In Praise of Panicle Hydrangeas | South vs North Gardening with Dr. Allan Armitage

<v Speaker 1>Broadcasting from Studio A. Here at proven winners Color Joy Shrubs.
<v Speaker 1>It's time for the Gardening Simplified Show with Stacy Hervella
<v Speaker 1>me Rick weissten our engineer and producer Adrianna Robinson. Well,
<v Speaker 1>do you need a spectacular hedge or romantic stunning cut flowers,
<v Speaker 1>or maybe a knock your socks off specimen plant? Then
<v Speaker 1>a panicle hydrangea maybe just the answer. This show is
<v Speaker 1>in praise of panicles and Stacy, have you ever met
<v Speaker 1>somebody famous. You know you're going to be meeting this person,
<v Speaker 1>and you're telling yourselfself, don't say something stupid, don't be stupid,
<v Speaker 1>and then of course when you walk up to them,
<v Speaker 1>you say something stupid like you're my biggest fan. I've
<v Speaker 1>done that. And I tell you what panicle hydranges are
<v Speaker 1>like a rock star. And I have read, including material
<v Speaker 1>that you've written Stacy, that it is a fabulous blooming
<v Speaker 1>plant for those who consider themselves maybe black thumbs.
<v Speaker 2>The so called black thumb. Yeah, they're definitely one of
<v Speaker 2>the easiest and most rewarding plants, flowering shrubs, perennials, anything
<v Speaker 2>that you can grow. I mean, it really is that simple.
<v Speaker 2>But you know, before we get too far into it.
<v Speaker 2>You know last time it was one hundredth episode. Yeah,
<v Speaker 2>we put out a survey for our listeners to fill out,
<v Speaker 2>and a couple of listeners I just want to acknowledge
<v Speaker 2>this said they had a quote hydrangea hangover that we've
<v Speaker 2>been doing an awful lot about hydrangeas and this is true,
<v Speaker 2>And to those people, we're sorry. This was already planned
<v Speaker 2>to do the show. But stick with us because honestly,
<v Speaker 2>even if you're like a hydrangea hater and they're out there,
<v Speaker 2>this is a plant that is worth growing because honestly,
<v Speaker 2>I can think of very very few plants again, perennials,
<v Speaker 2>flowering shrubs, trees, whatever, that were require so little and
<v Speaker 2>give so much for so long.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah. Absolutely, panicle hydrange is. I'm a big fan. Now.
<v Speaker 1>Word of the day, A panicle is. And stick with
<v Speaker 1>me here, A panicle when we're talking about flowers and
<v Speaker 1>plants things botanical is a branched raceme in which each
<v Speaker 1>branch has more than one flower. Now my description is
<v Speaker 1>just a multitude or cluster of flowers on a stem
<v Speaker 1>forming a cone shape like inflorescence. But technically it's a
<v Speaker 1>simple inflorescence in which the flowers are born on short
<v Speaker 1>stalks about equal length, at equal distances along an elongated
<v Speaker 1>access man losing me here. Racem is word of the day.
<v Speaker 1>It's spelled our acee me. I guess the way to
<v Speaker 1>just put it simply, Stacey, is the flower has the
<v Speaker 1>wow factor and in many cases look as big as footballs.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, you know, I can't get over the fact that
<v Speaker 2>receime as you just spelled it, ra c e m
<v Speaker 2>e as a runner. You're not saying race me.
<v Speaker 1>Because it looks like that race me, but it's racing.
<v Speaker 2>Yes, you are correct.
<v Speaker 1>So anyhow, nothing says August like panicle hydranges in the landscape.
<v Speaker 1>Great thing about these plants is that they are very cold, hardy.
<v Speaker 1>They're reliable, uh and quite quite easy to grow. As
<v Speaker 1>a matter of fact, Proven Winners has a great link,
<v Speaker 1>a great page that you can go to. I believe
<v Speaker 1>you wrote it, Stacey, about panicle hydrangers, and we'll put
<v Speaker 1>it on the website Gardening Simplified on air dot Com. Now,
<v Speaker 1>I kind of like to refer to their flower shapes
<v Speaker 1>as lacy or mopheads football mops. You can get both
<v Speaker 1>with the panicle hydrangers.
<v Speaker 2>That is correct. So a lot of people think think
<v Speaker 2>that a mophead hydrangea is a type of hydrangea as
<v Speaker 2>in like they'll refer to big leaf hydrange's Hydrangea macrophylla
<v Speaker 2>as a mophead hydrangea, and that is true. But really,
<v Speaker 2>any of the different species of hydrangeas that we can
<v Speaker 2>grow in our gardens can in theory be a mophead
<v Speaker 2>or a lace cap. And nowadays it is the mophead
<v Speaker 2>versions of panicle hydrangeas that are easily the most popular,
<v Speaker 2>all right.
<v Speaker 1>And one of the things that makes them popular, certainly
<v Speaker 1>with me is transitional color as the season progresses. The
<v Speaker 1>color on many of these panicle hydranges is transitional, not
<v Speaker 1>based on a chemical change to the soil. Stacey my
<v Speaker 1>Gut tells me from years of growing panicle hydranges that
<v Speaker 1>it's the amount of sunlight, maybe the decrease in day length,
<v Speaker 1>maybe temperature, maybe the amount of available water. Am I
<v Speaker 1>right in surmising that, yeah.
<v Speaker 2>All those factors combine. But there's another one that's really important,
<v Speaker 2>and that is genetics. So you know, panicle hydrange is
<v Speaker 2>nowadays and I'm going to talk about this in plants
<v Speaker 2>on trial. They do turn amazing colors, and that is
<v Speaker 2>one of the factors that here at proven Winner's Color
<v Speaker 2>Choice shrubs we specifically look for in panicle hydranges is
<v Speaker 2>that they are aging to not just a color, not
<v Speaker 2>just a pink or red color, but to a really vibrant,
<v Speaker 2>rich and bright color. And so while all of those
<v Speaker 2>factors are true, the heat, especially the nighttime temperatures, moisture,
<v Speaker 2>the age of your plant, those all contribute to how
<v Speaker 2>well your plant colors up, but there is an inherent
<v Speaker 2>capability for specific colors and the vividness of those colors
<v Speaker 2>in each plant that you know, even if you have
<v Speaker 2>all conditions right, if it's not a plant, it's going
<v Speaker 2>to take on really vivid tones. It's just it's not
<v Speaker 2>going to do it in your garden either.
<v Speaker 1>I love that. Now, of course, panicle hydranges have enjoyed
<v Speaker 1>over the past years, this renaissance of sorts, because early
<v Speaker 1>in my career I just remember panicle hydranges as being
<v Speaker 1>gigantic and monstrous, and now there are so many wonderful
<v Speaker 1>we're gonna call them dwarf varieties, and Stacey will talk
<v Speaker 1>about that further on today's show. I know that when
<v Speaker 1>I was in television. Certainly during the months of July, August,
<v Speaker 1>and September, we when we'd go out and about recording,
<v Speaker 1>I would often immediately look for the panicled hydranges, because
<v Speaker 1>boy do they make a great backdrop for television.
<v Speaker 2>They do backdrop for photos for television. I mean, they
<v Speaker 2>are just so showy and so beautiful, and they just
<v Speaker 2>flower so much. You know, They're not one of those
<v Speaker 2>plants where you're like, oh, that's blooming. It's just like
<v Speaker 2>a wall of flowers. And you know, that's what people
<v Speaker 2>love so much about them is you don't have to, like,
<v Speaker 2>you know, be a super gardener or know anything. I mean,
<v Speaker 2>this is pretty much as close as you can get
<v Speaker 2>to a foolproof plan. You put it in the ground,
<v Speaker 2>you water it, and then you know, three years later,
<v Speaker 2>your neighbors are running across the street to compliment you
<v Speaker 2>on your plant, and I never knew you were a gardener.
<v Speaker 1>I love that. And of course you can use it
<v Speaker 1>as a specimen plant. There are tree hydranges A Hydrangea
<v Speaker 1>essentially grafted to a standard right.
<v Speaker 2>Well, actually, most panicle hydrangea standards are not grafted. A
<v Speaker 2>lot of people think that they are, and they can
<v Speaker 2>be grafted, but actually the majority of them are grown
<v Speaker 2>and trained that way specifically. So if you ever had
<v Speaker 2>a panicle hydrangea, you've probably seen this, and probably some
<v Speaker 2>of our listeners have too, where you know, it starts
<v Speaker 2>to grow in the spring and it puts out like
<v Speaker 2>these big, long, thick, broomstick like stalks. So that ability
<v Speaker 2>is what actually lets it be grown as a standard.
