February 22, 2025 • 45 mins
We're about to enter the prime period for moving shrubs and perennials, so get the dirt on what you can - and shouldn't - move. Featured shrub: Wee Bit Grumpy hydrangea.
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Episode Transcript
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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 Stacey, Hervella me,
Rick weisst and our engineer and producer Adrianna Robinson Stacy.
Today's topic plants that like to move and plants that
don't like to move. And I've been thinking about this
(00:23):
and I need to share with you that I'm not
so sure I've ever found a plant that I don't
want to move. Wow.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
If that's a good thing or a bad thing.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
I know I'm not saying it's a good thing, but
you know, rejuvenation is a good thing. For years when
I ran my business, I always had a small bottle
of Tabasco sauce on the ledge because Tabasco sauce always
was a good reminder for me that just adding a
little bit to a dish can change the whole dish.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Right, That's very true. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
I think that it's important for people to understand that
moving plants is a normal thing to do as a gardener.
You know, I think there's this kind of myth or
belief out there that gardeners, especially people who have many
years of experience like you and I get it right
the first time, and newsflash, we do not even maybe
(01:18):
we do when we change our mind and it doesn't
feel so right anymore. It's not like multiple choice tests.
There is an open ended essay exam and so yeah,
you have the opportunity to for most things. There are
certainly exceptions, but you do have the opportunity to change
your mind and move the majority of different types of plants.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
Thank you for saying that. I appreciate that because that
gives me permission, and what I'm trying to do is
give folks permission to do it. Also because you reach
a point, of course with some plants where you need
you just simply need to move them. They're too close
to the house, or you're sick of them in that location,
they're getting too big or whatever. I think the key
(01:59):
is recognizing, number one, you can do this. I mean,
they move houses, for crying out, true, If they move houses,
you can move some plants and take a shot at it.
I think the key from my experience, Stacy, is don't
do it during prime time, that is for sure, and
(02:20):
that means for both the individual and the plants. So
as an individual, don't go out there and move plants
when it's sunny and it's beautiful outside. Do it when
it's overcast, kind of drizzly, not real nice to be outside.
And the same applies to plants. Don't move them when
they're in their prime, move them during their.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
Off season, yeah, the dormant season. So I think this
is great timing. We did another show back in October
called bus to Move that was more about how to move,
and now we're going to talk about specifically plants that
want to be or that can be moved, and those
that maybe are a little more resentful of being moved.
But the overall thing, the reason we're doing this is
because we are coming up on a perfect time for
(03:04):
moving plants when they are dormant. And of course the
ground is not frozen and covered with two or three
feet of snow as it is at the moment. So
perhaps in another you know, six weeks or so here
in Michigan, we're getting into prime plant moving time when
those plants are dormant. Is a great time to move
things that you have been thinking about switching around.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
Exactly, And you know, I guess I think about moving plants.
You know, I remember clearly sitting on a Chase Lounge
in Las Vegas, sipping on an adult beverage and watching
them move trees and large plants from the old desert
into the wind resort. They were moving some of these
(03:48):
plants with helicopters.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
And the same applies an interview I did back in
twenty ten with individuals who were restoring the tree that
survived the collapse of the Twin Times in New York
and bringing that tree back to life and then moving
that tree to the Memorial Plaza where it stands today.
My point is, Stacey, the attitude I take is where
(04:13):
there's a will, there's a way.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
For the average person, some of those things may be
a little out of reach. It's not beat around the
bush here.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
You know.
Speaker 3 (04:21):
Moving trees, I think is one place, especially if they're
more mature trees like the ones that you just described,
is an area where it is possible, but the expense
and effort may not be worth it. And certainly you
can find online amazing stories of you know, huge oak
trees being relocated, and those are all very very interesting
to see. But you know, overall, unless something has you know,
(04:43):
huge historical or esthetic value, it's not easy to do
for mature trees, but almost anything else, even young trees,
you know. But I think, as with everything else in horticulture,
the key is to have realistic expectations about what happens
after you move something. An interesting situation from my own
garden where several years ago I bought two pawpaw seedlings,
(05:05):
so papa are a native edible papaw, and planted them
in my garden and they're fairly slow growing. But it
soon became obvious that the way that we had positioned
them was not right, so I moved one of them
about a year after I planted. Now, poppas are trees
with a tap root, so this is something that you
need to look for. I'm sure we're going to be
(05:26):
going there later. If a plant has a tap root,
so think a little bit like a carrot, you know,
deep root like that, rather than a large spread out
root system. They tend to not take to transplanting quite
as well, and Papa's are one of those. So I
dug my hole, I moved the tree, and it is
pretty much fine now, But for about two or three
(05:48):
years it was pretty surprising to see how two of
the same plants planted at the exact same time. One
of them was so severely set back from this movie,
so it probably took about two years for it to recover.
That first year after I moved it, it didn't grow
hardly at all.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
On top.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
It was alive, it leafed out, it was okay, but
it was like, whoa, I am recovering.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
I'm not growing.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
I just need to take a year off and then
almost like resetting, you know, sleep creep leap. It was
a sleep year for that first year, it was a
creep year for the second year, and then by the
third year. Now they're almost back together. But you do
have to understand that even though we do freely move
plants around, there is a little bit of a plant
penalty there to pay.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
Oh, I agree, And when I say I haven't met
a plant I don't want to move, I do say
that tongue in cheek. I've done some pretty crazy things
in my life. But your point is well taken. We're
primarily talking here about perennials and shrubs, not necessarily trees
and stacy. A couple of examples rhododendrons. You know, people
(06:53):
have said to me, well, you can't move a big,
beautiful rhododendron. Well, you can. The root system is it's
not a it's a smaller root system proportionately to the plant,
and you can stump it, you can cut it back,
maybe sacrifice the flowers for one year. Another example would
be p and ees. People have always said to me,
while P and e's are a perennial that doesn't like
(07:15):
to move, and I'm like, I've moved them almost any
time of the year and had success. Sure, you don't
want to plant them too deep or too high, because
you're going to have problems with blooming. But again, where
there's a will, there's a.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
Way, And you know, I think it's important to question
some of that quote unquote conventional wisdom about things like
moving p and e s or even clematists. I mean,
you need to do your research and understand perhaps why
those beliefs are in place. And I think the one
for penis is primarily because when they're move people do
(07:50):
often plant them too deep. It's very easy to plant
them too deeply, and we've answered that question in mailbag
a couple of different times.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
But you know, do your research.
Speaker 3 (07:58):
If someone says, oh, you can't possibly move this, think
about the reasons why, you know, think about why are
they saying that in the I'm sure people say you
can't transplant a popa either, And I wouldn't say it
was the most well advised thing that I've ever done.
But you know, that's the other thing about being a
gardener is you if you're willing to take on those risks,
risk your investment in the plant, risk your investment in
(08:18):
that time and effort, then you know that's that's your decision.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
And are you glad you did it?
Speaker 2 (08:23):
Stay, I'm very glad I did it, very much so.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
And that's the point. So, I mean, you know, again,
some things just don't want to move. I'm standing on
my deck looking at my patio furniture. I'm saying, you
guys got to move, and they're like, no, we're good.
We're gonna sit this one up. Bad dad joke. But
getting back to the taparate thing that you were diving into.
So if you think about some perennials like baptisia, or
(08:47):
you've talked often about the roots on clematis yep, yep,
the heart leaf brunera, or coral bells foamy bells. What
about our high biscus, like our summarific high biscus.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
Well, I just moved a lot of summarific Hibiscus ampaptesia
at the end of fall last year, so I am,
you know. And it is easier for us to move
things living in a sandy soil than people who have
clay soil, because it's a lot easier to expose those
roots and to get more of the roots. But I
am eager to see what might be happening with those pronouns.
(09:23):
I have every confidence that they're alive. I'm not worried
about that. But whether or not I'll see flowers this year,
and if so, how many will be to be determined.
So stay tuned for the update this June and August.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
That's very interesting. You know. My general rule of thumb
is if it's a clumping plant and divides easily, it
moves pretty easily. If it's a single stem, even lavender
that acts like a woody plant single stem more difficult
than let's say, daylilies or hostas. Yeah, so you know again,
(09:58):
and if you have a s situation where it simply
has to go and you're facing just eliminating the plant,
why not at least give it a shot. It's great
exercise and fresh air.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
And you learn something.
Speaker 3 (10:09):
And that's what gardening is all about, is, you know,
taking an educated approach to what you need to need
or want to do, making the right decision, acting on it,
and then seeing what happens.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
Well, let's see how Stacey ties it in and plants
on trial. That's coming up next here on the Gardening
Simplified Show.
Speaker 3 (10:33):
Beautify your home and community with proven Winner's Color Choice
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proven Winner's Color Choice dot com. Greetings gardening friends, and
(10:54):
welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show, where the order
of the day is plants that like to or can
be moved, and plants that maybe are a little bit
more resentful of being moved. And Rick, I can't believe
you went the whole first segment without your famous saying
that your plants have been moved so often they're eligible
for Frequent Flyer miles.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
Yes, or I just bent over and split my plants
now I.
Speaker 3 (11:15):
Have to ask you something. It wasn't all that long
ago that you moved from a house where you had
lived in garden for many years to a new home.
And when you did that, did you move any plants?
Speaker 1 (11:28):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (11:28):
I do, how many? Like roughly, I'm going.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
To say probably about twenty.
Speaker 3 (11:33):
Oh wow, that's pretty impressive. And was it shrubs, perennials, a.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
Mix primarily perennials and grasses? No surprise.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
Oh, you were brave enough to dig up a grass.
