Speaker 1: Coming to you from Iconic Studio, a at proven winners,
Speaker 1: Color Choice Shrubs. It's time for the Gardening Simplified radio
Speaker 1: podcast and YouTube show with Stacey Hervella, me, Rick Weist,
Speaker 1: and our engineer and producer Adrianna Robinson. Well, the trees
Speaker 1: are going to take some much deserved time off and
Speaker 1: we will benefit fall color. My favorites have always been
Speaker 1: maples and dogwoods, it Ta and fother Gia which Hazel's
Speaker 1: a favorite of mind and of course gink O. I
Speaker 1: love Ginko trees, Viburnham, service berry, oak leaf, Hydrangea and
Speaker 1: many more as favorites for fall color. And there's many
Speaker 1: great choices. As a matter of fact, Stacey, I think
Speaker 1: I have a new fall color favorite. Kodiak Orangevella.
Speaker 2: Oh, great choice. That's a great class.
Speaker 1: Just beautiful and also Spice Girl Korean Spice Viburnham. That
Speaker 1: would be Viburnham CARLICII. Right, yep, nailed it. I'm hot already.
Speaker 1: It's a standout choice for adding spectacular fall color to
Speaker 1: your landscape. And we love our fall color. It's a
Speaker 1: magical time of the year. One of my favorite fall
Speaker 1: color spots is Lake of the Clouds, it's in the
Speaker 1: Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park in Michigan. Way up there
Speaker 1: in the up you can see the fall color from
Speaker 1: dramatic cliffs. If you're watching on YouTube, you can see
Speaker 1: some of the pictures that I took, or will put
Speaker 1: them in our shown notes. But Stacy, everybody has their
Speaker 1: favorite fall color spot.
Speaker 2: I would think, I mean, I don't, No, I don't
Speaker 2: like I wouldn't say that I have one particular spot
Speaker 2: because it's kind of just like wherever, you know, wherever
Speaker 2: I'm going. Yeah, but I do have a favorite fall
Speaker 2: color tree.
Speaker 1: You do.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, sugar maple.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's got to be sugar got to be sugar mapole.
Speaker 1: The star of northeast US. The color is sugar maples
Speaker 1: than the backbone of New England's stunning fall foliage. And
Speaker 1: they're talking about its distribution possibly moving further north due
Speaker 1: to climate change over the next century. So that would
Speaker 1: be let's see if I get this right, Stacey, Acer sacarum.
Speaker 1: That's correct, close enough.
Speaker 2: Yes, and not to be confused, even though this is
Speaker 2: very confusing with Acer saccharinum, which is the silver maple.
Speaker 2: I don't know why taxonomists did this to us. They
Speaker 2: must hate us. So acer saicarum, sugar maple good, acersaccharinum
Speaker 2: silver maple bad.
Speaker 1: Got it? Got it?
Speaker 2: Well?
Speaker 1: I love sugar maples. I mean, think about maple syrup,
Speaker 1: and of course the fall color. But it's claim to
Speaker 1: fame actually because of its tight grain and light color.
Speaker 1: It's the kind of wood that makes up twenty nine
Speaker 1: of the thirty NBA hardwood basketball courts. That's what they
Speaker 1: make basket.
Speaker 2: I did not know that that is interesting.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so there you go. Now it's somewhat autumnated. Did
Speaker 1: you see what I did there?
Speaker 2: Well, I read it first, so I had at.
Speaker 1: I know I had it here in my notes. The
Speaker 1: timing of color production is quite consistent from year to year,
Speaker 1: although unusual weather patterns can affect it, diminish or advance timing.
Speaker 1: Of course, this past year we dealt with some drought.
Speaker 1: We want sunny days and chili nights to get the
Speaker 1: anto cyanins. That's the red color. I mean, I think
Speaker 1: it's it's pretty predictable. We're going to get great yellows
Speaker 1: and oranges, but that antho cyanin pigment creates the reds.
Speaker 1: And if we get rainy and windy weather, it could
Speaker 1: affect the color, okay, So we're looking for sunny days
Speaker 1: and chilly nights and that will bring out that pigment.
Speaker 1: Of course, we love anthocyanins. Anto cyanins are found in
Speaker 1: lots of foods like blueberries and grapes, supposed to be
Speaker 1: really good for you. You can get your antho cyanins
Speaker 1: from a good glass of red wine. So it's a
Speaker 1: great fall color.
Speaker 2: Thank goodness for the anthocyanins.
Speaker 1: I love it now. Chrysanthemums are to fall what turkeys
Speaker 1: are to Thanksgiving. Fall combinations now have become very very popular,
Speaker 1: and I've been hearing more and more people, for example,
Speaker 1: using supertunias in fall combinations because petunias are somewhat light
Speaker 1: frost tolerant. So it's a great, a great thing to do.
Speaker 1: And I like fall color in my perennials too. Hu
Speaker 1: karas like the adulce toffee tart and fall in love sweetly.
Speaker 1: Japanese anemonies.
Speaker 2: I love Japanese and eemonies are so pretty. They can
Speaker 2: be a bit rambunctious, but you know, if you put
Speaker 2: them in the right spot, and they don't really make
Speaker 2: a pest of themselves. You're so grateful for them because
Speaker 2: those flowers are so unbelievably pretty, so abundant. I mean,
Speaker 2: it's like a no rainer kind of plant. If you've
Speaker 2: got the right spot for it, you're right rambunctious.
Speaker 1: They have a rhizotomous type of root. They look delicate,
Speaker 1: but they're very, very tough. And who needs friends when
Speaker 1: you've got anemonees.
Speaker 2: Well, you'll need friends because you're going to want to
Speaker 2: split them up and share them inspired the wealth around,
Speaker 2: so you will need friends.
Speaker 1: In fact, there you go, And I love autumn crocus.
Speaker 1: It's not a true crocus. It's culture cum, a group
Speaker 1: of fall flowering bulbs in the lily family. Other names
Speaker 1: for these plants include meadow, saffron, Naked Lady, and of
Speaker 1: course culture com.
