August 10, 2024 • 56 mins
Panicle hydrangeas are dominating the landscape right now - learn just how easy to grow they really are. Plus, an interview with Dr. Allan Armitage on North vs South gardening. Featured shrub: Limelight hydrangea.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Broadcasting from Studio A. Here at proven winners Color Joy Shrubs.
It's time for the Gardening Simplified Show with Stacy Hervella
me Rick weissten our engineer and producer Adrianna Robinson. Well,
do you need a spectacular hedge or romantic stunning cut flowers,
or maybe a knock your socks off specimen plant? Then
(00:25):
a panicle hydrangea maybe just the answer. This show is
in praise of panicles and Stacy, have you ever met
somebody famous. You know you're going to be meeting this person,
and you're telling yourselfself, don't say something stupid, don't be stupid,
and then of course when you walk up to them,
you say something stupid like you're my biggest fan. I've
(00:49):
done that. And I tell you what panicle hydranges are
like a rock star. And I have read, including material
that you've written Stacy, that it is a fabulous blooming
plant for those who consider themselves maybe black thumbs.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
The so called black thumb. Yeah, they're definitely one of
the easiest and most rewarding plants, flowering shrubs, perennials, anything
that you can grow. I mean, it really is that simple.
But you know, before we get too far into it.
You know last time it was one hundredth episode. Yeah,
we put out a survey for our listeners to fill out,
(01:30):
and a couple of listeners I just want to acknowledge
this said they had a quote hydrangea hangover that we've
been doing an awful lot about hydrangeas and this is true,
And to those people, we're sorry. This was already planned
to do the show. But stick with us because honestly,
even if you're like a hydrangea hater and they're out there,
(01:51):
this is a plant that is worth growing because honestly,
I can think of very very few plants again, perennials,
flowering shrubs, trees, whatever, that were require so little and
give so much for so long.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Yeah. Absolutely, panicle hydrange is. I'm a big fan. Now.
Word of the day, A panicle is. And stick with
me here, A panicle when we're talking about flowers and
plants things botanical is a branched raceme in which each
branch has more than one flower. Now my description is
(02:24):
just a multitude or cluster of flowers on a stem
forming a cone shape like inflorescence. But technically it's a
simple inflorescence in which the flowers are born on short
stalks about equal length, at equal distances along an elongated
access man losing me here. Racem is word of the day.
(02:48):
It's spelled our acee me. I guess the way to
just put it simply, Stacey, is the flower has the
wow factor and in many cases look as big as footballs.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Yeah, you know, I can't get over the fact that
receime as you just spelled it, ra c e m
e as a runner. You're not saying race me.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
Because it looks like that race me, but it's racing.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
Yes, you are correct.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
So anyhow, nothing says August like panicle hydranges in the landscape.
Great thing about these plants is that they are very cold, hardy.
They're reliable, uh and quite quite easy to grow. As
a matter of fact, Proven Winners has a great link,
a great page that you can go to. I believe
(03:38):
you wrote it, Stacey, about panicle hydrangers, and we'll put
it on the website Gardening Simplified on air dot Com. Now,
I kind of like to refer to their flower shapes
as lacy or mopheads football mops. You can get both
with the panicle hydrangers.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
That is correct. So a lot of people think think
that a mophead hydrangea is a type of hydrangea as
in like they'll refer to big leaf hydrange's Hydrangea macrophylla
as a mophead hydrangea, and that is true. But really,
any of the different species of hydrangeas that we can
grow in our gardens can in theory be a mophead
or a lace cap. And nowadays it is the mophead
(04:20):
versions of panicle hydrangeas that are easily the most popular,
all right.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
And one of the things that makes them popular, certainly
with me is transitional color as the season progresses. The
color on many of these panicle hydranges is transitional, not
based on a chemical change to the soil. Stacey my
Gut tells me from years of growing panicle hydranges that
(04:45):
it's the amount of sunlight, maybe the decrease in day length,
maybe temperature, maybe the amount of available water. Am I
right in surmising that, yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
All those factors combine. But there's another one that's really important,
and that is genetics. So you know, panicle hydrange is
nowadays and I'm going to talk about this in plants
on trial. They do turn amazing colors, and that is
one of the factors that here at proven Winner's Color
Choice shrubs we specifically look for in panicle hydranges is
that they are aging to not just a color, not
(05:17):
just a pink or red color, but to a really vibrant,
rich and bright color. And so while all of those
factors are true, the heat, especially the nighttime temperatures, moisture,
the age of your plant, those all contribute to how
well your plant colors up, but there is an inherent
capability for specific colors and the vividness of those colors
(05:39):
in each plant that you know, even if you have
all conditions right, if it's not a plant, it's going
to take on really vivid tones. It's just it's not
going to do it in your garden either.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
I love that. Now, of course, panicle hydranges have enjoyed
over the past years, this renaissance of sorts, because early
in my career I just remember panicle hydranges as being
gigantic and monstrous, and now there are so many wonderful
we're gonna call them dwarf varieties, and Stacey will talk
(06:10):
about that further on today's show. I know that when
I was in television. Certainly during the months of July, August,
and September, we when we'd go out and about recording,
I would often immediately look for the panicled hydranges, because
boy do they make a great backdrop for television.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
They do backdrop for photos for television. I mean, they
are just so showy and so beautiful, and they just
flower so much. You know, They're not one of those
plants where you're like, oh, that's blooming. It's just like
a wall of flowers. And you know, that's what people
love so much about them is you don't have to, like,
you know, be a super gardener or know anything. I mean,
(06:53):
this is pretty much as close as you can get
to a foolproof plan. You put it in the ground,
you water it, and then you know, three years later,
your neighbors are running across the street to compliment you
on your plant, and I never knew you were a gardener.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
I love that. And of course you can use it
as a specimen plant. There are tree hydranges A Hydrangea
essentially grafted to a standard right.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
Well, actually, most panicle hydrangea standards are not grafted. A
lot of people think that they are, and they can
be grafted, but actually the majority of them are grown
and trained that way specifically. So if you ever had
a panicle hydrangea, you've probably seen this, and probably some
of our listeners have too, where you know, it starts
(07:33):
to grow in the spring and it puts out like
these big, long, thick, broomstick like stalks. So that ability
is what actually lets it be grown as a standard.
So what they do typically is plant up a hydrangea
panical hydrangea in the ground, let it grow for two
seasons so it develops that nice big root mass, and
then they whack the whole thing back down to the ground.
(07:56):
And then what's going to happen, because it has all
the energy in that root mass to recover from that
severe pruning. The first straights down that comes up from that,
that's going to be the trunk. Then they let that
grow up to a certain height, then they cut that
and then it's going to branch and then you're gonna
get that nice full look. And so that is why,
as I'm sure our listeners have seen and experienced, if
(08:18):
you want a treeform standard hydrangea, they're gonna cost you
a pretty penny.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
They're pricey.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
They are very pricey, and the reason for that is
because they have all of that extra time and effort
in raising them. Fortunately, they are pretty much just as
easy to care for, a tiny bit trickier than your
regular standard panicle hydrangea. But I think people feel a
lot more motivated to make sure they're taking care of
it when they're shelling out, you know, three hundred and
(08:42):
fifty dollars for a standard panicle hydrangea.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
But it does bring up the point one of my
favorite things about panicle hydranges are the stout branches and
the fact that pruning is easy, because it's kind of
difficult to make a pruning mistake with a panicle hydrangea
in my open, but those stout branches that can hold
up those big, gorgeous blooms. So Stacy, just for you,
(09:08):
I wrote a limb a rick in praise of panicles,
My lovely, colorful panicle, Your blooms are simply gigantical. In August,
you will star in a colorful repertoire, classic and botanical.
You certainly put me in the limelight with blossoms that
stand tall upright. Based on your blooming prowess, my neighbors
(09:32):
are sure to assess. I'm not. I'm an expert, not
a neophyte. Blooming over much of the USDA from now
until Labor Day. Clip some blooms for all your rooms
and enjoy a stunning bouquet. That's my best shot.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
I like it.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
I think you've got a lot of like minded listeners
out there with that one.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
I love it. So panicle hydrangers, you want to grow them.
Stacy's going to get into some of the varieties. As
a matter of act, Stacy on our channel. Recently, you
did a YouTube video with Adriana of one of my
favorite varieties, and I don't want to steal your thunder,
but we're going to put the link on the website
Gardeningsimplified on air dot com. But this is such a
(10:17):
gorgeous panicle hydrange. It because of the color in it.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
Quick Fare Fat Quick for Fire my quick firefab video.
Yeah it is. It is such a cool plant. And
I'll tell you Adriana and I filmed that video on
the perfect day. I mean, they are just gorgeous. So
if you need some panicle hydrange of inspiration, you watch
that video. It'll be linked in the comments.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
I love that video. It is inspirational, so make make
sure to watch it. So with panicle hydrangs to meet
their full potential, I'm going to say avoid shade, give
them as much sunlight as possible. Remember they appreciate pruning,
maybe pruning as much as a third a year. We'll
see what Stacy has to say about that. And I
(10:59):
think two things that you have to do. Number one,
don't overfertilize, and number two, watch the water. They are
going to need some water. I've seen panicle hydranges in
August or September enduring drought stress. I know at the
Marina here on the lake shore they have some panicle
(11:19):
hydranges in pots that are just simply suffering because nobody
pays attention to them. Dry as a bone, and you
can see them suffer. So water is going to be important.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
Water is important, just like for any other hydrange. And
even though panicle hydranges are the most sun and drought
tolerance in that they will be able to survive, not
necessarily thrive as the hydrange is that the Marina can attest.
The one way that you can kill a panicle hydrange
of quickly is too much water. They are actually very
sensitive to overwatering. So it's not that they're tricky to water.
(11:51):
You just want to make sure that you're not flooding
them because they cannot. They can recover from it, but
they will be very, very sad and resentful if you
have to overwater them.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
Well, let's see what Stacy has on her mind and
plants on trial. That's coming up next on today's show.
In praise of panicles. Here on the Gardening Simplified.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
Show, proven winners, Colored Choice Shrubs cares about your success
in the garden. That's why we trial and test all
of our shrubs for eight to ten years, making sure
they outperform everything else on the market. Look for them
and the distinctive white container at your local garden center. Greetings,
(12:34):
gardening friends, and welcome back to The Gardening Simplified Show.
An episode dedicated to the panicle hydrangea. The hydrangea that
if you need a housewarming gift for someone and you
aren't sure you know what their gardening skill level is,
this is the plant that you bring Panicle hydrangels because
it's just one of those plants that just keeps giving
in even if they're you know, snooty and like, oh
(12:57):
I don't like hydrangees. Panicle hiderrangels are not the typical hydrange.
They don't have like the big round blue or purple blooms.
You can get ones that are very you know, distinguished
and less showy. You can get some that will draw
all the focus away from everything else in your landscape
except that plant.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
And that'd be better than getting an aloe plant or
a cactus or maybe cut flowers from the gas station
on their way over.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
Well, that's for sure, Yes, stop at the garden center,
get get a nice panic hydrange. And you know they
are so hardy, so they're cold tolerant all the way
down to USDA Zone three and heat tolerant through USDA
Zone eight at least, which is yeah, a huge range.
And you know we talk about reliability, very easy to
grow because they flower on new wood. But you know
(13:43):
I am digressing. This is time for plants on trial.
We're talking about one specific, proven winner's plant. And I'll
tell you it was hard to pick because we do
have twelve different panicle hydranges in the line. But if
we're dedicating a show two panicle hydranges, then you know what,
there's really just no other choice than the og the
(14:04):
one that started it all, Limelight hydrange I like it.
I wanted to take this opportunity, and so in mailbag
we're going to talk more about growing them. The things
you need to know to grow panicle hydrange is. But
I thought it was a good opportunity to tell this
story and kind of create this context for our panical
hydrange show because it's a pretty interesting story and a
(14:25):
lot of our listeners, I think probably aren't even aware
of how much limelight hydrangea has just completely changed the
hydrangel landscape literally and figuratively in the US in Canada.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
Now, I do know because being in the garden center
industry over forty years, I remember the years when basically
we had a plant called tard of them, Yeah, and
that was about it.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
That was pretty much it.
