February 8, 2025 • 44 mins
We're sharing our list of overachievers - plants with maximum beauty and performance but minimal maintenance and fussing. Join us for ideas for your spring planting list!
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Broadcasting from Studio A. Here at proven Winners, Color Choice Shrubs.
It's time for the Gardening Simplified Show with Stacy Hervella me,
Rick weisst and our engineer and producer Adrianna Robinson. Well, Stacy,
I love today's topic over achievers. Overachievers are somebody who
achieves success over and above the standard of the expected level.
(00:29):
It might not surprise you, but my entire life, I've
always been told I'm too driven, move too fast. My
teachers and the police used to tell me to slow down.
Now my doctor's telling me to slow down.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
You know, being an overachiever can definitely be a good thing.
But you know, with people, you need to know when
to stop and reserve your energy for yourself. But with plants,
there's really no such restrictions.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
There you go, and we're going to talk about overachieving
plants today. I love this topic because, you know, walking
through the garden center, there's a number of plants that
come to mind for me where if someone did not
know their stories, and Stacy, you're a great storyteller of
(01:20):
plants in plants on trial, and when people learn those
stories of plants, then they developed this relationship with them
and understand their potential in the garden center. For example,
in spring, if you walk by a gampfrina, one of
my favorite annuals, people are apt to walk right past
(01:42):
it because it looks green, doesn't look all that exciting
in many cases compared to the other annuals that are
out there, So you have to learn their stories. And
of course, as people, we also tend to gravitate towards
what is familiar. Now, my definition of plants that are overachievers,
my personal definition is number one, the plant surprises you
(02:06):
in its development from its original condition. So you could
say elephant ear kalladiums I mentioned, gampfrin or scavola, maybe
something as simple as a sunflower seed, a castor bean plant,
or a hyacinth bean seed, maybe Alium gigantium, but something
like that that surprises you in how it develops beyond
(02:29):
its original condition. Number two, they're flourished, seems to come
easy to them, in other words, somewhat easy to grow.
And number three, they give more than just a week
or two of interest. And of course you could argue
that fact with many annuals which tend to be over achievers.
(02:50):
Overachievers for a while and then of course burnout as
we get.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
To fall happens way too often with you know, some annuals,
not all annuals. But you know, the this concept of
an overachiever, I mean, we have we could fill ours
talking about the plants that we feel are overachievers. But
you know, going back to our talk about garden nostalgia,
this concept of overachiever plants is actually relatively new. You know,
(03:15):
for a long time, people needed to work really hard
to get a good performance from the plants in their garden,
whereas nowadays, you know, if because not just because of
plant breeding, but also because there are so many more
options on the market, you know, with container growing that
opened up so many more plants at the garden center.
(03:37):
So whether you have an overachiever through virtue of plant
breeding that it doesn't need dead heading, it's you know,
genetically developed to just blue and blue and bloom like
most preven Veinnurse annuals, or just because plants like my
beloved Sylphium perfoliatum is just now more widely available, you know,
whereas forty years ago, you know, you would have had
(03:58):
to probably dig sylphium out of some swamp somewhere if
you want it in your garden, and that wouldn't have
been a good thing.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
Yeah, if you had it in your yard, it would
stick out because other people didn't have it. But now
more and more people get to enjoy that specific overachiever.
Let me kick off the topic with a limb a rick.
I've caught a bad case of spring fever, ready to plant.
I'm an eager beaver with winter. Instead of being dejected,
(04:28):
my plans are progressing better than expected. You could say
I'm an over achiever with plants. I have a natural
sense a perceiver. They give happiness and I'm the receiver
instead of doing absolutely zero, They've made me a neighborhood hero.
I love a plant that's an overachiever.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
You know what? That reminded me of another important aspect
of a plant being an overachiever. That's a great limock
by the way, thank you, But to me, another characteristic
is what does the plant do for the wildlife? And
you know, insects, birds, butterflies, all of this kind of thing,
and that you know, there should be something an overachiever
does in addition, So yes, we are the receiver when
(05:12):
we have an overachieving plant. Because we get to enjoy
how beautiful it is. And everyone thinks that were some
sort of superstar gardener, when the fact is all we
did was pick the right plants and plant them in
the right place. It really is that simple. Revealing a
big secret here apparently. But you know, also there are
other people, other organisms around that are recipients of our
decisions to garden. And maybe that's a neighbor, maybe that
(05:35):
is wildlife. But you know, overachieving plants benefit more than
just us.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
I love the road you're going down there, and we're
going to add that to the overachieving description of plants
because as opposed to the plant having its time in
the sun and receiving plot, it's on you know, it's
robust growth and its beauty. Is it giving back? Yeah,
(06:02):
and that's a great There's many ways to look at that.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
You know, it could be something like, of course, a
vegetable garden you're getting produced. It could be cut flowers,
it could be multiple seasons of interest. But you know,
an overachiever has to do perform highly but also give
you a little bit.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
More, give something back. I love that, you know a
plant that I consider an overachiever and I don't want to,
you know, sound like a broken record here, because you
know how much I love ornamental grasses. But something like
graceful grass is skyrocket. It's a fountain grass penacetum. The
plumes are sterile so it doesn't become invasive. But boy
(06:45):
does it work for you provide color. And yes, I
saw this past fall, the birds all over the inflorescence.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
You know, I had a strong feeling that ornamental grasses
would come up in the Overachievers show, not just because
I know how much you like them, but because they
are a perfect example. There are few other plants, well,
actually there's kind of a lot, but that require so little.
I mean, once you plant that ornamental grass, pretty much
the only thing you need to do is cut it
(07:15):
back in spring. Yeah, and you know it doesn't need water,
it doesn't need any fussing. You can divide it if
you want. Wouldn't recommend it. Not really a fun job,
So plant those properly and let it let them be.
But yeah, I mean that's exactly what we're talking about.
All that impact, those big robust presents, the sound, It
(07:36):
provides habitat for all sorts of things. It provides nesting
material for birds and you don't lift a finger and
you look like a garden rock star. I love that.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
Yeah, And that's my direction here because you look at
for example, panicum switch grass, a North American native plant,
a prairie grass so to speak. You wontn't expect much.
It's just grass, okay, But you take cultivars like totem
Pole or Niagara Falls or shy in Sky. It's an
(08:05):
overachiever because it delivers, in my opinion, far more than
what you expected.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
Definitely, especially if you're buying just a little one gallon
plant in spring. You you're going to need to have
a little faith. But you know that's where shows like
Gardening simplified the Internet, all of these places where you
can do your research and find out. So you are
you know, more trust trusting in that plant when you
see it maybe looking you know, all green like a gumfrina,
or a little bit small and wimpy like a panicum
(08:32):
because it's a warm season grass and when you're shopping
in the garden center hasn't really had a chance to
do its thing yet exactly.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
And then of course in the mixed Stacey, we've got
to talk about, well, there are you know, in life,
there are early bloomers and there are late bloomers. Okay,
But in again, in the garden industry today, there are
many wonderful cultivars that I'm you would classify as rebloomers. Yes,
(08:59):
I can consider the rebloomers also as overachieved.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
I think reblooming is a classic example of what it
means to be an overachiever. And you know, it's not
all that uncommon in nature. It's just that what plant
breeders have done is identified individual plants that have some
capacity for rebloom and then worked with that to bring
more of those genes out. And yeah, why do people
mostly start gardening flowers? Everyone wants more flowers. You get
(09:26):
a reblooming shrub like bloomerang Wilac or double play Doozy spireea,
it's an overachiever.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
Absolutely, Or the plants that basically are surprised. You know,
you buy a little pugster bud lea in the garden
center and then by the time you get to August,
little plant, the size of those blooms are unreal. It
causes me to believe the plants an overachiever.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
You know what, And that reminds me of other bulbs
are good overachievers too, right, because by the time they
come out in spring, you very well may have forgotten
that you planted that, And then all of the sudden,
just when you need at most amazing flowers pretty much
zero care, and you feel real good about having planted them,
especially for their costs, because you can't get plants much
(10:12):
lower cost than a bulb.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
Well, we're going to raise the bar on today's show,
and let's see how Stacey ties this all together and
plants on trial. That's coming up next here on the
Gardening Simplified Show.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
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Winner's Color Choice dot com. Rereading's gardening friends, and welcome
(10:49):
back to the Gardening Simplified Show, where the theme of
today is overachievers. And recently, Rick and I did something
a little bit more than just your standard edition of
the Gardening Simplified Show. We went out and filmed a winter.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
Garden tour in the dead of winter.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
In the dead of winter. Now the snow was still present.
It was, you know, a little bit warmer than it
had been the week we got all that snow where
we had you know, single digit temperatures, but still a
little too snowy trapes all over the garden like we
might have hoped to have done. But it's still a
good garden tour. You can kind of get a sense
of some cool stuff going on in the garden right now,
(11:27):
and you know, maybe a little bit of a cure
for cabin fever. So please do check us out on
YouTube that is where the garden tour is posted, and
check out what's what's kicking in the trail gardens in February.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
Yeah, well, we're practicing what we preach, right, that's great,
three hundred and sixty five days out of.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
The year exactly. So since we're talking overachievers, and you know,
it's hard for me, of course, knowing you know pretty
well almost all of the three hundred and thirty some
proven winters color choice shrubs, hard for me to pick
just one. So I wanted to do something a little
bit different for plants on Trial. Today, we're going to
do plants on trial Overachievers, Speed round fun and so
(12:10):
I'm going to name a category, and Rick and I
are going to tell you what our top choice for
an overachiever is in each of these categories. So you
can make a full plant list. If you want a
lot of overachieving flowering shrubs and evergreens in your garden,
this is going to be it. So we're kicking it
off overachiever foliage.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
Shrub Midnight Sun with you, Youla.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
Oh that's mine too, Hey, I mean sure, So when
both of us pick one, you know it has to
be good, right it is and I do. Obviously I
can't do this for every single plant because we only
have ten minutes on radio. But Midnight Sun is a
newer Whygela. And of course most people think of why
Gila as flowering plants, which they are. They have lovely
(12:57):
flowers in spring and attract butterflies or butterflies and hummingbirds,
so that's really cool. But Midnight Sun is primarily a
foliage wigela, and when you see it in spring, this
is one of those plants you need to have a
little faith in, kind of just like a dwarf green
whitella with pink flowers, and you're like, okay, that's cool.