That's uh.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
I mean, you know, you know with grasses, they're readily
they're pretty easy to divide and move as far as
they're being willing to do so. It's whether or not
the individual wants to go through the grief. Right.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (11:58):
There was a condo down the street from me, and
last summer I saw some guy trying to dig out
some ornamental grasses from the front yard and he caught
my eye as I was walking by, and I said, oh,
tough job, good luck. Went back the next day nothing
had been moved.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
He gave up on the whole thing.
Speaker 1 (12:16):
I believe it.
Speaker 3 (12:17):
So, if you're listening, mister, I understand. But anyway, it
is great that we can move plants, and I have
often moved plants. And when I moved, I ended I
was moving in July, and it wasn't the ideal time
to move plants. But I wasn't going to just leave
them my rental and not have them at my house,
So I moved a bunch of stuff too.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
This past summer. You know, you tore out the entire lawn,
you had to move some plants too, right.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
I didn't have to move too much at the beginning
of the project. I saved all the moving really for
the fall, Okay, because by the time the whole line
project got sorted out, I just said, you know what,
it's getting too close to hot weather. So I didn't
move that much then. But I spent every single free
weekend in September and October moving plants. So I'm also
very experienced, and that really is one of the great
(13:02):
things about perennials and shrubs. Now, as we said, you
can't really successfully move more mature trees, you can try.
We had a question in mailbag not too long ago
about someone who had a little Japanese maple that was
really struggling. We advise them to move that, and we
also advise someone in the last episode to dig up
their gink go that was getting girdling. So you know,
(13:24):
within maybe a couple of years of being planned in
one two to three years, if you get a kind
of a smaller plant, a smaller tree, you can typically
get away with it.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
But if you're going to do that plan ahead, I
still think taking a spade cutting into the roots a
month or two before moving it, trying develop some hair
roots will help.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
If you can do that.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
If you can do it, I mean, if if you
thought of doing it in time, is really the main thing.
So it's great that we can move things. But just
because you can move plants that and most plants are
very adaptable to being moved, doesn't necessary mean that you should.
Because as I said, there is a little bit of
a plant penalty to pay. It does set things back,
(14:07):
and how much it sets something back can be based
on a lot of different factors and the reaction can
be different. So a plant might not flower for a
few years, it might grow very little. It might you know,
kind of just sitting there and sulking whatever other features
you're growing it for. You just might not see that,
you know, in its full effect. For a couple of years,
(14:28):
and some plants that people say don't like to be
moved really just don't ever recover from it. You know.
There's certainly some plants that just they'll never really get
back to where they were, and you're better off just
starting with something that was grown a container and you
can put into your yard. But in all of my
years of helping gardeners with gardening questions, I would have
(14:51):
to say that the plant that I have been asked
the most frequently about whether it can be moved is
big leaf hyde hydrange of macrophilla. That makes sense, Yeah,
So I think it's for a couple of reasons. Number one,
because hydrange of macrophilla or big leaf hydrangea, is the
type of plant that is highly sensitive to its spot.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (15:14):
You know, where you plant a big leaf hydrangea, especially
if you live in a cooler climate, can make or
break your experience. You can have a great experience and
feel like you are a rockstar gardener, or you can
have a terrible experience and feel like you have You know,
you're never gonna have success growing a plant again. It
really needs to be in kind of the right spot. Again,
(15:34):
because it has its flower buds for the following summer
all winter. It's important that it is kind of more
protected in these colder climates so that it's not getting
you know, huge blasts of cold air, heavy loads of ice,
all of that kind of stuff. So it's got that
site sensitivity.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
Number two.
Speaker 3 (15:53):
I think it's a plant that when a shrub, it
is a shrub, it is a true woody shrub. But
I think when most people look at it, they got so,
you know, what that looks like a plant that could
probably be moved. Sure, it kind of looks like a
perennial clumpy, Yeah, look clumpy, And so people maybe have
the sense that looks like something I could move, compared
to something that maybe is really really large or you know,
(16:14):
has a trunk and it resembles more of a tree.
And the third one goes back to what we were
saying a few weeks ago about dwarf Elberta spruce, which
is that when people get their hydrange of Macrophilla at
the store, they're like, oh, look at this cute little thing,
And especially older varieties of big leaf Hydrangea can easily
get to be five feet tall and wide, and it
(16:36):
can be very difficult to believe that this cute little
one gallon blooming hydrangea that your you know, darling child
got you from Mother's Day or whatever, is going to
grow into a five foot by five foot shrup.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
I'm with you here. I've seen it, been there, done that,
you know. I can't believe if I look back, the
number of people I've suggested move a macrophilla hydrangea because
it's on the west or south facing of their home
and their struggling. Yeah, so it's easy to say, well,
you need to move that plant. But I agree with you.
I think that because it has this clumping nature, people
(17:12):
are willing to give it a shot.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (17:13):
And it does have a shallow fibrous root system, and
it is very easy and amenable to moving. And if
you have one that hasn't been doing well and you
do want to move it, this coming March, when the
ground is finally workable again and the plant is dormant,
would be a perfect time to go ahead and do that,
(17:34):
or to replace it with a higher performing, proven winners
hydrange Just saying like let's stance Skyview or Letstance can do.
But those aren't today's plant on trial. No, today's plant
on trial is a hydrange of Macrophylla that is so
small you won't have to worry that it's going to
need to be moved. Oh I love this And this
plant is we bit grumpy big leaf hydrangea, so you
(17:56):
can guess by the name we bit that it is small.
It reaches two feet tall and about two and a
half feet wide, So that's a perfect size for you know,
landscaping around a condo or an apartment or other small space.
Very easy to incorporate in things like flower beds and
perennial gardens. And you know, just one that's not going
to outgrow its space or overgrow your dining room windows,
(18:18):
because I feel like that's what most people do with
big leaf hydrangeas, right plant them in front of their
front windows. Think it's going to be great, and the
next thing you know, they're five feet tall and they
can't see out their windows. So wee bit grumpy small.
And you might be wondering about the grumpy part of
its name. It is not because it is a difficult
to grow big leaf hydrangea. It most certainly is not
(18:38):
just as easy to grow as any other proven winter's
color choice big leaf hydrangea. But I like to tell
the story of its name, because it's kind of a
funny story. So when we get plants in for our trials,
whatever that trial group is, it gets a working name. Right,
we're humans trialing these plants. So even though it would
be probably more objective to give it a number, no
one remembers numbers. I mean, you know, they need like
(19:00):
some sort of name, so they have. Our R and
D team has used everything from like planets, dog breeds,
different things like this, and those become the working names.
So with its particular Hydrangea Macrophila trial, there were seven
plants and they were named for the seven Dwarfs as
their working names from the Snowed and the Seven Dwarf story.
(19:22):
And when the trial was complete, we Grumpy was not
wee bit grumpy at the time. It was just Grumpy
was the last plant standing. And we loved the color.
So it had this like beautiful, moody, dark purple flowers
on it, and it was one of those things that
every time someone looked at the tag to say, oh,
you know, hey, which plant is this and they saw Grumpy,
(19:44):
they got a little kick out of it, you know,
they kind of chuckled. And so when it came time
to name the plant. You know, we're like thinking about
all these you know, conventional plant names like oh, beautiful
and pretty and magically, you know, all of these kinds
of names, and we're like, let's just go with grumpy.
And what I love about the name is it's still
making people laugh when they see it. So because everyone
(20:06):
knows someone who's like a wee bit grumpy, right, we
can all be a wee bit grumpy now, and then
maybe it's because of winter, maybe it's because your hydrange
is not blooming. Wee bit grumpy can solve all of that.
So it's a great small space HYDRANGEA perfect for someone
who maybe is a little bit grumpy. And I love
the flowers on this. In acidic soils, instead of being
(20:27):
that traditional blue, it turns a deep kind of marbled violet.
And a lot of people think that that purple color
comes from sort of the perfect pH but actually it's
more genetic. So this is one of those hydrangs that
will turn more purple than blue. If it's in alkaline's
neutral soils, it will be a beautiful pink. And you know,
other than that, it's just as easy to grow as
(20:49):
any other big leaf Hydrangea heart Ese zones five to nine.
It is not a reblooming hydrangea, so that's kind of
you know, the reblooming hydrangeas tend to be larger because
they have to put on a lot of new growth
in order to actually reblue, so they tend to be
a little bit bigger, not as large as the older varieties,
but larger than the we bit series. So if you
(21:11):
absolutely need a small, tidy hydrangea that you will never
want to or have to prone, that you'll never have
to move, we Bit Grumpy is the perfect choice for you.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
Our show last week spacing, Yes, plant's perfect, perfect, don't
have to worry about spacing, and you know looks amazing
in the summer.
Speaker 3 (21:31):
So we Bit Grumpy. Look for it at your local
garden center this spring. You can find a retailer at
Proven Winners Color Choice dot com, or find out more
about Webit Grumpy Hydrangea at our show notes at Gardeningsimplified
on Air dot com. We're gonna take a little break.
When we come back, We're opening up the mailbags.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
Stay tuned.
Speaker 3 (21:54):
At Proven Winners Color Choice Shrubs. We know that a
better landscape starts with a better Shrub of Experts tests
and evaluates all of our flowering shrubs and evergreens for
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on the market. For easycare, reliable, beautiful shrubs to accentuate
your home and express your personal style, look for Proven
(22:14):
Winner's Shrubs in the distinctive white container at your local
garden center or learn more at Proven Winner's Color Choice
dot com. Creating's gardening friends and welcome back to the
Gardening Simplified Show, where it is our pleasure now to
help you with your gardening questions and conundrums. Might be
a little early, maybe you're having trouble remembering what was
(22:36):
you know, causing you issues in the garden last season,
But if it happens to come to you and you
have a question, please do reach out to us at
Gardening Simplified on air dot com. There's a contact form
and we would be.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
Happy to help you.
