Speaker 1: Hello, my friends, coming to you from studio here at
Speaker 1: Proven Winners Color Choice Shrubs. It's time for the Gardening
Speaker 1: Simplified Show with Stacey Hervella me, Rick weisst and our
Speaker 1: engineer and producer Adrianna Robinson. Well, Stacey, it's a labor
Speaker 1: Day weekend. Let's talk about some labor saving methods in
Speaker 1: the garden. You know you're getting old when there are
Speaker 1: less things to learn the hard way. We keep learning
Speaker 1: no matter our age. We are always interns. And I
Speaker 1: learned from my mistakes, and some of the mistakes I've
Speaker 1: made in the garden have actually turned into labor's saving methods.
Speaker 2: Ooh like what?
Speaker 1: Well? For example, one of my favorite tools in the
Speaker 1: garden is an onion hole. Oh, I love using an onion.
Speaker 2: What's wait, what's a difference between onion how in a
Speaker 2: regular hole?
Speaker 1: I'm glad you asked. An onion ho is wider than
Speaker 1: a typical hole, okay, but not nearly as tall. The
Speaker 1: blade is not nearly as tall. So you're about one
Speaker 1: and a half inch height on the blade, maybe as
Speaker 1: much as six or seven inches across, and it's sharp
Speaker 1: on three sides.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 1: This thing maneuvers around in the soil so beautifully, and
Speaker 1: as I admitted on last week's show, I'm sorry. I'm
Speaker 1: a tiller and onion hoes make weeding so much easier.
Speaker 1: I view the onion hoe as a labor saving device
Speaker 1: and I use it all the time.
Speaker 2: Well, you know, I think the important thing is to,
Speaker 2: you know, when we're looking at ways to save labor,
Speaker 2: understand that what works for someone isn't what necessarily will
Speaker 2: work for you, and so you have to stay experimental.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 2: One of the best places, and I'm giving away a
Speaker 2: huge secret here, but do it anyway. To find I
Speaker 2: actually totally set it on the show before. To find
Speaker 2: garden tools is a state sales and you're going to
Speaker 2: find all sorts of crazy old tools of all different
Speaker 2: configurations and much you would get, you know, at your
Speaker 2: regular hardware store now. And if you see see something
Speaker 2: that looks interesting to you, you might as well pick
Speaker 2: it up for you know, two or three dollars and
Speaker 2: it might just be your next great garden tools.
Speaker 1: Wow, two birds with one stone, labor saving and cheap.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I gotta love that.
Speaker 1: I love that I can buy it, you know, talking
Speaker 1: about labor savings, I guess falls a great time to
Speaker 1: do that too, because I'm a huge proponent of fall
Speaker 1: is for planting. I think it's one of the best
Speaker 1: year times of the year to put plants in the
Speaker 1: ground because plants are going to focus on root establishment,
Speaker 1: not on top growth. But when it comes to weeds
Speaker 1: and weed control and identifying both perennial and annual weeds
Speaker 1: and controlling them now so that they don't become a
Speaker 1: problem in spring. I think fall is one of the
Speaker 1: best labor saving periods of the year to deal with
Speaker 1: weed issues my opinion.
Speaker 2: And yeah, you're right, it does provide a lot of
Speaker 2: opportunity for that. And you know, when we're talking about weeds,
Speaker 2: one of my labor saving tips for the garden is
Speaker 2: just a plant really close together so the weeds can't grow.
Speaker 1: I love that it looks great.
Speaker 2: I mean, I personally prefer the look. You know, some
Speaker 2: people they don't like their plants to touch. I don't
Speaker 2: get that. I mean, I understand that there are people
Speaker 2: out there like that, and I've certainly heard from them,
Speaker 2: and they look at that spacing and then they're just
Speaker 2: gonna go ahead and add like another foot. Because plants
Speaker 2: should never touch. They should all have a tidy little border.
Speaker 2: I am the opposite. I want everything to be knitted together.
Speaker 2: I want just an uninterrupted plant panorama. So you know,
Speaker 2: when you plant that close together, one of the benefits
Speaker 2: is that they shade out the weeds or you just
Speaker 2: don't notice them because they're covered by the plants, which
Speaker 2: is also okay with me.
Speaker 1: I'm glad you brought that up. One of our most
Speaker 1: popular shows in the past year was the show on
Speaker 1: layering plants, and it's kind of along that concept. You
Speaker 1: kind of mimic how nature behaves and you ensure a
Speaker 1: balance system. And yes, it helps as far as weeds
Speaker 1: are concerned. Not everybody has a tree canopy. If you
Speaker 1: think layering, maybe tree canopy, then shrubs, and then perennials, groundcovers.
Speaker 1: Not everybody has a tree canopy, but you could use
Speaker 1: your home, your structure as that tree canopy, and then
Speaker 1: of course apply the shrubs, the groundcovers and the perennials.
Speaker 1: You could do that. Quick connects on my hoses is
Speaker 1: a labors. I love quick I'm not a fan pop
Speaker 1: on pop up Why not?
Speaker 2: They just never seem to work. I mean, well, that
Speaker 2: would be a good ri This goes back to my
Speaker 2: landscaping days when I was in college, so I am
Speaker 2: going back quite a few years. But it seemed like,
Speaker 2: you know, we like some hoses, would have them, and
Speaker 2: then you couldn't get things to connect. You didn't have
Speaker 2: the right parts. Now, if it's just your house and
Speaker 2: even invested in quick connects, it might work. But I
Speaker 2: have a pretty small yard, so I just have one
Speaker 2: hose cart for my entire yard, so I don't really
Speaker 2: need it. I have one hose hooked up. I can
Speaker 2: go around my entire house with it. It's on a cart.
Speaker 2: Now that's my labor saving device. We've talked many times
Speaker 2: how we dislike watering. It is our least favorite gard
Speaker 2: hoses because of the hoses. And this this little hose
Speaker 2: cart that I have, so it's not one that like
Speaker 2: connects to the house. It's on wheels, four wheels. You
Speaker 2: can wheel it all around. Love that thing.
