Coming to you from Beautiful Studio a here at proven winners Color Choice Shrubs. It's time for the Gardening Simplified Show with Stacy Hervella, me, Rick vis To, and our engineer and producer Adrianna Robinson. All Right, Stacy, today we're gonna sing the blues. We're gonna celebrate the color blue, one of my favorite colors. Blue. As a matter of fact, I think most of my clothes are either blue or black. I think that those who
watch us on YouTube might know that. Yeah, exactly so. Now, of the multitude of known flowering plant species in the world, less than ten percent produce blue flowers. I can't prove that that's just what I read, but blue is a little rare in plants, even rarer in the animal world. Although if you think about it, bluebirds, blue jay's indigo buntings, even the eggs of a robin are blue. Right, Yes, and blue jays are very abundant around here. Exactly. We experienced blue hues as cool
and find them calming, soothing and relaxing. And in the garden, blue flowers have another interesting quality. They seem to recede from us. Now, not recede as an seed but ceed I knew that because so many blue flowers are very hard to grow, and if they were to be able to recede, people would be altier exactly. Now. I love this quote from my friend Alan Armitage. He's a professor at the University of Georgia in Athens. When he talks about blue, he says, blue is genetically a difficult color
to find. When it's dark, it's purple, when it's light, it's lavender. So the perfect blue is the apex. Blue is the most elusive, most coveted color in gardening. Stacy. Do you agree, I'd say, yeah, that's probably true. I mean, speaking from, of course a hydrangea perspective, then yes. But you know, when you think about all of the other truly just you know, breathtaking blue flowers, the one that leaps to mind for me is uh Mecanopsis, the Himalayan poppy, a
plant that everybody wants to grow, but very few people can. Delphinium as another great example. People love them the color. You know, when you look closely at a delphinium, it really is breathtaking. It is stunt, but it doesn't They don't really do super well and really hot clements. Of course, there's been some breeding that's changed that. But you know, I think that blue hydrangels, Mecanopsis, and Delphinium are probably three plants that people
really really really wish they could grow well and very often cannot. So yeah, I would, I would say that's true. But then there are some other great ones like, um, you know, Brunera has beautiful blue flowers, gorgeous and a lot of beautiful blue foliage too with hostas. I think what we'll do is we're gonna give you a list at Gardening Simplified OnAir dot com. We'd love to have you visit our website some of these favorites.
Of course, interestingly enough, blue does have some negative connotations feeling blue, blue with cold, and in some cultures it's the color of mourning, and yet I don't know those references. Notwithstanding, it's arguably the most popular color in the United States and the United Kingdom, as I understand it, at least they have my vote. Yeah, problem, I would say that that makes sense cars, you know, yeah, clothes, all that kind of stuff. Yeah, exactly, So using blue in the garden is great.
And of course we've talked about what a hot summer. It's been for some folks too, and when you put blue in the garden, it kind of gives you an oasis cooling effect. And I'll tell you what I guess tops on our list has to be right off the bat. Hydrange has to be has to be yes, of course, but not all hydranges, just hydrange of Macrophylla or the big leaf hight range. Also to a lesser extent hydrange
of Serrata, which is closely related. But when as we'll discuss in plants on track, which I'm guessing spoiler alert for our listeners out there is going to be a hydrangea um, you know other types like panica hydrange of smooth hydrange as those cannot change color. So it's well, we'll talk a lot more about color and plants on travel sounds good. Now, I know you have a favorite perennial stacy at least I think you've mentioned this am Sonia love
