Hello, my friends, coming to you from studio here at Proven Winners Color Choice Shrubs. It's time for the Gardening Simplified Show with Stacey Hervella me, Rick weisst and our engineer and producer Adrianna Robinson. Well, Stacey, it's a labor Day weekend. Let's talk about some labor saving methods in the garden. You know you're getting old when there are less things to learn the hard way. We keep learning
no matter our age. We are always interns. And I learned from my mistakes, and some of the mistakes I've made in the garden have actually turned into labor's saving methods.
Ooh like what?
Well? For example, one of my favorite tools in the garden is an onion hole. Oh, I love using an onion.
What's wait, what's a difference between onion how in a regular hole?
I'm glad you asked. An onion ho is wider than a typical hole, okay, but not nearly as tall. The blade is not nearly as tall. So you're about one and a half inch height on the blade, maybe as much as six or seven inches across, and it's sharp on three sides.
Okay.
This thing maneuvers around in the soil so beautifully, and as I admitted on last week's show, I'm sorry. I'm a tiller and onion hoes make weeding so much easier. I view the onion hoe as a labor saving device and I use it all the time.
Well, you know, I think the important thing is to, you know, when we're looking at ways to save labor, understand that what works for someone isn't what necessarily will work for you, and so you have to stay experimental.
You know.
One of the best places, and I'm giving away a huge secret here, but do it anyway. To find I actually totally set it on the show before. To find garden tools is a state sales and you're going to find all sorts of crazy old tools of all different configurations and much you would get, you know, at your
regular hardware store now. And if you see see something that looks interesting to you, you might as well pick it up for you know, two or three dollars and it might just be your next great garden tools.
Wow, two birds with one stone, labor saving and cheap.
Yeah, I gotta love that.
I love that I can buy it, you know, talking about labor savings, I guess falls a great time to do that too, because I'm a huge proponent of fall is for planting. I think it's one of the best year times of the year to put plants in the ground because plants are going to focus on root establishment, not on top growth. But when it comes to weeds and weed control and identifying both perennial and annual weeds and controlling them now so that they don't become a
problem in spring. I think fall is one of the best labor saving periods of the year to deal with weed issues my opinion.
And yeah, you're right, it does provide a lot of opportunity for that. And you know, when we're talking about weeds, one of my labor saving tips for the garden is just a plant really close together so the weeds can't grow.
I love that it looks great.
I mean, I personally prefer the look. You know, some people they don't like their plants to touch. I don't get that. I mean, I understand that there are people out there like that, and I've certainly heard from them, and they look at that spacing and then they're just gonna go ahead and add like another foot. Because plants should never touch. They should all have a tidy little border. I am the opposite. I want everything to be knitted together.
I want just an uninterrupted plant panorama. So you know, when you plant that close together, one of the benefits is that they shade out the weeds or you just don't notice them because they're covered by the plants, which is also okay with me.
I'm glad you brought that up. One of our most popular shows in the past year was the show on layering plants, and it's kind of along that concept. You kind of mimic how nature behaves and you ensure a balance system. And yes, it helps as far as weeds are concerned. Not everybody has a tree canopy. If you think layering, maybe tree canopy, then shrubs, and then perennials, groundcovers.
Not everybody has a tree canopy, but you could use your home, your structure as that tree canopy, and then of course apply the shrubs, the groundcovers and the perennials. You could do that. Quick connects on my hoses is a labors. I love quick I'm not a fan pop on pop up Why not?
They just never seem to work. I mean, well, that would be a good ri This goes back to my landscaping days when I was in college, so I am going back quite a few years. But it seemed like, you know, we like some hoses, would have them, and then you couldn't get things to connect. You didn't have the right parts. Now, if it's just your house and even invested in quick connects, it might work. But I have a pretty small yard, so I just have one hose cart for my entire yard, so I don't really
need it. I have one hose hooked up. I can go around my entire house with it. It's on a cart. Now that's my labor saving device. We've talked many times how we dislike watering. It is our least favorite gard hoses because of the hoses. And this this little hose cart that I have, so it's not one that like connects to the house. It's on wheels, four wheels. You can wheel it all around. Love that thing.
