Garden Regrets and Learning From Them

Regrets? We've had a few, and maybe you have too, which is why we're dedicating this episode to the things we wish we had - and hadn't - done in the garden. Featured shrub: Let's Dance Arriba reblooming hydrangea.

Episode Transcript

(00:02):
It's time for the Gardening Simplified podcast, YouTube and radio show coming to you
from Studio A. Here at provenwinner's color choice. Shrugs. It's Stacy,
Hervella me Rick weisst and our engineerand producer Adrianna Robinson. Well,
Stacy the Garden of Regrets. Yourhome's garden, landscape lawn does not come

(00:23):
with a warning label. Man itdoesn't come with an owner's manual. Not
that you'd read the owner's manual,but it doesn't for that matter. And
you know, when you think aboutwarning labels, you ever read the warning
label they put on Christmas lights forindoor or outdoor use? Only? What
other use? Would therap be here? Right? And I took my grandson

(00:46):
to the playground the other day andthere was a warning on the playground equipment.
It said warning physical activity carries inherentrisks. What you know? I
remember them Mary go rounds when wewere kids in the seventies, and you'd
always have the daredevil who'd spin itas fast as he could, right and

(01:07):
see who could go flying off.Or those giant metal slides whereby two o'clock
in the afternoon, the surface ofthat slide is like three hundred and twenty
five degrees. But anyhow, warninglabels or regrets you know, we have
it's a touchy subject. We havemotivational speakers that key in on regrets.

(01:30):
You know, I've heard them saythe pain of discipline or the pain of
regret. The difference is discipline weighsounces, while regret weighs tons. And
then on the other hand, wehave motivational speakers who say to us,
well, the biggest regret of yourlife won't be what you did, but
rather what you didn't do. That'sprobably true. Yeah, so I don't

(01:53):
know how that applies to the gardennecessarily, but in life that is probably
true. But like, you know, you could see a great plant on
or at a garden center that youdon't usually see and just be like,
eh, I don't know where Iwould put it, although I don't know
what gardener in the right mind evernot doesn't buy something because they don't know
really put maybe a treat. Butyou know, so let's tee up some
regrets. And as a matter offact, that's right first on my list.

(02:15):
Impulsive plant buying and placement, spacing, improper spacing or putting a plant
in the wrong location. That's gotto be one of the top regrets of
gardeners. Oh yeah, but that'salso just part of gardening, and most
of the time you don't have toregret that if you put something in the
wrong spot it's not doing well,or maybe it's doing too well, you

(02:35):
can usually move it and correct that, so you don't you know, that's
that's like where the learning happens ingardening. Got it from your mistakes,
trying to do too much at once, pacing, making your garden too big.
Here's a garden regret that I hearoften, and that is listening to
a neighbor or relative. Oh,I guess it depends on your neighbor a

(02:57):
relative. Well. I had anindividual, as a matter of fact,
on next week's show, we're goingto talk about dog scaping, and I
had an individual who said to methat his neighbor told him, because the
dog was tearing up the lawn,why don't you just plant all crabgrass?
What? Yes, So there yougoof And of course tied into that in

(03:20):
garden regrets is believing everything you seeand read on the internet. Don't do
that. Not correcting slope and drainageprior to planting, and the same can
be said for soil preparation. Ithink one of the keys to gardening is
good soil preparation and understanding your soil. And if you're in a hurry to

(03:42):
stick that plant in the ground andyou don't create a good foundation, Stacy,
you're going to regret it later.Yet usually you will, and it
will show up quick planting too closeto a structure, not taking into account
its eventual size. And coming upon today's show in segment four, we're
gonna ask Rick Weist, not thisRick Weist, my son Rick Weist,

(04:04):
who is an arborist, but Stacy. We see that with trees all the
time, where they're just planted tooclose to a structure, and after ten
or twenty years, you've got aproblem on your head. You know,
it absolutely is a problem. ButI kind of even though it's bad,
I can't blame people for doing thisbecause it is so impossible even to me,

(04:26):
as a horticulturist, to believe thatthat little you know, five gallon
sap leg that you have in yourhands legitimately should be planted sixty feet from
your house. You know, likeyou put that little thing out there and
it's lost and it's sad, andyou just have to be thinking to yourself,
surely I could not. This isnot going to end up being,
you know, sixty feet wide,and it can be very hard to live.

(04:49):
I mean, I think people dothat even with something not trees like
hydranges, big leaf hydrange is it'svery common for people to buy a little
cute one gallon Oh it's so adorablethat says it's going to be five feet
that's not going to happen, andthen they put it right under their dining
room window and next thing, youknow, disaster you got it. Or
preparing for weather conditions, whether itbe frost or hey, folks, in

(05:12):
some parts of the country, hailnetting is a thing. Wow, I
didn't know that. Yeah, whereyou plant in spring and they frequently would
get hail in spring and then therego all your vegetable plants. Of course,
plants. Putting plants in the groundthat are a commitment. Sometimes it
becomes a regret, like lily ofthe Valley, or violets or English ivy

(05:34):
or Norway maple is a perfect example. Boy does that tree seed like crazy.
It's not a great maple tree.Although I did I think Strativari used
Norway maple on the backs of theStrativarius violins. Still not a good enough
reason to plant, in my opinion. I mean, you know, it

