The Blue Plants Show

Coming to you from Beautiful Studio a here at proven winners Color Choice Shrubs.
It's time for the Gardening Simplified Show with Stacy Hervella, me, Rick vis
To, and our engineer and producer Adrianna Robinson. All Right, Stacy,
today we're gonna sing the blues. We're gonna celebrate the color blue, one
of my favorite colors. Blue. As a matter of fact, I think
most of my clothes are either blue or black. I think that those who
watch us on YouTube might know that. Yeah, exactly so. Now,
of the multitude of known flowering plant species in the world, less than ten
percent produce blue flowers. I can't prove that that's just what I read,
but blue is a little rare in plants, even rarer in the animal world.
Although if you think about it, bluebirds, blue jay's indigo buntings,
even the eggs of a robin are blue. Right, Yes, and blue
jays are very abundant around here. Exactly. We experienced blue hues as cool
and find them calming, soothing and relaxing. And in the garden, blue
flowers have another interesting quality. They seem to recede from us. Now,
not recede as an seed but ceed I knew that because so many blue flowers
are very hard to grow, and if they were to be able to recede,
people would be altier exactly. Now. I love this quote from my
friend Alan Armitage. He's a professor at the University of Georgia in Athens.
When he talks about blue, he says, blue is genetically a difficult color
to find. When it's dark, it's purple, when it's light, it's
lavender. So the perfect blue is the apex. Blue is the most elusive,
most coveted color in gardening. Stacy. Do you agree, I'd say,
yeah, that's probably true. I mean, speaking from, of course
a hydrangea perspective, then yes. But you know, when you think about
all of the other truly just you know, breathtaking blue flowers, the one
that leaps to mind for me is uh Mecanopsis, the Himalayan poppy, a
plant that everybody wants to grow, but very few people can. Delphinium as
another great example. People love them the color. You know, when you
look closely at a delphinium, it really is breathtaking. It is stunt,
but it doesn't They don't really do super well and really hot clements. Of
course, there's been some breeding that's changed that. But you know, I
think that blue hydrangels, Mecanopsis, and Delphinium are probably three plants that people
really really really wish they could grow well and very often cannot. So yeah,
I would, I would say that's true. But then there are some
other great ones like, um, you know, Brunera has beautiful blue flowers,
gorgeous and a lot of beautiful blue foliage too with hostas. I think
what we'll do is we're gonna give you a list at Gardening Simplified OnAir dot
com. We'd love to have you visit our website some of these favorites.
Of course, interestingly enough, blue does have some negative connotations feeling blue,
blue with cold, and in some cultures it's the color of mourning, and
yet I don't know those references. Notwithstanding, it's arguably the most popular color
in the United States and the United Kingdom, as I understand it, at
least they have my vote. Yeah, problem, I would say that that
makes sense cars, you know, yeah, clothes, all that kind of
stuff. Yeah, exactly, So using blue in the garden is great.
And of course we've talked about what a hot summer. It's been for some
folks too, and when you put blue in the garden, it kind of
gives you an oasis cooling effect. And I'll tell you what I guess tops
on our list has to be right off the bat. Hydrange has to be
has to be yes, of course, but not all hydranges, just hydrange
of Macrophylla or the big leaf hight range. Also to a lesser extent hydrange
of Serrata, which is closely related. But when as we'll discuss in plants
on track, which I'm guessing spoiler alert for our listeners out there is going
to be a hydrangea um, you know other types like panica hydrange of smooth
hydrange as those cannot change color. So it's well, we'll talk a lot
more about color and plants on travel sounds good. Now, I know you
have a favorite perennial stacy at least I think you've mentioned this am Sonia love
Amnia y am sonia. There's a storm cloud blue star and oh, you
want to talk about a stunning blue in the landscape. Now, I like
something as simple as Festuca glauco, which is just a little short blue grass.
I like that too. I don't know if you know this, but
for a number of years I was mister green Thumb on the ABC affiliate here
in West Michigan, and that was my TV name for Stuca Glauca. It
was that was my TV name and people could pronounce it, yeah, for
Stuca Glauca. That was my name, mister green Thumb for Stuca Glauca.
