Speaker 1: Broadcasting from Beautiful Studio a here at proven Winners, Color
Choice Shrubs. It's time for the Gardening Simplified Show with
Stacy Hervella, me, Rick weisst and our engineer and producer
Adrianna Robinson. Today we talk about perennials, and perennials have
seen long term popularity. It's not just a trend or
a fad. Perennial allure is tied into emergence, something to
look forward to that pops out of the ground every year. Value.
They're affordable, personal choice, variety, shareable and easy to handle.
I mean, who hasn't visited a greenhouse or a garden
center and found a plant they love and the next
thing you know, you're in your yard with a plant
in one hand, the shovel in the other, trying to
find a place to put it. And Stacy, you know
what I've found out about perennials also, at least really
realized in the past year, is that they are so
popular they have now been become a target of AI
scammers like the Red, White and Blue Hostas you.
Speaker 2: Know, it's too early in the year for me to
go off on a rant.
Speaker 1: It is.
Speaker 2: I'm sorry, but it's it's annoying because hostas. We are
at the pinnacle of choice among hostas, right, and there
are so many incredible, actually available hostas, and some person
has to get out there and paint them all these
you know, ridiculous colors and trick people. And that's just wrong.
Speaker 1: It's wrong.
Speaker 2: They don't. First of all, hostas don't need it, and
second of all, it's wrong to trick people. So yeah,
it's uh yeah, that's they just And the truth is,
I was thinking, as you were, you know, talking in
your intro. Perennials have come so far in the last
couple of decades. I remember one of my earliest gardening books.
I used to go to Borders Books, you know, and
go to the sale table there, and that was how
really one of the earlier I learned to garden. I
remember one of my early gardening books saying something like
perennials tip bloom a maximum of two weeks, and boy,
has that just been blown way blown away out of
the water. You know. Nowadays a perennial that bloom for
two weeks would be like, okay, well what else you got,
you know, And so perennials I've just you know, we're
really at We talk all the time about being in
a new age of plant breeding, and we talk about
with annuals, and we talk about it at shrubs, and
it's just as true with perennials.
Speaker 1: Absolutely agree. And to those AI scammers, I say, hasta
la vista baby.
Speaker 2: Help you get root rot.
Speaker 1: That's right, you know. Last week I did our last
week last year, I did a personal survey of perennial
plants and a dormant no, no, okay, people buying perennial. Yes,
I do talk to my plants, people buying perennial plants,
and I got interesting answers because I had a project
I was working on. One lady said to me, I
buy perennials because they make me look like I know
what I'm doing. Another lady said, I buy perennials because
I'm in it for the long haul.
Speaker 2: Love it.
Speaker 1: Another person said perennials, I buy them because they stand
a chance. I thought that was humorous. And one lady
I asked, I said, what's your favorite thing about perennials?
She says they come back every year. I said, what's
your least favorite thing about perennials. She says, sometimes they
don't come back.
Speaker 2: That's true, right, Yes, definitely, that does occasionally happen.
Speaker 1: Now proven winners did a survey. Also, One thing that
I found interesting, Stacy, is that spending on perennial plants
on the part of gardeners is robust, and color and
quality top the list of consideration.
Speaker 2: Absolutely.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I mean, if a plant looks great on the shelf
at the garden center, you have good confidence it's going
to look great in your garden. You bet it's important.
Speaker 1: Now envelope please, twenty twenty six Perennial of the Year
is Dark Side of the Moon a still be Oh,
this is a pretty pretty plant. We're looking at rich
deep chocolate brown leaves. The new leaves are kind of
yellowish with a dark margin, and then they turn completely
dark as they age, and then raspberry buds open to
purple flowers. So we're looking at in a Stilby here, Stacy,
that has purple flowers and dark leaves.
Speaker 2: It really is a very unique, very specialist Stilby. Do
you grow a lot of Stillby You have a lot
more shade than I.
Speaker 1: I grow some of it, however, not that much. And
the reason for it is a lot of people believe
like if you go into a garden center or a greenhouse,
Stillby's always in the shade section.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, But I don't think it's about shade, because I
think a Stilby can take a fair amount of sun.
It's about soil moisture.
Speaker 2: It is definitely true. That is why I do not
grow as Stilby even in my limited shade, because there
is not enough soil moisture. But I do absolutely love them.
They are so durable. You know, they have such a
delicate look, but they are so durable. They're just so
beautiful when they bloom in the summer. And yeah, I
mean they're just they're great plants.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And you know, using something you would say, Stacey,
some plants are tough. It's let's say, yeah, right, whereas
in a Stilby is one of those plants that I
consider an exclamation point or a statement plant in a landscape.
Speaker 2: Now that is true. There are some very larger Stilby's
with beautiful, long, elegant scapes that bear the flowers. The
perennial of the year Dark Side of the Moon is
Stilby is actually quite compact. Yes, it's under two feet
tall and wide, so It's a nice small size, which
is great to either mix in with all of those big,
old fashioned types of his Stilby's, or if you have
limited space, or if you like the really tight and
dense look, this is the perfect plant for that.
Speaker 1: And again the critical factor here, in my opinion, is moisture.
So not having the plants sit in water, we don't
want that, but moisture in the soil. I was looking
at a comment from someone in Oklahoma who tried some
a Stilby's, and this individual was saying, even though they
were growing in shade, they became crispy, and this person
surmised that it was due to the constant wind and heat,
and probably true.
Speaker 2: Yeah, a stilby is not a drought tolerant plant. That
is without question not happening for a Stilby's. So whether
that means from watering or from wind or sun, all
of those factors can combine in any climate to make
it very unhospitable. So you really need that moist soil.
If you don't have moist soil or you don't water,
you can try it, but it will not come back.
It may not even make it through the summer. Be
the incredible shrinking a stilby, which is what I have
found is someone who does very little supplemental watering happens
when a plant doesn't get any of water, it just
shrinks until it disappears.
