2025 Perennials of the Year

<v Speaker 1>Coming to you from beautiful West Michigan and the gorgeous
<v Speaker 1>Lake Michigan shoreline. Here at Studio A proven winners Color
<v Speaker 1>Choice Shrubs, It's time for the Gardening Simplified Show with
<v Speaker 1>Stacy Hrvella me Rick Weisten, our engineer and producer Adrianna Robinson.
<v Speaker 1>Well Stacy, Today, let's talk about perennials. Unlike their short
<v Speaker 1>lived counterparts, the annuals, perennials are typically cold, hardy plants
<v Speaker 1>that come back year after year, and perennial plants, arguably
<v Speaker 1>over the last ten twenty thirty years, have been extremely
<v Speaker 1>popular plants, and I think in part Stacy because you
<v Speaker 1>can dig them up and move them around your landscape
<v Speaker 1>like puzzle or chest pieces, and there's so many wonderful
<v Speaker 1>and fabulous cultivars we're going to talk about that.
<v Speaker 2>You know, I love what you just said there, puzzle
<v Speaker 2>or chess pieces, because a puzzle is like random and
<v Speaker 2>abstract and you don't know what's happening, and chess is strategic.
<v Speaker 2>And I find that there are gardeners with both of
<v Speaker 2>those that is well so those approaches. So whether you
<v Speaker 2>are a puzzle piece perennial gardener or a chess, peace
<v Speaker 2>perennial gardener. We're all about perennials.
<v Speaker 1>Today outstanding and of course perennials too. You can make
<v Speaker 1>new friends. Perennials are generally moved about, are shared via
<v Speaker 1>root divisions, at least most perennials that way, So you
<v Speaker 1>can head out into your landscape or your garden and
<v Speaker 1>split your plants. It's not embarrassing as a matter of fact,
<v Speaker 1>it'll entertain your neighbors and stay see your neighbors will benefit, unless,
<v Speaker 1>of course, you well are sharing with friends or enemies.
<v Speaker 1>If you have enemies. Of course, there's stories of people
<v Speaker 1>who have shared cuttings from let's say English ivy or
<v Speaker 1>Lily of the Valley or snow on the mountain and
<v Speaker 1>their friend has never forgotten about it.
<v Speaker 2>Yes, I think we had one of those people last
<v Speaker 2>summer that when they got the utunia the chameleon plants, yes,
<v Speaker 2>as a pass along plant. So yes, make sure if
<v Speaker 2>you're taking plants from a friend, they know what they're
<v Speaker 2>doing and you know what you're getting into you before
<v Speaker 2>you put that in the ground.
<v Speaker 1>Fortunately, so many wonderful cultivars today and proven winters. Perennials
<v Speaker 1>just year after year gorgeous plants that you can enjoy
<v Speaker 1>in your yard and landscape. So the envelope please on
<v Speaker 1>National Plants of the Year Perennials twenty twenty five and Stacy,
<v Speaker 1>we're going to start off with a Brunera Jack of
<v Speaker 1>Diamond's heart leaf Brunera. It's Brunera macrophilla hardy and zones
<v Speaker 1>three through eight. And the great thing about this one
<v Speaker 1>is it has huge about ten inch leaves that overlap
<v Speaker 1>dramatically at the base. I love the over lapping leaves
<v Speaker 1>and I think that that's a big component. Also in
<v Speaker 1>the development of cultivars is branching and good branching with plants.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, for sure. It's a kind of thing that I
<v Speaker 2>think the average gardener may not really notice or when
<v Speaker 2>we say, like, oh, this perennial was developed for good branching,
<v Speaker 2>doesn't necessarily make a big difference. But if you were
<v Speaker 2>to grow that side by side with a plant that
<v Speaker 2>wasn't developed for that, you can definitely notice the difference.
<v Speaker 2>And you know Brunner. I say Brunner, you say Brunera.
<v Speaker 2>But most people know this plant from the famous old
<v Speaker 2>cult of our Jack Frost. So if you don't know
<v Speaker 2>what we're talking about. If you think Jack Frost, Brunner
<v Speaker 2>or Brunera, this is an improved, vastly improved version of
<v Speaker 2>Jack Frost, with much, much bigger leaves. And I noticed
<v Speaker 2>that one of the things they're also touting about it
<v Speaker 2>is that the leaves kind of curl, so you say
<v Speaker 2>the overlap, like at the heart, the apex of the heart,
<v Speaker 2>one of the leaves curls over the other. And this
<v Speaker 2>is great because it's a shade perennial. And you know,
<v Speaker 2>it's even better about it as a shade perennials. It
<v Speaker 2>is slug resistant, yes, because of the very deer resistant.
<v Speaker 2>But you know, a lot of people who garden in
<v Speaker 2>shade would, which I don't, so I don't really have
<v Speaker 2>a lot of empathy about that myself. But you know,
<v Speaker 2>slugs can be a huge issue in the shade. It's moist,
<v Speaker 2>it's cool, it's dark, and they love that condition. So
<v Speaker 2>of course, anyone who tries to grow hostas in the
<v Speaker 2>shade knows about the pain of slugs. And the great
<v Speaker 2>thing is, yeah, Brenara is not bothered by slugs because
<v Speaker 2>it is so kind of briskly.
<v Speaker 1>Fantastic a slugfest well, and of course people would also
<v Speaker 1>argue with this plant. Yeah, great, the foliage and the
<v Speaker 1>veining in the foliage, but what about those beautiful baby
<v Speaker 1>blue flowers, those baby blue Forget Me Not tight blossoms.
<v Speaker 2>Boy, that's attractive, right, And a lot of people do
<v Speaker 2>confuse Forget Me Not with Breneray. They are closely related,
<v Speaker 2>but they are not the same plant. Forget Me Not
<v Speaker 2>is usually a short livedaniel and it doesn't have the
<v Speaker 2>foliage impact that Brnera does. So if you love the
<v Speaker 2>flowers of Forget Me Not and you want something that's
<v Speaker 2>maybe not going to spread around and has a good
<v Speaker 2>foliage present your garden, Brunera is your absolute go to
<v Speaker 2>you play. Now, how do you have heartiness and heat
<v Speaker 2>tolerance on this? I don't know what it is? Your shoulder?
<v Speaker 1>Yeah that's fine, that's good.
<v Speaker 2>So like that's a huge range where people can grow it.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, so Brunnera, Brunera whatever, Just wait till we get
<v Speaker 1>to Nepeta. Up next envelope, Please hosta of the Year Shadowland,
<v Speaker 1>Miss America. Hosta majestic hosta that will capture your heart.
<v Speaker 1>Medium green, heart shaped leaves and white centers and light
<v Speaker 1>green streaking and near white flowers with a lavender pattern
<v Speaker 1>and Stacey. There's probably some folks out there who would
<v Speaker 1>say enough with the hostas already. I mean there's so many.
<v Speaker 2>You know, hastas are kind of like a little mania
<v Speaker 2>unto themselves. Before many years there was like rose fanatics,
<v Speaker 2>camellia fanatics, all these people who were really really into
<v Speaker 2>your daylilies. And now i'd say over the past twenty
<v Speaker 2>years there is become a whole new genus or group
<v Speaker 2>of people hosta fanatics. People absolutely love them. And I
<v Speaker 2>think for people like me who are hosta spectators because
<v Speaker 2>again I don't have shade and I have deer, so
<v Speaker 2>I can't grow. Now, I am not a host to participant.
<v Speaker 2>I'm a spectator. You know. I can appreciate them in
<v Speaker 2>other people's gardens, but I'd say for the average you know,
<v Speaker 2>garden viewer, they start to look very similar. You kind
<v Speaker 2>of say, I don't really notice that much of a difference,
<v Speaker 2>whereas the hosta enthusiast is gonna, you know, go on
<v Speaker 2>and on about all those little difference. But there is something.
<v Speaker 2>First of all, I do love when it comes to hostas.
