Speaker 1: Broadcasting from Studioway Here at Proven Winners Color Choice Shrubs.
It's time for the Gardening Simplified Show with Stacy Hervella
me Rick weisst and our engineer and producer Adrianna Robinson. Well, today, Stacey,
we're going to talk about things we learned in the
past growing season. The growing season is winding down. It's
always good to look back and see what we learned
this year. I know I learned a lot and running
down that list is a good idea. So we'll do
kind of a speed round, so to speak. As a
matter of fact, this past year, that's one thing we learned.
We enjoy doing the speed round things, so we'll kind
of do a speed round on some of the things
that we learned. And one of the things that hit
me between the eyes this past year is that all
of us have learned that drought and heat are wearing.
They wear on you, and it's a good reason for
genetics and cultivars that are drought and heat resistant. With
annuals as an example. I'm looking forward to the super
Lofus sunglow Onethera, the Texas primrose that's going.
Speaker 2: To be featured next year.
Speaker 1: It thrives in hot, arid, sunny conditions one hundred degree weather,
you don't have to water the plant as much. Even
warm humid climates like our Michigan summers here it should
be able to handle it well.
Speaker 2: So these are the types of things that we learn.
Speaker 1: Or for example, one thing that really hit me this
past year is the fact that we like plants that
change color throughout the season little lime punch hydranger or
Gatsby oak leaf hydrangee or spireeas how they look in
spring and begin to look in summer. Super Bell's Magic
double grapefruit double Calibricoa, supercalifragilistic xbili dos. But again, plants
that kind of change their look over the course of
the year.
Speaker 2: We're finding people like that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, it's gardening is inherently dynamic, but it
is also really fun when you get to see those
changes unfold in a way that is very noticeable. I mean,
of course, you know, at this time of year, I'm
always thinking like, wow, can you remember what this vegetable
garden looked like the day you planted it? And it
was just like, you know, flat, and there was like nothing,
And now you know, you've got eight foot tall tomatoes
and your dodge and your zinias to try to get
in there. But yeah, so it worked. You know, obviously
we always see that change, but over the course of
the season, and these types of plants you see over
the course of you know, days or weeks.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I put a tiny seed of hyacinth being in
the ground. I was just looking at it yesterday. I
measured it.
Speaker 2: The thing is eight feet tall and fifteen feet across.
Speaker 3: Wow, that's amazing, unbelievable. So yeah, no, that's one of
your favorites.
Speaker 2: Yes, it is, Stacy.
Speaker 1: This past year we learned there is still a demand
for big plants. We did a show on that and
you pointed out and I thought this was brilliant. Some
plants should be purchased in a larger size to start.
In other words, certain plants you're better off investing in
size up front.
Speaker 3: That is definitely one of my biggest learnings from this year. Now,
I have to say, for our listeners who may not
be aware, if you love free plants, you owe yourself
the favor of working in the industry. You can be
an accountant, you can be a lawyer, you can be anything.
But if you can get a job in the industry,
whether that's at a garden center or a greenhouse or
a wholesale grower or whatever, you will get free plants
as a benefit of the job. And this is a
benefit of the job that I have enjoyed my whole career,
and I love it and I'm very grateful for it.
But what it also means is you often get very
small plants, not bigger plants, you know, like you're going
to go and buy at the garden center. And because
I do kind of want to be fairly hands off,
I've lost a lot of play that's that way, And
you know, I've kind of just been like an easy come,
easy go kind of situation. But you know, I love
ice plants, and I've been trying to get ice plants
established for so long, and I'd always started with little
one cord plants or sometimes even plugs, if you know,
someone was just getting rid of a bunch of them
from from something or another and I couldn't get them established,
and I kept thinking, gosh, I have the perfect conditions.
I don't know, I don't understand what I am doing wrong.
I guess maybe the snow is piling up and staying
wet too long into you know, late winter early spring
is kind of like making up all of these reasons
in my head. And then I got one gallons last
fall of the new Kaleidoscope Dellas Berma for Improven Winter's Perennials,
and I am a changed woman, I tell you, because
they have almost completely filled in like a lawn, even
despite being fall planted. And they are they are gorgeous.
They were absolutely amazing when they were blooming their main
bloom time in late spring early summer. But then they've
continued to flower and I've just really realized what a
difference it makes to start with those larger plants. And
you know, it really saved me this year because of
course no one had any idea it was going to
be so dry. And you know, when you start like
when plants are dry, plants aren't getting enough water, they shrink,
and so it kind of happens often, like especially perennials,
they just keep getting smaller and smaller. So sometimes it
can happen without you really knowing it. So it really
helps to have that bigger plant to help it withstand
the challenges of a hot, dry season to get established.
