The Botany of Thanksgiving

<v Speaker 1>Broadcasting from Studio A. Here at proven Winners Colored Choice Shrubs.
<v Speaker 1>It's time for the Gardening Simplified Show with Stacy Hervella, me,
<v Speaker 1>Rick weisst and our engineer and producer Adrianna Robinson. Well
<v Speaker 1>today some Thanksgiving botany. Native Americans helped the European settlers
<v Speaker 1>grow corn and use fish to fertilize their fields. And
<v Speaker 1>then in sixteen twenty one they kind of had this
<v Speaker 1>impromptu harvest gathering the first recorded Thanksgiving Day in Plymouth.
<v Speaker 1>By the way, I visited Plymouth Rock. I was kind
<v Speaker 1>of disappointed. They do so Rock would be bigger.
<v Speaker 2>They do say it is one of the most disappointing
<v Speaker 2>American history sites. Yeah, but you know it's because you
<v Speaker 2>learn about it as a kid, so of course, in
<v Speaker 2>your mind it's like this mass, it's like the Rock
<v Speaker 2>of Gibraltar or something, when in fact it's just really
<v Speaker 2>quite a large boulder exactly.
<v Speaker 1>Oh well, don't want to throw a wet blanket on it. Actually,
<v Speaker 1>the Thanksgiving festivities, the planned ones, happened two years later
<v Speaker 1>in sixteen twenty three, and they had this big party
<v Speaker 1>because it was after a two month drought. A lot
<v Speaker 1>of people would argue well, the whole thing started in
<v Speaker 1>eighteen sixty three after Gettysburg and Abraham Lincoln's proclamation. Regardless,
<v Speaker 1>there is a direct tie between Thanksgiving and botany. For example,
<v Speaker 1>how about some sour dough bread, some fresh herbs, mushrooms,
<v Speaker 1>and chestnuts to make a classic chestnut stuffing. The American
<v Speaker 1>chestnut was a cornerstone of the Eastern US ecosystem. Some
<v Speaker 1>people think maybe a quarter or more of the trees
<v Speaker 1>along the East coast were these chestnuts. And then of
<v Speaker 1>course they're wiped out functionally extinct as far as the
<v Speaker 1>mature trees are concerned by nineteen fifty the non native
<v Speaker 1>fungal pathogen or wipe them out. But of course the
<v Speaker 1>American Chestnut Foundations working to develop blight resistant American chestnut trees.
<v Speaker 1>They're doing scientific research breeding. A lot of people have
<v Speaker 1>high hopes for the return of this tree.
<v Speaker 2>I certainly do. And you know, one of the reasons
<v Speaker 2>that we're doing the show just for all of our
<v Speaker 2>listeners and viewers is so that you have alternative topics
<v Speaker 2>to talk about at Thanksgiving, you know, because who doesn't
<v Speaker 2>appreciate like a good fact bomb in the middle of
<v Speaker 2>a you know, difficult conversation. You could just be like, oh, hey,
<v Speaker 2>did you know, But I would say I feel like,
<v Speaker 2>if this is the first time you're hearing about American chestnuts,
<v Speaker 2>it's a sad story. It's like a truly, truly sad story.
<v Speaker 2>And I am very hopeful that they will make progress
<v Speaker 2>and be able to bring it back. But you know,
<v Speaker 2>you really have to, I think, start to research, look
<v Speaker 2>at photos online to even begin to get a scope
<v Speaker 2>of what we lost with the American chestnut.
<v Speaker 1>Oh agree? Are you going to put marshmallows on the
<v Speaker 1>sweet potato dish or the candied yams. I'll take a
<v Speaker 1>pass on the lime yello marshmallow holiday mold or the ambrosia.
<v Speaker 2>Sound Are they still doing that?
<v Speaker 1>I don't know. I think they do. But the main
<v Speaker 1>ingredients in a marshmallow our sugar, corn, syrup, flavorings like
<v Speaker 1>vanilla extract, water, air, and gelatin. So the commercial marshmallows
<v Speaker 1>today do not contain mallow root. And of course this
<v Speaker 1>was an important plant. They extracted sap from the root
<v Speaker 1>of the mallow plant. I believe it is altha officionalis
<v Speaker 1>don't hold me to that.
<v Speaker 2>Oh, you're right, that's correct?
<v Speaker 1>Is it okay?
<v Speaker 2>And It's an interesting thing because Alfia is a genus
<v Speaker 2>in and of itself. Yes, but if you had down south,
<v Speaker 2>they call all rows of sharon alfia, which are actually hibiscus,
<v Speaker 2>and obviously they're in the same family. The flowers do
<v Speaker 2>look superficially similar. But yeah, it's a very confusing thing.
<v Speaker 2>But the plant that actually made the original marshmallows, the
<v Speaker 2>marsh mallow is indeed in Althaea, and it's beautiful. It's
<v Speaker 2>really quite a lovely plant.
<v Speaker 1>It is a beautiful plant. In the nineteenth century, French
<v Speaker 1>confectioners began whipping the mallow rootsap with egg whites and
<v Speaker 1>sugar to create this lighter, fluffier candy. But then of
<v Speaker 1>course mass production came along and gelatine and we got
<v Speaker 1>the stable, spongy texture of marshmallow.
<v Speaker 2>Well, I think it's worth mentioning here that what makes
<v Speaker 2>one of the characteristics of the mallow family is that
<v Speaker 2>the malvasy is that they do have this kind of
<v Speaker 2>mucilagenious texture. And if you think of Okra, well, Okra
<v Speaker 2>is one of those members of that family. So it's
<v Speaker 2>very easy I think to kind of extrapolate. I mean,
<v Speaker 2>I love Okra, oh so do great Thanksgiving dish there
<v Speaker 2>if you still have somewhere around. Of course, most of
<v Speaker 2>us would probably have to use frozen okra by the
<v Speaker 2>time November rolls around, because it's quite a heat lover.
<v Speaker 2>But yeah, so it had that kind of mucilaginous texture
<v Speaker 2>that it could emulsify all of those different ingredients. But yeah,
<v Speaker 2>now they just use jelasin.
<v Speaker 1>I'm glad you said that, Stacey, because I had mussilagin
<v Speaker 1>genius in my notes and I planned for you to
<v Speaker 1>announced it for me. And it's a great description. And
<v Speaker 1>I love okra and my favorite way to have well,
<v Speaker 1>of course I love deep fried okra that my doctor
<v Speaker 1>doesn't like that for me, But okrah mixed with tomatoes and.
