April 4, 2026 • 39 mins
Garden expert and Better Lawns and Gardens host , Teresa Watkins marks Spring and Easter by sharing advice on caring for and growing Easter Lilies in Florida. She also reveals her Top Five flowers that the Easter Bunny will not eat, what to plant in your landscape during April, and answers garden questions and texts.
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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, and
we want to wish Lizzie and I want to wish
you a happy passover and a happy Easter weekend. Good morning, Lizzie.
How are you? I'm doing good? How are you? I
am good? It is a happy Easter. We are going
(00:32):
to get some rain, but it's going to hold off
tomorrow morning. We'll be able to go through Sunrise services
and Easter egg hunts, and the rain will start Sunday
afternoon and go into the week. All across Florida. There'll
be at least three to five days of rain every day.
Oh okay, so I'm really excited. It's between thirty and
(00:55):
eighty percent rain every day all next week through next weekend.
So we desperately need it. So I'm really really glad
about that. I want to thank everyone who came out
to the Florida Wildflower and Garden Festival last weekend. We
had beautiful weather, lots of people attended, and great native
and tropical plants and seeds were purchased. A plant in
(01:15):
Florida Landscapes. It was a great turnout. I want to
give a big shout out to Carol Marcia and Jim,
Brenda and Marty who listened to the show, and two
gentlemen who came who made a big, big impact on
me after my Florida pollinators gone wild. Talk. But Carol
Marcia and Jim and Brenda and Marty all listened to
(01:37):
the show and they came out to hear me talk.
So I really do appreciate that. I enjoyed meeting each
of you. It was wonderful. Thank you for coming out.
Big thank you to Data Vendrick, Quality Green Specialist and
main Street the Land Association and they it's always a
wonderful festival. Yes, lots of great plants. So Tony and
(01:59):
I this week went to the International Flower and Garden
Festival at Epcot at Disney World and the colorful flowers
were stunning, Butterflies everywhere, and the topiaries were very creative.
I love when they add new ones and some of
them what is the Elkintata? What is the Mexican you
(02:25):
South American Disney movie? Anyway, I think Elkintata. I'll look
at that up. But anyway, they had topiaries of all
the different Disney movies. And do you know what I heard?
Would you hear? Six out of seven Disney dwarfs are
not happy? Oh? Is that because only one is named happy? Oh?
(02:49):
Six out of seven dwarves are not happy? That's true.
I never thought about that. I never thought of it
that way either. I thought that was extremely funny. And
so they used a lot more succulents in the Topiari's
in the Flower Power art And the International Flower and
Garden Festival at Disney goes on through June first, twenty
twenty six. So if you are going, or if you
(03:11):
would like to go, it's a great, great opportunity to
see beautiful tropical plants. And they did have some damage
in the wintertime with that freeze, but it just looked fabulous.
So this is a week we've been praying for. We
have lots of rainy weather North Florida, Tallahassee, Pensacola, Gainesville.
(03:31):
You have rain yesterday in some parts of North Florida.
You're gonna have rain today and then tomorrow through Monday.
Temperatures are lovely in the mid seventies and mid sixties
at night, So enjoy the rain. We desperate, Like I said,
desperately need it. We're in very, very drought conditions and
(03:51):
it's not good. Central Florida, Popca, O Cala, Orlando, Tampa.
You have a chance of rain every day. Ormond Beach, Melbow,
Fort Saint Lucy, and the rest of the East Coast.
You have rain this weekend, possibly every day until next weekend.
No need for irrigation. Let's ease up on the irrigation.
(04:12):
South Florida, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Key West rain, rain, rain
every day, we need it. Attempts in the low eighties
and seventies and sixties at night. So I'm gonna tell
you it's gonna be a great gardening day, gardening week.
If you want to plant, this is the week to
plant because that rain will saturate the ground. You won't
(04:32):
have to water as much, and it's just good. It's
good conditions for planting in Also, too, there is emails
going out from landscape pest control companies that are sending
out warnings about Zoyja and Saint Augustine thatch and that
(04:53):
they are saying that you have to de thatch your
lawn and it's an expensive process. It's it's three to
four hundred dollars for just a small lawn to de
thatch it. And you do not have thatch if your
landscape is younger than one to three years that you're
not overwatering, you're not overfertilizing, you're maintaining your lawn correctly.
(05:18):
But you can look at your grass and see if
you have thatch, because thatches a really thick layers of
dead plant material, dead grass blades that you can see
that there's going to be three to four inches sometimes
even five to six inches of dead material underneath the grass,
(05:39):
and that is thatch. But it comes from overwatering and overfertilizing.
And so, but the lawns with that need thatching are
usually older lawns three, five, seven, ten, fifteen year old
lawns need de thatching. And so please please get a
(06:00):
second opinion. Send me photographs of it. I'll send you
what that actually looks like if you have a question.
But if you can see the ground, you can see
dirt with your zoija just coming out of winter time,
so it hasn't really fully recovered yet, so it still
may be brown in some areas, but it's green and
it really isn't thick. It's you see some bear areas.
(06:21):
You do not have to that your lawn. So but
it's but it's an email going around today. It's all
about you and your gardening questions. So you can give
us a call at one triple eight four five five
two nine sixty seven, text me two three six eight zero.
We would love to hear from you. It's a happy
Easter weekend from the Summit Responsible Solution Studios. If it's
(06:46):
Saturday morning, you're listening to Better Lawns and Gardens, I'm
Teresa Watkins and this is Florida's talk and Entertainment Network
Laura and ormand good morning, welcome back to Better Lawns
(07:14):
and Garden. Today is all about you and your gardening questions.
You can give me a call at one triple eight
four five five two nine sixty seven, or you can
text at two three six eight zero. So this month
is National Gardening Month, and it's a wonderful time to
work that green thumb of yours. You can start a
(07:35):
small garden. You can do a container garden, plant a tree,
adopt a house plant, add a piece of art to
your garden and that will be wonderful. It is good
exercise getting you out in the air. The April in
your Backyard newsletter is out. If you'd like to receive
it free each month, you can go to my website
(07:56):
sheet Dashconsulting dot com and sign up for it. That's
h e hyphen or dash hyphen Consulting dot com. And
I don't spam and I don't sell your email and
so it's very safe and and it tells you what
to do each month in your email box. And that
will be great also too. Uh if you let's see,
(08:22):
I am gonna be talking about that. We're gonna be
talking about easter lilies, how to grow easter lilies this morning,
and also uh later on in the second hour, we're
going to be talking about global world heartiness zones and uh,
just lots of great information for you to do. So
(08:46):
let's see. Laura and Ormand by the Siege. She sent
an email to me, thank you for listening to the show.
I did respond. I hope your landscape will recover. I
know it's very traumatic, especially for new people. Also too,
I want to let you know that you can hear
me today and on podcast on The Garden DC podcast
(09:09):
out of Washington, d C. This week, Kathy Gents editor
and publisher of Washington Garden Magazine. She's the author of
Groundcover Revolution, co author of The Urban Garden one hundred
and one Ways to Grow Food and Beauty in the City.
She's been on the show many times. She's been on
the show for water gardening and for you know, gardening
(09:34):
with indoor plants, and on her books, interviewing for her books.
And she had me on the show to discuss my
love of visiting public gardens and touring and traveling gardens.
And so I'll be posting links on Facebook and Instagram
and LinkedIn and so on better launch dot com. You
(09:55):
can see all that too as well. Plus get what
to do this Month in your Garden that is also
linked up. Let's go to Eileen in Polk City. Good morning, Eileen.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
Happy Easter, Honey, Happy Easter, Theresa.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
How are you?
