Coming to you from just outside of studio A here at Proven Winners Color Choice Shrubs. It's time for the Gardening Simplified Show, and not just any gardening Simplified Show, Episode one hundred.
Congratulations, congratulations Rick, and congratulations Adriana, and thanks to you for sticking with us for all of these episodes. Now, as much as I would love to stay out here and do the show from the garden, we're going to head inside and get started, all right, So here we are. It's our one hundredth episode. It is amazing. It's been less than two years. We've reached one hundred, so one hundred different episodes. You can see them all on our
website at Gardeningsimplified on air dot com. So if you missed one you want to go back, you can find them all there. And as we look forward into the next one hundred episodes and beyond, we wanted to hear from you, and we wanted to hear what you think about the show and what you want to see more of on the show. Now I can tell you without question, Rick and I can sit here and talk to you
about plants and gardening all day long. We'll tell you things you don't even want to hear about plants and gardening, but that's what you know. The whole point of the show is is you, and is the show serving you and helping you become a better gardener and serve your needs in the garden and with plants. So we would like to invite you to fill out The survey will be linked on our website at Gardeningsimplified on air dot com, as well as in the comments on our YouTube or
in the caption on our YouTube video. You can just click that now. It is optional, but if you want to put an email address, we will draw a winner at random to get a proven winner's color choice swag bag. You'll get a hat and socks and notebooks and all sorts of fun stuff that we'll get from our swag at closet, so that'll be one winner at random. It
can be completely anonymous. Your survey responses are anonymous. We're not going to say, you know, Rick Vice seven at whatever emailed and said the show is great, don't change a thing. We will not be able to connect you with your answers, but we will definitely value your time and responses to that, so we'd appreciate that if you have a moment to fill that out.
Tied into that survey, Today, Stacey, we talk about garden Topia and we've got a great interview coming up with Jan Johnson, an author, a designer who wrote a beautiful book called garden Topia that's coming up in our fourth segment and should be phoned. And you know what brings up the question is garden topia attainable? And tied into that survey, Stacy, I would say that I've learned that gardening is about continuing education. I'm amazed at how much
I learn every day. I should say I'm amazed at how much I don't know. And that's the great thing about gardening, know how plants interact, how they live in the earth, who they live with, and how they share their resources. If you don't educate and learn, you're a laborer, not a gardener. So a true gardener is constantly seeking out new answers, you know.
And that's so true. And I people will often say, oh, you're a garden expert, and I always bristle at that because there are no garden experts. I mean, yes, I've been gardening a long time and I've definitely learned a lot of things and have an under some understanding. But I can tell you too. The longer I do this, the more I realize how much I don't know, the more I realize that plants are just weird and do
strange things all the time that completely surprise you. And I think, you know, Thomas Jefferson really said it best because he said, though an old man, I am but a young gardener, and he was well into his seventies at that point. And you know, that is the attitude that you have to take as as a gardener. I think a lot of us, speaking from experience, kind of do our drawn to gardening because we're maybe a little
bit of a control freak. We like to have our little area that we can control and maybe impose our will on. But then there's also this element of whatever nature throws at you is whatever you have to deal with. And that's how you learn, is the challenges. You don't learn by everything going well all of the time. You learn best with the challenges.
I've always found, Yeah, I agree completely, And when I go out and speak to groups, I know you do the same, Stacey. I always say to them, I'm not the gardening expert. I'm an experienced failure. That's what I am. And then when we share our stories and what we've learned, everybody benefits. And that's the basis of the Gardening Simplified show.
You know. Again, we develop a relationship with our gardens, with our yards, and I always have to chuckle when somebody comes up to me and says, you know, my yard got away from me. No, your yard didn't get away from you. You got away from your ear.
It's true. And also I think that there is some something to be said about embracing the wildness. There are different approaches to gardening and some people you can certainly see this if you drive around any neighborhood. Some people are the maintain everything to within an inch of its life. Everything has to be trimmed, no plants can touch. Everything is a neat, little tough and that is an absolutely lovely and valid way to garden, if that's what you want to do. But I can tell you you know,
my tendency is more toward the wild. I don't have a lot of weeds because I space my plants closely together, and I'd rather have my plants I'll grow in together and prune out some stems than to spend the whole day falling weeds myself. And of course, within that fast spectrum, there's a whole lot of other ways to garden. You can mix those two, and you know, I think people
would be a little bit more interested. I mean, there's certainly lots of people are interested in gardening, but I think people would be more interested if they realized that there was so much more room for creativity and forgiveness in plants. Then they assume that there is.
That's well said, and also forgiveness on not being able to pronounce plant names. Now for episode one hundred, here Stacy. It's always a privilege to be able to sit next to you and do this show. Your knowledge is amazing and your ability to pronounce botanical names blows me away. So I thought for show number one hundred, I'd write a limb a rick for you called Liberties with language.
Ooh, I like it.
