November 29, 2025 • 44 mins
Broadleaf evergreens, or as we like to call them, flowering evergreens, are powerhouses in the landscape. They give you interest, structure, privacy, and color every season. In this episode, we explore the wide variety of broadleaf evergreens and how to care for them. Featured shrub: Gem Box inkberry holly.
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Broadcasting from Studio AA. Here at proven Winter's color Joy Shrubs.
It's the Gardening Simplified Show with Stacey Hervella, me, Rick Weist,
and our engineer and producer Adrianna Robinson. Well, broad leaf
evergreens are powerhouses in the landscape. They give you interest, structure, privacy,
(00:22):
and color every season and with the right care. And
I make sure to note this. With the right care,
and I'm saying especially proper winter protection. So this is
a good time of the year to talk about it.
These resilient plants will thrive for years, adding beauty and
function to your outdoor space. You know, winter can be depressing,
(00:46):
at least it is for me. Skeletal, bare limbed trees
covered in snow. Thank goodness for conifers, and thank goodness
for broad leaf evergreens. To me, the king or queen
contingent on your viewpoint is the rhododendron. I have to
admit that right up front, there are many wonderful broad
(01:09):
leaf evergreens, But the rhododendron, I think it would be
hard to find among shrubs a more striking personality. The
great blossoms are held up like a prize on a
platter or a circlet of thick, dark green leaves that
sometimes mope in winter, but of course also show us
(01:31):
the promise of spring and summer with those thick buds
that are held up during the wintertime waiting for warmer weather.
And you'll find monster rhododendrons in temperate areas like along
the lake shore here in Michigan or Virginia or the
Pacific Northwest, and less so inland. So rhododendrons, Stacey, they
(01:57):
got to be near the.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Top from it, Well, it's all about the variety very
tiny rddendrons, and there are very massive rhododendrons. And if
you go over into the UK, rhododendrons are an invasive nightmare.
So you know, it all depends on where you're at.
I do think we need to take one tiny step
back because we just recently did an episode on conifers,
which of course is what most people think of when
(02:17):
they think of evergreens. But it kind of got me
to thinking that broad leaf evergreens are a term that
gets thrown around a lot at garden centers or in
articles and so forth, and everyone's kind of like, huh,
what is a broad leaf evergreen? Really, and I think
another way, in you know, being in marketing. I'm honestly
surprised this hasn't caught on. A better way to think
(02:39):
about this would be flowering evergreens, because, as we said
in the conifer episode, conifers don't flower. They are not
considered angiosperms are flowering plants, even though they have reproductive
structures that function similarly to flowers and to fruit. Subsequently,
they aren't technically flowering plants. All of the broad leaf
(03:00):
evergreens that we're going to be discussing today are flowering plants.
They are angiosperms. So a better way to think about
these instead of broadleaf evergreens, because like, who really cares
how broad the leaves are and not all of the
leaves are actually very broad. If you take something like
a boxwood, they all flower because they're all flowering plants.
And how great is that?
Speaker 1 (03:20):
That is great? I love that. I'm glad you brought
that up.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
Some marketing makeover for broadleaf evergreens today.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
Speaking of marketing, I was reading a article from nineteen
o two May of nineteen o two in the Atlantic
Francis Duncan. I love what she says. She says, when
deciduous plants enter forced retirement and begin the winter of discontent,
the rhododendron abdicates nothing of its supremacy. Not only do
(03:49):
the leaves maintain their tropical luxuriance, but the hard green buds,
which appeared as soon as possible after the previous blossoms
had passed, are there. And I love that. I love
watching my rhododendrons in winter. And of course, dendron is
the Greek word for tree.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
Yeah, yep. And you know what rodo is? Rodo No,
it's leaf.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
So they're got a sitcom from the nineteen seventies.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
I have to say I do love the name rhoda
for this reason. The Greek translation of the scientific name
rhododendron is literally leaf tree.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
Interesting, there you have it.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
I mean it's descriptive.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
I love that. Yeah. PJM. Rhododendroans. I love them smaller
leafed rhododendrons. I know the mesots from western nurseries on
the East Coast in the Boston area. Imagine named after
Peter John Right.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
Imagine being Peter John Mezzitt and having one of the
most popular landscape plants in North America. Names for you,
and no one calls it by your name. They all
call it PJM. Yeah, I feel bad. I really feel
bad for him.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
It's true, it's true. That's part of the reason and
I bring it up. But what a great plant.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
So shout out to Peter John.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
There you go, Stacey. I'm gonna ask you a question
because I have a new favorite broad leaf evergreen. If
you view it as being a broad leaf evergreen, and
that is Paisley pop.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
That is absolutely bad. It's a if it's an evergreen
and it's a flowering plant, it's a broad leaf evergreen. Again,
it is irrelevant really how broadly leaves are. The differentiating
factor here is that they're all flowering plants. But Paisley
pop is such a cool plant, and it's a North
American native broad leaf evergreen, as a number of broad
(05:36):
leaf evergreens are indeed North American natives, and much like
your beloved rhododendrons, it is in the air casey or
the heather and heath family. So it's going to be
and this is a recurring theme for broad leaf evergreens
in general, it's going to be one of those plants
that wants moist well drained acidic soil exactly. The mythical
(05:57):
moist well drained is cnic soil, But it's true.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
And how many times have I gone out to help
people who are struggling with a broad leaf evergreen or
specifically rhododendrons. I'll go to their house. It's a heavy
clay soil. They have automatic irrigation that's pumping all kinds
of water on those roots every day, and the plant
is yellow, declining or even dying because of that. So
(06:22):
you're right, acidic soil, somewhat acidic soil, but well drained
soil that has organic matter in it. Does that make sense?
Speaker 2 (06:30):
Absolutely? They love the organic matter. It is so important
for them because if there is one thing that they
don't like, probably even more so than alkaline soil, is
hot dry soil. They're shallow rooted a lot like hydrangeas are,
and so if they have like shallow or hot dry soil,
(06:51):
those roots are just going to cook. And if you
plant a rhododendron, I think you will notice that the
roots are a bit different than other types of plants are.
So organic matter mulch is so crucial with any of
these broad leaf evergreens in keeping them happy in keeping
that moisture and soil acidity and organic matter levels at
(07:12):
the right you know point for them.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
With proven winners. Of course, there's black hat rhododendron, which
is a favorite of mine, dandyman. And then the perfect
amundo double pink reblooming azaleas or the reblooming azaleas Zone
six B. I haven't tried one yet here on the
Lake Michigan Lake shore, but I'm tempted to try.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
You know, I have seen them survive winter here plenty,
and you know, not with any kind of special uh
you know, treatment or anything like that, but they certainly
can survive. But very often I have seen that you
would wish that they hadn't survived and they you wish
they would just have died so you could take them out.
Because what often happens, even though yes they're hardy to
(07:56):
do USDA is on six B, they can survive. Area
will often take out those flower buds so you don't
get the spring flower buds, and they set the plant
back so far that it takes it all season to
get to the rebloom and it doesn't have the energy
for the rebloom. So you know, very often that's a
real shortcoming of hardiness zones in general is that they
(08:17):
only address what a plant can survive, not the right
conditions for you to get that kind of peak performance.
And I will say, as we're talking about broad leaf evergreens,
by and large, these are not the hardiest plants, which
is not necessarily surprising when you think about the fact
that there are these, indeed often broad leaves. That makes
(08:39):
them much more susceptible to damage in the winter compared
to something like an evergreen or a conifer, like we
talked about an our conifer show a few weeks ago,
which are going to have those very minimal scale like
or needle like leaves where the leaf surfaces are dramatically reduced,
so it's better able to withstand winter, sun, winter wind,
all of that, you know, all of those challenges. Broad
(09:00):
leaf evergreens don't do that. Rhododendrons have some ability to
adapt to cold by curling their leaves and reducing the
amount of leaf surface exposed to the sun and wind.
But overall, I don't think, I mean, I can't think
off Hannah. It certainly proved me wrong. If you can
leave a comment on our YouTube version or email US.
I don't think there are any broad leaf evergreens hardier
(09:20):
than Zone four.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
Well, I'll tell you what it's important in areas where
the ground freezes. To your point, Stacey, that you know
where the sun is in winter, and it's low in
the south, so many times the north or east side
of a structure is a great place for broad leaf evergreens. Also,
coming from the garden center industry, I recommend the use
of anti descate sprays. We can talk about them further
(09:46):
in segment four, but they you'll find them in a
garden center, usually under the name of wilt proof or
wilt stop. But they are pine resin sprays that helps
hold the moisture in the foliage over winter when the
plant can't take a drink the ground is frozen. Now, again,
(10:06):
coming from the garden center industry, I thought, well, you
know what, I'll try some of this. I've tried it
in my hair before, in your hair for a hold, Yes,
because it's just a natural pine resin spray. Hair spray
for my broad leaf plant. At the bottle, skeptical, I
looked a scant some left in the bottom to spare,
(10:28):
so I tried some in my hair. Now I'm stylish
and anti desa. Can't my broad leaf next year? Will
flower can now stand up to winter, not cower still?
I pine for your approval with this spray. The trick
is the removal. I'm going inside now to shower. It
took me weeks to get it out of my hair.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
Was it an accident or was it on purpose?
