Coming to you from Studio A at proven Winners Color Choice Shrubs. It's bulb planting time, so use your tulips and speak to me. It's The Gardening Simplified Show with Stacy Hervella, our engineer and producer, videographer, photographer Adrianna Robinson, and me Rick weissed Well, Stacy, I love, thank you, I gotta. I love bulbs. I love fall planted bulbs that bloom in spring. And at some point we'll talk about spring planted bulbs, usually
tubers or rhizomes that you dig up and fall on another show. But these are the fall planted bulbs, and what a history they have. I think I've mentioned on the show before that my parents survived the hunger Winter of nineteen forty four forty five and the Netherlands and eight tulip bulbs to stay alive. Of course, there was also Tulipmania in the sixteen hundreds, where investors lost track of rational expectations and then realize they were holding an irrationally priced asset tulip
bulbs. And there was of course a tulip bulb market bubble and crash, an amazing story if you've never read about this story, lots of lots of fun to read, and we'll put a link on the website from Investopedia. It's an example that's still used today by investment experts. It was a doozy. It was a doozy. Boy, you summed it up beautifully. I used a lot of words to get to that point. You did it with one word, doozy. All right, So today, is planting bulbs in
fall as easy as dig drop done? That's how the industry promotes flower bulbs. And by the way, there's a website. We'll give you that link too at Gardening Simplified OnAir dot com, dig drop done dot com. But is it as easy as dig drop done? They have a personality quiz that you can take. I've taken the personality quiz, which tells you what kind of flower bulb you are. Oh, so, what was your result? I'm afraid to say. Oh no, I didn't take it, so I
can't share my hen But I'm a muscary grape hyacinth. Oh well that's my reaction. Oh it's an invasive plant. Well, but it's darling, and it's darling and you like blue. Well, you know, it says if you live a life of abundance, never settling for simple or plane. You're in company with good friends, you like to breathe the life into a party, like to socialize that sort of thing. Then you're a muscarry. So anyhow, that was my take the quiz. Okay, and we'll have the
link there for you at the website. Okay. Through the years of planting bulbs in fall, I've learned these are the key elements. Number one drainage. Drainage is super important. It's I mean, all the areas where bulbs are native to are mountainous areas with really good drainage and typically very dry in the summer Bingo, Central Asia, Iran or Persia. As early as the tenth century, they came to Europe daffodils from northern Africa, so yes,
these dry areas. By the way, fritile area is one of my favorite fall planted bulbs, deer and rabbit resistant. When I was in the Netherlands this past spring, they were just gorgeous in beds. I took all kinds of pictures of them. But fritile area is one of one of my favorites. Fritile areas not something you have with your coffee at a doughnut shop. It's a bulb that you put in the ground and fall. Also known as crown imperial. Yes, the big, the big tall one is. I
have never met a fritillaria I didn't like. I don't think they exist. They are marvelous. The checkered lily, you know, with a little looks like it's it I and I you know, the crown imperial. For many years I was just kind of like eh. And one year I found some on the clearance rack and I planted them, and I adore them. They are so fascinating and you lift up those little flowers and they have these huge, like P shaped, P sized nectaries in them that are just glistening up.
They're just they're beautiful. I love them, fantastic. I love the way you describe that. And by the way, if you write a book, Stacy, that should be the title of your book. I've never met a frittile area. Ideas. It's aboutful, but it's it's accurate. Planting depth also super important. Now generally they recommend planting a bulb two times it's height in depth. So if a toola bulb is two inches high, they recommend planting it six inches deep, I recommend planting them deeper. You get
more life out of the bulbs. I've planted them as deep as a foot or more upside down in other words, and where I didn't put the pointy side up. When spring comes, they still work their way to the surface. They do work there way to the service. It's best if you can, you know, point it with the right side up, but sometimes it's not always so clear, depending on the bulb, and some bulbs it's even impossible really to tell which is the right side up. Something like anemone Blanda,
which another one of my favorites. I adore that plant. If you can't tell which end is up planet on its side, you're so right. Anemone has to be on that list. It's just gorgeous. Chicken wire is your friend. Rodents like to dig up bulbs, So when I plant bulbs, I dig the hole to the depth I need. Put a little chicken wire in the bottom of the hole, put the bulbs in, start to refill the hole, fold the chicken wire over and I'm good to go.
