Speaker 1: Broadcasting from Iconic Studio a here at proven Winners, Color
Choice Shrubs. It's time for the Gardening Simplified Show with
Stacy Hervella, me, Rick Weist, and our engineer and producer
Adrianna Robinson. Well, plants are like people and always do
best when supported by a circle of friends and companions
don't have to necessarily be similar. Just like people, you
can bring out the best in me as it relates
to the landscape and companions. I like to call it
the buddy system. Get what I did, then I do it.
Speaker 2: Took me a second. I'm not gonna lie, but yes,
I get it.
Speaker 1: The buddy system. I like it now. Opposites can be
great companions, like looking at complementary colors on the color wheel,
and you can create a support system around your main garden.
And you know, companion planting is one of these things
that in gardening mixes folklore, science myths. But nevertheless, we
know that plants are capable of benefiting from each other
in many ways. So the buddy system planting combines diverse
plants in an informed manner and everybody benefits. So it's
embracing our diversity. For example, textures and foliage size while
looking at things like similar light and water needs. I
like the concept, Stacey, of the buddy system in the garden.
Speaker 2: You know, I think it's important because mostly a garden
is not just one plant. You know, there's specimen trees
and specimen shrubs and things that you can plant to specimens.
But you know, ultimately a garden or a landscape is
a collector of plants. Yes, and there is some art
and science to putting them together. Though, you know, we
do want to clarify that as we're talking about companion
planting today, we're not talking about the old you know
what is it carrot, Carrots, love Tomatoes or whatever that
silly old book is called. U. No, that's different. So
that those are supporting one another in a very physical way.
The three sisters planting of the you know, Easter and
Native Americans that the squash shades the corn roots and
the corn provides the structure for the beans. That's different.
But there are people out there who, especially thanks to
the thing a proliferation of social media and TikTok, will say,
you know, oh, plant well, we talked about it before
the show. Plant marigolds around your tomatoes to deter whatever,
And so that is not what today's topic is. Today's
topic is more about combining other plants in more of
an esthetic or supportive way, because you know, we can't
really say very much about those old, kind of old
wives tales of companion planting, because you know, insects don't
have a kryptonite. They're not going to fly to your
vegetable garden and go, oh shoot, they planted cabbage and
carrots together. Guess I better again fly away to someone
who didn't plant cabbage and carrots together. It just it
doesn't work that way. It would be nice to think
that it did. And so it's not to deter you
from trying or deter you from continuing to plant things
like that if it's meaningful to you. But there is
an art and a science to combining plants in the
gardener landscape, and that's really what we're covering.
Speaker 1: And I like that and I agree completely, And there
is an art growing in vignettes, combinations of two or
three or five plants. It makes all the difference in
the world. Compatible buddies, in soil types, water needs, light needs,
and colors, complementary colors. I mentioned that you know you
make me look good when I'm around you. It's some
credible yellow sunflowers paired perfectly with supertuna vista petunias. And
I mentioned those two because they work well together and
our buddies. But when it comes to vigor, they have
similar vigor. Also, in other words, you don't want to
plant that crowds out in other plants in a certain area.
They become friends, they become buddies. So instead of it
takes a village in this case, it takes some tillage
on your part to make those beneficial matches, and you're
gonna have some negative space within your landscape for a
while until they acclimate and they grow together. But it's,
you know, similar to people at a party. You know,
you just kind of hang out in the background, maybe
you know, get a drink and kind of acclimate for
a little while, and then pretty soon you realize, yeah,
this is kind of fun, you know.
Speaker 2: I that's so true. And I always am amazed, even
after so many years of gardening, at that moment when
you know you kind of at the end of May
kind of finished planting everything. Your vegetable gardens, mostly in containers,
are planted up perennials are emerging, you've maybe moved some things,
and you're just like, there's just so much space here,
and then you kind of think ahead until August and
and you know, take that picture in May so that
when August does come along, you remember, because it's so
it happened so fast and so quickly, and it's just
so amazing to watch it, to watch the fruits of that.
Because yeah, sometimes, especially with annuals, at the beginning of
the season, you put two kind of little scrawny plants together,
you're like, hmm, not so sure about this right, And
the next thing you know, you're patting yourself on the
back like that was a brilliant move.
