Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good morning, everybody, Welcome back. I'm Ron Wilson, and you
are in the garden. You're on news Radio six '
ten WTVN eight two to one wtv IN eight hundred
and six to ten WTVN talking about yardening. And as
I mentioned earlier, it's always a lot of fun when
we're able to get this guy on our show, because
he's a very busy young man, always traveling around the
(00:22):
world talking about plants. But he's a lot of fun
when we get him the chance to get it on here.
Of course, you know what I'm talking about. His website
is Alan Armitage dot net. We call him doctor triple
a Alan Apple Armitage, And of course if you don't
know doctor Allan Armies, go to his website learn more
about him. But he does. He travels around the country
talks about plants. He's a plant breeder. He's a professor
(00:44):
Department of Horticulture at the University of Georgia. For over
thirty years he's been doing this. I tell you what,
the man knows his plants. As a matter of fact,
he's written more books about plants than carters have liver pills.
That's a lot. Ladies and gentlemen, the one, the only
doctor Allen apple Armonies. Good morning, sir, Good morning.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
I'm looking too. All those liver pills. That's really I've
been compared to a lot of things wrong, but liver pills.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
But not delivering.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
Its good to be on with you again.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
It's been a long time since we've had you on
the Ohio Show, and it's it's great. And of course
now you're you are situated in Athens, Georgia obviously, and
I don't know if you had the same type of
fall we did, but we had a fall here that
was long, warm and dry.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
Well it took forever to change. Well, our fall normally
is very long, i e. You know, reasonable temperatures, you know,
always dry, of course, but this year we were warm, warm,
until gosh, late Cobra in November, so it felt like
we're still in summer. And then in another month or
so we got freezing. But but yeah, it was a
(02:01):
weird fall, really weird when you.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
Look at when you look at the way this and
this has been happening for us anyway the last three
or four years, you know, looking at the perennial garden
out there, you know, how does that affect those perennials
staying warm so late into the season, I mean they
still able to shut down and still be good to go,
or does that start to bother you a little bit?
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Well, starts to bother them a little bit, I guarantee you,
because most of these perennials that we have or temperate zone,
meaning they're from areas native where you get winter, and
you know, the winter is something that deep perennials for
sure need they need because then they go into a dormancy,
their root system get takes a rest and and just
(02:42):
about every perennial that I can think of from temperate
zone does better with a good winter. Now you know,
it can get too cold, it can get this and
that the winter is usually very good for perennials, and
we have less of it I should say cold weather
and only have less of it. It's it's a bit
more of a struggle for of them.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
Yeah, no doubt. So, you know, I guess as we
look at the weather, it is, it is warming, it's
changing like that. Uh, maybe we'll start to see our
perennial palette start to change over time as well.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
Yeah, I think I think we are. And that's you
know that's just unfortunately we're past the point we can
do a whole lot about it. So you know, for example,
I am here, I don't do very well with a
perennial like a still be, whereas further north you guys
do fine with it. But it's just not quite cold
enough for it. And uh so we find that it
(03:37):
struggles even things, even things like ladies mantle, which up
north are kind of weeds. Well here we use that
in kind of weeds. Now it's just a little too
warm for them, both in the summertime and then the
lack of really good temperatures in the wintertime, so that
those are the kind of things that are happening. And
if and if fall stays warm longer, then that that's
(04:00):
a bit of an issue for some of these, you
know on the border plants.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
Sure now you know that the big discussion out there
today and we've we've we've seen this over the last
couple of years on fall clean up. When it comes
to fall clean up in the perennial garden, a lot
of folks are saying, leave it alone, let all that
stuff stay there for the wildlife. I still like to
kind of clean things up a little bit. Where does
doctor Allan Armidy's fall into that category?
Speaker 2 (04:26):
Well, doctor Armers falls into the category. There's wife tells
him to clean it up, so he's out. They're cleaning
it up. But I don't really problem. It's just as messy,
you know for me. And again, my wildlife is just fine,
thank you. I got more squirrels, chipmunks and critters, but
I can shake a stick at it, and I I
(04:46):
am inheriting other wildlife I'm really not happy with. So
I don't feel like I need to leave this right.
And I got birds everywhere they're quite happy. So but
it's a garden, and the definition of a garden is
something and it gives you pleasure. Well, you know where
it's really messy and ugly and to me, and I'm
(05:07):
looking at it because it's right outside the windows of
our house. It's not like I gotta go find the garden.
I like cleaning up. I like just sort of seeing
the soil again when it's time. I like cutting back
things and eat cutting back. And uh so I got something,
look at it and you know, invite people home to
what tenness they really want. But sure, truthfully, and Susan says, no,
(05:28):
We're not leaving it quite like that, thank you.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
And we've got to keep her happy.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
We gotta keep her happy. The plants, by the way,
they don't really much care whether you're cutting back or
leave them. They don't. They don't much care. It's just
a matter of what you like looking at. And so
I like looking at a little bit a little bit
less of a I'm a mess in the gardeners intact
right now?
Speaker 1 (05:50):
Got it?
Speaker 2 (05:50):
Hey?
Speaker 1 (05:51):
You mind? I do a plant pick of the week
every week, and this week happens to be Christmas Fern.
I did it obviously because of the name Christmas fern
and the fact that those nice little leaves look like
actually look like a little stocking on there. Yeah, you know,
I think it's interesting. You know, Folks even ask me,
how come you don't talk very much about ferns in
the perennial garden.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Well, I think we do in a way in that
we talk about ferns. That is, they tolerate shade. They
are great fillers, and you know shooters, you have a
shaded pasture, you'll have a ton of ostrich ferns or
something else that is there. What we don't really do
a very good job at is sort of saying, you know,
(06:34):
this Christmas fern is better than this cinnamon fern in
this area, or this cinnamon fern has got great, beautiful
cinnamon color fronts coming up that are different than an
ostrich fern, don't. We don't get into that because to
most gardeners, I mean, unless you're crazy, ferns a fern,
but they are beautiful. Then Chris's fern being one of
(06:56):
the ones. It's evergreen, it's native, it's it gets five
of this moist. But we'll call it almost anything. I
love Christmas ferns.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
One last comment and then we'll come back and we'll talk
about Christmas. And of course I get your newsletter the
weekly when I hope folks sign up for that at
allan armonies dot net. Uh you always do a great job.
And uh man, I saw you on there modeling a
T shirt which I got questions about. We don't let
me go there, you know, I tell you what, But
let me ask you this. Every year, the Perennial Plant
(07:26):
Association picks a Perennial of the Year, and for twenty
twenty five, it's clustered mountain mint. Do you grow that one?
Speaker 2 (07:36):
The answer is, yes, not in my own guard. We'd
grow in the trial garden and all it's it's a
very interesting choice. And of course it's it's a native
and it's it's rageran's heck, it's really got a lot
of attributes. But it can get a weed, a vigorous
so I don't have room in my garden to grow it.
But you know, I hope, I hope it's a success
(07:58):
because it really is quite different. Really, it's just sus
up for everybody. So we'll see where it goes.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
I got it, all right, We're gonna take a quick break.
We come back. We'll find out what's Christmas like for
the Armitage family. And of course, if you're looking for
Christmas gifts, doctor Armitage has a great list of books
that I truly highly recommend. We'll talk about that after
the break here on news Radio six to ten WTVN
talk on your Ardening here on news Radio six y
(08:26):
ten WTV and our special guest this morning, the Triple A,
doctor Allen Armitage. We call him doctor Allen Apple Armities
because he loves Apple so much. His website Alan Armitage
dot net. And I'm gonna tell you, you know, if
you're looking for reference books for perennials, cut flowers, you know,
the whole nine yards. The best gardening app that's out
(08:46):
there right now. Go to his website. It's allan armitage
dot net. Whether you need it for a Christmas gift
to give to someone, or something to you to read
over the wintertime as a reference book to sharpen the
acts before we get into the next spring season. The
assortment of doctor Armedy's's books are absolutely outstanding. They're easy reads,
they're great. As a matter of fact, Dtor Armedy's. This week,
(09:07):
I'm working on updating our we have a perennial planning
chart and I'm using your book going through as blooming
times and doing all that. So you're my reference book
for that this week.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
Well that's a good thing. I'm glad because you know
the book you're mentioning is it's gone through a lot
of evolution. I mean, it's a sport edition, so each
edition gets a little bit more and a little bit
more now I say, in depth, but a little bit
more of what's going on in the world of perennials
and so and of course, as we just mentioned, the
(09:39):
whole climate change thing. Times are a little bit different
from version one to version four, but anyway, I'm please
you're using it, and I think anybody that particular book
also is quite readable. It's a reference, as you say. Yeah,
as many people you know have said to me, it's
a very readable book, and it's kind of fun to
read at times, which is a bad joke.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
Now I don't think they're that bad. Sometimes it makes
me stop and think a little bit and they say,
you know, he is kind of weird. But no, seriously,
it's great, as you as the way you write all
of your books. And as a matter of fact, I
still remember reading the first book that you know it's
all about the hat. And you know, again, if you
(10:23):
don't know anything about doctor Armidy, this is a great
book just to learn about where he came from today
because he had a choice at one time of turning
to the left and taking care of bears or going
to the right and taking care of plants, and he
chose the plants.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
I did, and it was interesting because that's the true story.
