Easy to Grow Plants

What makes a plant easy to grow? Planting it in the right place, for one. We'll elaborate on that and share other tips for selecting and growing plants to simplify gardening! Featured shrub: Little Quick Fire panicle hydrangea.

Episode Transcript

(00:02):
Coming to you from Studio A hereat Proven Winners, Color Choice Shrubs.
It's time for the Gardening Simplified radiopodcast and YouTube show. It's kind of
like a combo meal at lunchtime andfor dessert, we offer you a website,
Gardening Simplified on air dot com withStacyhirvella, me Rick Weist, and

(00:23):
our engineer and producer Adrianna Robinson.Well, you've heard the phrases easy come,
easy, go, take it easy, easy does it, easy as
pie, easy on the eyes,easy as falling off a log. And
I remember those commercials from the nineteenseventies and eighties, the Calgon commercials where

(00:44):
a lady is just frustrated with thetraffic, the boss, the kids,
the dog, and then she finallyscreams, Calgon, take me away.
I remember those commercials too. Yeah, lose yourself in luxury bathbeads or whatever
those things were. But you know, we're all looking for easy, and
I really believe the key is lettinggo of trying to control things. I

(01:07):
guess, and that's much easier saidthan done. And spend time creating.
Trade a portion of your consumption timefor creating, and you'll start to see
the world differently. Everything is inspiration, and the same is true in gardening.
Now, Stacy, I'm familiar withgarden center customers who will come up

(01:30):
to me and they say, Ineed a plant that will grow to four
feet tall and then stop. Iwant it to be able to grow in
both sun or shade. I wantit to flower, and I don't want
to have to do any maintenance.Oh, and don't forget it also has
to withstand the dog going on itall the time. And ideally a wile
flower every single day of every singleyear for the rest of eternity. You

(01:53):
got it. So I wrote alittle limb, a rick, a real
short one in this regard. Idon't want a plant that looks cheesy or
is so sick it makes me queasy. I want to set it and forget
it. Don't want to have tosweat it. Easy, peasy, lemon
squeezy. Oh that's great, andthat's what people are looking that is what

(02:14):
they're looking for. Yeah. Now, my Florida friends who say after storms
are rain zephyr anthes bust out intobloom or rain lilies, this is a
bulbous perennial. In the Amarillis family, but it's one of those plants that
is easy peasy, And of course, one person's bulletproof easy plant is another

(02:35):
person's invasive plant. I think ofmust carry grape hyacinths or Siberian squill.
That can be the case. Yeah, you know, I think it really
is a matter of here's what Ithink. All plants are potentially easy to
grow, Okay. The difference isyou need to plant them in the right
place so that you don't have towork hard to make them look great.

(02:57):
And therein lies the trouble. Andthat's why, you know, someone can
say, oh, I can't getdelphiniums to grow it all down here in
Florida, and you can go upto Maine and delphiniums are growing all over
the place looking fabulous. It reallyis about the right plant in the right
place and knowing what your conditions are. But as simple as that may seem
to just say, the reality isa little bit different. Yah, It's

(03:20):
very true. It's well said.You know a plant that comes to mind
for me, Stacey, are theoh so easy roses. Now. I
think that this plant is really wellnamed because it's just gorgeous and so easy
to grow. But I think backto the seventies and eighties when I was
working in the garden center industry.We would have this group of people called

(03:43):
the rosarians. Ah yes, andthey would come into the greenhouse or the
store, and these were the magicians, these were the scientists. These were
the people who knew how to growroses and knew exactly where to cut them
and how to treat them and overwinterthem. And everyone depended on the rosarians.
Now we have these landscape roses like, oh so easy, and well,

(04:06):
it's easy, it is easy.And you know, roses are such
a great example because they do havethis old vestigial reputation of being so difficult
to grow, and they needs breakand they need prenny, and they need
dead heading, and they need thisand that and the other. They need
to be dusted and coddled. Andthe fact is that's not necessarily how roses
were. Inherently, there were alwayseasy care roses, But it's the hybrid

(04:30):
t roses that became so popular inthe twentieth century that kind of developed this
mentality for people. And those arestill around, but even those have improved.
Even those are easier to grow thanthey were back in the day,
and so yeah, it's about yourexpectations and of course getting the right plant
in the right place. Well,I'm glad you're recording Adriana because that was

(04:50):
really good. And that was alloff the top of her head. That's
really good. Now, is thereanything easier stacy than landscape workhorses, hammer
acalys or day lilies? I thinkof the rainbow rhythm day lilies. I
don't think there can there's much elsein the landscape that is more of a
workhorse and easy than daylily. Well, I feel like daylilies and hostas are

(05:15):
like the sun and shade, youknow, components of one another. They're
both like can't miss, easy togrow plants. But on the other hand,
as more and more of us haveto deal with deer and those are
two of deer's top to all timefavorite comfort foods, you know, we
do start looking at different plants toreplace those. What else can we grow

(05:36):
that's just as easy? And Ithink you know one strong contender for the
replacement of dailies if you have deeris Nevada campment exactly, another very very
easy plant, yep, and anotherplant that like you see in municipal plantings.
I think that's a great indicator,right, if you're seeing a plant
in city plantings. Not to saythey don't have a staff, but that

(05:57):
staff does not have the time orinclination and to go and you know,
dust and fuss over perennials and shrubsand make sure everything's growing well. They
want stuff that just looks great andmakes the town look great with minimal time
inputs. O very true. That'swhy you see often see Russian sage.
Yeah, another great choice for sure. Yeah. When it comes to trees,

(06:17):
I've got to mention the inconspicuous hophorn beam or ironwood, a tough
understory tree. And what I loveabout this tree is that it's native and
you find it all the way fromCanada as far south as the Honduras.
So this is a hard, tough, strong tree that doesn't get a lot