Speaker 1: Nice? Nice. Well, I'm the king, I'm the cannon King
Speaker 1: and the king of quick connects.
Speaker 2: All right, good to know.
Speaker 1: There you have it. As a matter of fact, I'm
Speaker 1: glad you brought that up because I prepared a labor
Speaker 1: labor saving limb a rick for you today. Here it is.
Speaker 1: I was watching my next door neighbor hacking weeds and
Speaker 1: brush with a saber. I thought that looks sweaty and
Speaker 1: not to be petty, but I'm not into that kind
Speaker 1: of labor. I'm getting attention, headache. I just stepped on
Speaker 1: my garden rake. Things aren't going well, so I'll sip
Speaker 1: some Zinfidel and take the hydration break. I took a shot.
Speaker 2: You know, it's I think we're gonna, you know, give
Speaker 2: all these is about labor saving, but I think one
Speaker 2: of the really important aspects is to decide for yourself,
Speaker 2: like what you're going to do, what's worth your time.
Speaker 2: And it goes back to our conversation last week with
Speaker 2: Debor Napke, where it's just like, you know, you are
Speaker 2: the one in charge of your garden, and some tolerance
Speaker 2: for things maybe not being you know, like our archetype
Speaker 2: of a nineteen fifties household with the AstroTurf lawn and
Speaker 2: everything edged and everything trimmed. If you like that, look
Speaker 2: go for it. Know that it is going to be
Speaker 2: a lot of work, but know that that is not
Speaker 2: the only way in my garden. You know, people will
Speaker 2: see it, say, oh so many plants. This must be
Speaker 2: so much work. And honestly, the only place I work
Speaker 2: in my garden in summer is a vegetable garden. Yeah, no,
Speaker 2: I agree, and even that not that much.
Speaker 1: I agree. Yeah. And of course for us as humans
Speaker 1: as opposed to plants, of course, everybody's looking for the
Speaker 1: next great thing, the next pill to take or supplement
Speaker 1: or whatever it may be, herbal supplement. But as far
Speaker 1: as the landscape is concerned, I think two labor savers,
Speaker 1: in my opinion, are the fertilizer prills that feed for
Speaker 1: three or four months. Proven Winners has one osma code
Speaker 1: is another one that you may recognize. I love those
Speaker 1: continuous release fertilizers. And then also I wondered if you,
Speaker 1: because both of us struggle with deer stacy, I wondered
Speaker 1: if you've had any experience or heard anything on the
Speaker 1: systemic repellent so systemic granular repellents where the actual repellent
Speaker 1: becomes part of the plant so interesting.
Speaker 2: No, I have not, And I'm thinking, you know, is
Speaker 2: this something I would try?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 2: Maybe, I mean, normally my garden is at a point
Speaker 2: right now where the deer, everything that the deer would
Speaker 2: really eat is gone, like they've already destroyed it. I
Speaker 2: had to replace it with something else. It's grown in.
Speaker 2: I'm done. But this year I think when I were
Speaker 2: talking to Laura Roblos a few years a few weeks ago,
Speaker 2: I talked about how the deer have really done a
Speaker 2: number on some of my semmarific high business, not all
Speaker 2: of them. So you know, I miss those things in flower.
Speaker 2: I would consider it in that particular batch.
Speaker 1: I gave a speech a few weeks ago and there
Speaker 1: was a lady in the back during the question and
Speaker 1: answer period who just went off on systemic deer repellence
Speaker 1: and completely sold on them. So I'm like, well, maybe
Speaker 1: maybe that's something I'm going to get into. I believe
Speaker 1: part of also labor savings, especially as we get into fall,
Speaker 1: is that Lasagna garden passive compost kind of approach. I
Speaker 1: used to put newsprint down on grassy areas and then
Speaker 1: leaves on top of that, soil on top of that,
Speaker 1: let it cook all winter long. We have a picture
Speaker 1: for you at our website and that and then the
Speaker 1: following spring I tilled it up, and boy I had
Speaker 1: a great planting bed or I didn't have to dig
Speaker 1: up the turf, the weeds, the soil, that sort of thing.
Speaker 1: I smothered them with the lasagna concept. To me, that's
Speaker 1: a that's a labor Yeah.
Speaker 2: Well, unfortunately, good luck finding newsprints.
Speaker 1: Say the point so you use cardboard.
Speaker 2: Now untreated cardboard, and that is there was recently a
Speaker 2: study that talked about how there was a bunch of
Speaker 2: chemicals coming out in cardboard and discouraging people from using it.
Speaker 2: But you know, I have always also struggled with making
Speaker 2: gardening beds. I love to have a lot of beds,
Speaker 2: but yeah, making them, you know, is a disposal issue.
Speaker 2: It's a lot of work. So honestly I've said this before,
Speaker 2: but having a company come and remove my lawn with
Speaker 2: sod cutters best thing I ever done. Love it, So
Speaker 2: don't be afraid to rent a sod cutter or have
Speaker 2: someone come out. It was much less than I thought,
Speaker 2: and I came home to no grass. It was lovely.
Speaker 1: Wow, and certainly labor say, very labor safe. And I
Speaker 1: have no grass left either. But I took the I
Speaker 1: took the I took the long way around. Exactly quick
Speaker 1: labor saver, take a rake and stir the mulch in
Speaker 1: your landscape. Mulch can become hydrophobic as far as watering
Speaker 1: plants are concerned stirring the mulch. So there are many
Speaker 1: different ways to save labor make things a little easier
Speaker 1: on yourself. I'm going to be interested to see how
Speaker 1: Stacey ties that in in plants on trial, and that's
Speaker 1: coming up next here on the Gardening Simplified Show.
