April 4, 2026 • 39 mins
Teresa Watkins answers caller’s Spring gardening questions and shares her botanical “Dirty Word of the Day.” Teresa also discusses April’s In Your Backyard newsletter, touches on April Fool’s Day, Teresa compares global hardiness zones to those in Florida across several countries, and offers advice about what to do in your landscape this month.
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Speaker 1 (00:09):
Welcome back to the second hour of Better Lawns and Gardens.
We'd love to wish everyone out there who is celebrating Passover,
Happy Passover and Happy Easter this weekend. If you're on
the road driving, we would love for you to just
drive safe, take care, and you know, arrive alive there,
so be very very careful. We have a great show
(00:30):
for you. We're going to be taking your gardening questions
this morning one triple eight four five five two nine
sixty seven or your text messages like Mike and Laurie
and April and Tom. So we've been enjoying that, but
now it's time for the dirty Word of the day.
And now it's time for the dirty word of the
(00:51):
Day on the Better Lawns and Gardens with Teresa Watkins
and the dirty word of the Day pertains to Easter lilies,
especially and answer A and T H E R. The
answer plays an essential role in the stamen, which is
the flower's male reproductive organ. You'll often find it perched
(01:12):
atop a slender filament, which is a slight stem. Both
the answer and the filament make up what is known
as the stamen. The anti produces and disperses pollen, a
crucial step in fertilizing plants. When pollen moves from the
answer to the stigma the female flower portion, it triggers fertilization,
(01:35):
resulting in seed and fruit development. Answers come in various
sizes and shapes, and they generally have the same basic structure.
They are consisting of pollen sacs. Each answer has two lobes,
with each lobe containing two pollen sacks, for a total
of four pollen sacks per anther. The connective tissue between
(01:58):
the lobes holds the lobe together and attaches them to
the filament. So when you're looking at the easter lily
or asiatic lilies, the stamens coming up with the big
bright yellow pollen that is the anthor right there on
the stamen. Answers can vary in different plant species in
size and shape. Some are small and round, while others
(02:21):
are long and slender. If they are attached at a
single point, allowing the answer to swing freely like grass species,
they are called versatile anthers. In easter lilies, answers are
attached at the base of the filament and are described
as basic fixed. In roses doorsuf fixed anthers are attached
(02:43):
at the back of the filament, usually immobile, ad nate
anthers are entirely attached to the filament along their length,
found in many orchids. Answers also have adapted interesting ways
to make sure they're pollinated. Some anthors produce sticky pods
that adheres easily to pollinators. Others, like the oxalis, have
(03:04):
anthers that explode to disperse pollen. In some species, answers
emit fragrances to astract special pollinators. Answers are a crucial
part in plant breeding and hybridization. By controlling the pollen
from answer breathers, breeders can create hybrids to combine desirable traits,
(03:25):
improve crop yields by developing new plant varieties that are
more productive and resilient, and introduce traits like disease resistant,
drought tolerance, and improved nutritional content. The answer of a
flower might seem like a small and an ex insignificant part,
but it plays a crucial role in the life cycle
(03:46):
of plants. By producing and releasing pollen, answers enable the
process of pollination, which is essential for plant reproduction and biodiversity.
Next week, I'll tell you more about pollen there you
and so we are taking your phone calls one triple
eight four five five, two nine sixty seven or you
(04:09):
can text two three six eight zero. And so we
have lots of what to do in your backyard starting
this month. You don't want to miss this, but I
want to get to to will Holly Howks. This is
HR in Jacksonville. Will holly hocks grow in Northeast Florida,
Yes they will, answers you answers. Holly howks do very
(04:35):
well in North Florida as a perennial, and they do
well here in Central Florida and South Florida as annuals.
You want to start the seeds in September, though HR,
and allow them to establish before the heat of the summertime.
They're often grown as annuals just to avoid the hot
and humid summers. They don't do well in humidity. They're
(04:58):
easier to grow as perennials. So you can get them,
start them in September, let them flowers through winter time,
and then they will go back down and they should
come back for you, especially in Jacksonville. So that's a
great text question. Also to April. We got a text
message from April in April and she has seven guardenia
(05:21):
plants in her yard and some are flourishing and some
are dead, which is not freeze related. They were planted
a year ago. How often should we water and fertilize
and does the ground cover matter? We have mults. Thank
you so April. That's a great question. Guardenias are starting
off right now. There's lots of them blooming in the springtime.
(05:42):
They love acidic soil, so you want to have a
pH of five point five to four point five to
five point five pH. And then you can use aspoma
a soil acidifier as Spoma soil acidifier to put into
your soil. That will help you get that acidity down.
(06:03):
And then also too, they do like mulch. Watering should
be once to twice a week. Twice a week during
the summertime is fine. And then also to fertilizing with
that acidic fertilizer with an azalea fertilizer or a gardenia
fertilizer will be great. They love full sun or shade.
They will do well. You just want to make sure
(06:24):
you have good air circulation and consistency. Don't plant them
too close together, don't plant them too close to the house,
and depending on what variety, they can grow anywhere from
two feet tall to eight to ten feet tall. I've
seen beautiful gardenia hedges at ten feet tall and so
(06:46):
they do very well here. So I would just make
sure you're consistently watering, that they have an acidity of
four point five to five point five, and they have
full sun, good air circulation, and fertilized on a regular
basis with acidic fertilizer so april. They should do well
for you then, so make sure you're not planting them
(07:07):
too deep. You want to see the flare at the
bottom of the shrubber tree. And if you still have problems,
you can always send to me photograph and I'd like
to do that. Jeff and Davenport is asking about fig trees.
We're going to talk about that when we get back,
and we're gonna get your gardening questions one triple eight
four five five two ninety sixty seven, or you can
text two three six eight zero and we will love
(07:31):
to hear from you. I want to wish everyone a
happy Passover, a happy Easter. This Saturday morning, you're listening
to Better Lawns and Gardens I'm Teresa Watkins, and this
is Florida's talk and Entertainment network.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
NA.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
Well, welcome back to Benner Lawns and Gardens. I'm Teresa Watkins.
In April's newsletter this month, I really has to since
it's just out I about what to do with the
lan landscape malpractice. It was a very big landscape malpractice.
What I'm gonna do is I'm going to put it
on the newsletter. I'm not going to announce it what
the issue was, but you'll have to go and read it.
(08:15):
Landscape mailpractice it was. It really wasn't that strange.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
Uh yeah, we caught me off guard. I would have
stood there for probably a couple of days just staring
at it, going what.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
Yeah, what's what's going on here? I did? I did.
I looked at it for several days before I went
over to it. But I will. I will upload and
post the problem with the landscape malpractice on our in
our newsletter there so you can check that out. Uh So,
Jeff is in let's see, he is in Davenport and
(08:48):
he is fig tree was frozen and it looks dead,
only brown leaves, and he hoped, yes, figs do very well.
Here in Florida, Jeff. They can handle temperatures down to
eight degrees, but they will drop their leaves. They go
dormant in the wintertime. So that's probably what you're seeing
is your fig tree is just condormant. It will recover
(09:11):
no problem whatsoever. And so the University of Florida and myself,
I grow a brown turkey figs and put those in
clients who are I'm using edible landscaping for so Celeste
and brown turkey and Ishia are the varieties that are
recommended here for Florida. And that's Ishia I S C
(09:34):
H I A. So those are the varieties brown turkey
and and also Celeste. And your fig tree is going
to recover just fine. Yay. So I was interested. We
get a lot, Lizzie of listeners all over the world.
