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Speaker 1: Broadcasting from Studio A Here at proven Winns Color Choice Shrubs.

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It's time for the Gardening Simplified Podcast, YouTube and radio

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show with Stacy Hervella, me, Rick Weist, and our engineer

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and producer Adrianna Robinson. Stacy, I thought it'd be fun

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today to talk about trigger plants. Some plants are just

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good communicators. They tell us when something's wrong. Other plants

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are kind of stoic, like squars or succulents. It's like,

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no matter what comes their way, they basically don't tell

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you that something's going wrong. But some plants do.

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Speaker 2: You might call them drama queens drama queens, or you

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might call them trigger plants as we are entitling this episode,

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but yeah, I feel like I also would call them

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like signal plants or century plants. They kind of give

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you that, you know, clue that something's going on. For me. Well,

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one of the plants in my guard that I would

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consider one of these plants is a plant called Agastaki nepatoides.

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It is the green, giant green Agastaki, very cool plants,

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but it doesn't really want to grow in full sun

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and dry soil like I have it in it will

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tolerate it. But if it has not rained for a while,

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it's the first plant to be like, whoa, I am

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peacing out. It's the first plant so well then I'm like, oh,

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things are really dry. So that's my that's my one

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of my trigger plants. But that kind of shows you

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that the plants that we're talking about may or may

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not trigger something depending on how you grow them in

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good conditions, the conditions it prefers, this plant would not

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really be a trigger plant, would be perfectly happy, Yeah,

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perfectly trying to push it, you know.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. I call them read the tea leaves plants. I

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think fortune tellers used to have you drink a cup

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of tea and then the tea leaves that are left

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in the bottom of the cup. They'd interpret them or

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whatever it may be, but reading the tea leaves. So

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for me through the years, one plant in my landscape

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or in landscapes in general, would be impatiens wall arianna okay,

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and often, you know, years ago we would allow them

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to get to the droop stage, so to speak, because

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it put the plant under a little bit of stress

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and they bloomed better that way. But with impatiens wall Ariana,

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when they're being a drama queen and you get out

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there and water them, suddenly they pop right back up.

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So yeah, I guess you know. There are some plants.

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Let's take this as an example. It's finally hot here

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in Michigan.

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Speaker 2: It is at long last, and what you.

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Speaker 1: Start to hear from people is it's so hot. I'm like,

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we just went through winter. This is what we've been

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waiting for. But there are plants that have dramatic droops.

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So I mentioned impatients Waile Ariana. You add water, that

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distress is gone. You look at house plants spatifhylum or peace.

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Speaker 2: That was on my list for sure.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and often you'll see them in office spaces where

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they are being a drama queen and exhibiting that dramatic group.

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Speaker 2: Yes, and they are a plant that definitely. The cool

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thing about them is not only are they telling you

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like whoa, hey, I need water, they wilt extremely dramatically,

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and then when you rehydrate them, they're really none the

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worse for the wear. You know, some plants that they

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dry out and will dramatically, they're going to show some

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brown edges around their leaves, and really, you know, kind

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of not like have suffered from it, whereas the peace

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lily is just like, Okay, thanks, just wanted your attention.

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Appreciate that moving right on, life goes out. Yes, now

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for you in the industry, I thought your big trigger

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plant was going to be geraniums oherums.

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Speaker 1: But you know what, let me run this one by you.

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I think macrophilla hydrangels.

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Speaker 2: Oh, they definitely are rama queens. They are drama queens,

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but you know, I feel like they're not just I

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feel like they have a limitation, right, Okay, So big

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leaf hydrange is hydrange of Macrophylla. It's right there in

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the name. They have big leaves and they're beautiful plants,

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but they are just not that efficient at using water.

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Some plants are very efficient at using water, so our

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aforementioned is bad thephylum you give it that water poof,

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it's totally fine. Whereas the max those big leaves lose

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water faster than the roots can replace it. So it's

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kind of like, I don't know, you know, like you

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just have things running at two different rates. The absorption

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rate and the transferration rate are are two different levels.

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So they're not trying to be dramatic. They just physically

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can't handle, you know, the heat. But they're also fine,

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you know, and so it's a lot of things. What

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I tell people, if you have a big leaf hydrangel

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and it's consistently wilting on hot summer afternoons and you've

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just watered it, don't worryorry about it. It's just trying

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to deal with, you know, what it has to deal with.

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And that wilting in the case of the big leaf

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hydrangeas is its attempt to reduce the amount of leaf

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service exposed to the sun. If the plant is photosynthesizing,

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it's stomata on the underside of the leaves are open,

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that's giving off water vapor. When a plant wilts reduces

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the amount of leaf surface exposed to the sun. That

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also covers up the stomata on the underside of the leaf,

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so that preserves some of that water that's transpiring out

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of the stomata. And it's just a survival mechanism. But yeah,

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they're usually just fine in the morning. So if that's

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what you're seeing with your max wilting in the hot

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Sunday afternoon, next morning, everything's fine, and you're like, wait,

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do I need water or not, you probably don't.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, but a great trigger in the landscape that at

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a glance you can see, oh, things are a little

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hot and a little dry out here. And I'm glad

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you mentioned that because there are plants that have i'm

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gonna call it pronounced mid ribs on the full leaf,

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and it causes that plant to have the ability, as

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you mentioned, for the leaf to fold on itself and

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preserve moisture. You know, a great example of that are

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the Pikus trees that we enjoy in our homes as

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a houseplant down in Florida. When they're growing there and

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they're getting a lot of hot sun, they use that

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midrib to cause the foliage to fold on itself a

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little bit to conserve some moisture. On let's say a

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hot summer day. You bring them up to Michigan, put

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them in a home where it's low light. You'll see

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where that foliage starts to flatten. The mid rib is

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not as pronounced, The color goes away from the leaf

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as opposed to that really dark dark green. A perfect

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example of a trigger plant out in the landscape. I

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think dogwood is a great example. Dogwood leaves will curl,

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they will fold on that midrib and they will change

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color to a degree. A dogwood's a great trigger plant.

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Speaker 2: I always thought that was from infectives.

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Speaker 1: Well that's part of it too, exactly, so it will

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try to tell you what's going on. Let me give

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you a trigger plant, limb a rick. For my every

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well intended action, there's an equal and opposite reaction. Guess

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Newton was right. My plant in hot sunlight is now

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a drooping distraction. Not always what one preconceives. Plant problems

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can be pet peeves. Thank goodness, they communicate before they

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capitulate by wearing their emotions on their leaves. See what

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I did, I thank you. I like that one. But no,

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there are many trigger plants. I always plant, but copa

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with annuals. But copa is a really great trigger plant

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where you can look at a container and at a

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glance you can tell whether or not there are water issues.

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We do that with bridle veil baskets in the greenhouse.

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You can see it at a glance. And again, Stacey,

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coming from the garden center industry, when I walk into

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a garden center and it's hot and dry, and it

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looks like the employees are having difficulty keeping up with

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the watering. One of the first group of plants that

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I walk up to our Shasta daisies. They're usually really

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full in the pot and the leaves will in my

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landscape too immediately exhibit this drooping and again being a

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drama queen, So I think Shasta daisy's too well.

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Speaker 2: And you know, it's important to realize about these trigger

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plants is that they aren't just telling you what they need.

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They're also kind of compensating for the plants nearby them

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that maybe don't have that ability. And by the time

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they wilt, it's too late. You know, they're really going

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to be suffering if you see, you know, those plants wilting.

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So these are good plants to have to kind of

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give you that hint, especially if you are like me

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and you don't typically supplemental water and you don't really

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know what's going on. You know, my plants are close

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together in my garden, so they kind of help to,

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you know, shade each other out at the roots. And

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I have a lot of mulch, but yeah, I rely

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on those those cues to know, like, I better get

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to devoting some time to water.

