February 14, 2026 • 39 mins
Happy Valentines Day.
Teresa's Top Five: Rose Myths.
What to do for damage to Palms, Mango trees, Avocados trees, Elm tree, & much more.
Teresa's Top Five: Rose Myths.
What to do for damage to Palms, Mango trees, Avocados trees, Elm tree, & much more.
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Episode Transcript
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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, Teresa Watkins. I'm
at a culturist, landscape designer, garden author. I love to
help people with their yards, their landscaping, all their gardening issues,
and even help the happy side of it that you love.
You want to be creative and do something spectacular in
(00:33):
your garden, I would love to help. Happy Valentine's Day
to everyone out there. Good morning, Lizzie, Happy Valentine's Day.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Thank you, and for my Valentine's to day, Teresa, get
me some little chick full in breakfast. I thank you
so much.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
You're welcome. You're welcome. Nothing's too good for you.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
I am so glad you're back. You sound like a
totally different person than last week.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Yeah, well, I have to tell you. I went home,
was there for about a half an hour forty five minutes,
and then had to go to the hospital. So I've
been in the hospital this week with the flu a
and it's really bad everyone. So you just got to
make sure it's going around. Do what they tell you
to do. I was able to get some tim and
flu right away though, and I've kind of knocked it down,
(01:16):
but I am much much better. So thank you to
everyone who asked and sent cards, and Tom, thank you
so much, and it's just wonderful. I wanted to send
a shout out to the Lake County Master Gardners. I
did a talk on Thursday for them on bromeliads and
they were very lovely and it was great to see
(01:38):
some of my dear friends from long ago Master Gardeners
and that they're still there. They're still volunteering and making
the program a success. So Jane and Marsha and Paula,
thank you so much for coming. Kathy, great to see you.
You and Jennifer and my traveling buddies Susan and Ray,
lots of great friends, So thank you so much for
having me out. Lizzy, this last couple of weeks has
(02:03):
been traumatizing. I don't want to focus on it too
much because I'm gonna let everybody know, Okay, go ahead
and cut your plants back.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
So Eileen told on me right because she called me
I think it was Saturday, to check on you.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
But then she's like, so.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
What do you know, Lizzy said, sh I said, Teresa
is one hundred percent right, we should not cut back,
but I can't hit a looking at this brow no more.
So I went through and I mowed everything down.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
So well, it's gonna be okay. It's just gonna take
a little while to recover. But I was up further
north and looking at landscapes and are tropicals, the hibiscus,
the Hawaiian ties, the cordlines, they you know, they're the
ones that got hit the most because they're tropical, and
anything north of Orlando with tropicals it's just gonna die.
(02:52):
It just is. And so the good news is that
they're not that expensive or you can just see if
they come back from the root system. But your plumerias
and different plants that got hit bad with the frost
that it kind of melted their insides. We'll talk about
that in just a minute. But mainly today I wanted
(03:13):
to be happy and upbeat. You want to go to
the today Hearts and Bloom the twenty seventh, I'm sorry,
the twenty ninth Annual Orchids Show. And it's uh today
and tomorrow nine am to five pm, and then tomorrow
it's eleven am to three pm. It's at the Orlando
Garden Club and it's that's on seven to ten East
(03:36):
Rawlin Street, free parking only three dollars. It's a great
date if you want to go and pick out some
orchids with your loved one and spoiler rotten and even
the guys. Guys can like orchids too as well, Yes,
and have different types of exotic plants. And so like
Dan McParland who was on last week, he loves orchids
(04:00):
and he loves growing roses and things like that. So
we're gonna be talking about that today. But head over
there and to be supportive. It's a great day to
be outside, lovely day. We are going to get some
rain today and tomorrow, possibly later on tonight. It'll be
this morning this morning, but Florida is back to normal.
(04:22):
I will tell you the ninety day forecast. The ninety
day forecast is above average temperatures for the ninety days,
no rain, no rain, and so this is just we're
in a severe drought. This drought is the longest we've
had since twenty twelve.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
I went by a few of what I assume was
probably a mini lake that got kind of turned into
or it was being started to being used as a
retention pond up in like Leesburg area, which I understand whatever,
And I saw probably about a three foot drop, like
I could see the roots of some of the oak
(05:02):
trees and stuff sticking out from where you know, the
water level is usually three foot higher. And I'm not
saying we're that that deficient, but what I'm saying, I've
never seen it like that. I mean I probably have,
but I was really.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
Yeah, no, we are. We are in a severe drought.
But here's here's the point. And when we're talking about
it and you're hearing it on the news, and yes
we're in a drought, that doesn't mean you need to
water more. You only need to be watering one time
a week, and so watering more now is just kind
of wasting it. Go ahead, let's wean everything off of
the high irrigation that we had over the summertime, uh,
(05:36):
and just water once a week like we're supposed to.
The temperatures for this month are gonna be a little
bit cooler. And when I say cooler, winter's over. Okay,
winter is over. We're not gonna have any more winter. Uh.
And but the temperatures are gonna be cooler than normal,
So sixties and low seventies and you know, fifties and
forties at night. Now that's lovely weather. It's cool.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
This is why people live in Flora. Yeah, we here
and then we get it around October November ish. Now,
what I did do this week is I did take
your advice from many years of listening to you. Is
with the watering, is that some of my stuff looked
a little sad, like some of my herbs. So I went,
I stuck my finger and the soil down to you know,
my first joint knuckle right, and it was still lightly
(06:22):
moist wet. I guess you would say it wasn't soaking wet.
But so I didn't water right, Okay.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
Yeah, you don't need to. And it's probably a little
bit more of the cold damage or because your patty
is not heated, is it?
Speaker 3 (06:33):
No?
Speaker 2 (06:33):
No, I lost I lost all my tomatoes, am I? Okay?
Speaker 1 (06:36):
I was so proud. So so a lot of it
is frost damage. And we're seeing that still, is that
there's still a lot of frost damage. So North Florida
high in the seventies and sunny. Next chance of rain
that's going to be next weekend. Central Florida sunny's and
highs in the seventies. Now Florida beautiful weather all this week.
If it's Saturday morning, you're listening to Better Lines and Gardens.
(06:57):
I'm Teresa Watkins from the Summit Responsible Solution Studios. This
is Florida's talk and entertainment network. Welcome back to Better
(07:21):
Lawns and Gardens. We're taking your phone calls one triple
eight four five five two nine sixty seven, or you
can text two three six eight zero and let me
know you're out there and that you're no longer traumatized.
We have winter here in Florida. Yes, Virginia, Florida does
have a winter and we get a little you know,
peak of it every ten to fifteen years.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
So well, we had we had a listener call and
she is in Century Florida. Do you know where that is?
Speaker 1 (07:50):
I do not know.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
Okay, looks like it's up around the panhandle Main Florida.
Is that Alabama line? Yes, yes, okay. She said that
this is the first I mean not the first time,
but this is the first real time that she's seen
the palm trees where not just the brown but like
the palm fronds, which is that what you call it?
The palm froms as I'm making my arm like I'm
(08:13):
a teahedtal in the studio, are totally brown falling off.
I mean they all look bad, like that whole area.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
They got wiped out.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
Are they going to come back?
Speaker 1 (08:24):
Possibly not? No, So how you need to check for
that is you need to go to the top of
the palm tree, so you might have to get on
the ladder or get your landscaper to look at it.
But that the the apical tip right there where the
spears the fronds emerge. You want to just pull on
that and see if it's still sturdy still, you know,
(08:47):
structurally okay, if you could pull that tip out, that
spear out, that's not a good thing. And so that
means the interior it really got damaged and it's got
a fungal issue. You do want to spray some liquid
copper fung site on it and hope for the best.
But we're going to lose a lot of palm trees
(09:07):
in this this year, so you just want to check
that out. But check your palm trees. We had a
couple of weeks ago. If you want to check back
on the podcast on iHeart you can see my palm
trees that grow all the way up to South Carolina,
North Carolina and can handle snow. So we do have
(09:28):
those kind of palm trees. But if you have a
tropical one like a pigmy date palm, phoenix for Blinia
queen palm, or a foxtail, they're goners. There you go.
So let's go to Ken in Tallahassee. Good morning, Ken.
How are you?
Speaker 3 (09:42):
Good morning? I'm just fine, Thank you?
Speaker 1 (09:44):
How can I help you?
