Happiness with Houseplants (even gardenias!)

Coming to you from Studio A here at Proven Winner's color Choice shrugs. It's
the right place for plantalizing dialogue The Gardening Simplified Show with Stacy Hervella me Rick
Weist and our engineer and producer Adrianna Robinson. All Right, the Golden Age
of plant breeding, it's had an impact on the foliage or house plant industry.
We've talked about how we're living in the Golden Age of plant breeding.
And take a variety of houseplant or foliage plant that now has a plethora of
varieties pothos, Devil's ivy, easy to grow. Used to be we just
had golden pothos, but now we've got Cebou blue, and we've got jade
and marble queen and pearls and jade and all sorts of varieties. As a
matter of fact, Proven Winner's leaf Joy has but to fall. I didn't
make that pun up, but to fall, these cascades pothos off to oz
pothos, I love it, Enjoy and Seeboo blue, so it's great.
Or if you look at a houseplant like sand Zavaria snake plant, so many
different varieties leaf Joy, Proven Winners has Tiger shark snake plant. But I
remember when I used to be in the industry and we would ship up sandsavarias
from down South and take the bags off. Many times I had difficulty distinguishing
between the varieties by sight. Just subtle differences, but so many varieties.
And so we do live in the golden age of plant breeding, and houseplants
are no different now. Houseplants are natural to talk about this time of the
year because we spend a lot of time indoors. And the Nordic concept of
and I'm gonna look at it phonetically here, Stacy freeloofed sleeve. I looked
it up okay from a professor who said that that is the way to pronounce
it free looft sleeve or free air life. In other words, a Nordic
concept that emphasizes the importance of being outdoors and finding something that you love in
every season. And of course, Stacy, this time of the year,
houseplants, foliage plants are definitely a mood enhancer. Well, you know,
if you don't have your houseplants, you have much fewer options if we're just
counting on the outdoors. So it's nice to have houseplants and something to brighten
your day indoors. And you know, I don't think I have said this
on the show before, but when I was in horticulture school, I was
obsessed with houseplants. And this was years ago, this was before Instagram or
anything like that, right, And I was interviewing for my dream internship.
I wanted it so bad. They had an amazing plant collection. I wanted
this job so bad. And in the interview, I told these two older
men who are interviewing me that my dream was to bring about a houseplant revolution
like in the seventies. Wow, they laughed at me. They literally laughed
at me. They laughed at me, and they said that will never happen.
So I'm not trying to hijack the houseplant conversation here, but I do
just want to say, believe in yourself. Never listen to anyone who tells
you that it's not possible. Because here we are in a golden age of
plant breeding and a whole revolution of houseplants. And I think those two things
kind of play into each other because the golden age of plant breeding is driving
people want more, They want something new, and they want to keep adding
to their collection, and they really form bonds, and I love that what's
happening with houseplants is what's kind of always been happening in home decor, where
people go to a store and they fall in love with something and they have
to have it good for you. That is inspirational, It really is.
And yes, I was in the industry, working in the industry twenty eighteen
nineteen, and then COVID hit unbelievable the surge and the interest in houseplants,
So you were right on. I was, and you know, I really
I kicked myself frequently for listening to them and being discouraged by their negativity.
And this is my message to everyone, whether it's houseplants or anything else in
life, believing yourself. Do you predict football scores? Because I'd like to
know. No, man, I am not touching that one, except to
say that all of my mojo is going straight to the Lions right now,
all right, you bet go Lions. All right. So, houseplants,
we understand they're a mood enhancer, especially at this time of the year.
You read all kinds of stories about how houseplants are good for you, They
clean the air, et cetera, et cetera. I was thinking what about
the flip side of the coin, And I've found an interesting study, In
other words, what about bad plants? Neglected plants with browning leaves can have
worse effects on mental health than having no plants at all, according to researchers
at the University of I think it's reading or reading not sure and the Royal
Horticultural Society. The study, published in the Building an Environmental Journal, studied
the effect of twelve indoor plants on mental well being. So they're saying,
great, house plants clean the air, great for your mood. But if
they're really looking bad and you're not doing too well with your plants, it
can have the reverse. Well, that certainly makes sense, It does make
but I would encourage anyone who's undergoing that and having a plant that's not doing
well and they feel like it's bringing them down and they feel like they feel
guilty every time they look at it. Throw it away, get that negativity
out of your life and either replace it or just stop doing houseplants. You
don't have to do houseplants. I mean, I think people just put so
much like personal you know, investment into it, and they think it's a
reflection on them. As a person if they don't do well with houseplants.
