Speaker 1: Coming to you from Studio A here at proven Winter's
Speaker 1: Color Choice Shrubs. It's time for the Gardening Simplified podcast,
Speaker 1: YouTube and radio show with Stacey Hervella, me, Rick Weist,
Speaker 1: and our engineer and producer Adrianna Robinson. Well, Stacy, we
Speaker 1: get to talk today about a subject that's near and
Speaker 1: dear to my heart. Spring ephemerals merge, bloom and produce
Speaker 1: seeds during a narrow window between the snow melt and
Speaker 1: when the trees leaf out and then die back. By
Speaker 1: early to midsummer they're gone. They just kind of hang
Speaker 1: out the rest of the year, out of sight, and
Speaker 1: there are so many wonderful We can loosely term them wildflowers,
Speaker 1: but we're gonna call them spring ephemerals. Here today, gone tomorrow.
Speaker 1: But it's something I look forward to every year.
Speaker 2: Honestly, it is one of the most amazing experiences I
Speaker 2: think that people can have. It's like you go into
Speaker 2: the woods one day and everything is brown, and then
Speaker 2: you go in the next and everything is green, and
Speaker 2: it's just one of those blink and you'll miss it
Speaker 2: kind of moments, and it can be so spectacular, and
Speaker 2: I think it can be so inspiring for gardeners as well.
Speaker 2: It's not just about, you know, going out now. For me,
Speaker 2: it is actually going out and see how many species
Speaker 2: I can see, because I do love that. But it's
Speaker 2: also just about the inspiration and the magic of spring.
Speaker 2: I just love it.
Speaker 1: Perfect description magic.
Speaker 2: It is magic.
Speaker 1: And I also like the way you say everything's brown
Speaker 1: and then they emerge because you have oak leaves and
Speaker 1: beech tree leaves that are on the forest floor. All
Speaker 1: of a sudden things like trout lilies and trilliums appear
Speaker 1: and it lifts your spirits. And this is a real
Speaker 1: personal thing for me. Let me share something personally with you,
Speaker 1: and that is number one. You know me, I do
Speaker 1: not like winter. I know people have winter festivals, they
Speaker 1: love skiing, they make snowmen, they have hot chocolate, they
Speaker 1: love the season. Great, more power to you. I don't
Speaker 1: like it. I'm always thankful when the month of April
Speaker 1: comes along. Another personal point, Stacey is there was a
Speaker 1: point in my life where I went through a real
Speaker 1: rough patch. And when we go through a rough patch,
Speaker 1: we do things to try and cope with that period
Speaker 1: of time. For me, it was running, and so after
Speaker 1: work every night I would run ten miles, five miles out,
Speaker 1: five miles back on the trail. This trail was lined
Speaker 1: with marsh marigolds, trilliums, trout lilies, all kinds of these
Speaker 1: spring ephemerals. And I'll never forget it. As a matter
Speaker 1: of fact, we have a picture to share on our
Speaker 1: YouTube video. It just was, like you said, magical for me.
Speaker 1: It lifted my spirits.
Speaker 2: It really does. It's so inspiring. And I think you
Speaker 2: know a lot of people here in Michigan. I know
Speaker 2: we have listeners from all over the country and in
Speaker 2: Canada and actually around the world. But you know, here
Speaker 2: in Southeaster, in Michigan in general, you're gonna see spring
Speaker 2: of them roles. If you drive on the highway, whether
Speaker 2: you like it or not, you will see them. You know,
Speaker 2: you're driving even on ninety six around here, and you
Speaker 2: just see these massive patches of trilliums. But that's not enough.
Speaker 2: You really do need to get in there. There's so
Speaker 2: much diversity and there's so many interesting things to see.
Speaker 2: And you know, if you look, if you drive and
Speaker 2: you see the trilliums growing by the side of the highway,
Speaker 2: and you think, oh, that's nice. The trilliums are in bloom.
Speaker 2: You really owe it to yourself to get out there.
Speaker 2: And it doesn't take a lot. You can go to
Speaker 2: almost any park around here and see an amazing display
Speaker 2: and it's I mean, if you haven't done this before,
Speaker 2: I would say mark your calendars in the coming weeks
Speaker 2: to just make sure you get out to a park
Speaker 2: and see this, because I don't know. It's just I
Speaker 2: don't know. It's very meaningful.
Speaker 1: Yeah it is. It's very meaningful, and it's very very
Speaker 1: meaningful for me. So I share that with you. And
Speaker 1: you're right. They see a lot of us think about trilliums,
Speaker 1: and that, of course is an amazing plant. I was
Speaker 1: reading from the US Forest Service. They were saying there
Speaker 1: are forty three species of trillium known worldwide, with a
Speaker 1: startling thirty eight represented in North America as natives.
Speaker 2: That's pretty that I had no idea was that. That's
Speaker 2: absolutely incredible. And the rest this is actually very interesting
Speaker 2: and you see this especially when it comes to our
Speaker 2: spring ephemerals. I'm not going to go deep into this,
Speaker 2: so don't panic, but there's a phenomenon called the Eastern
Speaker 2: Asian Eastern North America floristic disjunction. Where you get into this.
Speaker 1: It's like deja vu. It's incredible. Yes, I have read
Speaker 1: about it. Oh Arnold Arboretum, Yeah, does a lot.
Speaker 2: They have an excellent article on that. So basically what
Speaker 2: it is is that the eastern half of North America
Speaker 2: and Eastern Asia share a very similar number of plant
Speaker 2: species and genera because at one point they were connected.
Speaker 2: And so the other trillium species i'm guessing are all
Speaker 2: Asian trilliums, and there are just some spectacular Asian trilliums.
Speaker 2: Of course they're not our native trilliums, but they're still special.
Speaker 2: And you'll see that with a lot of spring ephemerals,
Speaker 2: the erythronium or trout lily as well, just to name
Speaker 2: a few. And it's just such an interesting thing to see.
Speaker 2: And I can't believe we are that many trilliums. Yeah,
Speaker 2: so many in Michigan.
Speaker 1: Yeah right, And I have some pictures to share of
Speaker 1: trout lily also a favorite of mine, as I would
Speaker 1: run the trail. And as far as the trilliums are concerned, again,
Speaker 1: the diversity is amazing and correct me if I'm wrong.
Speaker 1: But is it the pedestal? Is it a pedestal that
Speaker 1: the flower sits on. Is that the pronunciation, okay, so
Speaker 1: a pedesol. And then there are others that seem to
Speaker 1: just sit right on.
