Coming to you from world famous studio a Here at Proven Winters Color Choice Shrubs. It's time for the Gardening Simplified Show with Stacy Hervella, me, Rick weisst and our engineer and producer Adrianna Robinson. Well, it's a big decision to move in together, you and your plants for the
holiday and winter season. It's going to take some patience, a little bit of give and take, some understanding, and of course for some holiday decor takes precedence in November and December, so the plants are just kind of pushed off to the side, and then we go crazy over houseplants in January, February and March. But as winter arrives, many times we'll stand there and go, I really don't want to part with these beautiful annuals that I've babied all year long and they look so gorgeous. And it's
not about it's not about being cheap. It's about just developing a relationship with these plants that you've enjoyed all season long and hoping that maybe somehow you can stash them and they make a phoenix like recovery next spring. A lot of people are into.
That space you know I was going to say the exact same thing that you just said. It is about a relationship. And for many years I've told people just throw it away, there's no harm in that. That's perfectly fine, and that is true. If you prefer to throw things away or let the frost just take them, that is perfectly fine. But I have over the years acquired some plants that I do have a relationship with, yeah, and
I do bring them in. Now, I will say, first of all, my house is far from ideal for bringing plants indoors. I don't have a whole lot of sunlight, I don't have windowsills. But what I do have is this amazing alocasia also known as elephant ear yep, that I have been bringing in and out for winter for
three years now. And what's cool about it is it has just gotten so big because I keep you know, growing it and perpetuating it, and like now I'm the house with the giant elephanty here every season, and so like it's like kind of building its own thing. And I wouldn't think of not bringing this in now. That said, it is also probably the easiest plant to bring in compared to a lot of other things. People want to bring in the tropical hibiscus house plants, all that kind
of jazz. Bringing in this allocasia, which is basically a bulb, basically just means me sticking it in my basement and not watering it until January. And I don't have to do anything. It doesn't take up any space, it doesn't need any light. It just sits there in kind of a state of suspended animation, and come next spring, I'm the house with the elephanty again.
You know, It's quite easy, and that's the point. So we're moving in tropical like houseplants. We're also moving in what we may loosely classify as summer flowering bulbs. I've been digging up my canna rizal, yeah, bringing them in. Of course you have dahlias. I think that kalladiums are the perfect example of this conundrum where you have the option to at the end of the season dump them, treat them like annuals, or lift them and store them like you are with your elephant ear. For a lot
of people, that's too much trouble. They really don't want to do that. Or with kalladiums, you could move them inside and treat them as a houseplant. Heart to heart kalladiums give you that opportunity, but again not real easy and why well, the reasons are, and I think Stacey, the big mistakes that I see people make when moving plants indoors is number one. You've got to start with
healthy plants. That's the first thing. If they're unhealthy moving in to a low humidity situation, a low light situation, things are going to go from bad to worse. So you've got to start with healthy plants.
And you should be aware too of how the plant is responding to the natural changing daylights. So you know, that could have caused your kalladiums to start to go dormant a little bit early, but that doesn't mean they're not unhealthy. Now, an unhealthy plant would be something that's like all covered in mealy bug, or you know, has
a virus or something really bad. But don't confuse a plant that's merely going dormant due to what it has just experienced weatherwise and climate wise, you know, with something that can absolutely come inside.
Very very true. So in the mistakes, I say start with the with healthy plants. The second mistake people make the soils too wet when you move it inside. That's going to cause two problems, rotting roots and also fungus gnats so soil that's too wet. I also think if you're moving plants inside, let it be a gradual move as opposed to an immediate move if you do it immediately, moving it from sunlight outdoor air indoors. You know, a ficus plant, of course, is the perfect example where you'll lose.