<v Speaker 2>So what they do typically is plant up a hydrangea
<v Speaker 2>panical hydrangea in the ground, let it grow for two
<v Speaker 2>seasons so it develops that nice big root mass, and
<v Speaker 2>then they whack the whole thing back down to the ground.
<v Speaker 2>And then what's going to happen, because it has all
<v Speaker 2>the energy in that root mass to recover from that
<v Speaker 2>severe pruning. The first straights down that comes up from that,
<v Speaker 2>that's going to be the trunk. Then they let that
<v Speaker 2>grow up to a certain height, then they cut that
<v Speaker 2>and then it's going to branch and then you're gonna
<v Speaker 2>get that nice full look. And so that is why,
<v Speaker 2>as I'm sure our listeners have seen and experienced, if
<v Speaker 2>you want a treeform standard hydrangea, they're gonna cost you
<v Speaker 2>a pretty penny.
<v Speaker 1>They're pricey.
<v Speaker 2>They are very pricey, and the reason for that is
<v Speaker 2>because they have all of that extra time and effort
<v Speaker 2>in raising them. Fortunately, they are pretty much just as
<v Speaker 2>easy to care for, a tiny bit trickier than your
<v Speaker 2>regular standard panicle hydrangea. But I think people feel a
<v Speaker 2>lot more motivated to make sure they're taking care of
<v Speaker 2>it when they're shelling out, you know, three hundred and
<v Speaker 2>fifty dollars for a standard panicle hydrangea.
<v Speaker 1>But it does bring up the point one of my
<v Speaker 1>favorite things about panicle hydranges are the stout branches and
<v Speaker 1>the fact that pruning is easy, because it's kind of
<v Speaker 1>difficult to make a pruning mistake with a panicle hydrangea
<v Speaker 1>in my open, but those stout branches that can hold
<v Speaker 1>up those big, gorgeous blooms. So Stacy, just for you,
<v Speaker 1>I wrote a limb a rick in praise of panicles,
<v Speaker 1>My lovely, colorful panicle, Your blooms are simply gigantical. In August,
<v Speaker 1>you will star in a colorful repertoire, classic and botanical.
<v Speaker 1>You certainly put me in the limelight with blossoms that
<v Speaker 1>stand tall upright. Based on your blooming prowess, my neighbors
<v Speaker 1>are sure to assess. I'm not. I'm an expert, not
<v Speaker 1>a neophyte. Blooming over much of the USDA from now
<v Speaker 1>until Labor Day. Clip some blooms for all your rooms
<v Speaker 1>and enjoy a stunning bouquet. That's my best shot.
<v Speaker 3>I like it.
<v Speaker 2>I think you've got a lot of like minded listeners
<v Speaker 2>out there with that one.
<v Speaker 1>I love it. So panicle hydrangers, you want to grow them.
<v Speaker 1>Stacy's going to get into some of the varieties. As
<v Speaker 1>a matter of act, Stacy on our channel. Recently, you
<v Speaker 1>did a YouTube video with Adriana of one of my
<v Speaker 1>favorite varieties, and I don't want to steal your thunder,
<v Speaker 1>but we're going to put the link on the website
<v Speaker 1>Gardeningsimplified on air dot com. But this is such a
<v Speaker 1>gorgeous panicle hydrange. It because of the color in it.
<v Speaker 2>Quick Fare Fat Quick for Fire my quick firefab video.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah it is. It is such a cool plant. And
<v Speaker 2>I'll tell you Adriana and I filmed that video on
<v Speaker 2>the perfect day. I mean, they are just gorgeous. So
<v Speaker 2>if you need some panicle hydrange of inspiration, you watch
<v Speaker 2>that video. It'll be linked in the comments.
<v Speaker 1>I love that video. It is inspirational, so make make
<v Speaker 1>sure to watch it. So with panicle hydrangs to meet
<v Speaker 1>their full potential, I'm going to say avoid shade, give
<v Speaker 1>them as much sunlight as possible. Remember they appreciate pruning,
<v Speaker 1>maybe pruning as much as a third a year. We'll
<v Speaker 1>see what Stacy has to say about that. And I
<v Speaker 1>think two things that you have to do. Number one,
<v Speaker 1>don't overfertilize, and number two, watch the water. They are
<v Speaker 1>going to need some water. I've seen panicle hydranges in
<v Speaker 1>August or September enduring drought stress. I know at the
<v Speaker 1>Marina here on the lake shore they have some panicle
<v Speaker 1>hydranges in pots that are just simply suffering because nobody
<v Speaker 1>pays attention to them. Dry as a bone, and you
<v Speaker 1>can see them suffer. So water is going to be important.
<v Speaker 2>Water is important, just like for any other hydrange. And
<v Speaker 2>even though panicle hydranges are the most sun and drought
<v Speaker 2>tolerance in that they will be able to survive, not
<v Speaker 2>necessarily thrive as the hydrange is that the Marina can attest.
<v Speaker 2>The one way that you can kill a panicle hydrange
<v Speaker 2>of quickly is too much water. They are actually very
<v Speaker 2>sensitive to overwatering. So it's not that they're tricky to water.
<v Speaker 2>You just want to make sure that you're not flooding
<v Speaker 2>them because they cannot. They can recover from it, but
<v Speaker 2>they will be very, very sad and resentful if you
<v Speaker 2>have to overwater them.
<v Speaker 1>Well, let's see what Stacy has on her mind and
<v Speaker 1>plants on trial. That's coming up next on today's show.
<v Speaker 1>In praise of panicles. Here on the Gardening Simplified.
<v Speaker 2>Show, proven winners, Colored Choice Shrubs cares about your success
<v Speaker 2>in the garden. That's why we trial and test all
<v Speaker 2>of our shrubs for eight to ten years, making sure
<v Speaker 2>they outperform everything else on the market. Look for them
<v Speaker 2>and 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>An episode dedicated to the panicle hydrangea. The hydrangea that
<v Speaker 2>if you need a housewarming gift for someone and you
<v Speaker 2>aren't sure you know what their gardening skill level is,
<v Speaker 2>this is the plant that you bring Panicle hydrangels because
<v Speaker 2>it's just one of those plants that just keeps giving
<v Speaker 2>in even if they're you know, snooty and like, oh
<v Speaker 2>I don't like hydrangees. Panicle hiderrangels are not the typical hydrange.
<v Speaker 2>They don't have like the big round blue or purple blooms.
<v Speaker 2>You can get ones that are very you know, distinguished
<v Speaker 2>and less showy. You can get some that will draw
<v Speaker 2>all the focus away from everything else in your landscape
<v Speaker 2>except that plant.
<v Speaker 1>And that'd be better than getting an aloe plant or
<v Speaker 1>a cactus or maybe cut flowers from the gas station
<v Speaker 1>on their way over.
<v Speaker 2>Well, that's for sure, Yes, stop at the garden center,
<v Speaker 2>get get a nice panic hydrange. And you know they
<v Speaker 2>are so hardy, so they're cold tolerant all the way
<v Speaker 2>down to USDA Zone three and heat tolerant through USDA
<v Speaker 2>Zone eight at least, which is yeah, a huge range.
<v Speaker 2>And you know we talk about reliability, very easy to
<v Speaker 2>grow because they flower on new wood. But you know
<v Speaker 2>I am digressing. This is time for plants on trial.
<v Speaker 2>We're talking about one specific, proven winner's plant. And I'll
<v Speaker 2>tell you it was hard to pick because we do
<v Speaker 2>have twelve different panicle hydranges in the line. But if
<v Speaker 2>we're dedicating a show two panicle hydranges, then you know what,
<v Speaker 2>there's really just no other choice than the og the
<v Speaker 2>one that started it all, Limelight hydrange I like it.
<v Speaker 2>I wanted to take this opportunity, and so in mailbag
<v Speaker 2>we're going to talk more about growing them. The things
<v Speaker 2>you need to know to grow panicle hydrange is. But
<v Speaker 2>I thought it was a good opportunity to tell this
<v Speaker 2>story and kind of create this context for our panical
<v Speaker 2>hydrange show because it's a pretty interesting story and a
<v Speaker 2>lot of our listeners, I think probably aren't even aware
<v Speaker 2>of how much limelight hydrangea has just completely changed the
<v Speaker 2>hydrangel landscape literally and figuratively in the US in Canada.
<v Speaker 1>Now, I do know because being in the garden center
<v Speaker 1>industry over forty years, I remember the years when basically
<v Speaker 1>we had a plant called tard of them, Yeah, and
<v Speaker 1>that was about it.
