Speaker 1: Coming to you from Studio A here at proven Winns
Speaker 1: Color Choice Shrubs. It's time for the Gardening Simplified Show
Speaker 1: with Stacy Hervella, me, Rick weisst and our engineer and
Speaker 1: producer Adrianna Robinson. Well, Stacy, let's tap on the brakes
Speaker 1: a little. Somebody has to say it is life too
Speaker 1: short for spacing plants? I mean plants at the greenhouse
Speaker 1: or the garden center. When you start shopping this spring,
Speaker 1: it's like going to the buffet in Las Vegas. Your
Speaker 1: eyes tend to be bigger than your stomach. Or when
Speaker 1: I take my grandson to the store and I say, wow,
Speaker 1: you can have a little treat, it's impossible for him
Speaker 1: to decide. There's so many choices. It's unreally usually ends
Speaker 1: up with two or three trees.
Speaker 2: Well, you know, this idea that life is too short
Speaker 2: for proper spacing is something that I have said many
Speaker 2: times myself to friends and gardening colleagues. And I have
Speaker 2: softened that stance a bit, which we will get to,
Speaker 2: but it really comes from so. I went to horticulture
Speaker 2: school at the New York Botanical Garden School of Professional Horticulture,
Speaker 2: and one of my first days on our rotations where
Speaker 2: you work in all of the different areas of the gardens.
Speaker 2: It was spring and the crew leader dropped me off
Speaker 2: at this giant, massive, beautiful urn and a couple flats
Speaker 2: of pansies and was like, okay, we'll be back to
Speaker 2: pick you up in like forty five minutes. And I
Speaker 2: was like, okay, cool. And so you know, I'm looking
Speaker 2: at the pansies and they have a little tag in
Speaker 2: them and it says like, you know, space eight to
Speaker 2: ten inches apart or whatever. So I'm like okay. So,
Speaker 2: you know, they drop me off with like three flats,
Speaker 2: and I take this urn and I plant like eight
Speaker 2: pansies in it, following this, you know, this instruction on
Speaker 2: the tag. And when she came back to get me
Speaker 2: after I had done this, she was like what is that?
Speaker 2: And I'm like, following the spacing instructions and she goes, no, no, no,
Speaker 2: no no, and she's like, this is how you do it,
Speaker 2: and she starts taking the pansies out and she's squishing,
Speaker 2: gently squishing the root balls and just packing them in there.
Speaker 2: And you know, that's when I realized that spacing is
Speaker 2: primarily a suggestion. There are certainly consequences to ignoring spacing
Speaker 2: not so much from an annual perspective, and certainly not
Speaker 2: from a pansy perspective. But overall, it is just a suggestion,
Speaker 2: and there are plenty of times where you, as a gardener,
Speaker 2: are free to completely disregard that in favor of a
Speaker 2: better display.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, and when it comes to annuals, throw the spacing
Speaker 1: out the window.
Speaker 2: Oh for sure. The spacing on those things is ridiculous.
Speaker 2: You'd think that they would decrease it so people would
Speaker 2: plant more and they'd sell more. But you know, especially
Speaker 2: back in the days of the cell pause, Yeah, you know,
Speaker 2: it was like twelve inches. And I remember, you know,
Speaker 2: being a landscaper back then, and you know, the trowel
Speaker 2: with the markers on it, and I'm like, this looks terrible,
Speaker 2: But well, I followed the instruction, so it must be right.
Speaker 1: I never follow spacing instructions when it comes to annuals.
Speaker 1: Thus my limerick for this week, Every plant's my favorite.
Speaker 1: I'm embracing so many to choose from I'm pacing They're
Speaker 1: so fabulous I can't pick. So I wrote this lima
Speaker 1: rick to announce I'm giving up spacing. You know, plant
Speaker 1: spacing if you think about it. There are calculators online
Speaker 1: and all sorts of stuff on how to figure out
Speaker 1: plant spacing. Generally, I've just done the math in my head.
Speaker 1: For example, if you have a plant that at maturity
Speaker 1: is four foot wide, putting it next to a plant
Speaker 1: at maturity that's three foot wide, just add four plus three,
Speaker 1: divide by two, which is three and a half, and
Speaker 1: put the plants center to center three and a half
Speaker 1: feet apart. That's how I've WoT.
Speaker 2: It's basically that simple, and I think that maybe the
Speaker 2: key that's missing for a lot of people is the
Speaker 2: I don't know or don't realize that the spacing recommendation
Speaker 2: is based on the predicted width of the plant. Yes,
Speaker 2: and that's another aspect of why it is so subjective.
Speaker 2: Let me ask you this. Are you a do you
Speaker 2: like your plants to touch or do you like your
Speaker 2: plants not to touch?
Speaker 1: Well? I like I like them to touch. But I
Speaker 1: am a person who will not bring a tape measure
Speaker 1: out into the landscape. I like to plant in odd
Speaker 1: numbers and I don't want it to look like I
Speaker 1: measured it.
Speaker 2: Sure right, right? A lot of people don't want their
Speaker 2: plants to touch, which, honestly, more power to you. It
Speaker 2: seems crazy to me because I like my garden to
Speaker 2: look like a garden, like a jungle like with all
Speaker 2: the plants, So I need my plants to touch, so
Speaker 2: I always ignore spacing or go with smaller spacing. But
Speaker 2: there's plenty of people out there who don't like the
Speaker 2: look of a full garden and they prefer the space
Speaker 2: and everything kind of you know, it's just a different approach.
Speaker 2: It's perfectly valid for those of you are my plants
Speaker 2: can't touch type out there, But that plays a big
Speaker 2: role into how you decide you're going to space.
Speaker 1: Yeah, or let me throw a monkey wrench into it.
Speaker 1: Spacing in my mind, is more important in the shade
Speaker 1: than it is in the sun. In the sun you
Speaker 1: get plenty of sunlight, air movement, and so disease less
Speaker 1: of a problem. In the shade, you want to have
Speaker 1: proper spacing. Just the theory on my part, Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1: Of course, there's all other types of different issues too.
Speaker 1: Some plants are allellopathic and I'm looking here, I had
Speaker 1: written down here sunflowers, Nepetta, morning glories, lantana, And of
Speaker 1: course you've got the notorious mob boss of the group
Speaker 1: black walnut. But some plants are you know, they kind
Speaker 1: of push others.
Speaker 2: Out right, And you know, there's a lot of research
Speaker 2: nowadays it says that a lot of the beliefs around
Speaker 2: allellopathy are not wrong but over exaggerated. And you know,
Speaker 2: what I've read in that case is that it's not
Speaker 2: so much like but even with black walnut, except for
Speaker 2: the very sensitive plants. So do not try to plant
Speaker 2: tomato anywhere near in the vicinity of a black walnut.
Speaker 2: But it's primarily the branches, leaves in fruit that fall
Speaker 2: that cause the issue. It's not just some sort of
Speaker 2: you know, force field coming out around the roots or
Speaker 2: anything like that. So in that case, you know, my
Speaker 2: neighbor across the street has a massive black walnut, So
Speaker 2: if squirrels are coming over and depositing you know, walnuts
Speaker 2: in my yard, then I can't space around that.
