Speaker 1: Coming to you from Iconic Studio a here at proven
Speaker 1: Winter's color Choice Shrubs. It's time for the Gardening Simplified podcast,
Speaker 1: radio and YouTube show with Stacy Hervella, me, Rick Weist,
Speaker 1: and our engineer and producer Adrianna Robinson. Well, Stacey, it
Speaker 1: seems strange to me that we're already at this time
Speaker 1: of the year winter protection. But it's the time of
Speaker 1: year where we do have to think about our plants
Speaker 1: and putting them to bed for winter.
Speaker 2: It's true. And you know a lot of people if
Speaker 2: they think that a plant needs protection for winter, either
Speaker 2: because they have experienced it getting winter damage or they
Speaker 2: just think that it needs protection. The fact is that
Speaker 2: now that plants are almost completely dormant, is the time
Speaker 2: to do it. Way over September or October when they
Speaker 2: were actually still actively metabolizing and going into dormancy. Now
Speaker 2: that they're asleep, now we can talk protection.
Speaker 1: Yeah, great point. And you know, as a lifelong gardener,
Speaker 1: my attention right away steers towards every and winter burn.
Speaker 1: You know, like human skin, evergreen trees, broad leaf evergreens
Speaker 1: can struggle to find enough moisture during the winter months.
Speaker 1: I hate that about winter. I hate dry air and
Speaker 1: low moisture levels in the air and soil create an
Speaker 1: arid environment, and that's when we see things like winter
Speaker 1: burn on things like boxwood or rhododendrons or even your
Speaker 1: typical evergreens in the landscape. So going into winter and
Speaker 1: making sure that they have the proper amount of water,
Speaker 1: the proper amount of mulch, and in some cases even
Speaker 1: an anti desconate spray, these are things that have to
Speaker 1: be on our minds, Stacy, you.
Speaker 2: Know it's so true. I think that by and large,
Speaker 2: many people feel like they need to protect stuff that
Speaker 2: doesn't actually need protecting. But you said a mouthful with mulch,
Speaker 2: Because if there is one thing that people should be
Speaker 2: doing for plant protection, it is malt. And I don't
Speaker 2: mean a rubber mulch. I mean a shredded or, if
Speaker 2: you are lucky and from the south, a beautiful pine
Speaker 2: straw mulch something over the roots of those plants to
Speaker 2: keep them insulated, to conserve moisture, and honestly, for the
Speaker 2: most part, that's all most plants really need, even the
Speaker 2: evergreens and barn leaf evergreens that you talk about, if
Speaker 2: they are well watered, going into dormancy, and they have
Speaker 2: that layer of mulch that can make way more difference
Speaker 2: than even like a burlap wrapp or an antidessican cat.
Speaker 1: Absolutely here here. Thank you very mulch Stacey for saying that,
Speaker 1: because you're right, and you know, I've found in gardening
Speaker 1: what really causes problems is not necessarily the intensity of
Speaker 1: cold or the intensity of heat, but it's when you
Speaker 1: get abrupt shifts in temperature, whether it's soil temperature or
Speaker 1: the plants, it can create some real problems. And of
Speaker 1: course sun scaled frost cracking, that sort of thing in plants.
Speaker 1: When we get a sunny January day and then at
Speaker 1: night it just drops like a brick, that's when you
Speaker 1: can really get some big problems. And I think it's
Speaker 1: very important to note here that there is a big
Speaker 1: difference between a frost and winter. Winter. We're in it
Speaker 1: for the long term. When we talk about a frost,
Speaker 1: we're talking about an overnight event. Now in that case,
Speaker 1: with a frost, sometimes people will resort to a blanket
Speaker 1: or plastic, But to do that for winter, that makes
Speaker 1: no sense whatsoever the weight. But in addition to that,
Speaker 1: don't use plastic in wrapping your plants, and heaven forbid
Speaker 1: bubble wrap.
Speaker 2: Don't do it.
Speaker 1: Don't do that.
Speaker 2: Now you can wrap your pots and bubble wrap if
Speaker 2: you are so inclined. I feel like he needs you.
Speaker 2: I know. When I was a rooftop gardener, we did that.
Speaker 2: But do not use plastic to wrap your plants. Your
Speaker 2: plants will not be happy.
Speaker 1: I had an employee and we had a fifty yard
Speaker 1: roll of bubble wrap, asked me what to do with it.
Speaker 1: I said, well, just pop it in the corner, and
Speaker 1: he was over there for four hours popping bubbles. Bad joke, I.
Speaker 2: Know, But don't use a bubbles jo, It's just a joke.
Speaker 1: Southwest disease. When the sun shines on the bark of
Speaker 1: a tree and it expands and contracts and then it splits,
Speaker 1: that becomes a real problem too. And Stacy, I want
Speaker 1: to ask you this on this topic because for me,
Speaker 1: I have found that macrophilla hydranges I generally don't see
Speaker 1: the damage in winter. I see them making it through winter,
Speaker 1: and then we get in a thaw and a warm
Speaker 1: up and the buds start to swell and then it
Speaker 1: gets cold again. That's when I see the damage. Am
Speaker 1: I right about that or not.
Speaker 2: You are right that for a lot of people, the
Speaker 2: majority of damage on your big leaf for Macrophilla hydranges
Speaker 2: does occur with spring frost. So it happens all the
Speaker 2: times us here in Michigan. And this is something that
Speaker 2: can even happen in milder climates. But you know, those
Speaker 2: days start getting long, warmer, the plants those gradually start
Speaker 2: to expand their buds, and then you know, we're not
Speaker 2: done with frost in April, We're not done with frost
Speaker 2: in May. Very often, and when those come along and
Speaker 2: zap a plant that has already started to expand its
Speaker 2: green leaves, that bud inside that flower bud is increasingly unprotected.
Speaker 2: But there is a very simple thing, a very simple
Speaker 2: way to know if your hydrange of Macrophillo or big
Speaker 2: leaf Hydrangea is being damaged by winter or spring. And
Speaker 2: it's simply this. If in spring, when the plant starts
Speaker 2: to leaf out, all of the growth is coming from
Speaker 2: the ground and not on the stems, you know it
Speaker 2: was winter damage. If you have growth on the stems,
Speaker 2: you know when spring comes and it starts to grow
Speaker 2: and you're seeing that emerge on those actual stems, and
Speaker 2: your plant still doesn't go on to bloom in summer.
