Speaker 1: Broadcasting from Studio A. Here at proven Winners, Color Choice Shrubs.
Speaker 1: It's time for the Gardening Simplified Show with Stacy Hervella me,
Speaker 1: Rick weisst and our engineer and producer Adrianna Robinson. Well, Stacy,
Speaker 1: I love today's topic over achievers. Overachievers are somebody who
Speaker 1: achieves success over and above the standard of the expected level.
Speaker 1: It might not surprise you, but my entire life, I've
Speaker 1: always been told I'm too driven, move too fast. My
Speaker 1: teachers and the police used to tell me to slow down.
Speaker 1: Now my doctor's telling me to slow down.
Speaker 2: You know, being an overachiever can definitely be a good thing.
Speaker 2: But you know, with people, you need to know when
Speaker 2: to stop and reserve your energy for yourself. But with plants,
Speaker 2: there's really no such restrictions.
Speaker 1: There you go, and we're going to talk about overachieving
Speaker 1: plants today. I love this topic because, you know, walking
Speaker 1: through the garden center, there's a number of plants that
Speaker 1: come to mind for me where if someone did not
Speaker 1: know their stories, and Stacy, you're a great storyteller of
Speaker 1: plants in plants on trial, and when people learn those
Speaker 1: stories of plants, then they developed this relationship with them
Speaker 1: and understand their potential in the garden center. For example,
Speaker 1: in spring, if you walk by a gampfrina, one of
Speaker 1: my favorite annuals, people are apt to walk right past
Speaker 1: it because it looks green, doesn't look all that exciting
Speaker 1: in many cases compared to the other annuals that are
Speaker 1: out there, So you have to learn their stories. And
Speaker 1: of course, as people, we also tend to gravitate towards
Speaker 1: what is familiar. Now, my definition of plants that are overachievers,
Speaker 1: my personal definition is number one, the plant surprises you
Speaker 1: in its development from its original condition. So you could
Speaker 1: say elephant ear kalladiums I mentioned, gampfrin or scavola, maybe
Speaker 1: something as simple as a sunflower seed, a castor bean plant,
Speaker 1: or a hyacinth bean seed, maybe Alium gigantium, but something
Speaker 1: like that that surprises you in how it develops beyond
Speaker 1: its original condition. Number two, they're flourished, seems to come
Speaker 1: easy to them, in other words, somewhat easy to grow.
Speaker 1: And number three, they give more than just a week
Speaker 1: or two of interest. And of course you could argue
Speaker 1: that fact with many annuals which tend to be over achievers.
Speaker 1: Overachievers for a while and then of course burnout as
Speaker 1: we get.
Speaker 2: To fall happens way too often with you know, some annuals,
Speaker 2: not all annuals. But you know, the this concept of
Speaker 2: an overachiever, I mean, we have we could fill ours
Speaker 2: talking about the plants that we feel are overachievers. But
Speaker 2: you know, going back to our talk about garden nostalgia,
Speaker 2: this concept of overachiever plants is actually relatively new. You know,
Speaker 2: for a long time, people needed to work really hard
Speaker 2: to get a good performance from the plants in their garden,
Speaker 2: whereas nowadays, you know, if because not just because of
Speaker 2: plant breeding, but also because there are so many more
Speaker 2: options on the market, you know, with container growing that
Speaker 2: opened up so many more plants at the garden center.
Speaker 2: So whether you have an overachiever through virtue of plant
Speaker 2: breeding that it doesn't need dead heading, it's you know,
Speaker 2: genetically developed to just blue and blue and bloom like
Speaker 2: most preven Veinnurse annuals, or just because plants like my
Speaker 2: beloved Sylphium perfoliatum is just now more widely available, you know,
Speaker 2: whereas forty years ago, you know, you would have had
Speaker 2: to probably dig sylphium out of some swamp somewhere if
Speaker 2: you want it in your garden, and that wouldn't have
Speaker 2: been a good thing.
Speaker 1: Yeah, if you had it in your yard, it would
Speaker 1: stick out because other people didn't have it. But now
Speaker 1: more and more people get to enjoy that specific overachiever.
Speaker 1: Let me kick off the topic with a limb a rick.
Speaker 1: I've caught a bad case of spring fever, ready to plant.
Speaker 1: I'm an eager beaver with winter. Instead of being dejected,
Speaker 1: my plans are progressing better than expected. You could say
Speaker 1: I'm an over achiever with plants. I have a natural
Speaker 1: sense a perceiver. They give happiness and I'm the receiver
Speaker 1: instead of doing absolutely zero, They've made me a neighborhood hero.
Speaker 1: I love a plant that's an overachiever.
Speaker 2: You know what? That reminded me of another important aspect
Speaker 2: of a plant being an overachiever. That's a great limock
Speaker 2: by the way, thank you, But to me, another characteristic
Speaker 2: is what does the plant do for the wildlife? And
Speaker 2: you know, insects, birds, butterflies, all of this kind of thing,
Speaker 2: and that you know, there should be something an overachiever
Speaker 2: does in addition, So yes, we are the receiver when
Speaker 2: we have an overachieving plant. Because we get to enjoy
Speaker 2: how beautiful it is. And everyone thinks that were some
Speaker 2: sort of superstar gardener, when the fact is all we
Speaker 2: did was pick the right plants and plant them in
Speaker 2: the right place. It really is that simple. Revealing a
Speaker 2: big secret here apparently. But you know, also there are
Speaker 2: other people, other organisms around that are recipients of our
Speaker 2: decisions to garden. And maybe that's a neighbor, maybe that
Speaker 2: is wildlife. But you know, overachieving plants benefit more than
Speaker 2: just us.
Speaker 1: I love the road you're going down there, and we're
Speaker 1: going to add that to the overachieving description of plants
Speaker 1: because as opposed to the plant having its time in
Speaker 1: the sun and receiving plot, it's on you know, it's
Speaker 1: robust growth and its beauty. Is it giving back? Yeah,
Speaker 1: and that's a great There's many ways to look at that.
Speaker 2: You know, it could be something like, of course, a
Speaker 2: vegetable garden you're getting produced. It could be cut flowers,
Speaker 2: it could be multiple seasons of interest. But you know,
Speaker 2: an overachiever has to do perform highly but also give
Speaker 2: you a little bit.