(05:58):
provides shade, but it does literallynothing else. It doesn't really have nice
flowers, it doesn't have good fallcolor. It's not really like great for
pollinators. I agree, it's youcan do so much better. I'd add
black walnuts to the list, andof course ornamental pairs. And some people
would even argue nasturtiums because once youplant nasturtiums in your garden, well you're
gonna have nasturtiums. Oh that's aproblem. I wish I had water sources

(06:24):
for your plants. So putting plantsin the ground and not paying attention to
a water source. And here's agarden regret that I really like, and
that is planning to use the fruitsof your labor. In other words,
eyes bigger than your stomach. Yourgoals are too lofty. And I'm primarily
talking about vegetable gardening. When tomatoesand zucchini are in abundance, and august

(06:48):
or cucumbers, and now what doI do with this? You know,
I have a friend who fits thatdescription. To a tea in March.
She was so excited to plant herseedlings, kept saying, can I do
it already? Can I do itnow? Can I do it now?
And I was like, it wouldbe better if you waited. And you
know, she's all excited to getout into the garden and plant everything.
And I know coming up in acouple of weeks here she's going to be

(07:12):
Please take some tomatoes, please,pepper, zucchini anything. That's what I
do. I fill a bag,put it on the neighbor's front porch,
ring the doorbell, and run now. Initial planting as opposed to set it
and forget it. In other words, if you're excited about planting an area,
let's say you do some tilling.You may be bringing weed seeds up

(07:35):
to the surface. Or let's talkabout quack grass. My word, with
quack grass, you go through thereuntil you're going to be propagating the plant.
Maybe it's horsetail. So making sureto take care of the vegetation that's
in that area first and making sureit's taken care of well before you get

(07:55):
in there and plant, because you'regoing to have regret if you don't.
Yeah, you know, I actuallyhave a mailbag question along those lines.
If we have time to get tooit should be very interesting, all right,
providing protection for susceptible plants as faras deer or rabbit damage is concerned.
Putting off what you can do nowand forgetting to do it later.

(08:16):
Uh yeah, I do that alot, a lot. You know here
in the Midwest or in the north. You know, if you've got a
young tree we were talking about saplings, If you have a young tree and
just you know, not putting thewrap on the trunk in October and then
having Southwest disease flare up where thebark expands and contracts during the winter,

(08:39):
and then you have the splitting ofthat bar. It's going to be there
for good. It's going to remindyou over and over again that you procrastinated
not going to kill the tree.But again, that's one of those things
that belongs in the garden read well. And you know, along those same
lines, a huge regret in myarea that sometimes happens and it's heartbreaking to
see, is buck So you know, if you have a young sapling in

(09:03):
fall, the bucks go out thereand they try to rub all the velvet
off of their antlers on. Theyspecifically target young trees, so they have
to be like, you know,certain caliber, certain diameter, and boy,
when you see one of those trees, I mean, they absolutely destroy
it. And it's just a simplething. Whereas if you just put like
a little one of those like kindof drainage tiles or something around it,
they can't access it. And that'sa odds of preventions worth a pound of

(09:26):
cure in that case. There yougo. You know, I want to
add to the garden of regrets tosomething that I've seen through the years.
I have a neighbor across the street. His yard is immaculate. His garage
is so clean you could eat offthe floor. I mean, everything is
in place. He was insistent onusing stone mulch. I am not a

(09:46):
fan of stone mulch, like shreddedmulches. I don't think stone mulches are
good for plants. And then youknow, you start to have weeds grow
up through it. Whatever it maybe. A stone mulch drives me crazy.
I told him not to do it. He did it. Now he's
regretted. Oh well, he bettershell out if he's going to want it.

(10:07):
Taken away, because that is notan inexpensive task to ask someone to
rake up all your gravel mulch andhaul it away. Yikes. Send us
your notes, your emails, yourcomments, your questions at Gardeningsimplified on air
dot com, and well, sharewith us some of your garden regrets.
We'd love to hear from you.Let's find out what Stacey's going to talk

(10:28):
about during Plants on Trial and howshe'll tie this into garden regrets that's coming
up next here on the Gardening SimplifiedShow. Proven Winner's Color Choice Shrubs cares
about your success in the garden.That's why we trial and test all of

(10:48):
our shrubs for eight to ten years, making sure they outperform everything else on
the market. Look for them inthe distinctive white container at your local garden
center. Greeting's gardening friends and comeback to the Gardening Simplified Show, where
the topic of the day is regrets. Regrets in the garden, regretting doing
things, regretting not doing things.And you know, if I was thinking,

(11:09):
like, what is my biggest gardenregret, and you know, on
a small scale, it would bethe time that I when I was first
gardening, and I pruned all mylavender back to the ground in spring,
thinking oh, this looks awful,and I killed on my lavender and that
was a regret. But at thesame time, I've never forgotten that lesson,
and I have never since pruned lavenderincorrectly again. So you know that's