Speaker 2: Top of the bracts, beestile trilliums. So yeah, sometimes you
Speaker 2: see the ones that are nodding, the Trillium grand fluorum,
Speaker 2: which is by far the most widespread one around here
Speaker 2: in southwestern Michigan. But the cecil ones, Yeah, they nestle
Speaker 2: right down into the foliage with no extra stem. Yeah,
Speaker 2: those are really cool. If you are lucky enough to
Speaker 2: live in the southeast, or maybe you're taking on the
Speaker 2: Appalachian Trail or you're going on vacation, you will see
Speaker 2: the most incredible diversity of trilliums down through the Blue
Speaker 2: Ridge Mountains and Smokies.
Speaker 1: I mean absolutely really.
Speaker 2: You mean know another interesting thing about trilliums, So they
Speaker 2: do grow by seed. Obviously they spread by you know,
Speaker 2: their their roots as well, but their seeds, their seed
Speaker 2: pods have these what's known as an eliosome on that
Speaker 2: and it's a little dot of nutritious oil and it
Speaker 2: is like ants just go crazy for it.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 2: And they I mean like it's not just like, oh,
Speaker 2: here's a nice little liasm. Guess I'll eat it. It's
Speaker 2: like they go bananas. And that is how trillium is.
Speaker 2: That is how trillium spread it. Trillium seed is dispersed.
Speaker 2: Is these ants going after that alion and then carrying
Speaker 2: it to who knows where, and that is why trilliums
Speaker 2: are able to spread as widely as they do.
Speaker 1: Wow, that is fantastic. Yeah. And if you're keeping score
Speaker 1: at home and you enjoy the trilliums of spring, as
Speaker 1: Stacey mentioned, then so it's pedestal and cecil, yes, and
Speaker 1: the cecil are seated right on those bracts or that foliage. Yeah,
Speaker 1: pretty cool. Trout lilies, I love them, the solitary nodding
Speaker 1: yellow flower. Their colony forming and they the foliage looks
Speaker 1: like trout, a brown trumk. Yeah, I guess that's where
Speaker 1: it gets and its name.
Speaker 2: They look so pretty with the trilliums and they're so
Speaker 2: often together, and that to me is where you know,
Speaker 2: we were talking about mother nature and being inspired. I mean,
Speaker 2: that is a combination that I just find so inspiring.
Speaker 2: And it's the kind of thing that if you are
Speaker 2: a gardener and you're out in the woods looking at
Speaker 2: these things, you know, take a moment's not just go
Speaker 2: oh that's pretty or oh that's interesting, but to really
Speaker 2: think about what is it? Is it the colors, is
Speaker 2: it the shape of the leaves? Is it the gestures
Speaker 2: of those two plants together? And think about what that
Speaker 2: means for you? Combining plants agree very much.
Speaker 1: So, so I have a question for you based on that, Stacey,
Speaker 1: And that is, as far as ephemerals are concerned, I
Speaker 1: also consider non native minor bulbs like galanthus to be
Speaker 1: a spring ephemeral based on definition. Would you agree with
Speaker 1: that or yeah?
Speaker 2: I think that's a fair you know, but it's yeah.
Speaker 2: I think usually when most people say spring epemerals, they
Speaker 2: are referring to our native wildflowers, but that they behave
Speaker 2: the same way, you know, and most of our spring
Speaker 2: ephemerals that are native to North America are similar. They
Speaker 2: have some sort of bulb like storage organ underground, and
Speaker 2: that's what they need because they have such a short
Speaker 2: life cycle that they really need to take all the
Speaker 2: energy that they're able to manufacture before the trees come
Speaker 2: out making hay well the sun shines, and they need
Speaker 2: to store that for another whole year before they come out. Again.
Speaker 2: So they all have that kind of bulb like nature.
Speaker 2: So yeah, I think that's a fair connection.
Speaker 1: So we'll talk about them in segment four and continue
Speaker 1: our talk on ephemerals before we move to Plants on Trial.
Speaker 1: I wrote an ephemeral lyric just.
Speaker 2: For use to ooh, I'm excited.
Speaker 1: Yeah, here we go. We await with much anticipation. They
Speaker 1: arrive with great adulation, a few moments on stage. Our
Speaker 1: needs to a sage, then exit with short duration. Ephemerals
Speaker 1: are plants that are temporary. Here's an inside joke in
Speaker 1: my commentary. They put on a show, they come and go,
Speaker 1: not a thorn in your side like Barbary. I wrote that.
Speaker 2: I like it. I appreciate that. Thank you, Yes, because
Speaker 2: you know, as I was saying in our plants are
Speaker 2: show on plants that we don't like. I was saying,
Speaker 2: one of the reasons I dislike Barbary so much is
Speaker 2: because when I do go to the woods to see
Speaker 2: the spring ephemerals and I see a Barbary, Yeah, that
Speaker 2: makes me real mad.
Speaker 1: That's why I wrote it just for you. Plants on
Speaker 1: Trial is coming up next, and in segment four we'll
Speaker 1: get in to more of these ephemeral plants. List them
Speaker 1: out for you and why we love them. As a
Speaker 1: matter of fact, if we were to apply minor bulbs,
Speaker 1: I know a favorite of yours, Stacey and mine are
Speaker 1: the reticulated or Iris reticulata. Indeed, yeah, so an early
Speaker 1: spring bloomer plants on trial is next here on the
Speaker 1: Gardening Simplified Show.
Speaker 2: Beautify your home and community with proven Winner's Color Choice Shrubs.
Speaker 2: With over three hundred and twenty five unique varieties to
Speaker 2: choose from, there's a flowering shrubber evergreen for every taste
Speaker 2: and every space. Just look for the distinctive white container
Speaker 2: your local garden center or learn more at proven Winner's
Speaker 2: Color Choice dot com. Greetings gardening friends, and welcome back
Speaker 2: to the Gardening Simplified Show, where the order of the
Speaker 2: day is our beloved spring ephemerals. And if you don't
Speaker 2: know what we're talking about, in a nutshell, it is
Speaker 2: the spring wildflowers that pop up in forests all around
Speaker 2: Michigan and in fact around most of the eastern half
Speaker 2: of the entire country. And again, if you've only ever
Speaker 2: seen these driving by, seen a beautiful patche trolleum going
Speaker 2: by it seventy miles an hour. You really owe it
Speaker 2: to yourself to get out into a park. You don't
Speaker 2: need to take a long hike, pack a lunch or
Speaker 2: anything like that. Just find a local park with a
Speaker 2: good wooded area and you will almost certainly see them.
