Weeding by Example

Coming to you from Studio A here at proven Winners Color Choice Shrubs. It's
time for the Gardening Simplified radio podcast and YouTube show with Stacy Hervella, me,
Rick Weist, and our engineer and producer Adrianna Robinson. All right,
Stacey, weed need to talk. That's right. Weeds can be native or
non native, invasive or non invasive, and noxious or not noxious. Legally,
a noxious weed is any plant designated by a federal, state, or
county government as injurious to public health, agriculture, recreation, wildlife, or
property. Now, the definition of a weed is also relative. I've always
said to people, a rose bush is a weed if it's planted in the
middle of a football field. That is true. And there are actually some
very severe rose weeds like multiflora rose exactly. Or you have weeds that are
aquatic, terrestrial, or parasitic, like daughter such a strange weed. And
if you want to learn more about these weeds, you could go to the
USDA Federal Noxious Weed List. Now, of course there's the opposite that is
true, and there are people who celebrate weeds. My friend Lisa Rose,
she wrote the Urban Foraging book, is out there eating burdocks, stinging nettles,
pigweed, and bittercress all the time. And of course weeds are home
to insects like that fascinating spittlebug. I know you like insects too, Stacy,
and the spittlebug just fascinates me. They have this white foam that their
nymphs produce, and it looks remarkably similar to a gob of human spit.
That is really the only way I can put it. They like to end
up on Canada thistle, and some people surmise, well, that's where mom
lays her eggs because it offers a natural prickly protection against predators. I guess
all said weeds are fascinating. Weeds are fascinating, and you know you mentioned
a weed that I truly don't like, stinging netle. I have an adverse
reaction to singing netle. Like it, I mean everyone, it bothers everybody,
but like if it pricks my finger, the finger goes down for twenty
four hours and it's an extremely uncomfortable feeling. But I have gained a new
appreciation for singing netle this year, in fact, because it serves as a
larval host for the red Admiral butterfly. Oh wow. And here in West
Michigan we have had a banner spring for red admiral butterflies. You know,
I mean they were every They still are, but they were everywhere. And
I realized one of the reasons that they can be out so early is because
stinging nettle is so prevalent out in the woods and wild areas here, and
so it gives them a source. They can be out, and they can
mate, and they can get those young out there and get them fed real
quick. So I had a very new appreciation for it after learning that,
and thus the reason for this show our favorite, and I would not favorite.
It's still interesting one. You know. It's all about perspective. Though.
On weeds, I mentioned the Canada thistle. If you think about Canada
thistle or a thistle such an important plant to American goldfinches, you will see,
as a matter of fact, on YouTube, you'll see a picture that
I took of finches perched on one of these thistle plants. Not only do
they like the seed, but they use the plant for nesting. And this
is a bird that nests later on in summer, not in the spring.
So you develop an appreciation for weeds. I have always said that if I
started a rock band, and I've often thought of starting a rock band,
it would be called Teasel and the Dames Rockets. Now Dame's Rocket is a
either a loved or hated prolific ceeder in the landscape. Has a fabulous botanical
name Hesperis matronalis, I believe is how it's pronounced, and you'll see that
along the roadways as you drive by at fifty five to seventy miles per hour,
but very very colorful. And then there's wild teasel. Now, this
one's got a great botanical name, Dipsicus silvestros. Yeah, that looks like
the caption you would see below Wilie coyote in a road Runner episode. It's
also known as barber's brush or church broom. But therein also I find the
finches just dancing and playing on top of that weed, which is a non
native. Yes, it is no native. It was actually brought over with
early American colonists because they use it for woolf processing, and they use it
as culms to process wool and other animal hair into fiber. And if you
think from just those few plants that were brought over way back when it has
certainly made itself well at home here in North America, no question. And
that's because just like Dame's rocket, weeds have explosive seed capabilities. Think about
garlic mustard and how that has spread. They're very, very competitive, like
the wicked weed of the West, spotted nap weed. There's another one that
comes into the country around the eighteen hundreds. It's a lollopathic, meaning it
alters the soil chemistry around it and inhibits the growth of other plants. When
it comes right down to it, Stacey weeds are highly competitive. That's why
they are successful. That's why they are weeds and not garden plants. Is
they can outcompete other plants. And whether that is that they are less finicky
about soil or conditions or some adaptation, there can be so many of those
adaptations that they can have that just make them a better competitor. And that
is one case where being a better competitor is not a good thing. You
nicely summarize the whole show right there in one paragram. So let me give
you this week's limb. A rick weed related. Is a weed a weed
