Speaker 1: Broadcasting from Studio A here at proven winners, Color Joy Shrubs.
Speaker 1: It's time for the Gardening Simplified Show with Stacy Hervella, Me,
Speaker 1: Rick Weist, and our engineer and producer Adrianna Robinson. Well
Speaker 1: today it's our just do It show. That's right, Just
Speaker 1: do it suggestions of things you should do in your
Speaker 1: garden or landscape. And I guess I'll say right off
Speaker 1: the top. Subscribe to the Gardening Simplified Show podcast and
Speaker 1: YouTube channel. And thanks for listening to the radio show
Speaker 1: version of the show. Here's one for you. Stacy, use
Speaker 1: mulch and groundcover under trees instead of grass. I was
Speaker 1: looking at a Purdue University study about how much water
Speaker 1: a large mature tree pulls out of the ground on
Speaker 1: a daily basis in summer. Amazing. So trying to grow
Speaker 1: grass under trees isn't good for the grass, isn't good
Speaker 1: for the tree, and isn't good for you. It can
Speaker 1: be frustrating.
Speaker 2: And your lawnmoweruse you got all those surface roots that
Speaker 2: you're trying to go over and you're nicking it, and
Speaker 2: that's not good for the blade. It's a lose lose situation.
Speaker 2: I actually had a someone asked me the other day
Speaker 2: what they should do because they had tree roots in
Speaker 2: a lot of shade, which is already a combination for
Speaker 2: you know, difficult to grow grass, but it had a
Speaker 2: lot of traffic, and I sold her to just put
Speaker 2: in a path of rocks and you know, like stepping
Speaker 2: stones or something like that. It's it's a tough situation,
Speaker 2: but yeah, definitely mulch parklike or groundcover if you can
Speaker 2: put it. If you can, you know, plant them with
Speaker 2: the tree roots, because sometimes the tree roots are so
Speaker 2: surface heavy and so dominant that it's very difficult. But
Speaker 2: it's a challenging situation. On the bright side, you have
Speaker 2: a mature tree.
Speaker 1: Yes, yeah, so put mulch underneath it. It's healthier for the tree.
Speaker 1: You don't want to grow grass right up to the
Speaker 1: trunk damage it with lawn equipment. There's one there's a
Speaker 1: difference in genetics of proven Winner's annuals compared to other,
Speaker 1: let's say, non branded annuals grown in flats from seed.
Speaker 1: There's a big difference. And when I'm working in the
Speaker 1: greenhouse at this time of the year, I always tell
Speaker 1: people Supertunias Salvia's verbena. Stacey just do it because there
Speaker 1: is a big difference for me working in the garden
Speaker 1: center industry, the typical garden center weekend customer. We like
Speaker 1: to think that they're thinking about the new cultivars that
Speaker 1: are out there and the various cultivars that they can
Speaker 1: choose from. The reality is what's on their mind, and
Speaker 1: when they verbalize it is one, will the deer eat it? Two?
Speaker 1: How much is it? Three? Where's the restroom number? Four?
Speaker 1: How late are you open?
Speaker 2: Yeah? No, it's your people are always I feel like
Speaker 2: most people are very overwhelmed at the garden center and
Speaker 2: they just want simple answers. You know. I do think,
Speaker 2: you know, having grown them and grown the knockoffs at
Speaker 2: times when I couldn't find the proven winners that I wanted.
Speaker 2: And a great example for any garden center who's listening,
Speaker 2: I can't find Vermillionaire kufia anywhere this year. Yeah, my
Speaker 2: favorite proven winner's plant far superior to the similar varieties
Speaker 2: of kufia that one garden center was selling, just kind
Speaker 2: of a generic. And I've grown that one for years
Speaker 2: and it's not as good as Vermillionaire because it doesn't
Speaker 2: have the investment in R and D. It's still a
Speaker 2: good plant and by all means grow it. But know
Speaker 2: that that extra cost with the proven winners has gone
Speaker 2: into the R and D to make sure that you
Speaker 2: have a better experience, that your plants last longer, bloom longer,
Speaker 2: are lower maintenance. So it really is worth it, and
Speaker 2: especially if you're not a confident gardener, it's kind of
Speaker 2: a no brainer.
Speaker 1: I feel like, and you're so right. The R and
Speaker 1: D behind these plants is what helps sure success in
Speaker 1: your landscape. Assess the amount of time you're willing to
Speaker 1: invest in caring for your garden. Choose plants and designs
Speaker 1: that match your maintenance capabilities.
Speaker 2: Makes sense, Well, yes it does, except that your maintenance
Speaker 2: capabilities largely depend on your plant selection capabilities. Because if
Speaker 2: you're picking the right plants for your area, for your conditions,
Speaker 2: sure they're generally pretty low maintenance. You know, some things
Speaker 2: like you might say, oh, you know, Rosa Sharin for example,
Speaker 2: drops a bunch of flowers, you know, after they're done,
Speaker 2: and maybe that to you is maintenance. Personally, I just
Speaker 2: leave them there to dry out and blow away. Don't
Speaker 2: really lose any sleepover it. But some people they like
Speaker 2: to keep a very tidy you know area and not
Speaker 2: have all of those around. So to them, rosa share
Speaker 2: might be a high maintenance plant, but it's all in
Speaker 2: citing it properly. And I guess having reasonable expectations of
Speaker 2: what you think is maintenance, because I'll tell you I
Speaker 2: can let a lot of stuff slide in favor of
Speaker 2: other garden tasks. That's just me.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's true. Here's one for you. Just do it.