Speaker 1: More, give something back. I love that, you know a
Speaker 1: plant that I consider an overachiever and I don't want to,
Speaker 1: you know, sound like a broken record here, because you
Speaker 1: know how much I love ornamental grasses. But something like
Speaker 1: graceful grass is skyrocket. It's a fountain grass penacetum. The
Speaker 1: plumes are sterile so it doesn't become invasive. But boy
Speaker 1: does it work for you provide color. And yes, I
Speaker 1: saw this past fall, the birds all over the inflorescence.
Speaker 2: You know, I had a strong feeling that ornamental grasses
Speaker 2: would come up in the Overachievers show, not just because
Speaker 2: I know how much you like them, but because they
Speaker 2: are a perfect example. There are few other plants, well,
Speaker 2: actually there's kind of a lot, but that require so little.
Speaker 2: I mean, once you plant that ornamental grass, pretty much
Speaker 2: the only thing you need to do is cut it
Speaker 2: back in spring. Yeah, and you know it doesn't need water,
Speaker 2: it doesn't need any fussing. You can divide it if
Speaker 2: you want. Wouldn't recommend it. Not really a fun job,
Speaker 2: So plant those properly and let it let them be.
Speaker 2: But yeah, I mean that's exactly what we're talking about.
Speaker 2: All that impact, those big robust presents, the sound, It
Speaker 2: provides habitat for all sorts of things. It provides nesting
Speaker 2: material for birds and you don't lift a finger and
Speaker 2: you look like a garden rock star. I love that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And that's my direction here because you look at
Speaker 1: for example, panicum switch grass, a North American native plant,
Speaker 1: a prairie grass so to speak. You wontn't expect much.
Speaker 1: It's just grass, okay, But you take cultivars like totem
Speaker 1: Pole or Niagara Falls or shy in Sky. It's an
Speaker 1: overachiever because it delivers, in my opinion, far more than
Speaker 1: what you expected.
Speaker 2: Definitely, especially if you're buying just a little one gallon
Speaker 2: plant in spring. You you're going to need to have
Speaker 2: a little faith. But you know that's where shows like
Speaker 2: Gardening simplified the Internet, all of these places where you
Speaker 2: can do your research and find out. So you are
Speaker 2: you know, more trust trusting in that plant when you
Speaker 2: see it maybe looking you know, all green like a gumfrina,
Speaker 2: or a little bit small and wimpy like a panicum
Speaker 2: because it's a warm season grass and when you're shopping
Speaker 2: in the garden center hasn't really had a chance to
Speaker 2: do its thing yet exactly.
Speaker 1: And then of course in the mixed Stacey, we've got
Speaker 1: to talk about, well, there are you know, in life,
Speaker 1: there are early bloomers and there are late bloomers. Okay,
Speaker 1: But in again, in the garden industry today, there are
Speaker 1: many wonderful cultivars that I'm you would classify as rebloomers. Yes,
Speaker 1: I can consider the rebloomers also as overachieved.
Speaker 2: I think reblooming is a classic example of what it
Speaker 2: means to be an overachiever. And you know, it's not
Speaker 2: all that uncommon in nature. It's just that what plant
Speaker 2: breeders have done is identified individual plants that have some
Speaker 2: capacity for rebloom and then worked with that to bring
Speaker 2: more of those genes out. And yeah, why do people
Speaker 2: mostly start gardening flowers? Everyone wants more flowers. You get
Speaker 2: a reblooming shrub like bloomerang Wilac or double play Doozy spireea,
Speaker 2: it's an overachiever.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, Or the plants that basically are surprised. You know,
Speaker 1: you buy a little pugster bud lea in the garden
Speaker 1: center and then by the time you get to August,
Speaker 1: little plant, the size of those blooms are unreal. It
Speaker 1: causes me to believe the plants an overachiever.
Speaker 2: You know what, And that reminds me of other bulbs
Speaker 2: are good overachievers too, right, because by the time they
Speaker 2: come out in spring, you very well may have forgotten
Speaker 2: that you planted that, And then all of the sudden,
Speaker 2: just when you need at most amazing flowers pretty much
Speaker 2: zero care, and you feel real good about having planted them,
Speaker 2: especially for their costs, because you can't get plants much
Speaker 2: lower cost than a bulb.
Speaker 1: Well, we're going to raise the bar on today's show,
Speaker 1: and let's see how Stacey ties this all together and
Speaker 1: plants on trial. That's coming up next here on the
Speaker 1: Gardening Simplified Show.
Speaker 2: Beautify your home and community with proven Winner's Color Choice
Speaker 2: Shrubs with over three hundred and twenty five unique varieties
Speaker 2: to choose from. There's a flowering shrubber Evergreen for every
Speaker 2: taste and every space. Just look for the distinctive white
Speaker 2: container your local garden center or learn more at proven
Speaker 2: Winner's Color Choice dot com. Rereading's gardening friends, and welcome
Speaker 2: back to the Gardening Simplified Show, where the theme of
Speaker 2: today is overachievers. And recently, Rick and I did something
Speaker 2: a little bit more than just your standard edition of
Speaker 2: the Gardening Simplified Show. We went out and filmed a winter.
Speaker 1: Garden tour in the dead of winter.
Speaker 2: In the dead of winter. Now the snow was still present.
Speaker 2: It was, you know, a little bit warmer than it
Speaker 2: had been the week we got all that snow where
Speaker 2: we had you know, single digit temperatures, but still a
Speaker 2: little too snowy trapes all over the garden like we
Speaker 2: might have hoped to have done. But it's still a
Speaker 2: good garden tour. You can kind of get a sense
Speaker 2: of some cool stuff going on in the garden right now,
Speaker 2: and you know, maybe a little bit of a cure
Speaker 2: for cabin fever. So please do check us out on
Speaker 2: YouTube that is where the garden tour is posted, and
Speaker 2: check out what's what's kicking in the trail gardens in February.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, we're practicing what we preach, right, that's great,
Speaker 1: three hundred and sixty five days out of.
