Episode 2739

- [Narrator] A place to relax, to gather, to grow. That's what these Sumner County Master Gardeners create and cultivate in this courtyard space for a grateful retirement community in Hendersonville. Plus, did you now interior-scaping is a thing? Yes, houseplants play a starring role. Phillippe Chadwick checks out the varieties that are trending with a new generation. Join us! First, the heart of this retirement community is in the outdoor courtyard gardens.

- I'm here today at Park Place Retirement Community a lovely facility in Hendersonville, northeast of Nashville. It's been here since 1984. And for a long time, the Sumner County Master Gardeners have been building a courtyard garden here that has so enriched the lives of the residents. I'm here with Sue Martin, who with her husband, are the co-chairs of this beautiful project at Park Place. And Sue, I'm so happy to be here with you today.

- Thank you, thank you.

- And, how long has this garden been in the making? I mean, it looks very well-established.

- It is, i was started in 1999.

- Wow, that's 20 years ago just about.

- Yes, yes, and it is a ongoing project. We're always adding new things, adding new beds, and everyone has different ideas and so on. So we bring--

- That's great.

- Everything new and fresh each year. The residents love this garden.

- [Marty] Oh, I bet they do. And this is exciting. There is a National Wildlife Federation Habitat sign. They don't just give those out to anybody.

- [Sue] Correct. And actually this facility was one of the first retirement communities that was able to get registered with the National Wildlife Federation.

- [Marty] That's great. And I see you've got a really lovely water feature over there.

- [Sue] Thank you, yes.

- [Marty] That's beautiful.

- [Sue] Thank you.

- [Marty] Another thing I'm seeing is a lot of flowers that it looks like you've planned this for continuous, something always in color.

- [Sue] Correct, we have bloom from early spring. We have new things coming out of the ground, surprises all year long.

- [Marty] Uh huh, that's so much fun.

- [Sue] Yes.

- [Marty] And with the annuals you can change things up every year, so it's--

- [Sue] Correct. We do bring in annuals to to throw in extra color and everything.

- [Marty] That's so much fun. That is a raised bed loaded with veggies, man. Tell me about that.

- [Sue] Well, we started that a few years ago, for the residents, and as it turned out, they just absolutely loved it. They couldn't wait to get out here and plant tomatoes and radishes and cucumbers and peppers. It was a huge hit and so we went ahead and added these upright containers.

- [Marty] Right.

- [Sue] They enjoy both the flowers and the vegetables and--

- [Marty] So do I, I mix em all the time.

- [Sue] Right, right.

- [Marty] And you've told me you have another new section you wanna show off. It's so beautiful.

- [Sue] Yes, um.

- [Marty] Let's go take a look.

- [Sue] All right.

- [Marty] This is charming, I love this big, very interestingly-shaped mulberry that sort of anchors this garden.

- [Sue] It adds a lot of character.

- [Marty] It sure does.

- [Sue] To this new garden. We just added this garden a month ago. And there were about 25 of us Master Gardeners in the heat of June, actually.

- [Marty] Right.

- [Sue] And we completely took everything out of here. Two truckloads of--

- [Marty] Wow.

- [Sue] Items and trash and things and pots.

- [Marty] It was just kind of a neglected area.

- [Sue] A neglected area

- [Marty] Yes.

- [Sue] They actually come out here now and do their art classes.

- [Marty] Oh, what fun.

- [Sue] And they come out and drink coffee.

- [Marty] Sure

- [Sue] And, you know, just a place to read books.

- [Marty] And that hosta that you have is just so beautiful.

- [Sue] Thank you.

- [Marty] That's one of my, it's like my favorite hosta of all, it's called Stained Glass.

- [Sue] Stained Glass?

- [Marty] Yes, and it's a spectacularly performing plant. It seems like it's doing really well for you.

- [Sue] We were trying to go with the chartreuse green and the pinks and things to sorta--

- [Marty] And sorta bronzey-purple too yeah.

- [Sue] Right, to keep their--

- [Marty] A lovely contrast.

- [Sue] To keep the color scheme going throughout the garden.

- [Marty] This is one of my favorite phlox and I love this border you've got here that really features this plant. This is Jeanna, I believe, phlox?

- Uh huh.

- One of the things I love about this phlox is it doesn't get mildew unlike a lot of summer phlox. Look how clean the foliage is. And it sure blooms its head off, doesn't it?