<v Speaker 2>I do prefer the type like miss America here where
<v Speaker 2>the margins are green and go to white in the
<v Speaker 2>center over the type with the white edge and the
<v Speaker 2>green center. So I do love that. But what's actually
<v Speaker 2>really special about this plant, and you really have to
<v Speaker 2>see this, of course we'll have pictures in the YouTube
<v Speaker 2>version as well on Instagram and on our show notes
<v Speaker 2>at Gardening Simplified on air dot com. Is the flowers. Yes, now,
<v Speaker 2>the flowers on this I believe the description on the
<v Speaker 2>proven Winter's website said chin height, but that of course
<v Speaker 2>depends on how tall you are. But you have to
<v Speaker 2>look at these pictures because they are every bit as
<v Speaker 2>tall as like, you know, your average height of a
<v Speaker 2>woman about They get to be about five feet tall. Wow,
<v Speaker 2>and that is really cool. So the overall plant, you know,
<v Speaker 2>proven Winters has definitely had a tendency to get these
<v Speaker 2>giant size hostas, which I love. Those are fabulous like
<v Speaker 2>Empress Wu and the like. And Miss America is not
<v Speaker 2>in itself a huge hosta, but it has these flower scapes.
<v Speaker 2>They get to be about five feet tall.
<v Speaker 1>And the flowers are important when it comes to hostas.
<v Speaker 1>There are some people who would just grow hosta for
<v Speaker 1>the foliage, but the blooms stacey are important for pollinators
<v Speaker 1>or hummingbirds.
<v Speaker 2>The blooms are polarizing. I was thinking, I was wondering
<v Speaker 2>if there was like a way that we could do
<v Speaker 2>a survey because my mom hates hosta flowers. She goes
<v Speaker 2>and she knocks them out because she does not like them,
<v Speaker 2>or some people do. You see them as a major
<v Speaker 2>ornamental factor. So if you are the non hostile flower
<v Speaker 2>type and you're gonna grow Miss America, don't be so
<v Speaker 2>fast to just knock them out. You might actually like
<v Speaker 2>them when they're hovering five feet above the ground.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, exactly, take out those blossoms. How would Arnold Schwarzenegger
<v Speaker 1>put it? Hasta la vista baby?
<v Speaker 2>I think that's probably what my mom says when she
<v Speaker 2>prunes him out.
<v Speaker 1>I'll be by, okay, envelope please. We have to move
<v Speaker 1>on to the landscape Perennial of the Year. And I
<v Speaker 1>can see why it's the landscape perennial of the year
<v Speaker 1>because this is a perennial that behaves. It doesn't get
<v Speaker 1>all all kinds of rangey and that sort of thing
<v Speaker 1>cats me out. Nepeta. I think that this is a
<v Speaker 1>plant that I classify as an over achiever. It really
<v Speaker 1>checks the boxes. And we have to start with the
<v Speaker 1>fact that Stacy, when I hear people talk about a
<v Speaker 1>perennial like cats me out on Nepetta. I hear people
<v Speaker 1>saying Nepetta, Nepita, Nepeita, I just throw up my hands.
<v Speaker 2>What about cat min catnans? Thank you, there's one we
<v Speaker 2>can all agree on. I say Nepada. But however, you know, again,
<v Speaker 2>the main point is that you walk out of the
<v Speaker 2>garden center with the plant that you want, So pronunciation
<v Speaker 2>is less important than spelling. But yeah, I mean nepita overall.
<v Speaker 2>You know, certainly out here on the lake shore, you
<v Speaker 2>go to the Grand Haven boardwalk, it's everywhere. It's blooming
<v Speaker 2>all along the boardwalk all summer long.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah.
<v Speaker 2>And it's just one of those plants that you know,
<v Speaker 2>when city managers and park planners can rely on something
<v Speaker 2>to look this good for this long and require that
<v Speaker 2>little maintenance, it's going to do the same for you
<v Speaker 2>in your house. But you do need full sun. This
<v Speaker 2>is definitely a full full sun plant. The other two
<v Speaker 2>or shade plants, the other two perennials of the year,
<v Speaker 2>but this one I would not do less than six
<v Speaker 2>hours of bright sun each.
<v Speaker 1>Day, a uniform sun lover and attracts bees, hummingbirds, other pollinators,
<v Speaker 1>and resists deer and rabbits.
<v Speaker 2>Doesn't attack cats, could you ask for Does it attract.
<v Speaker 1>Cats well to a degree, but cats, you know they don't.
<v Speaker 1>They don't go nuts on the plant like they would
<v Speaker 1>with cat and it.
<v Speaker 2>Right, so it's related but not the same things.
<v Speaker 1>Yes, exactly. We're going to talk to Kayla Olsoen from
<v Speaker 1>Proven Winners in segment four. We'll talk about these award
<v Speaker 1>winners for twenty twenty five the plants of the Year.
<v Speaker 1>In addition new introductions you don't want to miss that
<v Speaker 1>that's coming up in segment four. Coming up next in
<v Speaker 1>Plants on Trial, we'll see what Stacy has on her
<v Speaker 1>mind here on the Gardening Simplified.
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<v Speaker 2>Proven Winners color Choice dot Com. Greeting's Gardening Friends and
<v Speaker 2>Welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show, where we're celebrating
<v Speaker 2>the twenty twenty five proven winters Perennials of the Year,
<v Speaker 2>not to be confused with the Perennial Plant Association Plant
<v Speaker 2>Perennial of the Year, which is a totally different plant.
<v Speaker 2>The plant for this year is Picgnanthemum muticumo. That's that
<v Speaker 2>is a mouthful also known as mountain mint. Probably not
<v Speaker 2>one of the best known perennials, but one of my favorites.
<v Speaker 2>It is a native perennial and a pollinator magnet. It
<v Speaker 2>is one of the plants in my yard that gets
<v Speaker 2>the most diversity of pollinators of anything that I grow.
<v Speaker 2>It blooms late in summer, so a great time when
<v Speaker 2>insects are starting to either migrate or go dormant, and
<v Speaker 2>it is known to be Pygnanthemum is a little bit rambunctious,
<v Speaker 2>but I managed to control it by keeping it very dry.
<v Speaker 1>Is rambunctious a nice way of saying invasive.
<v Speaker 2>I mean it's not invasive, like it's not going to
<v Speaker 2>self so and you know, make a pest of itself.
<v Speaker 2>It's relatively easy to manage, but it does form large
<v Speaker 2>colonies when it is happy.
<v Speaker 1>And because it has mint.
<v Speaker 2>Yes, it is a mint relative, but it looks like
<v Speaker 2>no other mint you've ever seen before. Looks very very different.
<v Speaker 2>But a great plant. Just if you are having trouble
<v Speaker 2>controlling it, just try to keep it drier if you can,
<v Speaker 2>and then you will find yourself in my shoes where
<v Speaker 2>you actually have to replace it every couple of years
<v Speaker 2>because the whole plant dies out because my soul is
<v Speaker 2>so dry. But it's worth it, you know.
<v Speaker 1>It's a great point. Though perennials does not necessarily mean
<v Speaker 1>the plant is forever.
<v Speaker 2>That's true. Yeah, and some plants are perennials, but you
<v Speaker 2>no longer have your original parent plant because it's run.
<v Speaker 2>And but this isn't as show about perennials. This is
<v Speaker 2>a show about shrubs and gardening. But I do have
<v Speaker 2>a lot of perennials, and I do love them. And
<v Speaker 2>like I was saying, when I first moved to my
<v Speaker 2>house near the lake shore, I had hostas and that
<v Speaker 2>did not last long and you know, beyond my first season.
<v Speaker 2>But you know, I was willing to water stuff because
<v Speaker 2>it was new. So between how dry and while drained
<v Speaker 2>my soil is I have very little shade, and of
<v Speaker 2>course the deer, I mean deer in hostas. It's like
<v Speaker 2>deer and day lilies. You just they love them. You
<v Speaker 2>just cannot grow them. But I still do appreciate them,
<v Speaker 2>and I like when I see them growing well, because
<v Speaker 2>they are very structural perennials sure, you know, compared some
<v Speaker 2>perennials are maybe not so structural, but hostas, you know,
<v Speaker 2>they just have this beautiful presence in the garden. And
<v Speaker 2>when I was a rooftop gardener in New York, the
<v Speaker 2>designer that I worked for just loved to use them.
