May 18, 2024 • 45 mins
Decorators take a unique approach to plant shopping: they know what they want, they get it, they plant it. We discuss how you can use this approach to make plant shopping easier and more fun. Featured shrub: Anna's Magic Ball arborvitae.
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(00:02):
Coming to you from Studio A atProven Winners Color Choice Shrubs. It's time
for the Gardening Simplified Show with StaceyHervella, me, Rick Weist, and
our engineer and producer Adrianna Robinson.So today Stacey, we talk about the
decorators, the people who just wantto decorate with plants. Forget the science,
(00:24):
forget the origin of the plant,forget the rules. It's all about
decorating. And I loved these peoplewhen I owned and ran a garden center,
I loved the decorators. They weresome of our best customers. Well,
you know, you've got to lovea person who comes in with a
vision. You know, they wantthe color that they want, They've got
an idea, and all they wantis to just get in, get out,
(00:47):
and get that stuff in the groundand make it look pretty exactly.
It's understanding your garden style. Itallows you to narrow down your plant selection,
flower choices and design elements that bestsuit your personal taste or the personal
taste of the individual you're working for. Now. Often in the garden,
I recommend working in threes. Threeis an easy number, it's not overwhelming,
(01:10):
it looks natural, and you canbasically decide on a color scheme and
mood you want to convey. That'swhat I liked about the decorators. They
had an idea of what they wantedbefore they got to the garden center.
Then they took plants and put themin groupings of three on their carts,
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knowing where they were going and whatthey were going to do, what they
wanted to accomplish. Is kind oflike you Stacey with your mom on Mother's
Day weekend, right, Yeah,you know. But I do have to
say it is great if you gointo the garden center with that mentality,
but I don't. I actually don't. I don't go I have an idea
of what I want, but youalways have to keep your options open.
(01:52):
So I want to say that,you know, even though we're talking about
this idea of being a decorator andgoing in there and being confident and you
know, just having this this driveto make it about the color and about
accentuating your space, much like aninterior decorator would, it's okay if you're
not that. You know, there'sthere's These are both valid ways to shop.
And I think that a lot ofpeople who you know, we've talked
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a lot recently about reluctant gardeners orhesitant gardeners, scared gardeners taking that decorator
aspect, like you don't go intoyou know, like home Goods or some
store like that, afraid that you'regoing to pick the wrong throw pillow for
your sofa. You just pick thepillow and if it doesn't work out,
well, then it doesn't work out. It's not that way. You have
a deal. You can take thatsame approach with gardening exactly. Now I've
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used for folks who aren't necessarily decoratorsor designers, I've used proven plant pairings.
So we'll have this link at thewebsite Gardening Simplified on air dot com.
But it's proven plant pairings and essentiallyyou take a simple four step quiz.
So I took the quiz yesterday.I went with pink and orange only
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because I love that combination. Andthe recommendation after taking the quiz was miss
Molly, butterfly bush at last roseand color coded orange orange, you awesome
cone flower. And I thought thatwas great. So then I took the
quiz again four steps, this timeputting in another combination I love blue and
(03:24):
yellow, and I got this recommendationDecadence, false Indigo, stand by me
Clematis and Tuscan gold sunflower. Bothof them worked. Oh I love both
of those worked. One of thoseplants and so fun to do that.
Now. Another thing that you cando is you can also use a recipe
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search Proven Winners makes that available toyou. As a matter of fact,
when I went to it the otherday, I saw that there were over
one thousand, two hundred combinations.Fantastic. For example, I was drawn
to a re called home Style,and we're gonna put that link in the
show notes. Home style included aplant I know you love, Stacy Vermillionaire
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firecracker plant kuf oh, I loveit, gotta have it every year,
Calibricoa tropical sunrise, color Blaze Colius, Sedona Sunset, super Tuna, Bermuda
beach and Illusion Pennilaz sweet Potato vine. And of course that combination Stacy uses
a plant that I recommend if youwant to have decorating style in your landscape
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this summer, the Colius, thecolor blade Blaze, Colius. It's almost
like I liken it to painting awall or putting up wallpaper. It is
that foliage provides season long color.You know, colias are such a great
choice no matter what your gardening skilllevel is. And I'm thinking right now
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of my mom, who hopefully wewill be able to find these colius that
she likes to put in her frontplanners. Every year she picks these dark
red kind of colius, and we'veused a couple of different ones that we've
been able to find, and sheputs them in two great, big containers
on either side of the garage andthey echo the color of her front door.
And she has had people stop theircars and ask her what they were
(05:16):
because they look so beautiful and theyhave just the right conditions. She waters
them, she fertilizes them, andI mean she looks like a rockstar gardener,
and she, you know, isnot quite that. Love you Mom,
but I think she'd be the firstto admit that. But like she
loves how great they make the yardlook. And all she had to do
was again pick up on that colorof the front door, find that in
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the colius, and run with it. And essentially that's the goal of proven
Winner's plant genetics, and that isthe plants are going to perform for you,
make you look like a rock starmake you look like a decorator.
And I think Colius is ideal.Again when I first came in, not
to make myself look old here,but when I first came into the Garden
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Center, Colius was only for shade. Oh yeah, that's it, and
you could only get Wizard mixed,and you could only you got it exactly
and just for the shade. Nowyou can grow them out in the full
sun. And of course the onein this mix, the color Blaze cos
Sodona mix. Boy, I lovethat. So the Container Garden recipe search
link is going to go on theshow notes so that you can do the
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same thing that I did here.And it's loads of fun even if you
don't act on these combinations, it'sloads of fun just to search through them.
And you also don't have to takethe whole combination. You know,
the one that you just listed soundsgorgeous, but that's like five different plants
exactly, you know, and youcould certainly take bits and pieces of that.
And one of the really nice thingsabout the proven Winner's combinations is it's
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not just about the colors and theforms. They have attempted to match vigor
so that you don't have one plantthat's completely overtaking everything else, and then
that makes it a high maintenance plantingbecause you gotta pinch it, you gotta
prune it, and make sure itdoesn't take over the whole container. So
they try to match plants with equalvigor. And so it's still a good
starting point even if you don't wantto do all five plants. A super
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important point. You are right onthere, Stacey, because I take an
example of planting annuals in spring.I love the grass vertigo, but it's
very aggressive. You put super tuniaswith it, like bubblegum. They both
are very aggressive, so they manageto get along. So very very important.
(07:29):
You bet all right. I've gota decorator, limb a rick for
you. And as I said atthe outset, having run and owned a
garden center, I love the decorators. I love these folks. Many of
them will walk into the garden centernot looking like they're ready to sling around
bags of kalmanor nicely dressed, butthey've got a plan, they know what
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they want, and so here's mydecorator, Limerick. My flowers are ideal,
my colors are surren My neighbors Iimpress, so drive by my address.
I live for curb appeal. Myfront walk is gold plate. I'll
never acclimate. My front door isjade green on the cover of a magazine
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year round, I decorate my placehas a pink trellis. My style is
well over zealous. You might callit vanity, this addictive insanity, but
I just think you're jealous. Theysay that I have a gift and others
got the short shrift. So eachholiday I'll be giving subscriptions to Martha Stewart
(08:37):
Living to heal our neighborly rift.How is that that was wonderful? My
style is over zealous. You know, I love that because it fits you,
but it fits everybody because you know, you can go all the way
out when especially when it comes toannuals in the garden. Like it's so
you know, even if you don'tlike it, you only have to live
with it for like three months,and then by the end of the season,
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you're like patting yourself on the thinkingI'm going to do that again because
you realize, you know, goinga little overboard is what you are supposed
to do with annuals. Stacy,do you ever put plants in pots?
And then two weeks later pull someout and move them. Oh heck,
yeah already. Oh yeah, ofcourse they do say here, you know,
you don't. I think that there'sa huge misconception and I feel like
I've said this before that gardeners getthings right the first time, right,
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And that's not the case at allgardeners. If gardeners are getting it right
the first time, it's only becausethey got it wrong the previous you know,
twenty seven times, and now theyfinally internalized it and can get it
right the first time. So yeah, I mean, there's no harm in
moving something even later on in theseason if it's not working. Annuals are
very you know, amenable and veryflexible like that, you bet. My
decorator friends, of course, nofoliage is super important. We mentioned the
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color blaze colius or things like hostaor lemon, coral seed them sun king
aurelia of course, ferns, cannas, hugh kuras love the heart to heart
kalladiums, what a great for decorating. You can go on and on,
and of course stacey grass is alsothe graceful grasses like fireworks, Queen king
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or baby tut. I recently planteda favorite of mine vertigo and skyrocket.
And you can of course get perennialgrasses to incorporate too, like prairie winds,
shy and sky Panicum. Just greatplants for decorating. So try matching
some containers in your landscape. Favoritecolor you look for repetition in the landscape,
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use window boxes and hanging baskets.And of course, Stacey, I
think hydranges and roses are perfect fordecorating. They absolutely are. I want
to go back briefly. You mentionedKing Queen and Prince Tut. Those are
papyrus, so like the same papyrusyou learned about in elementary school with the
Egyptians, those are such a greatchoice. If you have one of those
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containers, and we all have them, probably most of us do. You
bought this beautiful ceramic container and ithas no drainage, and you think,
what do I do with it?Will you plant one of those tuts in
it? Because those can grow andstanding water, they can grow in a
muddy soil. It will be allthe better for it, And then you
know, talk about decorating. Thereason we usually get attracted to those pots
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is because they were so beautiful wecouldn't resist them, and that's a great
choice for those containers with no drainage. You couldn't contain yourself exactly. So
there's so many great ones. Ithink easy color is important for decorating.