Speaker 1: Well, I tell you what, Speaking of squirrels as it
Speaker 1: relates to plant spacing, if you want to throw cashew
Speaker 1: to the wind, what you do is you go vertical. Yes, absolutely,
Speaker 1: just like they did in Top Gun. Right, and some
Speaker 1: people refer to it as bio intensive planting. Using vines
Speaker 1: going vertical. One of my favorite plants and tight spots
Speaker 1: are clematis if you've got a good sunny spot. Others
Speaker 1: you could use, of course, rise up Lilac days. I
Speaker 1: was amazed at how well that did in my garden
Speaker 1: this year, kind of elevating above the group flirty girl
Speaker 1: false hydrangea in a shady area. And of course I've
Speaker 1: always talked about exclamation points, so you take rows of
Speaker 1: share in the pillar series or skybox Japanese holly or
Speaker 1: fine line buckthorn, or I got to throw in a
Speaker 1: grass stacy and annual grass like vertigo. You know, these
Speaker 1: add excitement, They can stand alone if you wish to
Speaker 1: kind of rise above the others and kind of give
Speaker 1: you a permission to pack it in a little definitely.
Speaker 2: And you know, another aspect of that, I would say
Speaker 2: is that you can get away with a lot less
Speaker 2: space in between plants if you were willing to do
Speaker 2: some work. And you know, this is a question that
Speaker 2: we can all ask ourselves is how much work do
Speaker 2: I want to do? What type of work do I
Speaker 2: want to do? And one great example of that would
Speaker 2: be Espelier. So Espelier is you know when you see
Speaker 2: usually a shrubs. Some comes it's a small tree trained
Speaker 2: up against a fence, and sometimes it can be very
Speaker 2: meticulous where they've tried to create like a Belgian fence,
Speaker 2: where branches are criss crossing and making a diamond pattern.
Speaker 2: Or it's just a matter of pruning a shrub so
Speaker 2: that all of its growth that would come outward or
Speaker 2: backward is pruned off and it only goes left and right.
Speaker 2: And so I have a winter honeysuckle nisra a fragrant tissima,
Speaker 2: which is one of the first things to bloom. Smells amazing.
Speaker 2: It smells like fruit loop cereal, and it's a huge plant.
Speaker 2: I mean, these things get to be ten feet tall
Speaker 2: and ten feet wide. But my husband loves to prune
Speaker 2: and has taken it upon himself to espalier this winter
Speaker 2: honeysuckle next to our fence, so it takes up just
Speaker 2: a fraction of the space. He loves pruning it. So
Speaker 2: if you are someone who loves to prune, you can,
Speaker 2: you know, use these little tips and tricks and take
Speaker 2: on that responsibility. If you're not someone who likes to prune,
Speaker 2: then you're probably not going to do that.
Speaker 1: So when we say life is too short for spacing.
Speaker 1: We to a degree say it tongue in cheek.
Speaker 2: To a degree.
Speaker 1: Yes, But you know, in spring, when I'm out there
Speaker 1: in the vegetable garden and I've got a packet of
Speaker 1: bean seeds or carrot seeds, I'm notorious for getting halfway
Speaker 1: down the road and the row and the seeds are gone.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm the same. You know, I've been roached vegetable
Speaker 2: gardening for my entire adult life, and I still distrust
Speaker 2: the spacing in spring. It's just impossible to believe, you know.
Speaker 2: And so like this year, I planted way too many
Speaker 2: tomatoes in my space. I had an amazing harvest, but
Speaker 2: by the time they all grew it in, it was
Speaker 2: like playing a game of twister to get out there
Speaker 2: and try to harvest everything and find these one spots
Speaker 2: where you could step that weren't covered by tomato plants.
Speaker 2: But you know what, it's just enthusiasm. It's enthusiasm for
Speaker 2: what we do well.
Speaker 1: Enthusiasm. But also if you tighten up the spacing, I
Speaker 1: think it makes watering easier. You always want to pack
Speaker 1: in more plants, I know, Stacey, you're like me. If
Speaker 1: you walk through a greenhouse or a garden center. You
Speaker 1: can be inspired and like, h I'd like that plant,
Speaker 1: and next thing you know, you're walking around in your
Speaker 1: yard with the plant in one hand the shovel in
Speaker 1: the other, looking for a place to put it.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I have definitely been there, yes, And then you
Speaker 2: know you're like, oh, well this container could use another plant,
Speaker 2: so you just wedge it on in there and then
Speaker 2: you know. But it's a good way to learn. You
Speaker 2: do learn a lot by pushing those boundaries. I will
Speaker 2: definitely say that, oh hey, quick, before we take a break,
Speaker 2: I have to tell everybody that next Friday, February twenty first,
Speaker 2: here on our YouTube channel, we are going to be
Speaker 2: doing our first ever YouTube live and we're going to
Speaker 2: be telling everybody about all of the new shrubs for
Speaker 2: twenty twenty five. So it is a public peak at
Speaker 2: everything that's going to be new. It's going to be
Speaker 2: super great. I'm going to be there. Natalie Christina Crimson
Speaker 2: from our YouTube channel are also participating. So if you've
Speaker 2: got spring fever, you're dying for a little break, some flour,
Speaker 2: some greenery, please please join us here on YouTube Friday,
Speaker 2: February twenty first at twelve Eastern at time. We hope
Speaker 2: you'll see you there.
Speaker 1: Well, we'll see how Stacey ties it in plants on Trials.
Speaker 1: Coming up next here on the Gardening Simplified.
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Speaker 2: Choice Shrubs with over three hundred and twenty five unique
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Speaker 2: at proven Winner's Color Choice dot com. Greeting's gardening friends,
Speaker 2: and welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show, where the
Speaker 2: order of the day is plant spacing, an issue in
Speaker 2: gardening that has tripped up many people. I've certainly had
Speaker 2: to hold a lot of hands as people have worked
Speaker 2: through how to space things and what to do with
Speaker 2: a range when you have a range of spacing, which
Speaker 2: I'll talk about the next segment a bit. But I
Speaker 2: did want to say, you know, I have softened, as
Speaker 2: I said in segment one, my stance a little bit
Speaker 2: on life is too short for proper spacing, and you know,
Speaker 2: sometimes it isn't sometimes it is. But like last year,
Speaker 2: right I bought some basil. We were in Chicago. We
Speaker 2: wanted to have a picnic, and instead of just buying
Speaker 2: you know, cut basil, I bought a basil plant and
Speaker 2: I said, okay, I'll just you know, go home and
Speaker 2: plant it, which I did, but all my containers are
Speaker 2: already full at that point. So I had three massive containers,
Speaker 2: like big, giant, twenty four inch containers that weren't full.
Speaker 2: So I says, okay, I'll just plant the basil in here.
Speaker 2: It's fine. I had the best darn basil harvest of
Speaker 2: my entire life. Adrian is like exclaiming because she saw
Speaker 2: it when she came to film at my house. I
Speaker 2: mean they were shrubs. They were like three feet tall
Speaker 2: and wide. That's fantastic because I did give that extra
Speaker 2: space because normally I was like jamming it into these
Speaker 2: pretty little decorative containers on my patio, which is fine,
Speaker 2: but you know, that's when I really realized, if you
Speaker 2: want your basil to produce, you got to give it
Speaker 2: some room. But that's where the learning comes in.