(11:33):
so regret conserve a purpose. Butyou know, recently, if I have
a substantial garden regret, it isnot removing my lawn sooner. So you
know, I've talked a little bit. I've talked a little bit this year
here and there about the fact thatI did have my lawn removed. They
brought out a sidecutter, grated itall out, covered everything in shredded bark
mulch for the time being, tobuy time. But eventually we'll be,

(11:56):
you know, building a series ofbeds in different garden rooms and interconnecting them
with paths. And my garden looksso much better without my lawn. Now,
to be fair, my lawn lookedghastly. It was not a nice
lawn. So it's not like Itook out this beautiful, lush green carpet
and said bye. You know,it was a very sad lawn. And
everything looks just so much better withthe mulch. It's a lot easier to

(12:18):
care for, and it's just putit kind of reinvigorated my whole garden like
that, you know that said,I also am the kind of person who
you know, wants to think longand hard about the decisions that I make
in the garden, and sometuns you'renot ready to commit. So I'm not
sure I could have committed to itsooner. But now once you've done it,
you're kind of like, oh,should have done this years ago.

(12:39):
Well, through the years working withpeople, I've learned that one of the
regrets is fomo fear of missing outand fear of missing out on plant bargains
and that sort of thing. Butthe other regret that I see often is
going with the smaller planter, notgetting a big enough pot that you put.

(13:00):
That's a big regret. Yeah,for sure. It's kind of like
Julia Child said, you can neverreally start with too small of a bowl,
Like the same kind of thing.You might regret how much soil you
need to buy to fill it,but you will be glad you have the
larger container in the long run.And you know, similarly, along the
same lines. If we're talking containers, if you see a container that you

(13:22):
like at a good price, buyit. You will not see it again.
This is not something you can justgo online and shop for and expect
to have. Fine. You know, it's not like they have, you
know, model numbers. Necessarily,they're easy to find, so grab it.
If you love a container, youdeserve it, you should buy it.
Buy it. So, yeah,when I was thinking about today's plant

(13:43):
on trial, you know, Iagain, as usual, lots of directions
that I could go, but Ihad to pick a plant that I would
say. I consistently hear about themost regret from gardeners. Now they don't
regret planting it necessarily, but theywere regret the things that they have done.
They regret maybe where they planted it, and they almost certainly regret pruning

(14:07):
it. And that plant is hydrangeOf macrophilla, the good old big leaf
hydrangea. If I had a dimefor every time I heard that, yes,
I'd be a rich man. Andeven people have such good intentions when
they go into planting hydrange of macphillaor a big leaf hydrangea. They love
them. They're just like such theepitome of summer, and they have these

(14:28):
dreams of big blousy blue orbs inthe garden and they're psyched and they're excited.
But then they go to the gardencenter and you know, as I
was explaining, they might get thiscute little one gallon and look at the
tag and say, h five feetwide. Surely, I don't need to
plant this appropriately. It's never goingto get that big. But it does
so very often people plant them improperly, absolutely, and don't call me surely,

(14:52):
especially the older variety. So newervarieties tend to be much much more
compact, but older varieties, ifyou're looking for any of the like old
antique varieties and Nico blue, allof those, I mean, those can
easily if they have abundant water andgood growing conditions, they can reach six
feet tall or more, and thatobviously can cause a sighting problem. And
then, of course, the otherregret with big leaf hydrangels is pruning,

(15:15):
because you know, for all oftheir great qualities, when winter rolls around
and a big leaf hydrangel loses itsleaves, it just looks like it should
be cut back. There is justno denying it. It's like a cosmic
joke or something. They look sothey just look dead and they look like
they should be cut back. Butif you fall for that trick and you

(15:35):
cut your hydrangel back in fall orwinter or early spring, well you've cut
off all the flower buds that itwas already made for that summer. So
you regret printing it now. Hopefullymost people do learn that lesson, but
a lot of times what happens ismaybe the person who planted it learned their
lesson, but there's always a wellintentioned child home from college or landscaper or

(15:56):
spouse or whatever that comes along andcuts of back between couples. I can't
candy coat this. It is.Yeah, nothing makes me shake more than
getting a note from someone that says, please set on an argument between my
spouse and all the time, no, please don't bring me into it.
And then, of course, thethird potential regret with planting a big leaf

(16:18):
hydrangea is planting a big leaf hydrangeathat was developed primarily for the way it
looks and not the way it performs. And you know, here at proven
Mainter's color choice, we have reallybeen laser focused on hydrangea performance. You
know, to us I think thepretty is a given. You could walk
around in our hydrange trials and Idon't think that there are There might be

(16:40):
some that maybe aren't to someone's taste, but they're all pretty because they all
have these great qualities that people like, the glossy foliage, those big blousy
flowers, bright colors. But wedon't just look and say, hey,
that's a pretty hydrangel, let's introduceit. We're really focused on improving performance
because we know how much regrets thatpeople have when it comes to planting big
leaf hydranges. So what we andwhat we've done with recent introductions to our

(17:06):
Let's Dance series in today's plant onTrial is Let's Dance Ariba hydrorangea. What
we've done with this series as wehave pinpointed two main features that we are
specifically selecting plants for that make abig difference in how it performs. The
first one is we're looking for bigleaf hydrangels that set their flower buds along

(17:26):
the entire length of their stem.So before older varieties of big leaf Hyderrangea
they only set them at the topbud, and these older one or these
newer ones that we're looking at theyset them along the entire length of the
stem. So what that means is, in those old varieties, if they
lost that top bud, there goyour flowers. You've got nothing for the
following summer with these. If theyaccidentally get cut back, which they should

(17:48):
not, but if they do,they'll still flower. If they get killed
back by winter killed, they'll stillflower. If they get browsed by deer,
they still have flower buds lower downon the plant to bloom on old
wood. And then because a rebloomingHydrangea also blooms on new wood, we've
focused on the amount of time ittakes these plants to develop those new wood
blooms, and we're trying to getthat down to a smaller time period now.