Speaker 3 (09:46):
Well? I cut all my condy palms back this year, okay,
and I'm wondering about this coming year. I've got lots
of what do you call we and whatnot, and I'm
trying to take care of them. I'm up front now,
I'm gonna put out some pine straw. But I'm wondering
(10:07):
if I when I do that, do I need to
keep a hole for the coony palms or will I
poke themselves through the through the pine straw by themselves.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
So let's just say you're just putting down the correct amount,
so you want to have at least three to four inches.
When it finally compacts, they should pop through very easily,
not a problem. But if you're going to put like
eight to ten inches down. I would make room for
some so it can breathe a little bit and get
some sunshine.
Speaker 3 (10:35):
Okay dook, Okay, well that's what I needed to know.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
Thank you so much, Ken appreciate it. I love great question.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
I love that he used Oki Doki because I love
my thing is okay.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
I love okay Dookie too. So I have to tell you.
I used to work out at Michigan, which was an
elegant resort, and I was little. I was like sixteen
seventeen years old, and I answered the phone for the
dining room and I took the reservation and at the end,
I said, okidoki, and my the major d came over
and goes, Teresa Oki Joki. I go, what was I
(11:08):
supposed to say?
Speaker 2 (11:09):
You're so professional here exactly?
Speaker 1 (11:11):
So okidoki is fine with me. I love Oki Dookie.
So one triple A four, five, five, two, nine sixty seven,
or you can text two three, six eight zero. So, Lizzie,
there are three states in the United States that are
named for Valentine. So what are those states?
Speaker 2 (11:27):
Let's go with Arkansas, okay, Washington State, YEP, and South
Carolina right wrong?
Speaker 1 (11:35):
Okay, So Nebraska Texas and Virginia. Oh, so close, so close,
so close. Do you know how many cocoa beans it
takes to make a pound of chocolate? Let's go with five? Okay,
four hundred. What it's four hundred cocoa beans for five
(11:55):
that's according to the National Confectioners Association. So do you
know who sold chalk out of his print shop? Which
one of the founding fathers sold chocolate out of his
print shops?
Speaker 2 (12:08):
See, Benjamin Franklin was not one of the founding fathers,
right he was?
Speaker 4 (12:12):
He was?
Speaker 5 (12:12):
Ok?
Speaker 1 (12:13):
Yeah, Benjamin is right. Yes, Benjamin's right. And so we
have Saint Valentine's is the patron saint of Valentine's and
for lovers, And he's also the patron saint of epilepsy,
which he is supposed to have had suffered with the plague.
Greetings and travelers and young people and beekeepers. Oh, he's
a patron saint of beekeepers, as a role of protection
(12:36):
for the bees, both the health of the hives and
the quality of the honey produced. And so this patronage
comes with the broader symbolism of honey as a representation
of love and sweetness, which complements his role as a
Saint of lovers, But he is not. He is not
the one who started or that the Valentine's Day was
(12:59):
associated with love first. And so who first associated Saint
Valentine's Day with love and romance was Chaucer, and it
was in the fourteen hundreds of fourteenth century. Charles wrote
a poem called the Parliament of Fowls meaning birds, in
(13:20):
which they gathered on Saint Valentine's Day to select their mate.
And so we get Saint Valentine's and love associated from
Chaucer medieval history, not medieval literature, I mean, not the
saints or the patronage there. So I thought that was interesting.
(13:41):
How many roses are produced for Valentine's Day each day?
Each I'm sorry, I'm sorry. How many roses are produced
for Valentine's Day each year?
Speaker 2 (13:50):
Oh, I would say probably over a million.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
Yes, two hundred and fifty million. So for those of
you who say that growing roses is hard, it can't
be that hard, okay, if they can grow two hundred
and fifty million, all right, And let's see what holiday
produces more floral purchases, Valentine's Day or Mother's Day? Mother's
Day Valentine. What.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
Yes, yes, people, people don't like their moms as much
as they do their girlfriends.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
Exactly, exactly. German girls used to plant onions to predict
their Valentine. So in Germany, girls would plant onions in
a pot on Valentine's Day and place a boy's name
next to each onion bulb, and the first onion to
grow was supposed to reveal the boy they would marry.
Oh that's very interesting.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
You know what, Yeah, that's very interesting. I'll have to
have a brook go out and just pull random names
out and plant onion.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
So the top three colors of roses are purple, you
think so?
Speaker 2 (14:55):
I love purple.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
So I'm gonna say this again, Lizzie. So the top
three colors of roxes are what on Valentine's Day?
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Probably red?
Speaker 1 (15:06):
Yes, yes, ding ding ding, yellow nope?
Speaker 2 (15:08):
White, white, yes love white, and blue and pink.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
Where do you see a blue rose?
Speaker 6 (15:16):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (15:16):
My goodness, gracious, you're perpetuating that myth. A blue rose
is okay? So, and so phobia is the fear of flowers,
which is really unfortunate. If you have that in Valentine's
Day comes around, it must be really stressful. So one
triple A four five, five, two nine sixty seven, or
you can text two three six eight year you will be.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
So proud of me. Okay. So we had one of
the grand brats and his nickname is seven fifteen. Yes,
that's how much he weighed when he was born. So
that's the nickname I gave him. And he he looked
at me and he was like yeah.
Speaker 5 (15:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
He was like this Annie Bee, which is Brooke who
works here and fills in and desert media, does she
have a Valentine? And I'm like, no, I don't think
so as well. I want her to be my Valentine.
And I you know, do you want to just he
says do? He's can we get her something? And I said, yeah,
you've done some work out and you know, helped me
with the Turkey's. I got some mony puss side for you.
(16:10):
And he goes, well, let's get her some flowers. And
I just said, well, I said, you know what mister
Teresa says, and he says what I said. Look, there's
there's a beautiful, uh like splatter paint looking small like
many teeny rose bush that was sale for sale next
to the cut flowers. I said, those flowers are dead,
and then he goes, well, what about I think they
were the easter lilies. I said that those are dead too,
(16:33):
and he goes, wait, want I know, I don't think
that those grow after they do that one thing. So
I said, let's go with this rose.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
He's like, yeah, that's so pretty. Yeah, yeah, so I did.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
She said, don't give dead flowers. I mean, we can
get flowers, but we're not disparaging the floral No, no, yes,
please please still, you know, keep my five flowers.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
But I prefer as a gardener to have to get
live flowers. Tonys totally allowed to buy live flowers, so
that that's good. And roses are one of the plants
he's allowed to buy because I love them. So let's
real quick, go back over, real quick, what you need
to be doing in your landscape. Go and walk each
yard area. Look to see if you see any new
growth coming from your plants. There should be some by now,
(17:14):
so mostly the ornamental tropical plants can be thrown away.
If they're rotted, they're not going to come back, or
they're just going to look so bad for the next
year year and a half. Then it's kind of a
little bit more less expensive to get new ones and
start over again. So scuss cordeline, Hawaiian tied crotons did
not farewell. Plants that spread by rosa rhizomes could recover.
(17:37):
So your gingers, your helicotias, all your different ones that
spread by rosos I'm trying to think of that. I
had someone ask me about their big birds of paradises,
their giant white bird of paradises that they say the
tips are all burned, and they don't they're looking bad,
and what should they do. Well, here's the hard part.
(18:00):
Or bird of paradises, your travelers, palms, large heliconias, You're
going to have to make a decision whether you want
to cut them down to the ground or just tip
them off. But they're never really going to fully recover
those ones. They're only going to start to grow new
ones from the bottom. So you can wait till the
new ones have kind of come halfway up in between
(18:20):
and cut the damaged ones down, or you can cut
them all down to the ground. It's your choice. But
the ones that are damaged are not really ever going
to look good again. But if you cut them down
to the ground, I promise you that within a year
with fertilizing, with proper watering, they will look much better
than they do now. So you can go ahead and
do that. Agave's and succulents, your desert roses, your plumeria,
(18:44):
anything that has soft tissue ornamentals so that you can
take and cut off and they transplant real easy. Cut
off the burned portions. Okay, spray them with a funge
a sides so that they stop that fungus and just
cut off what's what's damage, what's wilted, what's melted inside.
(19:04):
So you want to do that. I have a specific
plant in your yard that you want to you're worried about.
You want to give me a call. You can give
us one triple eight four FI five two nine sixty
seven or texts two three six eight zero. I'm Teresa Watkins.
This is Better Lawns and Gardens on Florida's Talk and
Entertainment Network. Welcome back to Better Lawns and Gardens. I'm
(19:44):
Teresa Watkins. Do you know someone who has been traumatized
by the winter, doesn't know what lurla's it's been terrible
and and doesn't know what to do in their yard.