<v Speaker 2>Corn that is so so good.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah. Now, to me, the pinnacle of Thanksgiving botany is
<v Speaker 1>the green being, more specifically the green bean casserole. And
<v Speaker 1>it's my birthday dish. On my birthday. As opposed to
<v Speaker 1>cake with candles, I get green bean castlerole. That's adorable
<v Speaker 1>with candles. I love that in it, green bean castrole.
<v Speaker 1>And this year my birthday does fall on Thanksgiving.
<v Speaker 2>Bay does it is happy birthday?
<v Speaker 1>Yeah? Thank you so, green bean casserole of course, the
<v Speaker 1>American dish consisting primarily of green beans, cream and mushroom
<v Speaker 1>soup and French fried onions, popularized in the nineteen fifties.
<v Speaker 1>I think it was a gale by the name of
<v Speaker 1>Dorcas Riley at the Campbell Soup Company, and I was
<v Speaker 1>looking this up. Campbell's estimates it served in twenty million
<v Speaker 1>Thanksgiving dinners in the United States each year, and that
<v Speaker 1>forty percent of the company's cream of mushroom soup sales
<v Speaker 1>goes into the version of the dish.
<v Speaker 2>Wait, how many goes into greening cast.
<v Speaker 1>Forty percent of the company's production of cream of mushrooms.
<v Speaker 2>That is incredible, That is really amazing.
<v Speaker 1>It is And I have taken through the years so
<v Speaker 1>much abuse from people for loving green bean castrole because
<v Speaker 1>green bean casserole is one of these polarizing things. And
<v Speaker 1>if we're talking about Thanksgiving botany, I grow a lot
<v Speaker 1>of green beans in my garden in summer, beans corn
<v Speaker 1>as a matter of fact, And segment four we'll talk
<v Speaker 1>about the three sisters important part of Thanksgiving botany. So
<v Speaker 1>Stacy my Limerick this week has got to be the
<v Speaker 1>green bean casserole limb a rick and this is for
<v Speaker 1>all those people who through the years have given me
<v Speaker 1>a hard time on two things. One my love for
<v Speaker 1>green bean casserole. And number two, people always picked on
<v Speaker 1>me about my mister Rogers sweater, and so I made
<v Speaker 1>sure to wear that today. Also, thank you so for Thanksgiving.
<v Speaker 1>Here you go. If planning dinner when the holidays loom,
<v Speaker 1>the bean can be a dressed up legume. Just float
<v Speaker 1>in cream of mushroom soup, add crispy onions on top
<v Speaker 1>of the goop, and forget the fork. Eat with spoon.
<v Speaker 1>Leftovers on plates of styrofoam. Later. You'll spot it when
<v Speaker 1>the fridge you comb just run it through a strainer
<v Speaker 1>or eat directly from a cool whip container. But no
<v Speaker 1>way around it. You're taking some home. If we took
<v Speaker 1>a popularity poll, fifty to fifty would be the final toll.
<v Speaker 1>One half would say yum. Half would say it's dumb.
<v Speaker 1>The iconic green bean castrole.
<v Speaker 2>Oh that was you know, the love that you have
<v Speaker 2>for the green bean castrole really came through in that.
<v Speaker 2>You know, I would say.
<v Speaker 1>Makes my mouth wok.
<v Speaker 2>That people who put down green bean casserole probably just
<v Speaker 2>have not had a good version of it.
<v Speaker 1>That's possible.
<v Speaker 2>And I you know, remember celebrating several years ago with
<v Speaker 2>someone who was lactose intolerant, okay, and so she made
<v Speaker 2>from scratch because she couldn't use all the usual ingredients.
<v Speaker 2>Made a version of green bean castrole completely from scratch, so,
<v Speaker 2>you know, cooking raw beans, making the sauce, all of this,
<v Speaker 2>and it was outstanding. And the fact is the nice
<v Speaker 2>thing about a green bean castrole, like if you have
<v Speaker 2>to think about this from the host's perspective, because you
<v Speaker 2>can bring a green bean castrole, it's going to hold
<v Speaker 2>all that heat. You don't have to ask your host
<v Speaker 2>to put anything in the oven. And let's face it,
<v Speaker 2>as much as a salad or a fresh green vegetable
<v Speaker 2>is welcome at a meal, they just don't go at Thanksgiving. Yeah,
<v Speaker 2>it just does not happen. I've seen it long enough
<v Speaker 2>to say it's just not worth it. It's got to
<v Speaker 2>be in castrole for him.
<v Speaker 1>And you got to have lots of the crispy onions
<v Speaker 1>on it.
<v Speaker 2>That's the best part.
<v Speaker 1>You can never have too many of the crispy onions
<v Speaker 1>on top. But again, a controversial subject part of Thanksgiving botany.
<v Speaker 1>You know, there's other things I can talk about. I
<v Speaker 1>know lima beans are very controversial. Wearing bread bags in
<v Speaker 1>your boots to keep your feet dry. That's controversial too,
<v Speaker 1>and something we talk about in the holidays, But I'll
<v Speaker 1>let that go for now and we'll continue this conversation
<v Speaker 1>in segment four right now. Plants on Trial is coming
<v Speaker 1>up next here on the guard Simplified Show.
<v Speaker 2>Beautify your home and community with proven Winner's Color Choice
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<v Speaker 2>proven Winners Color Choice dot com. Reeting's gardening friends, and
<v Speaker 2>welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show, where we're about
<v Speaker 2>a week out from Thanksgiving here in the US, and
<v Speaker 2>we wanted to give our listeners and viewers something to
<v Speaker 2>talk about. You know, things can sometimes get awkward at
<v Speaker 2>the Thanksgiving table. They can get heated.
<v Speaker 1>Football game, yes.
<v Speaker 2>Right, yeah, there's always tension, especially you know, being from
<v Speaker 2>Michigan not the Lions are always playing. It's gotten a
<v Speaker 2>lot better in recent years, not Conwood than it had been,
<v Speaker 2>but still so we thought there would be a good
<v Speaker 2>idea to share some gardening and horticultural and botanical facts
<v Speaker 2>that you can then share at your Thanksgiving table. So
<v Speaker 2>and everyone's sitting around and you know, maybe things are
<v Speaker 2>getting contentious, you can just be like, hey, did you
<v Speaker 2>know that the corn that we eat is the ancestor
<v Speaker 2>of a plant called taosintae from Mexico, and that it
<v Speaker 2>is basically the progenitor of all of our corn. And
<v Speaker 2>then it underwent a natural mutation about nine thousand years
<v Speaker 2>ago that caused the skin on the kernels to become thinner.