(18:12):
Typically older reblooming hydrangeas need to createsix sets of leaves before they can
set a new wood flower, andthat it takes a long time, especially
in a cooler climate like ours.So we're trying to get that down.
Does it can it set fewer?Does it? Can it set it with
shorter internodes so it doesn't have tomake as much growth as those older varieties.

(18:33):
So are recent introductions into the Let'sDance series Let's Dance, Skyview and
Let'stance can do exhibit this characteristic,but those have already been plants on trial.
So I'm going with a third onethat has these amazing characteristics, and
that is a Let's Dance arriba bigleaf hydrangea rebloom big leaf Hydrangea. You
know, genetics and development and allthe work that is put into this.

(18:56):
It's amazing to me st it is, and you know, it's taken us
so many years to not just beable to identify that some hydroranges have this
feature and what a difference it makes, but to gradually transition our breeding material
that we're using to create these plantstwo plants that have that, primarily so
that more of our offspring will havethat, and then we keep developing that

(19:18):
to be a better and better andmore prominent trait among the plants. So
you know, all of the plants, the three Let's Stance that have this
trait are all hardy to USDA Zonefour. And it's not just that they
will live in USDA Zone four.All three of these will bloom in USDA
Zone four, which is a hugechange compared to older ones. But what's

(19:38):
different about Let's Dance a Reba thanthe other two, and we'll link to
all of them of course in theshow notes at gardening simplified on air dot
Com. Is the color. So, you know, a lot of people
when it comes to hydrange of color, they have some awareness that the soil
needs to be acidic, and maybethey also know that it needs to contain
aluminum for a hydrange it to beblue or purple. But that's not all

(20:00):
of the equation. A hydrangeous flowercolor is primarily determined by the genetics of
the planet itself, by the inherentability of the plant to be a certain
color. And Let's Dance Ariba isone of those that just has that bright,
bold gene. And so when yousee Let's Dance Ariba in the garden,
it's just like a beacon. Ithas just like a deep raspberry red

(20:23):
color. If you are in alkalinesoil or soil without aluminium, and if
you are in soil with aluminum andor acidic soil, you're going to get
a purple you know. That's I'venoticed that in the garden center, Stacey.
Of course I help out in agarden center or when I'm out on
the road. If I run acrossa garden center. I can't help it.

(20:44):
The carriages veers in there and Iwalk around, but I'm amazed at
how ariba looks in the pot.Oh yeah, I mean it's a beautiful
plant. It really is. It'sone of those plants that if you see
it, you just have to haveit. You will not regret buying it
either, because it will actually performfor you. Now, a lot of
people mistakenly think that that purple colordevelops if you're just right in between acidic

(21:07):
and alkalini. That's not true.Purple is actually a genetic trait, and
let's dance. Ariba is one ofthose that if you like a purple rather
than a blue, it's a greatplant. Now I could go on and
on talking about hydrangees. I'd lovetalking about hydrange's. It's hydrange of season,
but we almost have to take abreak again. This is let's stance.
Ariba hydrange hardy to USDA zone fortwo to three feet tall and wide,

(21:29):
So you don't need to worry aboutit overgrowing your dining room windows and
regretting where you placed it. Soif you've been disappointed by hydrangees, if
you have hydrange of Regrets. Ihope that you will try Let's Dance Ariba,
Let's Dance Skyview, or Let's Dancecan Do. They all have these
great features that we hope will endhydrange of Regret for good. We're gonna
take a little break. When wecome back, we're opening up the garden

(21:49):
mail bag, so please stay tuned. At proven Winner's color Choice, We've
got a shrub for every taste andevery 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 thewhite containers have been trialed and tested for

(22:12):
your success. Look for them atyour local garden center. Greeting's gardening friends,
and welcome back to the Gardening SimplifiedShow, where it's time for us
to answer your gardening questions. Ifyou have a gardening question for us to
answer, you can reach us athelp HLP at Gardening Simplified on Air dot
com, or just visit Gardening Simplifiedon Air dot com. We got a

(22:33):
contact form there. We make itreal easy. You can even attach a
photo and you know. The orderof the day is garden Regrets. And
I heard from Patty, who definitelydoes not have any regrets. She sent
a photo of a beautiful combination ofproven winner's annuals that she created, and
she just said, just wanted tosay, this combination of blew my mind

