Hello, my friends. You're tuned in to the Gardening Simplified radio podcast and
YouTube show coming to you from Studio A at Proven Winners, Color Choice Shrubs.
It's Stacy Hervella me, Rick weisst and our engineer and producer Adrianna Robinson.
Well, let's talk about plant change. Some plants changed dramatically over the
course of the season. I suppose we could say most plants change from year
to year, but some more dramatically than others. Or maybe it's like a
retro pair of designer genes. They just get more interesting when they're stonewashed,
ripped, distressed. We'll find out today on the Gardening Simplified Show. When
referring to a change in direction, position, or course of action, many
times people will say we're going to change tack. Not thac t tactics,
but tac tack. It's a nautical term when we come about and we change
course direction. And Stacy, I've got to mention right off the top that
when we talk about plants that change course direction over the course of a year,
in my mind, hydranges have got to be the queen. Well,
they definitely are the poster child for changing color. And I think that that
makes a lot of people think that other plants have that same ability. But
the fact is that unique ability for some hei ranges to change their flower color
based on the soil chemistry is pretty much unique to hyde ranges, to big
leaf heyranges on the top of the list, but there are many other plants
that go through changes too. Of course, I love the music of Billy
Joel. Don't go changing to try to please me or something like that.
You never let me down before, But some plants do that. And by
the way, as long as we're in the music realm Karma Chameleon, remember
that song Oh heck yeah I do Yeah Culture Club boy George and boy George
said basically, if you aren't true, if you don't act like you feel,
then you get karma justice. That's nature's way of paying you back.
But some plants just naturally like to change. And one that I think does
a beautiful job of it is plants that have bracked like flowers, like dog
woods. They kind of like hydranges, effortlessly go through the gears over the
course of the change the season and become very very interesting. Yeah. Same
with another plant we talk about on the show, A lot, which is
temple of bloom. Hepticodium. Yes, another plant with bracts that change color
through the season. Good Point Virginia is a perennial that I love that changes
through the season. Autumn fern is another one. Now, this is a
great plant. It moves from gold orange to green to red orange, multi
hued in fall and then rod Jerseya's I don't know if you grow those in
your landscape, Stacey. They need wet soil and shade, but the foliage
on those plants are quite interesting and they can kind of go through a metamorphosis
over the course of the season. Beautiful plant. My garden is way too
sunny, way too dry to ever grow it. But I did see some
fabulous for Jersey a many years ago in Ireland, and we were in this
garden, my husband and I. It's pouring rain. We both have our
hoods up on our raincoat because you know it's Ireland. And I said,
oh my gosh, look at that raw Jerseya. And he turned to me
and he goes New Jersey because it God hear so well because of things.
Oh you can't say with Jersey about me thinking New Jersey. I love that
piis Japanica, or some people would refer to it as lily of the valley
shrub, just brilliant red in spring and then transitions of course with the flowers
too. That's a plant that changes throughout the year and goes through changes.
Some of my favorite plants, Stacey, that go through changes during the season,
I believe dramatically. We mentioned the hydranges, and I have to say
oak leaf hydrang is one of my favorites, very very dynamic plants goes through
a lot of different changes. And there's a lot of things mine are about
to bloom and they're looking fabulous, at least the blooms that the deer couldn't
reach. But you're not bitter about it. It's pretty good. It's you
know, I'm happy about it. At least I got to that point.
I'll take what I can get. Others for big change it ta father Gia,
viburnums, blueberries, june berry, ornamental kale, sedum flowers. How
they go from a lime green to a green and then red or pink and
then rust and then of course a programming note here, I'm not recommending that
you plant this plant, but we've all heard of the chameleon plant or bowl
plant. Now again, I'm not advising you to put it in your landscape
because it will become a permanent plant in your landscape. I'm not quite sure
how you pronounce that. I think it's Houtiniainia. Yeah, yeah, Hutinya,
hutinya, something like that, named after a Dutch naturalist, Martin hutain
I believe it is. Don't plant it, but it's a great plant that
goes through these chameleon changes. That's a weird smell. You like the smell
of it. No, I don't particularly care for it. No me either,
alter Nanthera. That genus has a lot of great plants, including a
proven winter's burgundy thread leaf Joseph's Coat. Some people look at that at that
genus, or at least some of the plants in that genus with the common
name Joseph's Coat. That tells you something about its change. And then a
perennial pullmon area. I love pulmon area and how the flowers will change color
over the course of the season, and as I understand it, at least
I've read some studies that say that with pulmonaria, when it's nectar rich when
the flowers are nectar rich. That's when they're that pinkish red hue, and
then they move to a blue hue when they're going out of business. Yeah,
you know, I've been thinking ever since you said the billy Joel,
don't go changing to try to please me quote. I was thinking you could
have said, don't go changing to try to please bees, because that is
a reason that a lot of flowers change color. It indicates to pollinators,
no more pollen here. The deed has been done. I've been pollinated.
