Episode 3120

- [Narrator] Ever heard of a no now month? 200 homeowners in Nashville have said yes and are enthusiastically on board. Everyone is hoping for a big win for the environment. Julie Berbiglia learns more about this initiative sponsored by the Cumberland River Compact. Annette Shrader shares a combination of soil enhancers for day lily plants to take blooms from beautiful to spectacular. And Marty DeHart tours a very thoughtful garden space that appeals to all the senses for the residents of a care community. There's great elements of garden design used here. Join us. A break in mowing allows lawn flowers to flourish, providing nourishment for beneficial insects.

- Can you imagine how wonderful it would be to take a whole month off from mowing? Well, it would benefit you, but there are all kinds of environmental benefits to doing just that and having a no mow month. And know what? In Nashville we've been able to do that this year. So Jess, I see that you are participating in the no mow month of April.

- Yes, yeah, happy to participate. Just thought that it was a great way to help our pollinators, help our water systems, things like that. So very happy to also not have to mow my lawn for a whole month.

- [Julie] Well, what kind of benefits have you found from doing this? What kind of things have you seen happen when you're not mowing so early?

- [Jess] I have seen some native plants pop up. Lot more pollinators, lots of bumblebees all over the yard. Some buttercup and some geranium and some Miami mist, scorpionweed. It's been beautiful, colorful yard.

- Wow, so what about your neighbors? What do they think?

- Well, not any crazy comments yet, but one of our neighbors was a little worried that we weren't mowing our lawn. They were hoping that everything was okay with us. So we had to inform them, yes, we're doing it to help our pollinators, to help the water, everything like that. So they were okay with it. So, they just wanted to make sure we were all right.

- [Julie] That's fantastic. Well, the process seems pretty simple. Let's see, sign up, and then get a sign, and then don't mow.

- [Jess] Yep, that's it.

- This is really great, and it is nice to see all these lovely flowers and the way their blossoming right now. So what are your plans once this month sadly ends?

- Well, we'll have to mow most of the yard, but hoping to keep a small patch, maybe up by my curbside over here. There's a lot of beautiful flowers growing, so be able to have that in the front. And then my wildflower patch in the back, too, and hopefully, even though if I can't have my whole yard, to have a small piece of my yard to continue on all throughout the year.

- Well, this is very inspirational, and I see that you have another bed that you're starting with pollinator flowers. So, it feels like you're just surrounding yourself now.

- Yes, yes, when we moved in here a couple years ago, really wanted to make sure that I was doing all I could to help pollinators to help the beauty of the earth and hopefully just having all local and native plants. Worked really hard. I worked with a small company here that helped me pick native plants. It's been a fun journey the past couple years.

- Well, it's looking really great, and I hope that what you're doing is gonna help to inspire your neighbors, and maybe we'll see a whole block of no mow next year.

- [Jess] Yes, hopefully.

- Don't you wish your yard look like this all the time? Well, this is what's hiding underneath all of that grass that you mow over and over again. It's just gorgeous. And this beautiful initiative is something that was a grassroots project with the Cumberland River Compact, and MeKayle, I'm so excited you're doing this.

- Thank you, Julie.

- Not just because I don't like to mow, but- I know that you have so many reasons for doing it.

- We do, we do. It's a wonderful benefit to building community, because we're talking to each other more. We're putting signs out in our yard. Our neighbors are asking us what's up. It's a benefit, obviously, to pollinators and birds, to storm water, which is our focus. We're getting those roots deep down. And I think on a larger scale, what we're trying to do is change people's perceptions of what a healthy yard looks like. A healthy yard can be a yard that feeds birds and butterflies, absorbs storm water, cuts down on carbon emissions just as much or more so than a healthy yard is all green, same length . So an added benefit that we are especially interested in is the reduction of storm water runoff. So we see in a yard like this, we see some natural processes taking place that make the earth spongier and absorb the rain as it falls on the ground. One of the things is that chickweed bloomed and now it's dying back, and there's a layer of biomass that's now fallen onto the earth, and that creates this spongier organic healthy soil that we're looking for.

- Well, let's look at some of the plants that are coming up, and some are sort of a surprise, because you have to really get down into the grass and find these tiny little blooms. So, what are some of the things that we've seen here?

- The more you look, the more you find. So we've seen chickweed that's now turned yellow and matted down. Buttercups. Miami mist is down that way. Geranium.

- Yep, I've seen some geraniums here. We had a field madder in there we think.

- Field madder.

- So part of the fun I think of this is as all these little things are coming up you start seeing possibly new plants to you that were always there. So definitely encourage people to dig around and see what you find. Try to identify it. Also, the insects that you're going to start seeing.

- Well, I have a no mow yard, and yesterday I saw a skink in my yard, which just is so exciting. In addition to the bees and everything else. But the skink was very exciting.