Speaker 3 (22:50):
And of course if you you know, not every question
is easy to answer on air, because you know, sometimes
you need pictures. Sometimes it's just a little too complicated
for us to fit into this tiny little segment. But
if you write us on Proven Winners Color Choice dot
com or on proven Winners dot com, you will get
a personalized answer, not from a robot, not from an AI,
but from a real gardener who cares about your success.
(23:13):
So if you need an answer sooner, not sure we're
gonna get to your question, please do you reach out
to us there as well?
Speaker 2 (23:19):
What do we have this week?
Speaker 1 (23:20):
Well, Stacey, you looked at some pictures from Steve and Mary.
Something attacked our red crape myrtle. Will it survive or
do we need to remove it and plant a new
one this spring? They're saying it was beautiful this past summer.
Speaker 3 (23:34):
Yes, So if you are on YouTube, you're seeing the
pictures that Steve and Mary shared with us. If you
are listening to us on radio or podcast, check it
out at Gardening Simplified on air dot com. And uh,
the something that attacked the crape myrtle here was human?
Speaker 2 (23:51):
Uh really?
Speaker 1 (23:54):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (23:54):
I have one hundred Did you see it?
Speaker 1 (23:55):
Did you not?
Speaker 3 (23:56):
Okay, didn't get a chance because iring to you. All right,
here's the thing. Let me paint the picture for you.
So it's a crpe myrtle in a container and it
has pretty thick lower branches, you know, definitely like thicker
than a finger or at least finger thickness, if not
a little bit bigger, and the branches are cut at
a very tidy angle and strewn all over the ground.
(24:22):
Now it would be we do have a video actually,
and we will link to it in the description on
YouTube or in the show notes of trying to tell
the difference between rabbit damage and deer damage. So, first
of all, CRP myrtles are fairly deer resistant, so I
wouldn't have expected a deer in the first place. But
deer also have a very tell tale type of damage.
When they chomp something, they don't just make a neat
(24:45):
little cut and it goes away. They tear, they dig
their teeth in, and they rip, and so typically what
you have, especially with shrubs, is a very kind of ragged,
jagged edge that's left after the deer hit it. And
you can see that these are very neat. Now, rabbits,
on the other hand, have those nice sharp front teeth
(25:07):
and they make very tidy cuts at a very distinctive angle.
These could potentially be mistaken for rabbit cuts except for
two things. Number One, those branches are about the thickness
of a finger and rabbits tend to go for much
finer growth because I mean, their teeth are only so
big and their mouths are only so big, so they
(25:28):
tend to go for thinner, finer growth, or just girdle
the bark on the outside to get to that giant,
nice juicy cambium below the bark. Plus, as I said,
this plant isn't a container. And I have seen rabbits
jump into containers before, but it's not common, and I
(25:49):
don't think that those hots. Yes, well, so actually I
had a rabbit nest in one of my containers, yeah,
because it was like in spring and kind had stuff
grouped together and it was like perfect hiding. And I
found the nests because you can always tell a rabbit
escus has like a big wad of fur kind of
plugging the entrance, and so I knew immediately what it was.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
And I was like, but there's no way.
Speaker 3 (26:15):
So every night we sat out there until we finally
saw mama rabbit come up and just whoop leap right
up into the containers.
Speaker 2 (26:21):
That was pretty amazing.
Speaker 3 (26:22):
So anyway, rabbits can do crazy things, but that's a
good one. When I like to her picture Stephen Mary
there's no question this is human damage. So someone because
the other thing about a rabbit human damage. I'm not
saying they noded. I'm saying they they brought pruners. They
(26:43):
brought pruners and they cut this. Because the other thing
is you can see in the pictures that the portions
that were detached are just sprinkled all over the ground.
And a rabbit doesn't just bite things just for the
fun of it. It bites things off to eat them.
And I have no idea. Well, actually I have a
couple of theories. Okay, so one theory is a well
intentioned landscaper who might have been doing some sort of
(27:05):
fall clean up at your house. I hear of plenty
well intentioned offspring who you know, come back from college
and say I'm gonna help mom and dad out and
cut everything back. That happens with big leaf hydranges a lot.
I can't tell you how many people have told me
that a well intentioned kid was home from college and
cut back their big leaf hydranges. Or I don't know, Stephen, Mary,
(27:29):
maybe you need to ask each other. I don't know,
all right, but this is definitely pruneer damage. But the
good news is that it will almost certainly be fine
crate myrtle in the South. In fact, there is a
widespread movement known jokingly as crape murder because so many
(27:51):
people cut their crpe myrtles back just out of convention,
even though they are generally much better left unpruned. So
crate myrtles can easily withstand heavy pruning like this and
come back. And if you are in a cold climate,
crape myrtles can actually come back from the roots. And
because they bloom on new wood, they'll go on to
flower as usual, okay, later in the season. So I
(28:14):
think it'll be fine. I think you're gonna have to
think long and hard about how these branches came to
be detached and who was walking around your yard. But
I think your plant will be fine. If you live
in a cold climate, don't give up on it too early.
If it did die back to the ground because of
this extremely cold winter that we are having here in Michigan,
(28:35):
give it plenty of time. Give it, you know, several
weeks into spring to see if that new growth is
going to come from the base, and most likely I
think it will.
Speaker 1 (28:44):
I think you handled that really well, and I'm so
glad that you handled that question.
Speaker 2 (28:50):
Well.
Speaker 3 (28:50):
I mean, you know, I love being a plant detective,
and of course, but you know, I in my many
years of playing plant detective, I've learned to pick up
on certain clues like deer.
Speaker 2 (29:02):
And rabbit damage.
Speaker 3 (29:03):
And this is pretty much unequivocally pruned by humans.
Speaker 1 (29:08):
And you're so right. The deer damage is telltale. Right
now here in West Michigan, we've got a lot of
snow and I have some yuccas, big yucca plants that
stick up through the snow. The deer have just ravaged them.
Generally they'll leave yuccas alone, but they're hungry. And I
mean the leaves are just shredded.
Speaker 2 (29:29):
Oh, just torn, Yeah, because they're so hungry, right.
Speaker 1 (29:31):
They're so hungry. Yeah, so pretty sloppy, all right, Gail
writes to us, I need help with the problem of
moss taking over the grass in my backyard. I live
in northern New Jerseys on seven A. There's a lot
of shade. The yard is south facing and the area
is about seventy five by fifty feet. Love your podcast,
Thanks well, Gail. I think the important thing here to note,
(29:54):
Stacey is that plants have roots. Moss does not ye
the maw, and same thing with grass. Grass has roots,
moss does not. If the moss is growing better than
the grass, then that leads me to believe that the
environmental conditions in that area, it's not just shade. Usually
it's soil compaction. So raise the deck on the lawn,
(30:17):
moward to give the grass a competitive edge. Get yourself
a core air rader, air rate the lawn. I you know,
obviously I haven't seen pictures, I haven't been on Gail's lawn,
but I can almost guarantee you that that lawn is
probably compacted. And Gale's also saying shade, so maybe there's
(30:37):
a lot of trees, a lot of tree roots, and
so there you go. I mean, moss does not grow
on a rolling stone.
Speaker 3 (30:45):
No, And you know, the irony of moss that I
have found in my career is that everybody who wants
moss can't grow it, yes, and the people who don't
want moss can't get rid of it. I mean, moss
is sort of nature's cover, I guess. And if moss,
and there's so many different types of moss, you know,
we talk about moss as sort of this monolith, but
(31:06):
there are literally hundreds, if not thousands, of different species
of moss out there, and there are some that are
adapted to dry, sandy conditions like we have out here
in West Michigan, even though most people associate them, of
course with shade. But you'll find moss in the desert.
There's moss growing just about every condition across the world,
and the specific moss that grows in your area is
(31:28):
specifically adapted to those conditions. So the fact is that
if you have it, it's because conditions are right for
it to grow. And even though I think you gave
great advice on trying to give the grass a competitive advantage,
if it really is that shady, the grass is probably
never going to get a leg up on the moss.
It's just unlikely to happen shady and compected. And like
(31:50):
you said, the tree roots, you know, the moss can
certainly sew itself between the tree roots and soil moisture too,
So if you really have a nice blanket of moss going,
it's very often because there's enough moisture for it to
be maintained that way. So, Gail, I hope you're not
gonna hate me for saying this, but my advice is
(32:11):
to learn to love the moss, you know, and embrace
the moss.
Speaker 2 (32:19):
Because there's a lot of people who would love.
Speaker 3 (32:20):
To have what you have and can't. So unless you're
going to make major changes to the conditions that are
enabling this moss to grow, which is to say, the shade,
perhaps the soil, compaction, moisture, all of those things, the
moss is going to grow. So I would say, get
yourself some beautiful poetic rocks, get a path through that moss,
(32:42):
and build yourself a beautiful, peaceful zen like moss.
Speaker 1 (32:46):
Garden stacy my experience in my career, as grass grows
best where you wish it would amen to that right
and as far as moss too, I remember putting moss
and buttermilk in a blender in my garage and painting
porous and overnight the cats came along and licked it all.
Just a total failure, so I couldn't get it to grow.
Speaker 3 (33:07):
So, yeah, it's a conundrum, Gale. But unless you're gonna
take those trees down, I think that the moss, you
need to just embrace the fact that the moss is
a lush, beautiful green carpet that doesn't need mooing, So
we're going to take a little break. When we come back,
we're talking more about moving plants, so please stay tuned.
(33:31):
Thanks for listening to the Gardening Simplified Podcast, brought to
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Speaker 1 (33:46):
Welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show. We're talking about
some plants that like to move, and some plants that don't,
and some that are well, maybe just a wee bit grumpy, right, Stacey, Yes,
And I had a little poem here that I wrote
my rule of thumb on moving plants. If it's a clump,
make the jump. If it's a trunk, it's no slam dunk.