Today we are turning one hundred. Where did the time go? I wondered, It's been a successful run. Time flies, We're having fun. Lots of Latin names I've blundered. Thanks for listening and viewing our commitment. We're renewing botanical names can agast, So just say them really fast then pretend you know what you're doing. That's my approach.
I like, you know, it's a valid approach. There is nothing wrong with that. And you know I've said it on the show and I think and I will continue to say it, and that is that a scientific name is a great thing to know because it is universal. So if you were in another country out a botanical garden, you would be able to know what plant you were
looking at. But at the end of the day, plant names serve primarily to get you what you want at the garden center, and as long as you are walking out with the plant that you wanted and hopefully a few more additional new friends to get to know, that's all that matters. Whether or not you pronounce it quote unquote correctly is really you know, people will think, oh, Stacy, she's such a you know, she's just so up on grammar and you have to say things right, and that's
not true at all. For many, many years, I actually said hydrange up macro phila or macrophyla, and someone said, why are you saying macrophila. You don't say chlorophyle And he said, you're right, those are the same root words like the phyl And that's what I realized. It's just about consistency. So make up your mind how you're going to pronounce stuff. Try to interpret that consistently over all
different parts of speech. Easier said than done, probably, but I you know, I again, I leave plenty of room for giveness when it comes to plant names out there.
I'll be consistent and just say I'm really fast. That's what I'm going to do. So, Stacy, we've had a lot of great topics through the first one hundred episodes. Of course, people have enjoyed us walking through the trial garden plants of the year, pruning specimen plants. I was amazed at how vines and clematis or clematis was such a popular topic. But again, to reiterate, I'm interested in hearing from our listeners, from our viewers who make this
show the topics that you're interested in. Because, yes, one hundred episodes, but Stacy, I think we've just scratched the surface.
We have, and there's always so much more to talk about new topics as well as revisiting old topics with new context. Because you know, if we do a spring pruning show, that's going to have a very different kind of context and lean than if we were to do a fall pruning show or a winter pruning show. And so,
you know, things never really get old. And here's the other thing, especially if you are a gardener who is very much still learning, as we mostly all are, it doesn't hurt to have things repeated a little bit to remind you and bring it back to top of mind.
Absolutely, So today we'll talk about garden Topia. Is it attainable? A great interview coming up in our fourth segment. I like plants that celebrate the seasons, that give three or four seasons of interest, plants that are foundational, plants that put on a show, Plants that are low maintenance, enjoyed by wildlife, native of ours like proven winners, color choice shrubs, berry Poppins, winterberry or brandywine Vi Burnham. And then of course, one of our best topics during the one hundred shows
was lering plants and positioning plants. That's a hot topic, Stace.
It's a hot topic. And you know that is one where I think a lot of people, and I talked about it on the episode. People think there's a right answer, People think that there are these formulas, and you can't veer out of them. I can tell you that even the most talented garden designers out there who make it look easy, they have not always gotten it right. They
finally got it right, and we all keep experimenting. And I think that's really the key, is to keep a critical eye and give yourself room to not necessarily make mistakes, but to do things that maybe don't work out, and then you can almost always, i mean, short of planting like an oak tree, you can almost always move things and change your mind.
One of the favorite topics on The Gardening Simplified Show is the second segment Plants on Trial, and we can tap into Stacy's knowledge of plants, and that's coming up next here on our one hundredth episode. We'll see what plant Stacy has to share with us. That's coming up next here on The Gardening Simplified Show.
Proven Winner's Color Choice Shrubs care 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 and the distinctive white container at your local garden center. Greetings,
Gardening friends. For the one hundredth time, it is my pleasure to talk to you about plants on trial, which is where we take a plant, one of the three hundred and twenty plus proven Winner's Color Choice shrubs, and tell you all about it, and you decide if you're going to put it in your garden. But before we get there, the bigger question is garden topia possible?
Now?
Of course I believe absolutely it is. It certainly is happening. For me. My garden honestly just looks so amazing right now. It is unequivocally a late July garden just by virtue of the plants that I have in it, you know, late July, early August, late midsummer garden, and everything is just so grown in. I can't see my neighbors anymore because you know, my big silphium cup plants are ten feet tall, and you know, everything is just lush and
wonderful and full. And for me, that is garden topia, that feeling of just sort of being surrounded by this paradise of you know, diversity of plants, diversity of insects, birds, baby bunnies that are so cute. I have a set of two living in the garden right now, which are adorable, and you know, they help you rabbit proof your garden because you're not going to be able to have a garden and long if you've got a pair of baby
bunnies and they eat everything. So for me, yeah, I think the garden topia is absolutely possible, and I think that I'm experiencing it, especially at this time of year. But I think the trick for most people when it comes to this notion of garden topia, this utopian you know garden that can it exist in your backyard, is that a lot of people don't know what that would look like for themselves.
Yeah, And I think it's embracing the fact that a garden is a living thing. It's constantly changing. So when you talk about utopia, I mean a garden is never finished. That's why we have photography.