Speaker 1: So here's some suggestions for the buddy system. Number one,
many garden centers. Most garden centers have these great, big
flat carts and they're great for loading up plants. I say,
you use those carts at the garden center to play
with combinations and colors as you roll along. I mean,
you know, curiosity in the garden never stops. So it's
one thing to pick up individual plants at the garden center,
but if you're able to do that on the cart
while at the garden center. It really helps when you
get home. Grouping multiples of the same plants in larger
garden beds for cohesive, more impactful effect, repetition and rhythm.
And make sure you're combining plants with similar light, water
and soil needs together, and think about height and layers.
Keep mature plant heights in mind when you're putting together
your plant combinations. Foundation plants, by definition, are good companions
or buddies, providing support. Stacy grasses and evergreens are super
important for providing a foundation and a backdrop for maybe
some of the more colorful characters.
Speaker 2: That join the party right they bring a beautiful sense
of calm and most importantly, year round interest, because you know,
when you're combining plants in the landscape or garden, you know,
if you do all herbaceous perennials, you're going to be
looking at a whole lot enough in for some of
the year. So it's important to mix things together in
a way that so you have these anchors kind of
and that those anchors are not just anchoring the landscape
but really providing kind of a stage on which the
flashyar performers can shine while they just kind of hold
down the fort so to speak, you.
Speaker 1: Bet so if you want to look for some good
buddies in the landscape. Ironically, using contrast and plant combinations
is a key to companions. I'm talking about contrast and form,
leaf size, texture, color and plant size and yes, opposites
on the color wheel known as complementary colors. And we've
got to keep in mind that in today's day and age,
when a lot of great new cultivars and varieties are developed,
some of these plants do that themselves. For example, an
example plant lemon perfection is a nepeta or a nepeta
that has the yellow foliage and blue flowers on it.
One of the plants that I think about, Stacey, is
the sunshine blue carryopters same kind of thing and using
that effect or putting purple and shartruse together like a
misviolet bud lea and lemony lace. So it's all part
of that strategy. Now, in addition to that, the buddy
system would involve taking a look at light. Maybe you
can put some taller plants in the landscape that provides
some shade at that tough time of the day one
two three o'clock in the afternoon for some plants that
can't quite handle that amount of light. So there's a
variety of things to look at so that you have
good buddies looking out for each other in the landscape.
If plants could talk, If plants could talk, Limerick call
us birds of a feather, We ride out all kinds
of weather, no matter the drama, like your favorite pajama
night and day. We're in this together, a rooted, planted
devotee through thick and thin, a company characteristic, supplied growing
side by side. You've got a friend in me.
Speaker 2: Ahh, I like that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's how I feel within the landscape. So I
think that there's a real art to pairing plants and
developing the buddy system within your landscape. And we'll talk
more about that in segment four. Up next, we'll see
how Stacey ties it in in Plants on trial Here
on the Gardening Simplified.
Speaker 2: Show, beautify your home and community with proven winner's color
choice shrubs with over three hundred and twenty five unique
varieties to choose from. There's a flowering shrubber evergreen for
every taste and every space. Just look for the distinctive
white container. Your local Garden Center or learn more at
proven Winner's Color Choice dot com. Good Reading's Gardening friends,
and welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show, where we
are talking all about how to combine plants in the
landscape or garden, or as Rick calls it, the bud
e the buddy system, which is a very cute name
for it. Thank you, thanks, And you know, I think
this is an important topic because I will tell you
in the many, many years, and I'm sure same for you, Rick,
that I have been helping home gardeners in the garden.