The plant will shed fifty percent of its leaves. So make that transition a little easier by a gradual move to where it's going to overwinter. Cleanliness is super important. The foliage also a sterile soil fungus gnats. We have to pay attention to that, and like I said, if the soil's wet you establish fungus gnats, you're going to be fighting that battle all winter long. Don't be afraid
to reduce the size of the plant. And then understand the dry heat indoors, lack of humidity can create problems, and there are ways that people work around that. Keeping plants away from heat registers, maybe an unheated room that's brightly lit but doesn't freeze. The whole idea is in many cases to keep these plants alive until next spring. With summer bulbs, we're lifting them out and again we want healthy tubers or healthy rhizomes we're pulling out of
the ground. And Stacy, I never washed them off because I don't want them going into storage wet. I spread them out on a tarp, and I let the soil dry, and I shake the soil off.
And then so you're talking about your cannas now, and then what do you do with them for winter?
So then for winter, I put them into crates which are open, they're airy, and I put them in an unheated area okay that does not freeze, with a little burr lap over the top, and away we go.
So you don't do any like wet newspaper sawdust, any of that jazz. Okay. Now, I will say, I thought I did the right thing with my cannas that I got from the can of King. But I did lose a lot. I didn't lose all the bulbs, but I did lose a lot. Now, I did everything that you said. They went in there dry, they went into my You know, I've got a basement with a storage room on the front that's under the porch, so very cool. Definitely doesn't freeze.
And I just threw them in a garbage like a paper grocery sack, okay, and put them in there and was like, okay, see in spring. And when I saw them in spring, I had a lot of moldy dust.
Yes, and I I think it's because of the paper sack. So what I like to use laundry baskets.
Oh, oh, that's a good idea and they work.
Great, and that's one of the keys in getting them to survive. Now also at the time when you lift them out of the soil, you want to grade them. So I've got my laundry baskets to my right, I've got my wheelbarrow to the left. And if they don't make the grade, they go in the wheelbarrow. If they make the grade, they go into the laundry baskets.
So when you say the grade, are you just taking the biggest ones? You're taking ones that like don't have any crud, you know, roddy bits on them.
I look for rot I look for eyes on the cannons, and yes, the size of the cannons. Also also how much work I'm going to want to put into it next spring? Oh, planted way too many cannons this year.
Well, you know the problem with that is it's one thing to think that in spring or summer. It's quite another to think it and fall when you're like, these are all good, I need to keep them all exactly.
It's tough. It's tough, but you got to be tough to get out there and do that grating and it's important. I wrote a limerick for plants because plants really can't talk. But if plants could talk and you were bringing them inside, this is what plants would say, Oh, the weather outside is frightful, but your windowsills delightful. Since we've got no place to go, let it snow, Let it snow. Might I add your plantings insightful? So we're moving in together
to your living room. I'll tether, but here's a fair warning. I'm grumpy on a winter morning. My personality is fair weather. Can we survive together till spring? Will you take me under your wing by not throwing me in the trash,
You're gonna be save in some cash. Let's say it together, kuching. Oh, I like it, And you know, I try to convince myself that it's just because I have the relationship with these plants that I'm moving them in, and because I'm cheap, you know, I take my grandson Max for an ice cream cone. Bill Murray always famously said that if you take a kid out for an ice cream cone, eat thirty to forty percent of their ice cream, it's a great way to teach them about taxation.
I think all it's gonna leave you with is a very disappointed grandson unless you get the extra large. Unless you get the extra large cone and they can't eat it all. Otherwise, Wow, you don't really do that.
Yes, I did, but I'm tempted. I'm tempted. It depends on the flavor.
Then there you go. Because yeah, sometimes kids get like Superman or some horrendous.
And it turns your tongue blue and yeah, forget it. But if it's like chocolate fudge, might just do that. Anyhow, we're moving our plants inside. Let's see how Stacey ties this in and plants on trial. That's coming up next here on the gardening Simplified.
Prooven Winters Colored 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 and the distinctive white container at your local garden center. Greeting's gardening friends, and welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show.
We're talking about moving your plants indoors, and it is November, so this might be a little bit late for some people, depending on where you live and depending on the plant in question, because of course, some things that people bring indoors, tropical plants, houseplant kind of things, are very very tender and couldn't even take a little bit of frost, whereas a lot of other things that we maybe move in can take a little bit of cold, and we haven't really had that much cold here in Michigan.