Speaker 2 (10:10):
Did you hear me?
Speaker 1 (10:12):
Yess?
Speaker 2 (10:14):
Are wishing you a happy Easter? Oh?
Speaker 1 (10:16):
That's so nice that yeah, I will tell you. I
was going I was going to the land and going
to their little boat ride that they have through the
land at Epcot, and we came up upon this pastoral
scene of the farm and and and the cows and
the pigs, and the roosters and Eileen, you just popped
(10:38):
up in my mind and I said, those are roosters.
We're at Eileen's house.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
Awesome for me, laurenies please Okay, So what's going on
with your lot? Well, it's very pretty. I mean, oh
that's good. Multitude of weeds and just everything. But when
(11:06):
Bob mos it, it looks like regular grass.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
It's green.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
That's right, that's right. So and as far as an
irrigation system, the irrigation system, yes.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
Well that's good. You're I mean, you're very conservative and
environmentally friendly, and that's good for April.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
Yeah. So, and I owe you some pictures. Oh my
windmill with the chickens or the rooster, I haven't done that.
And I owe you some pictures some of my bird feeds.
Haven't done that.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
Well. I think you've got a lot on your plate.
So but just whenever you say, whenever you send them,
I will be happy to look at them. I can't wait.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
So no, hurry, no hurry, Well, thank you, I appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
And and so what are you doing for Easter? Nothing
good for you.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
She's going to eat. She's going to absolutely eat something probably.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
Yes, And Bob, yes, Bobby, okay or anything. All right, Well,
enjoy the weekend and we're going to get some rain,
and so you'll be glad to see that.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
You know, we had rain three days ago and I
mean it came down in buckets.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
That's great, that's great. We had a couple of rain events,
but it didn't seem like it was that much. And
we need so much more.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
So yeah, we do too, but it came down like
you would not believe.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
Oh well that's good, that's what. And your grass and
your weeds will start growing. Then. Thank you so much, Eileen.
Take care. And so if you have a gardening question
or comment for about Easter or your yard, your garden,
I would love to hear it one trip eight four
five five two nine sixty seven, or you can text
(13:04):
me at two three six two three six zero seven.
And what can you be planting? Vegetables calabasa and cantalope,
cassavas and chayote, cherry and everglades, tomatoes, cucumbers. We saw
some beautiful cucumbers at the land pavilion, dasheen and egg plant,
(13:27):
Jerusalem artichokes and yakamas and lima beans, malabar spinach, Malanga,
New Zealand, spinach and okra, peppers and roselle some of them. Pumpkins,
snap beans and squash, Southern peas and sweet potatoes. You
can just start planting those quarters of sweet potatoes their
eyes and put them in the ground. Tamorellos and yams
(13:51):
and yard long beans. So we can plant a lot
of vegetables that will take the heat of the summertime
and do well, especially vining plants. Those yard long beans
and peas you can Southern peas you can put in
the ground right now.
Speaker 3 (14:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
And so flowers, lots of beautiful flowers. I will tell
you the combinations at Disney were just just gorgeous. And
lots of the topiaries. Do you like Topieri's.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
Sure, it's very Everything is very it's very talent. It
is I appealing. I guess I don't know what the
proper verbs would have been there.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
See things made out of plants. It's just gorgeous in
their life size. So I like that. So lots of
great plants, African daisies, adgeratums, and asters. But copa is
one you may not be familiar with. It's a small
white plant. It can be grown in hanging baskets, or
it's an annual that can be grown in the ground.
(14:51):
It's white. We'll add dimension to your borders. Balsam and
Begonia's black eyed Susan's of beautiful black eyed Susans. This
week blue days and bush daisies. Cat whiskers. You know,
cat whiskers are a pass along plant that our grandmothers
used to grow. And their white and their pinkish color
(15:15):
a little bit towards the lavender side, and they really
do look like large cat whiskers. Silosia and kleiomes and
coleuses and coreopsis are state wildflower. And so driving up
to a calo this week, I drive a lot and
on the highways and the turnpikes, and I will tell you, Lizzie,
the turnpike was closed down yesterday. I four was closed
(15:39):
down near Stanford. It was really accidents city. So got
to be safe out there when you're driving long distances,
especially this weekend on holiday weekends. But the wildflowers have
started to bloom alongside the highway and by the fences
and on the farms, and that pink flocks is us
(16:00):
just striking. It's gorgeousness. It makes you happy. Yes, and
when you see it, but do you know that it's
not the Florida flocks. It is actually the Texas variety
Texas native of flocks. It was accidentally planted some fifteen
to twenty years ago. Oh and it just keeps coming back.
(16:21):
But it's gorgeous, it's beautiful. The butterflies love it. Carssandra
and Daubert daisies and Diecia Gazanias and Guyardias Gazanias and
Guayartias can really take the heat full sun. But they're
in warm, warm, bright Mexican Fiesta colors. That burgundy red
(16:41):
and the bright yellows is. They're just really gorgeous. Gerber daisies.
Saw plenty of those this week at Epcot Golden Rods
and Impatience Joseph Coates and lantana and I had someone
ask me if the lantana that is sold is the
invasive variety, And no, it is not the one that
(17:01):
we see. We've seen for decades in the citrus groves
and out in the woods. That La Lantana is very
aggressive and invasive. But the one that is sold in
the nurseries now are sterile varieties. They do not they
do not spread by seed, and so they grow very
(17:23):
well here. Butterflies love them and they come in such beautiful,
beautiful colors. I love the red, love the red and
yellow variety, and I love the purple variety. It's just
it's just really a beautiful groundcover container plant. It just
looks really great. So then also too licorice plants, which
(17:45):
are beautiful. They smell like licorice, and they hang down.
They are a perfect plant for your fillers and thrillers
and spillers. So your spillers are your plants that hang
over your container gardens, and liquorice plants make a lovely
choice for that. Losianzas and marigolds, melan podiums and Mexican sunflowers.
(18:08):
Gorgeous colors. Million bells. Million bells are also called calibricas.
See a lot of those and commercial properties and at Epcot,
and they do lovely in your landscape. They are a
smaller version. They look smaller than the regular petunias, but
they can take the heat. Petunias here only grow in
(18:29):
the wintertime and the first portion of spring because then
it gets too hot and it doesn't do well. But
the calibri coas look like petunias, but then they will
take the heat of the summertime and last quite a
long time. Moonflowers in the coschana, which is flowering, tobacco
pentas a must in every butterfly garden, pentas, periwinkles and
(18:52):
porter weed, portulaca and purslane, salvius, whether it's blue salvias,
purple salvias, black and blue salvia is white salvias and
red we have a native tropical sage salvia that is
just gorgeous. Some flowers turinias and zenia's and so those
(19:12):
are just some of the beautiful flowers that you can grow.
If you go into the nursery, make sure that you
know what your site conditions are, what kind of sunlight
you have, what kind of soil moisture do you have.
Are you on a lake front or are you on
a dry sandy hill in Cleremont? And then also too,
what is your pH Knowing those three things, you can
(19:33):
buy plants anywhere. Make sure that those conditions are on
the label. 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.
Speaker 4 (19:49):
Cravits, Good morning, welcome back to Better Lawns and Gardens.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
Want to shout out to our sponsors and give them
a happy Easter. To Summit Responsible Solutions Studios have their
Stickney and then Dana Quality Green Specialists also to Black
Cow Manure, Peterson's Nursery. Howie and Karen, thank you so much.