(06:39):
of press, doesn't get a lotof attention, but certainly is one of
those trees that I would classify aseasy. Of course, herbs in general
are easy and forgiving. If youthink about chives or oregano or creeping time
come back year after year and stacyreally easy to grow. Herbs are so

(07:00):
so easy to grow and you know, that's one of the great things about
them. My herbs self, soso I always have an abundant, you
know, supply of them to cookwith. And yeah, herbs are blessedly
easy. We're very, very fortunateto have such useful and easy to grow
plants. Attractive, blessedly easy.All right, let's just run through a

(07:20):
few quick ones then. I stillfind ornamental grass is to be very easy,
whether they're miscanthus panic comes the hackina kloa Japanese forest grass carrects.
You've mentioned that a number of times, Stacy, aliens serendipity, aliens.
I love aliens. I think they'reso simple to grow. The amazing daisies

(07:41):
like banana cream, baptizia seedum agistachi, smooth high ranges. I don't know
if you agree with me or not, Stacy, but I think they're easy
to grow. They're easy to growif you don't have deer. Yeah,
yeah, right, exactly. Youmentioned nepetta or nepita, however you lot
to pronounce it right, Potentilla.We've talked about that. Oh yeah,

(08:03):
one of the absolute easiest, especiallyif you live in a cool climate.
Exactly, spyrea ita, brunera,Virginia heliopsis. I find heliopsis, especially
in sunny spots, to be soeasy to grow and so rewarding. Yeah,
it's a big time. It's aflower powerhouse that one. Yeah,
exactly great for cut flower gardens.And then you know, I have to

(08:26):
have iris on my list too.And I think part of the reason I
have iris on my list, Stacey, is because generally the deer and rabbits
leave the iris alone, and Ifind them pretty easy to grow, at
least if you don't have iris borerissues. Yeah, and even if you
do have iris bor that's actually afairly easy pest to manage overall. And
you know, the cool thing aboutiris is that they look like they're hard

(08:50):
to grow. You know, yougrow on some of these iris with these
crazy color combinations, and you looklike you're some sort of you know,
mad scientists, But really all youdid was plant the thing the right depth
and the right spot and you justget to sit back and reap the rewards.
Absolutely like Siberian iris love it.And if you don't have deer pressure,
Hosta is amazingly simple to grow,in my opinion, if you have

(09:13):
a little bit of shade and youdon't have deer. I think it's because
the root system is just so tubriousand aggressive. Yeah, it's a very
robust root system. And you know, aside from slugs, hostas are pretty
much pest free, and even slugsare relatively easy to manage if you know,
you know what you're doing. Yeah, exactly. And then I've got

(09:35):
to throw Yucca color guard in there. And some people are gonna cringe because
you know, if you plant ayucca, you're making a lifetime commitment.
Plastic explosives probably won't even remove itten years. Hence, but I tell
you what, in a dry sandyarea where I'm at, the neighbors at
least really seem to love Yucca colorwell color guard. That's a variegated one,

(10:00):
and that's a little bit better behavedthan just the straight green one,
which of course does grow everywhere.You know, I actually have some yucca
that I have removed, attempted toremove, and it was easier than I
thought in our sandy soil. Ifyou have glay soil, I'm sorry,
I don't know what to tell you. Well, let's see what Stacy thinks

(10:20):
is easy peasy lemon squeeze in plantson trial and that's coming up next here
on the Gardening Simplified Shop, ProovenWinter's Colored Choice Shrubs cares about your success
in the garden. That's why wetrial and test all of our shrubs for
eight to ten years, making surethey outperform everything else on the market.

(10:43):
Look for them in the distinctive whitecontainer at your local garden center. Greeting's
Gardening friends, and welcome back tothe Gardening Simplified Show, where we are
about to put a plant on trial. That is to say, we're going
to tell you all about one ofthe proven Winner's Color Choice shrubs and you
get to decide if you're going toput it in your yard or not.
And of course today's plan on trialis going to be an easy shrub.

(11:05):
But before I get into it,I want to add another kind of concept
to the easy to grow discussion,okay, the low maintenance discussion, and
that is, you know, Ithink what different people consider to be easy
or low maintenance does vary. Youknow, there really aren't any plants that
you're going to be planting in yourgarden that are like completely hands off.
I mean, there are some,but you might not be happy with the

(11:28):
results. So what are your expectationsfor the plant based on what you are
willing to put into it. Andyou know, as I'm embarking on this
adventure of removing my lawn and replacingit with plants, a lot of people
are looking at me going, oh, that's going to be a lot of
work, and I'm looking back atthem going, look at your lawn exactly.
You know, people think of likethey don't think about the maintenance that

(11:50):
they have to put into their lawn, Like that's different. Whereas you know,
with shrubs, perennials, bulbs,a lot of the things that we're
talking about, maintenance commitment that youhave is really really minimal. Pretty much
anything you would grow as long asyou are planting it in the right place
and not constantly trying to play catchup with Oh the water it needs and

(12:11):
the soil is not right, soevery single year I have to amend the
soil, or I have to changethe pH r I have to do this
or that or the other. Youknow, as long as you are putting
the right plants in your yard thatonce or twice a year where they might
need some pruning or you know,something like that, or fertilizing. That's
very, very minimal compared to whatmost people are dealing with in their lung.