<v Speaker 2>And so what these ancient American farmers were doing was
<v Speaker 2>saving the seeds from the thinner kernels because they were like, oh, hey,
<v Speaker 2>we can actually use this. It's not, you know, this
<v Speaker 2>giant thing that's impossible for us to process. So they
<v Speaker 2>actually selected, over many many years what has since become
<v Speaker 2>modern corn. So that is a plant called taosinte teo
<v Speaker 2>si nte. It is from the Nawaddle word which means
<v Speaker 2>sacred corn. So I would encourage you to take a
<v Speaker 2>look at this very interesting story. You can read a
<v Speaker 2>lot about it. I read this great quote and corn
<v Speaker 2>is not today's plant on Trial. I'm going to get
<v Speaker 2>to that, but I needed to get this Tao Sinte
<v Speaker 2>thing in there, just to set the tone for all
<v Speaker 2>this great stuff we're going to be throwing at you today.
<v Speaker 2>Bico's Tree Crops is this very interesting nursery. They're down
<v Speaker 2>in Kalamazoo here in Michigan, and they specialize in Native
<v Speaker 2>American crops, so they're selections of our native plants that
<v Speaker 2>are edible. And so there was an article that was
<v Speaker 2>reading about Tao Sinte on their website and the author
<v Speaker 2>had this quote. I thought it was so interesting. Corn
<v Speaker 2>and humans are now connected. But Tao Sinte built the bridge.
<v Speaker 1>Wow, so that is interesting. No wonder the European colonists
<v Speaker 1>or visitors in sixteen hundred weren't aware of the corn
<v Speaker 1>and needed the Native Americans to teach them.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah it was a ten foot tall plant. Yeah, it's
<v Speaker 2>really fascinating. So anyway, that's the kind of stuff we're
<v Speaker 2>trying to get onto your radar today. And you know,
<v Speaker 2>I just anyone who listens to the show knows I
<v Speaker 2>love all of these kind of random plant facts. And
<v Speaker 2>so for me saying like, oh, can we devote a
<v Speaker 2>whole show to random plant facts related to Thanksgiving. I
<v Speaker 2>was like, can I make it a little bit longer?
<v Speaker 2>But speaking of contentious topics, I am. I'm taking an
<v Speaker 2>entire group of plants for today's plan on trial, and
<v Speaker 2>that group of plants is mums. So if you've listened
<v Speaker 2>to the show for a while, and especially you gotta,
<v Speaker 2>you're gonna hear me out here, because I'm gonna I'm
<v Speaker 2>gonna tie this up nicely, I really am. I hope
<v Speaker 2>I have a lot to fit in though. So of course,
<v Speaker 2>if you've listened to the show before, you've heard Rick
<v Speaker 2>and I speak less than glowingly about moms. And you know,
<v Speaker 2>I don't want anyone to misunderstand. Of course, we always
<v Speaker 2>feel like whatever you like to do and you're going,
<v Speaker 2>is what you should do. It's your garden, it's for you.
<v Speaker 2>So I do not begrudge anyone who goes out and
<v Speaker 2>buys moms. And of course I love what they do
<v Speaker 2>for our industry, for the horticulture industry, for the grower side,
<v Speaker 2>for the independent garden center side. All of this is
<v Speaker 2>so important, and I love that moms are the thing
<v Speaker 2>they get people thinking about their garden again at a
<v Speaker 2>time where they would normally be shutting everything down, They're like,
<v Speaker 2>oh no, it's mumsy's and so I'm gonna, you know,
<v Speaker 2>change out all of my geraniums for moms. So I
<v Speaker 2>understand that they play an important role, but my personal
<v Speaker 2>grudge against mums stems from a single fact that the
<v Speaker 2>mums that we get in the garden centers should be
<v Speaker 2>so much more than they are. They are really doing
<v Speaker 2>a disservice to the entire genus of chrysanthemum, because there
<v Speaker 2>are so many more interesting mums than just these clumpy
<v Speaker 2>balls of color that they sell.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, they're too perfect.
<v Speaker 2>They're you know, they're in their brittle, so they're like
<v Speaker 2>this perfect mound. And then you you put it in
<v Speaker 2>the grocery in the back of your car with like
<v Speaker 2>your groceries and stuff, because you just picked it up
<v Speaker 2>on your way into the grocery store. You're driving home,
<v Speaker 2>a big chunk of it falls off. There's nothing you
<v Speaker 2>can do, and you know, it's just like and then
<v Speaker 2>they just kind of go bad, like they just start
<v Speaker 2>getting brown, and then you're left with this big, crumbly,
<v Speaker 2>you know, ball of mom that just stays there yeah,
<v Speaker 2>but moms can be so much more and that's what
<v Speaker 2>I really wanted to share with you today. So let's
<v Speaker 2>take a little step back in time. First of all,
<v Speaker 2>it's probably not going to come as a surprise to
<v Speaker 2>anybody that mums originated from Asia and from China specifically,
<v Speaker 2>and the first mums that they were that they had
<v Speaker 2>in China were actually used for food. They were not decorative,
<v Speaker 2>they were not ornamental. They were using the flowers, the
<v Speaker 2>buds and the foliage as a food source.
<v Speaker 1>Doesn't smell very appetite.
<v Speaker 2>Well, no, this was not the same mum. I do
<v Speaker 2>want to make that clear. So if you're hearing this
<v Speaker 2>and you're like, oh, whoa wait, I got a mom
<v Speaker 2>in the backyard, I'm going to go try this, I
<v Speaker 2>wouldn't recommend it. We are talking about much like I
<v Speaker 2>was just saying with Teo Sinte, being an ancient relative
<v Speaker 2>of corn. The edible chrysanthemum, which you can still buy
<v Speaker 2>and grow yourself if you are so inclined, is a
<v Speaker 2>very different animal than the mom, the garden mom that
<v Speaker 2>you know most people are putting into their gardens nowadays.
