Easy to Grow Plants

Coming to you from Studio A here at Proven Winners, Color Choice Shrubs.
It's time for the Gardening Simplified radio podcast and YouTube show. It's kind of
like a combo meal at lunchtime and for dessert, we offer you a website,
Gardening Simplified on air dot com with Stacyhirvella, me Rick Weist, and
our engineer and producer Adrianna Robinson. Well, you've heard the phrases easy come,
easy, go, take it easy, easy does it, easy as
pie, easy on the eyes, easy as falling off a log. And
I remember those commercials from the nineteen seventies and eighties, the Calgon commercials where
a lady is just frustrated with the traffic, the boss, the kids,
the dog, and then she finally screams, Calgon, take me away.
I remember those commercials too. Yeah, lose yourself in luxury bathbeads or whatever
those things were. But you know, we're all looking for easy, and
I really believe the key is letting go of trying to control things. I
guess, and that's much easier said than done. And spend time creating.
Trade a portion of your consumption time for creating, and you'll start to see
the world differently. Everything is inspiration, and the same is true in gardening.
Now, Stacy, I'm familiar with garden center customers who will come up
to me and they say, I need a plant that will grow to four
feet tall and then stop. I want it to be able to grow in
both sun or shade. I want it to flower, and I don't want
to have to do any maintenance. Oh, and don't forget it also has
to withstand the dog going on it all the time. And ideally a wile
flower every single day of every single year for the rest of eternity. You
got it. So I wrote a little limb, a rick, a real
short one in this regard. I don't want a plant that looks cheesy or
is so sick it makes me queasy. I want to set it and forget
it. Don't want to have to sweat it. Easy, peasy, lemon
squeezy. Oh that's great, and that's what people are looking that is what
they're looking for. Yeah. Now, my Florida friends who say after storms
are rain zephyr anthes bust out into bloom or rain lilies, this is a
bulbous perennial. In the Amarillis family, but it's one of those plants that
is easy peasy, And of course, one person's bulletproof easy plant is another
person's invasive plant. I think of must carry grape hyacinths or Siberian squill.
That can be the case. Yeah, you know, I think it really
is a matter of here's what I think. All plants are potentially easy to
grow, Okay. The difference is you need to plant them in the right
place so that you don't have to work hard to make them look great.
And therein lies the trouble. And that's why, you know, someone can
say, oh, I can't get delphiniums to grow it all down here in
Florida, and you can go up to Maine and delphiniums are growing all over
the place looking fabulous. It really is about the right plant in the right
place and knowing what your conditions are. But as simple as that may seem
to just say, the reality is a little bit different. Yah, It's
very true. It's well said. You know a plant that comes to mind
for me, Stacey, are the oh so easy roses. Now. I
think that this plant is really well named because it's just gorgeous and so easy
to grow. But I think back to the seventies and eighties when I was
working in the garden center industry. We would have this group of people called
the rosarians. Ah yes, and they would come into the greenhouse or the
store, and these were the magicians, these were the scientists. These were
the people who knew how to grow roses and knew exactly where to cut them
and how to treat them and overwinter them. And everyone depended on the rosarians.
Now we have these landscape roses like, oh so easy, and well,
it's easy, it is easy. And you know, roses are such
a great example because they do have this old vestigial reputation of being so difficult
to grow, and they needs break and they need prenny, and they need
dead heading, and they need this and that and the other. They need
to be dusted and coddled. And the fact is that's not necessarily how roses
were. Inherently, there were always easy care roses, But it's the hybrid
t roses that became so popular in the twentieth century that kind of developed this
mentality for people. And those are still around, but even those have improved.
Even those are easier to grow than they were back in the day,
and so yeah, it's about your expectations and of course getting the right plant
in the right place. Well, I'm glad you're recording Adriana because that was
really good. And that was all off the top of her head. That's
really good. Now, is there anything easier stacy than landscape workhorses, hammer
acalys or day lilies? I think of the rainbow rhythm day lilies. I
don't think there can there's much else in the landscape that is more of a
workhorse and easy than daylily. Well, I feel like daylilies and hostas are
like the sun and shade, you know, components of one another. They're
both like can't miss, easy to grow plants. But on the other hand,
as more and more of us have to deal with deer and those are
two of deer's top to all time favorite comfort foods, you know, we
do start looking at different plants to replace those. What else can we grow
that's just as easy? And I think you know one strong contender for the
replacement of dailies if you have deer is Nevada campment exactly, another very very
easy plant, yep, and another plant that like you see in municipal plantings.
I think that's a great indicator, right, if you're seeing a plant
in city plantings. Not to say they don't have a staff, but that
staff does not have the time or inclination and to go and you know,
dust and fuss over perennials and shrubs and make sure everything's growing well. They
want stuff that just looks great and makes the town look great with minimal time
inputs. O very true. That's why you see often see Russian sage.
Yeah, another great choice for sure. Yeah. When it comes to trees,
I've got to mention the inconspicuous hop horn beam or ironwood, a tough
understory tree. And what I love about this tree is that it's native and
you find it all the way from Canada as far south as the Honduras.