Speaker 2: But I did want to mention since it's Plants on Trial,
Speaker 2: and Plants on Trial is really all about introducing you
Speaker 2: to one of the three hundred and twenty plus proven
Speaker 2: Winter's color choice shrubs and you decide if you're going
Speaker 2: to add it to your garden. Well, when it comes
Speaker 2: to spring ephemerals, I do want to say, especially early
Speaker 2: in the show, that when it comes to adding them
Speaker 2: to your garden, please, please, please be sure you are
Speaker 2: getting them from a reputable source. There is a lot
Speaker 2: of poaching that goes on among spring wildflowers that are
Speaker 2: dug up. Not so much in Michigan, but definitely there's
Speaker 2: a huge trade from the Smoky Mountains and the Blue
Speaker 2: Ridge Mountains where they grow really, really abundantly. So these
Speaker 2: are the kind of plants and I encourage you to
Speaker 2: add them to your garden. You know, if you have
Speaker 2: the right conditions, shade, reasonably moist soil, you'll do great
Speaker 2: with them, but do make sure that you're getting them
Speaker 2: from a reputable source that hasn't dug them up from
Speaker 2: the wild without permission. You know, usually they do need
Speaker 2: to be seed grown. They tend to be expensive because
Speaker 2: a trillium takes about seven to ten years to flower
Speaker 2: from a seed, and so usually if someone is real,
Speaker 2: you know, responsibly propagating these plants, it does take quite
Speaker 2: a while, so they cost a little bit more, and
Speaker 2: if they're cheap, you should probably be very suspicious about that.
Speaker 2: So there's some tissue culture out there which does help
Speaker 2: to defray costs a bit, but please be sure if
Speaker 2: you want to add these to your garden, you're sticking
Speaker 2: mostly with native plant nurseries that are sourcing these in
Speaker 2: a responsible manner. So I want to get that out there.
Speaker 2: I didn't believe it at first, and I was like, yeah, whatever,
Speaker 2: but every year you see reports of this and people
Speaker 2: being arrested, and so there's a huge trade for it,
Speaker 2: and we don't want to be a part of supporting that.
Speaker 1: A lot of talk about ramps also.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, especially ramps. Yeah, So anyway, let's get today's
Speaker 2: plan on trial, which, as we were saying on the break,
Speaker 2: is one of Rick's favorites.
Speaker 1: If you go to Gardening Simplified, honor Or dot com
Speaker 1: look at our top ten lists favorite shrubs, you'll see
Speaker 1: it there on my list, Stacey, So.
Speaker 2: It was already there before I picked it as today's
Speaker 2: plant on Trial. So you know, in this theme of
Speaker 2: spring ephemerals, you know in the woods, it's they're understory plants,
Speaker 2: so they grow sort of through that leaf litter as
Speaker 2: we were talking about. And we do have some native
Speaker 2: shrubs here in Michigan, but mostly it's kind of like
Speaker 2: you have the understory and then you have the trees. Well,
Speaker 2: if you go down to the southeast, you will find
Speaker 2: many more sort of shrubs in the understory, and they
Speaker 2: make an outstanding companion to a spring ephemeral planting, and
Speaker 2: especially today's plant on Trial, which is legend of the
Speaker 2: small father Gilla. So Fathergilla is also as bottle brush
Speaker 2: or witch alder, and it is such a great choice
Speaker 2: for matching a spring epemerals because it blooms at pretty
Speaker 2: much the same time. Has these lovely white bottle brush
Speaker 2: as you might have guessed by that common name flowers fragrant.
Speaker 2: They come out in early spring and the great thing
Speaker 2: about the specific variety that we're talking about today, Legend
Speaker 2: of the Small father gilla, is that it is well small,
Speaker 2: so it's blooming and growing sort of in with the
Speaker 2: spring ephemerals rather than towering above them. So it's a
Speaker 2: companion sort of rather than a guardian. Does that make sense?
Speaker 1: It makes perfect sense. And Stacey here in Michigan, unfortunately
Speaker 1: we often get april snow. Ah, yes we do, and
Speaker 1: so I have pictures to share of snow coating those
Speaker 1: flowers when early spring. But I love that because you're right,
Speaker 1: blooms about the same time as the other.
Speaker 2: Right, And it's nice that this one so regular conventional
Speaker 2: father gilla are going to reach anywhere between four and
Speaker 2: six feet tall and wide, which is still a very
Speaker 2: useful size for most residential landscaping. But it's really nice
Speaker 2: to have a variety like Legend of the Small which
Speaker 2: reaches just two to two and a half feet tall,
Speaker 2: so that you have some different options for how to
Speaker 2: use it in your garden and again kind of letting
Speaker 2: it accompany this spring ephemerals that are in your garden. Now,
Speaker 2: this isn't quite native to Michigan. This is really going
Speaker 2: to be more of a southeastern United States again Blue
Speaker 2: Ridge Mountains, Smoky Mountains. That is sort of the epicenter
Speaker 2: for all of this, and that is actually where legend
Speaker 2: of the small was developed at the North Carolina State
Speaker 2: University Research Center in Asheville by doctor Tom Rainey, who
Speaker 2: has developed a huge diversity of plants in the proven
Speaker 2: Winner's Color Choice brand, including one of my favorites, El
Speaker 2: Nino Chetalpa. He's been all over the place developing a
Speaker 2: lot of interesting natives as well as interesting exotics like that.
Speaker 2: But this comes from him, and his breeding goal really
Speaker 2: was to have this smaller size so more of us
Speaker 2: can use it in new ways in our gardens, which
Speaker 2: makes sense.
Speaker 1: It's great in a perennial guard.
Speaker 2: It is great in a perennial garden, especially this one.
Speaker 2: So a couple things about growing this wonderful plant. Rick
Speaker 2: does have it in his garden. I do not, and
Speaker 2: the reason for that is because it needs moist soil
Speaker 2: and I don't water, and I have very very dry
Speaker 2: sandy soil. I have tried to grow it. I'm very
Speaker 2: sorry to that father gilla that I attempted to grow.
Speaker 2: It did not last long, But like my mom over
Speaker 2: on the east side of the state in Detroit grows
Speaker 2: it beautifully where that soil is more clay like, so
Speaker 2: it needs some moisture. This is not going to be
Speaker 2: one of those drought tolerant plants that we tell you about.
Speaker 2: You can kind of just you know, grow it, but
Speaker 2: it is a low maintenance plant because if you are
Speaker 2: growing it in the areas in the kind of environment
Speaker 2: where it will thrive because it is so small, doesn't
Speaker 2: need pruning, doesn't really need much of anything. And that
Speaker 2: actually reminds me before I forget of another reason why
Speaker 2: it makes such a great companion to spring ephemerals, because
Speaker 2: not only does it have these wonderful, fragrant flowers in
Speaker 2: early spring, it has amazing fall color.
