In Praise of Ornamental Grasses - A Look At Rick's Garden

<v Speaker 1>Coming to you from Iconic Studio a here at Proven
<v Speaker 1>Winters Color Choice Shrubs. It's time for the Gardening Simplified podcast,
<v Speaker 1>radio and YouTube show with Stacey Hervella, me Rick Weist,
<v Speaker 1>and our engineer and producer Adrianna Robinson. Well, the bedrock
<v Speaker 1>of my personal landscape is ornamental grasses, and there's a
<v Speaker 1>lot of reasons for it. I have a lot of
<v Speaker 1>deer pressure. But in addition to that, I'm trying to
<v Speaker 1>grow a garden in beach sand, which is kind of
<v Speaker 1>difficult to do. I live along the shores here in
<v Speaker 1>West Michigan of beautiful Lake Michigan. The beaches of Lake
<v Speaker 1>Michigan are just simply gorgeous, and you have the unforgiving,
<v Speaker 1>harsh climate of the beach for plant vegetation to grow.
<v Speaker 1>Then you have you have what i'd call the transitional
<v Speaker 1>dunes that go beyond the beach and then the back dunes.
<v Speaker 1>And that's where my home is, on the back dunes,
<v Speaker 1>so you're nestled in there. And boy, when a storm
<v Speaker 1>comes over Lake Michigan and the wind is blowing, it
<v Speaker 1>just sounds like a freight train going overhead. But you're
<v Speaker 1>protected there. So that's a positive. I guess the downside,
<v Speaker 1>or some people wouldn't consider it a downside, and that
<v Speaker 1>is come winter when the lake effect machine kicks in,
<v Speaker 1>boy can it pump out the snow. And there are
<v Speaker 1>many years when we get well over one hundred inches
<v Speaker 1>of snow at my house there on the back dune.
<v Speaker 1>But of course that makes it a great place to
<v Speaker 1>grow plants. Hydranges grow great, rhododendrons grow well, fruit trees
<v Speaker 1>grow well tempered by beautiful Lake Michigan. But Stacy, I
<v Speaker 1>plant primarily ornamental grasses, and I think you know, planting
<v Speaker 1>ornamental grasses where I live is great because it kind
<v Speaker 1>of fits the scenery of the area. We talked about
<v Speaker 1>borrowed scenery before on the show. Of course, my borrowed
<v Speaker 1>scenery is the beautiful beaches of Lake Michigan. You'll see
<v Speaker 1>the marram grass growing there, also the sand reed grass
<v Speaker 1>and the milkweed growing in abundance. Unfortunately, some invasive species
<v Speaker 1>two spotted napweed came into the United States in the
<v Speaker 1>late eighteen hundreds. I think it was ejected out of
<v Speaker 1>ship ballast if I recall correctly, and you'll see spotted
<v Speaker 1>napweed there too, So I decided to plant lots of
<v Speaker 1>ornamental grasses in my landscape. Of course, I'm also the
<v Speaker 1>cana king, and we'll talk about that in segment four
<v Speaker 1>because I've been having some problems with my cannas that
<v Speaker 1>I want to share with our listeners and our viewers
<v Speaker 1>and get your take on that. But the ornamental grasses,
<v Speaker 1>I just love the way that they sway in the breeze.
<v Speaker 1>They're so tough, reliable, drought resistant, deer resistant, and that's
<v Speaker 1>a big reason I plant them in abundance in my landscape.
<v Speaker 2>And you know, they're so diverse. When we talk about
<v Speaker 2>ornamental grasses, you know people probably have like a miscanthus
<v Speaker 2>or something like that that comes to mind. But the
<v Speaker 2>fact is that the ornamental grasses is a huge number
<v Speaker 2>of different genera and different varieties and different colors, different shapes,
<v Speaker 2>So it's not a monolith. You can have an ornamental
<v Speaker 2>grass garden that is really varied and elegant and interesting
<v Speaker 2>and not just misscanthus.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, exactly. As a matter of fact, a grass that
<v Speaker 1>I love are the panicums, prairie winds, panicums, switchgrass totem
<v Speaker 1>pole is a favorite of mine and for those watching
<v Speaker 1>on YouTube, Adriana will drop in pictures of my personal landscape.
<v Speaker 1>If you're not watching on YouTube, listening to the podcast
<v Speaker 1>or radio, we'll put some of the pictures in the
<v Speaker 1>show notes at our website Gardening Simplified on air dot com.
<v Speaker 1>But Stacy, I love panic. A totem pole is a
<v Speaker 1>variety that's sturdy durabullets and ornamental grass that can really
<v Speaker 1>withstand at verse weather conditions. But it's just a column
<v Speaker 1>of steel blue foliage and just goes straight up in
<v Speaker 1>the air. And when that thing starts to flower and
<v Speaker 1>is in its beauty in July, August and September, I
<v Speaker 1>literally have people ringing the doorbell asking me what that is.
<v Speaker 2>It is beautiful, it has structure, it has color, and
<v Speaker 2>that beautiful blue, I think is something that goes so
<v Speaker 2>nicely with everything else. And it really goes to show
<v Speaker 2>you that ornamental grasses aren't boring. People think, oh, it's
<v Speaker 2>just a grass. Grass is boring, grass is lawns. But again,
<v Speaker 2>you get that blue, that structure. It's a refreshing alternative
<v Speaker 2>to Carl Forster cal macgrassis, which is a fabulous grass.
<v Speaker 2>It's beautiful, it has that same super upright structural presence
<v Speaker 2>in the garden, but it's gotten a little overused over
<v Speaker 2>the past several years.
<v Speaker 1>I would say, I'm glad you brought it up, and
<v Speaker 1>that's why it's not in my landscape. Panicom's also Niagara
<v Speaker 1>Falls is a great proven winter's grass. Lightning Bolt is
<v Speaker 1>a favorite of mine. Also Chyenne the Sky because of
<v Speaker 1>the color as we go through summer into fall, and Stacy,
<v Speaker 1>you mentioned miss Canthus. Now miss Canthus is just I'm
<v Speaker 1>going to say the bedrock of my landscape. Morning light
<v Speaker 1>is a variety that I love. Very light, fine foliage,
<v Speaker 1>lightly variegated, just dances in the breeze. Of course, you
<v Speaker 1>can also choose miss Canthus that have as opposed to
<v Speaker 1>vertical variegation horizontal variegation, left bandwidth.
<v Speaker 2>I love that. I think it just looks there as
<v Speaker 2>a brinus. Yes, I love that one. And it's a
<v Speaker 2>little bit wacky. It's not for everybody, and I don't
<v Speaker 2>actually have it in my garden, but every time I
<v Speaker 2>see it, I think I should find a place for that,
<v Speaker 2>because I do love it. It's quite unique.
<v Speaker 1>It is a little wacky, but it's good.
<v Speaker 2>That's a good thing for me.