I got to give a shout outto Superbina verbinash because they have a color
range that's wide. They're very vigorous, so rock and Fuchia Salvia's so many
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great plants to choose from, solittle time. Speaking of which plant on
trial is next and we're going tosee what plant Stacy Joe's to feature today
in our decorating show that's coming upnext here on the Gardening Simplified Show.
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Proven Winner's Color Choice Shrubs cares aboutyour success in the garden. That's why
we trial and test all of ourshrubs for eight to ten years, making
sure they outperform everything else on themarket. Look for them and the distinctive
white container at your local garden center. Greeting's gardening friends, and welcome back
to the Gardening Simplified Show. Youknow I wanted to when we're talking about
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decorating. You know, it's onething to talk about decorating with annuals because
annuals are mostly just for decorating.You get your containers, you put them
on the deck where you're going tobe enjoying, you know, the summer
and barbecues and all of that.But you know, when it comes to
perennials, shrubs and trees, thosehave an element of decorating as well.
And I know it's a lot higherstakes when you're investing a bigger commit into
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you know, a shrub or perennialor a tree, and so that gives
people a lot of paralysis. AndI think that a lot of that same
paralysis is what bleeds over into theannual shopping, even though again it's much
lower stake. So we understand howdifficult that can be for people and how
many choices you have and you wantto make the right choice. So we
have started a new playlist, anew feature on our YouTube channel that we're
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calling Plant Panel, And what wedo is we have people right in with
the places they need a plant suggested, a shrub, you know, suggested
for in their yard. They senda picture and a little description of you
know, what their situation is,sunshade, their hardiness, own obviously all
the things we'd need to know torecommend a plant, and then myself,
my colleague Natalie, and Christina wesit down and we all make our plant
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recommendations and say why we have recommendedthose specific plants. Fun. It's almost
like a game show. It isa little bit like a game show and
the dating game or I don't knowwhich game show Wood Squares. But it
has been really fun and it's agreat opportunity for you to get some perspective
and ideas, and then you getthree different ideas instead of just one.
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You know, I have always I'vealways kind of dreaded when people have asked
plant recommendation questions because I'm like,well, I don't know what your style
is. You know. They neversay like, oh I like this or
I love this color. They're justlike, I don't know what to put
here. Help me, And thiskind of gives us an opportunity to all
weigh in. We had a lotof fun doing it and we're going to
continue to do it. So youcan check that out on our YouTube channel.
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And if you want to submit yourown garden for consideration by the plant
panel, you can just go toProvenwinner's Color Choice dot Com click the contact
tab. There is a special contactform just for plant panel in there,
so please, please please, ifyou're going to submit something for plant panel,
include a photo. It's so hardto try to suggest plants without a
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photo because for me, you know, I like to pick up on those
cues of what's the house architecture,Look, what's the vibe, you know,
what else is there? And thatto me helps me kind of create
that whole narrative. And I definitelyin the plant panels we have done so
far, I have definitely created anarrative, probably more than the than the
(15:03):
askers have wanted. But in anycase plant panel, but of course you
have to throw environment into that alsowhen you're looking at these various plants.
I like a landscape to tell astory, and you know, I like
the stories behind plants, and that'swhy we do Plants on Trial in fact,
is so we can kind of tellthe story behind the plants and tell
me all about the plants. Whichbrings me to today's Plants on Trial,
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and that is Anna's magic ball arborviting. I love that plant. And I'm
going to challenge you a minute,and I'm going to say, let's go
right to the story of the individualwho brought this plant to the market.
Yeah, it's kind of like this. Yeah, and I'm going to link
this in the show notes so youcan actually read it yourself. But this
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plant came to us from a formernurserate is now closed down, Van Vloten
Nursery in Canada. So Casey vanVloten, he was a nurseryman himself,
from a nursery family. Do youknow him. I love that name.
Oh well, yeah, it's Dutch. He's Dutch. I love it.
And that's why I wanted you togo there. Okay, well, you
(16:07):
know nursery in the Dutch they kindof go hand in hand. I mean,
the Netherlands to this day is sortof the world capital of ornamental horticulture,
and it's why we also have somany nurseries here in West Michigan.
So because of the Dutch heritage.So Casey van Vloten selected this. And
even though the name is Anna's MagicBall, the cultivar, so the trademark
name is Anna's Magic Ball, thecultivar is Anna van Vloten, and that
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was named for his mother, andso we used the Anna's part in the
name and Anna's Magic Ball. Itwas the name that we chose, and
so I was looking up Anna becauseof course I wanted to make sure that
he was naming this for his motherand not someone else. And she was
indeed his mother, and she unfortunatelypassed away in two thousand and seven,
but lived a truly extraordinary life.I'm going to link her obituary in the
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show notes at Gardening Simplified on airdot com so you can read it.
But you know, she was bornand raised in the Netherlands. Her family
joined the resistance during World War Two, and she refused to sign a pledge
of loyalty to the Germans. Andit's just it's a fantastic story. So,
uh, take a moment to readabout the namesake Anna van Vloaton.
But you probably want to know whatit looks like before you decide if you're
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going to actually add this wonderful plantto your landscape. Now, I do
want to say I went. Ireally was like all of the plant choices
were churning in my head for thespecial decorating episode. You know, how
do I pick, like what's themost decorative? And yeah, my brain
immediately goes to hydrangeas Because I cannottell you. Over the years, the
number of interior designers who have reachedout two proven winners and asked for recommendations.
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Oh, I'm an interior designer,and I'm going to I want to
see a Hydrangea from the window inthe interior colors or this, and you
know which one would you choose?They get very you know, into the
color. So my first thought wasHydrangea's But then I thought, you know,
when you're when you're quote unquote decoratingor landscaping with shrubs, do you
really want to invest in something thatonly looks good for a few months of
(18:02):
the year. And Hydrangees, forall of their wonderful qualities, they're kind
of like they got a little bitof a short windows in terms of,
you know, if you look atthe whole year. Sure, And I
also want something that possibly I couldput into a planter or yeah, so
lots of decorative choices as well,So I thought a lot. And I,
you know, usually try to saveall the evergreens for winter plants on
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trial when they make a little moresense. But no, I said,
I'm going with an evergreen because thatis what you want when you are quote
decorating your garden with trees and shrubsis something that's going to provide year round
interest in year round beauty, andAna's magic ball does that in a couple
of different ways. So it isan evergreen, it's an arbor id,
and it naturally grows with this justdarling, round, dense shape and people
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love that, right. I mean, you know when people see those like
tidy little evergreens, it's just likeit's like seeing a puppy or a kitten
or something thing. It's like theplant version of that. They just go
crazy. It feels like all iswell, everything's in order, right,
everything's just like it's it's tidy.They know that it's not going to like
grow out of control. They feellike they can predict what it's going to
do. And so in addition tothat nice and tidy little shape, anath
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magic ball arborviety is also right cold. Is that why it's called magic ball?
You can kind of predict what it'sgoing to do. I didn't pick
up on that, but I likeit. Does it predict the future?
I have not shaken it up toask it, but uh, I forget
what the answers are. Answer isunclear at this time. Okay, proceeding
right, so it reaches two tothree feet tall and wide, so a
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really great and useful shape. AndI think when you have this really tidy
kind of shape for landscaping, there'sso many possibilities, and I think the
possibilities become a lot more obvious thanif you have something where you don't really
know how will this look in thelandscape. When you have this little kind
of like oversized bowling ball shape,it's a little bit easier to predict.
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So classic choice would be, forexample, planting it on either side of
your front porch, you know,one on either side of your steps or
something like that. But we haveit planted in the trial gardens here as
kind of a low hedge with spacein between them, and we put supertunias
between them, and so they kindof become like they're kind of rolling in
this frothy meadow of flowers, whichis really pretty. You can plant them
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closer together and get that kind oflumpy, undulating hedge look, and you
can plant my containers and that's whatyou were just talking about. It's fantastic.
And you know, some time agowe did a show on plants you
want to touch? Oh yeah,this is a plant that fits. It's
just so cute. It's so cute. And arbor vitis I feel like they're
always that kind of plant you wantto touch because the way that their branches
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grow, they're soft, they lookkind of like coral, they're fragrant.
I mean, arborvity is an extremelytouchable plant. And I you know,
in terms of seeing this in acontainer, I think it would be gorgeous
in an urn because it is kindof a smaller plant, and so an
urn would really help to you know, get it up higher into a visual
plane in your yard so you cansee it a lot better. Classic a
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pair of anas, magic bowl arboridiand urns on either side of your front
door would be beautiful if you wantthem there all year. Just of course,
make sure they are made out ofa weatherproof material. It's not going
to leave you with soil on theon the ground in the middle of January
because it's all cracked and broken.Can I put Christmas lights on it?
Can you put Christmas lights on it? Can you? Ever? You know,
I think that's an underrated feature ofplants for decorating. And I,
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you know, I used to workat tevern on the Green restaurant a place
that was known for having like lightsand just being really over the top,
and in my time there, Iquickly discovered what a nightmare it is to
try to put lights on plants thatdon't really necessarily have a lot of structure.
I get those dwarf elbird of sprucesand containers. Couldn't be easier,
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you know, They're just that littletriangle, and so Ana's magic ball is
similar. It's got that nice roundshape. You can even use those net
lights and just kind of cast itright over there and it will make you
look like a professional. And that'syou know, So that's another way that
you can use this plant to decorate. Now, it is hardy down to
USDA Zone three heat tolerant through USDAZone eight, much more heat tolerant than
a lot of people had assumed arborvedywere. But Judson lacompt Are Southern native
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and new plant director, new plantmanagement director, he has he's grown it
successfully in Texas and is confident inthat USDA Zone eight heat tolerance definitely is
gonna want mulch in that area.So Arburvidy in general have very shallow roots,
so mulch is very very helpful forkeeping those roots cool and moist all
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year round. But other than that, it's an easy to grow plant.
