September 20, 2025 • 44 mins
Winter can be a drag, but having winter interest in the garden can really brighten up a gardener’s mood. We all appreciate winter interest in the garden, but often, we forget to plan for it. Hear some timely advice on what you can plant in fall to make your winter more enjoyable.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Broadcasting from Studio A here at Proven Winters Color Joy Shrubs.
It's time for the Gardening Simplified Show with Stacy Hrvilla,
me Rick Weist, and our engineer and producer Adrianna Robinson. Well,
today we're going to talk about winter interest the winter garden,
because you do need to plan ahead. Evergreens provide the gravitas,
(00:24):
the foundational element, and deciduous plants add framework, but there's
so much more than that. And without some thoughtful plant
placement and plant choices and structure in your landscape, well,
January and February can be maybe downright depressing. And so
(00:44):
winter's a great time to assess the structure or lack
of structure in your landscape. And here's an important point.
Anywhere in the Midwest to the north. Snow, of course,
can be the great equalizer in our young Once we
get some snow, everybody's yards pretty much look the same
(01:06):
until we have a thaw. But without the element of
snow cover. And there are many people who listen and
watch our show who go through winter but don't have
the snow cover. There's no hiding. You can run, but
you can't hide. It's kind of like driving to work
(01:26):
for a long day of meetings and you're sipping on
some coffee and eating a little snack and you spill
on your shirt. It's going to be there the rest
of the.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Day, right, It is true. Now, I do want to
clarify for our listeners. As you know, neither Rick nor
I are big fans of winter, and we're not trying
to rush headlong into our least favorite season. But we
did notice that every time we give advice about improving
your landscape for winter, it tends to be in winter
(01:56):
when you can't do a darn thing about it, and
you know, by the time spring rolls around, you're not like, oh, gee,
I really want to invest in my winter landscape. Where
is now? Thinking ahead, you know you can make some
decisions that will make your winter a lot more interesting.
And again, as you said, Rick, that's true if you
live in a cold climate like us here in Michigan,
(02:16):
or if you live in a warm climate. And I
would say that if you live in a warm climate,
planning to have green is potentially even more important. I know,
I was really shocked when Judson Lacompte, our new plant,
our new product development manager, moved here from Texas lifelong Southerner,
he said, I love Michigan in winter. It's so green.
And I looked at him like he was an alien.
(02:39):
You know, I would think that in the South, that's
where it's green, but he said, no, everything is very brown,
especially the lawns and everything. In the South.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
You just nail down a perfect point there the turf.
So if you think about the turf in the South,
you're looking at Zoisia grass, Bermuda grass, Saint Augustine, and
it turns brown in winter. Now Here in Michigan, or
in Canada or northern reaches of the United States, when
we get a thaw or we get into winter, the
(03:08):
turf can be green. They're cool seasoned grasses. And I
usually would add to that, I would apply some malorganite,
iron and sulfur in fall. Boy, you've got nice green
grass when you don't have snow cover. Also, I wanted
to mention that something that really hit home with me
(03:28):
is we've gone through some rough winters. But that winter
of two thy fourteen, it was January to March of
two thousand, actually December of twenty thirteen through March of
twenty fourteen, unbelievable.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
I don't want to talk about it. It was horrible.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
Text it was. It was horrible. As a matter of fact,
I was looking up here where we live along Lake Michigan.
It reached ninety three point three percent ice cover on
March eight, twenty fifteen. That's how cold it was, and
that is very, very unusual. And by the way, for
(04:06):
winter interest in your landscape, you want to do things
that attract birds, possibly plants that produce berries for birds.
And open water was a serious problem during that winter
for our YouTube viewers. I've got a couple of pictures
from my house where I open the service door to
the groage. You can see how much snow there is,
(04:28):
or you couldn't even see the house from the street
anymore because of all the snow. So it made a
real impact. But in the bleakest, coldest, darkest days of winter,
structure is super important. So to add winter interest to
your landscape, incorporate plants with colorful stems, bark and berries.
(04:49):
The birds will also love the berries. The foundational element,
could be argued, is going to be evergreens. You're north star,
so to speak. Year round textures, structure and color, architectural
interest is very very important. And when we think back
to our show on fencing and backdrops or pergolas, that
(05:11):
sort of thing that all adds great interest, unique branch
structure from deciduous plants Stacy. One of my favorites is
weeping Beach in the Wind.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
Such a great plant. I love that, you know. I
think it's important too that we tend people do tend
to associate winter interest with just evergreens. But if you
live on like a normal sized residential lot, which is
to say, you don't have a ton of space, if
you go too heavy on the evergreens, I think it
can feel kind of dark and oppressive. It does, so
it's better to have that mix because it's really nice.
(05:44):
Even though you think, okay, well this is a bear
tree or a bear shrub that isn't really contributing anything.
It does contribute things. It contributes shadow, It lets light
come in and really changes that up. So you shouldn't
be too tempted to say, Okay, my solution to a
more interesting landscape and winter is just evergreen city.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
I agree, for example, and some people are going to
argue this, and I've got some neighbors that it really
oh boy, it causes horror for them, but pace yourself
on the cleanup in fall seed heads on plants, don't
cut back the ornamental grasses. The fall cleanup fanatics aren't
(06:23):
going to understand.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
And you know, I'm very hopeful for the fall cleanup fanatics.
I think there's been a lot of outreach on the
whole leave the leaves movement, and it's kind of becomes
one of those things where even if someone is perhaps
personally less inclined to say I want to cut everything back,
they're afraid of what their neighbors are going to right exactly,
Oh so Stacey didn't cut her stuff back? Again, Well,
(06:45):
it turns out I know what I'm doing, and I'm
doing it specifically for the bugs and insects and birds
and all of that great stuff. But as we all
collectively say, it's better to leave that than we have
less of that fear of like, you know, can't do
anything for HOA, but at least you can inform your neighbors.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
Yeah, just step back, enjoy the panicle hydranges, the ornamental grasses, milkweed, goldenrod,
even clematis setoms, those types of plants. I believe designating
some winter paths is important, and of course the voles
and mice, it's going to give them fits also. But
(07:24):
some pathways through your landscape in winter, and here's an
important one and something you can plan for now for
winter interest lighting lighting. It's spectacular when you have winter
landscape lighting that is shooting up through the trees or
through an evergreen, or if you have some shrubbery where
(07:48):
it's backlitt. I would recommend going with a lower number
as far as the k rate, the kelvin rate, because
those are warmer colors. Go for the warmer colors, but
then illuminate your landscape. It's going to create a winter
wonderland and you'll be amazed at what it does for you.
(08:09):
So I'm not just talking Christmas lights here. I'm talking
about for the entire winter. Backlit or some light through
the trees makes a world of difference in your landscape.
We'll be talking throughout the show also about plants that
are the stars of winter and everything from dogwoods to holly,
(08:31):
and there's many plants that are stars during the winter. Also,
any statuary ornamentation you can put in your yard. I
love Kruth Studios and I have their concrete pieces in
my landscape for our YouTube viewers. I have one that
I especially like, giving you the raspberries. That's how I
(08:53):
feel about winter. But adding anything like that and of
course bark on shrubs and trees. So there. Yes, there
is a lot you can do to create winter interest
in your landscape, but you.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
Got to do it now.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
But you gotta do it now exactly, so start thinking
about it. Here's my winter interest, limb a rick. Even
though I almost froze my nose, my hair, my toes,
I'll work on winter interest by dreaming my garden on
Pinterest and letting my compost compose. They tell me I
(09:30):
just need to chill, to find something my hours to fill,
But I miss my plants, don't want to wear sweat pants.
Warm Weather's what gives me a thrill. So for winter
we need to plan in easy chair and in afghan.
I'm gonna get through it. I know you already knew
it winter. I'm just not a big fan.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
That nailed it. Yes, that does you know that, Limerick.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
Here's how I feel about winter. That Limerick, right there,
I think I wrote in sixty seconds.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
I was just right there.
Speaker 1 (10:06):
Can you tell I'm passionate on the subject.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
I'm actually surprised you could do it without any curse words. Impressed.
Oh yeah, hitting well except for when it comes to winter.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
All right, So we're gonna move on to plants on trial.
I think we're going to do a speed round.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
We're doing a speed round.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
That's gonna be fun. That's coming up next here on
the Gardening Simplified.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
Show, 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
(10:54):
proven Winner's Color Choice dot Com. We're Reading's gardening friends,
and welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show, where we
are talking about winter, not because we are excited for it,
not because we want it to be here sooner, but
because we are telling you and you can actually take
some control and do something about your winter landscape while
(11:16):
you still have plenty of time to plant and fall.
And here we are it's mid September, and you do
indeed have plenty of time in Michigan here to plant
and fall, you have until at least mid October, possibly
even late October. If you're joining us from a warmer climate,
you have well into November, even into December. So we're
giving you this information not because we're trying to hasten
(11:39):
its oncoming, but because we want you to be able
to use it while you still can. And you know
you've heard a say every fall, right, the garden centers
are not just full of plants, they're full of bargains,
and it's such a great time to plant, to save money,
to invest in a better landscape for fall, for winter,
(11:59):
for spring, summer, for all of that. So that's why
we wanted to share this information with you despite the
absolutely glorious weather we've been having here in this early autumn.
So normally we would be putting a plant on trial
here and I would be telling you about one of
the three hundred and fifty plus proven Winter's Colored Choice
shrubs and you would decide if it's going to earn
(12:20):
a spot in your garden. But I thought, since we
have this winter interest topic, we would do a speed round.
