It's not a fig leaf of your imagination. It's time for the Gardening Simplified Show with Stacy Hervella, me, Rick Weissed, and our engineer and producer. How is it you do that, Stacy? Adrianna Robinson all right, I wore my mister Rogers sweater today because we're gonna talk about neighborly front landscapes, a topic I like to talk about. I love talking about neighbors, although I have to confess my back landscape is more neighborly than my front landscape.
Ah, and we're going to get into that and why and what you can do now. I posted a humorous social media picture where a couple of neighbors were having a feud over a fence. It was good natured. It wasn't the Hatfields and the McCoy's, but I had a landscaper friend who posted on that post. I have often wondered if the newer homes with smaller front porches or none at all, has caused neighbor not to have interaction with each
other. If you know your neighbors better, maybe you can work differences out with more maturity. We have a bench in our front landscape next to the sidewalk, and my husband and I have met more neighbors because of that. Oh that's nice. I kind of like that. I really do. And if you think about it, there's a lot of talk about back decks and landscaping the back deck, but socializing on the back deck is for socializing with
people you already know. Socializing with people on the front porch are people that you don't know. And what can you do with your landscape to help draw people up the walk and make some new friends, have interesting plants that they want to know what they are. I knew you'd come through for me, Stacy exactly. Gardening connects us as people and neighbors. I always say, if you don't grow vegetables, it pays to complement the ones in your neighbor's
yard. Indeed, so the convenience of texting and emails and popularity of social media networks has limited our face to face visits. You know, I remember when I was a kid, in order to socialize with people, we went out in the front yard. Even when my kids were small, after work at night, we went out in the front yard to meet and greet with people and to socialize with people. Now, if somebody knocks on the front door, You're almost startled, thinking, what's wrong? Oh, absolutely,
you know, it's like getting a phone call. It's like getting a phone call. What's wrong? So I was reading this study fewer than half of American adults know most or all of their neighbors. Survey respondents. Let's see, nineteen percent of adults said they knew all of their neighbors. So nineteen percent. That's wild. That is wild. And we're gonna put that study at Gardening Simplified OnAir dot com. You can take a look at that.
But what do we do to I don't know, create a front landscape that instead of just having curb appeal and a beautiful garden, which is great, what can we do with our front landscapes to inspire and make us approachable. I mean, when we set up a social media page, we don't put a lousy picture of ourselves on it or you know, right, we try, Julie, I don't know, put ourselves out there in the best possible
light. And so it could be argued that, you know, we should do that with our landscapes and our gardens to and our front porches, and it allows us to socialize you know, people will do that with their dogs. They'll take their dog for a walk on their leash, and there's nothing better because strangers will walk up to you and start a conversation. Yeah, can I put your dog? What kind of dog is that? What's your dog's name, what do you feed your dog? Where'd you come from?
And pretty soon you're best of friends. Exactly, say happens to me at my house. I'll have people stop by, ring the doorbell and say, what is that plant? Or what is that plant? Or how did you get that to grow? I'm pretty soon, you know, being the can a king, I'm sharing cana rhizomes with neighbors. You're sharing zucchini and tomatoes. You're digging up and dividing the hostas and sharing them. And I just think that gardening is a great way to make new friends and social life.
