Episode 3412

- [Lauren] On this "Volunteer Gardener," Annette Shrader takes us on a tour of an impressive home landscape. These gardeners have a good knowledge of both plants and design principles that work together to provide a smooth flow throughout these outdoor spaces. The mature American beech trees are a cornerstone, providing grace and grandeur. Then Tammy Algood is awestruck at the sight of 1 million tulips. That's right, spring is tulip time at Lucky Ladd Farms in Eagleville for visitors to enjoy. Come along. With the onset of spring, there's color popping up in pretty perennials and showy shrubs.

- Early spring, late winter is a very exciting time in our gardens, mainly because the landscape is barren, except for those first things that start to show. I am in Raleigh, North Carolina. We're gonna talk with Jay Yourch. He has a garden that he has named Beech Grove, appropriately so. Jay, thank you for allowing us to be here.

- Thank you for coming. We named the garden Beech Grove, as you said, because the house is surrounded by mature American beeches, which are probably my favorite tree.

- Mine too.

- For their just, you know, their year-round grandeur. We have a couple of interesting plants to show you alongside here. The first one is this Persian ironwood, or Parrotia persica, and this is a selection called Biltmore that was selected from the tree that's at the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina.

- [Annette] That shows the importance of the bark on a tree when there's nothing there.

- [Jay] That's right, this bark feature is here all year long.

- Exactly.

- [Jay] And in the summer, it actually brightens up as the new bark comes out and the old bark sloughs off. You get a actual little bit more contrast than you have now.

- What is this?

- This is a Japanese maple, and it's called Shin Chishio, and it's grown for... Its primary feature is this bright red new growth and then it fades to green as we get into the growing season. And when we get some new growth in the summer, if we get enough rainfall and the conditions are good, it'll push new growth and the new growth will be red. And it looks really nice against the green backdrop of its own foliage. We put it in front of these hemlocks so that-

- That's beautiful.

- You could see the reddish color with the contrasting green behind.

- [Annette] The color stops there on that green.

- [Jay] Exactly.

- That is beautiful.

- That makes it pop.

- I see a hellebore in this area right here, Jay, that you don't commonly see. Will y'all focus on those beautiful pink blooms? This variety right here, what is this called?

- This is called Bear's foot hellebore, or sometimes stinking hellebore, although they're not noticeably smelly unless you break the foliage.

- Yes.

- And they have smaller and green flowers, but they're held on these tall stems. So even before they're blooming and while they're blooming, they're very architectural.

- They are.

- [Jay] Even though they're not really colorful.

- I do like the contrast of just the brown leaves with this color. You have a deer problem in this area. So how are you handling this?

- We handle it by planting resistant plants and then the things that aren't as resistant. We also use a mixture of repellents. And in the back of the house, we have the deer fence. And so some of the resistant plants that do really well here are hellebores of all kinds, hybrids, as well as this stinking hellebore.

- Yes.

- Also, peonies are very resistant. Daffodils like narcissus are very resistant. Some subtropicals like ginger, Hedychium, the whole ginger family is very resistant. Crinum is another one that we do.

- [Annette] That's what I was gonna say. I see one coming up right there, the crinum.

- Oh yeah.

- [Annette] You just had a natural lay of the land and you're keeping this so natural and not forced. Everything seems to be happy in its place and I really like that in this landscaping.

- [Jay] You'll notice that we have all the leaf litter and that's pretty much by necessity, 'cause we have millions of leaves that fall.

- Would be impossible.

- And even if we bagged them up and hauled them away, all winter the winds blow and they would end up all over the beds anyway. So we just embrace the leaves. We've been doing that for longer than... It's become more of a thing to promote leaving the leaves in place, but we've been doing it since we moved here 'cause there was really no other realistic way to handle it.

- Can you tell us what this is?

- That's the Chinese fringe flower, Loropetalum chinense. And a lot of them that are popular have purple leaves with kind of hot pink flowers. But this is a green-leafed white-flowered version that's, you know, it's just different. So we like that.