Amnia y am sonia. There's a storm cloud blue star and oh, you want to talk about a stunning blue in the landscape. Now, I like something as simple as Festuca glauco, which is just a little short blue grass. I like that too. I don't know if you know this, but for a number of years I was mister green Thumb on the ABC affiliate here in West Michigan, and that was my TV name for Stuca Glauca. It was that was my TV name and people could pronounce it, yeah, for
Stuca Glauca. That was my name, mister green Thumb for Stuca Glauca. It's a very nice plant, very very durable, very pretty. Now a plant that I don't have a lot of experience with, but I have real interest in. Is sea holly erheenium I believe is how it's pronounced. Perfect for cut flower gardens. There's a variety called steel blue. I can't believe the color blue for that plant, sea holly. And then Stacy, we would be a miss if we did not bring up chiriopters. Oh, of
course, blue Beard. It's right in the name Blue Miss Spyrheo if you prefer that name. Is charriopters relatively easy for folks to grow, extremely easy to grow as long as you have sun in well drained soil, very durable, very easy to grow. If you're successful with butterfly bush, chances are you're going to be successful with Chariopterus as well, and you know it's great
because it blooms so much later in the season. A lot of these other blue flowers we've talked about our more early season, you know, like the blue Himalayan poppy, the am Sonia. Those bloom earlier in spring, whereas chariopters really starts to come into its own in September here in Michigan. Fantastic Vitex. I love that plant? Is it? Blue Diddley? Blue Diddley
is the variety that we offer through proven winters. Yeah, all right, I love vitech In the heat of summer, that plant still to me smells like vix vapor rubb. I can't help it. It just does annual salvia like playing the blues rock and blue suede shoes. Fabulous. Draw all kinds of hummingbirds to my garden on Cape cod Yes, I saw a lot of Delphinium and campanula in bloom. Of course, with bulbs you've got muscarrie, grape, hyacinth, Siberian squill, of course, hyacinths. That color is
amazing. Pansies you have some pansies with unbelievable beautiful blues. Yeah, yeah, classic blueberries of course, Agapanthus, lily of the nile. Love that plant, Streptocarpella. And I'm amazed at the number of varieties like above the clouds or water slide as it relates to hosta blue hostas like blue hostas. I think they're lovely. I mean I can't grow them. I did hear someone say that they thought that deer had more difficulty seeing the blue hostas at
night, and so they were less likely to be eaten. I definitely did not find that to be the case myself. But your mileage may vary. As they say, I'm gonna test that theory. I love that. I'm not endorsing it, just say from my experience, but I'm putting it out there. I have a favorite flowering annual and hanging baskets at Scavola. Oh. Scaevola native to Australia can really handle the heat. Did you know that that is the plant that lunched the Provenmentner's brand No idea, Yes, so
they were trying to they Yeah, they found the scavola in Australia. It was used as hanging basket because it's very drought tolerant, very heat tolerant. Very easy to grow. But um, you know, they were like, how are we going to introduce this plant that no one in the US has ever heard of? How are we going to build up their trust that this is a good plant. And so some growers got together to propagate and market it and that was the birth of Proven Winners annuals that is intrust So that
was Whirlwind Blue. I like that, which is not really around so much anymore. But I am growing a blue and a white scavola. And this is the first time I think I've had him in my garden. And I we're talking about blue flowers, but I am absolutely in love with them, so vigorous. It just covered in flowers, just a fantastic lip. Each
of the flowers looks like a hand, an outstretched hand. You had mentioned Brunera, of course, Agastanchi beautiful blue color, and of course a favorite of both Stacy and mine, Baptisia, the decadence blueberry Sunday you gotta grow. Yeah, so pretty Veronica or Speedwell, and we had we had talked about perennial geranium last week. You can get some pretty color there too. Add geratum, of course, Russian sage, proven winners Denim and Lace.
