July 4, 2026 • 39 mins
Garden expert, Teresa Watkins discusses June maintenance for citrus with our sponsor Dana Venrick, Quality Green Specialist Nursery, including foliar feeding to help citrus trees resist citrus greening. Teresa discusses her recent garden tour of the Best of English gardens and the Chelsea Flower Show, reblooming daylilies, repotting Australian Tree Fern or plant it, Dracena pups, and oyster plant decline, and more.
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Speaker 1 (00:09):
Good morning from the Summit Responsible Solution Studios. Welcome to
Better Lawns and Gardens. I'm your host and garden expert,
Teresa Watkins. I am back from my garden tour of
the Best of English Gardens and the Chelsea Flower Show,
and then we had Memorial Day in just this last weekend,
so I am ready to get back and get started
(00:31):
on your questions. Good morning, Lizzie, how are you?
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Good morning, super glad to have you back.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Thank you so much. I know you guys did a
great job, but tell me how is your week?
Speaker 2 (00:44):
It was amazing. We actually snuck up to New England
for about six days because one of my younger nieces
was having a baby shower and so we went up
there surprised at all the relatives. They were all shocked
and we pulled into each individual driveway. They were just like,
who's here from New Hampshire because obviously we had to
rent a vehicle and I'm just like, no, it's me,
and they're like yay, and Brook went with me, so
(01:06):
they were so happy to see her.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
Oh that's great. And the weather was good for you.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
No, it was obnoxiously cold for four out of the
six days. It was in the forties. Then it rained
on me and I thought I was being stabbed by
little you know, angels of ice, but it was just
rain and I had to buy three hoodies and yeah,
not my time of year.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
Well, I am glad you got to go up and
see family. That's always a special time. I'd love to
give a big, very big, heartfelt thanks to Tom mccoven
who filled in. He is Better Lands and Gardens host
emeritus and you and he did a wonderful job. I
listened to the show and with Jim, and thank you
(01:53):
to Jim Allison and then also to Randy Schultz. It
was fun listening to it and I felt like I
was just I'm back in the old days. And you know,
I never missed Better Lands and Gardens when Tom was on,
so it was a lot of fun. I just have
to say I had a once in a lifetime garden
(02:13):
tour of the best of English gardens, and my daughter
Teresa Jean went along with my husband and we had
about twenty other Garden of fictiononados. They loved to geek
out at gardens and take photographs and it was just
a wonderful time. King Charles the Third being coornated. All
(02:35):
these festivities and decorations were still up, and these gardens
we walked through. I walked like two and a half
to three miles every day and just just through beautiful,
beautiful gardens and estates. But going to England in May
is a little tricky. It usually rains every few days.
And when we looked at the weather before we left,
(02:58):
it was showing that I would be eight to nine
days of rain during our eleven day stay, and we're going, okay, well,
it is what it is, and it'll make you know,
the grass greener and it'll look It looked beautiful in
the photographs. But when we got there, we brought our
Florida Sunshine with us and we did not have one
(03:19):
single day of rain. Oh wow, And so that's very unusual.
But it was wonderful. The temperatures were in the forties
in the morning, which we loved. We could put our
sweaters on, and we did carry sweaters with us, and
it only got into the low sixties to mid sixties
during the day. And it couldn't have been better weather
for touring gardens and taken photographs. Meanwhile, back in Orlando,
(03:43):
excuse me, I came back with a little cold. We
almost caught up with our rain deficit in just two weeks. Jim,
who was just on with Tom McCubbin, reported that he
had thirty six one hundreds of an inch of rain
for Tuesday, which put him at three point seventy five
inches for May, and so that is a great total.
(04:05):
His cucumbers, zucchini and yellow squash are coming in, as
are the tomatoes. The Early Girls and Parks Whoppers Belle
peppers are running a close behind. And he said the
Early Girls are really tasty and a great sized tomato,
and I agree the Early Girls are a great tomato
variety if you're looking for some. He also said he
had romas and cherries that are getting close, and so
(04:29):
in our where we came back, we had tomatoes and
peppers growing and it all just looks great. So I'm
very excited, and I'm gonna be describing my best of
English Garden and Chelsea flower shows in the second hour.
You're not gonna want to miss it. But you can
go onto our Facebook page and you can see the
first of my batch of three thousand photographs. Now I'm
(04:53):
not going to post three thousand photographs, but that's how
many I took. Well, you've done a really good job.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
I was loving every bit of those photos that you've
posted so far.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
Yep, well, thank you. It's just one of the I
just gave you just a glimpse of what we got
to to visit. And we visited you know, public gardens,
botanical gardens like Whistley and sissing Hers, but then also
to we got to go into very private estates that
(05:22):
are you know, gardens that are fifty to one hundred
years old, and it was just amazing. Got lots of
great ideas and I think that, you know, I'll be
posting the rest of the photographs over the next week
or so. I took over three thousands, so I'm going
so I'm culling that's it. That's all you took. And
(05:45):
I took some you know, individual single flowers for again
my articles and for my writing, and then also to
just landscape pictures so that you can see what it
looks like. Also too, in family demand. You can go
on and see my articles. They just posted another one
last month and I will be posting that too as
(06:07):
well as on Facebook. And then Lizzie, you got what
to do in the month of June up and my
Teresa Design Tips is creating a beach view octopus garden.
It's really pretty. Yeah. So it's just it's how if
you'd like to have a beach front yard, even if
(06:28):
you're in the central part of the state, you can
have it just with the plants you select and the accouterments.
And so I've got that up for you. And what
to do this month in your landscape. There's lots of
things to do and some things not to do. From
the Summit Responsible Solutions Studios. I'm Teresa Watkins. If it's
(06:49):
Saturday morning, you're listening to Better Lawns and Gardens and
this is Florida's Talk and Entertainment Network. Welcome back to
(07:16):
Better Lawns and Gardens. I'm Teresa Watkins. One of the
highlights of our garden tour in England was being able
to see firsthand many sustainable practices of organic farming and
King Charles the Third He is a big proponent of
organic farming and has been for decades, even before it
was even popular. He understood the importance of it and
(07:40):
at his private estate, High Grove, it is all maintained organically.
So with us right now is Dana Venrick. He is
our organic expert, quality green specialist, nursery owner and sponsor
for Better Lawns and Gardens. Good morning, Dana, how are you?
Speaker 3 (07:57):
Good morning Teresa? How are you?
Speaker 1 (07:59):
I am rate trying to get back into work mode
and into all the good things that I'm getting involved
with right now. So, Daana, rainfall? Have we caught up
on our deficit? How much rainfall have you gotten over
the past few weeks?
Speaker 3 (08:14):
Well, we've been very lucky. For example, it rained day
before yesterday evening and it didn't rain any here at
the house seems buried, but it gave a nice rain
there in Delanta. It's still spotty, but it's going to
get more focused, you know, after a few weeks here. Yeah,
when the summer rains come every year, so we're going
(08:37):
to have a lot of rain coming soon. It is.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
You know, we got three to four inches last week
here in Orlando, so that's quite a bit. So now, citrus.
I wanted to talk about citrus today because it's the
time of the year. Citrus trees are putting on fruit
and it's important to maintain them on a regular basis.
So what kind of maintenance should citrus owners be doing
(09:01):
right now on their trees.
Speaker 3 (09:03):
Well, Citrus trees are being you know, sort of difficult
to raise because of the citrus greening disease, and so
you have to have to maintain, you know, your fertilizer program.
You need to spray them regularly with a good nutritional
like I spent years developing the product we call Citrus
Thrived Plus. It's got a four to ten ten analysis.
(09:26):
But it's also got three surfactants penetrants within the liquid fertilizer,
so it'll penetrate right through that flogging. That's a response
to that citrus greening disease. We've had great success with
the first year of spray in that monthly spring to fall,
and after that you can cut back every other month.