Right yes, absolutely, yeah, And.
So to reach utopia, I think it's like it's it's fluid, is what it is.
And our listeners miss Adriana's little uh hurah there for photography. Ada is also a videographer and photographer as well as our producer. So you know, figuring out what you want, figuring out what that ideal garden topia would look like for you. You know, that might be the you know, maintain all of the neatly prune shrubs. It might be a wild garden. It might be a mix of all
of those things. But one element that I personally found, especially living you know, in a small city in a heavily residential area, one element that I think is very very crucial for a successful garden a utopian garden is a sense of enclosure, as you want some structure and
something that makes your garden feel private. And it doesn't have to be, you know, a complete privacy edge, but this element of privacy I think for me is very very crucial to a successful garden because it makes you, as the gardener and person who enjoys your garden, feel like you have someplace to really escape to. And I mean, this is gonna sound kind of mean, but I'm going
to go for it anyway. It kind of it kind of gives everybody else something to be jealous of that there's a space that they can't go in that you've created, and it really is like, oh, I wonder what's back there behind that hedge. You know, there's something very enticing about a closed gate, about a closed off hedge about a place that you can't enter, and I think that's just as important in someone's garden as it is like in a public garden or anything like that. So this
sense of enclosure and creating that is really important. Now, open vistas are very important to you, and I'm sure our guests will talk more about this, and my garden has a little bit of both. You know. I give some great borrowed scenery, which is basically when you can see something off in the distance from your garden, and one of those is a beautiful, magical giant elm tree that somehow escaped Dutch elm disease, and that adds a
lot of sort of permanence to the garden. It's not in my yard, it's off, but I can see it from my garden. So you kind of have this mix of enclosure created by tall plants and as well as this ability to see out. So I think these tall enclosing plants are a really crucial part of the garden and not something that I think most people think about including in their garden because most people are like, I want something short, I don't want to have to prune it.
You know, they're thinking more about just things framing the window or again being very neat and tidy, and these taller plants that provide that enclosure are really really crucial now for most people if they're talking about a privacy hedge, an enclosure of some sort, some way to kind of screen off of you or to protect, you know, to
create your own little protected area. The number one plant most people think of arborviting, right, I mean absolutely, it's kind of the go to hedge plant, and for good reasons. It's fast growing, it is inexpensive for growers to produce. It's an easy plant for them to grow, which makes it very inexpensive for you to buy, which is something that also usually if you're planting a hedge, kind of that cost comes into play because it's a lot of plants,
it's native, it has a delicious, delicious smell. I love the smell of arboridy foliage. Pretty easy to grow, pretty durable, and pretty fast growing as well, but not extremely heat tolerant and as Rick and I can certainly attest, far from deer resistant. An arborvity would never last and it would be, you know, like a snowball in July in my garden. Because deer don't just eat it. They love it,
that fruity fragrance. They adore it. So you know, for me, arborvity to create a sense of enclosure is just not like, not even something I could consider.
I'd add an element through the years in garden centers, watching people, the element of touch. Also, arbor vidy is is fun to touch, comparatively comparatively to let's say, juniper.
Huh oh, yes, that's for sure too. It's not prickly. It has a nice kind of smooth, waxy looking leaf. But again, not all of us have arborvide as an option for creating that sense of enclosure or screening off an insightly view. And another important aspect of this is like, you know, you're creating your garden topia and blamo, there's your air conditioner, Like not really bringing the romance when you see your noisy old air conditioner in the middle
of your beautiful, romantic garden. So that might be a situation where you want to kind of screen that off from the area, you know, where you're spending time, so you don't have to see it and think about it. And so you're looking for these screening or hedging or privacy type of plants. Arborviti is not an option. Well, I do have an option for you. It is today's plant on trial, and it is this is just one piece of it. It's not the plant cedar rapids. Cama
cipress love it. Yes, So Camma cipress is also known as false cypress. And you know, we could spend a whole show, probably one day, talking about the nuances and confusion between cypress and cedar and all of these different terms. But Camma cipress is known as false cypress and also known as hinoki cypress. So Hainoki cypress is a plant that I think a lot of people are familiar with.
They may have heard the name. Technically speaking, Hainoki cypress is Cama cipress obtusa, and that is a very specific one. It tends to be very small and selected for having really unique foliage. They look like they were in a coral reef or something like really sculptural, beautiful foliage. They tend to be specimen plants, though slower growing because of this short.
As it relates to arborvidi, great for hedging. As you pointed out, camicipress just makes a great specimen plant.
That's true, except there are also Cama cipprus that can be used as hedges, and cedar rapids is one of them. So cedar rapids is a Cama Ciprius pacifera. So the point that I'm making here is that there are a number of different species of Camma cipprus out there. So don't you say, hey, I've got this, you know, little Hinoki cypress. I've had it for twenty five years. The thing is five feet tall. There's no way I'm making a hedge out of this. There are other types of
Cama Cippus out there, fall cypress. Camma ciprius pacifera is what cedar rapids is. Fun fact, since we're talking about botanical names, the pacifera part of the name pisi fer comes from the Latin for p bearing like it bears peas.
