Hello, my friends, across the fruited and rooted plane and beyond, it's time for the Gardening Simplified Show with Stacy, Hervella, me, Rick Weist, and our engineer and producer Adrianna Robinson. Well, when it comes to getting from point A to point B, the garden path provides the balance of practicality and style that every plot needs and it's a crucial feature in our landscape.
Stacy, I'll never forget the paths in the gardens at boot Chart Gardens when I visited them, especially the Japanese Garden, because it was so neat. There were paths that were single stone that you walk along and at certain points you reach a point where there are two stones side by side. And I asked about that and they said, well, that's because the architect at this point wants you to stop, take a deep breath and look at something
specific. I thought that was really cool. It's true. Paths can do so much for your experience through space. Just like that, they kind of determine how you're going to walk through an air, not just the direction you're
going to take, but the pace that you're going to take. And you know, something like stones like that where they're set and you're taking larger steps, you're going to be taking shorter steps than if it was just, you know, a sidewalk in the middle of the city, and the path makes all the difference, you bet, and how you make that path just up the road there from Bootchart Gardens. I remember going to Queen Elizabeth Park and
I was really struck by the pathways in the landscape. They were all grass, really well edged grass paths. And I'd have to say, when it comes to material to use for a path, I think my first choice probably is grass because many of these wonderful arboretums and places like Queen Elizabeth Park that you go to, the paths are made of grass. And Koitkenhoff this spring wasn't other one like that, and the shadow of the trees on that beautiful green grass, I don't know. I love grass as a path. Well,
it is beautiful. It is a little bit high maintenance. But another thing that I've heard many people praise about grass paths is that it's quiet. Yeah, you know, if you have a gravel path, and especially if you're in a public garden, it's crunch crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch. The whole time, you can't enjoy yourself. You're crunching. Someone over here is crunching. It's crunch city. That's well put. Yeah, you
know, crushed aggregate really does make a good path. But you're right, you've got to you got to be willing to live with the crunch underfoot. And you know, if you live in a snowy climate like we do, gravel can cause all sorts of problems. If you have to remove snow, then your gravel's in the bed and who knows where. And that's not exactly low maintenance either. I mean all paths are going to require some maintenance. But yeah, I mean grass, a really beautiful grass path is definitely hard
to beat. So be careful of the path that you choose. Think about at Stacy. I went to the dictionary Miriam Webster, and it said the garden path. To lead someone down the garden path means to deceive someone, to cause to go think or proceed wrongly. What a reputation. That's not a fair definition. And leading someone down a garden path is a lovely thing.
I'm reading it right here. I object as in he believes the average consumer is being led down the garden path by promises in advertisements, so it has a little bit of a reputation, but the path is so important. I have also noticed this past year in trending and hard scaping where we're using flagstone or patio stones or whatever it may be. It used to be you would pick a certain type and that was your path. Today it's a mix
and a mix of styles as well as sizes. Kind of fun. What I'm seeing happening in the whole hardscaping area and creation of paths, Well, you know, it's a lot like your house. Like if you have rugs through your house, sort of determining pathways through your rooms. You don't have the same rug every single place, repeated all over. You have different rugs
that offer some sort of cohesive look. And I think it's perfectly acceptable to mix paths and bring them back in and that can really create that again cohesive look where it's not all the same, but you can tell that you're in the same place. Yeah, So a good concept is to interrupt the path. In other words, instead of a path that's same o Samo leads someplace doesn't have a lot of intrigue along the path interrupting it and in some cases,
when you get out of control. It includes a fountain or a plant or whatever it may be. But interrupting that path I really think helps give character and interest to a path in the garden. It's important because it's you know, yes, a path gets you from point A to point B, but there are many ways to design that. And if it's a straight line,
that has value, but it also can be kind of dull. And if all your paths are straight lines, well, you know, then you've just got like a super highway instead of a place where you are supposed to be slowing down and enjoying it and again stopping to pause. And that's what those interruptions in a path do you bet? I feel a limb a rick Ooh of course. Coming on here. Regarding paths, here you go. My pathways, you could say, are pathetic. Their appearance is less than
aesthetic. I just stub my toe. They cause vertigo and are neither functional or cosmetic. Come on over. If you want a trip on my path made of wood chip, tree roots grow and revel, and my path is not very level, just don't question my workmanship. My path that travels to nowhere is a threat to your physical welfare, but exists for one reason. No matter the season. It leads to my favorite lawn chair. Ah, that's nice. You really hit the nail on the head with that one.