It's a very nice plant, very very durable, very pretty. Now a
plant that I don't have a lot of experience with, but I have real
interest in. Is sea holly erheenium I believe is how it's pronounced. Perfect
for cut flower gardens. There's a variety called steel blue. I can't believe
the color blue for that plant, sea holly. And then Stacy, we
would be a miss if we did not bring up chiriopters. Oh, of
course, blue Beard. It's right in the name Blue Miss Spyrheo if you
prefer that name. Is charriopters relatively easy for folks to grow, extremely easy
to grow as long as you have sun in well drained soil, very durable,
very easy to grow. If you're successful with butterfly bush, chances are
you're going to be successful with Chariopterus as well, and you know it's great
because it blooms so much later in the season. A lot of these other
blue flowers we've talked about our more early season, you know, like the
blue Himalayan poppy, the am Sonia. Those bloom earlier in spring, whereas
chariopters really starts to come into its own in September here in Michigan. Fantastic
Vitex. I love that plant? Is it? Blue Diddley? Blue Diddley
is the variety that we offer through proven winters. Yeah, all right,
I love vitech In the heat of summer, that plant still to me smells
like vix vapor rubb. I can't help it. It just does annual salvia
like playing the blues rock and blue suede shoes. Fabulous. Draw all kinds
of hummingbirds to my garden on Cape cod Yes, I saw a lot of
Delphinium and campanula in bloom. Of course, with bulbs you've got muscarrie,
grape, hyacinth, Siberian squill, of course, hyacinths. That color is
amazing. Pansies you have some pansies with unbelievable beautiful blues. Yeah, yeah,
classic blueberries of course, Agapanthus, lily of the nile. Love that
plant, Streptocarpella. And I'm amazed at the number of varieties like above the
clouds or water slide as it relates to hosta blue hostas like blue hostas.
I think they're lovely. I mean I can't grow them. I did hear
someone say that they thought that deer had more difficulty seeing the blue hostas at
night, and so they were less likely to be eaten. I definitely did
not find that to be the case myself. But your mileage may vary.
As they say, I'm gonna test that theory. I love that. I'm
not endorsing it, just say from my experience, but I'm putting it out
there. I have a favorite flowering annual and hanging baskets at Scavola. Oh.
Scaevola native to Australia can really handle the heat. Did you know that
that is the plant that lunched the Provenmentner's brand No idea, Yes, so
they were trying to they Yeah, they found the scavola in Australia. It
was used as hanging basket because it's very drought tolerant, very heat tolerant.
Very easy to grow. But um, you know, they were like,
how are we going to introduce this plant that no one in the US has
ever heard of? How are we going to build up their trust that this
is a good plant. And so some growers got together to propagate and market
it and that was the birth of Proven Winners annuals that is intrust So that
was Whirlwind Blue. I like that, which is not really around so much
anymore. But I am growing a blue and a white scavola. And this
is the first time I think I've had him in my garden. And I
we're talking about blue flowers, but I am absolutely in love with them,
so vigorous. It just covered in flowers, just a fantastic lip. Each
of the flowers looks like a hand, an outstretched hand. You had mentioned
Brunera, of course, Agastanchi beautiful blue color, and of course a favorite
of both Stacy and mine, Baptisia, the decadence blueberry Sunday you gotta grow.
Yeah, so pretty Veronica or Speedwell, and we had we had talked
about perennial geranium last week. You can get some pretty color there too.
Add geratum, of course, Russian sage, proven winners Denim and Lace.
Lavender has got to be on the list proven winners Sweet Romance. There's another
one on the list, some of the supertunias. I'm amazed at the blue
color, and of course morning glories, Angelonia and Pulmonaria is another one in
the media. The list goes on and on. So you know what I'm
going this year. That's a blue annual? Is blew my mind? Oh
yes, and that is a truly gorgeous blue the only thing. And I
do love it, except that I realized this weekend as I was admiring it,
I'm like, wow, I haven't really been like admiring this plant much
like what's wrong with me? And I realize it's only open during the day.
The flowers are only open during the day and then they close at night.
So by the time I'm coming home from work and enjoying the garden and
so on a beautiful Saturday, I'm like, oh, yeah, well that
makes sense. So that's a plan to enjoy, you know, when you're
home. But such a beautiful blue color. And you know, one of
my other favorites is um the crystal blue salvia from Provenmentners. The color Riot
Crystal blue. That is such an incredible color. I mean, it's one
of those clores most blues are, but you have to see it to believe
it, because it's just so hard to actually believe it's such a beautiful true
blue. You of course have the Nopetta's Cats Meow Cats pajamas. Again,
the list goes on and out. We'll put the list at Gardening Simplified on
aair dot Com. I love combining the color pink or silver with the color
blue. You know, I think we may have just contradicted ourselves. How
did we do that well? Because we were talking about how rare blue is,
and we spent the last five minutes listing off our favorite blue flowers,
saying not only that we love them, but that we grow them so But
that said, you know, there is something to be said. There is
a little thing that the industry is guilty of, and that is horticultural blue.