That's a good idea, yeah, And the bulbs will grow right through the chicken wire. Oh, yeah, no problem. It's a lesson in photosynthesis. Next spring, after they're done blooming, allow that foliage to absorb the sunlight until it yellows. It will re energize the bulb. It's a great companion with plants like Virginia, magnolia's, hellebores, lilacs for Scythia's in combination. And for those people who struggle with deer, my top four list is
fritillarias aliums right yep, Dutch gyrus, and daffodils. Oh yeah, I can't go wrong with those. I have them all. The deer have never touched them. Rabbits sometimes, but not the deafodils. Now, tulips are great for forcing in containers or you're gonna have to provide protection and spring because they're like candy too. They are, and if the deer don't get them,
the squirrels will. That's what happened when I tried to I tried to have some tulips for forcing, you know, I put them outside to get the cold treatment, and then I was planning to bring them in, and then I brought them in and nothing happened. Why because the squirrels rated them. That's frustrating. That's frustrating. Yeah, so it goes what they're delicious to them, they're delicious now. All in all, bulbs to me are
just like magic. They're like magic. And if you take, for example, a tulip bulb with a sharp knife and just cut it right down the middle, you can actually see the tiny little flour in there. It's it's fascinating to see. So it's just this orb of potential ready to bloom in spring. I do recommend feeding when you put the bulbs in the ground. The feeding isn't necessarily for next spring, but it's for future years, and we want the bulbs to root well in the soil below the frost line before
spring arrives. But like I said, it's magic. So here comes a limb, a rick. Spring blooms are for me a focus hyacinth, staffodils, and crocus. Next spring, all admire tulips while sipping on mint julips, A botanical hocus pocus. I have tricks up my sleeve, amazed by what bulbs achieve easier than a rabbit from a hat. I'm a wizard of my habitat in magic. I believe it's you know, it's so true because
you're out there on some you know, cold, crummy fall day. You got all these bulbs and you're putting these just lumpy brown things in the ground, and you kind of have the sense, okay, I know what a daftel looks like. But the difference between those days when you plant and that time when they emerge, it's it's amazing that you just that small investment in time and effort, it pays off for years. If you pick your bulbs
well, you know, years and years. You'll have those bulbs coming up every single year and then you'll say, hey, remember that crummy fall day back in twenty twenty three when I planted those. Now it's you know, twenty thirty three or beyond and they're still coming up. It's magic. That's that's what it is. It's magic. A great thing to add to your hoartfolio now as an investment. Now, don't forget the minor bulbs. Minor
bulbs are a favorite because they don't take much care. They come back year after year, generally a small size bulb, and the flowers tend to be miniature too, so you plant them in swats. But Siberian squill grape hyacinths, miniature narcissus, snow drops, Galanthus, winter aconite, crocus, glory of the snow. The anemonies that you mentioned, and I know another one
that you love, and that is iris reticular love it, yep. I have a bunch of them, and they're just so tidy and neat and unlike some other bulbs that maybe don't age gracefully, kind of start getting a little ratty. I'm looking at you, daffodils, You're worth it. But by the time you know, May rolls around, you're a little like I'm done with the daffodils. Not so with the reticulated iris. They're really just remain
really elegant and interesting even as their foliage grows out. Well, if you can take a shot at daffodils, I can take a shot at hyacinths. Bear in mind that if you're planting hyacinths, oh, it makes the hair stand up on the back of my neck. Many people, at least fifty percent of people get a skin dermatitis itchy awful feeling from handling hyacine, just from handling the bulb. Yes, so we're gloves. If you're planting hyacinths.