Happy Easter. So that is wonderful. So growing Easter lilies,
(20:25):
they're wonderful. Every time I see an Easter lily or
a picture of one, I think of Easter. It just
disassociated with it, and it's a beautiful flower. It will
grow year after year up north. But here in Florida,
we grow them in containers and we can even put
them in the ground for one year and they will
come back again. Mine have, but then after that the
(20:48):
humidity and the rain usually cause it to rotten. It
doesn't do it. So you don't need to discard them
this year. If you bought new Florida lilies. I'm not
Florida Easter lilies, but they can be planted and you
can take them out and put them in your garden.
They need parts sun to full sun. They grow to
two to three feet tall and one to two feet wide.
(21:10):
They come in. The flower is white, pinkish and a
little bit of yellow, and it takes about thirty five
days if you plant the bulbs to go from bud
to bloom. So if you plant the bulbs a few
months for them to grow, once it starts to bud,
it will take thirty five days for it to blooms.
You got to hang in there. Have you seen the
(21:31):
ammerilla's blooming?
Speaker 3 (21:33):
Yes, I have the a starlight one that you gave me,
gorgeous and it is beautiful.
Speaker 1 (21:41):
It is gorgeous and so so you want to plant
bulbs in the fall, give it enough time for growing
through the winter time. The rule of thumb is to
bury them about twice the depth of the bulb to
keep the plant firmly in the ground. Again full sunlight,
and you can put them in the back of your
border with shorter perennials in the front. Soil and water.
(22:04):
It needs to be having well drained soil with lots
of organic matter, so you want to water early in
the days. You want to make sure that the leaves
dry out before nighttime so that they are susceptible to
powdery mildew. So you want to keep them dry, so
water them in the morning. They have time to dry
all day and then they will be dry at night.
(22:25):
They do not like hot humid locations like us, so
again they'll last for a year or so, but then
they will then go ahead and start to run fertilizer
when the buds begin to form. You want to fertilize
in early spring. You can use a five to ten
five fertilizer analysis, and that means five percent nitrogen. That's
(22:47):
the numbers on the bag. The first number would be five,
the middle number, which is phosphorus, would be ten, and
the third number is five percent, which would be potassium.
And that gives it just enough that it's telling it
to concentrate on growing flowers. Aphids are a particular type
(23:08):
of pests that's found on easter lilies, but also you
can get spider mites and scale and thrips. You want
to make sure that they're not growing in damn conditions
and that they have good air circulation. Air circulation is
so important no matter what you're planting, even close to
the house, you want to keep your plants and shrubs
and trees two feet away from your house so that
(23:29):
it has good air circulation and the biggest problem with
plants in general is overwatering. So just a caveat two.
According to the FDA, all parts of an easter lily
are toxic to cats, not to dogs, not to people,
but to cats. They cause kidney failure that requires vet care.
(23:53):
So even the pollen, if it gets on your cat's
fur and they lick it can be toxic to them.
You want to keep your your cats out of the
easter lily bed and then you can deadhead them. You
want to deadhead after the blooms are spent, and you
want to encourage new growth, so go ahead and do that,
(24:15):
and then deer doesn't eat easter lilies. Really yeah, so
that's really good. So whether you plant them in a
container or in your garden, they are beautiful and the
good sign of eastern lilies planting my Gladiola's this week.
I'm gonna plant some every week up through probably June
(24:35):
and July, and then that way i'll have Gladiola's blooming.
So I'm looking forward.
Speaker 3 (24:39):
To doing that.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
Exciting. Yeah, to me, they're a springtime plant. And I
will tell you Epcot had delphiniums like you would not believe,
and it's so nice to see because we're not used
to growing delphiniums here, but they did plant them and
they're doing well and they'll harvest them soon as well.
One triple eight four five five, two nine sixty seven,
(25:03):
or you can text two three six eight zero. I
know a lot of you are on the road traveling.
You want to be safe on the highways and get
to your destination with everyone in tech, so please be
careful out there on the road. Doctor Neil Sperry is
out of Texas. He's a Texas Aggie long term Great
(25:24):
Garden Communicator Award winning. He's got generations. He's a nurseryman
and a broadcaster. He has a great podcast that's on
every day over there, and he has some really great trivia.
So Easter lilies that are native to the reiqu Islands
(25:44):
of Japan, also Okinawa and Taiwan. They are a subtropical
maritime climate, so the islands are good for them with
mild winters and warm but not too hot summers. They
love rocky and well draining soils, and the prime area
for producing lily bulbs commercially in the United States is
(26:07):
a sliver of land on the cool and foggy Pacific
Coast in northern California and southern Aragon, Oregon, and it
takes growers almost three years from the time small bulbs
are started in their fields and the bulbs are large
enough for digging and shipping. So Easter lilies again don't
handle the Florida climate too well. But you can set
(26:28):
your plant in a shady garden area. As soon as
it finishes blooming, leave its stem and leaves intact. You
can go ahead and cut the bloom off when it dies,
but then it will rebloom the next year. Fertilize it
with some good soil fertilizer five ten five will work well.
(26:51):
And then if you ever get lily pollen, have you
ever gotten pollen on your clothes? Yes, it's very hard
to get off. You can't get it off. So Neil's
tip is an old florists trick, which they would know
because ideal it was haulling all the time. Is that
you simply lay your garment out in the sun for
three to four hours and it will dry off and
(27:14):
magically disappear. It will flake off by itself. Oh, so
you just lay it out in the sun that's interesting,
isn't it.
Speaker 3 (27:21):
I never knew that learned something new.
Speaker 1 (27:22):
And yeah, so if you see my clothes laying out
in the front yard in the sun, it wasn't a
drunken night. It wasn't a drunken night.
Speaker 4 (27:28):
No.
Speaker 1 (27:29):
Please know, if it's Saturday morning, you're listening to Better
Lawns and Gardens, I will be back with my top
five plants that rabbits the Easter buddy will not eat.
You're listening to Better Lawns and Gardens. I'm Teresa Watkins
and this is Florida's talk and Entertainment network.
Speaker 5 (27:48):
Oh day, welcome back up Better Lawns and Gardens. And
now Teresa's top five.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
And my top five flowers that the Easter Bunny Won't
eat is number five Annis Hissop. It's a hardy North
American native plant that boasts spikes of velvet violet blue
flowers from midsummer into fall. The flowers in foliage have
a sweet aniscent, which inspires its name. Hummingbirds and butterflies
(28:26):
love it. It takes full sun, hardy in zones four
to ten depending on the variety. Number four b balm.
Hummingbirds love it rabbits do not. It's one of the
best nectar plants for pollinators. This easy growing plant produces
lots of pink, red, violet, and white flowers from summer
to early fall. The flowers are long lasting. It grows
(28:50):
in zone four to nine in full sun and moist,
well drained soil. Number three day lilies one of the
heartiest garden plants. Day lilies bloom in a rainbow of
shades and colors and take all but the most challenging conditions.
This low maintenance plant can be divided to create more
individual plants. It grows in full sun or shade. Grows
(29:11):
two to six feet tall, depending on the variety. Zones
three to ten and one of the most ornamental herbs,
lavender produces wonderful, fragrant foliage and flowers. Rabbits do not
like it. The blooms appear in shades of violet and
white and can be preserved as a dried flower. The
phenomenal lavender from proven winters will grow in Florida very well.
(29:35):
You want to put it in well drained, alkaline soil
that at least easily allows water to pass through it.