Speaker 1: Get to know what the plant's habitat or native habitat
Speaker 1: is like. Now, I'm not talking about identifying what country
Speaker 1: or what state or what area of the country a
Speaker 1: plant comes from, not the geographical place. I'm talking about
Speaker 1: the habitat. I have often said this to people trying
Speaker 1: to grow houseplants indoors. You have the dry air, indoors,
Speaker 1: lack of light. Let's think about where this plant comes
Speaker 1: from and what it likes. I'll throw a couple of
Speaker 1: quick examples out there. We've received comments from viewers and
Speaker 1: listeners about river birch. The tree likes to grow along
Speaker 1: stream beds or river beds, and you put it out
Speaker 1: in the middle of a yard grow grass right up
Speaker 1: to the base. You may struggle with that plant or
Speaker 1: another example I remember years ago, let's say early nineteen nineties,
Speaker 1: in the garden center industry, Fraser fur became a super
Speaker 1: popular Christmas tree. Yep, fragrant needle retention straight. Only about
Speaker 1: three percent of the trees being grown, let's say in
Speaker 1: our state here, Michigan, were Fraser furs. Now, these are
Speaker 1: trees that like the if you think about the Appalachian Mountains,
Speaker 1: you think Tennessee, North Carolina, humidity, some fog, moisture upper
Speaker 1: levels of the mountains, plenty of rainfall, especially in summer,
Speaker 1: let's say, and you put that out in the middle
Speaker 1: of Michigan with a hot summer, it's going to be
Speaker 1: difficult to grow. Growers had to adjust. Now Fraser fur,
Speaker 1: many of them are grown in Michigan for the Christmas
Speaker 1: tree industry. The point is understanding what the habitat or
Speaker 1: environment of a plant is in order to better grow
Speaker 1: at yourself in your yard.
Speaker 2: It gives you so much information. And I think this
Speaker 2: is especially useful if there's a plant that you love
Speaker 2: and it keeps dying and you keep trying to grow it,
Speaker 2: you know, spend that extra time to look where it's from.
Speaker 2: Not just again you know, you could say okay, you
Speaker 2: know Fraser firs from Tennessee. Well, Tennessee actually has quite
Speaker 2: a diversity of climate, so you need to know, you know,
Speaker 2: what is it like where this plant grows native? So
Speaker 2: it's not so much about oh it's native to Tennessee
Speaker 2: there for whatever. In Michigan, you have to understand the humidity,
Speaker 2: the temperature extremes, how long the winter lasts, how long
Speaker 2: the summer lasts. And there's a lot of things that
Speaker 2: I think you can use your imagination to extrapolate from
Speaker 2: a little deep dive into that kind of information.
Speaker 1: You bet you, Okay, Stacey, just do it. Find ways
Speaker 1: to make watering easier in your landscape. You're going to
Speaker 1: have more fun and your plants are going to appreciate it.
Speaker 1: And for our podcast and radio listeners and for our
Speaker 1: YouTube viewers, I'm practice seeing what I preach because you
Speaker 1: convinced me to get a hose link hose and I
Speaker 1: did it.
Speaker 2: Oh nice. Well, you know what, I will take that
Speaker 2: concept one step further and say that whatever your least
Speaker 2: favorite garden shore to do is invest in making it easier. Yeah,
Speaker 2: so it is for me watering as well. Fortunately, my
Speaker 2: husband likes to water, so I'm winning there. But even
Speaker 2: just having a hose reel made a huge difference, because
Speaker 2: you know, dealing with hoses is not fun. So you know,
Speaker 2: I love weating, but I still like to save weeding
Speaker 2: for when it has just rained, so I'm not working
Speaker 2: so hard at it. You know, good weather, you don't
Speaker 2: want to be out there in the blazing sun. Any
Speaker 2: job you dislike. Look for invest in tools, think about
Speaker 2: ways that it can be easier and a little less
Speaker 2: you know, punishing feeling.
Speaker 1: Sure, just do it. If you want to have some
Speaker 1: turf area in your landscape, and that's fine, and that's great,
Speaker 1: raise the deck on the lawn mower, sharpen the blade,
Speaker 1: raise the deck, more leaf surface area, if you want
Speaker 1: to use less inputs, chemicals, that sort of thing. Raise
Speaker 1: the deck as high as you dare go on your
Speaker 1: turf and it's going to make a world of difference.
Speaker 1: Just do it. Be out there gardening in the fall,
Speaker 1: not just spring. Yeah, we'd control putting plants in the ground,
Speaker 1: caring for plants. I think it's so super important. I'm
Speaker 1: one of these people who thinks the garden center should
Speaker 1: be as busy in the fall as they are in
Speaker 1: the spring. But that's not the case. Everybody's watching football.
Speaker 2: Well, they're a little busy in the mom section, but
Speaker 2: outside of the mom section, there's a lot of good
Speaker 2: use to be had out there that people are just
Speaker 2: not even bothering to explore because they don't think it's
Speaker 2: planting time.
Speaker 1: We have so much more coming up for you in
Speaker 1: segment four. Just do it. Let me give you this
Speaker 1: week's limb a rick things to do. They're legit, I do.
Speaker 1: I'm no hypocrite. Experience is a cruel teacher. Not that
Speaker 1: I want to feature mistakes. I don't want to admit.
Speaker 1: So come on, just do it. There's nothing really to it.
Speaker 1: Some plants I have killed, which in turn made me
Speaker 1: skilled embarrassment. I outgrew it.
Speaker 2: I like it.
Speaker 1: We'll take a quick break on the other side, we'll
Speaker 1: find out what Stacey has to say in this week's
Speaker 1: plants on Trial. Here on the Gardening Simplified.
Speaker 2: Ship, beautify your home and community with proven Winn's color
Speaker 2: Choice shrubs. With over three hundred and twenty five unique
Speaker 2: varieties to choose from. There's a flowering shrubber evergreen for
Speaker 2: every taste and every space. Just look for the distinctive
Speaker 2: white container, your local garden center, or learn more at
Speaker 2: proven Winner's Color Choice dot com. Greeting's gardening friends, and
Speaker 2: welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show, where we are
Speaker 2: talking about what you should do just do it in
Speaker 2: the garden. And we have not mentioned that this is
Speaker 2: a part one of two show because next week we're
Speaker 2: going to to be talking just don't do it.
Speaker 1: Don't do it. So Stacy's favorite phrase, I mean, I hope.
Speaker 2: It doesn't come across as too negative, but that's like
Speaker 2: my general one, you know, one takeaway for gardening when
Speaker 2: it comes to plant maintenance, pruning, especially when in doubt,
Speaker 2: just don't.
Speaker 1: I got a bunch of them.
Speaker 2: Oh all right, I can't wait. So next week we're
Speaker 2: talking just don't do it, but this week we're talking
Speaker 2: just do it. So we're talking about the things that
Speaker 2: maybe people hold back on doing in their garden, or
Speaker 2: they're not sure if it's a good idea, or you know,
Speaker 2: there's just there's a lot of trepidation out there.