You know, I think so many people are like, Okay, I have to design a path. And there is this concept in landscape design that professional landscape designers use. It's wonderful and as soon as I talk about this everyone, it's gonna pop in someone's mind. They've seen it before, user directed design. And basically what that means is using the pathways that you have already created for yourself through your yard. You see this a lot in public parks
in campuses, for sure, and you know you can. Professionals can put in all the pathways that they want, but the way the people use the
space is ultimately what's going to determine where those paths are. And so you know, you can approach your garden with this grand idea of Okay, I'm gonna have paths here and here and here, and they're gonna intersect like this, But ultimately, it's like you said in your limerick, where you go in the paths that you make for whatever reason, whether it's where you put your chairs, it's where a tree is, it's this, that or the
other. Those are the paths that actually work and feel natural and organic, really well said, those are paths with a purpose. Yes, yeah, exactly. I like that. Now some people will use concrete, and concrete doesn't have to be boring and gray. Today there is stamp concrete, there's concrete with patterns in it. They put flakes in it, they put color in it. That's an option. You can buy roll out mats online, but I find them not to work real well and they're very very expensive.
Recycled house brick is an other option. And then, of course, when you talk about paths stacy, you also have to approach the issue of steppables, things like wooly time or other plants that you can step on. Right, a big part of softening a path, especially, you know, it doesn't have to be the whole path. Not all of those plants can take a whole lot of foot traffic. So whether or not you can use those in which ones you can use and in which quantity does depend on how much
traffic your path actually gets, and also from whom you know. If it's one thing, if you are a pair of adult gardeners walking in your path on your path, you know, a couple of times a week. It's another if you have little kids or dogs. Adriana is nodding at the dogs. You know that's going to be a very different level of traffic and a very different level of care, and so that that might not hold up.
Those plants might not hold up as well. Whereas if it is someplace where you are supposed to slow down and you're not going to be tearing through there with your soccer cleats or whatever, then things like wooly time and different groundcovers are a great choice, yeah, or the wonderful plants that you can line a path with. And I always think of lavender. I think lavender is
just the ideal plant to line a path. That is a great idea because of the fragrance, you know, it's a nice idea for shade is Hakona kloa, the Japanese forest grass, and that's that like low growing, very soft, arching grass and it's just kind of I've seen pass line with it before and it's just perfection. I love it. Whatever your path, I
recommend including some lighting makes some magical at nighttime. And I love curved paths only because as you walk them, you really don't know what's around the next corner. Of course, a typical path would have mulch. And if you use mulch, I recommend shredded mulch, not the nuggets because when we get rainstorms, they float away and out. Yeah, and you don't want to get that stuck in your gardening flip flops or garden clogs or whatever it is
that's out there. Yeah. I agree. The shredded bark mult nestles down very nice and makes a nice surface, and of course it's enriching the soil underneath. Yeah. Interlocks Plants on Trial is coming up next here on the Gardening Simplified Show. Choose your path wisely, that's why we're here for you. Later in the show, we'll get to the mail bag also and answer your questions. That's all coming up on the Gardening Simplified Show. Proven Winner's
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. Greeting's gardening friends, and welcome back to the
gardening Simplify the show. We're going to put a plant on trial. It's the time of the show where we talk about one of our favorite proven winner's colored choice shrubs and you decide if it's going to earn a place in your garden or not. But I do want to go back quickly to something you said just before we took a break, and you said you love curved paths because you don't know what's around the bend. But you know, another great
thing about curved paths. What's it is that if you have a smaller property, and you know, my yard is about a quarter acre, so kind of a standard city lot, a curved path prolongs the amount of time it takes you to get anywhere in the garden. Of course, the shortest path is a straight line, and a curved line can really slow you down.