They're kind of polarizing, like cilantro. You know, you go to the spring garden shows and they have hyacinths everywhere, and some people love it and some people are like overpowered by it. So I'm in the love camp there you go. See, So it's polarizing. Anyhow, that's it for bulbs. Make sure you put some in the ground this fall. And coming up next, plants on trial. Let's see what Stacy, what magic Stacy
has to unveil for us. That's coming up next here on the Gardening Simplified Show, Proven winners, Color Choice Shrubs cares about your success in the garden. That's why we trial and test all of our shrubs for eight to ten years, making sure they outperform everything else on the market. Look for them in the distinctive white container at your local garden center. Greetings gardening friends,
and welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show. On the break, Adriana and myself took the opportunity to take the Bulb personality test and not unlike Rick, I personally do not agree with my result. My result was a tulip, and tulips are okay, like colorful there Oh, but that's all they are to me. That's all they are. They're just they're just colorful. They
don't have like a lot of like space in them. I have some species tulips, some real small ones that I do enjoy, and I just, you know, to me, they're just not the most interesting of the bulb because all they are is colorful. I like some things that you know are a little bit more interactive. But it's as tulips are for you. Your answers indicate that the tulip is a perfect match for your personality. Wrong when
it comes to what you believe in. You stand tall, and your understated elegance is perhaps your most striking characteristic Among the most popular bulbs, Tulips look great no matter where you plant them. So, Adriana, what was your result? So my result kind of the opposite of yours is alliums. So I am the versatility with alliums, though I can't beat it. I exit out of the article before I could read what it says about me, but I assume it's pretty good. Yeah, it's awesome. Yeah. As a
photographer a videographer, I could see I could see alliams. I mean, I'd love alliums. So I you know, maybe it doesn't match my personality, but it does match my gardening style. So you know, I'm glad you got that result. You deserve it, thanks Stacy. And you can be whatever ballb you want to be. And that's the whole point, because I'm sure they have us take the quiz only to stay on the website longer
and reduce their bounce rate. Oh that's that's true. You know if we take it multiple times, even if we answer the same we might just get a different one, you know, randomly. Now, last week we were talking about scooping up some fall bargains, and I'll tell you fall bargain bulbs, I am there for it. That is my absolute favorite. And I would say probably seventy five percent of my garden is bulbs that I've gotten on sale. I have a story on that that I got to quickly mention.
I was digging bargain bulbs in my backyard one night and I had on one of those warm it was in December, had one of those warm stocking caps on over my face. I had a pick axe in my hand. I'm out there in the moonlight digging holes in my backyard. My neighbor looked at me really odd, never said anything. In a month later he moved, so to this day, I think he thinks I'm a serial killer or something. But the bulbs were seven just like me, seventy five percent off,
so I had to plan them. Yeah, that's how it goes. And I think, you know, we talked a lot about how much we love bulbs, and it's really just the beginning of bulb planting season here in September. Bulb planting season does go well into December if it must. I have planted bulbs Thanksgiving weekend plenty of times myself. They will be fine. Get him in the ground. So if you don't worry, you don't have to like rush out and get your bulbs if you're not ready to, although you
do get the best selection if you start early. But I'm happy to pick up whatever's left at the end of the season. And that's how where most of my reticulated iris came from, because I think people don't realize how fabulous they are, and then you plant them and you're in the money. So preaching to the choir, I'm Dutch, where all the bulbs are from, so shrubs and bulbs. Have you ever heard this before? I someone that I know they said, you know what, like, perennials are just getting
too much work for me. From now on, it's just shrubs and bulbs. And I think they make such a great combination because they're both some of the lowest maintenance, highest reward plants that you can get. You really don't have to work hard to get a great display. So, of course, for plants on trial today, I needed to pick a shrub that is a
great bulb companion. And the plant that I picked is one that we've offered for a long time, but I have only personally recently, truly truly fallen in love with it when I added it to my own garden and witnessed how incredibly beautiful and unique it is. And it is lemony lace Elderberry. I love this plant. And as a fabulous copywriter, Stacy described to us what the plant looks like in spring, so it's in your mind, in my
mind, okay. So it's interesting because it flowers before the foliage comes out, which is known as flowering naked, and so the flowers come out there's no leaves on the stems, and then shortly after the leaves do start to emerge, and they have this kind of like super lacey flushed with red look, and they emerge and by the time it's fully leaved out, and say, you know, mid May or so it looks like a Japanese maple. Yeah, it looks so much like a Japanese maple, but it's far less
expensive and much much easier to grow. Japanese maples, you know, are not the hardiest plants, whereas lemony lace elderberry is hardy down to usca'sone three. So if you live in a colder climate and love Japanese maples but you
can't grow them, this is a nice choice. But to go back to how it plays nicely with bulbs, So you have that all of this, these pretty white flowers coming out and this foliage emerges with this yellow color that's all just edged in this dark red color, and it just it looks truly interesting and elegant. And in my garden I have it planted behind a planting of hyacinths, which I know is not Thank goodness, you didn't get hyacinth.