Speaker 1: Yeah, sometimes you need a bigger plant. Sometimes you need
a better cultivar. That's why I believe that Stacy's segment
on Plants on Trial is so important. We've all learned
so much throughout this past year on the plants that
you've introduced to us. A lot of people I find
in the garden center industry, working in the garden center
industry buy plants like they'd buy a lottery ticket. You
know it ain't gonna work, but you go back for more.
Speaker 3: It's all about the optimism.
Speaker 2: I see that.
Speaker 3: You know I've done that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but I want people to be optimistic and to
try new plants, and we have found That's another thing
I found this past year is consumers are far more
aggressive and trying new plants when they're shopping online than
in a store. So very interesting, and of course we
make lots of new friends over the course of the year.
For me, my new friends from this past summer Emerald
Isle Alocasia, A sonic bloom. Why do I love that shrub?
Speaker 3: It is a great white deal. It's a reblooming wigela.
Because who wants a whitela that only blooms for a
few weeks? You can have one that booms all summer.
Speaker 2: I love that thing.
Speaker 1: Mystic illusion dais and has the dark foliage Yausa.
Speaker 3: That is a plant that when anyone sees it there
like what is that? Where have you been all my life?
Speaker 2: Exactly?
Speaker 3: And it is so beautiful and such a unique color
it is. Unfortunately it's a little hard to find. I'm
surprised more garden centers to carry it.
Speaker 1: Really true luscious lantana and wicked witch colias. I have
some pictures for our YouTube viewers from my garden two
can cannas. Of course I love canas. I'm not going
to elaborate on it, but if you want a thriller
for your containers, the two can cannas. They bloom all summer.
They're heat tolerant, they love heat and humidity. They're adaptable,
they can take damp conditions, they can take dry conditions,
not real water needy. That's a plant that I just
fell in love with this.
Speaker 3: Passage and those are smaller, so there are more sup Yeah.
Speaker 1: They're not as large as let's say, the President Canada, right.
Speaker 3: Right, or what. I'm really glad you mentioned the lantana,
and I absolutely loved the combination that you did in
that bright yellow pot I love, love, love that bright
yellow pot, so don't be surprised if I stopped by
and if you find it missing. But I also had
and I grow alantana often. I mean I typically grow
a couple because I like those hot colors. But this year,
I my lantana got so many hummingbirds. Yeah, and I
mean they've always liked it, but I feel like it
was a truly sustaining plant for them this year, and
that was absolutely delightful.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I love that.
Speaker 1: One thing I learned is you need to add organic
matter to your landscape, but sometimes you have to add
doesn't matter. In other words, don't.
Speaker 2: Take yourself so seriously, have some fun, take some chance.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, what was the conditions here?
Speaker 2: Oh?
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, for example, my banana tree, you know,
everybody told me it won't work, and it was miraculous,
so you know.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you got a shrug off the haters for sure.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: And you know that's the thing about gardening is I
really try not to be overly prescriptive, you know, when
you want to encourage people to try things, because that
is how you learn, is by trying. You just have
to be sure you're taking a measured risk. And you
know what you're getting into. Because if you know you
spent two hundred dollars on that banana plant, yep, that
would be maybe a different story and you would be
a little bit like more reluctant. But you got to
know all the conditions and then you make a decision
based on the information that you have.
Speaker 2: It's all relative.
Speaker 1: This past year, we did a controversial show that you
either loved or did not like. We heard about it.
We did an episode called Plants We Hate, currently forty
nine hundred and eight views. We did that back in March.
For example, someone said to me, because I do not
like ivy geraniums, this individual sent me a note saying
I'm planting some this year just to make you cringely.
So I've got the always learning Lima Rick The continued
Adventures of Old Ned.
Speaker 2: You don't know what you don't know. I had a
friend who always told me that you don't know what
you don't know.
Speaker 1: Old Ned encourages goutweed to grow, feeds his chameleon plants
with guano. He carefully pampers them both, accepts compliments on
their growth.
Speaker 2: You don't know what you don't know.
Speaker 1: He nurtures his diaper, daililies, his marigolds give me the willies.
Shouldn't I say something? Bite my tongue, keep stomaching what
I know has become my achilles. Should I hack back
his plants with a saber? Or, in my opinion, be labor.
Just let them have fun while I sip on some rum,
wave and smile and.
Speaker 2: Be a good neighbor.
Speaker 1: Plants on Trial is next here on the Gardening Simplified Ship.