It don't bother. But these flowers over here, you know, we could
still use your help with. So when plants make changes in the landscape,
they're trying to tell us something. Maybe they're not talking to the bees,
but they're trying to teach us more about them. Stacy. Of course,
you know borage moving from pink to blue four o'clocks, that's a plant that
can change on a daily basis. I remember years ago getting into the gardening
industry the Miracle of Peru. A lot of people used to plant that as
a flowering annual and great for attracting sphinx moths to the landscape. And then
let me mention super Bell's Magic Pink Lemonade calibri CoA that is such a neat,
proven Winner's plant, and it shifts its colorization throughout the season. It
varies based on day length and the light levels that it's getting, So the
blooms kind of move from lemon yellow and transition to a vibrant pink. That
Superbell's Magic Pink Lemonade calibri CoA always something interesting happening in the landscape, Stacey,
and the plants that change really add a lot of character to our landscape.
It's true. You know. One of my absolute favorites that I just
I fall in love with it anew every year is Decadence pink lemonade Baptisia.
Yes, and I have a lot of the Decadence Baptisias that are from Riven
Winners. I adore them, but this particular one does something that the rest
of them don't. It starts off a really pretty pale yellow and then as
the blooms age, they turn pink. So you have this kind of bicolor
look to it. And it just so happens that the yellow and pink go
perfectly with the two yellow and pink. All yellow, all pink, decadence,
baptisia as a combination. It is just beautiful. One of my absolute
favorites. I love that beautiful. Well, before we go to Plants on
Trial, let me leave you with a limb, a rick home home on
the range, where something's amiss and strange. My flowers change color. They
were bright, now are duller their appearance? They rearrange? Is this okay?
Have they gone astray? A leopard may not change its spots, but
the flowers sure are in my pots. It's a botanical may lay. Let's
see how Stacey ties this all together. Coming up next in Plants on Trial.
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, where
the theme of the episode is all about plants that change. And of course
we all know that plants change. I mean, you know, they start
out small, they become something much larger by the end of the season.
But we're not just talking about plants that just kind of undergo like an expected
change. We're talking about plants that have an unexpected change, right, you
know, something that you don't expect to happen. And a lot of times
when we talk about flower color changing, it is due to the flowers aging,
which causes a change to the pH level in the flower and that actually
changes the flower color. So it's different than what you have what will happen
been with big leaf hydranges, where the flower color is going to be determined
by the soil chemistry at the time that they set and open their flower buds.
That's a totally different situation. So there's all of these different possible explanations,
and it's a feature that plant breeders often capitalize on, as you've just
heard us discuss, because it is very cool to watch that change and to
have that extra element of surprise in the plant, and we have that in
a number of our plants. I mean, of course, we have a
ton of big leaf hydranges which can change our color based on flower pH.
We have a ton of panicle hydranges, which the flowers will turn some level
of pink or red as they age again through that natural pH change within the
flower. We have plants that change foliage color, not just in fall.
A great example is a newer plant called Midnight sun Waijila, which if you
look at it in our trial garden right now, it's kind of starting to
turn purple and you're like, Okay, that's cool. But within the next
couple of weeks it's going to turn all sorts of colors. This is an
amazing plant to what we transform. Never a dull moment, but you know,
all of these things I feel like are expected. And when I was
thinking about what plant to put on trial for this episode, I thought long
and hard about it at first, and then I said, no, I
just had an amazing experience with this plant over the last weekend. That will
make it the perfect plant on trial because it's not that the flowers change,
it's not that the foliage changes, it's that it's scent changes when it is
in bloom, and that plants, yes, indeed, I'm not going to
keep you in suspense any longer. That is simply sensational. Cali canthus,
also known as sweet shrub, it is sometimes known as Carolina allspice. It
is also sometimes known, quite charmingly as sweet Betsy. It's a native plant,
so like so many native plants, depending on you know, where you
are, they have all these different regional common names that just have developed over
the year. But whatever you want to call this, I cannot even I'm
going to try to explain the fragrance, but I really it's it's very difficult
to explain. So as you might have guessed by those common names like sweet
trub, it is very very fragrant. And when we wanted to name this
plant originally simply sensational, I was a bit of a curmudgeon about it.