<v Speaker 2>That was pretty much it.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah.
<v Speaker 2>So panicle hydranges are native to Asia. You can find
<v Speaker 2>them in Taiwan, Japan, Korea, all the way up through
<v Speaker 2>Sakhalin Island, which is off the coast of Russia, and
<v Speaker 2>so that's like a pretty broad climate area and it
<v Speaker 2>took a long time for them to kind of come
<v Speaker 2>over here. But the very first one that became popular
<v Speaker 2>in Western culture was Grand of flora, So the original
<v Speaker 2>PG hydrange So if you've heard that term before PG. Hydrangea,
<v Speaker 2>it derives from this specific variety Hydrangea paniculata that's the
<v Speaker 2>P and grand of flora that's the G. So that
<v Speaker 2>kind of gave way to all of these names, and
<v Speaker 2>that was around the late eighteen hundreds in France that
<v Speaker 2>the original PG. Hydrangea started to become very popular in gardens,
<v Speaker 2>and then came Tarteva. And you know, these were fine plants.
<v Speaker 2>They're very pretty. They're still around. In fact, you can
<v Speaker 2>still grow them and find them, although they are harder
<v Speaker 2>to find now that there have been so many improvements.
<v Speaker 2>And they were fine plants. You know, they were certainly pretty,
<v Speaker 2>but a couple of issues. They bloomed fairly late in
<v Speaker 2>the season, especially in cooler climates like ours, and they
<v Speaker 2>had pretty weak stems, so they didn't really hold those
<v Speaker 2>blooms upright. They kind of just you know, bent over
<v Speaker 2>and gave a very soft and rather informal look in
<v Speaker 2>the landscape. They were also all lace caps, so we
<v Speaker 2>talked a little bit about mopead versus lace cap, so
<v Speaker 2>they had that more open and lacy bloom rather than
<v Speaker 2>the dense bloom, and you know, at best, as the
<v Speaker 2>flowers age through the season, they maybe took on a
<v Speaker 2>little pink flush, but overall they were just kind of
<v Speaker 2>mass So they just you know, weren't I mean, they
<v Speaker 2>were pretty, but they just weren't there a far cry
<v Speaker 2>from what we all think of now as panicle hydranges.
<v Speaker 2>But that was pretty much all there was. And so
<v Speaker 2>they were around, but you didn't really see them all
<v Speaker 2>that often.
<v Speaker 1>So they are a great example, Stacey, of what Tim
<v Speaker 1>Wood says here we are living in the golden age
<v Speaker 1>of plant Preez.
<v Speaker 2>That's exactly it.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah.
<v Speaker 2>So in the nineteen nineties, Tim Wood, who Rick just
<v Speaker 2>mentioned and Daleda be, the owner of the nursery here,
<v Speaker 2>first encountered limelight hydrange at Peter's Winenberg's Nursery and Boss
<v Speaker 2>Coop in the Netherlands. And they knew it was something
<v Speaker 2>special because they were really familiar with everything that was
<v Speaker 2>already on the market, what people's complaints about it was.
<v Speaker 2>And so Peter had developed Limelight at his nursery there
<v Speaker 2>and they saw this thing and they just knew that
<v Speaker 2>this was a game changer. They knew they could tell
<v Speaker 2>that it had much stronger stamps, so it didn't have
<v Speaker 2>that weepy, kind of floppy look that older panicle hydrange
<v Speaker 2>has had. The blooms were just this beautiful, bright, glowing
<v Speaker 2>fresh green that no one had ever seen before. And
<v Speaker 2>you know, all in all, it was just a great plant.
<v Speaker 2>So they brought it back to the US. So now
<v Speaker 2>we're back into the nineteen nineties here, brought it back
<v Speaker 2>here to West Michigan. So, believe it or not, a
<v Speaker 2>lot of people don't realize that limelight hydrange had its
<v Speaker 2>start in North America right here in West Michigan, which
<v Speaker 2>is a pretty amazing historical connection. I mean, we have
<v Speaker 2>a great agricultural history here anyway, but you can add
<v Speaker 2>that to the Haven peaches and all of the other
<v Speaker 2>amazing things that have been invented here and developed here.
<v Speaker 2>And they started trialing it here at our nursery in
<v Speaker 2>West Michigan, and they discovered that limelight was performing just
<v Speaker 2>as beautifully here in North America as it had been
<v Speaker 2>in Europe. And that was also revolutionary because a lot
<v Speaker 2>of the panicle hydrangeas like Grandiflora and Tarteva did a
<v Speaker 2>lot better in Europe. The summers tended to be a
<v Speaker 2>little bit more cooler, a little bit milder. Nighttime temperatures
<v Speaker 2>tended to be cooler, so their performance really was night
<v Speaker 2>and day. Brought them over here, things were not They
<v Speaker 2>just didn't look as good. But they found out bringing
<v Speaker 2>Limelight here that it looked just as beautiful as it
<v Speaker 2>did in Europe when they brought it back here and
<v Speaker 2>they said, you know, this is a no brainer. We
<v Speaker 2>are going to introduce this. People are going to love it.
<v Speaker 2>And you know what happened. The industry laughed at us.
<v Speaker 2>The industry literally laughed at us. They rolled their eyes,
<v Speaker 2>and several people said, no one will ever buy a
<v Speaker 2>green flower like there, you know, and this is sort
<v Speaker 2>of one of those like Steve Jobs kind of you
<v Speaker 2>know stories like, oh, no one will ever do that.
<v Speaker 2>And obviously that was not the case. People instantly loved it.
<v Speaker 2>And despite their hesitation of these growers you said, no
<v Speaker 2>one will ever buy a green flower plant. People want
<v Speaker 2>colorful flowers. One thing that Limelight had going for it
<v Speaker 2>in the eyes of these naysayers is that it is
<v Speaker 2>an extremely easy plant to grow and produce. From a
<v Speaker 2>grower perspective, you know, as a plant grower, they're going
<v Speaker 2>to be trimming plants. They've got a lot of work
<v Speaker 2>to do to get it to the point where it
<v Speaker 2>can go into a garden center and you're buying a nice, big,
<v Speaker 2>beautiful shrub. But Limelight, compared to other panicle hydranges, didn't
<v Speaker 2>need as much pruning and trimming. It looked better after
<v Speaker 2>it was trimmed and prune. It was just a plant
<v Speaker 2>where they said, okay, well, you know what, we don't
<v Speaker 2>have that much invested in this. This is easier to grow,
<v Speaker 2>so we'll try it. We'll see how this goes. And
<v Speaker 2>people went bananas. I mean, people had never seen anything
<v Speaker 2>like limelight, and it was one of those plants that, once,
<v Speaker 2>you know, sort of the gardeners in the neighborhood started
<v Speaker 2>to grow it and have it in their garden. Their
<v Speaker 2>neighbors were like, oh what's that. Oh, well, that's Limela hydrangea.
<v Speaker 2>A great memorable name and very descriptive of what the
<v Speaker 2>plant actually looks like. And that started getting people who
<v Speaker 2>maybe didn't go to the garden center or weren't really
<v Speaker 2>into landscaping to go to the garden center and ask
<v Speaker 2>for limelight and plant limelight in their yard and discover
<v Speaker 2>how easy it was to grow, and so panicle hydrangeas
<v Speaker 2>have really spread, I think from word of mouth from
<v Speaker 2>people saying like what is that? I want that and
<v Speaker 2>seeing that you know, hey, my neighbor is not out
<v Speaker 2>there all the time, you know, work and breaking their
<v Speaker 2>back trying to get this thing to grow, Like I
<v Speaker 2>never even see them do anything to it, and it
<v Speaker 2>looks this great all the time. So it kind of spread,
<v Speaker 2>you know, just through this organic world of mouth, just
<v Speaker 2>noticing what it was and people asking. But then people
<v Speaker 2>were like, okay, Limelight's cool, but it's big. It gets
<v Speaker 2>to be six to eight feet tall, so what else?
<v Speaker 2>And when we saw the successive limelight, of course we
<v Speaker 2>started looking at what else can we do with this plant?
<v Speaker 2>And so in succession a number of different varieties came out,
<v Speaker 2>most notably little Lime, which is a dwarf version of Limelight.
