Coming to you from Studio A. It's The Gardening Simplified Show with Stacey Hervella me, Rick weisst and our engineer and producer Adrianna Robinson. Well, Stacy, my experience in the garden center industry is that December through February, the popularity and demand for citrus plants, well, it's soars for the homeowners, and you know, it's it's something that people will buy as a houseplant and then as we get to spring and summer, put out on the patio or on the deck.
And of course it's also associated with the lunar New Year coming up this year Wednesday, January twenty nine, twenty twenty five. It's a symbol of prosperity. I looked it up this year as the Year of the Snake. Ooh yeah, you know.
How I feel about your favorite year.
But if you're gonna get yourself a citrus plant, it's a thorny issue, so be careful. I always remember receiving even citrus plants at the garden center and the green foliage so glossy, the aroma of the blossoms just oh, just so beautiful. But be careful you stick your hand in that box, you're about to get poked, because they're very, very thorny. And the reason for it if you do get one of these citrus plants is that they're grafted to a hardy rootstock. So I looked up the botanical
name Stacey. It says Poncerus trifoliata or trifolia orange or hardy orange, a citrus relative that's generally used as a hedgerow or as a hedge is very thorny. But it makes a really great rootstock for the citrus plants that we grow at home.
It makes a really good rootstock for edible citrus. It also makes an excellent garden plant on its own. And I was just telling you Adriana this morning how much I.
Love this plant. Awesome, Oh my gosh.
I I could go on and on about it. But the first time I ever saw this plant, pon Cyrus triflia, which is now known as Citrus trifoliata, was at Wave Hill Gardens in New York City, just up there in the Bronx, and it just stopped me in my tracks because I mean, of course, I'd never seen anything like it, and it is truly hardy. Actually, pont Cyrus is considered hardy to USDA Zone five.
Wow.
So imagine that an orange relative that you can grow outdoors even in USDA Zone five, and it has green stems and green thorns and so it's green all year, and it's just it's the texture on this plant. Now, the thorns are brutal. I mean, the thorns are nothing to mess around with. But on the other hand, the deer won't mess around with them, so that's pretty great. And then it has beautiful, fragrant white flowers in spring, and if it gets pollinated, you're gonna get round fruits
in late summer and winter that will stick around. They are edible, but quite acidic. But they're just such a cool conversation piece. And there's a cultivar actually available called flying dragon yes where that yeah, where the thorns are curved like little dragon claws, and it is such a cool plant. I am one thousand percent adding upon cyrus to my garden in spring twenty twenty five.
That's fantastic. I love that. So the plants that we would bring in lime lemon, like a myer lemon, orange Kalimandan orange, they would be grafted to this rootstock. And you know, if you think about it. When the plant is young and vulnerable, it's probably good that it has those thorns to deal with predators. And then as a citrus plant gets older than the thorns are not as much of an issue. Now you'll also notice as they come into the garden center, maybe the consumer notices it too.
There's all sorts of USDA labeling and permissions, let's call them, or inspections, and that can make sometimes. I know that when I was purchasing foliage plants for the garden center, it was tough to get the citrus plants. You can't ship them between states that grow citrus. The major ones in the US, of course, Florida, California, Arizona, Texas, and interestingly enough, what's been fun for me to watch is
the growth of the citrus industry in Georgia. That has you know, you think Georgia peaches and peaches in Georgia, but that's really taken.
Off to I didn't know that. That's interesting.
Yeah, there's been tremendous growth in Georgia. Now. Of course, these USDA approvals, inspections, warnings, et cetera, et cetera are very very important because there are citrus diseases in the United States. There's citrus greening and it has this long, horrible word, but I looked up the pronunciation. They call it yellow dragon disease or one long one long bin, I believe, so they just call it HLB.
That's convenient.
That was the Yeah, that was the pronunciation I was given. But so we're going to go with citrus greening. But this can cause serious problems to citrus crops, of course, citrus canker, citrus black spot, sweet orange scab, citrus variegated chlorosis. Right, it goes on and on and on, and of course these types of diseases of high concern and citrus growing
regions of the United States. So there's a lot of control put over the shipping of these plants across state lines or let's say, up into areas where people just want one plant and grow it on their deck.
Yeah, and you know that adds a lot of cost. And so I would I highly encourage anyone who has a nice, very sunny, cool spot in their home who's interested in growing citrus to do so. But they are expensive. These are expensive houseplants, and you're really going to want to make sure that if you're going to you know, try to grow one that you're giving at the best possible conditions. And you know, to me, trying to grow citrus in a cold climate like ours, it's a non negotiable.
