April 27, 2024 • 43 mins
A listener recently commented, "Shade is hard," and we agree. So in this episode, we simplify it and provide plant-based solutions. Plus, learn when it might be time to replace a plant in your landscape. Featured shrub: Sweet & Lo Sweet Box.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:03):
Coming to you from Studio A atProven Winners Color Choice Shrubs. It's time
for the Gardening Simplified Show with StacyHervella, me, Rick Weist, and
our engineer and producer Adrianna Robinson.Hey, you know, we received a
note from someone one of our YouTubeviewers simply stated, shade is hard.
(00:26):
I like that. Yeah, itis hard. Talk about honesty, that's
fantastic. You know what's hard?Chicken wire? Two words for you,
chicken. Have you ever tried toput up chicken wire? Snags on your
clothes? Cut you up, can'tput it up neatly? I think chicken
wire? Or watching the squirrels eatthe buds off my flowering shrubs after they've
(00:47):
made it all winter long. That'shard. Yeah, that's also very hard.
You know, this shade issue makesme think of Michael Collins. Of
course, I was an Apollo ageboy when they were doing the moonshots,
and Michael Collins, of course wasthe pilot in the Command Module Columbia while
(01:08):
Buzz and Neil were on the lunar'ssurface. Took the eagle down there to
kind of look around, and hewas the loneliest man on Earth. And
when you go around the dark sideof the moon, dark cold, total
radio silence. You are cut offfrom everybody. I always think about him
when I think about shade. Idon't know why that must that must have
(01:34):
been much harder than gardening in theshade. I'm just gonna put that out
there. But you know, gardeningin the shade does. It is tricky,
and it is hard, and alot of times I think shade gardeners
can feel like they're a little bitdeprived. But I do just want to
start off by saying, shade gardenershave one huge advantage, and that's that
no matter what time of the yearit is, you can work in your
garden. True, it's the middleof summer, You've got a nice shady
(01:57):
place to go, and I leisurelypull some weeds, enjoy the cooler temperatures.
I don't have very much shade atall, and so you know,
I have to pretty much get mygardening done early in the morning during the
summer because I can't be out ofmy garden in the middle of the day.
I'll burn up. You know,it's a good point, Stacy.
As a matter of fact, ifyou look up definitions of shade, shade
(02:17):
is a term used to describe somedegree of relief from the sun. Yes,
so there you go. So maybeshade isn't that hard. Maybe we
need to look at it from adifferent angle. And by the way,
Proven Winners has a great perennial astill be called dark side of the moon.
(02:38):
Yes, it's a beautiful I seewith purple foliage. Gorgeous chocolate brown,
purplish foliage. Yeah, cool plant. Anyhow, all right, let's
get into the shade issue here,and I'll get right to the point.
If you want to be successful inthe garden in shade, first of all,
you use plants adapted to shade conditions, and those are usually plants stacey
(03:01):
that have thinner foliage and bigger foliageto be efficient at absorbing the light or
photosynthesizing in areas where there isn't alot of light. Correct, right,
Yeah, big leaves are generally notalways characteristic of shade tolerant plants. And
one thing that you'll hear very oftenis that, like for example, with
(03:23):
a tree where it's inner leaves orshaded, or a plant that is more
subn tolerant and growing in shade,is it will make shade leaves which are
naturally much larger, to increase thatsurface area to try to absorb more light
and do a little more photosynthesis.Absolutely, you have to improve the soil,
especially if the soil is poor dueto root competition. So think woodland
(03:46):
floor. So I like to thinkof somewhat acidic, humous soils of the
forest. Shade plants have adapted toappreciate those types of soils, Stacey.
When you're dealing with trees, especiallythose that have shallow, fibrous roots,
that can become a big issue inshade. It's not necessarily the lack of
light, it's the root competition,right. Sometimes you just can't get anything
(04:10):
to grow underneath there. It's notan easy situation. So you have to
look at the different types of shadeand then adjust accordingly. Now, the
different types of shade, I think, are the different degrees six degrees in
my mind, light shade, partialshade, full shade, deep shade,
(04:32):
structural shade, and night. Rememberthe comedian George Carlin forecast for tonight dark,
continued darkness till morning, then scatteredlight. I personally, when it
comes to shade, I love filteredshade because during the day it seems to
dance in the garden, and Ilike working with filtered shade. Yeah,
(04:54):
and that counts pretty much as apart shade conditioner, parts on in supportant
to remember that most plant come andthese including proof of winners, use part
shade in parts sign would be interchangeable, just kind of meaning the same exact
thing. Filtered shade generally occurs underthe canopy of a high canopy of a
tree, and so not only isit sort of magical and beautiful, it
(05:15):
also gives you a little bit moreflexibility in what you can do that is
the best, but also I wouldsay potentially the rarest for a lot of
people who are gardening in shade.Yeah, exactly. Although deciduous trees often
can provide some measure of filtered shade, it's the coniferous trees where you can
just really have serious problems. Backoff on nitrogen fertilizers when you're trying to
(05:41):
grow in the shade, I callthem processed foods, use a slow release,
and organic fertilizers I'm thinking bacteria,microbes, organic material, lots of
it. It really improves your successin the shade. Mulch the plants and
then develop a talent with dealing withsnails and slugs. I have many different
(06:05):
methods we don't have time for.Maybe someday we'll tell you. Do you
have a big snail and slug issuehere on the lake shore. No,
we don't have a much out herebecause it's fairly dry. But I have
certainly, you know, garden whenI was gardening in New York. You
know, you go to like pulla weed and you stick your fingers right
in a sloppy slug. That's nofun. It's a slugfest. I tell
(06:26):
you what, And you know whathas always worked good for me, just
real briefly, and that is roofingshingles. I just got strips of roofing
shingles. Put them underneath the plants. It really helps with the snails and
slugs. Now, of course,we can give you a long list of
plants to grow in the shade.We can sit here and say, oh,
you can grow in the shade.All you got to do is try
such and such, and of coursethere are great plants for shade. But
(06:50):
looking at that environment and again,Stacy getting back to the soil, I
can't help it. Every time I'vetried. That is what makes the difference
between success and failure. Yeah,for sure. And you know that's why
a lot of gardeners will refer todry shade is the most dreaded type of
shade because that's the hardest to findthings that will grow in it and do
(07:15):
well. Now, you kind ofcourse amend the soil. You talked about,
adding compost, multing, You cando all of those things. But
sometimes you know, if you havedry shade because you have sandy soil like
we do out here, or it'sdry because it's next to a big tree
that's sucking up all the moisture,that does severely limit your options. Yeah,
exactly. Now, ephemerals like wildflowers, of course, are in nature
(07:38):
suited to absorb the sunlight while theycan before the trees leaf out, may
apple, trillium, and many ofcourse wildflowers will go dormant in summer.
That's their protective adaptive mechanism in shadeand makes all the difference in the world
there too. So again, plantsstrategies are employed by plants. You know,
(08:03):
I've looked at at leaves of plantsthat love the heat, and it's
almost stacked cells thick leaves in shadethin leaves, more mass area to absorb
light. Perennials like Virginia brunera,hucara ferns of course hostas stillbies. I've
(08:24):
had success with all of them.I did want to ask you, Stacy.
I believe that one of the mostunderutilized and maybe doesn't have the publicity
that some other annuals get, andthat is wishbone flower or Catalina Terennia midnight
blue or any of the terrannias.Do you like truck I love them they
(08:46):
are so this is an annual thatyou can grow in shade. Great for
hanging baskets. I do absolutely loveit. And it's called wishbone flower because
when you look inside the flower andthey have beautiful, rich colors, there's
a tiny little wishbone structure in therethat is adorable and delightful. Great plant
for kids, and I do loveit. And I have a shady front
(09:07):
porch, so my house face isnorth the house the front is shady,
so I have tried to grow terinya, thinking oh, yeah, this is
great, and the deer also unfortunatelyloved it. So just a little heads
up there if you're thinking, oh, I finally have but it's great for
a hanging basket for sure, becausevery often hanging baskets like on front porches,
are in shade. And that's whyyou know, the big buston ferns
(09:28):
and everything are so popular, youbet. And I know that they're doing
a lot of testing on Terrania inFlorida and other climates because again I think
that it's underrated and something you mightwant to consider. And then as far
as shrubs are concerned, I peakedat what your plant on trial is today,
(09:50):
so I know that I'm not stealingyour thunder here. I just wanted
to mention that Stacy, both youand Natalie here at proven Winter's color choice
shrubs got me very interested in Kodiakorange dear villa, and I have had
success growing that in shade. Yeah, it is known to be a shade
tolerant plant, and you know,I'll talk a little bit about more about
(10:11):
it when we talk go into plantson trial. But there's a difference between
tolerating shade and thriving in shade anddoing what you hope it will do in
shade, and so we're focused onplants that will do what they say they'll
do in shade. There you go. Shade is hard, but we'll talk
you through it. Part of thereason we're here on the Gardening Simplified Show,
(10:35):
Prooven Winners Colored Choice Shrubs cares aboutyour success in the garden. That's
why we trial and test all ofour shrubs for eight to ten years,
making sure they outperform everything else onthe market. Look for them and the
distinctive white container at your local gardencenter. Greetings, gardening friends, and
welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Showwhere we're talking about shade. We had
(10:58):
a listener on YouTube say shade ishard, and that is true. But
I would like to say that inmy many years of helping people garden here
in my current job, in myprevious job, if there's one universal truth
I can say, it's that thegrass is always greener on the other side,
right, very true. So shadegardeners are like, oh, if
only I had a little bit andof sun, And some gardeners are like,
(11:20):
boy, it's sure would be niceto have, you know, maybe
a little patch of shade here.I'd love to grow some hostas, I
would love to grow some you know, terania, all these different things that
actually need shade and you know,we hear from warm climate gardeners who say,
oh, I really want to growlilacs, and we hear from cold
climate gardeners who say, I wantto grow citrus in avocado. So it
(11:41):
is very common, I think forgardeners to wish they had what they don't
have. Plant envy, plant envy, and you know it does pay.
