August 9, 2025 • 44 mins
While we’re in the height of summer, it’s a good idea to think about what you can do in the garden now to get ready for fall. Featured tree: Pink Snow Showers flowering cherry.
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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 Stacy Hervella me,
Rick Weist, and our engineer and producer Adrianna Robinson. Well, Stacy,
I saw a friend post this spring is too wet,
summer's too hot, Winter's a disaster. Autumn is perfect. And
(00:26):
today we talk about fall preparation for many people arguably
their favorite time of the year. And of course, you
know I come from the garden center industry, and so
for years, oh, i'd say about an eight week period
in spring. I work morning, noon, and night all week long.
(00:47):
So I always embrace the fall season to do my
gardening work, to prepare my garden. I guess that makes
me a fall guy. But I think September through November
is the perfect time to garden. And we're going to
explain that in today's show. As a matter of fact,
for people after the heat of summer who have struggled
(01:10):
with things like turf or their lawn, no better time
of the year to rejuvenate, overseed or seed or develop
that lawn that you've always wanted in your landscape. And
fall is dramatic it's mystery, it's color stacy. I think
that's why they call it awe toune sorry bad one
(01:35):
right off the.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Bad Yeah, well you're already stuck in one your prior
to that, well, you know, the thing is, yeah, it's
it's high summer for us being in the garden, and
we look around. We see hydranges and rosa sharon and
high biscus. It's summerrific week, by the way, So the
summer perennial hibiscus are at peak minor looking amazing. But
really from a plant perspective, because the days are getting
(01:58):
shorter and the nights are already getting a little cooler.
Well maybe not right now, but soon. From a plants perspective,
autumn is much closer than it seems to us. Yes,
so that's one of the reasons why we wanted to
do this show. Plants are already starting to think, oh gee,
fall is coming. We're not unless you go to like,
you know, the store and they've got all the Halloween
candy out already. But you know, it's good to kind
(02:20):
of get your ducks in a row, think think ahead
to what you want to get done this fall, because
we get a lot of questions from people, should I
do this in spring? Should I do this now? Should
I do it in fall? So we're going to answer
them all exactly.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
And you know, enjoying fall is about being present in
the moment. You know, in fall there's the the ubiquitous
presence of football, and you've got fall hiking and colored
tours and back to school and corn maize and cider
and pumpkins.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
Apple picking. Yeah, I forget.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
They have a fall festivals, right, harvests, decorating all that stuff. Mums, yeah, home, mums,
mumbelievable supermoons. I love taking pictures of the supermoons. There's
a full moon in September, in October, and I think
that's what I mean by the just the aura of
(03:11):
the fall season. It's a great time not only for
your plants, but also for you to be out there
working in the yard. Because we understand also from our
listeners and viewers there's a lot of people out there
that are a little weary and maybe frustrated after the
hot summer season.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Well yeah, and I think you know, one of the
advantages to gardening and fall, and I certainly experienced this
myself last year, is everything's fresh in your mind. So
this is what always happens to me. Spring comes and
I'm like, you know, all my perennials are little, they're
not touching, and then by the time August rolls around,
I'm like, oh, yeah, I really should have moved that.
I should have trusted summer Stacy when she said she
(03:50):
wanted to move it in spring, didn't trust her. Now
everything's all like, you know, muscling out to each other.
If you do that in fall, it's all still fresh
in your mind, and it's still a great time to
move things, divide things, get rid of things, all that
stuff that's.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
Right, bend over and split your plants. It's a great
time of the year to do that. You know. I
love And you've mentioned this before, Stacy Pete Odolph influential
Dutch garden designer, and he uses those bold drifts of
herbaceous perennials and ornamental grasses. It's so beautiful. And to
(04:24):
stand out there in fall as the sun has set,
maybe the moon's coming up, it's just so it's so beautiful.
There's just something so magical about the fall season.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
I like it. It's not my favorite, okay. And I
can see where you're coming from. But you know, to me,
like I like getting back inside and baking, making cozy meals.
But I have to say, right now, despite the heat,
despite the dryness, this summer has been amazing in the garden.
And right now it's peak. I mean, you go into
my backyard, it's a bonanza of activity between the hummingbirds
(04:58):
and the birds and insects and butterflies. I mean, I
it's it's it's the peak of the season. So I
don't I'm you know, I'm doing the show, but I'm
not quite ready to go full fall.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
Oh yeah, And you know understand I love summer too.
It's you know, it's it's probably my favorite time of
the year. But when it comes to your landscape and
your garden, plants for example, that are put in the
ground in fall have a jump start over plants that
you would obviously put in the ground in spring. In fall,
(05:30):
generally the temperatures are cooler, the soil's nice and warm,
we get natural rainfall, so it's the perfect time to
try to establish things, whether it's turf or some flowering
shrubs or some perennials, or put some bulbs in the ground.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Now.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
One suggestion I have recommendation have some good lighting. I
was looking this up. We lose daylight at the most
rapid rate during the month of September. So, for example,
here in West Michigan, September one, sunrise at seven oh
seven am, sunset at eight sixteen pm. By the time
(06:09):
you get to the end of the month, it's rising
at seven thirty nine am setting at seven twenty four pm.
So I recommend having some good lighting. I like those
I don't know, those miners lights that you can put
on your you know, on your head with led l Yeah,
because especially if you're working and not in retirement, boy,
(06:32):
you're by the time you get home from work, it's
getting dark and you want to spend some time out
in the yard. So it's a good way to go. Now,
another thing Stacey is to make sure to use nature's bounty,
and that is prepared to use all those leaves that
are going to fall off the trees. I remember as
a kid in the nineteen sixties, it was all about
(06:52):
burning leaves and the thick smoke through the whole neighborhood.
Now it's all about leaf blowers and the sound of
leaf blowing. I like to rake leaves because it's great exercise,
and we can use those leaves to smother turf areas
if we wish, with some soil to prepare some new
(07:13):
beds for next spring. Another thing to do in the
landscape at this time of the year is to dead
head some annuals. Some of those annuals still have life
if you deadhead them and feed them. Some respond really
well to cooler temperatures and will bloom like crazy for
you well into October.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
Well. Not to mention, it's important to keep your annuals going,
especially if you have annuals that attract hummingbirds, because they
are going to be feeding like crazy in that late
September timeframe as they get ready to migrate. So it
could be tempting to be like, oh, hey, summer's over,
I'm done with all of my nice summary stuff out
of here, But the hummingbirds will thank you if you
(07:51):
keep that going, and you'll be glad you did because
the color changes completely too. Everything's so much brighter and
more beautiful.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
And the monarch butterflies before they have south for winter.
So deadhead those annuals. Plant some cool season annuals like pansies, Nomesia,
even super tunas, ornamental kale, they'll do really well. Make
note of fall bloomers like asters, solidago, ironweed, joe pie weed,
(08:17):
little blue stem seedums, all these plants that you may
want to add to your landscape for future years. And
of course the color on the flowering shrubs. Stacey, should
I say legend of the fall? Anyone? Oh?
Speaker 2 (08:31):
Yeah? For fall fool age. And as we've said before,
money times, roses really have a second season in fall.
And if you haven't noticed this before, you really do
need to check it out because it is wild what
reblooming roses can do in fall compared to what you
were just seeing over so.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
So a little bit of dead heading, maybe a little
bit of feeding, and yes, you'll see those roses just
beautiful in the fall season. All right. I prepared a
fall preparation a rick for you. Oh, I wanted to
quickly mention. Also it's something I just did yesterday. In August,
a lot of stores put the summer plants on sale
(09:11):
and you can find incredible tropicals, bulb plants. I bought
a bird of Paradise, some cannas, that sort of thing.
And if you're willing to move them indoors in winter
or store them. You have a great opportunity, and that's
the great thing about fall gardening. Also, there's lots of
bargains to be had.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
Can't deny that.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
All right, here's your limb a rick. Winter seemed to
last forever and spring too short for each endeavor. Summer
was too hot. Now you've got one shot. It's fall
or never say never. Fall is the peak season to
watch football for any reason. Just get out of the
recliner at halftime. Don't be a whiner. What improvements can
(09:54):
you squeeze in? Get going, improve your green thumbs, be
ready when the time comes, be different, Be a go getter.
