Speaker 1: Coming to you from Studio A here at proven Winns
Speaker 1: Color Joy Shrubs. It's time for the Gardening Simplified Show
Speaker 1: with Stacy Hervella, Me, Rick Weist, and our engineer and
Speaker 1: producer Adrianna Robinson. Well Stacy, throughout the years, I have
Speaker 1: helped people with garden problems. I've been involved in the
Speaker 1: media for years, and when I'm out and about and
Speaker 1: people meet me, first thing they'll do is they'll shake
Speaker 1: my hand vigorously and introduce themselves. And then the next
Speaker 1: words out of their mouth are I have a brown thumb.
Speaker 1: Everything I touch dies. And I say to them, that's
Speaker 1: a piece of information I would have liked before you
Speaker 1: shook my name. Are there plants that you can't kill?
Speaker 1: I say, well, maybe, at least I've tried with certain plants.
Speaker 1: And Stacy, I think when you approach the subject, you
Speaker 1: have to look at plants first of all, considering what
Speaker 1: is their native habitat, look at their reach, in other words,
Speaker 1: how large an area across the world does this plant grow?
Speaker 1: Remember it's all relative. And then finally, look at the roots.
Speaker 1: Some plants have what we call adventitious roots or rhizotomous roots,
Speaker 1: and it can make all the difference in the world
Speaker 1: as it relates to a plant survivability.
Speaker 2: There are so many factors that go into a plant's
Speaker 2: ability to withstand challenges. But I do want to say
Speaker 2: first that I would think that when most people meet you,
Speaker 2: the first thing they would say is I've got the
Speaker 2: perfect pun for you.
Speaker 1: They do that too, I have hundreds of them. Some
Speaker 1: of my best came from listeners.
Speaker 2: Okay, just time to get that out of the way. Yes,
Speaker 2: but there are a lot of different factors. And when
Speaker 2: I was thinking about this topic, you know what, I
Speaker 2: feel like there's a differentiation right between plants that are durable,
Speaker 2: which we talk about a lot. We will say things like,
Speaker 2: you know, this plant will withstand wet soil, or this
Speaker 2: plant can withstand high pH or low pH or whatever.
Speaker 2: We talk about specific challenges. But to me, these plants
Speaker 2: that you can't kill can't merely tolerate one extreme condition.
Speaker 2: They need to be able to tolerate anything that Mother
Speaker 2: Nature can throw at it.
Speaker 1: It's a great point, and there are actually.
Speaker 2: A number of those plants because of course you can
Speaker 2: walk around and see that plants are surviving despite all
Speaker 2: of the crazy stuff that Mother nature does.
Speaker 3: Throw at them.
Speaker 2: But the bigger question than is are they nice enough
Speaker 2: to have in your landscape?
Speaker 1: Yes? Exactly. So if I elaborate on that a little bit,
Speaker 1: let's see how you feel about this, Stacey. For example,
Speaker 1: I said, look to where they are native. Think about
Speaker 1: the plants from the Great Plains like Helianthus, cone flowers,
Speaker 1: switch grass Esclepius two buosa, favorite plant of yours, and
Speaker 1: think about their root system and what it takes to
Speaker 1: survive out there on the Great Plains. Can get really hot,
Speaker 1: can get really cold, et cetera, et cetera. Right, and
Speaker 1: then take a look at the range. I think about
Speaker 1: an interesting tree people don't talk about a lot, and
Speaker 1: that is ironwood tree. The range of that tree is
Speaker 1: unbelievable throughout Canada, into the eastern US, all the way
Speaker 1: down to the Honduras.
Speaker 3: Wow, that far down.
Speaker 1: So a sizeable reach on that tree. And then remember
Speaker 1: it's all relative. If you were to go to the
Speaker 1: search engine of your choice and type in plants that
Speaker 1: are hard to kill, odds are what's gonna come up?
Speaker 1: Are houseplants? Yes, because everybody kills houseplants and usually kills
Speaker 1: them with kindness. Now there are super tough houseplants like
Speaker 1: ponytail palm or sandsavaria or zz plants. But odds are
Speaker 1: people kill them left and right. Why Because they overwater them?
Speaker 3: You know what?
Speaker 2: That is so true In all of my years of
Speaker 2: helping people garden and answering questions, overwatering has overwhelmingly been
Speaker 2: the reason that people have killed their plants indoors and
Speaker 2: out I have so so many people who you know,
Speaker 2: hear at proven winners plant a lilac or plant a
Speaker 2: panic lyide range of two of our best sellers. Great
Speaker 2: plants widely be loved, and they say, and I wanted
Speaker 2: to give it a good home. So I dug a hole,
Speaker 2: and I dumped a big, you know, bag full of
Speaker 2: composts or potting mix in there, and then I planted it.
Speaker 2: And I've been watering it every day and now it's wilting,
Speaker 2: and so I gave it more water, and you know,
Speaker 2: there goes a plant. And the thing the bottom line here,
Speaker 2: whether it's houseplants or outdoor plants, is that plants can
Speaker 2: generally withstand underwatering more they can withstand overwatering because what
Speaker 2: they can deal what they can do if they get
Speaker 2: too much, If they get too little water, it's just
Speaker 2: go dormant, just boo. Can't deal just conserving my resources,
Speaker 2: putting it away for a little while. If they get overwatered,
Speaker 2: their roots suffocate. It's like, you know, you can live
Speaker 2: in the desert, but if you drown in the ocean,
Speaker 2: your your life will be very short.
Speaker 3: You might be able to do three.
Speaker 2: Days in the desert, if you know, going through there
Speaker 2: and finding some water, maybe eating a cactus if you're lucky.
Speaker 2: But yeah, in the ocean, you got to stay afloat.
Speaker 2: You're gonna drown.
Speaker 1: That's why one of my favorite puns is I just
Speaker 1: wet my plants. But it's true. And with those houseplants,
Speaker 1: so they kill them with watering. Whereas there are some
Speaker 1: houseplants if you look at their native habitat their range,
Speaker 1: their characteristics Philodendron chordatum or pothos, that is a plant.
Speaker 1: And my daughter is evidence of this because I've watched
Speaker 1: her houseplants. They can shift from dust dry to soaking
Speaker 1: wet and survive. So there are a few that are tough,
Speaker 1: too very tough to kill. Today's lima rick and by
Speaker 1: the way, we're gonna call it limb a Eric li
Speaker 1: MB Thanks to one of our viewers listeners, Randa, thank
Speaker 1: you very much. Tougher than a choke cherry or a
Speaker 1: plant grown on the prairie, one's interest is arbitrary of
Speaker 1: its thorns. You should be wary. Just how does Stacy
Speaker 1: feel about Barbary Rick?
Speaker 2: How dare you don't make me say this on the show?
Speaker 2: I thought we were doing plants we hate next episode.
Speaker 1: Oh okay, we can save it for next week. Then
Speaker 1: then let me ask you this question. How do you
Speaker 1: feel about day lilies or jeez? Because boy, here is
Speaker 1: a perennial that is next to impossible to kill. I've
Speaker 1: pulled them out of the ground, left them laying for months,
Speaker 1: and they survived it. And again I go back to
Speaker 1: what I originally said, Stacy, I think it goes back
Speaker 1: to the rhizotomous, adventitious thick roots.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so that's definitely why day lilies are pretty hard
Speaker 2: to kill. Because if you dig one up, do you
Speaker 2: see that they have like a nice fleshy storage root
Speaker 2: down there where they can keep moisture. And like I
Speaker 2: just said, because there are deciduous plants, if going really
Speaker 2: gets tough, they just go dormant and then they come
Speaker 2: back next year. They store all their nutrients. I do
Speaker 2: not care for day lilies. This is a widely known fact.
Speaker 2: But I mean, I don't judge anybody who does like them,
Speaker 2: because I do get why people like them. I have
Speaker 2: a visceral reaction to daylilies because this is this is
Speaker 2: kind of gross, but I'm gonna say it anyway. The
Speaker 2: petals remind me of diapers.
Speaker 1: Really.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they're like so thick and puffy and gross. Sorry,
Speaker 2: I'm cracking up the studio in here. I can't believe
Speaker 2: I just said this on air. But yeah, like especially
Speaker 2: the newer so you know, Sorryboddy in here, it's busted enough.
Speaker 1: It all depends. Maybe I should just pamper you some
Speaker 1: color commentary here anyway.