Speaker 3: Beautify your home and community with proven Winter's Color Choice Shrubs.
With over three hundred and twenty five unique varieties to
choose from. There's a flowering shrubber evergreen for every taste
and every space. Just look for the distinctive white container
your local garden center or learn more at proven Winner's
Color Choice dot com. Greetings gardening friends, and welcome back
to the Gardening Simplified Show, where we are talking about
everything that we learned in this growing season. Now, normally
this is the kind of show that you would do
somewhere around late December early January when people tend to
look back on the prior year. But we figured, you know,
if you're looking back on the gardening year, it's probably
better to do it more in the you know, November
timeframe where the gardening season is still somewhat fresh in
your mind, because I can tell you by the time
late December rolls around, I will be forgetting a lot
of what I'm thinking actively about now is I still
look around my garden and things are starting to go
dormant now. I think that one of the things that
I like the most about gardening is that even if
you have the same plants in your garden, even if
you never had any new plants in your garden, which
who does that? Because you know, there's always something cool
to add, or you scoop up a good deal, or
someone a friend gives you a plant that they divided.
There's just so many ways.
Speaker 2: There's more for jello and plants.
Speaker 3: Yes, and you know you can always switch something out.
But even if you keep the exact same plants in
your yard, every single season is so different that there's
always something to learn as long as you're out there
observing and engaging with your plants. And as much as
I personally bristle at the idea of drought, because I it's,
first of all, it's just stressful. It's stressful on the plants.
It's stressful on the people. Everything gets so dusty, you know,
plants start looking stressed. It's one thing if your garden
looks stress, it's another. I feel like driving down the
highway and all the trees look stressed. You start to
feel really super stressed then as well. And this has
been just an extremely extremely dry year for pretty much
all of Michigan as well as basically through the entire
Upper Midwest. I know Indiana, Ohio are also experiencing similar conditions.
In fact, here in Michigan we are at a near
historic low for our soil moist Sure, hopefully recent rains
are going to do something to help that, but you know,
it's a little rain can't erase you know, one hundred
plus year drought. It's not really going to do it.
So it's been a real learning opportunity. And even though
that the drought causes difficulty, it also provides opportunity. And
you really, if you look at it right, you can
find that ability to really learn more about your plants
and how you garden. It is an opportunity certainly where
my propensity for close spacing can definitely work in my
favor because the plants kind of function as a mulch
for one another and can help to shade that soil
and then things don't grow as much, so they don't
look like they're all, you know, trying to compete for
garden space. But it's a learning opportunity for sure. Now
I do work in my garden, even in a non
drought year, to not water anything except my containers, my
ventshiable garden, and anything new were transplanted. I know, it's
a little bit scary. Well, it's not scary to me.
I mean, I don't have a lot anymore, so I
don't have to worry about the lawn looking terrible. But
I try to choose plants that, yeah, once they're established,
they'll at least survive. Now, I will say I have
some plants that definitely get very stressed if they aren't
getting supplemental water when it is very hot and dry.
But they do live, you know, they do live. They
might shut down early, but but I'm not you know,
I don't want to waste a bunch of water. I
live in the city, so I have city water, and
so it's expensive. And yes, this year, because I have
done so much work in my garden, the water bills
were a little bit alarming, but it's worth it. It's
an investment in the future to water your new stuff
and make sure that it that it lasts for the
long term. So I wanted to share for Today's Plants
on Trial my observations on some of the proven winter's
color choice shrubs in my garden and how the drought
year has impacted them. Okay, now I do want to
say that pretty much everything I'm going to share, I
don't know how much time I will have to get to.
Everything is established in my garden. So when I say
that a plant is established, that basically means that it should,
in theory, be able to handle it life on its
own without supplemental water. Although what often happens is if
you do have a very dry and hot season like
we did this year, they do start looking stressed. You know, yes,
they will live, but you're kind of like, oh, I
can't even I'm just gonna water it because I can't
handle looking at this thing looking that sad. Because it
is normal to presume that there will be some rainfall
each year, not like this show. I mean, I think
we've gone whole thirty plus day periods without oh, yeah,
a drop of rain this sem.
Speaker 2: When they mope, I just can't handle it.
Speaker 3: I just turned my chair in another direction. So anyway,
I wanted to share some of the plants. Again. Bear
in mind as I'm talking about these, that they are established,
which is to say that they've been in the ground
for a good two or three years, and that I
I was giving them water in that first year or
two after they were either moved or planted, because you
have to again invest in that good start so that
they can give you that performance going forward. Now, the
first one I'm gonna talk about is Alminho chatalpa. We
were actually just talking about this on the show the
other day, but I wanted to bring it up again
in this context. Drought is good for this plant. I
would say drought is really good for this plant, because
mine reached about so it send its third year. It
did reach about ten feet tall, but stayed pretty narrow.