Speaker 2: Well. Culture cooms are really such an amazing plant because
Speaker 2: they're not a plant that you a color that you
Speaker 2: expect to see in fall. They have this like really
Speaker 2: crazy pastel kind of color. But the trick with culture coms,
Speaker 2: especially coming off the heels of our bulbs show, is
Speaker 2: that they are fall planted fall bloomers. Yes, so most
Speaker 2: things that are going to plant are going to bloom
Speaker 2: later in the season. You're planting in spring like Lily's
Speaker 2: and that kind of thing. Whereas culture cum, you're only
Speaker 2: going to find it in the fall. You're going to
Speaker 2: plant it, it's going to flower, and then it puts
Speaker 2: out this really ugly foliage in the spring. They get
Speaker 2: super ratty looking, but you got to put up with it.
Speaker 2: But it's worth it because when that comes back in fall.
Speaker 2: And you know, that's why they call them naked ladies,
Speaker 2: is because there is nothing and then all of a sudden,
Speaker 2: you go out one morning and there's this purple flower
Speaker 2: and you're like, what, I totally forgot a planet this there.
Speaker 2: They're an amazing thing, but they are a plant, I
Speaker 2: think for savier gardeners who know to look for them
Speaker 2: and to plant them in fall. So kind of a
Speaker 2: little tricky little trick there to enjoying good culture comes.
Speaker 1: And in fall, like you said, blooming with the I'm
Speaker 1: going to call it easter colors. Yes in fall, and yes,
Speaker 1: if you can find them. Sometimes in garden centers you'll
Speaker 1: find them blooming on display right if they haven't been
Speaker 1: cared for, cooled properly. But certainly a great plant to
Speaker 1: add to your landscape.
Speaker 2: So say something else interesting about culture. Yeah, so a
Speaker 2: lot of people don't realize this, but a chemical derived
Speaker 2: from culture culture keene is the original plant mutator chemical
Speaker 2: that they used to induce mutations in plant breeding. So
Speaker 2: there's been a lot of changes since then, but it
Speaker 2: was really the extract from colchicum that was one of
Speaker 2: the first things they could treat seed and so forthwith
Speaker 2: to try to induce the mutations that would bring about
Speaker 2: new colors, new forms, all.
Speaker 1: That kind of stuff that's fascinating, that is really cool. Well,
Speaker 1: we get inspired by fall color, and I get inspired
Speaker 1: to write a limb of rick. So here it comes,
Speaker 1: whether you're ready or not. Colors that compel a visual
Speaker 1: ground swell. Fall color is the buzz. We love it
Speaker 1: just because falls. Well that ends well, so growing season, goodbye.
Speaker 1: The winter Season's nine, So start the coffee debate. Pumpkin
Speaker 1: flavor to celebrate. Nope, no more, mister spice guy, I'm
Speaker 1: not into pumpkin spice. Are you do you like pumpkin spice?
Speaker 2: You know, I like this spice. This is that accompany
Speaker 2: that kind of thing, But no, I do not wish
Speaker 2: to have pumpkin in my coffee.
Speaker 1: Yeah, same here, same here, all right, Well, for more
Speaker 1: color in fall. Of course, we appreciate and enjoy asters.
Speaker 1: I mentioned before mums and asters are just like mums.
Speaker 1: I believe it's important to set on your schedule to
Speaker 1: pinch those guys in spring into early summer so they're shorter,
Speaker 1: squattier and full of flour. In fall, pansies and viola's
Speaker 1: of course, crab apples and their fruit. Wow, what great
Speaker 1: fall color, and of course dogwood fruit also. Now with pansies,
Speaker 1: remember the roots cannot absorb water from frozen soil, so
Speaker 1: they will overwinter. But I have found that pansies perform
Speaker 1: really well in the north where we get snow covered.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: When you don't get snow cover, sometimes you can lose
Speaker 1: the pansy beds because that snow is.
Speaker 2: Yeah and dry out.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, it's insulating for the pansies. So there's many
Speaker 1: wonderful ways to add great color. And of course we
Speaker 1: have ornamental kale and cabbage, swiss charred, a variety of plants.
Speaker 1: And again, Stacy, I see more and more in garden centers,
Speaker 1: in greenhouses, combination planters. I'm seeing more of that instead
Speaker 1: of just chrysanthemal.
Speaker 2: Yeah. And you know what else has become really popular
Speaker 2: over the last several years is the ornamental hot peppers. Yes,
Speaker 2: those are very cool to see because those bring a
Speaker 2: lot of color and people always say, can I eat them?
Speaker 2: And I mean the answer to that is, I guess
Speaker 2: if you want. They're not usually developed for flavor, so
Speaker 2: a lot of times, you know, what's the breeding goal?
Speaker 2: These were developed for color and containers. They might not
Speaker 2: be the tastiest pepper. They might be extremely hot, they
Speaker 2: might be extremely mild. But yes, in theory, if you
Speaker 2: are sure that it is a pepper and not. You know,
Speaker 2: I don't think they even sell those Jerusalem cherries anymore.
Speaker 2: I remember those back in the day. Yeah, oh yeah,
Speaker 2: it's a long time out. Oh but that's another new
Speaker 2: cool thing that you see around.
Speaker 1: We'll see what colorful plant Stacy has to share with
Speaker 1: us in Plants on Trial. That's coming up next here
Speaker 1: on the Gardening Simplified.
Speaker 2: Show, Prooven Winners Colored Choice Shrubs cares about your success
Speaker 2: in the garden. That's why we trial and test all
Speaker 2: of our shrubs for eight to ten years, making sure
Speaker 2: they outperform everything else on the market. Look for them
Speaker 2: and the distinctive white container at your local garden center. Greetings,
Speaker 2: gardening friends, and welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show,
Speaker 2: where the order of the day is fall color. You're
Speaker 2: seeing it, We're seeing it. You can't go anywhere without
Speaker 2: seeing it. And you know, of course you've got flowers.
