Been There, Killed That, Want it Back

<v Speaker 1>Broadcasting from spring Like Studio a here at proven Winners,
<v Speaker 1>Color Choice Shrubs. It's time for the Gardening Simplified Show
<v Speaker 1>with Stacy Hervella, Me, Rick Weist, and our engineer and
<v Speaker 1>producer Adrianna Robinson. Well, today's show been there killed that
<v Speaker 1>would like it back? I think a lot of people
<v Speaker 1>can relate to this topic. And my philosophy going in Stacy,
<v Speaker 1>is that losing everyone's lost plants. We've all killed plants,
<v Speaker 1>but losing is not the opposite of winning. Losing is
<v Speaker 1>part of winning. We learned valuable lessons along the way, takeaways,
<v Speaker 1>so to speak, and we've done that with plants and
<v Speaker 1>many facets. I'm sure of our lives and I've always
<v Speaker 1>told people, if you haven't killed any plants, you're not
<v Speaker 1>trying hard enough. And I didn't just fall off the
<v Speaker 1>turnip truck. I have had a lot of experience killing
<v Speaker 1>plants in my life.
<v Speaker 2>Stacy oof same. I mean, you know, before when I
<v Speaker 2>was younger and just had houseplants, killed a lot of houseplants,
<v Speaker 2>and then I finally got my dream garden, not quite
<v Speaker 2>my dream garden, but finally got a house where I
<v Speaker 2>could actually build a garden, and boy, has my plant
<v Speaker 2>death teally gone up?
<v Speaker 1>Well, you know, Frank Sinatra said it best regrets. I've
<v Speaker 1>had a few, but then again too few to mention.
<v Speaker 1>I did what I had to do, and I did
<v Speaker 1>it my way. So we're just doing it our way.
<v Speaker 1>And along the lines of this topic, And you mentioned
<v Speaker 1>houseplants one of the first plants that pops into mind
<v Speaker 1>for me. I think for a lot of people it's
<v Speaker 1>a good example plant and that would be ferns in general.
<v Speaker 1>So you know, yeaho oh boy. Over the years. Well yeah,
<v Speaker 1>and the problem there is that ferns are just like me.
<v Speaker 1>They love humidity, and they're in the problem. But maiden
<v Speaker 1>hair ferns, like when they come into the greenhouse, they're
<v Speaker 1>so cute, they're adorable, they're beautiful. I want one, I
<v Speaker 1>want to take one home. But whether it's maiden hair
<v Speaker 1>ferns or button ferns or staghorn fern there's a lot
<v Speaker 1>of them on the death list.
<v Speaker 2>Oh gosh, I mean you you know, I feel like
<v Speaker 2>that is probably one of people's you know, when they
<v Speaker 2>first get excited about house plants and they go to
<v Speaker 2>the garden center, that's probably like their first experience, really,
<v Speaker 2>you know, having a bad experience with plants, and who
<v Speaker 2>can blame them? You know, they're there, so they assume
<v Speaker 2>that they're going to have reasonable Karen structments or you
<v Speaker 2>know what I really love when a fern is like
<v Speaker 2>low light requirements. Oh yeah, I got that this is
<v Speaker 2>going to be great, and it doesn't say anything about
<v Speaker 2>the humidity requirements, which are considerable. So people just look
<v Speaker 2>at the light and think everything's going to be hunky dory,
<v Speaker 2>and it is far from honkey dory. And I, as
<v Speaker 2>a young adult, for certainly killed my first maiden hair
<v Speaker 2>fern very quickly. And you know, the the other one
<v Speaker 2>that they sell that attracts a lot of people and
<v Speaker 2>they pretty much immediately kill it is the Sela Janella
<v Speaker 2>or rainbow loss. Yes, yes, yes, yeah, love those so beautiful,
<v Speaker 2>but yeah, good luck keeping that alive in your average
<v Speaker 2>household environments.
<v Speaker 1>So there's lots of example. You know, let me give
<v Speaker 1>you a little story example on this topic. Go back
<v Speaker 1>to twenty ten. My daughter's getting married and we're having
<v Speaker 1>a backyard wedding. So I'm trying to get the yard
<v Speaker 1>just spectacular. The wedding's the end of June, it is
<v Speaker 1>March and April of that year, we had three consecutive
<v Speaker 1>weeks where the temperatures were between sixty and eighty degrees.
<v Speaker 1>Everything flushed out. I still remember the night April ten,
<v Speaker 1>twenty ten, got into the twenties. That night, Oh God,
<v Speaker 1>the entire night. Everything fried the hosta, I mean everything
<v Speaker 1>just fried. And it was a great lesson for me
<v Speaker 1>as to the resilience of plants or juvenation of plants,
<v Speaker 1>because a lot of these plants leafed out enough in
<v Speaker 1>time for the wedding in late June and looked beautiful,
<v Speaker 1>and you would have never known that we had that
<v Speaker 1>hard frost in April. And I take a lesson from
<v Speaker 1>some of my friends in Florida because when they get
<v Speaker 1>a freeze in Florida, generally we learn a lesson from
<v Speaker 1>them in that they recommend don't prune right away, be patient.
<v Speaker 1>Dead foliage protects the live tissue looking to grow, don't
<v Speaker 1>push with fertilizer, let nature take its course. And I
<v Speaker 1>think those are good lessons to learn.
<v Speaker 2>I think those are great lessons to learn for anybody,
<v Speaker 2>but especially our listeners. In warm climates, you are probably
<v Speaker 2>dealing with a whole lot of that right now. Yes,
<v Speaker 2>polar vorte and you know, I get it, like you
<v Speaker 2>see all of this like gross black, squishy growth or
<v Speaker 2>whatever it is on your plants, and you think I
<v Speaker 2>got to remove it. I've got to remove all evidence
<v Speaker 2>that this happened. But yeah, it does offer some protection.
<v Speaker 2>And you know, even in warm climates like Florida, they're
<v Speaker 2>not out of the woods yet for you know, it's
<v Speaker 2>not going to be another polar vortex situation, but you
<v Speaker 2>can certainly get a frost.
<v Speaker 1>Absolutely. I've seen Japanese maples that just look completely fried
<v Speaker 1>and dead and then within a month refoliated. So it's
<v Speaker 1>it's a good lesson to learn, you know. Another plant
<v Speaker 1>example for me is blue Atlas cedar. I love that tree.