(09:48):
They maintain the tree health. But we've recovered grows like
for example, Forest Gallahands grow. He was ready to give
up three years ago over in Lake Helen. Now he
has a beautiful growth, even with the hamlet oranges, which
are the most difficult to get recovery. And so you
do have to keep at it though you can't just
(10:10):
you know, fertilize like you did in the past with
just some granular fertilizer has to be good fertilizer. We
use good fertilizer three times a year, like early like February.
Again like this time of the year May or June, and
you can use you know, fertilizer it's got phosphorus and
(10:30):
nitrogen on fruit trees because they need that higher requirement.
And then again in the fall, the lighter application like
in fall, plus the spray, the liquid spray. We even
put some of the liquid around the drip line after
we spray the tree.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
Okay, so we get recovery. So I really want to
emphasize this. You not only recommend in the University of
Florida recommends not only putting down granular fertilizer on a
regular basis according to the label, but also to spray
the leaves and do a folier spray. Okay.
Speaker 3 (11:07):
Folio spray is very very important. So you get that
nutrition that is being limited by the root damage caused
by the greening, and then you get recovery after a while.
You have to have a little patience, but it works.
And we use things in the in the liquid fertilizer
that Mother nature would work with, like seaweed. Seaweed is
(11:30):
included we included bioavailable forms of carbon. It's humic and
particularly fubic acid. Over fifty eight percent of the carbon
in the spray is the bioavailable fubic acid. Just like
mother nature. You know, it works in breaking down soils,
in organic matter in the soil.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
So does it matter if it's a lime tree or
a tangerine tree or a navel tree. They all they
all need the same nutrition.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
They all needed. You don't have to be as dedicated
or as diligent on a on a sugar bell tree.
We have that now from tissue culture. But that's a
variety that was crossed between the clementine mandarin and a
mini old tangula, which is also called honeybell. But that
cross is resistant to greening, and so we have a
(12:23):
good selection of those at the nursery though, and we
have other varieties that are that are pretty hardy and
pretty resistant, easy to maintain the health, like the Balencia
orange you could pick as late as June in this
time of year. Also early oranges like Hamlin's in mid
season oranges, particularly the mandarins are very resistant, like the
(12:49):
mini old TAngelo or the dancy tangerine, and those types
of mandarins.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
The University of Florida has really developed a whole uh
you know science. It's production of these citrus so that
we understand which ones are resistant and which ones will
you know, kind of be you know, to get it
more easier.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
The disease one, it's very important to use a good
variety with good rootstock, and all those are coming online
more and more now more very hearty resistant.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
What size of citrus do you recommend putting in the ground, Well.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
Put one in you know that's grafted. There's a couple
of years old. It's got a nice stem, nice straight
trunk with a clean bud union, and it's got some
multiple branching at the top. So you got a good start.
And we have all sizes, you know, from like three
(13:44):
gallon up to thirty gallon, and even we have a
few forty five gallon trees. So you want to make
sure you get a good, good, healthy tree to start with,
at least in a three gallon or five gallon. I'd
recommend actually at least a five gallon. Yeah, I have
a good start.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
I remember back in the sixties and seventies driving by
an orange grove and seeing these two foot to you know,
just under two and a half feet tall citrus with
fruit on them, and they were just hanging with fruit
even when they were small. So do you recommend pulling
off the fruit the first couple of years?
Speaker 3 (14:22):
The first year, definitely, you want to grow that canopy
so it'll support fruit. You can leave several the second
year so you can enjoy a little bit of delicious fruit.
But after that, after the second year, you can leave
all of them, all of them on, all the ones
that stick on the tree. And by the way, only
about three percent of all the fruit that develop on
(14:45):
the tree actually are held on the tree. The rest drops.
Speaker 4 (14:48):
So if you have a lot.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
Of fruit drop, it's just mother nature at work.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
You say, you can't handle it like some some on
the tree exactly. So now, so leaf drop is normal.
Speaker 3 (15:02):
It is some leaf dropping. A lot of fruit dropping
is normal. But you want to really do things like
early in the year, make sure every year you put
a little phosphorus, either bonemeal, which we prefer with the
trace minerals and slower leaves, or super phosphate. Because it's
the only time of year you have a high demand
(15:23):
for phosphors, particularly for citrus. You want to do that,
and also make sure you put borax. The only time
of year you have a high demand for boron, which
is used at a very low rate by the tree,
is early spring, springtime in the flesh. So that's important
to keep in mind those two things. You want to
(15:45):
make sure you do that at least once a year.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
So now I know homeowners and even some clients that
they think that putting down just a couple of cups
of fertilizer around the base of the tree is enough.
How do homeowners know exactly how much lighter their citrus
tree will need.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
Well, a simple guide is to say, well, one inch
of fertilizer per application per inch, one pound of fertilizer
per one inch of trunk diameter. And then you can
do that three times a year. Make sure you start
a foot or two out of the drip line or
just inside the drip line. Go out twice the diameter
(16:27):
width of the tree or twice the canopy width of
the tree, so you make sure you get all those
feeder roots. And so it's a common error, you know,
to put too much fertilizer too close to the tree.
You want to spread it uniformly out so you cover
the drip line and beyond to get all those feeder roots.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
And so that's one pound per inch. And is there
a limit that the tree needs? Does it go up
or do you just keep putting down one pound and
the tree keeps growing in?
Speaker 3 (16:56):
Oh? No, No, there's a limit that is very important.
You know, it's like anything else. Don't go over. I
would say six pounds even on a big tree per application.
And make sure you spread it out because any tree
it has a limit on what it can absorb, what
the microbial life in the soil can transform into the
(17:17):
ionic form of the roots I actually take up. And
so I'm working on a book as a matter of fact,
explain how mother nature works to make all these minerals
except for boron, make it available to the tree and
iron form either catines, anions, positive or negative charged molecules
(17:37):
in the soil, how it becomes available to the tree,
and how you can grow a garden much better if
you're really focus on feeding the microbial life in the soil,
the mineralizing bacteriod all the things like the fun guys
that act to my CDs and so forth, healthy soil
worms that make it all happen for you.
Speaker 4 (17:59):
In the garden.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
That's right. So data, we just coming up on the heartbreak.
Is summer a good time to be planting trees.
Speaker 3 (18:07):
Absolutely, just make sure that it's the hardy trees and
a container. I wouldn't recommend any bear root planning. But
if you plant in a container and water every other
day for a couple of weeks and they start cutting back,
wean that tree back twice a week through the summer,
then you you can have great success. Don't plant it
(18:28):
too deeply. Make sure you see that up the topmost
route at the surface, so that's a common thing that
causes a tree to be stunted. Do not put soil
above that first ladder or root.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
There you go, so data real quick. What is your
website and where you located in beautiful the Land.
Speaker 3 (18:46):
It's a qualitigreenspecialist dot com. We're at three thirty five
West Michigan Avenue in the Land, just northwest of downtown,
within walking distance in fact of downtown to Land, a
beautiful downtown as you know.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
There you go. Thank you so much Dana for coming on.
I appreciate it.
Speaker 4 (19:04):
It was my play a great day, you too.
Speaker 1 (19:07):
That's Dana Venric, owner of quality green specialists in downtown
the Land and it's time for your gardening questions now.
Lizzie's gonna put you on the board if you call
in one triple eight four fivey five two ninety sixty seventh,
or you can text me at two three six eight
nine and let me know that what you're drinking this morning.
Are you having a proper cup of tea or you're
(19:29):
having coffee or even a coke that I know that's
popular in some places. So it's a perfect time to
call one triple eight four five five two ninety sixty seven.
I'm Teresa Watkins from the Summit Responsible Solutions Studios. It's
Saturday morning. You're listening to Better Lawns and Gardens and
this is Florida's talk and entertainment network, and welcome back
(20:10):
to Better Lawns and Gardens. If you miss any of
today's show, you could listen wherever you hear podcasts. I'm
going to post links on our Facebook page and you
can catch up on it. You can also see the
photographs of the start of my garden tour and where
I visited several different gardens. Yes, and so it's really nice,
Oh goodness, it was and so but's now it's your turn.