And I think if you want people to have the experience of being in your garden and being really surrounded by plants, you know it's perfectly acceptable to make your path loopy and going around and crossing back over itself and providing those additional options for navigating the path. And slowing people down so that they there's more to enjoy. I like that stop and smell the roses. It's almost like a speed bump. Yeah, forces you to slow down a little bit.
Yeah. There was a garden that I was lucky enough to see on Buffalo Garden Walk. And we talked about Buffalo Garden Walk before, one of the best free garden tours in the United States. Over seven hundred gardens available to see for free in Buffalo, New York, last for weekend in July. And this gentleman's garden. He can't put it on garden Walk because you have to go through his amazing, beautiful Victorian house. And it's also a very
narrow path. But it's a very small lot because it's an urban lot, so even smaller than that quarter acre. And his garden is just a path that's all planted with plants and there's different like combinations, so you slow down, and it's a long, meandering path. And even though you know the space is very very short, and if it was a straight line, you'd be through it before you even knew it. This curved path, it just it really enlightened me to the value of just slowing down and making things not
the most efficient way, because that's kind of what gardening is about. That's a great point. I love it, but you know, I was thinking, you know, you said first thing on the show, a path gets you from point A to point B, but the plants along the path are what make the journey worthwhile. And there are so many options. We talked
about a couple of different plants for edging paths. But when I think about a path and I think about planting a path, my mind does go back to this gentleman's garden and the way that he positioned certain plants to stop you to you know, because you'd be looking down. Because the path is also very narrow. And this is important too. If you have a really wide path and it's really level, you're just like la la la la la, walking down the sidewalk, and if it's a little bit maybe treacherous, not
dangerous, but like you know, you got to use some caution. You're going to be slowing down. And that was what this path was like. It was narrow and you didn't want to step on the plants. So you need, I think, especially at curves in your path. A showstopper of a plant something that while you're looking down at the path or at the other plants, or at your feet even whatever, you're looking at something that's going to make you go, whoa, what is that? And so today's plant
on trial is Midnight sun Whyjela score. Now, I think most people who are familiar with whijiela are probably going, what Whyjella is like six foot tall and wide shrub? How is that? Working on a path? Whijeela are big? And midnights on is aways Jeila. That will totally change your opinion and experience of what a Whyjeela is. And I think that's really exciting. So midnights on Waijela gets to be about one to one and a half feet
tall and wide, So it's kind of in the tough at crowd. You know, everyone loves a good tough at plant, right, so it kind of small cute, So it is that, and it's foliage. You know, whygela are generally not thought of his foliage plants, right, They thought of his flowering plants. Not that there's anything wrong with their foliage. It's you know, fine, it's not ugly, but it's not like people grow
Wygela mostly for their flowers. Well, midnight sun, the foliage has like a really deep kind of corrugated type texture, and the foliage is much thicker as well, so it's not just like a hard to describe. It is hard to discribe, and it's stunning when you see it. I was going to say, little miss Muffett would really approve of that. Tough. Indeed. Now, if you do want to see pictures, of course, they're going to be on our website, Gardening Simplified on air dot Com, or
you can visit our Instagram page. We're always going to put the plant on trial there to see some pictures. So wherever you happen to be, whatever's more convenient. But I will paint a picture here of kind of what it looks like, because again we're turning the whole notion of Whygela on its ear, I think with midnight sun. So in spring it emerges, the foliage is green, everything expect. Come you know, Wygela tends to be like
a late spring, early summer bloomer. So come late spring, it's gonna bloom with some dark pink flowers and it's gonna be perfectly happy with it. But it's what happens after that, and people don't tend to think of Whyjila as more of these late season plants. It's like late spring only so as the season goes on and as we get into July, the foliage, the new growth starts to emerge in these colors of like yellow and red, and