(22:53):
of Volvulus white lantana in whirlwind Scavolapurple is one of my absolutely favorites and
it is a great combination. Well, I looked at the photo. Gorgeous
and for folks who are watching onYouTube, but you can see a picture
of Patty's plant, are there?That is fabulous. Yeah, you know,
I wouldn't have thought to put theblue and purple together, but it

(23:15):
really works. And I love blewmy mind of Olvulus. I think it's
a neat plant, but I haveregretted planting it before because I'll tell you
why. Okay, a reason thatit's a great plan. I do like
it, but the flowers close reallyearly in the afternoon, So as a
person with a full time job,I regret having a plant that I can

(23:37):
only enjoy two days and the budsclose up. So a great plant,
but definitely one for those who canenjoy it during the day when the flowers
are open. So please do visitGardening Simplified on air dot com and check
out Patty's Amazing planter. We hada question from North. Yeah, North
says, as you probably know,it's hot and dry out here in den

(24:00):
Some of our tomato plants are curlingon the ends of the leaves. Now
the curling is progressing and even bunchingup. According to Google, that is
probably from heat stress and lack ofwater. At first, I thought it
looked like aphid, so I sprayed, but it's still curling. On Google
I found heat stress and possibly fungus, so I sprayed for that. Now

(24:22):
I'm wondering if something else is goingon. Do you have some thoughts?
And as a matter of fact,what I did with this one, Stacey
was I reached out to North becauseI wanted to know more details. Was
he planting in a container or washe planting in the ground. Well,
he was planting in the ground.I think the issue here is more physiological.

(24:45):
In other words, the soil,the heat, the heat stress,
how dry it is there in Denver, and the plant is showing the effects
of that. As a matter offact, I mentioned to North that when
in the future, when he plantsthe tomato to deep plant them along the
stem, giving a larger root massso that when it gets hot and dry,

(25:07):
it's easier to care for tomato plants. Also, he's feeding with a
water soluble fertilizer, and I'm justnot a big fan of water soluble fertilizers
with tomatoes because they're here today gonetomato, but rather dry feeds like the
Aspoma tomato tone, which have micronutrientsin them as well as the macro nutrients.

(25:30):
So that's kind of my feeling onNorth's dilemma, right, you know,
I think people do when they seecurling leaves, they kind of freak
out and they're like, oh,something's wrong. It's got a disease,
it's got a pest. But especiallyyou know, I would say nine times
out of ten, it's almost certainlya cultural issue. It's something about where
and how the plant is growing.And anytime you see a plant leaf curling

(25:52):
and there's not an obvious sign ofan insect like in the hydrange of leaf
tire or something like that, what'stypically happening is that the plant is trying
to reduce the amount of leaf surfacethat's exposed to the sun, and by
curling that leaf inward. Not onlyis it reducing the amount of leaf surface
it's exposed to the sun, butit's hiding the stomata on the underside of
the leafs, so it's transpiring lessor losing less water. Now of course,

(26:14):
in Denver, mile high city,very high altitude, so that sun
is much much more intense. Now. You know, North may not have
been growing tomatoes for years and hasonly seen this for the first time.
It could be variety dependent, Itcould be due to you know, just
where it was and making the transitionfrom the greenhouse to you know where it's
planted now in your yard. There'sa lot of reasons. But I would

(26:36):
say as long as the growth ishealthy, you know, it's continuing to
put out a lot of new growthand flowering and fruiting, well I would
just chalk this up to a culturalcondition and not really worry about it.
Yeah, you make a great point, Staceye. You know a plant that
I think of is weeping fig thehouse plant, and how that mid rib
down the center of the foliage isso dominant when the plant is shipped out

(26:56):
of Florida because it gets hot andsunny in Florida, and that foliage can
fold on itself. We bring itup north into homes in Minnesota or Michigan,
and they're getting not much light.That mid rib almost goes away.
So a plant's ability to curl orfold on itself due to heat is certainly
a factor. Tricksye writes to us, please help. This is a three

(27:21):
year old summerrific French vanilla. Ohlove, you know I love my summer.
You're asking the right person. Ithought it was dead. I mean
I had lost all hope. I'min south central Texas. That's hot.
The first year it flowered but didn'tgrow much. The second year it grew
some and flowered a lot, butat the end of the season it seemed
like it was struggling. She's givenit to her best efforts. But summer

(27:45):
arrives in mid April, and byMay one, everybody is usually awake and
growing in her garden. But tocheck this baby, maybe three weeks ago,
no signs of life. Yesterday Isaw her looking sickly but growing.
Basically, tricks He wants to knowwhat do I do with this summerrific French

(28:06):
vanilla. Right, So it's kindof a crazy situation. I had to
do a double take on the datethat Trixy sent this, because you know
we've talked about it before that thesummer pic hibiscus are one of the last,
if not the last perennial to startto show signs of life in spring,
but in Texas, for it tonot show any signs of life until
late June is wild. That's whythat is totally out of character for this

(28:27):
plant. And you know what exactlyis happening, I don't know. I
actually didn't think that the growth lookedall that unhealthy. It definitely looks like
it's trying. And hibiscus have reallynice, big kind of tuborist routes,
so they can store a lot ofenergy in those that they can use to
try to emerge again. So atTrixy, I don't know. You know,

