Ecologically functional plants

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
I am here in the studio with Sarah Geigerbeam and
we're going to finish out our favorite plants right now.
And we're also in the studio, not speaking yet, but
in the studio we have Jennifer Smith and Heather Augustine
and in about fifteen minutes we'll start talking about our
favorite top plants for both ecological function and beauty, and

(00:22):
we welcome your input on that too. You can give
us a call it eight hundred eighty two three eighty
two fifty five eight hundred eight eighty two fifty five
for questions and comments or insight that you want to
give us about great plants for both beauty and function.
You can check out our podcasts. I forgot to mention

(00:43):
that earlier past shows are available at any favorite source
of podcasts. So we left off we were talking about
Japanese maples. I think we finished that. What is your
next favorite plant, Sarah?

Speaker 2 (00:59):
The blazing stars liatrus so predictable. Really, they're so good,
they're so good, they're so good, they're beautiful right now.
I saw wild liatris growing in a drainage ditch on
I seventy one this week, and I assume it was spakata.
Maybe it was picnustaki. I don't know. It's hard to

(01:19):
tell from far away, but just beautiful.

Speaker 1 (01:22):
It's interesting how many of those so called prairie plants
that you know do well in dry soil, poor soil
and you cut for me, at least I kind of
frame it. That's what they want, that's what they do.
But they also do really well in these ditches and.

Speaker 2 (01:42):
Yeah places, Spakata seems it likes a little bit more water,
I think than compared to legular stylus. Those are the
two I'm most familiar with.

Speaker 1 (01:51):
There's a lot to learn about the different latress species
out there. Yes, Fortunately they're coming into the market more
and more. People are starting to think about it more
and we'll figure it out.

Speaker 2 (02:01):
I will say they grow like a dream and a container.
I'm growing three different, four different latris from seeds this
year and they all have just visible corms coming up
that look like a little tiny seed potato. And that
was a lot more than I was expecting from just
a few months in a container.

Speaker 1 (02:23):
You know what, My favorite next plan is, what's up tomatoes?

Speaker 2 (02:27):
Yeah, no arguments there.

Speaker 1 (02:28):
Speaking of obvious. This is they're just coming into their
own as far as producing. Yeah, and there's nothing like
a fresh tomato straight from the garden or a cherry
tomato popped in your mouth, still a little dirty, Yeah,
hot from the sun. Yeah, extra nutrients, all that good.

Speaker 2 (02:47):
I love growing tomatoes. It's my favorite vegetable to grow.
I think it's the easiest one to grow. I think
a lot of people might disagree with me on that
because there are some diseases. There are some and they
they they're wild. I mean, my Chadwick cherry is it's
a beast.

Speaker 1 (03:03):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (03:04):
They can grow too fast, but it's such a rewarding
plant and you almost can't kill it. I had a
few seedlings that I just kept in trays as indicator plants. Yeah,
and they're still alive. I'm like a little seventy two tray.
It's at this point, it's like, can I get this
plant through a whole season and a seventy two tray?
I maybe just through.

Speaker 1 (03:25):
I just threw out my extras. Yeah, I had several in,
you know, like left over, and I just kept watering
them and watering them, and they're in these little I
guess it was seventy two's Yeah, No, it was in
a two inch they were so sad looking. Yeah, And
finally I'm like, I can't you guys, I'm torturing you, guys.

(03:47):
It's time for euthanasia.

Speaker 2 (03:48):
It's not like they're producing anything, but yeah, it's the
fact that they just won't die. They will go into
hard wilt in that tray and then I water the
train and.

Speaker 1 (03:57):
It's like right back, Yeah, yep, we've got about maybe
five more minutes for these. What's your next one? The
highest on your list?

Speaker 2 (04:05):
Oh, the highest of my list, Joe pie Weeed yep,
looking great right now? Yeah, the really tall one.

Speaker 1 (04:15):
What is that gateway? Maculate them, maculate them?

Speaker 2 (04:19):
Yeah, I saw the straight species that Wentwood's fantastic planting
of it.

Speaker 1 (04:24):
It's amazing when you see it out in nature. Yeah,
but it makes such a good garden plant. Maybe not
gateweight because it's twelve feet high. You have to have
a pretty good sized.

Speaker 2 (04:34):
Guard for there.

Speaker 1 (04:35):
Are They've come out with quite a few newer ones
that are just as good for Yeah. Yeah, there's a
little Joe. Yeah, they're getting down to like three foot
and then they got down to twenty four inches. And
now there's one even shorter than that, which boggles my mind.