Speaker 1: That's what I was going to say. As a matter
Speaker 1: of fact, arguably I grow the plant for the fall color,
Speaker 1: not the bottle brush blooms in spring, even though the
Speaker 1: blooms are so unique and they're early and they're fabulous
Speaker 1: and I love them. The plant saves the best.
Speaker 2: For last, It definitely does, and all of those spring
Speaker 2: epemerals are long gone by that point. So if you
Speaker 2: have a garden bed where you have these plants that disappear.
Speaker 2: This makes such a great choice because you'll get that
Speaker 2: prolonged season of interest. And then, of course because it's
Speaker 2: a shrub, it's got those nice persistent branches over winter.
Speaker 2: But let's get back to growing it. So moist, acidic
Speaker 2: soil is very important. You're going to want to mulchhit
Speaker 2: doesn't really need any pruning or other maintenance, and it's
Speaker 2: quite deer resistant. Actually, even when I did attempt to
Speaker 2: grow it, the deer never did actually eat it.
Speaker 1: Well, the foliage tends to be kind of rough, firy
Speaker 1: type of foliage, and again, any plant that has that
Speaker 1: toem and toast type of foliage that's kind of hairy. Yeah,
Speaker 1: the deer tend to pick something else in the buffet.
Speaker 2: And it gets no other pests or diseases, no leaf spots,
Speaker 2: no nothing like that. So it is actually an extremely
Speaker 2: easy plant to grow and to use. And you know, again,
Speaker 2: even though it's not native to Michigan, I think it's
Speaker 2: very much at home here with native ephemerals like this
Speaker 2: and Stacey.
Speaker 1: For people who are listening to the show on radio
Speaker 1: or if you're listening to the podcast version, you're asking
Speaker 1: to us to say, again, what is that plant, And
Speaker 1: how do we spell that plant? Because I say father Gia,
Speaker 1: you say father Gilla.
Speaker 2: I was gonna, I was gonna mention that you're not
Speaker 2: the only person I have heard say father Gia. Yeah,
Speaker 2: but it is father Gilla. So f O T H
Speaker 2: E R g I L l A. And the reason
Speaker 2: that it is father Gilla and not father Gia is
Speaker 2: because it is named after one doctor, Fathergil from England.
Speaker 2: We go so now, so usually what I try to
Speaker 2: do what I'm pronouncing a plant is to take that
Speaker 2: root word and use that in the pronunciation. So it's
Speaker 2: father Gill, named after doctor Fathergill, with a at the end
Speaker 2: to make it you know, wow, it.
Speaker 1: All makes sense to me. That's why I asked the question.
Speaker 1: Then I brought it up.
Speaker 2: But you know, speaking of spring flowering shrubs, I am
Speaker 2: breaking my own rule because, as we've said on the
Speaker 2: show before, for Scythia is named after one doctor forsythe
Speaker 2: But if I go around telling everybody that I love
Speaker 2: there for Scythia, They're just gonna think I'm some kind
Speaker 2: of maniac. So it is important to be understood. And
Speaker 2: as long as you're walking out of the store with
Speaker 2: a plant that you want. It's all good, and you
Speaker 2: can always go for bottlebrush because most people will probably
Speaker 2: know or witch alder, which is it gets that name
Speaker 2: not because it's witchy or used in any kind of
Speaker 2: magical ceremonies, but because it is from the ancient or
Speaker 2: the Old English word wyh which means bent or pliable.
Speaker 2: And it's also to which hazel, so it might also
Speaker 2: be part of that. So it's in the Hammi melodecy
Speaker 2: or which hazel family?
Speaker 1: I love which hazel and which hazel has very similar
Speaker 1: fall color to a I'm going to say, father.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I know, fall habits are hard to break. And
Speaker 2: I did want to talk about sun. So it does
Speaker 2: grow in sun to part shade. It will grow in
Speaker 2: deeper shade, but you're going to see the flowering is
Speaker 2: very diminished, as is the fall color. So if you can,
Speaker 2: especially if you live in a hotter climate, part shade
Speaker 2: is going to be kind of your sweet spot here
Speaker 2: in the north, you could easily grow it in full
Speaker 2: sun as long as it has sufficient water because again,
Speaker 2: this is not one of those very drought tolerant plants.
Speaker 2: One last word I have to say, if you're thinking, hey,
Speaker 2: this plant sounds great and I definitely want to add
Speaker 2: it to my garden. It is slow growing and it's small,
Speaker 2: and those two things combine to make it a lot
Speaker 2: slower to produce than a lot of other plants like
Speaker 2: hydrangeas and that kind of stuff that you'll see on
Speaker 2: the market. So this plant has been out for a
Speaker 2: little while. We are always trying to increase numbers on
Speaker 2: it to meet the demand because so many people like
Speaker 2: Rick do love this plant, but it is in fairly
Speaker 2: short supply. So if you're interested in it, don't sleep
Speaker 2: on it. Make sure that you pick it up and
Speaker 2: add it to your garden because it will probably go
Speaker 2: because there's not quite enough to go around, but we
Speaker 2: are working on it and.
Speaker 1: To make sure to drive the point home, Stacey, So
Speaker 1: you are talking about Legend of the Small Yes, there
Speaker 1: is also a Legend of the Fall.
Speaker 2: Right, which was selected for superior fall color, even better
Speaker 2: than the standard from Father Gilla, And that one is
Speaker 2: kind of a more standard size, so more like the
Speaker 2: three to five or four to six foot range, So
Speaker 2: two great choices. Legend of the Fall is much easier
Speaker 2: to find, but if you do want this smaller size
Speaker 2: in Legend of the small you might have to look
Speaker 2: for it just for a couple more years so you
Speaker 2: can get a little bit more out there on the
Speaker 2: market for you. If you'd like to add it to
Speaker 2: your garden, please visit proven Winter's Color Choice dot Com
Speaker 2: to find a retailer. We're going to take a little
Speaker 2: break when we come meck, we're opening up the so
Speaker 2: stay tuned at Proven Winner's Color Choice Shrubs. We know
Speaker 2: that a better landscape starts with a better shrub. Our
Speaker 2: team of experts tests and evaluates all of our flowering
Speaker 2: shrubs and evergreens for eight to ten years to ensure
Speaker 2: 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 Winner's 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. Greetings, 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, quandaries and conundrums.
Speaker 2: And boy, I tell you, our inbox is filling in fast.