So this is a hard, tough, strong tree that doesn't get a lot
of press, doesn't get a lot of attention, but certainly is one of
those trees that I would classify as easy. Of course, herbs in general
are easy and forgiving. If you think about chives or oregano or creeping time
come back year after year and stacy really easy to grow. Herbs are so
so easy to grow and you know, that's one of the great things about
them. My herbs self, so so I always have an abundant, you
know, supply of them to cook with. And yeah, herbs are blessedly
easy. We're very, very fortunate to have such useful and easy to grow
plants. Attractive, blessedly easy. All right, let's just run through a
few quick ones then. I still find ornamental grass is to be very easy,
whether they're miscanthus panic comes the hack ina kloa Japanese forest grass carrects.
You've mentioned that a number of times, Stacy, aliens serendipity, aliens.
I love aliens. I think they're so simple to grow. The amazing daisies
like banana cream, baptizia seedum agistachi, smooth high ranges. I don't know
if you agree with me or not, Stacy, but I think they're easy
to grow. They're easy to grow if you don't have deer. Yeah,
yeah, right, exactly. You mentioned nepetta or nepita, however you lot
to pronounce it right, Potentilla. We've talked about that. Oh yeah,
one of the absolute easiest, especially if you live in a cool climate.
Exactly, spyrea ita, brunera, Virginia heliopsis. I find heliopsis, especially
in sunny spots, to be so easy to grow and so rewarding. Yeah,
it's a big time. It's a flower powerhouse that one. Yeah,
exactly great for cut flower gardens. And then you know, I have to
have iris on my list too. And I think part of the reason I
have iris on my list, Stacey, is because generally the deer and rabbits
leave the iris alone, and I find them pretty easy to grow, at
least if you don't have iris borer issues. Yeah, and even if you
do have iris bor that's actually a fairly easy pest to manage overall. And
you know, the cool thing about iris is that they look like they're hard
to grow. You know, you grow on some of these iris with these
crazy color combinations, and you look like you're some sort of you know,
mad scientists, But really all you did was plant the thing the right depth
and the right spot and you just get to sit back and reap the rewards.
Absolutely like Siberian iris love it. And if you don't have deer pressure,
Hosta is amazingly simple to grow, in my opinion, if you have
a little bit of shade and you don't have deer. I think it's because
the root system is just so tubrious and aggressive. Yeah, it's a very
robust root system. And you know, aside from slugs, hostas are pretty
much pest free, and even slugs are relatively easy to manage if you know,
you know what you're doing. Yeah, exactly. And then I've got
to throw Yucca color guard in there. And some people are gonna cringe because
you know, if you plant a yucca, you're making a lifetime commitment.
Plastic explosives probably won't even remove it ten years. Hence, but I tell
you what, in a dry sandy area where I'm at, the neighbors at
least really seem to love Yucca color well color guard. That's a variegated one,
and that's a little bit better behaved than just the straight green one,
which of course does grow everywhere. You know, I actually have some yucca
that I have removed, attempted to remove, and it was easier than I
thought in our sandy soil. If you have glay soil, I'm sorry,
I don't know what to tell you. Well, let's see what Stacy thinks
is easy peasy lemon squeeze in plants on trial and that's coming up next here
on the Gardening Simplified Shop, Prooven Winter's Colored Choice Shrubs cares about your success
in the garden. That's why we trial and test all of our shrubs for
eight to ten years, making sure they outperform everything else on the market.
Look for them in the distinctive white container at your local garden center. Greeting's
Gardening friends, and welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show, where we are
about to put a plant on trial. That is to say, we're going
to tell you all about one of the proven Winner's Color Choice shrubs and you
get to decide if you're going to put it in your yard or not.
And of course today's plan on trial is going to be an easy shrub.
But before I get into it, I want to add another kind of concept
to the easy to grow discussion, okay, the low maintenance discussion, and
that is, you know, I think what different people consider to be easy
or low maintenance does vary. You know, there really aren't any plants that
you're going to be planting in your garden that are like completely hands off.
I mean, there are some, but you might not be happy with the
results. So what are your expectations for the plant based on what you are
willing to put into it. And you know, as I'm embarking on this
adventure of removing my lawn and replacing it with plants, a lot of people
are looking at me going, oh, that's going to be a lot of
work, and I'm looking back at them going, look at your lawn exactly.
You know, people think of like they don't think about the maintenance that
they have to put into their lawn, Like that's different. Whereas you know,
with shrubs, perennials, bulbs, a lot of the things that we're
talking about, maintenance commitment that you have is really really minimal. Pretty much
anything you would grow as long as you are planting it in the right place
and not constantly trying to play catch up with Oh the water it needs and
the soil is not right, so every single year I have to amend the
soil, or I have to change the pH r I have to do this
or that or the other. You know, as long as you are putting
the right plants in your yard that once or twice a year where they might
need some pruning or you know, something like that, or fertilizing. That's
very, very minimal compared to what most people are dealing with in their lung.
That's well said Stacey. Good point, and it's a great way to
springboard and say as a show note that we have breathed the plant lady coming
up in our fourth segment today, and we're going to check in with her
too to get her interpretation of what an easy plant. You know. And
I'm a horticulturist, of course, you know, I have a lot of
knowledge about a lot of different plants and a lot of different aspects of plants
in this noggin. But even I don't want a high maintenance garden. Like
I have realized over time that what I'm looking for in my garden or from
my garden is not something that like forces me to do a bunch of stuff,
Like my plants work for me. I don't work for my plants,
and so I don't have, like, through the process of attrition, things
that I said, Oh, I'm really now I have a house. I
really really want to grow this, and I've been over backwards to try to
get it. If the deer ate it, if it turned out it was
too dry, turned out it was too sunny, I just let it go.