<v Speaker 2>So donate the moms that you have if you do
<v Speaker 2>want to try the edible chrysanthemum uh known in Japanese
<v Speaker 2>as shunguku. You could just go to any Asian market
<v Speaker 2>near you and they will probably have the leaves in
<v Speaker 2>a big bundle and you can see those. You can
<v Speaker 2>stir fry them, they pickle them. There's all sorts of
<v Speaker 2>recipes you can find, and it's very easy to grow,
<v Speaker 2>and it's really quite lovely because you'll see kind of
<v Speaker 2>the yellow sort of daisy, sort of Momli like flower,
<v Speaker 2>and it seems very easy to grow and I actually
<v Speaker 2>might try to grow that myself this season. But so
<v Speaker 2>started out as an edible crop. And because there was
<v Speaker 2>such a huge influence of Chinese culture into Japan, when
<v Speaker 2>moms made it to well, they just went crazy for
<v Speaker 2>them to this day. The mom known in Japanese as Kiku,
<v Speaker 2>is the symbol of the Imperial House of Japan. It
<v Speaker 2>is the symbol that is on the Japanese passport, anything
<v Speaker 2>that you see in Japan, and you see that it
<v Speaker 2>has that very distinctive chrysanthemum crest. It is related to
<v Speaker 2>the imperial or royal family. Their official throne has a
<v Speaker 2>chrysanthemum on it, so it's a very big cultural tie
<v Speaker 2>to Japan, and because of that, the Japanese have spent
<v Speaker 2>the last several thousand years developing moms that are nothing
<v Speaker 2>like you have ever seen before. And so this is
<v Speaker 2>what this is about for me, is I want those moms.
<v Speaker 2>I want the interesting moms. I would like them a
<v Speaker 2>lot more if I had some of these interesting mums.
<v Speaker 2>And I sent pictures to Adriana. So if you're not
<v Speaker 2>familiar with this, and this is the first time you're
<v Speaker 2>hearing it, and moms to your only those like clumpy
<v Speaker 2>garden moms, please go to ourd YouTube version and check
<v Speaker 2>out the amazing moms. I took these photos at the
<v Speaker 2>Lansu Chinese Garden in Portland, Oregon about ten years ago
<v Speaker 2>or so. I happened to be there for a mom
<v Speaker 2>show and they were absolutely amazing. Adrianna shaking her head
<v Speaker 2>because she's seen the pictures, and I mean, it turns
<v Speaker 2>the entire idea on its head of everything that we assume.
<v Speaker 2>And so that's really where my I guess objection to
<v Speaker 2>moms come in is the ones that we get are
<v Speaker 2>really a shadow of what this very very interesting plant
<v Speaker 2>can actually be. Now, I will say this because I
<v Speaker 2>talk a lot about plant habits and how I like
<v Speaker 2>plants to be open and airy, and that is also
<v Speaker 2>one of the reasons why I don't love your kind
<v Speaker 2>of standard garden mom. These moms that I'm talking about
<v Speaker 2>are developed for their flowers and definitely not their habits,
<v Speaker 2>So that is obviously one reason why these moms aren't
<v Speaker 2>more popular as garden plants. They're pretty leggy, they pretty
<v Speaker 2>much need staking because as they were being developed over
<v Speaker 2>these thousands of years, they were so focused on the
<v Speaker 2>color and the shape of the flowers. They didn't really
<v Speaker 2>spend a lot of time thinking, hey, can we get
<v Speaker 2>stronger stems and have like a nice garden plant. It
<v Speaker 2>was not a goal.
<v Speaker 1>Leggy, but maybe very nice cut flowers.
<v Speaker 2>Very nice cut flowers. And I'm glad you brought that up,
<v Speaker 2>because yes, you can sometimes find some of these interesting
<v Speaker 2>moms as cut flowers. And coming into Thanksgiving, I would
<v Speaker 2>just encourage you, if you're going to be making an
<v Speaker 2>arrangement for your table, go to a specialty florist see
<v Speaker 2>what they have these. I'm not sure you're going to
<v Speaker 2>find all of the diversity that's out there, but you
<v Speaker 2>will find more interesting plants. You know than if you're
<v Speaker 2>just thinking like, ooh, moms, why want I put those
<v Speaker 2>on my table? I love the spider moms, the quill moms.
<v Speaker 2>In fact, the American chrysanthem Society recognizes are you ready
<v Speaker 2>for this thirteen different classifications for chrysanthemums.
<v Speaker 1>I believe it.
<v Speaker 2>And there's gonna be some pictures of these again on
<v Speaker 2>the YouTube version. A regular in curve, reflex, decorative palm, palm,
<v Speaker 2>intermediate in curve, anemone spoon. I love those spoon moms,
<v Speaker 2>quill spiders. I love the spider moms. I love the
<v Speaker 2>ones that have like the double colors, so that the
<v Speaker 2>inner pedal is one color and the outer pedal is another.
<v Speaker 2>So there's just this incredible diversity of really interesting and
<v Speaker 2>really beautiful plants that you know, I think we should
<v Speaker 2>try to grow in our gardens. So it's just a
<v Speaker 2>new take on moms. Wanted to defend my previous takes
<v Speaker 2>on moms and also introduce you and perhaps your Thanksgiving
<v Speaker 2>compatriots there to everything that a mom actually can be.
<v Speaker 2>So take a look at us on YouTube if you
<v Speaker 2>aren't already, we'll have lots of inspiration for you there.
<v Speaker 2>And if you have moms on your Thanksgiving table, We'll
<v Speaker 2>send us a picture. We'd love to see them. We're
<v Speaker 2>going to take a little break when we come back.
<v Speaker 2>We're opening up the mailbags to stay tuned. At Proven
<v Speaker 2>Winners Color Choice Shrubs, we know that a better landscape
<v Speaker 2>starts with a better shrub. Our team of experts tests
<v Speaker 2>and evaluates all of our flowering shrubs and evergreens for
<v Speaker 2>eight to ten years to ensure they outperform what's already
<v Speaker 2>on the market. For easycare, reliable, beautiful shrubs to accentuate
<v Speaker 2>your home and express your personal style. Look for Proven
<v Speaker 2>Winners Shrubs in the distinctive white container at your local
<v Speaker 2>garden center, or learn more at Proven Winners color Choice
<v Speaker 2>dot com. Greeting's gardening friends, and welcome back to the
<v Speaker 2>Gardening Simplified Show, where we are so grateful for you
<v Speaker 2>in this season of gratitude. You know, every Monday I
<v Speaker 2>come in and if I look at the YouTube version,
<v Speaker 2>I'm really always just so humbled and taken aback by
<v Speaker 2>how many people enjoy the show. And it really means
<v Speaker 2>a lot that they that they say so, and I'm
<v Speaker 2>really glad that we get to spend some time with.
<v Speaker 1>You and the broad range of areas people outside of
<v Speaker 1>the United States. It's also our good friends in Canada
<v Speaker 1>and beyond. Just thanks for.
<v Speaker 2>Being friends, right And I think the good news for
<v Speaker 2>all of our listeners over those wide areas is that
<v Speaker 2>anyone can grow those mums, and you can grow them
<v Speaker 2>as an annual, so you know, whether you live in
<v Speaker 2>a cold climate or a hot climate. All of that
<v Speaker 2>stuff you just heard about on Plants on Trial, it's
<v Speaker 2>for you. Now. Normally we would be answering your questions,
<v Speaker 2>and we will answer some questions today, but before we do,
<v Speaker 2>I wanted to talk about some clear confusion. I guess
<v Speaker 2>it's an oxymoron, some confusion I have seen out there
<v Speaker 2>in social media land about stuff that's going on right now. Okay, okay.
