Episode 3301

- [Lauren] One of the pleasures of gardening is the ever-changing landscape. Tammy Algood strolls the paths with a gardener who wants to keep all the plants that bring her joy, but wants less maintenance. We'll learn how both goals were achieved. And Annette Shrader is wowed by the diversity of conifers on display in the gardens of a couple who are true conifer fans. You'll likely become one too, so stay tuned. Conifers are versatile. They can be used in foundation plantings, borders, and island beds.

- We have the distinct pleasure of being with the president of the American Conifer Society today. Do you know what a conifer is? I'm just gonna let Jeff start telling us how we determine if it's a conifer, number one.

- Well, conifers are trees and shrubs that bear cones. And there's five species that don't bear cones that are conifers. Metasequoia and bald cypress are two that drop their needles. Most of the conifers keep their needles.

- That's right, well, let's just start right here. There's beauty amongst us right here with this yellow.

- [Jeff] So this is a Chamaecyparis, King's Gold, and it stays real gold like this all year round, which is real nice.

- Even in the winter?

- Even in the winter, yep.

- That's good.

- Yeah, nice accent plant.

- [Annette] Yes, is this one variegated?

- Yes, that's a variegated Pinus parviflora called Ogon. It has the green and yellow needles on it.

- [Annette] Oh, and do I see a cone in the top over there?

- [Jeff] Yes, there's a cone at the very top.

- [Annette] It's a true conifer.

- [Jeff] And we have some small cones starting here on the-

- Oh yeah.

- Other end here, yep.

- [Annette] So the cones always start in the spring when they start to grow out new foliage from the tips? Is that when they come?

- Yes, yep.

- Okay.

- And usually have the female cones at the top and the male cones at the bottom so they don't self pollinate.

- That I did not know. But, you know, I'm afraid that I'm very partial to the blue.

- [Jeff] Yes, that's, Picea pungens, The Blues. It's a weeping Colorado blue spruce, and the spring color is just absolutely amazing.

- [Annette] Do you find that the color on those blue spruces is much more vivid this spring?

- Yes, I think-

- Mine are that way, too.

- [Jeff] I think it's been a cooler spring for us, for the most part.

- Oh, okay.

- [Jeff] In the summertime, in the south, they have a tendency to green up a little more than northern areas. But the Picea orientalis is one of our favorite conifers. It has real short needles and usually a real compact form. This is Nigra, and it's a real dark green compared to the species.

- [Annette] That's what I was gonna say. And I just cannot help but think about the yellow versus the deep richness of this green. And, you know, those small needles make me think of a Christmas tree.

- Yes, yes, they're fun. They're almost plastic like.

- I guess you have a acreage of Christmas trees, don't you?

- Pretty much, pretty much.

- I think so.

- You don't wanna cut 'em down too often, though.

- No, no, I meant just in thought only. All right, my eye is drawn to the height of this.

- This is a gift from a friend of ours in Chattanooga. She had planted a Metasequoia back in the 60s, and used to dig up some seedlings and hand 'em out to guests. And you know how you can tell a Metasequoia from a bald cypress?

- I don't know.

- [Jeff] If you look at the needles, how they come off the stem.

- Yes.

- [Jeff] The Metasequoias match and the bald cypress alternate.

- Are alternate.

- Yeah.

- Oh!

- [Jeff] So you have to know your ABCs.

- [Annette] I love bald cypress, 'cause I fish underneath them.

- [Jeff] Yes, this one's a Metasequoia.

- [Annette] Yes, I think there's an opposite side to this berm, and I believe you have some more different things over there.

- [Jeff] Yes, we have some miniatures on the other side.

- [Annette] You know, I'm partial to this globe right here.

- [Jeff] Right, this is a real miniature Picea abies, Norway spruce. You know, the regular Norway spruces are 50 to 60 feet tall.

- I know. I know all about those.

- Yeah.

- Well, you said an interesting thing, because I purchased little conifers for, say, a small box, and it says, it looks like it's dwarf, now you said this is a real dwarf.

- It's a miniature.

- Miniature.

- [Jeff] So you wanna be careful. The Conifer Society has miniatures, dwarfs, intermediates, and then large. So the miniatures grow about quarter inch a year, and then the dwarfs will be two to four inches. And then-

- The regulars grow candles of-

- Regulars will be like 12 feet, yeah.

- Two feet or, yeah. That's what I thought. Well, that's a nice one right here.

- [Jeff] Right, this is another dwarf, or miniature, a Picea mariana, Ericoides, it's a nice deep blue, and they do well for us in the heat.

