year round. But other than that, it's an easy to grow plant.
You're gonna grow it in more sun to part shade in the north, definitely
going part shade to shade if you're growing it in the south, just to
help keep it a little bit cooler. And of course, since it's an
arbovidy not terribly deer resistant, you do need to know that. But you
know, maybe if you don't have a terrible deer problem like Rick and I
do, then you might be able to get away with it and earns on
your front porch. They might not get that daring, but I think our
deer would probably be that daring they would treat themself. They certainly would.
So we're going to put the full details at our website, Gardening Simplified on
air dot com. Just click on the show notes, and of course if
you're watching YouTube, you'll see it all there. But you can see more
about it and of course read about the amazing life of Anna van Vloten,
the plant's namesake. We're going to take a little break. When we come
back, we're opening up the garden mailbag, so please stay tuned at proven
winner's color choice. We've got a shrub for every taste and every space.
Whether you're looking for an easy care rose and 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. Greetings gardening friends, and welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show,
where it is our pleasure to help our listeners out there with their gardening questions.
And if that is you, then you can reach us at Gardeningsimplified on
air dot com. There's a contact tab you can even attach a photo.
Write us at your gardening conundrum and we will be happy to help and give
you the resources you need to solve your problem, or fix the issue or
whatever. Clarify the issue very often. So what do we got in the
mail bag? First question here Stacy, Hi, Rick and Stacy. I
have a two inch caliper tree I just brought home from the nursery. During
the transport, some branches were damaged. If a branch broke near the middle,
should I prune it right at the break point or prune it back to
where the branch grew from or back to an outward facing bud. Boy,
this question is right in my wheelhouse, Stacey. Anyway, that number one,
I've loaded many trees in the cars over the years, and there's a
real art to loading them and transporting them home, giving them the support and
not whipping the daylights out of them as you head for home, especially if
you're getting on the expressways. Yes, it is. Nothing makes me cringe
like seeing a plant going down the highway in the back of a pickup truck
with no tarp, no nothing that's painful. You just have to you know,
you have to lay them down, you have to position them properly.
You've got to buy some soil amendments when you buy that tree so that you
can nestle them under the trunk of the tree to support it a little bit,
to keep those branches from breaking. Now that said, with this question,
I have strong opinions on this, Okay. I really believe that with
a branch like that, you cut it back to the point of origination,
to the trunk, and of course there's a branch collar there, a swelling
where you just prune up to that branch collar. The tree will easily heal
itself produce new growth. Yeah, I think that's the most natural choice.
Now, I do think one possible exception, because again my advice to this
person was a YouTube comment was already like, by all means take it back
to its point of origin. So if it's a main branch, that could
mean the main trunk of the tree. If it's a side branch, that
could mean just going back to the branch that it was it was coming off
of, so not taking off that whole branch. But it just looks more
natural now. Again, the only exception I would say to this is if
you were if you have a really small tree that doesn't have a lot of
branches, and taking that off is really going to leave you with very little,
because what's going to happen is then that tree has just lost all that
energy and it's going to be a lot harder for it to get established because
it has less you know, leaves to make photos, to synthesize and to
make energy. But overall, absolutely I would say take it back, find
that branch, bark color. We have a video on our YouTube channel about
how you make a proper cut on a tree because it's a little bit different
than shrubs. And yeah, if this happens, it's unfortunate, But try
not to get, you know, too sad about it. Try not to
feel too badly about it. You know, down the road three five years,
you won't even remember that it actually even happened, as long as you
bring up properly exactly. Jessica writes to us, Hello, Stacey and Rick,
got a bit of a puzzle for you today. Do you guys have
any mulch alternatives. I live in the South, so I need to keep
my plants cool and moist, but I'm also waging war against the fire ants
in my backyard. Mulch makes them too hard to spot in their nests,
too easy to sneak under my nose. Any ant vice is welcome, and
Jessica said, ant vice, not me. Yes, I did catch up.