(28:48):
these are water loving plants. Ican get away with them being fairly
dry here in Michigan because our summersaren't nearly as hot as they are there.
So I don't know if this isan issue of the plant simply needing
more water, very well could be. So what I would recommend that you
do is I would recommend you fertilizeit so you can just use, you
know, whatever you have like ayou know, a spoma garden tone or

(29:10):
anything like that would be fine.I would fertilize it for the next I
would fertilize it now and then maybetwice more over the season, and water
that in well and keep an eyeon the watering. And I hope I
think that what should happen is thatshould build it back up so that it's
more you know, happy. Overall, they're pretty pest free plants, so

(29:30):
I think this is again more likea lot of what North was dealing with,
just a cultural issue. Yeah,they like lots of sunshine and that
moist, well drained soil. You'reright, they are water users, no
question. Oh And she also askshow do I get rid of this evil
bermuda grass, which I thought wasa good subject to address quickly here on
our Regrets show, because a lotof people who have planted bermuda grass have

(29:52):
gone on to regret it. It'snot really a warm climate grass. It's
definitely more of a cool up.It is a warm climate grass, and
I spoke it's not really a coolclimate grass, but it grows really really
tight to the ground and it putsout these little runners that is nearly impossible
to manage once it's established. Butinterestingly, if this is a possibility for
you, Trixy, here is aninteresting way to manage it. Research has

(30:15):
shown that if you interplant it withtall fescue, so this fall, go
ahead and plant tall fescue grass seedalong with it, just overseaed it and
you mow it for a year atfour inches tall, that the bermuda grass
hates shade so much that the fourinch fscue will actually shade it out and
completely get rid of the bermuda grass. It's a great idea, and tall

(30:37):
fescue is drought tolerant and it istraffic tolerant, and it's that solution is
very similar to simply raising the deckon your mower and giving grass a competitive
edge against weeds. So you know, if there's other places that's going into
your beds or whatever, try usingshade as a technique because it cannot live

(30:59):
with full sun. And apparently thatis an effective way to manage it,
much more so than herbicides. Fantasticand Stacey Lindsay writes to us, We've
got fourteen very well established, incrediblehydranges flanking the front of the home and
they love them. The neighbors lovethem, but they're struggling with bindweed.
Yes, And oh my gosh,for Lindsay sent this photo. I opened

(31:22):
it and I just gasped. Herhydrangees are so beautiful and so beautifully sighted
in front of her house. Butyeah, bind weed oof a terrible weed,
extremely aggressive. And she goes onto say that she had bindweed really
well established in a perennial bed andshe just dug up all the perennials and
spent a couple of days rigorously goingthrough the soil and taking out all of

(31:42):
the bind weed roots. Not afun job, but she said that that
did work, and she's wondering ifshe could do it for the hydranges.
And I would say absolutely, Lindsay, In fact, that would be my
specific recommendation. Since bind weed isevine, it's growing all up through the
hydranges, she can't use an herbicide, even if she's willing to, because
there's no way to just spray thebind weed without getting it on the hydranges

(32:04):
as well. So yeah, Ithink that digging up the hydrangs and spending
time to just completely rid that bedof the bind weed is the best solution
I have used a solution like thatsimilarly myself. But what I would recommend
is that you wait until late winterearly spring to do this, and you
do it when the hydranges are dormant, and be thorough in getting the roots

(32:25):
out because bind weed is so aggressiveand truly has an extensive roots yea a
very very extensive roots system. Andso it sounds like she's got experience with
it, she says, you know, she recognizes the roots are very distinctive
and easy to identify, which isa good thing. So yeah, what
I would say is definitely look forearly spring. And the nice thing about
doing big jobs like this in earlyspring is you're really itching to get out

(32:47):
in the garden. You have anenergy that you might not have come late
July, and so it can bea very satisfying job after a long winter.
But Lindsay, I would say,by all means, go ahead and
do it. I don't think thatthe hydrangees will be any worse for this
project by digging them and replanting them. It's a tough plant and they will
be just fine. If you havea question for us, you can reach

(33:07):
us at Gardeningsimplified on air dot com. We're going to take a little break
and when we come back, we'vegot Rick Weis to the other Rickwist,
so please stay tuned. The GardeningSimplified Show is brought to you by Proven
Winners Color Choice Shrubs. Our awardwinning flowering shrubs in evergreens have been trialed

(33:28):
and tested for your success so youenjoy more beauty and less work. Look
for Proven Winners Color Choice Shrubs inthe distinctive white container at your local garden
center. Welcome back to the GardeningSimplified Show. It's time for branching news
and stacy. A few weeks ago, we had a listener send us a

(33:50):
picture of a tree that was thinningand dying at the top. And we've
seen these pictures before and seen thathappen out in the landscape, and you
know, we were wondering, boy, when a tree reaches that point,
is there anything that you can doat that point? And what we decided
to do was to bring in anexpert and arborist, and so we thought

(34:15):
we'd bring in Rick Weist. Notthis Rick Weist, my son, Rick
Weist. Rick is an arborist withGood Earth Tree Care and as a matter
of fact, Rick had shared withme some video that they shot while they
were using an air spade and workingon the roots of a tree that they