Lavender has got to be on the list proven winners Sweet Romance. There's another one on the list, some of the supertunias. I'm amazed at the blue color, and of course morning glories, Angelonia and Pulmonaria is another one in the media. The list goes on and on. So you know what I'm going this year. That's a blue annual? Is blew my mind? Oh
yes, and that is a truly gorgeous blue the only thing. And I do love it, except that I realized this weekend as I was admiring it, I'm like, wow, I haven't really been like admiring this plant much like what's wrong with me? And I realize it's only open during the day. The flowers are only open during the day and then they close at night. So by the time I'm coming home from work and enjoying the garden and so on a beautiful Saturday, I'm like, oh, yeah, well that
makes sense. So that's a plan to enjoy, you know, when you're home. But such a beautiful blue color. And you know, one of my other favorites is um the crystal blue salvia from Provenmentners. The color Riot Crystal blue. That is such an incredible color. I mean, it's one of those clores most blues are, but you have to see it to believe it, because it's just so hard to actually believe it's such a beautiful true blue. You of course have the Nopetta's Cats Meow Cats pajamas. Again,
the list goes on and out. We'll put the list at Gardening Simplified on aair dot Com. I love combining the color pink or silver with the color blue. You know, I think we may have just contradicted ourselves. How did we do that well? Because we were talking about how rare blue is, and we spent the last five minutes listing off our favorite blue flowers, saying not only that we love them, but that we grow them so But
that said, you know, there is something to be said. There is a little thing that the industry is guilty of, and that is horticultural blue. A lot of times the industry will call something blue that is blue adjacents, not a true true blue. But color is very subjective. But in any case, you can find something on the blue spectrum to grow. It might not be your dream blue, it might not be that amazing Meknopsis himila and blue poppy. But you can find something close enough to blue to satisfy
that blue craving. Exactly, blue tulips, blue tulips. I love blue tulips. They have blue tulips. Blue tulips. Well, actually they're not blue, yeah, exactly, they call them blue. We've got a blue tulip. No blue tulips. It's just like I'm waiting for it. Yeah, And there's no blue roses either. And this all has to do with the uh, you know, pigments that those plants produced. They can't actually get to that color because they don't have the pigment genetically, you know,
within them. I'm still waiting. Well, you know there's in the case of both roses and tulips, there's plenty of other fabulous colors to choose from. Son. If you have a favorite blue, you your two lips and speak to us and let us know at Gardening Simplified OnAir dot com. Plants on trial coming up next here on the Gardening Simplified check proven Winners. 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 in the distinctive white container at your local garden center. Creatings Gardening Friends, and welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show where we do not have the blues, but we're talking about blue all
day long here. And you know, when it comes to plants on Trial, if blue is in the conversation, there's even though we have the chariopterus, even though we have the Vitex that Rick mentioned before, there's one clear choice here and I'll bet you predicted it when you thought of the Blue show, no question. I'm gonna have to be a blue big leaf hyderanja. And my pick for today's plant on Trial is brand new Let's Dance sky View
hydranget. Wasn't that the winner of Shrub Madness this year? Yes it was. As a matter of fact, it was. Yeah, So big leaf hydrangees are the ones that turn blue, and not all hydranges can change color based on their soil chemistry, but it's the big leaf hydrange is, like Let's Dance Skyview that can. And so let's just clear this upright off the bats. Yes, you need to have a cidic soil for a hydrangea that can turn blue like Let's Dance sky View to actually turn blue. But that's
not the whole equation. You also are going to need to have aluminum in the soil. And we talked about this a few weeks ago, but it's always good to refresh everyone's memory about it. So you need to have a cidic soil and there needs to be aluminum in it. And if those two things are true and you have a hydrangeer that can turn blue, then it will be blue. And just which blue it turns does somewhat depend on your
pH but it's primarily genetic. You know a lot of people think, oh, I saw the most beautiful blue hydrangea, and I can just approximate these conditions and my hydrangel will be that same blue, and that's not the case. They are individuals and they do differ from plant to plant, So not every hydrangea that's capable of turning blue is going to be equally as blue. And Let's dand Skyview is one of those that lives up to its name because it is a beautiful sky blue. So it's not that like deep, deep,
purply blue that some people call blurple. It sounded very funny blurple because it's a combination of blue and purple. But Let's dand Skyview is just that gorgeous like summer sky color, provided that you have those conditions acidic soil and