Speaker 2: Proven Winner's Color 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: where we are talking about saving labor and honestly, shrubs
Speaker 2: in general our labor savers. I have heard from countless
Speaker 2: gardeners over the years who have said, you know, I'm
Speaker 2: getting old or had an injury and I'm switching my
Speaker 2: garden to shrubs and bulbs. And if you want a
Speaker 2: garden that provides a lot of visual impact without a
Speaker 2: lot of work, especially repeatedly through the year, I don't
Speaker 2: think you can do much better. I mean shrump's really,
Speaker 2: you know, once you get them established, they don't need
Speaker 2: hardly anything. And it always amazes me, you know when
Speaker 2: people talk about gardening being work, and it's like, do
Speaker 2: you have a lawn, because that lawn is work, and
Speaker 2: all you're doing that work for is just to get
Speaker 2: it to like a status quo. And you have to
Speaker 2: keep repeating that, you know, you water it, God forbid,
Speaker 2: you gotta water it. You got to mow it once
Speaker 2: or twice a week sometimes.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I put in a swath of dear villa.
Speaker 1: Oh nice, Qodiac orange?
Speaker 2: Is it yep?
Speaker 1: Drought resistant? Easy? Like you said, labor saving. So I'm
Speaker 1: gonna guess that's your plant.
Speaker 2: It is not. That one is not my plant today.
Speaker 2: Plants on trial is an ode to big shrubs.
Speaker 1: Oh awesome.
Speaker 2: And you know big shrubs, I have to confess. Our
Speaker 2: new plant development team generally shies away from big shrubs.
Speaker 2: They they are looking more for compact shrubs, which makes
Speaker 2: sense because especially newer homes, they tend to have much
Speaker 2: smaller yards and much smaller beds, and so there is
Speaker 2: a place for small plants and in small shrubs. And
Speaker 2: in a way they also have a lot of labor
Speaker 2: saving because they're going to stay nice and compact, and
Speaker 2: you won't have to worry about trimming them or make
Speaker 2: worrying about them, you know, out growing their space and
Speaker 2: growing over your dining, your windows, all of that kind
Speaker 2: of stuff. But I am a huge fan of big shrubs.
Speaker 2: Now I am not gonna wrap. I like big shrubs
Speaker 2: and they cannot lie. But you know, I really want
Speaker 2: to make the case for big shrubs because a big shrub,
Speaker 2: and by big, I mean like at least six feet
Speaker 2: tall and wide and very often much bigger than that
Speaker 2: properly spaced from you know, all its surrounding, it's neighboring plants,
Speaker 2: your home, your property line, whatever the thing surrounding it
Speaker 2: is properly spaced. A big shrub is going to take
Speaker 2: up so much space, and it is going to transform
Speaker 2: whatever space it has from a high maintenance space to
Speaker 2: a low maintenance space because you will not have to
Speaker 2: do anything. So I combed through our plants. We have
Speaker 2: a pretty good amount still of large shrubs. But the
Speaker 2: one that we're highlighting today is today's plants on trial
Speaker 2: is red Balloon Viburnum.
Speaker 1: Great choice, you get a great return on investment.
Speaker 2: You really do. So this is a large plant, six
Speaker 2: to eight feet tall and wide. So if we look
Speaker 2: at what I was just saying, as you know, when
Speaker 2: you pick a large shrub, and again, proper sighting is
Speaker 2: this is important for all maintenance really in the garden,
Speaker 2: because if you don't cite something properly, whether that's spacing
Speaker 2: or growing conditions, no, it won't be low maintenance because
Speaker 2: you'll be working your buns off to try to get it,
Speaker 2: you know, happy, and you won't be able to properly
Speaker 2: spaced of red balloon viburnum. It's six to eight feet
Speaker 2: tall and wide, is going to take up roughly sixty
Speaker 2: four square feet of ground space. WHOA, so you can
Speaker 2: take so it's eight by eight sixty four. Yeah, so
Speaker 2: you can take sixty four square feet of your lawn
Speaker 2: and transform it from an area that you have to
Speaker 2: mow and maintain to a beautiful flowering shrub. And you know,
Speaker 2: we have again a number of very large shrubs in
Speaker 2: the line. But I picked red balloon because it's a
Speaker 2: great plant for multi season interest.
Speaker 1: I love viburnums in general, I mean spring, summer, fall interest.
Speaker 2: Yes, absolutely, So this is a hybrid viburnum. It is
Speaker 2: known the common name is a lantana phylum Viburnum. H.
Speaker 1: So let's get to the botanical name. Yes, because you
Speaker 1: know my method with Latin names. I just say I'm
Speaker 1: real fast and pretend I know what I'm doing. But
Speaker 1: the reality is it rolls off f your tongue. So
Speaker 1: the botanical name is ripped to diffiloides.
Speaker 2: Right, for this is going to become a lot easier
Speaker 2: once we break it down. Okay, So, like I said,
Speaker 2: it is a hybrid viburnum. It's a hybrid of the
Speaker 2: what's known as the wayfaring tree, which is a lovely
Speaker 2: poetic common name Viburnum lantana. And you know, I was
Speaker 2: thinking about that, and nowadays, if you say lantana in
Speaker 2: the context of a garden, people are thinking of a
Speaker 2: lantana plant which has those nice colorful flowers, look like
Speaker 2: little chicklets in the middle, really different colors, terrible smell.
Speaker 2: I don't personally care for the smell. But lantana was
Speaker 2: actually the Latin term for viburnum. So this is one
Speaker 2: of those really confusing situations where the species one of
Speaker 2: the species of the parents of red bulloon. Viburnum is
Speaker 2: Viburnum lantana, but the plant that we call antana nowadays
Speaker 2: is not a viburnum. It is opposite leaf. So I
Speaker 2: could see you know where the confusion might arise, and
Speaker 2: that is known as lantana in and of itself. So
Speaker 2: one of those just really confusing botanical nomenclature kind of thing.
Speaker 2: So hybrid between Viburnum lantana and Viburnum right titiphylum, so
Speaker 2: you know, viburnum rititaphylum. You wouldn't mispronounce that because that
Speaker 2: is leatherleaf. Viburnum, Yes, a very popular landscape plant, and
Speaker 2: I'm sure you sold lots of them in your career.
Speaker 2: So you combine right to a phylum with lanana and
Speaker 2: then you have right ta filoides. Wow, something like that.
Speaker 1: I'm glad you did the heavy lifting there, Thank you
Speaker 1: very much.
