The Self-Sow Show

Here we grow again. It's time for the Gardening Simplified Show with Stacy Hervella
me, Rick weisst and our engineer and producer Adrianna Robinson as we broadcast from
beautiful Studio away here at Proven Winners Color Choice Shrubs. Today, Stacy,
we talk about self sowing plants. Many plants will self So you think about
the maples and they're winged fruit, the Samaras kids. We call them helicopters
floating to the earth and seating in your lawn or your landscape. Or you
think about perennial plants like loopens. I love loopens and they self sow with
a vengeance. Proven Winners has the West Country loopens, a variety like Manhattan.
Wow, those things are incredible, super colorful. I call them traffic
cones when they're in bloom. But today, as we talk about self sowing
plants, let's start with annuals. Because annuals are plants that can drop seed
in your garden before they die, germinate on their own the following year,
and well it's kind of like a bonus when that happens, right, It
is a bonus. And what I particularly love about self sewing plants, and
I do just want to clarify for anyone listening, we are saying so as
an s ow, yes like seed sewing, so they're not sewing themselves a
blanket or anything like that. Talking about seed sewing, I love self sewing
plants because you know, they take the guesswork out of design. They pop
up wherever, they wherever they will, and a lot of times they are
doing work that you as the gardener, would never think to put those plants
together, and self sewers pop up and you think we'll shoot, I'm a
genius. I love that perspective. That is excellent. That really is,
you know. And when we talk about self sewing annuals, and there's there's
many different plants and we'll get into that, but many proven winners annuals are
sterile, so we'll mention that from the top, meaning they don't produce seeds.
And these plants have been developed. It enables the plant to focus energy
on creating more blooms instead of seeds, and why they bloom so strongly and
you don't need deadheading. But still there are many plants that can give us
that added bonus of blooming. Now, I think right off the top stacy
about plants. I've mentioned oft in my love for supertunias, like bubblegum,
which is sterile and blooms its head off. But for me, someone who's
been in the industry for a long time, a perfect example is sweet a
lissm oh perfect one. Yeah. My friend in New Jersey, her mom
had Sweetlism self sewing in her front stairs up to her house, and it
was just, you know, the sweetest, most charming look. It's you
know, if you like the cottage garden look, self sewing plants are your
best friend. Yeah. Now today, instead of sweet lism often referred to
as labularia. And when I first started out in the industry, there were
flats and flats and varieties of plants that were called Royal carpet or carpet of
snow or rosy o day and the plant being in the mustard family, It's
seeded like crazy. It'd be beautiful in early spring because it liked the cool
temperatures, and then it would wear out as we got into the heat of
summer. Today, the labularity of varieties proven winners offers a number of different
types, including snow Princess, which is both cold and heat tolerant and is
sterile. So that particular flowering annual has come a long way since thirty forty
years ago. It has people totally think about that plant differently. But you
know what hasn't changed is it smells amazing. I love the fragrance. And
you know, snow Princess has larger flowers. Again, since it doesn't set
seed, it's putting all the energy into flower production, which is a very
good thing. But I think there's room for both. You know, you
can put your snow Princess in your containers to really enjoy that strong flower performance
and then let those old fashioned types kind of self so around in your garden
again to get that cottage garden look. And they're great pollinator plants as well.
Yeah exactly. So let me right off the bat give you a lima
rick about self sowing plants. It's just very short. These plants I do
not know where from. It must be my prolific green thumb. The seedlings
have become invasive, their presence is pervasive. I'll sell them for disposable income.
Well, you know, you do see that. You do see people
taking things itself so and putting them in little containers and selling them, you
know, next to their driveway. That is not unheard of in these parts.
Well, i'll tell you what. Let's get into some herbs and veggies
here a minute, because I know you really appreciate that in the garden stacy
and when it comes to self so there, we would be able to do
a number of episodes on this. I want to just throw out there initially,
right off the bat. Borridge. Oh, one of my favorites is
it? I love it? Okay now, because it's controversial, seeds like
crazy, it does, it can get out of hand. So I did
have it at my old house. Uh, and then when we moved into
my new house, my husband said, you're not planting that borridge again,
are you? And to be fair, I have not, but I do
love it. First of all, it does self so and it self soo's
quite a bit, but very very easy to manage. You know. The
seedlings are super easy to just rip out. And then the thing about borridge
I think is a self sower is it does make kind of a large planet,
makes like a rosette, and that can shade out its neighbors. But
when it does flower, you know, we just had the Blue Flower Show,
the Blue Plant Show. Absolutely gorgeous, heavenly blue flowers, beautiful,
and they taste like cucumbers. Yeah. I love the flavor of borridge.
