Captivating Conifers | A Guide to Understanding Conifers

<v Speaker 1>Broadcasting from Studio A here at Proven Winters, Color Joy Shrubs.
<v Speaker 1>It's the Gardening Simplified Show with Stacy Hervella, me Rick Weist,
<v Speaker 1>and our engineer and producer Adrianna Robinson. Well, today we
<v Speaker 1>talk about conifers. Conifers make excellent specimens standalone trees and
<v Speaker 1>accents in our landscapes. Conifers are a broad family of
<v Speaker 1>plants described as coniferous, meaning they produce cones. I call
<v Speaker 1>them woody cones so to speak, that contain their seeds.
<v Speaker 1>But I'm sure in Plants on Trial Stacy will give
<v Speaker 1>us a hed education on that issue. Conifers are typically,
<v Speaker 1>not always, but typically evergreen trees with needle like foliage.
<v Speaker 1>I think some of the most spectacular large trees in
<v Speaker 1>the landscape that are conifers are not necessarily evergreen. And Stacey,
<v Speaker 1>I think about the bald cypress that I've seen at
<v Speaker 1>places like Arnold, Arborretam and the unusual root system, the
<v Speaker 1>roots growing out of the ground to have a picture
<v Speaker 1>for you on YouTube, or down redwood or larch. So
<v Speaker 1>not necessarily evergreen trees.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, and you know, I think that a lot of
<v Speaker 2>people when they hear that, for the first time. Their
<v Speaker 2>mind is kind of blown because they so closely associate
<v Speaker 2>being a conifer with being an evergreen. And yeah, there
<v Speaker 2>are all of those native, they're not all native, but
<v Speaker 2>of course bald cypress famously is very is native to
<v Speaker 2>the south, and you can't go anywhere down south without
<v Speaker 2>seeing it. And then we have larch up here, which
<v Speaker 2>we'll be turning color just about any moment now if
<v Speaker 2>it's not already out there. You know, even out here
<v Speaker 2>in lower West Michigan, we have an abundance of larch.
<v Speaker 2>And it's one of those plants that you think is
<v Speaker 2>just an evergreen until you see it blaze bright yellowil
<v Speaker 2>and you're just like what. And that is a cool
<v Speaker 2>thing about them is that their fall color does rival
<v Speaker 2>a regular standard deciduous flowering tree because it's like, especially
<v Speaker 2>on the Don redwood turns out beautiful salmon color. Just
<v Speaker 2>a really cool ornamental feature in.
<v Speaker 1>The garden center industry. If I had a dime for
<v Speaker 1>every time someone has come up to me and said,
<v Speaker 1>I'm having a problem with my pine tree.
<v Speaker 2>Oh yeah.
<v Speaker 1>People refer to conifers as pine trees, and it may
<v Speaker 1>be a fur or a spruce or a bald cypress,
<v Speaker 1>whatever it may be for me. I fell in love
<v Speaker 1>with conifers in the Pacific Northwest when I've spent time
<v Speaker 1>in the Pacific Northwest, specifically Oregon and suppliers up there
<v Speaker 1>of evergreen specimen trees, boy wow, or British Columbia taking
<v Speaker 1>rides through their western red cedar, Noble and Grand Fur
<v Speaker 1>some of the biggest Douglas fur trees you'll ever see
<v Speaker 1>in your life up there in the Pacific Northwest. As
<v Speaker 1>a matter of fact, I remember walking the Capilano suspension bridge.
<v Speaker 1>If you ever get a chance to do that, way
<v Speaker 1>up in these trees gorgeous and you really develop a
<v Speaker 1>love for conifers. My most familiar connection, of course, with
<v Speaker 1>conifers is again coming from the garden center industry. I
<v Speaker 1>would like to know how many Christmas trees I have
<v Speaker 1>lugged unloaded off trucks tied to the tops of cars. Unbelievable.
<v Speaker 1>So I have a real connection to Christmas trees. And
<v Speaker 1>as a matter of fact, some people are not familiar
<v Speaker 1>with the Rus Simmons, which is the Christmas tree ship
<v Speaker 1>that sunk on Lake Michigan in nineteen twelve. Every Christmas
<v Speaker 1>Eve I go out there on the lake shore regardless
<v Speaker 1>of the weather, looking for the Rus Simmons, because legend
<v Speaker 1>and lore has it, you can see that three masted
<v Speaker 1>schooner just struggling in the water. It was a ship
<v Speaker 1>that they would load with Christmas trees, uh sail at
<v Speaker 1>across Lake Michigan to Chicago and tie up at the
<v Speaker 1>wharf there. Unfortunately, in nineteen twelve, they overloaded this old.
<v Speaker 2>Ship with trees, yes, with tear me.
<v Speaker 1>And there was a rain, ice storm. The trees got
<v Speaker 1>way too heavy. The tree sunk.
<v Speaker 2>Oh my gosh. And now it's a ghost ship. It's
<v Speaker 2>a ghost ship and it specifically comes out on Christmas Eve.
<v Speaker 1>Well that's when legend and lore says you can see
<v Speaker 1>the ship. I personally have not ever.
<v Speaker 2>Run okay, but if you did, would you tell.
<v Speaker 1>Us absolutely, I'd be shooting video. I have my video camera.
<v Speaker 2>Well, there is the surest way to know you're never
<v Speaker 2>going to actually see it is are out there with
<v Speaker 2>your camera.
<v Speaker 1>But it's never worked. Are so interesting three hundred and
<v Speaker 1>sixty five days out of the year, and Stacy, that's
<v Speaker 1>why I think they're so just so popular. I mentioned
<v Speaker 1>the bald cypress roots or don Redwood or larch or
<v Speaker 1>you know the spruce furs, douglas fur. Just amazing. Three
<v Speaker 1>characteristics of conifers. There's many different types of conifers, most
<v Speaker 1>share a few common traits. Stacy. Number one, they have
<v Speaker 1>cones right, yes, correct, that's right. Number two usually spiny
<v Speaker 1>foliage right ye, would be fair to.
<v Speaker 2>Say, point in their life cycle, if not permanently during
<v Speaker 2>their life cycle, yes, yes.