Speaker 3 (14:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
So panicle hydranges are native to Asia. You can find
them in Taiwan, Japan, Korea, all the way up through
Sakhalin Island, which is off the coast of Russia, and
so that's like a pretty broad climate area and it
took a long time for them to kind of come
over here. But the very first one that became popular
in Western culture was Grand of flora, So the original
(15:16):
PG hydrange So if you've heard that term before PG. Hydrangea,
it derives from this specific variety Hydrangea paniculata that's the
P and grand of flora that's the G. So that
kind of gave way to all of these names, and
that was around the late eighteen hundreds in France that
the original PG. Hydrangea started to become very popular in gardens,
(15:37):
and then came Tarteva. And you know, these were fine plants.
They're very pretty. They're still around. In fact, you can
still grow them and find them, although they are harder
to find now that there have been so many improvements.
And they were fine plants. You know, they were certainly pretty,
but a couple of issues. They bloomed fairly late in
(15:57):
the season, especially in cooler climates like ours, and they
had pretty weak stems, so they didn't really hold those
blooms upright. They kind of just you know, bent over
and gave a very soft and rather informal look in
the landscape. They were also all lace caps, so we
talked a little bit about mopead versus lace cap, so
they had that more open and lacy bloom rather than
(16:19):
the dense bloom, and you know, at best, as the
flowers age through the season, they maybe took on a
little pink flush, but overall they were just kind of
mass So they just you know, weren't I mean, they
were pretty, but they just weren't there a far cry
from what we all think of now as panicle hydranges.
But that was pretty much all there was. And so
(16:40):
they were around, but you didn't really see them all
that often.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
So they are a great example, Stacey, of what Tim
Wood says here we are living in the golden age
of plant Preez.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
That's exactly it.
Speaker 3 (16:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
So in the nineteen nineties, Tim Wood, who Rick just
mentioned and Daleda be, the owner of the nursery here,
first encountered limelight hydrange at Peter's Winenberg's Nursery and Boss
Coop in the Netherlands. And they knew it was something
special because they were really familiar with everything that was
already on the market, what people's complaints about it was.
(17:15):
And so Peter had developed Limelight at his nursery there
and they saw this thing and they just knew that
this was a game changer. They knew they could tell
that it had much stronger stamps, so it didn't have
that weepy, kind of floppy look that older panicle hydrange
has had. The blooms were just this beautiful, bright, glowing
fresh green that no one had ever seen before. And
(17:38):
you know, all in all, it was just a great plant.
So they brought it back to the US. So now
we're back into the nineteen nineties here, brought it back
here to West Michigan. So, believe it or not, a
lot of people don't realize that limelight hydrange had its
start in North America right here in West Michigan, which
is a pretty amazing historical connection. I mean, we have
a great agricultural history here anyway, but you can add
(18:00):
that to the Haven peaches and all of the other
amazing things that have been invented here and developed here.
And they started trialing it here at our nursery in
West Michigan, and they discovered that limelight was performing just
as beautifully here in North America as it had been
in Europe. And that was also revolutionary because a lot
of the panicle hydrangeas like Grandiflora and Tarteva did a
(18:24):
lot better in Europe. The summers tended to be a
little bit more cooler, a little bit milder. Nighttime temperatures
tended to be cooler, so their performance really was night
and day. Brought them over here, things were not They
just didn't look as good. But they found out bringing
Limelight here that it looked just as beautiful as it
did in Europe when they brought it back here and
they said, you know, this is a no brainer. We
(18:46):
are going to introduce this. People are going to love it.
And you know what happened. The industry laughed at us.
The industry literally laughed at us. They rolled their eyes,
and several people said, no one will ever buy a
green flower like there, you know, and this is sort
of one of those like Steve Jobs kind of you
(19:08):
know stories like, oh, no one will ever do that.
And obviously that was not the case. People instantly loved it.
And despite their hesitation of these growers you said, no
one will ever buy a green flower plant. People want
colorful flowers. One thing that Limelight had going for it
in the eyes of these naysayers is that it is
an extremely easy plant to grow and produce. From a
(19:31):
grower perspective, you know, as a plant grower, they're going
to be trimming plants. They've got a lot of work
to do to get it to the point where it
can go into a garden center and you're buying a nice, big,
beautiful shrub. But Limelight, compared to other panicle hydranges, didn't
need as much pruning and trimming. It looked better after
it was trimmed and prune. It was just a plant
(19:52):
where they said, okay, well, you know what, we don't
have that much invested in this. This is easier to grow,
so we'll try it. We'll see how this goes. And
people went bananas. I mean, people had never seen anything
like limelight, and it was one of those plants that, once,
you know, sort of the gardeners in the neighborhood started
to grow it and have it in their garden. Their
(20:13):
neighbors were like, oh what's that. Oh, well, that's Limela hydrangea.
A great memorable name and very descriptive of what the
plant actually looks like. And that started getting people who
maybe didn't go to the garden center or weren't really
into landscaping to go to the garden center and ask
for limelight and plant limelight in their yard and discover
(20:35):
how easy it was to grow, and so panicle hydrangeas
have really spread, I think from word of mouth from
people saying like what is that? I want that and
seeing that you know, hey, my neighbor is not out
there all the time, you know, work and breaking their
back trying to get this thing to grow, Like I
never even see them do anything to it, and it
looks this great all the time. So it kind of spread,
(20:57):
you know, just through this organic world of mouth, just
noticing what it was and people asking. But then people
were like, okay, Limelight's cool, but it's big. It gets
to be six to eight feet tall, so what else?
And when we saw the successive limelight, of course we
started looking at what else can we do with this plant?
And so in succession a number of different varieties came out,
(21:21):
most notably little Lime, which is a dwarf version of Limelight.
So if you don't have room for that six to
eight foot tall and wide Limelight, you can grow a
three to five foot tall and wide little Lime. And
you know that just sort of unrolled this whole, you know,
class of new panicle hydrange Just like I said, we
(21:41):
now have twelve in the proven Winner's color Choice Shrubs
line and We have a field of panicle hydranges that
we use in our R and D that you would
not believe. I can't show it to you, unfortunately, but
it is stunning. And every year we are evaluating literally
thousands of different potential new selections of panicle hydrangeas. And
(22:04):
you know, we understand now really what it takes to
make a great panical hydrangea. You know what people want.
We're looking for earlier bloom times. We're looking for stronger stems.
We're looking for those bright, vivid colors as the flowers age.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
And Limelight Prime is evidence of that.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
Limelight Prime is a great example of that. So Limelight
Prime is sort of improves on some of the factors
that of Limelight. So Limelight does not have a lot
of liabilities, but it does have somewhat weaker stems than
more modern cultivars do. And one of the biggest issues
with Limelight is it blooms pretty late. You know, I
have been on Mcinaw Island when Proven Runners was doing
(22:41):
the Grand Garden Show where Limelight was only just starting
to come into bloom at the end of August. So
Limelight Prime blooms earlier. We want plants that people can
enjoy by their pool in the summer when they're actually outside.
Not you know, it can go to school. Yeah, not
when you're thinking moms. You know you want to be
thinking panic hyder ranges and poolside. And so the plan
(23:02):
has just come so far, and it's just so amazing
to me that it really all does come down to
Limelight and what Limelight did to change the industry and
to change homeowners' minds about what a panicle hydrangea could
and should be. So every time your growl aline that hirange,
you are literally growing a piece of horticultural history. So
(23:25):
I didn't get to get the lot into a lot
of how to grow panical hydranges, but we're going to
do that next to the male legs. So please stay
tuned at proven Winner's color Choice, we've got a shrub
for every taste and every space. Whether you're looking for
an easy care rose and unforgettable hydrangea or something new
(23:47):
and unique, you can be confident that the shrubs and
the white containers have been trialed and tested for your success.
Look for them at your local garden center. Greetings gardening friends,
and welcome back to the Gardening Simpli i'd show where
the topic of the day is panicle hydrange as a
plant that people love. You have to only see it
once and then you're like, I want that, And you
(24:09):
know that's another thing that I think is a is
a somewhat of a problem for panicle hydrangees is because
they do bloom late in summer, so when people go
to the garden center, they don't look like much. They
walk right by them. And that's one of the reasons
why I think people are so shocked when they see
them in bloom, like, well, what is it? I can
get that?
Speaker 1 (24:26):
You know, that's why you need to be shopping in
garden centers in August.
Speaker 2 (24:31):
It's true, Yeah, you'll definitely see so some great plants
in bloom in August always worth stopping by. So you know,
that's one reason I think why it takes some knowledge
and some planning. And you know, if you do live
in a hot climate, you're gonna want to wait probably
another six weeks or so before you could add a
panicle hydrange to your garden. So I would say that's
(24:52):
like USDA Zone seven or eight. You'll want to wait
till it's cooler. But if you live in a cooler
climate USDA zones three through six. Now is a perfectly
fine time to plant a panicle hydrangea if you would like.
The only caveat I really have for that when we're
talking about planting in August is a lot of people
go on vacation, and so if you are going to
be going on vacation, you know you might want to
(25:14):
wait until after your vacation unless you have a very
trustworthy neighbor that can keep an eye on the wandering
of your new panicle hydrangea, because of course they are
going to want some water while they're getting established. And
you know, one of the questions that get I hear
so much from people that I think is really the
cause of confusion is how much sun can panicle hydrangeas take?
(25:36):
And so our tags if you look at a proven
Winner's color Choice panicle hydrangea tag in the store, they
say full sun and part son. So that's a minimum
of six hours a day for full sun and four
to six hours or filtered light through the day for
parts sun. And so people will say, well, which is it?
And you know, one of the things is that we
sell our plants across the entire country in the US
(25:58):
and Canada, and that's a lot of different climates. So
generally speaking, in cooler climates, you can absolutely plant panicle
hydrange is in full sun six hours or more, you
are going to want to mulch them. You are going
to definitely want to provide supplemental water while they're getting established,
and then after that anytime it's very hot and unusually
(26:19):
dry and that you know, again the plant will survive
dry conditions, but it's not going to look amazing.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
Stacey. The easy approach for me in the garden center,
generally I will say to people, if you have a
half a day of sun or more, you're going to
be good. Is that a good simple approach.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
That's definitely a good simple approach, especially for the Midwest. Now,
if you live in a hot climate, you're definitely going
to want to go more with that part sun, especially
during the hottest part of the day. So if you're
going to have some shade, it should be in that
afternoon area. And you know, filtered light all day is
a very good option in the South. So really the
(27:02):
answer here is, you know, full sun if you live
in a cooler climate, definitely part sun. If you live
in a hotter area. A little bit of morning sun
is okay, but you're gonna want to make sure that
it's shaded during the hottest part of the day, which
is going to you know, minimize how much water it needs.
And it's also going to keep the flowers looking fresher
and better rather than all of that stress of all
(27:24):
that sunshine and heat coming at them all the time.
Speaker 1 (27:27):
So, Stacy, we get to the question why are my
panicle hydranges not blooming? And before we get into that,
for those keeping score at home, let me quickly give
you the roster. The lineup, Stacy. Let's see if I
get this right. Bobo fire light firelight, tidbit lime light
lime light prime, little lime, little lime, punch.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
Yep, puffer fish for fish, grape plant.
Speaker 1 (27:52):
You got me interested in puffer fish and I have
it in my landscape. I love that plant. Little quick fire,
tiny quick fire, pinky wing, pinky winky prime.
Speaker 2 (28:01):
Yes, that is a rough look at the rouster.
Speaker 1 (28:04):
A rough look at the roster. There's your starting lineup. Now,
why isn't it blooming this?
Speaker 3 (28:11):
Well?
Speaker 2 (28:11):
So all panicle hydrangeas flower on new wood, or another
way of saying that is in the current season's growth.
