Revelation: Ah Ha! Moments While Gardening

<v Speaker 1>Broadcasting from Studio A. Here at proven Winners Color Choice Shrubs.
<v Speaker 1>It's time for the Gardening Simplified Show with Stacey Heravella,
<v Speaker 1>me Rick weisst and our engineer and producer Adrianna Robinson.
<v Speaker 1>Today's show revelation. Ooh, this should be interesting. A surprising
<v Speaker 1>and previously unknown fact, especially one that has made known
<v Speaker 1>in a dramatic way. And I had a revelation this
<v Speaker 1>past year, a realization and I'm going to say it
<v Speaker 1>was more so of a slow evolution rather than something
<v Speaker 1>that was a real revelation, but the fact how much
<v Speaker 1>I appreciate plants, not just for the esthetics. In other words,
<v Speaker 1>I love There are so many plants that I love
<v Speaker 1>because they work for me. I mean, it's like making
<v Speaker 1>an investment and earning interest on your investment. I mean
<v Speaker 1>I'm sitting there thinking, you know, I really don't need
<v Speaker 1>to mess with a bird feeder and buying bird seed
<v Speaker 1>and that sort of thing. If I have the right
<v Speaker 1>plants in my landscape and I can point them out
<v Speaker 1>to you, or hummingbirds and a humming bird feeder, I've
<v Speaker 1>got some plants that work for me.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah for sure. And you know, I think that is really,
<v Speaker 2>there are those epiphanies where all of a sudden, the
<v Speaker 2>revelation just hits you upside the head, like a thorny
<v Speaker 2>rose in the face. And then there's those slow ones
<v Speaker 2>that you know you kind of they slowly dawn on you.
<v Speaker 2>And that's really, I think, where the magic happens.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, exactly, you know, they just working smarter, not harder.
<v Speaker 1>And of course we have all these new introductions that,
<v Speaker 1>as as some people would say, bury their dead, in
<v Speaker 1>other words, they deadhead themselves. Nitrogen fixing legumes, cover crops,
<v Speaker 1>plants that feed me, tree leaves that come off the trees,
<v Speaker 1>and how I use them to build my soil. I
<v Speaker 1>guess I just have this huge appreciation for what plants
<v Speaker 1>do for me, as opposed to just stepping back and
<v Speaker 1>enjoying the curb appeal or the aesthetics. So I guess
<v Speaker 1>that's just something that has really struck me.
<v Speaker 2>It is important. I think it's very easy, and I
<v Speaker 2>think many of us do get into gardening initially because
<v Speaker 2>we want to beautify our homes or we want to
<v Speaker 2>look at flowers or whatever that is. But I don't
<v Speaker 2>think there's really any possible way. Whatever your initial reason
<v Speaker 2>for getting into gardening was that you don't find a
<v Speaker 2>way to just marvel at the interconnectedness of everything. Of yeah,
<v Speaker 2>how plants, you know, change the environment, your immediate environment,
<v Speaker 2>how plants change your community, and how you can make
<v Speaker 2>choices of the plants that you chew, of the plants
<v Speaker 2>that you plant, and of course where you place them
<v Speaker 2>in your garden. That can make just a huge difference
<v Speaker 2>and really just change your mind about gardening. Like I
<v Speaker 2>don't think really of gardening as work. I think of
<v Speaker 2>lawn care as work, but I don't think of gardening
<v Speaker 2>as work. And you know, my husband doesn't either. And
<v Speaker 2>when we're out there on a beautiful summer morning and
<v Speaker 2>we're just doing what needs to be done, it doesn't
<v Speaker 2>feel like a chore at all. It feels like enjoying this,
<v Speaker 2>you know, amazing thing that we've created. And it's just
<v Speaker 2>an every day you know, every time I'm out there,
<v Speaker 2>there's just there's new insights, but you have to kind
<v Speaker 2>of be open to hearing them, and it's it's I know,
<v Speaker 2>it's endlessly fascinating and I'm just so grateful that I'm
<v Speaker 2>a gardener.
<v Speaker 1>Honestly, it's an opportunity. It truly is, and I view
<v Speaker 1>it the same way. Do not view it as work,
<v Speaker 1>and in many cases I view it as good healthy exercise.
<v Speaker 1>Some plants right now that are revolutionary to me, Stacy,
<v Speaker 1>and I'm just blown away by this. I love Hydrangea.
<v Speaker 1>Arboresque and smooth Hydrangea makes me think of Cape Cod
<v Speaker 1>and the East Coast. But my word, incredible Stormproof.
<v Speaker 2>Isn't that an amazing plant?
<v Speaker 1>Are you kidding me? This is like wow.
<v Speaker 2>Adriana and I just actually made a video of the
<v Speaker 2>Incredible Stormproof. It is a plant that you know, obviously,
<v Speaker 2>every time we introduce a new Hydrangea it's got to
<v Speaker 2>be pretty special because we've already got a pretty broad
<v Speaker 2>base of excellent hydranges in the proofn Winner's Color Choice line.
<v Speaker 2>But it is truly a stunning plant, and you know
<v Speaker 2>it looked great last year. This year it is just
<v Speaker 2>mind blowing. So you definitely are going to need to
<v Speaker 2>check that out on YouTube. Adriana will add a link
<v Speaker 2>to the show notes so you can take a look
<v Speaker 2>at that too. There's probably even a clip on YouTube
<v Speaker 2>so you can see what it looked like.
<v Speaker 1>I think it's a revolutionary plant. And as long as
<v Speaker 1>we're on that subject, let me quickly mention, just to
<v Speaker 1>wet your appetite, so very scale Erronia. I mean that
<v Speaker 1>checks all the boxes and it's a native plant. And
<v Speaker 1>then I have to mention Paisley pop Lukotha because that's
<v Speaker 1>a plant you introduced me to. And I'll tell you
<v Speaker 1>I was skeptical on that because I just yeah, they
<v Speaker 1>just don't excite me all that much. This plant in
<v Speaker 1>my landscape.
<v Speaker 2>Wow, the variegation on the thing is definitely wild.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah. Uh with lantana. You know, I've grown lantana for years,
<v Speaker 1>but the luscious series of lantana, and of course you
<v Speaker 1>you know I love cannas, and I've got to mention
<v Speaker 1>the two can coral, the blooms on that thing, and
<v Speaker 1>then Pretoria canas. Pretoria cannas have striped foliage, gorgeous blooms.