It needs to go outside in the summer. Absolutely just doesn't ever recover the vigor, you know, unless you've really got great conditions for growing it indoors. But if you can do that, I would say it's absolutely worth the investment because you know, a citrus plant in bloom in winter in your house is just I mean, that is the care for the winter time blues right there.
It's what you're right, it's wonderful. So aside from those serious concerns for citrus growers on the part of the USDA and all of us, for the person who's growing it indoors, it's usually yellowing of foliage and dropping of leaves. That is the concern. Deficiencies in nitrogen. And it's kind of interesting that if there are deficiencies in nitrogen or magnesium or iron or sulfur, they can all kind of look alike on the plant. And then you'll find people
online who are recommending epsom salts for the magnesium. But the problem with that is that to be able to grow this fruit, you also need calcium. And so if you have an imbalance, just using EPSOM salts isn't necessarily something I recommend. Again, coming from the garden center industry, I would recommend something like aspoma has citrus tone and that has calcium in it has magnesium in it to help green the leaves. But it's going to be in the proper proportions so we don't get imbalanced stacy.
Yeah, and you know the other thing about EPSOM salts. People throw up some salts around like it's you know, going out of style, but they are salts, and particularly when you are growing something indoors and it's not going to get that nice full, you know leeching effect of frequent rains. That salt is going to build up in the soil. It's going to cause all sorts of problems. So I would also not recommend EPSOM salts on containerized citrus instead. Yeah, EPSOM or sorry, isoma citrus tone is
such a great choice. I have the most successful indoor citrus I have ever seen. That is how she grew her play.
Okay, she had kind of.
Like one of those you know, sun rooms that they put on a lot in the seventies and eighties that was, you know, off the side of your house, and she had gorgeous citrus in there. But of course the trick with the Aspeoma citrus tone is that it does it's not really sold in areas where citrus is not widely grown, so you might have to order it by mail, but it is worth it because, yeah, best lemon indoor citrus I've ever seen was grown with that.
Wow. Yeah, it makes me think of Monticello and Thomas Jefferson visiting there and in the sunroom. Just beautiful citrus and it's inspiring in the winter. You know, we're talking about lemon trees like Meyer lemon, Dwarf Eureka lemon. Of course, the beautiful ornamental citrus, the Kalamandan orange, and boy talk about the scent on those.
Yeah, and that's that pretty. That's one of the easier ones to grow indoors.
Yeah, so that's a good choice exactly.
And we would sell orange, kumquat, lime, grapefruit on standards or as bushes, and we even had them in hanging baskets. So there's a variety of ways you can get the citrus. If you're able to locate some. Here's a citrus limb, a rick. I have a thought, a feeling citrus is both a snack and self healing. To be a lemon, you can't be thin skinned. Your horticultural wonderkinned both thick skinned and appealing. My friend, it's not hyperb believe that citrus is treasure grown on a tree. Boy, this is
a stretch stacy. So come on, take a big gulp of those cellulose fibers and pulp. You'll benefit from vitamin C. So if you're trying to grow some citrus indoors, good drainage the soil's important, drainage holes in the pot. We talked about the fertilizer. The Aspoma citrus tone is something that we recommend lots of light, keep it away from a heat register. And your watering practices are going to be important. Too much water or too little water is going to cause problems.
Yep.
And you do need to fertilize. You know, they are definitely very hungry plants. Usually we don't recommend going too crazy in winter with a fertilizer, but you're going to want to keep a steady diet on your citrus another thing I've learned from that great citrus grower. And yeah, so they are a challenge but so rewarding. And I think people also, as in so many other cases, need
to have reasonable expectations. You are probably not going to have enough lemons to share with your friends and family on your citrus street, but I honestly think it's worth it just for how beautiful they are, and of course the fragrance of the flowers.
Absolutely, And of course if you're growing them as houseplants bringing them out in summer, don't go cheap on the pot. Make sure the pot's big enough. As Stacy mentioned, they do need fertilizer, they do need water in summer, and you want those roots to have some room to grow. So if you're looking at it as a house plant, let's not let that plant get riot bound. Let's see how Stacey ties this in in Plants on Trial that's coming up next here on the Gardening Simplified Chill.