(34:36):
were trying to save. Rick,it's great to have you here on the
Gardening simplified, Joe, good tobe here. Thanks for having me.
Yeah, thanks so much so.For folks who are watching the program on
YouTube, you'll be able to seethis video that Rick provided. But Rick,
tell us a little bit about thistree that you were called on to
try to save due to girdling rootsand problems with the roots at the base

(34:59):
of the tree. A short answerto that are A quick thought on that
is that really there's two different issues, and we did a root collar excavation
and we found only a few largergirdling roots that we actually did not cut
off. Okay, but exposing thatpart of a tree. Every tree has
a dotted line and an imaginary linemade to be above ground, made to

(35:21):
be below ground, and then there'sa transition period called the buttress roots,
and we want the roots to beexposed to oxygen, sure not under soil.
So if a different tree has reallybad girdling roots and the top of
the tree is dying like you talkedabout that is something that just today and
yesterday I had the conversation with someoneabout where it's not on their radar.

(35:45):
Most people don't stare at the topof the tree. Their eyes gravitate low.
But the first thing I do islook at the base of the tree
and then the top of the tree. Those are the two most important parts
of me. And if the topis dying, that's definitely a sign of
girdling roots. And if a treesmall enough, you can do surgery,
probably over multiple years and remove thegirdling roots. But often by the time

(36:07):
I get a call, if anormal person, a homeowner, non arborist,
notices that it doesn't look so good, you're probably too yeah. Probably.
So how long after a tree isplanted can it start showing these signs?
I mean, is it? Isit? You know? Five years?
Is it fifteen years? Does itvary by the species or in the

(36:28):
growing environment? Definitely varies by species. There's a particular species around here that
it's incredibly common, not in thewoods, only in urban areas where humans
are planting the trees. Nature doesa good job maples, ok. And
most of them are also hybrid natives, and some of those are invasive.
So, but that's like the mostcommon problem that I see with maple trees

(36:52):
is girdling roots. And most humansdon't realize that there's a place that they're
supposed to put it at ground level. They just throw it in the ground.
And sometimes I'm in a backyard andI say, oh, somebody got
lucky, you know, forty yearsago. That tree. It's definitely planted
by a human, but it's gottengood root flare. So so root flair.

(37:14):
Describe root flair to us? Whatis it you look for? Well,
I'll often point out to someone,even from a distance, when we're
looking at a tree. I'll say, you, notice how that tree is
a cylinder going into the ground,you know. And then I'll look around
and point out probably a tree ina woodline that's not planted by a human.
See how that flares out, thetrunk flares out before it goes into

(37:35):
the ground. Those are the buttressroots. That's great, that's what we
want to see, your cylinder.It's not what I want to see.
Sure, So, you know,kind of going back to what you talked
about with how long does it takefor them? That's a big issue because
again, people don't make the phonecall. If I can hop in the
dolore in and go back in time, I can fix it for you.

(37:58):
But I can't, so it's over, you know. And so there's people
where if I've gained their trust andI say, give me two hundred dollars
and I'll fix that seven hundred andfifty dollars planting that those people, you
know, the landscapers did for you. I'm not trying to dog them,
but it's wrong. Yeah, sure, and it was probably the damage was

(38:19):
the damage is usually done by thegrowers, wholesalers, the guys that have
the assembly line. That's where itstarts. And then that tree gets repotted
multiple times and then planted in theground by a human. Again, so
tell us about air spading. Sothis particular project was more of a root
collar excavation, expose it, andthen we mixed in. We use the
air spade sort of like a rototilleris the way you could think of it,

(38:43):
where we rototill the soil, weadd compost, nice rich black dirt
and then do it again and mixit in. And then after that I
recommend watering like soaking with a sprinkler, and then go back and cover it
with we use organic leaf mulch,because that will just turn into yet more
compost like a woodland floor. Generallyspeaking, I try to mimic what the

(39:07):
woods is like. Sure, sure, And in this case, this was
a tree near a church and it'sa gorgeous tree, and they just they
wanted to make sure. I guessI shouldn't use this phrase, but I
will. They were going to moveheaven and earth to try and save this
tree. Right. Well, andthat's not really true because this is a

(39:28):
wind for us because I took theinitial well Mary took the call, put
it on my schedule quote to removetree, and it's church. The priest
isn't out there. I'm looking atit, but I'm thinking this is gorgeous.
And I had an idea of whenthe structure had been built and I
was seeing extra you know, wherethey regraded, and I could tell that
the trunk was buried. So ourclient of ours had recommended us to the

(39:52):
priest after he had gotten multiple estimatesto remove the tree, and Brett and
I, the of our company,approached them with a different option. How
do you feel about puning it awayfrom the stained glass so that it doesn't
break the stained glass and we'll makethe tree healthier and reduce the risk of
it breaking. Sure, it's abig, gorgeous tree that everybody sees off

(40:12):
the highway when you're heading east Outeof Grand Rapids. So they went with
us. So that was a win, not only you know, even just
saving the tree, not that wegot the job. We get a lot
of jobs. We don't get alot of jobs, but this was a
good one for us, where youknow, you feel it's gratifying when you're
finished, like, all right,we saved you, we made you better.