(12:33):
That's well said Stacey. Good point, and it's a great way to
springboard and say as a show notethat we have breathed the plant lady coming
up in our fourth segment today,and we're going to check in with her
too to get her interpretation of whatan easy plant. You know. And
I'm a horticulturist, of course,you know, I have a lot of
knowledge about a lot of different plantsand a lot of different aspects of plants

(12:56):
in this noggin. But even Idon't want a high maintenance garden. Like
I have realized over time that whatI'm looking for in my garden or from
my garden is not something that likeforces me to do a bunch of stuff,
Like my plants work for me.I don't work for my plants,
and so I don't have, like, through the process of attrition, things

(13:20):
that I said, Oh, I'mreally now I have a house. I
really really want to grow this,and I've been over backwards to try to
get it. If the deer ateit, if it turned out it was
too dry, turned out it wastoo sunny, I just let it go.
I like that approach. You're theboss apple sauce. That's right.
So anyway it what is low mains? I think when you're looking for low
maintenance plants, easy care plants,easy to grow plants, you do need

(13:41):
to define for yourself what is ityou're willing to put in. What are
the reasonable expectations for that plant withthe work that you're going to put in
and where you're going to plant it. But you know, I know when
people ask me, hey, like, what's any easy to grow shrub?
What is the easiest, proven winner'scolor choice shrub that I I can grow?
You know, that's not an easyquestion to answer because it does depend

(14:03):
on a lot of factors like thelight, and not everyone is able to
just like say, oh, yeah, the spot is full sun or the
part of the spot is parts onor whatever if something if pH is an
issue, say like, you know, I'm not going to recommend an azalea
if they aren't sure that they haveacidic soil. So when people ask me

(14:24):
and I don't have all those details, there is one plant that I come
back to again and again and again, and the reason for it is because
it's very versatile, it's very durable, grows everywhere, and most importantly,
for the little bit of work you'regonna have to put into it, it
is going to give you huge rewardsbecause that's what people want ultimately, right.
They don't want to just say Iwant a low maintenance plant, but

(14:46):
it looks creddy, or it's reallydull, really boring, it doesn't do
anything but just like sit there.They want a plant that's going to look
great and they don't have to workhard for it. And that plant is
panicle hydrangees. I love that.I love that the flowers last for a
long part of the season, Stacy. And when people walk up to me
in the garden center or greenhouse,generally I'll walk them over to the panicled

(15:09):
hydrange Yeah. And so people thinkhydrangees are difficult to grow because all these
different hydrangeas, there's six main typesof hydranges that we grow in our gardens.
They all get lumped together into onebig, confusing pile, and people
don't understand that there are different hydrangesand that of those hydranges, in my
opinion, panicle hydrangees are the easiestto grow, the most versatile, the

(15:31):
most adaptable. So whatever conditions prettymuch that you have, except for poorly
drained soil that is like the onething they really can't take, they can
grow in any of that. Theycan grow in USDA Zone three, they
can our heat tilert up to USDAZone eight, even zone nine in the
case of limelight Hydrangea, and theyjust look amazing. I mean, there

(15:52):
are few other plants that make suchan impression all year round, but especially
in summer then a panicle hydrange Andthe other beauty Stacey is that you don't
necessarily have to pick a color becausethey tend to change color over the course,
so you get that exciting you knowshow. So we have fourteen different
panicle hydrangees in the proven Winner's colorChoice line. And so the hard part

(16:15):
when I'm talking about easy to growplants for me is picking which of those
easy to grow panicle hydranges I amgoing to cover in this particular episode of
Gardening Simplified. So I thought longand hard about it. I looked at
what I've already covered in terms ofpanicle hydranges. Some of my absolute favorites
have already been covered, like pufferfish, like Bobo, and so I

(16:37):
went with Little Quickfire HYDRANGEF for today'splant on Trial. Love it. I
love it too, And the reasonthat I picked this particular one is because
it's right there in the name LittleQuickfire. So older panicle hydranges, you
know, certainly back in the daywhen PG was really the only one that
was around, are tard of aThose are huge plants. You know.

(17:00):
You can easily find mature PG hydrangesin your neighborhood, possibly if it's an
older neighborhood, that are fifteen eventwenty feet tall, whereas these newer varieties
like Little Quickfire reach only three tofive feet tall and wide. So not
only are they just as easy togrow as other panicle hydranges, they're a
lot easier to use in your landscapebecause you don't have to worry about them

(17:23):
overgrowing your dining room windows, aregrowing up to your roof or outgrowing the
space. They stay really nice andtidy, and that smaller size also gives
them a lot of versatility in thelandscape, so you can go ahead and
add them to your flower garden ifyou have a perennial garden or something like
that, you can use them inyour landscaping, in your front yard as
a low hedge, as a specimen. They're just a really really versatile plant,

(17:47):
so that you can get that easycare, you know, without having
to think too much about like wheream I going to fit? Yeah,
sure it's easy care, but Idon't have space for a ten foot by
ten foot plant. You know.I love your choice, though, Stacey,
because I chose this plant, LittleQuickfire, for my backyard because my
daughter was going to be getting marriedin the backyard in June and I felt

(18:11):
it was reliable to be in bloomby the wedding day. Yes, that's
so. Little Quickfire is a dwarfversion of Quickfire, and quick Quickfire is
a variety that we have offered formany, many years. It came to
us from Mark Bulk, a wonderfulplantsman in the Netherlands. He has a
nursery in boss Coop, the bignursery district in the Netherlands. But it's

(18:32):
a beautiful plant and it is theearliest blooming so for us here in Michigan,
Quickfire Hydrangeas are typically in bloom byfourth of July. Okay, if
you live in a warmer climate,that's going to be a little bit earlier.
If you live in a much colderclimate, that's going to be a
little bit later. But it reachesabout six to eight feet tall and wide,
so not huge, but definitely thekind of plant that you can't just
impulse purchase and say, oh,I'll just find a place for this rather

(18:55):
large shrub. So in comes alittle quickfire that was tier by our new
plant development team, and it reachesjust three to five feet tall and wide,
so really nice, versatile size.And it still has that very early
bloom time, so blooming by earlyJuly for US. And this early bloom
time has a couple of advantages thatI think a lot of people may not

