Gardentopia

<v Speaker 1>Coming to you from just outside of studio A here
<v Speaker 1>at Proven Winners Color Choice Shrubs. It's time for the
<v Speaker 1>Gardening Simplified Show, and not just any gardening Simplified Show,
<v Speaker 1>Episode one hundred.
<v Speaker 2>Congratulations, congratulations Rick, and congratulations Adriana, and thanks to you
<v Speaker 2>for sticking with us for all of these episodes. Now,
<v Speaker 2>as much as I would love to stay out here
<v Speaker 2>and do the show from the garden, we're going to
<v Speaker 2>head inside and get started, all right, So here we are.
<v Speaker 2>It's our one hundredth episode. It is amazing. It's been
<v Speaker 2>less than two years. We've reached one hundred, so one
<v Speaker 2>hundred different episodes. You can see them all on our
<v Speaker 2>website at Gardeningsimplified on air dot com. So if you
<v Speaker 2>missed one you want to go back, you can find
<v Speaker 2>them all there. And as we look forward into the
<v Speaker 2>next one hundred episodes and beyond, we wanted to hear
<v Speaker 2>from you, and we wanted to hear what you think
<v Speaker 2>about the show and what you want to see more
<v Speaker 2>of on the show. Now I can tell you without question,
<v Speaker 2>Rick and I can sit here and talk to you
<v Speaker 2>about plants and gardening all day long. We'll tell you
<v Speaker 2>things you don't even want to hear about plants and gardening,
<v Speaker 2>but that's what you know. The whole point of the
<v Speaker 2>show is is you, and is the show serving you
<v Speaker 2>and helping you become a better gardener and serve your
<v Speaker 2>needs in the garden and with plants. So we would
<v Speaker 2>like to invite you to fill out The survey will
<v Speaker 2>be linked on our website at Gardeningsimplified on air dot com,
<v Speaker 2>as well as in the comments on our YouTube or
<v Speaker 2>in the caption on our YouTube video. You can just
<v Speaker 2>click that now. It is optional, but if you want
<v Speaker 2>to put an email address, we will draw a winner
<v Speaker 2>at random to get a proven winner's color choice swag bag.
<v Speaker 2>You'll get a hat and socks and notebooks and all
<v Speaker 2>sorts of fun stuff that we'll get from our swag
<v Speaker 2>at closet, so that'll be one winner at random. It
<v Speaker 2>can be completely anonymous. Your survey responses are anonymous. We're
<v Speaker 2>not going to say, you know, Rick Vice seven at
<v Speaker 2>whatever emailed and said the show is great, don't change
<v Speaker 2>a thing. We will not be able to connect you
<v Speaker 2>with your answers, but we will definitely value your time
<v Speaker 2>and responses to that, so we'd appreciate that if you
<v Speaker 2>have a moment to fill that out.
<v Speaker 1>Tied into that survey, Today, Stacey, we talk about garden
<v Speaker 1>Topia and we've got a great interview coming up with
<v Speaker 1>Jan Johnson, an author, a designer who wrote a beautiful
<v Speaker 1>book called garden Topia that's coming up in our fourth
<v Speaker 1>segment and should be phoned. And you know what brings
<v Speaker 1>up the question is garden topia attainable? And tied into
<v Speaker 1>that survey, Stacy, I would say that I've learned that
<v Speaker 1>gardening is about continuing education. I'm amazed at how much
<v Speaker 1>I learn every day. I should say I'm amazed at
<v Speaker 1>how much I don't know. And that's the great thing
<v Speaker 1>about gardening, know how plants interact, how they live in
<v Speaker 1>the earth, who they live with, and how they share
<v Speaker 1>their resources. If you don't educate and learn, you're a laborer,
<v Speaker 1>not a gardener. So a true gardener is constantly seeking
<v Speaker 1>out new answers, you know.
<v Speaker 2>And that's so true. And I people will often say, oh,
<v Speaker 2>you're a garden expert, and I always bristle at that
<v Speaker 2>because there are no garden experts. I mean, yes, I've
<v Speaker 2>been gardening a long time and I've definitely learned a
<v Speaker 2>lot of things and have an under some understanding. But
<v Speaker 2>I can tell you too. The longer I do this,
<v Speaker 2>the more I realize how much I don't know, the
<v Speaker 2>more I realize that plants are just weird and do
<v Speaker 2>strange things all the time that completely surprise you. And
<v Speaker 2>I think, you know, Thomas Jefferson really said it best
<v Speaker 2>because he said, though an old man, I am but
<v Speaker 2>a young gardener, and he was well into his seventies
<v Speaker 2>at that point. And you know, that is the attitude
<v Speaker 2>that you have to take as as a gardener. I
<v Speaker 2>think a lot of us, speaking from experience, kind of
<v Speaker 2>do our drawn to gardening because we're maybe a little
<v Speaker 2>bit of a control freak. We like to have our
<v Speaker 2>little area that we can control and maybe impose our
<v Speaker 2>will on. But then there's also this element of whatever
<v Speaker 2>nature throws at you is whatever you have to deal with.
<v Speaker 2>And that's how you learn, is the challenges. You don't
<v Speaker 2>learn by everything going well all of the time. You
<v Speaker 2>learn best with the challenges.
<v Speaker 1>I've always found, Yeah, I agree completely, And when I
<v Speaker 1>go out and speak to groups, I know you do
<v Speaker 1>the same, Stacey. I always say to them, I'm not
<v Speaker 1>the gardening expert. I'm an experienced failure. That's what I am.
<v Speaker 1>And then when we share our stories and what we've learned,
<v Speaker 1>everybody benefits. And that's the basis of the Gardening Simplified show.
<v Speaker 1>You know. Again, we develop a relationship with our gardens,
<v Speaker 1>with our yards, and I always have to chuckle when
<v Speaker 1>somebody comes up to me and says, you know, my
<v Speaker 1>yard got away from me. No, your yard didn't get
<v Speaker 1>away from you. You got away from your ear.
<v Speaker 2>It's true. And also I think that there is some
<v Speaker 2>something to be said about embracing the wildness. There are
<v Speaker 2>different approaches to gardening and some people you can certainly
<v Speaker 2>see this if you drive around any neighborhood. Some people
<v Speaker 2>are the maintain everything to within an inch of its life.
<v Speaker 2>Everything has to be trimmed, no plants can touch. Everything
<v Speaker 2>is a neat, little tough and that is an absolutely
<v Speaker 2>lovely and valid way to garden, if that's what you
<v Speaker 2>want to do. But I can tell you you know,
<v Speaker 2>my tendency is more toward the wild. I don't have
<v Speaker 2>a lot of weeds because I space my plants closely together,
<v Speaker 2>and I'd rather have my plants I'll grow in together
<v Speaker 2>and prune out some stems than to spend the whole
<v Speaker 2>day falling weeds myself. And of course, within that fast spectrum,
<v Speaker 2>there's a whole lot of other ways to garden. You
<v Speaker 2>can mix those two, and you know, I think people
<v Speaker 2>would be a little bit more interested. I mean, there's
<v Speaker 2>certainly lots of people are interested in gardening, but I
<v Speaker 2>think people would be more interested if they realized that
<v Speaker 2>there was so much more room for creativity and forgiveness
<v Speaker 2>in plants. Then they assume that there is.
<v Speaker 1>That's well said, and also forgiveness on not being able
<v Speaker 1>to pronounce plant names. Now for episode one hundred, here Stacy.
<v Speaker 1>It's always a privilege to be able to sit next
<v Speaker 1>to you and do this show. Your knowledge is amazing
<v Speaker 1>and your ability to pronounce botanical names blows me away.
<v Speaker 1>So I thought for show number one hundred, I'd write
<v Speaker 1>a limb a rick for you called Liberties with language.
<v Speaker 2>Ooh, I like it.
