Episode 2651

- [Narrator] Are you interested in growing fruit, but have hesitated because of the recommended chemical regimens? Annette Shrader visits a home orchard that just may encourage you to see what's possible without it. Plus, why not grow eggplants on the porch? Let's learn how to grow from our neighbors. First, there are so many fruits that grow well here.

- I think all of us want to grow fruit in our backyards, but, you know, it's not as easy as just looking through a catalog and saying, "Oh, I'd like one of these and one of those." There's research through going through that and I think when we finish talking to Tina Ramsey that we're probably going to be enlightened about how to maybe be more successful. Well, Tina, I see success right before us. Tell about these pears.

- Well, this is a Bartlett pear tree, and we actually have three pears on it this year. These trees have been here for almost three years and we're pretty thrilled about it. You need a pollinator for fruit trees and, fortunately, we do have a pollinator. We have three different varieties: Bartlett, Moonglow, and Kieffer, and we work very hard on these pruning them, trying to make sure that they have the right condition to grow because I don't spray my trees. I'm pretty much an organic gardener. We're standing in my orchard here.

- Well, let's just ask one question about pears. Sometimes pears get fire blight. What do you wanna do to fight that off and is it detrimental? Will it kill the tree or just one year's problem?

- Fire blight is a real problem, and when I researched the trees for this orchard, I looked specifically at fire blight, scab, cedar-apple rust, bacterial leaf blight, and mildew. I tried to select plants that were resistant to that. I've had some good success with some and some without. An answer to your question: fire blight is more of an aesthetic problem, and it's almost impossible not to have it in Tennessee because we have so many cedar trees and it comes back and forth.

- And it seems the more blooms there are, the more fire blight we might have. That's what I experienced on the tree I had, an Anjou pear.

- [Tina] Pruning is so important for fruit trees, and people are afraid to prune. And you need two prunings a year, at least. I actually prune a lot more than that, but your primary pruning will be in February. Before new growth starts, you wanna prune back to the fruit spurs. Open up the tree, make sure that there's good air circulation. And, then, I do another pruning probably June or July since this year everything is, like, three weeks early.

- [Annette] Okay, I'm gonna ask a question. Is there a problem identifying the fruit spur? You say you prune back to the fruit spur.

- Yes, there is. So, a fruit spur is actually last year's growth that is going to bloom the following year and put out fruit. And it's kind of hard to tell what is water sprouts and what are fruit spurs, but I look for horizontal branchings coming off from a lateral, which is here, and I try to keep all of my branches short so that we do have the older growth. The leafy growth comes out and helps to produce food for the plant and the tree. The fruit spurs are second year growth that's going to bloom the following year, and here we have one. Came out last year. I did not prune it off and, obviously, it bloomed and we had pollination. So, we've got three good-looking pears on there.

- And you can identify the fact that this right here would be this year's growth, correct?

- Yes, ma'am, that's exactly correct.

- Okay, so you talked about water sprouts. Would this be considered water sprout here or this a possible fruit producer?

- That I would consider a water sprout. Anything growing straight up and down is going to come off, and it will come off in the summer pruning, and if it grows back, I'll get it again in the winter pruning. This tree was pruned down to very few branches just a few months ago.

- I can imagine before it leafed out. Okay, very good information. So, this is a Pawpaw. Have you picked any up and put them in your pocket yet?

- No, but my husband and I are certainly hoping to be able to do so someday.

- [Annette] Okay.

- This Pawpaw is Overleese and that one down there is Sunflower, and Pawpaws are a little difficult to grow and they're picky. Most of the time, you find them in the shade, but they will grow well in the sun. What I had to do was build tree shelters over them for the first two years that they were here. This is now the third year, and they're doing quite well. It actually bloomed. We, however, did not get any pollination this year. But they're really pretty trees, and we're hoping to pick up those Pawpaws and put them in our pocket.

- Well, don't the butterflies pollinate these?

- No, it's not butterflies. It's carrion flies. The blooms actually smell like rotting meat.

- Yeah.

- And so, the zebra swallowtail, this is a host plant for them.

- I knew it was the host plant. That's why I thought that they were the pollinators.