Speaker 1 (10:53):
I did it on purpose. Plants on Trial is next
here on the Gardening Simplified Show.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
Beautify your home and community with proven Winter'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 Colour Choice dot com. Greeting's gardening friends, and welcome
(11:26):
back to the Gardening Simplified Show, where we are talking
about broadleaf evergreens as kind of a counterpart to our
conifer show that we did a few weeks ago, where
we told you all about conifers and what makes a
conifer a conifer. Now we're talking to you all about
broad leaf evergreens and what makes a broad leaf evergreen
a broadleaf evergreen, and the short version of that is
(11:48):
just that they are flowering plants that are evergreen, So
that means that you get great evergreen coverage and you
get flowers. Now, of course, sometimes the flowers are much
more dramatic and showy, and the flowers are the thing.
There are also many broad leaf evergreens where the flowers
are very minimal. They're still present and they're still true flowers,
(12:09):
but you know, the main thing in their cases is
more of the broad leaf evergreen aspects than the flowering
aspect and.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
Stacy, would it be fair to say that on a
number of broad leaf evergreens the flowers are super important
because they're a component of berry production.
Speaker 2 (12:25):
You are correct about that, yes, thank you. There are
a number of broad leaf evergreens. I think sort of
this the stereotypical or i'll say archetypical broad leaf evergreen
I think for most people is holly.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
You know, we all know that is an evergreen, and
we know that it flowers and then gets those beautiful
bright red berries, so that is kind of like the
standard bearer for all of them, and some get grape fruit.
I think if you live in a milder climate, broad
leaf evergreens are much more common and much more the
norm than they are for us up here. You don't
(12:56):
see a whole ton of like broad leaf evergreen hedges
for us up here, whereas if you go down south
you're gonna see lots and lots of different plants. Camellias
probably my favorite broad leaf evergreen, even though I cannot
grow it, love them so much. They're so beautiful, So
definitely much more popular down south than here, are in
milder climates than here, But there's plenty that we can grow.
And I'm glad that you brought up holly because it's
(13:19):
quite an interesting and diverse group of plants, and so
not unlike hydrangeas, where if someone says, hey, think of
a holly, or think of a hydrangea, one specific type
comes to mind, and of course for holly, that is
the standard Christmas holly with the pointy leaves and the
beautiful red berries. But the truth is that hollies are
actually an extremely diverse group of plants. There are over
(13:42):
four hundred different species of holly or the genus Islex
that are found worldwide, with the highest concentrations in subtropical
China and South America, and of course we have lots
of different native hollys here in Michigan. It's also there's
also jeous varieties in there, which of course you know,
are beautiful winterberry holly. Ilex for dislotta is a deciduous holly.
(14:07):
And within that group of holly's there are some that
are trees, like our native eastern holly ilex opeka, and
there's vines which we don't really have ilex vines here
in North America. So, you know, with having so much
diversity in the genus ilex or holly, it's not really
(14:28):
surprising that there's so many different ways that we use
holly in our landscape. And that is what is prompting
today's plant on trial, which is gembox inkberry holly. And
it is one of the most versatile landscape plants that
we offer here at proven Winter's Color Choice Shrups. So
it is known as Islex glabra. Glabra in Latin means bald,
(14:51):
and you might be like, hey, how does that fit
into this plant? It is still a broad leaf evergreen,
but the stems are smooth, so apparently some are you know,
this is all like taxonomy stuff where botanists get out
their loops and they look real closely and say, oh,
you know, the involucre is slightly haired, so now we're
gonna call this one the bald one, even though like
(15:13):
it's not really any difference.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
To crazy when that happens.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
Yeah, well, you know, they they're into the details. There's
something for all of us out there in this great,
big world. And it's a compact round evergreen. It grows
two to three feet tall and wide. It naturally grows
as a rounded mound. And one of the reasons that
we introduced gembox ink very holly was as an alternative
(15:38):
to another broadleaf evergreen, and that is boxwood exactly.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
And in the garden center we have them displayed right
next to each other, and people scratch their heads they
see they're like, what is this?
Speaker 2 (15:51):
What is this? Well, you know, boxwood is, honestly, I
have to say, one of my favorite plants. It is
kind of the no brainer for me in my garden
because it does so well. It's honestly one of the
most deer resistant plants. That's why it's the flagship plant
in our deer proof line. Here at proven Winter's color
choice shrubs. It's shade tolerant, it's sun tolerant. It doesn't
(16:13):
need acidic soil like a number of broad leaf evergreens
truly require acidic soil. Boxwood does not, and so it's
just a great all purpose plant for adding order to
the chaos of my garden. That's one of the reasons
that I love it.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
So.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
With boxwood being so great, why in the world would
anybody want an alternative to it? Well, if you live
in certain areas of North America, you have already had
the answer to this question in your head, and that
is that boxwood is setten by a number of pests
and diseases. Now, so the big one is boxwood blight.
Boxwood blight is a fungal disease that's started in Europe,
(16:48):
and it is well entrenched in Europe and kind of widespread,
and they've found ways to deal with it. It has not, fortunately,
knock on wood marched as quickly in the US as
they had originally feared that it would. It's mostly been
fairly well contained. Of course, that could change it any minute,
But you can't say the same thing about the box
(17:09):
tree moth. And I will tell you this is This
has been a very interesting situation because a year ago,
you know, in twenty twenty four in the Detroit area,
you didn't hear anything about box tree moth. No one
had it, no one thought about it. And twenty twenty
five in the Metro Detroit area was the year of
the box tree moth. And I remember going to the
(17:31):
garden center in spraying and seeing all these signs about it.
And then my mom got it on her box with
you know, right at her front yard. And so it's
spreading so quickly, and it is possible to manage the
box tree moth. They used a spray and actually I
was really shocked at how well it made a recovery
after being sprayed, which you do have to spray for
(17:52):
the caterpillars so that they don't of course eat all
of your box with foliage. And some people, even aside
from these sort of liabils, some people don't like boxwood smell,
you know, the certain especially the English boxwood boxes sempervirons
English boxwood. Yes, yes it has a smell. That's yeah.
It smells like a litter box. And you know, I'll
(18:14):
tell you if you've ever been around one on a
hot summer day. It is not really a pleasant experience
if you have a boxwood and you are wondering why
you smell litter box every time you were around it
on a hot summer day. No, it is not the
neighborhood cats. It is your boxwood, and some people are
very sensitive to that smell. And the other reason why
someone might want an alternative to box what is boxwood
(18:36):
is not native to North America and gembox inkberry holly
as all inkberries are native to eastern North America. So
there's a lot of good reasons to swap out boxwood,
or if you're adding to your garden to plant gembox
or strong box, which is a companion plant to that
inkberry holly instead of boxwood, just as kind of a
(18:57):
hedge against all of these, you know, things that are
potentially going to threaten boxwood. Now, as good as it is,
does have a couple of drawbacks that I just need
to be honest, where it can't really compare to boxwood.
It is not as shade tolerant. Okay has good shade tolerance,
but this is not going to be one of those
plants for deep shade like boxwood is. If you grow
(19:17):
it in very deep shade. One of the great features
of gembox is that it stays very dense and branch
to the ground. In too much shade, it's going to
get sparse, it's going to get open, and you're not
really going to see that great feature that it has
of staying really dense and branched. So part shade is
the most it's really going to be able to take.
It does need moist, acidic soil. And you can ask
(19:38):
me how I know because I have attempted to grow
gembox instead of boxwood in my garden many times, and
my garden is just way too dry and my soil
is pretty close to neutral. So between those two things,
it's just not happening for me. So, but what.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
About winter, because you know I struggle with boxwood sometimes
in winter winter damage. How how does gembox right?
Speaker 2 (20:00):
So, gembox as a broad leaf evergreen is still somewhat
susceptible to winter damage. And you know when we talk
about winter damage on broad leaf evergreens, we're really just
saying that the sun, the wind, all of those factors
are you know, working on the plant through winter. The
soil is frozen, it can't take any water to replace
what's being lost to sunlight and wind evaporation. And what
(20:21):
can happen in some cases is plants will bronze, and
that is a very common reaction of boxwood. Sometimes they
turn brown and die entirely. Gembox is still susceptible to
some winter damage. But what I have found here is
it recovers a lot better and a lot more quickly
from winter damage compared to boxwood. Because boxwood is a
pretty slow growing plant, gembox is relatively quick by comparison,
(20:45):
So it is a much better recovery with gembox or
strong box than it is with your standard boxwood. So
that's that's a good feature. It's also a better flowering plant,
so boxwood does flower. Most people have never seen a
boxwood flower because they've just never noticed it because it
has these kind of nondescript green flowers, sort of nestled
down in the foliage, inconspicuous. If you happen to notice
(21:08):
a boxwood flowering, it is probably because you heard the
bees on it. Because it blooms very early in spring.
It's very fragrant and full of nectar. And I feel
like every time I've noticed boxwood's flowering, it's because I've
heard buzzing. I'm like, oh my gosh, is there a drone, Like,
where's that coming from? And no, it's just bees on
the boxwood. But gem box inkberry holly has cute little
(21:30):
white flowers, cup shaped and it is a female variety,
so if you have a male nearby, it will set
those nice blue black inkberries. And if you are, you know,
costplaying as a revolutionary war soldier, you can make ink
out of em and write letters back home. So it's
just a cool plant. It's hardy down to USDA Zone five,
heat talant to the USDA Zone nine, and really just
(21:51):
a great alternative for boxwood if you have the right
conditions for it and a're looking for something a little different.
Speaker 1 (21:57):
So my dearest abagade.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
Forte, on that note, we're gonna take a little break
and we'll open the mailbag and maybe that letter will
be in it. At Proven Winners Color Choice Shrubs, we
know that a better landscape starts with a better shrub.
