Speaker 1: Hello, my friends. Broadcasting from Studio a at Proven Winners,
Speaker 1: Color Choice Shrubs. It's The Gardening Simplified Show with Stacy Hirvella, me,
Speaker 1: Rick weisst and our engineer and producer Adrianna Robinson. Well,
Speaker 1: you know, I think annuals. Flowering annuals to me, aren't
Speaker 1: an investment like a tree. They're more of an opportunity.
Speaker 1: They're an event. Investment is traditionally defined as the commitment
Speaker 1: of resources to achieve later benefits, and the key word
Speaker 1: here is later. See with flowering annuals, we can fill
Speaker 1: gaps in our landscape, have instant impact, season long color.
Speaker 1: Many annuals are edibles. Of course, pollinators love them. It's
Speaker 1: a great way to teach kids, and shopping for them
Speaker 1: is an adventure in spring. Just ask Stacy and her month.
Speaker 2: Indeed, it's one of my favorite things that I do
Speaker 2: all your life. You know, I think of annuals. It's
Speaker 2: interesting that you bring up the investment thing. I don't
Speaker 2: know exactly how to classify them, but they're akin to
Speaker 2: a party, you know, like going all out with decorations
Speaker 2: and food and yeah, sure, it's kind of like a
Speaker 2: condensed you know, short term payoff, but it's so worth it.
Speaker 2: You have to take advantage of the summer, well you can.
Speaker 2: And yeah, shopping for annuals I think is honestly one
Speaker 2: of the most fun things. It's even more fun if
Speaker 2: you can do it with someone like your mom or
Speaker 2: someone that you really love. But it's just it's a delight.
Speaker 2: I love it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I love it too, and I agree an event
Speaker 1: or an opportunity. And then if you think about it,
Speaker 1: you know, it used to be we had Decoration Day,
Speaker 1: and of course Mother's Day. We can thank Anna Jarvis
Speaker 1: and Woodrow Wilson years ago they designated the second Sunday
Speaker 1: in May to be Mother's Day. And then of course
Speaker 1: we had Decoration Day, which became Memorial Day, with which
Speaker 1: became the fourth Monday in the month of May. So
Speaker 1: you take those holidays and you throw into the mix
Speaker 1: that it's the last projected frost date for many people
Speaker 1: in the United States. Throw all those three together and wow,
Speaker 1: it becomes a flower festival.
Speaker 2: Yes, a very condensed like four week flower festival, but yeah,
Speaker 2: what a great time it is.
Speaker 1: It is a fantasic killing.
Speaker 2: Me over here, it's so far away.
Speaker 1: I go, well, you know, uh, from the perspective of
Speaker 1: the garden center industry. We used to years ago, when
Speaker 1: I first started out in the industry, we would sell
Speaker 1: annuals big time during the month of May and June.
Speaker 1: Now I'm finding it is an April to October thing.
Speaker 1: The party goes on for the entire spring, summer, and
Speaker 1: fall period, and that's what makes annuals so great. All right,
Speaker 1: the envelope please, twenty twenty five National Annual of the
Speaker 1: Year is super Tunia Mini Vista yellow petunia, What cheerful blooms.
Speaker 1: And I have to say they must have consulted with
Speaker 1: Stacy on this one, because Stacy, I know how much
Speaker 1: you love yellow in your landscape.
Speaker 2: I do love yellow, and I think it is an
Speaker 2: interesting choice for the annual of the year because I
Speaker 2: think very few people when they think of petunias, yellow
Speaker 2: is probably not even remotely part of their mental image,
Speaker 2: part of the conversation. People don't really think of yellow petunias,
Speaker 2: sure at all. But I have actually grown I haven't
Speaker 2: grown this particular one, but I did grow the Supertunia,
Speaker 2: saffron finch petunia and beauty, yeah, just beautiful. And I
Speaker 2: think it's high time that people start thinking of petunia's
Speaker 2: is an opportunity for you. They're not like a Namby
Speaker 2: Pamby yellow, not that there's anything wrong with that. They're
Speaker 2: like a good, bold, beautiful yellow, and I love it
Speaker 2: they are.
Speaker 1: They are sunshine, And of course I love the mini
Speaker 1: vista syria of supertunias. They bloom their heads off. They
Speaker 1: can handle the heat. Last year I took some many
Speaker 1: vistas that were in hanging baskets. Just overflowing the hanging baskets.
Speaker 1: I popped the hanging baskets off and plunged them into
Speaker 1: the ground. They were fantastic.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they are one that you can grow in the ground.
Speaker 2: A lot of people get confused sort of about what
Speaker 2: the difference between supertunias and super bells are. One is
Speaker 2: a petunia, one is a Caliber CoA. Superbells is a
Speaker 2: Caliber CoA. But the Caliber Coas they don't recommend putting
Speaker 2: in the ground because they need such good drainage. They
Speaker 2: were made for containers, whereas a supertunias, Yeah, put them
Speaker 2: in the ground, make them into a flower filled ground
Speaker 2: cover and party it up.
Speaker 1: The wonderful thing about many vista supertunias, or in this case,
Speaker 1: the plant of the year. The flowering annual plant to
Speaker 1: the year is the fact that they're self cleaning, really
Speaker 1: no maintenance.
Speaker 2: So you don't have to worry.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 2: This is one of those things that I think people
Speaker 2: who petunias back in the day are just like, oh,
Speaker 2: I'm not growing petunias. You have to deadhead them. It's smelly,
Speaker 2: it's sticky, it's horrible. I'm never growing petunias again. But
Speaker 2: you know, honestly, and I don't even say that because
Speaker 2: I work here, but proven winners really did change all
Speaker 2: of that with the supertunias. It's a whole new way
Speaker 2: to look at petunias. And if you have been holding
Speaker 2: back from growing petunias for those reasons, you have those
Speaker 2: you know, bad memories, It's high time that you rethink
Speaker 2: it and bring some petunias into your annual plantings.
Speaker 1: It's flower power Supertunia Mini vista yellow petunias. The Kalladium
Speaker 1: of the Year envelope please heart to heart, Blushing Bride
Speaker 1: and Stacy for kalladiums. I love the fact that many
Speaker 1: koladiums now are both sun and shade. They're not just
Speaker 1: relegated to the shade. In this case, a strap leaf
Speaker 1: kualladium with elongated foliage. That and it's ruffled also, And
Speaker 1: so you see these bright pink leaves edged in a
Speaker 1: bright green border with patches of white. Can handle sun
Speaker 1: or shade, although if you're growing them in the south,
Speaker 1: probably better off in shade. But here in the Midwest
Speaker 1: or north, sun or shade. Just love kalladiums and the
Speaker 1: fact that they're so heat and humidity tolerance.
Speaker 2: You know, Kaladiums are another great example of a plant
Speaker 2: that has come so far from where it was. Now.
Speaker 2: I know you're going to remember this, but do you
Speaker 2: remember back in the day when you ordered kalladiums, your
Speaker 2: choices were green, white, pink, or red. There was no variety,
Speaker 2: there was no series. You had no idea what you're getting,
Speaker 2: just the color. And now it's just what has happened
Speaker 2: in the kalladium breeding world, between Heart to Heart and
Speaker 2: everything else out there. It's truly extraordinary, and I think
Speaker 2: it just really makes people rethink again this plant. And
Speaker 2: they do take sun, especially if you live in a
Speaker 2: colder climate. But I think especially for gardeners who have
Speaker 2: a lot of shade and want to have fabulous containers,
Speaker 2: this is a choice that should not be overlooked. You
Speaker 2: can stop thinking about, you know, feeling bad that you
Speaker 2: don't get flowers. Just pile on these kalladiums. You'll have
Speaker 2: tons of color, tons of texture. They are absolutely beautiful. Now,
Speaker 2: I unfortunately am having a little pity party over here
Speaker 2: since we're talking about parties, because I have tried to
Speaker 2: grow heart to heart kalladiums and the deer had other intentions.