- So I understand that the whole wilding concept really is sort of a UK concept. So what is all of this doing over here? We're glad it's here, but how'd it get here?

- Yes, the idea of rewilding, I think, has been adapted in the U.S. to ideas like pocket prairies and no mow months. And so in Wisconsin, they started No Mow May, and we loved the idea. A lot of us don't mow in the springtime anyway. So we thought, let's make it an organized program so people aren't afraid of getting in trouble with codes. We thought April is better in the south than May. We won't get grass too high. So we researched and talked with codes about the regulations and found that if we're under 12 inches, we're good to go. We put out signs, we asked people to register. We told people when they signed up, if you have a sign in your yard and you keep your grass under 12 inches, you can communicate to your neighbors, alleviate some of their concerns, and also stay within the regulations. So we wanna push boundaries, but we don't wanna break rules, and we wanna stay friendly and do it all with a smile. And it ends at the end of April.

- Well, this is all such great stuff, and I know people were excited about it. How many yards did you end up with?

- We printed 200 signs and then closed our signups. So our request exceeded 200, and we'll do it again next year, and we'll have signups, and everybody who signs up will get a sign and begin a email communication about codes and regulations and the tips on how to mow the first time. Because that May 1 mow, you might have to get out there with a string trimmer to cut especially stubborn wildflowers down.

- This is so much fun. And I do think that one of the things that people are going to be seeing, I hope, is people growing their lawns a little bit longer. If you scalp a lawn, it's not going to have any kind of roots. It's not gonna absorb any water, and you're just gonna be watering it all summer. So why not grow it at three and four inches?

- Yep.

- Which is something that we all sort of prefer that people would do.

- Yep, and I would add that it's okay not to have a monoculture in your yard. It's okay to have a little buttercup mixed in, clover mixed in with your fescue. We need to all sort of accept that that's a healthy yard.

- MeKayle, I know that this is a great benefit to storm water, that we're absorbing more water. So let's talk about some things that people can do even if they're not doing the no mow. Because I know that part of the idea, is that the more grass you have on top, the more roots you have on the bottom.

- Mm-hm, right, so converting turf grass to wildflower gardens, planting the native grasses that grow taller. All of that will make your ground spongier. And of course, planting trees. Planting trees has so many benefits. The leaves intercept the rainwater, and then it slowly trickles down, and then the roots suck it all up. And rain barrels, we've talked about rain barrels and rain gardens and just looking at where the water flows in your yard, disconnecting downspouts. A lot of our older neighborhoods still have downspouts that flow directly to the street. So disconnecting a downspout, routing it to your garden or foundation planting, all of that helps us keep the waterways in Tennessee clean.

- It's all these little things that as homeowners we don't often think about when we're trying to get that perfect yard out there. Early in the spring, you walk around and you see all the little purples, you see all the little yellows, all the beautiful colors coming out, and then boom, that first mowing hits and it's all gone. So I really hope that by doing this, not only are you all helping to save our water and our pollinators, but you're helping to save our beautiful wildflowers and the aesthetics of our neighborhood as well.

- Thank you, thanks.

- So this is our native echinacea. A really big problem that's being seen a lot is Asters disease. It can actually look really neat and pretty, but it's a really bad sign. This is one variation where it sports up these little miniature flowers. Here's another kind of really cancerous-looking flower, almost, that kind of retreats its pedals and makes this unruly ball of seed heads. Here's another one that's kind of in between stage, it kind of grows this little mass. And it's not confined just to echinaceas, it's actually in the whole Asters family. It can get on coreopsis. It can get on the helianthuses. anything related in the Asters family. And it spreads by leaf-sucking insects. And they kind of spread it just by sucking on this plant and then go into a new plant and set it. And so it's a disease, and the only way to get rid of it is to dig out the plant and burn it or just get rid of it. You can't cure it. There is no spray. The really bad thing about it is you have to destroy the plants. The disease is mostly spread from open wounds, either insect bites on the plants or cutting, actually. We can spread them. So if you remove a infected plant with your shears, be sure to clean them thoroughly when you go to cut your other plants in your garden. 'cause you don't wanna spread it.