<v Speaker 1>That's a good thing you bet when it comes to
<v Speaker 1>miss Canthus, there are many different cultivars that you can
<v Speaker 1>choose from. For me, I consider the gold standard of
<v Speaker 1>miss Canthus and we have pictures of it to be
<v Speaker 1>October Fest. It blooms much earlier, so it's perfect for
<v Speaker 1>shorter seasons in the north. The inflorescence is there by August.
<v Speaker 1>It's a burgundy copper color transitioning to a cream color.
<v Speaker 1>Proven Winners has one called Encore. I believe my favorite
<v Speaker 1>of the miss Caanthus grasses. And then of course you've
<v Speaker 1>got to mention Penacetum's Lemon Squeeze is a proven winter's
<v Speaker 1>grass that I love in my landscape and gives you
<v Speaker 1>some color desert plains, prairie winds, desert plains is great.
<v Speaker 1>And then I'm very much into the annual grasses. You know,
<v Speaker 1>some people don't want to plant annual grasses because they're like, man,
<v Speaker 1>I'm wasting my money. I got to dig them up.
<v Speaker 1>But you're doing that with other annuals and they're amazing.
<v Speaker 1>Rubrim Purple Fountain Vertigo is a proven Winner's variety, gets
<v Speaker 1>very large, has saber shaped purple foliage. And then Skyrocket
<v Speaker 1>is a new favorite of mine. A variegated annual grass,
<v Speaker 1>a proven winter's grass. Wow, that thing's gorgeous.
<v Speaker 2>You know, I think when it comes to growing ornamental
<v Speaker 2>grasses is an annual, people get a little confused. They
<v Speaker 2>probably think, like, I'm not going to pay for that.
<v Speaker 2>I could have a perennial one. And that doesn't quite
<v Speaker 2>click that Some ornamental grasses are not actually hardy or
<v Speaker 2>they do legitimate just have that one year life cycle
<v Speaker 2>where they're going to complete that in one year, go
<v Speaker 2>from seed to seed. But yeah, for the right kind
<v Speaker 2>of container, and if you like that vibe in that look,
<v Speaker 2>they're absolutely worth it, just as much as any other
<v Speaker 2>tropical or you know, big statement plant would be that
<v Speaker 2>you're planting in your containers.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, you bet. And did I mention I'm trying to
<v Speaker 1>grow in beach sand. Now I'm growing a lot of
<v Speaker 1>other things too, And you'll see from pictures of my landscape.
<v Speaker 1>Have a vegetable garden. My family loves green zebra tomatoes,
<v Speaker 1>and so I love growing the vegetable plants. We grow
<v Speaker 1>the vegetable plants in the garden. Many other cultivars blue
<v Speaker 1>Atlas cedar, of course, I mentioned the cannas and Stacy
<v Speaker 1>I have learned that dear villa is a very important
<v Speaker 1>plant in my landscape. It's very drought tolerant, very colorful.
<v Speaker 1>It does really well there on the back doom.
<v Speaker 2>And you know, I do love it. I have a
<v Speaker 2>Kodiak blackter villa paired with shy and sky panic and
<v Speaker 2>it's such a pretty combination. I wish I could take
<v Speaker 2>credit for it, but it just kind of happens. But
<v Speaker 2>that is, it is a really nice combination, and it
<v Speaker 2>can really tolerate those similar conditions. Not quite as deer
<v Speaker 2>resistant as the grass is, but the grass can also
<v Speaker 2>kind of function to deter the deer a bit by,
<v Speaker 2>you know, forcing them to step through it if they
<v Speaker 2>want to, you know, munch the flowers off the davilla.
<v Speaker 1>Sure. Yeah. And then finally there is some blue lime
<v Speaker 1>grass on the dune. Some people would cringe. I don't
<v Speaker 1>recommend you planted. It is rhizotomous and it can get
<v Speaker 1>out of hand quite quickly. But again, when you're trying
<v Speaker 1>to grow in beach sand and you have an area
<v Speaker 1>where it's functional. Same thing with the loriope. I have
<v Speaker 1>a variety and you'll see the picture of big blue
<v Speaker 1>when it blooms boy, is that functional. So again, when
<v Speaker 1>your landscape, you've got to look at the environment you're
<v Speaker 1>working with the community that you're living in and make
<v Speaker 1>some choices as far as is your plant material is concerned.
<v Speaker 1>And I can't help it, Stacy, I'm into ornamental grasses.
<v Speaker 2>I already knew that about you. But it's good to
<v Speaker 2>have the list down there and have the photos and
<v Speaker 2>have it all confirmed for our listeners. And they are
<v Speaker 2>great problem solving plants, and you know, that's what we're
<v Speaker 2>all about, is having plants that solve problems. And that's
<v Speaker 2>a difficult situation growing in the beach and having deer
<v Speaker 2>and all of these other issues. And you know, the
<v Speaker 2>other thing is a lot of ornamental grass is take
<v Speaker 2>up a lot of space, so you're not spending as
<v Speaker 2>much money to fill that space and you're getting almost
<v Speaker 2>year round impact. Really, the only time ornamental grasses aren't
<v Speaker 2>at their best, it's pretty much like March and April, right.
<v Speaker 2>Other than that, they're contributing to the landscape and looking amazing.
<v Speaker 1>Absolutely well, speaking of problems, how's Stacy going to tie
<v Speaker 1>in ornamental grasses with plants on trial today? Stay tuned,
<v Speaker 1>We're going to find out next here on the Gardening
<v Speaker 1>Simplified Show.
<v Speaker 2>Prooven Winter's Colored Choic Shrubs cares about your success in
<v Speaker 2>the garden. That's why we trial and test all of
<v Speaker 2>our shrubs for eight to ten years, making sure they
<v Speaker 2>outperform everything else on the market. Look for them and
<v Speaker 2>the distinctive white container at your local garden center. Greetings,
<v Speaker 2>gardening friends, and welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show,
<v Speaker 2>where the order of the day is grass. And you know,
<v Speaker 2>this is kind of a tough one for me to
<v Speaker 2>pull into plants on trial because I don't know if
<v Speaker 2>our listeners realize this, but Prooven Winner's Color Choy Shrubs
<v Speaker 2>we sell shrubs and shrubs are woody plants, and a
<v Speaker 2>woody plant is something like you know, you know from
<v Speaker 2>tree rings. If you cut into the stem of a shrub,
<v Speaker 2>it's going to be concentric rings like a tree that
<v Speaker 2>you could count and see how old that particular stem is,
<v Speaker 2>and that's what makes it a woody plant. However, grasses
<v Speaker 2>are herbaceous plants and they are monocots. So if you
<v Speaker 2>think way, way way way way back to high school
<v Speaker 2>biology or whatever that looked like for you, a die
<v Speaker 2>coot is sort of your classic seedling. When it germinates,
<v Speaker 2>it has the two little leaves coming off, So like
<v Speaker 2>the classic seedling that you think of, when a monocot germinates,
<v Speaker 2>it is just a sheath. So you've seen grass seed.