<v Speaker 2>Number one, I've been hearing a lot of people say, hey,
<v Speaker 2>we've already had some hard frosts. Can I still plant?
<v Speaker 2>And I think that there is a little bit of
<v Speaker 2>a misrepresentation here that frost is definitely a very key
<v Speaker 2>indicator of planting time in the spring, but much less
<v Speaker 2>of a key indicator of planting time in the fall.
<v Speaker 2>It really is pretty much irrelevant in the fall. So
<v Speaker 2>a lot of times people think, Okay, well we've already
<v Speaker 2>had a frost. Guess the planting season is over, and
<v Speaker 2>it most certainly is not, even though, of course now
<v Speaker 2>we're here it's late November. Whether you are planting you know,
<v Speaker 2>shrubs or trees or perennials, the key kind of timing
<v Speaker 2>that you ideally want to look out for is you
<v Speaker 2>want to put stuff in the ground no later than
<v Speaker 2>six weeks before the ground freezes. That is certainly an
<v Speaker 2>easier said than done kind of guideline because you never
<v Speaker 2>really know when the ground is going to freeze, you know.
<v Speaker 2>And even if you have some cold, very cold temperatures
<v Speaker 2>in December and the ground gets frozen ish, sometimes you
<v Speaker 2>get some warm temperatures and then it's not actually frozen.
<v Speaker 2>So I would say, like for us here in Michigan,
<v Speaker 2>at least in West Michigan, I don't think that our
<v Speaker 2>ground freeze is at least until like early to mid January. Yeah,
<v Speaker 2>probably most years, I.
<v Speaker 1>Would agree, And of course every winter is different. Yeah,
<v Speaker 1>but you're right about the spring versus fall thing. And
<v Speaker 1>I think what happens is a lot of people watch
<v Speaker 1>weather forecasts and the meteorologists say, oh, protect those tender plants,
<v Speaker 1>and that's what happens, and then people start to freak
<v Speaker 1>or think, oh boy, what am I going to do?
<v Speaker 1>Just this past weekend, Greenhouse was having a clearance sale.
<v Speaker 1>I bought a whole bunch of plants at eighty percent off,
<v Speaker 1>eighty percent off, eighty percent off, and I healed them
<v Speaker 1>into the ground and I'll put them where I want
<v Speaker 1>next SPRNK.
<v Speaker 2>I love that. You know. That's another viable option too,
<v Speaker 2>is that if you say, hey, I got these at
<v Speaker 2>a great discount, I don't know where I want them yet,
<v Speaker 2>I'm going to have to do some work. I'm gonna
<v Speaker 2>have to do some dividing or moving. It is perfectly
<v Speaker 2>swell to just go ahead and heal those in. I
<v Speaker 2>just did some of that myself this past weekend. You know,
<v Speaker 2>to just get them through the season and then you
<v Speaker 2>can actually plant them. And you know, as long as
<v Speaker 2>that container has good drainage, it's no problem to even
<v Speaker 2>heal it in directly in its container and not very completely.
<v Speaker 1>That's right, Niles, shrubs, trees, just get the roots into
<v Speaker 1>the ground, you're going to be okay.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, And also so it won't keep blowing over all
<v Speaker 2>season because that's another thing that's gonna happen. And this
<v Speaker 2>goes for bulbs and garlic as well, So definitely now
<v Speaker 2>is a great time to do that gardening if you
<v Speaker 2>haven't already. So don't panic. It's not about the frost
<v Speaker 2>in fall. It's all about when the ground freezes.
<v Speaker 1>Now.
<v Speaker 2>The other thing is so as you know, we are
<v Speaker 2>very into big leaf hydrangels hydrange of macrophilla here at
<v Speaker 2>Provenminter's colored choice shrubs that is the type with a
<v Speaker 2>big purple, pink or blue flowers. And a lot of
<v Speaker 2>people who have attempted to grow these or still are
<v Speaker 2>attempting to grow them, have a sense that the flower
<v Speaker 2>buds are on the plant right now, which is true.
<v Speaker 2>So the twenty twenty six flower buds on your big
<v Speaker 2>leaf hydrangels are in the process of forming on your
<v Speaker 2>plant right now. That means I have to go all
<v Speaker 2>through winter in order to be able to bloom in
<v Speaker 2>summer of twenty twenty six. And for those of us
<v Speaker 2>in cold climates, and I'm talking here about USDA Zone
<v Speaker 2>five in some cases for some like let's stance can
<v Speaker 2>do and let's stance skyview hydrangeas USDA Zone four, you know,
<v Speaker 2>the temperatures are starting to get cold, and you worry
<v Speaker 2>that you're going to lose those flower buds over the winter,
<v Speaker 2>even though those varieties were specifically selected to have better
<v Speaker 2>cold tolerance. So people who say maybe they have older varieties,
<v Speaker 2>you know, I need to make sure that the buds
<v Speaker 2>may get through winter. They're like, should I start protecting
<v Speaker 2>my hydrangeas now? And I'm here to say there is
<v Speaker 2>absolutely no need to worry about the temperatures that we
<v Speaker 2>are having, even if you are in USDA Zone four
<v Speaker 2>at this time of year when we talk about those
<v Speaker 2>hardiness zones, USCA zone five is a temperature of negative
<v Speaker 2>twenty fahrenheit. Now that's not to say that the plants
<v Speaker 2>can take long periods of negative twenty degrees fahrenheit, but
<v Speaker 2>it is to say that the thirties and twenties and
<v Speaker 2>maybe you know, even if you're dipping into the high
<v Speaker 2>teens right now, are not a problem for your big
<v Speaker 2>leaf hydrangea whatsoever. You don't need to protect it. Now
<v Speaker 2>what you really are going to need to protect those
<v Speaker 2>flower buds from if you indeed are protecting not all
<v Speaker 2>of the need protection, and some of us have no
<v Speaker 2>problem whatsoever, but If you are inclined to protect, you're
<v Speaker 2>really protecting from those prolonged periods of very very cold
<v Speaker 2>weather that for us in Michigan we usually get end
<v Speaker 2>of January early February. That's when we have typically our
<v Speaker 2>coldest weather. Yes, if you don't have snowcover, that's another
<v Speaker 2>reason to protect. But you do not need to worry
<v Speaker 2>about those plants whatsoever with the cold that we're having
<v Speaker 2>in November and even in December. And if you do
<v Speaker 2>want to protect your hydrangeas, then make sure that it
<v Speaker 2>is completely dormant before you go out there and do anything.