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Speaker 1: Exactly a lawn is a perfect trigger and something for

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you to keep an eye on in summertime. I always

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suggest to people just take a walk across your lawn,

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then stop. Look back. If your footprints have a silvery

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cast to them in the grass, you'll be able to

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tell or you've cut the grass and you can see

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that silvery cra you know, just kind of a silvery

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cast to the lawn. You know, things are dry and

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it's time to irrigate, or things are very hot. So

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there are many, many different types of triggers, and we'll

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talk more about them. Give you some good trigger plants

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in segment for to day.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and we've talked a lot about summer triggers and wilting,

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but there's winter triggers too that we've talked quite a

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bit about, you know, like the rhododendrons decreasing their leaf surface.

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I think the important thing is, you know, to to

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take the time to notice these types of things and

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think about what they might mean. It's a language that

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you pick up on gradually, and that is really part

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of gardening, is it's you know, decoding the language of

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the plants. And you know, I think your thing about

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the silvery lawn makes sense. Someone might be going like,

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I have no idea what he talks about, what he's

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talking about, but one day this summer, you're gonna actually

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notice it. You'll be like, that was what Rick was saying.

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Speaker 1: That's right, or the tire tracks, and you're right. The

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macrophila hydranges, those blooms they look grumpy to me. The

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rhododendrons in winter, they just look like they're moping.

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Speaker 2: They look very sad.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, Well, let's see how Stacey ties this in

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and plants on trial. That's coming up next here on

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the Gardening Simplified.

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every taste and every space. Just look for the distinctive

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proven Winner's Color Choice dot com. Youre Reading's gardening friends,

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and welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show, where today's

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topic is trigger plants and basically what we're saying. I

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guess you know, I couldn't quite think of like the

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perfect word for this concept, you know, but they trigger

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an action from you because they are showing you like, oh, hey,

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something's not great in my environment here. Now, for humans,

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of course, if something's not great in our environment, we

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are able to get up and move to better surroundings.

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And plants don't have that ability. So you know, what

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they're doing is not saying to you like, literally, hey

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I need water, But they are using their survival mechanisms

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to deal with those conditions. And those are not necessarily

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conditions that you notice, we experience life different than plants.

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So they then trigger an action from you. But I

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think it's also important to acknowledge in this conversation that

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some of these trigger plants. You know, it's not necessarily

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a good thing and can trigger from you. The action

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it should trigger is moving it, because what it's actually

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telling you is like, good, I don't really love this,

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you know. And I gave that long example and exactly well,

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I gave that long example in the first segment about

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big leaf hydrangeas, and yeah, it can absolutely withstand that

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afternoon welting. You know, if you are in Michigan and

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you have you know, relatively few hot days, that's not

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going to be a problem. If you are in a

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warmer climate or a hot climate and that's happening, that

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would be to me a signal that you should move

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the plant into an area where it is in afternoon shade.

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Because if that's, you know, happening, like in Michigan, we

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might get you know, no more than ten or twelve

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days where that's probably happening. But certainly if you live

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in a very hot climate and that's happening every day,

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for in July, August, in September, and eventually that plant

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is going to start to suffer from that. So it's

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always worth considering, you know, as you notice these things

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about your plants, if the trigger action should be putting

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it on your fall list to transplant.

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Speaker 1: I like your line of thinking there, And the trigger

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essentially helps you make a decision. Maybe it's down the road,

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but make a decision for that plant, because that plant

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can't get up and walk away, right.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 1: And we often used that phrase or that analogy read

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the tea leaves in running a business. I used it

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for years in running a business because if you look

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at the balance sheet or the financial statement in hale,

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you're essentially reading the tea leaves and making decisions maybe

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for future actions, but you're trying to analyze what's going

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on here and taking the clues that are being presented

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to you.

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Speaker 2: Definitely, and it really is like learning a language. And

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the language that you're going to be learning does include

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the things that Rick and I are sharing today, but

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it also includes the things that you will observe in

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your own garden. And that's really what gardening is all about. Now.

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Most of the plants that we have discussed so far

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as trigger plants. We've been talking about the changes that

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they undergo due to a result of some sort of stress.

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But today's plant on trial is a trigger plant that

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what changes about it is something that actually makes the

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plant more attractive when the trigger happens. I can see

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Adriana's wheels are turning back there. I don't know if

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I'm not explaining this well, but when I announced today's

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plant on trial, in one second, it's going to dawn

265
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right on her. Because today's plan on trial is pinky

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winky hydrangea. Yes, she's nodding, so pinky winky, if you're

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not familiar with it, is a panical hydrangea, and this

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is one of the earliest panicle high ranges that we introduced.

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Now I have to like take you back in time

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for a moment here Before Limelight came on the market

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in the nineteen nineties, panicle hydranges like PG or tart

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of A, they barely turned color, you know, they kind

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of sort of took on like a little bit of

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pink at the end of the season, but it was

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not a main feature. Since Limelight, there has been a

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real trend over these last couple decades to select panicle

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hydranges that start out white and then take on better

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and better color. And I think you really see that

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across the proven winners color choice hydrangees that are subsequent introductions.

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For the most part, there's a couple exceptions have had

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better and better color and just briefly so I don't

282
00:15:44,480 --> 00:15:48,000
forget those couple of exceptions don't change color because some

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people don't actually want the color to change. So that

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would really be a puffer fish hydrangea and to a

285
00:15:52,960 --> 00:15:55,360
lesser extent, Bobo, which does take on some pink, but

286
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so some people don't like it. But most people when

287
00:15:58,879 --> 00:16:03,320
they buy that panicle hydrangel, what they really want is

288
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that pink color and pinky Winky was really I think

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00:16:06,480 --> 00:16:09,759
one of the very first panicle hydrangeas to kind of

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make its main benefit or main feature this color. Now,

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let's talk about that trigger, because when you buy a

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pinky Winky hydrangea, it's going to start to flower. It's

293
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going to have a big, huge, beautiful it's honestly one

294
00:16:24,080 --> 00:16:27,320
of the biggest panicle hydrange of the flowers are enormous,

295
00:16:27,720 --> 00:16:30,840
the stems are huge and thick like reebar. Beautiful plant.

296
00:16:30,919 --> 00:16:32,600
Not a great choice for cut flowers unless you have

297
00:16:32,679 --> 00:16:38,120
a massive vase. Ask me how I know. But so

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they come out with these beautiful lace cap white flowers

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and then you know, about mid summer, or sorry, about

300
00:16:45,399 --> 00:16:48,639
mid August, what's going to start to happen is the

301
00:16:48,679 --> 00:16:51,120
flowers are going to start to shade from the bottom

302
00:16:51,200 --> 00:16:54,480
towards the top, from deep pink to light pink to

303
00:16:54,639 --> 00:16:58,080
white at the top, and then gradually, as the season progresses,

304
00:16:58,120 --> 00:17:02,279
it will go completely pink. Now, when this happens in

305
00:17:02,320 --> 00:17:06,400
mid August, you're probably on your summer vacation, reading a

306
00:17:06,480 --> 00:17:08,519
juicy book by the pool or on the beach, and

307
00:17:08,559 --> 00:17:12,880
you're like, this is the high of summer. This is amazing. Well, actually,

308
00:17:12,880 --> 00:17:15,880
from the plant's point of view, it's fall, yes, because

309
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what has triggered this color change is the shorter nights

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00:17:20,680 --> 00:17:24,039
and cooler nights that happened by August. Now I wanted

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00:17:24,079 --> 00:17:27,039
to kind of get some context for this, and so

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00:17:28,279 --> 00:17:31,519
just to help you understand, and this is just just

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00:17:31,640 --> 00:17:34,480
using grand Haven, so it will be different in other areas.

