Speaker 1: Broadcasting from Studio A here at proven Winns Color Choice Shrubs.
Speaker 1: It's time for the Gardening Simplified podcast, radio and YouTube
Speaker 1: show with Stacy Hervella me Rick Weisten, our engineer and
Speaker 1: producer Adrianna Robinson. Today, Stacey, we talk about the color white,
Speaker 1: a versatile neutral color and I think arguably designed to
Speaker 1: be best appreciated at night or at twilight. There's a
Speaker 1: reason right now that moon gardens are so popular, and
Speaker 1: moon gardens, of course will make use of white flowers, gray,
Speaker 1: silvery cast foliage. But then again, I'm a guy who
Speaker 1: loves the moon at night shooting pictures of the moon.
Speaker 1: I just find it so fascinating because I'm an Apollo
Speaker 1: age boy. I grew up in the sixties during the
Speaker 1: Apollo Space Program and drank a lot of tang and
Speaker 1: that kind of thing. But that's another story. So white
Speaker 1: flowers can also attract nighttime pollinators and are perfect for
Speaker 1: your landscape because, well, you've been working all day, you
Speaker 1: come home at night, the sun starts to set. You
Speaker 1: want to be able to enjoy your landscape some of
Speaker 1: the flowers without getting into your what was it moss rows? Analogy?
Speaker 1: You're not really into them, right, Yes, that's true, because
Speaker 1: they've all closed up the.
Speaker 2: Nothing to enjoy there.
Speaker 1: But white flowers are just so classic and so elegant
Speaker 1: in the landscape. I think about the smooth high ranges
Speaker 1: flopping over, just gorgeous, full of flower on Cape Cod
Speaker 1: where they have the clap boarder cedar shake shingles on
Speaker 1: the house, and then there they have the white trim
Speaker 1: on these homes, and then those gorgeous white high dranges. Stacy.
Speaker 1: White should not be an overlooked color in your landscape
Speaker 1: when you're looking at flowers.
Speaker 3: No, not by a long shot. And you know, I
Speaker 3: think there's a lot that's said. You read articles, oh
Speaker 3: plants and mood garden. White is so amazing at night
Speaker 3: in the garden, and it's something that you, I don't
Speaker 3: think can fully appreciate until you experience it. And I
Speaker 3: have a magnolia I've talked about it on the show before.
Speaker 3: Was near death when we moved into our house because
Speaker 3: of a walnut and a whole bunch of other things.
Speaker 3: And we change the way that the water drains off
Speaker 3: our roof, and now it gets water. The walnut's gone,
Speaker 3: and this thing has just made a stunning comeback.
Speaker 2: It's huge.
Speaker 3: It was absolutely covered in flowers this year, so magnolia stillata,
Speaker 3: so it has white flowers. And every morning when I
Speaker 3: would go to make my breakfast before work, it was
Speaker 3: just the most ethereal gloe lowing blue in the morning light,
Speaker 3: and it's so hard like it's one of those things
Speaker 3: you could take a picture which you can never fully
Speaker 3: capture what that looks and feels like. And this is
Speaker 3: the kind of thing that, Yeah, once you have experienced that,
Speaker 3: you're like, I want that at my house right now.
Speaker 2: And you know you don't have to go.
Speaker 3: Full on, you know. Vita Sackville West. Vita Sackville West
Speaker 3: is an English gardener who famously designed a white garden
Speaker 3: and kind of popularized this entire idea. And if you
Speaker 3: ever go to Longwood Gardens, they have a white garden
Speaker 3: designed using her principles.
Speaker 2: So you don't have to go full on.
Speaker 3: You don't have to make everything in your garden white
Speaker 3: if you love all of that different color, but some
Speaker 3: white will really make a huge difference in white flowers,
Speaker 3: white foliage, silvery foliage will definitely make a difference in
Speaker 3: your garden. And you know, you can just start with
Speaker 3: a little bit, and the next thing you know, you're
Speaker 3: going to be addicted and want to add a whole
Speaker 3: bunch more.
Speaker 1: You know that. That makes me think of years ago,
Speaker 1: before air conditioning was invented. They would have get togethers.
Speaker 1: They would have meetings, often underneath trees in the evening
Speaker 1: hours when it's cooler or in the shade. That's how
Speaker 1: Wall Street started in New York. It was underneath a tree.
Speaker 1: Thomas Jefferson would have cabinet meetings underneath trees in the shade.
Speaker 1: And so you think about that, being able to enjoy
Speaker 1: your landscape in your garden in the cool of the
Speaker 1: evening hours, and white flowers really put the exclamation point
Speaker 1: on an area like that. White is a popular car color. Also,
Speaker 1: by the way, get better resale value if your car
Speaker 1: is white.
Speaker 2: My first car was white.
Speaker 3: It did not have resale value by the end of
Speaker 3: me being done with it as a sixteen year old.
Speaker 1: But yes, and reflex of course heat also. But white
Speaker 1: very popular, very versatile, and considered a neutral color. Also
Speaker 1: if you use it in your landscape, if you can
Speaker 1: find an area where you can provide a black back,
Speaker 1: maybe it's a fence, maybe it's a shed done in
Speaker 1: white trim that is stunning. And then don't forget a
Speaker 1: white bench or white pots in the landscape. Many times
Speaker 1: people will overlook white let's say white ceramic pots. They're
Speaker 1: ideal for putting combinations.
Speaker 3: Yeah, because you never have to stick to the same
Speaker 3: color combination every single year. You can totally reimagine everything,
Speaker 3: you know, Like my containers tend to go onto the
Speaker 3: hot side. I have a lot of like orange, bright orange,
Speaker 3: which I love, but it does kind of limit me
Speaker 3: somewhat correct where. Yeah, I have one white that I love.
Speaker 3: Every single year, I'm like, I wish I had more
Speaker 3: of this because it's so versatile.