- Jay, this is a great example of planting en masse. And this is a drift, one of your first planted things in your garden.

- Right, these are Leucojum or snowflake. Sometimes they're called summer snowflake, but in this area of the country, they bloom in very early spring or late winter. And we planted a group here, this is pretty moist soil here. Leucojum's love moist soil. And they've multiplied both underground by division as well as by seed. We've actually dug them out of here, thinned them, and given them to other gardeners and spread them around the garden. But these tend to bloom even heavier when they're so thick, or it's just the presentation is very thick because they're so close. But I've seen them bloom as early as January, but it's like just dribs and drabs and it's enough to get a photo on Facebook, "Look what I have blooming," but you know, this is when they peak in March. So this Japanese maple is named Ryusen, and it's a steeply weeping form. One of the more common forms you see in gardens are the mounding types, which are the dissectum with, you know, very finely serrated foliage. This has a typical star-shaped leaf, and it's not mounding. The branches fall to the ground very rapidly, so the tree ends up being much narrower. You can make it any height you want by staking it up. This one also leafs out very early. You can see how advanced it is at this time of year already. So it's one of the first Japanese maple to come out, and it's also one of the last ones to color up in the fall. And it's turns a beautiful red and orange, spectacular plant, really.

- [Annette] So do you have to do anything to keep that weeping shape?

- [Jay] No. If you want to, in the springtime, you want it to grow taller, if there's a chute coming out, you can stake it up and then have it weeped down from that point. I've seen people grow them as tall as 20 feet. This seems like a good size for us. So we have stopped training it, and we're just letting it weep.

- Okay, yeah.

- It does tend to run branches along the ground and interestingly, they root in.

- Yes.

- [Jay] So then I can give away, you know, layers of this to other people.

- As we're looking for color in our gardens, I think you've chosen a very beautiful spiraea.

- Yes, this is Spiraea japonica Candy Corn. It was developed by some plant breeders at NC State, and it does have pretty pink flowers, but the main reason we grow it is because of its beautiful color sequence each spring. So in late winter... It leaves out very early. In late winter, it starts out kind of a deep red and then it fades through orange and then yellow and then a lot of multicolor effects too. Well, you see here the older leaves are kind of yellowish green, then you have some yellow and some orange and a little bit of red at the tips. And that color sequence lasts for weeks. So it's a showy plant in the garden at a time of year where there's not a lot going on.

- I love what I see standing on this... It is a rather steep incline down into the woods, isn't it? And the first thing when I come around the corner is my eye was drawn to the color of this.

- [Jay] Yes, this is another Japanese maple and it leafs out earlier than most. This one is called Kristin Star. And like the spiraea we talked about, it has a very beautiful sequence of first red and then vermilion and then orange, and then eventually goes to a chartreuse for the summer.

- [Annette] Your curved pathways and the design of your garden as we go back towards the back of your home, you don't really see around the curves, but they create that interest. And I love the plantings that define some of those curves. Your autumn fern look very rich and happy back here. Do you do anything to those?

- [Jay] No, they're just very happy here. They like whatever moisture conditions we're giving them. And normally, around this time of year, I start to cut them back. But we had such a mild winter that they still look great so I've left them.

- [Annette] And your moss that you're using back here, that helps to keep erosion down, doesn't it?

- [Jay] It does. We used to have lawn here when it was a bit sunnier, but we noticed there was more and more moss and less and less lawns. So we've encouraged it by... Moss will not grow if it's covered with leaf litter. So we blow the leaves off of it to keep it healthy.

- You know, there's not a whole lot of blue flowers, but this Veronica, tell us about this.

- It's a Veronica called Georgian Blue or Georgia Blue, and it's pretty much evergreen. It doesn't get very tall, just a few inches. It just runs across the ground, and in time, it can make pretty big patches, but it blooms early. It's a nice contrast with yellow daffodils.