Speaker 1: Yeah. So for example, as long as we're talking about
Speaker 1: programming notes, the following week, we're going to talk about
Speaker 1: deer Ooh.
Speaker 2: I cannot wait. I will try to control my rants.
Speaker 1: Yeah, some people, for example, feed the deer in your neighborhood.
Speaker 2: Please don't don't do it. Do not do it. I
Speaker 2: see it all the time. Me crazy, But what can
Speaker 2: you do? You would think that they were well fed
Speaker 2: enough on my garden, but apparently not in any case.
Speaker 2: So all of today we're Dohl. In this episode, we're
Speaker 2: talking about things that you should do. And so when
Speaker 2: it comes to plants on trial, I mean, of course,
Speaker 2: the whole notion of plants on trial is that you
Speaker 2: should plant them if they work for your situation. So
Speaker 2: how would I pick just one? So instead I'm going
Speaker 2: to share a tale of personal experience and some plants
Speaker 2: suggestions on something that you should just do, and that
Speaker 2: is plant a hedge.
Speaker 1: So this will be edal.
Speaker 2: Now you may not need a hedge, in which case,
Speaker 2: of course, don't plant a hedge. But if you move
Speaker 2: into a new house, or you have things change around
Speaker 2: your house, which is happening a lot right now with
Speaker 2: all of the crazy development, you can get maybe a
Speaker 2: new neighbor to move in who doesn't maintain their home
Speaker 2: as nicely as the previous one, and you suddenly want
Speaker 2: to block out that view. I mean there's all sorts
Speaker 2: of reasons why someone may need a hedge, but this
Speaker 2: is specifically for people who are moving into new homes,
Speaker 2: new construction, a new to you home. And that is,
Speaker 2: if you think that you are going to want a
Speaker 2: hedge at this house, do it sooner than later. And
Speaker 2: I'm speaking from experience because when we moved into our house,
Speaker 2: it was the first, our very first house we've ever purchased,
Speaker 2: and you know, didn't have a lot of experience. Of course,
Speaker 2: I had gardening experience, but I just didn't have this
Speaker 2: kind of like living in one place for a long
Speaker 2: time experience. And in my neighborhood a lot of people
Speaker 2: have fences. So one side my yard was fenced. My
Speaker 2: neighborhood put up a fence for his yard. Eventually, on
Speaker 2: the other side, my neighbors put up a short fence
Speaker 2: just enough to keep their dogs in, so not really
Speaker 2: a privacy fence, but you know, delineates the space between
Speaker 2: my yard and theirs and they can keep their dogs in.
Speaker 2: But the back edge had nothing. And we knew when
Speaker 2: we moved in that we were going to want something that,
Speaker 2: you know, we were going to want some privacy from
Speaker 2: there because it exposes us to actually three different neighbors
Speaker 2: because of the way our block is built, and we
Speaker 2: didn't do it.
Speaker 1: Oh, I should have been invested in a hedge fund.
Speaker 2: No, we did eventually do it. But this is eight
Speaker 2: years into living in our house. And by the time
Speaker 2: you're planting that hedge that you should have planted eight
Speaker 2: years prior, you're like, well, gee, if only I had
Speaker 2: planted the hedge when I knew I was going to
Speaker 2: need a ding dang hedge, then I would already have
Speaker 2: it and I'd have the privacy. What could I wanted
Speaker 2: a ding dang hedge? I got that from my colleague Natalie.
Speaker 2: That's her uh. It's her little Yes, that's her little oath,
Speaker 2: her little uh. Yeah, And it's a fun one to say.
Speaker 1: It's kind of a hedge statement.
Speaker 2: Yes. So I wish that I would have just realized
Speaker 2: that this would be such an important part of my yard,
Speaker 2: and then I would have just done it early on,
Speaker 2: because the earlier you plant this hedge right, the sooner
Speaker 2: you're going to be able to get its benefits. Because
Speaker 2: when you plant a hedge, it's typically shrubs, you know,
Speaker 2: evergreens or deciduous and we'll get into some plant selection
Speaker 2: ideas for hedging, but it takes time for them to grow,
Speaker 2: and even if you're getting a fast growing hedge, you're
Speaker 2: still looking at your standard. You know, first you got
Speaker 2: to get through years one through three sleep creep leap.
Speaker 2: So the first year it's just going to kind of
Speaker 2: not do anything noticeable, just put roots down. Second year
Speaker 2: it's going to creep grow a little tiny bit. By
Speaker 2: the third year it's going to start leaping, but you're
Speaker 2: not really going to get optimum growth rate until probably
Speaker 2: year five, and you don't want to spend those five
Speaker 2: years looking at whatever you're trying to screen off.
Speaker 1: Sure it's true the old Chinese proverb best time to
Speaker 1: plant a tree was twenty years ago. Next best time.
Speaker 2: Is today, right, So if you haven't already, not just
Speaker 2: do it now like I did. But you know it was.
Speaker 2: It was a real lesson for me because there are
Speaker 2: a lot of things that looking back, and of course hindsight,
Speaker 2: it's always twenty twenty I wish I would have done now.
Speaker 2: Of Course, the trick when it comes to hedging is
Speaker 2: what to pick for your hedge plant, and a lot
Speaker 2: of people automatically, I think when they think of hedges,
Speaker 2: they're thinking of evergreens. They're thinking most likely of arborviting,
Speaker 2: which of course is out of the question for people
Speaker 2: like you and I with deer juniper, which I did
Speaker 2: end up going with because I wanted an evergreen hedge
Speaker 2: and I needed something that was deer resistant. But you've
Speaker 2: got you, You've got boxwood, you've got hemlock. If you're
Speaker 2: in a warmer climate, you can plant a bunch of
Speaker 2: really cool broad leaf evergreen hedges like Photinia Camellia, rafaelepsis, raffaelepsis,
Speaker 2: Japanese holly and get kind of the best of both worlds,
Speaker 2: you know, flowers and that year round coverage. Now that
Speaker 2: if you want to plant a deciduous hedge, a hedge
Speaker 2: that's going to lose its foliage, this gives you the opportunity,
Speaker 2: especially in a colder climate like this, to actually have
Speaker 2: a flowering hedge. So what I think of when I
Speaker 2: think of a deciduous hedge one of the most popular
Speaker 2: hedging plants of all time limelight hydrangea, And what a
Speaker 2: gorgeous hedge it makes. It is truly sunning. Now, of course,
Speaker 2: the trade off here is that limelight Hydrangea is not
Speaker 2: going to have any foliage in the winter. But you know,
Speaker 2: if you live in a cool climate, that might not
Speaker 2: be that big of a deal because you're not outside anyway.