A lot of times the industry will call something blue that is blue adjacents,
not a true true blue. But color is very subjective. But in
any case, you can find something on the blue spectrum to grow. It
might not be your dream blue, it might not be that amazing Meknopsis himila
and blue poppy. But you can find something close enough to blue to satisfy
that blue craving. Exactly, blue tulips, blue tulips. I love blue
tulips. They have blue tulips. Blue tulips. Well, actually they're not
blue, yeah, exactly, they call them blue. We've got a blue
tulip. No blue tulips. It's just like I'm waiting for it. Yeah,
And there's no blue roses either. And this all has to do with
the uh, you know, pigments that those plants produced. They can't actually
get to that color because they don't have the pigment genetically, you know,
within them. I'm still waiting. Well, you know there's in the case
of both roses and tulips, there's plenty of other fabulous colors to choose from.
Son. If you have a favorite blue, you your two lips and
speak to us and let us know at Gardening Simplified OnAir dot com. Plants
on trial coming up next here on the Gardening Simplified check proven Winners. 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. Creatings Gardening Friends, and welcome back to the Gardening Simplified
Show where we do not have the blues, but we're talking about blue all
day long here. And you know, when it comes to plants on Trial,
if blue is in the conversation, there's even though we have the chariopterus,
even though we have the Vitex that Rick mentioned before, there's one clear
choice here and I'll bet you predicted it when you thought of the Blue show,
no question. I'm gonna have to be a blue big leaf hyderanja.
And my pick for today's plant on Trial is brand new Let's Dance sky View
hydranget. Wasn't that the winner of Shrub Madness this year? Yes it was.
As a matter of fact, it was. Yeah, So big leaf
hydrangees are the ones that turn blue, and not all hydranges can change color
based on their soil chemistry, but it's the big leaf hydrange is, like
Let's Dance Skyview that can. And so let's just clear this upright off the
bats. Yes, you need to have a cidic soil for a hydrangea that
can turn blue like Let's Dance sky View to actually turn blue. But that's
not the whole equation. You also are going to need to have aluminum in
the soil. And we talked about this a few weeks ago, but it's
always good to refresh everyone's memory about it. So you need to have a
cidic soil and there needs to be aluminum in it. And if those two
things are true and you have a hydrangeer that can turn blue, then it
will be blue. And just which blue it turns does somewhat depend on your
pH but it's primarily genetic. You know a lot of people think, oh,
I saw the most beautiful blue hydrangea, and I can just approximate these
conditions and my hydrangel will be that same blue, and that's not the case.
They are individuals and they do differ from plant to plant, So not
every hydrangea that's capable of turning blue is going to be equally as blue.
And Let's dand Skyview is one of those that lives up to its name because
it is a beautiful sky blue. So it's not that like deep, deep,
purply blue that some people call blurple. It sounded very funny blurple because
it's a combination of blue and purple. But Let's dand Skyview is just that
gorgeous like summer sky color, provided that you have those conditions acidic soil and
aluminum present in the soil for it to turn blue. Now, a lot
of times people will buy and I'm sure you heard this all a lot working
in the garden center, they'll say, you know, whether it's an old
fashion variety like Nico Blue or one of our varieties like Let's Dance Blue Jangles
or Let's dand sky View. They'll say, hey, blue is right here
in the name. Why isn't it blue? And the simple fact is that
under regular growing conditions at a nursery or garden center, that potting mix does
not favor blue the color the development of blue flowers. It can be ascetic,
but it does not have any illuminum in it. So you are not
going to be buying a blue hydrange unless it has been specifically treated by the
grower to have blue flowers. But that doesn't mean that it won't change,
of course, once it's in your garden, and either you're treating it or
your conditions are favoring the development of that blue color. I'm still thinking about
blurpool sounds like a Sesame Street character. I like somebody the cookie Monster was
blue, wasn't he? Yes? He wasn't it was? You proceed.
You know, that's a good name for a hydrange. I like it.
