The Bigger, the Better! | Big Plants

<v Speaker 1>Broadcasting from Studio A Here at proven Winners, Color Joy Shrubs.
<v Speaker 1>It's time for the Gardening Simplified Show with Stacy Hrvella,
<v Speaker 1>me Rick Weist, and our engineer and producer Adrianna Robinson.
<v Speaker 1>Today we talk about big plants. What a great topic.
<v Speaker 1>Go big or go home, big shots, the big picture,
<v Speaker 1>speak softly and carry a big stick, too big for
<v Speaker 1>one's breeches. You get the idea. Ever, put a landscape
<v Speaker 1>plant in the ground and it gets much bigger than
<v Speaker 1>you expected, or an dissipated.
<v Speaker 2>Uh yes, because I live in a fantasy world where
<v Speaker 2>I can plant whatever I want and ignore the spacing.
<v Speaker 2>So yes, that has happened to me many times.
<v Speaker 1>And I believe you are not alone. I think about
<v Speaker 1>the movie Big with Tom Hanks. Loved that movie, and
<v Speaker 1>you know he wishes that he was big, and then
<v Speaker 1>he visits what was it? I put it down here Zoltar,
<v Speaker 1>the fortune teller machine, the antique fortune teller machine, and
<v Speaker 1>suddenly he gets what he wished for. What a great movie.
<v Speaker 1>But big landscape plants, it's all relative. Of course, we
<v Speaker 1>can talk about big trees, but this is about big
<v Speaker 1>landscape plants with big characteristics and size, something that's out
<v Speaker 1>of the routine, so to speak. Now, it's not a
<v Speaker 1>definitive list. This is just a conversation because Stacy, I
<v Speaker 1>think you and I could probably do three four, five
<v Speaker 1>six shows on big plants.
<v Speaker 2>Because I love them. I am going to come right
<v Speaker 2>out and say, yeah, we're not talking about like, you know,
<v Speaker 2>the giant sequoias out in California, which are obviously extremely
<v Speaker 2>amazing and impressive, but like their tree, you know, they're gigantic.
<v Speaker 2>For me, what this show is about are those plants
<v Speaker 2>that basically go from nothing in spring where there's nothing
<v Speaker 2>above ground, and the next thing you know, by the
<v Speaker 2>time summer rolls around, they're five six, seven, ten feet tall.
<v Speaker 2>And watching that process of something going from nothing to
<v Speaker 2>just this massive plant, it just never gets old from me.
<v Speaker 2>I absolutely love it. My garden is full of these
<v Speaker 2>types of plants, and yeah, the more I can get,
<v Speaker 2>the better I agree.
<v Speaker 1>And no garden is too small for a large leafed plant.
<v Speaker 1>The key is knowing how, where and when to use it,
<v Speaker 1>all of which depends on the impression that you want
<v Speaker 1>to make. But you can punctuate. You can make an
<v Speaker 1>impression with big plants. I mean I think off the
<v Speaker 1>top of my head. Stacey, we've talked about El Nino
<v Speaker 1>desert orchid.
<v Speaker 2>Sample definitely a great example.
<v Speaker 1>The cup plant that you love, and we should talk
<v Speaker 1>about that today callicanthus sweet shrub. Any of those types
<v Speaker 1>of plants in a shady spot, A hosta is a
<v Speaker 1>great example. You have the Shadowland Empress woh Sta hybrid,
<v Speaker 1>you have shadow Land Gigantisaurus Hasta hybrid, and of course, Stacey,
<v Speaker 1>the old standard summon substance.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I love those hostas. Now. Of course I don't
<v Speaker 2>have them because I have deer and very little shade
<v Speaker 2>and I don't water, and that's how you're going to
<v Speaker 2>get the truly impressive results on those is. Yes, plenty
<v Speaker 2>of moisture. But boy do I love seeing a well
<v Speaker 2>grown giant hosta. Just fills me with envy.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, it's fantastic. It's like they're saying, stop here, look
<v Speaker 1>at me. It's great. And then you can take it
<v Speaker 1>to the next level. Plant in mass for impact, where
<v Speaker 1>space is not constrained. You take some of these dramatic
<v Speaker 1>plants and then plant them in mass I think of
<v Speaker 1>the airport here in West Michigan in the entrance where
<v Speaker 1>they have a viburnum placatum double file and they get
<v Speaker 1>so large and when they bloom and they're in the
<v Speaker 1>ent entrance in a drift.
<v Speaker 2>I've never knowniced that. I guess I've never flown out
<v Speaker 2>in late spring, but I will have to make some
<v Speaker 2>arrangements and see this legendary planting. Yeah, I mean, I
<v Speaker 2>think that a lot of people think that big plants
<v Speaker 2>are bad because they don't have space. But the fact is,
<v Speaker 2>I think that big plants are extremely useful in low
<v Speaker 2>maintenance gardening because if you plant one very large plant
<v Speaker 2>and you cite it, well, it's basically no work. Sure,
<v Speaker 2>you know, it's like you can just transform an area
<v Speaker 2>of your yard from something that you have to mow
<v Speaker 2>or trim or whatever and just plant something large and
<v Speaker 2>it kind of just takes care of itself. It makes
<v Speaker 2>a bigger impression. And you know, I think that in
<v Speaker 2>many ways, big plants are getting harder to find. There
<v Speaker 2>is a prevailing assumption in the horticulture industry right now
<v Speaker 2>that people want smaller plants, and it is true that
<v Speaker 2>people very often have smaller yards, but that doesn't mean
<v Speaker 2>is not place for big plants. And you know, a
<v Speaker 2>well chosen big plant can make all the difference, especially
<v Speaker 2>in the small yard.
<v Speaker 1>Exactly. It can be explosive. But you know what, again,
<v Speaker 1>big is relative. You can find big in something like bulbs.
<v Speaker 1>You look at bulbs. I was always excited in spring
<v Speaker 1>when the big elephant ear bulbs would come in and
<v Speaker 1>then you look, you know, there's big as softballs, and
<v Speaker 1>you think, wow, the potential that lies in this plant
<v Speaker 1>or alium gigantium, or the fritile areas or whatever it
<v Speaker 1>may be. I shared with Adriana a picture of met
<v Speaker 1>at Koekenhoff trying to fill my big European shoes for
<v Speaker 1>YouTube listeners and viewers. But I'm always on the lookout
<v Speaker 1>for something bigger, better, more unusual. I'm a fan of
<v Speaker 1>plants with big, tropical showy leaves, so you know I
<v Speaker 1>love canas colocacia bananas. I mean, you take something like
<v Speaker 1>Mussa bajou, which is the hardy Japanese fiber banana. Even
<v Speaker 1>though in the north and I'm in Zone six B,
<v Speaker 1>it dies back to the ground if you're able to
<v Speaker 1>keep it alive. The amount of growth, like you said
<v Speaker 1>at the outset, Stacey, is quite inspiring that you get
<v Speaker 1>in one season have.