You're gonna grow it in more sunto part shade in the north, definitely
going part shade to shade if you'regrowing it in the south, just to
help keep it a little bit cooler. And of course, since it's an
arbovidy not terribly deer resistant, youdo need to know that. But you
know, maybe if you don't havea terrible deer problem like Rick and I
(23:00):
do, then you might be ableto get away with it and earns on
your front porch. They might notget that daring, but I think our
deer would probably be that daring theywould treat themself. They certainly would.
So we're going to put the fulldetails at our website, Gardening Simplified on
air dot com. Just click onthe show notes, and of course if
you're watching YouTube, you'll see itall there. But you can see more
about it and of course read aboutthe amazing life of Anna van Vloten,
(23:23):
the plant's namesake. We're going totake a little break. When we come
back, we're opening up the gardenmailbag, so please stay tuned at proven
winner's color choice. We've got ashrub for every taste and every space.
Whether you're looking for an easy carerose and unforgettable hydrangea, or something new
(23:45):
and unique, you can be confidentthat the shrubs and the white containers have
been trialed and tested for your success. Look for them at your local garden
center. Greetings gardening friends, andwelcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show,
where it is our pleasure to helpour listeners out there with their gardening questions.
And if that is you, thenyou can reach us at Gardeningsimplified on
(24:07):
air dot com. There's a contacttab you can even attach a photo.
Write us at your gardening conundrum andwe will be happy to help and give
you the resources you need to solveyour problem, or fix the issue or
whatever. Clarify the issue very often. So what do we got in the
mail bag? First question here Stacy, Hi, Rick and Stacy. I
(24:29):
have a two inch caliper tree Ijust brought home from the nursery. During
the transport, some branches were damaged. If a branch broke near the middle,
should I prune it right at thebreak point or prune it back to
where the branch grew from or backto an outward facing bud. Boy,
this question is right in my wheelhouse, Stacey. Anyway, that number one,
(24:52):
I've loaded many trees in the carsover the years, and there's a
real art to loading them and transportingthem home, giving them the support and
not whipping the daylights out of themas you head for home, especially if
you're getting on the expressways. Yes, it is. Nothing makes me cringe
like seeing a plant going down thehighway in the back of a pickup truck
(25:18):
with no tarp, no nothing that'spainful. You just have to you know,
you have to lay them down,you have to position them properly.
You've got to buy some soil amendmentswhen you buy that tree so that you
can nestle them under the trunk ofthe tree to support it a little bit,
to keep those branches from breaking.Now that said, with this question,
I have strong opinions on this,Okay. I really believe that with
(25:41):
a branch like that, you cutit back to the point of origination,
to the trunk, and of coursethere's a branch collar there, a swelling
where you just prune up to thatbranch collar. The tree will easily heal
itself produce new growth. Yeah,I think that's the most natural choice.
Now, I do think one possibleexception, because again my advice to this
(26:02):
person was a YouTube comment was alreadylike, by all means take it back
to its point of origin. Soif it's a main branch, that could
mean the main trunk of the tree. If it's a side branch, that
could mean just going back to thebranch that it was it was coming off
of, so not taking off thatwhole branch. But it just looks more
natural now. Again, the onlyexception I would say to this is if
you were if you have a reallysmall tree that doesn't have a lot of
(26:23):
branches, and taking that off isreally going to leave you with very little,
because what's going to happen is thenthat tree has just lost all that
energy and it's going to be alot harder for it to get established because
it has less you know, leavesto make photos, to synthesize and to
make energy. But overall, absolutelyI would say take it back, find
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that branch, bark color. Wehave a video on our YouTube channel about
how you make a proper cut ona tree because it's a little bit different
than shrubs. And yeah, ifthis happens, it's unfortunate, But try
not to get, you know,too sad about it. Try not to
feel too badly about it. Youknow, down the road three five years,
you won't even remember that it actuallyeven happened, as long as you
(27:07):
bring up properly exactly. Jessica writesto us, Hello, Stacey and Rick,
got a bit of a puzzle foryou today. Do you guys have
any mulch alternatives. I live inthe South, so I need to keep
my plants cool and moist, butI'm also waging war against the fire ants
in my backyard. Mulch makes themtoo hard to spot in their nests,
too easy to sneak under my nose. Any ant vice is welcome, and
(27:32):
Jessica said, ant vice, notme. Yes, I did catch up.
Very well done, Jessica, Thankyou. You know, this is
a situation where I just have toapologize to Jessica and every other Southern gardener
who as a lifelong Northern gardener,I'm just like, oh, yeah,
but mulch, it's fine. Youknow, this is one of those problems
that I've never had to deal with, and I know from when I have
(27:55):
visited the South. Fire ants arejust a horrible, horrible problem, you
know, and so it's it's notI certainly don't mean to, you know,
just like brush this over. SoI'm really grateful for Jessica for asking
this question because it helps give meperspective on all the things that Gardner's out
there have to deal with. SoI did have to turn to the internet
and do some research on this,since I'm not super familiar with fire ants
(28:17):
and in their habitat. I learnedquite a bit. And I want to
say I'm going to share the linkfrom Texas A and M University where that
I thought was very helpful because thiswas about this link that I read was
specifically about things that you can doin your yard to make it less hospitable
for fire ants. But I dowant to say that the article concludes by
saying, quote unquote, cultural practicesalone will never eliminate this pest. So
(28:42):
in a lot of cases, youknow, we're able to say, Okay,
well you can get rid of aphidsby doing X, Y, and
z. You can get rid ofthis past by doing that. You know,
you've heard it from the experts atTexas A and M. Just cultural
practices are not going to be enough. And you know, with fire ants,
if you're not familiar with them,when they it is extremely painful.
I mean people have died from beingswarmed by fire ants. So this is
(29:04):
not you know, just like anuisance ant that's just making ant hills.
You know, they really do causea threat to your life and to your
enjoyment of the yard. So onlysmall stone mulches are effective in deterring fire
ants, so like a pea gravelor something like that, so not even
like a larger one. Now,the trouble with that, as Jessica points
(29:25):
out, she needs to keep herplants cool and moist, and stone typically
heats up the area around the plant. So one thing that you can do
is, you know, use thatmulch over the spaces in between your plants,
but then as you get closer tothe plant, just kind of end
it so there's like a little haloof soil around the plant, so it's
not going right up to the baseof the plant, because that will help
keep it a little bit cooler directlyaround the plant itself. Now, the
(29:51):
article does mention that there is someclaims out there that cedar mulches can be
a deterrent to fire ants. Butthey said there's no scientific research that has
been done in that yet. ButI could see that possibly working because cedar
is slower to decompose, so maybeit's not making the environment as rich in
(30:11):
organic matter, it's not breaking downas much. But again they're not saying
this is one hundred percent true,just that cedar mulches may be effective.
Of course, that doesn't help Jessica'sissue of making them too hard to spot.
And then another one that I wantedto mention that may or may not
be practical depending is a new techniquethat's really embraced by sort of the new
(30:32):
perennialist native plant movement, and thatis using sedges as mulch. So sedges,
the botanical name is carracks. Thereare boatloads of them, many natives
to North America, many not.I think it's native across the entire country
from one extreme to the other.And they tend to grow in shade,
and they tend to spread, andso a lot of garden designers are actually
(30:55):
using sedges as mulch instead of actualmulch. Now I don't really know exactly
what plants. Do you know interms of the fire ants, but I
would think that the root competition hopefullymakes it a little less appealing to the
ants. Yeah, and I thinkthis problem Stacey, is no different than
any other problem, and that iswhat you have to do, is you
have to take a look at whatenvironment best suits this pest. And with
(31:18):
fire ants, they prefer sunny,open spots. So I like that sedging
idea, using a sedge or somethinglike loriape at the base creating a cooler
Using that in lieu of using multch, I think would be a great way
to go. And then bearing inmind that if you're going to use some
(31:41):
controls in addition to the living multch, remember contact controls are not going to
work, and that baiting is fara far better way to go. Yeah.
And you know, the thing aboutant bate, and I've talked about
this on the show before, isthat it is very targeted to fire ants,
so there's little risk to other organisms. It's not like a spray where
(32:04):
things are going to land where theymay. It's very targeted to the fire
ants. And again this is whereIPM Integrated Pest Management comes in. You
have to do the most effective methodof controlling them. That obviously has the
least impact on non target organisms,and of course is the most beneficial to
your family because fire ants are nojoke. Stacy real quickly, Jamie writes
to us and sends pictures about adogwood on their property. Bought the home
(32:30):
ten years ago and it should bewell established by now. They've done no
pruning to the tree, but arewondering if they should have. We're going
to have the pictures for you onthe YouTube version of our broadcast here,
and of course in the show notesand Stacy, when I take a look
at the pictures that Jamie sent,of course we see the telltale lichens on
(32:51):
the tree, meaning the growth isreally slow. The tree isn't necessarily happy
where it's at. And when Ilook at those pictures and I look at
the surrounding turf, at least inmy eye, I see compacted soil and
that may be part of the problem. Yeah, definitely, the turf is
not ideal for a dogwood. Dogwood's, you know, grow sort of on
the wood edge with a loose orhigh organic matter soil. The tree is
(33:14):
certainly established, so there's no questionabout that. It's tall. But Jamie
included two photos of the flowers.It's a pink native dogwood with pink flowers.