aluminum present in the soil for it to turn blue. Now, a lot of times people will buy and I'm sure you heard this all a lot working in the garden center, they'll say, you know, whether it's an old fashion variety like Nico Blue or one of our varieties like Let's Dance Blue Jangles or Let's dand sky View. They'll say, hey, blue is right here in the name. Why isn't it blue? And the simple fact is that under regular growing conditions at a nursery or garden center, that potting mix does
not favor blue the color the development of blue flowers. It can be ascetic, but it does not have any illuminum in it. So you are not going to be buying a blue hydrange unless it has been specifically treated by the grower to have blue flowers. But that doesn't mean that it won't change, of course, once it's in your garden, and either you're treating it or your conditions are favoring the development of that blue color. I'm still thinking about
blurpool sounds like a Sesame Street character. I like somebody the cookie Monster was blue, wasn't he? Yes? He wasn't it was? You proceed. You know, that's a good name for a hydrange. I like it. No, I'm going to keep that at my list for a hydrange name. Yeah, I like it. Uh, the royalties, we will make sure you get some for your garden at least. So let's dand sky View is a special hydrange, not just because it is capable of turning this you know,
beautiful sky blue. And I do want to mention that whether or not you have the conditions that favor, you know, the development of blue. Hydranges are really beautiful as pink. So you know, it's like a lot of people say, oh, it's not blue, it's I'm so disappointed. Well, I mean they're pretty great when they're pink as well, So you know, it's not one of those things I think you need to, you
know, break your neck trying to turn your soil blue. And it's going to be so fabulous when it's in the pink or you know, lavender range as well. So that's just But what makes Let's dand sky View special is it is one of the newer Let's Dance reblooming hydrange of varieties. Uh that is hardy to USDA Zone four and we only give that designation to a lot of hyder To macrophilla or big leaf hydranges can survive in USDA Zone four, but they can't thrive. So they're not really going to do very well the
live. They're never gonna bloom and they're not going to do much for you. But in these few hydrangees that include so Let's dand sky View and Let's Dance can do. They have the ability to set their flower buds on the entire length of their stem. So old fashioned types of hydrange is like the Nico blue that I mentioned, They primarily set their flower buds just at the
terminals, just the tips of the stems. Yeah, and so if it gets pruned by someone who doesn't know what they're doing, if it gets hit by frost, if it gets browsed by deer, if it gets you know, slid into by a softball game run awry, it's gonna you know, all these things are possible. I've heard it all in my time here exactly. So if you lose those tips of the branches anytime from you know, basically September until it starts to flower the following season, there go the flowers.
Let's Dance sky View has the ability to set those flower buds down the entire length of the stem, so if it does get pruned accidentally, if it does get winter damage, you know, you still have flower buds down there, close to the ground instead of just way up at the top. And so you know, no matter what happens, you have a better chance at getting flowers than you had with more conventional types of big leaf hydranges.
So that's something that really is you really will see the difference with that. And Let's Dance can do hydrangea. And on top of all of that, so we were selecting for this trait which can really help people, especially in colder climates, you know, be successful with it. We also want faster reblooming, and you know, big leaf hydrangeas are great. People get really excited because oh it's going to keep blooming, but not all of them can
rebloom quickly. A lot of them will need a lot of different varieties will need to put on say six to eight sets of leaves before they can create that flower bud, the new wood flower bud, and it's going to need you know, once those leaves are created, it's going to need extra time to create that. So a lot of times, you know, those new wood flowers, you weren't seeing them until later. So with let's Dance Skyview,
we were looking to decrease that time to rebloom. And so you're getting better preservation of the old wood flowers and better rebloom on the new wood flowers, and all in all, that is going to make a pretty darn attractive package for big leaf hydranges. So, you know, this is a newer variety, but I think it should have pretty good availability on the market and a lot of garden centers right now, even though it's late July. I know, we have listeners from all over the country and some of them are
like the garden center hah yeah, right. It's one hundred and twenty degrees out here today. But if you do live in a cooler climate, it's not too late to go to your garden center as long as you'll be around, you know, for the next two months to water it. It's a really great choice. Now, you know, I do recommend for most people you're going to want like partial shade, some sun, you know, and so many people we've talked about this almost every time we've talked about hydrange as.