You can do so much better than just buying a
couple of moms.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
You're definitely gonna agree on that.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
And we can agree on that. Fall is so much
more than chrysanthemums. We'll see how Stacey ties this in
and plants on trial, and coming up in segment four
will go down the list of things you can do
to prepare for the fall season. That's all coming up
on the Gardening Simplified Show.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
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, shrubber, 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 welcome
(10:55):
back to the Gardening Simplified Show, where despite the fact
that it is early August in the high of summer
and everything is looking amazing, fall is not far and
we aren't trying to rush it here. But we also
know that people have a lot of questions about what
they can do in fall, and then we tend to
answer those in fall when maybe it's too late. So
we wanted to give you a head start on planning
(11:16):
your fall gardening weekends or evenings and know what you
can do and what you should do. There's not necessarily
the same thing, so of course when it comes to
plants on trial, it's just to say plants that we're
going to tell you about from the proven Winner's Color
Choice Shrubs line, and you decide if you're going to
add them to your garden. Today's is a tree Wow,
(11:41):
and the reason why is because fall is a great
time for planting trees.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
Well that's true. In fall, we're turning over a new leaf.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
And I think that, you know, especially for people who
are maybe a little bit older, there is some you know,
vestiges of ingrained beliefs that you shouldn't necessarily plant fall
plant trees in fall, or certain trees shouldn't be planted
in fall. But that actually goes back to when trees
were mostly grown in fields, field grown instead of container
(12:11):
grown and bald and burlept. And it was true that
there were some trees like especially birch magnolia come to mind,
that did not want to be dug up in fall,
and that kind of made a lot of people just say, oh,
don't plant trees in fall because they didn't want to remember,
oh this is okay, but this isn't, or you know,
so on and so forth. But the fact is, especially
(12:32):
now that trees are pretty much exclusively grown in containers,
at least the trees that most of us are buying
at our local garden center. Since they're grown and containers,
you can plant just about anything. So before I get
into today's plant on trial, I did want to give
a few caveats as to which trees you should not
plant in fall. And this basically is our standard kind
(12:54):
of avoid this in fall, anything that is a broad leaf. Now,
of course, if you live in the South, you live
in a mild of climate, you're gonna have no problem
planting one of those fabulous evergreen magnolia is not going
to be a problem for you because you have a
mild climate. If you were to live in say the
Midwest or someplace where those are kind of, you know,
(13:15):
marginally hardy, or you're going to have a harsh winter,
these are not plants that you want to put in infall.
You want to put them in spring so they have
a nice long season to get established before that challenging
weather sets in. So avoid those broad leaf evergreens, anything
that tends to get winter damage in your climate as well.
So when I was trying to decide for the plant
(13:38):
on trial today, one of my tree choices was potentially
going to be a redbuds, our new Midnight Express redbud,
beautiful plant. But I have found very often, I don't
know if you've seen this too, that redbuds often get
winter damage, even though they're native here and grow all
over the place. When I have had them, small small
(13:58):
plants that have gotten for free, like from the power
company giveaway. They've often gotten winter damage and not come
back entirely. And then along those same lines, anything that
you are pushing the hardiness for. So if you're right
on the edge of being hardy in your area, another
plant that you're gonna want to save until spring to plant.
But outside of those caveats, you can plant pretty much
(14:19):
anything in fall, including today's plant on trial, pink snowshowers,
weeping cherry.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
I love that, and you know I wanted to add
to that, Stacey. Yes, if it's a deciduous tree or
deciduous plant, odds are you're going to have pretty good luck.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
Yeah, and even some conifers.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
Yeah, because winter follows fall and that's a resting, dormant period.
Whereas if you put it in the ground in spring, boy,
you've got the duress of summer coming yep.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
And you know the plant then is putting its energy
into flowering and growing and doing all this other stuff,
Whereas if you plant and fall, the plant is primarily
putting its energy into roots, which is going to help
it get established. Now, another reason that I chose pink snowshowers,
weeping flowering cherry or ornamental cherry is because a great
thing that you can do for your spring self in
(15:08):
fall is the plant spring flowering tree. Sure, and then
you'll be able to look forward to it because it
should flower without missing a beat that same spring. So
it's like planting wolves.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
Gardeners never get old because they always have something to
look forward.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
It's so true. I've seen that happen with so many people.
So this is a great investment in your spring. Now,
I will say, weeping plants, maybe only second to variegation,
are pretty polarizing. So what's your perspective on the weeping plants.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
Well, the problem with we I love weeping plants. I
love like a weeping beach or, as you mentioned here,
a weeping cherry. I love them provided you let them
do their natural thing. When you start giving them a
haircut and making them look like the beetles in the
nineteen sixties, that's when I have a problem.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
People do that, and then it's kind of like going
against the reason that you bought this beautiful, elegant weeping tree.
I I am not the biggest fan of weeping weeping plants.
I like them, but I realized as I was preparing
for the show today that I like mature weeping plants,
but I don't like young weeping plants. Oh, and that's
(16:24):
a problem because you can't really get to the mature
weeping plant without going through that awkward childhood and teenage
years with your weeping plant. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
As we mature, we develop more and more character.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
Yeah, I think that's it. I mean, you know, when
they're young, they do look kind of funny, they look
a little bit awkward. But you know, of course we've
all seen gone to you know, arboretums or parks or
public gardens where you see an absolutely stunning mature weeping
cherry and you're just like, wow, that is going to
turn into that. So I realized that was kind of
(16:58):
my objection the weeping plants, not that I have an
issue with them on its own. So that is a
real revelation for me, in keeping with our recent series
on revelation and inspiration.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
Good point. But the bottom line here, Stacy again is
if it's a deciduous tree, fall is the time.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
To do it, definitely, And I think weeping plants also
look really great with certain types of architecture more than others.
I think it's a classic choice. If you have a
mid century or brick ranch. I feel like that was
like the thing to do, and therefore I really strongly
associate it with that. But placement is so important, and
(17:37):
then of course you've got the issue of color, you know,
because pink flowers and red brick. That's up to you.
But so another thing I wanted to say, weeping plants
are all weeping trees are all grafted, which is to
say that the front, the top parts, and the bottom
part the trunk are not the same plant. Because weeping
(17:59):
branches are generally weak and because they are weeping, if
you didn't graft them, they would just be growing on
the ground and you wouldn't have a treat. So they
graft them on to another type of cherry in the
case of weeping cherries, and that is sort of what
gives them that kind of awkward teenage phase. And I
did want to mention, especially with pink snow showers, if
(18:20):
you look at our photos on our website or on
our plant tags, what you're going to notice, and this
is true of multiple weeping cherries. Sometimes the understock that
they use the trunk basically can be a different type
of cherry, so you might get one that has like
a really beautiful shiny red trunk, or you might get
(18:41):
one that's just plain gray. And it really just depends
on what the grower used to graft them. So that's
just something to keep in mind. If you're looking at
the tag and you're like, wait a minute, this trunk
doesn't look like the trunk that is in front of me.
What do I do about this? It's just simply a
matter of the understock that the grower chose to use. Now,
the nice thing about weepers, too, is that you shouldn't
(19:03):
prune them.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
Correct and that would apply stacey basically to anything that
blooms in spring. Definitely, let's not be pruning it in fall,
whether it's a lilac or in this case.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
A weeping chair, right, And it does sometimes mean though,
as far as pruning, they can revert. I have seen
some understock come up. You'll see this a lot in spring.
Driving around, You'll see these older cherry trees and they're
flowering white and pink, and you're like, whoa, it's a miracle. Well, no,
not quite. All that happened is that the understock shut
up a white branch and the pink is somehow not overwhelmed.
(19:37):
But if you do see that happening in your weeping cherry,
whether it's today's plan on trial pink snow showers weeping cherry,
or a different variety that you have in your yard,
you should take the opportunity to get that out. And
that can come out anytime. It doesn't really matter that
much if you take it out now or it's spring
or summer or whatever.
Speaker 1 (19:54):
Yeah, and you'll see I call them water sprouts at
the top of the tree at the graft where they
just kind of stand straight up, So you've got to
do some maintenance purning there.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
Yeah, and it's just something that goes with the tree.
But that's also why they're so much better when they
are mature. So as you can guess, pink snow Showers
has pink flowers on lovely weeping branches. It starts out
quite small, but it does get to be a really
large tree. It's going to reach thirty to thirty five
feet at maturity. So definitely one that you're going to
want to cite appropriately. But popular, very easy to find
(20:27):
in your local garden centers. It is hardy down to
USDA Zone four and heat tolerant. Through USDA Zone eight.
It is not dear resistant, as most flowering cherries and
crab apples and all of those fabulous spring flowering shrubs
also are not deer resistant. But if you have the
right place for this, and if you love weeping plants,
(20:48):
it is a classic choice with modern day performance. It
is resistant to shothole disease, which is a funny little
fungus that grows on the foliage and then the little
fungal spot drops out and it looks like the thing
just got shot up with a baby gun. So this
is resistant to that. So if you've had issues with
other cherries or other ornamentals in your yard, getting that
(21:10):
peak snowshowers is a great choice. You will find it
at your local garden center, hopefully at a great price
since it is fall, but even if not, it is
worth the investment in your time and money. We're going
to take a little bit of a break when we
come back. We're opening up the mailbags, so please stay
tuned at Proven Winners Color Choice Shrubs. We know that
(21:36):
a better landscape starts with a better shrub. Our team
of experts tests and evaluates all of our flowering shrubs
in evergreens for eight to ten years to ensure they
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shrubs to accentuate your home and express your personal style,
look for Proven Winner's Shrubs in the distinctive white container
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(21:58):
Winner's Color Choice dot org. Greetings gardening friends, and welcome
back to the Gardening Simplified Show, where it's our opportunity
to help you with your garden questions, quandaries and conundrums,
whether they are happening right now in summer or something
you're concerned about with fall, winter, spring beyond. We are
(22:19):
here to help and if you have a question for us,
you can easily reach us at Gardening Simplified on air
dot com. There's a contact form there you can fill
that out. You can even attach a photo because of
course it's a lot easier to help you with your
gardening problems if we've got a photo of what you
are dealing with, and then I'll go right to our inbox.