Nice? Nice. Well, I'm the king, I'm the cannon King and the king of quick connects.
All right, good to know.
There you have it. As a matter of fact, I'm glad you brought that up because I prepared a labor labor saving limb a rick for you today. Here it is. I was watching my next door neighbor hacking weeds and brush with a saber. I thought that looks sweaty and not to be petty, but I'm not into that kind of labor. I'm getting attention, headache. I just stepped on my garden rake. Things aren't going well, so I'll sip some Zinfidel and take the hydration break. I took a shot.
You know, it's I think we're gonna, you know, give all these is about labor saving, but I think one of the really important aspects is to decide for yourself, like what you're going to do, what's worth your time. And it goes back to our conversation last week with Debor Napke, where it's just like, you know, you are the one in charge of your garden, and some tolerance for things maybe not being you know, like our archetype of a nineteen fifties household with the AstroTurf lawn and
everything edged and everything trimmed. If you like that, look go for it. Know that it is going to be a lot of work, but know that that is not the only way in my garden. You know, people will see it, say, oh so many plants. This must be so much work. And honestly, the only place I work in my garden in summer is a vegetable garden. Yeah, no, I agree, and even that not that much.
I agree. Yeah. And of course for us as humans as opposed to plants, of course, everybody's looking for the next great thing, the next pill to take or supplement or whatever it may be, herbal supplement. But as far as the landscape is concerned, I think two labor savers, in my opinion, are the fertilizer prills that feed for three or four months. Proven Winners has one osma code is another one that you may recognize. I love those
continuous release fertilizers. And then also I wondered if you, because both of us struggle with deer stacy, I wondered if you've had any experience or heard anything on the systemic repellent so systemic granular repellents where the actual repellent becomes part of the plant so interesting.
No, I have not, And I'm thinking, you know, is this something I would try?
Yeah?
Maybe, I mean, normally my garden is at a point right now where the deer, everything that the deer would really eat is gone, like they've already destroyed it. I had to replace it with something else. It's grown in. I'm done. But this year I think when I were talking to Laura Roblos a few years a few weeks ago, I talked about how the deer have really done a number on some of my semmarific high business, not all of them. So you know, I miss those things in flower.
I would consider it in that particular batch.
I gave a speech a few weeks ago and there was a lady in the back during the question and answer period who just went off on systemic deer repellence and completely sold on them. So I'm like, well, maybe maybe that's something I'm going to get into. I believe part of also labor savings, especially as we get into fall, is that Lasagna garden passive compost kind of approach. I used to put newsprint down on grassy areas and then leaves on top of that, soil on top of that,
let it cook all winter long. We have a picture for you at our website and that and then the following spring I tilled it up, and boy I had a great planting bed or I didn't have to dig up the turf, the weeds, the soil, that sort of thing. I smothered them with the lasagna concept. To me, that's a that's a labor Yeah.
Well, unfortunately, good luck finding newsprints.
Say the point so you use cardboard.
Now untreated cardboard, and that is there was recently a study that talked about how there was a bunch of chemicals coming out in cardboard and discouraging people from using it. But you know, I have always also struggled with making gardening beds. I love to have a lot of beds, but yeah, making them, you know, is a disposal issue. It's a lot of work. So honestly I've said this before, but having a company come and remove my lawn with
sod cutters best thing I ever done. Love it, So don't be afraid to rent a sod cutter or have someone come out. It was much less than I thought, and I came home to no grass. It was lovely.
Wow, and certainly labor say, very labor safe. And I have no grass left either. But I took the I took the I took the long way around. Exactly quick labor saver, take a rake and stir the mulch in your landscape. Mulch can become hydrophobic as far as watering plants are concerned stirring the mulch. So there are many different ways to save labor make things a little easier
on yourself. I'm going to be interested to see how Stacey ties that in in plants on trial, and that's coming up next here on the Gardening Simplified Show.