And the fact is that there's a lot of reasons that you might not do
well with a houseplant, and they have nothing to do with how good of
a person you are. There, you go throw it out. It's okay.
If you have a point settle left from Christmas, throw it out.
Well, here's a good word of the day for it. I keep it.
I'm doing well with it. Keep it. But I'm just saying.
Good word of the day is moo. Now I look this up and I
know I'm pronouncing this right now. It's spelled moue. This was a new
word to me. Maybe not to use stacy, but to me, it
was a new word. Moo. It's a pouting expression used to convey annoyance
or distaste, and some plants pout in winter. I mean. Leaf drop
is one of the most common problems affecting let's say a plant like ficus.
Oh yeah, definitely, where the days get short, it's dark, it's
gray, the sun doesn't shine, and it decides to drop fifty percent of
its leaves. Again, the development there Ficus or figs. You have Ficus
elastica, which is also known as rubber tree leaf Joy proven Winters has the
chroma belize rubber plant sensational foliage unreal. Ficus benjamina is the one that generally
will drop its leaves and you can find there cling on anastasia weeping fig or
cling on Samantha, which is the variegated variety of weeping fig. And then
of course you've got the bambino dwarf, the fiddle leaf figs, so lots
to choose from in Ficus, but this is one of those plants stacy that
can tend to pout a little bit. Well. You know, fiddle leaf
figs definitely were sort of the poster child for the houseplant craze that arose during
COVID, and you know, unfortunately that is not one of the easiest plants
to grow indoors, and a lot of people invested a lot of money and
then felt really bad when it wasn't doing well. And you know, I'm
in the plant industry, so I know that sometimes we may play a part
in this inadvertently. But I think one of the biggest issues is that people
were marketing plants for rooms instead of conditions, like, oh, this is
a plant for the bathroom. This is a plant for the kitchen, This
is a plant for your bedroom. You have to place a plant in your
house based on the conditions, not the room. Anyone's bedroom could have totally
different exposures, totally different heat situations, and a lot of people, unfortunately,
I think, have been very disappointed in Fiddley fig just because they invested
a lot in buying one and it didn't do well. Because it has specific
needs, and that's the key. Going in good light and proper watering practices,
they're going to be the key no matter what the houseplant is. The
people who make the mistake of watering frequently just a little bit. The upper
soil is wet all the time. The riot ball is dust dry, and
of course that plant tends to struggle. Here's a limb a rick very short.
Okay, but I write these things while I'm relaxing in my rick liner.
So here you go. I'll continue to be encouraging even though my plants
are embarrassing. I nurture, coddle, even scold as I manage the household.
Sometimes it's tough plant parenting. It can be tough plant parenting, but
so many great varieties to choose from. We've talked about the house plan of
the year, mythic dragonite, the allocacia I love mythic NeSSI, which is
the African mask or poly alocasia. Everyone has to have a Kalathia in their
house, like the Kalathia, Lancefolia, rattlesnake plant, a monstera, all
of these plants. And look at philodendron. The colors now, the lime
colors are burken variegated color. Just the variety alone makes you want to add
these plants to your home, as you should. And you know, again,
I would just say get them, enjoy them. And if you don't
have the conditions for them, and a lot of people don't, you know,
then you don't have to keep trying to grow them, give them to
a friend who can, and replace it with a fresh one and just keep
rotating out. You can't for you can't necessarily change the conditions in your house
easily. You can get a light, you can get a fan, you
can get all this other stuff, But I don't think people mostly want that.