One of the most common questions that I have been
asked is what can I plant with X? Yes, And
I will tell you right now that I would rather
answer a thousand plant diagnosis, what's wrong with my plant,
what's eating my plant? Questions, then one what can I
plant with this question? And the reason why is because
not because I don't have suggestions or I don't have ideas,
but the reason that I, so you know, have have
difficulty answering this question is because my perspective is that
it's so personal. Yes, you know, this is kind of
like this to me. It's the same as if you
came up to me and said like, Hey, Stacy, what
should I wear on Friday? You know? And I'm like, Okay,
I don't know you. I don't know your wardrobe, I
don't know like your vibe, I don't know what you're
doing that day. So no, I can't tell you what
to wear on Friday because I don't know. That's totally
up to you. I can offer some suggestions, I can
tell you what I would wear on Friday, but I
can't give you the answer to what you should wear
on Friday. And I really do feel like that. You know,
it's crucial for people to think about combining plants in
the garden as a way of personal expression, because of
course you can plant any plants together, you know. And
I'm going to first of all preface everything I'm about
to say by saying that I'm I'm presuming that all
of the plants that we're going to be pairing are
we've already selected them to have the same water in
sunlight conditions, right, And you know, water is a pretty
easy one because most plants are just drought tolerant or
moist soil tolerant. They don't really need it, you know,
they just kind of can tolerate it. So water is
pretty easy, assuming things are getting you know, a reasonable
amount of water. Sun Light, of course, is the more
crucial one, but if you're shopping at a local garden center,
not really a problem because all the sun stuff is
grouped together, so you can just kind of shop in
the sun section and put all that together right there.
Speaker 1: So I love your analogy on you know, what should
I wear tomorrow? And a few weeks ago we learned
from Eric and Christopher that a good approach would be
to plant in vignette. Yeah, and then if you change
your mind, you can always rearrange.
Speaker 2: You can always rearrange. That's that's the key here. So anyway,
I find it a very difficult question to answer, and
aside from it being very personal, I don't think I'm
particularly good at it because I just my approach to gardening,
as we kind of talked about in our Unruly episode
also a few weeks ago, is you know, I'm gardening
for the insects and the birds. So yes, of course
I want my garden to look good, and I want
it to look less chaotic, and I want my neighbors
to go, oh, that actually looks really nice instead of
like that looks like some sort of chaotic tangle of plants.
But you know, it's fine for the insects. So I
do try to think about it, but not to the
point where a lot of other people who want more
of that really well put together look goes. But all
of that, do you like this shirt? I do like
that shirt. I like the shirt because it looks like
it's knitted, like that print on it is trying to
make it look like it's knitted even though it's clearly woven.
Speaker 1: Score sorry, go ahead, this.
Speaker 2: Is quite interesting. But anyway, so yeah, I know a
lot of times, because I get more plants than I
have room, for a lot of times my plant combinations
end up being out of necessity rather than genuine, well
thought out aesthetics, because I'm like, oh, a little space here,
I guess I'm just gonna jam this in and then
sure down the line things look great. Because I will say.
Speaker 1: This, we all do it.
Speaker 2: By and large, you can't go wrong. I mean, is
there there are things that you might not like as
much or might not be as visually successful, But like,
I mean, come on, we're talking about putting together a
bunch of plants and flowers. There is no wrong answers.
So but anyway, all that said, I am going to
provide for today's plants on Trial some simple kind of
guidelines to help you make this decision process and then
you can kind of take this decision process and reiterate
it across lots of different applications in your garden. And
this is something that really I started doing back earlier
this year when we were talking about the Proven Winner's
Perennials of the Year the Proven Winners Shrubs of the Year,
and during those episodes, all of my plants on Trial
were devoted to good companion plants for the Plants of
the Year. So I'm going to kind of go over
the criteria that I would choose to choose those plants.
So number one question to ask yourself do you gild
the lily or do you spread the love? By which
I mean are you going to So this is kind
of assuming that you already have some stuff in there.
You're making a new combination. So are you going to
put things in that combination that are going to just
have one glorious moment in time and just be absolutely
stunnying because everything's at peak all together, or are you
going to combine plants in a way that kind of
spreads the love through the season, so you have something
interesting to look at from the beginning till the end.
Speaker 1: That's a great approach.
Speaker 2: Right because and they're both valid, and you also don't
have to commit to one or the other, because you
can have parts of your garden that gilbilii and parts
that spread the love. And you know, even in this combination,
you know you're kind of transitioning throughout the garden to
you know, these different areas that can exhibit these different things.
So you know, I of course implement both abundantly in
my garden. I think a really simple example would be
the bed that I have closest to my house, which
combines Decadencepeptisia from proven Winner's perennials, which is a spring
blooming plant, big shrubby kind of perennial, and the summarific hibiscus,
which is a summer blooming plant. So I don't really
gild the lily here. I have a beautiful spring moment
when all of those baptisias are in bloom, and then
things are just kind of quiet and foliage e for
a couple of months, and then I have a huge
summer moment, So that is one way to look at it.