Speaker 2 (04:50):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (04:50):
So yeah, I mean you can now if you have
that tiny garden and you always like Joe Pie weeen,
now you can fit it in your garden, which is
pretty cool. That's where breeding is a great thing. Speaking
of breeding, I'm just going to have to do this. Uh,
I got to mention hibiscus again. I know I did
it a couple of weeks ago, but they are just

(05:11):
still yeah, oh and will for a while. There's big
flowers just punctuate the garden. And what I like about
them most is that they're crowd pleasers. You know at
the zoo you see the kids just loving home and
you say, you know, maybe that kid is now a
gardener for life.

Speaker 2 (05:31):
Yeah. And it is a plant that delights especially children.
And you know, talk about bang for your bot. If
you want to add color to your garden, if you
just moved into a new place, or maybe you're renting
and you have just a small space and you miss gardening,
or you want to start gardening, get a get a hibiscus.
It's you'll see it from you know, one hundred yards

(05:52):
down the road.

Speaker 1 (05:53):
When you guarantee And I mentioned speaking of breeders when
I introduced the plant because Hans Hansen, you know, good friend,
we have had come down and speak.

Speaker 2 (06:03):
He can breed anything, he.

Speaker 1 (06:04):
Can breed anything, and he does, he breaths everything. But
he really has done a wonder with a high biscus.

Speaker 2 (06:11):
So yeah, all the summer effics, all the.

Speaker 1 (06:13):
Summer effics, Holy Grail, so many in the summer effics. Yeah,
then that's how he works at Walters. And a lot
of these are on the proven Winter Yes, in the
proven Winter Catalog. A couple more minutes, I'm gonna go
ahead and mention again blocks piniculata because they're really hitting
their stride and just work in the garden. So well,

(06:33):
what is your next one?

Speaker 2 (06:35):
I have coreopsis, I like zagreb, I like moonbeam, the
old ones, yeah I do. Yeah, yeah, I'm not big
on the multi colored ones. That's just a personal preference
of mine. But yeah, a good garden plant. It doesn't
always perform over the long term like I like, but

(06:55):
it's really good at covering the ground, especially early on
in a planting. So I will use it to fill gaps,
knowing that maybe the baptisia next to it, the false
ind to go next to it, will eventually encroach on it,
and I'm fine with that.

Speaker 1 (07:08):
Yeah, So I've had zagreb for years and years and years.
That is one that has staying power. Some of the
other I think moonbeams pretty good too. Some of the
other ones are sort of that fall under that short
lived perennial category. You got one more, and I'm going
to give you time for one more. We never finish
our lists, so that's okay.

Speaker 2 (07:29):
So this is kind of an odd ball one. I
am growing snake bean for the first time this year. Yea,
that's a vine, right, it's a vine.

Speaker 1 (07:38):
It's in the annual vine.

Speaker 2 (07:40):
Yeah. It's in the squash family, and it's from Asia,
and apparently if you harvest the fruit early, it tastes
like green beans. If you harvest it later, it tastes
a little bit more like a squash. But the plant
is delightful. I'm mostly growing it for my children because
I thought they would think it's really cool that it
looks like actual snakes almost hanging down from this big

(08:01):
dramatic fi.

Speaker 1 (08:01):
Poaking each other in the eyes with it.

Speaker 2 (08:04):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (08:04):
Yeah, when you're.

Speaker 2 (08:05):
Trying to get kids into gardening, you got to go dramatic,
and the snake bean absolutely it fits.

Speaker 1 (08:11):
The bill on that it's a few trips to the er.

Speaker 2 (08:13):
I really I really need like a ten foot tpe
tripod for this thing because it is so vigorous, but
I only have some short sticks. So what it's doing
now is it looks like this skirt. That's just it
goes up and then it kind of flows down and
it's very graceful, and it's like, oh, I could turn

(08:34):
this into a scarecrow or something. The designer I means, like,
how can I style this? It's so swirly and wonderful.

Speaker 1 (08:41):
Halloween is only a few short months away. Yeah, exactly, exactly, exactly,
all right, we got to wrap this up. We never
finish our lists. That's okay, it's okay. Well, we'll have
many years, hopefully maybe to do this. So we're gonna
take a break, and when we come back, we're going
to have Jennifer Smith and Heather Augustine join us, both

(09:04):
of them great horticultures, and we're going to talk about
more great plants, this time combining beauty with ecological functions.

Speaker 2 (09:11):
I am excited about this topic. It was more interesting
and harder to answer the more I thought about it,
So I'm really interested to see what they came up
with and what you came up with. We have not
talked about this, No, we.