They want to put the plant down and enjoy it. And if you're
not enjoying it, it's just not worth it. Although a sun lamp or
some artificial light may benefit you also, that's true this time, especially at
this time of year. Plants on Trial 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
and the distinctive white container at your local garden center. Greeting's Gardening friends,
and welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show. It's the time of the show
where we put a plant on trial, which is to say that we talk
about one of the Proven Winner's Color Choice shrubs, tell you all about it,
tell you how to grow it, and then you get to decide if
it's going to earn a spot in your garden or landscape. And I am
going to come right off the bat and say that today's plan on trial is
steady as she goes Guardian, and we're going to have a very long,
circuitous route to get to the actual plant, because you know, I like
to pick the plant on trial based on the theme. Today's theme is about
houseplants and Proven Winner's Color Choice shrubs are not houseplants. There are landscape and
garden plants, but a couple of the varieties in our line are plants that
are sometimes grown as houseplants. And so I wanted to take this opportunity to
talk about guardinas in general. Hopefully I'll finish up in time to actually get
back to study. As she goes, Guardina, this is not a houseplant.
This is not even a plant that you will see sold as a houseplant.
But I do happen to know that guardinas as indoor plants have broken many
many a heart in spirit. Wow, that's what I was gonna say.
First of all, circuitis or however you said that yahod word. Yeah,
it's like I'm going to take a long roundabout way to get there if I
get there at all. But I'm gonna try good. I'll work on pronouncing
now and then yeah, but and then as far as gardenias are concerned,
Yes, being in the garden center industry for years, it makes the hair
stand up on the back of my neck because they arrive at a garden center
in pristine condition. They are so gorgeous, and that's where everything starts to
the wheels start to come off, It's true, And who can resist a
gardenia? Now, if you aren't familiar with Guardina's, and I hope you
are, whether it is from attempting to grow them indoors or a nice trip
to the south, or maybe you are one of our warm climate listeners and
you are fortunate enough to grow gardena in your yard. The fragrance of a
gardenia flower is one of my all time, absolute favorite plant fragrances. It
is there's nothing like it. It's knock your socks off, It's a beautiful
fragrance. I find it less polarizing than a lot of other plant fragrances that
people may or may not like. And it has, you know, these
beautiful white flowers with this amazing fragrance, glossy green foliage, especially on one
that just came in from you know, someplace down south where it's been all
shine, and they are irresistible. But you know, a lot of people
wonder if they can grow one of our shrubs indoors. And I every year
I hear from so many gardeners who are like, oh, I just I
really love pinky winky hydrangea. But I live in an apartment and can I
grow it indoors and when you say no, they're kind of like, well
why. And the thing is that the more cold tolerant a plant is,
the less likely it is going to do well indoors. Right, great,
And a lot of people don't think that about guardenias. Now, guardenias are
not a hardy plant, wouldn't be really be considered super hardy. They're hardy
down to USDA Zone seven some varieties even to zone eight. But the reason
for this issue is because when you have plants with that's the coldest temperature that
they can tolerate, it really indicates that they need cooler weather then you can
provide in your house. It kind of is like the condition. So think
about what's happening right now in the south right. No, they've had a
cold snap too, as we have. But it's not you know, sixty
five degrees with blasts of heat coming out. It's cool and the days are
kind of short, the nights are kind of long, and those are the
conditions of the plant wants to be. And now compare that to your house
conditions they are nothing like that. Like you've got heat going dry heat,
you don't have good air. Dry heat is a huge issue. You don't
have good air circulation, and so these plants they really struggle to grow indoors.
And I think that a lot of the frustration and heartbreak that has come,
especially from Gardena's, is that when you do see them in the grocery
store or the floorst or the garden center, it's in the house plant section,
and you get one and you think that you should be growing this like
you grow your apathos, like you grow your jade plant, like you grow
all of these other plants that you've had for many years and you treasure and
that is just not going to happen with the guardinia. They arrive at Valentine's
Day with all the other flowers, and then you give that to somebody and
I'm like, you're about to get in on a high maintenance relationship here,
because it's right difficult. I mean, it's I look at it, Stacey,
It's like it's a broad leaf, evergreen. How am I going to
grow that inside? Exactly? And that's a really good way to look at
it now, if so. One of the issues, of course, especially
with Valentine's Day, is you're buying this for someone you love and you think
oh, my sweetheart, they love guardina's or this reminds me of this wonderful
trip we took to somewhere in the south when they were in bloom or whatever.