There's the results on the bulb quiz, and these were hyacinths that I got on sale, and you know a lot of people I think they don't have good luck with hyacinths year after year. But you know, our soil here is so well drained that I have excellent survival and they still come back and flower really nice and full. But it's a color combination that I just picked up on sale, and it's lavender, purple, peach and white. And so this combo is in front of my lemony lace alderberry, which you
know, I have to confess I didn't plan it that way. It's just where I had space to put my lemony lace. And in this season. When I saw that combination for the first time this past spring, I was like, whoa, I look like a genius. I love when this happens. It is magic. So it's a really unique elderberry. Now, I think when most people here are Proven Winner's alderberries, they're probably thinking of black lace alderberry, amazing plant, one that has been in the Proven Winner's Color
Choice line of flowering shrubs for years now. Lemony lace is a very different plant. It is still an elderberry, but it is Sambucus rest amosa. Whereas the regular black elderberries or Sambucus nigra, and so it's a totally different species, and a lot of people ask us, hey, can I plant I really like lemony lace? Can I plan that to pollinate my black lace? And the answer is no, because not only are they different species,
they bloom at completely different times. So lemony lace alderberry blooms in April for us here in Michigan, if you live in a warmer climate, it will bloom even earlier, and black lace for us blooms at the end of June. So if you don't have the flowers overlapping, you can't get any pollination.
But another difference too with Sambucus resimosa. It is North American native plants, so it grows over a huge range of North America, whereas Sambucus niger The black lace elderberry is actually native to Europe, so if you're looking for a native elderberry that's a little bit different. It's such a great choice. And it's called the red elderberry, not because that foliage flush is red, but because its fruits are bright red, So you will need a different variety
to pollinate it if fruits are what you're after. But because it does grow native so abundantly. Very often most people will find that they just have enough in the wild to pollinate their lemony lace. The fruits are not edible, so the fruits on black lace are juicy. The fruits on lemony lace are really just kind of like a mealy red coating over a pit, so not a lot to eat even if you want. So this is not one that
you're going to be using for cooking or drying or anything like that. It's strictly an ornament until plant, and of course it looks great with bulbs, but it looks great beyond that because you do have that lacy almost like I said, Japanese like a cutleaf Japanese maple kind of texture. It is pretty big, so it will get to be about seven feet tall or and wide or or more. It is pretty fast growing. I found even in you know, my really dry conditions, and it looks great all season, so
you don't just have that one hit wonder. It really is beautiful basically from spring until full It doesn't really get full color. The leaves just kind of drop while they're still green, but when they have the red berries on there, it's just a really nice sort of extra season of interest, so it is only hardy USDA zones three through seven. Okay, so sorry to our warm climate listeners, this is not one that you are going to be able
to grow. It will just burn up. And even if you try to grow it in the shade that we've just seen over and over over that alderberries just do not appreciate high humidity or very arid heat. So you can console yourself, hopefully with one of the other marvelous plants that you can grow in your climate. And I can't say enough good things about this plant. Have you grown it? Same here? And I have it in my landscape and
lemony lace elderberry if you're keeping score at home, fabulous landscape plant. And I would say stacey for me putting plants that have a blue color in combination with it, I'm thinking lavender nepetas they look fabulous next to a lemony lace. I'm glad you said that because I actually have a blue fortune Agastacie in front of mine and it is a great combination. And that was another accident so perfect. You know, I'm not above telling you all that I don't
have garden design skills. I have happy accidents in my garden when things just happen to look amazing together. So if you want to get a look at lemony lace elderberry yourself, you can visit us on the web at Gardening Simplified, on a dot com or on Instagram. Will post the plant on trial every week and you can see it there and learn more about it and decide if you are going to add it to your garden. We're going to take a little bit of a break right now, but when we come back,
we've got the mailbag, so stay tuned to the Gardening Simplified Show. At proven Winner's color Choice, we've got a shrub for every taste and every space. Whether you're looking for an easycare rose, an unforgettable hydrangea, or something new and unique, you can be confident that the shrubs and the white containers have been trialed and tested for your success. Look for them at your local garden center. Grievings Gardening friends, and welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show.