People just naturally think they're a shade plant and they want some shade. And the hotter your climate, the more shade they are going to require. But some sun, ideally in the morning, is really going to give you stronger stems, better resistance to diseases like powdery mildew and other leaf spots, better flower color. That's, you know, really important because if it's in too much shade again, it's going to take on those muddy kind of undertones
and not that bright color. And you know, hydrange of foliage can obviously a lot of people resent it because that's all they see because they're not growing the right kind of hydranges and they're not getting the flowers. But it is quite attractive. So you want to do everything you can to make that plant as attractive as possible by giving it the right amount of light. Yes, they want a lot of water. You can help mitigate that with multi Hydrangea
is one of those must mulch kind of plants. In my opinion, they naturally have shallow roots, so they're going to lose the water that they have really quickly. And because this is a big leaf hydrangea, you know what
that means, no pruning, low maintenance. Even though you can prune it, even though it has this ability to set those flower buds down the entire length of its stem, we still don't recommend that you prune it because if you do, you still are reducing the potential for flower buds to warm on it. There's few or flower buds. And when it comes to hydrangeas, I think we can all agree that more flowers is what we want. You
sold me based on all those functional aspects of the plant. If you're keeping score at home, we're talking about let's dance sky view big leaf Hydrangea in the garden center, Stacy, I just simply aside from the functional aspects, it is just plain gorgeous. And you mentioned garden centers. Yes, in
the garden centers. Many people may not know this, but in garden centers many times they'll just dress somebody up to look like a shopper and put some plants on their cart and roll them around the garden center because people experience something called kart envy. And in the garden center, I have seen people look at sky View Let's Dance Hydrangea and wow, what is that? Where'd you get it? I want one for me. So understand that in a garden
center there's something that goes on called kurt envy. Oh I like that. You know that happens to the grocery store too. Yeah, exactly. Oh that looks good. Where'd you get that? Exactly? Yeah? That sounds like a good idea for dinner. So I hope you've got a fabulous picture of what Let's Dance sky View Hydrangel looks like in your mind. But you can check that out against the real thing at Gardening Simplified on air dot com.
You can check out our show notes. We'll have pictures all the information you need to know about what makes Let's Dance sky View special and how you can grow it successfully. We're going to take a little break and when we come back, we're going to open up that mailbag and answer your question. 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,
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. Greetings, gardening friends, and welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show. It is one of my absolute favorite times of the entire week because on the Gardening Simplified Show, one of the things that we do to help simplify gardening for you is answer your gardening questions.
And being the height of the season, I know there's lots of stuff on everyone's mind, so let's open up the mailbag and see what's out there. I like it too, I have lots of questions. How did I get here? What am I doing here? Okay, Margot writes to us, I love your show. Rick is so funny and Stacy is so smart. Now I agree with that, Margo. Thank you. Stacy is one of the smartest people I know. And thank you for recognizing that I have
a sense of humus. That's just the way I wrote. That's very nice for you and Margo to say, But I do have to just qualify this a little bit. You know, gardening is one of those things that is really about experience. Yes, there's a lot of things that you can memorize, plant names, you know. I am humbly good at plants identification because I've internalized a lot of that. But like a lot of the advice that I give and things that both you and I say, they come from experience.
And in that way, everybody can become a better gardener because it is based on what you observe an experience, and that's why it's so important to you know, be engaged and to observe what happens no matter what the weather. But Margo, I appreciate you saying so, yeah, and I appreciate that, and it is true. I mean, all joking aside, you
know, I think that's part of what makes this show work too. I have many years of experience in the garden center industry, and so this combination, Stacy, you are the true horticulturist, and I mean that you're one of the smartest people I know. And so you combine someone like me who's a plant enthusiast with you, a true horticulturist, I think it works. Oh, thank you, that's so kind of you. To say, so it's fun. I love doing the show all right too. So let's get
to Margo's question. Now that we've got that out of the way. I am an entremneur. Okay. My question is I live in the p NW, where it can be very damp Pacific Northwest. Yes, I just caught that many of my trees and shrubs have been neglected for over fifteen to twenty years. Now I'm discovering a lot of moss and lichens covering the branches, and I'm really not liking it. Well done, Margo good Sense did specifically right liking l h ns. Love it. She knew who she was sent
in this message. Yeah, I like Margo. How do I get rid? How do I rid my garden of this? And I'm going to say, right off the tap, don't I agree? I like moss, I like lichens. I also like moss and lichens, and I think that m branches, you know, encrusted with different species of moss and lichens, are truly truly beautiful and um interesting. And you know, I love going to
like more coastal areas. You know that that humidity in the errors where they can really thrive, and it's like a little garden of its own on a branch. And you know, margot Rick and I aren't just telling you this to try to persuade you to come to our side and like it. Um, we're telling you this because there's pretty much nothing you can do. I mean not to be discouraging. I never would want to just discourage people. But moss is one of those and lichens as well, and a moss is
a combination of a lichen and an algae, so very similar. But you know, if conditions are right for moss to grow, it will, plain and simple, that's just how it works. Soil compaction, shade, moisture way, Yeah, there's a whole lot of you know, humidity and all of those factors that go into it. And this is why people can't just say, oh, I want a moss lawn. I'm going to have a moss lawn. Mosses is definitely one of those plants. If it can grow
it well, and if it can't, it won't. You can't really force it unless you radically change your conditions. And so there's really nothing that you can do. There's no pesticides, even if you were inclined to spray, that are going to discourage the growth of moss and lichens. You can spray, but they're simply band aids. If the conditions are right, it's simply
going to regrow. Yeah. Yeah, And you know it's just like you said, Margot, with the humidity in the Pacific Northwest, the moisture in the air, the coolness, those are all conditions that are right for that to grow. So you know, the spores that these things put out to reproduce are so tiny and so microscopic that there's really nothing you can do to
stop them. The good news is that it's rarely a problem. You know, even if you don't necessarily like it from aesthetic standpoint, it's not going to harm the plant's health, you know, especially like the small mosson like, and it's not going to get really heavy and break branches or anything like that. Margo, I would accept compliments on its robust growth. Get out there and flex your moscles. Well, you know what Marco did include a photo of it, and I felt a little guilty when they opened next.
