Plants You Can't Kill

Looking for the toughest, most durable plants for your garden or landscape? They're in this episode! Featured shrub: Low Scape Mound aronia.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Coming to you from Studio A here at proven Winns
Color Joy Shrubs. It's time for the Gardening Simplified Show
with Stacy Hervella, Me, Rick Weist, and our engineer and
producer Adrianna Robinson. Well Stacy, throughout the years, I have
helped people with garden problems. I've been involved in the

(00:23):
media for years, and when I'm out and about and
people meet me, first thing they'll do is they'll shake
my hand vigorously and introduce themselves. And then the next
words out of their mouth are I have a brown thumb.
Everything I touch dies. And I say to them, that's
a piece of information I would have liked before you
shook my name. Are there plants that you can't kill?

(00:49):
I say, well, maybe, at least I've tried with certain plants.
And Stacy, I think when you approach the subject, you
have to look at plants first of all, considering what
is their native habitat, look at their reach, in other words,
how large an area across the world does this plant grow?

(01:10):
Remember it's all relative. And then finally, look at the roots.
Some plants have what we call adventitious roots or rhizotomous roots,
and it can make all the difference in the world
as it relates to a plant survivability.

Speaker 2 (01:29):
There are so many factors that go into a plant's
ability to withstand challenges. But I do want to say
first that I would think that when most people meet you,
the first thing they would say is I've got the
perfect pun for you.

Speaker 1 (01:40):
They do that too, I have hundreds of them. Some
of my best came from listeners.

Speaker 2 (01:46):
Okay, just time to get that out of the way. Yes,
but there are a lot of different factors. And when
I was thinking about this topic, you know what, I
feel like there's a differentiation right between plants that are durable,
which we talk about a lot. We will say things like,
you know, this plant will withstand wet soil, or this
plant can withstand high pH or low pH or whatever.

(02:10):
We talk about specific challenges. But to me, these plants
that you can't kill can't merely tolerate one extreme condition.
They need to be able to tolerate anything that Mother
Nature can throw at it.

Speaker 1 (02:22):
It's a great point, and there are actually.

Speaker 2 (02:24):
A number of those plants because of course you can
walk around and see that plants are surviving despite all
of the crazy stuff that Mother nature does.

Speaker 3 (02:31):
Throw at them.

Speaker 2 (02:32):
But the bigger question than is are they nice enough
to have in your landscape?

Speaker 1 (02:35):
Yes? Exactly. So if I elaborate on that a little bit,
let's see how you feel about this, Stacey. For example,
I said, look to where they are native. Think about
the plants from the Great Plains like Helianthus, cone flowers,
switch grass Esclepius two buosa, favorite plant of yours, and

(02:55):
think about their root system and what it takes to
survive out there on the Great Plains. Can get really hot,
can get really cold, et cetera, et cetera. Right, and
then take a look at the range. I think about
an interesting tree people don't talk about a lot, and
that is ironwood tree. The range of that tree is
unbelievable throughout Canada, into the eastern US, all the way

(03:19):
down to the Honduras.

Speaker 3 (03:21):
Wow, that far down.

Speaker 1 (03:24):
So a sizeable reach on that tree. And then remember
it's all relative. If you were to go to the
search engine of your choice and type in plants that
are hard to kill, odds are what's gonna come up?
Are houseplants? Yes, because everybody kills houseplants and usually kills
them with kindness. Now there are super tough houseplants like

(03:46):
ponytail palm or sandsavaria or zz plants. But odds are
people kill them left and right. Why Because they overwater them?

Speaker 3 (03:56):
You know what?

Speaker 2 (03:57):
That is so true In all of my years of
helping people garden and answering questions, overwatering has overwhelmingly been
the reason that people have killed their plants indoors and
out I have so so many people who you know,
hear at proven winners plant a lilac or plant a
panic lyide range of two of our best sellers. Great

(04:18):
plants widely be loved, and they say, and I wanted
to give it a good home. So I dug a hole,
and I dumped a big, you know, bag full of
composts or potting mix in there, and then I planted it.
And I've been watering it every day and now it's wilting,
and so I gave it more water, and you know,
there goes a plant. And the thing the bottom line here,

(04:38):
whether it's houseplants or outdoor plants, is that plants can
generally withstand underwatering more they can withstand overwatering because what
they can deal what they can do if they get
too much, If they get too little water, it's just
go dormant, just boo. Can't deal just conserving my resources,
putting it away for a little while. If they get overwatered,

(05:00):
their roots suffocate. It's like, you know, you can live
in the desert, but if you drown in the ocean,
your your life will be very short.

Speaker 3 (05:07):
You might be able to do three.

Speaker 2 (05:08):
Days in the desert, if you know, going through there
and finding some water, maybe eating a cactus if you're lucky.
But yeah, in the ocean, you got to stay afloat.
You're gonna drown.

Speaker 1 (05:17):
That's why one of my favorite puns is I just
wet my plants. But it's true. And with those houseplants,
so they kill them with watering. Whereas there are some
houseplants if you look at their native habitat their range,
their characteristics Philodendron chordatum or pothos, that is a plant.
And my daughter is evidence of this because I've watched
her houseplants. They can shift from dust dry to soaking

(05:42):
wet and survive. So there are a few that are tough,
too very tough to kill. Today's lima rick and by
the way, we're gonna call it limb a Eric li
MB Thanks to one of our viewers listeners, Randa, thank
you very much. Tougher than a choke cherry or a

(06:02):
plant grown on the prairie, one's interest is arbitrary of
its thorns. You should be wary. Just how does Stacy
feel about Barbary Rick?

Speaker 2 (06:15):
How dare you don't make me say this on the show?
I thought we were doing plants we hate next episode.

Speaker 1 (06:23):
Oh okay, we can save it for next week. Then
then let me ask you this question. How do you
feel about day lilies or jeez? Because boy, here is
a perennial that is next to impossible to kill. I've
pulled them out of the ground, left them laying for months,
and they survived it. And again I go back to

(06:45):
what I originally said, Stacy, I think it goes back
to the rhizotomous, adventitious thick roots.

Speaker 2 (06:51):
Yeah, so that's definitely why day lilies are pretty hard
to kill. Because if you dig one up, do you
see that they have like a nice fleshy storage root
down there where they can keep moisture. And like I
just said, because there are deciduous plants, if going really
gets tough, they just go dormant and then they come
back next year. They store all their nutrients. I do
not care for day lilies. This is a widely known fact.

(07:14):
But I mean, I don't judge anybody who does like them,
because I do get why people like them. I have
a visceral reaction to daylilies because this is this is
kind of gross, but I'm gonna say it anyway. The
petals remind me of diapers.

Speaker 1 (07:31):
Really.

Speaker 2 (07:31):
Yeah, they're like so thick and puffy and gross. Sorry,
I'm cracking up the studio in here. I can't believe
I just said this on air. But yeah, like especially
the newer so you know, Sorryboddy in here, it's busted enough.