- Yes it does. It's a beautiful, beautiful surprise at the end of the summer.

- [Marty] Yeah.

- [Sue] It just comes out a vengeance.

- [Marty] It's lovely and a long bloom period too.

- [Sue] Yes.

- [Marty] I don't know whether you know this, this is just my plant trivia kicking in, but this is a locally discovered phlox. It was discovered near the Harpeth River.

- [Sue] Really?

- [Marty] Yeah. I did not know that.

- [Marty] So.

- [Sue] That's interesting.

- [Marty] Yeah, but now it's everywhere that people grow phlox cause it's such a good variety. I'm here with Amy Raines, General Manager of Park Place Retirement Community. What sort of impact this wonderful garden has had on the community here?

- Our residents love it. They're able to come out and read. We have, my activity director uses this space for exercise, lemonade socials out here.

- [Marty] Oh how nice.

- They grow tomatoes and peppers and just absolutely love it. And even in October, we use this space. We do a Bonfire and we do ghost stories for Halloween out here and roast s'mores and so we, nevermind grilling on the 4th of July. It's just an amazing extension to our community.

- [Marty] It's really a social gathering place, isn't it?

- [Amy] Yeah, it's fantastic. It's so beautiful and serene out here and it gives our residents an opportunity to still get in the dirt and grow and do things that they were enjoying in their homes. And they can do it here with us and with their community. So it's fantastic.

- [Marty] Oh, that's lovely.

- [Amy] Yeah.

- [Marty] And it's certainly a lot of joint effort has made this possible.

- [Amy] Yeah, oh we're so grateful. We've been blessed for almost 20 years now with the Master Gardeners and they work so hard. Week in and out, they're out here making this place beautiful and they do it just, kind of as a ministry, I guess. And volunteer their time and their immense talents and we're so fortunate to have them.

- [Marty] Oh that's, it's just a lovely thing. It's a lovely, it has a lovely atmosphere here.

- [Amy] Yeah.

- [Marty] Yeah.

- [Amy] We're very lucky

- [Marty] Oh, thank you so much. You heard both Amy and Sue talk about the group of people that make this happen. And I gotta tell ya, I know from personal experience how much work it is to make a beautiful garden stay beautiful all the time. I want their faces on camera. They deserve the credit. These are the people who make it happen, Sumner County Master Gardeners!

- So, houseplants have been trending and kind of growing currently all, in all age groups. Particularly Millennials. You've got a wide selection of plants here, which is wonderful. Tell me about this section right here.

- So this is our low-light section, which is just a variety of houseplants that can tolerate low-to-medium light. Most of them prefer higher humidity. This in particular, the Alocasia Polly, likes full to partial shade, so you can keep it an area of the home that doesn't get a lot of light. It has higher humidity, it's a very easy houseplant to keep and has, you know, great textural lines and architectural design. It looks great up against virtually any aesthetic. And it just does not need much to add distinction to a space and it's an easy plant. The majority of the plants that we carry here. Rattlesnake Calathea, super hardy, super easy plant to keep alive and, again, really stunning distinction. And people really love em. They're hard to keep in stock

- [Phillipe] Yeah, I bet.

- Which is a good problem to have when you're a small business.

- Yeah.

- And in the Calathea family, there's sort of this ongoing joke that, you know, you look at a Calathea wrong, they're gonna die on you. But Rattlesnakes are the hardiest of the Calathea, so I separate which ones are gonna be a little bit more challenging and the ones that are a little bit easier. And when people come in looking for a houseplant, we try to make a point to go over, you know, what their plant growing experience is, what their knowledge is about taking care of plants, their lighting, their lifestyle. So we can make sure that we match them with the right plant for their home and for how much time and care and attention they're able to give it.

- Yeah.

- These guys up here require a little bit more work.

- [Phillipe] Uh huh.

- [Kim] Beautiful Calathea Pinstripes.

- [Phillipe] Yeah.

- [Kim] But these ones are gonna be a little more needy, a little more particular about their conditions. So I try to reserve these for people that are less of a novice. Pothos is a classic, very easy plant. You see these in homes and offices a lot. They don't need much light. They trail beautifully. You can propagate from them incredibly easy. And it's a plant that you really don't have to know much of anything about plants to take care of this plant and take it home.

- [Phillipe] Yeah.

- [Kim] So a lot of people start with these. And it's something that, you know, you get a great sense of pride

- [Phillipe] Yeah.