indeed? Or is it about respective a flora pedigreed success guaranteed. Do you
view it as defective? Yes? Is a weed a weed indeed, and
is my opinion objective. I'm going to proceed not be weak need, I
guess I'll just be selective. In other words, there are weeds out there
that we love, and on the top of my list, stacy has to
be milkweed. Oh of course, I mean, I you know, I
wouldn't if I was making a list of weeds that A love, I probably
wouldn't have even put milkweed on it because I don't think of it as a
weed anymore exactly so. But you are right. It is weed is right
there in the name, which kind of just goes to show you why so
many people do have a bad relationship with it, even though it does so
much and it is native, you know. But yeah, I have ceased
thinking of milkweed as a weed myself. In talks that I give to folks
about plants, and when we get into the subject of weeds, one of
the things I bring up is that we all remember in twenty twenty when we
had the toilet shortage, and that's not the first time it's happened. In
nineteen seventy three, it happened Johnny Carson mentioned it on the Tonight Show and
there was a run on toilet paper in the stores. The point is,
I make a list of these natural weeds that you can use as an alternative
to toilet paper, like giant mullin. Now, I like that plant because
I think it's highly attractive. I also agree also known as verbaskom. Yes,
that is a plant that I do actually really enjoy. It is very
stately when it blooms. It's to a biennial. So the first year you
get that beautiful fluffy white leaf rosette, and then the next year you've got
this gorgeous candelabra of yellow. But that's also a non native and it's called
also cowboy tissue paper. Oh I know that. Yeah, that's the common
name for the plant. So you know, stick with mullen. Then,
of course there's other favorite weeds like dandelion's joe pie weed borage. Now that
one can get out of hand. It can very easily get out of hand.
It doesn't usually go too far. It takes a long time to march.
But if you have it in your garden, you have it in your
garden exactly and for people trying to grow along. Some people believe clover is
a weed. There are other people who are will are you, No,
clover is not a weed, a nitrogen fixing plant. But that's got to
be on the list of favorite weeds per Slaine and edible weed. And I've
got a favorite weed just because I think it's fun and it's funny. Sticky
Willie. This weed is so sticky that it sticks to you. Interesting weed.
And have a picture for our YouTube viewers, Rick. This may be
the first time we have to come to blows in the studio here. Because
I despise this weed. I came up with my own name for it.
Yes, it is laceration weed because it lacerates your skin. So it's a
weak weed. Now, that's the nice thing about it is it's not hard
to pull when you have it, Like the stem that comes out of the
ground is very wimpy, so it's easy to pull. Ish, it's easy
ish to pull. But if you are pulling it and you have like bare
arms or bare hands and it brushes up against your skin the wrong way,
it just lacerates it and it really hurts. It's a fascinating weed. It
is it's an interesting weed. The name I have more often heard for it,
because laceration weed was my own creation, is cleavers. Oh okay,
because it cleaves to you. And yes, it is very difficult, not
as bad as like a cactus or you know, something jumping cat, jumping
choya that they have out west, but like it's not pleasant and it will
stick to you and not only the planet itself but the seeds too. Making
a note not to bring up Sticky Willie anymore. A few more weeds to
the list. Pigweed because it's edible, poke weed because I like the Elvis
Presley song Polk Salad Annie, and it wins the award for the most asked
about weed every year in fall. You, if you are a horticulturist,
I guarantee and people know it. I guarantee you. Come September, everyone's
going to be asking you what is that plant? And of course Rosa rugosa
in some parts of the country people call it beach tornado invasive, whereas I
love the plant, I love the rose hips. So we end this segment
with a quote of the week, and it comes from no one else but
William Shakespeare. He says, I quote my Uncle Gloucester. Small herbs have
grace. Great weeds do grow apace, and since methinks I would not grow
so fast because sweet flowers are slow and weeds make haste. So true,
We're going to see how Stacey ties this all together in Plants on Trial,
and that's coming up next here on the Gardening Simplified Show. Proven Winter's Color
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 your
local garden center. Greetings gardening friends, and welcome back to the Gardening Simplified
Show, where we are talking about weeds and so of course before we launch
in today's Plant on Trial. You know, I feel like we owe our
listeners a little bit of you know, take home lesson here about weeds rather
than just you know, I mean, it's fun to talk. I could
talk about weeds quite a lot. It was a chore that I hated as
a child, but now it's actually my favorite garden shore. I'd call that
weeding by example. I do enjoy weeding because it gets you around the plants.
You can tend to observe a lot of things. You learn a lot
about plants by weeding. But the key to keeping weeding enjoyable is to making
sure that you don't have any weeds that are very difficult or unpleasant to manage.