as that foliage matures, it matures to a purple color. So what you end up with a little later in the season, after there's no more flowers is sort of these layers of foliage. You have the dark green, lowest, and then purple, and then the new growth is again emerging in these kind of yellow tones, and so all of those colors at once are on the plant. And this is going on. And that's another great thing about using this in paths is that no matter when you're walking down that path,
you're having this dynamic experience where things are really changing. It's not just well, there's the Whyjela. It looks the same as it did three weeks ago. Every single day it's looking a little bit different. Now here we are it's late October, and at this point in the season, midnights on Waijiila
turns the most incredible shade of red. I mean it's wild. I've been observing this plant for probably three years now in our trial gardens here, and I am amazed every fall Whijila is not a full color plant, Stacey, Mister Vigel would be very proud of this, right, yes, you would. This is one that you would definitely be glad the genus was named after you, as in Vigel. Yes, so yeah, it just turns this amazing red and like there's no other white gela. Really that's a fall color
plant. Now, we've had the Sonic Bloom series of Whyjela for several years in the line of proovenm Winter's color Choice Shrubs. It's a reblooming Whigela blooms in late spring along with the rest, takes a little break, and then continues to bloom summer and fall. But even though even though they'll have flowers later in the season, they don't have this just amazing foliage show that Midnight Sun does. And it's it's really it's just it's so different than anything else
you see in Wygila. That's just fantastic, Okay, Stacey tell us who developed this fabulous plant? Well, it's a great question because it is so different. I was I was talking to our point breeders about it, because I'm like, this is so different than any other Whyjula. So Midnight Sun Waigella comes to us from the Netherlands, of course, and the breeder is a gentleman named vert Bert ver Hoofe. You speak Dutch, not me ver
ver Hoofe, Okay, Bert Verhofe. And he owns a nursery in boss Kop, of course, where all of the nurseries and the Netherlands are, and he is also the breeder of a plant of Whyjila in the proven Winner's line that a lot of people will be familiar with, and that is my money so one that's been around for a long time. He's obviously very passionate
about why Gila. He also developed my moone purple effect, and so you can tell that he just kind of has this idea, this vision for white Gela and how he ended up coming out with Midnight Sun Waijela, I have no idea because it really is so different than anything else. But again, I think his passion for the genus really shows in Midnight Sun in a way that you know, you don't necessarily see in just a white deal that's like, yeah, sure, it has great flowers, But Whyjela are supposed to
do this? When you have someone who's just taken a totally new approach and said, what if why Gela was a foliage plant? What if why Jela could be planted like a perennial instead of a giant shrub that you know you have to devote a lot of space to. Yeah, and it's one of those what is that plants? You know, you get that if you're in a garden center or you have something planted in front of your house. It's one of those that causes people to stop, what is that? Yeah,
and they go, that's a Whygela? Wow? Because no one's used to Whyjila is to be a great one. If you are a gardener and you have snooty gardening friends who you want to stump, this is a good one to get into the garden and take them to it in fall and say what is this? I guarantee you when it's not in flower, if they aren't familiar with the plant, they will be stumped. I think sometime I'll do
a limea rick on snooty garden friends. Oh I like that, Yeah, I'm eager to I hope It's not about me though, no, not at all. So you know, like most way Gila, it is going to be a full sun plant. Because it's not as much about the flowers. You could probably get away with some shade, especially towards the cooler or the warmer parts of its range. However, I think you're definitely going to see the best color on the foliage. If it's getting a good four to six
hours even more hours of sun every day. That's an important pack just because you want it. You want the best in it, not that the plant won't live, but because you want it to perform like you see in the pictures like you hear us describing here on the Gardening Simplified show. So it is hardy USDA zones four through eight. I'm going to put all of the information on the Gardening Simplified on air website. You can find everything there.
