July 5, 2025 • 44 mins
Succulents have been gaining popularity in recent years, for understandable reasons! They are versatile, colorful, and unique. Join us as we talk about how to be successful with succulents and deep dive into hardy succulents. Featured shrub: Chicklet Gold Tecoma.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Broadcasting from Studio A here at proven winners, color choy shrubs.
It's time for the Gardening Simplified Show with Stacy, Hervella me,
Rick weisst and our engineer and producer Adrianna Robinson Stacy
Today a show about succulents. Instead of a dictionary definition
of the word succulent and its varied interpretations, how about
(00:25):
a plant based definition in the form of a limb
a rik right off the bat. I like it today,
A succulent conversation in keeping with our cool plants fixation,
fleshy tissues, conserve moisture content when watering is infrequent, natural
(00:46):
genius H two zero conservation. I think that sums it up. Yeah,
that does Yeah, thank you. In the heat of summer,
I want to focus on succulents that we can enjoy outdoors,
not the you know, a rock garden approach, not the
houseplant version of succulents. But for context, I almost feel like,
(01:09):
at least for me, I got to start there because
of what happened in the past decade, the appetite for
sculptural succulent plants over the last ten years or so.
I'm going to say for me, in the garden center
industry twenty thirteen through twenty twenty two. The appetite was unreal.
(01:33):
It was crazy. Everything from jade plants to calan Coe's
and Etchavaria's, Howarthia's, you name it. They were filling store
shelves and stacy In many cases and I cringe with this.
Many were painted or had glitter on them.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Yes, that was definitely a thing, as if the plants
aren't lovely enough as it is, they had to literally
gild the lily as it were. But yeah, you know,
I have said it on the show before, and I
feel like it's worth mentioning again that when I was
in horticulture school and I was interviewing for internships, I
was at my dream internship interview as the internship I
(02:12):
wanted more than anything else. And you know, they kind
of are asking me like, okay, well, like what's your
career goals? And I said, I want to bring about
a houseplant revolution like there was in the nineteen seventies.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
Oh wow.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
And the two people who ran the garden, who I
had immense respect for, literally laughed at me and they
said it's never going to happen. Oh my word, And
I am Yes, clearly still bitter to this day, but
less so at them and more so at myself, because
I was like, oh, well, if these two people that
I really respect tell me this, then I guess it
(02:47):
must be true. And I should have just dismissed them
out of hand because I was younger and certainly knew
that better things were coming. And you know, the reason
that I wanted to do that was because I was
personally obsessed with succulence in my early twenties. Like my
house was full of them, Like I mean, I still
have a number of them, even though I don't have
really good light in my house for house plants. But
(03:08):
I love them. I love how sculptural they are. But
now my passion for succulentce is transferred outside, and I
have three different succulent gardens outside.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
I love that. That's fantastic. Can I agree with you?
I much more enjoy them outdoors than indoors. People make
a lot of mistakes indoors with succulents. As a matter
of fact, the public was sold on the fact that
you can't kill succulents. How many times I heard that?
And you can definitely kill them, of course indoors. We
(03:41):
have a tendency to overwater them. But I remember that
rage from the nineteen seventies also as far as succulents
are concerned, and if I recall correctly, it was also
a time mid nineteen seventies. I'm going to say nineteen
seventy five pet rocks was the big deal, you know,
(04:01):
and I think it culminated in Christmas of nineteen seventy five.
Everyone was getting a pet rock. Anyhow, the past ten years,
a lot of people were getting succulents. And again in
the garden center industry, we'd have people who would come
to the greenhouse. They'd pack a lunch, and we'd receive
shipments of these succulents and they just sit there and
(04:23):
watch us while we unpack them. And then they create
names for their plants, their pet plants, like keino leaves
or whatever it may be.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
You know, never heard that one before. Yeah, it's pretty funny.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
Yeah, I've got more of them here too. I wrote
them down. We'll get to them in a little bit.
But so you know, indoor house plants, for me, the
thing that I loved was anything that was stringy string things.
So string of pearls, you have string of turtles, string
of tears of lemons. All of those, of course, were very,
(05:03):
very popular. And then I really believe the whole craze
for me culminated, and we'll put the link in the
show notes, but it culminated in a national news story
and something that went viral in social media. There was
a lady in California who was gifted a beautiful succulent
and she nurtured it, cared for it. She wouldn't go
(05:25):
on vacation. She was caring for this plant. She wouldn't
let anybody else touch it. After owning the plant for
two years, decided to repot it and found, to her
horror that there was styrofoam underneath and it was a
fake circulent. Yeah, so okay, here you go, count plantula,
Bugsy's prickles, sprout, keano leaves, stony Danza, robert plant, et cetera,
(05:52):
et cetera. So name your plants, but houseplants, many of them.
Many of the houseplant succulents are not cold hardy. We're
going to talk about some cold hardy succulents or putting
them in containers. And I do want to say, Stacey,
because you love these succulents so much in your landscape outdoors.
I have always been impressed when I have gone to
(06:15):
southern California. I consider that area a mecca for these
hypertufa containers or planters or whatever they may be out
on the deck out in the landscape. Boy, they do
a great job.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
They do. Oh man. The ones that the succulents that
they can grow in California and throughout the Southwest really
are amazing. And I think this is a good point
to say that there really is a differentiation here between
houseplant succulents and outdoor succulents. So the ones that we're
talking about that are hardy that we can easily grow
in Michigan, and many of them you can grow in
zones much colder than us here in USDA Zone six
(06:51):
B Michigan. Those are not going to translate well to
the indoors. And similarly, the indoor ones are from Africa
South America, very very warm climates, and they can't grow
year round outside. So there is a really strong differentiation.
It's not like if you see a really cool seedum
that I'm growing in my garden outdoors, you can just
(07:12):
like say, well, I don't have a garden. I can
just grow that indoors, it's not likely to work well.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
And today we'll touch on some of those plants regardless
of the temperature that you can grow outdoors, whether you're
north or south. And of course you think of sempervivum
or the people call them hens and chicks. I think
now a lot of them are marketed marketed as chick charms.
But again I think back to the seventies, Stacey, and
(07:40):
back then hens and chicks were well hens and chicks,
but today the variety is unreal.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
Yeah. Back in the day, I guess you could choose
between green or red, yes, and that was probably pretty
much it.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
And you put them in a strawberry jar yep.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
Or at my mom she had them in a lava rock,
a big lava rock that had kind of little pockets
in it. So that was how she grew the hens
and chicks. Yeah, I have a garden that's exclusively hens
and chicks, and I have I would guess no fewer
than thirteen different varieties in it, all knitted together kind
of like a collidescup, which is very cool. Yeah. So
(08:15):
there's just been so much, just like everything else that
we talk about on the show, So much development selection
and then of course with the internet. Whereas before, you know,
some collectors might have had this one really cool sempervivum
or hens and chicks, there was no way to really
get it out. And now these plants can get out.
You can order them online and really expand your collection.
And it is very much I feel like a collecting
(08:36):
kind of plant. You can't have just one, no, I can,
but you don't want to have just no I agree.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
I like a pattern or a mixture of seedoms. And
of course this has become popular also because many seedoms.
Even online, you can buy something they call seedum turf
that is used on rooftime. Yeap.
Speaker 2 (08:59):
Yeah, definitely that works really well. I also have even
more seedums than I think. I have some provibums, and
I have them. So I have one established kind of
seedum tapestry garden and then one that we're starting to
get established as a lawn replacement in the front yard.
But I am just crazy about them, and they work
so well for me here in West Michigan because my
(09:20):
soil is super sandy, my yard is super sunny. They
never really need watering once they're established. They do definitely
benefit from watering as they are getting established. But you know,
after that first two or three years, they're like self
sufficient and they look amazing, and all you have to
do is pull out the occasional weed, which in fact
is fun because then you're getting down there and looking
(09:41):
at how cool all of your succulents are.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
I pretty great, I agree. And if you look at
something like seedums, as I understand it, it comes from
a Latin word which essentially means to sit among rocks,
and succulence like that will do that. And I'm just
a person who thinks a mix of seedar is really
really attractive in the landscape that said proven winners has
(10:05):
the rock and low rock and grow what rock and
round all of those types of seedoms which are well
controlled and are really nice in there.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
They are they really are. They resolve a lot of
the issues that older seedoms have, you know, like kind
of falling apart after they flower long bloom times. I
have a bunch of them.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
This past Sunday, I took some pictures of deer just
outside the compound nibbling on some succulents that I have
in my landscape. We'll talk about that in segment four
and other succulent plants. Also, Plants on trial is next
here on the Gardening Simplified Show.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
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Winner's Color Choice dot com. Care Eating's gardening friends, and
(11:14):
welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show, where the order
of the day is succulentce, a topic that is near
and dear to my heart. I do still have some
indoor succulents that have even been with me since my twenties,
but mostly my energies now go into the outdoor succulents.
And you know, as you define succulents rick as in
a limerick, and I think people sort of have this
(11:36):
general like idea that they're squishy, their desert kind of
plants that store water. Cactus are often included in succulents,
but from a scientific perspective, all kecktie succulents pretty much
all of them share this one really really interesting characteristic
and that is that they all undergo cam photosynthesis. So
(11:58):
that's camcam. If you are into science, you should definitely
look this up because it is a very cool thing
that they do. So when a plant photosynthesizes, it has
to take in the energy from the sun and it
has to have its stomata open. That's part of the
process of photosynthesis. It has to have those stomata open.