Let them know about Better Lawns and Gardens and they
can call in with their gardening questions. They can listen
on a weekly bas or listen to the podcast as
they're working in their garden. I would we would appreciate
(20:04):
that if you go to our Facebook page, Better Lawns
and Gardens and like it, that would be amazing. We
would love that. Start your new year off right. Let's
go to Eileen in Polk City.
Speaker 4 (20:15):
Good morning, Eileen, good morning.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
How are you happy? Valentine's Day?
Speaker 4 (20:20):
Be Valentine's Day to you?
Speaker 1 (20:22):
Also, thank you.
Speaker 4 (20:24):
What are you doing for Valentine's Day?
Speaker 1 (20:27):
We are actually going to go to the orchid show.
So yeah, so so Tony and I were going to
take our granddaughter to the orchid show and we're going
to let her select her own her very first orchid.
Speaker 4 (20:39):
Oh very nice.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (20:42):
Now do you grow orchids?
Speaker 1 (20:44):
I do? I do. I have lovely ones.
Speaker 4 (20:48):
Well, kudos to you.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
They're very easy to grow, Eileen.
Speaker 4 (20:53):
No, I would kill them. I would, and I'm going
to kill somebody else.
Speaker 5 (21:00):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
Oh, and not on Valentine's Day. Wait till tomorrow. Then
you can do without any kind of.
Speaker 4 (21:06):
It's going to happen today.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
Allegedly.
Speaker 4 (21:12):
Yeah, I noticed, and why I didn't notice this before?
But there's plastic on my.
Speaker 1 (21:27):
Yes, yes, okay, yes.
Speaker 4 (21:31):
Okay, I only see a little bit of green on
the side. Okay, So what do I do on the brown?
Speaker 1 (21:42):
Okay? So is the plastic covering it or is it
in plastic in the like in the basket?
Speaker 4 (21:49):
Well, it's so big, yes, on the ground.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
Oh okay, I would not worry about it. I'd remove
as much as the plastics as you can. Plastics not
good for plants, so I would remove it. It is
going to recover, and so it'll recover from the interior.
So as it starts to get bigger, you'll see some
of it. It may fall off. It just may become
like an overleaf, overlapping bract on it and so huge.
Speaker 4 (22:17):
Yeah, it's about five.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
Oh my goodness. Okay, it will recover. Yes, it's just
gonna go through a little stress.
Speaker 4 (22:25):
Okay, okay, So I can put him under a little
bit of stress.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
Yes you can, yes, okay, just a little bit.
Speaker 2 (22:33):
Yes, it's Valentine's nake.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
Come on there you go, Thank you, Han, take care.
Let's go to Jerry and Davenport. Good morning, Jerry, how
can I help you?
Speaker 3 (22:42):
Hey?
Speaker 5 (22:42):
Good morning there, quick question cha. Two items. First off,
I have about a fifteenth foot big tree. What's all
the leaves dead on it is? Can it come back
or is it done?
Speaker 1 (22:52):
No, it will definitely come back. They go dormant up north,
so they grow all the way up to zone five,
which is Pennsylvania, New York. Sois figs are very reliable,
so you know, but they'll be just fine.
Speaker 5 (23:07):
Okay, good. And the other thing is poombago? Is that
pretty much done?
Speaker 1 (23:12):
Lumbago? How big is it? Where was it?
Speaker 5 (23:15):
It's out in the front yard. It gets all afternoon,
actually probably gets eight to ten hours of sun a day.
And it's probably about three and a half four foot
tall in kind of oval, so it's probably about a
eight foot oval around up.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
Yeah, taken only a tree, it's gonna be fine. I
would just wait like another week, go over it, right,
you know, this weekend it's gonna be lovely weather to
be outside in the garden and see if you see
any new growth anywhere. If you see new growth, then
you can go ahead and I would cut it back
probably by six to eight inches and let it flush
out again. And then probably so some of that dead
(23:50):
partition won't come off. But then I would wait until Midsummer,
maybe even August, and then cut it back again and
then you'll be all flushed with new leaves for the fall.
Speaker 5 (24:00):
Okay, Hie, thank you very much.
Speaker 1 (24:02):
You're welcome. Thank you for listening to betterlines and gardens.
Great questions. Figs are really really reliable. Yes, so that
that is good, and so roses. Okay, So I have
to say that one of my favorite roses is the
Peggy Martin rose, which Gary Bachman, our friend, dear friend,
doctor Gary Bachman, brought us from Mississippi. Yes, and it
(24:24):
is the rose that survived the catastrophic impact of Hurricane Katrina.
It was discovered by Peggy Martin in her garden at
in Louisiana, and it has since become a symbol of
hope and resilience. The rose survived being inundated with water
for several weeks after the hurricane, outlasting four hundred and
(24:46):
fifty other roses in the garden. And that was salt
water that it was down below. It's now a staple
in southern gardens and beyond, and its popularity continues to
grow each year. It's Peggy Martin. It is just a
beautiful rose. It was Dan's harsh conditions, including saltwater flooding,
and it's just a wonderful, wonderful rose. And so Peggy
(25:09):
Martin is just a nice one. I have my favorite roses.
If today you would like to know my list of
favorite roses, my list of fragrant roses, and more rosecare information,
then go ahead and go to better Launs dot com
and send me an email and I will send you
my lists of great roses. I think they're very underutilized
(25:30):
in Florida roses and they should be used more. But
not every person likes roses, and they're not high maintenance.
I'm talking about low maintenance roses that you don't have
to cut to deadhead, that don't get disease and instinct issues,
and they flower year round. So we have there's a
lot of great choices out there. So Jan is from
(25:51):
Central Florida. She says, I haven't written in a while,
but I do listen to you every Saturday, and could
you could sorely use some of your sage advice with
this home. When I moved into the house in twenty eleven,
this tree was a stump maybe three to four feet tall,
and has obviously grown over the years and has looked healthy.
But a few months ago I realized the fronds were
(26:11):
browning more frequently than in the past, and this is
what it looks like after the freeze. I'm going to
have the fronds removed, but wondered, if anything, what else
I need to do to help it return to a
healing tree. She said, appreciate your help, and she sent
me three great pictures. Jannis did a great job, but
the photos are sad. The palm tree is sad, and
(26:32):
it does have a disease. It's got a rot, a
trunk rot called thea Viopsis trunk rot, and it's caused
by the fungus thelia of viopsis. And due to this disease,
the punk the palm truck often collapses on itself. So
if you go over driving by down the road and
you see a palm that's completely bent over, yeah, that's
(26:52):
the trunk rot. So that's happening all over the state
of Florida. There's really nothing you can do for it
except to try and keep your palms healthy. So how
do you try and keep your palms healthy? Is well, well,
we're gonna come back and we're gonna tell you how
to keep your palms healthy one triple eight four five
five two nine sixty seven, or you can text two
(27:13):
three six eight zero. If you'd like the newsletter, you
can go to my website she dash Consulting dot com
She dashed Consulting dot com and sign up for the newsletter.
It should be going out this weekend. I promise if
it's Saturday morning, you're listening to Better Lawns and Gardens.
I'm Teresa Watkins and this is Florida's Talk and Entertainment Network.
(27:45):
Welcome back up Better Lawns and Gardens. And now Theresa's
top five and my top five this week is my
top five rose myths. Things that are not true about roses.
Myth number one on roses need to be cut at
a forty five degree angle away from the bud eye.
This is thought to be because sap is going to
(28:07):
drip over the cut and stop it from growing. This
is false. Roses do not have sap. You can cut
above a butt eye and it doesn't matter if it's
flushed or at an angle. Just cut the roses. The
more roses are cut, the more they will bloom myth.
Number two roses should be cut above the first five
leaflet leaf false. This is not true. Just remove the
(28:29):
bloom at the base of the bud. Myth. Number three
Roses should be pruned in wintertime falts not here in
Florida or in the South. Just clean it up and
get rid of diseased and dead wood. Number four roses
have thorns. This is false. Roses have prickles. They don't
(28:51):
have thorns. Prickles sit on the top of a stem
and snap off easily. Thorns come from underneath the outer
cane layer and they may break or don't come off
at all. And number five EPs and salts should be
used on roses. Epsin salts are magnesium sulfate. This is
not necessarily false, but it's not necessarily true. Not EPs
(29:14):
and salts is not everything the plant needs. Fertilizing varies
depending on the season, location, and the size of the plants.
You want to use a product that provides a complete
micronutrients and slow released nitrogen, something like Bioadvanced All in
one rose and flower care granules or Aespoma rose tone
organic granules and plant food. Those are my top five
(29:38):
rose myths. There you go. Let's go to Craig in
belle Ile. Good morning, Craig. How can I help you?