Of course, you can always google midnights on Why Julia. You'll find all sorts of internet sites and information about it. We're gonna take a little break when you come back. We've got the mailbag bursting at the seams with gardening 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 and 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. Greetings gardening friends, and welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show. We have some great questions this week. I think we should get right into it, but before we do, if you do have a question you want to send to us. Help HLP at Gardening Simplified on air dot com, or just go to Gardening Simplified on air dot
com. Fill out the contact form and you will reach us as these people. What do we got in the mailbag? Wendy writes, Last year I noticed lots of bumblebees on the Vermillionaire. That's a koffia yep, okay, I got carried away. This year have five plants with scads of bumbles on them. Looking closely, and I don't see that they can access the nectar. So I'm feeling guilty now that the bumbles are working so hard for no
reward. We have other lantana Russian sage Achinasia butterfly bushes which bumbles are on, but not as many as on the Vermillionaires. Do I not grow them? I have hummer feeders, so hummers don't need the plants. I'm in Louisville, Kentucky. Thanks, hope you can sage my guilt. Yeah, so I thought this is an interesting question, Wendy, and partly because I also grow Vermillionaire. It's one of my absolute must have annuals because of hummingbirds
and bumblebees. And even though I also feed the hummingbirds with feeders, I find they love the Vermillionaire. And one of the things I love about the Vermillionaire is I always plant it and container on either side of my back door, so if we are walking down to the basement to get the laundry or whatever, you take a little pause on that landing and you're almost sure to see a hummingbird from like two feet away, and it's awesome. So that's
one of the things I love about them. And I do again notice a lot of bumblebees on mine as well, And it never did occur to me that, yeah, you know, they're bumbly little buns can't fit into those kufi of flowers. So I looked it up, and you know, again, they've never seemed deterred. They seem perfectly happy to, you know, go all over the plant exploring all the flowers. So I looked it up and I found a couple of interesting things. I think you should absolutely continue
to grow them. I think that I'm going to tell you these two facts, but I think that the bottom line is, you know, the insects know what they're doing, sureight, And if they are working really hard for no reward, well maybe they're just bored and they're just tired of things being a little too easy, and they just are exploring and playing around. And if they get tired out, well, you know, they'll move on to
one of your other flowers where they can get something. But I do think that they are absolutely getting pollen and nectar, and that's for two reasons. One, and this is something I learned researching Wendy's question. There are both short tongued and long tungued bumble bees. I didn't know that. Yes, I didn't know that either. So we're gonna put links for all of this
so you can you don't have to take our word for it. You can find that we are backed up by legitimate organizations on this short and longed tongued bumblebees, and so short tongued bumble bees will obviously only feed on plants that their tongues can you reach the pollen and nectar, and long tungued can feed on a much wider variety of plants, and their tongues can you know,
actually access things down in that skinny tube. So if you're not familiar with kufia, a beautiful plant, narrow, orange and white flowers, but yeah, they are. Some people call it a cigar plant because that's sort of the shape of the of the flowers. So almost certainly, even if you can't necessarily tell the difference between the different bumblebees in your yard, the ones that are visiting the kufia are most likely long tongued tungued bumble bees and can
get down there. And the other thing is that bumblebees, I think we've even talked about this on the show, use buzz pollination. Yeah, they're trying to get buzzed. Yeah, so they are able to when they go onto a flower, they're able to kind of shake it and vibrate it so that the pollen comes loose and sticks to them, and then they take the
pollen back to their nests. It's rich in protein. And while they are gathering pollen to sustain their colony and sustain the actually sorry, they're mostly solitary bees, but to sustain their young. You know that pollen's going to get on other flowers and they'll end up pollinating it. So they're also able through their physical strength to vibrate the pollen out of the flower. So I think the bumblebees are fine by all means, continue to grow over a millionaire and