Zones five through nine and the last plant My top
five plants that the Easter Buddy won't eat is Lantana
zones nine to eleven. Most often grown as an annual
up north. It takes full sun, comes in a variety
(29:55):
of colors, spreads two I mean sorry, spreads three to
ten feet wide two to six feet tall. Smaller when
grown as an annual, And why rabbits avoid it is
Lantana contains toxic compounds that don't hurt anything but rabbits.
It can cause a gastril intensital upset. The leaves have
(30:15):
a rough texture with a pungent scent that repels rabbits. Now, Lizzie,
if you do have trouble with rabbits, what I recommend
is the Messina's Animal Stopper animal repellent ready to use
spray Messina's Animal Stopper. It's very effective to deter rabbits, groundhogs,
(30:36):
and other common herbivores from low level foraging. It contains
no blood, bone or meat meal, instead using plants plant
extracts to deter animals, giving it a pleasant smell. It's
effective for thirty days regardless of weather and watering, and
contains all natural ingredients. So that's Messina's animal stopper and
(30:58):
I've used it. I recommend it too my clients. And
also they have a deer repellent to as well that
works very well and so but at lasts thirty days,
so you got to remember to put it back on.
So we have text messages from from Tony. Let's you know,
Tom and Lake Nona. He says, I tell people to
(31:22):
not my lat is not full of winter weeds. Instead,
they're his Florida wildflowers, and he calls them biodiversity networks
that works wildflowers and weeds. You know, it's just a
flower in the wrong place. And then Mike and Laurie
are heading up to Maine.
Speaker 3 (31:40):
What part of Maine?
Speaker 1 (31:42):
I don't know, Mike, what part of Maine are you
going to? And that's where they're from. Originally they have
traveled with us on the Art and Bloom Garden tours.
They love the Buffalo Garden Tour, which is in July
and is an amazing life changing experience for gardeners. And
hopefully you can come. We have just a few spots
(32:03):
left on it. So like Mike and Laurie, enjoy your
trip to Maine. I wish I could go with them.
Speaker 3 (32:08):
Oh, yes, yes, I'll be and I'll be there in
August like always.
Speaker 1 (32:11):
Have you been to the Main Coastal Botanical Garden? Maybe? Maybe? Okay?
It is considered one of the best public gardens in
the United States, So the Main Coastal Botanical Garden. It
is on my bouquet list, which is gardener talk for
bucket list. Bouquet list. You have to say it like
(32:33):
this bouquet. You can sign up for the free app
on iHeartRadio to hear our show anytime Better Lawns and Gardens,
or you can go to our Facebook page. I upload
the show there too as well. It's free of charge
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know when a new show is uploaded.
Speaker 3 (32:52):
Yes, and I have been there because it's there my
Booth Bay, and we go even though our family that
we visit is up there in a China, Maine and
Waterville area, but we all my I had like an
aunt uncle who actually had a house on Booth Bay itself,
so we would go to that one. So yes, when
I was younger.
Speaker 1 (33:10):
So yeah, it's it's gorgeous. They have hundreds and hundreds
of acres you can walk through yes, and the flowers
are just beautiful. So it is on my list. So
if you go up and go take photos and I
would love to see that, we got to put it
on our Art and bloom Garden tour.
Speaker 3 (33:24):
You might join you.
Speaker 1 (33:25):
Yeah, there you go, would be that would be wonderful.
So if you'd like to go on any of our tours,
we are going to the Newport Flower Show, have a
couple of spaces left available for that. It is a
great tour. Think of the Gilded Age down in the
Abbey American style, and we go to some wonderful, fabulous
palatial homes. We're going to Martha's Vineyard, which is always exciting.
(33:50):
And then also we're going to Boston to one of
the most famous art and cultural museums in the world,
the Isabella's Stu Gardner Museum, which is the site of
the world's largest art heist back in the nineteen nineties,
and so it's just incredible to see. So we're gonna
(34:14):
have a great time. So if you'd like to go,
we'd love for you to join us. You can go
to Art in bloomgardentours dot com. And so what we're
going let me get right back here. And yes, here
we go. I want to make sure that here it is.
I'm sorry, I'm just going through my paperwork. Here herbs,
(34:37):
herbs that you can be planting right now. You can
be planting annus and basil and bay laurel borage. My
bay Laurel died. It was a big tree. I had
a big Laurel bay Laurel tree.
Speaker 2 (34:48):
You died.
Speaker 1 (34:49):
Boridge and cardiman, chize and coriander, dill and boridge, edible ginger.
What can you do with your ginger? You can eat
it if if it gets too aggressive, you could eat it.
Lemon balm or regino Mexican terragon and mint. Put the
mint in containers or regano rosemary. I have a huge
(35:09):
rosemary bush. I love it. Sage and savory, sweet marjoram
and thyme and herbs do very well as we get
into the summertime. If you have them in containers, you
can move them towards the shade. They will last a
little bit better in the shade. Or you can even
plant them in the shade. Bulbs. We're talking about easter lilies,
but you can also be planting asiatic lilies, achimis and
(35:34):
African irises. African irises did very well this winter. Not
a single one was damaged at all. Nice agapanzas and amaryllis,
Amazon lilies and BlackBerry lilies, which are lovely. BlackBerry lilies
are orange with raspberry freckles, and I'm kind of partial
to freckles meat, so I love BlackBerry lilies, blood lilies
(35:58):
and bulbines and kalladiums. The kladiums have not started to
come up yet. We are going to be having Clay
Wallace on with from the classic kalladium nursery grower down
in Avon Park, and I can't wait to talk to him.
And there is a wonderful festival coming up that if
you love cladiums you'll want to go. If you collect kladiums,
(36:21):
you'll want to go to cannas and crinum lilies and dahlias,
also to euchris lilies and gingers, gladiolas, gloriosa lily and
society garlic, tuberos, pogonias and rain lilies. One of the
best bulbs to plant rain lilies. They look like crocuses
(36:43):
if you're partial, if you're from up north and you're
partial to crocuses, rain lilies come in oranges and pinks
and whites and yellows. They look just like crocuses, no
pest problems. You can naturalize them. They look amazing and
uh they do very very well here. And if you'd
(37:04):
like to see a lot of the beautiful rain lilies,
you can go to one of my favorite online nurseries
and they're up in North Carolina. Tony avent Uh and
his wife Anita have a beautiful, beautiful nursery up there,
plant Delights Nursery dot com. Plant Delights dot com. You
(37:26):
can go to the nursery and purchase plants, but their
online catalog you can get it's always extremely funny. Yes,
and you can go to that. I would like to
say we want to wish everybody a happy passover and Easter, Lizzie.
We want them to travel safe as well. We're gonna
come back and we're going to talk about the dirty
(37:46):
word of the day, which is relevant to today, and
we're going to be taking your gardening questions one triple
eight four five five two nine sixty seven, or you
can text two three six eight zero. If you'd like
to get my newsletter in your backyard newsletter, you can
go to my website she s h E Dash Consulting
(38:08):
dot com and sign up for it there. It is
free and very easy to do and you will get
the next one. If you want to ask a question,
you can go to better Lawns dot com and you
can ask questions and I will get the email and
answer you. If you'd like to send photographs, you can
email me direct Teresa dot Watkins at live dot com.
(38:33):
So we're going to be back with more of in
Better LANs and Gardens from the Summit Responsible Solutions Studios.
If it's Saturday morning, you're listening to Better Lands and Gardens,
I'm Teresa Watkins and this is Florida's talk and entertainment network.
Speaker 3 (38:49):
If you miss any of the show, you want to
play recaps of any other shows, you to better Lawns
dot com. That is better Lawns dot com.