- Yeah, no, it's carrion flies and the bees don't even do it. So, this year when they bloomed, it was really warm and they were covered with flies, so we were hoping we'd get some fruit. We unfortunately didn't.

- Well, it's still a little bit immature, but I'd say you have promise.

- Thank you, I hope so, Annette, I do.

- [Annette] Alright, what is this?

- [Tina] This is Kiwi Issai, which is supposed to be a self-pollinating kiwi. A lot of people don't know that you need both a male and a female pollinators for fruit trees, and kiwi is no exception. I did have a male pollinator to help me get more kiwi, but for two years in a row, it's died over the winter. Issai, however, continues to live and grow, and I suspect within a few years, she'll take over this trellis.

- [Annette] Where did you get your introduction to kiwis?

- [Tina] I got it from Volunteer Gardener when you did your piece on Hidden Spring's Nursery, and I actually bought this kiwi from there, as well as my Pawpaw trees, and I've been very pleased with the fruits that have come from there.

- [Annette] This is a new one, also. What is this?

- This is a quince tree, Cydonia oblonga. It's not the ornamental quince. I purchased two of these at University of Tennessee's summer celebration two years ago. So, this one and this tree here have been in the orchard for about two years and, surprisingly enough, we picked three quince last year. So, we couldn't eat them because they're rock hard and I don't really know how to process them.

- [Annette] Does this have thorns, also, like the others?

- It has some little thorns.

- [Annette] Blueberries, I love them. Now, tell me what I'm doing wrong with mine.

- Well, blueberries need a very acidic soil. Anywhere from four and a half to five and a half. So, the first thing you must do with any plants or crop is to do a soil test. If you don't have acidic soil, seven is neutral. And a lot of people might have between six and seven, which is good, but blueberries really want it acid-y. So, below six would be good. When you have that, you give them a mulch, they have everything they need. They'll grow good. The first thing I did out here was get a soil test, and our soil acidity was about five point two.

- [Annette] Oh, they're happy.

- [Tina] Yes, they're happy. We also have some salawood growing here and a lot of other plants that like the acid clay soil. So, we're very fortunate. So, the first thing I wanted to do was plant blueberries. This is one of about a dozen, and these were planted last year. This is Tifblue, and you can see I have a few berries on them.

- [Annette] Let me ask you this. You're using the pine straw as a mulch and I see that you have cardboard under that. Do they receive some acidity from just the pine needles?

- [Tina] Not enough to make a difference. So, a lot of people think pine needles acidify the soil, and it may over a long period, but it won't be enough.

- I see these on the roadside. What's the difference in those and these?

- Well, these are elderberries and they're beautiful plants, and the ones you see growing on the roadside are species. The cultivated ones, such as these ones I have here, which is Johns and Adams, I have a pollinator for each other. They are bred for improved fruit production, better tasting fruit, better flowers, better resistance to diseases. These are doing phenomenally well. I did have them a little bit in the shade, had to move them out here to the sun, and now, they're just really happy and actually getting ready to bloom.

- Well, now, I know that you can make an elderberry wine. So, as far as what you're doing for the wildlife and all the things you have going on here, is there anything that particularly wants this shrub?

- Deer. We have the big fence for the deer, but butterflies like it and it's just adding to the diversity. And my husband wants us to be able to eat what we grow. So, we have to grow good stuff.

- That's a good thing to do.

- Yes.

- Well, I think you keep referring to the back 40 and all, and I know that the work that's gone into just planting what this area has produced is unmountable for me. I can't imagine.

- [Tina] It's a lot of work, Annette, it really is, but it's a labor of love.

- Everybody's familiar with knockout roses, that shrub rose series that has changed landscaping all over the country. I mean, here in Tennessee, it's rare to see a yard that doesn't have knockout roses in it. The great thing is that there's newer breeding, ongoing breeding, of these disease-resistant shrub roses that offers a new range of colors and sizes beyond knockouts. One problem with knockouts is they get so big. I mean, people think they're buying a four foot bush and it ends up growing six, seven feet tall, and you have to wack it back all the time and it outgrows its space. And it's a problem, especially on smaller lots. So, but today, we're gonna have a great time talking about some of these newer roses that are available. And we have the pleasure of being here at Colorburst Wholesale Nursery outside of Murfreesboro with Matt Vehr who grows these beautiful plants and owns this wonderful place. And, Matt, I just wanna thank you for having us here.

