Episode 2701

- [Narrator] Coming up, Annette Schrader tours the wildflower garden at Austin Peay State University, where the plant education is a feast for the eyes. Then, if you are considering a water feature for your outdoor space, Troy Marden, looks at the typical maintenance chores involved for a variety of options. Stay tuned. First, a garden to explore, and imagine the possibilities for your own space.

- Have you ever had that wow moment, when you discover something close to home? I'm at there today, at Austin Peay State University. Now this is a Northern Honeysuckle Bush, right Thomas?

- [Thomas] Yes, mhmm.

- [Annette] Well it, it's not invasive is it?

- [Thomas] No, it is not, no.

- [Annette] So, what, I know that it's not in bloom. Does it have the fragrance?

- [Thomas] Yes, yes it does.

- [Annette] Okay. Well, I'm getting all this good information from Thomas Murphy. He's a graduate student here at Austin Peay State University, and we're glad that you're in our area, because you brought a lot of knowledge with you. And I want to keep picking at that knowledge, okay.

- Definitely.

- [Annette] Right here, I know that this is an unusual, I think it's in the Heuchera?

- [Thomas] Yes, mhmm.

- [Annette] Well, tell us about this.

- [Thomas] Yeah, so this is a, this is a great plant. These grow on a lot of rock crevices or on cliffs. This is called Giant Alum Root, and they have really large leaves. They're really great for the garden. Kind of makes a statement.

- Then right here, I think I recognize this, as a Spiderwort?

- Yes, yeah, this is another Spiderwort, except this time this one's in bloom. This is Tradescantia ozarkana, and this is a nice, white Spiderwort that's only found in the Ozark Mountains, so, yeah.

- [Annette] Isn't that neat that they're just little particular squares of land and rock that something will start growing in, and it doesn't want to go anywhere else, does it?

- [Thomas] Yeah, definitely, yeah.

- [Annette] Okay, so this is not what many people would recognize as a Smoke Tree is it?

- [Thomas] No, it is not, yeah. But it's actually the American Smoke Tree, which a lot of people don't realize there, there is a native Smoke Tree to the U.S. It has a pretty narrow range, but it is a very great plant. It has nice structure and great fall color.

- [Annette] Hmm, and then the bloom is actually sort of insignificant, isn't it?

- [Thomas] Yeah, yeah, the bloom is pretty insignificant. It's actually in the same family as Poison Ivy and Sumac.

- [Annette] But it's not anything about it that's going to get you, is it?

- [Thomas] No, no.

- [Annette] Okay. That's a nice tree. I like that structure. Kind of like a Sumac, and the way they have that branching. Okay.

- [Thomas] Mhmm, yeah.

- [Annette] So Thomas, tell us about the Monarda.

- [Thomas] Monarda bradburiana, or what we call is bee bomb, is it's a great pollinator plant to have in your garden. It's in the mint family.

- [Annette] Yeah, and then that also is found along the hillsides in other colors, isn't it?

- [Thomas] Yes, mhmm, yeah.

- [Annette] A white one and, but I do love the fact that the bumblebees will just devour the tops of those. So it's amazing that in 3000 square feet there are 330 species. Alright Thomas, I think you like this one.

- Yes, yeah. So this is called Croton alabamensis. I like this plant a lot because the underside of the leaf is a nice silver color.

- [Annette] I see that!

- [Thomas] As you can see. Now we've missed the flowers, but they're a nice yellow, and, you know, early to mid spring. And also, another thing about this plant is that it's a, it's truly a rare plant. It grows in a lot of open, rocky woods.

- [Annette] What are we looking at?

- [Thomas] So we have a couple different Milkweed species in here.

- [Annette] And they're a host plant for certain butterflies?

- [Thomas] Yeah, for Monarch butterfly, yes, They are yeah.

- [Annette] Okay, now I don't know. I've seen Milkweed, but I don't know that I, seeing one that's like this. And this seems delicate, kind of.