<v Speaker 2>You been able to successfully elul Oh, that's cool. How
<v Speaker 2>old is yours? Then?
<v Speaker 1>Well, I had one for numerous years until I moved,
<v Speaker 1>and now this spring I just planted one, so I'm
<v Speaker 1>gonna try again.
<v Speaker 2>So what's your secret to overwintering this? Just keeping it dry?
<v Speaker 1>Okay, Soltz, you've got a mulch. The plant needs a
<v Speaker 1>fair amount of water during the growing season in order
<v Speaker 1>to produce that growth. But for winter good I'm talking
<v Speaker 1>mounded mulch.
<v Speaker 2>Okay, yeah, big. You know, make sure that that that
<v Speaker 2>rise them under there is well buried exactly, And then
<v Speaker 2>of course you can't risk uncovering it too late, because
<v Speaker 2>then you could earth plant right exactly. But it's worth
<v Speaker 2>it to have a hardy banana exactly.
<v Speaker 1>One of my favorite big plants in the landscape is rhododendrons,
<v Speaker 1>and I think part of the reason for that is
<v Speaker 1>because the root system is small proportionately to the top
<v Speaker 1>of the plant. And I went out yesterday shot a
<v Speaker 1>couple pictures for YouTube viewers of just some neighbors who
<v Speaker 1>have gigantic rhododendrons. Well, again, we live on the lake
<v Speaker 1>shore here in West Michigan, and the conditions allow us
<v Speaker 1>to grow rhododendrons that need moisture and yet need good drainage.
<v Speaker 1>If they sit in water, they're not going to do well.
<v Speaker 1>And then you think about rhododendron maximum or great laurel
<v Speaker 1>or wild rhododendron. You see a lot of that in
<v Speaker 1>the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. These things get absolutely huge.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, rhododendron can be very You know the one that
<v Speaker 2>goes that meme that goes around about the This is
<v Speaker 2>the one hundred year old rhododendron with a lady who
<v Speaker 2>planted it. So she apparently planted it as an infant.
<v Speaker 2>But it's a good example of how of the truly
<v Speaker 2>epic proportions rhododendron can reach.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, if the conditions are right, you bet rhododendri Rhododendron
<v Speaker 1>Dell is a great landscape showcasing all the rhododendrons at
<v Speaker 1>Arnold's Arboretum. And I went arnold Arboretum and I went
<v Speaker 1>there this past year. Four hundred and forty six rhododendrons
<v Speaker 1>in that collection. I think about full speed a hedge
<v Speaker 1>and arbor vitie that gets very, very tall and yet
<v Speaker 1>in the garden center. I see a lot of people,
<v Speaker 1>Stacey who opt for Thuya placata, which is the green
<v Speaker 1>giant or great Western cedar because of deer pressure.
<v Speaker 2>Right, so green giant is actually a hybrid between Placata
<v Speaker 2>and Standiscia. Is im a Asian species. But green Giant
<v Speaker 2>lives up to its name. It is a big it's tall,
<v Speaker 2>but it's also very broad at the base, so it's
<v Speaker 2>really it's good for privacy hedging if you have a
<v Speaker 2>lot of ground space. Otherwise, something like full Speed Hedge
<v Speaker 2>or north Pole from proven Winners are great choices because
<v Speaker 2>they take up less ground real estate but can still
<v Speaker 2>give you the privacy. Do you have to space them
<v Speaker 2>a little bit more closely, of course to make up
<v Speaker 2>for that. But green Giant is a household name, but
<v Speaker 2>it is definitely not for every yard. But it's cool,
<v Speaker 2>all right.
<v Speaker 1>I'll give you a big plant, Limerick. And by the way,
<v Speaker 1>we're going to continue to talk about big plants in
<v Speaker 1>segment for it will also be interesting to see Stacey's
<v Speaker 1>plant on trial that is chosen this week as we
<v Speaker 1>talk about big plants. Here's my limb rick. I need
<v Speaker 1>a plant colossal, not something dainty or docile, something downright
<v Speaker 1>large that shows it's in charge, as big as a
<v Speaker 1>dinosaur fossil. I want a plant that's big, a leafy, robust,
<v Speaker 1>large fig. A plant that's substantial and really consequential, not
<v Speaker 1>a wimpy, modest twig. To big plants, I'm deferential that
<v Speaker 1>fill my lot residential. Nothing that is passive. Make it
<v Speaker 1>really massive with foliage, substantial, something that is enormous. Tell us,
<v Speaker 1>please inform us of a plant with impact that isn't compact.
<v Speaker 1>It's got to be ginormous.
<v Speaker 2>Nice.
<v Speaker 1>We'll see what kind of impactful plant Stacey shares with us. Next.
<v Speaker 1>In Plants on trial here on the Gardening Simplified.
<v Speaker 2>Show, Beautify your home and community with proven Winner's Color
<v Speaker 2>Choice Shrubs with over three hundred and twenty five unique
<v Speaker 2>varieties to choose from. There's a flowering shrubber evergreen for
<v Speaker 2>every taste and every space. Just look for the distinctive
<v Speaker 2>white container your local garden center or learn more at
<v Speaker 2>proven Winner's Color Choice dot com. Greetings gardening friends, and
<v Speaker 2>welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show. We're talking about
<v Speaker 2>one of my all time favorite topics as well as
<v Speaker 2>plants to put in the garden, and that is big plants.
<v Speaker 2>I mean, I like small plants. Let's like, not pretend
<v Speaker 2>that's not true. I have tons and tons of small plants.
<v Speaker 2>I have tiny little seedum's, tiny little supervivum, and I
<v Speaker 2>love those as well. But there is just something to
<v Speaker 2>me that is so inspiring about something like smarific hibiscus,
<v Speaker 2>which you know, comes spring, not a thing to be
<v Speaker 2>found in the ground, no signs of life whatsoever. And
<v Speaker 2>then you know, late May, couple little tiny shoots start
<v Speaker 2>to poke up and you're like, okay, and then you know,
<v Speaker 2>by July you've got a five foot tall plant covered
<v Speaker 2>in flowers, and you're just like, how did that happen?