Speaker 1 (09:22):
Have not, so stay tuned for that. You will not
want to miss it. I'm back. I am joined now
with again with Sarah Geiger Beam and now with Jennifer
Smith from Wimburg Landscaping as well. And Jennifer, you are
a designer and educator and an award You've made award

(09:48):
winning gardens for Alt Park and Wimberg, the Wimberg's campus
and did you get an award for the Wasson Way
Way you did. Yeah, so some really great gardens around Cincinnati.
And also with Heather Augustine, good morning, good morning. And
you are a professor of horticulture and agriculture at sin
Sin State College or sin Sant State Technical College.

Speaker 3 (10:12):
Technical and Community College. We just call it SINCI State.

Speaker 1 (10:15):
Yeah. Sure, that's so much easier and much more fitting
to my poor memory. And you've been doing that for
twenty one years. Before that, you worked for the Cincinne
Park Board. I didn't know all this Cincinni Park Board,
Hamilton County Parks, Ambious Interior Plantscapes. Yes, you are the
founder and owner of the Optimized Human LLC. What is that?

Speaker 3 (10:37):
It's a health and wellness coaching sir.

Speaker 1 (10:39):
Us Okay, yeah, fits right in with our topic that's
coming up. And you are a lead Green Associate and
a NASH Nationally board sort of fed health and wellness coach. Yes, okay,
So three very good horticulturists in me about to take
on about to take on a great subject of favorite trees, shrubs,

(11:05):
plants or perennials and annuals for both beauty and function.
So every now and then I get kind of tweaked
or a little I get prickly. I get prickly when
somebody go, oh, that plant's just beautiful, you know, And
I'm like, beauty is really important, you know, it really

(11:29):
brings a lot to people's lives. It ain't nothing, it's
you know, and it's what the casual gardener or the
non gardener, what might hook them into gardens. And that
is so important. And you know, the movement now is
for plants that have ecological functions, sometimes solely logical function

(11:53):
to meet certain needs, whether it's pollinators, water management, all
these different things. And I thought that'd be really cool,
just to concentrate I haven't seen this much in articles
or whatever. It would be really cool to just like
concentrate on on short lists of plants that combine them
both really well. And we're gonna start with trees. And

(12:15):
we also, by the way, eight hundred and eighty two
three eighty two fifty five, if you want to comment
or provide plants of your own that you like for
beauty and function, give us a call eight hundred eighty
two three eighty two fifty five. So let's see who starts.
Let's set who wants to start, rather, go ahead, sure, Heather,

(12:35):
Heather Augustine.

Speaker 3 (12:37):
I have to say this was a really difficult. I
don't know if everyone else had a hard time, but
I kept kind of second guessing my choices. Yes, I agree,
and I'm sure we're going to have well, we'll see.
It'll be interesting to see if we have some of
the same ones. So the first tree I have is
black gum.

Speaker 1 (12:54):
Oh good one, and so that one made that choice.

Speaker 3 (12:57):
So true for a wet for I.

Speaker 4 (13:00):
Want to have the plant that no one else says you.

Speaker 3 (13:01):
Get like that would be kind of interesting to see
if how many we have the same as well. That
would be I don't like scoring usually everyone, especially early
in the morning.

Speaker 4 (13:11):
It's not fair.

Speaker 2 (13:12):
I think we should score the plants. If they get
multiple mentions, then I think, yeah.

Speaker 1 (13:18):
That in the gasp factor. When you're like when Heather
said blackgum, we all sort of oh, yeah, that's a
good way.

Speaker 2 (13:24):
That's one of my favorite plants. This week, I just
didn't get to it. I love those.

Speaker 4 (13:28):
Yeah, it doesn't count.

Speaker 1 (13:30):
Bring up why do you like black gums so much?

Speaker 3 (13:33):
So? Black gum is a true four season interest plant,
which just means it offers something all throughout the year.
It does offer benefits for pollinators, also fruit for birds. Unfortunately,
we don't see it planted as often as perhaps we
would like to, and I think that's because it does
prefer slightly acidic pH compared to some other trees in

(13:54):
our area.

Speaker 1 (13:55):
I don't think people know it as well. It has
that confusion because it's black gum. It's too below and
I think a couple other so. You know, the other
day I was talking about black elm with somebody and
they were like, well, what about tupelo, And I'm like,
the same plant, you know, so, yeah, great one. And
the females there's male and female with it. The females
produce fruit, which I'm sure is quite good for the birds.

Speaker 2 (14:16):
Yes, and it's beautiful.

Speaker 1 (14:18):
Yeah. And the fall color all the fruit is beautiful.

Speaker 2 (14:20):
Yeah, it's like a bloomy kind of blue color.