Speaker 6 (29:45):
Hey, good morning, first time calling.
Speaker 5 (29:47):
I enjoy your show, thank you so much.
Speaker 6 (29:50):
I haven't listened all this morning, so maybe people have
already asked these questions. But I have two large mango trees,
two pretty large avocado trees, a lot of brown leaves
on them, but I think they're going to be okay.
The Broadden avocado has lots of flowers on it, and
I was pleasantly surprised to see those didn't look too damaged,
(30:11):
so I'm hoping okay.
Speaker 1 (30:14):
I think they're going to be fine. Brogden is really
a very cold, hardy avocado. You may drop some leaves,
but some leaves, some flowers, some leaves, but you should
get some avocados from it, so the mango and the
avocado will recover. How tall are.
Speaker 6 (30:28):
They They're about eighteen feet.
Speaker 1 (30:31):
Yeah, good size. There's one on my street that's about
twenty feet tall and it was beautiful before the freeze,
and it had literally thousands of blossoms on it, and
this week it looks brown and all the blossoms they're
going to drop. But you should get some so at
least they're not going to get damaged, so that'll be good.
You have another question.
Speaker 6 (30:51):
On the mangoes. The glen mango usually starts showing panicles
now signs of flowering coming on, so I'm not seeing
any of that. With all the brown leaves, there's really
no new growth.
Speaker 1 (31:02):
Or anything, right, I would go ahead and fertilize it
and see. We still have plenty of time to grow
some mangoes, so I would go ahead and see if
you get some new growth here in the next month
or so.
Speaker 6 (31:14):
Okay, I might have misunderstood, but I think last week
you mentioned right before the freeze that the the crotons
would be okay.
Speaker 1 (31:22):
No, I never I never said the crotons.
Speaker 6 (31:26):
Okay, I misunderstood, no croking.
Speaker 1 (31:28):
Well, what I was saying, well, they really got damage.
Crotons are very tropical, so they really should not be
grown anywhere north of Tampa Lake Okachobee. They're always going
to get hit by freezes. Okay, So those are very
very tropical zoned. I would even say zone eleven and
twelve now, because they are going to get hit. Depending
(31:49):
on how hard they get hit, though, they could recover.
So you got to look at your plan. Look at it.
See if you see any new buds coming off in
between the leaves that are droopy, and you can pull
the dead leaves off and see if it comes back,
and it might depending on where you are in Bell Island.
You've got a little microclimate there. But you should start
(32:11):
seeing new growth sometime in the next couple of weeks.
Speaker 6 (32:14):
Yeah, because I've got about twenty of them and they're
just beautiful.
Speaker 1 (32:17):
Hell, oh, they were beautiful.
Speaker 6 (32:20):
My ponytail palm. The top leaves or fronds are all white,
whiteish yellow, but other than that, it looks pretty good.
I'm wondering, how hardy If that thing's gonna that's.
Speaker 1 (32:30):
Gonna be just fine. You can go ahead and cut
those off if you want, but I would make sure
you don't cut off the trunk or the stem. I
would just cut the fronds off and it'll produce more.
Speaker 6 (32:41):
Okay. And the hibiscus, I got a big hibiscus bush
out front, totally looks dead.
Speaker 1 (32:46):
But I just wonder, well, just go ahead and scrape
the cambium. So start about you know, eye height, you know,
five feet tall. Start scraping that cambium and wherever it
is brown. That's dead, and you can go ahead and
cut that back, stop it till you find the green.
And if you find some green, then just cut it
from there and it'll flush back out beautiful.
Speaker 6 (33:07):
And lastly, I'm gonna ask about my ficus. I guess
it's okayan or a ficus tree. It's fifteen feet tall
and all the leaves are brown.
Speaker 1 (33:16):
Yeah, all the leaves are brown and the sky is gray.
So but the ficus should be just fine, not a problem.
It's gonna the bandit tree will recover.
Speaker 6 (33:26):
Oh beautiful. Well, thank you so much for sharing that.
Speaker 1 (33:28):
You're welcome.
Speaker 6 (33:28):
Great job. I love your show, Thank you so.
Speaker 1 (33:31):
Much, appreciate it. Have you Valentine's Day, Craig. That's wonderful.
And so if you have gardening questions, excuse me, I
do have a little cough still. Then you can give
me a call one triple eight four five five two
nine sixty seven, or you can text two three six
A zero. Let's go through these text messages real quick.
(33:51):
Let's see. Okay, let me I've got they're just piling
in here.
Speaker 2 (33:56):
That's good.
Speaker 1 (33:56):
Yeah, that's so. Mike and Laurie have a great time.
The Edison festival is going on in Fort Myers. The
flower plant sale is going on down in Fort Myers
State the Edison Estate. Have a great time, take some
wonderful photographs like you do, and send I would love
to see it. So if you're down there in Fort Myers,
make sure you check that out. Let's go to the
(34:22):
earth box, lady, Okay, I can cut my hibiscus. That's
all twigs. Yes, fertilize, yes, go ahead, And Linda and
Sonate b can westeria be grown successfully in a container?
And if so, what size? Linda? Anything can be grown
successfully in a container if you know how to bondz
eye and what you need to do to keep those
roots nice and healthy. What I would suggest, though, is
(34:45):
that you go for Queen's wreath. It's not as big
as wisteria looks. Just like it, very fragrant, getting towards
that hour end of the show, and it will be
that'll be a much better plant for you. Okay. Will
lilax grow outdoors in Florida? No, they won't grow indoors either, Brad.
(35:06):
I'm sorry to say that's we we just do not
have the ability to grow lilacs. And it's not the
the heat. It's actually more the humidity. Okay, the humidity
just wax them out. They just they just don't do
well here at all. Don't even try it, Teresa, we
have a lengthy hedge of dwarf extors that are home.
(35:27):
Excuse me.
Speaker 2 (35:30):
Also, if you're looking for two, a way to find us? Uh?
I know that one of our texts asked about Alex
about Alexis or Alexa?
Speaker 1 (35:38):
Yeah, how do they find out?
Speaker 2 (35:39):
Search w f l F. Uh. That's the easiest way
to find us on most because there's so many w
FLA's out there.
Speaker 1 (35:48):
Right, So ask Alexa for w lff no w f
l l F Yeah, there you go, all right, super duper.
And then so we have a lengthy hedge. A miniature
is at our home in winter Park. How do I
determine if they've survived or so come to the freeze.
They should survive. They may not look good right now,
So what I would suggest is don't cut anything back yet.
(36:10):
Look to see if you see any new growth, and
they should have leaves coming out already. It's been about
ten days now we should have some new growth. And
if you do, then go ahead and let it flush
out a little bit more and give it some fertilizer
to encourage it and give it some nutrition to get
it boosted, and then you can cut it back after
it first flowers, and then you know, rinse and repeat. Okay,
(36:34):
so that would be great. I should have said, dwarf exors,
that's fine. Hen and I knew what you meant. Our
five year old tippachina looks awful, but scraping some bark
there appears to be green beneath the surface. Yes, that's
what you're looking for. Will it come back? And if so,
what care should we give it? Just give it some
nice water. You can trim it back. I would clip
it diagonally. I'll talk a little bit more about pruning
(36:56):
in the next hour and you can it'll be it's
going to recover. That's good. That's good news. Let's see.
I got a couple more here. Let's see. I planted
a five foot winged elm tree around September here in Orlando.
(37:16):
I planted it too high. Is it too late to
dig it up and plant it lower? I don't know
what you mean by too high. Is it like five
to six inches too high? Or is it one to
two inches too high? We always want to plant higher
here in Florida. We want to plant one to two
inches above the level of the root system and uh
(37:37):
plant that above the ground and in that way, it's
going to be a little mound because with our sandy
soils over the next two to three years, it's going
to settle down and it's going to if you plant
it level with the ground, it's going to be too deep.
So we always plant a little bit above ground. So
you know, you can send a picture to me Better
(37:59):
Launs dot com and or email me Teresa dot Watkins
at live dot com and I can look at it
and I'll let you know if you need to dig
it up and plan it. But if it does need
to be replanted, it's a good time to do it.
Right now, we're going to get more of your text messages.
I'm going to talk about about roses and pruning in
the next hour. It is Valentine's Day. We're also celebrating
(38:19):
President's Day on Monday, so I'll give you some facts
about that. If it's Saturday morning, you're listening to Better
Lawns and Gardens from the Summit Responsible Solution Studios. I'm
Teresa Watkins, and this is Florida's talk and entertainment network.