all the rest of things. And this is why it's so important to have a diversity of plants in the garden because you never know what you're going to find out. And if you have both short and long tong tongued bumblebees, which you almost certainly do, you've got stuff for the short tongues, you've got stuff for the long tongues. And everyone is happy. So grow what you like, grow what they like, and everyone wins. Yeah, you
talk about the diversity. I would add to it for Wendy the proven Winner's rockin series of Fusha's so Salvia Salvia Rock and Fusia Deep purple play in the blues, blue suede shoes talk about bumblers. Yeah, rock and deep purple is one of my other favorites because I love all those bright, vivid colors. So add those all right, training rights to us. Hello, I
have a question about lawn clippings on lawns treated with crab grass prevention. Typically, I love using my lawn clippings in the compost or as a mulch in flower beds or raised beds. However, I have a huge problem with crabgrass. I'm considering use of crabgrass prevention. I'm worried about the persistent herbicide ultimately stunting the growth of his plants. So trying kind of struggling with crabgrass and
clipping, Yes, so trying. I appreciate you asking this question because it is a situation I am also dealing with after years of just saying eh, you know, I often joke that I if I wrote a blues song, it would be if it wasn't for crabgrass, I wouldn't have no grass at all, because that would pretty much be true except for ornamental grasses. Yeah, I have let crabgrass grow in my garden as well, because I'm just like, I don't want to use herbicides whatever. But this year it was
awful. Oh my gosh, the crabgrass in my yard was terrible and it escapes the lawnmower and their seat everywhere. My neighbors are gonna hate me. So I am also considering using a crab grass pre emergent this year. And the really nice thing, or the thing that gives me confidence about doing it, is that most, not all, but most crabgrass pre emergents are formulated just for crabgrass, so you don't have to worry about them impacting other plants.
You know. One of the reasons that I am sometimes hesitant to use pre emergence is because I want those self sowers. I like milkweed self sewing in my garden. I like the eruglis self sewing in my garden, so that I have that natural look of different things coming up. So I don't want to just put down a pre emergent that's going to prevent everything from germinating. But I do want to control this crabgrass. So now I did some
research just online. Now a number of crabgrass pre emergents will also prevent other lawn weeds and other grasses from emerging. But there are some that are formulated just for crabgrass. So trying, I think if you do your research and pick one that is just for crabgrass, you don't have to worry about that harming other things in your bed because all it is formulated to do is to
prevent those crab grass seeds from germinating. So my recommendation trying would be the first thing you could do on It's simple, raise the deck on your lawn mower. You raise the deck. That helps with crab grass control. That's one thing. The other thing, when you apply the pre emergent water it into the soil, that's where it's meant to be to keep that seed from germinating, so it's not up in the foliage profile where he's using these clippings.
There are also crabgrass controls for seeding meant to be used if you're seeding. In other words, they have a far shorter residual. That's something that you can take a look at also, and they're available on the market. Right So, crabgrass pre emergent treatment is in early spring, usually when the Forsythia is blooming here in Michigan or wherever you are in fact, so you have plenty of time this winter to do your research, find the right treatment
for you, and hopefully get those darn crabgrasses out of your beds. Yeah traying, when wherever you live, when the soil temperatures get to fifty five to sixty degrees, that's when that crabgrass seed is going to germinate. So be there and get a little lawn and order in your landscape there, Sherry writes to us, blue muffin viburnum has had its leaves eaten by bugs. All the leaves? Will the shrub live? Blue muffin viburnum? Yeah, of that great plant, We've had it for years, still one of our
most popular plants. It is a native North American native Viburnum Viburnum dentatum are also known as arrowood viburnum, and as such, I haven't seen a picture of Sherry's plant, but I'm going to guote on a limb and guess that it was the dreaded viburnum leaf beetle. Oh Man, these things are a past They are an invasive from Asia, and as such they don't bother the Asian species of viburnum. So if you have Korean spice viburnum other viburnums that
are not native to America, those will be left untouched. But your native American viburnums, the viburnum leaf beetles love them, and they have a very distinctive damage. They make holes, but they look like a grain of rice. They're kind of like an oblong. They're not the size of a grain of rice. They're bigger, but they have that same kind of shape and they're all over the plant, so you just have these weird kind of rice