But of course, if you do have a question that
you need answered more urgently, we really do want to
(22:41):
help you, so you can just reach out to usse
at Provenwonner's Color Choice dot Com. Use the contact form
there and you will get an answer much sooner than
writing to us here on the show, because we only
have time for three questions every week, and in fact,
I picked a pretty big and juicy question for the
first one today, so it could take us a little
litle bit of time to answer this.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
Well, Audrey writes to us, we just purchased a home
with a few wooded acres near the lake shore in Holland, Michigan.
For folks who watch and listen to us. For me,
that's just north of where I live here along the
lake shore, and we weren't able to view the property
(23:22):
in person until just last week. We were concerned to
find several dead and dying trees on the property. From
what we can tell, it seems to be oak will.
This is new to us, but seems to be a
significant issue in the area and a considerable unexpected expense.
Do you have any advice, guidance, or resources for how
(23:42):
homeowners can properly treat and manage this issue? Well, I'll
tell you, Stacy, I would you know right off the bat,
make sure to employ There are so many wonderful professional
arborous around, so engage those arborous to help you out
with it. Timing is everything when pruning or cutting oaks,
(24:05):
And just yesterday, yesterday myself and my neighbor we teamed
up with an arborist and took out some oak trees
that were dying on our properties. Important to employ a
trained professional arborist when you're looking at doing something like.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
It is so important, And that was one of the
reasons why I really wanted to answer this question. I
don't think we've really talked too much about oak welt.
It's been around since the nineteen forties here in Michigan,
but it has really started to reach much bigger proportions.
And there are so many great arborists. And if you
go through like the ISA, the International Society of Arborists,
(24:47):
or an accredited institution like that, you're probably getting someone
who knows what they're doing. But there are definitely a
lot of arborists out there that don't. And if you
have oaks in your property, you should ask any arborists
to leave promptly if they suggest pruiting or removing them.
Anytime outside of basically the November to March timeframe that
(25:08):
is the biggest aspect of managing oak wilt. But let
me back up a minute here, Audrey, because I will say,
you know, I was looking at a map of confirmed
oak wilt cases, and Holland is not really quite a hotbed.
There's been a couple of cases that are confirmed, and
of course not every case that happens is necessarily going
to be confirmed. Most of the confirmed and treated cases
(25:31):
are on the north side of Holland. So I'm seeing
this because I wouldn't necessarily be so quick to assume
it is oak wilt because one of the issues that
we have had out here in West Michigan over the
past couple of years is a terrible spongey moth infestation.
Now this year they kind of they go and boom
bust population cycles. They are in a bust year. I
(25:53):
have hardly seen a single one, and after years of
having our oaks just completely to full the point in
the season. But of course after several years of being
preyed upon by spongey moths formerly known as the gypsy moth,
that starts to set them back because they lose all
of their foliage. And I think this year, especially coupled
(26:17):
with a drought that we have had. Just because you
may have struggling or dying oaks in your yard doesn't
necessarily mean it's oak will.
Speaker 1 (26:27):
In some cases it's just plain old decline in some
of the trees. As I mentioned, we took out some
trees and I think it was declined. So you're very
right in that, Stacey, don't make the assumption that it's
oak will.
Speaker 2 (26:42):
But of course we are going to put some resources
for you in the notes on YouTube there so that
you can look this up. First of all, I would
say identify the oaks if you can, because oak wilt
it can affect any kind of oak, but it is
far and away more prevalent a bigger pest of red
oaks than white oaks. So if you have white oaks,
(27:04):
I would be less inclined to think that it was
oak wilt than if they were red oaks. Now, if
you go online in the resources that we're going to
share with you, the main like kind of actual diagnosis
that people use is to cut open the bark, not
really something that the average homeowner probably has the equipment
(27:26):
or knowledge to do, but you can look at the
foliage and because oak wilt does cause the plant to
cause the foliage to fall off with a pretty distinctive
pattern to it. So compared to just falling brown or green,
it kind of has this like very zonal green and
(27:47):
brown and orange. You'll see pictures of it storm. Yeah,
that's kind of what it is, like like a sky
with all of that color in there. And so that
of course would mean that you were seeing that on
the foliage on the ground. And this is pretty much
the time that an oak with oak wilt will have
dropped its leaves or be starting to drop its leaves.
So take a close look underneath and look for that. Again,
(28:09):
that would not be the actual absolute confirmation of oak wilt,
but it is a sign that the average person can
look for, you know, pretty easily. But yet, if you
can also look for vertical cracks in the bark, and
that would mean that I was already infected for at
least a year. But they're pretty distinctive. Of course, they
might be way up, so you might want to get
(28:31):
a pair of binoculars. But if you have oak wilt,
it is time to call it an arborist. There's really
not much else to be said aside from that, because yeah,
you know, as you mentioned Audrey, it is a significant
expense if you need to manage a lot of trees.
But if you're going with a good arborist and they
know what they're doing, they can take care of them
(28:51):
for you. And hopefully that's not the case. But everyone
really in West Michigan should be aware of oak wilt
and what to look for, especially if you have oaks
in your property.
Speaker 1 (29:00):
And as you pointed out, Stacey, there's a big difference
between pruning and taking out a tree all together, and
that pruning there are people who will argue that window
is April through July, but I completely agree with you.
I would just stick to that November to March timeframe
to be safe as it relates.
Speaker 2 (29:22):
To complete dormancy ies. And again, most arboris are probably
going to be too busy doing non oak related stuff
in that other time period anyway. So there you know,
it kind of works out well for them that the
times they'd otherwise not have a lot to do, they
can work on pruning or managing oak.
Speaker 1 (29:39):
Wild's best time to hire though. Okay, Lindsay's writing to us,
I'm reaching out regarding my baptisia. I purchased this in
the spring and planted it in a spot where I'd
misjudged its sun exposure. It also was attacked by wind
pretty early in the season. My question is, if I'm
correct that the issue is light exposure, Am I I
(30:00):
able to move the plant to a sunnier location yet
this year? Or do I need to wait until spring?
Anything in particular I should keep in mind when trying
to move it to set it up for success.
Speaker 2 (30:12):
Yes. So I first of all, I thought this was
a great question to answer for our Fall task LISZ episode.
And second of all, I'm excited to answer this question
from a personal perspective because I have moved Baptisia multiple
times in my life, once in spring during COVID when
we were in a gardening frenzy. The plants survived, but
(30:33):
they were not very happy about it. Whereas I moved
a very established Baptisia's last fall, and I was amazed
at how they came into spring without missing a beat.
It was like I had not even moved them. And
that's saying something because they have extensive, deep root systems
that are really really hard to take out thoroughly, so
(30:55):
you're always going to have some breakage, You're always going
to have some root loss with these plants, no matter
how how careful you are. But honestly, I couldn't believe
my eyes when these things came out this spring. It
was like they had not even missed a beat. And
that was plants that had been in the ground for
about five years. So your plant being in its first year,
not going to have any trouble, you know, moving that
(31:15):
this fall. Now. I moved mine here in West Michigan
in probably mid September. You can do it anywhere up
through about mid October, I would say, but I would
definitely wait until, you know, those days are starting to
get much shorter and the temperatures are starting to get cooler.
Speaker 1 (31:31):
One of my favorite things to do in fall move plants,
rearrange plants, dig them up, divide them baptizia or whatever
type of perennial it may be. I've had great success
doing that, Stacey, along with the plants that I've bought
off the bargain shelf in fall and put in the
ground again. Fall just the perfect time to do that
(31:53):
sort of thing. So I would encourage Lindsay to move
it this.
Speaker 2 (31:57):
Fall, definitely, And the only caveat I would really have
that I found the last year was you do have
to be careful because the plant, believe it or not,
is already setting its buds for next year. So as
you dig it, you'll actually be able to see those
buds already developing on the root mass. So you want
to make sure that you are minimizing your disturbance because
any of those that you break off will mean something
(32:20):
that would have grown but now won't. But it's not difficult.
You'll see it. So as with any transplanting process, be careful,
pay attention, and you should have success.
Speaker 1 (32:30):
Maybe a little mulch at the base also, man.