(34:08):
If a stump, don't be a grump. If an annual,
you don't need a manual. And that's kind of how
I apply it. And I wanted to ask you, Stacy,
you and I both love baptisia. Have you moved some
baptisia plants and what's your experience?
Speaker 3 (34:25):
Would that I have moved Baptisia plants? It is not fun.
It is not easy. And I say this as someone
who dug them from very sandy soil cannot even imagine
trying to dig them in a clay soil. But the
main thing is, you know, Baptizia is a very drought
tolerant plant, and that's one of the things that it's
(34:45):
known for and one of the reasons that I personally
love it. But generally speaking, the more drought tolerant a
plant is, the more that indicates that it has a
very extensive root system to find water, you know, maybe
a little bit deeper or wider than other plants do.
So it has a much deeper root system than other perennials,
(35:07):
and it does put out a tap root as well
as these really kind of gnarly roots all over the place.
So it's hard, but it can be done. I've done
it many times. And yeah, I mean this year I
probably moved oh gosh, nine.
Speaker 2 (35:26):
Baptisias that I had around my yard.
Speaker 1 (35:28):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (35:30):
And I was prepared for the worst because when I
originally moved them to the location I just moved them
from because you know, frequent flyer miles. Yeah, change our mind.
We re envisioned the space, the first time I dug
them was very hard. It was less hard this time,
even though they've been performing really really well. But I'm
hoping that this is it because I just want to
(35:50):
give them a chance to grow and do their thing.
But I would say it probably took them a good
three years to fully recover and start growing into that big, beautiful,
rounded shape, but they still flowered pretty well in the interim.
Speaker 1 (36:04):
I like your comment about drought tolerance as it pertains
to the plant's root system and moving again. Living near
the beach here in Lake Michigan, we have a lot
of oak trees and they're notorious for a tap root, right,
And so you have other plants too that can be notorious.
I'm thinking Joe Pieweed Goat's beard along with the baptizea
(36:26):
any of these plants. It can be tougher. But the
point I've tried to make today is even though it's tough,
it may be worth it, and it doesn't mean it
can't be done well.
Speaker 3 (36:39):
Yeah, And it also just means again to have realistic
expectations when you put the effort in, and you know,
also don't just write it off right away and say, okay, well,
you know this is clearly not coming back because it
has been set back, so it needs a little extra TLC.
And I think that's another super crucial part of moving
plants is you're going to need to keep an eye
on them, and you're going to need to watch them,
(36:59):
make sure that don't get too much or too little water.
You're just going to need to keep an eye and
make sure that they don't get animal damage. They should
not experience any further setbacks after they've been moved, so
you need to do your best to protect them and
make sure that that environment that they have, especially for
that first year or two, basically treat them like a
(37:20):
brand new planting sure where you're monitoring them closely and
just trying to give them the best start at recovery
rather than getting established, because now they're getting re established.
Speaker 1 (37:30):
And I don't want to just slide over the fact too,
that some folks may say, well, Rick, you're giving us
permission to move these plants. Easy for you to say,
it's hard work. It can be in some of these plants,
it's very very hard work. I remember a couple of
years ago, I ran the Chicago Marathon and I crossed
the finish line and you start to recover and you're hydrating.
(37:53):
It's a twenty six point two mile race. You cross
the finish line. And I was thinking to myself, I
did this for a metal and a T shirt because
that's basically what you.
Speaker 3 (38:05):
Get, right, Yeah, we up bragging rights. Well, I mean,
but that's something.
Speaker 1 (38:11):
The point here is that when you dig up a planet,
it's really hard to do in your yard, but you
move it to the perfect location. Now you've got something
there that you can enjoy for a long time. And
they've been moving plants throughout the ages. We're gonna put
a link at the website. Our website is Gardening Simplified
on air dot com, and we'll put a link there.
(38:34):
I thought it was interesting this past fall when I
visited the Arnold Arboretum and I was reading about Wardian cases.
So it's named after Nathaniel Bagshaw Ward, a London physician
with a keen interest in the natural world. The whole
point here is that they developed these boxes that are
(38:56):
like miniature greenhouses, and that's how they move plants. They
couldn't send them obviously on an airplane. In the seventeen hundreds, right,
sixteen hundreds, eighteen hundreds whatever, and so these plants were
subjected to wide variations in temperature on a boat, as
you know, they traveled to wherever they're going, from China
(39:18):
to London. And he basically was successful in building these
boxes where they could move a new plant species. Now
that said obviously, Stacy. In the process, they also moved
some pests and some pathogens, yes, that were not native
to the area where they were moving. But that's all
(39:40):
a part of history. So I think it's a fascinating story.
And we'll put the link there from Harvard University and
the Arnold Arboretum. Okay, Stacy, are you tired of winter
and ready for spring? I know the.
Speaker 2 (39:55):
Answer, yes, Sam, thank you very much.
Speaker 1 (39:57):
So forcing branches ooh great idea. Yeah, and I wanted
to ask you a question. So just going out and
clipping some dormant branches, putting them in a vase indoors
to enjoy the spring blooms. I listed some plants like Forcythia,
mock orange quints, maybe even father Gia, witch, hazel, service berry,
(40:20):
et cetera, et cetera, and forcing these blooms indoors into color.
There's a plant that I absolutely love, a proven winner's
color choice shrub and it's called show Off Forcythya. This
plant is amazing folks. And in working at the greenhouse,
helping out at the greenhouse, I'm amazed at the popularity
(40:42):
of Forcythia. Everybody comes in asking for You would think
that this is a run of the mill plant and
it's ubiquitous, but everybody asked for it, and then you
take the game and you move it to the next level.
Speaker 2 (40:56):
Would show off, Yeah, show off is you know.
Speaker 3 (40:58):
I remember when I first got the job here, I
was like, why do we offer for Scythia? Like Forcythia
there are a dime a dozen and my boss Tim
would at the time was like, oh, let me show
you why. And you know, these are plants that set
far more flower buds on the stem and so much
so that they look like a column of yellow. So
(41:19):
it's not just like a little bit here and there.
It becomes a beautiful, dense column. So you just get
so much more impact than a conventional variety. And that's
really what we're looking for. But as far as forcing
branches go, at Forsythia is a great choice. But I
would encourage everybody to just play around. I mean It's
such a fun way to try to get through the
(41:39):
rest of the season here and do something interesting. It
doesn't even have to flower. Just having some plants inside
and fresh green growth makes a huge difference. I actually
have some right now. And this is kind of funny.
So when we had our company Christmas party just about
a week before Christmas, we had deck graded the tables
(42:01):
with some red twig dogwood branches, Arctic firebred red twig dogwood.
So we were cleaning up afterwards and I just took
a handful home to have, you know, on the table
during the holidays. But I put them in a nice
silver vase and they are flowering now and looking absolutely
gorgeous with foliage coming out. And it's just been such
a cool process to watch them going from this very wintery,
(42:22):
you know experience to growing and flowering and looking green
and wonderful, and just that like little flicker of hope
that you get to see fresh green growth in your
house from your plants. It makes a huge, huge difference.
Speaker 1 (42:37):
Oh, it is fantastic. And Stacy, you're an individual who
got me very excited about Illuminati Tower mockhorn.
Speaker 3 (42:46):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (42:46):
I love those.
Speaker 1 (42:47):
Yeah, that plant in my landscape is sensational. And again
years ago in the seventies and eighties, I remember mock
orange in the in the garden Center and it really
wasn't much. It was a rangy plant. Really wasn't all
that exciting. Illuminati like the show off. For Cynthia blooms
all along the stem. Do you think I'd have success
(43:09):
in forcing that? Inside?
Speaker 2 (43:11):
I mean, not to be a downer, but no.
Speaker 1 (43:12):
Okay, That's why I'm asking, And.
Speaker 3 (43:15):
The reason is that when it comes to forcing these branches,
basically the earlier in spring they flower, the better your
success of getting flowers out of them.
Speaker 2 (43:25):
Indoors will be.
Speaker 3 (43:26):
And the mock oranges don't really bloom for us here
in Michigan usually like the first two weeks of June,
so that's pushing it a little bit late. So I
would say anything that's going to be blooming more in
like the April time frame is going to be your
best bet. So for Cynthia is a great choice. Quince
is Yeah, Quin's forces quite well. Our double takes do
(43:47):
flower a little bit later than the more conventional single varieties,
and also they tend to flower more on their second
year wood, so you have thicker stems and not kind
of that more you know, swoopy, elegant look that a
lot of people look for enforcing branches. But yeah, the
earlier at flowers, the more success you're gonna have indoors.
(44:10):
I have some winter honeysuckle, which I think I mentioned
a few weeks ago. Lenisra fragrantisima. Not a very popular plant,
but it blooms very very early, late winter early spring
smells just like fruit loop cereal. And actually, just yesterday
and I got home, I said to myself, I need
to cut some of those and bring them in and
get that amazing fragrance indoors. But it's always worth trying.
(44:31):
And the cool thing about the illuminatis again, you're going
to get that really cool sort of rugged corrugated foliage
coming out. It's still something to look at. So it's
totally worth just experimenting and seeing what comes out. Because
you know, shrubs can take a little bit of pruning.
It doesn't matter if you take off three, four or
five small branches to do this. We're not talking about
(44:52):
like major pruning.
Speaker 1 (44:53):
Yeah. All right, well, I don't know about you. I'm inspired.
I'm ready to move into spring.
Speaker 3 (44:57):
Let's do it all right, I mean none that it's
our choice, but we can. Will it sooner maybe?
Speaker 1 (45:03):
Okay, meteorological spring, which is a tough word to say,
but I tackled it all right.
Speaker 3 (45:09):
Well, next episode it starts, so we're ready for it.
We hope you are too. So thank you Rick, thank
you Adriana, and thanks so much to all of you
for listening. We truly appreciate it and hope you have
a wonderful weekend.
