- Hi, thanks for joining us for The Family Plot: Gardening in the Mid-South.

I'm Chris Cooper.

Gardens are full of plants and full of questions.

Today we're answering some of what we got from gardeners here at Summer Celebration.

That's just ahead on The Family Plot: Gardening in the Mid-South.

- (female announcer) Production funding for The Family Plot: Gardening in the Mid-South is provided by the WKNO Production Fund, The WKNO Endowment Fund and by viewers like you, thank you.

[upbeat country music] - Welcome to The Family Plot.

I'm Chris Cooper.

Today we are visiting Summer Celebration, a gardening show at UT Gardens in Jackson, Tennessee.

And while we were here, we got some good garden questions.

And we're going to answer them today on the show.

Joining me is Celeste Scott.

Celeste is a horticultural specialist with UT Extension.

- Welcome- - Thank you.

- Celeste, thank you much.

- Thank you.

- Dr. Natalie Bumgarner.

Dr. Natalie is a consumer horticulture specialist with UT Extension.

And Joseph Seago is here with us today.

Joe Seago is a commercial horticultural agent in Shelby County.

Thanks for joining us.

- Yeh, super glad to be here.

- This is going to be fun!

- Yes!

- This is gonna be fun.

We have some great questions from our gardeners that are here today.

- Thanks, y'all.

- Thank y'all so much.

Are y'all ready?

- Yeah!

- Y'all ready?

Y'all ready for the first question?

Are y'all ready?

- I hope so.

- Y'all ready?

- We're ready.

- All right.

So here we go, here's our first question from Logan.

"How do you deal with red and gray clay in your soil?"

So Celeste, what do you think about that?

- Sure, okay.

I'll start us off.

So I can speak on authority from this because I have a lot of clay soil in my garden area at home.

So I can tell you from experience if you have gray clay, I want you to use all your senses.

I want you to get down there, dig into that soil, and give it a little smell.

It probably has kind of a putrid kind of aroma to it, okay?

This is an indication that your soil is completely saturated and it has gone anaerobic.

There is basically no space for air in that soil profile.

And so plants, some plants are gonna struggle to do well in that garden space.

So if that is the type of soil you have, it can be hard to amend that, to change that.

Some things we could do: Maybe consider focusing on redirecting some drainage so that you know if you have a downspout coming out right into that area, let's put some downspout extenders on there to move that water to a different area, that could help.

We could add organic matter.

That would need to be incorporated.

But it's still gonna be hard to fight that.

So I would be more inclined to just select some plants that are gonna do better in a boggier type garden space, right?

Something that can tolerate that type of soil condition.

So that's where I would go as far as kind of the gray take on that goes.

- Okay, and Joseph you and I talked about this earlier.

So what did you think about the question?

- Yeah, like Celeste said, the first thing that popped in my mind was a drainage issue.

It's really wet, very saturated.

So yeah, selecting plants that are gonna take up that water, boggy, you know, rain guard- - Bog-type plants.

- Types like that.

- Rain garden plants, yeah.

- You know, by trade I'm a landscaper.

So the first thing that pops in my mind is we need to do some drainage, right?

[panel chuckling] You know, I've put in a lot of drainage in my time.

So, you know, that's what I'm gonna lean towards, too, as well.

And then the sand, the red color, is probably just sand.

You know not to, I wanna think that wouldn't be an issue.

You know, sand is good for drainage.

And it's good for the plant roots to get in through there.

They're big, open spaces in the pore space.

So, I wouldn't worry too much about that-- - So it, I will say if it's red sand, that can be an indication that there's been a lot of construction there.

They'll use that for like backfill.

Things around foundations of homes, or if you had a driveway or any kind like sidewalk, impervious surface put in.

But as you move across the state, soils change colors.

And so we've got red clay.

- That's true.

- Lots of beautiful red clay.

- In East Tennessee.

- In East... Yeah.

- Yeah.

- And lots of times when I see like all my trial plots are in... Gorgeous if you love it, red clay.

And to me often what that indicates is there may have been some erosion, if I'm not seeing really any darker color in my upper layers, then I mean, I'm growing in a site that there's been some erosion.

And so actually my drainage is pretty good through the profile.

And so it's more of an organic matter addition issue.

So I'm looking for over time, some dark, some slightly brown there on the top of that.

- Okay, that is good.