<v Speaker 2>You do not want to protect a hydrangea that has
<v Speaker 2>not yet gone dormant, which is to say, lost all
<v Speaker 2>of its leaves, it's really going to mess up, you know,
<v Speaker 2>its ability to go dormant according to the cues of nature,
<v Speaker 2>the day length and all of that. So wait till
<v Speaker 2>it's completely dormant, and then you can go ahead and
<v Speaker 2>work whatever magic you want. But don't worry about your
<v Speaker 2>plants right now. They're just going to sleep.
<v Speaker 1>Agree, boy, I'm glad you brought this up. Maintain your composture.
<v Speaker 1>The way to look at it is plants need to
<v Speaker 1>shut down in due process naturally, so give them some
<v Speaker 1>time to do that.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I think people just get a little too worried,
<v Speaker 2>but they can easily take. Temperatures in the twenties, thirties,
<v Speaker 2>even the high teens not a cause for concerns, So
<v Speaker 2>you know, you can just chill. We have a question
<v Speaker 2>for you, specifically, Rick. Okay, our listener Val wants to
<v Speaker 2>know if you can please tell her what kind of
<v Speaker 2>leaf shredder you have. She can't find the video where
<v Speaker 2>you talk about it.
<v Speaker 1>Okay, the leaf shredder, and we have shown this on
<v Speaker 1>the show I think a few times. It is called works,
<v Speaker 1>so it's wo r x that's how they spell it
<v Speaker 1>works electric leaf multure, so it runs, you know, no
<v Speaker 1>messing with gas two cycle engines. That's just a typical
<v Speaker 1>one ten outlet extension cord. My one knock on the
<v Speaker 1>product is it's a little top heavy, so if I
<v Speaker 1>stumble around in the garden sometimes I can knock it over.
<v Speaker 1>But aside from that, easy to operate and does a
<v Speaker 1>great job of shredding leaves. The other thing is is
<v Speaker 1>if you want to shred some leaves for some browns
<v Speaker 1>for your compost or to work, the speed up the
<v Speaker 1>decomposition process in your garden. When you operate something like this,
<v Speaker 1>it works best if the leaves are dry. If they
<v Speaker 1>are wet and matted, it's not going to work real well.
<v Speaker 1>So it's the works WRX Electric Leaf Multure. Look it
<v Speaker 1>up online. There's a number of different people who sell it,
<v Speaker 1>and I'm going to make a mental note right now
<v Speaker 1>to contact works because I think I should be paid
<v Speaker 1>royalties for all the interest I've generated in this.
<v Speaker 2>Well, you know now that is about to be Black Friday.
<v Speaker 2>I'm sure there's going be some good deals on guarden
<v Speaker 2>equipment out there, so I thought it would be a
<v Speaker 2>good time to tell our listeners about what they could
<v Speaker 2>use now. Similarly, we got a question from Kim. This
<v Speaker 2>is interesting. She says that she's always used Canadian pete
<v Speaker 2>to spread around her plants and beds in the fall,
<v Speaker 2>along with fall leaves mulched up from the mower. However,
<v Speaker 2>it seems that environmentalists and US tariffs have decided she
<v Speaker 2>should not use pete. And then she was using a
<v Speaker 2>bunch of leaves from her neighbors, six large maples, and
<v Speaker 2>it's sold and they cut down the maples. Oh no,
<v Speaker 2>Now she doesn't ever Pete. She doesn't ever leaves, and
<v Speaker 2>she's wondering what she can do. She signs it, Kim,
<v Speaker 2>desperate for chemosy.
<v Speaker 1>You've gotta I like that. I like that a good
<v Speaker 1>sense of humors, Kim. I'll tell you what which you
<v Speaker 1>got to do the same thing I do. People call
<v Speaker 1>me Planta Claus, and it's because I go out and
<v Speaker 1>I collect up leaves, so in within a one to
<v Speaker 1>two mile radius of my home. I'll start scoping out
<v Speaker 1>homes in September looking for good maple trees. And then
<v Speaker 1>I make friends and you knock on the door and
<v Speaker 1>they're actually quite intrigued that you have interest in their leaves,
<v Speaker 1>and then you pick them up. They bag them up
<v Speaker 1>nicely for you, and you take them home and it
<v Speaker 1>works out great. It's a win win. They're happy, you're.
<v Speaker 2>Happy, the leaves are happy, the soil's happy. Everyone's happy.
<v Speaker 1>Everyone's happy. It's just a great thing.
<v Speaker 2>So when you ask them that, do they ever say yes?
<v Speaker 1>If you rake them, that's happened also, And I carry
<v Speaker 1>along a leaf blower in my car, so I've done
<v Speaker 1>that before for them. But you know, initially they kind
<v Speaker 1>of look at you like you know, what, are you
<v Speaker 1>a salesman? What are you doing? No, I just want
<v Speaker 1>your leaves, and they're kind of intrigued by it.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, more so I think that is great. Definitely, you know,
<v Speaker 2>you can take leaves off the curb. Of course, you
<v Speaker 2>never know what you're going to get in those, but
<v Speaker 2>that is one option. The other thing I would say
<v Speaker 2>for Kim or for anybody, it's always worth reaching out
<v Speaker 2>to your city, your township, whatever, and seeing if they
<v Speaker 2>have a compost program. In some places, if you are
<v Speaker 2>contributing composts, you can get free composts. Sometimes they'll sell
<v Speaker 2>it at a lower cost. So you should definitely work
<v Speaker 2>with your city at least check out whether that is
<v Speaker 2>a possibility for you, or even in nearby city. You
<v Speaker 2>might have to pay a little bit more as a
<v Speaker 2>non resident, but you know, there's a very good possibility
<v Speaker 2>that you'll be able to get a good amount of
<v Speaker 2>bulk compost or semi decomposed organic matter. That way, that's
<v Speaker 2>free or affordable leaf compost.
<v Speaker 1>In this season of Thanksgiving, it's the gift that keeps giving.
<v Speaker 2>So with that, we're going to take a little break.
<v Speaker 2>When we come back, we're continuing our conversation on the
<v Speaker 2>botany of Thanksgiving, So stay tuned. Thanks for listening to
<v Speaker 2>the Gardening Simplified Podcast, brought to you by Proven Winners
<v Speaker 2>Color Choice Shrubs. Our award winning flowering shrubs and evergreens
<v Speaker 2>are trialed and tested by experts with your success in mind.