<v Speaker 2>We used them so so much, and so that's kind
<v Speaker 2>of where I fell in love with them. And now
<v Speaker 2>I've given up. But I realized thinking about sort of
<v Speaker 2>the perennials of the year and how I could tie
<v Speaker 2>one of the perim winters shrubs to the perennials of
<v Speaker 2>the year, that you know, what they don't talk about
<v Speaker 2>a lot is pairing shrubs with hostas. And that could
<v Speaker 2>be because hosta growers just grow hostas. They don't have
<v Speaker 2>space for shrubs. They're so into their hostas that they
<v Speaker 2>never even bother to think about a perennial because all
<v Speaker 2>their space is taken up by hostas. But as much
<v Speaker 2>as hostas are beautiful plants in the summer, they totally
<v Speaker 2>disappear over winter. You know, a lot of the native
<v Speaker 2>perennials that I grow, they still have some nice structure.
<v Speaker 2>I mean, the plant parts that are above ground are
<v Speaker 2>dead and long gone, but I keep them so that
<v Speaker 2>birds can eat the seeds. With hostas, that first frost
<v Speaker 2>comes along and blam, oh they are gone, disappeared. They
<v Speaker 2>are completely disappeared. So nothing persists above ground with hostas.
<v Speaker 2>So if you are a hosta fanatic, that means you've
<v Speaker 2>got not a whole lot to look at all winter.
<v Speaker 2>And for that reason, I think that if you love hostas,
<v Speaker 2>it really is worth considering how to pair them with
<v Speaker 2>shrubs so you get some of that year round structure.
<v Speaker 1>Great points.
<v Speaker 2>And I thought long and hard about what would be
<v Speaker 2>a good shrub to pair with hostas, because I think
<v Speaker 2>that what makes a good pairing of any two or
<v Speaker 2>given plants or groups of plants is that they kind
<v Speaker 2>of you know, you can have that like shining moment
<v Speaker 2>where everything is just going gangbusters, or you compare things
<v Speaker 2>so that they kind of prop each other up at
<v Speaker 2>their lowest points and so I went with the ladder
<v Speaker 2>for this uh and today's plant on trial is spice
<v Speaker 2>baby viburnum. Love that plant, such a great plant. So
<v Speaker 2>this is a Korean spice viburnum, which some of our
<v Speaker 2>listeners may be familiar with. It is also known as
<v Speaker 2>Viburnum carlesii, and it it's primary characteristic of all Viburnum
<v Speaker 2>Carly's eyes is extremely fragrant flowers in spring. Now, I
<v Speaker 2>have to caution our listeners if you see a viburnum
<v Speaker 2>flowering in spring, do not just run up to it
<v Speaker 2>and stick your nose in it. Because some spring flowering
<v Speaker 2>viburnum now unique animally houndy cat pie. There's all sorts
<v Speaker 2>of different fragrance sense aroma's odors that they can have.
<v Speaker 2>But Viburnum carlysii is a fantastic fragrance. It's sweet, it's spicy,
<v Speaker 2>it's just it's really hard.
<v Speaker 1>To explain it intoxicated.
<v Speaker 2>It is intoxicating. And of course, since it's a shrub,
<v Speaker 2>plants are covered and have quite a few flowers. Now,
<v Speaker 2>what makes spice baby viburnum especially suitable here is that
<v Speaker 2>it is about half the size of conventional Korean spice
<v Speaker 2>viburnums or shorter. It reaches three and a half to
<v Speaker 2>five feet tall and wide, compared to more conventional varieties,
<v Speaker 2>which will easily get to be ten feet.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, that's moderate for viber yes.
<v Speaker 2>Vivenums generally can get quite large. So the great thing
<v Speaker 2>about this when we're talking about pairing it with hostas
<v Speaker 2>or other shade perennials, is that three and a half
<v Speaker 2>to five feet is going to stay much more in
<v Speaker 2>scale with these lower growing perennials, So you're not going
<v Speaker 2>to have something that's like, you know, ten feet tall,
<v Speaker 2>and then you get these little two feet tall hostas
<v Speaker 2>all around it. So the scale works well. And now
<v Speaker 2>consider I just said this plant flowers in spring with
<v Speaker 2>really nice, fragrant, white pink flowers. And at the time
<v Speaker 2>when that happens, it's pretty early spring, the hostas will
<v Speaker 2>either not be up or will just barely be coming up,
<v Speaker 2>which is a beautiful thing. They are beautiful when they
<v Speaker 2>do that, But you really can't like pile on enough
<v Speaker 2>in spring, right, So even if your hostas are starting
<v Speaker 2>to emerge, spice baby viburnum is going to be just
<v Speaker 2>the right thing to kind of bring some more interest
<v Speaker 2>to that area of your garden, have the fragrance, have
<v Speaker 2>the color, and then as your hostess start to expand
<v Speaker 2>and come into their own later in the season, the
<v Speaker 2>spice baby viburnum is just going to kind of gracefully
<v Speaker 2>seed the stage to the hostas. It looks great all season.
<v Speaker 2>It has kind of a bluish green foliage with just
<v Speaker 2>like the lightest coating of kind of I don't know.
<v Speaker 2>I wouldn't call it fuzz necessarily, and I wouldn't call
<v Speaker 2>it hairs, but it's kind of like a fuzzy, hairy
<v Speaker 2>coming home to it.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, And it comes down to texture, Stacey. It's texture.
<v Speaker 1>And that's one of the things I love about hostas too,
<v Speaker 1>the foliage textures.
<v Speaker 2>You know, that's a great point I didn't really think about,
<v Speaker 2>like this is a great texture plant to add to
<v Speaker 2>already a textural plant. Now, come fall. Many times hostas
<v Speaker 2>will go dormant, you know, early, especially if it was
<v Speaker 2>dry or conditions were less than ideal, or of course
<v Speaker 2>if there was a frost or you know, sometimes by
<v Speaker 2>the time you know, fall rolls around and your hosta
<v Speaker 2>is just sitting there looking relentlessly summary and you're like,
<v Speaker 2>all right, let's make with a fall color. Already the
<v Speaker 2>seasons have changed. Spice babef viburnum is going to light
<v Speaker 2>up with red and orange and yellow. Fall foliage usually
<v Speaker 2>mostly red, but it kind of takes that that thing
<v Speaker 2>we were talking about a few weeks ago, where it's
<v Speaker 2>more light in the center and darker on the outside
<v Speaker 2>of the plant. So it's really going to do that
<v Speaker 2>heavy lifting in spring when the hostas are just going
<v Speaker 2>and then bring back some great autumn seasonality in the fall,
<v Speaker 2>and then that when your hostas have gone completely dormant
<v Speaker 2>and disappeared and you're not even thinking about them. Since
<v Speaker 2>it is a shrub, it's going to offer that nice
<v Speaker 2>framework in that garden. And that's great for birds. I mean,
<v Speaker 2>you know, anyone who has a garden right now is
<v Speaker 2>noticing that their perennials aren't really doing all that much
<v Speaker 2>for the birds right now. But the shrubs, the trees,
<v Speaker 2>certainly perennials that persist above ground for winter, those are valuable,
<v Speaker 2>really valuable for birds right now. So this is really
<v Speaker 2>going to again kind of pick up the slack when
<v Speaker 2>your hostas are not doing their thing. The reason that
<v Speaker 2>you're growing up, I.
<v Speaker 1>Think your concept here, Stacey is brilliant because perennials bloom
<v Speaker 1>for a season, and I'm not talking about a year.
<v Speaker 1>I'm talking about generally spring or summer or fall, and
<v Speaker 1>they bloom for just a certain period of time. So
<v Speaker 1>to have that backup support.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, it's fabulous and it's the kind of plant that
<v Speaker 2>I think when you look at the pictures either on
<v Speaker 2>our YouTube version or on our Strototick Gardening Simplified on
<v Speaker 2>air dot com, you'll see it just like hostas can
<v Speaker 2>just kind of nestle really nicely around the base in
<v Speaker 2>between the plants. So it's just a really friendly, nice
<v Speaker 2>accent to add to your garden. Now, I do have
<v Speaker 2>to give everyone one little word of caution about Korean
<v Speaker 2>spice viburnum. Like many viburnums, it is a rather slow
<v Speaker 2>growing plant. So this may be one of those plants
<v Speaker 2>it's going to cost a little bit more than other plants.