314
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But on the summer solstice in grand Haven we have

315
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almost seventeen hours of day length. That's how long our

316
00:17:44,119 --> 00:17:47,680
days are. So by our June twentieth or so, little

317
00:17:47,720 --> 00:17:51,160
under seventeen hours. By the time mid August rolls around,

318
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we are under fifteen hours, so it's about fourteen hours

319
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and forty five minutes of day length. So by the

320
00:17:58,039 --> 00:18:01,839
time mid August rolls around, you have a night that's

321
00:18:01,880 --> 00:18:06,400
basically longer by ninety or so minutes. And that's what's

322
00:18:06,440 --> 00:18:10,759
actually triggering that. So's those longer nights and the cooler temperatures.

323
00:18:10,759 --> 00:18:13,400
Why the cooler temperatures because as I've said many times

324
00:18:13,400 --> 00:18:17,559
on the show, plants synthesize their pigments at night, and

325
00:18:17,599 --> 00:18:20,680
when it's cool, they can synthesize their pigments more effectively

326
00:18:21,279 --> 00:18:25,160
and they get brighter. So this is triggered by long,

327
00:18:25,240 --> 00:18:27,799
cool nights, not a problem for us here in Michigan. Now,

328
00:18:27,799 --> 00:18:30,599
many of our friends in warm climates they grow panicle

329
00:18:30,680 --> 00:18:34,640
hydrangees and they never turn color. They're just so disappointed,

330
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and they're like, what gives. Well, a couple of issues here.

331
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First of all, because you live in a warmer climate,

332
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your panicle hydrange is bloom much earlier than they do

333
00:18:44,039 --> 00:18:47,680
for us here. For us, panicle hydrangees, the first ones,

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00:18:47,720 --> 00:18:50,680
which are the quick fire hydrangs, those will usually be

335
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first blooming around fourth of July, but most of them

336
00:18:53,839 --> 00:18:55,799
were looking more like mid to late July for that

337
00:18:55,839 --> 00:18:58,759
initial bloom. You live in a warm climate, you're looking

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at probably early to mid June. So now what that

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00:19:02,319 --> 00:19:05,240
means is that as those blooms are starting to age,

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instead of that happening in August, where your day length

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is now almost two hours shorter than before, it's happening

342
00:19:14,079 --> 00:19:18,559
in July, during your hottest period of the entire year.

343
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So your nights are still quite long, your nighttime temperatures

344
00:19:22,519 --> 00:19:25,000
are still really high, very often in the South, you know,

345
00:19:25,720 --> 00:19:28,880
typically in the seventies or higher. We're talking about places

346
00:19:28,880 --> 00:19:31,160
that are too hot to even grow tomatoes, because tomatoes

347
00:19:31,200 --> 00:19:33,880
can't really grow where nighttime temperatures are consistently in the

348
00:19:33,920 --> 00:19:37,759
eighties and so you don't get that color. So this

349
00:19:37,839 --> 00:19:40,079
is a trigger again that you can't control. And I

350
00:19:40,119 --> 00:19:44,000
know this is sometimes confusing for people because of course hydrangees,

351
00:19:44,039 --> 00:19:46,559
as we've talked about many times. You know, there's all

352
00:19:46,559 --> 00:19:49,440
this confusion because they're all different. And some people say, well,

353
00:19:49,799 --> 00:19:53,799
panicle hydrangees change color, must be the soil chemistry like

354
00:19:53,880 --> 00:19:57,039
with big leaf hydranges, But no, it's entirely weather and

355
00:19:57,240 --> 00:20:00,839
day length triggered. So unfortunately, nothing you can really do.

356
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If you live in a hot climate, you either have

357
00:20:05,319 --> 00:20:09,240
to resign yourself to not enjoying those beautiful pink colors,

358
00:20:09,880 --> 00:20:13,279
or if you are an experimental gardener, you could play

359
00:20:13,319 --> 00:20:16,039
around with pruning it. You could play around with pruning

360
00:20:16,039 --> 00:20:17,880
it a little bit later in the spring. Don't want

361
00:20:17,880 --> 00:20:19,240
to go too late. Of course it's too late for

362
00:20:19,240 --> 00:20:21,559
this now, but you don't want to go too late,

363
00:20:21,599 --> 00:20:24,559
and that will help to delay the bloom. And if

364
00:20:24,599 --> 00:20:27,920
you're able to push that bloom further into July so

365
00:20:27,960 --> 00:20:31,079
that you can kind of take advantage of that downswing

366
00:20:31,240 --> 00:20:36,480
on the nighttime temperatures, you might be able to enjoy

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that color.

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Speaker 1: It's a form of Chelsea chop.

369
00:20:38,839 --> 00:20:40,359
Speaker 2: It is kind of like a Chelsea chop.

370
00:20:40,480 --> 00:20:43,000
Speaker 1: Yeah. And when they turn color like that here in

371
00:20:43,039 --> 00:20:46,400
the North in August into September, I always get this

372
00:20:46,480 --> 00:20:48,359
kind of melancholy feel.

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Speaker 2: Because you know, you know what it's triggering. Other people

374
00:20:50,880 --> 00:20:54,279
are like, this is great at summer, and you're like, oh, shoot,

375
00:20:54,319 --> 00:20:57,000
my hydraene hit turned pink fall is on the way.

376
00:20:57,279 --> 00:20:59,440
Speaker 1: It's like back to school time.

377
00:20:59,599 --> 00:21:02,240
Speaker 2: Yes, yeah, like moms at the garden center.

378
00:21:03,880 --> 00:21:04,599
Speaker 1: Mom's the word.

379
00:21:05,759 --> 00:21:08,200
Speaker 2: So anyway, it's a great trigger plant. This is a

380
00:21:08,200 --> 00:21:11,880
case where the trigger works in our favor. And this

381
00:21:11,960 --> 00:21:14,359
isn't true just of today's plan on trial Pinky Winky.

382
00:21:14,400 --> 00:21:16,640
I picked Pinky Winky, like I said, because it really

383
00:21:16,799 --> 00:21:20,960
was the first of all panicle hydranges in the current

384
00:21:21,039 --> 00:21:24,319
era to really be sold for that color change. But

385
00:21:24,359 --> 00:21:27,480
there's tons more Pinky Winky prime. The new version of

386
00:21:27,519 --> 00:21:30,599
it has even better color, so you can find that

387
00:21:30,680 --> 00:21:33,400
at your local garden center. We're talking about hardy down

388
00:21:33,440 --> 00:21:36,279
to USDA Zone three heat tolerant through USDA Zone eight.

389
00:21:36,359 --> 00:21:39,400
They can grow on zone nine, but definitely not getting

390
00:21:39,440 --> 00:21:42,440
any color in USDA Zone nine, so bear that in

391
00:21:42,519 --> 00:21:45,279
mind as you decide whether you're going to add Pinky

392
00:21:45,319 --> 00:21:48,640
Winky or any of the Perfuminer's panicle hydranges to your garden.

393
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We're gonna take a little break. When we come back,

394
00:21:50,640 --> 00:21:52,519
we're opening up the mail bag, so please stay tuned

395
00:22:00,200 --> 00:22:02,920
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396
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402
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403
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Color Choice dot com. Greetings gardening friends, and welcome back

404
00:22:31,039 --> 00:22:33,839
to the Gardening Simplified Show, where I'm going to kick

405
00:22:33,880 --> 00:22:37,200
off mailbag where we normally answer your questions, and we

406
00:22:37,240 --> 00:22:39,759
will be answering some questions, but I'm going to kick

407
00:22:39,799 --> 00:22:41,599
it off with a little bit of a rant.

408
00:22:41,680 --> 00:22:43,519
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, here we go.