Speaker 2: So unfortunately these are not very dear resistant. I've never
Speaker 2: had any trouble with them eating petunias. I don't think
Speaker 2: they like that, you know, kind of stickiness either. But yeah,
Speaker 2: I unfortunately is they have actually climbed my front steps
Speaker 2: to get to the kalladiums. So just a little word
Speaker 2: of warning for those of you who also have to
Speaker 2: deal with deer. But if you don't, and you have
Speaker 2: shade and you're looking for something just fabulous and interesting,
Speaker 2: you can't really do much better than hard to heartkalladiums.
Speaker 1: I agree. Coming up in segment four, we're going to
Speaker 1: talk to Noah dear Ohanian. He is the director of
Speaker 1: product management with Proven Winners. We're going to talk more
Speaker 1: about some of these fabulous varieties that are coming out
Speaker 1: this year. Exciting varieties and of course recipe of the
Speaker 1: year also for flowering annuals. This year it's Ireland, Champagne,
Speaker 1: Toast and Vista View. Now, Stacey, I love the recipe
Speaker 1: Ireland because to me, it looks like the flag of Ireland.
Speaker 1: You've got goldilocks, rocks, bidens, you have super bells, over
Speaker 1: easy Calibrica and then a favorite of many people luscious basket,
Speaker 1: tangiglow a Lantana. Now you put all those together, that
Speaker 1: recipe almost looks like the flag of Irons.
Speaker 2: And it's a lot of color. Now for our listeners
Speaker 2: who maybe aren't familiar with it, proven winners every year
Speaker 2: puts out creates these different recipes of combinations of annuals. Now,
Speaker 2: for me personally, combining annuals is my favorite thing about
Speaker 2: growing annuals. But there's a lot of people who just
Speaker 2: want that ready made, fool proof opportunity, and for them,
Speaker 2: I think that you know the recipes, whether it's the
Speaker 2: recipes of the Year or just one of the many
Speaker 2: recipes on the website, it just makes a great starting
Speaker 2: point for designing your plants.
Speaker 1: Yeah, these recipes and combinations too, are not a recipe
Speaker 1: or a combination where someone's sitting at their desk thinking, oh,
Speaker 1: this would be cool. No, these are proven, tested and tried,
Speaker 1: and so you know these recipes are going to work
Speaker 1: for you. Now. In addition to the annuals of the year,
Speaker 1: there are many new introductions this year. We're going to
Speaker 1: talk to Noah about it. In segment four. There's a
Speaker 1: totally tempted Kufia, which I'm very excited about. Aero Magica
Speaker 1: purple heliotrope. This one's fantastic because a lot of people
Speaker 1: have heliotrope melt out on them in the heat of summer,
Speaker 1: but this one is a fabulous cultivar, and so I
Speaker 1: recommend that. And then Stacy, I loved Scavola before it
Speaker 1: was popular to love Scavola. And now we have star Diva.
Speaker 1: So as opposed to the hand or fan shaped flowers
Speaker 1: that were used to we now have star shaped flowers.
Speaker 1: So there are so many great new annuals coming down
Speaker 1: the line this year. I can't wait for frost free days.
Speaker 2: I know me too. More color, a little less white,
Speaker 2: little more color would would not be a bad thing.
Speaker 1: It's coming, folks. Hang on, we'll get there. Plants on
Speaker 1: Trial is next. Let's see how Stacey ties this all
Speaker 1: together here on the Gardening Simplified Show.
Speaker 2: Beautify your home and community with Proven Winner's Color Choice Shrubs.
Speaker 2: With over three hundred and twenty five unique varieties to
Speaker 2: choose from. There's a flowering shrubber evergreen for every taste
Speaker 2: and every space. Just look for the distinctive white container
Speaker 2: your local garden center or learn more at Proven Winner's
Speaker 2: Color Choice dot com. Greeting's gardening friends, and welcome back
Speaker 2: to the Gardening Simplified Show. We're talking the Annual of
Speaker 2: the Year. We've been through the shrub of the Year,
Speaker 2: we've been through the Perennial of the year, and now
Speaker 2: it is time for the Annual of the Year. And
Speaker 2: like we've said in previous shows, the plants of the
Speaker 2: Year from the Proven Winner's brand are selected by industry experts.
Speaker 2: Were each of the partners that does perennials, shrubs and
Speaker 2: annuals does it in a slightly different way. The way
Speaker 2: that we do it for shrubs is we have some
Speaker 2: of the biggest growers in the US vote on that.
Speaker 2: Because of course, the important thing and what's really great
Speaker 2: about the Plants of the Year is that they're going
Speaker 2: to be easy to find. And you know, there's so
Speaker 2: many proven winners plants out there that a lot of
Speaker 2: times you'll fall in love with something and it can
Speaker 2: be hard to find. And so the great thing about
Speaker 2: the annuals and perennials and shrubs of the year is
Speaker 2: that everybody's on board. They've known about this for a
Speaker 2: couple of years. You're only hearing about it right now,
Speaker 2: but the industry has known about it for a while,
Speaker 2: so the supply is going to be there for you
Speaker 2: to actually use and incorporate in your garden. And it's
Speaker 2: also just I think, a nice guideline for trying new
Speaker 2: things every year.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I love that, you know, and probably a little
Speaker 1: easier with as than it is, let's say with perennials
Speaker 1: or shrubs. But that's why we see so many new
Speaker 1: introductions every year.
Speaker 2: In annuals, right, And that's what we try to do
Speaker 2: is just to get people to focus on one thing
Speaker 2: because we do have so much great stuff. I mean,
Speaker 2: it's hard for me to focus on one plant every
Speaker 2: week for plants on Trial because we do have so
Speaker 2: many great plants. So that's why I always try to
Speaker 2: tie it to whatever our theme of the episode, is,
Speaker 2: and you know, thinking about this week's as you already said, Rick,
Speaker 2: I love yellow and the garden, and I have found
Speaker 2: that yellow in the garden for me is not necessarily
Speaker 2: something that I personally select. It's just something that has happened.
Speaker 2: And it's partly because I do grow, you know, a lot,
Speaker 2: not all, but mostly native plants, and a great number
Speaker 2: of North American native flowering perennials and shrubs for that matter,
Speaker 2: do happen to have yellow flowers. So by virtue of
Speaker 2: you know, sort of a natural selection, I've ended up
Speaker 2: with quite a lot of yellow in my garden.
Speaker 1: And I think when spring arrives, to celebrate, we should
Speaker 1: do a show where we're both wearing yellow. I'll go
Speaker 1: out and find something yellow when the landscape came all.
Speaker 2: Right, it's a deal, okay, all right. So, and I
Speaker 2: do have a lot of yellow clothes too, because I
Speaker 2: love I love yellow that much. I'm wearing yellow earings
Speaker 2: right now. You just can't see him under the headphones.