Broadcasting from Studio A here at proven Winners Color Choice Shrubs.
It's time for the Gardening Simplified Show with Stacey, Hervella me,
Rick weisst and our engineer and producer Adrianna Robinson Stacy.
Today's topic plants that like to move and plants that
don't like to move. And I've been thinking about this
(00:23):
and I need to share with you that I'm not
so sure I've ever found a plant that I don't
want to move. Wow.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
If that's a good thing or a bad thing.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
I know I'm not saying it's a good thing, but
you know, rejuvenation is a good thing. For years when
I ran my business, I always had a small bottle
of Tabasco sauce on the ledge because Tabasco sauce always
was a good reminder for me that just adding a
little bit to a dish can change the whole dish.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Right, That's very true. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
I think that it's important for people to understand that
moving plants is a normal thing to do as a gardener.
You know, I think there's this kind of myth or
belief out there that gardeners, especially people who have many
years of experience like you and I get it right
the first time, and newsflash, we do not even maybe
(01:18):
we do when we change our mind and it doesn't
feel so right anymore. It's not like multiple choice tests.
There is an open ended essay exam and so yeah,
you have the opportunity to for most things. There are
certainly exceptions, but you do have the opportunity to change
your mind and move the majority of different types of plants.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
Thank you for saying that. I appreciate that because that
gives me permission, and what I'm trying to do is
give folks permission to do it. Also because you reach
a point, of course with some plants where you need
you just simply need to move them. They're too close
to the house, or you're sick of them in that location,
they're getting too big or whatever. I think the key
(01:59):
is recognizing, number one, you can do this. I mean,
they move houses, for crying out, true, If they move houses,
you can move some plants and take a shot at it.
I think the key from my experience, Stacy, is don't
do it during prime time, that is for sure, and
(02:20):
that means for both the individual and the plants. So
as an individual, don't go out there and move plants
when it's sunny and it's beautiful outside. Do it when
it's overcast, kind of drizzly, not real nice to be outside.
And the same applies to plants. Don't move them when
they're in their prime, move them during their.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
Off season, yeah, the dormant season. So I think this
is great timing. We did another show back in October
called bus to Move that was more about how to move,
and now we're going to talk about specifically plants that
want to be or that can be moved, and those
that maybe are a little more resentful of being moved.
But the overall thing, the reason we're doing this is
because we are coming up on a perfect time for
(03:04):
moving plants when they are dormant. And of course the
ground is not frozen and covered with two or three
feet of snow as it is at the moment. So
perhaps in another you know, six weeks or so here
in Michigan, we're getting into prime plant moving time when
those plants are dormant. Is a great time to move
things that you have been thinking about switching around.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
Exactly, And you know, I guess I think about moving plants.
You know, I remember clearly sitting on a Chase Lounge
in Las Vegas, sipping on an adult beverage and watching
them move trees and large plants from the old desert
into the wind resort. They were moving some of these
(03:48):
plants with helicopters.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
And the same applies an interview I did back in
twenty ten with individuals who were restoring the tree that
survived the collapse of the Twin Times in New York
and bringing that tree back to life and then moving
that tree to the Memorial Plaza where it stands today.
My point is, Stacey, the attitude I take is where
(04:13):
there's a will, there's a way.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
For the average person, some of those things may be
a little out of reach. It's not beat around the
bush here.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
You know.
Speaker 3 (04:21):
Moving trees, I think is one place, especially if they're
more mature trees like the ones that you just described,
is an area where it is possible, but the expense
and effort may not be worth it. And certainly you
can find online amazing stories of you know, huge oak
trees being relocated, and those are all very very interesting
to see. But you know, overall, unless something has you know,
(04:43):
huge historical or esthetic value, it's not easy to do
for mature trees, but almost anything else, even young trees,
you know. But I think, as with everything else in horticulture,
the key is to have realistic expectations about what happens
after you move something. An interesting situation from my own
garden where several years ago I bought two pawpaw seedlings,
(05:05):
so papa are a native edible papaw, and planted them
in my garden and they're fairly slow growing. But it
soon became obvious that the way that we had positioned
them was not right, so I moved one of them
about a year after I planted. Now, poppas are trees
with a tap root, so this is something that you
need to look for. I'm sure we're going to be
(05:26):
going there later. If a plant has a tap root,
so think a little bit like a carrot, you know,
deep root like that, rather than a large spread out
root system. They tend to not take to transplanting quite
as well, and Papa's are one of those. So I
dug my hole, I moved the tree, and it is
pretty much fine now, But for about two or three
(05:48):
years it was pretty surprising to see how two of
the same plants planted at the exact same time. One
of them was so severely set back from this movie,
so it probably took about two years for it to recover.
That first year after I moved it, it didn't grow
hardly at all.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
On top.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
It was alive, it leafed out, it was okay, but
it was like, whoa, I am recovering.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
I'm not growing.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
I just need to take a year off and then
almost like resetting, you know, sleep creep leap. It was
a sleep year for that first year, it was a
creep year for the second year, and then by the
third year. Now they're almost back together. But you do
have to understand that even though we do freely move
plants around, there is a little bit of a plant
penalty there to pay.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
Oh, I agree, And when I say I haven't met
a plant I don't want to move, I do say
that tongue in cheek. I've done some pretty crazy things
in my life. But your point is well taken. We're
primarily talking here about perennials and shrubs, not necessarily trees
and stacy. A couple of examples rhododendrons. You know, people
(06:53):
have said to me, well, you can't move a big,
beautiful rhododendron. Well, you can. The root system is it's
not a it's a smaller root system proportionately to the plant,
and you can stump it, you can cut it back,
maybe sacrifice the flowers for one year. Another example would
be p and ees. People have always said to me,
while P and e's are a perennial that doesn't like
(07:15):
to move, and I'm like, I've moved them almost any
time of the year and had success. Sure, you don't
want to plant them too deep or too high, because
you're going to have problems with blooming. But again, where
there's a will, there's a.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
Way, And you know, I think it's important to question
some of that quote unquote conventional wisdom about things like
moving p and e s or even clematists. I mean,
you need to do your research and understand perhaps why
those beliefs are in place. And I think the one
for penis is primarily because when they're move people do
(07:50):
often plant them too deep. It's very easy to plant
them too deeply, and we've answered that question in mailbag
a couple of different times.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
But you know, do your research.
Speaker 3 (07:58):
If someone says, oh, you can't possibly move this, think
about the reasons why, you know, think about why are
they saying that in the I'm sure people say you
can't transplant a popa either, And I wouldn't say it
was the most well advised thing that I've ever done.
But you know, that's the other thing about being a
gardener is you if you're willing to take on those risks,
risk your investment in the plant, risk your investment in
(08:18):
that time and effort, then you know that's that's your decision.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
And are you glad you did it?
Speaker 2 (08:23):
Stay, I'm very glad I did it, very much so.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
And that's the point. So, I mean, you know, again,
some things just don't want to move. I'm standing on
my deck looking at my patio furniture. I'm saying, you
guys got to move, and they're like, no, we're good.
We're gonna sit this one up. Bad dad joke. But
getting back to the taparate thing that you were diving into.
So if you think about some perennials like baptisia, or
(08:47):
you've talked often about the roots on clematis yep, yep,
the heart leaf brunera, or coral bells foamy bells. What
about our high biscus, like our summarific high biscus.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
Well, I just moved a lot of summarific Hibiscus ampaptesia
at the end of fall last year, so I am,
you know. And it is easier for us to move
things living in a sandy soil than people who have
clay soil, because it's a lot easier to expose those
roots and to get more of the roots. But I
am eager to see what might be happening with those pronouns.
(09:23):
I have every confidence that they're alive. I'm not worried
about that. But whether or not I'll see flowers this year,
and if so, how many will be to be determined.
So stay tuned for the update this June and August.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
That's very interesting. You know. My general rule of thumb
is if it's a clumping plant and divides easily, it
moves pretty easily. If it's a single stem, even lavender
that acts like a woody plant single stem more difficult
than let's say, daylilies or hostas. Yeah, so you know again,
(09:58):
and if you have a s situation where it simply
has to go and you're facing just eliminating the plant,
why not at least give it a shot. It's great
exercise and fresh air.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
And you learn something.
Speaker 3 (10:09):
And that's what gardening is all about, is, you know,
taking an educated approach to what you need to need
or want to do, making the right decision, acting on it,
and then seeing what happens.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
Well, let's see how Stacey ties it in and plants
on trial. That's coming up next here on the Gardening
Simplified Show.
Speaker 3 (10:33):
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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proven Winner's Color Choice dot com. Greetings gardening friends, and
(10:54):
welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show, where the order
of the day is plants that like to or can
be moved, and plants that maybe are a little bit
more resentful of being moved. And Rick, I can't believe
you went the whole first segment without your famous saying
that your plants have been moved so often they're eligible
for Frequent Flyer miles.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
Yes, or I just bent over and split my plants
now I.
Speaker 3 (11:15):
Have to ask you something. It wasn't all that long
ago that you moved from a house where you had
lived in garden for many years to a new home.
And when you did that, did you move any plants?
Speaker 1 (11:28):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (11:28):
I do, how many? Like roughly, I'm going.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
To say probably about twenty.
Speaker 3 (11:33):
Oh wow, that's pretty impressive. And was it shrubs, perennials, a.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
Mix primarily perennials and grasses? No surprise.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
Oh, you were brave enough to dig up a grass.
That's uh.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
I mean, you know, you know with grasses, they're readily
they're pretty easy to divide and move as far as
they're being willing to do so. It's whether or not
the individual wants to go through the grief. Right.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (11:58):
There was a condo down the street from me, and
last summer I saw some guy trying to dig out
some ornamental grasses from the front yard and he caught
my eye as I was walking by, and I said, oh,
tough job, good luck. Went back the next day nothing
had been moved.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
He gave up on the whole thing.