Speaker 2 (38:33):
You can go back and recap any segment of any
show that you may have miss at better Lawns dot com.
That's better Lawns dot com two
Good morning from the summit Responsible Solution Studios. Welcome to
Better Lawns and Gardens. I'm your host, Teresa Watkins. I'm
at a culturist, landscape designer, garden author. I love to
help people with their yards, their landscaping, all their gardening issues,
and even help the happy side of it that you love.
You want to be creative and do something spectacular in
(00:33):
your garden, I would love to help. Happy Valentine's Day
to everyone out there. Good morning, Lizzie, Happy Valentine's Day.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Thank you, and for my Valentine's to day, Teresa, get
me some little chick full in breakfast. I thank you
so much.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
You're welcome. You're welcome. Nothing's too good for you.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
I am so glad you're back. You sound like a
totally different person than last week.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Yeah, well, I have to tell you. I went home,
was there for about a half an hour forty five minutes,
and then had to go to the hospital. So I've
been in the hospital this week with the flu a
and it's really bad everyone. So you just got to
make sure it's going around. Do what they tell you
to do. I was able to get some tim and
flu right away though, and I've kind of knocked it down,
(01:16):
but I am much much better. So thank you to
everyone who asked and sent cards, and Tom, thank you
so much, and it's just wonderful. I wanted to send
a shout out to the Lake County Master Gardners. I
did a talk on Thursday for them on bromeliads and
they were very lovely and it was great to see
(01:38):
some of my dear friends from long ago Master Gardeners
and that they're still there. They're still volunteering and making
the program a success. So Jane and Marsha and Paula,
thank you so much for coming. Kathy, great to see you.
You and Jennifer and my traveling buddies Susan and Ray,
lots of great friends, So thank you so much for
having me out. Lizzy, this last couple of weeks has
(02:03):
been traumatizing. I don't want to focus on it too
much because I'm gonna let everybody know, Okay, go ahead
and cut your plants back.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
So Eileen told on me right because she called me
I think it was Saturday, to check on you.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
But then she's like, so.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
What do you know, Lizzy said, sh I said, Teresa
is one hundred percent right, we should not cut back,
but I can't hit a looking at this brow no more.
So I went through and I mowed everything down.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
So well, it's gonna be okay. It's just gonna take
a little while to recover. But I was up further
north and looking at landscapes and are tropicals, the hibiscus,
the Hawaiian ties, the cordlines, they you know, they're the
ones that got hit the most because they're tropical, and
anything north of Orlando with tropicals it's just gonna die.
(02:52):
It just is. And so the good news is that
they're not that expensive or you can just see if
they come back from the root system. But your plumerias
and different plants that got hit bad with the frost
that it kind of melted their insides. We'll talk about
that in just a minute. But mainly today I wanted
(03:13):
to be happy and upbeat. You want to go to
the today Hearts and Bloom the twenty seventh, I'm sorry,
the twenty ninth Annual Orchids Show. And it's uh today
and tomorrow nine am to five pm, and then tomorrow
it's eleven am to three pm. It's at the Orlando
Garden Club and it's that's on seven to ten East
(03:36):
Rawlin Street, free parking only three dollars. It's a great
date if you want to go and pick out some
orchids with your loved one and spoiler rotten and even
the guys. Guys can like orchids too as well, Yes,
and have different types of exotic plants. And so like
Dan McParland who was on last week, he loves orchids
(04:00):
and he loves growing roses and things like that. So
we're gonna be talking about that today. But head over
there and to be supportive. It's a great day to
be outside, lovely day. We are going to get some
rain today and tomorrow, possibly later on tonight. It'll be
this morning this morning, but Florida is back to normal.
(04:22):
I will tell you the ninety day forecast. The ninety
day forecast is above average temperatures for the ninety days,
no rain, no rain, and so this is just we're
in a severe drought. This drought is the longest we've
had since twenty twelve.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
I went by a few of what I assume was
probably a mini lake that got kind of turned into
or it was being started to being used as a
retention pond up in like Leesburg area, which I understand whatever,
And I saw probably about a three foot drop, like
I could see the roots of some of the oak
(05:02):
trees and stuff sticking out from where you know, the
water level is usually three foot higher. And I'm not
saying we're that that deficient, but what I'm saying, I've
never seen it like that. I mean I probably have,
but I was really.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
Yeah, no, we are. We are in a severe drought.
But here's here's the point. And when we're talking about
it and you're hearing it on the news, and yes
we're in a drought, that doesn't mean you need to
water more. You only need to be watering one time
a week, and so watering more now is just kind
of wasting it. Go ahead, let's wean everything off of
the high irrigation that we had over the summertime, uh,
(05:36):
and just water once a week like we're supposed to.
The temperatures for this month are gonna be a little
bit cooler. And when I say cooler, winter's over. Okay,
winter is over. We're not gonna have any more winter. Uh.
And but the temperatures are gonna be cooler than normal,
So sixties and low seventies and you know, fifties and
forties at night. Now that's lovely weather. It's cool.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
This is why people live in Flora. Yeah, we here
and then we get it around October November ish. Now,
what I did do this week is I did take
your advice from many years of listening to you. Is
with the watering, is that some of my stuff looked
a little sad, like some of my herbs. So I went,
I stuck my finger and the soil down to you know,
my first joint knuckle right, and it was still lightly
(06:22):
moist wet. I guess you would say it wasn't soaking wet.
But so I didn't water right, Okay.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
Yeah, you don't need to. And it's probably a little
bit more of the cold damage or because your patty
is not heated, is it?
Speaker 3 (06:33):
No?
Speaker 2 (06:33):
No, I lost I lost all my tomatoes, am I? Okay?
Speaker 1 (06:36):
I was so proud. So so a lot of it
is frost damage. And we're seeing that still, is that
there's still a lot of frost damage. So North Florida
high in the seventies and sunny. Next chance of rain
that's going to be next weekend. Central Florida sunny's and
highs in the seventies. Now Florida beautiful weather all this week.
If it's Saturday morning, you're listening to Better Lines and Gardens.
(06:57):
I'm Teresa Watkins from the Summit Responsible Solution Studios. This
is Florida's talk and entertainment network. Welcome back to Better
(07:21):
Lawns and Gardens. We're taking your phone calls one triple
eight four five five two nine sixty seven, or you
can text two three six eight zero and let me
know you're out there and that you're no longer traumatized.
We have winter here in Florida. Yes, Virginia, Florida does
have a winter and we get a little you know,
peak of it every ten to fifteen years.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
So well, we had we had a listener call and
she is in Century Florida. Do you know where that is?
Speaker 1 (07:50):
I do not know.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
Okay, looks like it's up around the panhandle Main Florida.
Is that Alabama line? Yes, yes, okay. She said that
this is the first I mean not the first time,
but this is the first real time that she's seen
the palm trees where not just the brown but like
the palm fronds, which is that what you call it?
The palm froms as I'm making my arm like I'm
(08:13):
a teahedtal in the studio, are totally brown falling off.
I mean they all look bad, like that whole area.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
They got wiped out.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
Are they going to come back?
Speaker 1 (08:24):
Possibly not? No, So how you need to check for
that is you need to go to the top of
the palm tree, so you might have to get on
the ladder or get your landscaper to look at it.
But that the the apical tip right there where the
spears the fronds emerge. You want to just pull on
that and see if it's still sturdy still, you know,
(08:47):
structurally okay, if you could pull that tip out, that
spear out, that's not a good thing. And so that
means the interior it really got damaged and it's got
a fungal issue. You do want to spray some liquid
copper fung site on it and hope for the best.
But we're going to lose a lot of palm trees
(09:07):
in this this year, so you just want to check
that out. But check your palm trees. We had a
couple of weeks ago. If you want to check back
on the podcast on iHeart you can see my palm
trees that grow all the way up to South Carolina,
North Carolina and can handle snow. So we do have
(09:28):
those kind of palm trees. But if you have a
tropical one like a pigmy date palm, phoenix for Blinia
queen palm, or a foxtail, they're goners. There you go.
So let's go to Ken in Tallahassee. Good morning, Ken.
How are you?
Speaker 3 (09:42):
Good morning? I'm just fine, Thank you?
Speaker 1 (09:44):
How can I help you?
Speaker 3 (09:46):
Well? I cut all my condy palms back this year, okay,
and I'm wondering about this coming year. I've got lots
of what do you call we and whatnot, and I'm
trying to take care of them. I'm up front now,
I'm gonna put out some pine straw. But I'm wondering
(10:07):
if I when I do that, do I need to
keep a hole for the coony palms or will I
poke themselves through the through the pine straw by themselves.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
So let's just say you're just putting down the correct amount,
so you want to have at least three to four inches.