Yeah, as a matter of fact, in Branching News, I'll talk about that, how the growing seasons seem to be extending. It's not a fig leaf of your imagination.
They may not be late this year, it sure isn't. I mean, here we are mid November and you know, it's fifty degrees and we've had a couple of frosts, so you know, probably your most crucial things you've already brought indoors. But like I said, you know, my Uh, my big elephant ear is still outside. And that one I don't actually take out of the soil. I just leave it in its container dry because it hasn't been watered in a while, and just put it down there and it does its thing.
And you can do that provided you avoid that temptation of watering it.
Yeah, I give it like a dribble of water like after Christmas. That's like it's Christmas gift. And then after that it's after that, it's on its own. But you know, it's We've talked about it on the show so many times before, and I think that gardeners all people are like this, really, but especially when it comes to gardening.
You know, the grass is always greener on the other side, right, We always want what we don't have, And so like if you ask me, like, I would love to be able to grow avocado and citrus and anything in the proteac family, beautiful interesting plants native to Australia and South Africa. And as I've said before, I wish I had a dime for every hot climate gardener who wrote me saying can I please grow lilac? Can I please grow paeonies?
We always want what we don't have. But this is an area where if you are a cold climate gardener, things are going to work a little bit more in your favor. You might be able to include some of these warm climate plants, not all, some of these warm climate plants in your garden and bring them indoors for winter. Whereas the people who live in hot climates, the reason that they can't grow these things is because those plants
need a cooling period. And you know, frankly, ice is not going to cut it, no matter what the people at the US Open or the Master's tournament or whatever that golf thing is where they say that they delay the azalea bluebal rice, right, not the masters, thank you, sorry about that. Golf fans. You know, you can't like put the thing in your fridge. You can't put ice on it. There's really nothing you can do to cool it.
But there are things that we can do in cold climates to grow these things and put them in a warmer area.
Now well, and therein they applied the Moniker house plants. They didn't call them prisoners. They called them house.
Plants, although prisoner would would actually apply to some houseplants these days. Healthlay now when it comes to determining what you may be able to bring inside. And sometimes, you know, we buy things in spring for our garden, use them in containers or the gardener or whatever, expecting they're going to be annuals. Yes, and then we fall in love and we say, hey, you know what, I might try
to bring this in and just see what happens. And that is really I mean that mentality I think is the real key to being a gardener in general, is like having that curiosity, being willing to try something, and most importantly forgiving yourself and not dwelling on it when it doesn't work. Lots of people are willing to try, but then and if it doesn't work out so well, they're just like, I can't garden. I'm giving up. And that is not the attitude that you need to have.
You need to say, what did I learn from this?
Lots of people do it with Christmas cactus and I did it for years with geraniums. I did.
Yeah. So the general rule to keep in mind is you're thinking about what is in your garden that you might be able to bring in an over winter, is that the more cold tolerant the plant is, the less likely it is going to be successfully overwintered indoors good points.
So if something is say harding to USDA Zone six, in most cases you're gonna have a lot more trouble trying to bring that indoors because that zone six hardness really indicates that even though it can't take extreme cold temperatures, it still needs winters where it's getting fresh air and good air circulation and sunshine and really experiencing the full
changing day length and all of that. But as we get into plants that are from warmer climates that are less hardy, those are the ones that may potentially be a good candidate to bring indoors. And we have a plant in the proven Winter's Color Choice line. And of course I've known for years. I've seen it around in the trial gardens. I've seen it in our greenhouses. We plant it sometimes in the landscape here so our customers can see it just as like an example, even though
we know it's not gonna live. And that plant is jazz hands variegated Laura pedalum.
It's a crazy plant.
It's a crazy plant. So now if you are from the South, you're like Laura pedalam whatever, because this plant is so ubiquitous in warm climates. It still amazes me to this day when I travel down south how ubiquitous Laura pedalum really is. And the interesting thing, one of the interesting things to me about Laura pedlum is it does have a common name of Chinese fringe flower, but
pretty much someone calls it that. It's everyone calls it Laura pedalum, and it gets the name Chinese fringe flower because it's flowers look like little silky bundles of bright pink streamers.