Speaker 2: You either prune it, or someone else prune it, or
Speaker 2: a deer prune it, or it was those spring freezes.
Speaker 2: So it's an easy way to tell what the thing is.
Speaker 2: And the simple fact is that fewer varieties of big
Speaker 2: leaf Hydrangea, especially the Let's Dance series Let's Stance can
Speaker 2: do Let's Dance, Skyview and Let's Dance areba. We're developed
Speaker 2: to better withstand both the winter cold and the spring frost,
Speaker 2: but not all Hydrangeas are the same.
Speaker 1: So that makes that great way coy and a great
Speaker 1: rule of green thumb. I like that. Of course, plants
Speaker 1: will show us defense mechanisms. Rhododendrons will mope, the leaves
Speaker 1: will fold on themselves, and remember a layer of snow
Speaker 1: actually helps insulate plants many times. Dry cold is the
Speaker 1: bigger threat roses, and fall into early winter give them
Speaker 1: plenty of time to shut down, especially today's day and
Speaker 1: age landscape roses. They're tough, they can take it, and
Speaker 1: they need some time to shut down before winter. So
Speaker 1: don't go into winter dry. And oh, by the way,
Speaker 1: when you put on the Christmas lights on shrubs, remember
Speaker 1: what goes up must come down. That's why putting lights
Speaker 1: on plants is best when it's really cold and uncomfortable outside.
Speaker 1: You don't get into all kinds of detail and really
Speaker 1: wrap them in there. Really good.
Speaker 2: That's just I didn't know where you were going with that,
Speaker 2: but that is a very good point. You're going to
Speaker 2: be much bigger of a hurry and not do that. Oh,
Speaker 2: I'm going to wrap it around because then you know,
Speaker 2: when it is cold you're taking them down, that's when
Speaker 2: you're going to be likely to cause damage.
Speaker 1: Exactly exactly. So here's a limerick on winter protection for plants.
Speaker 1: In life, there are no guarantees. I try to rely
Speaker 1: on my expertise, but wow, I am feeling guilt, all
Speaker 1: snuggled warm under my quilt while my roses outside freeze.
Speaker 1: My winter protections were textbook in the preparations I undertook.
Speaker 1: The night before Christmas, it was and frozen. Are my
Speaker 1: hyghdrained juzz? That's a stretch on that rhyme. I thank you,
Speaker 1: I can barely stand to look. I'll visit through the snow.
Speaker 1: I trudge, give them encouragement, a nudge. Maybe next spring
Speaker 1: they'll forgive me for forgiveness. I will plea. I sure
Speaker 1: hope they won't hold a grudge. And you know, you
Speaker 1: kind of feel that way inside, nice and warm when
Speaker 1: your plants are out there in the cold and stacey.
Speaker 1: It brings up the point that taking a walk through
Speaker 1: your landscape from time to time in winter, looking for
Speaker 1: things like deer or rabbit damage, or maybe roots heaving
Speaker 1: up out of the ground due to frost and thaw,
Speaker 1: those are important things to do.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, who knows what you'll find. Really, all
Speaker 2: sorts of crazy stuff can happen to winter. But I'll
Speaker 2: tell you I don't feel very bad for my plants
Speaker 2: in winter because, as we discussed in our moving in show,
Speaker 2: most plants they do not want to be in your house.
Speaker 2: I agree, they will not be happy. You might think
Speaker 2: that you're extrapolating your feelings and aw, I'm sitting here
Speaker 2: by the fire and it's cozy and marvelous. The plant
Speaker 2: is definitely happier outside. You can, I can promise, even
Speaker 2: if you want to try it yourself, make a note
Speaker 2: to try it next year. Bring in a hardy plant,
Speaker 2: see how it does. Let us know. I mean, that's
Speaker 2: be discouraging, just saying.
Speaker 1: I agree, I agree, And if you have, of course
Speaker 1: evergreens are broad leaf evergreens. I like the use of
Speaker 1: anti descants or they're also called anti transpirants, and it's
Speaker 1: basically just a pine resin spray that puts a coating
Speaker 1: on the foliage. Because again, if the plant is calling
Speaker 1: for some water and the roots say, hey, we're out
Speaker 1: of business the ground is frozen, you can have some
Speaker 1: real problems with evergreens. It also teaches you how important
Speaker 1: microclimates are. Maybe these little coves in these areas around
Speaker 1: your landscape where you have plants planted. It makes a
Speaker 1: big difference as a matter of fact, in the Midwest
Speaker 1: and in the north when the sun is really low
Speaker 1: in the south in the winter time. But I'll tell
Speaker 1: you what, some structural protection on the north or east
Speaker 1: side of the house can provide a lot of benefit
Speaker 1: to plants. Don't be wrapping them like crazy with fabric. Yes, burlaps, okay,
Speaker 1: because it breathes. But remember, Stacy, anytime you wrap a plant,
Speaker 1: if you do get snow nice, you can cause damage
Speaker 1: through breakage.
Speaker 2: Oh absolutely, you know. I think the last couple of years,
Speaker 2: as our winters have become kind of warmer. That means
Speaker 2: the snow is heavier, wetter. The damage that I have
Speaker 2: seen on plants, it's just like every year it seems
Speaker 2: like it's getting worse.
Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly, So there's all kinds of gimmicks. As a
Speaker 1: matter of fact, I've thought about for the show coming
Speaker 1: up with a new segment called gimricks. Okay, I'm kind
Speaker 1: of thinking about that. Stay tuned for Branching News. I'm
Speaker 1: going to talk about a holiday plant that's been afflicted
Speaker 1: by crazy marketing gimricks. But first, plants on trial. Let's
Speaker 1: see how Stacey ties this together and what plant is
Speaker 1: on trial this week on The Gardening Simplified Show.