- I don't know about you, but sometimes I look at my day lilies in the prime of the blooming season, and I think they're missing somethin'. Perhaps I'm not a full day lily enthusiast and I've put the right things and making the right situation for them. But I recently came across an organic application that we do in the spring. You don't have to dig it in, and it has all organic materials, and you just layer it around each day lily plant. We're just gonna pull back any of the winter debris. The first, and this is the section that the they go in when you're stackin' them on. And remember, we're not going to dig it in. So this is the blood meal, and we're gonna come around. Don't put it on the plant. We're gonna do a just a circle. And I like the fact that the blood meal is on the bottom because blood meal can attract certain animals. All right, now the reason we're wearing gloves is these are abrasive products. The cottonseed meal, where the hull is in there. Even some of the other products. So we're gonna go with two good handfuls on top of the blood meal. Okay. This is the alfalfa pellets. So we're gonna put them... I think that the rabbits would like these. Let's see. All right. Now, the next application is gonna be the sweet cane dried molasses. Now I allowed that bag to get wet, and it smells like molasses in my garage. Okay, here we go. I think I'll just do it like this. This goes on top of the pellets. All right. The next one, milorganite. This is a fertilizer. It's an organic fertilizer, but it has another attribute. This is something that the deer don't like. And that's something that I applied into my garden this spring to keep those deer at bay somewhat. There is a fine day lily gardener in South Carolina, North Carolina, one of those Carolinas, Mr. Bill Hurt. He was kind to allow me to take this application, and that's what he does in his day lily. And he has a very large, beautiful day lily garden. Okay, our final application, this is a composted cow manure. Now this is a little bit of mixture of manure and some other things, but you can buy the yellow bag, it has to be in the yellow bag, black cow manure. And you can get that, I'm sure, at Lowe's or Home Depot, but just make sure it is pure cow manure, not additives. Not a lotta sand. Okay, this is our final application. And I'm gonna be a little bit more generous with it because it is a good top dressin'. It won't burn. And now, after I put this on here, the next step is to water it in good. And whatever kind of mulch that you use, you could put that on next. But be sure to water it in. And you don't even have to worry about any other type of fertilization for the rest of the year. And I'm very excited, because this is a very special day lily now, 'cause it has, it is in this pot, I'm gonna see what happens to it come July. I hope you learned something and try this in your own day lilies.

- [Marty] Today I'm gonna show you an incredible garden. This is the courtyard at Abe's Garden, a unique installation that is designed with more considerations than I've ever had to think of when I design a garden, and I can't wait to share with you.

- The idea of planning for persons with Alzheimer's and dementia is very specific. So there's a lot of thought that goes into it related to... We met with gerontologists. We've done a lot of research on precedent developments. So many different aspects that are unique for that community that we really have to plan for, such as transitions from interior to outdoor spaces. Older eyes need a little bit more time to transition.

- Right, I notice you coming out of a door. It's not like bam, you're outside. There's a little portico.

- You come through the porch.

- There's a little canopy. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

- Yeah, exactly.

- Everything is so thoughtful here.

- It is really trying to pay attention to senses, to really engage your senses in every place that you can. So there's a little bit of sound with water, with the wind chimes, there's smell. We've really tried to introduce the idea of some fragrant material. Tried to pay a lot attention to the seasons so that we're getting a lot of seasonality with our plant material, but we also have really introduced a lot of color.

- Right. Kim, I love this space right here. This combination of big boulders and wood, and it's like a playground.

- It is. It's one of the ideas, we've really tried to connect people to nature, and so doing it here through recovered boulders from the site, a recovered oak tree. And this is not just for the residents, but really for everybody. It's really funny, what we've seen already is this was intended to actually be kind of nature play. And so we see little children climbing on the rocks or the stones.

- Oh, what fun, hopping from stump to stone.

- Exactly. It makes it just a lot more fun. But it's beautiful to look at, connects residents, caregivers, et cetera-

- And texturally.

- With nature.

- It's got so much texture.

- It does.

- It's really lovely.

- Fun to touch. You can sit on, you can stand on, you can jump around, and it just makes it for a fun spot within the garden for everybody.

- [Marty] And water feature, how delightful.

- [Kim] Well, and one of the things we tried to do with this garden is to really make it very elemental. So it's kind of earth, wind, fire, water.

- And water.

- The water feature will have koi in it as well. Again, the idea of movement and a little bit of color and a little bit of something different for the garden.

- And you can even-

- And it's really intended to actually get your hands in it. This is a place where we never say no. We always wanna say yes. So, can I get my hands in the water? Yes. Can I splash it all over? Yes.

- And open access. Can I go outside? Yes.

- Yes.

- [Marty] One of the great things I'm seeing here, Kim, is the ability for people to actually do things, to grow things that they desire, these terrific raised beds.

- If they wanna get their hands in the dirt, we want 'em to get their hands in the dirt. And so this bed has been designed so that if you're standing, you have support. If you wanna reach over and garden. If you're in a wheelchair, you can slide underneath and have access. And so what we've provided is that gardening to be able to be at several different levels here, and you'll see it throughout the garden a number of different places.

- Accessibility is just amazing here.

- Accessibility, and everybody's not abled the same. So sometimes you have a walker. Sometimes you're... You have nothing. Sometimes you're in a wheelchair. And so this vertical garden, which is getting ready to get planted with a lot of the herbs, provides so many different levels.

- I see. Three different, yeah.

- At whatever level you're at, you can get your hands in the dirt.

