Speaker 1: Broadcasting from Studio A here at proven winners Color Choice Shrubs.
Speaker 1: It's time for the Gardening Simplified radio podcast and YouTube
Speaker 1: show with Stacy Hervella me Rick Weisten, our engineer and
Speaker 1: producer Adrianna Robinson. Well Stacey. Today we're going to talk
Speaker 1: about eating your landscape. Sixteen percent of the American population
Speaker 1: moves every year. I thought that was an interesting statistic.
Speaker 1: Suburbanites have become transient while chasing the American dream. And
Speaker 1: something I have learned is edible plants and the occasional
Speaker 1: chocolate chip cookies help you meet your neighbors. Increasing regional
Speaker 1: food security is another issue. People are thinking about existing
Speaker 1: vacant lots, flat rooftops, and residential yards. What about your
Speaker 1: yard enter the suburbs, what about your lawn? Studies have
Speaker 1: exclaimed the lawn as the largest crop in the United States,
Speaker 1: and that was a wake up call for many people
Speaker 1: in water stressed areas of the country. The lawn is
Speaker 1: as an abundant in the suburbs as corn is in Iowa,
Speaker 1: and yet Stacy and I are living examples of simply put,
Speaker 1: you can't eat your lawn. Well, actually you can if
Speaker 1: you have dandelions, clover, and plantain growing in your turf
Speaker 1: like many people do. You can eat elements of your lawn.
Speaker 1: But edible landscape design is a type of gardening that
Speaker 1: emphasizes the production of food crops while still maintaining a
Speaker 1: visually pleasing appearance. Often used in small spaces, city gardens,
Speaker 1: suburban yards where traditional gardening methods may not be practical,
Speaker 1: so edible landscape design. I have an example, and we'll
Speaker 1: show a picture on YouTube of the frames that I
Speaker 1: build to grow my cucumbers so that they're just not
Speaker 1: sprawling all over the ground. It's healthier for them. We
Speaker 1: get good air movement. These are wire frames that are
Speaker 1: put at a forty five degree angle. The cucumbers grow up.
Speaker 1: It keeps them nice and clean. I don't have big
Speaker 1: problems with powdery or downy mildew. There's a method to
Speaker 1: growing food in your own yard.
Speaker 2: States, Oh, there absolutely is, whether you're talking about just
Speaker 2: you know, a standard vegetable garden or at all landscaping
Speaker 2: like you said, where instead of having things like you know,
Speaker 2: boxwood and crab apples, you have apple trees and blueberry
Speaker 2: shrubs exactly.
Speaker 1: And a thought that stimulated this whole eat your yard
Speaker 1: thing in my mind was thinking about garlic. Of course,
Speaker 1: you grow a lot of garlic. Stacey and I grow
Speaker 1: garlic also, and part of the reason is because it's
Speaker 1: fun and it's easy to grow in your own yard.
Speaker 1: But I was once again reading statistics, China accounts for
Speaker 1: seventy three point two percent of garlic production in the world.
Speaker 1: That's amazing to me. The top three countries hold an
Speaker 1: eighty six percent share of garlic growth. That's China, India, Bangladesh,
Speaker 1: and then South Korea and Egypt. What about growing garlic
Speaker 1: in your own yard?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean that is that is very interesting. And
Speaker 2: that is also why if you are interested in growing
Speaker 2: garlic in your own yard, I generally don't recommend that
Speaker 2: you just use regular store about garlic and throw it
Speaker 2: in the ground, because all of those climates are a
Speaker 2: lot different than the mess of the American Midwest, and
Speaker 2: they're probably growing varieties that are very specific to their
Speaker 2: climate conditions, have resilience to you know, the various challenges
Speaker 2: and things. So I and also why if you're growing garlic,
Speaker 2: why would you want to buy the same garlic that
Speaker 2: you can get at the store when you can grow
Speaker 2: many more interesting varieties. And once you start shopping for garlic, wow,
Speaker 2: like it's mind boggling. How many really cool and unique
Speaker 2: different airloom varieties from all over the world and throughout
Speaker 2: history you can grow. And you know, I'm glad we're
Speaker 2: talking about this right now, because it is almost time
Speaker 2: to buy garlic. They usually, it's very often the interesting
Speaker 2: varieties will get sold out by mid to late September,
Speaker 2: so it's a good time to start shopping. Reserve your
Speaker 2: garlic and they'll ship it for you at the proper time,
Speaker 2: and then you'll be like, oh good, I get to
Speaker 2: plant garlic this weekend. This is going to be great.
Speaker 2: It's so easy to.
Speaker 1: Plant exactly, and that's why I use it as an
Speaker 1: example of each your yard. Or let's talk about a
Speaker 1: beautiful flowering shrub that I love. Quints Yeah, now, how
Speaker 1: many people grow it? For the actual quints fruit? It's
Speaker 1: as of itself. Quints fruit is full of pectin. It's
Speaker 1: often found as a jam, jelly, or marmalade.
Speaker 2: Yeah. And you know, a lot in North America we
Speaker 2: do not have a quince culture. In Europe, quince is
Speaker 2: much more popular. There's a Spanish membryo paste, which has
Speaker 2: I think maybe made some inroads here in the US
Speaker 2: because of charcuterie boards. People like to have that with
Speaker 2: their cheese and salami and so forth. But there's actually
Speaker 2: two types of quince. There's a quince tree and that's
Speaker 2: the one that is normally used for eating, and the
Speaker 2: quince shrub, like our double take quince, which actually don't
Speaker 2: set fruit for which for some people is a good thing.
Speaker 2: That one is used more for a jam and has
Speaker 2: a really beautiful yellow hue. Now when you see a
Speaker 2: quince shrub laden with fruit, it's kind of like stops
Speaker 2: you in your tracks.
Speaker 1: It's stunning, yeah.
Speaker 2: Because it's all very closely born to the stem and
Speaker 2: it just looks like this sort of like alien thing
Speaker 2: with like these yellow eggs stuck to it. It's pretty cool.