<v Speaker 1>I have a picture of one in my landscape for
<v Speaker 1>our YouTube viewers, but it's a zone six plant. I
<v Speaker 1>live in Zone six and when we have a polar
<v Speaker 1>vortex winter like we had this past year, turns brown
<v Speaker 1>and it's it's tough to take. And when I lived
<v Speaker 1>further inland in Michigan, I was unable to grow them,
<v Speaker 1>but I love the plant. So Ben there killed that one.
<v Speaker 1>Another one.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I'm just thinking, you know, I know you like
<v Speaker 2>to mention old songs. Yes, I'm just thinking in my
<v Speaker 2>head of an old song, don't it make my blue
<v Speaker 2>seater brown? Instead of don't to make my brown eyes blue?
<v Speaker 2>Don't to make my blue seater brown?
<v Speaker 1>Very good? I like that. I like that. That's a
<v Speaker 1>classic song. Well, you know, and trees in general. It's
<v Speaker 1>tough to swallow a loss when it comes to trees,
<v Speaker 1>and we all, you know, learned lessons over the decades,
<v Speaker 1>Dutch elm disease, chestnut blight, and in recent history of course,
<v Speaker 1>eab and green ash, as well as hemlocks, the wooly
<v Speaker 1>adelga and the damage we're seeing here along the lake shore.
<v Speaker 1>And it's hard to move away from trees that you've planted.
<v Speaker 1>I've had to move away from a beautiful ginko tree,
<v Speaker 1>which reminds me I need your help, Stacy in finding
<v Speaker 1>a skinny fit ginkle. Oh.
<v Speaker 2>I wish I could help you. Those are going to
<v Speaker 2>be so popular, but you're on my list. As soon
<v Speaker 2>as I think as you one, you're going to get one.
<v Speaker 1>You know. A weeping beach, a weeping larch, a paper bark,
<v Speaker 1>maple of down redwood. I've moved away from them all,
<v Speaker 1>and it's hard to do.
<v Speaker 2>It is hard to do, you know, when you fall
<v Speaker 2>in love with something and you finally have the place
<v Speaker 2>to grow it, they're the first things that you think of.
<v Speaker 2>And I actually had a very similar experience, not with
<v Speaker 2>a tree, but when I finally got my house, I
<v Speaker 2>had visions of the incredible meadow of gmtriflorum also known
<v Speaker 2>as prairie smoke that I had seen at Chanticleer Gardens.
<v Speaker 2>And this is such a cool plant. So it's a
<v Speaker 2>native GM. Geum and it blooms in late spring with
<v Speaker 2>these really cool cherry red flowers that look kind of
<v Speaker 2>like Hershey's kisses, and those are really cool to see
<v Speaker 2>and have beautiful lacy foliage. And then as that flower fades,
<v Speaker 2>it turns into the prairie smoke, which is just this
<v Speaker 2>beautiful clematist like and people have heard me talk about
<v Speaker 2>how much I love the clematist seedheads, so it's a
<v Speaker 2>little bit like that, but even whispier and so so lovely.
<v Speaker 2>And so one of the first plants I bought for
<v Speaker 2>my new garden was gmtriflorm prairie smoke, and you know,
<v Speaker 2>didn't really realize that it is not going to make
<v Speaker 2>it in my doney, very dry, very sunny garden, and
<v Speaker 2>that poor thing evaporated faster than you could say GM triflorum,
<v Speaker 2>and that is a pretty short botanical name. And I
<v Speaker 2>tried subsequently because you know, I thought, hey, I've seen
<v Speaker 2>this thing self so like crazy, this is going to
<v Speaker 2>be so dreamy and yeah, and I would like it back.
<v Speaker 2>I wish I had the conditions to grow it. But
<v Speaker 2>I am as guilty as so many other gardeners of
<v Speaker 2>wishful thinking, right, you know. And that's but again, that's
<v Speaker 2>not a failure. That's not a loss. I lost the plant,
<v Speaker 2>but I learned a lot and through all of that
<v Speaker 2>in trial and error, and I've discovered new plants that
<v Speaker 2>I might not have ever purchased if I had succeeded
<v Speaker 2>with the prairie smoke in the first place.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, whatever kills your plant makes you better, Yeah, something
<v Speaker 1>along that line. I'm trying to wax philosophical. Now that works,
<v Speaker 1>make you feel better about it. But yeah, so I'm
<v Speaker 1>always pushing that type of thing too. Out of zone.
<v Speaker 1>Don't be afraid to kill a few plants. Here's my
<v Speaker 1>out of zone limb a rick this week. You need
<v Speaker 1>to cut me some slack for giving tender plants all
<v Speaker 1>whack not hardy in my zone. I really should have
<v Speaker 1>known been there now I want it back. Been there,
<v Speaker 1>killed that in impulsive purchase, fell flat. But this plant
<v Speaker 1>is primed for an encore. Welcome back to my yard
<v Speaker 1>for more. I'll roll out the welcome mat. And it's true.
<v Speaker 1>Through the years, I've watched people buy plants like they
<v Speaker 1>buy lottery tickets. They go in thinking this ain't gonna work,
<v Speaker 1>but then they go back for more, and I think
<v Speaker 1>that that's great. I'm encouraging people to do it well.
<v Speaker 2>It's true, and there are a lot of things that
<v Speaker 2>can change, you know. For example, if you start with
<v Speaker 2>a bigger plant, perhaps than your first try, then you
<v Speaker 2>can actually be more successful than you would have been
<v Speaker 2>with just the smaller one that you started off with.
<v Speaker 2>So it's almost always worth another try.
<v Speaker 1>Yeh, Stacy, So what I've always said, You know what
<v Speaker 1>I've said, There's always more room for jello and plants.
<v Speaker 1>That's true, So get out there and take some chances.
<v Speaker 1>Let's see how Stacey ties this in with plants on trial.
<v Speaker 1>That's coming up next here on the Gardening Simplified.