And then you give it to them, and then it fails, not
through any fault of your sweetheart, it just doesn't want to be in the
house. And and so I think that by all means, buy that guardinia
for your sweetheart, by that guardina for yourself, but don't plan to grow
it as a long term houseplant, like a gift plant. Treat it like
you would appoint seta Treat it like you would in easter lily, good point,
whatever, those plants that you regularly buy and enjoy indoors, like those
little primroses that start to come out in spring. Just treat it as a
temporary plant that you can enjoy okay while you have it, and then you
know when it starts to get stressed, which is probably, depending on your
condition, is going to be in about three ish weeks. I wait,
that's I mean usually depending on the guardia, you should be able to get
a little more out of that. Although the biggest issue I think that people
have with guardenias is bud drop. Yes, they you know, and so
you have to think again about what the guardininia has been through. It's just
been down in this lovely greenhouse somewhere in Florida or Texas. It gets packed
onto a truck and then it comes to your house and again, your heat's
running, there's no air circulation, it doesn't have nice bright light. It's
much drier than it needs to be. And I have found that probably the
biggest issue with guardinias, in with that bud drop is frequent gusts of cold
air. So if you put it near a front door or any place where
you're getting like that really dramatic difference in temperature. They do not like cold
drafts. And I'm not talking Budweiser or Heineken, but don't put that in
them either. But the bud drop thing, yes, Stacy. And then
what happens is we run for the water and can pour on more water and
we speed up the press. Yes. And I've heard people say, oh,
well, I had this gardinia. It wasn't doing well, So I
started putting coffee in it because I heard gardinia is like acidic soil. Oh
yeah, don't do that either. So anyway, all of This is to
say you won't see Study as She Goes gardena for sale at the floorists at
the grocery store. But if you live in USDA Zone seven or warmer,
this is a plant that you could consider adding to your garden. And if
you are someone who can only enjoy gardinia's indoors, again, don't beat yourself
up over the fact that they aren't doing well. It is not you if
you have a conservatory, if you have a greenhouse, maybe, but under
normal household conditions that guardinia is just not going to do well long term.
So get it, enjoy it while it lasts, and then move on without
beating yourself up over it. But if you can grow it outdoors, Steady
as She Goes is an excellent variety because it is a continuous blooming guardina.
Now, most gardenias in the South bloom in spring and then it's done.
They can't really continue to bloom once the weather starts getting really really hot.
They just kind of shut down and they still look beautiful because they have that
gorgeous, glossy foliage. But this one will actually bloom all the way up
until frosts, even up into his zonne ten. Wow. So more of
what makes guardinias so great, that amazing fragrance. And just imagine that fragrance,
you know, on a hot summer night and it's really humid and it's
just permeating the air, and that's not something that you could normally do with
more conventional guardenias. Yeah, that's true. And if you move it inside
and you're living up north like like we do, I really I think an
unheated room that is brightly lit probably is a better way to go than a
heated room where the temperatures are cooler over winter, or in the bathroom if
you're a person who takes lots of showers. But other than that, yeah,
it's probably gonna be a little bit of struggle, but boy is it
worth it for the fragrance of those flow. Yeah, and enjoy it,
well, you kain, or get yourself a Guardinia perfume, which is what
I did. And I love my Gardinia perfume. But because I'm a gardener,
I'm so literal, I feel like I can only wear it when gardinias
would be in bloom. Otherwise it's out of place. So that's my own
issue. I'm to tell you. I'm on some kind of ranting. But
let's just talk briefly about conditions for growing gardinia, because even if you're trying
to grow at indoors, this will help you be successful. Now, though
the plants themselves are heat tolerant, they want cool, moist, well drained
soil. This is not a plant that you can put in a parking lot.
This is not a plant that you're going to plant next to your sidewalk
or driveway or someplace where there's a lot of heat coming off of concrete areas.
This is definitely a plant for something that is more like protected. Sure,
you don't want a plant too close under a tree because the roots could
be an issue, but you want some shade. Again, you want regular
moisture. This is a plant that's not trout tolerant by a long shot,
if you didn't guess from our rants of trying to grow it indoors, so
cool, moist, acidic soil. Absolutely imperative mulch is a very good idea
because that will again help keep those roots cool and moist and help keep the
soil pH in a nice range. And it can take sun or shade,
but the hotter the climate, the more shade it's going to want again to
keep those roots nice and cool and doesn't really need much prunity. It is
deer resistant and steady. Ashigas reaches about three to five feet tall and four
to seven feet wide. Wow. Yeah, so it's definitely one of those
shorter than wide plants, but a great plant for if you are lucky enough
to live in a climate where you can grow it. Just one of those
really memorable plants. And I would just remind our warm climate gardeners who wish
they could grow lilac, we wish we could grow guardina. There you go.