And so I wanted to talk briefly about a concept that we talk a
lot about on the show, which is IPM Integrated Pest Management. And we
talk about that a lot in terms of pests like bugs and mammals and things
like that, but it does apply for weeds just as much as it does
for awe for animal tests, and it works specifically, I think from a
weed management perspective, if it helps if you know what kind of weed you
are dealing with, if it's a perennial weed, if it's an annual weed.
You know, if you have an annual weed and you are lazy or
time crunched or something like that, all you really have to do is prevent
that weed from going to seed. You don't necessarily have to pull out all
of the weeds individually, and that is why fall is such an important time
for weed control. Yeah, make sure it doesn't go to seed now,
some spring annuals like chickweed. Of course those would be long gone and have
already spread their seed by fall. So it helps to know the life cycle
of the weed that you are dealing with, to spend a little time looking
it up. And you know, because weeds are so ubiquitous as reck and
I just discover they can have a lot of different common names. But you
start googling, you find that scientific name and then you're able to really search
by that and to dive in and get more specific advice. If you have
a perennial weed, you know, you just really have to invest in the
time and effort to get it out of there, because otherwise it's going to
keep coming back and coming back from that same root system and getting worse every
year. And you know, one weed that I've been hearing a lot about,
especially here in West Michigan, although I think it's it's pretty well established
throughout Lower Michigan is Epipactus helleborine, also known as the uh wild orid,
the wild orchid. Yeah. Now, people, some people here might be
like freaking out to think that we have an orchid in Michigan that is a
weed, But we do, we really do, and This is a horrible
weed, very very difficult to control. It is a perennial weed. It
makes a huge root mass, not really so much a root mass, I
guess, is like a bunch of runners. And it's a really cool looking
plant. So when you see it come up in your garden, you think,
Ooh, that's cool. I got something really cool growing here. And
then you know, you look it up and you're like, ooh, it's
an orchid. I'm growing an orchid. But you are growing the weed ediest
orchid that is going to make the biggest pest of itself in your garden.
So my advice if you have epipact to celebrain also known as wild orchid or
false helibor I think some people call it, do not let that thing go
to flower, or if you let it go to flower, because you just
want to see the flowers. Although for as far as orchid flowers go,
it's not actually all that interesting. It's a little interesting. Orchid seeds have
no endosperm, so when you talk about a seed, like you think about
like a bean seed, all of that starchy bean is the endosperm that sustains
the seedling as it grows. If you have a seed without endosperm, like
an orchid, it's very very tiny, it doesn't have all that extra mass,
and so the seeds are essentially like dust. So if you let this
orchid go to seed, you're going to end up with thousands and thousands and
thousands of those dust like seeds that are going to go all over your yard,
all over your neighbor's yard, and then all over your neighborhood and just
make this more and more of a problem. So if you don't have if
you're out in the garden and you see this plant and you don't have the
tools or the time to dig the whole thing out, because it does take
time, and that you know, you can look up how big the root
systems are at least not g it back and prevent it from going to see
the Sometimes having those little tips and tricks absolutely can really help you make a
difference in your outlook on weeding as well as your time management. Understanding what
a winter annual is or in the case of this weed, not trying to
pull it up because you're just propagating it by doing that. Yeah, it's
a it's a big problem. I had a guy down the road who asked
me how to deal with it. His whole yard was full of it,
and I told him to move well. He asked for my professional opinion.
It's it is not a weed that is easy or fund to match so anyway,
so just so you know, if you're looking out for that, you
can deal with it slightly better. But let's get to plants on trial.
You know, there were so many directions I could have gone with this today.
I thought to myself, I could go with something that suppresses weed,
that's like a groundcover, so you know, it doesn't let it grow.
I could grow. I could go with a sterile version of an of an
invasive plant. But I went with a plant that I would say, if
I'm talking about it to someone in real life, one of the proven winter's
varieties of this particular plant. They all say, oh, I love rows
of sharon, but does it set seed? Because so many people have had
so many bad experiences with older varieties of Rosa Sharon seeding all over with their
yard. And you know, in urban areas you will see Rosa sharon growing
in alleyways, broken up sidewalks. It's a plant that can really get everywhere.
It's not quite so bad here but certainly if you have had an older
rows of Sharon in your yard, you know it's going to have a whole
bunch of babies right below it that you're going to have to deal with.
And a lot of times woody weeds like a rosa Sharon seedling can be harder
to deal with than something like a grass. It can just pull up.
So we do have one completely sterile so it does a seed, but none
of the seeds are viable. One completely serial rows of Sharon, and that
is polypetite. But we had already featured polypetite rows of Sharon as a plant
on trial last summer, so I had to go with our second close contender,
which is sugar tip rose of Sharon. Have you seen this plant?
