Speaker 1: Broadcasting from Studio A Here at proven Winners, Color Joy Shrubs.
Speaker 1: It's time for the Gardening Simplified Show with Stacy Hrvella,
Speaker 1: me Rick Weist, and our engineer and producer Adrianna Robinson.
Speaker 1: Today we talk about big plants. What a great topic.
Speaker 1: Go big or go home, big shots, the big picture,
Speaker 1: speak softly and carry a big stick, too big for
Speaker 1: one's breeches. You get the idea. Ever, put a landscape
Speaker 1: plant in the ground and it gets much bigger than
Speaker 1: you expected, or an dissipated.
Speaker 2: Uh yes, because I live in a fantasy world where
Speaker 2: I can plant whatever I want and ignore the spacing.
Speaker 2: So yes, that has happened to me many times.
Speaker 1: And I believe you are not alone. I think about
Speaker 1: the movie Big with Tom Hanks. Loved that movie, and
Speaker 1: you know he wishes that he was big, and then
Speaker 1: he visits what was it? I put it down here Zoltar,
Speaker 1: the fortune teller machine, the antique fortune teller machine, and
Speaker 1: suddenly he gets what he wished for. What a great movie.
Speaker 1: But big landscape plants, it's all relative. Of course, we
Speaker 1: can talk about big trees, but this is about big
Speaker 1: landscape plants with big characteristics and size, something that's out
Speaker 1: of the routine, so to speak. Now, it's not a
Speaker 1: definitive list. This is just a conversation because Stacy, I
Speaker 1: think you and I could probably do three four, five
Speaker 1: six shows on big plants.
Speaker 2: Because I love them. I am going to come right
Speaker 2: out and say, yeah, we're not talking about like, you know,
Speaker 2: the giant sequoias out in California, which are obviously extremely
Speaker 2: amazing and impressive, but like their tree, you know, they're gigantic.
Speaker 2: For me, what this show is about are those plants
Speaker 2: that basically go from nothing in spring where there's nothing
Speaker 2: above ground, and the next thing you know, by the
Speaker 2: time summer rolls around, they're five six, seven, ten feet tall.
Speaker 2: And watching that process of something going from nothing to
Speaker 2: just this massive plant, it just never gets old from me.
Speaker 2: I absolutely love it. My garden is full of these
Speaker 2: types of plants, and yeah, the more I can get,
Speaker 2: the better I agree.
Speaker 1: And no garden is too small for a large leafed plant.
Speaker 1: The key is knowing how, where and when to use it,
Speaker 1: all of which depends on the impression that you want
Speaker 1: to make. But you can punctuate. You can make an
Speaker 1: impression with big plants. I mean I think off the
Speaker 1: top of my head. Stacey, we've talked about El Nino
Speaker 1: desert orchid.
Speaker 2: Sample definitely a great example.
Speaker 1: The cup plant that you love, and we should talk
Speaker 1: about that today callicanthus sweet shrub. Any of those types
Speaker 1: of plants in a shady spot, A hosta is a
Speaker 1: great example. You have the Shadowland Empress woh Sta hybrid,
Speaker 1: you have shadow Land Gigantisaurus Hasta hybrid, and of course, Stacey,
Speaker 1: the old standard summon substance.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I love those hostas. Now. Of course I don't
Speaker 2: have them because I have deer and very little shade
Speaker 2: and I don't water, and that's how you're going to
Speaker 2: get the truly impressive results on those is. Yes, plenty
Speaker 2: of moisture. But boy do I love seeing a well
Speaker 2: grown giant hosta. Just fills me with envy.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's fantastic. It's like they're saying, stop here, look
Speaker 1: at me. It's great. And then you can take it
Speaker 1: to the next level. Plant in mass for impact, where
Speaker 1: space is not constrained. You take some of these dramatic
Speaker 1: plants and then plant them in mass I think of
Speaker 1: the airport here in West Michigan in the entrance where
Speaker 1: they have a viburnum placatum double file and they get
Speaker 1: so large and when they bloom and they're in the
Speaker 1: ent entrance in a drift.
Speaker 2: I've never knowniced that. I guess I've never flown out
Speaker 2: in late spring, but I will have to make some
Speaker 2: arrangements and see this legendary planting. Yeah, I mean, I
Speaker 2: think that a lot of people think that big plants
Speaker 2: are bad because they don't have space. But the fact is,
Speaker 2: I think that big plants are extremely useful in low
Speaker 2: maintenance gardening because if you plant one very large plant
Speaker 2: and you cite it, well, it's basically no work. Sure,
Speaker 2: you know, it's like you can just transform an area
Speaker 2: of your yard from something that you have to mow
Speaker 2: or trim or whatever and just plant something large and
Speaker 2: it kind of just takes care of itself. It makes
Speaker 2: a bigger impression. And you know, I think that in
Speaker 2: many ways, big plants are getting harder to find. There
Speaker 2: is a prevailing assumption in the horticulture industry right now
Speaker 2: that people want smaller plants, and it is true that
Speaker 2: people very often have smaller yards, but that doesn't mean
Speaker 2: is not place for big plants. And you know, a
Speaker 2: well chosen big plant can make all the difference, especially
Speaker 2: in the small yard.
Speaker 1: Exactly. It can be explosive. But you know what, again,
Speaker 1: big is relative. You can find big in something like bulbs.
Speaker 1: You look at bulbs. I was always excited in spring
Speaker 1: when the big elephant ear bulbs would come in and
Speaker 1: then you look, you know, there's big as softballs, and
Speaker 1: you think, wow, the potential that lies in this plant
Speaker 1: or alium gigantium, or the fritile areas or whatever it
Speaker 1: may be. I shared with Adriana a picture of met
Speaker 1: at Koekenhoff trying to fill my big European shoes for
Speaker 1: YouTube listeners and viewers. But I'm always on the lookout
Speaker 1: for something bigger, better, more unusual. I'm a fan of
Speaker 1: plants with big, tropical showy leaves, so you know I
Speaker 1: love canas colocacia bananas. I mean, you take something like
Speaker 1: Mussa bajou, which is the hardy Japanese fiber banana. Even
Speaker 1: though in the north and I'm in Zone six B,
Speaker 1: it dies back to the ground if you're able to
Speaker 1: keep it alive. The amount of growth, like you said
Speaker 1: at the outset, Stacey, is quite inspiring that you get
Speaker 1: in one season have.