Speaker 1: So we can be decorative and functional as far as
Speaker 1: eating our landscape or our yard. Let me do a
Speaker 1: limerick here for you a minute to kind of create
Speaker 1: a synopsis of the topic. I'm out for a late
Speaker 1: night snack. It's growing right out back. I'm wearing my
Speaker 1: bathrobe and slippers, holding my favorite clippers, my munching by
Speaker 1: moonlight neck I did it. I ripped up my lawn
Speaker 1: and now have something to feed on for all of
Speaker 1: my labors. I'm the talk of the neighbors, a suburbia phenomenon,
Speaker 1: my buffet on the boulevard for all to see, no
Speaker 1: holds barred. I'm developing better habits and eat better than
Speaker 1: the rabbits right in my very own yard.
Speaker 2: Oh that was lovely, very nice.
Speaker 1: And part of the reason for doing this, Stacey, is
Speaker 1: that there's there's a real sense of accomplishment when you're
Speaker 1: able to both improve your landscape decoratively and derive the
Speaker 1: benefit of feasting off your landscape.
Speaker 2: Also, yeah, you know, there's something about having the produce
Speaker 2: from your own backyard, whether again it is a landscape
Speaker 2: or an herb. There's just something that is really magical
Speaker 2: about running out back and getting it and serving it.
Speaker 2: And you know, if you know, you know, and if
Speaker 2: you don't know, you know, it doesn't have to be
Speaker 2: an all out kind of thing. You can do this
Speaker 2: in steps. I think basil is a great entryway plant,
Speaker 2: you know, for people who just kind of want to
Speaker 2: start getting to know the luxury and joy of growing
Speaker 2: animals in your own backyard.
Speaker 1: It's beautiful I'm thinking basil and chives. Yeah, I love
Speaker 1: going out there clipping some chives, putting them on the
Speaker 1: potatoes or whatever it may be. So we're talking about
Speaker 1: service berry, blueberries, chives, and garlic, something like colengula or
Speaker 1: nasturtiums of course fruit trees. And then I think that
Speaker 1: I want to use as an example. I mentioned garlic earlier,
Speaker 1: but what about rubar. Rhubarb is the perfect example of
Speaker 1: an edible decorative perennial.
Speaker 2: Such a beautiful plant, you know, big lush leaves. You
Speaker 2: can almost think of it as like an edible hostile.
Speaker 2: Actually hostas are edible, but it kind of has that
Speaker 2: same effect in the garden, but for sun and you know,
Speaker 2: big beautiful red stems. I love reubarbara. And you know
Speaker 2: what I'm growing this year that I am also loving
Speaker 2: is horse reddish. Oh yes, and that is a really
Speaker 2: lovely plant too. But it has these elegant leaves on
Speaker 2: these long stems and just makes this clump and it
Speaker 2: has a beautiful color. And I'm very very happy with that,
Speaker 2: and I plan to harvest it and replant. That's how
Speaker 2: you do it. You dig up the whole thing, take
Speaker 2: the roots, put them back in and repeat as necessary.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and let me add to the mix. When we're
Speaker 1: talking about healthy and colorful, what about Swiss chard?
Speaker 2: Oh?
Speaker 1: I love that.
Speaker 2: You know, when I first started gardening, my very first
Speaker 2: vegetable garden was the year that bright Lights Swiss charred
Speaker 2: kind of came on to the scene and I saw
Speaker 2: that on the cover of the Johnny Seed catalog and
Speaker 2: that was it. I was just like, I need that plant.
Speaker 2: At the time, nobody had any earthly idea on what
Speaker 2: to do with Swiss chard in North America, not really
Speaker 2: a vegetable that people ate. But I was in love
Speaker 2: with that plant and I grew in and that was
Speaker 2: kind of what got me hooked.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, you know, along the lines of rhubarb and
Speaker 1: the beautiful leaves, I do want to mention ganera. Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: so there. In other words, there are rhubarb plants that
Speaker 1: you don't eat. They are grown specifically for ornamental purposes. Now,
Speaker 1: ganera is not a rubarb, it is not in that family.
Speaker 1: But when I've visited gardens and seen these huge plants, Wow,
Speaker 1: talk about an impact plant. And there's some very interesting
Speaker 1: articles too on how folks are being told don't plant
Speaker 1: this plant, it's invasive. We'll put those links at Gardeningsimplified
Speaker 1: on air dot com because it's an interesting plant to know,
Speaker 1: known as giant rhubarb. But again invasive and controversial.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, we don't really have to worry about that
Speaker 2: here in Michigan. It's not warm enough to grow it,
Speaker 2: and it's certainly way too dry. This is a plant
Speaker 2: for swampy, wet areas and mild climates. And when it
Speaker 2: looks good, it is gorgeous, so incredible.
Speaker 1: You bet. Let's find out what Stacy has on her
Speaker 1: mind for plants on trial. That's coming up next here
Speaker 1: on the Gardening Simplified Show.
Speaker 2: Prooven Winners Colored Choice Shrubs cares about your success in
Speaker 2: the garden. That's why we trial and test all of
Speaker 2: our shrubs for eight to ten years, making sure they
Speaker 2: outperform everything else on the market. Look for them in
Speaker 2: the distinctive white container at your local garden center. Greeting's
Speaker 2: gardening friends, and welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show.
Speaker 2: We're talking edibles, and you know, I had a dream
Speaker 2: that when I did buy a house, I would have
Speaker 2: an edible landscape that I would do exactly what I
Speaker 2: was just talking about where, you know, when I would
Speaker 2: if I would say to myself, okay, well I want
Speaker 2: a groundcover here. You know, instead of choosing say, pacassandra,
Speaker 2: I would choose cranberry, and you know I would be
Speaker 2: able to err, yeah, I would be able to make
Speaker 2: all of these swaps. Well, I unfortunately have run against
Speaker 2: the reality of deer in rabbits, which is making that
Speaker 2: hard because very often a number of edible plants that
Speaker 2: we enjoy are widely relished oh right, deer by deer
Speaker 2: and rabbits, and that can kind of put a little
Speaker 2: bit of a kaibash on your dreams, certainly for me,
Speaker 2: you know, having to have my vegetable garden enclosed in
Speaker 2: some sort of you know, prison to keep deer out.
Speaker 2: But I did want to talk a little bit about.
Speaker 1: About vegetable they are, Yeah, what.
Speaker 2: Else are you going to do? You can't have them otherwise,
Speaker 2: Gotta do what you gotta do. We're talking about lawns,
Speaker 2: and you were talking about how dandelions edible, and there's
Speaker 2: certain you know, lawn weeds. But one of the interesting
Speaker 2: things that I have found in my garden is I
Speaker 2: have grown more and more edibles. Is that my weeds
Speaker 2: become edible plants.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 2: I mean, of course I still get regular conventional obnoxious weeds.