Proven Winner's 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. Greeting's gardening friends, and welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show, where we are talking about saving labor and honestly, shrubs
in general our labor savers. I have heard from countless gardeners over the years who have said, you know, I'm getting old or had an injury and I'm switching my garden to shrubs and bulbs. And if you want a garden that provides a lot of visual impact without a lot of work, especially repeatedly through the year, I don't think you can do much better. I mean shrump's really, you know, once you get them established, they don't need
hardly anything. And it always amazes me, you know when people talk about gardening being work, and it's like, do you have a lawn, because that lawn is work, and all you're doing that work for is just to get it to like a status quo. And you have to keep repeating that, you know, you water it, God forbid, you gotta water it. You got to mow it once or twice a week sometimes.
Yeah, And I put in a swath of dear villa. Oh nice, Qodiac orange?
Is it yep?
Drought resistant? Easy? Like you said, labor saving. So I'm gonna guess that's your plant.
It is not. That one is not my plant today. Plants on trial is an ode to big shrubs.
Oh awesome.
And you know big shrubs, I have to confess. Our new plant development team generally shies away from big shrubs. They they are looking more for compact shrubs, which makes sense because especially newer homes, they tend to have much smaller yards and much smaller beds, and so there is
a place for small plants and in small shrubs. And in a way they also have a lot of labor saving because they're going to stay nice and compact, and you won't have to worry about trimming them or make worrying about them, you know, out growing their space and growing over your dining, your windows, all of that kind of stuff. But I am a huge fan of big shrubs. Now I am not gonna wrap. I like big shrubs
and they cannot lie. But you know, I really want to make the case for big shrubs because a big shrub, and by big, I mean like at least six feet tall and wide and very often much bigger than that properly spaced from you know, all its surrounding, it's neighboring plants, your home, your property line, whatever the thing surrounding it
is properly spaced. A big shrub is going to take up so much space, and it is going to transform whatever space it has from a high maintenance space to a low maintenance space because you will not have to do anything. So I combed through our plants. We have a pretty good amount still of large shrubs. But the one that we're highlighting today is today's plants on trial is red Balloon Viburnum.
Great choice, you get a great return on investment.
You really do. So this is a large plant, six to eight feet tall and wide. So if we look at what I was just saying, as you know, when you pick a large shrub, and again, proper sighting is this is important for all maintenance really in the garden, because if you don't cite something properly, whether that's spacing or growing conditions, no, it won't be low maintenance because you'll be working your buns off to try to get it, you know, happy, and you won't be able to properly
spaced of red balloon viburnum. It's six to eight feet tall and wide, is going to take up roughly sixty four square feet of ground space. WHOA, so you can take so it's eight by eight sixty four. Yeah, so you can take sixty four square feet of your lawn and transform it from an area that you have to mow and maintain to a beautiful flowering shrub. And you know, we have again a number of very large shrubs in the line. But I picked red balloon because it's a great plant for multi season interest.
I love viburnums in general, I mean spring, summer, fall interest.
Yes, absolutely, So this is a hybrid viburnum. It is known the common name is a lantana phylum Viburnum. H.
So let's get to the botanical name. Yes, because you know my method with Latin names. I just say I'm real fast and pretend I know what I'm doing. But the reality is it rolls off f your tongue. So the botanical name is ripped to diffiloides.
Right, for this is going to become a lot easier once we break it down. Okay, So, like I said, it is a hybrid viburnum. It's a hybrid of the what's known as the wayfaring tree, which is a lovely poetic common name Viburnum lantana. And you know, I was thinking about that, and nowadays, if you say lantana in the context of a garden, people are thinking of a lantana plant which has those nice colorful flowers, look like little chicklets in the middle, really different colors, terrible smell.
I don't personally care for the smell. But lantana was actually the Latin term for viburnum. So this is one of those really confusing situations where the species one of the species of the parents of red bulloon. Viburnum is Viburnum lantana, but the plant that we call antana nowadays is not a viburnum. It is opposite leaf. So I could see you know where the confusion might arise, and
that is known as lantana in and of itself. So one of those just really confusing botanical nomenclature kind of thing. So hybrid between Viburnum lantana and Viburnum right titiphylum, so you know, viburnum rititaphylum. You wouldn't mispronounce that because that is leatherleaf. Viburnum, Yes, a very popular landscape plant, and I'm sure you sold lots of them in your career. So you combine right to a phylum with lanana and then you have right ta filoides. Wow, something like that.
