Watering Advice, a Game-Changing Spirea, Native Ferns, and the “Chelsea Chop”

Coming to you from Studio A here at Proven Winters color Choice Shrubs along the
beautiful lake shore of Lake Michigan. It's time for the Gardening Simplified Show.
It's Stacy Hervella me, Rick weisst and our engineer and producer Adriana Robinson Stacy
here in Michigan. It's dry right now, very dry, and in the
past year or so, we have seen well water restrictions for areas that aren't
necessarily familiar with water restrictions. I mean, I remember last summer in the
UK and they had water restrictions. They were they were dealing with some temperatures
that were over a hundred degrees just unusual. And we're starting to see some
of that dryness here and there also again this year. I mean dryness is
an understatement, I think for what we've had, I don't know if we've
had a drop of rain in a month. And I know we're not alone.
I know this is happening through a lot of the Midwest, parts of
the East Coast. There's forest fires. We can see it, you know,
in our air, no matter how far we are from Canada. I
mean, some things that I've read have said that this is the driest it's
been since the literal dust bowl. O boy, I tell you what.
And it makes it difficult. And you know, in the UK last summer
they recorded their highest ever temperature I think it was in July forty degrees celsius.
That's one hundred and four degrees fahrenheit. And so they had something they
called a hosepipe ban. I love that. How we call them garden hoses
and they call them hose pipes in England. But they engaged in a hosepipe
band which brings up a point if I could just rant for a moment,
and that is I don't have a lot of success with hoses and sprinklers.
Now. Of course, if you know, you get what you pay for.
If you buy one of those cheap plastic sprinklers that has two settings,
drip in monsoon, you're going to have a problem. And the hoses,
I don't care. I have bought hoses that are called hydrotechnics or flex ziller,
bionic steeler, no kink camel, and they just kink on me.
I So okay, I got that out of myself. Well, you know,
Rick, I think you are always welcome to rans about hoses. If
there is one universally hated piece of gardening equipment. I think all of us
could agree it would be the hose. First of all, it's necessity is
always irritating because it means a bunch more work, and they are always so
annoying to work with. They kink, they get stuck on something, you
drag them over a plant. They are a necessary evil. But you know
what I have that I invested a small amount in that makes a huge difference.
A metal hose reel. Oh, that is a game changer. So
not one of those cheap plastic kinds. It's a metal one with wheels,
and it really is a game changer because it's so much easier to keep it
neat. It doesn't end up getting kinked and staying kinked. And I have
hated hoses a lot less since I got my host cart. Well, I
like that, And I'll tell you what. Send us your notes and your
comments. I'm sure we're going to get comments. Hey, Rick, I
found the perfect hose and here it is, so send it to us.
Go to our website, Gardening Simplified OnAir dot com. I in turn,
will post a story of the guy who invented this and started everything. His
name is Jan actually Yan, I think is how they would pronounce it in
the Netherlands. Vanderhyden. He invented the hose way back in the seventeenth century.
So read that story. It's kind of interesting. Yeah, Now as
it relates to hot, dry weather and watering, first of all, mulching
makes a difference. It makes a big difference. And we're also going to
share a story at our website again. Gardening simplified OnAir dot Com from Bartlett
Tree Research Laboratory in Charlotte, North Carolina. I've been there. How they
do some great work there and they essentially looked at areas that were bear soil
compared to mulch soil and the variation in temperature between daytime and nighttime, huge
fluctuation stacy. Putting some mulch on the soil really helps take some of the
stress out for plants. It's hugely helpful. And most importantly, whether it
rains or you water, it really helps to conserve any water the plants get,
and the hotter it gets, the more important that is. So between
the temperature and the water conservation. Never Mind that using an organic multure one
made about material that will decompose like shredded bark or pine straw, that those
will build the soil. I mean, mulch is a win all the way
around as far as I'm concerned. Yeah, I just don't discount what it
can do to help with this issue. Now here's a tip from me that
I often have shared with people as far as watering is concerned. They struggle
with how much do I water like they'll make a well. I have an
irrigation system, and my argument is, well, your irrigation system is for
your lawn, but not necessarily for trees or shrubs where they need a deep
watering. I always recommend people go into their yard with shovel and in two
or three places just dig a hole. Then go get a garden hose and
fill that hole with water, and now just stand and watch what happens.