<v Speaker 1>Today we are turning one hundred. Where did the time go?
<v Speaker 1>I wondered, It's been a successful run. Time flies, We're
<v Speaker 1>having fun. Lots of Latin names I've blundered. Thanks for
<v Speaker 1>listening and viewing our commitment. We're renewing botanical names can agast,
<v Speaker 1>So just say them really fast then pretend you know
<v Speaker 1>what you're doing. That's my approach.
<v Speaker 2>I like, you know, it's a valid approach. There is
<v Speaker 2>nothing wrong with that. And you know I've said it
<v Speaker 2>on the show and I think and I will continue
<v Speaker 2>to say it, and that is that a scientific name
<v Speaker 2>is a great thing to know because it is universal.
<v Speaker 2>So if you were in another country out a botanical garden,
<v Speaker 2>you would be able to know what plant you were
<v Speaker 2>looking at. But at the end of the day, plant
<v Speaker 2>names serve primarily to get you what you want at
<v Speaker 2>the garden center, and as long as you are walking
<v Speaker 2>out with the plant that you wanted and hopefully a
<v Speaker 2>few more additional new friends to get to know, that's
<v Speaker 2>all that matters. Whether or not you pronounce it quote
<v Speaker 2>unquote correctly is really you know, people will think, oh, Stacy,
<v Speaker 2>she's such a you know, she's just so up on
<v Speaker 2>grammar and you have to say things right, and that's
<v Speaker 2>not true at all. For many, many years, I actually
<v Speaker 2>said hydrange up macro phila or macrophyla, and someone said,
<v Speaker 2>why are you saying macrophila. You don't say chlorophyle And
<v Speaker 2>he said, you're right, those are the same root words
<v Speaker 2>like the phyl And that's what I realized. It's just
<v Speaker 2>about consistency. So make up your mind how you're going
<v Speaker 2>to pronounce stuff. Try to interpret that consistently over all
<v Speaker 2>different parts of speech. Easier said than done, probably, but
<v Speaker 2>I you know, I again, I leave plenty of room
<v Speaker 2>for giveness when it comes to plant names out there.
<v Speaker 1>I'll be consistent and just say I'm really fast. That's
<v Speaker 1>what I'm going to do. So, Stacy, we've had a
<v Speaker 1>lot of great topics through the first one hundred episodes.
<v Speaker 1>Of course, people have enjoyed us walking through the trial
<v Speaker 1>garden plants of the year, pruning specimen plants. I was
<v Speaker 1>amazed at how vines and clematis or clematis was such
<v Speaker 1>a popular topic. But again, to reiterate, I'm interested in
<v Speaker 1>hearing from our listeners, from our viewers who make this
<v Speaker 1>show the topics that you're interested in. Because, yes, one
<v Speaker 1>hundred episodes, but Stacy, I think we've just scratched the surface.
<v Speaker 2>We have, and there's always so much more to talk
<v Speaker 2>about new topics as well as revisiting old topics with
<v Speaker 2>new context. Because you know, if we do a spring
<v Speaker 2>pruning show, that's going to have a very different kind
<v Speaker 2>of context and lean than if we were to do
<v Speaker 2>a fall pruning show or a winter pruning show. And so,
<v Speaker 2>you know, things never really get old. And here's the
<v Speaker 2>other thing, especially if you are a gardener who is
<v Speaker 2>very much still learning, as we mostly all are, it
<v Speaker 2>doesn't hurt to have things repeated a little bit to
<v Speaker 2>remind you and bring it back to top of mind.
<v Speaker 1>Absolutely, So today we'll talk about garden Topia. Is it attainable?
<v Speaker 1>A great interview coming up in our fourth segment. I
<v Speaker 1>like plants that celebrate the seasons, that give three or
<v Speaker 1>four seasons of interest, plants that are foundational, plants that
<v Speaker 1>put on a show, Plants that are low maintenance, enjoyed
<v Speaker 1>by wildlife, native of ours like proven winners, color choice shrubs,
<v Speaker 1>berry Poppins, winterberry or brandywine Vi Burnham. And then of course,
<v Speaker 1>one of our best topics during the one hundred shows
<v Speaker 1>was lering plants and positioning plants. That's a hot topic, Stace.
<v Speaker 2>It's a hot topic. And you know that is one
<v Speaker 2>where I think a lot of people, and I talked
<v Speaker 2>about it on the episode. People think there's a right answer,
<v Speaker 2>People think that there are these formulas, and you can't
<v Speaker 2>veer out of them. I can tell you that even
<v Speaker 2>the most talented garden designers out there who make it
<v Speaker 2>look easy, they have not always gotten it right. They
<v Speaker 2>finally got it right, and we all keep experimenting. And
<v Speaker 2>I think that's really the key, is to keep a
<v Speaker 2>critical eye and give yourself room to not necessarily make mistakes,
<v Speaker 2>but to do things that maybe don't work out, and
<v Speaker 2>then you can almost always, i mean, short of planting
<v Speaker 2>like an oak tree, you can almost always move things
<v Speaker 2>and change your mind.
<v Speaker 1>One of the favorite topics on The Gardening Simplified Show
<v Speaker 1>is the second segment Plants on Trial, and we can
<v Speaker 1>tap into Stacy's knowledge of plants, and that's coming up
<v Speaker 1>next here on our one hundredth episode. We'll see what
<v Speaker 1>plant Stacy has to share with us. That's coming up
<v Speaker 1>next here on The Gardening Simplified Show.
<v Speaker 2>Proven Winner's Color Choice Shrubs care about your success in
<v Speaker 2>the garden. That's why we trial and test all of
<v Speaker 2>our shrubs for eight to ten years, making sure they
<v Speaker 2>outperform everything else on the market. Look for them and
<v Speaker 2>the distinctive white container at your local garden center. Greetings,
<v Speaker 2>Gardening friends. For the one hundredth time, it is my
<v Speaker 2>pleasure to talk to you about plants on trial, which
<v Speaker 2>is where we take a plant, one of the three
<v Speaker 2>hundred and twenty plus proven Winner's Color Choice shrubs, and
<v Speaker 2>tell you all about it, and you decide if you're
<v Speaker 2>going to put it in your garden. But before we
<v Speaker 2>get there, the bigger question is garden topia possible?
<v Speaker 3>Now?
<v Speaker 2>Of course I believe absolutely it is. It certainly is happening.
<v Speaker 2>For me. My garden honestly just looks so amazing right now.
<v Speaker 2>It is unequivocally a late July garden just by virtue
<v Speaker 2>of the plants that I have in it, you know,
<v Speaker 2>late July, early August, late midsummer garden, and everything is
<v Speaker 2>just so grown in. I can't see my neighbors anymore
<v Speaker 2>because you know, my big silphium cup plants are ten
<v Speaker 2>feet tall, and you know, everything is just lush and
<v Speaker 2>wonderful and full. And for me, that is garden topia,
<v Speaker 2>that feeling of just sort of being surrounded by this
<v Speaker 2>paradise of you know, diversity of plants, diversity of insects, birds,
<v Speaker 2>baby bunnies that are so cute. I have a set
<v Speaker 2>of two living in the garden right now, which are adorable,
<v Speaker 2>and you know, they help you rabbit proof your garden
<v Speaker 2>because you're not going to be able to have a
<v Speaker 2>garden and long if you've got a pair of baby
<v Speaker 2>bunnies and they eat everything. So for me, yeah, I
<v Speaker 2>think the garden topia is absolutely possible, and I think
<v Speaker 2>that I'm experiencing it, especially at this time of year.
<v Speaker 2>But I think the trick for most people when it
<v Speaker 2>comes to this notion of garden topia, this utopian you
<v Speaker 2>know garden that can it exist in your backyard, is
<v Speaker 2>that a lot of people don't know what that would
<v Speaker 2>look like for themselves.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, And I think it's embracing the fact that a
<v Speaker 1>garden is a living thing. It's constantly changing. So when
<v Speaker 1>you talk about utopia, I mean a garden is never finished.