It's true. I do have to warn anybody who might walk by my house. If you compliment a plant, I probably will offer you some. I like. You know, if my neighbor say, oh, that's such a beautiful plant, what is it, I'll say, well, it's blah blah
blah. Would you like some? Because most of the plants that you know, they're complimenting, are large enough or vigorous enough that I can divide them and you know, and spread the left, so's it could be a double edged swords all I'm saying, it's great, and you know, unfortunately, sometimes there's some border wars. Sometimes there's some disagreements among neighbors, and when
it comes to the garden. Also, the picture that I had posted in social media was a neighbor who was unhappy with another neighbor because he thought he should paint his fence. It was time to paint the fence. So that neighbor went outside with a paintbrush and wrote these words on the fence. Hey Bob, look, I painted my fence. I think that was in good humor. But so I had to write a limb a rick on this topic. It's a two paragraph limerick. Here it is, I plant to produce
inspiration. The vines crossed the line with migration. I do this for my neighbor, this sweat and toil and labor. This dispute may require arbitration. I have this one soul consolation when we settle with litigation, my settlement from the court order. When my trumpet vine crossed the border is I'll buy more plants with the compensation. I like it. That's a very timely one because I killed a tree in my yard deliberately, was just ignoring maple, and
we wanted to have it for birds. And my neighbor was asking what we were going to do with it, and I said I wanted to plant a trumpet vine on it, because she and I both garden and do a lot for the hummingbirds. And you should have seen the look that came on her face when I really said trumpet vine. She said, oh, those are pretty aggressive, aren't they. And I said yes, And I'm like, well, I guess I'm not planting a trumpet fine, I want to stay
good friends with my neighbors. I like that. Well, maybe plants some vegetables. There's talk, of course planting vegetables in the front yard, or at least some vegetables because of the social connection at causes. And I was reading community gardeners consume fruits and vegetables five points seven times per day, compared with home gardeners four point six times per day and non gardeners three point nine times a day. So it pays to grow vegetables and no neighbors who grow
vegetables. So whatever your homestyle, cottage, colonial, ranch, art deco, bungalow. There's a great article in Fine Gardening Fine Gardening dot com. We're gonna post that link at our website where they talk about making the landscape inviting and one of the things they recommend doing is planting plants that don't require a lot of maintenance or deadheading, or maybe put on a good show all
season long. You know, Stacy, I was thinking about panicled hydranges versus plants let's say, like creeping flocks, which is in bloom only one week out of the year, or last week we talked about mock orange. So if you can find plants that don't require a lot of deadheading and look beautiful throughout the most of the season, those are probably good options for that front
landscape. Yeah, anything I think that is eye catching and memorable. I met a new neighbor not directly on my block a few weeks ago, and my direct neighbors are trying to explain to them where I lived, and they said, oh, she's the one with the elephant ear on her front porch. And then he said, oh, yeah, no, I know who you are. Yeah, and I'm the one with the Canucks in the front yard. You know, I have a trick. The tricky thing about my
front yard is it's half shade and half sun. So the left half is real shady and then the right half is sunny. And it's hard. It's hard to find symmetry. My house is very symmetrical. But you know, I'm working on it. Neighbors, I'm working on the front yard. Well, we'll get there. Well, when people get together, you know, they talk about whether or we talked about, you know, pets. The same applies to your landscape, and odds are they're going to ask what those
plants are or how they can get those plants. But if you put structures in the front landscape also they should compliment, not compete with the architecture of your house, like a brick mailbox, post and pass if you have a colonial home or a white picket fence, if you have a cozy cottage or a Cape Cod home. And of course with a cottage type look, Stacy, I know you like this look. It can just boast a profusion of
plants. Yeah, a little bit of fence like that, even if it's not actually serving the purpose of fencing anything in just to bring some structure to your yard. It's effective with almost any style of home. It really really, I think looks really nice. So plant up that front landscape, think about that front porch with potted containers and hanging baskets to make your home welcoming.
Think about some lemon trees and large pots, or a bird bath and some pretty flowers so that you make some new friends and know your neighbors. And think about the path also on the way to the door, and plants that border that path. In future shows we'll talk about borders. I'm thinking like lavender would be a great plant to border or walk. Yeah, you know, I think a lot about We don't have plants right now that border
our front walk, but we think a lot about it. Why because we have to put a lot of snow there, so that is our number one can say, I would love to have a very welcoming little walk, and I will one day. But I'm thinking herbaceous perennials so I don't have to worry about that snow load. That's a great point, all right, So let's be neighborly. Like I say, I broke out my mister Rogers sweater today. This thing is I think forty years old. People pick on me
about it, but I love this sweater, mister Rogers Neighborhood. I enjoy wearing it and that's why I broke the sweater out today. All right, Coming up next, plants on trial. Don't miss it. More neighborly plants. You know it? All right? Good, that's coming up next here on the Gardening Simplified Ship, Proven Winners Colored Choice Shrubs cares about your success
in the garden. That's why we trial and test all of our shrubs for eight to ten years, making sure they outperform everything else on the market. Look for them in the distinctive white container at your local garden center. Greetings,
gardeners, and welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show. It's the time of the show where we put a plant on trial, which is to say, we're going to tell you about one of the three and twenty plus proven Winners Color Choice shrubs and you get to decide if it's going to earn a spot in your garden. And it is indeed a neighborly plant. But just at the tail end of our discussion on being neighborly and having conversation points in
your yard. I did want to add this kind of relatively new phenomenon of signage about if you are like a monarch Way station, people are putting up signs to say, you know, please pardon the lawn, we're feeding the bees, they have certified wildlife habitats, and all these signs are intended to really focus a discussion, especially if you're gardening maybe out of the mainstream, maybe your yard looks a little bit more wild and people are wondering like,
Hey, what the heck is going on over there? Did they just give up? Or is this for purpose? And I think if those are really great ways to bring people into the fold and help them learn about what you're doing and why and understand that, you know, maybe the old way days of the perfectly green, manicured lawn edges, you can set your watch to all of that. Maybe there's a happy medium there. I think it's a great point and it would start a conversation. Yeah, exactly, it's beautiful.