Speaker 1: Coming up and segment four, we'll talk more about dart
Side of the Moon with Kayla Olsen from Walter's Gardens
Proven Winters Perennials, and we'll get we'll dig a little
deeper into that plant. The twenty twenty six Hosta of
the Year the envelope please, and it is Shadowland Hope
springs Eternal hosta Hope springs Eternal. I suppose Hope springs
Eternal is a good way of putting it because it's
hearty to Zonne three.
Speaker 2: As yes, and you know if you have dear and
one hostas well help springs Eternal.
Speaker 1: This is a rough oled hosta that will bring joy
year after year, heart shaped, blue leaves, crisp, creamy white edges,
and near white flowers. So I'm going to add another
hosta to the mix. Boy. That's you know, there there's
no shortage of cultivars. Well, it comes to hostage.
Speaker 2: And you know the thing about hosta people is they
cannot have too many hostas are potato chips to them.
They can never have just one. And I have to
confess I do love the ruffled edges hostas that are
coming out of proven Winner's Perennials. If I could grow them.
I love the giant ones and I love the ruffled
edges ones. It's just really cool.
Speaker 1: I've spent time speaking to hosta groups, people who have
a club, and they enjoy hostas and stacey. I find
that they grow them in both sun and shade. And
I suppose again, if you pay attention to the soil,
you can successfully grow hosta.
Speaker 2: You know, And I think it's worth mentioning for that,
and Proven Winner's Perennials certainly makes this clear with dark
side of the Moon to still be, it all depends
on where you are located. So if you are in
a hot climate, they don't recommend growing me a is
stilby or the hostas probably for that matter, in sun,
even if they do have sufficient moisture, it's just too much.
But for those of us in the North are in
cooler climates, i'd say, like roughly USDA Zone six or colder,
you can definitely get away with growing both hostas and
still be in the sun, provided you have that soil moisture.
Speaker 1: Exactly envelope please. Twenty twenty six Landscape Perennial of the
Year A favorite of your stacey and mind. Decadence lemon merangue,
false indigo or Baptisia. I think this one's a no brainer,
certainly for landscapers. It's a plant that gives you bright
color and almost gives you the feel of a shrub
in an herbaceous permeer.
Speaker 2: Yeah. You know, I have a number of the Decadencepeptisia
in my garden. I love them all, but lemon merangue
is by far the toughest, most robust, longest blooming. I mean,
this thing is a powerhouse in the garden. And you
know the great thing about I think that all perennials
are you know, you do think of them as an
investment in your garden. I mean, they'ren't super expensive, but
you know that you're investing that money into something that's
going to come back every year. I mean, this is
like an ironclad investment because the lemon merangue baptisia is
going to be coming back. It's going to outlive you. Your
airrs are going to be like I remember when she
planted that, and it's just it's colorful, it's beautiful, the
bees love it. It's right now like my soul is
just crying for spring when my decad ince lemon merangue
deptisas are iron bloom.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I agree, low maintenance native are and the vigor
of that plant is simply amazing. And this is one
of those plants I talked about an exclamation point plant.
This is a plant that I like to say pops
in the landscape because it does. It pops in the landska.
Speaker 2: So in my garden I have it combined kind of
in a color gradient with pink lemonade and their pink
variety I forget the name of it offhand. So it
goes from the lemon a big cluster of the lemon merangue,
to the pink lemonade, which is part yellow and part pink,
and then to the pink and they are so beautiful together.
Speaker 1: Gorgeous, gorgeous. All right, First limb a rick for twenty
twenty six. It's got to be a perennial limb a rick,
nothing temporary or even a biennial. Haven't been this excited
for a millennial new plants to try that will grow
knee high. I'm all in for a new perennial, new
cultivars I have found. I've ordered in their inbound I
wait with anticipation, a botanical sensation when they first pop
out of the ground. Get going, hit the bricks. It's
time to garden in twenty twenty six before in my garden,
I perspire dreams of these plants will inspire lots and
lots of new limb a rick or limericks coming in
twenty twenty six. Plants on Trial is up next. We'll
see what Stacy has to say about Perennials of the
Year National Perennial Plants of the Year. That's next here
on the Gardening Simplified Show.
Speaker 2: Beautify your home and community with proven Winner's Color Choice Shrubs.
With over three hundred and twenty five unique varieties to
choose from. There's a flowering shrub or evergreen for every
taste and every space. Just look for the distinctive white
container your local garden center or learn more at proven
Winner's Color Choice dot com. Creating's Gardening Friends and welcome
back to the Gardening Simplified Show, where we're celebrating the
Perennials of the year, and we'll be coming up with
the annuals of the Year and so forth incoming episodes.
And of course last week was Shrubs of the Year,
so if you miss that one, do definitely check that
out on YouTube or on your favorite podcast platform so
you can hear all about the Shrubs of the Year. Now.
I do absolutely love black foliage plants, like Dark Side
of the Moon still be the twenty twenty six Perennial
of the Year, I love them. When proven Winner's Perennials
came out with that black pearl hugra a few years ago, man,
that thing, I was just like, wow, it is beautiful.
And every time I have brought a black foliage plant
back to my house and planted it, it's basically disappeared.
Not because I wasn't watering it, although that has happened too,
but because no, because unfortunately a lot of dark foliage
plants really blend in with your maulturo soil and you
have come in there and you think this is gonna
be fabulous, this is gonna be so beautiful, and then
you put it in the ground and if there's not
something around it to kind of help it pop. It
does just kind of disappear, and you feel pretty sad
about that because it's pretty great.
Speaker 1: I see where you're going with this.