I was had an opportunity in quotations to go way
up northern Canada study bears and their habitats and stuff,
and of course being a young silly guy. I thought
this is a great idea, but of course I was
married at the time. There was other opinions that came
(10:59):
in at the equation. So to say the least go
chasing bears up. Great great bear Lake was not did
not did not come to bear. But it was a
great decision to come and do some things with plants,
and uh, I was so happy. I'm able to share
it with all your all your.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
Listeners, well you know, and you share with everybody across
the around the world as well. And of course been
a plant very involved in plant breeding. A lot of
the plants that we use today in our gardens obviously
are the results of doctor alan Oremitage, and we thank
you for that as well, and the information, and of course
your sense of humor and just the way you are
(11:35):
is a lot of fun. I think we became good
friends right off the bat, and I just because I
love thee where you're coming from, and I think you
and I share the same thoughts about when it comes
to gardening in general, is that so many folks take
it too seriously and you just need to just have
fun with it.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
Yep. Yeah, as I say all the time, it's not
brain surgery. It's gardening. And it's unfortunately you're not trying
to kill anything, you're not trying to abuse anything. But
sometimes plants die and it's really is a shame, you know,
give it to your little funeral, but then rejoice in
the fact that you can put something else in that
you haven't tried before, right, And you know, we just
(12:14):
we need that attrition a little bit because there's too
many plans to try and never enough space or enough
money for that matter. But so I love what I do,
and I certainly hope I can keep everything looking fabulous
all the time. But I know mother Nature she takes
her share, and as of the chipmunks, the squirrels, the
deer and everybody else. But I still, I still, you know,
(12:37):
have a whole lot more joy than I do frustration.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
His website is Alan Armidas dot net. Go there and
sign up for the newsletter. You'll love it. He does
talks about books for you to read and all kinds
of great things. It's very interesting. But this week I
open up your newsletter and what do I see? I
see this Schveldt young man modeling t shirts. What the
(13:02):
heck do?
Speaker 2 (13:03):
What the heck. Indeed, well you know my my social
media buru, her name is Kelly. He says, doctor, Ay,
we have to have some some merch. She calls it
merch uh that put on your website, not just books.
And so she says you should do a T shirt
and I and I'm looking at her and say, who
(13:24):
are going to buy a shirt with with you know
me or something? But anyway, we did it. And it's
just got the logo of the hat on the left,
you know, the left breast, and and a little message
on the back says see you in the garden with
doctor A and actually is kind of cute. They they
I only did a couple of colors and a few
you know sizes and all that. They are on the
(13:46):
website now. They just came in this week, so you know,
as Susan says, when are we gonna get rid of
this cupboard full of T shirts? But they're they're fun
and I hope, you know, who knows, maybe somebody wants
to get a few. They are on sale this week,
so hopefully we'll get someone who actually shirt.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
I'm sure all the Alan Armidy's fans out there are
going to be falling over when they see the Actually
it's a good looking T shirt, I have to admit.
And the guy modeling, it's a pretty good looking guy
as well. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
Yeah, Well, anybody there wants to be a model, let
me know. I've got a T shirt for them.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
And I'm assuming that in the background, is I'm seeing
part of your garden back there?
Speaker 2 (14:29):
Yes, actually it was. I took it on the on
the deck and it's you know, if you look closely,
it's not a lot of a lot of shall we say,
dormant things, It's not yet. But yeah, with my garden,
and you know, the garden is a garden for us.
We're force I guess force, and I'm not sure that's
the right word, but we have a garden twelve bunch
of the year. It's not growing twelve bunch of the year.
(14:51):
But in the winter time we don't get a lot
of snow, so we don't it's not covered up a lot.
We'll get snow occasionally, but so you know, I'm always
looking at it. So that's why I say we're cleaning
up a little bit to make it so that we
can enjoy even in the in January. We can enjoy this.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
Guard absolutely, and of course, if you're looking for a
book at that you'd like to read over the wintertime.
Of Naked Ladies and Forget Me Nuts, Doctor Armities loves
telling stories about how plants got their name, and this
book tells you all about it. I'm still waiting for
part two because I know there's more stories out there
for you to release. But of Naked Ladies and Forget
Me Nots, it's absolutely a wonderful read for yourself, for
(15:29):
a friend, great Christmas present, great something to read over
the wintertime. Be sure and check that out as well.
Now at the Armity Christmas in your house right now
for the holidays. Do you get into the punt set
he is and the Christmas cactus and all that?
Speaker 2 (15:44):
Oh yes, oh yes, I think I mean, do I
get into it? We always have points SETTI is of course,
not only because you know they do are They're colorful.
They persist a long time, and I can get little
ones and big ones, you know, and the Susan is
more into the smaller size, which is fine. And I
have the you know, if you go like a place
(16:06):
of like Trader Joe's and stuff, they have they have
the paper whites coming out of the pots, and I
know those. We always give those as gifts because there's
just so much fun to look forward to. And then
you do I have, I have the Christmas cactus and
uh and they're they're flowering now. I just yeah, I do,
and I hope that others will do the same, because boy,
there's nothing more fun than a house that has some lovely,
(16:28):
lovely flowering and colorful plant in them. Especially it gets
worse out there.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
Have you tried hellibores the Niger selections they've got out
there that they you know, selling it the holiday season?
Speaker 2 (16:40):
You bet, you bet, I tell you that. And I
think we've talked about this ron From from the point
of view of a garden plant, the helibores are, in
my opinion, one of the great breakthrough plants in the
last five years. We've had hellibores forever, but the new ones,
like you say, the hybrids, uh there there. The leaves
look good all the time. They flower very early, however,
so in your garden Cincinnati or Columbus or wherever they're
(17:04):
going to be flowering hoolet earlier or most other things,
which allows us to bring them into the house if
we pick them up at this time of year. And
again some retail outlets will have hellibores in flower almost
right now, and they're terrific inside and then you just
put them outside when they're done. It's just a great plant.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
Yeah, And I have done that and with the I
think it's Jacob, one of the white ones, and it
was great. A couple couple of three weeks in the house,
took it outside, acclimated it for a few days, planet
in the garden, kind of muched out a little bit,
came right back up and it was good to go.
So it's very easy to do. And again you talk
about a care free shade loving a little bit of
sun in the morning, you know, no deer problems or
(17:43):
rabbit problems. That is one plant that does an outstanding job.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
I really it is one of our no brainer plants now.
And I think now because some of the older HELLI bares,
the old Christmas rose and all that lenten rose, they
had a few problems right now. But these newer ones, boy,
they are spectaculars no doubt wonderful.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
Talking about doctor Alan apple arm it is it's always
a pleasure. Go to his website Alan armedys dot net.
Scarf up one of these t shirts are gonna go
in a flash, I guarantee you. And of course all
of his books are absolutely outstanding. I highly recommend them.
Dr Armidy's thanks for spending time with us. I hope
you and your family have a very merry Christmas and
a happy New Year.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Ron Just last thing before you go to commercial, we
have this Christmas sale going on in the website. Okay, look,
I think on Sunday tomorrow that everything will be on
sale that has been on sale all week, and just
take advantage of it. Although liy is Mary Chrismas, everybody
wonderful joining you.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
All right, take care, good talking with you. Always a pleasure,
Doctor Allen, Thanks all right, Doctor Alan Armitage Again, his
website is Alan It's two els alan armitage dot net.