Certainly, lots of opportunities to find more information about monarch waystations and certified wildlife habitats online if you are so interested, but without further Ado, let's get to today's plant on trial, which is a plant that my neighbors and I are equally enjoying, as you described in your limerick, but hopefully I think I think they're happy about it. And it is sweet summer love clematis. Yes, love it. Have you grown this one? Love it?
I have it. It's growing. I call it, please don't take a fence, but I call it my chain link fence plant. As it grows great on a chain link fence. It does grow great on a chain link fence. Now mine actually grows through a shadow box fence. So my neighbor's fence is a shadow box style, which is a wood fence where the slats are kind of staggered, so there's space in between. And I this is
a vine and it so it's a clematis. It has small flowers. It's blooming now basically starts in mid to late summer, and it is similar that. The easiest way to think about it is that it is a sweet autumn clematis. That's colorful. But now I hope I'm not losing anyone because a lot of people out there are going to hear sweet autumn clematis and think, well, turn and turn in the channel. Now, don't talk to me about that. You know, very vigorous, possibly obnoxious, but very easy
to grow clematis. Now, this one is not nearly as aggressive as that one. It doesn't seed. It is some different species. But we use that analogy of it being a colorful, sweet autumn clematis because of the bloom time. You know, so people most people think of clematis is blooming sort of more spring or early summer. This is a late summer bloomer like sweet autumn. It is fragrant like sweet autumn. It has the most delicious cheer. I describe it as a cherry vanilla scent. I don't know what you
think. It has like a van like cherry, like artificial cherry kind of smell, but in a good way. And so it has that shares that with the sweet autumn clematis. And it's super easy to grow. And I think so many people struggle with clematis. They have so many questions about clematis, but sweet autumn. Even though people might have found that it's a little too rimbunctious for them, it remains popular because it is so easy to grow.
It doesn't get the diseases that a lot of other clematists get, and it just brings color and interest at a time where there's very little else going on, especially clematis wise. So again, it's a small flowered variety, and the flowers start out this beautiful kind of cranberry reddish color, and then
as they age they turn violet. And a lot of times what happens when you have these plants that sort of morph their color as they age, you get a multicolored look where you have all of those colors, all those different phases of bloom age at one time, and that really gives it such another
dimension of interest, in so much more beauty. So my sweet Summer Love Clematists is planted up against this fence that my neighbor put up and I had originally planted it to grow through an elderberry that I have planted there, Okay, and I wanted it too, And I use this a lot. I think clematists are really useful. I think we've talked about it a bit last time we talked about clematist are on our vine show that clematists can be really
useful for kind of growing through something and adding another level of interest. So that's how I originally intended my Sweet Summer Love Clematists to grow. But my Sweet Summer Love Clematists had different intentions, and it said, no, no, I want to grow over here into the neighbor's yard. Which it still does what I wanted it to do, but a lot of it is over on the neighbor's yard, and so I'm on the edge of my seat it. They love it, they do, and I, you know, I
to be a good neighbor. I have often said, you know, hey, does it bother you? And not just about the sweet Summer love, because I have a lot of plants, and they say, do you want me to prune this? Please feel free to cut this off yourself if it's bothering you, that kind of thing. But they do love it because they
don't have to do anything. I do all the pruning. I do all the fertilizing, watering, and it's right by their dining table, their little outdoor dining table, and so they get all the beautiful flowers with none of the work. They're lucky, you're spreading the love. It's fantastic. Yes, So this is a larger vine. So in that way, similar to sweet autumn as well, so about ten feet tall and wide. And that's one of the reasons why it's able to grow through my very large elderberry as
well as through their slats and over on to their side. But you can grow it like on a trellis or something smaller if you wanted to keep it in a garden, or even on like a pergola or something larger if you had more space. How long have you had it, I've had it for quite some time. I planted it pretty much when we moved in, so
about eight years. And I'm glad you asked that, because one thing you do want to know if this plant is sounding interesting to you as we put it on trial, it is a plant that's going to need a few years to get established exactly before it starts doing its thing. And one of the reasons for that, and again we talked about this on our Clematist show. Clematists have some of the weirdest roots you are going to see on any plant.