But then on the other hand, I have some combinations. Well,
another classic example I think that I don't actually have
because I can't grow either of these plants, would be
combining spring flowering bulbs with day lilies or hostas to
kind of take over the you know when the foliage
the bulbs start to go yellow and doesn't look as good.
But in some cases it can also be both. So
I'm thinking about by lemony lace elderberry. I have some
beautiful lavender and peach and cream colored hyacinths planted near
the base of that that looks just absolutely beautiful with
that lemony lace foliage. Those die back and then come
July August I have blue fortune agastakil with it. So
that kind of lemony lace is anchoring a couple of
different moments through the garden because it has that super
fabulous foliage. It's kind of a plant that looks great
all its season long and gives you that opportunity to
play off it in multiple different ways. So h that's
one way you can think about it. Another one is
think about the height and width, and I think it's
very easy, especially now, plant breading has brought us so
many great choices, But also plant breading is kind of
standardizing in some ways the height and width of certain
plants because things people want things to be shippable, they
want things to look really good on the bench, and
in some ways this is disfavoring plants that are either
too small or too large, so you kind of need
to seek those out. A good garden, a good layered
garden with lots of visual interest, has a lot of
different heights, so you want to be careful to think
about how you're combining plants to get that layered or
more in depth. Look now, the different between the heights
can be very substantial. You can do kind of a
shoes and socks version where you just have a short
perennial at the base of a tall shrub, or a
tall perennial planted behind a short shrub. There's lots of
different ways to do this, and both of those are valid,
but you really do want to look again at that
mature height. As you said in segment one, we're talking
about making sure that things look good for the long term,
not just when you do it. Another really good way
to think about This is kind of applying the thriller
spiller filler approach to container planting to your actual garden bed.
Get those different heights and you're going to be able
to get that layered. Look now, you said my number
three point here in the first one. It's all about diversity.
You need a lot of different plants. And this is
something that I also struggle with because again I'm gardening
for insects, and I grow a lot of native plants,
and a lot of our native plants for dry soil
that are deer resistant are yellow daisy type plants, my Sylfia,
my Rebeccia coreopsis, all of these kinds of things. So
I end up with a lot of the same plants
that you know, you can't necessarily tell them apart, which
again is fine, I don't have a problem with it,
but it's probably not the look that most people are
going for or why they're doing this. So I have
a little trick here might seem a little advanced, but
to make sure that you're getting a good diversity of plants,
look up or look on the tag for the plant
family that the plant is in. Okay, because plants are
divided into their scientific families or botanical families based on
how they flower, what their flowers look like, how those
flowers are arranged on the stems. So if you end
up with a lot of plants within the same family,
you're going to end up with a lot of plants
that look the same and have a lot of very
similar kind of structure and flower presentation. So by including
a number of different plant families and different species, you'll
get that look naturally without having to think too much
about it, because I think all of us kind of
graduate gravitate naturally towards plants that look a certain way.
So for color, I think anything goes and this is
really I think where it gets the most personal. I
am always amazed when I look at pictures of gardens
or visit a great garden that talented designers put together
colors in ways that I would never because I'm just
kind of more conservative about how I use color in
the garden. And but you know, I was looking at
pictures as I was researching this, pictures of one of
my favorite public gardens that I've ever seen, even though
I haven't visited it yet, but that I've ever heard of,
Great Dixter in the UK, Christopher Lloyd's garden. I mean
the color combinations in that garden. No, I would never
do them, but I take great inspiration from them and
try to stretch. You know what I do in the
garden based on that. So look at garden pictures and
you know, and think about the colors that are them.
Don't just go, oh, that's a pretty picture. Think about
how the colors have been comb in that way. All
that matters really at the end of the day is
that you are happy and that you are best buds
with your garden. So I could go on and on
and on about this, but we need to take a
little break, so I will stop, and I hope you
will rejoin us in a few moments when we open
up the MEBG. At Proven Winners Color Choice Shrubs, we
know that a better landscape starts with a better shrub.
