Broadcasting from Studio A here at Proven Winners, Color Choice Shrubs. It's time for the Gardening Simplified radio podcast and YouTube show with Stacy Hervella, me, Rick weisst and our engineer and producer Adrianna Robinson. Well, Stacey, I loved the story of Goldielocks and the Three Bears, Goldilocks trying to pick between the porridge, the chairs, and the bed that isn't too hard, too soft, too hot, whatever it may be.
And I guess the direction I'm going here is that, to a degree, we do the same thing in our gardens. We look for plants that aren't too small, too big, just right. And I wish I had a dime for every time someone has walked up to me in the garden center and said, I want a plant that grows to three feet tall and then stops and doesn't grow anymore all the time.
Three mon I'd love to live in your magical fantasy. It's not true because I do love huge plants. We know this. I've talked about it on the show. I love huge plants. But that doesn't mean that there's not a place for these so called just right plants, especially for people who maybe aren't so familiar with the broad range of options or just want, you know, one simple choice. And I think that to me, I'm glad you said three feet because I feel like that's kind of the sweet spot for people.
Yeah, it is the sweet spot. But you know, it's important to note that plants have motives. Plants either want to grow or vine or flour and produce seed or whatever. They're not just simply growing for our benefit and enjoyment
and stopping at three feet. Yet it's fun to go down the road of trying to determine are there some plants out there that kind of fill that bill that, just like Goldieloe would say, are just right plants that maybe don't have to have plant supports, which is another pet peeve of mine, by the way, because when you go out and you shop for plant supports, it's tough to find good quality plant supports.
Good quality and good looking or at least, you know, which is to say, kind of nondescript. You don't really want to draw attention to the fact that your plant needs support. But some plants do need support. I mean, you know, peenies. Look how much people love them and they forgive them needing support.
We all need support now and then. But just right plants are great for repetition in the landscape. The principle of three depths foreground, background, but the middle ground separates the front from the rear, pulls everything together, gives you an interesting layered view. So the obvious physical property of a plant is its form. And we don't always think of the mature or ultimate siloette of a plant, and yet we should when we place them in a landscape.
And Stacy, I wanted to mention to you right off the bat that I personally believe in my landscape too. An example of a just right plant would be the Celtic pride Siberian cypress.
That is a great plant. Now that is a bit shorter, but that is a plant that is almost fool proof. No matter where you put it, that thing is going to look great. It's going to do what you intended to do. Yeah, and just look amazing all you around because it's evergreen.
Yeah, it's a favorite of mine, of course. Also, I think the consummate just right plant in the landscape, my opinion would be Spyria's. Spyrias just fill the bill. They do a great job. They can fit in just about anywhere. Of course, they provide us great foliage color, rounded. Our horizontal shapes are less dramatic than those with vertical shape. Of course, vertical Any plants that are vertical really call for our attention. We've talked about that before. They are
exclamation points. But Spyria really does a great job a nice rounded habit without pruning. And of course I love the yellow foliage of let's say, candy corn, because it's perfect to combine with blue flowers, whether they be perennials or annual.
Yeah, I mean, Spyria are such an interesting plant. I definitely have had my times of snobbery towards Spyrea. You know, it's just kind of like, oh, it's just like a gas station plant. But honestly, the proven winners to double play Spyria really turned my opinion on them around, and
especially at this time of year. And it's the kind of thing that like, if you were to read a description or read the tag, if you're in the garden center and you hear oh fall, you know in spring, foliage emerges bright orange or bright red, You're just like, okay, yeah, that's cool. When you see these things in the landscape right now. They are glowing. It is almost like a bloom, a first bloom, because they are going to go on
to flower. And so Spiria, I think are definitely one of those plants that there's more than meets the eye. People are initially attracted to that super toughty rounded look. They say, oh, you know what, I have a spyria. It looks great, grows round, I don't have to do anything. It's really pretty. When at flowers, I want more of that. And the thing is, there is so many more spirias, so you don't just have to settle for the same ones that you have. They also go together great exactly.
So I think that that's a plant that fits the bill, one that I've really had to learn to like because I didn't really care much for it. Maybe you can sell me on it, Stacey. And that is inkberry holly or gembox. Yeah, and I'd kind of put that in the same description.