409
00:22:44,640 --> 00:22:50,079
Speaker 2: And the rant that I have on this episode is

410
00:22:50,160 --> 00:22:52,680
about plant id apps. Now, I want to say, first

411
00:22:52,759 --> 00:22:55,839
of all, I do not begrudge anybody who uses a

412
00:22:55,839 --> 00:22:59,559
plant ID app anymore than a very serious burder would

413
00:22:59,559 --> 00:23:01,880
be grudge me for using Merlin, And hopefully you don't

414
00:23:01,880 --> 00:23:04,799
begrudge me because it is a game changer. And similarly,

415
00:23:04,880 --> 00:23:07,839
I appreciate that people want to use these apps and

416
00:23:07,960 --> 00:23:10,720
find out, you know, what the plant is. And they

417
00:23:10,720 --> 00:23:13,599
have improved immensely. I remember when these things came out

418
00:23:13,640 --> 00:23:17,200
and they were like a joke, you know. But obviously

419
00:23:17,240 --> 00:23:19,759
with AI and as more and more data has come

420
00:23:19,799 --> 00:23:23,039
onto the Internet for them to train these apps off of,

421
00:23:23,839 --> 00:23:29,000
they have generally gotten better, but they are far from perfect.

422
00:23:29,720 --> 00:23:32,200
And so I would encourage you, if you are someone

423
00:23:32,240 --> 00:23:35,039
who uses a plant ID app, to definitely take that

424
00:23:35,039 --> 00:23:37,240
with a grain of salt. So I had a message

425
00:23:37,279 --> 00:23:41,559
from a listener and she said that they had cleared

426
00:23:41,559 --> 00:23:43,920
out a bunch of you know, old weeds and brush

427
00:23:43,960 --> 00:23:48,119
and everything around their property. Stuff started to recover and

428
00:23:48,240 --> 00:23:51,599
she didn't know what this one plant was and she

429
00:23:51,680 --> 00:23:53,359
used her plant Idea app and it said it was

430
00:23:53,440 --> 00:23:55,920
ground ivy, which is a weed. You know, it's a

431
00:23:56,000 --> 00:23:59,200
kind of a bad obnoxious weed. Also called creeping Charlie,

432
00:24:00,359 --> 00:24:02,359
and she said, but I looked that up after it

433
00:24:02,400 --> 00:24:04,799
said that, and that just doesn't seem like what it is.

434
00:24:04,920 --> 00:24:08,359
What is it? And it was a native scuttalaria, So

435
00:24:08,480 --> 00:24:10,759
I mean not like a rare native plant or anything

436
00:24:10,799 --> 00:24:13,200
like that, but like certainly a plant that is well

437
00:24:13,240 --> 00:24:18,160
worth keeping. But you know, this plant id app probably

438
00:24:18,319 --> 00:24:21,119
has identified obviously is a lot more likely to come

439
00:24:21,160 --> 00:24:24,880
into contact with creeping Charlie than with scuttalarias. So it's

440
00:24:25,000 --> 00:24:28,799
not really even I don't want to call it mindset,

441
00:24:28,839 --> 00:24:33,000
but it's not even in its you know, database to access. Now,

442
00:24:33,000 --> 00:24:34,720
there is another app, and I don't know if you

443
00:24:34,720 --> 00:24:37,640
get ads for this on Facebook, but they do advertise

444
00:24:37,640 --> 00:24:39,759
it to me on Facebook, and oh does it make

445
00:24:39,799 --> 00:24:43,240
my blood boil? So it is a plant id app,

446
00:24:43,960 --> 00:24:47,920
and it claims that if something is wrong with your plant,

447
00:24:48,000 --> 00:24:51,480
it will tell you what's wrong with your plant. That's

448
00:24:51,519 --> 00:24:53,640
all well and good. I mean again, you're gonna have

449
00:24:53,680 --> 00:24:55,839
to take that with a grain of salt, because there

450
00:24:55,839 --> 00:24:58,640
are just so many things. And also, as we've ascertained

451
00:24:58,640 --> 00:25:02,720
on the show, you know, probably at least half the

452
00:25:02,759 --> 00:25:05,119
time when someone has a plant problem, it's water related.

453
00:25:05,200 --> 00:25:07,519
So you know, it has a pretty good shot at

454
00:25:07,519 --> 00:25:10,599
being right if it's telling you that your problem is

455
00:25:10,640 --> 00:25:13,559
related to the water that the plant is getting. But no, no,

456
00:25:13,599 --> 00:25:16,880
this particular app takes it one step further and tells

457
00:25:16,920 --> 00:25:21,039
you what you should do. And the solutions, as have

458
00:25:21,079 --> 00:25:24,680
been advertised to me in this app have involved things

459
00:25:24,759 --> 00:25:30,160
like adding sugar to the soil, sprinkle with cinnamon, right,

460
00:25:30,240 --> 00:25:34,079
and so all they're trying to do is to I

461
00:25:34,119 --> 00:25:37,720
don't know what they're trying to do. They're there. I mean,

462
00:25:37,720 --> 00:25:38,519
it's ridiculous.

463
00:25:38,720 --> 00:25:41,039
Speaker 1: But think about it here a minute. So we live

464
00:25:41,079 --> 00:25:42,200
in a world of AI.

465
00:25:42,480 --> 00:25:44,720
Speaker 2: Now, yeah, I'm afraid, so, yeah, I'm afraid.

466
00:25:44,799 --> 00:25:48,440
Speaker 1: So and if you ask, for example, I was looking

467
00:25:48,440 --> 00:25:51,920
at a study. If you ask people like me baby bloomers,

468
00:25:52,400 --> 00:25:55,279
they essentially think, nah, this stuff is never going to

469
00:25:55,359 --> 00:25:58,960
take over, you know, care for the garden. It's always

470
00:25:59,000 --> 00:26:02,039
going to be a people thing. Not everybody feels that way.

471
00:26:02,079 --> 00:26:06,559
And of course, in the horticulture and agricultural industries, AI

472
00:26:06,720 --> 00:26:11,880
has really taken a hold sensors for watering, machine vision

473
00:26:12,079 --> 00:26:15,960
to identify problems, et cetera, et cetera. But that's on

474
00:26:16,039 --> 00:26:18,279
a big scale. When are we going to get to

475
00:26:18,279 --> 00:26:21,920
the point where for the general homeowner they're able to

476
00:26:22,000 --> 00:26:26,559
use this AI technology or apps to truly determine whether

477
00:26:26,640 --> 00:26:28,519
or not the plant needs to be watered or not,

478
00:26:29,160 --> 00:26:31,519
or what the problem is. And I would agree with you,

479
00:26:31,640 --> 00:26:32,519
we're not there yet.

480
00:26:32,720 --> 00:26:35,039
Speaker 2: Well, I think that the main thing is just like

481
00:26:35,359 --> 00:26:38,720
there is no substitute for experience, and if you are

482
00:26:38,880 --> 00:26:43,240
a gardener or on your journey to becoming a gardener,

483
00:26:44,559 --> 00:26:47,240
you know you really don't just want everything to be

484
00:26:47,359 --> 00:26:49,920
figured out for you. You have to learn it yourself.

485
00:26:49,920 --> 00:26:51,279
And that's really I think a lot of what the

486
00:26:51,279 --> 00:26:54,160
trigger plant thing is about, too, is like starting to

487
00:26:54,240 --> 00:26:57,880
read that language and understand how to fix, how to

488
00:26:57,960 --> 00:27:01,039
notice when things are going wrong, of the conditions that

489
00:27:01,119 --> 00:27:05,359
influenced your plants, and and act on them accordingly. So

490
00:27:06,279 --> 00:27:09,160
by all means, use them, learn from them, take them

491
00:27:09,160 --> 00:27:11,480
with a grain of salt, and take especially their so

492
00:27:11,599 --> 00:27:15,519
called solutions to your plant problems with a grain of salt.

493
00:27:15,680 --> 00:27:17,799
Even more so if you have to pay and they're

494
00:27:17,839 --> 00:27:19,000
selling you something, well, and.

495
00:27:19,039 --> 00:27:21,720
Speaker 1: You're preaching to the choir. Because I'm a sixty five

496
00:27:21,839 --> 00:27:24,640
year old man who has been in the garden industry

497
00:27:24,720 --> 00:27:28,279
for fifty years, I don't want to be replaced by

498
00:27:28,319 --> 00:27:34,079
an app. I want I like that experience thing. Whatever

499
00:27:34,119 --> 00:27:36,519
you said, so that, well, you know what fall in

500
00:27:36,559 --> 00:27:36,920
on that.