<v Speaker 2>Learn more at Proven Winners color Choice dot com.
<v Speaker 1>Welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show. We're talking Thanksgiving botany, Stacey.
<v Speaker 1>I've got to throw into the mix, of course, one
<v Speaker 1>of my favorites mashed potatoes. I don't know how many
<v Speaker 1>people grow potatoes in their vegetable garden. It is a process,
<v Speaker 1>take some work, but potatoes certainly have to be on
<v Speaker 1>the list. I'm looking at a recipe for bourbon yam well.
<v Speaker 2>I do want to say about growing your own potatoes.
<v Speaker 2>It's very easy to think potatoes or potatoes, and I
<v Speaker 2>can just get potatoes at the grocery store so cheap.
<v Speaker 2>Why in the world would I grow potatoes. The difference
<v Speaker 2>between homeworwn potatoes and grocery store potatoes, I cannot even
<v Speaker 2>begin to elucidate the difference. It is night and day.
<v Speaker 2>They are so so very much better, kind of like
<v Speaker 2>tomatoes yeah, thing that people tend to think, Oh, it's
<v Speaker 2>just a potato. No, you will have so much better
<v Speaker 2>potatoes if you grow them yourself. And I mean, is
<v Speaker 2>there anything more fun than digging up your potato plants
<v Speaker 2>and seeing all of those amazing potatoes.
<v Speaker 1>Under there, especially if you have kids or grandkids, a
<v Speaker 1>great thing to do, or you're just a kid at
<v Speaker 1>heart and you're a kid heart exactly. But yes, as
<v Speaker 1>far as the yams are concerned, this was an easy
<v Speaker 1>root vegetable or grotten recipe and it involves bourbon. So
<v Speaker 1>I'm thinking about trying that.
<v Speaker 2>Well. You know, yams are a good botanical conundrum for
<v Speaker 2>Thanksgiving because what we call a yam for the most
<v Speaker 2>part here in the US, is not a yam at all.
<v Speaker 2>It is a sweet potato. Big difference, big difference. So
<v Speaker 2>are sweet potatoes that we usually call yams. So when
<v Speaker 2>people talk about candied jams or you know, the yam casserole,
<v Speaker 2>those are sweet potatoes. They are in the morning glory family,
<v Speaker 2>and the yam is in its own family, the Diascora
<v Speaker 2>dacey because they are dioscoria. So same with the Filipino
<v Speaker 2>purple yam that the ube that had its big day
<v Speaker 2>a couple of years ago. Those are in a totally
<v Speaker 2>different family. They can be sweet, but they're much starchier,
<v Speaker 2>whereas the sweet potato is obviously very sweet. It's got
<v Speaker 2>that orange flesh that we all recognize, and it is
<v Speaker 2>indeed the same progenitor as the decorative sweet potato vines
<v Speaker 2>from preven winners. Interesting, yeah, it is interesting. People always
<v Speaker 2>ask if they can, you know, especially the older varieties
<v Speaker 2>like margarita, if they can eat the potatoes that are
<v Speaker 2>in there, And the answer is that you can. They're
<v Speaker 2>not really developed for the best flavor. Like if you
<v Speaker 2>just decide to grow and buy sweet potatoes to grow
<v Speaker 2>that are intended for eating, they taste tear. I've never
<v Speaker 2>tried one, You have tried one. Okay, Well there you
<v Speaker 2>have more of a subsistence food.
<v Speaker 1>How about pumpkins and canned pumpkin In the United States,
<v Speaker 1>most are made from dickens and pumpkins, making it the
<v Speaker 1>most common source of pumpkin pie filling. So the story
<v Speaker 1>behind this is Elijah Dickinson of Kentucky, nineteenth century pumpkins
<v Speaker 1>named after him. I guess they're great for canned pumpkins.
<v Speaker 1>He takes them to Central Illinois, Morton, Illinois. Of course,
<v Speaker 1>that's where the bulk of pumpkins in the United States
<v Speaker 1>are great, that's the pumpkin epicenter in the United States,
<v Speaker 1>and I know that. Yeah, the rest is the rest
<v Speaker 1>is history.
<v Speaker 2>Well that's a shame because he's not getting his credit whatsoever. Yeah,
<v Speaker 2>I mean, he's on millions of Thanksgiving tables every single year,
<v Speaker 2>and no one spares a thought for poor Elijah Dickinson.
<v Speaker 1>That's true.
<v Speaker 2>So anyway, maybe that's something you can think about.
<v Speaker 1>I'm trying to give him a little bit of I
<v Speaker 1>appreciate a variety here. Yeah. So one of the places
<v Speaker 1>where you can find wiggle room as far as Thanksgiving
<v Speaker 1>botany is concerned, as far as pure tradition is concerned,
<v Speaker 1>is in the area of pies. I mean, pumpkin pie
<v Speaker 1>is the most traditional option, but there's plenty of regions
<v Speaker 1>of the country that prefer to go in other route.
<v Speaker 1>So most areas prefer pumpkin as their Thanksgiving pie of choice.
<v Speaker 1>And of course you got to add some cool whip.
<v Speaker 1>Got to have cool.
<v Speaker 2>Whip, you know. That was actual whim that.
<v Speaker 1>Was invented in the sixties when I was a kid
<v Speaker 1>and to this day, we're still trying to figure out
<v Speaker 1>what non dairy cool whip is made of.
<v Speaker 2>Well, regard thing is you get the container.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, the containers are very handy to pack your green
<v Speaker 1>bean cast a roll and take it home. Yeah, exactly.
<v Speaker 1>Other regions of the country prefer apple pie. And of
<v Speaker 1>course in the South they're saying east South Central states, Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi,
<v Speaker 1>Tennessee apple pie. But then when you go to Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas,
<v Speaker 1>they said pecan pie alone was the most worthy pie
<v Speaker 1>for their Thanksgiving feast. And of course I love pecan pie.
<v Speaker 2>I always heard that pecan pie was a rest from
<v Speaker 2>the Carrow company for corn syrup, so not a traditional food,
<v Speaker 2>not unlike the green bean casserole, a recipe intended to
<v Speaker 2>sell a specific food product.
<v Speaker 1>Yet in another upsetting issue for my doctor, because I
<v Speaker 1>think pecan pie is great for breakfast, I really.
<v Speaker 2>Well, you know, pecans are pretty healthy.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, the pecans are healthy, thank you.
<v Speaker 2>I'm just saying there's a good element in there. It's
<v Speaker 2>not complete garbage.