<v Speaker 2>Show, Beautify Your Home and community with proven Winner's Color
<v Speaker 2>Choice Shrubs with over three hundred and twenty five unique
<v Speaker 2>varieties to choose from. There's a flowering shrub or evergreen
<v Speaker 2>for every taste and every space. Just look for the
<v Speaker 2>distinctive white container your local garden center or learn more
<v Speaker 2>at proven Winner's Color Choice dot com. Greeting's Gardening friends,
<v Speaker 2>and welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show where we're
<v Speaker 2>talking about been there, killed that, and want it back,
<v Speaker 2>specifically as it pertains to the plants in our lives,
<v Speaker 2>because yeah, we're all victims of wishful thinking, and when
<v Speaker 2>we come across that plant at the garden center, you know,
<v Speaker 2>we kind of can't help it and we give it
<v Speaker 2>a try. But that's how you learn. I mean that
<v Speaker 2>really is what it means to be a gardener is
<v Speaker 2>to you know, get these plants, try them out, and
<v Speaker 2>you know, if something says that it needs moist soil
<v Speaker 2>and it ends up shrinking down to just a little
<v Speaker 2>dust speck in your in your landscape, then you kind
<v Speaker 2>of start to know, I don't have moist soil, I
<v Speaker 2>have dry soil. And you may have noticed if you
<v Speaker 2>are joining us on YouTube that Rick and I are
<v Speaker 2>happen to be wearing black, as does Adriana, and this
<v Speaker 2>coincidence we are chalking up to mourning for all of
<v Speaker 2>the plants that we have killed in our in our past.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, and full transparency, we do not communicate together. No,
<v Speaker 1>we don't as to what we're going to be wearing.
<v Speaker 1>And I thought I'd take the Johnny Cash approach today,
<v Speaker 1>So yeah, and appropriately, so, I guess.
<v Speaker 2>So, you know, it's okay to mourn for the plants
<v Speaker 2>that you that have passed on that you attempted to grow.
<v Speaker 2>But what's not okay is to dwell on that and
<v Speaker 2>to beat yourself up for it, because you know, we
<v Speaker 2>can only do so much. And whenever we're gardening or
<v Speaker 2>growing houseplants, we're taking a plant out of its native environment,
<v Speaker 2>out of all of those factors that really help that
<v Speaker 2>plant thrive, and putting it somewhere else. And really the
<v Speaker 2>success in gardening comes to, you know, a plant's ability
<v Speaker 2>to withstand a wide range of conditions so that as
<v Speaker 2>it gets further away from that natural environment, it can
<v Speaker 2>adapt or to replicate those exact conditions so precisely that
<v Speaker 2>it can still live.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, and you know, Stacy you're outside the norm because
<v Speaker 1>I know that you love succulents and you're very good
<v Speaker 1>at growing succulents. But boy, there's a lot of people
<v Speaker 1>over the craze the last ten years or so who
<v Speaker 1>have killed succulents and been frustrated.
<v Speaker 2>Oh absolutely, or you know, the other thing that people
<v Speaker 2>get frustrated with suculents is the dulation when the especially
<v Speaker 2>like the echavarias and stuff, when the center starts to
<v Speaker 2>get real tall and they think, what's happening. I bought
<v Speaker 2>this cute rose out of a plant, and yeah, that's
<v Speaker 2>that's just what's happening because it's out of its environment.
<v Speaker 2>But as a plant company like proven Winter's Colored Choice Shrubs,
<v Speaker 2>it might not come as a big surprise to you
<v Speaker 2>that we don't really like to talk a lot about
<v Speaker 2>our plants dying, you know, and that makes sense, right.
<v Speaker 2>We try and test our plants so that you can
<v Speaker 2>be successful. The plants are living things, and you know,
<v Speaker 2>over the many years that I have been here, I
<v Speaker 2>have heard from many many gardeners who have unfortunately killed
<v Speaker 2>one of our plants that they purchased. And so, in
<v Speaker 2>the spirit of been there killed that want it back,
<v Speaker 2>I thought that I would talk about our most killed
<v Speaker 2>proven winner's colored choice shrubs. Well, it is interesting because
<v Speaker 2>as I sat down to think about it, this is
<v Speaker 2>going to seem very ironic at first. By far, our
<v Speaker 2>most killed shrubs are some of our best sellers. Oh
<v Speaker 2>and those two plants are panical hydrangeas and lilacs. Really, yes,
<v Speaker 2>and the reason for this so those are very popular.
<v Speaker 2>So of course, on the one hand, if a plant
<v Speaker 2>is very popular, that means there are more of them
<v Speaker 2>out there, more people trying it, and therefore a greater
<v Speaker 2>chance that someone is going to inadvertently kill their new
<v Speaker 2>purchased lilac or panical hydrangea. But that's not entirely it,
<v Speaker 2>because they're actually both quite durable plants. But they have
<v Speaker 2>a kryptonite, a weak point, and that is that neither
<v Speaker 2>of them can withstand poor drainage or too much water. Oh,
<v Speaker 2>and that is why these plants are These two are,
<v Speaker 2>by far, in all my fifteen years of being here
<v Speaker 2>and helping home gardeners with their problems, far and away
<v Speaker 2>the two that are most killed Limelight, which you know,
<v Speaker 2>I'm sure we have so many listeners right now thinking
<v Speaker 2>people are killing limelight, like my Limelight has been through everything.
<v Speaker 2>It is a beast. But I can tell you I
<v Speaker 2>have heard from so very many people who have killed
<v Speaker 2>Limelight as well as their other panicle hydrangees, because they
<v Speaker 2>get so excited about bringing this home, having it in
<v Speaker 2>their garden and they think, I am going to make
<v Speaker 2>the perfect home for this new plant. I'm going to
<v Speaker 2>dig a hole. I'm going to fill it up with
<v Speaker 2>some nice fluffy compost top soil, sphagnum, moss, fill in
<v Speaker 2>the blank. It could be any of these things, potting mix,
<v Speaker 2>It goes on and on. Garden soil is one another
<v Speaker 2>thing that they sell. So they dig the hole, they
<v Speaker 2>fill it up with this nice, rich, fluffy mix that
<v Speaker 2>they've purchased from the garden center. They put the plant
<v Speaker 2>in there, and they have just created the worst possible
<v Speaker 2>conditions for either a panicle hydrangea or a lilac. Because
<v Speaker 2>what that does, Yeah, because it's well intentioned. So you know,
<v Speaker 2>we've been talking a lot about killing plants kind of
<v Speaker 2>as a wishful thinking, like I wish I could grow this,
<v Speaker 2>and I can't. My conditions aren't right, my zone is right.
<v Speaker 2>This is more of a love to death kind of approach. Wow.
<v Speaker 1>I think Johnny Cash did a song on this. It's
<v Speaker 1>called the Walk the Lawn.
<v Speaker 2>I wish I had to come back for that, but
<v Speaker 2>I'm I'm scrambling through my mental you know file of
<v Speaker 2>Johnny Cash songs. I'll get back to you on that one.