<v Speaker 2>Wow, that is a really really cool cana.
<v Speaker 1>Another revolutionary plant that I'm looking at. And of course
<v Speaker 1>plant breeders are looking at plants that can tolerate heat
<v Speaker 1>and drought, and that is the Texas Primrose Sunglow Texas Primrose.
<v Speaker 1>I've always liked Onethera or I've always referred to Im
<v Speaker 1>Stacey as evening primroses. But that new variety at Superlafus,
<v Speaker 1>I got to get this right, Superlafis. Yeah, Superlaffice Sunglow
<v Speaker 1>Texas primrose. That's an exciting plant to me, especially if
<v Speaker 1>you live in very hot regions of the United States.
<v Speaker 1>Lemon perfection nepeta, the combination of blue and yellow. And
<v Speaker 1>then this past year planted in my landscape Peruvian lily
<v Speaker 1>Alstromeria hybrids. Again skeptical.
<v Speaker 2>Wow performance, So are you planning for the alstromeiri to
<v Speaker 2>perennialize or host wort oping?
<v Speaker 1>Myself and some friends are watching them, say well, we'll
<v Speaker 1>believe it when we see it, or see it when
<v Speaker 1>we believe it. So has not overwintered yet.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, okay, yeah, I'm a here to see too. I mean,
<v Speaker 2>it's obviously they are perennial, but there are one of
<v Speaker 2>those plants that just because there's a certain hardiness zone
<v Speaker 2>on them that they can go down to, doesn't mean
<v Speaker 2>that all of those areas are you know, have the
<v Speaker 2>exact right conditions for them to perennialize. But yeah, I
<v Speaker 2>mean elstrameiri if you're not familiar with it, it's that
<v Speaker 2>cut flower that seems to be in every bouquet, unique colors,
<v Speaker 2>just a very cool plant. And imagine you can grow
<v Speaker 2>that as like a big bushy perennial in your own yard.
<v Speaker 2>It would be fabulous.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah. And I've helped people in the garden center for
<v Speaker 1>years who buy plant. This is what I've observed. They
<v Speaker 1>buy plants like you buy a lottery ticket. You know
<v Speaker 1>it's not gonna work, but you go back and you
<v Speaker 1>buy more.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, you know. Yeah, so gardeners are hopeful. That's a
<v Speaker 2>revelation there that gardeners are very helpful people.
<v Speaker 1>Well, let me give you a limb a rick along
<v Speaker 1>that line. Dilemmas that cause palpitations when reality doesn't meet expectations.
<v Speaker 1>Learning the hard way is a lesson today gifting new
<v Speaker 1>insights and revelations. A mistake makes a lesson complete in error.
<v Speaker 1>You don't want to repeat. I tripped on my hose
<v Speaker 1>that I didn't properly dispose, ending up on the backside
<v Speaker 1>of my seat. So there you go.
<v Speaker 2>Well, you know, I think it is so important to
<v Speaker 2>realize that this concept of revelation in the garden, you
<v Speaker 2>don't get revelations for things you don't do, you know,
<v Speaker 2>like you do need to try things, and you do
<v Speaker 2>need to have you know, ta be willing to take
<v Speaker 2>an educated risk to do your research and make those decisions,
<v Speaker 2>and you know, just kind of see what happens. And
<v Speaker 2>of course, you know, especially if you're pushing harding it owns,
<v Speaker 2>don't give up too quickly. Wait to see what happens.
<v Speaker 2>Do the best that you can, because you know, you
<v Speaker 2>don't learn in gardening without doing. You know, you can
<v Speaker 2>sit here and listen to us and internalize all of
<v Speaker 2>these things that we say and facts that we share,
<v Speaker 2>but the fact is until you actually go and do
<v Speaker 2>it with your own two hands and put it into practice,
<v Speaker 2>there's just it just doesn't rakin you're.
<v Speaker 1>Right and observe it yourself. You know. I think about
<v Speaker 1>winter die back variability, how plants die back differently from
<v Speaker 1>winter to winter, contingent on what the weather conditions were like,
<v Speaker 1>and how people many times do not consider the position
<v Speaker 1>of the sun in wintertime and the damage that it
<v Speaker 1>can do to plants. The sun changes position over the
<v Speaker 1>course of the seasons. All things that become a revelation
<v Speaker 1>to me. Ripstop nylon m You know, I can't believe
<v Speaker 1>some of the clothes I used to wear in the
<v Speaker 1>garden uncomfortable, hot, miserable, ripstop nylons. Oh. Yes, they use
<v Speaker 1>this material in combat uniforms. They use it in hot
<v Speaker 1>air balloons. And you can purchase those pants and they're
<v Speaker 1>lightweight and they're dry, and they're wonderful and all wonderful revelations.
<v Speaker 2>We've got to don't put your prunterers in the pocket. No,
<v Speaker 2>try not to do that.
<v Speaker 1>I tend to lose it. We've got a lot more
<v Speaker 1>revelations for you coming up in segment four. We'll see
<v Speaker 1>how Stacey ties this in in plants on trial. That's
<v Speaker 1>next here on the Gardening Simplified Show.
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<v Speaker 2>Winner's Color Choice dot com. Greetings, gardening friends, and welcome
<v Speaker 2>back to the Gardening Simplified Show, where the topic for
<v Speaker 2>today is revelations. And you know so, I think that
<v Speaker 2>if you are a gardener and you spend a lot
<v Speaker 2>of time in the garden. Revelations are virtually guaranteed. And
<v Speaker 2>if you haven't had one yet and you've been gardening
<v Speaker 2>for some years, well just wait, because you will have one.
<v Speaker 2>Sometimes there's small revelations, like exactly. Sometimes the revelations may
<v Speaker 2>be quite small, like you know, oh, hey, planting my
<v Speaker 2>dill in July gives me a much longer supply of
<v Speaker 2>dill than planting my deal in May. Those are the
<v Speaker 2>kinds of revelations you might have. But then there's also,
<v Speaker 2>I think, bigger, more philosophical style revelations that inform your
<v Speaker 2>overall approach to gardening and to the plants that you
<v Speaker 2>choose to bring into your garden and into your life.