This week it's Malaysia. We have a large influx of
(09:55):
Malaysia listeners downloading the podcast excellent, and China and Russia
and Germany and Australia, New Zealand and so I just
wanted to compare. And so when you're listening overseas and
you're hearing us talk about what to do in your landscape,
well all the way around the world on in our
(10:17):
hemisphere and in other hemispheres, we have the same global
climate as they do. So I'm just gonna shout out
some of the countries and what their zones comparable to
Florida are. So the United Kingdom, Great Britain, the closest
to Florida is the South Coast. They're gardening zone nine
(10:41):
to eight to nine B, Cornwall and Sicily the Silly
Islands they are nine B to ten A. And then
London is an urban heat island nine A to nine B,
so London gardening is similar conditions is similar to Florida.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
Really saying I've never been to London, but just what
I've seen on TV and whatnot, I woant to I
would I.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
Would have been a cooler Yeah no, Well, actually they
grow palm trees there and in Ireland and in Scotland too,
so there are some areas that have little micro climates.
So in Canada the closest to the Florida climate is
Southern British Columbia Coast and Vancouver Island, which are zones
eight A to nine A. And then in Australia, well,
(11:29):
I'm just gonna tell you Australia, Queensland, both the central
and southeast coastal, New South Wales, Sydney, and then Southern Victoria, Melbourne, Tasmania, Adelaide, Perth,
Southwest Wales, and then Central Australia. They're all eight to
(11:50):
twelve B. So everything that we grow here in Florida
will grow in Australia, and so I'm very excited about that.
New Zealand the whole Northland, Auckland, Bay of Plenty, east
Coast and Wellington are nine A to ten A, and
then also to the west coast, and then Nelson and
Marlborough are eight B and nine A. In Germany, we
(12:14):
don't have anything similar in Germany, so they are you
can tell they're much much colder than we are. But
the Netherlands, the coastal area, southern Netherlands and the urban
areas of Amsterdam and Rotterdam are eight B two I
mean eight A to eight B, so that would be
northern Florida. In France, northern France, the Paris Basin and Brittany,
(12:39):
the Atlantic coast, the Rhone Valley, and the Mediterranean Coast
Province and Corsica are all eight A to nine B
and even the Mediterranean coast is ten A and then
the last one is Belgium Flanders. The coastal Flanders is
eight A to eight B. So if you're listening around
the world and you have zones comparable to zones eight
(13:05):
through eleven, possibly twelve down in Key West, then what
I talk about with flowers and growing will work there.
Speaker 3 (13:13):
Yes, that is so interesting. Never even thought of it
like that.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
So Israel's on the map too as well. So it's
the same kind of conditions where occasionally they get snow.
We're talking about the Easter holiday now, but at Christmas
time and in the winter Israel experience there's a little
bit of snow, but they have the same temperatures as
we do, kind of the same climate that we do.
They don't get a lot of rain as us, but
(13:38):
they're the same temperatures, So that's good. What triple eight
four five five, two nine sixty seven, or you can
text two three six eight zero if you would like
to give us a call, and if you're on the road,
save travels and enjoy the holidays. I will be singing
(13:59):
at sunrise services tomorrow. Tony will be playing the guitar.
Speaker 3 (14:02):
Oh I love that.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
Yeah, we always enjoy we have the mass is held
outside and we are on the lake front, and it's
really pitch black at six o'clock in the morning. Sunrise
isn't till seven, and so as communion's going on, the
sun is rising and the sun rises and it's just beautiful.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
Its gonna be nice weather versus it being like really
cold or anything.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
It's going to be lovely weather in the morning. In
the afternoon we're going to have some rain, but we
should be able to get some easter egg hunts and
roll away the stone in the morning. So no rain then.
So what can you be doing in your landscape right now? Well,
your grass may not be looking so good. Keep mowing
it and you can rake out some of the dead
(14:48):
out of it. It's not that, just dead leaves from
the wintertime. And so you can start feeding your be hea,
your Bermuda, Saint Augustine lawns now. The month of April
is time for feeding. But you want to wait on
your centipede and zouze lawns if they have not yet
(15:08):
recovered up in North Florida yet, So you can wait
till the end of the month first part of April
to do that. You can also, just like I said,
mow it to get rid of the grass clippings and
the dead, dead leaves. You want to mow most Zeisa
lawns two to three inches, okay, depending on the variety.
(15:29):
If you're cutting it more than two inches, that's not
necessarily good unless you're using a real more that's our
ee lu and then it's very fine Zeysa grass. So
there are some varieties that do get cut low to
about an inch and a half, but most varieties of
Zoyser grass it's two to three inches. Just remember, scalping
(15:49):
your lawn is not good, Okay. What it does is
the height of your blade. Your grass blade is the
depth of your root system. And so when you have short,
short blades and you're scalping it, then that creates that
short root system and that's going to need to be
watered more often. Okay. It's going to put a stress
(16:12):
on it, and it's going to be more susceptible to
insects and disease issues. So you want to keep it
at the right height. Two to three inches for Zoie,
three to four inches for Saint Augustine lawns, okay, and
the higher your leaf, the deeper your root system. You
want to adjust your sprinklers so we can water twice
(16:35):
a week. Now with the irrigations, it depends on where
throughout conditions. Some water management district you're still only allowed
to water once a week, so don't get caught with fines.
Make sure you contact your utility company and or your
management water management district office and they will tell you
how many times a week you're allowed to water. It
(16:57):
should be between one and two never never, never, never
need to water more than two times a week. And
when you do water, you can apply three quarters of
an inch each time, and that's all your turf needs.
If you will do that during the springtime, by the
time summer gets here, your turf has acclimated. So some
(17:21):
people will tell me, Teresa, but when I stop watering
the lawn so often, my lawn starts to will and
that's because you have a spoiled lawn. You have created
this monster that needs to be watered. So when we
have these cooler temperatures, and by cooler, I mean high seventies,
(17:41):
low eighties, okay, because it's not going to be in
the nineties like it is in the summertime, then this
is the time to wean your turf off of irrigation
and so let it wilt and then it's only going
to be one to two days more and you'll be
able to water again. And this week we're going to
get rainfall. So if you don't turn the irrigation system
(18:02):
on at all this week, then your lawn will become healthier.
It'll push those roots down deeper. Trust me on that,
all right, and.
Speaker 3 (18:12):
Just call them bad lawn parents.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
Yes, I did, bad lawn parents. Your lawn is a
problem because of your parents' skills. So, you know, people
think they want to you know, it's just kind of like,
you know, really, really, what are the parents always say
yes to everything a child wants. Yes, no discipline. Okay,
(18:35):
so you're teaching your child to be spoiled and that
they deserve everything. Well, your grass doesn't deserve all that water, yes, okay,
we don't need to waste it. That's potable drinking water.
We want to conserve it as much as possible. And
it's not because we're running out of water, because we'll
always have the same amount of rainfall. We may not
(18:56):
get it drought years and things like that, but the
rain goes up into the air and comes back down again.
But when it comes back it's no longer potable. We
are running out of cheap water, okay, water that we're
going to have to desalinize. Water that we're going to
have to reclaim that's more expensive than the good rain
that we get from heaven above. And so what we're
(19:21):
gonna do here is I don't have anybody on my
Tom and Klette, Tom and Klett, We're gonna get to
you in just a few minutes after this hardbreak. It's
Saturday morning. You're listening to Better Lawns and Gardens from
the Summit Responsible Solutions Studios. I'm Teresa Watkins and this
is Flora's Talk and Entertainment Network. Welcome back to Better
(19:57):
Lawns and Gardens. If you have a gardening question, we'd
love to hear from you. One triple eight four five
two nine six seven, or you can text two three
six eight zero. Let's go to Tom and Merritt Island.
Good morning, Tom, How can I help you?
Speaker 4 (20:12):
Okay, so you know, I got hit with the cold
weather like like pretty much everybody else. And my avocado tree,
which is a West Indian variety, the major branches are
starting to grow back. But what I'm seeing is just
lots and just a huge number of what would appear
basically would be sucker growth. And I'm wondering whether I
(20:36):
should obviously, if I'm going to keep that going, I
should trim the number of suckers, or should I trim
trim the wood further back and hope that I get
growth it's not suckers, okay?