I was like, that's gorgeous. So sorry, Margo. I you know, again, don't want to discourage you, but it will put the photo on the show notes and the audience can wait in as well. But I'm afraid that the best thing here is is to just live with it and try to see the beauty and interest in it. Thanks for the email, Margo, appreciate it. Christopher her Rights, Hi, Stacey and Rick. My
husband and I are huge hydrangel lovers, especially proven winners varieties. Can you talk a little about the difference between the Invincibles Ruby, Mini, Mavette Garnetta is what's the other one? Spirit? Is it an Invincible Spirit too, Invincible Spirit too? Yes? Okay? Is it just size or are there other differences? Of course there are also the Green Blooms, Sublime Ricky, Yes, Sublime and Lime Ricky so yeah. So the Invincible series is we
introduced it about twelve years ago with Invincible Spirit. And Invincible Spirit was the first pink hydrangea arborescence or the first pink annabel type hydrangea, and at the time it was really quite a breeding breakthrough. It was developed by doctor Tom Rainey at North Carolina State University, who we've talked about on the show many many times, and like so many breeding breakthroughs, once you've kind of you
cleared that first hurdle of getting a pink flowering plant. The floodgates are open. And so what has happened is that as Tom has continued to develop new varieties, he has a field at his research station in North Carolina with literally hundreds and hundreds of different potential varieties. And with the Invincible series, when it comes to us selecting them, we're selecting for a range of sizes.
So we do want, you know, some very very small ones like in Vincabele we white, and we do want more of the conventional full size one like they mentioned Invincible Sublime, which gets to be about five feet tall and wide. So we're going for a wide range of sizes and to some extent, a wide range of bloom times, because some of them will bloom much earlier and some of them will bloom a little bit later in the season.
Even though everything in the Invincible series has some ability to rebloom, particularly if you deadhead it. It's not necessary, but if you want a deadhead it, it will put out fresh flowers. You know, you can really extend
that season so you always have fresh flowers through the garden. By combining these, and of course the obvious difference is the flower color, which is usually right there in the name, So you know, what we're trying to do again is just to create that sort of palette of a plant that is really familiar to people, that they're comfortable with growing, that they know they can be successful with, but in a wide range of you know, sizes and
styles, so that no matter what's your taste, no matter how much space you have, no matter what color palette you're working with, there is an option. But since they pretty much all derive from the same breeding program, you know, they're all similar in terms of their needs and ultimately their performance, how long they bloom and that kind of thing. So they're great plants.