Speaker 1 (07:49):
It all depends. Maybe I should just pamper you some
color commentary here anyway.

Speaker 3 (08:04):
So, especially the newer varieties of.

Speaker 1 (08:08):
Daily Again the same way, I.

Speaker 2 (08:10):
Can't believe I haven't said this to you. I feel
like I say this to everybody when they ask me
how I feel about daylilies, especially the newer varieties. So
you know, newer varieties have more chromosomes. That's what makes
them bigger, more, you know, more colorful, everything, more robust,
and it also makes the petals even thicker and uh yeah,
I really really don't like daylilies. I mean, besides the

(08:32):
fact that I can't even grow them even if I
wanted to, because I have deer, and I actually have
one day lily, I believe it or not. It is
a variegated day lily, and it's kind of interesting. So
you know, I knew it would never flower because of
the deer, but the I like variegation that's like very
neat and tidy, and this is a parallel variegation, so

(08:54):
it looks really good. But it is on its last
legs between the deer and the dry soil. I'm I'm
close to killing it. But I will say it has
been at least ten years that I've had it, and
it's been slowly declining. So that's, you know, that's a
good up vote.

Speaker 1 (09:07):
I love the rainbow, the proven Winter's Rainbow Rhythm dailies,
and you can get varieties that have paeony flowers too.

Speaker 2 (09:23):
Sorry Walters, sorry to our partners at Walters and the
Daily Breeders everywhere. Just not my taste.

Speaker 1 (09:32):
I just wet my plants. I think what we'll do
is we're going to move the rest of this conversation
to segment for today because there's a lot more to
set to be said, including sharing some plants that I
think you can't kill. Okay, I think people are going
to want at least a list of a few plants
that you can't kill and don't look like diapers.

Speaker 3 (09:56):
That's going to be a very helpful list, Rick, I
look forward to.

Speaker 1 (10:00):
Let's see what Stacy has in mind next. Plants on trial.
That's next here on the Gardening Simplified Show.

Speaker 2 (10:13):
Beautify your home and community with proven Winner's Color Choice
Shrubs with over three hundred and twenty five unique varieties
to choose from. There's a flowering shrub or evergreen for
every taste and every space. Just look for the distinctive
white container your local garden center or learn more at
proven Winner's Color Choice dot com. Greeting's gardening friends, and

(10:33):
welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show, where we are
talking about plants that you can't kill or that they
are very hard to kill.

Speaker 3 (10:42):
It's not a dare.

Speaker 2 (10:42):
We're not actually encouraging you to try to kill these plants.
We're just saying they're going to be very forgiving. But
I do want to say, speaking of being forgiving and forgiveness.
I like many gardeners and people who are passionate about
anything in life, have some very strong opinions about plants
and gardening, and I certainly do not want to disparage
anybody who likes day Lili's. I know they are widely

(11:04):
beloved in the garden world. I know where you're coming from,
and you know, I just I just want to say
I'm not judging because I like plenty of plants that
people despise and would never grow, and you know what,
that's just that's just the way it is. So I
certainly hope that no one took offense at my little
uh day Lily tirade there. I get that they're easy

(11:25):
to grow, I get that they're hard to kill, but
they're just not for me.

Speaker 1 (11:29):
Wait until we talk about Barbers.

Speaker 2 (11:31):
Oh boy, we'll see what happens then. But you know,
every time we do Plants on Trial, of course, I
always try to tie it to the theme of the show,
and we're talking plants that are hard to kill, and
I try not to repeat a plant that I have
used before in Plants on Trial. But of course, now
we've been on the air for you know, a good

(11:53):
three year so.

Speaker 3 (11:55):
It's been a while.

Speaker 2 (11:56):
I am repeating a plant on trial for the first
time ever.

Speaker 1 (12:00):
I think it's appropriate.

Speaker 2 (12:01):
It is appropriate because if the topic is plants that
are hard to kill, there is one plant that stands
head and shoulders above all of the other proven winner's
color choice shrubs as being very hard to kill, and
so I had to feature it otherwise I would have
to do some sort of kakamamie roundabout way of bringing
something else in. So I'm revisiting it because it's been
a good two three years since we covered it, and

(12:21):
today's plant on trial low Skate mound Erronia.

Speaker 1 (12:24):
I think it's a great choice and I love that plant.
And if you think about it, Stacy, well, I'm sure
you've thought about it, and that is that the plant
meets my criteria in segment one where it's a native plant,
right it is with a wide ring.

Speaker 2 (12:38):
That is absolutely true. So this is also we call
it low Skate mount Arnia. Ronia is also commonly called chokeberry.
I'm not really sure how most people tend to know it.
If they know it as aronia or chokeberry. I guess
it depends on kind of your framework, because some people
do know ronia because they sell ronia as like a
juice and nutritional supplement, so you might be familiar with it.

(13:00):
That we prefer the name ronia here at proven Winter's
color choice because choke berry just you know, doesn't have
the charm and it comes by that name earnestly. It
does set big, kind of pithy berries that are so
astringent that you will choke on them. It's one of
those things that just sucks all the moisture right out
of your mouth. Not a pleasant experience, but yes, you're right.

(13:22):
Rick Ronia are an abundant native plant. They basically grow
everywhere from Maine as far west as Arkansas, so pretty
you know, basically over the entire eastern half of the
US and Canada. And when I was reading a little
bit more about where they're found in nature, two areas
stuck out to me that really kind of account for this,

(13:46):
for this endurance that it has. They can be found
in bogs and in dunes, and that is two extremes. Wow,
you know, because we live in a dune area and
it's extremely dry, very very sandy, we have almost no
top soil, very well drained. But of course a bog
is you know, basically stagnant water and plants, and so

(14:06):
you'll find ironia in all of those areas.

Speaker 3 (14:08):
And like I just said, it's also.

Speaker 2 (14:09):
Growing everywhere from Maine all the way over to Arkansas,
so Arkansas is you know, quite hot. It goes down
all the way into Alabama. So we're talking about good,
solid USDA Zone eight climates as well as cold you
know northern Minnesota and you know far eastern main Zone
three climates. So it also has that wide climate adaptability.

(14:31):
And you know that's another really important part of a
plant that you can't kill, is it's not just can
it take really dry conditions and really wet conditions? Can
it take those hot swings? Can it take those cold swings?
You know, can it take a snow load? Can it
take hot sun? And yes, ronia can do all of
those things. But you're probably wondering how does it look?
And you could not be blamed, because what's the point

(14:53):
of having a plant you can't kill if you don't
want to even look at it in your yard?

Speaker 3 (14:56):
That's no fun.

Speaker 1 (14:57):
Well, I'm telling you, Stacey, both the flower and the
fall color are quite appealing to me.