Speaker 2: We only have time for a few questions every week,
Speaker 2: But we don't want to leave you hanging. So if
Speaker 2: you find yourself out there struggling with something you don't
Speaker 2: know what to do, you can always reach out to
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Speaker 2: you don't have to wonder if we've actually you know,
Speaker 2: are going to answer it or anything like that. So
Speaker 2: we want to offer that service to you. Can't answer
Speaker 2: everything on air, or we wouldn't talk about anything else.
Speaker 2: We'd just be answering gardening questions all the time. So
Speaker 2: but we do care about your success and want you
Speaker 2: to make sure that you have a good and stress
Speaker 2: free spring. So please to take advantage of that if
Speaker 2: you would like. And in the meantime, we got some
Speaker 2: questions this week.
Speaker 1: Yeah, hell Goo writes to us, I planted a new
Speaker 1: lawn last fall at my cabin west of Baldwin. This spring,
Speaker 1: I want to put down more seed, apply fertilizer, crab
Speaker 1: grass preventor what orders should I do this first? More
Speaker 1: grass than apply the fertilizer or fertilizer than plant grass.
Speaker 1: The property is north about ninety miles from Grand Rapids.
Speaker 1: What is the general timeline, So that's the point timeline.
Speaker 1: It's based on soil temper so that's when annual weeds
Speaker 1: like crabgrass will germinate in the soil, usually when soil
Speaker 1: temperatures get to about fifty five to sixty degrees. Stacy,
Speaker 1: A lot of people like to use a visual reminder
Speaker 1: and that being the forsythios when they're in bloom, But
Speaker 1: really technically you should learn about growing degree days GDD
Speaker 1: as well as soil temperature and universities like Michigan State University.
Speaker 1: It's a resource that I use. It's available to all
Speaker 1: has a GDD tracker, and as a matter of fact,
Speaker 1: I took a look at it yesterday and it's interesting, Stacey.
Speaker 1: Every year is different. Oh, for sure, last year we
Speaker 1: were in optimum application time for crabgrass pre emergent the
Speaker 1: end of March because of the temperatures had warmed up.
Speaker 1: We did not have as much snow in winter and ice,
Speaker 1: whereas this year we haven't even hit the optimum point
Speaker 1: yet and we're going to be more normal this year.
Speaker 1: Where usually the crab grass controls are applied somewhere around
Speaker 1: between the first and third week of April tax.
Speaker 2: Day, tax day tax good to note. Well, I think, Helga,
Speaker 2: that's all great information about timing. But the real key
Speaker 2: here to answering your question is you're asking whether you
Speaker 2: put down the fertilizer crab grass preventer first and then
Speaker 2: the seed or vice versa. And the thing that everybody
Speaker 2: needs to know about this question that makes such a
Speaker 2: good question is that crab grass preventer. The majority of
Speaker 2: crabgrass preventers are simply pre emergence. They prevent seed from germinating. Correct,
Speaker 2: So if you put down your grass seed and then
Speaker 2: put down the crabgrass pre emergent or even vice versa,
Speaker 2: your grass seed will not germinate. So it's not like
Speaker 2: it's specific to crabgrass. There are certain ones that might be,
Speaker 2: but overall, the majority of crabgrass preventors prevent grass from germinating,
Speaker 2: not crabgrass specifically.
Speaker 1: That's exactly so if I.
Speaker 2: Would recommend so you kind of have a real issue here,
Speaker 2: a real quandary, because you're going to have this optimum
Speaker 2: time to put down your crab grass pre emergent, but
Speaker 2: you need to get that grass germinated and growing first,
Speaker 2: and you will see if you look at some packages,
Speaker 2: and actually you don't even need to go to the
Speaker 2: garden center. If you just look at some brands websites,
Speaker 2: you can find all of the package instructions right there
Speaker 2: on your computer or your phone and read what they say,
Speaker 2: because it might say, for example, you know, don't apply
Speaker 2: this within fifteen days of having put down grass seed,
Speaker 2: so it will have some sort of you know, window
Speaker 2: of time where that is safe to do, and you're
Speaker 2: going to want to make sure you follow that exactly.
Speaker 2: So we haven't hit the window yet. You might be
Speaker 2: able to put down grass seed and get it germinating.
Speaker 2: If not, then I would say go ahead and put
Speaker 2: down your crab grass pre emergent. Read that carefully to
Speaker 2: find out how long that's going to last. Then try
Speaker 2: to get your grass seed growing. But these two things
Speaker 2: are going to be difficult to time properly to make
Speaker 2: sure that that it works.
Speaker 1: The time to seed alawn is in fall. That's the
Speaker 1: time to do it. So in spring you're gonna find
Speaker 1: with most pre emergent controls, they're going to put down
Speaker 1: a barrier that lasts twelve weeks, so you can forget
Speaker 1: about seeding. Unless you buy a product specifically made for seeding,
Speaker 1: they're generally difficult to find and very expressed.
Speaker 2: I would guess. I would guess, so, Hellga, I think
Speaker 2: you're going to need to make a decision. Is it
Speaker 2: going to be grass seed or is it going to
Speaker 2: be fertilizer and pre emergence? Save the grass seed for fall?
Speaker 2: Maybe I would do, especially since you're not going to be,
Speaker 2: you know, there all the time of it's your cabin,
Speaker 2: so timing, as in most cases, is everything is everything.
Speaker 1: Joyce wrote to us about native plants for Michigan an
Speaker 1: official list of Native plans. Yeah.
Speaker 2: So I thought this was such a great question because
Speaker 2: you know, I know that so many people out there
Speaker 2: are so interested in learning about native plants, growing more
Speaker 2: native plants. But you're kind of just like, where do
Speaker 2: I start? And the first thing I would say is
Speaker 2: decide how native you want to be? Like, are you
Speaker 2: going to be native to your county? Are you going
Speaker 2: to be native to your region of Michigan. Are you
Speaker 2: going to be native to the state the peninsula. There's
Speaker 2: lots of different ways that can go, and that is
Speaker 2: a decision that each of us can make for ourselves.
Speaker 2: And then we are going to put a nice long
Speaker 2: list from Michigan State University of native plants in Michigan.
Speaker 2: But bear in mind that there are roughly estimated, because
Speaker 2: no one really knows for sure, but well over six
Speaker 2: hundred different species of native plants to Michigan, and lists
Speaker 2: like the one that we're going to share in the
Speaker 2: show notes and in the YouTube caption there tend to
Speaker 2: focus on the species that are more commercially available. You know,
Speaker 2: there's certainly a lot of plants out there that are
Speaker 2: native but just don't necessarily have the appeal at garden
Speaker 2: centers where people are going to be, you know, grabbing
Speaker 2: them up and wanting to plant them. So know that
Speaker 2: it's not going to be a comprehensive list, but it's
Speaker 2: going to be a good reference for you to know
Speaker 2: what to look for in garden centers. Now, a couple
Speaker 2: of other resources I have for you. We are lucky
Speaker 2: at Michigan we have a couple of outstanding native plant nurseries.