If the somata are open, it's losing water vapor and
(12:20):
in desert and you know, hot, hot desert conditions, plants
can't really afford to do that. Water is so precious
and of course the whole point of a succulant is
to store that water. So having their their stomata open
during the day when the sun is shining so they
can photosynthesize is a problem. So over time they have
adapted this incredible way to deal with that, and that
(12:41):
is what is known as camphotosynthesis. It stands for Crassulacian
acid metabolism, and so that Crassulasian word is from the
family Crassulacey. Crassula is the same genus as the jade plant,
the infamous jade plant, and also Setum is in the crassulacey.
(13:03):
So it's not just strictly a matter of you know,
being a heartier or not hearty succulent. So what happens,
So that's a crassulacey. Now we're gonna get to the
acid part. So what happens is during the day, these
plants can take in the sun's light and they convert
it to an acid and they store it in their
cell vacuoles, which is just kind of an open space
(13:25):
in a plant cell, and then it just sits there
all day long. When it's really really hot and really
really bright, they don't have to open their stomata at
all until night comes. Then they take that acid from
that they have metabolized from the sun and they can
open their stomata and complete the second half of photosynthesis.
Speaker 1 (13:45):
Very very cool. It causes me to wonder if that's
what camels do too.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
I got it, Well, they don't make their own food.
But the cool thing too about camphotosynthesis is that even
when plants don't necessarily need it, like my seedum here
in West Mission, they still undergo it. It's just you know,
what they do, So it's not some some can do
it if they if they need to not necessarily they
always do, but you can read a lot more about this.
(14:11):
There's tons of interesting plants that undergo camp photosynthesis, including
some woody plants. Unfortunately, no woody plants that we offer here,
Improven Winter's colored choice shops. Clusia is another is probably
the most famous woody example, popular houseplant. You see it
in conservatories in that kind.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
Of thing, signature autograph plant.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
Yes, autograph plant exactly. It's so that's the only woody
plant really that's known to to undergo camphotosynthesis. And I
wanted to say along those lines that a lot of
people think that succulents can be woody plants because they
get their jade plant and they get old and kind
of tree like. Sure, but no succulents actually make true wood.
(14:53):
Which made picking a plant on trial today a little
bit tricky because so I don't have anything that's undergoing
camphotosynthesis and the proven win color choice line. I don't
have any succulents because succulents are not woody plants. So
I had to kind of, you know, think outside the box.
And it actually wasn't too hard because today's plant on trial,
chick lit gold Tacoma, is a plant that I am
(15:14):
growing in my yard this year as a patio plant,
and I have completely completely fallen in love with this plant.
It is native to the Southwest, so down Mexico, Arizona,
southern California, Texas, down in southern Texas, so it's native
to areas where there are also a lot of cacti
(15:36):
and succulent growing. But it of course is not. It's
just very very heat and sun and drought tolerant. A
tough plant, a very very tough plant.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
People trumpet vine, they do mistake it.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
For trumpet vine. In fact, some of its common names
include trumpet bush, yellowbells, esperanza, which I think is the
most fun of those common.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
Sounds like a great Western movie, right.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
Yes, So if you've seen a trumpet vine, and most
of us have, whether we like that or not, the
flowers do look somewhat similar, so they're in the same
family the big gnieci. They are a long, trumpety type
of flower, which means of course that just like the
trumpet vine, they attract a ton of hummingbirds. So the
good news for our hot climate listeners, who I know
(16:25):
sometimes can feel a little left out from plants on trial,
is that this is one of our least hardy plants.
It is hardy down to USDA Zone eight and heat
tolerant through USDA Zone eleven. So this is really for you.
And even though it is a dry climate plant, it
can actually grow in Florida and tolerate that kind of humidity.
(16:46):
So as long as you're not dipping much below USDA
Zone eight, it's not colder than that, you can grow
this and it flowers non stop in the summer, and
that's what makes it a good patio plant. That's why
I have fallen in love with it so much. Because
I just got a little plant from here and put
it in a container and back in early June, and
(17:07):
within a few weeks of rooting, it just started flowering.
And I will tell you I have never seen, I
have never grown as an annual or summer color plant
anything with this color. Yellow.
Speaker 1 (17:19):
Wow. So this far north, you're seeing flowers already in June.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
Oh yeah, absolutely, tons of flowers and the yellow like
it's one of those things you know, it's like kind
of have to see it to believe it because you're heating.
Oh yeah, okay, well it's yellow. I've seen yellow plants before.
But I have tons of yellow plants in my garden
and I have never had anything that has quite this
color of yellow. And one of my favorite things about
home i'm growing it right now is that it's next
(17:46):
to another plant that I also considered for today's plant
on trial, estuet a scarlet Bouvardia. So I've got this
like amazing ketchup and mustard thing cooking and I absolutely
love it. I love I thought there's appropriate for Fourth
of July too. Let me just got off the fourth
of July ketchup and mustard. Amazing color combination. But I
just love this vibrant yellow, and so it's a nice
(18:09):
option to have if you are looking for something that's
a little bit different for summer color and you live
in a cold climate. Now, if you live in a
hot climate, you can put this thing in your landscape
and it will be flowering for literally months, probably at
least six months out of the year I would expect
if you live, you know, in an area where you
can grow it outside. For us here up north, it's
(18:31):
going to flower basically up until you know frost or
they start getting a little bit too short. Now, regular
tacoma gets pretty large so if you look this plant up,
you'll see a lot of it is sold as like
a multi stem specimen tree for the Southwest or even
privacy hedges. The cool thing about our chick lit tacomas
(18:51):
is that they're much smaller and more compact, so that
makes them very suitable for growing in containers for cold
climate gardeners like us, and if you live in a
hot climate, it makes it kind of gives it a
lot more versatility in the landscape so that you can
grow it, you know, as like in your perennial garden,
or if you have a smaller property or a smaller home.
(19:13):
It's not going to be out of scale with your house.
So it's a nice compact plant. It's going to be
evergreen for you in those warm climates. And of course
it's going to attract hummingbirds and that's great because it
blooms so long that you're always going to have food
for the hummingbirds. I know people tend to think of
hummingbirds wanting red plants, but the truth is they don't
actually discriminate that much. If it's got nectar and they
(19:34):
can stick their bill in it, they're going to be
drinking it.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
Yeah, the whole ketchup and mustard concept. And I know
how much you love the color yellow, and I'm still thinking, Stacy,
you should combine some mojave yellow person with it.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
Maybe when I'm retired and I can actually enjoy it flowering.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
Mine's blooming right now. But it does have almost succulent
like force.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
Yes, So perce Lane is another one, And of course
Perslne is a weed for us. It's a different, slightly
different personline. But it's a weed that I am pulling
like crazy out of my succulent beds right now because
it seems too very much like the same conditions. Yes,
but this one is of course developed for those ornamental qualities,
not for being a very persistent weed in your beds.
(20:18):
But it is edible and very nutritious if you ever
earn a plant, Yes, and you like the taste it. See.
I like Okra and that has kind of that same sliminess.
But I did, I don't. I haven't really caught on
to eating personal and yet.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
Here it comes. I'm from Okrahoma, That's why you knew
it was coming.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
Ye. So Okra's good, But the personallyane jury is still
out on eating that. But you know, at least I know,
if it comes right down to it, I've got plenty
of nutritious food right there in my backyard. So as
you've probably guessed, this is a full sun plant, so
you're going to want at least six hours of sun
each day. And that's true. Even if you are in
a really really hot climate like southern Arizona or southern Texas,
(20:59):
still are going to want full sun. It is drought tolerant.
It needs good drainage. It's obviously not going to be
an issue again for you people in the Southwest, but
if you're in Florida it could potentially be an issue.
It does do best if it's allowed to dry out
a bit between watering, so that's something that I'm going
to be keeping in mind through the rest of the season,
(21:19):
although I've been watering it with the rest of my
containers and has seemed unfazed.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
Sounds exactly like the needs of a succuler.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
Yes, it is very similar. So if you know, it
grows in the same kind of areas, so it's a
good companion and it won't shade out your succulent, So
if you plant it around your suculentce you don't have
to worry about it overgrowing them and guess what, Rick,
it's irresistant ya. They have not taken so much as
a bite out of my chick lit gold to cooma.
So a beautiful plant. I know this is not something
that our listeners are generally familiar with, so please do
(21:47):
check us out on YouTube so you can see how
beautiful this plant is for yourself. It's a little bit different,
but I think certainly worth considering if you love bright
colors and summer plants that attract hummingbirds, and who doesn't.
All right, we're gonna take a little break. When we
come back, we'll be opening up the mailbag, so please
stay tuned. At Proven Winners Color Choice Shrubs, we know
(22:14):
that a better landscape starts with a better shrub. Our
team of experts tests and evaluates all of our flowering
shrubs and evergreens for eight to ten years to ensure
they outperform what's already on the market. For easycare, reliable,
beautiful shrubs to accentuate your home and express your personal style,
look for Proven Winners Shrubs in the distinctive white container
(22:34):
at your local garden center, or learn more at Proven
Winner's Color Choice Dot com greeting's gardening friends and welcome
back to the Gardening Simplified Show, where I can tell
by the volume of messages in our listener email that
questions things are happening, people are confused, they are unhappy,
(22:55):
they're happy, and it is July now, so you know
what that means. It's why isn't my hydrangea blooming season
very shortly? So I know there's lots of questions out
there and we always want to help. So I'm not
just saying that from the Gardening Simplified Show, but the
entire Proven Winners brand. We always want to make sure
that we're helping people be successful, not just with our plants,
(23:17):
but with any plants in your gardens. So if you
have a question, again, we can only get to a
few each week. We don't want to leave you high
and dry, so you can just go to Proven Winners
Color Choice dot com and click the contact form there
and that will go right to one of our horticultures
and you'll get a personalized message back. Also, Proven Winners
dot Com has a feedback section where you can send
(23:37):
a message and select the category. So if you have
a question about annuals or perennials or kalladiums or any
of the other proven winners plant lines. You can go
there and send in a question and then we'll get
back to you there as well. So we don't want
to again leave anyone high and dry when we can
only do two or three questions and perfect for our
succulent episode. So yeah, we want to help you out.