Speaker 2: You been able to successfully elul Oh, that's cool. How
Speaker 2: old is yours? Then?
Speaker 1: Well, I had one for numerous years until I moved,
Speaker 1: and now this spring I just planted one, so I'm
Speaker 1: gonna try again.
Speaker 2: So what's your secret to overwintering this? Just keeping it dry?
Speaker 1: Okay, Soltz, you've got a mulch. The plant needs a
Speaker 1: fair amount of water during the growing season in order
Speaker 1: to produce that growth. But for winter good I'm talking
Speaker 1: mounded mulch.
Speaker 2: Okay, yeah, big. You know, make sure that that that
Speaker 2: rise them under there is well buried exactly, And then
Speaker 2: of course you can't risk uncovering it too late, because
Speaker 2: then you could earth plant right exactly. But it's worth
Speaker 2: it to have a hardy banana exactly.
Speaker 1: One of my favorite big plants in the landscape is rhododendrons,
Speaker 1: and I think part of the reason for that is
Speaker 1: because the root system is small proportionately to the top
Speaker 1: of the plant. And I went out yesterday shot a
Speaker 1: couple pictures for YouTube viewers of just some neighbors who
Speaker 1: have gigantic rhododendrons. Well, again, we live on the lake
Speaker 1: shore here in West Michigan, and the conditions allow us
Speaker 1: to grow rhododendrons that need moisture and yet need good drainage.
Speaker 1: If they sit in water, they're not going to do well.
Speaker 1: And then you think about rhododendron maximum or great laurel
Speaker 1: or wild rhododendron. You see a lot of that in
Speaker 1: the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. These things get absolutely huge.
Speaker 2: Yeah, rhododendron can be very You know the one that
Speaker 2: goes that meme that goes around about the This is
Speaker 2: the one hundred year old rhododendron with a lady who
Speaker 2: planted it. So she apparently planted it as an infant.
Speaker 2: But it's a good example of how of the truly
Speaker 2: epic proportions rhododendron can reach.
Speaker 1: Yeah, if the conditions are right, you bet rhododendri Rhododendron
Speaker 1: Dell is a great landscape showcasing all the rhododendrons at
Speaker 1: Arnold's Arboretum. And I went arnold Arboretum and I went
Speaker 1: there this past year. Four hundred and forty six rhododendrons
Speaker 1: in that collection. I think about full speed a hedge
Speaker 1: and arbor vitie that gets very, very tall and yet
Speaker 1: in the garden center. I see a lot of people,
Speaker 1: Stacey who opt for Thuya placata, which is the green
Speaker 1: giant or great Western cedar because of deer pressure.
Speaker 2: Right, so green giant is actually a hybrid between Placata
Speaker 2: and Standiscia. Is im a Asian species. But green Giant
Speaker 2: lives up to its name. It is a big it's tall,
Speaker 2: but it's also very broad at the base, so it's
Speaker 2: really it's good for privacy hedging if you have a
Speaker 2: lot of ground space. Otherwise, something like full Speed Hedge
Speaker 2: or north Pole from proven Winners are great choices because
Speaker 2: they take up less ground real estate but can still
Speaker 2: give you the privacy. Do you have to space them
Speaker 2: a little bit more closely, of course to make up
Speaker 2: for that. But green Giant is a household name, but
Speaker 2: it is definitely not for every yard. But it's cool,
Speaker 2: all right.
Speaker 1: I'll give you a big plant, Limerick. And by the way,
Speaker 1: we're going to continue to talk about big plants in
Speaker 1: segment for it will also be interesting to see Stacey's
Speaker 1: plant on trial that is chosen this week as we
Speaker 1: talk about big plants. Here's my limb rick. I need
Speaker 1: a plant colossal, not something dainty or docile, something downright
Speaker 1: large that shows it's in charge, as big as a
Speaker 1: dinosaur fossil. I want a plant that's big, a leafy, robust,
Speaker 1: large fig. A plant that's substantial and really consequential, not
Speaker 1: a wimpy, modest twig. To big plants, I'm deferential that
Speaker 1: fill my lot residential. Nothing that is passive. Make it
Speaker 1: really massive with foliage, substantial, something that is enormous. Tell us,
Speaker 1: please inform us of a plant with impact that isn't compact.
Speaker 1: It's got to be ginormous.
Speaker 2: Nice.
Speaker 1: We'll see what kind of impactful plant Stacey shares with us. Next.
Speaker 1: In Plants on trial here on the Gardening Simplified.
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Speaker 2: proven Winner's Color Choice dot com. Greetings gardening friends, and
Speaker 2: welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show. We're talking about
Speaker 2: one of my all time favorite topics as well as
Speaker 2: plants to put in the garden, and that is big plants.
Speaker 2: I mean, I like small plants. Let's like, not pretend
Speaker 2: that's not true. I have tons and tons of small plants.
Speaker 2: I have tiny little seedum's, tiny little supervivum, and I
Speaker 2: love those as well. But there is just something to
Speaker 2: me that is so inspiring about something like smarific hibiscus,
Speaker 2: which you know, comes spring, not a thing to be
Speaker 2: found in the ground, no signs of life whatsoever. And
Speaker 2: then you know, late May, couple little tiny shoots start
Speaker 2: to poke up and you're like, okay, and then you know,
Speaker 2: by July you've got a five foot tall plant covered
Speaker 2: in flowers, and you're just like, how did that happen?