Speaker 2: Who doesn't. But you know, for example, I've talked about
Speaker 2: it on the show before, but when we moved into
Speaker 2: our house, the previous owners had at one point planted arugola,
Speaker 2: and itself sows all over my garden. And it's a
Speaker 2: great weed to have. I don't have to do anything
Speaker 2: to grow it, and I can pretty much go out
Speaker 2: anytime around my yard and scrounge up in a arugola salad. Meanwhile,
Speaker 2: they're selling it at the grocery store for like fifteen
Speaker 2: bucks a pound, and it's just growing in my backyard
Speaker 2: like there's no tomorrow.
Speaker 1: I know it's something else and so healthy, so nutritious,
Speaker 1: but what do I know. I'm only a rugola guy.
Speaker 2: It's it's very nice, it's very tasty, you know, and
Speaker 2: I have herbs self sewing. It's a good problem to have.
Speaker 2: So the more you fill your yard with these kind
Speaker 2: of plants, the more you're going to find that your
Speaker 2: yard becomes sort of more of that kind of habitat.
Speaker 1: So we're on the edge of our seat.
Speaker 2: I know, I've built up a lot of suspense here
Speaker 2: in the studio on what today's plant on trial is.
Speaker 2: And you know, we do have some edible shrubs here
Speaker 2: in the proven Winter's Color Choice line. But I always
Speaker 2: love whenever the subject of eating, you know, plants that
Speaker 2: people don't expect to be edible. I love bringing up
Speaker 2: this plant because people, really people are always surprised when
Speaker 2: I tell them, And I was very surprised when I
Speaker 2: found out myself, which was not actually all that long ago.
Speaker 2: This is not knowledge that I've had for years. Today's
Speaker 2: plant on trial and it is edible is paraplue pink
Speaker 2: ink hibiscus, also known as a rosa sharon. And of course,
Speaker 2: roses of sharon are in bloom right now here in Michigan.
Speaker 2: Roses of sharon are one of those ubiquitous summer plants
Speaker 2: that we're well familiar with.
Speaker 1: So are you eating it when it's in bloom? Or
Speaker 1: are you eating the buds? Or are you eating the foliage?
Speaker 1: Or are you gnawing on the stems? What's the deal.
Speaker 2: Well, if you're a deer, you're gnawing on the stems.
Speaker 2: But if you are human, the flowers are edible. So yeah,
Speaker 2: it's so what you eat them when they are in
Speaker 2: what I would call the tube stage. So if you're
Speaker 2: familiar with what a rosa sharen looks like when it's
Speaker 2: coming out, you know, first day it's kind of in
Speaker 2: a tight pointed bud, very close to the plant, and
Speaker 2: then the following day it extends into a tube. The
Speaker 2: next day it opens, and then usually a couple of
Speaker 2: days after that, it goes away. So you want it
Speaker 2: when it's gone out of that pointed bud stage, but
Speaker 2: before it opens and it's in this tube, and yeah,
Speaker 2: you can eat them fresh straight off the plant, and
Speaker 2: they to me, they taste very good. But the reason
Speaker 2: that they taste good to me is because I like okra.
Speaker 2: Oh oh, you do like okra. That's good.
Speaker 1: I love it.
Speaker 2: And okra is very polarizing vegetable.
Speaker 1: I'm wondering, so could you deep fry these things?
Speaker 2: So I don't know about that. That's a good question.
Speaker 2: They are definitely more delicate than okra because of course
Speaker 2: they're you know, flower petals instead of a vegetable, a
Speaker 2: seed pod as it were. But they taste like okra.
Speaker 2: They have a slight kind of sliminess, which I think
Speaker 2: is a good thing. Like okra, But yeah, they're good
Speaker 2: enough to just put on a salad. I've only ever
Speaker 2: had them fresh, and I chose pair of blue pink
Speaker 2: ink today because it is, to me, one of our
Speaker 2: prettiest and most interesting varieties. I am crazy about it.
Speaker 2: But the fact is that all roses of Sharon are
Speaker 2: actually edible as flowers, and you can eat them. Surprise
Speaker 2: your friends bring them over to your house, just you know,
Speaker 2: casually pull one out and shomp on it and see
Speaker 2: their face when they do. Now, one thing I would
Speaker 2: say in terms of selecting roses of Sharon to actually
Speaker 2: eat in your garden is I would generally, probably maybe
Speaker 2: a matter of personal taste, shy away from the double variety.
Speaker 2: So like our Chaffon series where you have a lot
Speaker 2: of extra petals, and this isn't really because of flavor
Speaker 2: or anything, but my concern is just that when they
Speaker 2: start opening into that tube phase, that's a lot of
Speaker 2: hiding places for bugs. So if you are squeamish, all
Speaker 2: those extra pedals can give them a lot of places
Speaker 2: to hide. And you know, if you're trying to be all,
Speaker 2: you know, macho and eat a hibiscus in front of
Speaker 2: your friends and family, and you bite into some horrible
Speaker 2: ant or something might ruin your facade, and we don't
Speaker 2: want that. Yeah, a lot of people are really surprised
Speaker 2: to find out that roses of Sharon are edible. And
Speaker 2: so if you have a rose of Sharon, whether it
Speaker 2: is paraplue pink ink, or any of the other number
Speaker 2: of roses of Sharon out there, congratulations, you have edible
Speaker 2: landscaping well.
Speaker 1: And you know, it does make sense when you look
Speaker 1: at how pollinators, bumblebees, hummingbirds are attracted to the blooms
Speaker 1: of rows of Sharon, it seems to make sense that, yeah,
Speaker 1: maybe this is kind of a tasty snack.
Speaker 2: I think it is.
Speaker 3: So.
Speaker 2: Paraplue pink ink is just as tasty to the eyes
Speaker 2: as it is to the tongue if you are an
Speaker 2: Okra kind of person. The flowers are so The Para
Speaker 2: blue series in general is characterized by extra large open flowers,
Speaker 2: So a lot of roses of Sharon they're kind of
Speaker 2: more bell like, they don't fully open, like a big
Speaker 2: old satellite dish. So the Para blue series has really
Speaker 2: large flowers that open fully, and paraplue pink ink the
Speaker 2: flowers are so pretty if you have to go to
Speaker 2: Gardening Simplified on air dot com and look at photos
Speaker 2: of this plant. So they are white flowers and the
Speaker 2: pink ink part comes in because the center is pink
Speaker 2: and it has these what's known as eye extensions on
Speaker 2: the hibiscus world that come out into the petals, So
Speaker 2: it's like a pink kind of swirl in the center.