Speaker 2: The year exactly. So since we're talking overachievers, and you know,
Speaker 2: it's hard for me, of course, knowing you know pretty
Speaker 2: well almost all of the three hundred and thirty some
Speaker 2: proven winters color choice shrubs, hard for me to pick
Speaker 2: just one. So I wanted to do something a little
Speaker 2: bit different for plants on Trial. Today, we're going to
Speaker 2: do plants on trial Overachievers, Speed round fun and so
Speaker 2: I'm going to name a category, and Rick and I
Speaker 2: are going to tell you what our top choice for
Speaker 2: an overachiever is in each of these categories. So you
Speaker 2: can make a full plant list. If you want a
Speaker 2: lot of overachieving flowering shrubs and evergreens in your garden,
Speaker 2: this is going to be it. So we're kicking it
Speaker 2: off overachiever foliage.
Speaker 1: Shrub Midnight Sun with you, Youla.
Speaker 2: Oh that's mine too, Hey, I mean sure, So when
Speaker 2: both of us pick one, you know it has to
Speaker 2: be good, right it is and I do. Obviously I
Speaker 2: can't do this for every single plant because we only
Speaker 2: have ten minutes on radio. But Midnight Sun is a
Speaker 2: newer Whygela. And of course most people think of why
Speaker 2: Gila as flowering plants, which they are. They have lovely
Speaker 2: flowers in spring and attract butterflies or butterflies and hummingbirds,
Speaker 2: so that's really cool. But Midnight Sun is primarily a
Speaker 2: foliage wigela, and when you see it in spring, this
Speaker 2: is one of those plants you need to have a
Speaker 2: little faith in, kind of just like a dwarf green
Speaker 2: whitella with pink flowers, and you're like, okay, that's cool.
Speaker 2: You see the picture on the tag, it shows it
Speaker 2: all colorful. You think, okay, well maybe that's in fall.
Speaker 2: But no, what happens with this waigela is that as
Speaker 2: summer develops and goes on, it turns all sorts of colors.
Speaker 2: You don't have to wait until fall. The warmer it gets,
Speaker 2: the more color you see on this plant. And I
Speaker 2: know you fell in love seeing it here around the studio.
Speaker 1: That's around the studio at the garden center. Love it.
Speaker 2: It is such an amazing foliage plant. And it's nice
Speaker 2: and small, so anyone has a room for it. That's
Speaker 2: Midnight sun Wijella overachiever flowering shrub.
Speaker 1: For many reasons, I tea fizzy Miizzy.
Speaker 2: Ooh, that's an interesting trip now. I think that flowers,
Speaker 2: fragrant flowers are always a good overachiever aspect, and that
Speaker 2: is a plant with lots of multiple seasons of interest.
Speaker 2: Very cool plant and very different look. My overachiever flowering
Speaker 2: shrub is double play doozy because I have to say
Speaker 2: that although I could have said steady Eddie viburnum in
Speaker 2: my time in the industry. I don't think that any
Speaker 2: two flowering shrubs can compare to double Play Doozy and
Speaker 2: Steady Eddie Viburnum for their sheer ability to rebloom. You
Speaker 2: know some reblooming shrubs they amazing in spring and then
Speaker 2: you just kind of get a little bit of flowers
Speaker 2: later in the season. These two plants rebloom almost to
Speaker 2: the up to the level of their first bloom. Both
Speaker 2: of them come from doctor Tom Rainey at North Carolina
Speaker 2: State University, a truly innovative plant breeder. So if you
Speaker 2: are looking for flowering shrubs that truly do flower, you
Speaker 2: don't have to do much and you're going to get
Speaker 2: more flowers. I cannot recommend much better than those two,
Speaker 2: especially so overachieving Hydrangea. What's your choice?
Speaker 1: Both you and Adriana caused me to fall in love
Speaker 1: with this plant as we walk through the garden. Little
Speaker 1: lime Punch panicle great choice.
Speaker 2: I was definitely torn between Little Lime Punch myself and
Speaker 2: the one that I picked, which is Let's Dance Skyview Hydrangea.
Speaker 2: And the reason that I picked Let's Dance, I mean
Speaker 2: little Lime Punch is a panicle Hydrangea, so very easy
Speaker 2: to grow, very easy, very reliable, hardy, heat tolerant. People
Speaker 2: are somewhat familiar with that with those types of hydrangeas,
Speaker 2: but with hydrange of Macrophilla, the big leaf hydrangeas, with
Speaker 2: the blue or pink or purple flowers. We all know
Speaker 2: people have had so much disappointment with conventional varieties. Let's
Speaker 2: dance sky View Hydrangea is probably one of the first,
Speaker 2: along with Let's stance, can do big leaf ree blooming
Speaker 2: hydrangeas that won't disappoint you. We're looking. We've developed, you know,
Speaker 2: increased bud hardiness so they're less likely to get cold
Speaker 2: damaged in winter. Amazing color and the ability to bloom
Speaker 2: all the way up and down the stem so that
Speaker 2: if some well intentioned but wrong person cuts it back
Speaker 2: or it gets damaged by deer or gets winter cold damage,
Speaker 2: you still have flower buds at the base to get bloom.
Speaker 2: So it's really one of the very first reblooming big
Speaker 2: leaf hydranges that won't disappoint you. Overachieving rose so when
Speaker 2: it was tough.
Speaker 1: There's so many great roses. But I'm gonna say, at
Speaker 1: last rose.
Speaker 2: All right, at last bi too. Yeah, I mean, the
Speaker 2: truth is that with all of the proven winners color
Speaker 2: trace roses, we are looking for overachieving. I mean, because
Speaker 2: if you just take regular roses as a baseline, they've
Speaker 2: already got fabulous flowers, most of them have great fragrance,
Speaker 2: so we were already looking for plants that do more
Speaker 2: than that standard. So pretty much all of our roses
Speaker 2: are overachievers. You can take your pick for color application,
Speaker 2: but I did pick it last as well because people
Speaker 2: love it. It's a good size, super healthy, clean foliage,
Speaker 2: beautiful fragrant flowers, and just a stunning easy to grow roses.
Speaker 1: And like any overachiever, it rose to the os.
Speaker 2: It's sure did all right. Overachieving native shrub.
Speaker 1: This was easy for me. Durvilla Kodiak orange.