<v Speaker 1>And then number three size and shape, in other words, magnificent,
<v Speaker 1>huge conifers. But you can also find low growing or
<v Speaker 1>shorter conifers.
<v Speaker 2>You can find tiny, signy conifers that grow it like
<v Speaker 2>a quarter inch a year, if you are so inclined.
<v Speaker 1>Exactly, and if you want to add conifers to your landscape.
<v Speaker 1>I believe personally that conifer care starts with selection and
<v Speaker 1>two things that people often do not think about. Number One,
<v Speaker 1>if you're going to be planting a conifer, accessibility to
<v Speaker 1>supplemental watering at least for the first couple years in
<v Speaker 1>order to get the plant established. Secondly, staking how many
<v Speaker 1>evergreens have I seen in landscapes that are growing askew
<v Speaker 1>so to speak, Because the plant is again evergreen foliage,
<v Speaker 1>it can become a sail during windy parts of the
<v Speaker 1>year and prior to it rooting, it's probably a good
<v Speaker 1>idea to stake a conifer tree. So I think that
<v Speaker 1>those are important things to look at and when you're
<v Speaker 1>shopping for conifers, and really it holds true in my
<v Speaker 1>opinion for any woody plants in general. You need to
<v Speaker 1>pay attention to structure, roots, and overall health. Get a
<v Speaker 1>good start by choosing a well grown specimen. That's the
<v Speaker 1>first step in conifer care.
<v Speaker 2>That is one hundred percent true. You know, it's you're
<v Speaker 2>going to be You're going to have what you start with.
<v Speaker 2>And that could mean sort of that perfect iconic triangular
<v Speaker 2>you know tree with a straight up and down leader
<v Speaker 2>Christmas Christmas tree shaped, or it could mean something that's
<v Speaker 2>a little bit more funky and poetic. I mean, really
<v Speaker 2>that is how Boneses Eye, which were initially mostly conifers
<v Speaker 2>pines started, is these monks and thinkers and philosophers would
<v Speaker 2>go out into the mountains and collect these very very
<v Speaker 2>stressed trees that were trying to grow in this rock
<v Speaker 2>and they would bring them back and they would repot them,
<v Speaker 2>and so bonce I really started as a way to
<v Speaker 2>bring that you know, in into your space to enjoy
<v Speaker 2>every day. And I think that there is a salute
<v Speaker 2>validity in conifers that maybe don't have that perfect profile.
<v Speaker 2>They can be very interesting and unique, and I have
<v Speaker 2>seen people do some very very cool and creative things
<v Speaker 2>with different conifers, just having that vision.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, and I'm glad you mentioned that, because speaking of
<v Speaker 1>stress with conifers, a conifer most being evergreen, not all,
<v Speaker 1>as we've noted, but with them being evergreen, they can
<v Speaker 1>grow in some pretty tough areas like mountainous regions stacy
<v Speaker 1>because they're photosynthesizing. Whenever you think about a deciduous tree,
<v Speaker 1>it can't photosynthesize if the foliage has dropped off, but
<v Speaker 1>an evergreen tree is always waiting at the ready to photosynthesize.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, and because their foliage is so dramatically reduced to
<v Speaker 2>again mostly just those needles or those compressed scales like
<v Speaker 2>in the case of a arborvide or something like that,
<v Speaker 2>very minimal leaves means very minimal water loss, and that's
<v Speaker 2>why they're able to be so adapted to those mountainous
<v Speaker 2>areas where the soil's frozen and they're growing in very
<v Speaker 2>little actual soil because they're growing in rock. And you know,
<v Speaker 2>of course, when you go down to the desert you
<v Speaker 2>see all sorts of different various conifers, bristle cone pines
<v Speaker 2>and all of that kind of stuff. So they're really
<v Speaker 2>really adapted to some of the most stressful conditions that
<v Speaker 2>we can throw at them.
<v Speaker 1>You bet. So. For forty six years I unloaded Christmas
<v Speaker 1>trees and then tied them to the tops of cars,
<v Speaker 1>thousands and thousands of trees. Adriana has a picture to
<v Speaker 1>put on YouTube for you of me unloading a tree truck.
<v Speaker 1>We would unload fur trees out of North Carolina. They
<v Speaker 1>would come in an enclosed box because they didn't want
<v Speaker 1>the exhaust of the truck as opposed to a steak truck,
<v Speaker 1>to cause the trees to smell poorly when you bring
<v Speaker 1>them in doors. So I'm going to give you an
<v Speaker 1>old fashioned Christmas limb a rick because I have so
<v Speaker 1>many memories of Christmas trees. Oh Tom and Baum, did
<v Speaker 1>I mention you pined for my attention? We put you
<v Speaker 1>inside at Christmas, wide eyed and hope for needle retention.
<v Speaker 1>With boughs and branches proliferous. We celebrate all coniferous with
<v Speaker 1>lights from my bin. I plugged you in. Now you're luminiferous,
<v Speaker 1>and I don't know if that is a word, but
<v Speaker 1>I'm sitting next to a linguistics major, so I'm taking
<v Speaker 1>the liberty of doing.
<v Speaker 2>I will call that pure poetic license.
<v Speaker 1>Rick, Thank you. Old fashioned lights made you dry. When
<v Speaker 1>your limbs we would electrify. Incandescent bulbs make you fizzle.
<v Speaker 1>We're watching your needles sizzle from the corner eating pumpkin pie.
<v Speaker 1>Oh conifer. It may sound sappy, but your branches make
<v Speaker 1>me happy. We spruce the place up, sipping eggnog from
<v Speaker 1>a cup, then curl up and take a nappy. I
<v Speaker 1>made that word up too. Plans on trial coming up
<v Speaker 1>next here on the Gardening Simplified.