501
00:27:37,279 --> 00:27:40,359
Speaker 2: An app is unlikely knock on wood to have your

502
00:27:40,400 --> 00:27:42,720
sense of humor. So at least you've got that going

503
00:27:42,839 --> 00:27:46,519
sense of humous all right, So sorry about that. What

504
00:27:46,559 --> 00:27:47,640
do we got in the mailbag?

505
00:27:48,200 --> 00:27:50,839
Speaker 1: James writes, Hi, I enjoy watching your show on YouTube

506
00:27:50,880 --> 00:27:53,079
every week, going back over the last couple of years

507
00:27:53,079 --> 00:27:56,480
of information, great gardening knowledge and fun. My question is

508
00:27:56,480 --> 00:27:58,640
about a hosta that's been in the spot for ten

509
00:27:58,720 --> 00:28:02,319
years keeps getting bigger. I don't divide, it just keeps growing.

510
00:28:02,680 --> 00:28:04,880
I'm watching with interest this year that a few of

511
00:28:04,880 --> 00:28:08,519
the leaves are coming in with variegation. Haven't seen this before?

512
00:28:08,640 --> 00:28:12,240
Is it possible to cross pollinate from other hostas that

513
00:28:12,319 --> 00:28:15,799
are variegated in my garden? Or is it reverting to

514
00:28:15,880 --> 00:28:16,519
something else?

515
00:28:16,799 --> 00:28:20,759
Speaker 2: Right? So interesting situation. What you are seeing there, James,

516
00:28:20,880 --> 00:28:25,200
is something called a sport and it is a offset

517
00:28:25,319 --> 00:28:27,599
or a branch. It happens in shrubs and trees as

518
00:28:27,640 --> 00:28:32,279
well of the plant that just takes on some different genes.

519
00:28:33,400 --> 00:28:36,559
This is just a genetic phenomenon. It has nothing to

520
00:28:36,559 --> 00:28:38,880
do with cross pollination, because the only way that like

521
00:28:39,079 --> 00:28:42,519
cross pollination could happen would be if it grows from seed. Now,

522
00:28:42,680 --> 00:28:45,240
it is certainly possible for hostas to self sew. It

523
00:28:45,279 --> 00:28:47,920
happens quite a lot at my in laws house where

524
00:28:47,960 --> 00:28:50,119
they have a lot of hostas, and I see those

525
00:28:50,279 --> 00:28:53,160
popping up like weeds everywhere. It's a wild thing to see.

526
00:28:53,559 --> 00:28:55,640
But no, it's just the plant that you know, it's

527
00:28:55,720 --> 00:28:57,960
jeans are jumping around. You can read more about it.

528
00:28:57,960 --> 00:29:03,359
It's called transposons. This is also the cause of like

529
00:29:03,799 --> 00:29:06,279
those corns that have all the different colors, those are

530
00:29:06,279 --> 00:29:10,119
also caused by transposons. And it's also how we got

531
00:29:10,319 --> 00:29:11,680
variegated hostas in the first place.

532
00:29:11,680 --> 00:29:13,000
Speaker 1: Sure, absolutely, and a.

533
00:29:12,920 --> 00:29:15,519
Speaker 2: Lot of varigated plants. I would say most irrigated plants

534
00:29:15,640 --> 00:29:20,240
do actually start as sports. So it's not reverting, it's

535
00:29:20,359 --> 00:29:23,279
just doing something different there. And you can, if you wish,

536
00:29:23,839 --> 00:29:27,319
take out that little part that's variegated, you know, dig

537
00:29:27,359 --> 00:29:29,880
it out and grow it on its own. It will

538
00:29:29,880 --> 00:29:32,799
grow better if it's detached from the much more vigorous

539
00:29:32,880 --> 00:29:34,359
all green version that you have.

540
00:29:34,559 --> 00:29:37,400
Speaker 1: Give it a really cool name, start marketing it, and

541
00:29:37,480 --> 00:29:39,039
give us ten percent of the royal.

542
00:29:40,319 --> 00:29:42,680
Speaker 2: You never know what it'll turn into, but it's totally

543
00:29:42,720 --> 00:29:45,079
normal and nothing to be concerned about.

544
00:29:45,200 --> 00:29:48,440
Speaker 1: And usually when you see that variegation, you're so right, Stacey,

545
00:29:48,480 --> 00:29:52,000
it's not the pollination. Usually you're looking at a genetic mutation,

546
00:29:52,640 --> 00:29:57,319
or a viral infection, or an environmental change, and nine

547
00:29:57,359 --> 00:30:00,759
times out of ten, probably a genetic music. Yes, yeah,

548
00:30:01,039 --> 00:30:03,160
Susan writes to us Hi, Rick and Stacy. I love

549
00:30:03,240 --> 00:30:05,880
watching your show every Saturday morning. It's so much fun

550
00:30:05,920 --> 00:30:07,680
listening to the two of you, and on top of that,

551
00:30:07,759 --> 00:30:10,839
I learned so much. Well, thank you, Susan, appreciate that.

552
00:30:10,960 --> 00:30:13,160
I was hoping you could tell me to do it

553
00:30:13,440 --> 00:30:16,480
or don't do it. Live in Southern Ontario, Canada's on

554
00:30:16,599 --> 00:30:19,720
six A. Last week, I had twenty six green gem

555
00:30:19,759 --> 00:30:22,960
boxwoods planted, but I noticed the boxwood are quite pale

556
00:30:23,440 --> 00:30:25,839
compared to my neighbor's green gem as well as my

557
00:30:25,920 --> 00:30:29,519
green velvet in my yard. I wondered if some fertilizer

558
00:30:30,039 --> 00:30:32,519
might help. Do it or don't do it. I'd like

559
00:30:32,559 --> 00:30:35,160
to trim a little a little, but was suggested I

560
00:30:35,240 --> 00:30:37,599
wait a year. I'm dying to do it. Do it

561
00:30:37,920 --> 00:30:40,039
or don't do it. I appreciate your advice.

562
00:30:40,240 --> 00:30:43,200
Speaker 2: Right, So, a couple of things here. To answer your

563
00:30:43,200 --> 00:30:46,640
first question about the pale foliage, I would not do

564
00:30:46,720 --> 00:30:50,240
anything about it right now. You have to realize when

565
00:30:50,359 --> 00:30:53,920
a plant has made the transition, because these are newly

566
00:30:53,960 --> 00:30:56,720
planted from the garden center to your yard, it has

567
00:30:56,799 --> 00:30:59,519
undergone a major change in the way that it was kept.

568
00:31:00,240 --> 00:31:04,079
And boxwood are generally considered a shade crop in growers

569
00:31:04,279 --> 00:31:07,240
and retailers, and it was probably under shade, and now

570
00:31:07,240 --> 00:31:11,000
it's out there in the great wild and it's getting sun.

571
00:31:11,200 --> 00:31:15,440
And the plants actually make different types of chlorophyll depending

572
00:31:15,559 --> 00:31:18,200
on how much sun or shade they get, so it

573
00:31:18,319 --> 00:31:20,599
probably has more of what would be known as the

574
00:31:20,599 --> 00:31:23,759
shade type chlorophyll, and it's trying to adapt to what

575
00:31:23,839 --> 00:31:26,960
is now a much sunnier spot. And that's why your

576
00:31:26,960 --> 00:31:30,000
plants that are already established and growing in those conditions

577
00:31:30,039 --> 00:31:34,240
look perfectly lovely. This plant, meanwhile, needs some time to

578
00:31:34,400 --> 00:31:38,400
adapt to the conditions and the light levels that it's

579
00:31:38,440 --> 00:31:40,720
actually growing in. And that's just part of a plant

580
00:31:40,839 --> 00:31:41,680
getting established.