Speaker 1: Right, Like I call it basil instincts.
Speaker 2: Well, I have that instinct. Now I will definitely be
Speaker 2: continuing to do that. And another place where of course,
Speaker 2: you don't really want to go into messing with the
Speaker 2: spacing too too much. Is trees and shrubs correct, And
Speaker 2: that's for a couple of reasons. Number one is that
Speaker 2: trees and shrubs tend to be a little bit more
Speaker 2: expensive than annuals and even perennials, So you don't want
Speaker 2: to make a mistake that you later have to correct
Speaker 2: and risk the investment that you've made in not just
Speaker 2: purchasing the plant, but in time and effort to plant it. Also, overall,
Speaker 2: a lot of trees and shrubs aren't super amenable to
Speaker 2: pruning for size, especially with so like in my garden,
Speaker 2: I talk a lot about my silfium, which is self
Speaker 2: sown abundantly, and sometimes I do leave those plants to go,
Speaker 2: and if those selfium plants start getting a little bit
Speaker 2: too wide, I just go out there and I straight
Speaker 2: up ripoff entire stocks, you know, to kind of to
Speaker 2: try to narrow it down and take up less space.
Speaker 2: You don't really want to do that. Well, first, Philly,
Speaker 2: you can't do that with a woody plant, and you
Speaker 2: don't necessarily want to do it. Some woody plants are
Speaker 2: not very amenable to that kind of pruning to control
Speaker 2: their width, and so you don't have that option, you know,
Speaker 2: like hostas or another plant that they're taking up too
Speaker 2: much space, they have too much leaves. You just go
Speaker 2: out there and take off some stems.
Speaker 1: Right, get shrubs, which yeah, I've done that. And with shrubs,
Speaker 1: the problem is the plant will look like it got
Speaker 1: a bad hair.
Speaker 2: Yes it will, and you no one wants that. No
Speaker 2: one wants that. And then you know the other thing,
Speaker 2: of course, is that shrubs and trees are plants that
Speaker 2: we tend to plant for the future, for the long term.
Speaker 2: So it really pays to think far off into the future.
Speaker 2: Even though, like we were talking about in our Dwarf
Speaker 2: Helperdos Spruce rant a couple episodes ago, it can be
Speaker 2: very hard to believe that this, you know, cute little
Speaker 2: shrub that you're holding in your hands is going to
Speaker 2: reach some sort of epic proportion. But it will, and
Speaker 2: you you need to trust those when you are investing
Speaker 2: again time and money into these more permanent plants. Now,
Speaker 2: that doesn't mean you can't fudget a bit here and there.
Speaker 2: Like I was saying with the Espalier, it does to
Speaker 2: some extent depend on how much work you are willing
Speaker 2: to do. And I actually happen to really enjoy going
Speaker 2: out there and ripping out some stems of my sylphium
Speaker 2: and getting the garden a little bit refined. And my
Speaker 2: husband happens to really enjoy espaluing it and doing that
Speaker 2: pruning once a month or whatever that is. So again,
Speaker 2: this is really a question of how much effort or
Speaker 2: how much work are you willing to take on and
Speaker 2: the type of work that it is, and if you
Speaker 2: enjoy that. But you know, one of the issues I
Speaker 2: think with spacing, the reason that so many of us
Speaker 2: want to, you know, kind of minimize how much space
Speaker 2: we give our plants is because we just want more
Speaker 2: plants in the ground, you know. And I don't have
Speaker 2: a huge yard. And yeah, as you said, my eyes
Speaker 2: are bigger than my garden. My dreams or a bigger than
Speaker 2: my garden as well, and so sometimes yeah, I do
Speaker 2: fudge things to try to get more there. And also
Speaker 2: because I just love that full, lush look.
Speaker 1: And that's why I say, you got to act like
Speaker 1: Tom Cruise in Top Gun, and you gotta go vertical sometimes.
Speaker 2: Right, And one way that you can do that is
Speaker 2: by choosing fastigit plants, and you've probably heard us use
Speaker 2: that word here and there. Basically, all it means, it's
Speaker 2: a fancy word, it is a Latin word, but from
Speaker 2: a horticultural perspective, all it means is that a plant
Speaker 2: naturally grows with a narrow columnar habit, so instead of
Speaker 2: being a big, wide, spreading tree, it's just a tidy,
Speaker 2: little column. And that word fastigit comes from the Latin
Speaker 2: for high or lofty these plants, a fastigit plant doesn't
Speaker 2: necessarily have to be very tall, but it will be
Speaker 2: very narrow. One of the best examples of this is
Speaker 2: the fastigient English oak Quercus rober fastigiata. Beautiful plant, and
Speaker 2: for some reason here in the US, by and large,
Speaker 2: it is that fastigiit version. It's far far more popular
Speaker 2: than the big, full, massive tree version. But there's lots
Speaker 2: of choices among shrubs as well. So you might be
Speaker 2: familiar with our pillar roses of sharon like purple pillar,
Speaker 2: white pillar, red pillar, glowstick, and skybox Japanese holly, fine
Speaker 2: line ramness. We have this new yard line viburnum, which
Speaker 2: is an evergreen for milder climates, and today's plant on trial.
Speaker 2: Stonehenge U is also a fastigit plant.
Speaker 1: Didn't we introduce people to that plant in our winter
Speaker 1: garden walk?
Speaker 2: We did, which might be one of the reasons why
Speaker 2: it was on my mind, because as you can see,
Speaker 2: we do have many others. Ooh, another one that I
Speaker 2: forgot to mention. One that you love skinny fit gink o.
Speaker 1: Yes, love it.
Speaker 2: That's a very small, narrow ginko. Not too many on
Speaker 2: the market yet, but so I'll tell you if you
Speaker 2: see one, snatch it up. But there will be more
Speaker 2: coming on the market in the coming seasons. So if
Speaker 2: there's some kind of plant that you really really want
Speaker 2: and you don't have space for it, like an oak
Speaker 2: or gang goo, there very often are these fastigial alternatives
Speaker 2: that just take up a fraction of the space. You know,
Speaker 2: a fastigit you know, tree or shrub for example. Taking
Speaker 2: this taxis stonehanji reaches two to four feet wide. That's
Speaker 2: pretty darn narrow. That is not a lot. I mean,
Speaker 2: you know, I think my summarific hibiscus take up more
Speaker 2: space sure than that. But if you consider you or
Speaker 2: taxes on the whole. Even though here in the US
Speaker 2: we kind of think of them as very kind of
Speaker 2: boring suburban plants that are just planted as like a
Speaker 2: front yard hedge show.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but I think your timing on this is perfect, Stacy.
Speaker 1: I mean, everyone at this time of the year is
Speaker 1: thinking about taxes, right.
Speaker 2: That's right. I was going to say this for April fifteenth,
Speaker 2: but you.
Speaker 1: And I answer plant questions I wrote down here. An
Speaker 1: accountant is someone who solves a problem you didn't know
Speaker 1: you had in a way you don't understand.
Speaker 2: That's true.
Speaker 1: That's what accountants do.