And the plants that were here at the office at
Studio A on rep irrigation, you know, throughout the season,
are huge. They're gigantic. They are probably fifteen feet tall
and ten feet wide. So the droughtiness really helped to
keep this plant in check. And keep it smaller. And
I will also say that the plants here are also
in full sun as much as mine is at home,
and my planet home has flowered so much more than
the ones here. And I do think that. I mean,
there are some plants that do flower better if they
aren't in a situation where they've got everything they need.
Speaker 1: We did that for years in the garden center industry
when we weren't using growth regulators.
Speaker 2: We just hold back on the water.
Speaker 1: Put it under a little stress, you know, impatients. While
the ariana are a great example. Put them under a
little stress and they would bloom more because the plants
thinking I got to produce flowers and seed, I'm gonna
die here.
Speaker 2: I need future generation and nay.
Speaker 3: Win win less water for you and more flowers for
everybody else. So alnino drought is actually a good thing.
If you have an alnino and it's getting unruly, it's
not flowering enough, cut back the water if that means,
you know, adjusting a sprinkler head or whatever. This is
a plant that will absolutely thrive and look and do
its best in droughty conditions. So yay on that, now, boxwood,
I grow a lot of boxwood because I have a
lot of deer and it's just to me, it's a
no brainer plant. It looks great, it's always it looks
good with any style of home, any style of landscape.
And what I have really learned growing boxwood in the
driest year that I have gardened in this property is
that if you have boxwood in full sun, it needs water. Now.
My boxwood in shade could easily withstand this drought the
established ones without any problem. But the ones that were
in sun, they were looking pretty stress kind of that bronzy,
crispy look. It's not pretty now. The ones that I grow,
I grow sprinter, which is our fast growing boxwood. And
I also planted some new gen Freedom boxwood, which are
new proven winners boxwood for twenty twenty six. Now those
were brand new plants, so I can't speak to them
yet because since they were brand new, I was watering
them to help them get established. But certainly on sprinter,
though they can tolerate sun, you want to make sure
they're getting sufficient water if they are in sun. Now.
The real champ this year, while at least tied with
the El Nino Gatsby pink oak leaf hydrangea. Now, there
is no universe where I would ever say to people
hydrangees are drought tolerant, don't worry about it. But if
I was going to say, if a hydrangea seems to
show any signs of drought tolerance, it is at least
gets to be pink, if not all oak leaf hydrangeas.
This is the only one that I have. But this,
despite the drought and the heat, this plant acted like
it was just a totally normal season and all of
its needs were met. It flowered perfectly fine. The flowers
turned a beautiful pink shortly after blooming, and that pink
persisted a normal amount of time like I would expect
it to, despite the fact that it wasn't getting any
supplemental water. And I have probably five of them throughout
the garden. Interesting, and right now it's taking on beautiful
fall color like nothing else was wrong with it. And
it's just so interesting to see a plant that you
associate with really high water needs just being like, no,
I'm good, this is you know, do this. And if
anyone is wondering how I do manage to grow oak
leaf hydrange is when I have so many deer, the
answer is very simple. They have reached a size that
the deer can't reach all of them. So I have
as much Gatsby Pink hydrange as the deer can't reach.