- [Thomas] Yeah, yeah.

- [Annette] Some plants get a little bit happy, joyous, overgrowing.

- [Thomas] Yes, definitely.

- [Annette] How do, there's not a weed in here. How do you keep under control, those things, like the Amsonia?

- [Thomas] Yeah.

- [Annette] It is beautiful, and it's found throughout this garden. So, actually it's in a happy spot. What do you do?

- [Thomas] Yeah, so a lot of the stuff like Amsonia, or a Wild Rye, and a lot of our Phloxes, like, seeded itself into the garden, and sometimes it can get a bit aggressive, and so we do like to thin it out some, especially if it's, you know, to make room for a new species that we don't have yet in the garden.

- [Annette] Yeah.

- [Thomas] But for the most part, we don't have a problem with plants seeding themself into the garden, as long as they don't choke out other plants that we're trying to look at and study.

- And you said Ryegrass. This right here, for instance. This is what you're calling a native Ryegrass.

- [Thomas] Yes, mhmm.

- [Annette] Okay.

- [Thomas] Southeastern wildrye. That's what's growing in here, yeah.

- [Annette] Okay.

- [Annette] Does that have a little wheat top, seed head in it?

- [Thomas] Mhmm, yes, mhmm.

- [Annette] Okay. I call this cool and refreshing, isn't it?

- [Thomas] Mhmm.

- [Annette] What is this?

- [Thomas] Yeah, so this is another Heuchera. It's a Long-flowered Alumroot, except these ones have larger kind of a, wider, kind of a yellowish cream color to them, and also, other than the flowers, I also liked the leaf coloration to them as well.

- [Annette] Yeah, that, and you know, there's some close relatives that we think we're purchasing sometimes in the local garden centers, but they're not that one, are they?

- [Thomas] Mm-mm.

- [Annette] Okay, I know that there are some more shady plants around over here. Let's go look at those.

- [Thomas] Yeah.

- [Annette] I recognize the Columbine, but it seems smaller. Is this the native Rocky, Colorado?

- [Thomas] Yes, that's the native Columbine, Aquilegia Canadensis. The size really has to do with the kind of habitat that you provide for it, so. I mean this case, this side is getting too much sun, because it's shaded by these two shrubs, but.

- Well, I actually like this compact size, because mine at home is here, probably stand four foot tall even.

- Yeah, yeah.

- And that's just so nice in there. Well next to that is a favorite.

- [Thomas] Yes, yes, that's the Downy phlox. It's a really prolific bloomer this year. Really great for pollinators.

- [Annette] Now tell me, what is the bloom time for this plant?

- [Thomas] Oh, that's been, that's been blooming for probably two weeks now, and it looks like it will probably bloom for another week or two, so.

- [Annette] Well now is that because of the cool spring, or is that typical?

- [Thomas] It's pretty typical, but the cool spring definitely helps it out a bit, so.

- [Annette] Yeah, now this actually spreads by the rhizomes, but does this also spread by seed?

- [Thomas] Yes, yes, it has seeded itself into several spots in, all around the garden, mhmm.

- [Annette] I'll say, it's kind of prolific, but beautifully prolific, isn't it?

- [Thomas] Yes, yeah, and it's well adapted to a lite of sites, you know, it's kind of, a timber shade in here.

- [Annette] It can go in a crevice. Yeah.

- [Thomas] Yeah.

- [Annette] All kinds of thing, well, I guess the highlight is this tiny little thing right here.

- [Thomas] Yes, yeah. That's a Narrowleaf Evening-Primrose, and interesting thing about this plant is it's actually moth pollinated.

- [Annette] Well, it must be a night moth.

- [Thomas] Mhmm, yes.

- [Annette] I guess that would, I don't know if that all moths will fly only at night, or if they're out in the daytime too, but that makes sense, doesn't it?