I was like, you know, everyone says Kelly Canthus sweet trub can be
very very different, and it's fragrance. It smells different. Some people don't
smell it at all. We have Aphrodite, which is a beautiful hybrid Kelly
Canthus not all of our not just our native one, but it's a hybrid
of the American and Asian ones that doesn't have really amazing fragrance. I mean,
it has some fragrance. So I said, you know, I don't
know if we should stick our neck out on saying, this thing is simply
sensational because it is a scent scee and t sensational caught there, yes,
And so I was dubious. And then my boss dropped a flower on my
desk and that thing did not stop being fragrant for like days, even as
it was drying out on my desk. So I fell in love. And
I had to have this plant in my garden planted at about three years ago,
and it was you know, it flowered and it did okay, but
I was just like, I don't know what's going on. I'm not really
getting a lot of fragrance. Well over the last weekend, my husband and
I were walking around the garden and it was a beautiful sunny day and it
just the fragrance just hit us like a wall. It was so strongly fragrant.
And Adam said, what is that? And I said, oh my
gosh, this thing is finally giving off fragrance after three years. I think
that it just needed to have the resources to be well enough established. And
as we're looking at the plant and looking at the flowers, I'm not even
joking you, each flower on this plant smelled different. We were going around
to each individual flowers. Some smelled like pineapple, some smell like strawberries,
some smell like citrus. Some people will say bubble gum strawberry. It's like
the Willy Wonka ever flavor changing gum and what. So everything smells really really
different. It's all very sweet. It's all really but like not like a
sickly sweet fragrance, just like a beautiful planty fragrance. So we cut some
stems and we continue to, you know, sit outside and enjoy the beautiful
day. And every time we went back to sniff these stems, it gave
off a different scent. Huh, who knows it? It was so wild
it was, you know, I love fragrant plants, but honestly, most
favorite plants, Like if I say, what's a lilac smell like? You
can kind of conjure a scent memory of what a lilac smells like, because
what a lilac smells like is what the lilac smells like from the beginning to
of it's bloom until the end. And yes, it might be lighter or
stronger depending on the weather and the age of the flower itself. But I
cannot think of any plant that I have personally encountered at least as a common
garden plant here in North America where its scent changes so much, not just
from day to day, not just through the pure of its bloom, but
from minute to minute within a single flower. Yeah, heliotrope does that to
me, but not to that extent. That's it this year. And that's
also a really, really wonderful fragrance. So the flowers are not what you
would expect. They are burgundy, like a dark kind of brownish burgundy,
beautiful color. I actually have it combined in my garden with my favorite nine
bark ginger wine nine bark and together that is an absolutely glorious combination, nice
glossy textural foliage. But it's not the kind of plant where you would look
at it and go, oh, that looks like it's a fragrant plant.
It's kind of like a sleeper hit like that. But it really is is
just incredible, And I mean I was still kind of like beside myself and
how unbelievable this was. Now the fragrance is going to be strongest in the
sun. I tried to bring some into the studio today so you could smell
it. But our plants here at the office are in shape. They're in
full shade, so they didn't have any fragrance kicking around yet. It does,
again tolerate some shade, so if you want to grow it in part
shade, but for the best fragrance, if you want that moment where you're
just walking into a wall of fragrance, you're definitely gonna want to make sure
it's getting some full bright sun for at least for ideally six or more hours
every day, which is where mine, of course is planted. Now,
this is a plant that is native throughout the United States pretty much the East
Coast, so as far east as New York and Massachusetts down to say roughly
the Florida Panhandle and over through like Tennessee, so basically the East Coast and
southeast of North America. Understory shrub growing you know, sort of at the
edge of woods and that kind of thing, and that's sort of where it
gets that range of light tolerance, you know, because it's used to sort
of those peaks through in the woods. So at the start of the show,
I talked about changing tech the nautical term and primarily done because the wind
has changed direction. What do you think is the motivation of this plant to
change fragrance. Well, I don't try to be more attractive to different types
of pollinator. I don't know, And actually, you know, I meant
to look up specifically what pollinates this in the wild. I could not tell
you if what's happening is a natural characteristic of the plant or if it's actually
related to our perception. Yeah, it might not be the plant itself,
but it might be the way that our brains perceive it. And it just
depends on the volatile oils, you know, within the planet itself. I
mean, it's kind of like if someone wears a perfume, it might smell
wonderful on some one person but smell terrible on another, or through the day
it changes. You know. There's a lot of like complexity, chemical and
olfactory complexity when it comes to fragrance. So I don't have an answer for
that, but I can tell you it's enjoy It's like when I run a
marathon, I smelled different at the end than I did at the beginning or
the middle too, especially depending on the weather. If it's full sun and
a hot day, you're definitely going to be a lot more fragrant. Then
if it was a cloudy and cool day, move along. So that nice
wide native range for this plant means that it is cold tolerant down to USDA
Zone four and heat tolerant all the way up to USDA Zone nine. So
a huge number of our listeners and watchers out there can enjoy this amazing plant.
