Conifers Are Cool - A Gardening Simplified Preview

Rick Vuyst joins us to discuss tomorrow's show - Conifers are Cool!

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, let's get a little preview tomorrow's Gardening Simplified Show.
This is West Michigan's Morning News. Steve Kelly, Lauren Smith,
Tony Brooks in for Brett Pakita, Ladies and gentlemen. Rick
Weiss joining the program once again from Gardening Simplified. Great
to talk to you every week.

Speaker 2 (00:17):
Thank good morning, Thank you very much, good to talk
to you.

Speaker 1 (00:20):
It is that time of year. Conifers are cool? Is
how we start a conversation about tomorrow's show. What's that mean?

Speaker 2 (00:30):
Essentially, Stacy and I are going to shine the light
on all things coniferous. Conifers are essentially trees that have cones.
All conifers have cones, spiny foliage generally, you know, I'll
talk to people, will say hey, I need some help
with my tree, and they generalize and call them pine trees.

(00:54):
But conifers can be evergreens or deciduous. You look at
things like pine trees, cypress feeders, larch, junipers, hemlocks, spurs, spurs,
et cetera, et cetera. And it's a good time of
the year to shine the light on conifers in our
landscape because yeah, strangely enough, it's the time of year

(01:15):
when we cut them down and stick them inside our house.

Speaker 1 (01:18):
You know, we talk a lot about predicting what the
winter will be like. Sometimes the wooly mammoth comes up.
But sometimes I've noticed there are more pine cones than
other years. Does that mean anything?

Speaker 2 (01:34):
Yes, you're right, Steve, it's cyclical. Some of it can
be based on the weather. You know. You think about
the fact that we experience some drought this past year,
and as it applies to conifers, I mean you look
at flowering plants in the landscape, something as simple as that,
when they experience drought or we let them get to

(01:57):
the point of drought, sometimes they flower better because they're
producing seed for future generations. It's just a natural inclination
to produce seed if they feel they're in danger, so
to speak. It's a natural thing. So, yes, it is
cyclical from year to year, the volume of whether it's

(02:18):
acorns off an oak tree or cones on conifers.

Speaker 3 (02:24):
Question about kind of the watering, because we were just
having this conversation in our family, is it too early
to maybe cut down the Christmas tree you want, like
that month and a half of joy? Can they dry
out as a kund Of for too early.

Speaker 2 (02:37):
Yeah, that's a good point, Lauren. And it's essentially contingent
on the type of tree that you're selecting. For example,
frasier furs or balsam fur. Those types of trees are
quite resinous and they have the ability to have needle

(02:59):
rey tension for an extended period of time. Of course,
a lot of it also is contingent on your care
of the tree, keeping it away from the fireplace, from
a heat register, making sure that ample water is there
and that the tree is drawing up that water. But
I think it applies more so to the type of
tree you're selecting. If you're selecting a fur tree, you

(03:21):
can get away with setting it up early. If you're
selecting a spruce tree, yeah, and may be a problem.

Speaker 1 (03:29):
We have fun game this year, speaking of squirrels. We
got this big bushy squirrel that likes to bury nuts
in the yard. But our new dog, Zuzu, who's just
a year old, tears around and digs up and gobbles
up the squirrel's nuts. So we got a I'm not
sure how healthy that is. We've seen some issues, but

(03:50):
there's a big battle between the squirrel, Zuzu and nuts,
So there you have it.

Speaker 2 (03:57):
I think dogs enjoy watching squirrels just as much as
we as humans doing watching their you know, how they
act within the landscape. I mean, a squirrel's brain power
expands in fall. I read somewhere something like fifteen to
twenty percent because they got to remember where they buried

(04:17):
those nuts. And a dog simply reacts. So fun to watch.

Speaker 1 (04:22):
Rick Weiss Gardening Simplified tomorrow at nine Gardenings Simplified on
air dot Com. Thank you, as always, have

Speaker 2 (04:29):
A great weekend.