Prooven Winter's 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. It's the Citrus Show. If you're not growing citrus, you're eating citrus at this time of year. It's a little
something to help you through the dreary winter. And of course, I feel like, you know, back in the day, like I used to read all these books and it was like a big deal for a little girl to get an orange in her Christmas stocking right in the toe.
That was like a big thing.
We'd get an orange and a candy bar. And then of course as kids, we drank a lot of tang.
Yeah, that was the thing that you did.
Because yes, of course, but you know, we would be remiss to have a citrus show and not mention David fair tid David Fairchild is he was actually born in East Lansing, like our guests last week, doctor Ellen Armitage. He was born in East Lansing, Michigan, but he grew up in Kansas and he ended up becoming an economic botanist who brought some of the most important food crops to the United States. He is responsible for having different
hops in the United States. The list of crops that he brought to the US goes on and on and on, but probably one of his most iconic and important contributions was citrus, and so he brought that over and he really developed the techniques of grafting citrus and is the reason why at one point Florida was really the citrus capital of the United States. I know that has changed a bit, but he is a fascinating person. I was lucky enough to visit his estate, which is down near Miami.
It is open to the public by appointment, and you can actually see at his estate, which is known as the Kampong Kampong, the very firm citrus plants that were ever brought into the US. They are actually growing outside his house and it's a fascinating garden, a beautiful thing to see. So if you're in Miami, it's definitely worth
checking out. If you're not going to be in Miami and you want to learn more about David Fairchild, I highly recommend the book The Food Explorer by Daniel Stone, which goes into his life and just the incredible things that he was able to accomplish and the way that he changed the way that we eat and grow food. So really interesting story there, good gardening gift if you're looking for a last minute gift for someone on your list.
And I do have a plant on trial, but I have to kind of continue on a citrus related tangent. I can't help it. We don't have anything in the citrus family in the proven Winter's Color Choice line, as much as I personally would like to have upon cyrus because I just think they are the coolest plants. I don't think covered in huge green thorns is quite the selling point that we're looking for plants in the proven Winner's line, so I think its outlook to eventually be
introduced is is low. But that doesn't mean there aren't some really cool citrus relatives that we can't grow here in Michigan. And that's kind of surprising, right Like people think of these as very very tender plants. But I wanted to mention a plant that I grow abundantly in my garden because it does self so quite abundantly, and that is rue Rudi graviolins and it is in the citrus family, and it's called rue r r u e and ruta. The scientific name is actually the namesake of
the entire citrus family, the rue tasi. So it's kind of the archetype of this of the family. And it's just a beautiful Mediterranean herb with kind of bluish green foliage. It has a very pungent and unique smell. The deer never ever touch it. I had a very mature rue that I just had to move, so it had some die back, but that thing bloomed for us here in Michigan all winter long.
Wow.
It was covered in snow and it was still putting out flowers.
Wow.
I mean not, you know, NotI covered in flowers, but there were still flowers on it, still creating fresh flowers, still attracting pollinating insects. A good reason to grow roo also is that it is a food source for swallowtail butterflies. Got to love that, so, you know, another food source for them. And so I love this plant. Itself sows in its garden, in my garden, all over the place. It's not really that edible. You'll see some things if you look online for people say, oh, you can do
this with it, you can do that with it. Apparently it was very popular as an edible way back in the day during Renaissance times.
I had always heard.
That Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci attributed their creative powers to rue. How exactly they consumed to this room I have yet to discover. But you know what, if it was good enough for them, just having it in my garden, I feel like is a little bit closer to that level of genius.
Now, the Roo family is rather large and has a great history, but would you say that Citrus is probably the most dominant, probably the best known.
That's probably the best known for sure.
But there is another really cool member of the citrus family that is actually native to Michigan. Uh huh, believe it or not, and that is hold on to your seats Xanthosylum americanum. And this is such a cool plant.
Oh my gosh.
Okay, So it's sometimes known as prickly ash.
It is.
It sounds like it's going to be super rare, But it is abundant here in West Michigan. And in fact, I could walk just less than a mile down here from Studio A and show you or some is growing wild in a park near here. So it's not uncommon at all. And it is a relative of the sescheuon peppercorn. So if you like to eat Chinese food or experiment with Chinese cooking, or have ever eaten really hot and spicy seshuon food, the sesshuon peppercorn is very characteristic of this.