- [Annette] Okay, now this to me looks like a pine. What is that one?

- Yes, that's a Pinus leucodermis.

- Oh it is?

- Yep, you're good. That's a Satellit, so that's real tall and skinny, it grows-

- [Annette] Eventually, it will grow to what height?

- [Jeff] Eventually, it'll grow, in 10 years, it'll be about five, six foot tall.

- Oh, that's great.

- Yeah. This is the new growth here, about four inches.

- Oh yeah, now then, I had a plant like that once. I still do, I guess. That is a-

- That's a Taxus. That's a dwarf Taxus, Taxus baccata.

- [Annette] That's in the yew family, isn't it?

- That's a yew, yes.

- [Annette] Okay.

- Yew and not me.

- That's right. And it's an upright, not a spreader.

- Yes, very tight upright.

- What is its maximum height?

- [Jeff] That grows about two, three inches a year, so, in 10 years, it'll be about four or five foot tall.

- Yeah, okay, now I just, this one has a glow about it. And you know what I like about this one? It is somewhere in between dark green and maybe a little bit of that yellow. But there's chartreuse, not chartreuse, but is that because these are new candles? Is that what you call new growth?

- Yes, candles.

- A candle, okay. It's coming out from the past. Yeah, I just see a coloration here that it's unifying and that's beautiful.

- Well, it's nice you think it's vibrant. That's its name.

- There you go.

- It's Vibrant.

- [Annette] I can't help myself.

- [Jeff] And you can see all the cones forming on the inside.

- [Annette] I do, oh, I see the little bitty cones. Oh, here's some right here. Ultimately, that little cone will be what size?

- [Jeff] The cone will be a couple inches.

- [Annette] Okay, it's not overbearing on it, either. Do you ever have to take all of 'em off? Or do they fall off? How does that happen?

- They'll open and fall off.

- Okay.

- [Jeff] I try to catch some and try to get some seeds.

- [Annette] Yeah, the seeds are in between each of the-

- The scales, yes, yep.

- Yes. Now I'm drawn to this, and you tell me I'm not seeing everything of beauty about this. Which one is this?

- [Jeff] Well, this is a Abies koreana, Aurea, and it's on firma, which is the rootstock that we need to have firs on for the southeast. But when the wind blows, we get to see the underside.

- [Annette] Oh, that is beautiful. Not cool, it's beautiful. And I was looking at it as far as the chartreuse of the new growth, but that is definitely, and I can see that against when the wind blows it. That's beautiful.

- [Jeff] And it keeps the yellow throughout the season too, which is nice, it'll green up in the wintertime.

- [Annette] So and you call this yellow, how much more yellow will this become?

- [Jeff] This is as yellow as it will get. It's more of a chartreuse, I guess.

- [Annette] Yeah, it's fresh spring, new growth right now.

- Right.

- And it'll stay that way. I don't know, my list is growing, and you're not through. Let's go to the next thing. Okay, Jeff, let's blow our minds. We're lookin' at a Ginkgo?

- [Lauren] Yes, It's a dwarf Ginkgo called Chase Manhattan. And it has real small leaves and real tight, but it'll only get about eight feet in 10 years or so, as opposed to 70 or 80 feet for the species.

- [Annette] But you just put it in conifers.

- [Jeff] Yes, Ginkgos are a very ancient tree, and you see a lot of Ginkgo leaves in fossils.

- I've seen that, yes.

- It does form a nut, but because it has a male and a female sexes to the plant-

- On the same tree?

- No, on different trees.

- [Annette] Oh, gotcha, popped off.

- [Jeff] Yes. So it was classified many years ago as a conifer, and we adopted them wholeheartedly, and we hope to keep them as a conifer. The taxonomists are doing their thing and trying to figure out where it really belongs, but I think it'll always be a conifer in our hearts, so.

- Well.

- So this is a dwarf Ginkgo that was introduced several years ago. And we have some other Ginkgos that are larger that were introduced from Spring Grove Nursery. And we can show you a couple of those, if you have time after this.

- Always. Always. Okay, we've come to the close of these conifers, but now we're standing in front of a Ginkgo.

- Yes.

- What is this?

- This is Ginkgo biloba, Chi Chi.

- Chi Chi? What makes it Chi Chi?

- Well, it's a real fun name, first of all. But the reason why it's called Chi Chi is it gets these little knobs on the trunk at a very young age.

- Yeah.

- [Jeff] The Chinese love the Ginkgos, and they're really redeemed for, as they get older, you know, five, 600 years, they get these big knobs on the trunk.

- It would almost be like a burl on another kind of tree, wouldn't it?