Speaker 1: And it all goes back to determining what is the
Speaker 1: purpose of the head. Now you go right and if
Speaker 1: it's just to create a room a space for summer
Speaker 1: when you're out there, Deciduous is great. If you're trying
Speaker 1: to block out the neighbor next door.
Speaker 2: You need that evergreen type of hedge. So you know,
Speaker 2: there's a number of options. So I think when you're
Speaker 2: thinking about how you're going to plant this hedge, you
Speaker 2: first of all need to think, what is it that
Speaker 2: I want out of this hedge. Do I want the
Speaker 2: fabulous limelight flowering hedge that looks amazing in you know,
Speaker 2: July and August, but it's going to be kind of
Speaker 2: bare and you know, maybe a little bit later to
Speaker 2: leaf out in spring, so you have to consider that
Speaker 2: spring cover as well. Or do you want to invest
Speaker 2: in evergreen? Now, generally speaking, a lot of evergreens are
Speaker 2: going to be more slow growing than a lot of
Speaker 2: deciduous plants. Now, there are certainly some fast growing arborvid
Speaker 2: like green giant, which will easily grow, like, you know,
Speaker 2: almost four feet a year once it's established. But it
Speaker 2: really lives up to the giant part of its name
Speaker 2: in that it is taking up you know, a good
Speaker 2: twelve to eighteen feet at the base, So that is
Speaker 2: twelve to eighteen feet of your yard space that are
Speaker 2: just being surrendered to this very fast growing evergreen.
Speaker 1: It's going to beautiful and deer resistant or more deep.
Speaker 2: Somewhat deer resistant. Yeah, and so that's something you need.
Speaker 2: You know, you can't just go to the garden center
Speaker 2: and say, okay, well here's an arborvity, it's cheap, it's
Speaker 2: good for hedging. This is what I'm going to do,
Speaker 2: because you do need to think about how is this
Speaker 2: going to impact the overall space in the yard. Once
Speaker 2: you've chosen your plants, figuring out the spacing is actually
Speaker 2: very easy. You just look at the width that is
Speaker 2: on the tag and if there is a range. I
Speaker 2: always recommend going with a smaller range for a hedge,
Speaker 2: especially if you live in a colder climate like this,
Speaker 2: because they'll be closer together and they're gonna have a
Speaker 2: shorter growing season, so they're not going to grow as
Speaker 2: much during each year as they would in a warmer climate.
Speaker 2: If you live in a warmer climate and or I
Speaker 2: want to save a couple bucks, you can go with
Speaker 2: a larger one, but just be aware that you're going
Speaker 2: to be waiting a lot longer for it to fill in,
Speaker 2: and it's not going to turn into a wall. Those
Speaker 2: higher end estimates of width are actually going to kind
Speaker 2: of just let the plants just touch, you know, so
Speaker 2: you won't get that nice dense wall if that's what
Speaker 2: you're going for. So you take that lower number, you
Speaker 2: divide it in half. So let's say it's three feet,
Speaker 2: and you take that one and a half feet that
Speaker 2: you've divided it in half. You space your two end
Speaker 2: shrubs either end one and a half feet from the
Speaker 2: end of the bed one and a half feet in
Speaker 2: from the edges of the bed on each sign. Then
Speaker 2: you've got the middle pieces. You can me sure that
Speaker 2: and see what you're dealing with. Now I will tell
Speaker 2: you I kind of eyeball this part. I've been planning
Speaker 2: a lot of hedges lately, so you know I know
Speaker 2: this because you can't totally stick to the to the
Speaker 2: spacing the math. Okay, okay, because it may not. Depending
Speaker 2: on how much space you have, it may not work
Speaker 2: out evenly. You can't plant half a shrub or a
Speaker 2: quarter of a shrub. So I generally will go with
Speaker 2: one extra plant position, one in the center, and then
Speaker 2: I just kind of visually do the rest. I like
Speaker 2: to plant hedges like I do most plants odd numbers
Speaker 2: because that will give you kind of a more natural,
Speaker 2: less formal looking hedge. I have a lot more tips
Speaker 2: on planting hedges, but the main thing you need to
Speaker 2: know about planting a hedge, if you're thinking about it,
Speaker 2: just do it. All the information will be in our
Speaker 2: show notes, along with a link to some proven Winter's
Speaker 2: Color Choice shrubs that are perfect for hedging no matter
Speaker 2: where you live. We're going to take a little break.
Speaker 2: When we come back, we'll be opening up the garden
Speaker 2: mail bag, so please stay tuned at proven Winner's Color
Speaker 2: Choice shrubs. We know that a better landscape starts with
Speaker 2: a better shrub. Our team of experts tests and evaluates
Speaker 2: all of our flowering shrubs in evergreens for eight to
Speaker 2: ten years to ensure they outperform what's already on the
Speaker 2: market for easycare, reliable, beautiful shrubs to accentuate your home
Speaker 2: and express your personal style. Look for Proven Winner's shrubs
Speaker 2: in the distinctive white container at your local garden center,
Speaker 2: or learn more at proven Winner's Color Choice dot com.
Speaker 2: Greetings gardening friends, and welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show.
Speaker 2: While we were on break, Rick came up with a
Speaker 2: very helpful tip that we wanted to share with you.
Speaker 1: I was just going to suggest that if you want
Speaker 1: a new hedge in your yard, you just go in
Speaker 1: the backyard and you make it a habit of gardening naked.
Speaker 1: Eventually your neighbor will put the heads up.
Speaker 2: For you, if they haven't called the police first.
Speaker 1: Just a thought.
Speaker 2: So there's something, some wise words from Wrick that you
Speaker 2: can consider if you've been wanting aheadge but don't want
Speaker 2: to invest the time, energy, over money in doing so.