They look like witch hazel to me, is it in the same family.
It is in the witch hazel family. Yes, now with witch hazel. So witch hazel are native American witch hazel blooms in fall, and the Asian one that many of us grow blooms in winter. And since both of those bloom in a cold time, what they do is they roll up their little streamer like flowers for warmth, and
then on sunny, warm days they will unfurl them. You won't really see that happen with the Laura pedulum quite as much because by the time they bloom in late winter early spring, the goin's good and they're just it's a.
Great description streamer like flowers or jazz hands.
That's why we thought of that. I like it so it's ubiquitous. People love it because it has most Laura peddlums, dark purple foliage and then these bright pink flowers to contrast.
But jazz Hands variegated just totally takes what's already a pretty good foliage plant and turns it into a fabulous foliage plant, because once the summer starts to set in, the new growth on jazz Hands variegated Laura pedulum is just a confetti shower of white and pink and purple and cream and all these different colors swirling around the leaves. Every single leaf is different, and every single leaf is practically a work of art. It's really interesting.
I'm just sitting here thinking, you're nailing the adjectives today.
Well, one of the reasons that I'm nailing the adjectives and why I chose this particular plant for today's plant on trial was because I always thought of it as a landscape plant, you know, as a landscape plant for warm climates. But I was recently on vacation in Tokyo, Japan, and we're gonna be talking about our vacations on a coming episode and telling you about all the cool plants
that we saw. But in Tokyo, I was walking down the street in Howard Juku, which is like the fashion district, and I looked at this little store and they had the most incredible planting seasonal planting that they planted outside of their little shop, and it included jazz hands variable who And this was not really a plant that I had previously thought of as like a splashy container accentle when and I'll put the pictures in YouTube as well
as in our show notes at Gardeningsimplified on air dot com. It just completely changed the way that I think about how this plant could be used, and it might change the way you think about how the plant could be used too. So the reason I wanted to make it Today's Plant on Trial is because if you live in an area where this plant is not hardy, so that's basically cooler than usdazone eight or thereabouts, you're not going
to find it in your garden center. You're going to probably need to order one online, and it is available from a number of online resellers, and you'll be spending probably about twenty to twenty five dollars for a four inch plant. Now, that four inch plant is more than enough to make a big impact and a mixed container, and it will grow fast and look really great. But once you've invested that in this plant, you very well may want to continue to grow it and try to
bring it indoors, and it is possible. But what I want to do was give you some quick guidelines on what that looks like and what to expect. So if you want to try bringing jazz Hands, variegated Laura pedlam or any of these shrubs that are like zone eight or you know, warm or less cold tolerant, you're gonna want to put it in your coolest, brightest spot in your house. You want to avoid any cold blasts from
doors that are opening and closing to the outdoors. You also want to avoid any hot blasts from radiators, heat vents, any of that. So you want to try to get like an even cool temperature. You are going to want it to have plenty of sunshine the best you can do. And if you have a light, that's great. Do you add the light for it. That will definitely help. You want to water, but not too much, as you were
just talking about too much water. Plants aren't using that much water in winter, even if they aren't totally dormant, So fungus hats become a problem because that water's not going anywhere. It's certainly not evaporating that much into your home's atmosphere, and the plant's not really using it. So a little bit of water definitely don't let it dry out completely. But if you're going to air on any side, make it the drier side. Don't fertilize, not gonna want it.
And so once you're doing all of these things, I think you do need to know that the plant is very likely to drop most, if not all, of its leaves. And that's not you, it's them. So you really just need to be kind of prepared that the broom is going to need to be at hand and you're going to clean those up. But that doesn't mean that the plant is dead. It's just adapting to these less than
ideal condition It's a defense mechanism. Hey, I need less foliage because I'm not as effective at photosynthesizing and growing, so I'm going to just kind of conserve my resources. So really the key here is to think about doing it whether it's Jazz Hands Variegated, Laura Pedulum, or something else.