581
00:31:41,759 --> 00:31:44,200
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's part of a plant getting established. And also

582
00:31:44,279 --> 00:31:46,599
I would say that I have found with boxwood. They

583
00:31:46,640 --> 00:31:49,480
do like a well drained soil. They don't like to

584
00:31:49,559 --> 00:31:52,680
sit in water. I'm not saying that that's the situation here,

585
00:31:52,920 --> 00:31:55,759
but you can get pale foliage if you're not getting

586
00:31:55,759 --> 00:31:58,200
good drainage. You're going to want to water them well

587
00:31:58,240 --> 00:31:59,839
initially to get them established.

588
00:32:00,200 --> 00:32:01,240
Speaker 2: But you got to if you especially if you have

589
00:32:01,279 --> 00:32:02,920
clay soil, you need to make sure that you know

590
00:32:02,920 --> 00:32:05,440
it's not staying too wet. They also do prefer it

591
00:32:05,480 --> 00:32:07,640
a little bit more on the neutral to alkaline side.

592
00:32:07,680 --> 00:32:10,400
But again, when something is new, as long as it's

593
00:32:10,440 --> 00:32:12,599
not a water issue, I would definitely wait and see.

594
00:32:12,680 --> 00:32:15,519
You can start fertilizing it next spring, just to help

595
00:32:15,559 --> 00:32:18,359
it get established more quickly. But I don't think fertilizer

596
00:32:18,519 --> 00:32:20,319
is likely to be the solution to what you're seeing

597
00:32:20,400 --> 00:32:23,200
right now. Now. Ask for Susan's question about trimming, what

598
00:32:23,200 --> 00:32:24,039
would you say.

599
00:32:24,599 --> 00:32:28,759
Speaker 1: I would say, don't trim right now, give them a season.

600
00:32:28,799 --> 00:32:31,559
You don't want to trim them just before winter and

601
00:32:31,640 --> 00:32:34,559
stimulate some new growth that's just going to die back anyhow,

602
00:32:34,640 --> 00:32:37,039
So I just let them go for now, that's my opinion.

603
00:32:37,079 --> 00:32:37,839
Trim them next.

604
00:32:37,759 --> 00:32:40,559
Speaker 2: Year, yeah, I would say, I understand you're dying to

605
00:32:40,599 --> 00:32:42,599
do it, Susan, But I would also wait. I mean,

606
00:32:42,640 --> 00:32:45,279
it's important to realize that when you trim something, you

607
00:32:45,400 --> 00:32:48,039
expose a lot of stem surface that's going to be

608
00:32:48,039 --> 00:32:49,960
giving off water vapor, and that can really kind of

609
00:32:50,000 --> 00:32:53,920
contribute to some stress. The plant's already putting all of

610
00:32:53,920 --> 00:32:56,559
its energies into growing roots in its new home, so

611
00:32:56,599 --> 00:32:59,200
in my opinion, the best thing to do for it

612
00:32:59,240 --> 00:33:01,839
is to try to leave it alone. If there's a

613
00:33:01,880 --> 00:33:04,240
couple of stems out there that are just really driving

614
00:33:04,240 --> 00:33:06,640
you're crazy, you have my permission to cut those, but

615
00:33:06,680 --> 00:33:08,559
I would not get the hedge clippers out, just some

616
00:33:08,640 --> 00:33:09,400
selective pruting.

617
00:33:09,839 --> 00:33:12,799
Speaker 1: Love it, And we got a note from Mary try

618
00:33:12,799 --> 00:33:15,319
and move that into a segment four us. I want

619
00:33:15,359 --> 00:33:16,319
to ask you this question.

620
00:33:16,400 --> 00:33:19,559
Speaker 2: Okay, sounds good. We'll see if I'm triggered. So we're

621
00:33:19,559 --> 00:33:21,799
gonna take a little break and when we come back,

622
00:33:21,839 --> 00:33:23,759
we will be hearing that question as well as continuing

623
00:33:23,759 --> 00:33:33,079
our conversation on trigger plants. Thanks for listening to the

624
00:33:33,079 --> 00:33:36,200
Gardening Simplified podcast, brought to you by Proven Winners Color

625
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626
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627
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628
00:33:47,200 --> 00:33:49,559
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show. It's time for

629
00:33:49,680 --> 00:33:54,240
branching news. Before we talk further on trigger plants, Stacey

630
00:33:54,319 --> 00:33:56,079
wanted to ask you a question. As a matter of fact,

631
00:33:56,119 --> 00:33:58,519
I was thinking about it this past weekend as I

632
00:33:58,640 --> 00:34:03,680
was sitting on the the Volvo loader loading car and

633
00:34:03,799 --> 00:34:09,679
pickup truck and trailer after trailer with bark mulch. We

634
00:34:09,760 --> 00:34:14,000
got a question from Mary asking about dyed mulch. Mary's

635
00:34:14,039 --> 00:34:18,360
always used natural triple shredded hardwood and some of that

636
00:34:18,519 --> 00:34:22,599
almost can be like dust, but she likes the look

637
00:34:22,679 --> 00:34:25,480
of black mulch in the landscape and wanted to know

638
00:34:25,519 --> 00:34:27,599
if there's any harm in it. Is it a good

639
00:34:27,599 --> 00:34:31,039
idea to use black mulch? And you know, I'm thinking

640
00:34:31,079 --> 00:34:34,440
again about hot weather. Do you think with black mulch

641
00:34:34,480 --> 00:34:37,559
it puts a little extra stress on the plants or

642
00:34:37,960 --> 00:34:39,599
do you think probably.

643
00:34:39,159 --> 00:34:41,280
Speaker 2: Not well, whether it stresses the plants, I couldn't say,

644
00:34:41,280 --> 00:34:45,159
but it absolutely will increase the temperature around the plant.

645
00:34:45,960 --> 00:34:49,400
There's no question about that, just because just because you

646
00:34:49,440 --> 00:34:52,440
know black, just like if you go to the beach

647
00:34:52,480 --> 00:34:55,159
and have a big old black beach towel that you're

648
00:34:55,199 --> 00:34:57,280
laying on, you will be a lot warmer than if

649
00:34:57,320 --> 00:35:00,639
you were laying out there on white you know or something.

650
00:35:02,440 --> 00:35:06,400
And there you go. So it will absolutely raise the temperature.

651
00:35:06,400 --> 00:35:09,360
And I can tell you as you know, I replaced

652
00:35:09,360 --> 00:35:11,840
my lawn with mulch as we're kind of refiguring our

653
00:35:11,840 --> 00:35:13,840
garden and I have lots of lots of beds. I

654
00:35:13,880 --> 00:35:17,440
really only have mulch paths and then planting surrounded by mulch.

655
00:35:17,920 --> 00:35:20,559
We actually took a laser thermometer out there and we

656
00:35:20,639 --> 00:35:23,840
just have regular, regular bark mulch. It's not triple shredded,

657
00:35:24,199 --> 00:35:28,280
just kind of a coarse landscape bark mulch natural. And

658
00:35:28,400 --> 00:35:32,800
the difference in temperature was about ten degrees warmer on

659
00:35:32,920 --> 00:35:37,039
the mulch than on our concrete. So even regular mulch,

660
00:35:37,320 --> 00:35:40,800
you know, and it's not till decomposing, it's it's you know,

661
00:35:40,920 --> 00:35:45,840
done mostly decomposing. But mulch, you know, can raise the temperature.