Speaker 3: So, especially the newer varieties of.
Speaker 1: Daily Again the same way, I.
Speaker 2: Can't believe I haven't said this to you. I feel
Speaker 2: like I say this to everybody when they ask me
Speaker 2: how I feel about daylilies, especially the newer varieties. So
Speaker 2: you know, newer varieties have more chromosomes. That's what makes
Speaker 2: them bigger, more, you know, more colorful, everything, more robust,
Speaker 2: and it also makes the petals even thicker and uh yeah,
Speaker 2: I really really don't like daylilies. I mean, besides the
Speaker 2: fact that I can't even grow them even if I
Speaker 2: wanted to, because I have deer, and I actually have
Speaker 2: one day lily, I believe it or not. It is
Speaker 2: a variegated day lily, and it's kind of interesting. So
Speaker 2: you know, I knew it would never flower because of
Speaker 2: the deer, but the I like variegation that's like very
Speaker 2: neat and tidy, and this is a parallel variegation, so
Speaker 2: it looks really good. But it is on its last
Speaker 2: legs between the deer and the dry soil. I'm I'm
Speaker 2: close to killing it. But I will say it has
Speaker 2: been at least ten years that I've had it, and
Speaker 2: it's been slowly declining. So that's, you know, that's a
Speaker 2: good up vote.
Speaker 1: I love the rainbow, the proven Winter's Rainbow Rhythm dailies,
Speaker 1: and you can get varieties that have paeony flowers too.
Speaker 2: Sorry Walters, sorry to our partners at Walters and the
Speaker 2: Daily Breeders everywhere. Just not my taste.
Speaker 1: I just wet my plants. I think what we'll do
Speaker 1: is we're going to move the rest of this conversation
Speaker 1: to segment for today because there's a lot more to
Speaker 1: set to be said, including sharing some plants that I
Speaker 1: think you can't kill. Okay, I think people are going
Speaker 1: to want at least a list of a few plants
Speaker 1: that you can't kill and don't look like diapers.
Speaker 3: That's going to be a very helpful list, Rick, I
Speaker 3: look forward to.
Speaker 1: Let's see what Stacy has in mind next. Plants on trial.
Speaker 1: That's next here on the Gardening Simplified Show.
Speaker 2: Beautify your home and community with proven Winner's Color Choice
Speaker 2: Shrubs with over three hundred and twenty five unique varieties
Speaker 2: to choose from. There's a flowering shrub or evergreen for
Speaker 2: every taste and every space. Just look for the distinctive
Speaker 2: white container your local garden center or learn more at
Speaker 2: proven Winner's Color Choice dot com. Greeting's gardening friends, and
Speaker 2: welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show, where we are
Speaker 2: talking about plants that you can't kill or that they
Speaker 2: are very hard to kill.
Speaker 3: It's not a dare.
Speaker 2: We're not actually encouraging you to try to kill these plants.
Speaker 2: We're just saying they're going to be very forgiving. But
Speaker 2: I do want to say, speaking of being forgiving and forgiveness.
Speaker 2: I like many gardeners and people who are passionate about
Speaker 2: anything in life, have some very strong opinions about plants
Speaker 2: and gardening, and I certainly do not want to disparage
Speaker 2: anybody who likes day Lili's. I know they are widely
Speaker 2: beloved in the garden world. I know where you're coming from,
Speaker 2: and you know, I just I just want to say
Speaker 2: I'm not judging because I like plenty of plants that
Speaker 2: people despise and would never grow, and you know what,
Speaker 2: that's just that's just the way it is. So I
Speaker 2: certainly hope that no one took offense at my little
Speaker 2: uh day Lily tirade there. I get that they're easy
Speaker 2: to grow, I get that they're hard to kill, but
Speaker 2: they're just not for me.
Speaker 1: Wait until we talk about Barbers.
Speaker 2: Oh boy, we'll see what happens then. But you know,
Speaker 2: every time we do Plants on Trial, of course, I
Speaker 2: always try to tie it to the theme of the show,
Speaker 2: and we're talking plants that are hard to kill, and
Speaker 2: I try not to repeat a plant that I have
Speaker 2: used before in Plants on Trial. But of course, now
Speaker 2: we've been on the air for you know, a good
Speaker 2: three year so.
Speaker 3: It's been a while.
Speaker 2: I am repeating a plant on trial for the first
Speaker 2: time ever.
Speaker 1: I think it's appropriate.
Speaker 2: It is appropriate because if the topic is plants that
Speaker 2: are hard to kill, there is one plant that stands
Speaker 2: head and shoulders above all of the other proven winner's
Speaker 2: color choice shrubs as being very hard to kill, and
Speaker 2: so I had to feature it otherwise I would have
Speaker 2: to do some sort of kakamamie roundabout way of bringing
Speaker 2: something else in. So I'm revisiting it because it's been
Speaker 2: a good two three years since we covered it, and
Speaker 2: today's plant on trial low Skate mound Erronia.
Speaker 1: I think it's a great choice and I love that plant.
Speaker 1: And if you think about it, Stacy, well, I'm sure
Speaker 1: you've thought about it, and that is that the plant
Speaker 1: meets my criteria in segment one where it's a native plant,
Speaker 1: right it is with a wide ring.
Speaker 2: That is absolutely true. So this is also we call
Speaker 2: it low Skate mount Arnia. Ronia is also commonly called chokeberry.
Speaker 2: I'm not really sure how most people tend to know it.
Speaker 2: If they know it as aronia or chokeberry. I guess
Speaker 2: it depends on kind of your framework, because some people
Speaker 2: do know ronia because they sell ronia as like a
Speaker 2: juice and nutritional supplement, so you might be familiar with it.
Speaker 2: That we prefer the name ronia here at proven Winter's
Speaker 2: color choice because choke berry just you know, doesn't have
Speaker 2: the charm and it comes by that name earnestly. It
Speaker 2: does set big, kind of pithy berries that are so
Speaker 2: astringent that you will choke on them. It's one of
Speaker 2: those things that just sucks all the moisture right out
Speaker 2: of your mouth. Not a pleasant experience, but yes, you're right.
Speaker 2: Rick Ronia are an abundant native plant. They basically grow
Speaker 2: everywhere from Maine as far west as Arkansas, so pretty
Speaker 2: you know, basically over the entire eastern half of the
Speaker 2: US and Canada. And when I was reading a little
Speaker 2: bit more about where they're found in nature, two areas
Speaker 2: stuck out to me that really kind of account for this,
Speaker 2: for this endurance that it has. They can be found
Speaker 2: in bogs and in dunes, and that is two extremes. Wow,
Speaker 2: you know, because we live in a dune area and
Speaker 2: it's extremely dry, very very sandy, we have almost no
Speaker 2: top soil, very well drained. But of course a bog
Speaker 2: is you know, basically stagnant water and plants, and so
Speaker 2: you'll find ironia in all of those areas.
Speaker 3: And like I just said, it's also.
Speaker 2: Growing everywhere from Maine all the way over to Arkansas,
Speaker 2: so Arkansas is you know, quite hot. It goes down
Speaker 2: all the way into Alabama. So we're talking about good,
Speaker 2: solid USDA Zone eight climates as well as cold you
Speaker 2: know northern Minnesota and you know far eastern main Zone
Speaker 2: three climates. So it also has that wide climate adaptability.
Speaker 2: And you know that's another really important part of a
Speaker 2: plant that you can't kill, is it's not just can
Speaker 2: it take really dry conditions and really wet conditions? Can
Speaker 2: it take those hot swings? Can it take those cold swings?
Speaker 2: You know, can it take a snow load? Can it
Speaker 2: take hot sun? And yes, ronia can do all of
Speaker 2: those things. But you're probably wondering how does it look?
Speaker 2: And you could not be blamed, because what's the point
Speaker 2: of having a plant you can't kill if you don't
Speaker 2: want to even look at it in your yard?
Speaker 3: That's no fun.
Speaker 1: Well, I'm telling you, Stacey, both the flower and the
Speaker 1: fall color are quite appealing to me.
Speaker 2: Yes, so it starts. The show starts in spring with
Speaker 2: little clusters of white flowers. And what I love about
Speaker 2: the Low Skate Mound Erronea specifically is that the pollen
Speaker 2: is pink. And that might seem like a really minor
Speaker 2: detail that you're just like, oh, whoop, do you do
Speaker 2: pink pollen, but it's actually quite interesting and it's interesting.