<v Speaker 2>Most of us have seen grass ed, whether we wanted
<v Speaker 2>to or not, because grass can, you know, spread itself
<v Speaker 2>around and make a little bit of a pest of
<v Speaker 2>itself so that just a little sheath comes up. That
<v Speaker 2>is a monocot. And there are no woody monicots. And
<v Speaker 2>that might not mean a lot to you just to
<v Speaker 2>hear that, but what this actually means is that some
<v Speaker 2>plants that a lot of people think of as trees
<v Speaker 2>or woody plants are not actually trees. So palms are
<v Speaker 2>not trees, Bananas are not trees. And another one that
<v Speaker 2>people might be more familiar with is the houseplant is dressina.
<v Speaker 2>So you got the corn palm. You also have the
<v Speaker 2>dragon tree that is, you know, sort of a classic
<v Speaker 2>symbol of certain parts of Africa in the landscape there.
<v Speaker 2>And so even though all of those things have a
<v Speaker 2>tree like habit, they have what appears to be a
<v Speaker 2>long tail trunk and a canopy up on top. They
<v Speaker 2>are not trees because they're not woody plants. There are
<v Speaker 2>no woody monocots. So what happens the difference is when,
<v Speaker 2>if and when you were to cut into a palm
<v Speaker 2>or a banana or something like that, what you're going
<v Speaker 2>to see is just like fibers. It's kind of hard
<v Speaker 2>to explain. Of course, if you live in a warm climate,
<v Speaker 2>you've seen this dozens of times. You know, palms get
<v Speaker 2>damaged in hurricanes or whatever, and then you just got
<v Speaker 2>to why they Yeah, they have to use machetes. You
<v Speaker 2>can't use a chainsaw. A chainsaw will not work on them.
<v Speaker 2>It just will get all jammed up with those fibers.
<v Speaker 2>So if you live in a warm climate, you have
<v Speaker 2>certainly seen this before. But if you don't live in
<v Speaker 2>a warm climate, it kind of comes as a shock
<v Speaker 2>to be like, what do you mean? A palm is
<v Speaker 2>not a tree. A tree is a tall thing with
<v Speaker 2>a trunk and leaves on top. So we're gonna have
<v Speaker 2>pictures of what this looks like on the YouTube version
<v Speaker 2>of the show as well as in the show notes,
<v Speaker 2>so you can kind of make sense of that. But yeah,
<v Speaker 2>so they don't make those rings. Now, Banana plants do
<v Speaker 2>make what looks like rings, but they're not tree rings
<v Speaker 2>because they're not woody. What they are is the leaf
<v Speaker 2>bases or the bottom of the leaves that made up
<v Speaker 2>the banana plant all nestled together and kind of spiraling around.
<v Speaker 2>So it does kind of look like a like it
<v Speaker 2>does have concentric rings, but it's actually stacked up leaves.
<v Speaker 1>That's bananas.
<v Speaker 2>It is a little bit bananas. Yeah. So you know,
<v Speaker 2>when we're trying we're talking about grasses, and I'm trying
<v Speaker 2>to tie in plants on trial, Like, how do I
<v Speaker 2>do that when we have no shrubs in the proven
<v Speaker 2>Winter's colored choice line that are monocots and grasses aren't
<v Speaker 2>woody plants. So I had to think about a different approach,
<v Speaker 2>and I started thinking about grass companions. And you know,
<v Speaker 2>people talk a lot about companion planting very often. It
<v Speaker 2>comes up in terms of vegetables. And if you plant
<v Speaker 2>these two things together, they can of help each other
<v Speaker 2>out from a physical standpoint, like if you use you know,
<v Speaker 2>beans to climb cornstock that does work. There is not
<v Speaker 2>any scientific evidence as of yet that you know, one
<v Speaker 2>plant will improve the flavor of another or repel pests
<v Speaker 2>for another. It's still a fun thing to practice, but
<v Speaker 2>really the key to companion planting is matching plants that
<v Speaker 2>need the same conditions more than anything else. You can't
<v Speaker 2>have two plants close together that need dramatically different conditions.
<v Speaker 2>And so as reck is already established, grass needs full sun.
<v Speaker 2>There are very few shade tolerant grasses. Do you grow hakonakloa?
<v Speaker 2>That's pretty much what I've always heard is like the
<v Speaker 2>one reasonably shade tolerant shitty spot.
<v Speaker 1>On the east side of the house, and it does great.
<v Speaker 2>Yes, So most grasses are definitely full sun plants, even
<v Speaker 2>if you live in a hot climate and they want
<v Speaker 2>pretty dry soil. If you over water grass, if they
<v Speaker 2>are in too much water, if they are on irrigation,
<v Speaker 2>they get floppy. They don't have that nice erect look,
<v Speaker 2>that strong structural look. They just kind of go blu
<v Speaker 2>and flop. So that's not great. So you want plants
<v Speaker 2>that can take those same kind of conditions. Now, there
<v Speaker 2>are plenty of shrubs that, of course are very heat
<v Speaker 2>and sun and drought tolerant. But then the other factor
<v Speaker 2>of picking a companion plant is do you pick something
<v Speaker 2>that picks up the slack at a time when the
<v Speaker 2>other plant is not at its best, or do you
<v Speaker 2>just gild the lily and get something that is going
<v Speaker 2>to look amazing when the other plants are at their
<v Speaker 2>best and it's just an over the top you know, look,
<v Speaker 2>it's an explosion of bloom. So for today's plan on trial,
<v Speaker 2>I decided to go with a picking up the slack method,
<v Speaker 2>because again, as great as ornamental grasses are, they are
<v Speaker 2>not at their best in March and April. And that
<v Speaker 2>is kind of a tough thing because those are definitely
<v Speaker 2>months where you're pretty tired of brown. You want some green,
<v Speaker 2>you want some things to be growing, and so you
<v Speaker 2>can forgive them for the other ten months of beauty
<v Speaker 2>that they give you, but March and April, we gotta
<v Speaker 2>face it, every plant has its time.
<v Speaker 1>You're chopping them back and you're digging and dividing.
<v Speaker 2>And they haven't started to grow yet. Because most a
<v Speaker 2>lot of the grasses that we grow as ornamental grasses
<v Speaker 2>are what's known as warm season grasses, and they don't
<v Speaker 2>start growing until it's actually quite warm out well into May.
<v Speaker 2>So you do have that long window where there's nothing
<v Speaker 2>happening except a little patch of stubble in your garden.
<v Speaker 2>So today's plan on trial is Sister Redhead, Scotch broom
<v Speaker 2>or sitisis controversy. I like it. It is a little
<v Speaker 2>bit controversial. Now there's probably going to get a lot
<v Speaker 2>of people out there going what's controversial about it. I've
<v Speaker 2>tried to grow scotch broom and I cannot grow it.