Speaker 2: So you need a companion, You need companion plants. Yes. Now,
of course, if you have it in a container, it's
a lot easier because you're gonna have a lot of
space around it and you're gonna have the color of
the container itself to help make that pop. And I
do think that as far as dark foliage plants go,
dark side of the Moon is definitely, as you said, Rick,
a little bit more on the chocolatey side than like
the the black purple side, like the black pearl hu
Gral was, And that does I think give it some
advantage over not blending in with a soil or mulch.
But I do think that, you know, you definitely risk
not having these types of plants show their best, uh,
if they aren't properly positioned. And I will tell you something,
as Rick, I think you just mentioned in your in
your limerick. Uh, you know a lot of times we
get plants, we don't know where we're going to plants,
and we're walking around like you know, yes this works here,
this is not necessarily Black foliage plants are not necessarily
those that I would say just PLoP them in wherever
and hope for the best. You definitely need to kind
of consider the surrounding a little bit of a plant.
It could be a last minute plan. Well, you know,
it's it's not that it won't be beautiful, it's just
that it won't. You know, you're not getting the full
impact from the plant. And you know, again, I love them,
but I think again, it takes a little bit of
know how. So instead of just focusing on one plant
on trial, where normally we would just talk about one
of the three hundred and fifty plus proven winners color
Choice shrubs, I have instead created a little list or
a couple of short lists of some perfect companion plants.
Companion shrubs for Dark Side of the Moon still be brilliant.
Speaker 1: Now we're going to be planting ideas in our Yes.
Speaker 2: Now, these are just my ideas. There are no wrong
answers here. And if you get a black foliage plant
and you put it in the ground and it disappears
and you still love it, that's totally fine. There are
no rules here. This is just kind of some suggestions
based on experience to help you make the best decisions
in your garden and get the best you know effect
once it is in your garden. Now, the shrubs that
I'm going to share in this list are all shrubs
for shade. Now, as we've just discussed, Bothasta and the
astilby can take sun, especially in cooler climates, provided that
they have enough soil moisture. But you know, I was
thinking a lot of people who have shade, you know,
they feel like they're always getting the short end of
the stick. They don't everyone know sun. This everything takes sun,
and I can grow this list of plants that's like
this long. So for you shade gardeners, I am keeping
the list of companion shrubs to only shade only shade
tolerance shrubs. So if you're planning this in sun and
you want to mix it with sun tolerant or sun
tolerant shrubs, you know, there's lots of things you can
do on our website, Performer's Color Choice dot Com. Do
a sun search. You'll be spoiled for choice and you
can just pick out your favorite. So all of these
suggestions are based on shade. Now, the second thing that
I want people to know when you are thinking about
companion planting in the garden, like pairing plants or creating
sort of a vignette in the garden. I feel like
there's two approaches that you can take. Number One, you
can surround it with plants that are kind of holding
down the fort. While that plant is not at its best,
it still be goes completely dormant in winter, nothing left
there to see. So you may want to, for example,
parrot with some evergreens or other shrubs that are going
to provide interest in the winter or in spring when
it's just starting to emerge. Foundational plan foundational planting. Yeah,
so it kind of carries the weight while the sylvie
is emerging or dormant.
Speaker 1: Makes sense.
Speaker 2: Second approach is gilding the lily. Total maximalist. Make everything
look amazing while it's in bloom, and it's still going
to look good at other times of the year too.
But you know, sometimes you just want to pour on
the gas and just have like that really eye catching moment.
Speaker 1: You got it.
Speaker 2: So that's how these two are divided. So I'm going
to start with the interest outside of the estilby bloom time,
these are shrubs for shade My number one pick is
Paisley pop lukotha Wee bing go right, such a great plant.
Speaker 1: Love that plant.
Speaker 2: And you know these decisions aren't simply based on the aesthetics,
although of course that is a major consideration. These will
all take the exact same conditions where the is Stilby
is thriving, so you know that you'll that they'll actually
grow together, not just look good together. Now. I love
Paisley poplucothwe It is variegated, and while its variegation is
strongest uh sort of in fall before it goes dormant
and it's evergreen, but it still kind of goes dormant.
It still keeps some variegation and some splashy color. And
I love the way that those pinks and creams and
greens can provide some extra pop against that dark a
Stilby foliage and their I think their habits are really
complementary as well. So in Paisley pupplucothe Wee blooms in
early early spring with these pretty little lily the lily
of the valley type flowers, so it gives you plenty
of interest outside of the stillbey bloom time. Second one,
I'm not always one to go for like the extreme
contrast where you know you started with a uh, you
started with purple, like the dark purple foliage of the astilby,
and then you're going like blamo bright yellow. Not always
my approach, but I think there's a lot of value
in it. So for that reason, uh, Anna's magic ball.
Speaker 1: Arborviting nice choice foundation.
Speaker 2: Right, such a great plant, and I think it's it's
a nice tidy round arbor. Vid grows about two to
three feet tall and wide, perfect scale to go with
the estilby, and it's not such a screaming bright yellow
that you know you're going to be like you know
in contrast city, I think, and I feel like the
foliage is very complimentary with the color with the texture
of the A Stilbey foliage as well. And then finally
another evergreen, sweet and low sarco coca sweet box uh,
beautiful ground covering plant. So again, nice complimentary habit. I
think the geometry in the sarco coca goes really nicely
with the way that the estilby grows, and the sarcococa
is one of the earliest plants to bloom in the
preven winter shrub line. If not the earliest. It flowers
for us, probably starting about early March, tiny funny, little
white flowers that are powerfully fragrant.
Speaker 1: Stacy, you taught me to appreciate this plant. Oh, I'm
glad and I appreciate the plant because I just like
to say sarcoca.
Speaker 2: Sarcococa, sar cocca.
Speaker 1: It is fay to say.
Speaker 2: You know, and it goes on like that, because the
entire scientific name of sarcococa is sarco coca hook reana
of our humulus.
Speaker 1: I love that it is.