I think too, I've really changedmy approach to gardening, you know,
having a house and dealing with alot of challenges. I never thought i'd
deal very sandy, extremely dry soildeer, which I definitely did not think
(12:03):
was going to be an issue infull full sun. And I have found
for myself that rather than try tomope while I did some moping, rather
than mope a whole lot about whatI can't grow and what I can't do,
I've kind of accepted, you know, working with the things that work.
And I find a lot more satisfactionin that because I'm not then,
(12:24):
you know, spending my time andenergy trying to change things from what they
are. And I find that Ireally really appreciate the plants that can tolerate
that that I have to do solittle for and look great while they're tolerating
all those challenges. You can't beatthem. Join them. Well, that
was the approach that I eventually took. It did take time. I'm not
(12:45):
gonna lie, it's a lot oftime. So you know, everybody feels
like what they have is hard.And I will say, for sure,
you do have a more limited plantpalette when you have shade, because of
course plants need sun to photosynthesize,and there's obviously less sun in shade for
the plants to photosynthesize enough. Andso the number of plants that can actually
(13:09):
thrive in that condition can do againwhat they're supposed to do, which is
to say, are they going toflower? Are they going to grow?
Well? Are they going to bedense and you know, a compact and
attractive. That's a relatively small number. But the great thing is when you
have the right plant for the rightplace, with all the challenges, when
everything comes together, you appreciate itso much. And that is where today's
(13:31):
plant on Trial comes in. Okay, all right, that was a long
intro and it's a plant that Iyeah, but it's a good point.
It's just like buying a house,location, location, location, Well,
I did have that in mind.When I bought my house, I thought
I had the perfect location. Idid not expect the deer, the sun,
the sand, I knew that,but the deer that was not expected.
But today's plants on trial is onethat I am going to hazard a
(13:54):
guess that many many of our listenershave never heard of. May be seen,
but I'm I'm guessing most have notheard of it even in the garden
center, folks. Will I watchpeople who will just walk by it because
it just doesn't reach out and grabyou like some of the other plants,
right except for when it is havingits shining moment, which we will get
(14:15):
to in a moment. And today'splant on trial is sweet and low,
sweet box. And if you're sittingin there going did she just say sweet
box? Yes? I did.It is known botanically as Sarco coca.
And if you want to know itswhole name, which is one of my
absolute favorite botanical names in all ofbotanical names, it's Sarco coca, Hooker
(14:35):
Yana humulus. Wow, that soundslike an all you can eat lounge that
I visited in Las Vegas. DoneSara Coca? What is it? Sarco
coca? Wow, I've been there, so sweet box. If you can't
get sarco coca, I know thatis a long one. And this is
(14:56):
a plant. You know, obviouslyI could have picked from a number of
plants we offer that can grow inshade and will still flower and still do
some other stuff. But this isa plant that actually needs shade. So
this is the plant for you ifyou have deep shade and you've been thinking
what do I do? How doI manage this space? Because it actually
(15:18):
wants it, It's not merely toleratingit. In fact, we have it
on our website as needing part tofull shade, which is very unusual.
So this plant can basically grow incompletedark. So people keeping score at home
are probably thinking, Stacey, okay, so ugly and boring, and you
could not be blamed for things that. Now do you want to say it
(15:39):
can't grow in complete dark. Itdoes need to be outdoors. You're not
going to put this in your closetor your guest room that never gets any
sun. But it can grow infull shade. And yes, people probably
do think, okay, well,if it can do all of this,
it's probably one of the ugliest,most boring plants in the history of the
universe. And the answer to thatis it is not. It is definitely
not. And I think that oneof the things that's so special about it
(16:02):
is that it is a winter andspring blooming shrub. Very few of those,
so another rarity on here. Andso it blooms like the warmer your
climate, the more mild your climate, the earlier in winter it will bloom.
So that is why another common namefor this plant that you might see
or read about out there is Christmasbox because in England and very very mild
(16:25):
of climates like that will actually bein bloom all the way in December.
For us, it usually starts bloomingmore like February March, and if,
of course, if you're in awarmer climate, probably more in the January
February range. And the flowers arevery unique. Most people probably would not
look at it and go, oh, that's a flower, because they're not
the conventional you know, five pedaledflower with the centers. They look like
(16:45):
a little tuft of white threads tippedwith red. So they're very interesting.
But what's so special about them istheir fragrance, and it is one of
the most beautiful, intense delightful fragrancesyou can imagine. So, I mean
just think of being, you know, in your garden or walking around your
yard on a sunny winter day andyou get this, you know, whiff
(17:07):
of something that's so fragrant, smellslike it could be summer, and it's
arco coca. Man, that isinteresting, Stacey. I'm sitting here thinking
this would be a good plant tocombine with hellabores in a shape. Oh
my gosh, it would be beautifulwith elibors. Yeah, fantastic accommodation right
there. Yeah. And so youwere saying Rick that you know people walk
(17:27):
by this plant in the garden centerbecause especially in a garden center situation,
it would have already bloomed by thetime people are actually shopping in the garden
center. So they do also don'thave that experience of walking by it and
going, WHOA, what was thatfragrance from? Whereas if they did,
I think that a lot more ofthese would be sold. So this is
a plant that you kind of haveto know about and seek out. It
(17:48):
eas easy to find, as Ricksaid, but it's not going to be
the one that just like grabs yourattention when you're out in the garden center.
So but it's worth knowing about becauseit is so special. And so
it isn't evergreen, and it isa ground covering shrub, So this isn't
going to be one of those tallshrubs you're going to be putting Christmas lights
on or anything like that. Itnaturally grows with a ground covering, suckering
(18:11):
habit. And I know a lotof people here suckering and they think,
whoa, whoa. Absolutely not soundslike it's going to be a nightmare,
and it isn't. It's actually afairly slow growing ground cover, so it
doesn't make a nuisance of itself.It just over time spreads to form a
really nice colony that is going tokeep weeds down, it's going to stabilize
soil, it's going to conserve organicmatter, it's going to conserve water for
(18:33):
anything that it's planted by. Soit's a really great problem solving shrub that's
just, you know, I thinka lot different than people expect for shade.
And so it's called sweet and lowSarco coca because it naturally grows to
be about one and a half totwo and a half feet tall, so
you can kind of imagine it's alittle bit of a taller ground cover with
(18:55):
a woody base, glossy evergreen foliagebotanically speaking related to boxwood. So that
is where the box the box partcomes. So if you can imagine a
boxwood, that's what its foliage iskind of going to look like. It's
a bit bigger, but it hasthat same dark green glossy quality. Doesn't
sink like boxwood, can you know? I know some people have issues with
that. It's only some boxwoods dosmell. But if you've smelled a boxwood,
(19:21):
it's not something that you soon forget. So thus the line sweet and
low, sweet and low sweet boxyeah sor give it to me a cocca
for those keeping score at home.No, that sounds like those packets of
sugar substitute that you put in yourown well that yeah, you know,
we might have been a little inspiredon the name by by something else called
(19:41):
sweet and low. But it's sweetbecause of the fragrance and low growing and
again just a great problem solving shrubthat. I don't think that people who
have shade need to feel like they'rebeing tossed like a consolation prize, right
exactly. I can't grow this.I kind of wish I could. It's
pretty great. Now. One thingyou do need to know about it,
it does need moist, acidic soil. So going back to that whole thing
(20:04):
about you know, dry shade beingthe hardest, that is still true.
Unfortunately, sweet and low sweet boxis not going to be a solution for
you if you have dry shade unlessyou amend your soil. It really needs
to be moist and acidic. Andif it isn't, what's going to happen
is the plant is going to justreally struggle. The folia is just going
to be kind of like yellow andwash out. You can manage all of
that with fertilizeders and iron. Butjust going back to this notion of like
(20:27):
planting things that want to be there, you know, that are going to
thrive and make less work for youknow, this is a low maintenance plant
provided you are able to you know, give it those moist, slightly acidic.
I does have to be super acidic, you know, even somewhere close
to neutral is totally fine. Itdoes like mulch as you were talking about
(20:48):
with with other shade plants, andyou know, pretty average water needs doesn't
need pruning since it's just staying atthat. You know one and a half
to two and a half feet,you know height, dear resistance, extremely
dear resistant. So what a problemsolver? Right? It's beautiful. And
when you have a problem solver thatis unique, that gives you a season
(21:08):
of interest beyond what you're normally expecting, you know, to get out of
a plant, I think it's justit's a great gift really to shake gardeners.