<v Speaker 2>And you know, I did have one of those revelations.
<v Speaker 2>And I may have told the story back when we
<v Speaker 2>did our travel show in November. Mean i'll share it
<v Speaker 2>again since it is a topic of today's show. So
<v Speaker 2>I went to Japan for the first time for my
<v Speaker 2>honeymoon way back in two thousand and six. And at
<v Speaker 2>the time I was living in New York City, so
<v Speaker 2>I didn't even really have a garden of my own
<v Speaker 2>to speak of. And of course we were in Japan,
<v Speaker 2>we were in Kyoto, which is where all the famous
<v Speaker 2>temples are, and we went to Rio and G. So
<v Speaker 2>if you're not familiar with Rio and G by name,
<v Speaker 2>you certainly are familiar with it visually. It is the
<v Speaker 2>very famous Japanese garden that's frequently known as a zen garden,
<v Speaker 2>even though that's not really a thing that is made
<v Speaker 2>up of several large rocks in a sort of enclosed
<v Speaker 2>courtyard type of landscape. There's not really a lot of plants.
<v Speaker 2>There's some small ground covery mosses growing around some of them,
<v Speaker 2>but for the most part, it is a garden for
<v Speaker 2>meditation and looking at this composition and opening your mind
<v Speaker 2>to possibilities. So to say that I had a revelation
<v Speaker 2>at Rio and G honestly seems like the most cliche
<v Speaker 2>thing in the entire world. And I can tell you
<v Speaker 2>because I did see this cliche then as well. I
<v Speaker 2>was not expecting to have a revelation there, but I did.
<v Speaker 2>And what happened was we were sitting on the viewing platform,
<v Speaker 2>just you know, looking. It wasn't super crowded because this
<v Speaker 2>was before Instagram and Kyoto got super crazy. So I
<v Speaker 2>was sitting there and you know, the viewing platform is
<v Speaker 2>a couple steps elevated above the garden. So I was
<v Speaker 2>just sitting there and all of a sudden, right there
<v Speaker 2>at the edge of the garden, this praying mantis just
<v Speaker 2>walks by on the edge there, and I just the
<v Speaker 2>light bulb just went off in my head, and I said,
<v Speaker 2>you know what, this is why you garden. You garden
<v Speaker 2>to create a space for life to happen. And that
<v Speaker 2>life can be insects, it can be birds, and of
<v Speaker 2>course it can be human as well, and all of
<v Speaker 2>those things can coexist. And it's really then that I
<v Speaker 2>just realized that, you know, a garden is kind of
<v Speaker 2>a stage. Now I have since sort of revised the
<v Speaker 2>way that I think about this, and nowadays I would
<v Speaker 2>say that gardening is about creating habitat. Gardening is about
<v Speaker 2>creating habitat for animals, insects, birds, and it's about creating
<v Speaker 2>habitat for humans, for yourself, for the other humans that
<v Speaker 2>enjoy your garden. It's not just a place to live.
<v Speaker 2>It is a place to you know, relax and find
<v Speaker 2>inspiration and again to watch life take place, to let
<v Speaker 2>life unfold. And I think that has really informed me
<v Speaker 2>in the way that I have kind of built my
<v Speaker 2>garden and the things that I plant specifically and in
<v Speaker 2>the way that it's all arranged. And so today's plant
<v Speaker 2>on trial is a plant very much fits into that
<v Speaker 2>framework and that looks absolutely amazing right now. And that
<v Speaker 2>plant is Gatsby pink oak leaf hydrangea. Oh.
<v Speaker 1>I love that plant. And by the way, your story
<v Speaker 1>is great and ties in or links well with last
<v Speaker 1>week's show about rejuvenition something.
<v Speaker 2>Yes, rejuvenating yourself as well as as your garden. So
<v Speaker 2>Gatsby Pink is actually our background here. It looks better
<v Speaker 2>than you're seeing here. It's just kind of a background
<v Speaker 2>for us. But Gatsby Pink to me really kind of
<v Speaker 2>is one of the plants there are multiple in my garden.
<v Speaker 2>Of course, that really epitomizes this idea of creating habitat
<v Speaker 2>because it is a North American native plant. It is
<v Speaker 2>not native as far north as Michigan, but nonetheless it
<v Speaker 2>is certainly in the top five of plants in my
<v Speaker 2>garden that attract insects and pollinators and birds, and it
<v Speaker 2>is always a hub of activity. And I have seen
<v Speaker 2>so many interesting animals on it, so many interesting insects,
<v Speaker 2>wool carter bees, so oak leafyd ranges, including Gatsby pink,
<v Speaker 2>they grow with this kind of fuzzy indumentum on them.
<v Speaker 2>It's like a fuzz and wool carter bees actually collect
<v Speaker 2>this in little fuzzy bundles in their little legs eggs
<v Speaker 2>and take them back for nesting. So watching a wool
<v Speaker 2>carter bee gather that wool off my plant was pretty amazing. Butterflies,
<v Speaker 2>unique wasps. I mean, I just get excited because when
<v Speaker 2>this plant is in bloom, it's fragrant, it is just
<v Speaker 2>full of nectar and pollen, and it just it brings
<v Speaker 2>so much activity to the garden. Because it is a
<v Speaker 2>larger plant, it hosts a lot of birds, gives a
<v Speaker 2>lot of birds shelter as well, and so I just
<v Speaker 2>love that it's able to, you know, kind of support
<v Speaker 2>all of this and it looks great while doing it.