This is a relative of that. I have not tried any pepper from it yet, but it is a very very cool and interesting citrus relative native to Michigan. Also attracts a ton of swallowtail butterflies. And it's just one of those like cool plant facts.
That is fantastic, really cool. And you know, I was going to say, some people might guess when you were saying what type of plant it was, some people might guess osage orange. But osage orange, of course, is in a different fam I think it's in the mulberry family.
Yes, that would make sense based on the fruit. So yeah, osage orange is just a total misnomer. But speaking of misnomers, that is how we are getting to today's pulllant On trial, one of the three hundred and twenty plus proof of winners colored choice shrubs that you can decide if you want to put in your garden, and today's plant on trial for the Citrus Show, Juiced orange Cystrum. Yeah, so
not in the citrus family. It is actually in the tomato family, and it is a shrub, which a lot of people don't think of shrubs being in the silanasia or tomato family, but of course with a name like juiced orange, perfectly for the citrus show. So this is a Cesstrum also known as jessamine. It is a flowering shrub. It is native to sort of Central and South America.
And as you might guess based on that and the fact that you probably have not heard of this genus before, not the hardiest plant, hardy down to USDA seven B and heat tolerant through USDA Zone ten. So really more of a plant for hot climates, although I will say for those of us in cold climates, a great container
plant that will bloom for you all summer. I have grown it myself like that because it's so beautiful, as you might have guessed from the name, sort of orange yellow, orange, juice colored flowers, and they're like little miniature trumpets, but they're clustered together in these kind of round globs that just cover the plant. And it's one of those warm climate plants that just blooms and blooms and blooms and blooms.
You know.
It's not one that just says, okay, well, I've had my two week blooming period and now I'm done. In the summer, this plant does flour continuously without any kind of maintenance or dead heading or anything like that. It attracts tons of butterflies and hummingbirds. So I think this is a plant that's really worth growing as a seasonal annual, even though it's going to cost a little bit more.
You're probably gonna need to get it in mail order, you know, and spend maybe twenty twenty five dollars for it. But it really does have the flower power, and it's just it's just a really really neat and interesting plant. The deer in my yard did not touch it, so
that's always a good thing for any of us. Loves the sun, loves loves loves growing in hot, sunny areas, and juiced orange is a little bit different than other cystrum that are on the market in that it is more compact, which does make it more suitable for growing in seasonal containers than you know, a larger plant that's going to be kind of rangy. So this one's going to stay nice and compact, not really going to need
any proof not get an eating dead heading. I did fertilize mine in the same time that I fertilized my other annuals, and again I was rewarded with flowers, you know, NonStop, basically from beginning of June until frost.
And when we've talked about this plant before. The thing that I think is the reward and you mentioned it, are the trumpet like flowers great for pollinators. Wow, it's just stunning. Any lusters up.
Yeah, really like nice round clusters. It just has a very unique look. And of course anytime you've got trumpet shake flowers, you know, my ears perk up because I'm thinking hummingbirds. And indeed they did really visit and enjoy this plant. So juice orange comes from the color, not
from its relatives. It's very drought tolerant. Although this is a situation where if you are growing it as a container plant, you're not really gonna want to push that too much because you're gonna want the best possible performance from it, so that you're getting all of those flowers that make it worth the little bit of extra cost that it has, and you know the time that you're gonna put into it, but you can always try to bring it indoors and grow it as a houseplant. I
would suspect I did not try that myself. I don't have a great house for houseplants, but I would suspect that it would probably be easier to grow indoors than your average citrus plants, so it would at least be worth trying trying to bring in. So that is a juiced orange cestrum. You can take a look at pictures of that, of course, on the YouTube version of the show, or on our website at Gardeningsimplified on air dot com. You can put all the details there as well.
Did you drink tang as a kid?
I did not, No, I.
You know, but I remember the commercial. Is it the same formula?
It's it's and you people will use it to clean out their dishwasher.
What from like the citric acid or something. It just does just.
Run a dose of Tang through your dishwasher.
That sounds more expensive than your average dishwasher cleaner. But I guess if you already got tang on hand, because you know, I remember bugging my mom to get it for us, because I was like the astronauts drank it correct, you know. But my mom was very careful about sugar intakes, so we never did really have tang.
Yeah, I drank a lot of it as a kid. That explains a lot. And I drank from the garden hose, So there you go.
But did you drink tang made with garden hose water?
Probably?