(19:18):
realize. Number one is that ifyou live in a very cold climate,
so it's hardy down to USDA Zonethree, So if you're in the USD
Zone three, for even USDA Zonefive, if you live like up North
Mackinaw Island or out east in acooler area, sometimes if the summer is
especially cool, it might your paniclehydrangers might not flower until the end of
August. Kids are going back toschool, you're thinking about moms and pumpkins,

(19:42):
and here comes your panicle hydrange likeit's summertime. Let's party, and
you're like, wait what. Sothe nice thing, especially if you live
in a cold climate, is thatyou're going to have that early bloom time.
You're gonna be able to enjoy itmore for the summer. And not
only that, but because it's bloomingearlier, it's going to change color earlier.
So panical hydrangeas are the type ofhydrangea that start out white and then

(20:06):
they take on various shades of pink, red, burgundy, or a combination
of all of those as the seasonprogresses. So the earlier your panicle hydrangea
blooms, the longer you're going tobe able to enjoy the color aspect of
that hydrangea. And so that's anotherreally big advantage, especially if you live
in a colder climate. And Ilove the color of both quick Fire and

(20:26):
Little Quickfire. It's a deep redand I love the pinks. You know,
I'm not generally a pink person inmy garden, with a couple of
exceptions like el nin yoch Talpa,which I adore, But this is a
nice deep red. It's also alace cap flower. I was going to
say that lace cap fabulous for Pollinators. The Fabulous for Pollinators just has a
beautiful informal look that I personally love. And here I have been talking so

(20:48):
much about how much I love thelittle Quickfire, I didn't even get to
talking about how easy it is tocare for. And we're out of time,
but we have lots of information aboutthat, and of course I will
put it all in the show now, but take it from me, it's
easy to grow, it's versatile,full sun parts Son here in the North,
no problem parts Son in the South. Will put all the details at
Gardeningsimplified on air dot com. Rightnow, we're going to take it break.

(21:10):
When we come back, we're answeringyour garden questions at proven Winner's Color
Choice. We've got a shrub forevery taste and every space. Whether you're
looking for an easy care rose andunforgettable hydrangea, or something new and unique,
you can be confident that the shrubsand the white containers have been trialed

(21:32):
and tested for your success. Lookfor them at your local garden center.
Creating's Gardening friends, and welcome backto the Gardening Simplified Show. It's time
for us to answer your garden questions. The season is in swing. I'll
let people have questions. I evenhave questions when I'm out there. What
I do if I have a questionis I don't do anything. I wait
until I can find out the answer. I don't act on impulse. Well

(21:55):
sometimes they do, but I trynot to. I talk to myself.
That works, Yeah, I do. Do you give yourself getting I asked
the question and then I answer myquestion. Well, sometimes that does work.
It's like you just pretend you're herein studio A, and you're and
you know we're talking, and yeah, that's true. Sometimes you can talk
yourself up, talk yourself through aproblem. But if you do have a
garden issue, you can reach usat help HLP at Gardening Simplified on air,

(22:18):
or just go to Gardeningsimplified on Airdot com click the contact tab there.
Also, we don't just take yourquestions, we take your garden celebrations
and accomplishments as well. And wegot a great one this week. We
heard from a listener named Colin inUsdazo nine B. I love it.
I know you love that. I'msure you're jealous. So he's in Central

(22:40):
Florida and he sent four fabulous pictureswhich you're gonna be able to see if
you're watching YouTube, or of courseyou can go to Gardening Simplified on air
dot com to see the photos thatColin shared with us. And here's what
you have to say. I wouldlove to share pics of my first banana
harvest on my beautiful banana tree.One harvest gave me one hundred and twenty

(23:00):
bananas. Oh man, and Ihave a fresh new bunch coming along next.
You could say it's going bananas asBeethoven would say, banana wow.
He'd be proud of them. Yes. So, with annuals being planted all
over the country this time of year, I also wanted to share picks of
my super Tunia Vista bubblegums that Iplanted back on December twenty sixth twenty three.

(23:26):
Yes, they are winter annuals herein Florida, and they flourish.
They still look great. So here'ssome more bananas and blooms over the summer.
You know, Proven Winters does trialannuals in Florida in winter just for
that purpose. So December twenty sixthat's fantastic. While everybody's returning gifts at
the department store, Colin is plantingsupertunias and those bananas. Right, you

(23:52):
would think he was living in BananaStan or New Peeland, but he's in
Florida, Central Florida. I wantto talk to yeah, So maybe we'll
set something up, Colin, ifyou're open to it. The thing I
love, bananas are very cool plants, and a lot of people don't realize
how bananas grow. And you canactually see this in the picture that Colin
sent. So they have these longflowers that come down on these long stems,

(24:18):
and the petals kind of peel backand reveal the over or the banana
fruit, and those get pollinated andturn into the bananas. So Colin's pictures
are a great example of how uniquebananas actually form within their flower and how
beautiful they are. So can youeven imagine have it like just going out
to your backyard and being like,guess I'll get a banana for breakfast.