Speaker 2 (15:02):
Yes, so it starts. The show starts in spring with
little clusters of white flowers. And what I love about
the Low Skate Mound Erronea specifically is that the pollen
is pink. And that might seem like a really minor
detail that you're just like, oh, whoop, do you do
pink pollen, but it's actually quite interesting and it's interesting.
It just makes the flowers look a little bit more colorful.

(15:23):
So you're gonna have those nice white flowers in spring.
Plants are just gonna sit around looking beautiful until late summer,
and then those are going to turn into purple like
purply black berries, okay, and then in a few more
weeks you're gonna have amazing fall color red, orange, yellow,
the whole you know, hot color range there. And the
thing that makes Low Skate Mound Erronia special and why

(15:43):
it's part of the Proven Winter's Color Choice brand is
because compared to our wild ronea, which are gonna be
about six feet tall and wide, Low Skate Mound reaches
one and a half to three feet tall and wide.
So it lives up to that mound name, just kind
of growing as a tidy, little tough it there. It
doesn't get too tall, and it doesn't.

Speaker 3 (16:03):
Really get too wide.

Speaker 2 (16:04):
So it's a good landscape friendly size and it's a
good landscape friendly habit. That makes it a lot easier
to get this durability in a plant that actually works,
you know, in your standard residential landscape.

Speaker 1 (16:17):
I'm trying to show restraint and not say are you
pollen my leg? But I will concur that with low
scape mound erronia, the shape of it in a landscape
just kind of follows the contour of a landscape, which
is part of what makes it such a fantastic plant.
And my personal experience with the plant, I had put

(16:40):
it in the ground stacy and something came along, either
a deer or rabbits and ate it to the nubs.

Speaker 3 (16:47):
Oh wow, okay, and.

Speaker 1 (16:48):
It bounced back and came back with renewed vigors.

Speaker 2 (16:52):
Yes, So I also have my own personal experience with
this plant that I can attest makes it hard to kill. So,
you know, one of the perks working in the horticulture
industry is you tend to get a lot of free plants.
You know, it's a good job perk. And so we
had a plant giveaway and you know, usually there at
the end of the season, and I took three low

(17:12):
skate mounds. You know, of course, with the best intentions
their native I have a native plant garden, thinking I'm
going to plant them in there, but you know how
it is, the season gets in the way, nothing gets planted.
So I then overwintered the erronias in their nursery containers. So,
you know, something that we tell people not to do.
I do it all the time. But it's different when
it's a free plant versus when someone has, you know,

(17:33):
shelled out money for it. You don't want to just say,
oh yeah, go ahead and risk it. It's not that
big of a deal where I'm just like, h if
I lose them, you know, not that big of a deal.
So I ever wanted them in their nursery containers. They
came back and spring, no problem. A whole other season
goes by. I still don't plant them because you know,
like you think, okay, I'm gonna do this, and then
things start to grow and then you're just like, oh, wait, no,

(17:54):
that plant looks so good right now. That's why I
was going to put it. I don't want to dig
it up right now. And then you know it's too hot. O,
it's too hot for do that.

Speaker 3 (18:02):
And you know there's always you know how it is.
I'm sure our listeners know how it is.

Speaker 2 (18:05):
Adrian is also nodding just for reference here, so we're
all in the same page. So I never planted them.
I did that for three seasons and they never died.

Speaker 1 (18:14):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (18:16):
I had to finally throw it away because I do
have to say, this plant does sucker, and that is
like Rick was saying about, you know, having these robust roots.
That is one of the reasons that it can be
so durable and so able to withstand these challenges is
as it's growing, it puts out these kind of stolens

(18:36):
and we'll put out shoots not far from the main plant,
but potentially at some distance from the main plant. And
that is one of the ways that it's able to
really utilize all of the nutrients, all of the moisture,
and have the ability to withstand really challenging conditions. So
it's not the worst offender when it comes to suckering.

(18:56):
And if you don't like the suckers, all you have
to do is take a sharp set bade and just
whack them out. Very simple to do, but I think
that it does make this plant a great choice for
things like slopes where you might have a very you know,
wetter at the base and dryer at the top, parking lots,
the front walkway area where things can it can be

(19:18):
difficult for things to grow. So it's really good. It's
fine to including your landscape. You might just have to
again plan for those suckers if they pop up where
you don't want them. But yeah, it's a great choice
for those really really difficult spots, and especially if you
just don't want to have to, you know, ever deal
with it. Just let it sucker, let it cover the
ground there. It's a great stabilizer for that kind of

(19:40):
you know, And we actually recommend it specifically for landscapers
who are landscaping parking lots, you know, because imagine how
hard it is to be in a parking lot, you know,
especially in the Midwest. Here we're stuck with all of
those horrendous mounds of snow. They got plowed together, and
even though the snow has been melting on the ground,
those snow mounds do not feel like they're going to

(20:02):
melt until maybe July. And they're all like gross and
dirty and full of garbage. It's really horrendous. But you
know what, those massive snowlads can go on top of
low skate mound erronia, and when they melt, the thing
is going to be there. It's going to flower. It
is not even going to be phased.

Speaker 1 (20:19):
Yeah, those snow piles here in the north at shopping centers,
when they melt in spring, that's when you find those
missing shopping carts.

Speaker 3 (20:28):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (20:28):
We're very really truly all the time, Stacy. And if
you're keeping score at home, Stacy is talking about low
scape mound Ronia. Stacy, I would grow this plant just
for the fall color. I love the fall tome.

Speaker 2 (20:41):
Yeah, it's great fall color, and the flowers are really nice.
They do attract pollinators. Of course, this is a native plant,
so there just has a lot going for it. Disease resistant.
You aren't going to see like nasty leaf spots or
powdery mildew or anything like that on this plant. And
as you said, Rick, it is not particularly deer resistant
or rabbit resistant. I did have them eat flowers off

(21:02):
of my plants. But you know, again, this kind of
if so if you have deer or a big rabbit issue,
it's a plant you just need to be aware that
that's going to happen. But in my experience, they didn't
really damage the plant itself. They really just took the
flower clusters, which does of course negate the potential for berries.
But you know, again, it's just something that's worth keeping
in mind if you have those super difficult areas and

(21:25):
you just want something that's just going to look good
and you don't have to think about it. I think
low skate mound erroneous perk for that, as well as
more refined landscapes, especially if you want to work specifically
with native species.

Speaker 1 (21:37):
It's my stump of approval.

