Coming to you from Studio A Here at Proven Winners, Color Choice Shrubs. It's time for the Gardening Simplified Show with Stacy Hervella, me, Rick weisst and our engineer and producer Adrianna Robinson. Last week our show was just do it. This week don't do it. We're gonna go down the list today and Stacy, I'm gonna take this occasion to have a rant, at least right off the top on three things. However, let me say it is Stacy who always says, when in doubt, don't don't, don't do it,
don't do it. So here we go. My number one item. We have an AI problem. We have an AI problem, and I'm not talking about artificial intelligence.
Well, we do have that problem too, We have that too.
Yeah, don't order, don't get duped online. And it's getting worse since we did that.
It's ridiculous, it's horrible.
But no, the AI I'm referring to as automatic irrigation, don't set it and forget it. But the number one thing that drives me crazy is I'm still convinced that automatic irrigation is meant for turf lawns, not woody plants or shrubs in your landscape, they should be watered when
they need water. So often in the garden center, I will have someone come up to me with pictures on their phone, or in some occasions I've stopped by homes like I did this past week, and sure enough, in the landscape there are irrigation heads above the ground right behind the shrubs. The plants are getting drenched, or even worse, the upper profile of the soil is drenched and drowning. Down below it's dry as dust because they're just sprinkling
for ten minutes and these plants die. So just bear in mind that, in my opinion, much of this irrigation that we use, but people want the convenience so they don't want to have to think about watering. So in early spring we set the irrigation system and then we walk away, not paying attention to the weather. But it kills a lot of plants, it can.
And I think part of the issue too, is that the people who put in irrigation systems, those control modules are pretty complicated. Yeah, they are not really designed for the average person to just pop out there and go, oh, I want to change zone one to water once a week, and then my shrubs will get the right amount of water. It doesn't work that way. They're actually quite complex and can be very difficult to figure out. So, but that
doesn't mean it's not possible to reprogram them. So if you have an irrigation system, it doesn't mean to rip it out. Just contact your landscape company, your irrigation company and work with them to understand the zones and come up with a plan that actually works for your yard. Because yeah, they're going to set it and forget it because they don't have the time to sit there and think in depth about all your different plants and everything.
But that doesn't mean that they can't work with you to develop what you have into a more suitable program for irrigation.
Yeah. It just drives me crazy. And I see it all the time and they wonder why the plants are strung. It makes me burn thunderwood.
Don't you love it when it's pouring rain and the fountain the irrigation's just going off like there's no tomorrow and it's running down the street. It's terrible.
Oh, drives me nuts. Here's another one and we already touched on it. Yeah, that whole AI thing. I'm seeing people now more than ever, coming in asking for the red, white, and blue hostas, et cetera, et cetera. And if you just read the reviews online, these people got a package of seeds, not plants, and of course the seeds didn't germinate or materialize into what they were looking for. Again, burn thunderwood. That's my new phrase, thunderwood is a poisoned sumac.
Oh I didn't know that.
Yeah, so it's a phrase when you're ticked off, burn thunder I like it. Yeah, I'm going to use Well, you.
Know the other thing about these ai plants, right, I mean, speaking as two people who have spent a long time in the horticulture industry, and with this show as evidence, we're not trying to keep any cool stuff from you, right, we talk about it all the time. So it's not like there's a secret treasure trove of really amazing, wild, wacky plants that we've all just been you know, gatekeeping from you because you're whatever, not a good enough gardener.
That does not exist. They are computer generated, specifically designed to appeal to, you know, your most basic visual instincts and go ooh, I love purple and that you know, fluorescent purple hosta with paint streaks is exactly what I need. I can't believe I've never seen this before. You've never seen it before because it doesn't exist. And uh yeah, so don't think that, Like, yes, innovations happen, but innovations,
you know. I would say the wildest innovation that we have had in the last you know, ten years is probably the glow in the dark petunias, not all of that crazy stuff you're seeing with AI.
Here's another one for you. Don't do it. This one may be controversial. Don't put down landscape fabric and multure plants with stone mulch. Don't do it. In my opinion, I don't think the stone is good for the plants. The stone may look nice when you initially put it in, but it's going to become a maintenance nightmare. The weeds are going to grow in between the cracks and crevices, and even if you were to spray the weeds with a herbicide, let's say, you're still going to have to
pull them or remove them. They're going to look awful. So my opinion is, if you're thinking about using stone mulch around your plants, don't.