Yeah, I would too. So this gembox inkberry holly is something that it's an evergreen. It is a native species I like sclabra. It's called inkberry holly because back in the Revolutionary War they actually did use the fruits to write letters to make it to write letters, and so it's found abundantly throughout the East Coast, which of course makes sense for the Revolutionary War. And so we actually sell these as a native alternative to boxwood, because not
everyone wants to grow a boxwood. People have different, you know, reasons they may not like them. And this looks a lot like a boxwood, but it's a native species and it has white flowers in mid to late spring, which are actually quite attractive. But really the main thing that makes gembox different than other ink very hollies that are out there on the market is that it branches to
the ground. So if you were to see inkbery holly in the wild, it gets kind of leggy, and that's just a term for when plants get tall but kind of bear at the base. And that's perfectly fine in the woods, but that's not what people want from these just right plants in their landscape. So this naturally grows with that nice tight boxwood type shape, but flowers and is amenable to pruning, and it's native, so it's kind
of a cool and interesting plant. It is not the reason that I would maybe not quite say, I feel like an important part of the just right equation here, the Goldilocks equation is wide adaptability, and this is a plant that is not especially drought tolerant. I can tell you this because I have attempted to grow it and failed because again I don't really water. I'm willing to
get some water at the beginning. But if you were to find this plant in the wild, it's growing in like almost swampy ok you know, deep woods area where the soil is pretty much always at least moist, if not wet. So just right definitely in terms of the way it looks, but not quite as adaptable as what I think a Goldilocks plant should. Because we're trying to, you know, pitch these plants to the people who are like, whoa,
there's way too many plants out there. Just give me like five that I can go and look at, and I'll pick one.
I knew you'd educate us on the on this plant, and thank you for doing that. Boxwood is a plant that I also would put in that category. We're going to go down a little of plants in segment four today that are Goldilocks just right plants, and maybe one
or two of them would fit for you. When I look at spring bloomers to Stacey throughout the years looking at what has happened with flowering crab trees and how Lollipop and Showtime and other cultivars again have well basically been bred to be just right in size as opposed to overpowering.
And you know, aside from the size themselves, I mean, you can't ever go wrong with a crab apple, you know, if you're looking for a small tree. You know, sometimes I say about plants, they're just ubiquitous, like everybody has them. They get a little boring. I don't know if it's possible to be tired of crab apples. They are just so entirely lovely. Honestly. If they have one drawback, it's the deer.
I agree, I myself can become tired of boxwood. I have to be.
Don't come to my garden then fuck again.
That's from unloading hundreds.
Yeah, yeah, you know. I know you've got your own well earned prejudices about plants in the garden, and I will give you those happily excellent.
Well, let me give you a nursery rhyme that I've written. A nursery rhyme lima a rick once upon a time, Rex the landscaper listed some plants pen to paper. This one too big, this one too slight. But this one here, I guess, is just right. I'm not gonna need shears to taper. But someone stole his lunch, ate, his bread, and had taken the tools from his shed. He stepped this very bad day on a rake lying in his pathway and fell into his planting bed. Along came his friend,
Goldie Flocks. See what I did, Yes, I do, thank you. Together they had some good talks. She got them straightened out. A friendship they would sprout, he realized, Goldie Flos rocks. So they planted some plants in their prime that they knew would look good all the time. Not too big, not too small, they were just right above all. A happy end to this nursery rhyme.
Oh that was lovely. That need some illustrations.
Yeah, maybe I should start writing kids books.
Yes, I think you got a good start.
Well, just write plants. Let's see what Stacy has on her mind in Plants on Trial. That's coming up 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. Greeting's gardening friends, and welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show where we're talking
goldilocks plants. It's right. They're not too small, they're not too big. They are just right. Now. This isn't to say that there's not a spot for small and very big plants. There are, Yeah, definitely. And I have the whole gamut from seedums that barely grow to an inch high in my garden all the way up to you know, silphium and the like, which get to be ten feet
tall or more. I probably don't have in my art a lot of these so called just right plants I've got, but that doesn't mean that there's not a place for them.