Speaker 2: Oh, you know, I'm not surprised you picked a durvilla.
Speaker 2: De Villa's are great, and we do have so many
Speaker 2: amazing durvillas. I was tempted to include a Durvilla here
Speaker 2: and there, but I ended up going with a plant
Speaker 2: that is near and dear to my heart in my garden,
Speaker 2: and that is Gatsby pink oak leaf hydrange.
Speaker 1: I can see why.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean a couple of things about that plant
Speaker 2: that I love, amazing fall color. It's also a reblooming
Speaker 2: oak leaf hydrangeas, So again this isn't going to be
Speaker 2: one of those that goes back to that kind of
Speaker 2: early summer bloom. But they continue to put out fresh
Speaker 2: flowers through the season and they turn pink when they
Speaker 2: you know, as they age, so you get a lot
Speaker 2: of color, a lot of flowers. Pollinators love it, and
Speaker 2: then you get the fall color, beautiful peeling cinnamon bark
Speaker 2: in the winter, and of course with the kodiak or villas,
Speaker 2: you get amazing foliage that you really don't have to
Speaker 2: lift a finger to enjoy.
Speaker 1: Gorgeously.
Speaker 2: They can take pretty much whatever you throw at them.
Speaker 2: Overachieving heat tolerantce shrub for our warm climate, peeps.
Speaker 1: Sunny Boulevard, Saint John's hypeer.
Speaker 2: All right, that is a great plant. I love its
Speaker 2: nice rounded habit. I pick jazz Hands Bowl, Laura petalum
Speaker 2: and Laura Petulum. Of course, anyone from the South can
Speaker 2: tell you it's as ubiquitous as something like, you know,
Speaker 2: Barberry is up here and they love it. But I
Speaker 2: love jazz Hands Bold because everything about it is bigger,
Speaker 2: and I love big plants, the foliage is bigger, the
Speaker 2: flowers are bigger, and these actually do keep their foliage
Speaker 2: color through the season, so overachieving in that way as well.
Speaker 2: But again only hardy to about us zone eight, so
Speaker 2: that one is especially for you all in warm climates.
Speaker 2: Overachieving hardy shrub or cold tolerance.
Speaker 1: Shrub hardiness easy for me, tough stuff, top fun reblooming
Speaker 1: mountain hydrat.
Speaker 2: Oh, that's such a good choice. That's not where my
Speaker 2: brain went at all with this one, but that is
Speaker 2: an excellent pick. I picked ginger wine nine bark because
Speaker 2: you know, nine barks are very much like your durvilla
Speaker 2: as a choice, great foliage color, easy to grow, really
Speaker 2: don't require any effort. But some older varieties of colorful
Speaker 2: Physocarpus or nine bark do you get powdery mildew. This
Speaker 2: one is very very powdery mildy resistance, and I can
Speaker 2: attest to that because I do abuse it in my garden,
Speaker 2: not getting a lot of water space closely, and it
Speaker 2: does not get powdery mildew. So a really beautiful plant,
Speaker 2: but hardy down to USC zone three and only heat
Speaker 2: tolerant through about USDA zone seven. Overachieving shrub with berries.
Speaker 1: If you walk by it in the garden center and spring,
Speaker 1: you might just walk right past it. But pearl glam caliicarpa.
Speaker 2: Ooh, that is such a good choice. I love that plant.
Speaker 2: So people know calicarpa, they know those amazing purple berries
Speaker 2: if they've seen them. And what pearlglam adds into it
Speaker 2: is beautiful, dark, purply black foliage for just an amazing look.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 2: I picked proudberry simp carpus for this one myself, because
Speaker 2: that's a plant that I've added to my garden within
Speaker 2: the last two or three years. I always liked it,
Speaker 2: but you know, you know how it is, you got
Speaker 2: to grow it to know it. Once it was in
Speaker 2: my garden, fell in love just that bright pink berry
Speaker 2: that just kept getting brighter and brighter as fall went on.
Speaker 2: Seeing it right out my kitchen window made me smile
Speaker 2: every time overachieving fall foliage.
Speaker 1: Shrub easy for me. Legend of the fall Father you.
Speaker 2: Ooh, that was a good choice. I was definitely split
Speaker 2: on the father Gillas, such a beautiful plant native. I
Speaker 2: ended up going with brandywine viburnum for myself, also a
Speaker 2: negative shrub, but I picked brandywine over the father gilla,
Speaker 2: even though it does have fabulous fall color because with
Speaker 2: the brandywine you get the berries on top of that,
Speaker 2: and the contrast between the super colorful berries and the
Speaker 2: super colorful foliage can't beat that. All right, we have
Speaker 2: time for one more overachieving evergreen.
Speaker 1: We're talking overachievers. It's a tie for me between tater
Speaker 1: tot and full speed a hedge arbor ice.
Speaker 2: So you're going with a small and a tall choice
Speaker 2: small and well, everybody does love tater Tot for the
Speaker 2: name and its diminutive stature. My choice is peasley pop Lukothowe.
Speaker 2: So I went with a broad leaf evergreen here, and
Speaker 2: that is a plant that you will be able to
Speaker 2: see in our garden tour on YouTube, see what it
Speaker 2: looks like in the middle of winter, and see one
Speaker 2: of the reasons why I feel like it is an
Speaker 2: over achiever. So wow, that was a lot. If you've
Speaker 2: missed any of those plants, they're going to be on
Speaker 2: our show notes at Gardeningsimplified on air dot com. And
Speaker 2: that's our little quick list of overachieving shrubs that you
Speaker 2: can use to make better decisions in your landscape this season.
Speaker 2: We're going to take a little bit of a break.
Speaker 2: When we come back, we're going to be opening up
Speaker 2: the garden mail bags of stay tunes. At Proven Winners
Speaker 2: Color Choice Shrubs, we know that a better landscape starts
Speaker 2: with a better shrub. Our team of experts tests and
Speaker 2: evaluates all of our flowering shrubs in evergreens for eight
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Speaker 2: Greeting's gardening friends, and welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show.
