Garden Regrets and Learning From Them

It's time for the Gardening Simplified podcast, YouTube and radio show coming to you
from Studio A. Here at proven winner's color choice. Shrugs. It's Stacy,
Hervella me Rick weisst and our engineer and producer Adrianna Robinson. Well,
Stacy the Garden of Regrets. Your home's garden, landscape lawn does not come
with a warning label. Man it doesn't come with an owner's manual. Not
that you'd read the owner's manual, but it doesn't for that matter. And
you know, when you think about warning labels, you ever read the warning
label they put on Christmas lights for indoor or outdoor use? Only? What
other use? Would therap be here? Right? And I took my grandson
to the playground the other day and there was a warning on the playground equipment.
It said warning physical activity carries inherent risks. What you know? I
remember them Mary go rounds when we were kids in the seventies, and you'd
always have the daredevil who'd spin it as fast as he could, right and
see who could go flying off. Or those giant metal slides whereby two o'clock
in the afternoon, the surface of that slide is like three hundred and twenty
five degrees. But anyhow, warning labels or regrets you know, we have
it's a touchy subject. We have motivational speakers that key in on regrets.
You know, I've heard them say the pain of discipline or the pain of
regret. The difference is discipline weighs ounces, while regret weighs tons. And
then on the other hand, we have motivational speakers who say to us,
well, the biggest regret of your life won't be what you did, but
rather what you didn't do. That's probably true. Yeah, so I don't
know how that applies to the garden necessarily, but in life that is probably
true. But like, you know, you could see a great plant on
or at a garden center that you don't usually see and just be like,
eh, I don't know where I would put it, although I don't know
what gardener in the right mind ever not doesn't buy something because they don't know
really put maybe a treat. But you know, so let's tee up some
regrets. And as a matter of fact, that's right first on my list.
Impulsive plant buying and placement, spacing, improper spacing or putting a plant
in the wrong location. That's got to be one of the top regrets of
gardeners. Oh yeah, but that's also just part of gardening, and most
of the time you don't have to regret that if you put something in the
wrong spot it's not doing well, or maybe it's doing too well, you
can usually move it and correct that, so you don't you know, that's
that's like where the learning happens in gardening. Got it from your mistakes,
trying to do too much at once, pacing, making your garden too big.
Here's a garden regret that I hear often, and that is listening to
a neighbor or relative. Oh, I guess it depends on your neighbor a
relative. Well. I had an individual, as a matter of fact,
on next week's show, we're going to talk about dog scaping, and I
had an individual who said to me that his neighbor told him, because the
dog was tearing up the lawn, why don't you just plant all crabgrass?
What? Yes, So there you goof And of course tied into that in
garden regrets is believing everything you see and read on the internet. Don't do
that. Not correcting slope and drainage prior to planting, and the same can
be said for soil preparation. I think one of the keys to gardening is
good soil preparation and understanding your soil. And if you're in a hurry to
stick that plant in the ground and you don't create a good foundation, Stacy,
you're going to regret it later. Yet usually you will, and it
will show up quick planting too close to a structure, not taking into account
its eventual size. And coming up on today's show in segment four, we're
gonna ask Rick Weist, not this Rick Weist, my son Rick Weist,
who is an arborist, but Stacy. We see that with trees all the
time, where they're just planted too close to a structure, and after ten
or twenty years, you've got a problem on your head. You know,
it absolutely is a problem. But I kind of even though it's bad,
I can't blame people for doing this because it is so impossible even to me,
as a horticulturist, to believe that that little you know, five gallon
sap leg that you have in your hands legitimately should be planted sixty feet from
your house. You know, like you put that little thing out there and
it's lost and it's sad, and you just have to be thinking to yourself,
surely I could not. This is not going to end up being,
you know, sixty feet wide, and it can be very hard to live.
I mean, I think people do that even with something not trees like
hydranges, big leaf hydrange is it's very common for people to buy a little
cute one gallon Oh it's so adorable that says it's going to be five feet
that's not going to happen, and then they put it right under their dining
room window and next thing, you know, disaster you got it. Or
preparing for weather conditions, whether it be frost or hey, folks, in
some parts of the country, hail netting is a thing. Wow, I
didn't know that. Yeah, where you plant in spring and they frequently would
get hail in spring and then there go all your vegetable plants. Of course,
plants. Putting plants in the ground that are a commitment. Sometimes it
becomes a regret, like lily of the Valley, or violets or English ivy
or Norway maple is a perfect example. Boy does that tree seed like crazy.