You see the picture on the tag, it shows it
all colorful. You think, okay, well maybe that's in fall.
(13:18):
But no, what happens with this waigela is that as
summer develops and goes on, it turns all sorts of colors.
You don't have to wait until fall. The warmer it gets,
the more color you see on this plant. And I
know you fell in love seeing it here around the studio.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
That's around the studio at the garden center. Love it.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
It is such an amazing foliage plant. And it's nice
and small, so anyone has a room for it. That's
Midnight sun Wijella overachiever flowering shrub.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
For many reasons, I tea fizzy Miizzy.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
Ooh, that's an interesting trip now. I think that flowers,
fragrant flowers are always a good overachiever aspect, and that
is a plant with lots of multiple seasons of interest.
Very cool plant and very different look. My overachiever flowering
shrub is double play doozy because I have to say
that although I could have said steady Eddie viburnum in
(14:09):
my time in the industry. I don't think that any
two flowering shrubs can compare to double Play Doozy and
Steady Eddie Viburnum for their sheer ability to rebloom. You
know some reblooming shrubs they amazing in spring and then
you just kind of get a little bit of flowers
later in the season. These two plants rebloom almost to
(14:30):
the up to the level of their first bloom. Both
of them come from doctor Tom Rainey at North Carolina
State University, a truly innovative plant breeder. So if you
are looking for flowering shrubs that truly do flower, you
don't have to do much and you're going to get
more flowers. I cannot recommend much better than those two,
especially so overachieving Hydrangea. What's your choice?
Speaker 1 (14:51):
Both you and Adriana caused me to fall in love
with this plant as we walk through the garden. Little
lime Punch panicle great choice.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
I was definitely torn between Little Lime Punch myself and
the one that I picked, which is Let's Dance Skyview Hydrangea.
And the reason that I picked Let's Dance, I mean
little Lime Punch is a panicle Hydrangea, so very easy
to grow, very easy, very reliable, hardy, heat tolerant. People
are somewhat familiar with that with those types of hydrangeas,
but with hydrange of Macrophilla, the big leaf hydrangeas, with
(15:20):
the blue or pink or purple flowers. We all know
people have had so much disappointment with conventional varieties. Let's
dance sky View Hydrangea is probably one of the first,
along with Let's stance, can do big leaf ree blooming
hydrangeas that won't disappoint you. We're looking. We've developed, you know,
increased bud hardiness so they're less likely to get cold
(15:41):
damaged in winter. Amazing color and the ability to bloom
all the way up and down the stem so that
if some well intentioned but wrong person cuts it back
or it gets damaged by deer or gets winter cold damage,
you still have flower buds at the base to get bloom.
So it's really one of the very first reblooming big
leaf hydranges that won't disappoint you. Overachieving rose so when
(16:05):
it was tough.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
There's so many great roses. But I'm gonna say, at
last rose.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
All right, at last bi too. Yeah, I mean, the
truth is that with all of the proven winners color
trace roses, we are looking for overachieving. I mean, because
if you just take regular roses as a baseline, they've
already got fabulous flowers, most of them have great fragrance,
so we were already looking for plants that do more
than that standard. So pretty much all of our roses
(16:30):
are overachievers. You can take your pick for color application,
but I did pick it last as well because people
love it. It's a good size, super healthy, clean foliage,
beautiful fragrant flowers, and just a stunning easy to grow roses.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
And like any overachiever, it rose to the os.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
It's sure did all right. Overachieving native shrub.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
This was easy for me. Durvilla Kodiak orange.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
Oh, you know, I'm not surprised you picked a durvilla.
De Villa's are great, and we do have so many
amazing durvillas. I was tempted to include a Durvilla here
and there, but I ended up going with a plant
that is near and dear to my heart in my garden,
and that is Gatsby pink oak leaf hydrange.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
I can see why.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
Yeah, I mean a couple of things about that plant
that I love, amazing fall color. It's also a reblooming
oak leaf hydrangeas, So again this isn't going to be
one of those that goes back to that kind of
early summer bloom. But they continue to put out fresh
flowers through the season and they turn pink when they
you know, as they age, so you get a lot
of color, a lot of flowers. Pollinators love it, and
(17:34):
then you get the fall color, beautiful peeling cinnamon bark
in the winter, and of course with the kodiak or villas,
you get amazing foliage that you really don't have to
lift a finger to enjoy.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
Gorgeously.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
They can take pretty much whatever you throw at them.
Overachieving heat tolerantce shrub for our warm climate, peeps.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
Sunny Boulevard, Saint John's hypeer.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
All right, that is a great plant. I love its
nice rounded habit. I pick jazz Hands Bowl, Laura petalum
and Laura Petulum. Of course, anyone from the South can
tell you it's as ubiquitous as something like, you know,
Barberry is up here and they love it. But I
love jazz Hands Bold because everything about it is bigger,
(18:15):
and I love big plants, the foliage is bigger, the
flowers are bigger, and these actually do keep their foliage
color through the season, so overachieving in that way as well.
But again only hardy to about us zone eight, so
that one is especially for you all in warm climates.
Overachieving hardy shrub or cold tolerance.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
Shrub hardiness easy for me, tough stuff, top fun reblooming
mountain hydrat.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
Oh, that's such a good choice. That's not where my
brain went at all with this one, but that is
an excellent pick. I picked ginger wine nine bark because
you know, nine barks are very much like your durvilla
as a choice, great foliage color, easy to grow, really
don't require any effort. But some older varieties of colorful
(19:03):
Physocarpus or nine bark do you get powdery mildew. This
one is very very powdery mildy resistance, and I can
attest to that because I do abuse it in my garden,
not getting a lot of water space closely, and it
does not get powdery mildew. So a really beautiful plant,
but hardy down to USC zone three and only heat
tolerant through about USDA zone seven. Overachieving shrub with berries.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
If you walk by it in the garden center and spring,
you might just walk right past it. But pearl glam caliicarpa.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
Ooh, that is such a good choice. I love that plant.
So people know calicarpa, they know those amazing purple berries
if they've seen them. And what pearlglam adds into it
is beautiful, dark, purply black foliage for just an amazing look.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
Now.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
I picked proudberry simp carpus for this one myself, because
that's a plant that I've added to my garden within
the last two or three years. I always liked it,
but you know, you know how it is, you got
to grow it to know it. Once it was in
my garden, fell in love just that bright pink berry
that just kept getting brighter and brighter as fall went on.
Seeing it right out my kitchen window made me smile
(20:07):
every time overachieving fall foliage.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
Shrub easy for me. Legend of the fall Father you.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
Ooh, that was a good choice. I was definitely split
on the father Gillas, such a beautiful plant native. I
ended up going with brandywine viburnum for myself, also a
negative shrub, but I picked brandywine over the father gilla,
even though it does have fabulous fall color because with
the brandywine you get the berries on top of that,
and the contrast between the super colorful berries and the
(20:35):
super colorful foliage can't beat that. All right, we have
time for one more overachieving evergreen.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
We're talking overachievers. It's a tie for me between tater
tot and full speed a hedge arbor ice.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
So you're going with a small and a tall choice
small and well, everybody does love tater Tot for the
name and its diminutive stature. My choice is peasley pop Lukothowe.
So I went with a broad leaf evergreen here, and
that is a plant that you will be able to
see in our garden tour on YouTube, see what it
looks like in the middle of winter, and see one
(21:09):
of the reasons why I feel like it is an
over achiever. So wow, that was a lot. If you've
missed any of those plants, they're going to be on
our show notes at Gardeningsimplified on air dot com. And
that's our little quick list of overachieving shrubs that you
can use to make better decisions in your landscape this season.
We're going to take a little bit of a break.
When we come back, we're going to be opening up
(21:30):
the garden mail bags of stay tunes. At Proven Winners
Color Choice Shrubs, we know that a better landscape starts
with a better shrub. Our team of experts tests and
evaluates all of our flowering shrubs in evergreens for eight
to ten years to ensure they outperform what's already on
(21:51):
the market. For easycare, reliable, beautiful shrubs to accentuate your
home and express your personal style, look for Proven Winners
Shrubs in the distinct white container at your local garden center,
or learn more at Proven Winners color Choice dot com.
Greeting's gardening friends, and welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show.