(24:38):
They're growing right here on my tree. So you know that one's for all
the warm climate gardeners who wish theycould grow lilacs or peonies or whatever thing
we can grow up here. Weare jealous of your bananas, and Stacey,
the pictures of the yard and thesuper tunias beautiful. Oh my gosh,
did you see the one is likehe's got like a it looks like
a sunshine. The gust drum andone of the supertunies is creeping up to

(25:02):
the top of that because they're sorobust down there, Colin, he's not
monkeying around. He's doing a greatjob there in central Florida. And thank
you for listening watching the show too, Yeah, definitely, so definitely want
to take a look at those.It really goes to show you what a
different world it must be gardening inFlorida versus gardening up here. Right,

(25:22):
Oh, you got it, Sowhat do you got in the mailbag?
Traying sends a question, probably anissue for a lot of people. Hello,
Stacey and Rick, help the dreadedrose slug is back. Besides spraying?
What can I do to protect myroses? Are there natural predators that
prey on them? I've tried blastingthem off with my watering hose, but
they're still very small. I'm notso sure it's effective. And of course

(25:48):
we're talking here about the dreaded roseslug, but it's not really a slug
in that sense of the word,right, now now it's just called a
rose slug. It's actually well,I guess technically it would be considered like
a maggot because it is the flya softly larva. But they have the
unique characteristic of turning the identical colorto your rose foliage. They are very

(26:11):
hard to spot at first, especiallywhen they're very small, as Treang says
that hers are. And uh,but you find them not necessarily looking for
them. But when they're very small, they make this very distinctive window like
damage on your rose because they areso small, they're little worm jaws or
little softly jaws can't get through thefull leaf tissue, and so they end

(26:33):
up making a window because they onlyget through part of it, so it
doesn't go all the way through it. They can't their jaws aren't big enough
yet, so it's very distinctive.You can recognize that. And then when
you start seeing those little windows appealingappearing on your rose leaves, then you
go, oh, better turn thoseover because the softlies do feed from the
underside typically, and then if youreyes are good, the light's good,

(26:57):
you will be able to identify thatlittle rose slug and you can just handpick
them hands squish them, depending onhow severe the infestation is. However,
that may be much easier said thandone, because they are where there's one
rose slug, there are many roseslugs. Slugs and a little bit of
a rose slug infestation. Your roseis going to be able to be fine,

(27:18):
it's not really going to harm it. But I have seen very very
severe ones that basically eat all thefoliage off a rose, and even really
vigorous landscape roses aren't going to beable to withstand a whole whole lot of
that before it starts to severely weakenthem because I can't quoto synthesize they have
no leaves, so a couple ofthings. You know, it always helps
to take the IPM approach and tolearn about the life cycle of the of

(27:41):
the passage we're trying to manage.And in the case of the rose softly,
what happens is these softlies are goingto metamorphosize next. So they're going
to overwinter under your rose in thesoil as a pupa or kind of like
you can think of it as likea coon if you're not familiar with this
stage of an insect life cycle.So the overwinter is pupa in the soil

(28:03):
and then next spring they burst out. They may they let eggs on your
rose. It's just emerging and thecycle is repeated. So one of the
things that you can do is simplyto cultivate around the base of your row.
So if you have mulch, youknow, clear that away, fluff
it up, and then use likea rake to our a you know,
little hand cultivator to kind of lightlyrough up the soil. And what that's

(28:26):
going to do is expose the cocoonsthat are that are down there. So
you want to do this probably morelike in the July, August September time
frame. Do that, you know, maybe once a month, just go
out there, mix it all up. Birds et cetera will take care of
any cocoons and that can help alot. When I was researching this,
that's what I saw over and overagain in university websites. I agree one

(28:49):
hundred percent. And if you doit at that time of the year,
Stacey the roots. If you doany root damage, you shouldn't, but
if you do some root damage,the rose can easily recover. For yeah,
that's a great point. And youknow roses we often talk about plants
that are shallowly rooted. Roses aren'ta terrible offender that way. They aren't
like really shallow where you're going tobe hitting a bunch of roots. I

(29:11):
will put some links in the shownotes trying so you can do some research
and read more on this life cycle. But do be aware if we have
listeners from warmer climates. I don'tknow exactly where trag is located. There
are some species of rose slugs orin warmer climates they have two generations a
year, so this timing will onlywork if you're in a cooler climate and
are dealing with a one generation aseason rose slug. But to my knowledge,

(29:36):
no, there's no specific natural predator. If a bird can see it,
it will certainly eat it, justlike it would any other little crater
that it found on a plant.But you can't always count on that.
So sounds good, all right.Myra planted two gentlemen lace Russian sage two
years ago. I loved that plant. They both did wonderfully last year,

(29:56):
but this year one of them cameback all ten looking, it's half the
size of the other one, andthe third year being in the ground instead
of leaping it's all rough and woodyon the bottom like its cousin lavender.
That's a good analogy, right,What can I do? Can it be
replanted elsewhere? I did want tomention a programming note here, Stacey,

(30:21):
that in my research I always thoughtthat Russian sage was named after the great
General Leonoid Petrovsky. He was instrumentalin dealing with the German invasion of the
Soviet Union, and part of thereason they named the plant after him was
because the pungent smell of Russian sagesmelled like the boots of Russian soldiers.

(30:45):
Well, I guess I was wrong. No, it's not the case.
It was named by a Russian botanistaround eighteen forty after Perovsky, the Turkestani
governor of the Russian province of Orenburg. So if you ever have one of
those Cliff Claven cheers moments and somebodyasks you, now you know there you

(31:07):
go? Okay? I did notknow that, So Mayra send pictures.
Mayra did send pictures of her Russiansage, So that is always very helpful
when we're diagnosing issues. So overall, I don't think that the plant looks
too bad. Russian sage is whatis considered a subshrub, and I'm glad
that she mentioned lavender because lavender isalso a subshrub. So basically what that
means is that they have a bitof a woody base but herbaceous on the

(31:30):
top, and so that's totally common. So you mentioned the woody basse,
that's totally within the regular behavior ofthis plant. So that's nothing to be
concerned of in and of itself.And when I look at the plant,
I do see that it's a bitstunted compared to its neighbor. But I
did notice something else in the photos, and that is that there is landscape
fabric, and so there's landscape fabricunder the mulch, and what that does

