The Art of Enjoying Your Garden

Hello, my friends. Maintain your composter. We're here for you on the
Gardening Simplified Show with Stacy Hervella me Rick weisst and our engineer and producer Adriana
Robinson, coming to you from Studioway at Proven Winners Color Choice Shrubs. Stacy.
Today we talk about the art of enjoying your garden, and I always
say, if you want to enjoy a garden, push the envelope. Push
the envelope. Try some plants that maybe you didn't think you could grow,
have some fun with it. And bear in mind that experienced gardeners, according
to surveys that I've looked at, state that over the course of their lifetime
they've killed about thirty percent of the plants they've tried to grow. That's where
the numbers at thirty percent amateurs my goodness. I mean, I guess as
a whole of all the plants I've ever tried, fifty percent would seem a
little high. So yeah, maybe like somewhere in the third range would be
appropriate right in that ballpark. So don't be afraid to push the envelope.
Stop looking at gardening as a hobby. It's a lifestyle. It's enjoyable.
As a matter of fact, I think Instagram helped us do that. So
do that, and in the art of enjoying your garden and plants, one
of the things that's high on my list stacy, is to rescue some plants.
There's no greater feeling than rescuing a plant from the edge of death,
or buying a plant from a bargain bin and then having it look beautiful next
year. Would you agree? I get it. I do get it now.
I don't get this. I don't get the same thrill. I know
that there are a lot of people who do, and I totally respect that,
but I, you know, I guess I just don't have that like
nurturing instinct for plants. I'm a little bit more of a like all right,
I've read about you. You seem like you're going to do what I
want. Now do it or you die. I mean, okay, that
was a little bit overly brutal. But there is value in that though,
because if you can rescue something, that means that it can come back from
the brink. If you do have really dramatic conditions like tear damage or you
know, heavy drought like we often have here, you know in our dry
soils, so it's a good test. But I'm I'm not the person who
scours the bargain area for plants that are on desk doorstep and then gets excited
about rescuing them. I'd get that, though I do get the people love
that. I don't necessarily go to the bargain area either. I dumpster dive
you and my neighbor. My neighbor actually rescued a beautiful paper bark maple from
a dumpster at a garden center, and it is looking fabulous now, and
I congratulate him heartily for doing that. Hey, plant things that you can
see from inside the house in clement weather. Oh my gosh. This is
so important and so something that people really don't think about until it's too late,
and then it's winter and they're looking at nothing and they say, oh,
you know, when I got that new rose of Sharon, I really
should have planted it outside this window so I could be looking at some birds
or something right now. You bet another item in the art of enjoying your
garden. Automate your watering. Oh my goodness, you set a mouthful there
because it's a shore. Why why do it yourself? When you can have
a machine, as it were, do it for you, size your garden
for the resources that you have, and embrace container gardening. I think that's
an element in the art of enjoying your garden, you know. Container gardening,
it's I've always done it, you know. I sort of came of
my gardening age at the height of container gardening, when it was really having
just its zenith of people doing mixed containers and tropicals and all of that.
So to me, they're really important. And the way that I have them
this year is they've really kind of shaped my patio so we have very little
seating space, which sounds like a bad thing, except it's a good thing
because we're completely surrounded by plants that hummingbirds love, yeah, and they're going
bananas out there. There was a times where we don't necessarily feel safe because
they're so active and so loud and so aggressive. Oh unreal, and just
having in that moment just being surrounded. You know, It's a lot more
work to do that in the ground and to dig up the grass and to
make new beds. But with containers, you can shape the space anyway you
want, and that is a really freeing and amazing thing. I agree,
I plant up containers of flowers. I brought this for our YouTube viewers and
for I have it tied up in my microphone. Here, here we go.
I cut those out of containers in my landscape. But that's Truffla pink
gump Frina and meteor shower Verbena, and those two plant them near my Miss
Molly and Miss Violet. Luckily is the butterflies and hummingbirds go absolutely bonkers.