And it is a big plant. So some of the newer,
smaller varieties, like our new Gatsby Glowball that reach only
about three feet tall and wide, that probably would not
work in my yard. But the bigger old, you know,
older types like Gatsby Pink that reach you know, eight
plus feet tall, no problem whatsoever. Now Kodiak dur villa
is not a plant that I would consider to be
drought tolerant, at least not for us. And this is
also really important. Now I had Kodiak darvilla's, I had
Kodiak orange and Kodiak black, and yeah, this season, without
supplement and water, they were not looking their best. Let's say,
and again bear in mind that we have very very dry,
sandy soil here. I think that they could probably withstand
drought and dry conditions much better on the east side
of the state, or the soil are going to be
more clay and naturally hold on to some moistures or
some moisture. But here the really dry soil and the
lack of rain had them not looking their best, so
I replaced those with something that does tolerate that. But
again that's a situation between you know, looking at where
it is native to, like up north in Macina Island,
where I've seen it pretty abundantly, you know it can
tolerate the drought in those conditions, but it can't tolerate
drought and already very very dry, well drained soil. So
that's just a look at some of my results that
I learned this year. We're going to take a little
break and when we come background, we opening with the bilbag,
So stay tuned at Proven Winners Color Choice Shrubs. We
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Our team of experts tests and evaluates all of our
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For easycare, reliable, beautiful shrubs to accentuate your home and
express your personal style, look for Proven Winners Shrubs in
the distinctive white container at your local garden center or
learn more at Proven Winner's Color Choice dot Com. Greetings
gardening friends, and welcome back to the Gardening Simplified show
where we're talking about what we learned in our gardens
this year. And I just told you how some of
the proven Winner's color Choice shrubs in my garden performed
despite the drought and hot, dry, persistent conditions. But if
you're dealing with a problem in your garden and you
need some advice, you can always reach out to us
and we will be happy to help. You can just
go to Gardening Simplified on air dot com. There is
a contact form there, or we have a comment on
our YouTube version. We read all of those and sometimes
we if it needs an answer, the Nader Animal pass
that on to us. So lots of easy ways to
get in touch with us. And if you don't have
a question, you just have a comment or looking for
some like minded horticulturists to celebrate something with. You can
also reach out to us. And a listener, Nancy wrote
to us with a counterpoint to some recent discussion that
we have had that I thought I would share with
our listeners. She says, please correct your advice to shred
the leaves. Environmentalists say, do not shred them. Bring it
up for pollinators. It's much better to leave your leaves
hole rather than shredding them. Shredding them can kill or
harm overwintering insects, eggs, larva, and cocoons that are hiding
within the leaf litter. Leaving them intact provides crucial habitat
and insulation for a variety of pollinators and other beneficial
insects during the winter. So if you shred them, that
would kill any of those insect life stages that are present.
Beyond just leaving the leaves that fall from the trees,
many insects do use hollow stems as nesting sites, like
your perennials and that kind of thing. Keeping those in
place up until spring when the temperature is pretty much
consistently in the fifties helps to protect cavity nesting bees
like mason bees. Everyone thinks it's about honey bees, but no,
it's about our native bees, like our mason bees, and
there's so so many of them. So I thought that
was an interesting counterpoint, because yes, there is this big
movement you see it, especially going around right now when
leaves are very much an issue, to leave the leaves,
And I think there's kind of two ways to look
at this. You know, you can leave those leaves in
place like your bed, your garden beds. Landscape beds should
not look like your clean kitchen floor. They should have
stuff in them because that is nature's way of protecting
plants and recycling nutrients. So that's really no problem. But
you know, last week, Rick, you were talking about cutting
leaves in the lawn, and that is a bit of
a different situation as well. You know, we've certainly seen here,
like with some of our shrubs, especially Ita, that we
often get moth cocoons on them. So that's not something
that you would want to, you know, thoroughly clean up.
So you know, I think this is kind of a
splitting the difference type of thing.
Speaker 1: Well, yeah, and I think splitting the difference as far
as seasons is concerned. Also, I would say to these
environmentalists that I have taken the whole leaves tilled them
into my garden, and I would think that they'd be
happy that I'm using natural organic material putting these whole
leaves into my vegetable garden. The following spring, when I
start to dig, they're still intact.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, and.
Speaker 1: That's part of the reason that I shred them. Now,
I would agree with the comment here. I don't think
it's a matter of correction. I think it's a matter
of timing. In other words, in fall, when they have
just fallen off.
Speaker 2: The lead off the trees.
Speaker 1: If I shred them at that point, use them as malt,
use them in my compost, that's great. If I'm out
there in spring collecting up these leaves and shredding them,
that's a whole other matter. So that's basically my approach
to this whole issue.
Speaker 3: Well, and you have a lawn, and if you aren't
taking care of the leaves on your lawn, you're not
going to have a lawn for very long because they
can absolutely.
Speaker 1: You know, completely mate down the lawn. And so that's
for folks you know, I have very little grass left.
But for folks who have an extensive lawn, you bet
grinding up those leaves and define pieces.
Speaker 2: There's many studies that.
Speaker 1: Have been done on that that have determined that it's
not going to affect your lawn. But if you leave
those whole leaves on the lawn, it is certainly going
to mate down the lawn, create snow, mold problems, all
kinds of issues.
Speaker 3: One of the reasons I no longer have a lawn.
But certainly if you can leave the leaves in your beds,
by all means do. It is good for insects, it's
good for plants, and it's less work. So yeah, win win,
all right, What do we got?
Speaker 2: Tammy writes to us.
Speaker 1: I live just outside of Omaha, Nebraska, zone five B.