Speaker 2: It's a good one. So let's switch it up briefly
to plants that are going to be at their best
when the stilby is obviously, I think vanilla spice clethra
and sent Landia it ta are the two that come
immediately to mind for me. Still be for us. Blooms
in Michigan probably about mid July, at the exact same
time that these are also going to be in flower.
And even if you live in a milder climate and
they'll be blooming earlier, these plants will typically bloom all together.
Some a stilbees are fragrant. I don't know whether Dark
side of the Moon is or is not, but it
doesn't hurt to have a little more fragrance in there.
And both vanilla spice and cint Landia are extremely fragrant
plants that offer nice structure, good for pollinators, and I
think good in scale and shape together, is easy to grow, yeah,
and loves that moist same moist soil that the AA
Stilby does. Here's a little bit of a different choice.
Steady Eddy Viburnum one of my favorites in our line.
It is a reblooming viburnum and usually it starts to
rebloom pretty well for us by about mid to late July.
It is taller than the other plants that I have mentioned,
but it would be a beautiful choice for a hedge
or you know, kind of anchoring a larger planting because
it's going to have those waves of beautiful white flowers.
And I also feel like the texture. This has beautifully
textured corrugated foliage that I think goes beautifully with the
kind of rugged looking foliage of the still be interesting
if you really want to go bananas. I was thinking
mimone whigela. Hmmm, now that boy, it would be interesting.
So mymone most wigila are not shade plants, but mimone
is a shade plant because it is a variegated whigela.
Speaker 1: And it won't overpowered.
Speaker 2: It would not overpower it, especially in cooler climates. It
gets a lot of nice pink tones on the foliage,
and I thought it would be a really nice foil
to kind of the dark chocolatey purple of the stillby.
It's not going to be in bloom. It only blooms
in spring, as other Whyjela do, but I thought that
the variegation could be really interesting, and if you were
in a milder climate, you could try one of our
variegated abelia like Trace and Migos Brilliantina or Muccho Gusto
Abelia for a very similar effect.
Speaker 3: Love it so.
Speaker 2: I hope that gave you some inspiration for incorporating the
twenty twenty sixth perennial of the year. Dark Side of
the Moon is still be in to your garden with
some Proven Winner's shrubs. You can find all of these
plants at your local garden center this spring, or learn
more on our website, Proven Winner's Color Choice dot com.
We're gonna take a little break when we come back
we're opening up the mailbag, so stay tuned. At Proven
Winners Color Choice Shrubs, we know that a better landscape
starts with a better shrub. Our team of experts tests
and evaluates all of our flowering shrubs in evergreens for
eight to ten years to ensure they outperform what's already
on the market. For easycare, reliable, beautiful shrubs to accentuate
your home and express your personal style, look for Proven
Winner's Shrubs in the distinctive white container at your local
garden center, or learn more at Proven Winner's Color Choice
dot com. Greeting's gardening friends, and welcome back to the
Gardening Simplified shob, where it is our pleasure at this
point to help you with your gardening questions and conundrums.
If you want to reach out to us, you can
do so at Gardening Simplified on air dot com. There's
a contact form tab. You can even send us pictures there,
and we would love to hear from you because I
know you know spring is still a little ways away.
We're not maybe wondering too much about what's going on
yet because it may be covered in snow or ice,
or who knows what's happening. But if something occurs to
here we have some concerns or want to celebrate something
that happened to you last year, or run some ideas
by us, you can, uh, You're welcome to reach out
to us any time. Now, I do have to warn
everybody that today's mailbag is going to be a little
bit different. I am going to be devoting it primarily
to one listener's question. And when I read her question,
I'll tell you my heart broke.
Speaker 1: Because yeah, I looked at it too. So I'm here.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So you know, Rick and I come here every
week and we talk to you about our experience gardening
in Michigan, because Michigan is mostly where we've gardened, and
I think that we, you know, and we both have
pretty good gardening conditions right now. I mean we garden
in sand, but it's like pretty easy, right you know what,
if you can get things that will thrive without the water,
you're in pretty good shape.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I can matter.
Speaker 2: But I think that when we do this, we kind
of alienate a huge portion of our listenership and of
gardeners out there across the country who are dealing with far,
far less than ideal conditions. Dealing with conditions that I
don't know if I would wish even on those AI
plant scammers, although maybe I would wish it on them.
So we're going to spend most of this time answering
Amy's question.
Speaker 1: Amy writes to us, Hi, Rick Stacey, and Adriana Texas
gardener here. I love watching your show on YouTube, and
I have learned a lot. I know y'all up north,
so appreciate when you talk about plants for southern gardens. However,
here in Central Texas Zone eight B, I garden in
callechi soil. If you aren't familiar, it's known as Nature's cement.
It's incredibly difficult to dig in and creates very alkaline soil.
In addition, our summers are hot and dry. I watch
a lot of gardening shows, but I rarely hear about
plants that will work in my difficult conditions. Can y'all
recommend some plant shrubs for I'm saying that because it
says that she wrote right. Yeah, thank you very mulch oh.
I love this. Thank you Amy for writing to us.
By the way, I had a landscape here in Michigan
that was blue clay, and that was some of the
worst stuff ever. But as Amy notes, here, yeah, she's
dealing with Texas conditions and the heat. Wow.
Speaker 2: Right, So I don't think a lot of our listeners,
especially since many of them do tend to be here
in Michigan, have probably ever even heard of the word kalechia,
or much less know what it is. So strap yourself
in because colliche soil is like the worst soil you
could possibly have for gardening. So basically it's most common
in arid.
Speaker 1: Climates to build a pickleball court.
Speaker 2: No, and and so it's common in arid climates, and
as Amy said, nature cement. Other common names used for
collich include this one I loved Dura crust that was
on the USDA website.
Speaker 1: So it sounds like a bad bezza.