Speaker 1 (39:27):
It is the most powerful
Good morning from the Summit Responsible Solution Studios. Welcome to
Better Lawns and Gardens. I'm your host, Teresa Watkins, and
we want to wish Lizzie and I want to wish
you a happy passover and a happy Easter weekend. Good morning, Lizzie.
How are you? I'm doing good? How are you? I
am good? It is a happy Easter. We are going
(00:32):
to get some rain, but it's going to hold off
tomorrow morning. We'll be able to go through Sunrise services
and Easter egg hunts, and the rain will start Sunday
afternoon and go into the week. All across Florida. There'll
be at least three to five days of rain every day.
Oh okay, so I'm really excited. It's between thirty and
(00:55):
eighty percent rain every day all next week through next weekend.
So we desperately need it. So I'm really really glad
about that. I want to thank everyone who came out
to the Florida Wildflower and Garden Festival last weekend. We
had beautiful weather, lots of people attended, and great native
and tropical plants and seeds were purchased. A plant in
(01:15):
Florida Landscapes. It was a great turnout. I want to
give a big shout out to Carol Marcia and Jim,
Brenda and Marty who listened to the show, and two
gentlemen who came who made a big, big impact on
me after my Florida pollinators gone wild. Talk. But Carol
Marcia and Jim and Brenda and Marty all listened to
(01:37):
the show and they came out to hear me talk.
So I really do appreciate that. I enjoyed meeting each
of you. It was wonderful. Thank you for coming out.
Big thank you to Data Vendrick, Quality Green Specialist and
main Street the Land Association and they it's always a
wonderful festival. Yes, lots of great plants. So Tony and
(01:59):
I this week went to the International Flower and Garden
Festival at Epcot at Disney World and the colorful flowers
were stunning, Butterflies everywhere, and the topiaries were very creative.
I love when they add new ones and some of
them what is the Elkintata? What is the Mexican you
(02:25):
South American Disney movie? Anyway, I think Elkintata. I'll look
at that up. But anyway, they had topiaries of all
the different Disney movies. And do you know what I heard?
Would you hear? Six out of seven Disney dwarfs are
not happy? Oh? Is that because only one is named happy? Oh?
(02:49):
Six out of seven dwarves are not happy? That's true.
I never thought about that. I never thought of it
that way either. I thought that was extremely funny. And
so they used a lot more succulents in the Topiari's
in the Flower Power art And the International Flower and
Garden Festival at Disney goes on through June first, twenty
twenty six. So if you are going, or if you
(03:11):
would like to go, it's a great, great opportunity to
see beautiful tropical plants. And they did have some damage
in the wintertime with that freeze, but it just looked fabulous.
So this is a week we've been praying for. We
have lots of rainy weather North Florida, Tallahassee, Pensacola, Gainesville.
(03:31):
You have rain yesterday in some parts of North Florida.
You're gonna have rain today and then tomorrow through Monday.
Temperatures are lovely in the mid seventies and mid sixties
at night, So enjoy the rain. We desperate, Like I said,
desperately need it. We're in very, very drought conditions and
(03:51):
it's not good. Central Florida, Popca, O Cala, Orlando, Tampa.
You have a chance of rain every day. Ormond Beach, Melbow,
Fort Saint Lucy, and the rest of the East Coast.
You have rain this weekend, possibly every day until next weekend.
No need for irrigation. Let's ease up on the irrigation.
(04:12):
South Florida, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Key West rain, rain, rain
every day, we need it. Attempts in the low eighties
and seventies and sixties at night. So I'm gonna tell
you it's gonna be a great gardening day, gardening week.
If you want to plant, this is the week to
plant because that rain will saturate the ground. You won't
(04:32):
have to water as much, and it's just good. It's
good conditions for planting in Also, too, there is emails
going out from landscape pest control companies that are sending
out warnings about Zoyja and Saint Augustine thatch and that
(04:53):
they are saying that you have to de thatch your
lawn and it's an expensive process. It's it's three to
four hundred dollars for just a small lawn to de
thatch it. And you do not have thatch if your
landscape is younger than one to three years that you're
not overwatering, you're not overfertilizing, you're maintaining your lawn correctly.
(05:18):
But you can look at your grass and see if
you have thatch, because thatches a really thick layers of
dead plant material, dead grass blades that you can see
that there's going to be three to four inches sometimes
even five to six inches of dead material underneath the grass,
(05:39):
and that is thatch. But it comes from overwatering and overfertilizing.
And so, but the lawns with that need thatching are
usually older lawns three, five, seven, ten, fifteen year old
lawns need de thatching. And so please please get a
(06:00):
second opinion. Send me photographs of it. I'll send you
what that actually looks like if you have a question.
But if you can see the ground, you can see
dirt with your zoija just coming out of winter time,
so it hasn't really fully recovered yet, so it still
may be brown in some areas, but it's green and
it really isn't thick. It's you see some bear areas.
(06:21):
You do not have to that your lawn. So but
it's but it's an email going around today. It's all
about you and your gardening questions. So you can give
us a call at one triple eight four five five
two nine sixty seven, text me two three six eight zero.
We would love to hear from you. It's a happy
Easter weekend from the Summit Responsible Solution Studios. If it's
(06:46):
Saturday morning, you're listening to Better Lawns and Gardens, I'm
Teresa Watkins and this is Florida's talk and Entertainment Network
Laura and ormand good morning, welcome back to Better Lawns
(07:14):
and Garden. Today is all about you and your gardening questions.
You can give me a call at one triple eight
four five five two nine sixty seven, or you can
text at two three six eight zero. So this month
is National Gardening Month, and it's a wonderful time to
work that green thumb of yours. You can start a
(07:35):
small garden. You can do a container garden, plant a tree,
adopt a house plant, add a piece of art to
your garden and that will be wonderful. It is good
exercise getting you out in the air. The April in
your Backyard newsletter is out. If you'd like to receive
it free each month, you can go to my website
(07:56):
sheet Dashconsulting dot com and sign up for it. That's
h e hyphen or dash hyphen Consulting dot com. And
I don't spam and I don't sell your email and
so it's very safe and and it tells you what
to do each month in your email box. And that
will be great also too. Uh if you let's see,
(08:22):
I am gonna be talking about that. We're gonna be
talking about easter lilies, how to grow easter lilies this morning,
and also uh later on in the second hour, we're
going to be talking about global world heartiness zones and uh,
just lots of great information for you to do. So
(08:46):
let's see. Laura and Ormand by the Siege. She sent
an email to me, thank you for listening to the show.
I did respond. I hope your landscape will recover. I
know it's very traumatic, especially for new people. Also too,
I want to let you know that you can hear
me today and on podcast on The Garden DC podcast
(09:09):
out of Washington, d C. This week, Kathy Gents editor
and publisher of Washington Garden Magazine. She's the author of
Groundcover Revolution, co author of The Urban Garden one hundred
and one Ways to Grow Food and Beauty in the City.
She's been on the show many times. She's been on
the show for water gardening and for you know, gardening
(09:34):
with indoor plants, and on her books, interviewing for her books.
And she had me on the show to discuss my
love of visiting public gardens and touring and traveling gardens.
And so I'll be posting links on Facebook and Instagram
and LinkedIn and so on better launch dot com. You
(09:55):
can see all that too as well. Plus get what
to do this Month in your Garden that is also
linked up. Let's go to Eileen in Polk City. Good morning, Eileen.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
Happy Easter, Honey, Happy Easter, Theresa.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
How are you?
Speaker 2 (10:10):
Did you hear me?