shaped windows all over the leaves. And if you're looking carefully, particularly at the underside of the leaves, you see their ugly little larva, which even though they're a beetle, most larva over winter in the ground or spend mature in the ground like grubs. But these beetle larva, no, no, they like to go on your viburnum and eat the leaves, and they really
do a number, so they're easy to wry identify. Now, the easiest non toxic way to control Viburnum leaf beetle is once it's foliage drops is look for their egg laying sites. So they have this weird thing where they chew little holes in your viburnum stem, lay an egg in it, and then they refill it with like a mix of their spit and wood chips or like, sorry, sorry, Adrian has made such a face just this. I can't blame you. But they're very They're small, but they're very distinctive and
easy to see. So the easiest way to manage them is to inspect your plant for these egg laying sites and trim them off. Now that might mean in some cases that you are trimming your viburnum back, but I think that's okay, and I think it's worth it to just get rid of the of the infestation and because if you don't do it, they're just going to keep
coming and coming and coming. But I did find a great resource for viburnum leaf betal that we're going to put on our website, and that will also show you a picture of what those egg laying sites look like, so you can find them and cut them out. You've made us all bugweiser cheers cheers. With that, we're going to take a little break. When we come back, we've got branching news so please 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 and the distinctive white container at your local garden center. Welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show. It's time for Branching News. Stacey. I'm going to lead branching news this week by telling you that I made an Amazon delivery driver cry,
oh my goodness because of the beauty of your garden. You know. She walked up with the package to the front steps and I have Truffala, Pink Gompfrina there and Verbina and miss Molly butterfly bush and the cannas and the monarch butterflies were everywhere. It was a warm, sunny afternoon, and she sat the package down and was crying. And she said she had not seen that many monarch butterflies since her dad passed away five years ago. Oh that's
beautiful. Yeah. So it was, you know, one of those really cool moments because again, when the monarchs are all over the place and just kind of fluttering around. It's magical. It is magical, and you know it, really it's magical that when we plant things and we plan them for ourselves or the hummingbirds, but you know, ultimately for ourselves, we don't
really realize how they're going to impact other people. And you know, you might not hear people might have that response and you'll never hear it, but you know that whatever those decisions were are making an impact on others, and usually hopefully a positive impact. So we had an Amazon Prime moment together. All right, the town of Bamf. Have you been to Bamf. I have not been to British should go. Yeah, that is incredible, just
west of Calgary. And then of course just up the road is Lake Louise. I mean I sat down at the edge of Lake Louise and it takes your breath away. I mean, it's it's just unreal. So you got to go sometime. Anyhow. In bamp they're renewing the call for homeowners to replace their fruit trees with something less appealing to wildlife after a grizzly bear known locally as the Boss, had to be hazed from residence backyards with a big
grizzly buff charging residence in the bluff, charging residents in the process. So this huge adult grizzly bear is feeding on crab apples in backyards, causing a ruckus. He's known as the Boss. Weighs six hundred and fifty pounds, the most dominant grizzly bear in and around Baff National Park. He even once brushed off being struck by a train. Oh my gosh, I'm like, Rick, don't get off track here and go crazy with puns. This bear
had great training anyhow. Yeah, so he's known as Bear number one twenty two, okay, or the Boss whichever, or the Boss, and he is buff and bluff, So there you go. Well, you know, I've heard this is the first I've heard of that, and that would be a shame because crab apples are so wonderful. But I have heard of moose. I've never heard of a bear, but I have heard of moose getting drunk on fermented apples and crab apples, And I guess it's not gonna happen
with bear because they're going to be hibernating when they actually ferment. But still, you know, a lot of risk here. I guess it's a sight to see. They usually lose their car keys, but they sleep it off in the woods and their own everything's good. The White House they have some people may not notice. At the White House they have fall garden tours.