Speaker 2: And you know, one of the ways that we're simplifying
Speaker 2: gardening for you today is telling you are overachieving plants,
Speaker 2: Plants that don't require very much but do a whole
Speaker 2: whole lot. And you know that can mean a whole
Speaker 2: lot of different things. It can mean more flowers, that
Speaker 2: can mean better foliage color. It can mean reblooming, attracting
Speaker 2: all sorts of pollinators. And you know, in our illustrious
Speaker 2: careers here, we've had the good fortune to come across
Speaker 2: a lot of different overachieving plants, and so that's what
Speaker 2: we are sharing with you today. If you missed anything,
Speaker 2: you can catch us on YouTube on your favorite podcast platform,
Speaker 2: or of course, we'll also put some stuff in the
Speaker 2: show notes at Gardening Simplified on air dot com. And
Speaker 2: while you are at Gardeningsimplified on air dot com, you
Speaker 2: can also write us with your gardening questions. I know
Speaker 2: it's it's still early, but you know, some of us
Speaker 2: start itching to get out there and maybe remember questions
Speaker 2: that have come up over the season, or have questions
Speaker 2: about what's to come. So don't hesitate to reach out,
Speaker 2: and we would be happy to help. We have a
Speaker 2: question that I think is a good one that a
Speaker 2: lot of people struggle with, especially if they don't really
Speaker 2: consider themselves much of a gardener. Sylvia writes that she
Speaker 2: is hosting her daughter's wedding in June at her home
Speaker 2: in Virginia, Zone seven B. She says she's not a gardener,
Speaker 2: but would love to add some color and festivity with
Speaker 2: foolproof annuals that are vigorous bloomers. They only need to
Speaker 2: look great on that one day. Well, we will give
Speaker 2: you overachievers that will look great beyond that one day.
Speaker 2: And she wants any suggestions for white or pale, understated
Speaker 2: color annual flowers, and she's going to put them into
Speaker 2: some large planters.
Speaker 1: So well, I have an idea for Sylvia. I hosted
Speaker 1: a backyard wedding in my backyard for my daughter Stacy,
Speaker 1: and her wedding also was in the month of June.
Speaker 1: So I went to the garden center and I purchased
Speaker 1: diamond frost Euphorbia.
Speaker 2: That was definitely on my list to recommend.
Speaker 1: Yep, exactly easy to grow. Sylvia mentions here, she's not
Speaker 1: a gardener, that's fine, this plant is fool proof. I
Speaker 1: planted them up into eight inch and ten inch clay pots.
Speaker 1: Claypots are relatively inexpensive, and essentially grew them on, watching
Speaker 1: for frost early, but grew them on and then use
Speaker 1: them in the center of the tables out in the backyard.
Speaker 1: They were gorgeous by June, beautiful, tiny little white flowers,
Speaker 1: hundreds of them. And then the cool thing was it
Speaker 1: really wasn't much of an investment for me, So after
Speaker 1: the wedding I could have people just take them home
Speaker 1: with them. So diamond frost Euphorbia is one suggestion. The
Speaker 1: other that I have would be the proven Winner's super Beinas.
Speaker 1: Get a white Superbina and I think you're going to
Speaker 1: be happy.
Speaker 2: Yeah, there are the has come in so many different colors.
Speaker 2: So you know, I was thinking a lot when I
Speaker 2: was thinking about Sylvia's question, a lot about the timing,
Speaker 2: because early June, even though you're in Virginia, which is
Speaker 2: obviously much warmer than us here in Michigan, it's kind
Speaker 2: of a little bit of a funny time because you
Speaker 2: haven't really accumulated enough heat. For certain annuals that thrive
Speaker 2: in the heat, like Selvy or something, it's really get
Speaker 2: going because it's still a little bit early, and you know,
Speaker 2: if you pick something that is too much of a
Speaker 2: cool season annual, it's starting to get a little too
Speaker 2: warm for them. So my recommendation for you, Sylvia, I
Speaker 2: know you said you're not really a gardener, but if
Speaker 2: you can find, you know, kind of a smaller garden
Speaker 2: center near you, I would talk to the owner and
Speaker 2: ask them or talk to, you know, the purchasing person
Speaker 2: and see if they can order some stuff in for
Speaker 2: you about three two to three weeks before the wedding,
Speaker 2: and if you're getting it fresh from the grower, that
Speaker 2: means it's been amply fertilized. You know, some annuals are
Speaker 2: going to be a little bit on the smaller side,
Speaker 2: but if you're getting them fresh, then they're going to
Speaker 2: be ready for sale. That two week window, you know,
Speaker 2: you're not really gonna have to worry too much about
Speaker 2: continuing to fertilize them. They'll kind of again be riding
Speaker 2: the high of what they were getting at the grower,
Speaker 2: and that way you don't have to stress over what
Speaker 2: the plants are looking like because you're just kind of
Speaker 2: not quite all the way to summer, but not quite
Speaker 2: all the way past spring, even in Virginia. But I
Speaker 2: would also say definitely go to the proven Winner's website.
Speaker 2: You can search by plant type annual. You can search
Speaker 2: by color. I put in white just to kind of
Speaker 2: see what they had, and the great thing is that
Speaker 2: they do include things that just have some white in them.
Speaker 2: You can also search for pink, purple and look for
Speaker 2: those paler you know, pinks and lavenders, and you could
Speaker 2: make a list of stuff that you want. The other
Speaker 2: thing you can do if you're able to find a
Speaker 2: garden center who will work with you. And again, if
Speaker 2: you stick to those smaller places, you might find someone
Speaker 2: who you can talk to and just order stuff in
Speaker 2: for you and just tell them you want a bunch
Speaker 2: of white flowers, you know. But I do think diamond
Speaker 2: frost is a great choice. I think super venas are
Speaker 2: all to a great choice. They do tend to appreciate
Speaker 2: a little bit more heat, so you're gonna want to
Speaker 2: make sure they look good when you put them in
Speaker 2: because they're not really going to get a chance to grow.