Do it don't do it, I agree, at least for Michigan. Now, I will say, especially out west where the climate can be very arid, stone mulch is probably going to be your best beat because you don't have to worry about fire. And of course a lot of those desert plants they look just fine with the stone mulch. But over here in Michigan, where we're growing these temperate plants, generally from more humid climates, it looks out of place. It's typically
very bad for the plants. And I cannot tell you, over my many years here how many people I have seen kill or very nearly kill their plants through that combination of landscape fabric and rock. And let's not talk about the fact that it is extremely hard to put down and extremely hard to remove. If you change your mind because your plants are dying, it is the worst. So if you don't have fire danger a regular shredded bark organic mulch, it's actually gonna enrich your soil is
going to be far better. It's going to still have weed prevention, it's going to be better for the plants. It's going to enrich your soil, and you won't have all those liabilities of a stone mulch, got it, and rocks in your shoe, which no one likes.
Don't I call them riot rocks. Just don't do it. Don't do it. Don't ignore canopy trees. You've got some beautiful trees in your neighborhood overhead. Again, every time storms come through, we're reminded of the danger of these trees and what could happen. Any good arborist will tell you, don't ignore the trees. Arborists are worth their weight in gold. And I'm not saying that just because I have a son who's an arborist. But tree maintenance is important. So
don't ignore your trees. I'm not saying don't eliminate. I'm not saying eliminate these trees. I'm saying, maintain them. You know, winter pruning can be done. Take care of your trees, pay attention, and don't have a tree fall on your house.
Oh that's for sure. And you know, even little things that we think of as regular maintenance for other plants in our yard, like fertilizing, like watering, can make a huge difference to a tree's overall health, and especially older trees. If you live in a soil that's not super fertile like our sandy soils out here. You know, fertilizing every couple of years can make a huge difference in the healthier tree.
Don't volcano mult oh, don't do it. Don't do it. As a matter of fact, it's a good idea. Don't copy your neighbors. That's what happens. Somebody does something and everyone else in the neighborhood then has to have that plant or do it the way their neighbor did it. Don't do that, you know, be original. Here's a controversial one for you, Stacey. Don't try to This is real controversial. Don't try to grow succulents indoors. I love succulents outside, but don't try to grow them indoors.
Yes and no, Well, don't have reasonable expectations if you grow them indoors, because I do successfully grow some succulents indoors with pure neglect and they do great. But you know, the biggest thing is all of these really cool akavirias and stuff that are for sale, and you buy this cute, tidy little rosette you can't wait to get at home, and it's going to be so amazing and that thing gets back to your house and it just starts elongating
and stretching, and everyone's like, what happened? I can't grow anything. But you know, certainly jade plants that kind of thing are okay. But you do need to know what's going to happen inside.
And like we said in our just do it show, think about the environment that these plants grow in so you can better care for them. I told you it'd be controversial. Yeah, well so all right. So Stacy is the one who always says, when in doubt, don't so in her honor, I wrote this week's limerick thinking of you, Stacy. It comes at the end, okay. It can be a real temptation, a quick fixed cultivation. This miraculous breakthrough could be your bugaboo and not your plants salvation. My neighbor
sought out advice for his backyard paradise. Don't do it, I said to my neighbor, trying to save him some labor. He didn't listen and paid the price. You see, the moral of these silly rhymes can save you grief sometimes. For example, if you live next to Stacy, make sure the distance is spacey. If hanging up back porch wind chimes, just don't don't do it.
Just don't you know. You know, there's a lot of love for windchimes out there, but there's a lot of people who don't want to listen to clinging metal all night.
This is a controversial show. We're going to get letters, comments and mail, keep them coming. Plants on trial next here on The Gardening Simplified.
Show, beautify your home and community with proven Winner's Color Choice shrubs with over three hundred and twenty five unique varieties to choose from. There's a flowering shrubber evergreen for every taste and every space. Just look for the distinctive white container your local garden center or learn more at proven Winner's Color Choice dot com. Greetings gardening friends, and welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show, where the topic of today is just don't do it. In contrast to
last episode, which was just do it. So last time we were talking about things that you should definitely do. This time we're talking about the things that you should avoid doing. You know, mostly from a horticultural perspective. Obviously, this could become very taste oriented and we could go on all episode about the things that we don't like and we don't think people should be doing. Oh yeah,
but we're not talking about our personal taste. We're talking about horticultural Uh you know advice here.