Speaker 2: We problem and sometimes people don't understand that too. But yeah,
Speaker 2: so in the like in England, you will see taxes
Speaker 2: that you would not even recognize because they get to
Speaker 2: be massive, massive trees, and yeah, we just don't. They
Speaker 2: just don't do that here. We don't grow them that way.
Speaker 2: And of course we don't have thousands of years of history,
Speaker 2: but there you can find all over the UK and
Speaker 2: Ireland use that are thousands of years old, literally known
Speaker 2: to be two or three or four thousand years old.
Speaker 2: One of the oldest, the fourteen gold U, has a
Speaker 2: trunk circumference, or had at one point. It's now kind
Speaker 2: of hollowed out fifty two feet wow. And uh use
Speaker 2: are known to reach heights of sixty five feet or taller.
Speaker 2: So you can really see how a plant like Stonehenge,
Speaker 2: you at just two to four feet tall and wide,
Speaker 2: give you an opportunity to kind of get some of
Speaker 2: that look that history, but with using just a small,
Speaker 2: small fraction of the space. And a great thing about
Speaker 2: fastigit plants as well is that they don't need pruning,
Speaker 2: you know, because they aren't growing wide, they're just growing
Speaker 2: with a stove pipe kind of shape. You really don't
Speaker 2: need to prune them. Now. You can height prune them
Speaker 2: if you wish, it is usually best to let them go,
Speaker 2: but if you start them when they're young and you're
Speaker 2: not cutting into any really thick wood, you can easily
Speaker 2: maintain a lower height as well on a fastigit plant.
Speaker 2: But like Rick said, you can see Stonehenge in the
Speaker 2: winter landscape in our most recent winter garden tour, and
Speaker 2: I think that that where that plant is planted in
Speaker 2: our gardens really kind of shows how this plant can
Speaker 2: be used and how useful and beautiful it is.
Speaker 1: And at this time of the year, in the dead
Speaker 1: of winter, we'll take any green we can.
Speaker 2: Get, yes, even from a taxis even. I mean, I
Speaker 2: have to say I have my own ideas about taxes
Speaker 2: because I grew up with taxis outside my yard, growing
Speaker 2: up like it was there, you know, it was a
Speaker 2: newer development. And I think that so many contractors developers
Speaker 2: are just like, hey, we need something to put in coverage.
Speaker 2: We don't know if it's sun or shade. We're not
Speaker 2: going to bother finding out because you do take full
Speaker 2: sun to full shade. And that's pretty great characteristic.
Speaker 1: Tell me about it, Stacey. I come from the garden
Speaker 1: center industry. We would unload semi loads of taxes balden
Speaker 1: bur lap. Yeah, the soil around the roots usually were
Speaker 1: solid clay. You lift those things all day long. You
Speaker 1: start to think about death and taxes all that.
Speaker 2: Yes, aren't you glad that's not a thing anymore?
Speaker 1: Oh oh my.
Speaker 2: And they can take pretty much any soil as well.
Speaker 2: So another thing that's great for contractors to, you know,
Speaker 2: just throw in front of these developments. Poor soil, no problem.
Speaker 2: As long as it's well drained. They don't mind sand.
Speaker 2: One thing that's that taxes in general do mind though,
Speaker 2: that you should be aware of if you're thinking about
Speaker 2: planting Stonehenge Texas. They are not derresistant. And it's bizarre
Speaker 2: because tax is one of the most toxic plants. And
Speaker 2: you know, I don't like to freak people out talking
Speaker 2: about toxic plants, but it's so wild to me that
Speaker 2: so many people are so concerned and yet this completely
Speaker 2: ubiquitous plan, at least through the Midwest everywhere, extremely toxic
Speaker 2: to humans and pets. The deer will eat it like
Speaker 2: there's no tomorrow, like it's candy. It's like a compulsion
Speaker 2: with them. I don't know how that works, but anyway,
Speaker 2: I would have to say, if you grew up like me,
Speaker 2: with your mother constantly warning you not to touch the
Speaker 2: red berries on the green shrubs in the front of
Speaker 2: the house, then you know exactly what I'm talking about.
Speaker 2: But again, Sonehenge, you is a great plant if you
Speaker 2: live in USCA zones four through seven, not super heat tolerant,
Speaker 2: have shade, and are looking for a space saving evergreen.
Speaker 2: If that's not what you're looking for, I will list
Speaker 2: the rest of the fastigit shrubs and trees that I
Speaker 2: have discussed in our show notes at Gardeningsimplified on air
Speaker 2: dot Com. We're gonna take a little break. When we
Speaker 2: come back, we're opening up the garden. Mailed eggs of police.
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Speaker 2: at your local garden center, or learn more at proven
Speaker 2: Winner's Color Choice dot com. Greetings gardening friends, and welcome
Speaker 2: back to the Gardening Simplified Show. It's our favorite time
Speaker 2: of the show where we get to answer your gardening questions.
Speaker 2: But before we do dive into what we've got this week,
Speaker 2: I wanted to briefly talk a bit about the spacing
Speaker 2: on the plant tag. And like I said earlier, the
Speaker 2: spacing that's recommended at least speaking about Proven Menner's Color
Speaker 2: Choice Shrubs is based on the width of the plant. So, however,
Speaker 2: why the plant gets from one end to the other
Speaker 2: is how we're going to recommend that you space them,
Speaker 2: and very often both the width and the space, the
Speaker 2: width and the spacing will always be the same. We
Speaker 2: just had to separate about because some people didn't understand
Speaker 2: that you can use the width to calculate the spacing.
Speaker 2: But in almost all cases, what you're going to see
Speaker 2: is a range of sizes. So we take sone hands you,
Speaker 2: like we just talked about it. In plants on trial,
Speaker 2: we have a range of width and spacing on that
Speaker 2: two to four feet, and a lot of people find
Speaker 2: that confusing. Do I space it two feet? Do I
Speaker 2: space at four feet? Do I space it three feet?
Speaker 2: And overall, here's the kind of guideline that you can use.
Speaker 2: The colder your climate, the less wide that plant is
Speaker 2: likely to get, because your colder and longer winters are
Speaker 2: going to prevent it from growing quite as much. The
Speaker 2: warmer your climate, the more likely you will want to
Speaker 2: use the higher end of that range, because your plant
Speaker 2: is going to have a longer growing season and thus
Speaker 2: it is going to grow more. There's a lot of
Speaker 2: other growing conditions that play into that. If it's like
Speaker 2: ideal growing conditions and you're fertilizing it all the time.
Speaker 2: Of course, it's going to get bigger than if it's
Speaker 2: you know, struggling in you know, sandy dune soil and
Speaker 2: not getting irrigated like in my garden in your.
Speaker 1: Right Stacey, as you would say, your mileage may vary, yeah,
Speaker 1: very much. So if you're planting something in northern Minnesota
Speaker 1: compared to someone in North Carolina, that with could be
Speaker 1: possibly significantly.
Speaker 2: Different, definitely, And it also is a personal choice. Like
Speaker 2: I was saying, I know a lot of you don't
Speaker 2: like your plants to touch. I love my plants to touch,
Speaker 2: so I'm always reducing that spacing as almost as much
Speaker 2: as I possibly can to make sure I get as
Speaker 2: much in. So if you definitely don't want your plants
Speaker 2: to touch, that's another case where you would use that
Speaker 2: higher end of the range and space them at three
Speaker 2: or four feet. Also useful in hedging. If you're going
Speaker 2: with a hedge, especially in a cold climate, I would
Speaker 2: always always use the smaller number because you're doing it
Speaker 2: for coverage. You don't want to wait the rest of
Speaker 2: your life for things to grow into with each other.