- When you can keep that first plant alive--

- [Phillipe] Right, right.

- And it can sorta take you down that rabbit hole of plant lady, you know, obsession.

- [Phillipe] So Kim, this is a relatively new boom, in kind of gardening and the plant world too, is a lot of these tropicals and I feel like we've gotten a large variation of new things to work with. Including all these airplants, which are super cool.

- Yes, airplants are incredibly easy to maintain. They don't have roots that grow into the soil. You can literally do anything with them that you can imagine. You can glue them to things, they're gonna continue to grow.

- [Phillipe] Yeah.

- They're just, um, incredible living things. They're all considered epiphytes so they absorb things through the foliage that you see.

- [Phillipe) Okay.

- That really is a hard concept for some people to understand. They're like, "I don't need to put it down in soil? "I don't need to put it in sand?" I'm like, no, nothing at all.

- [Phillipe] Right, right.

- You can set it on a shelf and its gonna live a very happy life and continue to grow. They'll blush, bloom, and flower. This isn't a new plant, it's been here a long time.

- [Phillipe] Right

- [Kim] But to discover people and for people to come and see the, you know, discover something totally new that they didn't know existed out there has been, um, it's been a lot of fun.

- [Phillipe] Right and these are really fun to touch too.

- [Kim] Yes.

- [Phillipe] Which is what's cool, um--

- [Kim] They're kid-friendly.

- [Phillipe] Yeah.

- [Kim] I have to say that's probably my favorite thing about airplants. They're great because kids can touch them, they can hold them, you can kind of pet them. It's a great pet plant. Succulents I don't recommend as a pet plant.

- Right.

- You touch those petals and they're gonna fall right off.

- Uh huh.

- Not that you can't propagate from those, they're very cool, but they're just not touch-friendly. Airplants are very touch-friendly. You can do a lot with them. We've got kid terrariums that they can build.

- [Phillipe] Cool.

- And we try to provide a creative space here for kids to come in and build their own little mini-terrariums. And adults, of all ages. We try to make this a space where they can come in and learn and touch and feel and see all of the different things. Um, like these ones up here will change colors as they get sun exposure.

- [Phillipe] Oh, very nice.

- [Kim] See how it's got sort of that burgundy at the top.

- [Phillipe] Uh huh.

- And they're just beautiful. All of these will flower and bloom--

- [Phillipe] Okay.

- And when they do a lot of them will flower for several weeks, up to several months. Um, the Xerographica lives up to 50 years.

- [Phillipe] Wow.

- [Kim] And when they bloom, they can bloom for up to a year.

- [Phillipe] Wow.

- [Kim] And it's just stunning.

- [Phillipe] Yeah.

- This is a mother airplant and these are the pups that have grown in a cluster around the base. After she flowers again, you'll get more pups.

- [Phillipe] Yeah.

- [Kim] And they'll just keep growing into a bigger and bigger clump.

- Very neat. And as far as lighting needs for the airplants?

- So, we like to say, you know, sort of bright indirect light.

- Okay.

- The more light they get, the more color they're going to get. In general, they can survive medium light. I install them in hotels and places that don't get a ton of natural light and the vast majority will do very well even without a lot of natural light. They're fighters in ways that many plants are not. And it's another lovable aspect to their nature.

- [Phillipe] So speaking of succulents and cactuses, let's look at some of the more high-light plants.

- [Kim] Yes.

- [Phillipe] These tall cactuses are really stunning.

- [Kim] Yes.

- [Phillipe] I mean, that's like a statement piece in your home.

- [Kim] Yes, so, we are Lawrence and Clarke Cacti Co. At our heart, we are a cactus shop. So, when we started the business, the goal was to bring large cacti to Nashville in a way that they're a little bit more affordable. Bring them to the market and pot them up. Pot them properly, educate people about them, and to bring in a variety of cacti. I struggled to find stuff for myself when I was shopping and so that was one of the drives that brought us here. The is the Cereus peruvianis, it's a very hardy, face-growing cacti. They, or also known as the Peruvian Apple Cactus. They'll put out red apples. If they go through the cold season they'll put out a white night-blooming flower and then a red apple later in the summer.

- [Phillipe] Wow.

- [Kim] And they're really really easy, incredibly fast growers. I've gotten two and a half feet of growth in a summer.

- [Phillipe] Wow.