<v Speaker 2>It lives for one year and it dies. Whereas other
<v Speaker 2>people are like, I'm going to come through that radio
<v Speaker 2>and smack you, Stacy, because scotch broom is a horrible
<v Speaker 2>invasive and it's true, Scotch broom is very, very invasive
<v Speaker 2>in some areas, particularly the Pacific Northwest and the southeast.
<v Speaker 2>But I picked Sister Redhead for two reasons. Number one
<v Speaker 2>is it is in our in check program, which means
<v Speaker 2>that it does not set seed. So Sister Redhead specifically
<v Speaker 2>will not spread by seed. Now, if you live in
<v Speaker 2>an area where ssyitisis is already invasive, you can't grow
<v Speaker 2>this or any other one. It is banned. It can't
<v Speaker 2>be shipped into your state. But in other areas, again
<v Speaker 2>it's some people really have a hard time trying to
<v Speaker 2>grow it, and the reason that they would want to
<v Speaker 2>grow it in the first place is because it has
<v Speaker 2>beautiful flowers and sister redhead, as you might guess by
<v Speaker 2>the name bright red flowers, and you all know how
<v Speaker 2>I feel about red flowers. It's my absolute favorite. I'm
<v Speaker 2>crazy about them. I don't have sister redhead in my garden,
<v Speaker 2>but bright red flowers with a little dab of yellow
<v Speaker 2>in there. It's just incredible color. And it's blooming usually
<v Speaker 2>in about April and May, so right at that time
<v Speaker 2>where those grasses are just like I just got cut back.
<v Speaker 2>I need a few weeks here to get my stuff
<v Speaker 2>together and be able to grow again. So very very
<v Speaker 2>colorful flowers to make up for that time when the
<v Speaker 2>grasses aren't looking their best. And they have quite a
<v Speaker 2>unique texture as well. And it's a plant I can
<v Speaker 2>honestly say I have been asked about so much, even
<v Speaker 2>when I was in California and it was invasive in
<v Speaker 2>the woods and it was just like so painful to see.
<v Speaker 2>My brother in law was like, what is that cool plant?
<v Speaker 2>You know, not knowing of course that it was invasive.
<v Speaker 2>Because the stems are green, they're kind of thin and wiry,
<v Speaker 2>they actually look a bit like a grass, and then
<v Speaker 2>tiny little leaves so the overall effect of a scotch
<v Speaker 2>room is really quite unusual texture and color. It's green
<v Speaker 2>all year round and so it almost has a look
<v Speaker 2>like a grass as well. And of course it is
<v Speaker 2>very it needs full sun and if you have any
<v Speaker 2>drainage problems whatsoever, this plant is not going to live
<v Speaker 2>in your yard. It can't take white soil. It's probably,
<v Speaker 2>i would say, in my experience, even more sensitive to
<v Speaker 2>wet soil than maybe even butterfly bush.
<v Speaker 1>Wow.
<v Speaker 2>Have you ever tried to grow it?
<v Speaker 1>No? I have not. And if you're keeping score at home,
<v Speaker 1>Stacy's talking about Sister Redhead scotch broom, Stacy, you pronounced
<v Speaker 1>the botanical name cyitisis okayiss Sister Redhead. That was a
<v Speaker 1>great band when I was in high school. I enjoyed them.
<v Speaker 2>Well, you can thank tim Wood for that name. And
<v Speaker 2>like I said, it does not set seed. It is
<v Speaker 2>a really unique and unusual color, and it's a great
<v Speaker 2>plant to add spring color as well as to kind
<v Speaker 2>of pick up that slack when your ornamental grasses are
<v Speaker 2>just really you know, great idea not quite ready to
<v Speaker 2>do their thing. There are other colors of citisis out there.
<v Speaker 2>You can find pink and yellow of course is the
<v Speaker 2>most common, and the one that is very, very invasive
<v Speaker 2>is a yellow one. That's the one that you'll see
<v Speaker 2>everywhere in those areas. And yeah, it's it gets three
<v Speaker 2>to four feet tall and wide, so another nice size
<v Speaker 2>to kind of mix in with grasses. Some ornamental grasses
<v Speaker 2>get to be humongous eight to ten feet tall, but overall, Rick,
<v Speaker 2>probably the ones in your yard are more in that
<v Speaker 2>like three.
<v Speaker 1>To six foot range.
<v Speaker 2>I would guess that is the most common hardy down
<v Speaker 2>to USDA Zone five, heat tolerant through USDA Zone eight. Again,
<v Speaker 2>well drained soil is imperative, and it is extremely dear resistant,
<v Speaker 2>making another great characteristic to go with those ornamental grasses.
<v Speaker 1>So Buck stops here.
<v Speaker 2>You can take a look at photos of Sister Redhead
<v Speaker 2>Scotch Broom at Gardeningsimplified on air dot com or just
<v Speaker 2>check us out on YouTube. You'll see all the photos
<v Speaker 2>of it there. So again, this is not a plant
<v Speaker 2>necessarily everyone can add to their garden, but if you're
<v Speaker 2>in an area, and even if you're concerned about it spreading,
<v Speaker 2>Sister Redhead, it does not set seats, so you don't
<v Speaker 2>have to worry about that. We're going to take a
<v Speaker 2>little break. When we come back, we're opening up the
<v Speaker 2>garden mail bag, so please stay tuned. At proven winner's
<v Speaker 2>color choice, We've got a shrub for every taste and
<v Speaker 2>every space. Whether you're looking for an easycare rose and
<v Speaker 2>unforgettable hydrangea, or something new and unique, you can be
<v Speaker 2>confident that the shrubs and the white containers have been
<v Speaker 2>trialed and tested for your success. Look for them at
<v Speaker 2>your local garden center. Greetings, gardening friends, and welcome back
<v Speaker 2>to the Gardening Simplified Show. It's one of my favorite
<v Speaker 2>times of the show where I get to answer your
<v Speaker 2>garden questions. We'll talk about what our opinions are and
<v Speaker 2>our experience. So if you have a question about gardening,
<v Speaker 2>you are most welcome to reach out to us at
<v Speaker 2>help HLP, at Gardening Simplified on air dot com, or
<v Speaker 2>just visit Gardening Simplified on air dot com. You can
<v Speaker 2>ask a question there. You can even attach a photo,
<v Speaker 2>which it's always so good to see a photo. It's
<v Speaker 2>very hard to be a plant detective and a psychic,
<v Speaker 2>so photos are always welcome and you can easily do that,
<v Speaker 2>So yeah, please do reach out to us if you
<v Speaker 2>have any question, especially as we go into fall, you know,
<v Speaker 2>people don't know what they're gonna Should I do this?
<v Speaker 2>Should I do that? And remember the answers always win
<v Speaker 2>in doubt. Don't so eat that in mind, uh as
<v Speaker 2>you as you face your upcoming garden quandaries.