- Oh, that's wonderful. It's so easy. You can just roll along this walk and-

- Exactly. We always wanna be able to say, "Yes you can."

- Mm-hm. I see you've got in ground level beds here, too.

- Yes, you have to have a tomato in a garden, right?

- Oh my gosh. And bell peppers-

- Right.

- And that looks like a little trellising over there on the side.

- Yes, the trellis is for peas or beans or cucumbers or any of those kind of vining vegetables.

- Wow.

- So get it at all levels.

- You can grow all kinds of stuff here. Now I wanna ask you about your plant selections, because not only are you talking about seasonality, but also there are other considerations you have to take into account.

- Very unique. Toxicity is one of the things that we really had to pay attention to.

- No kidding.

- So we need to make sure that if somebody does accidentally ingest something, that they're gonna be okay.

- It's not gonna, yeah.

- What you might not think about is a lot of those evergreens that we use a lot, boxwood, Taxus.

- Yews, yeah, yeah.

- Laurels to some degree, really have some toxicity to them. So we've had to change that up a little bit. And here we've used some dwarf Nandina. Distylium, which is a newer evergreen. Vintage jade is the one that we've used here. And we've used a number of grasses that also add to some structure of the garden so that it's there still in the wintertime, but we get some of the movement when the breeze comes through.

- And I see you've got some nice flowering perennials and things, too, for color and season.

- Exactly. That's that idea of really trying to tie into season.

- Kim, one of the things I notice is how many sort of gathering areas there are that have been designed into this.

- Yes, and that happens at many of the different households. We happen to be right now right outside of music and movement And so the idea that you might do indoors yoga, you might come outside, do chair yoga or dance, and then if you have a larger group and/or more ambulatory, you might go on into the lawn.

- Oh, I see.

- So it really allows for a lot of engagement there. And then right over on the side we have our fireplace area.

- And another little-

- Another little gathering area-

- That will be nice.

- To be able to-

- Chilly autumn night.

- [Kim] Exactly, especially sitting in that rocking chair. That's where I would go. And one of the real goals at Abe's Garden is to make sure that every resident comes outside every day, and who wouldn't want to with a garden like this?

- Yeah.

- But we're right now underneath this covered arbor that allows that to happen. You come out of the door, there's visual access to the next door. And so it makes it very easy and comfortable to be able to come out, take a walk, meander through the site, and be comfortable the whole time.

- Right, yeah, and not worry no matter what the weather is.

- No matter what the weather is.

- And being enclosed like this is gonna be a slightly sort of micro climate, a little warmer, I would think.

- Exactly, being inside this courtyard.

- In the winter it won't be so fierce.

- Yes.

- And these lovely plantings, they're just really, I see blooming dogwoods, and you've really given a lot of thought to the-

- [Kim] Dogwoods with the wind chimes again, always trying to bring in those senses. We have a number of different hydrangeas, a lot of our ground cover here. The Ajuga, the Liriope, several different hostas. So we're really kind of trying to play with texture and color all kind of together. But one of our different places, that we really wanted to remind you of home, is our backyard grill.

- [Marty] Oh, sure.

- And one of the things that you've noticed, we've talked about the herbs all over the garden, and those herbs.

- You're growing a lot of food-

- We're growing.

- That makes perfect sense here.

- Exactly, so those herbs can be used in cooking, whether in the household, at the grill, in the kitchen. So we really wanna integrate it.

- Oh, that's really-

- Just the way you do it at home.

- Exactly. It's like your garden to table. I think one of the things that I really like about this place, one of the many things, is how it's not an isolated space. I mean, that's Park Manor right there.

- It is.

- Is it not?

- [Kim] And we really highlight this courtyard so that from those balconies, those windows all the way around, you kind of look down into this space. It's a beautiful space. So why isolate it? Let you be a part of it.

- [Marty] And I know you're putting in a roof garden up there, even.

- Yes. We have a green roof up there that's in the middle of just starting to go in. But that also provides a great place for, again, Park Manor to be able to be out on that terrace overlooking this garden.

- Sharing the space.

- There in the arbor- yes, being a part of the space together.

- How nice. Well, just the planning that's gone into this is just mind boggling.

- It has been such a collaboration through the whole process with aging experts from across the United States. And as you can imagine, none of this happens without really a hand-in-hand collaboration with our architects, lighting designers, the interior designers, the structural engineers. Everybody had the same mindset for this. And with staff. Staff was involved every step of the way.

- [Marty] One thing I notice about this entire design is that it's got a lot going on, but it's all very sort of holistic. There's no blind alleys or... And there's no straight paths. It's all loops around, so there's no this is where you start, this is where you stop it. It continually goes around, and people who have dementia won't get lost. It's a spectacular space.

- Yes.

- What an accomplishment.

- Thank you, for all of us. It's been a long time in the making, and so well worthwhile. It's just a, it's a delight.

- [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.