Speaker 2: I personally have shopped at Wild Type out near Williamston
Speaker 2: multiple times. They're only open to the public a couple
Speaker 2: weekends a year. They have a great selection, but there's
Speaker 2: lots and lots of other ones. There's a wonderful one
Speaker 2: near Anne Arbor. The name escapes me at the moment,
Speaker 2: but you don't just search Michigan native plant nurseries and
Speaker 2: see what you can find. Those would also be an
Speaker 2: excellent choice because you can trust that everything that they
Speaker 2: have there is going to be native since that is
Speaker 2: their specialty.
Speaker 1: And many garden centers and greenhouses have added a native
Speaker 1: plant section, and so yes, I would do that research.
Speaker 1: I think you pointed out a really important thing Stacy
Speaker 1: as it relates to the state of Michigan, and that
Speaker 1: is you have to take regional approach because you're going
Speaker 1: to find there's Southern lower, there's Northern lower, and then
Speaker 1: there's up and different climates, different soils, it's gonna vary.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you can split them mint up into many different sections.
Speaker 2: And then finally, I just wanted to mention there is
Speaker 2: a wonderful nationwide organization called wild Ones and they are
Speaker 2: dedicated to educating people about native plants, and the Grand
Speaker 2: Rapids chapter out here is very active. They do a
Speaker 2: ton of great work, so definitely take a look at them.
Speaker 2: They would be a great resource for joining together to
Speaker 2: learn about native plants and learning from each other. So
Speaker 2: take a look for your local wild Ones chapter as well.
Speaker 1: Gonna hit this one real quick. Shelley Wondering, absolutely love
Speaker 1: your show, learn so much. Thank you Gardening in West Michigan.
Speaker 1: Wondering what are the best annuals for full sun window boxes?
Speaker 1: And Stacey, I'll just throw a few out the Star
Speaker 1: Divas Scavola's fabulous for how Weather, meteor shower, diamond frost, lemon,
Speaker 1: coral sea. I mean, there are so many that that
Speaker 1: you can pick from, and I love the mojave portolaca.
Speaker 1: I just think it's a great plant for it.
Speaker 2: It is a great plant if you're retired and can
Speaker 2: see it open during the day, But that's one of
Speaker 2: those ones that close up and the closes up in
Speaker 2: the afternoon. Shelley, I think this is a great question
Speaker 2: because you said that you know some of your window
Speaker 2: boxes in part son have done better than your ones
Speaker 2: in full sun, and you know window boxes, most of
Speaker 2: them are a relatively small volume of soil, so you
Speaker 2: definitely need to consider as you are. You know that
Speaker 2: plants can withstand not just the sun, but drying out
Speaker 2: more quickly and not having a really you know, big
Speaker 2: volume of soil around those routes, so you're looking for
Speaker 2: stuff that is very heat and drought tolerant. Now, I
Speaker 2: think that it's interesting, Shelley that you and your own
Speaker 2: message mentioned the start eve A blue scaffola, because that
Speaker 2: is the plant that actually started the proven Winters brand.
Speaker 2: They had found it in US Australia, where of course
Speaker 2: they need everything to be super side and drought tolerant,
Speaker 2: and it was they were growing it in window boxes
Speaker 2: and hanging baskets and is a groundcover and they were
Speaker 2: just like, hey, this plant can take it all. So
Speaker 2: that would be a great choice I think as well.
Speaker 2: Now I will put some links in the show notes
Speaker 2: as well as in the caption on YouTube for some
Speaker 2: great sun tolerant annuals. But a couple that I would
Speaker 2: add to that, I would say yes geraniums. I would
Speaker 2: even say ivy geraniums, even though Rick does not like
Speaker 2: them as we discovered. Sorry, Rick, but I would say
Speaker 2: yes to geraniums. Classic choice lantana. Now that is a
Speaker 2: very heat and drought tolerant plant. And the cool thing
Speaker 2: about lantana is you can pick one that grows up
Speaker 2: or one that spreads or makes them both together. So
Speaker 2: you just want to look at the plant tags to
Speaker 2: find one depending on the look that you want, sweet
Speaker 2: potato wine another super sun and drought tolerant.
Speaker 1: Plant, pink gum free love that one. Oh that thing
Speaker 1: and it'll stand up to the heat. And what about
Speaker 1: many vistas.
Speaker 2: Yeah, all the supertunias should do really great. I mean
Speaker 2: they're not going to tolerate heat like in the South,
Speaker 2: but certainly the summers that we have in the Midwest
Speaker 2: and north, you won't have any trouble growing those all
Speaker 2: summer long. So we'll put some resources for you on
Speaker 2: the website at Gardeningsimplified on air dot com. Right now,
Speaker 2: we're going to take a break and then we're going
Speaker 2: to talk a little bit more about our beloved spring ephemerals.
Speaker 2: To stay tuned. Thanks for listening to the Gardening Simplified podcast,
Speaker 2: brought to you by Proven Winners Color Choice Shrubs. Our
Speaker 2: award winning flowering shrubs and evergreens are trialed and tested
Speaker 2: by experts with your success in mind. Learn more at
Speaker 2: Proven Winners color Choice dot com.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Gardening Simplify Show as we continue
Speaker 1: our talk on spring ephemeral flowers and Stacey, I have
Speaker 1: to say that bloodroot is one of my favorites. I
Speaker 1: have numerous pictures to share on the YouTube version of
Speaker 1: our show. But when that green scalloped foliage on furrows
Speaker 1: and then that white flower emerges, and of course the
Speaker 1: history of that plant a native plant, blood roots one
Speaker 1: of my favorites.
Speaker 2: It is so special, and you know it is one
Speaker 2: of those ones it does form large colonies. I haven't
Speaker 2: seen very many large colonies around here, but that's what
Speaker 2: I was talking about when I'm saying, if you just
Speaker 2: see the trilliums from the highway and you never get
Speaker 2: in there to see, you'll miss things like bloodroot. And
Speaker 2: you know, the flower of blood root is pretty, but
Speaker 2: that foliage is just glorious. It's so so pretty.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I have a picture of it just emerging through
Speaker 1: the leaf litter. I'm with you on that. I think
Speaker 1: another thing you and I agree on, Stacey, and that
Speaker 1: is marsh marigold in the buttercup family, those bright yellow flowers.