Speaker 2: Right right. If you've ever been to the Southwest, and
particularly the Casa Grande National Monument in Arizona, there is
a beautiful ruins of a Native American dwelling there that
was built entirely of colliche. So colliche, as as Amy said,
nature's cement. If it gets wet, you can kind of
sort of mold it like clay, but once it's hard,
it is basically concrete. It is literally calcium carbonate, and
so it's it's almost impossible to work with from a
natural perspective. Now, it's not like everywhere there are just
fields of coliche. There are certainly places like that. But
the tricky thing is that you could have a garden
that you could you know, maybe more or less dig in,
and then all of a sudden there's just like this
area of coliche soil or you know, you dig down,
you're like, hey, this is going pretty great, and then
coliche and you cannot get through it. It is literally
like concrete and it is a naturally occurring soil. As
Amy then pointed out, it is extremely alkaline, so uh,
you know, it's also causing you know, major pH issues.
Plants will get iron deficiency because you know that because
of the high pH and then add on top of
it that it's an arid climate that is, you know,
actually making the caliche even more coliche because it is
so hard. And if you're wondering, colliche is a Spanish
where it derives from the Latin word for lime because
it is basically limestone. So just a tough, tough situation
all around. And you know, a lot of times when
we talk about gardening in clay soil here, my number
one piece of advice is to start with smaller plants.
You know, most clay soils. If you start with a
small plant so you don't have to dig a huge hole,
typically most plants will be able to find their way
through that clay, be able to bust it up with
their roots, and be able to grow in there. If
you have cliche, they recommend removing it for the entire
mature root system of the plant that you are growing. Wow,
mature the mature root system. So like if you want
to plant a tree, like, I mean, what.
Speaker 1: Do you what do you do?
Speaker 3: You can? Yeah?
Speaker 2: I mean these people who have cliche, their main gardening
tool is a pick axe. Like, that's not even an exaggeration.
They garden with a pick axe at the ready because
they got a pick axe their way through. So just
an extremely extremely difficult situation. So they also have a
different I thought this was interesting too. They use a
different drainage test for coliche soils. Now we've talked before
to just listeners too. You know, are wondering if a
soil site is well drained enough for them to plant in,
dig a hole, fill it up with water if it's
drained in a half an hour, you have good enough
drainage and you don't have to worry about it, or
an hour or whatever. With a coliche soil, the drainage
test is you dig the hole, you fill it part way,
and if the water drops four inches and four hours,
you have sufficient drainage to plant. So, I mean, this
is just a totally different world than what we're used
to dealing with. But let's not just be doom and
gloom about coliche, because of course there are things that
will grow in coliche. And if you have a unique situation,
whether it's coliche or something else, your best bet is
really to look to your native plants. You know, those
are really going to the plants that are adapted. And
people throw that term adapted around with native plants all
the time. It's not as important for us here in Michigan.
There's all sorts of plants that are adapted to our environment.
But for you, it's really going to be those plants
that are native and grow in those areas that are
going to be able to tolerate growing in those conditions,
especially the alkaline soil and low water.
Speaker 1: I agree, and you know my comment to Amy, would
be maintain your composture, don't throw in the trowel. Their
natives was going to be one of my suggestions. For example,
in the Plain States, panicum grasses going to do well
and I think will work for you. A plant that
we're going to ask Kayla about for you. And segment four.
I love some of the new yukas that are available,
and there's one called dragon Slayer.
Speaker 2: I'd give it, maybe hopefully.
Speaker 1: Give it a try. That's one thing you can do.
And then I have two words for you, Amy. I
dealt with the blue clay, which was not as bad
as what you're dealing with, so I acknowledge that. But
broken pottery, broken pottery. I would pick up broken pottery
or pots cheaply from garden centers or greenhouses or when
I ran a garden center, and then I sink them
halfway quarter of the way three quarters of the way
into the ground using the pickaxe as you described, and
then using a better soil within those pots in order
to grow some of the plants that I wanted to grow.
So I think the combination of things like dragon slayer
yukka and a panicum like totem pole or niagara falls
or shy in sky and then combine it with some
of these containers into the ground. It worked for me.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that makes sense. You don't really have to worry
about the rain usually and a huge issue either. And
I think, yeah, Yucca is a great choice. And again
if you can start with a smaller one. Yuka is
native throughout this Southwest, so you in, boy, does Yucka
have a powerful root system or what it can definitely
work its way through all sorts of things. Yucko would
be a great choice. I do think grasses are going
to be a huge friend to you, and that may
sound dull, but I think that there are a lot
of interesting grasses that you can look at. One thing
that I found repeatedly when I was looking into gardening
and collieche Soil was a company in Texas called Native
American Seed. Their website is seedsource dot com and they
specialize in seeds for these types of environments and they
have a really cool website where they show you their
where sort of the intro video on their website is
their seed fields of all this you know, fabulous native
stuff and just hummingbirds flying all around. It's it's really
lovely and you can grow a lot of great hummingbird
plants in caliche. So Salvia and penstemann and verbina are
three fabulous plants that are recommended for colliche soils that
are going to give you tons of wonderful flowers and
and be able to eventually, you know, work their way
into into the ground there.
Speaker 1: Now, I don't know if you've done this, Amy, and
you probably have. But the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflowers Center also.
Speaker 2: Yeah, such a great website, great website. I've never been there.
I would love to go, but yeah, i'd go crazy anyway. Amy,
You know, thanks for humbling us and reminding us that,
you know, the grass is always greener on the other side.
Turns out the grass is greener on our side this time.
But it's a good reality check for us to realize that,
you know, it's not all a bowl of cherries out there.
So I hope that was a little bit helpful. And
at least now you have, you know, several other people
who feel your pain.
Speaker 1: You have our support.
Speaker 2: Thank you for that. We're going to take a little break.