Our team of experts tests and evaluates all of our
(22:22):
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
at your local garden center or learn more at proven
Winner's Color Choice dot com. Greeting's Gardening friends, and welcome
(22:44):
back to the Gardening Simplified Show, where we're talking all
about broadleaf evergreens. For a couple of reasons, it's a
good companion to our earlier conifer show and you can
find that here on YouTube or from your favorite podcast platform.
And also because you know, broadleaf evergreens are about to
take a pretty starring role in the landscape as we
head into winter, not.
Speaker 1 (23:05):
Only a starring role, but also will be subject to
weather conditions that can do damage.
Speaker 2 (23:11):
Yes for sure. So it's a good opportunity to assess
the broadleafevergreens that you do have, think about ones that
you might want to add next spring, because they are
great plants. I think every every landscape needs a good
mix of conifers and deciduous plants and broadleafever So if
you have any questions about broadleafever greens or anything in
(23:31):
the gardening world, you can always reach us at Gardening
simplified on air dot Com. There's a contact form there.
You can also leave a comment here on YouTube if
you ask a question. Adriana will pass that along to
us if she can't answer it herself, and we will
be happy to help you with that if we can. So,
I know, going into winter kind of people have a
different set of questions than they do in the height
(23:52):
of the season, where it's why is this happening? What's
eating this? And so forth? And now people are like
a little bit more concerned about what they can or
should do moving into the dormant season. And I thought
that's why Dana's question here was a good question.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
Yeah, Dana asked, I live in Scott's Bluff, Nebraska's Zone
five A. I have a hen and chicks plant in
a small plastic strawberry planter. Will this over winter outside
or should I move it to a protected area? Thank
you for your advice.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
Right, So, she did send a picture of this, so
we'll have that on YouTube so you can take a
look at what Dana is dealing with. You know, I
wanted to answer this question because people do often ask,
you know, I have such and such in a container,
what should I do? And The bottom line is this,
if you have a hardy plant, which is to say,
a plant that would otherwise be able to survive winter
(24:43):
outdoors in a cold climate. So I would say anything
that is hardy, say USDA Zone two through USDA Zone seven.
Anything that's hard like anything that is less hardy or
less cold tolerant than the USDA's on seven, you can
probably go with the indoor. If it's cold, hardier, you
have to put it outside. You know, I can't really
(25:04):
give you like a whole long scientific explanation as to why.
I can just tell you from my repeated experience, you
just cannot bring a hardy plant indoors into your house
and expect it to thrive or even survive well.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
And I think in this case my experience has been
the bigger issue here are not the hens and chicks.
It's the plastic strawberry jar. If the soil freezes expands contracts,
it can cause your jar to split. But the plants
are very very tough. Stacy. You know, when push comes
(25:41):
to shovel, if you're concerned and it's easy to pick up,
why not put it in an unheated shed or something
like that.
Speaker 2 (25:48):
Yeah, you know, I think that the container is a
big part of the equation here. I actually missed when
I was just looking at the picture that Dana sent,
I actually missed that she had plastic in her question
because it looked like it was ceramic in her actual
photo of it. And so that's the other thing. If
something is in a container right now that is not
weather proof, which pretty much generally means anything that is
(26:12):
a non weatherproof container would be anything made out of
clay or ceramic. Now, they certainly sell them out there
that they say our weather proof, you know, that have
been fired at extremely high temperature, so it's driven out
all of the moisture. The conundrum here is that any
ceramic or clay container that claims to be weather proof
is also way more expensive. And you're just like, I
(26:34):
am not going to risk this even heavier, because what
happens is that, you know, in cold climates like ours,
you know, the freezing and thawing that porous material takes
in that moisture and then it freezes and that causes
ice crystals to go in there, and the repeated action
of that back and forth can cause it to crack
(26:55):
or break or flake or otherwise leave your poor plant
with its roots exposed to the worst of the winter.
And that's pretty much true. You know, I would say
even in any climate that experiences regular frost. So this
is an issue, even if you're in zone seven, possibly
even zone eight.
Speaker 1 (27:11):
A deal of expansion and contraction and you get the
same thing in the landscape. That's why I've always advised
people that in winter, don't ignore your landscape. Again, here
in Michigan or in the Midwest, we can get periods
where it's super cold and then it warms up and
we get a thaw, or maybe you don't have a
(27:32):
lot of snow cover, and if you heave roots out
of the ground, you'll lose plants. And sometimes you got
to gently press them back into the ground or add
some mult So yeah, yeah, it's an issue.
Speaker 2 (27:45):
And I would say the other thing about hens and
chicks specifically, and I grow a lot of them. I'm
crazy about them, so I'm well versed in this phenomenon.
Very susceptible to winter wetness, very susceptible. So if that rosette,
you know, soaks in any kind of moisture, it is
going to rot it right out, and then you're gonna
(28:06):
come out and spring, and you'll like go to touch
your plant and the whole middle just comes out because
it's all gross and rotten. So I would be concerned, Dana,
that this plant is definitely going to experience rot and
or breakage, and try to get it in the ground.
If you can put these types of hens and chicks
into a toime, like a small enclosed space that tends
(28:26):
to be where they are happiest. I have found. Yes,
you know, they're not the kind of thing that you
just put in the middle of the bed and walk
away from, you know, the old lava rock planters, which
we've talked about before. I have mine in an area
surrounded by brick, and they seem to love that. So
they do seem to prefer these kind of more tight
enclosed areas. You just want to make sure that they
have good drainage, and I'm not sure, especially in winter
(28:49):
with a small container like this, what happens often it
freezes that center stays really really frozen because it thaws
from the outside in, and that causes moisture to back
up and rots out your plant. So to be perfectly safe,
and the plants that do look really lovely, Dana, I
would hate to look free to lose them, even though
it's the week after Thanksgiving. I would definitely get out
(29:10):
there and tuck them here and there around in the
garden if you want them to live.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
Okay, and writes to us, we have a large patch
of rudebecia in our front border garden. It's been beautiful
for several years, but the last few years it's had
severe black spot. We've tried fungal sprays, disposing of leaves
and fall. We try to keep on top of it,
but we have so much rain lately it doesn't seem
to work. It's not killing the plants, but they look unsightly. Yes,
(29:37):
I feel your pain. The leaves get black spots, turn yellow,
curl up. Do you recommend taking them out replacing them
with newer varieties resistant to black spot? Use the same
area in the garden or not? Should the soil be replaced?
Lots of questions. Yeah, and that's great. I would appreciate
any advice. Thank you.
Speaker 2 (29:56):
Know, this is a situation where the the standard variety
of black eyed seasan herbssun from Germany. It's the one
that if you have a black eyed Susan, you almost
certainly have it, it's just becomes so ubiquitous. It's kind
of like what happened with blue spruces back in the
eighties and nineties. It just they were so popular that
it just made it made the disease that they're susceptible
(30:19):
to just much more prevalent and more problematic. And I
think that's happening repeatedly with black eyed Susans across the
country right now.
Speaker 1 (30:27):
I think so too. But I do think you have
to key in on whether or not you have automatic irrigation.
And if you have automatic irrigation and you're running it
on those plants all the time, I say they're going
to be more susceptible.
Speaker 2 (30:40):
Oh absolutely yeah. I mean, as we've said on the
show many times, fungal diseases, whether it is powdery mildew,
black spot septoria, which you almost certainly have here on
your black eyed Susans, circaspara. Sorry hardwords say there, all
of those diseases thrive in the ideal situation of overhead irrigation.
(31:04):
Wet in the morning, same time, every day, all day long,
to dry out, blamo next morning, wet again. That is
the perfect conditions for these two develop blam. There was
a little blod there's an underwhelming blamo. But in any case,
septoria is a huge problem with Black Eyed Susan And
I'm really excited that Proven Winners has a new variety
(31:26):
out called Treasure Trove Redbeckia. It has been completely resistant
to septoria for over seven years, so very high hopes
for this one. So I would say, if yes, absolutely
replace them, replace them with a resistant variety. I think
Treasure Trove would be a great choice, but there are
some other ones out there. And then yet, if you
(31:47):
can adjust your sprinkler system so that it's not just
pelting those plants. You know, a lot of times people
think that if they have an irrigation system, they're going
to have to get some technician out, pay an arm
and a leg, you know, to get adjustment made. The
fact is, depending on your irrigation heads, they very often
can be adjusted with It was a screwdriver, so you
(32:08):
can kind of change the direction, you can change the angle.
This is something that you can look up based on
the brand of system that you have, which you should
be able to find at your control panel. You know,
look it up and you should be able to find
a way to adjust those sprinkler heads. If not when
you go to get your system turned on in spring,
as the technician, if they could just say turn that
one off. I mean, black eyed Susan is pretty drought
(32:31):
tolerant once it's established anyway, so not a plant that
needs a lot of water.
Speaker 1 (32:34):
Make the adjustment by checking the clock or going to
every other day. Personally, I would not water Rudbeckia or
echinations with automatic irrigation. But that's me. I know there's
some people who want to do it for me. I
don't think the plant needs it, and I think it
causes more problems than it's work.
Speaker 2 (32:53):
It can make them really floppy too, in addition to
the disease issues that they can get it kind of
they're kind of like, oh, hey, I got all this water.
I guess I just won't be very strong. Yeah, you know,
they get kind of flabby. So anyway, lots of good
reasons to replace that with a butter plant and make
some changes so that you can enjoy beautiful black eyed Suasans.
Once again, we're going to take a little break. When
we come back, we are finishing up our conversation on
(33:14):
broadleaf evergreens, 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 tested by experts with your success in mind.
Learn more at Proven winnerscolor Choice dot Com.