Does it drain away quickly? Does it not drain? You know, that's
a good test anytime you're planting to kind of get a feel for what the
soils like and its ability to retain moisture. That's a great idea. And
you know, similarly, I have a tip that I've given to people,
particularly those that have an irrigation system and they say, hey, you know,
my irrigation system runs every morning for an hour, but this thing is
still wilting. You know, get like a bowl or a Pyrex measuring cup
or something and put it by this plant that is not doing well and let
your sprinkler run and then check what's in it, because you don't always necessarily
know that just because your system is running, it's equally applying water to everything.
You know, sometimes something that's in front of another plant can take all
that water or it's just not getting where it needs to be. And a
lot of people will say, okay, well find maybe I find out find
out that I'm not watering it. But then what do you do? Well?
Most sprinklerheads can be adjusted, you can adjust the angle, you can
adjust your program. There's lots of options that you can do, but you
do need to actually go out there and see what's happening. Get your hands
dirty as it were. Yeah, I like that idea. Coffee cans would
work. To still have coffee cans. Pardon people still have coffee plastic one?
Oh okay, yeah, plastic ones, although if they're plastic or you
use the infamous cool whip, Yes, make sure they're weighted, because yeah,
they do tend to they tend to blow away. Group plants according to
like needs. In other words, plants that need the same kind of environment
when we're planting. That helps make a difference too. It's going to make
it easier for you. And you know, I don't know, maybe it's
just me being a little too literal about my gardening, but I also find
that they just feel more natural group together. You know, if I were
to try to PLoP a fern down into the middle of my you know,
sunny native plant garden, it would just look weird exactly. Would it make
a maintenance issue? It would look weird, But it's a good reminder to
do that. Those pistol grip nozzles that you put on the end of a
hose, I'm sorry. They're for washing cars. They're not meant for plants.
They're meant for washing cars. So again, a good deep trickle soaking
is going to make a big, big difference. I get that question a
lot, Stacy. You know, how do I water? Do I water
light frequent or deep infrequent? And in summer, maybe light frequent would be
good for your lawn, but it's not good for landscape plants. Again,
you're better off with a good deep trickle soaking now and then to really get
into that ripple. Yeah, make sure it goes nice and deep, and
it saves your time. Rather than every single day going out there for an
hour or two, you know, just spend the time and once a week
or twice a week use the sprinkler. A great use for the sprinkler,
you know, it's a real game changer that I think as especially if you've
ever worked in a garden center or at a botanical garden, a watering wand
becomes second nature to you. And that's a tool that a lot of homeowners
and gardeners don't have. They are relying on different spraying hazzles that they find
at the hardware store. And I'll tell you, a watering wand another huge
game changer. It extends your reach. It's just so much easier to hold
and work with. And if you have hanging baskets, of course it's a
must have. But I would encourage everybody to invest in at least a decent
watering one. I mean, I got mine at a discount store and it's
been holding up and it works well and I'm really grateful for it. But
game changer, A game changer. There we go again, a game changer.
Here's another game changer for you. And you're not gonna want to hear
this, but I'm gonna say it anyhow, And that is put on a
pair of sunglasses and a hat, some suntan lotion, but get out there
yourself and stay on top of the weeds. The weeds just naturally can handle
stress. But those weeds are going to be sucking moisture out of the soil
that your favorite plants need. Well. You know, I have a gardening
confession. I would rather weed than water. You would, yes, anytime,
any day. I Watering is my least favorite garden chore. I do
not enjoy it. I enjoy the effects of it, but I don't enjoy
doing it. I would always rather pull weeds than water. Fortunately, my
husband enjoys watering, so it's a good match. Yeah. I would think
there's a lot of people who enjoy watering. You know, when you're driving
home from work at night, you see these people in a lawn chair out
on the front yard with one of those pistol grip nozzles, just kind of
getting everything wet, which is not a good idea. And by the way,
watering mid day too is well, it's okay, but it's not efficient.
The sun and the wind can evaporate a lot of the effectiveness. There's
really something to be said for early morning water. Yeah. I mean,
sometimes you have to do what you have to do, but if you can
at all, morning is best. But evening is okay, particularly if it's
as warm as it is now, and any water sitting around on the plants
will usually evaporate off, reducing any threat of disease or anything like that.
Well, hopefully we've inspired you to wet your plants. And I'll tell you
what, I gotta go out and invest in a good sprinkler because those dripping
monsoon sprinklers, I'm just done with it. You get what you pay for,
and the hoses. I agree. I think I'll get one of those
metal roll up things. You're right, a game changer, Stacy, because
I'm done with tripping on my own hole. I love money, all right.