Two years ago I purchased three Chardonnay pearls dutsia. They
are planted in full sun on the south side of
our house. I have never grown dutzia before, or even
seen it in a landscape, but I don't think it
looks very happy. The leaves are brown and crispy at
the edges. Do I need to move it to shade?
Is it not getting enough water? Too much water? I'd
love to move it this fall if that's what it needs.
Any advice you could give would be greatly appreciated.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much. I enjoy watching your show and
learned so.
Speaker 3: Much so Shardenay pearls dutsia, if you're not familiar with
that particular variety, is a yellow leafed juticia. That's where
the shardonay part comes in, and the pearls from the
flowers because they do start is these really lovely round
buds and then open to these very pretty five pedaled flowers.
Beautiful and dutsia by and large, if you were just
talking about our other varieties like Yuki snowflake or Yuki
cherry blossom are definitely full sun plants. But because Chardonnay
pearls has these yellow leaves, that yellow foliage generally indicates
an absence of chlorophyll, not in absence, a lower amount
of regular green chlorophyll has been displaced by these yellow
pigments chlorophyll. One way that you can think of it
is essentially sunscreen for plants. So without that sunscreen, yellow
leafed plants are generally very much more susceptible to burning
in the sun than their green counterparts. And you know, Tammy,
you say they're in full sun and the south side
of the house that is kind of a perfect storm
of hot bright combination reflection from the house as well.
So yeah, I think that if you move them they
will be just fine. If you can move them to
a place where they are shaded during the hottest part
of the day, so in the afternoon, or where they
get that kind of beautiful light filtered shade all day long.
They will be so much happier. You won't get that burning.
But if you do like the idea of a Dutzia there,
if that worked overall, you can absolutely replace them with
an all green leafed variety and they would do just
fine in that full sun. So this is kind of
a little bit of nuance there, you know, just to
keep in mind. And water can help a little bit
for plants that are getting too much sun if you
provide supplemental water, which you know is something I just
addressed in Plants on Trial. But really I've found when
it comes to these yellow leafed varieties, they just they're
just going to be more likely to burn simply because
they have less green chlorophylls.
Speaker 2: So I agree.
Speaker 1: Karen asked us I purchased Estheti as she Goes Guardina
and had it in a container on my deck all summer.
As I am in Zone seven A, I'm considering over
wintering it in my unheated three seasons room. My question
is how low a temperature can this shrub would stand?
Speaker 3: So interesting question, and if you weren't familiar, Seti as
She Goes Guardinia is a reblooming g Ardinia basically blooms
all summer long, so an excellent choice for people who
aren't satisfied with just that brief spring bloom of a guardina.
We do sell this as hardy down to USDA Zone seven,
which does include you there, Karen, in USDA Zone seven A.
But I wanted to answer this question today as people
think about, you know, what to do with plants with
winter coming on. It's not. It's a real shortcoming of
the hardiness zone system that all it does is address
the lowest temperature that an area will typically receive, and
not how long that lasts, because in that way, not
all Zone seven a's are created equal, just as the
same where exactly. So the issue is, so it can
withstand zero degrees fahrenheit, that is what it means to
be in USDA Zone seven A. It can go down
to zero degrees fahrenheit and it will live the question
how long will it be zero degrees fahrenheit? And in
some areas of Zone A you can have very cold
night where that temperature persists for hours. In some areas
of zone seven eight you might just kind of dip
into it briefly for a brief time and then it's fine.
So I think that you don't know if it's if
it's small, and if it's very new, go ahead and
put it on your unheeded sunroom, keep watering it. But
I would consider putting it in the landscape starting in spring.
That'll give it a nice long season to grow roots
into its new home. But if you do feel like
you are in one of those usdas on seven a's
where you're going towards zero for very very long periods,
and or it's coupled with wind. Since gardenia is a
broad leaf, evergreen and is very likely to suffer from
you know, desiccation from the wind and the sign and
all of that, then you just need to consider that
in your sighting. But you know, overall, many many people
wish that they could just grow a gardenia inside in
winter and then put it back out because I mean,
they're so beautiful. The fragrance really is amazing. And they're
working on hardier and hardier guardinas, but they're not quite
there yet. So again, I think you should be okay
to have it outdoors in seven but at this point
in the season, I probably would not just go for
putting it straight away into the ground, just in case
you have a rough winter. All right, So thank you
all so much for your comments and questions, and we're
going to take a little break. When we come back,
we're talking a little bit more about what we learned
this season. Fifty teams, thanks for listening to the Gardening
Simplified Podcast, brought to you by Proven Winners Color Choice Shrubs.