<v Speaker 2>So if you don't have room for that six to
<v Speaker 2>eight foot tall and wide Limelight, you can grow a
<v Speaker 2>three to five foot tall and wide little Lime. And
<v Speaker 2>you know that just sort of unrolled this whole, you know,
<v Speaker 2>class of new panicle hydrange Just like I said, we
<v Speaker 2>now have twelve in the proven Winner's color Choice Shrubs
<v Speaker 2>line and We have a field of panicle hydranges that
<v Speaker 2>we use in our R and D that you would
<v Speaker 2>not believe. I can't show it to you, unfortunately, but
<v Speaker 2>it is stunning. And every year we are evaluating literally
<v Speaker 2>thousands of different potential new selections of panicle hydrangeas. And
<v Speaker 2>you know, we understand now really what it takes to
<v Speaker 2>make a great panical hydrangea. You know what people want.
<v Speaker 2>We're looking for earlier bloom times. We're looking for stronger stems.
<v Speaker 2>We're looking for those bright, vivid colors as the flowers age.
<v Speaker 1>And Limelight Prime is evidence of that.
<v Speaker 2>Limelight Prime is a great example of that. So Limelight
<v Speaker 2>Prime is sort of improves on some of the factors
<v Speaker 2>that of Limelight. So Limelight does not have a lot
<v Speaker 2>of liabilities, but it does have somewhat weaker stems than
<v Speaker 2>more modern cultivars do. And one of the biggest issues
<v Speaker 2>with Limelight is it blooms pretty late. You know, I
<v Speaker 2>have been on Mcinaw Island when Proven Runners was doing
<v Speaker 2>the Grand Garden Show where Limelight was only just starting
<v Speaker 2>to come into bloom at the end of August. So
<v Speaker 2>Limelight Prime blooms earlier. We want plants that people can
<v Speaker 2>enjoy by their pool in the summer when they're actually outside.
<v Speaker 2>Not you know, it can go to school. Yeah, not
<v Speaker 2>when you're thinking moms. You know you want to be
<v Speaker 2>thinking panic hyder ranges and poolside. And so the plan
<v Speaker 2>has just come so far, and it's just so amazing
<v Speaker 2>to me that it really all does come down to
<v Speaker 2>Limelight and what Limelight did to change the industry and
<v Speaker 2>to change homeowners' minds about what a panicle hydrangea could
<v Speaker 2>and should be. So every time your growl aline that hirange,
<v Speaker 2>you are literally growing a piece of horticultural history. So
<v Speaker 2>I didn't get to get the lot into a lot
<v Speaker 2>of how to grow panical hydranges, but we're going to
<v Speaker 2>do that next to the male legs. So please stay
<v Speaker 2>tuned at proven Winner's color Choice, we've got a shrub
<v Speaker 2>for every taste and every space. Whether you're looking for
<v Speaker 2>an easy care rose and unforgettable hydrangea or something new
<v Speaker 2>and unique, you can be confident that the shrubs and
<v Speaker 2>the white containers have been trialed and tested for your success.
<v Speaker 2>Look for them at your local garden center. Greetings gardening friends,
<v Speaker 2>and welcome back to the Gardening Simpli i'd show where
<v Speaker 2>the topic of the day is panicle hydrange as a
<v Speaker 2>plant that people love. You have to only see it
<v Speaker 2>once and then you're like, I want that, And you
<v Speaker 2>know that's another thing that I think is a is
<v Speaker 2>a somewhat of a problem for panicle hydrangees is because
<v Speaker 2>they do bloom late in summer, so when people go
<v Speaker 2>to the garden center, they don't look like much. They
<v Speaker 2>walk right by them. And that's one of the reasons
<v Speaker 2>why I think people are so shocked when they see
<v Speaker 2>them in bloom, like, well, what is it? I can
<v Speaker 2>get that?
<v Speaker 1>You know, that's why you need to be shopping in
<v Speaker 1>garden centers in August.
<v Speaker 2>It's true, Yeah, you'll definitely see so some great plants
<v Speaker 2>in bloom in August always worth stopping by. So you know,
<v Speaker 2>that's one reason I think why it takes some knowledge
<v Speaker 2>and some planning. And you know, if you do live
<v Speaker 2>in a hot climate, you're gonna want to wait probably
<v Speaker 2>another six weeks or so before you could add a
<v Speaker 2>panicle hydrange to your garden. So I would say that's
<v Speaker 2>like USDA Zone seven or eight. You'll want to wait
<v Speaker 2>till it's cooler. But if you live in a cooler
<v Speaker 2>climate USDA zones three through six. Now is a perfectly
<v Speaker 2>fine time to plant a panicle hydrangea if you would like.
<v Speaker 2>The only caveat I really have for that when we're
<v Speaker 2>talking about planting in August is a lot of people
<v Speaker 2>go on vacation, and so if you are going to
<v Speaker 2>be going on vacation, you know you might want to
<v Speaker 2>wait until after your vacation unless you have a very
<v Speaker 2>trustworthy neighbor that can keep an eye on the wandering
<v Speaker 2>of your new panicle hydrangea, because of course they are
<v Speaker 2>going to want some water while they're getting established. And
<v Speaker 2>you know, one of the questions that get I hear
<v Speaker 2>so much from people that I think is really the
<v Speaker 2>cause of confusion is how much sun can panicle hydrangeas take?
<v Speaker 2>And so our tags if you look at a proven
<v Speaker 2>Winner's color Choice panicle hydrangea tag in the store, they
<v Speaker 2>say full sun and part son. So that's a minimum
<v Speaker 2>of six hours a day for full sun and four
<v Speaker 2>to six hours or filtered light through the day for
<v Speaker 2>parts sun. And so people will say, well, which is it?
<v Speaker 2>And you know, one of the things is that we
<v Speaker 2>sell our plants across the entire country in the US
<v Speaker 2>and Canada, and that's a lot of different climates. So
<v Speaker 2>generally speaking, in cooler climates, you can absolutely plant panicle
<v Speaker 2>hydrange is in full sun six hours or more, you
<v Speaker 2>are going to want to mulch them. You are going
<v Speaker 2>to definitely want to provide supplemental water while they're getting established,
<v Speaker 2>and then after that anytime it's very hot and unusually
<v Speaker 2>dry and that you know, again the plant will survive
<v Speaker 2>dry conditions, but it's not going to look amazing.
<v Speaker 1>Stacey. The easy approach for me in the garden center,
<v Speaker 1>generally I will say to people, if you have a
<v Speaker 1>half a day of sun or more, you're going to
<v Speaker 1>be good. Is that a good simple approach.
<v Speaker 2>That's definitely a good simple approach, especially for the Midwest. Now,
<v Speaker 2>if you live in a hot climate, you're definitely going
<v Speaker 2>to want to go more with that part sun, especially
<v Speaker 2>during the hottest part of the day. So if you're
<v Speaker 2>going to have some shade, it should be in that
<v Speaker 2>afternoon area. And you know, filtered light all day is
<v Speaker 2>a very good option in the South. So really the
<v Speaker 2>answer here is, you know, full sun if you live
<v Speaker 2>in a cooler climate, definitely part sun. If you live
<v Speaker 2>in a hotter area. A little bit of morning sun
<v Speaker 2>is okay, but you're gonna want to make sure that
<v Speaker 2>it's shaded during the hottest part of the day, which
<v Speaker 2>is going to you know, minimize how much water it needs.
<v Speaker 2>And it's also going to keep the flowers looking fresher
<v Speaker 2>and better rather than all of that stress of all
<v Speaker 2>that sunshine and heat coming at them all the time.
<v Speaker 1>So, Stacy, we get to the question why are my
<v Speaker 1>panicle hydranges not blooming? And before we get into that,
<v Speaker 1>for those keeping score at home, let me quickly give
<v Speaker 1>you the roster. The lineup, Stacy. Let's see if I
<v Speaker 1>get this right. Bobo fire light firelight, tidbit lime light
<v Speaker 1>lime light prime, little lime, little lime, punch.
<v Speaker 2>Yep, puffer fish for fish, grape plant.
<v Speaker 1>You got me interested in puffer fish and I have
<v Speaker 1>it in my landscape. I love that plant. Little quick fire,
<v Speaker 1>tiny quick fire, pinky wing, pinky winky prime.
<v Speaker 2>Yes, that is a rough look at the rouster.
<v Speaker 1>A rough look at the roster. There's your starting lineup. Now,
<v Speaker 1>why isn't it blooming this?
<v Speaker 3>Well?
<v Speaker 2>So all panicle hydrangeas flower on new wood, or another
<v Speaker 2>way of saying that is in the current season's growth.