Speaker 2: Proven Winter's Color Choice Shrubs cares about your success in
Speaker 2: the garden. That's why we trial and test all of
Speaker 2: our shrubs for eight to ten years, making sure they
Speaker 2: outperform everything else on the market. Look for them and
Speaker 2: the distinctive white container at your local garden center. Greeting's
Speaker 2: gardening friends, and welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show
Speaker 2: where we're talking about plant protection. And you might be
Speaker 2: thinking to yourself, well, gee, thanks a lot. It is
Speaker 2: late November. This is not useful. But the fact is
Speaker 2: that it is useful. We did not just think of
Speaker 2: this too late to help you. Most people who do
Speaker 2: protect plants for whatever reason you are protecting your plants,
Speaker 2: do it too early. And really the key is you
Speaker 2: want those plants to be completely dormant. Now, you know what.
Speaker 2: You were talking a lot about evergreens and broad leaf evergreens,
Speaker 2: which may potentially need protection, like if you are pushing
Speaker 2: your heartiness zone, or maybe you planted them in fall,
Speaker 2: which you know if we don't recommend, but we know
Speaker 2: that you, like us, can't turn down a good bargain.
Speaker 2: And sometimes you know, you roll the dice, and so
Speaker 2: sometimes those things might need protection. Old fashioned roses, grafted roses,
Speaker 2: remember the old rose colors. How many of those did
Speaker 2: you say in your career?
Speaker 1: Write your phone number on those steigerphone cones because if
Speaker 1: they get airborne they go zero to sixty like that.
Speaker 1: Write your phone number or your email as.
Speaker 2: Something so that you know. So if you're going to
Speaker 2: do those types of protection, yes, the plant should be
Speaker 2: completely dormant. It's easy to tell. With the rose it
Speaker 2: will lose its foliage. You don't necessarily know, of course,
Speaker 2: with an evergreen, because it's not going to lose its leaves,
Speaker 2: but you know, you do want the days to get
Speaker 2: short enough and cool enough that the plant is just
Speaker 2: not in an active growth state anymore. And usually I
Speaker 2: would say late November at least for us here in
Speaker 2: the Midwest is a pretty safe time to consider that
Speaker 2: your plants are more or less dormant. And that's why
Speaker 2: we're talking about it right now. But overall, the best
Speaker 2: plant protection strategy, in my humble opinion, is to not
Speaker 2: grow plants that need protection. Oh that's smart, I mean, okay,
Speaker 2: I say this as I don't want to characterize myself
Speaker 2: as a lazy gardener, but you know, I have realized
Speaker 2: over the years that whether it's deer or all of
Speaker 2: the sun in my yard are how dry and sandy
Speaker 2: my soil is. You know, the joy for me in
Speaker 2: gardening is not like I have to grow this and
Speaker 2: make it look good no matter what. The joy for
Speaker 2: me in gardening is, you know, experimenting with plants, observing
Speaker 2: the relationships that they create in the landscape with wildlife
Speaker 2: and sex birds and all of that, and and just
Speaker 2: liking the way that it looks. So my personal approach
Speaker 2: is to not really plant things that need protection, and
Speaker 2: if I do, I do have a plant that is
Speaker 2: kind of marginally hardy. Here it is a fig, and
Speaker 2: you know figs Chicago hardy fig is considered hardy to
Speaker 2: like USDA's own six. But as is often the case
Speaker 2: with things that are considered hardy, it only addresses whether
Speaker 2: the plant will survive, not whether it will do any
Speaker 2: of the things that you actually want it to do.
Speaker 2: I e. Bear figs if it doesn't have that protection. So,
Speaker 2: because I do want to avoid protect, you know, having
Speaker 2: to like install things or work really hard at it,
Speaker 2: I plan this fig in a little area of my
Speaker 2: house where two walls come together, and that provides the
Speaker 2: protection that it needs andcroclimate little micro climate, right, so
Speaker 2: knock on wood. My fig is getting bigger and producing
Speaker 2: beautiful and bigger crops every single year. So I love that.
Speaker 1: You're taking the Huey Lewis approach, taking what they're given
Speaker 1: and working for a living.
Speaker 2: I guess, so, yeah, that's cool. But you know, I
Speaker 2: have been visited a gardener once whose garden was on
Speaker 2: a tour. He was in Oregon, so could obviously grow
Speaker 2: a ton of really cool stuff. But you know, as
Speaker 2: is so often the case for gardeners, the grass is
Speaker 2: always greener. On the other side, he decided he wanted
Speaker 2: to grow like all these desert plants, and the winters
Speaker 2: in Oregon are fairly wet. These plants don't like that,
Speaker 2: and he was building all these cacamami contraptions to protect
Speaker 2: his plants over winter. And you know, more power to them.
Speaker 2: If that is how you want to garden, I fully
Speaker 2: support it. But overall, I don't want listeners to think
Speaker 2: that just because we're talking about plant protection, that it
Speaker 2: means that plant protection is necessary.
Speaker 1: Okay, you know what I mean. It makes sense, it does,
Speaker 1: it's common sense.
Speaker 2: I hope it's common sense. But again, the hardiness zone
Speaker 2: system only tells us how much cold a plant will
Speaker 2: be able to withstand the maximum cold temperature will be
Speaker 2: able to withstand and survive, not whether it will actually
Speaker 2: do well. It doesn't measure how long the cold persists.
Speaker 2: It doesn't measure if the cold is mixed with snow,
Speaker 2: has snow coverage, or anything like that. So in some
Speaker 2: cases we are kind of left to wonder if something
Speaker 2: needs protection. And I would say that one of the
Speaker 2: candidates for protection potentially in your landscape is a broad
Speaker 2: leaf evergreen. Now broad leaf evergreen, I feel like is
Speaker 2: one of those terms that Gardner's horticulturists like you and
Speaker 2: I throw around and just assume that everybody knows what
Speaker 2: the heck we're talking about. So I'm going to take
Speaker 2: a moment to tell you what a broad leaf evergreen is,
Speaker 2: even though I think if you think about it a
Speaker 2: second you will figure it out. It is an evergreen
Speaker 2: with broad leafs, So basically that means not a needle
Speaker 2: or scale leafed evergreen like a conifer. So pines, spruces,
Speaker 2: arborvideos are all needle or scale leafed evergreens. They are conifers.