Speaker 2: But there are just so so many choices, and I think,
Speaker 2: you know, calculating back even in Virginia, I'll bet that
Speaker 2: Memorial Day weekend is still a pretty hop in garden
Speaker 2: center weekend. So they should have tons and tons of
Speaker 2: fresh material that would put you right in that two
Speaker 2: week window. So if you make a point of going
Speaker 2: shopping Memorial Day weekend, I think anything that you see
Speaker 2: then is probably going to look just as good then
Speaker 2: is just as good for your wedding as it does
Speaker 2: at the garden center. And don't forget to look up
Speaker 2: in the garden center hanging baskets. Rick loves to take
Speaker 2: hanging baskets and put them in containers. A great way
Speaker 2: to get a ton of interest from just one single planting.
Speaker 2: Look at the patio containers, scour the garden center, don't
Speaker 2: just look at the little four inch stuff.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I agree with your Stacey. Throughout the years in
Speaker 1: the garden center in June, you have lot of weddings,
Speaker 1: you have graduations, and many people would purchase hanging baskets
Speaker 1: which are lush by that time and take the hangars
Speaker 1: off them and use them as potted plants. Supertuna Mini
Speaker 1: Vista white is also a fabulous choice.
Speaker 2: Any of the supertunias should be a great choice and
Speaker 2: would look absolutely spectacular at that time of year. So,
Speaker 2: as you can see, we have a lot of suggestions.
Speaker 2: So if you think about it and the fun of day,
Speaker 2: send us the pictures of what you do. We would
Speaker 2: love to share those with our listeners. So we have
Speaker 2: a question from Mary Lou. She says, I have an
Speaker 2: area my landscape where my plants are struggling. I've added
Speaker 2: mulch over the years, but the soil remains mostly clay
Speaker 2: below the surface. I'm considering heading several inches of good
Speaker 2: soil and mult to the top. And I'm wondering if
Speaker 2: this will smother the perennials. How much is too much?
Speaker 2: Thanks for all the gardening advice that you give.
Speaker 1: What do you think don't add on to the top.
Speaker 2: Don't do it?
Speaker 1: My opinion, I agree do it. If we're talking already
Speaker 1: here about adding more culture over the years and clay soil,
Speaker 1: you're going to create problems. Mulch needs to be stirred.
Speaker 1: But in addition to that, if it starts to build
Speaker 1: on itself, you're going to create problems for those plants,
Speaker 1: especially in a clay soil.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so you know basically what would happen, So you
Speaker 2: can't just PLoP it on top, because what happens then
Speaker 2: is that you have two different layers with totally different
Speaker 2: porosity or different levels of air space in between the particles.
Speaker 2: Whether that particle is topsoil or whether it's mulch, or
Speaker 2: whether it's your clay and the mulch and the top soil,
Speaker 2: they have high porosity, they have a lot of space
Speaker 2: in between their particles. Clay has very little space. So
Speaker 2: what that means is those top layers can hold a
Speaker 2: ton of water and once gravity starts to take its toll,
Speaker 2: and that water tries to drain down. It's like hitting
Speaker 2: a wall. Basically, all those all that airspace that's now
Speaker 2: filled with water just cannot drain and so you end
Speaker 2: up with poor drainage. You need to break that surfa
Speaker 2: his tension. You certainly, if you already have perennials in there,
Speaker 2: you can't obviously just you know, dig it in, but
Speaker 2: you can scratch up the mulch. You can sprinkle in
Speaker 2: some composts. I would do composts probably rather than top soil,
Speaker 2: because composts will actually improve the texture of the clay soil,
Speaker 2: and just try to do it kind of around your
Speaker 2: perennials rather than over them. Definitely try not to cover them.
Speaker 2: And I would say how much is too much? I
Speaker 2: would do no more than two to three inches of material.
Speaker 1: That was a perfect description of the issues Stacey, and
Speaker 1: I have nothing to add except an exclamation point, and
Speaker 1: that is aeration. The plants are struggling. In my opinion, aeration.
Speaker 2: Is yeah, yeah, sometimes you need to get the because
Speaker 2: roots need air. People think that they just need water,
Speaker 2: but they do actually need air.
Speaker 1: Kate writes to us these berry poppins hollies were planted
Speaker 1: three years ago, and this year I was the first
Speaker 1: year they were loaded with berries, so I was so thrilled.
Speaker 1: But then I saw the leaves turn kind of a
Speaker 1: grayish on some branches and then blacken, and some of
Speaker 1: the berries turn brown. This past year I slacked on
Speaker 1: the soil acid of fire, so I'm determined to correct that.
Speaker 1: But I'm not sure if something else is going on.
Speaker 1: I'm stumped.
Speaker 2: Right, So, Kate, it was not the soil acidifier, don't
Speaker 2: worry about that if you know. We actually in the
Speaker 2: last episode we talked a bit about soil pH and
Speaker 2: how that impacts plants. But usually what you're going to
Speaker 2: see if pH is an issue is the foliage looks sickly.
Speaker 2: You're not really it's not really going to impact the
Speaker 2: berries because you know they've already been set. I think
Speaker 2: that what you're seeing, Kate did send some pictures is
Speaker 2: just normal aging of the berries. Because the winterberry hollies,
Speaker 2: as they undergo multiple freezing thaw cycles, they just start
Speaker 2: to kind of go brown. That don't all keep that
Speaker 2: red bright red color all through the winter. And if
Speaker 2: you were to go hiking someplace where there are wild
Speaker 2: winterberry hollies growing, which is pretty abundant here in Michigan,
Speaker 2: and I'm assuming throughout the Midwest you're gonna see the
Speaker 2: same thing. So I even though it is a bit unsightly,
Speaker 2: it's not really a cause for concern. This is pretty
Speaker 2: normal for the plants to do that, especially in winter again,
Speaker 2: multiple freeze and thaw cycles. It just kind of makes
Speaker 2: them a little bit mushy. You know, if they didn't
Speaker 2: naturally kind of go brown or get eaten, they'd come
Speaker 2: into spring red and they don't. Sure, so not really
Speaker 2: a huge cause for concern. Kate. If you feel they do,
Speaker 2: you need soilist at a fire, go ahead and do
Speaker 2: that this spring. But it probably won't impact those berries
Speaker 2: at all. But enjoy your berry poppins, winterbury holly another overachiever.