When it finally compacts, they should pop through very easily,
not a problem. But if you're going to put like
eight to ten inches down. I would make room for
some so it can breathe a little bit and get
some sunshine.
Speaker 3 (10:35):
Okay dook, Okay, well that's what I needed to know.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
Thank you so much, Ken appreciate it. I love great question.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
I love that he used Oki Doki because I love
my thing is okay.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
I love okay Dookie too. So I have to tell you.
I used to work out at Michigan, which was an
elegant resort, and I was little. I was like sixteen
seventeen years old, and I answered the phone for the
dining room and I took the reservation and at the end,
I said, okidoki, and my the major d came over
and goes, Teresa Oki Joki. I go, what was I
(11:08):
supposed to say?
Speaker 2 (11:09):
You're so professional here exactly?
Speaker 1 (11:11):
So okidoki is fine with me. I love Oki Dookie.
So one triple A four, five, five, two, nine sixty seven,
or you can text two three, six eight zero. So, Lizzie,
there are three states in the United States that are
named for Valentine. So what are those states?
Speaker 2 (11:27):
Let's go with Arkansas, okay, Washington State, YEP, and South
Carolina right wrong?
Speaker 1 (11:35):
Okay, So Nebraska Texas and Virginia. Oh, so close, so close,
so close. Do you know how many cocoa beans it
takes to make a pound of chocolate? Let's go with five? Okay,
four hundred. What it's four hundred cocoa beans for five
(11:55):
that's according to the National Confectioners Association. So do you
know who sold chalk out of his print shop? Which
one of the founding fathers sold chocolate out of his
print shops?
Speaker 2 (12:08):
See, Benjamin Franklin was not one of the founding fathers,
right he was?
Speaker 4 (12:12):
He was?
Speaker 5 (12:12):
Ok?
Speaker 1 (12:13):
Yeah, Benjamin is right. Yes, Benjamin's right. And so we
have Saint Valentine's is the patron saint of Valentine's and
for lovers, And he's also the patron saint of epilepsy,
which he is supposed to have had suffered with the plague.
Greetings and travelers and young people and beekeepers. Oh, he's
a patron saint of beekeepers, as a role of protection
(12:36):
for the bees, both the health of the hives and
the quality of the honey produced. And so this patronage
comes with the broader symbolism of honey as a representation
of love and sweetness, which complements his role as a
Saint of lovers, But he is not. He is not
the one who started or that the Valentine's Day was
(12:59):
associated with love first. And so who first associated Saint
Valentine's Day with love and romance was Chaucer, and it
was in the fourteen hundreds of fourteenth century. Charles wrote
a poem called the Parliament of Fowls meaning birds, in
(13:20):
which they gathered on Saint Valentine's Day to select their mate.
And so we get Saint Valentine's and love associated from
Chaucer medieval history, not medieval literature, I mean, not the
saints or the patronage there. So I thought that was interesting.
(13:41):
How many roses are produced for Valentine's Day each day?
Each I'm sorry, I'm sorry. How many roses are produced
for Valentine's Day each year?
Speaker 2 (13:50):
Oh, I would say probably over a million.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
Yes, two hundred and fifty million. So for those of
you who say that growing roses is hard, it can't
be that hard, okay, if they can grow two hundred
and fifty million, all right, And let's see what holiday
produces more floral purchases, Valentine's Day or Mother's Day? Mother's
Day Valentine. What.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
Yes, yes, people, people don't like their moms as much
as they do their girlfriends.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
Exactly, exactly. German girls used to plant onions to predict
their Valentine. So in Germany, girls would plant onions in
a pot on Valentine's Day and place a boy's name
next to each onion bulb, and the first onion to
grow was supposed to reveal the boy they would marry.
Oh that's very interesting.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
You know what, Yeah, that's very interesting. I'll have to
have a brook go out and just pull random names
out and plant onion.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
So the top three colors of roses are purple, you
think so?
Speaker 2 (14:55):
I love purple.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
So I'm gonna say this again, Lizzie. So the top
three colors of roxes are what on Valentine's Day?
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Probably red?
Speaker 1 (15:06):
Yes, yes, ding ding ding, yellow nope?
Speaker 2 (15:08):
White, white, yes love white, and blue and pink.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
Where do you see a blue rose?
Speaker 6 (15:16):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (15:16):
My goodness, gracious, you're perpetuating that myth. A blue rose
is okay? So, and so phobia is the fear of flowers,
which is really unfortunate. If you have that in Valentine's
Day comes around, it must be really stressful. So one
triple A four five, five, two nine sixty seven, or
you can text two three six eight year you will be.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
So proud of me. Okay. So we had one of
the grand brats and his nickname is seven fifteen. Yes,
that's how much he weighed when he was born. So
that's the nickname I gave him. And he he looked
at me and he was like yeah.
Speaker 5 (15:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
He was like this Annie Bee, which is Brooke who
works here and fills in and desert media, does she
have a Valentine? And I'm like, no, I don't think
so as well. I want her to be my Valentine.
And I you know, do you want to just he
says do? He's can we get her something? And I said, yeah,
you've done some work out and you know, helped me
with the Turkey's. I got some mony puss side for you.
(16:10):
And he goes, well, let's get her some flowers. And
I just said, well, I said, you know what mister
Teresa says, and he says what I said. Look, there's
there's a beautiful, uh like splatter paint looking small like
many teeny rose bush that was sale for sale next
to the cut flowers. I said, those flowers are dead,
and then he goes, well, what about I think they
were the easter lilies. I said that those are dead too,
(16:33):
and he goes, wait, want I know, I don't think
that those grow after they do that one thing. So
I said, let's go with this rose.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
He's like, yeah, that's so pretty. Yeah, yeah, so I did.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
She said, don't give dead flowers. I mean, we can
get flowers, but we're not disparaging the floral No, no, yes,
please please still, you know, keep my five flowers.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
But I prefer as a gardener to have to get
live flowers. Tonys totally allowed to buy live flowers, so
that that's good. And roses are one of the plants
he's allowed to buy because I love them. So let's
real quick, go back over, real quick, what you need
to be doing in your landscape. Go and walk each
yard area. Look to see if you see any new
growth coming from your plants. There should be some by now,
(17:14):
so mostly the ornamental tropical plants can be thrown away.
If they're rotted, they're not going to come back, or
they're just going to look so bad for the next
year year and a half. Then it's kind of a
little bit more less expensive to get new ones and
start over again. So scuss cordeline, Hawaiian tied crotons did
not farewell. Plants that spread by rosa rhizomes could recover.
(17:37):
So your gingers, your helicotias, all your different ones that
spread by rosos I'm trying to think of that. I
had someone ask me about their big birds of paradises,
their giant white bird of paradises that they say the
tips are all burned, and they don't they're looking bad,
and what should they do. Well, here's the hard part.
(18:00):
Or bird of paradises, your travelers, palms, large heliconias, You're
going to have to make a decision whether you want
to cut them down to the ground or just tip
them off. But they're never really going to fully recover
those ones. They're only going to start to grow new
ones from the bottom. So you can wait till the
new ones have kind of come halfway up in between
(18:20):
and cut the damaged ones down, or you can cut
them all down to the ground. It's your choice. But
the ones that are damaged are not really ever going
to look good again. But if you cut them down
to the ground, I promise you that within a year
with fertilizing, with proper watering, they will look much better
than they do now. So you can go ahead and
do that. Agave's and succulents, your desert roses, your plumeria,
(18:44):
anything that has soft tissue ornamentals so that you can
take and cut off and they transplant real easy. Cut
off the burned portions. Okay, spray them with a funge
a sides so that they stop that fungus and just
cut off what's what's damage, what's wilted, what's melted inside.
(19:04):
So you want to do that. I have a specific
plant in your yard that you want to you're worried about.
You want to give me a call. You can give
us one triple eight four FI five two nine sixty
seven or texts two three six eight zero. I'm Teresa Watkins.
This is Better Lawns and Gardens on Florida's Talk and
Entertainment Network. Welcome back to Better Lawns and Gardens. I'm
(19:44):
Teresa Watkins. Do you know someone who has been traumatized
by the winter, doesn't know what lurla's it's been terrible
and and doesn't know what to do in their yard.
Let them know about Better Lawns and Gardens and they
can call in with their gardening questions. They can listen
on a weekly bas or listen to the podcast as
they're working in their garden. I would we would appreciate
(20:04):
that if you go to our Facebook page, Better Lawns
and Gardens and like it, that would be amazing. We
would love that. Start your new year off right. Let's
go to Eileen in Polk City.