- [Annette] Okay, and there is a very good example of a tree that has character, whether it has leaves or not.

- [Jay] Yep, this is our weeping Katsura Tree. The botanical name is Cercidiphyllum japonicum Pendulum, for the weeping. And they're not grown that commonly in this area. They really like a cooler climate and very reliable moisture. But it's sheltered by the house from the hottest sun. It also has a long root run in here. It doesn't have to compete with other trees. And to top it off, it's got the air conditioner, and during the summer, dumping water on its root system as well as we have drip irrigation on the deck that drips on it too. So we planted it here 23 years ago and it's really grown and prospered.

- You would call that the right plant in the right place. As I look at your garden, and I know that your wife Kim assists you here, what do you find the most challenging part about this little bit of heaven here?

- The most challenging thing for us are deer.

- Oh.

- And it's not just the does that eat the foliage, it's the bucks that rub on the trees.

- Yes.

- And so deer can be very destructive. I'd say the next most challenging thing is when we have dry weather during the summer. A lot of times, you know, the trees help out because they keep things cooler.

- Yes.

- And shadier. But when we get a dry period, they can get really thirsty and pull all the water outta the soil so that even when we irrigate it, it doesn't seem to do any good, 'cause the trees take it all.

- Well, you've certainly blessed us, you are certainly blessed to have this amount of space and to have the privilege to choose these plants that are specifically for this location. And I cannot tell you how much I've enjoyed learning from you and visually seeing your artistic work that you have put into these gardens.

- [Jay] Well, I gotta put in a plug for Kim for the artistic part. Although I do a lot of plant selection, especially woody plants, she does a lot of the placement. And you know, this is not my garden, it's our garden, and she's out here helping me all the time. Probably doing as much as me or more. So thank you. It was a pleasure having you guys here, and I hope your viewers enjoy their little tour.

- [Annette] I'm very sure they will. And I know they're gonna educate themselves from what they've seen that might be a little barren to see what its future holds for what-

- Awesome.

- Well, for what we've seen. And thank you so very much.

- You're welcome.

- Tulips aren't the first bloomers during the season, but their impact is eye popping. Come join us. We're going to take a tulip tour of epic proportions. Tulips are the queen of spring, and now, we are with Amy Ladd from Lucky Ladd Farm here in Eagleville. And I think you're the queen of tulips. Here we are in April, and boy, have you got a splash going on?

- Yes, ma'am.

- [Tammy] Tell us about what you got happening here because this is the most tulips I've seen in a long time.

- [Amy] Yes, ma'am, well, we really wanted to kind of just bring a taste of Holland to Tennessee and so we partnered with a farm straight out of the Netherlands that we source our tulips from and we import them and we plant over a million tulips now for everyone to come out to the farm to take pictures, see, enjoy. And they can even pick them to take 'em home to have a little memory.

- Wow. Okay, so I have to ask this 'cause everyone will want to know. How long does it take to plant a million tulips?

- [Amy] Well, you would think it would take a long time.

- Oh, no.

- It actually doesn't. It took us about two and a half days. So to get the tulips planted, we have a piece of equipment that we've specially outfitted for the way that we plant tulips because we do 'em a little bit different than your home gardener might plant them.

- [Tammy] Got it, so you've got mechanical help with that.

- [Amy] That's right, that's right. Our first year, no mechanical help. It took us almost 10 days to get 350,000 tulips planted. So we've scaled up quite a bit and with that, we needed the equipment.

- [Tammy] And Amy for people that are looking at this and think, "Wow, I want to do that," when you plant is when?

- [Amy] So we're in area 7A, and typically, we're gonna plant somewhere between late November to the end of December and we plant en masse. So we're getting our tulips as tight as we can get them, but we're also going to take all of our tulip bulbs up at the end of the season.

- Oh.

- [Amy] And your home gardener's not gonna do that.

- Right, right.