(31:53):
is that keeps a lot of moisturearound the plant. And Russian sage is
a very drought not just drought tolerant, but it wants really dry and well
drained conditions. So if it's gettingoverly wet, especially if it's wet in
the winter or the spring when it'semerging, if you had very heavy clay
soil and it was very cold climate, the plant would just die. So

(32:15):
it's kind of even amazing that it'sstaying alive and has lived as well as
it has under those conditions. SoMyira, I think that the best thing
that you can do is to brushback that mulch, cut away the landscape
fabric for a good eighteen inches aroundthe plant, and then put the mulch
back. That's fine, but thelandscape fabric really makes a difference in how
much moisture it holds into the soilperfectly so ye, So that's what I

(32:37):
would do. If you do wantto transplanet, that's perfectly fine too.
You can do that now, butideally I would wait until next spring or
this fall when it is dormant.We got to take a little break.
When we come back, We've gota special guest for branching news, so
please stay tuned. The Gardening SimplifiedShow is brought to you by proven Winter's

(32:59):
Color Choice. Our award winning floweringshrubs and evergreens have been trialed and tested
for your success so you enjoy morebeauty and less work. Look for Proven
Winners Color Choice shrubs and the distinctivewhite container at your local garden center.
Welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show. Branching news Here on the show and

(33:21):
for today's Branching News in interview witha wonderful lady, Breathe the plant Lady.
We're going to talk to her.And by the way, her website
bree grows dot com, so that'sBurie grows dot com. And I was
thinking, Stacy, if we weregoing to talk about easy plants, we

(33:42):
should talk to Breed for a numberof reasons. Number one, of course
she knows her stuff. Number two, she's down there in hot North Carolina.
And number three, talk about anenergetic and enthusiastic person who plants all
kinds of stuff. I can't keepup with her, and I think she's
the perfect person to ask about easyplants. Well, you know, the

(34:05):
busier the gardener, the more theyneed some easy plants, otherwise they won't
have time for anything exactly. So, Bri, welcome to the Gardening Simplified
Show. And I got to mentionright off the bat, I noticed that
you just got an award Club HorticultureCommendation for the Garden Club of America.

(34:25):
Now that's really cool. What agreat recognition for you. Oh, thank
you so much, it thinks forhaving me back. Yes, it was
such a surprise and an honor toreceive that. I love the Garden Club
of America for all that they do, and they're horticulture outreach and well,

(34:45):
I have it hanging probably on mywall right by my diploma. It is
much deserved, Bri, and youare one of the most enthusiastic gardeners that
I know, and I encourage peopleto go to your website Brie grows dot
com. And of course Brie hasalso written some books, so make sure
to take a look at that also. So, Brie, is there anything

(35:07):
easy to grow down there? I'msaying down there because we're broadcasting from Michigan,
but down there, and of courseyou would know, Bri, you
are a Michigan native, right,that's right. I'm a former Mischigander.
You know. I've been in NorthCarolina now twenty two years, and we
actually have a lot of Michiganders livinghere in the Raleigh area, so I

(35:30):
feel like I'm in good company.This is a challenging environment to grow in
because frankly, everything that you doin the North is upside down down here.
You know, we have a twelvemonth growing season and a lot of
the plants that you would grow assummer annuals in Michigan are winter annuals here,

(35:52):
and that takes a lot of effortto navigate figuring out the seasonality of
plants. The plantags don't give youthat detail, right, Yeah, I
mean they're for the whole country,not just you know, regional plant tags
as you no doubt no would drivethis industry crazy. So it does take
you know, that regional expertise toreally be able to maximize those unique opportunities.

(36:16):
It does, and I feel andendlessen no of job security as more
Northerners moves south but want to continueto garden. And for sure, I
should say my favorite easy plant forthe summer is mangve. I am mad
about mangove, like irrational, Iam trying to collect every variety they have.

(36:40):
I think I currently have a livewall filled with mangove. Wow.
Actually I'm going to divide them sothat both sides of the wall are planted
with them, because that's what rationalpersons would do. And I think I
have almost one hundred individual plants.No, I don't know that our listeners
know what a mangave is, andthey're probably sitting there going is she's saying

(37:04):
mangave I know agave, I don'tknow mangave. So for the enlightenment of
our listeners, can you tell themwhat a mangave is. Well, mangave
was actually bred and created up nearyou at Walter's Garden. And it's an
ener generic hybrid, which for plantpeople that's super special. That's like putting

(37:25):
a cat and a dog together.And it's a Manfreda agave hybrid. And
what you end up with is thisagave structure that isn't prickly, that has
really cool colors and textures. Andsome of the varieties have spots and some
are stripes, and some get reallybig and some are perfect for pots and

(37:49):
they're really amazing. They don't needa lot of water, which is the
main thing. They just look fabulousand the dear leave them alone. So
if there's all these reasons to collectmangave's, they're not reliably party in the
winter here that they make great houseplans. So it's one of those plans
that you can bring inside and enjoyduring the cool season and then put outside

(38:13):
and forget it all summer long.It's just everybody needs mangave, period.
That's fabulous. Where Brie, wheredo you store yours in winter? Is
it an unheated shed? Where doyou put them? I actually with them
in the carall space with grow lights. Wow. Wow. And actually they're
really fun to show people at dinnerparties because then it just makes you seem

(38:35):
that much more insane, the underneathof your house completely full of magha.
So what's your oldest mangave, then, the one that you've had the longest.
I have had Kaleidoscope was my veryfirst, okay, and it's ups
pretty readily. So it's one ofthose that every year when I pot it
up, I can divide it andshare it with people. And I was

(39:00):
fortunate, you know, I workedwith hands Hanson, well, worked with
him loosely when I was the productionmanager at Plant Delight, and he's a
longtime friend. He's the breeder ofthe mangavis, and he sent the to
trial just to see if this ispart of the original trial pack, and
I really just I cherished in somany ways. Hands down, they are

(39:22):
the plant that every visitor asks aboutbecause they're so dynamic and interesting that you're
not going to poke your eye outwith them. And I don't grow any
agave at all because I'm afraid I'llhurt myself. Sure, yeah, myself
full permission to grow all the manngavis. And a lot of people are even
afraid, you know, if you'renot going to hurt yourself. They're afraid

(39:43):
of their pets, cats, youknow, dogs, kids. There's a
lot of reasons to be concerned.Now, I would think that most people
are surprised that you can grow themso successfully in a human climate like North
Carolina and they just thrive. It'sincredible. They really don't require desert conditions,
and that's partly the Manfreda you knowtendencies coming out. It is.