Coming up next, plants on trial here on the gardening Simplified Schill prooven
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 in the distinctive
white container at your local garden center. Creatings Gardening Friends, and welcome back
to the Gardening Simplified Show. You know, in the last segment, we
were talking about water, and I'm going to give away to our listeners a
big tip. This might come back to shoot me in the foot, but
I'm going to share it anyway. So you were talking about sprinklers, and
you know new sprinklers. They're cheap quality, but they're not cheap to buy.
They're espencive. I can't believe when I look at the stores how much
those sprinklers cost. Estate sales. If you go to an estate sale,
you can get some really good, old fashion all metal sprinklers for like two
dollars five dollars maybe tops, and that is the best way for you to
get to avoid the dripper monsoon get a quality sprinkler for very little money.
So given away a big secret here. But I feel confident in the sprinklers
I've gotten from estate sales. I think I have what I need, so
I don't think I'm competing with any of you for it. I like that
idea, you know, like I say, it's just a frustration thing.
I I'm the type of guy who will fire up the sprinkler and then I
want to adjust it. So I go over there and adjust it, and
then, trying not to get wet, I run and trip tangle up in
the sprinkler. You know, it's just a mess entertains the neighbors. But
I'm not having it. Yeah, well, there's no way you can adjust
the sprinkler without getting wet. So okay, so this doesn't is going to
save you that. But if it's as hot as try as it has been
around here lately, getting wet when you adjusted the sprinkler isn't such a bad
thing. So it's time for Plants on Trial, where we tell you about
one of the three hundred and twenty proven winners Color Choice shrubs and you decide
if it's going to earn a place in your garden. And you know,
when I am picking a plant on trial, it's hard because I like all
of our plants a lot, and I find myself in this mentality where I
want to save the really good plants, my really favorite plants for what I
don't know, I mean, I don't know what I'm saving them for.
Gardening season is now um, and so I wanted to pick one that um
was really versatile in watering because watering, of course, is so important and
all new shrubs, anything, new shrubs, perennials, trees that you've planted
this year is going to need a lot of water. So even if it
says it's throughout tolerant down the line, that's true, but you know,
especially as it's getting established, you're gonna need it. But one of the
plants good it's most forgiving about watering is spiria. People love spiria. They're
they're very easy to find. They're very easy to grow, and maybe too
easy to grow because some people find them a little oh hum ya is and
for people keeping score at home. So Spiria spi r ea. And this
is a plant that probably is as old as dirt. I mean it's been
around for a long time. Oh yeah, right, And huge diversity of
Spirea is out there in the world. Um. But the ones that we
grow in our gardens tend to be Japanese spiria, the little mounded ones with
like a nice, pretty colorful foliage, pink flowers, and they just you
know, people find those little tofty plants irresistible, and Spirea is sort of
an ultimate toufty plant. And you know there are good workaday plants in the
landscape, but he kind of leaves people saying what else is there? And
what else there is in the spirea world? Is double play doozy Spirea.
And this plant is just plain impressive. Have you grown this one yet?
Well? Yes, and you sold me on it, oh, Stacy,
Because I mean when I think spiria sometimes I think kind of rangy and invasive,
and these plants are the furthest thing from that they are. So what
the most important thing you need to know about double play doozy spiria is it
is not just reblooming, It is continuous blooming. I have rarely seen a
plant that is such a flower powerhouse. So Spirea start to bloom. Now
these Japanese types yea again, nice neat little mound as a double play Spirehea.
The double play is that it's foliage in spring emerges a really really beautiful
red color. And then the second part of the play is the flowers.
So that's what double play means, and so when it starts to flower,
now it's kind of got like a deep red pink flower and they're just covered.
So there are these nice mounds about two to three feet tall and wide,
just absolutely covered in these beautiful red pink flowers. And as they wind
down alongside the rest of the spirea is that invariably wind down after their bloom
period, this one just keeps going. New flowers come up right alongside the
first batch, and they keep flowering all summer long. It's truly amazing.
And you know, here in Michigan, even in our average summer, I
have not seen heat really slow down that reblooming at all. They really continue
to flower. So if your demand from a landscape plant is something that is
just full of flowers, I really don't know that you can do much better
than double play doozy spyria. Yeah, no deadheading necessary. Now, Stacy,
I would ask you the question, does this have something to do with
the whole seed thing? Does the plant produce seed or it doesn't produce seed
and that's why it keeps blooming. I mean, what's the deal. That's
a great question. So it does not produce seed, and so you know,
when we're talking about annuals. That's a common thing to make sure that
an annual will bloom continuously is if it does not set seed. Now,
the plant, of course doesn't think anything, but for the sake of this
example, the plant thinks, will shoot, I didn't reproduce, I better
make another flower. Maybe this time I'm going to set some seed. Oh
shoot, I didn't set any seed. Better make another flower, and so
on and so forth. And that's exactly what's happening with double play doozy.