Our team of experts tests and evaluates all of our
flowering shrubs and evergreens for eight to ten years to
ensure they outperform what's already on the market. For easycare, reliable,
beautiful shrubs to accentuate your home and express your personal style,
look for Proven Winners shrubs in the distinctive white container
at your local garden center or learn more at proven
Winner's Color Choice dot com. Goour readings, gardening friends, and
welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show, where it is
our place to help you with your garden questions, quandaries
and conundrums, of which I'm sure there are many. Spring
is probably the most conundrum. Ye time in the garden
a lot of pressure, a lot of pressure. So if
you have a question, please do reach out to us.
Gardening Simplified on air. Dot Com is our website. There's
a contact farm right there. You can even attach photos.
You can also ask questions on YouTube if you happen
to be joining us on YouTube, we answer all of
those and sometimes we answer them on air as well,
So there's lots of different ways to reach us and
get help. And you know, I get it people are
still going to write us for their companion plant recommendations,
but really, you know, I think it's kind of part
of gardening is learning how to combine plants in a
way that you like rather than a way that we like,
because we'll just be giving you our own personal ideas
and sometimes they're good. Sometimes there's you know, classic combinations
like nepata and roses for example. Yeah, lads, lavender and
roses can't go wrong with that. But ultimately, you know,
it's it's a skill, and it's not just a skill,
but it's it's kind of like getting in touch with
your own personal gardening aesthetic and how you're going to
play that out in your actual garden.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I think I think one of the things
to take a look at is whether or not you
can develop some type of rhythm within your garden. We
talk about that often, but I think it applies here
in the Buddy method. Also, if you look, for example,
at interior design, I love looking through that and they've
got this seventy twenty ten rule a space take the approach.
You've got seventy percent warm earthy tones, twenty percent crisp whites,
ten percent rich moody accents. It's a recipe for let's
call it sophisticated drama.
Speaker 2: Ah, sophisticated drama.
Speaker 1: And my opinion is, if interior designers can do it,
we can do that out in the garden. Yeah.
Speaker 2: I know, people are so much more comfortable interior designing
when a lot of those concepts translate directly to the outdoors.
But we're answering questions now, and one of the questions
that I have been seeing come up a lot, and
not surprisingly, and we kind of we're talking about this
back in January February, when the polar vortex hit all
across the US in Canada, we were predicting that we
were going to be hearing from a lot of people
who when the snow finally melted and the ground starts
to thaw, are like, what the heck just happens? And
it's not just limited to northern people, the southern, our
southern and warm climate fans. We're also subjected to some
extremely cold weather. So lots and lots of people are
writing saying, my holly completely defoliated, my arborvidy look totally fried.
What do I do?
Speaker 1: Mm hm?
Speaker 2: And what those plants need right now more than anything
else is time, And I know that's hard. And I
know when your landscape is emerging and things are fresh
and green and you've got this sad looking evergreen and
especially broad leaf evergreens, t I M yeah, oh yes, time, yes,
not time. Not taking the herb, although there's no harm
in planting that as well, it will not help your
evergreens and broad leaf evergreens. Yeah, so they need time
to show you the extent of the damage. And adron
On I did a video on this, it's on our
YouTube channel. But you know, people are really seeing things
that don't look like a normal winter, and they're seeing
plants that normally weren't damaged that have become really damaged
this year because the cold was so intense and lasted
so long.
Speaker 1: There's no question. And you know, I've always said there
are three types of people in this world, those who
make things happen, those who watch things happen, and those
who wonder what in the world just happened. And that's
where we're at in early spring. And I think it's
important to remember with evergreens, Stacey, that again we have
to remind ourselves that in many cases the ground froze,
but the upper portion of the plant was exposed to
things like sun and wind and polar vortex. And if
the plant is unable to get moisture from the root system,
you're going to see the end result in March, April
and May.
Speaker 2: Yes, especially on evergreens, because of course they were yeah,
they were giving offul water and photosynthesizing a bit through
the winter. So yeah, give them time. And I know
it's hard, but you really do need to give these
plants more time to show you where they are alive.
And the further something was set back over winter, the
more time it's going to need because it's going to
take longer to recover and actually leave out than if
it had come through winter super healthy. So try not
to panic yet. Give the plants some time. As the
days get longer, as the temperatures get warmer, start to see.