I'm glad you did the heavy lifting there, Thank you very much.
Yeah. So, so Viburnum right to aphylum is leatherly fiburnum. This is just I mean, it's such a great plant for year round interest. It has ever semi evergreen foliage. They're big, they're elegant. I always think of them as kind of giving, like a really beautiful woodland look to a property. So basically, Red Balloon combines the best features of both of them plants. So in spring you are going to have these big clusters of white flowers. Now, I do want to warn you on these viburnum flowers. They
are not one of the viburnums that smell good. Quite the opposite. They are a little bit animally smelling. But it's worth sticking through that. Planting it downwind of your bedroom, for example.
And does that make a deer resistant.
I mean, viburnums in general are somewhat deer resistant. There's you'll find a pretty wide range of resistance. And I am telling you speaking from experience here what happens to most I don't have Red Balloon in my yard, but what happens to most of the viburnums that I grow is that the deer love the flowers. Yes, they mostly
leave the plant alone, but they love the flowers. Now, I would think that this particular viburnum is probably not high on a deer pelatability list pelletability list because the folio, the stems and foliage are quite flucked. They have like a kind of hairy and that's comes through the leather
leaf parentage, so most likely pretty good dear resistance. So you got those flowers in late spring and those are without a pollinator, no pollinator required, going to develop into red and black fruits in late summer and fall, and then that will persist through winter. And if you live in a mild climate, so red balloon and viburnum is hardy down to USDA Zone four heat tolerant through zone eight.
If you live probably in like zone five or warmer, it's less likely in zone four it will be semi evergreen. So that's again going back to that leather leaf parentage,
so you'll have some leaves sticking around. So as Rick said, you're getting that you know, coverage and interest and color all the way from you know spring, all the way to the following spring, and again transforming these areas of your yard into something that was high maintenance into something that was low maintenance, and I think that just makes
a huge, huge difference. They also outcompete weeds, so we were talking about spacing out competing weeds, but a shrub because they are branched to the ground, typically providing a lot of shade in the interior there, so that weeds can't grow. They're not going to grow, and you won't see them even if they do. Another great benefit. And yeah, so that makes it really simple too. And again they're
just easy and trees are also very low maintenance. But trees, of course, you have to wait a lot longer for them to do their thing. Sometimes that can be a big commitment that we're maybe not ready to make, or we're worried about the height that they will eventually maintain, you know, causing issues for our house or a neighbor's house or something like that. So yeah, overall, it's a
win win. People might say look at a shrub like this and say, whoa, that's too big, But when you really start thinking about what this means in your yard, I think it really transforms your perspective.
Yeah, and along the lines of labor saving, boy, it takes a lot of labor to move, to have to pack and move out of your house. And if you have a neighbor that you're really not keen about it, this plant would make great screening.
Yes, that's a good great screen just make them go away behind the viburnum. Yeah, so it's great as a specimen. So when I'm talking about that eight by eight square eight by sixty four square feet that it is taking up. That would be if you just planted a single one. But if you have the room and you're looking for a hedge, and particularly if you're looking for a hedge and you have a deer issue and arbivid's out of
the question, this is a great choice. It's not going to be quite as fast growing, but it's going to provide that coverage and be much more interesting too than you know what everybody and their brother has planted in their yard. And the other thing finally is that, as with most flowering shrubs that flower and fruit, it makes pruning almost impossible because if you prune it after it blooms, it blooms on old wood, you'll be taking off the
possibility for fruit to form. If you prune it in fall, after the fruit is formed, you'll be taking off the flower buds. So no pruning required. And again, as long as you're spacing it properly, you won't even have to prune it. This plan is just going to sit around and look gorgeous and take high maintenance areas and transform them into low maintenance. So take a look at red balloon viburnum on our website Gardening Simplified on Air dot com, and you can decide if it's going to earn a
spot in your garden. We're gonna take a little break. When we come back, we're opening up the garden mail bag, so please stay tuned. At proven Winner's Color Choice, We've got a shrub for every taste and every space. Whether you're looking for an 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, where it's time for us to So you're burning gardening questions, Maybe they're not burning, Maybe they're just little curiosities you have. I mean, we can tell you as much as anyone else that when you're out in the garden, all sorts of crazy things can happen and you wonder what's going on, and if so, we're
here for you. You can reach us at help HLP at Gardening Simplified on Air dot com, or just go to Gardening simplified on air dot com and send us a message there. You can also leave a comment on YouTube if you are a YouTube viewer, and Adriana will let us know she needs some help answer your question. We'll get back to you there as well. And this first question, I'm glad that it came up because it is one that I have heard many times in my years here at proven Winner's Color.