Speaker 2: We haven't talked a lot about flowers that are colorful
Speaker 2: in fall. But you know, one thing when you're talking
Speaker 2: about moms and astors and all of that in the
Speaker 2: previous segment, are you familiar with the perennial Sheffield mums?
Speaker 1: Sheffield mums, I've heard of it, not.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so they are a fall perennial. This is not
Speaker 2: today's plant on trial. But I did want to get
Speaker 2: this out because you were talking about like how people
Speaker 2: over winter try to grow their regular decorative mums as perennials,
Speaker 2: and in many cases that is possible. I think that
Speaker 2: increasingly a lot of the varieties that they are selling
Speaker 2: at the market are just not suited to growing year round,
Speaker 2: so people try to overwinter these things grow them permanently
Speaker 2: in their garden, and it is possible. But Sheffield mums
Speaker 2: are true perennials, and they have like a daisy kind
Speaker 2: of shape, a pale pink kind of nice, almost fern
Speaker 2: like foliage, and the most beautiful fragrance. And these are
Speaker 2: true perennials that will actually spread quite nicely in your garden.
Speaker 2: And this is another one, like when we were talking
Speaker 2: about bulbs, when we were talking about fall berries. You know,
Speaker 2: these are plants that typically suffer from the fact that
Speaker 2: they don't look like much when the majority of people
Speaker 2: are in the garden. So it's a good idea to
Speaker 2: take note of these things. Now, in fact, you might
Speaker 2: still be able to get them in the garden center
Speaker 2: because now they're like, well, people might actually buy these
Speaker 2: since they're covered in flowers. But I would say Sheffield
Speaker 2: moms are a perennial that you should definitely keep an
Speaker 2: eye out for and consider adding to your garden if
Speaker 2: you're looking for more flower color in fall in your garden.
Speaker 2: See they're nice.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, they're nice, And I just looked them up.
Speaker 1: They're very nice and you can buy them in a
Speaker 1: lot of places.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they just deserved. It's just one of those things,
Speaker 2: like the culture, you just need to know that they're
Speaker 2: out there and know what you're looking for. So We've
Speaker 2: talked about flowers, we've talked about colorful fruit, and fall,
Speaker 2: we've talked about colorful foliage because of course that's what
Speaker 2: gets all the credit. Fall.
Speaker 1: I think it was munbelievable.
Speaker 2: Yes, but you know one thing that we don't really
Speaker 2: talk about is evergreens, broad leaf evergreens getting color because
Speaker 2: we talk about fall foliage. And what's happening, of course,
Speaker 2: is that the plant is converting taking all of that chlorophyl.
Speaker 2: It's been using the chlorophyll to make energy and sugars
Speaker 2: all season long, and you know, the shorter days are
Speaker 2: triggering that to stop. So it translocates all of that chlorophyll,
Speaker 2: stores all that energy to help it get through winter,
Speaker 2: and that unmasks all the pigments that were there all along.
Speaker 2: So the fall color is there under the green all
Speaker 2: season long, and then the green goes away and you
Speaker 2: see these amazing colors. But that's not the only way
Speaker 2: that foliage can change color, because the cooler temperatures these
Speaker 2: shorter days also trigger color change in some broad leaf evergreens.
Speaker 1: I'm glad you brought that up. Let me quickly ask
Speaker 1: PGM rhododendric, would you agree that's great? Fall color.
Speaker 2: Yeah, PJM. Rhododendron is an evergreen and it turns purple,
Speaker 2: like a deep purple. That can be quite interesting. Now,
Speaker 2: I think that it tends to be best if you
Speaker 2: set it off with something brighter. A lot of those
Speaker 2: really dark colors sometimes they just become kind of a
Speaker 2: black hole in the garden. But like, imagine pairing that
Speaker 2: with something like Msnia hubric dii, which is like that yellow,
Speaker 2: and it turns yellow really fine thread like foliage in
Speaker 2: fall just beautiful. So there are these other ways that
Speaker 2: fall color can develop, and you will certainly see that
Speaker 2: in today's plant on trial, which is trace amigos abelia.
Speaker 1: Wow, that plant is a chameleion.
Speaker 2: It is kind of a chamelion and not like that
Speaker 2: bed chameleon plant that we've been talking about a bunch
Speaker 2: of the summer right, totally different. You don't have to
Speaker 2: worry about this and taking over your garden. So okay,
Speaker 2: Trace Amigos, as you might be able to guess by
Speaker 2: the name three Friends, is really a bunch of different
Speaker 2: colors at once. It is a variegated abelia. So under
Speaker 2: normal circumstances throughout the summer, the foliage is just going
Speaker 2: to be a nice, tidy, kind of mint green and
Speaker 2: white variegated. And I know variegation, of course, can be
Speaker 2: very polarizing. Some people like it, some people don't. I
Speaker 2: do think this is one of those variegations that is
Speaker 2: quite neat and tidy, so people do tend to like it.
Speaker 2: And in spring, again when the days are shorter and
Speaker 2: the temperatures are cooler, as well as in fall, this
Speaker 2: plant turns all sort of colors. You really have to
Speaker 2: see it to believe it. So most notably, what you're
Speaker 2: going to notice is that the top of the new
Speaker 2: growth turns a bright pink, so that variegation maintains. It's
Speaker 2: just that the white turns a really pretty pink and
Speaker 2: just completely lights up the plant. And then as that
Speaker 2: starts to age, what happens is that's turning yellow and orange,
Speaker 2: and so that white margin is all lit up in
Speaker 2: all of these different colors. Now that goes away during
Speaker 2: the heat of summer when the days are the longest
Speaker 2: and the weather is the warmest. But again in spring
Speaker 2: and fall, you get this amazing development of color like
Speaker 2: you really haven't seen, and that pink color it's very
Speaker 2: similar to what's happening with panicle hydranges later in the
Speaker 2: season too. It's just bringing about these changes in the
Speaker 2: plant cells that let these colors flourish. And I think
Speaker 2: people don't really consider that you can have an evergreen
Speaker 2: that's still actually kind of colorful and fall.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's very cool. Yes, I guess that's why I
Speaker 1: call it a chameleon.