And if you you know, we talked a lot about let's dand skybew in plants on trial, So that's going to be like a zone four hardy if you live in a colder climate or you just love the animal type hydrangeas, these are going to be hardy to USDA Zone three and heat tolerant to USDA Zone eight. So a good portion of the country can be successful with them. Fabulous plants people keeping score at home, Stacy. These are what
we would consider the arborescence or smooth hydraane. Correct, right, Yes, all right, Pat asks us, I would like to know what thistle plant I can grow in my flower garden that would not be invasive, but yet the goldfinches would eat the seed and use the fluffy material from the thistle flower for nesting. Great question, Pat, That's one of my favorite things about
globe thistle is watching the finches all over it. And when we interviewed the birdman a few months ago, he of course reminded us that finches are late nesters and we'll take advantage of it. Yeah. And I was really glad passed this question too, because I think it's a great one. And she has a really good point, because there are a number of invasive weedy thistles in the US that you certainly would not want to plant in your garden in
the attempt to attract goldfinches. But I think you really made a great point by mentioning the globe thistle. And so the simple answer here, Pat, is that any plant in the daisy family and the astacy, almost all of them make some fluff on their seed heads, and those are great choices. You know, goldfinches are not limited to thistle. They also love milkweed, and milkweed has tons of fluffed incredible and it's coming out at this time of
the year. So all of these options, you know from whether they are you know, out in the wild or in your garden, provide a lot of nesting material. And I've talked about one of the I think you could say signature plants in my garden Selfium, porfoliateum or cup plant just starting going in my garden over the weekend last weekend covered in goldfinches outstand. Yeah, and so anything that has seed at this time of the year, the goldfinches
will be all too happy to take off your hands. Yeah. Add some in your garden flowers and a cozens also, I've found finches like zenias. You can't beat that color combination. All right, So thank everyone so much for your questions. If you have a question for us, just visit Gardening Simplified on air dot com. You'll find the show outs as well as a contact form. We're going to take a little break. When we come back.
You know what time it is branching news, so stay tuned. The Gardening Simplified Show is brought to you by proven winners Color Choice Shrubs, our award winning flowering shrubs and evergreens have been trialed and tested for your success, so you enjoy more beauty and less work. Look for proven winners color choice shrubs in the distinctive white container at your local garden center. Welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show. It's time for branching news. Here's some breaking news.
We were chatting during the break and our amazing engineer and producer Adriana Robinson made a point about the finches, because we're always looking for some fluff for their nesting. You had an idea, yeah, hot tips. So I have a Siberian husky who sheds all the time, all year, and I like to brush him outside because I've noticed that a lot of the goldfinches love to scoop up a lot of that fluffy hair he leaves behind and they take
it for their nests. So you don't have to clean up inside, and you're helping the birds out and they probably don't even know the difference between milkweed fluff and atlas fluff. So it works for me. Absolutely. That can't beat that, all right. You're struggling to feel healthy. A new study revealed how the weather and sunlight played a significant role in US feeling better in
the summer than any other time of the year. So two thousand US adults revealed seventy five percent feel more encouraged and healthy if the weather is perfect and the skies are sunny. I'm kind of like, duh, yeah, So I don't even know why I'm bringing this up, other than again, you know, weak garden during the summer season. Don't give up. Keep gardening
and enjoy the sunshine. It's not a fig leaf of your imagination. When you're out there in the sunshine working in your garden, you're feeling good, yeah, and you know, it's good just to see all of the life. And that's what I really realized recently as I was like, you know, in the winter, things are just so like stagnant. You don't get all the change. And you know, if you're sitting outside for even ten minutes, so much happens, birds and bugs and plants, and that is
good for your mood. It's stimulating, it's stimulating. It's all sun and games till you run out of light, and which reminds me Stacy. Soon we'll be talking about our favorite subject, no daylight saving time all right, the National Weather Service said this past week it wasn't a large swarm of grasshoppers.