It tastes just like cucumbers. It's common to you know, you them as
a garnish on salads. You can also put them in ice cubes if you
want to get real fancy with them. So they're eminently useful as much as
they are prolific. I love it. See, we did not plan this
in advance, and I knew if I just said borridge, Stacy would take
off with it. Yeah, I love it. That's fantastic. Now a
lot of people will plant boradge because they consider it to be a good companion
plant to deal with the insects. But if you think about it, boradge
in the vegetable garden also as a pollinator or great plant for pollinators. And
then we have other cool seasoned vegetables like spinach, mustard, greens, lettuce.
I think in a show a few weeks ago you mentioned dil oh yep,
dill self shows in my garden and you know a lot of people I
think when we were talking about starting seeds in the spring, people are out
there buying dale from the store or trying to start at indoors. Honestly,
the best thing you can do sprinkle the seed around in your garden in spring,
let it do its, let it go to flower, and then let
dil figure it out. That's what I like, you know, That's what
I like about self sowers. It's a big deal, yes, to put
that in your garden. But yes, prolific self seeder. Arugola. We've
talked about that, you know. I love my arugola. I have the
wild Arugela diplotaxis, not the cultivated arugo arugola, which is Arucas tiva.
But itself sows all over my garden. Again, very easy to manage.
And this is a different sort of I think between a self sower and a
weed, as a weed is hard to pull out, you know, like
a tree can be very difficult, but something like the arugola super easy to
pull out wherever it comes from. And honestly, any day in the summer
pretty much I can walk out into my backyard and harvest in arugola salad and
I have done zero work to get it. I love it, and so
good for you too. Arugolas so good for you. And you mentioned weed.
Yeah, weeds are great self sowers. I think about Teasel Dame's Rocket
in the ditches or the roadways and how fast. But some people love it
because it's so beautiful. When it's in flower, you think about garlic mustard
or hairy bittercress, and those are some bad ones, you know. I
always wanted to start a rock band called Teasel and the Dame's Rockets. I
always thought that that would be a great name. Yeah. So, as
far as seed from annuals are concerned, through a couple of quick ones out
here you've mentioned on previous shows flax right, yep, because I'll have to
have that on the list. Moss rows cleone, nasturtiums. They're popping up
in my garden all the time. Nasturtiums. Yes, you can't get enough
of those in edible Colenjela Bachelor button. So that you know, there's a
number of what will consider self seeders. So again, as far as annuals
are concerned, many of the new varieties are sterile. That causes them to
be tremendous bloomers. That's great, But there are also self sewers, and
there's kind of a reward to it. I love it the fouling year when
I have tomato plants that are popping up in my vegetable day. Yeah,
you know, people, you know because tomatoes are a warm climate plant.
People are often surprised to find out that tomatoes are remarkably persistent, and any
that you left to kind of sit around on the ground will almost certainly pop
up. The extra Now, you never know what you're going to get.
If you have an heirloom variety, you're probably going to get something very close
to, if not mostly identical to the same plant you grew previously. But
if it's a hybrid plant, it's anybody's guess, and that's part of the
fun Love It the Self so show. We'll continue with this topic. As
a matter of fact, we'll talk about heirlooms during the mailbag segment of today's
show. But first we're gonna have plants on trial. Stacy's going to introduce
us to a beauty that you should have in your landscape that's coming up next
here on the Gardening Simplified Show, proven winner's color choice shrub 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.