I think today's show has been aboutplants that don't get the recognition that
they should get. They're Rodney dangerfieldplants. They get no respect. So
(21:30):
anyway, if you have shade andyou've been struggling for a nice groundcover or
an interesting plant, or maybe justthey're tired of what you already have,
look for sweetened low Sarco coca atyour local garden center this season. Again,
you might have to do a littledigging because it's not one of those
plants. It's going to be like, look at me. But sometimes that's
good. We need those plants inour garden because you can't look at everything
(21:51):
all at once. Of course,you'll find more information about sweet and low
sarco coca on our website, GardeningSimplified on air dot com, or if
you're watching YouTube version of our senit. We're going to take a break
and when we come back, we'reopening up the garden mail bag. At
Proven Winner's Color Choice, We've gota shrub for every taste and every space.
(22:14):
Whether you're looking for an easycare rose, an unforgettable Hydrangea, or something
new and unique, you can beconfident that the shrubs and the white containers
have been trialed and tested for yoursuccess. Look for them at your local
garden center. Greeting's Gardening friends,and welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show.
Spring is in full swing and thequestions are rolling in because my goodness,
(22:36):
it's that time of year where you'relike, what do I do?
Should I shouldn't I h The answer, of course, is always don't walk
away from the garden until you canget an answer that you can use.
Don't just go doing things without knowingwhy you're doing them. But we're happy
to help you here, and ifwe can't get to your question, because
we do get so many questions,you can always reach out to Proven Winners.
(22:56):
Just go to Proven Winners dot com. There's a little place there.
It says questions, feedback, We'relistening, and someone one of our horticulturists
will get back to you with apersonal answer that will help you resolve your
issues. But of course you're alwayswelcome to reach out to us, because
if you're having a problem, chancesare if someone else is having a similar
issue or conundrum. So what dowe got in the mail bag today?
(23:17):
All right, so Sherry writes tous, Hello, I have a vegetable
garden in our backyard. My husbandwants to use combination pesticide fertilizer products on
the lawn that run alongside the garden. Should I be concerned about the chemicals
leaching into the garden making the vegetablesunsafe to eat? How large of a
perimeter should he leave around the gardenso it'll be unaffected. I enjoy gardening,
(23:40):
but also do it to have organicproduce? Yeah? So I understand
absolutely, And even if your goalis not organic produce, it is important
to consider what chemicals are potentially beingused around an edible garden, just to
make sure you're not ingesting anything nasty. And you know my answer to you,
Sherry, First and foremost, andthis is for anybody considering, you
(24:03):
know, applying any chemicals in thegarden at all, for any purpose,
whether they're organic or conventional or whateveris, you have to read that instruction
booklet. There is so much informationthat will answer all of those questions about
like how far does it need tobe by a vegetable garden, how long?
How soon can I harvest my vegetablesif I have used this product.
(24:26):
That's all in the guide book tothe chemical. Now. The problem,
of course, as many of uswho have ever used any kind of garden
chemicals know, is that all thatinformation is in that silly little sticky book
that they put on the back ofthe container. No, you know,
I get it. There's a lotof information that they have to fit into
a little tiny space. But sothey have. They're doing the best that
(24:48):
they can with what they have.But like you get your reading glasses,
you know, don't let it getin the rain or get any you know,
product splash it and cause everything torun. The good news is,
thanks to the Internet, you cando all of this research ahead of time
online where it is readable and youcan zoom in and do all of that
(25:11):
and you will find everything that youneed to know. It should give you
information about, you know again,how soon you can harvest, how far
away it should be kept from edibleplants, and all of that. Now
you know, to be safe.As we've talked about, a plant's roots
will generally go about one and ahalf times its height latterly and about eighteen
to twenty four inches in the ground. So if you're thinking about your garden,
(25:33):
say you're going to have, youknow, a six foot tall tomato
plant at the edge there, thenI would say that you are going to
want to make sure you're leaving abouta nine foot buffer just to be perfectly
safe. Well, said Stacy.Read the product label. The whole point
here is this, we've been gardenersfor a long time. Doesn't matter how
long you've been gardening. We readthe label. It's there for a reason,
(25:56):
and follow the directions. Also,I agree with maintaining a perimeter.
I do not like growing lawns rightup to the base of a tree.
It's not healthy for a tree.I don't like growing turf right up to
a vegetable garden. I say,leave a perimeter, a buffer zone of
some bark mulch. I think that'sa good way to go. All right,
(26:18):
so right, a couple of differentthings. But again, when in
doubt anytime it comes to chemicals,whether they're organic or conventional, make sure
you are reading that book and findthat book is difficult to deal with,
as we all do, then takethe time to just look it up online.
You will not only find all ofthe application instructions, you know,
caught precautions and all of that,you'll also find something called the MSDS,
(26:41):
which is the Material Safeties and DataSheet, and that will tell you all
about any other potential hazards with thechemicals that are in that particular product,
and use the amount they're recommending.Yeah, don't put in a double dose
just because you feel like it.Not a good idea. All right?
Question from Nancy. Two trees thatwere meant to be a matched pair.
Nancy sent us a picture. However, one looks like it's struggling. The
(27:03):
other one got broken off in thesnow. Should I replace them? And
I did look at these these pictures, Stacey, and one thing I would
mention I noticed in the picture inthe fire corner there's some garlic mustard down
there. You might want to godeal with that. Yeah, garlic mustard
is is an invasive weed. Now, I have to say, as far
(27:25):
as invasive weeds go, it isone of the easier ones to manage it.
It pulls up very easily in therosette stage. Just yank it up.
Yeah, very easy to pull out. But yeah, if you let
it go to seed, you know, forget it out it. So so
do take a look at what garlicmustard looks like if you're not familiar with
that, and get that out.But it does not have anything to do
with why your pines are struggling,Nancy. And you know I thought a
(27:45):
lot about your question. Is Ilooked at your photos and you know I
have I have two answers, andso there one is a yes answer and
one is a no. One isa yes you should replace them, and
one is a no you shouldn't replacethem necessarily. So yes side. You
know, life is just too shortto sit around worrying. Well, I
(28:07):
mean when it comes to the garden, you know, I've just it's just
like our growing season's too short,Our time to be outside enjoying the garden
is too short, and life ingeneral is too short to sit there coddling
and worrying about something that just doesn'twant to be there. You're here or
you know, certainly with the snowdamage, there's not much you can do
about that. But I think thecombination of the fact that you know,
(28:29):
the one got snow damage and theother one is struggling means there's something there
that that this particular these pines justaren't happy. Now, one thing that
you can do, especially with theone that's struggling but hasn't gotten broken,
or even the one that's broken,because sometimes you can get something real artistic
and interesting out of that. It'sjust move them. It's there's any number
of reasons why they might not bethat happy in that particular spot, and
(28:52):
you know, Gardener's all over willtell you I move this, just you
know, saying like, hey,it's got one last chance, I'm going
to move it. And that newspot was perfect and it did really well.
So my answer is, yes,you should replace it because they don't
seem that happy and life is tooshort. But on the other hand,
I do want to just consider thatif you can maybe do a little bit
of detective work and thinking about howthe surroundings impact this plant, it might
(29:17):
be you might be able to saveit so, and I sent Adriana picture
so these will be in the YouTubeversion. I encourage you to look at
these photos. I'll put them onthe website at Gardening Simplified on air dot
com as well. I have asuccess story, a success story that I
never thought would actually occur. Sowhen I moved into my house, there
was a magnolia, a magnolia stillata, so you know, the white kind
(29:38):
that just finished blooming, and itwas doing very poorly. It was two
sticks and it was like, oh, I mean when I say half dead,
that's not an exaggeration. This thingwas literally half dead. My neighbor
had a black walnut tree that wasyou know, right up against it.
And so that we're in you know, submit emits jug loan, which magnolias
are sensitive to the jug loan orthe a lellopathic chemical that can suppress growth
(30:02):
of certain plants. And so youknow, they took the walnut down because
I wanted to put in a fencefor their dogs. That was fine,
and so I thought, okay,it's going to start, you know,
you know, recovering, and youknow it's it looked okay. What I
started doing was hanging my hummingbird feederon it. So that was the only
reason I didn't take it out,because I was going to take it out
because it looked so unhappy. Butyou know, for the first year,
(30:25):
I was like, I'll just putmy hummingbird feeder here, and I'm like,
hey, the bird's kind of likethis, And so, you know,
we kept kept the tree, andthen we put in a new downspout
for our roof, and just sohappened that we directed the water to the
magnolia. If you look at thismagnolia to this day, you will not
believe your eyes. This thing hasshot up probably ten feet is full.
(30:48):
It was absolutely positively covered in flowersthis year. And so the combination of
losing that black walnut and having thatsupplemental water that it wasn't getting before from
our roof from rainfall made a hugedifference, a difference that I never could
have imagined if I hadn't seen itmyself. So we're going to share those
pictures. So I think that whenyou are questioning should I remove this should
(31:11):
I keep it, it's a goodidea to say, what can I do
differently that could make a difference inthis plant's health. You know Ryl Crow
was right. A change will doyou good sometimes, yes, right,
And I looked at the pictures.One I think is umbrella pine can be
notoriously difficult to get started. Theother that weeping or pendulating pine tree.