Speaker 2: So it can be that's where the subjective aspect of
Speaker 2: it comes in. But we're not trying to be deliberately
Speaker 2: obtuse about how wide the plant gets. It's just that
Speaker 2: it is a There are just so many factors, so
Speaker 2: you know that's where sort of the art part of
Speaker 2: gardening comes in.
Speaker 1: Sure, and personal preference absolutely definitely, you bet all right,
Speaker 1: CJ writes to us this week High Team, I look
Speaker 1: forward to your show every week. Question. I planted this
Speaker 1: ginko princeton centry in my High Desert Zone six B
Speaker 1: garden summer twenty twenty three. I noticed this funky growth
Speaker 1: down at the base of the trunk, and I'm wondering
Speaker 1: if I should be concerned. The vertical lines may be
Speaker 1: from feral cats at the nursery. According to the nursery
Speaker 1: gal who sold it to me, it seemed to do
Speaker 1: okay last summer, a little bit of new growth and
Speaker 1: some minor tip die off at the top, signing off
Speaker 1: with a sassy wink.
Speaker 2: There you go, right, So this plant is being girdled
Speaker 2: as we speak. So CJ did send some pictures and
Speaker 2: you will see those in the YouTube version as well
Speaker 2: as on our show notes at Gardenings Simplified on Air
Speaker 2: dot com. And yeah, this is a bad case of
Speaker 2: girdling and your tree will not be long for the
Speaker 2: world unless you fix this.
Speaker 1: So it's choking.
Speaker 2: It's choking itself. Yeah, so you can see that the
Speaker 2: roots are kind of that you can already see that
Speaker 2: they're moving in a circular motion. You can also see
Speaker 2: that they're kind of you know, twirling and twisting around
Speaker 2: each other. And so, uh, first of the first thing
Speaker 2: that I would do, and one thing that I noticed
Speaker 2: from your photo CJ, is that you have your drip
Speaker 2: emitters right up close to the base of the plant.
Speaker 2: And I don't think that that's helping, because that's what
Speaker 2: that's doing is keeping that area really really moist and
Speaker 2: probably leading to a lot more hair root development there.
Speaker 2: You really want those emitters to be out at the
Speaker 2: canopy of the plant. Now, Princeton Princeton sentry is a
Speaker 2: somewhat fastigic ginko, so that might not be very very
Speaker 2: far off, But look at where the leaves are and
Speaker 2: try to position your emitters to that so called dripline
Speaker 2: or just outside of it where when it rains, the
Speaker 2: water drips off the plant and makes that ring around
Speaker 2: the planet. That will help a lot. I don't think
Speaker 2: you're doing yourself any favors there, and then I think
Speaker 2: you got two choices here. You can dig up the
Speaker 2: plant and correct the girdling, which would probably be the
Speaker 2: best thing to do. It's only two years not quite
Speaker 2: two years old, so it's not going to be like
Speaker 2: a lot of roots. I don't think it'd be super
Speaker 2: hard to dig. And even though doing this will set
Speaker 2: it back a little bit, I think that the investment
Speaker 2: that you put into it to correct it will certainly
Speaker 2: pay off in the long run because the other alternative,
Speaker 2: and you do have to fix this, is to just
Speaker 2: take an axe or a saw and take out some
Speaker 2: of the worst defenders, and that's not really ideal.
Speaker 1: What would you do same thing. I really have nothing
Speaker 1: to add, And I think your point, as far as
Speaker 1: the water is concerned, or when people fertilized trees, always
Speaker 1: work your way out to the drip line. Let's not
Speaker 1: work around the trunk.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's easy to think that that's where you would
Speaker 2: want to have it, but now you really want to
Speaker 2: you know, the tree basically does kind of adapt to
Speaker 2: the fact that that's where the water comes from when
Speaker 2: it rains, so that is where you want to really
Speaker 2: target your watering on any tree or shrub, or really
Speaker 2: even a perennial, because bigger perennials will have a drip
Speaker 2: line as well.
Speaker 1: We have some pictures to show folks who are watching
Speaker 1: the YouTube version because Bethany writes to us, Hello, thanks
Speaker 1: for the show. I enjoy listening to it every week.
Speaker 1: I've learned a lot, and i'd like advice on what
Speaker 1: to do with my laurels. Don't rest on your laurels, right,
Speaker 1: that was easy. Last year, a few patches started wilting
Speaker 1: and turning yellow brown, and now several of the shrubs
Speaker 1: are affected. I tried pruning out the affected branches, spraying fungicide.
Speaker 1: It's still spreading. Do I need to remove the affected
Speaker 1: plants completely? Can I cut them back? I want to
Speaker 1: try and protect the remaining healthy one.
Speaker 2: Right, So do take a moment to look at Bethany's photos.
Speaker 2: If you're not watching us on YouTube, go to Gardening
Speaker 2: Simplified on air dot com and you'll see them. And
Speaker 2: I wanted to answer Bethany's question today because it is
Speaker 2: an issue that I think a lot of people are
Speaker 2: likely to see happen in their yards this coming spring.
Speaker 2: The laurel that she's talking about is a cherry laurel
Speaker 2: Prunus Laura sirasus. So it's not like a bay laurel
Speaker 2: or something like that. It is a brunly fevergreen does
Speaker 2: want a sitic soil. But you know, a lot of
Speaker 2: times when we see things starting to go wrong and
Speaker 2: there's multiple of plants here in this planting, our first
Speaker 2: thought is that it's a disease and it's spreading. But
Speaker 2: I think when you look at Bethanese photos and if
Speaker 2: this is happening to you, if you take a moment
Speaker 2: to step back and really look at the area where
Speaker 2: this is happening, you're going to start picking up on
Speaker 2: a little bit more clues, more clues than you may
Speaker 2: have just initially thought by looking at you know, from
Speaker 2: one direction, and what I see here in Bethany's planting
Speaker 2: is that all the plants on the right side are dying.
Speaker 2: And what I notice is that there is a downspout
Speaker 2: from the house right there, and very likely what is
Speaker 2: happening is probably they're getting too much water. They're having
Speaker 2: soil drainage issues or possibly like leeching issues from excess
Speaker 2: water there that is either leading to drainage issues or
Speaker 2: leading to a pH problem because cherry laurels do want
Speaker 2: an acidic pH so it could be just like leeching
Speaker 2: out all of the organic matter. But when you look
Speaker 2: at this and you see that those damage plants are
Speaker 2: so concentrated together and not just randomly through your hedge.
Speaker 2: It's not like one down at one end and then
Speaker 2: one in the middle. These are concentrated together. So something
Speaker 2: is happening. It is almost certainly cultural, which is to
Speaker 2: say it's related to water, you know, for soil fertility
Speaker 2: something like that, and not a pest or disease, although
Speaker 2: it could be rabbits. So what you're going to need
Speaker 2: to do, Bethany is I would recommend clearing away your
Speaker 2: mulch and trying to get down there and look what's
Speaker 2: going on. You know, is the soil extremely wet and soggy.