All right, 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. Greetings, gardening friends, and welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show, where it's time for us to answer your guard questions. Because that's how we try to simplify gardening for you, is you know, kind of tell you the how and the why of things, because to me that's the most important thing. You know, I can sit here all day and answer people's questions and say, oh, putting your roses
in March next. But I don't want to just tell you that. I want to tell you the how and the why, give you the information so that you can understand why, because that, to me makes all the difference. That's what makes you a gardener and not just you know, a robot that takes care of plants.
It's the gift that keeps giving.
I think so.
But if you have any gardening questions for us, you can always reach us at Gardeningsimplified on air dot com. There's a contact farm right there. You can even attach photos.
Perhaps you are.
Struggling to grow citrus, We've already given you a lot of tips. Chances are it probably doesn't have enough light, which I find is the main thing that dooms citrus indoors, at least when I have attempted to grow it, as well as it's unforgiving nature when it comes to water. Because unforgiving houseplants and me do not get along.
Yeah, for most people.
Now for most people, I mean there's people who are up on it.
You know.
When I was younger, I was like an only levin apartment. I worked really hard at it. But now I'm just like eh. But I do have some very old houseplants. They're just extremely forgiving. That's why they've lasted so long.
Forgiveness is important. And yes, water is the number one killer of house plans.
And certainly with citrus. So it's a tricky one. But again, if you've got the right conditions, it's worth it. So you can reach us again gardening simplified on air dot com and we'd be happy to pool our expertise and help you with whatever is troubling you and your gardens. So what do we got in the mailbag?
Stacey Ann asks us I planted a couple of gin Fizz junipers this spring. Boy, I love those. They're so beautiful and and says they've done well heading into winter. I've watered them, put them, put down shredded leaves around them. They get some protection from the worst winds, but I have seen drifting in their location. They will get sun
on them on clear days. Wondering if I need to cover them with burlap and if so, how it seems hard to do because of their arching habit and is in zone five eight.
You know I love junipers. I used to not like them. I'm going to spend a lot of my life disliking junipers partially because as a landscaper, I would have to pull out those weeds that grow up through the middle level and I had.
To unload truckloads of them, and I didn't like them either. My arms would be raw.
Yes, they can be very painful. They're not super like. They don't look I think that's the thing too. They don't look like they're going to be needily and scrapy. But once you actually start engaging with them, it can be.
Very pay personality.
Yes, but what surprises me, even as a juniper enthusiast, of course, I've gained a lot more appreciation for them now that I live in a very sunny and very dry environment and have deer, so junipers can deal with all three of those things well. But what surprises me is no matter where you drive in Michigan and probably throughout the Midwest, you are going to see junipers self sewing everywhere. They birds eat the berries and the plants grow. And I think that's just a true testament to how
durable and tolerant these are. So and I will say, you do not need to do a thing to make your gin fizz. Junipers more welcome in your home, and probably the more that you do for them, the less they will like it.
I see them growing on the dunes of Lake Michigan, and not just the back dunes, the fore dunes, which is some of the most unforgiving environment you can find for plants.
Yeah, very sandy, a lot of wind, a lot of drifting sand, a lot of sun, and you know, often very little water. So juniper is not one of those plants that's going to need a lot of help and protection for winter. And the answer is, don't bother with a burlap. You would just regret it anyway, because gin fizz is not the prickliest juniper, but it does still have some prickles on it. And actually, you know, the interesting thing about juniper and prickly foliage is junipers have
two types of foliage. They have immature foliage, which is prickly to deter predation when the plant has younger growth or is smaller, and then that becomes a scale like foliage that's not prickly, which is one of the reasons why junipers kind of trick people into thinking they're not prickly,
because they they do have both. But yeah, they don't need anything you don't need to bother, you know, protecting it, even if you planted these in full which generally, you know, we talked a lot about full planting this past autumn. We don't recommend planting most evergreens, but a very you know, small, minimal needled evergreen like a juniper, no problem at all. So I think that you've done everything that you need to do.
You don't have to worry about it.
You know, junipers don't even really tend to get like wind burn like a lot of other conifers can. So and you've planted one of the toughest, most durable, most forgiving plants, and you don't need to do a darn thing. Just sit back and enjoy.
And your comment was great about the watering space. And Anne says she's in Zone five A but has watered them and put down shredded leaves around the base way to go. Anne, that's okay. You don't want them going into winter drive.
No, you definitely don't.