So basically what that means is that they will start
to create their flower buds for this summer in spring
when they leave out, so they won't have any flower
buds on them in winter. Come next April, they'll start
to leaf out and they'll start creating the flower buds
(28:32):
that will open that summer. So this kind of reduces
the risk of losing flowers like old wood blooming hydranges
like big leaf hydrangees have, or they're on the plant
for so long that they have to make it through
winter and all of these other challenges in order to
bloom the following summer, so it eliminates that. So these
are not typically the types of hydrangeas that people have
(28:55):
trouble getting to bloom. They are extremely reliable. But there
are a couple of things that I think people do
need to know and be aware of, because you know,
I hate when we are talking about how reliable and
easy and fabulous a plant is and then someone tries
it and it's not going well for them, and then
they're just like, well, what's wrong with me? It's not you.
But a couple of things you know, should you should
(29:16):
be aware of. So number one is if the plant
is prune too late in spring, that can cut off
the flower buds. So you definitely don't really want to
wait until the leaves are starting to expand and get larger.
I recommend pruning this either in fall when it's completely dormant,
so like after Thanksgiving, or late winter to early spring.
(29:37):
And if you're nervous about it, you can wait till
the buds just start to emerge and that will help
you understand you know where that growth is coming from.
But if you wait too long into April and you
start pruning then and the plant's really leafing out, you
could be cutting off flower buds for the summer. That's
not as common, but it does happen.
Speaker 1 (29:53):
Yeah, And plus, dormant pruning is just smart. You do
a better job, in my opinion, when the plant is dormant,
do a better job of creating a shape. Yeah, taking
out weak branches, that sort of thing. I think it's
the ideal time to pring.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
Yeah, definitely. Okay, So that's one reason. Another reason is
deer now overall, oh dear, here we go. Hydrangs are
not generally deer resistant. I think if you look at
all six types of hydranges that people grow in our gardens.
You will see varying degrees of interest that the deer
have in hydrangeas, but panicle hydrangeas are high on that list.
(30:31):
They love them, and what they specifically love is the
flower buds. And it's been it's interesting to me. I
can't tell you how many people have written me and said, oh,
this thing isn't bloomed every year beautifully. This year it's
not blooming. I don't know why. And if I zoom
in on the photo that they sent, I can see
deer damage. And the damage is not like you might
see on something like a daily or a hosta, where
(30:52):
it's just like a stem sticking out. They like the
flower buds so much that they can get their little
mouth right in there and just snip with the flower
bud and you barely even notice that they've done it.
They're very very precise. So if you have deer or
even occasionally see deer, know that they love these plants
and they can be very very good at taking out
(31:13):
the flowers without even leaving a whole lot of evidence
that they were there in the first place.
Speaker 1 (31:19):
That's one of the things about deer damage that drives
me crazy is when they just go for the flowers.
I mean, if you're gonna just destroy the whole plant,
then just get it over with. Okay, But my Gomfrina's
and my spyreeas and yeah, panicle hydranges just get up
in the morning and they've nipped the flowers off.
Speaker 2 (31:38):
Yeah, it's so annoying. It's so sad. There is a
third reason why your panicle hydrange might not bloom, and
that is if it is too young. So very often
what I've seen happen is people go to the garden
center and they buy panicle hydrange in bloom looking fabulous.
They get at home and they're like, hey, you know
the next year, Hey, why isn't it blooming. It was
blooming when I bought it in June last year. Now
(32:01):
here we are July. It's not blooming. What's going on?
And that's because it's blooming too early. But the other
factor is that after you plant a shrub, it's going
to spend its first year primarily growing roots in its
new home. If you buy it in the nursery, it's
already filled out that container with roots. It's pretty much
maxed out the root growth that it can put on
(32:22):
in a container, so that's why it's able to flower. Now,
if you go home, you plant it.
Speaker 3 (32:26):
Now.
Speaker 2 (32:26):
This is not always the case, but it is sometimes
the case. It's going to put all of its energy
into growing roots, and the more roots it has, the
more it can grow and flour. But sometimes if a
hydrangea is slow to get established, maybe you're growing it
in less than ideal conditions. It can it might take
a year or so off of blooming and might not
bloom until it's you know, two or three years in
(32:49):
the ground. This isn't necessarily common, but I have seen
it happen. I would say overall, it's more common in
my experience with the dwarf for varieties, the smaller varieties
than the laws are full sized varieties like limelight and
Pinky Winky, simply because they're slower growing so that it
just takes them longer to get to that point. So
I know that could be discouraging, but at least you
(33:11):
know nothing's wrong. They just need a little bit more time.
And this is why I think. You know, regular watering,
not overwatering, not underwatering, and a good two to three
inch layer of shreaded bark. Mults are so important because
those are going to create ideal conditions for root growth.
Faster you can get those roots on the faster, you're
going to have a panicle headrangel that's going to have
your neighbors running across the street to ask you what
(33:33):
the heck you're growing and.
Speaker 1 (33:34):
Real quickly, Stacey, I've always felt that the change in
color as the season progresses, many times is caused by
a shortening day length or cooler temperatures. But you're saying
genetics play a big role.
Speaker 2 (33:48):
Yes, So the genetics are going to determine what color
it's going to turn and how vivid that color can be.
But yes, you're absolutely right day length, So it's the
shorter as the days get shorter, which we're very much
in right now here in August. As the days get shorter,
that starts to trigger the change, and cooler nights also
start to trigger the change. However, if you live in
(34:09):
a hot climate and your nighttime temperatures are pretty consistently
in the seventies or higher, that makes it very difficult
for the plant to synthesize the color pigments that are
responsible for that change, and so very often the plant,
the flower will just turn brown and you won't get
that color, and that is of course very disappointing, but
sometimes it could just mean you know that you need
(34:31):
to maybe put it in more shade or give it
a little more water. If you live in a cool
climate and your hydrange of flowers are turning brown before
they age, that is definitely an indicator that there's some
sort of water stress going on. So, you know, it's
funny that we can talk so much about a plant
that we keep telling you is so easy. But you know,
the thing is, I want people to have the best results,
(34:52):
so I want to give them the information that they
need to know what to expect. And you know, as
with any other plant, when you get it in the ground,
it's going to go through a little period of adapting,
but it will repay you with dividends for many years
to come. Now we're going to take a little break.
When we come back, we have a horticultural All Star
doctor Allan Armitage coming on to talk about gardening in
(35:13):
the heat. You aren't anonymous, that's so stay tuned. The
Gardening Simplified Show is brought to you by proven winners
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have been trialed and tested for your success, so you
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(35:36):
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Speaker 1 (35:42):
Welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show today for branching
news and interview with doctor Allan Armitage and Doctor Armitage
is a well known writer. He's a speaker, a horticulturist,
born and raised in Quebec and Ontario, but later lived
in East Lansing, Michigan, close to our studio here, probably
(36:05):
sixty seventy miles away or so, and now he resides
in Athens, Georgia. He has worked with landscape plants and
greenhouse crops in the North and South, travels the world,
speaking and sharing his passion for plants. Degrees from McGill
University in Montreal, University of Guelph, and PhD from Michigan
(36:27):
State University, Go Green. Alan, of course, has written many books,
countless academic papers, articles, et cetera. As a matter of fact,
I have a number of Allan's books, Stacy, you can
attest here. I have this one sitting on the desk
Armitage Garden perennials, a color encyclopedia.
Speaker 3 (36:48):
There you go, There you go.
Speaker 1 (36:50):
This thing is worn out. As a matter of fact, Alan,
you signed this on February twenty eight of two thousand
and four. You said, dear Rick, stay in touch. Life
is good when you can play.
Speaker 3 (37:03):
In the dirt. Oh rash, I still write that. Well.
Speaker 1 (37:09):
Thanks for joining us on the Gardening Simplified Show. It's
an honor and privilege to have you on the show.
And I want to start off our interview a minute here,
Alan by asking you a question that I've been asking
greenhouse growers and garden center owners over the past few years,
and that is here we are in August. There were
people visiting your greenhouse and garden center in April and May,
(37:34):
buying their beautiful flowering annuals and their plants and all
excited about them. What percentage of those plants are now
still alive and thriving in the month of August? If
you had to throw a percentage at that, Alan, what
would you say?
Speaker 3 (37:55):
Sure of an answer? Because it dependsive if it's my
daughter buying them or me buying them, you know, truly,
and so you know I'm actually sitting outside right now
and I'm watching the birds and the feeders and looking
at my plants and totally and I live in the
North Georgia right now, so while we are geographically in
(38:19):
the foothills of the Smokey it's hot attack here lovely
today actually bug. But I'm looking at probably sixty eight
about eighty percent of my plants are still here. But
as my neighbor who just stuck some plants on them
and then just dug a hole, and they're probably thirty
percent most. I mean, and I say that because it's
(38:39):
it's Oh, we can really have a grand time of this.
But you know what makes a succes, what makes a
plant successful? You know, of course of breeding and YadA, YadA, YadA,
but also obviously part of it is a gardener. And
while while we can blame a lot on the plant,
we can blame a lot in the gardener. I think
the combination of a good plant and good practices, which
(39:00):
are very simple, by the way, bring success to ready garden.
Speaker 1 (39:04):
Yeah. Absolutely. We were going to post a link on
our website, Gardening Simplified on air dot com about how
hot and dry it has been from the Ohio Valley
all the way down into Georgia with deficits of moisture.
But Alan, I guess you know, my question would be,
(39:27):
I know that you are very big into solution gardening,
helping people with solutions. What, right off the top is
the key? You know that that hot, dry weather is
coming in summer. What do you believe is the key?
Is it the choice of the plants you make, or
is it how you approach your garden?
Speaker 3 (39:49):
Well, I think when I talk about solution gardening, I'm
using this almost you know, as a title solution gardening
because most people, most people who are going into garden centers,
and they maybe staringly good gardeners, or it may just
be putting around, but most people going into garden centers
are not going in to find the newest ukar or
(40:12):
the newest hydranger. They're going into cline plants and work
in the shade. Fine plants that deer don't eat, climb
plants that you know, for ret or for dry shade,
find plants for fragrance, find plants because I want some
flowers I can cut from my garden. So they're looking
for solutions, and garden center operators you know that that's
what they got to be keying in on us who
(40:34):
kind of talk to gardeners. You know, I just know
that that's what people are asking. They're not asking for
the newest plant. So I know it's going to be
hot here, but it's going to be hot everywhere, so
you go. You know, I use the annuals a lot,
and I use them as fillers for sometimes with my
friend will go dormant or unfortunately, you know, kick the bucket.
(40:56):
So you know, there's a lot of solutions to this
hot stuff. And certainly you have to have a building,
a water your plants. You have to have some shade,
and you can't put a hasa on the back forty
in Ohio. I mean, I don't care, you just you
got to You got to understand that there's a difference
between plants to tolerate shade and plants that don't. But
(41:18):
that's common sense, and I'd like to get into that
stuff with you as well. But I think most people
and people are listening to this show. They are not
listening to it if they've never died before. They're listening
to it because they want to just make a little
easier for themselves. New plants are great, and we can
get all over new plants, be it hydranges or hostage
(41:40):
and patunities that matter. But what people are you looking
for is how do I make my job easier?
Speaker 2 (41:47):
Yeah, and you know that's exactly what we're talking about
with hydranges today, is you know, getting people to be successful.
And it's not just the plant choice, but it is
the tools and the information. And you know, not everyone
realizes that a hosta is not a plant you can
just pluck down anywhere in your yard and have look like,
you know, a beautiful plant like you might see in
(42:07):
a magazine or something like that.
Speaker 3 (42:10):
It is all about people and the plants that we
can We we breed some fabrous plants in this industry.
There's sectacular things that you can have. But like you say,
there's a bit of responsibility. I don't know if it's
the garden center or the gardener, but there's a responsibility
a little bit to say there's information out there's easily
to find that a host that does not want full sun,
(42:32):
or that a rose does not want to be under
the pecan tree. I mean, there's that's out there. So
and the garden center certainly tries their best in many
respects to say this is a plant for soun as
a plant for shade. But I don't think anybody even
has a clue what the difference between sun and shade
are other than you know, where you're sit, where you're
standing in the sun for sweating when you're in shade
(42:53):
or not. But from a plant perspective, this is all
about common sense. So and just stop me here because
I'm going to babble a bit because these kinds of
things are the things that make life so much easier.