It's radar imaging caught moving into northwest Utah after all. A week after announcing the alarming discovery, the Weather Service reported that further analysis showed that the unusual blip on the radar was most likely caused by material released from a US Air Force base in Vada. Now that's interesting. The chaff or yeah, chaff, they call it chaff a radar, a substance called chaff, a reflective substance deployed by the military to confuse radars or guided missiles. So it
wasn't grasshoppers after all, It was this chaff. Interesting, but peanut people just panic for a little while, thinking there was this huge mass of grasshoppers on radar moving into the area. Well, that's scary. Thought. Gives me the weekly opportunity to share with you a dad joke a grasshopper. Grasshopper walks into a bar and the bartender says, hey, do you know we have a drink named after you? And the grasshopper says, you have a
drink named Fred Johnson. Okay. Drought stricken Arizona is baking in the sear heat. We've all heard the news of the heat in Arizona. The Scottsdale City Council unanimously agreed this past week to ban natural grass in front of future single family homes in an effort to conserve water. So they're they're banning lawns
there in Scottsdale. You know, that's um, that's a a heavy step, but especially in I mean, lawns are very water intensive here in Michigan, even in the summer, even in a normal summer when we don't have you knows as little rain as we've had this year. So in a climate like Arizona, which is a natural desert, that's going to be even more
water where water is scarce. So, um, you know, I think it's really just a matter of just getting people's eyes used to seeing something else and then it will sort of become a lot less weird to people who are just accustomed to lawns as being the default choice. Yeah. I think so too, and Stacy. According to this this news story, this is the
part that I found interesting. According to Scottsdale City Council, feedback gathered from Scottsdale water customers in June found eighty six percent of those who responded supported the ordinance. Oh wow, that's good. Glad to hear that. So I guess not a lot of crankiness going on it, and no longer cranky people saying get off my lawn. Right, Well, people aren't going to go on their lawn because instead of grass is the people lancing tactus. Very good
deterrent. And some people aren't necessarily into lawn. I mean, some people very much into their lawns, but some people just just not into their lawns and the maintenance. I remember once I had an old more I put out by the road and put a sign next to it that said free. Someone came by and took the sign left them ower. True true story. So anyhow, all right, I probably should have been more specific with that to
sign. A woman in Massachusetts decided to buy herself something she's always wanted for her ninety seventh birthday, a top of the line John Dear tractor. Ah, now that's interesting. What's she gonna do with it? She just likes to take her tractor out for a ride for fun. She says, whether the grass needs cutting or not, I go around, I check and drive around. Her home sits on a beautiful two point five acres of land.
She says, it keeps me busy. And she said, even before her husband passed away, the four foot eight inch firecracker, that's what they're calling her, always had a love of landscaping. She had a pushmower when she was a younger girl. But she said, now forget it, I can't push the lawnmowers. So she got herself a John Dear tractor. Wow. Well, you know, two point two acres is a lot for a pushmower. So, like, I think she should have treated herself a little earlier.
Frankly, I think so too. I think so too. She's now a media sensation. They tracked her down. Recently published research. It indicates that monarch butterflies live year round in South Carolina. What did you catch that? That's wild? No, I didn't. We're gonna put the story the length there at Gardening Simplified OnAir dot Com. Please visit our website Gardening Simplified OnAir dot Com. Of course, you can send us questions also and take
a look at the show notes and we'll put it there. Yes, recently published research indicates that monarch butterflies live year round in South Carolina, relying on swamps in spring, summer and fall, and sea islands in the winter. While these monarchs rely heavily on aquatic milkweed as a host plant for their eggs and caterpillars, they were also found to use swallow wart, a viny relative of milkweed that grows near salt marshes and was previously recognized as an important host
plant for monarch. So this is pretty interesting. Their establishing monarchs are overwintering in South Carolina rather than migrating to the well known sites in Mexico. That's fascinating. I had no idea. Yeah, so very interesting. Now, of course, the monarchs in this study were more concentrated in maritime habitats, so barrier islands that are directly on the ocean in winter, but pretty wide widely disperse, So there you go. Finally, in branching news, this
was interesting. A fallen tree blocking a nearby road trapped more than one hundred people this past week at the home of Agatha Christie, the late crime writer regarded as the best selling novelist of all time. One visitor to Christie's Greenway House in England said she arrived at eleven thirty in the morning and was stuck there for hours because there's only one road in and out of the air. It sounds like a mystery in the making. Exactly, exactly, so fantastic
story. Yes, it's gonna require some detective work to figure out why and how this happened. But at the home of Agatha Christie, a fallen tree and your I guess there's worse places to be stuck. Sure, yeah, I mean she probably she was a very avid gardener in fact, so I'm sure her home there in England has pretty fabulous gardens. And you know, if there's a place that you're going to be stuck, a garden is a
pretty good place for it. Thank you so much for watching us on YouTube of course, looking for the podcast, share it with friends and neighbors listening to us on the radio and Stacy, thank you very mulch Thank you, Rick, and thank you Adrianna, you bet you, and thank you to our listeners. Oh yes, exactly big, thank you, very mulchos all around. Thanks Adrianna, have yourself a great week.