I have seen it. Very interesting plant. Yes, it is a very
interesting plant. So not only is it very very low to no seed,
it is a variegated rows of Sharon, not a plant that most people think
of as having a variegated option. And it's not just variegated. Now I
know, well, variegation can be very polarizing, right. It's very polarizing
for me because I don't universally like or dislike variegated plants. It's a very
much a case by case very busy, yes, but I actually do love
this plant. And each leaf is really interesting. So it has two tones
of green, kind of a dark green and a mint green, and then
the edge is usually white or sometimes it's swirled within as well, So each
leaf is very, very different. It makes it really fun to look at.
And there's something to me about the proportions of these three colors that prevents
it from being overly busy or overly showy in the landscape where it's constantly like
grabbing your eye or competing with other plants. And that's a very good thing,
I think for a rose of Sharon, because you know, as much
as people do like roses of Sharon, let's face it, they're only in
flour for you know, maybe two months. So you're gonna want something that
does a little bit more in that you know, spring to late July timeframe,
and so I think sugartip is a great choice. Now let's get to
the flowers, because they are beautiful. When this plant is in bloom,
it's so pretty it almost makes my teeth hurt. It has like a it
has like a candy sweetness. The flowers are like the most like perfectly pink
color, like something that like you think about pink. It's like that color
of pink, just beautifully pink. And they look like a little powder puff.
I mean, I would say this plant is just like one of and
I mean this in the best way, one of the girliest looking plants.
It's like the classic, like what you would think of so beautiful pink flowers
a fashion east. It's a fashionista, yes it has it definitely is very
stylish, I think, and especially when it's used correctly. So these pink
flowers are fully double. They look like a powder puff. Just to continue
on with this theme, so they're full, they look like a little pink
powder puff. And all of those extra petals result from the facts that the
reproductive organs have been transformed into petals, and that's how you get that full
flower, and that's why you get few to no seeds. Fascinating if you're
keeping score at home, Stacy's talking about sugar tip rose of Sharon. Possibly
something you may want to plant in front of your office if you're a dentist,
Yes, there you go. So pretty. It makes your teeth hairt
and so it does. Flower like I said, so it's not going to
set a lot of seed, and it is a slow growing rosa sharing and
I think that's another thing that will a lot of people will appreciate about it,
because other roses share and get huge, you know, eight to ten
feet tall and wide. So, Stacy, who's the plant breeder genius who
invented this plant? Well, that's a good question. This is one of
the few plants in the proven Winner's line that came from a home gardener.
Awesome. Yeah, so we don't have a lot of those. I mean,
we certainly hear from people who get unusual things popping up in their yard
and they reach out and very often what happens is that those are what is
called sports, and a sport is a branch mutation. So you've probably seen
this here and there before in your life where you'll be looking at a shrub
or a tree and all of a sudden, one branch will just be doing
something crazy. It'll be variegated, or it'll be like short and compressed,
or the flowers on it will be a different color. There's a lot of
different ways this can look. And so basically what's happened is the genes in
that part of the plant have just somehow switched and made that plant slightly genetically
different from the plant that it was growing on. And typically when a sport
like this an especially if it's variegated, it's not stable. It really can't
live off the mother plant. So they send it to us. You know,
we say, hey, this is cool, let's trial it, but
it can't make it through a trials because it can't live on its own.
And sugar Tip, for whatever reason, has the unique ability to survive completely
on its own with almost no reversions. I can't say I have ever seen
a reversion on the plants in our gardens. And it's slow growing, but
it's still a good vigorous grower, so it resolves I think a lot of
the problems that people have with roses of Sharon not that attractive outside of their
bloom season two fest growing ceed Sugartip is a great choice if any or all
of those are your complaints about roses of Sharon. So we're gonna put all
the information and photos, of course of sugar Tip rows of Sharon on our
website, Gardening Simplified on air dot com. You can see it there,
and of course you can also find a retailer if you would like to add
a sugar tip rose of Sharon to your garden. This season, we're gonna
take a little break. When we come back, we're opening up the garden
mail Bag, so 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
and unforgettable hydrangea, or something new and unique, you can be confident that
the shrubs and the white containers have been trialed and tested for your success.
Look for them at your local garden center. Greeting's gardening friends, and welcome
back to the Gardening Simplified Show, where we are devoting the rest of the
show to the mailbag. You know, last week we had three amazing guests
and we were so excited to bring them to you, three hummingbird experts.