The key here is to think about these plants indoors for winter, not as an ornamental accent that is going to make your house look like it's something straight out of an Instagram story, but as storage for the plants so that you can grow them again next year. So I'm going to put all of these tips in our
show notes at Gardeningsimplified on air dot com. You can also see for yourself just how beautiful jazz Hands Variegated is either in a landscape or in a container in Japan, and you can decide if you're going to put one in your garden either next year in the ground or perhaps in a container. We're gonna take a little break and when we come back, we're going to be opening up the garden mail legs, 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 easycare 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. Greetings, gardening friends, and welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show, where we are going to take the time to answer your gardening questions.
We've been hearing from a lot of you with all sorts of different questions, and we'd be happy to help you with your unique or maybe not so unique garden conundrum because chances are if you're having an issue, a lot of other people might be having a similar issue.
Absolutely, we're all in this together. As a matter of fact, I was thinking you made a great point about how these plants do not like drafts, whether it's a hot draft or a cold draft. These plants you're bringing inside do not want a Heineken or a Budweiser, or a cores.
No or coffee or coffee. They just need to know. You need to do your best to just keep things like level. But you know, as I often say, we don't garden in the ideal world. We garden in the real world where we maybe don't have that ideal space. And I think again, the biggest issue with bringing anything indoors that you aren't sure if it's going to do well is to you know, understand that it's an experiment understand that the plant is merely tolerating the conditions, not
thriving in them, and that's okay. Your goal is just to get it to that point where it can go back outside again. And every time I've done this successful, which is not all the times, you're amazed at how quickly it recovers once it gets outside, back into the sunshine, and it's just like nothing ever happened.
To make a great point, Stacy, because I'll hear people say that they're going to apply fertilizer, don't fertilize.
So many people think that fertilizer is the answer to plant problems, and I can tell you very rarely outside of the vegetable garden environment is fertilizer. The answer.
Me with verbal supplements, pop those babies. This has gotta work.
So anyway, if you have a gardening question for us, you can reach us at help HLP at Gardening Simplified on air dot com, or just visit Gardening Simplified on Air dot com. There's a contact form right there. You can attach photos or anything like that. You can also leave a comment on our YouTube videos. Adriana reads them all and we'll pass any along to us that might be suitable for answering online. But before we get to the questions that people ask for this week, I did
want to address. Nancy in Washington sent us a photo kind of in regards to our Halloween episode last week. Even though this isn't really scary, but I just love this so much I had to share it. She says, this northwestern salamander was strolling through my garden earlier this week while enjoying a gentle shower. Well, I don't find these spooky. This was the largest one I have ever seen in my art. I am so jealous of you, Nancy.
Adriana is as well. This is an absolutely gorgeous big northwestern salamander who is absolutely living its best life in Nancy's garden. So we're jealous. Enjoy it and tell salamander friend we said hello.
Thanks Nancy. Appreciate it. Cindy writes to us, a contractor scuffed up her tree. What should I do to provide the most protection for it? So that's quite a wound done.
Yes, she did include photos, which you'll see on YouTube or on our show notes at Cardening Simplified on air dot Com. I opened this and audibly said ouch when I looked at it because yeah, it's not great. And you know, this kind of thing happens all the time if you're having any kind of work done on your home. You know a lot of people they just aren't They just don't think of trees as like living things that
can be damaged. But fortunately trees are generally very resilient and as bad as this particular scuff is, so basically what happens. She has a relatively mature tree with I would say probably a good one foot by one foot gouge taken out of the side of it. And why this really matters, see a lot of people, and this is worth're saying, especially at Christmas time as people start thinking about getting live trees. Where a tree conducts its water is not in the center. It is actually around
the inside edge of the bark. So there's a thin, thin layer. If you look, if you cut a fresh branch, you'll see that thin green layer. That's where the xylum and the flow them is. That's where all the business happens. And so once that is interrupted by damage, then it makes it difficult. It takes away some of the plant's ability to conduct water and nutrients through the entire column of the.