(24:01):
And of course that's important because a lot of times
the question is to be blask are very timely keep
them coming. So anyway, that's how you can reach us.
And also if you leave a comment on YouTube Itterana,
we'll get back to you as she monitors all of
those comments as well. All right, so what do we
got them out back? Hi?
Speaker 1 (24:21):
Rick and Stacey. I have a question about my angel
wings Sinesio plan. I love those. I planted it last year.
They're so pretty. It did great for a while, then
suddenly beautiful fuzz on the leaves began disappearing. I tried
to research what would do that, didn't get any results.
Then it rebounded and did great for a long time.
Now this year it's doing the same thing, but not
(24:42):
as drastically. I can't figure out what in the world
is happening. Do you have any ideas I'm in the
PMW zone eight B. There's your big clue right there.
One pick is last year, the other is this year. Stacy,
this is something that I've seen often. Yeah, and of
(25:03):
course I would guess if you're in the Pacific Northwest,
you're going to.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
See, all right, well, what is it?
Speaker 1 (25:08):
In my opinion, it's slugs and snails. I think it's
a slug fest. I think they love hanging out on
that soft pad leave. You know. It's kind of like
jumping on a trampoline for them, except everything's in slow
motion and then they kind of just kind of peel
off the fuzz and then you're left with green. That's
my theory.
Speaker 2 (25:27):
I think you're probably right. I would not. I personally
did not put it together with a Pacific Northwest. My
cue was the randomness of the damage. Oh, very because
it is very like it looks like a slug or
a snail trail. It's kind of a mess yep, not
like you know you can tell. I think as you
(25:49):
grow in your gardening career and start to learn more
about different animals and insects that eat plants, some do
very neat and tidy damage and some do very messy
slop damage, and slugs and snails are definitely in the latter.
So it felt very like random, like a slug going
on it and getting kind of confused and you know, going,
(26:10):
what am I doing this? This hairtas terrible because they're
actually not putting holes in the leaps correct, which makes
it even more confusing.
Speaker 1 (26:16):
Just shaven a little off the top and so I
you know, I say you put something like iron phosphate
at the base. There's some great products marketed out there.
I think one of them is called Slugo. But more importantly,
if you have mulch at the base of these plants,
move the multu away.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
Yeah, and she does not. Marco was one who asked
this question. You can see they're just on the soil.
It is strange because you know, she did say that
they're in full sun and that's what this plant needs.
Because yes, normally, and if you're not familiar with angel
wings cnicio, it is a plant that's growing in popularity
every year, very cool, bright white, large flowers. If you
(26:56):
like Dusty Miller, you will love angel wings cnsio. It's
like a more modern version of that. I feel like,
because normally if you lost the white on it, it would
be due to a lack of sun, you know, too much,
too much shade. But yeah, apparently slugs. And it's just
crazy to me that they go through the trouble of
taking off the hair and then kind of go eh,
you know what, now, I'm not going to actually chew
(27:17):
all the way through this leaf. My little mouth is
too full of hair. I'm just gonna peace out.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
That's what they call me at work this time of
the year, when it's hot and dry and it's really dusty,
they call me Dusty Miller. Oh yeah, that is my
name at work. Yeah. Hey, by the way, with this plant,
and I agree with you. I love the plant. The
foliage is just like hosta, and hosta is another plant
that struggles with snails and slugs. So even though it's
in the full sun, because of the size of the leaf,
(27:44):
it really helps shade the soil below. And that's my
theory also on why slugs and snails would be a problem.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
Definitely, that is a very very good point. It creates
a lot of shade even though it wants the sun underneath,
it has a lot of shade. And remember our advice
for people who have serious slug and snail isshues put
that bait out in February. Do not wait until they're
already a problem. If you can get the babies when
they're hatching out, you will have much better control.
Speaker 1 (28:11):
M writes to us question for you regarding hydrangea. Sorry,
I do not know what variety. The bushes have rust
colored disease on many of the n leaves near the
blossoms that are coming on. I noticed this last year
and trimmed it off and trimmed off lower branches, cleaned
away leaves at the base to improve airflow. Photos attached.
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (28:31):
So I wanted to answer M's question here because every
single I think we've probably answered a question about this
every year since we've done the show. But that's why
it's worth reminding people, because this is the damage of
the four lined plant bug. It looks exactly like a
fungus or a rust disease, and that's why people freak
(28:53):
out when they see it, thinking, oh my gosh, it's
a leaf spot. I got to cut it off before
it spreads. But in fact it is going back to it.
You're saying about the sinisio, the kind of neat damage
versus the sloppy damage. This is tidy damage. They are
very tight, tidy damage, very tidy in the way that
they eat so as when they so they're a bug
(29:14):
with as you can guess, four lines kind of green
and black and yellow on their back. They're easy to see.
They're not super tiny, and we actually have a video
on what this looks like, so you'll see M's pictures
if you go to YouTube, and we will also link
you to our previous video on four line plant bugs.
Because they love hydranges. So what they do is they
(29:35):
get down on the leaf there and they hatch out
of their egg and they make these perfect little circles
in these kind of clusters. So it's like, you know,
we've talked about the yellow bellied sapsucker, and they're neat circles.
It's kind of like that, but it's on the leaves
and that makes it look exactly like a leaf spot.
And as that damage starts to kind of dry out,
(29:56):
it turns to a brown, rusty color. If the damage
is really really severe and all of those little holes
are very close to one another, then it will almost
look like the whole leaf has brown, but you can
actually look closely, you'll see those little stippling dots that
they create the floor. Four four lines.
Speaker 1 (30:14):
Good dots, that's good.
Speaker 2 (30:16):
Yeah, So they're most active in the morning, and so
that's another reason why people tend to think that they
are why it's a fungal disease is because they don't
see the bugs themselves. Now, if you go out first
thing in the morning, you will see them feeding there
and having a grand old time. Again, they're not super tiny,
so they're pretty easy to see. They usually hang out
on the top of the leaf rather than the underside,
(30:39):
so if you go out early in the morning, you
will see that damage. But really there's absolutely nothing to
worry about with this insects. Yes, it does quote unquote
damage the plant, but they do their little dotting, they
move on and that's it. It doesn't really set your
plant back. Yes, it can be a bit unsightly, especially
if it's really really bad, but it shouldn't impact the
(31:01):
flowering at all. So you don't want to cut your
hyde range of back when you start seeing that damage,
because now they're just getting ready to flower. They're creating
those flower buds, and most hyderranges are not going to
be able to create new flowers to replace the ones
that you're cutting off. If you needlessly reacted to the
fore line plant bug damage, you nailed it.
Speaker 1 (31:20):
Nothing to add other than to say, I agree with you.
It's one of those bugs that affects the appearance of
the plant but doesn't kill the plant.
Speaker 2 (31:27):
Ye, so not really bad.
Speaker 1 (31:29):
Nicole writes. We bought and renovated a foreclosed property in
the yard and landscaping need a lot of TLC garden
beds a mess. Lots of grass had crept into the
space roots from a large tree nearby. We ripped out
the grass, added compost, planted perennials, transplanted hydranges, then topped
with mulch.
Speaker 2 (31:48):
You've been busy, very busy.
Speaker 1 (31:49):
The area is mostly sun zone seven Long Island, New York.
Plants doing well. This past week, half of the garden
bed is covered in mushrooms. I knocked them over and
I feel more grow back seemingly overnight. What does this
mean for our soil, new plants, And how do you
recommend dealing with it?
Speaker 2 (32:07):
Well, you don't have to do a darn thing. And
what's happening here and the is that the majority of
mushrooms and fungus that we see growing out of the
ground are growing on the wood. They have nothing to
do with your plants. Your plants are healthy, they're fine.
They are not in the least threatened by the mushrooms.
But it means that probably those old tree roots that
(32:29):
you were you know, of the trees you've taken out
and the mulch are decaying, and the mushrooms are just
part of that process. It's organic, it's organic. They're breaking
down that wood, making it useful to the plants, turning
that into organic matter. So I know, it can be
kind of scary when you come out after heavy dew
or rain and you're like, oh my gosh, it's being
(32:50):
taken over by mushrooms. But again, they're just doing their thing.
There's really nothing that you can do to stop them.
I mean, they're if the conditions are right for them
to grow, they're going to and it's nothing to be
worried about.
Speaker 1 (33:01):
One suggestion stir the mulch. That stir the mulch. That's
a good idea to do that anyhow, so stir.
Speaker 2 (33:07):
That can help. But again, if you're getting a lot
to do, if you irrigate they're just gonna pop right
back up, and then one year they'll stop and you'll
be like, wait, what happened to all my mushrooms? I
guess I solved the problem, But all that happened was
that the conditions are no longer right for that mushroom,
and new mushrooms will start to appear, which to me
is part of the joy of mulch, not.
Speaker 1 (33:27):
Mushroom improvement for that, how does that go on? Not
mushroom for improvement?