So there is no such thing as a sun loving
or a shade loving plant. No such thing. Plants don't
(43:14):
love anything, Okay, They tolerate, So that's the first thing.
That's the first thing. It's a shade tolerant or a
sun tolerant plant. Okay, so what does that mean. You
can go around and I've done this thing or taking
a piece of paper or a white paper and sing,
oh it's there's see a shadow there, and they don't
see a shadow there. So that's that, say, woman, sense,
(43:35):
here's all you have to know about sun and shade,
And it comes down to two words. Western exposure or
if you prefer afternoon sun. Plants that can tolerate afternoon sun,
the brutal one o'clock to four o'clock sun. Our sun
(43:58):
tolerant plants. The plants that cannot are shade tallerant. The
only dimension in a and a rose is a rose
will take all that gorugal sun along with the rest
of the day. A hostile will take all the morning
sun you want, but tom in the afternoon sun, it
doesn't do well. Therefore it is shade ton So two
(44:19):
words actually define what shade and sun plants are all about.
Two words, so you know, don't don't make it too serious.
Of course, sometimes, of course the shade changes, and YadA YadA.
But you know where your back forty is full sun,
and you know where your shade is, and that's that's
all we got to do. Items It seems simple.
Speaker 2 (44:41):
So how do you think that changes in the north
versus hotter climates, whether that's the south or the southwest.
Speaker 3 (44:47):
Or no, certainly the north. Like if I go back
to here, Ontario or Quebec, I can see hosses and
full sun I do, I mean, I can't do it here,
and tac can't do it much in the country. And
the difference, of course is while a hassa might be
a bit more sun tolerant. In Minnesota or even in
(45:07):
where you are in Upper Michigan, it's more shade tolerant.
As you go for the show. But yeah, I think certainly,
But I think we'll always call a hosta. I just
using Hasta an example. There's a ton of other plants,
and you know, in patience you can always those will
always be shade tolerant plants, and that all that means
(45:27):
is you can put as much darned sun as the
thing will take in the morning. But in some climates,
in most of the country, quite truthfully, they will not
do as well if you put them in the afternoon sun.
They'll still they still may grow, they still may survive,
but they'll do better of illociate on the afternoon.
Speaker 1 (45:42):
We're chatting with doctor Allan Armitage, a well known writer, speaker, horticulturist,
and Alan that's a question we get a lot on
this show, the difference between gardening in the north and
gardening in the South, and all the people in the
South who would love to be able to grow lilacs.
(46:02):
You are in Athens, Georgia. Obviously certain plants work better
for you than they do here in the North. And
vice versa.
Speaker 3 (46:11):
Right, yeah, well again, having grown up in Montreal and
then in sost Ontario, and having worked in a lot
in Canada and then went to Michigan which was bombed
by comparison, and then down here in North Georgia, I
have a pretty good seal for North and South. And
I think the first thing that I can think, I
(46:33):
can say globally, I E North South. It's easier to
guard in the North. Period. It's easier. I say that,
and people in North said, oh, you know you winter,
YadA YadA. Well, as I kept telling, and I kept
telling people, you know, in Montreal, unless he's perennials or
what easy you like, but in Montreal the plants are
(46:53):
either fabulous or dead. I mean there was nothing in between, right,
I mean, either work beautifully or they're dead. So like
in the South, you know, we can get that whole
thing where they just trying to do well, but they
just struggle and they're just hanging in there. And so
it's much more difficult, I think, and I say more difficult.
(47:16):
Heat is far more debilitating on a plant than cold is.
In fact, cold is is absolutely necessary for the best
garden plants. You know, obviously two cold spinantial guide. But
that's just because we're putting the plant in that. You know,
it's not tolerate that much cold. But cold is essential,
(47:36):
particularly for temperate garden plants, which are all your friends,
all your shells, most your trees. So you know, that's
why it's much easier to garden than the north and
the south. And the further south you go, the less
cold you get. That's why we can't grow too l
to save our lives here more than mind you, most
most people in this country can't grow too more than
two years anyway, but because they need that cold for
(47:59):
the new bulb to form. But that's just one example,
and I think we could go on and on. I
don't want to boy to death with cold is important.
So I think people in the north you know that
you can't give me. I can grow much better crak
myrtle than you can. Like Callabians are spectacular. Years are
still got to get going, you know. But we both
grow good lilies, we both grow extraordinary good flocks. We
(48:19):
both grow hygd ranges. There's not a lot of difference
in plant choices. Yes, lilacs and delphineings, but hell, I
couldn't grow Delphineans in Montreal either, So you know, I mean,
you know, those are the kind of things that Fantasy
Land says we got to grow. But you know, I
can grow with Kim Lilock. I can go some wlocs here.
They're not the same, but we're going just fine. But
the furthest and i'm a and I'm a well, I
(48:42):
was zone seven times one eight. But you know, the
you be down to Florida, it's a whole other world.
You go down into Louisiana, the Gulf Coast is a
whole other world. Southern California a whole different world from
what we're talking about. But where we are zoned let's
say two to eight, it's not that much different. Accept
that we might need a little more water every now
(49:04):
and then because it gets hot and dry times.
Speaker 2 (49:06):
What about some of the other challenges of gardening and
hot climates, like, for example, weeds or pests. How does gard.
Speaker 3 (49:15):
Again, I'm going to tell you things and voice in
my experience, you got to there's no more tests here
than there are up there. In fact, I think there's few. Uh,
you know, we complain it. You can plant about mosquitoes
and black lives up there. We got mosquitos here for sure,
but nothing like you do. We've got you know, you
know you think about tests well, powdery milkier. Everybody gets
powdery moving. I mean, if it rains and it's a
(49:35):
susceptible flocks, it's gonna be powdered mildew where you are,
powdery mil do where I am. I don't believe that
the whole. I mean again, if you're driving in a
swamp and you know, no matter where you are, it's
going to look like heck. But plants that are susceptible
to certain diseases are no more susceptible here than they
are there.
Speaker 2 (49:52):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (49:52):
And I say that base on experience. I'm sure that
lots of the listeners will will dicker with me, But
the fact is that's true, and it's far there is
you know, critters like like like aphids and white flies.
And I said, I get him, you get them. We
look at them. But I don't think there are any
worse here. I really don't.
Speaker 1 (50:12):
Allen uh, As I said, I've read a number of
your books. You have a number of book titles. As
a matter of fact, what is what is the most
recent book Uh, that you can share with us.
Speaker 3 (50:24):
This is funny. So yeah, this is you, this is
they know me from Adams Horse Campa. The fact is,
I am told that I am the guru of premials.
I'm told that I am. I know as you know.
And I've written books on perennials and climbers and natives
and annuals and this that and the other thing. Uh.
And so those are really well known books. And premial
(50:46):
book you talk about is well known. The great big one,
it's I'm told as a Bible of cremnials. The book
that I sell ten to one of any book that
I've ever written is books on cut flowers ten to one.
I'm my latest book. So I you know, we there
is a huge And again I don't know if you're
(51:06):
I'm sure you're wherever. If When I often talk about trends,
the greatest increase in volume of growers gardeners. Growers you'd
like are those who are growing cut flowers and flowers,
not only not only the garden, but growing it for
the farmer's market, growing for floors. Domestic production of cut
flowers that has gone through the roof. Okay, first of all,
(51:31):
there's a whole lot more thought about local local flowers. Okay,
I'll just I mean when I say fog the florests
even want local flowers. The florests can get on the
phone to their broker and get anything they want from Holland, Ecuador, Columbia,
just like Amazon. You know, they can get them. But
they love local flowers. So if somebody is growing local
(51:53):
flocks or snap dragons or Zenya's or whatever they're growing,
they have markets, both the farmers' markets, which have expanded exponentially,
so they have a market for that stuff. And I'm
not saying we's getting richer. I'm just saying that people
are doing this. And there are cut flower growers throughout
the country. There's over two thousand members of the association,
(52:15):
especially cut flower growers. These are people that are maybe
gardening growing on an acre, half an acre, and and
there are large cut flower grows who have one near
us that you would love to visit with me. And
they do galleys up the wazoo and everything else, and
they ship them all over the country. But that has
(52:35):
that has just expanded exponentially. So the latest book is
cannot is here. This march is called the Field the
Field Guide to Specially cut Flowers. So we designed this
one so it's it's tough and you can throw it
in the back of your truck. You can throw it,
you know, you can just take it with you. And
it's almost like a bit of an olive on guide
where it just says, this is this is what you do,
(52:56):
Here's how you propagate, here's how you cut, here's when
you cut, kiss and called of ours at work, YadA YadA.
And that is a companion to the my other book
on cut flowers, which was done twenty years ago, which
is still very popular. So anyway, you guys, So what's
what's happening everybody. Yeah, I'm very fortunate that those those
titles are resonated and yeah, that's fantastic.
Speaker 1 (53:21):
Well, we will do it.
Speaker 3 (53:24):
People are cutting their own stuff, of course.
Speaker 1 (53:26):
So we will definitely put the link to Alan's books
and of course his website on our website Gardening Simplified
on air dot com, So make sure to look for it. Alan.
As I said, I have always enjoyed reading your books.
I love how you paint pictures with words, the humor
(53:48):
of course, and I have a suggestion for you, and
that is I think you should write a book titled
It's easier to garden in the north than it is
in the sun.
Speaker 3 (53:59):
Yeah, believe me, that's a problem. I mean, you know,
I'm sitting here just you know, I'm sitting here side
and it's supposedly too hot. It's wonderful. So I you know,
I love. I love Michigan. I love where you guys are.
I love of course, back to Canada and here about
(54:20):
them as far south as my body will allow me
to go, I've no doubt about it. But there's four
seasons here and that's really important to me, as it
is to just to anybody who appreciates a good of winter.
Speaker 1 (54:30):
Allen, always a pleasure to talk to you. And before
we let you go, I do have to ask you
a question. We always ask folks this when we interview them.
I have always done this, and that is I always
ask an individual such as yourself, if you have a
favorite plant? A very unfair question, but do you have
a favorite plant and would you share with us?
Speaker 3 (54:52):
Well, I'll try the plant that I would not be without.
And it's a plant that I think if you're starting
a guard, you don't have a clue you're doing assuming
you can grow it, of course. I mean, you know,
cold lives heatwise. It's a Japanese maple I have I
have in my little garden and everybody is invited. Who's
listened to kind of beautiful asses Georgiana. I love it.
(55:14):
Horticultural paradise here. But in my guarden looking at right now,
which is a just a sixty one hundred lot, I
got fourteen Japanese maples here.
Speaker 1 (55:22):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (55:22):
And they are just the backbone and everything else. You know,
you can just put around them, under them, through them.
I got coleminists growing up them. I've got stuff on
the beast. But that's my favorite plant in that I
could not do without it. I mean, right now I'm
looking at a rex pagonia vine, which is in a
great family. It's my favorite plant right now. But you
know who's got that for sale?
Speaker 2 (55:42):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (55:43):
I love that place. Oh it's fabulous. It is growing
up through here. It's an annual for me. But so
what that's the other thing I think we could do
this three or four times, guys of a common sense
of an annual versus perennials, trooning, fertilizing all that stuff
that we could take care of that in about five minutes,
and so we'll do that next time.
Speaker 1 (56:05):
That sounds fantastic. Always a treat to talk to you.
His name is doctor Alan Armitage. Look for his books,
look for his website, and especially, as we mentioned, if
you're into cut flowers like many people are, look for
those books also. Alan. We appreciate your time, Thank you
so much, and we look forward to talking to you again.
Speaker 3 (56:26):
All right, my pleasure, guys, thanks for having me on
all of us.
Speaker 1 (56:30):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (56:31):
Wow, I feel like we've been visited by Horticultural Royalty today.
I hope you enjoyed talking to doctor Armitage as much
as we did, and I want to thank you Rick
for setting that up. Thanks Adriana for all of your
hard work, and thank you all to you for listening.