Speaker 2: It just makes the flowers look a little bit more colorful.
Speaker 2: So you're gonna have those nice white flowers in spring.
Speaker 2: Plants are just gonna sit around looking beautiful until late summer,
Speaker 2: and then those are going to turn into purple like
Speaker 2: purply black berries, okay, and then in a few more
Speaker 2: weeks you're gonna have amazing fall color red, orange, yellow,
Speaker 2: the whole you know, hot color range there. And the
Speaker 2: thing that makes Low Skate Mound Erronia special and why
Speaker 2: it's part of the Proven Winter's Color Choice brand is
Speaker 2: because compared to our wild ronea, which are gonna be
Speaker 2: about six feet tall and wide, Low Skate Mound reaches
Speaker 2: one and a half to three feet tall and wide.
Speaker 2: So it lives up to that mound name, just kind
Speaker 2: of growing as a tidy, little tough it there. It
Speaker 2: doesn't get too tall, and it doesn't.
Speaker 3: Really get too wide.
Speaker 2: So it's a good landscape friendly size and it's a
Speaker 2: good landscape friendly habit. That makes it a lot easier
Speaker 2: to get this durability in a plant that actually works,
Speaker 2: you know, in your standard residential landscape.
Speaker 1: I'm trying to show restraint and not say are you
Speaker 1: pollen my leg? But I will concur that with low
Speaker 1: scape mound erronia, the shape of it in a landscape
Speaker 1: just kind of follows the contour of a landscape, which
Speaker 1: is part of what makes it such a fantastic plant.
Speaker 1: And my personal experience with the plant, I had put
Speaker 1: it in the ground stacy and something came along, either
Speaker 1: a deer or rabbits and ate it to the nubs.
Speaker 3: Oh wow, okay, and.
Speaker 1: It bounced back and came back with renewed vigors.
Speaker 2: Yes, So I also have my own personal experience with
Speaker 2: this plant that I can attest makes it hard to kill. So,
Speaker 2: you know, one of the perks working in the horticulture
Speaker 2: industry is you tend to get a lot of free plants.
Speaker 2: You know, it's a good job perk. And so we
Speaker 2: had a plant giveaway and you know, usually there at
Speaker 2: the end of the season, and I took three low
Speaker 2: skate mounds. You know, of course, with the best intentions
Speaker 2: their native I have a native plant garden, thinking I'm
Speaker 2: going to plant them in there, but you know how
Speaker 2: it is, the season gets in the way, nothing gets planted.
Speaker 2: So I then overwintered the erronias in their nursery containers. So,
Speaker 2: you know, something that we tell people not to do.
Speaker 2: I do it all the time. But it's different when
Speaker 2: it's a free plant versus when someone has, you know,
Speaker 2: shelled out money for it. You don't want to just say,
Speaker 2: oh yeah, go ahead and risk it. It's not that
Speaker 2: big of a deal where I'm just like, h if
Speaker 2: I lose them, you know, not that big of a deal.
Speaker 2: So I ever wanted them in their nursery containers. They
Speaker 2: came back and spring, no problem. A whole other season
Speaker 2: goes by. I still don't plant them because you know,
Speaker 2: like you think, okay, I'm gonna do this, and then
Speaker 2: things start to grow and then you're just like, oh, wait, no,
Speaker 2: that plant looks so good right now. That's why I
Speaker 2: was going to put it. I don't want to dig
Speaker 2: it up right now. And then you know it's too hot. O,
Speaker 2: it's too hot for do that.
Speaker 3: And you know there's always you know how it is.
Speaker 3: I'm sure our listeners know how it is.
Speaker 2: Adrian is also nodding just for reference here, so we're
Speaker 2: all in the same page. So I never planted them.
Speaker 2: I did that for three seasons and they never died.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 2: I had to finally throw it away because I do
Speaker 2: have to say, this plant does sucker, and that is
Speaker 2: like Rick was saying about, you know, having these robust roots.
Speaker 2: That is one of the reasons that it can be
Speaker 2: so durable and so able to withstand these challenges is
Speaker 2: as it's growing, it puts out these kind of stolens
Speaker 2: and we'll put out shoots not far from the main plant,
Speaker 2: but potentially at some distance from the main plant. And
Speaker 2: that is one of the ways that it's able to
Speaker 2: really utilize all of the nutrients, all of the moisture,
Speaker 2: and have the ability to withstand really challenging conditions. So
Speaker 2: it's not the worst offender when it comes to suckering.
Speaker 2: And if you don't like the suckers, all you have
Speaker 2: to do is take a sharp set bade and just
Speaker 2: whack them out. Very simple to do, but I think
Speaker 2: that it does make this plant a great choice for
Speaker 2: things like slopes where you might have a very you know,
Speaker 2: wetter at the base and dryer at the top, parking lots,
Speaker 2: the front walkway area where things can it can be
Speaker 2: difficult for things to grow. So it's really good. It's
Speaker 2: fine to including your landscape. You might just have to
Speaker 2: again plan for those suckers if they pop up where
Speaker 2: you don't want them. But yeah, it's a great choice
Speaker 2: for those really really difficult spots, and especially if you
Speaker 2: just don't want to have to, you know, ever deal
Speaker 2: with it. Just let it sucker, let it cover the
Speaker 2: ground there. It's a great stabilizer for that kind of
Speaker 2: you know, And we actually recommend it specifically for landscapers
Speaker 2: who are landscaping parking lots, you know, because imagine how
Speaker 2: hard it is to be in a parking lot, you know,
Speaker 2: especially in the Midwest. Here we're stuck with all of
Speaker 2: those horrendous mounds of snow. They got plowed together, and
Speaker 2: even though the snow has been melting on the ground,
Speaker 2: those snow mounds do not feel like they're going to
Speaker 2: melt until maybe July. And they're all like gross and
Speaker 2: dirty and full of garbage. It's really horrendous. But you
Speaker 2: know what, those massive snowlads can go on top of
Speaker 2: low skate mound erronia, and when they melt, the thing
Speaker 2: is going to be there. It's going to flower. It
Speaker 2: is not even going to be phased.
Speaker 1: Yeah, those snow piles here in the north at shopping centers,
Speaker 1: when they melt in spring, that's when you find those
Speaker 1: missing shopping carts.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: We're very really truly all the time, Stacy. And if
Speaker 1: you're keeping score at home, Stacy is talking about low
Speaker 1: scape mound Ronia. Stacy, I would grow this plant just
Speaker 1: for the fall color. I love the fall tome.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's great fall color, and the flowers are really nice.
Speaker 2: They do attract pollinators. Of course, this is a native plant,
Speaker 2: so there just has a lot going for it. Disease resistant.
Speaker 2: You aren't going to see like nasty leaf spots or
Speaker 2: powdery mildew or anything like that on this plant. And
Speaker 2: as you said, Rick, it is not particularly deer resistant
Speaker 2: or rabbit resistant. I did have them eat flowers off
Speaker 2: of my plants. But you know, again, this kind of
Speaker 2: if so if you have deer or a big rabbit issue,
Speaker 2: it's a plant you just need to be aware that
Speaker 2: that's going to happen. But in my experience, they didn't
Speaker 2: really damage the plant itself. They really just took the
Speaker 2: flower clusters, which does of course negate the potential for berries.
Speaker 2: But you know, again, it's just something that's worth keeping
Speaker 2: in mind if you have those super difficult areas and
Speaker 2: you just want something that's just going to look good
Speaker 2: and you don't have to think about it. I think
Speaker 2: low skate mound erroneous perk for that, as well as
Speaker 2: more refined landscapes, especially if you want to work specifically
Speaker 2: with native species.
Speaker 1: It's my stump of approval.
Speaker 2: So, like I said, one and a half to three
Speaker 2: feet tall, hardy USDA Zone three to USDA Zone eight
Speaker 2: and available at your local garden set up. This spring,
Speaker 2: we're going to take a little break and when we
Speaker 2: come back, we're going to be answering some garden questions,
Speaker 2: so please stay tuned at proven when there's color choice shrubs,
Speaker 2: we know that a better landscape starts with a better shrub.
Speaker 2: Our team of experts tests and evaluates all of our
Speaker 2: flowering shrubs and evergreens for eight to ten years to
Speaker 2: ensure they outperform what's already on the market for easycare, reliable,
Speaker 2: beautiful shrubs to accentuate your home and express your personal style.