Tina asks us, love your show. I have a mature Abelia Edward Goucher. My problem is the flowers are only on the tips. Everything else is crisscrossing in the middle of the plant. It's not attractive anymore. Can I cut it to the ground? Will it grow back correctly? So, Stacy, can Tina hack this plant back?
Yes, you can, Tina. Abelia are great plants, and we've talked about him a lot on the show. I think they're really growing in popularity, partially because people are discovering that they are heartier than most people had expected earlier or previously, so they were really thought it as more of a southern plant, where now we're discovering they can grow in the north quite well. And there's just so
many cool new varieties with really interesting foliage. Edward Gusche or Edward Goucher is an older variety and mostly ground for its fragrant flowers to attract humming and butterflies. But as with many older varieties, and as with many of these kinds of shrubs that have these really slender twigs, so Abelia Doutsia are two that run to mind, as well as Spyriea. They can get kind of sticky as they as they grow older, so you just see a lot of those sticks and it doesn't look attractive. And
they do indeed benefit from a rejuvenation pruning. As we've talked about. So yeah, just go ahead and cut the whole thing back to stubs. I would recommend doing that this coming spring, don't do it now, and that is going to give the plant a whole new lease on life. It's going to come out with fresh foliage. It's going to be really colorful and dense and beautiful. But as far as the flowers forming primarily on the tips of the branches, that is somewhat the nature of the beasts,
so that is kind of what abelias do. But usually they should have quite a few flowers. So even though they are mostly forming at the tips, they do bloom continuously through summer as long as they're happy, and so you usually do have quite a few flowers. But you're just not going to get like that, you know, kind of curtainy look that you see on something like a lilac or a rose, where there's really flowers from the ground to the top. The abelias really are going to
mostly just flower on top. So if you're seeing that, not necessarily a cause for concern. Pretty normal for most abelias.
And if you're keeping score at home, when you say sticky, you're talking about wood, not adhesion.
Yes, that's true. I mean a lot of sticks in there.
Okay, Barbara asks us, Hello, I love your show and never miss it. I've got a problem. We recently had an excavation work done on our property. The last thing they did was move a very thick layer of sand up to twelve to eighteen inches over most of the roots of our very beautiful, mature crimson king maple tree.
Oh that's a lot of sand.
That's a lot of sand. I sounded the alarm. My husband is mad because he thinks I'm being melodramatic. I think it will smother the tree and that sand should be removed. What would Rick Weist Junior say, Yeah, my son is an arborist and he has come across this before where they've had to remove soil that was put around the base of a tree for the general overall health of the tree. And so it is concerning. And
I've doing this for years and helping people out. I've found that I've had to do a fair amount of marital counseling and it can get.
Sticky, yes, the other kind of sticky.
And so I don't want to upset your husband. But no, I don't think you're being melodramatic. At all, Barbara, that's something you don't want to do. The upside here is it's sand, so it's porous. It has a little more oxygen, let's say, than if it were clay or heavy soil. But not a good idea to put twelve to eighteen inches of soil over the top of tree room.
No, it's not.
But you know, Barbara did send photos, so we're able to see the extent of what this contractor did. And I will say, to their credit, the contractor did not cover the buttress of the tree that I could see in the photos, and that is really the most crucial thing. The buttress is where the tree flares where it meets the ground, and the buttress is responsible for so much of the air exchange and tree health, and so when that buttress is covered, it just makes it very difficult
for the tree to live. It starts to suffer and at that point, any little stress will just take it out. So the good thing is your buttress seems to be intact. You can see that flare, so that is good. But I think the real question here is like what was the sand doing. Is it there to raise the grade from some work or you know, what are you gonna do. Are you gonna be planting grass over this, or like,
what's the long term plan? Because even if they did this, you know sooner or later that sand is going to blow away and you will have far less than twelve
to eighteen inches of soil. So I think, really this is kind of something that needs that does it should be managed not You don't have to the alarm and you know, stop the presses, but it is something that needs to be considered as you determine what you're going to do with a space, whether you're going to convert it into lawn or garden bed or if it was in preparation for construction. That we don't know, but I would definitely do the best that you can to keep it as thin as possible.
The closer it is to the tree.
Pay attention to the tree, watch its health. It would start to show if there's something wrong. And I, like I said, I talked to my son about it, and he said that tree roots work their way to the surface for a reason. Yeah, well, they need moisture and nutrients. They also need oxygen, So if you cover them with twelve to eighteen inches of soil, it's certainly not a good thing.