Speaker 1 (12:16):
I believe it.
Speaker 3 (12:17):
So, if you're listening, mister, I understand. But anyway, it
is great that we can move plants, and I have
often moved plants. And when I moved, I ended I
was moving in July, and it wasn't the ideal time
to move plants. But I wasn't going to just leave
them my rental and not have them at my house,
So I moved a bunch of stuff too.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
This past summer. You know, you tore out the entire lawn,
you had to move some plants too, right.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
I didn't have to move too much at the beginning
of the project. I saved all the moving really for
the fall, Okay, because by the time the whole line
project got sorted out, I just said, you know what,
it's getting too close to hot weather. So I didn't
move that much then. But I spent every single free
weekend in September and October moving plants. So I'm also
very experienced, and that really is one of the great
(13:02):
things about perennials and shrubs. Now, as we said, you
can't really successfully move more mature trees, you can try.
We had a question in mailbag not too long ago
about someone who had a little Japanese maple that was
really struggling. We advise them to move that, and we
also advise someone in the last episode to dig up
their gink go that was getting girdling. So you know,
(13:24):
within maybe a couple of years of being planned in
one two to three years, if you get a kind
of a smaller plant, a smaller tree, you can typically
get away with it.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
But if you're going to do that plan ahead, I
still think taking a spade cutting into the roots a
month or two before moving it, trying develop some hair
roots will help.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
If you can do that.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
If you can do it, I mean, if if you
thought of doing it in time, is really the main thing.
So it's great that we can move things. But just
because you can move plants that and most plants are
very adaptable to being moved, doesn't necessary mean that you should.
Because as I said, there is a little bit of
a plant penalty to pay. It does set things back,
(14:07):
and how much it sets something back can be based
on a lot of different factors and the reaction can
be different. So a plant might not flower for a
few years, it might grow very little. It might you know,
kind of just sitting there and sulking whatever other features
you're growing it for. You just might not see that,
you know, in its full effect. For a couple of years,
(14:28):
and some plants that people say don't like to be
moved really just don't ever recover from it. You know.
There's certainly some plants that just they'll never really get
back to where they were, and you're better off just
starting with something that was grown a container and you
can put into your yard. But in all of my
years of helping gardeners with gardening questions, I would have
(14:51):
to say that the plant that I have been asked
the most frequently about whether it can be moved is
big leaf hyde hydrange of macrophilla. That makes sense, Yeah,
So I think it's for a couple of reasons. Number one,
because hydrange of macrophilla or big leaf hydrangea, is the
type of plant that is highly sensitive to its spot.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (15:14):
You know, where you plant a big leaf hydrangea, especially
if you live in a cooler climate, can make or
break your experience. You can have a great experience and
feel like you are a rockstar gardener, or you can
have a terrible experience and feel like you have You know,
you're never gonna have success growing a plant again. It
really needs to be in kind of the right spot. Again,
(15:34):
because it has its flower buds for the following summer
all winter. It's important that it is kind of more
protected in these colder climates so that it's not getting
you know, huge blasts of cold air, heavy loads of ice,
all of that kind of stuff. So it's got that
site sensitivity.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
Number two.
Speaker 3 (15:53):
I think it's a plant that when a shrub, it
is a shrub, it is a true woody shrub. But
I think when most people look at it, they got so,
you know, what that looks like a plant that could
probably be moved. Sure, it kind of looks like a
perennial clumpy, Yeah, look clumpy, And so people maybe have
the sense that looks like something I could move, compared
to something that maybe is really really large or you know,
(16:14):
has a trunk and it resembles more of a tree.
And the third one goes back to what we were
saying a few weeks ago about dwarf Elberta spruce, which
is that when people get their hydrange of Macrophilla at
the store, they're like, oh, look at this cute little thing,
And especially older varieties of big leaf Hydrangea can easily
get to be five feet tall and wide, and it
(16:36):
can be very difficult to believe that this cute little
one gallon blooming hydrangea that your you know, darling child
got you from Mother's Day or whatever, is going to
grow into a five foot by five foot shrup.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
I'm with you here. I've seen it, been there, done that,
you know. I can't believe if I look back, the
number of people I've suggested move a macrophilla hydrangea because
it's on the west or south facing of their home
and their struggling. Yeah, so it's easy to say, well,
you need to move that plant. But I agree with you.
I think that because it has this clumping nature, people
(17:12):
are willing to give it a shot.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (17:13):
And it does have a shallow fibrous root system, and
it is very easy and amenable to moving. And if
you have one that hasn't been doing well and you
do want to move it, this coming March, when the
ground is finally workable again and the plant is dormant,
would be a perfect time to go ahead and do that,
(17:34):
or to replace it with a higher performing, proven winners
hydrange Just saying like let's stance Skyview or Letstance can do.
But those aren't today's plant on trial. No, today's plant
on trial is a hydrange of Macrophylla that is so
small you won't have to worry that it's going to
need to be moved. Oh I love this And this
plant is we bit grumpy big leaf hydrangea, so you
(17:56):
can guess by the name we bit that it is small.
It reaches two feet tall and about two and a
half feet wide, So that's a perfect size for you know,
landscaping around a condo or an apartment or other small space.
Very easy to incorporate in things like flower beds and
perennial gardens. And you know, just one that's not going
to outgrow its space or overgrow your dining room windows,
(18:18):
because I feel like that's what most people do with
big leaf hydrangeas, right plant them in front of their
front windows. Think it's going to be great, and the
next thing you know, they're five feet tall and they
can't see out their windows. So wee bit grumpy small.
And you might be wondering about the grumpy part of
its name. It is not because it is a difficult
to grow big leaf hydrangea. It most certainly is not
(18:38):
just as easy to grow as any other proven winter's
color choice big leaf hydrangea. But I like to tell
the story of its name, because it's kind of a
funny story. So when we get plants in for our trials,
whatever that trial group is, it gets a working name. Right,
we're humans trialing these plants. So even though it would
be probably more objective to give it a number, no
one remembers numbers. I mean, you know, they need like
(19:00):
some sort of name, so they have. Our R and
D team has used everything from like planets, dog breeds,
different things like this, and those become the working names.
So with its particular Hydrangea Macrophila trial, there were seven
plants and they were named for the seven Dwarfs as
their working names from the Snowed and the Seven Dwarf story.
(19:22):
And when the trial was complete, we Grumpy was not
wee bit grumpy at the time. It was just Grumpy
was the last plant standing. And we loved the color.
So it had this like beautiful, moody, dark purple flowers
on it, and it was one of those things that
every time someone looked at the tag to say, oh,
you know, hey, which plant is this and they saw Grumpy,
(19:44):
they got a little kick out of it, you know,
they kind of chuckled. And so when it came time
to name the plant. You know, we're like thinking about
all these you know, conventional plant names like oh, beautiful
and pretty and magically, you know, all of these kinds
of names, and we're like, let's just go with grumpy.
And what I love about the name is it's still
making people laugh when they see it. So because everyone
(20:06):
knows someone who's like a wee bit grumpy, right, we
can all be a wee bit grumpy now, and then
maybe it's because of winter, maybe it's because your hydrange
is not blooming. Wee bit grumpy can solve all of that.
So it's a great small space HYDRANGEA perfect for someone
who maybe is a little bit grumpy. And I love
the flowers on this. In acidic soils, instead of being
(20:27):
that traditional blue, it turns a deep kind of marbled violet.
And a lot of people think that that purple color
comes from sort of the perfect pH but actually it's
more genetic. So this is one of those hydrangs that
will turn more purple than blue. If it's in alkaline's
neutral soils, it will be a beautiful pink. And you know,
other than that, it's just as easy to grow as
(20:49):
any other big leaf Hydrangea heart Ese zones five to nine.
It is not a reblooming hydrangea, so that's kind of
you know, the reblooming hydrangeas tend to be larger because
they have to put on a lot of new growth
in order to actually reblue, so they tend to be
a little bit bigger, not as large as the older varieties,
but larger than the we bit series. So if you
(21:11):
absolutely need a small, tidy hydrangea that you will never
want to or have to prone, that you'll never have
to move, we Bit Grumpy is the perfect choice for you.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
Our show last week spacing, Yes, plant's perfect, perfect, don't
have to worry about spacing, and you know looks amazing
in the summer.
Speaker 3 (21:31):
So we Bit Grumpy. Look for it at your local
garden center this spring. You can find a retailer at
Proven Winners Color Choice dot com, or find out more
about Webit Grumpy Hydrangea at our show notes at Gardeningsimplified
on Air dot com. We're gonna take a little break.
When we come back, We're opening up the mailbags.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
Stay tuned.
Speaker 3 (21:54):
At Proven Winners Color Choice Shrubs. We know that a
better landscape starts with a better Shrub of Experts tests
and evaluates all of our flowering shrubs and evergreens for
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your home and express your personal style, look for Proven
(22:14):
Winner's Shrubs in the distinctive white container at your local
garden center or learn more at Proven Winner's Color Choice
dot com. Creating's gardening friends and welcome back to the
Gardening Simplified Show, where it is our pleasure now to
help you with your gardening questions and conundrums. Might be
a little early, maybe you're having trouble remembering what was
(22:36):
you know, causing you issues in the garden last season,
But if it happens to come to you and you
have a question, please do reach out to us at
Gardening Simplified on air dot com. There's a contact form
and we would be.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
Happy to help you.
Speaker 3 (22:50):
And of course if you you know, not every question
is easy to answer on air, because you know, sometimes
you need pictures. Sometimes it's just a little too complicated
for us to fit into this tiny little segment. But
if you write us on Proven Winners Color Choice dot
com or on proven Winners dot com, you will get
a personalized answer, not from a robot, not from an AI,
but from a real gardener who cares about your success.