(20:32):
If you have a gardening question, you can call Lizzie
at one triple eight four FI five two nine sixty seven,
or you can text me at two three six eight zero.
Let's go to Eileen in Polk City. Good morning, Eileen,
how are you?
Speaker 5 (20:47):
Good morning, my gardening queen. How are you?
Speaker 1 (20:53):
I am great. It's good to hear your voice and
I can just say I missed you.
Speaker 5 (20:58):
You I have missed. Do my gosh, don't leave again?
Speaker 1 (21:04):
Well I won't unless I take you with me. So,
so what's going on in your world today?
Speaker 5 (21:12):
Okay? I lost my book that I've had for years.
I've misplaced it. Okay, you know I have all my
little notes in there. Okay, my lilies that I haven't
all over the place, or lilies lily Okay, they when
(21:36):
they drop their flowers, okay, do they read bloom?
Speaker 1 (21:43):
Do when they drop their flowers? These are day lilies,
right that you're talking about. Okay, day lilies will send
up more blooms. Now that just depends on the variety.
Some of them have just one, you know, set season
where they just like three to four weeks and they
will bloom and then there's others that will bloom sporadically
after the major blooming in the springtime. So it just
(22:04):
depends on what you have. Do you know what you have?
Speaker 5 (22:07):
I have the ones that rebloom.
Speaker 1 (22:09):
Okay, so because they come back and you'll get three
or four blooms.
Speaker 5 (22:13):
After yes, okay, all right, I have those. Okay. Now
I bought two African violets from a Big Box score
and they're in small plastic containers. Okay, I need to
repot them, do I not?
Speaker 1 (22:35):
Yes, you do. They need to have good drainage, yep, okay, okay,
and so you just want to Now you could just
poke holes in the bottom of the plastic pot and
let them go for a little while, or you can
put them in there's African violet pots you can get
that have the holes in them because you water African
violets from from the root ball, you don't pour water
(22:56):
over them. And I'm sure you know right, so yeah,
so but I'll the beautiful African violet pots. They're gorgeous.
Speaker 5 (23:04):
Yeah. Well I tried to find them and nobody had them.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
Oh goodness. Okay. Yeah, So you know you are in
polk City, so you know you can find them online.
I will say that, but I would try it a
couple of the local nurseries and ask them when they
come in. So sometimes, especially with all the economy and
issues going on, they may not bring them in as
frequently or just once a year. So I would just
(23:33):
you know, contact a nursery and say when do you
usually bring them in? And it usually is springtime, right
before Mother's Day. Easter time is also a time when
you can bring them in. And so find out from
your local nurseries when they bring them in, or like
I said, you can order them online.
Speaker 5 (23:50):
Well, that's a long time, it is, it is.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
I wish I was a virtue. That's right, listen time,
but that's what I'm saying. You can get them immediately
by going online and you know ordering them and they're
not too expensive if you order through some of the
major websites. Right.
Speaker 5 (24:10):
And we did not draw a hole in the bird bath.
You didn't, No, I did not. I got a large
hook and I have a plant hanging above the bird bath. Okay,
so I did it that way.
Speaker 1 (24:30):
That works.
Speaker 5 (24:30):
That is thrilling.
Speaker 1 (24:32):
That works. That works for me. So well, that's great.
Did you get a lot of rain? In the last
few weeks.
Speaker 5 (24:38):
Oh my gosh, we are flooded. Are you the side
of our yard? We have waterfront property. And then yesterday
it pounded all day long. I had to carry my
dog out and make her go potty, and I have
(25:00):
to take a great big cowl. She's only eleven pounds.
I had to take a great big cowl and dry
her off. And she was so miserable. And here I am,
I'm soaking wet, and I'm looking at her and I'm like,
you know, you're miserable, look at me.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
You're a great pet parent. Eileen, Thank you so much.
I appreciate the call, and I'm glad you're you're listening to.
I missed you too as well. Let's go to Jerry
in Citrus County. Good morning, Jerry.
Speaker 4 (25:34):
How are you fine, sir?
Speaker 3 (25:37):
How are you?
Speaker 1 (25:37):
I am good, Thank you.
Speaker 4 (25:40):
I have a question, a couple of questions. Well, first
one is Dana had a further spray a fertilizer or
nutrients for citrus trees. Yes, and I was wondering what
that was.
Speaker 1 (25:53):
Okay, well, he has his own products at his quality nursery.
So if you can let me just see here, hold on,
just a second. Two h Thank you so much. I
will send you the name and I will also announce
it again on the air, and so just will yeah,
(26:14):
I will. I'll announce it on the air, all right.
And you had a pepper question.
Speaker 4 (26:19):
Oh, yes, I came across These peppers are formally known
as by queen quinhole b I q u I n
h O. Yes, their little beach peppers or sweetie drops.
And they're in some restaurants. Uh huh on there and
uh they're supposed to be mild. And I was wondering
(26:41):
if they grow here. They are how many a thousand
scorel units?
Speaker 1 (26:45):
Yes, they do, they do grow here, bin quo. And
if you can get them, you know, again, the seeds
you can find online, but also too if you're eating
them in a restaurant, if you will save the seeds,
you know, if they come whole, you could take the
seeds that you are eating the pepper and you can
(27:07):
dry those out and they will they will germinate and
grow you another pepper.
Speaker 4 (27:12):
Oh, even the ones that were pickled, that's what's in
the restaurant here. They're pickled.
Speaker 1 (27:16):
Well, if they're pickled, you know, I don't know. I
would try it. I don't know if they'll germinate, but
I think they might still, just depends that they whole
are and if if they've been the seeds have been
taken out of them already.
Speaker 4 (27:31):
Yeah, the little peppers are whole and they seem to.
Speaker 3 (27:35):
Be real good.
Speaker 4 (27:35):
But it could be fooling me too because of the pickling.
Speaker 1 (27:38):
That that's true what they're doing.
Speaker 4 (27:41):
But anyhow they write up was good. But I couldn't
find out if there was anything for information on Florida.
If they only familiar with them and they will grow here, ye,
So I'm going to give them a chance.
Speaker 1 (27:51):
Wonderful Jerry. That's great. Yeah, peppers will all kinds of
peppers will grow. Thank you Jerry for listening to Better
Lawns of Garden. You too, thank you. We're going to
be right back with more Better Lawns and Gardens and
your gardening questions from the Summit Responsible Solution Studios. It's
Saturday morning. You're listening to Better Lawns and Gardens and
this is Forloridas Talk and Entertainment Network. Welcome back to
(28:31):
Better Lawns and Gardens. I'm Teresa Watkins. If you have
a gardening question, you can give me a call at
one triple eight four five five two nine sixty seven,
or you can text me at two three six eight zero.
And uh, let's see Howie with Peterson's Nursery. Good morning.
I'm so glad you're listening and you're out there. Uh.
(28:52):
He has a orchid repotting uh opportunity this morning in
Lakeland at Peterson's Nursery and that it runs from ten
to twelve and if you will bring two orchids, they
will repot them free for you. And so that's a
great opportunity. But he also gave us this little jewel
(29:12):
of a tip for Eileen, and that is Foshy Jewelers.
That's f O s h e e. Jewelers in Lakeland
has African violet pots.
Speaker 2 (29:24):
Not only can you get bling for your arms and neck,
but you can get bling for your yard and kitchen table.
Speaker 1 (29:30):
Isn't that sight? I don't know.
Speaker 2 (29:31):
I'm just telling that that's what I thought.
Speaker 1 (29:34):
You said that.