<v Speaker 2>But okay, So what happens when they do this, especially
<v Speaker 2>if they have clay soil? And it is precisely the
<v Speaker 2>people who have clay soil who are most likely to
<v Speaker 2>do this because they think, like, oh, the soil is
<v Speaker 2>so hard and so difficult to grow, and so I
<v Speaker 2>need to make this nice, beautiful, fluffy environment. But when
<v Speaker 2>you do that, what happens is you create literally a bathtub.
<v Speaker 2>So the bathtub is that hard clay soil around the hole,
<v Speaker 2>and then you put the soil in the you know
<v Speaker 2>amendment inside and the plant inside. And then when you water,
<v Speaker 2>that fluffy amendment can hold onto so much water so
<v Speaker 2>much more quickly than the surrounding soil, so it infiltrates
<v Speaker 2>into the hole very quickly. But then what happens is
<v Speaker 2>all of those airspaces in that fluffy amendment are holding
<v Speaker 2>onto water directly around the plant roots, and it takes
<v Speaker 2>forever for it to leak out into those tiny, little
<v Speaker 2>dense you know, soil particles that surround that fluffy hole.
<v Speaker 2>And both panicle hydrangeas and lilacs are extremely susceptible to
<v Speaker 2>this condition. In fact, I would say it is the
<v Speaker 2>only thing that can take them down. That's why I
<v Speaker 2>would say it's their kryptonite, because you know, nothing really
<v Speaker 2>takes Superman down except kryptonite. Similarly, nothing will take these
<v Speaker 2>stup plants down because they're both really hardy, easy to grow,
<v Speaker 2>you know, not super finicky like I mean, Lilacs are
<v Speaker 2>a full sun plant. Panicle hydranges can take some shade,
<v Speaker 2>not finicky about pruning or anything like that. Pretty disease resistant,
<v Speaker 2>pest resistant. But yeah, their kryptonite is too much water
<v Speaker 2>and or poor drainage. And people love them to death.
<v Speaker 1>That's why when I'm helping out people in the garden center,
<v Speaker 1>I will always say to them, don't dig a hole,
<v Speaker 1>just mix the existing parent soil fifty to fifty with
<v Speaker 1>whatever you're going to amend with. I think your odds
<v Speaker 1>are greatly increased if you do that.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, you know, And that's the other thing is so
<v Speaker 2>generally we do not recommend amending the soil, because I
<v Speaker 2>think it's too long of a story to accurately tell.
<v Speaker 2>So you know, in the little tiny space that we
<v Speaker 2>have on our plant tags, we do not recommend amending
<v Speaker 2>the soil. If you do want to amend the soil,
<v Speaker 2>yes it is possible, but you absolutely positively have to
<v Speaker 2>thoroughly incorporate the amendment. And by amendment, I mean the
<v Speaker 2>compost or topsoil or garden soil or whatever it is
<v Speaker 2>that you're adding. You have to thoroughly incorporate that with
<v Speaker 2>your parent soil or the soil that you excavated. And
<v Speaker 2>you know, again, since we're talking mostly about people who
<v Speaker 2>have clay soil who are doing this, amending that soil
<v Speaker 2>that you dug out is so much easier said than done,
<v Speaker 2>because what did you pull out? Like a giant unk
<v Speaker 2>of clay.
<v Speaker 1>It's hard work, not.
<v Speaker 2>You know, like a nice soil that you can easily
<v Speaker 2>mix in. So you're out there like chopping the thing up,
<v Speaker 2>you know, the giant claw to clay and trying to
<v Speaker 2>mix it. And so it's just it doesn't work out
<v Speaker 2>as well in practice as it does in theory. So
<v Speaker 2>the best thing you can do is not to say
<v Speaker 2>that you can't grow these plants. You can, but if
<v Speaker 2>you have clay soil and you are growing them, only
<v Speaker 2>plant directly into your native soil and be very careful
<v Speaker 2>about watering. Yeah, a lot of times you'll hear people say, oh,
<v Speaker 2>I planted this new plant, and I'm watering it, you know,
<v Speaker 2>every other day or whatever. If you have clay soil,
<v Speaker 2>you may not actually need to water that often because
<v Speaker 2>clay soil is excellent at holding onto water, which is
<v Speaker 2>part of the problem in this specific case. So always
<v Speaker 2>water by feel. Don't water a new plant just by
<v Speaker 2>route or a program or anything like that.
<v Speaker 1>Schedule, don't do it.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, actually check out what is going on. Once you
<v Speaker 2>get these plants established, they are going to be much
<v Speaker 2>much much more resilient in the face of these challenges. Still,
<v Speaker 2>neither of them will really thrive in a situation where
<v Speaker 2>they have, you know, a lot of wet feet for
<v Speaker 2>a prolonged period, but they're going to be much better
<v Speaker 2>able to withstand that once they are established. But really
<v Speaker 2>it's that and I'd say this is the case with
<v Speaker 2>anything that I think you or I have killed. It's
<v Speaker 2>really that first year or so that is the really
<v Speaker 2>crucial time, and if a plan is going to fail,
<v Speaker 2>it's almost always within that brief period, not years down
<v Speaker 2>the line. So you really just need to get it
<v Speaker 2>through those first couple of years. And even though I
<v Speaker 2>did have a couple of other most killed plants on
<v Speaker 2>my list, that's all we really have time for. But
<v Speaker 2>you know, just briefly, we've talked about it before. Rhododendron,
<v Speaker 2>let's touch on it and segment four, all right, let's
<v Speaker 2>do it all right with that, we're going to take
<v Speaker 2>a little break, so please stay tuned at proven Winner's
<v Speaker 2>Color Choice Shrub. We know that a better landscape starts
<v Speaker 2>with a better shrub. Our team of experts tests and
<v Speaker 2>evaluates all of our flowering shrubs and evergreens for eight
<v Speaker 2>to ten years to ensure they outperform what's already on
<v Speaker 2>the market. For easy care, reliable, beautiful shrubs to accentuate
<v Speaker 2>your home and express your personal style, look for Proven
<v Speaker 2>Winner's Shrubs in the distinctive white container at your local
<v Speaker 2>garden center or learn more at proven Winner's Color Choice
<v Speaker 2>dot com. Greetings gardening friends, and welcome back to the
<v Speaker 2>Gardening Simplified Show, where we're talking all about plants that
<v Speaker 2>we bought killed and wished we could have back. Because
<v Speaker 2>there's also a lot of plants that I have bought
<v Speaker 2>and killed in you know, Yeah, I don't really care
<v Speaker 2>if it's coming back or not, but there are a
<v Speaker 2>lot that you know, I really wish that I could
<v Speaker 2>grow and can't, whether it's a matter of deer or
<v Speaker 2>dry soil, or.