Well, not to mention it's an amazing color combination. Yeah, I love
these colors are really beautiful. But if there are steaks holding up the verbena
because it gets pretty tall. The hummingbirds love to perch on the top of
the stakes, and that gives them a vantage point. So when competition comes
in, right, oh yeah, they're they get busy. They do not
tolerate anyone moving in on there to. It's just it's wild because they sit
only to chase something off, exactly, and then they have to refuel because
they spent so much energy chasing this poor fellow hummingbird off. And it's like,
jeez, if you guys would just share, I think you would all
enjoy my garden a lot more. But you know, I'm we're watching it
like the mid Air battles, the Ninja battles up in the air. It's
such an incredible time to be out there and enjoy the garden. A blast
to watch, and it's all part of the art of enjoying your garden.
Other items to do, buy good tools, good tools, not cheap tools,
and have plenty of them. And evaluate your clothing. Bad clothing in
the garden is awful. Are they too tight? Are your pants too tight?
Or are they falling down as a runner. Of course, I like
wicking type clothes and I think it's perfect for in the garden. So were
good garden clothes, which, by the way, I notice jorts are coming
back jeans that are like, you know, cut off just above jorts.
I'm not wearing that in the garden. My word of the day on today's
program is a verb. It's called procresta planting. Here it comes procrasta planting.
It's when you have a million things to do, but you ignore them
all and tend to your plants Insteady. That's yeah, that's valid, you
know, And that is a more timely thing. Your house can be clean
to anytime. Yeah, the planting season. The gardenings season is short,
so you need to know how to prioritize your time. And you know,
make hay as well. The sunshines. As they say, I agree,
gardening's great exercise. That's how you enjoy your garden. Think of it this
way. You don't have to pay for a gym membership. You don't have
to get in your car and drive to a gym. That's another way to
enjoy your garden. Here comes a limerick, Stacy, I created beauty with
flowers at my chateau. Then wander the garden with an espresso. Life is
good in my neighborhood. Just call me Vincent Van grow a cute. That's
how I feel. Grow plants for other people and share the knowledge. Mix
in plants that need minimal attention and Stacy, I know you're big into this.
Fall plants, some garlic I don't help. Minimal attention, right,
definitely, Yeah, And that helps us enjoy minimal attention, maximum benefit.
You've got it. Incorporate plants that have three to four seasons of interest.
Have paths and seating in your garden, and a course. Seating gives you
license to nap in your garden or your outdoor room work in bite sized pieces
so you don't get discouraged and grow what you love and grow stuff you can
eat. Yeah, definitely. And you know, I think along those lines,
it's important to know when to stop, no one to take a break.
Like if you're getting frustrated and you're getting overwhelmed and you're getting sweaty and
it's not fun anymore, that is your cue that you know what it might
be times to take a shower and get out of the garden for a little
while, because I think people just feel so much like, oh, I've
got to do this all. I think the bite sized chunks is a great
way to think about it. You know, especially if you have like a
lot of weeds. You don't need to just sit there and feel completely overwhelmed.
Just say, Okay, you know what, I'm going to do two
square feet right now, and if I want to do two more square feet
when i'm done, I will, and if I don't, I'm gonna make
dinner. Agree. I agree completely. Of course we already touched on plant
plant for pollinators and birds. But essentially the point here is, and that's
why I brought along the Truffla pink Gomfrina and the verbina because the butterflies absolutely
love it. But we also want to attract birds to our garden because they
add life and color to the garden three hundred and sixty five days. Yeah,
and you know, right now we think of you know, maybe sparrows
is not that interesting, but in the winter we're pretty grateful for him.
And they're very fun to watch. And if you don't give them habitat,
then they'll go somewhere else. You've got it. So probably one of the
most rewarding parts of gardening is creating a garden where you actually want to be
outside and off your digital devices. And that's what we're going to try to
do for you here on the Gardening Simplified Show. Plants on Trial is coming
up next here on the Gardening Simplified Ship, Proven Winners Colored Choice Shrubs cares
about your success in the garden. That's why we trial and test all of
our shrubs for eight to ten years, making sure they outperform everything else on
the market. Look for them and the distinctive white container at your local garden
center. Greetings gardening friends, and welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show.
You know work one of the reasons I was thinking about this topic for today's
show about enjoying the art of enjoying the garden is a saying that a former
boss of mine had that he actually got it from a friend of his,
and that is the measure of a good garden is how many places it has
where you want to sit down and have a drink. I like that,
and like Adrian is counting on her fingers right right now. And it doesn't
matter what you drink, whether that's coffee or nice water or the beverage of
your choice. But you know, I think that that is so important.