Yeah, but not everybody likes porridge either, that's true. I have porridge for breakfast every morning. At least I call it porridge. It's cooked oat brand with some blueberries.
You know, I'm sound very happy about it.
No, I'm not. I do it for my cholesterol.
They're like, I have porridge very morning. Any hopefully it is at least just right doing something good for you. But yeah, so there's room for all of these plants. But I understand again there's so many choices out on the market that when it comes time for someone, especially if you know they are working on something in their landscape, they're replacing a plant. They're just looking to add a
little bit more color. They're not looking for our list of all time favorite perennials or you know, all of this kind of stuff. They want just this nice, tidy short list of plants, and we're going to go over that more. And you know, that's really in many ways what we're all about here at Proven Winner's Color Choice Shrubs. We do have a lot of smaller kind of groundcovery shrubs, and we have some that are actually very very large
ten feet or more. So we have something, but most of them really are in this kind of Goldilocks zone of roughly three to five feet tall and wide. And another really important fact part of the of the Goldilocks equation for me multiple seasons of interest. Yes, you know, a Goldilocks plant should not be a plant that just looks fabulous for you know, two weeks, and then the rest of the year you're just like whatever. You know.
That's why I wouldn't give Forcythia, for example, a Goldilocks Plant award, because as fabulous as it is right about now, come on, what do you do in for me the rest of the year, you know you're not And it doesn't really have a lot of good forms. So we're looking for the kinds of things that we know appeal to people. These nice, tidy forms, useful three to five foot size, and I think that size is really important.
And the reason that Rick and I I think have both kind of settled on this size is that the three to five foot range works so well with a house. Sure, it's like the exact right size if you have a one story, if you have a two story house, it's not going to overwhelm. It plays nicely with other plants. It just really works well for the way that we tend to live. So I had a huge list. I had to think long and hard about it, and I finally came up with today's plant on trial. It is
wine and spirits. Why Geila, Oh, I can see why okay, so our listeners may potentially be familiar with wine and roses white Gela, which was actually one of the very first proven winner's color choy shrubs way way back in the nineteen nineties. They found it at a nursery in the Netherlands. And it's crazy to think now because these dark foliage with pink flower white gela have just become
garden cannon, right. They're just people know them. They're so ubiquitous now that it's hard to imagine that there was a time where people saw wine and roses and went, oh, my gosh, what is that? And wine and spirits. I don't know if the answer is right there in the name or not, but wine and spirits is very much like wine and roses, except that instead of having the pink flowers, it has white flowers. That's where the spirits
come from. And the foliage I think so on the wine and Roses and the wine and Roses family, because we have spilled wine, we have very fine wine. So you can get the wine and roses look in really any size from a small ground cover to a medium size to the full wine and roses which is about four to five foot, so all of those can be just right depending on your exact situation. But Wine in Spirits Whygela, it was developed right here in West Michigan
and by Megan Mattia, our plant breeder. It is the foliage, you know, I think the Wine and Roses foliage is really it's got like a lot of kind of purply red in it, and Wine and Spirits is almost black, like it's got a deep purply black and it just contrasts so beautifully with the flowers. And come late spring, early summer, that's about Windhygela bloom just absolutely covered in
these white flowers and the contrast is great. So the thing that makes this just right, besides the fact that it does indeed get to be three to five feet tall and wide, so we got the goldilocks size there, is that you're gonna love those flowers when they come out, and then even when the flowers finished, because this is
not a reblooming Whitela. I did think about doing a sonic gloom reblooming Whygela instead, but I really felt like the foliage for me, made Wine and Roses a little bit more of a GOLDILOCKX plant because you're getting a lot more foliage interest out of it, you know, beyond the time that the whitejela are actually blooming, so that foliage will carry it through. And the other thing I really liked about this compared to some of our sonic blooms,
which are beautiful. You know, if you were to see those in bloom in the garden center, you're going to see a lot of like crazy intense pink color. And the pink color is beautiful, but if you have a red brick house, you may not be such a fan of these bright pink whigelas. So I feel like wine and Spirits, is that one of those plants you don't have to worry you do? I have to think about, Wait, how is this going to look in front of my house? And if you like the look of bright pink with
your red brick, by all means, go for it. I've got no judgment here whatsoever. But I did like how this has sort of that safer and more reliable color scheme that's literally going to look good no matter what color your house is.