Speaker 2: Yeah. So, so Viburnum right to aphylum is leatherly fiburnum.
Speaker 2: This is just I mean, it's such a great plant
Speaker 2: for year round interest. It has ever semi evergreen foliage.
Speaker 2: They're big, they're elegant. I always think of them as
Speaker 2: kind of giving, like a really beautiful woodland look to
Speaker 2: a property. So basically, Red Balloon combines the best features
Speaker 2: of both of them plants. So in spring you are going
Speaker 2: to have these big clusters of white flowers. Now, I
Speaker 2: do want to warn you on these viburnum flowers. They
Speaker 2: are not one of the viburnums that smell good. Quite
Speaker 2: the opposite. They are a little bit animally smelling. But
Speaker 2: it's worth sticking through that. Planting it downwind of your bedroom,
Speaker 2: for example.
Speaker 1: And does that make a deer resistant.
Speaker 2: I mean, viburnums in general are somewhat deer resistant. There's
Speaker 2: you'll find a pretty wide range of resistance. And I
Speaker 2: am telling you speaking from experience here what happens to
Speaker 2: most I don't have Red Balloon in my yard, but
Speaker 2: what happens to most of the viburnums that I grow
Speaker 2: is that the deer love the flowers. Yes, they mostly
Speaker 2: leave the plant alone, but they love the flowers. Now,
Speaker 2: I would think that this particular viburnum is probably not
Speaker 2: high on a deer pelatability list pelletability list because the folio,
Speaker 2: the stems and foliage are quite flucked. They have like
Speaker 2: a kind of hairy and that's comes through the leather
Speaker 2: leaf parentage, so most likely pretty good dear resistance. So
Speaker 2: you got those flowers in late spring and those are
Speaker 2: without a pollinator, no pollinator required, going to develop into
Speaker 2: red and black fruits in late summer and fall, and
Speaker 2: then that will persist through winter. And if you live
Speaker 2: in a mild climate, so red balloon and viburnum is
Speaker 2: hardy down to USDA Zone four heat tolerant through zone eight.
Speaker 2: If you live probably in like zone five or warmer,
Speaker 2: it's less likely in zone four it will be semi evergreen.
Speaker 2: So that's again going back to that leather leaf parentage,
Speaker 2: so you'll have some leaves sticking around. So as Rick said,
Speaker 2: you're getting that you know, coverage and interest and color
Speaker 2: all the way from you know spring, all the way
Speaker 2: to the following spring, and again transforming these areas of
Speaker 2: your yard into something that was high maintenance into something
Speaker 2: that was low maintenance, and I think that just makes
Speaker 2: a huge, huge difference. They also outcompete weeds, so we
Speaker 2: were talking about spacing out competing weeds, but a shrub
Speaker 2: because they are branched to the ground, typically providing a
Speaker 2: lot of shade in the interior there, so that weeds
Speaker 2: can't grow. They're not going to grow, and you won't
Speaker 2: see them even if they do. Another great benefit. And yeah,
Speaker 2: so that makes it really simple too. And again they're
Speaker 2: just easy and trees are also very low maintenance. But trees,
Speaker 2: of course, you have to wait a lot longer for
Speaker 2: them to do their thing. Sometimes that can be a
Speaker 2: big commitment that we're maybe not ready to make, or
Speaker 2: we're worried about the height that they will eventually maintain,
Speaker 2: you know, causing issues for our house or a neighbor's
Speaker 2: house or something like that. So yeah, overall, it's a
Speaker 2: win win. People might say look at a shrub like
Speaker 2: this and say, whoa, that's too big, But when you
Speaker 2: really start thinking about what this means in your yard,
Speaker 2: I think it really transforms your perspective.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and along the lines of labor saving, boy, it
Speaker 1: takes a lot of labor to move, to have to
Speaker 1: pack and move out of your house. And if you
Speaker 1: have a neighbor that you're really not keen about it,
Speaker 1: this plant would make great screening.
Speaker 2: Yes, that's a good great screen just make them go
Speaker 2: away behind the viburnum. Yeah, so it's great as a specimen.
Speaker 2: So when I'm talking about that eight by eight square
Speaker 2: eight by sixty four square feet that it is taking up.
Speaker 2: That would be if you just planted a single one.
Speaker 2: But if you have the room and you're looking for
Speaker 2: a hedge, and particularly if you're looking for a hedge
Speaker 2: and you have a deer issue and arbivid's out of
Speaker 2: the question, this is a great choice. It's not going
Speaker 2: to be quite as fast growing, but it's going to
Speaker 2: provide that coverage and be much more interesting too than
Speaker 2: you know what everybody and their brother has planted in
Speaker 2: their yard. And the other thing finally is that, as
Speaker 2: with most flowering shrubs that flower and fruit, it makes
Speaker 2: pruning almost impossible because if you prune it after it blooms,
Speaker 2: it blooms on old wood, you'll be taking off the
Speaker 2: possibility for fruit to form. If you prune it in fall,
Speaker 2: after the fruit is formed, you'll be taking off the
Speaker 2: flower buds. So no pruning required. And again, as long
Speaker 2: as you're spacing it properly, you won't even have to
Speaker 2: prune it. This plan is just going to sit around
Speaker 2: and look gorgeous and take high maintenance areas and transform
Speaker 2: them into low maintenance. So take a look at red
Speaker 2: balloon viburnum on our website Gardening Simplified on Air dot com,
Speaker 2: and you can decide if it's going to earn a
Speaker 2: spot in your garden. We're gonna 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 easy care rose and unforgettable hydrangea
Speaker 2: or something new and unique, you can be confident that
Speaker 2: the shrubs and the white containers have been trialed and
Speaker 2: tested for your success. Look for them at your local
Speaker 2: garden center. Greeting's Gardening friends, and welcome back to the
Speaker 2: Gardening Simplified Show, where it's time for us to So
Speaker 2: you're burning gardening questions, Maybe they're not burning, Maybe they're
Speaker 2: just little curiosities you have. I mean, we can tell
Speaker 2: you as much as anyone else that when you're out
Speaker 2: in the garden, all sorts of crazy things can happen
Speaker 2: and you wonder what's going on, and if so, we're
Speaker 2: here for you. You can reach us at help HLP
Speaker 2: at Gardening Simplified on Air dot com, or just go
Speaker 2: to Gardening simplified on air dot com and send us
Speaker 2: a message there. You can also leave a comment on
Speaker 2: YouTube if you are a YouTube viewer, and Adriana will
Speaker 2: let us know she needs some help answer your question.