No, I'm going to keep that at my list for a hydrange name.
Yeah, I like it. Uh, the royalties, we will make sure
you get some for your garden at least. So let's dand sky View is
a special hydrange, not just because it is capable of turning this you know,
beautiful sky blue. And I do want to mention that whether or not
you have the conditions that favor, you know, the development of blue.
Hydranges are really beautiful as pink. So you know, it's like a lot
of people say, oh, it's not blue, it's I'm so disappointed.
Well, I mean they're pretty great when they're pink as well, So you
know, it's not one of those things I think you need to, you
know, break your neck trying to turn your soil blue. And it's going
to be so fabulous when it's in the pink or you know, lavender range
as well. So that's just But what makes Let's dand sky View special is
it is one of the newer Let's Dance reblooming hydrange of varieties. Uh that
is hardy to USDA Zone four and we only give that designation to a lot
of hyder To macrophilla or big leaf hydranges can survive in USDA Zone four,
but they can't thrive. So they're not really going to do very well the
live. They're never gonna bloom and they're not going to do much for you.
But in these few hydrangees that include so Let's dand sky View and Let's
Dance can do. They have the ability to set their flower buds on the
entire length of their stem. So old fashioned types of hydrange is like the
Nico blue that I mentioned, They primarily set their flower buds just at the
terminals, just the tips of the stems. Yeah, and so if it
gets pruned by someone who doesn't know what they're doing, if it gets hit
by frost, if it gets browsed by deer, if it gets you know,
slid into by a softball game run awry, it's gonna you know,
all these things are possible. I've heard it all in my time here exactly.
So if you lose those tips of the branches anytime from you know,
basically September until it starts to flower the following season, there go the flowers.
Let's Dance sky View has the ability to set those flower buds down the
entire length of the stem, so if it does get pruned accidentally, if
it does get winter damage, you know, you still have flower buds down
there, close to the ground instead of just way up at the top.
And so you know, no matter what happens, you have a better chance
at getting flowers than you had with more conventional types of big leaf hydranges.
So that's something that really is you really will see the difference with that.
And Let's Dance can do hydrangea. And on top of all of that,
so we were selecting for this trait which can really help people, especially in
colder climates, you know, be successful with it. We also want faster
reblooming, and you know, big leaf hydrangeas are great. People get really
excited because oh it's going to keep blooming, but not all of them can
rebloom quickly. A lot of them will need a lot of different varieties will
need to put on say six to eight sets of leaves before they can create
that flower bud, the new wood flower bud, and it's going to need
you know, once those leaves are created, it's going to need extra time
to create that. So a lot of times, you know, those new
wood flowers, you weren't seeing them until later. So with let's Dance Skyview,
we were looking to decrease that time to rebloom. And so you're getting
better preservation of the old wood flowers and better rebloom on the new wood flowers,
and all in all, that is going to make a pretty darn attractive
package for big leaf hydranges. So, you know, this is a newer
variety, but I think it should have pretty good availability on the market and
a lot of garden centers right now, even though it's late July. I
know, we have listeners from all over the country and some of them are
like the garden center hah yeah, right. It's one hundred and twenty degrees
out here today. But if you do live in a cooler climate, it's
not too late to go to your garden center as long as you'll be around,
you know, for the next two months to water it. It's a
really great choice. Now, you know, I do recommend for most people
you're going to want like partial shade, some sun, you know, and
so many people we've talked about this almost every time we've talked about hydrange as.
People just naturally think they're a shade plant and they want some shade.
And the hotter your climate, the more shade they are going to require.