Choice, Jessica writes to us, I have a reoccurring issue with my approximately ten year old blacklace elderberry. Every year it starts getting droopy leaves and branches. I cut it back and the branches have holes down the center like there's a bor present. However, I never find a bore despite cutting back to intact growth. Any thoughts, I ideas or a suggestion, So, Jessica, is zone six B Southwest Ohio, Yes.
Where elderberry grows native. In fact, elderberry grows native throughout a great deal of the US. We have a lot of native elderberry, both our native red elderberry and our
regular summer elderberry Sambucus canadensis. And since we do have so much native elderberry growing around here in the US and Canada, we have a native borer that finds the European varieties like black lace just as appealing as they find are native varieties, because actually the European variety Sambucus nigra is by some taxon mis considered to be a subspecies of Sambucus canadensis, so they're very very closely related. Now the elderberry bor, there are actually two different elder borers.
One is a moth and one is a wasp. Whichever one you have, it doesn't really matter all that much because the treatment, if you want to treat them, is the same. And the first thing I want to say though, is that it's not necessary to treat them. I know, especially on a big, beautiful, mature black lace like you have here, Jessica, it can be very alarming to see all of a sudden those parts of foliage start wilting all over. But this is a plant that gets big.
So speaking of big shrubs, this was actually a second place contender for today's Plants on Trial because it is also big. It can I mean, I have seen black lace get to be easily ten by ten. Elderberry is a big shrub, so they can easily withstand some of this damage. It looks very dramatic, but it's actually not
that bad for the plant. And the reason, Jessica, that you're not finding the actual borders themselves is because by the time you are seeing that wilting in the branch, it's because the boer has left the building the elderberry as it were. So basically what happens is the adults will lay eggs in the plant, probably sometime in the next month or so, and then those will hatch out.
The borers will feed in the plant. Feeding in the plant isn't really that much of a problem, but come next June, when they have pupaid it and are ready to emerge, then they're going to chew a little hole to get out of the stem, free themselves from inside the stem, and that's what causes that wilting. So the thing is that the borers cannot live in wood that is two years old or younger because the stem diameter
is not large enough to accommodate their squishy bodies. And so one thing that you can do is to simply cut the plant back every year or every other year. If you cut it back every year, the plant will stay smaller. You'll have a lot of beautiful foliage, but it won't flower. If you take the every other year approach, then you will have flowers every other year, and that will actually make sure that all of the growth on the plant stays young enough that the borers can never
take up residence in it. Now, of course, you have a ten year old plant. I don't necessarily think that it is practical for you to think about cutting this whole thing back to the ground. If you're willing to do that, it will certainly recover. If you do decide to cut back an elderberry for this reason or any reason, the best time to do that is in spring. If you cut it back basically anytime from June through November, it's very very slow to recover. So you should not
prune elderberries in any severe way after spring. But overall, even though it's a little bit disappointing and a little bit alarming, it's not a cause for concern. Their populations stay very small and controlled, and you don't necessarily need to manage it. And if you want toup put some resources in the show notes at Gardening Simplified on air dot com. But overall, you know, most universities when they're
talking about the elderbors in terms. Unless you're growing elderberry for commercial production of the fruit, they say, just tolerate it, just live with.
It, and it acts or has an effect on the planet similar to a squash vine bore yea and squash and causing that wilting.
Yeah, well, it's much more detrimental in a squash from you'll lose your entire zucchini in that case, whereas with especially a very mature black lace, it's again it's it's not a problem. You can just prune those little wilted branches out and uh then call it a day.