- [Thomas] Yeah, yeah, definitely.

- [Annette] Now, that does, that's just really fragile and pretty looking.

- [Thomas] Mhmm.

- [Annette] This is something new for me and I love it! What is it?

- Yeah, so this is Appalachian Indigo-bush, or Amorpha glabra. So they have these beautiful purple flowers, with these orange stamens, and the pollinators just love it.

- [Annette] Well, and you know, it reminds me of a Locust Tree.

- [Thomas] Yes, yes, it does have similar features, and in fact, it's in the family, in the legume family.

- [Annette] Yeah, and if you had a plant like this, you could expect the bees and the butterflies, but would it get out of hand? Can you trim it, or is it winter hardy? What about it?

- [Thomas] Yeah, yeah, it's winter hardy, and also, it can take quite a good pruning if you're trying to control the size of it in your garden.

- [Annette] Mhmm.

- [Thomas] Another thing I like about it is, it's not too dense of a shrub, so you have room to kind of grow a lot of things up and around it.

- [Annette] And you can see through it.

- [Thomas] Uh huh.

- [Annette] That's just, that's important also, when we place large plants.

- [Thomas] Yes.

- [Annette] Okay. I've really liked the glossiness of this plant.

- [Thomas] Yes, yeah, so this is barrens Saint Johnswort, and it's a pretty low growing Saint Johnswort, makes for a great ground cover because it spreads rhizomenously, and so yeah, yeah, it's really, kind of taken over this bed, and in some cases we've actually had to weed it out to make room for more plants.

- [Annette] Well I see you've got it growing just in rock, shale like thing, and so that would be a good site?

- [Thomas] Yeah, yeah, it would do well in a lot of rock gardens. It's native to shale barrens, and so it can really take, kind of a tougher environment.

- [Annette] Yeah, I think we all have places like that in our garden too.

- [Thomas] Yeah.

- [Annette] But, now I do like our prickly cactus.

- Yes, yeah.

- That is a native, isn't it?

- That is a native, yeah. A lot of people don't realize that there are cacti native to the southeast. I know a lot of these Prickly Pears, they actually eat them sometimes, and they, they peel the skin off and you can pickle it and eat it.

- [Annette] I can tell you from my own personal experience, even with a glove on, you just have to be very tender with this plant, but it's good isn't it?

- Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.

- I love that. In the world of Spiderwort.

- [Thomas] This one is actually native Spiderwort as well, and we call it Hairy Spiderwort, and it really has really narrow leaves and super hairy leaves as well. And right next to it, you can actually see a different species that we call Smooth Spiderwort. It has a little bit wider leaves, and it actually has very few hairs growing on the leaves.

- [Annette] This is nice.

- [Thomas] Yes, yeah. So this is actually Lonicera sempervirens, or trumpet honeysuckle, another native honeysuckle, and this one has, you know, super ornamental flowers with those, this red, red coloration to it. Hummingbirds love it. It can take pretty tough conditions. It likes kind of dry woods. Kept in woods conditions and.

- [Annette] Yeah, now there is your really nice, the opening with the stamens in there. That's pretty.

- [Thomas] Yeah, yeah. It's almost like an orange inside and a red outside sense.

- [Annette] Right, have you ever taken the ends off and pulled that out and get the honey off of it?

- [Thomas] Yes, yeah.

- [Annette] This is showing off, isn't it?

- [Thomas] Yes, yeah, so this is a Red buckeye that we have planted here, and it's a pretty young plant, but these are a great, great native shrub to plant. They get pretty big, and they kind of form a, kind of a round crown to them, and kind of colonize an area.

- [Annette] Kind of, I call it sucker out from the bottom.

- Yeah, yeah.

- Okay, now if someone were to plant this, and it were to be overgrowing the site, it's okay to actually trim these back some?

- [Thomas] Yeah, yeah, they can be pruned, and so you cut entire stems to the ground, or you can kind of selectively prune it.