Plants exactly loosely defined as the cambium layer. Yes, on a tree, and if it's not girdled all the way around, you're going to be Okay, this tree is going to survive. Sure, it's not great for the tree. Yeah, but I really believe Stacy that the important thing here is just keep that area clean. Peel away or cut away some additional damage, but keep it clean and allow nature to take its course.
Yeah. I don't you know the general in the past there have been people who have said, oh, you should use a wound dressing or wrap it with this tarh Yeah, there's all sorts of crazy things out there. The general consensus among tree scientists right now is no wound dressing at all. So yeah, Nancy, I would or sorry, Cindy Raather, I would not do it anything. I know it's painful and hard to see, but as the plant will start to heal, that will certainly decrease and it will be
less visible and a little less painful. The only thing that I would say you're really going to want to consider long term is that is going to be a structural defect to some extent in the tree. So it's just worth considering, you know, if as it gets larger and more mature, if it threatens your home or neighbor's home or anything like that, you might just want to have it checked out by professional arborus who can give you a risk assessment as to whether it was severely compromised.
So Stacy two for the price of one. From April, she writes to us what would cause mum seedlings to turn red and how to fix it? I'm wondering if the little gnats I see are causing it. And then she also asks a question about dead heading hardy high biscus. How is this done? Do you just pull the dead flour off or trim elsewhere. I'll jump in on the mum question the seedlings turning red, because I've seen this before. In most cases it's because the soil is too wet.
And the fact that she has little gnats causes me also to believe that the soil is too wet. So you get a pithium root rot with mums, And actually what it does is anthocyanins in the foliage will cause that foliage to turn red. So, in my opinion, not looking at the plants myself Stacy. I think April too wet on those seedlings, and that's what's causing the problem. Yeah, the nats.
Yeah, I think the fact that you have fungus gnats is definitely diagnostic that it is a watering issue, but I also don't necessarily it could be a number of things. It's also important to realize that whether it's a mum seedling or something else, that some varieties do have kind of purplish or reddish foliage, so it may be variety dependent. It can also be due to an increase or a decrease in news so certain nutrient deficiencies or surpluses can
cause this as well. And finally, pH and you know, if the pH is going too acidic or too basic, which depending on how much you're watering it and what the pH of your water is and what kind of soil you use, that can also do it. But you know, their April did send a photo of her seedlings and they actually look pretty healthy, so they've she's gotten good germination. They look healthy, and Okay, it's just something needs to happen.
But yeah, I would say cutting back on the water is definitely going to help a lot, and we'll hopefully get rid of those fungus nets. The fungus hats them cells are not the problem, but they have their larva in the soil, and their larva will eat the roots of the plant that is trying to grow, and that just sets it back.
I've also seen it if the soil is too cold. Now I'm not saying that's the case here, but you will see that also. If the soil is cold, yeah, that makes it and then you get stunted plants.
So just bear all that in mind. I know that's a lot to kind of ask yourself which of these fis is it? But start with the simplest thing and just decrease the water, let them dry out slightly. Certainly, the top layer should not always be moist, because if it is, that is definitely going to encourage the fungus nets. If the top layer can dry out between waterings, that will make a big difference.
So I did some pruning the other day and Stacy, I want to ask you when do you dead head your high biscus, your hardy high biscus.
Right, So this is a good question that April asks, and I think that we kind of have to determine do you mean simply taking off the old flowers or do you mean preventing them from going to seed, because the old flowers, you know, they look kind of crummy on there for a couple days and then they just fall off. And in that case, yeah, you can just take that. If it's bothering you, those mush mummies, you can just take those off, throw them away, put them
in your compost whatever. Otherwise, just wait for them to fall. But yeah, they do set a seed afterward, and so if you don't want the seed to set, then you are going to need to actually take off the entire little stem that connects that flower to the main stem of the plant. Now, I don't think that that's necessary.