<v Speaker 2>But again that's because when you buy a shrub, you're
<v Speaker 2>buying time. You're buying the time that someone took to
<v Speaker 2>grow it and raise it into a larger plant. So
<v Speaker 2>you may have to make a little bit more of
<v Speaker 2>an investment, but it's a very long lived plant. The
<v Speaker 2>fragrance more than makes it worth. It pretty durable in
<v Speaker 2>terms of where it will grow. It's hardy down to
<v Speaker 2>USDA Zone four, heat tolerant through USDA Zone eight, so
<v Speaker 2>that's a pretty good chunk of the US and Canada
<v Speaker 2>where it can grow full sun to part shade. So
<v Speaker 2>I know a lot of people who have Hosta gardens
<v Speaker 2>are probably growing in relatively deep shade. It will still
<v Speaker 2>row in deep shade, but you're not gonna have as
<v Speaker 2>much flowers, and you're not gonna have as good a
<v Speaker 2>full color. But as long as you're getting some sort
<v Speaker 2>of filtered shade. Overall, we all know that viburnums are
<v Speaker 2>good shrubs for the shade, and of course it is
<v Speaker 2>also very dear resistant. Not that that matters to you
<v Speaker 2>if you have hostas, but you know, always a nice
<v Speaker 2>little feature to have in your back pocket there, right,
<v Speaker 2>So Spice baby viburnum. It's going to be available at
<v Speaker 2>your local garden center this season. Do make sure you
<v Speaker 2>check it out on YouTube or on the show notes
<v Speaker 2>at Gardening is simplified on air dot com, and decide
<v Speaker 2>if it's going to earn a spot in your garden.
<v Speaker 2>Hosta garden or not, We're gonna take a little break.
<v Speaker 2>When we come back, we're answering your garden questions, so
<v Speaker 2>please stay tuned. At Proven Winners 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 Winners 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. Greetings gardening friends, and welcome
<v Speaker 2>back to the Gardening Simplified Show. It may be January,
<v Speaker 2>it may be Michigan or whatever states you're in, but
<v Speaker 2>we're still answering your gardening questions because you know what
<v Speaker 2>we wonder about the garden never really stops. Sometimes we're
<v Speaker 2>just sitting at the kitchen window staring out there doing
<v Speaker 2>dishes and we remember, oh, yeah, I don't know when
<v Speaker 2>to prune that, or I meant to do X y
<v Speaker 2>Z with that, and I don't know what to do.
<v Speaker 1>Or Like we talked about at the end of twenty
<v Speaker 1>twenty four, gardeners always have something to look forward.
<v Speaker 2>That's so true, and so we invite you to send
<v Speaker 2>us your gardening questions. You can just go to Gardening
<v Speaker 2>Simplified on air dot com and write us there. You
<v Speaker 2>can also even leave it as a comment on YouTube,
<v Speaker 2>and Adriana does pass those along to us as she
<v Speaker 2>is working through your comments, because we do read them,
<v Speaker 2>and we really thank you for engaging with us over
<v Speaker 2>there on YouTube. It means a lot, and you know,
<v Speaker 2>we're happy to get comments as well as questions. Absolutely,
<v Speaker 2>because you know a lot of us are gardeners. We
<v Speaker 2>don't have like a community of gardening friends or people
<v Speaker 2>just don't really you know, don't get it and you
<v Speaker 2>just want to celebrate with like a like minded.
<v Speaker 1>Person, Yeah, and just share some of those thoughts. For example,
<v Speaker 1>all of the people who say I say lilacs funny
<v Speaker 1>and they say lilacs beautiful.
<v Speaker 2>Yes, there was quite a debate that on the on
<v Speaker 2>the last YouTube I saw that, but.
<v Speaker 1>It seems like it's almost split fifty to fifty down
<v Speaker 1>the middle.
<v Speaker 2>I don't know, I don't know. I say sirringa, I'll
<v Speaker 2>just steer clear of the whole debate and say, sirringa.
<v Speaker 1>I'm jumping right in the pool.
<v Speaker 2>But you know, we heard from a like minded gardener
<v Speaker 2>and this may be laugh I had to share it.
<v Speaker 2>Our listener, Tim right with two lines. December twenty ninth,
<v Speaker 2>purchased tulip bulbs for three bucks. December thirtieth planted tulip
<v Speaker 2>Bulb's smiley face. Love it, Tim, you know, and people
<v Speaker 2>have heard us say over and over again, whenever you
<v Speaker 2>get them and can get them in the ground is
<v Speaker 2>a fine time to do that. I don't think that
<v Speaker 2>Tim is probably in Michigan because I don't know that
<v Speaker 2>our soil was actually diggable on December thirtieth.
<v Speaker 1>Oh it's diggable. I worked in the garden center industry
<v Speaker 1>for years, and I can recall times in late December
<v Speaker 1>early January where I'm out in the backyard with a
<v Speaker 1>pickaxe and a shovel and a flashlight, and I've got
<v Speaker 1>one of those warm caps over my face, you all
<v Speaker 1>the type people wear when they rob a bank.
<v Speaker 2>A ballaclov and yeah, there you go, gotcha.
<v Speaker 1>And you know, my neighbor drives up and is wondering
<v Speaker 1>what am I doing back there? I had that once
<v Speaker 1>and four weeks later that neighbor moved. We never talked,
<v Speaker 1>so I think they wondered what I was doing.
<v Speaker 2>They probably thought you were like burying treasure and they
<v Speaker 2>went back there and dug it up and they were like,
<v Speaker 2>what the heck is this?
<v Speaker 1>But is it doable? It's doable. You may need a pickaxe.
<v Speaker 2>And you can always use contators. But no bulbs are
<v Speaker 2>off the definitely off the shelves now until we get
<v Speaker 2>summertime bulbs. But thank you Tim for sharing your thoughts.
<v Speaker 2>As obviously a like minded fellow gardener.
<v Speaker 1>Ea writes to us high, I'm new to gardening and
<v Speaker 1>really enjoy your podcast. I purchased two al Nino Chetalpa's
<v Speaker 1>this past year. Am I saying that right? Stacy Chatalpa's.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, yeah.
<v Speaker 1>After hearing about them on your podcast, they were amazed.
<v Speaker 1>See I'm I'm paranoid now about the lilac thing or lilac.
<v Speaker 2>Well, you know what I'm saying. As long as you
<v Speaker 2>walk out of the garden center with the right plant,
<v Speaker 2>it's no big deal.
<v Speaker 1>Thank you. And coming up in segment four, we'll talk
<v Speaker 1>to Kayla Olson about napettas or nepitas or nepetas. All right,
<v Speaker 1>they were amazing performers in my garden. Unfortunately, this year
<v Speaker 1>we had a hurricane in September ooh, and a cold
<v Speaker 1>snap not long afterwards, and they both lost all of
<v Speaker 1>their leaves. They're basically stick. Should I cut them back
<v Speaker 1>to the ground or leave them as in hopes that
<v Speaker 1>spring will revive them or did the double whammy take
<v Speaker 1>them out? And EA sent to photos.
<v Speaker 2>Also right, So I thought this was a great question
<v Speaker 2>to answer because one of the things that I have
<v Speaker 2>seen over the years answering questions that people have written
<v Speaker 2>into proven winners is a lot of people who live
<v Speaker 2>in milder climates or warmer climates, and I'm assuming that
<v Speaker 2>EA does since they had a hurricane. Usually those tend
<v Speaker 2>to be more affecting the milder climates. Is that a
<v Speaker 2>plant that is deciduous, in other words, that loses its
<v Speaker 2>leaves every year, will actually be deciduous across the board,
<v Speaker 2>So it will lose its leaves even in a milder
<v Speaker 2>climate like North Carolina or South Carolina or Georgia or Alabama.
<v Speaker 2>That's totally normal, and so it's nothing to worry about.
<v Speaker 2>Your plants are totally fine. This is an extremely durable plant.
<v Speaker 2>It doesn't surprise me that, of course, between the wind
<v Speaker 2>of the hurricane and all of the rain and then
<v Speaker 2>the cold snap that it did drop its foliage. Now,
<v Speaker 2>what I found in my garden with al Nino, mine
<v Speaker 2>actually had green foliage on it until we got a
<v Speaker 2>very very hard frost after Thanksgiving. So it was kind
<v Speaker 2>of weird because my garden was all dormant and here's
<v Speaker 2>a Selnino just like.
<v Speaker 1>La la la la la.