- Well, Thomas this is truly a treasure back here, and I know that it was established about 2009 or 10.

- [Thomas] Yes, yes. This space became available back in 2007, when we had a severe drought. This space was basically just Flowering Cherry Trees, with a pretty general mulched bed, and so, once they died, Dr. Dwayne Estes, his classroom really, his, with a window right next to this space, and he thought why not turn this into a native plant garden to help teach my students.

- [Annette] He sat and dreamed, didn't he?

- [Thomas] Yes, yeah, definitely.

- [Annette] We encourage people to come, and this is very private back here, but yet it's open to the public.

- [Thomas] Yes.

- [Annette] And it's accessible to handicap, for people, and it's just, everything is labeled, and it's a property of the Austin Peay State University.

- [Thomas] Correct, yes.

- [Annette] Well, I, I thank you for your time with us today, and I know we couldn't cover 330 plants. But we, we tried.

- Yeah, yeah, thanks for having me. I enjoyed showing you all around.

- Thank you.

- These days there are new diseases that are challenging us as gardeners, and as nature lovers actually, and we're here today to talk about one of the great threats that is encompassing Eastern Woodlands, and it's the Emerald ash borer. And Dean's going to share with us how he helps his customers deal with this terrible problem. Hi Dean.

- [Dean] Hey there, how are ya?

- I'm well, except for I'm, it's so sad about this problem, but explain, first off, how did this come to be? How did we get, what is the Emerald ash borer?

- The Emerald ash borer is an insect that was brought over on a pallet. Most likely from Asia, they say.

- [Marty] Well, it's an Asian bug, yeah.

- Right, yeah. It was brought over on, in the wood on a pallet, and that's basically how it gets moved now, where we are. It gets moved in firewood and things of that nature.

- [Marty] So humans are the...

- Right, right.

- [Marty] The genesis of the problem, basically.

- We brought them over, and now they're here. They wiped out all the street trees in Michigan. We've been waiting on this bug since '02. We've been hearing, reading about it and all.

- Let's talk about what this bug does.

- The bug actually flies in, it lays its eggs in the bark.

- Mhmm.

- When the eggs all hatch, the larvas tunnel underneath the bark, and they begin to do like, galleries, like serpentine zig-zags.

- Chewing tunnels, yeah.

- Right, and it gets into the phloem, which is part of the direction of the nutrients and water, it's how the tree gets it.

- [Marty] It's how the tree gets, gets its food, yeah.

- So then if it, if they're in there working, the bark will begin to buckle. You'll start to see diebacks in the crown, and.

- The very tip of the tree first shows the problem, right?

- Right, correct, and we call that flagging. That's what I call it anyhow.

- Yeah, yeah.

- And you'll see that's where the nutrients aren't making it.

- Okay.

- They're blocking off the nutrients.

- Now, explain their, this isn't just part of the tree dying, right? The entire tree will go down with this pest.

- Well, this pest is 100% mortality rate.

- Ugh!

- It's 100%, there's no stopping it, unless you do start the regimen of injecting your trees, or using some type of a product that's out there.

- [Marty] This is one of the most common Eastern Woodland trees, I mean, it's like Chestnut Blight, it could just take out vast quantities of our Eastern Woodlands.

- [Dean] It's going to.

- [Marty] It's scary. So let's talk about what can you do.

- [Dean] Well, first thing you need to do is probably call an arborist, a certified arborist, to make sure that you get the right person out there to look at the trees and identify the trees.

- [Marty] Right.

- [Dean] Once the trees are identified, we'll be able to tell you the risk factor of each tree, and the health of it. If you have a big, historical Ash Tree, you know, you probably want to save it if it's on your property.

- [Marty] Right.

- [Dean] If you have numerous amounts of Ash Trees, then I'm going to tell you the ones that are worthy,

- [Marty] Right.