All right, Well, thank you all for your questions, and if you have a question again, you can reach us at Gardeningsimplified on air dot com. We're going to take a break. When we come back, we've got Branching News, so please stay tuned. The Gardening Simplified Show is brought to you by Proven Winner's Color Choice Shrubs. Our award winning flowering shrubs in evergreens have been trialed and tested for your success so you enjoy more beauty and less work.
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Welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show today and Branching News. Want to talk about a location that both Stacy and I have visited. If you have not, and you've got good walking shoes, because it's a two hundred and eighty one acre preserve just southeast of downtown Boston. We're talking about the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University. A beautiful place, a great place to take a walk, and boy, a lot of history there too, Stacey.
Ough, the history, the collections. It's honestly a magical, magical place, no matter when you go now, I have been lucky to have been there in spring. I actually shot a spring flowering shrub story there when I work for Artha Stewart Living and that was such an incredible experience with one exception. And that exception was that we had a permit to drive back into the arboretum because you know, we had a bunch of photo equipment and you're not
allowed to drive, not allowed to drive. It is all pedestrian. So we had a permit to drive back there, and we were on the roads, and you know, we'd come from New York City, so we had a rental car with New York City plates. So we're back here doing a photo shoot at the Arnold Arboretum and some guy walks back next to us and goes, Yankee suck, because you know, the Red Sox and the Yankees are big baseball rivals.
And I'm like, what are you talking about.
I'm just trying to shoot some great looking plants in your beautiful arboretum and you want to make this about baseball. They take their baseball very seriously about.
It, they do. And I can see that happening because when I went to Arnold Arboretam, you're in downtown Boston, enjoying all the historical sites and everything else. And then you take a ride to Arnold Arboretum, as I mentioned, kind of southeast of downtown. You're going to drive right through Old Back Bay and you get a great look at Fenway Park, historic Fenway Park, and boy do they love their baseball in that area. So yeah, the New York plates probably weren't of no, they were not.
But I still love the Arnold Arboretam and I can say without question the spruce collection at the Arnold Arboretam is just one of the most magical places in this country. It looks like, I don't know, I can't even I can't even put it into words.
It's fabulous, it's incredible. It's the jewel. It's free and open every day. It's the jewel in the Emerald Necklace park system that was designed by Frederick law Olmsted, and it engages the public with all kinds of opportunities to learn all sorts of ages. It popped up in my mind too, and on our YouTube version of this show, have some pictures to share with you of my visit
this fall. There was an article from the Arboretum and Harvard University on a botanical word mar sessence, marsessence, and they were talking about aciating mar sessence essentially meaning trees that hold their leaves well into winter. And when you think about examples, beech tree is a perfect example oak trees. There are a variety of trees that hold their leaves and well at least give us a little bit of interest in the dead of winter.
You know.
I love beech trees are so common out here in West Michigan, and I do love the color that their foliage turns. It's like they're just little ghosts fluttering on the tree.
Really really beautiful, really a beige light tan color. There are a lot of fun to watch. And the writer here from the Arboretum, Stacey, was talking about an oriental spice bush or willow leaf spice bush, Lindera and Gustafolia and saying that that was a favorite also as it relates to mars essence. Mars essence is also a word that was shared with me by one of our listeners, one of our viewers, and asked about that. So I really appreciate that that's.
Interesting about the Lindera because we do have lindera benzoin abundant here in West Michigan, and I don't think that that that species keeps its foliage, not that I've really noticed, because I mean, it's it's everywhere out here, and I would I would think that I would notice if that was the case. I do have another caveat about the Arnold Arbarrita. Okay, what time of the year.
Were you there?
So it was mid October.
Okay, So when I was there in spring, it had been very rainy and they were unable to cut the acres and acres of grass. And I have never seen so many snakes in my life.
Oh, I didn't see any.
Right, so, you know, it was just because the grass had gotten very long. But it was definitely one of those like alarming experiences where you felt like you could not step anywhere. And of course it's it's Boston, so they're all, you know, garter snakes, and they're harmless snakes. But anytime something is that numerous and they're you know, when you see the snakes and they're all twisted up in the shrubs, it's.
It's a little bit freaky.
I'm with you.
It's a great time to be there because there's such an amazing collection. Lilac Sunday is one of their most famous you know events that they do every Mother's Day. So many amazing, amazing, you know, beautiful species and varieties, and it's really just a history of woody plants in not just America but in the world. But yes, if you go in May and it's been rainy and it's been a while since they cut the grass, beware, you.