Love us fun and speed around. If you're not familiar,
we just try to do it real fast and go
over some different categories and off the top of our head.
So we're going to be talking about different categories of
winter interest plants and you can use our ideas and
(12:42):
suggestions to kind of start your research for winter interest
for fall planting. So, without further ado, let's get to it, Rick,
what is your favorite deciduous shrub for winter interest?
Speaker 1 (12:56):
So tie between arctic fire dogwood and oak leaf high
Oh you.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Know what, okayf Hydrangea is my pick too. And the
reason is, I do want to say this quickly. I've
always loved them. I mean, they have so much to offer.
They're the only true four season hydrange that looks awesome
all four seasons. But what I really what really stood
out to me, especially last year, is I have some
really mature oak leaf hydrangeas. The tan bark makes such
(13:22):
a difference in a world of mostly gray bark.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
You know, when kids draw a picture of a plant,
they usually use brown for the trunk and green for
the top. But most bark is pretty gray. Yes, So
when you have something like the oak leaf fyder Angel
with that super bright cinnamony kind of colored bar cinnamon
exfoliating type bark, it just it just stands out in
the landscape like nothing else. So that was my pick.
Too nice, all right, all right, favorite evergreen shrub.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
Might surprise you. But I'm going to say Rhododendron. Oh.
I'm going to say rhododendron because it has personality. It
mopes when it gets really cold. It's got those thick
flower buds on it. It's nice and green or black
hat with its color in winter. So I'm going to
say rhododendri.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
Okay, I'm going to say Cryptomeria jupon. Oh No, that's
kind of a tree. Never mind, sorry, back up, backing
it up here, I gotta think of a shrub. I
am going to say. Probably one of my favorite ones
is Microbiota oh yes, also known as Siberian cypress. Now,
I will say this does have the liability of often
being covered in snow because it is a small ground
(14:28):
covering evergreen that kind of gets these beautiful fan like
foliage sprays. So in winter in Michigan, if we have
a lot of snow, it can get covered. Yes, but
it has such a beautiful color. It turns purple in winter.
The texture is gorgeous, and it's one of those plants
that if you plant it in your landscape, is a groundcover,
and you can look down on it from an upper
floor of your home or something like that. It's just
(14:50):
it's just magics. I love that one, all right. Your
favorite shrub for berries, Now.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
This one's so hard because there's so many great choices.
But I'm to say crab apple trees, sugar time or
sweet sugar time, crab apple, something like that.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
That's a great one. I do love the yellow ones, especially,
you know, they don't tend to last as long, but wow,
they're so dynamic. I am probably gonna have to go
with a holly. My favorite is actually the long sty collie,
which you don't see very often, but do you remember
that old game high ho cherio, So the just going
down memory lane over here they have it. So it's
(15:29):
like the fruits on the long stalk holly remind me
of that. They're like cherries. They have a very long stalk,
and it's an evergreen without spiny leaves. It's hard to find,
but wow, it is an absolutely gorgeous holiwidy. Nice And
of course you know winterberry holly is hard to beat,
and you can actually grow that and find it.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
Let's play a game of monopoly while we're at.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
Okay, what is your favorite? Now I do have a
separate one. I'll just start here. Okay, what's your favorite
ornamental grass for winter interest?
Speaker 1 (15:57):
That's easy. It's either totem pole or shy in the
sky switch grass, either of the two.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
Okay, great choices. Mine is going to be Northern seaots
Casanthium latifolium.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
Nice.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
Now, I love this plant. It is native, but it's
also a pretty aggressive self sower, so I don't always
leave all of mine standing for the winter because they
are just if I leave all that seed, I have
all of that seed. Well, not all of it. The
birds do a good job of picking up some of it.
But it's a beautiful grass and they just there these neat,
(16:29):
kind of linear seed heads. They do shatter and the
birds eat them over time. But that's probably my favorite. Now,
what's your favorite general perennial for winter interests?
Speaker 1 (16:40):
There's many of them, but I'm gonna I'm gonna call
a tie again. One has to be Virginia. Around Christmas time,
that foliage is so red and then hellebores because when
I'm completely sick of winter, I'll kind of dig around
in the snow and look for those those buds. I'm
gonna say Virginia and hellibores.
Speaker 2 (16:59):
Those are great. You know, I thought about Virginia because
these are two evergreen perennials, and most perennials, by their
nature go dormant underground. But some of them, you know,
you can leave the stems standing, like Beptizia, for example,
is a good choice. You know, you can leave those
stems standing. They are dead, they're gonna blow away, or
you know, you'll cut them off in spring. But they
have that cool kind of chocolatey black color and the
(17:22):
really neat seedheads. But then there's evergreen perennials that are
still herbaceous. They don't have any wood, but you know,
like a hellebore where you have that nice kind of
spiky palmate leaf all summer long, all winter long, and
you get to look forward to the flowers very shortly after. Okay,
(17:42):
what is your favorite deciduous tree for winter? Interest?
Speaker 1 (17:46):
Easy? Paper maple.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
Ugh, that is such a great choice. I don't know
if I can top that one. Not that I need
to top it, but I mean I wasn't thinking paper
bark maple. You know, I do love a good beach
in winter. A good beach tree in winter, and there's
so many around here. I mean, of course, our native
American beach is not quite as spectacular as the European beach,
which takes on all sorts of characters, sometimes a very
(18:10):
malevolent character. But you know, our beautiful native beaches in
these mixed hemlock and beach forests, just the perfect combination.
Love that on a good winter hike. What is your
favorite evergreen tree for winter interests?
Speaker 1 (18:25):
Soft served camisipress.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
Oh really was that?
Speaker 1 (18:29):
It's just when the snow lays on it, it's just
absolutely beauty. I mean, you could pick so many gin
fizz juniper. I don't want to steal your thunder, but
if I have to pick one, it's going to be
soft served Cami sippris.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
And I can see that because there is something so
magical if you live in a climate with snow, you
know that sort of the drifts kind of almost like
they're like dripping off the plant, and that soft those
soft branches just kind of supporting all that snow. It
can be pretty magical if you give it. That. My
favorite evergreen and it's kind of a tree, kind of
(19:03):
a shrub, and I can't grow it. But this is
for all my friends out there and the warm climates.
Is camellia. If there's one plant that I could grow
here in Michigan and we can grow them, okay, but
nothing like you can in the south and anyway, my
favorite is Camelia japonica, which we definitely can't grow here.
And camellias, their foliage is beautiful, their flowers are beautiful.
(19:26):
I just if I could have one plant from another climate,
I might even pick a camellia over a lemon. Wow,
I say it something I know. Okay, what is your
favorite plant for winter decorating?
Speaker 1 (19:40):
Oh? Boy, come from the garden center industry. I've made
so many containers with dogwood branches and birch in it
that I can't say that. So I'm gonna say a
tie again between anything that has rose hips and winterberry
holly like berry.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
That's a great choice. You know, it's hard to beat.
They do import them from out west if you live
here on the eastern part of our country. But the
incense ceder, you know, when they have that in the
little decorations and swags and garlands and all of that
just so magical. Who or what is your favorite winter
(20:22):
garden visitor.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
It's a tie between cardinal couples and woodpeckers.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
Oh yeah, I'm going woodpecker all the way on this.
And you know, woodpeckers are always a thrill to see.
But if you put out a suet feeder and that's
mostly what you'll get, I mean I get all sorts
of things on the sewet feeder. But you know, it's like,
to me, woodpeckers are the winter hummingbirds. Yes, just like
all summer long, you're getting so excited every time you
see the hummingbird at your feeder and you have to
(20:48):
say like, ooh, hummingbird. It's like that in the winter
when every time there's a woodpecker at your sewet feeder,
you have to go, ooh, woodpecker. And then you know
the other your spouse comes running from the other side
of the house to see which kind of woodpecker it is.
It's that's it's so fun. Yes, all right, So we
hope that speed round gave you some ideas. We will
have everything down in the caption on YouTube so that
(21:08):
you can catch anything that you didn't in our maybe
slightly less than speedy speed Round we're going to take
a little break. When we come back, we're going to
open up the mail bag and answer your garden questions.
To stay tuned. At Proven Winners Color Choice Shrubs, we
know that a better landscape starts with a better shrub.
(21:31):
Our team of experts tests and evaluates all of our
flowering shrubs and evergreens for eight to ten years to
ensure they outperform what's already on the market. For easycare, reliable,
beautiful shrubs to accentuate your home and express your personal style,
look for Proven Winners Shrubs in the distinctive white container
at your local garden center, or learn more at Proven
Winner's Color Choice dot com. Greeting's Gardening friends, and welcome
(21:56):
back to the Gardening Simplified Show, where it is our
pleasure to help you with your gardening questions, quandaries and conundrums.
Whatever is puzzling you out there, or perhaps you have
a gardening celebration and no one to be as excited
about it with you as we will be, then we
invite you to reach out to us. You can go
to Gardening Simplified on air dot com. There is a
(22:17):
contact form there. You can also leave a comment on YouTube.
We read all of those and respond when you have questions.
But of course, if you have a question, usually other
people have the same question, you know, maybe from other
parts of the country or whatever. So we do invite
you to reach out. And you know, as I always say,
we do very much care about making sure you get
the information that you need to make the garden decisions
(22:39):
that you need to make. So don't just reach out
to us on the show because we have limited time
to answer your questions. But if you go to proven
Winners Color Choice dot Com, there is a contact form
there and you will get a personalized response, not from
an AI, but from an actual human being who cares
about your success and knows what they're talking about. I
(23:00):
can assure you of that. So, uh, what do we
got in ma bag? This week?
