Garden Rejuvenation

Rick Vuyst, host of Gardening Simplified, joins us to discuss Garden Rejuvenation. 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, let's talk rejuvenation in your landscape. This is West
Michigan's Morning News. That's Laurence Smith. Tony Brooks is standing
by just meeting actually seems lovely in with us and
once again with Gardening Simplified, Gardening Simplified on air dot Com. Rickweiss,
thanks as always for being with us.

Speaker 2 (00:20):
Hey, good morning, Steven Lauren.

Speaker 1 (00:22):
So what is the role of rejuvenation in our landscape?

Speaker 2 (00:27):
Well, I personally believe, Steve, rejuvenation, whether it's for us
as people or your landscape and plants, is not merely
an occasional event, but it's a practice. It's something you practice,
it becomes a habit, and we experience that in the landscape.

(00:48):
Of course in the summertime, when you deal with heat
and humidity or drought, you start to think about rejuvenation
not only for yourself as a gardener, but also for
your landscape. And Stacey, Adrianna and I will run through
it this weekend on the Gardening Simplified Show. Methods that

(01:08):
you can use to rejuvenate, which include, you know, will
give examples of stumping, where you take a plant and
you actually stump the plant right back down to the ground.
To rejuvenate it or soil rejuvenation. So it's a fun
topic to talk about and very timely and it involves

(01:31):
a variety of things. Of course, upcoming also in the
next month or so is the best time in West
Michigan to rejuvenate your lawns. So we're just going to
go down the list, whether it's houseplants or shrubs or lawns,
even topics like purging. You know, the Japanese have a yeah,
the Japanese have a method of decluttering. You know, where

(01:54):
you hold every object you own and then you ask
yourself the question does it bring you joy? And if
it doesn't, well, then you get rid of it. Well
to a degree, you have to do that in your
landscape sometimes too, Sometimes it's time to purge a few
plants because if you're like me, you visit a greenhouse
or a garden center, there isn't a plant you can resist,

(02:15):
and you tend to bring them home down.

Speaker 3 (02:18):
Hey, Rick, I need some optimism. July eighteenth. Can I
bring my broken dead lawn back? Or is it time
to give up and just apologize to the neighbors.

Speaker 2 (02:33):
Lauren, you can absolutely bring it back, and we are
We're quickly approaching. That best time of the year. August
through October is the time to rejuvenate a lawn in
West Michigan. So when it gets hot and it gets dry,
these cool seasoned grasses will become dormant. But as we

(02:54):
get into fall and we start getting some natural rainfall,
and if the temperatures cool down a little bit, if
you've got receding to do cororating, fertilizing, that's the time
of the year to rejuvenate a long So I would, Lauren,
I would not throw in the trowel. Okay, to make
a long story short, you can do this.

Speaker 1 (03:15):
No, that's clever. I was shocked this year to see
how high our roses got after they hacked him, all
the way almost down to the ground. My question for
you is, given my current height, should I have been pruned?

Speaker 2 (03:31):
You know, it's a great point at is you know
pruning is a part of rejuvenation. And yes, you know
because all plants produce a growth hormone that generally works
its way to the terminal bud. It's called apical dominance,
and when you prune back, it forces new growth. So

(03:52):
you may have a point there, Steve, Wow, I never.

Speaker 1 (03:55):
Would a guess we would have got to the terminal, bud.
But you know what I mean. It's gardening simplified and
they'll talk about anything. Rick Weist, host of the show.
You'll hear it tomorrow at nine Sunday as well, Gardening
Simplified on air dot Com. Thank you so much for
your time today, Steve.

Speaker 2 (04:12):
You have a way of making me look at gardening
in a whole new light. There have a great weekend,
and you the same.