Speaker 1: It's exciting, it's explosive. Not only a big plant, big flowers,
Speaker 1: big flowers.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so I love that. I also love, you know,
Speaker 2: any number of native plants. Like one of my favorites
Speaker 2: that I have is Agastaki nepatoides. So this is the
Speaker 2: green hissip and nepatoides means it looks like catnap, which
Speaker 2: it kind of does, except that it gets to be
Speaker 2: eight feet tall and it puts on these amazing candelabra
Speaker 2: type branches and again, I just love seeing that go
Speaker 2: from like where where even is that plant? To just
Speaker 2: this massive presence in the landscape. It never it never
Speaker 2: gets old for me. And you know, when it comes
Speaker 2: to shrubs, of course, there's lots of big shrubs. If
Speaker 2: we were just talking about plants that reach epic proportion
Speaker 2: as well, I could still go on all day. But
Speaker 2: there the shrub version of this ability to go from
Speaker 2: virtually nothing to just a massive in bloom plant I
Speaker 2: think is best epitomized by butterfly bush.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Now, especially older varieties of butterfly bush. As I said,
Speaker 2: the industry is largely under the operating under the belief
Speaker 2: that people want smaller plants, and there's definitely been a
Speaker 2: tendency to breed smaller and smaller butterfly bush compared to
Speaker 2: back in the day, when you know, good luck finding
Speaker 2: a butterfly bush it's under six feet. Now it's more
Speaker 2: like good luck finding a butterfly bush that's over six
Speaker 2: feet anymore. And I think there's still a place for that.
Speaker 2: But no matter what size butterfly bush you have, they
Speaker 2: all share this ability to kind of come out of
Speaker 2: winter looking like they're dead, nearly dead. It's one of
Speaker 2: the plants that I think people are most likely to
Speaker 2: give up on because they just look so ghastly, you know,
Speaker 2: in late winter, early spring, and next thing you know,
Speaker 2: they're growing and you think, okay, well, I guess it
Speaker 2: were covered from that winter damage, but it's not going
Speaker 2: to flower. And then like a week later it's covered
Speaker 2: in flowers. I mean, it's amazing, blamo blamo exactly. So
Speaker 2: today's plan on trial is one of my favorite of
Speaker 2: our butterfly bush and that is Miss Violet. Oh my gosh,
Speaker 2: this is a plant that you know, I like Budi.
Speaker 2: I am definitely choosy about what I put in my garden,
Speaker 2: but my neighborhood a Miss Violet, and that made me
Speaker 2: want a Miss Violet because it was so pretty that
Speaker 2: I just love the deep purple flowers sow. The Miss
Speaker 2: series of butterfly bush are developed to be about four
Speaker 2: to five feet tall and wide and to have kind
Speaker 2: of a more elegant habit than your average budlia. So
Speaker 2: some butterfly bushes can have like a really uh, let's
Speaker 2: just say habit is not their strong suit, especially some
Speaker 2: of those older varieties where these really do have like
Speaker 2: kind of an elegant, vaselike habit and that four to
Speaker 2: five foot you know, size is nothing to sneeze that
Speaker 2: that's still quite an appreciable size, but much more versatile
Speaker 2: than some of those older ones that would you know,
Speaker 2: just get really really huge.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I'd love that Miss series. It was Adriana
Speaker 1: who got me excited about Miss Molly. Put it in
Speaker 1: my landscape.
Speaker 2: Love that that's our favorite plant in the whole proven
Speaker 2: winner's line. Miss Molly is her number one pick. Now,
Speaker 2: I I have seen the Miss series of butterfly bush
Speaker 2: undergo this exact same phenomenon that I'm talking about in
Speaker 2: my own garden. So at my previous home, I had
Speaker 2: planted a Miss Molly butterfly bush. So this is all
Speaker 2: from the same breeding series. A breeder named doctor Dennis
Speaker 2: Warner out of North Carolina State University. He is now retired,
Speaker 2: but he was really really passionate about butterfly bush and
Speaker 2: he devoted the latter part of his career to developing
Speaker 2: non invasive butterfly bushes because at that point, in certain
Speaker 2: milder climates, butterfly bush was starting to spread by seed
Speaker 2: sure it was getting banned, and he really did not
Speaker 2: want to see that happen. So he devoted his resources
Speaker 2: into the Low and Behold series. So some of the
Speaker 2: earlier Low and Behold butterfly bush, which of course are
Speaker 2: are low, small growing butterfly bushes, and my favorite the
Speaker 2: Miss series. So I planted a Miss Molly. It was full. Now,
Speaker 2: I generally do not recommend that you plant butterfly bush
Speaker 2: in full. So now that we're here in late spring
Speaker 2: early summer, especially if you're in a cold clam and
Speaker 2: you're thinking about adding a butterfly bush to your garden,
Speaker 2: now is the time to do it. You want to
Speaker 2: make sure that it has a nice long season ahead
Speaker 2: to develop a good root system to help it come
Speaker 2: back from you know, any damage that it's going to
Speaker 2: get in winter. So you know, but I work in
Speaker 2: the industry, so I get free plants. And when you
Speaker 2: get free plants, you don't just you know, you plant them.
Speaker 1: And I worked in the garden center industry, and if
Speaker 1: you get bargain bin plants in October, you plant them
Speaker 1: exactly and hope for the best.
Speaker 2: Exactly, can't beat the price. So I planted this Miss Mollie,
Speaker 2: and you know, it looked great at that fall, and
Speaker 2: then come the following spring, other butterfly bushes that are
Speaker 2: planted near it coming back without a problem. I'm like,
Speaker 2: all right, cool, and this Miss Mollie is showing not
Speaker 2: a sign of life, not a single sign of life
Speaker 2: now again. And I do have pretty good conditions, but
Speaker 2: there's a lot of different things that could happen. So,
Speaker 2: you know, I kept waiting because I know that butterfly
Speaker 2: bush are always late to emerge, and the colder or
Speaker 2: harsher your winter is the harder the slower they are
Speaker 2: to come back from. That so especially true for people
Speaker 2: in USBA Zone five and six. So I'm waiting. Still nothing,
Speaker 2: still nothing. Finally, the second weekend in June rolls around
Speaker 2: and I think that's it. This thing is not coming back.