Readings Gardening Friends, and welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show where we were
talking about self sewers. That's s O W R. S plants that pop
up in your yard. And like I said, there's a difference between self
sowers and wheats weeds. Of course, our self sewing plants, that's why
they become problematic, but other self sewing plants can be quite useful, like
we were talking about arugula time. And so when it comes to shrubs and
what plant we're going to put on trial, you know, I always try
to relate it somehow. And I wanted to pick a plant today that it
does not self sew, but sometimes it gets painted with two broad a stroke
and people think it does so they won't plant it. And that plant is
Sunny Boulevard. Hypericum suddenly appeared in the Syria. Know so hypericum is generally
known as its common name is Saint John's wort, and I think a lot
of people are familiar with it, not as a plant, but as an
herbal supplement exactly. It is believed to alleviate depression or bad moods. And
I think when you look at the plants and these fabulous, bright yellow flowers,
it's easy to see why. I mean, how can you not smile
when you look at these things. They are the definition of cheerfulness. I'm
not ingesting it and I'm smiling exactly. But you know, one of the
things that often happens with other plants is that because people just hear hypericum or
they just hear Saint John's wort, and they may know that there are hypericums
or Saint John's wort that are weedy, they are invasive, they have come
in from other countries they're taking over. But that does not mean that all
hypericum are the same. And so this particular variety that we have here,
this is Sunny Boulevard hypericum. It is Hypericum kalmanum, and it is in
fact a North American native. It grows throughout the Midwest here even all the
way over to the East coast. And this one is not going to become
invasive. See, people are going to love that stacy because again, hypericum,
you said, kalmianum calmianum. Yes, because there are different types of
Hypericum. I did a little research and some high pericums were brought by European
settlers to the US. But this is a North American native. And in
my research, Peter Kalm a student of the well the father of botanical nomenclature,
Carl Linnaeus, who discovered the plant in the wild in North America in
the seventeen hundreds, right, And so Peter Calm was a very important figure.
Hypericum calmianum is named after him, and he has a whole genus named
for him, Kalmia, which is our fabulous native mountain Laurel fantast which I
think we had a mail bag question about that a few months ago back in
the spring. So Peter Calm, Swedish guy, big fan of North American
native flowers and foliage, and that is what brings us to this plant.
So I know most of the invasive hypericums out there are actually herbaceous plants.
Okay, so they're not woody plants. They're herbaceous perennials. They die back
to the ground, and you know, certainly when you see the flowers or
if you look up, you know invasive Hypericum. You'll see that the flowers
are really nothing like this. They're they're small, they don't have this fabulous
sunbursts in the center of each of the flowers. So it's important as you
learn more about plants to not just assume that just because you hear this genus
or this common name and you hear that some of it is invasive. To
dig a little bit deeper to find out more. And one of the things
that I love the most about this plant. Okay, there's two things I
love most about this plant. Number one, it really naturally takes on a
nice rounded shape and it does. It's not too dense, it's not too
meat bali, which you know, I kind of prefer things to be a
little bit more wild and open looking. I know some people do like the
meatball look, but I do like the natural shape that it takes on.
And it's covered in these yellow flowers basically all of July and August. So
it's here in the studio. If you want to check us out on YouTube,
you will see it here on the studio table. And like I said,
each bloom is kind of crowned with this little sunburst of stamens. For
a really unique look, and this will not become invasive. It's not going
to set seed and pop up all over your yard. It's just a really
really nice choice. Even if you aren't into native plants full sun. This
is a plant definitely for full sun. But if you can give it that,
I think that you're really going to be happy with how long it blooms
and all the pollinators that it attracts. You know, when you look at
the long blooming and the time of year that it blooms. To me,
it's similar in the landscape to potentilla, a completely different plant but kind of
has that same kind of working nature in our landscape. I'm really glad you
mentioned the connection to potentilla, because this is not as it's so Both potentilla
and Saint John's were are not super heat tolerant plants. I know that's dangerous
talk these days when so many people are are working through so much heat.
Both of the plants are pretty much hardy from like zone four to seven,
so not going into the heat. But I think that if you like potentilla,
you like how long it blooms, this makes a really nice alternative.
It's much much less susceptible to spider mites than potentilla and Potentilla great plant very
deer resistant native. I do like potentilla a lot, but because it is
so dense and low, it can get outbreaks of spider mites, and that's
really not going to be an issue with this. In fact, speaking of
you know, challenging conditions, Sunny Boulevard Hypericum last year won a Blue Ribbon
Award for drought tolerance from the University of California Davis Drought Trials. Wow.
So that's some pretty high praise because you know, it's one thing to say,
oh, it's drought tolerant in Michigan, in quite another to say it's
drought tolerant in California. And these Blue Ribbon Trials, you know, they
have beds at the University of California Davis with tons and tons of plants.
We had some other plants win too, including pugster blue Buddleia and Jukebox Pyracamalis.