Very well done, Jessica, Thank you. You know, this is
a situation where I just have to apologize to Jessica and every other Southern gardener
who as a lifelong Northern gardener, I'm just like, oh, yeah,
but mulch, it's fine. You know, this is one of those problems
that I've never had to deal with, and I know from when I have
visited the South. Fire ants are just a horrible, horrible problem, you
know, and so it's it's not I certainly don't mean to, you know,
just like brush this over. So I'm really grateful for Jessica for asking
this question because it helps give me perspective on all the things that Gardner's out
there have to deal with. So I did have to turn to the internet
and do some research on this, since I'm not super familiar with fire ants
and in their habitat. I learned quite a bit. And I want to
say I'm going to share the link from Texas A and M University where that
I thought was very helpful because this was about this link that I read was
specifically about things that you can do in your yard to make it less hospitable
for fire ants. But I do want to say that the article concludes by
saying, quote unquote, cultural practices alone will never eliminate this pest. So
in a lot of cases, you know, we're able to say, Okay,
well you can get rid of aphids by doing X, Y, and
z. You can get rid of this past by doing that. You know,
you've heard it from the experts at Texas A and M. Just cultural
practices are not going to be enough. And you know, with fire ants,
if you're not familiar with them, when they it is extremely painful.
I mean people have died from being swarmed by fire ants. So this is
not you know, just like a nuisance ant that's just making ant hills.
You know, they really do cause a threat to your life and to your
enjoyment of the yard. So only small stone mulches are effective in deterring fire
ants, so like a pea gravel or something like that, so not even
like a larger one. Now, the trouble with that, as Jessica points
out, she needs to keep her plants cool and moist, and stone typically
heats up the area around the plant. So one thing that you can do
is, you know, use that mulch over the spaces in between your plants,
but then as you get closer to the plant, just kind of end
it so there's like a little halo of soil around the plant, so it's
not going right up to the base of the plant, because that will help
keep it a little bit cooler directly around the plant itself. Now, the
article does mention that there is some claims out there that cedar mulches can be
a deterrent to fire ants. But they said there's no scientific research that has
been done in that yet. But I could see that possibly working because cedar
is slower to decompose, so maybe it's not making the environment as rich in
organic matter, it's not breaking down as much. But again they're not saying
this is one hundred percent true, just that cedar mulches may be effective.
Of course, that doesn't help Jessica's issue of making them too hard to spot.
And then another one that I wanted to mention that may or may not
be practical depending is a new technique that's really embraced by sort of the new
perennialist native plant movement, and that is using sedges as mulch. So sedges,
the botanical name is carracks. There are boatloads of them, many natives
to North America, many not. I think it's native across the entire country
from one extreme to the other. And they tend to grow in shade,
and they tend to spread, and so a lot of garden designers are actually
using sedges as mulch instead of actual mulch. Now I don't really know exactly
what plants. Do you know in terms of the fire ants, but I
would think that the root competition hopefully makes it a little less appealing to the
ants. Yeah, and I think this problem Stacey, is no different than
any other problem, and that is what you have to do, is you
have to take a look at what environment best suits this pest. And with
fire ants, they prefer sunny, open spots. So I like that sedging
idea, using a sedge or something like loriape at the base creating a cooler
Using that in lieu of using multch, I think would be a great way
to go. And then bearing in mind that if you're going to use some
controls in addition to the living multch, remember contact controls are not going to
work, and that baiting is far a far better way to go. Yeah.
And you know, the thing about ant bate, and I've talked about
this on the show before, is that it is very targeted to fire ants,
so there's little risk to other organisms. It's not like a spray where
things are going to land where they may. It's very targeted to the fire
ants. And again this is where IPM Integrated Pest Management comes in. You
have to do the most effective method of controlling them. That obviously has the
least impact on non target organisms, and of course is the most beneficial to
your family because fire ants are no joke. Stacy real quickly, Jamie writes
to us and sends pictures about a dogwood on their property. Bought the home
ten years ago and it should be well established by now. They've done no
pruning to the tree, but are wondering if they should have. We're going
to have the pictures for you on the YouTube version of our broadcast here,
and of course in the show notes and Stacy, when I take a look
at the pictures that Jamie sent, of course we see the telltale lichens on
the tree, meaning the growth is really slow. The tree isn't necessarily happy
where it's at. And when I look at those pictures and I look at
the surrounding turf, at least in my eye, I see compacted soil and
that may be part of the problem. Yeah, definitely, the turf is
not ideal for a dogwood. Dogwood's, you know, grow sort of on
the wood edge with a loose or high organic matter soil. The tree is
certainly established, so there's no question about that. It's tall. But Jamie
included two photos of the flowers. It's a pink native dogwood with pink flowers.