And when I saw the picture ofthe flower, I said, there's
the problem. It has dogwood anthractnosethreats. And you can see on the
flowers it has these kind of purplishbrown dots and that is a tell tale
(33:34):
sign of dogwood anthractnose, and dogwoodanthractnose definitely hits dogwoods that are more stressed.
So, like you said, sortof this issue of the soil not
being ideal compacted. I'm sure thatthey are pretty shade tolerant, So I
don't think that the oaks that Jamiementions are causing the issue. I do
think it's the anthractnose. So whatI would say to do here if you
want to save the tree, andshe says that she does, I would
(33:57):
call an arborist in and get iton a treatment plan for anthracnose. And
I think that if you are ableto treat it for maybe just a year
or two, because it's a fungaldisease. So if you're able to treat
it for a year or two andyou clean up all the foliage when it
falls this autumn, you could havea chance of controlling it. And once
that anthractnose is gone, I thinkthe tree, you know, maybe with
(34:17):
some extra water, some supplemental waterif it needs it, some mulch around
it, rather than the grass,I think it could come back. Don't
throw in the trowel exactly. Iagree, a dogwood tree can recover from
anthrak yep and Jamie. We willput some resources for you or anyone else
who is suspecting their dogwood might haveanthracnose in the show notes at Gardeningsimplified on
air dot com. We're going totake a break. When we come back,
(34:39):
we've got branching news. Don't missit. The Gardening Simplified Show is
brought to you by proven winners ColorChoice Shrubs. Our award winning flowering shrubs
and evergreens have been trialed and testedfor your success so you enjoy more beauty
and less work. Look for provenwinners Colored Choice shrubs and the distinctive white
(35:01):
container at your local garden center.Welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show.
It's time for branching news and Stacey, I just need a little bit of
therapy here right at the start.This is the time of year when people
come out of the woodwork and they'llmessage me, call me, ask me
for advice, ask me to stopby take a look at their plants that
(35:24):
are really struggling. And I wantedto mention that so many times I walk
into a yard and the shrubs andtrees are struggling or stretched. But the
individuals are using the same type ofwatering for the shrubs and trees as they
(35:45):
are for the turf. And youcan see the damage on the plants.
The rhododendrons are dealing with it.The shrubs and trees just not robust and
healthy. And the point is,and here's my therapy. I keep trying
to get the message out when youwater shrubs or trees, you water them
when they need it. That's whenyou water them. And turf is so
(36:08):
much different than shrubs and trees.And so if you set that irrigation clock
in early spring, set it andforget it until Halloween, your shrubs and
your trees are going to struggle.And trying to get that concept driven home
sometimes it is difficult. Yeah,And you know, I've seen that my
(36:29):
father in law's house, he didn'thave his irrigation on there as a leak.
He didn't fix it. And soall these plants that were used to
years of extra irrigation, they're reallystruggling, even though they are mature,
established plants, all of a suddentrying to deal now with this decrease in
water is really taking a toll onthem. So it doesn't really do you
any favors, and it just wastewater. Right, So you have to
(36:51):
water when the plant needs it.And I know that's easy to say and
more difficult to do, but you'vegot to pay attention to the weather and
conditions. I found a really greatwebsite and I had fun with it.
It had sound effects. We're goingto put the link at the show notes
Gardeningsimplified on air dot com. Butthis is a great website that asked the
(37:15):
question is it a plant or acomic book character? And then you play
this little game and it was fun. The crowd will cheer if you get
it right, and of course youget the raspberries if you get it wrong.
For example, it would put upa picture and the word cactus.
(37:36):
Is cactus a plant or a comicbook character? Well, I mean,
I know it's a plant, butit could also be a comic book character.
I don't know, So you haveto select both get raspberries? Is
there a nun? Neither? Isthere neither option? No, So you
pick plant character or both, andin the case of cactus, both was
(38:00):
the correct answer. Cactus Man isa prickly plant man featured in many Marvel
comics. He has a vegetable bodyand the ability to regenerate damage at a
phenomenal rate, including replacing lost bodyparts. Cactus Man can fire his needles
in a deadly barrage. Oh well, I have grown cactus in my own
(38:22):
garden, and I know that havingthe needles in your in your skin,
that's not pleasant, not fun.I mean, it is a weapon.
Cactus is essentially a cucumber with aggressivebehavior. You could say that, right,
that's what a cactus is. Actually, they make great friends. They
will never desert you. String trimmers. I got more therapy for me.
(38:43):
Here go battery powered. Can't standthose gas operated trimmers, and it's a
pain to restrain those things. Oh, everything about him is a pain.
Everything about him is a pain.Thank you, I say, I just
need this support, this therapy.Now here's some suggestions for you that I
got from a professional string trimmor operator, a guy who does it every day.
(39:08):
Number One, he says, storeyour line the replacement line in water
like permanently. Yeah, often youhave to change the water. You don't
have to change the water if youdon't want to, unless mosquitos are a
problem. But keep your line inwater. It takes about a week for
it to completely soak. And theother thing he said, always walk from
(39:30):
right to left. That's the correctway to walk, and then trim with
the very tip of the line.The only thing that will cause a good
quality trimmer line to break at thehead or taper down for an inch or
more is operator error, he wassaying in a nice way, Rick,
you're not doing it right. Well, I've had plenty of operator errors in
(39:51):
the times I have attempted to usestring trimors. It is easily one of
the least fun jobs in the garden, even and I have an electric one.
The other thing about string trimmers isthey're dangerous. Oh yeah, you
know. You can cause a lotof damage to plants. And I would
say, if you have a lawnservice or not, even if it's a
family member cutting your lawn and allof a sudden, a shrub or perennial
(40:12):
or something in your yard suddenly dies, you better be looking at the base
for a string trimmor disease, becauseget it, it happens, you got
it. And if you are usingthat string trimmer, of course where protective
eyewear. That's really important too.But I'm going to start storing my string
trimmor replacement string in a bucket ofwater instead of the package and see if
(40:35):
it helps. I guess we'll see. Speaking of decorating and design, a
California man ordered by his city toconceal the boat parked in his driveway with
a fence, hired his artist neighborto paint a photo realistic image of the
boat in an act of rebellious compliance. I saw the Sure they did a
(40:57):
great job. I love that atthe unconstable is the name of this individual,
he said. The boat he usesfor fishing was regularly parked in his
seaside driveway for about four years beforehe received a letter from the city informing
him of a municipal code requiring boatsand trailers to be screened on the side
and front by a six foot fence. So initially a constable was angry,
(41:23):
but then he hired his artist neighbor, and this thing went viral. As
a matter of fact, the citymanager himself got a laugh out of it
and thought it was very, verycreative, and they're just gonna let it
slide now they You know, theneighbor did a great job. I'm not
surprised it went viral because when Ilooked at the picture my first like just
(41:45):
glancing at it, I thought itwas the boat. Yeah, and he
did such a good job with it. Yeah, so boy creative. I
love it. So here come thepuns, old boy, he was harboring
some resentment, had a sinking feeling. The guy was going to get a
stern talk. Actually the guy waseven keeled about the whole thing and schooner
(42:06):
or later you have to laugh aboutit, true, thank you. I
had to get those in and Iapologize for those. On average people need
to spend sixty seven minutes outside eachday in order to feel refreshed. According
to new research, during Mental HealthAwareness Month in May, we're encouraged to
be mindful of how we're spending ourtime and factor outdoor experiences into our every
(42:30):
day lives. And I believe thatresults found that those who spent time outside
said, it relaxes them, putsthem in a better mood, and helps
them clear their head. A duh, We as gardeners have known this for
you. Yeah, you know,if only we could spend more time outside
here in Michigan exactly. On theother hand, spending more time inside than
(42:52):
preferred can lead to feelings of depression, anxiousness, and loneliness. According to
the results in ten will get stircrazy after spending too much time inside,
with the average threshold of indoor timebeing ten and a half hours. So
the key takeaway here is that spendingtime and nature and on the open road
(43:14):
while traveling has both physical and mentalbenefits. Soaking up the sun, the
fresh air, and of course,Stacey, as we like to talk about
on this show, getting your handsin the dirt. Well, you know,
it goes perfectly with the theme oftoday's episode, which is to say,
if you're going to be spending thattime outside, then it might as
(43:34):
well be in a beautiful spot surroundedby cool stuff, cool plants, and
you know, to me, plantsthat attract birds and insects. So it's
like an ever moving, dynamic tapestryand you're not just sitting there in the
static environment. You are part ofit, and it's I don't know if
that to me, that's what it'sall about. So today's show has been
an episode of celebrating the decorators inour lives. And I love my decorator
(44:00):
friends, especially those who use plantsto decorate. And Stacy, again,
having been in the industry for along time, what amazed me was with
the advent of Instagram, what thatdid. And of course, Stacey,
we're on Instagram too. We areon Instagram Gardening Simplified Show, and yeah,
(44:22):
you can find more about the plantson trial there and you can also
leave us messager. We're easy tofind you bet you and Gardening Simplified on
air dot com for show notes andof course as we do the Gardening Simplified
Show, YouTube, podcast and radioall three. I don't know how Adriana
(44:43):
does it, Stacy, but shegets it done. She sure does.
She doesn't get enough credit back therebehind the camera and the headphones and everything,
so she keeps us on track.So a big thanks to Adriana Robinson,
thank you, Stacy, and ofcourse thank you to our listeners,
our viewers make the Gardening simplified show. Have it, we appreciate it.
Have yourself a great week. Talkto you next week.