It's been something that you know, as I have worked on my garden,
something that I've kept in mind is a garden is yes, it's work and
you have to put effort into it, but it's also about sitting there and
enjoying it. And the more places that you create in your garden to sit
and enjoy it, I think the more ideas you get, the more perspective
you get on it. And it's just a really useful way of kind of
shaping the space. And it doesn't have to be huge. Doesn't mean you
like have acres of gardens in these fancy garden rooms. I mean, I
live on a quarter acre and we have one, two, three, four,
five different sitting areas that involve the outdoors or the garden somehow. So
that's my tip. And I personally have come to a point now where I'm
totally okay to just be like, Okay, I'm done gardening. I'm going
to sit now. But I know some people aren't like that, but it
is important, I think, to give yourself permission to enjoy it. And
even if you do, truly enjoy the work and the effort. And I
do love a good day weeting in the herb garden when you're in there and
the pollinators are all around you and it smells amazing, Like I love that,
but I love sitting in it and watching it just as much. So
I'm glad you brought it up because coming up today on Branching News, we'll
talk about some of the places where you've taken a nap oh A survey,
So stay tuned for Branching News. So if you work hard enough in the
garden, it might qualifying well. Anyway. Going on the theme of enjoying
your garden and the art of enjoying your garden, I picked a plant on
trial today. It's one that you can enjoy because it's so easy to care
for. You really don't have to do anything. And I think when we
have plants in our garden that maybe need deadheading or need supplemental water when you
aren't really into normally watering the rest of your garden, or you know,
maybe you need to manage the seed set, which I do on a number
of my plants, because we talked about self sellers a few weeks ago,
and those are a little aggressive, So things I don't want to grow more,
I'll just go out there. And sometimes it breaks my heart because the
seed heads do look really good, but I need to control and make sure
they don't spread too much. But every gardener, or even if you're not
a gardener, and you just consider yourself someone who has plants in your yard
a landscape needs a plant that you really don't have to lift a finger to
enjoy. Yes, And the plant that I have chosen to represent this concept
is Gatsby gal oak leaf HYDRANGEA great choice. I mean, I love oak
leaf hydranges. Who doesn't love oakleaf? I've really never run into anybody,
And if you're out there forgive me. You can write us and tell us
why you don't like oakleave hydranges, But I have yet to run into anybody
who's like oak leaf hydranges. Don't really like them that much. Well,
like we were talking about in the first segment, Stacy, the reason I
love oak leaf hydranges so much is because they give you four seasons of interest.
I mean, great foliage in summer, the beautiful blooms, the fall
color is knock your socks off cinnamon exfoliating type bark in four seas. And
you know that's really saying something for a hydrangea because the majority of hydrangeas winter
is not their strong series. They're worse than sticks. They look like sticks
and they're begging you to cut them back and you know it's going to be
bad, but they just look like they should be tied back. And that
doesn't happen with oak leif hydrangees. You know, I think you spelled it
out exactly, Rick. The oak shaped foliage comes out in spring and it
has this white, fuzzy coating on it that is really interesting and engaging,
makes you want to touch it like are touching your plants episode. And then
in summer of course you get those panicle ice cream cone shaped flowers. If
you have something like Gatsby pink, which we covered as a plant on trial
on a previous show, those are going to turn pink later in the season.
Amazing fall color, and not that many other hydranges get great fall color.
And then not only does it have this beautiful, deep rich brown peeling
bark, but they take on a very interesting and sculptural shape. You know,
they're not just like a little bundle of sticks sticking out. They get
kind of artsy, and you can even they don't need pruning, and I
recommend that you don't prune oak leaf hydranges, but if you do want to
get out there and get artsy, you can certainly take off a limb here
and there to impose or develop the habit that you want. So it is
more artistic and it is doing what you want it to do in the garden.
So I do love that. Like I said, it doesn't need pruning,
and compared to other hydranges that bloom on old wood, like oak lef
hydrangees, so these are hydranges that right now in September are making their flower
buds four next year. So on the old wood. Next year that wood
will be old. You know those people get really confused about those and other
types of old wood. Blooming hydrangea is like big leaf hydrangea. A lot
of times they get weather damage. Oak leaf hydrangea has no such issue.