Speaker 2: Because it's yeah, right. So you'll certainly see pictures of this,
Speaker 2: of course if you're joining us on YouTube, or you
Speaker 2: can go to our show notes at Gardening Simplified on
Speaker 2: air dot com and see pictures of this, because it
Speaker 2: is something that you really are going to want to
Speaker 2: see for yourself. Now. I talked about Abelia a couple
Speaker 2: months ago when we did our dog show, our show
Speaker 2: All about Dogs, because Abelia is a very tough plant,
Speaker 2: and I think it's an especially underappreciated plant. Now, partly
Speaker 2: it's because it most abelias and Tracey and Migos is
Speaker 2: no exception here are more warm or mild climate plants.
Speaker 2: Tracey and Migos is hardy down to usda' Zone six
Speaker 2: heat tolerant through USDA Zone nine. We have no problem
Speaker 2: growing at whatsoever here in Michigan. In the cooler end
Speaker 2: of its range is going to be semi evergreen, which
Speaker 2: means that it's going to keep pretty much just the
Speaker 2: leaves at the tips of the branches, and the inner
Speaker 2: leaves will fall off and be replaced next year. In
Speaker 2: milder areas than that, it will be completely evergreen and
Speaker 2: you will enjoy this color change really probably all through
Speaker 2: winter clear until next spring due to those cooler, cooler
Speaker 2: temperatures and shorter days. But what I really Abelias are
Speaker 2: great foliage plants, but I think that the flowers are
Speaker 2: especially something that deserves more attention. Now I have a
Speaker 2: hearty abelia in my garden. It's a variety that we
Speaker 2: used to offer through proven winners called Ruby Anniversary. The
Speaker 2: thing has been flowering now for a solid two and
Speaker 2: a half months. The flowers are extremely fragrant, and they
Speaker 2: attract butterflies, hummingbirds, and mumblebees like they are just flocking
Speaker 2: to this thing. Now. With a plant like Trace a Migos,
Speaker 2: because you have this variegated foliage, a lot of times
Speaker 2: those flowers just get lost. Because the flowers on Trace
Speaker 2: and Migos are white. They're really nice, pure white, and
Speaker 2: because it's a variegated plant. You can't really, they're not
Speaker 2: popping out of the foliage.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And let me ask you real quickly with the
Speaker 1: white flowers, to you, does it smell like jasmine?
Speaker 2: I'm yeah, you could probably say that. I would say,
Speaker 2: strike one of the closest corollaries to it. It's definitely
Speaker 2: like a light floral scent. I would say if I
Speaker 2: had to compare it to any other flowering plant, that
Speaker 2: would probably be like the closest.
Speaker 1: Okay, that's why pollinators love it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, they do. And that's what's really cool about
Speaker 2: this is you don't necessarily see the flowers, but you'll
Speaker 2: smell the flowers, and you will see all of this
Speaker 2: activity being attracted to the flowers, and so it's just
Speaker 2: kind of like a fun little feature. And I like
Speaker 2: personally that Abelia is not one of those plants that
Speaker 2: just like has its moment where it's just covered in
Speaker 2: flowers and then nothing, like there's something to be said
Speaker 2: for that. You should definitely have those plants in your garden,
Speaker 2: but you should also have plants like Abelia that just
Speaker 2: kind of like always have flowers on them from everywhere
Speaker 2: from like June until frost. Because it's really never without
Speaker 2: some flowers. It's never like that stop you in your
Speaker 2: tracks and you know, can't believe what you're seeing. But
Speaker 2: it's just consistently flower I like that, like reliability, it's
Speaker 2: something you can turn to and it's going to look really,
Speaker 2: really great. Tracing me Abelia comes to us from mine
Speaker 2: nurseries in France, where abelia tend to be a lot
Speaker 2: more popular and even treated almost as like a gift plant.
Speaker 2: So especially like these foliage abelias, they will sell them
Speaker 2: at garden centers in colorful little pots that you know,
Speaker 2: kind of complement the foliage and just use them as
Speaker 2: a tabletop decoration. You know, here we need to, oh God,
Speaker 2: dig a big hole in the yard and plants your abelia.
Speaker 2: We haven't quite adapted that mentality. Usually if we're like, hey,
Speaker 2: this is a shrub, I'm going to want to plant
Speaker 2: this in my garden. I want it to be with
Speaker 2: me for the rest of my life and I need
Speaker 2: to be successful with it. So it kind of has
Speaker 2: that novelty feature that had, you know, something that you
Speaker 2: just want to buy as an impulse item, as well
Speaker 2: as really fantastic presence in the landscape.
Speaker 1: But if I'm going to plant it and have it
Speaker 1: with me the rest of my life. Are the deer
Speaker 1: going to eat it?
Speaker 2: The deer are not going to eat it. So Abelia
Speaker 2: is very deer resistant. The deer have never touched my
Speaker 2: ruby anniversary, and I think that tends to be true
Speaker 2: of the rest of the Abelias. Their foliage is. They
Speaker 2: don't have like a bad smell or you know, hairs
Speaker 2: or thorns or any of those things that normally deter deer.
Speaker 2: But the foliage is kind of glossy and leathery, and
Speaker 2: so maybe they just don't like that it's not toxic.
Speaker 2: I don't really know exactly what it is that they
Speaker 2: don't like it for, but I will take it because
Speaker 2: I'm not going to question. They can go eat all
Speaker 2: the toxic taxes that they want and leave the non
Speaker 2: toxic abilia alone. That's when when for us as gardeners. So,
Speaker 2: like I said, this is going to be hardy down
Speaker 2: to Usdzone six, heat tallerant through USDA Zone nine, definitely
Speaker 2: going to benefit from some mulch because it has shallow roots.