<v Speaker 1>That's why we have photography.
<v Speaker 2>Right yes, absolutely, yeah, And.
<v Speaker 1>So to reach utopia, I think it's like it's it's fluid,
<v Speaker 1>is what it is.
<v Speaker 2>And our listeners miss Adriana's little uh hurah there for photography.
<v Speaker 2>Ada is also a videographer and photographer as well as
<v Speaker 2>our producer. So you know, figuring out what you want,
<v Speaker 2>figuring out what that ideal garden topia would look like
<v Speaker 2>for you. You know, that might be the you know,
<v Speaker 2>maintain all of the neatly prune shrubs. It might be
<v Speaker 2>a wild garden. It might be a mix of all
<v Speaker 2>of those things. But one element that I personally found,
<v Speaker 2>especially living you know, in a small city in a
<v Speaker 2>heavily residential area, one element that I think is very
<v Speaker 2>very crucial for a successful garden a utopian garden is
<v Speaker 2>a sense of enclosure, as you want some structure and
<v Speaker 2>something that makes your garden feel private. And it doesn't
<v Speaker 2>have to be, you know, a complete privacy edge, but
<v Speaker 2>this element of privacy I think for me is very
<v Speaker 2>very crucial to a successful garden because it makes you,
<v Speaker 2>as the gardener and person who enjoys your garden, feel
<v Speaker 2>like you have someplace to really escape to. And I mean,
<v Speaker 2>this is gonna sound kind of mean, but I'm going
<v Speaker 2>to go for it anyway. It kind of it kind
<v Speaker 2>of gives everybody else something to be jealous of that
<v Speaker 2>there's a space that they can't go in that you've created,
<v Speaker 2>and it really is like, oh, I wonder what's back
<v Speaker 2>there behind that hedge. You know, there's something very enticing
<v Speaker 2>about a closed gate, about a closed off hedge about
<v Speaker 2>a place that you can't enter, and I think that's
<v Speaker 2>just as important in someone's garden as it is like
<v Speaker 2>in a public garden or anything like that. So this
<v Speaker 2>sense of enclosure and creating that is really important. Now,
<v Speaker 2>open vistas are very important to you, and I'm sure
<v Speaker 2>our guests will talk more about this, and my garden
<v Speaker 2>has a little bit of both. You know. I give
<v Speaker 2>some great borrowed scenery, which is basically when you can
<v Speaker 2>see something off in the distance from your garden, and
<v Speaker 2>one of those is a beautiful, magical giant elm tree
<v Speaker 2>that somehow escaped Dutch elm disease, and that adds a
<v Speaker 2>lot of sort of permanence to the garden. It's not
<v Speaker 2>in my yard, it's off, but I can see it
<v Speaker 2>from my garden. So you kind of have this mix
<v Speaker 2>of enclosure created by tall plants and as well as
<v Speaker 2>this ability to see out. So I think these tall
<v Speaker 2>enclosing plants are a really crucial part of the garden
<v Speaker 2>and not something that I think most people think about
<v Speaker 2>including in their garden because most people are like, I
<v Speaker 2>want something short, I don't want to have to prune it.
<v Speaker 2>You know, they're thinking more about just things framing the
<v Speaker 2>window or again being very neat and tidy, and these
<v Speaker 2>taller plants that provide that enclosure are really really crucial
<v Speaker 2>now for most people if they're talking about a privacy hedge,
<v Speaker 2>an enclosure of some sort, some way to kind of
<v Speaker 2>screen off of you or to protect, you know, to
<v Speaker 2>create your own little protected area. The number one plant
<v Speaker 2>most people think of arborviting, right, I mean absolutely, it's
<v Speaker 2>kind of the go to hedge plant, and for good reasons.
<v Speaker 2>It's fast growing, it is inexpensive for growers to produce.
<v Speaker 2>It's an easy plant for them to grow, which makes
<v Speaker 2>it very inexpensive for you to buy, which is something
<v Speaker 2>that also usually if you're planting a hedge, kind of
<v Speaker 2>that cost comes into play because it's a lot of plants,
<v Speaker 2>it's native, it has a delicious, delicious smell. I love
<v Speaker 2>the smell of arboridy foliage. Pretty easy to grow, pretty durable,
<v Speaker 2>and pretty fast growing as well, but not extremely heat
<v Speaker 2>tolerant and as Rick and I can certainly attest, far
<v Speaker 2>from deer resistant. An arborvity would never last and it
<v Speaker 2>would be, you know, like a snowball in July in
<v Speaker 2>my garden. Because deer don't just eat it. They love it,
<v Speaker 2>that fruity fragrance. They adore it. So you know, for me,
<v Speaker 2>arborvity to create a sense of enclosure is just not like,
<v Speaker 2>not even something I could consider.
<v Speaker 1>I'd add an element through the years in garden centers,
<v Speaker 1>watching people, the element of touch. Also, arbor vidy is
<v Speaker 1>is fun to touch, comparatively comparatively to let's say, juniper.
<v Speaker 2>Huh oh, yes, that's for sure too. It's not prickly.
<v Speaker 2>It has a nice kind of smooth, waxy looking leaf.
<v Speaker 2>But again, not all of us have arborvide as an
<v Speaker 2>option for creating that sense of enclosure or screening off
<v Speaker 2>an insightly view. And another important aspect of this is like,
<v Speaker 2>you know, you're creating your garden topia and blamo, there's
<v Speaker 2>your air conditioner, Like not really bringing the romance when
<v Speaker 2>you see your noisy old air conditioner in the middle
<v Speaker 2>of your beautiful, romantic garden. So that might be a
<v Speaker 2>situation where you want to kind of screen that off
<v Speaker 2>from the area, you know, where you're spending time, so
<v Speaker 2>you don't have to see it and think about it.
<v Speaker 2>And so you're looking for these screening or hedging or
<v Speaker 2>privacy type of plants. Arborviti is not an option. Well,
<v Speaker 2>I do have an option for you. It is today's
<v Speaker 2>plant on trial, and it is this is just one
<v Speaker 2>piece of it. It's not the plant cedar rapids. Cama
<v Speaker 2>cipress love it. Yes, So Camma cipress is also known
<v Speaker 2>as false cypress. And you know, we could spend a
<v Speaker 2>whole show, probably one day, talking about the nuances and
<v Speaker 2>confusion between cypress and cedar and all of these different terms.
<v Speaker 2>But Camma cipress is known as false cypress and also
<v Speaker 2>known as hinoki cypress. So Hainoki cypress is a plant
<v Speaker 2>that I think a lot of people are familiar with.
<v Speaker 2>They may have heard the name. Technically speaking, Hainoki cypress
<v Speaker 2>is Cama cipress obtusa, and that is a very specific one.
<v Speaker 2>It tends to be very small and selected for having
<v Speaker 2>really unique foliage. They look like they were in a
<v Speaker 2>coral reef or something like really sculptural, beautiful foliage. They
<v Speaker 2>tend to be specimen plants, though slower growing because of
<v Speaker 2>this short.
<v Speaker 1>As it relates to arborvidi, great for hedging. As you
<v Speaker 1>pointed out, camicipress just makes a great specimen plant.
<v Speaker 2>That's true, except there are also Cama cipprus that can
<v Speaker 2>be used as hedges, and cedar rapids is one of them.