Speaker 1 (23:04):
Matthew writes to us, Hello, I have twenty acres here
in central Wisconsin with thousands of box elder trees. First
of all, can you explain to me what kind of
a tree they are? Second of all, I'm wondering are
they a good pollinator for bees? Boy, I could talk
about box elder trees for hours.
Speaker 2 (23:23):
Oh well, I'm very curious about your opinion.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
Well, I'm gonna say, first of all, it's an acer
ace r, right, yep, So you could say that it's
in the maple family.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
For all intents and purposes, it is a maple.
Speaker 1 (23:36):
So we've got that it's a fast growing tree. It
likes wet areas. And if I recall correctly and correct
me if I'm wrong, anybody correct me. But I think
it's dioecious, meaning that the male and female parts are
on separate trees. I'm pretty sure. If I'm wrong, correct me.
(23:57):
But it does produce copious amounts of samaras or samuras
or however you want. Helicopters helicopters and we'll seed everywhere.
And then of course the knock on box elder trees. Now,
there are some people who love box elder trees. There
are yes and feel that really knock the tree too much.
(24:22):
But the big problem with box elder trees, as long
as we're talking about winter preparation, the box elder bugs
and how they try to move into your house for winter.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
Right, and so most people I think, if they here
box elder, even if they don't know what a box
elder is, which it's astern agundo as Rick just said
they know box elder bugs, and box elder bugs have
that name. I'm not really sure why because they aren't
specifically limited to box elders in any way, shape or form.
The box elder plays little to no part in their
reproduction or sheltering. But they're called box elder bugs, and
(24:55):
yes they are everywhere coming up in the next couple
of weeks. Don't flame your box elders. But if you
have a box elder. So let's go back to what
Matthew saying. So if you have a lot of box
elders and they are quality trees, which is to say
they have, you know, fairly good size on them, then
I would leave them and say that's a pretty good
(25:15):
plant to have. They don't really have attractive flowers, they
don't get full color. A lot of people mistake them
as poison ivy, especially when they are at a seedling stage,
because they do very much look like they could be
poison ivy. You know, most people, if you say, oh,
this is a maple, they're thinking of the classic, you know,
Canadian flag maple leaf. This is a maple, and it's
(25:35):
a trifolia maple. So instead of having that familiar palm leaf.
It has like little sets of three leaves, so most
people wouldn't even recognize it ever as a maple. They
would think it's it's poison ivy with like maple helicopters
on it or something like that. But yeah, it is weedy.
It is weedy, and it's not particularly high quality wood.
(25:55):
Weak wooded known to drop branches unless you have a
really really mature plant. So not the best plan to
have around from a seasonal perspective, from a quality perspective,
but if you already have them, they aren't They don't
need bees for pollination, they are wind pollinated, but they
(26:15):
do produce nectar that is actually used as an early
food source for all sorts of insects. So certainly not
the best choice to support pollinators, but not the worst either.
Speaker 1 (26:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:29):
It's kind of one of those things where I certainly
would never recommend that someone actually go out and seek
out a box elder, But if you have them, and
have a couple that are really nice, all major harm
in keeping them, except for the fact that you will
be pulling out box elder seedlings for the rest of
your life.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
When I ran a garden center, I had a lady
call up. She was super upset. She bought a bunch
of mult from US, and a few weeks later there
were weeds seeds popping up everywhere, I mean thousands of them,
and she claimed that it came from our mold. I
went and visited her home. Very nice lady. We talked
(27:04):
it out. She had box elder trees all around the
arroya and they were seeding in the mulch. And I
pointed it out to her and she understood, but she
thought it was my mulch. Thank you, very mulch. It
was that.
Speaker 2 (27:16):
No, no garden center is going to just willingly let
a box elder, you know, put its seeds all through
their entire mulch pile and make themselves the most hated
garden center in town.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
Stacy Kelcey writes to US, I garden in Central Wisconsin's
on four or five, I was gifted a rows of Sharon.
Started play almost fifteen years ago. It has grown into
a real beauty. Gets a lot of attention from the neighbors.
Because our weather is typically too cold for rose of Sharon.
We had a bunker spring with temperatures in the low
seventies in March. In the high twenties and low thirties
(27:51):
through most of May.
Speaker 2 (27:53):
So what Kelsey is saying is that she lives in
an area where rose of Sharon doesn't typically grow yea,
and this particular season was especially crazy because she had
really really warm temperatures in March and then really really
cold temperatures in mex So basically, what we're looking at here,
and she did send pictures you can see those on YouTube,
(28:13):
is a Rosa Sharon, a pretty big, pretty mature Rosa
Sharon with almost no foliage and very few flowers on it.
So she's obviously trying to kind of troubleshoot this herself.
So she says, how do I move forward with this
plants with this plant once it goes dormant? Can I
cut it back to rejuvenate it? Should I not prune
at all and wait to see? Should I say goodbye
(28:35):
to one of my favorite garden plants. I'm at a loss.
So this is definitely a very stressed plant, but it
also has a lot of resources in it, and you're
definitely right on the border there, as you say, Kelsey,
of Zone four and five. Rosa Sharon is generally considered
hardy to USDA zone five. It's probably in a little
bit of a protected spot. I don't think it's dying.
(28:59):
I do you worry a little bit that it is
getting too much shade, because when I look at Kelsey's pictures,
I see that this big, mature Rosa sharon is surrounded
by ferns. It's surrounded by hostas and a bunch of
really really shade loving plants. And Rosa sharon can take
a little bit of shade, especially if you live in
(29:21):
a hotter climate. But if it's in too much shade,
it will become very sparse, the wood will be very weak,
it will flower very little. Yeah, so that was my
first thought that I saw in Kelsey's picture. You can
prune it, and Rosa sharon is actually very amenable to pruning.
I would not, Kelsey, prune it until next spring and
(29:42):
wait until you see where that new growth is coming from.
Give it some fertilizer. You know, I'm not usually the
biggest proponent of fertilizing landscape plants, but Rosa sharon is
a heavy feeder. I know here at the nursery they
require a lot more supplemental feed than almost any other
crop that grow. They get chlorotic really really easily. Yeah,
(30:04):
looking kind of sickly. Don't fertilize it now, but this spring,
go ahead and cut back any wood that's not showing
signs of life. If you want to cut the whole
thing back a little bit too, that's fine too. Fertilize it.
Then go ahead and give it another dose of fertilizer.
I would say in like late May or something like that,
just to help it push back and come back. And
if it turns out that this spot has become too
(30:26):
shady for it, I would consider moving it. You could
actually consider moving it even the spring while it's still dormant,
if you you know, in spring twenty twenty six, if
that is the root that you want to go and
you have another spot for it, I'm sure it would
appreciate more sun.
Speaker 1 (30:42):
I think the plant almost acts like a rose bush
as it relates to feeding and wanting food.
Speaker 2 (30:48):
Yeah, definitely, the more you give it, the better it
will do. So hopefully that is helpful.
Speaker 1 (30:53):
Amy writes to us, My question is where's a good
source for purchasing fluorist carnations the big ones as plants.
They're my grandmother's favorite. Such a hard plant to find
and I'd recommend the Paint the Town series from Proven Winners.
But the botanical name you're looking for is Dianthus cariophyllis,
(31:16):
and that's a short lived perennial essentially.
Speaker 2 (31:20):
It is, so, you know, kind of the ugly truth here, Amy,
I don't want to disappoint you, but anytime there are
plants that are grown for cut flowers, they are usually
a totally separate beast from plants that are grown for landscape.
So the florest carnations that you are buying, as lovely
as the flowers are, the plants are not something you
would want in your garden at all. They tend to
(31:43):
be grown specifically for the cut flower industry, and what
is good for the cut flower industry isn't necessarily good
for the horticulture industry. That's true of roses as well.
You know, the roses that they grow for cut flowers
nothing like the roses that we sell for landscape plants.
But all of that said, there are a number so Dianthus,
like Rick just mentioned, the Paint the Town series from
Proven Winner is very close relative. The flowers are going
(32:05):
to be a little bit smaller, but it does kind
of have that same kind of vibe. But you can
if you go to like a really good floral seed
supplier like Select Seeds or Johnny's, you can get some
garden carnations. You do need to have a realistic expectation
that they're not going to be quite like what you're
buying in the store. But on the other hand, why
(32:27):
would you want something exactly like you can buy in
the store when you can grow some really cool carnations.
Florette Flower Farm if you're familiar with them, they're out west.
She's an amazing floral designer and grower, and she has
tons of information about growing your own carnations that we
will share as well. So have reasonable expectations about what
you'll actually produce, and then you can grow your own carnations.
(32:49):
We're going to take a little break. When we come back,
we're continuing our conversation about winter interests, so stay uned.
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
(33:11):
with your success in mind. Learn more at Proven Winners
color Choice dot Com.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
Welcome back to the Gardening simplified show, Stacy, as we
talk about winter interest, I was thinking about how in
the garden center industry, when we got nice weather in November,
Christmas lights would sell like hotcakes.
Speaker 2 (33:34):
Oh that makes sense.