<v Speaker 2>So basically what that means is that they will start
<v Speaker 2>to create their flower buds for this summer in spring
<v Speaker 2>when they leave out, so they won't have any flower
<v Speaker 2>buds on them in winter. Come next April, they'll start
<v Speaker 2>to leaf out and they'll start creating the flower buds
<v Speaker 2>that will open that summer. So this kind of reduces
<v Speaker 2>the risk of losing flowers like old wood blooming hydranges
<v Speaker 2>like big leaf hydrangees have, or they're on the plant
<v Speaker 2>for so long that they have to make it through
<v Speaker 2>winter and all of these other challenges in order to
<v Speaker 2>bloom the following summer, so it eliminates that. So these
<v Speaker 2>are not typically the types of hydrangeas that people have
<v Speaker 2>trouble getting to bloom. They are extremely reliable. But there
<v Speaker 2>are a couple of things that I think people do
<v Speaker 2>need to know and be aware of, because you know,
<v Speaker 2>I hate when we are talking about how reliable and
<v Speaker 2>easy and fabulous a plant is and then someone tries
<v Speaker 2>it and it's not going well for them, and then
<v Speaker 2>they're just like, well, what's wrong with me? It's not you.
<v Speaker 2>But a couple of things you know, should you should
<v Speaker 2>be aware of. So number one is if the plant
<v Speaker 2>is prune too late in spring, that can cut off
<v Speaker 2>the flower buds. So you definitely don't really want to
<v Speaker 2>wait until the leaves are starting to expand and get larger.
<v Speaker 2>I recommend pruning this either in fall when it's completely dormant,
<v Speaker 2>so like after Thanksgiving, or late winter to early spring.
<v Speaker 2>And if you're nervous about it, you can wait till
<v Speaker 2>the buds just start to emerge and that will help
<v Speaker 2>you understand you know where that growth is coming from.
<v Speaker 2>But if you wait too long into April and you
<v Speaker 2>start pruning then and the plant's really leafing out, you
<v Speaker 2>could be cutting off flower buds for the summer. That's
<v Speaker 2>not as common, but it does happen.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, And plus, dormant pruning is just smart. You do
<v Speaker 1>a better job, in my opinion, when the plant is dormant,
<v Speaker 1>do a better job of creating a shape. Yeah, taking
<v Speaker 1>out weak branches, that sort of thing. I think it's
<v Speaker 1>the ideal time to pring.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, definitely. Okay, So that's one reason. Another reason is
<v Speaker 2>deer now overall, oh dear, here we go. Hydrangs are
<v Speaker 2>not generally deer resistant. I think if you look at
<v Speaker 2>all six types of hydranges that people grow in our gardens.
<v Speaker 2>You will see varying degrees of interest that the deer
<v Speaker 2>have in hydrangeas, but panicle hydrangeas are high on that list.
<v Speaker 2>They love them, and what they specifically love is the
<v Speaker 2>flower buds. And it's been it's interesting to me. I
<v Speaker 2>can't tell you how many people have written me and said, oh,
<v Speaker 2>this thing isn't bloomed every year beautifully. This year it's
<v Speaker 2>not blooming. I don't know why. And if I zoom
<v Speaker 2>in on the photo that they sent, I can see
<v Speaker 2>deer damage. And the damage is not like you might
<v Speaker 2>see on something like a daily or a hosta, where
<v Speaker 2>it's just like a stem sticking out. They like the
<v Speaker 2>flower buds so much that they can get their little
<v Speaker 2>mouth right in there and just snip with the flower
<v Speaker 2>bud and you barely even notice that they've done it.
<v Speaker 2>They're very very precise. So if you have deer or
<v Speaker 2>even occasionally see deer, know that they love these plants
<v Speaker 2>and they can be very very good at taking out
<v Speaker 2>the flowers without even leaving a whole lot of evidence
<v Speaker 2>that they were there in the first place.
<v Speaker 1>That's one of the things about deer damage that drives
<v Speaker 1>me crazy is when they just go for the flowers.
<v Speaker 1>I mean, if you're gonna just destroy the whole plant,
<v Speaker 1>then just get it over with. Okay, But my Gomfrina's
<v Speaker 1>and my spyreeas and yeah, panicle hydranges just get up
<v Speaker 1>in the morning and they've nipped the flowers off.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, it's so annoying. It's so sad. There is a
<v Speaker 2>third reason why your panicle hydrange might not bloom, and
<v Speaker 2>that is if it is too young. So very often
<v Speaker 2>what I've seen happen is people go to the garden
<v Speaker 2>center and they buy panicle hydrange in bloom looking fabulous.
<v Speaker 2>They get at home and they're like, hey, you know
<v Speaker 2>the next year, Hey, why isn't it blooming. It was
<v Speaker 2>blooming when I bought it in June last year. Now
<v Speaker 2>here we are July. It's not blooming. What's going on?
<v Speaker 2>And that's because it's blooming too early. But the other
<v Speaker 2>factor is that after you plant a shrub, it's going
<v Speaker 2>to spend its first year primarily growing roots in its
<v Speaker 2>new home. If you buy it in the nursery, it's
<v Speaker 2>already filled out that container with roots. It's pretty much
<v Speaker 2>maxed out the root growth that it can put on
<v Speaker 2>in a container, so that's why it's able to flower. Now,
<v Speaker 2>if you go home, you plant it.
<v Speaker 3>Now.
<v Speaker 2>This is not always the case, but it is sometimes
<v Speaker 2>the case. It's going to put all of its energy
<v Speaker 2>into growing roots, and the more roots it has, the
<v Speaker 2>more it can grow and flour. But sometimes if a
<v Speaker 2>hydrangea is slow to get established, maybe you're growing it
<v Speaker 2>in less than ideal conditions. It can it might take
<v Speaker 2>a year or so off of blooming and might not
<v Speaker 2>bloom until it's you know, two or three years in
<v Speaker 2>the ground. This isn't necessarily common, but I have seen
<v Speaker 2>it happen. I would say overall, it's more common in
<v Speaker 2>my experience with the dwarf for varieties, the smaller varieties
<v Speaker 2>than the laws are full sized varieties like limelight and
<v Speaker 2>Pinky Winky, simply because they're slower growing so that it
<v Speaker 2>just takes them longer to get to that point. So
<v Speaker 2>I know that could be discouraging, but at least you
<v Speaker 2>know nothing's wrong. They just need a little bit more time.
<v Speaker 2>And this is why I think. You know, regular watering,
<v Speaker 2>not overwatering, not underwatering, and a good two to three
<v Speaker 2>inch layer of shreaded bark. Mults are so important because
<v Speaker 2>those are going to create ideal conditions for root growth.
<v Speaker 2>Faster you can get those roots on the faster, you're
<v Speaker 2>going to have a panicle headrangel that's going to have
<v Speaker 2>your neighbors running across the street to ask you what
<v Speaker 2>the heck you're growing and.
<v Speaker 1>Real quickly, Stacey, I've always felt that the change in
<v Speaker 1>color as the season progresses, many times is caused by
<v Speaker 1>a shortening day length or cooler temperatures. But you're saying
<v Speaker 1>genetics play a big role.
<v Speaker 2>Yes, So the genetics are going to determine what color
<v Speaker 2>it's going to turn and how vivid that color can be.
<v Speaker 2>But yes, you're absolutely right day length, So it's the
<v Speaker 2>shorter as the days get shorter, which we're very much
<v Speaker 2>in right now here in August. As the days get shorter,
<v Speaker 2>that starts to trigger the change, and cooler nights also
<v Speaker 2>start to trigger the change. However, if you live in
<v Speaker 2>a hot climate and your nighttime temperatures are pretty consistently
<v Speaker 2>in the seventies or higher, that makes it very difficult
<v Speaker 2>for the plant to synthesize the color pigments that are
<v Speaker 2>responsible for that change, and so very often the plant,
<v Speaker 2>the flower will just turn brown and you won't get
<v Speaker 2>that color, and that is of course very disappointing, but
<v Speaker 2>sometimes it could just mean you know that you need
<v Speaker 2>to maybe put it in more shade or give it
<v Speaker 2>a little more water. If you live in a cool
<v Speaker 2>climate and your hydrange of flowers are turning brown before
<v Speaker 2>they age, that is definitely an indicator that there's some
<v Speaker 2>sort of water stress going on. So, you know, it's
<v Speaker 2>funny that we can talk so much about a plant
<v Speaker 2>that we keep telling you is so easy. But you know,
<v Speaker 2>the thing is, I want people to have the best results,
<v Speaker 2>so I want to give them the information that they
<v Speaker 2>need to know what to expect. And you know, as
<v Speaker 2>with any other plant, when you get it in the ground,
<v Speaker 2>it's going to go through a little period of adapting,
<v Speaker 2>but it will repay you with dividends for many years
<v Speaker 2>to come. Now we're going to take a little break.