Be sure and check it out. His books are phenomenal
And I was putting putting together a perennial planting chart
that we've had for years and you update it every
year and blooming time and things like that. And his
(19:01):
book is my reference book going through just to make
sure I got the right plants in the right slot.
Does a great job. And I'll tell you what of
naked ladies and forget me not. You've heard me talk
about that ever since he wrote it several years ago.
Still an absolutely wonderful, cute read, small book, easy to read,
but it tells you about how plants got their names,
(19:23):
and it's absolutely you'll you will absolutely love it. Whether
you like plants or not. It's a great read. All right,
quick break, we come back. Phone lines are open for
you again. A two to one WTVN eight hundred and
six to ten WTVN here on news Radio six '
ten WTVN. Always fun having doctor Armidy John. I'll tell
you what, it is an honor and a privilege. I
(19:44):
have that guy on our show. He travels around the
world talking about plants, and for hnder sit down and
spend a few minutes with us is absolutely outstanding. And
I'm telling you, I know I promote his books a lot,
but I promote his books a lot because they are
absolutely great for you and for me. I use them,
like I said, on a regular basis, and they're good
(20:05):
for you too. And it's funny that he did the
T shirt thing. I think he was a little he
was like, no way, and they did the T shirt
and they're pretty fun little t shirts. So you can
take that out too. By the way, I was at
Cultivate this summer and down at the convention Center, and
that's where they have plants, new plants that are coming
on proven winter show their new plants. All the different
(20:25):
plant breeders bring a lot of the new plants to
the table so you get the chance to take a
look at them. And they had a series of kladiums,
and kalladiums are one of my favorite summer flowers. Now.
Kalladiums obviously is a bulb that you would you plant
in the springtime when the temperatures warm up. You have
to dig it up in the fall there not hardy,
(20:46):
store them over, bring them back out in the spring
and start them all over again. A lot of folks
don't do that. They just buy kalladiums every year as
an annual and just replant them. But I love them
in a shade garden. They're fantastic castic. They have those
big heart shaped leaves, and then they're multi colored greens
and pinks and reds and whites and a lot of
(21:07):
the white and green ones variegative varieties out there, but
just a tremendous show in the shade garden and I've
always loved kalladiums. I've always loved all the different selections.
Well proven winners came out with a new series called
Heart to Heart and obviously the leaves are shaped like
a heart, but the colors on these Heart to Heart
(21:29):
kalladiums are absolutely spectacular. And what they're trying to do.
We were, you know, I was talking to doctor Armitage
about like the hell of Wars. I know Fort meyern
Sons several years ago really pushing and growing the Jacob rose,
the lent Christmas rose as a holiday plan and you'll
(21:52):
still see them out there, just has it's hard to
it's hard to get something like that new in the
system for folks to try. But it did a great job,
great colors, beautiful white and any plant in the garden,
but you know, to blend it in with the ponsettias
and the Christmas cactus, uh, you know, the African vious
and all the other holiday plants can be tough. But
(22:14):
these palladiums for Christmas, that's one of the things they're
trying to look at to, you know, to get the
timing right because obviously these are very weather sensitive as
far as the temperatures to use these for the holiday season,
and they had to set up at a display with
a Christmas tree and all the holiday decorations, and they
go quite nicely for Christmas decorations. So anyway, we'll watch
(22:37):
for that one to maybe come to surface but for
Christmas sales. But in the meantime, watch for the Heart
to Heart series to be available in your local garden
centers starting next spring season. They should be available for you.
And that's in the proven Winner series A two to
one WTVN Steve Good morning, Good morning Ron, Yes.
Speaker 3 (22:57):
Sirvice calling from up and calling from up in northwest Ohio.
And we had, like you, a warm and night fall
and I had this explosion of creeping Charlie coming into
my gar into my flower beds, and I wondered, if
there's anything I do now or in the spring to.
Speaker 4 (23:21):
Kill that stuff.
Speaker 1 (23:23):
It is creeping Charlie, not chick meat or anything like that. Okay.
The thing about creeping, yeah, creeping Charlie is a tough
one because obviously it spreads by rhizomes under the ground,
so and it moves into areas where it's stenned out
a little bit. So it's a tough one to get
under control. So the times to go after Creeping Charlie
would be in the spring when it's tender, earlier in
(23:47):
the spring, using a broadly wee killer, make sure Creeping
Charlie is on the list uh that it that it
covers fertile homes. Weed free Zone, bond Eyes weed Beat
Ultra are both wee killers that can be used earlier
in the season when it's the temperatures are still cooler,
(24:07):
and does a pretty good job. Probably could do a
couple applications. You're not going to get it all, but
you know you can get as much as you can.
Then the best time to go after creeping Charlie is
actually in October. That's a great time to go after it.
Obviously we're too late for that now. Physical removal at
this stage would work if you're able to get out
there and do that, actually digging it out almost like
(24:31):
sawd bringing it up and taking all those rhizomes out.
That does work. But spring right now is just we've
gotten past that point. So you're at a spring thing,
an early spring, as it's starting to green up and
it's nice and tender. It's very susceptiful at that point.
And again in October very suscestful at that time as well.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
Good deal, Thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (24:52):
Eva.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
Merry Christmas, all right, Steve, good talking to you, and
Merry Christmas to you as well. And the thing to
remember about creeping Charlie is that Creepy Charlie moves into
areas where the lawn has thinned or beared, you know,
bear areas or bear areas that you know that nothing
else is growing there, so there's no competition. And I
still remember an area it was a great example, and
(25:15):
I used to take a lot of pictures of it,
but where we had a landscape bed, we wound up
taking the bed out, but we didn't put any sawd
back in our new grass yet, and we kind of
moved the landscape bed back, and kind of weeds kind
of moved in. Well. Creeping Charlie grew like crazy in
this area, but once it touched where the turf was
nice and full, it stopped and it was like an
(25:36):
island of creeping Charlie just in a small area where
we had cleared this area out. Nothing else was growing there.
Charlie jumped in right away and just took it over.
But once it got into the thick areas where the
turf was creeping Charlie couldn't exist, couldn't compete with it.
So again bottom line is where you've got issues like this,
and that's pretty much true with most of the weeds,
(25:57):
your other goal is not only to get rid of
the charle, but then to come back and do everything
you can to make it more viable for your turf
to grow and fill in. And you know, with these
two week killers we were talking about earlier, you can
actually recede with about two to three weeks after applying that,
so it could be something that you would come in
(26:20):
once you see it starting to green up, green up,
give it a good application, give it the two week
three week period, come back and actually seed through that
and start getting the grass seed coming up, trying to
get it to thicken up a little bit more. You
get into the fall season, we see it again. We
can do a little spot treating in October and take
it from there. But you know, again, thicker the lawn,
(26:40):
the fewer weeds and disease issues that you're going to have,
especially when it comes to like creeping Charlie and with
wild violets and things like that. Well, I'll tell you
what the winter annual weeds have grown like crazy. Chick
weed han't been all of that stuff. If you see
it out there right now and you got to like
a daylight to day, you might want to get out
(27:00):
and do a little working in the yard, maybe to
burn a few calories. Get the rakeout. Rake that stuff out.
Don't let it go to flower in the springtime and
set seed. That's the worst thing in the world. So
rak it out right now and get rid of it,
and mark those areas you might want to do a
little dormice seeding come mid February quick break, we come back.
Mark you're coming up next a two to one WTVN
here on news Radio six to n WTVN. But we're
(27:22):
talking ing here on news radio six n WTVN. And
can you believe we're eleven days away from Christmas? I cannot.
And again, if you're looking for the last minute gifts
or just irregular gifts, don't forget gifts for the garden.