But wow, you've given us all a head ucation.
I have, and it's not remol related related to peas, just the little tiny green fruits that it bears. Apparently to someone back in the day Linnaeus or whoever resembled piece. So Camma Cipus pacifica very different animal than the Hanoki cypress, also known as the Sowara cypress. So you might be thinking, wow, these names sound kind of Japanese, and you are correct. Most there are native Cama cipress to the US, but most of the ones we grow in our garden are
native japan to Japan, and this is no different. But this plant is a fast growing Cama cipress, so faster growing than most Cama ciprus that you might be used to or have had in your garden, and that makes it a viable hedge plant. It naturally grows with a dense pyramidal habit, so it's going to have that same kind of ice cream cone shape that people love upside down ice cream cone shape that people love so much
in most arbor idy. It's going to get to be about thirty feet tall and twelve to fifteen feet wide, so this is a bigger plant. It might not be a viable hedging option for your screening option for you if you live in a smaller area, because that twelve to few fifteen foot range at the bottom is taking
up quite a bit of real estate. But if you have more space, I think that sense of enclosure in creating separate spaces for you to spend time in is an even more crucial part of creating that garden topia, because how else are you going to you know, break up your space and create those more intimate spaces than with some structure like this.
Yeah, and I agree with you. It's all about space. And I love your concept of borrowed space. I'm sitting here thinking about my space, my enclosure, and then the borrowed space, Lake Michigan, the dunes and my neighbor's outdoor shower. I got to do something about that.
Lake Michigan and the dunes is good. But yeah, the outward shower. Maybe time for a camma cipress or something else like that. Now, Cama ciprus and cedar rapids specifically, the branchlets are very soft and kind of almost feathery. So I brought this one in and if you're watching us on need To, you can see they just have these almost featherlike branchlets that gives it a really elegant kind of soft to look nice, bright green foliage. And this is deer resistant. Now, it's not prickly like where
you know, you can see me touching it. I'm not, you know, wincing in pain. Here, tiny bit of prickliness on it, But overall, camisippris is a great deer resistant alternative to arbor id, and it's a bit more heat tolerant as well. This can easily grow up to USDA Zone eight, a little less hardy. We're looking at USDA Zone four on this, whereas most arbor IDs are down to USDA Zone three. Did you touch It's nice and soft. Yeah, so a really really nice choice. And I think it's
just good for people to know that. You know, when it comes to this, you don't just have to throw up your hands and say I can't grow arborvidy. I don't know what I'll do. I guess I'll just have to invest in a really expensive wall or something like that. You can still create plant based solutions to building garden rooms, to screening off unsightly views, and to creating that beautiful sense of privacy and enclosure in your garden with other plants.
So check us out at Gardening Simplified on air dot com. You will see everything you need to know about cedar rapids Cama ceprus and you can decide if it is the right solution for your privacy and screening needs in your garden. We've got to take a little break. When we come back, we're going to be opening up the garden mail bag for the one hundredth time, so 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 easy care 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. Greeting's gardening friends,
and welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show. You know, when we first started the show, we knew without question that we wanted to have some mailbag segment where people could write in with their questions because it's something that we really care about doing. Ooh, and so please to answer gardening questions for the one hundredth time and continue. Even if you take a look at our survey and we look at making some changes as we move ahead with the show, it's always going to be important to
us to keep some opportunity to answer garden questions. Helps everybody know what's going on. And you know, so often if you have a question, other people have the same question, So it's a good opportunity so you can reach.
I have questions like what's in Rick's coffee?
I think I know now.
I'm sorry.
Go ahead, so visit us at Gardening Simplified on air dot com. There you can reach us through the contact form. You can even attach a photo, and then you can also find a link to our survey which you can take and fill out with your thoughts on the future of the show as well as what you've liked so far and if you would like be entered to win a proven winner's color choice swag package.
I just love that, Stacy, because we'd love to hear what you have to say or if you have thought topics, boy, let us hear about it.
Yeah, we love hearing about it. And you were sharing with me an interesting idea from a listener, Marv. Yeah, tomatoes.
Yeah, Marv sent us some pictures. You're seeing it on YouTube or you can go to our website, Gardeningsimplified on air dot Com. Marv doing a great job with his tomatoes and a great photo of how he pairs basil with his tomatoes. He grows basil at the base. I have always said that it is basil instinct to grow basil in close proximity to tomato plants because the tomatoes will taste better. I have no scientific evidence for that, but I believe it.
Well, it's convenient in any case to have the basil intro. There's no evidence, but it doesn't hurt and it does look great together. And then you know when you're harvesting your peak tomatoes for that, you know Ensalada cuprazy at the end of summer. The basil's right there. Now, what's interesting to me is that Marvis is growing a little
leaf basil. I feel like most people grow the bigger leaf basils, but he's growing a little leaf basil sometimes called box basil, sometimes called Greek basil, and that's the main basil that he has. So that's an interesting take as well. It gives it kind of a more formal look. But it's very, very pretty.