And you know, one of the ways that we're simplifying
(22:13):
gardening for you today is telling you are overachieving plants,
Plants that don't require very much but do a whole
whole lot. And you know that can mean a whole
lot of different things. It can mean more flowers, that
can mean better foliage color. It can mean reblooming, attracting
all sorts of pollinators. And you know, in our illustrious
(22:34):
careers here, we've had the good fortune to come across
a lot of different overachieving plants, and so that's what
we are sharing with you today. If you missed anything,
you can catch us on YouTube on your favorite podcast platform,
or of course, we'll also put some stuff in the
show notes at Gardening Simplified on air dot com. And
while you are at Gardeningsimplified on air dot com, you
can also write us with your gardening questions. I know
(22:57):
it's it's still early, but you know, some of us
start itching to get out there and maybe remember questions
that have come up over the season, or have questions
about what's to come. So don't hesitate to reach out,
and we would be happy to help. We have a
question that I think is a good one that a
lot of people struggle with, especially if they don't really
consider themselves much of a gardener. Sylvia writes that she
(23:20):
is hosting her daughter's wedding in June at her home
in Virginia, Zone seven B. She says she's not a gardener,
but would love to add some color and festivity with
foolproof annuals that are vigorous bloomers. They only need to
look great on that one day. Well, we will give
you overachievers that will look great beyond that one day.
And she wants any suggestions for white or pale, understated
(23:41):
color annual flowers, and she's going to put them into
some large planters.
Speaker 1 (23:47):
So well, I have an idea for Sylvia. I hosted
a backyard wedding in my backyard for my daughter Stacy,
and her wedding also was in the month of June.
So I went to the garden center and I purchased
diamond frost Euphorbia.
Speaker 2 (24:04):
That was definitely on my list to recommend.
Speaker 1 (24:06):
Yep, exactly easy to grow. Sylvia mentions here, she's not
a gardener, that's fine, this plant is fool proof. I
planted them up into eight inch and ten inch clay pots.
Claypots are relatively inexpensive, and essentially grew them on, watching
for frost early, but grew them on and then use
(24:28):
them in the center of the tables out in the backyard.
They were gorgeous by June, beautiful, tiny little white flowers,
hundreds of them. And then the cool thing was it
really wasn't much of an investment for me, So after
the wedding I could have people just take them home
with them. So diamond frost Euphorbia is one suggestion. The
(24:51):
other that I have would be the proven Winner's super Beinas.
Get a white Superbina and I think you're going to
be happy.
Speaker 2 (24:59):
Yeah, there are the has come in so many different colors.
So you know, I was thinking a lot when I
was thinking about Sylvia's question, a lot about the timing,
because early June, even though you're in Virginia, which is
obviously much warmer than us here in Michigan, it's kind
of a little bit of a funny time because you
haven't really accumulated enough heat. For certain annuals that thrive
(25:20):
in the heat, like Selvy or something, it's really get
going because it's still a little bit early, and you know,
if you pick something that is too much of a
cool season annual, it's starting to get a little too
warm for them. So my recommendation for you, Sylvia, I
know you said you're not really a gardener, but if
you can find, you know, kind of a smaller garden
center near you, I would talk to the owner and
(25:43):
ask them or talk to, you know, the purchasing person
and see if they can order some stuff in for
you about three two to three weeks before the wedding,
and if you're getting it fresh from the grower, that
means it's been amply fertilized. You know, some annuals are
going to be a little bit on the smaller side,
but if you're getting them fresh, then they're going to
be ready for sale. That two week window, you know,
(26:04):
you're not really gonna have to worry too much about
continuing to fertilize them. They'll kind of again be riding
the high of what they were getting at the grower,
and that way you don't have to stress over what
the plants are looking like because you're just kind of
not quite all the way to summer, but not quite
all the way past spring, even in Virginia. But I
would also say definitely go to the proven Winner's website.
(26:27):
You can search by plant type annual. You can search
by color. I put in white just to kind of
see what they had, and the great thing is that
they do include things that just have some white in them.
You can also search for pink, purple and look for
those paler you know, pinks and lavenders, and you could
make a list of stuff that you want. The other
thing you can do if you're able to find a
garden center who will work with you. And again, if
(26:47):
you stick to those smaller places, you might find someone
who you can talk to and just order stuff in
for you and just tell them you want a bunch
of white flowers, you know. But I do think diamond
frost is a great choice. I think super venas are
all to a great choice. They do tend to appreciate
a little bit more heat, so you're gonna want to
make sure they look good when you put them in
because they're not really going to get a chance to grow.
(27:09):
But there are just so so many choices, and I think,
you know, calculating back even in Virginia, I'll bet that
Memorial Day weekend is still a pretty hop in garden
center weekend. So they should have tons and tons of
fresh material that would put you right in that two
week window. So if you make a point of going
shopping Memorial Day weekend, I think anything that you see
(27:32):
then is probably going to look just as good then
is just as good for your wedding as it does
at the garden center. And don't forget to look up
in the garden center hanging baskets. Rick loves to take
hanging baskets and put them in containers. A great way
to get a ton of interest from just one single planting.
Look at the patio containers, scour the garden center, don't
(27:52):
just look at the little four inch stuff.
Speaker 1 (27:54):
Yeah, I agree with your Stacey. Throughout the years in
the garden center in June, you have lot of weddings,
you have graduations, and many people would purchase hanging baskets
which are lush by that time and take the hangars
off them and use them as potted plants. Supertuna Mini
Vista white is also a fabulous choice.
Speaker 2 (28:17):
Any of the supertunias should be a great choice and
would look absolutely spectacular at that time of year. So,
as you can see, we have a lot of suggestions.
So if you think about it and the fun of day,
send us the pictures of what you do. We would
love to share those with our listeners. So we have
a question from Mary Lou. She says, I have an
area my landscape where my plants are struggling. I've added
(28:38):
mulch over the years, but the soil remains mostly clay
below the surface. I'm considering heading several inches of good
soil and mult to the top. And I'm wondering if
this will smother the perennials. How much is too much?
Thanks for all the gardening advice that you give.
Speaker 1 (28:51):
What do you think don't add on to the top.
Speaker 2 (28:54):
Don't do it?
Speaker 1 (28:55):
My opinion, I agree do it. If we're talking already
here about adding more culture over the years and clay soil,
you're going to create problems. Mulch needs to be stirred.
But in addition to that, if it starts to build
on itself, you're going to create problems for those plants,
especially in a clay soil.
Speaker 2 (29:16):
Yeah, so you know basically what would happen, So you
can't just PLoP it on top, because what happens then
is that you have two different layers with totally different
porosity or different levels of air space in between the particles.
Whether that particle is topsoil or whether it's mulch, or
whether it's your clay and the mulch and the top soil,
(29:36):
they have high porosity, they have a lot of space
in between their particles. Clay has very little space. So
what that means is those top layers can hold a
ton of water and once gravity starts to take its toll,
and that water tries to drain down. It's like hitting
a wall. Basically, all those all that airspace that's now
filled with water just cannot drain and so you end
up with poor drainage. You need to break that surfa
(30:00):
his tension. You certainly, if you already have perennials in there,
you can't obviously just you know, dig it in, but
you can scratch up the mulch. You can sprinkle in
some composts. I would do composts probably rather than top soil,
because composts will actually improve the texture of the clay soil,
and just try to do it kind of around your
(30:20):
perennials rather than over them. Definitely try not to cover them.
And I would say how much is too much? I
would do no more than two to three inches of material.
Speaker 1 (30:30):
That was a perfect description of the issues Stacey, and
I have nothing to add except an exclamation point, and
that is aeration. The plants are struggling. In my opinion, aeration.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
Is yeah, yeah, sometimes you need to get the because
roots need air. People think that they just need water,
but they do actually need air.
Speaker 1 (30:51):
Kate writes to us these berry poppins hollies were planted
three years ago, and this year I was the first
year they were loaded with berries, so I was so thrilled.
But then I saw the leaves turn kind of a
grayish on some branches and then blacken, and some of
the berries turn brown. This past year I slacked on
the soil acid of fire, so I'm determined to correct that.
(31:11):
But I'm not sure if something else is going on.
I'm stumped.
Speaker 2 (31:15):
Right, So, Kate, it was not the soil acidifier, don't
worry about that if you know. We actually in the
last episode we talked a bit about soil pH and
how that impacts plants. But usually what you're going to
see if pH is an issue is the foliage looks sickly.
You're not really it's not really going to impact the
berries because you know they've already been set. I think
(31:37):
that what you're seeing, Kate did send some pictures is
just normal aging of the berries. Because the winterberry hollies,
as they undergo multiple freezing thaw cycles, they just start
to kind of go brown. That don't all keep that
red bright red color all through the winter. And if
you were to go hiking someplace where there are wild
(32:01):
winterberry hollies growing, which is pretty abundant here in Michigan,
and I'm assuming throughout the Midwest you're gonna see the
same thing. So I even though it is a bit unsightly,
it's not really a cause for concern. This is pretty
normal for the plants to do that, especially in winter again,
multiple freeze and thaw cycles. It just kind of makes
them a little bit mushy. You know, if they didn't
(32:22):
naturally kind of go brown or get eaten, they'd come
into spring red and they don't. Sure, so not really
a huge cause for concern. Kate. If you feel they do,
you need soilist at a fire, go ahead and do
that this spring. But it probably won't impact those berries
at all. But enjoy your berry poppins, winterbury holly another overachiever.
We're gonna take a little break. When we come back,
(32:43):
we're gonna be talking more over achieving plants, so please
stay tuned. Thanks for listening to the Gardening Simplified Podcast,
brought to you by Proven Winners, Color Choice Shrubs, our
award winning flowering shrubs and evergreens, a trialed and tested
by experts with your success in mind. Learn more at
(33:04):
Proven winners Color Choice dot.