So it does not set seed. And now a lot of people who grow
spyria and like it may not realize that in some areas some of the older
types of Japanese spyria are becoming invasive. They are actually spreading out to the
wild, which can be confusing because we do have a number of natives spiria
that you might legitimately find in the wild. A lot of people don't realize
that we have so many native spirias in the US and Canada, and so
yeah, that sterility, that inability to set seed, is what keeps it
blooming. It just keeps trying to set seed and it just doesn't because it's
chromosomes don't match up and as a result you get NonStop flowering. So double
play Doozy Spiria. The double play would be based on the fact that it
continues to bloom. Has no connection to baseball. In no no connection,
say hello, wood is kind of like rounded, maybe not quite baseball rounded,
but good. You know it hits all the bases or I don't have
a baseball fun handy double play. Doozy is one of our truly innovative plants
that comes to us from doctor Tom Rainey at North Carolina State University. We've
talked about him a number of times on the show because he really is such
an innovative breeder and he really uses his talents and knowledge to develop plants like
this that truly outperform anything else. And so I can't recommend any plant from
him. You can't go wrong with now when it comes to growing spyria.
Another reason people like it so well is because it's quite tolerant of shade.
Now deep shade, I would not recommend part shade's not a problem. If
it's in too much shade, it's going to live. I feel like I
say this every week, But it's in too much shade, it's going to
live, but you're just not going to get those flowers. You're not going
to get that nice spring, colorful foliage that comes out. So try to
keep it with at least four hours of bright light every day, or filtered
sunlight throughout the day, like through a high canopy tree or something like that.
That's going to give you the best blooming and the nicest habit. But
when it comes to watering, it is quite versatile. Again, if it's
new this year, if you're just planting Double Play Doozy or any shrub,
you're going to want to make sure that it's watered. It should not be
allowed to dry out completely during its entire first season, and you'll see it
on the foliage if you're not giving it enough water. Yeah, it'll become
evident quickly, it will, but it is once it's established, it will
definitely tolerate some periods of dryness. Now, of course, if you let
it go to an extreme, it's one of those things where it will live,
but it's not going to perform. So that's up to you to say
how much you're going to support that plant, to say, you know,
I want it to look like this, so I am going to have to
meet its needs in these extreme conditions, you know, like we are having
now, Like most reblooming plants, it is going to benefit from some fertilizer.
So I'm not usually the kind of person who says, oh, you
always got to go around and fertilize your perennials and shrubs. But when you
have a reblooming plant, giving it that extra energy, whether it's a rebooming
lilac or rebooming hydrangea, whatever it is, that will go a long way
towards helping it produce more of those flowers. So I would say, you
know, apply something like a Spoma rose tone. That's my standard go to
fertilizer recommendation for flowering shrubs, you know, once a month from spring until
July, and you will get out standing results with that. Now, I
had an experience variance this year, Stacy, where in the evening hours,
the deer came along and right near my double play Doozy. They munched on
the verbina, but they left the double Play Doozy Spyria alone. Was I
lucky? Interesting. I'm kind of surprised that you're for being a frank.
I know, so was I. I was not happy about it. It's
like the buck stops here. I'm not happy you stop there to eat.
Yeah. Anyway, So in general, yes, Spiria is deer resistant,
but you know it, like we were talking about with viburnums a few weeks
ago, you always have to be careful when it comes to deer because what
they are going to like the most is the flowers. So they're not really
destroying your plant, but they might go after your flowers. Now, I
have not tried double play doozy in my intensely dear ridden yard, but generally
they are quite dear resist. Now, I have sometimes had problems with rabbits
eating the flowers. So you know, a little bit of repellent, especially
early in the season, will probably go a long way. But I think
especially once your plant is established, starting to get you know, woodier,
more fibrous, you're not really going to have to worry about damage from the
macrofauna that visit your yard. And Stacy with Spirea, I found that it's
a plant in general that does respond pretty well to pruning. For those people
out there who do like to prune, yes, and it's you. If
it's not mounded enough for you, you can absolutely go out there and make
it even moundier and a lot of you. It is a very amenable plant
to pruning. So that's just a little taste of one of my absolute favorites
and one of our most innovative flowering shrubs, double Play Doozy Spyria. You
can see the pictures at Gardening Simplified OnAir dot com. Learn more about it,
and ask for it at your local garden center because you know what,
now is a great time to go shopping for something like spiria, because it's
going to be in bloom, it's going to look irresistible, and the garden
centers need your support. So June is such a great one. It's still
a great one for ing as long as you're going to be a round to
water. We're gonna take a little break. When we come back, we're
going to be opening up the garden mailbag to answer your questions, So please
stay tuned at proven Winner's Color Choice, We've got a shrub for every taste
and every space. Whether you're looking for an easycare 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 Is Simplified Show. It's the time of the show where we open
up the mailbag. It's one of the ways that we simplify gardening for you
by answering your garden questions. And if you have a garden question for us,
please don't hesitate to reach out. We'd love to hear from you.