Speaker 2: And a single flower is beautiful, but when you have,
Speaker 2: you know, dozens of flowers, which is one of the
Speaker 2: strengths of Rows of Sharon is that you have a
Speaker 2: lot of flowers at once on the plant. So when
Speaker 2: you have a whole bunch of flowers in bloom with
Speaker 2: that kind of swirl pink center, it really is a
Speaker 2: very very impressive kind of eye dazzling site to see.
Speaker 1: I think impressive is a good description. In the Garden Center,
Speaker 1: when Paraplue is in bloom, it stops you in your
Speaker 1: tracks if you're walking the aisles shopping flowering shrubs, or
Speaker 1: even walking through the Rows of Sharon section, when you
Speaker 1: come upon this plant, there's something distinctive and different about.
Speaker 2: It, definitely, and I feel like that is true of
Speaker 2: all of the Parablue series. You know, paraplue violet is
Speaker 2: another one of my favorites, and that is a plant
Speaker 2: that I always have to say you just have to
Speaker 2: see to believe because the color is just so unique.
Speaker 2: But paraplue pinking, I think, is the one that like,
Speaker 2: when people see it, they're just they're gonna want to
Speaker 2: grow it. And then if you are the kind of
Speaker 2: person who you know, likes to throw some weird stuff
Speaker 2: in your salads and amaze your friends, it has that
Speaker 2: added advantage too. And by and large, you know, as
Speaker 2: someone who, as I was just saying, can't really grow
Speaker 2: the edible landscape of my dreams because of dear pressure,
Speaker 2: roses of Sharon are by and large pretty deer resistant.
Speaker 2: Have you found that, Yes?
Speaker 1: Absolutely so.
Speaker 2: They do browse my plants a little bit, I mean certainly,
Speaker 2: not enough to cause any damage. And once your roses
Speaker 2: of Sharon are established, you know, you probably wouldn't even
Speaker 2: barely notice. And the more established they get, the more
Speaker 2: mature your plants get, the less deer damage occurs because
Speaker 2: they just become woodier and the deer are less interested
Speaker 2: in them than when they're very young and fresh.
Speaker 1: The best way to describe it is like when you
Speaker 1: go to a buffet in Las Vegas, you know, and
Speaker 1: you've got all this food along the buffet. You kind
Speaker 1: of nose around in there a little bit. But now
Speaker 1: I'm moving on to something else. And that's what the
Speaker 1: deer do with rows of share.
Speaker 2: Take a little taste, Yes, enough, something else. Dot's try
Speaker 2: something else in my house. That actually means you're probably
Speaker 2: just moving on to now my summarific hibiscus, which they
Speaker 2: hopefully won't eat either. But yeah, so very easy to grow.
Speaker 2: Roses of Sharon of course love full sun. They are
Speaker 2: hardy down to USDA Zone five heat teller all the
Speaker 2: way through USDA Zone nine, so good portion of the
Speaker 2: country can grow these edible hibiscus. And one of the
Speaker 2: other great things about the Parablue series in general, as
Speaker 2: well as Parablue Pink Ink, is that they have a
Speaker 2: really elegant habit. And this is a crucial part of
Speaker 2: our selection process here at Proven Winters Color Choice shrubs
Speaker 2: for hibiscus, because a lot of older varieties they kind
Speaker 2: of have what my boss is referred to as a
Speaker 2: caveman club habit, like they just kind of look like
Speaker 2: a club. And these are really elegant parablue pink ink
Speaker 2: is five to eight feet tall and four feet wide,
Speaker 2: so it's got a good space saving habit, you know,
Speaker 2: not the old varieties. It gets to be ten feet
Speaker 2: tall and ten feet wide and you know, watch out,
Speaker 2: you have to clear a whole area to be able
Speaker 2: to grow them. They're actually pretty restrained, nice small footprint
Speaker 2: and so a really nice plant to add. Or imagine
Speaker 2: this an edible hedge of hibiscus, and that's.
Speaker 1: What I like because people are always looking for plants
Speaker 1: that they can use for hedging. Talk about a knock
Speaker 1: your socks off hedge.
Speaker 2: Yeah, great choice, and your neighbors will be grateful too,
Speaker 2: because they're going to be enjoying the other side of
Speaker 2: it and it's going to look absolutely amazing. And another
Speaker 2: great thing, Hibiscus rosa sharon is drought tolerant once it
Speaker 2: is established, and really it's just a great choice for
Speaker 2: the garden and kind of one of those accidentally incidentally edible,
Speaker 2: Like it's edible, but you know that's not the main
Speaker 2: reason you grow it. So check out the pictures at
Speaker 2: Gardeningsimplified on Air dot com or visit us at proven
Speaker 2: Winter's Colour Choice dot com to find a retailer near
Speaker 2: you so you can add Para blue pink ink hibiscus
Speaker 2: to your garden. We're going to take a little break.
Speaker 2: When we come back, we're opening up the garden mail bag,
Speaker 2: so please stay tuned at proven winner's color choice. We've
Speaker 2: got a shrub for every taste and every space. Whether
Speaker 2: you're looking for an easycare rose, an unforgettable hydrangea, or
Speaker 2: something new and unique, you can be confident that the
Speaker 2: shrubs and the white containers have been trialed and tested
Speaker 2: for your success. Look for them at your local garden center. Greetings,
Speaker 2: gardening friends, and welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show,
Speaker 2: where it is the time of the show where we
Speaker 2: help answer your questions about what's going on in your garden,
Speaker 2: what you should do, what you shouldn't do, and if
Speaker 2: you have question for us, you can always reach us
Speaker 2: at help HLP at Gardening Simplified on air dot com,
Speaker 2: or just visit Gardening Simplified on air dot com and
Speaker 2: use the contact form to fill it out and send
Speaker 2: us your question. And you can even attach a photo,
Speaker 2: which is very very helpful because I'll tell you I
Speaker 2: love playing long distance plant detective, but it is darn
Speaker 2: near impossible without a photo. Very often, in fact, almost
Speaker 2: all the cases, a photo will blast a case wide open.