Speaker 2 (21:39):
So, like I said, one and a half to three
feet tall, hardy USDA Zone three to USDA Zone eight
and available at your local garden set up. This spring,
we're going to take a little break and when we
come back, we're going to be answering some garden questions,
so please stay tuned at proven when there's color choice shrubs,

(22:01):
we know that a better landscape starts with a better shrub.
Our team of experts tests and evaluates all of our
flowering shrubs and evergreens for eight to ten years to
ensure they outperform what's already on the market for easycare, reliable,
beautiful shrubs to accentuate your home and express your personal style.
Look for Proven Winners shrubs in the distinctive white container

(22:21):
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 to help you with your gardening questions, and I
know they're going to be coming in hot and heavy
in these next couple weeks. We've been putting out some
we've been filming some pruning videos to try to address
some of the questions that people are going to be

(22:43):
having very soon. And of course there's a lot of
information on our YouTube channel, so if you're already watching
us on YouTube, make sure you check out some of
the other content that we have there because there's a
very good possibility that we've answered some of your gardening
questions with something that's already in there. And of course
our website. And you know, again, if you need an
answer right away, because we can't answer every question on radio,

(23:04):
we only have a few minutes to do this, please
do right into proven Winners dot com. You will always
get a personalized answer from one of our horticulturists giving
you the help that you need.

Speaker 1 (23:14):
And wow, is pruning a big one?

Speaker 3 (23:17):
Oh yeah for sure.

Speaker 1 (23:18):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (23:19):
And remember if you need to know one piece of
advice for pruning when in doubt, don't prune, don't do
it just win in doubt, don't So if you're out
there you're wondering, we get some nice weather, which we
are going to be having here finally in Michigan, you
might want to say, I'm gonna get a head start
and do some work, win and out, don't prune, just

(23:40):
figure it out first, and then you can go back
and fix your things. But you know, we still have
the enduring mystery of this, Stephen Mary, great Myrtle, who
done it? Our listeners are dying to know if Stephen
Mary have a reaction to our suggestions. So Stephen Mary,
if you are hearing this, please do right now us

(24:00):
back I did not see your message in there, or
leave a comment on YouTube and let us know how
it's going, because we have people very invested in your mystery,
and we have people who are writing in with some
some ideas of their own. So our listener Elyssa says
she loves the show. She looks forward to it. She says,
we bring joy to her week, which is so sweet.

(24:20):
But she says she was listening to the episode on
moving plants and wanted to comment on and sympathize with
the listener. With the crape myrtles, she says, I've also
had bunnies just chew off the branches and leave them
scattershot on the ground, so maybe it was a rabbit,
although she said nothing as large as what you've described
in the episode. Her most recent victims were four young
hazel nut shobs, so sad, I love hazel nuts, the

(24:42):
plants and the nuts. She says, I've included a photo
you can see how much height they cut back, and
she says I was devastated, and honestly I would have
been less mad if they'd at least eaten them. The
jerks just left them strewn and said flowers and well
and all. And then she wisely ends gardening is no
for the faint hearted. And I feel you on that, Alyssa,

(25:03):
because I this reminded me that in my succulent garden,
the rabbits I have Alium spherrocephalon and the drumstick Alium
lovely plant.

Speaker 3 (25:14):
I just love it, you know.

Speaker 2 (25:15):
It's one of those it's one of the sea through plants.
It doesn't take up a lot of space, it just
adds height. It's gorgeous. And once they start butting out
and growing in my garden, the rabbits do bite them
down and then they go, oh, crad, this tastes terrible,
and then they leave it on the ground. They can't
spit it out, which is you know, one of the things,
so they don't spit it. They just like start to

(25:35):
munch it and then they're like, wait, this does not
taste good, and then yeah, they just leave it and
there's nothing, of course they can do at that point.
But yeah, rabbits do sometimes do that. But overall, I
do still believe that the crape myrtle, the branches that
they cut into just seemed a little too thick for
rabbit damage.

Speaker 1 (25:54):
Well, and that's something we see here in the north
every year also around this time of the year, not rabbits,
but quirrels, especially on spruce trees where the you know,
those tender buds the sap is moving through the branches.
They give a little chew like you the word you
used was scattershot all over the ground.

Speaker 3 (26:12):
That was Alyssa's word.

Speaker 1 (26:13):
Yeah, yeah, and you'll see that, thank you, Alyssa. You'll
see that on the ground with spruce branch tips do.

Speaker 3 (26:19):
But that's all sorts of things right now.

Speaker 2 (26:22):
They're showing at the maples to get the sap that's
running and so then you're like, whoa, why is my
maple dropping all these flower buds?

Speaker 3 (26:29):
But no, it's just squirrels.

Speaker 1 (26:32):
Well, maple will get an answer for this mystery at
some point. Sure would be nice to know. Chris has
a quick question that's a follow up to our recent
show about moving plants. You mentioned moving a pawpaw tree.
From what I understand, you're supposed to cut around the
tree a season ahead to cut the rhizome roots. I'm
not sure if you didn't mention that or I missed it.

(26:56):
I think I mentioned that, but if I didn't, thank you, Chris.
I appreciate that because I think that's wise with trees
that you're going to try to move against. Stacy, I
believe people should sharpen their shovels, have a nice sharp
edge on it, and Chris, you're right, it makes a
lot of sense to me to do that, to create

(27:19):
some hair roots at the point where you've cut the
roots and intend to move it at some point. The
tough conundrum, so to speak, is how far out from
the trunk do you cut?

Speaker 2 (27:33):
I mean, I would basically say the canopy line. I
would agree with you, you know, if you can, but
that could be a pretty big ball that could well
and you don't necessarily. So basically what this is is
the concept of root pruning. So you're going all around
the plant that you're especially a tree that you're intending
to move, and again, by severing those roots, the plant

(27:54):
is then going to concentrate additional root growth into this
prospective root ball, and then that just helps it kind
of undergo that transplanting process a little bit easier. It's
a very good thing to do if you have the
foresights in time to do that. Of course we don't
all have that time.

Speaker 3 (28:10):
But yes, that.

Speaker 2 (28:11):
Would in many cases leave you quite a very large
root ball. But you know, what else can you do?
If you're going to move a big tree, You might
just need to have a pizza party with some friends, and.

Speaker 1 (28:23):
That's what you do. You get a big darp and
you do that. And coming from the garden center industry,
there were a lot of fertilizer companies stacy that would
recommend a liquid fertilizer when you make those cuts into
the roots. Many of these were like a vitamin B
twelve or whatever. I'm not endorsing that. I'm not saying

(28:44):
do that. I'd have to do more research on that,
but you will see a lot of that out there.

Speaker 2 (28:50):
Yeah, it's probably something that can't necessarily hurt, but may
not live up to its promises.

Speaker 1 (28:56):
Well, I have to dig in a little deeper on
that one.

Speaker 3 (28:58):
Indeed.

Speaker 1 (28:59):
All right, Sunshine writes Hi, Rick and Stacey love your show.
I'm struggling with three trees. One in my south sideyard,
two in my parkway, all three of Cleveland pairs.

Speaker 3 (29:09):
Ooh.

Speaker 1 (29:10):
We planted them in twenty twenty because they gave four
seasons of interest, but this was before I found out
recently how invasive they are, and we want to remove
and replace them. The only other tree I can think
of to use to get the four seasons of interest
we want is Autumn Brilliance service Berry And I'm going
to give a big thumbs up and kudos to that suggestion.