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<v Speaker 2>at proven Winner's Color Choice dot com. Greetings gardening friends,
<v Speaker 2>and welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show, where it
<v Speaker 2>is time to stuff your heads full of knowledge. There's
<v Speaker 2>so many things I want to say about conifers, which
<v Speaker 2>is our topic today. I mean, I just there. This
<v Speaker 2>goes back to something that happened to me in my
<v Speaker 2>previous job. I was a garden editor at Martha Stewart
<v Speaker 2>Living and we once did an article on state flowers. Okay,
<v Speaker 2>very nice thing to do an article on. Well, the
<v Speaker 2>state quote unquote flower of Maine is pine and I
<v Speaker 2>wrote for its description that it was not really a flower,
<v Speaker 2>which is true botanically speaking. And I got a letter
<v Speaker 2>from a very angry person and they said, how dare
<v Speaker 2>you it is a flower? Just because it's not conventionally
<v Speaker 2>pretty doesn't mean it's not a flower. But they were wrong,
<v Speaker 2>because no conifers flower. Conifers are not flowering plants. All
<v Speaker 2>flowering plants are in the division of angiosperms, and conifers
<v Speaker 2>are what is known as a gymnosperm, and gymnosperm what
<v Speaker 2>that actually translates to in Greek is naked seed. And
<v Speaker 2>what that actually means is that if you think about
<v Speaker 2>flowering plants in the actual fruit a true you're gonna
<v Speaker 2>have to all forgive me for being trying to be
<v Speaker 2>pedantic while also using like really wrong terms because sometimes
<v Speaker 2>it's just necessary. So, no conifers actually produce fruit because
<v Speaker 2>for a fruit from botanical from a botanical perspective, fruit
<v Speaker 2>only comes from a flower, and since gymnosperms do not flower,
<v Speaker 2>they therefore do not fruit. All of those seed bearing
<v Speaker 2>portions of the actual conifers are indeed cones, even if
<v Speaker 2>they look like a berry, like a juniper. So no,
<v Speaker 2>the pine blossom or whatever you want to call it
<v Speaker 2>is not technically a flower, and therefore it's a pine
<v Speaker 2>cone is not technically a fruit, so you know, no,
<v Speaker 2>it's it has nothing to do with whether or not
<v Speaker 2>I think it's pretty enough to be a flower. It
<v Speaker 2>has only to do with the botanical definition of a flower,
<v Speaker 2>and that means that it has an ovary, So like
<v Speaker 2>if you think about a tomato or an apple and
<v Speaker 2>that fleshy ovary. Now, of course not all antiosperms have
<v Speaker 2>something quite so fleshy, but that's what differentiates it. What
<v Speaker 2>makes a gymnosperm a naked seed is it just has
<v Speaker 2>what's known as an arrowl or a very minimal coating
<v Speaker 2>on that seed, and so it's not it's actually not
<v Speaker 2>a fruit. So it's very hard to talk about these
<v Speaker 2>things and not use terms that are like correct but
<v Speaker 2>just also more common, and also talk about today's plant
<v Speaker 2>on trial, which I am getting to. I promise I'm
<v Speaker 2>all about the fruit. See I said, I did it again,
<v Speaker 2>so you're gonna have to bear with me. I'm all
<v Speaker 2>about the cones today.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I pine for your plant on trial. Let's hear it.
<v Speaker 2>So within the uh okay, I'm sorry, I'm gona have
<v Speaker 2>to buy a little more time on this to just
<v Speaker 2>go back to the botany real quick. All conifers are gymnosperms,
<v Speaker 2>but not all gymnosperms are conifers. The conifers make up
<v Speaker 2>the majority of the gemnosperm group, but there are also ginkgos,
<v Speaker 2>which are in a little class by themselves. They are
<v Speaker 2>cone bearing, even though again that's something that we very
<v Speaker 2>much think of as a fleshy berry or a fruit
<v Speaker 2>or a nut, but they're not even a nut because
<v Speaker 2>they're a cone. And then the cycads, so cycads are gemnosperms.
<v Speaker 2>Definitely our warm climate listeners are well familiar with with cycads.
<v Speaker 2>And then a plant that probably most of our listeners
<v Speaker 2>are not necessarily familiar with is need them g n
<v Speaker 2>E t u M also a little odd bowl in
<v Speaker 2>the gymnosperms. Edible mostly grows in tropical and subtropical climates,
<v Speaker 2>so we don't really have it here. You can look
<v Speaker 2>it up. It's very cool. I can't really recall. Maybe
<v Speaker 2>it's some botanical gardens. I've seen one, but they're not
<v Speaker 2>really that common. But they do eat them in Indonesian food,
<v Speaker 2>and you can buy them as crack and I would
<v Speaker 2>like to try the needum crackers at some point, so
<v Speaker 2>I will be looking out for the needum crackers next
<v Speaker 2>time I met some sort of grocery store with a
<v Speaker 2>good diversity of food. Okay, so it's a very complex
<v Speaker 2>and interesting group of plants, but we tend to think
<v Speaker 2>of them again as a monolith. And it's like you
<v Speaker 2>were talking about pine cones, right, Everybody is like, oh,
<v Speaker 2>it's a pine cone. Well fine, it could be a
<v Speaker 2>spruce cone. It could be a fur cone. It could
<v Speaker 2>be an arborvidy cone, it could be a camisiperous cone.
<v Speaker 2>All of these are cone bearing plants. And sometimes we
<v Speaker 2>talk about some plants that are conifers as having berries,
<v Speaker 2>Like if you now that we're coming into the cozy
<v Speaker 2>cooking season. You may be making something that calls for
<v Speaker 2>juniper berries. Well, I got news for you. Juniper berries
<v Speaker 2>are cones, even though they look like berries.
<v Speaker 1>And now you can see why I sidestepped this issue
<v Speaker 1>and segment one all together. And can handle it. I can't.
<v Speaker 2>I mean, I know, I'm saying all this crazy stuff
<v Speaker 2>all over the place. It's so fascinating. It's really just
<v Speaker 2>it's so fascinating. And I wanted to bring up today's
<v Speaker 2>plan on trial, which I'm finally getting to five minutes
<v Speaker 2>into it. Stonehenge you or taxis, because if you want
<v Speaker 2>to talk about a plant that people say has berries,
<v Speaker 2>that's it. Why Because if you grew up as I did,
<v Speaker 2>with taxis around your house, which you know, I'd say
<v Speaker 2>probably everybody who grew up in the seventies and eighties
<v Speaker 2>did it, really had a moment back then. Possibly the
<v Speaker 2>first time you were ever aware of a plant is
<v Speaker 2>your parents putting the fear of God into you about
<v Speaker 2>eating the cones, berries, fruits, whatever you want to call them,
<v Speaker 2>off of the taxes because every part of taxis is
<v Speaker 2>extremely toxic to humans and pets. So of course you
<v Speaker 2>know you listen to these you read these story books
<v Speaker 2>about you know, girl, little girls going out into the
<v Speaker 2>woods and gathering berries, and you're like, oh, baby, I'm
<v Speaker 2>gonna be that. I'm gonna get berries right here in
<v Speaker 2>my front yard. Oh no, surprise, they're super toxic. You
<v Speaker 2>are definitely not gathering the cones or berries of a Texas.