But this one I thought was particularly interesting because you know, when it
comes to drought tolerance, you have plants that can just survive, like they'll
come out of drought and not die, and plants that will actually continue doing
what you purchase them for. And this is in the ladder, so if
you you know, can grow it even under challenging drought conditions, you're still
going to get these really, really nice flowers. And you know, to
me that is hugely important because I don't want to water. Yeah, I
agree, I love it. Now we've already established that the plant is native
to North America, and if you're keeping score at home, the plant is
Sunny Boulevard hypericum and you'll get information at our website site Gardening Simplified on air
dot com. Stacy the story behind it, I'm going to guess that it
was developed right here in West Michigan. Am I right or wrong? You
You are right right, You're right out of the nose. And this is
an example of one of our earlier plants where you know, we weren't really
setting out to breed something. We were early in the life of Proof and
Winner's Color Choice Shrubs, a lot of what we were doing was just looking
at native plants and trying to find outliers. You know, and when this
is interesting because it does tie back into seeds when plants inter hybridize, so
you know, you have one plan over here, one plant over here,
a bee pollinates them. That seed now has multiple genetics in it, and
as a result, the seed that comes out of it can be different than
its parents. And what we noticed about this one is that it really had
that nice, dense habit, bigger flowers, because that's important. You know,
if you were to see Hypericum calminum in the wild, you probably would
not look at it quite like Sunny Boulevard and go, whoa, those are
huge, interesting flowers. They would be smaller and a little less conspicuous.
And that's what we're looking for is, you know, can we get all
of those good qualities of the native plant, you know, the drought tolerance
and the ability to attract pollinators, but also get it in a kind of
habit and with flowering that makes people actually want to, you know, put
it in their landscape. So yeah, this is a this the original genetics
for this are actually from right here in Michigan. So talk about a native
plant and it's been around for a while, but I think it's really sort
of undergoing a renaissance since it won this drought tolerance award in California. But
overall in terms of growing it, like I said full sun, so you're
gonna want at least six hours of sun each day to grow this successfully.
Not really going to need much pruning at all. It does naturally take on
this rounded habit. But if you are a meatballer and you like that nice
dense look, you can certainly do that. You would do that in spring
it blooms on new wood, and then you know it will just keep putting
on these flowers. Other than that, it really doesn't need anything. It
doesn't get any kinds of diseases or problems. It's just a super easy to
grow, very agreeable plant. And one again just to go back to why
I picked it, because it's not going to sell so for you, but
you should not assume that it's going to be like all of those other weedy
hypericums that would so. I love that. And I think I mentioned this
before, but with high peracum, I'm pretty sure if you go to Cedar
Point the amusement park, when you're inverted on one of those roller coasters,
there's a huge bed of high pericum in bloom. Yes, I had my
eyes open. But the point that I'm trying to make here, Stacy,
is the bloom time July August, Prime Time. Fantastic. That was a
very wise planting choice on the behalf of the Cedar Point Landscape Designers, So
salute to you. If you want to learn more about Sonny Boulevard Hypericum,
just visit Gardening Simplified OnAir dot com. We will have pictures, we will
have links to it on the Proven Winner's Color Choice website and everything else you
need to know. We're going to take a little bit of a break when
we come back, We're opening up that gardening 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. Creatings Gardening Friends, and welcome back to the Gardening
Simplified Show. You know I do love helping people become better gardeners, helping
them demystify gardening. Simplify gardening if you will, so, I always love
opening up the mailbag, and I know we're a little bit behind question on
questions. So I want to thank everybody who's written to us. I will
get back to you eventually. Some of the questions I can't answer on air
because they're just too complicated to answer, but I do respond, and I
appreciate in our new sends in pictures because you know what gardening is. I
don't have a crystal ball, so pictures help us always give you the best
possible answers. So what do we got in the mailbag this week? Rick?
All right? Michelle is asking us I'm growing airloom tomatoes and let us
this year from seeds received at a seed exchange. That's cool. The plants
look marvelous. I'd love to harvest their seeds to use in next year's garden.
Is there a special trick to saving tomato and let us seeds to ensure
viability next season? Such a good question, and so timely with ourself sewing
show as well. So, as Ric explained, you don't have to really
try necessarily to save tomato seeds if you leave some. You know, invariably,
even with our best intents, some tomatoes fall off the vine. We
forget about them. They pop up for years to come with airloom tomatoes that
might be different, particularly if they're larger fruited though, because you're not you
know, you put so much energy into those, you're not letting those just
fall by the wayside and rot. So in that case, to make sure
that you have the best success with the seed, you want to take that
tomato when it's fully right, squeeze out the seed and uh rinse it and
then put it in like a little plastic cup or something disposable or that you
don't care too much about of with a little bit of water. And what's
going to happen is those seeds are going to develop mold. That's good.