It's going to be about six feet tall by four and a half feet
wide, which is a nice size for most landscapes. So that's another thing
that we look for when we are selecting for native shrubs. Can we get
it to a size where it's actually useful in a suburban you know, or
a regular urban lot compared to you know, a really large wild specimen and
deer resistant, extremely dear resistant, very very dear resistant. Everyone should have
one d now. I will say when I was researching it a bit more
to bring it to you on the show today, one of the North Carolina
State University Extension website said for best results baby this plant for the first year
after planting. I can tell you I definitely did not do that. Now
the plant survived, it is established now and it's looking amazing. But that
might have a reason as to why it took three years for me to get
the full fragrance off this planet. It was absolutely worth the weight. So
if you want to try a simply sensational Kelly Canthas in your own yard,
definitely take that advice. Be a little kinder to it as it's getting established
than I was to mine. It still lived, it still looks great,
but really it's worth the weight if you do have to wait for that fragrance.
But if you can, you be a little bit more careful than I
was. I would definitely recommend it. I think we should we should change
this segment from plants on Trial to story time with Stacy. I like that.
I like your stories well, and again I'm so excited about this plant
because just when you have that experience, it really is amazing. At least
go to your garden center check it out and decide if it's going to earn
a spot in your garden. You can see photos on our YouTube channel or
at Gardeningsimplified on air dot com. When we come back, we're opening up
the 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 easycare
rose and unforgettable hydrangea or something new and unique. You can be confident that
the shrubs and the white containers have been trialed and tested for your success.
Look for them at your local garden center. Greeting's gardening friends, and welcome
back to the Gardening Simplified Show, where it's time for us to answer your
gardening questions and we are deep in gardening question season. All sorts of crazy
stuff is happening out there, good stuff, bad stuff, stuff that you
might not know whether it's good or bad or what you should do about it.
Well, we are here to help you. So you can reach us
at help HLP at Gardeningsimplified on air dot com, or just go to Gardening
simplif fight on are dot com. We have a contact form there where you
can just send us a message and ask us your question. And you know,
I did want to bring up that we've been doing a new video on
YouTube called the Plant Panel, and in it we make recommendations for plants for
specific areas for someone specific yard or garden. If you have something that you
would like to submit for Plant Panel, just check out Proven Winners Color Choice
dot com. We have a special contact form just for that, and please
do include a picture and maybe we'll feature you on a future plants panel.
It's been a huge, huge hit so far and we have a lot of
fun doing it. Outstanding. I love it. Maintain your composture. We're
here for you. Question from Terry today and a picture, what's wrong with
my tree? Is it salvageable? Well, Terry, we took a look
at the picture and Stacy, this is something that I see often in neighborhood
developments where the soil is heavy clay. Terry has a maple tree there and
what I see not only southwest disease on the trunk, which is not that
big a deal and happened years ago, expansion and contraction of the bark.
But if you look into the top of the tree, it's thinning. The
leaves have dropped here in the month of June in the upper portion of the
tree. As a matter of fact, the tree is dying at the top,
usually in indication of girdling roots. The tree is choking itself. And
it reminds us that when we plant trees, are put plants in heavy clay
soil, that preparation is so incredibly important. I still contend we work organic
matter into the soil fifty to fifty with the parent soil as opposed to digging
a hole, throwing some soil in it and putting the plant in the ground.
Those roots will start to circle and someday down the road you're going to
pay the price. And I think that's what we're finding with Terry's tree here.