(31:37):
Nancy tells us it was snow andice, And I believe you, Nancy,
But consider the fact that with thoseoften you'll see squirrels and or birds
perch and they can do damage atthe top also. But I would not
throw in the trowel on that thing. I'd see where it goes. Yeah,
see where it goes. Or likeI said, if you have another
place to move it, consider thatand then put something. Especially if it's
(31:59):
if a plant that you're looking atdoesn't do isn't doing well, and it's
in an important spot where you lookat it all the time, or your
neighbors or whatever. That might bea time where you say, I'm going
to put something that I think willdo better here. I'm going to move
this and give this another chance somewhereelse. But again, life is too
short. No one should have tosit there and look at a struggling plant,
because that's just depressing for everybody.So you have it's your garden.
(32:22):
You always have permission to do whatyou think is right, taking an educated
guess at what the issues surrounding itmight be. So do check out our
website, Gardening Simplified on air dotcom to see Nancy's conundrum as well as
my success story, which, tobe honest, has exceeded my expectations,
as you will see if you getto look at those photos. So we're
(32:43):
going to take a little break.When we come back, Rick's going to
tell you all that branching news,so stay tuned. The Gardening Simplified Show
is brought to you by proven winnersColor Choice Shrubs, Our award winning flowering
shrub and evergreens have been trialed andtested for your success so you enjoy more
(33:04):
beauty and less work. Look forproven winners Colored Choice Shrubs and the distinctive
white container at your local garden center. Welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show,
Stacy. I don't know if you'vegotten over the party yet. I
hear they're still cleaning up. Andwhat a party it was, the Arbor
Day celebration. I mean that's abig deal. You know. I went
(33:28):
as Forrest Gump this year. Yeah, yeah, it's amazing. What a
party. They even had Spruce Springsteenthere. So you know Arbor Day,
make sure to celebrate it, makesure to send cards to friends and family.
I mean, Arbor Day is abig deal to me. Arbor Day
is a big deal, but youknow it is. I understand it's different
in every state. Every state hasits own Arbor Day, so we could
(33:50):
all have different I mean, doyou celebrate only Michigan Arbor Day? Are
you like, just like having amonth of celebration, celebrating every arbor Day.
No, I can't do that.That's too much, all right.
Talking about shade today and our friendwho said shade is hard, I wrote
a quick shade lament a limb arick here it comes. I like the
(34:14):
occasional accolade for the plants around myyard displayed, but praises are diminished.
I think I'm almost finished. I'velost my battle to dent shade. I
enrolled in gardening classes. My plantsgrow slower than molasses. Lack of light
has left a mark. I'm sittinghere in the dark. I lost my
(34:35):
expensive sunglasses. What options? Ibehoove that my plants would approve. Their
stems are weak and stretched. Mydreams are all far fetched, called the
realtor, I'm going to move.And you know, with shade, some
people, Stacy, really start tothink of that as a viable option.
Well, yeah, I mean Ifeel their pain. So I'm curious when
(34:59):
you talked about shade plants becoming longand stretched. You know, the scientific
word for that is ediolated. Didyou just not have a rhyme for it,
and you're limerick ediolated? Yeah,did you just not have a a
rhyme for it? Because I wouldhave been impressed if you had gone for
the rhyme with ediolated. I lovethat, Stacy, I would I would
admit to you. No, noteducated in that regard, and so give
(35:22):
us that word again. Ediolated etio L A T E D. Now,
anybody who's tried to grow succulents indoors, particularly like one of those nice
film Rosette succulents, you know whatit means. I understand the condition.
I just can't pronounce the word.Yeah, ediolation is the phenomenon of elongating
and getting thinner to stretch. Forthe life, I'm going to do an
(35:43):
ediolation limerick for you, somebody.Oh, I can't wait, all right.
On a previous show, we talkedabout beneficial insects. Blocks away from
the French Quarter fine dining stalwarts,the Autubon Insectarium in New Orleans has long
served up an array of alternative insectbased treats at its Bug Appetite Cafe overlooking
(36:08):
the Mississippi River. They have thingslike cinnamon bug crunch, chili fried waxworms,
and crispy Cajun spiced crickets. They'reon the menu, green salad with
apple almonds, blueberry vinegarette, androasted cicadas. They're jumping on this cicada
(36:28):
bandwagon. You know, we talkedabout that the big summer for cicadas,
and so that's going to be adeal this year. I guess there's menus
and cookbooks, including titles like CicadaDelicious from the University of Maryland. So
there you have it, all right. I guess they're still working out the
bugs on this. You know.I wish them luck because New Orleans certainly
(36:52):
is one of the best food citiesin this entire country. And you know,
when you kind of have shrimp atsufe, I'm not really sure that
the chili fried wax worms are goingto be able to compete against New Orleans
legendary food, but to each theirown. Yeah, I'll make like Ed
McMahon and say you are correct man, all right, so you know,
(37:15):
being a runner, though, Ido eat a lot of bugs inadvertently,
and generally they don't taste like much. And it's also difficult to identify when
you're outside. It's difficult to identifybugs on your granola bar. If you're
eating a granola I can see that. So you probably eat more insects than
you think you do, right,just not deliberately. A whole different thing
(37:37):
when you're like, all right now, I am choosing to eat chili fried
wax worms rather than oh, grud, I just swallowed him. Nat where
I'm paying big money for this.Archaeologists have recently discovered two intact, sealed
eighteenth century glass bottles during mansion revitalizationat George Washington's Mountain. I love that
(38:00):
place when I've visited there, andas part of the landmark privately funded forty
million dollar mansion revitalation revitalization project atMount Vernon, they made a significant discovery
to intact European manufactured bottles in themansion cellar. They're green glass bottles.
(38:23):
They smell like cherries. There's aliquid in them that you can even see
some of the cherries still in thebottle. What a cool discovery. Yeah,
that's I can't believe it wasn't discoveredsooner. Really. Yeah, well
they say that, you know,as they remodel and they pull this up.
They're very deliberate, intentional about carefullyexcavating areas of potential disruption, and
(38:47):
they find things from time to time. And now they found these bottles that
contain liquid and were probably placed thereprior to the war for independence. Wow,
amazing, Yeah, that is socool. That's fantastic. All right.
Helsinki, an artisan roastery based inthe Finnish capital, has introduced a
(39:09):
coffee blend that has been developed byartificial intelligence. We did a show a
few weeks back about AI plants.Well, in this case, they took
coffee and essentially made a mix thatwas AI generated aiicnic blend. Helsinki,
(39:30):
Finland and Finland, I guess,a nation of five point six million that
consumes the most coffee in the world, at twelve kilograms per capita annually.
I did not know that. Sothey're big coffee drinkers there, and they're
using AI to make these coffee roasts. Yes, of the blend, so
they're like they used AI to decidewhich beans and varieties they would blend together.
(39:54):
Now. I was prorised to readthis because I was in Helsinki last
fall and I actually had coffee andbreakfast at this exact roastry and it was
it was excellent. You were asI was at that exact roastry. Yeah,
Kafa Kafa. I'm sorry if I'mnot pronouncing that right, but I
was there. I was actually sittingright next to the roasters on the other
(40:15):
side of a glass wall. Andif they had had the AI blend,
I certainly would have tried it,but they did not. That is so
cool. Kafa Roastery. Yeah,is the name. Very cool place.
I'd like to go there. Soit answers the question, what have you
been up to? Well, you'vebeen to Helsinki and you've had this coffee,
so pretty cool. Pretty cool?All right? Uh well, latte
(40:39):
da look at what we have here, all right. A study published earlier
this year in the Journal of Zoologysuggests humans are mistaking American black bears for
bigfoot. I can see that.So Merriam Webster defines a cryptid as an
animal that has been claimed to exbut never proven to exist. And there's
(41:04):
a data scientist called His name isFlow Foxen. Flow Foxen and fond of
titling studies. For example, flowFoxen did a study the Lochness monster.
If it's real? Could it bean eel? If not a fake?
What's in the lake? But isn'tthis great? So people think that they
(41:29):
have seen bigfoot and it's probably abear at least in his studies, especially
in the Pacific Northwest, long believedto be sasquatch in natural habitat. It's
statistically significant associated with black bear populations. For every one thousand bears in an
(41:52):
area, they found a four percentincrease in the number of bigfoot sighting.
Oh interesting, they actually they aren'tjust theorizing it's most likely a bear.
They're saying, we know there's aheavy bear population here, there was also
heavy bigfoot sightings. It therefore isprobably yea a bear. And you know
if a bear poor thing gets mitesor you know, some sort of disease
(42:14):
and it can kind of make itshead look kind of bald and its snout
looked kind of bald. That wouldbe pretty scary. I couldn't blame someone
for thinking. But you know whatthe important thing is if it keeps people
away from bears, then we're allthe better for it, because people should
stay away from bears and not messwith you. You got that right,
no question about it, just personaland if you're out in the woods,
(42:38):
you know. I'll close with thisjust to mention this is sad. Wildfires
are already starting in Canada and we'llprobably see the effects again this year.
A number of wildfires this past weekend, so feel bad for those folks.
This would be in British Columbia andso something that we're going to have on
(42:59):
our radar again this summer. Well, you know what, we should do
a show on fire skating because thatis a big issue for more and more
people. And even if it's notan issue where you live, it sure
doesn't hurt to plant for alleviating fire. So that'd be a good topic for
a future show. Looks like likean issue that, as last year,
(43:20):
is going to continue to be anissue moving forward. Love doing the show
with you, Stacey, Thanks somuch, Thank you, Adriana and most
of all thanks to you. Rememberwe're on YouTube, podcast, and radio,
so make sure to tune in whereveryou wish, and thank you very
much. Enjoy your week.