<v Speaker 2>But they are conifers, so they are related in that
<v Speaker 2>way to pines and spruces, and all of these are
<v Speaker 2>in a slightly different family within that. Here's a fun
<v Speaker 2>fact as well, not specific to Stonehenge, but to taxes
<v Speaker 2>in general. In England, they call those cones or fruits
<v Speaker 2>Snottyggs's appetizing and I think that again, anyone who has
<v Speaker 2>grown up with these, and even though you were, of
<v Speaker 2>course terrified of them because you knew that they were
<v Speaker 2>going to send you to dogs snottyggs g ogs if
<v Speaker 2>you did squish and the red part, that red fleshy
<v Speaker 2>part is actually the only part of the taxes that
<v Speaker 2>is not toxic, but you still should not eat it.
<v Speaker 2>But if you have ever squished it, it is really
<v Speaker 2>like viscous and gross. But they know what they're talking
<v Speaker 2>about it England because they are all about taxis in England,
<v Speaker 2>and I urge you if you have time right now
<v Speaker 2>to look up use and look up specifically ancient US
<v Speaker 2>in the UK, and you will think about this plant
<v Speaker 2>in a totally different way. You know. Here in the
<v Speaker 2>US it's just this kind of like, oh, no brainer,
<v Speaker 2>front yard ever green, and it's kind of boring. And
<v Speaker 2>in England there are the most magnificence, magnificent specimens that
<v Speaker 2>you can possibly imagine, and that is of course how
<v Speaker 2>we were inspired to name our Stonehenge U Stonehenge after
<v Speaker 2>the famous site in England. It is also very tall
<v Speaker 2>and narrow, so it's a great space safer and it
<v Speaker 2>has darker foliage. There are plenty of other tall and
<v Speaker 2>narrow us on the market, but it has very very dark,
<v Speaker 2>deep green foliage which gives it a very nice dramatic
<v Speaker 2>look in the landscape. It's also a little faster growing
<v Speaker 2>than your average taxis. Now this is primarily go to
<v Speaker 2>make a difference for the growers who produce taxes, then
<v Speaker 2>it will for most people who are growing them at home.
<v Speaker 2>But it is amazing to me how taxes has gotten
<v Speaker 2>so popular despite the fact that it is extremely toxic
<v Speaker 2>and that it's so slow growing. But it has a
<v Speaker 2>superpower and that is it is extremely shade tolerant, and
<v Speaker 2>that is why it is as popular as it is.
<v Speaker 2>And Stonehenge is no exception. It can grow in deep shade.
<v Speaker 2>It can also grow in sun, so it's a good
<v Speaker 2>option for you if you have a situation like I do,
<v Speaker 2>where one half of your front yard is very very
<v Speaker 2>sunny and one half is very very shady, but you
<v Speaker 2>want to impose some symmetry and have the same plant.
<v Speaker 2>So it's it's very versatile in that way. It can
<v Speaker 2>also be pruned if you want to a lot of
<v Speaker 2>people will prune them into you know, yep. I do
<v Speaker 2>want to warn you if you have a taxis and
<v Speaker 2>you prune it or trim it, to not leave any
<v Speaker 2>trimmings around. I do have a friend who had to
<v Speaker 2>go to an emergency vet with her dog because he
<v Speaker 2>picked up the branch they have been pruning it and
<v Speaker 2>was playing with it. So do be careful if you
<v Speaker 2>do have it. Don't leave those lying around. Get something
<v Speaker 2>like Stonehems dark druid, which is going to stay real
<v Speaker 2>small and tidy, and you don't have to worry about
<v Speaker 2>pruning it at all. Now, one thing I will say
<v Speaker 2>for our warm climate friends, Taxes is not heat tolerant,
<v Speaker 2>and maybe you know, the fact that it is native
<v Speaker 2>to England should hopefully tip you off to that that
<v Speaker 2>it prefers the cooler weather. It is hardy down to
<v Speaker 2>USDA Zone four and only heat tolerant through about USDA
<v Speaker 2>Zone seven. However, if you live in a warmer climate,
<v Speaker 2>you can grow its close cousin Cephalotaxis, which is very
<v Speaker 2>similar in just about every way. Bolder, kind of more
<v Speaker 2>interesting foliage, but similarly tolerant of shade and to grow
<v Speaker 2>and versatile. So Taxes has its place. And certainly again
<v Speaker 2>if you're if you if you're just like taxes is boring,
<v Speaker 2>do take a look at what it looks like in
<v Speaker 2>England and maybe you can find some love for the plant.
<v Speaker 2>Because I certainly have uh in doing that research. So wow,
<v Speaker 2>that was a lot. It was all over the place.
<v Speaker 2>But I'm just so excited about conifers, and uh, you know,
<v Speaker 2>as they become the prominent feature in our landscape in
<v Speaker 2>these cooler months, uh, it's time that we uh give
<v Speaker 2>them the love. And the best way to give them
<v Speaker 2>the love is to to know what they're all about.
<v Speaker 1>So I'm glad and I could just sit here.
<v Speaker 2>With that's because I didn't give you a chance to
<v Speaker 2>say anything. Rix, Sorry about that, No, you handled it well.
<v Speaker 2>We're gonna take a little break and when we come back,
<v Speaker 2>we'll have the mail bag and maybe have a little
<v Speaker 2>bit more equal conversation. And Winner's Color Choice Shrubs, we
<v Speaker 2>know that a better landscape starts with a better shrub.