<v Speaker 2>So cedar rapids is a Cama Ciprius pacifera. So the
<v Speaker 2>point that I'm making here is that there are a
<v Speaker 2>number of different species of Camma cipprus out there. So
<v Speaker 2>don't you say, hey, I've got this, you know, little
<v Speaker 2>Hinoki cypress. I've had it for twenty five years. The
<v Speaker 2>thing is five feet tall. There's no way I'm making
<v Speaker 2>a hedge out of this. There are other types of
<v Speaker 2>Cama Cippus out there, fall cypress. Camma ciprius pacifera is
<v Speaker 2>what cedar rapids is. Fun fact, since we're talking about
<v Speaker 2>botanical names, the pacifera part of the name pisi fer
<v Speaker 2>comes from the Latin for p bearing like it bears peas.
<v Speaker 1>But wow, you've given us all a head ucation.
<v Speaker 2>I have, and it's not remol related related to peas,
<v Speaker 2>just the little tiny green fruits that it bears. Apparently
<v Speaker 2>to someone back in the day Linnaeus or whoever resembled piece.
<v Speaker 2>So Camma Cipus pacifica very different animal than the Hanoki cypress,
<v Speaker 2>also known as the Sowara cypress. So you might be thinking, wow,
<v Speaker 2>these names sound kind of Japanese, and you are correct.
<v Speaker 2>Most there are native Cama cipress to the US, but
<v Speaker 2>most of the ones we grow in our garden are
<v Speaker 2>native japan to Japan, and this is no different. But
<v Speaker 2>this plant is a fast growing Cama cipress, so faster
<v Speaker 2>growing than most Cama ciprus that you might be used
<v Speaker 2>to or have had in your garden, and that makes
<v Speaker 2>it a viable hedge plant. It naturally grows with a
<v Speaker 2>dense pyramidal habit, so it's going to have that same
<v Speaker 2>kind of ice cream cone shape that people love upside
<v Speaker 2>down ice cream cone shape that people love so much
<v Speaker 2>in most arbor idy. It's going to get to be
<v Speaker 2>about thirty feet tall and twelve to fifteen feet wide,
<v Speaker 2>so this is a bigger plant. It might not be
<v Speaker 2>a viable hedging option for your screening option for you
<v Speaker 2>if you live in a smaller area, because that twelve
<v Speaker 2>to few fifteen foot range at the bottom is taking
<v Speaker 2>up quite a bit of real estate. But if you
<v Speaker 2>have more space, I think that sense of enclosure in
<v Speaker 2>creating separate spaces for you to spend time in is
<v Speaker 2>an even more crucial part of creating that garden topia,
<v Speaker 2>because how else are you going to you know, break
<v Speaker 2>up your space and create those more intimate spaces than
<v Speaker 2>with some structure like this.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, and I agree with you. It's all about space.
<v Speaker 1>And I love your concept of borrowed space. I'm sitting
<v Speaker 1>here thinking about my space, my enclosure, and then the
<v Speaker 1>borrowed space, Lake Michigan, the dunes and my neighbor's outdoor shower.
<v Speaker 1>I got to do something about that.
<v Speaker 2>Lake Michigan and the dunes is good. But yeah, the
<v Speaker 2>outward shower. Maybe time for a camma cipress or something
<v Speaker 2>else like that. Now, Cama ciprus and cedar rapids specifically,
<v Speaker 2>the branchlets are very soft and kind of almost feathery.
<v Speaker 2>So I brought this one in and if you're watching
<v Speaker 2>us on need To, you can see they just have
<v Speaker 2>these almost featherlike branchlets that gives it a really elegant
<v Speaker 2>kind of soft to look nice, bright green foliage. And
<v Speaker 2>this is deer resistant. Now, it's not prickly like where
<v Speaker 2>you know, you can see me touching it. I'm not,
<v Speaker 2>you know, wincing in pain. Here, tiny bit of prickliness
<v Speaker 2>on it, But overall, camisippris is a great deer resistant
<v Speaker 2>alternative to arbor id, and it's a bit more heat
<v Speaker 2>tolerant as well. This can easily grow up to USDA
<v Speaker 2>Zone eight, a little less hardy. We're looking at USDA
<v Speaker 2>Zone four on this, whereas most arbor IDs are down
<v Speaker 2>to USDA Zone three. Did you touch It's nice and soft. Yeah,
<v Speaker 2>so a really really nice choice. And I think it's
<v Speaker 2>just good for people to know that. You know, when
<v Speaker 2>it comes to this, you don't just have to throw
<v Speaker 2>up your hands and say I can't grow arborvidy. I
<v Speaker 2>don't know what I'll do. I guess I'll just have
<v Speaker 2>to invest in a really expensive wall or something like that.
<v Speaker 2>You can still create plant based solutions to building garden rooms,
<v Speaker 2>to screening off unsightly views, and to creating that beautiful
<v Speaker 2>sense of privacy and enclosure in your garden with other plants.
<v Speaker 2>So check us out at Gardening Simplified on air dot com.
<v Speaker 2>You will see everything you need to know about cedar
<v Speaker 2>rapids Cama ceprus and you can decide if it is
<v Speaker 2>the right solution for your privacy and screening needs in
<v Speaker 2>your garden. We've got to take a little break. When
<v Speaker 2>we come back, we're going to be opening up the
<v Speaker 2>garden mail bag for the one hundredth time, so 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. Greeting's gardening friends,
<v Speaker 2>and welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show. You know,
<v Speaker 2>when we first started the show, we knew without question
<v Speaker 2>that we wanted to have some mailbag segment where people
<v Speaker 2>could write in with their questions because it's something that
<v Speaker 2>we really care about doing. Ooh, and so please to
<v Speaker 2>answer gardening questions for the one hundredth time and continue.
<v Speaker 2>Even if you take a look at our survey and
<v Speaker 2>we look at making some changes as we move ahead
<v Speaker 2>with the show, it's always going to be important to
<v Speaker 2>us to keep some opportunity to answer garden questions. Helps
<v Speaker 2>everybody know what's going on. And you know, so often
<v Speaker 2>if you have a question, other people have the same question,
<v Speaker 2>So it's a good opportunity so you can reach.
<v Speaker 1>I have questions like what's in Rick's coffee?
<v Speaker 2>I think I know now.
<v Speaker 1>I'm sorry.
<v Speaker 2>Go ahead, so visit us at Gardening Simplified on air
<v Speaker 2>dot com. There you can reach us through the contact form.
<v Speaker 2>You can even attach a photo, and then you can
<v Speaker 2>also find a link to our survey which you can
<v Speaker 2>take and fill out with your thoughts on the future
<v Speaker 2>of the show as well as what you've liked so
<v Speaker 2>far and if you would like be entered to win
<v Speaker 2>a proven winner's color choice swag package.
<v Speaker 1>I just love that, Stacy, because we'd love to hear
<v Speaker 1>what you have to say or if you have thought topics, boy,
<v Speaker 1>let us hear about it.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, we love hearing about it. And you were sharing
<v Speaker 2>with me an interesting idea from a listener, Marv. Yeah, tomatoes.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, Marv sent us some pictures. You're seeing it on
<v Speaker 1>YouTube or you can go to our website, Gardeningsimplified on
<v Speaker 1>air dot Com. Marv doing a great job with his
<v Speaker 1>tomatoes and a great photo of how he pairs basil
<v Speaker 1>with his tomatoes. He grows basil at the base. I
<v Speaker 1>have always said that it is basil instinct to grow
<v Speaker 1>basil in close proximity to tomato plants because the tomatoes
<v Speaker 1>will taste better. I have no scientific evidence for that,
<v Speaker 1>but I believe it.
<v Speaker 2>Well, it's convenient in any case to have the basil intro.
<v Speaker 2>There's no evidence, but it doesn't hurt and it does
<v Speaker 2>look great together. And then you know when you're harvesting
<v Speaker 2>your peak tomatoes for that, you know Ensalada cuprazy at
<v Speaker 2>the end of summer. The basil's right there. Now, what's
<v Speaker 2>interesting to me is that Marvis is growing a little
<v Speaker 2>leaf basil. I feel like most people grow the bigger
<v Speaker 2>leaf basils, but he's growing a little leaf basil sometimes
<v Speaker 2>called box basil, sometimes called Greek basil, and that's the
<v Speaker 2>main basil that he has. So that's an interesting take
<v Speaker 2>as well. It gives it kind of a more formal look.