<v Speaker 2>Life is good, but it's not uncommon for it to
<v Speaker 2>lose its foliage in a milder climate earlier. So you
<v Speaker 2>have nothing to worry about.
<v Speaker 1>Ea.
<v Speaker 2>If you want to cut them back just to manage
<v Speaker 2>their height, you certainly can. What we find in colder
<v Speaker 2>climates like ours here in West Michigan with al Nino
<v Speaker 2>is that sometimes a very harsh winter will knock them
<v Speaker 2>back and they'll come back from the roots and still
<v Speaker 2>go on to flower. But in a milder climate, this
<v Speaker 2>plant is going to get quite large, so I would
<v Speaker 2>not necessarily cut it back right now. Kind of see
<v Speaker 2>what it does, but then keep that in your back pocket.
<v Speaker 2>For future seasons because comes this thing is going to
<v Speaker 2>be back with a vengeance. It's going to look great,
<v Speaker 2>It's going to bloom, and then you can decide if
<v Speaker 2>you want to manage its height in the future.
<v Speaker 1>Such a great plant. And Stacey, you inspired a lot
<v Speaker 1>of people, myself included, and Jennifer who writes from Zone
<v Speaker 1>six B outside of Boston about Kinsley's ghost. Such a
<v Speaker 1>cool plant and the story that you shared on that
<v Speaker 1>is is fabulous. And Jennifer is asking you, Stacy, about
<v Speaker 1>growing it up a dead maple tree. I think you
<v Speaker 1>mentioned we're going to do that. Yep, all right. Doing
<v Speaker 1>it has the same question that I had to help
<v Speaker 1>it climb, given that honeysuckles do not self cling, you know,
<v Speaker 1>how do we get this done right?
<v Speaker 2>So she's basically saying like, hey, you're growing in on
<v Speaker 2>a dead maple that seems too big. Well, I guess
<v Speaker 2>I should have mentioned that my maple is small. My
<v Speaker 2>dead maple is not an old, mature dead maple. It
<v Speaker 2>is a small Norway maple that previous owners had planted.
<v Speaker 2>It was really close to our property line. I also
<v Speaker 2>don't particularly care for Norway maples because they don't do
<v Speaker 2>that much, you know, in terms of contributing to wildlife
<v Speaker 2>or beauty. They don't have good full color. They get
<v Speaker 2>tons of tar spot. So we decided to take to
<v Speaker 2>kill it by girdling it. We just took off the
<v Speaker 2>We actually cut a ridge into the base of the plant,
<v Speaker 2>and now we use it for our birdhouse and you know,
<v Speaker 2>birds perch, and it actually just had a Cooper's hawk
<v Speaker 2>perching in it last weekend, which is pretty amazing. So
<v Speaker 2>I would say the diameter of the maple that I'm
<v Speaker 2>growing it on is maybe four to five inches, so
<v Speaker 2>it's certainly narrow, small enough, you know, like just like
<v Speaker 2>about this small enough for the honeysuckle to climb up
<v Speaker 2>on its own. But now if you did want to
<v Speaker 2>grow it on a thicker plant, you can certainly make
<v Speaker 2>some concessions. I've seen people do anything from you know,
<v Speaker 2>putting on screws and creating some sort of kind of trellis.
<v Speaker 2>Some people will just like lean a trellis fishing line.
<v Speaker 2>There's lots of things that you can do. But you
<v Speaker 2>are correct, Jennifer. It does not self clan. It does
<v Speaker 2>need to twine around, but as long as you can
<v Speaker 2>provide something for it to do that, it will be
<v Speaker 2>just fine and it will find its way around and
<v Speaker 2>become a beautiful specimen. So my apologies for the confusion there,
<v Speaker 2>but growing it around a small tree would be no
<v Speaker 2>problem at all.
<v Speaker 1>You know, one thing I've often done is after Christmas,
<v Speaker 1>I've taken the old Christmas tree the cut Christmas tree
<v Speaker 1>and moved it outside in my landscape. I've stuck them
<v Speaker 1>in the ground with hopes that it would root and grow.
<v Speaker 1>Never has happened.
<v Speaker 2>That would be amazing. You'd have to be calling Ripley's
<v Speaker 2>believe it or not if they're still around.
<v Speaker 1>But essentially I do it for the birds in the
<v Speaker 1>winter time, providing cover as they dart back and forth
<v Speaker 1>from the bird feeder. Stacey and anyhow to make a
<v Speaker 1>lawn story short. What I do is I plant as
<v Speaker 1>the needles fall off, morning glories at the base. Cool.
<v Speaker 1>Love that, So there you go.
<v Speaker 2>So Joni asks a great question, how do you care
<v Speaker 2>for a standard rose? I purchased a Julia Child standard
<v Speaker 2>in the summer of twenty twenty four. How do I
<v Speaker 2>keep it? Do I keep it staked? How do I
<v Speaker 2>trim it? When do I fertilize, et cetera. Now, Julia
<v Speaker 2>Child is such a fabulous rose. Julia Child personally picked
<v Speaker 2>it to be named for her. It's yellow, has the
<v Speaker 2>most gorgeous fragrance, it's very disease resistant, it is reblooming.
<v Speaker 2>It was kind of like the og disease resistant landscape rose,
<v Speaker 2>even though it's actually more of a hybrid tea. So
<v Speaker 2>very jealous, beautiful plant and a standard rose. A standard
<v Speaker 2>is the technical term for a tree rose. So roses
<v Speaker 2>naturally are multi stem shrubs. They want to kind of grow.
<v Speaker 2>They sometimes have weak stems, sometimes have strong stems, depending
<v Speaker 2>on the species, and some growers will train them specifically
<v Speaker 2>to take on this tree form where they have almost
<v Speaker 2>like a trunk and then the canopy of the rose
<v Speaker 2>on top. Now that happens with hydrangeas too, but hydrangels
<v Speaker 2>are much sturdier and much woodier and don't as much training,
<v Speaker 2>whereas a rose standard for the most part, for most
<v Speaker 2>of us in the US especially, are unlikely to be
<v Speaker 2>able to grow without a steak. Wouldn't you agree?
<v Speaker 1>I would agree?
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, So I would say keep it staked, and whether
<v Speaker 2>or not the steak that the grower sends it with
<v Speaker 2>is sufficient for its long term sustainability, I can't say,
<v Speaker 2>but it does. You're going to want to have it
<v Speaker 2>on a pretty good steak, and I think like a
<v Speaker 2>one by one wooden steak is fine. If you just
<v Speaker 2>google standard roses or tree form roses, you'll see lots
<v Speaker 2>of different solutions out there. So this is a plan
<v Speaker 2>that you do need to keep steaks, but not guy
<v Speaker 2>wired like a tree. Just you know, steak it next
<v Speaker 2>to it and then prune it in spring like you
<v Speaker 2>would any other rose, which is to say that you're
<v Speaker 2>going to be looking at where those buds are starting
<v Speaker 2>to come out, and you're going to be cutting back
<v Speaker 2>to where there is a nice thick bud coming out.
<v Speaker 2>Because the thicker the bud you come up, prune back
<v Speaker 2>to the thicker and more vigorous the growth that comes
<v Speaker 2>from it will be For roses. You know, you can
<v Speaker 2>fertilize just once year in early spring with a rose fertilizer.
<v Speaker 2>Both Rick and I like Ispoma. Rose Tone is kind
<v Speaker 2>of a general purpose rose and shrub fertilizer, but you
<v Speaker 2>can use whatever you have. You can also fertilize monthly
<v Speaker 2>through late July if you want to. It's not necessary.
<v Speaker 2>Once should be fine. You could also even do a
<v Speaker 2>second one in June just before it's about to bloom
<v Speaker 2>to give it that extra oof. But overall, yeah, your
<v Speaker 2>biggest challenges are going to be making sure that the canopy,
<v Speaker 2>so to speak, stays in proportion with the trunk, and
<v Speaker 2>then that trunk stays nice and sturdy and staked, because
<v Speaker 2>if anything happens to that, you will lose your standard rose.