- Yes, right, it'd be like a burl. But, on Chi Chi, they come at a young age.

- Well, I cannot tell you how much pleasure I've had, but I want you to raise your right hand. And you got to promise me that in 15 to 16 years, you and your wife, Jennifer, have created a beautiful haven of arboretum, I cannot even name, but you promise me you did this. It's marvelous. I'm overwhelmed. You can put your hand down now. I am overwhelmed by the amount of plants and vegetation that you have here. And it's been an honor to be taken around in the golf cart. I can just cry, it's been wonderful. And thank you for your time.

- [Jeff] Yes, thank you for coming, it's been a pleasure.

- So I'm here in the neighborhood again with this prize-winning massive tomato. It's actually bigger. We did a little bit on this a few years back, and we came back to see how it's doing again this year. Well, the new plants, 'cause, you know, with tomatoes, you replant 'em every year, and it's actually larger than it is. So we've got Robert with us, the grower, Robert Carter. So tell me a little bit about anything that you're doing with this.

- Had the plant, just followed the same recipe that the Lord gave, obedience, go right back into just planting it, laying hands on it, praying over it, and then just allow the Lord to do the rest of the work.

- [Phillipe] Yeah, yeah, I mean, it's gotta be, what size do you think we're lookin' at here?

- Right now we're 12 feet tall, eight feet deep, 14 feet wide.

- And this is one plant?

- One plant.

- This is one plant, if you look down, you can see down in there is the one stem. Just to see that we got one plant going on here. It's starting to look like a tree.

- Yes, sir.

- [Phillipe] And now when do you put this in the ground?

- [Robert] Funny story about this year.

- [Phillipe] Uh-huh.

- I was like, "Okay, I'm gonna start a couple about a month early," normally, I would do it the second week of June. But the second week of May, I planted it in the ground, and then I got a new dog. So the dog came outside, I was watering it, the dog wanted water and ate the plant. So, I replanted it, and then it wasn't taking too well. So I just heard the Lord say, "Pull it up and plant it deeper." So I planted it deeper to protect the stems that were already broken.

- Uh-huh.

- And here we are. So I still ended up at the second week of June.

- Yeah.

- Yeah. This is what we're growing this year.

- This is what you're growing? It's a Better Boy, which is a indeterminate, which obviously means it keeps growing. It's a really good hybrid that, I've never seen one even close to this kind of size, though. It looks like the support system that you're working on with it, too, really helps it spread out and get big, too. Tell me, you know, about that.

- Well, the first year that I did it, back in 2011, the plant got so massive, and I didn't have a structure to tie it up, I didn't know about tying it up, and it just grew so tall, and then it fell on itself, and then it smothered itself out. So I said, "Wait a minute." I said, "Now, next year, I'm gonna have a better plan." And so I made this, and then it got larger, and as it got larger, I just had to go higher and higher, and taller and taller.

- So you build the structure around the plant as it kind of got bigger?

- Yes, sir.

- Yeah, wow. And so this is just a nylon cord that you've got going on?

- [Robert] You have to be very careful. The vines are very delicate when you get to tying them up. So, otherwise they'll break or it'll damage the vine.

- Do you know how many tomatoes you've gotten off this year, even estimate?

- Well, so far I've taken off probably right about 80 or so so far. But right now on the plant itself, there's probably right at about 350.

- 350? Geez.

- Yeah.

- [Phillipe] Let's hope we don't get a frost anytime soon.

- Yeah, it comes out in clusters of threes and fours. If you look all over, it's clusters of threes and fours everywhere, fives.

- Uh-huh.

- And that's just cluster, after cluster, after cluster.

- Yeah, yeah.

- Once the weather just changed a little bit, right at the beginning of October, it really just started to just cluster everywhere.

- Yeah, I know tomatoes like cooler nights, too.

- Okay.

- That really kicks them up, and they're in the nightshade family, so those cool nights really helps 'em grow.

- Still, again, only water. No plant food, no fertilizer.

- No plant food, no fertilizer, yeah. There must be somethin' special in your water, too.

- No pesticides.

- That's good, too.

- Yeah, nothing.

- Really? No pesticides on this at all?

- None, I think I've only had three green worms.

- I was gonna say the green hornworms, and you just pick 'em off, of course.

- Yes, sir.

- They wouldn't even know what to do on this plant.

- Well, I didn't give 'em a chance to find out.

- Sure, sure.

- When I saw 'em, I just cut 'em off.

- Yeah. And do you water it every day or what?

- Every day, every day.

- Every day, yeah.

