Ron chats with Gary Sullivan 11/29/2025

# The Gardening and Home Improvement Show with Ron Wilson and Gary Sullivan

Step into the world of gardening and home improvement with Ron Wilson and special guest Gary Sullivan. In this engaging episode, Ron reveals the plant pick of the week - the Poinsettia, once America's #1 potted plant with a rich history as both a holiday decoration and landscape specimen. Gary Sullivan joins to share expert insights on home maintenance, discussing everything from the proper use of spray foam insulation to the importance of annual attic inspections. Their casual, friendly banter creates an informative yet entertaining atmosphere as they exchange Thanksgiving stories and seasonal home care tips.

## Key Moments and Takeaways

**3:15** - Poinsettia history: Learn how this holiday favorite was once the most produced potted plant in the United States and grows as a perennial "weed" in southern countries
**8:40** - Spray foam insulation discussion: Gary explains whole house encapsulation trends and warns about improper DIY foam application
**14:20** - Attic inspection importance: Why checking your attic annually can reveal problems from poor ventilation to animal nests
**16:30** - Winter weather tips: Using windy days to identify drafts and energy loss points in your home
**19:45** - Seasonal planting reminder: Despite colder weather, it's still a good time to plant trees

Ready to tackle your own home and garden projects? Tune in for practical advice from these seasoned experts who make home improvement accessible and enjoyable. Call in with your questions at 1-800-823-TALK and make this weekend your most productive yet!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome back. You're in the garden with Ron Wilson again.
Don't forget our website, Ron Wilson online dot com. And
also I forgot to tell you what the plant pick
of the week was. It's the pond setia. It's the
pond setia, and I forgot to mention it. So if
you go to our website, I've got how to take
care of him. I've got the history there in the
old nine yards. But it's the second most recognized holiday

(00:20):
plant and used to be the number one potted plant
just grown in a container, number one potted plant grown
in the United States. More of these were grown at
one time because they used them both for landscape specimen
plants and the holidays than any other plant in a container.
The pond Setia. Now it's time for the man, the myth,

(00:41):
the legend. He is the most listened to Home Improveman
show host in the entire and I'm talking the entire
solar system, ladies and gentlemen, the one the only website,
Gary Sullivan online dot com. Gary Sullivan.

Speaker 2 (00:56):
It's a weird look.

Speaker 1 (00:59):
Can it can be in Southern It's a weed Southern countries.
It's a weed grows everywhere. It's a weed looks nice though.
Flame leaf they call it in Central America flame leaf,
flame leaf, flame leaf.

Speaker 2 (01:14):
I got some flame leaf in my yard, you know,
my weed.

Speaker 1 (01:18):
My in laws when they lived in Florida had two
or three of them, really nice ones on the corners
of their house that were right, oh yeah, eight feet tall,
and those things would color up, you know, and they
were nice.

Speaker 3 (01:28):
But they considered a weed in Mexico.

Speaker 1 (01:31):
Yeah, it really grows everywhere. But yeah, they used them
as in the landscape and the specimen plants.

Speaker 2 (01:39):
During the whole year. I mean, it's just those are
ever are they really? Yeah?

Speaker 1 (01:44):
They keep the green all the time and then they'll
kind of redding up a little bit or whatever. The
color is the bracts, you know, not as bright as
what you see in the in the stores.

Speaker 3 (01:52):
But you what in the stores this time you're in
all seriousness. They're they're beautiful. I tire them by the
end of January, put them in house.

Speaker 2 (02:01):
But they are beautiful.

Speaker 1 (02:02):
Yeah, most people do by the It's it's one of
those things that can give you good color all winter.
Even if they lose all the green leaves, those bracts
stay on there all winter long, but most people get
tired of it. Yeah, I uh, you know. Usually I
think of you sometime during the week. Obviously, Twofold won
the hollow Santas.

Speaker 2 (02:22):
But did you get your shit? No? I haven't.