They are thick and fleshy, they look like rope, and it just think about the energy it takes to put into those thick, fleshy roots compared to like a regular fibrous roots system. It really needs that to be well developed in place before it's able to take off, grow foliage, grow flowers. So yeah, it's in full bore now and has been for many years. But probably you're going to want to give this one three to five years to get established before you can really start expecting it to do its thing.
But it's more than worth it. Because it's very long lived. You not have to worry about it expiring anytime soon. Yeah, I'm glad you brought that up. I think of the mnemonic sleep, creep, and leap. So the first year sleeps, the next year kind of creeps, and then after that it's one of those plants that just leaps. And if you're keeping score at home, we're talking about Sweet Summer Love. Clematis makes me think of the Summer of Love nineteen sixty seven, San Francisco. I would have
been eight years I wasn't there. I would have been eight years old at that time. And think about the song from Scott McKenzie. If you're going to San Francisco, be sure to wear some flowers in your hair. Remember that song. I don't remember it, but I know of it. No of it. No, Okay, So anyhow, there's just a little bit of music trivia for you. But a greatly named plant because I just love this plant, right and it is at its peak in summer. Now.
This one does come to us from Sefon Marzinski, who is a Polish breeder of clematists, and again our Clematist show, we talked about how there is so much breeding of clematist happening in Poland, and so this is one of his. He named it. So it came to us with that name Sweet Summer Love, and we just kept it because it's such a descriptive name for it. And he is the one who really wanted to create this summer interest clematis with color, with the understanding that you know, hey, most of
these late blooming clematists they're just they're they're not good garden companions. They're they're too pushy again, they're too rambunctious. So this one is not. It is more restrained. You don't have to worry about it growing overgrowing your entire yard, and you don't have to worry about its setting seed. And that's a big thing that happens for people who grow regular sweet autumn. But like regular sweet autumn clematis and all clematist This is a plant that's going to want
full sun for its vines and shade for its roots. So in my case, the shade for its roots comes from a combination of mulch and growing under my elderberry plants. But you know you can also do that just through mulch or by planting some other perennials to kind of cover up those feet, which not only looks better but also really really helps the plant quite a bit. This plant is also full proof to prune, which I know is one of
the so I was going to say, don't be afraid to prune. Now, get the pruners out and let's have some right and you will think, you know, when you're looking at a well established one in spring, like how can I possibly prune this thing back so hard? Is it going to grow back? And I can assure you every year it does. So I
cut mine back to about eighteen to twenty four inches above the ground. And the reason that it can regrow to the ten foot proportion once it's established, even after being cut back that far, is because it has that root system to fuel all of that growth and all of those buds that are in the plant, that are on it. That's where all that growth is going to come from. So that engine just fuels all the growth, even from those few buds. And so within a matter of weeks in spring, when it
starts to grow, it starts to climb and clematis. You may remember, you don't they need a structure to climb on, but they don't need you to help them along because they have the unique ability for their little pettiole or stem that connects the leaf to the stem that actually twines around things, so it can twine around itself, it can twine around other plants thin supports like Little Trouble says, very cool to watch. Yeah, it's really wild,
so a very easy to grow plant. I encourage you to visit Gardening Simplified OnAir dot com to see this, to see photos of it, because it really is a very unique plant and one that I hope you will find room for in your garden. We're going to take a little bit of a break. When we come back, we're open en up that gardening mail bag and answering your questions, so please stay tuned at proven winner's color Choice. We've
got a shrub for every taste and every space. Whether you're looking for an easycare rose, an unforgettable hydrangea, or something new and unique, you can be confident that the shrubs and the white containers have been trialed and tested for your success. Look for them at your local garden center. Creating's Gardening friends, and welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show. I know it's the time of year where people are wondering all sorts of things. What's going on with