Speaker 2 (33:32):
There you go. All right, thank y'all so much for
your questions, and please do check us out on YouTube
so you can see all the cool pictures, uh, and
get that information about that four lined plant bug. We're
going to take it break. When we come back, we're
going to be revisiting our conversation on succulents, so stay tuned.
(33:54):
Thanks for listening to the Gardening Simplified Podcast, brought to
you by Proven Winners. Color Choice Shrubs are award winning
flowering shrubs and evergreens are trialed and tested by experts
with your success in mind. Learn more at Proven Winners
color Choice dot com.
Speaker 1 (34:09):
Welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show. Let's continue talking
about succulent plants stacy one that I love in my
landscape outside the compound are hardy Opuntia prickly pear cactus.
And this past Sunday night, I grabbed my camera and
took some pictures. Our YouTube viewers will see that in
this episode of baby fawns just eating the paddles and
(34:33):
the flowers of prickly pear cactus. Now, when I get
those little prickles in my glove or in my hands,
it's miserable, and you're miserable for hours on end. And
I have no idea how they can eat them, but
they can. They're nutritious. Of course, when it's hot and
dry outside, it's a source of moisture. So it shows
you that deer will even eat cactus.
Speaker 2 (34:55):
Ouch. I I mean, I'm saying ouch for myself actually
more than the deer, because that has never happened to me,
And if it did happen in my yard, I would
be so sad because I also have a puccia cactus
that I love, and the flowers are so beautiful and gorgeous.
I mean, it is a plant that can use some management.
There is no question if it is happy, it is aggressive.
(35:19):
We manage ours with barbecue tongs and snips. So one
of us will hold them up with the barbecue tongs,
the other one goes in with the pruners or loppers
to cut it off, and we usually have to cut
it back pretty severely every three years or so. Okay,
so it's nice, I guess in some ways if the
deer are doing the pruning for you but not the flowers,
you don't want to miss out on those flowers. They
(35:41):
are so fabulous exactly.
Speaker 1 (35:42):
So it's kind of crazy if you're into hardy cactus.
By the way, I do want to suggest, and so
I'm talking about for folks that are in the North
that want to grow hardy cactus in their landscape. Stacey
the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Their websites, we got a really
great link to herding cactus. So I would suggest that
(36:04):
and we can put that in the show notes. Definitely
talking succulents, Stacey's seated next to me. We've got to
talk about ice plants, Dello sperma.
Speaker 2 (36:13):
Crazy about them now, I do want to say, first
of all, for again, since we're talking to our warm
climate listenership, especially today, I know that ice plants are
a nightmare in a lot of California. We do not
have that problem in Michigan, which probably comes as zero
surprise to you. So definitely, there are areas of the
(36:35):
country where ice plants are extremely invasive and should not
be planted. And the ones that are invasive are not
the same ones that we're talking about. They are very
different species. But certainly you can't go through most of
coastal California without seeing, you know, hills and dunes just
absolutely covered with ice plants, which gets their name from
the kind of crystally look of their leaves that make
(36:56):
them look a little bit like ice, which is ironic
since they're from very warm climates like Africa. But yeah,
I am crazy about these plants. I've always really liked them,
and I've always I've always had some, you know, and
they tend to do pretty well here in West Michigan,
you know again, the sandy soil, bright sun. But I
(37:18):
last year planted for the first time the proven Winter's
kaleidoscope Dello Sperma and had my best ever survival and
establishment of these plants. I mean, it has been really
stunning to see and they have been blooming in my
front yard their colors are amazing. So these our ground cover, low,
very very low growing plants really hug right down to
(37:40):
the ground and then they get this little crop of
daisy looking flowers. They are not in the daisy family,
They're in a totally different family, but they kind of
look like daisies. I've just the most bright and beautiful
colors and they just glisten in the sun. They just
they have this like shininess to them that is really
unlike anything else. And so this was my first year
(38:02):
with these, and they're in my front yard and oh
my gosh, my neighbors were telling me people are stopping
all the time to look at that. People are freaking
out at these plants. They are really really special. And
like I said, I have found better survival with the
new proven Winners ones than any other ones. And I
learned something important from my experience with these, and that
(38:25):
is if you are in an area so these are
hardy down to I think they consider I'm hard to
Zone six the Kaleidoscope series, So if you're in a
colder area like us. I have never started with gallon
plants before. I always had little court plants or plugs
or something that I was trying and not really getting
good plants established quickly. Starting with these gallons has made
(38:49):
a world of difference and they have formed now a
really really nice carpet just in a matter of months.
So that has been a really eye opening experience for
me to say, if you haven't had luck with ice
plants before, definitely seek out those one gallon plants even
right now. Get them in the ground, let them put
on a good root system before winter comes. And yeah,
(39:10):
I mean they're stunning.
Speaker 1 (39:11):
I love it. Succulent annuals to consider. Of course, I
mentioned the mojave yellow per slain. But lemon coral seedum,
oh yeah, you know what a neat plant, and it's tough,
and you would think that that chartreuse foliage would be
kind of spiky and tough, but actually they're very pedible.
Speaker 2 (39:30):
Oh yeah, very soft, so soft. Yeah, and I've had
that plant over winter for me before. So a lot
of people get the proven Winners Lemon coral, which is
one of the plants of people are crazy about in
the proven Winn's line. They get it confused with angelina,
even though they're so. Angelina is a very very popular
seedum that is also gold and does kind of look
(39:51):
superficially similar. But the difference is that Angelina grows as
kind of a stringy plant, whereas the lemon coral seedum
grows as a clump. So it makes it a really
nice filler plant. A specimen plant. It is considered hardy,
I think, down to like USDA Zone seven. But it
has overwintered for me many times. It just never really
(40:13):
gets big enough to withstand any serious winter challenges. But
a really really cool plant that yeah, it's just well,
you know, we've already established that I love yellow.
Speaker 1 (40:26):
So have you tried the mizu, the trailing daisy, the
living stone daisy? Not many people have.
Speaker 2 (40:35):
That plant is not to my taste. Yeah, I'm gonna
just say that.
Speaker 1 (40:38):
Well, because some people just do not find that variegation attractive.
Speaker 2 (40:43):
It's not.
Speaker 1 (40:43):
Yeah, and I have found that that again, variegation is
one of these polarizing things.
Speaker 2 (40:49):
But yeah, I have seen people like in the Peri
Winter's Gardening groups on Facebook go bananas for that plant.
They absolutely love it. And yeah, so I'm glad that
there is a riot for all of us out there.
Speaker 1 (41:02):
If you're interested in succulents, look for the set of areas,
the set of area hybrids like jet beads. That is
such a cool plant in my mind. And then of
course Stacy the past few years art and soul Mangavi
has become quite popular.
Speaker 2 (41:20):
Yeah, so those are really cool. And I know that's
a funny word, but it is a intergeneric hybrid between
agave and Manfreda. So a lot of people know agave
of course, at least from tequila, if not from actually
knowing the plants themselves. Manfreda less so, so it's a
hybrid between those two. And they are kind of like
small Agavi's. They aren't super hardy. I think most of
(41:43):
them are hardy down to USDA Zone seven. I have
found that they can withstand a little bit of cold
here in Michigan, but not a lot and I have
found unfortunately for me, but again, my house doesn't have
a lot of light. They didn't really make a great houseplant.
But if you have really bright southern facing windows and
can give them a lot of light, I think they
should be able to make it through the winter and
(42:04):
then you can put them back outside and they'll recover
really quick. But they are very cool, amazing colors, amazing.
Speaker 1 (42:10):
So many cultivars. I mean it's fantastic, and of course
the Manfreda crossed with the agave. The characteristic of Manfreda
that's fantastic is just the patterns and so you get
some really body Yeah, yeah, I love that. So with succulents,
they're going to need a grittier soil than other plants
because they're adapted to dry conditions. Storing the water in
(42:33):
their leaves. Don't if you're using them in containers outside
or indoors, don't use a regular potting soil. It's my opinion,
I think that there are some great soils out there
for succulents. They want a sandy well. I'm saying sandy,
a gritty, well draining soil. And one thing that I've
(42:54):
seen from my perspective, Stacey, in the garden center industry,
whether indoors or outdoors, are the mistake that I see
people making is that they'll get a mister bottle and
they'll missed succulent.
Speaker 2 (43:05):
Oh no, you don't want to miss your succulents, but.
Speaker 1 (43:10):
Really, Or I'll walk into a garden center and I'll
see a misguided employee who's out there missing all the
mist guided What you said, see, I pun and I
don't even know I'm doing it anymore.
Speaker 2 (43:27):
So it's it's freaking nature.
Speaker 1 (43:29):
A deep infrequent watering. Let's touch on that just for
a second, because again, what I see for some folks
is they don't know how much to water, so a
little bit every day, the soils wet in the upper
profile dry in the bottom. The plant suffers. So generally
it's recommended that succulents like deep but very infrequent watering.
(43:51):
Do you think that's a good description or would you disagree?
Speaker 2 (43:54):
I mean that's pretty much what mine get, and they're
doing pretty great. I think that sometimes they could probably
use a little bit more water than what I give them,
at least the hardy ones that are outside. And sometimes
the rainfall is not very obliging, as we have mostly
seen this year. But yeah, all mine really get is rainfall,
and they mostly do okay. Sometimes they look you know,
(44:16):
sometimes it does impact how well they grow. They'll stay shorter.
If they're not getting enough water, they may not flower,
but that's not really a huge deal to me. They
certainly can survive and still keep looking pretty darn great.