Yeah, I love it. I love it. Give it a try.
May the florist be with you. Indeed, we're gonna tell you a
little break. When you come back, we'll be answering your garden questions,
and 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 easy care
rose and 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. Greetings, gardening friends,
and welcome back. To the Gardening Simplified Show. It's the time of the
show where we answer your gardening questions. And I know people have a lot
of gardening questions. They're thinking about things that happened last year, thinking about
what's going to happen ahead. So if you have a question, you can
always reach us at Gardeningsimplified on air dot com. We've got a contact form
there. We also take your questions on our YouTube channel or on Instagram,
so there's lots and lots of ways to reach us with your questions. Now.
Of course, not all questions can be easily answered on air. Some
of them have a lot of background and that makes it a little bit tricky.
So if not we will. You can always reach us on the Proven
Winner's website or Proven Winners Color Choice dot com if you need an answer more
quickly and we don't get to your question on air. So what have we
got in the mailbag this week? Well, Stacy Marla writes to us,
and I love this question because it's about our topic last week, layering your
landscape. I also learned that I say layer or layering strange according to the
comments. Yeah, Kelly, yeah, and you know, I know I
talk funny. I've got this weird. I don't know, but all right,
I didn't notice. I have to ask, oh, thanks, thank
you. I appreciate that. Anyhow, I have a question about layered gardening
and watering. I moved into a brand new house last year. In the
backyard as a large space in front of a hedgerow, I want to start
landscaping, and I've been doing my research on what to plant. Prep the
ground with mulch, and I plan on a few large evergreens in the back
to help anchor the space, medium sized perennial shrubs and grasses in the middle,
and then some flowering perennials and annuals towards the front. I can't afford
to do this all at once, that makes sense, Marla, and I
hope to add a little each year. I have drip irrigation in this space.
That's great. So here's what Marla's asking. Those first year plants need
more water to get established. How do I plant in a manner that allows
me to add to my landscape without drowning the previous year's plants. Boy,
that's you know, and not having to drag out the hose and augment water
all Oh, yeah, it's a great question, Marla. Anytime you can
avoid dragging out the hose, I am in full support because that is not
fun. So this is a good question, and I do just want to
first of all, say that it is absolutely true that plants that are getting
established need more water. You know, it's important to help create a good
environment for root growth so the plants will get established more quickly and be able
to withstand any challenges down the line. But you know, just because a
plant needs more water its first year doesn't necessarily mean that at extra water or
sufficient water isn't a good thing later on in its life. You know,
even if a plant is drought tolerant, that doesn't mean it's not okay if
it gets a little extra water, especially if your soil has reasonably good drainage,
which is to say it doesn't hold onto water for long periods. And
the way that you can check if your soil is well drained is just dig
a hole like the size you would plant for like a two gallon or three
gallon shrub would be a good size, not too big. Fill it up
with water, walk away, come back in fifteen minutes, give it a
look. See how much water is left in it, come back in another
fifteen minutes. If after that thirty minutes the water is essentially drained out,
you've got perfectly good drinks well in soil, perfect exactly. Yeah, So
in that case, you really won't have to worry about all that extra water.
It's not considered extra water to the planet. It's just considered sufficient water.
So I don't necessarily not don't. I don't know what kind of soil
you have, Marla, but I don't think that this is as big of
an issue as she might be concerned that it is. Again, unless the
soil is very heavy clay and drains very very slowly, or you're planting cactus
or succulents or things that really can't take all that extra moisture, I don't
think it's going to be that big of an issue. I don't either,
And I really believe again, when you read plant catalogs, they're always telling
us to go for moist well drained soil. You know what is that.