Speaker 2: If you are in zone six, I would recommend adding
Speaker 2: this to your spring planting list rather than trying to
Speaker 2: plant it now. But other if you're in zone seven
Speaker 2: through nine, definitely plant it now. It's going to reach
Speaker 2: two to three feet tall by about three to five
Speaker 2: feet wide, so a nice front of the border, front
Speaker 2: of the landscape. Plant for just some great color that
Speaker 2: you don't really have to do anything at all to enjoy.
Speaker 2: So check out our pictures at guard Simplified, on air,
Speaker 2: dot com or on YouTube. And if you are interested
Speaker 2: in adding Trace Amigos Abelia to your gardener landscape, make
Speaker 2: sure you let your local garden center know. We're gonna
Speaker 2: take a little break when we come back. We're opening
Speaker 2: up the garden mail bank, so please stay tuned. At
Speaker 2: proven winner's color Choice, We've got a shrub for every
Speaker 2: taste and every space. Whether you're looking for an easycare
Speaker 2: rose and unforgettable hydrangea, or something new and unique, you
Speaker 2: can be confident that the shrubs and the white containers
Speaker 2: have been trialed and tested for your success. Look for
Speaker 2: them at your local garden center. Greetings, gardening friends, and
Speaker 2: welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show, where one of
Speaker 2: the ways we try to simplify gardening for you is
Speaker 2: by answering your gardening questions and you can send those
Speaker 2: to us at Gardeningsimplified on air dot Com. You just
Speaker 2: go there. There's a contact us form and you can
Speaker 2: even send us pictures if you're dealing with something that
Speaker 2: we're going to need to see photos of, which is
Speaker 2: always helpful. I don't know how they used to help
Speaker 2: people go before digital cameras. I have no idea how
Speaker 2: that works.
Speaker 1: They sketch stuff out on a nap.
Speaker 2: They just kind of use their psychic powers or something.
Speaker 2: I don't know, but we can definitely get you better
Speaker 2: information if you can send us a photo. We're also
Speaker 2: still have time to send us a Halloween horror story
Speaker 2: if you have one. Halloween garden horror story could be anything.
Speaker 2: So far, we've got some interesting ones, nothing involving you know,
Speaker 2: ghosts or body parts, so but you know yet, there's
Speaker 2: still a chance that you could send it to us,
Speaker 2: so you can also just do that through the contact
Speaker 2: format Gardenings Simplified on air dot Com.
Speaker 1: You never know what you're going to dig up.
Speaker 2: You never do, I mean, you really don't, you know.
Speaker 2: Usually for me it's just like pieces of glass and
Speaker 2: broken dishes living in an old house. But you never know.
Speaker 1: Of course, in Europe, you hear all the time people digging.
Speaker 2: Up bombs, Yeah, bombs and World War two, Yeah, old
Speaker 2: ruins and entire cities. And usually we don't have anything
Speaker 2: quite like that here, but hey, let us know if
Speaker 2: you did, so, do reach out to us if you
Speaker 2: have a garden horror story to share, or we just
Speaker 2: want to ask a question. So what's our first question?
Speaker 2: You know that was.
Speaker 1: Really interesting on a bilia. I have a question for
Speaker 1: you to start, and that is why do lizards tell
Speaker 1: great jokes? Because there's stand up chameleons. Okay, here we go.
Speaker 2: I weren't like scales tail and no iguana.
Speaker 1: Stand up kamelia. Okay. Question from Vicky. Any ideas on
Speaker 1: why the squirrels are going crazy? This year? We've noticed
Speaker 1: frantic digging by at least one squirrel in our yard.
Speaker 1: The front yard is half torn up, the backyard one
Speaker 1: area mainly, but holes everywhere. Plus we've observed this every
Speaker 1: day all day. One morning, just before it was fully light,
Speaker 1: I saw a squirrel digging up the area in my backyard.
Speaker 1: That's the worst. And this behavior has been observed throughout
Speaker 1: the day and into the early evening. Is this a
Speaker 1: sign of extreme weather. Is it one crazy maniacal OCD squirrel? Wow?
Speaker 2: Yeah, so I've observed this, you know, and I have too,
Speaker 2: although I would say for myself, I don't think that
Speaker 2: the squirrel seemed to be acting any more maniacal than
Speaker 2: they do every fall. My neighborhood squirrels, you know, they're
Speaker 2: like yesterday I saw a squirrel sitting in the middle
Speaker 2: of the street eating a nut, and I'm like, dude,
Speaker 2: you're in the middle of the street, will you please move?
Speaker 2: They're crazy, like I got eat this saint right now.
Speaker 2: But yeah, I mean, I think it all just is
Speaker 2: a matter of what you're seeing and when you're seeing them,
Speaker 2: and of course of the food supply, because the more
Speaker 2: food that they have, the more they're going to try
Speaker 2: to bury because they're trying to stockpile it all. And
Speaker 2: of course squirrels are quite territorial, so I guess it
Speaker 2: also depends on how much they're out competing their fellow squirrel.
Speaker 2: Now in my neighborhood, I have several walnut trees, and
Speaker 2: they love burying those walnuts they do, and that tastes
Speaker 2: a pretty big hole.
Speaker 1: Walnuts and of course oaks. Now I talked I interviewed
Speaker 1: once a science writer from USA Today, and he explained
Speaker 1: to me had written a book and he explained to
Speaker 1: me that a squirrel's mental capacity actually expands in fall.
Speaker 1: I think it was the hippocampus or whatever, you know,
Speaker 1: a fifteen or twenty percent increase because they've got to
Speaker 1: store away these nuts. And I still believe because when
Speaker 1: I watched them, they rub it on the side of
Speaker 1: their head and then they put it in the ground.
Speaker 1: I think that they put their scent on these nuts
Speaker 1: that they put in the ground. But last year was
Speaker 1: a mass year, and I think these squirrels just innately
Speaker 1: understand that, Boy, it was feast last year. Odds are
Speaker 1: it's going to be fam in next spring. Let's do
Speaker 1: a lot of storage. And I think that's why they're
Speaker 1: digging like crazy.