- Thanks for coming down, Marty. It's a pleasure.

- [Marty] This kind here, it looks like this string is called oh so easy. Tell us about that.

- Right, the oh so easy series of roses has been around a couple of years, and it started with just a few different varieties available on the market, but it's grown now to where there are about eight or 10 of the different colors in the series with separate names: Mango Salsa, Cherry Pie, Paprika, Strawberry Crush. And these roses, they have the same disease resistance that the knockouts had.

- Oh great, no black spots to speak of.

- No black spots. You may see it occasionally here in the state of Tennessee, but no, correct. These plants are great in that they only get to, most of them, no taller than three feet. I don't know that any of them get taller than three feet, and some are actual ground covers and they bloom throughout the summer. They'll bloom, take a little break, set more buds, bloom again with in a couple of weeks, like knockouts. Exactly, but they don't evolve to that monster size.

- Right, so, they really stay a manageable size. That's wonderful, and we've got a few varieties specifically here. This one is called Cherry Pie?

- [Matt] Cherry Pie, and it's a single red and it's a good, deep red.

- [Marty] Oh, that's cool. That's a really beautiful, sort of like a home run rose, which is a knockout offspring, also, that people may be familiar with. Let's talk about this one. I love this color.

- [Matt] Now, that is Strawberry Crush. Strawberry Crush starts out almost even a little deeper than this with a little more orange.

- [Marty] Sort of coral pink.

- Coral pink, and as the flower stays open, within a day or so it-

- It turns to a softer pink.

- Softer pink, and the plant, as it gets larger, will be covered with various colors of flowers.

- And this is one of the ones that get to, like, a three foot small shrub, right? Yeah, really beautiful. I've used this in landscapes already. It's just a terrific plant and the colors just blend with everything. It's a wonderful, wonderful shade. I think that pastel blend is so pleasing. And this one is really cool. This is another single.

- [Matt] Right, this is one called Paprika and it's a great seller here in Tennessee because you don't get many flowers, roses, or other shrubs with bright orange flowers and everybody likes the Vols and everybody likes orange flowers.

- Yeah, Tennessee Vols. There you go.

- And this is- it's a compact one. It's not a spreader. It goes to about two and a half feet by about that wide also, two and a half feet wide and just kind of an oval shaped shrub, and it's just loaded with orange blooms throughout the summer.

- Now, will these, just culturally, how much shade will these take or do they have to have full sun?

- They don't have to have full sun and there are varying degrees of shade. They need bright light. They don't need direct sun all the time.

- But half a day of sun is fine?

- Half a day of sun would be great.

- So, and shade varies, too, like you were saying.

- Shade varies if it's a low branch tree it's under or a high branch tree or against a building, right, right. So, they like bright light, four hours of sun.

- Okay, and the way you'll know if you're not getting enough sun on a rose is it'll grow, but it won't bloom, right?

- And it'll be sparse. A lot of foliage, not many flowers.

- Let's move on to these little guys and this series.

- Okay, now, this is a relatively new series called the Drift series of roses, and the Drift roses are smaller, again, than knockout, but even a little bit more compact than the oh so easy series, but they're not miniatures.

- Right, I think of these kind of as contained ground cover type roses. They don't spread six feet, but they spread more than they grow up.

- Almost, like, grow kind of like some spiraeas, same dimensions, and they're very clean. None of these plants have been sprayed this year with a fungicide or insecticide of any type. They're all clean as can be.

- There is nothing on these. They look beautiful.

- And this series, this red one right here is called Red Drift. It's a double red, and this one is Coral Drift, which is almost red, but it kind of fades into a coral. It's a deep coral. And, then, this is Apricot Drift, which is more of a lighter, peachy apricot color.

- [Marty] And I know there are other colors, too. There's a white and a peach.

- [Matt] There are about six or seven in this series. The white one is Icy Drift.

- [Marty] The compact size is just a wonderful boom for everybody, plus the disease resistance is terrific.

- [Matt] It's nice to see a rose out there other than the knockout.

- [Marty] Yeah, there's a lot more available. It's really great to know, and imagine these beautiful colors in your landscape, my gosh.