Speaker 1: Of course, also when you're using a lot of white
Speaker 1: in the landscape or white plants, I recommend you look
Speaker 1: at texture and leaf size. You want variation in varieties
Speaker 1: of plants, leaf size and texture, because if you don't
Speaker 1: get that, then too much white can become just a
Speaker 1: real mess. And so using it maybe somewhat judiciously in
Speaker 1: the landscape would not be a bad idea, But it's
Speaker 1: great for combining with other plants. For color, I love
Speaker 1: the white combination color with lime, green or yellow. I
Speaker 1: think about the white and yellow daffodils, for example, so gorgeous.
Speaker 1: A pink and white combination is beautiful in the landscape.
Speaker 1: You think of all the wonderful panicle hydranges. We talked
Speaker 1: about wougilla last week, but also I think an annual
Speaker 1: super beina pink cashmere verbina. Wow, and that plant naturally
Speaker 1: uses that combination of white and pink in the landscape.
Speaker 1: I like that combination, Stacy.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I love it too. With a little bit of
Speaker 3: like purply blue in there and it just kind of
Speaker 3: white is a great blender. You know, if you have
Speaker 3: two colors and you're not really sure how you're going
Speaker 3: to kind of make the transition from one to the other,
Speaker 3: just throw some white stuff in there, something like a
Speaker 3: sweet alyssum, even though it's very small, so some of
Speaker 3: that around and it just kind of helps to knit
Speaker 3: everything together.
Speaker 1: Add some silvery foliage. Of course, the combination of white
Speaker 1: and blue is great to make an area feel cooler.
Speaker 1: And Stacey, I planted one of the white reminiscent roses
Speaker 1: in my landscape. Talk about a classic just classy style
Speaker 1: and design to that plant with that white color. It's
Speaker 1: one of my favorites.
Speaker 3: Oh and great fragrance to you on that one.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so I have to give you a limerick on
Speaker 1: the color white. But you've got a bear in mind here, folks,
Speaker 1: that here in Michigan. So we live in West Michigan,
Speaker 1: and I got eighty inches of snow at my house
Speaker 1: last winter, just north of us, and sue Saint Marie
Speaker 1: they got a hundred ninety eight inches.
Speaker 3: Well that's a fair bit north of us, not fear
Speaker 3: north of us, but it's still in mission. It is,
Speaker 3: it is. I'm glad we did not get that much.
Speaker 1: The snow started falling in November. We got thunder snow
Speaker 1: in December. We got snow twenty seven out of the
Speaker 1: thirty one days in January this past year. The snow
Speaker 1: continued in March and then April. I'm sorry, I'm not
Speaker 1: trying to whine here, but I'm just not into snow.
Speaker 1: So I thought, okay, my white limb a rick because
Speaker 1: you know, snow white was befriended by woodland animals. You know,
Speaker 1: in my landscape, the woodland animals eat my landscapes. So
Speaker 1: maybe if you look at the seven dwarfs, I'm grumpy.
Speaker 1: I don't know I find snow to be such a
Speaker 1: bummer makes my fingers and toes painfully number. So you'll
Speaker 1: just have to pardon that. I love white in my
Speaker 1: garden as long as it's spring or summer, springs arrive
Speaker 1: to be of good cheer. Still don't like snow to
Speaker 1: be crystal clear. They say, come on, Rick, just chill.
Speaker 1: But you wouldn't like it either until you live with
Speaker 1: it half the year. And I was thinking that, Stacey,
Speaker 1: it's November through April six months, okay, so now I'm
Speaker 1: excited it's spring. Will I put white in my garden? Absolutely,
Speaker 1: because I love the color in my garden.
Speaker 3: So what's your favorite white flower you got in your garden?
Speaker 1: Well, i'll tell you what. What's loads of fun for me,
Speaker 1: and it's inexpensive. You get some moonflower.
Speaker 2: Seeds, yeah, fabulous.
Speaker 1: Plant them, they vine on some sort of fence and
Speaker 1: then when they bloom and the flowers just spiral open.
Speaker 1: Moonflower is one of my favorites. And another vine and
Speaker 1: some people could poo poo this, but sweet autumn clematis,
Speaker 1: I'm sorry. When that's in full bloom, I know it
Speaker 1: can be kind of invasive, but when that's in full bloom.
Speaker 3: Wow, pretty impressive and spells amazing as well.
Speaker 1: It's a stunner. We'll see what Stacy has on her
Speaker 1: mind for plants on trial. I'm going to assume it's
Speaker 1: a white blooming plant, but we'll see. That's coming up next.
Speaker 1: Here on the Gardening Simplified.
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Speaker 3: proven Winner's Color Choice dot Com. You're Reading's Gardening friends,
Speaker 3: and welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show, where we
Speaker 3: are talking about white flowers. And we've done a couple
Speaker 3: of different shows on specific flower colors, but I feel
Speaker 3: like white flowers are kind of like the back pocket
Speaker 3: solution to like any garden challenge, you know, like if
Speaker 3: you don't know what to do, if you know, does
Speaker 3: this color go with this color? You know, most of
Speaker 3: the time, if you pick a white flower something with
Speaker 3: silvery foliage, as we talked about, it's going to function
Speaker 3: to kind of help blend everything together. I mean, there
Speaker 3: are some exceptions, but usually a little bit of white
Speaker 3: in the garden is always welcome. And in my time
Speaker 3: in the industry here, I have been on dozens of
Speaker 3: different tours with landscapers, landscape designers and you know, gardeners,
Speaker 3: and I can tell you from some of the biggest,
Speaker 3: most elaborate and extravagant estates that I've ever seen, to
Speaker 3: you know, even just a regular nice home that has
Speaker 3: had a professional landscape design. If there is one secret
Speaker 3: that professional landscape designers have, it is using white flowers.
Speaker 1: I like that. And if you think about it, and
Speaker 1: you talk about designers, think about the interior of the house.