<v Speaker 1>I think of Stacy all the time when I'm working
<v Speaker 1>in my garden, and I'm like, should I move when
<v Speaker 1>in doubt? Don't?
<v Speaker 2>I mean when it comes to like a design thing
<v Speaker 2>that's different. But I always say, you can always buy time,
<v Speaker 2>Like you can't necessarily undo it, but you can, Like
<v Speaker 2>if you have a crazy idea, and I have acted
<v Speaker 2>on several crazy ideas in my garden without thinking, you know,
<v Speaker 2>it's best to like give it some time to marinate
<v Speaker 2>and then come back to it.
<v Speaker 1>Like when I'm at the gas station and I'm looking
<v Speaker 1>at that candy bar and I'm thinking, and then I
<v Speaker 1>think of Stacy, and I think, when in doubt, don't It's.
<v Speaker 2>Good advice for so very many things in life. So
<v Speaker 2>exactly what's in the mailbag?
<v Speaker 1>All right? Stacy? Judith writes to us, I have a
<v Speaker 1>flowering dogwood about seven years old, which had blooms on
<v Speaker 1>its top branches. This spring. It now has for the
<v Speaker 1>first time a stem one or two inches straight up
<v Speaker 1>from where the bloom was, and on top of the
<v Speaker 1>stem a dark pink round ball, not berry. I checked.
<v Speaker 1>Do you know what it is? Yes?
<v Speaker 2>And it is one of my favorite things about fall.
<v Speaker 2>So I want to first I thought this was such
<v Speaker 2>a good question to answer, because people know flowering dogwoods.
<v Speaker 2>We have flowering dogwoods native here in Michigan and through
<v Speaker 2>a great deal of the United States. They're beautiful, they're iconic.
<v Speaker 2>My grandma had one in front of her house growing up.
<v Speaker 2>We had my mom has one in front of her
<v Speaker 2>house now, and so they're really widespread. But that native
<v Speaker 2>flowering dogwood corners Florida is not the only dogwood anymore.
<v Speaker 2>The other there are other dogwoods flowering dogwood trees in
<v Speaker 2>town that you can plant instead. And so Cornis cusa,
<v Speaker 2>also known as Korean dogwood, is one that has really
<v Speaker 2>become quite popular over the last I would say twenty
<v Speaker 2>ish years or so years.
<v Speaker 1>I much prefer it.
<v Speaker 2>It is beautiful, and I mean, if you love flowers,
<v Speaker 2>you cannot beat Corners cusa. This thing is a flowering
<v Speaker 2>machine that creates way more flowers, it has a very
<v Speaker 2>distinctive horizontal branching, and it's just the tree. It just
<v Speaker 2>has a totally different presence in the landscape. If you
<v Speaker 2>have more of like an informal woodlandy kind of garden,
<v Speaker 2>you might want to stick with our native dogwood. But
<v Speaker 2>if you are just trying to landscape your house and
<v Speaker 2>have an absolute stunner of a tree, it's hard to
<v Speaker 2>beat Cornis cusa Korean dogwood well.
<v Speaker 1>And it tends to bloom later than Corners.
<v Speaker 2>Florida, right quite a bit. Yeah, that's a good point.
<v Speaker 1>And so if you're in the north, those bracts or
<v Speaker 1>blooms or whatever you want to call them are longer
<v Speaker 1>lived too.
<v Speaker 2>Just oh much longer. Yeah, So the Corners Florida, as
<v Speaker 2>many spring flowering plants can do, it can blast through.
<v Speaker 2>If we have like a hot, dry spring, you will
<v Speaker 2>enjoy those flowers for very long, whereas the Corners Cusa
<v Speaker 2>blooms for us here in Michigan June about mid to
<v Speaker 2>late June, and yeah, those flowers will be effective for
<v Speaker 2>nearly a month. So the flowers are one big difference.
<v Speaker 2>The foliage is similar, but much glossier and showier. The
<v Speaker 2>plant is more dense. But the cool thing about it,
<v Speaker 2>the reason that I personally would grow a cornerscoose. Actually
<v Speaker 2>I do have a corner scouse in my garden. It's
<v Speaker 2>just very young, so I haven't thought about it much.
<v Speaker 2>Is the fall fruit, and that's what Judith is seeing.
<v Speaker 2>So if the plants are fertilized, and sometimes you know,
<v Speaker 2>as with many trees fruiting, whether the fruits are edible
<v Speaker 2>or not, it can take several years before they actually
<v Speaker 2>set fruit. So I think that's what's happening here. This
<v Speaker 2>was still a relatively young plant. Even though it's been flowering.
<v Speaker 2>Not all of the flowers got pollinated for this fruit
<v Speaker 2>to form. And the fruit on cornice cusa, it's so cool.
<v Speaker 2>It's like a It is a little ball, and it
<v Speaker 2>kind of has these like small, delicate little I don't
<v Speaker 2>want to call them spines or spikes because they're not
<v Speaker 2>they're not you know, they're not firm. They won't like
<v Speaker 2>cut you or cause you pain. But it almost looks like,
<v Speaker 2>I don't know, some sort of piece of artillery or
<v Speaker 2>something like a mace.
<v Speaker 1>Like, yeah, we always call them pink spiky soccer balls.
<v Speaker 1>I say, it's a pink spiky soccer ball, and some
<v Speaker 1>trees in nature just produce these spiky ornaments that are
<v Speaker 1>so much fun and fall I think of sweet gum.
<v Speaker 2>All yep, now that is colorful, yes.
<v Speaker 1>But I agree with you that the kusa I think
<v Speaker 1>saves the best for last.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, there's such unusual fruits. They start out kind of
<v Speaker 2>white and then they become pink and then they turn
<v Speaker 2>like a red. So they undergo this color change, it
<v Speaker 2>gets good. The foliage gets good fall color as well,
<v Speaker 2>so you're just getting this incredible combination. Just really interesting.
<v Speaker 2>And the fruits are edible. Have you ever tried them before? Yes,
<v Speaker 2>they're actually pretty tasty. They have a good flavor. The
<v Speaker 2>only thing is they are mealy. They have like a
<v Speaker 2>mealy texture and some people adriana is making a phase
<v Speaker 2>back there. Op, it's a no for me. So it
<v Speaker 2>is kind of a mealy texture. And the other thing,
<v Speaker 2>if you do want to sample one, definitely bite into
<v Speaker 2>it slowly so you're not chomping down on the seed
<v Speaker 2>in there and breaking a tooth. But it is kind
<v Speaker 2>of worth a little nibble if you have one. So
<v Speaker 2>they're beautiful, they're edible. The squirrels will happily eat them
<v Speaker 2>for you if you don't want to eat them, the
<v Speaker 2>squirrels and the birds. So Judith, this is just the
<v Speaker 2>first of many amazing cornice crucive fruits you're going to
<v Speaker 2>enjoy on your new plant. So yeah, enjoy it.