<v Speaker 2>Our team of experts tests and evaluates all of our
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<v Speaker 2>Look for Proven Winner's Shrubs in the distinctive white container
<v Speaker 2>at your local garden center, or learn more at Proven
<v Speaker 2>Winner's Color Choice dot com. Greeting's gardening friends, and welcome
<v Speaker 2>back to the Gardening Simplified Show, where the order of
<v Speaker 2>the day is all about the conifers. Especially as our
<v Speaker 2>landscapes the deciduous stuff goes dormant and falls into the background,
<v Speaker 2>those conifers become very central to our enjoyment of our
<v Speaker 2>gardens and our landscapes. And you know we're going to
<v Speaker 2>get to your gardening questions, but I forgot something very
<v Speaker 2>crucial in my long winded and convoluted discussion of conifers
<v Speaker 2>and cones and taxes. So taxes, like I said, the
<v Speaker 2>berries are very showy, the cones are very showy and visible.
<v Speaker 2>But taxes is a dioecious plant, which means that male
<v Speaker 2>and female plants are separate. So if you're concerned about
<v Speaker 2>having those very appealing looking red berries in your landscape,
<v Speaker 2>concerned that they will appeal to children or pets or whatever,
<v Speaker 2>all you have to do is get a male Taxes. Now,
<v Speaker 2>this isn't typically indicated on the plant tag. So Stonehenge you,
<v Speaker 2>which was today's plant on trial, is a female that
<v Speaker 2>will get fruit. But Stonehenge Dark Druid, which is that smaller,
<v Speaker 2>more rounded one that needs relatively little or no pruning,
<v Speaker 2>is a male. So it will not set any of
<v Speaker 2>those fruits. It just sets pollen to pollinate those female
<v Speaker 2>flowers on the female plants. So a good option if
<v Speaker 2>you are very concerned about those berries, they are out there,
<v Speaker 2>So that would be Stonehenge Dark Druid instead of the
<v Speaker 2>much taller female stonehenge you so, and.
<v Speaker 1>For people keeping score at home, as we've talked about
<v Speaker 1>this Texas ta x US not the state of Texas
<v Speaker 1>and use ye.
<v Speaker 2>W s oh yeah, thank you, not use guys.
<v Speaker 1>We're not talking about me, you right.
<v Speaker 2>Oh. I have one more fun fact about the taxes
<v Speaker 2>that I have to share because I was talking about
<v Speaker 2>its toxicity and uh it turns out that they have
<v Speaker 2>discovered that a compound in taxis is extremely useful in
<v Speaker 2>treating a number of different cancers. Oh wow, so.
<v Speaker 1>Uh yeah, I did read that.
<v Speaker 2>So even though it's uh, you know, it's just it's
<v Speaker 2>funny that we all just have this very different idea
<v Speaker 2>of what taxes is. It's not noble at all. In
<v Speaker 2>the US, it's just like humdrum. In the UK, it's
<v Speaker 2>super noble, but here it is saving lives. In the background. Well,
<v Speaker 2>we all do our work, so.
<v Speaker 1>It is exciting.
<v Speaker 2>That is exciting, you bet all right? What do we
<v Speaker 2>got in the mail bag?
<v Speaker 1>Finally, in the mail bag after our backdrops, fences and
<v Speaker 1>Screens episode Back in September, listener Carol wrote us you
<v Speaker 1>wanted to know about Barb Edwyer. I went to school
<v Speaker 1>at Northern Illinois University and visited this museum many years ago.
<v Speaker 1>Enjoy and Carol sent us information on the Elwood House
<v Speaker 1>that's based on Isaac Elwood, the guy who invented barbed boys.
<v Speaker 2>Yes, so it's into Calb, Illinois, which happens to be
<v Speaker 2>where Proven Winners is also headquartered. Yep, if you can
<v Speaker 2>believe that. And so you know Carol's response. I loved
<v Speaker 2>what she was saying about this because I didn't know
<v Speaker 2>really about the history of barbed wire, hadn't really given
<v Speaker 2>it much thought. But I'm always willing to learn some
<v Speaker 2>fun facts, as you just saw. But yeah, so these
<v Speaker 2>three guys into Calb were sitting around trying to come
<v Speaker 2>up with a way to limit livestock and discovered barbed
<v Speaker 2>wire made a small fortune and you can actually visit
<v Speaker 2>the house that he was able to build. Well it
<v Speaker 2>is it. Yeah, it's really quite interesting. But while I
<v Speaker 2>was looking at this Elwood House website, which will of
<v Speaker 2>course link in the YouTube version, they talked about the
<v Speaker 2>antique the Antique barbed Wire Society website, and it turns
<v Speaker 2>out that there is this community of collectors of antique
<v Speaker 2>barbed wire. This is a whole thing and it's and
<v Speaker 2>I understand, because really, barbed wire is what quote unquote
<v Speaker 2>tamed the West, you know, it really changed how people
<v Speaker 2>managed land.
<v Speaker 1>Served a purpose without restricting the view.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, and so it played this huge role. So I
<v Speaker 2>get I can get why people, you know, collected as
<v Speaker 2>part of that history. The Kansas Barbed Wire Museum and Lacrosse,
<v Speaker 2>Kansas boasts that they display over two thousand varieties of
<v Speaker 2>barbed wire and each one is unique.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, and it's true. You go back to Isaac Elwood.
<v Speaker 1>His claim to fame was the two strand twisted barbed wire.
<v Speaker 1>That was his thing. And this guy was what I
<v Speaker 1>would call a real entremneur, so to speak. He started
<v Speaker 1>out in business sauer Kraut, selling sauer kraut. Then he
<v Speaker 1>went on the California gold Rush, comes back, starts a
<v Speaker 1>hardware store, and then in the back of the hardware
<v Speaker 1>store they start making barbed wire.
<v Speaker 2>Oh. I was afraid you're going to say making sauer
<v Speaker 2>kraut because I would not get the customers into the
<v Speaker 2>into the hardware store.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah.
<v Speaker 2>So a fascinating history here, and I really had no
<v Speaker 2>idea that there were all of this community of barbed
<v Speaker 2>wire collectors. So thank you so much Carol for that
<v Speaker 2>fun diversion. I learned a.