Speaker 2: A broad leaf evergreen is a plant with regular foliage
Speaker 2: you would not necessarily know it was evergreen. So we're
Speaker 2: talking about things like rhododendron, boxwood. Gardenia is another great example.
Speaker 2: And in fact, the warmer your climates, the more broad
Speaker 2: leaf evergreen options you're gonna have. Yes, there's a lot
Speaker 2: more for the South than there are for us in
Speaker 2: the north, but that doesn't mean we don't have our options.
Speaker 2: And if you grow a broad leaf evergreen, no matter
Speaker 2: where you are at the number one, I'm gonna be
Speaker 2: two things actually, that you can use to protect your
Speaker 2: broad leaf evergreen. Number one, plant it as early as
Speaker 2: possible before the stressful weather sets in. Let it create
Speaker 2: a nice, big, abundant root system for us before the
Speaker 2: cold sets in. If you were in a hot climate,
Speaker 2: it might be before the heat sets in. You want
Speaker 2: to give it the longest possible window of establishment before
Speaker 2: its biggest challenge confronts it. And Number two mulch, mulch,
Speaker 2: mulch mulch. If you are again going to do one
Speaker 2: thing to protect your plants every year, it should be
Speaker 2: a good two to three inch layer of an organic mulchion.
Speaker 2: When I say organic mulch, I don't mean like organic
Speaker 2: vegetables made without pesticides. I mean made of something that's
Speaker 2: going to decompose, because that's going to nurture the soil.
Speaker 2: It provides the best environment for root growth and moisture conservation.
Speaker 2: So that's the key to success with any broad leaf evergreen,
Speaker 2: including today's plant on trial skybox Japanese holly Ilex Karnata.
Speaker 1: Great plant.
Speaker 2: It is a great plant, and it's an interesting one
Speaker 2: because I when I was younger, I had never heard
Speaker 2: of it or noticed it or anything like that. I mean,
Speaker 2: I was aware of boxwooden and when I moved to
Speaker 2: New York City to go to horticulture school Ilex Karnada,
Speaker 2: Japanese holly was everywhere. It's in all the parks in
Speaker 2: New York City. It was all around the New York
Speaker 2: Botanical Garden where I went to school, and I was like,
Speaker 2: you know, this is like, why aren't we grow a
Speaker 2: lot of people don't think that it's very hardy. And
Speaker 2: I think that as the Internet has kind of blossomed
Speaker 2: and let people compare notes, more and more people are
Speaker 2: finding that Japanese holly is hardier than they had expected.
Speaker 2: And I can say, at least for us around here
Speaker 2: in West Michigan rarely gets winter damage. Would you have changed? Yeah,
Speaker 2: everybody agree. Now, if you live a little more inland,
Speaker 2: so you get towards Lancing, you're probably going to have
Speaker 2: more issues than we have out here because we are
Speaker 2: very often have snowcover when we hit those really really
Speaker 2: cold temperatures. But Japanese holly is basically almost identical looking
Speaker 2: to boxwood to the uninitiated, But it is easy to tell.
Speaker 2: There's one simple trick that you can use to tell
Speaker 2: the difference. Boxwood has opposite foliage and Japanese holly has
Speaker 2: alternate foliage. So if you look and the leaves are
Speaker 2: directly across from each other, it's a boxwood. If you
Speaker 2: look and they are staggered, then it's a Japanese holly.
Speaker 2: And a lot of people prefer the Japanese holly for
Speaker 2: a couple of reasons. You know, obviously, le boxwood is
Speaker 2: getting some diseases in some parts of the country. That's
Speaker 2: a problem. Some people can't stand the smell of boxwood
Speaker 2: correct And the thing we won't get into that. But
Speaker 2: the other thing that's really special about Japanese holly in general,
Speaker 2: but especially Skybox today's plant on trial, is that they
Speaker 2: offer you the opportunity to have a unique form. Skybox
Speaker 2: is a narrow, upright pyramiddle plant.
Speaker 1: I was going to say, it's all about the shape.
Speaker 2: Yes, absolutely, And most boxwoods, incidentally, that have that shape
Speaker 2: tend to be a lot less hardy than the rounder
Speaker 2: hedging boxwoods. They tend to be quite tender. So Japanese holly,
Speaker 2: like Skybox, is an opportunity for you to have that beautiful, handsome,
Speaker 2: narrow habits that people love. They love planting it around
Speaker 2: their front door. They love planting it in containers while
Speaker 2: still getting a Zone five hardiness, So it's a really
Speaker 2: great opportunity there. You talked about Christmas lights. This is
Speaker 2: a rate plant for lighting with Christmas lights because it
Speaker 2: does have that nice narrow habit. But again, it is
Speaker 2: a broad leaf evergreen. So this is a plant that
Speaker 2: if you live in Michigan or in USDA Zone six,
Speaker 2: you're gonna want to plant this in spring, give it
Speaker 2: that nice long window of establishment and keep it mulched
Speaker 2: so that you're going to maintain that nice, beautiful green foliage.
Speaker 1: Would you consider it a front door kind of specimen plant?
Speaker 2: I would consider it a front door specimen plant. I
Speaker 2: think that's how most people want to grow it. Of
Speaker 2: course that is how I mostly see it, But I
Speaker 2: also mostly see people's front yards, not their backyards, so
Speaker 2: it is common to see it. But you know, when
Speaker 2: people see the shape, I think that's where you know
Speaker 2: immediately their brain goes, but you know you do. So
Speaker 2: one nice thing about that is very often front yards
Speaker 2: are kind of more protected because the house itself provides
Speaker 2: some protection, so that can help a lot as well.
Speaker 2: But really this is a plant that if well sighted
Speaker 2: and well mulched. It's not going to need any protection.
Speaker 2: And again planting it in spring and it's just going
Speaker 2: to look great all your It maintains it's green foliage.
Speaker 2: It doesn't bronze like box certain boxwood can. So it's
Speaker 2: a great boxwood alternative. And I think just one of
Speaker 2: those plants that has the shape that everybody.
Speaker 1: Wants so outstanding. And Stacey, we're talking about Ilex I
Speaker 1: l e.
Speaker 2: X Ilex krona yes, and the krenata refers to believes.