Speaker 2 (32:32):
Oh, mulch is always a good idea. You bet. We're
going to take a little break. When we come back,
we're going to be returning to our conversation on fall task,
So please stay tuned. Thanks for listening to the Gardening
Simplified Podcast, brought to you by Proven Winners Color Choice Shrubs.
Our award winning flowering shrubs and evergreens are trialed and
(32:55):
tested by experts with your success in mind. Learn more
at Proven Winners color Choice dot com.
Speaker 1 (33:02):
Welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show. Okay, Stacy, so
I consider fall not the end, but maybe even the
beginning of a great garden and lawn in your landscape.
Like we've said, plants that are put in the ground
establishment are going to work on developing roots instead of
(33:23):
a focus on top growth like you see in spring.
So let me mention first of all, as far as
turf is concerned, if your lawn is lawn gone after
the heat of summer, perfect time to fix your lawn
is August through October. I'm talking about core, air raiding, receding,
(33:45):
repairing an existing lawn. And the knock on turf in
our landscapes generally is the amount of work, the amount
of inputs that you have to put into the lawn,
the expense, and I'm thinking primarily as far as water
is concerned, so for more sustainability, if you want some
(34:06):
turf in your landscape, fall is the time to establish.
Fall is the time to feed. During the summer, we
raise the deck on the more, have the grass as
long as you possibly can have in fall. Progressively, as
the season continues we start to lower the height of
the deck so we don't get things like snow mold
(34:28):
and that sort of thing during the wintertime when the
snow packs it down, but just the ideal time for germination,
root development, feeding your lawn. I know every year I
would when I had a sizable lawn in late fall,
I would apply malorganite. The Milwaukee sewage staff, yeah, and
(34:52):
I would apply it, and then invariably in January we
would have a winter thaw. For folks who do not
live in the north, you have to understand that in winter,
snow is the great equalizer. Everybody's yard looks the same
in winter. Generally we would get a January thaw, and
up and down the street, everybody's lawns would be brown.
(35:15):
Mine would be dark green, and everybody would be asking me, hey, Rick,
what are you doing now on your list? In fall
also weed control. Again, many people attack weeds in spring
and only get top kill, or they're killing winter annuals
that are going to die anyhow So fall, identifying weeds,
(35:39):
whether they be dandelions or winter annuals, and getting at
those weeds in fall will make a huge difference in
weed control on your property. It's you know, I always say,
take me to your weader. Well, your weader is fall.
The fall season the ideal time to deal with weeds.
(36:01):
And remember many of the weeds they sy like perennial
weeds are like the trees. They're preparing for winter too,
let's say a dandelion, and they're sending their food reserves
into the root system. So if you do selectively use
an herbicide on the weeds, you're going to get better
translocation into the root system and again get better control
(36:23):
as far as weeds are concerned. So I think as
far as turf is concerned, if you want good sustainability
but a nice thick lawn, falls the time to do it.
Speaker 2 (36:33):
You know. I would add to that that if you're
considering any kind of alternative lawn, if you're considering adding
clover to your lawn or doing some kind of flour
meadow or something like that, falls also the time to
do that. And if you look at any website, like
a prairie website that sells seed mixes for doing just this,
they always recommend fall. So it's not just grass. If
(36:54):
you're looking to do this other kind of stuff, Fall
is a great time to do that too.
Speaker 1 (36:58):
Cover crops, Yeah, that sort of thing. Take a look
at that. And one of the number one questions that
I would get through the years at this time of
the year is. People really do struggle with do I
cut it back or not, whether it be bud lea
or ornamental grasses. Now I like to enjoy them in
(37:18):
the wintertime and cut them back in spring, but other
perennials also doing some selective cleanup. Obviously, on herbaceous perennials,
you're really not going to make a mistake because they're
going to die back to the ground anyhow. But that's
one of the top questions that we get and don't
forget about planting bulbs. Of course, we love to plant
(37:42):
garlic in fall. That's a great thing to plant. But
any of your bulbs, putting them in the ground, tulips, daffodil's, crocus, hyacinths, aliens, whatever,
it may be perfect time, of course to plant in fall,
and then you're rewarded in spring with beautiful color. Some
people struggle with the fact that rodents or squirrels will
(38:05):
dig up their bulbs when they've put them in the ground.
So I've always wrapped them in a chicken wire mesh.
Just dug a hole, laid some chicken wire in it,
put the bulbs in, fold the wire over and it
seems to work, really, really well, and I think you've
got a bear in mind that in fall, and this
is noted as a matter of fact at our website
(38:26):
Gardeningsimplified on air dot com. We'll put the link there.
It's something from the University of Michigan. It's about squirrels
and the fact that squirrels their brain power increases by
fifteen percent in the fall, and they're out there, of course,
(38:47):
busy planting for the future, and they have this headflick. Now,
I found that this is really interesting. I always thought
that squirrels would rub the acorn on the side of
their head so that they could leave their scent on
that acorn and find it later. But my theory is
all wet. Basically, what they're saying is they do they
(39:09):
do this head flick and this rub to assess whether
or not the acorns that they have collected are worthy
to just eat right now or store them away for winter.
I thought that was in it.
Speaker 2 (39:22):
They're like somaliers deciding if the wine should be aged
or consume right away, but for acorns.
Speaker 1 (39:28):
So they're smart. They're smart, so maybe follow the example
of the squirrels. Also, I think if you're living in
the north or the Midwest, being aware of the position
of the sun in winter and also the direction of
the wind, because that does allow of damage to plant stacey.
(39:49):
And when we look at things like southwest disease, the
splitting of the bark on trees. Putting tree wraps on
from October through the winter period will many times time
keep that splitting of trunks from occurring. So I think
that that's an important thing to look at too, especially
broad leaf evergreens if they're on a southern or western exposure.
(40:13):
Maybe some anti deseconate sprays.
Speaker 2 (40:16):
Yeah. You know, it's interesting that you mentioned that because
there is a property that I pass on my way
to work every day that in the winter I could
see the sun just beating down on these couple of
plants in this hedge of green giant arborvidies, and I
was like, wow, those look so weird. And it turns
out those were the exact ones that died because that
sun was warming them up. And there's nothing you can
(40:38):
really do about that, you know, if you're trying to
plant a hedge, but perhaps you could try something to
fill in those holes that is less likely to use water,
like a more needle leaf juniper compared to the more
scale leaf arborviti, something with a more reduced leaf surface.
Speaker 1 (40:56):
I want to encourage people to, you know, if we've
mentioned this previously in the show Stacey, but if you
have some plants that need to be moved or they're
crowding out, maybe doing a little root pruning in advance
in August and then eventually moving the plant in September
and October, or preparing the new site where they're going
(41:20):
to be moved when temperatures are cooler and we're getting
natural rainfall. I just you know, I've always joked about
the fact that many plants in my landscape have been
moved so many times they're eligible for frequent Flyer miles.
But it's true, and it's fun and it's fun to rearrange.
And folks, this is your opportunity right here, and I'd
(41:40):
seize the moment.
Speaker 2 (41:41):
Yeah, I mean, like I said, especially since things are
fresh in your mind, you know, compared to spring, where
you're thinking, oh, that would look really good if I
divided that and moved part over here. You know, now
it actually makes sense to you. Whereas if you try
to remember what things were like in spring, you know,
all those months have gone by, you completely forget. So
it's a great opportunity to take the things that you've
really enjoyed or noticed as you've been appreciating the garden
(42:05):
through the growing season and invest that observation and knowledge
into previous seasons. I am saying this for my own
benefit as much as yours, because this is definitely something
I can't get away with letting slide until spring next year.
I'm learning my lesson this year.
Speaker 1 (42:20):
I probably here well said, and you know you can.
If they're woody plants. You can take some of the
size out of the plants by pruning them back and
making the move easier. Yes, you may be sacrificing some
blooms for next spring, but if it has to move,
it has to move, and then Stacey. In spring, we're
often talking about hardening off plants, moving them from the
(42:44):
comfortable environment of a greenhouse into the great outdoors and
being subject to cold and wind. Well, now in fall
the reverse is true. You kind of harden off plants
that have been out on the deck, tropical plants, prepare
to move them in side where there's less light, less
day length, cleaning the plants, possibly repotting them inspecting for insects.
(43:08):
All important to carry over some of those plants over
the winter.
Speaker 2 (43:12):
Period, definitely get them ready for their indoor vacation.
Speaker 1 (43:16):
So it may still be hot outside, but you've got
some work to do, and you've got some thinking to do,
and you have an opportunity to seize one of the best,
if not the best season of the year to be
gardening and landscaping fall. So Stacy, I guess we better
get to work.
Speaker 2 (43:37):
I'll do it all right.