Elaine writes to us. Last year, I transplanted two rhubarb plants from a shady spot into my sunny, fenced in garden. They were growing beautifully up until the last two weeks. One of the plants started to turn yellow, and now many of the leaves are turning brown, and the second plant is also starting to turn yellow. Any ideas what's happening and how to prevent this from happening again next year?
And this is uh, this is a pretty common problem that we see Stacey with the with rhubarb from time to time.
Oh yeah, I have I grow rhubarb, which is to say, I have some rhubarb in my garden that struggles because I don't water it enough. So I knew instantly when I saw Elaine's photos of her big, beautiful robust rubarb, watering was not the issue. So mine stay very small because I don't water them. But yeah, this is a leaf spot. It is known as rhubarb leaf spot or
asko kaita leaf spot. And you know, when it comes to leaf spots with plants, I often tell people it doesn't matter all that much what the exact leaf spot you have is, because the way you deal with them is always the same. If you don't want to use pesticides, very simple solution. Of course, you don't want to use pesticides on your rhubarb, very simple solution. When the foliage dies back, and I think you can go ahead and take the foliage it's very yellow now, and just cut that.
Make sure that you gather that all up and throw it away in the garbage. Don't compost it, because what happens is those fungal leaf spots. So think about a mushroom. A mushroom grows opens its skills, those spores come out and those make mush in the future. Well, even though a leaf spot is not exactly like a mushroom, those fruiting bodies, so which you're actually seeing when you see the leaf spot, is the fungus itself having you know,
as a fruiting body. If you leave those under the plant, all winter spring is going to come, the roobarb is going to start to grow. Sure, that foliage is going to be so soft, so tender, it's not going to have a waxy cuticle yet, and those conditions are going to be right for those sports just come right back
up onto the plant. Now, that doesn't always happen if we have a dryer spring, or there's other factors that maybe aren't as ideal for the fungus to grow, But simply taking care of all of that foliage and discarding it will make a huge, huge difference.
The foliage is so pretty on rubierb. And in the seventeenth century in England, when they decided, hey, let's eat this plant, they made the mistake of eating the full left first idea has the oxalic acid or whatever in it, and people got very, very sick, and so it kind of set back that plant about a century or so until somebody came up with a great idea, let's use the stalks and make pies out of rhubarb, and then
the plant regained its popular popularity. The plant, of course, also can suffer from crown rot, so you want to make sure. This is a classic example of one of those plants where you want good humus in the soil, good organic material, maybe side dressing with some manure, but it's got to have good drainage too, or you run into problems.
And enough water or you will also run into problems, as I can tell you because I have never gotten a harvest off my roobarb. The poor thing just limps along all season long, looking very sad. But that advice that we gave to Elane that will work for any plant that you have that has leaf spot. Just do your best to get it out of there and that will help a great deal and.
Real quickly, Angie wrote to us, I just picked up seven Brandon cedars arbor Viti to create a hedge in our zone three yard, Alberta, Canada. Yes, it was a great deal, so I jump on buying them before doing much research. How can I ensure I'm successful and keep them growing happy for years to come.
So overall, arborvid are very easy to grow. They're very amenable. In fact, they're probably native to Alberta, so don't have to do a whole lot to keep them happy. I would say average moisture, good drainage is important. They can take short periods of wet soil, but you want them to grow in the illustrious, moist yet well drained soil.
Mulch is super crucial because they do have very shallow, fibrous roots, so mult will really help keep those roots insulated in the winter and cool and growing well in the summer, which is key to establishment and healthy growth.
And you know, probably the only issue that you're going to have to worry about is potentially, I don't know how bad the bagworm situation is up in Alberta, but certainly down here in the US, especially in more urban areas, the bagworms can be a huge problem and completely disfigure the plant. So you're just going to want to, you know,
do some research. I can post some links in the show notes on what to look for for bagworms, and they're pretty easy to manage, but you just don't want to let the they if they are there, let them get away from you, because then they will really proliferate and become very difficult to manage without chemicals.
In such a beautiful area Alberta, Canada.
That's where my grandmother was born.
Wonderful. Yeah, I've been there a few times. What a gorgeous yes.