But some sun, ideally in the morning, is really going to give you
stronger stems, better resistance to diseases like powdery mildew and other leaf spots,
better flower color. That's, you know, really important because if it's in
too much shade again, it's going to take on those muddy kind of undertones
and not that bright color. And you know, hydrange of foliage can obviously
a lot of people resent it because that's all they see because they're not growing
the right kind of hydranges and they're not getting the flowers. But it is
quite attractive. So you want to do everything you can to make that plant
as attractive as possible by giving it the right amount of light. Yes,
they want a lot of water. You can help mitigate that with multi Hydrangea
is one of those must mulch kind of plants. In my opinion, they
naturally have shallow roots, so they're going to lose the water that they have
really quickly. And because this is a big leaf hydrangea, you know what
that means, no pruning, low maintenance. Even though you can prune it,
even though it has this ability to set those flower buds down the entire
length of its stem, we still don't recommend that you prune it because if
you do, you still are reducing the potential for flower buds to warm on
it. There's few or flower buds. And when it comes to hydrangeas,
I think we can all agree that more flowers is what we want. You
sold me based on all those functional aspects of the plant. If you're keeping
score at home, we're talking about let's dance sky view big leaf Hydrangea in
the garden center, Stacy, I just simply aside from the functional aspects,
it is just plain gorgeous. And you mentioned garden centers. Yes, in
the garden centers. Many people may not know this, but in garden centers
many times they'll just dress somebody up to look like a shopper and put some
plants on their cart and roll them around the garden center because people experience something
called kart envy. And in the garden center, I have seen people look
at sky View Let's Dance Hydrangea and wow, what is that? Where'd you
get it? I want one for me. So understand that in a garden
center there's something that goes on called kurt envy. Oh I like that.
You know that happens to the grocery store too. Yeah, exactly. Oh
that looks good. Where'd you get that? Exactly? Yeah? That sounds
like a good idea for dinner. So I hope you've got a fabulous picture
of what Let's Dance sky View Hydrangel looks like in your mind. But you
can check that out against the real thing at Gardening Simplified on air dot com.
You can check out our show notes. We'll have pictures all the information
you need to know about what makes Let's Dance sky View special and how you
can grow it successfully. We're going to take a little break and when we
come back, we're going to open up that mailbag and answer your question.
So please stay tuned. At proven Winner's Color Choice, we've got a shrub
for every taste and every space. Whether you're looking for an easycare rose,
an 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. Greetings, gardening friends, and
welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show. It is one of my absolute favorite
times of the entire week because on the Gardening Simplified Show, one of the
things that we do to help simplify gardening for you is answer your gardening questions.
And being the height of the season, I know there's lots of stuff
on everyone's mind, so let's open up the mailbag and see what's out there.
I like it too, I have lots of questions. How did I
get here? What am I doing here? Okay, Margot writes to us,
I love your show. Rick is so funny and Stacy is so smart.
Now I agree with that, Margo. Thank you. Stacy is one
of the smartest people I know. And thank you for recognizing that I have
a sense of humus. That's just the way I wrote. That's very nice
for you and Margo to say, But I do have to just qualify this
a little bit. You know, gardening is one of those things that is
really about experience. Yes, there's a lot of things that you can memorize,
plant names, you know. I am humbly good at plants identification because
I've internalized a lot of that. But like a lot of the advice that
I give and things that both you and I say, they come from experience.
And in that way, everybody can become a better gardener because it is
based on what you observe an experience, and that's why it's so important to
you know, be engaged and to observe what happens no matter what the weather.
But Margo, I appreciate you saying so, yeah, and I appreciate
that, and it is true. I mean, all joking aside, you
know, I think that's part of what makes this show work too. I
have many years of experience in the garden center industry, and so this combination,
Stacy, you are the true horticulturist, and I mean that you're one
of the smartest people I know. And so you combine someone like me who's
a plant enthusiast with you, a true horticulturist, I think it works.
Oh, thank you, that's so kind of you. To say, so
it's fun. I love doing the show all right too. So let's get
to Margo's question. Now that we've got that out of the way. I
am an entremneur. Okay. My question is I live in the p NW,
where it can be very damp Pacific Northwest. Yes, I just caught
that many of my trees and shrubs have been neglected for over fifteen to twenty
years. Now I'm discovering a lot of moss and lichens covering the branches,
and I'm really not liking it. Well done, Margo good Sense did specifically
right liking l h ns. Love it. She knew who she was sent
in this message. Yeah, I like Margo. How do I get rid?
How do I rid my garden of this? And I'm going to say,
right off the tap, don't I agree? I like moss, I
like lichens. I also like moss and lichens, and I think that m
branches, you know, encrusted with different species of moss and lichens, are
truly truly beautiful and um interesting. And you know, I love going to
like more coastal areas. You know that that humidity in the errors where they
can really thrive, and it's like a little garden of its own on a
branch. And you know, margot Rick and I aren't just telling you this
to try to persuade you to come to our side and like it. Um,
we're telling you this because there's pretty much nothing you can do. I
mean not to be discouraging. I never would want to just discourage people.