Speaker 1 (43:38):
Thank you so much for watching the Gardening Simplified Show
on YouTube, listening on podcast or radio. Thank you Stacy,
thank you X, thank you Adriana, and thanks most of
all to you for your support of the show. Have
a great week.
Broadcasting from Studio A Here at proven Winners Color Choice Shrubs.
It's time for the Gardening Simplified Show with Stacy Hervella me,
Rick Weist, and our engineer and producer Adrianna Robinson. Well, Stacy,
I saw a friend post this spring is too wet,
summer's too hot, Winter's a disaster. Autumn is perfect. And
(00:26):
today we talk about fall preparation for many people arguably
their favorite time of the year. And of course, you
know I come from the garden center industry, and so
for years, oh, i'd say about an eight week period
in spring. I work morning, noon, and night all week long.
(00:47):
So I always embrace the fall season to do my
gardening work, to prepare my garden. I guess that makes
me a fall guy. But I think September through November
is the perfect time to garden. And we're going to
explain that in today's show. As a matter of fact,
for people after the heat of summer who have struggled
(01:10):
with things like turf or their lawn, no better time
of the year to rejuvenate, overseed or seed or develop
that lawn that you've always wanted in your landscape. And
fall is dramatic it's mystery, it's color stacy. I think
that's why they call it awe toune sorry bad one
(01:35):
right off the.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Bad Yeah, well you're already stuck in one your prior
to that, well, you know, the thing is, yeah, it's
it's high summer for us being in the garden, and
we look around. We see hydranges and rosa sharon and
high biscus. It's summerrific week, by the way, So the
summer perennial hibiscus are at peak minor looking amazing. But
really from a plant perspective, because the days are getting
(01:58):
shorter and the nights are already getting a little cooler.
Well maybe not right now, but soon. From a plants perspective,
autumn is much closer than it seems to us. Yes,
so that's one of the reasons why we wanted to
do this show. Plants are already starting to think, oh gee,
fall is coming. We're not unless you go to like,
you know, the store and they've got all the Halloween
candy out already. But you know, it's good to kind
(02:20):
of get your ducks in a row, think think ahead
to what you want to get done this fall, because
we get a lot of questions from people, should I
do this in spring? Should I do this now? Should
I do it in fall? So we're going to answer
them all exactly.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
And you know, enjoying fall is about being present in
the moment. You know, in fall there's the the ubiquitous
presence of football, and you've got fall hiking and colored
tours and back to school and corn maize and cider
and pumpkins.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
Apple picking. Yeah, I forget.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
They have a fall festivals, right, harvests, decorating all that stuff. Mums, yeah, home, mums,
mumbelievable supermoons. I love taking pictures of the supermoons. There's
a full moon in September, in October, and I think
that's what I mean by the just the aura of
(03:11):
the fall season. It's a great time not only for
your plants, but also for you to be out there
working in the yard. Because we understand also from our
listeners and viewers there's a lot of people out there
that are a little weary and maybe frustrated after the
hot summer season.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Well yeah, and I think you know, one of the
advantages to gardening and fall, and I certainly experienced this
myself last year, is everything's fresh in your mind. So
this is what always happens to me. Spring comes and
I'm like, you know, all my perennials are little, they're
not touching, and then by the time August rolls around,
I'm like, oh, yeah, I really should have moved that.
I should have trusted summer Stacy when she said she
(03:50):
wanted to move it in spring, didn't trust her. Now
everything's all like, you know, muscling out to each other.
If you do that in fall, it's all still fresh
in your mind, and it's still a great time to
move things, divide things, get rid of things, all that
stuff that's.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
Right, bend over and split your plants. It's a great
time of the year to do that. You know. I
love And you've mentioned this before, Stacy Pete Odolph influential
Dutch garden designer, and he uses those bold drifts of
herbaceous perennials and ornamental grasses. It's so beautiful. And to
(04:24):
stand out there in fall as the sun has set,
maybe the moon's coming up, it's just so it's so beautiful.
There's just something so magical about the fall season.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
I like it. It's not my favorite, okay. And I
can see where you're coming from. But you know, to me,
like I like getting back inside and baking, making cozy meals.
But I have to say, right now, despite the heat,
despite the dryness, this summer has been amazing in the garden.
And right now it's peak. I mean, you go into
my backyard, it's a bonanza of activity between the hummingbirds
(04:58):
and the birds and insects and butterflies. I mean, I
it's it's it's the peak of the season. So I
don't I'm you know, I'm doing the show, but I'm
not quite ready to go full fall.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
Oh yeah, And you know understand I love summer too.
It's you know, it's it's probably my favorite time of
the year. But when it comes to your landscape and
your garden, plants for example, that are put in the
ground in fall have a jump start over plants that
you would obviously put in the ground in spring. In fall,
(05:30):
generally the temperatures are cooler, the soil's nice and warm,
we get natural rainfall, so it's the perfect time to
try to establish things, whether it's turf or some flowering
shrubs or some perennials, or put some bulbs in the ground.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Now.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
One suggestion I have recommendation have some good lighting. I
was looking this up. We lose daylight at the most
rapid rate during the month of September. So, for example,
here in West Michigan, September one, sunrise at seven oh
seven am, sunset at eight sixteen pm. By the time
(06:09):
you get to the end of the month, it's rising
at seven thirty nine am setting at seven twenty four pm.
So I recommend having some good lighting. I like those
I don't know, those miners lights that you can put
on your you know, on your head with led l Yeah,
because especially if you're working and not in retirement, boy,
(06:32):
you're by the time you get home from work, it's
getting dark and you want to spend some time out
in the yard. So it's a good way to go. Now,
another thing Stacey is to make sure to use nature's bounty,
and that is prepared to use all those leaves that
are going to fall off the trees. I remember as
a kid in the nineteen sixties, it was all about
(06:52):
burning leaves and the thick smoke through the whole neighborhood.
Now it's all about leaf blowers and the sound of
leaf blowing. I like to rake leaves because it's great exercise,
and we can use those leaves to smother turf areas
if we wish, with some soil to prepare some new
(07:13):
beds for next spring. Another thing to do in the
landscape at this time of the year is to dead
head some annuals. Some of those annuals still have life
if you deadhead them and feed them. Some respond really
well to cooler temperatures and will bloom like crazy for
you well into October.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
Well. Not to mention, it's important to keep your annuals going,
especially if you have annuals that attract hummingbirds, because they
are going to be feeding like crazy in that late
September timeframe as they get ready to migrate. So it
could be tempting to be like, oh, hey, summer's over,
I'm done with all of my nice summary stuff out
of here, But the hummingbirds will thank you if you
(07:51):
keep that going, and you'll be glad you did because
the color changes completely too. Everything's so much brighter and
more beautiful.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
And the monarch butterflies before they have south for winter.
So deadhead those annuals. Plant some cool season annuals like pansies, Nomesia,
even super tunas, ornamental kale, they'll do really well. Make
note of fall bloomers like asters, solidago, ironweed, joe pie weed,
(08:17):
little blue stem seedums, all these plants that you may
want to add to your landscape for future years. And
of course the color on the flowering shrubs. Stacey, should
I say legend of the fall? Anyone? Oh?
Speaker 2 (08:31):
Yeah? For fall fool age. And as we've said before,
money times, roses really have a second season in fall.
And if you haven't noticed this before, you really do
need to check it out because it is wild what
reblooming roses can do in fall compared to what you
were just seeing over so.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
So a little bit of dead heading, maybe a little
bit of feeding, and yes, you'll see those roses just
beautiful in the fall season. All right. I prepared a
fall preparation a rick for you. Oh, I wanted to
quickly mention. Also it's something I just did yesterday. In August,
a lot of stores put the summer plants on sale
(09:11):
and you can find incredible tropicals, bulb plants. I bought
a bird of Paradise, some cannas, that sort of thing.
And if you're willing to move them indoors in winter
or store them. You have a great opportunity, and that's
the great thing about fall gardening. Also, there's lots of
bargains to be had.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
Can't deny that.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
All right, here's your limb a rick. Winter seemed to
last forever and spring too short for each endeavor. Summer
was too hot. Now you've got one shot. It's fall
or never say never. Fall is the peak season to
watch football for any reason. Just get out of the
recliner at halftime. Don't be a whiner. What improvements can
(09:54):
you squeeze in? Get going, improve your green thumbs, be
ready when the time comes, be different, Be a go getter.