I like that approach. You're the boss apple sauce. That's right.
So anyway it what is low mains? I think when you're looking for low
maintenance plants, easy care plants, easy to grow plants, you do need
to define for yourself what is it you're willing to put in. What are
the reasonable expectations for that plant with the work that you're going to put in
and where you're going to plant it. But you know, I know when
people ask me, hey, like, what's any easy to grow shrub?
What is the easiest, proven winner's color choice shrub that I I can grow?
You know, that's not an easy question to answer because it does depend
on a lot of factors like the light, and not everyone is able to
just like say, oh, yeah, the spot is full sun or the
part of the spot is parts on or whatever if something if pH is an
issue, say like, you know, I'm not going to recommend an azalea
if they aren't sure that they have acidic soil. So when people ask me
and I don't have all those details, there is one plant that I come
back to again and again and again, and the reason for it is because
it's very versatile, it's very durable, grows everywhere, and most importantly,
for the little bit of work you're gonna have to put into it, it
is going to give you huge rewards because that's what people want ultimately, right.
They don't want to just say I want a low maintenance plant, but
it looks creddy, or it's really dull, really boring, it doesn't do
anything but just like sit there. They want a plant that's going to look
great and they don't have to work hard for it. And that plant is
panicle hydrangees. I love that. I love that the flowers last for a
long part of the season, Stacy. And when people walk up to me
in the garden center or greenhouse, generally I'll walk them over to the panicled
hydrange Yeah. And so people think hydrangees are difficult to grow because all these
different hydrangeas, there's six main types of hydranges that we grow in our gardens.
They all get lumped together into one big, confusing pile, and people
don't understand that there are different hydranges and that of those hydranges, in my
opinion, panicle hydrangees are the easiest to grow, the most versatile, the
most adaptable. So whatever conditions pretty much that you have, except for poorly
drained soil that is like the one thing they really can't take, they can
grow in any of that. They can grow in USDA Zone three, they
can our heat tilert up to USDA Zone eight, even zone nine in the
case of limelight Hydrangea, and they just look amazing. I mean, there
are few other plants that make such an impression all year round, but especially
in summer then a panicle hydrange And the other beauty Stacey is that you don't
necessarily have to pick a color because they tend to change color over the course,
so you get that exciting you know show. So we have fourteen different
panicle hydrangees in the proven Winner's color Choice line. And so the hard part
when I'm talking about easy to grow plants for me is picking which of those
easy to grow panicle hydranges I am going to cover in this particular episode of
Gardening Simplified. So I thought long and hard about it. I looked at
what I've already covered in terms of panicle hydranges. Some of my absolute favorites
have already been covered, like puffer fish, like Bobo, and so I
went with Little Quickfire HYDRANGEF for today's plant on Trial. Love it. I
love it too, And the reason that I picked this particular one is because
it's right there in the name Little Quickfire. So older panicle hydranges, you
know, certainly back in the day when PG was really the only one that
was around, are tard of a Those are huge plants. You know.
You can easily find mature PG hydranges in your neighborhood, possibly if it's an
older neighborhood, that are fifteen even twenty feet tall, whereas these newer varieties
like Little Quickfire reach only three to five feet tall and wide. So not
only are they just as easy to grow as other panicle hydranges, they're a
lot easier to use in your landscape because you don't have to worry about them
overgrowing your dining room windows, are growing up to your roof or outgrowing the
space. They stay really nice and tidy, and that smaller size also gives
them a lot of versatility in the landscape, so you can go ahead and
add them to your flower garden if you have a perennial garden or something like
that, you can use them in your landscaping, in your front yard as
a low hedge, as a specimen. They're just a really really versatile plant,
so that you can get that easy care, you know, without having
to think too much about like where am I going to fit? Yeah,
sure it's easy care, but I don't have space for a ten foot by
ten foot plant. You know. I love your choice, though, Stacey,
because I chose this plant, Little Quickfire, for my backyard because my
daughter was going to be getting married in the backyard in June and I felt
it was reliable to be in bloom by the wedding day. Yes, that's
so. Little Quickfire is a dwarf version of Quickfire, and quick Quickfire is
a variety that we have offered for many, many years. It came to
us from Mark Bulk, a wonderful plantsman in the Netherlands. He has a
nursery in boss Coop, the big nursery district in the Netherlands. But it's
a beautiful plant and it is the earliest blooming so for us here in Michigan,
Quickfire Hydrangeas are typically in bloom by fourth of July. Okay, if
you live in a warmer climate, that's going to be a little bit earlier.