<v Speaker 2>When we come back, we have a horticultural All Star
<v Speaker 2>doctor Allan Armitage coming on to talk about gardening in
<v Speaker 2>the heat. You aren't anonymous, that's so stay tuned. The
<v Speaker 2>Gardening Simplified Show is brought to you by proven winners
<v Speaker 2>Color Choice Shrubs, our Award winning Flowering Shrubs and evergreens
<v Speaker 2>have been trialed and tested for your success, so you
<v Speaker 2>enjoy more beauty and less work. Look for proven winners,
<v Speaker 2>color choice shrubs and the distinctive white container at your
<v Speaker 2>local garden center.
<v Speaker 1>Welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show today for branching
<v Speaker 1>news and interview with doctor Allan Armitage and Doctor Armitage
<v Speaker 1>is a well known writer. He's a speaker, a horticulturist,
<v Speaker 1>born and raised in Quebec and Ontario, but later lived
<v Speaker 1>in East Lansing, Michigan, close to our studio here, probably
<v Speaker 1>sixty seventy miles away or so, and now he resides
<v Speaker 1>in Athens, Georgia. He has worked with landscape plants and
<v Speaker 1>greenhouse crops in the North and South, travels the world,
<v Speaker 1>speaking and sharing his passion for plants. Degrees from McGill
<v Speaker 1>University in Montreal, University of Guelph, and PhD from Michigan
<v Speaker 1>State University, Go Green. Alan, of course, has written many books,
<v Speaker 1>countless academic papers, articles, et cetera. As a matter of fact,
<v Speaker 1>I have a number of Allan's books, Stacy, you can
<v Speaker 1>attest here. I have this one sitting on the desk
<v Speaker 1>Armitage Garden perennials, a color encyclopedia.
<v Speaker 3>There you go, There you go.
<v Speaker 1>This thing is worn out. As a matter of fact, Alan,
<v Speaker 1>you signed this on February twenty eight of two thousand
<v Speaker 1>and four. You said, dear Rick, stay in touch. Life
<v Speaker 1>is good when you can play.
<v Speaker 3>In the dirt. Oh rash, I still write that. Well.
<v Speaker 1>Thanks for joining us on the Gardening Simplified Show. It's
<v Speaker 1>an honor and privilege to have you on the show.
<v Speaker 1>And I want to start off our interview a minute here,
<v Speaker 1>Alan by asking you a question that I've been asking
<v Speaker 1>greenhouse growers and garden center owners over the past few years,
<v Speaker 1>and that is here we are in August. There were
<v Speaker 1>people visiting your greenhouse and garden center in April and May,
<v Speaker 1>buying their beautiful flowering annuals and their plants and all
<v Speaker 1>excited about them. What percentage of those plants are now
<v Speaker 1>still alive and thriving in the month of August? If
<v Speaker 1>you had to throw a percentage at that, Alan, what
<v Speaker 1>would you say?
<v Speaker 3>Sure of an answer? Because it dependsive if it's my
<v Speaker 3>daughter buying them or me buying them, you know, truly,
<v Speaker 3>and so you know I'm actually sitting outside right now
<v Speaker 3>and I'm watching the birds and the feeders and looking
<v Speaker 3>at my plants and totally and I live in the
<v Speaker 3>North Georgia right now, so while we are geographically in
<v Speaker 3>the foothills of the Smokey it's hot attack here lovely
<v Speaker 3>today actually bug. But I'm looking at probably sixty eight
<v Speaker 3>about eighty percent of my plants are still here. But
<v Speaker 3>as my neighbor who just stuck some plants on them
<v Speaker 3>and then just dug a hole, and they're probably thirty
<v Speaker 3>percent most. I mean, and I say that because it's
<v Speaker 3>it's Oh, we can really have a grand time of this.
<v Speaker 3>But you know what makes a succes, what makes a
<v Speaker 3>plant successful? You know, of course of breeding and YadA, YadA, YadA,
<v Speaker 3>but also obviously part of it is a gardener. And
<v Speaker 3>while while we can blame a lot on the plant,
<v Speaker 3>we can blame a lot in the gardener. I think
<v Speaker 3>the combination of a good plant and good practices, which
<v Speaker 3>are very simple, by the way, bring success to ready garden.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah. Absolutely. We were going to post a link on
<v Speaker 1>our website, Gardening Simplified on air dot com about how
<v Speaker 1>hot and dry it has been from the Ohio Valley
<v Speaker 1>all the way down into Georgia with deficits of moisture.
<v Speaker 1>But Alan, I guess you know, my question would be,
<v Speaker 1>I know that you are very big into solution gardening,
<v Speaker 1>helping people with solutions. What, right off the top is
<v Speaker 1>the key? You know that that hot, dry weather is
<v Speaker 1>coming in summer. What do you believe is the key?
<v Speaker 1>Is it the choice of the plants you make, or
<v Speaker 1>is it how you approach your garden?
<v Speaker 3>Well, I think when I talk about solution gardening, I'm
<v Speaker 3>using this almost you know, as a title solution gardening
<v Speaker 3>because most people, most people who are going into garden centers,
<v Speaker 3>and they maybe staringly good gardeners, or it may just
<v Speaker 3>be putting around, but most people going into garden centers
<v Speaker 3>are not going in to find the newest ukar or
<v Speaker 3>the newest hydranger. They're going into cline plants and work
<v Speaker 3>in the shade. Fine plants that deer don't eat, climb
<v Speaker 3>plants that you know, for ret or for dry shade,
<v Speaker 3>find plants for fragrance, find plants because I want some
<v Speaker 3>flowers I can cut from my garden. So they're looking
<v Speaker 3>for solutions, and garden center operators you know that that's
<v Speaker 3>what they got to be keying in on us who
<v Speaker 3>kind of talk to gardeners. You know, I just know
<v Speaker 3>that that's what people are asking. They're not asking for
<v Speaker 3>the newest plant. So I know it's going to be
<v Speaker 3>hot here, but it's going to be hot everywhere, so
<v Speaker 3>you go. You know, I use the annuals a lot,
<v Speaker 3>and I use them as fillers for sometimes with my
<v Speaker 3>friend will go dormant or unfortunately, you know, kick the bucket.
<v Speaker 3>So you know, there's a lot of solutions to this
<v Speaker 3>hot stuff. And certainly you have to have a building,
<v Speaker 3>a water your plants. You have to have some shade,
<v Speaker 3>and you can't put a hasa on the back forty
<v Speaker 3>in Ohio. I mean, I don't care, you just you
<v Speaker 3>got to You got to understand that there's a difference
<v Speaker 3>between plants to tolerate shade and plants that don't. But
<v Speaker 3>that's common sense, and I'd like to get into that
<v Speaker 3>stuff with you as well. But I think most people
<v Speaker 3>and people are listening to this show. They are not
<v Speaker 3>listening to it if they've never died before. They're listening
<v Speaker 3>to it because they want to just make a little
<v Speaker 3>easier for themselves. New plants are great, and we can
<v Speaker 3>get all over new plants, be it hydranges or hostage
<v Speaker 3>and patunities that matter. But what people are you looking
<v Speaker 3>for is how do I make my job easier?
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, and you know that's exactly what we're talking about
<v Speaker 2>with hydranges today, is you know, getting people to be successful.
<v Speaker 2>And it's not just the plant choice, but it is
<v Speaker 2>the tools and the information. And you know, not everyone
<v Speaker 2>realizes that a hosta is not a plant you can
<v Speaker 2>just pluck down anywhere in your yard and have look like,
<v Speaker 2>you know, a beautiful plant like you might see in
<v Speaker 2>a magazine or something like that.
<v Speaker 3>It is all about people and the plants that we
<v Speaker 3>can We we breed some fabrous plants in this industry.
<v Speaker 3>There's sectacular things that you can have. But like you say,
<v Speaker 3>there's a bit of responsibility. I don't know if it's
<v Speaker 3>the garden center or the gardener, but there's a responsibility
<v Speaker 3>a little bit to say there's information out there's easily
<v Speaker 3>to find that a host that does not want full sun,
<v Speaker 3>or that a rose does not want to be under
<v Speaker 3>the pecan tree. I mean, there's that's out there. So
<v Speaker 3>and the garden center certainly tries their best in many
<v Speaker 3>respects to say this is a plant for soun as
<v Speaker 3>a plant for shade. But I don't think anybody even
<v Speaker 3>has a clue what the difference between sun and shade
<v Speaker 3>are other than you know, where you're sit, where you're
<v Speaker 3>standing in the sun for sweating when you're in shade
<v Speaker 3>or not. But from a plant perspective, this is all
<v Speaker 3>about common sense. So and just stop me here because
<v Speaker 3>I'm going to babble a bit because these kinds of
<v Speaker 3>things are the things that make life so much easier.