Speaker 2: We're gonna take a little break. When we come back,
Speaker 2: we're gonna be talking more over achieving plants, so please
Speaker 2: stay tuned. Thanks for listening to the Gardening Simplified Podcast,
Speaker 2: brought to you by Proven Winners, Color Choice Shrubs, our
Speaker 2: award winning flowering shrubs and evergreens, a trialed and tested
Speaker 2: by experts with your success in mind. Learn more at
Speaker 2: Proven winners Color Choice dot.
Speaker 1: Com Welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show for our
Speaker 1: branching news segment Overachievers two point zero and Stacy. We
Speaker 1: didn't get to overachieving Winter interest. And by the way,
Speaker 1: remember the old horticultural joke about being voted most likely
Speaker 1: to recede by your class or something like that. Overachieving
Speaker 1: winter interest. I'm really curious what plant you picked?
Speaker 2: The plant that I picked for overachieving Winter Interest. It
Speaker 2: was a toss up between Arctic fire red red twig
Speaker 2: dogwood and Arctic fire yellow red twig dogwood, because I
Speaker 2: do love them both. You know, the red red twig
Speaker 2: dogwood pretty ubiquitous, but it's one of those plants that,
Speaker 2: again it requires so little and when it's properly cited
Speaker 2: in a way where it pops in the landscape, you
Speaker 2: are just so grateful for that bright, cheerful color. And
Speaker 2: they're super low maintenance and you know, usually inexpensive, so endurable.
Speaker 2: There do you're resistant, They can grow in sun or shade.
Speaker 2: They're just a versatile, great plant.
Speaker 1: What did you have, great choice? I picked black hat rhododendron.
Speaker 1: I just find it interesting in the landscape in winter
Speaker 1: the way the leaves curl up when it gets super cold,
Speaker 1: the buds which show us the promise of spring. That plant,
Speaker 1: in my opinion, overperformed in my landscape and is an overachiever.
Speaker 2: What about over achieving trees? You got one handy for me.
Speaker 1: It's got to be juneberry.
Speaker 2: Ah, it's so true. Such a great plant also known
Speaker 2: as amlankir or service berry or saskatoon. One of those
Speaker 2: plants with lots and lots of common names. But I
Speaker 2: agree that is one of those plants that it's just
Speaker 2: beautiful in every season. It has edible fruits. I mean
Speaker 2: I love them as well. Of course, it would be
Speaker 2: tempting to say Temple of Bloom, and that is one
Speaker 2: of the plants that I chose for my own landscape.
Speaker 2: But if I didn't have dear, I would say my
Speaker 2: dream overachiever is a nice crabapple with white flowers and
Speaker 2: big fruits. Love crab apples, just can't beat them.
Speaker 1: Beautiful. You know. Another overachiever on my list, Stacey would
Speaker 1: have to be again thinking about where I came from
Speaker 1: and years ago in the garden center to now, and
Speaker 1: that is the new cultivars of clematis. Something like sweet
Speaker 1: summer love. I look at a plant like that as
Speaker 1: an over achiever. And then of course when we get
Speaker 1: into things like perennials or bulbs, eucumus, pineapple lily, crowning glory. Wow.
Speaker 1: And then of course this year there's touch of blush,
Speaker 1: false sunflower, Heliopsis, the uskin sun or Tuscan gold. I
Speaker 1: find those to be over achievers.
Speaker 2: They really are. I mean, those things you can't stop
Speaker 2: them from blooming. They just go and go and go
Speaker 2: and go. And you know, a lot of people I
Speaker 2: think who have grown perennials and flowers have had issues
Speaker 2: with aphids. You know, certain older varieties, they just get
Speaker 2: covered with aphids in summer. It's kind of gross. I
Speaker 2: have never had that issue with Tuscan son.
Speaker 1: Same here. Yeah, that's great, Hugh Kuras. Of course, there
Speaker 1: are so many different cultivars, varieties, et cetera, et cetera.
Speaker 1: But the Dolce apple twist is one I love because
Speaker 1: of the leaf color changes throughout the season. So I
Speaker 1: find that one is an overachiever. Also, Pyromania Nipofia love those, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I love those great varieties that are available. Stacy. I
Speaker 1: would think when it comes to perennials. You would probably
Speaker 1: have summerrific rose mallow on your list or.
Speaker 2: Not, you know, I would. I want to pre where
Speaker 2: I go into that. I want to briefly go back
Speaker 2: to your hugra thing. Another interesting thing about hugro Of
Speaker 2: course everyone thinks of them as foliage plants, but a
Speaker 2: lot of them, especially the newer varieties, have really interesting
Speaker 2: flowers as well. And I had always been told that
Speaker 2: hukara attract hummingbirds, and I was like, whatever, They're so
Speaker 2: close to the ground, they got those tiny little flowers,
Speaker 2: And then I saw it for myself, and they actually do.
Speaker 2: So if you have, especially the red flowered hugras, they
Speaker 2: will attract hummingbirds. And that is a great overachiever quality
Speaker 2: for me. But you know what you said at the
Speaker 2: beginning of the show about an overachiever is a plant
Speaker 2: that goes from you know, kind of extremely humble beginnings
Speaker 2: to maybe not so humble and at the end of
Speaker 2: the season. And yeah, I think most perennials are like that.
Speaker 2: You know. It's amazing to me. And I do love, love,
Speaker 2: love the perennials in my yard that you walk out
Speaker 2: on in April day and you're like, there is nothing there,
Speaker 2: and then by the end of August you're dwarfed by
Speaker 2: this ten foot tall plant and you're just like, how
Speaker 2: did that happen? And I do feel that way about
Speaker 2: the about the higbiscus, about the summarific hibiscus, because yeah,
Speaker 2: they have nothing. They're very late to emerge here in Michigan.
Speaker 2: They don't even usually start to emerge until Memorial Day weekend,
Speaker 2: so late in May, and then two months later you're like, whoa,
Speaker 2: what just happened? You know, there's just tons of growth
Speaker 2: and it's covered in flower buds, and yeah, they just
Speaker 2: they're just such a celebration of the season. I would
Speaker 2: say that too about my about my Baptisias. Yes, another
Speaker 2: plant that decadence. Yeah, I mean, they're just again, they
Speaker 2: start out very humble and then you know, they have
Speaker 2: such incredible bloom. I love planting them near my patio
Speaker 2: so I can sit out there on warm spring evenings
Speaker 2: and watch the bees. Watching this is like you're probably like, okay, lady,
Speaker 2: but watching the bees in the flowers of the Baptista
Speaker 2: is really one of the most beautiful and interesting things
Speaker 2: that I've ever seen in my life. And I love
Speaker 2: having them at hand, so I can do that so.