Speaker 1 (33:37):
Welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show. As we talk
about broadleaf evergreens, once again, I want to reiterate that
it's important to know the position of the sun in winter,
the sun low in the south or prevailing winds, because
that's what's going to do damage to broadleaf evergreens. Also
feed them in the spring, but once you get to
(33:59):
jeely or so feeding probably is not a good idea.
You want them to harden off heading into winter. Holly
tone has generally been my choice Stacy, but again I've
had great success. A rhododendron, for example, is going to
be spending the entire growing season developing its buds for
(34:21):
next year. So a feeding at the right time, maybe
right after it's done blooming, in my opinion, is the
way to go.
Speaker 2 (34:30):
Well, you know, it's one of those things that it's
not unlike your annuals or a vegetable garden or anything
like that. When you're growing a broad leaf evergreen, in many,
many cases, not all, but most, you are growing it
for the flowers. And if you want the best floral display,
a dose of fertilizer I would say at least one
in early spring just as the ground is starting to
thaw is sufficient. But if you give it another one
(34:53):
in like late spring, that will help you get that
floral display that's really going to make a your neighbors go,
what is that? If that's what you want to.
Speaker 1 (35:02):
Do, and we want to do that absolutely. But another
important thing to bear in mind then that I have
found people struggle with, and that is squirrels find them
to be a tasty snack. So squirrels will eat rhododendron buds.
They will also eat camellia buds. They're especially fond of them.
(35:28):
I did a little bit of research found that the
buds contain high calorie nectar and that's why they like them.
So where you have a lot of squirrel pressure, you
may want to consider physical barriers like netting, applying deterrent
sprays or some scare tactics or whatever. Usually the situation,
(35:49):
especially if you have a nice fully mature rhododendron. If
they pick off a few buds, big deal.
Speaker 2 (35:55):
You won't even notice.
Speaker 1 (35:56):
You won't even notice.
Speaker 2 (35:57):
Well, that's interesting because you know, over the years I
have often, you know, helped people get to the root
cause of something not blooming. And I will usually say,
you know, probably deer eight the buds. I've never actually
said to someone maybe the squirrels ate the flower buds.
You know, one time, though, I did right back to
a home gardener from the proven winner's feedback line. It
(36:19):
was not about a broadly fevergreen. I think it's about
a hydrangea, because most of the time when someone asked
me why something's not blooming, it's a hydrangea. And I
wrote them, you know, maybe deer or rabbits wrote the
eight the buds. And they wrote me back, which gave
me a reason to review the message that I had
originally sent them, in which I made a little typo
(36:40):
that said, maybe deer or rabbis ate the buds.
Speaker 1 (36:42):
Ah.
Speaker 2 (36:45):
I don't think they caught it, but cracks me up
to this day.
Speaker 1 (36:48):
Wow, a deer, a rabbi, and a rhododendron walk into
a bar. There's a good joke there. Somewhere. Wow, that's
great a love hate relationship. I didn't expect it to
go there. Let me mention though, that if you do
get the squirrel damage, usually it occurs in late winter.
(37:11):
That's when you're gonna win.
Speaker 2 (37:12):
They're hard up for good foods.
Speaker 1 (37:14):
Yeah, A deer, a rabbi, and a rhododent pretty good, Okay.
I have a love hate relationship with Japanese pierras or
Pierras Japonica. Some people refer to it as lily of
the valley shrub. It's a broad leaf evergreen. You're gonna
get those bell shaped flowers in early spring. They kind
(37:36):
of cascade in early spring. People are drawn to them
in the garden center because the foliage, similar to spyreea,
can be really fire red and very very beautiful, and
so people are drawn to them. But boy, when they
pick them up, my concern is that they plant them
again in the right spot. Usually the north or east
(37:58):
side of the home is better. So it's known as
Lily of the Valley shrub, and I guess I probably
have a problem with it, because again, please hold back
on your notes, your letters, your cards, your messages. But
I do not like lily of the Valley.
Speaker 2 (38:13):
You oh, you don't like Lilia the Valley. I don't, right, well,
it's not the same family.
Speaker 1 (38:17):
I know that.
Speaker 2 (38:18):
You know, it looks like it's enough to remind you
of the planet. You know, I totally feel what you're
saying about Pyrus, which is Lily of the Valley shrub.
It is honestly one of the most beautiful flowering evergreens
that you can possibly grow when it is well grown,
and when it is not, it is just it's just
a pity. It's really really hard to see. And you know,
(38:41):
I lived in New York, New York City for many years,
and I used to love to go to Woodlawn Cemetery
up in the Bronx, and I saw the most glorious
it's an old garden cemetery, just the most glorious Piis
specimens in there. They bloom for weeks. But the soil
there is very cidic. It's very uh more mineral base
because it's all like of the bedrock. It's not sandy there.
(39:04):
Everything was you know, either malt or surrounded by grass,
and they just did beautifully. But out here, you know,
very often our soil is just a little bit too
neutral to elkaline, and it's just it's a tough thing
to see when you've seen one that's so amazing to
see the ones around here just kind of struggling.
Speaker 1 (39:23):
And that's why I say love hate relationship.
Speaker 2 (39:25):
You feel that do it right or.
Speaker 1 (39:27):
Don't do it at all when it comes to that plant.
Both you and I Stacey love camelias Camellia japonica. It's
an evergreen shrub grows well, they can get rather large,
but those elegant rose like looms on the plants are unreal.
(39:47):
They like mild winters. That's our problem here in Michigan
with the camellia or sheltered planting locations, but a staple
in southern gardens and Asian inspired landscape.
Speaker 2 (40:00):
You know, we have had good luck overwintering are just
chill camellias here in West Michigan. They are fall blooming camellias,
so not like the Caelia japonicas. Those are the ones
with a really big, super colorful, high pedal count flowers
that are just so fabulous. The fall ones are definitely
a little bit more refined in their blooming, not quite
so look at me. And we've had very good survival,
(40:24):
especially if you plant them in a protected spot, especially
if you plant them in spring so they have the
whole season to actually get established and grow. But it's
not a guaranteed. And one of the reasons that we
can be successful here so close to the lake shore
in West Michigan is it's a little bit milder, and
if you can couple that with planting it in a
more protected spot in your yard where it's not just
completely exposed, you can have success. But I am definitely
(40:48):
hoping and waiting for the day where we can grow
Camelia japonica.
Speaker 1 (40:52):
You and me both so beautiful. We've got to have
sweet and low sweet box.
Speaker 2 (40:56):
Oh yes, great plant, all.
Speaker 1 (40:57):
Right, I've been working on this all years. Our cocoa
hookyiana hook aa. Yeah yeahok creat that's close. Okay, great
plant doesn't roll off my tongue like yours. But I'm
getting there.
Speaker 2 (41:09):
And that's just a great plant for late winter fragrance.
It's one of the very first things, if not the
first thing to bloom in the landscape in late winter
early spring, and it is just the It's common name
of sweet box comes from the fact that it is
in the bucks a serbox with family, and the fact
that the flowers are just incredibly sweet smelling. This is
a great groundcover plant yep, and thoroughly shade tolerance. So
(41:32):
if you have that like deep dark shade under a tree,
this would be a great choice.
Speaker 1 (41:36):
We saw that in the trial garden last year after
an extended period of really nasty winter weather. It was
still performing and actually quite beautiful. So a great plant
for your landscape.
Speaker 2 (41:50):
Another one though, that's going to need that slightly acidic, moist,
well drained soil. Don't try to grow this one in
your sandy lake shore garden. Ask me how I know?
Speaker 1 (42:00):
What about southern magnolia.
Speaker 2 (42:02):
Ah, so beautiful.
Speaker 1 (42:04):
Velvety bronze undersides.
Speaker 2 (42:06):
Right, such a great plant. Yeah, just a gorgeous, gorgeous plant.
Speaker 1 (42:10):
Ideal for southern climates.
Speaker 2 (42:11):
And you know you see them around here.
Speaker 1 (42:13):
Yeah, you know.
Speaker 2 (42:14):
They definitely don't get to the epic scale that you
see in the south because winter does kind of, you know,
curtail their growth. But you do see them around and
I have even seen them after a very harsh winter
lose all their leaves but still come back and look
perfectly fine within a matter of months.
Speaker 1 (42:30):
But yeah, and you will see them lose their leaves,
causing you to question if they should really be considered
a broad leaf evergreen. But I do think they are classified.
Oh definitely, yea, all right, being the American history not
that I am Mahonia aquafolium or Oregon grape holly.
Speaker 2 (42:50):
Very cool plant.
Speaker 1 (42:51):
Love that plant. Beautiful yellow blooms. That is the official
state flower of the state of Oregon, and also great
for pollinator gardens and dear resistant landscapes. So many different
types of broad leaf evergreens. Again, the key here is
just paying attention and making sure that they're planted in
(43:14):
the right place, paying attention to winter and wind and sun,
and then beyond that stacy, as you've mentioned throughout the show,
how can you beat having an evergreen that also has blooms?
Speaker 2 (43:30):
I know maybe the only way I think you can
beat it is if you are somewhere down south and
it's a camellia and it's under the shade of a
live oak, and it's covered in Spanish moss. Oh wow,
you know, expence.
Speaker 1 (43:44):
Or add to the list. Think about Holly's and Christmas time,
the iconic what is it?
Speaker 2 (43:50):
Burrow lives and Holly jolly Christmas.
Speaker 1 (43:53):
Holly jolly Christmas, and yeah, all of that stuff, so
you know, it kind of gets you in the Christmas,
it does, all right. Well, thank you Stacey, thank you Rick,
thank you Adriana. Thank you for watching us on YouTube
or listening to our radio show version or looking for
our podcast. We appreciate it. Have yourself a great week.