Speaker 2: Before we get into the mailbag in today's theme of
Speaker 2: just do It, I wanted to share a book recommendation. Okay,
Speaker 2: not something we usually do, but I am really excited
Speaker 2: about this. So the name may be familiar to Douglas Tallamy.
Speaker 2: He is sort of the leader of the backyard environmentalism movement,
Speaker 2: where you can actually use your garden and landscape and
Speaker 2: yard to help conserve nature and wildlife, and his books
Speaker 2: Bringing Nature Home and Nature's Best Hope have been best
Speaker 2: sellers and gotten a lot of people into native plant gardening,
Speaker 2: which is amazing. And he has a new book out
Speaker 2: which I thought was perfect for just do It. It
Speaker 2: is called how Can I Help Saving Nature with Your Yard?
Speaker 2: And so I love that this is so action oriented
Speaker 2: because he's a wonderful writer, very inspiring and definitely gives
Speaker 2: a plan of action in his book. But I mean
Speaker 2: a lot of people, you know, it's it can be
Speaker 2: hard to get started questions and answers about how you
Speaker 2: can manage your yard and garden to better support wildlife.
Speaker 2: And if there is one thing that I would say
Speaker 2: just do it, it would be to you know, as
Speaker 2: you continue to grow your gardening hobby or you know,
Speaker 2: change things in your landscape that you do make choices
Speaker 2: that are more supportive of wildlife, of insects, of birds,
Speaker 2: whatever that plant choice may be, whether it's a shrub
Speaker 2: or a perennial or a tree, that we make choices
Speaker 2: that are about something beyond ourselves. And it's not a
Speaker 2: sacrifice because a lot of those plants are every bit
Speaker 2: as beautiful as whatever left to your mind.
Speaker 1: First, Yeah, here here, I mean it's exciting when you're
Speaker 1: working in the garden and hummingbirds are buzzing past you
Speaker 1: and hear hear the birds, singing bees active on a plant.
Speaker 1: There's nothing like it.
Speaker 2: It's my absolute favorite thing. So just do it. Douglas
Speaker 2: Telemy's new book, How can I help?
Speaker 1: Great suggestion? Linus writes to us, I have a young
Speaker 1: river birch tree that was planted in twenty twenty three.
Speaker 1: I believe it's not doing well, lots of empty branches.
Speaker 1: How would you approach this or is it too late?
Speaker 1: And thank you well, thank you very mulch Linus for
Speaker 1: your question. Yes, this is timely.
Speaker 2: This is very timely. And Linus did send some pictures
Speaker 2: so you can check those out on YouTube or in
Speaker 2: our show notes. And I think we've got a twofold
Speaker 2: problem here number one. And you mentioned river birch in
Speaker 2: segment one when we're talking about you know how it
Speaker 2: is native to a very different kind of environment than
Speaker 2: our average front or backyards, especially out here where it's
Speaker 2: so sandy. I have heard people say, respected horticulturists say
Speaker 2: you cannot overwater. A river birch, now this may be
Speaker 2: one of the very few plants that that is actually
Speaker 2: true of. But the thing that you need to know
Speaker 2: about them is they need a a ton of water.
Speaker 2: And I have seen one on my street out here
Speaker 2: that was installed when they were doing a bunch of
Speaker 2: street tree planting and they put those water gators on it.
Speaker 2: You can zip a couple of them together if you
Speaker 2: have a multi stem, because most river birches are multi stemmed.
Speaker 2: And I do want to clarify here if people aren't familiar,
Speaker 2: So a river birch is not that classic white birch
Speaker 2: that everybody loved and went crazy for in the seventies
Speaker 2: and eighties. A river birch is much more tolerant of
Speaker 2: some of the diseases and cultural conditions that make growing
Speaker 2: paper birches difficult for a lot of us. It is
Speaker 2: still a native birch.
Speaker 1: Look for the botanical is it betula.
Speaker 2: Nigra yep, yep. And it has peeling bark that is,
Speaker 2: the older it gets, the more peeling it gets, and
Speaker 2: has all these layers with different colors and orange and cream.
Speaker 2: It's just it's a very cool plant. But so it's
Speaker 2: becoming it's increasingly replacing paper birch because paper birch gets
Speaker 2: very stressed in residential situations. As things have gotten hotter,
Speaker 2: it's gotten stressed. It gets the bronze birch, and if
Speaker 2: it gets that, that's pretty much the end of it.
Speaker 2: Whereas river birch is, you know, doesn't have all of
Speaker 2: these liabilities.
Speaker 1: I believe heritage is the cultivar a.
Speaker 2: Yeah. One of the Fox Valley is another one that's
Speaker 2: very very popular. Yeah, but this one on my street
Speaker 2: is looking very much like Linuses in that all the
Speaker 2: branches are dying because once they took off those gators,
Speaker 2: those tree gaters to water it, it just did not
Speaker 2: get any water and immediately started to suffer because they
Speaker 2: didn't have any irrigation.
Speaker 1: So it is my neighbors and he planted it right
Speaker 1: in the middle of the yard, and I told him
Speaker 1: to water it because it was suffering. Yeah, And he
Speaker 1: put a hose on it and ran a sprinkler under
Speaker 1: it for days on end and it recovered.
Speaker 2: It's that's how serious it is. The Other thing about
Speaker 2: Linus's tree though, and Linus, if a landscape company came
Speaker 2: and planted this tree for you, I would definitely give
Speaker 2: them a call because they did not plant this tree properly. So,
Speaker 2: as you can see in the photos that Linus sent
Speaker 2: this River birch, the bottom of the three trunk that
Speaker 2: it has goes right into the ground like a phone
Speaker 2: pole instead of flaring out gently like a tree ought to.
Speaker 2: So this tree was also planted way too deeply. And
Speaker 2: that's really a crucial thing because that area of the buttress,
Speaker 2: that flared area at the base of the tree is
Speaker 2: crucial for gas exchange, so it helps the tree exchange
Speaker 2: carbon dioxide and oxygen, very very key for its survival.