Speaker 2: Look for Proven Winners shrubs in the distinctive white container
Speaker 2: at your local garden center or learn more at Proven
Speaker 2: Winner's Color choice dot com. Creating's gardening friends, and welcome
Speaker 2: back to the Gardening Simplified Show, where it is our
Speaker 2: pleasure to help you with your gardening questions, and I
Speaker 2: know they're going to be coming in hot and heavy
Speaker 2: in these next couple weeks. We've been putting out some
Speaker 2: we've been filming some pruning videos to try to address
Speaker 2: some of the questions that people are going to be
Speaker 2: having very soon. And of course there's a lot of
Speaker 2: information on our YouTube channel, so if you're already watching
Speaker 2: us on YouTube, make sure you check out some of
Speaker 2: the other content that we have there because there's a
Speaker 2: very good possibility that we've answered some of your gardening
Speaker 2: questions with something that's already in there. And of course
Speaker 2: our website. And you know, again, if you need an
Speaker 2: answer right away, because we can't answer every question on radio,
Speaker 2: we only have a few minutes to do this, please
Speaker 2: do right into proven Winners dot com. You will always
Speaker 2: get a personalized answer from one of our horticulturists giving
Speaker 2: you the help that you need.
Speaker 1: And wow, is pruning a big one?
Speaker 3: Oh yeah for sure.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: And remember if you need to know one piece of
Speaker 2: advice for pruning when in doubt, don't prune, don't do
Speaker 2: it just win in doubt, don't So if you're out
Speaker 2: there you're wondering, we get some nice weather, which we
Speaker 2: are going to be having here finally in Michigan, you
Speaker 2: might want to say, I'm gonna get a head start
Speaker 2: and do some work, win and out, don't prune, just
Speaker 2: figure it out first, and then you can go back
Speaker 2: and fix your things. But you know, we still have
Speaker 2: the enduring mystery of this, Stephen Mary, great Myrtle, who
Speaker 2: done it? Our listeners are dying to know if Stephen
Speaker 2: Mary have a reaction to our suggestions. So Stephen Mary,
Speaker 2: if you are hearing this, please do right now us
Speaker 2: back I did not see your message in there, or
Speaker 2: leave a comment on YouTube and let us know how
Speaker 2: it's going, because we have people very invested in your mystery,
Speaker 2: and we have people who are writing in with some
Speaker 2: some ideas of their own. So our listener Elyssa says
Speaker 2: she loves the show. She looks forward to it. She says,
Speaker 2: we bring joy to her week, which is so sweet.
Speaker 2: But she says she was listening to the episode on
Speaker 2: moving plants and wanted to comment on and sympathize with
Speaker 2: the listener. With the crape myrtles, she says, I've also
Speaker 2: had bunnies just chew off the branches and leave them
Speaker 2: scattershot on the ground, so maybe it was a rabbit,
Speaker 2: although she said nothing as large as what you've described
Speaker 2: in the episode. Her most recent victims were four young
Speaker 2: hazel nut shobs, so sad, I love hazel nuts, the
Speaker 2: plants and the nuts. She says, I've included a photo
Speaker 2: you can see how much height they cut back, and
Speaker 2: she says I was devastated, and honestly I would have
Speaker 2: been less mad if they'd at least eaten them. The
Speaker 2: jerks just left them strewn and said flowers and well
Speaker 2: and all. And then she wisely ends gardening is no
Speaker 2: for the faint hearted. And I feel you on that, Alyssa,
Speaker 2: because I this reminded me that in my succulent garden,
Speaker 2: the rabbits I have Alium spherrocephalon and the drumstick Alium
Speaker 2: lovely plant.
Speaker 3: I just love it, you know.
Speaker 2: It's one of those it's one of the sea through plants.
Speaker 2: It doesn't take up a lot of space, it just
Speaker 2: adds height. It's gorgeous. And once they start butting out
Speaker 2: and growing in my garden, the rabbits do bite them
Speaker 2: down and then they go, oh, crad, this tastes terrible,
Speaker 2: and then they leave it on the ground. They can't
Speaker 2: spit it out, which is you know, one of the things,
Speaker 2: so they don't spit it. They just like start to
Speaker 2: munch it and then they're like, wait, this does not
Speaker 2: taste good, and then yeah, they just leave it and
Speaker 2: there's nothing, of course they can do at that point.
Speaker 2: But yeah, rabbits do sometimes do that. But overall, I
Speaker 2: do still believe that the crape myrtle, the branches that
Speaker 2: they cut into just seemed a little too thick for
Speaker 2: rabbit damage.
Speaker 1: Well, and that's something we see here in the north
Speaker 1: every year also around this time of the year, not rabbits,
Speaker 1: but quirrels, especially on spruce trees where the you know,
Speaker 1: those tender buds the sap is moving through the branches.
Speaker 1: They give a little chew like you the word you
Speaker 1: used was scattershot all over the ground.
Speaker 3: That was Alyssa's word.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, and you'll see that, thank you, Alyssa. You'll
Speaker 1: see that on the ground with spruce branch tips do.
Speaker 3: But that's all sorts of things right now.
Speaker 2: They're showing at the maples to get the sap that's
Speaker 2: running and so then you're like, whoa, why is my
Speaker 2: maple dropping all these flower buds?
Speaker 3: But no, it's just squirrels.
Speaker 1: Well, maple will get an answer for this mystery at
Speaker 1: some point. Sure would be nice to know. Chris has
Speaker 1: a quick question that's a follow up to our recent
Speaker 1: show about moving plants. You mentioned moving a pawpaw tree.
Speaker 1: From what I understand, you're supposed to cut around the
Speaker 1: tree a season ahead to cut the rhizome roots. I'm
Speaker 1: not sure if you didn't mention that or I missed it.
Speaker 1: I think I mentioned that, but if I didn't, thank you, Chris.
Speaker 1: I appreciate that because I think that's wise with trees
Speaker 1: that you're going to try to move against. Stacy, I
Speaker 1: believe people should sharpen their shovels, have a nice sharp
Speaker 1: edge on it, and Chris, you're right, it makes a
Speaker 1: lot of sense to me to do that, to create
Speaker 1: some hair roots at the point where you've cut the
Speaker 1: roots and intend to move it at some point. The
Speaker 1: tough conundrum, so to speak, is how far out from
Speaker 1: the trunk do you cut?
Speaker 2: I mean, I would basically say the canopy line. I
Speaker 2: would agree with you, you know, if you can, but
Speaker 2: that could be a pretty big ball that could well
Speaker 2: and you don't necessarily. So basically what this is is
Speaker 2: the concept of root pruning. So you're going all around
Speaker 2: the plant that you're especially a tree that you're intending
Speaker 2: to move, and again, by severing those roots, the plant
Speaker 2: is then going to concentrate additional root growth into this
Speaker 2: prospective root ball, and then that just helps it kind
Speaker 2: of undergo that transplanting process a little bit easier. It's
Speaker 2: a very good thing to do if you have the
Speaker 2: foresights in time to do that. Of course we don't
Speaker 2: all have that time.
Speaker 3: But yes, that.
Speaker 2: Would in many cases leave you quite a very large
Speaker 2: root ball. But you know, what else can you do?
Speaker 2: If you're going to move a big tree, You might
Speaker 2: just need to have a pizza party with some friends, and.
Speaker 1: That's what you do. You get a big darp and
Speaker 1: you do that. And coming from the garden center industry,
Speaker 1: there were a lot of fertilizer companies stacy that would
Speaker 1: recommend a liquid fertilizer when you make those cuts into
Speaker 1: the roots. Many of these were like a vitamin B
Speaker 1: twelve or whatever. I'm not endorsing that. I'm not saying
Speaker 1: do that. I'd have to do more research on that,
Speaker 1: but you will see a lot of that out there.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's probably something that can't necessarily hurt, but may
Speaker 2: not live up to its promises.
Speaker 1: Well, I have to dig in a little deeper on
Speaker 1: that one.
Speaker 3: Indeed.
Speaker 1: All right, Sunshine writes Hi, Rick and Stacey love your show.
Speaker 1: I'm struggling with three trees. One in my south sideyard,
Speaker 1: two in my parkway, all three of Cleveland pairs.
Speaker 3: Ooh.