Speaker 1 (33:05):
Com Welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show for our
branching news segment Overachievers two point zero and Stacy. We
didn't get to overachieving Winter interest. And by the way,
remember the old horticultural joke about being voted most likely
(33:27):
to recede by your class or something like that. Overachieving
winter interest. I'm really curious what plant you picked?
Speaker 2 (33:36):
The plant that I picked for overachieving Winter Interest. It
was a toss up between Arctic fire red red twig
dogwood and Arctic fire yellow red twig dogwood, because I
do love them both. You know, the red red twig
dogwood pretty ubiquitous, but it's one of those plants that,
again it requires so little and when it's properly cited
in a way where it pops in the landscape, you
(33:59):
are just so grateful for that bright, cheerful color. And
they're super low maintenance and you know, usually inexpensive, so endurable.
There do you're resistant, They can grow in sun or shade.
They're just a versatile, great plant.
Speaker 1 (34:15):
What did you have, great choice? I picked black hat rhododendron.
I just find it interesting in the landscape in winter
the way the leaves curl up when it gets super cold,
the buds which show us the promise of spring. That plant,
in my opinion, overperformed in my landscape and is an overachiever.
Speaker 2 (34:37):
What about over achieving trees? You got one handy for me.
Speaker 1 (34:42):
It's got to be juneberry.
Speaker 2 (34:43):
Ah, it's so true. Such a great plant also known
as amlankir or service berry or saskatoon. One of those
plants with lots and lots of common names. But I
agree that is one of those plants that it's just
beautiful in every season. It has edible fruits. I mean
I love them as well. Of course, it would be
tempting to say Temple of Bloom, and that is one
(35:05):
of the plants that I chose for my own landscape.
But if I didn't have dear, I would say my
dream overachiever is a nice crabapple with white flowers and
big fruits. Love crab apples, just can't beat them.
Speaker 1 (35:23):
Beautiful. You know. Another overachiever on my list, Stacey would
have to be again thinking about where I came from
and years ago in the garden center to now, and
that is the new cultivars of clematis. Something like sweet
summer love. I look at a plant like that as
an over achiever. And then of course when we get
(35:46):
into things like perennials or bulbs, eucumus, pineapple lily, crowning glory. Wow.
And then of course this year there's touch of blush,
false sunflower, Heliopsis, the uskin sun or Tuscan gold. I
find those to be over achievers.
Speaker 2 (36:05):
They really are. I mean, those things you can't stop
them from blooming. They just go and go and go
and go. And you know, a lot of people I
think who have grown perennials and flowers have had issues
with aphids. You know, certain older varieties, they just get
covered with aphids in summer. It's kind of gross. I
have never had that issue with Tuscan son.
Speaker 1 (36:22):
Same here. Yeah, that's great, Hugh Kuras. Of course, there
are so many different cultivars, varieties, et cetera, et cetera.
But the Dolce apple twist is one I love because
of the leaf color changes throughout the season. So I
find that one is an overachiever. Also, Pyromania Nipofia love those, Yeah,
(36:46):
I love those great varieties that are available. Stacy. I
would think when it comes to perennials. You would probably
have summerrific rose mallow on your list or.
Speaker 2 (36:56):
Not, you know, I would. I want to pre where
I go into that. I want to briefly go back
to your hugra thing. Another interesting thing about hugro Of
course everyone thinks of them as foliage plants, but a
lot of them, especially the newer varieties, have really interesting
flowers as well. And I had always been told that
hukara attract hummingbirds, and I was like, whatever, They're so
(37:18):
close to the ground, they got those tiny little flowers,
And then I saw it for myself, and they actually do.
So if you have, especially the red flowered hugras, they
will attract hummingbirds. And that is a great overachiever quality
for me. But you know what you said at the
beginning of the show about an overachiever is a plant
that goes from you know, kind of extremely humble beginnings
(37:40):
to maybe not so humble and at the end of
the season. And yeah, I think most perennials are like that.
You know. It's amazing to me. And I do love, love,
love the perennials in my yard that you walk out
on in April day and you're like, there is nothing there,
and then by the end of August you're dwarfed by
this ten foot tall plant and you're just like, how
(38:03):
did that happen? And I do feel that way about
the about the higbiscus, about the summarific hibiscus, because yeah,
they have nothing. They're very late to emerge here in Michigan.
They don't even usually start to emerge until Memorial Day weekend,
so late in May, and then two months later you're like, whoa,
what just happened? You know, there's just tons of growth
and it's covered in flower buds, and yeah, they just
(38:25):
they're just such a celebration of the season. I would
say that too about my about my Baptisias. Yes, another
plant that decadence. Yeah, I mean, they're just again, they
start out very humble and then you know, they have
such incredible bloom. I love planting them near my patio
(38:47):
so I can sit out there on warm spring evenings
and watch the bees. Watching this is like you're probably like, okay, lady,
but watching the bees in the flowers of the Baptista
is really one of the most beautiful and interesting things
that I've ever seen in my life. And I love
having them at hand, so I can do that so.
Speaker 1 (39:09):
Humble beginnings when it's small. I would suspect that you
also have on your list meant to be AGASTATCHI.
Speaker 2 (39:16):
Oh, I love agastaki. Yeah, yeah, that's another one too
that you know I have. I don't have that one
actually in my garden, but I do have a blue Boa,
which is kind of like the standard or blue Fortune.
Those are two similar varieties. And what I love about
those months of flower I mean you get about three
(39:38):
months of blooms absolutely covered in pollinators, which is a
big characteristic of being an overachiever for me. And yeah,
just they're totally impervious to heat, drought, and deer, so
always important for my garden.
Speaker 1 (39:52):
You mentioned the size of the summerrific high biscus and
how early in the season they're you know, they get
off to a slow start. A plant i'd put in
that category that I consider an overachiever in shade is
sun king or railing. Doesn't look like much early in
my garden, but by the time we get to summer
in a shade garden, brilliant and big. I think it's
(40:16):
an over I.
Speaker 2 (40:17):
Don't know if there is anybody I've ever met who
doesn't love that plant. We actually did a recent plant
panel episode of our plant recommendation panel where that plant
came up and everyone else on the plant panel was like, yes,
I love that plant, and that is It's definitely one
that if people see it at the garden Center they're
just kind of like meh. But you need to have
faith in that one, especially if you have shade and
(40:39):
it needs some brightening up. It is a really unique
plant and we're just really lucky to have it if
you have shade. For interest in the.
Speaker 1 (40:49):
Shade, I'm fascinated how by in April. There are certain
annuals in the garden Center I mentioned, you know, something
like Verbina nariensis medior shower, or something like a Scavola
Gomfrina's Truffle of Pink. Gomfrina is a great example. You know,
(41:11):
you might look at Gomfrina's in early spring and think, whatever,
this is a big time overachiever. By the time you
get to summer, the blooms just keep coming and it
stands up to heat and conditions like you would not believe.
So I love plants like that. Lobularia snow princess is
(41:33):
another one. You know, we used to have had to
deal with the sweet alyssum that would melt out in
the summertime. Not anymore. What a great plant.
Speaker 2 (41:41):
They have such great fragrance on that. I love the
fragrance of a lissum on a warm summer day.
Speaker 1 (41:47):
In herbs. I consider chives and a regano to be overachievers,
and also garlic. All three. Now with oregano, it comes
back year after year. And I have a regano in
my yard that I don't harvest, but rather I let
it go to flower, and it's gorgeous.
Speaker 2 (42:08):
I think it's an over covered in pollinators. You know,
it's funny that you mentioned that, because I have a
lot of a regino in my yard. Itself sows abundantly,
and as we've been dealing with all of the snow lately,
I've realized how we're spreading it around, because it kind
of grows on the edge of a bed or something
like that, and then you shovel and then you pick
(42:30):
up an old a regno seedhead, and then next thing
you know, you've got a regino in a new spot.
But I do love it, and I do harvest it,
and I do let it go to flower because I
love how covered it gets in pollinators when it's in flower,
And I mean, who doesn't love to have a fragrant
oregano rather than some you know, nasty meat you'd have
to deal with. Exactly, It readily out competes the weeds
(42:53):
in my property and I love that about it. So
I'm going to be on that.
Speaker 1 (42:58):
It's an overachiever. And you know, I could go on
and on, and I'm sure you could too, Stacy. And
if we talk about, for example, an early bloomer hellabores,
I would consider a hellibore to be an overachiever. It
laughs at the snow in the cold, and it blooms
early and pushes through and you think, ah, this plant's
(43:19):
kind of gnarrowly, not so beautiful, and boom just like that.
Speaker 2 (43:22):
And another plant you need to have a little faith
in because they do bloom so early. When most people
are at the garden center, they're done flowering. And so
you have a pot with you know, maybe a couple
of leaves in it, because they don't love the growing
environment of the nursery. They definitely are much happier in
the ground. But if you take the risk on a helliboar,
you will be so glad that you did when it
(43:43):
is looking amazing in your garden in you know, March
or April, and everything else is still sleepy.
Speaker 1 (43:50):
So many plants, so a little time.
Speaker 2 (43:52):
I agree, I'd love to keep going, especially in February.
It's a good way to pass February thinking and dreaming
about the overachievers in your garden. And if you don't
have any overachievers in your gardener, maybe you have a
different overachiever you'd like to tell us about. You know,
take a look at our list, and we could all
use a little more overachievers in our horticultural life. So
(44:14):
on that note, we have to bid you farewell for
this week. We want to thank you so so very
much for listening. Thank you Rick for joining me today,
Thank you Adriana for doing it all and making it
happen behind the scenes. And we hope everyone has a
wonderful week ahead.