Speaker 1: You can have different colors in the room, but that
Speaker 1: classic white trim kind of, as you mentioned, ties and
Speaker 1: pulls everything together.
Speaker 3: It is yeah, And you know, I think that for
Speaker 3: landscape designers, they don't have to worry about offending anyone's
Speaker 3: delicate sensibilities with white, it looks good all of the time.
Speaker 2: It's just I.
Speaker 3: Cannot even tell you of seeing literally dozens and dozens
Speaker 3: of gardens around the country. White is the thing now
Speaker 3: in some places it's definitely way more popular than others.
Speaker 3: If you go down to Texas, like an evergreen landscape
Speaker 3: with some white accents is like everybody, everybody has that.
Speaker 3: But yeah, I mean it just always looks good. It
Speaker 3: looks good with any house color because so sometimes you know,
Speaker 3: different house colors can be very challenging to have, you know,
Speaker 3: to landscape, especially like the orange and red brick, and
Speaker 3: you know, white is something that you can always turn
Speaker 3: to and will always look great. So yes, of course,
Speaker 3: today's plant on trial is going to be a white
Speaker 3: flowered plant, and we have quite a few in nature
Speaker 3: that white flowers are actually very prominent and prevalent across
Speaker 3: many different genera of plants in our garden. But today's
Speaker 3: plant on trial, which is actually new at garden centers
Speaker 3: this year, is Oh So Easy ice Bay rose. Wow,
Speaker 3: and this is a big deal. So I'm just talking
Speaker 3: about it like, oh, it's just a white rose. This
Speaker 3: is the first ever white rose in the Oh So
Speaker 3: Easy series. Now we have introduced We've been offering oh
Speaker 3: So Easy roses in the proven Winner's line since well
Speaker 3: before I worked here, so I would say at least
Speaker 3: sixteen years we have been offering Oh So Easy roses
Speaker 3: and it is just now in twenty twenty five that
Speaker 3: we actually have a white Oh So Easy rose. And
Speaker 3: this may come as a surprise to our listeners, but
Speaker 3: in plant general or a different genus of plants, white
Speaker 3: is actually the hardest color to develop, and so it
Speaker 3: comes natural, you know, Like, try to find a viburnum
Speaker 3: with a flower color other than white, you you won't
Speaker 3: really be able to do it. Whereas with some plants,
Speaker 3: including roses, it is actually very difficult to develop a
Speaker 3: white variety that is vigorous and floriferous.
Speaker 1: I love that, and I love Oh So Easy roses
Speaker 1: because they're fantastic in the landscape as drifts. So if
Speaker 1: you can add a drift of white, wow, right, that
Speaker 1: is a deal.
Speaker 3: You know, This is what I've seen consistently with those landscapers.
Speaker 3: A nice hedge along the front of a home. Yeah,
Speaker 3: a drift, a specimen flanking the front porch. You really
Speaker 3: can't go wrong. But it literally did take us at
Speaker 3: least sixteen and if you count the you know, time
Speaker 3: and development, probably closer to twenty years to actually finally
Speaker 3: have a white rows in the Oh So Easy series. Now,
Speaker 3: the O So Easy series of landscape roses are all
Speaker 3: they're in that series because they are extremely disease resistant,
Speaker 3: so they're fluoriferous. They bloom all summer without dead heading.
Speaker 3: But forc something to be an o So easy rose,
Speaker 3: it really has to have the top of the line
Speaker 3: disease resistance, so not getting powdery meldew, not getting black spot,
Speaker 3: and it took us a really, really long time to
Speaker 3: find that so oh so easy Ice bay is that plant.
Speaker 3: I'm super excited that it is available at garden centers
Speaker 3: this year for the first time. It has some of
Speaker 3: I think the glossiest, darkest green foliage I have ever
Speaker 3: seen on any rows, which really just gives it that
Speaker 3: extra landscape star power. It looks absolutely amazing. The flowers
Speaker 3: are semi double, so when I say semi double, what
Speaker 3: that means is that there are multiple layers of petals,
Speaker 3: not just a single layer of petals. But you can
Speaker 3: still see the center of the of the flower. And
Speaker 3: that's really good if you want to tract pollinators, because
Speaker 3: if the pollinators can and if you can see the pollen,
Speaker 3: so can the pollinators, which means that they will then
Speaker 3: be attracted to that. Now, this is a plant that
Speaker 3: will bloom all summer long without any need to deadhead it,
Speaker 3: which is a good thing, and it is self cleaning,
Speaker 3: So if you're not familiar with that term, a self
Speaker 3: cleaning rose is simply a rose that as the flower
Speaker 3: starts to fade, the petals just kind of bust apart
Speaker 3: and fall on the ground themselves. This is an especially
Speaker 3: good thing in my opinion when it comes to white roses,
Speaker 3: because most white roses, we have to face facts, do
Speaker 3: not age gracefully. They turn brown and can look pretty gnarly.
Speaker 3: If they're not self cleaning, then you just kind of
Speaker 3: get this like big brown sad clump of petals nodding
Speaker 3: off of your plants. Whereas as a self cleaning rose,
Speaker 3: the paddles just shatter as the bloom ends. That makes
Speaker 3: it not a great cut flower, but it does make
Speaker 3: an excellent choice for the landscape.
Speaker 1: You're right about that. With a white flower, if it
Speaker 1: gets any kind of sort of blemish on it, yeah,
Speaker 1: it stands out.
Speaker 3: Yeah, And we definitely, I'm sure Adriana can attest. Photographing
Speaker 3: white flowers can be very challenging because, yeah, any any
Speaker 3: little one that starts to age, the brown really does show.