You can do so much better than just buying a
couple of moms.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
You're definitely gonna agree on that.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
And we can agree on that. Fall is so much
more than chrysanthemums. We'll see how Stacey ties this in
and plants on trial, and coming up in segment four
will go down the list of things you can do
to prepare for the fall season. That's all coming up
on the Gardening Simplified Show.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
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, shrubber, evergreen for every
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Winner's Color Choice dot com. Greeting's gardening friends, and welcome
(10:55):
back to the Gardening Simplified Show, where despite the fact
that it is early August in the high of summer
and everything is looking amazing, fall is not far and
we aren't trying to rush it here. But we also
know that people have a lot of questions about what
they can do in fall, and then we tend to
answer those in fall when maybe it's too late. So
we wanted to give you a head start on planning
(11:16):
your fall gardening weekends or evenings and know what you
can do and what you should do. There's not necessarily
the same thing, so of course when it comes to
plants on trial, it's just to say plants that we're
going to tell you about from the proven Winner's Color
Choice Shrubs line, and you decide if you're going to
add them to your garden. Today's is a tree Wow,
(11:41):
and the reason why is because fall is a great
time for planting trees.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
Well that's true. In fall, we're turning over a new leaf.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
And I think that, you know, especially for people who
are maybe a little bit older, there is some you know,
vestiges of ingrained beliefs that you shouldn't necessarily plant fall
plant trees in fall, or certain trees shouldn't be planted
in fall. But that actually goes back to when trees
were mostly grown in fields, field grown instead of container
(12:11):
grown and bald and burlept. And it was true that
there were some trees like especially birch magnolia come to mind,
that did not want to be dug up in fall,
and that kind of made a lot of people just say, oh,
don't plant trees in fall because they didn't want to remember,
oh this is okay, but this isn't, or you know,
so on and so forth. But the fact is, especially
(12:32):
now that trees are pretty much exclusively grown in containers,
at least the trees that most of us are buying
at our local garden center. Since they're grown and containers,
you can plant just about anything. So before I get
into today's plant on trial, I did want to give
a few caveats as to which trees you should not
plant in fall. And this basically is our standard kind
(12:54):
of avoid this in fall, anything that is a broad leaf. Now,
of course, if you live in the South, you live
in a mild of climate, you're gonna have no problem
planting one of those fabulous evergreen magnolia is not going
to be a problem for you because you have a
mild climate. If you were to live in say the
Midwest or someplace where those are kind of, you know,
(13:15):
marginally hardy, or you're going to have a harsh winter,
these are not plants that you want to put in infall.
You want to put them in spring so they have
a nice long season to get established before that challenging
weather sets in. So avoid those broad leaf evergreens, anything
that tends to get winter damage in your climate as well.
So when I was trying to decide for the plant
(13:38):
on trial today, one of my tree choices was potentially
going to be a redbuds, our new Midnight Express redbud,
beautiful plant. But I have found very often, I don't
know if you've seen this too, that redbuds often get
winter damage, even though they're native here and grow all
over the place. When I have had them, small small
(13:58):
plants that have gotten for free, like from the power
company giveaway. They've often gotten winter damage and not come
back entirely. And then along those same lines, anything that
you are pushing the hardiness for. So if you're right
on the edge of being hardy in your area, another
plant that you're gonna want to save until spring to plant.
But outside of those caveats, you can plant pretty much
(14:19):
anything in fall, including today's plant on trial, pink snowshowers,
weeping cherry.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
I love that, and you know I wanted to add
to that, Stacey. Yes, if it's a deciduous tree or
deciduous plant, odds are you're going to have pretty good luck.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
Yeah, and even some conifers.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
Yeah, because winter follows fall and that's a resting, dormant period.
Whereas if you put it in the ground in spring, boy,
you've got the duress of summer coming yep.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
And you know the plant then is putting its energy
into flowering and growing and doing all this other stuff,
Whereas if you plant and fall, the plant is primarily
putting its energy into roots, which is going to help
it get established. Now, another reason that I chose pink snowshowers,
weeping flowering cherry or ornamental cherry is because a great
thing that you can do for your spring self in
(15:08):
fall is the plant spring flowering tree. Sure, and then
you'll be able to look forward to it because it
should flower without missing a beat that same spring. So
it's like planting wolves.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
Gardeners never get old because they always have something to
look forward.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
It's so true. I've seen that happen with so many people.
So this is a great investment in your spring. Now,
I will say, weeping plants, maybe only second to variegation,
are pretty polarizing. So what's your perspective on the weeping plants.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
Well, the problem with we I love weeping plants. I
love like a weeping beach or, as you mentioned here,
a weeping cherry. I love them provided you let them
do their natural thing. When you start giving them a
haircut and making them look like the beetles in the
nineteen sixties, that's when I have a problem.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
People do that, and then it's kind of like going
against the reason that you bought this beautiful, elegant weeping tree.
I I am not the biggest fan of weeping weeping plants.
I like them, but I realized as I was preparing
for the show today that I like mature weeping plants,
but I don't like young weeping plants. Oh, and that's
(16:24):
a problem because you can't really get to the mature
weeping plant without going through that awkward childhood and teenage
years with your weeping plant. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
As we mature, we develop more and more character.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
Yeah, I think that's it. I mean, you know, when
they're young, they do look kind of funny, they look
a little bit awkward. But you know, of course we've
all seen gone to you know, arboretums or parks or
public gardens where you see an absolutely stunning mature weeping
cherry and you're just like, wow, that is going to
turn into that. So I realized that was kind of
(16:58):
my objection the weeping plants, not that I have an
issue with them on its own. So that is a
real revelation for me, in keeping with our recent series
on revelation and inspiration.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
Good point. But the bottom line here, Stacy again is
if it's a deciduous tree, fall is the time.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
To do it, definitely, And I think weeping plants also
look really great with certain types of architecture more than others.
I think it's a classic choice. If you have a
mid century or brick ranch. I feel like that was
like the thing to do, and therefore I really strongly
associate it with that. But placement is so important, and
(17:37):
then of course you've got the issue of color, you know,
because pink flowers and red brick. That's up to you.
But so another thing I wanted to say, weeping plants
are all weeping trees are all grafted, which is to
say that the front, the top parts, and the bottom
part the trunk are not the same plant. Because weeping
(17:59):
branches are generally weak and because they are weeping, if
you didn't graft them, they would just be growing on
the ground and you wouldn't have a treat. So they
graft them on to another type of cherry in the
case of weeping cherries, and that is sort of what
gives them that kind of awkward teenage phase. And I
did want to mention, especially with pink snow showers, if
(18:20):
you look at our photos on our website or on
our plant tags, what you're going to notice, and this
is true of multiple weeping cherries. Sometimes the understock that
they use the trunk basically can be a different type
of cherry, so you might get one that has like
a really beautiful shiny red trunk, or you might get
(18:41):
one that's just plain gray. And it really just depends
on what the grower used to graft them. So that's
just something to keep in mind. If you're looking at
the tag and you're like, wait a minute, this trunk
doesn't look like the trunk that is in front of me.
What do I do about this? It's just simply a
matter of the understock that the grower chose to use. Now,
the nice thing about weepers, too, is that you shouldn't
(19:03):
prune them.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
Correct and that would apply stacey basically to anything that
blooms in spring. Definitely, let's not be pruning it in fall,
whether it's a lilac or in this case.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
A weeping chair, right, And it does sometimes mean though,
as far as pruning, they can revert. I have seen
some understock come up. You'll see this a lot in spring.
Driving around, You'll see these older cherry trees and they're
flowering white and pink, and you're like, whoa, it's a miracle. Well, no,
not quite. All that happened is that the understock shut
up a white branch and the pink is somehow not overwhelmed.
(19:37):
But if you do see that happening in your weeping cherry,
whether it's today's plan on trial pink snow showers weeping cherry,
or a different variety that you have in your yard,
you should take the opportunity to get that out. And
that can come out anytime. It doesn't really matter that
much if you take it out now or it's spring
or summer or whatever.
Speaker 1 (19:54):
Yeah, and you'll see I call them water sprouts at
the top of the tree at the graft where they
just kind of stand straight up, So you've got to
do some maintenance purning there.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
Yeah, and it's just something that goes with the tree.
But that's also why they're so much better when they
are mature. So as you can guess, pink snow Showers
has pink flowers on lovely weeping branches. It starts out
quite small, but it does get to be a really
large tree. It's going to reach thirty to thirty five
feet at maturity. So definitely one that you're going to
want to cite appropriately. But popular, very easy to find
(20:27):
in your local garden centers. It is hardy down to
USDA Zone four and heat tolerant. Through USDA Zone eight.
It is not dear resistant, as most flowering cherries and
crab apples and all of those fabulous spring flowering shrubs
also are not deer resistant. But if you have the
right place for this, and if you love weeping plants,
(20:48):
it is a classic choice with modern day performance. It
is resistant to shothole disease, which is a funny little
fungus that grows on the foliage and then the little
fungal spot drops out and it looks like the thing
just got shot up with a baby gun. So this
is resistant to that. So if you've had issues with
other cherries or other ornamentals in your yard, getting that
(21:10):
peak snowshowers is a great choice. You will find it
at your local garden center, hopefully at a great price
since it is fall, but even if not, it is
worth the investment in your time and money. We're going
to take a little bit of a break when we
come back. We're opening up the mailbags, so please stay
tuned at Proven Winners Color Choice Shrubs. We know that
(21:36):
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(21:58):
Winner's Color Choice dot org. Greetings gardening friends, and welcome
back to the Gardening Simplified Show, where it's our opportunity
to help you with your garden questions, quandaries and conundrums,
whether they are happening right now in summer or something
you're concerned about with fall, winter, spring beyond. We are
(22:19):
here to help and if you have a question for us,
you can easily reach us at Gardening Simplified on air
dot com. There's a contact form there you can fill
that out. You can even attach a photo because of
course it's a lot easier to help you with your
gardening problems if we've got a photo of what you
are dealing with, and then I'll go right to our inbox.