And when I saw the picture of the flower, I said, there's
the problem. It has dogwood anthractnose threats. And you can see on the
flowers it has these kind of purplish brown dots and that is a tell tale
sign of dogwood anthractnose, and dogwood anthractnose definitely hits dogwoods that are more stressed.
So, like you said, sort of this issue of the soil not
being ideal compacted. I'm sure that they are pretty shade tolerant, So I
don't think that the oaks that Jamie mentions are causing the issue. I do
think it's the anthractnose. So what I would say to do here if you
want to save the tree, and she says that she does, I would
call an arborist in and get it on a treatment plan for anthracnose. And
I think that if you are able to treat it for maybe just a year
or two, because it's a fungal disease. So if you're able to treat
it for a year or two and you clean up all the foliage when it
falls this autumn, you could have a chance of controlling it. And once
that anthractnose is gone, I think the tree, you know, maybe with
some extra water, some supplemental water if it needs it, some mulch around
it, rather than the grass, I think it could come back. Don't
throw in the trowel exactly. I agree, a dogwood tree can recover from
anthrak yep and Jamie. We will put some resources for you or anyone else
who is suspecting their dogwood might have anthracnose in the show notes at Gardeningsimplified on
air dot com. We're going to take a break. When we come back,
we've got branching news. Don't miss it. 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 Colored 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 Stacey, I just need a little bit of
therapy here right at the start. This is the time of year when people
come out of the woodwork and they'll message me, call me, ask me
for advice, ask me to stop by take a look at their plants that
are really struggling. And I wanted to mention that so many times I walk
into a yard and the shrubs and trees are struggling or stretched. But the
individuals are using the same type of watering for the shrubs and trees as they
are for the turf. And you can see the damage on the plants.
The rhododendrons are dealing with it. The shrubs and trees just not robust and
healthy. And the point is, and here's my therapy. I keep trying
to get the message out when you water shrubs or trees, you water them
when they need it. That's when you water them. And turf is so
much different than shrubs and trees. And so if you set that irrigation clock
in early spring, set it and forget it until Halloween, your shrubs and
your trees are going to struggle. And trying to get that concept driven home
sometimes it is difficult. Yeah, And you know, I've seen that my
father in law's house, he didn't have his irrigation on there as a leak.
He didn't fix it. And so all these plants that were used to
years of extra irrigation, they're really struggling, even though they are mature,
established plants, all of a sudden trying to deal now with this decrease in
water is really taking a toll on them. So it doesn't really do you
any favors, and it just waste water. Right, So you have to
water when the plant needs it. And I know that's easy to say and
more difficult to do, but you've got to pay attention to the weather and
conditions. I found a really great website and I had fun with it.
It had sound effects. We're going to put the link at the show notes
Gardeningsimplified on air dot com. But this is a great website that asked the
question is it a plant or a comic book character? And then you play
this little game and it was fun. The crowd will cheer if you get
it right, and of course you get the raspberries if you get it wrong.
For example, it would put up a picture and the word cactus.
Is cactus a plant or a comic book character? Well, I mean,
I know it's a plant, but it could also be a comic book character.
I don't know, So you have to select both get raspberries? Is
there a nun? Neither? Is there neither option? No, So you
pick plant character or both, and in the case of cactus, both was
the correct answer. Cactus Man is a prickly plant man featured in many Marvel
comics. He has a vegetable body and the ability to regenerate damage at a
phenomenal rate, including replacing lost body parts. Cactus Man can fire his needles
in a deadly barrage. Oh well, I have grown cactus in my own
garden, and I know that having the needles in your in your skin,
that's not pleasant, not fun. I mean, it is a weapon.
Cactus is essentially a cucumber with aggressive behavior. You could say that, right,
that's what a cactus is. Actually, they make great friends. They
will never desert you. String trimmers. I got more therapy for me.
Here go battery powered. Can't stand those gas operated trimmers, and it's a
pain to restrain those things. Oh, everything about him is a pain.
Everything about him is a pain. Thank you, I say, I just
need this support, this therapy. Now here's some suggestions for you that I
got from a professional string trimmor operator, a guy who does it every day.