Speaker 2: They have just the tiniest little crenations on the side,
Speaker 2: just little sort of indense. You really have to look
Speaker 2: closely for them. I'm not sure why linee is picked
Speaker 2: up on that over anything else. A bit less shade
Speaker 2: tolerant than boxwood and not quite as dear resistant, but
Speaker 2: a great choice for all of the reasons that we
Speaker 2: just listed, and you can find them all in our
Speaker 2: show notes at Gardeningsimplified on air dot com. You can
Speaker 2: see more pictures of Skybox than you've seen on our
Speaker 2: YouTube channel and decide if you're going to add it
Speaker 2: to your garden next spring. We're gonna take a little
Speaker 2: break when we come back we're opening up the mailbag,
Speaker 2: so please stay tuned. At proven winner's color choice, We've
Speaker 2: got a shrub for every taste and every space. Whether
Speaker 2: you're looking for an easy care rose and unforgettable hydrangea,
Speaker 2: or something new and unique, you can be confident that
Speaker 2: the shrubs and the white containers have been trialed and
Speaker 2: tested for your success. Look for them at your local
Speaker 2: garden center. Greeting's gardening friends, and welcome back to the
Speaker 2: Gardening Simplified Show, where it's our chance to help you
Speaker 2: with your gardening problems. And I love that. I really
Speaker 2: love helping people have those kind of aha moments where
Speaker 2: you know, I'm not looking to just say, you know,
Speaker 2: you write me a question and I just say, okay,
Speaker 2: do this now, go away. No, I want to give
Speaker 2: you the information that you can use to make better
Speaker 2: gardening decisions. And that's what I think we both you know,
Speaker 2: that's why we call it Gardening Simplified.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, And it's fun. It's fun to solve problems, and
Speaker 1: it's fun to have success when when you make adjustments.
Speaker 1: I enjoy it, never get tired of you know what.
Speaker 2: It's fun to be stumped too. Oh, I really love it.
Speaker 1: Absolutely I'm stumped all the time.
Speaker 2: I'm such about something, stump of a not gardening, usually
Speaker 2: too much, but you never know. Plans get weirder the
Speaker 2: more I go on in his career. But if you
Speaker 2: have a gardening question for us, you can reach us
Speaker 2: at help HLP at Gardeningsimplified on air dot com, or
Speaker 2: just go to Gardening Simplified on air dot com. There's
Speaker 2: a contact. From there you can add attach a photo.
Speaker 2: You can even ask us a question in the comments
Speaker 2: on our YouTube video, and Adriana will ask us if
Speaker 2: she doesn't know the answer herself. She answers all of
Speaker 2: those questions, though, So what do we got this week?
Speaker 1: Neil writes to us, after planting or transplanting a shrub,
Speaker 1: should I stomp down the soil? I've read different positions.
Speaker 1: One you must tighten up the soil for soil integrity,
Speaker 1: so that the roots have the ability to grab and
Speaker 1: take the other position is to not stomp as this
Speaker 1: block's porters preventing water and oxygen flow. Help. I don't
Speaker 1: know what to do, Neil. Great question. Neil has his
Speaker 1: thinking cap on, and I like that.
Speaker 2: I wonder if he's done a scientific study. Stomped on
Speaker 2: some and not some on others. But the answer, as
Speaker 2: you may not be surprised to find out, is somewhere
Speaker 2: in between. I would not generally recommend stomping the soil.
Speaker 2: That is a little bit too much, I think, especially
Speaker 2: probably for a man in big boots, you could definitely
Speaker 2: do more damage than you need to do, you know,
Speaker 2: for walking walk And I have found in my opinion
Speaker 2: that you know, normally just firming with your hands is
Speaker 2: going to be more than enough, but you do want
Speaker 2: to firm it quite well. And to me, it's not
Speaker 2: so much about giving the roots something to grab onto
Speaker 2: as it is just holding the plant upright.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I think it's contingent on what's the soil like. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, if it's a clay soil, you're not going
Speaker 1: to want to be stomping it. And of course I've
Speaker 1: often talked about the fact that if you amend a
Speaker 1: clay soil, you mix fifty to fifty with the amendment
Speaker 1: and the existing parent soil. So I would agree with
Speaker 1: you Stacy gardening with your hands and not necessarily your feet. Now,
Speaker 1: the reason that this has come along and why Neil
Speaker 1: is thinking this is, Yeah, if you just dig a
Speaker 1: hole and you throw a lightweight potting mix in there,
Speaker 1: and you put the plant in the ground, and it's
Speaker 1: hot and dry outside, and there's lots of poor space
Speaker 1: around the roots. Odds are that plant may dry out.
Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely. That's a good point too. But you shouldn't
Speaker 2: do that. You should use your natural soil as much
Speaker 2: as you come. But you're right about the clay soil.
Speaker 2: I mean, if you have a heavy clay soil and
Speaker 2: you're stomping on it, then you're gonna have a lot
Speaker 2: of clay in the tread of those boots, and that's
Speaker 2: no one wants that. No one needs extra weight on
Speaker 2: their boots. I also think it depends.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 2: I am an adamant do not water the hole when
Speaker 2: I plant gardener, but there are a lot of people
Speaker 2: out there who like to water the hole and to
Speaker 2: water the soil before they plant. And in that case,
Speaker 2: you do need to be more careful with wet soil,
Speaker 2: because it is actually easier to destroy the structure of
Speaker 2: wet soil than it is of you know, dry or
Speaker 2: reasonably not wet soil. That's why you know gardens and
Speaker 2: so forth parks ask you to not walk on the grass,
Speaker 2: especially when it's wet. It just makes it a lot
Speaker 2: easier for it to get compacted. So if you are
Speaker 2: the kind of person who insists on watering the soil
Speaker 2: in the hole before you plant in it, then I
Speaker 2: would definitely recommend it taking a more gentle approach. But
Speaker 2: for most people, I think firming with your hands should
Speaker 2: be more than enough. It gives you a chance to actually,
Speaker 2: you know, get in there and make sure it's all
Speaker 2: tucked in nicely and make any adjustments. And yeah, I
Speaker 2: think generally speaking of foot is overkilled, so.