<v Speaker 2>So for me, it's also a very revelatory plant because
<v Speaker 2>it just looks amazing. So over the past couple of
<v Speaker 2>weeks it has been in flour and it's a lace
<v Speaker 2>cap Hydrangea. That's why one of the reasons why it's
<v Speaker 2>so beneficial, because all of those delicious fertile florets are
<v Speaker 2>easy for the insects to access. But now over the
<v Speaker 2>past couple weeks or a couple of days, really that
<v Speaker 2>the flowering, that the nectar has been collected, the palen's
<v Speaker 2>been collected, and the flowers are drying up. This plant
<v Speaker 2>turns pink. So, as a lot of people know who
<v Speaker 2>listen to the show, panicle hydranges, which are not native,
<v Speaker 2>are also known for turning pink a little bit later
<v Speaker 2>in the season. Well, Gatsby pink is turning the most
<v Speaker 2>glorious shade of pink right now in my garden. And
<v Speaker 2>I have to say I am stunned at the color
<v Speaker 2>and the fact that it is happening right now. Because
<v Speaker 2>West Michigan is officially in a moderate drought. Ken Ottawa
<v Speaker 2>and Allegan Counties are considered in a moderate drought right now,
<v Speaker 2>and so I do not give this plant any supplemental water.
<v Speaker 2>It has been very warm, and this plant is still
<v Speaker 2>turning the most glorious shade of pink. And again that's
<v Speaker 2>a revelation to really watch this transformation take place when
<v Speaker 2>it kind of goes against everything that I know generally
<v Speaker 2>about hydrange is changing color, which is to say that
<v Speaker 2>panicle hydrange is if it's hot. If it's dry, they
<v Speaker 2>will usually try and brown instead of turning pink, and
<v Speaker 2>that pink coloration doesn't start to develop until much later
<v Speaker 2>in the season, so usually mid to late August for
<v Speaker 2>panicle hydranges. So this thing is just a blaze of
<v Speaker 2>glory in my garden. It looks so good and I
<v Speaker 2>am just completely in love with this plant. Have you
<v Speaker 2>grown it?
<v Speaker 1>I'd yes. And what I'd love to add to that,
<v Speaker 1>what you said your description is great is the structural
<v Speaker 1>interest also that the plant provides, from the unique foliage
<v Speaker 1>to the structure of the flowers. And I would argue
<v Speaker 1>for seasons of interest. I mean even in winter it's interesting.
<v Speaker 2>It is. And that's another thing that really kind of
<v Speaker 2>came through to me, especially this past winter. I realize
<v Speaker 2>that a lot of my woody plants that are in
<v Speaker 2>my garden are kind of gray, and that's fine, but
<v Speaker 2>the wood on the oak leaf Hydrangea is this gorgeous,
<v Speaker 2>warm cinnamon color, and while in a wintery landscape, it
<v Speaker 2>really really stands out and it's peeling on a mature specimen,
<v Speaker 2>so it just has this kind of amazing color and
<v Speaker 2>structure and presence. And I'm glad you brought up structure,
<v Speaker 2>because of course, if you've been listening to the show
<v Speaker 2>for a while, you've also heard me talk amply probably
<v Speaker 2>add nauseum about deer, and of course hydrangs and deer
<v Speaker 2>don't usually get along because deer love to eat high ranges.
<v Speaker 2>So you're trying to get a hydrange at a flower
<v Speaker 2>and the deer like, nah, I'm eating those flower buds. Well,
<v Speaker 2>the cool thing for me about Gatsby pink is it's
<v Speaker 2>a large hydrange. It gets to be six to eight
<v Speaker 2>feet tall and wide, and my Gatsby pink are now
<v Speaker 2>at that height where the deer can't reach them, so
<v Speaker 2>I'm able to kind of coexist with a deer. It's
<v Speaker 2>a plant that I can actually grow that they won't
<v Speaker 2>completely destroy. Some of it is still within their reach,
<v Speaker 2>and of course over winter, you know they do kind
<v Speaker 2>of nibble at those, but that's okay because there's still
<v Speaker 2>probably a good two to three feet above their heads,
<v Speaker 2>which is where all of these flowers are forming. So
<v Speaker 2>it's also a great middle ground. And again that goes
<v Speaker 2>back to this concept of revelation, where it's a revelation
<v Speaker 2>that you know you can kind of grow hydranges in
<v Speaker 2>a way that lets you coexist with this, you know,
<v Speaker 2>challenges of having deer. And you know, as I've said,
<v Speaker 2>I would appreciate the deer a lot more if I
<v Speaker 2>ever got to actually see them, but no, they come
<v Speaker 2>marauding at night, so I never really get to actually
<v Speaker 2>even enjoy them. I only deal with their aftermath. So
<v Speaker 2>it is a beautiful plant and it's one that I
<v Speaker 2>am absolutely thrilled to have in my garden. It had
<v Speaker 2>so much and really goes along with this idea of
<v Speaker 2>creating habitat and creating a space for life to take place.
<v Speaker 1>So would you agree, Stacey that the fall color is spectacular?
<v Speaker 2>And I'm glad you mentioned that because yes, it is
<v Speaker 2>also fabulous fall color.
<v Speaker 1>So I love them.
<v Speaker 2>Just a great all around plant, you know. For me,
<v Speaker 2>if I had room for only one hydrangea, hands down,
<v Speaker 2>it would be gats be pink. So it is hardy
<v Speaker 2>down to USDA Zone five, heat tolerant through USDA Zone nine.
<v Speaker 2>So a good news there for our warm climate friends.
<v Speaker 2>That fabulous peeling bark. Just a great gray plant, easy
<v Speaker 2>to find. And again, if you only have one room
<v Speaker 2>for one hydrangea, are you've been looking for just that
<v Speaker 2>truly special hydrange that also supports pollinators and life. Can't
<v Speaker 2>do much better than Gadsby Pink. We're going to take
<v Speaker 2>a little break. When we come back, we're going to
<v Speaker 2>be opening up the gardening mail bags, and please stay tuned.
<v Speaker 2>At Proven Winners Color Choice Shrubs. We know that a
<v Speaker 2>better landscape starts with a better shrub. Our team of
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<v Speaker 2>Color Choice dot com. Greeting's gardening friends, and welcome back
<v Speaker 2>to the Gardening Simplified Shoe where we're talking about revelations
<v Speaker 2>and if you've had a revelation about your garden, we'd
<v Speaker 2>love to hear from you. You can leave it as
<v Speaker 2>a comment on YouTube or write to us. There is
<v Speaker 2>a contact form at Gardeningsimplified on air dot com. So
<v Speaker 2>we'd love to hear from you. And learn what your
<v Speaker 2>garden revelations, large or small, have been. And if you
<v Speaker 2>have a question for us to answer that's not a revelation,
<v Speaker 2>that's fine too. You can actually go to Gardening Civil
<v Speaker 2>Fiight on air dot com and use that same exact
<v Speaker 2>contact form because we can only get to a certain
<v Speaker 2>number of a very small number of questions each week.