I tell you what you get out to your local
independent garden centers. It's amazing. The great bypass pruners, the
soil knives, the gloves. You know, there's so many great
(27:43):
things that you can buy folks a Dram watering one
with a dram water breaker on the end. Wow. If
you do a container gardening and do new plansies or whatever,
that watering one is a gem. But again, all of
those great things are available at your local garden centers,
and sometimes we forget about that, but those are great
things for folks that have yards and gardens or even
you know with a patio with container gardening, can always
(28:06):
use the soil knife and the watering ones and the
breaker or water breakers from Dram and all that type
of thing. And to say, I saw where Gardner's edge
was taking like a muck bucket and which is great
for the garden. And then you know, putting some shredded
up paper in there and then putting like a soil
knife and a bypass pruner and a cobra headwater and
(28:26):
giving that as a gift with a bow rider. What
a great gift. So keep that in mind if you're
looking for something for gifts for the garden, those are
always a great when of course the Amarillis kits paper
white kits in the boxes. You can't go wrong. You
get a thank you when you give it, and you
get a thank you when they flower, it's a double
thank you, no doubt about it. Back to the gardening
(28:48):
phone lines, Mark, good morning, Merry Christmas, Ron, How are you, Mark?
I'm great in yourself, pretty good.
Speaker 3 (28:57):
I have this morning?
Speaker 4 (29:00):
One is I got my first batch of fall fertilizer
down back in like October or something like that. Was
gonna try to put another one down, and then we've
got this cold spell. Is it too late maybe today
to go out and put that down, especially with all
the rain coming.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
Yep, too late. Let's done. Let's hold onto the bag
if you have it on hand. You know, the thing
of it is, Mark, If you don't need a pre
emerged herbside in the springtime, which a lot of times
they come with a fertilizer attached to it, you can
use that fertilizer in mid spring to give it a
nice spring feeding. So at this stage in the game,
let's hold off your fall one. Fall feeding is a
(29:38):
good one. But at this stage in the game, when
the ground's frozen or close to frozen, and this late
in the season of the lawn really isn't you know,
it's pretty well shut down. We're done. So we'll hold
off and use that in the spring, and it's not
gonna go.
Speaker 4 (29:52):
Bad sitting in that unopen bag, that's for sure.
Speaker 1 (29:55):
Nope, Nope. As long as it doesn't get wet, it's
good to go.
Speaker 4 (29:59):
So and then my other question. I've called you before.
A bought my little greenhouse that I got going. I'm
just gonna give you an update. I've pulled out some radishes.
We just took out some lettuce, some spinach. Looking through
the window this morning, I'm probably gonna get some maybe
cherry tomatoes and so forth in there. So working out
(30:19):
pretty good. It's like I said before, life is an
experiment when it comes to gardening. So you try a
little of this, a little that, and see what you
can get.
Speaker 1 (30:28):
How big I refresh my memory. How big is the greenhouse?
Speaker 4 (30:32):
So it's a I bought it at a box store.
Harbor Freight had it for It's a six by eight, Yeah,
little greenhouse. I just got everything up. I put I
put foam that faces the north side, and on the
roof that faces the north the east northeast. I have
(30:52):
some foam on it. And then I just have a
couple of little fifteen heaters in there. I saw the
other night that got down the forty.
Speaker 1 (31:00):
Five in there, but which is okay for the greens?
Speaker 4 (31:06):
Great? And what's so like today, I'll get in there
and water since it looked like it was about one
hundred in there right now. Now that's measured up at
the ceiling of course, right so when it when it
gets warm like a day like today, I'll get in there,
make sure to water everything, and then shut her up
tight and then wait till the next warm spell to
get in there.
Speaker 1 (31:26):
I love it. I love it, you know that. And
that's fine. I mean seriously, to go in there and
harvest some lettuce, to harvest, pull out a few radishes,
things like that. And if you were able to pull
off the cherry tomatoes, that makes it even better.
Speaker 4 (31:38):
And then I tried something this year kind of going
back to what you were talking about with the spring bulbs.
I had some spring bulbs I bought at a box
store late. They've been sitting outside, so last week I
just threw a couple of them in a pot with
dirt and then just stuck it in the greenhouse. Do
you think they'll come up or was it just a
waste of my time?
Speaker 1 (31:58):
Were they so solid?
Speaker 4 (32:00):
Yeah? They were still solid?
Speaker 2 (32:01):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (32:02):
Will they come up absolutely. Now did you buy are
these a year old or just from this fall?
Speaker 4 (32:08):
They were this fall?
Speaker 1 (32:09):
Okay, yeah, Here's the thing of it is they need
that cold stratification. They need about thirty to sixty days
of cold weather. So the question would be whether or
not they had enough exposure to cold weather to set
those buds to flower. So you may wind up getting
all foliage and no flower time will tell. But that's
the thing about you know, planning in the falls. They
(32:31):
need that, they need to get that cold weather to
set them up for those flower buds.
Speaker 4 (32:35):
So I did a couple of those, and then I
put potted a couple more, and they're sitting outside of
the greenhouse now just in a pot and so far.
So I figured what I do is every couple of
weeks just kind of bring some new ones in, introduce
it to the greenhouse and see what happens.
Speaker 2 (32:51):
I like it.
Speaker 4 (32:51):
That excellent life is the experiment when it comes to gardening.
Speaker 1 (32:54):
It's all trial, travel and error, right exactly, You got it. Well,
keep us posting, Mark, always fun talking to you all right,
Merry Christmas to you as well. And there you go,
having fun and again at six by eight I've seen
those little greenhouses.
Speaker 3 (33:11):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (33:11):
You know, you got to keep in vent and do
things like that. But you know, to grow the cherry
tomatoes impressive, but to to grow the uh, greens, and
to grow like the root crops like carrots and onions
and radishes and something like that. Where it stays you know,
forty five fifty to fifty five degrees that works, and
(33:32):
you know, there he goes. You know, just keeping things
watered as needed. You know, got a couple of little
heaters in there so it doesn't freeze.
Speaker 3 (33:39):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (33:39):
And it's amazing what you can harvest from there. And
of course you can do the same thing in your
basement or in your house, which is something as simple
as a shop light. Uh. And you know you can
grow greens and again the root crops in the whole
nine yards. But you know, there's the investment was minimal
and it's gonna get a little bit of have a
little bit of fun and get some crops as well.
And when we get into the real serious you know,
(34:00):
if we drop into where it stays really cold for
a long time period of time, obviously it's gonna be
a little bit tough. But then once we start to
get out of that period, starts to warm up. He
gets an early jump on the on the greens and
you go from there. That's where Ray's bedgardening can also
kind of be the same way where if you put
the hoops on the top and the plastic, you know
you can again extend your growing season, especially with greens
(34:24):
and root crops, right to the to the holiday season
with no problem. Maybe in January and a little bit
of February, but then at the end of February early March,
you jump right back into it again and get it going.
So it's a great way to go, no doubt about it.
And of course as we got the winter coming up,
always looking for ways to stay involved, keep that green
(34:45):
thumb going. So you know, that's that's a great way
to do it. Mark, always a pleasure hearing from you
as well. Don't forget we have our special website, it's
Ron Wilson online dot com and this past week the
Buckeye Yard and Garden Buggy, Joe Boggs and everyone from
Oyshue posted a posting about the box tree moth. Now
(35:07):
in the Columbus area, we haven't heard too much about
box tree moth and most of Ohio. We haven't heard
much about box tree moth other than the fact that
Joe and I bringing it up to make sure people
aware of what's going on. But this is a non
native caterpillar that likes to feed on boxwood, and it
is in Michigan right at our border, and it is
(35:29):
now in Maryland in New York, top part of Pennsylvania
working its way right up against again northeast Ohio is
there have been some tree moth reported in about six
counties in south western Ohio. I've seen the damages and
(35:53):
they can do a number on boxwood. There's no doubt
about it. Easily controlled, but you got to watch for him.
Want to bring it to your attentions so you know
what to look for in case you have boxwood growing
in your art. So go and look. You'll learn more
about box tree mouth, especially if you're in the northeastern
or north western part of Ohio where it is right
(36:14):
on the border. Kind of keep an eye open for
those and if you do find them next spring, you'll
know what to look for and of course report them.