It's not a great maple tree. Although I did I think Strativari used
Norway maple on the backs of the Strativarius violins. Still not a good enough
reason to plant, in my opinion. I mean, you know, it
provides shade, but it does literally nothing else. It doesn't really have nice
flowers, it doesn't have good fall color. It's not really like great for
pollinators. I agree, it's you can do so much better. I'd add
black walnuts to the list, and of course ornamental pairs. And some people
would even argue nasturtiums because once you plant nasturtiums in your garden, well you're
gonna have nasturtiums. Oh that's a problem. I wish I had water sources
for your plants. So putting plants in the ground and not paying attention to
a water source. And here's a garden regret that I really like, and
that is planning to use the fruits of your labor. In other words,
eyes bigger than your stomach. Your goals are too lofty. And I'm primarily
talking about vegetable gardening. When tomatoes and zucchini are in abundance, and august
or cucumbers, and now what do I do with this? You know,
I have a friend who fits that description. To a tea in March.
She was so excited to plant her seedlings, kept saying, can I do
it already? Can I do it now? Can I do it now?
And I was like, it would be better if you waited. And you
know, she's all excited to get out into the garden and plant everything.
And I know coming up in a couple of weeks here she's going to be
Please take some tomatoes, please, pepper, zucchini anything. That's what I
do. I fill a bag, put it on the neighbor's front porch,
ring the doorbell, and run now. Initial planting as opposed to set it
and forget it. In other words, if you're excited about planting an area,
let's say you do some tilling. You may be bringing weed seeds up
to the surface. Or let's talk about quack grass. My word, with
quack grass, you go through there until you're going to be propagating the plant.
Maybe it's horsetail. So making sure to take care of the vegetation that's
in that area first and making sure it's taken care of well before you get
in there and plant, because you're going to have regret if you don't.
Yeah, you know, I actually have a mailbag question along those lines.
If we have time to get too it should be very interesting, all right,
providing protection for susceptible plants as far as deer or rabbit damage is concerned.
Putting off what you can do now and forgetting to do it later.
Uh yeah, I do that a lot, a lot. You know here
in the Midwest or in the north. You know, if you've got a
young tree we were talking about saplings, If you have a young tree and
just you know, not putting the wrap on the trunk in October and then
having Southwest disease flare up where the bark expands and contracts during the winter,
and then you have the splitting of that bar. It's going to be there
for good. It's going to remind you over and over again that you procrastinated
not going to kill the tree. But again, that's one of those things
that belongs in the garden read well. And you know, along those same
lines, a huge regret in my area that sometimes happens and it's heartbreaking to
see, is buck So you know, if you have a young sapling in
fall, the bucks go out there and they try to rub all the velvet
off of their antlers on. They specifically target young trees, so they have
to be like, you know, certain caliber, certain diameter, and boy,
when you see one of those trees, I mean, they absolutely destroy
it. And it's just a simple thing. Whereas if you just put like
a little one of those like kind of drainage tiles or something around it,
they can't access it. And that's a odds of preventions worth a pound of
cure in that case. There you go. You know, I want to
add to the garden of regrets to something that I've seen through the years.
I have a neighbor across the street. His yard is immaculate. His garage
is so clean you could eat off the floor. I mean, everything is
in place. He was insistent on using stone mulch. I am not a
fan of stone mulch, like shredded mulches. I don't think stone mulches are
good for plants. And then you know, you start to have weeds grow
up through it. Whatever it may be. A stone mulch drives me crazy.
I told him not to do it. He did it. Now he's
regretted. Oh well, he better shell out if he's going to want it.
Taken away, because that is not an inexpensive task to ask someone to
rake up all your gravel mulch and haul it away. Yikes. Send us
your notes, your emails, your comments, your questions at Gardeningsimplified on air
dot com, and well, share with us some of your garden regrets.
We'd love to hear from you. Let's find out what Stacey's going to talk
about during Plants on Trial and how she'll tie this into garden regrets that's coming
up next here on the Gardening Simplified Show. Proven Winner's Color Choice Shrubs cares
about your success in the garden. That's why we trial and test all of
our shrubs for eight to ten years, making sure they outperform everything else on
the market. Look for them in the distinctive white container at your local garden
center. Greeting's gardening friends and come back to the Gardening Simplified Show, where
the topic of the day is regrets. Regrets in the garden, regretting doing
things, regretting not doing things. And you know, if I was thinking,
like, what is my biggest garden regret, and you know, on
a small scale, it would be the time that I when I was first
gardening, and I pruned all my lavender back to the ground in spring,
thinking oh, this looks awful, and I killed on my lavender and that
was a regret. But at the same time, I've never forgotten that lesson,
and I have never since pruned lavender incorrectly again. So you know that's
so regret conserve a purpose. But you know, recently, if I have
a substantial garden regret, it is not removing my lawn sooner. So you
know, I've talked a little bit. I've talked a little bit this year
here and there about the fact that I did have my lawn removed. They
brought out a sidecutter, grated it all out, covered everything in shredded bark
mulch for the time being, to buy time. But eventually we'll be,
you know, building a series of beds in different garden rooms and interconnecting them
with paths. And my garden looks so much better without my lawn. Now,
to be fair, my lawn looked ghastly. It was not a nice
lawn. So it's not like I took out this beautiful, lush green carpet
and said bye. You know, it was a very sad lawn. And
everything looks just so much better with the mulch. It's a lot easier to
care for, and it's just put it kind of reinvigorated my whole garden like
that, you know that said, I also am the kind of person who
you know, wants to think long and hard about the decisions that I make
in the garden, and sometuns you're not ready to commit. So I'm not
sure I could have committed to it sooner. But now once you've done it,
you're kind of like, oh, should have done this years ago.