Speaker 2: I'm going to just pull it out. So I lean over,
Speaker 2: bend over to pull it out with my bare hands,
Speaker 2: because this is something you can do when you have
Speaker 2: very sandy soil. It's really quite a fun benefit. Not everything,
Speaker 2: but some things. So I reach down to pull it
Speaker 2: out and I see just this tiny little shoot coming
Speaker 2: out of the ground, and I thought, all right, all right,
Speaker 2: we'll give it a whirl. We'll see what you can
Speaker 2: do from this tiny, little, you know, one inch shoot
Speaker 2: and I am not even joking. Three weeks later the
Speaker 2: thing was fully grown and in bloom.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 2: I mean it was insane. It was absolutely amazing and
Speaker 2: plants just you know, it's one of those plants that
Speaker 2: just has this ability to, I guess, summon the extensive
Speaker 2: resources in its roots to come back from even a
Speaker 2: really really harsh winter, and it's just so amazing to
Speaker 2: see that kind of comeback.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's true. I have a Missviolet. Two years ago
Speaker 1: we had a very mild winter, hardly any die back.
Speaker 1: This past winter, Stacey mine pretty much had. I had
Speaker 1: die back to the ground, but it's really recovering quickly.
Speaker 2: That's the crazy thing is they do recover quickly. And
Speaker 2: all butterfly bush, especially in colder climates or if you
Speaker 2: have clay soil and you get cold winters, that is
Speaker 2: their death knell. They hate that. They will definitely be
Speaker 2: sat back, if not die. But the thing is, yes,
Speaker 2: you do have to have faith with these plants because
Speaker 2: they can come back in such an amazing way. So
Speaker 2: a couple more tips for success, whether you're growing today's
Speaker 2: plan on trial Miss Violet with its fabulous purple flowers
Speaker 2: or any butterfly bush. Again, plant it sooner than later,
Speaker 2: especially if you are in a cold climate or you
Speaker 2: are planting it in less than ideal conditions. So that
Speaker 2: would be like clay soil, poorly drained soils. You don't
Speaker 2: want to put it in any soil of its wet.
Speaker 2: It will not make it. You can plant them in
Speaker 2: clay soil, but they definitely need a longer time to
Speaker 2: get established. Because it's not even so much winter that
Speaker 2: will take out a butterfly bush. It's being cold and wet.
Speaker 2: So really the danger times are kind of that late
Speaker 2: fall where the ground hasn't frozen yet, it's not cold
Speaker 2: enough to actually like snow or freeze, but we're getting
Speaker 2: a lot of rain that's terrible for it. And then
Speaker 2: the same thing happens on the other end of the
Speaker 2: season in early spring, when you know we're kind of
Speaker 2: past the worst of the cold, but we get a
Speaker 2: lot of rain and the soils cold and wet. They
Speaker 2: absolutely hate that, so plant early, plants high. If you
Speaker 2: have a drainage issue, make sure this you're putting it
Speaker 2: so that's a little bit above the soil surface rather
Speaker 2: than even with the soil surface and make sure you
Speaker 2: prune these things. So this is so important. Butterfly bush
Speaker 2: is one of those plants that you definitely want to
Speaker 2: prune to make sure it stays nice and compact, maintains
Speaker 2: that really nice habit and flowers from top to bottom,
Speaker 2: because that amazing ability to regrow that we were just
Speaker 2: discussing also means that if a butterfly bush is not trimmed,
Speaker 2: it's just going to keep going up and up and
Speaker 2: up and up and get really tall, really lanky, look
Speaker 2: super weird, and then you don't even get to enjoy
Speaker 2: the flowers.
Speaker 1: Prune hard and it helps stimulate blooming lass it does,
Speaker 1: and it's just yeah, it's important.
Speaker 2: And if you don't know where to prune it, the
Speaker 2: best thing to do is to wait until it starts
Speaker 2: to grow, because then the plant is going to tell
Speaker 2: you exactly where it is alive. You can cut back
Speaker 2: to just above there, and then all the energy that
Speaker 2: the plant has will grow into those you know, remaining
Speaker 2: shoots or buds, and the plant will start to grow
Speaker 2: and again and bloom so fast you will not even
Speaker 2: believe it's possible. I wouldn't have believed it if I
Speaker 2: saw it myself. So a fascinating plant to have great
Speaker 2: summer color, NonStop flowers. You know, that's one of the
Speaker 2: things I loved about seeing the one in my neighbor's yard.
Speaker 2: Just that purple, that deep true purple, looks so good
Speaker 2: with all of summer's colors, all the reds, all the yellows,
Speaker 2: all that kind of stuff I have in my garden.
Speaker 2: And of course it attracts butterflies.
Speaker 1: Yeah, the butterflies exactly a magnet for and hummingbirds.
Speaker 2: So a great plant with unique color and a plant
Speaker 2: that will, I think inspire you, whether it survives winter
Speaker 2: without any damage, or for those winters where it might
Speaker 2: get a little damage but will redeem itself shortly. So
Speaker 2: you can find it at your local garden center. If
Speaker 2: you don't know where your local garden center is, visit
Speaker 2: proven Winter's Color Choice dot com. We've got a list
Speaker 2: of retailers for you right there. We're going to take
Speaker 2: a little break. When we come back, we're opening up
Speaker 2: the mailbanks. If these stay tuned at proven Winter's Color
Speaker 2: Choice Shrubs, we know that a better landscape starts with
Speaker 2: a better shrub. Our team of experts tests and evaluates
Speaker 2: all of our flowering shrubs and evergreens for eight to
Speaker 2: ten years to ensure they outperform what's already on the market.