<v Speaker 3>So there is no such thing as a sun loving
<v Speaker 3>or a shade loving plant. No such thing. Plants don't
<v Speaker 3>love anything, Okay, They tolerate, So that's the first thing.
<v Speaker 3>That's the first thing. It's a shade tolerant or a
<v Speaker 3>sun tolerant plant. Okay, so what does that mean. You
<v Speaker 3>can go around and I've done this thing or taking
<v Speaker 3>a piece of paper or a white paper and sing,
<v Speaker 3>oh it's there's see a shadow there, and they don't
<v Speaker 3>see a shadow there. So that's that, say, woman, sense,
<v Speaker 3>here's all you have to know about sun and shade,
<v Speaker 3>And it comes down to two words. Western exposure or
<v Speaker 3>if you prefer afternoon sun. Plants that can tolerate afternoon sun,
<v Speaker 3>the brutal one o'clock to four o'clock sun. Our sun
<v Speaker 3>tolerant plants. The plants that cannot are shade tallerant. The
<v Speaker 3>only dimension in a and a rose is a rose
<v Speaker 3>will take all that gorugal sun along with the rest
<v Speaker 3>of the day. A hostile will take all the morning
<v Speaker 3>sun you want, but tom in the afternoon sun, it
<v Speaker 3>doesn't do well. Therefore it is shade ton So two
<v Speaker 3>words actually define what shade and sun plants are all about.
<v Speaker 3>Two words, so you know, don't don't make it too serious.
<v Speaker 3>Of course, sometimes, of course the shade changes, and YadA YadA.
<v Speaker 3>But you know where your back forty is full sun,
<v Speaker 3>and you know where your shade is, and that's that's
<v Speaker 3>all we got to do. Items It seems simple.
<v Speaker 2>So how do you think that changes in the north
<v Speaker 2>versus hotter climates, whether that's the south or the southwest.
<v Speaker 3>Or no, certainly the north. Like if I go back
<v Speaker 3>to here, Ontario or Quebec, I can see hosses and
<v Speaker 3>full sun I do, I mean, I can't do it here,
<v Speaker 3>and tac can't do it much in the country. And
<v Speaker 3>the difference, of course is while a hassa might be
<v Speaker 3>a bit more sun tolerant. In Minnesota or even in
<v Speaker 3>where you are in Upper Michigan, it's more shade tolerant.
<v Speaker 3>As you go for the show. But yeah, I think certainly,
<v Speaker 3>But I think we'll always call a hosta. I just
<v Speaker 3>using Hasta an example. There's a ton of other plants,
<v Speaker 3>and you know, in patience you can always those will
<v Speaker 3>always be shade tolerant plants, and that all that means
<v Speaker 3>is you can put as much darned sun as the
<v Speaker 3>thing will take in the morning. But in some climates,
<v Speaker 3>in most of the country, quite truthfully, they will not
<v Speaker 3>do as well if you put them in the afternoon sun.
<v Speaker 3>They'll still they still may grow, they still may survive,
<v Speaker 3>but they'll do better of illociate on the afternoon.
<v Speaker 1>We're chatting with doctor Allan Armitage, a well known writer, speaker, horticulturist,
<v Speaker 1>and Alan that's a question we get a lot on
<v Speaker 1>this show, the difference between gardening in the north and
<v Speaker 1>gardening in the South, and all the people in the
<v Speaker 1>South who would love to be able to grow lilacs.
<v Speaker 1>You are in Athens, Georgia. Obviously certain plants work better
<v Speaker 1>for you than they do here in the North. And
<v Speaker 1>vice versa.
<v Speaker 3>Right, yeah, well again, having grown up in Montreal and
<v Speaker 3>then in sost Ontario, and having worked in a lot
<v Speaker 3>in Canada and then went to Michigan which was bombed
<v Speaker 3>by comparison, and then down here in North Georgia, I
<v Speaker 3>have a pretty good seal for North and South. And
<v Speaker 3>I think the first thing that I can think, I
<v Speaker 3>can say globally, I E North South. It's easier to
<v Speaker 3>guard in the North. Period. It's easier. I say that,
<v Speaker 3>and people in North said, oh, you know you winter,
<v Speaker 3>YadA YadA. Well, as I kept telling, and I kept
<v Speaker 3>telling people, you know, in Montreal, unless he's perennials or
<v Speaker 3>what easy you like, but in Montreal the plants are
<v Speaker 3>either fabulous or dead. I mean there was nothing in between, right,
<v Speaker 3>I mean, either work beautifully or they're dead. So like
<v Speaker 3>in the South, you know, we can get that whole
<v Speaker 3>thing where they just trying to do well, but they
<v Speaker 3>just struggle and they're just hanging in there. And so
<v Speaker 3>it's much more difficult, I think, and I say more difficult.
<v Speaker 3>Heat is far more debilitating on a plant than cold is.
<v Speaker 3>In fact, cold is is absolutely necessary for the best
<v Speaker 3>garden plants. You know, obviously two cold spinantial guide. But
<v Speaker 3>that's just because we're putting the plant in that. You know,
<v Speaker 3>it's not tolerate that much cold. But cold is essential,
<v Speaker 3>particularly for temperate garden plants, which are all your friends,
<v Speaker 3>all your shells, most your trees. So you know, that's
<v Speaker 3>why it's much easier to garden than the north and
<v Speaker 3>the south. And the further south you go, the less
<v Speaker 3>cold you get. That's why we can't grow too l
<v Speaker 3>to save our lives here more than mind you, most
<v Speaker 3>most people in this country can't grow too more than
<v Speaker 3>two years anyway, but because they need that cold for
<v Speaker 3>the new bulb to form. But that's just one example,
<v Speaker 3>and I think we could go on and on. I
<v Speaker 3>don't want to boy to death with cold is important.
<v Speaker 3>So I think people in the north you know that
<v Speaker 3>you can't give me. I can grow much better crak
<v Speaker 3>myrtle than you can. Like Callabians are spectacular. Years are
<v Speaker 3>still got to get going, you know. But we both
<v Speaker 3>grow good lilies, we both grow extraordinary good flocks. We
<v Speaker 3>both grow hygd ranges. There's not a lot of difference
<v Speaker 3>in plant choices. Yes, lilacs and delphineings, but hell, I
<v Speaker 3>couldn't grow Delphineans in Montreal either, So you know, I mean,
<v Speaker 3>you know, those are the kind of things that Fantasy
<v Speaker 3>Land says we got to grow. But you know, I
<v Speaker 3>can grow with Kim Lilock. I can go some wlocs here.
<v Speaker 3>They're not the same, but we're going just fine. But
<v Speaker 3>the furthest and i'm a and I'm a well, I
<v Speaker 3>was zone seven times one eight. But you know, the
<v Speaker 3>you be down to Florida, it's a whole other world.
<v Speaker 3>You go down into Louisiana, the Gulf Coast is a
<v Speaker 3>whole other world. Southern California a whole different world from
<v Speaker 3>what we're talking about. But where we are zoned let's
<v Speaker 3>say two to eight, it's not that much different. Accept
<v Speaker 3>that we might need a little more water every now
<v Speaker 3>and then because it gets hot and dry times.
<v Speaker 2>What about some of the other challenges of gardening and
<v Speaker 2>hot climates, like, for example, weeds or pests. How does gard.
<v Speaker 3>Again, I'm going to tell you things and voice in
<v Speaker 3>my experience, you got to there's no more tests here
<v Speaker 3>than there are up there. In fact, I think there's few. Uh,
<v Speaker 3>you know, we complain it. You can plant about mosquitoes
<v Speaker 3>and black lives up there. We got mosquitos here for sure,
<v Speaker 3>but nothing like you do. We've got you know, you
<v Speaker 3>know you think about tests well, powdery milkier. Everybody gets
<v Speaker 3>powdery moving. I mean, if it rains and it's a
<v Speaker 3>susceptible flocks, it's gonna be powdered mildew where you are,
<v Speaker 3>powdery mil do where I am. I don't believe that
<v Speaker 3>the whole. I mean again, if you're driving in a
<v Speaker 3>swamp and you know, no matter where you are, it's
<v Speaker 3>going to look like heck. But plants that are susceptible
<v Speaker 3>to certain diseases are no more susceptible here than they
<v Speaker 3>are there.