Speaker 1: We planted them in twenty twenty because they gave four
Speaker 1: seasons of interest, but this was before I found out
Speaker 1: recently how invasive they are, and we want to remove
Speaker 1: and replace them. The only other tree I can think
Speaker 1: of to use to get the four seasons of interest
Speaker 1: we want is Autumn Brilliance service Berry And I'm going
Speaker 1: to give a big thumbs up and kudos to that suggestion.
Speaker 1: But we'll see what Stacy has to say written. She writes, here,
Speaker 1: I've read they aren't great with road salt. Are there
Speaker 1: any other trees that you'd recommend for our parkway that
Speaker 1: can provide four seasons of interest? Can hold up to
Speaker 1: road salt bonus points for beautiful fall color?
Speaker 2: And she says no seated maples or dwarf trees or
Speaker 2: anything that drops messy fruit. So you know, I get it.
Speaker 2: I have to say, what do you call that? So
Speaker 2: this concept of parkways, what do you call that space?
Speaker 2: Do you know that term parkways?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 2: I always called it the easement, but everyone in my
Speaker 2: neighborhood calls it a parkway.
Speaker 1: It depends on what part of the country you're in.
Speaker 1: Most people, I think would call it a parkway.
Speaker 2: Okay, well this was like, this is a relatively new
Speaker 2: term for me. But in any case, that's what means.
Speaker 1: If you stick something in the ground there, odds are
Speaker 1: somebody's going to come along and pull it up.
Speaker 3: Well, that can happen with the parkway too.
Speaker 2: But I so, yes, I agree that service Berry is
Speaker 2: an ideal all purpose replacement for Bradford pairs. So Sunshine
Speaker 2: referred to them as Cleveland pears. That's just a specific
Speaker 2: cultivar of Bradford pair, but it's all calorie pair, Bradford pair,
Speaker 2: Cleveland pair, all the same thing. So I do think
Speaker 2: service Bury is a stellar replacement for all of these
Speaker 2: invasive pairs because it flowers at a similar time, it's native,
Speaker 2: it has great fall color, you can actually eat the fruit,
Speaker 2: it's delicious, you will have to be fighting the birds
Speaker 2: off for it. And it's just a beautiful, elegant, easy
Speaker 2: to grow treat. So when I was looking it up,
Speaker 2: I did not see anything that says that they're particularly
Speaker 2: salt sensitive. And I do want to mention that, you know,
Speaker 2: road salt, the salts that they use on roads if
Speaker 2: you live in a cold climate, has changed a lot.
Speaker 2: You know, way back in the seventies and eighties, the
Speaker 2: road salt that they used was absolutely catastrophic to.
Speaker 1: Planets cool stuff. Now they're mixing in stuff like beet juice.
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's all sorts of different things that they do,
Speaker 2: and so road salt is definitely not as problematic as
Speaker 2: a lot of us tend to think that it is.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 2: There's certainly plants that are extremely sensitive to salt, and
Speaker 2: you would want to avoid them. But you know, I
Speaker 2: don't think that the issue of what they use nowadays
Speaker 2: is going to be as big a problem for a
Speaker 2: service barrier. Amalank here And the other thing you need
Speaker 2: to know about road salt is as long as you
Speaker 2: are getting sufficient rainfall and or you have irrigation, those
Speaker 2: salts leach out of the soil quite easily. So it
Speaker 2: becomes more of an issue if you aren't having good
Speaker 2: rainfall or a droughty season. But overall, I wouldn't necessarily
Speaker 2: let that scare you away from the service berry. But
Speaker 2: I did want to write a couple of different options
Speaker 2: that I thought about. You could try Cursus red bud.
Speaker 2: That one does have some papery fruits, but they're not
Speaker 2: really messy. They're not and they don't self sow like
Speaker 2: maple's do self sewing everywhere. You could try temple of
Speaker 2: bloom hepticodium sure, another great choice. Crusader hawthorn is a
Speaker 2: plant that is in the proven Winter's Color Choice Trees line.
Speaker 2: It is a thornless hawthorn. It's native. It does have fruit,
Speaker 2: but the birds will take care of those for you.
Speaker 2: And then finally, I do have kind of a left
Speaker 2: field choice for you, and that is Persian spy your Parodia,
Speaker 2: also known as Persian ironwood, And this is a beautiful
Speaker 2: tree for fall color and it has amazing foliage. You're
Speaker 2: not really gonna get the flowers. It does have quite
Speaker 2: interesting flowers in late winter. They're brown and red and
Speaker 2: I love them. But this is definitely one of those
Speaker 2: tree replaced that your neighbors are not going to have,
Speaker 2: and I think that most people would really really like.
Speaker 2: So Persians by your Parodia should be on the market
Speaker 2: a couple this year, but certainly increasing in the years
Speaker 2: to come. We got to take a little break and
Speaker 2: when we come back, we are going to answer a
Speaker 2: few more garden questions, so stay tuned. Thanks for listening
Speaker 2: to the Gardening Simplified podcast, brought to you by Proven
Speaker 2: Winners 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 Plants you Can't
Speaker 1: Kill Episode. Let's take a look at some of these plants.
Speaker 1: As promised Stacy, I have bamboo on my list. It
Speaker 1: has a higher strength to wait ratio than steal and concrete.
Speaker 1: That's a pretty tough plant.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you might wish you could kill it for some
Speaker 2: people who have planted bamboo. Not so much of an
Speaker 2: issue for us through the Midwest, but certainly in some
Speaker 2: milder climates bamboo can be a very problematic, so beautiful
Speaker 2: and interesting plant.
Speaker 1: There will be people out there dealing with weeds that
Speaker 1: will bemoan ground ivy, which is in the mint family.
Speaker 1: Many times, you know it's in the mint family when
Speaker 1: it has a square stem. Or if you're trying to
Speaker 1: grow one of these cool seasoned grasses here in the
Speaker 1: North and you get bermuda grass, that's another grass that
Speaker 1: it feels like you can't kill it. Aga podium, Lily
Speaker 1: of the Valley. I'm gonna say Lily of the Valley
Speaker 1: and then send your cards, emails and letters saying, Rick,
Speaker 1: don't say Lily of the Valley. But that's a plant
Speaker 1: you talked about day lilies. I'm going to talk about lily.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you can't kill it.
Speaker 2: I do you know, I have, as I've talked about
Speaker 2: on the show before, a personal connection to that plant.
Speaker 2: But yeah, it's a nightmare if you don't want it.
Speaker 2: It is an absolute nightmare.
Speaker 1: Yeah, violets, adventitious roots, seed pockets underneath the foliage, glossy
Speaker 1: foliage that repels herbicide. I'm just saying that violets are
Speaker 1: for a lot of people a plant you can't kill, but.
Speaker 2: They're so lovely. And I'll tell you, if you have
Speaker 2: the good fortune of seeing a baby bunny munching of
Speaker 2: violets in your yard, you.
Speaker 3: Will be very glad it's there. It's really just a delight.
Speaker 1: I feel like a terrible person now, No.
Speaker 3: It's you know.
Speaker 2: I know people hate lawn violets, and if you're trying
Speaker 2: to grow a beautiful, consistent.
Speaker 3: Lawn, yeah, they would definitely be problematic.
Speaker 2: But I love the color of violets, and because I
Speaker 2: have a high tolerance for a bit of weediness, if
Speaker 2: you know the plant has an esthetic trade off, I'll
Speaker 2: tolerate some violets in my lawn.
Speaker 3: Absolutely. We're in my yard.
Speaker 1: Now, let's go down this route. Yuka oof. Yeah, any
Speaker 1: plant that has a real fibrous nature to it, I
Speaker 1: think is tough to kill. I've got potentila on the
Speaker 1: list only because it's so hardy. Chives carracs helibores. I
Speaker 1: had chokeberry or Erronia on my list. Any plants that
Speaker 1: grow in the Great Plains, as we mentioned, I'm not
Speaker 1: going to say bar berry seedum's paeonies are tough to kill.
Speaker 1: They are snap dragons, nepettas, junipers. Think about Opuntia prickly
Speaker 1: pear cactus. You find that I looked it up here.
Speaker 1: Opuntia is native to the lower forty eight states of
Speaker 1: the United States.
Speaker 2: It grows all over here. You see it quite often.
Speaker 2: I have some in my garden and it is definitely
Speaker 2: hard to kill, and we do manage it, but that's
Speaker 2: not really a fun job because it is extremely spiny.