But of course, if you do have a question that
you need answered more urgently, we really do want to
(22:41):
help you, so you can just reach out to usse
at Provenwonner's Color Choice dot Com. Use the contact form
there and you will get an answer much sooner than
writing to us here on the show, because we only
have time for three questions every week, and in fact,
I picked a pretty big and juicy question for the
first one today, so it could take us a little
litle bit of time to answer this.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
Well, Audrey writes to us, we just purchased a home
with a few wooded acres near the lake shore in Holland, Michigan.
For folks who watch and listen to us. For me,
that's just north of where I live here along the
lake shore, and we weren't able to view the property
(23:22):
in person until just last week. We were concerned to
find several dead and dying trees on the property. From
what we can tell, it seems to be oak will.
This is new to us, but seems to be a
significant issue in the area and a considerable unexpected expense.
Do you have any advice, guidance, or resources for how
(23:42):
homeowners can properly treat and manage this issue? Well, I'll
tell you, Stacy, I would you know right off the bat,
make sure to employ There are so many wonderful professional
arborous around, so engage those arborous to help you out
with it. Timing is everything when pruning or cutting oaks,
(24:05):
And just yesterday, yesterday myself and my neighbor we teamed
up with an arborist and took out some oak trees
that were dying on our properties. Important to employ a
trained professional arborist when you're looking at doing something like.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
It is so important, And that was one of the
reasons why I really wanted to answer this question. I
don't think we've really talked too much about oak welt.
It's been around since the nineteen forties here in Michigan,
but it has really started to reach much bigger proportions.
And there are so many great arborists. And if you
go through like the ISA, the International Society of Arborists,
(24:47):
or an accredited institution like that, you're probably getting someone
who knows what they're doing. But there are definitely a
lot of arborists out there that don't. And if you
have oaks in your property, you should ask any arborists
to leave promptly if they suggest pruiting or removing them.
Anytime outside of basically the November to March timeframe that
(25:08):
is the biggest aspect of managing oak wilt. But let
me back up a minute here, Audrey, because I will say,
you know, I was looking at a map of confirmed
oak wilt cases, and Holland is not really quite a hotbed.
There's been a couple of cases that are confirmed, and
of course not every case that happens is necessarily going
to be confirmed. Most of the confirmed and treated cases
(25:31):
are on the north side of Holland. So I'm seeing
this because I wouldn't necessarily be so quick to assume
it is oak wilt because one of the issues that
we have had out here in West Michigan over the
past couple of years is a terrible spongey moth infestation.
Now this year they kind of they go and boom
bust population cycles. They are in a bust year. I
(25:53):
have hardly seen a single one, and after years of
having our oaks just completely to full the point in
the season. But of course after several years of being
preyed upon by spongey moths formerly known as the gypsy moth,
that starts to set them back because they lose all
of their foliage. And I think this year, especially coupled
(26:17):
with a drought that we have had. Just because you
may have struggling or dying oaks in your yard doesn't
necessarily mean it's oak will.
Speaker 1 (26:27):
In some cases it's just plain old decline in some
of the trees. As I mentioned, we took out some
trees and I think it was declined. So you're very
right in that, Stacey, don't make the assumption that it's
oak will.
Speaker 2 (26:42):
But of course we are going to put some resources
for you in the notes on YouTube there so that
you can look this up. First of all, I would
say identify the oaks if you can, because oak wilt
it can affect any kind of oak, but it is
far and away more prevalent a bigger pest of red
oaks than white oaks. So if you have white oaks,
(27:04):
I would be less inclined to think that it was
oak wilt than if they were red oaks. Now, if
you go online in the resources that we're going to
share with you, the main like kind of actual diagnosis
that people use is to cut open the bark, not
really something that the average homeowner probably has the equipment
(27:26):
or knowledge to do, but you can look at the
foliage and because oak wilt does cause the plant to
cause the foliage to fall off with a pretty distinctive
pattern to it. So compared to just falling brown or green,
it kind of has this like very zonal green and
(27:47):
brown and orange. You'll see pictures of it storm. Yeah,
that's kind of what it is, like like a sky
with all of that color in there. And so that
of course would mean that you were seeing that on
the foliage on the ground. And this is pretty much
the time that an oak with oak wilt will have
dropped its leaves or be starting to drop its leaves.
So take a close look underneath and look for that. Again,
(28:09):
that would not be the actual absolute confirmation of oak wilt,
but it is a sign that the average person can
look for, you know, pretty easily. But yet, if you
can also look for vertical cracks in the bark, and
that would mean that I was already infected for at
least a year. But they're pretty distinctive. Of course, they
might be way up, so you might want to get
(28:31):
a pair of binoculars. But if you have oak wilt,
it is time to call it an arborist. There's really
not much else to be said aside from that, because yeah,
you know, as you mentioned Audrey, it is a significant
expense if you need to manage a lot of trees.
But if you're going with a good arborist and they
know what they're doing, they can take care of them
(28:51):
for you. And hopefully that's not the case. But everyone
really in West Michigan should be aware of oak wilt
and what to look for, especially if you have oaks
in your property.
Speaker 1 (29:00):
And as you pointed out, Stacey, there's a big difference
between pruning and taking out a tree all together, and
that pruning there are people who will argue that window
is April through July, but I completely agree with you.
I would just stick to that November to March timeframe
to be safe as it relates.
Speaker 2 (29:22):
To complete dormancy ies. And again, most arboris are probably
going to be too busy doing non oak related stuff
in that other time period anyway. So there you know,
it kind of works out well for them that the
times they'd otherwise not have a lot to do, they
can work on pruning or managing oak.
Speaker 1 (29:39):
Wild's best time to hire though. Okay, Lindsay's writing to us,
I'm reaching out regarding my baptisia. I purchased this in
the spring and planted it in a spot where I'd
misjudged its sun exposure. It also was attacked by wind
pretty early in the season. My question is, if I'm
correct that the issue is light exposure, Am I I
(30:00):
able to move the plant to a sunnier location yet
this year? Or do I need to wait until spring?
Anything in particular I should keep in mind when trying
to move it to set it up for success.
Speaker 2 (30:12):
Yes. So I first of all, I thought this was
a great question to answer for our Fall task LISZ episode.
And second of all, I'm excited to answer this question
from a personal perspective because I have moved Baptisia multiple
times in my life, once in spring during COVID when
we were in a gardening frenzy. The plants survived, but
(30:33):
they were not very happy about it. Whereas I moved
a very established Baptisia's last fall, and I was amazed
at how they came into spring without missing a beat.
It was like I had not even moved them. And
that's saying something because they have extensive, deep root systems
that are really really hard to take out thoroughly, so
(30:55):
you're always going to have some breakage, You're always going
to have some root loss with these plants, no matter
how how careful you are. But honestly, I couldn't believe
my eyes when these things came out this spring. It
was like they had not even missed a beat. And
that was plants that had been in the ground for
about five years. So your plant being in its first year,
not going to have any trouble, you know, moving that
(31:15):
this fall. Now. I moved mine here in West Michigan
in probably mid September. You can do it anywhere up
through about mid October, I would say, but I would
definitely wait until, you know, those days are starting to
get much shorter and the temperatures are starting to get cooler.
Speaker 1 (31:31):
One of my favorite things to do in fall move plants,
rearrange plants, dig them up, divide them baptizia or whatever
type of perennial it may be. I've had great success
doing that, Stacey, along with the plants that I've bought
off the bargain shelf in fall and put in the
ground again. Fall just the perfect time to do that
(31:53):
sort of thing. So I would encourage Lindsay to move
it this.
Speaker 2 (31:57):
Fall, definitely, And the only caveat I would really have
that I found the last year was you do have
to be careful because the plant, believe it or not,
is already setting its buds for next year. So as
you dig it, you'll actually be able to see those
buds already developing on the root mass. So you want
to make sure that you are minimizing your disturbance because
any of those that you break off will mean something
(32:20):
that would have grown but now won't. But it's not difficult.
You'll see it. So as with any transplanting process, be careful,
pay attention, and you should have success.
Speaker 1 (32:30):
Maybe a little mulch at the base also, man.