If you live in a much colder climate, that's going to be a
little bit later. But it reaches about six to eight feet tall and wide,
so not huge, but definitely the kind of plant that you can't just
impulse purchase and say, oh, I'll just find a place for this rather
large shrub. So in comes a little quickfire that was tier by our new
plant development team, and it reaches just three to five feet tall and wide,
so really nice, versatile size. And it still has that very early
bloom time, so blooming by early July for US. And this early bloom
time has a couple of advantages that I think a lot of people may not
realize. Number one is that if you live in a very cold climate,
so it's hardy down to USDA Zone three, So if you're in the USD
Zone three, for even USDA Zone five, if you live like up North
Mackinaw Island or out east in a cooler area, sometimes if the summer is
especially cool, it might your panicle hydrangers might not flower until the end of
August. Kids are going back to school, you're thinking about moms and pumpkins,
and here comes your panicle hydrange like it's summertime. Let's party, and
you're like, wait what. So the nice thing, especially if you live
in a cold climate, is that you're going to have that early bloom time.
You're gonna be able to enjoy it more for the summer. And not
only that, but because it's blooming earlier, it's going to change color earlier.
So panical hydrangeas are the type of hydrangea that start out white and then
they take on various shades of pink, red, burgundy, or a combination
of all of those as the season progresses. So the earlier your panicle hydrangea
blooms, the longer you're going to be able to enjoy the color aspect of
that hydrangea. And so that's another really big advantage, especially if you live
in a colder climate. And I love the color of both quick Fire and
Little Quickfire. It's a deep red and I love the pinks. You know,
I'm not generally a pink person in my garden, with a couple of
exceptions like el nin yoch Talpa, which I adore, But this is a
nice deep red. It's also a lace cap flower. I was going to
say that lace cap fabulous for Pollinators. The Fabulous for Pollinators just has a
beautiful informal look that I personally love. And here I have been talking so
much about how much I love the little Quickfire, I didn't even get to
talking about how easy it is to care for. And we're out of time,
but we have lots of information about that, and of course I will
put it all in the show now, but take it from me, it's
easy to grow, it's versatile, full sun parts Son here in the North,
no problem parts Son in the South. Will put all the details at
Gardeningsimplified on air dot com. Right now, we're going to take it break.
When we come back, we're answering your garden questions at proven Winner's Color
Choice. We've got a shrub for every taste and every space. Whether you're
looking for an easy care rose and unforgettable hydrangea, or something new and unique,
you can be confident that the shrubs and the white containers have been trialed
and tested for your success. Look for them at your local garden center.
Creating's Gardening friends, and welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show. It's time
for us to answer your garden questions. The season is in swing. I'll
let people have questions. I even have questions when I'm out there. What
I do if I have a question is I don't do anything. I wait
until I can find out the answer. I don't act on impulse. Well
sometimes they do, but I try not to. I talk to myself.
That works, Yeah, I do. Do you give yourself getting I asked
the question and then I answer my question. Well, sometimes that does work.
It's like you just pretend you're here in studio A, and you're and
you know we're talking, and yeah, that's true. Sometimes you can talk
yourself up, talk yourself through a problem. But if you do have a
garden issue, you can reach us at help HLP at Gardening Simplified on air,
or just go to Gardeningsimplified on Air dot com click the contact tab there.
Also, we don't just take your questions, we take your garden celebrations
and accomplishments as well. And we got a great one this week. We
heard from a listener named Colin in Usdazo nine B. I love it.
I know you love that. I'm sure you're jealous. So he's in Central
Florida and he sent four fabulous pictures which you're gonna be able to see if
you're watching YouTube, or of course you can go to Gardening Simplified on air
dot com to see the photos that Colin shared with us. And here's what
you have to say. I would love to share pics of my first banana
harvest on my beautiful banana tree. One harvest gave me one hundred and twenty
bananas. Oh man, and I have a fresh new bunch coming along next.
You could say it's going bananas as Beethoven would say, banana wow.
He'd be proud of them. Yes. So, with annuals being planted all
over the country this time of year, I also wanted to share picks of
my super Tunia Vista bubblegums that I planted back on December twenty sixth twenty three.
Yes, they are winter annuals here in Florida, and they flourish.
They still look great. So here's some more bananas and blooms over the summer.
You know, Proven Winters does trial annuals in Florida in winter just for
that purpose. So December twenty six that's fantastic. While everybody's returning gifts at
the department store, Colin is planting supertunias and those bananas. Right, you
would think he was living in Banana Stan or New Peeland, but he's in
Florida, Central Florida. I want to talk to yeah, So maybe we'll
set something up, Colin, if you're open to it. The thing I
love, bananas are very cool plants, and a lot of people don't realize
how bananas grow. And you can actually see this in the picture that Colin
sent. So they have these long flowers that come down on these long stems,
and the petals kind of peel back and reveal the over or the banana
fruit, and those get pollinated and turn into the bananas. So Colin's pictures
are a great example of how unique bananas actually form within their flower and how
beautiful they are. So can you even imagine have it like just going out
to your backyard and being like, guess I'll get a banana for breakfast.
They're growing right here on my tree. So you know that one's for all
the warm climate gardeners who wish they could grow lilacs or peonies or whatever thing
we can grow up here. We are jealous of your bananas, and Stacey,
the pictures of the yard and the super tunias beautiful. Oh my gosh,
did you see the one is like he's got like a it looks like
a sunshine. The gust drum and one of the supertunies is creeping up to
the top of that because they're so robust down there, Colin, he's not
monkeying around. He's doing a great job there in central Florida. And thank
you for listening watching the show too, Yeah, definitely, so definitely want
to take a look at those. It really goes to show you what a
different world it must be gardening in Florida versus gardening up here. Right,
Oh, you got it, So what do you got in the mailbag?