Speaker 2 (29:34):
I think that's amazing.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
Yeah it is. But you know, if anyone should know how,
he should know. And so that's so, Eileen. If you're
listening Foahy Jewelers, contact them before you go and make
sure that they have them. But that's a great bit
of a landscape tip from Howie and Peterson's nursery. Howie
and Karen, they have a wonderful nursery. So if you're
in Lakeland, it's a great place to go to. So
(29:58):
thank you very much one eight four five five two
nine sixty seven, or you can text me at two
three six eight zero. So it's so there is a
listener in Tallahassee who has an Australian tree fern that's
housed in a fifteen gallon pot and would it be
okay to plant my fern directly in the ground or
should it be up potted, up potted. I like that phrase,
(30:22):
and it's starting to look crowded. Well, I'm going to
tell you that while we were in England, they had
Australian tree ferns in the ground at some of the
estates that we went to, really tree ferns, Australian tree
ferns and also burdeness ferns. I was totally blown away
by it, because you know England uh and Great Britain,
(30:45):
they're surrounded by the Gulf Stream and there are some
pockets that don't get as cold as other places like
in the Hebrides and in the you know, the mountains
of Scotland and so Australia tree for an in Tallahassee.
It's going to freeze. It gets a little too cold there.
(31:05):
So I would suggest that if you do plant it
in the ground, that you make sure that you cover
it completely every winter whenever it gets down below forty
five degrees and then that way you can ensure that
it lives. Make sure it's in a protected location, which
would be in the shade, underneath a canopy of a tree,
(31:27):
and or just keep it in the pot. But you
can up pot it, yes, into a thirty gallon pot
and it should be able to stay there for another
ten years or so, and so I wouldn't think you
need to repot it after that. It should be able
to stay in the pot. But if you do plant
it in the ground, just be care, you know, just
(31:47):
watch over it and make sure it doesn't freeze back.
There's that chance.
Speaker 2 (31:51):
That's gonna be my new hashtag.
Speaker 1 (31:53):
Have you up potted today? Have you up potted today?
I love it? Now there you go. You are just
a wealth of creativity. Thank you, and so Susan and
Tallahassee says, I have a torbet dazzler dressina and other
drosina and corn plants that, although protected, were badly damaged
(32:14):
by the cold this winter. They're now sprouting at the base.
Should I repot into smaller pots. They were about three
feet tall and one and one and a half inch
in diameter before the big freeze. Okay, So here's the
great thing about corn plants and dressinas that you can
cut them off right. You can cut the damaged portion
off of the dressina and repot it. You can stick
(32:37):
those stems right into the ground and they will reroot again.
But you can also repot from the bottom two as well,
So you can cut them off the side and put
them in new pots, or you can let's just let
them be a grouping in their container. So I would
make sure you cut off all the damaged portions of it.
Cut it diagonally at the top, Susan, so right before
(32:59):
the dam are right below the damaged area. Cut diagonally
and it will sprout out from wherever you cut it. Okay.
So it's up to you whether you want to repot
the babies in a new pot. You can, or you
can just let them grow up and be a multi
grouped you know, dressina in in one pot. So it's
all up to you one triple eight four five five,
(33:21):
two nine sixty seven or you can text me at
two three six eight zero and I would love to, uh,
you know, hear from you and find out what's going
on in your garden. Have you been getting much rain
or has it bypassed you? What kind of issues are
you having in your yard? I would love to hear.
In the next hour, we're gonna I'm gonna be talking
(33:42):
about my trip. You can go onto our Facebook page
and you can see the photographs of the first few
places we visited and just kind of look at it.
We got to see sheep, beautiful sheep, and you know,
I'm just a big fan of sheep, and they just
look so natural. They were just in the gardens outside
the gardens and pasture areas and it was just lovely.
(34:07):
Also too. You can go to my web page she
s h E Dash Consulting co O N s U
L t I n G dot com she dash Consulting
dot com and you can look it up and send
me questions. You can go to better Launch dot com
(34:27):
and send me questions. So there's a number of different
ways to get hold of me, and so ed and
Leesburg he wanted some plants identified, so he sent me photographs.
He thought he had fruit trees. What kind of fruit
tree is this, Teresa? And he thought it was figs,
But when I saw the photographs, it didn't look like
figs to me, and so we ultimately got some good
(34:48):
pictures and it was a viburnum bush that's been growing
like a tree, and so it was viburnums. And then
I identified an olive tree forum an olio Europeana arbikina,
and so those were really easy to do. So if
you have something you need identified, you could go to
our Facebook page and post it and I could look
at it there and let you know, or you can
(35:09):
just email me directly. But the thing about it is
is that the plants were not doing well because he
was watering every day. It's hot, and so you do
not need to water plants every day, or your turf
or your shrubs or your trees every day in Florida
if they're established. Let's go to real quickly to John
and Lake Nona. Good morning, John, how can I help you?
Speaker 6 (35:32):
Good morning? How are you doing today.
Speaker 1 (35:34):
I am great, Thank you very much.
Speaker 6 (35:37):
I've got some oyster plants that I planted in front
of gold Mound and also in front of Somemami croat.
Speaker 1 (35:44):
Wonderful. That's a good choice.
Speaker 6 (35:47):
Yeah, that's colorful. But periodically the oysters are dying out
here and there. I mean it's almost looks like somebody
stepped on them and they're just kind of getting a
little bit yellowish colored and just fallen over like a
kind of like an unfeeled out of shell.
Speaker 1 (36:02):
Okay, do you have a landscape maintenance company?
Speaker 4 (36:06):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (36:07):
Okay, so it could be just that that somebody could
be stepping on them.
Speaker 6 (36:13):
Well, now where there aft go? I don't think so, okay.
I mean I know I've had oysters before. You pretty
much put them in and leave them alone. I don't
know if maybe possibly they're getting too much water and
they could be toutworms, right rot.
Speaker 1 (36:28):
Okay, So how often are you watering?
Speaker 3 (36:32):
Ah?
Speaker 6 (36:32):
Well, without the rain, it's watering twice a week.
Speaker 1 (36:35):
Okay, so you're just watering twice a week. But does
it shut off when you get enough rain?
Speaker 3 (36:40):
Yeah?
Speaker 6 (36:40):
The rain sensor works.
Speaker 1 (36:41):
Okay, super all right? Yeah, sometimes you know when we
do get a lot of rain, especially over the last
few weeks. We have the humidity, the rainfall, it can
rot out. So I would just uh, you know, you
can take new clippings and cut them back. Uh if
they're turning yellow, I wouldn't. That would indicate to me
too much water. But there's really nothing you can do
(37:02):
for it.
Speaker 6 (37:03):
Yeah, that's what I kind of figured it might be
too wet.
Speaker 1 (37:07):
Lake known as a pretty wet area.
Speaker 6 (37:10):
Yeah. I had the water a good bit at part.
I put them in a march and you know, because
of the gold Mountain and the croatons, I mean, they
had to have water. I watered more than twice a
week on them, and they seemed fine. It's just the
oysters and just slowly one here, one there, just kind
of you know, well there's there.
Speaker 1 (37:27):
There are two different kinds of plants. So you're you're
your sure truce colored gold mounds, and also your crotons
are woody ornamentals, whereas your your your oysters are a
little bit softer. They you know, they're a little bit
more squishier. And so you know, I definitely, uh, you know,
would just cut down on the water and I would
(37:47):
turn your water off for the summertime. Your plants are
already established.
Speaker 6 (37:51):
Okay, so they basically the oysters don't like the feet
weft there. They can take drier conditions.
Speaker 1 (37:56):
They can take drier conditions. Great question, John, Thank you
so much for listening. I appreciate it. And we're going
to be back for our second hour. I'll be talking
about my garden trip to England and talk to you
a little bit little gardens that we visited, those little
small ones and also the biggest states. We're also going
to be taking your gardening questions. I'd like to thank
Dana Venrick, owner of Qualitygreen Specialists, for he has a
(38:21):
wonderful native and fruit tree nursery and he is really
giving us great advice about you know, citrus trees. They
do need the proper nutrition, so we'd like to thank
him for that. So Lizzie and I would love for
you to follow Better Lands and Gardens on our Facebook
page and give our gardening show five stars. We would
appreciate it so much. And again, if you'd like to
(38:41):
send in a question, you could do it like Marie
did in Tallahassee, and you can do it through Facebook
Orbetter LUNs dot com or you can call me in
the next hour and we can help you with your
gardening issues. From the Summit Responsible Solutions Studios and Summit
Responsible Solutions dot Com. I'm Teresa. What can This Saturday morning?