<v Speaker 1>Lot same here. Yolanda writes, I want to create a
<v Speaker 1>new bed at the foothill foot of a hill in
<v Speaker 1>a full sun area. Problem is there are black walnut
<v Speaker 1>trees on the hill and it's not my property. I
<v Speaker 1>had that same problem at a home that I owned.
<v Speaker 1>I do have hosta's still be hellibor brunera, and a
<v Speaker 1>hydrangea on the shaded depart shade side of the bed
<v Speaker 1>which appeared to be doing okay. Any suggestions. I want
<v Speaker 1>to plant a flowering dogwood tree which would be next
<v Speaker 1>to some pine trees which would provide some protection, or
<v Speaker 1>a red bud, as well as other shrubs and perennials.
<v Speaker 2>Well, you know, one of the reasons I thought that
<v Speaker 2>it was a great time to answer Yolanda's question is
<v Speaker 2>because if you have a black walnuts in your vicinity,
<v Speaker 2>the nuts are a fallen like crazy. The squirrels are
<v Speaker 2>going bananas burying those things and breaking them up. I
<v Speaker 2>know every day I come home to find a squirrel,
<v Speaker 2>you know, sat on some chair and busted it all up,
<v Speaker 2>and there's walnut bits all over. So a lot of
<v Speaker 2>people when it comes to jugglon, the chemical that walnuts
<v Speaker 2>can secrete that can impair the growth of neighboring pints
<v Speaker 2>in a phenomenon known as alellapathy. It is primarily from
<v Speaker 2>the fallen leaves, fruit and branches more so than the roots.
<v Speaker 1>I agree, and that's what I was going to say.
<v Speaker 1>When I own this property, you have to be out
<v Speaker 1>there cleaning.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, you got to clean it up. People tend to
<v Speaker 2>think it's just emanating out of the roots, and that
<v Speaker 2>is true for some very sensitive plants like tomatoes. A
<v Speaker 2>tomato cannot grow anywhere near a walnut. But for the
<v Speaker 2>most part, if you just have a walnut that is
<v Speaker 2>dropping foliage and fruit especially that's one of the worst
<v Speaker 2>and branches on your garden, if you are able to
<v Speaker 2>clean that up, you will greatly mitigate the negative potential
<v Speaker 2>effects of growing a walnut. So, Yolanda, I did want
<v Speaker 2>to bring that up because I think that a lot
<v Speaker 2>of people, you know, just kind of assume that a
<v Speaker 2>walnut is a death sentence and is really going to
<v Speaker 2>narrow down your options where it really can be, you know,
<v Speaker 2>solved with some sanitation. Now that's easier so than done,
<v Speaker 2>because of course, picking up a ton of walnuts is
<v Speaker 2>not a fun.
<v Speaker 1>Trip for anybody with the lawnmower.
<v Speaker 2>Just nuts and of course that you know nasty hull
<v Speaker 2>husk thing that they have even if you pick them up,
<v Speaker 2>that's still you know, left behind or and you smell. Yeah,
<v Speaker 2>it's used as a dye. Fascinating stuff, but so and
<v Speaker 2>it also helps a lot if you can give the
<v Speaker 2>area enough water because that if they're drought stress, that
<v Speaker 2>is another factor that will really influence it. Now, we
<v Speaker 2>will share some links on YouTube of some resources out
<v Speaker 2>there from universities of plants that are believed to be
<v Speaker 2>resistant to jug loan. But I will tell you that
<v Speaker 2>my frustration with them is that they are often contradictory.
<v Speaker 2>You know, you will look at one university's website and
<v Speaker 2>that will say this is resistant and another one will
<v Speaker 2>say it's susceptible. Because there are just so many factors
<v Speaker 2>that go into a plant's ability to tolerate jug loans.
<v Speaker 2>So it's not a scientific thing necessarily where we can
<v Speaker 2>say these work and these don't, because it does depend
<v Speaker 2>so much on what part of the wall that you're
<v Speaker 2>exposed to and how much water it gets, what your
<v Speaker 2>soil is like, all of those factors. So there's definitely
<v Speaker 2>some very very sensitive plants you can avoid or you
<v Speaker 2>should avoid. But like, for example, you know, Yolanda mentions
<v Speaker 2>that she has a hydrangea. Now I would say hydrangea
<v Speaker 2>appears on almost every list of sensitive plants, but she
<v Speaker 2>seems to be growing one without any problem whatsoever.
<v Speaker 1>So I think your point is well taken. Clean up
<v Speaker 1>the debris, and that is much easier said than done.
<v Speaker 1>They are messy trees, especially if you have a windstorm.
<v Speaker 1>Come oh yeah, but I agree with you on those
<v Speaker 1>university sites. For my purpose, I had success with service
<v Speaker 1>berry or juneberry, river birch, sweet gum and dogwood did work.
<v Speaker 2>Oh by black walnuts, that's good to know. That's good
<v Speaker 2>to know. I think mulch will also help you a
<v Speaker 2>lot from you know, having that stuff directly contact the plant.
<v Speaker 2>The way to know if your plant is being influenced
<v Speaker 2>negatively by jug loan is that they will typically wilt
<v Speaker 2>or turn black. So it's not really And when I
<v Speaker 2>say turn black, I'm not like saying, you know, it
<v Speaker 2>turns brown. I'm saying like it will go black black
<v Speaker 2>and look immediately very sick. And that happened to some
<v Speaker 2>friends of mine with their tomatoes. So again, when you
<v Speaker 2>have those sensitive plants, they're going to go black and
<v Speaker 2>they're going to die, and there is no recovery. Whereas
<v Speaker 2>a plant that's maybe somewhat sensitive, or as only sensitive
<v Speaker 2>because maybe it's too dry, you might actually be able
<v Speaker 2>to see it wilt and be able to move that
<v Speaker 2>to a walnut free area in time to save its life.
<v Speaker 2>But it's a complicated issue, and I wish there were
<v Speaker 2>simple answers, but there really are not. But again, we'll
<v Speaker 2>provide the resources resources that we do have and try
<v Speaker 2>to help you make good decisions about your planting project.