Speaker 1 (14:22):
Yeah, and fall color is really nice. I don't know
if it hosts anything.

Speaker 3 (14:29):
I think the luna moth is one for sure that
it does eat the foliage.

Speaker 1 (14:33):
That's one that I found.

Speaker 2 (14:35):
Some really unusual pollinator on mine. Oh yeah, yeah, around
when it was blooming, and I don't know if it
was actually pollinating it or if it was collecting a
resin or something. I can't remember what it was, but
it was like a big black and white kind of.

Speaker 1 (14:49):
Probably the next exotic invasive insects.

Speaker 2 (14:51):
Oh no, it was native. Oh good, I've never seen
it before. Very striking and it's like, okay, it's collecting
something on.

Speaker 1 (14:59):
This so black tupelo Nissa savatica. Check it. It's a
good book or good.

Speaker 2 (15:07):
Especially if you have a wet spot.

Speaker 1 (15:09):
Yeah, likes what it likes. Yeah, yeah, flat locations with
hold water and so forth. Jennifer, what's your first tree?

Speaker 4 (15:17):
Maybe not everyone's favorite, but a buckeye tree.

Speaker 1 (15:22):
Ohio buckeye hm. Oh dear, Oh, that's.

Speaker 4 (15:26):
Just rude so early in the morning.

Speaker 3 (15:30):
Do you like?

Speaker 5 (15:30):
The reason why I picked it is okay. Humming birds
like it, several bees like it. We have one outside
our fifth floor balcony window. So when I sit on
the balcony you can see all those empty crevices.

Speaker 4 (15:42):
It is like a condo.

Speaker 5 (15:44):
For all the squirrels and chipmunks, and as we're in
our condo, there's their home.

Speaker 1 (15:48):
Now.

Speaker 4 (15:49):
I would not put this in the front yard.

Speaker 1 (15:53):
Sad mid August maybe.

Speaker 5 (15:57):
So if you have a backyard, you want to a
woodland space. The nuts are cool because all the kids
that are at our pool clock.

Speaker 4 (16:04):
Down beautiful, so it gets kids involved, right, But it's
not the I'm going to take a picture of it,
yea put in the front.

Speaker 1 (16:10):
You remember what the what the priorities were, the like
the what do you call it? The protocol of this
was combining beauty.

Speaker 5 (16:19):
It is pretty when it blooms, well, I will say.

Speaker 2 (16:23):
Flowering trees go. It's a nice bloom.

Speaker 1 (16:25):
It's a nice bloom, and the new foliage in the
spring is spectacular. It's an early bloom. Yeah, and it
probably hosts a million things, which is part of the.

Speaker 4 (16:33):
Reason it's fascinating.

Speaker 2 (16:34):
Yeah, the emerging foliage is that's another thing that pleases children.

Speaker 1 (16:38):
Yeah, and me.

Speaker 5 (16:39):
And we have a ton of hummingbirds on the eighth
floor balcony. So I wonder if they come from that
tree to my parents falcony.

Speaker 1 (16:46):
Good question. Yeah, you know, you get start a study,
do some research.

Speaker 4 (16:51):
I will get on that. I'm making a note right now.

Speaker 1 (16:53):
Yeah, all right, we're just scratching the service, just getting
started on our top favorite plants for beauty combined with function,
ecological function. You are listening to Scott Berlin Let's Garden
with Scott Berline. I am Scott Berlin. Yeah, you're listening
to me too, and our podcast. If you want to
listen to Let's Garden with Scott Berlin on the old shows,

(17:16):
they're available on as Let's Garden with Scott Berline on
any source of podcasts, and our numbers eight hundred and
eighty two, three eighty two to fifty five. Give us
a call with yours. We'll be back in just a
couple of minutes. I am here with three great horticulturists,
Sarah geiger beIN, Jennifer Smith, both of them from Wimberg

(17:40):
Landscaping and Heather Augustine from since since he state, and
we are talking about the best right now. We're talking
about the best trees for beauty and ecological function. And
I think we have arrived at you, Sarah, what is
your favorite tree? One of them?

Speaker 2 (17:57):
So the trees kind to set the stage for my
whole approach to this, and I was really trying to
pick up plants that I would plant only for beauty
and I would also plant only for ecological function. So
and you know, I really surprised myself. I did not
go for the flowering trees. I did not go for

(18:19):
anything that produces nectar or pollen. I went for the
stuff that creates habitat because I think that's a bigger
bang for your buck, and especially things that produce nuts,
because the contributions of those trees to.

Speaker 1 (18:36):
Wildlife is and usually the nut producing trees are also good.