- So, for all those that love eggplant out there and have a hard time growing it, we're gonna talk about some solutions that you can find useful around your garden. And I'm here with Michelle, and we are talking about this lovely, healthy, robust-looking eggplant that has almost little to no flea beetle damage, which is usually the main culprit against your eggplant here. And I see we're here on your patio. Tell me a little bit about why you're having such great success.

- Well, we've discovered that eggplants like to grow in containers, and this is a very deep box. This is cedar, Tennessee cedar, and it comes up to above my knees, between my knees and hips. They seem to do better in containers. Now, another reason is that I have it surrounded by pleasant herbs. It's between the catnip and the basal and the dill and a bunch of other herbs, and all those things help confuse the bugs and diffuse them so they won't come and bother your eggplant. I also cover mine at night with a row cover, and that helps keep the curious and the hungry away cause we have raccoons and possums and armadillos and all kinds of- plus snails and the flea beetles. So, in the containers, they just seem to do well and some of these containers have a little water-holding capacity, also.

- [Matt] Moisture stays really consistent.

- [Michelle] I think they like regular watering. They like the shade from the other plants. They would like some mulch, and they like the companionship.

- [Matt] Well, whatever you're doing, it looks fantastic. Kind of sounds like you're attacking with a three-pronged approach. Whether it is a container on your deck, whether it is companion plantings around the eggplant, and then also using that little veil as a row cover to keep the insects away. I would like to just encourage any of those at home watching to try at least one or maybe two or three of these techniques for some really perfect looking eggplant.

- [Michelle] And we had a bump of crop last year. I don't know if we had a couple of dozens of eggplants, so, we were looking up eggplant recipes.

- Hey, that's a good problem to have.

- It's wonderful and from all different countries, Greek and, you know, Europe and Turkey. You name it.

- That's great.

- We show all kinds of gardens on Volunteer Gardener, but the favorite ones that I get to do and see are the ones where real gardeners, dirt gardeners, really get into creating something beautiful and unique on their own. In this particular garden, these three crape myrtles behind me and one other and a big oak were all that was here when this garden started seven years ago, and you can really see what they have done in just a short period of time. Barbara, thanks so much for having us to your garden today. You just have an incredible selection of plants growing here in the shade of this mighty, mighty oak. I want you to point out some of your favorite things for us.

- Well, I love the color green, and that's one of the things that a woodland affords you to be able to have. Lots of variations of the color green. Here we have the helleborus, ginger, and a sensitive fern, which comes together to make a nice texture, as well as a variation of the color green.

- [Troy] Sure, so, you've got those big, broad, sort of hand-shaped leaves of the hellebore, the lenten rose, and then this little ginger with the silver variegation on it, and then those big, almost kind of palm-like leaves of the sensitive fern that do give you such great color contrast, even though it's all green. And I think that's something that so many gardeners forget because all of our plants, or so many of them, have green leaves, and we sort of forget that green is a color, too.

- [Barbara] Yes, yes, it's a great part of a garden, just that the foliage and the backdrop that it gives, even to flowers when the plant is blooming.

- Right, so, you came here from Indiana about seven years ago.

- Correct.

- And I would imagine that the hostas probably grew a little better in Indiana than they do down here in the south.

- They grew quite larger, and that's been one of my challenges here with the size, adjusting to the fact that they don't because the winters aren't as cold here as in Indiana, and, of course, the situation with moles and-

- [Tony] Voles?

- [Barbara] Correct, yes.

- [Tony] Always something that we're after. Back to the hostas in the pots for just a minute. I think for us southern gardeners, that's something important to note, is that when you have them in containers in the winter time, that soil gets colder around their roots, and, for hostas, that's a really important thing. It's why you had better luck with them further north than we have with them in the south. So, for southern gardeners, if you can grow some of your big hostas in pots, they'll actually perform better because they get that cold weather that they need. So, I have to ask you, as I stand here and my foot is on this giant oak tree root. The big oak tree, obviously, is the centerpiece of the garden, but for you as a gardener, friend or foe?

- Well, it's a friend for the most part. It's a challenge planting between the roots and making sure the other plants get the proper nourishment and water that they need, but I find that if each spring I do a broadcasting that it keeps the tree, as well as the plants, very happy.