You can email us at help HLP at Gardening Simplified OnAir dot com, or
just visit Gardening Simplified OnAir dot com and use the contact form. Before we
get to the first question, and I did want to briefly talk about the
name of double Play Doozy spy Rhea. Okay, do you know where the
word doozy comes from? Doozy No idea. It comes from the Dusenburg car.
Yes, that was like there, sort of I did not. Yeah,
that was their tagline. It's a doozy because Dusenberg's remain to this day
absolutely fabulously amazing cars. I mean, oh my gosh, if I were
a billionaire, I would own a Dusenberg. They are just gorgeous, fabulous
cars. And you can actually go to the aubern Court Dusenburg Museum in Indiana
and see some for yourself, and you too will say, wow, that's
a doozy. That's a doozy. I'm putting it on my bucket list here.
Please do anyway, what do we got in the mailbag? All right,
So Tony writes to us this week, I'm looking for a native Michigan
fern for the south side of the house where we have removed decking. There's
shade until afternoon, and it gets about three hours of late afternoon sun.
It's sandy and well drained. What do you suggest? Thank you and thanks
for your question. Tony appreciate that. So, Rick, are you a
fern guy? Yeah? I like ferns. Like ferns, Okay, I
love ferns. The problem is I have no place to put first. My
garden is so dry, is pure sand. I have a little bit of
shade, but as is often the case, I pretend that I can grow
ferns. And I'm particularly am fond of native ferns. And I think my
situation is similar to Tony's in that the soil sandy and well drained. I
don't I do have less sun, and I have found that these species of
native ferns actually do very well for me with little supplemental water. So Dryopterus
often known as wood fern, So we have a couple native species of Dryopterus
to Michigan. So if you're really you want to be specific to just Michigan
natives, that is a great place to start. Like I said, they
usually have some sort of wood fern in the name. Now, the variety
of the species that I grow is Dryptrius astrallis, which is a naturally occurring
hybrid of two different Dryopterus species, and if it had sufficient water and sufficient
shade, it would reach to be about six feet tall. So it's a
little bit more durable and a different look than the ostrich fern, which can
also get very large. So that's not native to Michigan, but that is
a beautiful ornamental choice that you should be able to find. But wood ferns
I found are very very drought tolerant Christmas ferns, Christmas fern, absolutely i'd
recommend that, and I was going to mention also the ostrich fern. However,
you know in nature often you'll see these ferns kind of in dry wooded
areas. But with something like ostrich fern, I think you're right, Stacy.
You're gonna want more of a wet woodland type of effect to be successful.
And what will happen if something like an ostrich fern doesn't get enough water
is it'll just go prematurely dorman exactly. It won't die, but it will
go dormant very early, and then you won't have that beautiful, magical,
lush fern woodland look that you want. And where's the fun in that?
So Christmas fern is a small fern, so I wasn't sure if Tony was
looking for things that are sort of smaller scale or something really, you know,
large and showy, like an ostrich fern or Dryopterus Christmas fern. I
love it's evergreen. They are jur tolerant once they get established, but I
am finding out that getting them established does take quite a bit of water,
So a little caveat for you there. Another one is a thyreum or lady
fern. Now, most of the etheryreums that you're going to find in garden
centers are ornamental Japanese types, so they're not native. We do have native
Etherioreum also known as lady ferns, So if you want to be real specific
about that, make sure you're looking for those species. But otherwise I find
that those are pretty amazingly tolerant of my sunny and dry conditions as well.