Speaker 2: But the cool thing about yellow in the garden is
Speaker 2: I was thinking about it, is that yellow is truly
Speaker 2: a seasonless color. I think a lot of other colors
Speaker 2: in the garden you know, you think of them as
Speaker 2: just being very associated with a season, like you aren't
Speaker 2: really seeing like a lot of red flowers or red
Speaker 2: stuff outside of summer and fall, and pink is highly
Speaker 2: associated with, you know, summer, and purple is highly associated
Speaker 2: with that sort of at least in my garden, that
Speaker 2: late spring early summer transitional period when you've got your
Speaker 2: neepata and your selvia and all of that stuff flowering.
Speaker 2: But yellow really is a seasonless color. In the spring,
Speaker 2: you've got your daffodils and you're in your forsythia. Of course,
Speaker 2: you know summer, as we've just been through all sorts
Speaker 2: of stuff. In fall, I mean, of course, so much
Speaker 2: yellow in fall, whether you're talking about a ginko or
Speaker 2: you know what plants can.
Speaker 1: My favorite yellow ginko.
Speaker 2: It's a great choice. And then on top of all
Speaker 2: those yellow flowers, there's also tons of yellow foliage.
Speaker 1: Yes, as a matter of fact, I know where you're
Speaker 1: going with this segment. You're going to talk about spyria, right, Spyria.
Speaker 2: I am not going to talk about spyria today. We
Speaker 2: do have yellow leaved spyria, but I am talking about
Speaker 2: a plant that people aren't used to seeing with yellow foliage,
Speaker 2: the mystery thickens, and I won't keep you in suspense
Speaker 2: any longer. This week's plant on trial is sky do
Speaker 2: gold blueberry.
Speaker 1: What a gorgeous plant.
Speaker 2: It is a very unique plant. So if you live
Speaker 2: in West Michigan, of course, blueberries are no stranger to you.
Speaker 2: You see them all the time. You kind of can't
Speaker 2: not see them if you're driving anywhere around here. But
Speaker 2: the homegrowing blueberries are different. You know, they're smaller, they're
Speaker 2: more garden friendly, They're not like the big, you know,
Speaker 2: six feet tall plants that you'll see out in the
Speaker 2: actual blueberry farms. So skydew gold is a gold leaf
Speaker 2: ornamental blueberry. And through the show you're gonna hear me
Speaker 2: talk about it as an ornamental blueberry, and you might
Speaker 2: be thinking, like, well, what exactly does that mean? Does
Speaker 2: that mean it doesn't have fruit? And the fact is
Speaker 2: it does set fruit, it does flower, and it does
Speaker 2: have fruit, and that fruit is edible. But this is
Speaker 2: a blueberry that was selected specifically for its looks in
Speaker 2: the garden or landscape.
Speaker 1: And I can see why. When we were in the
Speaker 1: trial garden, Adriana, you and myself, I saw it in
Speaker 1: the distance and Stacy, I was drawn towards it, like
Speaker 1: what is that? Right?
Speaker 2: And I have had the same experience in our trial
Speaker 2: garden too, where you know, Adrian and I'll be walking
Speaker 2: around going to make videos and something will catch your
Speaker 2: eye and I'll be like, oh my gosh, what is that?
Speaker 2: And we'll go over there, and sure enough it's a sky.
Speaker 2: It's happened to us more than once in different spots
Speaker 2: in the garden because it is just such a showy plant.
Speaker 2: So this is a gold leaf blueberry, and the foliage
Speaker 2: starts out kind of green in the spring, with that
Speaker 2: kind of pinkish red flush that is common for blueberries.
Speaker 2: But then as that foliage expands and starts to mature,
Speaker 2: starts to you know, photosynthesize, it creates these bright golden
Speaker 2: pigments and those are going to stay present on the
Speaker 2: foliage basically from you know, mid to late spring, all
Speaker 2: the way until full when the plant then starts to
Speaker 2: turn red and yellow. And you know, the interesting thing
Speaker 2: to me about this plant, or one of the many things,
Speaker 2: is that it's a very vivid and very eye catching
Speaker 2: gold yellow. But it's not unnatural looking, you know, and
Speaker 2: I think so you know, I think sometimes people want
Speaker 2: a really colorful landscape, and there's a lot of plants
Speaker 2: out there with colors that were maybe not really used
Speaker 2: to seeing in nature where we live or whatever. And
Speaker 2: this has all of that pizazz and eye catching, you know,
Speaker 2: dazzling kind of look, but not in a way that's
Speaker 2: like garish or gaudy, like it's getting all your attention.
Speaker 2: It's really bright, it's very interesting and pretty in the landscape,
Speaker 2: but it doesn't feel out of place, like it doesn't
Speaker 2: feel like you're trying to like scream, it's just like
Speaker 2: you're trying to, you know, give a sassy winking something
Speaker 2: like that. So, like I said, we call it an
Speaker 2: ornamental blueberry because it was selected again for these ornamental characteristics,
Speaker 2: not edible characteristics. And when you're going for a blueberry
Speaker 2: that you want to produce fruit, you're saying, like, hey,
Speaker 2: does this produce earlier late? Are the are the fruits large,
Speaker 2: are they smaller? They juicy? Or are they tasty? You're looking
Speaker 2: for the qualities of edibility. Now, this does produce fruit,
Speaker 2: and the fruits are perfectly delicious, but that was not
Speaker 2: our primary selection criteria. That's what makes it a little
Speaker 2: bit different than other blueberries. But if you already have blueberries,
Speaker 2: you can certainly add this for some pizaz in your
Speaker 2: blueberry planting or in your landscape, and other blueberries will
Speaker 2: pollinate it and you'll get fruit. So it's kind of
Speaker 2: like an added bonus. So for this plant, you should
Speaker 2: really think about the fruit. That is the main reason,
Speaker 2: and you're growing it, but kind of as a little
Speaker 2: added bonus there if you want to have it or
Speaker 2: leave it to the animals or whatever you want to
Speaker 2: do with it, always a benefit.
Speaker 1: Now do we need lots of sunshine and drainage for
Speaker 1: this like we do with blueberries here in Michigan.
Speaker 2: Yes, So everything that you would normally need for properly
Speaker 2: sighting a blueberry plant is going to be equally true
Speaker 2: for skyd gold. Okay, you're going to want acidic soil.
Speaker 2: Of course, this is non negotiable. And a lot of people,
Speaker 2: I think, do think of blueberries as high maintenance plants.
Speaker 2: And I'm going to get to pruiting in just a second,
Speaker 2: but I think, as with everything in the garden, people
Speaker 2: tend to think of things as high maintenance when they
Speaker 2: are not sighted properly and therefore need a lot of
Speaker 2: attention to do what you want them to do. But
Speaker 2: with skyde gold blueberry or any other kind of blueberry,
Speaker 2: if you plant it in full sun, and this is
Speaker 2: cold tolerant down to usdas on four, heat tolerant through
Speaker 2: USDA Zone eight, so the warmer your climate, the more
Speaker 2: shade it can take. But if you're down there in
Speaker 2: zone four five, definitely gonna want full sun for this
Speaker 2: for the best color, best fall color, and of course
Speaker 2: best flowering and fruiting if you do want some of
Speaker 2: those fruits. Acidic soil, well drained soil, super crucial. Blueberries
Speaker 2: don't really like wet so they can take moist soil,
Speaker 2: but you don't want like the soggy soil that can
Speaker 2: lead to all sorts of issues for them. And the
Speaker 2: great thing, because this is an ornamental blueberry and not
Speaker 2: a production blueberry, you don't have to worry about pruning
Speaker 2: at all, you know, overall, if you're trying to grow
Speaker 2: blueberries for backyard fruit production, you do need to be
Speaker 2: quite careful with the pruning. You need to, you know,
Speaker 2: remove the oldest growth, make sure that it has lots
Speaker 2: of young, healthy growth for the best flowering and fruiting.