Coming to you from Studio A atProven Winners Color Choice Shrubs. It's time
for the Gardening Simplified Show with StaceyHervella, me, Rick Weist, and
our engineer and producer Adrianna Robinson.So today Stacey, we talk about the
decorators, the people who just wantto decorate with plants. Forget the science,
(00:24):
forget the origin of the plant,forget the rules. It's all about
decorating. And I loved these peoplewhen I owned and ran a garden center,
I loved the decorators. They weresome of our best customers. Well,
you know, you've got to lovea person who comes in with a
vision. You know, they wantthe color that they want, They've got
an idea, and all they wantis to just get in, get out,
(00:47):
and get that stuff in the groundand make it look pretty exactly.
It's understanding your garden style. Itallows you to narrow down your plant selection,
flower choices and design elements that bestsuit your personal taste or the personal
taste of the individual you're working for. Now. Often in the garden,
I recommend working in threes. Threeis an easy number, it's not overwhelming,
(01:10):
it looks natural, and you canbasically decide on a color scheme and
mood you want to convey. That'swhat I liked about the decorators. They
had an idea of what they wantedbefore they got to the garden center.
Then they took plants and put themin groupings of three on their carts,
(01:30):
knowing where they were going and whatthey were going to do, what they
wanted to accomplish. Is kind oflike you Stacey with your mom on Mother's
Day weekend, right, Yeah,you know. But I do have to
say it is great if you gointo the garden center with that mentality,
but I don't. I actually don't. I don't go I have an idea
of what I want, but youalways have to keep your options open.
(01:52):
So I want to say that,you know, even though we're talking about
this idea of being a decorator andgoing in there and being confident and you
know, just having this this driveto make it about the color and about
accentuating your space, much like aninterior decorator would, it's okay if you're
not that. You know, there'sthere's These are both valid ways to shop.
And I think that a lot ofpeople who you know, we've talked
(02:15):
a lot recently about reluctant gardeners orhesitant gardeners, scared gardeners taking that decorator
aspect, like you don't go intoyou know, like home Goods or some
store like that, afraid that you'regoing to pick the wrong throw pillow for
your sofa. You just pick thepillow and if it doesn't work out,
well, then it doesn't work out. It's not that way. You have
a deal. You can take thatsame approach with gardening exactly. Now I've
(02:38):
used for folks who aren't necessarily decoratorsor designers, I've used proven plant pairings.
So we'll have this link at thewebsite Gardening Simplified on air dot com.
But it's proven plant pairings and essentiallyyou take a simple four step quiz.
So I took the quiz yesterday.I went with pink and orange only
(03:00):
because I love that combination. Andthe recommendation after taking the quiz was miss
Molly, butterfly bush at last roseand color coded orange orange, you awesome
cone flower. And I thought thatwas great. So then I took the
quiz again four steps, this timeputting in another combination I love blue and
(03:24):
yellow, and I got this recommendationDecadence, false Indigo, stand by me
Clematis and Tuscan gold sunflower. Bothof them worked. Oh I love both
of those worked. One of thoseplants and so fun to do that.
Now. Another thing that you cando is you can also use a recipe
(03:46):
search Proven Winners makes that available toyou. As a matter of fact,
when I went to it the otherday, I saw that there were over
one thousand, two hundred combinations.Fantastic. For example, I was drawn
to a re called home Style,and we're gonna put that link in the
show notes. Home style included aplant I know you love, Stacy Vermillionaire
(04:10):
firecracker plant kuf oh, I loveit, gotta have it every year,
Calibricoa tropical sunrise, color Blaze Colius, Sedona Sunset, super Tuna, Bermuda
beach and Illusion Pennilaz sweet Potato vine. And of course that combination Stacy uses
a plant that I recommend if youwant to have decorating style in your landscape
(04:36):
this summer, the Colius, thecolor blade Blaze, Colius. It's almost
like I liken it to painting awall or putting up wallpaper. It is
that foliage provides season long color.You know, colias are such a great
choice no matter what your gardening skilllevel is. And I'm thinking right now
(04:56):
of my mom, who hopefully wewill be able to find these colius that
she likes to put in her frontplanners. Every year she picks these dark
red kind of colius, and we'veused a couple of different ones that we've
been able to find, and sheputs them in two great, big containers
on either side of the garage andthey echo the color of her front door.
And she has had people stop theircars and ask her what they were
(05:16):
because they look so beautiful and theyhave just the right conditions. She waters
them, she fertilizes them, andI mean she looks like a rockstar gardener,
and she, you know, isnot quite that. Love you Mom,
but I think she'd be the firstto admit that. But like she
loves how great they make the yardlook. And all she had to do
was again pick up on that colorof the front door, find that in
(05:40):
the colius, and run with it. And essentially that's the goal of proven
Winner's plant genetics, and that isthe plants are going to perform for you,
make you look like a rock starmake you look like a decorator.
And I think Colius is ideal.Again when I first came in, not
to make myself look old here,but when I first came into the Garden
(06:00):
Center, Colius was only for shade. Oh yeah, that's it, and
you could only get Wizard mixed,and you could only you got it exactly
and just for the shade. Nowyou can grow them out in the full
sun. And of course the onein this mix, the color Blaze cos
Sodona mix. Boy, I lovethat. So the Container Garden recipe search
link is going to go on theshow notes so that you can do the
(06:24):
same thing that I did here.And it's loads of fun even if you
don't act on these combinations, it'sloads of fun just to search through them.
And you also don't have to takethe whole combination. You know,
the one that you just listed soundsgorgeous, but that's like five different plants
exactly, you know, and youcould certainly take bits and pieces of that.
And one of the really nice thingsabout the proven Winner's combinations is it's
(06:46):
not just about the colors and theforms. They have attempted to match vigor
so that you don't have one plantthat's completely overtaking everything else, and then
that makes it a high maintenance plantingbecause you gotta pinch it, you gotta
prune it, and make sure itdoesn't take over the whole container. So
they try to match plants with equalvigor. And so it's still a good
starting point even if you don't wantto do all five plants. A super
(07:09):
important point. You are right onthere, Stacey, because I take an
example of planting annuals in spring.I love the grass vertigo, but it's
very aggressive. You put super tuniaswith it, like bubblegum. They both
are very aggressive, so they manageto get along. So very very important.
(07:29):
You bet all right. I've gota decorator, limb a rick for
you. And as I said atthe outset, having run and owned a
garden center, I love the decorators. I love these folks. Many of
them will walk into the garden centernot looking like they're ready to sling around
bags of kalmanor nicely dressed, butthey've got a plan, they know what
(07:53):
they want, and so here's mydecorator, Limerick. My flowers are ideal,
my colors are surren My neighbors Iimpress, so drive by my address.
I live for curb appeal. Myfront walk is gold plate. I'll
never acclimate. My front door isjade green on the cover of a magazine
(08:15):
year round, I decorate my placehas a pink trellis. My style is
well over zealous. You might callit vanity, this addictive insanity, but
I just think you're jealous. Theysay that I have a gift and others
got the short shrift. So eachholiday I'll be giving subscriptions to Martha Stewart
(08:37):
Living to heal our neighborly rift.How is that that was wonderful? My
style is over zealous. You know, I love that because it fits you,
but it fits everybody because you know, you can go all the way
out when especially when it comes toannuals in the garden. Like it's so
you know, even if you don'tlike it, you only have to live
with it for like three months,and then by the end of the season,
(08:58):
you're like patting yourself on the thinkingI'm going to do that again because
you realize, you know, goinga little overboard is what you are supposed
to do with annuals. Stacy,do you ever put plants in pots?
And then two weeks later pull someout and move them. Oh heck,
yeah already. Oh yeah, ofcourse they do say here, you know,
you don't. I think that there'sa huge misconception and I feel like
I've said this before that gardeners getthings right the first time, right,
(09:22):
And that's not the case at allgardeners. If gardeners are getting it right
the first time, it's only becausethey got it wrong the previous you know,
twenty seven times, and now theyfinally internalized it and can get it
right the first time. So yeah, I mean, there's no harm in
moving something even later on in theseason if it's not working. Annuals are
very you know, amenable and veryflexible like that, you bet. My
decorator friends, of course, nofoliage is super important. We mentioned the
(09:46):
color blaze colius or things like hostaor lemon, coral seed them sun king
aurelia of course, ferns, cannas, hugh kuras love the heart to heart
kalladiums, what a great for decorating. You can go on and on,
and of course stacey grass is alsothe graceful grasses like fireworks, Queen king
(10:07):
or baby tut. I recently planteda favorite of mine vertigo and skyrocket.
And you can of course get perennialgrasses to incorporate too, like prairie winds,
shy and sky Panicum. Just greatplants for decorating. So try matching
some containers in your landscape. Favoritecolor you look for repetition in the landscape,
(10:33):
use window boxes and hanging baskets.And of course, Stacey, I
think hydranges and roses are perfect fordecorating. They absolutely are. I want
to go back briefly. You mentionedKing Queen and Prince Tut. Those are
papyrus, so like the same papyrusyou learned about in elementary school with the
Egyptians, those are such a greatchoice. If you have one of those
(10:54):
containers, and we all have them, probably most of us do. You
bought this beautiful ceramic container and ithas no drainage, and you think,
what do I do with it?Will you plant one of those tuts in
it? Because those can grow andstanding water, they can grow in a
muddy soil. It will be allthe better for it, And then you
know, talk about decorating. Thereason we usually get attracted to those pots
(11:16):
is because they were so beautiful wecouldn't resist them, and that's a great
choice for those containers with no drainage. You couldn't contain yourself exactly. So
there's so many great ones. Ithink easy color is important for decorating.