Traying sends a question, probably an issue for a lot of people. Hello,
Stacey and Rick, help the dreaded rose slug is back. Besides spraying?
What can I do to protect my roses? Are there natural predators that
prey on them? I've tried blasting them off with my watering hose, but
they're still very small. I'm not so sure it's effective. And of course
we're talking here about the dreaded rose slug, but it's not really a slug
in that sense of the word, right, now now it's just called a
rose slug. It's actually well, I guess technically it would be considered like
a maggot because it is the fly a softly larva. But they have the
unique characteristic of turning the identical color to your rose foliage. They are very
hard to spot at first, especially when they're very small, as Treang says
that hers are. And uh, but you find them not necessarily looking for
them. But when they're very small, they make this very distinctive window like
damage on your rose because they are so small, they're little worm jaws or
little softly jaws can't get through the full leaf tissue, and so they end
up making a window because they only get through part of it, so it
doesn't go all the way through it. They can't their jaws aren't big enough
yet, so it's very distinctive. You can recognize that. And then when
you start seeing those little windows appealing appearing on your rose leaves, then you
go, oh, better turn those over because the softlies do feed from the
underside typically, and then if your eyes are good, the light's good,
you will be able to identify that little rose slug and you can just handpick
them hands squish them, depending on how severe the infestation is. However,
that may be much easier said than done, because they are where there's one
rose slug, there are many rose slugs. Slugs and a little bit of
a rose slug infestation. Your rose is going to be able to be fine,
it's not really going to harm it. But I have seen very very
severe ones that basically eat all the foliage off a rose, and even really
vigorous landscape roses aren't going to be able to withstand a whole whole lot of
that before it starts to severely weaken them because I can't quoto synthesize they have
no leaves, so a couple of things. You know, it always helps
to take the IPM approach and to learn about the life cycle of the of
the passage we're trying to manage. And in the case of the rose softly,
what happens is these softlies are going to metamorphosize next. So they're going
to overwinter under your rose in the soil as a pupa or kind of like
you can think of it as like a coon if you're not familiar with this
stage of an insect life cycle. So the overwinter is pupa in the soil
and then next spring they burst out. They may they let eggs on your
rose. It's just emerging and the cycle is repeated. So one of the
things that you can do is simply to cultivate around the base of your row.
So if you have mulch, you know, clear that away, fluff
it up, and then use like a rake to our a you know,
little hand cultivator to kind of lightly rough up the soil. And what that's
going to do is expose the cocoons that are that are down there. So
you want to do this probably more like in the July, August September time
frame. Do that, you know, maybe once a month, just go
out there, mix it all up. Birds et cetera will take care of
any cocoons and that can help a lot. When I was researching this,
that's what I saw over and over again in university websites. I agree one
hundred percent. And if you do it at that time of the year,
Stacey the roots. If you do any root damage, you shouldn't, but
if you do some root damage, the rose can easily recover. For yeah,
that's a great point. And you know roses we often talk about plants
that are shallowly rooted. Roses aren't a terrible offender that way. They aren't
like really shallow where you're going to be hitting a bunch of roots. I
will put some links in the show notes trying so you can do some research
and read more on this life cycle. But do be aware if we have
listeners from warmer climates. I don't know exactly where trag is located. There
are some species of rose slugs or in warmer climates they have two generations a
year, so this timing will only work if you're in a cooler climate and
are dealing with a one generation a season rose slug. But to my knowledge,
no, there's no specific natural predator. If a bird can see it,
it will certainly eat it, just like it would any other little crater
that it found on a plant. But you can't always count on that.
So sounds good, all right. Myra planted two gentlemen lace Russian sage two
years ago. I loved that plant. They both did wonderfully last year,
but this year one of them came back all ten looking, it's half the
size of the other one, and the third year being in the ground instead
of leaping it's all rough and woody on the bottom like its cousin lavender.
That's a good analogy, right, What can I do? Can it be
replanted elsewhere? I did want to mention a programming note here, Stacey,
that in my research I always thought that Russian sage was named after the great
General Leonoid Petrovsky. He was instrumental in dealing with the German invasion of the
Soviet Union, and part of the reason they named the plant after him was
because the pungent smell of Russian sage smelled like the boots of Russian soldiers.
Well, I guess I was wrong. No, it's not the case.
It was named by a Russian botanist around eighteen forty after Perovsky, the Turkestani
governor of the Russian province of Orenburg. So if you ever have one of
those Cliff Claven cheers moments and somebody asks you, now you know there you
go? Okay? I did not know that, So Mayra send pictures.
Mayra did send pictures of her Russian sage, So that is always very helpful
when we're diagnosing issues. So overall, I don't think that the plant looks
too bad. Russian sage is what is considered a subshrub, and I'm glad
that she mentioned lavender because lavender is also a subshrub. So basically what that
means is that they have a bit of a woody base but herbaceous on the
top, and so that's totally common. So you mentioned the woody basse,
that's totally within the regular behavior of this plant. So that's nothing to be
concerned of in and of itself. And when I look at the plant,
I do see that it's a bit stunted compared to its neighbor. But I
did notice something else in the photos, and that is that there is landscape
fabric, and so there's landscape fabric under the mulch, and what that does
is that keeps a lot of moisture around the plant. And Russian sage is
a very drought not just drought tolerant, but it wants really dry and well
drained conditions. So if it's getting overly wet, especially if it's wet in
the winter or the spring when it's emerging, if you had very heavy clay
soil and it was very cold climate, the plant would just die. So
it's kind of even amazing that it's staying alive and has lived as well as
it has under those conditions. So Myira, I think that the best thing
that you can do is to brush back that mulch, cut away the landscape
fabric for a good eighteen inches around the plant, and then put the mulch
back. That's fine, but the landscape fabric really makes a difference in how
much moisture it holds into the soil perfectly so ye, So that's what I
would do. If you do want to transplanet, that's perfectly fine too.