Speaker 2: Timing is really crucial. It's a lot to remember. Whereas
Speaker 2: with skydew gold, you don't have to prune it at
Speaker 2: all if you don't want to. In fact, it reaches
Speaker 2: just two to four feet tall and three to four
Speaker 2: feet wide, so it's really the perfect size for home
Speaker 2: landscaping and you won't need to prune it, you know,
Speaker 2: for any reason at all, if you don't want to it.
Speaker 1: It sounds like the plant for me, no work, easy
Speaker 1: to grow, and giving you a sassy wink.
Speaker 2: If you do want a sassy wink in your landscape,
Speaker 2: then yes, this would definitely be a good choice. So overall,
Speaker 2: you know, blueberries are not the most deer resisted, they're
Speaker 2: not highest up on the list of plants that deer
Speaker 2: want to eat, but they will eat them, and they
Speaker 2: will particularly eat the young growth in spring, which is
Speaker 2: going to be where all those flowers are. It's going
Speaker 2: to be soft. They tend to eat it in spring
Speaker 2: because of course, you know, they're hungry. They've kind of
Speaker 2: exhausted the food supplies out in natural areas. So if
Speaker 2: you do have deer, I would definitely protect this plant
Speaker 2: with maybe a repellent or some netting, especially for its
Speaker 2: first couple of years, and then you know, you should
Speaker 2: be okay overall, people don't, you know, Like the blueberry
Speaker 2: growers around here, there's plenty of deer and they don't
Speaker 2: usually have to worry about them. So the woodier and
Speaker 2: more mature they get, the less appealing they are too deer.
Speaker 2: But it's something you're definitely going to want to protect
Speaker 2: for at least the first couple of seasons.
Speaker 1: I'll bet. On the positive side, the birds love them.
Speaker 2: The birds absolutely love them. Yeah, and so do pollinators.
Speaker 2: I mean, because there's the blueberry flowers serve all sorts
Speaker 2: of different pollinators, so this is just one of those plants.
Speaker 2: It's a little bit different, kind of like a yellow
Speaker 2: petunia in that regard, and again just a great way
Speaker 2: to bring color like nothing else to your garden and
Speaker 2: that great three season interest. So lots going for it
Speaker 2: if you're interested. Of course, you can see photos of
Speaker 2: it in our YouTube version or on Instagram or on
Speaker 2: our show notes at Gardening Simplified on air dot com.
Speaker 2: You can also find a retailer to look for it
Speaker 2: this season and add it to your garden. We're going
Speaker 2: to take a little break. When we come back, we're
Speaker 2: opening up the garden mail bags, so please stay tuned.
Speaker 2: At Proven Winners Color Choice Shrubs, we know that a
Speaker 2: better landscape starts with a better shrub. Our team of
Speaker 2: experts tests and evaluates all of our flowering shrubs and
Speaker 2: evergreens for eight to ten years to ensure they outperform
Speaker 2: what's already on the market. For easycare, reliable, beautiful shrubs
Speaker 2: to accentuate your home and express your personal style, look
Speaker 2: for Proven Winner's Shrubs in the distinctive white container at
Speaker 2: your local garden center, or learn more at proven Winner's
Speaker 2: Color Choice dot com. Greetings gardening friends, and welcome back
Speaker 2: to the Gardening Simplified Show. We are your headquarters for
Speaker 2: answering garden questions and apparently Sassy winks so I don't
Speaker 2: know where that came from, but it is new to
Speaker 2: the to the Gardening it Simplified canon here. So anyway,
Speaker 2: one of the things that we really love to do
Speaker 2: to help simplify gardening for you is to answer garden questions.
Speaker 2: And like I said before, even though it is kind
Speaker 2: of the off season, you're probably starting to think about
Speaker 2: things that are going wrong. And this week we actually
Speaker 2: have a couple of questions about house plants as well,
Speaker 2: which is also something that we even though it's not
Speaker 2: maybe technically gardening, it's gardening like so you can go
Speaker 2: to Gardening Simplified on air dot com and ask us
Speaker 2: your questions there. But before we get to the questions
Speaker 2: we did, you have a couple comments that I wanted
Speaker 2: to share listener Jackie, since today is the annual of
Speaker 2: the year show, She writes to us, I love all
Speaker 2: capital letters. My super beina. So superbinas are a proven
Speaker 2: winners annual like super Tunia, but they are verbina. Do
Speaker 2: you let do you grow verbina?
Speaker 1: Oh? Yes? And I love it. And I'll tell you
Speaker 1: what the super beinas the fact that they are mildew resistant,
Speaker 1: because that was years ago that was the big problem
Speaker 1: with verbina was mildew. And they're they're vigorous and they're
Speaker 1: mildew reasons.
Speaker 2: Well, that must be why Jackie loves them. She says,
Speaker 2: I'll always have it in my garden, and all the
Speaker 2: pollinators love it too. They're almost always filled with butterflies
Speaker 2: and the hummingbird moths visit regularly. Hummingbird moths. Who doesn't
Speaker 2: want hummingbird moss in the garden they're the best. So
Speaker 2: she sends some pictures of her super beinas for some
Speaker 2: inspiration in the super line of improved Proven Winners annuals.
Speaker 2: So do you check us out on YouTube or at
Speaker 2: Gardeningsimplified on air dot com to take a look at
Speaker 2: those Stacy.
Speaker 1: We also got an interesting comment from listener Tom hardiness
Speaker 1: zone is great, but with the environmental changes occurring today,
Speaker 1: I feel a strong need for heat zone information on
Speaker 1: plants as well. I have had too many plants rated
Speaker 1: for my zone failed due to their intolerance to my
Speaker 1: heat conditions. I won't purchase a new plant without heat
Speaker 1: zone information or a recommendation and Stacey. Back in nineteen
Speaker 1: ninety seven, the American Horticultural Society created a heartiness zone
Speaker 1: for heat and as I understand it, a heat day
Speaker 1: is over eighty six degrees fahrenheit or thirty degrees celsius.
Speaker 1: So in zone one you would have no heat days.
Speaker 1: In zone twelve could as many as two hundred and
Speaker 1: ten or more.
Speaker 2: Wow, that's a lot of hot days. It's a lot
Speaker 2: of So the AHS system heat zone system is a
Speaker 2: great or I should say was a great system, but
Speaker 2: unfortunately they have pulled it from their website, and when
Speaker 2: I reached out to them to ask them why, because
Speaker 2: we were including AHS heat zone information on all of
Speaker 2: our tags and all of our websites and everything like that.