Speaker 1 (33:35):
Because people think, you know, ah, this is the year
I'm gonna throw Christmas lights on the shrubs and decorate
the house and that type of thing because the weather's
nice enough. In years when it got really cold early,
the light sets didn't. You know, they still sold, but
they didn't sell as well. So it's just a way
of me encouraging you that here in September, while we
(33:58):
have time before the weather starts to decline, maybe think
about the whole garden lighting issue. Again. I'm not talking
about Christmas lights. I'm talking about floodlights up through the
trees or back lighting shrubbery. I'll tell you what, on
a January February day, you're going to be glad that
you did it. Now I've got a question for you, Stacy,
(34:20):
and that is we talk about structure in a landscape.
So containers. In fall, as you're doing some cleanup, I
like to clip some branches, put them in containers. You
enjoy those for winter interest. In the landscape, a pergola
and arch, some statuary. My question is this, how do
(34:40):
you feel about a bench in the winter landscape? Is
a bench depressing or inviting?
Speaker 2 (34:49):
A bench is absolutely inviting, oh even and required because
you never know when you're going to have one of
those lovely winter days where it's sunny. I mean, you know,
it's probably not sitting outside whether for normal people, but
we as gardeners are not really normal people. So yeah,
I will absolutely sit on a bench outside on a
(35:11):
reasonably nice winter day. You know, have a nice cozy
guinness stout or something like that in the on the
sunny afternoon, or cup of hot cocoa. You might need
to get something out of your boot, sit down and
get something out of your boot. So yeah, I think
you know, you probably you probably don't want let's say
you want ice skating, you need to change out your
(35:32):
ice skates. I don't know, but you probably would not
want a metal bench. No, But if you have some
sort of wood bench, then yeah, I think I think
it's very handy to have.
Speaker 1 (35:44):
I do have a guinness on the bench and then
go inside and play high hold cheriot.
Speaker 2 (35:48):
There you go, all right? Now, you know the key
to us successful getting through winter.
Speaker 1 (35:55):
See, we have fun uh bark bark on trees and
plants of course super important. We talked about paper maple.
Oh and if you get a chance, go to a
place like Arnold Arboretum in winter. Wow where some arboretum
or yeah, it's magic.
Speaker 2 (36:13):
Yeah, you know, that's a great really, that's great advice,
not just to enjoy the trees, but to get out
of the house and to do something else. And you know,
even in places with really cold winters, we usually have
some days where it's pretty okay to be outside. It's
not too windy, it's not too cold, and you know,
if you're out there and you're walking vigorously and yeah,
(36:34):
bring the dog, bring the kids. Everybody burns off some energy.
It's it's win wind. But yeah, arboretum are great areas
to do that, and it would be a great opportunity
to support them at a time where you can have
it all to yourself too. You got a love that,
I tell you what.
Speaker 1 (36:49):
And yes, I am outside all winter long. We joke
about winter, but I am outside all winter long. And
if you're in an area that doesn't get a lot
of cold or snow, oh, I've got this pathway. I
love to walk down to the beach, and it can
be magical, it can be beautiful. If you're not from
one of the colder areas, I will have to say
(37:12):
to you that you will have a tendency as a
person who loves plants, to slip your gloves off and
find evergreen branches, rub them with your fingers, and then.
Speaker 2 (37:22):
Oh yeah, yeah, I don't love that.
Speaker 1 (37:25):
But on the bark side, river birch and hepticodium are
two that we I don't think we have mentioned would
be a great choice. Climbing Hydrangea I think is really
cool in the wintertime. Magnolia's are nine barks, all great
plants for winter. Of course, here in Michigan, I love
(37:47):
witch hazel because you've got the two different types of
witch hazel. When they one that's blooming in November the
other one that's blooming in March.
Speaker 2 (37:56):
You know, sometimes if you have an older one of those,
you will get them where the winter blooming Asian variety
has been grafted onto our native fall bloomy here you
go hamomialis Virginiana. And then if sometimes it has happens
the understock the hemomalis Virginiana takes over and you have both,
then you can get it too. And one. I mean,
(38:16):
it's not really what it's intended to do, but I
wouldn't argue with it if.
Speaker 1 (38:19):
It's pretty cool, especially if you don't have a lot
of space, it's pretty cool. Uh, Stacy. People would say
to us, Hey, you got to mention hukarus.
Speaker 2 (38:28):
Oh, yes, you do. I suppose if you can grow them.
I can't, but some people can. No. You know, I
think when it comes to evergreen perennials, and I was
looking up, like, hey, is there any evergreen perennials that
I'm not thinking of for this show? Uh, and Hukara
came up. I mean, Hukara is around in winter, but
for most of us, unless you live in a really
mild climate, like you know out west where they are native,
(38:52):
you know, Oregon, Washington kind of area, they're there, I
wouldn't really say for most of us in cold climates
that they're contributing a whole heck of a lot. But
I guess they're better than nothing. They're better than nothing.
They are, they are better than nothing. That bit of
colors is always welcome, but it's certainly not their shiniest
moment of the year.
Speaker 1 (39:15):
No, that's true. How about high ranges. You know, we
talk a lot about high ranges, but hydranges I think
can just be so beautiful in winter. And then also
I love planting bulbs in fall and looking forward to
late winter when you see things like snow drops or
(39:36):
glory of the snow bloom.
Speaker 2 (39:39):
Wow, so early, you know, it's so important. And those
are not the ones that you're usually going to find
on sale or even fine it's like your average box store,
So they are worth seeking out from a garden center
or a specialty bulb supplier. You know, even if you
have even if you invest in a small amount like
say ten or twenty five of each of say snowdrop
(40:00):
and aaranthus also known as winter aconite, yep, it's the
difference that it will make in your spirits is more
than worth it. And I have found that they typically
spread quite well, they naturalize fairly well, so it's not
like you only have those ten bulbs and they die.
They live a long time. They start to spread, and
they're slow, and they're dainty and delicate, So I mean
(40:23):
they look delicate, but they're actually pretty tough plants. So yeah,
I think they are absolutely worth, you know, seeking out
and having some as part of your fall old planting.
Speaker 1 (40:32):
When you buy plants during the growing season, do you
look at the plant and think, what's this going to
look like in winter? Do you think that far ahead? Yeah?
I don't either. I'd like to say that I do,
but I don't.
Speaker 2 (40:43):
Well, you know, it's even even as we talk about this,
and even knowing that you and I, you know, do
prioritize having something to look at in winter, ultimately not
a whole lot of my landscape is visible from my house,
So I really focus on those areas that I see
from my kitchen, you know, so that I'm really making
sure that those areas I do see aren't just you know,
(41:04):
a barren winter wasteland. But I don't have to think
too much about like where my native plant border is,
what's going on in there, because I'm just not really
going to see it that off.
Speaker 1 (41:13):
It's true. It's a good point. A plant that many
people may not think of as a winter interest plant,
but is one for me, and that is color Guard, Yucca.
I have a picture to share with you on YouTube,
but that brilliant, bright yellow in winter is fabulous and
(41:34):
the plant puts on a show contingent on how bad
the winter is. And what I mean in that regard
is deer. So the deer generally will leave it alone
if it's a mild winter. If it's a harsh winter,
yuka cannot be very much fun for a deer to eat,
(41:56):
a real stringy, tough but they will lead if the
winter is really rough. But color guard yucca is Wow.
Speaker 2 (42:03):
That is a very cool plant. Definitely. You know, maybe
the deer just get bored and they just want to
dare each other. I dairy to eat that yucca. You know,
I don't know, but yeah, it does not seem like
a fun thing to eat. And usually I found that
they kind of try the top and then they go
not for me, and they move on to something else.
It's probably equally.
Speaker 1 (42:21):
Horrible, exactly. It's kind of like vegetables on the plate
for a kid.
Speaker 2 (42:26):
Yeah, yeah, probably poorly cooked vegetable.
Speaker 1 (42:29):
A poorly cooked vegetable. Yes, And Stacy, I love milkweed
in winter.
Speaker 2 (42:35):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (42:35):
I've gone out and photographed it often now again along
the lake shore here along Lake Michigan, we're blessed with
lots of milkweed. But I love milkweed, and some of
the seed is still hanging out of the pods. A
great plant to photograph in winter and a great plant
to enjoy for winter interest.
Speaker 2 (42:55):
You know when you get some of those like light
fluffy snowfalls and then the snowflakes pile up in the
little milkweed seed container and that's just such a cool moment.
Speaker 1 (43:07):
I have hundreds of pictures, I believe this, which shows
you that in winter, I'm looking for something to do.
Speaker 2 (43:16):
It sounds like Hio cherio.
Speaker 1 (43:21):
Let's break that game out. I think it'd be a
lot of fun with Adriana will play high hold Cheriot.
Speaker 2 (43:26):
I don't know, I hear it's the pits.
Speaker 1 (43:32):
Anyway, I'm not going to say anything because that was perfect,
So just go for.
Speaker 2 (43:38):
It, okay. Thank thank you so much, Rick for this
exciting discussion on winter interest, and hopefully it gave you
all some good ideas about what to do. Thank you
Adriana for leading us through all of this, and thanks
to all of you for listening. We truly appreciate it.
(44:00):
Hope you have a wonderfull leak ahead. Yeah,
Broadcasting from Studio A here at Proven Winters Color Joy Shrubs.