(29:35):
But we'll see what Stacy has to say written. She writes, here,
I've read they aren't great with road salt. Are there
any other trees that you'd recommend for our parkway that
can provide four seasons of interest? Can hold up to
road salt bonus points for beautiful fall color?

Speaker 2 (29:53):
And she says no seated maples or dwarf trees or
anything that drops messy fruit. So you know, I get it.
I have to say, what do you call that? So
this concept of parkways, what do you call that space?
Do you know that term parkways?

Speaker 1 (30:06):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (30:07):
I always called it the easement, but everyone in my
neighborhood calls it a parkway.

Speaker 1 (30:10):
It depends on what part of the country you're in.
Most people, I think would call it a parkway.

Speaker 2 (30:15):
Okay, well this was like, this is a relatively new
term for me. But in any case, that's what means.

Speaker 1 (30:21):
If you stick something in the ground there, odds are
somebody's going to come along and pull it up.

Speaker 3 (30:26):
Well, that can happen with the parkway too.

Speaker 2 (30:30):
But I so, yes, I agree that service Berry is
an ideal all purpose replacement for Bradford pairs. So Sunshine
referred to them as Cleveland pears. That's just a specific
cultivar of Bradford pair, but it's all calorie pair, Bradford pair,
Cleveland pair, all the same thing. So I do think
service Bury is a stellar replacement for all of these

(30:53):
invasive pairs because it flowers at a similar time, it's native,
it has great fall color, you can actually eat the fruit,
it's delicious, you will have to be fighting the birds
off for it. And it's just a beautiful, elegant, easy
to grow treat. So when I was looking it up,
I did not see anything that says that they're particularly
salt sensitive. And I do want to mention that, you know,

(31:17):
road salt, the salts that they use on roads if
you live in a cold climate, has changed a lot.
You know, way back in the seventies and eighties, the
road salt that they used was absolutely catastrophic to.

Speaker 1 (31:26):
Planets cool stuff. Now they're mixing in stuff like beet juice.

Speaker 2 (31:30):
Yeah, there's all sorts of different things that they do,
and so road salt is definitely not as problematic as
a lot of us tend to think that it is.

Speaker 1 (31:37):
Now.

Speaker 2 (31:38):
There's certainly plants that are extremely sensitive to salt, and
you would want to avoid them. But you know, I
don't think that the issue of what they use nowadays
is going to be as big a problem for a
service barrier. Amalank here And the other thing you need
to know about road salt is as long as you
are getting sufficient rainfall and or you have irrigation, those
salts leach out of the soil quite easily. So it

(31:59):
becomes more of an issue if you aren't having good
rainfall or a droughty season. But overall, I wouldn't necessarily
let that scare you away from the service berry. But
I did want to write a couple of different options
that I thought about. You could try Cursus red bud.
That one does have some papery fruits, but they're not

(32:20):
really messy. They're not and they don't self sow like
maple's do self sewing everywhere. You could try temple of
bloom hepticodium sure, another great choice. Crusader hawthorn is a
plant that is in the proven Winter's Color Choice Trees line.
It is a thornless hawthorn. It's native. It does have fruit,
but the birds will take care of those for you.
And then finally, I do have kind of a left
field choice for you, and that is Persian spy your Parodia,

(32:44):
also known as Persian ironwood, And this is a beautiful
tree for fall color and it has amazing foliage. You're
not really gonna get the flowers. It does have quite
interesting flowers in late winter. They're brown and red and
I love them. But this is definitely one of those
tree replaced that your neighbors are not going to have,
and I think that most people would really really like.

(33:05):
So Persians by your Parodia should be on the market
a couple this year, but certainly increasing in the years
to come. We got to take a little break and
when we come back, we are going to answer a
few more garden questions, so stay tuned. Thanks for listening
to the Gardening Simplified podcast, brought to you by Proven

(33:26):
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 (33:38):
Welcome back to the Gardening Simplified show Plants you Can't
Kill Episode. Let's take a look at some of these plants.
As promised Stacy, I have bamboo on my list. It
has a higher strength to wait ratio than steal and concrete.
That's a pretty tough plant.

Speaker 2 (33:54):
Yeah, you might wish you could kill it for some
people who have planted bamboo. Not so much of an
issue for us through the Midwest, but certainly in some
milder climates bamboo can be a very problematic, so beautiful
and interesting plant.

Speaker 1 (34:07):
There will be people out there dealing with weeds that
will bemoan ground ivy, which is in the mint family.
Many times, you know it's in the mint family when
it has a square stem. Or if you're trying to
grow one of these cool seasoned grasses here in the
North and you get bermuda grass, that's another grass that
it feels like you can't kill it. Aga podium, Lily

(34:29):
of the Valley. I'm gonna say Lily of the Valley
and then send your cards, emails and letters saying, Rick,
don't say Lily of the Valley. But that's a plant
you talked about day lilies. I'm going to talk about lily.

Speaker 3 (34:42):
Yeah, you can't kill it.

Speaker 2 (34:44):
I do you know, I have, as I've talked about
on the show before, a personal connection to that plant.
But yeah, it's a nightmare if you don't want it.
It is an absolute nightmare.

Speaker 1 (34:54):
Yeah, violets, adventitious roots, seed pockets underneath the foliage, glossy
foliage that repels herbicide. I'm just saying that violets are
for a lot of people a plant you can't kill, but.

Speaker 2 (35:11):
They're so lovely. And I'll tell you, if you have
the good fortune of seeing a baby bunny munching of
violets in your yard, you.

Speaker 3 (35:21):
Will be very glad it's there. It's really just a delight.

Speaker 1 (35:25):
I feel like a terrible person now, No.

Speaker 3 (35:30):
It's you know.

Speaker 2 (35:30):
I know people hate lawn violets, and if you're trying
to grow a beautiful, consistent.

Speaker 3 (35:35):
Lawn, yeah, they would definitely be problematic.

Speaker 2 (35:37):
But I love the color of violets, and because I
have a high tolerance for a bit of weediness, if
you know the plant has an esthetic trade off, I'll
tolerate some violets in my lawn.

Speaker 3 (35:49):
Absolutely. We're in my yard.

Speaker 1 (35:51):
Now, let's go down this route. Yuka oof. Yeah, any
plant that has a real fibrous nature to it, I
think is tough to kill. I've got potentila on the
list only because it's so hardy. Chives carracs helibores. I
had chokeberry or Erronia on my list. Any plants that

(36:12):
grow in the Great Plains, as we mentioned, I'm not
going to say bar berry seedum's paeonies are tough to kill.
They are snap dragons, nepettas, junipers. Think about Opuntia prickly
pear cactus. You find that I looked it up here.
Opuntia is native to the lower forty eight states of

(36:35):
the United States.