- We water it every day. They get a lot of water, a lot of water. If you're gonna worry about your water bill, you don't wanna try to get a plant this size.

- Yeah, yeah. So, well, again, even more impressive, I appreciate you showing us what you do and sharing some of your secrets and some of your tips.

- Hey, love showing off the Lord, love showing off God's work.

- Yeah, yeah, well, again, I appreciate it, and thank you so much. I hope y'all learned something that y'all can take from this.

- [Robert] Appreciate you guys coming back out.

- [Phillipe] Of course.

- Gardens evolve and change as they age, just like we do. Our next guest is taking her garden down a simpler path. So, over the years, she can handle it on her own and it can still be lovely and enjoyable. We're here in beautiful Murfreesboro on a spring day that is lovely, in the garden of my Garden Lovers friend, Peggy Nelson. Thanks, Peggy, for letting us come be with you.

- It's my pleasure. I'm so glad to be able to show off my garden.

- Well, it is lovely. And boy, have you got the queen of spring in your garden here. Your peonies are lovely.

- Thank you. I've got several different varieties, and some new ones, and some that, been here 40 years.

- Oh, see, that's what I love about gardens, the history behind them. Let's start here, because you've got some allium here to kind of break up the peony plots a little bit.

- Yes, when the peony and iris finish blooming, then I have allium. And I love it because I cut 'em and use the dried globes, I call 'em, in arrangements. I want something tall in the garden. I have three different batches of them.

- And they have different leaves, too, to add a little bit of interest there.

- Yeah.

- But your peonies, oh my goodness, they are so spectacular. And, like I said, these are quite showy and beautiful.

- This is my newest one.

- Oh, it's gorgeous.

- It's called Bowl of Beauty.

- And isn't it? It's just the cutest thing.

- Mhmm.

- [Tammy] I love it, but you know what? I don't see any ants. What's the deal?

- [Peggy] They get on there on the buds before they open, but then after they open, you don't see so many.

- [Tammy] Peggy, this magenta peony is gorgeous. I don't think I've ever seen one that beautiful and doubled.

- [Peggy] Yes, I don't know the name of it, but I love the color, and it was a gift from a friend, and I've had it maybe 20 years.

- [Tammy] See I like the peonies when they get really huge like that. And you've got these obviously in full sun.

- I do, and these had one in between there that I took out, because they weren't getting enough air circulation. So they need a lot of air moving around them. And I've planted two new ones.

- Well, and they like air, because of that fungus that they can get that turns them black. And so I like 'em too, because they just kind of go willy-nilly like this. I mean, we've had a little bit of rain and they're gonna fall over, that's just the way that works.

- Yeah, they're drooping, and they were sopping wet this morning, and they're starting to stand back up a little bit.

- [Tammy] But don't they make great cut flowers too?

- Oh, I love 'em.

- 'Cause you use this as a cut flower garden.

- I do. I love to cut them, give them to people in arrangements.

- And the older the better, I think. Those are beautiful.

- Yeah, the peonies, they just go on, and on, and on forever. Some of them here are 80 years old.

- Really?

- 80 years old, mhmm.

- Well, I knew that they could live up to 100 years, but I honestly have not seen any that were that old.

- Mhmm, okay.

- But, oh, your irises. The salmon color is lovely!

- Isn't that pretty?

- Yes!

- [Peggy] I had some solid white ones over here, but they're gone now. But I love the salmon, it's a little different.

- [Tammy] Well, you know, the beauty of irises is that you get early ones, late ones, and so they just kind of pop out when you think they're about done.

- That's true.

- And, again, you've got some allium in here that's kind of breaking everything up a little bit, making it look nice.

- When all the pretty colorful things are gone, the allium is blooming. And that's kind of why I kept it, even though it's beginning to crowd some things, but I love it anyway.

- Do you ever divide that?

- Yeah, we have.

- Okay, let's look at these peonies here. Boy, you've got a little sea of peony blooms.

- [Peggy] These are the ones that are probably 80 years old. They came from my mother-in-law's garden, her house was next door. And she had them, you know, long, long time ago, and then we transplanted some and brought 'em over here. We brought 'em over here to my garden about 40 years ago, but I think they were in her garden another 40 years prior to that.

- Wow, well, those are just beautiful, I love those. But boy, this is the showstopper, wow!

- These are everyone's favorite, including mine. I love the color. They're just light and airy, effortless to grow. They just come up every year. I've had 'em about 10 years. I don't know the name. And I think, if you believe it, I think my husband, my late husband, got the plants, the bulbs at Walmart.

- Really?

- I think.

- [Tammy] They are just beautiful. It looks like it's fake almost.