We hope you have a wonderful week ahead.
Broadcasting from Studio A. Here at proven winners Color Joy Shrubs.
It's time for the Gardening Simplified Show with Stacy Hervella
me Rick weissten our engineer and producer Adrianna Robinson. Well,
do you need a spectacular hedge or romantic stunning cut flowers,
or maybe a knock your socks off specimen plant? Then
(00:25):
a panicle hydrangea maybe just the answer. This show is
in praise of panicles and Stacy, have you ever met
somebody famous. You know you're going to be meeting this person,
and you're telling yourselfself, don't say something stupid, don't be stupid,
and then of course when you walk up to them,
you say something stupid like you're my biggest fan. I've
(00:49):
done that. And I tell you what panicle hydranges are
like a rock star. And I have read, including material
that you've written Stacy, that it is a fabulous blooming
plant for those who consider themselves maybe black thumbs.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
The so called black thumb. Yeah, they're definitely one of
the easiest and most rewarding plants, flowering shrubs, perennials, anything
that you can grow. I mean, it really is that simple.
But you know, before we get too far into it.
You know last time it was one hundredth episode. Yeah,
we put out a survey for our listeners to fill out,
(01:30):
and a couple of listeners I just want to acknowledge
this said they had a quote hydrangea hangover that we've
been doing an awful lot about hydrangeas and this is true,
And to those people, we're sorry. This was already planned
to do the show. But stick with us because honestly,
even if you're like a hydrangea hater and they're out there,
(01:51):
this is a plant that is worth growing because honestly,
I can think of very very few plants again, perennials,
flowering shrubs, trees, whatever, that were require so little and
give so much for so long.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Yeah. Absolutely, panicle hydrange is. I'm a big fan. Now.
Word of the day, A panicle is. And stick with
me here, A panicle when we're talking about flowers and
plants things botanical is a branched raceme in which each
branch has more than one flower. Now my description is
(02:24):
just a multitude or cluster of flowers on a stem
forming a cone shape like inflorescence. But technically it's a
simple inflorescence in which the flowers are born on short
stalks about equal length, at equal distances along an elongated
access man losing me here. Racem is word of the day.
(02:48):
It's spelled our acee me. I guess the way to
just put it simply, Stacey, is the flower has the
wow factor and in many cases look as big as footballs.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Yeah, you know, I can't get over the fact that
receime as you just spelled it, ra c e m
e as a runner. You're not saying race me.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
Because it looks like that race me, but it's racing.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
Yes, you are correct.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
So anyhow, nothing says August like panicle hydranges in the landscape.
Great thing about these plants is that they are very cold, hardy.
They're reliable, uh and quite quite easy to grow. As
a matter of fact, Proven Winners has a great link,
a great page that you can go to. I believe
(03:38):
you wrote it, Stacey, about panicle hydrangers, and we'll put
it on the website Gardening Simplified on air dot Com. Now,
I kind of like to refer to their flower shapes
as lacy or mopheads football mops. You can get both
with the panicle hydrangers.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
That is correct. So a lot of people think think
that a mophead hydrangea is a type of hydrangea as
in like they'll refer to big leaf hydrange's Hydrangea macrophylla
as a mophead hydrangea, and that is true. But really,
any of the different species of hydrangeas that we can
grow in our gardens can in theory be a mophead
or a lace cap. And nowadays it is the mophead
(04:20):
versions of panicle hydrangeas that are easily the most popular,
all right.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
And one of the things that makes them popular, certainly
with me is transitional color as the season progresses. The
color on many of these panicle hydranges is transitional, not
based on a chemical change to the soil. Stacey my
Gut tells me from years of growing panicle hydranges that
(04:45):
it's the amount of sunlight, maybe the decrease in day length,
maybe temperature, maybe the amount of available water. Am I
right in surmising that, yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
All those factors combine. But there's another one that's really important,
and that is genetics. So you know, panicle hydrange is
nowadays and I'm going to talk about this in plants
on trial. They do turn amazing colors, and that is
one of the factors that here at proven Winner's Color
Choice shrubs we specifically look for in panicle hydranges is
that they are aging to not just a color, not
(05:17):
just a pink or red color, but to a really vibrant,
rich and bright color. And so while all of those
factors are true, the heat, especially the nighttime temperatures, moisture,
the age of your plant, those all contribute to how
well your plant colors up, but there is an inherent
capability for specific colors and the vividness of those colors
(05:39):
in each plant that you know, even if you have
all conditions right, if it's not a plant, it's going
to take on really vivid tones. It's just it's not
going to do it in your garden either.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
I love that. Now, of course, panicle hydranges have enjoyed
over the past years, this renaissance of sorts, because early
in my career I just remember panicle hydranges as being
gigantic and monstrous, and now there are so many wonderful
we're gonna call them dwarf varieties, and Stacey will talk
(06:10):
about that further on today's show. I know that when
I was in television. Certainly during the months of July, August,
and September, we when we'd go out and about recording,
I would often immediately look for the panicled hydranges, because
boy do they make a great backdrop for television.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
They do backdrop for photos for television. I mean, they
are just so showy and so beautiful, and they just
flower so much. You know, They're not one of those
plants where you're like, oh, that's blooming. It's just like
a wall of flowers. And you know, that's what people
love so much about them is you don't have to, like,
you know, be a super gardener or know anything. I mean,
(06:53):
this is pretty much as close as you can get
to a foolproof plan. You put it in the ground,
you water it, and then you know, three years later,
your neighbors are running across the street to compliment you
on your plant, and I never knew you were a gardener.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
I love that. And of course you can use it
as a specimen plant. There are tree hydranges A Hydrangea
essentially grafted to a standard right.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
Well, actually, most panicle hydrangea standards are not grafted. A
lot of people think that they are, and they can
be grafted, but actually the majority of them are grown
and trained that way specifically. So if you ever had
a panicle hydrangea, you've probably seen this, and probably some
of our listeners have too, where you know, it starts
(07:33):
to grow in the spring and it puts out like
these big, long, thick, broomstick like stalks. So that ability
is what actually lets it be grown as a standard.
So what they do typically is plant up a hydrangea
panical hydrangea in the ground, let it grow for two
seasons so it develops that nice big root mass, and
then they whack the whole thing back down to the ground.
(07:56):
And then what's going to happen, because it has all
the energy in that root mass to recover from that
severe pruning. The first straights down that comes up from that,
that's going to be the trunk. Then they let that
grow up to a certain height, then they cut that
and then it's going to branch and then you're gonna
get that nice full look. And so that is why,
as I'm sure our listeners have seen and experienced, if
(08:18):
you want a treeform standard hydrangea, they're gonna cost you
a pretty penny.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
They're pricey.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
They are very pricey, and the reason for that is
because they have all of that extra time and effort
in raising them. Fortunately, they are pretty much just as
easy to care for, a tiny bit trickier than your
regular standard panicle hydrangea. But I think people feel a
lot more motivated to make sure they're taking care of
it when they're shelling out, you know, three hundred and
(08:42):
fifty dollars for a standard panicle hydrangea.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
But it does bring up the point one of my
favorite things about panicle hydranges are the stout branches and
the fact that pruning is easy, because it's kind of
difficult to make a pruning mistake with a panicle hydrangea
in my open, but those stout branches that can hold
up those big, gorgeous blooms. So Stacy, just for you,
(09:08):
I wrote a limb a rick in praise of panicles,
My lovely, colorful panicle, Your blooms are simply gigantical. In August,
you will star in a colorful repertoire, classic and botanical.
You certainly put me in the limelight with blossoms that
stand tall upright. Based on your blooming prowess, my neighbors
(09:32):
are sure to assess. I'm not. I'm an expert, not
a neophyte. Blooming over much of the USDA from now
until Labor Day. Clip some blooms for all your rooms
and enjoy a stunning bouquet. That's my best shot.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
I like it.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
I think you've got a lot of like minded listeners
out there with that one.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
I love it. So panicle hydrangers, you want to grow them.
Stacy's going to get into some of the varieties. As
a matter of act, Stacy on our channel. Recently, you
did a YouTube video with Adriana of one of my
favorite varieties, and I don't want to steal your thunder,
but we're going to put the link on the website
Gardeningsimplified on air dot com. But this is such a
(10:17):
gorgeous panicle hydrange. It because of the color in it.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
Quick Fare Fat Quick for Fire my quick firefab video.
Yeah it is. It is such a cool plant. And
I'll tell you Adriana and I filmed that video on
the perfect day. I mean, they are just gorgeous. So
if you need some panicle hydrange of inspiration, you watch
that video. It'll be linked in the comments.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
I love that video. It is inspirational, so make make
sure to watch it. So with panicle hydrangs to meet
their full potential, I'm going to say avoid shade, give
them as much sunlight as possible. Remember they appreciate pruning,
maybe pruning as much as a third a year. We'll
see what Stacy has to say about that. And I
(10:59):
think two things that you have to do. Number one,
don't overfertilize, and number two, watch the water. They are
going to need some water. I've seen panicle hydranges in
August or September enduring drought stress. I know at the
Marina here on the lake shore they have some panicle
(11:19):
hydranges in pots that are just simply suffering because nobody
pays attention to them. Dry as a bone, and you
can see them suffer. So water is going to be important.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
Water is important, just like for any other hydrange. And
even though panicle hydranges are the most sun and drought
tolerance in that they will be able to survive, not
necessarily thrive as the hydrange is that the Marina can attest.
The one way that you can kill a panicle hydrange
of quickly is too much water. They are actually very
sensitive to overwatering. So it's not that they're tricky to water.
(11:51):
You just want to make sure that you're not flooding
them because they cannot. They can recover from it, but
they will be very, very sad and resentful if you
have to overwater them.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
Well, let's see what Stacy has on her mind and
plants on trial. That's coming up next on today's show.
In praise of panicles. Here on the Gardening Simplified.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
Show, proven winners, Colored Choice Shrubs cares about your success
in the garden. That's why we trial and test all
of our shrubs for eight to ten years, making sure
they outperform everything else on the market. Look for them
and the distinctive white container at your local garden center. Greetings,
(12:34):
gardening friends, and welcome back to The Gardening Simplified Show.
An episode dedicated to the panicle hydrangea. The hydrangea that
if you need a housewarming gift for someone and you
aren't sure you know what their gardening skill level is,
this is the plant that you bring Panicle hydrangels because
it's just one of those plants that just keeps giving
in even if they're you know, snooty and like, oh
(12:57):
I don't like hydrangees. Panicle hiderrangels are not the typical hydrange.
They don't have like the big round blue or purple blooms.
You can get ones that are very you know, distinguished
and less showy. You can get some that will draw
all the focus away from everything else in your landscape
except that plant.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
And that'd be better than getting an aloe plant or
a cactus or maybe cut flowers from the gas station
on their way over.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
Well, that's for sure, Yes, stop at the garden center,
get get a nice panic hydrange. And you know they
are so hardy, so they're cold tolerant all the way
down to USDA Zone three and heat tolerant through USDA
Zone eight at least, which is yeah, a huge range.
And you know we talk about reliability, very easy to
grow because they flower on new wood. But you know
(13:43):
I am digressing. This is time for plants on trial.
We're talking about one specific, proven winner's plant. And I'll
tell you it was hard to pick because we do
have twelve different panicle hydranges in the line. But if
we're dedicating a show two panicle hydranges, then you know what,
there's really just no other choice than the og the
(14:04):
one that started it all, Limelight hydrange I like it.
I wanted to take this opportunity, and so in mailbag
we're going to talk more about growing them. The things
you need to know to grow panicle hydrange is. But
I thought it was a good opportunity to tell this
story and kind of create this context for our panical
hydrange show because it's a pretty interesting story and a
(14:25):
lot of our listeners, I think probably aren't even aware
of how much limelight hydrangea has just completely changed the
hydrangel landscape literally and figuratively in the US in Canada.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
Now, I do know because being in the garden center
industry over forty years, I remember the years when basically
we had a plant called tard of them, Yeah, and
that was about it.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
That was pretty much it.