Well, through the years working with people, I've learned that one of the
regrets is fomo fear of missing out and fear of missing out on plant bargains
and that sort of thing. But the other regret that I see often is
going with the smaller planter, not getting a big enough pot that you put.
That's a big regret. Yeah, for sure. It's kind of like
Julia Child said, you can never really start with too small of a bowl,
Like the same kind of thing. You might regret how much soil you
need to buy to fill it, but you will be glad you have the
larger container in the long run. And you know, similarly, along the
same lines. If we're talking containers, if you see a container that you
like at a good price, buy it. You will not see it again.
This is not something you can just go online and shop for and expect
to have. Fine. You know, it's not like they have, you
know, model numbers. Necessarily, they're easy to find, so grab it.
If you love a container, you deserve it, you should buy it.
Buy it. So, yeah, when I was thinking about today's plant
on trial, you know, I again, as usual, lots of directions
that I could go, but I had to pick a plant that I would
say. I consistently hear about the most regret from gardeners. Now they don't
regret planting it necessarily, but they were regret the things that they have done.
They regret maybe where they planted it, and they almost certainly regret pruning
it. And that plant is hydrange Of macrophilla, the good old big leaf
hydrangea. If I had a dime for every time I heard that, yes,
I'd be a rich man. And even people have such good intentions when
they go into planting hydrange of macphilla or a big leaf hydrangea. They love
them. They're just like such the epitome of summer, and they have these
dreams of big blousy blue orbs in the garden and they're psyched and they're excited.
But then they go to the garden center and you know, as I
was explaining, they might get this cute little one gallon and look at the
tag and say, h five feet wide. Surely, I don't need to
plant this appropriately. It's never going to get that big. But it does
so very often people plant them improperly, absolutely, and don't call me surely,
especially the older variety. So newer varieties tend to be much much more
compact, but older varieties, if you're looking for any of the like old
antique varieties and Nico blue, all of those, I mean, those can
easily if they have abundant water and good growing conditions, they can reach six
feet tall or more, and that obviously can cause a sighting problem. And
then, of course, the other regret with big leaf hydrangels is pruning,
because you know, for all of their great qualities, when winter rolls around
and a big leaf hydrangel loses its leaves, it just looks like it should
be cut back. There is just no denying it. It's like a cosmic
joke or something. They look so they just look dead and they look like
they should be cut back. But if you fall for that trick and you
cut your hydrangel back in fall or winter or early spring, well you've cut
off all the flower buds that it was already made for that summer. So
you regret printing it now. Hopefully most people do learn that lesson, but
a lot of times what happens is maybe the person who planted it learned their
lesson, but there's always a well intentioned child home from college or landscaper or
spouse or whatever that comes along and cuts of back between couples. I can't
candy coat this. It is. Yeah, nothing makes me shake more than
getting a note from someone that says, please set on an argument between my
spouse and all the time, no, please don't bring me into it.
And then, of course, the third potential regret with planting a big leaf
hydrangea is planting a big leaf hydrangea that was developed primarily for the way it
looks and not the way it performs. And you know, here at proven
Mainter's color choice, we have really been laser focused on hydrangea performance. You
know, to us I think the pretty is a given. You could walk
around in our hydrange trials and I don't think that there are There might be
some that maybe aren't to someone's taste, but they're all pretty because they all
have these great qualities that people like, the glossy foliage, those big blousy
flowers, bright colors. But we don't just look and say, hey,
that's a pretty hydrangel, let's introduce it. We're really focused on improving performance
because we know how much regrets that people have when it comes to planting big
leaf hydranges. So what we and what we've done with recent introductions to our
Let's Dance series in today's plant on Trial is Let's Dance Ariba hydrorangea. What
we've done with this series as we have pinpointed two main features that we are
specifically selecting plants for that make a big difference in how it performs. The
first one is we're looking for big leaf hydrangels that set their flower buds along
the entire length of their stem. So before older varieties of big leaf Hyderrangea
they only set them at the top bud, and these older one or these
newer ones that we're looking at they set them along the entire length of the
stem. So what that means is, in those old varieties, if they
lost that top bud, there go your flowers. You've got nothing for the
following summer with these. If they accidentally get cut back, which they should
not, but if they do, they'll still flower. If they get killed
back by winter killed, they'll still flower. If they get browsed by deer,
they still have flower buds lower down on the plant to bloom on old
wood. And then because a reblooming Hydrangea also blooms on new wood, we've
focused on the amount of time it takes these plants to develop those new wood
blooms, and we're trying to get that down to a smaller time period now.