Speaker 2: I think that your plants that have turned brown are
Speaker 2: not going to come back. But the ones that have
Speaker 2: kind of that like sad, pale green color, which that
Speaker 2: is definitely not a great color to see in your
Speaker 2: garden potentially could be saved. But you're going to have
Speaker 2: to remedy the situation. So you need to get down
Speaker 2: there and see. It's so easy for people to think
Speaker 2: when they see something going wrong with the tops of
Speaker 2: their plants that it's a pest, a bug or something
Speaker 2: like that. But I mean, honestly, nine point five times
Speaker 2: out of ten, it's always an issue that originates at
Speaker 2: the roots and the leaves are just manifesting whatever problem
Speaker 2: that is.
Speaker 1: I agree, look down, not up, and with broad leaf
Speaker 1: evergreens rhododendrons are another example. I phy top thro a
Speaker 1: can be a problem, and I think you nailed it
Speaker 1: on the head, Stacey, and I would look at that
Speaker 1: soil because if you don't have good drainage, and we
Speaker 1: don't know if this is a heavy soil or not,
Speaker 1: but without good drainage, you're going to have those problems
Speaker 1: and it will appear in the top of the plant
Speaker 1: as though it's browning, turning, pale and moping. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: that's exactly what I see in these patres.
Speaker 2: And you know, phi toop throa is a disease, but
Speaker 2: phi toop through a root rot is a disease that's
Speaker 2: caused by wet soil. So it's not really a situation
Speaker 2: where like, oh gosh, it caught this horrible disease. It's
Speaker 2: a it's a disease that kind of manifests based on
Speaker 2: the cultural condition additions, and then it's the phytoproa that
Speaker 2: might take it out. But the phytopthroa is only there
Speaker 2: because of the poor drainage. And Bethany does look like
Speaker 2: she is located in Tennessee, so almost certainly a pretty
Speaker 2: heavy clay soil and rocky soil which can definitely, you know,
Speaker 2: lead to drainage issues. So clear that multuay dig around
Speaker 2: look for clues. After you have a heavy rain, go
Speaker 2: out and check and see how much moisture that downspout
Speaker 2: is funneling into that bed, and you know, possibly the
Speaker 2: solution is a simple is redirecting that down spout out
Speaker 2: into the lawn instead of into your bed. Great, so
Speaker 2: there's always more clues there if you look. But anyway, Bethany,
Speaker 2: I'm sorry to hear about your cherry laurels and hope
Speaker 2: that you're able to save them. Anything that's still green,
Speaker 2: I would at least give it a little bit more
Speaker 2: time if you're able to remedy the soil issues. We're
Speaker 2: going to take a little bit of a break, and
Speaker 2: when we come back, we have gardenings simplified fan favorite
Speaker 2: Birdman in the house to talk bird So stay tuned.
Speaker 2: Thanks for listening to the Gardening Simplified Podcast, brought to
Speaker 2: you by Proven Winners Color Choice Shrubs. Our award winning
Speaker 2: flowering shrubs and evergreens are trialed and tested by experts
Speaker 2: with your success in mind. Learn more at Proven winnerscolor
Speaker 2: Choice dot com.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show. Today in Branching News,
Speaker 1: I want to kick off branching News Stacey simply by
Speaker 1: sharing that for our YouTube viewers or rad listeners or
Speaker 1: podcast listeners. I'm going to be in the Chicago Land
Speaker 1: area on March eighth, so that's Saturday, March eighth. I'm
Speaker 1: going to be giving a couple presentations at Plathill Nursery.
Speaker 1: Have you ever been there?
Speaker 2: I have not been there, but I know they are
Speaker 2: one of the biggest and best nurseries in the Chicagoland area.
Speaker 1: Fantastic nursery. I'm going to talk about plant scaping also
Speaker 1: easy to grow plants. The presentations are based on the
Speaker 1: work you and I do here on the Gardening Simplified Show.
Speaker 1: So if you're in the Chicago Land area, love to
Speaker 1: see on March eight, that's in Carpentersville, Illinois, plat Hill
Speaker 1: Nursery Stacy coming up on February fourteen through seventeen this weekend, Yes,
Speaker 1: is the Global Bird Count And this is exciting and
Speaker 1: if you want to learn more about it, just go
Speaker 1: to birdcount dot org. As a matter of fact, you
Speaker 1: can follow live online as people submit their bird counts.
Speaker 1: It's kind of that's neat, yeah, and to count birds.
Speaker 1: And I thought, who better to talk to about this?
Speaker 1: I mean, we just got off super Bowl weekend, right,
Speaker 1: super Bowl super Bowl weekend, So let's move on to
Speaker 1: Global bird Count and celebrate with a birdman himself, Bill Stovell. Bill,
Speaker 1: how you doing this winter?
Speaker 3: Doing well this winter? How are you doing? There? Sounds
Speaker 3: pretty good from here.
Speaker 1: I'm anxious for spring, Bill, can't wait. As a matter
Speaker 1: of fact, you know, I was thinking this past week
Speaker 1: watching the birds at my bird feeder, with the ground
Speaker 1: still snow covered and everything icy and frozen. I start
Speaker 1: to think about birds running out of berries and natural
Speaker 1: food sources. It's probably a good time of the year
Speaker 1: to be feeding them, right, Bills.
Speaker 3: One of the best. It probably is the best right now.
Speaker 3: They're in more need. Now. All my berry trees except
Speaker 3: my hawthorns are picked beer. They've been each each one
Speaker 3: in the winter berries and then the all the you know,
Speaker 3: all the different kinds of berries that we produce for them,
Speaker 3: and now they're gone. They're supplemented with some flour seed
Speaker 3: at the feeder and see.
Speaker 1: It exactly, you know, Stacey. We often talk on the
Speaker 1: show about putting plants in the landscape that provide those berries,
Speaker 1: and there are so many great choices, and it's at
Speaker 1: this time of the year that it becomes pretty evident
Speaker 1: part of the reason why we do it.
Speaker 2: Definitely. The birds are very active at my suwet feeder,
Speaker 2: and you know, that reminds me of a question, Bill,
Speaker 2: It's been on my mind lately, and you are the
Speaker 2: perfect person to ask. So I have a seuwet feeder,
Speaker 2: and of course, you know, my garden is primarily geared
Speaker 2: around attracting and making it hospitable for birds. So there's
Speaker 2: plenty of shelter. I've got evergreen shelter just you know,
Speaker 2: a few steps away. I've got a magnolia tree that
Speaker 2: is very very close for them to fly into. And
Speaker 2: you know what else, I've got Cooper's hawks and I
Speaker 2: love you know, I love birds of prey, so I,
Speaker 2: you know, I understand that that's a natural part of it.
Speaker 2: But sometimes I do get to asking myself, am I
Speaker 2: just like setting up a shooting fish in a barrel situation?
Speaker 2: Am I making things worse for the birds when I'm
Speaker 2: trying to make things better?