Speaking for the summarific hibiscus mine, do you set some seed, but they don't spread around and it does not seem to impact their flower development, So you know some thing, so you can deadhead or remove that seed from developing and it will keep the plant flowering vigorously, whereas in the case of hardy hibiscus, I don't really think that
is the case. They have set their flowers and you know, they just end up getting done by the time the days are getting shorter and the nights are getting cooler and everything like that. So if you want to take the whole thing off again, trace that stem back to the main stem and go ahead and snip that off. If all you care about is the mush mummy, you can just go ahead and pick those off and throw
them away. But it's not strictly necessary. This is really just a personal preference issue of hygiene and cleanliness in how you prefer the plants to look.
Yeah, I like to cut them back whenever the spirit moves me. Actually yeah, And I like to leave some stubble above ground so I know where they are next year when the snow clears. Other than that, i'd agree with you one hundred percent. Now.
I used to cut mine back every fall because where we had them planted, we needed to use that area for snow removal. But after talking to Laura from Walter's Gardens, who was a guest on the show several weeks ago, she said she recommends cutting them back in spring. So I'm going to try that from now on. But either way, it's fine. They're pretty durable place. So we're going to take a break. When we come back. We've got branching news, so stay tuned. The Gardening Simplified Show is brought to
you by proven Winner's 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.
Welcome back to the Gardening Simplify Joe. It's time for branching news. And are you cooped up in the house for winter with your plants? Well, welcome to the latest water health craze Okra water.
I have not I like okra too much to just infuse it into water. I'd rather make a nice curry out of it.
Yeah, and I agree with you. And you don't have to be from okrahoma don't like it. Some people like, you know, water with mint in it and lemon. Some people like cucumber water. Well, this is the health craze, especially for your digestive system because they say okra is a vegetable high in plant. Help me with the pronunciation, Stacy muselage, uselage, muselage mucus.
It's mucilage. It's not mucus. It looks like mucus root word does not mean fucus.
When it's steeped in water. The water basically what happens is the okra absorbs the liquid and is great for your digestive tract according to some dietitians and nutritionus. But it does look really sliny.
Okay, So the goal is to slice up okra, put it in a glass of water, let the mucilage come out, and then drink the water.
And drink the water.
Do you eat the okra?
You can do whatever you want with the okra deep fried if you want.
You know, this might actually catch on because okra is expensive, so people will think it will actually work. But yeah, I could see it being kind of like a cucumber water situation, has the same kind of vegetable flavor. I mean, I love okra so too.
I think I might try it too, even though it's really it's kind of gross, But if it's good for you, maybe I want to give it a try. And lucky for you, we're putting the link at our website, Gardening Simplified on air dot Com. Stacy jumped out of my car the other day and took a picture and a parking lot of what I thought was the perfect example of what not to do as far as trees are concerned. I refer to it as Southwest disease. And for people watching on YouTube you can see this example. We can
put the picture at our website. Also the classic example of a tree where the side of the tree that's facing south had damage when it was young, and now you see that significant damage along the trunk. And it was a new development where they had mounded the mulch up against the tree and the roots were girdling. You could see it. They were above the soil surface. The tree was thinning at the top. The perfect example. So
I just snapped a picture to be able to show that. Also, just down the road the next place I went, pulled into the parking lot and noticed the maple trees there that were loaded with powdery mildew and tarspot.
Yeah.
Now, tarspot is not unusual on a maple tree, and many times again, folks, it's an indication that winters the perfect time to have some pruning done on your trees to allow additional light and air movement through the trees if you're dealing with these problems. But Stacy, in this case, the powdery mildew. I found it really fascinating because it didn't look like it was dusted on the foliage, but rather it was along the veins of the foliage. It
almost looked like something Jack Frost had done. Interesting, very very interesting. But again, if you have powdery mildew, you have tar spot on some of these trees that you love, or maple trees, it can be an indication that having an arborous do some pruning to open up that canopy maybe helpful.