Speaker 2: We'll get back to you there as well. And this
Speaker 2: first question, I'm glad that it came up because it
Speaker 2: is one that I have heard many times in my
Speaker 2: years here at proven Winner's Color.
Speaker 1: Choice, Jessica writes to us, I have a reoccurring issue
Speaker 1: with my approximately ten year old blacklace elderberry. Every year
Speaker 1: it starts getting droopy leaves and branches. I cut it
Speaker 1: back and the branches have holes down the center like
Speaker 1: there's a bor present. However, I never find a bore
Speaker 1: despite cutting back to intact growth. Any thoughts, I ideas
Speaker 1: or a suggestion, So, Jessica, is zone six B Southwest Ohio, Yes.
Speaker 2: Where elderberry grows native. In fact, elderberry grows native throughout
Speaker 2: a great deal of the US. We have a lot
Speaker 2: of native elderberry, both our native red elderberry and our
Speaker 2: regular summer elderberry Sambucus canadensis. And since we do have
Speaker 2: so much native elderberry growing around here in the US
Speaker 2: and Canada, we have a native borer that finds the
Speaker 2: European varieties like black lace just as appealing as they
Speaker 2: find are native varieties, because actually the European variety Sambucus
Speaker 2: nigra is by some taxon mis considered to be a
Speaker 2: subspecies of Sambucus canadensis, so they're very very closely related.
Speaker 2: Now the elderberry bor, there are actually two different elder borers.
Speaker 2: One is a moth and one is a wasp. Whichever
Speaker 2: one you have, it doesn't really matter all that much
Speaker 2: because the treatment, if you want to treat them, is
Speaker 2: the same. And the first thing I want to say though,
Speaker 2: is that it's not necessary to treat them. I know,
Speaker 2: especially on a big, beautiful, mature black lace like you
Speaker 2: have here, Jessica, it can be very alarming to see
Speaker 2: all of a sudden those parts of foliage start wilting
Speaker 2: all over. But this is a plant that gets big.
Speaker 2: So speaking of big shrubs, this was actually a second
Speaker 2: place contender for today's Plants on Trial because it is
Speaker 2: also big. It can I mean, I have seen black
Speaker 2: lace get to be easily ten by ten. Elderberry is
Speaker 2: a big shrub, so they can easily withstand some of
Speaker 2: this damage. It looks very dramatic, but it's actually not
Speaker 2: that bad for the plant. And the reason, Jessica, that
Speaker 2: you're not finding the actual borders themselves is because by
Speaker 2: the time you are seeing that wilting in the branch,
Speaker 2: it's because the boer has left the building the elderberry
Speaker 2: as it were. So basically what happens is the adults
Speaker 2: will lay eggs in the plant, probably sometime in the
Speaker 2: next month or so, and then those will hatch out.
Speaker 2: The borers will feed in the plant. Feeding in the
Speaker 2: plant isn't really that much of a problem, but come
Speaker 2: next June, when they have pupaid it and are ready
Speaker 2: to emerge, then they're going to chew a little hole
Speaker 2: to get out of the stem, free themselves from inside
Speaker 2: the stem, and that's what causes that wilting. So the
Speaker 2: thing is that the borers cannot live in wood that
Speaker 2: is two years old or younger because the stem diameter
Speaker 2: is not large enough to accommodate their squishy bodies. And
Speaker 2: so one thing that you can do is to simply
Speaker 2: cut the plant back every year or every other year.
Speaker 2: If you cut it back every year, the plant will
Speaker 2: stay smaller. You'll have a lot of beautiful foliage, but
Speaker 2: it won't flower. If you take the every other year approach,
Speaker 2: then you will have flowers every other year, and that
Speaker 2: will actually make sure that all of the growth on
Speaker 2: the plant stays young enough that the borers can never
Speaker 2: take up residence in it. Now, of course, you have
Speaker 2: a ten year old plant. I don't necessarily think that
Speaker 2: it is practical for you to think about cutting this
Speaker 2: whole thing back to the ground. If you're willing to
Speaker 2: do that, it will certainly recover. If you do decide
Speaker 2: to cut back an elderberry for this reason or any reason,
Speaker 2: the best time to do that is in spring. If
Speaker 2: you cut it back basically anytime from June through November,
Speaker 2: it's very very slow to recover. So you should not
Speaker 2: prune elderberries in any severe way after spring. But overall,
Speaker 2: even though it's a little bit disappointing and a little
Speaker 2: bit alarming, it's not a cause for concern. Their populations
Speaker 2: stay very small and controlled, and you don't necessarily need
Speaker 2: to manage it. And if you want toup put some
Speaker 2: resources in the show notes at Gardening Simplified on air
Speaker 2: dot com. But overall, you know, most universities when they're
Speaker 2: talking about the elderbors in terms. Unless you're growing elderberry
Speaker 2: for commercial production of the fruit, they say, just tolerate it,
Speaker 2: just live with.
Speaker 1: It, and it acts or has an effect on the
Speaker 1: planet similar to a squash vine bore yea and squash
Speaker 1: and causing that wilting.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, it's much more detrimental in a squash from
Speaker 2: you'll lose your entire zucchini in that case, whereas with
Speaker 2: especially a very mature black lace, it's again it's it's
Speaker 2: not a problem. You can just prune those little wilted
Speaker 2: branches out and uh then call it a day.
Speaker 1: Elaine writes to us. Last year, I transplanted two rhubarb
Speaker 1: plants from a shady spot into my sunny, fenced in garden.
Speaker 1: They were growing beautifully up until the last two weeks.