I hope that answered Logan's question.

I will say this about clay.

Don't curse clay, though.

- No!

- Because you actually need clay.

Because it holds nutrients, it holds water.

- Moisture, yes.

- So it's not a bad thing.

It just needs to be broken up from time to time by using organic materials.

- Yes, yes.

- So there you have it, Logan.

We thank you for that question.

All right, here's our next question, y'all ready?

"How do you remove broadleaf weeds organically in Middle Tennessee rocky terrain?"

And this is Donna.

So, Joseph- - Donna!

- So what are you thinking?

- Pulling them out.

- Ah!

[panelists laughing] That's organically.

- That is organically.

- You know, get that shovel going.

Rocky terrain is gonna be pretty tough.

But yeah I mean, we don't really have anything organic for weed control, you know, as a herbicide.

So yeah, definitely doing, you know, except for a pre-emergent.

You know is- - Yeah.

- Pre-emergent would be a good thing.

It's not really organic, I guess.

But it's an option if you wanna go that route.

But pulling the weeds out, digging them out by hand is gonna be your best bet as organic.

- Probably.

- We did have some organic products that can have some herbicidal effects.

Like vinegars, strong grade, like you know, acetic acid.

But it has to be sprayed directly on the plant.

A lot of times, we're just gonna get burn.

We're not gonna get full control.

- And it may take multiple applications.

- It will take multiple applications.

- So one of the nice fun research projects that I saw a few years ago was a single glyphosate.

It took about three sprays of you know, acetic acid.

- I forgot about that plot.

- Yeah.

- Yeah, that was a good demonstration.

- Yeah, that was, I think, was a Kentucky study.

So you know, it's really more about staying on top of it if you're gonna use those more organic products.

- Or just get those fingers and your weeding gloves out.

- Yeah, pull them out.

- And it's a lot easier to pull those out after a big rain storm or irrigation.

You know, it's just a lot easier to pull and get those roots out, as well.

- And I'll also suggest maybe dense planting.

- Dense planting, yeah.

- Shading out.

- Shade 'em out.

- Shade them out.

- So that may help.

- Utilize mulch, right?

- Yep, mulch.

Right.

Something like that will work.

If you give a good two to three inch deep layer of a good organic mulch.

That can help shade out weed seeds.

So that would be an option.

- Cardboard, and we talked about before.

- Yeah, we talked about cardboard.

Just kind of smothering them out.

Newspaper, I've seen that done before as well.

- Something like that would help, Ms. Donna.

Yep, organically.

- Yeah.

- Shovel, hands.

- Yeah.

- That might work.

All right, thank you for that question.

All right, Ms. Darlene, here's your question, which is a pretty good question, Celeste.

- Okay, Ms. Darlene.

- "I have planted many native pollinator plants "and have an assortment of butterflies, "but yet to have any monarch butterflies.

What are your suggestions?"

- Okay, so if you are loving the butterflies, but are yet to see your monarchs...

Number one, we need to make sure that we are including the host plants for a monarch butterfly, right?

So anything in that Asclepias genus, commonly known as milkweeds, are the plants that you need to have.

And we have lots of options that we can implement here in Tennessee.

I brought some great examples of some swamp milkweed.

So that kind of goes back to our question of the wet sites.

- Right, you guys got some gray clay.

- Right, if you got some gray clay, you can plant a swamp milkweed there.

And they're gonna love that site.

Also gonna help your pollinators there, so.

And if you're not familiar with that term, host plant, it just means that is the plant, that particular species needs for its immature life stage to feed on.

So that it can, you know, come to full maturity.

So that's what we're calling like host plant relationship.

So definitely make sure that you have plenty of that in your garden area to support the adults laying eggs.

And then you're gonna see more in your garden.

Otherwise, they're just kind of flying by.

Maybe they're feeding a little on nectar plants, but then they just move onto the next place because they can't find any Asclepias, right?

So definitely make sure including that in your mix of plants.

And then also it might just not be time for the season yet.

Like usually here, we don't start seeing lots of monarchs until late July.

So you know, it depends on where you are.

And where their migration is happening, and all of that.

- Yeah, we like those butterflies, don't we?

- Yes.

- Yep.

- Thank you, Ms. Darlene, we appreciate that question.

All right, here's our next question from Ms. Jan. "Is there a specific sedum variety "that is good for growing indoors with little sunlight and stays little?"