You can do that now, but ideally I would wait until next spring or
this fall when it is dormant. We got to take a little break.
When we come back, We've got a special guest for branching news, so
please stay tuned. The Gardening Simplified Show is brought to you by proven Winter's
Color Choice. Our award winning flowering shrubs and evergreens have been trialed and tested
for your success so you enjoy more beauty and less work. Look for Proven
Winners Color Choice shrubs and the distinctive white container at your local garden center.
Welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show. Branching news Here on the show and
for today's Branching News in interview with a wonderful lady, Breathe the plant Lady.
We're going to talk to her. And by the way, her website
bree grows dot com, so that's Burie grows dot com. And I was
thinking, Stacy, if we were going to talk about easy plants, we
should talk to Breed for a number of reasons. Number one, of course
she knows her stuff. Number two, she's down there in hot North Carolina.
And number three, talk about an energetic and enthusiastic person who plants all
kinds of stuff. I can't keep up with her, and I think she's
the perfect person to ask about easy plants. Well, you know, the
busier the gardener, the more they need some easy plants, otherwise they won't
have time for anything exactly. So, Bri, welcome to the Gardening Simplified
Show. And I got to mention right off the bat, I noticed that
you just got an award Club Horticulture Commendation for the Garden Club of America.
Now that's really cool. What a great recognition for you. Oh, thank
you so much, it thinks for having me back. Yes, it was
such a surprise and an honor to receive that. I love the Garden Club
of America for all that they do, and they're horticulture outreach and well,
I have it hanging probably on my wall right by my diploma. It is
much deserved, Bri, and you are one of the most enthusiastic gardeners that
I know, and I encourage people to go to your website Brie grows dot
com. And of course Brie has also written some books, so make sure
to take a look at that also. So, Brie, is there anything
easy to grow down there? I'm saying down there because we're broadcasting from Michigan,
but down there, and of course you would know, Bri, you
are a Michigan native, right, that's right. I'm a former Mischigander.
You know. I've been in North Carolina now twenty two years, and we
actually have a lot of Michiganders living here in the Raleigh area, so I
feel like I'm in good company. This is a challenging environment to grow in
because frankly, everything that you do in the North is upside down down here.
You know, we have a twelve month growing season and a lot of
the plants that you would grow as summer annuals in Michigan are winter annuals here,
and that takes a lot of effort to navigate figuring out the seasonality of
plants. The plantags don't give you that detail, right, Yeah, I
mean they're for the whole country, not just you know, regional plant tags
as you no doubt no would drive this industry crazy. So it does take
you know, that regional expertise to really be able to maximize those unique opportunities.
It does, and I feel and endlessen no of job security as more
Northerners moves south but want to continue to garden. And for sure, I
should say my favorite easy plant for the summer is mangve. I am mad
about mangove, like irrational, I am trying to collect every variety they have.
I think I currently have a live wall filled with mangove. Wow.
Actually I'm going to divide them so that both sides of the wall are planted
with them, because that's what rational persons would do. And I think I
have almost one hundred individual plants. No, I don't know that our listeners
know what a mangave is, and they're probably sitting there going is she's saying
mangave I know agave, I don't know mangave. So for the enlightenment of
our listeners, can you tell them what a mangave is. Well, mangave
was actually bred and created up near you at Walter's Garden. And it's an
ener generic hybrid, which for plant people that's super special. That's like putting
a cat and a dog together. And it's a Manfreda agave hybrid. And
what you end up with is this agave structure that isn't prickly, that has
really cool colors and textures. And some of the varieties have spots and some
are stripes, and some get really big and some are perfect for pots and
they're really amazing. They don't need a lot of water, which is the
main thing. They just look fabulous and the dear leave them alone. So
if there's all these reasons to collect mangave's, they're not reliably party in the
winter here that they make great house plans. So it's one of those plans
that you can bring inside and enjoy during the cool season and then put outside
and forget it all summer long. It's just everybody needs mangave, period.
That's fabulous. Where Brie, where do you store yours in winter? Is
it an unheated shed? Where do you put them? I actually with them
in the carall space with grow lights. Wow. Wow. And actually they're
really fun to show people at dinner parties because then it just makes you seem
that much more insane, the underneath of your house completely full of magha.
So what's your oldest mangave, then, the one that you've had the longest.