If they're putting on new growth, they're probably gonna recover
pretty okay. If they aren't putting on new growth, then
you're going to start to wonder is this alive? Is
this dead? They might only be putting on new growth
towards the base of the plant where they were nice
and protected by snow or just you know, by being
closer to the soil. Now, if that's the case, and
you're seeing, you know, the upper parts of the plant
are dead and the lower parts are alive, then you
can go ahead in prune and let those living parts
take over. Get them some air, get them some sun,
and they will slowly take over. But please don't be
especially after a harsh winter like we had. Don't be
in too much of a hurry to take something out
if you want to keep it now, if you want
it to go, you're just like I don't even want
to look at this thing anymore, and wait for it
to show itself. That's perfectly fine. The garden centers are
teeming with wonderful choices to replace that. But if you
are holding out, definitely keep waiting.
Speaker 1: My personal opinion and experience has been that there are
a couple of months coming up that are the perfect
months to fertilize evergreen. So we may disagree on this, Stacey,
but I personally think fertilizing evergreens in May and June
is a good idea. You don't want to be doing
it late in the season. You want them to harden
off for winter. So I think you've got an opportunity
coming up to stimulate some new growth, some regrowth in
May and June.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I agree. I actually think that. You know, if
you are in a cool climate, now is the perfect
time to fertilize all sorts of woody plants and perennials.
The soil is moist and so that will work to
weather the fertilizer to become available to the plant, and
just as the temperature starts to get even warmer and
the days starts to get even longer, that fertilizer will
become available to the plants. And if you're really trying
to get something, obviously don't fertilize a plant that you
think is dead. That's a waste. But if you are
trying to get something to really regrow and recover after
a harsh winter, I think a second application in mid
to late May is exactly what you need to do
to give it that extra energy to to really grow
out of the damage.
Speaker 1: I agree. Hey, Stacy, Richard asked us and if I
had a dime for every time I've been asked this question,
and I'm looking forward to your answer. Richard asked, very simply,
how do I prune a butterfly bush? I've been asked
that so many times.
Speaker 2: You know, it's really hard. And I feel this one
very personally because I remember one of the first, if
not the very first thing that I had to do
when I was in horticulture school on our rotations around
the grounds on the New York Botanical Garden. It was
March and someone who was, you know, leading me around
my rotation, said we have to prune this butterfly bush.
What do you do? And the reason that pruning butterfly
bushes is so hard is because it's very difficult to
tell where the buds are correct. You know, compared to
something like a panicle hyrangea, which you would also be
pruning now or rose, super obvious where the buds are
and you cut just above a bud, no problem. With
a butterfly bush, it can be very not so obvious,
and then it becomes really really difficult to decide where
to make that decision. Yeah, and couple that with the
fact that in especially in cold climates, butterfly bush already
gets damage, so you don't even know where's it alive,
where is it dead. So my answer for pruning a
butterfly bush is wait for the plant to show you,
Just like I was saying with the evergreens, wait for
the plant to show you where it's alive. It will
do that by pushing out green buds at those points,
and then you want to go ahead and cut above
where one of those buds is emerging. Now, with butterfly bush,
I do recommend a hard prune which it means is
that you're going to be pruning a lot off of it,
even if it had a lot of die back. If
you prune that butterfly bush back quite low, you're going
to get a nice, full plant with flowers all over
it instead of just way up at the tippy tops.
Don't so you don't have to be afraid of pruning
it too much, as long as you are using the
presence of those buds to show you when and where
to p.
Speaker 1: Yeah, the plant will respond well to pruning. And Stacy,
I think your your answer there is spot on, and
the reason it's spot on is because die back with
bud Leah's is different every year.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it really is.
Speaker 1: So it's kind of a wait and see approach.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and so I think that's so true of anything
in the garden. And you can kind of apply this,
you know, it's it's totally understandable to you know, you
get some nice days, especially some nice weekends, a little sunny,
a little warm, and you're like, I'm ready to get
out there and get some stuff done, and you know,
you're thinking about all the things that are on your
to do list and the things you didn't get to
in full, But there are so so many things right
now that really are just best left to wait and see.
Kind of goes back to my old saying when in doubt,
don't or at least don't yet don't get because you know, again,
if you wait for the plants to show you, they
probably will. And there's very aside from perhaps your own
frustration of seeing something that's not looking at its best
in the garden when spring is springing, there's very little
downside to waiting. You know, you're really not gonna make
a mistake by waiting. You might get frustrated, you might
not want to look at the you know thing anymore
with all of its sad brown foliage or whatever it's doing.