If you are growing it within its hardiness range, which is USCA zones five
through nine, you do not need to worry about winter weather or spring frosts
impacting the flowers. They actually have just a natural, really better tolerance of
their flower buds too cold weather. So you don't have all of these little
should I prun it? Shouldn't I prune it? Why didn't it flower?
Was it the weather? Was it me? Was it deer? Although it
could be dear I will say I will say that they are not deerproofer or
even deer resistant, although they're somewhat dear more deer resistant than like smooth or
panical hydranges. So you really don't have to lift a finger once you get
this thing established, it just looks. It's around and looks beautiful all year
round. And I love that pruning aspect. It makes it easy. If
you're keeping score at home, you want to use the search engine of your
choice to check it out. Gatsby Gal oak leaf hydrangea is today's plant on
trial. That pruning aspect really is a game changer in convincing people to try
this plant right, and Catsby Gal does it all one better because it's a
semi dwarf variety of panic of oklef hydrangea. So most oak leaf hydrangeas gott
to warn you they are going to get big, real big. And if
you have ever, this is actually a North American native species. I don't
know if a lot of people realize that, but it grows abundantly through the
southeast and even into the south, which is accounts for that zone nine heat
tolerance that I mentioned. Out in the wild, they get huge. You'll
see them ten or more feet tall, and it takes time for them to
get there, but they will get there. So that, depending on your
garden and your space, might not make it so low maintenance if you have
a ten foot behemoth of a hydrangea, whereas Gatsby Gale is going to tap
out at a nice five to six foot height and width, and that makes
it a good kind of back of the border plant in your landscape. It
makes it a great plant to intermix with your native perennials, which is what
I do, and it works really well because I have so many large scale
native perennials and that size, really you don't have to worry so much about
is it going to overgrow? Is it going to again become this thing that
just outcompetes everything else in my landscape. So, even though all everything that
we're talking about does apply to all oak leaf hydrangeas, I think gatsby gal
oak leaf hydrangea is a particularly good example of this art of enjoying your garden
because it's gonna need you couldn't need to worry about it even less it's not
gonna outgrow it space. So a couple of questions for you, Stacy.
One is, with oak leaf hydrangea, do we want to grow it in
sun or shade? And the other question is I think I've heard you mentioned
before that gatsby gal is great for pollinators? Am I wrong about that?
I mean, as the flower kind of have any kind of scent, so
it oak leaf hydrangees do have a bit of fragrance. I mean I certainly
wouldn't consider them one of those things that you walk behind A WHOA, what
was that, but they do have like a light honey fragrance, and Gatsby
Gale is a lace cap hydrangeat so, But basically what that means is that
the fertile florets where all the businesses, the pollen and the nectar, they
out number the showier or papery sterile florets. And that's so it's the fertile
florets that the pollinators are after. And if there's too many of those sterile
florets, they can't see them. They know the pollens down there, but
they can't get to it. So as a lace cap, when you can
see more of those fertile florets, it is more appealing to pollinators, even
if you don't actually get the fragrance on it. And what was yours center
shade up perfect? Yes, I do often tell people that Gatsby gal or
oaklif hydranges in general are the most shade tolerant hydranges, and that is to
say that they will mostly do what you expect them to do in shade.
Now, what you will see is probably a little bit fewer flowers than you
would see if they get at least some sun so parts on would be ideal.
I do grow mind in full sun, there will established so they're fine,
and especially the fall color and oaklif hydranges get beautiful fall color, just
a deep rich burgundy. In too much shade, that's going to be kind
of a muddier color. It's still going to be effective, but it's just
not going to have like the brightness to it because it just you know,
it's not metab blizing as quickly. So but if you do have deep shade,
I think this is a great choice. And it's really just such a
beautiful hydrangea, and the fact that it's native, I think is you know,
makes it an even bigger winner in my book, perfect leaves on this
plant if you have kids who need to make a leaf collection for school,
as long as they don't misidentify them as an oak, because they do indeed
resemble an oak, but but supersized. So that was a lot And there's
so much to say about this beautiful plant and oak leaf hydrange is in general,
So please visit Gardening Simplified on air dot com or our Instagram page at
the Gardening Simplified Show and you will get all the details there. We're going
to take a break. When we come back we're opening up that gardening mail
banks, so stay tunes at proven winner's color choice. We've got a shrub
for every taste and every space. Whether you're looking for an easy care rose,
an unforgettable hydrangea, or something new and unique, you can be confident
that the shrubs and the white containers have been trialed and tested for your success.