<v Speaker 1>And if the squirrels are birds, don't eat them. As
<v Speaker 1>you progress towards Christmas, they're just wonderful Christmas ornaments hanging
<v Speaker 1>on that tree.
<v Speaker 2>Nature's doing, You're decorating for you. You can't beat that.
<v Speaker 1>So, Stacey, we've got a question for you from Layman writing,
<v Speaker 1>I have some incredible high ranges I planted in May
<v Speaker 1>twenty twenty four, and some of them seem to be struggling.
<v Speaker 1>Some are losing leaves at the base turning yellow. Some
<v Speaker 1>others are always wilting when the one next to them
<v Speaker 1>are doing fine. What's happening? Also? Can I take them
<v Speaker 1>out and pot them to rehab them during winter? If so,
<v Speaker 1>how should I go about it? So Layman is struggling
<v Speaker 1>with his incredible high drink.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, so we do have pictures from Lyman Layman, sorry
<v Speaker 2>for mist pronouncing your name, so you can see what
<v Speaker 2>these incredibles look like. And so the first thing that
<v Speaker 2>I wanted to say to Lyman and anyone else who
<v Speaker 2>is seeing hydranges or especially new hydrangees wilt, is that
<v Speaker 2>on hydranges, overwatering and underwatering both manifest as wilting, and
<v Speaker 2>that is particularly dangerous because you see the plant wilting,
<v Speaker 2>your first thought is, well, gee, I just watered it,
<v Speaker 2>but I guess it's just really thirsty and I need
<v Speaker 2>to water it again, and then you're constantly exacerbating the situation.
<v Speaker 2>So I believe that what is happening here is that
<v Speaker 2>the plants are getting too much water and or the
<v Speaker 2>drainage is slow. That can be kind of a fine
<v Speaker 2>line and a difficult one to define because both of
<v Speaker 2>those either of those things can be true. You're giving
<v Speaker 2>it too much water, or maybe you're just giving it
<v Speaker 2>the right amount of water, but your soil drainage is slow,
<v Speaker 2>so you need to back off on the water. You
<v Speaker 2>can give plants, like in our beechy gardens, we can
<v Speaker 2>give plants quite a lot of water and never risk
<v Speaker 2>overwatering them because the water always drains away. And you'll
<v Speaker 2>see in Lyman's photos that the soil is quite dense
<v Speaker 2>and clay, and you can see that the soil is
<v Speaker 2>also very wet. So honestly, what I would say to
<v Speaker 2>you is to just back off on the watering. I know,
<v Speaker 2>when you have a new plant you want to make
<v Speaker 2>sure it gets plenty of water, but I think you
<v Speaker 2>can back off at this point in the season. I
<v Speaker 2>would say once a week at most. I know we
<v Speaker 2>are having kind of a warm dry spell at least
<v Speaker 2>here in the Midwest right now, but I would back
<v Speaker 2>off to just, you know, once once a week, maybe
<v Speaker 2>even once every ten days. And as we go into fall,
<v Speaker 2>you want to taper that back because the plants will
<v Speaker 2>need less water as they start to go dormant, and
<v Speaker 2>I can also impact the yellowing foliage as well. When
<v Speaker 2>you're overwatering, nutrients are leeching out of the soil very
<v Speaker 2>very quickly, and that can lead to that yellowing. So
<v Speaker 2>here's what I would say. Do not dig them up
<v Speaker 2>and pot them up for winter. Leave them where they are.
<v Speaker 2>Know that, as we've talked about multiple times, fallows a
<v Speaker 2>great time for root growth, and root growth is what
<v Speaker 2>is really going to get these plants through any challenges
<v Speaker 2>that they are experiencing. So you know, don't do anything.
<v Speaker 2>Don't prune them. Just try not to worry too much
<v Speaker 2>and let them just put on their roots, let that
<v Speaker 2>foliage drop, and I think, you know, by next spring
<v Speaker 2>they should emerge green and healthy. They really don't look
<v Speaker 2>too too bad. So I think this is just an
<v Speaker 2>issue of watering.
<v Speaker 1>It's the same struggle people have with the houseplants that
<v Speaker 1>dog on watering issues.
<v Speaker 2>And you know, I understand people want to do the
<v Speaker 2>right thing and they're concerned, and it is easy to overwater.
<v Speaker 2>But you know when when I I try to help
<v Speaker 2>people who have overwatered their hyghdranges, only you really know
<v Speaker 2>if it's underwatering or overwatering, because only you know how
<v Speaker 2>much water it's getting. And sometimes people will say, well,
<v Speaker 2>I have water it once a week, okay, but how
<v Speaker 2>much like are you, you know, turning on the hose
<v Speaker 2>and letting it run for three hours because you heard
<v Speaker 2>a deep watering is good. So it's always kind of
<v Speaker 2>this fine balance between the drainage, how fast it's draining,
<v Speaker 2>how much water the plants are using. But it really
<v Speaker 2>goes for any plants, even if they were new this year.
<v Speaker 2>Unless the weather is very hot and dry, you should
<v Speaker 2>be tapering off your watering for fall just because plants
<v Speaker 2>are using a lot less, the days are shorter, the
<v Speaker 2>nights are cooler, and they're just not using as much water.
<v Speaker 1>I think the watering issue is just job security for
<v Speaker 1>people like us, because I think people are always going
<v Speaker 1>to struggle with it, and honestly sometimes I do too,
<v Speaker 1>So you.
<v Speaker 2>Know, yeah, it's it is a it's something you learn
<v Speaker 2>kind of by feel, not something. It's not a hard
<v Speaker 2>and fast rule. So anyway, thank you so much for
<v Speaker 2>your questions. If you have a question again, you can
<v Speaker 2>reach us at Gardening Simplified on air dot com. We
<v Speaker 2>hope to hear from you. We're going to take a
<v Speaker 2>break and when we come back, it's a branching news,
<v Speaker 2>so please stay tuned. The Gardening Simplified Show is brought
<v Speaker 2>to you by proven Winners Color Choice Shrubs. Our award
<v Speaker 2>winning flowering shrubs and evergreens have been trialed and tested
<v Speaker 2>for your success so you enjoy more beauty and less work.
<v Speaker 2>Look for proven Winners Color Choice Shrubs and the distinctive
<v Speaker 2>white container at your local garden center.