You know, there was for a very long time a sort of school
thought where the tree root ball was sacrificing. You can't touch it, you
can't do anything to it. And really research over the past couple of years
has shown that people will wash the roots, they will actually wash all the
soil off of the roots and replant it, and that that has been a
good way to find defects in the tree rooting, which you know, it's
not a deliberate thing that happens at nurseries, but it is something that can
happen because that's outside of the natural condition. So the tree roots can start
growing around and around itself, and so it's not if you notice a problem
with the roots when you are planting a tree, fix it. Then don't
you are going to be able to fix it down the line. You know,
when the plant's already starting to struggle. And I thought it was interesting
you talked about the heavy blue clay, because a lot of times when you
have that really really heavy wet clay in addition to you know, just causing
drainage problems, that is what typically will encourage disease issues. And I did
wonder if perhaps there was some issues of verticillia in this maple, because that
sort of you know, whole branch die back, large branches at the top
is pretty common for verticillium, and vertacilium is a soil fungus that's pretty ubiquitous,
but it's only when it really gets going because conditions are just right for
it, that it can start causing real problems like this. So, you
know, Terry asks, is her tree salvagable. I don't actually think that.
It probably is probably not now at a cost, possibly it would be
salvageable. I know arborists who actually use equipment that is used in finding landmines,
and it's highly compressed air, and they'll blow all the soil out,
like you mentioned, when the when the plant was young, getting a look
at the roots, and that can be done. But of course that's a
lot of work, and there's a lot of expense involved and probably not worth
it. In addition to that, many people are taking the approach as opposed
to digging a round hole when initially planting, digging a square hole, a
large square hole, and then again working organic matter fifty to fifty into that
clay soil, so when the roots extend out, they're familiar with the soil
and will penetrate into that soil. So an interesting question and picture. Thanks
Terry, we appreciate it. Shannon asks, thank you guys for a great
show. I look forward to hearing every episode. I have a rose bush
that has come out beautifully this spring. However, it has one really long
cane that is shooting up like a wild hair. Oh I have that too.
Should I prune it now? Not me personally, I have a rose
like that. Should I prune it now and just shorten it? Or should
I go to the base and cut it off there? Or do I just
let it go until spring? It's a three year old own root rose.
There are buds on the rest of the plant. Thanks for your advice.
Yes, so this is a scenario that is called dog legging. Well,
at least that's what Judson our new plant development manager calls it. That's what
they call it in the South, and it's an appropriate, oh appropriate name.
And you see it on roses. You will also see it on abelia.
There's some other plants too, and it's just like all you know,
you're growing along, everything looks good, and then all of a sudden,
the shoot just decided to be like an overachiever and pop right out. But
it's not a cause for concern. It really is just a matter of Typically,
what I think happens is that the bud was created a little bit later
in the season, and the plant is just mature enough that it has the
energy, and it just puts a ton of energy into that bud, and
so you do get that wild growth. There was absolutely no harm in just
cutting that thing back to within the plant body or cutting it out entirely.
You know, if it's something like an abelia, which kind of naturally grows
as a little mound, just cut it back into the body of the plant,
that's fine. But for a rose, where you're really typically working more
for an overall shape, I would probably take it out to the ground.
But it really is up to each of you. It's not going to cause
the plant any harm to cut it off, and it's just again, it's
just something that happens. I don't have a really really good explanation for it.
It's just the way plants grow. Yeah, I agree, Stacy.
Sometimes we'll see this also on weeping cherries, right at the graft and you'll
see it shoot up. I call them water sprouts, but he calls them
dog legs. Well, so it's not like a water sprut because it's not
coming really necessarily from the trunk. It's just like coming from within the body
of the plant. And it's just like a wild shoot. Like the plants
like all they're a nice little tidy tufet and then this one plant, this
one stam or whatever, just decides to go rogue. Well, and I
appreciate the fact that Shannon told us that it's an own root rope. Yes
with an older grafted rose potentially could be from the wild rootstock down below,
right, And that's what you're seeing like on the cherry. So anytime you
have a grafted plant, the roots are going to be much stronger than the
top plant. So the growth, any growth that comes from that bottom stock
or rootstock is naturally going to be more vigorous than whatever's coming from the top
or desirable part. So that was a very very useful thing to include,
Channon. So go ahead, cut it off or not, whatever you prefer.