Look for them at your local garden center. Greetings gardening friends, and
welcome back to the Gardening Simplified show Boy. The questions are coming in.
You know, I feel like at the beginning of the season in spring,
there's a lot of questions. People are like, what do I do in
spring? Let me get a little bit of a lull in summer people,
of course, we're asking about hydrangels because that never ends. And then in
fall things start ramping back up as people are like, how do I winterize
this? What should I do about this? Can I plant this? And
the answer first of all to can I plant this is it is still a
great time to put. Such a good time to plant here in Michigan.
You can easily plant safely through at least mid October, sometimes even late October.
The general guideline as you want to get that stuff in the ground six
weeks before the ground freezes, which, of course you can never predict when
that happens, but usually for us it's at least into December. So if
you're out there and you're seeing those bargains, don't be afraid to scoop them
up and get that stuff in the ground. I love it all part of
the art of gardening. Get yourself a fall bergain. Yes, all right,
Jennifer wrote to us Stacy commenting on the YouTube bonus episode. Do you
guys steer away from using gravel in flower beds? Can you touch base on
using it? I don't want to use landscape fabric because people say it's bad
for plants. I have boxed woods in this flower bed. I want to
put in gravel. It's mostly shady, stays, mostly moist. Well.
I am glad that Jennifer mentioned landscape fabric because I cannot abide by landscape fabric
and I have to tell you that means you don't like it, That means
I do not like it. In twelve years, over twelve years of answering
people's garden questions, and particularly when it comes to hydranges, probably the main
reason I've seen hydranges die is landscape fabric because first of all, it doesn't
do what it's supposed to do. It does not really keep down weeds.
So it will keep down like some of the surface weeds, which would have
been easy to remove anyway, but some of the deeper ones it's just all
right through that. They don't care. And it often interferes with water,
you know, if it will hold too much moisture in the soil and interfere
with gas exchange, so there's not a lot of oxygen getting to the roots.
And if your soil is dry, it will interfere with water infiltrating into
your soil and keeping it sufficiently moist. And I find that this effect is
exacerbated or worsened when it's combined with gravel. Those like grave the gravel landscape
fabric combo for many plants, not all plants, but many plants. It's
a lethal combination. But my overall feeling about gravel in beds is it's kind
of a personal taste. It's expensive, it's hard to spread, but if
you do prefer the look of it, I think it's okay for most plants
as long as they are heat tolerant. You know, it does trap and
hold a lot more heat than an organic mulch will. And of course it's
not enriching the soil like an organic mulch will. But it is fine for
you know, things like conifers. I've seen, you know, very success
fully planted in gravel beds. Of course, if you're drink a rock garden
or you have like a hearty, succulent garden or something like that, it
can be effective. But I don't know, what do you think? Well,
I ran a garden center for many decades, and so in regards to
the landscape fabric comment, I would say no comment, because I sold it
for years. Oh yeah, well people, I mean, you can't tell
people out of it, but I don't use it. I don't use it.
They have to find out on their own, right, you know.
My friend has a saying you can't tell anybody anything, and it's so true.
They do have to find out for themselves. And it seems like it
makes sense. It seems like landscape fabric would be effective. It's just that
the real world practice is not. But using gravel as a mulch do not
like it. I just don't like it. I think it raises the temperature,
it's hard to maintain. All kinds of debris falls into the cracks and
crevices. It really doesn't have organic value more, which helps cool the roots
and helps retain some moisture. Gravel rocks really do not do that. So
not a big rock fan, all right. I like rock and roll,
But rocks in the landscape not really. And you know what, I really
can't stand when they get in your shoe. Oh that's that's the worst,
worst, that worst. So really, ultimately, Jennifer, what we're saying
is, yes, stay away from the landscape fabric. Great idea. If
you like the gravel, then you like it, and that's okay. Do
be aware that it will raise a temperature around the plants you said you're planting,
box would in it. That should be okay. Definitely. I do
not recommend rocks around hydranges. I have seen a lot of very very unhappy
hydranges, even this week, hearing from home gardeners who are unhappy with their
hydrange and saying what's wrong? And then they send me a picture and it's
a you know, pinky winky surrounded by rocks. So you know, we
can't we can't tell people what they like. It's personal sediments exactly. Don't
take it for granite, right, good one. D D Rights. What's
the best way to remove annuals in the fall? I love this question.