Speaker 2: For easycare, reliable, beautiful shrubs to scentuate your home and
Speaker 2: express your personal style, look for Proven Winners shrubs in
Speaker 2: the distinctive white container at your local garden center or
Speaker 2: learn more at Proven Winners color choice dot com. Greetings
Speaker 2: gardening friends, and welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show,
Speaker 2: where it's time for us to help you with your
Speaker 2: garden questions, conundrums, and quandaries. And I'll bet they are
Speaker 2: happening in spades right now. You know, it was a
Speaker 2: slow start here in Michigan, but we got those couple
Speaker 2: of warm days and man, everything has just exploded. There
Speaker 2: is so much going on, most of it good, but
Speaker 2: perhaps some of it bad, confusing, not sure what to do,
Speaker 2: and that's where we come in. So you can reach
Speaker 2: us at Gardening Simplified on air dot com and we'll
Speaker 2: be happy to take a look at your question if
Speaker 2: you do need an answer right away. We do want
Speaker 2: you to get the help that you need because we
Speaker 2: only have time for about three questions and sometimes not
Speaker 2: even that. So you can also reach us at Proven Winners,
Speaker 2: color choice dot com and get an answer for your
Speaker 2: question from a professional horticulturist who actually cares about your success.
Speaker 2: So we do want to make sure that we are
Speaker 2: helping you out in a timely manner, So don't hesitate
Speaker 2: to reach out to us other ways if we can't
Speaker 2: get to you on this show. Who do we have
Speaker 2: this week?
Speaker 1: Stacy Scott writes to us, hanging baskets. Our front porch
Speaker 1: is covered heavy shade, and we struggle keeping hanging baskets
Speaker 1: looking good beyond a few weeks. This goes for flowers
Speaker 1: and plants that are supposed to be better in the shade. Example,
Speaker 1: given two Berus pogonias, what are we doing wrong right?
Speaker 2: So? Well, first of all, I think two bris pogonias
Speaker 2: kind of need their own little exemption carved out of
Speaker 2: what we're saying. We did recently do a whole show
Speaker 2: on hanging baskets where we gave a lot of advice.
Speaker 2: But I know now probably a lot of people who
Speaker 2: is since that show actually probably have hanging baskets in
Speaker 2: their yard at this point and are maybe wondering what
Speaker 2: to do. So I do want to say and Ricky
Speaker 2: talked about this in that episode hanging Basket. There are
Speaker 2: usually the soil less media in them is typically a
Speaker 2: peat base media and peat moss will become hydrophobic, which
Speaker 2: is to say it becomes very difficult to rewet if
Speaker 2: it gets dry and you in the garden center, most
Speaker 2: hanging baskets are on drip, so they're constantly getting like
Speaker 2: a low supply of water and that prevents the soil
Speaker 2: from drying out once it gets to your house. If
Speaker 2: that soil service is exposed because it's still young and
Speaker 2: hasn't filled in fully or whatever, and it dries out,
Speaker 2: it becomes very very hard to rewet that. So what
Speaker 2: happens is you're sitting there watering, the water's flowing out
Speaker 2: the bottom and you're patting yourself on the back that
Speaker 2: you need did a great job, but you actually have
Speaker 2: not wet any of the roots whatsoever. So it's something
Speaker 2: you need to be really careful of. I would say,
Speaker 2: if your hanging basket isn't doing well, take it down.
Speaker 2: You're probably not going to be able to solve any
Speaker 2: hanging basket issues from the ground when it is up
Speaker 2: in the air hanging wherever you have place because you
Speaker 2: can't get a good look at it, and that's the
Speaker 2: only way you're going to know it's almost certainly a
Speaker 2: water issue. You know, very rarely is this going to
Speaker 2: be any kind of disease. And if it is a disease,
Speaker 2: then it's a disease that was probably caused by too
Speaker 2: much water rather than something that was like actually wrong
Speaker 2: with the plant. So take it down if it has
Speaker 2: if it's too dry, and you'll be able to tell
Speaker 2: it when you take it down because they'll feel really light.
Speaker 2: It's kind of you know, it's a I think a
Speaker 2: skill you develop, but once you've experimented with it, you
Speaker 2: know pretty well. So take it down if it's very dry,
Speaker 2: dunk it in water, so don't you're not going to
Speaker 2: leave it in standing water. But that will help to
Speaker 2: fully rewet the entire volume of soil rather than just
Speaker 2: you know, dribbling a bit of water from the top.
Speaker 2: So you can treat it just like you would anything
Speaker 2: else and use that bottom watering technique to fully saturate
Speaker 2: it and that will help a lot in terms of
Speaker 2: actually keeping it healthy.
Speaker 1: Now, so sorry ahead, there's plenty of wonderful plants to
Speaker 1: grow in the shape I agree Stacey that soil or
Speaker 1: soillest mix can become hydrophobic. Combined with that the roots
Speaker 1: tend to mass on the surface also, so yes, the
Speaker 1: water that you think you're applying is hitting the surface
Speaker 1: heading over to the sides of the basket. If it's
Speaker 1: dried out. At some point that soil has contracted from
Speaker 1: the side of the basket and so that water is
Speaker 1: just simply running down the side and out the bottom.
Speaker 1: I agree with taking them down. In the garden center,
Speaker 1: you're dealing with thousands of hanging baskets. The way we
Speaker 1: do it is as you walk along, you just push
Speaker 1: up on the basket. You can tell instantly whether it's
Speaker 1: dry to wet. It's a good way to monitor. And
Speaker 1: then when you take it down again for a basket
Speaker 1: at home, I use the screwdriver method. I just poke
Speaker 1: some holes. Yeah, in that soil surface. It makes a
Speaker 1: big difference.
Speaker 2: That's a good easy thing to do. I do want
Speaker 2: to say briefly, though, Scott, about Tuberspegonia's beautiful, but they
Speaker 2: can be pretty tricky to grow because they are tuberous
Speaker 2: as the name suggests, and that big old tuber in
Speaker 2: there is very sensitive to poor drainage and watering. If
Speaker 2: it gets too wet, it will start to rot. So
Speaker 2: it's a plant that needs a lot of water. But
Speaker 2: also if it gets too much water, it can rot
Speaker 2: really easily. So as gorgeous and tempting as they are,
Speaker 2: they can be a little bit tricky.
Speaker 1: Maybe try some fibrous pogonias instead of tuberous pagonias and
Speaker 1: that may work better.