You're not going to hurt the rose. Just make it look so that
you can stand it, and you're not going darn shoots driving me crazy every
time I look out at it. Thank you very mulch Shannon. We appreciate
it. Great question, Cheryl writes, I'm wondering what to do with a
lilac bush that is channeling its inner giraffe. I know the arbor vite that
it's planted near, shading it too much and most likely causing the stretch for
the sun. My question is how, when if to prune it does have
some new shoots coming out of the ground, which I'm hoping you can see
in the picture. Should I cut the big part down and let the energy
go to the shoots. Yeah, we see this often in landscapes, Stacey,
with lilacs or other sun loving plants where eventually shade takes over. Yes,
it does, and what you're seeing in Cheryl's photo. If you're watching
this on YouTuber, checking us out at gardening simplified to on air dot com
is a very common thing for lilacs. It is actually the way that a
lilac shrub would naturally expand in nature, having those new shoots, And it's
just the way that the plant is regenerating itself, the way that it is
basically keeping younger, new and more productive wood, because older wood typically becomes
less productive in terms of flower over time. So there's nothing wrong with what's
happening. Lilacs do this. It's not like it is, I guess essentially
suckering. But I think a lot of people when they think of suckers,
are thinking about like a crab apple, you know, growing all around the
base, or something that grows at a distance from the parent plant. And
that's not exactly what's happening here. It's just the lilac putting out new growth
so it can keep you know, being alive and full and fluoriferous plant.
So you know, when I look at Cheryl's photo, you can see that
the older stems are leaning forward. I would definitely not personally cut out the
old stems. I like the look of them. I think I love like
a mature lilac. It just gives everything a sense of place. Now,
if you want to take those old stems out, you can, and that
new growth it's coming out will take over for the whole plant in time,
and you know, twenty some years down the line, it will be that
old growth. But this is really a matter of your personal preference. If
you want to take the growth out, it really doesn't matter what time of
year it is. It doesn't matter if the plant booms on old or new
wood. If you want that growth out, just take it out, get
your loppers, take it right out at the ground. I would not recommend
cutting them back to encourage like a lot of branching and kind of like a
witch's broom type of look. If you want to take them out, I
would take them out all the way at the base. If you don't want
to take them out, I would let them grow and let them fill in.
Yeah. I call that the little off the top method, and I
don't like that method either. So be decisive. Prune lilacs, rejuvenate based
on pruning, and if you want it to throw some blooms next year,
well the optimum time would be to prune right after lilacs are done blooming.
But as Stacy said, if this job needs to get done, just get
it done whatever it is. And you know the other thing is there is
no urgency. So if you want to live with it for a little while
and think about it, there is no harm in that. You can always
prune it up later. We're going to take a little break. When we
come back, we have a special guest, so please stay tuned. The
Gardening Simplified Show is brought to you by Proven Winners Color Choice Shrubs. Our
award winning flowering shrubs in evergreens have been trialed and tested for your success so
you enjoy more beauty and less work. Look for Proven Winners Color Choice Shrubs
in the distinctive white container at your local garden center. Welcome back to the
Gardening Simplified Show. It's time for branching news and this week we interview Stephanie
Walker. Stephanie Walker has a beautiful book out called how to Grow Flowers in
Small Spaces. I know that's something that a lot of folks struggle with and
we're hoping to get some pointers here from Stephanie. Again, Stephanie Walker.
If you look for her book, it's called How to Grow Flowers in Small
Spaces. Stephanie, thanks for joining us on the Gardening Simplified Show. Oh,
thank you so much for having me. I'm happy to be here,
Stephanie. In writing this book, what were your experiences and your inspirations that
were influential in getting you to write the book How to Grow Flowers in Small
Spaces. Well, it's really interesting how it came about. I received an
email from someone with as Simon and Schuster email address one day, and they
asked me if i'd be interested in writing a book. I thought it was
spam. I thought this is not real. Nobody does that. So I
kind of ignored it. And then I got a couple more emails and they
realized and I realized they were serious. So I kind of gave it my
attention for a little bit and thought about, you know, what if I
were to write this book, what would it be and what would I do?
And so I have always loved gardening, except when I was little because
gardening meant weeding on the weekends, and I hated that. But as I
grew older and just knew that I love to have living things around me,
and especially flowers, then I became excited about gardening and I had an aunt,
my aunt Camilla, who is an amazing gardener, and she always had
beautiful gardens and I always just kind of aspired to have gardens like she did.
So she really throughout my life as it inspired me in flowers especially,
but in gardening in all aspects. I love that. That's great. There's
always a story behind the story. And to help lay the groundwork here,
Stephanie, we have viewers and listeners all over the place, and so we
want to figure out where are your gardening. Where are you practicing some small
space gardening? Okay, So I am in Queen Creek, Arizona, which
is a suburb of Phoenix. It's on the east side of the valley in
Phoenix, and so I am gardening in one hundred and fifteen degrees temperatures this
summer up to one and twenty. Yeah, and I am able to have
amazing success with flowers and other plants and even my vegetable garden in full sun,
planting strategically for some things, especially tomatoes, to make sure that they're
shaded. But if it's going to require a lot of babysitting, I'm not
going to do it. I'm like passivelyst resistance gardener. I want to make
sure that I have the most beautiful output with the least exertion throughout the summer.