Speaker 2 (18:41):
Yes, yeah, So, I mean they're just functioning on so
many levels. So oaks number one, especially the white oak family.
The acorns tend to be a little bit less bitter.
I know hunters will plant white oaks to attract deer
because they taste the best.

Speaker 1 (18:57):
Probably make better tasting deer.

Speaker 2 (19:00):
Don't know about that, but it's good food for the deer,
which you know are native. We have too many of
them around here. But it feeds squirrels, It feeds all
kinds of things, and it really supports the food web
from from the soil all the way up to the
apex predators.

Speaker 1 (19:19):
I think you know, Doug Tallmy calls it. What's the
word stone keystone species basically lumping oaks together like you did,
I chose just one. I chose corcous mule and berghie.
I like the chinkapin oak. Yeah, I chose it for
a lot of the reasons that you stated. The acorns
are small and sweet, so they can feed a lot

(19:42):
of things, including like blue jays and other large birds.

Speaker 4 (19:45):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (19:47):
And then I mentioned things in my notes, the capacity
for producing shade, which cannot.

Speaker 2 (19:53):
Be under holding moisture in the overstated.

Speaker 1 (19:57):
You have the importance of it. Yeah, holding, and just
sheer biome, which is also important for a lot of
weird like reasons gardeners don't normally think of. But biomass
is so important. Hosts a lot of pollinators, pretty easy,
good for dry sites, tolerant of higher pH Yeah, so

(20:17):
that was what I ran with. Yeah, pretty much any
oaks as far as beauty, the form is so great.

Speaker 2 (20:24):
Yeah. My sister has one. She lives on five wooded
acres and it's right at the top of a limestone ridge.
And the character of that tree, it just sort of
towers over the entire valley.

Speaker 1 (20:38):
Yeah, And I like what I like about is the
bark is kind of blonde Mama's white. Yeah, and it
stands out in the winter really nicely. It does and
catches light nicely too. It just has presents its long lived.

Speaker 2 (20:51):
Yeah. And sometimes I meet with some opposition from clients
to planting an oak. So if you can plant an
oak with a smaller acorn, yes, because that can be
irritating if you plant it next to a driveway or
a path or you know, and.

Speaker 1 (21:06):
If you're a small person.

Speaker 2 (21:07):
And if you're a small person, you know, I when
I had babies and strollers, I lived on a street
with a lot of oaks and sweet gums, and pushing
a stroller or a wheelchair down that would be chilling.

Speaker 1 (21:18):
So maybe my comment was rude and inappropriate. It was.
It was not thought out.

Speaker 2 (21:24):
I'm just used to that, Scott.

Speaker 1 (21:27):
I'm kind of good at that. Actually, Heather, what's your
next tree?

Speaker 3 (21:30):
Well, do we want to stay on the oak vein
here for a minute. I'm not surprised that's familiar. So
I specifically chose swamp white oak, which is Quercus bicolor,
the name coming from the fact that the top of
the leaf has that beautiful green color. The underside is
kind of a silvery white.

Speaker 1 (21:46):
I never drew the correlation.

Speaker 3 (21:48):
There, and I just love it because it does being
in the white oak group, it has a sweeter I
wouldn't say sweet, but a sweeter acorn also has that
gorgeous yellow, kind of russet fall color. Yes, and so
of course we know again being a keystone species for
so many caterpillars around here, So it's a really great
all around tree that does get big.

Speaker 2 (22:07):
Yeah, but it's still scaled better for home landscapes than
perhaps a white oak or a barok.

Speaker 3 (22:12):
Or great for dry and wet equally, take wet clay
street tree.

Speaker 1 (22:17):
Yes, yeah, yeah, good choice. I like it. I like it, Jennifer.

Speaker 5 (22:22):
So I picked one that I noticed people kind of
stop and go, what is that umbrella magnolia? Because we
need plants, especially trees that people kind of stop and say.

Speaker 4 (22:35):
Oh, what is that?

Speaker 5 (22:37):
Because it's so difficult to get people to plant large
trees they want to crab apple.

Speaker 4 (22:42):
So it's not too big, it's not.

Speaker 1 (22:44):
Too small, it's multi stems usually just.

Speaker 5 (22:47):
Cool, which is going to get people interested in more plants.
What would I put with it? So it's kind of
like that domino effect. It is great flowers, regional bees like, yeah,
they like it.

Speaker 2 (23:01):
And then.

Speaker 5 (23:03):
The seeds are consumed by birds and small mammals, so
we are still supporting nature. But it's one of them.