Speaker 1 (20:47):
So how tall is it?
Speaker 4 (20:50):
Oh? The tree is about over twenty feet tall, okay,
and it's frozen up. It's it's the unfrozen or the
comeback areas or like up to about fifteen teeth.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
Yeah, So are you able to get up twenty feet
tall or I just don't want you to just hurt yourself,
or whether you have to bring in like an arbor's
or someone to cut it back.
Speaker 4 (21:10):
So I'll bring in someone to cut it back if
I need to. My question really has to do with
with with whether I trim the sockers or whether I
cut it back below to try to cut it back
below the sockers. That's the real question.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
No, go ahead and cut the stuckers off. How tall?
How far up are the suckers? Are they coming from?
The ground or are they coming from higher up.
Speaker 4 (21:31):
Higher up as well, from the ground to higher up.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
Okay, so cut everything that's like six feet down. If
was it a tree or was it.
Speaker 4 (21:39):
A shrub, it's a tree over twenty feet.
Speaker 1 (21:41):
Yeah, okay, So go ahead and cut the suckers from
six foot down from the top of the start of
the branching out, cut everything down underneath it, and you
can leave the ones up above six to eight to
ten feet tall. You can leave those, oh okay, okay,
but cut the suckers off below of the ground because
you don't want those just starting.
Speaker 4 (22:01):
And one more question, a completely different topic having to
do with for cucumbers and watermelons and and basically cucumber.
It's in general qq's of squash citable gorge. What's a
good number of plants to have an a quote hill unquote?
I say quote because I don't have hills. I have
(22:23):
depressions and deep b.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
Okay, So you're asking how many to plant your on
your property?
Speaker 4 (22:30):
Yeah, how many to keep? I've already got them planted.
Speaker 1 (22:32):
Oh okay, super how many to keep? I would say,
you know, as much as you can eat. What you're
going to do with it? So you know you're going
to get two to three, possibly four watermelons, you know,
per one or two plants, and then your cucumbers too.
It just you know, depends on how much you want
to take care of and how much you want to eat.
Speaker 4 (22:52):
Yeah, okay, so brilliant with the question. Was focused on
the idea. Well, is our four plants all the way
a very rich soil? Four plants in one spot? Too many?
Speaker 1 (23:04):
How close are they together?
Speaker 4 (23:06):
Well, you know they're within the sixth inch area, oh
six engineary.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
Yeah, you coulda want to spread them out more. I
would put them at least two feet apart.
Speaker 4 (23:15):
Well, they're already coming, They're already up, So I'm not
gonna really is a question to have having to do
with thinning them.
Speaker 1 (23:20):
You can thin them and just you know, one to
two feet separation from them.
Speaker 4 (23:25):
I see. Okay, I'll just send it down to two
per hill.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
Then there you go hill. Okay, super, thank you. I
just I was thrown off by that. So let me
know how it happened. How you do okay, okay, all right, Tom, Yeah,
I just didn't understand it. Let's go to Collette in
winter Haven. Good morning, Klett.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
How are you.
Speaker 5 (23:45):
I'm good, Teresa, how are you?
Speaker 1 (23:47):
I am great. I'm looking forward to Easter and ham
and hunting for eggs.
Speaker 5 (23:53):
Oh good. Well, while I was talking to Lizzie, you
had actually started talking about what I was calling about,
and that was watering the lawn. I just heard yesterday.
We're in winter Haven. We're actually in the county, but
we're on winter Haven City Water and Southwest Water Management
District has just put us under once a week restrictions
(24:18):
according to our address, and it has to be before
four o'clock in the morning or after eight o'clock at night.
That's their only choice. And I don't have an irrigation system,
so for you know, half an acre three quarters of
an acre, I'm the one that drags the hose and
(24:39):
the sprinkler heads around, so I didn't I was just
sharing my dismay over it, and some of your listeners
hadn't heard about it either, just to know that, yeah,
and making us do it at night, which means we're
going to be getting more fungus.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
Yes, yes, and yes, so one you can water just
once a week all year round, so that's not an issue. Okay,
So watering restrictions to twice a week is not bad
because we're only we only need to water once or
twice a week anyway, if we don't get rain. The
good news is that we're starting, you know, to get
some rain this month, but it's not necessarily going to
(25:21):
be enough to get through everything. So I would say,
do you have so you don't you don't have an
irrigation system. Gosh, that's a tough one because but it
is a serious issue. We do need to conserve water Florida.
This is water conservation line. I agree with that. Yet,
so I would just say that it's lighter at night.
(25:46):
So I would either do it in the morning because
I don't want to wake up in the morning, and
do it before five o'clock, but after eight o'clock.
Speaker 5 (25:54):
Before four o'clock.
Speaker 1 (25:57):
Four o'clock, yeah, I would do Okay, So here's here's
what you do. Okay. Do not water leaves. Okay. I
know the grass is you're you're I mean, it's full
of leaves. But if you water just enough, okay, and
not over water with you're not gonna get as much fungus. Okay.
(26:18):
So we have a little bit of waste to go
before we the real humidity hits. So right now, you're okay.
But the plant shrubs and trees, do not water the leaves,
just water the roots. Only roots absorb the water that's
gonna put that's gonna help you in not getting a
lot of fungus issues for shrubs and trees. If you're
(26:39):
only watering your lawn once a week at eight o'clock
at night, then you're not gonna really have that much
of a fungal problem. Okay. So I'm it's a pain
in the butt, but it's something we need to do.
And so the overwatering and then doing it at night
is kind of like, you know, compounding the problem. Okay,
(27:01):
So if you're only doing it once a week and
not overwatering it, then the ground is going to dry
off before nine ten o'clock. It's not going to stay
wet all night long. If it's at four o'clock in
the morning, that's a little early. I don't want to
get up then, but it's so I would just wait
and do it at eight o'clock. Do it at eight o'clock.
Speaker 5 (27:17):
And I've only got I've only got one hose on
a timer. Maybe I need to get some more timers.
Speaker 1 (27:22):
That may be your solution right there, Collette, thank you
so much for calling in. Happy Easter. If it's Saturday morning,
you're listening to Better Lawns and Gardens, I'm Teresa Watchas
and this is Florida's talk and entertainment network, and welcome
(28:01):
back to Better Lawns and Gardens. If you are in
the Garden Area. Garden Area, we'd love to hear from
you one triple eight four or five five two nine
sixty seven, or you can text two three six eight
zero and you can give us a call. What can
you be doing in your yard? Let's follow up on that.
You want to rake and use the leaves. You know,
(28:23):
oak trees drop their leaves twice a year, so they
are still dropping their leaves, and we still have a
lot of damage trees and that are still dropping leaves
and have the brown leaves. So you want to rake
them up off of your lawns so your lawn gets nice,
good sunshine and can start to recover faster. You also
(28:46):
want to make sure that you are trimming your plants
at a proper time so many times, and you can
see it right now while the azaleas are blooming, that
you have a landscape maintenance crew that will just trim
every month, and that's not good. It's not good for azaleas,
it's not good for guardenias, it's not good for hydrangeas
(29:10):
or camellias. You want to cut your spring blooming shrubs
after they finish blooming, which is azaleas, azaleas, and camellias,
once they finish blooming, after the winter time is over
and early spring, then you cut them.
Speaker 4 (29:28):
Then.