<v Speaker 1>It's exciting, it's explosive. Not only a big plant, big flowers,
<v Speaker 1>big flowers.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, so I love that. I also love, you know,
<v Speaker 2>any number of native plants. Like one of my favorites
<v Speaker 2>that I have is Agastaki nepatoides. So this is the
<v Speaker 2>green hissip and nepatoides means it looks like catnap, which
<v Speaker 2>it kind of does, except that it gets to be
<v Speaker 2>eight feet tall and it puts on these amazing candelabra
<v Speaker 2>type branches and again, I just love seeing that go
<v Speaker 2>from like where where even is that plant? To just
<v Speaker 2>this massive presence in the landscape. It never it never
<v Speaker 2>gets old for me. And you know, when it comes
<v Speaker 2>to shrubs, of course, there's lots of big shrubs. If
<v Speaker 2>we were just talking about plants that reach epic proportion
<v Speaker 2>as well, I could still go on all day. But
<v Speaker 2>there the shrub version of this ability to go from
<v Speaker 2>virtually nothing to just a massive in bloom plant I
<v Speaker 2>think is best epitomized by butterfly bush.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah.
<v Speaker 2>Now, especially older varieties of butterfly bush. As I said,
<v Speaker 2>the industry is largely under the operating under the belief
<v Speaker 2>that people want smaller plants, and there's definitely been a
<v Speaker 2>tendency to breed smaller and smaller butterfly bush compared to
<v Speaker 2>back in the day, when you know, good luck finding
<v Speaker 2>a butterfly bush it's under six feet. Now it's more
<v Speaker 2>like good luck finding a butterfly bush that's over six
<v Speaker 2>feet anymore. And I think there's still a place for that.
<v Speaker 2>But no matter what size butterfly bush you have, they
<v Speaker 2>all share this ability to kind of come out of
<v Speaker 2>winter looking like they're dead, nearly dead. It's one of
<v Speaker 2>the plants that I think people are most likely to
<v Speaker 2>give up on because they just look so ghastly, you know,
<v Speaker 2>in late winter, early spring, and next thing you know,
<v Speaker 2>they're growing and you think, okay, well, I guess it
<v Speaker 2>were covered from that winter damage, but it's not going
<v Speaker 2>to flower. And then like a week later it's covered
<v Speaker 2>in flowers. I mean, it's amazing, blamo blamo exactly. So
<v Speaker 2>today's plan on trial is one of my favorite of
<v Speaker 2>our butterfly bush and that is Miss Violet. Oh my gosh,
<v Speaker 2>this is a plant that you know, I like Budi.
<v Speaker 2>I am definitely choosy about what I put in my garden,
<v Speaker 2>but my neighborhood a Miss Violet, and that made me
<v Speaker 2>want a Miss Violet because it was so pretty that
<v Speaker 2>I just love the deep purple flowers sow. The Miss
<v Speaker 2>series of butterfly bush are developed to be about four
<v Speaker 2>to five feet tall and wide and to have kind
<v Speaker 2>of a more elegant habit than your average budlia. So
<v Speaker 2>some butterfly bushes can have like a really uh, let's
<v Speaker 2>just say habit is not their strong suit, especially some
<v Speaker 2>of those older varieties where these really do have like
<v Speaker 2>kind of an elegant, vaselike habit and that four to
<v Speaker 2>five foot you know, size is nothing to sneeze that
<v Speaker 2>that's still quite an appreciable size, but much more versatile
<v Speaker 2>than some of those older ones that would you know,
<v Speaker 2>just get really really huge.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, and I'd love that Miss series. It was Adriana
<v Speaker 1>who got me excited about Miss Molly. Put it in
<v Speaker 1>my landscape.
<v Speaker 2>Love that that's our favorite plant in the whole proven
<v Speaker 2>winner's line. Miss Molly is her number one pick. Now,
<v Speaker 2>I I have seen the Miss series of butterfly bush
<v Speaker 2>undergo this exact same phenomenon that I'm talking about in
<v Speaker 2>my own garden. So at my previous home, I had
<v Speaker 2>planted a Miss Molly butterfly bush. So this is all
<v Speaker 2>from the same breeding series. A breeder named doctor Dennis
<v Speaker 2>Warner out of North Carolina State University. He is now retired,
<v Speaker 2>but he was really really passionate about butterfly bush and
<v Speaker 2>he devoted the latter part of his career to developing
<v Speaker 2>non invasive butterfly bushes because at that point, in certain
<v Speaker 2>milder climates, butterfly bush was starting to spread by seed
<v Speaker 2>sure it was getting banned, and he really did not
<v Speaker 2>want to see that happen. So he devoted his resources
<v Speaker 2>into the Low and Behold series. So some of the
<v Speaker 2>earlier Low and Behold butterfly bush, which of course are
<v Speaker 2>are low, small growing butterfly bushes, and my favorite the
<v Speaker 2>Miss series. So I planted a Miss Molly. It was full. Now,
<v Speaker 2>I generally do not recommend that you plant butterfly bush
<v Speaker 2>in full. So now that we're here in late spring
<v Speaker 2>early summer, especially if you're in a cold clam and
<v Speaker 2>you're thinking about adding a butterfly bush to your garden,
<v Speaker 2>now is the time to do it. You want to
<v Speaker 2>make sure that it has a nice long season ahead
<v Speaker 2>to develop a good root system to help it come
<v Speaker 2>back from you know, any damage that it's going to
<v Speaker 2>get in winter. So you know, but I work in
<v Speaker 2>the industry, so I get free plants. And when you
<v Speaker 2>get free plants, you don't just you know, you plant them.
<v Speaker 1>And I worked in the garden center industry, and if
<v Speaker 1>you get bargain bin plants in October, you plant them
<v Speaker 1>exactly and hope for the best.
<v Speaker 2>Exactly, can't beat the price. So I planted this Miss Mollie,
<v Speaker 2>and you know, it looked great at that fall, and
<v Speaker 2>then come the following spring, other butterfly bushes that are
<v Speaker 2>planted near it coming back without a problem. I'm like,
<v Speaker 2>all right, cool, and this Miss Mollie is showing not
<v Speaker 2>a sign of life, not a single sign of life
<v Speaker 2>now again. And I do have pretty good conditions, but
<v Speaker 2>there's a lot of different things that could happen. So,
<v Speaker 2>you know, I kept waiting because I know that butterfly
<v Speaker 2>bush are always late to emerge, and the colder or
<v Speaker 2>harsher your winter is the harder the slower they are
<v Speaker 2>to come back from. That so especially true for people
<v Speaker 2>in USBA Zone five and six. So I'm waiting. Still nothing,
<v Speaker 2>still nothing. Finally, the second weekend in June rolls around
<v Speaker 2>and I think that's it. This thing is not coming back.