Speaker 4 (20:15):
Good morning, Eileen, good morning.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
How are you happy? Valentine's Day?
Speaker 4 (20:20):
Be Valentine's Day to you?
Speaker 1 (20:22):
Also, thank you.
Speaker 4 (20:24):
What are you doing for Valentine's Day?
Speaker 1 (20:27):
We are actually going to go to the orchid show.
So yeah, so so Tony and I were going to
take our granddaughter to the orchid show and we're going
to let her select her own her very first orchid.
Speaker 4 (20:39):
Oh very nice.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (20:42):
Now do you grow orchids?
Speaker 1 (20:44):
I do? I do. I have lovely ones.
Speaker 4 (20:48):
Well, kudos to you.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
They're very easy to grow, Eileen.
Speaker 4 (20:53):
No, I would kill them. I would, and I'm going
to kill somebody else.
Speaker 5 (21:00):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
Oh, and not on Valentine's Day. Wait till tomorrow. Then
you can do without any kind of.
Speaker 4 (21:06):
It's going to happen today.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
Allegedly.
Speaker 4 (21:12):
Yeah, I noticed, and why I didn't notice this before?
But there's plastic on my.
Speaker 1 (21:27):
Yes, yes, okay, yes.
Speaker 4 (21:31):
Okay, I only see a little bit of green on
the side. Okay, So what do I do on the brown?
Speaker 1 (21:42):
Okay? So is the plastic covering it or is it
in plastic in the like in the basket?
Speaker 4 (21:49):
Well, it's so big, yes, on the ground.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
Oh okay, I would not worry about it. I'd remove
as much as the plastics as you can. Plastics not
good for plants, so I would remove it. It is
going to recover, and so it'll recover from the interior.
So as it starts to get bigger, you'll see some
of it. It may fall off. It just may become
like an overleaf, overlapping bract on it and so huge.
Speaker 4 (22:17):
Yeah, it's about five.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
Oh my goodness. Okay, it will recover. Yes, it's just
gonna go through a little stress.
Speaker 4 (22:25):
Okay, okay, So I can put him under a little
bit of stress.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
Yes you can, yes, okay, just a little bit.
Speaker 2 (22:33):
Yes, it's Valentine's nake.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
Come on there you go, Thank you, Han, take care.
Let's go to Jerry and Davenport. Good morning, Jerry, how
can I help you?
Speaker 3 (22:42):
Hey?
Speaker 5 (22:42):
Good morning there, quick question cha. Two items. First off,
I have about a fifteenth foot big tree. What's all
the leaves dead on it is? Can it come back
or is it done?
Speaker 1 (22:52):
No, it will definitely come back. They go dormant up north,
so they grow all the way up to zone five,
which is Pennsylvania, New York. Sois figs are very reliable,
so you know, but they'll be just fine.
Speaker 5 (23:07):
Okay, good. And the other thing is poombago? Is that
pretty much done?
Speaker 1 (23:12):
Lumbago? How big is it? Where was it?
Speaker 5 (23:15):
It's out in the front yard. It gets all afternoon,
actually probably gets eight to ten hours of sun a day.
And it's probably about three and a half four foot
tall in kind of oval, so it's probably about a
eight foot oval around up.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
Yeah, taken only a tree, it's gonna be fine. I
would just wait like another week, go over it, right,
you know, this weekend it's gonna be lovely weather to
be outside in the garden and see if you see
any new growth anywhere. If you see new growth, then
you can go ahead and I would cut it back
probably by six to eight inches and let it flush
out again. And then probably so some of that dead
(23:50):
partition won't come off. But then I would wait until Midsummer,
maybe even August, and then cut it back again and
then you'll be all flushed with new leaves for the fall.
Speaker 5 (24:00):
Okay, Hie, thank you very much.
Speaker 1 (24:02):
You're welcome. Thank you for listening to betterlines and gardens.
Great questions. Figs are really really reliable. Yes, so that
that is good, and so roses. Okay, So I have
to say that one of my favorite roses is the
Peggy Martin rose, which Gary Bachman, our friend, dear friend,
doctor Gary Bachman, brought us from Mississippi. Yes, and it
(24:24):
is the rose that survived the catastrophic impact of Hurricane Katrina.
It was discovered by Peggy Martin in her garden at
in Louisiana, and it has since become a symbol of
hope and resilience. The rose survived being inundated with water
for several weeks after the hurricane, outlasting four hundred and
(24:46):
fifty other roses in the garden. And that was salt
water that it was down below. It's now a staple
in southern gardens and beyond, and its popularity continues to
grow each year. It's Peggy Martin. It is just a
beautiful rose. It was Dan's harsh conditions, including saltwater flooding,
and it's just a wonderful, wonderful rose. And so Peggy
(25:09):
Martin is just a nice one. I have my favorite roses.
If today you would like to know my list of
favorite roses, my list of fragrant roses, and more rosecare information,
then go ahead and go to better Launs dot com
and send me an email and I will send you
my lists of great roses. I think they're very underutilized
(25:30):
in Florida roses and they should be used more. But
not every person likes roses, and they're not high maintenance.
I'm talking about low maintenance roses that you don't have
to cut to deadhead, that don't get disease and instinct issues,
and they flower year round. So we have there's a
lot of great choices out there. So Jan is from
(25:51):
Central Florida. She says, I haven't written in a while,
but I do listen to you every Saturday, and could
you could sorely use some of your sage advice with
this home. When I moved into the house in twenty eleven,
this tree was a stump maybe three to four feet tall,
and has obviously grown over the years and has looked healthy.
But a few months ago I realized the fronds were
(26:11):
browning more frequently than in the past, and this is
what it looks like after the freeze. I'm going to
have the fronds removed, but wondered, if anything, what else
I need to do to help it return to a
healing tree. She said, appreciate your help, and she sent
me three great pictures. Jannis did a great job, but
the photos are sad. The palm tree is sad, and
(26:32):
it does have a disease. It's got a rot, a
trunk rot called thea Viopsis trunk rot, and it's caused
by the fungus thelia of viopsis. And due to this disease,
the punk the palm truck often collapses on itself. So
if you go over driving by down the road and
you see a palm that's completely bent over, yeah, that's
(26:52):
the trunk rot. So that's happening all over the state
of Florida. There's really nothing you can do for it
except to try and keep your palms healthy. So how
do you try and keep your palms healthy? Is well, well,
we're gonna come back and we're gonna tell you how
to keep your palms healthy one triple eight four five
five two nine sixty seven, or you can text two
(27:13):
three six eight zero. If you'd like the newsletter, you
can go to my website she dash Consulting dot com
She dashed Consulting dot com and sign up for the newsletter.
It should be going out this weekend. I promise if
it's Saturday morning, you're listening to Better Lawns and Gardens.
I'm Teresa Watkins and this is Florida's Talk and Entertainment Network.
(27:45):
Welcome back up Better Lawns and Gardens. And now Theresa's
top five and my top five this week is my
top five rose myths. Things that are not true about roses.
Myth number one on roses need to be cut at
a forty five degree angle away from the bud eye.
This is thought to be because sap is going to
(28:07):
drip over the cut and stop it from growing. This
is false. Roses do not have sap. You can cut
above a butt eye and it doesn't matter if it's
flushed or at an angle. Just cut the roses. The
more roses are cut, the more they will bloom myth.
Number two roses should be cut above the first five
leaflet leaf false. This is not true. Just remove the
(28:29):
bloom at the base of the bud. Myth. Number three
Roses should be pruned in wintertime falts not here in
Florida or in the South. Just clean it up and
get rid of diseased and dead wood. Number four roses
have thorns. This is false. Roses have prickles. They don't
(28:51):
have thorns. Prickles sit on the top of a stem
and snap off easily. Thorns come from underneath the outer
cane layer and they may break or don't come off
at all. And number five EPs and salts should be
used on roses. Epsin salts are magnesium sulfate. This is
not necessarily false, but it's not necessarily true. Not EPs
(29:14):
and salts is not everything the plant needs. Fertilizing varies
depending on the season, location, and the size of the plants.
You want to use a product that provides a complete
micronutrients and slow released nitrogen, something like Bioadvanced All in
one rose and flower care granules or Aespoma rose tone
organic granules and plant food. Those are my top five
(29:38):
rose myths. There you go. Let's go to Craig in
belle Ile. Good morning, Craig. How can I help you?
Speaker 6 (29:45):
Hey, good morning, first time calling.