this? Why is it my hydrangea blooming? Which is a question always on everybody's minds. What's going to happen in the next month or two? So I know it's question time. And if you have a question for us, you can reach us at help HLP at Gardening Simplified OnAir dot com. We do have a lot of questions and I'm trying to get to them. If you have something more urgent, I would encourage you to visit the Proven Winners dot com website. There's a feedback line there and so someone will getting too
an answer more quickly. Because we can only do three questions, we only have time to do three questions. I mean, we could probably have a whole show of questions. But yeah, and you know, I'm thinking, Stacy as you say that gardeners are just like any other type of person in this world. I always say there's three types of people in this world. Those who make things happen, those who watch things happen, and those who wonder what in the world just happens. And those are the people we're trying
to help with the men. Yeah, So if you're wondering what in the world just happened and it's related to gardening, we can't help you with anything else. Help at Gardening Simplified on air dot com or just visit Gardening Simplified on air dot com. And with that, what is in the mailbag this week? All right? Jenny wrote to us and says, I have a mature trumpet honeysuckle that has powdery mildew all over the plant. There's also a lot of dead branches in the middle. Should I cut it back close to
the ground now? Temps will be in the low mid eighties next week in Plainfield, Indiana, Plainfield, Indiana. If you suggest treating it, what should I you? Okay? So all great questions, Jenny, and powdery mild is definitely if you have powdery mail do. It is in full swing right now. Summer is it's high time. But the fact is that powdery mildew actually starts in spring and a lot of people don't realize this because the signs of it don't actually make itself known until well into summer. So it
didn't just suddenly appear. It's just finally proliferated to the point where you're actually seeing it appear on your plant. Can you say humidity, yes, right, exactly, humidity me, I'm only humid. You got humidity. And you know the issue in spring when a plant starts to emerge, when the foliage starts to emerge, that foliage is really really tender. It hasn't developed a protective waxy cuticle, and so it's very very susceptible to all of the
fungus and that kind of thing that's in the air. So most treatments for a powdery mildew are preventative rather than curative. It's a great point. Yeah, it's really important as people see it and then think, oh, well, now I got to do something about it, and you're you're not really going to be able to do all that much about it at this point in the season. So here's my advice to you, Jenny, do not cut
it back now. Go ahead and let it, you know, finish its thing, go dormant, and then if you want to in spring you can cut it all the way back to the ground. It will be fine. Honeysuckles are extremely vigorous. You don't have to worry about harming it. But at this point, you know it's starting to go dormant, so you really want to give it the chance to translocate all the nutrients that it's making in its leaves store them in its root system. You don't want to just kind
of cut that process short just by cutting it back right now. And then a couple couple of things to help minimize powdery mil do in the future. When the foliage drops, try your best. I know this is easier said than done to clean it all up in fall, because that fall and foliage is where all those powdery meil do and powderymail do is a fungus. By the way, all those powdery mail do spores. They just sit on that
foliage waiting for the following spring. If conditions allow, poof, they go right back on to the plant right when those leaves are emerging, and again don't have that protective waxy cuticle. Appropriate sunlight very important part of minimizing powdery mil Do and proper spacing so that the plant can get plenty of air circulation around it, because that will prevent help to dry the leaves. Because powdery mail Do thrives not in wet conditions, not in dry conditions, but in
alternately wet and dry conditions. It loves irrigation systems. You would think that that powdery mail Do itself may have invented irrigation. You know where it comes on at the same time every day as all day to dry and then blamo, next day it's it's watering again. Those are perfect conditions for powdery mill Do to develop. Wow, Jenny, you got a poof and I'll blamo all in one answer. But you know what, I could not have said
that better. Stacy, you you nailed it. And Jenny of course talked about those dead branches also, and if you don't get sunlight into the center
of the plant, you're going to have some of those dead branches. My only advice would be, don't be afraid to prune hard, but at the right times, right time, yes, and you know, it's a good idea to wait until you start to see those buds appear on the plant, and then it's going to be really clear to you what parts are dead so you can remove those completely, and what parts are alive, so you can cut those back quite hard, but make sure that there's enough for it to