You know, I do love helping people with their gardening conundrums and quandaries, and there are plenty of them at this time of year. So if you have a question that you would like to ask us, you can always reach us at help HLP at Gardening Simplified on Air dot come, or just
visit Gardening Simplified on air dot com and ask a question there. If you ask a question as a comment on our YouTube video, Adriana always makes sure that those gets answered as she's going through them, but very often we do read some on the show as well, So don't be afraid to ask there if that's the most convenient spot for you. So what do we got in the mailbag this week? All right, Carla is writing to us, says greetings gardner Guides. Yeah, nice, Carla. I have just purchased a
home in mid Michigan. I'm currently at work installing flower beds in the backyard, as there were none there before. Oh, this is a great time of the year to put in a new flower bed. Maybe we can touch on that. My neighbor, as A, has a beautiful black walnut tree that hangs over my fence. What are some plants that would work with jugg loan in the soil? Thanks so much for your inspiration. Wow, that's a packed and loaded question. Great one, Carla, it is, and
so if for those who don't know. Black walnuts can secrete this this chemical hormone called jugglane after their botanical name, which is jugglins, and it can suppress the growth of other neighboring plants. Not all plants are sensitive to it. The plants that are sensitive to it do tend to be quite sensitive to it, and black walnuts are kind of like the you know, epitome of this phenomenon, although there are a number of other plants that do this as
well. A lot of people don't realize. Sunflowers also exhibit this phenomenon, which is known as allelopathy, which means sort of like having a negative effect on your neighbors. It's competition, right, so they do this to make sure that nothing is growing around them and they don't have to compete with other things. But that said, the general thought on jug loan in the soil is that, except for the plants that are quite sensitive, the effect is
over hyped people. It's not as dramatic as a lot of people think that it actually is. And when you start to dive into the science behind this, you start to find out that, again, except for those very sensitive plants, which include things like tomatoes, strawberries, I think are very sensitive. There's there's a list out there, and of course we will put I will be happy to share my extensive resources on jugglo intolerance at gardening simplified on
air dot com. But it's actually not so much the roots that cause the issue. It is primarily the fallen twigs, leaves, and especially the fruits. Exactly all elements of the tree have this let's call it chemicals, right, So it's not like that there's something excreening from the roots. It really is when the leaf litter falls, when those twigs are falling, that's what
you really have to watch out for. So if you can keep the area free of walnut leaves when they drop, and certainly walnut fruits, which if you can't do it, the squirrels probably will. They are they do an excellent job of cleaning up after walnuts and the area is well watered because if the plants are aren't drought stressed, that also severely reduces the effect that jugglane has on the plants. So I'm going to put the lists out there for
you. It is a long list of plants that are tolerant. The thing that I have found though, and so often people will write to us at proving winters and say, hey, is this you know, tolerant to jugglane? Can I grow this around a black walnut tree? Is No list is exhaustive. You know, there's a lot of good university resources out there, but really they kind of only touch on like well known plants. They're not
getting into well. I mean a great example is that people ask us often if temple of bloom hepticodium is and it's such an unusual genus that I have found zero information out there. And it's not like we have a black walnut testing ground where we put stuff around and see how it goes. So I wouldn't want anyone to be completely limited just by what is known to be not
tolerant. It's better to just avoid the sensitive plants which are going to be on these lists that we're going to share, other than just plant around all I know for sure that this is tolerant. Yeah, I'll add to that list. And of course a few weeks ago we talked about high pericum, we talked today about elderberry. I've found both to be tolerant around walnut trees. So there is a sizeable list of things you could plant around a walnut. I am not a big fan of black walnut. I know some people
like them. I think they're terribly messy. They stain the dickens out of everything, and when they start their bombing sortie on your property, they have this bitter, pungent, distinctive aroma. They nestle in your lawn and you run over them with your lawn mower and they become projectiles. And yes, the squirrels are very good at propagating them. They love them. Don't send
me your cards, letters and notes because I don't like black walnut. Now, one thing I do love in fall is preparing new beds by putting down paper leaves and then soil and allowing the grass to rot underneath. I think it's a great time to create kind of a passive composting things, so to speak, right, And it's just cooler, so you don't have to work as hard and get else sweaty when you're trying to do it. But there
are a number of resources out there. But again, the long story short here is don't take them as the gospel truth and don't limit yourself as long as you're watering and keeping the beds clean of that walnut foliage. When it drops, you're probably going to get away with planting a lot more things than is just what is known to tolerate them. That's good advice and encouraging. Lisa asks, hello, I have a question about Temple of Bloom. Can
it be grown in a container? I bought one earlier this year. I've been amazed at how fast it's growing in my yard. I'd love to have another on my patio. I live in Zone seven. I absolutely love your show, look forward to it every week. I have to share this with many of my gardening friends. Thank you so much, Lisa, thank you very mulch and Stacy. Have you seen Temple of Bloom and a container ever?