<v Speaker 2>I'm going to just pull it out. So I lean over,
<v Speaker 2>bend over to pull it out with my bare hands,
<v Speaker 2>because this is something you can do when you have
<v Speaker 2>very sandy soil. It's really quite a fun benefit. Not everything,
<v Speaker 2>but some things. So I reach down to pull it
<v Speaker 2>out and I see just this tiny little shoot coming
<v Speaker 2>out of the ground, and I thought, all right, all right,
<v Speaker 2>we'll give it a whirl. We'll see what you can
<v Speaker 2>do from this tiny, little, you know, one inch shoot
<v Speaker 2>and I am not even joking. Three weeks later the
<v Speaker 2>thing was fully grown and in bloom.
<v Speaker 1>Wow.
<v Speaker 2>I mean it was insane. It was absolutely amazing and
<v Speaker 2>plants just you know, it's one of those plants that
<v Speaker 2>just has this ability to, I guess, summon the extensive
<v Speaker 2>resources in its roots to come back from even a
<v Speaker 2>really really harsh winter, and it's just so amazing to
<v Speaker 2>see that kind of comeback.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, it's true. I have a Missviolet. Two years ago
<v Speaker 1>we had a very mild winter, hardly any die back.
<v Speaker 1>This past winter, Stacey mine pretty much had. I had
<v Speaker 1>die back to the ground, but it's really recovering quickly.
<v Speaker 2>That's the crazy thing is they do recover quickly. And
<v Speaker 2>all butterfly bush, especially in colder climates or if you
<v Speaker 2>have clay soil and you get cold winters, that is
<v Speaker 2>their death knell. They hate that. They will definitely be
<v Speaker 2>sat back, if not die. But the thing is, yes,
<v Speaker 2>you do have to have faith with these plants because
<v Speaker 2>they can come back in such an amazing way. So
<v Speaker 2>a couple more tips for success, whether you're growing today's
<v Speaker 2>plan on trial Miss Violet with its fabulous purple flowers
<v Speaker 2>or any butterfly bush. Again, plant it sooner than later,
<v Speaker 2>especially if you are in a cold climate or you
<v Speaker 2>are planting it in less than ideal conditions. So that
<v Speaker 2>would be like clay soil, poorly drained soils. You don't
<v Speaker 2>want to put it in any soil of its wet.
<v Speaker 2>It will not make it. You can plant them in
<v Speaker 2>clay soil, but they definitely need a longer time to
<v Speaker 2>get established. Because it's not even so much winter that
<v Speaker 2>will take out a butterfly bush. It's being cold and wet.
<v Speaker 2>So really the danger times are kind of that late
<v Speaker 2>fall where the ground hasn't frozen yet, it's not cold
<v Speaker 2>enough to actually like snow or freeze, but we're getting
<v Speaker 2>a lot of rain that's terrible for it. And then
<v Speaker 2>the same thing happens on the other end of the
<v Speaker 2>season in early spring, when you know we're kind of
<v Speaker 2>past the worst of the cold, but we get a
<v Speaker 2>lot of rain and the soils cold and wet. They
<v Speaker 2>absolutely hate that, so plant early, plants high. If you
<v Speaker 2>have a drainage issue, make sure this you're putting it
<v Speaker 2>so that's a little bit above the soil surface rather
<v Speaker 2>than even with the soil surface and make sure you
<v Speaker 2>prune these things. So this is so important. Butterfly bush
<v Speaker 2>is one of those plants that you definitely want to
<v Speaker 2>prune to make sure it stays nice and compact, maintains
<v Speaker 2>that really nice habit and flowers from top to bottom,
<v Speaker 2>because that amazing ability to regrow that we were just
<v Speaker 2>discussing also means that if a butterfly bush is not trimmed,
<v Speaker 2>it's just going to keep going up and up and
<v Speaker 2>up and up and get really tall, really lanky, look
<v Speaker 2>super weird, and then you don't even get to enjoy
<v Speaker 2>the flowers.
<v Speaker 1>Prune hard and it helps stimulate blooming lass it does,
<v Speaker 1>and it's just yeah, it's important.
<v Speaker 2>And if you don't know where to prune it, the
<v Speaker 2>best thing to do is to wait until it starts
<v Speaker 2>to grow, because then the plant is going to tell
<v Speaker 2>you exactly where it is alive. You can cut back
<v Speaker 2>to just above there, and then all the energy that
<v Speaker 2>the plant has will grow into those you know, remaining
<v Speaker 2>shoots or buds, and the plant will start to grow
<v Speaker 2>and again and bloom so fast you will not even
<v Speaker 2>believe it's possible. I wouldn't have believed it if I
<v Speaker 2>saw it myself. So a fascinating plant to have great
<v Speaker 2>summer color, NonStop flowers. You know, that's one of the
<v Speaker 2>things I loved about seeing the one in my neighbor's yard.
<v Speaker 2>Just that purple, that deep true purple, looks so good
<v Speaker 2>with all of summer's colors, all the reds, all the yellows,
<v Speaker 2>all that kind of stuff I have in my garden.
<v Speaker 2>And of course it attracts butterflies.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, the butterflies exactly a magnet for and hummingbirds.
<v Speaker 2>So a great plant with unique color and a plant
<v Speaker 2>that will, I think inspire you, whether it survives winter
<v Speaker 2>without any damage, or for those winters where it might
<v Speaker 2>get a little damage but will redeem itself shortly. So
<v Speaker 2>you can find it at your local garden center. If
<v Speaker 2>you don't know where your local garden center is, visit
<v Speaker 2>proven Winter's Color Choice dot com. We've got a list
<v Speaker 2>of retailers for you right there. We're going to take
<v Speaker 2>a little break. When we come back, we're opening up
<v Speaker 2>the mailbanks. If these stay tuned at proven Winter's Color
<v Speaker 2>Choice Shrubs, we know that a better landscape starts with
<v Speaker 2>a better shrub. Our team of experts tests and evaluates
<v Speaker 2>all of our flowering shrubs and evergreens for eight to
<v Speaker 2>ten years to ensure they outperform what's already on the market.