Typically older reblooming hydrangeas need to create six sets of leaves before they can
set a new wood flower, and that it takes a long time, especially
in a cooler climate like ours. So we're trying to get that down.
Does it can it set fewer? Does it? Can it set it with
shorter internodes so it doesn't have to make as much growth as those older varieties.
So are recent introductions into the Let's Dance series Let's Dance, Skyview and
Let'stance can do exhibit this characteristic, but those have already been plants on trial.
So I'm going with a third one that has these amazing characteristics, and
that is a Let's Dance arriba big leaf hydrangea rebloom big leaf Hydrangea. You
know, genetics and development and all the work that is put into this.
It's amazing to me st it is, and you know, it's taken us
so many years to not just be able to identify that some hydroranges have this
feature and what a difference it makes, but to gradually transition our breeding material
that we're using to create these plants two plants that have that, primarily so
that more of our offspring will have that, and then we keep developing that
to be a better and better and more prominent trait among the plants. So
you know, all of the plants, the three Let's Stance that have this
trait are all hardy to USDA Zone four. And it's not just that they
will live in USDA Zone four. All three of these will bloom in USDA
Zone four, which is a huge change compared to older ones. But what's
different about Let's Dance a Reba than the other two, and we'll link to
all of them of course in the show notes at gardening simplified on air dot
Com. Is the color. So, you know, a lot of people
when it comes to hydrange of color, they have some awareness that the soil
needs to be acidic, and maybe they also know that it needs to contain
aluminum for a hydrange it to be blue or purple. But that's not all
of the equation. A hydrangeous flower color is primarily determined by the genetics of
the planet itself, by the inherent ability of the plant to be a certain
color. And Let's Dance Ariba is one of those that just has that bright,
bold gene. And so when you see Let's Dance Ariba in the garden,
it's just like a beacon. It has just like a deep raspberry red
color. If you are in alkaline soil or soil without aluminium, and if
you are in soil with aluminum and or acidic soil, you're going to get
a purple you know. That's I've noticed that in the garden center, Stacey.
Of course I help out in a garden center or when I'm out on
the road. If I run across a garden center. I can't help it.
The carriages veers in there and I walk around, but I'm amazed at
how ariba looks in the pot. Oh yeah, I mean it's a beautiful
plant. It really is. It's one of those plants that if you see
it, you just have to have it. You will not regret buying it
either, because it will actually perform for you. Now, a lot of
people mistakenly think that that purple color develops if you're just right in between acidic
and alkalini. That's not true. Purple is actually a genetic trait, and
let's dance. Ariba is one of those that if you like a purple rather
than a blue, it's a great plant. Now I could go on and
on talking about hydrangees. I'd love talking about hydrange's. It's hydrange of season,
but we almost have to take a break again. This is let's stance.
Ariba hydrange hardy to USDA zone for two to three feet tall and wide,
So you don't need to worry about it overgrowing your dining room windows and
regretting where you placed it. So if you've been disappointed by hydrangees, if
you have hydrange of Regrets. I hope that you will try Let's Dance Ariba,
Let's Dance Skyview, or Let's Dance can Do. They all have these
great features that we hope will end hydrange of Regret for good. We're gonna
take a little break. When we come back, we're opening up the garden
mail bag, so please stay tuned. At proven Winner's color Choice, We've
got a shrub for every taste and every space. Whether you're looking for an
easycare rose, an unforgettable Hydrangea, or something new and unique, you can
be confident that the shrubs and the white containers have been trialed and tested for
your success. Look for them at your local garden center. Greeting's gardening friends,
and welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show, where it's time for us
to answer your gardening questions. If you have a gardening question for us to
answer, you can reach us at help HLP at Gardening Simplified on Air dot
com, or just visit Gardening Simplified on Air dot com. We got a
contact form there. We make it real easy. You can even attach a
photo and you know. The order of the day is garden Regrets. And
I heard from Patty, who definitely does not have any regrets. She sent
a photo of a beautiful combination of proven winner's annuals that she created, and
she just said, just wanted to say, this combination of blew my mind
of Volvulus white lantana in whirlwind Scavola purple is one of my absolutely favorites and
it is a great combination. Well, I looked at the photo. Gorgeous
and for folks who are watching on YouTube, but you can see a picture
of Patty's plant, are there? That is fabulous. Yeah, you know,
I wouldn't have thought to put the blue and purple together, but it
really works. And I love blew my mind of Olvulus. I think it's
a neat plant, but I have regretted planting it before because I'll tell you
why. Okay, a reason that it's a great plan. I do like
it, but the flowers close really early in the afternoon, So as a
person with a full time job, I regret having a plant that I can
only enjoy two days and the buds close up. So a great plant,
but definitely one for those who can enjoy it during the day when the flowers
are open. So please do visit Gardening Simplified on air dot com and check
out Patty's Amazing planter. We had a question from North. Yeah, North
says, as you probably know, it's hot and dry out here in den
Some of our tomato plants are curling on the ends of the leaves. Now
the curling is progressing and even bunching up. According to Google, that is
probably from heat stress and lack of water. At first, I thought it
looked like aphid, so I sprayed, but it's still curling. On Google
I found heat stress and possibly fungus, so I sprayed for that. Now
I'm wondering if something else is going on. Do you have some thoughts?