Speaker 3: You're not going to see this like from a distance
Speaker 3: in your garden. But when you really start getting in
Speaker 3: there and digging in, that's when you'll see it. So
Speaker 3: this is a very clean, very just nice looking, attractive
Speaker 3: rose that I think is a great problem solver. Now,
Speaker 3: like most roses, it is going to need full sun
Speaker 3: so that is a minimum of six hours of bright
Speaker 3: sunshine every single day, and that will give you the
Speaker 3: very best you know flower set as well as that
Speaker 3: best disease resistance. That's very important. Even though we test
Speaker 3: our plants to be resistant to disease, you know, there
Speaker 3: is a part of that of that exchange that depends
Speaker 3: on where you plant it and how you care for it.
Speaker 3: So that means you're going to plant it with good
Speaker 3: air circulation, You're going to follow proper spacing. It does
Speaker 3: reach two to three feet tall, and so you're going
Speaker 3: to want to put it more space, more on the
Speaker 3: two foot range if you are in a cooler climate,
Speaker 3: more on the three foot range if you're in a
Speaker 3: warmer climate. But proper spacing and good sunshine will do
Speaker 3: a whole lot to help you prevent that black spot
Speaker 3: and powdery mildew from from developing. Because they have good
Speaker 3: air circulation and the foliage will dry out quickly.
Speaker 1: And if you're keeping score at home, Stacy's talking about
Speaker 1: oh so easy ice bay rose, and I'm excited about this.
Speaker 1: What popped into my head, Stacey, was a was a
Speaker 1: marketing approach on this cool uh oh so easy ice
Speaker 1: base bay rose. It took us twenty years to get
Speaker 1: it white.
Speaker 2: That's good.
Speaker 1: I can see it on a bill.
Speaker 2: All right.
Speaker 3: I am going to pass that along to our ad
Speaker 3: writers and we will give you credit for them. Sure,
Speaker 3: we would compensate you with a know so easy ice
Speaker 3: bay rose. But I know you, like me, have deer, yes,
Speaker 3: and yes, Unfortunately the deer do you love this much
Speaker 3: to anyone's surprise because it is thorny, But the deer
Speaker 3: still do love it?
Speaker 2: Now? Really cool.
Speaker 3: Other thing about this plant hardy down to USDA Zone
Speaker 3: three heat tolerant through USDA Zone nine.
Speaker 1: That's cold, that's hot.
Speaker 3: Yeah. I mean that basically means that like ninety some
Speaker 3: percent of this country can grow so easy ice bay rose,
Speaker 3: which is very cool. That two to three feet tall
Speaker 3: and wide size, very useful for like a low hedge.
Speaker 3: You really this is not a plant that you can overdo,
Speaker 3: so I think it kind of is really only limited
Speaker 3: by your imagination. So if you want to use it
Speaker 3: as an edging in a landscape, it works really well
Speaker 3: that way. If you want to just add it to
Speaker 3: a flower garden, if you want to plant a big
Speaker 3: block of it, like you were talking about Rick in drifts,
Speaker 3: just very very versatile. And you will see too with
Speaker 3: that foliage and Adrian Animals show pictures of it in
Speaker 3: the YouTube version, so you can check us out there.
Speaker 3: Just the foliage is just so unbelievably glossy, and that
Speaker 3: is actually a characteristic that is strongly correlated with disease resistance, yes,
Speaker 3: because it means it has a thicker cuticle and then
Speaker 3: is less likely to encourage the funngal leaf spots and
Speaker 3: so forth to develop on that plant. So it's a
Speaker 3: special plant. I'm super excited that it is going to
Speaker 3: be finally in garden centers. So if you've been thinking
Speaker 3: about adding a rose and you don't know which one
Speaker 3: you want and you just want a classic choice, oh
Speaker 3: so easy ice Bay is definitely a good one, Rick,
Speaker 3: I know you were talking about reminiscent Crama rose. That
Speaker 3: one is also a great choice that is going to
Speaker 3: be more fragrant, but it's going to have more of
Speaker 3: a hybrid t type look, taller, bulkier, fuller flowers. Where
Speaker 3: is Oh So easy? Ice Bay is really a workaday
Speaker 3: landscape rose that you can put, you know, like you
Speaker 3: would any other landscape shrub and enjoy summer's summer flowers
Speaker 3: and enjoy flowers all summer long. So please do look
Speaker 3: for that at your garden center this season as you
Speaker 3: go about your landscape shopping. We're going to take a
Speaker 3: little bit of a break. When we come back, We've
Speaker 3: got the garden mail bag to open, so stay tuned.
Speaker 3: At proven Winner's Color Choice Shrubs. We know that a
Speaker 3: better landscape starts with a better shrub. Our team of
Speaker 3: experts tests and evaluates all of our flowering shrubs and
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Speaker 3: to accentuate your home and express your personal style. Look
Speaker 3: for Proven Winner's Shrubs in the distinctive white container at
Speaker 3: your local garden center or learn more at proven Winner's
Speaker 3: Color Choice dot com. Reading's gardening friends and welcome back
Speaker 3: to the Gardening Simplified Show, where it is time for
Speaker 3: us to answer your gardening questions, quandaries and conundrums. And
Speaker 3: if you have one of those and you're sitting there
Speaker 3: scratching your head and you put the printers down and
Speaker 3: you don't know what to do next, you can certainly
Speaker 3: write to us at help HLP at Gardeningsimplified on are
Speaker 3: dot com, or just visit Gardeningsimplified on are dot com
Speaker 3: and write us there. Do get quite a lot of
Speaker 3: questions to the show, and not everyone is quite suitable
Speaker 3: for a quick little segment on radio here, but we
Speaker 3: do want to help you out, so you can write
Speaker 3: us there. But you can also write to Proven Winners
Speaker 3: Color Choice dot com or Proven Winners dot com and
Speaker 3: just click contact on both of those pages and you
Speaker 3: will get a personalized answer from a horticulturist so that
Speaker 3: you don't have to wonder anymore, because we want you
Speaker 3: to be successful. So we've been definitely getting quite a
Speaker 3: lot of questions, and I think that Elda's question today
Speaker 3: is a perfect way to start.
Speaker 1: Now, big, yeah, this is pretty cool, Elda writes to us.