<v Speaker 2>For easycare, reliable, beautiful shrubs to scentuate your home and
<v Speaker 2>express your personal style, look for Proven Winners shrubs in
<v Speaker 2>the distinctive white container at your local garden center or
<v Speaker 2>learn more at Proven Winners color choice dot com. Greetings
<v Speaker 2>gardening friends, and welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show,
<v Speaker 2>where it's time for us to help you with your
<v Speaker 2>garden questions, conundrums, and quandaries. And I'll bet they are
<v Speaker 2>happening in spades right now. You know, it was a
<v Speaker 2>slow start here in Michigan, but we got those couple
<v Speaker 2>of warm days and man, everything has just exploded. There
<v Speaker 2>is so much going on, most of it good, but
<v Speaker 2>perhaps some of it bad, confusing, not sure what to do,
<v Speaker 2>and that's where we come in. So you can reach
<v Speaker 2>us at Gardening Simplified on air dot com and we'll
<v Speaker 2>be happy to take a look at your question if
<v Speaker 2>you do need an answer right away. We do want
<v Speaker 2>you to get the help that you need because we
<v Speaker 2>only have time for about three questions and sometimes not
<v Speaker 2>even that. So you can also reach us at Proven Winners,
<v Speaker 2>color choice dot com and get an answer for your
<v Speaker 2>question from a professional horticulturist who actually cares about your success.
<v Speaker 2>So we do want to make sure that we are
<v Speaker 2>helping you out in a timely manner, So don't hesitate
<v Speaker 2>to reach out to us other ways if we can't
<v Speaker 2>get to you on this show. Who do we have
<v Speaker 2>this week?
<v Speaker 1>Stacy Scott writes to us, hanging baskets. Our front porch
<v Speaker 1>is covered heavy shade, and we struggle keeping hanging baskets
<v Speaker 1>looking good beyond a few weeks. This goes for flowers
<v Speaker 1>and plants that are supposed to be better in the shade. Example,
<v Speaker 1>given two Berus pogonias, what are we doing wrong right?
<v Speaker 2>So? Well, first of all, I think two bris pogonias
<v Speaker 2>kind of need their own little exemption carved out of
<v Speaker 2>what we're saying. We did recently do a whole show
<v Speaker 2>on hanging baskets where we gave a lot of advice.
<v Speaker 2>But I know now probably a lot of people who
<v Speaker 2>is since that show actually probably have hanging baskets in
<v Speaker 2>their yard at this point and are maybe wondering what
<v Speaker 2>to do. So I do want to say and Ricky
<v Speaker 2>talked about this in that episode hanging Basket. There are
<v Speaker 2>usually the soil less media in them is typically a
<v Speaker 2>peat base media and peat moss will become hydrophobic, which
<v Speaker 2>is to say it becomes very difficult to rewet if
<v Speaker 2>it gets dry and you in the garden center, most
<v Speaker 2>hanging baskets are on drip, so they're constantly getting like
<v Speaker 2>a low supply of water and that prevents the soil
<v Speaker 2>from drying out once it gets to your house. If
<v Speaker 2>that soil service is exposed because it's still young and
<v Speaker 2>hasn't filled in fully or whatever, and it dries out,
<v Speaker 2>it becomes very very hard to rewet that. So what
<v Speaker 2>happens is you're sitting there watering, the water's flowing out
<v Speaker 2>the bottom and you're patting yourself on the back that
<v Speaker 2>you need did a great job, but you actually have
<v Speaker 2>not wet any of the roots whatsoever. So it's something
<v Speaker 2>you need to be really careful of. I would say,
<v Speaker 2>if your hanging basket isn't doing well, take it down.
<v Speaker 2>You're probably not going to be able to solve any
<v Speaker 2>hanging basket issues from the ground when it is up
<v Speaker 2>in the air hanging wherever you have place because you
<v Speaker 2>can't get a good look at it, and that's the
<v Speaker 2>only way you're going to know it's almost certainly a
<v Speaker 2>water issue. You know, very rarely is this going to
<v Speaker 2>be any kind of disease. And if it is a disease,
<v Speaker 2>then it's a disease that was probably caused by too
<v Speaker 2>much water rather than something that was like actually wrong
<v Speaker 2>with the plant. So take it down if it has
<v Speaker 2>if it's too dry, and you'll be able to tell
<v Speaker 2>it when you take it down because they'll feel really light.
<v Speaker 2>It's kind of you know, it's a I think a
<v Speaker 2>skill you develop, but once you've experimented with it, you
<v Speaker 2>know pretty well. So take it down if it's very dry,
<v Speaker 2>dunk it in water, so don't you're not going to
<v Speaker 2>leave it in standing water. But that will help to
<v Speaker 2>fully rewet the entire volume of soil rather than just
<v Speaker 2>you know, dribbling a bit of water from the top.
<v Speaker 2>So you can treat it just like you would anything
<v Speaker 2>else and use that bottom watering technique to fully saturate
<v Speaker 2>it and that will help a lot in terms of
<v Speaker 2>actually keeping it healthy.
<v Speaker 1>Now, so sorry ahead, there's plenty of wonderful plants to
<v Speaker 1>grow in the shape I agree Stacey that soil or
<v Speaker 1>soillest mix can become hydrophobic. Combined with that the roots
<v Speaker 1>tend to mass on the surface also, so yes, the
<v Speaker 1>water that you think you're applying is hitting the surface
<v Speaker 1>heading over to the sides of the basket. If it's
<v Speaker 1>dried out. At some point that soil has contracted from
<v Speaker 1>the side of the basket and so that water is
<v Speaker 1>just simply running down the side and out the bottom.
<v Speaker 1>I agree with taking them down. In the garden center,
<v Speaker 1>you're dealing with thousands of hanging baskets. The way we
<v Speaker 1>do it is as you walk along, you just push
<v Speaker 1>up on the basket. You can tell instantly whether it's
<v Speaker 1>dry to wet. It's a good way to monitor. And
<v Speaker 1>then when you take it down again for a basket
<v Speaker 1>at home, I use the screwdriver method. I just poke
<v Speaker 1>some holes. Yeah, in that soil surface. It makes a
<v Speaker 1>big difference.
<v Speaker 2>That's a good easy thing to do. I do want
<v Speaker 2>to say briefly, though, Scott, about Tuberspegonia's beautiful, but they
<v Speaker 2>can be pretty tricky to grow because they are tuberous
<v Speaker 2>as the name suggests, and that big old tuber in
<v Speaker 2>there is very sensitive to poor drainage and watering. If
<v Speaker 2>it gets too wet, it will start to rot. So
<v Speaker 2>it's a plant that needs a lot of water. But
<v Speaker 2>also if it gets too much water, it can rot
<v Speaker 2>really easily. So as gorgeous and tempting as they are,
<v Speaker 2>they can be a little bit tricky.