<v Speaker 2>But it's very, very pretty.
<v Speaker 1>It's beautiful. It's beautiful. Michael writes to us. This Bollywood
<v Speaker 1>variegated azalea has been in the ground a few years.
<v Speaker 1>It is a great little azalea with awesome showstopper blooms
<v Speaker 1>in the spring. My concern is that it appears to
<v Speaker 1>have a girdling root, so we're looking at that picture,
<v Speaker 1>and again we'll share that picture on our website. Also,
<v Speaker 1>is this a problem and if it is, can anything
<v Speaker 1>be done to secure the longevity of the shrub?
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, So, a girdling root basically just means a root
<v Speaker 2>that is growing around and around in circles and can
<v Speaker 2>actually start to wrap around the plant and cut off.
<v Speaker 2>You know, we've all seen a tree sort of grow
<v Speaker 2>into like a fence or something like that. Sometimes a
<v Speaker 2>tree winds, sometimes the fence winds. So what happens is
<v Speaker 2>these roots they grow around and around, and they can
<v Speaker 2>actually cut off the plant from the roots or cut
<v Speaker 2>off part of the cambium so that water and sugars
<v Speaker 2>can't make their way through the plant. And sometimes this
<v Speaker 2>can be an issue of just how the plant was
<v Speaker 2>grown originally. Sometimes it just happens on its own just
<v Speaker 2>because of the way that the roots grow. But my
<v Speaker 2>advice in Michael's case here would be to just go
<v Speaker 2>ahead and snip that root. You can see in the photo.
<v Speaker 2>It is a rather larger root. And azalea's overall are
<v Speaker 2>pretty sensitive to anything going on with the roots. They're
<v Speaker 2>shallow rooted. But you know, I think you do obviously
<v Speaker 2>love this plant it's a nice established specimen. I think
<v Speaker 2>that just snipping that root, like right where it starts
<v Speaker 2>to cross over the other root, because all of this
<v Speaker 2>is happening above ground. So that's why Michael can tell
<v Speaker 2>I would just go ahead and snip that out with
<v Speaker 2>a nice, very very sharp, fresh pair of pruners and
<v Speaker 2>just kind of correct the problem. I think that's better
<v Speaker 2>than having it potentially get worse and then not having
<v Speaker 2>an opportunity to correct it.
<v Speaker 1>I would agree with clipping the root if push comes
<v Speaker 1>to shovel. I would suggest doing it in fall. Of course, fall,
<v Speaker 1>because the soil is nice and warm and there's no
<v Speaker 1>stress on the plant. Roots can redevelop at that time
<v Speaker 1>of the year. Not that that's critical. I'm just saying
<v Speaker 1>from my experience that's probably when I would.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I think you're right, And the timing is obviously
<v Speaker 2>perfect because here we are at the height of summer.
<v Speaker 2>Fall would be perfect again because the plant's already going dormant.
<v Speaker 2>It's still going to have plenty of all of that
<v Speaker 2>root root growth time in the fall, So I would
<v Speaker 2>go ahead and snip that out. If this were a tree,
<v Speaker 2>it would maybe be a little bit different that wouldn't
<v Speaker 2>be quite a straightforward, but since this is a small shrub,
<v Speaker 2>I would say do that before it gets worse and
<v Speaker 2>the plant, you know, should be okay.
<v Speaker 1>Stacy, you loved some beautiful pictures that Rebecca sent to us,
<v Speaker 1>photos of an area where she's been hiking for years,
<v Speaker 1>and all of a sudden that area is covered in mysterious.
<v Speaker 2>Flower, right and now, I so when you sent these
<v Speaker 2>pictures to me, I was maybe I immediately knew what
<v Speaker 2>the plant was, But when I looked through the photos
<v Speaker 2>that Rebecca sent, I can see how it would be
<v Speaker 2>pretty freaky because this plant is absolutely carpeting this area.
<v Speaker 2>And so you can look at the photo on YouTube
<v Speaker 2>or on our website at Gardeningsimplified on air dot com.
<v Speaker 2>But just if you are in the car or whatever listening,
<v Speaker 2>it's a forest here in Michigan and there is all over,
<v Speaker 2>you know, literally thousands of these flowers coming up on
<v Speaker 2>say maybe a twelve inch stem, little ball starburst flower,
<v Speaker 2>you know, maybe about the size of a quarry. They
<v Speaker 2>look like alis, they look like aliums. They also could
<v Speaker 2>look like in aralia, which was one of the first things,
<v Speaker 2>which one is one of the first things I thought,
<v Speaker 2>but then I said, no, no, I know what exactly what
<v Speaker 2>this is absolutely carpeting the ground. I mean literally thousands
<v Speaker 2>of them. I have never seen a site like this
<v Speaker 2>in my life. And what it is is ramps. Yeah, yeah, ramps.
<v Speaker 2>So if you're familiar with ramps, they are a native
<v Speaker 2>Alium family member, so a native onion relative. They come
<v Speaker 2>out in spring with beautiful broad leaves and a purple stem.
<v Speaker 2>They will give you, before worn, the worst onion breath
<v Speaker 2>you've ever had in your life, but it is more
<v Speaker 2>than worth it because they have such a unique and
<v Speaker 2>delicious flavor. And most people only think about ramps in
<v Speaker 2>spring when you would actually harvest them or see them abundantly,
<v Speaker 2>especially in moisture woods, so not so much dry woods,
<v Speaker 2>but in moisture woods you'll see them. Most people never
<v Speaker 2>see them flower because ramps flower what is known in
<v Speaker 2>horticulture as naked, so that means that they flower without
<v Speaker 2>any foliage or other parts of the plant. So even
<v Speaker 2>though ramps come out in spring and that's when you
<v Speaker 2>actually harvest the leaf and little bulb and stem there,
<v Speaker 2>the flowers bloom here in late July without a single
<v Speaker 2>shred of evidence as to what the plant is, so
<v Speaker 2>it's really kind of bewildering, especially to see it at
<v Speaker 2>the scale that this is.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, bewildering and beautiful. So we appreciate those those pictures.
<v Speaker 1>Doing a little research on that. To Stacey, what I read,
<v Speaker 1>and I'm not sure if this is true, but I
<v Speaker 1>read seven years for one ramp seed to emerge as
<v Speaker 1>a shoot, Oh wow, and that would explain why she's
<v Speaker 1>hiking in the area, had never seen it before, and
<v Speaker 1>now all of a sudden sees it. Ramps can be
<v Speaker 1>quite expensive, they're a delicacy, and they can also be
<v Speaker 1>over foraged.
<v Speaker 2>Yes, absolutely, they can definitely be over foraged. It's Rebecca
<v Speaker 2>has not found an or over forged path, right, you
<v Speaker 2>know area of it because they are abundant. But yeah,
<v Speaker 2>you do have to be careful obviously, never harvest ramps
<v Speaker 2>on property that is not your owner, that you don't
<v Speaker 2>have permission to harvest on. But that is why it's
<v Speaker 2>a good point why all of a sudden, after hiking
<v Speaker 2>there for many years, you see this explosion of ramflowers,
<v Speaker 2>and Rebecca, what you saw really is an anomaly. It
<v Speaker 2>was very special and you should consider yourself lucky. And
<v Speaker 2>if you aren't Rebecca. You should definitely check out the
<v Speaker 2>pictures because it is pretty magical.
<v Speaker 1>It's gorgeous. And then Michelle sends us a photo of
<v Speaker 1>an echinasia with a split personality stage.