That's excellent, you know. I just look this up Christmas fern. It's
evergreen leaves have been commonly used in Christmas decorations, and each individual leaflet that
makes up the frond is shaped like a tiny green Christmas stocking, and that's
why they call it Christmas fern. I thought they called the Christmas fern because
it was evergreen, but that's a great reason. So we're going to put
some links and put all of that information on the show notes at Gardenery Simplified
on air dot com for Tony or anyone else who is looking for some fabulous
ferns for their garden. And Tony here on the Gardening Simplified Show, you're
among fronds. So keep those questions coming. Mary's wondering, can you tell
me a way or ways to prevent powdery mildew on paeonies? Every year when
I deadhead faded blossoms is around the same time I start seeing it at the
base of the plants. I started using paeony rings, which helps some,
but it still shows up. And you know, I think Mary makes an
important point there, and that is she observed that it starts at the base
of the plants. Well, that's probably where you're getting a fair amount of
moisture and may be not as much sunlight to those. Yeah, you know.
I my answer to Mary is that I don't know if it's possible for
a herbaseous pony to get through a season without powdery I mean, without applying
somebody. I don't think it's possible, and I don't think that people should
take that as a reason to be defeated. I think you just have to
kind of accept it as part of the territory. And sometimes that's the case.
You know, plants can certainly live with powdery mildew. It's a bit
unsightly, and of course if it's extreme, it can be quite unsightly.
Sure, but you know, I think if you were to go around and
look at peonies all around your neighborhood, you're going to find that they just
get powdery mildew by by the time that they're done, and that, you
know, I personally think that they're fabulous flowers more than make up for that,
you know, little liability. I don't know do you have any that's
true, although you know, again with peonies, trying to water at the
base when you can, as opposed to over the top, or if you're
watering in evening, that can create problems. I think Mary makes a good
point too, though she made the attempt with pone rings, and pony rings
are good because you want good spacing between plants, you want air circulation.
You don't want them flopping down on the ground. And what I find also
with some folks, Stacy, is that they had great intentions at the time
the pony was planted, but since then things have kind of shaded over.
So just make sure that and I don't know if that's the case for Mary
here, but just make sure that they're getting plenty of Yeah, full sun
ponies are absolutely full sun plants. They want at least six hours of bright
sun every day. But everything that you said, Rick is absolutely correct.
There are a number of things that you can do to reduce powdery mildew,
but I think even if you do all of that, you just can't have
the attitude that it's your fault or you're doing something wrong. If ponies get
some powdery, it's really just what they do. And absolutely I think pioneer
rings are very helpful sun avoiding, watering, and then the le best tip
is that when they go dormant in the winter in the fall, make sure
that you're removing all of that foliage. So clean up all of the foliage
that dies back, because what happens with powdery mildew is the spores will just
you know, rest on that foliage and usually they're right under the plant.
And then the following spring, you know, that foliage starts to emerge.
It's super tender, it doesn't have that protective cuticle yet to prevent it from
you know, taking on those spores. Those spores land on there and it
just repeats the cycle. So sanitation removing all that old foliage will also help.
But again, Mary, even if you do all of this, don't
beat yourself up if the pne's still get a little bit white. I was
thinking, hey, maybe you could just like plant some artemisia or something silvery
around it and act like you meant to do that draw the attention. There
you go, Good luck, Mary, and Kelly writes to us. Now,
speaking of clean up, this may be a good idea for Kelly's issue
here. Also, Kelly writes that for many years I've had so many with
spotted cucumber beetles on my dahlias and roses. Yes, that can become very
cucumbersome. I also have a huge thrip and afid population on my roses.
Can you help let me know what's the best action to help with this.
I use a lot of these flowers for flower arranging. How can I get
this problem under control? All right? I don't know if Kelly would appreciate
your joke there about them being cucumberus because or cucumbersome because they are. They're
a terrible pest, they are. You know, I was, I was
looking at some extension websites today to find some advice to give to Kelly,
and everyone's just like, sorry, they're one of the worst pests out there,
cucumber beetles. But you know we're not going to leave you empty handed.