Like roots need oxygen, so don't And then I'm going to say, don't bury your plants. But then I think, okay, etymology, Stacy, is it berry or bury? What is it? Don't say it.
As long as you as your meaning is understood, it doesn't matter. Is or I would say Barry bury bury Erry. Yeah.
I think it's a Midwest thing.
It must be. Okay, maybe it's an English word that we have just adapted and give it our own American pronunciation.
People look funny at me when I say bury.
It's it sounds a little strange. It's also the Japanese word for pig burry.
I'm sorry for sidetracking us here.
Anyway, continue.
Anyway.
Actually, I don't think it's a Japanese word for pig. I think I'm mistaken. It's the Japanese word for the noise that pigs make.
Oh not a ink.
No, not ak. There's different animal sounds you can find them online. Different cultures interpret animal sounds completely differently. It's very interesting. If you're into that so fascinating. Yes, always something to learn the things we learn on this show, and you should learn because that's what gardening is all about. So anytime you're curious about something, you say, I'm gonna look that up, find out more, uh, and do it. That is a thing you should do. But we're talking
about what you shouldn't do. And when it comes to Plants on Trial, as I said last week, Plants on Trial is all about plant that you should plant in your yard or at least consider planting in your yard because it looks great and solves problems and is easy to grow, like the rest of the proven Winner's color choice shrubs. And when I've been saying, when in doubt, just don't for a while now right like probably two years.
And the majority of the times that I use this phrase is regarding pruning, and it's specifically regarding quydrange of pruning most often, because hydrangs are the plants that are most often pruned wrong. And you know, it's very it's confusing until you you know, are able to see this all mapped out. But some hydrangers bloom on old wood, which is to say that they create their flower buds for the following year as soon as they finish blooming
in the current one. So a big leaf hydrangea, which is today's plant on trial, let's dance big band hydrangea, and a big leaf angel like this starts to set its flower buds in August, So in August twenty twenty four it was sitting it's July twenty twenty five flower buds, and have those flower buds on all through the year. Now take, on the other hand, something like a panicle hydrangel like Limelight or Pinky Winky. These bloom on new wood, which is to say that they don't carry flower buds
through the winter. They only start to create them after they start to leaf out in spring. So right now panicle hydrangees are only just starting to create their flower buds, which are going to be open in about two months or so, probably closer to six weeks. So for the reason, people get really confused about pruning hydranges, and that's why I always say, when in doubt, don't because if you don't prune any of your hydranges, you are far likely to get better results than if you prune all of
your hydranges. But the key really is when I say just don't do it. Don't prune your big leaf Hydrangees by all means plant them. You should absolutely plant them. They're fabulous, They are completely emblematic of some summer. They are a plant that does need special sighting. You need to make sure that you are placing it somewhere if you live in a cold climate where it can get a little protection from the worst of the winter weather.
Moist mulch and wood mulch soil definitely not stones. I've seen plenty of hydrange of macrophilla take a nose dye from being planted in a stone bed. So planting them. Sighting them is very very important. But once you have them sighted, not pruning them is so is so crucial to being able to enjoy them, because if you prune them,
they're not going to flower. Now they can rebloom, and today's plant on trial, let's dance big band does rebloom, But you don't necessarily want to count on that rebloom because what that means is you still missed all of the initial bloom in July, so you still miss out on dozens and dozens of flowers. And here's the thing about big leaf hydrangees. And that's not just true of Let's Dance Big Band, but all big leaf hydrangees. And this I think is one of the most egregious things
about it. It looks like it should be pruned it. Really. It's one of those plants when you're going through and fall and doing your fall clean up, and then you're, you know, trying to put the garden to bed, going through in spring, trying to wake the garden up and
get everything cleaned out. If you come across a big leaf hydrangea and you aren't familiar with what it looks like, you were going to get those snips out of your pocket and you were going to cut this whole thing back to nubs because it just looks like it should be premne. And I'm not even saying it looks like it's dead necessarily. There is just something about those stems. I can't quite put my finger on it. It's like it's begging you to cut it back.
Yeah, it's just straight sticks out of the soil, and you feel you're doing your due diligence by chopping them back. Many people do.