662
00:35:45,840 --> 00:35:48,559
And so yeah, that black mulch will definitely you know,

663
00:35:48,679 --> 00:35:51,400
in absorb more heat. Now for us here in Michigan,

664
00:35:52,360 --> 00:35:55,000
probably not a huge deal. You'd want to be careful

665
00:35:55,000 --> 00:35:58,239
around any very sensitive plants, of course, But you know

666
00:35:58,519 --> 00:36:01,039
I would say I am I am a no on

667
00:36:01,320 --> 00:36:05,800
dyed mulch in general, but could make an exception for

668
00:36:05,960 --> 00:36:08,199
black mulch because I do get why people like the

669
00:36:08,239 --> 00:36:11,000
look of it. Okay, you know it can look quite uh,

670
00:36:11,920 --> 00:36:17,320
quite sophisticated, I suppose. But that said, mulch is not

671
00:36:17,559 --> 00:36:21,440
necessarily an aesthetic choice. It is a plant health choice.

672
00:36:21,519 --> 00:36:23,320
And so you know, you got to get into a

673
00:36:23,360 --> 00:36:25,719
situation where you're like, Okay, I'm just prioritizing what this

674
00:36:25,800 --> 00:36:29,320
looks like to me, but you know, red dyed mulch

675
00:36:29,360 --> 00:36:33,119
is an absolute no go. Any brown eyed mulch, like

676
00:36:33,199 --> 00:36:36,320
what are you even doing? Mulch is going to be

677
00:36:36,320 --> 00:36:39,400
brown and then kind of age to gray, and of course,

678
00:36:39,440 --> 00:36:42,079
you know there's some environmental concerns. I think. You know,

679
00:36:42,079 --> 00:36:44,400
they're putting all this dye onto the mulch and you're

680
00:36:44,519 --> 00:36:46,199
working in it, and you know there's just no need

681
00:36:46,199 --> 00:36:48,920
for all of that to leach into the ground. So

682
00:36:49,280 --> 00:36:52,360
dyed mulch is a definite no for me. Red and

683
00:36:52,480 --> 00:36:57,360
dyed brown mulch are verboten. Black mulch. I get why

684
00:36:57,400 --> 00:37:00,519
you'd want to do it. I personally would not, but

685
00:37:00,599 --> 00:37:03,039
I do understand that.

686
00:37:04,039 --> 00:37:08,199
Speaker 1: I've always used natural hardwood mulch. Now it does bring

687
00:37:08,280 --> 00:37:10,519
up a point, so hopefully that helps you marry, So

688
00:37:10,599 --> 00:37:12,960
you could do it, but I think it does bring

689
00:37:13,039 --> 00:37:18,000
up the temperature a little bit. Yeah, trigger plants a trigger.

690
00:37:18,679 --> 00:37:23,039
Let's say a trigger fung guy in the landscape is

691
00:37:23,800 --> 00:37:24,519
slime mold.

692
00:37:24,960 --> 00:37:27,920
Speaker 2: Oh so much slime mold right now?

693
00:37:28,559 --> 00:37:30,920
Speaker 1: Yeah, And as the weather gets hot and humid, and

694
00:37:30,960 --> 00:37:33,039
you can stir it up and then it reshaved. You know,

695
00:37:33,159 --> 00:37:36,159
really cool stuff. Looks like a bottle of Frenches mustard

696
00:37:36,199 --> 00:37:38,559
that a dog threw up in the in the bark mulch.

697
00:37:39,800 --> 00:37:43,239
But it's an indication that maybe your mulch is hydrophobic

698
00:37:43,320 --> 00:37:45,519
and that you need to stir the mulch. So it's

699
00:37:45,559 --> 00:37:48,199
a good thing to look for and use that as

700
00:37:48,320 --> 00:37:49,960
a trigger in the landscape.

701
00:37:50,079 --> 00:37:51,880
Speaker 2: You know what I love about this? So, yeah, this

702
00:37:51,960 --> 00:37:55,000
is a mulch. This is a mold also known as

703
00:37:55,000 --> 00:37:57,880
the dog vomit fungus. Every year you hear questions about

704
00:37:57,920 --> 00:38:00,159
it because people are like, ah, what's going on. It

705
00:38:00,199 --> 00:38:03,119
is actually a slime mold. It is just living off

706
00:38:03,119 --> 00:38:05,400
the mulch. So when I see it in my mulch paths,

707
00:38:05,440 --> 00:38:09,039
which are just there is to basically keep down weeds

708
00:38:09,039 --> 00:38:12,000
and conserve the soil. I don't worry about it too much.

709
00:38:12,039 --> 00:38:14,639
I just see that as the as the mult decomposing.

710
00:38:14,719 --> 00:38:15,280
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's true.

711
00:38:15,280 --> 00:38:17,239
Speaker 2: Do you know what I love about it? When it

712
00:38:17,320 --> 00:38:19,679
starts to like burst open and you water it and

713
00:38:19,800 --> 00:38:21,840
all that like water runs off, but then the spores

714
00:38:21,840 --> 00:38:23,320
are coming out. Oh, I love that. I was just

715
00:38:23,360 --> 00:38:24,599
doing a bunch of that last weekend.

716
00:38:24,760 --> 00:38:27,360
Speaker 1: It is fun. Set up some lawn chairs and watch it.

717
00:38:27,480 --> 00:38:28,599
Speaker 2: Right, but not macrome.

718
00:38:28,760 --> 00:38:31,840
Speaker 1: Lunch on a macro may launchair. Leave that inside that's

719
00:38:31,880 --> 00:38:37,000
a little warm. The I love drip tips on plants. Now,

720
00:38:37,119 --> 00:38:40,960
drip tips, that's another phrase of mind. But allocacias, you know,

721
00:38:41,000 --> 00:38:46,360
we both love the coffee cups allocation. But many tropical

722
00:38:46,480 --> 00:38:50,840
plants will indicate to you when the weather is very,

723
00:38:50,960 --> 00:38:53,920
very humid. Not that you need an indicator to know that.

724
00:38:54,079 --> 00:38:58,239
Forgive me, I'm only humid. But these tropical plants. Look

725
00:38:58,280 --> 00:39:04,400
at them once, Alocacias, Ladium's, collocacia, they all naturally form

726
00:39:04,559 --> 00:39:08,840
foliage that produces a drip tip. And my theory is

727
00:39:08,920 --> 00:39:11,559
it's because they grow well in hot and humid.

728
00:39:11,320 --> 00:39:13,800
Speaker 2: Areas, and you know, it's just a way to kind

729
00:39:13,800 --> 00:39:17,159
of funnel the water down towards the roots in an

730
00:39:17,199 --> 00:39:19,960
area where there could be a very dense undergrowth and

731
00:39:20,159 --> 00:39:22,000
they would be competing for it. So they're like, hey,

732
00:39:22,000 --> 00:39:24,199
this is mine. I'm funneling it right down to the roots.

733
00:39:24,400 --> 00:39:25,519
Or baby, you got it.

734
00:39:26,320 --> 00:39:30,360
Speaker 1: Another trigger plant. My landscape never fails, always works. I

735
00:39:30,360 --> 00:39:32,920
can walk into my back landscape. I'll walk right up

736
00:39:33,239 --> 00:39:35,159
to the tractor seat ligularity.

737
00:39:35,360 --> 00:39:36,639
Speaker 2: Ah, yeah, that thing.

738
00:39:36,719 --> 00:39:39,559
Speaker 1: The minute we're starting to see some stress in the landscape,

739
00:39:39,599 --> 00:39:44,920
that thing choose me out royal. So my tractor seat,

740
00:39:44,920 --> 00:39:49,159
my tractor seat ligular area caliber coas. I think that

741
00:39:49,280 --> 00:39:54,800
they're drama Queen's here's a plant that will talk to you, citrus.

742
00:39:55,039 --> 00:39:57,360
If you have a citrus plant like out on your deck,

743
00:39:57,880 --> 00:40:03,079
the green veining, the chlorosis in the full citrus plants

744
00:40:03,119 --> 00:40:03,440
talk to.

745
00:40:03,440 --> 00:40:05,599
Speaker 2: You yes, and mostly what it says is I don't

746
00:40:05,679 --> 00:40:07,039
like it here and I'm dying.