Broadcasting from Studio A. Here at proven Winners, Color Choice Shrubs.
It's time for the Gardening Simplified Show with Stacy Hervella me,
Rick weisst and our engineer and producer Adrianna Robinson. Well, Stacy,
I love today's topic over achievers. Overachievers are somebody who
achieves success over and above the standard of the expected level.
(00:29):
It might not surprise you, but my entire life, I've
always been told I'm too driven, move too fast. My
teachers and the police used to tell me to slow down.
Now my doctor's telling me to slow down.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
You know, being an overachiever can definitely be a good thing.
But you know, with people, you need to know when
to stop and reserve your energy for yourself. But with plants,
there's really no such restrictions.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
There you go, and we're going to talk about overachieving
plants today. I love this topic because, you know, walking
through the garden center, there's a number of plants that
come to mind for me where if someone did not
know their stories, and Stacy, you're a great storyteller of
(01:20):
plants in plants on trial, and when people learn those
stories of plants, then they developed this relationship with them
and understand their potential in the garden center. For example,
in spring, if you walk by a gampfrina, one of
my favorite annuals, people are apt to walk right past
(01:42):
it because it looks green, doesn't look all that exciting
in many cases compared to the other annuals that are
out there, So you have to learn their stories. And
of course, as people, we also tend to gravitate towards
what is familiar. Now, my definition of plants that are overachievers,
my personal definition is number one, the plant surprises you
(02:06):
in its development from its original condition. So you could
say elephant ear kalladiums I mentioned, gampfrin or scavola, maybe
something as simple as a sunflower seed, a castor bean plant,
or a hyacinth bean seed, maybe Alium gigantium, but something
like that that surprises you in how it develops beyond
(02:29):
its original condition. Number two, they're flourished, seems to come
easy to them, in other words, somewhat easy to grow.
And number three, they give more than just a week
or two of interest. And of course you could argue
that fact with many annuals which tend to be over achievers.
(02:50):
Overachievers for a while and then of course burnout as
we get.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
To fall happens way too often with you know, some annuals,
not all annuals. But you know, the this concept of
an overachiever, I mean, we have we could fill ours
talking about the plants that we feel are overachievers. But
you know, going back to our talk about garden nostalgia,
this concept of overachiever plants is actually relatively new. You know,
(03:15):
for a long time, people needed to work really hard
to get a good performance from the plants in their garden,
whereas nowadays, you know, if because not just because of
plant breeding, but also because there are so many more
options on the market, you know, with container growing that
opened up so many more plants at the garden center.
(03:37):
So whether you have an overachiever through virtue of plant
breeding that it doesn't need dead heading, it's you know,
genetically developed to just blue and blue and bloom like
most preven Veinnurse annuals, or just because plants like my
beloved Sylphium perfoliatum is just now more widely available, you know,
whereas forty years ago, you know, you would have had
(03:58):
to probably dig sylphium out of some swamp somewhere if
you want it in your garden, and that wouldn't have
been a good thing.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
Yeah, if you had it in your yard, it would
stick out because other people didn't have it. But now
more and more people get to enjoy that specific overachiever.
Let me kick off the topic with a limb a rick.
I've caught a bad case of spring fever, ready to plant.
I'm an eager beaver with winter. Instead of being dejected,
(04:28):
my plans are progressing better than expected. You could say
I'm an over achiever with plants. I have a natural
sense a perceiver. They give happiness and I'm the receiver
instead of doing absolutely zero, They've made me a neighborhood hero.
I love a plant that's an overachiever.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
You know what? That reminded me of another important aspect
of a plant being an overachiever. That's a great limock
by the way, thank you, But to me, another characteristic
is what does the plant do for the wildlife? And
you know, insects, birds, butterflies, all of this kind of thing,
and that you know, there should be something an overachiever
does in addition, So yes, we are the receiver when
(05:12):
we have an overachieving plant. Because we get to enjoy
how beautiful it is. And everyone thinks that were some
sort of superstar gardener, when the fact is all we
did was pick the right plants and plant them in
the right place. It really is that simple. Revealing a
big secret here apparently. But you know, also there are
other people, other organisms around that are recipients of our
decisions to garden. And maybe that's a neighbor, maybe that
(05:35):
is wildlife. But you know, overachieving plants benefit more than
just us.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
I love the road you're going down there, and we're
going to add that to the overachieving description of plants
because as opposed to the plant having its time in
the sun and receiving plot, it's on you know, it's
robust growth and its beauty. Is it giving back? Yeah,
(06:02):
and that's a great There's many ways to look at that.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
You know, it could be something like, of course, a
vegetable garden you're getting produced. It could be cut flowers,
it could be multiple seasons of interest. But you know,
an overachiever has to do perform highly but also give
you a little bit.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
More, give something back. I love that, you know a
plant that I consider an overachiever and I don't want to,
you know, sound like a broken record here, because you
know how much I love ornamental grasses. But something like
graceful grass is skyrocket. It's a fountain grass penacetum. The
plumes are sterile so it doesn't become invasive. But boy
(06:45):
does it work for you provide color. And yes, I
saw this past fall, the birds all over the inflorescence.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
You know, I had a strong feeling that ornamental grasses
would come up in the Overachievers show, not just because
I know how much you like them, but because they
are a perfect example. There are few other plants, well,
actually there's kind of a lot, but that require so little.
I mean, once you plant that ornamental grass, pretty much
the only thing you need to do is cut it
(07:15):
back in spring. Yeah, and you know it doesn't need water,
it doesn't need any fussing. You can divide it if
you want. Wouldn't recommend it. Not really a fun job,
So plant those properly and let it let them be.
But yeah, I mean that's exactly what we're talking about.
All that impact, those big robust presents, the sound, It
(07:36):
provides habitat for all sorts of things. It provides nesting
material for birds and you don't lift a finger and
you look like a garden rock star. I love that.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
Yeah, And that's my direction here because you look at
for example, panicum switch grass, a North American native plant,
a prairie grass so to speak. You wontn't expect much.
It's just grass, okay, But you take cultivars like totem
Pole or Niagara Falls or shy in Sky. It's an
(08:05):
overachiever because it delivers, in my opinion, far more than
what you expected.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
Definitely, especially if you're buying just a little one gallon
plant in spring. You you're going to need to have
a little faith. But you know that's where shows like
Gardening simplified the Internet, all of these places where you
can do your research and find out. So you are
you know, more trust trusting in that plant when you
see it maybe looking you know, all green like a gumfrina,
or a little bit small and wimpy like a panicum
(08:32):
because it's a warm season grass and when you're shopping
in the garden center hasn't really had a chance to
do its thing yet exactly.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
And then of course in the mixed Stacey, we've got
to talk about, well, there are you know, in life,
there are early bloomers and there are late bloomers. Okay,
But in again, in the garden industry today, there are
many wonderful cultivars that I'm you would classify as rebloomers. Yes,
(08:59):
I can consider the rebloomers also as overachieved.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
I think reblooming is a classic example of what it
means to be an overachiever. And you know, it's not
all that uncommon in nature. It's just that what plant
breeders have done is identified individual plants that have some
capacity for rebloom and then worked with that to bring
more of those genes out. And yeah, why do people
mostly start gardening flowers? Everyone wants more flowers. You get
(09:26):
a reblooming shrub like bloomerang Wilac or double play Doozy spireea,
it's an overachiever.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
Absolutely, Or the plants that basically are surprised. You know,
you buy a little pugster bud lea in the garden
center and then by the time you get to August,
little plant, the size of those blooms are unreal. It
causes me to believe the plants an overachiever.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
You know what, And that reminds me of other bulbs
are good overachievers too, right, because by the time they
come out in spring, you very well may have forgotten
that you planted that, And then all of the sudden,
just when you need at most amazing flowers pretty much
zero care, and you feel real good about having planted them,
especially for their costs, because you can't get plants much
(10:12):
lower cost than a bulb.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
Well, we're going to raise the bar on today's show,
and let's see how Stacey ties this all together and
plants on trial. That's coming up next here on the
Gardening Simplified Show.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
Beautify your home and community with proven Winner's Color Choice
Shrubs with over three hundred and twenty five unique varieties
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Winner's Color Choice dot com. Rereading's gardening friends, and welcome
(10:49):
back to the Gardening Simplified Show, where the theme of
today is overachievers. And recently, Rick and I did something
a little bit more than just your standard edition of
the Gardening Simplified Show. We went out and filmed a winter.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
Garden tour in the dead of winter.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
In the dead of winter. Now the snow was still present.
It was, you know, a little bit warmer than it
had been the week we got all that snow where
we had you know, single digit temperatures, but still a
little too snowy trapes all over the garden like we
might have hoped to have done. But it's still a
good garden tour. You can kind of get a sense
of some cool stuff going on in the garden right now,
(11:27):
and you know, maybe a little bit of a cure
for cabin fever. So please do check us out on
YouTube that is where the garden tour is posted, and
check out what's what's kicking in the trail gardens in February.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
Yeah, well, we're practicing what we preach, right, that's great,
three hundred and sixty five days out of.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
The year exactly. So since we're talking overachievers, and you know,
it's hard for me, of course, knowing you know pretty
well almost all of the three hundred and thirty some
proven winters color choice shrubs, hard for me to pick
just one. So I wanted to do something a little
bit different for plants on Trial. Today, we're going to
do plants on trial Overachievers, Speed round fun and so
(12:10):
I'm going to name a category, and Rick and I
are going to tell you what our top choice for
an overachiever is in each of these categories. So you
can make a full plant list. If you want a
lot of overachieving flowering shrubs and evergreens in your garden,
this is going to be it. So we're kicking it
off overachiever foliage.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
Shrub Midnight Sun with you, Youla.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
Oh that's mine too, Hey, I mean sure, So when
both of us pick one, you know it has to
be good, right it is and I do. Obviously I
can't do this for every single plant because we only
have ten minutes on radio. But Midnight Sun is a
newer Whygela. And of course most people think of why
Gila as flowering plants, which they are. They have lovely
(12:57):
flowers in spring and attract butterflies or butterflies and hummingbirds,
so that's really cool. But Midnight Sun is primarily a
foliage wigela, and when you see it in spring, this
is one of those plants you need to have a
little faith in, kind of just like a dwarf green
whitella with pink flowers, and you're like, okay, that's cool.