Speaker 1 (02:25):
I saw him though at Kroag and I was in
a hurry and I didn't get any. But I'll get them.
I'll get them plenty, and I have the buffalo trace
there you go. I was looking at I was on
YouTube the other day and I was zipping through some
of those short things, those little video things. Somebody had
their cell phone going and they went in their attic

(02:46):
and they just went, Oh my god, you've got to
be kidding me. Don't tell me they actually did no way, Oh.

Speaker 2 (02:54):
My what they do? What they do?

Speaker 1 (02:56):
They used that spray foam in the Yeah, I can't
do that, can you?

Speaker 3 (03:03):
What?

Speaker 1 (03:03):
Whatould they toulate insulate an area?

Speaker 2 (03:08):
I mean not an area, there's a there's It.

Speaker 1 (03:12):
Was like a little section off the rig and I
guess he had said something to somebody and they went
up there and sprayed that spray foam. Yeah, and it
just kind of bubbled up and was hard around two before.

Speaker 3 (03:23):
When people say can I paint that you know what
I say, I say you can do whatever you want
to do. That mean it's right, But you can do
whatever you.

Speaker 2 (03:29):
Want to do.

Speaker 3 (03:30):
Can you use spray phem and make sure you do
whatever you want to do. I don't know what they'd
be doing. We we the industry uses spray foam in
attics with a trend that we're seeing, especially in the southeast,
but it's moving north called whole house encapsulation. Especially if
you have an air handler in an attic. They will
literally spray from the bottom, you know, the roof of

(03:54):
the attic, which would be the bottom of the roof.
They would encapsulate that in foam. They encapsulate the sides
and home. They would eliminate ventilation, which is interesting right
since we just started doing that in the late seventies,
and they will just let the air, the warm air
from the house filter up into the attic and it'll

(04:14):
become a conditioned space in the summertime. It's a little
easier on the air handler.

Speaker 2 (04:19):
Et cetera, et cetera.

Speaker 3 (04:20):
So we're seeing that, but so I don't know how,
and it's different foam than you get in the expandable
foam that you get in a can at the hardware store.

Speaker 1 (04:29):
Yeah, this, and I get the and I knew you
were talking about how they spray up in the bottom
of the roof and all that, right, but not at
the bottom that would be the regular insulation. No, instead
of spraying the top part, they sprayed the ball.

Speaker 3 (04:45):
They sprayed the bottom with foam. Well, it goes back
back kind of what I said.

Speaker 2 (04:49):
You can do it. I don't know how much good
it's going to do.

Speaker 3 (04:52):
And the insulation that's in that can, you got to
be really careful because that eurothane based foam insulation and
a can expands about seven times. There are lower expansions
for window and door foam. You gotta be really careful
with that. Though you get a seven times expansion on foam,
you could have a real mess. And I don't know

(05:12):
what the r value is. It eliminate drafts for sure.

Speaker 1 (05:17):
You know we would never have to redo it, would you.

Speaker 2 (05:19):
Well, I don't know, I mean, what is it.

Speaker 1 (05:22):
I mean it was horrible because it was big balls
and yeah, and somebody really screwed it up big time.

Speaker 3 (05:28):
I think the reaction with the person with the camera
was correct.

Speaker 1 (05:33):
You just kept that Oh my god, Oh my, oh
what did they do? You've got to be kidding me,
Oh my, oh my god, what am I going to?
You know, it was for real too.

Speaker 2 (05:43):
It wasn't hard. Should have been able to cut through that.

Speaker 1 (05:46):
It was thick Gary, Yeah, there were some areas that
was twenty four inches deep. Oh my, these big bubbles
came up. Oh my god, Oh my god.

Speaker 3 (05:56):
A couple of weeks ago, I was telling people, what
a good idea and all serioiousness, if you can't get
up in your attic, get somebody to get up in
the attic and see what's going on, because you know,
you could find dead birds, You could find where animals
have been nesting. You find where insulation is blown around,

(06:16):
you can find where insulation is covered up the soft
adventing and you really don't have any good ventilation in
the attic. I mean you can find mold, you can
find you know, water stains. I mean, there's a lot
of information up there, and I know you don't want
to search out problems, but you know, once a year,

(06:38):
get have somebody get up there and just do a
quick attic inspection.