grow and recover and hopefully get a new start next year. Sounds great and writes to us. And let's see if ann can get a poof or a blammo. We are taught to clean pruners between pruning roses and other plants. What's your method of cleaning pruners between plants went out in the garden. This is a great question. And I believe that the current thinking is lysol lights al disinfectant. Yes, undiluted, that is the current thing. That is the current thinking. Yep, we could use pine sl I'm sure if you
own a pine fresh scent while you're sterilizing your pruners. See, I use a steel brush, the kind that you clean your grill with and vinegar. Oh, and that works for you. I don't know, it's probably just an old thing. I'm a baby bloomer. I'm an old guy. Silver is definitely good for cleaning them. But if you want to sterilize them, you know, I will be honest. First of all, I do not
sterilize my pruners between cutting different things. No, I'm happy if I find it, I usually lose it. Now that said, if I did have a plant that you know, I knew had some sort of vascular disease that was in the plant, you don't have to worry about like fungal diseases because
they're not going to be you know, transmitted on your pruners. But you know what I've I've recommended this for people who want to try to salvage a rose with rose rosette, even though it might not be very useful, or lilacs or another plant that you often might want to sanitize your pruners because they can get some some different diseases. So if I was doing something that I
knew had disease, then of course I would. But as a matter of course, I'm not out there with a little bottle of lysol in a in a rag and wiping my pruners in between. But if you want to, more power to you, it certainly couldn't hurt. But lisol is the current thinking on that. Interesting. That's very interesting. I don't like it when I find my pruning shears with my lawnmower. That's what I don't like with your lawnmower. Why don't they drive over it? Oh? No, that
would be dangerous. That would be very what you need as a holster. Yes, put on your Okay, well, okay, you know, I think you're in good company with other gardeners for having the right equipment but not necessarily using it exactly do it as I say, not as I do, or something like that. Okay, Michael writes to us, and thanks for writing to us, Michael, because I want to hear what Stacy has to say on this. I purchased a proven winter pink sonic bloom Waigila marketed as
a continuous rebloomer. I planted at last fall as a small shrub. It was delivered from vfed X from Proven Winners. It bloom this spring about the same time as my other Waigila shrubs, but has not shown any signs of reblooming. It's putting on a lot of growth, just nod blooms, It gets sun, looks healthy. Was a small plant. Should I expect more
blooms in this first full year in the ground. You know, this is such a good question, Michael, and I also thank you for writing it, because I am hearing from a lot of gardeners right now who are saying, like, this is a new plant and it's not doing what I thought it would do. And it comes back to something you said a little earlier in the show today, and that's that whole sleep creep leap thing. Yeah. You know, a first plant and its first year in the ground is
going to sleep. It's not going to put on a lot of growth. You're not going to see a lot happening. Most the action is underground with the roots. Second year, it's going to creep. It's gotten a little bit more energy. You're going to see some growth, but certainly not full performance. And then it's third full season in the ground, that's when it's
going to leap. That's when it's going to start moving towards those fabulous pictures you see on the tags and on the website and all of that performance. And I would say your sonic bloom Wigila is no different. You really have to think about this. So it's great that it bloomed in spring. I'm really happy about that. But you have to kind of think of it as an energy budget question. And when a plant is newly planted, it's going
to put most of its energy into roots. A plant can only grow on top as much as its roots system can support, So until it has a good roots system in place, you're not going to see all that much going on. And the rebloom or the new wood flowers are a pretty big expenditure of energy, and so you know, as it builds up its ability to even have energy to do that, you're not going to see that until that happens. So it's no surprise that it's not happening now. It's not a
cause for concern. It sounds like you describe. It's healthy. It's in a good spot for them to really thrive and do well. It just needs a little bit more time. And the key with all reblooming shrubs is as you need to put on as much new growth as possible after it does it's spring bloom. So yours is doing that, that's great, but in the future you want to make sure that after it has at spring bloom, you
don't just say yeah, forget it. You want to make sure if the weather conditions are rough, you're watering it, you might consider fertilizing it with like a granular rose fertilizer, encouraging that vigorous new growth. The faster you can get that out, the faster, and we'll put on those buds to rebloom for you. Plants are a lot like people. If you go to a party or an event, you just don't jump right into the fray.