(40:35):
Yeah, you know, I thinka lot of people assume that,
you know, an arborist is likethe stereotypical to a guy with a hammer.
Everything looks like a nail that theyare there in the business of just
like take it out, take itout, you know, grind it up.
And I think that a lot ofpeople don't realize that arborists, you
know, are not so much fondof their chippers as they are actually being
able to save a tree. Someof us just think differently. You know,

(40:58):
I've seen guys that write tree killare on their gloves, like come
on, man, yeah, Imean just yesterday, there's a guy who
had three estimates all ready to removetwo giant spruce trees. It was probably
going to be four or five thousanddollars. The first thing I responded after
he talked me with was these areno oi spruce. Blah blah blah.
Gave him the rundown of what theyare. They're healthy, no disease,

(41:19):
good root flair. You know,I would just prune them away from the
house, take ten to twelve branchesoff. And he's like, nobody else
even brought that up. He's like, I didn't know you could do that.
Yeah, yeah, exactly. SoI sent him the estimate and thought,
all right, I'm I got afeeling I might have just won that
one as well. So, yeah, saving trees instead of taking them out.
How often do you see tree plantingregret? In other words, you

(41:40):
go out on a job and someoneyears ago planted it too close to a
structure. How often do you seethat? Almost every day looking at something,
I say that was probably cute whenthey put it in, but they
don't realize that it's going to bea giant ye. And I'll often point
out invasive trees or trees you don'twant growing out of your foundation, and

(42:02):
then I'll look around and say,that's mommy right there, like you don't
want that growing out of your foundation. So and that's nature, but that
would be a regret of not pullingthat when it was small. Yeah,
exactly. Now, I'm sure asan arborist also you look at the whole
issue of monocultures versus diversity. Ofcourse, we experience that here in the
Midwest a few years ago with emeraldash boar trees that are streets rather that

(42:29):
are aligned with nothing but ash trees. Emerald dashboar comes along, it becomes
a serious, serious problem. I'msure you experienced that also, where in
some areas a lack of diversity createsa problem in and of itself and creates
regret. Yeah, definitely, definitely, and that goes for any species.

(42:49):
Yeah, as you know, manydiseases insects their host specific I often bring
up emerald dashboard because everyone's so familiarwith it around here, you know,
and say they didn't any other trees, only the ash. Not all diseases
are like that, but a lotare. So diversity is big, and
of course we're dealing with invasive pests. Also, for those watching on YouTube,

(43:13):
here's a picture of a couple ofhemlocks which I love in my backyard,
but I'm losing them due to woollyadelged. Adelgid was a problem that
came into the US years and yearsago. But Rick has these invasive insects
or pests or diseases come along,they travel, and that's unfortant. We're

(43:35):
able to anticipate the problem, andyet there it is on your doorstep.
Yep. And then finances is whatI think. You know, taxes aren't
going to take care of that insectsand stop it in its tracks. And
one tenth of people are going topay money to try and save that tree.
So there's are trees. Just lastweek I saw on ash and then

(43:58):
the first thing that pops into myhead, if it looks good, I
can tell these people they're not treatingit. I'm like that was treated in
the late nineties, two thousands,even past then, you know it wasn't
long ago. But it is likea swarm. Like you said, it's
like a horror film. They comethrough like a locust plague and they move
on to where there's more food.You bet. So for our listeners,

(44:21):
for folks watching on YouTube or listeningon the podcast or radio Rick as an
arborist getting into many people's yards,and of course today's show is about garden
regrets. What's your best advice forpeople who are looking to establish trees?
Do your research, what are yourrecommendations, what are the primary mistakes you

(44:43):
see being made? Well, whenyou get species specific, that's about certain
situations, but as far as justgeneral good practices planting number one is planting
depth m hm. Another first thingI say is try to stay native or
at least hybrid native. But eventhe high natives, there's neighborhoods that can
drive you to them. Where theoak, white oaks, right oaks,

(45:04):
white pine's the dominant native forests.Every sapling is a maple, and I
know it's the ones in the frontyards that are in everybody's front yard.
So that's the future of that woods. No more oaks, So let's try
to stay native. Planting depth,soil, soil, soil, soil,
well, how wide do I digit? How wide are you willing to
go? Because someday the roots onthat tree are going to be fifty feet

(45:27):
more and more in a radius aroundthat tree. So soil and then early
years just like any plant, youknow, if it's hot and dry in
the summer water once a week,it's okay, you bet you bet.
Well. Some of these issues wecan avoid if we want to, Stacy,
but again, it's all about andwe talk about it on this show.
Trying to anticipate some of these issuesand educating yourself. Absolutely, got

(45:51):
to do your research, absolutely,Rick, thanks for joining us on the
Gardening Simplified Show. Rick Weist isan arborist with Good Earth Tree Care and
just happens to be my son also, and thanks for joining us on the
show. Rick, appreciate it.Thanks for having me well. I am
inspired to plant a tree with noregrets. Now you have to decide which
one it's going to be, andthat's the hardest part of all. So

(46:13):
thank you so much, Rick,Thank you, Rick, thank you Adriana,
and thanks so much to all ofyou for listening. We hope you
have a wonderful week ahead.