<v Speaker 1>Or just get past the guilt. Yeah, the guilt of
<v Speaker 1>killing it.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, you feel guilty.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, do you feel guilty.
<v Speaker 2>About killing well sometimes you don Redwood. It was the
<v Speaker 2>Don Redwood.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, it just I don't know.
<v Speaker 2>Well, you know, again, it's how you learn as a gardener,
<v Speaker 2>and more importantly, it's how you evolve your own garden,
<v Speaker 2>because as you discover what is what actually works in
<v Speaker 2>your yard, then you know it's much better. In my opinion,
<v Speaker 2>I have become the kind of gardener who is not
<v Speaker 2>like I'm going to do whatever it takes to grow
<v Speaker 2>this plant because I want this specific plant. I have
<v Speaker 2>become the kind of gardener who's like, I don't really
<v Speaker 2>want to work that hard. I want stuff that wants
<v Speaker 2>to be here, right.
<v Speaker 1>But at the same time, I personally believe it's better
<v Speaker 1>to learn from other people's mistakes than your mistakes, so
<v Speaker 1>be observant in your neighborhood, what works you know in
<v Speaker 1>your region. I think that's important too.
<v Speaker 2>That is also easier said than done, because as my
<v Speaker 2>good friend always says, you can't tell anybody anything. They
<v Speaker 2>have to learn it for themselves. And truer words were
<v Speaker 2>never spoken. That is, you know, we can tell people
<v Speaker 2>were all day long, but until you discover it for yourself,
<v Speaker 2>like you can say, well, GM tryfluorum sounds pretty great.
<v Speaker 2>I'm going to try GM trifluorum in my yard and
<v Speaker 2>I'm going to show Stacey. And you know, if you
<v Speaker 2>don't have dry soil in full sun, you might not
<v Speaker 2>be so successful. But you should still try because that again,
<v Speaker 2>we never want to be discouraging and I didn't want
<v Speaker 2>to be discouraging in plants on travel either when I
<v Speaker 2>talked about the most killed proven winners colored choice shrubs.
<v Speaker 2>But I want people to understand that it's not an
<v Speaker 2>inherent fault in the plants. It's a problem of where you're.
<v Speaker 1>Putting them exactly. Because cultivars today are amazing compared to
<v Speaker 1>what I used to deal with in the seventies and eighties.
<v Speaker 1>The advancements in the last ten to twenty years. Unbelievable. Yeah,
<v Speaker 1>the heartiness, drought resistance, heat resistance, it's incredible.
<v Speaker 2>And plants are more vigorous. You know, we're looking for
<v Speaker 2>plants that are more vigorous and that means they're going to,
<v Speaker 2>you know, ideally be better able to withstand the challenges. But
<v Speaker 2>speaking of challenges, it is the time of the show
<v Speaker 2>where it's our pleasure to help you with your garden questions,
<v Speaker 2>quandaries and conundrums and celebrations of course, and we had
<v Speaker 2>a few of those come in, but I was having
<v Speaker 2>trouble with my computer downloading photos. So maybe next time
<v Speaker 2>we will go over some of the great advice in
<v Speaker 2>celebrations that we have received from some of our listeners recently,
<v Speaker 2>but just could we not get the computer to download
<v Speaker 2>the pictures this time anyway, So if you have a
<v Speaker 2>question for us, you can always reach us at Gardening
<v Speaker 2>Simplified on air dot com. You just click on the
<v Speaker 2>contact us tab. You can write us a note right
<v Speaker 2>there and even send in a picture, which is always
<v Speaker 2>helpful when you're asking a question about a specific plant
<v Speaker 2>in your yard or what's going on with something. You
<v Speaker 2>can also leave a comment on the YouTube version of
<v Speaker 2>the show because Adriana reads all of those comments and
<v Speaker 2>passes those questions on to us. So what do we
<v Speaker 2>got in the mailbag this week?
<v Speaker 1>All right, right off the top, writing to you gardening
<v Speaker 1>experts for advice on using composts. I recently started using
<v Speaker 1>an in home composting machine and curing my own compost
<v Speaker 1>in the garage. Do I need to test it for
<v Speaker 1>any reason before applying it to plants? Any plants that
<v Speaker 1>I shouldn't put it on? So yes, maintain your composture
<v Speaker 1>and move forward. You know, I think of the phrase
<v Speaker 1>garbage in garbage out. I was coined in the late
<v Speaker 1>fifties early sixties when IBM was the craze and we
<v Speaker 1>thought about computers. You know, it was foreign to us
<v Speaker 1>at the time. I was just a little tight. But
<v Speaker 1>compost is the same way garbage in garbage out.
<v Speaker 2>Well, I don't know. I mean, compost is garbage.
<v Speaker 1>It's garbage. It's you know, good there's good garbage and
<v Speaker 1>there's bad.
<v Speaker 2>Garb, right, I mean, but as long as you're composting
<v Speaker 2>vegetable scraps anything like that, I mean, yeah, your carrot
<v Speaker 2>peelings are probably garbage or would go in the garbage,
<v Speaker 2>but they're perfectly acceptable at the repost. So what be
<v Speaker 2>a garbage like, what's garbage compost to you?
<v Speaker 1>So certain types of manure. I'm trying to be gentle here.
<v Speaker 2>Uh right, so that's a little different. I was going
<v Speaker 2>to mention the manure too. You do need to be
<v Speaker 2>careful with manure. And I don't think you're making putting
<v Speaker 2>manure into your home composting machine most likely.
<v Speaker 1>I understand, but I have seen it, and I have
<v Speaker 1>people ask before, like their pets.
<v Speaker 2>Oh gosh, yeah, yeah, don't put that in there. So
<v Speaker 2>I'm just throwing it out here is a dog owner,
<v Speaker 2>and you should have just seen the face that she
<v Speaker 2>may at the mere thought of composting that. No. But
<v Speaker 2>but okay, so first of all, as far as manures do, no,
<v Speaker 2>it's I was going to mention it because that is
<v Speaker 2>the only condition really that I can think of where
<v Speaker 2>uh there might be an issue with putting it on plants,
<v Speaker 2>because especially so you generally do not compost the manures
<v Speaker 2>of carnivorous animals. Correct, So that's going to include all
<v Speaker 2>of your standard household pets except like a goldfish.
<v Speaker 1>And let me quick mention to answer your question. Also,
<v Speaker 1>for me, the number one issue would be as far
<v Speaker 1>as garbage in garbage out have an excellent ratio of
<v Speaker 1>green to brown material.