Coming to you from Studio A atProven Winners Color Choice Shrubs. It's time
for the Gardening Simplified Show with StacyHervella, me, Rick Weist, and
our engineer and producer Adrianna Robinson.Hey, you know, we received a
note from someone one of our YouTubeviewers simply stated, shade is hard.
(00:26):
I like that. Yeah, itis hard. Talk about honesty, that's
fantastic. You know what's hard?Chicken wire? Two words for you,
chicken. Have you ever tried toput up chicken wire? Snags on your
clothes? Cut you up, can'tput it up neatly? I think chicken
wire? Or watching the squirrels eatthe buds off my flowering shrubs after they've
(00:47):
made it all winter long. That'shard. Yeah, that's also very hard.
You know, this shade issue makesme think of Michael Collins. Of
course, I was an Apollo ageboy when they were doing the moonshots,
and Michael Collins, of course wasthe pilot in the Command Module Columbia while
(01:08):
Buzz and Neil were on the lunar'ssurface. Took the eagle down there to
kind of look around, and hewas the loneliest man on Earth. And
when you go around the dark sideof the moon, dark cold, total
radio silence. You are cut offfrom everybody. I always think about him
when I think about shade. Idon't know why that must that must have
(01:34):
been much harder than gardening in theshade. I'm just gonna put that out
there. But you know, gardeningin the shade does. It is tricky,
and it is hard, and alot of times I think shade gardeners
can feel like they're a little bitdeprived. But I do just want to
start off by saying, shade gardenershave one huge advantage, and that's that
no matter what time of the yearit is, you can work in your
garden. True, it's the middleof summer, You've got a nice shady
(01:57):
place to go, and I leisurelypull some weeds, enjoy the cooler temperatures.
I don't have very much shade atall, and so you know,
I have to pretty much get mygardening done early in the morning during the
summer because I can't be out ofmy garden in the middle of the day.
I'll burn up. You know,it's a good point, Stacy.
As a matter of fact, ifyou look up definitions of shade, shade
(02:17):
is a term used to describe somedegree of relief from the sun. Yes,
so there you go. So maybeshade isn't that hard. Maybe we
need to look at it from adifferent angle. And by the way,
Proven Winners has a great perennial astill be called dark side of the moon.
(02:38):
Yes, it's a beautiful I seewith purple foliage. Gorgeous chocolate brown,
purplish foliage. Yeah, cool plant. Anyhow, all right, let's
get into the shade issue here,and I'll get right to the point.
If you want to be successful inthe garden in shade, first of all,
you use plants adapted to shade conditions, and those are usually plants stacey
(03:01):
that have thinner foliage and bigger foliageto be efficient at absorbing the light or
photosynthesizing in areas where there isn't alot of light. Correct, right,
Yeah, big leaves are generally notalways characteristic of shade tolerant plants. And
one thing that you'll hear very oftenis that, like for example, with
(03:23):
a tree where it's inner leaves orshaded, or a plant that is more
subn tolerant and growing in shade,is it will make shade leaves which are
naturally much larger, to increase thatsurface area to try to absorb more light
and do a little more photosynthesis.Absolutely, you have to improve the soil,
especially if the soil is poor dueto root competition. So think woodland
(03:46):
floor. So I like to thinkof somewhat acidic, humous soils of the
forest. Shade plants have adapted toappreciate those types of soils, Stacey.
When you're dealing with trees, especiallythose that have shallow, fibrous roots,
that can become a big issue inshade. It's not necessarily the lack of
light, it's the root competition,right. Sometimes you just can't get anything
(04:10):
to grow underneath there. It's notan easy situation. So you have to
look at the different types of shadeand then adjust accordingly. Now, the
different types of shade, I think, are the different degrees six degrees in
my mind, light shade, partialshade, full shade, deep shade,
(04:32):
structural shade, and night. Rememberthe comedian George Carlin forecast for tonight dark,
continued darkness till morning, then scatteredlight. I personally, when it
comes to shade, I love filteredshade because during the day it seems to
dance in the garden, and Ilike working with filtered shade. Yeah,
(04:54):
and that counts pretty much as apart shade conditioner, parts on in supportant
to remember that most plant come andthese including proof of winners, use part
shade in parts sign would be interchangeable, just kind of meaning the same exact
thing. Filtered shade generally occurs underthe canopy of a high canopy of a
tree, and so not only isit sort of magical and beautiful, it
(05:15):
also gives you a little bit moreflexibility in what you can do that is
the best, but also I wouldsay potentially the rarest for a lot of
people who are gardening in shade.Yeah, exactly. Although deciduous trees often
can provide some measure of filtered shade, it's the coniferous trees where you can
just really have serious problems. Backoff on nitrogen fertilizers when you're trying to
(05:41):
grow in the shade, I callthem processed foods, use a slow release,
and organic fertilizers I'm thinking bacteria,microbes, organic material, lots of
it. It really improves your successin the shade. Mulch the plants and
then develop a talent with dealing withsnails and slugs. I have many different
(06:05):
methods we don't have time for.Maybe someday we'll tell you. Do you
have a big snail and slug issuehere on the lake shore. No,
we don't have a much out herebecause it's fairly dry. But I have
certainly, you know, garden whenI was gardening in New York. You
know, you go to like pulla weed and you stick your fingers right
in a sloppy slug. That's nofun. It's a slugfest. I tell
(06:26):
you what, And you know whathas always worked good for me, just
real briefly, and that is roofingshingles. I just got strips of roofing
shingles. Put them underneath the plants. It really helps with the snails and
slugs. Now, of course,we can give you a long list of
plants to grow in the shade.We can sit here and say, oh,
you can grow in the shade.All you got to do is try
such and such, and of coursethere are great plants for shade. But
(06:50):
looking at that environment and again,Stacy getting back to the soil, I
can't help it. Every time I'vetried. That is what makes the difference
between success and failure. Yeah,for sure. And you know that's why
a lot of gardeners will refer todry shade is the most dreaded type of
shade because that's the hardest to findthings that will grow in it and do
(07:15):
well. Now, you kind ofcourse amend the soil. You talked about,
adding compost, multing, You cando all of those things. But
sometimes you know, if you havedry shade because you have sandy soil like
we do out here, or it'sdry because it's next to a big tree
that's sucking up all the moisture,that does severely limit your options. Yeah,
exactly. Now, ephemerals like wildflowers, of course, are in nature
(07:38):
suited to absorb the sunlight while theycan before the trees leaf out, may
apple, trillium, and many ofcourse wildflowers will go dormant in summer.
That's their protective adaptive mechanism in shadeand makes all the difference in the world
there too. So again, plantsstrategies are employed by plants. You know,
(08:03):
I've looked at at leaves of plantsthat love the heat, and it's
almost stacked cells thick leaves in shadethin leaves, more mass area to absorb
light. Perennials like Virginia brunera,hucara ferns of course hostas stillbies. I've
(08:24):
had success with all of them.I did want to ask you, Stacy.
I believe that one of the mostunderutilized and maybe doesn't have the publicity
that some other annuals get, andthat is wishbone flower or Catalina Terennia midnight
blue or any of the terrannias.Do you like truck I love them they
(08:46):
are so this is an annual thatyou can grow in shade. Great for
hanging baskets. I do absolutely loveit. And it's called wishbone flower because
when you look inside the flower andthey have beautiful, rich colors, there's
a tiny little wishbone structure in therethat is adorable and delightful. Great plant
for kids, and I do loveit. And I have a shady front
(09:07):
porch, so my house face isnorth the house the front is shady,
so I have tried to grow terinya, thinking oh, yeah, this is
great, and the deer also unfortunatelyloved it. So just a little heads
up there if you're thinking, oh, I finally have but it's great for
a hanging basket for sure, becausevery often hanging baskets like on front porches,
are in shade. And that's whyyou know, the big buston ferns
(09:28):
and everything are so popular, youbet. And I know that they're doing
a lot of testing on Terrania inFlorida and other climates because again I think
that it's underrated and something you mightwant to consider. And then as far
as shrubs are concerned, I peakedat what your plant on trial is today,
(09:50):
so I know that I'm not stealingyour thunder here. I just wanted
to mention that Stacy, both youand Natalie here at proven Winter's color choice
shrubs got me very interested in Kodiakorange dear villa, and I have had
success growing that in shade. Yeah, it is known to be a shade
tolerant plant, and you know,I'll talk a little bit about more about
(10:11):
it when we talk go into plantson trial. But there's a difference between
tolerating shade and thriving in shade anddoing what you hope it will do in
shade, and so we're focused onplants that will do what they say they'll
do in shade. There you go. Shade is hard, but we'll talk
you through it. Part of thereason we're here on the Gardening Simplified Show,
(10:35):
Prooven Winners Colored Choice Shrubs cares aboutyour success in the garden. That's
why we trial and test all ofour shrubs for eight to ten years,
making sure they outperform everything else onthe market. Look for them and the
distinctive white container at your local gardencenter. Greetings, gardening friends, and
welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Showwhere we're talking about shade. We had
(10:58):
a listener on YouTube say shade ishard, and that is true. But
I would like to say that inmy many years of helping people garden here
in my current job, in myprevious job, if there's one universal truth
I can say, it's that thegrass is always greener on the other side,
right, very true. So shadegardeners are like, oh, if
only I had a little bit andof sun, And some gardeners are like,
(11:20):
boy, it's sure would be niceto have, you know, maybe
a little patch of shade here.I'd love to grow some hostas, I
would love to grow some you know, terania, all these different things that
actually need shade and you know,we hear from warm climate gardeners who say,
oh, I really want to growlilacs, and we hear from cold
climate gardeners who say, I wantto grow citrus in avocado. So it
(11:41):
is very common, I think forgardeners to wish they had what they don't
have. Plant envy, plant envy, and you know it does pay.