It's beautiful. It's beautiful. Michael writes to us. This Bollywood variegated azalea has been in the ground a few years. It is a great little azalea with awesome showstopper blooms in the spring. My concern is that it appears to have a girdling root, so we're looking at that picture, and again we'll share that picture on our website. Also, is this a problem and if it is, can anything be done to secure the longevity of the shrub?
Yeah, So, a girdling root basically just means a root that is growing around and around in circles and can actually start to wrap around the plant and cut off. You know, we've all seen a tree sort of grow into like a fence or something like that. Sometimes a tree winds, sometimes the fence winds. So what happens is these roots they grow around and around, and they can actually cut off the plant from the roots or cut off part of the cambium so that water and sugars
can't make their way through the plant. And sometimes this can be an issue of just how the plant was grown originally. Sometimes it just happens on its own just because of the way that the roots grow. But my advice in Michael's case here would be to just go ahead and snip that root. You can see in the photo. It is a rather larger root. And azalea's overall are pretty sensitive to anything going on with the roots. They're shallow rooted. But you know, I think you do obviously
love this plant it's a nice established specimen. I think that just snipping that root, like right where it starts to cross over the other root, because all of this is happening above ground. So that's why Michael can tell I would just go ahead and snip that out with a nice, very very sharp, fresh pair of pruners and just kind of correct the problem. I think that's better than having it potentially get worse and then not having an opportunity to correct it.
I would agree with clipping the root if push comes to shovel. I would suggest doing it in fall. Of course, fall, because the soil is nice and warm and there's no stress on the plant. Roots can redevelop at that time of the year. Not that that's critical. I'm just saying from my experience that's probably when I would.
Yeah, I think you're right, And the timing is obviously perfect because here we are at the height of summer. Fall would be perfect again because the plant's already going dormant. It's still going to have plenty of all of that root root growth time in the fall, So I would
go ahead and snip that out. If this were a tree, it would maybe be a little bit different that wouldn't be quite a straightforward, but since this is a small shrub, I would say do that before it gets worse and the plant, you know, should be okay.
Stacy, you loved some beautiful pictures that Rebecca sent to us, photos of an area where she's been hiking for years, and all of a sudden that area is covered in mysterious.
Flower, right and now, I so when you sent these pictures to me, I was maybe I immediately knew what the plant was, But when I looked through the photos that Rebecca sent, I can see how it would be pretty freaky because this plant is absolutely carpeting this area. And so you can look at the photo on YouTube or on our website at Gardeningsimplified on air dot com.
But just if you are in the car or whatever listening, it's a forest here in Michigan and there is all over, you know, literally thousands of these flowers coming up on say maybe a twelve inch stem, little ball starburst flower, you know, maybe about the size of a quarry. They look like alis, they look like aliums. They also could look like in aralia, which was one of the first things, which one is one of the first things I thought, but then I said, no, no, I know what exactly what
this is absolutely carpeting the ground. I mean literally thousands of them. I have never seen a site like this in my life. And what it is is ramps. Yeah, yeah, ramps. So if you're familiar with ramps, they are a native Alium family member, so a native onion relative. They come out in spring with beautiful broad leaves and a purple stem. They will give you, before worn, the worst onion breath you've ever had in your life, but it is more than worth it because they have such a unique and
delicious flavor. And most people only think about ramps in spring when you would actually harvest them or see them abundantly, especially in moisture woods, so not so much dry woods, but in moisture woods you'll see them. Most people never see them flower because ramps flower what is known in horticulture as naked, so that means that they flower without
any foliage or other parts of the plant. So even though ramps come out in spring and that's when you actually harvest the leaf and little bulb and stem there, the flowers bloom here in late July without a single shred of evidence as to what the plant is, so it's really kind of bewildering, especially to see it at the scale that this is.
Yeah, bewildering and beautiful. So we appreciate those those pictures. Doing a little research on that. To Stacey, what I read, and I'm not sure if this is true, but I read seven years for one ramp seed to emerge as a shoot, Oh wow, and that would explain why she's hiking in the area, had never seen it before, and now all of a sudden sees it. Ramps can be quite expensive, they're a delicacy, and they can also be over foraged.
Yes, absolutely, they can definitely be over foraged. It's Rebecca has not found an or over forged path, right, you know area of it because they are abundant. But yeah, you do have to be careful obviously, never harvest ramps on property that is not your owner, that you don't have permission to harvest on. But that is why it's a good point why all of a sudden, after hiking there for many years, you see this explosion of ramflowers, and Rebecca, what you saw really is an anomaly. It
was very special and you should consider yourself lucky. And if you aren't Rebecca. You should definitely check out the pictures because it is pretty magical.
It's gorgeous. And then Michelle sends us a photo of an echinasia with a split personality stage.