Speaker 2: So if you did not plant this, I would definitely
Speaker 2: call the landscape company that planted it and tell them
Speaker 2: that they planted it too deeply, because I'm sure that
Speaker 2: that is contributing to the unhappiness of your tree. If
Speaker 2: you planted it and you can't do anything about it,
Speaker 2: then what I would do is just clear away the
Speaker 2: mulch as much as you can and do your best
Speaker 2: to try to expose that buttress. So you're probably be
Speaker 2: digging down quite a bit. You might encounter some adventitious
Speaker 2: roots that it has put out into the mulch. Just
Speaker 2: keep going take that away. The sooner you can expose
Speaker 2: that buttress to some good fresh air and get the
Speaker 2: plant some supplemental water. The sooner you will have a
Speaker 2: healthy river birch and it will recover. Just needs a
Speaker 2: little TLC.
Speaker 1: Carol writes to us help. I had a terrible snail
Speaker 1: infestation last year. It looks even worse now and summer
Speaker 1: hasn't even begun. I live on a small lake in
Speaker 1: central New York Zone five now zone six. Bees snails
Speaker 1: are decimating everything from ligular area to hostas to my grasses.
Speaker 1: They even crawl up my wicker patio furniture.
Speaker 2: Gross yikes.
Speaker 1: I picked off one hundred morning and night. We have
Speaker 1: had days and days of rain, so I haven't been
Speaker 1: able to use slug bait or die Tamacious Earth yet.
Speaker 1: But they weren't that effective last year. Perhaps I'm not
Speaker 1: applying them correctly. I also read that cocoa shells deter snails,
Speaker 1: so I've stopped. I've topped my containers with that, but
Speaker 1: it's very expensive. I try to use applications that won't
Speaker 1: harm my pollinators. I'm desperate. I found you on YouTube
Speaker 1: a month ago. I've learned so much. I'm confident you
Speaker 1: will solve my dilemma. Ah, yes, Cara, you know I
Speaker 1: want to mention right off the bat to Carol, right
Speaker 1: off the top. A lot of people struggle with this.
Speaker 1: You mention hostas in your note. First, take a look
Speaker 1: at the mulch. If you have a lot of mulch
Speaker 1: under these plants. In some cases, pulling the mulch away
Speaker 1: from the neck of the plant let's say they're hostas,
Speaker 1: will make a world of difference because you got to
Speaker 1: think about where the snails are hiding out cool wet places.
Speaker 1: And then Stacy, just real briefly, I'd like to mention
Speaker 1: that I've had success with roofing shingles.
Speaker 2: That's what I was going to say too.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, she mentioned diotamacous earth. But roofing shingles just
Speaker 1: strips of roofing shingles. You can get them a similar
Speaker 1: color to the soil, so they're not ugly and they work.
Speaker 2: Yeah. So basically all you have to do is take
Speaker 2: a roofing shingle. Another thing that works very very well
Speaker 2: is like a cedar shake if you have if you
Speaker 2: live in an area where they put in a lot
Speaker 2: of cedar shape roofs so we're talking about, you know,
Speaker 2: maybe at twelve by twelve ish piece of rough material,
Speaker 2: whether that's wood. You don't want it to be smooth.
Speaker 2: You wanted to have some crustiness on there that that
Speaker 2: can attract the slugs. You put that down at night,
Speaker 2: you come out in the morning, you just scrape off
Speaker 2: all the slugs because they're gonna come up under there
Speaker 2: for shelter. That's what they really really love. They actually
Speaker 2: will prefer to spend the day on that over anywhere else,
Speaker 2: So that will help you kind of get them all
Speaker 2: in one place rather than pick them off one by one.
Speaker 2: And you can also, of course try the time the
Speaker 2: tried and true beer trap, which is just to say
Speaker 2: you take like a tunicn or a small kind of
Speaker 2: shallow dish like that, bury it even with the soil,
Speaker 2: put some beer in there and then or flour and
Speaker 2: water can also work because they layer was it yeast
Speaker 2: in water? We talked about this on the show recently.
Speaker 1: Suggest Carol, just drink the beer forget them.
Speaker 2: Well, they only need a little bit, so you put
Speaker 2: a little bit for the slug, a little bit for yourself.
Speaker 1: Right, and then crawl in there lose their car keys.
Speaker 2: And die, yes, and they drown in there, and you
Speaker 2: can also just dump that out, so you can also
Speaker 2: do both. But I do want to tell you another trick,
Speaker 2: and it's a little bit too late for this, but
Speaker 2: I've shared this before. The best time to manage slugs
Speaker 2: is in late winter. That is when their eggs hatch
Speaker 2: and the little baby slugs are coming out. And if
Speaker 2: you can control those baby slugs, they will not be
Speaker 2: able to get the foothold that they will otherwise. But
Speaker 2: of course, you know, in upstate New York, I would
Speaker 2: think that this is probably we're looking at, like late February,
Speaker 2: not a time, you know, if there's no when the
Speaker 2: snow melts, that is basically when those eggs are going
Speaker 2: to start to hatch. So it's not the time when
Speaker 2: people think about doing this kind of thing, so they
Speaker 2: kind of miss that opportunity. So Carol, put a reminder
Speaker 2: in your calendar so that next late February you get
Speaker 2: some slug bait. Don't have to worry about the pollinators
Speaker 2: because they won't be around. Nothing's going they be around
Speaker 2: for another at least you know, six weeks or so,
Speaker 2: except those slugs, and that will help you get the
Speaker 2: control that makes the population much more manageable later in
Speaker 2: the season.
Speaker 1: Right about now, Good luck with your slug fast Carol.
Speaker 2: So thank you so much to Linus and Carol for
Speaker 2: their questions. If you want to reach out to us,
Speaker 2: you can do that at Gardeningsimplified on air dot com,
Speaker 2: or if you need to answer to a garden question
Speaker 2: more quickly, visit Provenwinner's Color Choice dot com. We're gonna
Speaker 2: take a little break when we come back or continue
Speaker 2: our conversation on what you should just do in the garden.
Speaker 2: Please stay tuned. Thanks for listening to the Gardening Simplified Podcast,
Speaker 2: brought to you by Proven Winners Color Choice Shrubs. Our
Speaker 2: award winning flowering shrubs and evergreens are trialed and tested
Speaker 2: by experts with your success in mind. Learn more at
Speaker 2: Proven Winners Color Choice dot com.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Arning Simplified Show. Today for branching news,
Speaker 1: we continue our talk about just do it, Stacey, just
Speaker 1: do it debatable. I feed my plants in fall when
Speaker 1: the leaves are falling off deciduous plants. The roots can
Speaker 1: absorb the soil's warm enough, they can absorb nutrients. They
Speaker 1: get off to a much better start the following spring,
Speaker 1: I may overfeed, but I like to feed plants in fall.