It's time for the Gardening Simplified Show with Stacy Hrvilla,
me Rick Weist, and our engineer and producer Adrianna Robinson. Well,
today we're going to talk about winter interest the winter garden,
because you do need to plan ahead. Evergreens provide the gravitas,
(00:24):
the foundational element, and deciduous plants add framework, but there's
so much more than that. And without some thoughtful plant
placement and plant choices and structure in your landscape, well,
January and February can be maybe downright depressing. And so
(00:44):
winter's a great time to assess the structure or lack
of structure in your landscape. And here's an important point.
Anywhere in the Midwest to the north. Snow, of course,
can be the great equalizer in our young Once we
get some snow, everybody's yards pretty much look the same
(01:06):
until we have a thaw. But without the element of
snow cover. And there are many people who listen and
watch our show who go through winter but don't have
the snow cover. There's no hiding. You can run, but
you can't hide. It's kind of like driving to work
(01:26):
for a long day of meetings and you're sipping on
some coffee and eating a little snack and you spill
on your shirt. It's going to be there the rest
of the.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Day, right, It is true. Now, I do want to
clarify for our listeners. As you know, neither Rick nor
I are big fans of winter, and we're not trying
to rush headlong into our least favorite season. But we
did notice that every time we give advice about improving
your landscape for winter, it tends to be in winter
(01:56):
when you can't do a darn thing about it, and
you know, by the time spring rolls around, you're not like, oh, gee,
I really want to invest in my winter landscape. Where
is now? Thinking ahead, you know you can make some
decisions that will make your winter a lot more interesting.
And again, as you said, Rick, that's true if you
live in a cold climate like us here in Michigan,
(02:16):
or if you live in a warm climate. And I
would say that if you live in a warm climate,
planning to have green is potentially even more important. I know,
I was really shocked when Judson Lacompte, our new plant,
our new product development manager, moved here from Texas lifelong Southerner,
he said, I love Michigan in winter. It's so green.
And I looked at him like he was an alien.
(02:39):
You know, I would think that in the South, that's
where it's green, but he said, no, everything is very brown,
especially the lawns and everything. In the South.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
You just nail down a perfect point there the turf.
So if you think about the turf in the South,
you're looking at Zoisia grass, Bermuda grass, Saint Augustine, and
it turns brown in winter. Now Here in Michigan, or
in Canada or northern reaches of the United States, when
we get a thaw or we get into winter, the
(03:08):
turf can be green. They're cool seasoned grasses. And I
usually would add to that, I would apply some malorganite,
iron and sulfur in fall. Boy, you've got nice green
grass when you don't have snow cover. Also, I wanted
to mention that something that really hit home with me
(03:28):
is we've gone through some rough winters. But that winter
of two thy fourteen, it was January to March of
two thousand, actually December of twenty thirteen through March of
twenty fourteen, unbelievable.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
I don't want to talk about it. It was horrible.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
Text it was. It was horrible. As a matter of fact,
I was looking up here where we live along Lake Michigan.
It reached ninety three point three percent ice cover on
March eight, twenty fifteen. That's how cold it was, and
that is very, very unusual. And by the way, for
(04:06):
winter interest in your landscape, you want to do things
that attract birds, possibly plants that produce berries for birds.
And open water was a serious problem during that winter
for our YouTube viewers. I've got a couple of pictures
from my house where I open the service door to
the groage. You can see how much snow there is,
(04:28):
or you couldn't even see the house from the street
anymore because of all the snow. So it made a
real impact. But in the bleakest, coldest, darkest days of winter,
structure is super important. So to add winter interest to
your landscape, incorporate plants with colorful stems, bark and berries.
(04:49):
The birds will also love the berries. The foundational element,
could be argued, is going to be evergreens. You're north star,
so to speak. Year round textures, structure and color, architectural
interest is very very important. And when we think back
to our show on fencing and backdrops or pergolas, that
(05:11):
sort of thing that all adds great interest, unique branch
structure from deciduous plants Stacy. One of my favorites is
weeping Beach in the Wind.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
Such a great plant. I love that, you know. I
think it's important too that we tend people do tend
to associate winter interest with just evergreens. But if you
live on like a normal sized residential lot, which is
to say, you don't have a ton of space, if
you go too heavy on the evergreens, I think it
can feel kind of dark and oppressive. It does, so
it's better to have that mix because it's really nice.
(05:44):
Even though you think, okay, well this is a bear
tree or a bear shrub that isn't really contributing anything.
It does contribute things. It contributes shadow, It lets light
come in and really changes that up. So you shouldn't
be too tempted to say, Okay, my solution to a
more interesting landscape and winter is just evergreen city.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
I agree, for example, and some people are going to
argue this, and I've got some neighbors that it really
oh boy, it causes horror for them, but pace yourself
on the cleanup in fall seed heads on plants, don't
cut back the ornamental grasses. The fall cleanup fanatics aren't
(06:23):
going to understand.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
And you know, I'm very hopeful for the fall cleanup fanatics.
I think there's been a lot of outreach on the
whole leave the leaves movement, and it's kind of becomes
one of those things where even if someone is perhaps
personally less inclined to say I want to cut everything back,
they're afraid of what their neighbors are going to right exactly,
Oh so Stacey didn't cut her stuff back? Again, Well,
(06:45):
it turns out I know what I'm doing, and I'm
doing it specifically for the bugs and insects and birds
and all of that great stuff. But as we all
collectively say, it's better to leave that than we have
less of that fear of like, you know, can't do
anything for HOA, but at least you can inform your neighbors.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
Yeah, just step back, enjoy the panicle hydranges, the ornamental grasses, milkweed, goldenrod,
even clematis setoms, those types of plants. I believe designating
some winter paths is important, and of course the voles
and mice, it's going to give them fits also. But
(07:24):
some pathways through your landscape in winter, and here's an
important one and something you can plan for now for
winter interest lighting lighting. It's spectacular when you have winter
landscape lighting that is shooting up through the trees or
through an evergreen, or if you have some shrubbery where
(07:48):
it's backlitt. I would recommend going with a lower number
as far as the k rate, the kelvin rate, because
those are warmer colors. Go for the warmer colors, but
then illuminate your landscape. It's going to create a winter
wonderland and you'll be amazed at what it does for you.
(08:09):
So I'm not just talking Christmas lights here. I'm talking
about for the entire winter. Backlit or some light through
the trees makes a world of difference in your landscape.
We'll be talking throughout the show also about plants that
are the stars of winter and everything from dogwoods to holly,
(08:31):
and there's many plants that are stars during the winter. Also,
any statuary ornamentation you can put in your yard. I
love Kruth Studios and I have their concrete pieces in
my landscape for our YouTube viewers. I have one that
I especially like, giving you the raspberries. That's how I
(08:53):
feel about winter. But adding anything like that and of
course bark on shrubs and trees. So there. Yes, there
is a lot you can do to create winter interest
in your landscape, but you.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
Got to do it now.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
But you gotta do it now exactly, so start thinking
about it. Here's my winter interest, limb a rick. Even
though I almost froze my nose, my hair, my toes,
I'll work on winter interest by dreaming my garden on
Pinterest and letting my compost compose. They tell me I
(09:30):
just need to chill, to find something my hours to fill,
But I miss my plants, don't want to wear sweat pants.
Warm Weather's what gives me a thrill. So for winter
we need to plan in easy chair and in afghan.
I'm gonna get through it. I know you already knew
it winter. I'm just not a big fan.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
That nailed it. Yes, that does you know that, Limerick.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
Here's how I feel about winter. That Limerick, right there,
I think I wrote in sixty seconds.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
I was just right there.
Speaker 1 (10:06):
Can you tell I'm passionate on the subject.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
I'm actually surprised you could do it without any curse words. Impressed.
Oh yeah, hitting well except for when it comes to winter.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
All right, So we're gonna move on to plants on trial.
I think we're going to do a speed round.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
We're doing a speed round.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
That's gonna be fun. That's coming up next here on
the Gardening Simplified.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
Show, 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
(10:54):
proven Winner's Color Choice dot Com. We're Reading's gardening friends,
and welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show, where we
are talking about winter, not because we are excited for it,
not because we want it to be here sooner, but
because we are telling you and you can actually take
some control and do something about your winter landscape while
(11:16):
you still have plenty of time to plant and fall.
And here we are it's mid September, and you do
indeed have plenty of time in Michigan here to plant
and fall, you have until at least mid October, possibly
even late October. If you're joining us from a warmer climate,
you have well into November, even into December. So we're
giving you this information not because we're trying to hasten
(11:39):
its oncoming, but because we want you to be able
to use it while you still can. And you know
you've heard a say every fall, right, the garden centers
are not just full of plants, they're full of bargains,
and it's such a great time to plant, to save money,
to invest in a better landscape for fall, for winter,
(11:59):
for spring, summer, for all of that. So that's why
we wanted to share this information with you despite the
absolutely glorious weather we've been having here in this early autumn.
So normally we would be putting a plant on trial
here and I would be telling you about one of
the three hundred and fifty plus proven Winter's Colored Choice
shrubs and you would decide if it's going to earn
(12:20):
a spot in your garden. But I thought, since we
have this winter interest topic, we would do a speed round.
Love us fun and speed around. If you're not familiar,
we just try to do it real fast and go
over some different categories and off the top of our head.
So we're going to be talking about different categories of
winter interest plants and you can use our ideas and
(12:42):
suggestions to kind of start your research for winter interest
for fall planting. So, without further ado, let's get to it, Rick,
what is your favorite deciduous shrub for winter interest?