I mean you kind of stand off to the side a little while, maybe have a cucumber cilantro martini, and then you'll warm up a little bit and then and then the party gets stuck right exactly. It's very similar, but Stas was better. But yeah, there's not a three hours anyway. If you have questions for us, again, help at Gardening Simplified on air dot com. We've got to take a little bit of a break now, but when we come back, it's branching news, so plea stay tuned. The
Gardening Simplified Show is brought to you by proven winners. Color Choice Shrubs. Our award winning flowering shrubs and evergreens have been trialed and tested for your success so you enjoy more beauty and less work. Look for proven Winners Color Choice Shrubs in the distinctive white container at your local garden center, coming to you from Studio A. Here at proven Winners color Choice Shrubs. It's time for branching news and branching news today it's Stacy's birthday. Happy birthday to you.
Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, Dear Stacy, Happy birthday to you. And as a special surprise, here on the Gardening Simplified Show, Stacy's mom, Susan. Great to have you on the show. Thank you, it's very exciting. You gotta tell me, Susan, Now tell me when did you know that Stacy was going to be a horticultural genius. When did
you realize that moment? It was humble beginnings. So we would go to the grocery store and she was probably four something like that, and she would get on the floor and get the beans that had fallen out of the dried beans, yeah, display or whatever. And I told her, if you put those home and take those home and put them in dirt, they'll grow. And she was all about that, and every week she would do that.
Yeah. I was really surprised that it was even a possibility. I mean, I actually remember the moment very clearly, coming up to her with it in my hand, and she was like, Oh, that's a bean. If you plan it, we'll turn into a bean plant. And I was like, what is a sorcery? Yeah, I mean I remember it very clearly, and that was like the first thing that I really planted. Wow. You know. My dad was a big time vegetable gardener, and he one year when we were little kids, gave us each a plot,
myself and my sister. We grew a few vegetables, planted a few beans, and one morning I got up and all my plants were laying on their side, uprooted. I immediately knew it was my sister who had done that. Her curiosity had gotten the best of her, and so I told Dad. And the next day I got a little letter from my sister that said, dear Rick, I hate you, Love Jane, and still have that
letter. So we all have to start somewhere. As Bardner's right, All right, well, do you want to do branching news with us here while we celebrate Stacy's birthday? No? I just you so good at it, though, why should? Well? Thank you very much, thank you very much. I appreciate that okay, take me to your weeder. A fast growing invasive vine called mile a minute weed has been discovered in Maine for what experts believe is the first time. So this is a barbed weed with triangular
leaves, and I guess this thing grows. Let's see the growth rate up to six inches a day or twenty five feet in six to eight weeks. Wow, weed, my lips. This plant is a problem. Have you ever heard of this one? I have certainly heard of it. And the thing about it is, you know, and we'll put the article, of course on our show notes at Gardening Simplified on air dot com. Is it such an interesting looking weed that I think most people would see it come up
in their yard and go, oh, this is kind of cool. I'm going to let this grow. It has really distinctive triangular leaves. If you see this, so look up a picture of it, so you know to be on the lookout for it. It's common name. One of the common names besides my limnute weed is tear a thumb because it has horrible, horrible, uh you know, spines on it, so if we tried to rip
it out, it will tear your thumb. M Yeah, and I guess it produces a fruiting spike, so birds spread it and it's reached twenty percent of its potential US range. So like I say, take me to your weeder this one. Keep your eye open for it mile a minute weed. Also on the website, we're going to share a survey where sixty one percent of respondents have actively sought out foods with fewer preservatives or processed ingredients within the
last year. They're reading ingredient labels more closely, buying more natural foods, and prioritizing locally grown foods like planting a garden. But here you go. What matters most when buying food according to this survey, and we'll post it at our website, Gardening Simplified OnAir dot com. But what matters most Number one how good it tastes, Number two, how healthy it is, number three, how natural it is? Number four how much does it cost?