(40:06):
They are just they're vigorous and well, they're just amazing. And actually when
they flower, the flower spikes arereally impressive, just like in agave.
You know, they might go eightto ten foot tall. They attract so
many different pollinators. It's really reallya site to behold. Wow, Yeah,
I understand what you're saying about theagave and herding yourself. We used

(40:29):
to ship them up from Florida uphere to Michigan and then unpackaging them bore
you reach into that box. Thereare times when you, yeah, especially
you could poke your eyes out withthat thing. It's like the the BB
Christmas story, right, Yeah,exactly, now, Brie, we were
talking also about the fact that Staceyand I both feel that herbs would probably

(40:52):
be a good plant to put inthe easy category. Would you agree,
and if so, which of theherbs do you think are easy to grow?
I absolutely agree, and I alwayssay herbs are the gateway of food
scaping. But my hands down,without hesitation, favorite herb is a maslbasil.

(41:15):
That is a game changing plant.It's incredible. It thrives through the
summer. You can make enough pestoto feed your entire county because it's so
vigorous, you know, and it'sjust it's delicious, it's disease free.
I just love a masalbasel. It'sthe one dasel that I think no one

(41:35):
can live a happy life about.I agree, yeah, And you know,
it's so popular. Honestly, Ihave been looking for it. I
think it's since it's got such areputation for all of that disease resistance and
everything. You have to snap itup when you find it because otherwise it
will sell out. Yeah, it'sa no brainer. I call it basil
instinct. Bree grows is the websiteBrie grows dot com the Plant Lady look

(42:00):
for on YouTube. Of course,she speaks all around the country and has
written books, and of course Igot to know Brie based on the food
scaping book Brie. If you wereto pick, other than herbs, a
vegetable plant that you like to grow, that you think is easy peasy,

(42:21):
what do you think? Oh?Well, I wish I could say tomatoes,
But tomatoes in the South break yourheart in a thousand different ways,
and so they keep you humble.So I guess they're I guess they're good
for one thing. But really Ithink I'm torn between eggplants and peppers.
I like how productive they are,how heat tolerance. I have this terrible

(42:45):
tickborn illness called alpha gal where I'manaphylactically allergic to everything from a mammal.
So I grow a lot of vegetablesjust because I eat more vegetables than the
average person, because it's kind ofall I'm left with to be able to
eat. And I like how reliableeggshants and peppers are that I can go

(43:06):
out and harvest every day. Idon't have a store a whole bunch in
the refrigerator and you know, we'rejust getting into that season. I also
kind of live on zucchini, sowe're just getting into the season where zucchini
will start producing. And you knowthose are those are three vegetables that are
your daily staples for me. Andwhen I don't have to buy them from

(43:27):
the store, it feels so muchbetter, but also a luxury to be
able to go in your backyard andget them. It's like the stores in
your backyard and exactly, and itsaves a lot of space in your refrigerator.
You know, we've been laughing.I eat like five heads of cauliflower
a week, and that's like havingfive basketballs, right. I grow cauliflower

(43:53):
in the winter season just because there'snot room in the refrigerator for my cauliflower.
Have it, Brie? Are youlike me where I especially when we
get to summer, I absolutely cravestuffed peppers. I love stuffed green peppers,
yes I do. And I ofcourse can have them with ground turkey,

(44:16):
so I don't have to be completelydeprived. Even though I'm mammal free,
I'm unfortunate that I can still eatfish and poul frey safely. I
love stuffed peppers, all right,So in the heat of summer. You
need some shade there in North Carolina. Brie, how about a tree that

(44:36):
you think is really rewarding and easyto grow, or maybe one on your
property that you really enjoy. Whatdo you think, ooh, a tree
for shade. I immediately went toHydransas for shade because I just watched and
cound my yard and realize I havefifty seven coldivars. Wow, And I

(44:58):
told myself that I wasn't a hideyour person happen? What is going on?
But a tree? Well, I'mreally encouraged by the plant breeding that's
being done at Empty State through doctorTom Rainey. And this year he gave

(45:20):
me the new hybrid dogwoods. It'sthree quarters native one quarter KUSA and it
has really great disease resistance and youknow it's going to just long term be
the option to have because disease iswiping out our native dogwoods. And I
just really appreciate his proactiveness in breedingfor the future and recognizing the problems.