And it's one of those ones we're watching to see
what happens. Thanks to our callers, Thanks our sponsors. Thanks
of course to Ella Polarti, our producer, because without Ella,
none of the stuff would happens. So Ella, thank you
so much for all that you do. Now do yourself
a favor. Get out this weekend. Visit your local independent
(36:35):
garden center. Look at all those great gifts for the gardener,
do some reading, order some books, and make it the
best weekend of your life. See you
Good morning, everybody, Welcome back. I'm Ron Wilson, and you
are in the garden. You're on news Radio six '
ten WTVN eight two to one wtv IN eight hundred
and six to ten WTVN talking about yardening. And as
I mentioned earlier, it's always a lot of fun when
we're able to get this guy on our show, because
he's a very busy young man, always traveling around the
(00:22):
world talking about plants. But he's a lot of fun
when we get him the chance to get it on here.
Of course, you know what I'm talking about. His website
is Alan Armitage dot net. We call him doctor triple
a Alan Apple Armitage, And of course if you don't
know doctor Allan Armies, go to his website learn more
about him. But he does. He travels around the country
talks about plants. He's a plant breeder. He's a professor
(00:44):
Department of Horticulture at the University of Georgia. For over
thirty years he's been doing this. I tell you what,
the man knows his plants. As a matter of fact,
he's written more books about plants than carters have liver pills.
That's a lot. Ladies and gentlemen, the one, the only
doctor Allen apple Armonies. Good morning, sir, Good morning.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
I'm looking too. All those liver pills. That's really I've
been compared to a lot of things wrong, but liver pills.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
But not delivering.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
Its good to be on with you again.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
It's been a long time since we've had you on
the Ohio Show, and it's it's great. And of course
now you're you are situated in Athens, Georgia obviously, and
I don't know if you had the same type of
fall we did, but we had a fall here that
was long, warm and dry.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
Well it took forever to change. Well, our fall normally
is very long, i e. You know, reasonable temperatures, you know,
always dry, of course, but this year we were warm, warm,
until gosh, late Cobra in November, so it felt like
we're still in summer. And then in another month or
so we got freezing. But but yeah, it was a
(02:01):
weird fall, really weird when you.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
Look at when you look at the way this and
this has been happening for us anyway the last three
or four years, you know, looking at the perennial garden
out there, you know, how does that affect those perennials
staying warm so late into the season, I mean they
still able to shut down and still be good to go,
or does that start to bother you a little bit?
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Well, starts to bother them a little bit, I guarantee you,
because most of these perennials that we have or temperate zone,
meaning they're from areas native where you get winter, and
you know, the winter is something that deep perennials for
sure need they need because then they go into a dormancy,
their root system get takes a rest and and just
(02:42):
about every perennial that I can think of from temperate
zone does better with a good winter. Now you know,
it can get too cold, it can get this and
that the winter is usually very good for perennials, and
we have less of it I should say cold weather
and only have less of it. It's it's a bit
more of a struggle for of them.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
Yeah, no doubt. So, you know, I guess as we
look at the weather, it is, it is warming, it's
changing like that. Uh, maybe we'll start to see our
perennial palette start to change over time as well.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
Yeah, I think I think we are. And that's you
know that's just unfortunately we're past the point we can
do a whole lot about it. So you know, for example,
I am here, I don't do very well with a
perennial like a still be, whereas further north you guys
do fine with it. But it's just not quite cold
enough for it. And uh so we find that it
(03:37):
struggles even things, even things like ladies mantle, which up
north are kind of weeds. Well here we use that
in kind of weeds. Now it's just a little too
warm for them, both in the summertime and then the
lack of really good temperatures in the wintertime, so that
those are the kind of things that are happening. And
if and if fall stays warm longer, then that that's
(04:00):
a bit of an issue for some of these, you
know on the border plants.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
Sure now you know that the big discussion out there
today and we've we've we've seen this over the last
couple of years on fall clean up. When it comes
to fall clean up in the perennial garden, a lot
of folks are saying, leave it alone, let all that
stuff stay there for the wildlife. I still like to
kind of clean things up a little bit. Where does
doctor Allan Armidy's fall into that category?
Speaker 2 (04:26):
Well, doctor Armers falls into the category. There's wife tells
him to clean it up, so he's out. They're cleaning
it up. But I don't really problem. It's just as messy,
you know for me. And again, my wildlife is just fine,
thank you. I got more squirrels, chipmunks and critters, but
I can shake a stick at it, and I I
(04:46):
am inheriting other wildlife I'm really not happy with. So
I don't feel like I need to leave this right.
And I got birds everywhere they're quite happy. So but
it's a garden, and the definition of a garden is
something and it gives you pleasure. Well, you know where
it's really messy and ugly and to me, and I'm
(05:07):
looking at it because it's right outside the windows of
our house. It's not like I gotta go find the garden.
I like cleaning up. I like just sort of seeing
the soil again when it's time. I like cutting back
things and eat cutting back. And uh so I got something,
look at it and you know, invite people home to
what tenness they really want. But sure, truthfully, and Susan says, no,
(05:28):
We're not leaving it quite like that, thank you.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
And we've got to keep her happy.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
We gotta keep her happy. The plants, by the way,
they don't really much care whether you're cutting back or
leave them. They don't. They don't much care. It's just
a matter of what you like looking at. And so
I like looking at a little bit a little bit
less of a I'm a mess in the gardeners intact
right now?
Speaker 1 (05:50):
Got it?
Speaker 2 (05:50):
Hey?
Speaker 1 (05:51):
You mind? I do a plant pick of the week
every week, and this week happens to be Christmas Fern.
I did it obviously because of the name Christmas fern
and the fact that those nice little leaves look like
actually look like a little stocking on there. Yeah, you know,
I think it's interesting. You know, Folks even ask me,
how come you don't talk very much about ferns in
the perennial garden.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Well, I think we do in a way in that
we talk about ferns. That is, they tolerate shade. They
are great fillers, and you know shooters, you have a
shaded pasture, you'll have a ton of ostrich ferns or
something else that is there. What we don't really do
a very good job at is sort of saying, you know,
(06:34):
this Christmas fern is better than this cinnamon fern in
this area, or this cinnamon fern has got great, beautiful
cinnamon color fronts coming up that are different than an
ostrich fern, don't. We don't get into that because to
most gardeners, I mean, unless you're crazy, ferns a fern,
but they are beautiful. Then Chris's fern being one of
(06:56):
the ones. It's evergreen, it's native, it's it gets five
of this moist. But we'll call it almost anything. I
love Christmas ferns.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
One last comment and then we'll come back and we'll talk
about Christmas. And of course I get your newsletter the
weekly when I hope folks sign up for that at
allan armonies dot net. Uh you always do a great job.
And uh man, I saw you on there modeling a
T shirt which I got questions about. We don't let
me go there, you know, I tell you what, But
let me ask you this. Every year, the Perennial Plant
(07:26):
Association picks a Perennial of the Year, and for twenty
twenty five, it's clustered mountain mint. Do you grow that one?
Speaker 2 (07:36):
The answer is, yes, not in my own guard. We'd
grow in the trial garden and all it's it's a
very interesting choice. And of course it's it's a native
and it's it's rageran's heck, it's really got a lot
of attributes. But it can get a weed, a vigorous
so I don't have room in my garden to grow it.
But you know, I hope, I hope it's a success
(07:58):
because it really is quite different. Really, it's just sus
up for everybody. So we'll see where it goes.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
I got it, all right, We're gonna take a quick break.
We come back. We'll find out what's Christmas like for
the Armitage family. And of course, if you're looking for
Christmas gifts, doctor Armitage has a great list of books
that I truly highly recommend. We'll talk about that after
the break here on news Radio six to ten WTVN
talk on your Ardening here on news Radio six y
(08:26):
ten WTV and our special guest this morning, the Triple A,
doctor Allen Armitage. We call him doctor Allen Apple Armities
because he loves Apple so much. His website Alan Armitage
dot net. And I'm gonna tell you, you know, if
you're looking for reference books for perennials, cut flowers, you know,
the whole nine yards. The best gardening app that's out
(08:46):
there right now. Go to his website. It's allan armitage
dot net. Whether you need it for a Christmas gift
to give to someone, or something to you to read
over the wintertime as a reference book to sharpen the
acts before we get into the next spring season. The
assortment of doctor Armedy's's books are absolutely outstanding. They're easy reads,
they're great. As a matter of fact, Dtor Armedy's. This week,
(09:07):
I'm working on updating our we have a perennial planning
chart and I'm using your book going through as blooming
times and doing all that. So you're my reference book
for that this week.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
Well that's a good thing. I'm glad because you know
the book you're mentioning is it's gone through a lot
of evolution. I mean, it's a sport edition, so each
edition gets a little bit more and a little bit
more now I say, in depth, but a little bit
more of what's going on in the world of perennials
and so and of course, as we just mentioned, the
(09:39):
whole climate change thing. Times are a little bit different
from version one to version four, but anyway, I'm please
you're using it, and I think anybody that particular book
also is quite readable. It's a reference, as you say. Yeah,
as many people you know have said to me, it's
a very readable book, and it's kind of fun to
read at times, which is a bad joke.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
Now I don't think they're that bad. Sometimes it makes
me stop and think a little bit and they say,
you know, he is kind of weird. But no, seriously,
it's great, as you as the way you write all
of your books. And as a matter of fact, I
still remember reading the first book that you know it's
all about the hat. And you know, again, if you
(10:23):
don't know anything about doctor Armidy, this is a great
book just to learn about where he came from today
because he had a choice at one time of turning
to the left and taking care of bears or going
to the right and taking care of plants, and he
chose the plants.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
I did, and it was interesting because that's the true story.