Speaker 2: And same with like all these beautiful like angel wing pogonias,
Speaker 2: you know, bonfire and on all of that a great choice.
Speaker 2: So also the other thing is you might maybe the
Speaker 2: garden or the area is not as shady as you
Speaker 2: think it is for the plants, because sometimes, especially when
Speaker 2: we're dealing with locations close to the house, the house
Speaker 2: bounces a lot of light back into the plants and
Speaker 2: it can actually make the spot less shady than you
Speaker 2: might assume. So if you're getting something specific, Scott, send
Speaker 2: us a picture so we know what you're dealing with
Speaker 2: and can help you specifically. But I would say, whenever
Speaker 2: anything's going wrong, take it down, get to the root
Speaker 2: of the problem, and then once you resolved it, then
Speaker 2: it can go back up.
Speaker 1: Many times, people in that situation will default to Boston ferns.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, can't go wrong with the Boston fern. It's
Speaker 2: a classic.
Speaker 1: Suzanne writes, Hello, love the show. I'm a fellow Michigander.
Speaker 1: Have been listening for the past couple of years. It's
Speaker 1: therapy in my car. I love the comedian Jim Gaffigan.
Speaker 1: He asked this past weekend, is there a recovery program
Speaker 1: for gardening? He did good, quite, yes, he did so.
Speaker 1: I'm in six B southeast side. These roses were planted
Speaker 1: in the house I moved into four years ago, learning
Speaker 1: about them, started caring for them, attempting, pruning, fertilizing. I
Speaker 1: believe I did everything right in terms of pruning and fertilizing.
Speaker 1: They seem to be doing great. Last week with no
Speaker 1: spots on the foliage. I turned my back for one second.
Speaker 1: This week, I'm noticing a good spots on the leaves
Speaker 1: Larva looking things. Hell.
Speaker 2: Yes, so what you are experiencing, Suzanne, is definitely common
Speaker 2: for rose growers in late spring. Everything's going along just fine,
Speaker 2: and there seems to be this point that they reach
Speaker 2: where they're well known tendency to attract certain pests explodes.
Speaker 2: Now aphids. I wouldn't really worry about. You know, I
Speaker 2: have definitely seen bad aphis on roses where it will
Speaker 2: cause the buds to actually weep. But you know, their
Speaker 2: roses are pretty sturdy. They're easy to like wipe the
Speaker 2: aphids off of rinse the aphis off, and they really
Speaker 2: don't cause that much trouble except kind of their stickiness
Speaker 2: and just general grossness. The other thing that you're seeing
Speaker 2: is something that if people aren't already seeing it, they
Speaker 2: will be very soon, and it's confusing pests. It is
Speaker 2: the rose slug. And I find this one so fascinating
Speaker 2: because it basically causes two different types of damage when
Speaker 2: it so it's called a rose lug. It's like a sawfly.
Speaker 2: So it's a little larvae and they're clear. So they
Speaker 2: start eating the rose foliage and they turn the exact
Speaker 2: shade of your rose foliage. And when they're in this
Speaker 2: really small, tiny larval state, so after the mother softly
Speaker 2: laser eggs on the plant, when they're still in that
Speaker 2: really tiny state, their little jaws are too small and
Speaker 2: too weak to actually get through the entire leaf surface
Speaker 2: of the plant, so they can only chew through the
Speaker 2: top of the leaf. They can't go all the way
Speaker 2: through because they're just so little, and it makes us
Speaker 2: window like damage, this very specific window like damage. And
Speaker 2: then as they start to age a little bit more,
Speaker 2: then they can actually get all the way through and
Speaker 2: they make these kind of meandering sort of sea shape.
Speaker 2: I don't want to call them. I guess channels is
Speaker 2: the thing, because they go all the way through and
Speaker 2: they don't eat the leaf ribs, so you see these
Speaker 2: weird kind of meandering channel in that. And it's all
Speaker 2: the same insect, so it's not like it's a separate thing.
Speaker 2: It's all the same one. Now, the easiest time to
Speaker 2: spot these little guys is early in the morning when
Speaker 2: they're still moving, kind of start just starting to feed,
Speaker 2: and you have to look on the underside of the leaf.
Speaker 2: And the first couple times that you look for one,
Speaker 2: it's going to be tricky. They're very hard to pick out.
Speaker 2: But after a couple of times you'll start to pick
Speaker 2: them out and I just smash them, you know, I
Speaker 2: smash as many as I see. It's a fairly useful
Speaker 2: control method if you're not overly squeamish and have a
Speaker 2: little bit of time on your hands, because that's what
Speaker 2: gardening is about is just being out there with your
Speaker 2: plants and checking them out. The other thing you can
Speaker 2: do if your roses are a disease resistant or continuous
Speaker 2: blooming landscape rose, then what you can do is go
Speaker 2: ahead and just give them a light trim. Because these
Speaker 2: rose slugs stick on the top most folly and so
Speaker 2: they don't go way down deep onto the other folaginals.
Speaker 2: You have a very serious infestation. If you just give
Speaker 2: it a light trim. I know it's going to be
Speaker 2: a little bit of a heartbreak. You're probably trimming off
Speaker 2: flower buds, but not to worry. That will get rid
Speaker 2: of all of the slugs on your plants. Give the
Speaker 2: plant a chance to recover well. The rose slug is like, hey,
Speaker 2: no new growth here for me to lay my eggs on.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna go find a rose it does have new growth,
Speaker 2: and then by the time your plant actually leaves out again,
Speaker 2: they've moved on.
Speaker 1: It's great advice, and I would feed it at the
Speaker 1: same time. When you do that print.
Speaker 2: Definitely good advice. Make sure that you give it that
Speaker 2: little extra boost of energy to help it recover from
Speaker 2: that pruning. But that is the best, easiest, non toxic
Speaker 2: way to manage rose slugs because yeah, they can get
Speaker 2: pretty bad, but I don't know. I find them fascinating
Speaker 2: a slug fest anyway. Thank you so much for your questions,
Speaker 2: and if you have a question for us, remember you
Speaker 2: can reach us at Gardening Simplified on air dot com.