But give it time, and you know, like we were saying,
by the time May June rolls around, you won't believe
it was ever just a puny little thing. It'll be
a beefcake off to the ridge.
Speaker 1: Yes.
Speaker 2: So on that note, we're going to take a little
break and when we come back, we'll be continuing our
conversation on companion plants, or the bud d system as
Rick calls it. So please stay tuned. Thanks for listening
to the Gardening Simplified podcast brought to you by Proven
Winners Color Choice Shrubs. Our award winning flowering shrubs and
evergreens are trialed and tested by experts with your sex
us in mind. Learn more at Proven Winners color Choice
dot com.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Shows. We talk about
the buddy system in the landscape, Stacey. We can't ignore
the advances in plant material, whether it's I'm gonna say,
like a short sterile bloomer like pugster bud Lea, which
is one of my favorite plants for a hot sunny
area that doesn't overwhelm the other plants and get huge,
or advances in perennials like treasure trove Rudbecia, pardon my
selection of b balm and manarta and luminary tall garden flocks.
These are all plants that can be afflicted by foliage diseases,
especially as it relates to watering practices. But now can
handle group watering better then let's say the old cultivars.
So there is that factor.
Speaker 2: That's a great point. There were definitely plants that you
could not really combine very well before disease resistance was
introduced because combining them into what we consider it to
be a really nice combination. Would have meant close spacing
and a lot of water and disease.
Speaker 1: Exactly a plant like double play spyrhea. They make great
companions because they're always there. They're tough, a contrasting color,
a continuous bloom without overpowering their counterparts. So I think
that that's part of the buddy system. Now I want
to throw I want to coin another phrase, facade plants
or facer plants. I think about plants that you're able
to put in the landscape that kind of cover up
the bare branches or the less beautiful areas of certain
plants in the lands in the landscape and create a
like a visual transition and from the lawn to the
taller plants a form of layering that maybe along the
edge or create a facade many different plants that can
soften that transition, concealed bare stems for older leggier plants,
and kind of complete the look for this layered texture
or colored look. I think that that's something to look at.
And when you're looking at edging, looking at plants like lemon,
coral seedum or rock and round rock and low rock
and grow seedoms can handle the heat, but would make
a great edge in that facade area or that transitional
area from the lawn to maybe larger plants. I think
that's all part of the buddy system too.
Speaker 2: Oh. Absolutely, you know, I think I have a bit
of advice here that I think you're going to like,
okay when in doubt at a grass.
Speaker 1: Oh, I like that because you.
Speaker 2: Know, it's the grasses. They're good buddies. And if you
have things like you know, flowering shrubs and perennials and
you're just not sure how to kind of break things up,
a grass is such a great way to do that.
And grasses can do so much in the garden. They
always add structure. Their color tends to kind of be
blue or green, which is a great blender for various
different things. You can get grasses that are super lovely
and misty when they flower, and as well as grasses
that have a much more you know, bold type of flower.
So I feel like it's kind of, you know, like
the ultimate blending item for the garden. So whether it's
a facade planting or standard perennial garden, you know, if
you're struggling to kind of make that transition. Chances are
it's time for a grass.
Speaker 1: Now. I like that. And they're good buddies because they
give more than they take. Okay, they don't ask for
a lot, So boy, I really like that. Thank you. Okay,
here's another one. Ground covers by definition. Think about it,
ground cover, I've got you covered. There's a great buddy
in the landscape. Groundcovers would cool the soil, help suppress weeds,
add to the aesthetics of a landscape. So if you're
talking about companion or buddy plants, groundcovers which reduce soil evaporation,
and as I said, block weeds, maybe a buffer zone
between your ornamentals and the more or the weed whacker.
Groundcovers by definition, are a buddy in the landscape.
Speaker 2: Oh, they're a buddy from an esthetic standpoint as well
as a buddy from a maintenance standpoint, because they're going
to keep down weeds and conserve your soil and gradually
spread to be a super low maintenance plan.