That's really cool, usually in mid October. The reason it comes up in Ranching News is because the government announced that if there was a government shut down, the garden tours would also be taken away, so really interesting visitors have the opportunity to see the rose garden near the west wing, the Jacqueline Kennedy Garden near the East wing, the kitchen garden that was established in two thousand and nine. So in the event that the federal government is shut down,
then the fall garden tours go away. Also, I remember visiting the White House once. I visited the White House and they have those pools, those fountains, both on the north and the south lawn, and I exited out the north lawn doors and that pool is usually circled by red tulips and muscari and spring and then red geraniums and dusty miller in summer, and then chrysanthemums
in the fall. This particular year they used red salvia, and I noticed a few of the salvias were past their prime, and so I veered off the path to go deadhead them. Yeah, did you create a national security incident? You don't do that. My intentions were good, but it's not good when you hear on the walkie talking we're going to situation from here on the north lawn. We have a break, you know that kind of thing. So don't do that. Well, you know, I was wondering with
the government mentioning the government shutdown. I wonder if the gardeners are considered essential essential workers, because you know, a white house it's all surrounded by weeds, is not going to make anyone that's not good for national morale. I think they're essential, but I don't make these decisions, and I think dead headings essential to You're right, which I tried flowering otherwise, but they weren't
going to listen to me, playing us upset the building. Okay. From the pumpkin patch, decades of experience, dedicated research keep Illinois on top when it comes to pumpkin production. Did you know that no Illinois harvests more pumpkins than its closest competitor Indiana. So the scorecard says Illinois, Indiana, California, Texas, and Michigan are the big top five when it comes to punkins, I like it. Yeah, so like they say, go big or
gourd home. Yeah, okay. The average American whips out their phone to take a photo six times each day. A survey of two thousand US adults revealed that camera rolls are flooded with group photos of friends, family, as well as photos of selfies, pet picks, and scenery. So our landscape and our nature nature all around us. Forty three percent top the list of frequent photos. So six pictures a day, It depends on the day. Also, my photo my phone is definitely mostly full of pictures of my garden.
Yeah, I don't like my garden, but like plants, you know they're looking good because my garden is a hole, doesn't look good. The individual plants look good. Yeah. With me, it's plants and Lake Michigan sunset, yeah, storms and that type of thing. But six times a day taking a pic. This seems kind of low to me. Actually, I would think people take more than six. Depends on the day, depends what you're doing. Yeah, I guess so I guess. So you know
you're using your cell phone too much. When you're having a conversation with someone and you say lol instead of just laughing out loud, then you know you're using it. To me, it's when you see a picture, like on a piece of paper, and you use your fingers to try to enlarge. It's that's my cue. That is good. That is good. Maybe sometime we'll have to branch off down that road and talk about that. What's all
the buzz about? A Southwest Florida sheriff's office had quite the discovery last week when deputies found that a cabinet left near the building had become home to thousands of bees. The Charlotte County Sheriff's Office said the cabinet was set out near the evidence slotof the evidence cabinet so it could be disposed of. However, the cabinet became home to more than eight thousand bees in less than a week.
Eight oh my thousand bees. Wow. Deputies were able to carefully remove the hive and transport the insects to their new home near the Warden Farms in Shell Creek Grove. The Sheriff's office even took it a step further and assured their readers on Facebook that the relocated bees are where they are meant to be and had a great house swarming party. I'll bet they did. When something
like this happens, you resort to plan B I guess right now. Also in Branching News, we got to continue to remind people of this fact.
We have an Instagram account, Yes we do, and we'd love to have you continue, of course sending us pictures and your questions, but also visiting our Instagram account because one of the things I love about this account, Stacy, is that when we do plants on trial, many times you will post that plant on Instagram and you'll be able to see it and it's full glory, yeah, and all the information, because you know, sometimes I just
get too carried away talking about the plant on trial and I don't get into the stuff like it's this hearty, it's the size, you know. Sometimes I forget those basic details. So Instagram is a great place to find that and lots of other gardening inspiration as well. A picture's worth a thousand words.
Thank you very much for tuning in the Gardening Simplified Show. We want to invite you to go to our website Gardeningsimplified on air dot com, Send us pictures, send us your questions and Stacy always a privilege and pleasure to do the show with you. Likewise Rick and to Adriana as well, and to all of you as well, thank you so much for listening, and we hope you have a wonderful God.