And as a matter of fact, what I did with this one, Stacey
was I reached out to North because I wanted to know more details. Was
he planting in a container or was he planting in the ground. Well,
he was planting in the ground. I think the issue here is more physiological.
In other words, the soil, the heat, the heat stress,
how dry it is there in Denver, and the plant is showing the effects
of that. As a matter of fact, I mentioned to North that when
in the future, when he plants the tomato to deep plant them along the
stem, giving a larger root mass so that when it gets hot and dry,
it's easier to care for tomato plants. Also, he's feeding with a
water soluble fertilizer, and I'm just not a big fan of water soluble fertilizers
with tomatoes because they're here today gone tomato, but rather dry feeds like the
Aspoma tomato tone, which have micronutrients in them as well as the macro nutrients.
So that's kind of my feeling on North's dilemma, right, you know,
I think people do when they see curling leaves, they kind of freak
out and they're like, oh, something's wrong. It's got a disease,
it's got a pest. But especially you know, I would say nine times
out of ten, it's almost certainly a cultural issue. It's something about where
and how the plant is growing. And anytime you see a plant leaf curling
and there's not an obvious sign of an insect like in the hydrange of leaf
tire or something like that, what's typically happening is that the plant is trying
to reduce the amount of leaf surface that's exposed to the sun, and by
curling that leaf inward. Not only is it reducing the amount of leaf surface
it's exposed to the sun, but it's hiding the stomata on the underside of
the leafs, so it's transpiring less or losing less water. Now of course,
in Denver, mile high city, very high altitude, so that sun
is much much more intense. Now. You know, North may not have
been growing tomatoes for years and has only seen this for the first time.
It could be variety dependent, It could be due to you know, just
where it was and making the transition from the greenhouse to you know where it's
planted now in your yard. There's a lot of reasons. But I would
say as long as the growth is healthy, you know, it's continuing to
put out a lot of new growth and flowering and fruiting, well I would
just chalk this up to a cultural condition and not really worry about it.
Yeah, you make a great point, Staceye. You know a plant that
I think of is weeping fig the house plant, and how that mid rib
down the center of the foliage is so dominant when the plant is shipped out
of Florida because it gets hot and sunny in Florida, and that foliage can
fold on itself. We bring it up north into homes in Minnesota or Michigan,
and they're getting not much light. That mid rib almost goes away.
So a plant's ability to curl or fold on itself due to heat is certainly
a factor. Tricksye writes to us, please help. This is a three
year old summerrific French vanilla. Oh love, you know I love my summer.
You're asking the right person. I thought it was dead. I mean
I had lost all hope. I'm in south central Texas. That's hot.
The first year it flowered but didn't grow much. The second year it grew
some and flowered a lot, but at the end of the season it seemed
like it was struggling. She's given it to her best efforts. But summer
arrives in mid April, and by May one, everybody is usually awake and
growing in her garden. But to check this baby, maybe three weeks ago,
no signs of life. Yesterday I saw her looking sickly but growing.
Basically, tricks He wants to know what do I do with this summerrific French
vanilla. Right, So it's kind of a crazy situation. I had to
do a double take on the date that Trixy sent this, because you know
we've talked about it before that the summer pic hibiscus are one of the last,
if not the last perennial to start to show signs of life in spring,
but in Texas, for it to not show any signs of life until
late June is wild. That's why that is totally out of character for this
plant. And you know what exactly is happening, I don't know. I
actually didn't think that the growth looked all that unhealthy. It definitely looks like
it's trying. And hibiscus have really nice, big kind of tuborist routes,
so they can store a lot of energy in those that they can use to
try to emerge again. So at Trixy, I don't know. You know,
these are water loving plants. I can get away with them being fairly
dry here in Michigan because our summers aren't nearly as hot as they are there.