747
00:40:07,400 --> 00:40:13,840
Speaker 1: I want to go back to Florida. Menarda flocks they

748
00:40:13,880 --> 00:40:17,920
have a strong pronounced mid rib, but they also wear

749
00:40:18,079 --> 00:40:22,360
their emotions on their sleeves or on their leaves and

750
00:40:22,400 --> 00:40:24,880
then you start to see things like powdery mildew.

751
00:40:25,039 --> 00:40:27,039
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's you know, that's an interesting one too, because

752
00:40:27,079 --> 00:40:30,519
I think Manarda is of course notorious for getting powdery mildew,

753
00:40:30,559 --> 00:40:32,440
even though a lot of the newer cultivars, especially the

754
00:40:32,440 --> 00:40:35,800
proven Winter's ones, are much more powdery mildew resistant than

755
00:40:35,840 --> 00:40:40,119
the older ones. If your Manada is consistently getting powdery mildew,

756
00:40:40,199 --> 00:40:43,360
that probably means it's pretty stressed. And so that would

757
00:40:43,360 --> 00:40:45,320
be a trigger for you that like, hey, this is

758
00:40:45,480 --> 00:40:48,239
not a great situation for this particular plant, and you

759
00:40:48,280 --> 00:40:51,039
want to move it to someplace where you know it

760
00:40:51,039 --> 00:40:53,159
doesn't undergo water stress. Because that's what I find is

761
00:40:53,239 --> 00:40:55,320
someone who does give my plants a lot of water stress,

762
00:40:55,400 --> 00:40:58,039
not on purpose, just because you know, I'm not into

763
00:40:58,480 --> 00:41:00,480
spending a bunch of money on watering my plants when

764
00:41:00,519 --> 00:41:03,159
I can just grow stuff that actually tolerates my yard.

765
00:41:04,079 --> 00:41:06,159
I have found. Yeah, if they if they get too

766
00:41:06,320 --> 00:41:09,280
dry over and over again, they break out with powdery mildew.

767
00:41:09,320 --> 00:41:11,199
They're just like, I'm too stressed. The powdery mildew is

768
00:41:11,199 --> 00:41:13,360
taken over vegetable plants.

769
00:41:13,880 --> 00:41:16,280
Speaker 1: Vegetable plant garden is a great place to look for

770
00:41:16,360 --> 00:41:19,800
trigger plants. Tomatoes, of course talk to you. The zippering

771
00:41:19,880 --> 00:41:22,480
of the fruit, the blossom en rot. Maybe it's a

772
00:41:22,519 --> 00:41:26,360
calcium deficiency. Maybe the problem is that it's drying out

773
00:41:26,519 --> 00:41:30,480
in between watering. But tomatoes will talk to you. Cucumbers

774
00:41:30,519 --> 00:41:33,599
squash any of the que curvets when it relates to

775
00:41:34,360 --> 00:41:39,880
humid weather and downy mildew, powdery mildew, that sort of thing.

776
00:41:40,320 --> 00:41:43,480
I suggest people take a look at their trees. Take

777
00:41:43,519 --> 00:41:45,679
a close look at your trees, and just don't ignore them.

778
00:41:45,719 --> 00:41:47,559
You'll look up into the canopy. I saw it this

779
00:41:47,639 --> 00:41:52,400
past week again, greening of the veins, but yellow foliage,

780
00:41:52,760 --> 00:41:57,360
or the foliage is thin at the top of the tree,

781
00:41:57,760 --> 00:42:00,320
or you look up into the canopy and you see

782
00:42:00,320 --> 00:42:04,679
that telltale sign of tar spot and you recognize that

783
00:42:04,760 --> 00:42:07,800
you need to increase the light and air movement through

784
00:42:07,840 --> 00:42:12,639
the canopy of that tree with some pruning and then stacey.

785
00:42:12,679 --> 00:42:15,039
Of course, when it comes to trigger plants, some of

786
00:42:15,079 --> 00:42:18,000
the best trigger plants in the landscape are the actual

787
00:42:18,400 --> 00:42:19,719
weeds themselves.

788
00:42:19,760 --> 00:42:21,760
Speaker 2: Ah, that's a good point. I didn't even think about that.

789
00:42:21,880 --> 00:42:25,480
Speaker 1: Yeah, moss will indicate you have compacted soil. If the

790
00:42:25,519 --> 00:42:29,159
soil shape and shade. If the soil is way too wet,

791
00:42:29,239 --> 00:42:33,679
you're going to start to see horsetail, white clover. There's

792
00:42:33,719 --> 00:42:37,480
an indication that your mowing height isn't right. And in

793
00:42:37,519 --> 00:42:41,320
addition to that, there's a lack of nitrogen in the soil.

794
00:42:41,320 --> 00:42:43,280
Speaker 2: Because it can because it can grow in a lack

795
00:42:43,320 --> 00:42:47,360
of nitrogen, whereas other plants can't necessarily do that exactly.

796
00:42:47,360 --> 00:42:48,639
But a lot of people also just like to have

797
00:42:48,679 --> 00:42:50,559
clover in their lawn because it looks lovely.

798
00:42:50,880 --> 00:42:53,800
Speaker 1: Sure, So a lot of plants I look for, and

799
00:42:53,840 --> 00:42:57,800
a lot of weeds which are often in indication that

800
00:42:57,840 --> 00:43:00,639
there's something wrong with the soil. You look at plantain,

801
00:43:01,320 --> 00:43:05,719
and many times that's growing in nutrient deficient, heavy clay soils,

802
00:43:06,039 --> 00:43:10,400
a soil that needs to be air rated, black medic

803
00:43:11,559 --> 00:43:16,719
spurge red soil all indicate very dry soil. So I

804
00:43:16,719 --> 00:43:21,000
would suggest that you learn more about these weeds and

805
00:43:21,320 --> 00:43:24,880
use weeds like I do to help you read the

806
00:43:25,000 --> 00:43:27,440
tea leaves, so to speak as to what's going on

807
00:43:27,519 --> 00:43:28,000
in your less.

808
00:43:28,239 --> 00:43:29,280
Speaker 2: What does nuts edge mean?

809
00:43:29,960 --> 00:43:34,159
Speaker 1: Nuts edge means very wet, well drained soil.

810
00:43:34,239 --> 00:43:35,599
Speaker 2: Oh see, I don't know what soil at all, and

811
00:43:35,639 --> 00:43:36,760
I have tons of nutsage.

812
00:43:36,840 --> 00:43:39,840
Speaker 1: Yeah, I do too, so it's got I.

813
00:43:39,840 --> 00:43:41,440
Speaker 2: Don't think anyone can avoid that sage. It was a

814
00:43:41,480 --> 00:43:42,000
trick question.

815
00:43:42,199 --> 00:43:45,400
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think it's drainage. Though it does like a

816
00:43:45,440 --> 00:43:46,280
well drained soil.

817
00:43:46,400 --> 00:43:50,039
Speaker 2: It definitely likes my yard and it gets no supplemental water,

818
00:43:50,119 --> 00:43:52,480
but it does not seem to stop it. The good

819
00:43:52,480 --> 00:43:54,639
thing is it's easy to pull and kind of satisfying

820
00:43:54,719 --> 00:43:55,119
to pull too.

821
00:43:55,320 --> 00:43:58,519
Speaker 1: Exactly. I love it too. It's therapeutic. Well, thanks for

822
00:43:58,559 --> 00:44:01,559
reading the tea leaves with us this week. I hope

823
00:44:01,599 --> 00:44:05,920
it was helpful and you're seeing some triggers in your landscape.

824
00:44:05,960 --> 00:44:08,920
Thanks Stacey, thank you Rick, thank you Adriana, and thank

825
00:44:08,960 --> 00:44:11,760
you to you for watching us on YouTube, listening to

826
00:44:11,840 --> 00:44:15,880
the radio show version, and looking for us wherever you

827
00:44:15,920 --> 00:44:18,920
get your favorite podcast. See us soon