So I'm really strategic in what I plant. Well, that is great,
So what is the best strategy. What's the best way to set up
for success in a small space. I would guess that soil preparation is just
as important in a small space as it is in a large one. Oh,
absolutely, absolutely the most important. My favorite thing. When I'm teaching
workshops and classes and when I'm doing consultations with clients, I stress to them,
don't treat your soil like dirt like in other words, make sure that
you are paying as much attention to your soil as you are to your plants.
Because really, if we feed our soil, our soil is what feeds
our plants, and we can have the most healthy plants from the best soil
that we can possibly have. So I feel like the best way to set
ourselves up for success is to believe that we can. First of all,
I think going into it and knowing that it's possible, especially in different climates
where there's harsher weather or you know, even whatever. We all have different
environments where we are so just believing that you can and then following your local
planting calendar that comes from your extension office or you know your zone, checking
with the USDA and seeing what your growing zone is. Those things will really
set you up for success. And making sure, especially in my climate,
that I have an automated watering system because I don't want to be out there
hand watering when it's super hot, so I'm making sure that I have something
set up where my irrigation comes on automatically makes a big difference. Well,
you know, I think what you said about believing that you can is so
important, especially for small spaces, because a lot of people, if they're
downsizing or whatever, they're like, oh, I love gardening, but it's
just not worth it with this small space. And I think your book really
shows that it's absolutely worth it and that you can have something really colorful,
really beautiful that really actually expresses your personal style, regardless of how small the
spaces. And in some ways having a small space can be a real gift.
It really, yeah it can because it's less overwhelming, but totally believing
you can and small spaces, it's so worth it because anything living, any
plant, if we're just in proximity to it, in its presence for twenty
minutes, show that it elevates our moods. It can increase serotonin. So
having living things around us, being able to garden regardless of the space is
so beneficial for us as humans. Yeah, no question about it. So
what are some plants that in your experience? And by the way, folks
were chatting with author Stephanie Walker, and her new book came out in April
this year, How to Grow Flowers in Small Spaces An Illustrated Guide to planting,
planting, and caring for your small space flower garden. Let's talk about
flowers a moment, Stephanie, what are some of your favorites for a small
space. Oh, my gosh, my favorite flower is any flower that's blooming,
like whatever is in season that is showing off. That's my favorite flower
and it brings me joy every time I see a new plant start to bloom.
But some of my favorite flowers for small spaces are anything that has an
upright roast pattern. So think of Vinia's sunflowers cosmos right now for the summer.
In the spring, it's your bold plants, irises, lilies, vernunculous
anemones, hyacinth, daffodils and tulips, those kinds of things. If it's
not going to spread and it doesn't require a whole lot of space, it's
going to be optimal for a small space. But if you do have something
that's a vining plant, it's always awesome to put something on a trellis.
It just adds interest to bring height to your garden, to kind of make
something look a little more majestic than what it might in a small space.
So vining plants are always a good option. Climbing roses like an ivy or
something, but something that can dry your eye heavenward, it's always a good
strategy. So in a nutshell, Stephanie, you have found and I would
agree with you, that success in hardening in small spaces is taking advantage of
and using airspace, going up, going vertical, right, Yes, absolutely,
always. Yeah, Now, it seems like a lot of your advice
in the book is about growing flowers from seed. Is that do you think
is especially challenging for you in Arizona? Is that is that a money saving
technique? Why is that sort of one of your approaches on that? Definitely
a money saving technique. I feel like you can optimize your growing power by
buying a seed packet for three dollars and fifty cents where you can get fifty
plants, versus you know, going to your garden center or wherever it is
the nursery and buying a six pack of plants for four dollars where you just
have six plants. And I have a small flower farm, so I'm also
growing on a larger scale, so using seeds is money saving for me.
But also here in Arizona, our climate is amazing where we're gardening three hundred
and sixty five days of the year, and so germination is not typically a
problem here. So I do tend to grow a lot by seed, but
I also see the value in transplants where you have a shorter growing season.
Sometimes maybe that transplant really jump starts your the length of time to bloom on
a plant or whatever. So transplants definitely are our wonderful option, and I
do grow from transplants a lot, but just money wise, seeds are super
savers in that respect. Sure, absolutely so. I've been watching the national
news, the weather and the temperatures in Las Vegas and Arizona. My word,
so if gardening's three hundred and sixty five days out of the year.
For you guys, maybe you might want to take June in July off.