Know you're right stay see a renowned collection of lilacs. I read over four hundred different lilacs. And you cannot picnic on the grounds there except for one day, and that's their Mother's Day Lilac event. I looked it up coming up in twenty twenty five. That's on May eleven, So from ten am to three pm you could bring a picnic basket and hang out with the lot.
There would be few better places to do that. It is just really an amazing place, and there's so much just sea in Boston anyway, exactly, agree to go there.
What a great place. And of course, if you're an American history fanatic like I am, you've got to go to Boston and you got to go to Mike's to get yourself a really good canoli too, and stand in line for an hour to get that hepticodium dogwoods, Don Redwood's ginko saw the female ginkos loaded with the fruit. Maple's bald cypress tree and the telltale roots or knees that are above the ground. One of my favorite trees has always been paper bark maple.
Ye beautiful.
And the size of these on the grounds of the Arnold Arboretum unreal.
Yeah, you're not going to be able to see that in very many other places. Trees that mature paperbark maples. And you know you mentioned the Don Redwood. The Don Redwood at the Arnold Arboretum is the first Don Redwood in the United States.
Really, yes, interesting, very first. Yeah, the collection is amazing. Couple quick things about the collection, one being they're all tagged with anidized aluminum labels that provide the acquisition of the tree, the family, botanical name, means of propagation, the lineage number, the provenance which is the place of origin as I understand it, common name, and the Arboretum ground's location.
The other thing is, of course, the area was very popular during the pandemic days of twenty twenty and twenty twenty one, and Stacy and I have talked on the show before about the plant hardiness zone maps, and essentially the Arnold Arboretum is where this originated. As a matter of fact, they picked up the ball, ran with it and had the first hardiness zone maps until much later when we get into the nineteen sixties that the USDA picks up on.
Yes, and they've had a huge, huge impact on American gardening culture. And yeah, it's you know, probably people will be like, oh, great an arboretum, It's so boring to bunch trees. It is not is It's really a place that is worth clearing out at least an afternoon, if not a whole day to enjoy.
If you're in the Boston area.
Bring comfortable shoes and because you're going to walk, you're going to do a lot of walking. Now, if you want to continue that walking and head down the road, you can head also to Forest Hills Cemetery. It is one of the finest examples of the gardens cemetery in the United States, founded in eighteen forty eight. So it's just down the road from the Arnold Arboretum. It's an incredible park like setting. The monuments are amazing, and it
was added to the National Register of Historic Places. I believe the Arnold Arboretum is also, but this cemetery is in the National Register of Historic Places and was named one of the one thousand Greatest Places in Massachusetts. So that was just stunning to me too. I was awe as I walked through the cemetery. It is still an
active burial ground, but it's a historic site. It's like an open air museum, and that in and of itself too is two hundred and seventy five acres of green space and our burretum stunning to walk through.
You're speaking my language, Rick, I am a sucker for a good old garden cemetery me too. One of my absolute favorite places to be in the entire world. It's just it's endlessly fascinating, and the East Coast is so great for them, you know, that's really where you're going to see some of the most spectacular ones. When I was going to school at the New York Botanical Garden, we live near Woodlawn Cemetery, which is also one of those old garden cemeteries, and so many amazing burials there.
Famous monuments, also very crucial to the Revolutionary War, so there's some Revolutionary War history there. But closer to home, if you're looking for a garden cemetery, Cincinnati has spring growth. Have you ever been there?
Yes, spring, Yes, you've talked about that. I have not been there.
It is really a very very special place. Hey, Adrian has been there. It's an extraordinary place. So a little bit closer to home, and maybe if you're you know, on your way down seventy five to Florida or something, you can take a little pit stop.
So there you go. And of course downtown Boston to the cemetery is there.
Oh I love this amazing to walk through this my favorite part of the city.
Just gives you goosebumps.
It does.
Heading to the Commons and then you go over to Cheers and have a beer.
Right you take the little swan boat on the duck pond.
There you go. So anyhow, Forest Hills Cemetery in the Boston area. Stacy always pleasure fun to do the show with you. Likewise, Rick and Adriana, thank you so much for all you're doing. Thanks to you for watching our YouTube version, listening to our radio show or our podcast. Thanks for tuning in the gardening Simplified ship