Broadcasting from Studio AA. Here at proven Winter's color Joy Shrubs.
It's the Gardening Simplified Show with Stacey Hervella, me, Rick Weist,
and our engineer and producer Adrianna Robinson. Well, broad leaf
evergreens are powerhouses in the landscape. They give you interest, structure, privacy,
(00:22):
and color every season and with the right care. And
I make sure to note this. With the right care,
and I'm saying especially proper winter protection. So this is
a good time of the year to talk about it.
These resilient plants will thrive for years, adding beauty and
function to your outdoor space. You know, winter can be depressing,
(00:46):
at least it is for me. Skeletal, bare limbed trees
covered in snow. Thank goodness for conifers, and thank goodness
for broad leaf evergreens. To me, the king or queen
contingent on your viewpoint is the rhododendron. I have to
admit that right up front, there are many wonderful broad
(01:09):
leaf evergreens, But the rhododendron, I think it would be
hard to find among shrubs a more striking personality. The
great blossoms are held up like a prize on a
platter or a circlet of thick, dark green leaves that
sometimes mope in winter, but of course also show us
(01:31):
the promise of spring and summer with those thick buds
that are held up during the wintertime waiting for warmer weather.
And you'll find monster rhododendrons in temperate areas like along
the lake shore here in Michigan or Virginia or the
Pacific Northwest, and less so inland. So rhododendrons, Stacey, they
(01:57):
got to be near the.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Top from it, Well, it's all about the variety very
tiny rddendrons, and there are very massive rhododendrons. And if
you go over into the UK, rhododendrons are an invasive nightmare.
So you know, it all depends on where you're at.
I do think we need to take one tiny step
back because we just recently did an episode on conifers,
which of course is what most people think of when
(02:17):
they think of evergreens. But it kind of got me
to thinking that broad leaf evergreens are a term that
gets thrown around a lot at garden centers or in
articles and so forth, and everyone's kind of like, huh,
what is a broad leaf evergreen? Really, and I think
another way, in you know, being in marketing. I'm honestly
surprised this hasn't caught on. A better way to think
(02:39):
about this would be flowering evergreens, because, as we said
in the conifer episode, conifers don't flower. They are not
considered angiosperms are flowering plants, even though they have reproductive
structures that function similarly to flowers and to fruit. Subsequently,
they aren't technically flowering plants. All of the broad leaf
(03:00):
evergreens that we're going to be discussing today are flowering plants.
They are angiosperms. So a better way to think about
these instead of broadleaf evergreens, because like, who really cares
how broad the leaves are and not all of the
leaves are actually very broad. If you take something like
a boxwood, they all flower because they're all flowering plants.
And how great is that?
Speaker 1 (03:20):
That is great? I love that. I'm glad you brought
that up.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
Some marketing makeover for broadleaf evergreens today.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
Speaking of marketing, I was reading a article from nineteen
o two May of nineteen o two in the Atlantic
Francis Duncan. I love what she says. She says, when
deciduous plants enter forced retirement and begin the winter of discontent,
the rhododendron abdicates nothing of its supremacy. Not only do
(03:49):
the leaves maintain their tropical luxuriance, but the hard green buds,
which appeared as soon as possible after the previous blossoms
had passed, are there. And I love that. I love
watching my rhododendrons in winter. And of course, dendron is
the Greek word for tree.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
Yeah, yep. And you know what rodo is? Rodo No,
it's leaf.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
So they're got a sitcom from the nineteen seventies.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
I have to say I do love the name rhoda
for this reason. The Greek translation of the scientific name
rhododendron is literally leaf tree.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
Interesting, there you have it.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
I mean it's descriptive.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
I love that. Yeah. PJM. Rhododendroans. I love them smaller
leafed rhododendrons. I know the mesots from western nurseries on
the East Coast in the Boston area. Imagine named after
Peter John Right.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
Imagine being Peter John Mezzitt and having one of the
most popular landscape plants in North America. Names for you,
and no one calls it by your name. They all
call it PJM. Yeah, I feel bad. I really feel
bad for him.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
It's true, it's true. That's part of the reason and
I bring it up. But what a great plant.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
So shout out to Peter John.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
There you go, Stacey. I'm gonna ask you a question
because I have a new favorite broad leaf evergreen. If
you view it as being a broad leaf evergreen, and
that is Paisley pop.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
That is absolutely bad. It's a if it's an evergreen
and it's a flowering plant, it's a broad leaf evergreen. Again,
it is irrelevant really how broadly leaves are. The differentiating
factor here is that they're all flowering plants. But Paisley
pop is such a cool plant, and it's a North
American native broad leaf evergreen, as a number of broad
(05:36):
leaf evergreens are indeed North American natives, and much like
your beloved rhododendrons, it is in the air casey or
the heather and heath family. So it's going to be
and this is a recurring theme for broad leaf evergreens
in general, it's going to be one of those plants
that wants moist well drained acidic soil exactly. The mythical
(05:57):
moist well drained is cnic soil, But it's true.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
And how many times have I gone out to help
people who are struggling with a broad leaf evergreen or
specifically rhododendrons. I'll go to their house. It's a heavy
clay soil. They have automatic irrigation that's pumping all kinds
of water on those roots every day, and the plant
is yellow, declining or even dying because of that. So
(06:22):
you're right, acidic soil, somewhat acidic soil, but well drained
soil that has organic matter in it. Does that make sense?
Speaker 2 (06:30):
Absolutely? They love the organic matter. It is so important
for them because if there is one thing that they
don't like, probably even more so than alkaline soil, is
hot dry soil. They're shallow rooted a lot like hydrangeas are,
and so if they have like shallow or hot dry soil,
(06:51):
those roots are just going to cook. And if you
plant a rhododendron, I think you will notice that the
roots are a bit different than other types of plants are.
So organic matter mulch is so crucial with any of
these broad leaf evergreens in keeping them happy in keeping
that moisture and soil acidity and organic matter levels at
(07:12):
the right you know point for them.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
With proven winners. Of course, there's black hat rhododendron, which
is a favorite of mine, dandyman. And then the perfect
amundo double pink reblooming azaleas or the reblooming azaleas Zone
six B. I haven't tried one yet here on the
Lake Michigan Lake shore, but I'm tempted to try.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
You know, I have seen them survive winter here plenty,
and you know, not with any kind of special uh
you know, treatment or anything like that, but they certainly
can survive. But very often I have seen that you
would wish that they hadn't survived and they you wish
they would just have died so you could take them out.
Because what often happens, even though yes they're hardy to
(07:56):
do USDA is on six B, they can survive. Area
will often take out those flower buds so you don't
get the spring flower buds, and they set the plant
back so far that it takes it all season to
get to the rebloom and it doesn't have the energy
for the rebloom. So you know, very often that's a
real shortcoming of hardiness zones in general is that they
(08:17):
only address what a plant can survive, not the right
conditions for you to get that kind of peak performance.
And I will say, as we're talking about broad leaf evergreens,
by and large, these are not the hardiest plants, which
is not necessarily surprising when you think about the fact
that there are these, indeed often broad leaves. That makes
(08:39):
them much more susceptible to damage in the winter compared
to something like an evergreen or a conifer, like we
talked about an our conifer show a few weeks ago,
which are going to have those very minimal scale like
or needle like leaves where the leaf surfaces are dramatically reduced,
so it's better able to withstand winter, sun, winter wind,
all of that, you know, all of those challenges. Broad
(09:00):
leaf evergreens don't do that. Rhododendrons have some ability to
adapt to cold by curling their leaves and reducing the
amount of leaf surface exposed to the sun and wind.
But overall, I don't think, I mean, I can't think
off Hannah. It certainly proved me wrong. If you can
leave a comment on our YouTube version or email US.
I don't think there are any broad leaf evergreens hardier
(09:20):
than Zone four.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
Well, I'll tell you what it's important in areas where
the ground freezes. To your point, Stacey, that you know
where the sun is in winter, and it's low in
the south, so many times the north or east side
of a structure is a great place for broad leaf evergreens. Also,
coming from the garden center industry, I recommend the use
of anti descate sprays. We can talk about them further
(09:46):
in segment four, but they you'll find them in a
garden center, usually under the name of wilt proof or
wilt stop. But they are pine resin sprays that helps
hold the moisture in the foliage over winter when the
plant can't take a drink the ground is frozen. Now, again,
(10:06):
coming from the garden center industry, I thought, well, you
know what, I'll try some of this. I've tried it
in my hair before, in your hair for a hold, Yes,
because it's just a natural pine resin spray. Hair spray
for my broad leaf plant. At the bottle, skeptical, I
looked a scant some left in the bottom to spare,
(10:28):
so I tried some in my hair. Now I'm stylish
and anti desa. Can't my broad leaf next year? Will
flower can now stand up to winter, not cower still?
I pine for your approval with this spray. The trick
is the removal. I'm going inside now to shower. It
took me weeks to get it out of my hair.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
Was it an accident or was it on purpose?
Speaker 1 (10:53):
I did it on purpose. Plants on Trial is next
here on the Gardening Simplified Show.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
Beautify your home and community with proven Winter'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 Colour Choice dot com. Greeting's gardening friends, and welcome
(11:26):
back to the Gardening Simplified Show, where we are talking
about broadleaf evergreens as kind of a counterpart to our
conifer show that we did a few weeks ago, where
we told you all about conifers and what makes a
conifer a conifer. Now we're talking to you all about
broad leaf evergreens and what makes a broad leaf evergreen
a broadleaf evergreen, and the short version of that is
(11:48):
just that they are flowering plants that are evergreen, So
that means that you get great evergreen coverage and you
get flowers. Now, of course, sometimes the flowers are much
more dramatic and showy, and the flowers are the thing.