I learned so much, but we didn't get a chance to answer any listener
questions. And we are deep in listener questions in a season, are we
not, And so we decided to just double it up today and answer a
whole bunch of your questions. But before we get to them, well,
first of all, before we get to them. If you have a question,
you can reach us at help HLP at Gardeningsimplified on air dot com,
or just go to Gardening Simplified on anar dot com. There's a contact form
there where you can fill it out and reach out to us. You can
even attach some photos if you need some diagnostics or other assistance, and we
will do our best to help you. And if your question lends itself to
being read on air, we will certainly do that as well. But we
also love hearing from you when you don't have a question but just want to
celebrate something in love hearing from that. And we heard this week from Donna,
who a few weeks ago, I was talking about my solar fountain.
I said it was almost life changing. So I bought this little solar fountain
that floats in a bird bath. Yes, and I do. I love
it. It's so cool, and you know, it was inexpensive, and
it transformed this bird bath that the birds didn't really like because it was way
too deep, into something that we really like. And now the birds really
like it too because it attracts them more because of the sound. They can
actually perch on the little floating fountain itself. It's just win win when so
Donna writes, we love the little solar fountains and bought several before we gave
up here in Pabulon, Nebraska, the raccoon insisted on chewing the floating material.
I don't know if they witnessed that or if there was just like wet
footprints, wet raccoon footprints leading away from the bird bath. But the raccoon
apparently chewed up the solar fountain, so they're going to try to figure out
a better solution. They have a pond with a waterfall that serves many creatures,
but the solar fund was very fun to watch. We wish you much
success. Enjoy and Donna shared a picture of her beautiful pond, which you
can see if you are on YouTube, and if you're not on YouTube,
you can go to YouTube, or you can just go to Gardening Simplified on
your dot com and we will put a picture of Donna's pond in Nebraska there
for you to enjoy. And I would make a suggestion, and that is
that the raccoons were probably after the water and then in their evening we'll call
it trash activities. They get up there and they find something to chew on,
which is what raccoons do. There are a lot of great YouTube videos
to watch, fascinating of how raccoons will approach a bird bath, put their
front paws on the bowl, and then lift themselves up to take a drink.
Well, if that bird bath isn't stable. I know, having worked
in the garden center industry, we've had a lot of customers who have replaced
bird bath tops because of raccoon. Oh no, no, I'm worried.
That would be my guest. I'm a little concerned about mine now, because
if a raccoon tries to hoist itself up on this bird bath, it will
certainly fall and break, and I would be very sad. We ran all
kinds of tests. At night, we set out deluxe pizza, hot dogs,
and Cajun chicken. And the next morning the Cajun chicken and hot dogs
were left. But the raccoons ate the deluxe pizza. Was it because it
was deluxe? Like it was just a cheese pizza? They wouldn't have you
know, maybe we should try that all right? What else? We got
an mail bag Rick Randy's having trouble with some new hydrange I need your expertise
about my proven winner's big band hydrangea. The first beautiful blooms are fading drastically,
and I want to prune the blooms off. Should I do this?
And how do I do it? Yeah? So if you will put pictures
of that Randy sent of his proven winner's big band hydrangs, they are indeed
looking really sad, And so what you'll see on these photos is that the
blooms have really wilted dramatically. So the rest of the plant isn't really wilted,
but the blooms are just really sad and weepy. And very often so
when a bloom of hydrangea bloom ages naturally, what will happen is it just
kind of dries out as it goes. It doesn't usually shrivel like this.
So to me, this almost certainly indicates water stress, I agree. And
whether it was as a result of too much water or too little water,
I can't say, because it often does the same thing. And when I
looked at the picture, I agree with you completely, Stacy. When I
looked at the picture in the garden center on a hot sunny day, and
if we have some watering issues in the garden center. That's where I first
see it is in the flowers. Yeah, so Randy, before you cut
them off, I would say, take a look at that root well,
think about how much you have been watering it. If you feel like it
maybe has not been as much as it should be, I would recommend before
you cut them off that you just go ahead and fill up a big tub
with water and bottom water those plants to thoroughly saturate them, and those flowers
could potentially recover. So I would try that before and then once you get
that root well thoroughly saturated again, hopefully the whole plant will perk up.
But do be aware again that if it was overwatered, which I think is
unlikely in a nursery container, that they might just be gone for good.
But if you want to prove deadhead a big leafhydrange, it's very simple.
So you just hold the flower in your hand and then trace the stemback to
where the first full set of leaves is emerging. So what you'll see if
you look under the hydrange of flower is there's usually one sort of false set
of leaves, two little leaflets underneath the bloom, and if you follow the
stem back a little further, there is one full set of leaves, and
you just want to snip that stem right above that and then with a reblooming
hydro angel like, let's stance, big band, you know, keep it
growing vigorously, don't you know? Make sure it doesn't get any water stress.