Speaker 5 (29:47):
I enjoy your show, thank you so much.
Speaker 6 (29:50):
I haven't listened all this morning, so maybe people have
already asked these questions. But I have two large mango trees,
two pretty large avocado trees, a lot of brown leaves
on them, but I think they're going to be okay.
The Broadden avocado has lots of flowers on it, and
I was pleasantly surprised to see those didn't look too damaged,
(30:11):
so I'm hoping okay.
Speaker 1 (30:14):
I think they're going to be fine. Brogden is really
a very cold, hardy avocado. You may drop some leaves,
but some leaves, some flowers, some leaves, but you should
get some avocados from it, so the mango and the
avocado will recover. How tall are.
Speaker 6 (30:28):
They They're about eighteen feet.
Speaker 1 (30:31):
Yeah, good size. There's one on my street that's about
twenty feet tall and it was beautiful before the freeze,
and it had literally thousands of blossoms on it, and
this week it looks brown and all the blossoms they're
going to drop. But you should get some so at
least they're not going to get damaged, so that'll be good.
You have another question.
Speaker 6 (30:51):
On the mangoes. The glen mango usually starts showing panicles
now signs of flowering coming on, so I'm not seeing
any of that. With all the brown leaves, there's really
no new growth.
Speaker 1 (31:02):
Or anything, right, I would go ahead and fertilize it
and see. We still have plenty of time to grow
some mangoes, so I would go ahead and see if
you get some new growth here in the next month
or so.
Speaker 6 (31:14):
Okay, I might have misunderstood, but I think last week
you mentioned right before the freeze that the the crotons
would be okay.
Speaker 1 (31:22):
No, I never I never said the crotons.
Speaker 6 (31:26):
Okay, I misunderstood, no croking.
Speaker 1 (31:28):
Well, what I was saying, well, they really got damage.
Crotons are very tropical, so they really should not be
grown anywhere north of Tampa Lake Okachobee. They're always going
to get hit by freezes. Okay, So those are very
very tropical zoned. I would even say zone eleven and
twelve now, because they are going to get hit. Depending
(31:49):
on how hard they get hit, though, they could recover.
So you got to look at your plan. Look at it.
See if you see any new buds coming off in
between the leaves that are droopy, and you can pull
the dead leaves off and see if it comes back,
and it might depending on where you are in Bell Island.
You've got a little microclimate there. But you should start
(32:11):
seeing new growth sometime in the next couple of weeks.
Speaker 6 (32:14):
Yeah, because I've got about twenty of them and they're
just beautiful.
Speaker 1 (32:17):
Hell, oh, they were beautiful.
Speaker 6 (32:20):
My ponytail palm. The top leaves or fronds are all white,
whiteish yellow, but other than that, it looks pretty good.
I'm wondering, how hardy If that thing's gonna that's.
Speaker 1 (32:30):
Gonna be just fine. You can go ahead and cut
those off if you want, but I would make sure
you don't cut off the trunk or the stem. I
would just cut the fronds off and it'll produce more.
Speaker 6 (32:41):
Okay. And the hibiscus, I got a big hibiscus bush
out front, totally looks dead.
Speaker 1 (32:46):
But I just wonder, well, just go ahead and scrape
the cambium. So start about you know, eye height, you know,
five feet tall. Start scraping that cambium and wherever it
is brown. That's dead, and you can go ahead and
cut that back, stop it till you find the green.
And if you find some green, then just cut it
from there and it'll flush back out beautiful.
Speaker 6 (33:07):
And lastly, I'm gonna ask about my ficus. I guess
it's okayan or a ficus tree. It's fifteen feet tall
and all the leaves are brown.
Speaker 1 (33:16):
Yeah, all the leaves are brown and the sky is gray.
So but the ficus should be just fine, not a problem.
It's gonna the bandit tree will recover.
Speaker 6 (33:26):
Oh beautiful. Well, thank you so much for sharing that.
Speaker 1 (33:28):
You're welcome.
Speaker 6 (33:28):
Great job. I love your show, Thank you so.
Speaker 1 (33:31):
Much, appreciate it. Have you Valentine's Day, Craig. That's wonderful.
And so if you have gardening questions, excuse me, I
do have a little cough still. Then you can give
me a call one triple eight four five five two
nine sixty seven, or you can text two three six
A zero. Let's go through these text messages real quick.
(33:51):
Let's see. Okay, let me I've got they're just piling
in here.
Speaker 2 (33:56):
That's good.
Speaker 1 (33:56):
Yeah, that's so. Mike and Laurie have a great time.
The Edison festival is going on in Fort Myers. The
flower plant sale is going on down in Fort Myers
State the Edison Estate. Have a great time, take some
wonderful photographs like you do, and send I would love
to see it. So if you're down there in Fort Myers,
make sure you check that out. Let's go to the
(34:22):
earth box, lady, Okay, I can cut my hibiscus. That's
all twigs. Yes, fertilize, yes, go ahead, And Linda and
Sonate b can westeria be grown successfully in a container?
And if so, what size? Linda? Anything can be grown
successfully in a container if you know how to bondz
eye and what you need to do to keep those
roots nice and healthy. What I would suggest, though, is
(34:45):
that you go for Queen's wreath. It's not as big
as wisteria looks. Just like it, very fragrant, getting towards
that hour end of the show, and it will be
that'll be a much better plant for you. Okay. Will
lilax grow outdoors in Florida? No, they won't grow indoors either, Brad.
(35:06):
I'm sorry to say that's we we just do not
have the ability to grow lilacs. And it's not the
the heat. It's actually more the humidity. Okay, the humidity
just wax them out. They just they just don't do
well here at all. Don't even try it, Teresa, we
have a lengthy hedge of dwarf extors that are home.
(35:27):
Excuse me.
Speaker 2 (35:30):
Also, if you're looking for two, a way to find us? Uh?
I know that one of our texts asked about Alex
about Alexis or Alexa?
Speaker 1 (35:38):
Yeah, how do they find out?
Speaker 2 (35:39):
Search w f l F. Uh. That's the easiest way
to find us on most because there's so many w
FLA's out there.
Speaker 1 (35:48):
Right, So ask Alexa for w lff no w f
l l F Yeah, there you go, all right, super duper.
And then so we have a lengthy hedge. A miniature
is at our home in winter Park. How do I
determine if they've survived or so come to the freeze.
They should survive. They may not look good right now,
So what I would suggest is don't cut anything back yet.
(36:10):
Look to see if you see any new growth, and
they should have leaves coming out already. It's been about
ten days now we should have some new growth. And
if you do, then go ahead and let it flush
out a little bit more and give it some fertilizer
to encourage it and give it some nutrition to get
it boosted, and then you can cut it back after
it first flowers, and then you know, rinse and repeat. Okay,
(36:34):
so that would be great. I should have said, dwarf exors,
that's fine. Hen and I knew what you meant. Our
five year old tippachina looks awful, but scraping some bark
there appears to be green beneath the surface. Yes, that's
what you're looking for. Will it come back? And if so,
what care should we give it? Just give it some
nice water. You can trim it back. I would clip
it diagonally. I'll talk a little bit more about pruning
(36:56):
in the next hour and you can it'll be it's
going to recover. That's good. That's good news. Let's see.
I got a couple more here. Let's see. I planted
a five foot winged elm tree around September here in Orlando.
(37:16):
I planted it too high. Is it too late to
dig it up and plant it lower? I don't know
what you mean by too high. Is it like five
to six inches too high? Or is it one to
two inches too high? We always want to plant higher
here in Florida. We want to plant one to two
inches above the level of the root system and uh
(37:37):
plant that above the ground and in that way, it's
going to be a little mound because with our sandy
soils over the next two to three years, it's going
to settle down and it's going to if you plant
it level with the ground, it's going to be too deep.
So we always plant a little bit above ground. So
you know, you can send a picture to me Better
(37:59):
Launs dot com and or email me Teresa dot Watkins
at live dot com and I can look at it
and I'll let you know if you need to dig
it up and plan it. But if it does need
to be replanted, it's a good time to do it.
Right now, we're going to get more of your text messages.
I'm going to talk about about roses and pruning in
the next hour. It is Valentine's Day. We're also celebrating
(38:19):
President's Day on Monday, so I'll give you some facts
about that. If it's Saturday morning, you're listening to Better
Lawns and Gardens from the Summit Responsible Solution Studios. I'm
Teresa Watkins, and this is Florida's talk and entertainment network.
Speaker 2 (38:33):
You can go back and recap any segment of any
show that you may have miss at better Lawns dot com.
That's better Lawns dot com two
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