- Hm.

- Hm, Celeste is thinking about that one.

- Friends of ours know that I'm very talented at quickly killing indoor plants.

- Very talented, yeah.

- So I do have a little experience with plants that are gonna be tough.

Because those are the ones that have survived under my not so vigilant care.

I would say, I can't think of a particular type of sedum that's gonna stay real small.

But maybe like an agave.

Like sometimes there are different cultivars of those that stay in that small rosette.

They're slow growers.

Maybe they're putting on some pups, you know, around.

But aren't themselves like growing really big.

So that might be an option.

Again, this doesn't stay very small.

But things that can do fine in low light are things like mother-in-law's tongue, like Sansevieria.

- Yeah, Sansevieria.

Some of the Dracaenas, like the corn plants.

- Pothos aren't too picky about light access.

Now they will, can get bigger, right?

They're more of a trailing plant.

But you can keep them pinched if they need to stay small, in a small space.

- In fact those are, in many ways, kind of competing thoughts because in lower light conditions indoors, we tend to see leggier, you know, growth.

- Like they're stretching for the light.

- [chuckling] Right.

- Yeah.

- Yeah so, so even jade, things like that.

I tend to see them kind of elongate under my slightly lower indoor light.

- Yeah but the little sunlight.

Yeah, so there's some options, you know, that are out there.

But yeah, as far as sedums, yeah, I don't know of any.

You know, that will fit the bill here.

- Yeah.

- To me, they're more of a kind of high light needing crop.

But, you can always add some light.

- Yeah, you can always do that.

- Supplemental lighting.

- Yeah.

- You can definitely do that.

All right, Ms. Jan, we appreciate that question.

All right, so here's our next question.

Why is my hydrangea plant not blooming?

Which is a question we get often.

- Right.

Pretty frequent.

- So fast, do you want me, or do you wanna start?

- I see y'all chomping at the bit for on this one, right?

- We're like, "Oh my goodness, to answer that or not."

Okay, so some reasons why it might not be blooming.

It depends on what type of hydrangea we're talking about, right?

Different hydrangeas bloom on the previous year's growth.

So think macrophyllas, for example.

Think oakleaf hydrangeas.

They bloom on the growth that happened the year before.

So if we have late freezes that damage, you know, the vegetative buds that are coming out on that growth from the previous year- - And we've had those late freezes.

- We have.

- Consistently.

- Yeah, consistently.

That can kill those buds that were coming out in what we're gonna call like blooming wood, or fruiting wood.

That wood that would of borne flower buds.

So that might be a problem.

Number two, maybe you're pruning them at the wrong time.

Also consider those two... Those two species of hydrangea, if you are pruning them say in late fall or not late fall, late winter, when we are pruning the majority of our woody plants in the landscape.

You might be cutting off all the blooming wood, right?

So those...

I think those are probably your two main reasons for not bloom.

Now Annabelle hydrangea, well, arborescens hydrangea, a lot of people call them Annabelle.

And our paniculata hydrangeas, those sun-loving hydrangeas, they bloom a current year's growth.

So late freezes are not an issue for them.

And improper pruning time is not really an issue for them either.

Because they're gonna be able to grow vegetative growth during the growing season.

And that is the vegetation that the blooms are gonna be borne on.

So if you're having problems with bloom on those two types, I don't know what your problem is.

[all laughing] - Like, yeah, yeah.

- Don't know what your problem is.

- It may not be your crop, paniculatas, not.

Doing well for you.

- Oh, and the other thing, I do get this question a lot.

Their macrophyllas aren't blooming.

But they, you know, they haven't pruned them and they didn't get a late freeze.

Sometimes, and I don't know what the answer is, they just don't bloom.

They're just stuck in this vegetative state.

And have you heard of people like trying to shock the plant, right?

So they are doing like root pruning to try to like- - I heard that.

- Shock the plant to this state of bloom.

And usually if I have one that doesn't bloom two years in a row, and I know it's not freeze, and I know it's not me.

I just take it out and get a new one.

Yeah, mm-hm.

- Yep, yep.

- So in my driving around this part of the world recently, this seems to me like one of the better macrophylla blooming years that I've seen in a long time.

So they're one of those things that I feel like it's peaches, it's like peaches, right?

It's hard to control.