Speaker 2 (06:41):
Not a bad idea at all, but do you.

Speaker 1 (06:43):
Think a lot of folks just go like, well, if
I don't see it.

Speaker 2 (06:46):
There's nothing wrong, nothing wrong. I like that attitude. There's
nothing wrong, nothing wrong. Everything is beautiful. Thing is beautiful, Yes, sir, yes, sir.

Speaker 1 (06:57):
So do you have a great Thanksgiving?

Speaker 3 (06:58):
We had a wonderful thing Thanksgiving. Good smoked turkey and you've,
pardon me say, over the year.

Speaker 2 (07:04):
I'm not a huge turkey lover.

Speaker 3 (07:05):
It was the best turkey I've ever had. Good for you,
and we had a wonderful time. One of my best thanksgivings,
how about you.

Speaker 1 (07:14):
Yeah, we had a real good one. I didn't have
to do anything I took. I took the snacks, oh
and good and the orders what you always had me do.
We got done. We ate at four thirty. Yeah, got done.
Everybody kind of chilled out and the next thing, you know,
everybody said, well were you hitting that? We're going home early?
Blah blah blah. And we never got him out of
there cooler or anything.

Speaker 2 (07:34):
Is that right?

Speaker 1 (07:34):
Yeah? So I have all these told me to bring
him over, sure a little party. I'll drop him off
up front. Watched the Bucks game with me?

Speaker 2 (07:43):
What yo? Yeah, what's the deal with this weather? It's
like winter?

Speaker 1 (07:48):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (07:49):
Could you hear the wind howling through your house?

Speaker 1 (07:51):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (07:52):
Could you.

Speaker 3 (07:53):
I did a little tease on Thursday on a morning
show and I was saying, you know, really pay attention.
As hard as the wind's blowing, you'll find where your
drafts are. You know, people always say.

Speaker 2 (08:05):
Well, where can I find I'm losing energy in the winter.
Well you could have found out Wednesday.

Speaker 3 (08:10):
Yeah, because that wind was what thirty mile an hour
a lot of the day.

Speaker 2 (08:15):
Ye. And you could hear it, you could you You
didn't even have to feel it. You can. You can
find your leaks very quickly.

Speaker 1 (08:21):
Yeah. Yeah, as a matter of fact, I did. I
kept feeling I kept feeling a draft, right, and I'm like, well,
wait a minute, where is that coming from? And I
had the basement door open, So then I closed the
basement door. You know, one of those deals as I
was going up and down in the basement. It's an
unfinished basement, right, But you're right, I was drafted a
little bit drafty in there. But that's a good thing, right.
I don't have house and toosis.

Speaker 3 (08:41):
Well you don't have that, that's for sure. You might
have a big energy bill, but you don't have alcatosis.

Speaker 2 (08:46):
You go.

Speaker 1 (08:46):
What are you to talk about today?

Speaker 3 (08:48):
We're gonna talk about just what we're talking about, taking
care of the house, seeing if we survived the holidays,
and make some patching, do some patching.

Speaker 1 (08:55):
Some patching, Yeah, all right, do some patching with Gary
Sullivan coming up next. Thanks all our callers, Thanks our sponsors.
Thanks of course with Danny Gleeson, because without Danny Gleeson,
none of the stuff would happens. So Danny, thank you
so much for all that you do. Now do yourself
a favor. Still tying. I know the weather's bet out there,
but you can still plant a tree or two or three.
Keep planting those data plants, be pollinator, fairly paying for

(09:16):
your worms, get the kids and dogs involved gardening by
all means, have fun and make it the best weekend
of your life. Go Bucks, see you.

Speaker 2 (09:35):
Help, but look do it yourself gardener.

Speaker 3 (09:38):
At one eight hundred eight two three Talk You're in
the Garden with Ron Wilson.