I have had Kaleidoscope was my very first, okay, and it's ups
pretty readily. So it's one of those that every year when I pot it
up, I can divide it and share it with people. And I was
fortunate, you know, I worked with hands Hanson, well, worked with
him loosely when I was the production manager at Plant Delight, and he's a
longtime friend. He's the breeder of the mangavis, and he sent the to
trial just to see if this is part of the original trial pack, and
I really just I cherished in so many ways. Hands down, they are
the plant that every visitor asks about because they're so dynamic and interesting that you're
not going to poke your eye out with them. And I don't grow any
agave at all because I'm afraid I'll hurt myself. Sure, yeah, myself
full permission to grow all the manngavis. And a lot of people are even
afraid, you know, if you're not going to hurt yourself. They're afraid
of their pets, cats, you know, dogs, kids. There's a
lot of reasons to be concerned. Now, I would think that most people
are surprised that you can grow them so successfully in a human climate like North
Carolina and they just thrive. It's incredible. They really don't require desert conditions,
and that's partly the Manfreda you know tendencies coming out. It is.
They are just they're vigorous and well, they're just amazing. And actually when
they flower, the flower spikes are really impressive, just like in agave.
You know, they might go eight to ten foot tall. They attract so
many different pollinators. It's really really a site to behold. Wow, Yeah,
I understand what you're saying about the agave and herding yourself. We used
to ship them up from Florida up here to Michigan and then unpackaging them bore
you reach into that box. There are times when you, yeah, especially
you could poke your eyes out with that thing. It's like the the BB
Christmas story, right, Yeah, exactly, now, Brie, we were
talking also about the fact that Stacey and I both feel that herbs would probably
be a good plant to put in the easy category. Would you agree,
and if so, which of the herbs do you think are easy to grow?
I absolutely agree, and I always say herbs are the gateway of food
scaping. But my hands down, without hesitation, favorite herb is a maslbasil.
That is a game changing plant. It's incredible. It thrives through the
summer. You can make enough pesto to feed your entire county because it's so
vigorous, you know, and it's just it's delicious, it's disease free.
I just love a masalbasel. It's the one dasel that I think no one
can live a happy life about. I agree, yeah, And you know,
it's so popular. Honestly, I have been looking for it. I
think it's since it's got such a reputation for all of that disease resistance and
everything. You have to snap it up when you find it because otherwise it
will sell out. Yeah, it's a no brainer. I call it basil
instinct. Bree grows is the website Brie grows dot com the Plant Lady look
for on YouTube. Of course, she speaks all around the country and has
written books, and of course I got to know Brie based on the food
scaping book Brie. If you were to pick, other than herbs, a
vegetable plant that you like to grow, that you think is easy peasy,
what do you think? Oh? Well, I wish I could say tomatoes,
But tomatoes in the South break your heart in a thousand different ways,
and so they keep you humble. So I guess they're I guess they're good
for one thing. But really I think I'm torn between eggplants and peppers.
I like how productive they are, how heat tolerance. I have this terrible
tickborn illness called alpha gal where I'm anaphylactically allergic to everything from a mammal.
So I grow a lot of vegetables just because I eat more vegetables than the
average person, because it's kind of all I'm left with to be able to
eat. And I like how reliable eggshants and peppers are that I can go
out and harvest every day. I don't have a store a whole bunch in
the refrigerator and you know, we're just getting into that season. I also
kind of live on zucchini, so we're just getting into the season where zucchini
will start producing. And you know those are those are three vegetables that are
your daily staples for me. And when I don't have to buy them from
the store, it feels so much better, but also a luxury to be
able to go in your backyard and get them. It's like the stores in
your backyard and exactly, and it saves a lot of space in your refrigerator.
You know, we've been laughing. I eat like five heads of cauliflower
a week, and that's like having five basketballs, right. I grow cauliflower
in the winter season just because there's not room in the refrigerator for my cauliflower.
Have it, Brie? Are you like me where I especially when we
get to summer, I absolutely crave stuffed peppers. I love stuffed green peppers,
yes I do. And I of course can have them with ground turkey,
so I don't have to be completely deprived. Even though I'm mammal free,
I'm unfortunate that I can still eat fish and poul frey safely. I
love stuffed peppers, all right, So in the heat of summer. You
need some shade there in North Carolina. Brie, how about a tree that
you think is really rewarding and easy to grow, or maybe one on your
property that you really enjoy. What do you think, ooh, a tree
for shade. I immediately went to Hydransas for shade because I just watched and
cound my yard and realize I have fifty seven coldivars. Wow, And I
told myself that I wasn't a hide your person happen? What is going on?
But a tree? Well, I'm really encouraged by the plant breeding that's
being done at Empty State through doctor Tom Rainey. And this year he gave
me the new hybrid dogwoods. It's three quarters native one quarter KUSA and it
has really great disease resistance and you know it's going to just long term be
the option to have because disease is wiping out our native dogwoods. And I
just really appreciate his proactiveness in breeding for the future and recognizing the problems.
And I feel honored to have one of the very first ones to be planted.
And every day I like go out and talk to it. I do
have it planted instade it's too young. It didn't bloom this year, but
it's I think settling in well, and I do think it's a plant that
will be a pretty dominant fixture in the industry in years to come, so
be on the lookout for it. I don't think it technically has a name
yet. We got a little steak for you here. Well, we do
sing Doctor Rainey's praises on the show all the time. Of course, he
is an absolutely brilliant plant breeder and problem solver, and we're so here in
North Carolina. We feel very fortunate to claim his and claim him as ours
in He's making the world a better place every single day. It's amazing how
his breeding has touched so many people's lives and gardens. For sure, you
are one of the most enthusiastic gardeners I know, and even one hundred degree
humid heat in North Carolina isn't going to stop you. So tell our listeners
and our viewers, Brie, what are you excited about this year? What
are you really looking forward to? Well, I went down to a nursery
near Wilmington and brought a prius load of rock and fuchia sow you and I
am here rationally excited about this plant. So they're already in full bloom.