Speaker 3: Not so often. First of all, the hawks are there
Speaker 3: once in a while, they don't stay there a long time,
Speaker 3: and they're only good one out of seven, you know,
Speaker 3: they save it seven chances before they get one bird. Oh,
Speaker 3: I really get one that's a little a little weaker
Speaker 3: than the others for some reason. Really, And yeah, And
Speaker 3: one of the reasons that we have so many birds
Speaker 3: and then the nests are so large, you know, the
Speaker 3: flocks are so big, is that there's a there is
Speaker 3: a predatory situation, you know, throughout the country, and that's
Speaker 3: only one of them. There's diseases, and there's windows, and
Speaker 3: there's other things. So it's just just part of their
Speaker 3: life and you're not doing anything bad. You're probably doing
Speaker 3: more a whole lot more good by feeding. And our
Speaker 3: hawks need to need to survive too, because they take
Speaker 3: care of the more crippled birds and the you know,
Speaker 3: they call they call the herd or the flock, any
Speaker 3: of the weaker one. So, and they're gorgeous birds.
Speaker 2: Oh I'm crazy about them. I do love to see them.
Speaker 2: But you know, I'm not gonna lie. I did see
Speaker 2: a pair work to take out a woodpecker, and I'm like,
Speaker 2: couldn't have just been a sparrow, a starling?
Speaker 3: Maybe?
Speaker 2: Did it have to be a woodpecker? That was a
Speaker 2: little bit of heartbreaking.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Most most often I'll take a morning dove and
Speaker 3: there's just a big puff of feathers. But we have
Speaker 3: a lot of mourning. Does at the second most popular
Speaker 3: popular bird there is a morning dove.
Speaker 2: So there's no shortage on my house, that's for sure.
Speaker 3: Just just another pigeon.
Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1: I think what we ought to do is say up
Speaker 1: an ad hoc committee to analyze the situation. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: know that was well global bird count So Bill, what's
Speaker 1: the use in counting birds? I think I have a
Speaker 1: good idea. But you know, the website states that scientists
Speaker 1: need hundreds of thousands of people worldwide to report what
Speaker 1: they're seeing in their backyards, neighborhoods, wild places around the world.
Speaker 1: They call it participatory science, community science. Because we're interested
Speaker 1: in the health of birds. For our viewers on YouTube,
Speaker 1: showing you some pictures of some tucans that I took
Speaker 1: pictures of in Costa Rica a few months ago, just
Speaker 1: amazing to watch. So we love, we love the the
Speaker 1: enjoyment of watching birds. But Bill, the point here is
Speaker 1: that we can make a difference too by helping track
Speaker 1: and report birds in a bird count correct correct.
Speaker 3: This is just a fantastic possibility of a snapshot of
Speaker 3: everything that's on the globe at the same moment, so
Speaker 3: you can get an idea about how many and what
Speaker 3: kind of birds we have, and if there's a real
Speaker 3: problem with one species or two, then you can turn
Speaker 3: a little at tension towards the conservation of that, making
Speaker 3: their habitat better or their food sources better or something
Speaker 3: like that. So it's a management skill and it's an
Speaker 3: inventory of what we have. Our population changes all the time,
Speaker 3: so we need to know.
Speaker 2: So it's useful to have it at the same time
Speaker 2: every year, even though the actual date changes. Of course,
Speaker 2: you know they need to have it on a weekend
Speaker 2: so humans can actually participate. The birds have different schedules,
Speaker 2: of course, but then you have that consistency from your
Speaker 2: dear that it's always that second weekend in February or
Speaker 2: third weekend in February or whatever it is.
Speaker 3: Well, then your birds are pretty much in the same
Speaker 3: place as they were last year at your feeder or
Speaker 3: the same places in your in your yard or your
Speaker 3: woodland nearby, or the walking trails whatever out in the fields.
Speaker 2: And so with the backguard great bird count, is any
Speaker 2: contribution valuable? Like even if you can only watch for
Speaker 2: you know, five minutes and you do only see a
Speaker 2: morning dove or you know something like that, is that
Speaker 2: still useful?
Speaker 3: Well, I think that's one reason that they haven't spread
Speaker 3: for such a long time, because you're not going to
Speaker 3: be watching for that time. You can go and spend
Speaker 3: fifteen minutes and take a note, and then next time
Speaker 3: you're fixing the dinner or something that that you look
Speaker 3: out to do another fifteen minutes and you come, you
Speaker 3: pile it together, and all of a sudden you find
Speaker 3: you the species that are coming in on a consistent basis,
Speaker 3: and you've got your observation for your territory. Right.
Speaker 2: So, anyone who can even dedicate a few minutes and
Speaker 2: whether or not you have a feeder. Right, This is
Speaker 2: not dependent on whether you have a feeder. It's just
Speaker 2: whatever birds are present in your backyard where you are well.
Speaker 3: You greatly increase your possibilities if you have a feeder
Speaker 3: and uh water, Yeah, you know, heated bird baths one
Speaker 3: of the two because that attracts the birds and sewet
Speaker 3: which is a different group of birds too. Woodpeckers and
Speaker 3: that are more into the suet where your seed feeders
Speaker 3: are are different groups of birds. But uh, then you've
Speaker 3: got the full full population available at that time, you know,
Speaker 3: for the you know, whenever, whenever you had chance to
Speaker 3: look at it. You don't have to spend a lot
Speaker 3: of time doing it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm amazed at the great work done by many
Speaker 1: organizations and many people that care about these beautiful birds
Speaker 1: that we enjoy in our outdoor environments along with our plants.
Speaker 1: Cornell University and the Autuban Society, and it goes on
Speaker 1: and on. I remember in the past interviewing someone who
Speaker 1: volunteered to pick up birds at the base of a
Speaker 1: tall building year round and dead birds that had struck
Speaker 1: the building, and I was, you know, during the interview,
Speaker 1: I was saying, how do you do it. I would
Speaker 1: be so depressed at the end of the day walking away.
Speaker 1: But it's important work that they're doing.
Speaker 3: Bill.
Speaker 1: When it comes to the environment, the health of birds
Speaker 1: and wildlife in our landscapes are just a snapshot, like
Speaker 1: you said, of how healthy our environment is.
Speaker 3: Well, they are in a canary in the mine for
Speaker 3: the whole population. Yes, it's an indicator of health, and
Speaker 3: birds are one of the primary indicators because they're more vulnerable.
Speaker 3: You can see the population fluctuations first, and birds before
Speaker 3: other things are apparent.
Speaker 2: Just to pause here.
Speaker 3: Yelling to launch and also amphibians.
Speaker 2: But I know, I think we're all just sitting here
Speaker 2: going gosh, it's really sad.
Speaker 1: So Birdman. The other thought that runs through my mind.
Speaker 1: I went outside this morning to clear snow from the driveway,
Speaker 1: and it was quiet and very cold, but I listened
Speaker 1: to the cardinals singing in the trees. But I wanted
Speaker 1: to remind people of something you taught me a long
Speaker 1: time ago, and that is it's at this time of
Speaker 1: the year that, more than just about any time of
Speaker 1: the year, water is important for birds.
Speaker 3: Right It is the most important right now because they
Speaker 3: can't get it easily. They can't melt snow and have
Speaker 3: it be effective with their body temperatures. They need to
Speaker 3: have flowing their water that's unfrozen, whether it's along the curb,
Speaker 3: or whether it's along a crook bank, or of all
Speaker 3: a bird bath that has a heater in it so
Speaker 3: they can just come anytime they need it. And they
Speaker 3: need to take clean So they need to take baths
Speaker 3: occasionally too to keep the picks and the other things off,
Speaker 3: because they need their feathers to be efficient.