I have not, But that doesn't mean it can't grow container. You know, as I think we've talked about before, almost anything can be grown in a container. The question really becomes how is it going to perform and what is the long term prognosis for it? And when it comes to trees, I think that the best sort of thing that you can visualize is a bonzai a bonzaie plant, because those are if they were out in the woods and had unlimited room for their roots, they would get to be huge,
you know, sixty five feet tall trees. Now, of course, temple of bloom Heptacodium, the plant that Lisa is asking us about, also known as seven sunflower, does not get that large. It's sort of tops out more than the fifteen to twenty So what you have to understand is if you are going to grow it in a container, that's going to have a limiting effect on it, and it will stay much smaller just as a result of its root space being restricted. And so if you're okay with that, you're
not going to get as many flowers. You're not probably going to get as much of an impressive display, although you know, maybe you will. Just really depends on the container. But this is so important. Anything that is hardy that can stay outdoors in your area does need to stay outdoors in winter. It needs to experience the light levels changing, it needs to experience full
air circulation. And so it's important that if you are going to try this, that you are picking a container that's made of a weather proof material. Even in USDA Zone seven, we are not going to have quite as much free style as we have. You know over here, you don't want clay ceramic anything that's going to break, because that will just expose the roots at a time you know, when they could really dry out and it would kill
your plan and that would be sad. So it's possible, but just know that it's not going to be the you know, really magnificent specimens that you see in our photography on our website, or probably like it sounds like the one you already have, so reasonable expectations. All right, thanks for your question, Lisa, appreciate it. Tony has a houseplant question. We bought a double stem fiddle leaf fig so fic A sly rata two years ago.
It's been doing great. This last weekend we transplanted it to a slightly larger pot for the first time and since it has dropped about five leaves, they will turn yellow and then drop within a day or so. It gets plenty of sun and we haven't changed any other routines or its location help now. Of course, being a foliage plant buyer for years for a garden center, I can tell you that ficus are prone to leaf drop, and it's a means of communication when it comes to ficus. You look at the smaller leaf
Ficus Ficus benjamina. If you have it outside during summer, you move it in for winter. It's kind of like what are you doing to me here? And it will promptly drop fifty percent of its leaves. And then what we do is we run for the watering can and we overwater it and we speed up the cycle. So back off on the water, because usually in this situation it's either transplant shock, it's too dry, or it's too wet. Those three things usually I find are the reason for foliage drop on a
Ficus lyrata. But again bear in mind that with ficus it's just a defense mechanism. They often do that, and in this case, it was transplanted right, and they do not appreciate change overall. But I think you know my first thought here, and this is something that a lot of people don't realize when it comes to houseplants. When you transplant it into a larger container, you have an increased volume of potting mix around the roots that doesn't have
any roots in there to take it up. So when you water, all of a sudden, there's a lot more moisture around that root ball, and that if they don't appreciate being over watered at all. So I think you haven't changed your routine, but I think you do need to slightly back off the water. Whether that means you apply less or you're watering less frequently, I can't say, because I don't know what your routine is, but I would say this is probably most likely an issue of just having too much moisture
around the roots due to all that fresh soil. So if you back off, it should recover. I know it's alarming, especially on a Ficus lurata because those leaves drop in. It makes a big difference. Actually they're big, but I think it will. You know, if you back off the water and let it start to route back in, it should be okay. So it's good, so try not to be too discouraged. If you want answers, read our answers to any of these. You can visit us at
Gardening Simplified on air dot com. We're going to take a break. When we come back, we have branching news right here on the Gardening Simplified Show. The Gardening Simplified Show is brought to you by proven winners. Color Choice Shrubs. Our award winning flowering shrubs and evergreens have been trialed and tested for your success. So you enjoy more beauty and less work. Look for Proven Winners Color Choice shrubs in the distinctive white container at your local garden center.