Speaker 1: When I'd be running on the trail and you get
Speaker 1: some of these low areas where it's wet, marsh marigolds.
Speaker 2: All right, So you're telling me that this is a
Speaker 2: marigold you can stand because it's not a true maragold.
Speaker 1: Yes, it's not a true it's so fund.
Speaker 2: An exception from your plants that people keltha. So yeah,
Speaker 2: marshmare gold is such a cheerful plant. It does grow
Speaker 2: in pretty much standing water, and so you'll often find
Speaker 2: it where you found skunk cabbage, which is one of
Speaker 2: my favorites. Skunk cabbage is so special, such a unique plant.
Speaker 2: I know when I traveled to Australia, I was with
Speaker 2: my father in law and he had a colleague that
Speaker 2: lived there and he was taking us around and he
Speaker 2: said to me, oh, does skunk cabbage grow where you live?
Speaker 2: And I was like yeah, And he was studying it
Speaker 2: as a material scientist because it actually heats up the
Speaker 2: ground around it and melts the.
Speaker 1: Snow generates its own heat, so.
Speaker 2: They don't bloom at the same time. But any place
Speaker 2: that you find skunk cabbage really really wet, muddy, standing
Speaker 2: water kind of soils, you will also find keltha or marshmaregold.
Speaker 1: A few weeks later, and think about groggy emerging pollinators
Speaker 1: and how important skunk cabbage would be there.
Speaker 2: Oh, yeah, for sure, especially flies.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So there you go, as I mentioned in the
Speaker 1: first segment, I view some of the minor bulbs as
Speaker 1: a spring ephemeral in my yard. I love anemone Blanda,
Speaker 1: just such a beautiful tuberus rooted perennial. I have a
Speaker 1: picture to share with you that I took at Corkanhoff
Speaker 1: Gardens in the Netherlands. This one's a tough one to pronounce.
Speaker 1: Kon a doxa. Some people call it kayan odoxa. But
Speaker 1: glory of the.
Speaker 2: Snow yep, wow, very plastic socks off.
Speaker 1: As a matter of fact, I saw a great quote
Speaker 1: on the plant from an individual who lives in Minneapolis.
Speaker 1: It gets very cold in Minneapolis, folks, and this person
Speaker 1: said this plant will continue to grow come hell or
Speaker 1: high water or hard freeze.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's It's a tough one.
Speaker 1: Galanth of snowdrops. They're bell shaped, ok, white flowers offset
Speaker 1: by bright green markings. Love it. We've talked on this
Speaker 1: show before. I think we got a question on it.
Speaker 1: Winter aconite and one of the earliest bulbs to bloom
Speaker 1: and spring.
Speaker 2: Definitely love that one. Also a very cheery yellow kind
Speaker 2: of rounded flower.
Speaker 1: Yes, like yeah, And then I know Adriana I believe
Speaker 1: likes Muscari grape pious.
Speaker 2: Yeah, she planted a bunch last year, so she's going
Speaker 2: to have a good display coming up into this year.
Speaker 2: I love them too, and there's such a diversity, you know.
Speaker 2: That's if you are just sticking to like the grocery
Speaker 2: store varieties of muscary every fall, you know, and you
Speaker 2: love it, you owe it to yourself to get a
Speaker 2: catalog and order some of the specialty muscaris, like Valerie Finnis,
Speaker 2: which is just the most glorious sky blue color. Oh
Speaker 2: my gosh, that is such a beautiful plant. There's so
Speaker 2: many cool ones out there.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I go back to again Cookinhoff Gardens in the
Speaker 1: Netherlands and they create a blue river Muscary grape hyacinths.
Speaker 1: But you're so right, Stacey. That the some of the
Speaker 1: new varieties, and we have some pictures to share with
Speaker 1: you on YouTube, including the pure white ones. Not only
Speaker 1: the color is vivid, but just the shape of the flower.
Speaker 2: They're just unused and they smell so good. Now usually
Speaker 2: you don't get down there and smell them because they're
Speaker 2: so close to the ground, but they make good cut
Speaker 2: flowers for a little vase, and they do smell absolutely.
Speaker 2: They kind of smell like grapes. They kind of have
Speaker 2: like that grape goool aid smell. I don't know it's
Speaker 2: apartmental or but yeah, that's that's kind of the vibe
Speaker 2: that I get from them.
Speaker 1: What about Dutchman's breechers, Oh, Rick.
Speaker 2: Thank you for mentioning my Well, is it my all time?
Speaker 1: I mean, is it really?
Speaker 2: I don't know if I can pick a favorite spring ephemeral,
Speaker 2: but Dutchman's breeches dicentric cuculaurea is easily one of my favorites.
Speaker 2: And there's a park out here in West Michigan that
Speaker 2: used to have the most breath taking display of them.
Speaker 2: I mean there was tens of thousands of them off
Speaker 2: this dune. It was amazing. It was something I look
Speaker 2: forward to every year. And I have not seen it
Speaker 2: the last three years, and I believe that unfortunately, what
Speaker 2: has happened is that the deer are eating the flowers.
Speaker 2: The plants are still there, but I've started hiking up
Speaker 2: there with my binoculars, and when I look with my binoculars,
Speaker 2: I see a lot of cut off stems, and so
Speaker 2: I think unfortunately, my favorite display of them I have
Speaker 2: not seen. But a lot of people might think that
Speaker 2: it's called Dutchman's britches and it's here in West Michigan
Speaker 2: and that's where it got its name. But no, these
Speaker 2: really do look like funny little pairs of pants flying
Speaker 2: off the stem. And it's just one of those plants
Speaker 2: that if you were to see a picture of it,
Speaker 2: like online or in a book or something like that,
Speaker 2: you'd go, WHOA, that plant is so cool. I wonder
Speaker 2: if I could ever see it in real life. And
Speaker 2: it's like, No, you walk out your door and it's
Speaker 2: like growing a mile down the road.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's beautiful with the feathery.
Speaker 2: It's just so pretty.
Speaker 1: Love it. And for folks keeping score at home, if
Speaker 1: you're watching or listening to our program in California or
Speaker 1: outside of the United States in Canada, West Michigan is
Speaker 1: notorious for Dutch people.
Speaker 2: That's true. Sorry, a lot of US.
Speaker 1: Dutch people here in West.
Speaker 2: I guess I was assuming people would know that because
Speaker 2: of the Holland Michigan movie that's getting so much publicity
Speaker 2: these days.