Maybe a little bit of fertilizer as you're fertilizing your annuals, and you
should start seeing new flower buds form within about six to eight weeks so you
have another chance to enjoy them. There you go. Doc asks, hey,
guys, I love your show. I never miss an episode. I
garden in Central North Carolina seven B newly classified as eight B. I have
a question about my purple Veronica. I love this planet brings all sorts of
pollinators to my garden. This year has not been an exception. However,
I noticed that this spring has continued to flower nicely at the top, but
has a good deal of dead foliage at the base of the plant starting to
look leggy. What gives? And Doc goes on to tell us it's been
a pretty mild winter, normal rainfall, nice spring, and asking if possibly
like with tomato plants when you have the splashing soil on the foliage whether or
not it's a fungus problem. And Stacey, I think Doc is definitely on
the right track with veronica there. Yeah, I agree. So he does
say it's in full sun, so that is very good, because of course
it wasn't in full sun. That would be our first suspicion. And again
Doc also set pictures so you can see that the plants look gorgeous on top
of the flowers look fine, but the base of the plant is all brown
and bare. And I also suspect some sort of fungus here. It's telltale.
It could be leaf spot fungus. It could be downy mildew, powdery
mildew, gray mold, any of those that will cause that defoliation at the
base of the plant. So I really think that there's also a rust that
veronicas can get. So ultimately, even though we just rattled off a whole
bunch of different names of fungal diseases, it doesn't really matter which one it
is all that much because they all have essentially the same treatment plan, which
is to say that you're going to want to remove any affected foliage now,
because by removing that foliage and discarding it don't compost it. If you have
a compost pile, by removing it and discarding it, you are taking away
a lot of that material. The fungal spores themselves are going to emerge through
that leaf, So by taking that away and discarding it, you eliminate the
possibility or at least reduce it for that disease to continue to spread. And
so this is really important, especially going into fall. But it's not bad
to do that now. Now the plant does look pretty healthy, and there
are plenty of fungal diseases out there that a plant can have and not really
be you know, severely set back by right, they can walk it off.
Take it for me, Doc, I'm a fun guy, and let
me tell you. A good air circulation, try to avoid watering over the
top, and good clean up this fall. All three of those things will
make a big difference. And you know, in terms of air circulation,
that's a good point, Rick, because this is a big, beautiful patch
of veronica that Doc has nerdured over the years, So it might be time
to divide it and that would help all the plants that you can get out
of that patch to get a little more air circulation and hopefully reduce this in
the future. But I don't think that that it's a death knell for your
Veronica. I just think you need to keep a little closer eye on the
foliage now and especially going into fall, and maybe put it on your spring
choor list to divide it next year. Every time I hear Veronica, I
think of Veronica Lodge. She was the fashionista in the band The Archies.
Do you remember that the Archies. It was a cartoon. It was from
the sixties or seventies. Archie Yeah, Archie comics, Yeah, Veronica Love.
I think of the Elvis Costello song. This might be a generational things.
All right, let's move on to Laura. Says Hi, Stacey and
Rick, thanks for your cheery and encouraging advice. Is my rosa goner?
She sent us a picture. This mother of pearl rose was doing well,
growing rapidly. Now it seems sick with yellowing leaves. So let's see if
we can help Laura. Well, I think it is important that Laura goes
on to say it's stems were too weak to support it, and it has
since toppled, and you'll see that in these photos, and that to me
certainly implies that it's in too much shade, and a lot of people don't
realize that shade sort of you know, it compounds over time. Sites tend
to become shadier unless you lose a tree, so trees grow surrounding plants grow.
So I honestly think that this plant is in too much shade. I
think that the leaning is evidence of it, and the yellow spots that you're
seeing are the early signs of black spot. So I think that I would
actually just go ahead and dig this thing up and put it in a sunnier
spot. You know, while you're doing that, a lot of that infected
foliage is just going to naturally shed just through the process of digging it.
And I think if you can find a full sun spot for this, I
wouldn't worry too much about the black spot. Just go ahead and clean up
the leaves the best you can. I think if you get it back into
some sun, it should probably be okay, especially if your other plants are
doing fine. I agree, and it's the tell tale sign of black spot.
We don't want to be the bearer of bud news, so I agree
with Stacy. Prune it back and move it. Yep, let's do it
all right, We're gonna take a little break and then we come back.
We've got more maldag questions, so please stay tuned. The Gardening Simplified Show
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the distinctive white container at your local garden center. Welcome back to the Gardening
Simplified Show. A bonus segment of your questions, and thanks so much for
sending us questions and pictures. Keep them coming, send them to Gardeningsimplified on
air dot com and Stacy. We got one from Brian in North Carolina.