Every third or fourth year is really good.

And let's just enjoy it.

- That's what I say, just enjoy it.

Right?

- And plant some paniculatas for next year.

- And more and more of our macrophyllas hydrangeas are remontant.

- Okay.

- They have the ability to...

Yes, they put off their first flush on the previous year's growth.

But they have the ability to do some blooming on current year's growth.

So if you were at my cut flower talk, you saw that beautiful blue macrophylla that I pulled out that's blooming right now!

Because with those remontant types, you're going to have sporadic blooming throughout the summer.

- And you might wanna focus a little more on nutrition for those- - Yeah and also, I was gonna mention your fertility.

You know, it could be an issue as well.

- And you know, something I would like to add...

It does need some sun.

Especially in the shade.

If you're not getting enough sun, it's gonna struggle to bloom.

- Yeah.

- So even though it, you know, certain hydrangeas want that shade, - That's a good point.

- It's gotta get a little sun in there.

And hydrangeas like to be moist.

They like that water.

- Consistent.

- Consistent.

- Yeh, that's true.

- So maybe it's not getting enough water, maybe it's getting too much water.

There's a lot of different factors that go into it.

- Yeah, I definitely agree with that.

But yeah, pruning, you know, is something, you know that I think, you know is the major, you know case, you know for some of these hydrangeas-- That's my first question.

What did you do in February?

- Yeah, right, right.

- Yeah.

- Usually goes back to pruning.

- We can't have a good Q&A without a hydrangea question.

- Yeah, you gotta have one of those.

So thank you, Sue W., we appreciate that.

And you can't have a Q&A without this next question.

So it's actually about roses.

- Okay.

- "What are these black spots on my roses?"

- So you know, she's not real far off.

It is actually a foliar leaf disease called black spot.

- It is.

- So that one wasn't real hard.

It's super common on our roses.

You know, and it's something that is almost unavoidable for us here in the Southeast.

It's so humid.

We have a lot of still days.

I do feel the breeze picking up right now.

- I can feel right now.

- This may be hard to avoid.

- And those diseases are just gonna thrive in those types of conditions.

And they're going to spread from leaf to leaf.

And many of our ornamental plants, I say don't worry too much about black spot.

But roses can become completely defoliated if you don't do something about the progression of black spot on our roses.

So definitely you wanna look towards a regular application of a broad-spectrum fungicide.

Some, like active ingredient is chlorothalonil.

Something along those lines.

And just to help with that.

And that's gonna have to be something if you are a beloved rose, you know, connoisseur.

That's just something that you know going in that you're gonna have to work on maintaining, so.

- And think of it preventively you know in spring, like we often have with warm and moist.

Then by the time we see it, we could be at quite damaging levels.

And you know, this is not like a curative shot.

It's really trying to protect the healthy tissue that we have, so, you know, prevent it.

- I agree with that.

Yeah, so practice good sanitation.

Because those spores are still there on those fallen leaves.

So you definitely wanna get those up.

And then speaking about now, I mean, we're having these pop-up showers.

I mean, what do you think that does, you know, with this hot humidity.

So you know, it's gonna spread those spores- - Spread, splash.

- Throughout the plant.

So practice good sanitation.

- Make sure you got good spacing.

- Yep, yep, to let the air.

- I say that's another one.

It's got good airflow.

- Don't water over the plant.

Get at that root ball below.

- Right.

- Use a good mulch.

Pine straw, hardwood bark mulch.

Keep it from splashing up, keeping those spores from splashing up.

- And judicious pruning can be really important- - Open it up.

- With disease control.

So you know, we don't wanna leave all of the growth from the current year's rose canes just hanging out all winter long.

We need to get those pruned and taken away, sanitation issues.

And make sure that we get new fresh growth instead of a lot of growth coming out of old wood.

- Okay, and do your homework.

Look for resistant varieties.

- I was just gonna say... selection.

- I mean, yeah.

Selection is everything, right?

I mean there's some that are out there.

So just do your homework.

Look for those resistant varieties and I think you'll be fine, all right?

Because we all love roses.

- Oh yeah.

- Don't we?

- Yep, yep.

- I think we do that.

I think my mom's watching.

My mom loves roses, right?

So you got that, Ma?

All right.

So, here's our next question.

And this is gonna be for Natalie.

"I love the taste of home-grown tomatoes," who doesn't?