Speaker 1: I really enjoy listening to you from France as I
Speaker 1: discover gardening in my new but old garden. Thank you,
Speaker 1: thank you, Elda. Elda writes, I planted six quickfire fab
Speaker 1: last autumn in twenty twenty four, is part of a hedge.
Speaker 1: I noticed in spring that a particular plant is planted
Speaker 1: too deep to crown, seen to be below the soil level.
Speaker 1: So I'm wondering, should I take it out now late April,
Speaker 1: do it this fall? If now I think it will
Speaker 1: slow down its flowering. If in autumn I think the
Speaker 1: roots will be even more disturbed because they would have
Speaker 1: extra six months to develop. Also, I consider doing nothing.
Speaker 1: But if the plant dies prematurely, then I'm back a
Speaker 1: few years in the hedge. Look, so what do you recommend?
Speaker 3: Okay, well, I don't know exactly where in France Elda
Speaker 3: is and if it's super warm, but my general recommendation
Speaker 3: in these situations is make the correction sooner than later.
Speaker 3: And you know, because this plant was just planted this
Speaker 3: past fall, it's not going to be rooted in super deeply.
Speaker 3: You know, it's really only had you know what, six
Speaker 3: eight months or something like that to grow. And really,
Speaker 3: you know, after a plant is planted, it's not like
Speaker 3: putting on a ton of roots. It's really kind of
Speaker 3: just especially in full, just kind of recovering and put
Speaker 3: on some root growth, but not a lot. And so
Speaker 3: I would say, unless you are in a very very
Speaker 3: warm part of France, now would be the perfect time
Speaker 3: to go ahead and make that correction. I agree with you, Elda,
Speaker 3: that if you wait until fall and you give the
Speaker 3: plant an extra six months of root growth, it's just
Speaker 3: going to be harder on you and on the plant.
Speaker 3: And I don't really think that it will mess up
Speaker 3: the flowering very much because I don't think you're really
Speaker 3: going to disturb a whole lot of roots, to tell
Speaker 3: you the truth, since it was just planted. And even
Speaker 3: if it does, you know, somewhat impact the flowering. Yeah,
Speaker 3: that's disappointed. But this is definitely a situation where a
Speaker 3: tiny bit of short term pain is definitely going to
Speaker 3: be worth it for the long term gain. So I'm saying,
Speaker 3: put it on clear your schedule and get that done
Speaker 3: as soon as possible.
Speaker 1: And kudos to Elda for being observant and looking at
Speaker 1: things like this. I think that that's great. I see London,
Speaker 1: I see France, I see problems with your plants. You
Speaker 1: may use that one, Elda, if you'd like Genie writes
Speaker 1: to us, how, Hello, Rick and Stacey. I planted several
Speaker 1: Japanese maples last fall. I was very excited to see
Speaker 1: the new leaves butting out for spring, But on closer examination,
Speaker 1: I noticed something else. They were these very tiny black
Speaker 1: bugs all over the tree. Oh yeah, especially on the
Speaker 1: undersides of the leaves. Oh yeah, classic case. All four
Speaker 1: of my Japanese maple trees were infested with them. Can
Speaker 1: you please help identify? Do I need to be concerned?
Speaker 1: If they are bad? Pass? How do I get rid
Speaker 1: of them? Naturally? Please help?
Speaker 2: Yes?
Speaker 3: So I so there are pictures, and of course you'll
Speaker 3: see these in the YouTube version of the show, so
Speaker 3: you can check it out over there, unless your squeamished
Speaker 3: don't like pictures of bugs, which you know, I get.
Speaker 3: I actually do like pictures of bugs. These are aphids,
Speaker 3: and you know aphids. So we had a question last
Speaker 3: week about aphids, and I wanted to make sure that
Speaker 3: we answered Genie's question now because spring is aphed season.
Speaker 3: Yep aphids adore the soft growth that's coming out right now,
Speaker 3: and you know, I think a lot of people, most
Speaker 3: gardeners have had to deal with aphids at some point
Speaker 3: or another, especially if they grow roses or spiria or
Speaker 3: something like that. But I don't think a lot of
Speaker 3: gardeners realize that aphids are masters of disguise in the garden.
Speaker 3: There it is very difficult to generalize about what aphids
Speaker 3: look like because they have a huge range of different
Speaker 3: forms that they can take on. Some of them are
Speaker 3: going to be that really classic green aphid, and some
Speaker 3: of them are going to be like this where they
Speaker 3: just look kind of almost like a little miniature beetle
Speaker 3: or something and chameleons. Yeah, yeah, And so they're dark black,
Speaker 3: they look kind of hard, and they're really concentrated around
Speaker 3: the foliage. But you got to think about a maple,
Speaker 3: there's just so much sweet and sticky nectar there. This
Speaker 3: is like prime time for those aphids to hunker down
Speaker 3: and start feeding from your plants. So definitely all very
Speaker 3: characteristic of aphids. Fortunately, aphids are overall a pretty easy
Speaker 3: pest to manage, if they indeed even need management. In
Speaker 3: my opinion, you know, there's I definitely tolerate a lot
Speaker 3: of aphids because you know, in an extreme case, on
Speaker 3: something like a rose, they can cause some kind of
Speaker 3: drooping as they suck the juices out. But by and large,
Speaker 3: the biggest threat to aphids, of course, is the mold
Speaker 3: that grows on their excrement. If that's around. Yeah, the honey, honey.
Speaker 1: Their bark is worse than their bite.