So I don't know if this is an issue of the plant simply needing
more water, very well could be. So what I would recommend that you
do is I would recommend you fertilize it so you can just use, you
know, whatever you have like a you know, a spoma garden tone or
anything like that would be fine. I would fertilize it for the next I
would fertilize it now and then maybe twice more over the season, and water
that in well and keep an eye on the watering. And I hope I
think that what should happen is that should build it back up so that it's
more you know, happy. Overall, they're pretty pest free plants, so
I think this is again more like a lot of what North was dealing with,
just a cultural issue. Yeah, they like lots of sunshine and that
moist, well drained soil. You're right, they are water users, no
question. Oh And she also asks how do I get rid of this evil
bermuda grass, which I thought was a good subject to address quickly here on
our Regrets show, because a lot of people who have planted bermuda grass have
gone on to regret it. It's not really a warm climate grass. It's
definitely more of a cool up. It is a warm climate grass, and
I spoke it's not really a cool climate grass, but it grows really really
tight to the ground and it puts out these little runners that is nearly impossible
to manage once it's established. But interestingly, if this is a possibility for
you, Trixy, here is an interesting way to manage it. Research has
shown that if you interplant it with tall fescue, so this fall, go
ahead and plant tall fescue grass seed along with it, just overseaed it and
you mow it for a year at four inches tall, that the bermuda grass
hates shade so much that the four inch fscue will actually shade it out and
completely get rid of the bermuda grass. It's a great idea, and tall
fescue is drought tolerant and it is traffic tolerant, and it's that solution is
very similar to simply raising the deck on your mower and giving grass a competitive
edge against weeds. So you know, if there's other places that's going into
your beds or whatever, try using shade as a technique because it cannot live
with full sun. And apparently that is an effective way to manage it,
much more so than herbicides. Fantastic and Stacey Lindsay writes to us, We've
got fourteen very well established, incredible hydranges flanking the front of the home and
they love them. The neighbors love them, but they're struggling with bindweed.
Yes, And oh my gosh, for Lindsay sent this photo. I opened
it and I just gasped. Her hydrangees are so beautiful and so beautifully sighted
in front of her house. But yeah, bind weed oof a terrible weed,
extremely aggressive. And she goes on to say that she had bindweed really
well established in a perennial bed and she just dug up all the perennials and
spent a couple of days rigorously going through the soil and taking out all of
the bind weed roots. Not a fun job, but she said that that
did work, and she's wondering if she could do it for the hydranges.
And I would say absolutely, Lindsay, In fact, that would be my
specific recommendation. Since bind weed is evine, it's growing all up through the
hydranges, she can't use an herbicide, even if she's willing to, because
there's no way to just spray the bind weed without getting it on the hydranges
as well. So yeah, I think that digging up the hydrangs and spending
time to just completely rid that bed of the bind weed is the best solution
I have used a solution like that similarly myself. But what I would recommend
is that you wait until late winter early spring to do this, and you
do it when the hydranges are dormant, and be thorough in getting the roots
out because bind weed is so aggressive and truly has an extensive roots yea a
very very extensive roots system. And so it sounds like she's got experience with
it, she says, you know, she recognizes the roots are very distinctive
and easy to identify, which is a good thing. So yeah, what
I would say is definitely look for early spring. And the nice thing about
doing big jobs like this in early spring is you're really itching to get out
in the garden. You have an energy that you might not have come late
July, and so it can be a very satisfying job after a long winter.
But Lindsay, I would say, by all means, go ahead and
do it. I don't think that the hydrangees will be any worse for this
project by digging them and replanting them. It's a tough plant and they will
be just fine. If you have a question for us, you can reach
us at Gardeningsimplified on air dot com. We're going to take a little break
and when we come back, we've got Rick Weis to the other Rickwist,
so please stay tuned. The Gardening Simplified Show is brought to you by Proven
Winners Color Choice Shrubs. Our award winning flowering shrubs in evergreens have been trialed
and tested for your success so you enjoy more beauty and less work. Look
for Proven Winners Color Choice Shrubs in the distinctive white container at your local garden
center. Welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show. It's time for branching news
and stacy. A few weeks ago, we had a listener send us a
picture of a tree that was thinning and dying at the top. And we've
seen these pictures before and seen that happen out in the landscape, and you
know, we were wondering, boy, when a tree reaches that point,
is there anything that you can do at that point? And what we decided
to do was to bring in an expert and arborist, and so we thought
we'd bring in Rick Weist. Not this Rick Weist, my son, Rick
Weist. Rick is an arborist with Good Earth Tree Care and as a matter
of fact, Rick had shared with me some video that they shot while they
were using an air spade and working on the roots of a tree that they
were trying to save. Rick, it's great to have you here on the
Gardening simplified, Joe, good to be here. Thanks for having me.