<v Speaker 1>Welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show. It's time for
<v Speaker 1>branching news and I was going to write into gardenings
<v Speaker 1>simplified on air dot com with a question. But fortunately
<v Speaker 1>I have Stacy sitting just to my left, and so
<v Speaker 1>I'm going to pose this question for you, Stacy. I
<v Speaker 1>struggled with my cannons over the past few weeks, and
<v Speaker 1>the struggle was not due to leaf rollers, was not
<v Speaker 1>due to the typical culprit like Japanese beetles. It wasn't
<v Speaker 1>even due to deer. As a matter of fact, I
<v Speaker 1>caught the culprit in the act. Many of my stems
<v Speaker 1>on my five to six foot tall cannas were broken
<v Speaker 1>off and damaged. And I'm like, who is doing this
<v Speaker 1>dastardly deed squirrels. Squirrels are on the roof on the
<v Speaker 1>fence wherever they get a tree, they'll make the leap
<v Speaker 1>over to the cannas and what they're doing. And for
<v Speaker 1>those of you watching here on YouTube, I brought along
<v Speaker 1>some cuttings. When cannas are done blooming, they like other
<v Speaker 1>flowering plants, will produce a seed head.
<v Speaker 2>Right, yes, And I have to say I cannot stand
<v Speaker 2>canna seed heads. Like honestly, just sitting next to these
<v Speaker 2>is kind of giving me the he begbis. There's just
<v Speaker 2>something I've you know, my n across the street when
<v Speaker 2>I was growing up had them not growing next to
<v Speaker 2>her house, and I think they just kind of creeped
<v Speaker 2>me out because they're kind of spiky and weird, and
<v Speaker 2>I do like other things that spike you. We were
<v Speaker 2>just talking about the you know, the Korean dogwood seedheads,
<v Speaker 2>which I adore, but canna seedheads, I just have this
<v Speaker 2>like visceral reaction. I don't like them. I cut them off.
<v Speaker 2>I have the I grow the cannons that you gave me,
<v Speaker 2>but I cut them off because I do not like
<v Speaker 2>looking at them. So anyway, that's just my little no. No, no,
<v Speaker 2>you can keep them up. It's it's important. We've got well,
<v Speaker 2>I think we have an important thing to say about.
<v Speaker 2>Oh yeah, the squirrels are going after it.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah. Well, and I've made note of the fact that
<v Speaker 1>for you, Stacy, so it's can of seed heads and
<v Speaker 1>it's wind chime, so yes, right.
<v Speaker 2>And the other thing day lilies that I do not
<v Speaker 2>like day lilies. I feel like the flower pedals are
<v Speaker 2>just the No.
<v Speaker 1>I think we could do a whole show on that.
<v Speaker 1>That's coming up down the road. No, so the squirrels
<v Speaker 1>are jumping on it. And what happens to the seeds
<v Speaker 1>inside the spiky the spiky soccer balls, so to speak,
<v Speaker 1>is they turn brown and almost black. They become very,
<v Speaker 1>very hard. I was doing some research and it said
<v Speaker 1>that in some parts of the country, they said that
<v Speaker 1>native people would use them instead of lead shot in
<v Speaker 1>their guns. That's how hard they are.
<v Speaker 2>What caliber is that?
<v Speaker 1>That's beyond my pay grade. So it's the squirrels that
<v Speaker 1>are doing the damage, and they're jumping up there to
<v Speaker 1>eat those seeds, so a crazy thing to me. It's
<v Speaker 1>just not nutral for squirrels to do that. They binge
<v Speaker 1>on the cannas and then they stay up all night
<v Speaker 1>watching nutflicks. They are a real problem. Squirrels do like
<v Speaker 1>plant based snacks. Although this is the same squirrel. I
<v Speaker 1>believe that ate my patio umbrella.
<v Speaker 2>Oh my gosh, it ate your patio umbrella.
<v Speaker 1>I had a treasure garden, beautiful cloth market umbrella and
<v Speaker 1>they would perch at the top and they tore that
<v Speaker 1>thing to smithereens.
<v Speaker 2>You are kidding, No, squirrels are aggressive over there. Well,
<v Speaker 2>they must have found out from word of mouth that
<v Speaker 2>the caniseed is delicious, are they are? They eating it
<v Speaker 2>like right in front of you and making eye contact
<v Speaker 2>the whole time. Yeah. Or are they burying some because
<v Speaker 2>this is prime burying time.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah. No, they're snacking right there. They're sitting on the
<v Speaker 1>deck and the fence and snacking right there. So frustrating. Anyhow,
<v Speaker 1>the next frontier of home landscaping fridge scaping. I saw
<v Speaker 1>this in the news. Fridge scaping is sharply divisive. It's
<v Speaker 1>decorating the inside of your fridge like it's any other
<v Speaker 1>room in your home. The trend has alternately delighted and
<v Speaker 1>enraged TikTok viewers, who either swoon over the romantic scenes
<v Speaker 1>at thirty five degrees or fume at the apparent craziness
<v Speaker 1>of landscaping your refrigerator. And we have the link there
<v Speaker 1>to the news story fascinating anything that will beautify your food? Wow?
<v Speaker 2>So wait, are they fridge scaping with food or is
<v Speaker 2>it things that should not be in the fridge And
<v Speaker 2>they're like turning their fridge into some sort of giant diorama.
<v Speaker 1>Let's cross that fridge when we get there.
<v Speaker 2>I guess you will.
<v Speaker 1>It's a well thought out plan. Talk about frozen assets. Yeah,
<v Speaker 1>fridge scaping, I don't know. I wouldn't do it, but
<v Speaker 1>you've got to be aware of it. And we're into landscaping,
<v Speaker 1>so I thought i'd bring.
<v Speaker 2>Up the well. I mean, my fridge rarely has the
<v Speaker 2>space in it for anything superfluous.
<v Speaker 1>But I'm happy if you know, I put stuff in
<v Speaker 1>tupper wear containers and forget about it. And yeah, you
<v Speaker 1>got to clean out the fridge. So cleaning it out
<v Speaker 1>is just good enough for me to actually fridge scape it.
<v Speaker 1>That's kind of.
<v Speaker 2>Crazy, all right, I'm looking it up. I'll see.
<v Speaker 1>I mean, in this case and in this news story,
<v Speaker 1>the individual was putting a porcelain bust, stringing lights and
<v Speaker 1>fresh flowers next to a bowl of bell peppers and
<v Speaker 1>a carafe of orange juice.
<v Speaker 2>I mean, don't fridges already have lights? Are they not
<v Speaker 2>good enough?
<v Speaker 1>They do? Boy, I'd like to see this fridge come
<v Speaker 1>Christmas time. Yeah.
<v Speaker 2>Wow, got to get some colorful lights in there, seasonal goodness.
<v Speaker 1>All right, Well, on today's show, we've shown you pictures
<v Speaker 1>of my personal landscape and what I'm doing in my landscape.
<v Speaker 1>Just another personal note. Art prize takes place here in
<v Speaker 1>West Michigan at this time of the year in September.
<v Speaker 1>Art Prize is an annual international art competition in Grand Rapids,
<v Speaker 1>a celebration of conversations, experimentation, ideas and inclusiveness. And Art
<v Speaker 1>Prize is free open to the public, so artists will
<v Speaker 1>put up exhibits in hotels and businesses and out on
<v Speaker 1>the walk and people will come by the thousands to
<v Speaker 1>see these. Now, we've talked about it on the show before.