Speaker 3: Yeah, for sure, But people freak out when they see them,
Speaker 3: especially you know, Japanese maples are not usually the cheapest
Speaker 3: of trees, so you're are right to be concerned about
Speaker 3: your investment. So I believe, as I advised our listener
Speaker 3: last week who had aphids on an ice ballet Esclepius,
Speaker 3: I would just go out there and just kind of,
Speaker 3: you know, rinse them off and rub the insects. They're
Speaker 3: very soft bodied, so it's very easy to just get
Speaker 3: rid of them. I don't think you really even need
Speaker 3: to use any kind of pestis. But you had mentioned
Speaker 3: an insecticidal soap last time.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I would recommend insecticidle So but you make a
Speaker 1: good point here, Stacey, and that is, if you're going
Speaker 1: to go through the trouble of that, do it when
Speaker 1: the air is calm, and you have to get the
Speaker 1: undersides of the leaves too.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you have to really get in there, and you'll
Speaker 3: see in the pictures that Genie sent that the you know,
Speaker 3: Japanese maples, they have very intricate leaves, so a lot
Speaker 3: of surface area in there for those little aphids to
Speaker 3: kind of hide out. So I really think that trying
Speaker 3: to apply something is going to be difficult. So I
Speaker 3: would either tolerate them or just try to rinse them
Speaker 3: squish them off the best that you can. But overall,
Speaker 3: the other thing you can do is what I recommended
Speaker 3: to that listener was the ladybugs. Yeah, you can get
Speaker 3: ladybugs at most garden centers or order them online delivered
Speaker 3: to your house. And if you release these ladybugs, hungry
Speaker 3: ladybugs who have just arrived by mail onto a plant
Speaker 3: that has aphids, they will make very short work of
Speaker 3: them for you.
Speaker 1: Heather has an important question. Hello from British Columbia, Canada.
Speaker 1: By the way, I love British Columbia. I've been there
Speaker 1: a number of times. What a beautiful place. I recently
Speaker 1: found your podcast and I am already a huge fan.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for the wealth of information you've
Speaker 1: provided to this new gardener. I planted several plants roughly
Speaker 1: two to three feet from where the natural gas line
Speaker 1: runs on my property. While many of them have shallow
Speaker 1: root systems, others I've second guessed myself conflower, Redbeccia, Latrus, agastaki,
Speaker 1: and others. Is this safe or should I move them?
Speaker 1: Asap am I doomed to only plant low growing groundcovers
Speaker 1: in these areas.
Speaker 3: Great question, Heather, and very timely too, so the first
Speaker 3: thing that I would recommend. I did search about this
Speaker 3: a little bit, and generally speaking, it seems like most
Speaker 3: utility companies are okay with planting near gas line as
Speaker 3: long as you're not planting a tree, and trees have
Speaker 3: very different systems than anything else. You know, they get
Speaker 3: those big, long, stabilizing roots. Those can be very disruptive
Speaker 3: to sidewalks and all of that. Where perennials in most shrubs,
Speaker 3: it's not really going to be an issue. They don't
Speaker 3: put on that type of root system. Different utility systems
Speaker 3: do have different guidelines about this, So you might want
Speaker 3: to call your local gas company.
Speaker 2: Don't worry.
Speaker 3: I don't think they're gonna say get those plants out
Speaker 3: of the ground right now. They're gonna tell you like, okay,
Speaker 3: you can be this many you know meters or whatever
Speaker 3: from the gas line. I don't think they're gonna that
Speaker 3: you're gonna get in trouble or have to dig up
Speaker 3: what you grow. But I did want to mention, especially
Speaker 3: you know here in spring, when a lot of people
Speaker 3: are setting out to do outdoor projects, it is a
Speaker 3: good idea if you can to call and have your
Speaker 3: utilities marked. I believe you can call eight one to one.
Speaker 3: So you can call eight one to one and they
Speaker 3: will come out and mark your uh mark the lines
Speaker 3: for you so the till you are the cable, the guess,
Speaker 3: the electricity, the sewer, the water, all of that is.
Speaker 3: And they'll do that free because they don't want their
Speaker 3: lines to be damaged anymore than you want to damage them.
Speaker 3: And so it's a good idea. And once you do
Speaker 3: that once you know, for myself, I had it done
Speaker 3: shortly after I moved into my house and I just
Speaker 3: took pictures, you know, of where everything was, and you know,
Speaker 3: so it's not really I know and I know that
Speaker 3: I'm never going to plant anything, you know that's going
Speaker 3: to threaten those lines, because once I fund out where
Speaker 3: they were, it was like, yeah, I'm not planting in
Speaker 3: that area, So it is.
Speaker 1: It eight, I'm not sure about Canada.
Speaker 3: Now, Canada may be a different situation, but certainly for
Speaker 3: our viewers in the US, our listeners do call eight
Speaker 3: one one first. It's a free service. They do need
Speaker 3: some advanced notice, but especially if you're thinking about putting
Speaker 3: in a tree, it's a simple and fast way to
Speaker 3: just make sure you would continue to do more good
Speaker 3: than harm.
Speaker 1: In British Columbia, click before youdig dot com. So there's
Speaker 1: a one eight hundred number, all.
Speaker 3: Right, So there you have it. No matter where you are,
Speaker 3: we've got you covered. We're going to take a little break.
Speaker 3: When we come back, we're going to talk about more
Speaker 3: of our favorite white flowers, so please stay tuned. Thanks
Speaker 3: for listening to the Gardening Simplified Podcast, brought to you
Speaker 3: by Proven Winners Color Choice Shrubs. Our award winning flowering
Speaker 3: shrubs and evergreens are trialed and tested by experts with
Speaker 3: your success in mind. Learn more at Proven Winners color
Speaker 3: Choice dot com.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show today for branching news,
Speaker 1: Let's go down the list give you some ideas of
Speaker 1: some white flowers that both Stacy and I enjoy in
Speaker 1: the landscape. Stacy there's a annual called Biden's Campfire Marshmallow.
Speaker 1: Love that thing. I had mentioned moonflowers and then of
Speaker 1: course implants on trial. You talked about roses in your
Speaker 1: right talk about classic white color in the landscape. For me,
Speaker 1: it's pa andies.
Speaker 2: M Yeah, penies are pretty great.
Speaker 1: Oh, when you're talking about white flowers in the garden,
Speaker 1: I mentioned sweet autumn clematis. Another fall bloomer that I love.