<v Speaker 2>And as with many plants that are grown as standards,
<v Speaker 2>it is a big investment. So you do need to
<v Speaker 2>be careful and preserve your investment, but enjoy what a
<v Speaker 2>fabulous choice mistakes are. Indeed, we're going to take a
<v Speaker 2>break and when we come back, we've got Kayla Olsen
<v Speaker 2>from proofo Wwinner's Perennials, so please stay tuned. Thanks for
<v Speaker 2>listening to the Gardening Simplified Podcast, brought to you by
<v Speaker 2>Proven Winners Color Choice Shrubs. Our award winning flowering shrubs
<v Speaker 2>and evergreens are trialed and tested by experts with your
<v Speaker 2>success in mind. Learn more at Proven winnerscolor Choice dot com.
<v Speaker 1>Welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show. Today in branching News,
<v Speaker 1>we'll chat with Kayla Olsen with Proven Winners Perennials. Kayla Olsen,
<v Speaker 1>Proven Winners Perennials, Regional product manager for the Central US
<v Speaker 1>and Kayla, thanks for joining us on the Gardening Simplified Show.
<v Speaker 3>Thanks for having me.
<v Speaker 1>This is an exciting time of the year to look
<v Speaker 1>forward to Spring twenty twenty five, and in our first segment,
<v Speaker 1>we talked about the national Plants of the Year and
<v Speaker 1>wanted to get a comment from you on these plants.
<v Speaker 1>Let's start with Jack of Diamond's heartleaf brunera. What's your
<v Speaker 1>feelings on that plant? It's Perennial of the year.
<v Speaker 3>You know, it is one of my favorite ground covers,
<v Speaker 3>and that's because it has such big leaves. I think
<v Speaker 3>when we think of groundcovers, we always think of small
<v Speaker 3>textured plants, but this one really has quite a large presence.
<v Speaker 3>While the plant itself doesn't get more than you know,
<v Speaker 3>sixteen inches tall, the plant leaves are what's really so
<v Speaker 3>interesting about this, with that scallop that kind of curl,
<v Speaker 3>so you get a ton of texture not only in
<v Speaker 3>the vein nation, but in the leaf itself.
<v Speaker 1>It's a beautiful perennial of the year. How about Hosta
<v Speaker 1>of the Year, Shadowland Miss America hostile. What really strikes
<v Speaker 1>you about this hosta introduction?
<v Speaker 3>You know, the Shadowland series is fantastic because there's such
<v Speaker 3>large plants, and typically, you know, we think of a
<v Speaker 3>large or a gigantic which is what a lot of
<v Speaker 3>these are classified as as just kind of getting almost
<v Speaker 3>as big of a shrub as a shrub. This one,
<v Speaker 3>in particular, you don't get nineteen inches talls. You're saying,
<v Speaker 3>that's not a gigantic hosta, what are you talking about?
<v Speaker 3>But really it's the spread of this plant getting about
<v Speaker 3>fifty five inches wide at its maturity, so it's lob wide.
<v Speaker 3>So if you're looking for something to really take up
<v Speaker 3>a lot of space and really brighten up a shady spot,
<v Speaker 3>this is a fantastic selection because you get that white vanation,
<v Speaker 3>but you also kind of have a multitude of colors
<v Speaker 3>around the edge of that leaf, so you get quite
<v Speaker 3>a bit of tonal variation. And you also do get
<v Speaker 3>really pretty flowers with this one. I think people don't
<v Speaker 3>think apastas for flowers, but we do get some really
<v Speaker 3>large scapes that are lovely lavender color, and I've seen
<v Speaker 3>people actually start putting these in cut flowers. So there's
<v Speaker 3>more than just foliage attraction for this fantastic hoasta.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, definitely an impact plant and then landscape Perennial of
<v Speaker 1>the year. I can see why this one was chosen.
<v Speaker 1>It's a favorite of mine, cats meow, And I'm going
<v Speaker 1>to ask you, Kayla, we were joking about this earlier.
<v Speaker 1>As far as your pronunciation is concerned, at least, I've
<v Speaker 1>heard it all nepeta, nepita, nepita, what do you say?
<v Speaker 3>I am kind of partial to nepata, but I've heard
<v Speaker 3>it all the ways as well, Tomato, tomato, whatever your
<v Speaker 3>preferences for cat mins. I don't think we all know
<v Speaker 3>what we're talking about, right, exactly.
<v Speaker 1>Right, exactly? What do you love about cats me ow?
<v Speaker 3>You know, I think we're all used to some of
<v Speaker 3>the older varieties that have been on the market for
<v Speaker 3>a long time that kind of flap open and definitely
<v Speaker 3>need one or two or three haircuts throughout the year.
<v Speaker 3>This is one of those plants that you're really kind
<v Speaker 3>of taking it to that next generation where you still
<v Speaker 3>have that lovely habit. But we've got really beautiful spikes
<v Speaker 3>of sky blue flowers with a purple calyx, so you
<v Speaker 3>get a little bit of a two tone effect with
<v Speaker 3>that purple color, super long blooming. It branches really well,
<v Speaker 3>so it doesn't open up quite as bad, and so
<v Speaker 3>it keeps a really nice tidy habit, and so it's
<v Speaker 3>a well behaved cat in the garden, and the pollinators
<v Speaker 3>love it and you'll love it as a gardener as well,
<v Speaker 3>not having to give it so many haircuts to keep
<v Speaker 3>it looking good.
<v Speaker 2>And from your perspective, is that what makes one of
<v Speaker 2>the proving winner's perennials suitable for the landscape Perennial of
<v Speaker 2>the year, this kind of low maintenance or is it
<v Speaker 2>that there are already plants that are widely used in
<v Speaker 2>the landscape trade. What is the qualification there?
<v Speaker 3>So for a landscape perennial the year, you definitely hit
<v Speaker 3>on it. Not only does it have to have great
<v Speaker 3>garden performance, be low maintenance, especially for the commercial companies
<v Speaker 3>that are having to come back and touch bold plants regularly.
<v Speaker 3>But availability is really a big deal with this. A
<v Speaker 3>lot of the time with our plants of the year,
<v Speaker 3>they have to be on the market for a certain
<v Speaker 3>amount of time. They can't just be an new variety.
<v Speaker 3>But when it comes to the landscape perennial, of the year.
<v Speaker 3>We absolutely want to make sure that that plant has
<v Speaker 3>readily available in the market for landscapers to get access to.
<v Speaker 3>So it has to be available in large quantities from
<v Speaker 3>a lot of different growers and wholesalers. So we really
<v Speaker 3>want to make sure that that plant is available in
<v Speaker 3>the supply chain when designers are looking for it, they
<v Speaker 3>can get access to it very easily. And then you
<v Speaker 3>also have that confidence that this has great performance and
<v Speaker 3>it's trustworthy. And these aren't just plants that we come
<v Speaker 3>up with. These are voted on by a number of
<v Speaker 3>industry professionals as well, so people who are active in
<v Speaker 3>the industry give an opportunity to say, yeah, we think
<v Speaker 3>that that is such a great plant, we'd like to
<v Speaker 3>give it a little extra special attention.
<v Speaker 1>We're chatting with Kayla Olsen. Proven winners' perennials in this
<v Speaker 1>segment and Kayla beyond the perennial Plants of the Year,
<v Speaker 1>unbelievable the number of new exciting introductions. I mean, I've
<v Speaker 1>got to mention right off the top, both Stacey and
<v Speaker 1>I struggle with deer pressure and so I'm a big
<v Speaker 1>fan of aliums and I'm reading about this Bobblehead alium,
<v Speaker 1>where the description says much larger and more robust than serendipity.
<v Speaker 1>I love serendipity, So you got my attention there.
<v Speaker 3>Well, we love serendipity as well. But you know, a
<v Speaker 3>lot of the aliums that we've seen in the market
<v Speaker 3>have been a little bit smaller and more moderate in size.
<v Speaker 3>Bobblehead is one of these varieties that's actually really large,
<v Speaker 3>and so for people that have been maybe struggling with
<v Speaker 3>planting dailies because the deer just loved a munch on them,
<v Speaker 3>this is a great alternative in the same size as
<v Speaker 3>a daily. So we're talking thirty to thirty two inches
<v Speaker 3>tall the plant itself, not really including that flower scape,
<v Speaker 3>and so it's got some substance. The leaves are a
<v Speaker 3>fantastic kind of strappy twist to them, so you get
<v Speaker 3>a little bit of texture. Still they're that pretty glaucous
<v Speaker 3>blue green. But I think one of the things that
<v Speaker 3>is fantastic about a large alium is that you also
<v Speaker 3>get large flowers. And so when we say that these
<v Speaker 3>flowers are about three three and a half inches, to
<v Speaker 3>give you a sense of scale, think about the size
<v Speaker 3>of a tennis ball. And so now you've got almost
<v Speaker 3>three foot wide plant. There are two foot wide plants
<v Speaker 3>that's got all these tennis balls of lavender flowers on
<v Speaker 3>them that the deer and rabbits aren't gonna much on.