Yes, so this was a fun one and you're definitely going around look at a picture of this as well on Gardening Simplified on air dot com. And what you'll see is a regular echinaesia. So people are familiar with ecinaesia, usually it's purple, but this particular one is an orange or yellow one. And what has happened to the plant, the flower itself is that it almost looks like someone took painter's tape and made a line directly down the
center of the flower. And half of it is bright yellow and half of it is distinctively bright orange.
Stunning.
It is very stunning, and it is a known as a chimera, and a chimera it's named for the ancient Greek creature fire breathing monster that was had a lion's head, a goat's body, and a serpent's tail. Now some pictures of a chimera. If you look it up, it's got the lion you know, head and forearms, it's got the goat head and back quarters, and then the tail and the serpent's head, So it's all three animals crushed into one kind of terrifying creature. How that translates botanically to
what a plant chimera is is. It is multiple genes manifesting within a single flower. This isn't like totally unusual, but it's not common. And the chimera mutation is basically just as the flower was developing that apical mara sem where the growth point comes from. It just whatever mutation happened, it caused those two genes to develop at similar rates. And it literally means that there are two different genomes
existing within this single flower. Now, I will tell you right now, chimeras are very complicated genetically, and I could not possibly even pretend to explain to you what's actually going on. But I did find some great resources that I will post in our show notes at Gardening Simplified on air dot com if you are interested in learning more. There's no need to do anything if your plant does this.
I asked some of our plant breeders what they thought if this would continue, if you would see this again next year, and they said very likely you will, so no need to do anything. It's not a mutation. It's it's not a weakening mutation. It's a mutation, but it's just you know, genes from the plant's past sort of making themselves known today.
Accept compliments on the mutation. I think it's beautiful chimerism, something that I've seen often in Zenius.
Oh yes, yeah, there's some Some plants are more susceptible, and obviously the daisy family are ast racy, as we can see with zecond aisha. So if you find a k chimera, go ahead and send us a picture and patch yourself on the back. So we're going to take a little break. When we come back, we've got a special guest for 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, and today for branching news and interview. Looking forward to this along the subject of garden Topia, and if you're watching on YouTube, Stacy's holding up this beautiful book right now written by Jan Johnson Now. Jan is an award winning landscape designer and author and a speaker. She studied landscape architecture and
received a graduate degree in planning. She's worked in New York, Honolulu, Japan, California, Washington, d C. Of course, designs landscapes, and as I mentioned, is an author the beautiful book garden Topia Designed Basics for Creating Beautiful outdoor Spaces. Of course, this follows the other books she's written, The Spirit of Stone and Heaven is a Garden. I love following Jan on Instagram because it's inspirational. Jan, Welcome to the Gardening Simplified Show.
Well, hello everyone, Hi, Rick, thank you so much for that great intro.
Let me start here because it's our topic. And of course people right now are looking at your beautiful book, garden Topia. Garden Topia, you say, is that rare marriage of the art of landscaping and the technical knowledge of how to compose a landscape? I should ask right off the bat, Jan, is garden Topia attainable?
Oh? Absolutely? And it doesn't matter how big a piece of property you have. I mean, it could be very small, like I have a very small backyard, but it is definitely my little sanctuary.
Yeah, and we were talking about space earlier. You mentioned sanctuary. That's one of the ideals as far as garden Topia is concerned, is to create your space. And you know, this is episode one hundred. One of the most popular shows we did was a show on layering, in other words,
how to place plants and where to place plants. I noticed on Instagram that you recently landscaped a fire pit area and I thought it was just so beautiful because you simply used what was it hacking achlore, Japanese forest grass.
Exactly, Japanese forest grass that was a variety called all.
Gold, Okay, and that made for an amazing space.
Oh listen, Yeah, it was a very simple h terrace, you know, bluestone terrace that we made, and then how to kind of define it well the easy and in deer countries, you know, you always have to worry about the deer chomping on your plants, and so Japanese forest grass seemed to me to be a great solution. And I bordered a good portion of the terrace with this beautiful yellow gold grass that just all grows in together. It's just lovely.
It is one of those plants that I think so many people have, you know, a big, tall, stiffness canthus in mind when they think of ornamental grasses, and so when they see hakonakloa and it just has that like lush, soft, touchable texture, it really makes people rethink ornamental grasses. And I'm sure that designer you know of your caliber who have that experience. You know, you can also use it to kind of visually simulate water and other different textures in the garden.
Yes, and it's also really good for erosion control, you can because it just like you were saying, it has that soft, kind of moundy look to it, which is so great. And so it works really well on a slope because you know, you're not looking up at a stem necessarily, just all the soft breed bending over. Yeah, it's really wonderful.
We're chatting with designer and author Jan Johnson her beautiful book garden Topia, and you mentioned Jan. Okay, so garden Topia is attainable. In looking at your blog, I was interested in this quote that rare moment of reconnection can become more prevalent in your life if you take the time to notice the natural world. Just as a wine connoisseur relishes that first sip on the tongue, you can learn to savor a flower, a rock, or even a breeze.