<v Speaker 2>Yes, so this was a fun one and you're definitely
<v Speaker 2>going around look at a picture of this as well
<v Speaker 2>on Gardening Simplified on air dot com. And what you'll
<v Speaker 2>see is a regular echinaesia. So people are familiar with ecinaesia,
<v Speaker 2>usually it's purple, but this particular one is an orange
<v Speaker 2>or yellow one. And what has happened to the plant,
<v Speaker 2>the flower itself is that it almost looks like someone
<v Speaker 2>took painter's tape and made a line directly down the
<v Speaker 2>center of the flower. And half of it is bright
<v Speaker 2>yellow and half of it is distinctively bright orange.
<v Speaker 1>Stunning.
<v Speaker 2>It is very stunning, and it is a known as
<v Speaker 2>a chimera, and a chimera it's named for the ancient
<v Speaker 2>Greek creature fire breathing monster that was had a lion's head,
<v Speaker 2>a goat's body, and a serpent's tail. Now some pictures
<v Speaker 2>of a chimera. If you look it up, it's got
<v Speaker 2>the lion you know, head and forearms, it's got the
<v Speaker 2>goat head and back quarters, and then the tail and
<v Speaker 2>the serpent's head, So it's all three animals crushed into
<v Speaker 2>one kind of terrifying creature. How that translates botanically to
<v Speaker 2>what a plant chimera is is. It is multiple genes
<v Speaker 2>manifesting within a single flower. This isn't like totally unusual,
<v Speaker 2>but it's not common. And the chimera mutation is basically
<v Speaker 2>just as the flower was developing that apical mara sem
<v Speaker 2>where the growth point comes from. It just whatever mutation happened,
<v Speaker 2>it caused those two genes to develop at similar rates.
<v Speaker 2>And it literally means that there are two different genomes
<v Speaker 2>existing within this single flower. Now, I will tell you
<v Speaker 2>right now, chimeras are very complicated genetically, and I could
<v Speaker 2>not possibly even pretend to explain to you what's actually
<v Speaker 2>going on. But I did find some great resources that
<v Speaker 2>I will post in our show notes at Gardening Simplified
<v Speaker 2>on air dot com if you are interested in learning more.
<v Speaker 2>There's no need to do anything if your plant does this.
<v Speaker 2>I asked some of our plant breeders what they thought
<v Speaker 2>if this would continue, if you would see this again
<v Speaker 2>next year, and they said very likely you will, so
<v Speaker 2>no need to do anything. It's not a mutation. It's
<v Speaker 2>it's not a weakening mutation. It's a mutation, but it's
<v Speaker 2>just you know, genes from the plant's past sort of
<v Speaker 2>making themselves known today.
<v Speaker 1>Accept compliments on the mutation. I think it's beautiful chimerism,
<v Speaker 1>something that I've seen often in Zenius.
<v Speaker 2>Oh yes, yeah, there's some Some plants are more susceptible,
<v Speaker 2>and obviously the daisy family are ast racy, as we
<v Speaker 2>can see with zecond aisha. So if you find a
<v Speaker 2>k chimera, go ahead and send us a picture and
<v Speaker 2>patch yourself on the back. So we're going to take
<v Speaker 2>a little break. When we come back, we've got a
<v Speaker 2>special guest for branching news, so please 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, and today for
<v Speaker 1>branching news and interview. Looking forward to this along the
<v Speaker 1>subject of garden Topia, and if you're watching on YouTube,
<v Speaker 1>Stacy's holding up this beautiful book right now written by
<v Speaker 1>Jan Johnson Now. Jan is an award winning landscape designer
<v Speaker 1>and author and a speaker. She studied landscape architecture and
<v Speaker 1>received a graduate degree in planning. She's worked in New York, Honolulu, Japan, California, Washington,
<v Speaker 1>d C. Of course, designs landscapes, and as I mentioned,
<v Speaker 1>is an author the beautiful book garden Topia Designed Basics
<v Speaker 1>for Creating Beautiful outdoor Spaces. Of course, this follows the
<v Speaker 1>other books she's written, The Spirit of Stone and Heaven
<v Speaker 1>is a Garden. I love following Jan on Instagram because
<v Speaker 1>it's inspirational. Jan, Welcome to the Gardening Simplified Show.
<v Speaker 3>Well, hello everyone, Hi, Rick, thank you so much for
<v Speaker 3>that great intro.
<v Speaker 1>Let me start here because it's our topic. And of
<v Speaker 1>course people right now are looking at your beautiful book,
<v Speaker 1>garden Topia. Garden Topia, you say, is that rare marriage
<v Speaker 1>of the art of landscaping and the technical knowledge of
<v Speaker 1>how to compose a landscape? I should ask right off
<v Speaker 1>the bat, Jan, is garden Topia attainable?
<v Speaker 3>Oh? Absolutely? And it doesn't matter how big a piece
<v Speaker 3>of property you have. I mean, it could be very small,
<v Speaker 3>like I have a very small backyard, but it is
<v Speaker 3>definitely my little sanctuary.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, and we were talking about space earlier. You mentioned sanctuary.
<v Speaker 1>That's one of the ideals as far as garden Topia
<v Speaker 1>is concerned, is to create your space. And you know,
<v Speaker 1>this is episode one hundred. One of the most popular
<v Speaker 1>shows we did was a show on layering, in other words,
<v Speaker 1>how to place plants and where to place plants. I
<v Speaker 1>noticed on Instagram that you recently landscaped a fire pit
<v Speaker 1>area and I thought it was just so beautiful because
<v Speaker 1>you simply used what was it hacking achlore, Japanese forest grass.
<v Speaker 3>Exactly, Japanese forest grass that was a variety called all.
<v Speaker 1>Gold, Okay, and that made for an amazing space.
<v Speaker 3>Oh listen, Yeah, it was a very simple h terrace,
<v Speaker 3>you know, bluestone terrace that we made, and then how
<v Speaker 3>to kind of define it well the easy and in
<v Speaker 3>deer countries, you know, you always have to worry about
<v Speaker 3>the deer chomping on your plants, and so Japanese forest
<v Speaker 3>grass seemed to me to be a great solution. And
<v Speaker 3>I bordered a good portion of the terrace with this
<v Speaker 3>beautiful yellow gold grass that just all grows in together.
<v Speaker 3>It's just lovely.
<v Speaker 2>It is one of those plants that I think so
<v Speaker 2>many people have, you know, a big, tall, stiffness canthus
<v Speaker 2>in mind when they think of ornamental grasses, and so
<v Speaker 2>when they see hakonakloa and it just has that like lush, soft,
<v Speaker 2>touchable texture, it really makes people rethink ornamental grasses. And
<v Speaker 2>I'm sure that designer you know of your caliber who
<v Speaker 2>have that experience. You know, you can also use it
<v Speaker 2>to kind of visually simulate water and other different textures
<v Speaker 2>in the garden.
<v Speaker 3>Yes, and it's also really good for erosion control, you
<v Speaker 3>can because it just like you were saying, it has
<v Speaker 3>that soft, kind of moundy look to it, which is
<v Speaker 3>so great. And so it works really well on a
<v Speaker 3>slope because you know, you're not looking up at a
<v Speaker 3>stem necessarily, just all the soft breed bending over. Yeah,
<v Speaker 3>it's really wonderful.
<v Speaker 1>We're chatting with designer and author Jan Johnson her beautiful
<v Speaker 1>book garden Topia, and you mentioned Jan. Okay, so garden
<v Speaker 1>Topia is attainable. In looking at your blog, I was
<v Speaker 1>interested in this quote that rare moment of reconnection can
<v Speaker 1>become more prevalent in your life if you take the
<v Speaker 1>time to notice the natural world. Just as a wine
<v Speaker 1>connoisseur relishes that first sip on the tongue, you can
<v Speaker 1>learn to savor a flower, a rock, or even a breeze.