Speaker 2: We're going to take a break. When we come back,
Speaker 2: we're picking up our conversation about big plants. You won't
Speaker 2: want to miss it, so stay tuned. Thanks for listening
Speaker 2: to the Gardening Simplified Podcast, brought to you by Proven
Speaker 2: Winner's Color Choice Shrubs. Our award winning flowering shrubs and
Speaker 2: evergreens are trialed and tested by experts with your success
Speaker 2: in mind. Learn more at Proven Winners Color Choice dot com.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show. Today for branching news,
Speaker 1: we continue talking about big impact plants and I did
Speaker 1: have to mention to you stay see this story that
Speaker 1: I saw in the news. Talk about big in your
Speaker 1: front yard. A Norwegian man managed to sleep through an
Speaker 1: enormous container ship running aground on his front lawn. Johann Hellberg,
Speaker 1: who lives in Norway, was woken by his neighbor on
Speaker 1: Thursday morning and asked if he had noticed a boat outside.
Speaker 1: TV two Norway reported when he looked out his door,
Speaker 1: he saw a four hundred and forty three foot container
Speaker 1: ship parked.
Speaker 2: In his front ear Oh yikes, mm hmm.
Speaker 1: We'll give you the link in show notes and here
Speaker 1: on YouTube. But yes, a container ship ran aground in
Speaker 1: his front yard. He slept right through.
Speaker 2: Well that's not very ornamental.
Speaker 1: Yes, you are so right talking about large impact plants
Speaker 1: and maybe tropical on a budget. How about castor beans?
Speaker 2: Oh? I love them, I mean boom.
Speaker 1: Can you know the ones I've planted have gotten twelve
Speaker 1: to fifteen feet in one season. I had some planted
Speaker 1: next to popcorn plant.
Speaker 2: Both of those really going for that tropical.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and once the weather gets hot, it's like wow.
Speaker 1: Other big impact plants, ligular area, the rocket and I
Speaker 1: like big green tractor. It's also known as tractor seat,
Speaker 1: big foliage that looks like a tractor seat.
Speaker 2: Yeah, tractor seat is what they call it in the South.
Speaker 2: With the first time I was on some tour with
Speaker 2: some Southerners, they said something about and I was like, what,
Speaker 2: I like tractor seat. That's that plant. I was like,
Speaker 2: that is so funny.
Speaker 1: Fun to grow. I have one of my plant, yep
Speaker 1: rod Jersey. If you've got rich humisy consistently moist soils
Speaker 1: in part shade. That plant was named after our honors
Speaker 1: Rear Admiral John Rogers, a distinguished American naval officer who
Speaker 1: commanded a expedition in the mid eighteen hundreds and the
Speaker 1: first species of this genus was discovered. You look at
Speaker 1: other plants we mentioned elephant ear, Your allocacious odora was
Speaker 1: one that I loved getting into the garden center. It
Speaker 1: made a real impact. Always have difficulty pronouncing this one,
Speaker 1: but I think I got it. Simysifuga.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, that was a very cool plant.
Speaker 1: Yeah, did I get that right? Did?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 1: Yeah, there's a cool one called chocoholic. Some people call
Speaker 1: it snakeroot plant or bugbane in reference to the old
Speaker 1: differous insect repellent properties of the plant. They look like
Speaker 1: giant a stillby plants.
Speaker 2: Yes, these are all plants that Rick just listed that
Speaker 2: need moist soil. So if you have shade and you
Speaker 2: have moist soil, great choices. There's a lot of plants
Speaker 2: like this. I feel like that are good for moist shade.
Speaker 2: You know that have the big boffo foliage if you
Speaker 2: have if you live in a warm climate and you
Speaker 2: have wet soil, you can also grow gunnera.
Speaker 1: Oh, I was just gonna bring that right.
Speaker 2: Don't you love gunnara?
Speaker 1: It's so jealous some areas, like I think in England,
Speaker 1: they're trying to get you to not right the plant.
Speaker 2: Because it's so invasive.
Speaker 1: There, huge foliage. I remember being in Vancouver Queen Elizabeth Park, huge,
Speaker 1: you know, and everybody wants to get their picture taken time, right, Yeah.
Speaker 2: The first one that I saw in real life, I
Speaker 2: had to have my picture taken in front of Yes,
Speaker 2: that's right, but definitely not hardy for us here in Michigan.
Speaker 1: It makes for a great selfie in social media. Joe
Speaker 1: Pie Weed and we had a lavender show that we
Speaker 1: did a few weeks ago. Go back and visit it.
Speaker 1: But Stacey, we talked about phenomenal lavender. That's you know again,
Speaker 1: it's all relative. But when it comes to lavender, talk
Speaker 1: about a big plant. Of course. I love grasses, so
Speaker 1: the giant misscanthus. I like the ravenna grass or arianthus.
Speaker 1: North Carolina State University calls it hardy pampas grass, But
Speaker 1: boy does that thing get big in one season.
Speaker 2: It is very cool to see those grasses that get
Speaker 2: so big and you just you know, one of the
Speaker 2: things that I think is so fascinating when I'm looking
Speaker 2: at these plants and this is like, I don't know,
Speaker 2: such a weird thing to think, but I kind of
Speaker 2: can't help it as I just think about the number
Speaker 2: of cells they had to produce to get that big,
Speaker 2: so many cells.
Speaker 1: And how fast it goes.
Speaker 2: Yes, it's crazy.
Speaker 1: I know. My mind works the same way with steria.
Speaker 1: What about wisteria. Here's a plant that you got to
Speaker 1: show whose boss? You know. You think about some of
Speaker 1: these vines, like trumpet vine or wisteria, I guess if
Speaker 1: you have the room, if you have the support, well,
Speaker 1: more power to you. Some people would say I would
Speaker 1: never plant a trumpet what an invasive. Yeah, I understand,
Speaker 1: but in some areas, especially if you're willing to neglect
Speaker 1: the plant or get tough with it, like rit pruning,
Speaker 1: which is what I recommend for wisteria. Obviously, get very big,
Speaker 1: grow very quickly.