You see the picture on the tag, it shows it
all colorful. You think, okay, well maybe that's in fall.
(13:18):
But no, what happens with this waigela is that as
summer develops and goes on, it turns all sorts of colors.
You don't have to wait until fall. The warmer it gets,
the more color you see on this plant. And I
know you fell in love seeing it here around the studio.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
That's around the studio at the garden center. Love it.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
It is such an amazing foliage plant. And it's nice
and small, so anyone has a room for it. That's
Midnight sun Wijella overachiever flowering shrub.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
For many reasons, I tea fizzy Miizzy.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
Ooh, that's an interesting trip now. I think that flowers,
fragrant flowers are always a good overachiever aspect, and that
is a plant with lots of multiple seasons of interest.
Very cool plant and very different look. My overachiever flowering
shrub is double play doozy because I have to say
that although I could have said steady Eddie viburnum in
(14:09):
my time in the industry. I don't think that any
two flowering shrubs can compare to double Play Doozy and
Steady Eddie Viburnum for their sheer ability to rebloom. You
know some reblooming shrubs they amazing in spring and then
you just kind of get a little bit of flowers
later in the season. These two plants rebloom almost to
(14:30):
the up to the level of their first bloom. Both
of them come from doctor Tom Rainey at North Carolina
State University, a truly innovative plant breeder. So if you
are looking for flowering shrubs that truly do flower, you
don't have to do much and you're going to get
more flowers. I cannot recommend much better than those two,
especially so overachieving Hydrangea. What's your choice?
Speaker 1 (14:51):
Both you and Adriana caused me to fall in love
with this plant as we walk through the garden. Little
lime Punch panicle great choice.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
I was definitely torn between Little Lime Punch myself and
the one that I picked, which is Let's Dance Skyview Hydrangea.
And the reason that I picked Let's Dance, I mean
little Lime Punch is a panicle Hydrangea, so very easy
to grow, very easy, very reliable, hardy, heat tolerant. People
are somewhat familiar with that with those types of hydrangeas,
but with hydrange of Macrophilla, the big leaf hydrangeas, with
(15:20):
the blue or pink or purple flowers. We all know
people have had so much disappointment with conventional varieties. Let's
dance sky View Hydrangea is probably one of the first,
along with Let's stance, can do big leaf ree blooming
hydrangeas that won't disappoint you. We're looking. We've developed, you know,
increased bud hardiness so they're less likely to get cold
(15:41):
damaged in winter. Amazing color and the ability to bloom
all the way up and down the stem so that
if some well intentioned but wrong person cuts it back
or it gets damaged by deer or gets winter cold damage,
you still have flower buds at the base to get bloom.
So it's really one of the very first reblooming big
leaf hydranges that won't disappoint you. Overachieving rose so when
(16:05):
it was tough.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
There's so many great roses. But I'm gonna say, at
last rose.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
All right, at last bi too. Yeah, I mean, the
truth is that with all of the proven winners color
trace roses, we are looking for overachieving. I mean, because
if you just take regular roses as a baseline, they've
already got fabulous flowers, most of them have great fragrance,
so we were already looking for plants that do more
than that standard. So pretty much all of our roses
(16:30):
are overachievers. You can take your pick for color application,
but I did pick it last as well because people
love it. It's a good size, super healthy, clean foliage,
beautiful fragrant flowers, and just a stunning easy to grow roses.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
And like any overachiever, it rose to the os.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
It's sure did all right. Overachieving native shrub.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
This was easy for me. Durvilla Kodiak orange.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
Oh, you know, I'm not surprised you picked a durvilla.
De Villa's are great, and we do have so many
amazing durvillas. I was tempted to include a Durvilla here
and there, but I ended up going with a plant
that is near and dear to my heart in my garden,
and that is Gatsby pink oak leaf hydrange.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
I can see why.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
Yeah, I mean a couple of things about that plant
that I love, amazing fall color. It's also a reblooming
oak leaf hydrangeas, So again this isn't going to be
one of those that goes back to that kind of
early summer bloom. But they continue to put out fresh
flowers through the season and they turn pink when they
you know, as they age, so you get a lot
of color, a lot of flowers. Pollinators love it, and
(17:34):
then you get the fall color, beautiful peeling cinnamon bark
in the winter, and of course with the kodiak or villas,
you get amazing foliage that you really don't have to
lift a finger to enjoy.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
Gorgeously.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
They can take pretty much whatever you throw at them.
Overachieving heat tolerantce shrub for our warm climate, peeps.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
Sunny Boulevard, Saint John's hypeer.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
All right, that is a great plant. I love its
nice rounded habit. I pick jazz Hands Bowl, Laura petalum
and Laura Petulum. Of course, anyone from the South can
tell you it's as ubiquitous as something like, you know,
Barberry is up here and they love it. But I
love jazz Hands Bold because everything about it is bigger,
(18:15):
and I love big plants, the foliage is bigger, the
flowers are bigger, and these actually do keep their foliage
color through the season, so overachieving in that way as well.
But again only hardy to about us zone eight, so
that one is especially for you all in warm climates.
Overachieving hardy shrub or cold tolerance.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
Shrub hardiness easy for me, tough stuff, top fun reblooming
mountain hydrat.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
Oh, that's such a good choice. That's not where my
brain went at all with this one, but that is
an excellent pick. I picked ginger wine nine bark because
you know, nine barks are very much like your durvilla
as a choice, great foliage color, easy to grow, really
don't require any effort. But some older varieties of colorful
(19:03):
Physocarpus or nine bark do you get powdery mildew. This
one is very very powdery mildy resistance, and I can
attest to that because I do abuse it in my garden,
not getting a lot of water space closely, and it
does not get powdery mildew. So a really beautiful plant,
but hardy down to USC zone three and only heat
tolerant through about USDA zone seven. Overachieving shrub with berries.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
If you walk by it in the garden center and spring,
you might just walk right past it. But pearl glam caliicarpa.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
Ooh, that is such a good choice. I love that plant.
So people know calicarpa, they know those amazing purple berries
if they've seen them. And what pearlglam adds into it
is beautiful, dark, purply black foliage for just an amazing look.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
Now.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
I picked proudberry simp carpus for this one myself, because
that's a plant that I've added to my garden within
the last two or three years. I always liked it,
but you know, you know how it is, you got
to grow it to know it. Once it was in
my garden, fell in love just that bright pink berry
that just kept getting brighter and brighter as fall went on.
Seeing it right out my kitchen window made me smile
(20:07):
every time overachieving fall foliage.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
Shrub easy for me. Legend of the fall Father you.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
Ooh, that was a good choice. I was definitely split
on the father Gillas, such a beautiful plant native. I
ended up going with brandywine viburnum for myself, also a
negative shrub, but I picked brandywine over the father gilla,
even though it does have fabulous fall color because with
the brandywine you get the berries on top of that,
and the contrast between the super colorful berries and the
(20:35):
super colorful foliage can't beat that. All right, we have
time for one more overachieving evergreen.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
We're talking overachievers. It's a tie for me between tater
tot and full speed a hedge arbor ice.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
So you're going with a small and a tall choice
small and well, everybody does love tater Tot for the
name and its diminutive stature. My choice is peasley pop Lukothowe.
So I went with a broad leaf evergreen here, and
that is a plant that you will be able to
see in our garden tour on YouTube, see what it
looks like in the middle of winter, and see one
(21:09):
of the reasons why I feel like it is an
over achiever. So wow, that was a lot. If you've
missed any of those plants, they're going to be on
our show notes at Gardeningsimplified on air dot com. And
that's our little quick list of overachieving shrubs that you
can use to make better decisions in your landscape this season.
We're going to take a little bit of a break.
When we come back, we're going to be opening up
(21:30):
the garden mail bags of stay tunes. At Proven Winners
Color Choice Shrubs, we know that a better landscape starts
with a better shrub. Our team of experts tests and
evaluates all of our flowering shrubs in evergreens for eight
to ten years to ensure they outperform what's already on
(21:51):
the market. For easycare, reliable, beautiful shrubs to accentuate your
home and express your personal style, look for Proven Winners
Shrubs in the distinct white container at your local garden center,
or learn more at Proven Winners color Choice dot com.
Greeting's gardening friends, and welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show.