<v Speaker 2>If you do have a garden emergency or something that
<v Speaker 2>you're trying to decide what to do and you need
<v Speaker 2>advice sooner, just go to Proven Winners Color Choice dot com.
<v Speaker 2>That's our main website here at Proven Winners Color Choice
<v Speaker 2>Shrubs and hit the contact form there and you will
<v Speaker 2>get a response, not from an AI bot, not from
<v Speaker 2>a auto generated system, but from a real person who
<v Speaker 2>actually gardens and knows our plants. So who else can
<v Speaker 2>do that for you? Not very many people these days.
<v Speaker 2>Everyone's relying on Let me tell you AI doesn't know
<v Speaker 2>anything about gardening. AI have never had a gardening revelation.
<v Speaker 1>Don't get me started on AI.
<v Speaker 2>All right, well, what do we got to.
<v Speaker 1>The moment I'm old baby boomer curmudgeon, get off my
<v Speaker 1>lawn guy, But still don't get me started on a Well, especially.
<v Speaker 2>When it comes to gardening. It is just awful at gardening.
<v Speaker 2>Like you know, it can do your math problems. That's
<v Speaker 2>like pretty cut and dried. But if you ask it
<v Speaker 2>a gardening question, oof, yikes.
<v Speaker 1>Oof okay, Dennis writes from Muggy Kentucky. As Dennis puts it,
<v Speaker 1>Hi there, longtime listener, first time question, ask her. Thank you, Dennis.
<v Speaker 1>I'd like your opinion on using products like orthograss be
<v Speaker 1>gone to control bermuda grass in my flower beds. I've
<v Speaker 1>always been anti herbicide, but it's getting to a point
<v Speaker 1>where I'm having problems keeping up with a hand pulling.
<v Speaker 1>I'm concerned that I will damage the soil microbiome. Well,
<v Speaker 1>you know, this is interesting, and Denis, I can appreciate
<v Speaker 1>what you're saying here, and I am a hand puller,
<v Speaker 1>I truly am. And yet a weedy grass that is
<v Speaker 1>a serious problem in groundcovers and flower beds. As an
<v Speaker 1>example would be quack grass. And when you pull quack grass,
<v Speaker 1>you essentially propagate the plant. And yet it's very just
<v Speaker 1>like with your nuts edge, it's very therapeutic. And I
<v Speaker 1>also agree with Dennis says something like bermuda grass is
<v Speaker 1>going to spread and become it can become difficult to
<v Speaker 1>keep up with it for sure. Now Dennis mentioned here
<v Speaker 1>Orthograss Be Gone. This is a product we've sold in
<v Speaker 1>the garden center industry for years, and it's considered an
<v Speaker 1>over the top herb side and over the top herbicide
<v Speaker 1>as it relates to the fact that you can use it.
<v Speaker 1>It's available and ready to use mixes. You'll see them
<v Speaker 1>listed as rt use ready to use, and you could
<v Speaker 1>spray the grass over the top of ornamental plants without
<v Speaker 1>damaging your ornamental plants, if applied according to labeled directions,
<v Speaker 1>and of course you should always follow label directions. My
<v Speaker 1>experience though with it has been especially with grasses like
<v Speaker 1>bermuda grass or quack grass, is that you get you
<v Speaker 1>get some die back, but you don't get total kill,
<v Speaker 1>and the problem persists so generally, Dennis, what I have
<v Speaker 1>done is I've gone to something that's a little stronger,
<v Speaker 1>a little heavier weight herbicide. When you reach that point
<v Speaker 1>when the over the tops don't necessarily work for you,
<v Speaker 1>I think the key element here is to do it
<v Speaker 1>when the air is calm. We're not going to get
<v Speaker 1>rain for twenty four to forty eight hours. I usually
<v Speaker 1>cut a twenty four inch by twenty four inch square
<v Speaker 1>piece of cardboard. I have it in one hand, I
<v Speaker 1>have the properly mixed herbicide in a pressure yourized tank
<v Speaker 1>in the other hand, and you just work through laying
<v Speaker 1>that herbicide onto the foliage. The foliage absorbs the herbicide systemically,
<v Speaker 1>so you do not have to worry about your soil,
<v Speaker 1>especially if you're not using this herbicide over and over again.
<v Speaker 1>If this is just a one time thing and you
<v Speaker 1>can protect your flowers, your plants with that piece of cardboard,
<v Speaker 1>especially again when the air is calm, maybe early morning,
<v Speaker 1>and spray it onto the foliage. It does work quite well,
<v Speaker 1>So I guess I hope that helps answer the question.
<v Speaker 1>You know, the over the top controls are more lightweight,
<v Speaker 1>they're somewhat effective, but if you're looking for total kill.