Speaker 2 (23:09):
They look like red hots. They do what they look
like red hotsa which is cool.

Speaker 3 (23:13):
That is cool.

Speaker 4 (23:14):
Yeah, just a little, a little drama in the garden.

Speaker 1 (23:17):
I think sometimes I don't think they'll kill children thinking
they're red hots. I'm not sure.

Speaker 4 (23:21):
Yeah, well, let's not forget.

Speaker 2 (23:25):
I really hammered it into my children. But they're not
allowed to eat things from the garden.

Speaker 4 (23:29):
But yeah, it bears.

Speaker 2 (23:31):
It's hard.

Speaker 3 (23:31):
It's hard for me not to so how can you
expect them?

Speaker 2 (23:35):
Honestly, those little seeds do look edible.

Speaker 1 (23:39):
Yeah, so what about you? Your next one? Sarah?

Speaker 2 (23:43):
I went with American beach. Okay, there is nothing as
gorgeous as an American.

Speaker 1 (23:48):
Beach so grand.

Speaker 2 (23:50):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (23:50):
Yeah, the smooth bark.

Speaker 2 (23:52):
Smooth bark gets incredible character with age, and there's a
lot of variation. I mean some times you get these
low branch specimens that just create you know, like a
quarter acre of their own space underneath and really tall.

Speaker 1 (24:10):
Yeah, if they're competing with other trees.

Speaker 2 (24:13):
Yeah. So I love all the different shapes that you
see with American beach, you know. I they don't do
as well in the landscape as they do in undisturbed areas,
so you know, but this was beauty and function. It's
not necessarily these are the first things that I'm going
to plant in a garden. But if I have a
spot for that, oh I'm a happy designer.

Speaker 1 (24:36):
In a good mass year, it makes a million little
beech nuts. Oh yeah, and they're small.

Speaker 2 (24:40):
Oh it's a pantry for sure.

Speaker 1 (24:42):
Yeah, doesn't like ret disturbance. But where it's happy, it's
just an amazing tree.

Speaker 2 (24:49):
And I like the leaves in the winter.

Speaker 1 (24:51):
I was going to mention that color, like you'd say,
it's sort of yellow, sort of brown, sort of gold
for fall color, and that doesn't sound super exciting, but
I think it's just stunning in the.

Speaker 2 (25:01):
Winter form is better than the fall color.

Speaker 1 (25:04):
I think I like them both.

Speaker 2 (25:05):
Yeah, so they what we're talking about is they hang
onto their leaves almost through the whole winter, even though
they are technically deciduous. The leaves die, but they don't
fall off, and so you get this wonderful sort of
cinnamon cinnamony colored little flex around the understory of our
forests around here. And it's just it's so charming.

Speaker 1 (25:28):
It is. It's charming for a big, towering grand tree. Yeah,
I'm gonna surprise you, I think with my my next tree. Okay,
ilex Opeika or American holly, anybody else have that one?

Speaker 2 (25:42):
I did not, I'm not I'm not surprised. I actually
I was really kind of wanting more broad leaf evergreens.

Speaker 1 (25:50):
Yeah, and it's you know, in this area with the
calcareous soils, a high pH and you know a mix
of hot and dry with cold and wet and all
of all that. You know, broad leaf evergreens don't generally
do great here, right exceptions, but just a few. But
American holly does pretty well. It's a slow grower, and

(26:13):
it's fallen out of favor because nurseries don't want to
mess with it.

Speaker 2 (26:16):
Well, it's so expensive to produce because they grow so slowly,
and the price of a plant is it's really just
you're buying bench time, yes, nursery time, road time.

Speaker 1 (26:26):
But it is a long lived plant. Yes, if it's happy,
you do. It is a male female, so you do
need to have a male to get the berries. But
you know, so plant, you know, three females and one
male and tucket somewhere where it's not going to be
all that visible. It's still beautiful. It just doesn't get
the berries. But I love this tree for ecological reasons
because it's evergreen.

Speaker 3 (26:47):
Yes, it.

Speaker 1 (26:49):
Is a good windscreen. It's also great habitat for birds
tuck in and you know, get in this thorny leaves
and hide from whoever after them. Great for pinators. People
don't think of it for the flowers because they're very small,
but when it's in bloom it's very fragrant. Yeah it is,
and draws. It just buzzes with little flowers.

Speaker 2 (27:11):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (27:12):
Yeah. And then the berries are so beautiful to look at,
and they're grapefruit for birds later in the winter, so
that's another plus. It also hosts some caterpillars I did
not know, didn't expect Henry's elfin and hallow sallow moth. Okay,

(27:32):
what I'm not familiar with, fairly adaptable. I love the
conical shape until it sort of reaches maturity and then
it's sort of like a more treelike.