I was had an opportunity in quotations to go way
up northern Canada study bears and their habitats and stuff,
and of course being a young silly guy. I thought
this is a great idea, but of course I was
married at the time. There was other opinions that came
(10:59):
in at the equation. So to say the least go
chasing bears up. Great great bear Lake was not did
not did not come to bear. But it was a
great decision to come and do some things with plants,
and uh, I was so happy. I'm able to share
it with all your all your.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
Listeners, well you know, and you share with everybody across
the around the world as well. And of course been
a plant very involved in plant breeding. A lot of
the plants that we use today in our gardens obviously
are the results of doctor alan Oremitage, and we thank
you for that as well, and the information, and of course
your sense of humor and just the way you are
(11:35):
is a lot of fun. I think we became good
friends right off the bat, and I just because I
love thee where you're coming from, and I think you
and I share the same thoughts about when it comes
to gardening in general, is that so many folks take
it too seriously and you just need to just have
fun with it.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
Yep. Yeah, as I say all the time, it's not
brain surgery. It's gardening. And it's unfortunately you're not trying
to kill anything, you're not trying to abuse anything. But
sometimes plants die and it's really is a shame, you know,
give it to your little funeral, but then rejoice in
the fact that you can put something else in that
you haven't tried before, right, And you know, we just
(12:14):
we need that attrition a little bit because there's too
many plans to try and never enough space or enough
money for that matter. But so I love what I do,
and I certainly hope I can keep everything looking fabulous
all the time. But I know mother Nature she takes
her share, and as of the chipmunks, the squirrels, the
deer and everybody else. But I still, I still, you know,
(12:37):
have a whole lot more joy than I do frustration.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
His website is Alan Armidas dot net. Go there and
sign up for the newsletter. You'll love it. He does
talks about books for you to read and all kinds
of great things. It's very interesting. But this week I
open up your newsletter and what do I see? I
see this Schveldt young man modeling t shirts. What the
(13:02):
heck do?
Speaker 2 (13:03):
What the heck. Indeed, well you know my my social
media buru, her name is Kelly. He says, doctor, Ay,
we have to have some some merch. She calls it
merch uh that put on your website, not just books.
And so she says you should do a T shirt
and I and I'm looking at her and say, who
(13:24):
are going to buy a shirt with with you know
me or something? But anyway, we did it. And it's
just got the logo of the hat on the left,
you know, the left breast, and and a little message
on the back says see you in the garden with
doctor A and actually is kind of cute. They they
I only did a couple of colors and a few
you know sizes and all that. They are on the
(13:46):
website now. They just came in this week, so you know,
as Susan says, when are we gonna get rid of
this cupboard full of T shirts? But they're they're fun
and I hope, you know, who knows, maybe somebody wants
to get a few. They are on sale this week,
so hopefully we'll get someone who actually shirt.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
I'm sure all the Alan Armidy's fans out there are
going to be falling over when they see the Actually
it's a good looking T shirt, I have to admit.
And the guy modeling, it's a pretty good looking guy
as well. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
Yeah, Well, anybody there wants to be a model, let
me know. I've got a T shirt for them.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
And I'm assuming that in the background, is I'm seeing
part of your garden back there?
Speaker 2 (14:29):
Yes, actually it was. I took it on the on
the deck and it's you know, if you look closely,
it's not a lot of a lot of shall we say,
dormant things, It's not yet. But yeah, with my garden,
and you know, the garden is a garden for us.
We're force I guess force, and I'm not sure that's
the right word, but we have a garden twelve bunch
of the year. It's not growing twelve bunch of the year.
(14:51):
But in the winter time we don't get a lot
of snow, so we don't it's not covered up a lot.
We'll get snow occasionally, but so you know, I'm always
looking at it. So that's why I say we're cleaning
up a little bit to make it so that we
can enjoy even in the in January. We can enjoy this.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
Guard absolutely, and of course, if you're looking for a
book at that you'd like to read over the wintertime.
Of Naked Ladies and Forget Me Nuts, Doctor Armities loves
telling stories about how plants got their name, and this
book tells you all about it. I'm still waiting for
part two because I know there's more stories out there
for you to release. But of Naked Ladies and Forget
Me Nots, it's absolutely a wonderful read for yourself, for
(15:29):
a friend, great Christmas present, great something to read over
the wintertime. Be sure and check that out as well.
Now at the Armity Christmas in your house right now
for the holidays. Do you get into the punt set
he is and the Christmas cactus and all that?
Speaker 2 (15:44):
Oh yes, oh yes, I think I mean, do I
get into it? We always have points SETTI is of course,
not only because you know they do are They're colorful.
They persist a long time, and I can get little
ones and big ones, you know, and the Susan is
more into the smaller size, which is fine. And I
have the you know, if you go like a place
(16:06):
of like Trader Joe's and stuff, they have they have
the paper whites coming out of the pots, and I
know those. We always give those as gifts because there's
just so much fun to look forward to. And then
you do I have, I have the Christmas cactus and
uh and they're they're flowering now. I just yeah, I do,
and I hope that others will do the same, because boy,
there's nothing more fun than a house that has some lovely,
(16:28):
lovely flowering and colorful plant in them. Especially it gets
worse out there.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
Have you tried hellibores the Niger selections they've got out
there that they you know, selling it the holiday season?
Speaker 2 (16:40):
You bet, you bet, I tell you that. And I
think we've talked about this ron From from the point
of view of a garden plant, the helibores are, in
my opinion, one of the great breakthrough plants in the
last five years. We've had hellibores forever, but the new ones,
like you say, the hybrids, uh there there. The leaves
look good all the time. They flower very early, however,
so in your garden Cincinnati or Columbus or wherever they're
(17:04):
going to be flowering hoolet earlier or most other things,
which allows us to bring them into the house if
we pick them up at this time of year. And
again some retail outlets will have hellibores in flower almost
right now, and they're terrific inside and then you just
put them outside when they're done. It's just a great plant.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
Yeah, And I have done that and with the I
think it's Jacob, one of the white ones, and it
was great. A couple couple of three weeks in the house,
took it outside, acclimated it for a few days, planet
in the garden, kind of muched out a little bit,
came right back up and it was good to go.
So it's very easy to do. And again you talk
about a care free shade loving a little bit of
sun in the morning, you know, no deer problems or
(17:43):
rabbit problems. That is one plant that does an outstanding job.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
I really it is one of our no brainer plants now.
And I think now because some of the older HELLI bares,
the old Christmas rose and all that lenten rose, they
had a few problems right now. But these newer ones, boy,
they are spectaculars no doubt wonderful.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
Talking about doctor Alan apple arm it is it's always
a pleasure. Go to his website Alan armedys dot net.
Scarf up one of these t shirts are gonna go
in a flash, I guarantee you. And of course all
of his books are absolutely outstanding. I highly recommend them.
Dr Armidy's thanks for spending time with us. I hope
you and your family have a very merry Christmas and
a happy New Year.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Ron Just last thing before you go to commercial, we
have this Christmas sale going on in the website. Okay, look,
I think on Sunday tomorrow that everything will be on
sale that has been on sale all week, and just
take advantage of it. Although liy is Mary Chrismas, everybody
wonderful joining you.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
All right, take care, good talking with you. Always a pleasure,
Doctor Allen, Thanks all right, Doctor Alan Armitage Again, his
website is Alan It's two els alan armitage dot net.