Number One, he says, store your line the replacement line in water
like permanently. Yeah, often you have to change the water. You don't
have to change the water if you don't want to, unless mosquitos are a
problem. But keep your line in water. It takes about a week for
it to completely soak. And the other thing he said, always walk from
right to left. That's the correct way to walk, and then trim with
the very tip of the line. The only thing that will cause a good
quality trimmer line to break at the head or taper down for an inch or
more is operator error, he was saying in a nice way, Rick,
you're not doing it right. Well, I've had plenty of operator errors in
the times I have attempted to use string trimors. It is easily one of
the least fun jobs in the garden, even and I have an electric one.
The other thing about string trimmers is they're dangerous. Oh yeah, you
know. You can cause a lot of damage to plants. And I would
say, if you have a lawn service or not, even if it's a
family member cutting your lawn and all of a sudden, a shrub or perennial
or something in your yard suddenly dies, you better be looking at the base
for a string trimmor disease, because get it, it happens, you got
it. And if you are using that string trimmer, of course where protective
eyewear. That's really important too. But I'm going to start storing my string
trimmor replacement string in a bucket of water instead of the package and see if
it helps. I guess we'll see. Speaking of decorating and design, a
California man ordered by his city to conceal the boat parked in his driveway with
a fence, hired his artist neighbor to paint a photo realistic image of the
boat in an act of rebellious compliance. I saw the Sure they did a
great job. I love that at the unconstable is the name of this individual,
he said. The boat he uses for fishing was regularly parked in his
seaside driveway for about four years before he received a letter from the city informing
him of a municipal code requiring boats and trailers to be screened on the side
and front by a six foot fence. So initially a constable was angry,
but then he hired his artist neighbor, and this thing went viral. As
a matter of fact, the city manager himself got a laugh out of it
and thought it was very, very creative, and they're just gonna let it
slide now they You know, the neighbor did a great job. I'm not
surprised it went viral because when I looked at the picture my first like just
glancing at it, I thought it was the boat. Yeah, and he
did such a good job with it. Yeah, so boy creative. I
love it. So here come the puns, old boy, he was harboring
some resentment, had a sinking feeling. The guy was going to get a
stern talk. Actually the guy was even keeled about the whole thing and schooner
or later you have to laugh about it, true, thank you. I
had to get those in and I apologize for those. On average people need
to spend sixty seven minutes outside each day in order to feel refreshed. According
to new research, during Mental Health Awareness Month in May, we're encouraged to
be mindful of how we're spending our time and factor outdoor experiences into our every
day lives. And I believe that results found that those who spent time outside
said, it relaxes them, puts them in a better mood, and helps
them clear their head. A duh, We as gardeners have known this for
you. Yeah, you know, if only we could spend more time outside
here in Michigan exactly. On the other hand, spending more time inside than
preferred can lead to feelings of depression, anxiousness, and loneliness. According to
the results in ten will get stir crazy after spending too much time inside,
with the average threshold of indoor time being ten and a half hours. So
the key takeaway here is that spending time and nature and on the open road
while traveling has both physical and mental benefits. Soaking up the sun, the
fresh air, and of course, Stacey, as we like to talk about
on this show, getting your hands in the dirt. Well, you know,
it goes perfectly with the theme of today's episode, which is to say,
if you're going to be spending that time outside, then it might as
well be in a beautiful spot surrounded by cool stuff, cool plants, and
you know, to me, plants that attract birds and insects. So it's
like an ever moving, dynamic tapestry and you're not just sitting there in the
static environment. You are part of it, and it's I don't know if
that to me, that's what it's all about. So today's show has been
an episode of celebrating the decorators in our lives. And I love my decorator
friends, especially those who use plants to decorate. And Stacy, again,
having been in the industry for a long time, what amazed me was with
the advent of Instagram, what that did. And of course, Stacey,
we're on Instagram too. We are on Instagram Gardening Simplified Show, and yeah,
you can find more about the plants on trial there and you can also
leave us messager. We're easy to find you bet you and Gardening Simplified on
air dot com for show notes and of course as we do the Gardening Simplified
Show, YouTube, podcast and radio all three. I don't know how Adriana
does it, Stacy, but she gets it done. She sure does.
She doesn't get enough credit back there behind the camera and the headphones and everything,
so she keeps us on track. So a big thanks to Adriana Robinson,
thank you, Stacy, and of course thank you to our listeners,
our viewers make the Gardening simplified show. Have it, we appreciate it.
Have yourself a great week. Talk to you next week.