Speaker 1 (44:29):
There you go. So drainage is the key drainage is
key and don't be misguided. I want to write that
one down. That's a good one. Thank you, Stacy, it's
been fun to you. Thank you Adriana, and thank you
to you for watching on YouTube, listening to the radio
version and our podcast. Have yourself a great one.
Broadcasting from Studio A here at proven winners, color choy shrubs.
It's time for the Gardening Simplified Show with Stacy, Hervella me,
Rick weisst and our engineer and producer Adrianna Robinson Stacy
Today a show about succulents. Instead of a dictionary definition
of the word succulent and its varied interpretations, how about
(00:25):
a plant based definition in the form of a limb
a rik right off the bat. I like it today,
A succulent conversation in keeping with our cool plants fixation,
fleshy tissues, conserve moisture content when watering is infrequent, natural
(00:46):
genius H two zero conservation. I think that sums it up. Yeah,
that does Yeah, thank you. In the heat of summer,
I want to focus on succulents that we can enjoy outdoors,
not the you know, a rock garden approach, not the
houseplant version of succulents. But for context, I almost feel like,
(01:09):
at least for me, I got to start there because
of what happened in the past decade, the appetite for
sculptural succulent plants over the last ten years or so.
I'm going to say for me, in the garden center
industry twenty thirteen through twenty twenty two. The appetite was unreal.
(01:33):
It was crazy. Everything from jade plants to calan Coe's
and Etchavaria's, Howarthia's, you name it. They were filling store
shelves and stacy In many cases and I cringe with this.
Many were painted or had glitter on them.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Yes, that was definitely a thing, as if the plants
aren't lovely enough as it is, they had to literally
gild the lily as it were. But yeah, you know,
I have said it on the show before, and I
feel like it's worth mentioning again that when I was
in horticulture school and I was interviewing for internships, I
was at my dream internship interview as the internship I
(02:12):
wanted more than anything else. And you know, they kind
of are asking me like, okay, well, like what's your
career goals? And I said, I want to bring about
a houseplant revolution like there was in the nineteen seventies.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
Oh wow.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
And the two people who ran the garden, who I
had immense respect for, literally laughed at me and they
said it's never going to happen. Oh my word, And
I am Yes, clearly still bitter to this day, but
less so at them and more so at myself, because
I was like, oh, well, if these two people that
I really respect tell me this, then I guess it
(02:47):
must be true. And I should have just dismissed them
out of hand because I was younger and certainly knew
that better things were coming. And you know, the reason
that I wanted to do that was because I was
personally obsessed with succulence in my early twenties. Like my
house was full of them, Like I mean, I still
have a number of them, even though I don't have
really good light in my house for house plants. But
(03:08):
I love them. I love how sculptural they are. But
now my passion for succulentce is transferred outside, and I
have three different succulent gardens outside.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
I love that. That's fantastic. Can I agree with you?
I much more enjoy them outdoors than indoors. People make
a lot of mistakes indoors with succulents. As a matter
of fact, the public was sold on the fact that
you can't kill succulents. How many times I heard that?
And you can definitely kill them, of course indoors. We
(03:41):
have a tendency to overwater them. But I remember that
rage from the nineteen seventies also as far as succulents
are concerned, and if I recall correctly, it was also
a time mid nineteen seventies. I'm going to say nineteen
seventy five pet rocks was the big deal, you know,
(04:01):
and I think it culminated in Christmas of nineteen seventy five.
Everyone was getting a pet rock. Anyhow, the past ten years,
a lot of people were getting succulents. And again in
the garden center industry, we'd have people who would come
to the greenhouse. They'd pack a lunch, and we'd receive
shipments of these succulents and they just sit there and
(04:23):
watch us while we unpack them. And then they create
names for their plants, their pet plants, like keino leaves
or whatever it may be.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
You know, never heard that one before. Yeah, it's pretty funny.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
Yeah, I've got more of them here too. I wrote
them down. We'll get to them in a little bit.
But so you know, indoor house plants, for me, the
thing that I loved was anything that was stringy string things.
So string of pearls, you have string of turtles, string
of tears of lemons. All of those, of course, were very,
(05:03):
very popular. And then I really believe the whole craze
for me culminated, and we'll put the link in the
show notes, but it culminated in a national news story
and something that went viral in social media. There was
a lady in California who was gifted a beautiful succulent
and she nurtured it, cared for it. She wouldn't go
(05:25):
on vacation. She was caring for this plant. She wouldn't
let anybody else touch it. After owning the plant for
two years, decided to repot it and found, to her
horror that there was styrofoam underneath and it was a
fake circulent. Yeah, so okay, here you go, count plantula,
Bugsy's prickles, sprout, keano leaves, stony Danza, robert plant, et cetera,
(05:52):
et cetera. So name your plants, but houseplants, many of them.
Many of the houseplant succulents are not cold hardy. We're
going to talk about some cold hardy succulents or putting
them in containers. And I do want to say, Stacey,
because you love these succulents so much in your landscape outdoors.
I have always been impressed when I have gone to
(06:15):
southern California. I consider that area a mecca for these
hypertufa containers or planters or whatever they may be out
on the deck out in the landscape. Boy, they do
a great job.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
They do. Oh man. The ones that the succulents that
they can grow in California and throughout the Southwest really
are amazing. And I think this is a good point
to say that there really is a differentiation here between
houseplant succulents and outdoor succulents. So the ones that we're
talking about that are hardy that we can easily grow
in Michigan, and many of them you can grow in
zones much colder than us here in USDA Zone six
(06:51):
B Michigan. Those are not going to translate well to
the indoors. And similarly, the indoor ones are from Africa
South America, very very warm climates, and they can't grow
year round outside. So there is a really strong differentiation.
It's not like if you see a really cool seedum
that I'm growing in my garden outdoors, you can just
(07:12):
like say, well, I don't have a garden. I can
just grow that indoors, it's not likely to work well.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
And today we'll touch on some of those plants regardless
of the temperature that you can grow outdoors, whether you're
north or south. And of course you think of sempervivum
or the people call them hens and chicks. I think
now a lot of them are marketed marketed as chick charms.
But again I think back to the seventies, Stacey, and
(07:40):
back then hens and chicks were well hens and chicks,
but today the variety is unreal.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
Yeah. Back in the day, I guess you could choose
between green or red, yes, and that was probably pretty
much it.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
And you put them in a strawberry jar yep.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
Or at my mom she had them in a lava rock,
a big lava rock that had kind of little pockets
in it. So that was how she grew the hens
and chicks. Yeah, I have a garden that's exclusively hens
and chicks, and I have I would guess no fewer
than thirteen different varieties in it, all knitted together kind
of like a collidescup, which is very cool. Yeah. So
(08:15):
there's just been so much, just like everything else that
we talk about on the show, So much development selection
and then of course with the internet. Whereas before, you know,
some collectors might have had this one really cool sempervivum
or hens and chicks, there was no way to really
get it out. And now these plants can get out.
You can order them online and really expand your collection.
And it is very much I feel like a collecting
(08:36):
kind of plant. You can't have just one, no, I can,
but you don't want to have just no I agree.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
I like a pattern or a mixture of seedoms. And
of course this has become popular also because many seedoms.
Even online, you can buy something they call seedum turf
that is used on rooftime. Yeap.
Speaker 2 (08:59):
Yeah, definitely that works really well. I also have even
more seedums than I think. I have some provibums, and
I have them. So I have one established kind of
seedum tapestry garden and then one that we're starting to
get established as a lawn replacement in the front yard.
But I am just crazy about them, and they work
so well for me here in West Michigan because my
(09:20):
soil is super sandy, my yard is super sunny. They
never really need watering once they're established. They do definitely
benefit from watering as they are getting established. But you know,
after that first two or three years, they're like self
sufficient and they look amazing, and all you have to
do is pull out the occasional weed, which in fact
is fun because then you're getting down there and looking
(09:41):
at how cool all of your succulents are.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
I pretty great, I agree. And if you look at
something like seedums, as I understand it, it comes from
a Latin word which essentially means to sit among rocks,
and succulence like that will do that. And I'm just
a person who thinks a mix of seedar is really
really attractive in the landscape that said proven winners has
(10:05):
the rock and low rock and grow what rock and
round all of those types of seedoms which are well
controlled and are really nice in there.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
They are they really are. They resolve a lot of
the issues that older seedoms have, you know, like kind
of falling apart after they flower long bloom times. I
have a bunch of them.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
This past Sunday, I took some pictures of deer just
outside the compound nibbling on some succulents that I have
in my landscape. We'll talk about that in segment four
and other succulent plants. Also, Plants on trial is next
here on the Gardening Simplified Show.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
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(11:14):
welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show, where the order
of the day is succulentce, a topic that is near
and dear to my heart. I do still have some
indoor succulents that have even been with me since my twenties,
but mostly my energies now go into the outdoor succulents.
And you know, as you define succulents rick as in
a limerick, and I think people sort of have this
(11:36):
general like idea that they're squishy, their desert kind of
plants that store water. Cactus are often included in succulents,
but from a scientific perspective, all kecktie succulents pretty much
all of them share this one really really interesting characteristic
and that is that they all undergo cam photosynthesis. So
(11:58):
that's camcam. If you are into science, you should definitely
look this up because it is a very cool thing
that they do. So when a plant photosynthesizes, it has
to take in the energy from the sun and it
has to have its stomata open. That's part of the
process of photosynthesis. It has to have those stomata open.