(39:01):
You're listening to Better Lawns and Gardens and this is
Florida's talk and entertainment network.
Good morning from the Summit Responsible Solution Studios. Welcome to
Better Lawns and Gardens. I'm your host and garden expert,
Teresa Watkins. I am back from my garden tour of
the Best of English Gardens and the Chelsea Flower Show,
and then we had Memorial Day in just this last weekend,
so I am ready to get back and get started
(00:31):
on your questions. Good morning, Lizzie, how are you?
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Good morning, super glad to have you back.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Thank you so much. I know you guys did a
great job, but tell me how is your week?
Speaker 2 (00:44):
It was amazing. We actually snuck up to New England
for about six days because one of my younger nieces
was having a baby shower and so we went up
there surprised at all the relatives. They were all shocked
and we pulled into each individual driveway. They were just like,
who's here from New Hampshire because obviously we had to
rent a vehicle and I'm just like, no, it's me,
and they're like yay, and Brook went with me, so
(01:06):
they were so happy to see her.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
Oh that's great. And the weather was good for you.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
No, it was obnoxiously cold for four out of the
six days. It was in the forties. Then it rained
on me and I thought I was being stabbed by
little you know, angels of ice, but it was just
rain and I had to buy three hoodies and yeah,
not my time of year.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
Well, I am glad you got to go up and
see family. That's always a special time. I'd love to
give a big, very big, heartfelt thanks to Tom mccoven
who filled in. He is Better Lands and Gardens host
emeritus and you and he did a wonderful job. I
listened to the show and with Jim, and thank you
(01:53):
to Jim Allison and then also to Randy Schultz. It
was fun listening to it and I felt like I
was just I'm back in the old days. And you know,
I never missed Better Lands and Gardens when Tom was on,
so it was a lot of fun. I just have
to say I had a once in a lifetime garden
(02:13):
tour of the best of English gardens, and my daughter
Teresa Jean went along with my husband and we had
about twenty other Garden of fictiononados. They loved to geek
out at gardens and take photographs and it was just
a wonderful time. King Charles the Third being coornated. All
(02:35):
these festivities and decorations were still up, and these gardens
we walked through. I walked like two and a half
to three miles every day and just just through beautiful,
beautiful gardens and estates. But going to England in May
is a little tricky. It usually rains every few days.
And when we looked at the weather before we left,
(02:58):
it was showing that I would be eight to nine
days of rain during our eleven day stay, and we're going, okay, well,
it is what it is, and it'll make you know,
the grass greener and it'll look It looked beautiful in
the photographs. But when we got there, we brought our
Florida Sunshine with us and we did not have one
(03:19):
single day of rain. Oh wow, And so that's very unusual.
But it was wonderful. The temperatures were in the forties
in the morning, which we loved. We could put our
sweaters on, and we did carry sweaters with us, and
it only got into the low sixties to mid sixties
during the day. And it couldn't have been better weather
for touring gardens and taken photographs. Meanwhile, back in Orlando,
(03:43):
excuse me, I came back with a little cold. We
almost caught up with our rain deficit in just two weeks. Jim,
who was just on with Tom McCubbin, reported that he
had thirty six one hundreds of an inch of rain
for Tuesday, which put him at three point seventy five
inches for May, and so that is a great total.
(04:05):
His cucumbers, zucchini and yellow squash are coming in, as
are the tomatoes. The Early Girls and Parks Whoppers Belle
peppers are running a close behind. And he said the
Early Girls are really tasty and a great sized tomato,
and I agree the Early Girls are a great tomato
variety if you're looking for some. He also said he
had romas and cherries that are getting close, and so
(04:29):
in our where we came back, we had tomatoes and
peppers growing and it all just looks great. So I'm
very excited, and I'm gonna be describing my best of
English Garden and Chelsea flower shows in the second hour.
You're not gonna want to miss it. But you can
go onto our Facebook page and you can see the
first of my batch of three thousand photographs. Now I'm
(04:53):
not going to post three thousand photographs, but that's how
many I took. Well, you've done a really good job.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
I was loving every bit of those photos that you've
posted so far.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
Yep, well, thank you. It's just one of the I
just gave you just a glimpse of what we got
to to visit. And we visited you know, public gardens,
botanical gardens like Whistley and sissing Hers, but then also
to we got to go into very private estates that
(05:22):
are you know, gardens that are fifty to one hundred
years old, and it was just amazing. Got lots of
great ideas and I think that, you know, I'll be
posting the rest of the photographs over the next week
or so. I took over three thousands, so I'm going
so I'm culling that's it. That's all you took. And
(05:45):
I took some you know, individual single flowers for again
my articles and for my writing, and then also to
just landscape pictures so that you can see what it
looks like. Also too, in family demand. You can go
on and see my articles. They just posted another one
last month and I will be posting that too as
(06:07):
well as on Facebook. And then Lizzie, you got what
to do in the month of June up and my
Teresa Design Tips is creating a beach view octopus garden.
It's really pretty. Yeah. So it's just it's how if
you'd like to have a beach front yard, even if
(06:28):
you're in the central part of the state, you can
have it just with the plants you select and the accouterments.
And so I've got that up for you. And what
to do this month in your landscape. There's lots of
things to do and some things not to do. From
the Summit Responsible Solutions Studios. I'm Teresa Watkins. If it's
(06:49):
Saturday morning, you're listening to Better Lawns and Gardens and
this is Florida's Talk and Entertainment Network. Welcome back to
(07:16):
Better Lawns and Gardens. I'm Teresa Watkins. One of the
highlights of our garden tour in England was being able
to see firsthand many sustainable practices of organic farming and
King Charles the Third He is a big proponent of
organic farming and has been for decades, even before it
was even popular. He understood the importance of it and
(07:40):
at his private estate, High Grove, it is all maintained organically.
So with us right now is Dana Venrick. He is
our organic expert, quality green specialist, nursery owner and sponsor
for Better Lawns and Gardens. Good morning, Dana, how are you?
Speaker 3 (07:57):
Good morning Teresa? How are you?
Speaker 1 (07:59):
I am rate trying to get back into work mode
and into all the good things that I'm getting involved
with right now. So, Daana, rainfall? Have we caught up
on our deficit? How much rainfall have you gotten over
the past few weeks?
Speaker 3 (08:14):
Well, we've been very lucky. For example, it rained day
before yesterday evening and it didn't rain any here at
the house seems buried, but it gave a nice rain
there in Delanta. It's still spotty, but it's going to
get more focused, you know, after a few weeks here. Yeah,
when the summer rains come every year, so we're going
(08:37):
to have a lot of rain coming soon. It is.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
You know, we got three to four inches last week
here in Orlando, so that's quite a bit. So now, citrus.
I wanted to talk about citrus today because it's the
time of the year. Citrus trees are putting on fruit
and it's important to maintain them on a regular basis.
So what kind of maintenance should citrus owners be doing
(09:01):
right now on their trees.
Speaker 3 (09:03):
Well, Citrus trees are being you know, sort of difficult
to raise because of the citrus greening disease, and so
you have to have to maintain, you know, your fertilizer program.
You need to spray them regularly with a good nutritional
like I spent years developing the product we call Citrus
Thrived Plus. It's got a four to ten ten analysis.
(09:26):
But it's also got three surfactants penetrants within the liquid fertilizer,
so it'll penetrate right through that flogging. That's a response
to that citrus greening disease. We've had great success with
the first year of spray in that monthly spring to fall,
and after that you can cut back every other month.
(09:48):
They maintain the tree health. But we've recovered grows like
for example, Forest Gallahands grow. He was ready to give
up three years ago over in Lake Helen. Now he
has a beautiful growth, even with the hamlet oranges, which
are the most difficult to get recovery. And so you
do have to keep at it though you can't just
(10:10):
you know, fertilize like you did in the past with
just some granular fertilizer has to be good fertilizer. We
use good fertilizer three times a year, like early like February.