Yeah, thanks so much so. For folks who are watching the program on
YouTube, you'll be able to see this video that Rick provided. But Rick,
tell us a little bit about this tree that you were called on to
try to save due to girdling roots and problems with the roots at the base
of the tree. A short answer to that are A quick thought on that
is that really there's two different issues, and we did a root collar excavation
and we found only a few larger girdling roots that we actually did not cut
off. Okay, but exposing that part of a tree. Every tree has
a dotted line and an imaginary line made to be above ground, made to
be below ground, and then there's a transition period called the buttress roots,
and we want the roots to be exposed to oxygen, sure not under soil.
So if a different tree has really bad girdling roots and the top of
the tree is dying like you talked about that is something that just today and
yesterday I had the conversation with someone about where it's not on their radar.
Most people don't stare at the top of the tree. Their eyes gravitate low.
But the first thing I do is look at the base of the tree
and then the top of the tree. Those are the two most important parts
of me. And if the top is dying, that's definitely a sign of
girdling roots. And if a tree small enough, you can do surgery,
probably over multiple years and remove the girdling roots. But often by the time
I get a call, if a normal person, a homeowner, non arborist,
notices that it doesn't look so good, you're probably too yeah. Probably.
So how long after a tree is planted can it start showing these signs?
I mean, is it? Is it? You know? Five years?
Is it fifteen years? Does it vary by the species or in the
growing environment? Definitely varies by species. There's a particular species around here that
it's incredibly common, not in the woods, only in urban areas where humans
are planting the trees. Nature does a good job maples, ok. And
most of them are also hybrid natives, and some of those are invasive.
So, but that's like the most common problem that I see with maple trees
is girdling roots. And most humans don't realize that there's a place that they're
supposed to put it at ground level. They just throw it in the ground.
And sometimes I'm in a backyard and I say, oh, somebody got
lucky, you know, forty years ago. That tree. It's definitely planted
by a human, but it's gotten good root flare. So so root flair.
Describe root flair to us? What is it you look for? Well,
I'll often point out to someone, even from a distance, when we're
looking at a tree. I'll say, you, notice how that tree is
a cylinder going into the ground, you know. And then I'll look around
and point out probably a tree in a woodline that's not planted by a human.
See how that flares out, the trunk flares out before it goes into
the ground. Those are the buttress roots. That's great, that's what we
want to see, your cylinder. It's not what I want to see.
Sure, So, you know, kind of going back to what you talked
about with how long does it take for them? That's a big issue because
again, people don't make the phone call. If I can hop in the
dolore in and go back in time, I can fix it for you.
But I can't, so it's over, you know. And so there's people
where if I've gained their trust and I say, give me two hundred dollars
and I'll fix that seven hundred and fifty dollars planting that those people, you
know, the landscapers did for you. I'm not trying to dog them,
but it's wrong. Yeah, sure, and it was probably the damage was
the damage is usually done by the growers, wholesalers, the guys that have
the assembly line. That's where it starts. And then that tree gets repotted
multiple times and then planted in the ground by a human. Again, so
tell us about air spading. So this particular project was more of a root
collar excavation, expose it, and then we mixed in. We use the
air spade sort of like a rototiller is the way you could think of it,
where we rototill the soil, we add compost, nice rich black dirt
and then do it again and mix it in. And then after that I
recommend watering like soaking with a sprinkler, and then go back and cover it
with we use organic leaf mulch, because that will just turn into yet more
compost like a woodland floor. Generally speaking, I try to mimic what the
woods is like. Sure, sure, And in this case, this was
a tree near a church and it's a gorgeous tree, and they just they
wanted to make sure. I guess I shouldn't use this phrase, but I
will. They were going to move heaven and earth to try and save this
tree. Right. Well, and that's not really true because this is a
wind for us because I took the initial well Mary took the call, put
it on my schedule quote to remove tree, and it's church. The priest
isn't out there. I'm looking at it, but I'm thinking this is gorgeous.
And I had an idea of when the structure had been built and I
was seeing extra you know, where they regraded, and I could tell that
the trunk was buried. So our client of ours had recommended us to the
priest after he had gotten multiple estimates to remove the tree, and Brett and
I, the of our company, approached them with a different option. How
do you feel about puning it away from the stained glass so that it doesn't
break the stained glass and we'll make the tree healthier and reduce the risk of
it breaking. Sure, it's a big, gorgeous tree that everybody sees off
the highway when you're heading east Oute of Grand Rapids. So they went with
us. So that was a win, not only you know, even just
saving the tree, not that we got the job. We get a lot
of jobs. We don't get a lot of jobs, but this was a
good one for us, where you know, you feel it's gratifying when you're
finished, like, all right, we saved you, we made you better.