I view it as soil that has a fair amount of organic matter in it
and it drains well. And if you do that, I think you're good
to go. Yeah, I don't think it's a huge concern again unless you're
you know, even again, if something's considered drought tolerant, all that means
is it can take drought out, not that it wants drought. And a
lot of times things that are drought tolerant, they will shut down, they
won't flower as well. They'll live, but they won't flower as well,
they won't look as good. But I also wanted to address that it is
a great thing that Marla has drip irrigation because drip irrigation is so versatile and
I think even if Marla doesn't have well drained soil, having that drip irrigation,
you have so many more options. Now there's two main types of drip
systems. There's inline drip and this is the type that is tubing that you
would kind of curly cue all over your yard and lay out in lines and
so that would be like sometimes people will put that undergrass or something like that.
And then there's I don't know what the formal term for it is,
but these spaghetti tube systems where you have a main feed tube and then you
put spaghetti's off the tube to deliver it to your plants. Now that spaghetti
type is very very versatile. You can add more emitters, You can change
the emitters so that you have emitters, which is a little thing at the
end where the water comes out, where less water is being applied. They
have low volume emitters and high volume emitters, so you could switch those up.
Some drip systems even come with little plugs that you can put into where
you had punched out for a spaghetti. Put a plug in there so it
won't have any water, and then just move the spaghetti to somewhere else.
We did that a lot when I was a rooftop gardener. So I think
if you are concerned, if you find that your soil isn't well drained,
or you have plants that are really going to want to stay drier for their
long term health and success, that you should start looking into those options depending
on your drip system and adapting it to your plant's needs. Coming out next
week, we'll have an expert on drip irrigation coming right here into the studio
and we're going to take some of the mystery out of it. Stacy and
the other comment that I would make, those are great comments I would add
to it. Don't be one of these set it and forget it people.
Now you'll see people who get automatic irrigation or drip irrigation in April, set
the clock or set the irrigation walk away thinking I'll shut this off on Halloween.
Don't do that. The environment changes, conditions change, weather changes.
Don't be a set it and forget it personal. And you know, even
if you have a rain sensor that's going to shut off your system, those
are notoriously unreliable, so you know, and it's you should want to be
out there with your plans and watching them and monitoring them and seeing how they're
settling in. But again, Marla, this sounds like such an exciting project.
She sent photos, so we're going to have those in the YouTube version
as well as on our site Gardening Simplified on air dot com. You can
see what Marla has. She's got a blank slate and is there anything more
exciting than that when it comes to gardening and Marla has her thinking cap on?
Way to go? Thanks so much. Great question. DeBie asks this,
I have crocus that have naturalized all over the yard that are absolutely beautiful
in early spring. Would using a pre emergent on the lawn in spring hurt
them? Now? I would say right off the bat that crocus are bolt
well not really bulbs, they're corms, but not seeds, and seeds are
going to be most affected by a pre emergent. You could consider using corn
gluten or some low residual type pre emergent. If you're using something like pream,
which is something many people use throughout the country. As far as a
pre emergent in their gardens are concerned, read the label. Read the label.
It will tell you very very clearly. Now, sometimes a pre emergent
could cause a little bit of yellowing, although I would say Stacy that at
least here in Michigan, generally I expect the crocus to bloom in March,
and we usually put down pre emergent controls when the soil gets warm enough fifty
five to sixty degrees, which usually happens about mid April. So I don't
think it's much of a concern. Yeah, I agree completely. So anything
that you buy that is a pre emergent is specifically formulated to pre seeds from
germinating, so it works on preventing weeds by not letting the seeds germinate.
Now, even though your crocus have naturalized I think it's highly, highly unlikely
that that naturalization has taken place through seed. It's taken place because, like
Rick said, it's a corm. It puts off a bunch of little babies
every year at the end of the season. As those grow and mature,
they start to reach a flowering size, and then you get that beautiful naturalized
look, which I adore. So yeah, in between the timing, do
look at the label because some labels will say, oh, apply at this
time, or it could affect this, don't apply around this, So you
want to look out for all of those caveats. But I would say enjoy
your crocuses and hopefully a less weedy lawn as well with that pree emergence.
Fantastic. Jackie's asking would you please give advice on using groundcovers for weed suppression?