Be sure and check it out. His books are phenomenal
And I was putting putting together a perennial planting chart
that we've had for years and you update it every
year and blooming time and things like that. And his
(19:01):
book is my reference book going through just to make
sure I got the right plants in the right slot.
Does a great job. And I'll tell you what of
naked ladies and forget me not. You've heard me talk
about that ever since he wrote it several years ago.
Still an absolutely wonderful, cute read, small book, easy to read,
but it tells you about how plants got their names,
(19:23):
and it's absolutely you'll you will absolutely love it. Whether
you like plants or not. It's a great read. All right,
quick break, we come back. Phone lines are open for
you again. A two to one WTVN eight hundred and
six to ten WTVN here on news Radio six '
ten WTVN. Always fun having doctor Armidy John. I'll tell
you what, it is an honor and a privilege. I
(19:44):
have that guy on our show. He travels around the
world talking about plants, and for hnder sit down and
spend a few minutes with us is absolutely outstanding. And
I'm telling you, I know I promote his books a lot,
but I promote his books a lot because they are
absolutely great for you and for me. I use them,
like I said, on a regular basis, and they're good
(20:05):
for you too. And it's funny that he did the
T shirt thing. I think he was a little he
was like, no way, and they did the T shirt
and they're pretty fun little t shirts. So you can
take that out too. By the way, I was at
Cultivate this summer and down at the convention Center, and
that's where they have plants, new plants that are coming
on proven winter show their new plants. All the different
(20:25):
plant breeders bring a lot of the new plants to
the table so you get the chance to take a
look at them. And they had a series of kladiums,
and kalladiums are one of my favorite summer flowers. Now.
Kalladiums obviously is a bulb that you would you plant
in the springtime when the temperatures warm up. You have
to dig it up in the fall there not hardy,
(20:46):
store them over, bring them back out in the spring
and start them all over again. A lot of folks
don't do that. They just buy kalladiums every year as
an annual and just replant them. But I love them
in a shade garden. They're fantastic castic. They have those
big heart shaped leaves, and then they're multi colored greens
and pinks and reds and whites and a lot of
(21:07):
the white and green ones variegative varieties out there, but
just a tremendous show in the shade garden and I've
always loved kalladiums. I've always loved all the different selections.
Well proven winners came out with a new series called
Heart to Heart and obviously the leaves are shaped like
a heart, but the colors on these Heart to Heart
(21:29):
kalladiums are absolutely spectacular. And what they're trying to do.
We were, you know, I was talking to doctor Armitage
about like the hell of Wars. I know Fort meyern
Sons several years ago really pushing and growing the Jacob rose,
the lent Christmas rose as a holiday plan and you'll
(21:52):
still see them out there, just has it's hard to
it's hard to get something like that new in the
system for folks to try. But it did a great job,
great colors, beautiful white and any plant in the garden,
but you know, to blend it in with the ponsettias
and the Christmas cactus, uh, you know, the African vious
and all the other holiday plants can be tough. But
(22:14):
these palladiums for Christmas, that's one of the things they're
trying to look at to, you know, to get the
timing right because obviously these are very weather sensitive as
far as the temperatures to use these for the holiday season,
and they had to set up at a display with
a Christmas tree and all the holiday decorations, and they
go quite nicely for Christmas decorations. So anyway, we'll watch
(22:37):
for that one to maybe come to surface but for
Christmas sales. But in the meantime, watch for the Heart
to Heart series to be available in your local garden
centers starting next spring season. They should be available for you.
And that's in the proven Winner series A two to
one WTVN Steve Good morning, Good morning Ron, Yes.
Speaker 3 (22:57):
Sirvice calling from up and calling from up in northwest Ohio.
And we had, like you, a warm and night fall
and I had this explosion of creeping Charlie coming into
my gar into my flower beds, and I wondered, if
there's anything I do now or in the spring to.
Speaker 4 (23:21):
Kill that stuff.
Speaker 1 (23:23):
It is creeping Charlie, not chick meat or anything like that. Okay.
The thing about creeping, yeah, creeping Charlie is a tough
one because obviously it spreads by rhizomes under the ground,
so and it moves into areas where it's stenned out
a little bit. So it's a tough one to get
under control. So the times to go after Creeping Charlie
would be in the spring when it's tender, earlier in
(23:47):
the spring, using a broadly wee killer, make sure Creeping
Charlie is on the list uh that it that it
covers fertile homes. Weed free Zone, bond Eyes weed Beat
Ultra are both wee killers that can be used earlier
in the season when it's the temperatures are still cooler,
(24:07):
and does a pretty good job. Probably could do a
couple applications. You're not going to get it all, but
you know you can get as much as you can.
Then the best time to go after creeping Charlie is
actually in October. That's a great time to go after it.
Obviously we're too late for that now. Physical removal at
this stage would work if you're able to get out
there and do that, actually digging it out almost like
(24:31):
sawd bringing it up and taking all those rhizomes out.
That does work. But spring right now is just we've
gotten past that point. So you're at a spring thing,
an early spring, as it's starting to green up and
it's nice and tender. It's very susceptiful at that point.
And again in October very suscestful at that time as well.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
Good deal, Thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (24:52):
Eva.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
Merry Christmas, all right, Steve, good talking to you, and
Merry Christmas to you as well. And the thing to
remember about creeping Charlie is that Creepy Charlie moves into
areas where the lawn has thinned or beared, you know,
bear areas or bear areas that you know that nothing
else is growing there, so there's no competition. And I
still remember an area it was a great example, and
(25:15):
I used to take a lot of pictures of it,
but where we had a landscape bed, we wound up
taking the bed out, but we didn't put any sawd
back in our new grass yet, and we kind of
moved the landscape bed back, and kind of weeds kind
of moved in. Well. Creeping Charlie grew like crazy in
this area, but once it touched where the turf was
nice and full, it stopped and it was like an
(25:36):
island of creeping Charlie just in a small area where
we had cleared this area out. Nothing else was growing there.
Charlie jumped in right away and just took it over.
But once it got into the thick areas where the
turf was creeping Charlie couldn't exist, couldn't compete with it.
So again bottom line is where you've got issues like this,
and that's pretty much true with most of the weeds,
(25:57):
your other goal is not only to get rid of
the charle, but then to come back and do everything
you can to make it more viable for your turf
to grow and fill in. And you know, with these
two week killers we were talking about earlier, you can
actually recede with about two to three weeks after applying that,
so it could be something that you would come in
(26:20):
once you see it starting to green up, green up,
give it a good application, give it the two week
three week period, come back and actually seed through that
and start getting the grass seed coming up, trying to
get it to thicken up a little bit more. You
get into the fall season, we see it again. We
can do a little spot treating in October and take
it from there. But you know, again, thicker the lawn,
(26:40):
the fewer weeds and disease issues that you're going to have,
especially when it comes to like creeping Charlie and with
wild violets and things like that. Well, I'll tell you
what the winter annual weeds have grown like crazy. Chick
weed han't been all of that stuff. If you see
it out there right now and you got to like
a daylight to day, you might want to get out
(27:00):
and do a little working in the yard, maybe to
burn a few calories. Get the rakeout. Rake that stuff out.
Don't let it go to flower in the springtime and
set seed. That's the worst thing in the world. So
rak it out right now and get rid of it,
and mark those areas you might want to do a
little dormice seeding come mid February quick break, we come back.
Mark you're coming up next a two to one WTVN
here on news Radio six to n WTVN. But we're
(27:22):
talking ing here on news radio six n WTVN. And
can you believe we're eleven days away from Christmas? I cannot.
And again, if you're looking for the last minute gifts
or just irregular gifts, don't forget gifts for the garden.