Here, So a couple of bits of advice for you, and I'll
put this all in the show notes, along with some helpful links to more
in depth information about their life cycle. So, first of all, control
weeds and ask your neighbors to do the same. Weeds will provide excellent host
material for them to shelter in. So you don't want any weedy, you
know, areas if you can help that, if you are not growing,
if you are growing any kind of cucumbers or anything like that in your garden,
stop Cucumber beetles don't only pray on members of the cucumber family, but
they are their favorite things. So it could be that if you're growing cucumbers,
they're coming in eating the cucumbers and then they're like, oh, what's
that over there? That dalia looks pretty yum yum yum. Roses, Oh
I like that too, and so you're just kind of, you know,
giving them more reasons to stay around. So if you avoid growing their main
attraction, the cucumber plants, it could help. I'm not saying it well,
I'm just saying it's one step. Yeah. I think if if I
was struggling with that on my dalias and roses and I wanted to grow cucumbers,
I would go with the floating row covers, especially when the pressure's on,
that would be a good way at least to deter them, right and
mulch helps because they lay their eggs and cracks in the soils, so mulching
will also help to reduce their egg laying sites. And then there are a
number of biological controls, so different predatory insects, nematodes, things like that
that you can actually apply that will prey on the spotted cucumber beetles or the
striped cucumber beetles, depending on which when you have both the same treatment.
So it's way too much to get into, but I'm going to give you
all the resources in our show notes at Gardening Simplified OnAir dot com. We
think everyone who wrote in, and we invite you to write us with your
gardening issues as well. Just visit Gardening Simplified OnAir dot com for all the
details. We're going to take a little break in when we come back,
we've got branching news you won't want to miss that. 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 and
away 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 and Stacy Today and Branching News.
I'm going to start things off with a comment that was made by one of
our viewers on YouTube. We thank all those folks who watch on YouTube,
who listen on radio or download the podcast, and in this case we had
someone who watches on YouTube who brought up the subject of the Chelsea chop.
Oh, yes, Chelsea chop. Now I thinks your plants like it's their
birthday, and some people are like, what does that mean? Now,
I don't think in all parts of the country, or at least around the
world, not everybody does this pinch to grow an inch thing. But now
I think they mostly only view that to kids R right to but a pinch
to grow an inch. I had heard a sock to grow a block,
a punch to grow a punch, and a pinch to grow an inch.
So I guess they do the bumps or the dumps in Scotland and in the
UK, maybe even in Canada. We'll find out as people will will comment,
but they'll bump them for their birthday. They use the metric system,
so they can't say pinch to grow an inch. Yeah, there you go.
That explains it. It says here. In French speaking Canada, the
US, and Australia, birthday punches are given in similar fashion, so you
get punched for the number of times that equal equal your age. And then
in Brazil, Hungary, Argentina, Italy other countries, the person has his
or her ear lobes pulled, so the tradition is to pull on the ear
lobes and say a rhymes live so long so your ears reach your ankles or
something like that. So there you have it, a pinch to grow an
inch? You did. No birthdays could be abusive. Point. Yeah,
I know. I'm glad my birthday isn't for a few months. Here.
The point here is this individual brought up the Chelsea chop and we had said
that at some point we would talk about pinching and pinching your plants. But
the Chelsea chop really is not pinching. What the Chelsea chop is and we're
gonna put the link on the website, but it's essentially well, let's say,
first of all, it's tied into the Chelsea Flower Show in England which
takes place the end of May, so it's a timing thing. And at
that time, the recommendation is to take some of these perennials that tend to
grow a little long, a little tall, maybe flop over late in the
season, to chop them back at that point to reduce their size four to
six weeks before blooming so that they can still bloom. And we're talking about
plants like upright seedoms, Helianthus, joe pye weed, flocks, Heliopsis minarda,
Shasta daisies, those types of plants. Give them the chelsea chop.
Yep, I've had the deer give my plants a chelsea chop before. Yeah,
same here, same here, But you know it does work. Some
of the upright seedoms, if they haven't been divided in sometime by August September,
they start to flop over. And if if you give them that chelsea
chop and cut them back in late May early June, they're still gonna bloom.
They're gonna still set buds and bloom, but the plant will be a
lot shorter and squatty. And so we're gonna give you information on how to
do that. There's two links that we're gonna put at the website at Gardening
Simplified OnAir dot com, so that you two can consider doing the Chelsea chop.
You know, another advantage to it that a lot of people don't consider
is that it can delay your bloom time. And so you can end up
by deciding what you chelsea chop and don't having things bloom together that wouldn't normally
bloom together and creating some really interesting and unique displays. That's a great point.