Speaker 1: Are the fall blooming anemones.
Speaker 3: Oh.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Generally you'll find them in pink or mauve, but
Speaker 1: you can get white ones and boy are they stunning
Speaker 1: white Dutch iris. So you would plant those in fall.
Speaker 1: It's a bulb iris and when they come up and
Speaker 1: spring that white color. Again I mentioned in segment one,
Speaker 1: I love that white and lime green or white and
Speaker 1: yellow combination. You'll find that with many tulip bulbs. Also,
Speaker 1: you can find varieties that have that classic color. Now,
Speaker 1: if you're looking to add spots of white in your
Speaker 1: landscape and planting some annuals, Stacy, I know I've mentioned
Speaker 1: it before, but I'm just such a huge fan of
Speaker 1: diamond frost.
Speaker 3: You for you, ah, you know that is an all
Speaker 3: purpose plant. Well, maybe not quite all purpose. But I
Speaker 3: will tell you when I have been I usually put
Speaker 3: my containers together in the garden center. You know, I
Speaker 3: always have some things I like to get, but you
Speaker 3: know you can't count on it. Things are you know,
Speaker 3: they change their inventory, your things sell out or whatever,
Speaker 3: and so a lot of times I'll have this vision
Speaker 3: and I won't be able to find like the exact
Speaker 3: right thing to kind of marry everything together. Well, you
Speaker 3: know what, there is always diamond frost. It goes with
Speaker 3: literally every color, and it just if you if you
Speaker 3: aren't familiar with this plant, it's it's a little bit
Speaker 3: hard to describe, but it is almost like a little
Speaker 3: just puff of mist. The flowers are very very small,
Speaker 3: So I think if you know what Euphorbia is, you
Speaker 3: might be like, whoa euphorbia? This is very delicate, almost
Speaker 3: wiry stems, just little tiny tufts of white and green
Speaker 3: flowers at the ends of each of these stems. And yeah,
Speaker 3: it is the perfect filler for a container. And it
Speaker 3: can marry together any color. So if you've gone, you know,
Speaker 3: crazy on your on your colors and your containers, just
Speaker 3: introducing some diamond frosts here and there will just kind
Speaker 3: of again bring everything together and create that cocie.
Speaker 1: Agree. I've mentioned it on the show before that if
Speaker 1: you're doing an outdoor wedding, my daughter Stacy, we used
Speaker 1: a lot of diamond frost Euphorbia. It was fabulous for
Speaker 1: an outdoor wedding. Hippo white hypostes O folka dot plant.
Speaker 3: I use that in my front where I have a
Speaker 3: lot of shade.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and of course kalladiums. There are many white leafed
Speaker 1: kalladiums that are beautiful. The Heart to Heart series with
Speaker 1: proven winners. They have snow Flurry, White Wonder, White, Star Heart,
Speaker 1: all Beautiful, Stacy, Incredible Smooth high Drains.
Speaker 3: Classic classic choice, and now we have Incredible Stormproof, which
Speaker 3: is actually going to be officially on the market next year,
Speaker 3: so that's going to be a smaller version of Incredible
Speaker 3: with even sturdier stems. And then we also have in
Speaker 3: vincepell Wee White, So if you're looking for something smaller still,
Speaker 3: we've got that one. So you can kind of get
Speaker 3: this plant in any size that suits your landscape and
Speaker 3: your goals.
Speaker 1: You know, one of my favorite classic white flowers in
Speaker 1: the landscape has got to be oak leaf hydrange Oh,
Speaker 1: for sure, and I don't have it in my landscape,
Speaker 1: but have read about it. Gatsby Moon.
Speaker 3: Oh, Gatsby Moon is a very cool plant. So that
Speaker 3: is a mophead oak leaf hydrange Okay, so most oak
Speaker 3: leaf hydrangees are going to be lace capin and expose
Speaker 3: the fertile florettes to pollinators. Gatsby Moon is a mophead
Speaker 3: and the flowers are very, very densely packed together. So
Speaker 3: if attracting pollinators is important to you, Gatsby Moon may
Speaker 3: not be the best choice. But if you want that big, showy,
Speaker 3: unforgettable flower, Gatsby Moon is absolutely gorgeous, really cool plant.
Speaker 1: Well that's great. A lot of people like Namesia in
Speaker 1: their landscape because of the delicate flowers. There's Sunsatia coconut
Speaker 1: that would be a great addition of white to your landscape.
Speaker 1: The Cora white vinkas the boy. You're gonna have to
Speaker 1: help me, hear Stacey.
Speaker 2: Is that kathran Catheranthus.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Catheranthus right, yeah, So it's the thing, you know,
Speaker 1: these can handle hot sun, a wonderful flowering annual coral white.
Speaker 1: And then of course I mentioned the mini vista white supertunias.
Speaker 1: I think that if you want to put a blast
Speaker 1: of color in your landscape, mini vista supertunias are ideal
Speaker 1: and so easy to grow. Now Chardonnay pearls or Yuki snowflake.
Speaker 2: Dutsia yep, classic choice right there.
Speaker 1: Talk about a great plant for a drift.
Speaker 3: Right, yes, And that is an excellent plant as a groundcover,
Speaker 3: shrub or for stabilizing a slope or anything like that.
Speaker 3: You know when you were listing those annuals, but you
Speaker 3: missed one of my favorites, and it's not the best known,
Speaker 3: but it is one that I rely on anytime I
Speaker 3: can find it, which is unfortunately not every year, and
Speaker 3: that is the white browolia.
Speaker 1: Oh.
Speaker 2: I love that plant, right Stacey.
Speaker 1: And we always had difficulty selling it in the garden
Speaker 1: center only because it hasn't.
Speaker 3: Yeah, because people don't know, but it is I think
Speaker 3: that a lark. A lot of garden centers have had
Speaker 3: trouble selling it, and that's why it's hard to find now.