Speaker 1 (12:56):
So tie between arctic fire dogwood and oak leaf high
Oh you.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Know what, okayf Hydrangea is my pick too. And the
reason is, I do want to say this quickly. I've
always loved them. I mean, they have so much to offer.
They're the only true four season hydrange that looks awesome
all four seasons. But what I really what really stood
out to me, especially last year, is I have some
really mature oak leaf hydrangeas. The tan bark makes such
(13:22):
a difference in a world of mostly gray bark.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
You know, when kids draw a picture of a plant,
they usually use brown for the trunk and green for
the top. But most bark is pretty gray. Yes, So
when you have something like the oak leaf fyder Angel
with that super bright cinnamony kind of colored bar cinnamon
exfoliating type bark, it just it just stands out in
the landscape like nothing else. So that was my pick.
Too nice, all right, all right, favorite evergreen shrub.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
Might surprise you. But I'm going to say Rhododendron. Oh.
I'm going to say rhododendron because it has personality. It
mopes when it gets really cold. It's got those thick
flower buds on it. It's nice and green or black
hat with its color in winter. So I'm going to
say rhododendri.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
Okay, I'm going to say Cryptomeria jupon. Oh No, that's
kind of a tree. Never mind, sorry, back up, backing
it up here, I gotta think of a shrub. I
am going to say. Probably one of my favorite ones
is Microbiota oh yes, also known as Siberian cypress. Now,
I will say this does have the liability of often
being covered in snow because it is a small ground
(14:28):
covering evergreen that kind of gets these beautiful fan like
foliage sprays. So in winter in Michigan, if we have
a lot of snow, it can get covered. Yes, but
it has such a beautiful color. It turns purple in winter.
The texture is gorgeous, and it's one of those plants
that if you plant it in your landscape, is a groundcover,
and you can look down on it from an upper
floor of your home or something like that. It's just
(14:50):
it's just magics. I love that one, all right. Your
favorite shrub for berries, Now.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
This one's so hard because there's so many great choices.
But I'm to say crab apple trees, sugar time or
sweet sugar time, crab apple, something like that.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
That's a great one. I do love the yellow ones, especially,
you know, they don't tend to last as long, but wow,
they're so dynamic. I am probably gonna have to go
with a holly. My favorite is actually the long sty collie,
which you don't see very often, but do you remember
that old game high ho cherio, So the just going
down memory lane over here they have it. So it's
(15:29):
like the fruits on the long stalk holly remind me
of that. They're like cherries. They have a very long stalk,
and it's an evergreen without spiny leaves. It's hard to find,
but wow, it is an absolutely gorgeous holiwidy. Nice And
of course you know winterberry holly is hard to beat,
and you can actually grow that and find it.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
Let's play a game of monopoly while we're at.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
Okay, what is your favorite? Now I do have a
separate one. I'll just start here. Okay, what's your favorite
ornamental grass for winter interest?
Speaker 1 (15:57):
That's easy. It's either totem pole or shy in the
sky switch grass, either of the two.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
Okay, great choices. Mine is going to be Northern seaots
Casanthium latifolium.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
Nice.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
Now, I love this plant. It is native, but it's
also a pretty aggressive self sower, so I don't always
leave all of mine standing for the winter because they
are just if I leave all that seed, I have
all of that seed. Well, not all of it. The
birds do a good job of picking up some of it.
But it's a beautiful grass and they just there these neat,
(16:29):
kind of linear seed heads. They do shatter and the
birds eat them over time. But that's probably my favorite. Now,
what's your favorite general perennial for winter interests?
Speaker 1 (16:40):
There's many of them, but I'm gonna I'm gonna call
a tie again. One has to be Virginia. Around Christmas time,
that foliage is so red and then hellebores because when
I'm completely sick of winter, I'll kind of dig around
in the snow and look for those those buds. I'm
gonna say Virginia and hellibores.
Speaker 2 (16:59):
Those are great. You know, I thought about Virginia because
these are two evergreen perennials, and most perennials, by their
nature go dormant underground. But some of them, you know,
you can leave the stems standing, like Beptizia, for example,
is a good choice. You know, you can leave those
stems standing. They are dead, they're gonna blow away, or
you know, you'll cut them off in spring. But they
have that cool kind of chocolatey black color and the
(17:22):
really neat seedheads. But then there's evergreen perennials that are
still herbaceous. They don't have any wood, but you know,
like a hellebore where you have that nice kind of
spiky palmate leaf all summer long, all winter long, and
you get to look forward to the flowers very shortly after. Okay,
(17:42):
what is your favorite deciduous tree for winter? Interest?
Speaker 1 (17:46):
Easy? Paper maple.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
Ugh, that is such a great choice. I don't know
if I can top that one. Not that I need
to top it, but I mean I wasn't thinking paper
bark maple. You know, I do love a good beach
in winter. A good beach tree in winter, and there's
so many around here. I mean, of course, our native
American beach is not quite as spectacular as the European beach,
which takes on all sorts of characters, sometimes a very
(18:10):
malevolent character. But you know, our beautiful native beaches in
these mixed hemlock and beach forests, just the perfect combination.
Love that on a good winter hike. What is your
favorite evergreen tree for winter interests?
Speaker 1 (18:25):
Soft served camisipress.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
Oh really was that?
Speaker 1 (18:29):
It's just when the snow lays on it, it's just
absolutely beauty. I mean, you could pick so many gin
fizz juniper. I don't want to steal your thunder, but
if I have to pick one, it's going to be
soft served Cami sippris.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
And I can see that because there is something so
magical if you live in a climate with snow, you
know that sort of the drifts kind of almost like
they're like dripping off the plant, and that soft those
soft branches just kind of supporting all that snow. It
can be pretty magical if you give it. That. My
favorite evergreen and it's kind of a tree, kind of
(19:03):
a shrub, and I can't grow it. But this is
for all my friends out there and the warm climates.
Is camellia. If there's one plant that I could grow
here in Michigan and we can grow them, okay, but
nothing like you can in the south and anyway, my
favorite is Camelia japonica, which we definitely can't grow here.
And camellias, their foliage is beautiful, their flowers are beautiful.
(19:26):
I just if I could have one plant from another climate,
I might even pick a camellia over a lemon. Wow,
I say it something I know. Okay, what is your
favorite plant for winter decorating?
Speaker 1 (19:40):
Oh? Boy, come from the garden center industry. I've made
so many containers with dogwood branches and birch in it
that I can't say that. So I'm gonna say a
tie again between anything that has rose hips and winterberry
holly like berry.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
That's a great choice. You know, it's hard to beat.
They do import them from out west if you live
here on the eastern part of our country. But the
incense ceder, you know, when they have that in the
little decorations and swags and garlands and all of that
just so magical. Who or what is your favorite winter
(20:22):
garden visitor.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
It's a tie between cardinal couples and woodpeckers.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
Oh yeah, I'm going woodpecker all the way on this.
And you know, woodpeckers are always a thrill to see.
But if you put out a suet feeder and that's
mostly what you'll get, I mean I get all sorts
of things on the sewet feeder. But you know, it's like,
to me, woodpeckers are the winter hummingbirds. Yes, just like
all summer long, you're getting so excited every time you
see the hummingbird at your feeder and you have to
(20:48):
say like, ooh, hummingbird. It's like that in the winter
when every time there's a woodpecker at your sewet feeder,
you have to go, ooh, woodpecker. And then you know
the other your spouse comes running from the other side
of the house to see which kind of woodpecker it is.
It's that's it's so fun. Yes, all right, So we
hope that speed round gave you some ideas. We will
have everything down in the caption on YouTube so that
(21:08):
you can catch anything that you didn't in our maybe
slightly less than speedy speed Round we're going to take
a little break. When we come back, we're going to
open up the mail bag and answer your garden questions.
To stay tuned. At Proven Winners Color Choice Shrubs, we
know that a better landscape starts with a better shrub.
(21:31):
Our team of experts tests and evaluates all of our
flowering shrubs and evergreens for eight to ten years to
ensure they outperform what's already on the market. For easycare, reliable,
beautiful shrubs to accentuate your home and express your personal style,
look for Proven Winners Shrubs in the distinctive white container
at your local garden center, or learn more at Proven
Winner's Color Choice dot com. Greeting's Gardening friends, and welcome
(21:56):
back to the Gardening Simplified Show, where it is our
pleasure to help you with your gardening questions, quandaries and conundrums.
Whatever is puzzling you out there, or perhaps you have
a gardening celebration and no one to be as excited
about it with you as we will be, then we
invite you to reach out to us. You can go
to Gardening Simplified on air dot com. There is a
(22:17):
contact form there. You can also leave a comment on YouTube.
We read all of those and respond when you have questions.
But of course, if you have a question, usually other
people have the same question, you know, maybe from other
parts of the country or whatever. So we do invite
you to reach out. And you know, as I always say,
we do very much care about making sure you get
the information that you need to make the garden decisions
(22:39):
that you need to make. So don't just reach out
to us on the show because we have limited time
to answer your questions. But if you go to proven
Winners Color Choice dot Com, there is a contact form
there and you will get a personalized response, not from
an AI, but from an actual human being who cares
about your success and knows what they're talking about. I
(23:00):
can assure you of that. So, uh, what do we
got in ma bag? This week?
Speaker 1 (23:04):
Matthew writes to us, Hello, I have twenty acres here
in central Wisconsin with thousands of box elder trees. First
of all, can you explain to me what kind of
a tree they are? Second of all, I'm wondering are
they a good pollinator for bees? Boy, I could talk
about box elder trees for hours.