Speaker 2: And my Apuncia in my garden is so happy that
Speaker 2: it also spreads by seed as well as spreading by
Speaker 2: its you know, foliage. But I love it. It's it's
Speaker 2: just a cool plant.
Speaker 1: I do too. I love it. There's some people who
Speaker 1: just can't stand it.
Speaker 2: Of course, you could kill apuntia if it was duet,
Speaker 2: it would die pretty quickly within short short order, and.
Speaker 1: Another one i'd throw again. Just talking about the characteristics
Speaker 1: of plants that are tough to kill. When you go
Speaker 1: out to Cape cod and you look at Rosa rugosa,
Speaker 1: you know, and people will say, don't ever plant and
Speaker 1: it is. It's listed as an invasive plant. They call
Speaker 1: it beach tornado or beach tomato because of the hips
Speaker 1: on the plant, and of course it spreads by suckers
Speaker 1: and the tomato shaped rose hips. Spiny, tough, durable plant.
Speaker 1: So that gives you an idea. Again, I say, you
Speaker 1: just take a look at where's it native to, what's
Speaker 1: its reach, what's the root system like, and it's going
Speaker 1: to tell you a lot about how tough that plant is.
Speaker 1: We got some male from Trish. Let's see. Trish says, Hello,
Speaker 1: Stacey and Rick, huge fan of your show. Thank you
Speaker 1: very Ry Moltstrish, Southeast Pennsylvania, Zone seven A old six
Speaker 1: B I inherited a very steep slope forty degrees. Wow
Speaker 1: with our new home. It's densely covered by chameleon plant.
Speaker 1: Oh boy.
Speaker 2: So this is a plant that you can't kill, but
Speaker 2: wish that you could if you have it. This is
Speaker 2: our third listener question from someone who is trying to
Speaker 2: manage chameleon.
Speaker 1: Oh interspersed with pe andes azalea huge vibeburnum at the
Speaker 1: area's edge. So Trish sent along some photos the viburnum
Speaker 1: successfully shades out the offender. The local extension office told
Speaker 1: me the only option is to move. No. I threw
Speaker 1: that the only option is to eradicate the chameleon plant
Speaker 1: spray with roundup. I garden organically, not an option. I
Speaker 1: broadcast a pre emergent last spring and cut back the
Speaker 1: plants before they set seeds. My question is can I
Speaker 1: plant taprit plants like Baptisia euphobia to shade out the
Speaker 1: chameleon plant over time? Professor Google is less than helpful.
Speaker 1: Thank you very much, Mulch for any advice. So I
Speaker 1: like your sense of humus, theatrician. I have a solution
Speaker 1: for Trisha. Well you have well, because it's a forty
Speaker 1: degree slope. I'd go to a store I would get
Speaker 1: I would not do the round up thing, and it's
Speaker 1: not going to work any It.
Speaker 2: Doesn't work, if that's what I was going to say too,
Speaker 2: even if you were open to using herbicide, Trish, it
Speaker 2: doesn't work on that plant.
Speaker 3: It beads.
Speaker 2: So this is a semi aquatic plant. They sell it
Speaker 2: for use in ponds, and you try to put any
Speaker 2: kind of water on it, and all you're going to
Speaker 2: have is beads, so it won't even work.
Speaker 1: I mean, you can add a spreader sticker, you could
Speaker 1: spray and fall where it's more effective than the top
Speaker 1: kill you'd get in spring or summer. But I'm with you, Stacy,
Speaker 1: I still don't think it's.
Speaker 3: Going to work, not completely.
Speaker 1: So a forty degree slope. My recommendation is you pull
Speaker 1: out the nice plants that you have in there, like
Speaker 1: the aza or some of the other plants our episode
Speaker 1: Bust a Move, pull them out and then sacrifice the
Speaker 1: area for a year. Get some heavy thick black plastic
Speaker 1: with landscape pins, pin it to the ground and let
Speaker 1: the sun do the work and solarize the area.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I have heard if you're looking at
Speaker 2: the many nightmare stories of people who are trying to
Speaker 2: deal with chameleon plant also known as houtuna, and it's
Speaker 2: also sold in Asian markets to.
Speaker 3: Eat as fishment.
Speaker 1: Yes I read that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so it is edible, but you would have to
Speaker 2: eat an awful lot of it so you have any
Speaker 2: effect on yours, And let me tell you you know,
Speaker 2: we'll have Trish's pictures of course on YouTube. So you
Speaker 2: can catch them there or in the show notes. It's
Speaker 2: a lot of whu tunia, and we've heard from other
Speaker 2: listeners who have had to deal with this plant. It's
Speaker 2: a lot, a lot that she's trying to deal with,
Speaker 2: and I think that I've heard that even the solarizing is,
Speaker 2: you know, not a permanent solution. And basically you don't
Speaker 2: have to worry so much about the seeds of this plant.
Speaker 2: It's primarily spreading through its runners, and its runners are
Speaker 2: conveniently brittle, so as you try to remove them, they break,
Speaker 2: and any little tiny piece that you have in there
Speaker 2: is just going to turn into a new plant. So yeah,
Speaker 2: this thing is definitely a plant that you can't kill
Speaker 2: and will wish that.
Speaker 3: You had now.
Speaker 2: Dryness will certainly help, but you can't really just suddenly
Speaker 2: change the drainage on your slope. If you could somehow
Speaker 2: get more sun in there, I think that could help
Speaker 2: potentially help as well, because that will obviously help the
Speaker 2: soil be less moist. And I don't necessarily think, as
Speaker 2: you'll see in the pictures, Trisha's vibranium is quite large
Speaker 2: and quite beautiful. I think you can still just you know,
Speaker 2: kind of put if you want to do the solarization route,
Speaker 2: just kind of put it around those plants, you know,
Speaker 2: not too close to their base and those should be fine,
Speaker 2: and then you can manage it. But yeah, I think
Speaker 2: overall your best bet is probably going to be hand pulling.
Speaker 2: You might be able to look into whether there is
Speaker 2: a pH level that they can't stand, either more acidic
Speaker 2: or alkaline, and try changing the pH you know, putting
Speaker 2: down lime or sulfur to change the pH and see
Speaker 2: if that helps. But honestly, this is just one of
Speaker 2: those plants that I really wanted to cover Trisha's question
Speaker 2: in this episode because it's it really is just that
Speaker 2: hard to kill.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and programming or editorial note I would make is
Speaker 1: that if you go the solarization route, it's not a
Speaker 1: situation where you put it on and two weeks later
Speaker 1: take it off. You are in for the long haul
Speaker 1: in order to make this work, so at least a.
Speaker 2: Year, and I would say in the case of Houtunia,
Speaker 2: you would probably want to go for maybe even two years.
Speaker 2: But I wouldn't be surprised if this thing could pop
Speaker 2: through your plastic, you know, and it would be you
Speaker 2: would well, you want you don't want to use like
Speaker 2: a stretchy kind of plastic. You want that really super
Speaker 2: heavy duty landscape fabric. So that would be a lot
Speaker 2: of work. But you know, and so we didn't answer
Speaker 2: a question, which is whether planting deep, tap rooted plants
Speaker 2: like Baptisia and Euphorbia could help shade them out. I
Speaker 2: don't think it could hurt, you know, especially a baptisia
Speaker 2: because it is taller. So if you plant smaller perennials,
Speaker 2: I think what's likely to happen is the hutunia is
Speaker 2: just gonna pop right up in the middle of them.
Speaker 2: They're not likely to pop in the middle of baptizia,
Speaker 2: so that is one potential. Obviously she's seeing some success
Speaker 2: with a vibern I'm shading out the hutunia in its vicinity,
Speaker 2: so you could certainly try that. But I would also
Speaker 2: anytime you're planting out there, or anytime you have some
Speaker 2: frustrations to get out, I would go out and dig,
Speaker 2: dig a little houtunia and just make sure you are
Speaker 2: burning it or you know, throwing it away. Do not
Speaker 2: ever ever compost this, and don't give it to anybody else.
Speaker 2: Of Course, tric seems to know what a nightmare it is.
Speaker 2: But just saying, all right, well.
Speaker 1: Lily asks us, my Forcythia has not flowered for me
Speaker 1: yet in zone five B six with this winter, I
Speaker 1: feel like it's zone four. Yes, I agree, Lily. It's
Speaker 1: in a south facing area and this will be its
Speaker 1: third year that it's over wintered there. If it doesn't
Speaker 1: flower this spring, what can I do? And I think
Speaker 1: it's it's too early for cythy.