Speaker 3 (14:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
So panicle hydranges are native to Asia. You can find
them in Taiwan, Japan, Korea, all the way up through
Sakhalin Island, which is off the coast of Russia, and
so that's like a pretty broad climate area and it
took a long time for them to kind of come
over here. But the very first one that became popular
in Western culture was Grand of flora, So the original
(15:16):
PG hydrange So if you've heard that term before PG. Hydrangea,
it derives from this specific variety Hydrangea paniculata that's the
P and grand of flora that's the G. So that
kind of gave way to all of these names, and
that was around the late eighteen hundreds in France that
the original PG. Hydrangea started to become very popular in gardens,
(15:37):
and then came Tarteva. And you know, these were fine plants.
They're very pretty. They're still around. In fact, you can
still grow them and find them, although they are harder
to find now that there have been so many improvements.
And they were fine plants. You know, they were certainly pretty,
but a couple of issues. They bloomed fairly late in
(15:57):
the season, especially in cooler climates like ours, and they
had pretty weak stems, so they didn't really hold those
blooms upright. They kind of just you know, bent over
and gave a very soft and rather informal look in
the landscape. They were also all lace caps, so we
talked a little bit about mopead versus lace cap, so
they had that more open and lacy bloom rather than
(16:19):
the dense bloom, and you know, at best, as the
flowers age through the season, they maybe took on a
little pink flush, but overall they were just kind of
mass So they just you know, weren't I mean, they
were pretty, but they just weren't there a far cry
from what we all think of now as panicle hydranges.
But that was pretty much all there was. And so
(16:40):
they were around, but you didn't really see them all
that often.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
So they are a great example, Stacey, of what Tim
Wood says here we are living in the golden age
of plant Preez.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
That's exactly it.
Speaker 3 (16:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
So in the nineteen nineties, Tim Wood, who Rick just
mentioned and Daleda be, the owner of the nursery here,
first encountered limelight hydrange at Peter's Winenberg's Nursery and Boss
Coop in the Netherlands. And they knew it was something
special because they were really familiar with everything that was
already on the market, what people's complaints about it was.
(17:15):
And so Peter had developed Limelight at his nursery there
and they saw this thing and they just knew that
this was a game changer. They knew they could tell
that it had much stronger stamps, so it didn't have
that weepy, kind of floppy look that older panicle hydrange
has had. The blooms were just this beautiful, bright, glowing
fresh green that no one had ever seen before. And
(17:38):
you know, all in all, it was just a great plant.
So they brought it back to the US. So now
we're back into the nineteen nineties here, brought it back
here to West Michigan. So, believe it or not, a
lot of people don't realize that limelight hydrange had its
start in North America right here in West Michigan, which
is a pretty amazing historical connection. I mean, we have
a great agricultural history here anyway, but you can add
(18:00):
that to the Haven peaches and all of the other
amazing things that have been invented here and developed here.
And they started trialing it here at our nursery in
West Michigan, and they discovered that limelight was performing just
as beautifully here in North America as it had been
in Europe. And that was also revolutionary because a lot
of the panicle hydrangeas like Grandiflora and Tarteva did a
(18:24):
lot better in Europe. The summers tended to be a
little bit more cooler, a little bit milder. Nighttime temperatures
tended to be cooler, so their performance really was night
and day. Brought them over here, things were not They
just didn't look as good. But they found out bringing
Limelight here that it looked just as beautiful as it
did in Europe when they brought it back here and
they said, you know, this is a no brainer. We
(18:46):
are going to introduce this. People are going to love it.
And you know what happened. The industry laughed at us.
The industry literally laughed at us. They rolled their eyes,
and several people said, no one will ever buy a
green flower like there, you know, and this is sort
of one of those like Steve Jobs kind of you
(19:08):
know stories like, oh, no one will ever do that.
And obviously that was not the case. People instantly loved it.
And despite their hesitation of these growers you said, no
one will ever buy a green flower plant. People want
colorful flowers. One thing that Limelight had going for it
in the eyes of these naysayers is that it is
an extremely easy plant to grow and produce. From a
(19:31):
grower perspective, you know, as a plant grower, they're going
to be trimming plants. They've got a lot of work
to do to get it to the point where it
can go into a garden center and you're buying a nice, big,
beautiful shrub. But Limelight, compared to other panicle hydranges, didn't
need as much pruning and trimming. It looked better after
it was trimmed and prune. It was just a plant
(19:52):
where they said, okay, well, you know what, we don't
have that much invested in this. This is easier to grow,
so we'll try it. We'll see how this goes. And
people went bananas. I mean, people had never seen anything
like limelight, and it was one of those plants that, once,
you know, sort of the gardeners in the neighborhood started
to grow it and have it in their garden. Their
(20:13):
neighbors were like, oh what's that. Oh, well, that's Limela hydrangea.
A great memorable name and very descriptive of what the
plant actually looks like. And that started getting people who
maybe didn't go to the garden center or weren't really
into landscaping to go to the garden center and ask
for limelight and plant limelight in their yard and discover
(20:35):
how easy it was to grow, and so panicle hydrangeas
have really spread, I think from word of mouth from
people saying like what is that? I want that and
seeing that you know, hey, my neighbor is not out
there all the time, you know, work and breaking their
back trying to get this thing to grow, Like I
never even see them do anything to it, and it
looks this great all the time. So it kind of spread,
(20:57):
you know, just through this organic world of mouth, just
noticing what it was and people asking. But then people
were like, okay, Limelight's cool, but it's big. It gets
to be six to eight feet tall, so what else?
And when we saw the successive limelight, of course we
started looking at what else can we do with this plant?
And so in succession a number of different varieties came out,
(21:21):
most notably little Lime, which is a dwarf version of Limelight.
So if you don't have room for that six to
eight foot tall and wide Limelight, you can grow a
three to five foot tall and wide little Lime. And
you know that just sort of unrolled this whole, you know,
class of new panicle hydrange Just like I said, we
(21:41):
now have twelve in the proven Winner's color Choice Shrubs
line and We have a field of panicle hydranges that
we use in our R and D that you would
not believe. I can't show it to you, unfortunately, but
it is stunning. And every year we are evaluating literally
thousands of different potential new selections of panicle hydrangeas. And
(22:04):
you know, we understand now really what it takes to
make a great panical hydrangea. You know what people want.
We're looking for earlier bloom times. We're looking for stronger stems.
We're looking for those bright, vivid colors as the flowers age.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
And Limelight Prime is evidence of that.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
Limelight Prime is a great example of that. So Limelight
Prime is sort of improves on some of the factors
that of Limelight. So Limelight does not have a lot
of liabilities, but it does have somewhat weaker stems than
more modern cultivars do. And one of the biggest issues
with Limelight is it blooms pretty late. You know, I
have been on Mcinaw Island when Proven Runners was doing
(22:41):
the Grand Garden Show where Limelight was only just starting
to come into bloom at the end of August. So
Limelight Prime blooms earlier. We want plants that people can
enjoy by their pool in the summer when they're actually outside.
Not you know, it can go to school. Yeah, not
when you're thinking moms. You know you want to be
thinking panic hyder ranges and poolside. And so the plan
(23:02):
has just come so far, and it's just so amazing
to me that it really all does come down to
Limelight and what Limelight did to change the industry and
to change homeowners' minds about what a panicle hydrangea could
and should be. So every time your growl aline that hirange,
you are literally growing a piece of horticultural history. So
(23:25):
I didn't get to get the lot into a lot
of how to grow panical hydranges, but we're going to
do that next to the male legs. So please stay
tuned at proven Winner's color Choice, we've got a shrub
for every taste and every space. Whether you're looking for
an easy care rose and unforgettable hydrangea or something new
(23:47):
and unique, you can be confident that the shrubs and
the white containers have been trialed and tested for your success.
Look for them at your local garden center. Greetings gardening friends,
and welcome back to the Gardening Simpli i'd show where
the topic of the day is panicle hydrange as a
plant that people love. You have to only see it
once and then you're like, I want that, And you
(24:09):
know that's another thing that I think is a is
a somewhat of a problem for panicle hydrangees is because
they do bloom late in summer, so when people go
to the garden center, they don't look like much. They
walk right by them. And that's one of the reasons
why I think people are so shocked when they see
them in bloom, like, well, what is it? I can
get that?
Speaker 1 (24:26):
You know, that's why you need to be shopping in
garden centers in August.
Speaker 2 (24:31):
It's true, Yeah, you'll definitely see so some great plants
in bloom in August always worth stopping by. So you know,
that's one reason I think why it takes some knowledge
and some planning. And you know, if you do live
in a hot climate, you're gonna want to wait probably
another six weeks or so before you could add a
panicle hydrange to your garden. So I would say that's
(24:52):
like USDA Zone seven or eight. You'll want to wait
till it's cooler. But if you live in a cooler
climate USDA zones three through six. Now is a perfectly
fine time to plant a panicle hydrangea if you would like.
The only caveat I really have for that when we're
talking about planting in August is a lot of people
go on vacation, and so if you are going to
be going on vacation, you know you might want to
(25:14):
wait until after your vacation unless you have a very
trustworthy neighbor that can keep an eye on the wandering
of your new panicle hydrangea, because of course they are
going to want some water while they're getting established. And
you know, one of the questions that get I hear
so much from people that I think is really the
cause of confusion is how much sun can panicle hydrangeas take?
(25:36):
And so our tags if you look at a proven
Winner's color Choice panicle hydrangea tag in the store, they
say full sun and part son. So that's a minimum
of six hours a day for full sun and four
to six hours or filtered light through the day for
parts sun. And so people will say, well, which is it?
And you know, one of the things is that we
sell our plants across the entire country in the US
(25:58):
and Canada, and that's a lot of different climates. So
generally speaking, in cooler climates, you can absolutely plant panicle
hydrange is in full sun six hours or more, you
are going to want to mulch them. You are going
to definitely want to provide supplemental water while they're getting established,
and then after that anytime it's very hot and unusually
(26:19):
dry and that you know, again the plant will survive
dry conditions, but it's not going to look amazing.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
Stacey. The easy approach for me in the garden center,
generally I will say to people, if you have a
half a day of sun or more, you're going to
be good. Is that a good simple approach.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
That's definitely a good simple approach, especially for the Midwest. Now,
if you live in a hot climate, you're definitely going
to want to go more with that part sun, especially
during the hottest part of the day. So if you're
going to have some shade, it should be in that
afternoon area. And you know, filtered light all day is
a very good option in the South. So really the
(27:02):
answer here is, you know, full sun if you live
in a cooler climate, definitely part sun. If you live
in a hotter area. A little bit of morning sun
is okay, but you're gonna want to make sure that
it's shaded during the hottest part of the day, which
is going to you know, minimize how much water it needs.
And it's also going to keep the flowers looking fresher
and better rather than all of that stress of all
(27:24):
that sunshine and heat coming at them all the time.
Speaker 1 (27:27):
So, Stacy, we get to the question why are my
panicle hydranges not blooming? And before we get into that,
for those keeping score at home, let me quickly give
you the roster. The lineup, Stacy. Let's see if I
get this right. Bobo fire light firelight, tidbit lime light
lime light prime, little lime, little lime, punch.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
Yep, puffer fish for fish, grape plant.
Speaker 1 (27:52):
You got me interested in puffer fish and I have
it in my landscape. I love that plant. Little quick fire,
tiny quick fire, pinky wing, pinky winky prime.
Speaker 2 (28:01):
Yes, that is a rough look at the rouster.
Speaker 1 (28:04):
A rough look at the roster. There's your starting lineup. Now,
why isn't it blooming this?
Speaker 3 (28:11):
Well?
Speaker 2 (28:11):
So all panicle hydrangeas flower on new wood, or another
way of saying that is in the current season's growth.