But moss is one of those and lichens as well, and a moss is
a combination of a lichen and an algae, so very similar. But you
know, if conditions are right for moss to grow, it will, plain
and simple, that's just how it works. Soil compaction, shade, moisture
way, Yeah, there's a whole lot of you know, humidity and all
of those factors that go into it. And this is why people can't just
say, oh, I want a moss lawn. I'm going to have a
moss lawn. Mosses is definitely one of those plants. If it can grow
it well, and if it can't, it won't. You can't really force
it unless you radically change your conditions. And so there's really nothing that you
can do. There's no pesticides, even if you were inclined to spray,
that are going to discourage the growth of moss and lichens. You can spray,
but they're simply band aids. If the conditions are right, it's simply
going to regrow. Yeah. Yeah, And you know it's just like you
said, Margot, with the humidity in the Pacific Northwest, the moisture in
the air, the coolness, those are all conditions that are right for that
to grow. So you know, the spores that these things put out to
reproduce are so tiny and so microscopic that there's really nothing you can do to
stop them. The good news is that it's rarely a problem. You know,
even if you don't necessarily like it from aesthetic standpoint, it's not going
to harm the plant's health, you know, especially like the small mosson like,
and it's not going to get really heavy and break branches or anything like
that. Margo, I would accept compliments on its robust growth. Get out
there and flex your moscles. Well, you know what Marco did include a
photo of it, and I felt a little guilty when they opened next.
I was like, that's gorgeous. So sorry, Margo. I you know,
again, don't want to discourage you, but it will put the photo
on the show notes and the audience can wait in as well. But I'm
afraid that the best thing here is is to just live with it and try
to see the beauty and interest in it. Thanks for the email, Margo,
appreciate it. Christopher her Rights, Hi, Stacey and Rick. My
husband and I are huge hydrangel lovers, especially proven winners varieties. Can you
talk a little about the difference between the Invincibles Ruby, Mini, Mavette Garnetta
is what's the other one? Spirit? Is it an Invincible Spirit too,
Invincible Spirit too? Yes? Okay? Is it just size or are there
other differences? Of course there are also the Green Blooms, Sublime Ricky,
Yes, Sublime and Lime Ricky so yeah. So the Invincible series is we
introduced it about twelve years ago with Invincible Spirit. And Invincible Spirit was the
first pink hydrangea arborescence or the first pink annabel type hydrangea, and at the
time it was really quite a breeding breakthrough. It was developed by doctor Tom
Rainey at North Carolina State University, who we've talked about on the show many
many times, and like so many breeding breakthroughs, once you've kind of you
cleared that first hurdle of getting a pink flowering plant. The floodgates are open.
And so what has happened is that as Tom has continued to develop new
varieties, he has a field at his research station in North Carolina with literally
hundreds and hundreds of different potential varieties. And with the Invincible series, when
it comes to us selecting them, we're selecting for a range of sizes.
So we do want, you know, some very very small ones like in
Vincabele we white, and we do want more of the conventional full size one
like they mentioned Invincible Sublime, which gets to be about five feet tall and
wide. So we're going for a wide range of sizes and to some extent,
a wide range of bloom times, because some of them will bloom much
earlier and some of them will bloom a little bit later in the season.
Even though everything in the Invincible series has some ability to rebloom, particularly if
you deadhead it. It's not necessary, but if you want a deadhead it,
it will put out fresh flowers. You know, you can really extend
that season so you always have fresh flowers through the garden. By combining these,
and of course the obvious difference is the flower color, which is usually
right there in the name, So you know, what we're trying to do
again is just to create that sort of palette of a plant that is really
familiar to people, that they're comfortable with growing, that they know they can
be successful with, but in a wide range of you know, sizes and
styles, so that no matter what's your taste, no matter how much space
you have, no matter what color palette you're working with, there is an
option. But since they pretty much all derive from the same breeding program,
you know, they're all similar in terms of their needs and ultimately their performance,
how long they bloom and that kind of thing. So they're great plants.