<v Speaker 2>Uh.
<v Speaker 3>And I say that base on experience. I'm sure that
<v Speaker 3>lots of the listeners will will dicker with me, But
<v Speaker 3>the fact is that's true, and it's far there is
<v Speaker 3>you know, critters like like like aphids and white flies.
<v Speaker 3>And I said, I get him, you get them. We
<v Speaker 3>look at them. But I don't think there are any
<v Speaker 3>worse here. I really don't.
<v Speaker 1>Allen uh, As I said, I've read a number of
<v Speaker 1>your books. You have a number of book titles. As
<v Speaker 1>a matter of fact, what is what is the most
<v Speaker 1>recent book Uh, that you can share with us.
<v Speaker 3>This is funny. So yeah, this is you, this is
<v Speaker 3>they know me from Adams Horse Campa. The fact is,
<v Speaker 3>I am told that I am the guru of premials.
<v Speaker 3>I'm told that I am. I know as you know.
<v Speaker 3>And I've written books on perennials and climbers and natives
<v Speaker 3>and annuals and this that and the other thing. Uh.
<v Speaker 3>And so those are really well known books. And premial
<v Speaker 3>book you talk about is well known. The great big one,
<v Speaker 3>it's I'm told as a Bible of cremnials. The book
<v Speaker 3>that I sell ten to one of any book that
<v Speaker 3>I've ever written is books on cut flowers ten to one.
<v Speaker 3>I'm my latest book. So I you know, we there
<v Speaker 3>is a huge And again I don't know if you're
<v Speaker 3>I'm sure you're wherever. If When I often talk about trends,
<v Speaker 3>the greatest increase in volume of growers gardeners. Growers you'd
<v Speaker 3>like are those who are growing cut flowers and flowers,
<v Speaker 3>not only not only the garden, but growing it for
<v Speaker 3>the farmer's market, growing for floors. Domestic production of cut
<v Speaker 3>flowers that has gone through the roof. Okay, first of all,
<v Speaker 3>there's a whole lot more thought about local local flowers. Okay,
<v Speaker 3>I'll just I mean when I say fog the florests
<v Speaker 3>even want local flowers. The florests can get on the
<v Speaker 3>phone to their broker and get anything they want from Holland, Ecuador, Columbia,
<v Speaker 3>just like Amazon. You know, they can get them. But
<v Speaker 3>they love local flowers. So if somebody is growing local
<v Speaker 3>flocks or snap dragons or Zenya's or whatever they're growing,
<v Speaker 3>they have markets, both the farmers' markets, which have expanded exponentially,
<v Speaker 3>so they have a market for that stuff. And I'm
<v Speaker 3>not saying we's getting richer. I'm just saying that people
<v Speaker 3>are doing this. And there are cut flower growers throughout
<v Speaker 3>the country. There's over two thousand members of the association,
<v Speaker 3>especially cut flower growers. These are people that are maybe
<v Speaker 3>gardening growing on an acre, half an acre, and and
<v Speaker 3>there are large cut flower grows who have one near
<v Speaker 3>us that you would love to visit with me. And
<v Speaker 3>they do galleys up the wazoo and everything else, and
<v Speaker 3>they ship them all over the country. But that has
<v Speaker 3>that has just expanded exponentially. So the latest book is
<v Speaker 3>cannot is here. This march is called the Field the
<v Speaker 3>Field Guide to Specially cut Flowers. So we designed this
<v Speaker 3>one so it's it's tough and you can throw it
<v Speaker 3>in the back of your truck. You can throw it,
<v Speaker 3>you know, you can just take it with you. And
<v Speaker 3>it's almost like a bit of an olive on guide
<v Speaker 3>where it just says, this is this is what you do,
<v Speaker 3>Here's how you propagate, here's how you cut, here's when
<v Speaker 3>you cut, kiss and called of ours at work, YadA YadA.
<v Speaker 3>And that is a companion to the my other book
<v Speaker 3>on cut flowers, which was done twenty years ago, which
<v Speaker 3>is still very popular. So anyway, you guys, So what's
<v Speaker 3>what's happening everybody. Yeah, I'm very fortunate that those those
<v Speaker 3>titles are resonated and yeah, that's fantastic.
<v Speaker 1>Well, we will do it.
<v Speaker 3>People are cutting their own stuff, of course.
<v Speaker 1>So we will definitely put the link to Alan's books
<v Speaker 1>and of course his website on our website Gardening Simplified
<v Speaker 1>on air dot com, So make sure to look for it. Alan.
<v Speaker 1>As I said, I have always enjoyed reading your books.
<v Speaker 1>I love how you paint pictures with words, the humor
<v Speaker 1>of course, and I have a suggestion for you, and
<v Speaker 1>that is I think you should write a book titled
<v Speaker 1>It's easier to garden in the north than it is
<v Speaker 1>in the sun.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, believe me, that's a problem. I mean, you know,
<v Speaker 3>I'm sitting here just you know, I'm sitting here side
<v Speaker 3>and it's supposedly too hot. It's wonderful. So I you know,
<v Speaker 3>I love. I love Michigan. I love where you guys are.
<v Speaker 3>I love of course, back to Canada and here about
<v Speaker 3>them as far south as my body will allow me
<v Speaker 3>to go, I've no doubt about it. But there's four
<v Speaker 3>seasons here and that's really important to me, as it
<v Speaker 3>is to just to anybody who appreciates a good of winter.
<v Speaker 1>Allen, always a pleasure to talk to you. And before
<v Speaker 1>we let you go, I do have to ask you
<v Speaker 1>a question. We always ask folks this when we interview them.
<v Speaker 1>I have always done this, and that is I always
<v Speaker 1>ask an individual such as yourself, if you have a
<v Speaker 1>favorite plant? A very unfair question, but do you have
<v Speaker 1>a favorite plant and would you share with us?
<v Speaker 3>Well, I'll try the plant that I would not be without.
<v Speaker 3>And it's a plant that I think if you're starting
<v Speaker 3>a guard, you don't have a clue you're doing assuming
<v Speaker 3>you can grow it, of course. I mean, you know,
<v Speaker 3>cold lives heatwise. It's a Japanese maple I have I
<v Speaker 3>have in my little garden and everybody is invited. Who's
<v Speaker 3>listened to kind of beautiful asses Georgiana. I love it.
<v Speaker 3>Horticultural paradise here. But in my guarden looking at right now,
<v Speaker 3>which is a just a sixty one hundred lot, I
<v Speaker 3>got fourteen Japanese maples here.
<v Speaker 1>Wow.
<v Speaker 3>And they are just the backbone and everything else. You know,
<v Speaker 3>you can just put around them, under them, through them.
<v Speaker 3>I got coleminists growing up them. I've got stuff on
<v Speaker 3>the beast. But that's my favorite plant in that I
<v Speaker 3>could not do without it. I mean, right now I'm
<v Speaker 3>looking at a rex pagonia vine, which is in a
<v Speaker 3>great family. It's my favorite plant right now. But you
<v Speaker 3>know who's got that for sale?
<v Speaker 2>Yeah?
<v Speaker 3>I love that place. Oh it's fabulous. It is growing
<v Speaker 3>up through here. It's an annual for me. But so
<v Speaker 3>what that's the other thing I think we could do
<v Speaker 3>this three or four times, guys of a common sense
<v Speaker 3>of an annual versus perennials, trooning, fertilizing all that stuff
<v Speaker 3>that we could take care of that in about five minutes,
<v Speaker 3>and so we'll do that next time.
<v Speaker 1>That sounds fantastic. Always a treat to talk to you.
<v Speaker 1>His name is doctor Alan Armitage. Look for his books,
<v Speaker 1>look for his website, and especially, as we mentioned, if
<v Speaker 1>you're into cut flowers like many people are, look for
<v Speaker 1>those books also. Alan. We appreciate your time, Thank you
<v Speaker 1>so much, and we look forward to talking to you again.
<v Speaker 3>All right, my pleasure, guys, thanks for having me on
<v Speaker 3>all of us.
<v Speaker 1>Thank you so much.
<v Speaker 2>Wow, I feel like we've been visited by Horticultural Royalty today.
<v Speaker 2>I hope you enjoyed talking to doctor Armitage as much
<v Speaker 2>as we did, and I want to thank you Rick
<v Speaker 2>for setting that up. Thanks Adriana for all of your
<v Speaker 2>hard work, and thank you all to you for listening.
<v Speaker 2>We hope you have a wonderful week ahead.