Again like this time of the year May or June, and
you can use you know, fertilizer it's got phosphorus and
(10:30):
nitrogen on fruit trees because they need that higher requirement.
And then again in the fall, the lighter application like
in fall, plus the spray, the liquid spray. We even
put some of the liquid around the drip line after
we spray the tree.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
Okay, so we get recovery. So I really want to
emphasize this. You not only recommend in the University of
Florida recommends not only putting down granular fertilizer on a
regular basis according to the label, but also to spray
the leaves and do a folier spray. Okay.
Speaker 3 (11:07):
Folio spray is very very important. So you get that
nutrition that is being limited by the root damage caused
by the greening, and then you get recovery after a while.
You have to have a little patience, but it works.
And we use things in the in the liquid fertilizer
that Mother nature would work with, like seaweed. Seaweed is
(11:30):
included we included bioavailable forms of carbon. It's humic and
particularly fubic acid. Over fifty eight percent of the carbon
in the spray is the bioavailable fubic acid. Just like
mother nature. You know, it works in breaking down soils,
in organic matter in the soil.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
So does it matter if it's a lime tree or
a tangerine tree or a navel tree. They all they
all need the same nutrition.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
They all needed. You don't have to be as dedicated
or as diligent on a on a sugar bell tree.
We have that now from tissue culture. But that's a
variety that was crossed between the clementine mandarin and a
mini old tangula, which is also called honeybell. But that
cross is resistant to greening, and so we have a
(12:23):
good selection of those at the nursery though, and we
have other varieties that are that are pretty hardy and
pretty resistant, easy to maintain the health, like the Balencia
orange you could pick as late as June in this
time of year. Also early oranges like Hamlin's in mid
season oranges, particularly the mandarins are very resistant, like the
(12:49):
mini old TAngelo or the dancy tangerine, and those types
of mandarins.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
The University of Florida has really developed a whole uh
you know science. It's production of these citrus so that
we understand which ones are resistant and which ones will
you know, kind of be you know, to get it
more easier.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
The disease one, it's very important to use a good
variety with good rootstock, and all those are coming online
more and more now more very hearty resistant.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
What size of citrus do you recommend putting in the ground, Well.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
Put one in you know that's grafted. There's a couple
of years old. It's got a nice stem, nice straight
trunk with a clean bud union, and it's got some
multiple branching at the top. So you got a good start.
And we have all sizes, you know, from like three
(13:44):
gallon up to thirty gallon, and even we have a
few forty five gallon trees. So you want to make
sure you get a good, good, healthy tree to start with,
at least in a three gallon or five gallon. I'd
recommend actually at least a five gallon. Yeah, I have
a good start.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
I remember back in the sixties and seventies driving by
an orange grove and seeing these two foot to you know,
just under two and a half feet tall citrus with
fruit on them, and they were just hanging with fruit
even when they were small. So do you recommend pulling
off the fruit the first couple of years?
Speaker 3 (14:22):
The first year, definitely, you want to grow that canopy
so it'll support fruit. You can leave several the second
year so you can enjoy a little bit of delicious fruit.
But after that, after the second year, you can leave
all of them, all of them on, all the ones
that stick on the tree. And by the way, only
about three percent of all the fruit that develop on
(14:45):
the tree actually are held on the tree. The rest drops.
Speaker 4 (14:48):
So if you have a lot.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
Of fruit drop, it's just mother nature at work.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
You say, you can't handle it like some some on
the tree exactly. So now, so leaf drop is normal.
Speaker 3 (15:02):
It is some leaf dropping. A lot of fruit dropping
is normal. But you want to really do things like
early in the year, make sure every year you put
a little phosphorus, either bonemeal, which we prefer with the
trace minerals and slower leaves, or super phosphate. Because it's
the only time of year you have a high demand
(15:23):
for phosphors, particularly for citrus. You want to do that,
and also make sure you put borax. The only time
of year you have a high demand for boron, which
is used at a very low rate by the tree,
is early spring, springtime in the flesh. So that's important
to keep in mind those two things. You want to
(15:45):
make sure you do that at least once a year.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
So now I know homeowners and even some clients that
they think that putting down just a couple of cups
of fertilizer around the base of the tree is enough.
How do homeowners know exactly how much lighter their citrus
tree will need.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
Well, a simple guide is to say, well, one inch
of fertilizer per application per inch, one pound of fertilizer
per one inch of trunk diameter. And then you can
do that three times a year. Make sure you start
a foot or two out of the drip line or
just inside the drip line. Go out twice the diameter
(16:27):
width of the tree or twice the canopy width of
the tree, so you make sure you get all those
feeder roots. And so it's a common error, you know,
to put too much fertilizer too close to the tree.
You want to spread it uniformly out so you cover
the drip line and beyond to get all those feeder roots.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
And so that's one pound per inch. And is there
a limit that the tree needs? Does it go up
or do you just keep putting down one pound and
the tree keeps growing in?
Speaker 3 (16:56):
Oh? No, No, there's a limit that is very important.
You know, it's like anything else. Don't go over. I
would say six pounds even on a big tree per application.
And make sure you spread it out because any tree
it has a limit on what it can absorb, what
the microbial life in the soil can transform into the
(17:17):
ionic form of the roots I actually take up. And
so I'm working on a book as a matter of fact,
explain how mother nature works to make all these minerals
except for boron, make it available to the tree and
iron form either catines, anions, positive or negative charged molecules
(17:37):
in the soil, how it becomes available to the tree,
and how you can grow a garden much better if
you're really focus on feeding the microbial life in the soil,
the mineralizing bacteriod all the things like the fun guys
that act to my CDs and so forth, healthy soil
worms that make it all happen for you.
Speaker 4 (17:59):
In the garden.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
That's right. So data, we just coming up on the heartbreak.
Is summer a good time to be planting trees.
Speaker 3 (18:07):
Absolutely, just make sure that it's the hardy trees and
a container. I wouldn't recommend any bear root planning. But
if you plant in a container and water every other
day for a couple of weeks and they start cutting back,
wean that tree back twice a week through the summer,
then you you can have great success. Don't plant it
(18:28):
too deeply. Make sure you see that up the topmost
route at the surface, so that's a common thing that
causes a tree to be stunted. Do not put soil
above that first ladder or root.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
There you go, so data real quick. What is your
website and where you located in beautiful the Land.
Speaker 3 (18:46):
It's a qualitigreenspecialist dot com. We're at three thirty five
West Michigan Avenue in the Land, just northwest of downtown,
within walking distance in fact of downtown to Land, a
beautiful downtown as you know.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
There you go. Thank you so much Dana for coming on.
I appreciate it.
Speaker 4 (19:04):
It was my play a great day, you too.
Speaker 1 (19:07):
That's Dana Venric, owner of quality green specialists in downtown
the Land and it's time for your gardening questions now.
Lizzie's gonna put you on the board if you call
in one triple eight four fivey five two ninety sixty seventh,
or you can text me at two three six eight
nine and let me know that what you're drinking this morning.
Are you having a proper cup of tea or you're
(19:29):
having coffee or even a coke that I know that's
popular in some places. So it's a perfect time to
call one triple eight four five five two ninety sixty seven.
I'm Teresa Watkins from the Summit Responsible Solutions Studios. It's
Saturday morning. You're listening to Better Lawns and Gardens and
this is Florida's talk and entertainment network, and welcome back
(20:10):
to Better Lawns and Gardens. If you miss any of
today's show, you could listen wherever you hear podcasts. I'm
going to post links on our Facebook page and you
can catch up on it. You can also see the
photographs of the start of my garden tour and where
I visited several different gardens. Yes, and so it's really nice,
Oh goodness, it was and so but's now it's your turn.
(20:32):
If you have a gardening question, you can call Lizzie
at one triple eight four FI five two nine sixty seven,
or you can text me at two three six eight zero.
Let's go to Eileen in Polk City. Good morning, Eileen,
how are you?