Speaker 1: One of the plants started to turn yellow, and now
Speaker 1: many of the leaves are turning brown, and the second
Speaker 1: plant is also starting to turn yellow. Any ideas what's
Speaker 1: happening and how to prevent this from happening again next year?
Speaker 1: And this is uh, this is a pretty common problem
Speaker 1: that we see Stacey with the with rhubarb from time
Speaker 1: to time.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, I have I grow rhubarb, which is to say,
Speaker 2: I have some rhubarb in my garden that struggles because
Speaker 2: I don't water it enough. So I knew instantly when
Speaker 2: I saw Elaine's photos of her big, beautiful robust rubarb,
Speaker 2: watering was not the issue. So mine stay very small
Speaker 2: because I don't water them. But yeah, this is a
Speaker 2: leaf spot. It is known as rhubarb leaf spot or
Speaker 2: asko kaita leaf spot. And you know, when it comes
Speaker 2: to leaf spots with plants, I often tell people it
Speaker 2: doesn't matter all that much what the exact leaf spot
Speaker 2: you have is, because the way you deal with them
Speaker 2: is always the same. If you don't want to use pesticides,
Speaker 2: very simple solution. Of course, you don't want to use
Speaker 2: pesticides on your rhubarb, very simple solution. When the foliage
Speaker 2: dies back, and I think you can go ahead and
Speaker 2: take the foliage it's very yellow now, and just cut that.
Speaker 2: Make sure that you gather that all up and throw
Speaker 2: it away in the garbage. Don't compost it, because what
Speaker 2: happens is those fungal leaf spots. So think about a mushroom.
Speaker 2: A mushroom grows opens its skills, those spores come out
Speaker 2: and those make mush in the future. Well, even though
Speaker 2: a leaf spot is not exactly like a mushroom, those
Speaker 2: fruiting bodies, so which you're actually seeing when you see
Speaker 2: the leaf spot, is the fungus itself having you know,
Speaker 2: as a fruiting body. If you leave those under the plant,
Speaker 2: all winter spring is going to come, the roobarb is
Speaker 2: going to start to grow. Sure, that foliage is going
Speaker 2: to be so soft, so tender, it's not going to
Speaker 2: have a waxy cuticle yet, and those conditions are going
Speaker 2: to be right for those sports just come right back
Speaker 2: up onto the plant. Now, that doesn't always happen if
Speaker 2: we have a dryer spring, or there's other factors that
Speaker 2: maybe aren't as ideal for the fungus to grow, But
Speaker 2: simply taking care of all of that foliage and discarding
Speaker 2: it will make a huge, huge difference.
Speaker 1: The foliage is so pretty on rubierb. And in the
Speaker 1: seventeenth century in England, when they decided, hey, let's eat
Speaker 1: this plant, they made the mistake of eating the full
Speaker 1: left first idea has the oxalic acid or whatever in it,
Speaker 1: and people got very, very sick, and so it kind
Speaker 1: of set back that plant about a century or so
Speaker 1: until somebody came up with a great idea, let's use
Speaker 1: the stalks and make pies out of rhubarb, and then
Speaker 1: the plant regained its popular popularity. The plant, of course,
Speaker 1: also can suffer from crown rot, so you want to
Speaker 1: make sure. This is a classic example of one of
Speaker 1: those plants where you want good humus in the soil,
Speaker 1: good organic material, maybe side dressing with some manure, but
Speaker 1: it's got to have good drainage too, or you run
Speaker 1: into problems.
Speaker 2: And enough water or you will also run into problems,
Speaker 2: as I can tell you because I have never gotten
Speaker 2: a harvest off my roobarb. The poor thing just limps
Speaker 2: along all season long, looking very sad. But that advice
Speaker 2: that we gave to Elane that will work for any
Speaker 2: plant that you have that has leaf spot. Just do
Speaker 2: your best to get it out of there and that
Speaker 2: will help a great deal and.
Speaker 1: Real quickly, Angie wrote to us, I just picked up
Speaker 1: seven Brandon cedars arbor Viti to create a hedge in
Speaker 1: our zone three yard, Alberta, Canada. Yes, it was a
Speaker 1: great deal, so I jump on buying them before doing
Speaker 1: much research. How can I ensure I'm successful and keep
Speaker 1: them growing happy for years to come.
Speaker 2: So overall, arborvid are very easy to grow. They're very amenable.
Speaker 2: In fact, they're probably native to Alberta, so don't have
Speaker 2: to do a whole lot to keep them happy. I
Speaker 2: would say average moisture, good drainage is important. They can
Speaker 2: take short periods of wet soil, but you want them
Speaker 2: to grow in the illustrious, moist yet well drained soil.
Speaker 2: Mulch is super crucial because they do have very shallow,
Speaker 2: fibrous roots, so mult will really help keep those roots
Speaker 2: insulated in the winter and cool and growing well in
Speaker 2: the summer, which is key to establishment and healthy growth.
Speaker 2: And you know, probably the only issue that you're going
Speaker 2: to have to worry about is potentially, I don't know
Speaker 2: how bad the bagworm situation is up in Alberta, but
Speaker 2: certainly down here in the US, especially in more urban areas,
Speaker 2: the bagworms can be a huge problem and completely disfigure
Speaker 2: the plant. So you're just going to want to, you know,
Speaker 2: do some research. I can post some links in the
Speaker 2: show notes on what to look for for bagworms, and
Speaker 2: they're pretty easy to manage, but you just don't want
Speaker 2: to let the they if they are there, let them
Speaker 2: get away from you, because then they will really proliferate
Speaker 2: and become very difficult to manage without chemicals.
Speaker 1: In such a beautiful area Alberta, Canada.
Speaker 2: That's where my grandmother was born.
Speaker 1: Wonderful. Yeah, I've been there a few times. What a
Speaker 1: gorgeous yes.
Speaker 2: So anyway, thank you all so much for your questions.