If the somata are open, it's losing water vapor and
(12:20):
in desert and you know, hot, hot desert conditions, plants
can't really afford to do that. Water is so precious
and of course the whole point of a succulant is
to store that water. So having their their stomata open
during the day when the sun is shining so they
can photosynthesize is a problem. So over time they have
adapted this incredible way to deal with that, and that
(12:41):
is what is known as camphotosynthesis. It stands for Crassulacian
acid metabolism, and so that Crassulasian word is from the
family Crassulacey. Crassula is the same genus as the jade plant,
the infamous jade plant, and also Setum is in the crassulacey.
(13:03):
So it's not just strictly a matter of you know,
being a heartier or not hearty succulent. So what happens,
So that's a crassulacey. Now we're gonna get to the
acid part. So what happens is during the day, these
plants can take in the sun's light and they convert
it to an acid and they store it in their
cell vacuoles, which is just kind of an open space
(13:25):
in a plant cell, and then it just sits there
all day long. When it's really really hot and really
really bright, they don't have to open their stomata at
all until night comes. Then they take that acid from
that they have metabolized from the sun and they can
open their stomata and complete the second half of photosynthesis.
Speaker 1 (13:45):
Very very cool. It causes me to wonder if that's
what camels do too.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
I got it, Well, they don't make their own food.
But the cool thing too about camphotosynthesis is that even
when plants don't necessarily need it, like my seedum here
in West Mission, they still undergo it. It's just you know,
what they do, So it's not some some can do
it if they if they need to not necessarily they
always do, but you can read a lot more about this.
(14:11):
There's tons of interesting plants that undergo camp photosynthesis, including
some woody plants. Unfortunately, no woody plants that we offer here,
Improven Winter's colored choice shops. Clusia is another is probably
the most famous woody example, popular houseplant. You see it
in conservatories in that kind.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
Of thing, signature autograph plant.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
Yes, autograph plant exactly. It's so that's the only woody
plant really that's known to to undergo camphotosynthesis. And I
wanted to say along those lines that a lot of
people think that succulents can be woody plants because they
get their jade plant and they get old and kind
of tree like. Sure, but no succulents actually make true wood.
(14:53):
Which made picking a plant on trial today a little
bit tricky because so I don't have anything that's undergoing
camphotosynthesis and the proven win color choice line. I don't
have any succulents because succulents are not woody plants. So
I had to kind of, you know, think outside the box.
And it actually wasn't too hard because today's plant on trial,
chick lit gold Tacoma, is a plant that I am
(15:14):
growing in my yard this year as a patio plant,
and I have completely completely fallen in love with this plant.
It is native to the Southwest, so down Mexico, Arizona,
southern California, Texas, down in southern Texas, so it's native
to areas where there are also a lot of cacti
(15:36):
and succulent growing. But it of course is not. It's
just very very heat and sun and drought tolerant. A
tough plant, a very very tough plant.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
People trumpet vine, they do mistake it.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
For trumpet vine. In fact, some of its common names
include trumpet bush, yellowbells, esperanza, which I think is the
most fun of those common.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
Sounds like a great Western movie, right.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
Yes, So if you've seen a trumpet vine, and most
of us have, whether we like that or not, the
flowers do look somewhat similar, so they're in the same
family the big gnieci. They are a long, trumpety type
of flower, which means of course that just like the
trumpet vine, they attract a ton of hummingbirds. So the
good news for our hot climate listeners, who I know
(16:25):
sometimes can feel a little left out from plants on trial,
is that this is one of our least hardy plants.
It is hardy down to USDA Zone eight and heat
tolerant through USDA Zone eleven. So this is really for you.
And even though it is a dry climate plant, it
can actually grow in Florida and tolerate that kind of humidity.
(16:46):
So as long as you're not dipping much below USDA
Zone eight, it's not colder than that, you can grow
this and it flowers non stop in the summer, and
that's what makes it a good patio plant. That's why
I have fallen in love with it so much. Because
I just got a little plant from here and put
it in a container and back in early June, and
(17:07):
within a few weeks of rooting, it just started flowering.
And I will tell you I have never seen, I
have never grown as an annual or summer color plant
anything with this color. Yellow.
Speaker 1 (17:19):
Wow. So this far north, you're seeing flowers already in June.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
Oh yeah, absolutely, tons of flowers and the yellow like
it's one of those things you know, it's like kind
of have to see it to believe it because you're heating.
Oh yeah, okay, well it's yellow. I've seen yellow plants before.
But I have tons of yellow plants in my garden
and I have never had anything that has quite this
color of yellow. And one of my favorite things about
home i'm growing it right now is that it's next
(17:46):
to another plant that I also considered for today's plant
on trial, estuet a scarlet Bouvardia. So I've got this
like amazing ketchup and mustard thing cooking and I absolutely
love it. I love I thought there's appropriate for Fourth
of July too. Let me just got off the fourth
of July ketchup and mustard. Amazing color combination. But I
just love this vibrant yellow, and so it's a nice
(18:09):
option to have if you are looking for something that's
a little bit different for summer color and you live
in a cold climate. Now, if you live in a
hot climate, you can put this thing in your landscape
and it will be flowering for literally months, probably at
least six months out of the year I would expect
if you live, you know, in an area where you
can grow it outside. For us here up north, it's
(18:31):
going to flower basically up until you know frost or
they start getting a little bit too short. Now, regular
tacoma gets pretty large so if you look this plant up,
you'll see a lot of it is sold as like
a multi stem specimen tree for the Southwest or even
privacy hedges. The cool thing about our chick lit tacomas
(18:51):
is that they're much smaller and more compact, so that
makes them very suitable for growing in containers for cold
climate gardeners like us, and if you live in a
hot climate, it makes it kind of gives it a
lot more versatility in the landscape so that you can
grow it, you know, as like in your perennial garden,
or if you have a smaller property or a smaller home.
(19:13):
It's not going to be out of scale with your house.
So it's a nice compact plant. It's going to be
evergreen for you in those warm climates. And of course
it's going to attract hummingbirds and that's great because it
blooms so long that you're always going to have food
for the hummingbirds. I know people tend to think of
hummingbirds wanting red plants, but the truth is they don't
actually discriminate that much. If it's got nectar and they
(19:34):
can stick their bill in it, they're going to be
drinking it.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
Yeah, the whole ketchup and mustard concept. And I know
how much you love the color yellow, and I'm still thinking, Stacy,
you should combine some mojave yellow person with it.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
Maybe when I'm retired and I can actually enjoy it flowering.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
Mine's blooming right now. But it does have almost succulent
like force.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
Yes, So perce Lane is another one, And of course
Perslne is a weed for us. It's a different, slightly
different personline. But it's a weed that I am pulling
like crazy out of my succulent beds right now because
it seems too very much like the same conditions. Yes,
but this one is of course developed for those ornamental qualities,
not for being a very persistent weed in your beds.
(20:18):
But it is edible and very nutritious if you ever
earn a plant, Yes, and you like the taste it. See.
I like Okra and that has kind of that same sliminess.
But I did, I don't. I haven't really caught on
to eating personal and yet.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
Here it comes. I'm from Okrahoma, That's why you knew
it was coming.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
Ye. So Okra's good, But the personallyane jury is still
out on eating that. But you know, at least I know,
if it comes right down to it, I've got plenty
of nutritious food right there in my backyard. So as
you've probably guessed, this is a full sun plant, so
you're going to want at least six hours of sun
each day. And that's true. Even if you are in
a really really hot climate like southern Arizona or southern Texas,
(20:59):
still are going to want full sun. It is drought tolerant.
It needs good drainage. It's obviously not going to be
an issue again for you people in the Southwest, but
if you're in Florida it could potentially be an issue.
It does do best if it's allowed to dry out
a bit between watering, so that's something that I'm going
to be keeping in mind through the rest of the season,
(21:19):
although I've been watering it with the rest of my
containers and has seemed unfazed.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
Sounds exactly like the needs of a succuler.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
Yes, it is very similar. So if you know, it
grows in the same kind of areas, so it's a
good companion and it won't shade out your succulent, So
if you plant it around your suculentce you don't have
to worry about it overgrowing them and guess what, Rick,
it's irresistant ya. They have not taken so much as
a bite out of my chick lit gold to cooma.
So a beautiful plant. I know this is not something
that our listeners are generally familiar with, so please do
(21:47):
check us out on YouTube so you can see how
beautiful this plant is for yourself. It's a little bit different,
but I think certainly worth considering if you love bright
colors and summer plants that attract hummingbirds, and who doesn't.
All right, we're gonna take a little break. When we
come back, we'll be opening up the mailbag, so please
stay tuned. At Proven Winners Color Choice Shrubs, we know
(22:14):
that a better landscape starts with a better shrub. Our
team of experts tests and evaluates all of our flowering
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(22:34):
at your local garden center, or learn more at Proven
Winner's Color Choice Dot com greeting's gardening friends and welcome
back to the Gardening Simplified Show, where I can tell
by the volume of messages in our listener email that
questions things are happening, people are confused, they are unhappy,
(22:55):
they're happy, and it is July now, so you know
what that means. It's why isn't my hydrangea blooming season
very shortly? So I know there's lots of questions out
there and we always want to help. So I'm not
just saying that from the Gardening Simplified Show, but the
entire Proven Winners brand. We always want to make sure
that we're helping people be successful, not just with our plants,
(23:17):
but with any plants in your gardens. So if you
have a question, again, we can only get to a
few each week. We don't want to leave you high
and dry, so you can just go to Proven Winners
Color Choice dot com and click the contact form there
and that will go right to one of our horticultures
and you'll get a personalized message back. Also, Proven Winners
dot Com has a feedback section where you can send
(23:37):
a message and select the category. So if you have
a question about annuals or perennials or kalladiums or any
of the other proven winners plant lines. You can go
there and send in a question and then we'll get
back to you there as well. So we don't want
to again leave anyone high and dry when we can
only do two or three questions and perfect for our
succulent episode. So yeah, we want to help you out.