I got to give a shout outto Superbina verbinash because they have a color
range that's wide. They're very vigorous, so rock and Fuchia Salvia's so many
(11:43):
great plants to choose from, solittle time. Speaking of which plant on
trial is next and we're going tosee what plant Stacy Joe's to feature today
in our decorating show that's coming upnext here on the Gardening Simplified Show.
(12:03):
Proven Winner's Color Choice Shrubs cares aboutyour success in the garden. That's why
we trial and test all of ourshrubs for eight to ten years, making
sure they outperform everything else on themarket. Look for them and the distinctive
white container at your local garden center. Greeting's gardening friends, and welcome back
to the Gardening Simplified Show. Youknow I wanted to when we're talking about
(12:26):
decorating. You know, it's onething to talk about decorating with annuals because
annuals are mostly just for decorating.You get your containers, you put them
on the deck where you're going tobe enjoying, you know, the summer
and barbecues and all of that.But you know, when it comes to
perennials, shrubs and trees, thosehave an element of decorating as well.
And I know it's a lot higherstakes when you're investing a bigger commit into
(12:48):
you know, a shrub or perennialor a tree, and so that gives
people a lot of paralysis. AndI think that a lot of that same
paralysis is what bleeds over into theannual shopping, even though again it's much
lower stake. So we understand howdifficult that can be for people and how
many choices you have and you wantto make the right choice. So we
have started a new playlist, anew feature on our YouTube channel that we're
(13:11):
calling Plant Panel, And what wedo is we have people right in with
the places they need a plant suggested, a shrub, you know, suggested
for in their yard. They senda picture and a little description of you
know, what their situation is,sunshade, their hardiness, own obviously all
the things we'd need to know torecommend a plant, and then myself,
my colleague Natalie, and Christina wesit down and we all make our plant
(13:37):
recommendations and say why we have recommendedthose specific plants. Fun. It's almost
like a game show. It isa little bit like a game show and
the dating game or I don't knowwhich game show Wood Squares. But it
has been really fun and it's agreat opportunity for you to get some perspective
and ideas, and then you getthree different ideas instead of just one.
(13:58):
You know, I have always I'vealways kind of dreaded when people have asked
plant recommendation questions because I'm like,well, I don't know what your style
is. You know. They neversay like, oh I like this or
I love this color. They're justlike, I don't know what to put
here. Help me, And thiskind of gives us an opportunity to all
weigh in. We had a lotof fun doing it and we're going to
continue to do it. So youcan check that out on our YouTube channel.
(14:22):
And if you want to submit yourown garden for consideration by the plant
panel, you can just go toProvenwinner's Color Choice dot Com click the contact
tab. There is a special contactform just for plant panel in there,
so please, please please, ifyou're going to submit something for plant panel,
include a photo. It's so hardto try to suggest plants without a
(14:43):
photo because for me, you know, I like to pick up on those
cues of what's the house architecture,Look, what's the vibe, you know,
what else is there? And thatto me helps me kind of create
that whole narrative. And I definitelyin the plant panels we have done so
far, I have definitely created anarrative, probably more than the than the
(15:03):
askers have wanted. But in anycase plant panel, but of course you
have to throw environment into that alsowhen you're looking at these various plants.
I like a landscape to tell astory, and you know, I like
the stories behind plants, and that'swhy we do Plants on Trial in fact,
is so we can kind of tellthe story behind the plants and tell
me all about the plants. Whichbrings me to today's Plants on Trial,
(15:26):
and that is Anna's magic ball arborviting. I love that plant. And I'm
going to challenge you a minute,and I'm going to say, let's go
right to the story of the individualwho brought this plant to the market.
Yeah, it's kind of like this. Yeah, and I'm going to link
this in the show notes so youcan actually read it yourself. But this
(15:46):
plant came to us from a formernurserate is now closed down, Van Vloten
Nursery in Canada. So Casey vanVloten, he was a nurseryman himself,
from a nursery family. Do youknow him. I love that name.
Oh well, yeah, it's Dutch. He's Dutch. I love it.
And that's why I wanted you togo there. Okay, well, you
(16:07):
know nursery in the Dutch they kindof go hand in hand. I mean,
the Netherlands to this day is sortof the world capital of ornamental horticulture,
and it's why we also have somany nurseries here in West Michigan.
So because of the Dutch heritage.So Casey van Vloten selected this. And
even though the name is Anna's MagicBall, the cultivar, so the trademark
name is Anna's Magic Ball, thecultivar is Anna van Vloten, and that
(16:32):
was named for his mother, andso we used the Anna's part in the
name and Anna's Magic Ball. Itwas the name that we chose, and
so I was looking up Anna becauseof course I wanted to make sure that
he was naming this for his motherand not someone else. And she was
indeed his mother, and she unfortunatelypassed away in two thousand and seven,
but lived a truly extraordinary life.I'm going to link her obituary in the
(16:56):
show notes at Gardening Simplified on airdot com so you can read it.
But you know, she was bornand raised in the Netherlands. Her family
joined the resistance during World War Two, and she refused to sign a pledge
of loyalty to the Germans. Andit's just it's a fantastic story. So,
uh, take a moment to readabout the namesake Anna van Vloaton.
But you probably want to know whatit looks like before you decide if you're
(17:18):
going to actually add this wonderful plantto your landscape. Now, I do
want to say I went. Ireally was like all of the plant choices
were churning in my head for thespecial decorating episode. You know, how
do I pick, like what's themost decorative? And yeah, my brain
immediately goes to hydrangeas Because I cannottell you. Over the years, the
number of interior designers who have reachedout two proven winners and asked for recommendations.
(17:41):
Oh, I'm an interior designer,and I'm going to I want to
see a Hydrangea from the window inthe interior colors or this, and you
know which one would you choose?They get very you know, into the
color. So my first thought wasHydrangea's But then I thought, you know,
when you're when you're quote unquote decoratingor landscaping with shrubs, do you
really want to invest in something thatonly looks good for a few months of
(18:02):
the year. And Hydrangees, forall of their wonderful qualities, they're kind
of like they got a little bitof a short windows in terms of,
you know, if you look atthe whole year. Sure, And I
also want something that possibly I couldput into a planter or yeah, so
lots of decorative choices as well,So I thought a lot. And I,
you know, usually try to saveall the evergreens for winter plants on
(18:26):
trial when they make a little moresense. But no, I said,
I'm going with an evergreen because thatis what you want when you are quote
decorating your garden with trees and shrubsis something that's going to provide year round
interest in year round beauty, andAna's magic ball does that in a couple
of different ways. So it isan evergreen, it's an arbor id,
and it naturally grows with this justdarling, round, dense shape and people
(18:51):
love that, right. I mean, you know when people see those like
tidy little evergreens, it's just likeit's like seeing a puppy or a kitten
or something thing. It's like theplant version of that. They just go
crazy. It feels like all iswell, everything's in order, right,
everything's just like it's it's tidy.They know that it's not going to like
grow out of control. They feellike they can predict what it's going to
do. And so in addition tothat nice and tidy little shape, anath
(19:15):
magic ball arborviety is also right cold. Is that why it's called magic ball?
You can kind of predict what it'sgoing to do. I didn't pick
up on that, but I likeit. Does it predict the future?
I have not shaken it up toask it, but uh, I forget
what the answers are. Answer isunclear at this time. Okay, proceeding
right, so it reaches two tothree feet tall and wide, so a
(19:38):
really great and useful shape. AndI think when you have this really tidy
kind of shape for landscaping, there'sso many possibilities, and I think the
possibilities become a lot more obvious thanif you have something where you don't really
know how will this look in thelandscape. When you have this little kind
of like oversized bowling ball shape,it's a little bit easier to predict.
(19:59):
So classic choice would be, forexample, planting it on either side of
your front porch, you know,one on either side of your steps or
something like that. But we haveit planted in the trial gardens here as
kind of a low hedge with spacein between them, and we put supertunias
between them, and so they kindof become like they're kind of rolling in
this frothy meadow of flowers, whichis really pretty. You can plant them
(20:22):
closer together and get that kind oflumpy, undulating hedge look, and you
can plant my containers and that's whatyou were just talking about. It's fantastic.
And you know, some time agowe did a show on plants you
want to touch? Oh yeah,this is a plant that fits. It's
just so cute. It's so cute. And arbor vitis I feel like they're
always that kind of plant you wantto touch because the way that their branches
(20:44):
grow, they're soft, they lookkind of like coral, they're fragrant.
I mean, arborvity is an extremelytouchable plant. And I you know,
in terms of seeing this in acontainer, I think it would be gorgeous
in an urn because it is kindof a smaller plant, and so an
urn would really help to you know, get it up higher into a visual
plane in your yard so you cansee it a lot better. Classic a
(21:06):
pair of anas, magic bowl arboridiand urns on either side of your front
door would be beautiful if you wantthem there all year. Just of course,
make sure they are made out ofa weatherproof material. It's not going
to leave you with soil on theon the ground in the middle of January
because it's all cracked and broken.Can I put Christmas lights on it?
Can you put Christmas lights on it? Can you? Ever? You know,
I think that's an underrated feature ofplants for decorating. And I,
(21:30):
you know, I used to workat tevern on the Green restaurant a place
that was known for having like lightsand just being really over the top,
and in my time there, Iquickly discovered what a nightmare it is to
try to put lights on plants thatdon't really necessarily have a lot of structure.