Speaker 1: Just do it. Get yourself comfortable clothes for your landscape
Speaker 1: or your garden working out there. It makes a world
Speaker 1: of difference.
Speaker 2: Oh and a hat. Hat is so important. I cannot
Speaker 2: even tell you, fellow gardeners, if you are not a
Speaker 2: hat where the future self that will thank you for
Speaker 2: wearing a hat because we get a lot of sun exposure.
Speaker 2: I mean, I'm super careful about it. I wear sunscreen
Speaker 2: and a hat and gotta slather all up. And yes,
Speaker 2: I know the dirt sticks to you and that's not fun,
Speaker 2: but also probably skin cancer isn't for fun, so I'm
Speaker 2: not going to risk it. So definitely invest in a hat.
Speaker 2: A hat would be my Just do it. And if
Speaker 2: you think, oh I don't like a hat, it'll be
Speaker 2: in my way. Just go shopping for a hat and
Speaker 2: find a hat that you love, and then you'll be
Speaker 2: excited about wearing it.
Speaker 1: That's true. Yeah, and I'm getting better about the sunscreen stuff.
Speaker 1: I mean again, when we did the Garden Nostalgia Show,
Speaker 1: we talked about the fact, you know, I was a
Speaker 1: teenager in the seventies when we would slather on baby
Speaker 1: oil and lay out on you know, a launch I mean,
Speaker 1: really dumb.
Speaker 2: Yeah, why, I was a teenager in the nineties and
Speaker 2: I did that.
Speaker 1: So I asked a friend of mine I work with
Speaker 1: she bought a house three years ago, and I said, okay,
Speaker 1: what's something everyone should do in their landscape? She said, oh,
Speaker 1: take the time to amend your soil. Work the soil.
Speaker 1: I said, what should you not do? She said, don't
Speaker 1: plant and then said a naughty word, stuff that spreads. Mmmmm,
Speaker 1: Now I asked, I asked Sue this question. She said,
Speaker 1: grow edibles in your landscape and cut flowers in your landscape.
Speaker 1: Just do it. I said, well, then, what shouldn't you do?
Speaker 1: And she said don't plant prickly plants by the driveway
Speaker 1: or the walkway. So there you have that. You want
Speaker 1: to do a little speed round.
Speaker 2: Yes, so we're going to do a speed round. We're
Speaker 2: going to do a just do it speed round. So
Speaker 2: I have a list of various things in the garden,
Speaker 2: and we're going to without too much forethought or explanation,
Speaker 2: though of course a little bit will most likely be necessary,
Speaker 2: share our thoughts. So speed round start. Now, Rick, what
Speaker 2: is your just do it pruning tip or task.
Speaker 1: Prune right after plants are done flowering. That's the time
Speaker 1: to prune. So if you have a lilac, don't be
Speaker 1: afraid to prune and prune right after they're done blooming.
Speaker 2: I think my just do it for pruning is going
Speaker 2: to be don't hesitate to take out tree branches, especially
Speaker 2: small young trees that you've recently purchased, to give it
Speaker 2: the shape and habit that you want. Tree pruning is
Speaker 2: a little bit different than shrub pruning, but it is
Speaker 2: better to make your cuts when those branches are smaller
Speaker 2: and younger than when they get bigger. Not only will
Speaker 2: the tree heal faster, but you won't need a chainsaw.
Speaker 1: You're here all right.
Speaker 2: Next one, what's your just do it? Go to tree
Speaker 2: to plant?
Speaker 1: Definitely, Boy, that's a tough one. It's a tie between
Speaker 1: juneberry and paper bark maple.
Speaker 2: Yeah, juneberry is a can't miss for sure. That is
Speaker 2: a great choice. I'm gonna go with joonberry too. Service
Speaker 2: I'm a link here. It is like that. What's the
Speaker 2: perfect four season place? Yes, if you don't have deer
Speaker 2: because they do eat it. So that's why I have
Speaker 2: not just done it myself. Just do it shrub to plant.
Speaker 1: I'm going I've got to say panicled hydrangers. I can't
Speaker 1: help it. I can't think of a better easier to
Speaker 1: grow shrub in the landscape that is so beautiful.
Speaker 2: Mine is going to be for those who can grow it. It
Speaker 2: does have a slightly limited heat tolerance range. Lemony lace
Speaker 2: elderberry nice. That is a plant that I have completely
Speaker 2: fallen in love with in my garden. It is stunning.
Speaker 2: What about a perennial, Just do it perennial.
Speaker 1: For a just do it perennial. I'm going to say it.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna say baptis You I.
Speaker 2: Will hold you to this. I mean, I know there's
Speaker 2: multiple you know, answers to all of these.
Speaker 1: You go to say Baptisia.
Speaker 2: It just is Yeah, that's definitely a great choice. This
Speaker 2: is a tougher one for me because a lot of
Speaker 2: the plants that I like the most I don't think
Speaker 2: other people would like. Like if I said, might just
Speaker 2: do it is to plant Sophia. I'm like we talked
Speaker 2: about in the Big Plants episode. I think a lot
Speaker 2: of people would be like, that thing is way too
Speaker 2: big and spreads way too much. My just do it,
Speaker 2: I guess will then be milkweed.
Speaker 1: Nice. Okay, well if you get to then then I'm
Speaker 1: gonna throw ornamental grasses.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, of course myses makes sense and peptisia's fabulous,
Speaker 2: but you know I will. I'll give you that. The
Speaker 2: ornamental grasses are going to give you probably a little
Speaker 2: bit longer of a season of interest.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, and the bet you're resistant. And don't get
Speaker 1: me started on ornamental grasses, per seed.
Speaker 2: I couldn't believe that Carol's slugs were even eating our grasses.
Speaker 2: Grasses are not typically something that slugs are a problem on.
Speaker 2: So that's when I knew that we had to help Carol.
Speaker 2: If for slug infestation was that bad, I felt like
Speaker 2: we really needed to throw or a line there. Just
Speaker 2: do it thing for birds task or tip or whatever.