Speaker 2: Well, you know, Plus, the term mass year is most
Speaker 2: typically associated with oaks, but there are other trees that
Speaker 2: have banner years of fruits. And so certainly if you
Speaker 2: have walnuts or other things that they dig and berry
Speaker 2: that are having a banner year, then yeah, they're just
Speaker 2: going to have more to bury. And that's just preparation.
Speaker 2: And you know, the same thing happens with chickadees. That
Speaker 2: that's part of Douglas Talumy's work, is that chickadee's their
Speaker 2: brain enlargest so that they can remember where they stored
Speaker 2: all of those little seeds and stashed them in trees
Speaker 2: and so forth. But I wonder what the squirrels think
Speaker 2: when they dig it up and they're like, oh, crud,
Speaker 2: this was you know, this was Brad's nut that he buried.
Speaker 2: Bread's a shirt. I don't want to get in his way,
Speaker 2: you know, And they're like, better not touch this one.
Speaker 2: I'll but I'll go find one that I buried. I
Speaker 2: wonder what goes on in that big squirrel brain question.
Speaker 1: So, I mean, think about how black walnuts staining your
Speaker 1: deck or staining their drive, you know, and what does
Speaker 1: it do to squirrel's teeth. I mean, man's that's a
Speaker 1: good I mean, there's so many things that come to mind.
Speaker 1: We better just move along.
Speaker 2: You wish we could have this conversation all day.
Speaker 1: We heard from two listeners that have the same symptoms
Speaker 1: on two different trees. Drew writes about his Venus dogwood
Speaker 1: in Toronto. Donna writes about her Temple of Bloom hepticodium
Speaker 1: in Oklahoma. Both plants show the same damage. Very brown,
Speaker 1: very crispy leaf edges with a touch of still healthy
Speaker 1: green in the center. What's going on?
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, I thought this was interesting that they
Speaker 2: both came in around the same time, two different trees
Speaker 2: with as you'll see on YouTube or in our shown
Speaker 2: it's at Gardening Simplified on air dot Com, the damage
Speaker 2: on the both plants looks see exact same. And there's
Speaker 2: a simple answer in its droughtstress. And basically what's going
Speaker 2: to happen when a plant starts to experience severe droughtstress
Speaker 2: is of course the leaf edge has a lot of
Speaker 2: potential for water loss in it, and it's also the
Speaker 2: furthest point from the roots, so it's where the water
Speaker 2: is going to basically stop flowing, you know. First, that's
Speaker 2: where they're going to start to dry out. They don't
Speaker 2: start to dry out from the center out, they start
Speaker 2: to dry out from the outer edge in And I
Speaker 2: think another important thing to remember about trees, especially in
Speaker 2: drought stress, is that the damage actually may have occurred
Speaker 2: months prior. Just because it's finally manifesting itself does not
Speaker 2: mean that the damage is happening. You know, recently, people
Speaker 2: ten that's often the case with plants that wilt, and
Speaker 2: trees do wilt. I mean, if you are familiar with
Speaker 2: a tree, you can kind of tell when it's you know,
Speaker 2: stressed and wilting. But I'd say for the average person,
Speaker 2: they don't say, WHOA, that tree's you know, really really wilting.
Speaker 2: That's an immediate response. But a lot of this browning
Speaker 2: it can be cumulative. It can be due to many
Speaker 2: many weeks of you know, dry weather. And remember too,
Speaker 2: even if you're watering it, sometimes there's competition from neighboring trees.
Speaker 2: There's a lot of reasons why this could happen. But
Speaker 2: my advice of fixing it would be to, yeah, provide
Speaker 2: supplemental water. Both of these trees are fairly young as well,
Speaker 2: so they're going to need a lot more water than
Speaker 2: an established tree because their root systems aren't fully developed yet.
Speaker 2: And mulch, mulch those babies that will help conserve so
Speaker 2: so much water.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a great point that it doesn't happen overnight.
Speaker 1: And when I look at the pictures, I see other
Speaker 1: plants surrounding the trees that have different water needs, and
Speaker 1: people have to be reminded that with these trees, just
Speaker 1: a trickle watering for a few hours, a deep watering.
Speaker 1: It brings up that old argument frequent light or deep infrequent,
Speaker 1: And in the case of a tree, I say deep infrequent.
Speaker 1: The other thing, as far as mulch is concerned, there's
Speaker 1: existing mulch there, Stir it. By the time we get
Speaker 1: into August September long season, that mulch becomes compacted, almost hydrophobic.
Speaker 1: Stir it. Make sure that the water is getting down
Speaker 1: to the roots, you know.
Speaker 2: And another great thing you see these around us, especially
Speaker 2: like in municipal tree plantings, but the tree gators, those
Speaker 2: green bags that you see zips around new tree plantings.
Speaker 2: If you're not familiar with them, they are basically a
Speaker 2: waterproof bag with kind of a pressure sensitive tape on
Speaker 2: the bottom that when you fill it up, it just
Speaker 2: seeps out over a long period. And those are a
Speaker 2: very very effective way to get especially young trees established.
Speaker 2: They don't look the best of course in your backyard
Speaker 2: when you have this beautiful tree, but you only need
Speaker 2: to use them for two or three years, and that
Speaker 2: can help a lot, just as long as, of course,
Speaker 2: you remember to fill the bag.
Speaker 1: Calli writes to us. I have a piece rose. I
Speaker 1: want a plant in the ground. I was away from
Speaker 1: home this week, came home to this white stuff on
Speaker 1: one branch. Do I cut off that branch or treat it?
Speaker 1: CALLI lives in Northeast Texas, Zone eight.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so I don't know for sure whether this is
Speaker 2: mealybug or scale. Most likely it looks like mealybug to me.