Speaker 2: Well, so she says that it hasn't flowered in it's
Speaker 2: in three years. Oh so she's consistently had an issue
Speaker 2: with it not flowering. And you know, always the number
Speaker 2: one reason when a shrub isn't flowering, it's almost always
Speaker 2: improper pruning. And basically what that means is it was
Speaker 2: pruned at the wrong time. So forth, the earlier a
Speaker 2: plant blooms in the season in spring, the more likely
Speaker 2: it is to have to bloom on old wood. So
Speaker 2: basically what that means is that last spring, after the
Speaker 2: Forsythia bloomed or would have bloomed in Lily's case or
Speaker 2: maybe your case, it took a little rest and then
Speaker 2: it immediately started making its flower buds for the next year.
Speaker 2: So it's going to have those flower buds on it
Speaker 2: basically June, July, August, you know, all the way through
Speaker 2: the time that it blooms the following spring, and a
Speaker 2: lot of people will do, you know, a fall prune
Speaker 2: as they're kind of doing their garden cleanup, or they
Speaker 2: will prune it in spring just thinking they're doing, you know,
Speaker 2: a spring cleanup, And if you cut it either of
Speaker 2: those times, you are cutting off the flower buds. It
Speaker 2: has already made for that season. So the best time
Speaker 2: to prune, the only time to prune Forcythia without negatively
Speaker 2: impacting the flowers is immediately after it flowers in spring.
Speaker 2: So if it's if it is a pruning issue, stop
Speaker 2: doing that. Your plant should be just fine. But also shade. Now,
Speaker 2: Forsythia is extremely shade tolerant, but of course the more
Speaker 2: shade it's in, the less well it will flower.
Speaker 1: Well. Lily's saying here, it's on the south side in
Speaker 1: zone five B, so I'm going to hope that it's
Speaker 1: getting a fair amount of sun. But you are you
Speaker 1: are correct, And I have seen with Forsythia in zone
Speaker 1: five B where if you get a lot of snow
Speaker 1: above that snow line, the buds are lost, are lost, yeah,
Speaker 1: fooded temperature and that can happen too. But you're right, Stacey,
Speaker 1: this is saying three years.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and you know, so the winter. That's another good point.
Speaker 2: And I did want to mention that Lily, and to
Speaker 2: anyone else who is maybe struggling with the same issue
Speaker 2: for scythia. Is not all forcythias are the same. They
Speaker 2: might all look the same when you see them in bloom,
Speaker 2: but there's actually a lot of variation out there, different varieties,
Speaker 2: and there are some for Scythia that are not as
Speaker 2: hardy as others. And so depending on how you got this,
Speaker 2: where you got this, when you got this, it might
Speaker 2: not be as hardy as other varieties. Of course, unless
Speaker 2: you kept the tag or there's still a tag somewhere
Speaker 2: on it, there's no way for you to really know that.
Speaker 2: But I would say if it's still not flowering for you,
Speaker 2: I would, and you know it's not a pruning issue,
Speaker 2: I'd consider moving it, you know. Sometimes, you know, as
Speaker 2: we talked about it in our moving show, there can
Speaker 2: be different factors that you know, we don't know since
Speaker 2: we aren't seeing a picture of the plant. So consider
Speaker 2: moving at this spring if you still don't see any flowers.
Speaker 2: But again, hopefully pruning is the answer, because that's the
Speaker 2: simplest solution.
Speaker 1: Or take it out and replace it with a proven
Speaker 1: winner's variety.
Speaker 3: Well, yes, hopefully that would.
Speaker 2: I mean, it's certainly ours are nicer and denser in
Speaker 2: the way that they bloom, but they still can't withstand
Speaker 2: improper pruning, and ours are hardy to USCA zone five,
Speaker 2: So that does you know, usually it should be fine,
Speaker 2: especially for someone who's in like on the edge of
Speaker 2: five B and six, normally wouldn't be an issue, but
Speaker 2: you know, it does depend on on where you're located.
Speaker 2: But again, I'm hoping it's a pruney issue, because you know,
Speaker 2: those are always frustrating for the people who said, Oh,
Speaker 2: I thought I was doing the right thing by puning it.
Speaker 2: But at least it's easy to solve.
Speaker 1: Sure. Roger asked, love your show, I plan to convert
Speaker 1: a portion of my Zone seven sunny lawn to a
Speaker 1: perennial bed. My plan is to first kill the grass
Speaker 1: with herbicide, then apply three inches of compost, then finally
Speaker 1: transplant my grumpy perennials. He's saying it here, y perennials
Speaker 1: now in part shade to full sun. Am I on
Speaker 1: the right track. Any recommendations, I would say that timing
Speaker 1: is everything, and if I were doing it, I would
Speaker 1: use the solarization process on grass in August and then
Speaker 1: make the move with the plants in September. But that's
Speaker 1: just how I would do it. Can you spray with
Speaker 1: an herbicide to kill it off? Absolutely, and the bottle
Speaker 1: will tell you how soon you can replant afterwards, and
Speaker 1: it's usually pretty quickly. But you are correct in trying
Speaker 1: to get that grass taken care of first before we
Speaker 1: do anything else.
Speaker 2: You don't want to start with grass in your bed.
Speaker 2: I think you are on the right track. Roger. The
Speaker 2: only thing that I would add, and the reason that
Speaker 2: I wanted to specifically answer your question today, is that
Speaker 2: before you spray herbicide, you should mow and put your
Speaker 2: lower on. Put your mower on the lowest setting. Usually
Speaker 2: Rick is always like put it high. Make sure that
Speaker 2: that grass is shading itself out. So if you want
Speaker 2: a good looking lawn, I would say, lower your deck
Speaker 2: as low as it can go so that you're nearly
Speaker 2: scalping your lawn, and then put your herbicide on because
Speaker 2: it's going to make it a lot more effective and
Speaker 2: really help to kill those roots. Because of course, as
Speaker 2: the grass comes out, you know it can be difficult
Speaker 2: to manage it with herbicide because grass is fairly narrow,
Speaker 2: but by scalping it you're going to get that immediate
Speaker 2: So mow it really low, immediately, spray your herbicide, let
Speaker 2: it die, then put down your compost, and then I
Speaker 2: think you can plant if you want, and if you
Speaker 2: can't wait until fall, I think it's perfectly fine to
Speaker 2: do this in spring urine zone seven. So actually your
Speaker 2: time to do this is probably not that far off.
Speaker 1: Roger, you're setting an example for people because you're recognizing
Speaker 1: these grumpy perennials need to move, they need more sunshine.
Speaker 1: So kudos to you for being willing to bust that move.
Speaker 1: Randy Wright, Stacey, and Rick, I'm truly ready for spring
Speaker 1: and summer. I have two of your lo and behold
Speaker 1: blue chip, dwarf, butterfly bush lovely plants. I agree. I'm
Speaker 1: curious when to or should I trim them back for
Speaker 1: the spring In summer, when should I fertilize them? I
Speaker 1: noticed roughly two weeks ago on one of them, they
Speaker 1: had already started leafing out. Should I do anything to
Speaker 1: it now? And Stacy, we addressed this last week in
Speaker 1: the Lavender Show about how folks have lots of questions
Speaker 1: on pruning both lavender and bud leans.
Speaker 3: Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 2: So you know, I always try to tell people when
Speaker 2: they ask about pruning, No plant strictly needs pruning, but
Speaker 2: in many cases spending the time to prune will give
Speaker 2: you a much better looking plant. It will give you
Speaker 2: a better bloom. And to me, butterfly bush falls firmly
Speaker 2: in that category. If you don't prune butterfly bush, what
Speaker 2: happens is they get very tall. So even a dwarf
Speaker 2: variety like low and behold will get taller. And they
Speaker 2: don't flower all over. They only flower at the tippy top.
Speaker 2: And so you don't get like if you look at
Speaker 2: the pictures on our plant bags or on our website,
Speaker 2: or certainly what you're going to be seeing here on YouTube,
Speaker 2: you can see they're beautiful. They're justlowers and you're not
Speaker 2: going to get that look unless you prune them. And
Speaker 2: if you don't believe me, take a walk around your neighborhood.