So basically what that means is that they will start
to create their flower buds for this summer in spring
when they leave out, so they won't have any flower
buds on them in winter. Come next April, they'll start
to leaf out and they'll start creating the flower buds
(28:32):
that will open that summer. So this kind of reduces
the risk of losing flowers like old wood blooming hydranges
like big leaf hydrangees have, or they're on the plant
for so long that they have to make it through
winter and all of these other challenges in order to
bloom the following summer, so it eliminates that. So these
are not typically the types of hydrangeas that people have
(28:55):
trouble getting to bloom. They are extremely reliable. But there
are a couple of things that I think people do
need to know and be aware of, because you know,
I hate when we are talking about how reliable and
easy and fabulous a plant is and then someone tries
it and it's not going well for them, and then
they're just like, well, what's wrong with me? It's not you.
But a couple of things you know, should you should
(29:16):
be aware of. So number one is if the plant
is prune too late in spring, that can cut off
the flower buds. So you definitely don't really want to
wait until the leaves are starting to expand and get larger.
I recommend pruning this either in fall when it's completely dormant,
so like after Thanksgiving, or late winter to early spring.
(29:37):
And if you're nervous about it, you can wait till
the buds just start to emerge and that will help
you understand you know where that growth is coming from.
But if you wait too long into April and you
start pruning then and the plant's really leafing out, you
could be cutting off flower buds for the summer. That's
not as common, but it does happen.
Speaker 1 (29:53):
Yeah, And plus, dormant pruning is just smart. You do
a better job, in my opinion, when the plant is dormant,
do a better job of creating a shape. Yeah, taking
out weak branches, that sort of thing. I think it's
the ideal time to pring.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
Yeah, definitely. Okay, So that's one reason. Another reason is
deer now overall, oh dear, here we go. Hydrangs are
not generally deer resistant. I think if you look at
all six types of hydranges that people grow in our gardens.
You will see varying degrees of interest that the deer
have in hydrangeas, but panicle hydrangeas are high on that list.
(30:31):
They love them, and what they specifically love is the
flower buds. And it's been it's interesting to me. I
can't tell you how many people have written me and said, oh,
this thing isn't bloomed every year beautifully. This year it's
not blooming. I don't know why. And if I zoom
in on the photo that they sent, I can see
deer damage. And the damage is not like you might
see on something like a daily or a hosta, where
(30:52):
it's just like a stem sticking out. They like the
flower buds so much that they can get their little
mouth right in there and just snip with the flower
bud and you barely even notice that they've done it.
They're very very precise. So if you have deer or
even occasionally see deer, know that they love these plants
and they can be very very good at taking out
(31:13):
the flowers without even leaving a whole lot of evidence
that they were there in the first place.
Speaker 1 (31:19):
That's one of the things about deer damage that drives
me crazy is when they just go for the flowers.
I mean, if you're gonna just destroy the whole plant,
then just get it over with. Okay, But my Gomfrina's
and my spyreeas and yeah, panicle hydranges just get up
in the morning and they've nipped the flowers off.
Speaker 2 (31:38):
Yeah, it's so annoying. It's so sad. There is a
third reason why your panicle hydrange might not bloom, and
that is if it is too young. So very often
what I've seen happen is people go to the garden
center and they buy panicle hydrange in bloom looking fabulous.
They get at home and they're like, hey, you know
the next year, Hey, why isn't it blooming. It was
blooming when I bought it in June last year. Now
(32:01):
here we are July. It's not blooming. What's going on?
And that's because it's blooming too early. But the other
factor is that after you plant a shrub, it's going
to spend its first year primarily growing roots in its
new home. If you buy it in the nursery, it's
already filled out that container with roots. It's pretty much
maxed out the root growth that it can put on
(32:22):
in a container, so that's why it's able to flower. Now,
if you go home, you plant it.
Speaker 3 (32:26):
Now.
Speaker 2 (32:26):
This is not always the case, but it is sometimes
the case. It's going to put all of its energy
into growing roots, and the more roots it has, the
more it can grow and flour. But sometimes if a
hydrangea is slow to get established, maybe you're growing it
in less than ideal conditions. It can it might take
a year or so off of blooming and might not
bloom until it's you know, two or three years in
(32:49):
the ground. This isn't necessarily common, but I have seen
it happen. I would say overall, it's more common in
my experience with the dwarf for varieties, the smaller varieties
than the laws are full sized varieties like limelight and
Pinky Winky, simply because they're slower growing so that it
just takes them longer to get to that point. So
I know that could be discouraging, but at least you
(33:11):
know nothing's wrong. They just need a little bit more time.
And this is why I think. You know, regular watering,
not overwatering, not underwatering, and a good two to three
inch layer of shreaded bark. Mults are so important because
those are going to create ideal conditions for root growth.
Faster you can get those roots on the faster, you're
going to have a panicle headrangel that's going to have
your neighbors running across the street to ask you what
(33:33):
the heck you're growing and.
Speaker 1 (33:34):
Real quickly, Stacey, I've always felt that the change in
color as the season progresses, many times is caused by
a shortening day length or cooler temperatures. But you're saying
genetics play a big role.
Speaker 2 (33:48):
Yes, So the genetics are going to determine what color
it's going to turn and how vivid that color can be.
But yes, you're absolutely right day length, So it's the
shorter as the days get shorter, which we're very much
in right now here in August. As the days get shorter,
that starts to trigger the change, and cooler nights also
start to trigger the change. However, if you live in
(34:09):
a hot climate and your nighttime temperatures are pretty consistently
in the seventies or higher, that makes it very difficult
for the plant to synthesize the color pigments that are
responsible for that change, and so very often the plant,
the flower will just turn brown and you won't get
that color, and that is of course very disappointing, but
sometimes it could just mean you know that you need
(34:31):
to maybe put it in more shade or give it
a little more water. If you live in a cool
climate and your hydrange of flowers are turning brown before
they age, that is definitely an indicator that there's some
sort of water stress going on. So, you know, it's
funny that we can talk so much about a plant
that we keep telling you is so easy. But you know,
the thing is, I want people to have the best results,
(34:52):
so I want to give them the information that they
need to know what to expect. And you know, as
with any other plant, when you get it in the ground,
it's going to go through a little period of adapting,
but it will repay you with dividends for many years
to come. Now we're going to take a little break.
When we come back, we have a horticultural All Star
doctor Allan Armitage coming on to talk about gardening in
(35:13):
the heat. You aren't anonymous, that's so stay tuned. The
Gardening Simplified Show is brought to you by proven winners
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have been trialed and tested for your success, so you
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(35:36):
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Speaker 1 (35:42):
Welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show today for branching
news and interview with doctor Allan Armitage and Doctor Armitage
is a well known writer. He's a speaker, a horticulturist,
born and raised in Quebec and Ontario, but later lived
in East Lansing, Michigan, close to our studio here, probably
(36:05):
sixty seventy miles away or so, and now he resides
in Athens, Georgia. He has worked with landscape plants and
greenhouse crops in the North and South, travels the world,
speaking and sharing his passion for plants. Degrees from McGill
University in Montreal, University of Guelph, and PhD from Michigan
(36:27):
State University, Go Green. Alan, of course, has written many books,
countless academic papers, articles, et cetera. As a matter of fact,
I have a number of Allan's books, Stacy, you can
attest here. I have this one sitting on the desk
Armitage Garden perennials, a color encyclopedia.
Speaker 3 (36:48):
There you go, There you go.
Speaker 1 (36:50):
This thing is worn out. As a matter of fact, Alan,
you signed this on February twenty eight of two thousand
and four. You said, dear Rick, stay in touch. Life
is good when you can play.
Speaker 3 (37:03):
In the dirt. Oh rash, I still write that. Well.
Speaker 1 (37:09):
Thanks for joining us on the Gardening Simplified Show. It's
an honor and privilege to have you on the show.
And I want to start off our interview a minute here,
Alan by asking you a question that I've been asking
greenhouse growers and garden center owners over the past few years,
and that is here we are in August. There were
people visiting your greenhouse and garden center in April and May,
(37:34):
buying their beautiful flowering annuals and their plants and all
excited about them. What percentage of those plants are now
still alive and thriving in the month of August? If
you had to throw a percentage at that, Alan, what
would you say?
Speaker 3 (37:55):
Sure of an answer? Because it dependsive if it's my
daughter buying them or me buying them, you know, truly,
and so you know I'm actually sitting outside right now
and I'm watching the birds and the feeders and looking
at my plants and totally and I live in the
North Georgia right now, so while we are geographically in
(38:19):
the foothills of the Smokey it's hot attack here lovely
today actually bug. But I'm looking at probably sixty eight
about eighty percent of my plants are still here. But
as my neighbor who just stuck some plants on them
and then just dug a hole, and they're probably thirty
percent most. I mean, and I say that because it's
(38:39):
it's Oh, we can really have a grand time of this.
But you know what makes a succes, what makes a
plant successful? You know, of course of breeding and YadA, YadA, YadA,
but also obviously part of it is a gardener. And
while while we can blame a lot on the plant,
we can blame a lot in the gardener. I think
the combination of a good plant and good practices, which
(39:00):
are very simple, by the way, bring success to ready garden.
Speaker 1 (39:04):
Yeah. Absolutely. We were going to post a link on
our website, Gardening Simplified on air dot com about how
hot and dry it has been from the Ohio Valley
all the way down into Georgia with deficits of moisture.
But Alan, I guess you know, my question would be,
(39:27):
I know that you are very big into solution gardening,
helping people with solutions. What, right off the top is
the key? You know that that hot, dry weather is
coming in summer. What do you believe is the key?
Is it the choice of the plants you make, or
is it how you approach your garden?
Speaker 3 (39:49):
Well, I think when I talk about solution gardening, I'm
using this almost you know, as a title solution gardening
because most people, most people who are going into garden centers,
and they maybe staringly good gardeners, or it may just
be putting around, but most people going into garden centers
are not going in to find the newest ukar or
(40:12):
the newest hydranger. They're going into cline plants and work
in the shade. Fine plants that deer don't eat, climb
plants that you know, for ret or for dry shade,
find plants for fragrance, find plants because I want some
flowers I can cut from my garden. So they're looking
for solutions, and garden center operators you know that that's
what they got to be keying in on us who
(40:34):
kind of talk to gardeners. You know, I just know
that that's what people are asking. They're not asking for
the newest plant. So I know it's going to be
hot here, but it's going to be hot everywhere, so
you go. You know, I use the annuals a lot,
and I use them as fillers for sometimes with my
friend will go dormant or unfortunately, you know, kick the bucket.
(40:56):
So you know, there's a lot of solutions to this
hot stuff. And certainly you have to have a building,
a water your plants. You have to have some shade,
and you can't put a hasa on the back forty
in Ohio. I mean, I don't care, you just you
got to You got to understand that there's a difference
between plants to tolerate shade and plants that don't. But
(41:18):
that's common sense, and I'd like to get into that
stuff with you as well. But I think most people
and people are listening to this show. They are not
listening to it if they've never died before. They're listening
to it because they want to just make a little
easier for themselves. New plants are great, and we can
get all over new plants, be it hydranges or hostage
(41:40):
and patunities that matter. But what people are you looking
for is how do I make my job easier?
Speaker 2 (41:47):
Yeah, and you know that's exactly what we're talking about
with hydranges today, is you know, getting people to be successful.
And it's not just the plant choice, but it is
the tools and the information. And you know, not everyone
realizes that a hosta is not a plant you can
just pluck down anywhere in your yard and have look like,
you know, a beautiful plant like you might see in
(42:07):
a magazine or something like that.
Speaker 3 (42:10):
It is all about people and the plants that we
can We we breed some fabrous plants in this industry.
There's sectacular things that you can have. But like you say,
there's a bit of responsibility. I don't know if it's
the garden center or the gardener, but there's a responsibility
a little bit to say there's information out there's easily
to find that a host that does not want full sun,
(42:32):
or that a rose does not want to be under
the pecan tree. I mean, there's that's out there. So
and the garden center certainly tries their best in many
respects to say this is a plant for soun as
a plant for shade. But I don't think anybody even
has a clue what the difference between sun and shade
are other than you know, where you're sit, where you're
standing in the sun for sweating when you're in shade
(42:53):
or not. But from a plant perspective, this is all
about common sense. So and just stop me here because
I'm going to babble a bit because these kinds of
things are the things that make life so much easier.