Isn't that so lovely And it's so true, isn't it. I mean, people just have to stop and be observant and just notice, in my opinions, how amazing nature is. And it's much more easily done if you have a little outdoor space that you can do that in. You know, like it's hard when you're just being bombarded by all
the stimuli. But if you're got a space, even if it's just a terrace and you have pots, you know, with flowers in them, at least if you have a little place where you can stop and just take some deep breaths and just see what's around you. I find that people once they learn to appreciate a flower or a texture of a plant or something like that, it never leaves them. You know.
I appreciate that, and jan you call them stop time moments. Of course, I've done years of radio and I was always taught to create what we call driveway moments where you sit in the car and you're not going to leave the car because you're really listening to what's being said on that show. But stop time moments. How do we create stop time moments in our landscapes?
Yeah, so I guess they should explain what that means. I certainly understand driveway moments. I have done that so often when you sit in the car because you want to keep hearing the podcast or whatever you're listening to. You just sit different finishing more minutes than that. But I guess what it is is that we'll and I write this, I think of myself. You know, I'm always
rushing from here to there, get things done. Whatever. You just stop and one moment can almost feel like ten minutes because it's just that time where you, like I said, you stop and you just kind of almost get lost, you know, you almost get lost in the thought or even like in a fragrance like I have. Every summer, I plant the garden you bush in a big planter, and I put it outside in my door, and I
just go out there and I sniff the gardenias. I mean, that's my stop time moment, it's like, Okay, I get it. You know, that's what I mean by that.
And I think, you know, so many people feel like you have to know something about plants or about gardening to get there, and you know, so often I think if people just let themselves fall in love with something, even if it is just one plant, and they put it on a container on their little terrace or near you know, on their back porch where they spend time.
You know, as you spend time with a plant, and as you get to know it, and you see the light change, and you see the plant change through time, and you know, through the seas, and you watch insects interact with it. All of this that is really what
starts to I think, take you down that road. It's not the kind of thing where I think a lot of people just assume, oh, you know, they've just already had some sort of enlightenment and I'm never going to get there, but that we've all found our way to that level of enjoying an appreciation of plants and gardening through yes, single moments like that.
Yes, And also like you were just saying, and I agree with you totally, even if it's just one plant, you create a relationship with that one plant. You may not know anything else, but you know the hellibores because Aunt Mary gave you this plant that you didn't know anything about. And now that you see that it's evergreen
and it actually has a flower in early spring. I mean, and then that's what gets you started on that path, you know, and you say hello boys, and go oh, let me tell you about my hellboy.
You know, that's exactly my point. Jan You develop a relationship with plants and with your landscape. If you don't take the time to develop that relationship, then you're more or less a laborer, not a gardener. And I apia right.
Oh absolutely, And I'm trying. What I try to do is design basics. Is because a lot of people love these plants and they'll go out and they'll get that beautiful uh let's dance hydrangea or something that they but then they just kind of go, well, where do I put it? Where do I put it? It's and I'm saying no, no, no, let's think about that before you you know, buy the plant, make you know, get prepared a little bit beforehand. But I and I try to
make it easy to follow. I say things like a pop of red and they you know, and like that's a great design. Kip, by the way, is that you know all these great artists like Sey Zon or Norman Rockwell, for a look at their paintings, they always have a little pop of bread in the painting. I used to I used to take my son when he was young, to the Rockwell Museum in Massachusetts, and I used to tell them to look at the paintings and find the little dot of red for me, and he could in
every single one. And it's the same thing in the garden. You can just put a little dot of red, like a little red coxco or or a red poppy or something like that, and it and it adds a little vibrancy to the scene.
That's such a great piece of advice too, that you know, people don't people think, oh, I don't know enough about color. I don't know enough about color theory to design a garden. And you know, in that case, don't you don't have to be the expert. You know, let Paul Clay be the expert. Let Norman Rockweller says on be the expert, and take your inspiration from the color that someone like
that has already. You know, if you connect with the painting or another piece of artwork, you know, how can you interpret those same kind of colors, you know, in plants in your own yard. There's just so many opportunities for inspiration. And honestly, Jen, that's what I really love about your Garden Topia book. I see the subtitle here on the back is one hundred and thirty five Inspiring
Tips to transform any backyard, garden or lawn. And this is exactly the kind of book that I love to have around, like on my coffee table, on my side table, and then whenever you need a little bit of garden inspiration, especially in the winter, you know, thinking about how I want to make this change, and I think this is just one of those books that is just so full of inspiration and then you know, actual practical information on
how you can then interpret it in your garden. But you know, it's just I think it's really like I love a good informational book. I love a good book you can get into and read all about taxonomy and
all of this other stuff. But these good design books where you can just kind of let your imagination run wild, and you know, ask yourself, what do I like about this idea, what would this mean in my yard with the materials you know, like out here in Michigan, we don't you know, bluestone re costs and arm and a leg, So you know, how can we use our materials to you know, interpret a lot of these ideas. And I just think I really enjoyed looking through this book so much.