<v Speaker 2>Twist my arm. I'm loving it. I'm definitely adding that one.
<v Speaker 3>This season was a little bit earlier than some of
<v Speaker 3>the other varieties, and so you're going to see it
<v Speaker 3>in midsummer and those flowers are going to last for
<v Speaker 3>a long time.
<v Speaker 1>Stacy's been talking about pairing perennials with flowers and shrubs,
<v Speaker 1>and Stacy, this one caught my eye. I don't know
<v Speaker 1>about you, but the living large a big sky salvia
<v Speaker 1>supersized perennial Salvia's.
<v Speaker 2>I mean, I love big perennials. So again, twist my
<v Speaker 2>arm like you're speaking my language here.
<v Speaker 1>What about that plant, Kayla.
<v Speaker 3>That is one of those hidden gems that I think
<v Speaker 3>people have never seen at this type of salvia on
<v Speaker 3>the market before. It's new to us, and we think
<v Speaker 3>that consumers are just going to be so excited about
<v Speaker 3>it because it does give you almost the shrub like
<v Speaker 3>size perennial. So much of the breeding has been shrinking things,
<v Speaker 3>but this time we decided to go big or go home.
<v Speaker 3>And so this is a Pretensius type salvia, so everything
<v Speaker 3>about it is supersized. You get large strappy leaves, you
<v Speaker 3>get really tall flower scapes, and you also get really
<v Speaker 3>large individual flowers. So you get a lot of texture
<v Speaker 3>with this plant. And as it blooms, it just keeps
<v Speaker 3>working up the stem, adding more and more color, so
<v Speaker 3>you get a long season of bloom. Huge impact in
<v Speaker 3>the garden.
<v Speaker 2>Now. I know a lot of people gardeners in colder
<v Speaker 2>climates like us here in Michigan here selvia, and they
<v Speaker 2>start to get, you know, maybe a little bit cautious
<v Speaker 2>because we can We've all fallen in love with a
<v Speaker 2>tender selvia that we cannot grow. So what's the hardness
<v Speaker 2>on this one?
<v Speaker 3>If you think that Michigan is a cold climate, I
<v Speaker 3>got news for you. Party up in Pull zone three.
<v Speaker 3>All of our friends up in Minnesota, the Dakotas in
<v Speaker 3>the Canada can also enjoy this plant. So it's super
<v Speaker 3>hardy in this soone that come back a year after
<v Speaker 3>year for you.
<v Speaker 1>The fabulous summerrific hibiscus Stacey, both you and I enjoy
<v Speaker 1>them in our yards. I don't know, do you have
<v Speaker 1>cookies and cream? I see cookies and cream.
<v Speaker 2>I do have cookies and cream. But the plants that
<v Speaker 2>I got were last year's sam so they're little. But
<v Speaker 2>cookies and cream is a smaller one, right, Khila.
<v Speaker 3>It is a small one. It is a nice little
<v Speaker 3>treat for you in the garden. I think that this
<v Speaker 3>one is probably going to be my favorite new perennial
<v Speaker 3>this year. A lot of people don't realize that partial
<v Speaker 3>hybiscus are natives the US, and they're used to them
<v Speaker 3>because being these giant plants that can kind of take
<v Speaker 3>over a space. This one is really fantastic because it
<v Speaker 3>really only gets about three feet wide and three feet tall,
<v Speaker 3>so it's a nice compact plant that can fit in
<v Speaker 3>a ton of different landscapes. And it really has fantastic foliage.
<v Speaker 3>So even when it's not blooming, you still get this
<v Speaker 3>great violet purple foliage. And then when it starts to bloom,
<v Speaker 3>it really shows you that display of pure white flowers.
<v Speaker 3>The flowers are super large, but they don't have that
<v Speaker 3>red eye that you typically get with a red foliage plant,
<v Speaker 3>and so it's a really big contrast and none.
<v Speaker 2>Of them yellow. Because I know, some of the earlier
<v Speaker 2>whites did kind of have like a more yellowy ivory tone,
<v Speaker 2>and this one is a really nice crisp, pure white.
<v Speaker 3>Crisp pure white. Yet you'll see a little bit of
<v Speaker 3>yellow on the anthers with a little bit of that pollen,
<v Speaker 3>but it's not enough to really make you see unless
<v Speaker 3>you're looking up close. This is a fantastic plant that
<v Speaker 3>I think is going to be super Popular's.
<v Speaker 1>Talk about a few more of these wonderful introductions, Kyla.
<v Speaker 1>I'm looking at Kaleidoscope different cultivars there of hardy ice plant. Wow,
<v Speaker 1>I think that there's real interest in ice plant.
<v Speaker 3>Well, it's such a fantastic ground cover that's super low
<v Speaker 3>growing at only about two to four inches tall. And
<v Speaker 3>I think people think of ice plant as a succulent
<v Speaker 3>and you can't grow it in cool climates, but that's
<v Speaker 3>not necessarily true. We've been relying heavily overwintering it in
<v Speaker 3>western Michigan in zone six, but we believe that it's
<v Speaker 3>actually a little bit hardier than that. We think into
<v Speaker 3>five B, especially if you've got really well drained soil,
<v Speaker 3>especially if it's sandy, it's going to do fantastic and
<v Speaker 3>so You got a lot of interest with this plant,
<v Speaker 3>aside from it really covering the ground with these thick
<v Speaker 3>waxy leaves. In the spring, when it's emerging, you get
<v Speaker 3>fantastic deep purple and burgundy colors. And then once it
<v Speaker 3>starts blooming throughout the season, it just kind of doesn't
<v Speaker 3>stop blooming unless it's a really cloudy day. I think
<v Speaker 3>most people don't understand that this plant is very photo sensitive.
<v Speaker 3>So when the sun comes out, those flowers open right up,
<v Speaker 3>and when the sun goes behind the cloud, they might
<v Speaker 3>close up a little bit. So they kind of like
<v Speaker 3>to play peekaboo with you throughout the day.
<v Speaker 2>Oh, they keep things interesting. Yeah, But now the Cloudscope series,
<v Speaker 2>you have multiple colors in this right.
<v Speaker 3>We do. There's four colors in the series, and so
<v Speaker 3>we've got Dancing Numbers, which is a reddish orange. There's
<v Speaker 3>Orchid Flash, which is a deep dark labnder pink. There's
<v Speaker 3>Pink Radiance, which has a light pink flower and it's
<v Speaker 3>kind of a rosy purple center. So you get it
<v Speaker 3>two tone effects. And my favorite is Razzle Dazzle, and
<v Speaker 3>that is because it's a bicolor. It's got raspberry red
<v Speaker 3>tips with a future purple eye, and then the anthers
<v Speaker 3>and stamens create kind of a creamy, whitish yellow center.
<v Speaker 3>So you've got three colors going on and it's just fantastic.
<v Speaker 2>Well, I have them all in my new succulent garden
<v Speaker 2>and I'm super excited to see them. I do have
<v Speaker 2>a problem with rabbits and my Dellas Burma. Any advice there, dear.
<v Speaker 3>I feet that you don't like as much.
<v Speaker 2>I know, I know, but I started with bigger plants,
<v Speaker 2>so I'm hopeful that at least some will survive enough
<v Speaker 2>that early spring onslaught when they're like, you know, so
<v Speaker 2>hungry for any little tender bit that's emerging. But I
<v Speaker 2>love Dellas Fermother. Just one of those plants that people
<v Speaker 2>see and they're like, you can grow this in Michigan, right.
<v Speaker 3>And the nice thing about this series as well is
<v Speaker 3>that they're really vigorous. And one thing that some of
<v Speaker 3>the older varieties have had is that they're a little
<v Speaker 3>slow growing and they kind of take their time to spread.