Speaker 1 (29:28):
If they're cutting them every month, that's why you're seeing
the azaleas only bloom on the inside and not the
entire plant. Also, to your lagustriums, you want to make
sure when you're pruning that you're pruning not necessarily straight,
but at a slight angle forty five degrees. And I
(29:49):
was so pleased. I have a client we renovated their
landscape and she had a taller shrub hedge of lagustrums
and they were very bare. They have that what I
call bare bottom syndrome. They're very full at the top,
but you can see right through the bottom and there's
no leaves on the bottom. And that's because the hedges
(30:10):
are trimmed straight. If you will make the top of
the hedge just slightly smaller than the bottom of the
hedge at a slight angle. Then it will get the
bottom will get as much sunlight as the top, and
it will become fuller and thicker and it will be healthier.
(30:31):
Trimming it straight each time is not good, and so
you just want to make sure that you're trimming it correctly,
trimming it at the right time of the year, and
that way you'll have flowers when you're supposed to have flowers,
and you'll have nice, healthy bushes. Let's go to Jerry
in Citrus. Good morning, Jerry, Happy Easter to you.
Speaker 2 (30:51):
Good morning Teresa, Happy Easter to you. I have a
question on the goji berry. Okay, you help me getting
it started. And it's growing nicely. And I got one
in the ground and a couple in pots, and the
one in the ground is growing really quick fast, and
it's getting larger leaves now okay, small leaves on the stem,
(31:14):
you know. And I was wondering what that means and
will that do it in pots like that?
Speaker 1 (31:20):
Too?
Speaker 2 (31:21):
Uh?
Speaker 1 (31:22):
It should. It depends on how big your pots are.
So it's growing faster in the ground because it has
plenty of root space and the roots are getting bigger,
and that's increasing the size of your leaves. When they're
in pots, they don't have that root system room available,
that area to grow in, so the tree will remain smaller.
(31:44):
How big is your pot that the gojieberry is in.
Speaker 2 (31:48):
I got it in one gallon and three gallon and
the one I had planted out was in a one
gallon But it took offt right like you wouldn't believe.
And does that indicate that it's going to bloom or
produce berries?
Speaker 1 (32:00):
It doesn't indicate that it's going to produce berries, but
it indicates it loves where it is and it's gonna thrive,
And so you want to fertilize it on a regular basis,
And so I would put I would put do you
have any bigger pots, like a five or seven gallon pot?
Speaker 2 (32:16):
Oh? Yeah, yeah, I have some some there at least
seven gallon, maybe ten?
Speaker 1 (32:20):
Okay ten? I would put your goji berries in that
if you want to keep them in pots and let
them grow and they will start to thrive there, and
just fertilize them on a regular basis.
Speaker 2 (32:31):
Okay, that's good. Uh, when would you expect them to bear?
Speaker 1 (32:36):
Well, they're going to start to flower soon, so they're
gonna so they bloom in the mid spring early summertime,
and so once they're happy, once they get to that
cycle where they've got the roots spread out, when did
you plant it in the ground.
Speaker 2 (32:51):
Oh, a couple of months ago, because it took the friezes. Okay,
the good, no decriment at all.
Speaker 1 (32:59):
I would say that you're probably going to see flowers
in the next six weeks. But make sure you're fertilizing.
Speaker 2 (33:04):
Okay, I will, I will, and let me know, say,
because I'll get those little ones growing.
Speaker 1 (33:08):
Then yeah, just put them in a bigger pot. Make
sure they're getting watered on a regular basis.
Speaker 2 (33:14):
Okay, I mean, thank you very much.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
You're welcome. Thank you. I'm the redhead. There you go
one triple eight four five five two nine sixty seven,
or you can text two three six eight zero. So
always at the base. Okay. So here's when we're having
issues with plants. When I'm going and diagnosing plants, it's
either a watering problem, it is a root problem, or
(33:41):
it is some type of issue that they overfertilizing, chemical issues,
you know, so that it's one of those three areas.
Air circulation is a little bit of it. And so
you want to make sure that your root systems are
nice and healthy and have room to grow, especially a
fruit tree. And so goji trees are just really gojiberries
(34:04):
are just a really pretty little tree. And if he
puts if he puts it in a ten jerry puts
it in a ten gallon pot, then it's gonna kick
off too. Now, when I was at the Epcot International
Flower Festival, they showed beautiful bond size that had been
growing in their pots for twenty five thirty forty years
(34:28):
and they were fifty five to sixty year old plants.
Now that short bond sied planter. It they have to
take it out of that planter and very carefully keep
the roots small to stunt that shrub bush or tree
into staying small. And it takes a lot of effort
(34:52):
to keep it cut properly also to make sure it's
getting enough water. And so it's a very fine art.
And these were just beautiful. I'll post some of the
pictures of the bonsai on better lawns and gardens.
Speaker 3 (35:05):
And how tall would they get if you just actually
just took one and planted one in the ground somewhere.
Speaker 1 (35:10):
Well if you plant it, okay. So they had booga
and villas, and boog and villas get forty feet tall.
They had regular flowering trees uh and potocarpus and oak
trees that.
Speaker 3 (35:21):
Were bonzai though.
Speaker 1 (35:23):
Yeah, it was just beautiful.
Speaker 3 (35:24):
That's why I wonder how tall it would get if
it had just been put not it would just grow nothing.
Speaker 1 (35:31):
It would grow to its normal size, which is an
oak tree.
Speaker 3 (35:35):
No, no bonzai, oh no.
Speaker 1 (35:36):
The bonsai are all different varieties of trees, and so
the bon sie is a gardening technique that so bonsai
means small, okay, And it's also to it relates to
being rugged. Have you ever seen in Maine on the
coastline when you're on the beach and you turn up
and look at the rocks and there's a little small
tree growing in the rocks and you're going, oh my goodness.
(35:59):
And it doesn't have any root systems, so it's kind
of scraggly. It only has a few branches, but it's thriving.
It's going to live there forever. That's kind of a
bond size. That's what it means in Japanese is to
kind of keep it really really tight and not a
deep root system. Okay, so but bond size is just
(36:21):
wonderful and you can do that to any plant juniperson
things like that, So I love to do that. This
is the time of the year to go ahead and
cut your point setti is back by a third and
give them water and fertilizer. Let them go. If you
have not, in the springtime yet reapplied your mulch, go
ahead and do that. The mulch is very important to
(36:42):
keeping the ground cool, keeping weeds out. You need at
least three inches of mulch to prevent sunlight from getting
into germinate those weeds. But if you have mulch down,
you don't need to keep adding those three to four
inches every year. You want it to a level with
the ground or the curb, wherever, the sidewalk, wherever your
(37:04):
plant is growing. So you may only have to add
a half inch of mulch to bring it back up
to the three inches, because that mulch decomposes and turns
into dirt, and you know that's that's what plants eat, really,
so your palm trees need special feeding this time and year.
You want to use fertilizers. That's made for palms and
use it on a consistent basis every three to four months.
(37:27):
This is the time of the year to divide your
perennials like your amarillas once they finish blooming. And then
also if you have water gardens, you can transplant and
feed water lilies and bog plants. So then also hurry
up and get your tomatoes and peppers and egg plants
in the ground.
Speaker 3 (37:45):
I started producing cheese and crackers. I'm so excited.
Speaker 1 (37:49):
Very good, very good. So we want to thank everybody
called it and listened. I know it's Easter weekend and
it's very calm, and you're you know you're heading out
on the road there. You want to be driving safe.
We do a prereciate you listening to Better Lawns and Gardens,
whether it's on podcasts or live each week, we do
appreciate you. And we just want to say happy Passover
(38:10):
and happy Easter to all our friends and family out
there and our listeners. You are so great come out
and see us when we go out to special events
and to call in, and we just love that you
are part of our family.
Speaker 3 (38:24):
Exactly, and we're very grateful for you guys, So thank you.
Speaker 1 (38:27):
And So where can they hear Better Lawns and Gardens
as they missed any of the first show, which is
all about Easter lilies.
Speaker 3 (38:33):
You can go to better Lawns dot com. That's better
Lawns dot com.