Speaker 2: Those are some big mealy bugs. Even the meali bugs
Speaker 2: are bigger down into bigger in Texas apparently. And you know,
Speaker 2: it's not uncommon for something to just proliferate like this,
Speaker 2: especially in a warm climate, you know, where things could
Speaker 2: be moving along fine and like you seem to overnight
Speaker 2: have this suddenly appear. So Kelly, I would say, absolutely
Speaker 2: cut that thing off, throw it away, wash your hands,
Speaker 2: because they're going to have like little eggs and so
Speaker 2: forth that you could easily spread. I mean, mellibug is
Speaker 2: not the worst that an outdoor plant can have. But
Speaker 2: if you can minimize you know what you're putting out
Speaker 2: in the garden and how much it spreads, your rose
Speaker 2: will certainly thank you. And roses I don't find usually
Speaker 2: get mealibugs. So it is strange that this one seemed
Speaker 2: to explode, so yeah, that's true. I've never seen one.
Speaker 1: But it's just on one step, so I agree with you.
Speaker 1: Let's cut it out and move on.
Speaker 2: Yeah, then the ros will be fine, none the worse
Speaker 2: for the wear. So yeah, get that thing off, put
Speaker 2: it in the ground, and as in many cases, once
Speaker 2: something is in the ground, can spread its roots. Is
Speaker 2: getting more regular water, doesn't have the stress of growing
Speaker 2: in the container, it will often be able to resist
Speaker 2: any of those pest infestations a lot more easily. We're
Speaker 2: going to take a little break. When we come back,
Speaker 2: we've got branching news, so please stay tuned. The Gardening
Speaker 2: Simplified Show is brought to you by proven Winners Color
Speaker 2: Choice Shrubs. Our award winning flowering shrubs in evergreens have
Speaker 2: been trialed and tested for your success so you enjoy
Speaker 2: more beauty and less work. Look for proven Winners Color
Speaker 2: Choice Shrubs and the distinctive white container at your local
Speaker 2: garden center.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show. It's time for
Speaker 1: branching news and Stacy, I thought this story is really interesting.
Speaker 1: The Tennessee Department of Tourist Development was the first to
Speaker 1: introduce C Coast Viewers now c as an se SA
Speaker 1: C Coast Viewers powered by Enchroma to enable color blind
Speaker 1: visitors to see the changing colors in fall at twelve
Speaker 1: parks and scenic overlooks.
Speaker 2: Isn't that so interesting? Yeah? I wonder how that works.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and it's fun to research it because they actually
Speaker 1: give you the opportunity to see fall colors the way
Speaker 1: they appear to someone who's color blind and then compare
Speaker 1: it to what you see through these viewers. So really
Speaker 1: neat Virginia State Parks are making autumn war vibrant also
Speaker 1: for everyone. By installing these special viewfinders for colorblind visitors,
Speaker 1: they allow them to see the stunning shades of scarlet
Speaker 1: and gold that everyone else gasps at in October. These
Speaker 1: nifty viewfinders work magic for those with red green CVD,
Speaker 1: making the autumn experience magical whether you're color blind or not.
Speaker 1: That is very, very interesting. While people with normal color
Speaker 1: vision see more than one million hues and that doesn't
Speaker 1: seem right to me. That's a million hues and colors.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna have to research that. But the three hundred
Speaker 1: and fifty million people in the world with color blindness
Speaker 1: only see an estimated ten percent of them. As a result,
Speaker 1: their worldview is less vibrant and dull, and some colors
Speaker 1: appear muddled or indistinguishable. You know, I was. We talked
Speaker 1: in segment one about fall colors, and I mentioned Porcupine
Speaker 1: Mountains here in the far north of Michigan and the
Speaker 1: up and standing on those cliffs and looking at those
Speaker 1: colors usually early October, first or second week of October.
Speaker 1: It really truly takes your breath.
Speaker 2: Word it is. It's something you really have to see
Speaker 2: to believe. And we've got some of the best fall
Speaker 2: color in the world here in the US and Canada,
Speaker 2: of course.
Speaker 1: Incredible, Stacy, you shared a story with me that I
Speaker 1: thought was really interesting, the invention of the modern chainsaw.
Speaker 1: Some time shortly after the end of second the Second
Speaker 1: World War, a logger named Joseph Buford Cox was out
Speaker 1: in the woods using his axe. He split open a
Speaker 1: stump and found it was full of timber worms the
Speaker 1: four inch long larva of the timber beetle. Joe took
Speaker 1: a minute to look the worms over as they continued
Speaker 1: to bore into the stump trying to get away from him.
Speaker 1: Sawdust dropped away from their jaws and prodigious streams, and
Speaker 1: Joe watched them sink slowly into the stump. Some were
Speaker 1: going against the grain, cross cutting, some were going with
Speaker 1: it ripping. All of them were going at it at
Speaker 1: about the same speed. Joe was watching a bunch of
Speaker 1: timber grubs practically falling through a stump, grinding their way
Speaker 1: through the way we picture a chainsaw today doing it.
Speaker 1: And Joe thought, well, maybe I can learn something about
Speaker 1: this that would lead to a better power saw. So
Speaker 1: back at his home in Portland, he set up a
Speaker 1: little experience station in the basement magnifying glass some timber
Speaker 1: worms and he inspected their teeth and noted they had
Speaker 1: a C shape, and that started the whole thing. He
Speaker 1: worked on a basic design of a timberworm's jaws and
Speaker 1: basically sketched out a cutting chain that looked similar to
Speaker 1: a motorcycle drive chain with a cutting tooth sticking out
Speaker 1: every few links. The cutting teeth were hook shaped chisels
Speaker 1: that would bite into the wood and essentially carved the chips.
Speaker 1: And then he added a bump in the metal just
Speaker 1: in front of the chisel on each link, filing down
Speaker 1: the bump, so he could control how big a bite
Speaker 1: each chisel took and the rest is a history. This
Speaker 1: is right around the mid to late nineteen forties, launched
Speaker 1: his company, the Oregon Saw Chain Corporation, with a payroll
Speaker 1: of four employees. But boy, it took off from there
Speaker 1: and now basic every you know, obviously the patents have
Speaker 1: expired and so all kinds of chainsaws are made, but
Speaker 1: his bug chain is basically used in every chainsaw in
Speaker 1: operation today.