You want, very good. You want that to happen. Yes, yeah,
So you're gonna don't panic. You want that mold to develop, and
that's basically going to just kind of get them ready to go dormant. So
once that mold develops, you're just gonna dump that out and leave the moldy
seeds kind of on a paper towel, you know, and let them dry,
and then you've got the seeds and that's that's pretty much all you have
to do. Now. Airlomb tomatoes are airlomb tomatoes is because they are.
They're open pollinated hybrids, so you don't have to worry that they that the
people who produced seed made a special concerted cross to get this. Pretty much,
they're going to what's called come true from seed. You know. Chances
are the pollinators went from one flower of whatever airloom tomato you have to the
other, and so it's going to be identical to its parents, which is
what makes an heirloom an airloom. Yeah, and I think that's the important
key. You know. I love stories that I read of years ago when
families would come to the United States from Europe and they didn't have many possessions,
but they had some seeds with them. Yeah, there's nothing like the
taste of home exactly and settled in New Jersey now. I think one of
the keys here with Michelle's question also is that tomato she mentions tomatoes and lettuce.
Tomatoes and lettuce are self pollinating plants, whereas if you get into Q
curbets like watermelon or melons or squash, then things can it a little fun
because you have both the female and the male flowers on the same plant.
When we start cross pollinating, well, some interesting stuff can happen, but
because they are self pollinating. Again, that wet seed approach I'm going to
call it that you describe stacy is is perfect. I would say when you
dry them, one thing when I've tried this, one thing that I would
recommend is is possibly drying them on a ceramic plate or a cookie sheet,
because sometimes on the paper toweling when they dry, they kind of stick.
I got to peel them off there, that's true. Yeah, and then
it's just gonna hold moisture. So that's that's a good point. Now,
the lettuce, Michelle, you're not going to have to worry about you don't.
You don't have to ferment it or anything like that. The trick with
the lettuce, and a lot of people don't realize, you know, when
when you're eating lettuce, you don't want it to flower because once lettuce starts
to flower, if you've ever seen it, it gets this milky sap.
It is the most bitter thing you have ever tasted in your life. But
that's what you need to do to get to seed because once that flower stalk
starts to come up, lettuce is actually in the daisy family. A lot
of people don't realize that, so you want to go ahead and let that
flower stalk come up, and you know, naturally that's going to happen,
especially if you live in a hot climate. The weather starts getting super warm
and the lettuce bolts, and that means it's going to go to seeds.
So with the lettuce, you basically just need to let that grow, let
those flowers grow up, watch for those seed pods to develop, and then
collect the seed before it starts to spread on its own. So that's going
to be more of a timing issue. Just be there with your little envelope
or bowl or whatever when those seed pods just start to dry out. Don't
wait too far because then they'll just drop and you'll get self sewing lettuce in
your cracks like Adriana has on her back porch. But very very easy to
collect the lettuce seeds, So I would encourage you to do that. And
you know, if you participate in a seed library like at your local library,
this is a great way to contribute the seeds that you've taken back to
that source. Yeah, that's great, And of course, Stacy, you
mentioned that important point of letting the seed dry. We don't want to put
them in storage wet in any way, put them in a good enclosed container.
And then where you store it is important. Also, we don't want
fluctuating temperatures in the area where you store this or high humidity. Yeah,
exactly, all right, what do we got next? All right? Thanks
Michelle. Shirley yikes, surely saying this not me. My Annabelle hydrangea is
a mess. I had to cut it to the ground. I must confess.
Down came the rain. Now I'm in pain fixing it as hard,
I guess. Wow, well done, well done. Surely, she says,
love your show, love Rix Limericks, but would love your help on
what I should do now, So Stacy help Shirley out here. I don't
know if I can do it in rhyme, but I can offer a little
bit of advice here, so surely. Yeah. You know Annabelle hydrangea,
which of course is a native smooth hydrangea, beautiful plant, classic, but
it does flop. It's just kind of one of the things that it does.
Now. It certainly can be a lot worse after a rain or when
you have a more mature plant. But there are a few things that you
can do to minimize the flopping on annabel. So number one, a lot
of people cut their Annabelle hydrangees to the ground. Do not do that.