Speaker 1 (38:38):
If it's Saturday morning from the Summit Responsible Solution Studios,
I'm Teresa Watkins. This is Better Lawns and Gardens and
this is Florida's Talk and Entertainment Networks. Theaters then tend
(39:29):
to
Welcome back to the second hour of Better Lawns and Gardens.
We'd love to wish everyone out there who is celebrating Passover,
Happy Passover and Happy Easter this weekend. If you're on
the road driving, we would love for you to just
drive safe, take care, and you know, arrive alive there,
so be very very careful. We have a great show
(00:30):
for you. We're going to be taking your gardening questions
this morning one triple eight four five five two nine
sixty seven or your text messages like Mike and Laurie
and April and Tom. So we've been enjoying that, but
now it's time for the dirty Word of the day.
And now it's time for the dirty word of the
(00:51):
Day on the Better Lawns and Gardens with Teresa Watkins
and the dirty word of the Day pertains to Easter lilies,
especially and answer A and T H E R. The
answer plays an essential role in the stamen, which is
the flower's male reproductive organ. You'll often find it perched
(01:12):
atop a slender filament, which is a slight stem. Both
the answer and the filament make up what is known
as the stamen. The anti produces and disperses pollen, a
crucial step in fertilizing plants. When pollen moves from the
answer to the stigma the female flower portion, it triggers fertilization,
(01:35):
resulting in seed and fruit development. Answers come in various
sizes and shapes, and they generally have the same basic structure.
They are consisting of pollen sacs. Each answer has two lobes,
with each lobe containing two pollen sacks, for a total
of four pollen sacks per anther. The connective tissue between
(01:58):
the lobes holds the lobe together and attaches them to
the filament. So when you're looking at the easter lily
or asiatic lilies, the stamens coming up with the big
bright yellow pollen that is the anthor right there on
the stamen. Answers can vary in different plant species in
size and shape. Some are small and round, while others
(02:21):
are long and slender. If they are attached at a
single point, allowing the answer to swing freely like grass species,
they are called versatile anthers. In easter lilies, answers are
attached at the base of the filament and are described
as basic fixed. In roses doorsuf fixed anthers are attached
(02:43):
at the back of the filament, usually immobile, ad nate
anthers are entirely attached to the filament along their length,
found in many orchids. Answers also have adapted interesting ways
to make sure they're pollinated. Some anthors produce sticky pods
that adheres easily to pollinators. Others, like the oxalis, have
(03:04):
anthers that explode to disperse pollen. In some species, answers
emit fragrances to astract special pollinators. Answers are a crucial
part in plant breeding and hybridization. By controlling the pollen
from answer breathers, breeders can create hybrids to combine desirable traits,
(03:25):
improve crop yields by developing new plant varieties that are
more productive and resilient, and introduce traits like disease resistant,
drought tolerance, and improved nutritional content. The answer of a
flower might seem like a small and an ex insignificant part,
but it plays a crucial role in the life cycle
(03:46):
of plants. By producing and releasing pollen, answers enable the
process of pollination, which is essential for plant reproduction and biodiversity.
Next week, I'll tell you more about pollen there you
and so we are taking your phone calls one triple
eight four five five, two nine sixty seven or you
(04:09):
can text two three six eight zero. And so we
have lots of what to do in your backyard starting
this month. You don't want to miss this, but I
want to get to to will Holly Howks. This is
HR in Jacksonville. Will holly hocks grow in Northeast Florida,
Yes they will, answers you answers. Holly howks do very
(04:35):
well in North Florida as a perennial, and they do
well here in Central Florida and South Florida as annuals.
You want to start the seeds in September, though HR,
and allow them to establish before the heat of the summertime.
They're often grown as annuals just to avoid the hot
and humid summers. They don't do well in humidity. They're
(04:58):
easier to grow as perennials. So you can get them,
start them in September, let them flowers through winter time,
and then they will go back down and they should
come back for you, especially in Jacksonville. So that's a
great text question. Also to April. We got a text
message from April in April and she has seven guardenia
(05:21):
plants in her yard and some are flourishing and some
are dead, which is not freeze related. They were planted
a year ago. How often should we water and fertilize
and does the ground cover matter? We have mults. Thank
you so April. That's a great question. Guardenias are starting
off right now. There's lots of them blooming in the springtime.
(05:42):
They love acidic soil, so you want to have a
pH of five point five to four point five to
five point five pH. And then you can use aspoma
a soil acidifier as Spoma soil acidifier to put into
your soil. That will help you get that acidity down.
(06:03):
And then also too, they do like mulch. Watering should
be once to twice a week. Twice a week during
the summertime is fine. And then also to fertilizing with
that acidic fertilizer with an azalea fertilizer or a gardenia
fertilizer will be great. They love full sun or shade.
They will do well. You just want to make sure
(06:24):
you have good air circulation and consistency. Don't plant them
too close together, don't plant them too close to the house,
and depending on what variety, they can grow anywhere from
two feet tall to eight to ten feet tall. I've
seen beautiful gardenia hedges at ten feet tall and so
(06:46):
they do very well here. So I would just make
sure you're consistently watering, that they have an acidity of
four point five to five point five, and they have
full sun, good air circulation, and fertilized on a regular
basis with acidic fertilizer so april. They should do well
for you then, so make sure you're not planting them
(07:07):
too deep. You want to see the flare at the
bottom of the shrubber tree. And if you still have problems,
you can always send to me photograph and I'd like
to do that. Jeff and Davenport is asking about fig trees.
We're going to talk about that when we get back,
and we're gonna get your gardening questions one triple eight
four five five two ninety sixty seven, or you can
text two three six eight zero and we will love
(07:31):
to hear from you. I want to wish everyone a
happy Passover, a happy Easter. This Saturday morning, you're listening
to Better Lawns and Gardens I'm Teresa Watkins, and this
is Florida's talk and Entertainment network.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
NA.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
Well, welcome back to Benner Lawns and Gardens. I'm Teresa Watkins.
In April's newsletter this month, I really has to since
it's just out I about what to do with the
lan landscape malpractice. It was a very big landscape malpractice.
What I'm gonna do is I'm going to put it
on the newsletter. I'm not going to announce it what
the issue was, but you'll have to go and read it.
(08:15):
Landscape mailpractice it was. It really wasn't that strange.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
Uh yeah, we caught me off guard. I would have
stood there for probably a couple of days just staring
at it, going what.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
Yeah, what's what's going on here? I did? I did.
I looked at it for several days before I went
over to it. But I will. I will upload and
post the problem with the landscape malpractice on our in
our newsletter there so you can check that out. Uh So,
Jeff is in let's see, he is in Davenport and
(08:48):
he is fig tree was frozen and it looks dead,
only brown leaves, and he hoped, yes, figs do very well.
Here in Florida, Jeff. They can handle temperatures down to
eight degrees, but they will drop their leaves. They go
dormant in the wintertime. So that's probably what you're seeing
is your fig tree is just condormant. It will recover
(09:11):
no problem whatsoever. And so the University of Florida and myself,
I grow a brown turkey figs and put those in
clients who are I'm using edible landscaping for so Celeste
and brown turkey and Ishia are the varieties that are
recommended here for Florida. And that's Ishia I S C
(09:34):
H I A. So those are the varieties brown turkey
and and also Celeste. And your fig tree is going
to recover just fine. Yay. So I was interested. We
get a lot, Lizzie of listeners all over the world.