When we come back. We're talking the perennials of the year,
so stay tuned. Thanks for listening to the Gardening Simplified Podcast,
brought to you by Proven Winners Color Choice Shrubs. Our
award winning flowering shrubs and evergreens are trialed and tested
by experts with your success in mind. Learn more at
Proven Winners color Choice dot com.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show as we talk
about national Plants of the Year today, perennials and some
beauties on the list. And to help us talk about it,
Kayla Olsen joins us. Kayla is with Walters Gardens Proven
Winners Perennials. She's a regional product manager. And Kayla, we've
had you on the show before. It's always great to
have you on the Gardening Simplified Show.
Speaker 3: Well, thanks for having me back. I had a great
time the first time. I'm happy to chat about some
new varieties again.
Speaker 1: So let's talk about the Perennial of the Year, because boy,
this one is a show stopper. Dark Side of the
Moon stillby. I think you're going to have a lot
of people lining up for this plant.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's been very popular. Our growers have been going
crazy trying to get access to this plant as well,
because I think that they know how much demand there
is in the garden for this really nice dark foliage
that you get seasoned round interest with. And it's the
only dark leave to still be on the market that
has those rosy pink flowers right now, so it's really
unique in the marketplace.
Speaker 2: I would think that's a huge boon to retailers garden
centers because you know it's still bes a late blooming plant,
and you know, it's a similar condition that we have
with hydranges here. You know, by the time when people
are shopping in the spring, most to still bees don't
necessarily look all that great. So you've got dark Side
to the Moon looking absolutely fabulous with that foliage, you know,
makes it a lot more enticing in that spring shopping.
Speaker 3: Season, absolutely, and it looks really great in a container,
and it looks great in the landscapes throughout the season,
so customers are put somems are nice to look at
no matter what it's time of year it is, and
it does create really a nice mound, so you can
always contrast it with other things that are blooming at
different times throughout the season.
Speaker 1: In your opinion, Kayla, what should our listeners and viewers
know about this plant as it relates to growing it,
how are they going to achieve optimum success with this plant?
Speaker 3: So this is a Tranemphis type of stility, and so
those are typically known for being more drought tolerant than
other acilities. However, I think that's a little bit of
a misnomer. It's just better than others, not necessarily a
super drought ality plant. And so I think the key
to really being successful with this is consistent moisture while
it's establishing. Once it gets established, it does fantastic, But
if you think about where it likes to live, it
likes to live in part shade, and typically you're having
cooler soils with prolonged fil moisture compared to maybe some
of the sites that are full sun all day that
those soils dry out a little bit more. So you
can certainly plant this in full sun in the north.
It can definitely tolerate that, but it's going to need
a little bit more moisture just to make sure that
those leaves don't crisp up. If you do see some
of that on a plant that maybe got a little
dried out and it got a little dramatic and decided
to tell you it wasn't happy. You can simply prove
those off and continue to water it and that it
should bounce back from that. So you're going to see
the most success with consistent moisture in the spring or
while you're establishing that plant, for especially the first season
after that, it should be pretty hardy and pretty drop tolerant.
Speaker 1: Taylor twenty twenty six Hosta of the Year, Hope springs Eternal.
That's exactly what happens to me when I look out
the window this time of year.
Speaker 3: Yes, we all need a little hope in our lives
that the spring is coming, and I think that this
is a great option for that. For those that love hostas,
they're really going to appreciate that pie crust ruffled edging
on this plant along with that heart shaped leaf. And
it's a nice moderate size, it's not going to get
too big, and it's a nice differentiation from some of
the standard variegated hostas that you've seen in everybody's backyard
and forever. So it's a nice interesting hosta and you
still get some great contrast with that creamy white margin
on the edge.
Speaker 1: Twenty twenty six Landscape Perennial of the Year decadence, lemon meringue,
false Indigo baptisia. I'd have to tell you, Kayla, that
for both Stacey and I, this is a favorite of ours.
Speaker 3: Absolutely well, it's a favorite of mine too. Those cheery
yellow flowers definitely are a welcome addition to the spring
garden when customers see this on the shelves when it's
in full loom. It's really hard to keep them in stock,
and they're such a long love perennial that you're going
to get to enjoy this year after year. We really
like the decondency is because they're nice in compact. Some
of the native species of Vacpsia can get very large,
and this is nice little and three feet by three
feet and it's kind of really vase shape. So that
means that you can plant around it and still have
room for a plant that is this large in your
garden and you still get season long interest with those
really nice blue green leaves and charcoal stems.
Speaker 2: I love the color of the stems so much.
Speaker 1: Absolutely so. There are some new perennials also, aside from
the National Plants of the Year, there are some new
perennials coming along now for me, as it relates to
deer resistance and long season blooming. I've always loved nepetta,
and I've always loved the combination of yellow with blue
and now a long comes lemon perfection. I've got to
have this plant my landscape.
Speaker 3: Kala Well, I think you're going to love it. It
is definitely bright and cherry. It's fantastic contrasts those lemonade
shark truth leaves and that really nice purple lavender flowers.
And it really doesn't stop blooming once it starts in
the spring. It just kind of keeps continuing a really
light trim. If most of them have stopped flowering, we'll
definitely recharge it. But we've definitely seen this bloom from
early summer all the way through early fall without much
management to it. And this really contrasts nicely with so
many other plants in the garden. It's anything else that
you've got the purple or some the even dark green
leaves really makes this pop.
Speaker 2: So a lot of golden foliage plants sometimes are more
shade tolerant then you know. Of course, nepoda is considered
a sunny plant, but sometimes when something has a golden foliage,
it indicates it can take a little bit more shade.
Is that the case with this one.
Speaker 3: Nope, this is full sun all the way. If you
put grow this in shade, it it'll be okay, but
it'll get really late.
Speaker 1: Eat.