I think too, I've really changedmy approach to gardening, you know,
having a house and dealing with alot of challenges. I never thought i'd
deal very sandy, extremely dry soildeer, which I definitely did not think
(12:03):
was going to be an issue infull full sun. And I have found
for myself that rather than try tomope while I did some moping, rather
than mope a whole lot about whatI can't grow and what I can't do,
I've kind of accepted, you know, working with the things that work.
And I find a lot more satisfactionin that because I'm not then,
(12:24):
you know, spending my time andenergy trying to change things from what they
are. And I find that Ireally really appreciate the plants that can tolerate
that that I have to do solittle for and look great while they're tolerating
all those challenges. You can't beatthem. Join them. Well, that
was the approach that I eventually took. It did take time. I'm not
(12:45):
gonna lie, it's a lot oftime. So you know, everybody feels
like what they have is hard.And I will say, for sure,
you do have a more limited plantpalette when you have shade, because of
course plants need sun to photosynthesize,and there's obviously less sun in shade for
the plants to photosynthesize enough. Andso the number of plants that can actually
(13:09):
thrive in that condition can do againwhat they're supposed to do, which is
to say, are they going toflower? Are they going to grow?
Well? Are they going to bedense and you know, a compact and
attractive. That's a relatively small number. But the great thing is when you
have the right plant for the rightplace, with all the challenges, when
everything comes together, you appreciate itso much. And that is where today's
(13:31):
plant on Trial comes in. Okay, all right, that was a long
intro and it's a plant that Iyeah, but it's a good point.
It's just like buying a house,location, location, location, Well,
I did have that in mind.When I bought my house, I thought
I had the perfect location. Idid not expect the deer, the sun,
the sand, I knew that,but the deer that was not expected.
But today's plants on trial is onethat I am going to hazard a
(13:54):
guess that many many of our listenershave never heard of. May be seen,
but I'm I'm guessing most have notheard of it even in the garden
center, folks. Will I watchpeople who will just walk by it because
it just doesn't reach out and grabyou like some of the other plants,
right except for when it is havingits shining moment, which we will get
(14:15):
to in a moment. And today'splant on trial is sweet and low,
sweet box. And if you're sittingin there going did she just say sweet
box? Yes? I did.It is known botanically as Sarco coca.
And if you want to know itswhole name, which is one of my
absolute favorite botanical names in all ofbotanical names, it's Sarco coca, Hooker
(14:35):
Yana humulus. Wow, that soundslike an all you can eat lounge that
I visited in Las Vegas. DoneSara Coca? What is it? Sarco
coca? Wow, I've been there, so sweet box. If you can't
get sarco coca, I know thatis a long one. And this is
(14:56):
a plant. You know, obviouslyI could have picked from a number of
plants we offer that can grow inshade and will still flower and still do
some other stuff. But this isa plant that actually needs shade. So
this is the plant for you ifyou have deep shade and you've been thinking
what do I do? How doI manage this space? Because it actually
(15:18):
wants it, It's not merely toleratingit. In fact, we have it
on our website as needing part tofull shade, which is very unusual.
So this plant can basically grow incompletedark. So people keeping score at home
are probably thinking, Stacey, okay, so ugly and boring, and you
could not be blamed for things that. Now do you want to say it
(15:39):
can't grow in complete dark. Itdoes need to be outdoors. You're not
going to put this in your closetor your guest room that never gets any
sun. But it can grow infull shade. And yes, people probably
do think, okay, well,if it can do all of this,
it's probably one of the ugliest,most boring plants in the history of the
universe. And the answer to thatis it is not. It is definitely
not. And I think that oneof the things that's so special about it
(16:02):
is that it is a winter andspring blooming shrub. Very few of those,
so another rarity on here. Andso it blooms like the warmer your
climate, the more mild your climate, the earlier in winter it will bloom.
So that is why another common namefor this plant that you might see
or read about out there is Christmasbox because in England and very very mild
(16:25):
of climates like that will actually bein bloom all the way in December.
For us, it usually starts bloomingmore like February March, and if,
of course, if you're in awarmer climate, probably more in the January
February range. And the flowers arevery unique. Most people probably would not
look at it and go, oh, that's a flower, because they're not
the conventional you know, five pedaledflower with the centers. They look like
(16:45):
a little tuft of white threads tippedwith red. So they're very interesting.
But what's so special about them istheir fragrance, and it is one of
the most beautiful, intense delightful fragrancesyou can imagine. So, I mean
just think of being, you know, in your garden or walking around your
yard on a sunny winter day andyou get this, you know, whiff
(17:07):
of something that's so fragrant, smellslike it could be summer, and it's
arco coca. Man, that isinteresting, Stacey. I'm sitting here thinking
this would be a good plant tocombine with hellabores in a shape. Oh
my gosh, it would be beautifulwith elibors. Yeah, fantastic accommodation right
there. Yeah. And so youwere saying Rick that you know people walk
(17:27):
by this plant in the garden centerbecause especially in a garden center situation,
it would have already bloomed by thetime people are actually shopping in the garden
center. So they do also don'thave that experience of walking by it and
going, WHOA, what was thatfragrance from? Whereas if they did,
I think that a lot more ofthese would be sold. So this is
a plant that you kind of haveto know about and seek out. It
(17:48):
eas easy to find, as Ricksaid, but it's not going to be
the one that just like grabs yourattention when you're out in the garden center.
So but it's worth knowing about becauseit is so special. And so
it isn't evergreen, and it isa ground covering shrub, So this isn't
going to be one of those tallshrubs you're going to be putting Christmas lights
on or anything like that. Itnaturally grows with a ground covering, suckering
(18:11):
habit. And I know a lotof people here suckering and they think,
whoa, whoa. Absolutely not soundslike it's going to be a nightmare,
and it isn't. It's actually afairly slow growing ground cover, so it
doesn't make a nuisance of itself.It just over time spreads to form a
really nice colony that is going tokeep weeds down, it's going to stabilize
soil, it's going to conserve organicmatter, it's going to conserve water for
(18:33):
anything that it's planted by. Soit's a really great problem solving shrub that's
just, you know, I thinka lot different than people expect for shade.
And so it's called sweet and lowSarco coca because it naturally grows to
be about one and a half totwo and a half feet tall, so
you can kind of imagine it's alittle bit of a taller ground cover with
(18:55):
a woody base, glossy evergreen foliagebotanically speaking related to boxwood. So that
is where the box the box partcomes. So if you can imagine a
boxwood, that's what its foliage iskind of going to look like. It's
a bit bigger, but it hasthat same dark green glossy quality. Doesn't
sink like boxwood, can you know? I know some people have issues with
that. It's only some boxwoods dosmell. But if you've smelled a boxwood,
(19:21):
it's not something that you soon forget. So thus the line sweet and
low, sweet and low sweet boxyeah sor give it to me a cocca
for those keeping score at home.No, that sounds like those packets of
sugar substitute that you put in yourown well that yeah, you know,
we might have been a little inspiredon the name by by something else called
(19:41):
sweet and low. But it's sweetbecause of the fragrance and low growing and
again just a great problem solving shrubthat. I don't think that people who
have shade need to feel like they'rebeing tossed like a consolation prize, right
exactly. I can't grow this.I kind of wish I could. It's
pretty great. Now. One thingyou do need to know about it,
it does need moist, acidic soil. So going back to that whole thing
(20:04):
about you know, dry shade beingthe hardest, that is still true.
Unfortunately, sweet and low sweet boxis not going to be a solution for
you if you have dry shade unlessyou amend your soil. It really needs
to be moist and acidic. Andif it isn't, what's going to happen
is the plant is going to justreally struggle. The folia is just going
to be kind of like yellow andwash out. You can manage all of
that with fertilizeders and iron. Butjust going back to this notion of like
(20:27):
planting things that want to be there, you know, that are going to
thrive and make less work for youknow, this is a low maintenance plant
provided you are able to you know, give it those moist, slightly acidic.
I does have to be super acidic, you know, even somewhere close
to neutral is totally fine. Itdoes like mulch as you were talking about
(20:48):
with with other shade plants, andyou know, pretty average water needs doesn't
need pruning since it's just staying atthat. You know one and a half
to two and a half feet,you know height, dear resistance, extremely
dear resistant. So what a problemsolver? Right? It's beautiful. And
when you have a problem solver thatis unique, that gives you a season
(21:08):
of interest beyond what you're normally expecting, you know, to get out of
a plant, I think it's justit's a great gift really to shake gardeners.