Speaker 2: It's amazing, right getting that inspiration from hr I sent
Speaker 2: you then after we were talking about the burrs and
Speaker 2: Milkrol has another thing that was inspired by by nature.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's fast original. A website for you to check out,
Speaker 1: because I really enjoy this website, Harvard Forest dot edu.
Speaker 1: We're gonna put the link at the website, but it's
Speaker 1: just a great a great website for learning about research,
Speaker 1: fall colors, trees, whatever it may be, but a great website,
Speaker 1: Harvard Forest dot ed U. And I think a great
Speaker 1: time also to remind folks because I have used this often, Stacy,
Speaker 1: if you can explain again if if there's a certain thing,
Speaker 1: maybe it's chainsaws or maybe it's chameleons, that you're really
Speaker 1: really interested in using your dot edu.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, so this is so helpful, you know nowadays
Speaker 2: of course, if you try to search something, who knows
Speaker 2: what you're gonna get and you want it to be reliable,
Speaker 2: you know, you need to have something that you can
Speaker 2: trust and isn't just you know, some up bloggers thoughts
Speaker 2: random thoughts on a topic. So to get reliable results,
Speaker 2: you can just use this command. Type in your words
Speaker 2: that you're gonna use, and then site s I T E.
Speaker 2: Colon two dots dot edu and what that's gonna do
Speaker 2: is limit all of your results to university websites. So
Speaker 2: I typically do this for plants, So I'm going to
Speaker 2: use a scientific name and that command, and then everything
Speaker 2: I'm getting is from a university website. But depending on
Speaker 2: what you're trying to find out, you might want to
Speaker 2: use like a dot org website. So this will work
Speaker 2: with any type of website extension if you do. If
Speaker 2: you live in a foreign country and you only want
Speaker 2: to see what results that have your country's suffix in
Speaker 2: the URL, it works for that too. And it's just
Speaker 2: you know, the more information that comes online, the more
Speaker 2: important it is for all of us to be able
Speaker 2: to find information that is trustworthy, quickly exactly.
Speaker 1: It's great advice for researching information. Okay. Iceland's Farmers Association
Speaker 1: told the BBC that there were shortages of cucumbers and
Speaker 1: farmers have been unable to keep up with spiraling demand
Speaker 1: for cucumbers. A Canadian TikTok creator whose viral cucumber salad
Speaker 1: recipes have received millions of views and shares, is being
Speaker 1: blamed for a shortage of the vegetable in Iceland. According
Speaker 1: to the BBC, TikTok creator Logan Muffett, who shares videos
Speaker 1: with his six million followers, started making cucumber salid content
Speaker 1: in July. He suspects his videos are popular because they're
Speaker 1: super simple, easy to follow and fast recipes. So I
Speaker 1: think next spring in Iceland there will be a lot
Speaker 1: of residents who plant maybe a few extra cucumber plants.
Speaker 2: Well, you know, it's very simple. They're one of the
Speaker 2: easiest vegetables to grow, so it's a good thing. But
Speaker 2: I can't believe that a Canadian blogger blogger single handedly
Speaker 2: bankrupted Iceland of cucumbers. I'm not saying something, but yeah,
Speaker 2: everyone should grow cucumbers. They're so easy and it's really
Speaker 2: nice to have cucumbers just outside your back door.
Speaker 1: When there's a shortage, it's cucumber something, that's what it is.
Speaker 1: So plant more cucumbers. Stacy at this time of the year. Also,
Speaker 1: as I enjoy taking leaves and doing some passive composting,
Speaker 1: active composting using those leaves in my vegetable garden, I
Speaker 1: can't help it. Okay, again, I'm I got a few
Speaker 1: years behind me, and as a kid, it takes me
Speaker 1: back and I just remember so vividly people raking the
Speaker 1: leaves to the curb, squirting some gas on them and
Speaker 1: lighting them up and having the smoke in the neighborhood
Speaker 1: in late October and November was so thick. I can't
Speaker 1: believe that we actually used to do that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I think for people who are a
Speaker 2: little bit older, the smell of burning leaves is the
Speaker 2: smell that you associate with fault. Yeah, that is for me.
Speaker 1: And it's just strange and as stange as a kid,
Speaker 1: you know, and dangerous, dangerous for many people. But as
Speaker 1: a kid too, those glowing embers of leaves, the sunsets,
Speaker 1: it's just a spooky haze. And as kids we would
Speaker 1: take our bikes and we would ride our bikes through
Speaker 1: those burning piles of leaves. Yeah, I know, dumb, but
Speaker 1: we would. I've got a couple burn marks as mementos
Speaker 1: from that period.
Speaker 2: But yeah, wait, why would you do that? Did it
Speaker 2: like spark or do something cool or you're just being
Speaker 2: Daredevil's like, what's the appeal here?
Speaker 1: Because the leaves are there, and you've got a bike, okay,
Speaker 1: and you got a banana peel bike and you ride
Speaker 1: as fast as you can and sometimes it works and
Speaker 1: sometimes it doesn't. But just those memories are just unreal
Speaker 1: to me. I'm glad we do what we do today,
Speaker 1: and that is compost leaves in our garden.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Well that or I guess the invention of the
Speaker 2: the law and leaf bag.
Speaker 1: There you go.
Speaker 2: It's completely changing. You do see people burn their leaves,
Speaker 2: especially you know, out in the country. But you know,
Speaker 2: especially if you have a very dry year like we've
Speaker 2: had in Michigan or you talked about how dry it
Speaker 2: wasn't in Ohio, you know, that can be quite dangerous
Speaker 2: because of course they're dry, and they go up very
Speaker 2: quickly and they can coast on the wind, and yeah,
Speaker 2: it can definitely cause some serious issues amazing.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Stacy, thank you, thank you Adrianna, and most
Speaker 1: of all, thanks to you watching on YouTube, listening on
Speaker 1: the radio, or listening to our podcast. We appreciate you
Speaker 1: and thank you for your support. Have yourself a great week.