There are also many broad leaf evergreens where the flowers
are very minimal. They're still present and they're still true flowers,
(12:09):
but you know, the main thing in their cases is
more of the broad leaf evergreen aspects than the flowering
aspect and.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
Stacy, would it be fair to say that on a
number of broad leaf evergreens the flowers are super important
because they're a component of berry production.
Speaker 2 (12:25):
You are correct about that, yes, thank you. There are
a number of broad leaf evergreens. I think sort of
this the stereotypical or i'll say archetypical broad leaf evergreen
I think for most people is holly.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
You know, we all know that is an evergreen, and
we know that it flowers and then gets those beautiful
bright red berries, so that is kind of like the
standard bearer for all of them, and some get grape fruit.
I think if you live in a milder climate, broad
leaf evergreens are much more common and much more the
norm than they are for us up here. You don't
(12:56):
see a whole ton of like broad leaf evergreen hedges
for us up here, whereas if you go down south
you're gonna see lots and lots of different plants. Camellias
probably my favorite broad leaf evergreen, even though I cannot
grow it, love them so much. They're so beautiful, So
definitely much more popular down south than here, are in
milder climates than here, But there's plenty that we can grow.
And I'm glad that you brought up holly because it's
(13:19):
quite an interesting and diverse group of plants, and so
not unlike hydrangeas, where if someone says, hey, think of
a holly, or think of a hydrangea, one specific type
comes to mind, and of course for holly, that is
the standard Christmas holly with the pointy leaves and the
beautiful red berries. But the truth is that hollies are
actually an extremely diverse group of plants. There are over
(13:42):
four hundred different species of holly or the genus Islex
that are found worldwide, with the highest concentrations in subtropical
China and South America, and of course we have lots
of different native hollys here in Michigan. It's also there's
also jeous varieties in there, which of course you know,
are beautiful winterberry holly. Ilex for dislotta is a deciduous holly.
(14:07):
And within that group of holly's there are some that
are trees, like our native eastern holly ilex opeka, and
there's vines which we don't really have ilex vines here
in North America. So, you know, with having so much
diversity in the genus ilex or holly, it's not really
(14:28):
surprising that there's so many different ways that we use
holly in our landscape. And that is what is prompting
today's plant on trial, which is gembox inkberry holly. And
it is one of the most versatile landscape plants that
we offer here at proven Winter's Color Choice Shrups. So
it is known as Islex glabra. Glabra in Latin means bald,
(14:51):
and you might be like, hey, how does that fit
into this plant? It is still a broad leaf evergreen,
but the stems are smooth, so apparently some are you know,
this is all like taxonomy stuff where botanists get out
their loops and they look real closely and say, oh,
you know, the involucre is slightly haired, so now we're
gonna call this one the bald one, even though like
(15:13):
it's not really any difference.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
To crazy when that happens.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
Yeah, well, you know, they they're into the details. There's
something for all of us out there in this great,
big world. And it's a compact round evergreen. It grows
two to three feet tall and wide. It naturally grows
as a rounded mound. And one of the reasons that
we introduced gembox ink very holly was as an alternative
(15:38):
to another broadleaf evergreen, and that is boxwood exactly.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
And in the garden center we have them displayed right
next to each other, and people scratch their heads they
see they're like, what is this?
Speaker 2 (15:51):
What is this? Well, you know, boxwood is, honestly, I
have to say, one of my favorite plants. It is
kind of the no brainer for me in my garden
because it does so well. It's honestly one of the
most deer resistant plants. That's why it's the flagship plant
in our deer proof line. Here at proven Winter's color
choice shrubs. It's shade tolerant, it's sun tolerant. It doesn't
(16:13):
need acidic soil like a number of broad leaf evergreens
truly require acidic soil. Boxwood does not, and so it's
just a great all purpose plant for adding order to
the chaos of my garden. That's one of the reasons
that I love it.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
So.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
With boxwood being so great, why in the world would
anybody want an alternative to it? Well, if you live
in certain areas of North America, you have already had
the answer to this question in your head, and that
is that boxwood is setten by a number of pests
and diseases. Now, so the big one is boxwood blight.
Boxwood blight is a fungal disease that's started in Europe,
(16:48):
and it is well entrenched in Europe and kind of widespread,
and they've found ways to deal with it. It has not, fortunately,
knock on wood marched as quickly in the US as
they had originally feared that it would. It's mostly been
fairly well contained. Of course, that could change it any minute,
But you can't say the same thing about the box
(17:09):
tree moth. And I will tell you this is This
has been a very interesting situation because a year ago,
you know, in twenty twenty four in the Detroit area,
you didn't hear anything about box tree moth. No one
had it, no one thought about it. And twenty twenty
five in the Metro Detroit area was the year of
the box tree moth. And I remember going to the
(17:31):
garden center in spraying and seeing all these signs about it.
And then my mom got it on her box with
you know, right at her front yard. And so it's
spreading so quickly, and it is possible to manage the
box tree moth. They used a spray and actually I
was really shocked at how well it made a recovery
after being sprayed, which you do have to spray for
(17:52):
the caterpillars so that they don't of course eat all
of your box with foliage. And some people, even aside
from these sort of liabils, some people don't like boxwood smell,
you know, the certain especially the English boxwood boxes sempervirons
English boxwood. Yes, yes it has a smell. That's yeah.
It smells like a litter box. And you know, I'll
(18:14):
tell you if you've ever been around one on a
hot summer day. It is not really a pleasant experience
if you have a boxwood and you are wondering why
you smell litter box every time you were around it
on a hot summer day. No, it is not the
neighborhood cats. It is your boxwood, and some people are
very sensitive to that smell. And the other reason why
someone might want an alternative to box what is boxwood
(18:36):
is not native to North America and gembox inkberry holly
as all inkberries are native to eastern North America. So
there's a lot of good reasons to swap out boxwood,
or if you're adding to your garden to plant gembox
or strong box, which is a companion plant to that
inkberry holly instead of boxwood, just as kind of a
(18:57):
hedge against all of these, you know, things that are
potentially going to threaten boxwood. Now, as good as it is,
does have a couple of drawbacks that I just need
to be honest, where it can't really compare to boxwood.
It is not as shade tolerant. Okay has good shade tolerance,
but this is not going to be one of those
plants for deep shade like boxwood is. If you grow
(19:17):
it in very deep shade. One of the great features
of gembox is that it stays very dense and branch
to the ground. In too much shade, it's going to
get sparse, it's going to get open, and you're not
really going to see that great feature that it has
of staying really dense and branched. So part shade is
the most it's really going to be able to take.
It does need moist, acidic soil. And you can ask
(19:38):
me how I know because I have attempted to grow
gembox instead of boxwood in my garden many times, and
my garden is just way too dry and my soil
is pretty close to neutral. So between those two things,
it's just not happening for me. So, but what.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
About winter, because you know I struggle with boxwood sometimes
in winter winter damage. How how does gembox right?
Speaker 2 (20:00):
So, gembox as a broad leaf evergreen is still somewhat
susceptible to winter damage. And you know when we talk
about winter damage on broad leaf evergreens, we're really just
saying that the sun, the wind, all of those factors
are you know, working on the plant through winter. The
soil is frozen, it can't take any water to replace
what's being lost to sunlight and wind evaporation. And what
(20:21):
can happen in some cases is plants will bronze, and
that is a very common reaction of boxwood. Sometimes they
turn brown and die entirely. Gembox is still susceptible to
some winter damage. But what I have found here is
it recovers a lot better and a lot more quickly
from winter damage compared to boxwood. Because boxwood is a
pretty slow growing plant, gembox is relatively quick by comparison,
(20:45):
So it is a much better recovery with gembox or
strong box than it is with your standard boxwood. So
that's that's a good feature. It's also a better flowering plant,
so boxwood does flower. Most people have never seen a
boxwood flower because they've just never noticed it because it
has these kind of nondescript green flowers, sort of nestled
down in the foliage, inconspicuous. If you happen to notice
(21:08):
a boxwood flowering, it is probably because you heard the
bees on it. Because it blooms very early in spring.
It's very fragrant and full of nectar. And I feel
like every time I've noticed boxwood's flowering, it's because I've
heard buzzing. I'm like, oh my gosh, is there a drone, Like,
where's that coming from? And no, it's just bees on
the boxwood. But gem box inkberry holly has cute little
(21:30):
white flowers, cup shaped and it is a female variety,
so if you have a male nearby, it will set
those nice blue black inkberries. And if you are, you know,
costplaying as a revolutionary war soldier, you can make ink
out of em and write letters back home. So it's
just a cool plant. It's hardy down to USDA Zone five,
heat talant to the USDA Zone nine, and really just
(21:51):
a great alternative for boxwood if you have the right
conditions for it and a're looking for something a little different.
Speaker 1 (21:57):
So my dearest abagade.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
Forte, on that note, we're gonna take a little break
and we'll open the mailbag and maybe that letter will
be in it. At Proven Winners Color Choice Shrubs, we
know that a better landscape starts with a better shrub.
Our team of experts tests and evaluates all of our
(22:22):
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
at your local garden center or learn more at proven
Winner's Color Choice dot com. Greeting's Gardening friends, and welcome
(22:44):
back to the Gardening Simplified Show, where we're talking all
about broadleaf evergreens. For a couple of reasons, it's a
good companion to our earlier conifer show and you can
find that here on YouTube or from your favorite podcast platform.