<v Speaker 1>Maybe try some fibrous pogonias instead of tuberous pagonias and
<v Speaker 1>that may work better.
<v Speaker 2>And same with like all these beautiful like angel wing pogonias,
<v Speaker 2>you know, bonfire and on all of that a great choice.
<v Speaker 2>So also the other thing is you might maybe the
<v Speaker 2>garden or the area is not as shady as you
<v Speaker 2>think it is for the plants, because sometimes, especially when
<v Speaker 2>we're dealing with locations close to the house, the house
<v Speaker 2>bounces a lot of light back into the plants and
<v Speaker 2>it can actually make the spot less shady than you
<v Speaker 2>might assume. So if you're getting something specific, Scott, send
<v Speaker 2>us a picture so we know what you're dealing with
<v Speaker 2>and can help you specifically. But I would say, whenever
<v Speaker 2>anything's going wrong, take it down, get to the root
<v Speaker 2>of the problem, and then once you resolved it, then
<v Speaker 2>it can go back up.
<v Speaker 1>Many times, people in that situation will default to Boston ferns.
<v Speaker 2>Oh yeah, can't go wrong with the Boston fern. It's
<v Speaker 2>a classic.
<v Speaker 1>Suzanne writes, Hello, love the show. I'm a fellow Michigander.
<v Speaker 1>Have been listening for the past couple of years. It's
<v Speaker 1>therapy in my car. I love the comedian Jim Gaffigan.
<v Speaker 1>He asked this past weekend, is there a recovery program
<v Speaker 1>for gardening? He did good, quite, yes, he did so.
<v Speaker 1>I'm in six B southeast side. These roses were planted
<v Speaker 1>in the house I moved into four years ago, learning
<v Speaker 1>about them, started caring for them, attempting, pruning, fertilizing. I
<v Speaker 1>believe I did everything right in terms of pruning and fertilizing.
<v Speaker 1>They seem to be doing great. Last week with no
<v Speaker 1>spots on the foliage. I turned my back for one second.
<v Speaker 1>This week, I'm noticing a good spots on the leaves
<v Speaker 1>Larva looking things. Hell.
<v Speaker 2>Yes, so what you are experiencing, Suzanne, is definitely common
<v Speaker 2>for rose growers in late spring. Everything's going along just fine,
<v Speaker 2>and there seems to be this point that they reach
<v Speaker 2>where they're well known tendency to attract certain pests explodes.
<v Speaker 2>Now aphids. I wouldn't really worry about. You know, I
<v Speaker 2>have definitely seen bad aphis on roses where it will
<v Speaker 2>cause the buds to actually weep. But you know, their
<v Speaker 2>roses are pretty sturdy. They're easy to like wipe the
<v Speaker 2>aphids off of rinse the aphis off, and they really
<v Speaker 2>don't cause that much trouble except kind of their stickiness
<v Speaker 2>and just general grossness. The other thing that you're seeing
<v Speaker 2>is something that if people aren't already seeing it, they
<v Speaker 2>will be very soon, and it's confusing pests. It is
<v Speaker 2>the rose slug. And I find this one so fascinating
<v Speaker 2>because it basically causes two different types of damage when
<v Speaker 2>it so it's called a rose lug. It's like a sawfly.
<v Speaker 2>So it's a little larvae and they're clear. So they
<v Speaker 2>start eating the rose foliage and they turn the exact
<v Speaker 2>shade of your rose foliage. And when they're in this
<v Speaker 2>really small, tiny larval state, so after the mother softly
<v Speaker 2>laser eggs on the plant, when they're still in that
<v Speaker 2>really tiny state, their little jaws are too small and
<v Speaker 2>too weak to actually get through the entire leaf surface
<v Speaker 2>of the plant, so they can only chew through the
<v Speaker 2>top of the leaf. They can't go all the way
<v Speaker 2>through because they're just so little, and it makes us
<v Speaker 2>window like damage, this very specific window like damage. And
<v Speaker 2>then as they start to age a little bit more,
<v Speaker 2>then they can actually get all the way through and
<v Speaker 2>they make these kind of meandering sort of sea shape.
<v Speaker 2>I don't want to call them. I guess channels is
<v Speaker 2>the thing, because they go all the way through and
<v Speaker 2>they don't eat the leaf ribs, so you see these
<v Speaker 2>weird kind of meandering channel in that. And it's all
<v Speaker 2>the same insect, so it's not like it's a separate thing.
<v Speaker 2>It's all the same one. Now, the easiest time to
<v Speaker 2>spot these little guys is early in the morning when
<v Speaker 2>they're still moving, kind of start just starting to feed,
<v Speaker 2>and you have to look on the underside of the leaf.
<v Speaker 2>And the first couple times that you look for one,
<v Speaker 2>it's going to be tricky. They're very hard to pick out.
<v Speaker 2>But after a couple of times you'll start to pick
<v Speaker 2>them out and I just smash them, you know, I
<v Speaker 2>smash as many as I see. It's a fairly useful
<v Speaker 2>control method if you're not overly squeamish and have a
<v Speaker 2>little bit of time on your hands, because that's what
<v Speaker 2>gardening is about is just being out there with your
<v Speaker 2>plants and checking them out. The other thing you can
<v Speaker 2>do if your roses are a disease resistant or continuous
<v Speaker 2>blooming landscape rose, then what you can do is go
<v Speaker 2>ahead and just give them a light trim. Because these
<v Speaker 2>rose slugs stick on the top most folly and so
<v Speaker 2>they don't go way down deep onto the other folaginals.
<v Speaker 2>You have a very serious infestation. If you just give
<v Speaker 2>it a light trim. I know it's going to be
<v Speaker 2>a little bit of a heartbreak. You're probably trimming off
<v Speaker 2>flower buds, but not to worry. That will get rid
<v Speaker 2>of all of the slugs on your plants. Give the
<v Speaker 2>plant a chance to recover well. The rose slug is like, hey,
<v Speaker 2>no new growth here for me to lay my eggs on.
<v Speaker 2>I'm gonna go find a rose it does have new growth,
<v Speaker 2>and then by the time your plant actually leaves out again,
<v Speaker 2>they've moved on.
<v Speaker 1>It's great advice, and I would feed it at the
<v Speaker 1>same time. When you do that print.