<v Speaker 2>We're going to take a little break and when we
<v Speaker 2>come back, we are continuing our conversation about conifers, So
<v Speaker 2>stay tuned. Thanks for listening to the Gardening Simplified Podcast,
<v Speaker 2>brought to you by Proven Winners Color Choice Shrubs. Our
<v Speaker 2>award winning flowering shrubs and evergreens are trialed and tested
<v Speaker 2>by experts with your success in mind. Learn more at
<v Speaker 2>Proven Winners color Choice dot com.
<v Speaker 1>Welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show and Stacy, as
<v Speaker 1>I said, my primary nostalgic attachment to conifers is selling
<v Speaker 1>Christmas trees over forty six years in a garden center.
<v Speaker 1>You come home at night and you're clothing, your hair,
<v Speaker 1>everything just full of needles. You get into the shower,
<v Speaker 1>there's needles all over the bathroom floor. But the one
<v Speaker 1>thing that I learned about selling these Christmas trees is
<v Speaker 1>that as families with young kids come to pick out
<v Speaker 1>the family Christmas tree, like Clark w Griswold, their ability
<v Speaker 1>to pick out a tree and agree on it is
<v Speaker 1>completely contingent on the weather conditions makes sense. It's cold
<v Speaker 1>and snowy and windy. They can decide on a tree
<v Speaker 1>in thirty seconds flat if it's beautiful outside. Sometimes I've
<v Speaker 1>seen families take two three hours out the family Christmas tree.
<v Speaker 1>So conifers. Let's talk about conifers a little more, and
<v Speaker 1>speaking of garden centers, one of the things to look
<v Speaker 1>for is whether or not the tree is root bound
<v Speaker 1>when you purchase it. And again years ago in the
<v Speaker 1>seventies and eighties, most of these conifers we were selling
<v Speaker 1>Stacey were bald and burlap, and in a bald and
<v Speaker 1>burlap situation, it's usually heavy clay soil that you would
<v Speaker 1>find and heavy to move around. Now most grown in
<v Speaker 1>pots and containers, but it's important to take a look
<v Speaker 1>at take a look at that. An important thing also
<v Speaker 1>if you're playing in conifers in your landscape is and
<v Speaker 1>I want to make sure to point this out because
<v Speaker 1>I see this mistake made often, and that is how
<v Speaker 1>deeply buried is the root flare. The root flare is
<v Speaker 1>at the base of the plant. It's where the trunk
<v Speaker 1>flares out, and it's critical that that be visible at
<v Speaker 1>the soil's surface. So if you just as is the
<v Speaker 1>case with many woody plants that we put in the ground, Stacey,
<v Speaker 1>we are planting them, we're not burying them. And so
<v Speaker 1>if you get this thing too deep and water becomes
<v Speaker 1>a problem, too much water, that's when we really start
<v Speaker 1>to see conifers struggle for sure.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, you're no tree that you plant, whether conifer or
<v Speaker 2>anything else, should look like a phone pole. You should
<v Speaker 2>have that. You should have it to be straight and
<v Speaker 2>then that gentle flare, And I would say buy and large.
<v Speaker 2>Well drained soil is very crucial for most conifers. But
<v Speaker 2>of course boltzypress grows in standing water, so there's always
<v Speaker 2>an exception. And that's a really cool thing. Because you
<v Speaker 2>can use that to find the perfect conifer for just
<v Speaker 2>about any spot. You know, we really can't just say
<v Speaker 2>conifers need these conditions. Like I said that Taxes one
<v Speaker 2>of the most shade tolerant evergreens, if not the most
<v Speaker 2>shade tolerant evergreen, Whereas there's plenty of conifers that if
<v Speaker 2>you try to put them in the shade, you're not
<v Speaker 2>going to get much at all. But there is one
<v Speaker 2>for every kind of different scenario because they are so diverse,
<v Speaker 2>and they occur just about everywhere, I think, on every continent.
<v Speaker 1>Sure, sure now, And speaking of that, I'm glad you
<v Speaker 1>brought that up. I think it's important to know where
<v Speaker 1>a conifer is native too, In other words, what is
<v Speaker 1>the environment that it likes to grow in. Now, people
<v Speaker 1>love frasier furs, so do I. They make a great
<v Speaker 1>Christmas tree, straight trunks, very fragrant, beautiful, But they're growing
<v Speaker 1>up in the mountainous regions of let's say North Carolina.
<v Speaker 1>And if you don't have that humidity, basically, if you're
<v Speaker 1>unable to replicate where they're native too, you're going to
<v Speaker 1>have difficulty growing it in your landscape.
<v Speaker 2>Right. Well, look what happened with blue spruce. You know,
<v Speaker 2>blue spruce got so so popular. It was everywhere. Blue
<v Speaker 2>spruce grows in the rocky mountains in Colorado, not in
<v Speaker 2>you know, the suburbs of Detroit, where you know, summers
<v Speaker 2>are hot and winters are cold and wet and not arid.
<v Speaker 2>And yet it was such a popular tree. And now
<v Speaker 2>they're all dying because they got stressed, because they are
<v Speaker 2>not in the right conditions for how they want to grow.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, and you watch them decline out there, and there's
<v Speaker 1>thousands of them. That's true. Back in the seventies and eighties, boy,
<v Speaker 1>we sold a lot of those oh it shows and
<v Speaker 1>it shows exactly. So make sure to make sure to
<v Speaker 1>do that. Also, one very popular thing in the garden
<v Speaker 1>center industry for years has been to bring a live
<v Speaker 1>conifer indoors for Christmas and decorate it so that you
<v Speaker 1>can plant it and then you have the memory of
<v Speaker 1>that tree for years and years. But make sure you
<v Speaker 1>prepare the whole before Christmas.
<v Speaker 2>Like now would be a great time, and.
<v Speaker 1>Now would be a great time. And then also make
<v Speaker 1>sure that that tree is not inside for long a
<v Speaker 1>week or two tops keep it away from a fireplace,
<v Speaker 1>heat register that sort of thing, you're going to have
<v Speaker 1>better success.