This week it's Malaysia. We have a large influx of
(09:55):
Malaysia listeners downloading the podcast excellent, and China and Russia
and Germany and Australia, New Zealand and so I just
wanted to compare. And so when you're listening overseas and
you're hearing us talk about what to do in your landscape,
well all the way around the world on in our
(10:17):
hemisphere and in other hemispheres, we have the same global
climate as they do. So I'm just gonna shout out
some of the countries and what their zones comparable to
Florida are. So the United Kingdom, Great Britain, the closest
to Florida is the South Coast. They're gardening zone nine
(10:41):
to eight to nine B, Cornwall and Sicily the Silly
Islands they are nine B to ten A. And then
London is an urban heat island nine A to nine B,
so London gardening is similar conditions is similar to Florida.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
Really saying I've never been to London, but just what
I've seen on TV and whatnot, I woant to I
would I.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
Would have been a cooler Yeah no, Well, actually they
grow palm trees there and in Ireland and in Scotland too,
so there are some areas that have little micro climates.
So in Canada the closest to the Florida climate is
Southern British Columbia Coast and Vancouver Island, which are zones
eight A to nine A. And then in Australia, well,
(11:29):
I'm just gonna tell you Australia, Queensland, both the central
and southeast coastal, New South Wales, Sydney, and then Southern Victoria, Melbourne, Tasmania, Adelaide, Perth,
Southwest Wales, and then Central Australia. They're all eight to
(11:50):
twelve B. So everything that we grow here in Florida
will grow in Australia, and so I'm very excited about that.
New Zealand the whole Northland, Auckland, Bay of Plenty, east
Coast and Wellington are nine A to ten A, and
then also to the west coast, and then Nelson and
Marlborough are eight B and nine A. In Germany, we
(12:14):
don't have anything similar in Germany, so they are you
can tell they're much much colder than we are. But
the Netherlands, the coastal area, southern Netherlands and the urban
areas of Amsterdam and Rotterdam are eight B two I
mean eight A to eight B, so that would be
northern Florida. In France, northern France, the Paris Basin and Brittany,
(12:39):
the Atlantic coast, the Rhone Valley, and the Mediterranean Coast
Province and Corsica are all eight A to nine B
and even the Mediterranean coast is ten A and then
the last one is Belgium Flanders. The coastal Flanders is
eight A to eight B. So if you're listening around
the world and you have zones comparable to zones eight
(13:05):
through eleven, possibly twelve down in Key West, then what
I talk about with flowers and growing will work there.
Speaker 3 (13:13):
Yes, that is so interesting. Never even thought of it
like that.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
So Israel's on the map too as well. So it's
the same kind of conditions where occasionally they get snow.
We're talking about the Easter holiday now, but at Christmas
time and in the winter Israel experience there's a little
bit of snow, but they have the same temperatures as
we do, kind of the same climate that we do.
They don't get a lot of rain as us, but
(13:38):
they're the same temperatures, So that's good. What triple eight
four five five, two nine sixty seven, or you can
text two three six eight zero if you would like
to give us a call, and if you're on the road,
save travels and enjoy the holidays. I will be singing
(13:59):
at sunrise services tomorrow. Tony will be playing the guitar.
Speaker 3 (14:02):
Oh I love that.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
Yeah, we always enjoy we have the mass is held
outside and we are on the lake front, and it's
really pitch black at six o'clock in the morning. Sunrise
isn't till seven, and so as communion's going on, the
sun is rising and the sun rises and it's just beautiful.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
Its gonna be nice weather versus it being like really
cold or anything.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
It's going to be lovely weather in the morning. In
the afternoon we're going to have some rain, but we
should be able to get some easter egg hunts and
roll away the stone in the morning. So no rain then.
So what can you be doing in your landscape right now? Well,
your grass may not be looking so good. Keep mowing
it and you can rake out some of the dead
(14:48):
out of it. It's not that, just dead leaves from
the wintertime. And so you can start feeding your be hea,
your Bermuda, Saint Augustine lawns now. The month of April
is time for feeding. But you want to wait on
your centipede and zouze lawns if they have not yet
(15:08):
recovered up in North Florida yet, So you can wait
till the end of the month first part of April
to do that. You can also, just like I said,
mow it to get rid of the grass clippings and
the dead, dead leaves. You want to mow most Zeisa
lawns two to three inches, okay, depending on the variety.
(15:29):
If you're cutting it more than two inches, that's not
necessarily good unless you're using a real more that's our
ee lu and then it's very fine Zeysa grass. So
there are some varieties that do get cut low to
about an inch and a half, but most varieties of
Zoyser grass it's two to three inches. Just remember, scalping
(15:49):
your lawn is not good, Okay. What it does is
the height of your blade. Your grass blade is the
depth of your root system. And so when you have short,
short blades and you're scalping it, then that creates that
short root system and that's going to need to be
watered more often. Okay. It's going to put a stress
(16:12):
on it, and it's going to be more susceptible to
insects and disease issues. So you want to keep it
at the right height. Two to three inches for Zoie,
three to four inches for Saint Augustine lawns, okay, and
the higher your leaf, the deeper your root system. You
want to adjust your sprinklers so we can water twice
(16:35):
a week. Now with the irrigations, it depends on where
throughout conditions. Some water management district you're still only allowed
to water once a week, so don't get caught with fines.
Make sure you contact your utility company and or your
management water management district office and they will tell you
how many times a week you're allowed to water. It
(16:57):
should be between one and two never never, never, never
need to water more than two times a week. And
when you do water, you can apply three quarters of
an inch each time, and that's all your turf needs.
If you will do that during the springtime, by the
time summer gets here, your turf has acclimated. So some
(17:21):
people will tell me, Teresa, but when I stop watering
the lawn so often, my lawn starts to will and
that's because you have a spoiled lawn. You have created
this monster that needs to be watered. So when we
have these cooler temperatures, and by cooler, I mean high seventies,
(17:41):
low eighties, okay, because it's not going to be in
the nineties like it is in the summertime, then this
is the time to wean your turf off of irrigation
and so let it wilt and then it's only going
to be one to two days more and you'll be
able to water again. And this week we're going to
get rainfall. So if you don't turn the irrigation system
(18:02):
on at all this week, then your lawn will become healthier.
It'll push those roots down deeper. Trust me on that,
all right, and.
Speaker 3 (18:12):
Just call them bad lawn parents.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
Yes, I did, bad lawn parents. Your lawn is a
problem because of your parents' skills. So, you know, people
think they want to you know, it's just kind of like,
you know, really, really, what are the parents always say
yes to everything a child wants. Yes, no discipline. Okay,
(18:35):
so you're teaching your child to be spoiled and that
they deserve everything. Well, your grass doesn't deserve all that water, yes, okay,
we don't need to waste it. That's potable drinking water.
We want to conserve it as much as possible. And
it's not because we're running out of water, because we'll
always have the same amount of rainfall. We may not
(18:56):
get it drought years and things like that, but the
rain goes up into the air and comes back down again.
But when it comes back it's no longer potable. We
are running out of cheap water, okay, water that we're
going to have to desalinize. Water that we're going to
have to reclaim that's more expensive than the good rain
that we get from heaven above. And so what we're
(19:21):
gonna do here is I don't have anybody on my
Tom and Klette, Tom and Klett, We're gonna get to
you in just a few minutes after this hardbreak. It's
Saturday morning. You're listening to Better Lawns and Gardens from
the Summit Responsible Solutions Studios. I'm Teresa Watkins and this
is Flora's Talk and Entertainment Network. Welcome back to Better
(19:57):
Lawns and Gardens. If you have a gardening question, we'd
love to hear from you. One triple eight four five
two nine six seven, or you can text two three
six eight zero. Let's go to Tom and Merritt Island.
Good morning, Tom, How can I help you?
Speaker 4 (20:12):
Okay, so you know, I got hit with the cold
weather like like pretty much everybody else. And my avocado tree,
which is a West Indian variety, the major branches are
starting to grow back. But what I'm seeing is just
lots and just a huge number of what would appear
basically would be sucker growth. And I'm wondering whether I
(20:36):
should obviously, if I'm going to keep that going, I
should trim the number of suckers, or should I trim
trim the wood further back and hope that I get
growth it's not suckers, okay?
Speaker 1 (20:47):
So how tall is it?