Speaker 2 (27:41):
Yeah. I like what happens to the bark when they
get really old.

Speaker 1 (27:45):
Yeah, very smooth. I'm at beach like.

Speaker 2 (27:47):
Yeah, the bark is. It's one of my favorite features
of that. But it's got to be, you know, eighty
years old or something before it gets that gnarly look
to it.

Speaker 1 (27:55):
We've got time for one more if we move fairly quick.
Putting the pressure on.

Speaker 3 (27:59):
Your head press So. I know we're talking about a
lot of large trees, and I know size does matter,
especially with landscape design, but I am gonna say my
last big tree is the American bass wood Americana, And
if you could, if you have maybe a smaller space,
you could always go with its cousin, its European cousin
Little Leaf Linden has a little bit more past damage
with like Japanese beetles, but they both have that amazing

(28:22):
early summer just completely covered with the sweetest smelling flowers.
And if you look up into a tree that time
of year, it's just shimmering with these pollinating insects. So
I think it's wonderful for that reason. Heart shaped leaves
I saw several.

Speaker 2 (28:39):
Yesterday actually in a client's yard. Well it was right
over the fence line in a wooded area, but they
were spaced equally, and I thought, I wonder if somebody
planted these, and they were all just magnificent in What
caught my attention was the foliage and went up on
their deck to look over, and just a wonderful coarse foliage.
It really adds, especially if you put that kind of

(29:02):
in the back. I like, of course, foliage in the back.

Speaker 3 (29:05):
Big shade tree. Yeah, also from the right place. And
the flowers also make a wonderful tea. You're relaxing, so
either yeah, right big in Europe, but I've tried them
and you just steep them and it's actually relaxing sometimes
and sometimes it's lend and tea. Yes, exactly, wonderful.

Speaker 1 (29:24):
Well, great, when we come back, we will continue this
conversation on trees, and then we'll move on to shrubs,
and then we'll move on to perennials and then to annuals. Uh.
If we can control ourselves and get more efficient with
our discussion, yeah, we'll see how far we go. Anyway,
stay with us for more of this discussion. It's a
good one. We'll be right back. That's garden with scap berline.

(29:49):
We are talking trees that combine color. Not color, well
it could be color, but beauty and ecological function. And
whose turn is is Chafferd's right? Yeah, Jennifer.

Speaker 4 (30:00):
So I picked this one because it has great atmosphere.

Speaker 1 (30:03):
Atmosphere.

Speaker 4 (30:04):
Atmosphere. I just read some stuff by Dan Pearson, so
I have to work in atmosphere.

Speaker 5 (30:08):
Okay, if I had the room and I had a
wet spot, a willow tree. There's nothing more romantic than
a willow tree in the breezes. Yeah, old fashion kids
can play underneath it.

Speaker 4 (30:23):
It's also a host plant for some very critical insects too, so.

Speaker 5 (30:27):
It has beauty and support. But I don't think we
normally think of a willow tree as oh, I'm helping.
Whatever Latin names of plant animals, I will not try
to repeat hundreds of species of butterflies and moss, which
I thought surprising because sometimes some of these trees would
be like two hundreds, all right, good, and then early
spring is a critical first pollen for bees.

Speaker 4 (30:49):
You've got the bees, you've got the caterpillars.

Speaker 1 (30:52):
It's just gorgeous, four season beauty.

Speaker 4 (30:55):
It's traditional.

Speaker 2 (30:57):
Had I had willows too, just they just make me happy.

Speaker 3 (31:00):
I had it and took it off. Yeah, it's up
there with mine as well.

Speaker 2 (31:04):
So again this is not like it's not always my
first go to as a designer. I'm a little bits
have we been too? We could even use it, right,
I mean, I I'm not going to put a weeping
willow anywhere near someone's sewer line or you.

Speaker 4 (31:19):
Know, right on the septics.

Speaker 2 (31:22):
The ideal. I have a healthy respect for what willow
roots can do. But you know, some of this, like
the smaller shrubby willows, you can get away with more.
But yeah, willows are another one. Like the oaks. They're
a keystone group and they support a lot of pollinators.
That early pollen is really important because of the timing

(31:43):
and that early flush of growth. It's one of the
first things that you see waking up, and when the
trees wake and you know you can see it from
it just starts to glow and then the texture, you know,
whether it's upright with the thin stems, or whether it's
like a weeping willow.

Speaker 1 (32:02):
Don't forget movement, yeah, movement, yeah, yeah, a lot to
say for that plant. Good choice, Jennifer, well done.