- [Peggy] Uh-huh, they are really great.

- And they're kind of papery, I love how they completely open up like that. It's just beautiful. And, again, you know, this is the nature of the beast, they're going to fall over a little bit.

- Some people build cages around them. I have so many that I, and I don't like the way cages look, but they would help this problem if you wanted to do that. A short, little fence around them would help with that.

- I may have to have a piece of that.

- All right, I'll get some.

- And then, you've even got a rhododendron over here that is beautiful.

- [Peggy] It's old as well and struggles. But I had an arborist look at it, 'cause it's got this scaly stuff on it. He said, "Oh, that's just lichen. It's fine, leave it alone," so I was glad to hear that news.

- Absolutely.

- [Peggy] That there's nothing wrong with it.

- [Tammy] Well, again, it gives you a little kind of a tree feel to it, a little focal point when this is all gone, it's beautiful.

- Now you'll notice that these peonies in the back here are not blooming and they're gonna have to be transplanted, 'cause they're getting shaded out by the yews. The rhododendron loves that afternoon shade, but the peonies do not, so I'll have to move them.

- So full sun?

- Full sun.

- So do those get sun at all?

- Morning, they get morning sun.

- And that's it?

- Until about right now, till about one in the afternoon.

- And then, they're done with the sun, that's not enough?

- That's not enough.

- Peggy, you do have a beautiful shade garden here that incorporates, again, some native and maintenance-free plants. So you've got a healthy Helleborus over here.

- [Peggy] Yes, two of 'em. And they were also gifts from somebody that had 'em in their woodland. And I put 'em here, because they're under the shade of the crepe myrtle. And they've bloomed, and bloomed, and bloomed this year since February. They just keep blooming.

- [Tammy] They're beautiful.

- Thank you.

- [Tammy] And I love how you've incorporated different things in here for pops of color and interest with your gargoyle.

- A gargoyle.

- So you can just have a little respite in the shade here after working in the peonies, right?

- [Peggy] Do you know about money plants?

- [Tammy] Money plant, I haven't seen one in a while.

- [Peggy] There's several in this bed, and that's the only one blooming. But, in the fall, they make a little white thing that looks like a coin. That's why they're called money plants, and they're nice in arrangements too.

- [Tammy] And the seeds are in that, right?

- [Peggy] Right, the seeds are in the little papery looking coin.

- Well, let me just say that the blooms are much prettier.

- You don't like the coins?

- I don't like the coins, but I love that. On purpose, Peggy?

- This is planted here because it gets the water from the heat pump constantly, it's called a swamp iris, and it needs to stay wet all the time, so I don't have to water it here. The lady that gave it to me said this was the perfect environment, and so that's why it's here. And it's a Tennessee-native plant, and I think it's just a little bit unusual, I enjoy it.

- [Tammy] Well, yeah, and again, no maintenance.

- No maintenance.

- Here's your shade garden. Every garden needs shade.

- Yes, indeed.

- So you've not got a lot of shade, but you've got a perfect little area for these plants.

- This is my little corner of shade and I love it. I had not had ferns before, so this is relatively new, maybe two years I've had it. But I've transplanted trillium from down in the woods near the creek. This is native, wild trillium. And then, this one was a gift, this is a yellow trillium, and so I wanted the combination. The ferns were also from a friend's garden. I had not had ferns before, so I'm excited about them.

- Yeah.

- [Tammy] The Monstera was in a little, teeny pot arrangement, and I stuck it in the ground last year, and it grew about five feet. And I wintered it over, so I've just put it in the ground again from wintering it over. And then, I've added some coleus in the front and a Rex begonia just for a little color in the front.

- Right, right.

- [Peggy] And, of course, the hosta here.

- You just need a place to cool down from working over there, right?

- Yeah, I'm thinking about extending my patio into this shade corner.

- Peggy, it's beautiful. And you know what I love about it? It is just manageable, that's what I like about it.

- Yes, I mean, I do sit and weed, you know, frequently, but the mulch helps. I have a big delivery every year of mulch, and then we mulch the beds and that helps control the weeds.

- Exactly.

- I don't use any Roundup or any weed killer.

- So now you've got a garden that you can enjoy for the rest of the season and not have to work through all of it, right?

- Correct.

- That's my kind of garden. Peggy, thank you for having us, and thank you for letting us visit and see your beautiful garden here in Murfreesboro, it's lovely.

- [Peggy] Well, thank you for coming, Tammy.

- [Lauren] For inspiring garden tours, growing tips, and garden projects, visit our website at VolunteerGardener.org, and find us on these platforms.