Speaker 2: So please do include a photo if you can. And
Speaker 2: Jim our first question, did send us some photos?
Speaker 1: Yeah, Jim sent photos about a red dwarf Japanese lace
Speaker 1: leaf maple, and he believes that it's dying. It's in
Speaker 1: its third replanting three years years ago. Replanted for location purposes.
Speaker 1: It's in sandy soil, full sun, breezy, next to a lake.
Speaker 1: It gets a fair amount of water, as indicated by
Speaker 1: the green grass around it. I do not fertilize the
Speaker 1: tree and the area. I do know the pH of
Speaker 1: the I do not know the pH of the soil.
Speaker 1: Today I added the mulch and watered it for an hour.
Speaker 1: Its last location was similar to this location. What to
Speaker 1: do and Stacy those pictures? This Japanese maple looks really rough,
Speaker 1: but I think it's pretty typical of what happens with
Speaker 1: the Japanese maple when you have it in a highly
Speaker 1: exposed area.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, Japanese maples are definitely one of those
Speaker 2: plants that needs some careful sighting. You know, there are
Speaker 2: certainly shrubs and trees and perennials out there that you
Speaker 2: can pretty much pull up down anywhere in your yard
Speaker 2: and they will thrive. And Japanese maples are not one
Speaker 2: of them, correct, They are one that definitely benefits from
Speaker 2: a more protected location. And I would say, especially in
Speaker 2: the case of a lace leaf variety like he has,
Speaker 2: you really want to make sure you're sighting that out
Speaker 2: of the wind. The reason for that is because those
Speaker 2: lease leaves expose so so much more leaf surface than
Speaker 2: a standard leaf. You know, you have all of those fine,
Speaker 2: little thin fingers, and what that means is that the
Speaker 2: sun the wind has all that extra places to work on,
Speaker 2: extra surface area to evaporate water from, and it just
Speaker 2: makes the plant really really stressed. So I would say
Speaker 2: that I don't think this plant is long for this world.
Speaker 2: I'm afraid if it were to stay in this spot.
Speaker 2: And I would also add in the photo it looks
Speaker 2: like there's a lot of potting soil around the base
Speaker 2: of the plant. And you know it's I understand, I've
Speaker 2: been there before. Believe me, I know what it's like.
Speaker 2: The desire to just say I want a plant here,
Speaker 2: so I'm just going to dig a hole I'm going
Speaker 2: to dump a bag of potting mix in here and
Speaker 2: I'm going to plant in it. But that is a
Speaker 2: really bad idea. And I know it's hard to understand
Speaker 2: or believe this, but it is true. So what happens,
Speaker 2: as I've talked about before, is a bathtub effect. So
Speaker 2: potting mix is very very porous. It has large air
Speaker 2: spaces between its particles that means it can hold on
Speaker 2: to a lot of water. By comparison, the soil around
Speaker 2: it has very very small spaces in between its particles.
Speaker 2: So when you water, all that water is going into
Speaker 2: that nice, light, fluffy potting soil with those big old
Speaker 2: air spaces, filling that up. But then gravity takes its
Speaker 2: toll and it starts to drain through, and when it
Speaker 2: hits the native soil around that hole that you dug,
Speaker 2: it just comes to a screeching hole. It's kind of
Speaker 2: like trying to fit a huge crowd through a small door.
Speaker 2: And what ends up happening is that moisture just sits
Speaker 2: around the roots waiting for its chance to drain out,
Speaker 2: and in very sensitive plant I've seen this lead to
Speaker 2: death in the case of lilacs and panicle hydrang just
Speaker 2: specifically because those are two plants that are very sensitive
Speaker 2: to those conditions. So, you know, I know obviously this
Speaker 2: plant is not happy at having been moved three times.
Speaker 2: Japanese maples generally don't take too kindly to that. But
Speaker 2: I think if this plant is going to have any
Speaker 2: chance at survival, it needs to be moved away from
Speaker 2: the lake and into a spot where it's just your
Speaker 2: native soil. It's protected from the wind and mulched and
Speaker 2: given a lot of TLC and hopefully it can recover.
Speaker 1: Yeah, the edge of a lake is a very exposed area,
Speaker 1: not a good spot for a Japanese maple. They tend
Speaker 1: to like micro climates. One other quick addition to that, Stacey,
Speaker 1: and that would be with Japanese maples, they have a tendency,
Speaker 1: at least in the Midwest in the north to leaf
Speaker 1: out in spring and then be subject to frost yep
Speaker 1: and die back, and they're very sensitive to that too,
Speaker 1: So it's probably an accumulation of a lot of things there.
Speaker 1: So I would agree, I think this plant needs to
Speaker 1: move again and in a different, more protective location.
Speaker 2: And you know, Jim, what you can do is plant
Speaker 2: a lemony lace elderberry instead. Yes, it is a much
Speaker 2: more durable plant. It has lacy leaves that look a
Speaker 2: bit like the Japanese maple, so if that's the look
Speaker 2: you're going for. There. It is bright yellow instead of
Speaker 2: the red that you have, But it's a much more
Speaker 2: durable plant and will probably deal better with those conditions
Speaker 2: than the maple will.
Speaker 1: Mary Lou writes to us, Hello, Rick and Stacey. I
Speaker 1: love listening to your garden advice. My question is this.
Speaker 1: I have a variegated pagoda dog with suckers coming up
Speaker 1: from the bottom. Typically I trim them out to give
Speaker 1: them the energy towards the tree. However, the tree is
Speaker 1: looking unhappy and maybe due to cicadas, I don't know.
Speaker 1: It also might be due to the lovely buckthorn growing
Speaker 1: in my neighbor's yard that suck any nutrients out of
Speaker 1: the soil. Would you recommend trim off the suckers or
Speaker 1: letting them.
Speaker 2: Grow so you know, Mary Lou. She also sent a
Speaker 2: picture and we of course will put that on the
Speaker 2: YouTube version as well as in the show notes that
Speaker 2: gardening simplified on air dot Com. I don't see this
Speaker 2: plant looking bad, do you know?
Speaker 1: I thought it looked actually quite beautiful.
Speaker 2: I thought it did.