Speaker 2 (36:36):
It grows all over here. You see it quite often.
I have some in my garden and it is definitely
hard to kill, and we do manage it, but that's
not really a fun job because it is extremely spiny.
And my Apuncia in my garden is so happy that
it also spreads by seed as well as spreading by
its you know, foliage. But I love it. It's it's

(37:00):
just a cool plant.

Speaker 1 (37:01):
I do too. I love it. There's some people who
just can't stand it.

Speaker 2 (37:04):
Of course, you could kill apuntia if it was duet,
it would die pretty quickly within short short order, and.

Speaker 1 (37:09):
Another one i'd throw again. Just talking about the characteristics
of plants that are tough to kill. When you go
out to Cape cod and you look at Rosa rugosa,
you know, and people will say, don't ever plant and
it is. It's listed as an invasive plant. They call
it beach tornado or beach tomato because of the hips

(37:31):
on the plant, and of course it spreads by suckers
and the tomato shaped rose hips. Spiny, tough, durable plant.
So that gives you an idea. Again, I say, you
just take a look at where's it native to, what's
its reach, what's the root system like, and it's going
to tell you a lot about how tough that plant is.
We got some male from Trish. Let's see. Trish says, Hello,

(37:57):
Stacey and Rick, huge fan of your show. Thank you
very Ry Moltstrish, Southeast Pennsylvania, Zone seven A old six
B I inherited a very steep slope forty degrees. Wow
with our new home. It's densely covered by chameleon plant.
Oh boy.

Speaker 2 (38:15):
So this is a plant that you can't kill, but
wish that you could if you have it. This is
our third listener question from someone who is trying to
manage chameleon.

Speaker 1 (38:27):
Oh interspersed with pe andes azalea huge vibeburnum at the
area's edge. So Trish sent along some photos the viburnum
successfully shades out the offender. The local extension office told
me the only option is to move. No. I threw
that the only option is to eradicate the chameleon plant

(38:48):
spray with roundup. I garden organically, not an option. I
broadcast a pre emergent last spring and cut back the
plants before they set seeds. My question is can I
plant taprit plants like Baptisia euphobia to shade out the
chameleon plant over time? Professor Google is less than helpful.

(39:09):
Thank you very much, Mulch for any advice. So I
like your sense of humus, theatrician. I have a solution
for Trisha. Well you have well, because it's a forty
degree slope. I'd go to a store I would get
I would not do the round up thing, and it's
not going to work any It.

Speaker 2 (39:27):
Doesn't work, if that's what I was going to say too,
even if you were open to using herbicide, Trish, it
doesn't work on that plant.

Speaker 3 (39:33):
It beads.

Speaker 2 (39:33):
So this is a semi aquatic plant. They sell it
for use in ponds, and you try to put any
kind of water on it, and all you're going to
have is beads, so it won't even work.

Speaker 1 (39:42):
I mean, you can add a spreader sticker, you could
spray and fall where it's more effective than the top
kill you'd get in spring or summer. But I'm with you, Stacy,
I still don't think it's.

Speaker 3 (39:51):
Going to work, not completely.

Speaker 1 (39:53):
So a forty degree slope. My recommendation is you pull
out the nice plants that you have in there, like
the aza or some of the other plants our episode
Bust a Move, pull them out and then sacrifice the
area for a year. Get some heavy thick black plastic
with landscape pins, pin it to the ground and let

(40:14):
the sun do the work and solarize the area.

Speaker 2 (40:17):
Yeah, I mean I have heard if you're looking at
the many nightmare stories of people who are trying to
deal with chameleon plant also known as houtuna, and it's
also sold in Asian markets to.

Speaker 3 (40:30):
Eat as fishment.

Speaker 1 (40:31):
Yes I read that.

Speaker 2 (40:32):
Yeah, so it is edible, but you would have to
eat an awful lot of it so you have any
effect on yours, And let me tell you you know,
we'll have Trish's pictures of course on YouTube. So you
can catch them there or in the show notes. It's
a lot of whu tunia, and we've heard from other
listeners who have had to deal with this plant. It's
a lot, a lot that she's trying to deal with,
and I think that I've heard that even the solarizing is,

(40:55):
you know, not a permanent solution. And basically you don't
have to worry so much about the seeds of this plant.
It's primarily spreading through its runners, and its runners are
conveniently brittle, so as you try to remove them, they break,
and any little tiny piece that you have in there
is just going to turn into a new plant. So yeah,
this thing is definitely a plant that you can't kill

(41:16):
and will wish that.

Speaker 3 (41:17):
You had now.

Speaker 2 (41:18):
Dryness will certainly help, but you can't really just suddenly
change the drainage on your slope. If you could somehow
get more sun in there, I think that could help
potentially help as well, because that will obviously help the
soil be less moist. And I don't necessarily think, as
you'll see in the pictures, Trisha's vibranium is quite large
and quite beautiful. I think you can still just you know,

(41:39):
kind of put if you want to do the solarization route,
just kind of put it around those plants, you know,
not too close to their base and those should be fine,
and then you can manage it. But yeah, I think
overall your best bet is probably going to be hand pulling.
You might be able to look into whether there is
a pH level that they can't stand, either more acidic
or alkaline, and try changing the pH you know, putting

(42:04):
down lime or sulfur to change the pH and see
if that helps. But honestly, this is just one of
those plants that I really wanted to cover Trisha's question
in this episode because it's it really is just that
hard to kill.

Speaker 1 (42:18):
Yeah, and programming or editorial note I would make is
that if you go the solarization route, it's not a
situation where you put it on and two weeks later
take it off. You are in for the long haul
in order to make this work, so at least a.

Speaker 2 (42:33):
Year, and I would say in the case of Houtunia,
you would probably want to go for maybe even two years.
But I wouldn't be surprised if this thing could pop
through your plastic, you know, and it would be you
would well, you want you don't want to use like
a stretchy kind of plastic. You want that really super
heavy duty landscape fabric. So that would be a lot
of work. But you know, and so we didn't answer

(42:53):
a question, which is whether planting deep, tap rooted plants
like Baptisia and Euphorbia could help shade them out. I
don't think it could hurt, you know, especially a baptisia
because it is taller. So if you plant smaller perennials,
I think what's likely to happen is the hutunia is
just gonna pop right up in the middle of them.
They're not likely to pop in the middle of baptizia,
so that is one potential. Obviously she's seeing some success

(43:16):
with a vibern I'm shading out the hutunia in its vicinity,
so you could certainly try that. But I would also
anytime you're planting out there, or anytime you have some
frustrations to get out, I would go out and dig,
dig a little houtunia and just make sure you are
burning it or you know, throwing it away. Do not
ever ever compost this, and don't give it to anybody else.

(43:36):
Of Course, tric seems to know what a nightmare it is.
But just saying, all right, well.