<v Speaker 2>Well, you know, I think grasses are always hard, even
<v Speaker 2>if you're willing to use herbicide. Grasses are really hard
<v Speaker 2>to control with herbicides because they tend to have a
<v Speaker 2>very low surface area. You know, I was trying to
<v Speaker 2>think about trying to spray something like a dandelion. It's
<v Speaker 2>got those nice broad leaves. It's like, oh, yeah, spray me,
<v Speaker 2>no problem. I mean not to say that you should
<v Speaker 2>spray Handelions are obviously quite easy to manage my hand,
<v Speaker 2>whereas every time I have had a bad grass infestation
<v Speaker 2>and needed to try to control it with herbicide, it
<v Speaker 2>is very difficult to try to adequately cover a grass
<v Speaker 2>to get that control, just by the nature of the
<v Speaker 2>plant itself. So I would say that first of all,
<v Speaker 2>if your main concern is a soil microbiome, you do
<v Speaker 2>need to also consider what hand pulling is potentially doing,
<v Speaker 2>because every time you pull those up, you're also exposing
<v Speaker 2>you know, the soil microbiome to air and a lot
<v Speaker 2>of the microhisea and beneficial bacteria and all of those
<v Speaker 2>things that compose that soil microbiome can also be quite
<v Speaker 2>sensitive to being exposed to oxygen. Again, this is not like,
<v Speaker 2>oh it's catastrophic. But of course if you're concerned about
<v Speaker 2>soil health, then you know why people do no till,
<v Speaker 2>and so this is kind of like tilling. So as
<v Speaker 2>with everything in gardening, there is a trade off. Now, overall,
<v Speaker 2>I don't have a personal experience with this product, so
<v Speaker 2>it was good to hear that you did. Rick. Overall,
<v Speaker 2>I would say using something that is very selective is
<v Speaker 2>generally better than using something that is more of a
<v Speaker 2>broad spectrum, because the chemical is so targeted towards that
<v Speaker 2>one specific action that it is less likely to have
<v Speaker 2>averse effects on non target organisms. Now that said, I
<v Speaker 2>would encourage you, and this is for anybody. Anytime you
<v Speaker 2>want to use a certain pesticide, look the active ingredient
<v Speaker 2>will be right there on the label for you to
<v Speaker 2>read it. Look it up. Don't just rely on the
<v Speaker 2>instruction manual that is part of that packaging. Look it up,
<v Speaker 2>learn about that chemical because you're going to learn a
<v Speaker 2>lot more context about what it is, what the threats
<v Speaker 2>to non target organisms are. And I know people immediately
<v Speaker 2>like kind of shut down the conversation if you say that,
<v Speaker 2>But there are certainly pesticides that have been formulated to
<v Speaker 2>really be that specific and not have those averse effects
<v Speaker 2>on other things. So does take a bit of research.
<v Speaker 2>But you can also find all of this online. You
<v Speaker 2>don't even need to go to the store. Just look
<v Speaker 2>up the different products on the company's websites, get those
<v Speaker 2>active ingredients, and then research those active ingredients and then
<v Speaker 2>you can make the best decision for your specific issue.
<v Speaker 2>But yeah, bermuda grass is no fun.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, and you're right about the surface area. But that's
<v Speaker 1>the downside the thin blades. The upside is they tend
<v Speaker 1>to be soft and hairy, not glossy, let's say, like
<v Speaker 1>a wild violet, so they will absorb the herbicide systemically.
<v Speaker 1>David writes to us, can you please tell me what
<v Speaker 1>bugs are eating my plants dahlias? How should I prevent
<v Speaker 1>and get rid of these that present a threat and problem? Thanks?
<v Speaker 1>Love your show.
<v Speaker 2>Well, you know I have seen this over the years.
<v Speaker 2>Of course I love insects and find insects and plant
<v Speaker 2>interactions the most interesting thing about gardening for myself, and
<v Speaker 2>anytime you have a plant that is eaten by something
<v Speaker 2>that's not notorious for being eaten by it, right, Like
<v Speaker 2>if you have a rose that is in July and
<v Speaker 2>all of a sudden, the whole the foliage is all skeletonized.
<v Speaker 2>You know, that's Japanese beetles, right, They're like a notorious
<v Speaker 2>pest of roses, where something like dahlia is generally pretty
<v Speaker 2>pest free, not really a huge issue. So what you
<v Speaker 2>have is a generalist feeder, and in my experience this
<v Speaker 2>generally means one of two things. Grasshoppers are beetles, And
<v Speaker 2>I'll tell you, I am shocked at the things that
<v Speaker 2>grasshoppers eat in my garden. Now I'm not talking about
<v Speaker 2>like a plague of biblical proportions or anything like that.
<v Speaker 2>It's just that they like hop around and you know,
<v Speaker 2>they cause a bunch of damage and then they pop
<v Speaker 2>on to something else. But yeah, I've come to be
<v Speaker 2>able to recognize their damage. Now Here is the key
<v Speaker 2>for you, David and anyone else who is like, what
<v Speaker 2>is eating my plant? Don't necessarily think that at the
<v Speaker 2>specific time you're out in your garden noticing the damage,
<v Speaker 2>that you are going to see the pest, Because there
<v Speaker 2>are pasts that are more active early in the morning.
<v Speaker 2>Like we were just talking about the flour lined plant
<v Speaker 2>bug a few episodes ago. You're most likely to see
<v Speaker 2>those early in the morning. Asiatic garden beetles, on the
<v Speaker 2>other hand, which are a terrible pest of basil and
<v Speaker 2>lots of herbs, only active after the sun goes down.
<v Speaker 2>Slugs are only active after the sun goes down. So
<v Speaker 2>if you're trying to kind of get to the bottom
<v Speaker 2>of what your pest is, which you kind of need
<v Speaker 2>to do to be able to resolve the issue. You
<v Speaker 2>can just rely on looking at the garden one time
<v Speaker 2>and seeing, now, I don't see any bugs on it.
<v Speaker 2>So go out in the morning, kind of sneak attack
<v Speaker 2>them they weren't expecting to see, and then bam, there
<v Speaker 2>you are looking to see what's eating the plants. Go
<v Speaker 2>down in the evening, you know, maybe later in the evening,
<v Speaker 2>and then bring a flashlight out after dark and you
<v Speaker 2>might just catch the culprit. And again, if the feeding
<v Speaker 2>is mild, it's not a cause for concern. I wouldn't
<v Speaker 2>really do anything about it. But of course if it's
<v Speaker 2>starting to get to the point where it's like eating
<v Speaker 2>all of your foliage, then you might have to consider.
<v Speaker 1>Just be observant.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, that's what it's all about.
<v Speaker 1>Forgive me, Stacy, forgive me Adriana. A grasshopper walks into
<v Speaker 1>a bar and the bartender says, hey, hey, we've got
<v Speaker 1>a drink named after you. The grasshopper says, you've got
<v Speaker 1>a drink named Doug Johnson, Prissy.
<v Speaker 2>And on that note, we're going to take a little
<v Speaker 2>break and when we come back, we will be continuing
<v Speaker 2>our conversation about garden revelations, including Rick's latest joke, so
<v Speaker 2>please stay tuned space. Thanks for listening to the Gardening
<v Speaker 2>Simplified Podcast, brought to you by Proven Winners Color Choice Shrubs.
<v Speaker 2>Our award winning flowering shrubs and evergreens are trialed and
<v Speaker 2>tested by experts with your success in mind. Learn more
<v Speaker 2>at Proven Winners color Choice dot com.