(23:13):
So if you need an answer sooner, not sure we're
gonna get to your question, please do you reach out
to us there as well?
Speaker 2 (23:19):
What do we have this week?
Speaker 1 (23:20):
Well, Stacey, you looked at some pictures from Steve and Mary.
Something attacked our red crape myrtle. Will it survive or
do we need to remove it and plant a new
one this spring? They're saying it was beautiful this past summer.
Speaker 3 (23:34):
Yes, So if you are on YouTube, you're seeing the
pictures that Steve and Mary shared with us. If you
are listening to us on radio or podcast, check it
out at Gardening Simplified on air dot com. And uh,
the something that attacked the crape myrtle here was human?
Speaker 2 (23:51):
Uh really?
Speaker 1 (23:54):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (23:54):
I have one hundred Did you see it?
Speaker 1 (23:55):
Did you not?
Speaker 3 (23:56):
Okay, didn't get a chance because iring to you. All right,
here's the thing. Let me paint the picture for you.
So it's a crpe myrtle in a container and it
has pretty thick lower branches, you know, definitely like thicker
than a finger or at least finger thickness, if not
a little bit bigger, and the branches are cut at
a very tidy angle and strewn all over the ground.
(24:22):
Now it would be we do have a video actually,
and we will link to it in the description on
YouTube or in the show notes of trying to tell
the difference between rabbit damage and deer damage. So, first
of all, CRP myrtles are fairly deer resistant, so I
wouldn't have expected a deer in the first place. But
deer also have a very tell tale type of damage.
When they chomp something, they don't just make a neat
(24:45):
little cut and it goes away. They tear, they dig
their teeth in, and they rip, and so typically what
you have, especially with shrubs, is a very kind of ragged,
jagged edge that's left after the deer hit it. And
you can see that these are very neat. Now, rabbits,
on the other hand, have those nice sharp front teeth
(25:07):
and they make very tidy cuts at a very distinctive angle.
These could potentially be mistaken for rabbit cuts except for
two things. Number One, those branches are about the thickness
of a finger and rabbits tend to go for much
finer growth because I mean, their teeth are only so
big and their mouths are only so big, so they
(25:28):
tend to go for thinner, finer growth, or just girdle
the bark on the outside to get to that giant,
nice juicy cambium below the bark. Plus, as I said,
this plant isn't a container. And I have seen rabbits
jump into containers before, but it's not common, and I
(25:49):
don't think that those hots. Yes, well, so actually I
had a rabbit nest in one of my containers, yeah,
because it was like in spring and kind had stuff
grouped together and it was like perfect hiding. And I
found the nests because you can always tell a rabbit
escus has like a big wad of fur kind of
plugging the entrance, and so I knew immediately what it was.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
And I was like, but there's no way.
Speaker 3 (26:15):
So every night we sat out there until we finally
saw mama rabbit come up and just whoop leap right
up into the containers.
Speaker 2 (26:21):
That was pretty amazing.
Speaker 3 (26:22):
So anyway, rabbits can do crazy things, but that's a
good one. When I like to her picture Stephen Mary
there's no question this is human damage. So someone because
the other thing about a rabbit human damage. I'm not
saying they noded. I'm saying they they brought pruners. They
(26:43):
brought pruners and they cut this. Because the other thing
is you can see in the pictures that the portions
that were detached are just sprinkled all over the ground.
And a rabbit doesn't just bite things just for the
fun of it. It bites things off to eat them.
And I have no idea. Well, actually I have a
couple of theories. Okay, so one theory is a well
intentioned landscaper who might have been doing some sort of
(27:05):
fall clean up at your house. I hear of plenty
well intentioned offspring who you know, come back from college
and say I'm gonna help mom and dad out and
cut everything back. That happens with big leaf hydranges a lot.
I can't tell you how many people have told me
that a well intentioned kid was home from college and
cut back their big leaf hydranges. Or I don't know, Stephen, Mary,
(27:29):
maybe you need to ask each other. I don't know,
all right, but this is definitely pruneer damage. But the
good news is that it will almost certainly be fine
crate myrtle in the South. In fact, there is a
widespread movement known jokingly as crape murder because so many
(27:51):
people cut their crpe myrtles back just out of convention,
even though they are generally much better left unpruned. So
crate myrtles can easily withstand heavy pruning like this and
come back. And if you are in a cold climate,
crape myrtles can actually come back from the roots. And
because they bloom on new wood, they'll go on to
flower as usual, okay, later in the season. So I
(28:14):
think it'll be fine. I think you're gonna have to
think long and hard about how these branches came to
be detached and who was walking around your yard. But
I think your plant will be fine. If you live
in a cold climate, don't give up on it too early.
If it did die back to the ground because of
this extremely cold winter that we are having here in Michigan,
(28:35):
give it plenty of time. Give it, you know, several
weeks into spring to see if that new growth is
going to come from the base, and most likely I
think it will.
Speaker 1 (28:44):
I think you handled that really well, and I'm so
glad that you handled that question.
Speaker 2 (28:50):
Well.
Speaker 3 (28:50):
I mean, you know, I love being a plant detective,
and of course, but you know, I in my many
years of playing plant detective, I've learned to pick up
on certain clues like deer.
Speaker 2 (29:02):
And rabbit damage.
Speaker 3 (29:03):
And this is pretty much unequivocally pruned by humans.
Speaker 1 (29:08):
And you're so right. The deer damage is telltale. Right
now here in West Michigan, we've got a lot of
snow and I have some yuccas, big yucca plants that
stick up through the snow. The deer have just ravaged them.
Generally they'll leave yuccas alone, but they're hungry. And I
mean the leaves are just shredded.
Speaker 2 (29:29):
Oh, just torn, Yeah, because they're so hungry, right.
Speaker 1 (29:31):
They're so hungry. Yeah, so pretty sloppy, all right, Gail
writes to us, I need help with the problem of
moss taking over the grass in my backyard. I live
in northern New Jerseys on seven A. There's a lot
of shade. The yard is south facing and the area
is about seventy five by fifty feet. Love your podcast,
Thanks well, Gail. I think the important thing here to note,
(29:54):
Stacey is that plants have roots. Moss does not ye
the maw, and same thing with grass. Grass has roots,
moss does not. If the moss is growing better than
the grass, then that leads me to believe that the
environmental conditions in that area, it's not just shade. Usually
it's soil compaction. So raise the deck on the lawn,
(30:17):
moward to give the grass a competitive edge. Get yourself
a core air rader, air rate the lawn. I you know,
obviously I haven't seen pictures, I haven't been on Gail's lawn,
but I can almost guarantee you that that lawn is
probably compacted. And Gale's also saying shade, so maybe there's
(30:37):
a lot of trees, a lot of tree roots, and
so there you go. I mean, moss does not grow
on a rolling stone.
Speaker 3 (30:45):
No, And you know, the irony of moss that I
have found in my career is that everybody who wants
moss can't grow it, yes, and the people who don't
want moss can't get rid of it. I mean, moss
is sort of nature's cover, I guess. And if moss,
and there's so many different types of moss, you know,
we talk about moss as sort of this monolith, but
(31:06):
there are literally hundreds, if not thousands, of different species
of moss out there, and there are some that are
adapted to dry, sandy conditions like we have out here
in West Michigan, even though most people associate them, of
course with shade. But you'll find moss in the desert.
There's moss growing just about every condition across the world,
and the specific moss that grows in your area is
(31:28):
specifically adapted to those conditions. So the fact is that
if you have it, it's because conditions are right for
it to grow. And even though I think you gave
great advice on trying to give the grass a competitive advantage,
if it really is that shady, the grass is probably
never going to get a leg up on the moss.
It's just unlikely to happen shady and compected. And like
(31:50):
you said, the tree roots, you know, the moss can
certainly sew itself between the tree roots and soil moisture too,
So if you really have a nice blanket of moss going,
it's very often because there's enough moisture for it to
be maintained that way. So, Gail, I hope you're not
gonna hate me for saying this, but my advice is
(32:11):
to learn to love the moss, you know, and embrace
the moss.
Speaker 2 (32:19):
Because there's a lot of people who would love.
Speaker 3 (32:20):
To have what you have and can't. So unless you're
going to make major changes to the conditions that are
enabling this moss to grow, which is to say, the shade,
perhaps the soil, compaction, moisture, all of those things, the
moss is going to grow. So I would say, get
yourself some beautiful poetic rocks, get a path through that moss,
(32:42):
and build yourself a beautiful, peaceful zen like moss.
Speaker 1 (32:46):
Garden stacy my experience in my career, as grass grows
best where you wish it would amen to that right
and as far as moss too, I remember putting moss
and buttermilk in a blender in my garage and painting
porous and overnight the cats came along and licked it all.
Just a total failure, so I couldn't get it to grow.
Speaker 3 (33:07):
So, yeah, it's a conundrum, Gale. But unless you're gonna
take those trees down, I think that the moss, you
need to just embrace the fact that the moss is
a lush, beautiful green carpet that doesn't need mooing, So
we're going to take a little break. When we come back,
we're talking more about moving plants, so please stay tuned.
(33:31):
Thanks for listening to the Gardening Simplified Podcast, brought to
you by Proven Winners Color Choice Shrubs. Our award winning
flowering shrubs and evergreens are trialed and tested by experts
with your success in mind. Learn more at Proven Winners
color Choice dot com.
Speaker 1 (33:46):
Welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show. We're talking about
some plants that like to move, and some plants that don't,
and some that are well, maybe just a wee bit grumpy, right, Stacey, Yes,
And I had a little poem here that I wrote
my rule of thumb on moving plants. If it's a clump,
make the jump. If it's a trunk, it's no slam dunk.