Speaker 1 (43:41):
Lily asks us, my Forcythia has not flowered for me
yet in zone five B six with this winter, I
feel like it's zone four. Yes, I agree, Lily. It's
in a south facing area and this will be its
third year that it's over wintered there. If it doesn't
flower this spring, what can I do? And I think

(44:03):
it's it's too early for cythy.

Speaker 2 (44:06):
Well, so she says that it hasn't flowered in it's
in three years. Oh so she's consistently had an issue
with it not flowering. And you know, always the number
one reason when a shrub isn't flowering, it's almost always
improper pruning. And basically what that means is it was
pruned at the wrong time. So forth, the earlier a
plant blooms in the season in spring, the more likely

(44:29):
it is to have to bloom on old wood. So
basically what that means is that last spring, after the
Forsythia bloomed or would have bloomed in Lily's case or
maybe your case, it took a little rest and then
it immediately started making its flower buds for the next year.
So it's going to have those flower buds on it
basically June, July, August, you know, all the way through

(44:49):
the time that it blooms the following spring, and a
lot of people will do, you know, a fall prune
as they're kind of doing their garden cleanup, or they
will prune it in spring just thinking they're doing, you know,
a spring cleanup, And if you cut it either of
those times, you are cutting off the flower buds. It
has already made for that season. So the best time

(45:11):
to prune, the only time to prune Forcythia without negatively
impacting the flowers is immediately after it flowers in spring.
So if it's if it is a pruning issue, stop
doing that. Your plant should be just fine. But also shade. Now,
Forsythia is extremely shade tolerant, but of course the more
shade it's in, the less well it will flower.

Speaker 1 (45:31):
Well. Lily's saying here, it's on the south side in
zone five B, so I'm going to hope that it's
getting a fair amount of sun. But you are you
are correct, And I have seen with Forsythia in zone
five B where if you get a lot of snow
above that snow line, the buds are lost, are lost, yeah,
fooded temperature and that can happen too. But you're right, Stacey,

(45:54):
this is saying three years.

Speaker 2 (45:56):
Yeah, and you know, so the winter. That's another good point.
And I did want to mention that Lily, and to
anyone else who is maybe struggling with the same issue
for scythia. Is not all forcythias are the same. They
might all look the same when you see them in bloom,
but there's actually a lot of variation out there, different varieties,
and there are some for Scythia that are not as

(46:17):
hardy as others. And so depending on how you got this,
where you got this, when you got this, it might
not be as hardy as other varieties. Of course, unless
you kept the tag or there's still a tag somewhere
on it, there's no way for you to really know that.
But I would say if it's still not flowering for you,
I would, and you know it's not a pruning issue,
I'd consider moving it, you know. Sometimes, you know, as

(46:38):
we talked about it in our moving show, there can
be different factors that you know, we don't know since
we aren't seeing a picture of the plant. So consider
moving at this spring if you still don't see any flowers.
But again, hopefully pruning is the answer, because that's the
simplest solution.

Speaker 1 (46:53):
Or take it out and replace it with a proven
winner's variety.

Speaker 3 (46:56):
Well, yes, hopefully that would.

Speaker 2 (46:58):
I mean, it's certainly ours are nicer and denser in
the way that they bloom, but they still can't withstand
improper pruning, and ours are hardy to USCA zone five,
So that does you know, usually it should be fine,
especially for someone who's in like on the edge of
five B and six, normally wouldn't be an issue, but
you know, it does depend on on where you're located.

(47:20):
But again, I'm hoping it's a pruney issue, because you know,
those are always frustrating for the people who said, Oh,
I thought I was doing the right thing by puning it.
But at least it's easy to solve.

Speaker 1 (47:28):
Sure. Roger asked, love your show, I plan to convert
a portion of my Zone seven sunny lawn to a
perennial bed. My plan is to first kill the grass
with herbicide, then apply three inches of compost, then finally
transplant my grumpy perennials. He's saying it here, y perennials
now in part shade to full sun. Am I on

(47:52):
the right track. Any recommendations, I would say that timing
is everything, and if I were doing it, I would
use the solarization process on grass in August and then
make the move with the plants in September. But that's

(48:12):
just how I would do it. Can you spray with
an herbicide to kill it off? Absolutely, and the bottle
will tell you how soon you can replant afterwards, and
it's usually pretty quickly. But you are correct in trying
to get that grass taken care of first before we
do anything else.

Speaker 2 (48:30):
You don't want to start with grass in your bed.
I think you are on the right track. Roger. The
only thing that I would add, and the reason that
I wanted to specifically answer your question today, is that
before you spray herbicide, you should mow and put your
lower on. Put your mower on the lowest setting. Usually
Rick is always like put it high. Make sure that
that grass is shading itself out. So if you want

(48:52):
a good looking lawn, I would say, lower your deck
as low as it can go so that you're nearly
scalping your lawn, and then put your herbicide on because
it's going to make it a lot more effective and
really help to kill those roots. Because of course, as
the grass comes out, you know it can be difficult
to manage it with herbicide because grass is fairly narrow,

(49:12):
but by scalping it you're going to get that immediate
So mow it really low, immediately, spray your herbicide, let
it die, then put down your compost, and then I
think you can plant if you want, and if you
can't wait until fall, I think it's perfectly fine to
do this in spring urine zone seven. So actually your
time to do this is probably not that far off.

Speaker 1 (49:31):
Roger, you're setting an example for people because you're recognizing
these grumpy perennials need to move, they need more sunshine.
So kudos to you for being willing to bust that move.
Randy Wright, Stacey, and Rick, I'm truly ready for spring
and summer. I have two of your lo and behold
blue chip, dwarf, butterfly bush lovely plants. I agree. I'm

(49:56):
curious when to or should I trim them back for
the spring In summer, when should I fertilize them? I
noticed roughly two weeks ago on one of them, they
had already started leafing out. Should I do anything to
it now? And Stacy, we addressed this last week in
the Lavender Show about how folks have lots of questions

(50:17):
on pruning both lavender and bud leans.

Speaker 3 (50:20):
Yeah, for sure.

Speaker 2 (50:22):
So you know, I always try to tell people when
they ask about pruning, No plant strictly needs pruning, but
in many cases spending the time to prune will give
you a much better looking plant. It will give you
a better bloom. And to me, butterfly bush falls firmly
in that category. If you don't prune butterfly bush, what
happens is they get very tall. So even a dwarf

(50:44):
variety like low and behold will get taller. And they
don't flower all over. They only flower at the tippy top.
And so you don't get like if you look at
the pictures on our plant bags or on our website,
or certainly what you're going to be seeing here on YouTube,
you can see they're beautiful. They're justlowers and you're not
going to get that look unless you prune them. And
if you don't believe me, take a walk around your neighborhood.

(51:06):
Everyone has like that one house in their neighborhood that's
not very well taken care of, you know, or it's
like a rental and no one ever does anything.