- [Dean] And the ones that aren't worthy of saving, because they are going to die if you don't treat them.

- [Marty] So, basically, consider them gone unless you do something.

- [Dean] Correct, and another thing you need to remember is, Ash Tree wood becomes very brittle very quickly. So, anything over like 10 to 15% crown dieback,

- [Marty] It can fall on your house.

- [Dean] Well, yes, and that's the only reason you need to hire a certified arborist to do the removals.

- [Marty] Yeah.

- [Dean] They're going to be able to work it safely down and dismantle the trees properly. There's been a lot of people getting killed throughout, our colleagues I've talked to that are up North

- Right.

- have dealt with this. They actually have laws in place now.

- Wow.

- So, so people are getting killed.

- Yeah.

- And you know, there's just a lot to this, so. When you start to see the crown that has no leaves and is really thinning at the very tips, and moving around, you're going to know that that tree's most likely infested. And it takes one to three years before you even know that the bug's in there.

- [Marty] Okay.

- [Dean] That's why this year is critical that we get the product in the trees now, while the trees are flushing. This is the most important year for Davidson County.

- 2018.

- Yes.

- Because the bugs been here long enough to really be starting to have, to have an impact.

- Right, it's starting to show itself, that's right

- [Marty] Okay, I see.

- [Dean] Well there's some new products that are out that have two year residuals.

- [Marty] Okay.

- [Dean] Now, and sometimes they say if you get started now, and start using emamectin benzoate.

- [Marty] Yeah.

- [Dean] If you start using that now,

- [Marty] Okay.

- [Dean] You can get up to four years residual.

- And is this injected into the tree, or how is this applied?

- Well, we inject them into trees.

- Yeah, yeah.

- I don't, I don't really like to put anything in the soil.

- Yeah.

- I would rather put it right into the wood.

- Well, and you get faster distribution through the tree.

- It's a quicker update.

- Yeah, yeah.

- We don't have to be so concerned about our water.

- Yeah, and it leeching into things, and, right.

- There's enough chemical things going on, but there are homeowner products as well.

- Right.

- You can buy at your local hardware store that's made that you can use, and I don't suggest using those after like, 15 DBH, meaning diameter at breast height.

- Yeah, that's about four feet above ground, folks. If it's more than 15 inches in diameter of the tree, get an arborist to do this, not.

- Correct.

- Don't do it yourself, because you probably won't be able to do it affectively.

- Right, and spend your money once, is what I say.

- Yeah, yeah exactly. And you can get some pretty long term, you're saying, several years worth of protection.

- Once you get the emamectin benzoate in, in the tree, it seems to have a longer residual.

- Yeah.

- I would follow directions for a few years as we keep monitoring how this product is working.

- Right, right.

- But it seems to be the best bang for your buck.

- And it does give complete protection, but you have to to catch it before the tree shows signs of illness. In other words, you have to treat, what seem to be healthy trees.

- Right, exactly.

- Yes, yeah.

- You want to get going on it now. I've got all my customers.

- Once it's sick it's over.

- All of my clients have already been through with most of them.

- Yes, yeah.

- I've told them the ones that are worthy and the ones that aren't, and here's the ones were going to put on a regimen.

- Right.

- And as they go, this is how we'll remove them.

- Right.

- And you have to have a plan.

- Right, so if you've got Ash Trees, folks, and you want to save your Ash Trees, now's the time. And it's a, it's a, basically, it's kind of, it's a systemic insecticide that you're putting into the tree, correct?

- That's correct.

- I mean, yeah, a chemical.

- It goes right into the phloem.

- It goes right into the bloodstream, if you will, of the tree, and, but that's what it takes to protect.

- And, and the one thing I also want to point out is, there's going to be a lot of people starting tree services.

- Yeah, oh yeah.

- And that's where you have to be really careful. Make sure you call the right people. Someone that's a certified arborist, has the insurance.