Speaker 2 (23:23):
Oh well, I'm very curious about your opinion.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
Well, I'm gonna say, first of all, it's an acer
ace r, right, yep, So you could say that it's
in the maple family.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
For all intents and purposes, it is a maple.
Speaker 1 (23:36):
So we've got that it's a fast growing tree. It
likes wet areas. And if I recall correctly and correct
me if I'm wrong, anybody correct me. But I think
it's dioecious, meaning that the male and female parts are
on separate trees. I'm pretty sure. If I'm wrong, correct me.
(23:57):
But it does produce copious amounts of samaras or samuras
or however you want. Helicopters helicopters and we'll seed everywhere.
And then of course the knock on box elder trees. Now,
there are some people who love box elder trees. There
are yes and feel that really knock the tree too much.
(24:22):
But the big problem with box elder trees, as long
as we're talking about winter preparation, the box elder bugs
and how they try to move into your house for winter.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
Right, and so most people I think, if they here
box elder, even if they don't know what a box
elder is, which it's astern agundo as Rick just said
they know box elder bugs, and box elder bugs have
that name. I'm not really sure why because they aren't
specifically limited to box elders in any way, shape or form.
The box elder plays little to no part in their
reproduction or sheltering. But they're called box elder bugs, and
(24:55):
yes they are everywhere coming up in the next couple
of weeks. Don't flame your box elders. But if you
have a box elder. So let's go back to what
Matthew saying. So if you have a lot of box
elders and they are quality trees, which is to say
they have, you know, fairly good size on them, then
I would leave them and say that's a pretty good
(25:15):
plant to have. They don't really have attractive flowers, they
don't get full color. A lot of people mistake them
as poison ivy, especially when they are at a seedling stage,
because they do very much look like they could be
poison ivy. You know, most people, if you say, oh,
this is a maple, they're thinking of the classic, you know,
Canadian flag maple leaf. This is a maple, and it's
(25:35):
a trifolia maple. So instead of having that familiar palm leaf.
It has like little sets of three leaves, so most
people wouldn't even recognize it ever as a maple. They
would think it's it's poison ivy with like maple helicopters
on it or something like that. But yeah, it is weedy.
It is weedy, and it's not particularly high quality wood.
(25:55):
Weak wooded known to drop branches unless you have a
really really mature plant. So not the best plan to
have around from a seasonal perspective, from a quality perspective,
but if you already have them, they aren't They don't
need bees for pollination, they are wind pollinated, but they
(26:15):
do produce nectar that is actually used as an early
food source for all sorts of insects. So certainly not
the best choice to support pollinators, but not the worst either.
Speaker 1 (26:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:29):
It's kind of one of those things where I certainly
would never recommend that someone actually go out and seek
out a box elder, But if you have them, and
have a couple that are really nice, all major harm
in keeping them, except for the fact that you will
be pulling out box elder seedlings for the rest of
your life.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
When I ran a garden center, I had a lady
call up. She was super upset. She bought a bunch
of mult from US, and a few weeks later there
were weeds seeds popping up everywhere, I mean thousands of them,
and she claimed that it came from our mold. I
went and visited her home. Very nice lady. We talked
(27:04):
it out. She had box elder trees all around the
arroya and they were seeding in the mulch. And I
pointed it out to her and she understood, but she
thought it was my mulch. Thank you, very mulch. It
was that.
Speaker 2 (27:16):
No, no garden center is going to just willingly let
a box elder, you know, put its seeds all through
their entire mulch pile and make themselves the most hated
garden center in town.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
Stacy Kelcey writes to US, I garden in Central Wisconsin's
on four or five, I was gifted a rows of Sharon.
Started play almost fifteen years ago. It has grown into
a real beauty. Gets a lot of attention from the neighbors.
Because our weather is typically too cold for rose of Sharon.
We had a bunker spring with temperatures in the low
seventies in March. In the high twenties and low thirties
(27:51):
through most of May.
Speaker 2 (27:53):
So what Kelsey is saying is that she lives in
an area where rose of Sharon doesn't typically grow yea,
and this particular season was especially crazy because she had
really really warm temperatures in March and then really really
cold temperatures in mex So basically, what we're looking at here,
and she did send pictures you can see those on YouTube,
(28:13):
is a Rosa Sharon, a pretty big, pretty mature Rosa
Sharon with almost no foliage and very few flowers on it.
So she's obviously trying to kind of troubleshoot this herself.
So she says, how do I move forward with this
plants with this plant once it goes dormant? Can I
cut it back to rejuvenate it? Should I not prune
at all and wait to see? Should I say goodbye
(28:35):
to one of my favorite garden plants. I'm at a loss.
So this is definitely a very stressed plant, but it
also has a lot of resources in it, and you're
definitely right on the border there, as you say, Kelsey,
of Zone four and five. Rosa Sharon is generally considered
hardy to USDA zone five. It's probably in a little
bit of a protected spot. I don't think it's dying.
(28:59):
I do you worry a little bit that it is
getting too much shade, because when I look at Kelsey's pictures,
I see that this big, mature Rosa sharon is surrounded
by ferns. It's surrounded by hostas and a bunch of
really really shade loving plants. And Rosa sharon can take
a little bit of shade, especially if you live in
(29:21):
a hotter climate. But if it's in too much shade,
it will become very sparse, the wood will be very weak,
it will flower very little. Yeah, so that was my
first thought that I saw in Kelsey's picture. You can
prune it, and Rosa sharon is actually very amenable to pruning.
I would not, Kelsey, prune it until next spring and
(29:42):
wait until you see where that new growth is coming from.
Give it some fertilizer. You know, I'm not usually the
biggest proponent of fertilizing landscape plants, but Rosa sharon is
a heavy feeder. I know here at the nursery they
require a lot more supplemental feed than almost any other
crop that grow. They get chlorotic really really easily. Yeah,
(30:04):
looking kind of sickly. Don't fertilize it now, but this spring,
go ahead and cut back any wood that's not showing
signs of life. If you want to cut the whole
thing back a little bit too, that's fine too. Fertilize it.
Then go ahead and give it another dose of fertilizer.
I would say in like late May or something like that,
just to help it push back and come back. And
if it turns out that this spot has become too
(30:26):
shady for it, I would consider moving it. You could
actually consider moving it even the spring while it's still dormant,
if you you know, in spring twenty twenty six, if
that is the root that you want to go and
you have another spot for it, I'm sure it would
appreciate more sun.
Speaker 1 (30:42):
I think the plant almost acts like a rose bush
as it relates to feeding and wanting food.
Speaker 2 (30:48):
Yeah, definitely, the more you give it, the better it
will do. So hopefully that is helpful.
Speaker 1 (30:53):
Amy writes to us, My question is where's a good
source for purchasing fluorist carnations the big ones as plants.
They're my grandmother's favorite. Such a hard plant to find
and I'd recommend the Paint the Town series from Proven Winners.
But the botanical name you're looking for is Dianthus cariophyllis,
(31:16):
and that's a short lived perennial essentially.
Speaker 2 (31:20):
It is, so, you know, kind of the ugly truth here, Amy,
I don't want to disappoint you, but anytime there are
plants that are grown for cut flowers, they are usually
a totally separate beast from plants that are grown for landscape.
So the florest carnations that you are buying, as lovely
as the flowers are, the plants are not something you
would want in your garden at all. They tend to
(31:43):
be grown specifically for the cut flower industry, and what
is good for the cut flower industry isn't necessarily good
for the horticulture industry. That's true of roses as well.
You know, the roses that they grow for cut flowers
nothing like the roses that we sell for landscape plants.
But all of that said, there are a number so Dianthus,
like Rick just mentioned, the Paint the Town series from
Proven Winner is very close relative. The flowers are going
(32:05):
to be a little bit smaller, but it does kind
of have that same kind of vibe. But you can
if you go to like a really good floral seed
supplier like Select Seeds or Johnny's, you can get some
garden carnations. You do need to have a realistic expectation
that they're not going to be quite like what you're
buying in the store. But on the other hand, why
(32:27):
would you want something exactly like you can buy in
the store when you can grow some really cool carnations.
Florette Flower Farm if you're familiar with them, they're out west.
She's an amazing floral designer and grower, and she has
tons of information about growing your own carnations that we
will share as well. So have reasonable expectations about what
you'll actually produce, and then you can grow your own carnations.
(32:49):
We're going to take a little break. When we come back,
we're continuing our conversation about winter interests, so stay uned.
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
(33:11):
with your success in mind. Learn more at Proven Winners
color Choice dot Com.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
Welcome back to the Gardening simplified show, Stacy, as we
talk about winter interest, I was thinking about how in
the garden center industry, when we got nice weather in November,
Christmas lights would sell like hotcakes.
Speaker 2 (33:34):
Oh that makes sense.
Speaker 1 (33:35):
Because people think, you know, ah, this is the year
I'm gonna throw Christmas lights on the shrubs and decorate
the house and that type of thing because the weather's
nice enough. In years when it got really cold early,
the light sets didn't. You know, they still sold, but
they didn't sell as well. So it's just a way
of me encouraging you that here in September, while we
(33:58):
have time before the weather starts to decline, maybe think
about the whole garden lighting issue. Again. I'm not talking
about Christmas lights. I'm talking about floodlights up through the
trees or back lighting shrubbery. I'll tell you what, on
a January February day, you're going to be glad that
you did it. Now I've got a question for you, Stacy,
(34:20):
and that is we talk about structure in a landscape.