Now that's kind of an interesting it is. It is a good one
and it can be effective. But there's two things that I wanted to say
to Jackie about the question. So number one is you will get faster weed
control if you plant your groundcovers more closely. Groundcovers when you plant them,
it takes a while for them to grow together and actually create that carpet like
effect. So even under best case scenario, you're still going to need to
do some hand management of those weeds as that gets established. But of course
if you plant them more closely, they'll fill in more closely and you will
have a little bit less to do. So if it's within your budget,
you can just plant more and plant them more closely together than what the tag
recommends. The other thing I would say is not all groundcovers are created equal,
so you're going to want to if you're really growing these to prevent weeds,
you're going to want to look for those that have a more dense root
system. So you're going to be looking for things like loriabe wild ginger also
known as a serum a juga hasta. Basically anything that if you pick up
the plant, that's the leafy part or the stems of the plant, if
that comes off of the ground. So I'm thinking you have something like a
creeping flocks, right, So if you've seen a creeping flocks, if you
try to lift up the plant, it kind of comes off the ground.
It's not rooted in, it's just a little clump of plant with a central
roots. Those are going to be less effective because they're not out competing the
weeds as much. They really only have sort of a smaller root system and
then the plant spreads. What you want is a plant with roots that's spread
as well if you're really trying to outcompete weeds. So I'll put some of
these suggestions in the show notes at gardening Samplify and on air dot com.
But otherwise I would say that, yeah, the groundcover you choose is what's
going to make a difference. So I've done that with lariope, and yes,
some weeds grew in the spacing, but once both were growing, I
cut it back with a weed whacker so I could easily see the weeds clean
them up. The loriope took over and it seemed to be fine. One
other quick thing, Nepetaspettas spread nicely and they have a lollopathic am I pronouncing
that right properties where they crowd out or will fight off weeds. So i'd
consider all so some low growing nepetites, well, you can't get wrong with
that. It's one of my favorite plants. So thank you all for your
questions. You can find all of the notes at Gardeningsimplified on air dot com.
We're going to take a little break. When we come back, Rick
has branching news. The Gardening Simplified Show is brought to you by proven Winners
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Welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show. Okay, it's time for branching
news. It's not breaking news, but we don't make this stuff up.
A group of Japanese scientists has successfully filmed plants communicating and warning others about potential
dangers in real time, making a breakthrough in an observation first documented in the
early nineteen eighties, so published in the journal Nature Communications in October of last
year. The research team from Japan successfully captured undamaged plants sending defense responses to
nearby plants after sensing volatile organic compounds VOCs, which are produced by other plants
in response to mechanical damage or insect attacks. Now that is pretty cool,
and we're going to post that link at the website. Gardening simplified on air
dot Com. I love the fact that, you know, I talk to
plants, but I love the fact that they're talking amongst themselves. I think
that's cool. You know, like ferns, they talk a lot. Ferns
talk so much they could make a telemarketer hang up. So all right.
In Australian woman's bandicoot ravage yard was dubbed the winner of the world's first ever
Ugliest lawn competition? Did you know that existed? No, that is a
dubious honor, as they would say. Wow. Kathleen Murray of Sanford,
Tasmania was named the winner of the contest, which was organized by the town
of Gotland, Sweden. Gotland started the contest two years ago to encourage locals
to conserve water amid a near disastrous drought in the town. And this whole
thing went global and now they sponsored the world's worst lawn. Pretty interesting,
and she entered. She has her lawn features sparse patches of yellow grass,
shriveled plants, dry divots caused by the local bandicoots. So bandicoots, I
guess loved digging in. That's how they find their favorite food. So she
has a bandicoot problem. Wow, that is an interesting problem to have.
I mean, I have a terrible looking lawn and I do not have vandicoots.
So well, I fought the law in the lawn one which, by
the way, Sonny Curtis of the Crickets wrote that song and the Bobby Fuller
four made it famous in nineteen sixty five. I fought the lawn well,
I fought the law and the law one right, all right, I remember
that song. I mean I wasn't round in nineteen sixty five, but I
remember hearing it as a kid in really liking it. I was guard from
above. A Dutch company renowned for its innovative drone designs, has unveiled the
Evolution Eagle. Now I'd like to get one of these for you, Stacy,
because you love birds. You're an expert on birds, and they created
this drone that looks exactly like an eagle. WHOA. You can fly that
thing around the cutting edge covert surveillance surveillance platform, tailor to military needs and
inspired by the elegance of nature. So it's a strategic masterpiece. And this
thing is quiet too. I guess it can just swoop right in, you
know, of course it doesn't have to flap its wings. It's got these
little propellers and it takes off, and goodness, this would be a fun
thing to own. I'd like I think I'd like one. I feel like
they should have modeled it after an owl, because owls are much more silent
in flight than other birds of prey. But you know, also, the
thing is, you know, anytime you have anything mimicking a bird of prey,
it's still going to scare the pants off all the other poor birds.