- Mm hmm, right.

- There's so many things that can go wrong,

- Right.

- And you want to make sure you're protected by who you hire,

- Right.

- Or who you contract out with.

- And there is that whole certification process that, that you go through as an arborist, to become a certified arborist, that ensures that you know what you're doing.

- That's correct.

- Yeah, yeah. So, that's a good point.

- And follows all the safety standards and everything.

- Right.

- We take care of our employees, and just like we do our clients.

- Right, that's great. Well Thank you Dean so much for all this incredibly helpful information. It breaks my heart that there's another disease wiping out one of our major woodland trees, you know.

- It's going to be a big deal.

- Yeah.

- We're in the Ash Tree belt.

- Yeah, we are.

- So, as people drive down the road every year, from now on, after every spring starts to pop up,

- Yeah, they're going to,

- They're going to see more and more dead trees.

- Yeah.

- [Dean] And this is why. Those are the Ash Trees that are dying, so.

- [Marty] Ugh, it's so sad. Louisville Sluggers.

- [Dean] Yep.

- [Marty] Baseball bats are made out of this tree, folks. Huh, it's a sad thing, but thank you so much. I appreciate it.

- [Dean] You're welcome. Thank you.

- Well today I get to hang out in Donelson with Derek Johnson at JVI Secret Gardens, and Derek is a master certified aquascape contractor, and we're going to talk about water features and the maintenance involved in taking care of those features.

- [Derek] That's a big deal.

- [Troy] I'm going to guess that maintenance on this is probably pretty minimal.

- [Derek] It's, yes, minimal is the key word, and when I receive a call from a client, that's typically what they always, they want a low maintenance water feature, and this, it doesn't get any easier than this. I mean there's really, it's, there's a basin underneath. There's a mechanical pump, but as you can see, it's fall of the year, we've got leaves around the basin, and it doesn't affect the water flow at all. And if you have a little bit of algae that starts to grow on the rocks, you can just cut this one off and let it sit off for a day.

- [Troy] Uh huh.

- [Derek] The algae will dry up.

- [Troy] It just cleans itself up.

- [Derek] You can take a hose and just wash it right off, so if it gets, it's really simple.

- [Troy] 25 square feet, five by five, six by six.

- [Derek] Yep.

- [Troy] You could have this anywhere.

- [Derek] Absolutely, and it can actually be in a smaller footprint than this. We just, we oversized it just a hair,

- [Troy] Yeah.

- [Derek] So if you see how the splash is going down, it could actually be tightened up for that really, really small space.

- [Troy] Small spot.

- So let's say you want to go out of town. You want to take a vacation.

- Vacation.

- Hit a switch. Just shut it, no concerns. If there's any liability, you're afraid maybe a neighbor or something comes into the yard while you're away, it's off, it's totally safe.

- It's completely safe.

- Yeah.

- And am I right that they actually even have a little remote control switch now for some of these things?

- It's, it's so cool how things have gotten technical. You know, we're natural organic, but yes, you have a key fob that you can actually just hit the key fob, shut it on and off. And not only that, if you want to impress your friends, it actually has, you can crank it up and down. So, it's an adjustable pump.

- Yeah.

- So if your buddies come over and you want to show off, crank it up.

- There you go.

- And it's, you know, it's the Bellagio. You know, if you want to chill things out and relax, just turn it down and it's subtle.

- That's fantastic. Again, we're looking at a pond-less water feature here, where the water's all rolling down into a basin that's underground.

- [Derek] Yes.

- [Troy] And I'm going to assume then that the maintenance on something like this is very similar to the system that we just looked at, where really, a spring clean up.

- [Derek] Correct.

- [Troy] And a little leaf maintenance once in a while to keep it neat and tidy is really about it. Are there any animals that are problematic for these systems, and how do we sort of combat that?

- [Derek] Sure, so with a pond scenario, obviously the heron.