That's a good one. Is it best to just cut them back and leave
the roots or pull the whole plant out? Do old roots add anything to
the soil. I'm passionate about this question. Okay, Well, I want
to hear what you have to say. Then I'm not so passionate. I
mean, I have my opinion, but I like to pick out the self
soars and let them go to bloom and dry, so they drop their seeds
to the soil. So I leave them alone. As far as the other
annuals are concerned. I like to compost the tops, and I like to
dig up the roots and turn them over and use them in the soil.
Again, potting soil and soil is expensive, yes, definitely, and so
I keep the roots and just let them decay in the soil. Yeah.
So it's it's a great point because roots are organic matter, and yes,
they will decay over winter. As you know, water and temperature and everything
kind of takes their effect. Now you're not going to see them, you
know, go down to nothing over just a single winter. But they absolutely
do add organic matter to the soil. I don't like to lose soil,
whether it's my actual soil or potting mix, because that's just erosion. You're
getting rid of the good stuff. So I do leave mostly my summer annuals
that have been planted all season. If I have them in the ground,
I'll just leave them all, just cut them off, or if you know,
if it's something like a bagonia, that's obviously just going to melt away.
Anyway. With my container plants, I try to get as much soil
off of them as I can, and then I will just compost the root
mass. But I'm saving my potting mix, so you know, I don't
want if I have huge root masses in there, it's hard to refill my
containers next season. So I like it. But I do find that if
you have fall planted stuff, moms, ornamental cabbages, all of that,
that usually pretty much just pops out of the ground. It hasn't been in
the ground long enough to actually root in, and so those I would usually
just pop out and throw away. At the greenhouse that I work at at
the end of summer. There are annuals that didn't sell, and so they're
dumped out into a big pile. Because it's a lot of plants. They
save the plastic pots, but all of these plants, Soil Intact is put
in a big pile and people buy it. It's a bulk product, fifteen
dollars a yard. Let's use it as a filler. Sure, I like
it. That's using your nuggin. I say, use it all right,
Anita asked. My neighbor across the street, and I are having trouble with
wasp yellow jacket type bees. They're very friendly this year. They come every
time we have a picnic food outside. They seem to like yard guard spray
and they landed on my neighbor's arm and stunger. So recently we purchased a
bee trap that works. This is the first fall they've been a nuisance.
Any suggestions, Thank you for your help. Be safe, Thank you,
Anita. Anita went for them the bee pun because she was asking here.
Appreciate that, Anita, So you know this is a question. So it's
it's stingy yellow yellow stripey thing season. Yeah it is. And I say
that because there are so many different things that are out there. There's yellow
jackets, there's wasps, you know, there's all these different things, and
it's so important to understand what you're dealing with. Identify what you're dealing with
before you can take an approach to managing it. I think a trap is
a great all purpose way. Now, some of the traps will have a
lure for a specific type of insect, like a yellow jacket trap might not
work on a wasp or might not work on a hornet. But we're going
to post some links and about how you can identify which stingy, yellow stripey
thing that you have, and as well as some management tips because they all
have slightly different nesting habits, they all have different things that are going to
attract them to your yard. And really this is just an IPM. We've
talked about IPM on the show before, Integrated pest management approach, identifying your
problem, know your enemy as it were, and then create your plan of
attacks. So it's really hard to just give general advice. Some of them,
like rotting logs, some of them are going to rot you nest in
the ground and there's really nothing you can do about that to deter them,
because that's just what they do. So it's so important to find out they
can. This does not mean you have to you know, actually capture one
and look at it, you know, under a magnifying glass. There are
a lot of different cues from where they're nesting. If they're making one of
those little papery nests hanging from your garagey just speaking from experience here or coming
from the ground or whatever. So we're going to put the resources on the
website. And at this time of the year, they're looking for sugar and
carbo hydrates, so there are less blooms than there are in spring and summer.