And also because you know, broadleaf evergreens are about to
take a pretty starring role in the landscape as we
head into winter, not.
Speaker 1 (23:05):
Only a starring role, but also will be subject to
weather conditions that can do damage.
Speaker 2 (23:11):
Yes for sure. So it's a good opportunity to assess
the broadleafevergreens that you do have, think about ones that
you might want to add next spring, because they are
great plants. I think every every landscape needs a good
mix of conifers and deciduous plants and broadleafever So if
you have any questions about broadleafever greens or anything in
(23:31):
the gardening world, you can always reach us at Gardening
simplified on air dot Com. There's a contact form there.
You can also leave a comment here on YouTube if
you ask a question. Adriana will pass that along to
us if she can't answer it herself, and we will
be happy to help you with that if we can. So,
I know, going into winter kind of people have a
different set of questions than they do in the height
(23:52):
of the season, where it's why is this happening? What's
eating this? And so forth? And now people are like
a little bit more concerned about what they can or
should do moving into the dormant season. And I thought
that's why Dana's question here was a good question.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
Yeah, Dana asked, I live in Scott's Bluff, Nebraska's Zone
five A. I have a hen and chicks plant in
a small plastic strawberry planter. Will this over winter outside
or should I move it to a protected area? Thank
you for your advice.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
Right, So, she did send a picture of this, so
we'll have that on YouTube so you can take a
look at what Dana is dealing with. You know, I
wanted to answer this question because people do often ask,
you know, I have such and such in a container,
what should I do? And The bottom line is this,
if you have a hardy plant, which is to say,
a plant that would otherwise be able to survive winter
(24:43):
outdoors in a cold climate. So I would say anything
that is hardy, say USDA Zone two through USDA Zone seven.
Anything that's hard like anything that is less hardy or
less cold tolerant than the USDA's on seven, you can
probably go with the indoor. If it's cold, hardier, you
have to put it outside. You know, I can't really
(25:04):
give you like a whole long scientific explanation as to why.
I can just tell you from my repeated experience, you
just cannot bring a hardy plant indoors into your house
and expect it to thrive or even survive well.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
And I think in this case my experience has been
the bigger issue here are not the hens and chicks.
It's the plastic strawberry jar. If the soil freezes expands contracts,
it can cause your jar to split. But the plants
are very very tough. Stacy. You know, when push comes
(25:41):
to shovel, if you're concerned and it's easy to pick up,
why not put it in an unheated shed or something
like that.
Speaker 2 (25:48):
Yeah, you know, I think that the container is a
big part of the equation here. I actually missed when
I was just looking at the picture that Dana sent,
I actually missed that she had plastic in her question
because it looked like it was ceramic in her actual
photo of it. And so that's the other thing. If
something is in a container right now that is not
weather proof, which pretty much generally means anything that is
(26:12):
a non weatherproof container would be anything made out of
clay or ceramic. Now, they certainly sell them out there
that they say our weather proof, you know, that have
been fired at extremely high temperature, so it's driven out
all of the moisture. The conundrum here is that any
ceramic or clay container that claims to be weather proof
is also way more expensive. And you're just like, I
(26:34):
am not going to risk this even heavier, because what
happens is that, you know, in cold climates like ours,
you know, the freezing and thawing that porous material takes
in that moisture and then it freezes and that causes
ice crystals to go in there, and the repeated action
of that back and forth can cause it to crack
(26:55):
or break or flake or otherwise leave your poor plant
with its roots exposed to the worst of the winter.
And that's pretty much true. You know, I would say
even in any climate that experiences regular frost. So this
is an issue, even if you're in zone seven, possibly
even zone eight.
Speaker 1 (27:11):
A deal of expansion and contraction and you get the
same thing in the landscape. That's why I've always advised
people that in winter, don't ignore your landscape. Again, here
in Michigan or in the Midwest, we can get periods
where it's super cold and then it warms up and
we get a thaw, or maybe you don't have a
(27:32):
lot of snow cover, and if you heave roots out
of the ground, you'll lose plants. And sometimes you got
to gently press them back into the ground or add
some mult So yeah, yeah, it's an issue.
Speaker 2 (27:45):
And I would say the other thing about hens and
chicks specifically, and I grow a lot of them. I'm
crazy about them, so I'm well versed in this phenomenon.
Very susceptible to winter wetness, very susceptible. So if that rosette,
you know, soaks in any kind of moisture, it is
going to rot it right out, and then you're gonna
(28:06):
come out and spring, and you'll like go to touch
your plant and the whole middle just comes out because
it's all gross and rotten. So I would be concerned, Dana,
that this plant is definitely going to experience rot and
or breakage, and try to get it in the ground.
If you can put these types of hens and chicks
into a toime, like a small enclosed space that tends
(28:26):
to be where they are happiest. I have found. Yes,
you know, they're not the kind of thing that you
just put in the middle of the bed and walk
away from, you know, the old lava rock planters, which
we've talked about before. I have mine in an area
surrounded by brick, and they seem to love that. So
they do seem to prefer these kind of more tight
enclosed areas. You just want to make sure that they
have good drainage, and I'm not sure, especially in winter
(28:49):
with a small container like this, what happens often it
freezes that center stays really really frozen because it thaws
from the outside in, and that causes moisture to back
up and rots out your plant. So to be perfectly safe,
and the plants that do look really lovely, Dana, I
would hate to look free to lose them, even though
it's the week after Thanksgiving. I would definitely get out
(29:10):
there and tuck them here and there around in the
garden if you want them to live.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
Okay, and writes to us, we have a large patch
of rudebecia in our front border garden. It's been beautiful
for several years, but the last few years it's had
severe black spot. We've tried fungal sprays, disposing of leaves
and fall. We try to keep on top of it,
but we have so much rain lately it doesn't seem
to work. It's not killing the plants, but they look unsightly. Yes,
(29:37):
I feel your pain. The leaves get black spots, turn yellow,
curl up. Do you recommend taking them out replacing them
with newer varieties resistant to black spot? Use the same
area in the garden or not? Should the soil be replaced?
Lots of questions. Yeah, and that's great. I would appreciate
any advice. Thank you.
Speaker 2 (29:56):
Know, this is a situation where the the standard variety
of black eyed seasan herbssun from Germany. It's the one
that if you have a black eyed Susan, you almost
certainly have it, it's just becomes so ubiquitous. It's kind
of like what happened with blue spruces back in the
eighties and nineties. It just they were so popular that
it just made it made the disease that they're susceptible
(30:19):
to just much more prevalent and more problematic. And I
think that's happening repeatedly with black eyed Susans across the
country right now.
Speaker 1 (30:27):
I think so too. But I do think you have
to key in on whether or not you have automatic irrigation.
And if you have automatic irrigation and you're running it
on those plants all the time, I say they're going
to be more susceptible.
Speaker 2 (30:40):
Oh absolutely yeah. I mean, as we've said on the
show many times, fungal diseases, whether it is powdery mildew,
black spot septoria, which you almost certainly have here on
your black eyed Susans, circaspara. Sorry hardwords say there, all
of those diseases thrive in the ideal situation of overhead irrigation.
(31:04):
Wet in the morning, same time, every day, all day long,
to dry out, blamo next morning, wet again. That is
the perfect conditions for these two develop blam. There was
a little blod there's an underwhelming blamo. But in any case,
septoria is a huge problem with Black Eyed Susan And
I'm really excited that Proven Winners has a new variety
(31:26):
out called Treasure Trove Redbeckia. It has been completely resistant
to septoria for over seven years, so very high hopes
for this one. So I would say, if yes, absolutely
replace them, replace them with a resistant variety. I think
Treasure Trove would be a great choice, but there are
some other ones out there. And then yet, if you
(31:47):
can adjust your sprinkler system so that it's not just
pelting those plants. You know, a lot of times people
think that if they have an irrigation system, they're going
to have to get some technician out, pay an arm
and a leg, you know, to get adjustment made. The
fact is, depending on your irrigation heads, they very often
can be adjusted with It was a screwdriver, so you
(32:08):
can kind of change the direction, you can change the angle.
This is something that you can look up based on
the brand of system that you have, which you should
be able to find at your control panel. You know,
look it up and you should be able to find
a way to adjust those sprinkler heads. If not when
you go to get your system turned on in spring,
as the technician, if they could just say turn that
one off. I mean, black eyed Susan is pretty drought
(32:31):
tolerant once it's established anyway, so not a plant that
needs a lot of water.
Speaker 1 (32:34):
Make the adjustment by checking the clock or going to
every other day. Personally, I would not water Rudbeckia or
echinations with automatic irrigation. But that's me. I know there's
some people who want to do it for me. I
don't think the plant needs it, and I think it
causes more problems than it's work.
Speaker 2 (32:53):
It can make them really floppy too, in addition to
the disease issues that they can get it kind of
they're kind of like, oh, hey, I got all this water.
I guess I just won't be very strong. Yeah, you know,
they get kind of flabby. So anyway, lots of good
reasons to replace that with a butter plant and make
some changes so that you can enjoy beautiful black eyed Suasans.
Once again, we're going to take a little break. When
we come back, we are finishing up our conversation on
(33:14):
broadleaf evergreens, 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 tested by experts with your success in mind.
Learn more at Proven winnerscolor Choice dot Com.
Speaker 1 (33:37):
Welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show. As we talk
about broadleaf evergreens, once again, I want to reiterate that
it's important to know the position of the sun in winter,
the sun low in the south or prevailing winds, because
that's what's going to do damage to broadleaf evergreens. Also
feed them in the spring, but once you get to
(33:59):
jeely or so feeding probably is not a good idea.