Speaker 2: So we're like, hey, we can't really send people to
Speaker 2: your website and say here's your AAHS find your AHS
Speaker 2: heat zone when there's no map anymore. And they said,
Speaker 2: you know, the data that we have was two out
Speaker 2: of date. We can't stand behind this system anymore. Because
Speaker 2: of course the more you know, everybody was freaking out
Speaker 2: a year ago about the USDA Heardiness Zone map and
Speaker 2: that being changed based on a better, more accurate data set,
Speaker 2: so they didn't have the funding or the data to
Speaker 2: continue supporting the heat zone system. And you know what
Speaker 2: Tom is saying here, I think is really so crucial
Speaker 2: to so many gardeners, whether you live in a hot
Speaker 2: climate or you live in a cold climate, because there's
Speaker 2: plenty of people who, especially in the center of the country,
Speaker 2: live in what would be considered a cold climate but
Speaker 2: have extremely hot summers, and you really need a plant
Speaker 2: that can tolerate both of those things. So Tom, I
Speaker 2: feel your pain, even though I don't live in a
Speaker 2: hot climate. I understand how valuable this information is to people,
Speaker 2: and I totally understand that the heartiness own system has
Speaker 2: a lot of shortcomings, particularly for people who live in
Speaker 2: hot climates. Unfortunately, at present, there is not really a
Speaker 2: better solution. I have a lot of people on our
Speaker 2: team here at Perfuminter's Color Choice Shrubs looking for opportunities
Speaker 2: to fund research or to fund data so that we
Speaker 2: can continue to offer this service. So I wanted to
Speaker 2: add this just in case anybody's out there listening to
Speaker 2: the show and wants to get in touch. You can
Speaker 2: go to Gardening Simplified on air dot com and let's
Speaker 2: see how we can work together to give the hot
Speaker 2: climate gardeners a little bit more reliable information to pick
Speaker 2: their plants.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's fantastic. May As I have soil that was
Speaker 1: used in a pot for two years now the plant
Speaker 1: has gone. I want to know if I should keep
Speaker 1: reducing the soil for new plants. There's a lot of
Speaker 1: broken up roots and in parts of the soil the
Speaker 1: soil is a light brown color instead of a darker black.
Speaker 1: Should I just add organic matter to a mend it?
Speaker 1: Not sure if the root bits are a problem oh, Stacey,
Speaker 1: the old potting soil and sticker shock. When you go
Speaker 1: to a garden center and see exactly how expensive potting
Speaker 1: soil is and I've got how many pots.
Speaker 2: To fill, I feel you. Yeah, So, as I think
Speaker 2: we've talked about on the show, I am a big,
Speaker 2: big believer in reusing your potting soil a great and
Speaker 2: particularly for houseplants, it can be a little bit easier
Speaker 2: than if you're dealing with the scale of outdoor containers.
Speaker 2: As I've said before, I just use those great big
Speaker 2: plastic storage bins that you get at Costco or whatever
Speaker 2: with the yellow tops and nice. Those two of those
Speaker 2: will still all of my soil that I use in
Speaker 2: my containers. I do mix it up with some nice
Speaker 2: composts to recharge it and get some organic matter back,
Speaker 2: because asme has noted, when that organic matter starts to
Speaker 2: go away, it's going to become more of just like
Speaker 2: in peat, muss is in organic matter as well, but
Speaker 2: a lot of the other like more water attentive, high
Speaker 2: nutrition kind of stuff that they put in there, like
Speaker 2: leaf mold. There's all sorts of different things depending on
Speaker 2: the soil mix that you're buying. Yeah, I would just
Speaker 2: mix that in by hand and use it. I don't
Speaker 2: worry about roots in my potting mix at all.
Speaker 1: Same here, I mean I pull out some of the
Speaker 1: bigger roots from year to year. If we're talking about
Speaker 1: outside containers, but leaving some of the roots in. I
Speaker 1: view it as organic matter.
Speaker 2: I do too, Okay, all right, And you know a
Speaker 2: lot of people when I've talked about this at you know,
Speaker 2: talks or whatever that I've given in various places, I've
Speaker 2: said like, well, don't you worry about disease or anything
Speaker 2: like that, And the answer to that is no, I
Speaker 2: actually don't worry about disease because most root diseases are
Speaker 2: are actually going to be problematic in wet conditions. If
Speaker 2: the soil is well drained and it's not staying super wet,
Speaker 2: you really don't have very much to worry about.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 2: Of course, if you are an orchid grower or you're
Speaker 2: doing something that's like, you know, really high value, that
Speaker 2: might be a different story. But I would say for
Speaker 2: the average home gardener, you have nothing to be concerned about,
Speaker 2: and if you are concerned, you don't get rid of
Speaker 2: some of it. But yeah, I definitely believe in keeping
Speaker 2: your potting soil, treating it like a resource and an investment,
Speaker 2: and getting all the life you can out of it.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I do the same in here in Michigan. Of course,
Speaker 1: we have an organic matter amendment called dairy dow d ooh,
Speaker 1: and I work a little bit of that into the
Speaker 1: old soil too, so I don't empty those pots. Stacey,
Speaker 1: I got a green thumb from pinching pennies.
Speaker 2: I guess, well, Patina on there.
Speaker 1: Oh boy, I'm trying to give you a it's not
Speaker 1: a snarky wink. What is it?
Speaker 2: A sassy wink?
Speaker 1: A sassy wink? There we go. I was thinking snarky wink.
Speaker 2: Okay, there's those two.
Speaker 1: We can add that one too.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's for different things.
Speaker 1: Fey has a question about a popular houseplant. I'd like
Speaker 1: to know how to cut a corn plant off, grow
Speaker 1: new roots, and replant in fresh soil. It's now hitting
Speaker 1: a nine foot ceiling. Yeah, Dressina will do that. They
Speaker 1: call them mass canes, if you're keeping score at home
Speaker 1: in the industry. And what they do, Stacey, is they
Speaker 1: cut canes into various links and root them in pots,
Speaker 1: and these Drosina mass canes will grow from it and
Speaker 1: the plant is pretty tough and aggressive and eventually can yeah,
Speaker 1: bump the ceiling.
Speaker 2: It can easily get to be nine feet in time
Speaker 2: and with good care and if it's happy. So yeah,
Speaker 2: just to be clear, she says, corn plants, but we
Speaker 2: are not talking about the corn that you eat or
Speaker 2: corn syrup. It is actually a dressina, very popular houseplant,
Speaker 2: and there are different types of drosina as well. So
Speaker 2: usually the one that is considered cornplant has the foliage
Speaker 2: growing all up it, but then sometimes as it gets older,
Speaker 2: that foliage will drop. So there's a lot of different
Speaker 2: forms of dressina that you can get. But for the
Speaker 2: corn plant, you can easily cut off portions of it
Speaker 2: and root them. So what you're gonna want to do
Speaker 2: is don't pay, don't take too big of a section.
Speaker 2: If you have too big of a section, that's too
Speaker 2: much roots or that's too much foliage for it to
Speaker 2: try to grow roots to compensate for. So, you know,
Speaker 2: I would say probably, you know, something like maybe eight
Speaker 2: to ten inches long or thereabout.
Speaker 1: Talking growth, the green growth, yes.
Speaker 2: Correct, not so not the the bare canes where you
Speaker 2: have the green growth. I would say aim for eight
Speaker 2: to ten inches A little bit more it is fine,
Speaker 2: and then peel off the leaves so that you're exposing
Speaker 2: a white base. You'll see that as soon as you
Speaker 2: start to peel those leaves off. And then if you want,
Speaker 2: you can put some rooting hormone on there. You don't
Speaker 2: have to, but if you happen to have some laying around,
Speaker 2: put some rooting harmone. Put it in a pot with
Speaker 2: some nice potting soil that is moist. You might want
Speaker 2: to put a nice big bag around that to build
Speaker 2: up some humidity. Just make sure that the foliage doesn't
Speaker 2: touch the bag, and I would say in a good
Speaker 2: six to ten weeks that thing is going to have
Speaker 2: roots and be on its way to eventually reaching a
Speaker 2: nine foot tall plant itself.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I've seen people take the procedure that you just
Speaker 1: outlined and even rooted them in a glass of water.