Our award winning flowering shrubs and evergreens are trialed and
tested by experts with your success in mind. Learn more
at Proven Winners color Choice dot com.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show. Okay, some reminders
on things that we've learned this past year. For example,
how important branch structure and structures are in the garden,
especially in the wintertime. The importance of repetition in your landscape.
Some repetition to make it a pleasing environment to your eye. Stacy,
you reminded us that it's okay to evict losers from
your garden.
Speaker 3: Or plants you don't like. How ill you losers? I mean,
you know, Okay, I agree.
Speaker 1: If you haven't been there, add chant to clear gardens
to your list of places to visit. Our Lightning round
is fun. How important the season of fall is interest
in architectural follies and backdrops. As a matter of fact,
I loved the comment from a listener. We talked about
the architectural follies building something in your landscape, and I've
been busy doing that and building a pergola. And this
person wrote in she said, wait until I tell the
better half we have to build a folly. He might
shut off our internet after this. I love that the
number of Zone three and four people that we have
listening to the show. We love our Canadian friends. One
of the most hated landscape chores is removing sod because
grass grows best where you wish it.
Speaker 3: Wouldn't amen to that. I didn't learn that this year,
but it's a hard lesson I've been learning my whole life.
Speaker 1: We need to plan for rejuvenation at the end of summer.
We need to look at a plant's native gardening habitat.
In other words, not the country or region where it
comes from, but the conditions. Take a look at the habitat,
and you know the plant's usual or preferred surroundings, not
where geographically it's native to, but rather it's environment. It's
very helpful for you we learn that. I say lilac's funny.
But then we learned it depends on where in the
country you are and how you pronounced lilacs or lilacs
or whatever. It may be the same thing with clematis
or clematis contingent on the region of country of the
country that you live in.
Speaker 3: Yes, that's a regional thing.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a regional thing.
Speaker 1: And we also learned that the least favorite paint color
is radiant lilac. How about some personal items. I it
felt really good to me that people had interest in
my driftwood collection. We learned from Stacy that daylily blooms
look like diapers.
Speaker 3: I think that was a couple of years ago. But
my opinion persists. Okay, it's an opinion I have held
for a long time.
Speaker 1: So yeah, other personal items, that the one plant named
after me, lime Ricky, has been retired, just like me,
both of us do not like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
And evidently we're not alone. I am not alone on
my love for five gallon buckets. For critics who say we.
Speaker 2: Talk too much, uh, it's a talk radio show.
Speaker 3: Someone said that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, all.
Speaker 3: Right, well we'll give you, you know, silent section where
you can just hear the plants blowing in the wind.
Speaker 1: Moment of silence, or we could dance or sing or
something like that. For years when I did live radio,
my live radio name was Phill Dirt. I have a
new live radio voice, and my name from now on
is going to be Ray King.
Speaker 3: Oh that's nice.
Speaker 2: That's my new radio name, ray King. I just like that.
It's a good one short, it's sweet. Ray King.
Speaker 3: So, now, was this your first year with your big
banana in the the landscape there? Yeah, so you ordered
it and planted it this year.
Speaker 2: Yes, and this is sho.
Speaker 1: The massive right, and I've had them before, but this
is the first year for this banana tree. And so
I'll have you follow along with the process where we
mulch it heavily this winter when it freezes and it
goes to mush and looks really scary, I'll send some pictures.
Speaker 2: Then we'll mulch it heavily and then hope next spring
that it comes up.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it should be interesting. I mean, I know plenty
of places in New York that overwintered it when it
first started becoming really really popular. You know a couple, well,
a couple decades ago. Now, what was your your favorite
annual that you planted this year.
Speaker 2: Oh it's It's Mystic Collusion.
Speaker 3: Okay, And is this your first year you've grown it? Okay?
Such a great plant. Yeah, that black foliage and yellow
flowers so so pretty. You know. I feel like this
was my year where I discovered I'm a zenia person.
Speaker 2: And you know, I love zenas. I knew you had
it xinya.
Speaker 3: You know, there were always one of those things where
I was like, Okay, yeah, zinyas are cool, but like
I don't need them in my life. But I got
a free packet, had an event, and so I was like,
you know, put these in the new vegetable garden. And
even my husband, who was very dubious, why do you
putting those in the vegetable guard that could be stuff
where we were growing? Let us, I said, trust me,
you are going to be grateful for these by the
end of the season. And he was a little bit
grumbly about him. But by the end of the season,
he and I had both completely changed our tune. I
will never be without zinnias again in my garden because
I have never in my entire life had a plant
that had more butterflies and hummingbirds. I mean, I don't
think that's something that people really highlight enough about that plant.