<v Speaker 2>I mean, I think it's a great idea that people
<v Speaker 2>do that as long as they have the space, because
<v Speaker 2>of course, too many years of doing that, you're gonna
<v Speaker 2>you are going to run out of space. But it
<v Speaker 2>is pretty simple to do as long as you you know, again,
<v Speaker 2>prepare the hole for it now. I would even recommend
<v Speaker 2>that you put the excavated soil into the garage or
<v Speaker 2>basement or someplace that that isn't going to freeze. Here
<v Speaker 2>in Michigan we aren't usually super frozen by Christmas time,
<v Speaker 2>but you know better to have it available for you
<v Speaker 2>to actually plant. And then you know you're still going
<v Speaker 2>to want to water that in to settle the soil
<v Speaker 2>around it, and ye do keep it as cool as possible.
<v Speaker 2>And you know, I would say, if you're going to
<v Speaker 2>do that, you're doing that as a labor of love. Yes,
<v Speaker 2>it's not a cost savings. A Christmas tree is going
<v Speaker 2>to be far less expensive than a growing plant, but
<v Speaker 2>it is still a really nice thing to do. Whether
<v Speaker 2>it's your first Christmas as a couple, or you know,
<v Speaker 2>in commemoration of your first Christmas with your child, or
<v Speaker 2>something like that it can be really special, but it's
<v Speaker 2>done for the love of the tree, not as a
<v Speaker 2>money saving I think you know.
<v Speaker 1>You mentioned that, and one of the primary memories I
<v Speaker 1>have of Christmas trees as a kid was my dad
<v Speaker 1>bought a Christmas tree a pine Christmas. It was Scotch pine.
<v Speaker 1>Bought the tree from a kmart for seventy five cents.
<v Speaker 1>Oh wow, and boy did it look like it.
<v Speaker 2>I think pretty much all Scotch pines looked like the
<v Speaker 2>costs of ay five cents. It came heart, just my opinion.
<v Speaker 1>And it fell over numerous times until my dad finally
<v Speaker 1>got sick of it, dragged it out of the house
<v Speaker 1>and stuck it in a neighbor's landscape in the dead
<v Speaker 1>of winter. The neighbor, of course, did not recognize that
<v Speaker 1>until the following summer when the needles started falling a
<v Speaker 1>lot turn brown. So many memories like that, you know.
<v Speaker 1>I also have memories when my kids were growing up,
<v Speaker 1>or in the seventies again, in the garden center, we
<v Speaker 1>would sell these incandescent bulbs on strings called C nine
<v Speaker 1>or C seven lights, and they were painted incandescent bulbs.
<v Speaker 1>The paint would flake off them. They were hot I'm
<v Speaker 1>outside putting them on the house like Clark w. Griswold
<v Speaker 1>on an aluminum ladder, stepping on the bulbs. It was horrid.
<v Speaker 1>In today's day and age, the led Christmas lights that
<v Speaker 1>are available are unbelievable.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, and you pair them with the little clips that
<v Speaker 2>they have to put on your house, you get that
<v Speaker 2>nice tidy line. Oh, it's a different world we're living in.
<v Speaker 1>It is indestructible. I mean, just yeah, unreal. Anyhow, all
<v Speaker 1>these memories come back. Let's run down the list real
<v Speaker 1>quickly a minute. So we're talking conifers. We've got to
<v Speaker 1>start with the pine tree, right, so pine trees, then cypress.
<v Speaker 1>We mention the bald cypress. That's a conifer. Cedar trees right,
<v Speaker 1>evergreen conifers native.
<v Speaker 2>Many Yeah, you know, cedars in cypress are definitely two
<v Speaker 2>very confusing terms. They're common names, so they don't benefit
<v Speaker 2>from that strict botanical definition. Like when I was going
<v Speaker 2>between fruit and cone and berry and all of that,
<v Speaker 2>those all have strict botanical definitions. These do not, So
<v Speaker 2>it can be a little bit confusing, but that's where
<v Speaker 2>scientific names come in.
<v Speaker 1>Large trees, love them deciduous. You mentioned the beautiful color
<v Speaker 1>in fall use or taxes. We've all he covered that. Junipers, hemlock.
<v Speaker 1>I love hemlock trees, and it breaks my heart here
<v Speaker 1>in West Michigan with what's happening with the wooly adelgied insect,
<v Speaker 1>an invasive insect that's just wiping them out. And hemlocks
<v Speaker 1>are so beautiful, especially if you're taking a walk in
<v Speaker 1>the wintertime. Spruce trees spruces here there and everywhere around
<v Speaker 1>the United States, but spruce trees, they were not my
<v Speaker 1>favorite Christmas tree, and the needle retention was not good.
<v Speaker 1>And boy, they're real poky on your arms. Fur trees.
<v Speaker 1>I love fur trees, balsam fur, frasier fur, but my
<v Speaker 1>favorite's got to be Douglas fir. And again going back
<v Speaker 1>to Christmas time, which is in a fir exactly, you're correct,
<v Speaker 1>it is not a fur, but we call them Douglas fir.
<v Speaker 1>And of course at Christmas time, that citrusy type smelled
<v Speaker 1>to the foliage. Whenever we'd get the Christmas trees in
<v Speaker 1>at the garden center, that was one of the first
<v Speaker 1>things I did, just stick my face right into one
<v Speaker 1>of those trees and take a big sniff.
<v Speaker 2>Well that must be why you had needles everywhere. Yes,
<v Speaker 2>it's true, but you're right. If you want that classic
<v Speaker 2>conifercent in your house for is the way to go,
<v Speaker 2>no question about it.
<v Speaker 1>Would I be correct Stacy and saying arguably the biggest
<v Speaker 1>conifer in the world are Redwood's, like.
<v Speaker 2>Just from size Redwood tree, Yeah, most likely, but I'm
<v Speaker 2>sure we've I'm sure someone could prove us wrong. Yeah, exactly,
<v Speaker 2>but I've seen them and they are amazing. This giant Sequoias, yeah,
<v Speaker 2>I mean yeah, I guess it depends on if you're
<v Speaker 2>talking with or height, but both of them are just incredible,
<v Speaker 2>incredible trees that everyone should should go see because well breathtaking.
<v Speaker 1>Well I think we both agree. We love connif love
<v Speaker 1>them absolutely. Thanks Stacy, thanks Rick, Thanks Adriana, and thanks
<v Speaker 1>most of all to you for watching us on YouTube,
<v Speaker 1>listening to the radio, or looking for us where you
<v Speaker 1>get your favorite podcast. Have a great week.