So anyway, thank you all so much for your questions. If you have a question, you can reach us at Gardeningsimplified on air dot com. We need to take a little break and when we come back, we're going to be talking fall planting, 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 Colored Choice Shrubs in the distinctive white container at your local garden center.
Welcome back to the Yardening Simplified Show and our labor saving show. And what better thing to talk about in the final segment than fall is for planting? Because I have to be honest with you, Stacy, this is one of my favorite topics. Maybe it's because for years I was a garden center owner operator, and you were trying to generate some business during the fall period. You know, in spring, the business comes at you hot and heavy, and it's a crazy time in fall. You know, both
you and I aren't the biggest fans of mums. Let's say, am I correct in sack? Okay? But there are many many alternatives that can be used to mums. But the reality is that fall is a fabulous time of the year to establish plants. Because the temperatures cool down, the plant does not focus on top growth. Roots establish, and even here in Michigan, Stacy, I believe that we get
root establishment well into November May. I even dare say December, as the air temperature's plummet, the roots still have an opportunity to grow.
Yeah, I mean, if the temperature is in the is fifty or over, root growth will continue. And so there is about, as I recall, don't quote me on this, I think a three hour leg between air temperature and soil temperature. So even if you have, you know, a day where it's in the fifties for a short period in sunny you're still going to have root growth. You know, during that day and you know, a lot of people will ask me they planted something, they're not happy with
how it's doing. Why isn't it flowering, Why isn't it growing? I said, it is growing. It's just that the growth is underground. Because when you plant something, whether you plant it and fallow your planet in spring or summer, whatever, what a planet is going to do is say, well, shoot, I got to put roots down because roots are what is going to get me through anything that is going to come my way. I can't deal with any challenges
unless I have a good root system. And as we've said before, a plant's roots grow directly determine how much a plant is going to grow on top. This is why we have bone side plants because if you restrict the root room, you restrict the top growth. And similarly, if the root growth starts to develop, it is then able to respond with an equal amount of top growth. Now, if you do that in spring, the plant is sitting there going whoa, I got to put on root growth.
I also have to put on top growth because it's spring and I'm growing, and the days are lengthening and it's warm, and you know, and it has to spread its energies over many more functions, whereas in fall it really can put all of its energies into root growth because it's still photosynthesizing with all of those nice sunny fall days, taking all that energy storing it and it doesn't have to worry about supporting all that flowers and foliage and all of that other stuff through the coming months.
It's like, Hey, I'm an easy street, I'm just growing roots.
Yeah. I love that. And you know, we've talked about in the past that in urban settings, we go out there in the fall and we're leaf blowing and bagging and we're cleaning everything up, whereas in woodland areas, the trees are benefiting from the leaves and the debris that falls off of trees. I've always said that money grows
on trees. The leaves have nutrient value, they have organic tilt value, and so something that I was taught years ago and I've done it every year, Stacey, and that is I have a number of arborist friends and my son is also an arborist, and they are big proponents of fertilizing shade trees and larger trees. In mid to late October in the north as the leaves are falling off the trees, fertilize the trees, and the tree roots
are able to take in those nutrients. Those nutrients are there, and the tree is healthier and off to a better start next spring. Would you buy into Yeah?
I mean, I think, you know, the key to making a fertilizer available to a plant is weathering. So weathering can happen through rain and wind and the soil, but having that extra you know, part of the leaf over it that is really going to accelerate that weathering. And you know, mid to late October is late enough that you don't have to worry about late season fertilization pushing any growth because the plant's already well on its way
to dormancy. So yeah, I mean I generally for most people, for homeowners, in terms of fertilizing shrubs, I do recommend more like late winter, early spring. But yeah, for trees that's a totally different situation.
And if you're a lawn person, you want to have a nice green lawn, fall is the time of year to care for it. And I think what I have seen through the years is if you don't fertilize your lawn at all, if there's one time of the year you want to fertilize your lawn, and that is in fall. You see people make the mistake in spring. They you know, it's they're excited it's spring. They put a fertilizer down, and now they're behind the lawnmower every other night after work.