Speaker 1: And you know the characteristics of the plant, the way
Speaker 1: it grows, it generally grows well with some competition around
Speaker 1: along woodland edges. So I think you got to give
Speaker 1: yourself some credit there, Mary Lou. I think the plant's
Speaker 1: doing pretty well.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think so too. And so this is specifically
Speaker 2: a golden shadows Pagoda dogwood, beautiful yellow and green variated tree,
Speaker 2: and it is turning a little bit pink, and I
Speaker 2: think that that's normal. I mean, you might usually see
Speaker 2: that a little bit later in the season rather than
Speaker 2: right now. But I don't think that the pink is
Speaker 2: a cause for concern. And I would say that, yeah, overall,
Speaker 2: I think your plant looks healthy. I don't think you
Speaker 2: have to worry about the health now. As for the suckers,
Speaker 2: I would be inclined to probably myself trim them out,
Speaker 2: especially at the age that Marylou's tree is. It really
Speaker 2: has developed kind of a strong single trunk, and I
Speaker 2: think it's best to just stick with that because some
Speaker 2: of the suckers that you can see to the right
Speaker 2: of the photo are getting pretty large.
Speaker 1: Correct If the tree was younger, then you could opt
Speaker 1: to go with the multi stem route that at this
Speaker 1: point I think we're in the boat. We got a row.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I agree, but it's not going to harm the tree.
Speaker 2: You know, some of those cuts will be rather large,
Speaker 2: but again I wouldn't worry about that too terribly much. Now,
Speaker 2: I have heard for crab apples that the best time
Speaker 2: to prune off suckers is in August because the hormones
Speaker 2: in the tree are such that it won't just keep
Speaker 2: trying to make them, it can actually, you know, reduce
Speaker 2: or even eliminate the suckers. So whether that is equally
Speaker 2: true for Dogwood's I don't know. But given the fact
Speaker 2: that it is now, you know, late July, I would say,
Speaker 2: go ahead and plan for you know, in about three
Speaker 2: weeks or so to cut off those suckers. See if
Speaker 2: that help, you know, see if that timing works to
Speaker 2: reduce them. But overall, I wouldn't worry about your plan.
Speaker 2: I think it looks really good.
Speaker 1: John writes to us very simply, our yard has been
Speaker 1: crazy this year with weeds. We spend way too much
Speaker 1: time pulling them. I have used prene to exhaustion the
Speaker 1: weeds we've got pull You know, you got to be
Speaker 1: weeding by example here, and I'm just gonna simply say
Speaker 1: to John that, yes, weeds are frustrating, but I believe
Speaker 1: that if you are out there in fall dealing with weeds,
Speaker 1: you solve eighty to ninety percent of your weed problems.
Speaker 1: I really believe that when you use herbicides in fall,
Speaker 1: there's good translocation into the root system. You get the
Speaker 1: winter annuals before they before they bloom. I just really
Speaker 1: believe that the people who have the best success as
Speaker 1: far as weeds are concerned, are out there in the
Speaker 1: fall dealing, you know.
Speaker 2: And the other thing I would add to that is
Speaker 2: that you know, why are you getting weeds? Is it
Speaker 2: that your lawn isn't filled in? Is it that it
Speaker 2: is a bed that's not mulch, Because I will tell
Speaker 2: you mulch can work wonders. And if you can, you know,
Speaker 2: get rid of the weeds and get a good four
Speaker 2: inch layer of mulch on that area. That should take
Speaker 2: care of not only the perennial weeds. In many cases
Speaker 2: some things will still come up, but also it will
Speaker 2: prevent the seeds from germinating. And you know, do yourself
Speaker 2: a favor. Don't make it more work than it needs
Speaker 2: to be put down mulch. It really really will help.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and John also mentions prene here. So prene is
Speaker 1: a pre emergent weed control, So it's only going to
Speaker 1: work on weed seed or seed that's brought to the surface.
Speaker 1: It's not going to help with those perennial weeds. And again,
Speaker 1: when you're dealing with weeds, you're dealing with all types
Speaker 1: of weeds, including those winter annuals. So boy, I can't
Speaker 1: emphasize enough. Mark your calendar for September, October, November and
Speaker 1: be out there dealing with the weeds you're the following year,
Speaker 1: you're going to be happy.
Speaker 2: Then, Yeah, and you know, spend the next couple of
Speaker 2: weeks identifying your weeds, find out if their perennial weeds,
Speaker 2: find out if they're annual weeds, and then you know
Speaker 2: where you can put where you need to put your energy,
Speaker 2: and if preene is even doing any good, because if
Speaker 2: you're using it against those perennial weeds, Yeah, like Rick said,
Speaker 2: it won't do anything for you. So we got to
Speaker 2: take a little break. When we come back, we've got
Speaker 2: a special guest for branching news. You won't want to
Speaker 2: miss it, so stay tuned. The Gardening Simplified Show is
Speaker 2: brought to you by proven Winners Color Choice Shrubs. Our
Speaker 2: award winning flowering shrubs and evergreens have been trialed and
Speaker 2: tested for your success so you enjoy more beauty and
Speaker 2: less work. Look for Proven Winners Color Choice Shrubs in
Speaker 2: the distinctive white container at your local garden center.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show. Today, for branching news,
Speaker 1: we're going to talk to Diane Devereaux. Diane is known
Speaker 1: as the Canning Diva and I've known Diane for a
Speaker 1: number of years. She has a new book coming out
Speaker 1: called Meals in a Jar, and we're going to hold
Speaker 1: this up for YouTube viewers. What a gorgeous book. And Diane,
Speaker 1: thanks for joining us on the Gardening Simplified Show. We
Speaker 1: appreciate you joining us and sharing information about Meals in
Speaker 1: a Jar. How did this come about?
Speaker 3: Oh, thank you guys, Thank you so much for having me. Well,
Speaker 3: I as a recipe creator, you know, I'm constantly thinking
Speaker 3: of new things. But it came about because a lot
Speaker 3: of the canners that I interact with on a daily basis,
Speaker 3: whether it be social media, on my website. They wanted
Speaker 3: more meals, and you know, there just wasn't enough out there.
Speaker 3: A couple of my books kind of grazed the surface,
Speaker 3: and so I was getting lots of lots of inquiry.
Speaker 3: So I decided to just start working on a bunch
Speaker 3: of recipes. And then, of course I love food, so
Speaker 3: I dove into like culinary cuisines from around the world,
Speaker 3: and I just I had so much fun with this.