I think today's show has been aboutplants that don't get the recognition that
they should get. They're Rodney dangerfieldplants. They get no respect. So
(21:30):
anyway, if you have shade andyou've been struggling for a nice groundcover or
an interesting plant, or maybe justthey're tired of what you already have,
look for sweetened low Sarco coca atyour local garden center this season. Again,
you might have to do a littledigging because it's not one of those
plants. It's going to be like, look at me. But sometimes that's
good. We need those plants inour garden because you can't look at everything
(21:51):
all at once. Of course,you'll find more information about sweet and low
sarco coca on our website, GardeningSimplified on air dot com, or if
you're watching YouTube version of our senit. We're going to take a break
and when we come back, we'reopening up the garden mail bag. At
Proven Winner's Color Choice, We've gota shrub for every taste and every space.
(22:14):
Whether you're looking for an easycare rose, an unforgettable Hydrangea, or something
new and unique, you can beconfident that the shrubs and the white containers
have been trialed and tested for yoursuccess. Look for them at your local
garden center. Greeting's Gardening friends,and welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show.
Spring is in full swing and thequestions are rolling in because my goodness,
(22:36):
it's that time of year where you'relike, what do I do?
Should I shouldn't I h The answer, of course, is always don't walk
away from the garden until you canget an answer that you can use.
Don't just go doing things without knowingwhy you're doing them. But we're happy
to help you here, and ifwe can't get to your question, because
we do get so many questions,you can always reach out to Proven Winners.
(22:56):
Just go to Proven Winners dot com. There's a little place there.
It says questions, feedback, We'relistening, and someone one of our horticulturists
will get back to you with apersonal answer that will help you resolve your
issues. But of course you're alwayswelcome to reach out to us, because
if you're having a problem, chancesare if someone else is having a similar
issue or conundrum. So what dowe got in the mail bag today?
(23:17):
All right, so Sherry writes tous, Hello, I have a vegetable
garden in our backyard. My husbandwants to use combination pesticide fertilizer products on
the lawn that run alongside the garden. Should I be concerned about the chemicals
leaching into the garden making the vegetablesunsafe to eat? How large of a
perimeter should he leave around the gardenso it'll be unaffected. I enjoy gardening,
(23:40):
but also do it to have organicproduce? Yeah? So I understand
absolutely, And even if your goalis not organic produce, it is important
to consider what chemicals are potentially beingused around an edible garden, just to
make sure you're not ingesting anything nasty. And you know my answer to you,
Sherry, First and foremost, andthis is for anybody considering, you
(24:03):
know, applying any chemicals in thegarden at all, for any purpose,
whether they're organic or conventional or whateveris, you have to read that instruction
booklet. There is so much informationthat will answer all of those questions about
like how far does it need tobe by a vegetable garden, how long?
How soon can I harvest my vegetablesif I have used this product.
(24:26):
That's all in the guide book tothe chemical. Now. The problem,
of course, as many of uswho have ever used any kind of garden
chemicals know, is that all thatinformation is in that silly little sticky book
that they put on the back ofthe container. No, you know,
I get it. There's a lotof information that they have to fit into
a little tiny space. But sothey have. They're doing the best that
(24:48):
they can with what they have.But like you get your reading glasses,
you know, don't let it getin the rain or get any you know,
product splash it and cause everything torun. The good news is,
thanks to the Internet, you cando all of this research ahead of time
online where it is readable and youcan zoom in and do all of that
(25:11):
and you will find everything that youneed to know. It should give you
information about, you know again,how soon you can harvest, how far
away it should be kept from edibleplants, and all of that. Now
you know, to be safe.As we've talked about, a plant's roots
will generally go about one and ahalf times its height latterly and about eighteen
to twenty four inches in the ground. So if you're thinking about your garden,
(25:33):
say you're going to have, youknow, a six foot tall tomato
plant at the edge there, thenI would say that you are going to
want to make sure you're leaving abouta nine foot buffer just to be perfectly
safe. Well, said Stacy.Read the product label. The whole point
here is this, we've been gardenersfor a long time. Doesn't matter how
long you've been gardening. We readthe label. It's there for a reason,
(25:56):
and follow the directions. Also,I agree with maintaining a perimeter.
I do not like growing lawns rightup to the base of a tree.
It's not healthy for a tree.I don't like growing turf right up to
a vegetable garden. I say,leave a perimeter, a buffer zone of
some bark mulch. I think that'sa good way to go. All right,
(26:18):
so right, a couple of differentthings. But again, when in
doubt anytime it comes to chemicals,whether they're organic or conventional, make sure
you are reading that book and findthat book is difficult to deal with,
as we all do, then takethe time to just look it up online.
You will not only find all ofthe application instructions, you know,
caught precautions and all of that,you'll also find something called the MSDS,
(26:41):
which is the Material Safeties and DataSheet, and that will tell you all
about any other potential hazards with thechemicals that are in that particular product,
and use the amount they're recommending.Yeah, don't put in a double dose
just because you feel like it.Not a good idea. All right?
Question from Nancy. Two trees thatwere meant to be a matched pair.
Nancy sent us a picture. However, one looks like it's struggling. The
(27:03):
other one got broken off in thesnow. Should I replace them? And
I did look at these these pictures, Stacey, and one thing I would
mention I noticed in the picture inthe fire corner there's some garlic mustard down
there. You might want to godeal with that. Yeah, garlic mustard
is is an invasive weed. Now, I have to say, as far
(27:25):
as invasive weeds go, it isone of the easier ones to manage it.
It pulls up very easily in therosette stage. Just yank it up.
Yeah, very easy to pull out. But yeah, if you let
it go to seed, you know, forget it out it. So so
do take a look at what garlicmustard looks like if you're not familiar with
that, and get that out.But it does not have anything to do
with why your pines are struggling,Nancy. And you know I thought a
(27:45):
lot about your question. Is Ilooked at your photos and you know I
have I have two answers, andso there one is a yes answer and
one is a no. One isa yes you should replace them, and
one is a no you shouldn't replacethem necessarily. So yes side. You
know, life is just too shortto sit around worrying. Well, I
(28:07):
mean when it comes to the garden, you know, I've just it's just
like our growing season's too short,Our time to be outside enjoying the garden
is too short, and life ingeneral is too short to sit there coddling
and worrying about something that just doesn'twant to be there. You're here or
you know, certainly with the snowdamage, there's not much you can do
about that. But I think thecombination of the fact that you know,
(28:29):
the one got snow damage and theother one is struggling means there's something there
that that this particular these pines justaren't happy. Now, one thing that
you can do, especially with theone that's struggling but hasn't gotten broken,
or even the one that's broken,because sometimes you can get something real artistic
and interesting out of that. It'sjust move them. It's there's any number
of reasons why they might not bethat happy in that particular spot, and
(28:52):
you know, Gardener's all over willtell you I move this, just you
know, saying like, hey,it's got one last chance, I'm going
to move it. And that newspot was perfect and it did really well.
So my answer is, yes,you should replace it because they don't
seem that happy and life is tooshort. But on the other hand,
I do want to just consider thatif you can maybe do a little bit
of detective work and thinking about howthe surroundings impact this plant, it might
(29:17):
be you might be able to saveit so, and I sent Adriana picture
so these will be in the YouTubeversion. I encourage you to look at
these photos. I'll put them onthe website at Gardening Simplified on air dot
com as well. I have asuccess story, a success story that I
never thought would actually occur. Sowhen I moved into my house, there
was a magnolia, a magnolia stillata, so you know, the white kind
(29:38):
that just finished blooming, and itwas doing very poorly. It was two
sticks and it was like, oh, I mean when I say half dead,
that's not an exaggeration. This thingwas literally half dead. My neighbor
had a black walnut tree that wasyou know, right up against it.
And so that we're in you know, submit emits jug loan, which magnolias
are sensitive to the jug loan orthe a lellopathic chemical that can suppress growth
(30:02):
of certain plants. And so youknow, they took the walnut down because
I wanted to put in a fencefor their dogs. That was fine,
and so I thought, okay,it's going to start, you know,
you know, recovering, and youknow it's it looked okay. What I
started doing was hanging my hummingbird feederon it. So that was the only
reason I didn't take it out,because I was going to take it out
because it looked so unhappy. Butyou know, for the first year,
(30:25):
I was like, I'll just putmy hummingbird feeder here, and I'm like,
hey, the bird's kind of likethis, And so, you know,
we kept kept the tree, andthen we put in a new downspout
for our roof, and just sohappened that we directed the water to the
magnolia. If you look at thismagnolia to this day, you will not
believe your eyes. This thing hasshot up probably ten feet is full.
(30:48):
It was absolutely positively covered in flowersthis year. And so the combination of
losing that black walnut and having thatsupplemental water that it wasn't getting before from
our roof from rainfall made a hugedifference, a difference that I never could
have imagined if I hadn't seen itmyself. So we're going to share those
pictures. So I think that whenyou are questioning should I remove this should
(31:11):
I keep it, it's a goodidea to say, what can I do
differently that could make a difference inthis plant's health. You know Ryl Crow
was right. A change will doyou good sometimes, yes, right,
And I looked at the pictures.One I think is umbrella pine can be
notoriously difficult to get started. Theother that weeping or pendulating pine tree.
(31:37):
Nancy tells us it was snow andice, And I believe you, Nancy,
But consider the fact that with thoseoften you'll see squirrels and or birds
perch and they can do damage atthe top also. But I would not
throw in the trowel on that thing. I'd see where it goes. Yeah,
see where it goes. Or likeI said, if you have another
place to move it, consider thatand then put something. Especially if it's
(31:59):
if a plant that you're looking atdoesn't do isn't doing well, and it's
in an important spot where you lookat it all the time, or your
neighbors or whatever. That might bea time where you say, I'm going
to put something that I think willdo better here. I'm going to move
this and give this another chance somewhereelse. But again, life is too
short. No one should have tosit there and look at a struggling plant,
because that's just depressing for everybody.So you have it's your garden.