Speaker 1: That's right, that's right. Squirrel corn or Dycentra canadensis. Some
Speaker 1: people would Stacey referred to it as bleeding hearts, but
Speaker 1: it is Dycentra canadensis. So you'll find this plant in
Speaker 1: Canada all the way down the East coast in the
Speaker 1: United States. And of course the blooms are unique and beautiful.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and so the foliage really looks very similar to
Speaker 2: the Dutchman's breaches. Yes, and you often find them growing
Speaker 2: in and around each other, which would make perhaps the
Speaker 2: uninitiated thing like, whoa, is this some sort of mutation
Speaker 2: of the other. But they're two totally distinct species. And
Speaker 2: I love this. Do not dig one up, but so
Speaker 2: take my word for it or google it. But the
Speaker 2: reason it's called squirrel corn is because the root does
Speaker 2: indeed look like a tiny little ear of corn with
Speaker 2: like little like the bulblitz on it look like little
Speaker 2: pieces of corn. It's a pretty amazing thing to see.
Speaker 1: Very cool plant. How about Jack and the Pulpit.
Speaker 2: I love I'm sorry, I'm people are just gonna be like,
Speaker 2: is there there is? There is no spring of Emerald
Speaker 2: that I hate. There's not a single one. I love
Speaker 2: them all, But Jack in the Pulpit is so special.
Speaker 1: This one pops right out of a fairy tale. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, when I'd run on the trail. Take pictures
Speaker 1: of it. Yeah, it's it's just this unmistakable hooded champagne
Speaker 1: fluted shaped cup, the pulpit and then the slender stall.
Speaker 2: Yeah, what a cool And now that is a plant.
Speaker 2: When we were talking, I mentioned briefly about the you know,
Speaker 2: Asian and North American floristic disjunction, the commonalities between them. Now,
Speaker 2: Asia got the lion's share of the jack in the
Speaker 2: pulpits the arisima species that are native to Asia will
Speaker 2: knock your socks off. They are stunning, amazing. I mean
Speaker 2: ours is pretty great, but theirs are like who over
Speaker 2: the top.
Speaker 1: So you've got a good location or source for Hepatica
Speaker 1: Hepatica americana. Other people referred to it as liver wort
Speaker 1: or liver leaf, so over really dark leaf to it,
Speaker 1: bluish flower I think it has.
Speaker 2: So they can be blue, purple or white. Yeah, And
Speaker 2: that's another plant that I feel like when I moved
Speaker 2: here fourteen years ago, I saw everywhere in the woods,
Speaker 2: and I feel like the populations have kind of disappeared,
Speaker 2: and I don't know if that's difficult. I don't know
Speaker 2: if that's an issue of the deer or you know,
Speaker 2: I think one thing that I've seen, like around the
Speaker 2: Muskegon State Parks is that I feel like the leaf
Speaker 2: litter is staying so much and suffocating them, like it's
Speaker 2: not blowing away to kind of expose them. So I
Speaker 2: don't see nearly as many as I used to. But
Speaker 2: that is a gorgeous plant that is also a very
Speaker 2: very cool plant.
Speaker 1: The trail that I would one had all kinds of
Speaker 1: wood anemone on it, so single flowers. Would you know?
Speaker 1: They're white flowers is what they are. The edges of
Speaker 1: the leaflets are kind of toothed, but very unique plant.
Speaker 1: And you this is one that you would just see
Speaker 1: in drifts. Yeah, love that wild wildflower and spring ephemeral
Speaker 1: wild columbine right, love.
Speaker 2: It, absolutely, love it. Definitely on the verge of like
Speaker 2: is it ephemeral? Is it not?
Speaker 1: Right?
Speaker 2: Because the foliage does persist on that and that kind
Speaker 2: of I think brings up the tail end of the
Speaker 2: ephemeral season because it starts to bloom sort of as
Speaker 2: everything else is going out. But that's another plant that
Speaker 2: if you were to just see a picture of this
Speaker 2: red and yellow flower that's just so intricate and so different,
Speaker 2: you'd be like, where can I see that? And it's like,
Speaker 2: oh yeah, in the woods, and once it's happy and
Speaker 2: it starts self sewing, it's everywhere in a really kind
Speaker 2: and gentle way.
Speaker 1: And drifts just beautiful. Yeah, just beautiful. I got to
Speaker 1: hit on this one because I think I'm pretty sure
Speaker 1: it's a favorite of yours. While people in spring are
Speaker 1: killing these in droves in their lawn. You love violas in.
Speaker 2: Violet, I do, and the lawn violets is one thing,
Speaker 2: but there are amazing native violets that they have, the
Speaker 2: bird's foot violet, the yellow violet. I do get very
Speaker 2: excited about those. You're absolutely right, I love them so much.
Speaker 1: But I think it's a good thing to point out, Stacey,
Speaker 1: is that not all violets or violas or wild violets
Speaker 1: are created the same. There are oval shaped leaves, toothed leaves,
Speaker 1: heart shaped leaves. So there are If you're interested in
Speaker 1: violets or interested in the spring ephemerals, get to know
Speaker 1: them and do a little bit of research because they're
Speaker 1: not all created the same, no, and.
Speaker 2: There's so much to see, so that's the main thing.
Speaker 2: Get to know them. Get out there and see them
Speaker 2: while you can because they don't last long.
Speaker 1: So anything I can add to your list, Stacy, or
Speaker 1: did we hit them all?
Speaker 2: The only one that I would add would be a
Speaker 2: very strange little creature that it did not encounter previously,
Speaker 2: but it grows pretty abundantly around here, and that is
Speaker 2: pendicularis also known as laoswort. It is a hemi or
Speaker 2: semi parasitic plant, and it comes out with this really
Speaker 2: cool kind of like rosette of feathery foliage, and then
Speaker 2: the flowers come out and they're red and yellow, and
Speaker 2: they're curved, and it's just such a unique plant. And
Speaker 2: it gets its nutrition partially from the tree roots that
Speaker 2: it grows on. So it's a very cool thing that
Speaker 2: you can see around here, especially on the lake shore.
Speaker 1: Interesting and when you think about it, in early spring
Speaker 1: trees pull a lot of water out of the ground,
Speaker 1: and so in early spring again, these plants are taking
Speaker 1: the opportunity to do their thing and we all benefit
Speaker 1: from it.
Speaker 2: We sure do, and you should do. You bet, get
Speaker 2: out there.
Speaker 1: Fun show, Stacy. Thank you so much, Thank you, Adrianna,
Speaker 1: and thanks most of all to you for watching or
Speaker 1: listening to our show. Have yourself a great week,