<v Speaker 1>Welcome back to the Gardening sae I Amplified Show where
<v Speaker 1>we share some revelations with you this week, Stacey, just
<v Speaker 1>want to run this past you a minute. Coming from
<v Speaker 1>the garden center industry, I have noticed that people like
<v Speaker 1>what I call the four ends, novelty, nostalgia, new and
<v Speaker 1>native ours. And the novelty thing is kind of interesting
<v Speaker 1>to me because I watched people this past year purchasing
<v Speaker 1>the firefly petunias. Some people saying, no way, I'm not
<v Speaker 1>paying that much for a pot of petunia, other people
<v Speaker 1>embracing it. But I think people as it relates to
<v Speaker 1>plants and gardening, can appreciate novelty, nostalgia, new and native ours.
<v Speaker 1>So that's interesting to me because I've always felt that
<v Speaker 1>people buy what they're familiar with. People buy what they know,
<v Speaker 1>and yet part of the reason for doing a show
<v Speaker 1>like this, for example, is to introduce people to great
<v Speaker 1>new plants, right, Yeah.
<v Speaker 2>New colors, new forms, totally new types of plants that
<v Speaker 2>we haven't grown before. And you know, I wonder, since
<v Speaker 2>we just had a little mini rant about AI not
<v Speaker 2>that long ago, if all of these terrible AI generated
<v Speaker 2>plants are better for business or worse because people tend
<v Speaker 2>to believe the I mean, they're the most outlandish things.
<v Speaker 2>You know, it's like a bright purple alocasia that's like
<v Speaker 2>twenty feet tall or something. Oh, where can I get that?
<v Speaker 2>So I don't know if people are finding, like if
<v Speaker 2>they go to the garden center, they're feeling disappointed and
<v Speaker 2>they walk out that things aren't that outrageous. But where
<v Speaker 2>we're also like, but like, hey, we've got really cool
<v Speaker 2>new plants here. It'll be interesting to see. It's interesting,
<v Speaker 2>Uh what will happen with that? But yeah, new has
<v Speaker 2>never gone out of style, and we've never been at
<v Speaker 2>a better time. If you like new plants to take
<v Speaker 2>offer more new plants, and not just new, but new
<v Speaker 2>versions of things that perform much better. I mean, obviously
<v Speaker 2>with the super tunias, proven is completely changed the way
<v Speaker 2>people think about petunia. So it's like it's a whole
<v Speaker 2>new plant, you bet.
<v Speaker 1>Other revelations for me, you can have success with late
<v Speaker 1>season plantings, picking up those fall late season plantings. I've
<v Speaker 1>had a lot of success with it, Stacey, and it's
<v Speaker 1>it's done well for me, so late season plantings, weed control,
<v Speaker 1>soil improvement, and feeding. I also have gotten into the
<v Speaker 1>habit of digging holes and filling them with water and
<v Speaker 1>then just stepping back and watching what happens. And of course,
<v Speaker 1>thanks to our listeners and viewers, I had my hose
<v Speaker 1>link revelation and now we can't live without it in
<v Speaker 1>our garden.
<v Speaker 2>You hate water a little bit less, you hate hoses
<v Speaker 2>a little bit less than a little bit less. Every
<v Speaker 2>little bit counts when it comes to us, that's for sure.
<v Speaker 1>Other revelations, the deer issue, it's not going.
<v Speaker 2>Away, no, but you know, I have to say that
<v Speaker 2>is definitely been another revelation for me. I always said, like, oh,
<v Speaker 2>I would never buy a house you know that has
<v Speaker 2>deer because I just I don't want to be limited
<v Speaker 2>by deer. And it has been very revelatory to you know,
<v Speaker 2>learn what they do and don't eat, how to grow
<v Speaker 2>things like For example, I was talking about being able
<v Speaker 2>to grow gatsby pink oak leaf Hydrangea because it's taller
<v Speaker 2>than the deer. But I do have a couple of
<v Speaker 2>interesting older varieties of Hydrangea arborescins that I'm able to
<v Speaker 2>grow because that is a favorite. I mean, you can't
<v Speaker 2>have that within ten feet of a deer without the
<v Speaker 2>meeting it because eventually it started popping up under an
<v Speaker 2>old lilac so it can take the shade. The deer
<v Speaker 2>don't try to browse the lilac and they can't really
<v Speaker 2>reach the plant. So I get like three Hydrangea flowers
<v Speaker 2>a year, And that was kind of a revelation. You
<v Speaker 2>can kind of use the other plants in your garden
<v Speaker 2>to create an area that lets other things maybe grow.
<v Speaker 1>I like that, And that's the revelation finally coming to
<v Speaker 1>the realization this issue isn't going to go away. Yeah,
<v Speaker 1>so we find ways around it and we find ways
<v Speaker 1>to work with it. Another revelation for me how important
<v Speaker 1>proper mulching is. Mulch is not just for esthetics. Even
<v Speaker 1>though again in spring, people by boat loads of mulch
<v Speaker 1>and they'll put orange, mult red mulch, whatever it may
<v Speaker 1>be on their landscape. Mulch isn't for esthetics. It is
<v Speaker 1>very beneficial to the plants. And I like using shredded
<v Speaker 1>hardwood mulch because it breaks down it becomes part of
<v Speaker 1>the landscape and then you don't want to pile it
<v Speaker 1>on year after year and you have to stir your
<v Speaker 1>moult so I guess just good, thank you very mulch.
<v Speaker 1>Good mulch management is important in the landscape if you
<v Speaker 1>want to have nice plants.
<v Speaker 2>You know. I honestly, I've been talking about the drought
<v Speaker 2>and we really have had so little rain out here.
<v Speaker 2>I can't imagine what my plans would look like right
<v Speaker 2>now if they didn't have a good layer of mulch
<v Speaker 2>on them. I mean, they would just be suffering so
<v Speaker 2>much because I don't want to water, and mulch lets
<v Speaker 2>me get away with very minimal watering, except for you know,
<v Speaker 2>my newer plants, but mature established stuff. You put the
<v Speaker 2>mulch on it. It can serve them moisture. It does
<v Speaker 2>get keeps those roots much cooler and really helps them
<v Speaker 2>to get through stressful summers like this one appears to be.