Speaker 4 (32:11):
I get a gold star.

Speaker 1 (32:13):
You do mark it down, Sarah, what is your next tree?

Speaker 2 (32:16):
I put red maples. Interesting, okay, very common tree, but
I I would put a red maple up against any
other tree for fall color. Some of the cultivars are
just fabulous, but even the street species are usually pretty good.
I've had some volunteers come up that it's like that's
worth keeping. And again with the timing. It's one of

(32:38):
the first uh sources of pollen for pollinators in our area.

Speaker 1 (32:44):
And it's a wind pollinated tree. But what's interesting about.

Speaker 2 (32:47):
That upon it?

Speaker 1 (32:48):
There on it? Yeah, that's really interesting.

Speaker 2 (32:50):
Bloom a little bit before that. I am not sure
if the silver.

Speaker 4 (32:54):
Maples are as good for I haven't heard that.

Speaker 2 (32:58):
I don't know. They might be, but they're not as
pretty as a red.

Speaker 3 (33:02):
They're like very early blooming too.

Speaker 2 (33:03):
Yeah. Yeah, So like if you look at the growing
degree todays, it's like silver maple, red maple, in our
area and yeah, great tough plant. Oh yeah, you know,
and they do develop great character and the fall color
is just fantastic. The flowers and the seeds are actually decorative.

Speaker 1 (33:22):
Yeah. Now, some of the hybrids with silver maple, which
are called Freeman maples, combined the best of both. Yes,
So the added vigor of being a hybrid and whatever
silver maple brings to the table, and then the good
fall color out of the red and you've got a
really great tree there.

Speaker 3 (33:38):
It is looking up into a bright blue sky and
early spring day and seeing those little red flowers up
against that blue is absolutely magical experience.

Speaker 2 (33:48):
It's what my soul needs at that point in the year.

Speaker 1 (33:50):
The spring is here, yeah, right there along with the
daffodils and the crocuses. Yes. Absolutely, it's like the moment
you realize you survived in a.

Speaker 4 (34:00):
Yeah, we can all be happy.

Speaker 1 (34:03):
Yeah. My next one is probably predictable, but it's a
Yushino cherry prunicieto ensis. So I think everybody straight away
from the ornamental flowering trees, but I had to include
at least one. And for beauty untouchable when it's in bloom,
the form of it with the spreading branches and then

(34:25):
the flowers on them just great. The bark is pretty too,
but it does produce little fruits that somebody must eat
and go into that too much. The size is nice
for a lot of gardens, creates a lot of habitat.
It's pretty adaptable to soils and moisture and all that.
It is a host plant for coral hair, street tiger swallowtail.

(34:46):
Apparently tiger swallowtail is happy on pretty much anything painted
lady red, spotted purples, and spring azure. So pretty good
for a host plant. And did I miss anything about
the beauty just it does have winter interest too, snow
or ice on the branching. Yeah, it's really good, Heather you.

Speaker 3 (35:05):
So, I don't think anyone's going to be surprised with
this one, which actually could be considered a small understory
tree or large shrub, which is going to be our
pop pop. So of course you have that tropical looking foliage.
It is the only plant in that family that can
withstand freezing cold winters, so the rest of that family
is tropical. It does have those tropical fruits that kind

(35:25):
of taste like a mix some people say between like
a mango and a banana and also the fall color
which is kind of like a nice yellow shade, and
it does it is actually the host for the zebra swallowtail.

Speaker 1 (35:37):
Important, what a great butterfly.

Speaker 3 (35:39):
Very very important. And so again you know, it's just
a great kind of all round four seasoned tree, both
for us and for wildlife.

Speaker 4 (35:47):
The flowers are really underappre yes, little burgundy bells.

Speaker 2 (35:51):
Right.

Speaker 1 (35:51):
I love that fall color, that yellow, that gold or whatever.
And it's pretty adaptable. You could put it in pretty
much full shade and it will grow tall and skinny.
You can put it in full sun maybe with a
little irrigation as a young plan especially, and it forms
this beautiful conical form that just looks so.

Speaker 2 (36:11):
Different in full sun than it is as an under stretch.

Speaker 1 (36:13):
Yeah, got to mention the rubber chicken. We're looking for
a name. We're looking for a name for our talisman
rubber chicken. Ron Rothis has posted a picture of it
that Sarah took on the in the Garden facebook page.
You want to check that out. And we're looking and
we're looking for okay, and we're looking for names. We'll
be back with a few more trees and then jump

(36:35):
in the shrubs and perennial stay with us. That's Garden
with Scott Berline just a few minutes