That's why they're hanging around your picnic food, your trash can, your
soda cans, the plastic cup that you have on the table. They are
looking for sugar and carbo hydrates. I say coexist, That's what I do.
They generally leaf me alone, and they're kind of fun to watch and
soon it'll all be over. Like you say, they dodge into the leaf
litter or whatever. Well, now that's my approach. No, that's I
think you're right. And the other thing is most of the species that you're
talking about actually only live one season. They don't live over winter, so
it's not like, Okay, I have to worry this guy's going to be
back next year. They basically die at the end of the season. But
again, this is all about trying to identify your past and doing the research.
We'll put those resources at Gardening Simplified on air dot com. We're going
to take a break. When we come back, we've got branching news,
so you won't want to miss it. The Gardening Simplified Show is brought to
you by Proven Winners Color Choice Shrubs. Our award winning flowering shrubs and evergreens
have been trialed and tested for your success so you enjoy more beauty and less
work. Look for Proven Winners Color Choice Shrubs in the distinctive white container at
your local garden center. Welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show. It's time
for branching news, not breaking news. While it's somewhat breaking, it's also
ranching and we don't make this stuff up. Here's a survey that I took
a look at where people have taken a nap. Are there any unusual places
you've taken a nap? And I'd bring this up because the survey did not
include a garden, and that really surprised me because I think that's the best
place in the world to take a nap. I love if I have a
patch of ornamental grasses to lay on your back, right in a patch of
ornamental grasses, as they sway back in fourth grade place to take a nap.
That does sound lovely, as long as you don't have to worry about
ticks. Yeah, that's true. That's very disruptive. Kick me off,
So here you go. Let's see a friend's home was number one. My
vehicle public transportation. I think we've all done that the beach, movie theater,
cafe or restaurant, library, park, doctor's office, pool, corporate
office, museum or art gallery, or a store. Who takes a nap
in a store, well, like you know, you've seen it before when
someone's waiting for someone else trying on clothes and they just kind of not off.
But I want to go back to movie theater, because if you're sleeping
in a movie theater, you are not napping. You are sleeping through the
movie. I've slept through some movies. I mean I sleep through movies all
the time. Don't give me a rog but you know that I would not
call that a nap. I would say that, you know, not getting
your money's more. And I've always wondered how bats can nap upside down,
and that's something that is something They are amazing creatures. I suppose if you
do it long enough, you can get the hang of it. Right.
Yes, here's one for branching news. This really caught me by surprise,
and I'm not trying to be funny here. I read a website that recommends
throwing a Let's see what was the website. It was kind of oh house
digest dot com, and we'll put the link on our website. It suggests
throwing a clove of garlic in your toilet. The concept is surprisingly simple.
All you need to do is take a single clove of garlic, drop it
in your toilet bowl before going to bed, and as you sleep, the
garlic releases it's natural aroma, which comes from something called Allison, known for
its antibacterial and anti fungal properties. These compounds work to neutralize the odors.
I'm sorry, I had never heard of throwing garlic in your toilet. Seems
like a waste of garlic. It seems like a stretch here. This this
whole thing is seems like someone just trying to, you know, create an
idea that's not harmful, that sounds beneficial but actually isn't. And also unless
you're crushing the garlic, I don't see how it's gonna Yeah, yeah,
don't. I don't know if I buy it. I think I might have
seen some things from this website before that have also seemed very dubious, So
I don't know garlic putting it out there. I mean, garlic's nature.
Garlic in nature's is nature's way of saying surprise, you know, But to
find it in your toilet, I don't want, you know, friends coming
over and seeing garlic floating in my I'd be flushed with embarrassed. This just
doesn't make sense to me. But people are seeing this and seeing this in
social social media, so I got to bring it up as part of branching.
Right. Well, I think this feels like one of those things that
people pretend works so they can feel like they're clever, but I don't know
that it actually does. If anyone has any any evidence, I would be
most interested to hear it. Not clever clover clove, because it's a clove
of garlic. Oh, that was a stretch. Let's move on. The
squirrels are excited. It's almost Halloween. They go nuts in October it's pumpkin
eating time and we're gonna put I find own this article really interesting and it's
from a website I really like garden design garden design dot com, and they
have a pretty extensive list on how to deal with squirrels, because squirrels are
busy gnawing on things from the gas hoses on grills. I had a squirrel
last year that ate my patio umbrella. Well didn't eat it, just chewed
on it and tore it to shreds. I had to dump the thing.