(24:01):
And of course that's important because a lot of times
the question is to be blask are very timely keep
them coming. So anyway, that's how you can reach us.
And also if you leave a comment on YouTube Itterana,
we'll get back to you as she monitors all of
those comments as well. All right, so what do we
got them out back? Hi?
Speaker 1 (24:21):
Rick and Stacey. I have a question about my angel
wings Sinesio plan. I love those. I planted it last year.
They're so pretty. It did great for a while, then
suddenly beautiful fuzz on the leaves began disappearing. I tried
to research what would do that, didn't get any results.
Then it rebounded and did great for a long time.
Now this year it's doing the same thing, but not
(24:42):
as drastically. I can't figure out what in the world
is happening. Do you have any ideas I'm in the
PMW zone eight B. There's your big clue right there.
One pick is last year, the other is this year. Stacy,
this is something that I've seen often. Yeah, and of
(25:03):
course I would guess if you're in the Pacific Northwest,
you're going to.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
See, all right, well, what is it?
Speaker 1 (25:08):
In my opinion, it's slugs and snails. I think it's
a slug fest. I think they love hanging out on
that soft pad leave. You know. It's kind of like
jumping on a trampoline for them, except everything's in slow
motion and then they kind of just kind of peel
off the fuzz and then you're left with green. That's
my theory.
Speaker 2 (25:27):
I think you're probably right. I would not. I personally
did not put it together with a Pacific Northwest. My
cue was the randomness of the damage. Oh, very because
it is very like it looks like a slug or
a snail trail. It's kind of a mess yep, not
like you know you can tell. I think as you
(25:49):
grow in your gardening career and start to learn more
about different animals and insects that eat plants, some do
very neat and tidy damage and some do very messy
slop damage, and slugs and snails are definitely in the latter.
So it felt very like random, like a slug going
on it and getting kind of confused and you know, going,
(26:10):
what am I doing this? This hairtas terrible because they're
actually not putting holes in the leaps correct, which makes
it even more confusing.
Speaker 1 (26:16):
Just shaven a little off the top and so I
you know, I say you put something like iron phosphate
at the base. There's some great products marketed out there.
I think one of them is called Slugo. But more importantly,
if you have mulch at the base of these plants,
move the multu away.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
Yeah, and she does not. Marco was one who asked
this question. You can see they're just on the soil.
It is strange because you know, she did say that
they're in full sun and that's what this plant needs.
Because yes, normally, and if you're not familiar with angel
wings cnicio, it is a plant that's growing in popularity
every year, very cool, bright white, large flowers. If you
(26:56):
like Dusty Miller, you will love angel wings cnsio. It's
like a more modern version of that. I feel like,
because normally if you lost the white on it, it would
be due to a lack of sun, you know, too much,
too much shade. But yeah, apparently slugs. And it's just
crazy to me that they go through the trouble of
taking off the hair and then kind of go eh,
you know what, now, I'm not going to actually chew
(27:17):
all the way through this leaf. My little mouth is
too full of hair. I'm just gonna peace out.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
That's what they call me at work this time of
the year, when it's hot and dry and it's really dusty,
they call me Dusty Miller. Oh yeah, that is my
name at work. Yeah. Hey, by the way, with this plant,
and I agree with you. I love the plant. The
foliage is just like hosta, and hosta is another plant
that struggles with snails and slugs. So even though it's
in the full sun, because of the size of the leaf,
(27:44):
it really helps shade the soil below. And that's my
theory also on why slugs and snails would be a problem.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
Definitely, that is a very very good point. It creates
a lot of shade even though it wants the sun underneath,
it has a lot of shade. And remember our advice
for people who have serious slug and snail isshues put
that bait out in February. Do not wait until they're
already a problem. If you can get the babies when
they're hatching out, you will have much better control.
Speaker 1 (28:11):
M writes to us question for you regarding hydrangea. Sorry,
I do not know what variety. The bushes have rust
colored disease on many of the n leaves near the
blossoms that are coming on. I noticed this last year
and trimmed it off and trimmed off lower branches, cleaned
away leaves at the base to improve airflow. Photos attached.
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (28:31):
So I wanted to answer M's question here because every
single I think we've probably answered a question about this
every year since we've done the show. But that's why
it's worth reminding people, because this is the damage of
the four lined plant bug. It looks exactly like a
fungus or a rust disease, and that's why people freak
(28:53):
out when they see it, thinking, oh my gosh, it's
a leaf spot. I got to cut it off before
it spreads. But in fact it is going back to it.
You're saying about the sinisio, the kind of neat damage
versus the sloppy damage. This is tidy damage. They are
very tight, tidy damage, very tidy in the way that
they eat so as when they so they're a bug
(29:14):
with as you can guess, four lines kind of green
and black and yellow on their back. They're easy to see.
They're not super tiny, and we actually have a video
on what this looks like, so you'll see M's pictures
if you go to YouTube, and we will also link
you to our previous video on four line plant bugs.
Because they love hydranges. So what they do is they
(29:35):
get down on the leaf there and they hatch out
of their egg and they make these perfect little circles
in these kind of clusters. So it's like, you know,
we've talked about the yellow bellied sapsucker, and they're neat circles.
It's kind of like that, but it's on the leaves
and that makes it look exactly like a leaf spot.
And as that damage starts to kind of dry out,
(29:56):
it turns to a brown, rusty color. If the damage
is really really severe and all of those little holes
are very close to one another, then it will almost
look like the whole leaf has brown, but you can
actually look closely, you'll see those little stippling dots that
they create the floor. Four four lines.
Speaker 1 (30:14):
Good dots, that's good.
Speaker 2 (30:16):
Yeah, So they're most active in the morning, and so
that's another reason why people tend to think that they
are why it's a fungal disease is because they don't
see the bugs themselves. Now, if you go out first
thing in the morning, you will see them feeding there
and having a grand old time. Again, they're not super tiny,
so they're pretty easy to see. They usually hang out
on the top of the leaf rather than the underside,
(30:39):
so if you go out early in the morning, you
will see that damage. But really there's absolutely nothing to
worry about with this insects. Yes, it does quote unquote
damage the plant, but they do their little dotting, they
move on and that's it. It doesn't really set your
plant back. Yes, it can be a bit unsightly, especially
if it's really really bad, but it shouldn't impact the
(31:01):
flowering at all. So you don't want to cut your
hyde range of back when you start seeing that damage,
because now they're just getting ready to flower. They're creating
those flower buds, and most hyderranges are not going to
be able to create new flowers to replace the ones
that you're cutting off. If you needlessly reacted to the
fore line plant bug damage, you nailed it.
Speaker 1 (31:20):
Nothing to add other than to say, I agree with you.
It's one of those bugs that affects the appearance of
the plant but doesn't kill the plant.
Speaker 2 (31:27):
Ye, so not really bad.
Speaker 1 (31:29):
Nicole writes. We bought and renovated a foreclosed property in
the yard and landscaping need a lot of TLC garden
beds a mess. Lots of grass had crept into the
space roots from a large tree nearby. We ripped out
the grass, added compost, planted perennials, transplanted hydranges, then topped
with mulch.
Speaker 2 (31:48):
You've been busy, very busy.
Speaker 1 (31:49):
The area is mostly sun zone seven Long Island, New York.
Plants doing well. This past week, half of the garden
bed is covered in mushrooms. I knocked them over and
I feel more grow back seemingly overnight. What does this
mean for our soil, new plants, And how do you
recommend dealing with it?
Speaker 2 (32:07):
Well, you don't have to do a darn thing. And
what's happening here and the is that the majority of
mushrooms and fungus that we see growing out of the
ground are growing on the wood. They have nothing to
do with your plants. Your plants are healthy, they're fine.
They are not in the least threatened by the mushrooms.
But it means that probably those old tree roots that
(32:29):
you were you know, of the trees you've taken out
and the mulch are decaying, and the mushrooms are just
part of that process. It's organic, it's organic. They're breaking
down that wood, making it useful to the plants, turning
that into organic matter. So I know, it can be
kind of scary when you come out after heavy dew
or rain and you're like, oh my gosh, it's being
(32:50):
taken over by mushrooms. But again, they're just doing their thing.
There's really nothing that you can do to stop them.
I mean, they're if the conditions are right for them
to grow, they're going to and it's nothing to be
worried about.
Speaker 1 (33:01):
One suggestion stir the mulch. That stir the mulch. That's
a good idea to do that anyhow, so stir.
Speaker 2 (33:07):
That can help. But again, if you're getting a lot
to do, if you irrigate they're just gonna pop right
back up, and then one year they'll stop and you'll
be like, wait, what happened to all my mushrooms? I
guess I solved the problem, But all that happened was
that the conditions are no longer right for that mushroom,
and new mushrooms will start to appear, which to me
is part of the joy of mulch, not.
Speaker 1 (33:27):
Mushroom improvement for that, how does that go on? Not
mushroom for improvement?
Speaker 2 (33:32):
There you go. All right, thank y'all so much for
your questions, and please do check us out on YouTube
so you can see all the cool pictures, uh, and
get that information about that four lined plant bug. We're
going to take it break. When we come back, we're
going to be revisiting our conversation on succulents, so stay tuned.