Speaker 1: You're in for a root awakening. Firm press not stop,
Speaker 1: please all right? Good? Debbie writes to us, I have
Speaker 1: a Chinese hibiscus tree that lost all its leaves this summer.
Speaker 1: It is back beautiful. How do I overwinter this beauty?
Speaker 2: Okay? So, now I have not really heard the term
Speaker 2: Chinese hibiscus for this plant.
Speaker 1: I was leaning on you because I have not.
Speaker 2: Okay, So I looked it up and well, I just
Speaker 2: wanted to make sure that I was answering Debbie's question correctly,
Speaker 2: you know, not answering her question about a plant that
Speaker 2: she's not actually growing. And the answer was right in
Speaker 2: front of me all along. It is tropical hibiscus as
Speaker 2: we normally call it, Hibiscus rosa senensus, and senensus means
Speaker 2: Chinese and Latin, so that would be why some people
Speaker 2: would call this a Chinese hibiscus tree.
Speaker 1: The tree should not lose its leaves in summer because
Speaker 1: it's hot and humid in summer and they love that.
Speaker 2: No, it shouldn't, but if it gets extremely stressed, it could.
Speaker 2: You know, you never know, like you so, but this
Speaker 2: is the same tropical hibiscus that people buy for summer
Speaker 2: color with a big satellite type of flowers, you know,
Speaker 2: planted on their patio might be braided. But say you
Speaker 2: go on vacation or something like that and it dries out,
Speaker 2: it would very likely lose its leaves. The plant wouldn't
Speaker 2: necessarily die, but it will respond to that drought stress
Speaker 2: by dropping all of its leaves.
Speaker 1: Well, if you overwinter it indoors, odds are you're going
Speaker 1: to lose the leaves.
Speaker 2: What I'm gonna say to you is, Debbie, I hate
Speaker 2: to break it to you, but this is not the
Speaker 2: last time you've seen this. Normally evergreen plant lose its leaves.
Speaker 1: What doesn't mean it has to die.
Speaker 2: No, it doesn't mean it's dying, it's you know this.
Speaker 2: So tropical hibiscus like this are lovely plants, and people
Speaker 2: usually do shell out for them because they cost a
Speaker 2: bit more than you know, your average summer annual, so
Speaker 2: you can't blame them for wanting to bring them indoors.
Speaker 2: But and it is possible to overwinter them indoors. You
Speaker 2: want to keep them as bright and cool as possible,
Speaker 2: so they definitely shouldn't be freezing, but they don't want
Speaker 2: to be hot. They want to be in cool area
Speaker 2: with good air circulation. They shouldn't be overwatered, but nor
Speaker 2: should they dry out. So you kind of have that,
Speaker 2: have to have that, you know, just right Goldilocks scenario
Speaker 2: for them. But even if you have that, short of
Speaker 2: having a conservatory, this is one of those plants it
Speaker 2: is going to respond to being broad indoors by dropping
Speaker 2: some foliage. Absolutely, so don't panic. Just try to get
Speaker 2: it through this winter and then hopefully you'll be able
Speaker 2: to put it out next spring once another starts to
Speaker 2: get nice, and it should hopefully be a lot happier, you.
Speaker 1: Know, if you back off on the water. Best case
Speaker 1: scenario in my opinion, is a brightly lit a window
Speaker 1: in an unheated bedroom. But who has an unheated bedroom
Speaker 1: in their house? I guess some people do.
Speaker 2: I guess you'd ever know. We can always close the events,
Speaker 2: you know, and then if you have a guest, you
Speaker 2: can open them back up and make your guests comfortable.
Speaker 1: But again, gonna drop leaves, but you know what, it'll
Speaker 1: make it. Yeah, and next spring, as the days get longer,
Speaker 1: you can bring this. It's going to have this phoenix
Speaker 1: rise from the ashes, and you just have.
Speaker 2: To stick with it through it through its awkward phase. Here. Now, Rick,
Speaker 2: this next question I thought was perfect for you. Laurie
Speaker 2: is wondering may I still plant grass seed considering how
Speaker 2: warm this fall has been.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a great question. Because of the extended season
Speaker 1: so here in the North or in Michigan, generally we
Speaker 1: recommend planting grass seed in September. Grass Seed blends will
Speaker 1: take anywhere between twelve to thirty days to germinate, and
Speaker 1: then you need some growth and opportunity for the grass
Speaker 1: to grow before the ground freezes. You can also do
Speaker 1: something called dormant seeding, where you put down grass seed
Speaker 1: before winter and then it will germinate next spring, some
Speaker 1: of it becomes bird feed. But you know, if you've
Speaker 1: got an area where you need to seed, I think
Speaker 1: it's worth trying. But late November highly unusual. That's something
Speaker 1: we would consider dormant seeding.
Speaker 2: Well, so what about in a warmer climate.
Speaker 1: In a warmer climate, you probably could. Again, with what
Speaker 1: we're experiencing as far as the climate is concerned, you're
Speaker 1: going to have some measure of success. I think ideally
Speaker 1: September October that's the time to be seeding lawns arguably
Speaker 1: the best time of the year to be seeding along.
Speaker 2: Okay, so it's getting a little bit late now for
Speaker 2: grass seed. Now, I would say if you have grass
Speaker 2: seed that you're just trying to get rid of through winter,
Speaker 2: then I would say go ahead and put it down.
Speaker 2: If you did that, would you put hay or straw
Speaker 2: or something over it to kind of help protect some
Speaker 2: of it from the eaten vibery could do that.
Speaker 1: There are also paper mulches that you can purchase that
Speaker 1: almost make it look like you're hydro seeding, and you'll
Speaker 1: see contractors doing that also late in the season or
Speaker 1: along highways. And again, some of that seed is going
Speaker 1: to end up germinating next spring, some of it's going
Speaker 1: to wash away, some of it's going to become bird feed.
Speaker 1: But bear soil is not a natural condition, so you
Speaker 1: have to do something. And for many people they don't
Speaker 1: want to seed in spring because they want to be
Speaker 1: applying a crab grass control and you can't do that
Speaker 1: along with seed. So you know, i'd say, especially if
Speaker 1: you have the seed, I'd take a shot at it.