And if you you know, we talked a lot about let's dand skybew
in plants on trial, So that's going to be like a zone four hardy
if you live in a colder climate or you just love the animal type hydrangeas,
these are going to be hardy to USDA Zone three and heat tolerant to
USDA Zone eight. So a good portion of the country can be successful with
them. Fabulous plants people keeping score at home, Stacy. These are what
we would consider the arborescence or smooth hydraane. Correct, right, Yes,
all right, Pat asks us, I would like to know what thistle plant
I can grow in my flower garden that would not be invasive, but yet
the goldfinches would eat the seed and use the fluffy material from the thistle flower
for nesting. Great question, Pat, That's one of my favorite things about
globe thistle is watching the finches all over it. And when we interviewed the
birdman a few months ago, he of course reminded us that finches are late
nesters and we'll take advantage of it. Yeah. And I was really glad
passed this question too, because I think it's a great one. And she
has a really good point, because there are a number of invasive weedy thistles
in the US that you certainly would not want to plant in your garden in
the attempt to attract goldfinches. But I think you really made a great point
by mentioning the globe thistle. And so the simple answer here, Pat,
is that any plant in the daisy family and the astacy, almost all of
them make some fluff on their seed heads, and those are great choices.
You know, goldfinches are not limited to thistle. They also love milkweed,
and milkweed has tons of fluffed incredible and it's coming out at this time of
the year. So all of these options, you know from whether they are
you know, out in the wild or in your garden, provide a lot
of nesting material. And I've talked about one of the I think you could
say signature plants in my garden Selfium, porfoliateum or cup plant just starting going
in my garden over the weekend last weekend covered in goldfinches outstand. Yeah,
and so anything that has seed at this time of the year, the goldfinches
will be all too happy to take off your hands. Yeah. Add some
in your garden flowers and a cozens also, I've found finches like zenias.
You can't beat that color combination. All right, So thank everyone so much
for your questions. If you have a question for us, just visit Gardening
Simplified on air dot com. You'll find the show outs as well as a
contact form. We're going to take a little break. When we come back.
You know what time it is branching news, so stay tuned. The
Gardening Simplified Show is brought to you by proven winners Color Choice Shrubs, 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 in the distinctive white container at your local garden center. Welcome back to
the Gardening Simplified Show. It's time for branching news. Here's some breaking news.
We were chatting during the break and our amazing engineer and producer Adriana Robinson
made a point about the finches, because we're always looking for some fluff for
their nesting. You had an idea, yeah, hot tips. So I
have a Siberian husky who sheds all the time, all year, and I
like to brush him outside because I've noticed that a lot of the goldfinches love
to scoop up a lot of that fluffy hair he leaves behind and they take
it for their nests. So you don't have to clean up inside, and
you're helping the birds out and they probably don't even know the difference between milkweed
fluff and atlas fluff. So it works for me. Absolutely. That can't
beat that, all right. You're struggling to feel healthy. A new study
revealed how the weather and sunlight played a significant role in US feeling better in
the summer than any other time of the year. So two thousand US adults
revealed seventy five percent feel more encouraged and healthy if the weather is perfect and
the skies are sunny. I'm kind of like, duh, yeah, So
I don't even know why I'm bringing this up, other than again, you
know, weak garden during the summer season. Don't give up. Keep gardening
and enjoy the sunshine. It's not a fig leaf of your imagination. When
you're out there in the sunshine working in your garden, you're feeling good,
yeah, and you know, it's good just to see all of the life.
And that's what I really realized recently as I was like, you know,
in the winter, things are just so like stagnant. You don't get
all the change. And you know, if you're sitting outside for even ten
minutes, so much happens, birds and bugs and plants, and that is
good for your mood. It's stimulating, it's stimulating. It's all sun and
games till you run out of light, and which reminds me Stacy. Soon
we'll be talking about our favorite subject, no daylight saving time all right,
the National Weather Service said this past week it wasn't a large swarm of grasshoppers.