I get those dwarf elbird of sprucesand containers. Couldn't be easier,
(21:51):
you know, They're just that littletriangle, and so Ana's magic ball is
similar. It's got that nice roundshape. You can even use those net
lights and just kind of cast itright over there and it will make you
look like a professional. And that'syou know, So that's another way that
you can use this plant to decorate. Now, it is hardy down to
USDA Zone three heat tolerant through USDAZone eight, much more heat tolerant than
a lot of people had assumed arborvedywere. But Judson lacompt Are Southern native
(22:17):
and new plant director, new plantmanagement director, he has he's grown it
successfully in Texas and is confident inthat USDA Zone eight heat tolerance definitely is
gonna want mulch in that area.So Arburvidy in general have very shallow roots,
so mulch is very very helpful forkeeping those roots cool and moist all
(22:38):
year round. But other than that, it's an easy to grow plant.
You're gonna grow it in more sunto part shade in the north, definitely
going part shade to shade if you'regrowing it in the south, just to
help keep it a little bit cooler. And of course, since it's an
arbovidy not terribly deer resistant, youdo need to know that. But you
know, maybe if you don't havea terrible deer problem like Rick and I
(23:00):
do, then you might be ableto get away with it and earns on
your front porch. They might notget that daring, but I think our
deer would probably be that daring theywould treat themself. They certainly would.
So we're going to put the fulldetails at our website, Gardening Simplified on
air dot com. Just click onthe show notes, and of course if
you're watching YouTube, you'll see itall there. But you can see more
about it and of course read aboutthe amazing life of Anna van Vloten,
(23:23):
the plant's namesake. We're going totake a little break. When we come
back, we're opening up the gardenmailbag, so please stay tuned at proven
winner's color choice. We've got ashrub for every taste and every space.
Whether you're looking for an easy carerose and unforgettable hydrangea, or something new
(23:45):
and unique, you can be confidentthat the shrubs and the white containers have
been trialed and tested for your success. Look for them at your local garden
center. Greetings gardening friends, andwelcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show,
where it is our pleasure to helpour listeners out there with their gardening questions.
And if that is you, thenyou can reach us at Gardeningsimplified on
(24:07):
air dot com. There's a contacttab you can even attach a photo.
Write us at your gardening conundrum andwe will be happy to help and give
you the resources you need to solveyour problem, or fix the issue or
whatever. Clarify the issue very often. So what do we got in the
mail bag? First question here Stacy, Hi, Rick and Stacy. I
(24:29):
have a two inch caliper tree Ijust brought home from the nursery. During
the transport, some branches were damaged. If a branch broke near the middle,
should I prune it right at thebreak point or prune it back to
where the branch grew from or backto an outward facing bud. Boy,
this question is right in my wheelhouse, Stacey. Anyway, that number one,
(24:52):
I've loaded many trees in the carsover the years, and there's a
real art to loading them and transportingthem home, giving them the support and
not whipping the daylights out of themas you head for home, especially if
you're getting on the expressways. Yes, it is. Nothing makes me cringe
like seeing a plant going down thehighway in the back of a pickup truck
(25:18):
with no tarp, no nothing that'spainful. You just have to you know,
you have to lay them down,you have to position them properly.
You've got to buy some soil amendmentswhen you buy that tree so that you
can nestle them under the trunk ofthe tree to support it a little bit,
to keep those branches from breaking.Now that said, with this question,
I have strong opinions on this,Okay. I really believe that with
(25:41):
a branch like that, you cutit back to the point of origination,
to the trunk, and of coursethere's a branch collar there, a swelling
where you just prune up to thatbranch collar. The tree will easily heal
itself produce new growth. Yeah,I think that's the most natural choice.
Now, I do think one possibleexception, because again my advice to this
(26:02):
person was a YouTube comment was alreadylike, by all means take it back
to its point of origin. Soif it's a main branch, that could
mean the main trunk of the tree. If it's a side branch, that
could mean just going back to thebranch that it was it was coming off
of, so not taking off thatwhole branch. But it just looks more
natural now. Again, the onlyexception I would say to this is if
you were if you have a reallysmall tree that doesn't have a lot of
(26:23):
branches, and taking that off isreally going to leave you with very little,
because what's going to happen is thenthat tree has just lost all that
energy and it's going to be alot harder for it to get established because
it has less you know, leavesto make photos, to synthesize and to
make energy. But overall, absolutelyI would say take it back, find
(26:44):
that branch, bark color. Wehave a video on our YouTube channel about
how you make a proper cut ona tree because it's a little bit different
than shrubs. And yeah, ifthis happens, it's unfortunate, But try
not to get, you know,too sad about it. Try not to
feel too badly about it. Youknow, down the road three five years,
you won't even remember that it actuallyeven happened, as long as you
(27:07):
bring up properly exactly. Jessica writesto us, Hello, Stacey and Rick,
got a bit of a puzzle foryou today. Do you guys have
any mulch alternatives. I live inthe South, so I need to keep
my plants cool and moist, butI'm also waging war against the fire ants
in my backyard. Mulch makes themtoo hard to spot in their nests,
too easy to sneak under my nose. Any ant vice is welcome, and
(27:32):
Jessica said, ant vice, notme. Yes, I did catch up.
Very well done, Jessica, Thankyou. You know, this is
a situation where I just have toapologize to Jessica and every other Southern gardener
who as a lifelong Northern gardener,I'm just like, oh, yeah,
but mulch, it's fine. Youknow, this is one of those problems
that I've never had to deal with, and I know from when I have
(27:55):
visited the South. Fire ants arejust a horrible, horrible problem, you
know, and so it's it's notI certainly don't mean to, you know,
just like brush this over. SoI'm really grateful for Jessica for asking
this question because it helps give meperspective on all the things that Gardner's out
there have to deal with. SoI did have to turn to the internet
and do some research on this,since I'm not super familiar with fire ants
(28:17):
and in their habitat. I learnedquite a bit. And I want to
say I'm going to share the linkfrom Texas A and M University where that
I thought was very helpful because thiswas about this link that I read was
specifically about things that you can doin your yard to make it less hospitable
for fire ants. But I dowant to say that the article concludes by
saying, quote unquote, cultural practicesalone will never eliminate this pest. So
(28:42):
in a lot of cases, youknow, we're able to say, Okay,
well you can get rid of aphidsby doing X, Y, and
z. You can get rid ofthis past by doing that. You know,
you've heard it from the experts atTexas A and M. Just cultural
practices are not going to be enough. And you know, with fire ants,
if you're not familiar with them,when they it is extremely painful.
I mean people have died from beingswarmed by fire ants. So this is
(29:04):
not you know, just like anuisance ant that's just making ant hills.
You know, they really do causea threat to your life and to your
enjoyment of the yard. So onlysmall stone mulches are effective in deterring fire
ants, so like a pea gravelor something like that, so not even
like a larger one. Now,the trouble with that, as Jessica points
(29:25):
out, she needs to keep herplants cool and moist, and stone typically
heats up the area around the plant. So one thing that you can do
is, you know, use thatmulch over the spaces in between your plants,
but then as you get closer tothe plant, just kind of end
it so there's like a little haloof soil around the plant, so it's
not going right up to the baseof the plant, because that will help
keep it a little bit cooler directlyaround the plant itself. Now, the
(29:51):
article does mention that there is someclaims out there that cedar mulches can be
a deterrent to fire ants. Butthey said there's no scientific research that has
been done in that yet. ButI could see that possibly working because cedar
is slower to decompose, so maybeit's not making the environment as rich in
(30:11):
organic matter, it's not breaking downas much. But again they're not saying
this is one hundred percent true,just that cedar mulches may be effective.
Of course, that doesn't help Jessica'sissue of making them too hard to spot.
And then another one that I wantedto mention that may or may not
be practical depending is a new techniquethat's really embraced by sort of the new
(30:32):
perennialist native plant movement, and thatis using sedges as mulch. So sedges,
the botanical name is carracks. Thereare boatloads of them, many natives
to North America, many not.I think it's native across the entire country
from one extreme to the other.And they tend to grow in shade,
and they tend to spread, andso a lot of garden designers are actually
(30:55):
using sedges as mulch instead of actualmulch. Now I don't really know exactly
what plants. Do you know interms of the fire ants, but I
would think that the root competition hopefullymakes it a little less appealing to the
ants. Yeah, and I thinkthis problem Stacey, is no different than
any other problem, and that iswhat you have to do, is you
have to take a look at whatenvironment best suits this pest. And with
(31:18):
fire ants, they prefer sunny,open spots. So I like that sedging
idea, using a sedge or somethinglike loriape at the base creating a cooler
Using that in lieu of using multch, I think would be a great way
to go. And then bearing inmind that if you're going to use some
(31:41):
controls in addition to the living multch, remember contact controls are not going to
work, and that baiting is fara far better way to go. Yeah.
And you know, the thing aboutant bate, and I've talked about
this on the show before, isthat it is very targeted to fire ants,
so there's little risk to other organisms. It's not like a spray where
(32:04):
things are going to land where theymay. It's very targeted to the fire
ants. And again this is whereIPM Integrated Pest Management comes in. You
have to do the most effective methodof controlling them. That obviously has the
least impact on non target organisms,and of course is the most beneficial to
your family because fire ants are nojoke. Stacy real quickly, Jamie writes
to us and sends pictures about adogwood on their property. Bought the home
(32:30):
ten years ago and it should bewell established by now. They've done no
pruning to the tree, but arewondering if they should have. We're going
to have the pictures for you onthe YouTube version of our broadcast here,
and of course in the show notesand Stacy, when I take a look
at the pictures that Jamie sent,of course we see the telltale lichens on
(32:51):
the tree, meaning the growth isreally slow. The tree isn't necessarily happy
where it's at. And when Ilook at those pictures and I look at
the surrounding turf, at least inmy eye, I see compacted soil and
that may be part of the problem. Yeah, definitely, the turf is
not ideal for a dogwood. Dogwood's, you know, grow sort of on
the wood edge with a loose orhigh organic matter soil. The tree is
(33:14):
certainly established, so there's no questionabout that. It's tall. But Jamie
included two photos of the flowers.It's a pink native dogwood with pink flowers.