I'd call it elegance.
It is elegant. It's got like a kind of yeah, formal wear kind of vibe like black. It is like a black tie. Yeah, And I think another really important thing about this, A lot of people are familiar with
Why Jela. A lot of people love Whygela. They have a strong nostalgic connection to it, remembering it from you know, when they were kids at Grandma's And so I think, you know, if someone were just to be looking for a plant to add to their landscape or garden this year, and they might say, oh, I'd love Whyjela, but I'm not going to pick a Wigeela because they're just too big and you're living in the past there, Because Whyjela have come a long way since Grandma's time, and now
they do have maybe not quite as neat and tidy as Spyria, but they definitely have more of these neat, rounded shapes.
Absolutely.
So it's really just a new kind of perspective and a new look for Whyjela that you can bring into the garden rather than just you know, the big ten foot by ten foot old fashioned Whigela that Gramma head.
Yeah, and these cultivars like my mo own a Midnight Sun or the cultivar you're talking about today too, look fabulous in containers in the garden.
Yeah, definitely, And this would be a great choice. For example, if you do find it, Yeah, it's gonna look amazing on the floor in the garden center. But it would also be fun to put in a decorative container in your house just for some foliage interest. And then you can always plant it at the end of the season and just put it straight away into the ground. So
it's an interesting plant. You know. I did think I've already done Midnight Sun why Jila as a plant on trial, but that is also a strong contender for me for a goldilot's plant. I did it not that long ago, but this is a plant that you really have to see to believe. I don't want to take away from Wine and Spirits moment in the spotlight here, but I'll tell you I love that Midnight Sun why Jila, and we'll put a link to it. Adriana will throw some photos into the YouTube version so you can see that
and make your own decision. Actually, they grow great to get, so you could definitely you don't have to doesn't have to be an either or another great thing about Whyjeila dear resistant quite dear resistant, so an important factor for many of us, not all of us, but even if deer are not an issue for you, yet they certainly could be coming down the line. You never know when
suddenly it's going to be an issue. Now. Also a good heartiness zone range on wine and spirits by Jeila four to eight, So that's definitely covering the majority of North America, temperate North America where it can grow successfully without a problem. Again, it's three to five feet tall and wide. Now, this is a full sun plant. So some Whaijela. Rick was mentioning the Mimonai series, those are
variegated with white and green foliage. Because of all of that white in their foliage, they are going to be more shade talerant overall. White Gela is a full sun plant with those couple of exceptions, but definitely for wine and spirits. If you want that best dark foliage color, if you want the most flowers on the plan, it's going to be very important that you give it at least six hours of bright sun every day and it's
gonna bloom probably late spring early summer. I kind of think of why Gila as like the transitional flowering shrub that goes that brings you kind of from spring to early summer because into.
The month of June. It feels like June to me.
It kind of has like spring vibes going into summer, so it's kind of a fun transitional plant. Like I said, this particular one does not rebloom, but I think that the foliage more than makes up for it. And it's a great plant for a hedge if you need a kind of hedge or you're doing a grouping of plants. It is a fine specimen plant if you only need
to plant one. Its shape really lends itself to all sorts of different applications in the landscape as well as in the garden, because I think this is the kind of plant that is actually very worthy of a flower garden. If you have a flower garden, I.
Think there's no question in my mind this is a Goldie locks just right plant.
Well, I'm glad truly, and you can decide for yourself, because that's what Plants on Trial is all about. To check us out on YouTube, you can see all the pictures there, or of course go to proven Winner's Color Choice dot com and you can learn even more about it there, and it will be in your local garden center this spring if you want to see it in person. We're gonna take a little break. When you come back, we're opening up the garden mail leg so please stay tuned.
At Proven Winner's 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 in evergreens for eight to ten years to ensure they outperform what's already on the market. For easycare, reliable, beautiful shrubs to accentuate 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 spring is in full swing here in Michigan at least. I know some of our listeners in warmer climbs are like spring, it's practically summer over here.