<v Speaker 3>These are not aggressive, but they definitely grow pretty quickly
<v Speaker 3>for DLAs Birma, and so at about two years, you're
<v Speaker 3>going to see them get to about twenty four inches wide,
<v Speaker 3>and so they will continue to grow, but they will
<v Speaker 3>start taking up a little bit of space and moving
<v Speaker 3>in and around the rocks and other plants that you've
<v Speaker 3>got and continue that trail of color all summer.
<v Speaker 1>With the interest in cut flower gardening and cutting flowers
<v Speaker 1>from your own garden, I'm keying in here, Kayla and Alstromeria.
<v Speaker 1>You know, this is a plant that in the garden
<v Speaker 1>center industry I always sold as a summer flowering bulb
<v Speaker 1>people used for cut flowers. Now here you have a
<v Speaker 1>series summer break, summer breeze, summer heat, and you're saying
<v Speaker 1>that it's trialed pretty well in Zone six trials.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, this is definitely one of those plants that has
<v Speaker 3>taken a really long time to gain some traction in
<v Speaker 3>the perennial market because it has been such a florist
<v Speaker 3>flower or treated as an annual bulb. But we're starting
<v Speaker 3>to get some genetics that are allowing us to overwinter
<v Speaker 3>up into zone six. Because this is kind of a
<v Speaker 3>tropical plant. It's also known as Peruvian lily, so it's
<v Speaker 3>neative to Peru. But now that we've got these great
<v Speaker 3>colors for the garden, the other big thing about getting
<v Speaker 3>a good garden plant was making sure that it had
<v Speaker 3>good foliage as well, and it created had a nice
<v Speaker 3>habit overall in the garden. Wasn't just a bunch of
<v Speaker 3>leggy stems. So aside from this fantastic bloom flower of
<v Speaker 3>these ants and the nice long stocks that you can
<v Speaker 3>still do cut flowers with, the foliage in the garden
<v Speaker 3>itself is great. I think Summer Breeze probably has the
<v Speaker 3>prettiest foliage because it's a lot darker. It's got some
<v Speaker 3>purple black tones, so it really contrasts with the flowers.
<v Speaker 1>That's beautiful.
<v Speaker 2>Now what Sorry, Rick, but I'm curious since I have
<v Speaker 2>not grown Elster Maria myself, it's hard for me to
<v Speaker 2>kind of envision or make that you know, visual transition
<v Speaker 2>from the cut stem that I'm used to to what
<v Speaker 2>the habit actually looks like in the garden. So can
<v Speaker 2>you kind of give us a visual picture of, you know,
<v Speaker 2>what it actually looks like, what a gardener can expect
<v Speaker 2>and how to use it in the garden.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah. So they do get kind of tall, about thirty
<v Speaker 3>six to forty two inches tall, so about three feet
<v Speaker 3>and they also get about three feet wide. They form
<v Speaker 3>a really nice mound with a lot of color at
<v Speaker 3>the top of the plant, and you'll notice that the
<v Speaker 3>flowers there's multiple blooming on each stem at each time,
<v Speaker 3>with a bunch of bugs waiting in line to start
<v Speaker 3>blooming right afterwards, so it just keeps that color going.
<v Speaker 3>They're really good at self cleaning, so when one flower's done,
<v Speaker 3>it makes way for the rest, so you don't have
<v Speaker 3>to do a lot of dead heading. It'll do it
<v Speaker 3>by itself. But also because of this great mound, there's
<v Speaker 3>lots of stems coming out of the base of it.
<v Speaker 3>If you do decide to take a few for your bases,
<v Speaker 3>you're not going to harm the habit of the plant,
<v Speaker 3>so you can enjoy it both at your table and
<v Speaker 3>in your garden at the same time. And these do
<v Speaker 3>really really well in well drained soils. But we do
<v Speaker 3>recommend a little bit of winter protection, so if you
<v Speaker 3>could throw a few extra leaves, some extra cuttings on
<v Speaker 3>there to make some extra molts in the winter time,
<v Speaker 3>just especially if there isn't a lot of snow cover
<v Speaker 3>in your area throughout the winter when those temps really
<v Speaker 3>do dip, you'll get the best results from that.
<v Speaker 1>Just a few moments left here, KYLEA. But wanted to
<v Speaker 1>ask you, being in the garden center industry for many years,
<v Speaker 1>at least from my personal perspective, I would say that
<v Speaker 1>campanulas as well as yarrow, I call it achillia. I
<v Speaker 1>don't know if you pronounce it that way or not.
<v Speaker 1>You say achille, I do I do?
<v Speaker 3>I call it achillia?
<v Speaker 2>Yeah?
<v Speaker 1>Am I right that that there's real interest in new
<v Speaker 1>cultivars with both Campaniola and yarrow.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, they're definitely having a moment that they were kind
<v Speaker 3>of considered your grandma's plant for a while and there
<v Speaker 3>wasn't a lot of breeding work happening, and so some
<v Speaker 3>of the varieties on the market were getting a little sale.
<v Speaker 3>So in terms of the achillia, we do have a series.
<v Speaker 3>It's the Firefly series, and we've got a number of
<v Speaker 3>different colors in there. Most recently we just added a
<v Speaker 3>fusia and a red. And so not only are we
<v Speaker 3>kind of updating the habit of those plants, making sure
<v Speaker 3>that they've got really hearty stems, that they don't open up,
<v Speaker 3>that they're not a bully in the garden that just
<v Speaker 3>kind of aggressively propagates itself around so it stays where
<v Speaker 3>you planted it. We're also bringing some of those more
<v Speaker 3>intense colors to the garden, so it's not necessarily all
<v Speaker 3>the soft past cells. That you can get some fusha
<v Speaker 3>and some reds in there as well for some excitement.
<v Speaker 3>And when it comes to companila, there's quite a few
<v Speaker 3>different species that we're playing with. One of the series
<v Speaker 3>it is our bell series, and these are a Glomorada type,
<v Speaker 3>so they're an upright but they kind of have a
<v Speaker 3>really unique flower structure. They're clustered in a way that
<v Speaker 3>you maybe wouldn't know it was a bellflower unless you
<v Speaker 3>looked pretty closely at each individual flower. And so not
<v Speaker 3>only do we have a purple in that series, which
<v Speaker 3>is a really deep violet purple, but we also have
<v Speaker 3>a white and so they look really great together and
<v Speaker 3>really contrast each other nicely. And then we also have
<v Speaker 3>a series of Carpavoca types which are our mini Marvel series.
<v Speaker 3>There's three colors in it, and these are the really
<v Speaker 3>ground cover type companilas. That's fantastic along the edges of
<v Speaker 3>your garden, kind of filling in those little spots in
<v Speaker 3>between your taller plants and providing you summer long color
<v Speaker 3>along your walkways with so many flowers that you almost
<v Speaker 3>can't see the foliage at times.
<v Speaker 1>Beautiful Kayla, thanks for joining us on the Gardening Simplified Show.
<v Speaker 1>Before I let you go, going to ask you an
<v Speaker 1>unfair question. Do you have a favorite? So much to
<v Speaker 1>look forward to in twenty twenty five? And if you don't,
<v Speaker 1>then just tell me. No, Rick, I can't pick a favorite,
<v Speaker 1>But do you have a favorite?
<v Speaker 3>You know I do and I have to say it's
<v Speaker 3>cookies and cream. That plant just makes me so happy
<v Speaker 3>every time I look at it.
<v Speaker 1>Oh, fantastic, fantastic, Kayla Olson proven winners Perennials, Kala, thanks
<v Speaker 1>so much for joining us on the Simplified Show.
<v Speaker 3>Thanks for having me happy gardening.
<v Speaker 1>Happy Gardening.
<v Speaker 2>Well that was great. I am so hyped up for
<v Speaker 2>this spring. I have a bunch of those perennials, which
<v Speaker 2>is great, and I'm going to be adding a bunch.
<v Speaker 1>More so something to look forward.
<v Speaker 2>Absolutely still a couple months away, but you know, it's
<v Speaker 2>all about the dream. So thanks so much te Kayla
<v Speaker 2>for all of that time and great information. Thank you Rick,
<v Speaker 2>thank you Aderana, and of course thanks to all of you.
<v Speaker 2>For listening. We really appreciate your support and hope you
<v Speaker 2>have a wonderful week ahead.