Yeah, you know, I think a lot of people assume that,
you know, an arborist is like the stereotypical to a guy with a hammer.
Everything looks like a nail that they are there in the business of just
like take it out, take it out, you know, grind it up.
And I think that a lot of people don't realize that arborists, you
know, are not so much fond of their chippers as they are actually being
able to save a tree. Some of us just think differently. You know,
I've seen guys that write tree kill are on their gloves, like come
on, man, yeah, I mean just yesterday, there's a guy who
had three estimates all ready to remove two giant spruce trees. It was probably
going to be four or five thousand dollars. The first thing I responded after
he talked me with was these are no oi spruce. Blah blah blah.
Gave him the rundown of what they are. They're healthy, no disease,
good root flair. You know, I would just prune them away from the
house, take ten to twelve branches off. And he's like, nobody else
even brought that up. He's like, I didn't know you could do that.
Yeah, yeah, exactly. So I sent him the estimate and thought,
all right, I'm I got a feeling I might have just won that
one as well. So, yeah, saving trees instead of taking them out.
How often do you see tree planting regret? In other words, you
go out on a job and someone years ago planted it too close to a
structure. How often do you see that? Almost every day looking at something,
I say that was probably cute when they put it in, but they
don't realize that it's going to be a giant ye. And I'll often point
out invasive trees or trees you don't want growing out of your foundation, and
then I'll look around and say, that's mommy right there, like you don't
want that growing out of your foundation. So and that's nature, but that
would be a regret of not pulling that when it was small. Yeah,
exactly. Now, I'm sure as an arborist also you look at the whole
issue of monocultures versus diversity. Of course, we experience that here in the
Midwest a few years ago with emerald ash boar trees that are streets rather that
are aligned with nothing but ash trees. Emerald dashboar comes along, it becomes
a serious, serious problem. I'm sure you experienced that also, where in
some areas a lack of diversity creates a problem in and of itself and creates
regret. Yeah, definitely, definitely, and that goes for any species.
Yeah, as you know, many diseases insects their host specific I often bring
up emerald dashboard because everyone's so familiar with it around here, you know,
and say they didn't any other trees, only the ash. Not all diseases
are like that, but a lot are. So diversity is big, and
of course we're dealing with invasive pests. Also, for those watching on YouTube,
here's a picture of a couple of hemlocks which I love in my backyard,
but I'm losing them due to woolly adelged. Adelgid was a problem that
came into the US years and years ago. But Rick has these invasive insects
or pests or diseases come along, they travel, and that's unfortant. We're
able to anticipate the problem, and yet there it is on your doorstep.
Yep. And then finances is what I think. You know, taxes aren't
going to take care of that insects and stop it in its tracks. And
one tenth of people are going to pay money to try and save that tree.
So there's are trees. Just last week I saw on ash and then
the first thing that pops into my head, if it looks good, I
can tell these people they're not treating it. I'm like that was treated in
the late nineties, two thousands, even past then, you know it wasn't
long ago. But it is like a swarm. Like you said, it's
like a horror film. They come through like a locust plague and they move
on to where there's more food. You bet. So for our listeners,
for folks watching on YouTube or listening on the podcast or radio Rick as an
arborist getting into many people's yards, and of course today's show is about garden
regrets. What's your best advice for people who are looking to establish trees?
Do your research, what are your recommendations, what are the primary mistakes you
see being made? Well, when you get species specific, that's about certain
situations, but as far as just general good practices planting number one is planting
depth m hm. Another first thing I say is try to stay native or
at least hybrid native. But even the high natives, there's neighborhoods that can
drive you to them. Where the oak, white oaks, right oaks,
white pine's the dominant native forests. Every sapling is a maple, and I
know it's the ones in the front yards that are in everybody's front yard.
So that's the future of that woods. No more oaks, So let's try
to stay native. Planting depth, soil, soil, soil, soil,
well, how wide do I dig it? How wide are you willing to
go? Because someday the roots on that tree are going to be fifty feet
more and more in a radius around that tree. So soil and then early
years just like any plant, you know, if it's hot and dry in
the summer water once a week, it's okay, you bet you bet.
Well. Some of these issues we can avoid if we want to, Stacy,
but again, it's all about and we talk about it on this show.
Trying to anticipate some of these issues and educating yourself. Absolutely, got
to do your research, absolutely, Rick, thanks for joining us on the
Gardening Simplified Show. Rick Weist is an arborist with Good Earth Tree Care and
just happens to be my son also, and thanks for joining us on the
show. Rick, appreciate it. Thanks for having me well. I am
inspired to plant a tree with no regrets. Now you have to decide which
one it's going to be, and that's the hardest part of all. So
thank you so much, Rick, Thank you, Rick, thank you Adriana,
and thanks so much to all of you for listening. We hope you
have a wonderful week ahead.