<v Speaker 2>Unless maybe things change. I'll cross my fingers, but not
<v Speaker 2>hold my breath.
<v Speaker 1>We can only help, hope and help. Yes, Oh, I'll
<v Speaker 1>tell you what a revelation for me personally, how much
<v Speaker 1>I like five gallon buckets in the garden.
<v Speaker 2>You never thought you'd be that guy.
<v Speaker 1>Never thought I'd be that guy. I love five gallon buckets.
<v Speaker 1>You can trip over them. They can be hazardous, but
<v Speaker 1>I love them. They're very useful. They come in all
<v Speaker 1>kinds of colors, and when you're especially when you're pulling weeds, grasses, right,
<v Speaker 1>the buckets really great. So five gallon buckets and electric tools.
<v Speaker 1>Cannot believe the quality of electric tools now on the market.
<v Speaker 1>And I have a neighbor across the street who has
<v Speaker 1>an electric lawnmower and it's just quiet and it does
<v Speaker 1>a great job. But I'm impressed.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, we have an electric lawnmower and I have very
<v Speaker 2>little lawn left. But I do love it. I mean again,
<v Speaker 2>I've talked about it. But you never have to look
<v Speaker 2>like the maniac pulling at that string for dear life,
<v Speaker 2>just hoping it starts up. You push a button, you're
<v Speaker 2>ready to go, and it makes like a quiet hum.
<v Speaker 2>You can have a conversation it's great, you know, speaking
<v Speaker 2>of tools that are a revelation Myra tool related revelation,
<v Speaker 2>soil knife, Oh wow, is that a useful thing to
<v Speaker 2>have with you. And my husband too's kind of gone
<v Speaker 2>come to the soil knife side. If we're planting and
<v Speaker 2>you got the trowels all out there, he'll reach for
<v Speaker 2>the soil knife every time because it's a very useful tool,
<v Speaker 2>especially in our sandy soil. If you have clay soil,
<v Speaker 2>maybe not quite so useful, but it's kind of a
<v Speaker 2>great all purpose tool for planting, for weeding, for whatever
<v Speaker 2>you need to do. And I and easy to fit
<v Speaker 2>in your pocket too.
<v Speaker 1>No, I agree. Another revelation that I had, and I
<v Speaker 1>think we'll do a future show on this, but I
<v Speaker 1>love architectural follies. Architectural follies that are not mass produced.
<v Speaker 1>Again coming from the garden center industry, there are some
<v Speaker 1>yard ornaments and that type of thing that are mass
<v Speaker 1>produced and everybody has them in their yard. And you know,
<v Speaker 1>we can go on and on about these these various
<v Speaker 1>ornaments in the yard that everybody has. But folly is
<v Speaker 1>an English term for foolishness or a lack of good sense.
<v Speaker 1>And during the Great I was reading. During the Great
<v Speaker 1>Famine of eighteen forty five, the Irish government commission the
<v Speaker 1>construction of follies to provide employment and economic relief. For example,
<v Speaker 1>one folly included a road etched between two seemingly random
<v Speaker 1>points in the middle of nowhere.
<v Speaker 2>I like it.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, inter it's art, then it's art then exactly. And
<v Speaker 1>so you know, with follies you can have kind of
<v Speaker 1>a playful sense of humor, whether they're Roman columns or
<v Speaker 1>a facade or a building that serves no purpose. Maybe
<v Speaker 1>you know, you can envision years and years ago it
<v Speaker 1>served the purpose as a lookout, for example, but now
<v Speaker 1>in the garden it's just therefore its aesthetic beauty, as
<v Speaker 1>you know, instead of just for function. So I'm getting
<v Speaker 1>into this whole architectural filling.
<v Speaker 2>Oh, eager to see what you do with that. And
<v Speaker 2>you know, people tend to think of that as kind
<v Speaker 2>of a great European garden tradition, and certainly English landscape
<v Speaker 2>gardening is the epitome of the use of follies. But
<v Speaker 2>there are actually a number of amazing gardens here in
<v Speaker 2>the US that make great use of follies, as well
<v Speaker 2>as Chanticleer. Of course, comes to mind with their ruin,
<v Speaker 2>which is fabulous, all brand new but made to look
<v Speaker 2>old and very very cool. Well, the National Arboretum has
<v Speaker 2>a folly. Now. I forget where the columns came from,
<v Speaker 2>but they were saved from another important building and now
<v Speaker 2>they are just basically a folly in the National Arboretum.
<v Speaker 1>Fantastic, And you're so right. In my reading it was
<v Speaker 1>the seventeen hundreds and eighteen hundreds and primarily Europe, English
<v Speaker 1>and French landscapes. But I see this as really getting
<v Speaker 1>some traction, and it's certainly something that I want to
<v Speaker 1>incorporate in my life.
<v Speaker 2>I will be very eager to see how you do this.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, so there you go. Some revelations for you. By
<v Speaker 1>the way, Another revelation I had is how easy compost
<v Speaker 1>is versus dumping.
<v Speaker 2>Yep, make use of it. Yeah, it is very easy.
<v Speaker 2>Just got to keep it wet. That was my compost revelation.
<v Speaker 2>When I was finally able to compost and nothing was happening,
<v Speaker 2>I realized it was just too dry. And if you
<v Speaker 2>do indeed keep it wet as well as as much
<v Speaker 2>as a just wrung out sponge. As kind of the
<v Speaker 2>old wisdom on that you will actually get composts instead
<v Speaker 2>of just a pile of weeds that sits there for
<v Speaker 2>months on end.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, and I'm proud of myself. I behaved myself on
<v Speaker 1>the punnage today.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah you did. I don't even remember barely a single one.
<v Speaker 1>I maintained my compost.
<v Speaker 2>You did get the grasshopper joke in though, so I
<v Speaker 2>don't know what that counts for. And on that note,
<v Speaker 2>we want to thank you all so much for joining
<v Speaker 2>us this week. We truly appreciate it, and of course
<v Speaker 2>thank you to Rick, thank you, thank you to Adriana,
<v Speaker 2>and thanks to you all for listening. Hope you have
<v Speaker 2>a great week ahead.