Speaker 2 (32:32):
Oh, mulch is always a good idea. You bet. We're
going to take a little break. When we come back,
we're going to be returning to our conversation on fall task,
So please stay tuned. Thanks for listening to the Gardening
Simplified Podcast, brought to you by Proven Winners Color Choice Shrubs.
Our award winning flowering shrubs and evergreens are trialed and
(32:55):
tested by experts with your success in mind. Learn more
at Proven Winners color Choice dot com.
Speaker 1 (33:02):
Welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show. Okay, Stacy, so
I consider fall not the end, but maybe even the
beginning of a great garden and lawn in your landscape.
Like we've said, plants that are put in the ground
establishment are going to work on developing roots instead of
(33:23):
a focus on top growth like you see in spring.
So let me mention first of all, as far as
turf is concerned, if your lawn is lawn gone after
the heat of summer, perfect time to fix your lawn
is August through October. I'm talking about core, air raiding, receding,
(33:45):
repairing an existing lawn. And the knock on turf in
our landscapes generally is the amount of work, the amount
of inputs that you have to put into the lawn,
the expense, and I'm thinking primarily as far as water
is concerned, so for more sustainability, if you want some
(34:06):
turf in your landscape, fall is the time to establish.
Fall is the time to feed. During the summer, we
raise the deck on the more, have the grass as
long as you possibly can have in fall. Progressively, as
the season continues we start to lower the height of
the deck so we don't get things like snow mold
(34:28):
and that sort of thing during the wintertime when the
snow packs it down, but just the ideal time for germination,
root development, feeding your lawn. I know every year I
would when I had a sizable lawn in late fall,
I would apply malorganite. The Milwaukee sewage staff, yeah, and
(34:52):
I would apply it, and then invariably in January we
would have a winter thaw. For folks who do not
live in the north, you have to understand that in winter,
snow is the great equalizer. Everybody's yard looks the same
in winter. Generally we would get a January thaw, and
up and down the street, everybody's lawns would be brown.
(35:15):
Mine would be dark green, and everybody would be asking me, hey, Rick,
what are you doing now on your list? In fall
also weed control. Again, many people attack weeds in spring
and only get top kill, or they're killing winter annuals
that are going to die anyhow So fall, identifying weeds,
(35:39):
whether they be dandelions or winter annuals, and getting at
those weeds in fall will make a huge difference in
weed control on your property. It's you know, I always say,
take me to your weader. Well, your weader is fall.
The fall season the ideal time to deal with weeds.
(36:01):
And remember many of the weeds they sy like perennial
weeds are like the trees. They're preparing for winter too,
let's say a dandelion, and they're sending their food reserves
into the root system. So if you do selectively use
an herbicide on the weeds, you're going to get better
translocation into the root system and again get better control
(36:23):
as far as weeds are concerned. So I think as
far as turf is concerned, if you want good sustainability
but a nice thick lawn, falls the time to do it.
Speaker 2 (36:33):
You know. I would add to that that if you're
considering any kind of alternative lawn, if you're considering adding
clover to your lawn or doing some kind of flour
meadow or something like that, falls also the time to
do that. And if you look at any website, like
a prairie website that sells seed mixes for doing just this,
they always recommend fall. So it's not just grass. If
(36:54):
you're looking to do this other kind of stuff, Fall
is a great time to do that too.
Speaker 1 (36:58):
Cover crops, Yeah, that sort of thing. Take a look
at that. And one of the number one questions that
I would get through the years at this time of
the year is. People really do struggle with do I
cut it back or not, whether it be bud lea
or ornamental grasses. Now I like to enjoy them in
(37:18):
the wintertime and cut them back in spring, but other
perennials also doing some selective cleanup. Obviously, on herbaceous perennials,
you're really not going to make a mistake because they're
going to die back to the ground anyhow. But that's
one of the top questions that we get and don't
forget about planting bulbs. Of course, we love to plant
(37:42):
garlic in fall. That's a great thing to plant. But
any of your bulbs, putting them in the ground, tulips, daffodil's, crocus, hyacinths, aliens, whatever,
it may be perfect time, of course to plant in fall,
and then you're rewarded in spring with beautiful color. Some
people struggle with the fact that rodents or squirrels will
(38:05):
dig up their bulbs when they've put them in the ground.
So I've always wrapped them in a chicken wire mesh.
Just dug a hole, laid some chicken wire in it,
put the bulbs in, fold the wire over and it
seems to work, really, really well, and I think you've
got a bear in mind that in fall, and this
is noted as a matter of fact at our website
(38:26):
Gardeningsimplified on air dot com. We'll put the link there.
It's something from the University of Michigan. It's about squirrels
and the fact that squirrels their brain power increases by
fifteen percent in the fall, and they're out there, of course,
(38:47):
busy planting for the future, and they have this headflick. Now,
I found that this is really interesting. I always thought
that squirrels would rub the acorn on the side of
their head so that they could leave their scent on
that acorn and find it later. But my theory is
all wet. Basically, what they're saying is they do they
(39:09):
do this head flick and this rub to assess whether
or not the acorns that they have collected are worthy
to just eat right now or store them away for winter.
I thought that was in it.
Speaker 2 (39:22):
They're like somaliers deciding if the wine should be aged
or consume right away, but for acorns.
Speaker 1 (39:28):
So they're smart. They're smart, so maybe follow the example
of the squirrels. Also, I think if you're living in
the north or the Midwest, being aware of the position
of the sun in winter and also the direction of
the wind, because that does allow of damage to plant stacey.
(39:49):
And when we look at things like southwest disease, the
splitting of the bark on trees. Putting tree wraps on
from October through the winter period will many times time
keep that splitting of trunks from occurring. So I think
that that's an important thing to look at too, especially
broad leaf evergreens if they're on a southern or western exposure.
(40:13):
Maybe some anti deseconate sprays.
Speaker 2 (40:16):
Yeah. You know, it's interesting that you mentioned that because
there is a property that I pass on my way
to work every day that in the winter I could
see the sun just beating down on these couple of
plants in this hedge of green giant arborvidies, and I
was like, wow, those look so weird. And it turns
out those were the exact ones that died because that
sun was warming them up. And there's nothing you can
(40:38):
really do about that, you know, if you're trying to
plant a hedge, but perhaps you could try something to
fill in those holes that is less likely to use water,
like a more needle leaf juniper compared to the more
scale leaf arborviti, something with a more reduced leaf surface.
Speaker 1 (40:56):
I want to encourage people to, you know, if we've
mentioned this previously in the show Stacey, but if you
have some plants that need to be moved or they're
crowding out, maybe doing a little root pruning in advance
in August and then eventually moving the plant in September
and October, or preparing the new site where they're going
(41:20):
to be moved when temperatures are cooler and we're getting
natural rainfall. I just you know, I've always joked about
the fact that many plants in my landscape have been
moved so many times they're eligible for frequent Flyer miles.
But it's true, and it's fun and it's fun to rearrange.
And folks, this is your opportunity right here, and I'd
(41:40):
seize the moment.
Speaker 2 (41:41):
Yeah, I mean, like I said, especially since things are
fresh in your mind, you know, compared to spring, where
you're thinking, oh, that would look really good if I
divided that and moved part over here. You know, now
it actually makes sense to you. Whereas if you try
to remember what things were like in spring, you know,
all those months have gone by, you completely forget. So
it's a great opportunity to take the things that you've
really enjoyed or noticed as you've been appreciating the garden
(42:05):
through the growing season and invest that observation and knowledge
into previous seasons. I am saying this for my own
benefit as much as yours, because this is definitely something
I can't get away with letting slide until spring next year.
I'm learning my lesson this year.
Speaker 1 (42:20):
I probably here well said, and you know you can.
If they're woody plants. You can take some of the
size out of the plants by pruning them back and
making the move easier. Yes, you may be sacrificing some
blooms for next spring, but if it has to move,
it has to move, and then Stacey. In spring, we're
often talking about hardening off plants, moving them from the
(42:44):
comfortable environment of a greenhouse into the great outdoors and
being subject to cold and wind. Well, now in fall
the reverse is true. You kind of harden off plants
that have been out on the deck, tropical plants, prepare
to move them in side where there's less light, less
day length, cleaning the plants, possibly repotting them inspecting for insects.
(43:08):
All important to carry over some of those plants over
the winter.
Speaker 2 (43:12):
Period, definitely get them ready for their indoor vacation.
Speaker 1 (43:16):
So it may still be hot outside, but you've got
some work to do, and you've got some thinking to do,
and you have an opportunity to seize one of the best,
if not the best season of the year to be
gardening and landscaping fall. So Stacy, I guess we better
get to work.
Speaker 2 (43:37):
I'll do it all right.
Speaker 1 (43:38):
Thank you so much for watching the Gardening Simplified Show
on YouTube, listening on podcast or radio. Thank you Stacy,
thank you X, thank you Adriana, and thanks most of
all to you for your support of the show. Have
a great week.
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