Speaker 3: This is fantastic in full sun. It's not going to
burn out. And I think that it really looks best
when you've got it paired with other plants. I think
if this is just alone in the mult by itself,
you're going to kind of lose it because it is
a nice small plant. It's only about ten to twelve
inches tall. So definitely pair this with other things in
the front of the border so that it's got some
contrast with it. But it'll love full sun. It doesn't
need a lot of fertilizer or management. Is it really
hands off plant.
Speaker 1: So we talked about Dark Side of the Moon still
the perennial plant of the year. A dark foliage introduction
for next year, as I understand it is sultry night
coral bells or Hucara. Boy, this one looks really sharp.
Speaker 3: To me, it really does. You know, for dark leaves hugara,
sometimes they can brown out a little bit, and especially
when you've got more sun conditions this one really key.
It's almost black foliage throughout the entire season, even as
it emerges. What I really like about it too, is
when you look closely at the leaves, you can see
that it's got this purple overlay, so you get a
two toned effect with it. Even though it's still a
mat and the leaves are so roughughle, you get a
lot of movement and texture. One thing that I think
most people don't necessarily always think of with hugara is
their flower display. And this was a really nice, lovely,
wavy pink flower that I think contrasts really nicely with
this plant.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I agree. It's amazing how many people just kind of,
you know, don't even think about the flowers on hugra.
And I know, you know, you've done at Walters, have
been focusing a lot on flowers and your hugra a breeding.
But the thing that I think, you know, people miss
out on when they don't, you know, plant hugra for
flowers is they are so attracted to hummingbirds.
Speaker 3: Yeah, they really are, which is surprising you wouldn't think so,
especially for a plant that enjoys part shade full shade.
This can tolerate full run in the North, I would say,
if you're living in the South, definitely you're going to
want part shade. The other thing I think that's important
to mention about the Dolcease series is that this was
average water needs for a hugra, but it's fairly drought tolerant,
so it can handle a little bit more extremes in
terms of water. He doesn't need to have consistent moisture
without sacrificing cold heartiness. This is still very hardy to
cold for, which is I think really important when we're
talking about hugras. Not all of them have the same
genetics underlying, and this is pre native to North America,
which I think a lot of people don't realize either. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I love the comment you made Stacey about the hukra
and flowers, because in that survey I did of perennial
customers in the garden center, I did talk to some
customers who said the way I pick out my perennials
is I go to the garden center and I look
for plants that pollinators are visiting, and that's how I
buy my perennials. So I thought that that was pretty neat. Kayla,
We've got to talk about treasure trove black eyed Susan rubekia.
This plant looks to be real, promising.
Speaker 3: So promising. We are so proud of this introduction because
it is such a standout in the landscape. Everyone who's
come by the gardens has just stopped in their tracks
to look at this plant. Now, Rebeccias are nothing new
to the market. We're all very familiar with them. They're
a North American natives. But what's really been a show
stopper is how disease resistance this plant is. The sceptoria resistance,
it's just off the charts. We have this in the
garden for about seven years and have not seen any
sceptoria on it at all. We've even planted this in
front of some sprinkler heads. We really haven't seen any
power milu on it. So, in terms of disease resistance,
which is the bane of a lot of Rebeccia's existence,
by late season they're starting to look a little sad.
This plant still has fantastic green foliage and it's still
flowering like crazy. The branching on this is just exceptional.
Speaker 2: So you know, in short, someone doesn't need to know
what septoria is or whether they've even had it on
their red mechia to know that this is just an
just an extraordinary improvement over the myriad other you know,
black eyed Susans. This is your classic black eyed Susan
in the marketplace. I mean, it's it's kind of a
no brainer. Even if the other ones are less expensive,
you know, why would you choose them when you have
this one that is just going to be so much
more vigorous, so much more floriferous, and just a much
much better use of your time and money.
Speaker 3: Absolutely, it's a great value and you're just going to
enjoy the plant a whole lot more in your garden.
Speaker 2: For sure.
Speaker 1: We're chatting with Kayla Olsen. She's with Walter's Gardens, Proven
Winners Perennials, a regional product manager and Kayla. Previous to
this segment, we were going through the mail bag. Got
a letter from a listener by the name of Amy
who lives in Texas struggles with the soil, and so
I thought I would ask you about a couple of
tough plants, or at least plants that are marketed as tough.
One there's a Prairie princess iron weed that says it's
a perennial that's as tough as iron and a native
of North America, and then also dragon slayer yucka those
two plants. Can you comment on those for Amy and
for our listeners and viewers.
Speaker 3: Absolutely so. I think iron weed vernonia is definitely a
species that is well known to the people that are
really into natives, but everybody else might not have heard
of this plant before. Not typically because a lot of
the native species get really really tall. There's lots of
different kinds of them out there. But we've been working
on breeding to get this plant a little bit smaller
and more manageable for the home gardens. And so what's
fantastic about this is you've got that late season bloom,
which it's like a whole lot of plants that are
really putting on a huge show in late summer and
early fall. This is part of the astor family, and
so the flowers are very similar, so this plant will
just be absolutely covered in pollinators come late summer. And
it's really really dropped tolerant, really really moisture tolerant as well.
It can handle a lot of different type of growing conditions.
It's got great mildy resistance. And one of the key
things is even when this isn't blooming earlier in the season,
you have a really nice, fine textured foliage. It's not
going to get any diseases like pottery mildew, so it's
going to look good all the time. Yeah.
Speaker 2: I love them. I think this is a great opportunity
for it to start reaching a much more mainstream audience.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, I think so too. We're working on a
number of these, so this is our first one that
we've introduced and we're really excited about it. And then
you asked about Yucca as a dragon player, So this
is a variety of the commonly called Adam's needle. To
people in Texas, they are going to be very, very
familiar with this plant. We really like this one because
it's very durable. It's going to do great in Texas.
This one has a really nice blue green color to
the leaves. They are kind of land shaped, so it's
got a really nice habit to it. The other thing
we really like about this is the flowers are lovely.