So containers. In fall, as you're doing some cleanup, I
like to clip some branches, put them in containers. You
enjoy those for winter interest. In the landscape, a pergola
and arch, some statuary. My question is this, how do
(34:40):
you feel about a bench in the winter landscape? Is
a bench depressing or inviting?
Speaker 2 (34:49):
A bench is absolutely inviting, oh even and required because
you never know when you're going to have one of
those lovely winter days where it's sunny. I mean, you know,
it's probably not sitting outside whether for normal people, but
we as gardeners are not really normal people. So yeah,
I will absolutely sit on a bench outside on a
(35:11):
reasonably nice winter day. You know, have a nice cozy
guinness stout or something like that in the on the
sunny afternoon, or cup of hot cocoa. You might need
to get something out of your boot, sit down and
get something out of your boot. So yeah, I think
you know, you probably you probably don't want let's say
you want ice skating, you need to change out your
(35:32):
ice skates. I don't know, but you probably would not
want a metal bench. No, But if you have some
sort of wood bench, then yeah, I think I think
it's very handy to have.
Speaker 1 (35:44):
I do have a guinness on the bench and then
go inside and play high hold cheriot.
Speaker 2 (35:48):
There you go, all right? Now, you know the key
to us successful getting through winter.
Speaker 1 (35:55):
See, we have fun uh bark bark on trees and
plants of course super important. We talked about paper maple.
Oh and if you get a chance, go to a
place like Arnold Arboretum in winter. Wow where some arboretum
or yeah, it's magic.
Speaker 2 (36:13):
Yeah, you know, that's a great really, that's great advice,
not just to enjoy the trees, but to get out
of the house and to do something else. And you know,
even in places with really cold winters, we usually have
some days where it's pretty okay to be outside. It's
not too windy, it's not too cold, and you know,
if you're out there and you're walking vigorously and yeah,
(36:34):
bring the dog, bring the kids. Everybody burns off some energy.
It's it's win wind. But yeah, arboretum are great areas
to do that, and it would be a great opportunity
to support them at a time where you can have
it all to yourself too. You got a love that,
I tell you what.
Speaker 1 (36:49):
And yes, I am outside all winter long. We joke
about winter, but I am outside all winter long. And
if you're in an area that doesn't get a lot
of cold or snow, oh, I've got this pathway. I
love to walk down to the beach, and it can
be magical, it can be beautiful. If you're not from
one of the colder areas, I will have to say
(37:12):
to you that you will have a tendency as a
person who loves plants, to slip your gloves off and
find evergreen branches, rub them with your fingers, and then.
Speaker 2 (37:22):
Oh yeah, yeah, I don't love that.
Speaker 1 (37:25):
But on the bark side, river birch and hepticodium are
two that we I don't think we have mentioned would
be a great choice. Climbing Hydrangea I think is really
cool in the wintertime. Magnolia's are nine barks, all great
plants for winter. Of course, here in Michigan, I love
(37:47):
witch hazel because you've got the two different types of
witch hazel. When they one that's blooming in November the
other one that's blooming in March.
Speaker 2 (37:56):
You know, sometimes if you have an older one of those,
you will get them where the winter blooming Asian variety
has been grafted onto our native fall bloomy here you
go hamomialis Virginiana. And then if sometimes it has happens
the understock the hemomalis Virginiana takes over and you have both,
then you can get it too. And one. I mean,
(38:16):
it's not really what it's intended to do, but I
wouldn't argue with it if.
Speaker 1 (38:19):
It's pretty cool, especially if you don't have a lot
of space, it's pretty cool. Uh, Stacy. People would say
to us, Hey, you got to mention hukarus.
Speaker 2 (38:28):
Oh, yes, you do. I suppose if you can grow them.
I can't, but some people can. No. You know, I
think when it comes to evergreen perennials, and I was
looking up, like, hey, is there any evergreen perennials that
I'm not thinking of for this show? Uh, and Hukara
came up. I mean, Hukara is around in winter, but
for most of us, unless you live in a really
mild climate, like you know out west where they are native,
(38:52):
you know, Oregon, Washington kind of area, they're there, I
wouldn't really say for most of us in cold climates
that they're contributing a whole heck of a lot. But
I guess they're better than nothing. They're better than nothing.
They are, they are better than nothing. That bit of
colors is always welcome, but it's certainly not their shiniest
moment of the year.
Speaker 1 (39:15):
No, that's true. How about high ranges. You know, we
talk a lot about high ranges, but hydranges I think
can just be so beautiful in winter. And then also
I love planting bulbs in fall and looking forward to
late winter when you see things like snow drops or
(39:36):
glory of the snow bloom.
Speaker 2 (39:39):
Wow, so early, you know, it's so important. And those
are not the ones that you're usually going to find
on sale or even fine it's like your average box store,
So they are worth seeking out from a garden center
or a specialty bulb supplier. You know, even if you
have even if you invest in a small amount like
say ten or twenty five of each of say snowdrop
(40:00):
and aaranthus also known as winter aconite, yep, it's the
difference that it will make in your spirits is more
than worth it. And I have found that they typically
spread quite well, they naturalize fairly well, so it's not
like you only have those ten bulbs and they die.
They live a long time. They start to spread, and
they're slow, and they're dainty and delicate, So I mean
(40:23):
they look delicate, but they're actually pretty tough plants. So yeah,
I think they are absolutely worth, you know, seeking out
and having some as part of your fall old planting.
Speaker 1 (40:32):
When you buy plants during the growing season, do you
look at the plant and think, what's this going to
look like in winter? Do you think that far ahead? Yeah?
I don't either. I'd like to say that I do,
but I don't.
Speaker 2 (40:43):
Well, you know, it's even even as we talk about this,
and even knowing that you and I, you know, do
prioritize having something to look at in winter, ultimately not
a whole lot of my landscape is visible from my house,
So I really focus on those areas that I see
from my kitchen, you know, so that I'm really making
sure that those areas I do see aren't just you know,
(41:04):
a barren winter wasteland. But I don't have to think
too much about like where my native plant border is,
what's going on in there, because I'm just not really
going to see it that off.
Speaker 1 (41:13):
It's true. It's a good point. A plant that many
people may not think of as a winter interest plant,
but is one for me, and that is color Guard, Yucca.
I have a picture to share with you on YouTube,
but that brilliant, bright yellow in winter is fabulous and
(41:34):
the plant puts on a show contingent on how bad
the winter is. And what I mean in that regard
is deer. So the deer generally will leave it alone
if it's a mild winter. If it's a harsh winter,
yuka cannot be very much fun for a deer to eat,
(41:56):
a real stringy, tough but they will lead if the
winter is really rough. But color guard yucca is Wow.
Speaker 2 (42:03):
That is a very cool plant. Definitely. You know, maybe
the deer just get bored and they just want to
dare each other. I dairy to eat that yucca. You know,
I don't know, but yeah, it does not seem like
a fun thing to eat. And usually I found that
they kind of try the top and then they go
not for me, and they move on to something else.
It's probably equally.
Speaker 1 (42:21):
Horrible, exactly. It's kind of like vegetables on the plate
for a kid.
Speaker 2 (42:26):
Yeah, yeah, probably poorly cooked vegetable.
Speaker 1 (42:29):
A poorly cooked vegetable. Yes, And Stacy, I love milkweed
in winter.
Speaker 2 (42:35):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (42:35):
I've gone out and photographed it often now again along
the lake shore here along Lake Michigan, we're blessed with
lots of milkweed. But I love milkweed, and some of
the seed is still hanging out of the pods. A
great plant to photograph in winter and a great plant
to enjoy for winter interest.
Speaker 2 (42:55):
You know when you get some of those like light
fluffy snowfalls and then the snowflakes pile up in the
little milkweed seed container and that's just such a cool moment.
Speaker 1 (43:07):
I have hundreds of pictures, I believe this, which shows
you that in winter, I'm looking for something to do.
Speaker 2 (43:16):
It sounds like Hio cherio.
Speaker 1 (43:21):
Let's break that game out. I think it'd be a
lot of fun with Adriana will play high hold Cheriot.
Speaker 2 (43:26):
I don't know, I hear it's the pits.
Speaker 1 (43:32):
Anyway, I'm not going to say anything because that was perfect,
So just go for.
Speaker 2 (43:38):
It, okay. Thank thank you so much, Rick for this
exciting discussion on winter interest, and hopefully it gave you
all some good ideas about what to do. Thank you
Adriana for leading us through all of this, and thanks
to all of you for listening. We truly appreciate it.
(44:00):
Hope you have a wonderfull leak ahead. Yeah,
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
Cardiac Cowboys
The heart was always off-limits to surgeons. Cutting into it spelled instant death for the patient. That is, until a ragtag group of doctors scattered across the Midwest and Texas decided to throw out the rule book. Working in makeshift laboratories and home garages, using medical devices made from scavenged machine parts and beer tubes, these men and women invented the field of open heart surgery. Odds are, someone you know is alive because of them. So why has history left them behind? Presented by Chris Pine, CARDIAC COWBOYS tells the gripping true story behind the birth of heart surgery, and the young, Greatest Generation doctors who made it happen. For years, they competed and feuded, racing to be the first, the best, and the most prolific. Some appeared on the cover of Time Magazine, operated on kings and advised presidents. Others ended up disgraced, penniless, and convicted of felonies. Together, they ignited a revolution in medicine, and changed the world.