Speaker 3 (51:14):
And if you see a butterfly.

Speaker 2 (51:15):
Bush that's like eight feet tall with just a few
sparse flowers at the top, you know that is an
unprune butterfly bush.

Speaker 1 (51:22):
Well, and Stacy, as you know, I'm a runner, so
I run through neighborhoods and to keep myself occupied, I
mentally score homes as i'm running back.

Speaker 3 (51:32):
So watch out if he's running in your neighborhood.

Speaker 1 (51:34):
Yeah, and if you have proven winners color choice shrubs
in your yard, you automatically get bonus points. Oh I
like this all right, there's no prize.

Speaker 2 (51:43):
In Watch Out West Michigan. So yes, you should prune them.
You don't have to, but I think you'll be much
happier with the result, and they should be pruned in spring.
So uh, this is a case where much like the lavender, Yes,
you should wait until the plant tell you where it
wants to be cut back. So once you see that

(52:03):
new foliage starting to emerge, you just want to cut
above where a very large, healthy bud is emerging. And
with a butterfly bush, I would recommend that you cut
back pretty much as far as you can. Don't just
cut off like a couple of inches, go to where
those lowest buds are emerging, and cut just above those,
because that will really help you to keep that nice tidy,

(52:24):
you know, very floriferous shape. And don't worry really that
one of them seems to be leafing out and the
others don't. I see this with butterfly bush all the time.
You know, even here where everything's in the same conditions
and being expertly taken care of, there must just be
like some very subtle microclimates that we can't pick up on,
where one plant seems to, you know, leaf out much

(52:45):
earlier than its neighbors, even though they're all the same variety.
But just wait until you see that new growth, then
go ahead and cut them. If you want to fertilize them,
one application in early spring should be sufficient. The general
purpose fertilizer I recommend for shrubs is a rose fertilizer,
but you can use whatever you have. It's not that
big of a deal. And then that's all. Then you

(53:06):
just have to wait and then once the heat comes
on you know June July you'll have a fully blooming
butterfly bush again.

Speaker 3 (53:13):
Deb Rights.

Speaker 2 (53:14):
I'm moving to a cul de sac in April, so
we call that a court usually here in Michigan. And
the road in front of the road I'm moving to
is full of trees. I think it's disappointing that the
road I'm moving to has no trees and most of
the front gardens or parkways have been changed to off
road parking.

Speaker 1 (53:29):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (53:30):
How can I gather community spirit and get each house
to plant a small patio tree and have pots and flowers.
I appreciate that it can't be a tree lined road,
as there's limited space for cars, but that doesn't mean
there can't be small potted trees, flowers and more green
I would like to have a road that people talk
about how pretty it is, a road that gives a
real community feel and supports wildlife. Can you help?

Speaker 1 (53:54):
Wow?

Speaker 2 (53:55):
I mean we're not psychologists. I do want to say
this is like a group psy call it question, and
I don't know anything about psychology.

Speaker 1 (54:03):
Have have a block party? I would start by having
a block party, and a cul de sac is the
perfect place to have a block party. Yeah, so if
you get the neighbors together. That's a place to start.
Number two. So I live on a cul de sac
and when I moved into the house, the yard had

(54:27):
been neglected, and the neighbors were all watching me because
I got in there and I started tearing stuff out,
pulling stuff out, and started planting like crazy, and the
cannas started coming up, and people started ringing the doorbell
asking what's that plant? And what's that plant? And pretty
soon most of the neighbors started doing the same.

Speaker 2 (54:53):
Well, you know, I think that is really the key
is you have to set an example. And once people
start to see that, like, oh wow, what deb did
looks really great. I don't see her out there slaving
over it every single day, so you know, it doesn't
seem like it's that hard. I think you set the
example first, and then as you get to know your

(55:13):
neighbors more and more, you can kind of say, have
you ever thought about this? And I think the important
thing to remember for gardening is when you're a gardener,
you know, you have all that enthusiasm, but it took
you time to get there. You may have had some
sort of natural inclination towards gardening, but it takes a
long time to start to acquire the knowledge and experience

(55:34):
and awareness of plants that you have, and most people
don't have that. So it's not necessarily from a lack
of wanting to do it. It's from a lack of
not knowing where to start. Yeah, and or not a
lack of just not knowing where to start. And you know, Deb,
if you have that idea and can kind of be
that leader for people, you know, by having this example

(55:56):
and saying, hey, if you would like to do this too.
You know, I got this at so and So's garden center,
which is, you know, a couple miles away. Here's some
other plants that you could try. You know, again, I
would assume I would. The best thing that you can
do anytime you have to have a difficult situation like
this is just assume that the other people have a
good intent and are open to your suggestions.

Speaker 1 (56:17):
Yeah, and Deb, I would suggest to you again, living
on the cul de Sac, that I do. That's what
I started doing, and neighbors really got into it, and
pretty soon they're growing cannas and they're growing ornamental grasses,
and they're asking me questions and people just kind of
get into it, and I would share with you, and

(56:38):
I've shared this before on the show that in the
garden center industry, we knew that people need that inspiration,
and so we'd take a few employees and have them
take the store uniform off and put them in civilian clothes,
and then you put some nice plants on a shopping
cart and just tell them to go walking around. Well,
you'd be amazed. People are like, what's that plan? What's

(57:01):
that plan? Where'd you get that plan? You had?

Speaker 3 (57:03):
Shopping ringers?

Speaker 1 (57:04):
Shopping ringers? It works.

Speaker 3 (57:07):
I'm glad to hear it.

Speaker 1 (57:09):
It's true people, we're just inspiring people.

Speaker 2 (57:11):
Yeah, people need some inspiration, and debit sounds like you
are ready to be that inspiration, and you know, I
think it's yeah. I think you can do it. Find
some photos maybe on Pinterest or online about you know,
kind of what you are hoping to achieve, and and slowly,
I think once people see the payoff, they should they

(57:32):
should come around. But yeah, they have to see how
great it is first. Sometimes you do need to to
lead by example and show them rather than tell them.

Speaker 3 (57:41):
It's going to be great.

Speaker 1 (57:42):
I call it exam.

Speaker 2 (57:43):
I knew you were going to say that that's why
I didn't say it myself, all right.

Speaker 3 (57:48):
So with that, I want to thank you Rick, thank you.

Speaker 2 (57:51):
I want to thank all of our listeners who wrote in,
and all of your listeners out there, and of course
thank you so much to Adriana for doing all of
this great work.

Speaker 1 (57:58):
And.

Speaker 2 (58:00):
Through this entire episode, I want to make clear to
everybody she has absolutely been a part of the laughter.
Even if you can't hear her, she's back there trying
to keep it under wrap, so she's not just like
staring at us sternly. So anyway, thanks to all of you.
I hope you have an absolutely wonderful week ahead. We'll
see you next week.