The plant will be fine, you know, it will still grow on and
grow up in flower. But when you cut annabel is a shrub, it's
a hydrange so it's a woody plant. When you whack that back to the
ground every single year, all of the growth that comes up is going to
be soft herbaceous growth, and as such, it's not going to develop that
wood strength to keep those blooms more upright. That's a super important point and
something you taught me, Stacey, and it makes perfect sense to me.
It really differ. So instead of cutting it all the way back to the
ground, you're just going to cut it back by about a third. It's
total height, so you know, if it's three feet tall, you're going
to cut off the top foot. And at that same time you're going to
want to clean out any thin spindley side branches because those aren't really going to
be very strong either. So that will help. More sun, especially if
you live in a cooler climate and it can take more sun, will also
help quite a bit. You know, anytime you grow any plant in too
much shade. It starts trying to stretch and reach the light and that's going
to lead to those longer stems which are going to be a little bit floppier.
And you also don't want to over fertilize like one application in spring.
Totally fine, but if you're really like over fertilizing it, and a lot
of people I've found they're not intending to over fertilize it, but they have
like a lawn service or something like that that comes around and is fertilizing the
lawn. Well, if it's you know, near the lawn, then it's
taking up some of that fertilizer. That will also just push a lot of
soft growth. But another thing that you can consider again, Annabelle is a
classic, but we selected Incredible Hydrangea specifically to be less floppy, and as
it turns out, the flowers are larger. So if some people like the
flopping, you know, they make it work in their design and that's totally
cool. But if you don't like the flopping, I would recommend that you
give incredib ball a try. But all that said, you know, sometimes
especially if you had a year where we haven't like this year was a perfect
storm for flopping annabels, because we had a very very dry May in June,
and then we've had, you know, quite a bit of rainfall in
July and August so far, and that just doesn't give the plant the ability
to like start developing strength against the rain. So some years, unfortunately,
you can do all of this and it's still going to happen. It's just
one of the characteristics of the plant. That's a great answer. Surely,
I told you Stacy would come to the rescue, and let's get together sometime
and write some limb a ricks. All right, I gotta squeeze this one
in a minute. Amy's asking about mock orange. Wants to use it as
a hedge, has difficulty finding it. She asked, is it just not
popular? Too old fashioned? And I guess I'd throw in real quickly here.
I love mock orange, but I understand what Amy is saying. Is
it because it's a lot like for scythia, where it just blooms for a
short time in spring and then it's just leafy the rest of the years,
So it's more difficult to find out there. That could be one reason I
feel my personal thoughts on it are that it's considered a bit old fashioned and
kind of fell out of favor. Now if you smell mock orange, you're
gonna want it. I mean, the fragrance is is just amazing. But
also a lot of the older varieties are huge, you know, ten twelve
feet tall and just you know, as people have demanded you know, less
intensive landscapes and all of that, they haven't wanted such a big plant.
Now, we do have a couple of proven winners mock oranges, which hopefully
will help them start getting into the market. They are smaller, their neater.
It's the Illuminati series of mock Orange or Philadelphis. So I will put
links to those in the show notes at Gardening Simplified on air dot com and
hopefully that will start turning things around so you can make that fabulous mock orange
hedge of your dreams. Amy, all right, we gotta take a little
bit of a break. When we come back, we've got a special guest,
so please stay tuned. The Gardening Simplified Show is brought to you by
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local garden center. Welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show. It's time for
branching news and making news. This week is our interview with Andrew Bunting,
who is Vice President of Horticulture and leads the utilization of planting and designed to
promote environmentally sound gardening practices at the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. Now. Andrew received
his Bachelor of Science degree in plant and soil science from Southern Illinois University.
He also has worked at the Chicago Botanic Garden, chant the Clear Garden,
and the Scott Arboretum, and in addition to that I saw with great interest,
serves on the board of the Magnolia Society International. Andrew published his first
book in twenty fifteen, The Plant Lover's Guide to Magnolias and True True to
Our Hearts Stacy and myself. Andrew enjoys bird watching and travel and of course
gardening. Andrew, Welcome to the Gardening Simplified Show. Thanks for joining us.