And you know what you're doing at the time. When you cut back
these plants, you're again not pinching them like we do on birthdays, but
rather you're chopping them like a half one third halfway back. Yeah, it's
a chop. It's not a pinch. There you go. A chop,
not a pinch, all right. A Washington State University led study revealed plants
can sense when something touches them and when it is let go. So Washington
State University said in the journal Nature Plants that they see many complex responses depending
on the force and duration of touch On plants. The difference between the touch
and the removal was clear, so when researchers applied thirty seconds of touch to
a plant cell. They saw all sorts of waves of calcium ions and other
things happening within this plant, the reaction lasting around three to five minutes,
and we're going to put the link on the website. Also, I thought
that that was very very interesting that plants would react to touch. Yeah,
and that's quite a long time to be reacting. I touch my plants a
lot. I wonder if I'm like stressing them out and they got to use
all this energy to recover from me going oh, this is so beautiful,
or if it's the plant's birthday and you pinch it, yikes, tell you
what. Anyhow, I found that to be very very interesting. So again,
that story's going to Gardening Simplified OnAir dot com and check out the link.
It may be some fun reading for you. And then finally, a
study published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition looked at data collected from
over one hundred and forty six thousand American adults over the age of sixty five.
Now, the minute I saw that heading, I thought, oh,
this articles for me. This is excellent, So I'm going to pay attention
here. The participants were broken down into three groups. Gardeners, older adults
who garden, exercisers, ones who engage in other physical activities other than gardening,
and non exercises. Non exercisers those who tend to just sit on the
sofa. The gardeners reported spending more time staying physically active compared to exercisers,
and they were able to meet the recommended one hundred and fifty minutes of aerobic
activity per week with just gardening alone. And so actually this report and it's
quite interesting, but the report basically again talks about the fact that this exercise
that is given to us by being gardeners, going out there and pinching our
plants, by going out there and weeding or chasing those cucumber beetles, are
going to help us live longer and make us healthy. I always love stories
late. Yeah, you know, it's a really interesting study because I feel
like, you know, if you exercise, or like I'm going to the
gym for an hour, I'm going for a five mile run, so you're
doing these like very set focused tasks, or if you go out to garden,
you're like, well, first I'm gonna you know, weed this bed,
and then I'm going to do X, Y and Z, and then
next thing you know, it's six hours later and you've been working, and
you know you don't you don't necessarily have that hard stuff or like that that
single goal, because it's it's an ongoing process and there's always something else to
do. So if you're you know, the weather's good, you're having a
great time, you just keep working. I think there's just so much truth
to that. I also want to mention here in Branching News that we get
a lot of ideas from you, and we'd like to hear from you again,
Stacy. I love it when folks will on us pictures and of course
you can send us your questions and will address them on the show. But
I'm looking for ideas. And in case you missed the first segment, I
have not been able to find a sprinkler or a hose that actually works.
So if you have an idea, send us a note a picture at Gardening
Simplified on air dot Com. I was going to say ricks recommendations, but
it's like Rick's recommendation requests exactly exactly. And of course in our first segment
we talked about drought many areas. It's very, very dry. I wanted
to quickly address this in Branching News, and that is to ask you,
Stacy, if you have a couple of favorites, four drought favorite plants,
because for me, again, I you know me, I love ornamental grasses,
and I have found those things to be so tough when the weather gets
hot and dry. Yeah, they are. I have a lot of ornamental
grasses. Baptisia. You know, my Baptisia is blooming right now out.
It looks absolutely gorgeous. It is on the downswing. The plant itself is
extremely drought taller, and its roots grow very deeply. But I have found
that this year, with it being so dry and not giving it supplemental water,
the blooms did seem to fade a bit more quickly, but still the
plants alive. I'm not worried about it, you know, contributing for the
long term. Another plant that does really well for me despite extreme drought is
I've talked about it before is Sylphium porfoliate um, or the cut plant.
So big giant native perennial gets to be around, you know, eight to
ten feet tall yellow flowers attracts a ton of pollinators and I have a couple
of huge clumps of that that even now where a lot of my plants are
like please water, it's just like ma, I'm good, yea well for
me. And of course Proven Winners has some wonderful seedoms that you can consider
purchasing. Also, it's not like the seedoms that your grandma grew today.
These are low mounded, gorgeous seedoms. Just go to Proven Winners, type
in the word seedom seedu m and you'll see the great series of seedoms that
are just care free and again can stand up to drone. Yeah, I
have a huge seedom collection, a beautiful mix of different seatoms and ice plants,
and that garden is not mining the weather whatsoever right now exactly. We
want to thank you for joining us, for watching us on YouTube, downloading
the podcast and listening on radio. We want to thank Adriana Robinson for all
her work. She does such a fabulous job, keeps us on the air
here talking to you, and we want to thank you of course also for
your participation. Keep those questions and comments coming there. He goes Stacy and
Stacy, thank you. It's a privilege and pleasure to do the show.
Thanks Rick. Likewise,