- Yes.

- [Tammy] And you pull 'em up just because you're saving them for the next season?

- [Amy] No, actually we do it to help protect our fields from something called tulip fire, which is a fungus that tulips can develop after a number of years. And because we have so many, we really want to protect the ground as best we can.

- Got it, so the cold snap, let's just say that.

- Yes ma'am.

- And then now here we are in April and you've got a show.

- Yes ma'am.

- And how close do you plant them? Because they seem like pretty packed.

- Yes.

- In here.

- So when you plant en masse, like we do, they actually can touch each other. So for a home gardener though, you're gonna wanna plan 'em at about an egg carton space apart from each other. You don't want them to touch. So if you can imagine how your eggs are spaced in the carton, usually about a thumb width a part, you can still get a nice big impact and it helps protect your tulips and that way they're more prone to grow so that they're gonna reproduce for you the following year.

- [Tammy] So does this help protect them by planting them close together like that so they're not flopping over?

- [Amy] Yeah, so tulips, in general, are pretty hearty when it comes to wind, snow, even frost. Their foliage and their stems are not quite as delicate as some of the other flowers, and they'll stand the test of time going through all of the elements.

- [Tammy] 'Cause they look so delicate.

- Yes, they do, they do. And they can be to heat. Heat is what primarily affects the tulips and makes tulip season so short, especially here in middle Tennessee because we never know if it's gonna be in the 40s or if it's gonna be in the 80s. And so to help prolong your tulips, especially at home, once they start to wilt or even open up too much, if you just put 'em back in the fridge, then they're gonna tighten right back up for you. So for the longest life, put 'em in the fridge overnight every night, and then get 'em back out each morning so that you can enjoy them for weeks. We actually do something completely unique. We're the only farm that we know that does this. We actually plant our tulips on top of the ground. And again, it kind of goes back to that tulip fire that we're trying to avoid. Tulip bulbs, when you get them all of the nutrients, they've absorbed that from the foliage from the previous year. And so for our purposes, they don't need a whole lot of nutrients and water and things to do their thing and put on their show. So we plant ours on top of the ground and then we mulch them with a six to eight-inch layer of insulation with the mulch.

- Right.

- [Amy] At home though, you're gonna wanna dig a trench and you're gonna wanna put 'em four to six inches into the ground and that helps insulate 'em there.

- Got it, so these are actually what I call the globe tulips.

- Yes, uh-hmm.

- [Tammy] But you've got lots of different varieties. Do you know how many different varieties you've got here?

- We have over 100 different varieties and I have it written down when I order it, but I couldn't tell you right now. But one of the things that we try to do is, is all of our rows are mixed varieties. And tulips come in three, what they call, seasons. So you have early varieties, mid-season varieties, and late varieties. And so all of our rows are gonna incorporate a different mix of the early, mid, and late to help us extend our season and let people enjoy them as long as possible. Your earlier varieties are gonna have shorter stems, so they make really cute, little, petite arrangements.

- Right.

- But your later varieties when you get the single lates, you can start seeing some of the purples that are coming up.

- Yes.

- They have those really nice long stems. Those are really nice for your larger arrangements.

- Okay, so single late and single early are the ones that I remember as a child.

- Yes, ma'am.

- So this, Amy, is a single late.

- Correct.

- [Tammy] And the strength of the stem is significant, right?

- Yeah. So they're gonna produce really nice long stems that are great for larger arrangements as compared to those earlier where the stems are gonna be a little bit shorter.

- Got it, so they're just as sturdy, they're just longer.

- That's correct.

- [Tammy] Okay, and then you've got, like... This is what I would call a Rembrandt that's striped.

- That's correct.

- And it is quite showy.

- [Amy] It is, and they've really bred a lot of color into tulips now. You can get all kind of fun striations and you can see different variances where they'll start darker and go to light. So, you know, you'll never get bored with color.

- [Tammy] It's just an explosion, and you've got all kinds of little secrets inside.