People talk, oh, they're a great cut flower, they're easy.
You know, it's kids stuff. Grow up pot a zinias
with your kids or whatever. And it was serious business.
I mean there were days where we would count ten
or more butterflies on the patch, all different types, and
they were especially important this year. Another thing I learned,
the latest I have ever had hummingbirds. I had them
into October fifteenth. Yes, that was the last time I
saw it. And though there certainly could have been some
that were even later that I just was not home
to see. And you know, by the time that rolled
around other plants that I had other annuals and you know,
flowering shrubs and perennials and so forth in my garden,
they were pretty much done except for the zinnias. So
they were such a crucial food source late in the
season for those butterflies and hummingbirds. In fact, they probably
still are. I haven't taken them out yet, so the
hummingbirds fortunately seem to have moved on. I was getting
a little worried there for a bit, but the butterflies
and stuff are still around. If it's warm, they start flying.
And they were California giants, was the variety that I grew.
And they were really nice too because they're really tall.
Speaker 2: Oh they're fantas.
Speaker 3: So I'm this is the year that I will never
be without zinias again, because well.
Speaker 2: I agree with that. I have the same thing at home.
Sue loves zenya's.
Speaker 1: Because the other thing about them is they just made
great cut flowers to bring inside.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and they're just so fun. So I'm trying to
save seed from mine, but I'm not able to collect
much seed, even though this is a variety that should
come true from seed. I theorize it is because there's
another thing that loves my zenias that I didn't mention.
That is the goldfinches. Oh yeah, so I think that
the goldfinches are out there eating all of the seed
before I can get it. So I'm trying to save seed,
but I may be made to place another order.
Speaker 2: Well, And if you think.
Speaker 1: About it, Xenia's are in their glory in August September,
and that's when goldfinches, I believe, are very active.
Speaker 2: That's their mating period and that sort of thing.
Speaker 1: So yeah, we learned deer are a very polarizing topic,
just like my puns, and the people who don't have
deer pressure feel guilty for those who deal with it.
We love creative plant names versus botanical or scientific names.
The Shrubs of the Year show we had Tim Wood
on and it just reiterated the love of the names
of plants and creative names for plants. People love Midnight
Sun with Jela. I think the listener who upgraded us
from Limericks to limb l I mb a ricks, thank
you very mulch for that. How many people are plagued
by chameleon plant?
Speaker 2: That hit me?
Speaker 3: Oh yes, we have been hearing from a lot of people.
Hopefully we stopped some people from actually purchasing it, because
you know, I don't think people really know how bad
it's actually going to be. If Heaven forbid you ever
want to get rid of it, because you will not.
Speaker 2: Like my neighbor who puts miracle grow on them.
Speaker 3: Oh my god. Well, hopefully the dry soil does help
to keep it in check a little bit. It does, Oh,
despite their best efforts with fertilizer. You know, it's a
perfectly fine plan. I guess if you are willing to
keep it forever and ever and ever. Yep, and your
neighbors are.
Speaker 2: Too that don't do it.
Speaker 1: Show was popular a reminder it's better to learn from
other people's mistakes than your own. If you're feeling penned
in Plants in front of a fence makes all the
difference in the world. Perning has always and always will
be a hot topic, so many rules, exceptions, timing principles.
Lavender is a misunderstood but much loved plant, just like
high ranges. The Overachievers Show was fun and a list
of overachieving plants and Paisley pup dog hobble even looks
good in winter.
Speaker 2: Yes, all of these.
Speaker 1: Are things that we learned over the course of the year,
and so many more. But I'll tell you what one
of the reasons for this show and I've benefited from
it is. You do learn from other people's mistakes, and
it's better to learn from them than make them yourself.
Speaker 3: Yes, although you know you can't tell anybody anything really
really sticks until you make that mistake yourself. I've always
found personally, I've heard plenty of other people make mistakes,
and then I'm like, oh, I'll see about that, and
then I try it, and sure enough it didn't work.
But you learn by doing, and that's what Horter culture
is all about.
Speaker 1: The end of the day, it's great to go out
in the gardening. I love going outdoors. It beats going
out windows, I can tell you that, Stacey.
Speaker 3: It's been fun, it sure has. Thanks.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much, Thank you, Adriana, Thanks to you.
Remember our show is available on YouTube, so you can
watch all of the things that we're talking about, and
of course thank you for downloading the podcast and listening
to us on the radio.
Speaker 2: Have a great week.