Speaker 4 (20:50):
Oh? The tree is about over twenty feet tall, okay,
and it's frozen up. It's it's the unfrozen or the
comeback areas or like up to about fifteen teeth.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
Yeah, So are you able to get up twenty feet
tall or I just don't want you to just hurt yourself,
or whether you have to bring in like an arbor's
or someone to cut it back.
Speaker 4 (21:10):
So I'll bring in someone to cut it back if
I need to. My question really has to do with
with with whether I trim the sockers or whether I
cut it back below to try to cut it back
below the sockers. That's the real question.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
No, go ahead and cut the stuckers off. How tall?
How far up are the suckers? Are they coming from?
The ground or are they coming from higher up.
Speaker 4 (21:31):
Higher up as well, from the ground to higher up.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
Okay, so cut everything that's like six feet down. If
was it a tree or was it.
Speaker 4 (21:39):
A shrub, it's a tree over twenty feet.
Speaker 1 (21:41):
Yeah, okay, So go ahead and cut the suckers from
six foot down from the top of the start of
the branching out, cut everything down underneath it, and you
can leave the ones up above six to eight to
ten feet tall. You can leave those, oh okay, okay,
but cut the suckers off below of the ground because
you don't want those just starting.
Speaker 4 (22:01):
And one more question, a completely different topic having to
do with for cucumbers and watermelons and and basically cucumber.
It's in general qq's of squash citable gorge. What's a
good number of plants to have an a quote hill unquote?
I say quote because I don't have hills. I have
(22:23):
depressions and deep b.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
Okay, So you're asking how many to plant your on
your property?
Speaker 4 (22:30):
Yeah, how many to keep? I've already got them planted.
Speaker 1 (22:32):
Oh okay, super how many to keep? I would say,
you know, as much as you can eat. What you're
going to do with it? So you know you're going
to get two to three, possibly four watermelons, you know,
per one or two plants, and then your cucumbers too.
It just you know, depends on how much you want
to take care of and how much you want to eat.
Speaker 4 (22:52):
Yeah, okay, so brilliant with the question. Was focused on
the idea. Well, is our four plants all the way
a very rich soil? Four plants in one spot? Too many?
Speaker 1 (23:04):
How close are they together?
Speaker 4 (23:06):
Well, you know they're within the sixth inch area, oh
six engineary.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
Yeah, you coulda want to spread them out more. I
would put them at least two feet apart.
Speaker 4 (23:15):
Well, they're already coming, They're already up, So I'm not
gonna really is a question to have having to do
with thinning them.
Speaker 1 (23:20):
You can thin them and just you know, one to
two feet separation from them.
Speaker 4 (23:25):
I see. Okay, I'll just send it down to two
per hill.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
Then there you go hill. Okay, super, thank you. I
just I was thrown off by that. So let me
know how it happened. How you do okay, okay, all right, Tom, Yeah,
I just didn't understand it. Let's go to Collette in
winter Haven. Good morning, Klett.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
How are you.
Speaker 5 (23:45):
I'm good, Teresa, how are you?
Speaker 1 (23:47):
I am great. I'm looking forward to Easter and ham
and hunting for eggs.
Speaker 5 (23:53):
Oh good. Well, while I was talking to Lizzie, you
had actually started talking about what I was calling about,
and that was watering the lawn. I just heard yesterday.
We're in winter Haven. We're actually in the county, but
we're on winter Haven City Water and Southwest Water Management
District has just put us under once a week restrictions
(24:18):
according to our address, and it has to be before
four o'clock in the morning or after eight o'clock at night.
That's their only choice. And I don't have an irrigation system,
so for you know, half an acre three quarters of
an acre, I'm the one that drags the hose and
(24:39):
the sprinkler heads around, so I didn't I was just
sharing my dismay over it, and some of your listeners
hadn't heard about it either, just to know that, yeah,
and making us do it at night, which means we're
going to be getting more fungus.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
Yes, yes, and yes, so one you can water just
once a week all year round, so that's not an issue. Okay,
So watering restrictions to twice a week is not bad
because we're only we only need to water once or
twice a week anyway, if we don't get rain. The
good news is that we're starting, you know, to get
some rain this month, but it's not necessarily going to
(25:21):
be enough to get through everything. So I would say,
do you have so you don't you don't have an
irrigation system. Gosh, that's a tough one because but it
is a serious issue. We do need to conserve water Florida.
This is water conservation line. I agree with that. Yet,
so I would just say that it's lighter at night.
(25:46):
So I would either do it in the morning because
I don't want to wake up in the morning, and
do it before five o'clock, but after eight o'clock.
Speaker 5 (25:54):
Before four o'clock.
Speaker 1 (25:57):
Four o'clock, yeah, I would do Okay, So here's here's
what you do. Okay. Do not water leaves. Okay. I
know the grass is you're you're I mean, it's full
of leaves. But if you water just enough, okay, and
not over water with you're not gonna get as much fungus. Okay.
(26:18):
So we have a little bit of waste to go
before we the real humidity hits. So right now, you're okay.
But the plant shrubs and trees, do not water the leaves,
just water the roots. Only roots absorb the water that's
gonna put that's gonna help you in not getting a
lot of fungus issues for shrubs and trees. If you're
(26:39):
only watering your lawn once a week at eight o'clock
at night, then you're not gonna really have that much
of a fungal problem. Okay. So I'm it's a pain
in the butt, but it's something we need to do.
And so the overwatering and then doing it at night
is kind of like, you know, compounding the problem. Okay,
(27:01):
So if you're only doing it once a week and
not overwatering it, then the ground is going to dry
off before nine ten o'clock. It's not going to stay
wet all night long. If it's at four o'clock in
the morning, that's a little early. I don't want to
get up then, but it's so I would just wait
and do it at eight o'clock. Do it at eight o'clock.
Speaker 5 (27:17):
And I've only got I've only got one hose on
a timer. Maybe I need to get some more timers.
Speaker 1 (27:22):
That may be your solution right there, Collette, thank you
so much for calling in. Happy Easter. If it's Saturday morning,
you're listening to Better Lawns and Gardens, I'm Teresa Watchas
and this is Florida's talk and entertainment network, and welcome
(28:01):
back to Better Lawns and Gardens. If you are in
the Garden Area. Garden Area, we'd love to hear from
you one triple eight four or five five two nine
sixty seven, or you can text two three six eight
zero and you can give us a call. What can
you be doing in your yard? Let's follow up on that.
You want to rake and use the leaves. You know,
(28:23):
oak trees drop their leaves twice a year, so they
are still dropping their leaves, and we still have a
lot of damage trees and that are still dropping leaves
and have the brown leaves. So you want to rake
them up off of your lawns so your lawn gets nice,
good sunshine and can start to recover faster. You also
(28:46):
want to make sure that you are trimming your plants
at a proper time so many times, and you can
see it right now while the azaleas are blooming, that
you have a landscape maintenance crew that will just trim
every month, and that's not good. It's not good for azaleas,
it's not good for guardenias, it's not good for hydrangeas
(29:10):
or camellias. You want to cut your spring blooming shrubs
after they finish blooming, which is azaleas, azaleas, and camellias,
once they finish blooming, after the winter time is over
and early spring, then you cut them.
Speaker 4 (29:28):
Then.
Speaker 1 (29:28):
If they're cutting them every month, that's why you're seeing
the azaleas only bloom on the inside and not the
entire plant. Also, to your lagustriums, you want to make
sure when you're pruning that you're pruning not necessarily straight,
but at a slight angle forty five degrees. And I
(29:49):
was so pleased. I have a client we renovated their
landscape and she had a taller shrub hedge of lagustrums
and they were very bare. They have that what I
call bare bottom syndrome. They're very full at the top,
but you can see right through the bottom and there's
no leaves on the bottom. And that's because the hedges
(30:10):
are trimmed straight. If you will make the top of
the hedge just slightly smaller than the bottom of the
hedge at a slight angle. Then it will get the
bottom will get as much sunlight as the top, and
it will become fuller and thicker and it will be healthier.