Yeah, you know, you talk about wine and spirits. Uh with Gilla, I'm gonna stop whining about winter and the weather. It's spring is here.
Spring is here. But you know, I don't want to complain about the weather. But I mean, this is gardening, so we have to say a little something. I just you know, I feel like we have yet to have one of those days where you're like, this is a nice day. You know, it's definitely the weather's been improving. It's certainly nice enough to be outside and working. But I feel like usually by now we've had at least one of those days where you're just like, it's spring and I am so glad to be alive. I mean,
it's spring and I am glad to be alive. But you know, I just don't have that like buoyant feeling just yet, just yet. I'm whold out. They'll they'll still come on, but I feel like normally we'd have one by now.
Shorts weather short.
They definitely have not had any shorts weather yet, at least here in West Michigan. So we actually last week talked about native ours, a rather controversial topic, and got a little bit of feedback from people who maybe had a little bit of a negative reaction to that, which is to be expected anytime we dive into a controversial topic, a very emotionally fraught topic like native plants and native ours. But one listener, Barbara wrot Us, and I wanted to
read her comment. She says it was refreshing to listen to the Native Oars episode this week. I love the idea of a campaign to elevate how important insects are to our gardens. Since people love birds, it could start with how and why birds need these insects and insects
need host plants, shrubs and treats. My interest in having a more native and native ours in my garden happened when I learned about how chickadees only feeds as babies caterpillars and needs six thousand to nine thousand caterpillars to feed the clutch.
Wow.
Maybe the campaign could be about birds or caterpillars for chickadees. I love that And I love that too because you know, I said this last week when you were talking about eight overs. I garden for insects because I love insects and seeing a variety of insects in my garden is what I like the most. Yeah. Sure, I love all the flowers and the color and the texture and all of that
is great. But to me, like where I get really excited is if I can go out to a plant and it is just covered in like ten different types of insects. Like that is what gets me going, and that is why when a wren chose my yard to build a nest into my stoveall woodworking nesting box, I mean I literally cried because it meant so much to me that and wrens are also insectivorous like a chickadee, that there was enough in my yard to feed them.
So yeah, and Stacey for me working in the backyard this past week recognizing that the various woodpeckers that I love to watch have moved on from the suet cakes that I would hang out for them in winter to the trees and they obviously are busy searching for insects.
Yeah, it's a great thing to see. So thank you for your comment. A Barbara, and we had a question also related to last week's episode about something that was mentioned. This is from Judy in Manitoba, Canada, USDA Zone three. She has an ice ballet Asclepius, which is one of the plants that Mike Connor talks about. It as a white milkweed in my perennial garden and it's the only plant that becomes infested with aphids because it is a host for monarch caterpillars. How do I deal with the aphids.
Just using a strong jet of water doesn't take care of them for long. I've tried a spray of soapy water. Still nothing. What can I use to deal with the aphids without harming any stage of the monarch life cycle?
Well, I have the answer, But why don't you go ahead.
And find the answer. We should hear it from you.
Well again, coming from the garden center industry, would I use something you know you'll you'll read on the internet people will recommend using name. I would not use name. It's going to affect them, definitely, not exactly even spino set, but insecticidal soap so in this case, uh Judy mentions some soapy water. But insecticidal soaps are potassium salts of fatty acids, and the way they work is their contact insecticides. So essentially they're able to penetrate the waxy coating of
the outer shell of an aphid. It does not have residual on the plant. It is a contact control that affects the outer body of those aphids. So I would strongly encourage getting an insecticidal soap that's labeled for that per is considered trying it.
That's that's interesting. Idea. I was also going to potentially suggest ladybugs. And you know the thing is, when if you are going to release ladybugs, you darn well better have a good aphin population for them to start eating when they come out of that bag. Otherwise they're all just going to move away because there's nothing for them to eat. So really, when you have a super intense aphed infestation like this, that would be the perfect opportunity
to release those ladybugs. And yes, it's absolutely true that their larva, they're younger stage, eat far more insects, far more aphids than the ladybugs themselves do the adults. But they'll still, you know, you'll start to establish that population in your garden and they'll do a number on it.