Speaker 2: If you have a question, you can reach us at
Speaker 2: Gardeningsimplified on air dot com. We need to take a
Speaker 2: little break and when we come back, we're going to
Speaker 2: be talking fall planting, 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 and 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 Colored
Speaker 2: Choice Shrubs in the distinctive white container at your local
Speaker 2: garden center.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Yardening Simplified Show and our labor
Speaker 1: saving show. And what better thing to talk about in
Speaker 1: the final segment than fall is for planting? Because I
Speaker 1: have to be honest with you, Stacy, this is one
Speaker 1: of my favorite topics. Maybe it's because for years I
Speaker 1: was a garden center owner operator, and you were trying
Speaker 1: to generate some business during the fall period. You know,
Speaker 1: in spring, the business comes at you hot and heavy,
Speaker 1: and it's a crazy time in fall. You know, both
Speaker 1: you and I aren't the biggest fans of mums. Let's say,
Speaker 1: am I correct in sack? Okay? But there are many
Speaker 1: many alternatives that can be used to mums. But the
Speaker 1: reality is that fall is a fabulous time of the
Speaker 1: year to establish plants. Because the temperatures cool down, the
Speaker 1: plant does not focus on top growth. Roots establish, and
Speaker 1: even here in Michigan, Stacy, I believe that we get
Speaker 1: root establishment well into November May. I even dare say December,
Speaker 1: as the air temperature's plummet, the roots still have an
Speaker 1: opportunity to grow.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, if the temperature is in the is
Speaker 2: fifty or over, root growth will continue. And so there
Speaker 2: is about, as I recall, don't quote me on this,
Speaker 2: I think a three hour leg between air temperature and
Speaker 2: soil temperature. So even if you have, you know, a
Speaker 2: day where it's in the fifties for a short period
Speaker 2: in sunny you're still going to have root growth. You know,
Speaker 2: during that day and you know, a lot of people
Speaker 2: will ask me they planted something, they're not happy with
Speaker 2: how it's doing. Why isn't it flowering, Why isn't it growing?
Speaker 2: I said, it is growing. It's just that the growth
Speaker 2: is underground. Because when you plant something, whether you plant
Speaker 2: it and fallow your planet in spring or summer, whatever,
Speaker 2: what a planet is going to do is say, well, shoot,
Speaker 2: I got to put roots down because roots are what
Speaker 2: is going to get me through anything that is going
Speaker 2: to come my way. I can't deal with any challenges
Speaker 2: unless I have a good root system. And as we've
Speaker 2: said before, a plant's roots grow directly determine how much
Speaker 2: a plant is going to grow on top. This is
Speaker 2: why we have bone side plants because if you restrict
Speaker 2: the root room, you restrict the top growth. And similarly,
Speaker 2: if the root growth starts to develop, it is then
Speaker 2: able to respond with an equal amount of top growth. Now,
Speaker 2: if you do that in spring, the plant is sitting
Speaker 2: there going whoa, I got to put on root growth.
Speaker 2: I also have to put on top growth because it's
Speaker 2: spring and I'm growing, and the days are lengthening and
Speaker 2: it's warm, and you know, and it has to spread
Speaker 2: its energies over many more functions, whereas in fall it
Speaker 2: really can put all of its energies into root growth
Speaker 2: because it's still photosynthesizing with all of those nice sunny
Speaker 2: fall days, taking all that energy storing it and it
Speaker 2: doesn't have to worry about supporting all that flowers and
Speaker 2: foliage and all of that other stuff through the coming months.
Speaker 2: It's like, Hey, I'm an easy street, I'm just growing roots.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I love that. And you know, we've talked about
Speaker 1: in the past that in urban settings, we go out
Speaker 1: there in the fall and we're leaf blowing and bagging
Speaker 1: and we're cleaning everything up, whereas in woodland areas, the
Speaker 1: trees are benefiting from the leaves and the debris that
Speaker 1: falls off of trees. I've always said that money grows
Speaker 1: on trees. The leaves have nutrient value, they have organic
Speaker 1: tilt value, and so something that I was taught years
Speaker 1: ago and I've done it every year, Stacey, and that
Speaker 1: is I have a number of arborist friends and my
Speaker 1: son is also an arborist, and they are big proponents
Speaker 1: of fertilizing shade trees and larger trees. In mid to
Speaker 1: late October in the north as the leaves are falling
Speaker 1: off the trees, fertilize the trees, and the tree roots
Speaker 1: are able to take in those nutrients. Those nutrients are there,
Speaker 1: and the tree is healthier and off to a better
Speaker 1: start next spring. Would you buy into Yeah?
Speaker 2: I mean, I think, you know, the key to making
Speaker 2: a fertilizer available to a plant is weathering. So weathering
Speaker 2: can happen through rain and wind and the soil, but
Speaker 2: having that extra you know, part of the leaf over
Speaker 2: it that is really going to accelerate that weathering. And
Speaker 2: you know, mid to late October is late enough that
Speaker 2: you don't have to worry about late season fertilization pushing
Speaker 2: any growth because the plant's already well on its way
Speaker 2: to dormancy. So yeah, I mean I generally for most people,
Speaker 2: for homeowners, in terms of fertilizing shrubs, I do recommend
Speaker 2: more like late winter, early spring. But yeah, for trees
Speaker 2: that's a totally different situation.
Speaker 1: And if you're a lawn person, you want to have
Speaker 1: a nice green lawn, fall is the time of year
Speaker 1: to care for it. And I think what I have
Speaker 1: seen through the years is if you don't fertilize your
Speaker 1: lawn at all, if there's one time of the year
Speaker 1: you want to fertilize your lawn, and that is in fall.
Speaker 1: You see people make the mistake in spring. They you know,
Speaker 1: it's they're excited it's spring. They put a fertilizer down,
Speaker 1: and now they're behind the lawnmower every other night after work.
Speaker 1: It falls a great time to apply that fertilizer again
Speaker 1: for root establishment with turf, and then more importantly, to
Speaker 1: identify any weed issues you have, whether it's in your
Speaker 1: turf or in your garden or in your landscape, because
Speaker 1: many of your winter annual weeds create what we would
Speaker 1: call rosettes in the fall, so harry bittercress or henbit.