They're only going to get bigger and better. And the hummingbirds have recently arrived
and they love this plant so much they do. I'm actually going back down
next week and I think I'm going to get another previous load. So which
is your favorite color of the series. I'm curious. Well, I love
them all, but the one that I keep gravitating towards is fusia. And
it's really funny because I didn't think of myself as a pink person. Now
I have this like entire front border that's just like right pink, and it
looks awesome. It looks beautiful with my blue house. And I also got
a bunch of the white proven winner Klaomis, you know that are sterile,
and they just are so reliable blooming. It's that fusia and white together.
It's gorgeous. It's like drop dead, stop in your tracks. My neighbors
stop and come over and take pictures and they're like, well, you just
please label more so that we know what to buy. You also like a
QR code in your front yard and like stand for the plant list. I
really do you need. What I need is a tech savvy intern. Anyone
out there that's tech savvy, get interested me. That's great. You know,
I'm with you on that hummingbird thing. The rock and fuchia. I
put them in pots all the way leading up my front steps, and uh,
you'd be happy to hear on the lake shore here in Michigan just this
past week. Yes, mine are in bloom two and I saw hummingbirds already,
so it's fantastic. Oh that's so exciting, you know that. And
that vermillionaire cufia that is one of mine. Must have every year too.
Yeah. Me, that's actually been hearty. So it's really win because they
come back it must get huge. Then that's really cool. I plant the
die all the way down, but they do, they get like three by
three. I love it. I planted one this year, Bree, based
on Stacey nudging me on that plant. She loves that plant, and so
I'm giving it a try this year. I'm looking forward to it. Oh
you will not be disappointed. But I always joke I don't want to be
the person who just like plants the same annuals every year, but I have
turned into that because I love that plant so much. I just I simply
can't have a summer without it. I totally agree, And to be honest,
I hope more breeding continues with kufia because there are a lot of species
that really haven't been explored, and they're so reliable that they bloom for the
entire growing season. There's so many colors and shapes and forms. And I
would love to see kufia bread for hanging baskets so they can dangle down.
And you know, I have I have all these dreams for plant readers.
So if anyone's listening exactly, can you just call me and we'll go over
my whistles brie uh. Both Stacy and I really like the summerrific hibiscus,
the dinner type dinner plate type hibiscus uh in North Carolina. With all the
sun and heat that you have, how does a plant like that do there?
They do really well that we do have some pretty serious insect problems.
A lot of times they will just almost look like lace because become no foliage
left. And in part that's because I don't I don't spray any testicides.
It's kind of like, well, it's still a flower. A lot of
I'm very sticky when I'm taking the pictures of my high biscus. There's almost
no green on the leaves, but the flowers are amazing, and you know,
I like to underplant those with different colors of colias, different varieties of
colius like Elbrido and dipped and wine and proven Winners has really done the most
incredible job with their colius collection. And I know a lot of these are
coming from doctor Dave Clark out of Florida, which means they're really good performers
for me, because you know, they like heat and humidity, and they're
just so reliable for providing that ooms that you want. Even in the hottest
days of the summer. They don't lose their color and vigor. Wow,
that's saying something too. Yeah, you bet so. As we enter the
heat of summer. Before we let you go here, Bri give our listeners
viewers some advice on dealing with the heat. I'm not talking about us personally,
but I'm talking about as gardeners having success in the heat of summer.
How do you approach it? What's your go to strategy in the heat of
summer? Soil prep without even I'm glad you said that the more time you
send adding organic matter to the ground you grow in, the easier the experience
will be, the less irrigating you have to do, the stronger your plants
will be. I mean not to say that you're going to go without watering,
because the weather is usually not that reliable. It gives you the rain
exactly when you need it. But when you put your time and energy into
soil, every other part of gardening becomes more fun. Add more organic matter,
always and forever, no question about it. She is Breathe the Plant
Lady. Look for on YouTube, of course, her website bree grows dot
com. Look for her books Breed. Just greatly appreciate your enthusiasm and again
congratulations on that award Club Horticulture Commendation from the Garden Club of America. But
I really think it suits you well because you're enthusiasm for gardening and what you
do for the industry is much appreciated by many, ourselves included, and we
appreciate you joining us on the Gardening Simplified Show. Well, you are so
welcome, and thank you so much. I love catching up with you and
talking about playing. Thanks so much for it's always a pleasure. Good luck
gardening this year, Ah Houston, The ship is at stable one. Those
were the words of Jim Lovell An Apollo thirteen. Today's show feels like a
rocket ship to me. It's so much information packed in and stacy. Always
a privilege and pleasure to do the show. Likewise, Ray and thanks so
much, Adriana, thank you, and most of all, thanks to you
thanks for tuning us in. Again a reminder, we are a podcast,
we are a radio show, and we are a YouTube show. So pick
which one you like or pick all three. We'd love that and have yourself
agreeable. Thank you.