Speaker 1: Humble beginnings when it's small. I would suspect that you
Speaker 1: also have on your list meant to be AGASTATCHI.
Speaker 2: Oh, I love agastaki. Yeah, yeah, that's another one too
Speaker 2: that you know I have. I don't have that one
Speaker 2: actually in my garden, but I do have a blue Boa,
Speaker 2: which is kind of like the standard or blue Fortune.
Speaker 2: Those are two similar varieties. And what I love about
Speaker 2: those months of flower I mean you get about three
Speaker 2: months of blooms absolutely covered in pollinators, which is a
Speaker 2: big characteristic of being an overachiever for me. And yeah,
Speaker 2: just they're totally impervious to heat, drought, and deer, so
Speaker 2: always important for my garden.
Speaker 1: You mentioned the size of the summerrific high biscus and
Speaker 1: how early in the season they're you know, they get
Speaker 1: off to a slow start. A plant i'd put in
Speaker 1: that category that I consider an overachiever in shade is
Speaker 1: sun king or railing. Doesn't look like much early in
Speaker 1: my garden, but by the time we get to summer
Speaker 1: in a shade garden, brilliant and big. I think it's
Speaker 1: an over I.
Speaker 2: Don't know if there is anybody I've ever met who
Speaker 2: doesn't love that plant. We actually did a recent plant
Speaker 2: panel episode of our plant recommendation panel where that plant
Speaker 2: came up and everyone else on the plant panel was like, yes,
Speaker 2: I love that plant, and that is It's definitely one
Speaker 2: that if people see it at the garden Center they're
Speaker 2: just kind of like meh. But you need to have
Speaker 2: faith in that one, especially if you have shade and
Speaker 2: it needs some brightening up. It is a really unique
Speaker 2: plant and we're just really lucky to have it if
Speaker 2: you have shade. For interest in the.
Speaker 1: Shade, I'm fascinated how by in April. There are certain
Speaker 1: annuals in the garden Center I mentioned, you know, something
Speaker 1: like Verbina nariensis medior shower, or something like a Scavola
Speaker 1: Gomfrina's Truffle of Pink. Gomfrina is a great example. You know,
Speaker 1: you might look at Gomfrina's in early spring and think, whatever,
Speaker 1: this is a big time overachiever. By the time you
Speaker 1: get to summer, the blooms just keep coming and it
Speaker 1: stands up to heat and conditions like you would not believe.
Speaker 1: So I love plants like that. Lobularia snow princess is
Speaker 1: another one. You know, we used to have had to
Speaker 1: deal with the sweet alyssum that would melt out in
Speaker 1: the summertime. Not anymore. What a great plant.
Speaker 2: They have such great fragrance on that. I love the
Speaker 2: fragrance of a lissum on a warm summer day.
Speaker 1: In herbs. I consider chives and a regano to be overachievers,
Speaker 1: and also garlic. All three. Now with oregano, it comes
Speaker 1: back year after year. And I have a regano in
Speaker 1: my yard that I don't harvest, but rather I let
Speaker 1: it go to flower, and it's gorgeous.
Speaker 2: I think it's an over covered in pollinators. You know,
Speaker 2: it's funny that you mentioned that, because I have a
Speaker 2: lot of a regino in my yard. Itself sows abundantly,
Speaker 2: and as we've been dealing with all of the snow lately,
Speaker 2: I've realized how we're spreading it around, because it kind
Speaker 2: of grows on the edge of a bed or something
Speaker 2: like that, and then you shovel and then you pick
Speaker 2: up an old a regno seedhead, and then next thing
Speaker 2: you know, you've got a regino in a new spot.
Speaker 2: But I do love it, and I do harvest it,
Speaker 2: and I do let it go to flower because I
Speaker 2: love how covered it gets in pollinators when it's in flower,
Speaker 2: And I mean, who doesn't love to have a fragrant
Speaker 2: oregano rather than some you know, nasty meat you'd have
Speaker 2: to deal with. Exactly, It readily out competes the weeds
Speaker 2: in my property and I love that about it. So
Speaker 2: I'm going to be on that.
Speaker 1: It's an overachiever. And you know, I could go on
Speaker 1: and on, and I'm sure you could too, Stacy. And
Speaker 1: if we talk about, for example, an early bloomer hellabores,
Speaker 1: I would consider a hellibore to be an overachiever. It
Speaker 1: laughs at the snow in the cold, and it blooms
Speaker 1: early and pushes through and you think, ah, this plant's
Speaker 1: kind of gnarrowly, not so beautiful, and boom just like that.
Speaker 2: And another plant you need to have a little faith
Speaker 2: in because they do bloom so early. When most people
Speaker 2: are at the garden center, they're done flowering. And so
Speaker 2: you have a pot with you know, maybe a couple
Speaker 2: of leaves in it, because they don't love the growing
Speaker 2: environment of the nursery. They definitely are much happier in
Speaker 2: the ground. But if you take the risk on a helliboar,
Speaker 2: you will be so glad that you did when it
Speaker 2: is looking amazing in your garden in you know, March
Speaker 2: or April, and everything else is still sleepy.
Speaker 1: So many plants, so a little time.
Speaker 2: I agree, I'd love to keep going, especially in February.
Speaker 2: It's a good way to pass February thinking and dreaming
Speaker 2: about the overachievers in your garden. And if you don't
Speaker 2: have any overachievers in your gardener, maybe you have a
Speaker 2: different overachiever you'd like to tell us about. You know,
Speaker 2: take a look at our list, and we could all
Speaker 2: use a little more overachievers in our horticultural life. So
Speaker 2: on that note, we have to bid you farewell for
Speaker 2: this week. We want to thank you so so very
Speaker 2: much for listening. Thank you Rick for joining me today,
Speaker 2: Thank you Adriana for doing it all and making it
Speaker 2: happen behind the scenes. And we hope everyone has a
Speaker 2: wonderful week ahead.