Yeah, thanks for having me. Really appreciate it. Now, the
Pennsylvania Horticulture Society in my research says that I guess the work that it does
is it works to promote access to fresh food, healthy living environments, deep
social connections, and economic opportunities. Tell us a little something about the Pennsylvania
Horticultural Society. So you're you're absolutely right. The work that we do really
needs to do, you know, either all or some of those We call
them impacact priorities, which you just listed, and we do it through a
number of different ways. We some of that work is through one of our
program channels, which there's landscapes, So we maintain twenty different public gardens and
landscapes throughout mostly Philadelphia and one to the north of Philadelphia Montgomery County, which
is about eighty acres in total, and those areas gardens that are free and
accessible to everyone. We also have another program matic arm called Healthy Neighborhoods.
Within that program, we have a fairly extensive street tree program where we plant
about three thousand street trees a year and most of these are in areas of
the city where there's a limited three canopy low is two point five percent,
so that's one of our targeted areas. We also have you talked about access
to fresh food. We partner with about one hundred and seventy community gardens,
and then we also have a workforce development program, and then a stormwater management
program where we partner with the Philadelphia Water Department to give homeowners kind of water
mitigation solutions such as rain barrels. And then the last big programmatic arm that
most people know the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society or is the Philadelphia Flower Show. Love
the Philadelphia Flowers Show. I tell you what when I've gone to the Philadelphia
flower I'll tell you. I'll tell you what I do. Andrew, when
I go to the show, do you live in the Philadelphia area? I
do. I live just south of Philadelphia. Okay, So Stacy, what
I'll do when I go to the Philadelphia Flower Show is I'll stay in a
hotel near Independence Hall, and then early one morning I'll go for a run.
And what you do is you run through the Ninth Street Italian Market,
just like Rocky Balboa did. I had a feeling that's where this is.
Got then past the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, you run through Chinatown and
then as you proceed to the west, you get to the Philadelphia Art Museum
and you get to run those steps like Rocky Balboa and Andrew. Boy,
is that a great feeling when you get to the top of the steps.
Yeah, yeah, because there's quite a few of them. Yeah, seventy
two to be exact, Okay, And then your reward for the run as
you get to go to the fabulous Philadelphia Flower Show exactly. So tell us
about the Philadelphia Flower Show, Andrew. This is when for folks who have
not attended, you walk in the door and it's like wow, it just
blows away. It's amazing. Yea. So the Society was founded in eighteen
twenty seven, and the Flower Show has been running almost every year since eighteen
twenty nine, and it's most it's mostly an indoor show. We were outdoors
because of COVID and twenty one and twenty two. We returned in twenty twenty
three. So it's at the Pennsylvania Convention Center usually the last couple of days
of February, the first week of March. In twenty twenty four, it's
March second through the tenth and it's a large flower show over ten acres indoors,
and about a third of it is major exhibits landscapers and designers put on
especially put in large gardens within this space, and then the other portion or
competitive classes. So there's an area called the port of Court where individuals can
bring plants like us plants or cactus, succulent bulbs. You know, there's
probably three hundred different categories where they bring individual plants, put them in individual
classes, and then they're judge. And then there's other competitive classes like floral
press plants. A lot of garden clubs make little gardens. There might be
a whole class, and like balconies or window boxes or front stoops. There's
a photography class, there's jewelry made out of natural materials. There's literally hundreds
of classes where you can competitively enter, and then there's a fairly significant vendor
area. So there's about four hundred vendors selling you know, mostly horticultural based
or gardening based products. And then there's quite a bit of education that we
kind of weave through the entire show. So the show as ten days long,
and it is you know, if you're into gardening anywhere on the East
Coast, most people trying to make it to the Flower So but we get
people from all over the United States Boat as exhibitors and as judges, volunteers,
and then as the attendees of the Flower Show as well. So there's
something for everybody. Yes, yes, there's something for everyone, that's for
sure. You know. The thing that's so amazing about the Philadelphia Flower Show
is like it's timing. Just when you feel like you cannot take winter anymore,
the Philadelphia Flower Show comes along and you come through those doors, and
what always stands out to me in my memory is the smell of hyacinths.
There's so yeah, I've heard that comment from dozens of people over the years,
and it's you're right. It's in the Philadelphia area. It's still kind
of winter. Maybe there's glimpses of spring with like with chaisals and some of
the early bulbs they're just starting to poke out. So it's you know,
it's a great kind of kickoff to the spring gardening season in the area.