And then, of course when you set out pumpkins, fair game. It's
party time, right and I have seen everything from red pepper flakes to cayenne
pepper sprays, vassiline, fixed vapor, rub hairspray, hairspray, you remember
aquinnett. Of course, what else would you use? That's like the cheapest
hair spray. Of course you'd use. You still find it in the dollars.
Vinegar, a garlic again on the list, w D forty peppermint oil,
a crill finished sprays floor wax. That's interesting. And of course some
people are just avoiding carving at all and just painting and decorating the pumpkins,
right, I mean, I just don't see how you can put out a
tasty, sweet, edible fruit in October and not expect the local wildlife to
avail itself of this marvelous treat you've provided for it. I mean, it's
just the way things go, trick or treat, and when they take a
bite out of it, you're gonna need a pumpkin patch to fix it.
Hey, Poison ivy is poised to be one of the big winners in global
warming, according to this article a pretty interesting Scientists expect the dreaded three leaf
vine will take full advantage of warmer temperatures and grow faster and bigger and become
even more toxic. So this is in news. That's terrible, Yeah,
I mean, poison ivy definitely gets a lot more stronger in hot, dry
conditions. So if rainfall scarce, if it's hotter longer, that's going to
be much more you know, aggressive, The concentration of the oil will be
much higher. Yea. And of course this is the time of year and
fall when it's easy to identify poison ivy. I mean, the fall color
is really really beautiful, and it's at that point in some areas and some
wooded areas where you can see the extent of the existence of poison ivy in
And just because you see red vines though, does not mean it's all poison
ivy, because there are a number of other like Virginia creeper that also turn
red. But it is a good way to try to pick it out of
your landscape. You want to know something interesting about poison ivy, yes,
please. So the substance, the irritating substance in poison ivy is known as
erushialusia and that comes from the Japanese word for lacquer because they would mix a
some sort of you know, distillate of the poison ivy leaves with gold leaf
when they were decorating temples so that the gold leaf would not get stolen.
Wow, that's interest. So that's where the name erushi all comes from.
Is Erushi is the Japanese word for lacquer. It's fantastic. There's the thing,
you know, folks, that's the kind of stuff you learn here on
the gardening simplified show. I like that. No, that's very interesting.
These are experts who have studied poison ivy for decades and warn that they're likely
to be implications for human health. I'm glad they're not making a rash decision
here. They've studied this for decades. So wow, imagine being a poison
ivy scientist. Yes, grateful for their work, but I can only imagine
that it would not be a fun one. No, no, don't use
you know, we always say eat more plants. Don't use poison ivy in
your food, because then you'll be cooking from scratch. Did you like that
one? You would probably die if you cooked with poison ivy. I mean
he would almost certainly die. It's that potent set up for a bad joke.
Adriana like that one. Please do not, you know, if you
have it in your yard, just just get out there and cut it down
and get rid of it as quickly as you guess. I agree. Finally,
the BBC reports a butterfly comeback. This is encouraging news. The number
of butterflies in the UK has risen to its highest level since two thousand nineteen,
according to conservationists, researched by the Butterfly Conservation Wildlife Charity recorded butterfly populations
between the fourteenth of July and sixth of August. They saw that butterfly counts
were significantly up. The red Admiral Admiral was the most spotted across the UK.
But here's the interesting thing again, getting back to heat periods of drought
which they experienced in twenty twenty two, they have realized again the whole key
with butterflies is habitat and if there's habitat loss, the butterflies suffer. They
need a place to live, feed, breed, shelter, thrive. And
yet another good reason to enjoy the joy of gardening and be out there planting
bud Leah's and verbina and whatever else it may be, lots of it,
you know what, Lots of stuff. A good diversity of flowers is the
best way to have butterflies. Hopefully we've inspired you with the art of enjoying
your garden and hopefully you enjoy this show. We want to thank you for
watching on YouTube, for listening on radio, finding our podcast, looking for
us on Instagram, and of course visit our website. Gardening Simplified OnAir dot
com. Stacy, thank you so much, Thank you Brick, and thanks
to Adrianna. Thank you Adrianna. Have a great week.