So there is no such thing as a sun loving
or a shade loving plant. No such thing. Plants don't
(43:14):
love anything, Okay, They tolerate, So that's the first thing.
That's the first thing. It's a shade tolerant or a
sun tolerant plant. Okay, so what does that mean. You
can go around and I've done this thing or taking
a piece of paper or a white paper and sing,
oh it's there's see a shadow there, and they don't
see a shadow there. So that's that, say, woman, sense,
(43:35):
here's all you have to know about sun and shade,
And it comes down to two words. Western exposure or
if you prefer afternoon sun. Plants that can tolerate afternoon sun,
the brutal one o'clock to four o'clock sun. Our sun
(43:58):
tolerant plants. The plants that cannot are shade tallerant. The
only dimension in a and a rose is a rose
will take all that gorugal sun along with the rest
of the day. A hostile will take all the morning
sun you want, but tom in the afternoon sun, it
doesn't do well. Therefore it is shade ton So two
(44:19):
words actually define what shade and sun plants are all about.
Two words, so you know, don't don't make it too serious.
Of course, sometimes, of course the shade changes, and YadA YadA.
But you know where your back forty is full sun,
and you know where your shade is, and that's that's
all we got to do. Items It seems simple.
Speaker 2 (44:41):
So how do you think that changes in the north
versus hotter climates, whether that's the south or the southwest.
Speaker 3 (44:47):
Or no, certainly the north. Like if I go back
to here, Ontario or Quebec, I can see hosses and
full sun I do, I mean, I can't do it here,
and tac can't do it much in the country. And
the difference, of course is while a hassa might be
a bit more sun tolerant. In Minnesota or even in
(45:07):
where you are in Upper Michigan, it's more shade tolerant.
As you go for the show. But yeah, I think certainly,
But I think we'll always call a hosta. I just
using Hasta an example. There's a ton of other plants,
and you know, in patience you can always those will
always be shade tolerant plants, and that all that means
(45:27):
is you can put as much darned sun as the
thing will take in the morning. But in some climates,
in most of the country, quite truthfully, they will not
do as well if you put them in the afternoon sun.
They'll still they still may grow, they still may survive,
but they'll do better of illociate on the afternoon.
Speaker 1 (45:42):
We're chatting with doctor Allan Armitage, a well known writer, speaker, horticulturist,
and Alan that's a question we get a lot on
this show, the difference between gardening in the north and
gardening in the South, and all the people in the
South who would love to be able to grow lilacs.
(46:02):
You are in Athens, Georgia. Obviously certain plants work better
for you than they do here in the North. And
vice versa.
Speaker 3 (46:11):
Right, yeah, well again, having grown up in Montreal and
then in sost Ontario, and having worked in a lot
in Canada and then went to Michigan which was bombed
by comparison, and then down here in North Georgia, I
have a pretty good seal for North and South. And
I think the first thing that I can think, I
(46:33):
can say globally, I E North South. It's easier to
guard in the North. Period. It's easier. I say that,
and people in North said, oh, you know you winter,
YadA YadA. Well, as I kept telling, and I kept
telling people, you know, in Montreal, unless he's perennials or
what easy you like, but in Montreal the plants are
(46:53):
either fabulous or dead. I mean there was nothing in between, right,
I mean, either work beautifully or they're dead. So like
in the South, you know, we can get that whole
thing where they just trying to do well, but they
just struggle and they're just hanging in there. And so
it's much more difficult, I think, and I say more difficult.
(47:16):
Heat is far more debilitating on a plant than cold is.
In fact, cold is is absolutely necessary for the best
garden plants. You know, obviously two cold spinantial guide. But
that's just because we're putting the plant in that. You know,
it's not tolerate that much cold. But cold is essential,
(47:36):
particularly for temperate garden plants, which are all your friends,
all your shells, most your trees. So you know, that's
why it's much easier to garden than the north and
the south. And the further south you go, the less
cold you get. That's why we can't grow too l
to save our lives here more than mind you, most
most people in this country can't grow too more than
two years anyway, but because they need that cold for
(47:59):
the new bulb to form. But that's just one example,
and I think we could go on and on. I
don't want to boy to death with cold is important.
So I think people in the north you know that
you can't give me. I can grow much better crak
myrtle than you can. Like Callabians are spectacular. Years are
still got to get going, you know. But we both
grow good lilies, we both grow extraordinary good flocks. We
(48:19):
both grow hygd ranges. There's not a lot of difference
in plant choices. Yes, lilacs and delphineings, but hell, I
couldn't grow Delphineans in Montreal either, So you know, I mean,
you know, those are the kind of things that Fantasy
Land says we got to grow. But you know, I
can grow with Kim Lilock. I can go some wlocs here.
They're not the same, but we're going just fine. But
the furthest and i'm a and I'm a well, I
(48:42):
was zone seven times one eight. But you know, the
you be down to Florida, it's a whole other world.
You go down into Louisiana, the Gulf Coast is a
whole other world. Southern California a whole different world from
what we're talking about. But where we are zoned let's
say two to eight, it's not that much different. Accept
that we might need a little more water every now
(49:04):
and then because it gets hot and dry times.
Speaker 2 (49:06):
What about some of the other challenges of gardening and
hot climates, like, for example, weeds or pests. How does gard.
Speaker 3 (49:15):
Again, I'm going to tell you things and voice in
my experience, you got to there's no more tests here
than there are up there. In fact, I think there's few. Uh,
you know, we complain it. You can plant about mosquitoes
and black lives up there. We got mosquitos here for sure,
but nothing like you do. We've got you know, you
know you think about tests well, powdery milkier. Everybody gets
powdery moving. I mean, if it rains and it's a
(49:35):
susceptible flocks, it's gonna be powdered mildew where you are,
powdery mil do where I am. I don't believe that
the whole. I mean again, if you're driving in a
swamp and you know, no matter where you are, it's
going to look like heck. But plants that are susceptible
to certain diseases are no more susceptible here than they
are there.
Speaker 2 (49:52):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (49:52):
And I say that base on experience. I'm sure that
lots of the listeners will will dicker with me, But
the fact is that's true, and it's far there is
you know, critters like like like aphids and white flies.
And I said, I get him, you get them. We
look at them. But I don't think there are any
worse here. I really don't.
Speaker 1 (50:12):
Allen uh, As I said, I've read a number of
your books. You have a number of book titles. As
a matter of fact, what is what is the most
recent book Uh, that you can share with us.
Speaker 3 (50:24):
This is funny. So yeah, this is you, this is
they know me from Adams Horse Campa. The fact is,
I am told that I am the guru of premials.
I'm told that I am. I know as you know.
And I've written books on perennials and climbers and natives
and annuals and this that and the other thing. Uh.
And so those are really well known books. And premial
(50:46):
book you talk about is well known. The great big one,
it's I'm told as a Bible of cremnials. The book
that I sell ten to one of any book that
I've ever written is books on cut flowers ten to one.
I'm my latest book. So I you know, we there
is a huge And again I don't know if you're
(51:06):
I'm sure you're wherever. If When I often talk about trends,
the greatest increase in volume of growers gardeners. Growers you'd
like are those who are growing cut flowers and flowers,
not only not only the garden, but growing it for
the farmer's market, growing for floors. Domestic production of cut
flowers that has gone through the roof. Okay, first of all,
(51:31):
there's a whole lot more thought about local local flowers. Okay,
I'll just I mean when I say fog the florests
even want local flowers. The florests can get on the
phone to their broker and get anything they want from Holland, Ecuador, Columbia,
just like Amazon. You know, they can get them. But
they love local flowers. So if somebody is growing local
(51:53):
flocks or snap dragons or Zenya's or whatever they're growing,
they have markets, both the farmers' markets, which have expanded exponentially,
so they have a market for that stuff. And I'm
not saying we's getting richer. I'm just saying that people
are doing this. And there are cut flower growers throughout
the country. There's over two thousand members of the association,
(52:15):
especially cut flower growers. These are people that are maybe
gardening growing on an acre, half an acre, and and
there are large cut flower grows who have one near
us that you would love to visit with me. And
they do galleys up the wazoo and everything else, and
they ship them all over the country. But that has
(52:35):
that has just expanded exponentially. So the latest book is
cannot is here. This march is called the Field the
Field Guide to Specially cut Flowers. So we designed this
one so it's it's tough and you can throw it
in the back of your truck. You can throw it,
you know, you can just take it with you. And
it's almost like a bit of an olive on guide
where it just says, this is this is what you do,
(52:56):
Here's how you propagate, here's how you cut, here's when
you cut, kiss and called of ours at work, YadA YadA.
And that is a companion to the my other book
on cut flowers, which was done twenty years ago, which
is still very popular. So anyway, you guys, So what's
what's happening everybody. Yeah, I'm very fortunate that those those
titles are resonated and yeah, that's fantastic.
Speaker 1 (53:21):
Well, we will do it.
Speaker 3 (53:24):
People are cutting their own stuff, of course.
Speaker 1 (53:26):
So we will definitely put the link to Alan's books
and of course his website on our website Gardening Simplified
on air dot com, So make sure to look for it. Alan.
As I said, I have always enjoyed reading your books.
I love how you paint pictures with words, the humor
(53:48):
of course, and I have a suggestion for you, and
that is I think you should write a book titled
It's easier to garden in the north than it is
in the sun.
Speaker 3 (53:59):
Yeah, believe me, that's a problem. I mean, you know,
I'm sitting here just you know, I'm sitting here side
and it's supposedly too hot. It's wonderful. So I you know,
I love. I love Michigan. I love where you guys are.
I love of course, back to Canada and here about
(54:20):
them as far south as my body will allow me
to go, I've no doubt about it. But there's four
seasons here and that's really important to me, as it
is to just to anybody who appreciates a good of winter.
Speaker 1 (54:30):
Allen, always a pleasure to talk to you. And before
we let you go, I do have to ask you
a question. We always ask folks this when we interview them.
I have always done this, and that is I always
ask an individual such as yourself, if you have a
favorite plant? A very unfair question, but do you have
a favorite plant and would you share with us?
Speaker 3 (54:52):
Well, I'll try the plant that I would not be without.
And it's a plant that I think if you're starting
a guard, you don't have a clue you're doing assuming
you can grow it, of course. I mean, you know,
cold lives heatwise. It's a Japanese maple I have I
have in my little garden and everybody is invited. Who's
listened to kind of beautiful asses Georgiana. I love it.
(55:14):
Horticultural paradise here. But in my guarden looking at right now,
which is a just a sixty one hundred lot, I
got fourteen Japanese maples here.
Speaker 1 (55:22):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (55:22):
And they are just the backbone and everything else. You know,
you can just put around them, under them, through them.
I got coleminists growing up them. I've got stuff on
the beast. But that's my favorite plant in that I
could not do without it. I mean, right now I'm
looking at a rex pagonia vine, which is in a
great family. It's my favorite plant right now. But you
know who's got that for sale?
Speaker 2 (55:42):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (55:43):
I love that place. Oh it's fabulous. It is growing
up through here. It's an annual for me. But so
what that's the other thing I think we could do
this three or four times, guys of a common sense
of an annual versus perennials, trooning, fertilizing all that stuff
that we could take care of that in about five minutes,
and so we'll do that next time.
Speaker 1 (56:05):
That sounds fantastic. Always a treat to talk to you.
His name is doctor Alan Armitage. Look for his books,
look for his website, and especially, as we mentioned, if
you're into cut flowers like many people are, look for
those books also. Alan. We appreciate your time, Thank you
so much, and we look forward to talking to you again.
Speaker 3 (56:26):
All right, my pleasure, guys, thanks for having me on
all of us.
Speaker 1 (56:30):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (56:31):
Wow, I feel like we've been visited by Horticultural Royalty today.
I hope you enjoyed talking to doctor Armitage as much
as we did, and I want to thank you Rick
for setting that up. Thanks Adriana for all of your
hard work, and thank you all to you for listening.
We hope you have a wonderful week ahead.
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