- [Troy] Yeah.

- [Derek] That's always a, you know, but that's not a lot we can do about that one.

- [Troy] Exactly.

- [Derek] You know, he's the patient hunter. When it comes to if whether it's a pond or pond-less, chipmunks.

- [Troy] Mm hmm.

- [Derek] Chipmunks can definitely be a concern, so. This is a rubber liner, and as I understand it, chipmunks, their teeth are constantly growing, so they just chew.

- [Troy] Right.

- [Derek] And they're always trying to, I guess, whittle down the tooth, so, it's not that they're attracted to the liner, but if you're a chipmunk, I mean this is a pretty sweet place to live.

- [Troy] Yeah.

- [Derek] I mean, you've got your plant life, you've got your water source. So they'll literally, if they're in the area, they'll burrow in.

- [Troy] Uh huh.

- [Derek] And they'll get on a side, and they can chew through the liner, and the hosing, so.

- [Troy] Right.

- [Derek] What we do upon installation, is we literally take a metal mesh, and, and we also put down a protective fabric to protect the liner, but there's a metal mesh that goes in between, so, if the chipmunks were to take up residence,

- [Troy] Right.

- [Derek] And chew, they're going to find the metal mesh and move on, so. What I look for, it's actually interesting, it's very common for people to put bird feeders in, beside their water feature to attract the birds. Well, the chipmunks love the same,

- [Troy] Food source, because chipmunks are also attracted to that birdseed.

- [Derek] Absolutely, so that's kind of, I try to encourage when I come across that to ask the client to move the bird feeder away to maybe draw the chipmunk away, so. Because it is, does it happen? 2% of the time.

- [Troy] Right.

- [Derek] But it is relevant.

- [Troy] But it is relevant and it can happen. Let's address, just for a second, the, the installation, and more importantly, maybe the maintenance of something like this. There's a hole in the ground. There is a basin that sits underneath this lowest bowl.

- Yes.

- And beyond that, it's just a recirculating pump.

- It's, yes.

- So what are the pieces and parts that may need some maintenance over the life of this, this feature?

- Sure, so you do have just a small mechanical pump,

- [Troy] Yep.

- [Derek] That's, that's within that basin. It has a little housing it drops into. So the access is relatively easy. Just pull the gravel back and get in it. But, you know, it's, it's a mechanical part. At some point it is going to fail.

- [Troy] Right.

- [Derek] There is warranties that come with these, but at some point it's going to fail, and you just replace the pump. There's really not, a spring cleaning is always recommended, like with any water feature.

- [Troy] Sure.

- [Derek] Here, you just drain the water, pull the pump out, inspect the pump, make sure the propeller's clear, drop it back in, fill it back up, and we're ready for another season.

- [Troy] But then we graduate up to a pond with a waterfall, those kinds of things. How does the maintenance change with something like this?

- [Derek] So, there is a little bit more maintenance, but it's still kind of the same concept. It's, it's going to be on the lower maintenance side. With our skimmer setups,

- Right.

- And how this, this functions, And I can show you right here, is,

- Yeah.

- This is a faux stone. So, inside here we actually have a skimmer basket, and then our pump and everything is down underneath, so. As leaves hit the waters surface, it actually draws into the skimmer basket, and really the maintenance on this is depending on the time of the year. We truly just take this basket out, and simply, you can just dump it right out, and that's all the leaves it accumulated. And you just slide it back in.

- And it just slides right back in.

- It's really that simple. So, depending on the time of the year, You're probably going to need to check it a little more. In the spring, when we have a spring flush of leaves, the winds, it's going to hit the water, so, you know, you check it once or twice a day. Maybe once a week, but during the summer,

- [Troy] Right.

- [Derek] It's really nothing going on.

- [Troy] And you mentioned leaf fall, and you have a really unique set up here to capture the leaves from falling into this particular pond.

- [Derek] Right.