Speaker 2: Yeah, if you have a spot where you can just
Speaker 2: kind of let it go to a trumpet vine, you
Speaker 2: will never have more hummingbirds in your entire life. It's
Speaker 2: worth it. They do need, they do need their space
Speaker 2: or some aggressive management. But for that reason, I really
Speaker 2: do wish I could have one, but I don't think
Speaker 2: my neighbors would appreciate it.
Speaker 1: How about bears breeches canthus, I mean that, wow, interesting flowers.
Speaker 1: Some people will say, hey, don't plant it almost impossible
Speaker 1: to eradicate out of a planting bed. But when you're
Speaker 1: talking about bold thistle like foliage, bears breeches is well,
Speaker 1: it's a It's an architectural presence, is what it is.
Speaker 2: Yes, And you know, people think of a canthus as
Speaker 2: a warm climate plant, and the one that is most
Speaker 2: often depicted at the in the Grecian columns is actually
Speaker 2: a warm climate canthus. But there are hardy ones that
Speaker 2: you can find. They're not usually around in garden centers,
Speaker 2: but if you are so inclined, you can definitely grow
Speaker 2: a certain one in cold climates and enjoy it. You
Speaker 2: might need to find someone who already has one to
Speaker 2: give you some plants, but they are prickly, but they're
Speaker 2: very cool.
Speaker 1: Sitting in my office the other day, looking out the
Speaker 1: window and watching the beautiful Baltimore orioles who were feasting
Speaker 1: on the orange pieces outside of my office on a feeder,
Speaker 1: and they're so colorful. But it caused me to think
Speaker 1: about how much I love also the yellow finches, especially
Speaker 1: in spring, and how bright they are. And then doing
Speaker 1: a little bit of research, it was strongly recommended that
Speaker 1: cup plant or sylphium is something you might want a
Speaker 1: plant if you like finches. What's been your.
Speaker 2: Oh gosh experience in late summer, it is the finch
Speaker 2: hot spot of my entire neighborhood. So they love, love,
Speaker 2: love the seeds, and these plants do set so much seed,
Speaker 2: and so they're also your right hand man there in
Speaker 2: managing this plant, which can spread aggressively from seed because
Speaker 2: they're eating so many of them. But between the fact
Speaker 2: that they produce so much seed that the goldfinches love
Speaker 2: the cup, so the foliage actually surrounds the big, thick,
Speaker 2: square stem and makes kind of a cup like structure
Speaker 2: that will hold rain or irrigation water. So between having
Speaker 2: that water and all of those seeds, they just they
Speaker 2: mob it, they mobbit. My neighbor says, she just loves
Speaker 2: to sit there with her binoculars and just watch the
Speaker 2: finches just have a field day on my Sofia.
Speaker 1: When would you say your plant is in prime?
Speaker 2: Uh, probably about the last two weeks of July.
Speaker 1: Okay, which is ideal because at that time you start
Speaker 1: getting some of the globe thistle mm hmm. And the
Speaker 1: finches breed later in the year or not and spring,
Speaker 1: and so yeah, that's that's pretty cool.
Speaker 2: And plus my neighbors have finch feeders. So between the
Speaker 2: three things, you know, there they are. They are coming
Speaker 2: out in drugs and it is a lot of fun
Speaker 2: to watch. And that's a plant too that you know,
Speaker 2: it starts from nothing and then you know by the
Speaker 2: time July rolls around, it's sent feet tall.
Speaker 1: Yeah. A plant that I always enjoyed in the Michigan
Speaker 1: State University Garden was the Rudbeckias, the tall cone flower.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Maxima, Yeah, I love that one with a big
Speaker 2: blue fold. Such a cool plant.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a great plant. Also to consider, for years
Speaker 1: I've grown Helianthus like lemon queen. They can just get
Speaker 1: strikingly large. Just a great plant again if you're looking
Speaker 1: for that quick size. And I have to mention Stacy
Speaker 1: that even though this isn't an herbaceous plant or a
Speaker 1: plant grown from seed. Oh, by the way, just popped
Speaker 1: into my head. Also, I've got to mention the hyacinth
Speaker 1: bean again. If you're on a budget, you want tropical,
Speaker 1: you want fast, you want size, a great plant to
Speaker 1: put in the ground for size, But when it comes
Speaker 1: to size in the landscape, I just feel you cannot
Speaker 1: beat viburnums. I love viburnums, don't you.
Speaker 2: I do. I really do like viburnums. I don't have
Speaker 2: a lot of them, but I do love them as
Speaker 2: a foliage plant because sometimes, you know, viburnums are considered derresistent,
Speaker 2: but they do very often eat the flowers, so they
Speaker 2: leave the plants alone. So you gotta be if you
Speaker 2: have dear, you've got to grow a viburnum that you
Speaker 2: can appreciate for its foliage, because you probably are not
Speaker 2: going to be able to enjoy the flowers at least
Speaker 2: that's been my experience exactly.
Speaker 1: And then of course I love the bloomerang lilacs, the
Speaker 1: miss Kim lilacs, because boy, they helped me get control
Speaker 1: in my landscape. Because those old French lilacs, yes, they're
Speaker 1: something else and they're fragrant, but boy, I've seen some
Speaker 1: big ones in my dear Oh.
Speaker 2: They do. They can get quite large because they have
Speaker 2: a suckering habit, so they kind of keep colonizing an area.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we'd love to hear about your favorite big plants.
Speaker 1: The list could go on and on, and maybe we'll
Speaker 1: do a future show again on more big plants, but
Speaker 1: certainly a fun thing to talk about. Go Big or
Speaker 1: Go Home. Thank you Stacy, thank you Rick, Thanks Adriana,
Speaker 1: and thanks most of all to you for watching us
Speaker 1: on YouTube, listening to the podcast, listening to us on radio.
Speaker 1: Have a great week.