Speaker 1: Yeah. And I don't know why, but lately we've been
talking a lot about clover, and I think that there
are people who want to grow clover. But if you
think about it again, a legume or a nitrogen fixing
plant is a buddy in the landscape because they add
to the nutrient value of the soil.
Speaker 2: So that's just yeah, I want to grow clover. But
as we learned in our rabbit episode last week, between
that and you know, all the rabbits I have, I
am not going to be able to grow clover alas well.
Speaker 1: Let me give a few examples here. You gave examples
during Plants on Trial, so let's go down that road
here a moment. For example, Chives and oregano great perennial
companions in the landscape. Tomatoes love basil, or at least
I love the tomato and basil combination because I think
if you plant a basil around tomatoes, the tomatoes taste better.
No scientific evidence for that, but they make great buddies one.
Speaker 2: You know. And also in the summer, if you are
harvesting tomatoes, there's like a ninety eight percent chance you're
also going to be harvesting basil. So you may as
well make it easy on yourself and have them right
there together rather than have one, you know, clear across
the garden.
Speaker 1: Basil instinct, you know, I was at a greenhouse a
few weeks ago chatting with a greenhouse grower and owner
with a group of people and he was asked, what's
your number one selling annual? And he said, well, what
do you think it is? And people were throwing out,
you know, impatiens, geraniums, supertunias, whatever it may be. He said, no,
it's basil by Skew number or by Skew number one
selling annual in his greenhouse.
Speaker 2: I thought that that was really that is interesting. I
think most people don't think of basil as an annual,
even though it is an annual. Right, think of it
as an herb. Right. But I also love growing basil
from seed. Oh, yeah, you know, because you can get
so many cool varieties from seed. I love Oh. I
have such a weakness for those giant leaf basals.
Speaker 1: I agree. I agree, great plant in the landscape, so
roses in lavender. Here's a combination that I love. Colius
and cufia. Now I've got a theory on this. If
I have bright foliage of a colius, my theory is
it attracts hummingbirds to the landscape. They see the bright
color and then when they get there, the kufia is
something that they just like vermilionaire. They just cannot resist it.
And I have a number of pictures in my landscape
of that. So combining Colius, now that you can grow
Colius varieties in full sun, that combination, I think in
containers is fantastic.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I have a theory on this too. I think
it goes back to your love of crotons.
Speaker 1: Oh.
Speaker 2: I wasn't gonna break, but I'm just saying that's like
a croton like combination.
Speaker 1: I love crotons. Yeah, okay, crotons. I'm thrown off.
Speaker 2: Now what would you even Okay, so let's just pretend
for a second you can grow crotons outdoors. Crotons are
a loud plant.
Speaker 1: Well I do grow crotons outdoors, but not just over.
Speaker 2: Right right right. So if it was like a landscape
plant for you, you live in you know, Miami, what
are you combining it with?
Speaker 1: Oh, impatiens love to grow impatients around crotons. I would
grow super benas, super tunias around crotons in the full
hot sun. Oh yeah, I would love that. I really
would love that. I wish that they were a hardy plant.
But yeah, anyhow, how about this hydrangers in boxwood one
of my favorite combinations in the landscape is tulips and pansies.
Love to plant pansies in the fall, put the tulips
in the ground, then have the tulips grow up through
the pansies in spring. Love that. I think that they
make the perfect buddies together in the landscape. Another perfect
buddy with tulips are red bud trees. Yeah, red bud
trees or virginia I mentioned I guess I have on
my list grasses and flowering shrubs in general. I mean,
look at what a grass like lemon squeeze can do.
It can give you that color contrast, easy to grow
combining lemon squeeze with alien serendipity. Great combination. Don't forget
of course, Annual Plant Recipes and Proven Winners on their
website has many wonderful recipes at your disposal. Stacey, butterfly
bush and panicle hydranges, panicle hydranges and rows of sharing
obvious combination hosta and ferns, kalladium and pullmon area. The
list goes on and on, and I'm getting excited about
getting out there and planting.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Well, you know you are only limited by your imagination,
and unfortunately budget.
Speaker 1: Well, let us be your good buddy and keep us
tuned in all spring along, because we're going to give
you a good swift kick in the plants on YouTube,
via our podcast, and of course the radio version of
our show. Thank you Stacey, thank you Rick, Thanks Adriana,
and enjoy your week. Happy Spring.