And number five how long will it take to spoil? Kind of makes sense, doesn't it. I'm surprised how it looks doesn't play into that though, because good point. You know, maybe they didn't ask about it. But we have an issue in this country where we reject food that doesn't conform to our standards over how it and I think gardening is a great cure for that because I'll tell you, when you grow a tomato, if it has cat facing, you know, scarring zippering as you call it, rick, you
better believe you're eating that thing. You're not letting that just go. And that kind of warms you up for the challenges of growing vegetables, and you're more likely to then accept less than quote unquote perfect vegetables at the market. That's a great point. It's all about marketing, all about marketing. Susan,
do you have a favorite vegetable you like to eat? We're gonna put you on the spot because whenever we interview someone on the Gardening Simplified Show, I'm first going to ask you if you have a favorite vegetable I do? What is it? Block your ears? Asparagus? Yes? I love that, okay. And the other question we always ask think about this a favorite plant. It's a very unfair question to ask people because, like you've probably watched and listened to Stacy on the show, she always say, oh,
that's my favorite. No, that's my favorite, what's your favorite? It's first of all, I Stacy did not get any of her knowledge of gardening from me, but she helped me choose some collias that goes on either side of my garage door that matches my front door, and neighbors stop all the time asking about it. Fantastic and proven winners. Of course, has so many great varieties of colias, and what I love about colias. When I first came into the industry many moons ago, it was considered just a shade
plant. And now we can grow it in the sun or shade. You grow it in containers, yes, and it's almost full shade, full full sun. Yeah, beautiful, fantastic. We'll share a picture, all right. Goats as firefighters. You heard it here first HRD. But again, if I have to spell it, it's not a good pun. There's nothing that goats won't eat. And in California they're using goats to eat vegetation to
try to deal with wildfires. Of course, we've all seen the news this past week of the tragedy in Hawaii and in California they're trying to reduce wildfire risk by utilizing goats eating all kinds of dried vegetation, and of course they can I don't know. There was this company that said their their goats cleared nearly four hundred thousand acres of land a year. It's amazing what they can eat and how much they can eat. And to get people familiar with using
goats to clear vegetation and weeds instead of using chemicals. They get people of the community together and they have what they call a bleat and great, really a bat and great? Isn't that great? That every day? I thought it was great too. It's fantastic. So I guess if they have mineral and salt blocks, a large shepherd dog to ward off coyotes, then these goats are good to eat. Poison, oak and thistle, work under the
blazing sun without suffering from heat stress or heat exhaustion. Sow and bears in the landscape. Who invited the bear? We'll put this story on the website. Also, Kaylin mccrossey Martinez and Brandon Martinez shared photos from their Boulder County wedding, which took an unplanned turn when monsoon rains began to fall right after they exchanged vows, so it was pouring rain during the ceremony. All the
guests were wet, but that wasn't the big surprise. The next surprise came during the reception when a bear showed up and started eating all of the desserts. They had a great attitude about it, and so I think, you know, this couple's gonna do just fine. They did really well with the whole thing. But talk about a fun story, and we're gonna put the We're gonna put the story there on our website. They did not put the festivities on paws. They and they didn't lose their bearings. They just plowed
through it. You know, all of our bear related branching news is them eating sweets. They're breaking into bakerries, ice cream shots. They're never like going to the grocery store and eating you know, broccoli or anything like that. And that's my whole point, Stacy, bears, You know, I'm good with bears. Deer are the ones that are eating my plants. And usually you think of bears eating from the bird feeder, but you're right,
they're always after cookies and cupcakes and that type of thing. So sweet tooth. You're going out for dinner with Stacy for birthday? Yes, excellent, excellent? What kind of food do you like? Wow? I like I like a lot of things. Good food, good food. Yes, all right, bears. Then I'll make sure to share this survey. We'll be good to go. It's been great me you, Susan, and happy birthday. Thank you Erick, I appreciate that. Thanks for joining us this week
on the Gardening Simplified Show. Look for us on YouTube, radio, podcast, and thank you very mulch for your support. Have a great week.