(33:54):
Thanks for listening to the Gardening Simplified Podcast, brought to
you by Proven Winners. Color Choice Shrubs are award winning
flowering shrubs and evergreens are trialed and tested by experts
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color Choice dot com.
Speaker 1 (34:09):
Welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show. Let's continue talking
about succulent plants stacy one that I love in my
landscape outside the compound are hardy Opuntia prickly pear cactus.
And this past Sunday night, I grabbed my camera and
took some pictures. Our YouTube viewers will see that in
this episode of baby fawns just eating the paddles and
(34:33):
the flowers of prickly pear cactus. Now, when I get
those little prickles in my glove or in my hands,
it's miserable, and you're miserable for hours on end. And
I have no idea how they can eat them, but
they can. They're nutritious. Of course, when it's hot and
dry outside, it's a source of moisture. So it shows
you that deer will even eat cactus.
Speaker 2 (34:55):
Ouch. I I mean, I'm saying ouch for myself actually
more than the deer, because that has never happened to me,
And if it did happen in my yard, I would
be so sad because I also have a puccia cactus
that I love, and the flowers are so beautiful and gorgeous.
I mean, it is a plant that can use some management.
There is no question if it is happy, it is aggressive.
(35:19):
We manage ours with barbecue tongs and snips. So one
of us will hold them up with the barbecue tongs,
the other one goes in with the pruners or loppers
to cut it off, and we usually have to cut
it back pretty severely every three years or so. Okay,
so it's nice, I guess in some ways if the
deer are doing the pruning for you but not the flowers,
you don't want to miss out on those flowers. They
(35:41):
are so fabulous exactly.
Speaker 1 (35:42):
So it's kind of crazy if you're into hardy cactus.
By the way, I do want to suggest, and so
I'm talking about for folks that are in the North
that want to grow hardy cactus in their landscape. Stacey
the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Their websites, we got a really
great link to herding cactus. So I would suggest that
(36:04):
and we can put that in the show notes. Definitely
talking succulents, Stacey's seated next to me. We've got to
talk about ice plants, Dello sperma.
Speaker 2 (36:13):
Crazy about them now, I do want to say, first
of all, for again, since we're talking to our warm
climate listenership, especially today, I know that ice plants are
a nightmare in a lot of California. We do not
have that problem in Michigan, which probably comes as zero
surprise to you. So definitely, there are areas of the
(36:35):
country where ice plants are extremely invasive and should not
be planted. And the ones that are invasive are not
the same ones that we're talking about. They are very
different species. But certainly you can't go through most of
coastal California without seeing, you know, hills and dunes just
absolutely covered with ice plants, which gets their name from
the kind of crystally look of their leaves that make
(36:56):
them look a little bit like ice, which is ironic
since they're from very warm climates like Africa. But yeah,
I am crazy about these plants. I've always really liked them,
and I've always I've always had some, you know, and
they tend to do pretty well here in West Michigan,
you know again, the sandy soil, bright sun. But I
(37:18):
last year planted for the first time the proven Winter's
kaleidoscope Dello Sperma and had my best ever survival and
establishment of these plants. I mean, it has been really
stunning to see and they have been blooming in my
front yard their colors are amazing. So these our ground cover, low,
very very low growing plants really hug right down to
(37:40):
the ground and then they get this little crop of
daisy looking flowers. They are not in the daisy family,
They're in a totally different family, but they kind of
look like daisies. I've just the most bright and beautiful
colors and they just glisten in the sun. They just
they have this like shininess to them that is really
unlike anything else. And so this was my first year
(38:02):
with these, and they're in my front yard and oh
my gosh, my neighbors were telling me people are stopping
all the time to look at that. People are freaking
out at these plants. They are really really special. And
like I said, I have found better survival with the
new proven Winners ones than any other ones. And I
learned something important from my experience with these, and that
(38:25):
is if you are in an area so these are
hardy down to I think they consider I'm hard to
Zone six the Kaleidoscope series, So if you're in a
colder area like us. I have never started with gallon
plants before. I always had little court plants or plugs
or something that I was trying and not really getting
good plants established quickly. Starting with these gallons has made
(38:49):
a world of difference and they have formed now a
really really nice carpet just in a matter of months.
So that has been a really eye opening experience for
me to say, if you haven't had luck with ice
plants before, definitely seek out those one gallon plants even
right now. Get them in the ground, let them put
on a good root system before winter comes. And yeah,
(39:10):
I mean they're stunning.
Speaker 1 (39:11):
I love it. Succulent annuals to consider. Of course, I
mentioned the mojave yellow per slain. But lemon coral seedum,
oh yeah, you know what a neat plant, and it's tough,
and you would think that that chartreuse foliage would be
kind of spiky and tough, but actually they're very pedible.
Speaker 2 (39:30):
Oh yeah, very soft, so soft. Yeah, and I've had
that plant over winter for me before. So a lot
of people get the proven Winners Lemon coral, which is
one of the plants of people are crazy about in
the proven Winn's line. They get it confused with angelina,
even though they're so. Angelina is a very very popular
seedum that is also gold and does kind of look
(39:51):
superficially similar. But the difference is that Angelina grows as
kind of a stringy plant, whereas the lemon coral seedum
grows as a clump. So it makes it a really
nice filler plant. A specimen plant. It is considered hardy,
I think, down to like USDA Zone seven. But it
has overwintered for me many times. It just never really
(40:13):
gets big enough to withstand any serious winter challenges. But
a really really cool plant that yeah, it's just well,
you know, we've already established that I love yellow.
Speaker 1 (40:26):
So have you tried the mizu, the trailing daisy, the
living stone daisy? Not many people have.
Speaker 2 (40:35):
That plant is not to my taste. Yeah, I'm gonna
just say that.
Speaker 1 (40:38):
Well, because some people just do not find that variegation attractive.
Speaker 2 (40:43):
It's not.
Speaker 1 (40:43):
Yeah, and I have found that that again, variegation is
one of these polarizing things.
Speaker 2 (40:49):
But yeah, I have seen people like in the Peri
Winter's Gardening groups on Facebook go bananas for that plant.
They absolutely love it. And yeah, so I'm glad that
there is a riot for all of us out there.
Speaker 1 (41:02):
If you're interested in succulents, look for the set of areas,
the set of area hybrids like jet beads. That is
such a cool plant in my mind. And then of
course Stacy the past few years art and soul Mangavi
has become quite popular.
Speaker 2 (41:20):
Yeah, so those are really cool. And I know that's
a funny word, but it is a intergeneric hybrid between
agave and Manfreda. So a lot of people know agave
of course, at least from tequila, if not from actually
knowing the plants themselves. Manfreda less so, so it's a
hybrid between those two. And they are kind of like
small Agavi's. They aren't super hardy. I think most of
(41:43):
them are hardy down to USDA Zone seven. I have
found that they can withstand a little bit of cold
here in Michigan, but not a lot and I have
found unfortunately for me, but again, my house doesn't have
a lot of light. They didn't really make a great houseplant.
But if you have really bright southern facing windows and
can give them a lot of light, I think they
should be able to make it through the winter and
(42:04):
then you can put them back outside and they'll recover
really quick. But they are very cool, amazing colors, amazing.
Speaker 1 (42:10):
So many cultivars. I mean it's fantastic, and of course
the Manfreda crossed with the agave. The characteristic of Manfreda
that's fantastic is just the patterns and so you get
some really body Yeah, yeah, I love that. So with succulents,
they're going to need a grittier soil than other plants
because they're adapted to dry conditions. Storing the water in
(42:33):
their leaves. Don't if you're using them in containers outside
or indoors, don't use a regular potting soil. It's my opinion,
I think that there are some great soils out there
for succulents. They want a sandy well. I'm saying sandy,
a gritty, well draining soil. And one thing that I've
(42:54):
seen from my perspective, Stacey, in the garden center industry,
whether indoors or outdoors, are the mistake that I see
people making is that they'll get a mister bottle and
they'll missed succulent.
Speaker 2 (43:05):
Oh no, you don't want to miss your succulents, but.
Speaker 1 (43:10):
Really, Or I'll walk into a garden center and I'll
see a misguided employee who's out there missing all the
mist guided What you said, see, I pun and I
don't even know I'm doing it anymore.
Speaker 2 (43:27):
So it's it's freaking nature.
Speaker 1 (43:29):
A deep infrequent watering. Let's touch on that just for
a second, because again, what I see for some folks
is they don't know how much to water, so a
little bit every day, the soils wet in the upper
profile dry in the bottom. The plant suffers. So generally
it's recommended that succulents like deep but very infrequent watering.
(43:51):
Do you think that's a good description or would you disagree?
Speaker 2 (43:54):
I mean that's pretty much what mine get, and they're
doing pretty great. I think that sometimes they could probably
use a little bit more water than what I give them,
at least the hardy ones that are outside. And sometimes
the rainfall is not very obliging, as we have mostly
seen this year. But yeah, all mine really get is rainfall,
and they mostly do okay. Sometimes they look you know,
(44:16):
sometimes it does impact how well they grow. They'll stay shorter.
If they're not getting enough water, they may not flower,
but that's not really a huge deal to me. They
certainly can survive and still keep looking pretty darn great.
Speaker 1 (44:29):
There you go. So drainage is the key drainage is
key and don't be misguided. I want to write that
one down. That's a good one. Thank you, Stacy, it's
been fun to you. Thank you Adriana, and thank you
to you for watching on YouTube, listening to the radio
version and our podcast. Have yourself a great one.
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