<v Speaker 2>Well, otherwise you're just not getting compost. You're just getting
<v Speaker 2>rotting stuff. It's not actually turning into the nice brown,
<v Speaker 2>crumbly compost. But so normally, I would say from household composts.
<v Speaker 2>So we're talking about, you know, like your household trimmings
<v Speaker 2>of vegetables and fruits and that kind of thing, leftover
<v Speaker 2>food scraps, you know, maybe some garden stuff that's going
<v Speaker 2>to be just fine to put on pretty much anything.
<v Speaker 2>You might want to be more sparing around plants that
<v Speaker 2>need good drainage, like a butterfly bush or something like that,
<v Speaker 2>because it can hold quite a lot of moisture. Compost
<v Speaker 2>is very rich. It's not soil, but it is an
<v Speaker 2>organic amendment. But yeah, if you are purchasing or composting
<v Speaker 2>your own animal manure, so chicken, horse, cow, that kind
<v Speaker 2>of thing, goat, you do need to be very careful
<v Speaker 2>because those can be very high in salts, and so
<v Speaker 2>there's a lot of plants that are very sensitive to salt. Now,
<v Speaker 2>salt is held in the ionic bond to the soil
<v Speaker 2>particles very weakly, so that makes it very easy for
<v Speaker 2>it to flush out through rain and irrigation and that
<v Speaker 2>kind of thing, but some plants are naturally very susceptible
<v Speaker 2>to that. Also, whether you're using home compost or animal compost,
<v Speaker 2>make sure it's not hot. Definitely you can burn plants
<v Speaker 2>that way. But for the most part, you know, compost
<v Speaker 2>is just an organic amendment that is going to be
<v Speaker 2>adding nitrogen and adding a moisture retaining kind of sponge
<v Speaker 2>to the soil. So once you know that that what
<v Speaker 2>it's actually doing is adding nitrogen and moisture retention, that
<v Speaker 2>can kind of help you. You know, there's really no
<v Speaker 2>plant that's like, whoa, I've got too much nitrogen, please stop.
<v Speaker 2>There's some succulents that if they get excessive nitrogen their
<v Speaker 2>leaves can kind of burst. But for the most part,
<v Speaker 2>most plants are going to be like, I'll take all
<v Speaker 2>the nitrogen you got, Like that's great, I'm gonna be green,
<v Speaker 2>I'm going to be healthy. There's some exceptions out there,
<v Speaker 2>of course, and like I said, plants that need good
<v Speaker 2>drainage you might want to avoid. But other than that,
<v Speaker 2>I think that you're going to be just fine. I
<v Speaker 2>don't think you need to worry about testing it or
<v Speaker 2>anything like that. So yeah, just make sure you're putting
<v Speaker 2>in genuinely compostable materials and you know, using it sparingly,
<v Speaker 2>because you got to make that stuff stretch over a
<v Speaker 2>lot of plants. For most of us, no one can
<v Speaker 2>ever really have enough gombos.
<v Speaker 1>Oh, you're right, Hey, Stacy, we got a question from
<v Speaker 1>a YouTube viewer if you can, can you cover some
<v Speaker 1>transplanting tips and ways to harden off the plants so
<v Speaker 1>they won't be shocked once they go into the garden.
<v Speaker 1>Any rules of thumb. And I want to quickly say
<v Speaker 1>I want to pile on. As far as your comment
<v Speaker 1>is concerned digging the hole to put the plant in,
<v Speaker 1>I think that that's going to be the key issue
<v Speaker 1>because what I see people do is surface water, and
<v Speaker 1>what you're going to want initially is good deep watering,
<v Speaker 1>because when the plant goes outside, suddenly it's subjected to wind,
<v Speaker 1>sun and transpiration takes place. And if you're just surface
<v Speaker 1>watering or haven't properly prepared the soil as you described
<v Speaker 1>in the previous segment, then you're going to have problems.
<v Speaker 1>So I really believe that's a key to transplant.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, definitely. And you know, as far as hardening off goes,
<v Speaker 2>that's also really important because when plants are going from
<v Speaker 2>the very protected environment of your home, even if you
<v Speaker 2>put a fan on them like I do from my seedlings,
<v Speaker 2>even if you have light like I do for my seedlings,
<v Speaker 2>the difference between that very protected environment and the outdoors
<v Speaker 2>is substantial. So you really do want to introduce them
<v Speaker 2>to those conditions gradually, because plants make different types of
<v Speaker 2>chlorophyll based on the light that they are getting, So
<v Speaker 2>once they start getting outdoors with that full unobstructed sun,
<v Speaker 2>they're going to start making a different chlorophyll and they
<v Speaker 2>need to do that slowly. They can't just be like whoa,
<v Speaker 2>you know, shifting gears here. So I think it's very
<v Speaker 2>important to harden off. And I would do that simply
<v Speaker 2>by you know, trying to put them outside. Usually I'll
<v Speaker 2>start on a weekend because you know, I've got a job,
<v Speaker 2>and just put them out for like a few hours
<v Speaker 2>on Saturday morning, a few hours on Sunday morning, bring
<v Speaker 2>them in, and then you know, Monday, after I get
<v Speaker 2>home from work, put them out for a few more hours. Really,
<v Speaker 2>I don't think it tastes much more than a week,
<v Speaker 2>but you definitely do want to introduce them gradually. And
<v Speaker 2>as far as actually transplanting handling the plants, I've got
<v Speaker 2>one very crucial tip. It does not get said enough.
<v Speaker 2>Do not handle seedlings by this stem. If you break
<v Speaker 2>the stem, there goes your plants. Like you have no
<v Speaker 2>you no longer have that seedling. It's not going to
<v Speaker 2>rebranch or restart from the ground, So handle it from
<v Speaker 2>the foliage. It feels funny, you know, it feels a
<v Speaker 2>little bit strange to try to do this, But either
<v Speaker 2>handle it with like some sort of you know, butter
<v Speaker 2>knife or spoon or something that supports the whole plant.
<v Speaker 2>Do not, as tempting as it is, pick it up.
<v Speaker 2>That extremely delicates done because if you lose that, there
<v Speaker 2>goes your seedlings. So just a couple of quick, little tips,
<v Speaker 2>but very important tips that if you follow, you will
<v Speaker 2>be successful. And I know it's seed starting season, or
<v Speaker 2>at least almost so for us here in Michigan, So
<v Speaker 2>you keep that in mind if you are a transplanter
<v Speaker 2>of seed. We're going to take a little break when
<v Speaker 2>we come back. We are continuing our conversation on plans
<v Speaker 2>that we have killed in which you could have beck.