Yes, I've done it myself before I knew what I was doing, so you're in good company, I guess at least, And you know, there's just something about the color too
that makes them look kind of dead. So win in doubt, just don't prune, no matter what type of hydrangea it is, because nothing bad is going to happen to the hydrangeas that can be pruned if you don't prune, and something good is far more likely and going to happen if you don't prune the ones that can't be prune, and a lot of people it's easy to learn the difference. If you spend some time thinking about it and observing your plants, you can easily start to discern what those
differences are. But it does take a little bit of a you know, dedication to learning and identifying those factors. Now, what makes let's dance big band reblooming hydrangea bigger different, bigger different than others is that the flowers are very large, which is why I just said bigger. So it does have extra large flowers. But one of the things that I think is really special about this plant is it
is one of our most vivid big leaf hydranges. So the color of big leaf hydrangeas is related to soil chemistry. It's also related to temperature because you're gonna generally get brighter colors in cooler temperatures than in very very hot temperatures because plants synthesize their pigments at night, so cool nights let them synthesize more effectively and you get much better pigments in color. And it's also based on genete, so they're you know, every individual hydrangea is going to bloom.
These big leaf hydranges is going to bloom as a reflection of its growing conditions temperature and soil chemistry and all of that. But it's still going to have kind of a range that it can attain, you know, a range of blue, a range of pink, and the just
don't do it. Part of let's stand's big band is that this plant looks so gorgeous in all of its color iterations that you don't even have to worry about trying to change the flower color if it isn't blooming the color that you want, because it looks so good in bright purple, which is the farthest it's going to go towards the blue side or that bright almost red type of pink. Now, generally speaking, big leaf hydrangeas, the more red tones they have in them, the less likely
they are to go to blue. So a lot of blue hydrange is like true blue. Big leaf hydranges will it most go kind of a pale pink, and they'll swing more towards the blue. Plants that swing more towards brighter or more intense pinks generally won't go all the way to blue. They'll go to purple. And the purple
is gorgeous. Like a lot of people think that the purple happens when you're just like in that almost acidic environment, and all hydrangs can kind of go through a purple ish phase as they go through that, But really it's primarily genetics, and this is one of those plants that will be an absolutely glorious deep purple, which I think I might like even better than the blue. I mean,
the blue's great. I love it, don't get me wrong, But I love that deep, rich purple that a good well grown hydrangea macrophilla like Let's Stance big band can take on.
It's gorgeous, it really is. And I'm just sitting back listening and enjoying my drink because this is this is an important topic that causes a lot of confusion for people.
Yeah, so just planges, just don't prune them if you don't know what you're doing. It's very very simple. It is a really really interesting plant. Another thing that you need to know about, just don't do it. And this would be another one of my just don'ts if it is at all possible, and that is don't use high phosphorus fertilizers. Interest So, in general, high phosphorus fertilizers are bad because most American soils, in most residential areas have
more than enough phosphorus for your plant's needs. And a plant can't benefit from extra phosphorus. So it can't go like, oh great, I got all this extra phosphorus. I'm just gonna like be a beefcake right now. It can't do that. So what happens is that the soil can only hold on to so many phosphorus ions and they run off, and especially out here in West Michigan, they're going to land in Lake Michigan in one of our ponds and rivers and lakes and all of that, and that's what
causes algael blooms in the water. Now, low phosphorus fertilizers are especially important for big leaf hydrangeas because if you have high phosphorus, it is going to tie up aluminium ions in the soils causes a chemical reaction. The aluminum ion are not free for the plant to take up, and therefore, if you are hoping for more of a purple or blue color, it won't actually happen. So look
for low phosphorus fertilizers. If you are growing Let's Dance, big band reblooming Hydrangea or any reblooming hydrangea and are looking to go more on the blue or purple side, so do plant it. Don't do any of those things. If you missed any of those things, you'll find them on our shutouts at Gardeningsimplified on air dot com, and you'll also find Let's Stance Big Band Hydrangea at your local garden center. Ready to get into your garden. We're going to take a little break. When we come back,
we're opening up the mailbag, so please stay tuned. At Proven Runners Color Choice Shrubs. We know that a better landscape starts with a better shrub. Our team of experts tests and evaluates all of our flowering shrubs and evergreens for eight to ten years to ensure they outperform what's already on the market. For easycare, reliable, beautiful shrubs to extend your wait, your home and express your personal style.
Look for Proven Winner's Shrubs in the distinctive white container at your local garden center or learn more at proven Winner's Color Choice dot com. Greetings gardening friends, and welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show, where it is our pleasure to answer your garden questions, quandaries and conundrums. And if you have one of those, you can reach out to us at help HLP at Gardeningsimplified on air dot com.