I love this. I love these before and after kind of pictures. These
are from people that I endearingly call entremneurs, and that's a compliment. I
call myself an entremneur. Also great pictures from Brian. Oh yeah, so
good, got it. You gotta see this, so definitely take the time
to look at us on YouTube if you aren't already, or go to the
website and see Brian's photos. Because they are just inspiring. Outstanding job,
Brian, you inspired us. So he says that he is in Zone eight
A, North Carolina. He's been working on the transformation for about a year
now. They moved into their house in June thirty, twenty twenty three,
so he wasted no time. Love to hear that, Brian, and these
pictures were just taking this past May. He can't wait. He can't wait
to see everything leap at year three and he's especially excited for his Rainbow Rhythm,
Daily's Little line Punch hydranges and of course Summarific Hardy Hibiscus to come into
bloom and he's going to give us another update in July. So amazing work,
Brian. Love that you had before and afters. And if you're lacking
in garden inspiration or motivation, definitely take a look at what Brian has accomplished.
And Brian, you're preaching to the choir because both Stacy and I are
big fans of Summerrific Hardy Hyde business. You know it all right, Mike's
got a question. He bought two Let's dance can do Hyde ranges and immediately
put them into pots. They did well in their location, so he overwintered
them, and they're showing a ton of new growth in buds. He says.
I know, I'm not supposed to prune these, being a hydrange of
Macrophilis serrada hybrid, so an old wood blooming that you wouldn't prune. But
I wanted your opinion, based on the attached photos. Should I literally leave
them untouched? Will the new growth eventually hide last year's stems? I'm in
zone seven eight. I loved the picture and it clearly illustrates the dilemma that
many people have with spent blooms on hyde ranges and stacy, I say,
go ahead and clip them off. You don't have to hack the plant all
the way back, but doing some dead heading, I see no problem with
that. Oh, absolutely, So what you're seeing in Mike's photo here is
last year's stems that had some die back, and those didn't get cut back.
So now a bunch of new growth has come, It's covered in blooms.
It's gonna look amazing. There's absolutely no reason to keep any of that
old wood that is not alive on it anymore. It's just taking away.
Will the plan eventually overtake it? Yeah? Probably but why look at all
those dead sticks in the middle of all your nice plant right now. You
could have done this, you know, back in April or May, when
your plant started leafing out and it was clear where it was alive and where
it wasn't. It probably would have been a little easier. So you're gonna
have to be a touch fIF finick year now than you would have been back
then. But by all means, get those printers out, clean that thing
up, and start enjoying your hydrangea. You bet you, I agree.
Lauren's writing to us about yarrow. This is a plant that I love to
talk about. I love yarrow, so do I? All right? And
uh so, now that we got that out of the way, everyone loves
y'all, but Lauren's Laura, a cat in neighbor in Lauren's neighborhood, especially
loves zerrow. She says, Hello, I have a yarrow bush that I
planted last year and it came back beautifully this year. We have a few
neighborhood cats running around that like to use it as their hideouts. They have
trampled all through my plant and the branches are bent over. Is it worth
cutting it back to see if it grows back this summer or should I let
it go? And if you look at the pictures that Lauren sent, it
literally looks like some cats just straight up made a bed in the middle of
her yarrow. I looked at the pictures and immediately I thought, you know
the problem here, Lauren is you bought those plants from a cat a log
and that's why now it's kitten all over your face. Now that's frustrating,
I'll tell you what, because they do a lot of trampling. Now.