We definitely do, and that's you know, definitely my vegetable garden slows down
in June and July. I never stop planting flowers just because they bring me
so much joy. So I'm always always got flowers going. But like I
said, I am path of least resistant, so I'm making sure that I'm
growing varieties that don't need a lot of dead heading, don't need a lot
of tending too, so that I can just enjoy their beauty. I can
kind of and bring them inside my home and make sure that, you know,
I'm just surrounded by them. But yeah, definitely definitely slow down in
June in July. So what's really going crazy? What's really going bananas right
now? Despite the extreme climate that you're the extreme challenges you guys are dealing
with right now, Like what makes you go, yeah, I'm glad I
planted that. Oh definitely the zinnias. Zinnias are always that just fun,
beautiful pop of color. I love sunflowers. Filosia is another one that is
just it brings just a different texture and a different element to my garden.
But one of my favorite summer flowers is lizing at this which is super drought
tolerant, heat resistant. It's so good so and it has a huge phenomenal
based life. So lizianthis is one of my very favorites for the summer.
I will never not grow Lisianthus. But yeah, there's there's cosmos, marigolds
we've got going right now. Of course our summer, our spring flowers are
done that we've so you know, we've got the seasons. But making sure
that I plant those flowers that can handle the heat, that's key, and
I think that's key for any gardener. Making sure that you're not frustrating yourself
by planting the wrong thing at the wrong time. Making sure that you've got
a knowledge of what is what should be growing in your area at this moment
is key. And Stephanie, you make a great point. If you're gardening
in small spaces, it doesn't mean you cannot grow cut flowers to bring indoors
and enjoy. And I really appreciate your perspective on that. Her name is
Stephanie Walker. Her beautiful new book is called How to Grow flowers in small
spaces. Stephanie, before we let you go today, wanted to ask you.
We ask most folks this question that we interview, give us your favorite
flower, your favorite plant. We asked that because it's a very unfair question.
So let me ask you that question. If you had to pick one,
what is it? Right now? It is Lizianis for me for the
summer flower. I love lizianas it's beautiful. It has kind of like a
shape that's reminiscent of a rose. But it's just it brings so much beauty,
so right now it's that it could be something different depending on what's blooming
now. I do have to ask you with eliziandas are you growing that in
your home flower garden or is that primarily for your cut flower farm? Because
I have I mean, of course I know the plant. It is beautiful.
People love it when they see it in an arrangement, but I haven't
really seen it grown as a garden plant so much. I do both.
I have it in my landscape and I have it in my flower field,
and in the landscape it's beautiful. It's something that in my book I kind
of discussed. There's a table that kind of shows you positions of plants and
where to put them in your garden if they're background, metal or foreground.
So with both lisianthas, they're kind of more towards the background because they can
get pretty tall and sometimes they might need help standing up. You might need
to stake them or provide some support. But they are a beautiful landscape flower
bed plant, and so yeah, I kind of have those towards the back
of my beds and then kind of stair stepping down in height depending on what
the flower is. But they are a beautiful background flower in a garden well,
and then not one I would think of as being particularly heat tolerant.
You know, to look at them, it's really interesting to find out that
they are thriving in your extreme meat. Yeah. Oh, they are so
good. And like I said, for a cut flower, their base life
is like ten to fourteen days. They're phenomenal. That's like the biggest bang
for your buck flower almost they last forever. Wow, that's interesting. Page
ninety eight and ninety nine, Lizzianthus in Stephanie Walker's beautiful new book How to
Grow Flowers in Small Spaces. If folks want to learn more or find the
book. What's your recommendation, Stephanie, So I would say Simon and Schuster
on their website. It's available. It's available through Barnes and Noble. If
your Barnes and Noble is not carrying it, you can request it and they
can order it in for you. Of course, it's on Amazon. It's
pretty much almost everywhere books are sold you can get it. So, yeah,
it's a great book. I love it, fantastic. It is a
beautiful book, Stephanie Walker. How to grow flowers in small spaces. Stephanie,
stay cool there in Arizona and take care of yourself. And thanks so
much for joining us on the Gardening Simplified Show. Oh you are so welcome.
Thank you for having me, and thank you for looking at my book
and helping to get the word out. It's awesome. Have a great summer.
Thank you you too. Well, I'm not sure that we're going to
be able to complain about the heat here in Michigan every again after talking after
talking, so I am certainly inspired, and I hope all of you are
as well. So thank you to Stephanie, thank you Rick, thanks Adriana,
and of course, as always, thanks to all of you for listening.
We really appreciate it. Have a great week ahead.