Thank you so much. Yeah, And you know, people say to me, well, out of all these tips, what's the most important tip. I've had that question, and you want to know what it is. Yes, it's called it's all about the soil. I think that's the one because if you don't, if you don't create beautiful, beautiful soil, then you're already going to sail, you know what I'm saying. Like even like even in pots, right you have to plant it in potting mix, in a in a planter, right.
Not you can't take the sell out of your yard and jump it in the planter because it's too heavy. But the same thing with planting. And I always say to people, you know, you don't have to buy the seven gallon plant by the three down plants, but just put the money into making your soil beautiful.
Yeah, that's that's great. We're chatting with Jan Johnson her beautiful book Garden Topia. Jan is a speaker and author, a designer, and Jan just recently adran Or Robinson got back from Cape Cod and her photography, of course, is always so beautiful. Her video. Oh yeah, but it looks like the high Ranges were gorgeous. You just returned.
Also, Yes, every year, like clockwork, I spend a week camping in Wellfleet, which is the northern part of Cape Cod. I wouldn't miss it for the world because it's just it is a gardener's paradise. I mean everybody goes, of course to sit on the beach, but the plants there grow like crazy, especially hydrange.
And of course you also recently traveled to Italy. Is that correct?
Oh?
Boy, was I lucky? Yes, I've never been there before and a family member got married and so of course we had to go, no matter what, we had to go to this wedding. Boy was I happy to do that. You know, Rennaissance gardens or something unusual, right not, you know, with all their statutory and everything, but they knew how to use design technique like nobody else. I mean, we're still learning from them. They use statuary and plants together
to create a marvelous environment. I highly recommend people to check out the gardens of Italy, and.
You know the fact that they have persisted. Of course, they've been changed, and you know, different owners have changed them according to their whims over time. But you know the fact that these gardens have persisted for literally hundreds of years as a real testament to how timeless they are and how much we need gardens as humans, you know, to enjoy. And yeah, I think Italy is it is definitely a bucket list trip for any gardener exactly.
And you know, it's interesting you say that, because, in my opinion, we need gardens and parks and common outdoor spaces more than ever. We have to make places where people can enjoy the outdoors, you know, especially with our kids. You know, they're always staring at screens. You know, we need places that allow them to get in your little stream and play with it and just enjoy nature. And if nature's not nearby, then we have to create it in some form or other. That I feel so strongly about.
That I love that.
Well.
Jan your work has been featured in many publications and you have more than forty years of experience. You own New York based Johnson Landscape and Landscapes and Pools. So I'm going to ask you a very unfair question for the benefit of our listeners and our viewers, and that is do you have a favorite plant?
Wow? Yes, I do you have that? Depth? Oh? Yes, I do. It's the Oakley hydranger.
Yes, great answer.
I love Oakley hydrangea and all varieties. I mean, they're also its great varieties. And the reason I love that so much is, first of all, I love the old texture. I love the flowers and the fact that the flowers stay on the plant and they just get darker with age, and then of course in the fall it gets that burnished, dark red leaves. It's just I just love that plant.
Yeah, I'd have to agree with you. It's one of my plants that I put into the category of three to four seasons of interest and that that plant makes for an ideal impact in landscapes. Her name is Jan Johnson. Her book Garden Topia.
Jan.
How do people learn learn more about you? Do you have a website you can share with us?
Sure?
Well, first of all, thank you for talking about my Instagram every day I post on Instagram every day and so that's the Instagram address is Johnson Design j O h N s e N. Designed. A lot of people don't realize that, but my last name is Johnson is Johnson. And then my I have a substack. Now I don't know if people know what that is. It's the platform for posts, and so my substack is Jan Johnson dot substack dot com. And of course the name of it
is Gardentopia. And lastly my website which is Johnson Landscapes dot.
Com Johnson Landscapes dot com. So j O h N s e n. The book is garden Toopia. And yes, I would agree, Stacey. When I get on Instagram, Jan's one of the first people I look for.
Yeah, thank you.
It is so wonderful to have such a great source of inspiration. And we really appreciate you sharing your work and your perspective and making that a feel for anybody.
And I really love proven winners plans just so you know, and all the great variety you guys.
Well, thank you well, it means a lot to us.
Thanks for joining us today. Jan, We appreciate it so much and all the best to you.
Thanks again, bye now bye bye bye.
Well that was great. Now, if you didn't catch any of those links, we will have them all linked for you so you can find Jan's Instagram, website and substack on our website, Gardening Simplified on air dot com. We want to thank Jan, I want to thank you Rick, I want to thank you Adriana, and thank you all so much for following us for the past one hundred episodes. Here's to the next one hundred. Hope you can take a moment to fill out our survey at Gardeningsimplified on
air dot com. Thanks so much and have a wonderful week ahead.