All right, it's time for branching news. Here from Studio A at Proven Winners Color Choice Shrubs, and today on branching News, I'm going to start things off with bears, those little lovable fuzzballs. We all love bears, and here's the branching news. They've moved past your bird feeder and your trash can. They're interested in something else. A week ago, a story from
Anchorage, Alaska. It's the time of the year where bears are fattening up for their long winter nap, and some black bears in the Last Frontier must have figured donuts would help accelerate the process. So a week ago, a woman who runs a Crispy Cream donuts store in Alaska got an unusual call from her delivery driver. He was reporting that bears were in the back of his van. He could hear them breaking open the packages. They tried to beat
on the van, but they just kept eating the donuts. They ate twenty packages of the donut holes and six packages of the three pack chocolate donuts. I don't blame them. I like chocolate donuts. As you might imagine, the experience has caused the company to plan to do things a little differently in the future. They're gonna learn to slide up their ramp and close the doors
to make sure that bears don't get back in there. So, of course, you know, you've got to be thinking about your bird feeder or your trash can debris or food outside with bears. But they like crispy cream donuts. How many bears got into this delivery truck? Does this mama bear and a cup that was not good parenting? They walked out of this van glazed and confused. They had a glazed look on their face. Yeah, so I'm surprised they didn't grab the wheel and do donuts in the parking lot with
all that sugar, you know. But they're just trying to get ready for hibernation. I just love it, and I like crispy cream donuts too. I can't blame these bears. No, Yeah, they're they're opportunistic. Yeah, so there you go. All right, we talked about bulbs today and I wanted to bring this up, and again, of course we did the personality quiz too. I'd like to see a black walnut take a personality quiz myself. But so I wanted to bring this up one of the bulbs that
we didn't talk about. When you hear people talk about naked ladies, they're not referring to the rock band. They're referring to autumn crocus or it's also known as colchicum and surprise lily, which is licorus because they emerge in the fall, so they're fresh, flowers are beautiful, they almost look like spring, but they emerge in the fall. So the bulbs produce clumps of leaves and spring and you have to allow them to ripen and die and disappear,
and that's important for the longevity of the plant. But then later on in the season you get those gorgeous blooms. So if we're talking about bulbs today, we do have to refer to naked Lady. I know that a friend of mine, Professor Allen Armitage, University of Georgia, wrote a book by that title, essentially making fun of the various common names of plants. But these are two that you really want in your landscape. I find them fascinating
in the landscape. Right and so it's similar to what I was talking about with the elderberry. They're called naked ladies because they flower without foliage, so that's where that term comes from. There's no x rated stuff going on here. They're perfectly family friendly flowers and I love them both. Now. The trick though with the culture gum, which are such interesting plants beautiful, is that they have to be planted in fall, so you have to actually be
going to your garden center or order them online. These aren't spring planted. They're planted in fall, right before right as they're blooming, and so a lot of people miss out on that, and I think it makes it really hard for garden centers to stalk them and sell them because they are very perishable. They don't last very long, so it's worth looking up. It's a beautiful like pink lavender color. I've seen some houses with massive plantings of them.