<v Speaker 2>So please stay tuned. 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 Simplified Show. Ben, there killed
<v Speaker 1>that want it back? I've got a great little story
<v Speaker 1>to share a moment with you. A number of years ago,
<v Speaker 1>in a community that I live in here in West
<v Speaker 1>mishis a landscaper inadvertently cut down a tree that he
<v Speaker 1>was not supposed to remove. Now, the reason he wasn't
<v Speaker 1>supposed to remove the tree was because it was a
<v Speaker 1>moon tree. On Apollo fourteen, Stuart Russo, one of the pilots,
<v Speaker 1>he was the command module pilot, had taken a bunch
<v Speaker 1>of seeds into space when he returned as part of
<v Speaker 1>the nineteen seventy six bi centennial. These seeds were dispersed
<v Speaker 1>to various communities and trees were planted. And this was
<v Speaker 1>a beautiful tree. They cut it down. Oh no, so
<v Speaker 1>I was involved with the community and the police department
<v Speaker 1>there to come up with a direct descendant from this tree,
<v Speaker 1>replant the tree and get it back. And to this day,
<v Speaker 1>as a matter of fact, we have a picture for
<v Speaker 1>our YouTube viewers of me by the tree. The tree
<v Speaker 1>was put in the ground and regrown with lots of
<v Speaker 1>circumstance and ceremony and that sort of thing. It's just
<v Speaker 1>a sycamore tree, but a great story how we got
<v Speaker 1>it back.
<v Speaker 2>Did you all have a big toast with.
<v Speaker 1>Tang, Yes, yes we did. It was a great party.
<v Speaker 1>I'll tell you what. It was fantastic. So you know
<v Speaker 1>that was an experience for me. But we mentioned it
<v Speaker 1>in the first segment Stacey, and that is along the
<v Speaker 1>lines of this topic. I guess a lot of people
<v Speaker 1>would relate to houseplants with Ben there killed that and
<v Speaker 1>would like it back that emotion. I think about Kaalathia's
<v Speaker 1>gardenias indoors but again a plant that loves humidity, ferns, diefenbakia,
<v Speaker 1>succulents indoors orchids, all of those types of plants. And
<v Speaker 1>then for me where I live, similar to you, Stacy,
<v Speaker 1>sandy soil here along the lake shore of Lake Michigan.
<v Speaker 1>So plants like a stillby, I keep going back for more,
<v Speaker 1>but I struggle with it. Ligularia like bottle rocket or
<v Speaker 1>tractor set, Jacob's ladder, Japanese iris or Siberian iris, ferns,
<v Speaker 1>and a plant that you have touted, Stacey, and I
<v Speaker 1>want it so bad, but I think I'm going to
<v Speaker 1>struggle with it. And that is a sugar shack button
<v Speaker 1>boo oh.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I tried that. Killed that. Yeah, but you know,
<v Speaker 2>again that was too little water. And very often, you know,
<v Speaker 2>you start looking into how a plant where it grows naturally.
<v Speaker 2>You know, button bush is a plant that grows directly
<v Speaker 2>into the banks of riversides and ponds and that kind
<v Speaker 2>of thing, so it very often has its actual feet
<v Speaker 2>in water. And once you learn that, then you can say, well, gee,
<v Speaker 2>you know, my garden definitely does not have that much water.
<v Speaker 2>But there are some plants that can adapt, you know,
<v Speaker 2>red twig dogwood is a great example, also grows along
<v Speaker 2>those river sides with its feet mostly in water. But
<v Speaker 2>it's a plant that, you know, once is established, is
<v Speaker 2>actually quite drop tolerant and very very durable. So it's
<v Speaker 2>not always a sure thing, you know, we try to
<v Speaker 2>you know, with our plant tags, and I speak for
<v Speaker 2>the entire horticulture industry when I say this, we try
<v Speaker 2>to give you the best information that we can. But yeah,
<v Speaker 2>I mean sometimes you know, our reality is different than
<v Speaker 2>our imaginations, and and we want to try something or
<v Speaker 2>think that you know, it will be okay, and it won't.
<v Speaker 2>You know. The perennial that I have basically had to
<v Speaker 2>give up on is hugra as well as all the
<v Speaker 2>ones that you just listed. Yeah, Oka Hugra is definitely
<v Speaker 2>like my hugra attempting days are over. I've done it
<v Speaker 2>long enough and it's just it's just not gonna happen
<v Speaker 2>my garden. It's just too darn dry. But interestingly, there
<v Speaker 2>are a number of ferns that I can grow quite successfully, okay,
<v Speaker 2>and another plant that I haven't killed, so not quite
<v Speaker 2>this exact storyline, but that I am surprised. And this
<v Speaker 2>is why it's always worth trying. If you love a
<v Speaker 2>plant is variegated Solomon seal. Oh. Yeah, that is a
<v Speaker 2>plant that has seems to you know, if you had
<v Speaker 2>just said, like, hey, do you think that you can
<v Speaker 2>grow this in your very dry garden, I would say
<v Speaker 2>probably not. But it just thrives and multiplies in my
<v Speaker 2>garden and is so so beautiful. You know, by the
<v Speaker 2>end of the summer, if it's been a very dry summer,
<v Speaker 2>it's definitely looking a little tired and brown. But that
<v Speaker 2>just means it goes dormant and you know, yeah, I've
<v Speaker 2>got nothing for the last of the season, but comes
<v Speaker 2>back next spring like it didn't miss a beat. So
<v Speaker 2>that's why it's always worth trying. You never know.
<v Speaker 1>So there's a good lesson to be learned here, in
<v Speaker 1>my opinion, and that is take a look at the
<v Speaker 1>root system of the plant, because it's going to tell
<v Speaker 1>you a lot. For example, I could take a day lily,
<v Speaker 1>dig it up, throw it on the ground, and come
<v Speaker 1>back a couple months later and plant it, and odds
<v Speaker 1>are it's going to grow. Whereas if you look at
<v Speaker 1>the example you mentioned earlier in the show and let's
<v Speaker 1>touch on it rhododendrons, the root system is small proportionately
<v Speaker 1>to the top of the plant, so you don't have
<v Speaker 1>a lot of margin for error if you mess up
<v Speaker 1>the foundation of the plant.