Speaker 1: You don't have to do it that way, but you
Speaker 1: could produce roots that way too, And that's the foliage
Speaker 1: that's growing, the healthy foliage that's growing in the upper
Speaker 1: part of the plant. Now. I have seen people root
Speaker 1: the canes also. That's a lot tougher. And you know,
Speaker 1: from time to time in the garden center industry, we'd
Speaker 1: see some plants shipped in that where the cane was
Speaker 1: put into soil and had not rooted yet and it
Speaker 1: falls out. So the method Stacey's outlining is probably the
Speaker 1: best way for you to go.
Speaker 2: And if your plant has multiple you know it has
Speaker 2: a long area of living, healthy green foliage, you can
Speaker 2: do that as many times as you want, so it
Speaker 2: isn't just the topmost growth that you need to take.
Speaker 2: You can you can do multiple as long as it
Speaker 2: has some green growth. Because again, as Rick said, they're
Speaker 2: not woody plants, but when you have that kind of quirkier,
Speaker 2: woodier growth, it just doesn't root as easily or as well.
Speaker 2: And everywhere that you cut it back to eventually with
Speaker 2: TLC will sprout a new corn sprout exactly and start
Speaker 2: growing as well. So if you have a nine foot
Speaker 2: tall corn plant, fay, you have the potential to have many,
Speaker 2: many more.
Speaker 1: If you so choose, share with friends and nap.
Speaker 2: Indeed, we're going to take a little break in when
Speaker 2: we come back. We are thrilled to have a guest
Speaker 2: room proven winners annuals, So please stay tuned. Thanks for
Speaker 2: listening to the Gardening Simplified podcast, brought to you by
Speaker 2: Proven Winners Color Choice Shrubs. Our award winning flowering shrubs
Speaker 2: and evergreens are trialed and tested by experts with your
Speaker 2: success in mind. Learn more at Proven Winners color Choice
Speaker 2: dot com.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show today for branching
Speaker 1: news and interview with Noah Dear o'hanian. He is the
Speaker 1: director of product management with Proven Winners and I think
Speaker 1: probably just as excited as we are for planting some
Speaker 1: flowering annuals this spring and for spring to arrive. Noah,
Speaker 1: thanks for joining us on the Gardening Simplified Show.
Speaker 3: Well, thank you guys for having me. I appreciate it.
Speaker 1: Noah, I want to get a comment from you. First
Speaker 1: of all, Right, off the top annual of the year,
Speaker 1: So the chosen annual is Supertunia Mini Vista Yellow Petunia.
Speaker 1: How do you feel about that?
Speaker 3: I'm really excited about that as the annual of the year,
Speaker 3: primarily because of the benefit that the customer is going
Speaker 3: to receive as a Proven Winner product. You're going to
Speaker 3: get that long blooming heat tolerant. But the biggest thing
Speaker 3: I think for me is the not having the deadhead,
Speaker 3: you know, as a as a customer, having that product
Speaker 3: on your bench or even having it into your garden
Speaker 3: and being able to see those vibrant flowers all season
Speaker 3: long is important. And not having to do as much maintenance,
Speaker 3: I think is a big factor.
Speaker 1: Well, I know Stacy's happy she's getting the color yellow
Speaker 1: in her landscape this year. She loves yellow.
Speaker 2: I do love yellow, and I was I was saying
Speaker 2: in the first segment when we were talking about the
Speaker 2: annuals of the year that yellow petunias seem to be
Speaker 2: kind of like a new on the scene color for petunias.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's definitely going to be It's going to make
Speaker 3: the garden top for sure. I think it's just gonna
Speaker 3: I think it's gonna bring out a lot of other
Speaker 3: beautiful colors in the garden as a nice compliment.
Speaker 2: And it just seems like for years there was you know, pink,
Speaker 2: there was white, there was purple, and it didn't really
Speaker 2: go into kind of more of the hot color range.
Speaker 2: But I know that you guys have been doing a
Speaker 2: lot withyellow petunias. Is there some sort of color barrier
Speaker 2: that's been crossed there something that allows yellow petunias, So.
Speaker 3: Obviously there's a lot that goes on behind the scenes
Speaker 3: with proven winners and the genetics. And I think the
Speaker 3: biggest factor of the yellow is the fact that it
Speaker 3: holds that color. A lot of other petunities on the
Speaker 3: market that are yellow will dull over time.
Speaker 4: No one wants a sad yellow, So I feel that
Speaker 4: it's exciting kalladium of the year, Heart to heart, blushing
Speaker 4: bride kalladium You're feeling on kalladiums, Noah.
Speaker 3: I think that they are a great centerpiece for containers.
Speaker 3: But I think what's really key, and I think a
Speaker 3: lot of folks can use, is they also make a
Speaker 3: decent houseplant. There are very adaptable as a houseplant. I
Speaker 3: think that kind of goes untalked about, but I think
Speaker 3: it's going to be making a trend here, So something
Speaker 3: to keep in mind.
Speaker 2: So if people want to so say they buy heartheart
Speaker 2: kalladiums for the outdoors in the in the spring or
Speaker 2: summer for you know, outdoor annuals, and they want to
Speaker 2: bring them indoors. A lot of people, I think, know
Speaker 2: that kaladiums are a bulbicorm like growth. So should they
Speaker 2: let them go dormant and then replant them or should
Speaker 2: they bring them inside and try to continue growing them
Speaker 2: as a green plant.
Speaker 3: I think as a hobbyist the fun thing to do
Speaker 3: and try to bring it out of the cold before
Speaker 3: it went dormant and got it inside ideally to keep
Speaker 3: that color going.
Speaker 2: And you know, if they're still doing great around the holidays.
Speaker 2: I know that Heart to Heart has been doing a
Speaker 2: lot of work on kaladiums for Christmas. So if you
Speaker 2: can keep it going at least till.
Speaker 3: Then yeah, Christmas kaladiums. I mean, it's definitely it would
Speaker 3: work well with the point SETI a market. You know,
Speaker 3: bringing that color inside doesn't necessarily have to be a flower,
Speaker 3: can be foliage as well.
Speaker 1: Definitely, so many new fantastic annuals coming out this year. Noah,
Speaker 1: I'm excited about space Age rex begonias. People love colorful
Speaker 1: foliage and space Age rexonas Wow. That's quite a plant.
Speaker 3: Oh oh my goodness. Yeah, I'm very excited about this one.
Speaker 3: The size of the foliage, the color palette again, even
Speaker 3: one that could be brought indoors. It's one of those
Speaker 3: really nice large foliage with its purples and some of
Speaker 3: the greens. There are three different varieties of the space
Speaker 3: Age you have Triton Europa as well as Black Hole,
Speaker 3: and they all bring their own individual personality, but all
Speaker 3: kind of work the same with their vigor and in
Speaker 3: their folio size.
Speaker 1: What a great plant. I've been talking to Kevin Hurd
Speaker 1: with Proven Winners about Aero Magica Purple Heliotrope. He's really
Speaker 1: excited about this plant because of the branching, and he says,
Speaker 1: as far as the flowers are concerned, they bury their dead,
Speaker 1: so it's more of a maintenance free plant. And who
Speaker 1: doesn't love the fragrance of a heliotrope. I think there's
Speaker 1: a lot of people excited about Aero Magica. Noah, Yeah, I.
Speaker 3: Definitely agree with Kevin. I know, we've gone on several
Speaker 3: trips together, Kevin and I, and he's mentioned how excited
Speaker 3: he is about the heliotropium being one of the newest
Speaker 3: additions to the Proven Winner's line, and he does have
Speaker 3: an extensive background in genetics, which is really awesome to
Speaker 3: travel with him. But I definitely agree with him. The aroma,
Speaker 3: the fact that it does bury the dead flowers, that
Speaker 3: the huge wings, and you.