Speaker 5 (20:47):
Good morning, my gardening queen. How are you?
Speaker 1 (20:53):
I am great. It's good to hear your voice and
I can just say I missed you.
Speaker 5 (20:58):
You I have missed. Do my gosh, don't leave again?
Speaker 1 (21:04):
Well I won't unless I take you with me. So,
so what's going on in your world today?
Speaker 5 (21:12):
Okay? I lost my book that I've had for years.
I've misplaced it. Okay, you know I have all my
little notes in there. Okay, my lilies that I haven't
all over the place, or lilies lily Okay, they when
(21:36):
they drop their flowers, okay, do they read bloom?
Speaker 1 (21:43):
Do when they drop their flowers? These are day lilies,
right that you're talking about. Okay, day lilies will send
up more blooms. Now that just depends on the variety.
Some of them have just one, you know, set season
where they just like three to four weeks and they
will bloom and then there's others that will bloom sporadically
after the major blooming in the springtime. So it just
(22:04):
depends on what you have. Do you know what you have?
Speaker 5 (22:07):
I have the ones that rebloom.
Speaker 1 (22:09):
Okay, so because they come back and you'll get three
or four blooms.
Speaker 5 (22:13):
After yes, okay, all right, I have those. Okay. Now
I bought two African violets from a Big Box score
and they're in small plastic containers. Okay, I need to
repot them, do I not?
Speaker 1 (22:35):
Yes, you do. They need to have good drainage, yep, okay, okay,
and so you just want to Now you could just
poke holes in the bottom of the plastic pot and
let them go for a little while, or you can
put them in there's African violet pots you can get
that have the holes in them because you water African
violets from from the root ball, you don't pour water
(22:56):
over them. And I'm sure you know right, so yeah,
so but I'll the beautiful African violet pots. They're gorgeous.
Speaker 5 (23:04):
Yeah. Well I tried to find them and nobody had them.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
Oh goodness. Okay. Yeah, So you know you are in
polk City, so you know you can find them online.
I will say that, but I would try it a
couple of the local nurseries and ask them when they
come in. So sometimes, especially with all the economy and
issues going on, they may not bring them in as
frequently or just once a year. So I would just
(23:33):
you know, contact a nursery and say when do you
usually bring them in? And it usually is springtime, right
before Mother's Day. Easter time is also a time when
you can bring them in. And so find out from
your local nurseries when they bring them in, or like
I said, you can order them online.
Speaker 5 (23:50):
Well, that's a long time, it is, it is.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
I wish I was a virtue. That's right, listen time,
but that's what I'm saying. You can get them immediately
by going online and you know ordering them and they're
not too expensive if you order through some of the
major websites. Right.
Speaker 5 (24:10):
And we did not draw a hole in the bird bath.
You didn't, No, I did not. I got a large
hook and I have a plant hanging above the bird bath. Okay,
so I did it that way.
Speaker 1 (24:30):
That works.
Speaker 5 (24:30):
That is thrilling.
Speaker 1 (24:32):
That works. That works for me. So well, that's great.
Did you get a lot of rain? In the last
few weeks.
Speaker 5 (24:38):
Oh my gosh, we are flooded. Are you the side
of our yard? We have waterfront property. And then yesterday
it pounded all day long. I had to carry my
dog out and make her go potty, and I have
(25:00):
to take a great big cowl. She's only eleven pounds.
I had to take a great big cowl and dry
her off. And she was so miserable. And here I am,
I'm soaking wet, and I'm looking at her and I'm like,
you know, you're miserable, look at me.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
You're a great pet parent. Eileen, Thank you so much.
I appreciate the call, and I'm glad you're you're listening to.
I missed you too as well. Let's go to Jerry
in Citrus County. Good morning, Jerry.
Speaker 4 (25:34):
How are you fine, sir?
Speaker 3 (25:37):
How are you?
Speaker 1 (25:37):
I am good, Thank you.
Speaker 4 (25:40):
I have a question, a couple of questions. Well, first
one is Dana had a further spray a fertilizer or
nutrients for citrus trees. Yes, and I was wondering what
that was.
Speaker 1 (25:53):
Okay, well, he has his own products at his quality nursery.
So if you can let me just see here, hold on,
just a second. Two h Thank you so much. I
will send you the name and I will also announce
it again on the air, and so just will yeah,
(26:14):
I will. I'll announce it on the air, all right.
And you had a pepper question.
Speaker 4 (26:19):
Oh, yes, I came across These peppers are formally known
as by queen quinhole b I q u I n
h O. Yes, their little beach peppers or sweetie drops.
And they're in some restaurants. Uh huh on there and
uh they're supposed to be mild. And I was wondering
(26:41):
if they grow here. They are how many a thousand
scorel units?
Speaker 1 (26:45):
Yes, they do, they do grow here, bin quo. And
if you can get them, you know, again, the seeds
you can find online, but also too if you're eating
them in a restaurant, if you will save the seeds,
you know, if they come whole, you could take the
seeds that you are eating the pepper and you can
(27:07):
dry those out and they will they will germinate and
grow you another pepper.
Speaker 4 (27:12):
Oh, even the ones that were pickled, that's what's in
the restaurant here. They're pickled.
Speaker 1 (27:16):
Well, if they're pickled, you know, I don't know. I
would try it. I don't know if they'll germinate, but
I think they might still, just depends that they whole
are and if if they've been the seeds have been
taken out of them already.
Speaker 4 (27:31):
Yeah, the little peppers are whole and they seem to.
Speaker 3 (27:35):
Be real good.
Speaker 4 (27:35):
But it could be fooling me too because of the pickling.
Speaker 1 (27:38):
That that's true what they're doing.
Speaker 4 (27:41):
But anyhow they write up was good. But I couldn't
find out if there was anything for information on Florida.
If they only familiar with them and they will grow here, ye,
So I'm going to give them a chance.
Speaker 1 (27:51):
Wonderful Jerry. That's great. Yeah, peppers will all kinds of
peppers will grow. Thank you Jerry for listening to Better
Lawns of Garden. You too, thank you. We're going to
be right back with more Better Lawns and Gardens and
your gardening questions from the Summit Responsible Solution Studios. It's
Saturday morning. You're listening to Better Lawns and Gardens and
this is Forloridas Talk and Entertainment Network. Welcome back to
(28:31):
Better Lawns and Gardens. I'm Teresa Watkins. If you have
a gardening question, you can give me a call at
one triple eight four five five two nine sixty seven,
or you can text me at two three six eight zero.
And uh, let's see Howie with Peterson's Nursery. Good morning.
I'm so glad you're listening and you're out there. Uh.
(28:52):
He has a orchid repotting uh opportunity this morning in
Lakeland at Peterson's Nursery and that it runs from ten
to twelve and if you will bring two orchids, they
will repot them free for you. And so that's a
great opportunity. But he also gave us this little jewel
(29:12):
of a tip for Eileen, and that is Foshy Jewelers.
That's f O s h e e. Jewelers in Lakeland
has African violet pots.
Speaker 2 (29:24):
Not only can you get bling for your arms and neck,
but you can get bling for your yard and kitchen table.
Speaker 1 (29:30):
Isn't that sight? I don't know.
Speaker 2 (29:31):
I'm just telling that that's what I thought.
Speaker 1 (29:34):
You said that.
Speaker 2 (29:34):
I think that's amazing.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
Yeah it is. But you know, if anyone should know how,
he should know. And so that's so, Eileen. If you're
listening Foahy Jewelers, contact them before you go and make
sure that they have them. But that's a great bit
of a landscape tip from Howie and Peterson's nursery. Howie
and Karen, they have a wonderful nursery. So if you're
in Lakeland, it's a great place to go to. So
(29:58):
thank you very much one eight four five five two
nine sixty seven, or you can text me at two
three six eight zero. So it's so there is a
listener in Tallahassee who has an Australian tree fern that's
housed in a fifteen gallon pot and would it be
okay to plant my fern directly in the ground or
should it be up potted, up potted. I like that phrase,
(30:22):
and it's starting to look crowded. Well, I'm going to
tell you that while we were in England, they had
Australian tree ferns in the ground at some of the
estates that we went to, really tree ferns, Australian tree
ferns and also burdeness ferns. I was totally blown away
by it, because you know England uh and Great Britain,
(30:45):
they're surrounded by the Gulf Stream and there are some
pockets that don't get as cold as other places like
in the Hebrides and in the you know, the mountains
of Scotland and so Australia tree for an in Tallahassee.