And when I saw the picture ofthe flower, I said, there's
the problem. It has dogwood anthractnosethreats. And you can see on the
flowers it has these kind of purplishbrown dots and that is a tell tale
(33:34):
sign of dogwood anthractnose, and dogwoodanthractnose definitely hits dogwoods that are more stressed.
So, like you said, sortof this issue of the soil not
being ideal compacted. I'm sure thatthey are pretty shade tolerant, So I
don't think that the oaks that Jamiementions are causing the issue. I do
think it's the anthractnose. So whatI would say to do here if you
want to save the tree, andshe says that she does, I would
(33:57):
call an arborist in and get iton a treatment plan for anthracnose. And
I think that if you are ableto treat it for maybe just a year
or two, because it's a fungaldisease. So if you're able to treat
it for a year or two andyou clean up all the foliage when it
falls this autumn, you could havea chance of controlling it. And once
that anthractnose is gone, I thinkthe tree, you know, maybe with
(34:17):
some extra water, some supplemental waterif it needs it, some mulch around
it, rather than the grass,I think it could come back. Don't
throw in the trowel exactly. Iagree, a dogwood tree can recover from
anthrak yep and Jamie. We willput some resources for you or anyone else
who is suspecting their dogwood might haveanthracnose in the show notes at Gardeningsimplified on
air dot com. We're going totake a break. When we come back,
(34:39):
we've got branching news. Don't missit. The Gardening Simplified Show is
brought to you by proven winners ColorChoice Shrubs. Our award winning flowering shrubs
and evergreens have been trialed and testedfor your success so you enjoy more beauty
and less work. Look for provenwinners Colored Choice shrubs and the distinctive white
(35:01):
container at your local garden center.Welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show.
It's time for branching news and Stacey, I just need a little bit of
therapy here right at the start.This is the time of year when people
come out of the woodwork and they'llmessage me, call me, ask me
for advice, ask me to stopby take a look at their plants that
(35:24):
are really struggling. And I wantedto mention that so many times I walk
into a yard and the shrubs andtrees are struggling or stretched. But the
individuals are using the same type ofwatering for the shrubs and trees as they
(35:45):
are for the turf. And youcan see the damage on the plants.
The rhododendrons are dealing with it.The shrubs and trees just not robust and
healthy. And the point is,and here's my therapy. I keep trying
to get the message out when youwater shrubs or trees, you water them
when they need it. That's whenyou water them. And turf is so
(36:08):
much different than shrubs and trees.And so if you set that irrigation clock
in early spring, set it andforget it until Halloween, your shrubs and
your trees are going to struggle.And trying to get that concept driven home
sometimes it is difficult. Yeah,And you know, I've seen that my
(36:29):
father in law's house, he didn'thave his irrigation on there as a leak.
He didn't fix it. And soall these plants that were used to
years of extra irrigation, they're reallystruggling, even though they are mature,
established plants, all of a suddentrying to deal now with this decrease in
water is really taking a toll onthem. So it doesn't really do you
any favors, and it just wastewater. Right, So you have to
(36:51):
water when the plant needs it.And I know that's easy to say and
more difficult to do, but you'vegot to pay attention to the weather and
conditions. I found a really greatwebsite and I had fun with it.
It had sound effects. We're goingto put the link at the show notes
Gardeningsimplified on air dot com. Butthis is a great website that asked the
(37:15):
question is it a plant or acomic book character? And then you play
this little game and it was fun. The crowd will cheer if you get
it right, and of course youget the raspberries if you get it wrong.
For example, it would put upa picture and the word cactus.
(37:36):
Is cactus a plant or a comicbook character? Well, I mean,
I know it's a plant, butit could also be a comic book character.
I don't know, So you haveto select both get raspberries? Is
there a nun? Neither? Isthere neither option? No, So you
pick plant character or both, andin the case of cactus, both was
(38:00):
the correct answer. Cactus Man isa prickly plant man featured in many Marvel
comics. He has a vegetable bodyand the ability to regenerate damage at a
phenomenal rate, including replacing lost bodyparts. Cactus Man can fire his needles
in a deadly barrage. Oh well, I have grown cactus in my own
(38:22):
garden, and I know that havingthe needles in your in your skin,
that's not pleasant, not fun.I mean, it is a weapon.
Cactus is essentially a cucumber with aggressivebehavior. You could say that, right,
that's what a cactus is. Actually, they make great friends. They
will never desert you. String trimmers. I got more therapy for me.
(38:43):
Here go battery powered. Can't standthose gas operated trimmers, and it's a
pain to restrain those things. Oh, everything about him is a pain.
Everything about him is a pain.Thank you, I say, I just
need this support, this therapy.Now here's some suggestions for you that I
got from a professional string trimmor operator, a guy who does it every day.
(39:08):
Number One, he says, storeyour line the replacement line in water
like permanently. Yeah, often youhave to change the water. You don't
have to change the water if youdon't want to, unless mosquitos are a
problem. But keep your line inwater. It takes about a week for
it to completely soak. And theother thing he said, always walk from
(39:30):
right to left. That's the correctway to walk, and then trim with
the very tip of the line.The only thing that will cause a good
quality trimmer line to break at thehead or taper down for an inch or
more is operator error, he wassaying in a nice way, Rick,
you're not doing it right. Well, I've had plenty of operator errors in
(39:51):
the times I have attempted to usestring trimors. It is easily one of
the least fun jobs in the garden, even and I have an electric one.
The other thing about string trimmers isthey're dangerous. Oh yeah, you
know. You can cause a lotof damage to plants. And I would
say, if you have a lawnservice or not, even if it's a
family member cutting your lawn and allof a sudden, a shrub or perennial
(40:12):
or something in your yard suddenly dies, you better be looking at the base
for a string trimmor disease, becauseget it, it happens, you got
it. And if you are usingthat string trimmer, of course where protective
eyewear. That's really important too.But I'm going to start storing my string
trimmor replacement string in a bucket ofwater instead of the package and see if
(40:35):
it helps. I guess we'll see. Speaking of decorating and design, a
California man ordered by his city toconceal the boat parked in his driveway with
a fence, hired his artist neighborto paint a photo realistic image of the
boat in an act of rebellious compliance. I saw the Sure they did a
(40:57):
great job. I love that atthe unconstable is the name of this individual,
he said. The boat he usesfor fishing was regularly parked in his
seaside driveway for about four years beforehe received a letter from the city informing
him of a municipal code requiring boatsand trailers to be screened on the side
and front by a six foot fence. So initially a constable was angry,
(41:23):
but then he hired his artist neighbor, and this thing went viral. As
a matter of fact, the citymanager himself got a laugh out of it
and thought it was very, verycreative, and they're just gonna let it
slide now they You know, theneighbor did a great job. I'm not
surprised it went viral because when Ilooked at the picture my first like just
(41:45):
glancing at it, I thought itwas the boat. Yeah, and he
did such a good job with it. Yeah, so boy creative. I
love it. So here come thepuns, old boy, he was harboring
some resentment, had a sinking feeling. The guy was going to get a
stern talk. Actually the guy waseven keeled about the whole thing and schooner
(42:06):
or later you have to laugh aboutit, true, thank you. I
had to get those in and Iapologize for those. On average people need
to spend sixty seven minutes outside eachday in order to feel refreshed. According
to new research, during Mental HealthAwareness Month in May, we're encouraged to
be mindful of how we're spending ourtime and factor outdoor experiences into our every
(42:30):
day lives. And I believe thatresults found that those who spent time outside
said, it relaxes them, putsthem in a better mood, and helps
them clear their head. A duh, We as gardeners have known this for
you. Yeah, you know,if only we could spend more time outside
here in Michigan exactly. On theother hand, spending more time inside than
(42:52):
preferred can lead to feelings of depression, anxiousness, and loneliness. According to
the results in ten will get stircrazy after spending too much time inside,
with the average threshold of indoor timebeing ten and a half hours. So
the key takeaway here is that spendingtime and nature and on the open road
(43:14):
while traveling has both physical and mentalbenefits. Soaking up the sun, the
fresh air, and of course,Stacey, as we like to talk about
on this show, getting your handsin the dirt. Well, you know,
it goes perfectly with the theme oftoday's episode, which is to say,
if you're going to be spending thattime outside, then it might as
(43:34):
well be in a beautiful spot surroundedby cool stuff, cool plants, and
you know, to me, plantsthat attract birds and insects. So it's
like an ever moving, dynamic tapestryand you're not just sitting there in the
static environment. You are part ofit, and it's I don't know if
that to me, that's what it'sall about. So today's show has been
an episode of celebrating the decorators inour lives. And I love my decorator
(44:00):
friends, especially those who use plantsto decorate. And Stacy, again,
having been in the industry for along time, what amazed me was with
the advent of Instagram, what thatdid. And of course, Stacey,
we're on Instagram too. We areon Instagram Gardening Simplified Show, and yeah,
(44:22):
you can find more about the plantson trial there and you can also
leave us messager. We're easy tofind you bet you and Gardening Simplified on
air dot com for show notes andof course as we do the Gardening Simplified
Show, YouTube, podcast and radioall three. I don't know how Adriana
(44:43):
does it, Stacy, but shegets it done. She sure does.
She doesn't get enough credit back therebehind the camera and the headphones and everything,
so she keeps us on track.So a big thanks to Adriana Robinson,
thank you, Stacy, and ofcourse thank you to our listeners,
our viewers make the Gardening simplified show. Have it, we appreciate it.
Have yourself a great week. Talkto you next week.
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