Speaker 3: So I didn't want to just create another soup or
Speaker 3: another chili, you know, I wanted to give people something
Speaker 3: really exciting. And as you noticed when you put throughout
Speaker 3: the book, there are some amazing, fun and very cultural
Speaker 3: recipes throughout.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely, and you talk about cultural. I know you
Speaker 1: well enough, Diane, and follow you in social media, where
Speaker 1: I also know that you believe that the work you
Speaker 1: do here with meals in a jar or canning, you're
Speaker 1: not only preserving food, but you're preserving family meals. You're
Speaker 1: preserving memories, so to speak, which really makes us special.
Speaker 3: Yes, thank you for saying that. It is true. It's
Speaker 3: like a community, right, and when you think about breaking bread, right,
Speaker 3: we sit down together, we have fellowship, we have family, friends, community, right,
Speaker 3: and that's exactly what we are doing with canning and
Speaker 3: home preserving, because not only in the act of you know,
Speaker 3: preserving and propping the food and putting it into jars,
Speaker 3: we're doing that at meal time too, So you're getting
Speaker 3: a sense of community throughout all the work from start
Speaker 3: to finish, and then the enjoyment aspect. So yeah, for.
Speaker 1: Sure, and Diane talking about family and friends. The forward
Speaker 1: of this book is written by Carrie Underwood tell us
Speaker 1: about that.
Speaker 3: Yes, Carrie is wonderful. A couple of years ago, she
Speaker 3: had posted an image of a recipe she canned, and
Speaker 3: I think it was something simple like tomatoes, and she says,
Speaker 3: I may not be no canning diva, but these maters
Speaker 3: shoe looked good, and I thank her. It was awesome, right,
Speaker 3: So I thanked her for giving me a shout out,
Speaker 3: because you know, she is quite popular and that helps,
Speaker 3: you know, give me a little bit of recognition. But
Speaker 3: when I had reached out to her, she founded right
Speaker 3: back and we started to have a wonderful dialogue. And
Speaker 3: she had mentioned how she was a bit intimidated about
Speaker 3: pressure canning, and I just I just said, you know, hey,
Speaker 3: anytime you you want me to show you, I'll gladly
Speaker 3: teach you. And sure enough she responded right.
Speaker 1: Back with okay, well that's great. I was like, yeah.
Speaker 3: My jaw hit the floor and I was like, okay,
Speaker 3: we're doing this. And it has been a fun, you know,
Speaker 3: friendship since. And I'm very thankful that she took the
Speaker 3: time out of her very busy schedule, as you know,
Speaker 3: to talk about how she loves gardening and canning and preserving.
Speaker 3: And you know what I was able to do for her,
Speaker 3: which you know, just that that interaction helped give her
Speaker 3: the confidence she needed. And she she's a canning machine.
Speaker 3: Whenever she's not on tour, she's home, she's gardening, canning
Speaker 3: and baking.
Speaker 2: That's dream life. You know what I really love about
Speaker 2: this concept, Like you said, it's not another seat, it's
Speaker 2: not another chili, which is of course with so many
Speaker 2: canning books are, but you know, so many people are
Speaker 2: so busy and they want to eat home and they
Speaker 2: want to eat home cooked food, they want to eat healthy,
Speaker 2: but they just don't have the time to you know,
Speaker 2: get home from work and the kids have this, and
Speaker 2: then you know they have to do this and this
Speaker 2: and this. But this is such a great way to
Speaker 2: take advantage of slower times of the year, you know,
Speaker 2: your kids off season in sports or whatever, to devote
Speaker 2: the time to just stocking up these meals so that
Speaker 2: when you do have those busy nights, it's like the
Speaker 2: same as if you did have two hours to cook
Speaker 2: an amazing meal that everybody could sit down together.
Speaker 3: Mm hm oh absolutely, you hit the nail on the head.
Speaker 3: We put all that time in the upfront, so that
Speaker 3: way you do have a pantry stock full of meals
Speaker 3: that you just eat and serve. It takes the load off,
Speaker 3: because you're right, especially when fall hits, you know.
Speaker 1: So in a nutshell, Diane, what we're talking about is
Speaker 1: we're talking about pressure canning ready made meal in a jar.
Speaker 1: Is that correct?
Speaker 3: That's correct. Yes, Everything we make is going to be
Speaker 3: already cooked and ready to go, so it has a
Speaker 3: shelf life of three to five years. What's beautiful about
Speaker 3: every meal inside the book is you preserve it and
Speaker 3: then you simply remove the lid and heat it up
Speaker 3: and eat it.
Speaker 1: Wow. Yeah, that sounds convenient now, I'd have to admit, Diane.
Speaker 1: And again we're talking to the canning diva, and that's
Speaker 1: Diane Devereaux and her beautiful new book coming out called
Speaker 1: Meals in a Jar. Diane, I have to admit that
Speaker 1: when I saw it involved pressure cooking pressure canning, I
Speaker 1: was like, I'm out, I can't do this, and I
Speaker 1: remember years ago the old pressure cookers on the stove.
Speaker 1: But following you on Instagram, I was struck by the
Speaker 1: fact that you were using this pressure canner, this pressure
Speaker 1: cooker outdoors using propane, and I'm thinking, now, maybe I
Speaker 1: can handle this.
Speaker 2: M Yeah, I have.
Speaker 3: I'm very blessed to have a partnership with all Americans
Speaker 3: pressure canners, these out of Wisconsin, and they had sent
Speaker 3: me one of their models. It's a nine. It'll hold
Speaker 3: upwards of twenty court jars. What's awesome about this is
Speaker 3: I can get so much done at once, but it's
Speaker 3: too big for my save. So I have a camp
Speaker 3: shaft sove that's outdoors. It has two burners. You use
Speaker 3: a pro paane tank just as you would a grill,
Speaker 3: and it works out perfectly. I set a couple of
Speaker 3: fire bricks down there so that we have a flat
Speaker 3: surface because it is so large, and yeah, it makes
Speaker 3: it so much easy. Is the biggest thing you have
Speaker 3: to worry about though. Rick is the weather, Yeah, right.
Speaker 1: Right, that's true. But you know I can deal with that,
Speaker 1: and I'm out there grilling in the weather. But I
Speaker 1: love the fact that I could do that outside. Diane
Speaker 1: meals in a jar, thinking, okay, so we've got some
Speaker 1: carrots and we've got some corn and that sort of thing.