We only have time for a few questions every episode, so if you need a question answered more quickly, just go to Proven Winners Color Choice dot com and one of our horticultures. We'll be happy to get you an answer. And I did want to just kind of address in general to all of our listeners, especially if you are in the Midwest. If you feel like your vegetable garden is behind, it is not just you. Uh, you are in good company. It has been an extremely cool spring, unbelievable. Yeah, and I was.
The plants, basil, cucumbers, tomatoes ouch.
All of that heat loving stuff. I was planting some seeds in the garden the other day and it said, you know, so when soil temperatures are seventy and I was like, I don't even know if that's going to happen this year. I'm sewing this stuff right now. It's been a very chilly spring. So if you feel like your vent shtable garden has just been poking along, you are in good company. It's not you, it's everything. So don't worry about it too much, and we'll just hope for the best.
And oh you're you're right here in Michigan in the north, it's been unusual this year, and in the garden center industry, we were grappling with frost and cold on June first.
No one wants that. I mean, come on, you're done with that by then? Done too much work, so done with Yeah, my friend had a frost on June first too, so lost a bunch of tomatoes. Anyway, just a little assurance there from your friends here at the Gardening Simplified Show. We got a nice note from a listener named Nedda, who we answered a question for her last summer about our iris and she wrote us to say thank you for your terrific advice. Last August, I submitted a question
about some irises that never bloomed my sister's yard. Thanks to your expertise, I dug them up, divided them, and replanted them higher. The irises ended up being shared in three yards and they all bloomed a beautiful shade of orange. And these are the most gorgeous orange aren't just not a color you often see in bearded iris. So not only did she get iris blooms, she got really really cool iris blooms. And she said thanks again, and I
wish everyone a wonderful growing season. So I thought that was so nice for her to tell us that our advice worked.
It is nice, and this is the don't do it show, but it proves the fact that sometimes, Netta, you just got to bend over and split your plants. It'll be great for your iris and your neighbors will be entertained. And that's what happened here.
So so do it. Yes, take our advice. I don't want to get that confused and then don't do it show, So do take our advice. Okay, we're trying the best week here to help you out, So what have we got in the mail day?
James Wrights, Hi, I have had this bloomerang lilac in the front of my residence for about four years. I garden in Ottawa, Ontario. I took this picture today May twenty eight. I think this is the best that it's looked since I planted it from the garden center pot. I've gotten a couple of comments this year from neighbors about how full it looks. My question is how to prune to get a second flush of blooms later this season.
It bloomed very nicely last spring as well, so I pruned trim deadheaded to get reblooming, but sadly didn't get any reblooming. I want to try again this year, wondering if I may have done something in the way I pruned it last year that stopped that second flush of flowers.
Right. So, and he did include a photo and this plant is looking absolutely gorgeous in James's yard, and I feel like I have seen this everywhere. So the flip side of the cool spring is that a lot of the flower colors are just gorgeous. I was saying when I was talking in Plants on Trial about how hydrange of flower color can be influenced by temperatures. Many, many flowers can be and it's not that they change colors, just that they can be more or less vivid depending
on nighttime temperatures. And these cool nights have been outstanding for lilacs. I feel like they are the most vivid I have ever seen. So, James, whether you are talking about bloomerang, reblooming lilac, or any reblooming shrub, the key to getting the reblooms. So the plant already bloomed on old wood in spring. Now you're going for that new wood bloom later in the season. The key on any reblooming shrub to getting that rebloom is that the plant needs to put on as much new growth as possible
after that spring bloom. So what's happening really? And you're in Ottawa, Canada, so it's probably a bit cooler there. But this also tends to coincide with warming weather. It's you know, by this time it's June, it's July, it's getting much much warmer out, the days are getting longer, rainfall all starts to maybe decline, and so you're trying to get as much possible growth as you can with this plant, whereas nature's like, WHOA, slow down the growth here.
You know, it's summertime and we're going to put the brakes on things. But if the plant does not put on enough new growth in this period, it's not going to be able to create those flower buds. So one of the strategies towards that can be pruning. Pruning, is it necessary. I've said on the show that when it comes to bloomerang, I very much embrace pruning because I don't like the way the seed heads look. That's it
just don't do it for me. Don't like the way they look like green bananas with cork dots on them. I don't know, there's something about them. I really just like. And when you lightly trim it, you don't need to prune it like get heavy shears out. You're just going to give it a light trim and take off the thin sort of stems along the outer edge of the plant. Get those seeds out. Now, everything that was a single growing point is at least two growing points. That's going
to be double the amount of new growth. That's going to be double the amount of flowers. You also need to keep watering and fertilizing. And I'm not usually a huge like you know, fertilizer like crazy, but for the best rebloom, fertilizer really is crucial because you need that plant to put on taking that energy and put on that growth for the best rebloom. So I would say now is a great time to put down another application of fertilizer. Like I said, there's nothing special to trimming it.