- I had someone that didn't quite believe me about that and called me back and they were like "How do I make it stop?" I'm like just bring it inside, that'll stunt it a little bit but they'll even grow indoors

- [Phillipe] Right. and in medium light.

- [Phillipe] Yeah.

- They'll do fine.

- [Phillipe] So this has been a really hot plant. In the last year or so, I've seen them explode. Tell me all about this plant.

- [Kim] So this is the Pilea peperomioide, or the common name is a Chinese Money Plant. And they are very in right now, very hard to keep in stock. We have tried to stay on top of it. And they are one my favorite plants. Just because for a very cool and trendy plant, they're incredibly tough and very easy to maintain. And they give you these free little baby plants, like this one right here. Once these are about a third of the size of the mother plant you can snip them, water-root them, and then you have a plant to either give away to a friend or you can re-pot it and keep it for yourself. It's going to continue to put out those babies. If you don't remove em, that's fine. It's just gonna make your plant look fuller as it continues to grow. These get quite big over time, but they don't need a huge pot. You can keep it in a shallow pot, they have a relatively shallow root system. And easy requirements, bright indirect light. They're semi-succulent, as we like to say, so I let them dry in between waterings. I water about every 10 days and they do very well with that.

- [Phillipe] The architectural form is probably why it's become such a popular plant

- [Kim] Yes, yes.

- [Phillipe] Cause it is so neat. And that stem almost comes to the center, where it's got that kinda round, where it's kinda like a little lily paddish-looking.

- [Kim] Yes, lily pad, yes. Often compared to that.

- And the semi-succulent too, it makes it nice and a green glossy. Talking about popular plants, the biggest, or the most popular plant that I think I've come across is the Fiddleleaf Fig.

- Yes, very much so.

- So, let's talk about those, I see you've got a really nice one here.

- Yes, this is one of our feature figs.

- Yeah.

- Fiona and we love her dearly.

- Uh huh. So, let's talk about, because, a lot of people want this plant but they don't necessarily have a place for it or they don't know the care of it. What's the location that this wants to be in, in a house?

- So, lot's of bright light, very important. Fiddleleaf Figs are a tropical plant. They want a lot of bright light and they really want a lot of hydration. And with that hydration, exceptional drainage and compact potting. So, what I typically recommend, when we sell a Fiddleaf Fig, we keep them in their plastic pots. I advise people to keep them in their plastic pots. And to not pot up until the roots are obviously climbing out of the top of the pot.

- [Phillipe] So they like to be root-bound?

- [Kim] They like to be root-bound. Those roots are holding hands, they're happy that way. We water our figs twice a week.

- Okay.

- We water them twice a week with a gravel layer underneath the plastic pots of about two to three inches. Most of the time when we sell them, I try to make sure people take a plastic tray with them. Whether you put it in a basket, whether you drop it in a pot you want a plastic tray filled with gravel so that you have the humidity and hydration and a drainage spot for that water to go down to so they're never sitting in that drained water. It's also very important that you keep your leaves clean. This one's due for a shower here soon. You can either use a leaf shine. You can put it in the shower and give it a rinse. I've heard of people using a little bit of olive oil or a little bit of milk. That's fine, just always make sure you never clean the bottom of the leaves.

- [Phillipe] Okay.

- You only wanna clean the tops. The bottom of the leaf is how the tree is breathing and absorbing. It absorbs the light through the top and it's breathing the oxygen through the bottom. So it doesn't need, you don't want it to clog the ability to breathe--

- Yeah, yeah.

- On the bottom of the leaf. So always leave that area unclogged and untouched. But they're great trees and really very easy when you know their nuisances.

- [Phillipe] Right.

- [Kim] But once they have the space that they desire they're fantastic plants.

- [Phillipe] They love it, yeah.

- If you do a lot of traveling, you're gonna be gone an excess of four or five days at a time frequently, it's not the most, the best fit, typically, but.

- [Phillipe] Yeah, yeah.

- [Kim] But, if you're home, they're great

- So, no matter the lighting and the water requirements, you know, there's a plant for everyone.

- Absolutely.

- Yeah, cool.

- There are plants that can get watered once a month.

- Yeah.

- And be perfectly happy with that.

- Yeah.

- And grow and thrive in low light with barely any water. We can hook you up. We have those plants. And we try to make sure that we get people with their right plants.

- Right. Well Kim, I appreciate you giving us all these details of everything and how to take care of an array of plants and making sure that you get the right plant for the right place.