- Yes.

- [Tammy] That's what we used to call these with the yellow inside.

- Yes, ma'am.

- [Tammy] But I love these with all the... Are these doubles?

- Those are doubles.

- Even though it looks bigger.

- [Amy] It looks bigger, but you can see with the singles, you typically have one or maybe two rows of petals. But with the doubles, sometimes you get two, three, or even four rows of petals.

- [Tammy] And do they last longer than the singles? I've always wondered that.

- [Amy] No, they actually have about the same lifespan. They're just considered a specialty variety. They don't get quite as tall though.

- [Tammy] Got it, got it. And the care is the same.

- Care is the exact same.

- [Tammy] And the planting is the same.

- Yes, ma'am.

- So no matter if you've got Rembrandt, doubles...

- It's all the same.

- It's all the same.

- Yes, ma'am.

- [Tammy] Okay, and then talk to me about how you handle this after the foliage maybe has started to get a little crazy.

- Crispy, yes.

- [Tammy] Yeah, crispy, that's a good word.

- [Amy] Yeah, so you can see here, the foliage on this one has started to kind of wilt back and die. And a lot of your gardeners... You know, we're in it for the beauty, right? So as soon as that starts popping up, a lot of gardeners will wanna try to pull that up and get that out of their flower beds. But if you want your tulips to reproduce, then you need to let that foliage kind of die and brown back, usually about six weeks, it'll do that. And then you're either gonna pull your tulips up out of the ground, that's what's recommended, and then you can cut that dead foliage off and you'll put your tulips in, like, a paper bag and just store them in a cool dry place, maybe your garage. And then in your growing season, you'll put 'em back in to replant so that they'll bloom next year. But without that foliage properly dying back and giving in enough time, the bulb does not retain enough of the nutrients and the photosynthesis process that takes place. So that's the key to getting the flower to come back.

- Well, but does it look like kind of the wart on Cinderella's nose right now?

- [Amy] It does, but you know, so many people enjoy tulips in vases anyways. So once that starts happening, just clip your tulips, you can still enjoy them. Again, the key is keeping them cool.

- Got it, okay, so when you're gonna clip, where do you clip? Do you go all the way down? Under here, I mean, I don't ever know what to do.

- Let's pull one up.

- Oh.

- So for us, when you come to pick flowers here, you can pull the whole tube out.

- Oh.

- And you can see how long and beautiful that stem is.

- Yes.

- [Amy] Some people will pick their tulips, they'll go home and plant 'em right back again in their gardens so that they can have that foliage and reproduce from the bulbs that they get here. We're perfectly fine with that. But once you clip, or once you pull 'em, you just want to clip 'em right above where the bulb hits.

- So after I get this home, can I leave this like this and just put it in a vase?

- In a vase, yes. Some people do that. Again, if you want to replant it so that it's gonna bloom the following year, you gotta get it back out in the sunshine and let it have its process and die back.

- These are beautiful. And these are the ones you call the fringe.

- [Amy] Yes, so you can tell they have this delicate little fringing around the edge, and they just make a really pretty statement when you're adding them to your arrangements or your landscape.

- You know, they're just thrilly.

- They are, they're kind of girly. Yes, and they look very delicate still, just as hearty, but just add some, you know, nice punch.

- Right, Amy, tell us about how we can find Lucky Ladd Farm and what all else you do here besides tulips.

- Oh gosh, our season is vast at the farm. We do tulips, strawberries, sunflowers, pumpkins. So there's really something for all seasons almost. And we have tons of fun and education for kids with animals and playgrounds, and so it's a really fun outing regardless of your age. The best way to find us would be to go to our website, which is luckyladdfarms.com.

- Perfect, this has just been a thrill for me and I so appreciate in the middle of all of your hectic spring that you've allowed us to come out and visit. It's beautiful.

- Well, thank you so much. Again, we're just so honored to have you.

- Thank you

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