I don't think that you trimming it was wrong. Was the reason that it didn't flower last year. It probably just didn't put on enough growth. So fertilize it, water it if needed, give it that trim. Trimming it does delay the rebloom slightly compared to an untrimmed plant, but I have found that they rebloom longer into fall, so I think it's worth it. You can try it one year one way and one year or the other and see what you think. But it's nothing that you did.
It's just a matter of making sure that that plant keeps growing vigorously and healthily so that you get the best display.
It's great advice. Stacey Audrey writes to us Hi, I love your show. My partner and I are getting ready to move into our first home together in West Michigan. Super excited to do some landscape design with our new space. Do you have any advice where to start with garden design basics? Any books you recommend. I've heard you mentioned the concept of outdoor garden rooms before. We'd love to learn more about that and other design principles ideas if possible.
Hoping to go with a cottage garden feel throughout the property. I have a decent grasp of plant selection, but feel less confident with placement, especially starting from scratch. Would greatly appreciate any tips or resources.
So thank you so much for your question, Audor, and congratulations on your new home. If you didn't listen to our Just Do It show last episode, you might want to do that for my hedge advice for new homeowners, depending on what it looks like. But yes, I do have a great resource for you, and that is a British garden designer named John Brooks. So he is a very well known garden designer and he wrote a bunch
of excellent garden design books for homeowners and gardeners. I think they are some of the best that I have ever seen. And he's just really good at sort of taking a lot of these concepts and distilling them into a way that makes sense. There's a number of them I think that you know, they're not I don't know if he's still writing. He's probably quite old now, but you can certainly find, you know, used copies, probably at your library or you know, on the Advanced Book Exchange
or something like that. He is really so inspiring and such a great teacher for garden design. And then the other thing I would say, and this would be my advice for anyone. Anytime you're you know, taking a walk or driving around and you see a landscape or an element of a landscape that resonates with you, don't just go oh, that's pretty and move on. Take time to kind of analyze what's actually happening there and think about what is it that you like. Is it the color?
Is it the plants in it? Is it the combination? Is it the scale of those plants to the building? Is it their placement. There's all of these things, and I think once you start to cultivate that mentality of reading and analyzing things that you like, then you're much more able to start reinterpreting those concepts. At home.
Now. One person i'd suggest also following. We've had her on the show before, and that is Jan Johnson. Johnson spelled not with Ann on the end, but e n. She wrote a book called garden Topia. But what you can do is follow her on Instagram. She's constantly posting landscape ideas, landscaping ideas, and of course you can also get Jan on substack. So that would be a suggestion I'd get.
That's another really good one for someone who is still practicing. The other thing I would say, and this is sort of it took me a long time, so don't feel like you need to rush into this, even though you know I wish that I had done it sooner. Identify your non negotiables. What are the factors that you need to have. Do you need to have a dining garden. Do you need to have an herb garden? Do you
need to have a native plank garden. These are just some ideas off the top of my head, Like what are your biggest goals that you are not willing to give up? So identify two or three of those and then look at the assets and liabilities of your yard. So, for example, in my yard, not a lot going for it. But I have a beautiful old brick garage that's actually quite interesting, so we wanted to incorporate that into the garden and not just make it look like a garage.
So look for things like that that are in your yard that you can incorporate, and then any liabilities, identify what those are and work to minimize those. If it's a neighbor's view plan hedge.
And you do that by getting out a piece of paper and doing a simple bubble drawing. Google that how to do a bubble drawing and you can do what you just explain there, Stacy, I think that's important, yep.
So we will put these resources in the show notes. In the meantime, definitely check out John Brooks and Jan Johnson and luck with your project. It sounds so fun and so full of promise. So thank y'all so much for your questions. We're going to take a little break. When we come back, we're going to complete our conversation about just don't do it as well as a just don't do its speed round, So please stay tuned. Thanks for listening to the Gardening Simplified podcast, brought to you
by Proven Winners, Color Choice shrubs. Our award winning flowering shrubs and evergreens are trialed and tested by experts with your success in mind. Learn more at Proven Winners color Choice dot com.
Welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show. Today for branching news, we continue our talk of don't do it and Stacey, I'm going to say right off the bat, don't throw up your hands and say the deer eat everything. I'm giving up. Don't do it, don't give up. And next week's show, the buck will stop here. We're going to talk about deer next week.
Oh, I can't wait. I have got some things to say.
And it can be frustrating. Hey, here's a quick one. Polymers in planters and baskets to help with watering. Number one, follow the label directions like you only need just a little bit in a container. If you add more than that, you're gonna have a gelatinous mess. And don't spill them on the ground. They're really slippery.
Yeah.
Yeah, put them in the lower portion of the container, not in the upper portion of the container. You're going to have a mess with polymers.
Yeah. I remember when they first came out and people were freaking out thinking it was some kind of like worm in their soil. I remember there was like a lot of concern. If the Internet had been around back then, woof you got people would have freaked out.
Well, you want to do a shotgun approach? What are we doing shod speed round shotguns? Read Oh, we were talking about deer.
So it's a just don't do it speed round. And if you haven't joined us for a speed round before, it's where we just kind of of rapid fire. Give our thoughts on things that you should just not do in various categories. For example, rick, what would be or just don't do it? For puney, it can be a tip, it can be a plant, it can be a tool.
Two things right off the top as I go through neighborhoods, don't create meatballs and tuna cans. I see people out there just pruning away and creating these shapes. Does not look natural. I don't like meatballs and tuna cans. The other one would be beautiful weeping trees that we have as specimen plants in our landscape, and people will chop them off and make them look like it's a Beatles haircut. When the Beatles came into the United States, in the
nineteen sixties. That's what their haircut look like. And that's what people are doing to these weeping trees.
Yeah. Sometimes you know, one is planted in a poor spot and it needs a little bit of a haircut, but in your yard it doesn't. And guess what, you don't have to mow under it. You can just let it grow and weep and it will be a fun place for kids to play and hide. So yeah, don't cut it just for the mowing, Just you know, get the grass out and then let it be. That's why you picked a weeping plant in the first place, isn't it. So ma, just do don't I just don't do it.
For pruning, I'm gonna say anvil pruners. I mean, i could go a lot of different directions here, and I've already gone to the plant that you shouldn't prune, which is big leaf hydranges. But I'm gonna say anvilpruners. So bypass pruners go like this, They passed the blades past each other like a scissors, and an anvil pruner it comes down on a plate, and anvil pruners are known to stay sharp longer. So a lot of people in forestry will use them. Cut flower growers will use them.
But you do not want to use them on your plants, because instead of making that nice, crisp, clean cut, it makes a big, frayed cut a lot of surface area, and plants can't heal as well from a lot of surface area. So it's fine you cut with bypassed pruners from your plant and then give them anvilpruner cuts for arranging, for example. It can be just fine for that, but the problem is that anvilprunters are so much cheaper than bypass pruners, so very often people will buy them and
not know that they have made a terrible mistake. So invest in bypass prunters, not anvil all right, Just don't do it.
Perennial controversial, send your cards, letters and mail. I can take it. I'm a big boy. As a matter of fact, I made the mistake a few weeks ago of mentioning I had this really tough spot in my landscape and it's pure sand and so I grow sweet autumn clematis. Nobody wants that thing invasive that, so please forgive me for suggesting that. I didn't suggest it, I just said that I like it. I had mine growing through an evergreen. I'm gonna say perennial. Here it comes Lily of the Valley.
Ah, I can see that.
I can see that, but I'm going to get beat up on that. But I prove you know.
I love Lily of the Valley. I have my sentimental reasons, but I still wouldn't necessarily recommend that anyone plant it unless they also have sentimental reasons. I just don't do it. Perennial. It is an epic plant of the show. It comes around every year Tuna chamelion plants. We have had many tales of woe from our listeners who have had this plant. It is so hard to get rid of, even if
you're willing to use herbicides. It has this waxy coating on the leaves that makes it almost impossible to get any kind of herbicide to stick. Any little teen c piece that you leave in the soil will result in more whutunia again also known as chameleon plant. I did actually see this plant in the garden center when I was shopping this past spring, and I was like, what are you guys doing? Do you hate your customers? So yeah, just don't do it. If you haven't listened to our
previous listeners with their tales of woe, you will. You should because then you will understand why. So just don't do it, shrub, I.
Know, I mean, yeah, it's easy for me. Okay, taxes or used especially with boring, deer will eat them poisonous boring.