Speaker 1: My word, was I wrong? I mean everything from meat
Speaker 1: balls to I mean shrimp and et cetera, et cetera.
Speaker 1: This is there's some fabulous recipes in here, certainly something
Speaker 1: that I'd love to crack open a jar after a
Speaker 1: long day at work and be able to heat up
Speaker 1: and enjoy.
Speaker 3: Oh thank you for saying that. Yes, I had so
Speaker 3: much fun. You know a lot of what you see
Speaker 3: in here is how I love to cook and eat.
Speaker 3: And I'm not gonna lie. I'm the type two that
Speaker 3: if I've had a long, busy day, the last thing
Speaker 3: I want to do is cook from scratch. So there's
Speaker 3: you know, times I'll run downstairs. But something simple like
Speaker 3: even Korean bogagi, or I love Asian fruits. He there
Speaker 3: would be like sukiyaki or a lemon grass chicken soup.
Speaker 3: That one is also, I mean just amazing simple. But
Speaker 3: we're also controlling what we put in each jar, so
Speaker 3: there is a health factor to that. Right, we know
Speaker 3: where the food came from. We prepared it ourselves. Many
Speaker 3: of us garden ourselves. Some of us have small homesteads
Speaker 3: and farms so they raise their own meat. There's a
Speaker 3: lot of cool things that you can do to create
Speaker 3: a variety of different meals, and yeah, I had fun exploit.
Speaker 3: My other favorite is bangers and nash. That is a
Speaker 3: common UK recipe. Did you see that one with the
Speaker 3: onion gravy. I'm telling you, if you try that one,
Speaker 3: you're going to fall in love with it. You will
Speaker 3: be wanting to just make and preserve the onion gravya
Speaker 3: so good.
Speaker 2: So how long did it take you to do all
Speaker 2: the research and recipe development, because this is a this
Speaker 2: is a big book with a lot of recipes.
Speaker 3: Thank you. It was a long time. It was two
Speaker 3: years of creation and testing, an additional year of writing,
Speaker 3: and then I mean altogether it was a four year project.
Speaker 3: So yeah, it takes a lot of time, and I'm
Speaker 3: constantly developing new recipes. I'm thankful that I now actually
Speaker 3: have a lab right here in Grand Rapids I used
Speaker 3: to have to ship stuff out, so I'm very blessed
Speaker 3: to have a third party, you know, helping me. And
Speaker 3: then you know, there's a lot that I do as
Speaker 3: far as like.
Speaker 1: After the fact.
Speaker 3: And now we get the book concept going and we
Speaker 3: get picked up by a publisher and in this case
Speaker 3: at Harvest House has been absolutely wonderful to work with.
Speaker 3: And then when they get to green light, like, yes,
Speaker 3: we love this book concept, let's go. Then I work
Speaker 3: with Jeff Hey, I get green Frog Photo in Grand Rapids,
Speaker 3: and we do all of our own food shoots, We
Speaker 3: do all the food staging. We do this all ourselves.
Speaker 3: So everything you see in the book he and I
Speaker 3: did together.
Speaker 1: That's really great.
Speaker 2: Thanks.
Speaker 3: Well.
Speaker 1: You can see you put a lot of work into it, Diane,
Speaker 1: and it's a gorgeous book. The book is Meals in
Speaker 1: a Jar, the Canning Diva Diane. If people want to
Speaker 1: learn more about you, first of all, let's ask the
Speaker 1: question when does the book come out?
Speaker 3: Okay, so it comes out August sixth, that's on a Tuesday,
Speaker 3: so for anyone who's pre ordered, that's the ship date. Also,
Speaker 3: hearing some whispering that it might ship a little early,
Speaker 3: so I'm kind of excited about that. I know I
Speaker 3: heard that, but that's also the date. August sixth is
Speaker 3: when it'll be available in stores. And we're going to
Speaker 3: have a fun book launch signing party in Grand Rappid
Speaker 3: at Baker book House, So that's also kind of fun.
Speaker 1: That's fantastic.
Speaker 3: In your website, none of that canningdiva dot com, so
Speaker 3: you can learn more about the book. You've got a
Speaker 3: sampling of recipes. I'll share a few things also if
Speaker 3: anyone orders the book and they'd like to take part
Speaker 3: in a three label template, I have access to every
Speaker 3: recipe in the jar. I've created a sheet of labels,
Speaker 3: so you have a template. You simply can yep, download
Speaker 3: that and print it and now you have labels for
Speaker 3: your jars.
Speaker 2: Nice.
Speaker 1: That's fantastic. Before I let you go, Diane just wanted
Speaker 1: to ask you a question today. On today's show, we
Speaker 1: talked about eating your landscape. And we're getting to that
Speaker 1: time of year when the tomato plants, the cucumbers, the beans,
Speaker 1: everything else bontiful and you stand there and you think,
Speaker 1: what am I going to do with all these vegetables?
Speaker 1: How do I deal with this? Looking at the book,
Speaker 1: it looks like you can incorporate a lot of these
Speaker 1: into Meals in a Jar.
Speaker 3: Hmm. Absolutely. I have a chapter dedicated to vegetarian recipes.
Speaker 3: I also have a chapter dedicated to food substitution. So
Speaker 3: if you're a gardener and you're starting to see a
Speaker 3: bumper crop, this book is going to be a fantastic
Speaker 3: asset to you because you will not have to let
Speaker 3: any of it go to waye.
Speaker 1: Fantastic. Her name is Diane Devereaux, author of the Complete
Speaker 1: Guide to Pressure Canning, her new book Meals in a Jar.
Speaker 1: Congratulations Diane, and thanks for sharing this with all our
Speaker 1: listeners and viewers here of the Gardening Simplify Show. We
Speaker 1: appreciate it.
Speaker 3: Thank you, Thank you both for having me, and thank
Speaker 3: you all for tuning in.
Speaker 1: Thanks Diane, well that was great.
Speaker 2: That's an excellent book, and I hope that you are
Speaker 2: as inspired as we are. And so thanks to Diane.
Speaker 2: Thank you Rick, thank thanks Drianna, and of course thank
Speaker 2: you so much to all of you for listening. Have
Speaker 2: a great week ahead.