You want them to harden off heading into winter. Holly
tone has generally been my choice Stacy, but again I've
had great success. A rhododendron, for example, is going to
be spending the entire growing season developing its buds for
(34:21):
next year. So a feeding at the right time, maybe
right after it's done blooming, in my opinion, is the
way to go.
Speaker 2 (34:30):
Well, you know, it's one of those things that it's
not unlike your annuals or a vegetable garden or anything
like that. When you're growing a broad leaf evergreen, in many,
many cases, not all, but most, you are growing it
for the flowers. And if you want the best floral display,
a dose of fertilizer I would say at least one
in early spring just as the ground is starting to
thaw is sufficient. But if you give it another one
(34:53):
in like late spring, that will help you get that
floral display that's really going to make a your neighbors go,
what is that? If that's what you want to.
Speaker 1 (35:02):
Do, and we want to do that absolutely. But another
important thing to bear in mind then that I have
found people struggle with, and that is squirrels find them
to be a tasty snack. So squirrels will eat rhododendron buds.
They will also eat camellia buds. They're especially fond of them.
(35:28):
I did a little bit of research found that the
buds contain high calorie nectar and that's why they like them.
So where you have a lot of squirrel pressure, you
may want to consider physical barriers like netting, applying deterrent
sprays or some scare tactics or whatever. Usually the situation,
(35:49):
especially if you have a nice fully mature rhododendron. If
they pick off a few buds, big deal.
Speaker 2 (35:55):
You won't even notice.
Speaker 1 (35:56):
You won't even notice.
Speaker 2 (35:57):
Well, that's interesting because you know, over the years I
have often, you know, helped people get to the root
cause of something not blooming. And I will usually say,
you know, probably deer eight the buds. I've never actually
said to someone maybe the squirrels ate the flower buds.
You know, one time, though, I did right back to
a home gardener from the proven winner's feedback line. It
(36:19):
was not about a broadly fevergreen. I think it's about
a hydrangea, because most of the time when someone asked
me why something's not blooming, it's a hydrangea. And I
wrote them, you know, maybe deer or rabbits wrote the
eight the buds. And they wrote me back, which gave
me a reason to review the message that I had
originally sent them, in which I made a little typo
(36:40):
that said, maybe deer or rabbis ate the buds.
Speaker 1 (36:42):
Ah.
Speaker 2 (36:45):
I don't think they caught it, but cracks me up
to this day.
Speaker 1 (36:48):
Wow, a deer, a rabbi, and a rhododendron walk into
a bar. There's a good joke there. Somewhere. Wow, that's
great a love hate relationship. I didn't expect it to
go there. Let me mention though, that if you do
get the squirrel damage, usually it occurs in late winter.
(37:11):
That's when you're gonna win.
Speaker 2 (37:12):
They're hard up for good foods.
Speaker 1 (37:14):
Yeah, A deer, a rabbi, and a rhododent pretty good, Okay.
I have a love hate relationship with Japanese pierras or
Pierras Japonica. Some people refer to it as lily of
the valley shrub. It's a broad leaf evergreen. You're gonna
get those bell shaped flowers in early spring. They kind
(37:36):
of cascade in early spring. People are drawn to them
in the garden center because the foliage, similar to spyreea,
can be really fire red and very very beautiful, and
so people are drawn to them. But boy, when they
pick them up, my concern is that they plant them
again in the right spot. Usually the north or east
(37:58):
side of the home is better. So it's known as
Lily of the Valley shrub, and I guess I probably
have a problem with it, because again, please hold back
on your notes, your letters, your cards, your messages. But
I do not like lily of the Valley.
Speaker 2 (38:13):
You oh, you don't like Lilia the Valley. I don't, right, well,
it's not the same family.
Speaker 1 (38:17):
I know that.
Speaker 2 (38:18):
You know, it looks like it's enough to remind you
of the planet. You know, I totally feel what you're
saying about Pyrus, which is Lily of the Valley shrub.
It is honestly one of the most beautiful flowering evergreens
that you can possibly grow when it is well grown,
and when it is not, it is just it's just
a pity. It's really really hard to see. And you know,
(38:41):
I lived in New York, New York City for many years,
and I used to love to go to Woodlawn Cemetery
up in the Bronx, and I saw the most glorious
it's an old garden cemetery, just the most glorious Piis
specimens in there. They bloom for weeks. But the soil
there is very cidic. It's very uh more mineral base
because it's all like of the bedrock. It's not sandy there.
(39:04):
Everything was you know, either malt or surrounded by grass,
and they just did beautifully. But out here, you know,
very often our soil is just a little bit too
neutral to elkaline, and it's just it's a tough thing
to see when you've seen one that's so amazing to
see the ones around here just kind of struggling.
Speaker 1 (39:23):
And that's why I say love hate relationship.
Speaker 2 (39:25):
You feel that do it right or.
Speaker 1 (39:27):
Don't do it at all when it comes to that plant.
Both you and I Stacey love camelias Camellia japonica. It's
an evergreen shrub grows well, they can get rather large,
but those elegant rose like looms on the plants are unreal.
(39:47):
They like mild winters. That's our problem here in Michigan
with the camellia or sheltered planting locations, but a staple
in southern gardens and Asian inspired landscape.
Speaker 2 (40:00):
You know, we have had good luck overwintering are just
chill camellias here in West Michigan. They are fall blooming camellias,
so not like the Caelia japonicas. Those are the ones
with a really big, super colorful, high pedal count flowers
that are just so fabulous. The fall ones are definitely
a little bit more refined in their blooming, not quite
so look at me. And we've had very good survival,
(40:24):
especially if you plant them in a protected spot, especially
if you plant them in spring so they have the
whole season to actually get established and grow. But it's
not a guaranteed. And one of the reasons that we
can be successful here so close to the lake shore
in West Michigan is it's a little bit milder, and
if you can couple that with planting it in a
more protected spot in your yard where it's not just
completely exposed, you can have success. But I am definitely
(40:48):
hoping and waiting for the day where we can grow
Camelia japonica.
Speaker 1 (40:52):
You and me both so beautiful. We've got to have
sweet and low sweet box.
Speaker 2 (40:56):
Oh yes, great plant, all.
Speaker 1 (40:57):
Right, I've been working on this all years. Our cocoa
hookyiana hook aa. Yeah yeahok creat that's close. Okay, great
plant doesn't roll off my tongue like yours. But I'm
getting there.
Speaker 2 (41:09):
And that's just a great plant for late winter fragrance.
It's one of the very first things, if not the
first thing to bloom in the landscape in late winter
early spring, and it is just the It's common name
of sweet box comes from the fact that it is
in the bucks a serbox with family, and the fact
that the flowers are just incredibly sweet smelling. This is
a great groundcover plant yep, and thoroughly shade tolerance. So
(41:32):
if you have that like deep dark shade under a tree,
this would be a great choice.
Speaker 1 (41:36):
We saw that in the trial garden last year after
an extended period of really nasty winter weather. It was
still performing and actually quite beautiful. So a great plant
for your landscape.
Speaker 2 (41:50):
Another one though, that's going to need that slightly acidic, moist,
well drained soil. Don't try to grow this one in
your sandy lake shore garden. Ask me how I know?
Speaker 1 (42:00):
What about southern magnolia.
Speaker 2 (42:02):
Ah, so beautiful.
Speaker 1 (42:04):
Velvety bronze undersides.
Speaker 2 (42:06):
Right, such a great plant. Yeah, just a gorgeous, gorgeous plant.
Speaker 1 (42:10):
Ideal for southern climates.
Speaker 2 (42:11):
And you know you see them around here.
Speaker 1 (42:13):
Yeah, you know.
Speaker 2 (42:14):
They definitely don't get to the epic scale that you
see in the south because winter does kind of, you know,
curtail their growth. But you do see them around and
I have even seen them after a very harsh winter
lose all their leaves but still come back and look
perfectly fine within a matter of months.
Speaker 1 (42:30):
But yeah, and you will see them lose their leaves,
causing you to question if they should really be considered
a broad leaf evergreen. But I do think they are classified.
Oh definitely, yea, all right, being the American history not
that I am Mahonia aquafolium or Oregon grape holly.
Speaker 2 (42:50):
Very cool plant.
Speaker 1 (42:51):
Love that plant. Beautiful yellow blooms. That is the official
state flower of the state of Oregon, and also great
for pollinator gardens and dear resistant landscapes. So many different
types of broad leaf evergreens. Again, the key here is
just paying attention and making sure that they're planted in
(43:14):
the right place, paying attention to winter and wind and sun,
and then beyond that stacy, as you've mentioned throughout the show,
how can you beat having an evergreen that also has blooms?
Speaker 2 (43:30):
I know maybe the only way I think you can
beat it is if you are somewhere down south and
it's a camellia and it's under the shade of a
live oak, and it's covered in Spanish moss. Oh wow,
you know, expence.
Speaker 1 (43:44):
Or add to the list. Think about Holly's and Christmas time,
the iconic what is it?
Speaker 2 (43:50):
Burrow lives and Holly jolly Christmas.
Speaker 1 (43:53):
Holly jolly Christmas, and yeah, all of that stuff, so
you know, it kind of gets you in the Christmas,
it does, all right. Well, thank you Stacey, thank you Rick,
thank you Adriana. Thank you for watching us on YouTube
or listening to our radio show version or looking for
our podcast. We appreciate it. Have yourself a great week.
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