And slow boring also slow growing, so you know you're not going to get a lot of coverage.
You want meat balls and tuna cans, plant taxes.
That they are very commonly seen that way. My just don't planted shrub is going to be a conventional or basic for scythia. Really yes, because.
You're going to this one.
Well, but here's why. Here's why. Now, I did just take a very large, mature one out in my yard, and the reason why is I just didn't feel that it was worth the real estate for what it gave. You know, Yeah, it is really nice in spring when it has yellow flowers, But you know what else is nice in spring with yellow flowers the daffodils that are all over my yard, So I don't really feel I need more yellow good point. And it was huge, I mean this thing was like ten feet tall and wide
and it didn't do anything outside of that flowering. It didn't get good fall color, where some of our newer selections of show off for scythia at least get good purple fall color. So I think, especially when you have something taking up that much real estate, it ought to do more than you know, a two week hurrah. So that's why that's my just don't do it, Just don't do it tree.
Oh got a half hour a calorie pear Bradford, Yeah, Sulberry's Siberian elm. You can make along list.
I'm gonna say Norway maple. Yeah, that too, because you know, calorie pears still are sold in stores. Unfortunately, there is a real campaign to eradicate them, so hopefully that is a bating So I'm with you on that, but I feel like Norway maple is one of those trees. It's still so easy to find and it's kind of a garbage plant, not a fan, no fall color, nothing really, just quick shade. Whats your just don't do it watering tip or tool.
You have no idea how to water, and so you water based on a schedule. You just do it every day, but just a little bit. And again, the soil in the up. Whether it's a houseplant, a shrub, an annual, whatever it may be. The roots are soaking, wet at the surface, dry below, and you wonder why that plant is declining.
I just don't do it. Watering tip is don't think that the rain is going to take care of it, so you don't need to water. How many times have we all fallen into this trap?
You pay attention to the roads.
Summer, I'm lazy. I don't want to water. It's supposed to rain tomorrow. I mean, I think there are a few better ways to make sure it doesn't rain the following day than opting to not water. So I usually will, you know, find the wherewithal deep inside me to say, okay, I got a water because I do want it to rain tomorrow, and it doesn't always work. But I don't like to push fate. I don't like to tempt fate with watering anymore. So don't kid yourself. You probably need
to water unless you're already watered. But you know, if it's dry, it's middle of summer, don't count on the rain what you're just don't do it.
Mowing tip don't fertilize the daylights out of the lawn in spring, it's going to grow like nuts anyhow, and you're going to be on the lawn more constantly. The most important time of the year to feed your lawn is fall. The lawn is putting its energy into root establishment, root growth, not top growth. You want a nice lawn, feed it in the fall.
Okay, just don't do it in the spring. I'm gonna say, just don't do it. Assuming that the seed that you buy, it's your local garden center, box store, are the only options. There's a lot of grass seed out there for a lot of different purposes, and with a little bit of research and patience, you will find one that is far better than whatever you can grab off the shelf. Yes, I have one last thing. We have time for one last one. What is your just don't do it tool tip?
It's well, I guess you could argue whether or not it's a tool. But again, if you came to my house and watched me frustrated, tangled and tripping in my hose, get a good hose and like I mentioned last week, our viewers and listeners convinced me to get a hose link. I'm glad I did.
Oh, I'm glad to do it. Yeah, I just don't do A tooltip is something that I think we have all fallen victim to before, and that is using the wrong tool for the job. So you're out there in the garden, you come across a rock or who knows what in the soil, and you're like, oh, yeah, I've just got my you know, little shovel here. I guess I'll just pry at this thing that I have no idea of what it is, and next thing you know,
you got a broken shovel. So don't be lazy, even though I'm you know, again saying this for my own benefit as well as for everybody else's get the right tool for the job, not whatever you happen to have on hands.
Speaking of which, real quickly, I have found that I'm addicted to five gallon buckets. I collect them, you get them free, or someone's throwing it away, and it's like, the last thing I need is another five gallon bucket, but I pick it up because they're handy around the garden. Can't help it. I've got a thing for five gallon buckets.
We won't tell your wife. Well, so that was a quick look at some of the things we think you should just not do in the garden. If you miss any of them, check us out on youtubeer you can watch the whole show, along with some extra special footage that Adriana puts in and photos from our listeners. So thank you Rick, thank you, thank you Adriana, and thanks so much to all of you for listening. We truly appreciate it and hope you have a wonderful week ahead.