<v Speaker 1>I'm into sticks and I love the Instagram site Official
<v Speaker 1>Stick Reviews and it has a lot of followers. Well,
<v Speaker 1>living by the Lake, I pick up a lot of
<v Speaker 1>sticks in driftwood out of the lake and I've created
<v Speaker 1>an art exhibit of that driftwood. It has quite a
<v Speaker 1>story behind it, and we'll put the link there at
<v Speaker 1>the website. Those watching on YouTube, Adriana's set up pictures
<v Speaker 1>here for you, or you can go to our website
<v Speaker 1>Gardening Simplified on air dot com. But it doesn't change
<v Speaker 1>the fact Stacey, that I'm into sticks and branches. I
<v Speaker 1>can't help them.
<v Speaker 2>Well, you know, I think as gardeners were always kind
<v Speaker 2>of on a little treasure hunt, yes, because we never
<v Speaker 2>really know what we're going to find in our gardens.
<v Speaker 2>In fact, you reminded me last weekend. We're working the
<v Speaker 2>garden and found a huge bullet, like a big bullet
<v Speaker 2>like one, like it's like this big. It had already
<v Speaker 2>been fired off. So it's just the casing, but like
<v Speaker 2>it's I mean, I live in town. It's not like
<v Speaker 2>it seemed kind of old. But you know, you find marbles.
<v Speaker 2>I love finding marbles in the yard, and so we
<v Speaker 2>kind of have that like treasure hunting mentality, whether it's
<v Speaker 2>rocks or sticks or fungus, and we're always we're always
<v Speaker 2>looking for for those little hidden things.
<v Speaker 1>When I put a plant in the ground and the
<v Speaker 1>shovel hits something hard could chunk, it's like, oh, this
<v Speaker 1>may be the big one. You know. I love that You're.
<v Speaker 2>Right about that, and you never know.
<v Speaker 1>For me, drifting. You know, what's fascinated me about driftwood
<v Speaker 1>is that people love driftwood. They're just I don't know,
<v Speaker 1>and many people are just enamored by driftwood, and living
<v Speaker 1>where I am, I've just become addicted to it. So
<v Speaker 1>it's a part of art prize and and the exhibit.
<v Speaker 1>So I thought i'd bring that up today.
<v Speaker 2>Oh, well, where can people see it?
<v Speaker 1>People are going to be able to see it here
<v Speaker 1>in West Michigan in Grand Rapids. It's at the Hilton Hotel.
<v Speaker 1>So it's Homewood Suites the Hilton Hotel right in the lobby,
<v Speaker 1>big exhibit, and that exhibit will be displayed from September
<v Speaker 1>twelfth through the end of September.
<v Speaker 2>Nice.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, So there you go. Monrovia, California, newly listed for
<v Speaker 1>sale in Southern California's notoriously pricey real estate market. Half
<v Speaker 1>a house for a half a million dollars. Now this
<v Speaker 1>is fascinating to me because I've spent a fair amount
<v Speaker 1>of time in southern California at a garden center. There
<v Speaker 1>a beautiful garden center, Rogers Gardens in Orange County, and
<v Speaker 1>we would take drives through the neighborhoods and the prices
<v Speaker 1>of homes and the yards are like postage stamp sized, you, unbelievable.
<v Speaker 1>So there's a home there that is one bedroom, one
<v Speaker 1>bathroom bungalow in suburban Monrovia, northeast of Los Angeles. So
<v Speaker 1>what happened was it was crushed by a tree in
<v Speaker 1>May with two renters and two dogs inside. No injuries,
<v Speaker 1>thank goodness, but a fence and most of the roof
<v Speaker 1>were mangled, and as opposed to fixing it up, they're
<v Speaker 1>just putting it up for sale. Half a house, half
<v Speaker 1>a million dollars. The price you can pick that up,
<v Speaker 1>Stacy for four hundred and ninety nine thousand, nine hundred
<v Speaker 1>and ninety nine dollars. That's what you call an open
<v Speaker 1>concept floor plan.
<v Speaker 2>It's probably already pending, honestly at this point, knowing how
<v Speaker 2>real estate is.
<v Speaker 1>The race. And then one final thing. I always think
<v Speaker 1>of this at this time of the year. I like
<v Speaker 1>to hike, I like to walk, and if you're going
<v Speaker 1>hiking this time of the year, we think of burdock.
<v Speaker 1>Burdocks clinging properties. In addition to providing an excellent mechanism
<v Speaker 1>for seed dispersal. It led to the invention of the
<v Speaker 1>hook and loop fastener, so the Velcrow guy. The Velcrow
<v Speaker 1>brand of hook and loop was invented by a name
<v Speaker 1>a gentleman named George demestrol I believe is the name.
<v Speaker 1>Nineteen forties. He was out hunting in Switzerland and had
<v Speaker 1>the burdock all over his pants. He thought, boy, I
<v Speaker 1>could do something with this and created Velcrow. And I
<v Speaker 1>guess it's my point here, Stacy is whether it's globe
<v Speaker 1>thistle or burdock or other types of seed fall. This
<v Speaker 1>is a time of year when weeds do what they do.
<v Speaker 2>Well travel, that's true. And if you have burd we've
<v Speaker 2>ever eaten the root hedburdock roots? Yes, it's delicious. So
<v Speaker 2>you know, we often talk about managing weeds in fall,
<v Speaker 2>and that would be a fine way to manage burdock
<v Speaker 2>if it happened to be in your yard, is to
<v Speaker 2>just go ahead and dig up. It's a very long,
<v Speaker 2>skinny root, but I love it in a Japanese dish
<v Speaker 2>called knpira where it's stayed with carrots. Absolutely delicious and
<v Speaker 2>I'll bet you good for you too. I think it's
<v Speaker 2>pretty darn healthy.
<v Speaker 1>You. Yeah, you could pull some of the roots, wash
<v Speaker 1>them off, put them in a vase and do some
<v Speaker 1>fridge scaping with them too.
<v Speaker 2>There you go.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, we want to thank you for tuning in the
<v Speaker 1>Gardening Simplified Show. We want to remind you go to
<v Speaker 1>Gardeningsimplified on air dot com and Stacy, we're on Instagram too,
<v Speaker 1>that's correct, so look for us on Instagram along with
<v Speaker 1>official stick reviews.
<v Speaker 2>Follow us both.
<v Speaker 1>Thanks Stacy, Always privileged pleasure to do this show with you.
<v Speaker 1>Thank you Adriana so much for your work and what
<v Speaker 1>you do for the Gardening Simplified show. And thanks most
<v Speaker 1>of all to you for tuning us in. Remember we're radio,
<v Speaker 1>podcast and YouTube. Thanks for your support. Have a great week.