(45:44):
And I feel honored to have oneof the very first ones to be planted.
And every day I like go outand talk to it. I do
have it planted instade it's too young. It didn't bloom this year, but
it's I think settling in well,and I do think it's a plant that

(46:05):
will be a pretty dominant fixture inthe industry in years to come, so
be on the lookout for it.I don't think it technically has a name
yet. We got a little steakfor you here. Well, we do
sing Doctor Rainey's praises on the showall the time. Of course, he
is an absolutely brilliant plant breeder andproblem solver, and we're so here in

(46:30):
North Carolina. We feel very fortunateto claim his and claim him as ours
in He's making the world a betterplace every single day. It's amazing how
his breeding has touched so many people'slives and gardens. For sure, you
are one of the most enthusiastic gardenersI know, and even one hundred degree

(46:52):
humid heat in North Carolina isn't goingto stop you. So tell our listeners
and our viewers, Brie, whatare you excited about this year? What
are you really looking forward to?Well, I went down to a nursery
near Wilmington and brought a prius loadof rock and fuchia sow you and I

(47:15):
am here rationally excited about this plant. So they're already in full bloom.
They're only going to get bigger andbetter. And the hummingbirds have recently arrived
and they love this plant so muchthey do. I'm actually going back down
next week and I think I'm goingto get another previous load. So which
is your favorite color of the series. I'm curious. Well, I love

(47:38):
them all, but the one thatI keep gravitating towards is fusia. And
it's really funny because I didn't thinkof myself as a pink person. Now
I have this like entire front borderthat's just like right pink, and it
looks awesome. It looks beautiful withmy blue house. And I also got

(48:00):
a bunch of the white proven winnerKlaomis, you know that are sterile,
and they just are so reliable blooming. It's that fusia and white together.
It's gorgeous. It's like drop dead, stop in your tracks. My neighbors
stop and come over and take picturesand they're like, well, you just
please label more so that we knowwhat to buy. You also like a

(48:23):
QR code in your front yard andlike stand for the plant list. I
really do you need. What Ineed is a tech savvy intern. Anyone
out there that's tech savvy, getinterested me. That's great. You know,
I'm with you on that hummingbird thing. The rock and fuchia. I
put them in pots all the wayleading up my front steps, and uh,

(48:45):
you'd be happy to hear on thelake shore here in Michigan just this
past week. Yes, mine arein bloom two and I saw hummingbirds already,
so it's fantastic. Oh that's soexciting, you know that. And
that vermillionaire cufia that is one ofmine. Must have every year too.

(49:06):
Yeah. Me, that's actually beenhearty. So it's really win because they
come back it must get huge.Then that's really cool. I plant the
die all the way down, butthey do, they get like three by
three. I love it. Iplanted one this year, Bree, based
on Stacey nudging me on that plant. She loves that plant, and so

(49:28):
I'm giving it a try this year. I'm looking forward to it. Oh
you will not be disappointed. ButI always joke I don't want to be
the person who just like plants thesame annuals every year, but I have
turned into that because I love thatplant so much. I just I simply
can't have a summer without it.I totally agree, And to be honest,
I hope more breeding continues with kufiabecause there are a lot of species

(49:52):
that really haven't been explored, andthey're so reliable that they bloom for the
entire growing season. There's so manycolors and shapes and forms. And I
would love to see kufia bread forhanging baskets so they can dangle down.
And you know, I have Ihave all these dreams for plant readers.

(50:12):
So if anyone's listening exactly, canyou just call me and we'll go over
my whistles brie uh. Both Stacyand I really like the summerrific hibiscus,
the dinner type dinner plate type hibiscusuh in North Carolina. With all the
sun and heat that you have,how does a plant like that do there?

(50:37):
They do really well that we dohave some pretty serious insect problems.
A lot of times they will justalmost look like lace because become no foliage
left. And in part that's becauseI don't I don't spray any testicides.
It's kind of like, well,it's still a flower. A lot of

(50:59):
I'm very sticky when I'm taking thepictures of my high biscus. There's almost
no green on the leaves, butthe flowers are amazing, and you know,
I like to underplant those with differentcolors of colias, different varieties of
colius like Elbrido and dipped and wineand proven Winners has really done the most

(51:21):
incredible job with their colius collection.And I know a lot of these are
coming from doctor Dave Clark out ofFlorida, which means they're really good performers
for me, because you know,they like heat and humidity, and they're
just so reliable for providing that oomsthat you want. Even in the hottest
days of the summer. They don'tlose their color and vigor. Wow,

(51:44):
that's saying something too. Yeah,you bet so. As we enter the
heat of summer. Before we letyou go here, Bri give our listeners
viewers some advice on dealing with theheat. I'm not talking about us personally,
but I'm talking about as gardeners havingsuccess in the heat of summer.

(52:05):
How do you approach it? What'syour go to strategy in the heat of
summer? Soil prep without even I'mglad you said that the more time you
send adding organic matter to the groundyou grow in, the easier the experience
will be, the less irrigating youhave to do, the stronger your plants
will be. I mean not tosay that you're going to go without watering,

(52:29):
because the weather is usually not thatreliable. It gives you the rain
exactly when you need it. Butwhen you put your time and energy into
soil, every other part of gardeningbecomes more fun. Add more organic matter,
always and forever, no question aboutit. She is Breathe the Plant

(52:49):
Lady. Look for on YouTube,of course, her website bree grows dot
com. Look for her books Breed. Just greatly appreciate your enthusiasm and again
congratulations on that award Club Horticulture Commendationfrom the Garden Club of America. But
I really think it suits you wellbecause you're enthusiasm for gardening and what you

(53:15):
do for the industry is much appreciatedby many, ourselves included, and we
appreciate you joining us on the GardeningSimplified Show. Well, you are so
welcome, and thank you so much. I love catching up with you and
talking about playing. Thanks so muchfor it's always a pleasure. Good luck
gardening this year, Ah Houston,The ship is at stable one. Those

(53:37):
were the words of Jim Lovell AnApollo thirteen. Today's show feels like a
rocket ship to me. It's somuch information packed in and stacy. Always
a privilege and pleasure to do theshow. Likewise, Ray and thanks so
much, Adriana, thank you,and most of all, thanks to you
thanks for tuning us in. Againa reminder, we are a podcast,

(53:58):
we are a radio show, andwe are a YouTube show. So pick
which one you like or pick allthree. We'd love that and have yourself
agreeable. Thank you.