Speaker 2: So don't buy seed right now in an effort of well,
Speaker 2: you never know, and there's a lot of unscrupulous people
Speaker 2: out there who will just be like, you know, someone
Speaker 2: will buy this, so I'm going to just put it
Speaker 2: out there at full price, and you know it's it's
Speaker 2: expired or whatever, So don't buy it. But if you
Speaker 2: have it, you might as well put some out now.
Speaker 2: Probably don't need to water it unless it's unusual robbery.
Speaker 1: I won't have to water it. But you're not going
Speaker 1: to get that instant what I call grassification, so step
Speaker 1: back and let nature do its work.
Speaker 2: So but it might save you a little time in spring,
Speaker 2: so it's always worth a try. And you know what
Speaker 2: the bottom line with things like this is, you always
Speaker 2: learn something yes. At the very least you learn something
Speaker 2: that you can apply to decisions in the future, so
Speaker 2: I feel like it's worth it if it's low cost
Speaker 2: and low stakes. Thank you so much for your questions.
Speaker 2: If you have a question, don't forget. You can reach
Speaker 2: us at Gardening Simplified on air dot com. We're going
Speaker 2: to take a little break. When we come back, we've
Speaker 2: got branching news, so stay tuned. The Gardening Simplified Show
Speaker 2: is brought to you by proven Winners Color Choice Shrubs.
Speaker 2: Our award winning flowering shrubs and evergreens have been trialed
Speaker 2: and tested for your success so you enjoy more beauty
Speaker 2: and less work. Look for proven Winners Color Choice Shrubs
Speaker 2: and the distinctive white container at your local garden center.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show. It's time for
Speaker 1: branching news. Stacey. I thought today, let's spend a little
Speaker 1: bit of time talking about a plant that many people
Speaker 1: will have indoors during the holidays. We miss the garden
Speaker 1: and we love plants. We know that, and so for
Speaker 1: many people they'll bring an amarillis into the house or
Speaker 1: they'll be gifted in amarillis. It's a simple plant to
Speaker 1: grow and to get flower, you know, get flowers during
Speaker 1: the holiday season. But it has a complicated story to it,
Speaker 1: and it's become more complicated over the years because again,
Speaker 1: when I first started out in the garden center industry,
Speaker 1: we would sell bulk amarillis.
Speaker 2: Bulbs just out on their own.
Speaker 1: Out on their own. You'd reach into a bin you'd
Speaker 1: picked through these large amarillis bulbs. You'd pick one out,
Speaker 1: and then it's up to you to pot it and
Speaker 1: take care of it and decide what to do with it.
Speaker 1: Then came along these kits that had everything in them
Speaker 1: so you could grow your amaryllis, and they were conveniently
Speaker 1: in a colorful box so that you could give it
Speaker 1: to somebody as a gift. Now, when you take a
Speaker 1: look at it, Amarillis, in my mind is one of
Speaker 1: these plants that's really gone through some crazy marketing. And
Speaker 1: I've been walking into stores, and of course I'm attuned
Speaker 1: to this, having sold bulbs my whole life. Now they
Speaker 1: wax amarillis bulbs, so the amarillis bulb is completely coated
Speaker 1: in wax in all kinds of different colors. And then
Speaker 1: when the wax thing worked, they thought, you know, let's
Speaker 1: add glitter, and then let's add some fake snow, and
Speaker 1: then we'll press a metal base into the bottom of
Speaker 1: the bulb. We call it the basl plate. And they
Speaker 1: press a metal base in them so that they'll stand
Speaker 1: up on their own without having to be potted or
Speaker 1: put into soil. And then the piece to resistant, so
Speaker 1: to speak, is they'll put a sweater on them.
Speaker 2: What's not get out?
Speaker 1: They're out there? No, you buy amarillis with sweaters on them?
Speaker 2: Oh no, Why are they trying to make it look
Speaker 2: less like a plant?
Speaker 1: Well, that's the thing, you know. They want to make
Speaker 1: it really, really easy for people. So Dutch innovators produce
Speaker 1: these wax bulbs and all these colors and ornamental finishes
Speaker 1: and metallic and glitter and marbled and everything else. And
Speaker 1: the reason for it is waxed bulbs are viewed as
Speaker 1: a one time shot, similar to the way people approach
Speaker 1: point setias. Buy it, enjoy it for a few weeks, chuck.
Speaker 2: It in the trash.
Speaker 1: Now there's many people like me who don't want to
Speaker 1: throw the thing out. And can you save a waxed
Speaker 1: bulb amaryllis? And you can, You're gonna have to peel
Speaker 1: the wax off. At the end of the season, you're
Speaker 1: gonna have to be patient. You're gonna have to allow
Speaker 1: the strap like foliage to grow and treat it as
Speaker 1: a houseplant. For most people, they're going to think throw
Speaker 1: it in the trash because blooming exhausts the bulb. But
Speaker 1: if it's planted in a pot in soil, once it's
Speaker 1: done blooming, you can cut off the stalk, leave that
Speaker 1: strap like foliage on, treat it as a houseplant, and
Speaker 1: then later on in spring and summer, when it's nice
Speaker 1: and warm outside, we can bring it outside into a
Speaker 1: shaded area. Will love the bright light, and you can
Speaker 1: fertilize it, give it a resting period, and then start
Speaker 1: the cycle all over again. But the point is we
Speaker 1: now market these Amarillis bulbs as though they are a
Speaker 1: chuck it in the trash plant.
Speaker 2: Which is fine. You know, it is okay for people
Speaker 2: to throw plants away if you want to. It's also
Speaker 2: okay to keep them if you want to. Both of
Speaker 2: those are perfectly acceptable ways to deal with a plant
Speaker 2: that you have or have been given or whatever. Like,
Speaker 2: we don't make the rules, but it does kind of
Speaker 2: upset me that, like, they're trying to make them less
Speaker 2: plant like, because isn't that the whole point of having
Speaker 2: an amarillis at Christmas, besides the fact that it aligns
Speaker 2: with its natural life cycle, that it's this like great
Speaker 2: source of joy in the darkest time of the year,
Speaker 2: and the fact that it is a plant is kind
Speaker 2: of like what we celebrate about it. And I do
Speaker 2: love the stories of people who have had amarillis bulbs
Speaker 2: for you know, decades, as they can last so long.