Speaker 1 (10:12):
Yess?
Speaker 2 (10:14):
Are wishing you a happy Easter? Oh?
Speaker 1 (10:16):
That's so nice that yeah, I will tell you. I
was going I was going to the land and going
to their little boat ride that they have through the
land at Epcot, and we came up upon this pastoral
scene of the farm and and and the cows and
the pigs, and the roosters and Eileen, you just popped
(10:38):
up in my mind and I said, those are roosters.
We're at Eileen's house.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
Awesome for me, laurenies please Okay, So what's going on
with your lot? Well, it's very pretty. I mean, oh
that's good. Multitude of weeds and just everything. But when
(11:06):
Bob mos it, it looks like regular grass.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
It's green.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
That's right, that's right. So and as far as an
irrigation system, the irrigation system, yes.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
Well that's good. You're I mean, you're very conservative and
environmentally friendly, and that's good for April.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
Yeah. So, and I owe you some pictures. Oh my
windmill with the chickens or the rooster, I haven't done that.
And I owe you some pictures some of my bird feeds.
Haven't done that.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
Well. I think you've got a lot on your plate.
So but just whenever you say, whenever you send them,
I will be happy to look at them. I can't wait.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
So no, hurry, no hurry, Well, thank you, I appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
And and so what are you doing for Easter? Nothing
good for you.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
She's going to eat. She's going to absolutely eat something probably.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
Yes, And Bob, yes, Bobby, okay or anything. All right, Well,
enjoy the weekend and we're going to get some rain,
and so you'll be glad to see that.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
You know, we had rain three days ago and I
mean it came down in buckets.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
That's great, that's great. We had a couple of rain events,
but it didn't seem like it was that much. And
we need so much more.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
So yeah, we do too, but it came down like
you would not believe.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
Oh well that's good, that's what. And your grass and
your weeds will start growing. Then. Thank you so much, Eileen.
Take care. And so if you have a gardening question
or comment for about Easter or your yard, your garden,
I would love to hear it one trip eight four
five five two nine sixty seven, or you can text
(13:04):
me at two three six two three six zero seven.
And what can you be planting? Vegetables calabasa and cantalope,
cassavas and chayote, cherry and everglades, tomatoes, cucumbers. We saw
some beautiful cucumbers at the land pavilion, dasheen and egg plant,
(13:27):
Jerusalem artichokes and yakamas and lima beans, malabar spinach, Malanga,
New Zealand, spinach and okra, peppers and roselle some of them. Pumpkins,
snap beans and squash, Southern peas and sweet potatoes. You
can just start planting those quarters of sweet potatoes their
eyes and put them in the ground. Tamorellos and yams
(13:51):
and yard long beans. So we can plant a lot
of vegetables that will take the heat of the summertime
and do well, especially vining plants. Those yard long beans
and peas you can Southern peas you can put in
the ground right now.
Speaker 3 (14:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
And so flowers, lots of beautiful flowers. I will tell
you the combinations at Disney were just just gorgeous. And
lots of the topiaries. Do you like Topieri's.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
Sure, it's very Everything is very it's very talent. It
is I appealing. I guess I don't know what the
proper verbs would have been there.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
See things made out of plants. It's just gorgeous in
their life size. So I like that. So lots of
great plants, African daisies, adgeratums, and asters. But copa is
one you may not be familiar with. It's a small
white plant. It can be grown in hanging baskets, or
it's an annual that can be grown in the ground.
(14:51):
It's white. We'll add dimension to your borders. Balsam and
Begonia's black eyed Susan's of beautiful black eyed Susans. This
week blue days and bush daisies. Cat whiskers. You know,
cat whiskers are a pass along plant that our grandmothers
used to grow. And their white and their pinkish color
(15:15):
a little bit towards the lavender side, and they really
do look like large cat whiskers. Silosia and kleiomes and
coleuses and coreopsis are state wildflower. And so driving up
to a calo this week, I drive a lot and
on the highways and the turnpikes, and I will tell you, Lizzie,
the turnpike was closed down yesterday. I four was closed
(15:39):
down near Stanford. It was really accidents city. So got
to be safe out there when you're driving long distances,
especially this weekend on holiday weekends. But the wildflowers have
started to bloom alongside the highway and by the fences
and on the farms, and that pink flocks is us
(16:00):
just striking. It's gorgeousness. It makes you happy. Yes, and
when you see it, but do you know that it's
not the Florida flocks. It is actually the Texas variety
Texas native of flocks. It was accidentally planted some fifteen
to twenty years ago. Oh and it just keeps coming back.
(16:21):
But it's gorgeous, it's beautiful. The butterflies love it. Carssandra
and Daubert daisies and Diecia Gazanias and Guyardias Gazanias and
Guayartias can really take the heat full sun. But they're
in warm, warm, bright Mexican Fiesta colors. That burgundy red
(16:41):
and the bright yellows is. They're just really gorgeous. Gerber daisies.
Saw plenty of those this week at Epcot Golden Rods
and Impatience Joseph Coates and lantana and I had someone
ask me if the lantana that is sold is the
invasive variety, And no, it is not the one that
(17:01):
we see. We've seen for decades in the citrus groves
and out in the woods. That La Lantana is very
aggressive and invasive. But the one that is sold in
the nurseries now are sterile varieties. They do not they
do not spread by seed, and so they grow very
(17:23):
well here. Butterflies love them and they come in such beautiful,
beautiful colors. I love the red, love the red and
yellow variety, and I love the purple variety. It's just
it's just really a beautiful groundcover container plant. It just
looks really great. So then also too licorice plants, which
(17:45):
are beautiful. They smell like licorice, and they hang down.
They are a perfect plant for your fillers and thrillers
and spillers. So your spillers are your plants that hang
over your container gardens, and liquorice plants make a lovely
choice for that. Losianzas and marigolds, melan podiums and Mexican sunflowers.
(18:08):
Gorgeous colors. Million bells. Million bells are also called calibricas.
See a lot of those and commercial properties and at Epcot,
and they do lovely in your landscape. They are a
smaller version. They look smaller than the regular petunias, but
they can take the heat. Petunias here only grow in
(18:29):
the wintertime and the first portion of spring because then
it gets too hot and it doesn't do well. But
the calibri coas look like petunias, but then they will
take the heat of the summertime and last quite a
long time. Moonflowers in the coschana, which is flowering, tobacco
pentas a must in every butterfly garden, pentas, periwinkles and
(18:52):
porter weed, portulaca and purslane, salvius, whether it's blue salvias,
purple salvias, black and blue salvia is white salvias and
red we have a native tropical sage salvia that is
just gorgeous. Some flowers turinias and zenia's and so those
(19:12):
are just some of the beautiful flowers that you can grow.
If you go into the nursery, make sure that you
know what your site conditions are, what kind of sunlight
you have, what kind of soil moisture do you have.
Are you on a lake front or are you on
a dry sandy hill in Cleremont? And then also too,
what is your pH Knowing those three things, you can
(19:33):
buy plants anywhere. Make sure that those conditions are on
the label. 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.
Speaker 4 (19:49):
Cravits, Good morning, welcome back to Better Lawns and Gardens.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
Want to shout out to our sponsors and give them
a happy Easter. To Summit Responsible Solutions Studios have their
Stickney and then Dana Quality Green Specialists also to Black
Cow Manure, Peterson's Nursery. Howie and Karen, thank you so much.