Yeah. And also you know, I am a big proponent of leave the leaves in your beds, but if you have a tree or shrub or a perennial or anything that had a fungal disease, it's a good idea to do your best to remove and discard all of that foliage. Because the way fungus works is that you know, it drops on the leaves right now and then it sits there hanging around all winter. When spring comes it's usually very wet, high humidity, cool temperatures, those leaves come out.
They're so soft they have no protective cuticle on them yet, and the fungus is like, now's my chance attack, and you know they get on the plant, and people think that it's a fall disease because it doesn't show up until it's late in the season, but actually the infection typically takes place way way back in spring when you wouldn't even notice it. So clean up the foliage if this is an issue. But I would also say that if you have Norway maples, even if you prune them,
I think that they're just gonna get tar spot. It just seems to be what they do, at least here in mission.
Again, well, they're fun guys, just like me. They're opportunists looking for the right environment and then it's party time. So there you go. Keep an eye out. Also here in branching news for zombies this fall in early winter, and I'm referring to zombie trees and that's not my description. That is the description from the US Forest Service. We're going to put the link at our website Gardening sim
Simplified on air dot com. But the US Forest Service is asking the public to help point out live looking but actual dead trees because they can pose a safety hazard, especially in urban environments. Of course, if it happens in the woods, who cares. But in urban environments, if a tree is dying from the inside out or rotting or declining. You should identify these trees because they do pose a
safety risk. So as the leaves turn color and fall from the trees, you can develop the ability I know I have driving through neighborhoods where you can identify some of these trees. I also was at an arboretum once with arborous who were using drills and drilling into trees with long drill bits and determining if the tree was hollowed out. So again, look for those zombie trees. It is something that the US Forest Service is talking about, and you can find that link at our website right.
Good to know an interesting thing, one thing that I'm super interested in, and I could talk about it for hours, and I won't. I've got just a couple minutes here. But data supports the fact that we are experiencing longer growing seasons. Now, if you're in Florida or Georgia, North Carolina, it's not as big a deal. It's not as I don't know, maybe recognizable as it is for example here
in Michigan or maybe Ohio. And I took a county as an example here in Michigan, Kent County, where the average growing season over the past fifty years is something like one hundred and fifty four days. So we have one hundred and fifty four days between the last frost in spring the first frost first hard frost in fall. It's very interesting to look at a study from Purdue University and again the link at our website Gardeningsimplified on
air dot Com. I can sit there with this link, with this tool and play with it for hours because it's fun. For example, this county that I use as an example here in Michigan in nineteen sixty one, they had a growing season that was only one hundred and twenty four days. Wow. The last frost was May twenty eight. The first frost was September twenty eight. In nineteen sixty six, we had one hundred and thirty eight days. In nineteen
eighty three, one hundred and twenty nine days. In nineteen seventy two, I think I remember this one one hundred and nineteen days. The last frost was June twelfth. The first frost was October eight, but the shortest on record, and I do remember this year nineteen ninety two, one hundred and eighteen days. So the last frost was May twenty eight and the first frost was September twenty two,
So that's less than four months of growing season. And if you think about corn, corn needs something like ninety days, right, So it's fascinating to think about that. And I also nineteen ninety two. I remember that well because that very short growing season and followed one of the worst droughts we had in North America, the nineteen eighty eight to nineteen ninety drought. The drought of nineteen eighty eight ranked as the worst drought since the dust Bowl. Oh wow,
And I remember that well. The whole point here to wrap it up is this that since twenty twelve in this area, we've generally experienced one hundred and sixty to one hundred and eighty days.
Wow, that's a huge in it's a full.
Month, that's amazing. And one hundred and eighty days, of course is yeah, six months of growing season. So I don't think it's a big leaf of your imagination if you're living in the Midwest or in the North, that you're experiencing longer growing seasons where you can enjoy those plants outside longer before you have to bring them inside then you used to, let's say forty or fifty.
Years yeah, said investment in annuals and vegetables even better, exactly.
We're gonna put the link at the website Gardeningsimplified on air dot com. Thank you Stacey, thank you Rix, thank you Adrianna, and thanks to you for watching on YouTube, listening on radio and listening to our podcast. Have a great week.