- Absolutely.

- Thank you so much.

- Thank you.

- Yep.

- [Annette] Shan, tell us about an example of what we do not want to do when we plant a tree.

- Oops, this was a deal, a dent where I had, you could see the size of a Kousa dogwood this was. It was one of my treasures and during the drought and the hot weather of '07 this tree just died. And then I had to dig it up and as I dug it up and got down below ground level, I discovered something here. It had a strangulation root and it actually just choked the plant at the tree itself.

- [Annette] And it's no longer there.

- [Shan] That's right.

- [Annette] This is just another part.

- [Shan] That's right, this is a part of it that wrapped around. But you can see where this actually just choked and strangled the tree and it lost its way of getting its water up through that--

- [Annette] How do we avoid this?

- The way you avoid it is to make sure when you're planting your trees, particularly, and any plant, as far as that goes. You know, roots go down. And if you've got a wire basket that your tree came in or if you've got burlap bags, whatever it may be. I just encourage you to kind of loosen it up so that the plant, the roots, will have breathing room. And they'll have growing room and stretch. They'll be able to stretch their arms out and get into the soil. And obviously, I hadn't done a good job with this one and the result is a strangulation death.

- There's a lot to learn about gardening at your public library. So we're at Bellevue Branch Library with Katherine Bryant. And tell me all about this seed project.

- So this is the Nashville Public Library seed exchange. It started off from an article that I read about a library in Pima County, Arizona starting a seed library. And, the basic concept is that the library makes seed packets available to the public to check out using their library cards. And the hope is that people will bring seeds saved from their strongest, best plants back to the library to make available for gardeners in the next season. So, after reading this article, I gathered up a group of people at Nashville Public Library who were interested in gardening and sustainable food systems and we put together a proposal. And the seed exchange was born.

- [Julie] Well, at these libraries, when people come in and check out the seeds, well where are the seeds coming from and how are we really sure we're getting what we're looking at.

- [Katherine] Right, so we started off with very generous donations from several area farms and gardeners. Our biggest donors were Bells Bend Farms, Delvin Farms, and the Hands On Nashville Urban Farm. And they donated either seed packets that they had purchased in previous years and that they didn't need anymore or they donated seeds that they have saved themselves from their own plants in their gardens and farms. And since then, we've actually had several individuals who are experienced gardeners in the Nashville community donate seeds to us from their own gardens. Basically, you just come in and browse through the collection at the library branch. And see what's available, just take em up to the, um, circulation desk and check them out using your library card.

- [Julie] Okay well that sounds like a great way to start.

- [Katherine] Yes.

- [Julie] And what if we need a little help trying to figure out what to do with the seeds once we have them and what we're growing?

- [Katherine] Right, so if you're like me, you've never really planted anything from seed before. And so, the library is also offering a variety of workshops this summer. Um, many of them are led by the Master Gardeners. So just everything, from like, seed-starting to seed-saving, fall vegetable gardening, container gardening. We're doing a diagnosing plant diseases program soon at the Inglewood Branch Library. So there's a whole variety of workshops and programs you can come to to learn more about gardening. The library also has a number of books available on gardening that you are welcome to check out and use as a reference while you're working in your garden. Well books, I know you have magazines on gardening.

- [Katherine] Yes, and the great thing is, it's not like returning a library book. We're not going to penalize you or give you a fine if you don't return your seeds. Sometimes gardens fail, sometimes you just weren't sure if you did something right with the seed-saving. So, it's really more of a chance for people to explore gardening, try it out, save some seeds and bring em back if they can, but no big deal if you can't. There's always next year.

- [Julie] Phew, good. Well what a great way to interact with the library in doing all of this. So, I'm curious is there any particular seed that's been more popular than others?

- [Katherine] Flowers. We cannot keep our flower seeds in stock. Additionally, tomatoes and radishes have been very popular this year. So, seed-saving and seed-sharing is, um, really a time-honored tradition. It's how the human race has grown food for the last several thousand years. And, um, the library's just really a way, um. It's a place where the public is already coming to and it's a way to make those things available to a wide array of people. But absolutely, if you have friends who are gardeners, you can save seeds from your plants and share with one another. And, yeah, uh, your local library. Go and talk to them about it

- [Julie] Well, thank you so much. I can't wait to take a look at some of the seed offerings here and pull out my library card today. So thank you so much Katherine.

- [Katherine] Thank you Julie.

- [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!