It's going to freeze. It gets a little too cold there.
(31:05):
So I would suggest that if you do plant it
in the ground, that you make sure that you cover
it completely every winter whenever it gets down below forty
five degrees and then that way you can ensure that
it lives. Make sure it's in a protected location, which
would be in the shade, underneath a canopy of a tree,
(31:27):
and or just keep it in the pot. But you
can up pot it, yes, into a thirty gallon pot
and it should be able to stay there for another
ten years or so, and so I wouldn't think you
need to repot it after that. It should be able
to stay in the pot. But if you do plant
it in the ground, just be care, you know, just
(31:47):
watch over it and make sure it doesn't freeze back.
There's that chance.
Speaker 2 (31:51):
That's gonna be my new hashtag.
Speaker 1 (31:53):
Have you up potted today? Have you up potted today?
I love it? Now there you go. You are just
a wealth of creativity. Thank you, and so Susan and
Tallahassee says, I have a torbet dazzler dressina and other
drosina and corn plants that, although protected, were badly damaged
(32:14):
by the cold this winter. They're now sprouting at the base.
Should I repot into smaller pots. They were about three
feet tall and one and one and a half inch
in diameter before the big freeze. Okay, So here's the
great thing about corn plants and dressinas that you can
cut them off right. You can cut the damaged portion
off of the dressina and repot it. You can stick
(32:37):
those stems right into the ground and they will reroot again.
But you can also repot from the bottom two as well,
So you can cut them off the side and put
them in new pots, or you can let's just let
them be a grouping in their container. So I would
make sure you cut off all the damaged portions of it.
Cut it diagonally at the top, Susan, so right before
(32:59):
the dam are right below the damaged area. Cut diagonally
and it will sprout out from wherever you cut it. Okay.
So it's up to you whether you want to repot
the babies in a new pot. You can, or you
can just let them grow up and be a multi
grouped you know, dressina in in one pot. So it's
all up to you one triple eight four five five,
(33:21):
two nine sixty seven or you can text me at
two three six eight zero and I would love to, uh,
you know, hear from you and find out what's going
on in your garden. Have you been getting much rain
or has it bypassed you? What kind of issues are
you having in your yard? I would love to hear.
In the next hour, we're gonna I'm gonna be talking
(33:42):
about my trip. You can go onto our Facebook page
and you can see the photographs of the first few
places we visited and just kind of look at it.
We got to see sheep, beautiful sheep, and you know,
I'm just a big fan of sheep, and they just
look so natural. They were just in the gardens outside
the gardens and pasture areas and it was just lovely.
(34:07):
Also too. You can go to my web page she
s h E Dash Consulting co O N s U
L t I n G dot com she dash Consulting
dot com and you can look it up and send
me questions. You can go to better Launch dot com
(34:27):
and send me questions. So there's a number of different
ways to get hold of me, and so ed and
Leesburg he wanted some plants identified, so he sent me photographs.
He thought he had fruit trees. What kind of fruit
tree is this, Teresa? And he thought it was figs,
But when I saw the photographs, it didn't look like
figs to me, and so we ultimately got some good
(34:48):
pictures and it was a viburnum bush that's been growing
like a tree, and so it was viburnums. And then
I identified an olive tree forum an olio Europeana arbikina,
and so those were really easy to do. So if
you have something you need identified, you could go to
our Facebook page and post it and I could look
at it there and let you know, or you can
(35:09):
just email me directly. But the thing about it is
is that the plants were not doing well because he
was watering every day. It's hot, and so you do
not need to water plants every day, or your turf
or your shrubs or your trees every day in Florida
if they're established. Let's go to real quickly to John
and Lake Nona. Good morning, John, how can I help you?
Speaker 6 (35:32):
Good morning? How are you doing today.
Speaker 1 (35:34):
I am great, Thank you very much.
Speaker 6 (35:37):
I've got some oyster plants that I planted in front
of gold Mound and also in front of Somemami croat.
Speaker 1 (35:44):
Wonderful. That's a good choice.
Speaker 6 (35:47):
Yeah, that's colorful. But periodically the oysters are dying out
here and there. I mean it's almost looks like somebody
stepped on them and they're just kind of getting a
little bit yellowish colored and just fallen over like a
kind of like an unfeeled out of shell.
Speaker 1 (36:02):
Okay, do you have a landscape maintenance company?
Speaker 4 (36:06):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (36:07):
Okay, so it could be just that that somebody could
be stepping on them.
Speaker 6 (36:13):
Well, now where there aft go? I don't think so, okay.
I mean I know I've had oysters before. You pretty
much put them in and leave them alone. I don't
know if maybe possibly they're getting too much water and
they could be toutworms, right rot.
Speaker 1 (36:28):
Okay, So how often are you watering?
Speaker 3 (36:32):
Ah?
Speaker 6 (36:32):
Well, without the rain, it's watering twice a week.
Speaker 1 (36:35):
Okay, so you're just watering twice a week. But does
it shut off when you get enough rain?
Speaker 3 (36:40):
Yeah?
Speaker 6 (36:40):
The rain sensor works.
Speaker 1 (36:41):
Okay, super all right? Yeah, sometimes you know when we
do get a lot of rain, especially over the last
few weeks. We have the humidity, the rainfall, it can
rot out. So I would just uh, you know, you
can take new clippings and cut them back. Uh if
they're turning yellow, I wouldn't. That would indicate to me
too much water. But there's really nothing you can do
(37:02):
for it.
Speaker 6 (37:03):
Yeah, that's what I kind of figured it might be
too wet.
Speaker 1 (37:07):
Lake known as a pretty wet area.
Speaker 6 (37:10):
Yeah. I had the water a good bit at part.
I put them in a march and you know, because
of the gold Mountain and the croatons, I mean, they
had to have water. I watered more than twice a
week on them, and they seemed fine. It's just the
oysters and just slowly one here, one there, just kind
of you know, well there's there.
Speaker 1 (37:27):
There are two different kinds of plants. So you're you're
your sure truce colored gold mounds, and also your crotons
are woody ornamentals, whereas your your your oysters are a
little bit softer. They you know, they're a little bit
more squishier. And so you know, I definitely, uh, you know,
would just cut down on the water and I would
(37:47):
turn your water off for the summertime. Your plants are
already established.
Speaker 6 (37:51):
Okay, so they basically the oysters don't like the feet
weft there. They can take drier conditions.
Speaker 1 (37:56):
They can take drier conditions. Great question, John, Thank you
so much for listening. I appreciate it. And we're going
to be back for our second hour. I'll be talking
about my garden trip to England and talk to you
a little bit little gardens that we visited, those little
small ones and also the biggest states. We're also going
to be taking your gardening questions. I'd like to thank
Dana Venrick, owner of Qualitygreen Specialists, for he has a
(38:21):
wonderful native and fruit tree nursery and he is really
giving us great advice about you know, citrus trees. They
do need the proper nutrition, so we'd like to thank
him for that. So Lizzie and I would love for
you to follow Better Lands and Gardens on our Facebook
page and give our gardening show five stars. We would
appreciate it so much. And again, if you'd like to
(38:41):
send in a question, you could do it like Marie
did in Tallahassee, and you can do it through Facebook
Orbetter LUNs dot com or you can call me in
the next hour and we can help you with your
gardening issues. From the Summit Responsible Solutions Studios and Summit
Responsible Solutions dot Com. I'm Teresa. What can This Saturday morning?
(39:01):
You're listening to Better Lawns and Gardens and this is
Florida's talk and entertainment network.
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