- [Troy] What's the advantage of this versus, you know, most of the time when we see that somebody's gone out and bought some bird netting somewhere and just draped it over the top of the pond.

- [Derek] Exactly.

- [Troy] What's your advantage here to using this?

- [Derek] So, it's a couple of things. Definitely when, you know, the old traditional style, just throw the net over the pond, it actually works for a little bit, but once those leaves hit it, it gets heavy, then it actually sags into the water. Not only that, you get the tannins from the leaves,

- [Troy] Right.

- [Derek] So then it gets into the water. So this was kind of like one of those things we just came up with out camping and setting up the tent.

- [Troy] Uh huh.

- [Derek] And, you know, the bows are going across it. It just kind of clicked.

- [Troy] Right.

- [Derek] It was like, wow, if we could create that across the pond and drape the net, it will keep those leaves obviously out of the water, and it also sheds to the sides.

- [Troy] Uh huh.

- [Derek] And then aesthetically, it's much more pleasing. We actually have some clients, but once we've installed it this way, they decided to keep it up.

- [Troy] Interesting.

- [Derek] Yeah, and I just, I.

- [Troy] Because it really does kind of, from a distance especially, it just sort of disappears. The netting's not that visible. Now in this particular situation, are these, are your, your poles removable?

- [Derek] They are. It's absolutely, we've taken rebar and we've actually drove it in on the edges, the perimeter of the pond.

- [Troy] Uh huh.

- [Derek] And this is just schedule 80 pipe that you get at a plumbing supply house.

- [Troy] Okay.

- [Derek] And you just, you know, drape it across, and, so this could come off and, you know, 10 minutes we could have this completely taken off and squared away.

- So this is just PVC.

- It is, yeah.

- It's just flexible, you just bent it into this shape,

- Exactly.

- One, one spot to the other, and it sort of has crossed my mind that in the annual maintenance of a water feature, you do have some points at which you sort of clean out the pond, if you will.

- [Derek] Yes.

- [Troy] Once or twice a year. And maybe there's an added benefit, in that, this pond water, which has good fish emulsion and things in it, is beneficial for other parts of the garden, true?

- [Derek] Absolutely, agreed, yes. It's definitely, so spring cleaning, you come in, you drain the pond, but there's so much, I mean, wonderful nutrients exactly for the fish emulsion. You don't want it, you don't want this to go to waste. So anytime we come to a clients yard, or if that the homeowner wants to do it themselves, you pump that water, it's, put it in your perennial gardens.

- Right.

- You know, water your lawn with it. I mean the, I've never measured, you know, the NPK on this.

- Sure.

- But every time we do a clean out and we drop the hose out in the yard, or we water the plants, the client always tells us that it's beneficial. We'll even come back sometimes, and then that part of the lawn that the water was dispersed in, it's greener.

- It's greener, yeah.

- So why not use it?

- Exactly.

- And you can go a step farther, and on these water features, and we're getting, you know, definitely to the like, the technical side, but.

- Right.

- [Derek] You can add a basin, an underground basin, anywhere from 500 to 5000 gallons, whatever you want, that this will constantly circulate through. You can tap into that water and use it for irrigation. You can actually use it for greywater.

- [Troy] Wow.

- [Derek] If you wanted to, so.

- [Troy] Interesting.

- [Derek] Yeah, it's a nice little add on, and they're getting more filtration.

- [Troy] More filtration, and, and again, a benefit to the larger garden, the larger landscape potentially.

- [Derek] Could you imagine watering your garden with this regularly?

- [Troy] I mean, it would be great. It would be out of control.

- [Derek] Unbelievable, right, right.

- Well, I want to thank you for taking a few minutes,

- Absolutely.

- To show us some of these different pond and pond-less water features.

- Yes.

- For people's landscapes and gardens, and we appreciate you taking the time.

- Absolutely. Thanks so much.

- Thank you.

- Appreciate it.

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