I tell you what you get out to your local
independent garden centers. It's amazing. The great bypass pruners, the
soil knives, the gloves. You know, there's so many great
(27:43):
things that you can buy folks a Dram watering one
with a dram water breaker on the end. Wow. If
you do a container gardening and do new plansies or whatever,
that watering one is a gem. But again, all of
those great things are available at your local garden centers,
and sometimes we forget about that, but those are great
things for folks that have yards and gardens or even
you know with a patio with container gardening, can always
(28:06):
use the soil knife and the watering ones and the
breaker or water breakers from Dram and all that type
of thing. And to say, I saw where Gardner's edge
was taking like a muck bucket and which is great
for the garden. And then you know, putting some shredded
up paper in there and then putting like a soil
knife and a bypass pruner and a cobra headwater and
(28:26):
giving that as a gift with a bow rider. What
a great gift. So keep that in mind if you're
looking for something for gifts for the garden, those are
always a great when of course the Amarillis kits paper
white kits in the boxes. You can't go wrong. You
get a thank you when you give it, and you
get a thank you when they flower, it's a double
thank you, no doubt about it. Back to the gardening
(28:48):
phone lines, Mark, good morning, Merry Christmas, Ron, How are you, Mark?
I'm great in yourself, pretty good.
Speaker 3 (28:57):
I have this morning?
Speaker 4 (29:00):
One is I got my first batch of fall fertilizer
down back in like October or something like that. Was
gonna try to put another one down, and then we've
got this cold spell. Is it too late maybe today
to go out and put that down, especially with all
the rain coming.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
Yep, too late. Let's done. Let's hold onto the bag
if you have it on hand. You know, the thing
of it is, Mark, If you don't need a pre
emerged herbside in the springtime, which a lot of times
they come with a fertilizer attached to it, you can
use that fertilizer in mid spring to give it a
nice spring feeding. So at this stage in the game,
let's hold off your fall one. Fall feeding is a
(29:38):
good one. But at this stage in the game, when
the ground's frozen or close to frozen, and this late
in the season of the lawn really isn't you know,
it's pretty well shut down. We're done. So we'll hold
off and use that in the spring, and it's not
gonna go.
Speaker 4 (29:52):
Bad sitting in that unopen bag, that's for sure.
Speaker 1 (29:55):
Nope, Nope. As long as it doesn't get wet, it's
good to go.
Speaker 4 (29:59):
So and then my other question. I've called you before.
A bought my little greenhouse that I got going. I'm
just gonna give you an update. I've pulled out some radishes.
We just took out some lettuce, some spinach. Looking through
the window this morning, I'm probably gonna get some maybe
cherry tomatoes and so forth in there. So working out
(30:19):
pretty good. It's like I said before, life is an
experiment when it comes to gardening. So you try a
little of this, a little that, and see what you
can get.
Speaker 1 (30:28):
How big I refresh my memory. How big is the greenhouse?
Speaker 4 (30:32):
So it's a I bought it at a box store.
Harbor Freight had it for It's a six by eight, Yeah,
little greenhouse. I just got everything up. I put I
put foam that faces the north side, and on the
roof that faces the north the east northeast. I have
(30:52):
some foam on it. And then I just have a
couple of little fifteen heaters in there. I saw the
other night that got down the forty.
Speaker 1 (31:00):
Five in there, but which is okay for the greens?
Speaker 4 (31:06):
Great? And what's so like today, I'll get in there
and water since it looked like it was about one
hundred in there right now. Now that's measured up at
the ceiling of course, right so when it when it
gets warm like a day like today, I'll get in there,
make sure to water everything, and then shut her up
tight and then wait till the next warm spell to
get in there.
Speaker 1 (31:26):
I love it. I love it, you know that. And
that's fine. I mean seriously, to go in there and
harvest some lettuce, to harvest, pull out a few radishes,
things like that. And if you were able to pull
off the cherry tomatoes, that makes it even better.
Speaker 4 (31:38):
And then I tried something this year kind of going
back to what you were talking about with the spring bulbs.
I had some spring bulbs I bought at a box
store late. They've been sitting outside, so last week I
just threw a couple of them in a pot with
dirt and then just stuck it in the greenhouse. Do
you think they'll come up or was it just a
waste of my time?
Speaker 1 (31:58):
Were they so solid?
Speaker 4 (32:00):
Yeah? They were still solid?
Speaker 2 (32:01):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (32:02):
Will they come up absolutely. Now did you buy are
these a year old or just from this fall?
Speaker 4 (32:08):
They were this fall?
Speaker 1 (32:09):
Okay, yeah, Here's the thing of it is they need
that cold stratification. They need about thirty to sixty days
of cold weather. So the question would be whether or
not they had enough exposure to cold weather to set
those buds to flower. So you may wind up getting
all foliage and no flower time will tell. But that's
the thing about you know, planning in the falls. They
(32:31):
need that, they need to get that cold weather to
set them up for those flower buds.
Speaker 4 (32:35):
So I did a couple of those, and then I
put potted a couple more, and they're sitting outside of
the greenhouse now just in a pot and so far.
So I figured what I do is every couple of
weeks just kind of bring some new ones in, introduce
it to the greenhouse and see what happens.
Speaker 2 (32:51):
I like it.
Speaker 4 (32:51):
That excellent life is the experiment when it comes to gardening.
Speaker 1 (32:54):
It's all trial, travel and error, right exactly, You got it. Well,
keep us posting, Mark, always fun talking to you all right,
Merry Christmas to you as well. And there you go,
having fun and again at six by eight I've seen
those little greenhouses.
Speaker 3 (33:11):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (33:11):
You know, you got to keep in vent and do
things like that. But you know, to grow the cherry
tomatoes impressive, but to to grow the uh, greens, and
to grow like the root crops like carrots and onions
and radishes and something like that. Where it stays you know,
forty five fifty to fifty five degrees that works, and
(33:32):
you know, there he goes. You know, just keeping things
watered as needed. You know, got a couple of little
heaters in there so it doesn't freeze.
Speaker 3 (33:39):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (33:39):
And it's amazing what you can harvest from there. And
of course you can do the same thing in your
basement or in your house, which is something as simple
as a shop light. Uh. And you know you can
grow greens and again the root crops in the whole
nine yards. But you know, there's the investment was minimal
and it's gonna get a little bit of have a
little bit of fun and get some crops as well.
And when we get into the real serious you know,
(34:00):
if we drop into where it stays really cold for
a long time period of time, obviously it's gonna be
a little bit tough. But then once we start to
get out of that period, starts to warm up. He
gets an early jump on the on the greens and
you go from there. That's where Ray's bedgardening can also
kind of be the same way where if you put
the hoops on the top and the plastic, you know
you can again extend your growing season, especially with greens
(34:24):
and root crops, right to the to the holiday season
with no problem. Maybe in January and a little bit
of February, but then at the end of February early March,
you jump right back into it again and get it going.
So it's a great way to go, no doubt about it.
And of course as we got the winter coming up,
always looking for ways to stay involved, keep that green
(34:45):
thumb going. So you know, that's that's a great way
to do it. Mark, always a pleasure hearing from you
as well. Don't forget we have our special website, it's
Ron Wilson online dot com and this past week the
Buckeye Yard and Garden Buggy, Joe Boggs and everyone from
Oyshue posted a posting about the box tree moth. Now
(35:07):
in the Columbus area, we haven't heard too much about
box tree moth and most of Ohio. We haven't heard
much about box tree moth other than the fact that
Joe and I bringing it up to make sure people
aware of what's going on. But this is a non
native caterpillar that likes to feed on boxwood, and it
is in Michigan right at our border, and it is
(35:29):
now in Maryland in New York, top part of Pennsylvania
working its way right up against again northeast Ohio is
there have been some tree moth reported in about six
counties in south western Ohio. I've seen the damages and
(35:53):
they can do a number on boxwood. There's no doubt
about it. Easily controlled, but you got to watch for him.
Want to bring it to your attentions so you know
what to look for in case you have boxwood growing
in your art. So go and look. You'll learn more
about box tree mouth, especially if you're in the northeastern
or north western part of Ohio where it is right
(36:14):
on the border. Kind of keep an eye open for
those and if you do find them next spring, you'll
know what to look for and of course report them.
And it's one of those ones we're watching to see
what happens. Thanks to our callers, Thanks our sponsors. Thanks
of course to Ella Polarti, our producer, because without Ella,
none of the stuff would happens. So Ella, thank you
so much for all that you do. Now do yourself
a favor. Get out this weekend. Visit your local independent
(36:35):
garden center. Look at all those great gifts for the gardener,
do some reading, order some books, and make it the
best weekend of your life. See you
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