Speaker 2: Know, I think heliotrope is one of those plants that
Speaker 2: a lot of people don't even know because it was
Speaker 2: considered such an old fashioned kind of flower, kind of
Speaker 2: an out of favor because of the dead heading and
Speaker 2: just not great plants overall, and a lot of this
Speaker 2: breeding I think brings the potential for this plant to
Speaker 2: a whole new audience. And you know, for those of
Speaker 2: who were wondering what the magic in the aer magica is,
Speaker 2: they smell like vanilla. They have this just delightful, beautiful
Speaker 2: vanilla smell. And of course, Heliotrope, the plant is itself
Speaker 2: another name for purple so bowl and vanilla. I mean,
Speaker 2: sign me up.
Speaker 1: It.
Speaker 3: Also, it's interesting you can it grows in the Grande
Speaker 3: absolutely beautifully containers, window boxes, recipes, monoculture's landscape. I mean,
Speaker 3: this plant has it all. So it's a great addition.
Speaker 1: If you want to talk about the history and old
Speaker 1: fashioned plants. For me, Heliotrope, I in the heat of summer,
Speaker 1: I smell a fresh baked cherry pie.
Speaker 2: I can see that too kind of fragrance.
Speaker 1: Does anybody bake pies and put them on the window
Speaker 1: sill in summer anymore? Maybe they do, But that's what.
Speaker 3: I too many people floating around exactly exactly.
Speaker 1: I'll tell you what I mentioned earlier in the show
Speaker 1: and Noah that I was a big fan of Scavola
Speaker 1: before it became popular, and now as opposed to the
Speaker 1: fan shape or hand shaped flowers, you come out with
Speaker 1: Star Diva. Wow, what a plan it.
Speaker 3: Yes, so very excited about the start Eva. I am
Speaker 3: also a huge Scavla fan. I think the nice thing
Speaker 3: for me about Scavola is when you give it to
Speaker 3: somebody who may must not necessarily be an avid horticulturalist,
Speaker 3: they can let it dry down a little bit and
Speaker 3: it pops right back the Star Diva. I mean, the
Speaker 3: nice thing about it is it just packs a huge
Speaker 3: flower punch. It's going to be used separately than the
Speaker 3: WorldWind would be used worldwhend you're going to find in
Speaker 3: the baskets. The Star Eva is going to kind of
Speaker 3: be a standalone maybe in containers. It doesn't pack is
Speaker 3: big of a fill as the WorldWind, so it does
Speaker 3: have its place in the market. It's nice to have
Speaker 3: a complimentary pair to the Whirlwind in its own right,
Speaker 3: you know.
Speaker 2: I like when I'm designing my containers, which I pretty
Speaker 2: much do on the spot. It's not like I go
Speaker 2: to the garden center with a grand plan in mind.
Speaker 2: It's kind of just grabbing whatever, whatever looks cool. You
Speaker 2: know a lot of times I thought, oh, I would
Speaker 2: love like the color the form of a scavola, but
Speaker 2: I just I don't need a trailer. And it's so
Speaker 2: cool when you have, you know, that same kind of
Speaker 2: look and that same durability and everything, but in a
Speaker 2: different habit. It's a great way to kind of do
Speaker 2: a theme in variation, create some cohesion in the garden
Speaker 2: without just being overly unnecessarily repetitive.
Speaker 3: Exactly. Yes, I like how you put that, for sure.
Speaker 1: Yeah. And if you're thinking about growing scavola in your yard,
Speaker 1: if you have a really hot situation or hot sun, boy,
Speaker 1: this is the plant for you. It really performs. Okay Kufia,
Speaker 1: Am I pronouncing that right? First of all, I think
Speaker 1: you are.
Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, see what.
Speaker 1: So it was Stacey who got me really going on vermillionaire.
Speaker 1: I mean, I've dabbled in it before, but vermillionaire, I
Speaker 1: love that plant was gorgeous in my garden this year.
Speaker 1: And then you come out with totally tempted kufias, which
Speaker 1: are procumbents. So I'm thinking the plant being a procumbents.
Speaker 1: It's it's a more of a trailer or it lies,
Speaker 1: it's shorter. Tell us about these new Kufias that are
Speaker 1: introduced this year.
Speaker 3: Sure so so some people pronounced it pronounced cufia cfia.
Speaker 3: I think either way okay correct. But the nice thing
Speaker 3: about this is it just kind of expands our list
Speaker 3: of heat tolerant annuals. For sure, it's floriferous. You're still
Speaker 3: going to get your pollinators coming in, which is awesome,
Speaker 3: as well as it's just a little bit more of
Speaker 3: a refined habit and so you're not going to like
Speaker 3: you said, it's it's the pro commings. It's not going
Speaker 3: to be that standing tall. It's going to be much
Speaker 3: round or more mounded, and in still packs that that
Speaker 3: that flower, that flower punch that we love in cufia
Speaker 3: for sure.
Speaker 2: Now what I did get samples of this last year,
Speaker 2: and I grew it. I grew the red one because
Speaker 2: the only thing I like better than yellow is red,
Speaker 2: and I absolutely the color was just stunning. Now I
Speaker 2: did it did get pollinator so not the hummingbirds, like
Speaker 2: totally tempted because it doesn't have those cigar shaped flowers
Speaker 2: that kind of characterize the Vermilionaire type, but just such
Speaker 2: a beautiful plant. And the color. It looks great with
Speaker 2: the vermilionaire because it still picks up with kind of
Speaker 2: that saturation that you see with that like little bit
Speaker 2: of purple. But the color on this plant, I've never
Speaker 2: grown anything like it. I absolutely adored it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, for people keeping score at home, we're talking about kufia,
Speaker 1: so it's cuph ea and then the totally tempted frosted
Speaker 1: violets and then richly red. There is also a vivid
Speaker 1: violet and a totally tempted water melon wine. I think
Speaker 1: these plants are going to be popular.
Speaker 3: Noah, I agree. I agree.
Speaker 1: Now, years ago in the garden center industry, I have
Speaker 1: memories of selling moss roses, the multi colored moss roses in.
Speaker 2: Trade cell packs, the old cell packs, the.
Speaker 1: Old cell packs, and a lot of people consider them
Speaker 1: as an old fashion annual. But now we've got tangerine,
Speaker 1: fusia and mango, the mojave, portia, lacas, these plants especially
Speaker 1: for hot sunny areas. Noah, I'm planning on growing some
Speaker 1: of these in my landscape this.
Speaker 3: Year, oh for sure. And don't just think of it
Speaker 3: as a landscape plant. The way that they work in hangars.
Speaker 3: I think is phenomenal growing for some other growers before
Speaker 3: venturing into proven winters, A lot of hangars, the eight
Speaker 3: inch hangers would be loaded. We have loaded portolaca hangers
Speaker 3: and they were just phenomenal, phenomenal and would fly off
Speaker 3: the shelf. So don't think of it as just a
Speaker 3: landscape plant. It does work well in a as a
Speaker 3: mono or a monocombo, two different colors mixed into a
Speaker 3: hanging basket.
Speaker 2: And you know, it's very forgiving, so especially for people
Speaker 2: who want to grow in containers but travel or have
Speaker 2: really difficult conditions, it's such a great choice because it
Speaker 2: can really withstand some short term abuse without really suffering
Speaker 2: in the flower color at all.