When it does bloom, they're nice, creamy white. It's got
a proportionate scale to this plant, so it's not going
to get too large in your garden. It's perfect for
residential garden, and it's going to continue to live for
a very long time with really no care. It is evergreen.
So even for those of us that live in the Norse,
this is tardy up the till zone five. This can
stay in the garden all the time and you're always
going to have seasonal interest with it.
Speaker 1: You know, the yuck as I have in my landscape. Tough, durable,
and then when they bloom, yeah, it's rather exciting. But
it only takes one night. The deer come along and
they just chop it right off. It's amazing.
Speaker 2: They wait, yeah, they wait.
Speaker 3: They wait right, they wait for the flowers. They won't
nibble on the foliage. They don't like the foliage. But yeah,
sometimes the ballooms, they can't resist saying what's this, Especially
those displays, it almost looks somebody described it as like
a candelabra. What's the bully blooming? I think that's a
great discripsion of it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they remind me of you know, some sort of
giant mutin and asparagus. And you know, it's funny because
it's in the lily family or was anyway, uh, you know,
which so is asparagus. But I think it's important. You know,
when we talk about yucca, a lot of people may
hear or see, especially with uh, you know, the more
conventional type of yucca that when your yucca quote mother
plant flowers, it does die, right, but it leaves behind
a ton of babies.
Speaker 3: Correct, So you're the nice thing about this plant is
you're going to see a lot of pups as we
call them, the little baby plants, growing up alongside the
mother plant as it's starting to bloom. So you might
be losing that mature main plant, that mother plant, but
you're going to have one that's replacing it in the
exact same spot immediately after. So it keeps replacing itself.
So that's why we say that this is long lived
because it's going to continue to flourish in your garden
even when it's done blooming.
Speaker 2: And it's really a fascinating process to watch, you know,
and people maybe get concerned. But then next spring, you know,
and how long does it take for one to typically
get to a flowering age because they don't do it,
they don't flower every year. They have to reach a
certain point of maturity.
Speaker 3: They do. I don't have the exact age on how
long it takes, because you know, some of these plants,
because they're rather slow growing, can take a long time
to even get to the consumer on a retail shelf.
But I would say you're probably going to be seen
in your garden for at least two years if you
do purchase a plant that already has some puffs with it.
I think that's also a good guarantee that if it
does flower that season, you already have replacements coming alongside
of it, so it's still a valuable plant, and then
you get extra so if you want to move them around,
you can have everything more well.
Speaker 2: I think most people who have grown yuca can attest
it's a pretty unstappable plant.
Speaker 3: It is.
Speaker 1: It is, Kihl. Congratulations to you and all the wonderful
people at Walter's Gardens. Proven winners, perennials. The cultivars that
you're making available to gardeners across the country across the
world in the coming year are truly exciting. Do you
have anything that you want to add As far as cultivars.
Speaker 3: Are concerned, there are two that I think are pretty outstanding.
One is a new Hibiscus garnet globe.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, this is a.
Speaker 3: Really lovely red variety. Red is so popular because it's
got that tropical feel with a party perennial hybiscus, not
a woody one, so it does dive back to the
ground every year. But those plants can also be rather large.
We've been working on shrinking these and so this one
is only three feet tall by three feet wide, and
you have a real really large flowers. The flowers are
about seven inches. They do bloom in late July and
into August, so they get that nice tropical feel when
it's starting to get really nice and toasty outside. But
this is a fantastic bloomer with really dark green olive leaves,
so it's going to look nice even when it's not blooming.
Speaker 1: The key point here, Kayla, is that it's compact.
Speaker 3: Very compact, nice mounded shape, and it's sat flowers that
will cover the entire plant all the way down to
the ground, so it's going to look good no matter
where it is. And then, last, but not least, a
new Delfinium that we're introducing its little violets and blue
You know, I think it really tugs on your heart strings,
a nostalgia of Delphinium's in your granma's garden, or if
we all love that cottage garden. Look, this is a
nice mid size at thirty to thirty six inches tall.
And so the big problem I think we've always had
with Delfinium is they tend to get floppy when they're
so tall, those nice big flower stems get really heavy.
This one has really fantastic strong stems. Obviously, if you're
in an area that's going to get some wind, we
recommend staking, but for the most part, this is a
lot sturdier than a lot of the other ones on
the market. And the other thing that I think is
really fascinating that I've really appreciated is the rebloom on
this plant. Of how floriferous it is. I would even
say it's a heavier rebloom than the first one. The
flowers might be a little bit smaller, but it's going
to bloom in early summer, it's going to bloom again
in late summer, and if you turn it back, it'll
bloom into early fall. So you've really got a long
floral display with a nice sturdy stem for this classic
blue delpin.
Speaker 2: So you're really turning the old reputation there of Delphinium's
being fussy and difficult to grow on it's ear.
Speaker 3: We are, yeah, and I think that's part of the
breeding work that we've been working on with a lot
of these plants, of making sure that they're easier for
gardeners to use, they sit in the landscapes that they have,
and they have a level of maintenance that they can
really spend the time doing and still enjoy their garden
without being frustrated by how much work it is. So
we're happy to see this old favor come back again.
Speaker 1: Fantastic Well, Kyla, thanks for joining us on the Gardening
Simplified Show. A lot to look forward to, and happy
new year. Twenty twenty six is going to be a
great year.
Speaker 3: It's going to be a fantastic year. Thank you for
having me on and happy gardening.
Speaker 2: Thanks Caylea, thank you, Cama. All Right, well I'm ready
for spring.
Speaker 1: You're spring loaded today, I know.
Speaker 2: Oh you know, thinking about all of those great new
plants definitely has me in the mood for gardening. I
hope it does for you too, So thank you so
much to Kayla from Walter's Gardens for all of that
great information. Thank you, Rick, thank you, thank you Adriana,
and thanks so much to all of you. We hope
you have a wonderful week ahead.