It falls a great time to apply that fertilizer again for root establishment with turf, and then more importantly, to identify any weed issues you have, whether it's in your turf or in your garden or in your landscape, because many of your winter annual weeds create what we would call rosettes in the fall, so harry bittercress or henbit. If you teach yourself what these weeds look like, you can identify them in fall and they're not going to become a big problem in spring. And even perennial weeds
like dandelions. Again, if you were to use an herbicide, it translocates into the root system because the weeds stacey are doing the same thing the trees are doing, and that is they're shutting down for winter. And the theory is you do get good translocation into the root system as opposed to just top kill right.
And I think all of this points to a single idea, and that is, if you go to the garden center infall to buy your moms, to buy your pumpkins, your scarecrow, what are your cornstocks, whatever it is, don't stop there. Go into the garden center. Look for the fertilizers. You know, it's exactly what you said is everybody thinks about it in spring, but fall is a whole second opportunity and a lot of us go to the garden center anyway, whether it's a box store or an independent garden center.
So don't just stop there at the moms. Go in, you know, look for shrubs, perennials, trees, look at the fertilizer selection. There is so much opportunity that people are missing out on. And you know, we've been talking about labor throughout the episode today, and you know, I personally believe and certainly our listeners can tell me if they disagree. Planting stuff is labor that people don't mind. That is labor they are happy to do because it's so rewarding,
it's fun. You feel like you're making a long term investment in yourself, and so why would you miss out on this? Whole season of you know, beautiful temperatures. Who doesn't love being outside on a beautiful fall day. You can. I have the World Series on the radio there and some hot cider. It's win, win, win.
And here's the beautiful little secret. Not only do you get that benefit, and not only is it a great time to put plants in the ground, perennial, shrubs, trees, that sort of thing, the odds are you're going to get a bargain.
Yeah, oh yeah, I mean I wasn't going to go there, but let's go there.
I'll go there because having operated a garden center, you know, I'm out there in September, October, and even November looking for bargains. And you may pick up this plant which looks very sad, and you feel bad for this plant, and it looks awful. By next spring, that thing's going to be gorgeous and it's going to look like you bought it and it's in all its glory. Yeah, great time of the year to buy plan.
I mean, let's face it, any garden center owner will tell you, especially with shrubs and perennials and trees, if that stuff doesn't sell, they've got to deal with it. That means they got to drag it into some you know, quansit hut or something like that, or cover it. It's more work for them. And trust me, by the time fall rolls around, they are done with labor. You think you're done with labor, and the garden garden center owners are way done with labor. And so yeah, there are
really good deals to be had. And I think a lot of people have some hesitation about planting in fall, But honestly, that really, I feel like, goes back to the olden days when everything was bald and burlapped and you didn't dig a lot of stuff in fall. But now that almost everything in our garden centers is contain or grown, there is very little that you can't safely plant in fall. The only exception I'm going to say, especially for those of us who live in colder climates
a USDA Zone six or colder, avoid planting broad leaf evergreens. Now, if you get a good deal, you're going to do it. Anyway. I'm going to do the same thing. But it's not
you know, like boxwood, rhododendrons. Those are the kind of things that I would say you generally want to shy away from planting infall, because even though they're going to have some times to put on roots, they're going to have a lot of challenges because they do have those broad leaves that they're going to have to withstand sun and wind and all of those other things through winter that you know, they aren't going to be able to do if they don't have a good root system. So
those are the only things I would avoid. But even then I feel like if you do that early enough in September, it's probably not going to be an issue. And conifers are not an issue because they are already adapted to, you know, having lower water needs and with standing winter.
So instead, let me throw in a plug for my Dutch family and friends in the Netherlands. Plant bulbs at least, especially if you are in a northern or a central US climate up into Canada, great time of the year to plant bulbs, tulips, hyacinths, and of course if you struggle with deer fritile areas, aliums and even Dutch bulb iris are fantastic and when they pop up in spring the deer we'll leave them alone.
And you know what, no one ever regrets planting bulbs. Doesn't happen.
I love it. I love it. Thanks for tuning in the Gardening Simplified Show. Thanks for making it a habit. Remember we're on YouTube. We also do a radio show here and a podcast. It's three and one. Yep, bonus time, just like fall planting exactly. Thanks Stacy, Thanks Adriana, and thanks to you for your support of our show. Have a great week.