The first thing I thought about, Stacy when I saw the picture, aside
from those bad jokes, was the Chelsea chop, because I think, well,
let's get this out of the way first. Yarrow is also known as
achillea. Is that how you pronounce it? Yeah, I'd say achillia,
okay, thank you. So with achillea, I think that that is one
of the perennials that is a candidate for a Chelsea chop. Would you agree
with that or I would agree I think one of the So a Chelsea chop
basically just means that around the time of the Chelsea Flower Show in the UK,
you cut your perennials back by about half and what this does is it
forces the energy down into the lower buds on the plant, so they bloom
a little bit later, but on more compact, stronger stems. And I
think one of the challenges for people doing a chelsea chop on a yarrow is
if we're doing the chelsea chop, now the thing looks beautiful, I mean,
except for Lawrence, the cats have flattened, so it can be kind
of hard to bring yourself to do that, but they will rebloom. And
yarrow is also known, especially older cultivars of yarrow, for being one of
those plants that splays out like this. Now, obviously the cats did not
help, but it has been a breeding goal, like among the proven winners
yurow and newer varieties to not have that displaying tendency. So I don't think
the cats alone are to blame for this. I would cut it back in
this case. The other thing that you can consider doing would be to stake
it. Yeah, you know, you could just kind of get some mistakes
and you know, wrap it back up into kind of a bunch. It
can go either way. I have certainly cut a yarrow back at this time,
and it did go on to rebloom just fine, I'm just questioning whether
or not the cats are enjoying the medicinal herbal type of aura that this plant
gives. I mean the plant has It's an old plant that has been used
through the centuries for medicinal purposes. It has a long line of I'll column
plant sestors, and You're right, some of the newer varieties are a little
squattier. So I think you're gonna I think what you're gonna have to do
is you're gonna have to put your thinking cat on and find a way to
make that area less hospitable to cat well. I think probably one of the
issues is that yarrow is a son lover. Cats are sun lovers, and
their cats like, oh hey, look at this nice, soft, fluffy
plant. I agree that I can just curl right on up in so Lauren,
I wouldn't give up. You can also try putting like curry powder or
something in there. I've heard that that is effective. Just go to the
dollar store and get that. It's like a buck and you can just spread
that all over. May have to reapply after it rains, but I've heard
that that is effective against cats. Yeah, there are some repellents that will
cause them to head over to your neighbors anyway, that's heartbreaking. Sorry,
Lauren, go ahead and try cutting it back, see if that helps,
and maybe the cats will find another place to hang out while your yarrow is
recovering. So poor Karen here is at her wits end. She's very upset.
Viburnum leaf beetles dun'ta da have discovered her arrow leaf by burnum's and have
nearly destroyed them. She's tried doing everything to get rid of them. She
can't do it. She's thinking that even if she was able to manage it,
you know, if she could find something to do, she wouldn't have
to deal with them every year. And can we recommend any viburnums that are
resistant to the past She is ready to, as she says, throw in
the trowel. Well, oh, very good, thank you well, Karen.
My recommendation would be, I've been frustrated by these also with viburnums,
I would say that what you want to do is you want to avoid arrowwood
viburnum or cranberry bush viburnums. Because I think Karen answered her own question here,
and she hit the nail on the head. There are some viburnums that
are more resistant to this problem. Arrowwood and cranberry bush viburnums can be a
problem, and if it persists, I think spraying horticultural oil on the stems
before bud break also sometimes can help with this problem. Right, So it
is an Asian past yes, So what generally occurs is that the native American
viburnums are very susceptible to Viburnum leaf beetal damage and the Asian species are not.
They've kind of evolved to live together. So of course, if having
a native American species was important to you, that's not great news. But
Korean spice viburnum is resistant. Double file viburnum, which just finished blooming and
it was absolutely fabulous this year, is also resistant. But I have another
great tip for you that I would recommend trying before you throw in that trowel,
Like you said, Viburnum leaf beetles when they lay their eggs this a
little bit later this summer, they leave very distinctive egg laying sites. And
you can look this up online and you'll see pictures, and of course we'll
put links in our show notes at Gardeningsimplified on Air Dot com but they look
like little pits that the adult beetle digs out and then fills back up with
a mixture of beetlespit and sawdust. Okay, that sounds disgusting, but you
can't really see the beetlespit and it's very it shows it stands out really strongly
on the plant. And so what you can do is, you know,
anytime after the plant goes dormant in like October November through late when or early
spring, before it leaves out, you can check your plan all over for
these egg laying sites and you can prune them out. Now that may end
up meaning that you prune out quite a bit, which is unfortunate, but
it gives you viburnums. Can easily withstand that. It might look kind of
crummy for one year. Yeah, but doing that it's not going to kill
your plant. But by doing that, you're going to take out every single
egg that those beetles laid over the last year. And it typically tends to
be on the younger wood, so it's not way down on the thicker wood,
so you're taking the whole thing down. So again we're going to put
those links so you can research what that looks like put it a reminder in
your calendar to get out there in November, December, maybe February, March,
something like that, when the plant is still dormant and you can see
it well, get those pruners sharpened up, cut those stems out, and
send that beetle to the curb. Excellent advice. I like that, very
good, Stace. Thank you all right. So that's it for today's show.
Thanks for all those questions and comments, appreciate it. Keep them coming
Gardening Simplified on air dot com. Make sure to send those pictures along too,
because we want to see them. We want to thank you for watching
on YouTube, listening to our podcast, or listening to us on radio.
So keep those cards, letters, notes, emails, whatever they are,
keep them coming to the Gardening Simplified Show. Thanks Stacy, thanks Rick,
thanks Adriana, and of course thank you so much to all of you who
listen and watch. Have a great week.