And you know, one of the ways that we're simplifying
(22:13):
gardening for you today is telling you are overachieving plants,
Plants that don't require very much but do a whole
whole lot. And you know that can mean a whole
lot of different things. It can mean more flowers, that
can mean better foliage color. It can mean reblooming, attracting
all sorts of pollinators. And you know, in our illustrious
(22:34):
careers here, we've had the good fortune to come across
a lot of different overachieving plants, and so that's what
we are sharing with you today. If you missed anything,
you can catch us on YouTube on your favorite podcast platform,
or of course, we'll also put some stuff in the
show notes at Gardening Simplified on air dot com. And
while you are at Gardeningsimplified on air dot com, you
can also write us with your gardening questions. I know
(22:57):
it's it's still early, but you know, some of us
start itching to get out there and maybe remember questions
that have come up over the season, or have questions
about what's to come. So don't hesitate to reach out,
and we would be happy to help. We have a
question that I think is a good one that a
lot of people struggle with, especially if they don't really
consider themselves much of a gardener. Sylvia writes that she
(23:20):
is hosting her daughter's wedding in June at her home
in Virginia, Zone seven B. She says she's not a gardener,
but would love to add some color and festivity with
foolproof annuals that are vigorous bloomers. They only need to
look great on that one day. Well, we will give
you overachievers that will look great beyond that one day.
And she wants any suggestions for white or pale, understated
(23:41):
color annual flowers, and she's going to put them into
some large planters.
Speaker 1 (23:47):
So well, I have an idea for Sylvia. I hosted
a backyard wedding in my backyard for my daughter Stacy,
and her wedding also was in the month of June.
So I went to the garden center and I purchased
diamond frost Euphorbia.
Speaker 2 (24:04):
That was definitely on my list to recommend.
Speaker 1 (24:06):
Yep, exactly easy to grow. Sylvia mentions here, she's not
a gardener, that's fine, this plant is fool proof. I
planted them up into eight inch and ten inch clay pots.
Claypots are relatively inexpensive, and essentially grew them on, watching
for frost early, but grew them on and then use
(24:28):
them in the center of the tables out in the backyard.
They were gorgeous by June, beautiful, tiny little white flowers,
hundreds of them. And then the cool thing was it
really wasn't much of an investment for me, So after
the wedding I could have people just take them home
with them. So diamond frost Euphorbia is one suggestion. The
(24:51):
other that I have would be the proven Winner's super Beinas.
Get a white Superbina and I think you're going to
be happy.
Speaker 2 (24:59):
Yeah, there are the has come in so many different colors.
So you know, I was thinking a lot when I
was thinking about Sylvia's question, a lot about the timing,
because early June, even though you're in Virginia, which is
obviously much warmer than us here in Michigan, it's kind
of a little bit of a funny time because you
haven't really accumulated enough heat. For certain annuals that thrive
(25:20):
in the heat, like Selvy or something, it's really get
going because it's still a little bit early, and you know,
if you pick something that is too much of a
cool season annual, it's starting to get a little too
warm for them. So my recommendation for you, Sylvia, I
know you said you're not really a gardener, but if
you can find, you know, kind of a smaller garden
center near you, I would talk to the owner and
(25:43):
ask them or talk to, you know, the purchasing person
and see if they can order some stuff in for
you about three two to three weeks before the wedding,
and if you're getting it fresh from the grower, that
means it's been amply fertilized. You know, some annuals are
going to be a little bit on the smaller side,
but if you're getting them fresh, then they're going to
be ready for sale. That two week window, you know,
(26:04):
you're not really gonna have to worry too much about
continuing to fertilize them. They'll kind of again be riding
the high of what they were getting at the grower,
and that way you don't have to stress over what
the plants are looking like because you're just kind of
not quite all the way to summer, but not quite
all the way past spring, even in Virginia. But I
would also say definitely go to the proven Winner's website.
(26:27):
You can search by plant type annual. You can search
by color. I put in white just to kind of
see what they had, and the great thing is that
they do include things that just have some white in them.
You can also search for pink, purple and look for
those paler you know, pinks and lavenders, and you could
make a list of stuff that you want. The other
thing you can do if you're able to find a
garden center who will work with you. And again, if
(26:47):
you stick to those smaller places, you might find someone
who you can talk to and just order stuff in
for you and just tell them you want a bunch
of white flowers, you know. But I do think diamond
frost is a great choice. I think super venas are
all to a great choice. They do tend to appreciate
a little bit more heat, so you're gonna want to
make sure they look good when you put them in
because they're not really going to get a chance to grow.
(27:09):
But there are just so so many choices, and I think,
you know, calculating back even in Virginia, I'll bet that
Memorial Day weekend is still a pretty hop in garden
center weekend. So they should have tons and tons of
fresh material that would put you right in that two
week window. So if you make a point of going
shopping Memorial Day weekend, I think anything that you see
(27:32):
then is probably going to look just as good then
is just as good for your wedding as it does
at the garden center. And don't forget to look up
in the garden center hanging baskets. Rick loves to take
hanging baskets and put them in containers. A great way
to get a ton of interest from just one single planting.
Look at the patio containers, scour the garden center, don't
(27:52):
just look at the little four inch stuff.
Speaker 1 (27:54):
Yeah, I agree with your Stacey. Throughout the years in
the garden center in June, you have lot of weddings,
you have graduations, and many people would purchase hanging baskets
which are lush by that time and take the hangars
off them and use them as potted plants. Supertuna Mini
Vista white is also a fabulous choice.
Speaker 2 (28:17):
Any of the supertunias should be a great choice and
would look absolutely spectacular at that time of year. So,
as you can see, we have a lot of suggestions.
So if you think about it and the fun of day,
send us the pictures of what you do. We would
love to share those with our listeners. So we have
a question from Mary Lou. She says, I have an
area my landscape where my plants are struggling. I've added
(28:38):
mulch over the years, but the soil remains mostly clay
below the surface. I'm considering heading several inches of good
soil and mult to the top. And I'm wondering if
this will smother the perennials. How much is too much?
Thanks for all the gardening advice that you give.
Speaker 1 (28:51):
What do you think don't add on to the top.
Speaker 2 (28:54):
Don't do it?
Speaker 1 (28:55):
My opinion, I agree do it. If we're talking already
here about adding more culture over the years and clay soil,
you're going to create problems. Mulch needs to be stirred.
But in addition to that, if it starts to build
on itself, you're going to create problems for those plants,
especially in a clay soil.
Speaker 2 (29:16):
Yeah, so you know basically what would happen, So you
can't just PLoP it on top, because what happens then
is that you have two different layers with totally different
porosity or different levels of air space in between the particles.
Whether that particle is topsoil or whether it's mulch, or
whether it's your clay and the mulch and the top soil,
(29:36):
they have high porosity, they have a lot of space
in between their particles. Clay has very little space. So
what that means is those top layers can hold a
ton of water and once gravity starts to take its toll,
and that water tries to drain down. It's like hitting
a wall. Basically, all those all that airspace that's now
filled with water just cannot drain and so you end
up with poor drainage. You need to break that surfa
(30:00):
his tension. You certainly, if you already have perennials in there,
you can't obviously just you know, dig it in, but
you can scratch up the mulch. You can sprinkle in
some composts. I would do composts probably rather than top soil,
because composts will actually improve the texture of the clay soil,
and just try to do it kind of around your
(30:20):
perennials rather than over them. Definitely try not to cover them.
And I would say how much is too much? I
would do no more than two to three inches of material.
Speaker 1 (30:30):
That was a perfect description of the issues Stacey, and
I have nothing to add except an exclamation point, and
that is aeration. The plants are struggling. In my opinion, aeration.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
Is yeah, yeah, sometimes you need to get the because
roots need air. People think that they just need water,
but they do actually need air.
Speaker 1 (30:51):
Kate writes to us these berry poppins hollies were planted
three years ago, and this year I was the first
year they were loaded with berries, so I was so thrilled.
But then I saw the leaves turn kind of a
grayish on some branches and then blacken, and some of
the berries turn brown. This past year I slacked on
the soil acid of fire, so I'm determined to correct that.
(31:11):
But I'm not sure if something else is going on.
I'm stumped.
Speaker 2 (31:15):
Right, So, Kate, it was not the soil acidifier, don't
worry about that if you know. We actually in the
last episode we talked a bit about soil pH and
how that impacts plants. But usually what you're going to
see if pH is an issue is the foliage looks sickly.
You're not really it's not really going to impact the
berries because you know they've already been set. I think
(31:37):
that what you're seeing, Kate did send some pictures is
just normal aging of the berries. Because the winterberry hollies,
as they undergo multiple freezing thaw cycles, they just start
to kind of go brown. That don't all keep that
red bright red color all through the winter. And if
you were to go hiking someplace where there are wild
(32:01):
winterberry hollies growing, which is pretty abundant here in Michigan,
and I'm assuming throughout the Midwest you're gonna see the
same thing. So I even though it is a bit unsightly,
it's not really a cause for concern. This is pretty
normal for the plants to do that, especially in winter again,
multiple freeze and thaw cycles. It just kind of makes
them a little bit mushy. You know, if they didn't
(32:22):
naturally kind of go brown or get eaten, they'd come
into spring red and they don't. Sure, so not really
a huge cause for concern. Kate. If you feel they do,
you need soilist at a fire, go ahead and do
that this spring. But it probably won't impact those berries
at all. But enjoy your berry poppins, winterbury holly another overachiever.
We're gonna take a little break. When we come back,
(32:43):
we're gonna be talking more over achieving plants, so please
stay tuned. Thanks for listening to the Gardening Simplified Podcast,
brought to you by Proven Winners, Color Choice Shrubs, our
award winning flowering shrubs and evergreens, a trialed and tested
by experts with your success in mind. Learn more at
(33:04):
Proven winners Color Choice dot.