Speaker 1: Thing for birds. Boy, I'm gonna say, I'm going to
Speaker 1: say anything that is hummingbird related. And for me again,
Speaker 1: it's the rockin Salvia series, proven winners. Rockin Salvia because
Speaker 1: the humming birds. They're covered in hummingbirds in summer.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I love rock and deep purple. I love
Speaker 2: that dark purple color. So that's when I'm growing this year,
Speaker 2: my just do it for birds in the garden is
Speaker 2: going to be have a bird bath. Oh you know,
Speaker 2: it's a simple thing. Now, I will say for those
Speaker 2: of you who are buying a bird bath in response
Speaker 2: to this, a lot of the newer bird baths are
Speaker 2: not very bird friendly. They are very deep, and so
Speaker 2: the birds will come and perch on the rim and
Speaker 2: drink from it, but they are not going to get
Speaker 2: in there because it is not safe. And I have
Speaker 2: a deep one like this, and I've tried to fix
Speaker 2: it with rocks and making it a little shallower. It
Speaker 2: doesn't work. So I have a beautiful old fashioned one
Speaker 2: with a more shallow concrete bowl. The birds are constantly
Speaker 2: bathing in it, and it's so much fun to watch.
Speaker 1: You know. What makes this really hard is that I
Speaker 1: would say, just do it. Have diversity in your Landsln's
Speaker 1: it's more entertaining for you. If a problem crops up,
Speaker 1: it doesn't spread like wildfire. That's what makes this speed
Speaker 1: round thing tough.
Speaker 2: You know. I saw an article the other day where
Speaker 2: it was like, you know, five things a professional landscape
Speaker 2: designer says you should never do. When it was all okay, whatever,
Speaker 2: and one of them was don't plant too many plant species,
Speaker 2: and I was like, you want to fight, yeah, because
Speaker 2: you know, yes, you can absolutely have a minimalist landscape
Speaker 2: with very few plant species. But why, I don't know,
Speaker 2: what would be the point?
Speaker 1: Be so boring you Carol and me will get in there,
Speaker 1: we'll have a slug fest.
Speaker 2: So yeah, I've got I couldn't even count how many
Speaker 2: species I have. I would be very interested to know.
Speaker 2: But diversity is always just do it. I agree, diversify,
Speaker 2: just do it. Garden design feature.
Speaker 1: Most definitely planting in swaths or drifts as opposed to
Speaker 1: just sticking a single plant in the ground. I like
Speaker 1: swaths or.
Speaker 2: Drifts of yeah, odd numbers. It couldn't be any easier.
Speaker 2: And that's the kind of thing that people don't realize
Speaker 2: is such a good and simple back pocket planting tip.
Speaker 2: I know it's not just us trying to get you
Speaker 2: to buy more plants. It really is the best and
Speaker 2: easiest way to get a professional look. And if you
Speaker 2: look at professional landscapes no matter where you go around
Speaker 2: the country, that's what they usually do.
Speaker 1: It's because if you stick a single plant in the ground,
Speaker 1: sometimes it can look like it doesn't belong there but
Speaker 1: a swath or a drift.
Speaker 2: It's like, that's how nature grows. Yeah, it's seeds, And okay,
Speaker 2: my garden design feature or just do it would be
Speaker 2: I mean most of the things I've done, I wouldn't
Speaker 2: recommend the other people.
Speaker 1: Throw spacing out the door.
Speaker 2: There you go. Spacing is a recommendation only. It's an
Speaker 2: educated it's a departure point for your garden. But also
Speaker 2: do as I say, not as I do. What is
Speaker 2: your just do it? All alarms on. Pull this weed
Speaker 2: right now.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna say it is nuts edge.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, definitely, I'm with you on that one. When
Speaker 2: I see nuts edge, I do you stop other weeds?
Speaker 2: I'll be like, I can get to that later. When
Speaker 2: I see that edge, I'm like, you're out right now.
Speaker 1: Oh. I helped the lady out the other day where
Speaker 1: I saw the start of horsetail in a landscape. So
Speaker 1: I'm going to say nuts edge slash horse tip.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but you can't pull horseize.
Speaker 1: I know you can't.
Speaker 2: And if you are struggling with horsetail in your yard,
Speaker 2: that's probably an indication that something's going wrong with your
Speaker 2: sprinkler system or plumbing system or water system because they
Speaker 2: only grow in wet soils. So if you have an
Speaker 2: overly wet soil, you probably will get horsetail and you
Speaker 2: will not get rid of it until you make that
Speaker 2: soil dry and well drained. What is your just do
Speaker 2: it mowing tip?
Speaker 1: Raise the deck on the moor. It makes all the
Speaker 1: difference in the world. You want to cut back on fertilizer, chemicals,
Speaker 1: weed controls all that, raise the deck on the mow
Speaker 1: or don't scalp.
Speaker 2: Your lawn, might just do it. Mowing tip is getting
Speaker 2: electricallywn more because then you can mow whenever you want,
Speaker 2: because it's not just active. So it's Sunday morning, everybody's
Speaker 2: still asleep. You got that electric mowerk no one will
Speaker 2: hardly even know you're mowing. You can hold on a conversation.
Speaker 2: You don't have that annoying pull cord where all your
Speaker 2: neighbors are laughing at you as you struggle with it. So, yeah,
Speaker 2: that's my just do it. It's all I got. Really well,
Speaker 2: I have personal item, but I feel like we already
Speaker 2: discussed that person. You're just do it gardening gear. Oh yeah,
Speaker 2: but you know I'm in I'm firmly in hat camp.
Speaker 1: Yeah. The clothes, I mean, I love these pants. These
Speaker 1: are Columbia lightweight.
Speaker 2: They look a little light for gardening.
Speaker 1: Color wise, oh colorwise, Yeah, I'm talking about the type
Speaker 1: of Yes, yes, yes, I soiled my plants.
Speaker 2: All right. So that is our partial list of things
Speaker 2: that you should just do in the garden without hesitating,
Speaker 2: without delay, just because they are the right thing to
Speaker 2: do and they will pay dividends in the long run.
Speaker 2: So thank you so much for listening. Thank you Rick,
Speaker 2: thank you cuator on up, and we hope you all
Speaker 2: have a wonderful week ahead. H