And that's why I would recommend ladybugs over something like praying mantis or something like that, because the praying mantis will potentially eat the monarch larva if they're able to get that, So I feel like that's one that will take care of your issue. I would also say, you know, as far as this the soap, as far as regular water goes, I have found when you need to do that for aphids, you kind of this is gross. Sorry, but you kind of got to rub them with your
hands and squish them all around. Just knocking them off the plant isn't enough because aphids are essentially perpetually reproducing. Aphids can actually be borne pregnant with the next crop already ready to go and hatch out on your plant. So even if you you know, just do this so the water thing, there's still babies on there that you haven't gotten. So I find you got to really kind of rub at them. It's not for the faint of heart, but it does work.
And that's why I like the contact control of insecticidal soap. Now that said, don't use it if the butterflies are active, Yeah, but they're not yet. If they're not yet active and you have the aphids, I think it's an alternative.
Yeah, definitely, definitely.
Heidi's writing to us, we experience the higher than usual amount of deer damage in our garden this winter. Welcome to the party, Heidi. That's not in here. I'm just saying that because munching on our roses and hygd ranges was to be expected, munching our hugh curas to within an inch of their lives has also happened before, however, Yucca, that couldn't have been a pleasant experience. But as you can see in the picture that Heidi sent, they were persistent.
Now we're faced with the problem of trying to get them looking decent again. They're actually not a favorite, but they add so much winter interest. I agree, Heidi. I have them in my landscape that we'd hate to lose them.
Any suggestions on how to rejuvenate. Were located in southeastern British Columbia, Canada, Zone six B. Heidi, I am in the exact same zone that you are here on the lake shore of Lake Michigan here in West Michigan A six B. I have my yuccas in front, and yes, this winter it was a long winter and the deer destroyed my yukkas. I mean, the foliage is so fibrous it cannot taste good. It cannot. But they were hungry enough where they destroyed them. I've had this happen before.
Your plants, if well established, are going to bounce back.
Yeah. So what you're going to see, if you're joining us on YouTube to see the pictures of what Heidi is seeing, is they haven't damaged the yucca like they would a hydrange or hegro where they munched the whole thing down. No, what they've done is just munched the
leaf tipsy. So yeah, torn at it. So the really important thing about a yucca that makes them look so good in our landscapes is that they are very spear like, that they have that very sharp point, and that's what gives them all of that great architectural presence in the garden. And now they just look like they've had a really bad haircut. The bad news, I guess, is that that foliage will never go back, that will not suddenly develop
a new point. So what you're gonna have to do if you don't want that foliage around is just cut it off at the base. Now, that's Yuka are tough as nails. I mean, I don't know if we mentioned that in our plants you can't kill episode, but we probably should have because you cannot kill a yuka. I mean you pretty much sort of like flooding it out for like days on end. You are not going to be able to kill a yucca. So I would recommend that you get your pruners out, or maybe you can
even tear them. Maybe that will be easier. And cut those damaged leaves off at the base. You may find that you are left with very little at the end of that process, but no big deal. It will be just fine and it will absolutely come back. Yuccas have a huge storage root that keeps all of that energy for them to you know, be able to revive, so there's really nothing that is going to set it back
that bad. And in fact, you know, one of the things that I do this is kind of maybe sound a little bit crazy, but I actually when I want to control yuka, I will actually just take a sh sharp spade and plunge it in the ground and cut off the top of my yuca and that will kind of knock it back to a smaller one, but it will come out. You know, by the end of the season, you'll have a new plantlet to replace that one, and then that can That can be a way to do
that too. That's a way that I manage them so I don't have to dig them up and disrupt the garden. But I also they don't get too big and start shading out their neighbors.
The approach I take is I just let nature take its course and they recover from it and part of the reason I do that is because they're so shredded right now. I want the deer to feel guilty when they walk by. It's like, what have you done?
All right, well, let me know if you get a picture of that. I'd like to see the guilty look on their faces. All right, We're going to take a little break. When we come back, we're going to continue our conversation about Goldilock's plants, so please stay tuned. Thanks for listening to the Gardening Simplified Podcast, brought to you by Proven Winners Color Choice Shrubs. Our award winning flow orange shrubs and evergreens are trialed and tested by experts
with your success in mind. Learn more at Proven winnerscolor Choice dot com.
Welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show. Today for branching news, we'll go down the list of plants that are Goldilocks plants just right, not too big, not too small, and would like to share some of those with you. Stacey, I wanted to mention right off the top was reading a perennial plant survey. A recent survey said Echinasia, Salvia, and Hosta are the top three favorite perennials among respondents. Does that surprise you not in the least. Yeah, same here.
And of course when you talk about just right, hostas have to be on the list. There are so many different cultivars they fill a space. Hostas really seem in my mind to fill that role, especially in shade of being that just right size.
Especially if you don't have to hear, especially if you don't. But yeah, yeah, they I mean, hostas are such a go to plant because very much like you were talking about with boxwood or the gem box ink, very holly, they're just always at home. You know, you never really have to worry about a hosta looking too garish or you know, two out of place. That's just like they're kind of a can't fail plant that just always looks good. Yeah.
I was online doing some reading and I saw an article the eleven perennial plants that you should not plant, and I'm like, hmm, this looks interesting, so I open it up. The first plant recommended not to plant was kudzu, and I'm like, does anybody really buy kudzu?
Can you even buy c can you even buy it? But you know what, people will find it and they'll say, oh, the flowers are so pretty and then they'll dig it up from the woods or whatever and bring it home, and probably is worth mentioning that you should not do that, because no, you won't find it at garden centers.
All right, Well, let's run through the list with some editorial comment to give you an idea of some of these types of plants. Stacey, you know, I love ornamental grasses, but for some people they're just too big, too much maintenance, too much work. I recommend you plant annual grasses like the Cultivars skyrocket, beautiful, just the right size, not too big, not too small. Another one would be a pennacetum lemon squeeze.
Nice controlled shape in that ornamental grass and looks beautiful again when combined with blue flowers like cats me on the peta, which is the landscape plant of the year, because again controlled size doesn't get out of control.
But I think one ornamental grass that I would recommend for people who are maybe not so fond of it or worried about the work h Kana kloa Japanese forest grass, very low main I agree, Yeah, that's one that you know, it doesn't have a lot of the liabilities of other ornamental grasses. Always beautiful. It's just it's so soft looking, and I've tried to grow it, but it needs a lot more water than I'm willing to give it to get established. But once you have a nice patch of that o hard to beat.
That plant fits the criteria perfectly. You're right, people love sunflowers. Take a look at sun Credible. The annual yellow sunflower stays nice and short, big flowers, gorgeous. I think that fills the bill. Tuscan sun a perennial sunflower Heliopsis that's
on the list. And then Stacy again, being an old school, old school garden center guy, it still never ceases to amaze me the advancement in plants like old fashioned plants like lilacs or mock orange, the cultivars today, how they fill the bill, so to speak, of being a just right plant.
Yeah, and you know, also having that multiple seasons of interest. You know, not only are the flowers fabulous, but the fragrance is so so amazing. And then if you have something like our a new Illuminati sparks variegated one, you're also getting a lot more foliage interest through the rest of the season.
Love that plant. High ranges of course, tiny tough stuff. We bit grumpy. We've talked about that on the show before. Firelight Tidbit would be another one. And I even throw into the mix the cascading hydranges only because again they you know, they're they're not going to get really really large and you can kind of let them flow where
they want to go. For me, I consider that a plant that is just right poll petit rosa Sharon tater tot arborvitie and then with annuals I love and not because it's our subject today, but Goldilocks rocks.
Biden Biden's is a good plan.
Yeah, yeah, and I think.
You're for you know, I like too, So that's if you're not familiar with us. It's kind of a yellow daisy like flower and a lot of people love that look of those you know, cheerful so it kind of goes along with the sun credible sunflower. You can definitely have like those cheerful flowers. They make great cut flowers all summer long.
Many Vista supertunias, and I'm saying the mini vista supertunias love that plant. Many different varieties or colors available to you. Baby tut umbrella grasses Cyparis love that because when I've grown the standard ones, they've kind of exploded out of the pot and that way.