<v Speaker 2>That's true, and you know, I think that one thing
<v Speaker 2>that happens with people, the reason that they often kill
<v Speaker 2>rhododendrons is very similar to what I also said earlier
<v Speaker 2>in the show about ferns, which is that you know,
<v Speaker 2>when someone's purchasing it, all they see is that it's
<v Speaker 2>shade tolerant, low light tolerant, and they think, we'll shoot.
<v Speaker 2>I got some really low light in the north facing
<v Speaker 2>side of my house. This sounds like a perfect plant,
<v Speaker 2>But what you don't know necessarily is that road dedendrons
<v Speaker 2>absolutely need a moist, acidic, well drained soil. They cannot
<v Speaker 2>tolerate drought, and they can't tolerate wet soil either. Correct
<v Speaker 2>and there, yeah, there's plenty of situations where that already
<v Speaker 2>exists where rhododendrons absolutely thrive, or there are also opportunities
<v Speaker 2>to change your environment so that they do thrive. But
<v Speaker 2>you are the one who really needs to kind of
<v Speaker 2>make that decision. And if you find that a rhododendron
<v Speaker 2>did not do well for you in front of your
<v Speaker 2>house or whatever that situation was, well, then that kind
<v Speaker 2>of makes you start to gives you more information to
<v Speaker 2>a better decision for its replacement. You probably should not
<v Speaker 2>just replace it with another rhododendron.
<v Speaker 1>Very true, So we've learned a lesson. We're about to
<v Speaker 1>enter into hanging basket season, and the hanging baskets that
<v Speaker 1>are purchased in May, like for Mother's Day. You know,
<v Speaker 1>they've been carefully nurtured in a greenhouse. They're not root
<v Speaker 1>bound yet. But then you put that ten inch plastic
<v Speaker 1>basket out in the wind and the sun, and decline starts,
<v Speaker 1>and by the fourth of July, the thing is a
<v Speaker 1>distant memory. And so my whole point is I like
<v Speaker 1>to view those ten inch hanging baskets, those plastic baskets
<v Speaker 1>simply as a delivery container, simply to the like the
<v Speaker 1>bags that you get at the grocery store to move
<v Speaker 1>the product home or to be able to give those
<v Speaker 1>flowers to Mom on Mother's Day. But I'm big into
<v Speaker 1>upsizing hanging baskets, moving them into moss baskets, or if
<v Speaker 1>it's a ten inch basket, move it to a twelve
<v Speaker 1>inch container. Same thing in the landscape. I love using
<v Speaker 1>containers in the landscape because you create this almost micro climate,
<v Speaker 1>that is, even if the container is sunk into the landscape,
<v Speaker 1>a micro climate that's kind of separate of the existing conditions,
<v Speaker 1>whether it's dry soil, clay, soil, wet soil, whatever it
<v Speaker 1>may be. So again, I want to make that pointer
<v Speaker 1>on hanging baskets. Love hanging baskets, So many great plants
<v Speaker 1>to put in hanging baskets. I embrace it, but think
<v Speaker 1>about it because if you kill it, you're going to
<v Speaker 1>want it back and maybe you can give it better
<v Speaker 1>odds going into the summer season.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, that's so true. And the other thing you have
<v Speaker 2>to remember, and this is true with all plants that
<v Speaker 2>you're purchasing new. They're coming from an environment where it
<v Speaker 2>was literally someone's job to keep them moist, and that
<v Speaker 2>is no longer the case. For it is now your responsibility.
<v Speaker 2>You are not getting paid for it like the other
<v Speaker 2>person was prior to purchasing it. And so yeah, like
<v Speaker 2>it doesn't mean you need to keep up that same
<v Speaker 2>level of watering, but you definitely need to know that
<v Speaker 2>you're going to have to help with this transition, just
<v Speaker 2>like we were talking about with hardening off seedlings.
<v Speaker 1>Sure, and not only that, is there an individual to
<v Speaker 1>keep an eye on them, but they have an automatic
<v Speaker 1>irrigation system where it's simply dripping and feeding that plant
<v Speaker 1>as it grows and it is happy and it's content,
<v Speaker 1>and you can get.
<v Speaker 2>A drip system for your hanging basket. So if you
<v Speaker 2>are the kind of person who always buys your mom
<v Speaker 2>a hanging basket for Mother's Day, maybe consider mixing it
<v Speaker 2>up this year, helping her install a drip system for
<v Speaker 2>hanging baskets and giving her a future full of hanging
<v Speaker 2>baskets that she doesn't have to water. Because I've had
<v Speaker 2>a drip system before. Ultimate and luxury, I tell you
<v Speaker 2>better than a fancy watch.
<v Speaker 1>So along the lines a good point, say, I like
<v Speaker 1>that idea. So along the lines have been there, killed it,
<v Speaker 1>want it back. I'm on pins and needles. I know
<v Speaker 1>a number of our viewers and listeners are too, because
<v Speaker 1>we've talked about Peruvian lily or Alstromeria and this past
<v Speaker 1>year mine just gave incredible cut flowers throughout the summer
<v Speaker 1>into fall. It was gorgeous. Now I want it back,
<v Speaker 1>and it's supposed to come back, or at least be hearty,
<v Speaker 1>and I'm thinking, after this polar vortex, I'm questioning, so
<v Speaker 1>will I buy more? Absolutely, I'll buy more, but I'd
<v Speaker 1>like to see it come back.
<v Speaker 2>You know, I would like to see it come back
<v Speaker 2>to you. I'll be very interested to see what happens.
<v Speaker 2>But I would also say that is a great case
<v Speaker 2>for trying it again, because in this case, it was
<v Speaker 2>not that you didn't have the right conditions. It's that
<v Speaker 2>we had an exceptionally unusual winter for us here in
<v Speaker 2>West Michigan, as well as I know for much of
<v Speaker 2>the country. So that would be another situation because like
<v Speaker 2>we said, it's really those first two years that where
<v Speaker 2>a plant can fail. So if you had an unusual
<v Speaker 2>weather event that first season, you know, give it another
<v Speaker 2>try another year and see if you can get it established,
<v Speaker 2>because once it's established, all bets are off.
<v Speaker 1>Losing is not the opposite of winning exactly. It is
<v Speaker 1>a part of winning. So let's get out there and
<v Speaker 1>take some chances, folks. Thanks Stacey, Thanks Rick, Thanks Adriana,
<v Speaker 1>and thanks to you for watching us on YouTube, listening
<v Speaker 1>to our radio show, or downloading our podcast. Wherever you
<v Speaker 1>get your favorite podcasts, just look for the Gardening Simplified Show.
<v Speaker 1>Have a great week.