(32:22):
You always have permission to do whatyou think is right, taking an educated
guess at what the issues surrounding itmight be. So do check out our
website, Gardening Simplified on air dotcom to see Nancy's conundrum as well as
my success story, which, tobe honest, has exceeded my expectations,
as you will see if you getto look at those photos. So we're
(32:43):
going to take a little break.When we come back, Rick's going to
tell you all that branching news,so stay tuned. The Gardening Simplified Show
is brought to you by proven winnersColor Choice Shrubs, Our award winning flowering
shrub and evergreens have been trialed andtested for your success so you enjoy more
(33:04):
beauty and less work. Look forproven winners Colored Choice Shrubs and the distinctive
white container at your local garden center. Welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show,
Stacy. I don't know if you'vegotten over the party yet. I
hear they're still cleaning up. Andwhat a party it was, the Arbor
Day celebration. I mean that's abig deal. You know. I went
(33:28):
as Forrest Gump this year. Yeah, yeah, it's amazing. What a
party. They even had Spruce Springsteenthere. So you know Arbor Day,
make sure to celebrate it, makesure to send cards to friends and family.
I mean, Arbor Day is abig deal to me. Arbor Day
is a big deal, but youknow it is. I understand it's different
in every state. Every state hasits own Arbor Day, so we could
(33:50):
all have different I mean, doyou celebrate only Michigan Arbor Day? Are
you like, just like having amonth of celebration, celebrating every arbor Day.
No, I can't do that.That's too much, all right.
Talking about shade today and our friendwho said shade is hard, I wrote
a quick shade lament a limb arick here it comes. I like the
(34:14):
occasional accolade for the plants around myyard displayed, but praises are diminished.
I think I'm almost finished. I'velost my battle to dent shade. I
enrolled in gardening classes. My plantsgrow slower than molasses. Lack of light
has left a mark. I'm sittinghere in the dark. I lost my
(34:35):
expensive sunglasses. What options? Ibehoove that my plants would approve. Their
stems are weak and stretched. Mydreams are all far fetched, called the
realtor, I'm going to move.And you know, with shade, some
people, Stacy, really start tothink of that as a viable option.
Well, yeah, I mean Ifeel their pain. So I'm curious when
(34:59):
you talked about shade plants becoming longand stretched. You know, the scientific
word for that is ediolated. Didyou just not have a rhyme for it,
and you're limerick ediolated? Yeah,did you just not have a a
rhyme for it? Because I wouldhave been impressed if you had gone for
the rhyme with ediolated. I lovethat, Stacy, I would I would
admit to you. No, noteducated in that regard, and so give
(35:22):
us that word again. Ediolated etio L A T E D. Now,
anybody who's tried to grow succulents indoors, particularly like one of those nice
film Rosette succulents, you know whatit means. I understand the condition.
I just can't pronounce the word.Yeah, ediolation is the phenomenon of elongating
and getting thinner to stretch. Forthe life, I'm going to do an
(35:43):
ediolation limerick for you, somebody.Oh, I can't wait, all right.
On a previous show, we talkedabout beneficial insects. Blocks away from
the French Quarter fine dining stalwarts,the Autubon Insectarium in New Orleans has long
served up an array of alternative insectbased treats at its Bug Appetite Cafe overlooking
(36:08):
the Mississippi River. They have thingslike cinnamon bug crunch, chili fried waxworms,
and crispy Cajun spiced crickets. They'reon the menu, green salad with
apple almonds, blueberry vinegarette, androasted cicadas. They're jumping on this cicada
(36:28):
bandwagon. You know, we talkedabout that the big summer for cicadas,
and so that's going to be adeal this year. I guess there's menus
and cookbooks, including titles like CicadaDelicious from the University of Maryland. So
there you have it, all right. I guess they're still working out the
bugs on this. You know.I wish them luck because New Orleans certainly
(36:52):
is one of the best food citiesin this entire country. And you know,
when you kind of have shrimp atsufe, I'm not really sure that
the chili fried wax worms are goingto be able to compete against New Orleans
legendary food, but to each theirown. Yeah, I'll make like Ed
McMahon and say you are correct man, all right, so you know,
(37:15):
being a runner, though, Ido eat a lot of bugs inadvertently,
and generally they don't taste like much. And it's also difficult to identify when
you're outside. It's difficult to identifybugs on your granola bar. If you're
eating a granola I can see that. So you probably eat more insects than
you think you do, right,just not deliberately. A whole different thing
(37:37):
when you're like, all right now, I am choosing to eat chili fried
wax worms rather than oh, grud, I just swallowed him. Nat where
I'm paying big money for this.Archaeologists have recently discovered two intact, sealed
eighteenth century glass bottles during mansion revitalizationat George Washington's Mountain. I love that
(38:00):
place when I've visited there, andas part of the landmark privately funded forty
million dollar mansion revitalation revitalization project atMount Vernon, they made a significant discovery
to intact European manufactured bottles in themansion cellar. They're green glass bottles.
(38:23):
They smell like cherries. There's aliquid in them that you can even see
some of the cherries still in thebottle. What a cool discovery. Yeah,
that's I can't believe it wasn't discoveredsooner. Really. Yeah, well
they say that, you know,as they remodel and they pull this up.
They're very deliberate, intentional about carefullyexcavating areas of potential disruption, and
(38:47):
they find things from time to time. And now they found these bottles that
contain liquid and were probably placed thereprior to the war for independence. Wow,
amazing, Yeah, that is socool. That's fantastic. All right.
Helsinki, an artisan roastery based inthe Finnish capital, has introduced a
(39:09):
coffee blend that has been developed byartificial intelligence. We did a show a
few weeks back about AI plants.Well, in this case, they took
coffee and essentially made a mix thatwas AI generated aiicnic blend. Helsinki,
(39:30):
Finland and Finland, I guess,a nation of five point six million that
consumes the most coffee in the world, at twelve kilograms per capita annually.
I did not know that. Sothey're big coffee drinkers there, and they're
using AI to make these coffee roasts. Yes, of the blend, so
they're like they used AI to decidewhich beans and varieties they would blend together.
(39:54):
Now. I was prorised to readthis because I was in Helsinki last
fall and I actually had coffee andbreakfast at this exact roastry and it was
it was excellent. You were asI was at that exact roastry. Yeah,
Kafa Kafa. I'm sorry if I'mnot pronouncing that right, but I
was there. I was actually sittingright next to the roasters on the other
(40:15):
side of a glass wall. Andif they had had the AI blend,
I certainly would have tried it,but they did not. That is so
cool. Kafa Roastery. Yeah,is the name. Very cool place.
I'd like to go there. Soit answers the question, what have you
been up to? Well, you'vebeen to Helsinki and you've had this coffee,
so pretty cool. Pretty cool?All right? Uh well, latte
(40:39):
da look at what we have here, all right. A study published earlier
this year in the Journal of Zoologysuggests humans are mistaking American black bears for
bigfoot. I can see that.So Merriam Webster defines a cryptid as an
animal that has been claimed to exbut never proven to exist. And there's
(41:04):
a data scientist called His name isFlow Foxen. Flow Foxen and fond of
titling studies. For example, flowFoxen did a study the Lochness monster.
If it's real? Could it bean eel? If not a fake?
What's in the lake? But isn'tthis great? So people think that they
(41:29):
have seen bigfoot and it's probably abear at least in his studies, especially
in the Pacific Northwest, long believedto be sasquatch in natural habitat. It's
statistically significant associated with black bear populations. For every one thousand bears in an
(41:52):
area, they found a four percentincrease in the number of bigfoot sighting.
Oh interesting, they actually they aren'tjust theorizing it's most likely a bear.
They're saying, we know there's aheavy bear population here, there was also
heavy bigfoot sightings. It therefore isprobably yea a bear. And you know
if a bear poor thing gets mitesor you know, some sort of disease
(42:14):
and it can kind of make itshead look kind of bald and its snout
looked kind of bald. That wouldbe pretty scary. I couldn't blame someone
for thinking. But you know whatthe important thing is if it keeps people
away from bears, then we're allthe better for it, because people should
stay away from bears and not messwith you. You got that right,
no question about it, just personaland if you're out in the woods,
(42:38):
you know. I'll close with thisjust to mention this is sad. Wildfires
are already starting in Canada and we'llprobably see the effects again this year.
A number of wildfires this past weekend, so feel bad for those folks.
This would be in British Columbia andso something that we're going to have on
(42:59):
our radar again this summer. Well, you know what, we should do
a show on fire skating because thatis a big issue for more and more
people. And even if it's notan issue where you live, it sure
doesn't hurt to plant for alleviating fire. So that'd be a good topic for
a future show. Looks like likean issue that, as last year,
(43:20):
is going to continue to be anissue moving forward. Love doing the show
with you, Stacey, Thanks somuch, Thank you, Adriana and most
of all thanks to you. Rememberwe're on YouTube, podcast, and radio,
so make sure to tune in whereveryou wish, and thank you very
much. Enjoy your week.
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