<v Speaker 2>Definitely good advice. Make sure that you give it that
<v Speaker 2>little extra boost of energy to help it recover from
<v Speaker 2>that pruning. But that is the best, easiest, non toxic
<v Speaker 2>way to manage rose slugs because yeah, they can get
<v Speaker 2>pretty bad, but I don't know. I find them fascinating
<v Speaker 2>a slug fest anyway. Thank you so much for your questions,
<v Speaker 2>and if you have a question for us, remember you
<v Speaker 2>can reach us at Gardening Simplified on air dot com.
<v Speaker 2>We're going to take a break. When we come back,
<v Speaker 2>we're picking up our conversation about big plants. You won't
<v Speaker 2>want to miss it, so stay tuned. Thanks for listening
<v Speaker 2>to the Gardening Simplified Podcast, brought to you by Proven
<v Speaker 2>Winner's Color Choice Shrubs. Our award winning flowering shrubs and
<v Speaker 2>evergreens are trialed and tested by experts with your success
<v Speaker 2>in mind. Learn more at Proven Winners Color Choice dot com.
<v Speaker 1>Welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show. Today for branching news,
<v Speaker 1>we continue talking about big impact plants and I did
<v Speaker 1>have to mention to you stay see this story that
<v Speaker 1>I saw in the news. Talk about big in your
<v Speaker 1>front yard. A Norwegian man managed to sleep through an
<v Speaker 1>enormous container ship running aground on his front lawn. Johann Hellberg,
<v Speaker 1>who lives in Norway, was woken by his neighbor on
<v Speaker 1>Thursday morning and asked if he had noticed a boat outside.
<v Speaker 1>TV two Norway reported when he looked out his door,
<v Speaker 1>he saw a four hundred and forty three foot container
<v Speaker 1>ship parked.
<v Speaker 2>In his front ear Oh yikes, mm hmm.
<v Speaker 1>We'll give you the link in show notes and here
<v Speaker 1>on YouTube. But yes, a container ship ran aground in
<v Speaker 1>his front yard. He slept right through.
<v Speaker 2>Well that's not very ornamental.
<v Speaker 1>Yes, you are so right talking about large impact plants
<v Speaker 1>and maybe tropical on a budget. How about castor beans?
<v Speaker 2>Oh? I love them, I mean boom.
<v Speaker 1>Can you know the ones I've planted have gotten twelve
<v Speaker 1>to fifteen feet in one season. I had some planted
<v Speaker 1>next to popcorn plant.
<v Speaker 2>Both of those really going for that tropical.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, and once the weather gets hot, it's like wow.
<v Speaker 1>Other big impact plants, ligular area, the rocket and I
<v Speaker 1>like big green tractor. It's also known as tractor seat,
<v Speaker 1>big foliage that looks like a tractor seat.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, tractor seat is what they call it in the South.
<v Speaker 2>With the first time I was on some tour with
<v Speaker 2>some Southerners, they said something about and I was like, what,
<v Speaker 2>I like tractor seat. That's that plant. I was like,
<v Speaker 2>that is so funny.
<v Speaker 1>Fun to grow. I have one of my plant, yep
<v Speaker 1>rod Jersey. If you've got rich humisy consistently moist soils
<v Speaker 1>in part shade. That plant was named after our honors
<v Speaker 1>Rear Admiral John Rogers, a distinguished American naval officer who
<v Speaker 1>commanded a expedition in the mid eighteen hundreds and the
<v Speaker 1>first species of this genus was discovered. You look at
<v Speaker 1>other plants we mentioned elephant ear, Your allocacious odora was
<v Speaker 1>one that I loved getting into the garden center. It
<v Speaker 1>made a real impact. Always have difficulty pronouncing this one,
<v Speaker 1>but I think I got it. Simysifuga.
<v Speaker 2>Oh yeah, that was a very cool plant.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, did I get that right? Did?
<v Speaker 2>Yeah?
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, there's a cool one called chocoholic. Some people call
<v Speaker 1>it snakeroot plant or bugbane in reference to the old
<v Speaker 1>differous insect repellent properties of the plant. They look like
<v Speaker 1>giant a stillby plants.
<v Speaker 2>Yes, these are all plants that Rick just listed that
<v Speaker 2>need moist soil. So if you have shade and you
<v Speaker 2>have moist soil, great choices. There's a lot of plants
<v Speaker 2>like this. I feel like that are good for moist shade.
<v Speaker 2>You know that have the big boffo foliage if you
<v Speaker 2>have if you live in a warm climate and you
<v Speaker 2>have wet soil, you can also grow gunnera.
<v Speaker 1>Oh, I was just gonna bring that right.
<v Speaker 2>Don't you love gunnara?
<v Speaker 1>It's so jealous some areas, like I think in England,
<v Speaker 1>they're trying to get you to not right the plant.
<v Speaker 2>Because it's so invasive.
<v Speaker 1>There, huge foliage. I remember being in Vancouver Queen Elizabeth Park, huge,
<v Speaker 1>you know, and everybody wants to get their picture taken time, right, Yeah.
<v Speaker 2>The first one that I saw in real life, I
<v Speaker 2>had to have my picture taken in front of Yes,
<v Speaker 2>that's right, but definitely not hardy for us here in Michigan.
<v Speaker 1>It makes for a great selfie in social media. Joe
<v Speaker 1>Pie Weed and we had a lavender show that we
<v Speaker 1>did a few weeks ago. Go back and visit it.
<v Speaker 1>But Stacey, we talked about phenomenal lavender. That's you know again,
<v Speaker 1>it's all relative. But when it comes to lavender, talk
<v Speaker 1>about a big plant. Of course. I love grasses, so
<v Speaker 1>the giant misscanthus. I like the ravenna grass or arianthus.
<v Speaker 1>North Carolina State University calls it hardy pampas grass, But
<v Speaker 1>boy does that thing get big in one season.
<v Speaker 2>It is very cool to see those grasses that get
<v Speaker 2>so big and you just you know, one of the
<v Speaker 2>things that I think is so fascinating when I'm looking
<v Speaker 2>at these plants and this is like, I don't know,
<v Speaker 2>such a weird thing to think, but I kind of
<v Speaker 2>can't help it as I just think about the number
<v Speaker 2>of cells they had to produce to get that big,
<v Speaker 2>so many cells.
<v Speaker 1>And how fast it goes.
<v Speaker 2>Yes, it's crazy.
<v Speaker 1>I know. My mind works the same way with steria.