Speaker 1 (33:05):
Com Welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show for our
branching news segment Overachievers two point zero and Stacy. We
didn't get to overachieving Winter interest. And by the way,
remember the old horticultural joke about being voted most likely
(33:27):
to recede by your class or something like that. Overachieving
winter interest. I'm really curious what plant you picked?
Speaker 2 (33:36):
The plant that I picked for overachieving Winter Interest. It
was a toss up between Arctic fire red red twig
dogwood and Arctic fire yellow red twig dogwood, because I
do love them both. You know, the red red twig
dogwood pretty ubiquitous, but it's one of those plants that,
again it requires so little and when it's properly cited
in a way where it pops in the landscape, you
(33:59):
are just so grateful for that bright, cheerful color. And
they're super low maintenance and you know, usually inexpensive, so endurable.
There do you're resistant, They can grow in sun or shade.
They're just a versatile, great plant.
Speaker 1 (34:15):
What did you have, great choice? I picked black hat rhododendron.
I just find it interesting in the landscape in winter
the way the leaves curl up when it gets super cold,
the buds which show us the promise of spring. That plant,
in my opinion, overperformed in my landscape and is an overachiever.
Speaker 2 (34:37):
What about over achieving trees? You got one handy for me.
Speaker 1 (34:42):
It's got to be juneberry.
Speaker 2 (34:43):
Ah, it's so true. Such a great plant also known
as amlankir or service berry or saskatoon. One of those
plants with lots and lots of common names. But I
agree that is one of those plants that it's just
beautiful in every season. It has edible fruits. I mean
I love them as well. Of course, it would be
tempting to say Temple of Bloom, and that is one
(35:05):
of the plants that I chose for my own landscape.
But if I didn't have dear, I would say my
dream overachiever is a nice crabapple with white flowers and
big fruits. Love crab apples, just can't beat them.
Speaker 1 (35:23):
Beautiful. You know. Another overachiever on my list, Stacey would
have to be again thinking about where I came from
and years ago in the garden center to now, and
that is the new cultivars of clematis. Something like sweet
summer love. I look at a plant like that as
an over achiever. And then of course when we get
(35:46):
into things like perennials or bulbs, eucumus, pineapple lily, crowning glory. Wow.
And then of course this year there's touch of blush,
false sunflower, Heliopsis, the uskin sun or Tuscan gold. I
find those to be over achievers.
Speaker 2 (36:05):
They really are. I mean, those things you can't stop
them from blooming. They just go and go and go
and go. And you know, a lot of people I
think who have grown perennials and flowers have had issues
with aphids. You know, certain older varieties, they just get
covered with aphids in summer. It's kind of gross. I
have never had that issue with Tuscan son.
Speaker 1 (36:22):
Same here. Yeah, that's great, Hugh Kuras. Of course, there
are so many different cultivars, varieties, et cetera, et cetera.
But the Dolce apple twist is one I love because
of the leaf color changes throughout the season. So I
find that one is an overachiever. Also, Pyromania Nipofia love those, Yeah,
(36:46):
I love those great varieties that are available. Stacy. I
would think when it comes to perennials. You would probably
have summerrific rose mallow on your list or.
Speaker 2 (36:56):
Not, you know, I would. I want to pre where
I go into that. I want to briefly go back
to your hugra thing. Another interesting thing about hugro Of
course everyone thinks of them as foliage plants, but a
lot of them, especially the newer varieties, have really interesting
flowers as well. And I had always been told that
hukara attract hummingbirds, and I was like, whatever, They're so
(37:18):
close to the ground, they got those tiny little flowers,
And then I saw it for myself, and they actually do.
So if you have, especially the red flowered hugras, they
will attract hummingbirds. And that is a great overachiever quality
for me. But you know what you said at the
beginning of the show about an overachiever is a plant
that goes from you know, kind of extremely humble beginnings
(37:40):
to maybe not so humble and at the end of
the season. And yeah, I think most perennials are like that.
You know. It's amazing to me. And I do love, love,
love the perennials in my yard that you walk out
on in April day and you're like, there is nothing there,
and then by the end of August you're dwarfed by
this ten foot tall plant and you're just like, how
(38:03):
did that happen? And I do feel that way about
the about the higbiscus, about the summarific hibiscus, because yeah,
they have nothing. They're very late to emerge here in Michigan.
They don't even usually start to emerge until Memorial Day weekend,
so late in May, and then two months later you're like, whoa,
what just happened? You know, there's just tons of growth
and it's covered in flower buds, and yeah, they just
(38:25):
they're just such a celebration of the season. I would
say that too about my about my Baptisias. Yes, another
plant that decadence. Yeah, I mean, they're just again, they
start out very humble and then you know, they have
such incredible bloom. I love planting them near my patio
(38:47):
so I can sit out there on warm spring evenings
and watch the bees. Watching this is like you're probably like, okay, lady,
but watching the bees in the flowers of the Baptista
is really one of the most beautiful and interesting things
that I've ever seen in my life. And I love
having them at hand, so I can do that so.
Speaker 1 (39:09):
Humble beginnings when it's small. I would suspect that you
also have on your list meant to be AGASTATCHI.
Speaker 2 (39:16):
Oh, I love agastaki. Yeah, yeah, that's another one too
that you know I have. I don't have that one
actually in my garden, but I do have a blue Boa,
which is kind of like the standard or blue Fortune.
Those are two similar varieties. And what I love about
those months of flower I mean you get about three
(39:38):
months of blooms absolutely covered in pollinators, which is a
big characteristic of being an overachiever for me. And yeah,
just they're totally impervious to heat, drought, and deer, so
always important for my garden.
Speaker 1 (39:52):
You mentioned the size of the summerrific high biscus and
how early in the season they're you know, they get
off to a slow start. A plant i'd put in
that category that I consider an overachiever in shade is
sun king or railing. Doesn't look like much early in
my garden, but by the time we get to summer
in a shade garden, brilliant and big. I think it's
(40:16):
an over I.
Speaker 2 (40:17):
Don't know if there is anybody I've ever met who
doesn't love that plant. We actually did a recent plant
panel episode of our plant recommendation panel where that plant
came up and everyone else on the plant panel was like, yes,
I love that plant, and that is It's definitely one
that if people see it at the garden Center they're
just kind of like meh. But you need to have
faith in that one, especially if you have shade and
(40:39):
it needs some brightening up. It is a really unique
plant and we're just really lucky to have it if
you have shade. For interest in the.
Speaker 1 (40:49):
Shade, I'm fascinated how by in April. There are certain
annuals in the garden Center I mentioned, you know, something
like Verbina nariensis medior shower, or something like a Scavola
Gomfrina's Truffle of Pink. Gomfrina is a great example. You know,
(41:11):
you might look at Gomfrina's in early spring and think, whatever,
this is a big time overachiever. By the time you
get to summer, the blooms just keep coming and it
stands up to heat and conditions like you would not believe.
So I love plants like that. Lobularia snow princess is
(41:33):
another one. You know, we used to have had to
deal with the sweet alyssum that would melt out in
the summertime. Not anymore. What a great plant.
Speaker 2 (41:41):
They have such great fragrance on that. I love the
fragrance of a lissum on a warm summer day.
Speaker 1 (41:47):
In herbs. I consider chives and a regano to be overachievers,
and also garlic. All three. Now with oregano, it comes
back year after year. And I have a regano in
my yard that I don't harvest, but rather I let
it go to flower, and it's gorgeous.
Speaker 2 (42:08):
I think it's an over covered in pollinators. You know,
it's funny that you mentioned that, because I have a
lot of a regino in my yard. Itself sows abundantly,
and as we've been dealing with all of the snow lately,
I've realized how we're spreading it around, because it kind
of grows on the edge of a bed or something
like that, and then you shovel and then you pick
(42:30):
up an old a regno seedhead, and then next thing
you know, you've got a regino in a new spot.
But I do love it, and I do harvest it,
and I do let it go to flower because I
love how covered it gets in pollinators when it's in flower,
And I mean, who doesn't love to have a fragrant
oregano rather than some you know, nasty meat you'd have
to deal with. Exactly, It readily out competes the weeds
(42:53):
in my property and I love that about it. So
I'm going to be on that.
Speaker 1 (42:58):
It's an overachiever. And you know, I could go on
and on, and I'm sure you could too, Stacy. And
if we talk about, for example, an early bloomer hellabores,
I would consider a hellibore to be an overachiever. It
laughs at the snow in the cold, and it blooms
early and pushes through and you think, ah, this plant's
(43:19):
kind of gnarrowly, not so beautiful, and boom just like that.
Speaker 2 (43:22):
And another plant you need to have a little faith
in because they do bloom so early. When most people
are at the garden center, they're done flowering. And so
you have a pot with you know, maybe a couple
of leaves in it, because they don't love the growing
environment of the nursery. They definitely are much happier in
the ground. But if you take the risk on a helliboar,
you will be so glad that you did when it
(43:43):
is looking amazing in your garden in you know, March
or April, and everything else is still sleepy.
Speaker 1 (43:50):
So many plants, so a little time.
Speaker 2 (43:52):
I agree, I'd love to keep going, especially in February.
It's a good way to pass February thinking and dreaming
about the overachievers in your garden. And if you don't
have any overachievers in your gardener, maybe you have a
different overachiever you'd like to tell us about. You know,
take a look at our list, and we could all
use a little more overachievers in our horticultural life. So
(44:14):
on that note, we have to bid you farewell for
this week. We want to thank you so so very
much for listening. Thank you Rick for joining me today,
Thank you Adriana for doing it all and making it
happen behind the scenes. And we hope everyone has a
wonderful week ahead.
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