<v Speaker 3>Isn't that so lovely And it's so true, isn't it.
<v Speaker 3>I mean, people just have to stop and be observant
<v Speaker 3>and just notice, in my opinions, how amazing nature is.
<v Speaker 3>And it's much more easily done if you have a
<v Speaker 3>little outdoor space that you can do that in. You know,
<v Speaker 3>like it's hard when you're just being bombarded by all
<v Speaker 3>the stimuli. But if you're got a space, even if
<v Speaker 3>it's just a terrace and you have pots, you know,
<v Speaker 3>with flowers in them, at least if you have a
<v Speaker 3>little place where you can stop and just take some
<v Speaker 3>deep breaths and just see what's around you. I find
<v Speaker 3>that people once they learn to appreciate a flower or
<v Speaker 3>a texture of a plant or something like that, it
<v Speaker 3>never leaves them. You know.
<v Speaker 1>I appreciate that, and jan you call them stop time moments.
<v Speaker 1>Of course, I've done years of radio and I was
<v Speaker 1>always taught to create what we call driveway moments where
<v Speaker 1>you sit in the car and you're not going to
<v Speaker 1>leave the car because you're really listening to what's being
<v Speaker 1>said on that show. But stop time moments. How do
<v Speaker 1>we create stop time moments in our landscapes?
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, so I guess they should explain what that means.
<v Speaker 3>I certainly understand driveway moments. I have done that so
<v Speaker 3>often when you sit in the car because you want
<v Speaker 3>to keep hearing the podcast or whatever you're listening to.
<v Speaker 3>You just sit different finishing more minutes than that. But
<v Speaker 3>I guess what it is is that we'll and I
<v Speaker 3>write this, I think of myself. You know, I'm always
<v Speaker 3>rushing from here to there, get things done. Whatever. You
<v Speaker 3>just stop and one moment can almost feel like ten
<v Speaker 3>minutes because it's just that time where you, like I said,
<v Speaker 3>you stop and you just kind of almost get lost,
<v Speaker 3>you know, you almost get lost in the thought or
<v Speaker 3>even like in a fragrance like I have. Every summer,
<v Speaker 3>I plant the garden you bush in a big planter,
<v Speaker 3>and I put it outside in my door, and I
<v Speaker 3>just go out there and I sniff the gardenias. I mean,
<v Speaker 3>that's my stop time moment, it's like, Okay, I get it.
<v Speaker 3>You know, that's what I mean by that.
<v Speaker 2>And I think, you know, so many people feel like
<v Speaker 2>you have to know something about plants or about gardening
<v Speaker 2>to get there, and you know, so often I think
<v Speaker 2>if people just let themselves fall in love with something,
<v Speaker 2>even if it is just one plant, and they put
<v Speaker 2>it on a container on their little terrace or near
<v Speaker 2>you know, on their back porch where they spend time.
<v Speaker 2>You know, as you spend time with a plant, and
<v Speaker 2>as you get to know it, and you see the
<v Speaker 2>light change, and you see the plant change through time,
<v Speaker 2>and you know, through the seas, and you watch insects
<v Speaker 2>interact with it. All of this that is really what
<v Speaker 2>starts to I think, take you down that road. It's
<v Speaker 2>not the kind of thing where I think a lot
<v Speaker 2>of people just assume, oh, you know, they've just already
<v Speaker 2>had some sort of enlightenment and I'm never going to
<v Speaker 2>get there, but that we've all found our way to
<v Speaker 2>that level of enjoying an appreciation of plants and gardening
<v Speaker 2>through yes, single moments like that.
<v Speaker 3>Yes, And also like you were just saying, and I
<v Speaker 3>agree with you totally, even if it's just one plant,
<v Speaker 3>you create a relationship with that one plant. You may
<v Speaker 3>not know anything else, but you know the hellibores because
<v Speaker 3>Aunt Mary gave you this plant that you didn't know
<v Speaker 3>anything about. And now that you see that it's evergreen
<v Speaker 3>and it actually has a flower in early spring. I mean,
<v Speaker 3>and then that's what gets you started on that path,
<v Speaker 3>you know, and you say hello boys, and go oh,
<v Speaker 3>let me tell you about my hellboy.
<v Speaker 1>You know, that's exactly my point. Jan You develop a
<v Speaker 1>relationship with plants and with your landscape. If you don't
<v Speaker 1>take the time to develop that relationship, then you're more
<v Speaker 1>or less a laborer, not a gardener. And I apia right.
<v Speaker 3>Oh absolutely, And I'm trying. What I try to do
<v Speaker 3>is design basics. Is because a lot of people love
<v Speaker 3>these plants and they'll go out and they'll get that
<v Speaker 3>beautiful uh let's dance hydrangea or something that they but
<v Speaker 3>then they just kind of go, well, where do I
<v Speaker 3>put it? Where do I put it? It's and I'm
<v Speaker 3>saying no, no, no, let's think about that before you
<v Speaker 3>you know, buy the plant, make you know, get prepared
<v Speaker 3>a little bit beforehand. But I and I try to
<v Speaker 3>make it easy to follow. I say things like a
<v Speaker 3>pop of red and they you know, and like that's
<v Speaker 3>a great design. Kip, by the way, is that you
<v Speaker 3>know all these great artists like Sey Zon or Norman Rockwell,
<v Speaker 3>for a look at their paintings, they always have a
<v Speaker 3>little pop of bread in the painting. I used to
<v Speaker 3>I used to take my son when he was young,
<v Speaker 3>to the Rockwell Museum in Massachusetts, and I used to
<v Speaker 3>tell them to look at the paintings and find the
<v Speaker 3>little dot of red for me, and he could in
<v Speaker 3>every single one. And it's the same thing in the garden.
<v Speaker 3>You can just put a little dot of red, like
<v Speaker 3>a little red coxco or or a red poppy or
<v Speaker 3>something like that, and it and it adds a little
<v Speaker 3>vibrancy to the scene.
<v Speaker 2>That's such a great piece of advice too, that you know,
<v Speaker 2>people don't people think, oh, I don't know enough about color.
<v Speaker 2>I don't know enough about color theory to design a garden.
<v Speaker 2>And you know, in that case, don't you don't have
<v Speaker 2>to be the expert. You know, let Paul Clay be
<v Speaker 2>the expert. Let Norman Rockweller says on be the expert,
<v Speaker 2>and take your inspiration from the color that someone like
<v Speaker 2>that has already. You know, if you connect with the
<v Speaker 2>painting or another piece of artwork, you know, how can
<v Speaker 2>you interpret those same kind of colors, you know, in
<v Speaker 2>plants in your own yard. There's just so many opportunities
<v Speaker 2>for inspiration. And honestly, Jen, that's what I really love
<v Speaker 2>about your Garden Topia book. I see the subtitle here
<v Speaker 2>on the back is one hundred and thirty five Inspiring
<v Speaker 2>Tips to transform any backyard, garden or lawn. And this
<v Speaker 2>is exactly the kind of book that I love to
<v Speaker 2>have around, like on my coffee table, on my side table,
<v Speaker 2>and then whenever you need a little bit of garden inspiration,
<v Speaker 2>especially in the winter, you know, thinking about how I
<v Speaker 2>want to make this change, and I think this is
<v Speaker 2>just one of those books that is just so full
<v Speaker 2>of inspiration and then you know, actual practical information on
<v Speaker 2>how you can then interpret it in your garden. But
<v Speaker 2>you know, it's just I think it's really like I
<v Speaker 2>love a good informational book. I love a good book
<v Speaker 2>you can get into and read all about taxonomy and
<v Speaker 2>all of this other stuff. But these good design books
<v Speaker 2>where you can just kind of let your imagination run wild,
<v Speaker 2>and you know, ask yourself, what do I like about
<v Speaker 2>this idea, what would this mean in my yard with
<v Speaker 2>the materials you know, like out here in Michigan, we
<v Speaker 2>don't you know, bluestone re costs and arm and a leg,
<v Speaker 2>So you know, how can we use our materials to
<v Speaker 2>you know, interpret a lot of these ideas. And I
<v Speaker 2>just think I really enjoyed looking through this book so much.