Speaker 1: I remember that polar vortex winter of twenty fifteen when
Speaker 1: everything just froze solid, and the number of dead birds
Speaker 1: that we saw out there. Like I said, why don't
Speaker 1: we queue up old Yeller and watch the end here?
Speaker 1: Now that we're depressed, let's move on to something more happy,
Speaker 1: hummingbirds and robins and all of that good stuff that's
Speaker 1: coming soon.
Speaker 3: Right yesterday I saw four robins and three male bluebirds
Speaker 3: in a sunny spot, so they're they're looking around for
Speaker 3: a few of the berries that are left. They're looking
Speaker 3: at the sunny spots on the next of the building
Speaker 3: where the ground is now clear because it's been reflexively heated,
Speaker 3: so they're stretching in that along the bases of the
Speaker 3: trees where there's still a little ground showing through, and
Speaker 3: along the streams where there's some green to eat eat
Speaker 3: things and fine bug. So they're struggling out, but they're
Speaker 3: doing just fine.
Speaker 2: Sorry, I think I'm still sad.
Speaker 1: I'm depressed. I'm going home.
Speaker 2: We're sick of winter, bill, Yeah, as I'm sure the
Speaker 2: birds are.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm ready for spring. Well.
Speaker 1: And of course people on YouTube watch us all around
Speaker 1: the world, or they're watching in the south, and they're
Speaker 1: wondering what we're talking about here, right, that's true.
Speaker 3: Well, there's some benefits to this. There are no mosquitos
Speaker 3: fighting me today, that's true.
Speaker 2: We got to be grateful for those things. So as
Speaker 2: spring does come closer, what are some of the first
Speaker 2: migrants that are going to come back that we should
Speaker 2: have our eyes peeled for.
Speaker 3: When you see a plot of red winged blackbirds at
Speaker 3: the edge of a field, and you know things are
Speaker 3: coming on. When you look up in the sky and
Speaker 3: you see angels flying over and calling, When you look
Speaker 3: up in the sky and you see some ducks and
Speaker 3: geese and trumpeter swan's going on over, you know things
Speaker 3: are starting to move.
Speaker 2: And why the red wing blackbird. I'm curious about that.
Speaker 3: Do they migrate, Yeah, yeah, they move further south and
Speaker 3: then they come back and flocks. They don't migrate very far.
Speaker 3: I don't think they just go down to where there's
Speaker 3: not so much snow. It isn't everybody goes to Florida.
Speaker 3: They go to Tennessee or or you know, there's become
Speaker 3: good things in Tennessee. They got horses and whiskey. They
Speaker 3: got good things.
Speaker 1: And those red winged blackbirds they're just establishing their perch.
Speaker 1: So come spring, when I'm out there running on the trail,
Speaker 1: they've got their clear vantage point to peck me in
Speaker 1: the heads.
Speaker 3: They set up a little exercise parlors around you, so
Speaker 3: they're they're really in shape to do that.
Speaker 1: That's great, So hummingbirds. Everyone looks forward to to that
Speaker 1: time of the year. I was looking online in social
Speaker 1: media and saw just the most incredible picture of an
Speaker 1: indigo bunting in a field of flowers. Talk about gorgeous color,
Speaker 1: you know. And I'm a person who has always felt
Speaker 1: in Major League Baseball, you've got the Orioles, you've got
Speaker 1: the Blue Jays, you've got the Cardinals. I've always felt
Speaker 1: there should be an Indigo bunting team. I love that
Speaker 1: bird bill.
Speaker 3: They're great. They like little brambles and there is a
Speaker 3: little spark and blue that's down inside the raspberry bushes
Speaker 3: and there, and that's where they ens, and that's where
Speaker 3: they live. But oh boy, are there's something when you
Speaker 3: see them?
Speaker 2: They really are?
Speaker 1: They are so any remaining words of wisdom for us
Speaker 1: here birdman, as we we anxiously await spring.
Speaker 3: Keep the bird feeders in a sewet is full, leave
Speaker 3: your peter plugged in, and uh stay turned, put the
Speaker 3: logs in a fireplace, and wait where it's on the
Speaker 3: downhill slide. The days are getting longer, they are.
Speaker 1: We're talking to the birdman, Bill Stoville. Hey, Bill, any
Speaker 1: idea when the loons are going to arrive on the
Speaker 1: lake for you?
Speaker 3: I'll bet it's going to be March fifteenth to nineteenth.
Speaker 1: Oh really?
Speaker 2: Is there a line in Vegas on that?
Speaker 3: Yeah? Yeah, I take the nineteenth actually been the nineteenth
Speaker 3: a pretty pretty often. It's there's not a lot of
Speaker 3: gamblers for that. You gotta be loony to do that.
Speaker 1: Oh boy, so you are the loon ranger, aren't your Bill?
Speaker 3: Yes? I am the ranger southernmost late in Bury County
Speaker 3: or in the United States, it has loons.
Speaker 2: Well, and that's only a month away, so that is
Speaker 2: definitely something to look forward to.
Speaker 3: A month away, and the male will come in first,
Speaker 3: and a couple of weeks later, the next week the
Speaker 3: female will come in and they'll start paddling around and
Speaker 3: diving and cooling and doing their pair bonding, and pretty simon,
Speaker 3: I'll have nests and eggs and foots in the air.
Speaker 2: Well. I love it, you know.
Speaker 1: Alan Armitage has told us Bill that the reason we
Speaker 1: garden gardeners never get old because they always have something
Speaker 1: to look forward to. I guess the same could be
Speaker 1: said for birders right.
Speaker 3: Absolutely, the life, the spring, the rejuvenation happiness that goes
Speaker 3: along with it, the color and the song, the fresh
Speaker 3: air from the leaves that are growing and creating oxygen
Speaker 3: forest in the woods. It's just rebirth. It's a great thing,
Speaker 3: it really is.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Bill, I feel so much better.
Speaker 2: I'm glad we were able to end on a happy
Speaker 2: note too.
Speaker 3: Yeah, instead of a silent pause.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's always fun to talk to you bird man,
Speaker 1: and thank you for your enthusiasm them for wildlife. And birds.
Speaker 1: We really appreciate you.
Speaker 3: Well. It takes a group of us to make it happen,
Speaker 3: and it's happening with us, So thank you very much
Speaker 3: for letting me play well.
Speaker 2: Thanks Bill, take care take care of Bell youto. Well,
Speaker 2: I don't know about you, but that made me even
Speaker 2: more ready for spring than I already was. And I
Speaker 2: was already pretty ready for spring.
Speaker 1: I have spring fever.
Speaker 2: I think you had spring fever since November. November, we
Speaker 2: want to thank Birdman Bill Stovell for joining us. Thank you, Rick,
Speaker 2: thank you, thank you Adriana, and of course thank you
Speaker 2: so much to all of you for listening and watching.
Speaker 2: We hope you can join us on Friday, February twenty
Speaker 2: first for our new Plants live reveal on YouTube. We'll
Speaker 2: see you then