Happy Easter. So that is wonderful. So growing Easter lilies,
(20:25):
they're wonderful. Every time I see an Easter lily or
a picture of one, I think of Easter. It just
disassociated with it, and it's a beautiful flower. It will
grow year after year up north. But here in Florida,
we grow them in containers and we can even put
them in the ground for one year and they will
come back again. Mine have, but then after that the
(20:48):
humidity and the rain usually cause it to rotten. It
doesn't do it. So you don't need to discard them
this year. If you bought new Florida lilies. I'm not
Florida Easter lilies, but they can be planted and you
can take them out and put them in your garden.
They need parts sun to full sun. They grow to
two to three feet tall and one to two feet wide.
(21:10):
They come in. The flower is white, pinkish and a
little bit of yellow, and it takes about thirty five
days if you plant the bulbs to go from bud
to bloom. So if you plant the bulbs a few
months for them to grow, once it starts to bud,
it will take thirty five days for it to blooms.
You got to hang in there. Have you seen the
(21:31):
ammerilla's blooming?
Speaker 3 (21:33):
Yes, I have the a starlight one that you gave me,
gorgeous and it is beautiful.
Speaker 1 (21:41):
It is gorgeous and so so you want to plant
bulbs in the fall, give it enough time for growing
through the winter time. The rule of thumb is to
bury them about twice the depth of the bulb to
keep the plant firmly in the ground. Again full sunlight,
and you can put them in the back of your
border with shorter perennials in the front. Soil and water.
(22:04):
It needs to be having well drained soil with lots
of organic matter, so you want to water early in
the days. You want to make sure that the leaves
dry out before nighttime so that they are susceptible to
powdery mildew. So you want to keep them dry, so
water them in the morning. They have time to dry
all day and then they will be dry at night.
(22:25):
They do not like hot humid locations like us, so
again they'll last for a year or so, but then
they will then go ahead and start to run fertilizer
when the buds begin to form. You want to fertilize
in early spring. You can use a five to ten
five fertilizer analysis, and that means five percent nitrogen. That's
(22:47):
the numbers on the bag. The first number would be five,
the middle number, which is phosphorus, would be ten, and
the third number is five percent, which would be potassium.
And that gives it just enough that it's telling it
to concentrate on growing flowers. Aphids are a particular type
(23:08):
of pests that's found on easter lilies, but also you
can get spider mites and scale and thrips. You want
to make sure that they're not growing in damn conditions
and that they have good air circulation. Air circulation is
so important no matter what you're planting, even close to
the house, you want to keep your plants and shrubs
and trees two feet away from your house so that
(23:29):
it has good air circulation and the biggest problem with
plants in general is overwatering. So just a caveat two.
According to the FDA, all parts of an easter lily
are toxic to cats, not to dogs, not to people,
but to cats. They cause kidney failure that requires vet care.
(23:53):
So even the pollen, if it gets on your cat's
fur and they lick it can be toxic to them.
You want to keep your your cats out of the
easter lily bed and then you can deadhead them. You
want to deadhead after the blooms are spent, and you
want to encourage new growth, so go ahead and do that,
(24:15):
and then deer doesn't eat easter lilies. Really yeah, so
that's really good. So whether you plant them in a
container or in your garden, they are beautiful and the
good sign of eastern lilies planting my Gladiola's this week.
I'm gonna plant some every week up through probably June
(24:35):
and July, and then that way i'll have Gladiola's blooming.
So I'm looking forward.
Speaker 3 (24:39):
To doing that.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
Exciting. Yeah, to me, they're a springtime plant. And I
will tell you Epcot had delphiniums like you would not believe,
and it's so nice to see because we're not used
to growing delphiniums here, but they did plant them and
they're doing well and they'll harvest them soon as well.
One triple eight four five five, two nine sixty seven,
(25:03):
or you can text two three six eight zero. I
know a lot of you are on the road traveling.
You want to be safe on the highways and get
to your destination with everyone in tech, so please be
careful out there on the road. Doctor Neil Sperry is
out of Texas. He's a Texas Aggie long term Great
(25:24):
Garden Communicator Award winning. He's got generations. He's a nurseryman
and a broadcaster. He has a great podcast that's on
every day over there, and he has some really great trivia.
So Easter lilies that are native to the reiqu Islands
(25:44):
of Japan, also Okinawa and Taiwan. They are a subtropical
maritime climate, so the islands are good for them with
mild winters and warm but not too hot summers. They
love rocky and well draining soils, and the prime area
for producing lily bulbs commercially in the United States is
(26:07):
a sliver of land on the cool and foggy Pacific
Coast in northern California and southern Aragon, Oregon, and it
takes growers almost three years from the time small bulbs
are started in their fields and the bulbs are large
enough for digging and shipping. So Easter lilies again don't
handle the Florida climate too well. But you can set
(26:28):
your plant in a shady garden area. As soon as
it finishes blooming, leave its stem and leaves intact. You
can go ahead and cut the bloom off when it dies,
but then it will rebloom the next year. Fertilize it
with some good soil fertilizer five ten five will work well.
(26:51):
And then if you ever get lily pollen, have you
ever gotten pollen on your clothes? Yes, it's very hard
to get off. You can't get it off. So Neil's
tip is an old florists trick, which they would know
because ideal it was haulling all the time. Is that
you simply lay your garment out in the sun for
three to four hours and it will dry off and
(27:14):
magically disappear. It will flake off by itself. Oh, so
you just lay it out in the sun that's interesting,
isn't it.
Speaker 3 (27:21):
I never knew that learned something new.
Speaker 1 (27:22):
And yeah, so if you see my clothes laying out
in the front yard in the sun, it wasn't a
drunken night. It wasn't a drunken night.
Speaker 4 (27:28):
No.
Speaker 1 (27:29):
Please know, if it's Saturday morning, you're listening to Better
Lawns and Gardens, I will be back with my top
five plants that rabbits the Easter buddy will not eat.
You're listening to Better Lawns and Gardens. I'm Teresa Watkins
and this is Florida's talk and Entertainment network.
Speaker 5 (27:48):
Oh day, welcome back up Better Lawns and Gardens. And
now Teresa's top five.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
And my top five flowers that the Easter Bunny Won't
eat is number five Annis Hissop. It's a hardy North
American native plant that boasts spikes of velvet violet blue
flowers from midsummer into fall. The flowers in foliage have
a sweet aniscent, which inspires its name. Hummingbirds and butterflies
(28:26):
love it. It takes full sun, hardy in zones four
to ten depending on the variety. Number four b balm.
Hummingbirds love it rabbits do not. It's one of the
best nectar plants for pollinators. This easy growing plant produces
lots of pink, red, violet, and white flowers from summer
to early fall. The flowers are long lasting. It grows
(28:50):
in zone four to nine in full sun and moist,
well drained soil. Number three day lilies one of the
heartiest garden plants. Day lilies bloom in a rainbow of
shades and colors and take all but the most challenging conditions.
This low maintenance plant can be divided to create more
individual plants. It grows in full sun or shade. Grows
(29:11):
two to six feet tall, depending on the variety. Zones
three to ten and one of the most ornamental herbs,
lavender produces wonderful, fragrant foliage and flowers. Rabbits do not
like it. The blooms appear in shades of violet and
white and can be preserved as a dried flower. The
phenomenal lavender from proven winters will grow in Florida very well.
(29:35):
You want to put it in well drained, alkaline soil
that at least easily allows water to pass through it.
Zones five through nine and the last plant My top
five plants that the Easter Buddy won't eat is Lantana
zones nine to eleven. Most often grown as an annual
up north. It takes full sun, comes in a variety
(29:55):
of colors, spreads two I mean sorry, spreads three to
ten feet wide two to six feet tall. Smaller when
grown as an annual, And why rabbits avoid it is
Lantana contains toxic compounds that don't hurt anything but rabbits.