<v Speaker 1>Of course, corn is super important in agriculture. You'll hear
<v Speaker 1>about the three sisters corn, beans, and squash, the major
<v Speaker 1>staples of Native American agriculture, always grown together. Corn was
<v Speaker 1>the most important staple food grown by Native Americans. The
<v Speaker 1>cornstalks provided a pole for the beans to climb, shade
<v Speaker 1>from the corn benefited the squash that grew under the leaves.
<v Speaker 1>The beans, as with all legumes, provided nitrogen for the
<v Speaker 1>corn and squash. And finally, the shade from the large
<v Speaker 1>squash and pumpkin leaves held moisture in the ground for
<v Speaker 1>all three plants. That's why they call them the three system. Yes,
<v Speaker 1>so they've got to be part of our Thanksgiving botany.
<v Speaker 1>Another one, of course, cranberry. Yes, my favorite, My favorite too,
<v Speaker 1>I love cranberries. Cranberry cultivation began in eighteen sixteen in Massachusetts,
<v Speaker 1>where Revolutionary War veteran Henry Hall found that covering cranberry
<v Speaker 1>bogs would sand fertilize the vines and retained water around
<v Speaker 1>their roots. And you know, this is a misconception I
<v Speaker 1>think a lot of people have. They think that cranberries
<v Speaker 1>always are underwater, and they're not.
<v Speaker 2>They are not. They are grown that way specifically to
<v Speaker 2>make harvesting easier, which they no longer actually need because
<v Speaker 2>they have machinery. But back in the day, they would
<v Speaker 2>flood the bog and all the ripe berries would float
<v Speaker 2>to the top, and it would be very easy to
<v Speaker 2>want easier, I guess, to harvest the cranberries just by
<v Speaker 2>skimming the floating berries off the top. You know. I
<v Speaker 2>always felt like cranberries were so special because there was
<v Speaker 2>in the US, at least in my family their time
<v Speaker 2>of the year that you had something like cranberry sauce. However,
<v Speaker 2>you made it like it was just something that was
<v Speaker 2>very different.
<v Speaker 1>Now.
<v Speaker 2>Cranberries are North American native fruit, which is one of
<v Speaker 2>the reasons why they are so integral to Thanksgiving.
<v Speaker 1>It's an American thing.
<v Speaker 2>It is an American thing. Botanically, they are known as
<v Speaker 2>Vaccinium macrocarpon, and Vaccinium, if you're not familiar, is the
<v Speaker 2>same genus as blueberry. So from a botanical standpoint, they
<v Speaker 2>are very similar to blueberry. The difference there is macrocarpon,
<v Speaker 2>the species of cranberry means big fruit.
<v Speaker 1>Oh interesting, I didn't know that. Now. Of course, the
<v Speaker 1>cranberries have built in air pockets, so to speak, so
<v Speaker 1>that when they flood the bogs, I guess they float,
<v Speaker 1>and that's what makes harvesting easier. From the perspective of
<v Speaker 1>US history, General Ulysses S. Grant is widely credited with
<v Speaker 1>the tradition of serving cranberry sauce with the Thanksgiving meal
<v Speaker 1>because in eighteen sixty four he ordered that the dish
<v Speaker 1>be included in the holiday feast for all Union troops
<v Speaker 1>during the Siege of Petersburg.
<v Speaker 2>I did not know that. That's interesting. And cranberry's are
<v Speaker 2>actually very closely related to lingenberry's, which is sort of
<v Speaker 2>the Scandinavian version of the cranberry, same genus, different species,
<v Speaker 2>and they're smaller, So cranberries are nice and big. I
<v Speaker 2>did not know that that we have grant to thank for. Yeah,
<v Speaker 2>you know, and they're so pretty, like I love the
<v Speaker 2>look of the cranberries on the Thanksgiving table. My grandma
<v Speaker 2>always served them in a beautiful crystal bowl because you
<v Speaker 2>had to see the color of them, you know, compared
<v Speaker 2>to all of the brown stuff on the table.
<v Speaker 1>Absolutely, And when I was on the East coast Cape Cod,
<v Speaker 1>I sought out some of these areas to take a look.
<v Speaker 1>And yet the number one state in the United States
<v Speaker 1>for cranberry producing is Wisconsin. Massachusetts follows Wisconsin, then New
<v Speaker 1>Jersey and Oregon. And of course cranberries are a very
<v Speaker 1>tart fruit. I put them in my fruit smoothies. But
<v Speaker 1>it being so tart, I would think that it's less
<v Speaker 1>of a problem for deer browsing animal browsing than possibly
<v Speaker 1>other types of berries. But that's just a guess.
<v Speaker 2>It is a guess because they are in the air
<v Speaker 2>casey or the heather heath family like rhododendron and azalea
<v Speaker 2>and and asalia can get pretty eaten by deer, so
<v Speaker 2>you know, there's just no telling with those creatures.
<v Speaker 1>Of course, at the end of the day, adding cream, butter, cheese, bacon, bourbon,
<v Speaker 1>anything will make anything taste good. Whipped cream in a can,
<v Speaker 1>the nitrous oxide that's a tradition at my house to
<v Speaker 1>spray it in people's mouths, the propellant in the can.
<v Speaker 1>I know, I'm sorry, please, And of course non dairy
<v Speaker 1>cool whip topping. So you got the cool whip and
<v Speaker 1>you got the miracle whip, because I use the miracle
<v Speaker 1>whip to leaf shine my houseplants a wonderful job.
<v Speaker 2>Really and it doesn't get like dust and stuff stuck
<v Speaker 2>to it.
<v Speaker 1>If you don't have pets, because the pets are going.
<v Speaker 2>To get drawn to it.
<v Speaker 1>Then, Adriana, No, but if you don't have pets, miracle
<v Speaker 1>whip you can use as a leaf shot. So and
<v Speaker 1>then of course I got to wrap it up here.
<v Speaker 1>So I got to wrap it up with the fact
<v Speaker 1>that as far as herbs are concerned, I have to
<v Speaker 1>have sage gotta at Thanksgiving, and sage is perfect compliment
<v Speaker 1>to things like butternut squash soup as a matter of fact,
<v Speaker 1>or in stuffing. So sage is the perfect compliment to
<v Speaker 1>Thanksgiving feasts and fall squash. There you have it, Thanksgiving
<v Speaker 1>botany all right.
<v Speaker 2>I hope everybody learns something and can take away a
<v Speaker 2>fun fact to share with a family member this season. Absolutely,
<v Speaker 2>So on that note, we bid you a very happy
<v Speaker 2>Thanksgiving and thanks to you, Rick, thank you, thanks to
<v Speaker 2>you Adriana, and thanks to all of you for listening.