<v Speaker 3>Thank you so much. Yeah, And you know, people say
<v Speaker 3>to me, well, out of all these tips, what's the
<v Speaker 3>most important tip. I've had that question, and you want
<v Speaker 3>to know what it is. Yes, it's called it's all
<v Speaker 3>about the soil. I think that's the one because if
<v Speaker 3>you don't, if you don't create beautiful, beautiful soil, then
<v Speaker 3>you're already going to sail, you know what I'm saying.
<v Speaker 3>Like even like even in pots, right you have to
<v Speaker 3>plant it in potting mix, in a in a planter, right.
<v Speaker 3>Not you can't take the sell out of your yard
<v Speaker 3>and jump it in the planter because it's too heavy.
<v Speaker 3>But the same thing with planting. And I always say
<v Speaker 3>to people, you know, you don't have to buy the
<v Speaker 3>seven gallon plant by the three down plants, but just
<v Speaker 3>put the money into making your soil beautiful.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, that's that's great. We're chatting with Jan Johnson her
<v Speaker 1>beautiful book Garden Topia. Jan is a speaker and author,
<v Speaker 1>a designer, and Jan just recently adran Or Robinson got
<v Speaker 1>back from Cape Cod and her photography, of course, is
<v Speaker 1>always so beautiful. Her video. Oh yeah, but it looks
<v Speaker 1>like the high Ranges were gorgeous. You just returned.
<v Speaker 3>Also, Yes, every year, like clockwork, I spend a week
<v Speaker 3>camping in Wellfleet, which is the northern part of Cape Cod.
<v Speaker 3>I wouldn't miss it for the world because it's just
<v Speaker 3>it is a gardener's paradise. I mean everybody goes, of
<v Speaker 3>course to sit on the beach, but the plants there
<v Speaker 3>grow like crazy, especially hydrange.
<v Speaker 1>And of course you also recently traveled to Italy. Is
<v Speaker 1>that correct?
<v Speaker 2>Oh?
<v Speaker 3>Boy, was I lucky? Yes, I've never been there before
<v Speaker 3>and a family member got married and so of course
<v Speaker 3>we had to go, no matter what, we had to
<v Speaker 3>go to this wedding. Boy was I happy to do that.
<v Speaker 3>You know, Rennaissance gardens or something unusual, right not, you know,
<v Speaker 3>with all their statutory and everything, but they knew how
<v Speaker 3>to use design technique like nobody else. I mean, we're
<v Speaker 3>still learning from them. They use statuary and plants together
<v Speaker 3>to create a marvelous environment. I highly recommend people to
<v Speaker 3>check out the gardens of Italy, and.
<v Speaker 2>You know the fact that they have persisted. Of course,
<v Speaker 2>they've been changed, and you know, different owners have changed
<v Speaker 2>them according to their whims over time. But you know
<v Speaker 2>the fact that these gardens have persisted for literally hundreds
<v Speaker 2>of years as a real testament to how timeless they
<v Speaker 2>are and how much we need gardens as humans, you know,
<v Speaker 2>to enjoy. And yeah, I think Italy is it is
<v Speaker 2>definitely a bucket list trip for any gardener exactly.
<v Speaker 3>And you know, it's interesting you say that, because, in
<v Speaker 3>my opinion, we need gardens and parks and common outdoor
<v Speaker 3>spaces more than ever. We have to make places where
<v Speaker 3>people can enjoy the outdoors, you know, especially with our kids.
<v Speaker 3>You know, they're always staring at screens. You know, we
<v Speaker 3>need places that allow them to get in your little
<v Speaker 3>stream and play with it and just enjoy nature. And
<v Speaker 3>if nature's not nearby, then we have to create it
<v Speaker 3>in some form or other. That I feel so strongly about.
<v Speaker 1>That I love that.
<v Speaker 3>Well.
<v Speaker 1>Jan your work has been featured in many publications and
<v Speaker 1>you have more than forty years of experience. You own
<v Speaker 1>New York based Johnson Landscape and Landscapes and Pools. So
<v Speaker 1>I'm going to ask you a very unfair question for
<v Speaker 1>the benefit of our listeners and our viewers, and that
<v Speaker 1>is do you have a favorite plant?
<v Speaker 3>Wow? Yes, I do you have that? Depth? Oh? Yes,
<v Speaker 3>I do. It's the Oakley hydranger.
<v Speaker 2>Yes, great answer.
<v Speaker 3>I love Oakley hydrangea and all varieties. I mean, they're
<v Speaker 3>also its great varieties. And the reason I love that
<v Speaker 3>so much is, first of all, I love the old texture.
<v Speaker 3>I love the flowers and the fact that the flowers
<v Speaker 3>stay on the plant and they just get darker with age,
<v Speaker 3>and then of course in the fall it gets that burnished,
<v Speaker 3>dark red leaves. It's just I just love that plant.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I'd have to agree with you. It's one of
<v Speaker 1>my plants that I put into the category of three
<v Speaker 1>to four seasons of interest and that that plant makes
<v Speaker 1>for an ideal impact in landscapes. Her name is Jan Johnson.
<v Speaker 1>Her book Garden Topia.
<v Speaker 3>Jan.
<v Speaker 1>How do people learn learn more about you? Do you
<v Speaker 1>have a website you can share with us?
<v Speaker 2>Sure?
<v Speaker 3>Well, first of all, thank you for talking about my
<v Speaker 3>Instagram every day I post on Instagram every day and
<v Speaker 3>so that's the Instagram address is Johnson Design j O
<v Speaker 3>h N s e N. Designed. A lot of people
<v Speaker 3>don't realize that, but my last name is Johnson is Johnson.
<v Speaker 3>And then my I have a substack. Now I don't
<v Speaker 3>know if people know what that is. It's the platform
<v Speaker 3>for posts, and so my substack is Jan Johnson dot
<v Speaker 3>substack dot com. And of course the name of it
<v Speaker 3>is Gardentopia. And lastly my website which is Johnson Landscapes dot.
<v Speaker 1>Com Johnson Landscapes dot com. So j O h N
<v Speaker 1>s e n. The book is garden Toopia. And yes,
<v Speaker 1>I would agree, Stacey. When I get on Instagram, Jan's
<v Speaker 1>one of the first people I look for.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, thank you.
<v Speaker 2>It is so wonderful to have such a great source
<v Speaker 2>of inspiration. And we really appreciate you sharing your work
<v Speaker 2>and your perspective and making that a feel for anybody.
<v Speaker 3>And I really love proven winners plans just so you know,
<v Speaker 3>and all the great variety you guys.
<v Speaker 2>Well, thank you well, it means a lot to us.
<v Speaker 1>Thanks for joining us today. Jan, We appreciate it so
<v Speaker 1>much and all the best to you.
<v Speaker 3>Thanks again, bye now bye bye bye.
<v Speaker 2>Well that was great. Now, if you didn't catch any
<v Speaker 2>of those links, we will have them all linked for
<v Speaker 2>you so you can find Jan's Instagram, website and substack
<v Speaker 2>on our website, Gardening Simplified on air dot com. We
<v Speaker 2>want to thank Jan, I want to thank you Rick,
<v Speaker 2>I want to thank you Adriana, and thank you all
<v Speaker 2>so much for following us for the past one hundred episodes.
<v Speaker 2>Here's to the next one hundred. Hope you can take
<v Speaker 2>a moment to fill out our survey at Gardeningsimplified on
<v Speaker 2>air dot com. Thanks so much and have a wonderful
<v Speaker 2>week ahead.