Speaker 2: Everyone has like that one house in their neighborhood that's
Speaker 2: not very well taken care of, you know, or it's
Speaker 2: like a rental and no one ever does anything.
Speaker 3: And if you see a butterfly.
Speaker 2: Bush that's like eight feet tall with just a few
Speaker 2: sparse flowers at the top, you know that is an
Speaker 2: unprune butterfly bush.
Speaker 1: Well, and Stacy, as you know, I'm a runner, so
Speaker 1: I run through neighborhoods and to keep myself occupied, I
Speaker 1: mentally score homes as i'm running back.
Speaker 3: So watch out if he's running in your neighborhood.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and if you have proven winners color choice shrubs
Speaker 1: in your yard, you automatically get bonus points. Oh I
Speaker 1: like this all right, there's no prize.
Speaker 2: In Watch Out West Michigan. So yes, you should prune them.
Speaker 2: You don't have to, but I think you'll be much
Speaker 2: happier with the result, and they should be pruned in spring.
Speaker 2: So uh, this is a case where much like the lavender, Yes,
Speaker 2: you should wait until the plant tell you where it
Speaker 2: wants to be cut back. So once you see that
Speaker 2: new foliage starting to emerge, you just want to cut
Speaker 2: above where a very large, healthy bud is emerging. And
Speaker 2: with a butterfly bush, I would recommend that you cut
Speaker 2: back pretty much as far as you can. Don't just
Speaker 2: cut off like a couple of inches, go to where
Speaker 2: those lowest buds are emerging, and cut just above those,
Speaker 2: because that will really help you to keep that nice tidy,
Speaker 2: you know, very floriferous shape. And don't worry really that
Speaker 2: one of them seems to be leafing out and the
Speaker 2: others don't. I see this with butterfly bush all the time.
Speaker 2: You know, even here where everything's in the same conditions
Speaker 2: and being expertly taken care of, there must just be
Speaker 2: like some very subtle microclimates that we can't pick up on,
Speaker 2: where one plant seems to, you know, leaf out much
Speaker 2: earlier than its neighbors, even though they're all the same variety.
Speaker 2: But just wait until you see that new growth, then
Speaker 2: go ahead and cut them. If you want to fertilize them,
Speaker 2: one application in early spring should be sufficient. The general
Speaker 2: purpose fertilizer I recommend for shrubs is a rose fertilizer,
Speaker 2: but you can use whatever you have. It's not that
Speaker 2: big of a deal. And then that's all. Then you
Speaker 2: just have to wait and then once the heat comes
Speaker 2: on you know June July you'll have a fully blooming
Speaker 2: butterfly bush again.
Speaker 3: Deb Rights.
Speaker 2: I'm moving to a cul de sac in April, so
Speaker 2: we call that a court usually here in Michigan. And
Speaker 2: the road in front of the road I'm moving to
Speaker 2: is full of trees. I think it's disappointing that the
Speaker 2: road I'm moving to has no trees and most of
Speaker 2: the front gardens or parkways have been changed to off
Speaker 2: road parking.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 2: How can I gather community spirit and get each house
Speaker 2: to plant a small patio tree and have pots and flowers.
Speaker 2: I appreciate that it can't be a tree lined road,
Speaker 2: as there's limited space for cars, but that doesn't mean
Speaker 2: there can't be small potted trees, flowers and more green
Speaker 2: I would like to have a road that people talk
Speaker 2: about how pretty it is, a road that gives a
Speaker 2: real community feel and supports wildlife. Can you help?
Speaker 1: Wow?
Speaker 2: I mean we're not psychologists. I do want to say
Speaker 2: this is like a group psy call it question, and
Speaker 2: I don't know anything about psychology.
Speaker 1: Have have a block party? I would start by having
Speaker 1: a block party, and a cul de sac is the
Speaker 1: perfect place to have a block party. Yeah, so if
Speaker 1: you get the neighbors together. That's a place to start.
Speaker 1: Number two. So I live on a cul de sac
Speaker 1: and when I moved into the house, the yard had
Speaker 1: been neglected, and the neighbors were all watching me because
Speaker 1: I got in there and I started tearing stuff out,
Speaker 1: pulling stuff out, and started planting like crazy, and the
Speaker 1: cannas started coming up, and people started ringing the doorbell
Speaker 1: asking what's that plant? And what's that plant? And pretty
Speaker 1: soon most of the neighbors started doing the same.
Speaker 2: Well, you know, I think that is really the key
Speaker 2: is you have to set an example. And once people
Speaker 2: start to see that, like, oh wow, what deb did
Speaker 2: looks really great. I don't see her out there slaving
Speaker 2: over it every single day, so you know, it doesn't
Speaker 2: seem like it's that hard. I think you set the
Speaker 2: example first, and then as you get to know your
Speaker 2: neighbors more and more, you can kind of say, have
Speaker 2: you ever thought about this? And I think the important
Speaker 2: thing to remember for gardening is when you're a gardener,
Speaker 2: you know, you have all that enthusiasm, but it took
Speaker 2: you time to get there. You may have had some
Speaker 2: sort of natural inclination towards gardening, but it takes a
Speaker 2: long time to start to acquire the knowledge and experience
Speaker 2: and awareness of plants that you have, and most people
Speaker 2: don't have that. So it's not necessarily from a lack
Speaker 2: of wanting to do it. It's from a lack of
Speaker 2: not knowing where to start. Yeah, and or not a
Speaker 2: lack of just not knowing where to start. And you know, Deb,
Speaker 2: if you have that idea and can kind of be
Speaker 2: that leader for people, you know, by having this example
Speaker 2: and saying, hey, if you would like to do this too.
Speaker 2: You know, I got this at so and So's garden center,
Speaker 2: which is, you know, a couple miles away. Here's some
Speaker 2: other plants that you could try. You know, again, I
Speaker 2: would assume I would. The best thing that you can
Speaker 2: do anytime you have to have a difficult situation like
Speaker 2: this is just assume that the other people have a
Speaker 2: good intent and are open to your suggestions.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and Deb, I would suggest to you again, living
Speaker 1: on the cul de Sac, that I do. That's what
Speaker 1: I started doing, and neighbors really got into it, and
Speaker 1: pretty soon they're growing cannas and they're growing ornamental grasses,
Speaker 1: and they're asking me questions and people just kind of
Speaker 1: get into it, and I would share with you, and
Speaker 1: I've shared this before on the show that in the
Speaker 1: garden center industry, we knew that people need that inspiration,
Speaker 1: and so we'd take a few employees and have them
Speaker 1: take the store uniform off and put them in civilian clothes,
Speaker 1: and then you put some nice plants on a shopping
Speaker 1: cart and just tell them to go walking around. Well,
Speaker 1: you'd be amazed. People are like, what's that plan? What's
Speaker 1: that plan? Where'd you get that plan? You had?
Speaker 3: Shopping ringers?
Speaker 1: Shopping ringers? It works.
Speaker 3: I'm glad to hear it.
Speaker 1: It's true people, we're just inspiring people.
Speaker 2: Yeah, people need some inspiration, and debit sounds like you
Speaker 2: are ready to be that inspiration, and you know, I
Speaker 2: think it's yeah. I think you can do it. Find
Speaker 2: some photos maybe on Pinterest or online about you know,
Speaker 2: kind of what you are hoping to achieve, and and slowly,
Speaker 2: I think once people see the payoff, they should they
Speaker 2: should come around. But yeah, they have to see how
Speaker 2: great it is first. Sometimes you do need to to
Speaker 2: lead by example and show them rather than tell them.
Speaker 3: It's going to be great.
Speaker 1: I call it exam.
Speaker 2: I knew you were going to say that that's why
Speaker 2: I didn't say it myself, all right.
Speaker 3: So with that, I want to thank you Rick, thank you.
Speaker 2: I want to thank all of our listeners who wrote in,
Speaker 2: and all of your listeners out there, and of course
Speaker 2: thank you so much to Adriana for doing all of
Speaker 2: this great work.
Speaker 1: And.
Speaker 2: Through this entire episode, I want to make clear to
Speaker 2: everybody she has absolutely been a part of the laughter.
Speaker 2: Even if you can't hear her, she's back there trying
Speaker 2: to keep it under wrap, so she's not just like
Speaker 2: staring at us sternly. So anyway, thanks to all of you.
Speaker 2: I hope you have an absolutely wonderful week ahead. We'll
Speaker 2: see you next week.