Yeah, they definitely can. And you know, if you live in an area with a lot of wind, some of the really tall ones, if you have a bad storm, can definitely suffer some damage, where if you've got these smaller, more compact ones, you don't have to worry about it.
Absolutely. Of course, bud Lea, We've talked about bud Lea before, but Pugster or lo and behold again, it's going to fit this Goldie loox just right category.
Oh wait, I want to go back to the Cyparis the beta tet for a second, because I just realized if you are looking for a plant to put into a fabulous ceramic container that has no drainage, these are a great choice. You know a lot of times people will do that as a gift. They'll not think about it. A lot of those ceramic containers without drainage are intended to be a cash po where you put something else inside it and then lift it out to water it.
And you're just stuck with this. You're like, I'm not going to rest drill in this thing because I could break the whole thing. These cyprus or papyrus are a perfect choice. They will grow absolutely with no drainage and do really really well.
So something to considered and a real thriller in the center of the container. Question about it, father, gia or gilla however you want to pronounce it, and we've talked about that before. A favorite of mine. I would classify it as a just right in size plant. Boxwood, Like I mentioned, why all the boxwoods, But I guess people like boxwoods and of course would sprinter. You get the deer resistance.
Yeah, I mean that's an important part of boxwood. But I will say for myself, I have a lot of boxwood in my yard and it's partly from deer resistance because of the deer. But honestly, for me, why all the boxwoods is because they I use them for structure in my garden. So I am not one of those tidy gardeners that the plants can't touch and everything is sitting in its own little unique toughet. My garden is like a jungle, and that's the way I like it.
I like everything knitted together. I like everything competing and riotous. Yeah, I like it like that. But the nice thing is by imposing structure with the boxwood, I can get away with all of that. My yard doesn't look quite so chaotic. When I impose the structure, it's like quite so chiatic. There's still some chaos, you know. When you impose the structure with a boxwood, it lets you get away with a whole lot more sure. And the great thing too,
boxwood is both sun and shade tolerant. So I have my half of my front yard which is shady, and half of my front yard which is sunny, and I can have boxwood on both sides and they're still going to do equally well. So it's a nice way to kind of bring some cohesion throughout my entire yard on a plant that yeah, goldilocks, because it just always looks good. I mean almost always.
I'm glad you mentioned that and use the word cohesion because that's what these plants do. They kind of pull everything together. We talked about four ground background. If they're repeated throughout the landscape, they help provide some of that cohesion. So that's really great. Hugh. Kuras are another plant that I would put in this classification. See hack and a cloa love that exactly. The new asters that are available today, I mean asters to me, just say fall. I love
that feels like New England Fall. Love Asters. But the new varieties, the Crush series, they just stay more controlled in size and if you love fall in the color that comes with fall. Some of these new cultivars of asters, I recommend you try growing.
Yeah, great choices. I love them.
Color Blaze, Colius Gerbera, Daisies, meteor shower, Verbina. Here's a plant that's nice and controlled. It's been bred that way. It's now pretty much sterile. That's a great plant. Lantana is another annual that I would throw in. You know, if you're living in California, I could grow to the size of a shrub. But here in the North, in the Midwest, well, our winters and our weather pretty much
keeping keeps that plant in small. You mentioned the seedums, rock and low rock and grow rock and round all great plants. Jack Frost, heart leaf, Brunner Brunera. Love that plant too. So there's a real role for these plants in the landscape. We're gonna call them goldilocks plants, you call them whatever you want. But Stacy, the fact that they're just right really fills an important foundation in the structure of the landscape.
Absolutely, and you know, at the bottom line the end of the day, what matters is that you like the plan. That's what makes the plant just right. And so even though we've kind of given you these parameters, you know, this spring, as you head out to the garden center, give yourself time to just walk around and see what catches your attention, because the plant that's just right is the one that you actually like.
It's true, and I'll have porridge again tomorrow morning. Thanks for tuning in the Gardening Simplified Show. Thank you Stacey, thank you Rick, thank you Adriana, Thanks to you. Thanks for watching on YouTube, listening to our radio show, and listening to the podcast. Have yourself a great week.