Speaker 2: So you know, what would be a good amorillist marketing idea?
Speaker 2: What's it if they sold it with a little magnet
Speaker 2: that you could put on your refrigerator that told you
Speaker 2: everything you need to do next.
Speaker 1: Oh, there's a good idea, you know.
Speaker 2: Let's like, let's bring the plant back to the amarillis.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and split the royalty.
Speaker 2: But if you like the wax one, great, go for it.
Speaker 2: Buy anyone every year. Make yourself happy. It's the darkest
Speaker 2: time of the year. You need to do things that
Speaker 2: make you happy. That's fine. But at the same time,
Speaker 2: I shall forget it's a plant.
Speaker 1: If you want an amarillis bulb with a sweater on it,
Speaker 1: more power to you. So in nineteen forty six, some
Speaker 1: Dutch growers moved to South Africa Africa and began cultivation there.
Speaker 1: And now I'm going to really screw things up and
Speaker 1: gum up the works here, Stacy. We call them amarillis,
Speaker 1: we give them as gifts as amarillis. They are really
Speaker 1: not amarillis. Amarillis is a misnomer. Actually, the botanical name
Speaker 1: is and I have it spelled out here phonetically, so
Speaker 1: I get it right, and you can test me on this, Stacy,
Speaker 1: hippie astrum. Excellent work, thank you. I've got it phonetically
Speaker 1: spelled out here, but hippie astrum. So the hours we
Speaker 1: all know as amarillis are technically not amarillis at all,
Speaker 1: but hippiastrums. So true. Amarillis are temperamental plants. They're temperate
Speaker 1: plants native to South Africa. One fairly common one would
Speaker 1: be Amarillis belladonna. Some people are Southern friends who watch
Speaker 1: and listen to the show call them surprise Lily's. When
Speaker 1: you know, you get a rain and then all of
Speaker 1: a sudden they're blooming. So technically what you're getting are
Speaker 1: hippie estrums, which are native to South America, not Africa,
Speaker 1: so you take a look at this nomenclature debate. You
Speaker 1: talk about taxonomy, genus, genera, genre, however you want to
Speaker 1: pronounce that genera things botanical naming, an organization, hybridization, sub
Speaker 1: genreenna just say, it's going to make your head spin.
Speaker 1: It's crazy. And so the whole point here is this, Uh,
Speaker 1: what was Linnaeus? Carl Linnaeus? What was his original intent?
Speaker 1: Was it for the South African plant or was it
Speaker 1: for the South American plant which is really technically a
Speaker 1: hippiastrum and not an amarillis, even though it's being sold
Speaker 1: to you as an amarillis waxed and in a sweater.
Speaker 2: I mean, I'm done. You've pinpointed in a roundabout way
Speaker 2: the difference between botany and horticulture, which is when we
Speaker 2: talk about the botany if something, we're talking about these
Speaker 2: scientific designations and the scientific aspect of it, where the
Speaker 2: horticultural aspect is simply if you walk in to a
Speaker 2: garden center and ask for an amarillis, are you leaving
Speaker 2: with the plant that you went in to get? And
Speaker 2: if so, then it worked. H But you know, let
Speaker 2: me tell you something about Linnaeus. His name was not
Speaker 2: Carol Linnaeus. It was It was not.
Speaker 1: I always call them Carl.
Speaker 2: It was not Carl Linnaeus. He gave he latinized his
Speaker 2: own name. His actual name was Carl von Linnay, and
Speaker 2: Linaeus was a latinization of his own name that he
Speaker 2: created to kind of give himself a binomial, like he
Speaker 2: gave plants and animals.
Speaker 1: So, no, wonder people struggle with botanical names and Latin names,
Speaker 1: and I think I'm going to create a Latin name
Speaker 1: for myself.
Speaker 2: Okay, I look forward to this. We should, you know what,
Speaker 2: We should come up the Latin name generator on our
Speaker 2: website and then everyone can generate their own scientific name
Speaker 2: for themselves.
Speaker 1: Let's do it. That's going to be fun. Anyhow. I
Speaker 1: love amerialists or hippie astrom or whatever you want to
Speaker 1: call them, but I like to grow them in soil
Speaker 1: and pots. So I just kind of went on a
Speaker 1: rant here. I'm really not into those stand on their
Speaker 1: own waxed sweater.
Speaker 2: Yeah, do you have an amoralist you've had for many years? No,
Speaker 2: you get anyone every year?
Speaker 1: So I did for a long period of time. And
Speaker 1: you're right. Amarillis are similar to Christmas cactus. Or we
Speaker 1: have some listeners and viewers who have carried over a
Speaker 1: point settia from year to year and then given it
Speaker 1: the dark treatment it needs in order for the bracts
Speaker 1: to color up. And of course fruitcakes too, right, yeah,
Speaker 1: we passed those along too. So no, but again, there's
Speaker 1: something about a plant like that, A beautiful plant like that.
Speaker 1: I want it growing in soil.
Speaker 2: I agree, And they are elegant, and I don't personally
Speaker 2: think that the bulb, despite being brown and flaky, the
Speaker 2: tracks from the plant in any way at all. I
Speaker 2: think it's part of the beauty. But you know, we
Speaker 2: all have different, different approaches, and I'll tell you they
Speaker 2: would not be selling as many waxed amaryllis as they
Speaker 2: are if people didn't like them.
Speaker 1: You're right about that. And on a final note here,
Speaker 1: let's get ready for some holiday hot chocolate. Cocoa farmers
Speaker 1: in Ghana expect a boost in the twenty twenty four
Speaker 1: five season starting in October after a sharp fall in
Speaker 1: production this past season contributed to boosting global cocoa prices
Speaker 1: to record levels. So get ready to enjoy some hot cocoa.
Speaker 1: The cocoa beans are on an upswing.
Speaker 2: All right, good to know and it's good to is
Speaker 2: the season.
Speaker 1: Stacy, thanks so much, fun to do the show with
Speaker 1: you and Adriana. Thank you so much, and thanks to
Speaker 1: you for watching on YouTube, listening on radio, and listening
Speaker 1: to our podcast. Have a great week.