<v Speaker 1>What about wisteria. Here's a plant that you got to
<v Speaker 1>show whose boss? You know. You think about some of
<v Speaker 1>these vines, like trumpet vine or wisteria, I guess if
<v Speaker 1>you have the room, if you have the support, well,
<v Speaker 1>more power to you. Some people would say I would
<v Speaker 1>never plant a trumpet what an invasive. Yeah, I understand,
<v Speaker 1>but in some areas, especially if you're willing to neglect
<v Speaker 1>the plant or get tough with it, like rit pruning,
<v Speaker 1>which is what I recommend for wisteria. Obviously, get very big,
<v Speaker 1>grow very quickly.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, if you have a spot where you can just
<v Speaker 2>kind of let it go to a trumpet vine, you
<v Speaker 2>will never have more hummingbirds in your entire life. It's
<v Speaker 2>worth it. They do need, they do need their space
<v Speaker 2>or some aggressive management. But for that reason, I really
<v Speaker 2>do wish I could have one, but I don't think
<v Speaker 2>my neighbors would appreciate it.
<v Speaker 1>How about bears breeches canthus, I mean that, wow, interesting flowers.
<v Speaker 1>Some people will say, hey, don't plant it almost impossible
<v Speaker 1>to eradicate out of a planting bed. But when you're
<v Speaker 1>talking about bold thistle like foliage, bears breeches is well,
<v Speaker 1>it's a It's an architectural presence, is what it is.
<v Speaker 2>Yes, And you know, people think of a canthus as
<v Speaker 2>a warm climate plant, and the one that is most
<v Speaker 2>often depicted at the in the Grecian columns is actually
<v Speaker 2>a warm climate canthus. But there are hardy ones that
<v Speaker 2>you can find. They're not usually around in garden centers,
<v Speaker 2>but if you are so inclined, you can definitely grow
<v Speaker 2>a certain one in cold climates and enjoy it. You
<v Speaker 2>might need to find someone who already has one to
<v Speaker 2>give you some plants, but they are prickly, but they're
<v Speaker 2>very cool.
<v Speaker 1>Sitting in my office the other day, looking out the
<v Speaker 1>window and watching the beautiful Baltimore orioles who were feasting
<v Speaker 1>on the orange pieces outside of my office on a feeder,
<v Speaker 1>and they're so colorful. But it caused me to think
<v Speaker 1>about how much I love also the yellow finches, especially
<v Speaker 1>in spring, and how bright they are. And then doing
<v Speaker 1>a little bit of research, it was strongly recommended that
<v Speaker 1>cup plant or sylphium is something you might want a
<v Speaker 1>plant if you like finches. What's been your.
<v Speaker 2>Oh gosh experience in late summer, it is the finch
<v Speaker 2>hot spot of my entire neighborhood. So they love, love,
<v Speaker 2>love the seeds, and these plants do set so much seed,
<v Speaker 2>and so they're also your right hand man there in
<v Speaker 2>managing this plant, which can spread aggressively from seed because
<v Speaker 2>they're eating so many of them. But between the fact
<v Speaker 2>that they produce so much seed that the goldfinches love
<v Speaker 2>the cup, so the foliage actually surrounds the big, thick,
<v Speaker 2>square stem and makes kind of a cup like structure
<v Speaker 2>that will hold rain or irrigation water. So between having
<v Speaker 2>that water and all of those seeds, they just they
<v Speaker 2>mob it, they mobbit. My neighbor says, she just loves
<v Speaker 2>to sit there with her binoculars and just watch the
<v Speaker 2>finches just have a field day on my Sofia.
<v Speaker 1>When would you say your plant is in prime?
<v Speaker 2>Uh, probably about the last two weeks of July.
<v Speaker 1>Okay, which is ideal because at that time you start
<v Speaker 1>getting some of the globe thistle mm hmm. And the
<v Speaker 1>finches breed later in the year or not and spring,
<v Speaker 1>and so yeah, that's that's pretty cool.
<v Speaker 2>And plus my neighbors have finch feeders. So between the
<v Speaker 2>three things, you know, there they are. They are coming
<v Speaker 2>out in drugs and it is a lot of fun
<v Speaker 2>to watch. And that's a plant too that you know,
<v Speaker 2>it starts from nothing and then you know by the
<v Speaker 2>time July rolls around, it's sent feet tall.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah. A plant that I always enjoyed in the Michigan
<v Speaker 1>State University Garden was the Rudbeckias, the tall cone flower.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, Maxima, Yeah, I love that one with a big
<v Speaker 2>blue fold. Such a cool plant.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, that's a great plant. Also to consider, for years
<v Speaker 1>I've grown Helianthus like lemon queen. They can just get
<v Speaker 1>strikingly large. Just a great plant again if you're looking
<v Speaker 1>for that quick size. And I have to mention Stacy
<v Speaker 1>that even though this isn't an herbaceous plant or a
<v Speaker 1>plant grown from seed. Oh, by the way, just popped
<v Speaker 1>into my head. Also, I've got to mention the hyacinth
<v Speaker 1>bean again. If you're on a budget, you want tropical,
<v Speaker 1>you want fast, you want size, a great plant to
<v Speaker 1>put in the ground for size, But when it comes
<v Speaker 1>to size in the landscape, I just feel you cannot
<v Speaker 1>beat viburnums. I love viburnums, don't you.
<v Speaker 2>I do. I really do like viburnums. I don't have
<v Speaker 2>a lot of them, but I do love them as
<v Speaker 2>a foliage plant because sometimes, you know, viburnums are considered derresistent,
<v Speaker 2>but they do very often eat the flowers, so they
<v Speaker 2>leave the plants alone. So you gotta be if you
<v Speaker 2>have dear, you've got to grow a viburnum that you
<v Speaker 2>can appreciate for its foliage, because you probably are not
<v Speaker 2>going to be able to enjoy the flowers at least
<v Speaker 2>that's been my experience exactly.
<v Speaker 1>And then of course I love the bloomerang lilacs, the
<v Speaker 1>miss Kim lilacs, because boy, they helped me get control
<v Speaker 1>in my landscape. Because those old French lilacs, yes, they're
<v Speaker 1>something else and they're fragrant, but boy, I've seen some
<v Speaker 1>big ones in my dear Oh.
<v Speaker 2>They do. They can get quite large because they have
<v Speaker 2>a suckering habit, so they kind of keep colonizing an area.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, we'd love to hear about your favorite big plants.
<v Speaker 1>The list could go on and on, and maybe we'll
<v Speaker 1>do a future show again on more big plants, but
<v Speaker 1>certainly a fun thing to talk about. Go Big or
<v Speaker 1>Go Home. Thank you Stacy, thank you Rick, Thanks Adriana,
<v Speaker 1>and thanks most of all to you for watching us
<v Speaker 1>on YouTube, listening to the podcast, listening to us on radio.
<v Speaker 1>Have a great week.