Speaker 3: But this is such a problem solving annual because it
Speaker 3: is very shade tolerant and blooms well in the shade,
Speaker 3: and it is deer resistant.
Speaker 2: And I will tell you.
Speaker 3: Almost every other annual that I have tried on my
Speaker 3: front porch that is shade tolerant. The deer just devour,
Speaker 3: but not the Burwellia. And that not only does that
Speaker 3: come in white, and it comes into a beautiful blue.
Speaker 3: So I usually get both of those and use them
Speaker 3: on my front porch if I can find them. And yeah,
Speaker 3: I think that's a plant that just you know, has
Speaker 3: so much to offer people who have really challenging conditions,
Speaker 3: and it is gorgeous and white.
Speaker 2: I really really love it.
Speaker 3: Sorry, anyone, garden centers are listening, and you have some
Speaker 3: to sell, reach out to me because I usually can't
Speaker 3: find them.
Speaker 1: Sweet Spider, it tea Flirty Girl false high drange. I
Speaker 1: love the white blooms on that.
Speaker 3: Yeah you know I love that too. And Florida Girl
Speaker 3: is a special plant because it blooms earlier in its
Speaker 3: life cycle than other climbing hydranges. And you know talking
Speaker 3: about false hydrange of vines also formerly known as sky'safragma,
Speaker 3: but now reclassified into hydrangea. Goodness, yes, exactly. There is
Speaker 3: one variety. It's not a proven winner's variety, but it
Speaker 3: is so special. It is actually called Moonlight and it
Speaker 3: has gorgeous silver and green foliage. It does flower, and
Speaker 3: the flowers are white and very pretty, but the foliage
Speaker 3: on this thing is just stunning. It really really is
Speaker 3: a special plant, and that silver in its leaves really
Speaker 3: will stand out even at night. So between the flowers
Speaker 3: and that foliage, a great choice if you have a
Speaker 3: special tree or something like that that you want to
Speaker 3: grow a vine up that's not going to be problematic
Speaker 3: but still bring you all of that magic.
Speaker 1: Very nice. Other white bloomers that I would consider would
Speaker 1: be bottle brush shrub. We've talked about it on the
Speaker 1: show often, June berries or service berries, and spring The
Speaker 1: white flowers, in my mind, are just gorgeous, happy face
Speaker 1: white potentilla, and of course a double file of viburnums,
Speaker 1: the viburnum placatums. You have wabi sabi.
Speaker 3: So wabi sabi we used to have. We actually dropped
Speaker 3: wabi sabi in favor of steady Eddie. That's right, because
Speaker 3: steadi Eddi's reblooming. And when I say steati Eddi is
Speaker 3: a reblooming viburnum, I don't just mean like it peters
Speaker 3: out a couple more flowers later in the season. This
Speaker 3: thing is a powerhouse. You really can barely tell the
Speaker 3: difference between its initial bloom late in spring and it's
Speaker 3: rebloom through the summer. It is really one of the
Speaker 3: most impressive rebloomers I have ever seen. I was tempted
Speaker 3: to make it a plant on trial, but I love
Speaker 3: it so much I already had, so I had to
Speaker 3: find something different.
Speaker 1: So that makes Steady Eddie a perfect choice if you
Speaker 1: want to add white flowers to your landscape, Stacy, I
Speaker 1: love the look of Kusa dogwoods when bloom.
Speaker 2: Yes, such a great plant.
Speaker 1: Chantilly lace, the runcus or goats beard great. And then
Speaker 1: of course there will be people out there saying, you
Speaker 1: gotta mention Shasta daisy.
Speaker 2: Oh, like, yeah, of course you do.
Speaker 1: There's so many great.
Speaker 2: Casa Daisy's are such a classic.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Kali lilies. And then of course I love Scavola
Speaker 1: Beautiful annual for hot conditions. The Star Diva series this year,
Speaker 1: and there is a Star Diva white along with the
Speaker 1: unplugged white salvia. And again, combining white with blue in
Speaker 1: the landscape really has a cooling effect.
Speaker 3: Yes, that's what I do on my front porch. Well,
Speaker 3: when I can find the Brouellia. I have some really
Speaker 3: beautiful royal blue containers and one white footed urn, so
Speaker 3: I put the white flowers in the blue containers, the
Speaker 3: blue flowers and the white containers, so I like it.
Speaker 3: It's a great combination.
Speaker 1: Another flowering annual angel face white improved angelonia a great plant,
Speaker 1: and I would recommend you check out some of the
Speaker 1: recipes at provenwinters dot com for ideas with white flowers.
Speaker 1: Of course, white bleeding hearts, and then of course your
Speaker 1: foam flowers like cutting edge and then finally stacy as
Speaker 1: we get laid into the season. I love that classic
Speaker 1: white look in ornamental kales and ornamental.
Speaker 3: Cap and that's a fun one for sure. Yeah. I
Speaker 3: love the foam flowers. I actually like the foam flowers
Speaker 3: and the foamy bells more than ukrawe just because I mean,
Speaker 3: Hugrew is beautiful, but I love the kind of more
Speaker 3: rusticky look of the foam flowers in foamy bells, whereas
Speaker 3: the hugar are really shiny and refined. I like these
Speaker 3: a little more rougher on the edges.
Speaker 1: That's gorgeous. Well, you know, lots of choices if you
Speaker 1: want to add white to your landscape. And why not.
Speaker 1: It's a classic approach to your landscape.
Speaker 3: It is, indeed, and I hope that gave you some
Speaker 3: inspiration for planting this season as you head out to
Speaker 3: the garden center. So thank you Rick for that amazing
Speaker 3: list of plant suggestions, thank you Adriana for your talent
Speaker 3: behind the camera and soundboard as always, and thanks so
Speaker 3: much to all of you for listening and watching. We
Speaker 3: truly do appreciate it and hope you have a wonderful
Speaker 3: weegad