It can cause a gastril intensital upset. The leaves have
(30:15):
a rough texture with a pungent scent that repels rabbits. Now, Lizzie,
if you do have trouble with rabbits, what I recommend
is the Messina's Animal Stopper animal repellent ready to use
spray Messina's Animal Stopper. It's very effective to deter rabbits, groundhogs,
(30:36):
and other common herbivores from low level foraging. It contains
no blood, bone or meat meal, instead using plants plant
extracts to deter animals, giving it a pleasant smell. It's
effective for thirty days regardless of weather and watering, and
contains all natural ingredients. So that's Messina's animal stopper and
(30:58):
I've used it. I recommend it too my clients. And
also they have a deer repellent to as well that
works very well and so but at lasts thirty days,
so you got to remember to put it back on.
So we have text messages from from Tony. Let's you know,
Tom and Lake Nona. He says, I tell people to
(31:22):
not my lat is not full of winter weeds. Instead,
they're his Florida wildflowers, and he calls them biodiversity networks
that works wildflowers and weeds. You know, it's just a
flower in the wrong place. And then Mike and Laurie
are heading up to Maine.
Speaker 3 (31:40):
What part of Maine?
Speaker 1 (31:42):
I don't know, Mike, what part of Maine are you
going to? And that's where they're from. Originally they have
traveled with us on the Art and Bloom Garden tours.
They love the Buffalo Garden Tour, which is in July
and is an amazing life changing experience for gardeners. And
hopefully you can come. We have just a few spots
(32:03):
left on it. So like Mike and Laurie, enjoy your
trip to Maine. I wish I could go with them.
Speaker 3 (32:08):
Oh, yes, yes, I'll be and I'll be there in
August like always.
Speaker 1 (32:11):
Have you been to the Main Coastal Botanical Garden? Maybe? Maybe? Okay?
It is considered one of the best public gardens in
the United States, So the Main Coastal Botanical Garden. It
is on my bouquet list, which is gardener talk for
bucket list. Bouquet list. You have to say it like
(32:33):
this bouquet. You can sign up for the free app
on iHeartRadio to hear our show anytime Better Lawns and Gardens,
or you can go to our Facebook page. I upload
the show there too as well. It's free of charge
the iHeart app, and you can subscribe so that you
know when a new show is uploaded.
Speaker 3 (32:52):
Yes, and I have been there because it's there my
Booth Bay, and we go even though our family that
we visit is up there in a China, Maine and
Waterville area, but we all my I had like an
aunt uncle who actually had a house on Booth Bay itself,
so we would go to that one. So yes, when
I was younger.
Speaker 1 (33:10):
So yeah, it's it's gorgeous. They have hundreds and hundreds
of acres you can walk through yes, and the flowers
are just beautiful. So it is on my list. So
if you go up and go take photos and I
would love to see that, we got to put it
on our Art and bloom Garden tour.
Speaker 3 (33:24):
You might join you.
Speaker 1 (33:25):
Yeah, there you go, would be that would be wonderful.
So if you'd like to go on any of our tours,
we are going to the Newport Flower Show, have a
couple of spaces left available for that. It is a
great tour. Think of the Gilded Age down in the
Abbey American style, and we go to some wonderful, fabulous
palatial homes. We're going to Martha's Vineyard, which is always exciting.
(33:50):
And then also we're going to Boston to one of
the most famous art and cultural museums in the world,
the Isabella's Stu Gardner Museum, which is the site of
the world's largest art heist back in the nineteen nineties,
and so it's just incredible to see. So we're gonna
(34:14):
have a great time. So if you'd like to go,
we'd love for you to join us. You can go
to Art in bloomgardentours dot com. And so what we're
going let me get right back here. And yes, here
we go. I want to make sure that here it is.
I'm sorry, I'm just going through my paperwork. Here herbs,
(34:37):
herbs that you can be planting right now. You can
be planting annus and basil and bay laurel borage. My
bay Laurel died. It was a big tree. I had
a big Laurel bay Laurel tree.
Speaker 2 (34:48):
You died.
Speaker 1 (34:49):
Boridge and cardiman, chize and coriander, dill and boridge, edible ginger.
What can you do with your ginger? You can eat
it if if it gets too aggressive, you could eat it.
Lemon balm or regino Mexican terragon and mint. Put the
mint in containers or regano rosemary. I have a huge
(35:09):
rosemary bush. I love it. Sage and savory, sweet marjoram
and thyme and herbs do very well as we get
into the summertime. If you have them in containers, you
can move them towards the shade. They will last a
little bit better in the shade. Or you can even
plant them in the shade. Bulbs. We're talking about easter lilies,
but you can also be planting asiatic lilies, achimis and
(35:34):
African irises. African irises did very well this winter. Not
a single one was damaged at all. Nice agapanzas and amaryllis,
Amazon lilies and BlackBerry lilies, which are lovely. BlackBerry lilies
are orange with raspberry freckles, and I'm kind of partial
to freckles meat, so I love BlackBerry lilies, blood lilies
(35:58):
and bulbines and kalladiums. The kladiums have not started to
come up yet. We are going to be having Clay
Wallace on with from the classic kalladium nursery grower down
in Avon Park, and I can't wait to talk to him.
And there is a wonderful festival coming up that if
you love cladiums you'll want to go. If you collect kladiums,
(36:21):
you'll want to go to cannas and crinum lilies and dahlias,
also to euchris lilies and gingers, gladiolas, gloriosa lily and
society garlic, tuberos, pogonias and rain lilies. One of the
best bulbs to plant rain lilies. They look like crocuses
(36:43):
if you're partial, if you're from up north and you're
partial to crocuses, rain lilies come in oranges and pinks
and whites and yellows. They look just like crocuses, no
pest problems. You can naturalize them. They look amazing and
uh they do very very well here. And if you'd
(37:04):
like to see a lot of the beautiful rain lilies,
you can go to one of my favorite online nurseries
and they're up in North Carolina. Tony avent Uh and
his wife Anita have a beautiful, beautiful nursery up there,
plant Delights Nursery dot com. Plant Delights dot com. You
(37:26):
can go to the nursery and purchase plants, but their
online catalog you can get it's always extremely funny. Yes,
and you can go to that. I would like to
say we want to wish everybody a happy passover and Easter, Lizzie.
We want them to travel safe as well. We're gonna
come back and we're going to talk about the dirty
(37:46):
word of the day, which is relevant to today, and
we're going to be taking your gardening questions one triple
eight four five five two nine sixty seven, or you
can text two three six eight zero. If you'd like
to get my newsletter in your backyard newsletter, you can
go to my website she s h E Dash Consulting
(38:08):
dot com and sign up for it there. It is
free and very easy to do and you will get
the next one. If you want to ask a question,
you can go to better Lawns dot com and you
can ask questions and I will get the email and
answer you. If you'd like to send photographs, you can
email me direct Teresa dot Watkins at live dot com.
(38:33):
So we're going to be back with more of in
Better LANs and Gardens from the Summit Responsible Solutions Studios.
If it's Saturday morning, you're listening to Better Lands and Gardens,
I'm Teresa Watkins and this is Florida's talk and entertainment network.
Speaker 3 (38:49):
If you miss any of the show, you want to
play recaps of any other shows, you to better Lawns
dot com. That is better Lawns dot com.
Speaker 1 (39:27):
It is the most powerful
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