Speaker 1: If you teach yourself what these weeds look like, you
Speaker 1: can identify them in fall and they're not going to
Speaker 1: become a big problem in spring. And even perennial weeds
Speaker 1: like dandelions. Again, if you were to use an herbicide,
Speaker 1: it translocates into the root system because the weeds stacey
Speaker 1: are doing the same thing the trees are doing, and
Speaker 1: that is they're shutting down for winter. And the theory
Speaker 1: is you do get good translocation into the root system
Speaker 1: as opposed to just top kill right.
Speaker 2: And I think all of this points to a single idea,
Speaker 2: and that is, if you go to the garden center
Speaker 2: infall to buy your moms, to buy your pumpkins, your scarecrow,
Speaker 2: what are your cornstocks, whatever it is, don't stop there.
Speaker 2: Go into the garden center. Look for the fertilizers. You know,
Speaker 2: it's exactly what you said is everybody thinks about it
Speaker 2: in spring, but fall is a whole second opportunity and
Speaker 2: a lot of us go to the garden center anyway,
Speaker 2: whether it's a box store or an independent garden center.
Speaker 2: So don't just stop there at the moms. Go in,
Speaker 2: you know, look for shrubs, perennials, trees, look at the
Speaker 2: fertilizer selection. There is so much opportunity that people are
Speaker 2: missing out on. And you know, we've been talking about
Speaker 2: labor throughout the episode today, and you know, I personally
Speaker 2: believe and certainly our listeners can tell me if they disagree.
Speaker 2: Planting stuff is labor that people don't mind. That is
Speaker 2: labor they are happy to do because it's so rewarding,
Speaker 2: it's fun. You feel like you're making a long term
Speaker 2: investment in yourself, and so why would you miss out
Speaker 2: on this? Whole season of you know, beautiful temperatures. Who
Speaker 2: doesn't love being outside on a beautiful fall day. You can.
Speaker 2: I have the World Series on the radio there and
Speaker 2: some hot cider. It's win, win, win.
Speaker 1: And here's the beautiful little secret. Not only do you
Speaker 1: get that benefit, and not only is it a great
Speaker 1: time to put plants in the ground, perennial, shrubs, trees,
Speaker 1: that sort of thing, the odds are you're going to
Speaker 1: get a bargain.
Speaker 2: Yeah, oh yeah, I mean I wasn't going to go there,
Speaker 2: but let's go there.
Speaker 1: I'll go there because having operated a garden center, you know,
Speaker 1: I'm out there in September, October, and even November looking
Speaker 1: for bargains. And you may pick up this plant which
Speaker 1: looks very sad, and you feel bad for this plant,
Speaker 1: and it looks awful. By next spring, that thing's going
Speaker 1: to be gorgeous and it's going to look like you
Speaker 1: bought it and it's in all its glory. Yeah, great
Speaker 1: time of the year to buy plan.
Speaker 2: I mean, let's face it, any garden center owner will
Speaker 2: tell you, especially with shrubs and perennials and trees, if
Speaker 2: that stuff doesn't sell, they've got to deal with it.
Speaker 2: That means they got to drag it into some you know,
Speaker 2: quansit hut or something like that, or cover it. It's
Speaker 2: more work for them. And trust me, by the time
Speaker 2: fall rolls around, they are done with labor. You think
Speaker 2: you're done with labor, and the garden garden center owners
Speaker 2: are way done with labor. And so yeah, there are
Speaker 2: really good deals to be had. And I think a
Speaker 2: lot of people have some hesitation about planting in fall,
Speaker 2: But honestly, that really, I feel like, goes back to
Speaker 2: the olden days when everything was bald and burlapped and
Speaker 2: you didn't dig a lot of stuff in fall. But
Speaker 2: now that almost everything in our garden centers is contain
Speaker 2: or grown, there is very little that you can't safely
Speaker 2: plant in fall. The only exception I'm going to say,
Speaker 2: especially for those of us who live in colder climates
Speaker 2: a USDA Zone six or colder, avoid planting broad leaf evergreens. Now,
Speaker 2: if you get a good deal, you're going to do it. Anyway.
Speaker 2: I'm going to do the same thing. But it's not
Speaker 2: you know, like boxwood, rhododendrons. Those are the kind of
Speaker 2: things that I would say you generally want to shy
Speaker 2: away from planting infall, because even though they're going to
Speaker 2: have some times to put on roots, they're going to
Speaker 2: have a lot of challenges because they do have those
Speaker 2: broad leaves that they're going to have to withstand sun
Speaker 2: and wind and all of those other things through winter
Speaker 2: that you know, they aren't going to be able to
Speaker 2: do if they don't have a good root system. So
Speaker 2: those are the only things I would avoid. But even
Speaker 2: then I feel like if you do that early enough
Speaker 2: in September, it's probably not going to be an issue.
Speaker 2: And conifers are not an issue because they are already
Speaker 2: adapted to, you know, having lower water needs and with
Speaker 2: standing winter.
Speaker 1: So instead, let me throw in a plug for my
Speaker 1: Dutch family and friends in the Netherlands. Plant bulbs at least,
Speaker 1: especially if you are in a northern or a central
Speaker 1: US climate up into Canada, great time of the year
Speaker 1: to plant bulbs, tulips, hyacinths, and of course if you
Speaker 1: struggle with deer fritile areas, aliums and even Dutch bulb
Speaker 1: iris are fantastic and when they pop up in spring
Speaker 1: the deer we'll leave them alone.
Speaker 2: And you know what, no one ever regrets planting bulbs.
Speaker 2: Doesn't happen.
Speaker 1: I love it. I love it. Thanks for tuning in
Speaker 1: the Gardening Simplified Show. Thanks for making it a habit.
Speaker 1: Remember we're on YouTube. We also do a radio show
Speaker 1: here and a podcast. It's three and one. Yep, bonus time,
Speaker 1: just like fall planting exactly. Thanks Stacy, Thanks Adriana, and
Speaker 1: thanks to you for your support of our show. Have
Speaker 1: a great week.