(34:08):
If a stump, don't be a grump. If an annual,
you don't need a manual. And that's kind of how
I apply it. And I wanted to ask you, Stacy,
you and I both love baptisia. Have you moved some
baptisia plants and what's your experience?
Speaker 3 (34:25):
Would that I have moved Baptisia plants? It is not fun.
It is not easy. And I say this as someone
who dug them from very sandy soil cannot even imagine
trying to dig them in a clay soil. But the
main thing is, you know, Baptizia is a very drought
tolerant plant, and that's one of the things that it's
(34:45):
known for and one of the reasons that I personally
love it. But generally speaking, the more drought tolerant a
plant is, the more that indicates that it has a
very extensive root system to find water, you know, maybe
a little bit deeper or wider than other plants do.
So it has a much deeper root system than other perennials,
(35:07):
and it does put out a tap root as well
as these really kind of gnarly roots all over the place.
So it's hard, but it can be done. I've done
it many times. And yeah, I mean this year I
probably moved oh gosh, nine.
Speaker 2 (35:26):
Baptisias that I had around my yard.
Speaker 1 (35:28):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (35:30):
And I was prepared for the worst because when I
originally moved them to the location I just moved them
from because you know, frequent flyer miles. Yeah, change our mind.
We re envisioned the space, the first time I dug
them was very hard. It was less hard this time,
even though they've been performing really really well. But I'm
hoping that this is it because I just want to
(35:50):
give them a chance to grow and do their thing.
But I would say it probably took them a good
three years to fully recover and start growing into that big, beautiful,
rounded shape, but they still flowered pretty well in the interim.
Speaker 1 (36:04):
I like your comment about drought tolerance as it pertains
to the plant's root system and moving again. Living near
the beach here in Lake Michigan, we have a lot
of oak trees and they're notorious for a tap root, right,
And so you have other plants too that can be notorious.
I'm thinking Joe Pieweed Goat's beard along with the baptizea
(36:26):
any of these plants. It can be tougher. But the
point I've tried to make today is even though it's tough,
it may be worth it, and it doesn't mean it
can't be done well.
Speaker 3 (36:39):
Yeah, And it also just means again to have realistic
expectations when you put the effort in, and you know,
also don't just write it off right away and say, okay, well,
you know this is clearly not coming back because it
has been set back, so it needs a little extra TLC.
And I think that's another super crucial part of moving
plants is you're going to need to keep an eye
on them, and you're going to need to watch them,
(36:59):
make sure that don't get too much or too little water.
You're just going to need to keep an eye and
make sure that they don't get animal damage. They should
not experience any further setbacks after they've been moved, so
you need to do your best to protect them and
make sure that that environment that they have, especially for
that first year or two, basically treat them like a
(37:20):
brand new planting sure where you're monitoring them closely and
just trying to give them the best start at recovery
rather than getting established, because now they're getting re established.
Speaker 1 (37:30):
And I don't want to just slide over the fact too,
that some folks may say, well, Rick, you're giving us
permission to move these plants. Easy for you to say,
it's hard work. It can be in some of these plants,
it's very very hard work. I remember a couple of
years ago, I ran the Chicago Marathon and I crossed
the finish line and you start to recover and you're hydrating.
(37:53):
It's a twenty six point two mile race. You cross
the finish line. And I was thinking to myself, I
did this for a metal and a T shirt because
that's basically what you.
Speaker 3 (38:05):
Get, right, Yeah, we up bragging rights. Well, I mean,
but that's something.
Speaker 1 (38:11):
The point here is that when you dig up a planet,
it's really hard to do in your yard, but you
move it to the perfect location. Now you've got something
there that you can enjoy for a long time. And
they've been moving plants throughout the ages. We're gonna put
a link at the website. Our website is Gardening Simplified
on air dot com, and we'll put a link there.
(38:34):
I thought it was interesting this past fall when I
visited the Arnold Arboretum and I was reading about Wardian cases.
So it's named after Nathaniel Bagshaw Ward, a London physician
with a keen interest in the natural world. The whole
point here is that they developed these boxes that are
(38:56):
like miniature greenhouses, and that's how they move plants. They
couldn't send them obviously on an airplane. In the seventeen hundreds, right,
sixteen hundreds, eighteen hundreds whatever, and so these plants were
subjected to wide variations in temperature on a boat, as
you know, they traveled to wherever they're going, from China
(39:18):
to London. And he basically was successful in building these
boxes where they could move a new plant species. Now
that said obviously, Stacy. In the process, they also moved
some pests and some pathogens, yes, that were not native
to the area where they were moving. But that's all
(39:40):
a part of history. So I think it's a fascinating story.
And we'll put the link there from Harvard University and
the Arnold Arboretum. Okay, Stacy, are you tired of winter
and ready for spring? I know the.
Speaker 2 (39:55):
Answer, yes, Sam, thank you very much.
Speaker 1 (39:57):
So forcing branches ooh great idea. Yeah, and I wanted
to ask you a question. So just going out and
clipping some dormant branches, putting them in a vase indoors
to enjoy the spring blooms. I listed some plants like Forcythia,
mock orange quints, maybe even father Gia, witch, hazel, service berry,
(40:20):
et cetera, et cetera, and forcing these blooms indoors into color.
There's a plant that I absolutely love, a proven winner's
color choice shrub and it's called show Off Forcythya. This
plant is amazing folks. And in working at the greenhouse,
helping out at the greenhouse, I'm amazed at the popularity
(40:42):
of Forcythia. Everybody comes in asking for You would think
that this is a run of the mill plant and
it's ubiquitous, but everybody asked for it, and then you
take the game and you move it to the next level.
Speaker 2 (40:56):
Would show off, Yeah, show off is you know.
Speaker 3 (40:58):
I remember when I first got the job here, I
was like, why do we offer for Scythia? Like Forcythia
there are a dime a dozen and my boss Tim
would at the time was like, oh, let me show
you why. And you know, these are plants that set
far more flower buds on the stem and so much
so that they look like a column of yellow. So
(41:19):
it's not just like a little bit here and there.
It becomes a beautiful, dense column. So you just get
so much more impact than a conventional variety. And that's
really what we're looking for. But as far as forcing
branches go, at Forsythia is a great choice. But I
would encourage everybody to just play around. I mean It's
such a fun way to try to get through the
(41:39):
rest of the season here and do something interesting. It
doesn't even have to flower. Just having some plants inside
and fresh green growth makes a huge difference. I actually
have some right now. And this is kind of funny.
So when we had our company Christmas party just about
a week before Christmas, we had deck graded the tables
(42:01):
with some red twig dogwood branches, Arctic firebred red twig dogwood.
So we were cleaning up afterwards and I just took
a handful home to have, you know, on the table
during the holidays. But I put them in a nice
silver vase and they are flowering now and looking absolutely
gorgeous with foliage coming out. And it's just been such
a cool process to watch them going from this very wintery,
(42:22):
you know experience to growing and flowering and looking green
and wonderful, and just that like little flicker of hope
that you get to see fresh green growth in your
house from your plants. It makes a huge, huge difference.
Speaker 1 (42:37):
Oh, it is fantastic. And Stacy, you're an individual who
got me very excited about Illuminati Tower mockhorn.
Speaker 3 (42:46):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (42:46):
I love those.
Speaker 1 (42:47):
Yeah, that plant in my landscape is sensational. And again
years ago in the seventies and eighties, I remember mock
orange in the in the garden Center and it really
wasn't much. It was a rangy plant. Really wasn't all
that exciting. Illuminati like the show off. For Cynthia blooms
all along the stem. Do you think I'd have success
(43:09):
in forcing that? Inside?
Speaker 2 (43:11):
I mean, not to be a downer, but no.
Speaker 1 (43:12):
Okay, That's why I'm asking, And.
Speaker 3 (43:15):
The reason is that when it comes to forcing these branches,
basically the earlier in spring they flower, the better your
success of getting flowers out of them.
Speaker 2 (43:25):
Indoors will be.
Speaker 3 (43:26):
And the mock oranges don't really bloom for us here
in Michigan usually like the first two weeks of June,
so that's pushing it a little bit late. So I
would say anything that's going to be blooming more in
like the April time frame is going to be your
best bet. So for Cynthia is a great choice. Quince
is Yeah, Quin's forces quite well. Our double takes do
(43:47):
flower a little bit later than the more conventional single varieties,
and also they tend to flower more on their second
year wood, so you have thicker stems and not kind
of that more you know, swoopy, elegant look that a
lot of people look for enforcing branches. But yeah, the
earlier at flowers, the more success you're gonna have indoors.
(44:10):
I have some winter honeysuckle, which I think I mentioned
a few weeks ago. Lenisra fragrantisima. Not a very popular plant,
but it blooms very very early, late winter early spring
smells just like fruit loop cereal. And actually, just yesterday
and I got home, I said to myself, I need
to cut some of those and bring them in and
get that amazing fragrance indoors. But it's always worth trying.
(44:31):
And the cool thing about the illuminatis again, you're going
to get that really cool sort of rugged corrugated foliage
coming out. It's still something to look at. So it's
totally worth just experimenting and seeing what comes out. Because
you know, shrubs can take a little bit of pruning.
It doesn't matter if you take off three, four or
five small branches to do this. We're not talking about
(44:52):
like major pruning.
Speaker 1 (44:53):
Yeah. All right, well, I don't know about you. I'm inspired.
I'm ready to move into spring.
Speaker 3 (44:57):
Let's do it all right, I mean none that it's
our choice, but we can. Will it sooner maybe?
Speaker 1 (45:03):
Okay, meteorological spring, which is a tough word to say,
but I tackled it all right.
Speaker 3 (45:09):
Well, next episode it starts, so we're ready for it.
We hope you are too. So thank you Rick, thank
you Adriana, and thanks so much to all of you
for listening. We truly appreciate it and hope you have
a wonderful weekend.
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