So well, you know, I guess they it was a good idea to
pick an eagle. I was doing some reading that said that in eagle's eye
is pretty similar to in size to the average human, which is killing,
but their eyesight is four to tie four to eight times better than human eyesight.
Yeah. I was at a bird of prey demonstration last season and they
said that it was akin to us being able to see a mouse at the
other end of the football field perfectly in focus. Wow, wow, well
it makes sense. I'd never seen an eaglewood glasses, have you, I
haven't. This is a sad story. Twenty thousand dollars worth of bones eye
trees, some of them over one hundred years old were stolen from free volunteer
run California garden. Eight stolen trees may sound like a small number, but
some of those trees are over one hundred years old. I mean, now
that is that is sad. This is Lake merrit in Oakland, California.
So a bizarre burglary there, including some cypress trees that again well over one
hundred years old stolen. So they took off and I guess this. You
know, they're saying that the theft of bonesye trees has become a real problem
around the world. Recently, nurseries in southern California, Seattle, Japan have
all been hit. Well, you know, the it's very sad. It's
very sad for the gardeners and all the other people who could have enjoyed them
at those gardens. But to me, the worst part is that these are
not easy to take care of and they will almost certainly die unless there's some
really you know, malevolent bone size expert out there who's going around and stealing
these bone size especially ones that are that old. Are not an amateur prospect.
I wouldn't even touch it myself like you. I mean, people train
for years to take care of them. They're very difficult to take care of.
They need watering multiple times a day. So the real tragedy, aside
from the fact that again the gardens can no longer share these with their visitors,
is that I would say the plants will almost certainly die. Sorry to
be even more of a downer, but just if you had it in your
mind that you were going to steal a bone sigh and make it your own,
you probably don't have the skills to do that. This thief going around
stealing these bone sye plants, is he being circuitous? I don't know.
It depends on their approach. I'm just trying to use that word in my
vocabulary. Now, make it a regular part of my vocabular Okay. As
temperatures across the nation are arising at an alarming rate, in Sweden, they
have moved their national pastime indoors. So I don't know if you've ever heard
of the Torsby ski tunnel, but it's arguably the largest man made monument to
Sweden's ongoing battle against the effects of global warming. So you can ski indoors.
Let's see, it's one point three kilometers long, so that's a little
more than three quarters of a mile. You can cross country ski throughout the
year, and they just moved it indoors. They're saying, Wow, we
have warmer temperatures, but we love skiing, so let's move it indoors.
Wow, that's fascinating. I'd love to try that, I really would.
I tried skiing, but it was all downhill from there. It didn't work
out so well living on the frozen bundra. I'm gonna add with that bonfoliodds
for my friends until we weed again. It's been fun stays, it has
been really fun, and I feel like it's been an uncharacteristic show. We've
had some uh you know. I never want to discourage anybody, and so
I hope my guardina rant there didn't discourage people. But I also want people
to not blame themselves. And it's a real problem for me when people blame
themselves for things that didn't go as planned, because really gardening is not about
having like a special skill or a special knack. It's about having the information
you need to make the right decisions for your plants, and that's what we
try to do here. And just because you didn't have that and the plant
didn't work out so well. Doesn't mean that it's you, it's them.
Well, I don't know. I feel better now, Okay, I feel
better, Adriana, We all feel better good. I hope that, except
for the bone size thief, not them. Thanks for joining us on the
Gardening Simplified Show. I want to remind you we have a podcast. If
you're listening to the podcast, you already know that, but we're also there
on YouTube and on RAE and we appreciate your support Gardeningsimplified on air dot com.
Thank you Stacey, thank you Rick, thank you Adriana, and thanks
to you for tuning in the Gardening Simplified Show