(30:31):
Trimming it straight each time is not good, and so
you just want to make sure that you're trimming it correctly,
trimming it at the right time of the year, and
that way you'll have flowers when you're supposed to have flowers,
and you'll have nice, healthy bushes. Let's go to Jerry
in Citrus. Good morning, Jerry, Happy Easter to you.
Speaker 2 (30:51):
Good morning Teresa, Happy Easter to you. I have a
question on the goji berry. Okay, you help me getting
it started. And it's growing nicely. And I got one
in the ground and a couple in pots, and the
one in the ground is growing really quick fast, and
it's getting larger leaves now okay, small leaves on the stem,
(31:14):
you know. And I was wondering what that means and
will that do it in pots like that?
Speaker 1 (31:20):
Too?
Speaker 2 (31:21):
Uh?
Speaker 1 (31:22):
It should. It depends on how big your pots are.
So it's growing faster in the ground because it has
plenty of root space and the roots are getting bigger,
and that's increasing the size of your leaves. When they're
in pots, they don't have that root system room available,
that area to grow in, so the tree will remain smaller.
(31:44):
How big is your pot that the gojieberry is in.
Speaker 2 (31:48):
I got it in one gallon and three gallon and
the one I had planted out was in a one
gallon But it took offt right like you wouldn't believe.
And does that indicate that it's going to bloom or
produce berries?
Speaker 1 (32:00):
It doesn't indicate that it's going to produce berries, but
it indicates it loves where it is and it's gonna thrive,
And so you want to fertilize it on a regular basis,
And so I would put I would put do you
have any bigger pots, like a five or seven gallon pot?
Speaker 2 (32:16):
Oh? Yeah, yeah, I have some some there at least
seven gallon, maybe ten?
Speaker 1 (32:20):
Okay ten? I would put your goji berries in that
if you want to keep them in pots and let
them grow and they will start to thrive there, and
just fertilize them on a regular basis.
Speaker 2 (32:31):
Okay, that's good. Uh, when would you expect them to bear?
Speaker 1 (32:36):
Well, they're going to start to flower soon, so they're
gonna so they bloom in the mid spring early summertime,
and so once they're happy, once they get to that
cycle where they've got the roots spread out, when did
you plant it in the ground.
Speaker 2 (32:51):
Oh, a couple of months ago, because it took the friezes. Okay,
the good, no decriment at all.
Speaker 1 (32:59):
I would say that you're probably going to see flowers
in the next six weeks. But make sure you're fertilizing.
Speaker 2 (33:04):
Okay, I will, I will, and let me know, say,
because I'll get those little ones growing.
Speaker 1 (33:08):
Then yeah, just put them in a bigger pot. Make
sure they're getting watered on a regular basis.
Speaker 2 (33:14):
Okay, I mean, thank you very much.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
You're welcome. Thank you. I'm the redhead. There you go
one triple eight four five five two nine sixty seven,
or you can text two three six eight zero. So
always at the base. Okay. So here's when we're having
issues with plants. When I'm going and diagnosing plants, it's
either a watering problem, it is a root problem, or
(33:41):
it is some type of issue that they overfertilizing, chemical issues,
you know, so that it's one of those three areas.
Air circulation is a little bit of it. And so
you want to make sure that your root systems are
nice and healthy and have room to grow, especially a
fruit tree. And so goji trees are just really gojiberries
(34:04):
are just a really pretty little tree. And if he
puts if he puts it in a ten jerry puts
it in a ten gallon pot, then it's gonna kick
off too. Now, when I was at the Epcot International
Flower Festival, they showed beautiful bond size that had been
growing in their pots for twenty five thirty forty years
(34:28):
and they were fifty five to sixty year old plants.
Now that short bond sied planter. It they have to
take it out of that planter and very carefully keep
the roots small to stunt that shrub bush or tree
into staying small. And it takes a lot of effort
(34:52):
to keep it cut properly also to make sure it's
getting enough water. And so it's a very fine art.
And these were just beautiful. I'll post some of the
pictures of the bonsai on better lawns and gardens.
Speaker 3 (35:05):
And how tall would they get if you just actually
just took one and planted one in the ground somewhere.
Speaker 1 (35:10):
Well if you plant it, okay. So they had booga
and villas, and boog and villas get forty feet tall.
They had regular flowering trees uh and potocarpus and oak
trees that.
Speaker 3 (35:21):
Were bonzai though.
Speaker 1 (35:23):
Yeah, it was just beautiful.
Speaker 3 (35:24):
That's why I wonder how tall it would get if
it had just been put not it would just grow nothing.
Speaker 1 (35:31):
It would grow to its normal size, which is an
oak tree.
Speaker 3 (35:35):
No, no bonzai, oh no.
Speaker 1 (35:36):
The bonsai are all different varieties of trees, and so
the bon sie is a gardening technique that so bonsai
means small, okay, And it's also to it relates to
being rugged. Have you ever seen in Maine on the
coastline when you're on the beach and you turn up
and look at the rocks and there's a little small
tree growing in the rocks and you're going, oh my goodness.
(35:59):
And it doesn't have any root systems, so it's kind
of scraggly. It only has a few branches, but it's thriving.
It's going to live there forever. That's kind of a
bond size. That's what it means in Japanese is to
kind of keep it really really tight and not a
deep root system. Okay, so but bond size is just
(36:21):
wonderful and you can do that to any plant juniperson
things like that, So I love to do that. This
is the time of the year to go ahead and
cut your point setti is back by a third and
give them water and fertilizer. Let them go. If you
have not, in the springtime yet reapplied your mulch, go
ahead and do that. The mulch is very important to
(36:42):
keeping the ground cool, keeping weeds out. You need at
least three inches of mulch to prevent sunlight from getting
into germinate those weeds. But if you have mulch down,
you don't need to keep adding those three to four
inches every year. You want it to a level with
the ground or the curb, wherever, the sidewalk, wherever your
(37:04):
plant is growing. So you may only have to add
a half inch of mulch to bring it back up
to the three inches, because that mulch decomposes and turns
into dirt, and you know that's that's what plants eat, really,
so your palm trees need special feeding this time and year.
You want to use fertilizers. That's made for palms and
use it on a consistent basis every three to four months.
(37:27):
This is the time of the year to divide your
perennials like your amarillas once they finish blooming. And then
also if you have water gardens, you can transplant and
feed water lilies and bog plants. So then also hurry
up and get your tomatoes and peppers and egg plants
in the ground.
Speaker 3 (37:45):
I started producing cheese and crackers. I'm so excited.
Speaker 1 (37:49):
Very good, very good. So we want to thank everybody
called it and listened. I know it's Easter weekend and
it's very calm, and you're you know you're heading out
on the road there. You want to be driving safe.
We do a prereciate you listening to Better Lawns and Gardens,
whether it's on podcasts or live each week, we do
appreciate you. And we just want to say happy Passover
(38:10):
and happy Easter to all our friends and family out
there and our listeners. You are so great come out
and see us when we go out to special events
and to call in, and we just love that you
are part of our family.
Speaker 3 (38:24):
Exactly, and we're very grateful for you guys, So thank you.
Speaker 1 (38:27):
And So where can they hear Better Lawns and Gardens
as they missed any of the first show, which is
all about Easter lilies.
Speaker 3 (38:33):
You can go to better Lawns dot com. That's better
Lawns dot com.
Speaker 1 (38:38):
If it's Saturday morning from the Summit Responsible Solution Studios,
I'm Teresa Watkins. This is Better Lawns and Gardens and
this is Florida's Talk and Entertainment Networks. Theaters then tend
(39:29):
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