And you know, we put on the show and you know, we want
to obviously h excite people about gardening, and you know, it's obviously just
a great experience, but you know, they're like you said before, there's
a little bit or a lot of content for everyone, and you know,
that definitely excites the all the senses, especially the visual sense. Now,
my favorite part of the Philadelphia Flower Show is by far the Horde of Court.
You know that. I correct me if I'm wrong, but that really
seems to me to sort of be like almost like a lost art or something
that really isn't you know, you don't see that and a lot of other
flower shows anymore. It used to be v thing for flower shows writer flower
societies. They would get together and show off they're camilily blooms or you know,
like you said, cactus and succulents. But you know, to me,
seeing what's actually happening in people's greenhouses in homes and them sharing their skill
and talent and seeing everything compared, that is hands down my absolute favorite thing
in the flower show. Yeah, I agree, it's also my favorite,
and it's you're right. I think it's to some degree like a type of
gardening or displaying of gardening that was more popular, you know, decades ago
with these local shows, whether it be roses or peones or whatever the case
might be. Our show does differ a little in that all the plants are
live. There's no there's only one class that has cut specimens in it.
And so what it's done actually is with so many people interested in house plants,
and that seems to be it seems to be continuing trend is we now
have a lot of young people are participating and exhibiting in the Flowers Show,
especially in the aeroid classes Baggia's terrariums jsinarians like African violence and streptocarpas and things
like that. And there's fairly active societies in the Philadelphia area that are recruiting
these new or younger members and it's great to see kind of the next generation
coming along and they're literally we have a booklet until us a hunder page and
long that outlines all the classes. So we say, if you have a
plant, there's a class in the Horde of Court for you to enter it.
So there's some classes that are fairly broad and open, like you know
six inches or above foliage plants, well, that's that can encompass all sorts
of different plants. And then there's dozens of classes that are specific to orchids.
I'd say the cactus and succulents are probably the most popular, but then
people also, you know, there's some local estates to bring in some mammoth
specimens as well. So the only prerequisite two pre prerequisites of entering is it
has to be an individual, So business can't enter plants. But an individual
could be somebody you know, with a couple window sills in the city,
or it could be somebody that has a mass of estate with a staff that
takes care of their plants. And then you have to be in possession of
the plants for six at least six months to enter it in the show.
Okay, all right, interesting, we're chatting with Andrew Bunting, vice president
of horticulture with the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, talking about the Philadelphia Flower Show.
Both Stacey and I would encourage you that if you've never gone to the Philadelphia
Flower Show, you've got to have it on your list. Andrew, what
is the website where people can learn more about both the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society and
the Philadelphia Flower Show? Right, so you can you can get all your
information at PHS online dot org. All right, and Andrew, before we
let you go, we do this with folks that we interview on the show.
We did it with Bree Arthur last week. I know it's an unfair
question, but we're going to ask you for a couple of plants that Andrew
absolutely loves that you would share with our viewers and our listeners. Hey,
you've got to grow this plant. And I'm going to guess with you.
Probably one of them is some sort of magnolia, right, yeah, yeah,
I would say, since you put me on the spot, yeah,
I'll say magnolia. And one of my favorite magnolians. There actually a group
of magnolias are the big leaf magnolias, and there are several species that are
that are native to the United States, and one in particular is the ash
Magnolia's Magnolia macropilla subspecies ashe it and has large leaves that kind of bring those
tropical effect to the garden. It has large, white, fragrant flowers to
be grown is out in the sun or as an understory plant. I know
it's hardy in southwestern Michigan because it's a colleague that has one in Chicago,
and I think Chicago is probably colder than where you are, so I would
say that for a tree. And then I love annuals and tropicals, and
one of my favorite plants that I grow every summer. Is the red Abyssinian
banana, which is the in Setsi Morelli and morally I it's great purchas tropical
effect in the summer garden. Yeah, that's fantastic, beautiful. Appreciate your
time with us here on the Gardening Simplified Show, Andrew. I can't imagine
the effort and the number of people it takes to put together the Philadelphia Flowers
Show. Yes, thank you. It's great to be with you. Thanks
so much, Andrew, have a great day. Okay, thank you.
Well, you know, not only should the Philadelphia Flower Show be on everyone's
bucket list, but a trip to Philadelphia during the gardening season should also be
on everybody's bucket list because it is one of the capitals of amazing public horticulture
in our country. And with that, we wish you a very happy gardening
week ahead. Thanks to Rick, thanks to Adriana, and thanks to all
of you for listening.