They're gorgeous. But savvy gardeners are probably gonna have to order these online or ask their local garden center if they can get them now, because now they are a little bit different than most of the other bulbs that we're talking about. Yeah, so look for colchicum or look for what they call surprise lily, which is La corus l Y C O R I S. And La courus is not as hardy as culchicum. So culchicum you can easily grow here in Michigan like corus. I think, is it the red one that's
a little bit hardier than the pink one. I think the red one might be slightly hardier. But if you're going to try out the like chorus, definitely go near your house someplace a little more protected. I love your color
commentary. I'm feeling like here in studio way we need to get swivel chairs because I'm like grabbing my coffee mug and then looking at you answering, and then looking at and Adriana and then the camera, and we can get you a swivel chair like that, a swivel you know, an anchor chair. As long this doesn't get too creaky. There's nothing worse than a creaky chair.
Okay, we'll bring in some w D forty. Also, I loved this story, the study Positive Effects of Tree Diversity on Tropical Forest Restoration. It was published in Science Advances. The experiment was set up by a University of Oxford professor by the name of Andy Hector and colleagues over twenty years ago.
But essentially what they what they found is when they were trying to reforest some of these areas, when they used a diversity of trees up to sixteen native trees, the area recovered quicker than when they planted a monoculture of one or two trees. And that's something, of course I've always talked about in our landscapes, around our homes, in our communities. I think diversity is
a very important thing. Having diversity in a tropical forest can be likened to an insurance effect, similar to having a financial strategy of diverse investment portfolios. So a diverse mix of trees can support a much wider range of animal life. Also, I thought that that study was important and wanted to get it on our website. You can go to Gardening Simplified on air dot com. We put our show notes there every week. I love the fact that over
a period of twenty years they did prove how diversity was important. And you know this, I think does have ramifications for people in their own gardens. I mean, who wants to be stuck with just one boring plant? Yeah? I mean from an aesthetic standpoint, from a wildlife support standpoint, more is better and you get to it. You know. From again, from an aesthetic standpoint, you don't want something that a garden that's just like, Okay, it looks really good at this moment in spring, and then I
have nothing the rest of the season. You want that diversity, things that bloom at different times, things with different seasons of interest in features. So we can learn a lot from nature. As always, once again reinforcement that diversity is important. All right, This from Ocean Shores, Washington. Like a kid in a candy store, except a deer in a candy store.
The owner of Buddy and Howe's Candy Store and Ocean Shores sent Komo News security camera footage from inside their store, and it's a fun video to watch that shows a unique visitor perusing the shelves this weekend. The video shows a deer walking into the store through an open door, sniffs the candy, and cautiously walks around before eventually making its way out the way it came in. It didn't need anything, it didn't eat anything. I watched the video. It
just kind of sniffs at the taffy and checks it out. And then leaves. So we have to stop calling like hostas deer candy because deer don't really like candy. Yeah. I was looking for tulips. No tulips in this store, I guess, no hostas in this store. I guess I'll just candy. I don't know. Imagine if the bears had gotten in there, the ones that got in the pickup of the Krispy Cream, Yes, the Krispy Kream truck. Now that would be a party. This deer just got
a little skittle ish. You like skittles? I think I don't like those things? Oh not my favorite? There are, right, Adriana? Yeah, yeah, same here. I don't know, not that it's important, but all right, Uh let's see. Oh. As the annual fall migration begins across the Northern Hemisphere, apps like Merlin, which is put out by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, have caught on among birders and non birders alike by revealing just how crowded with species are surrounding areas are. Now, I'm
assuming you probably have that app, Stacy. I don't know if you do. I have it, one of probably the app I use the most. Yeah, so it's I mean something really useful. And here's the cool thing is that the app is free. Amazing. It's such a resource that they've given us. Yeah, so kudos to Cornell University and making this app available again. If you were to look forward in the app store, just look for Merlin m E R l I N and you can add that to your
phone, especially as we get into the annual fall migration. Just a recommendation, highly recommended. All right, well, thank you so very mulch for tuning in the Gardening Simplified Show. Look for us on Instagram, look for us on YouTube. Thanks for downloading the podcast. Listening on radio, and thanks to you Stacy, and thanks to you Rick, and of course thanks to Adriana. Thanks to all the listeners. Have a great week ahead.