- [Tony] So, you're broadcasting a little fertilizer each spring to keep things happy, the oak tree as well as the plants growing under it, happy and thriving. Like, your Solomon's Seal here is doing really well and is, obviously, thriving. And, then, you've got some hydrangeas mixed in here, and some mixed containers that have hostas and ferns.

- [Barbara] Yes, and they get a dose of fertilizer when I broadcast, as well.

- [Tony] So, everything gets one good dose of fertilizer in the spring.

- [Barbara] Yes.

- [Tony] Okay, I'm fascinated by this plant with the giant leaves. Tell me about this.

- [Barbara] On one of our shopping trips to a shade garden, she was selling these and we brought these from Indiana with us. I've always referred to them as umbrella plants. Is it part of the ligularia?

- It's not actually related to ligularia. The botanical name is Petasites. Sometimes, I've heard also people call it dinosaur plant because it just looks sort of prehistoric. It's so big, and we're standing in a patch of it here and it, obviously, spreads. So, have you had to manage it somehow or, so far, have you been able to just kind of let it wander?

- Actually, I have decided to let it play a part in the garden itself by taking it from places that it doesn't work and putting it in places where it does work a little bit more, yes. So, it takes a bit of maintaining.

- [Tony] Even though it does require a little bit of maintenance, yes, we grow some big hostas and some of those have pretty good sized leaves, but this is almost tropical-looking. It has that giant foliage that just is so beautiful, and in contrast to all of the ferns and the things that have that finer texture in the shade garden, this just really gives you that big, broad, beautiful, green leaf.

- [Barbara] Yes, it does.

- Well, you said that most of your hostas, your big hostas anyway, have done a little bit better in containers, but you do have some in the ground, and I have to ask you about this one because it's so beautiful.

- [Barbara] Yes, it's one of the ones that have worked very well for me putting it in the ground, the Blue Mammoth, and I love it because of the size of the leaves because I love large leaves, as well as the blue-green color.

- And, then, you also mentioned that you've begun experimenting with a plant that not a lot of people here in Tennessee grow, but the ligularias.

- Correct, because they offer that same accent for me. I like the large leaves and, of course, they have the texture to them with the zagged edges and everything.

- [Tony] And they also have a yellow bloom on them, a yellowish to a kind of yellowish orange bloom on them, later in the summer.

- [Barbara] They offer color as well that way.

- [Tony] They give you a little late summer color through their flowers. And one thing about the ligularias is that they do like a little moisture, and I notice where you have them in the garden might be places where you get a little drainage that comes through or a little low spot where they do get that little bit of extra moisture that they really need.

- [Barbara] And, Troy, over here is also a ligularia that offers a bit of variegation and brings a bit of light into the garden, and it also has the big leaf, which I so enjoy.

- Well, I love sitting here under this shady arbor. How did you decide on this piece for the back of the yard?

- Well, we enjoy outdoor spaces because it allows us to be able to come together and be comfortable, and this particular space is made possible by a wonderful neighbor who gifted us a portion of their wisteria, which is what gardeners do. They love to share.

- [Tony] To share, absolutely. We all share.

- [Barbara] Within the last three years, it's managed to cover and offer a wonderful room that we can use and entertain.

- [Tony] Right, well, I know that, also, you have space to expand. Are there plans for the future, and what are they?

- [Barbara] Well, we are looking to create more of a naturalized native Tennessee-like space that extends beyond this more, like, woodland setting that we're in now, and I'm really excited about its step-by-step process.

- [Tony] So, right now, you're doing a little reclamation and cleaning up of the woods and removal of either invasive plants or just wild weeds that are in the way of doing what you really want to do.

- [Barbara] Yes, and my husband has made great progress since we've been here. A ways to go, but excited about extending the garden, yes.

- [Tony] Thank you so much for having us today. It has been a pleasure to be here, and the garden is beautiful.

- [Barbara] It's been wonderful having you. I really appreciate you stopping by and sharing your time to visit my garden.

- [Narrator] For inspiring garden tours, growing tips, and garden projects, visit our website at volunteergardener.org or on YouTube at the Volunteer Gardener channel, and like us on Facebook.