Speaker 3: Agreed. And it's set so many new buds that they're
Speaker 3: always ready to emerge. So if you do lose some
Speaker 3: flowers water, if you come back from a vacation, like
Speaker 3: you said, a few days later, maybe a week later,
Speaker 3: you'll have some new flowers emerging.
Speaker 1: I love it. Unplugged red salvia and white salvia. Tell
Speaker 1: us about this plant. There's there's a great story behind
Speaker 1: this plant, and I think this is going to be
Speaker 1: very popular in garden centers. This year.
Speaker 3: I agree as well. The salvia is a huge staple
Speaker 3: of our of our new new intros coming out. The flowers,
Speaker 3: the different colors that we're offering, larger blossoms, greater flower power,
Speaker 3: is just impulse appeal at the retail level. It's just
Speaker 3: gonna it's gonna be great for all all sorts of
Speaker 3: consumers in the gardens.
Speaker 1: And there's unplugged red and unplugged D white, correct, that
Speaker 1: is correct.
Speaker 3: Yeah, And again it's going to attract the pollinators, the beast,
Speaker 3: the butterfly, hummingbird. And but the nice thing is it
Speaker 3: is deer resistance.
Speaker 2: Okay, yeah, they didn't I had samples of this last
Speaker 2: year as well of unplugged red. They didn't touch it.
Speaker 2: And this thing, it was a blooming machine, like it
Speaker 2: just would not stop. And you know, the the flower clusters,
Speaker 2: the spikes, they kind of elongate, so the more the
Speaker 2: longer you have it, the longer they get. And by
Speaker 2: the end of the season it just looks like this wild.
Speaker 2: It kind of like gets back to that more like
Speaker 2: wild salvia. Yeah, and in the best way, you know,
Speaker 2: like I love that it kind of gets a little yeah,
Speaker 2: just a little while, a little rough around the edges.
Speaker 1: I like that nice nice Noah, I of course loved
Speaker 1: the supertunias, the performance of supertunias. You have one this year,
Speaker 1: Bermuda Beach. This is a a supertunia that I want
Speaker 1: to put in a container on my deck and then
Speaker 1: pull up my lawn chair with a nice little beverage
Speaker 1: and sit by it. What a cool color on that plant.
Speaker 3: For sure. What kind of beverage you think you would have?
Speaker 1: Oh, come on over, We'll mix something up really good. Noah. Actually,
Speaker 1: to be honest with you, it would be a it
Speaker 1: would be a cilantro and cucumber. Martine, I know you were.
Speaker 2: Going to say that.
Speaker 3: So the supertunia Bermuda Beach, it has been within the
Speaker 3: proven winner's realm for a little bit. But this is
Speaker 3: an improvement. So when we do make improvements or release improvements,
Speaker 3: they are not big. They're not usually big improvements because
Speaker 3: we know it's a tried and true crop that our
Speaker 3: customers absolutely adore. What we're trying to do is just
Speaker 3: pass on some of the benefits of some maybe newer
Speaker 3: things that are coming out. So maybe a little bit
Speaker 3: larger of a flower, maybe the color is gonna last
Speaker 3: a little bit longer. So as far as Bermuda Beach goes,
Speaker 3: it's a medium coral pink flower bloom spring to fall
Speaker 3: of no dead heading. We all love not having the
Speaker 3: dead head flowers. And again it's it's one of those
Speaker 3: plants that you could just use window boxes, hanging baster recipes.
Speaker 3: You could do whatever you want with this plant. It's indestructible.
Speaker 3: It's a great plan and it's a.
Speaker 2: Key element of one of perform Winner's best selling recipes
Speaker 2: is that Bermuda Beach or Bermuda skuys with with this
Speaker 2: and the and the little blue Labelia's in it.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, correct, yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, always. You see that everywhere. I know when that
Speaker 2: was I know when that first came out of him,
Speaker 2: was like oh wow. And you know, here we are
Speaker 2: at least ten years later, and I see it everywhere
Speaker 2: I go every single season. People love that combination.
Speaker 1: Noah, before we let you go in, we're talking to
Speaker 1: Noah Dear o'hanian. He is the director of product management
Speaker 1: with Proven Winners, And Noah, I want to ask you
Speaker 1: real quickly because when I'm in the garden center, I
Speaker 1: see people going crazy over angelonia. Angel face love that
Speaker 1: plant and you have some improved varieties this year.
Speaker 3: That is that is correct. It's gonna be a very
Speaker 3: heat resisting variety. It actually it thrives.
Speaker 2: In the heat.
Speaker 3: So think of it as a plant that just thrives
Speaker 3: in the heat. So you get into a nice warm area,
Speaker 3: it's just going to perform like crazy for you. Just
Speaker 3: make sure you obviously you give it the right amount
Speaker 3: of water, but in a nice warm area, and they're
Speaker 3: gonna explode.
Speaker 1: Fantastic. Noah, as director of product management with proven winners,
Speaker 1: You're probably not allowed to have a favorite plant, is
Speaker 1: that correct? Or do you have a favorite?
Speaker 3: I do have. I was, you know, it's funny, before
Speaker 3: we have done this call, I was wondering if that
Speaker 3: question was going to come up. And I do have
Speaker 3: a fit. I do have a favorite plant. And I
Speaker 3: don't know if it's if it's going to bode well
Speaker 3: with my colleagues, but I think that to double up.
Speaker 3: Pogonia for me is one of my favorite annuals really
Speaker 3: growing it. It is such an easy grow. You can
Speaker 3: pot it and and forget it and it just does
Speaker 3: its thing. It's a very easy product. And I just
Speaker 3: absolutely adore that plant.
Speaker 1: I love that and you know, I see a real
Speaker 1: resurgence in begonias too. You know, it's a plant that
Speaker 1: can handle some dry shade. People love bogonias, and to
Speaker 1: have these varieties of begonias available today certainly is a
Speaker 1: kick in the plant, so to speak, when we get
Speaker 1: out there and start planting.
Speaker 3: Noa, yeah, yeah. Just so everyone knows the rexes are
Speaker 3: a this is called a foreshadow. I want to say
Speaker 3: that the rexes are just a nice starting point. There's
Speaker 3: so many beautiful bogoonis out there for their foliage. Just
Speaker 3: keep an eye out from Proven Winners, and we hope
Speaker 3: to bring you some really awesome stuff.
Speaker 1: Fantastic. Noah, thank you so much for joining us on
Speaker 1: the Gardening Simplified Show. A pleasure to talk to you.
Speaker 1: Thanks for everything you do for Proven Winners and for
Speaker 1: the general public. Boy, we've got some great plants to
Speaker 1: look forward to this year.
Speaker 3: Yes, thank you for having me and I love sharing
Speaker 3: all the information.
Speaker 1: All right, thanks well. Gee.
Speaker 2: I said at the end of segment one that I
Speaker 2: was super excited for Garden Center shopping season. Now I'm
Speaker 2: even more excited and it's still a couple months away,
Speaker 2: so I'm gonna have to figure out something else to
Speaker 2: do with all of that plant energy. I'm ready to
Speaker 2: go put it into seed shopping or something like that.
Speaker 2: So thanks so much Shanoah for sharing all of that
Speaker 2: great information about the new PREVUM Winners Annuals for twenty
Speaker 2: twenty five. Thank you, Rick, you, thank you Adriana, and
Speaker 2: thanks so much to all of you for listening, watching,
Speaker 2: and listening to us on podcasts. We really appreciate it
Speaker 2: and hope you have a wonderful week ahead.