It's radar imaging caught moving into northwest Utah after all. A week after
announcing the alarming discovery, the Weather Service reported that further analysis showed that the
unusual blip on the radar was most likely caused by material released from a US
Air Force base in Vada. Now that's interesting. The chaff or yeah,
chaff, they call it chaff a radar, a substance called chaff, a
reflective substance deployed by the military to confuse radars or guided missiles. So it
wasn't grasshoppers after all, It was this chaff. Interesting, but peanut people
just panic for a little while, thinking there was this huge mass of grasshoppers
on radar moving into the area. Well, that's scary. Thought. Gives
me the weekly opportunity to share with you a dad joke a grasshopper. Grasshopper
walks into a bar and the bartender says, hey, do you know we
have a drink named after you? And the grasshopper says, you have a
drink named Fred Johnson. Okay. Drought stricken Arizona is baking in the sear
heat. We've all heard the news of the heat in Arizona. The Scottsdale
City Council unanimously agreed this past week to ban natural grass in front of future
single family homes in an effort to conserve water. So they're they're banning lawns
there in Scottsdale. You know, that's um, that's a a heavy step,
but especially in I mean, lawns are very water intensive here in Michigan,
even in the summer, even in a normal summer when we don't have
you knows as little rain as we've had this year. So in a climate
like Arizona, which is a natural desert, that's going to be even more
water where water is scarce. So, um, you know, I think
it's really just a matter of just getting people's eyes used to seeing something else
and then it will sort of become a lot less weird to people who are
just accustomed to lawns as being the default choice. Yeah. I think so
too, and Stacy. According to this this news story, this is the
part that I found interesting. According to Scottsdale City Council, feedback gathered from
Scottsdale water customers in June found eighty six percent of those who responded supported the
ordinance. Oh wow, that's good. Glad to hear that. So I
guess not a lot of crankiness going on it, and no longer cranky people
saying get off my lawn. Right, Well, people aren't going to go
on their lawn because instead of grass is the people lancing tactus. Very good
deterrent. And some people aren't necessarily into lawn. I mean, some people
very much into their lawns, but some people just just not into their lawns
and the maintenance. I remember once I had an old more I put out
by the road and put a sign next to it that said free. Someone
came by and took the sign left them ower. True true story. So
anyhow, all right, I probably should have been more specific with that to
sign. A woman in Massachusetts decided to buy herself something she's always wanted for
her ninety seventh birthday, a top of the line John Dear tractor. Ah,
now that's interesting. What's she gonna do with it? She just likes
to take her tractor out for a ride for fun. She says, whether
the grass needs cutting or not, I go around, I check and drive
around. Her home sits on a beautiful two point five acres of land.
She says, it keeps me busy. And she said, even before her
husband passed away, the four foot eight inch firecracker, that's what they're calling
her, always had a love of landscaping. She had a pushmower when she
was a younger girl. But she said, now forget it, I can't
push the lawnmowers. So she got herself a John Dear tractor. Wow.
Well, you know, two point two acres is a lot for a pushmower.
So, like, I think she should have treated herself a little earlier.
Frankly, I think so too. I think so too. She's now
a media sensation. They tracked her down. Recently published research. It indicates
that monarch butterflies live year round in South Carolina. What did you catch that?
That's wild? No, I didn't. We're gonna put the story the
length there at Gardening Simplified OnAir dot Com. Please visit our website Gardening Simplified
OnAir dot Com. Of course, you can send us questions also and take
a look at the show notes and we'll put it there. Yes, recently
published research indicates that monarch butterflies live year round in South Carolina, relying on
swamps in spring, summer and fall, and sea islands in the winter.
While these monarchs rely heavily on aquatic milkweed as a host plant for their eggs
and caterpillars, they were also found to use swallow wart, a viny relative
of milkweed that grows near salt marshes and was previously recognized as an important host
plant for monarch. So this is pretty interesting. Their establishing monarchs are overwintering
in South Carolina rather than migrating to the well known sites in Mexico. That's
fascinating. I had no idea. Yeah, so very interesting. Now,
of course, the monarchs in this study were more concentrated in maritime habitats,
so barrier islands that are directly on the ocean in winter, but pretty wide
widely disperse, So there you go. Finally, in branching news, this
was interesting. A fallen tree blocking a nearby road trapped more than one hundred
people this past week at the home of Agatha Christie, the late crime writer
regarded as the best selling novelist of all time. One visitor to Christie's Greenway
House in England said she arrived at eleven thirty in the morning and was stuck
there for hours because there's only one road in and out of the air.
It sounds like a mystery in the making. Exactly, exactly, so fantastic
story. Yes, it's gonna require some detective work to figure out why and
how this happened. But at the home of Agatha Christie, a fallen tree
and your I guess there's worse places to be stuck. Sure, yeah,
I mean she probably she was a very avid gardener in fact, so I'm
sure her home there in England has pretty fabulous gardens. And you know,
if there's a place that you're going to be stuck, a garden is a
pretty good place for it. Thank you so much for watching us on YouTube
of course, looking for the podcast, share it with friends and neighbors listening
to us on the radio and Stacy, thank you very mulch Thank you,
Rick, and thank you Adrianna, you bet you, and thank you to
our listeners. Oh yes, exactly big, thank you, very mulchos all
around. Thanks Adrianna, have yourself a great week.