"And have tried to grow some heirloom types.

Is growing grape tomatoes really that difficult?"

[panelists chuckling] Is it that difficult?

- Right, yep.

- Sometimes.

- Right, yeah.

So is this, of course, the question, right?

We want it all.

And what I think is that... Actually this is very similar.

To me, roses and tomatoes are kind of like the analogs in the garden area.

So heirloom tomatoes are kind of like roses.

They're one of the more challenging things that we grow in our garden.

So we have to select very well.

We have to rotate, we have to put in our preventative practices, and our sanitation.

We have to be very vigilant about our protective sprays.

So are heirloom tomatoes possible?

Yes, absolutely.

But we need to select well.

We need to stake well, we need to prune well.

We need to spray preventively.

And what I would also say for a beginner gardener, or someone who's moved to a different area.

Maybe you lived in Michigan and the heirloom tomatoes were great.

And you've moved, you know, further south.

- Yeah, moved here, yeah.

- Yeah, start with something, start with a cherry, start with a determinant with a wider disease resistance package.

So I'm all about small successes that, you know, build up.

If you've had some challenges with heirlooms, you know, try something else.

And work out your methods and build back up.

- All right, so let's do this.

Let's define some terms.

- Oh yes, let's do that.

- Let's talk about, what are heirlooms?

Let's talk about them.

- Yeah, so an heirloom tomato, and that's a little bit of broad definition.

So it really is a cultivar that has been in, you know, in circulation.

Often times people will say more than 50 years, you know is a common.

And they are typically all open pollinated.

Which is fun for seed savers, right?

- Right, right.

- So that's kind of our general definition.

But there are, people are still breeding new open-pollinated cultivars.

So you can be old pollinated without being an heirloom.

And then of course, we compare that with hybrid, which has, you know, two parents that were very intentionally selected.

And they grow great for us, but if we save that seed, we just really don't know what we might get.

Whereas if we save the seed from an heirloom, an open-pollinated, then it should, you know, return.

- That is good.

Two more terms for you.

Indeterminate versus determinate.

- Oh yes!

So indeterminate is our most common tomato growth habit.

And they just keep producing leaves and flowers, and leaves and flowers, and leaves and flowers until the disease, or the frost, or the- - Indeterminately!

- Yeah, the groundhogs kill them, right?

- Yes, they terminate at an unknown point in the future.

And determinate is a naturally-occurring mutation.

I'm getting geeky on you.

And it just means that plant terminates its growth.

And you just see a bloom at the top of the plant.

I geek out whenever I see this happen.

I'm like, "Oh, look!

You did it!"

And I'll take a picture.

I'll be like, "Ooh, here it is, it's terminating!"

Here's my terminal bloom.

[Chris chuckling] And other people don't get as excited about that - I'm excited with you now.

- As I do.

- I'm excited.

- Chris is excited.

- Yeah, I'm excited.

- And so determinate, of course, will maintain a shorter plant height.

And we also will then get fruit in a more concentrated harvest window.

So, our processors use that, ketchup, you know, things like that.

Things that are mechanically harvested are our big canners.

- Got it.

So let me calm her down.

You gotta start- - Yeah, too exciting.

- Got excited, got excited.

So this is gonna be our last question, all right?

"My garden looks so sad in late summer into the fall.

"Do you have any plant suggestions to brighten things up?"

And that's actually a great question.

- Oh yeah, that is a great question.

- Because it's hot.

- It is hot.

- Miserable- - Right.

- Late summer.

- Yes, exactly.

So a lot of our, you know, tried and true summer-flowering plants...

Think our black-eyed Susans, and our cone flowers, and bee balms, which were gorgeous all summer are getting super-tired by that point.

They're getting crunchy, things are getting dry.

We're usually have- - Crunchy?

- Yeah, we usually have drought, right?

- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

- As we're getting into August.

So not a lot of moisture available, so that's an excellent question.

And it's super-important because we wanna make sure that we're providing nectar sources for our beneficial insects for as long into the season as we can to get them really bolstered and ready for overwintering.

So I'd say some of my top fall perennial-type flowers for providing nectar are probably asters.

We've got lots of great options as far as asters go.

All in... Well I don't wanna say all.

We have a huge color range now.

I was gonna say traditionally they're in the blues and purples.

But we have whites, even some leaning into yellows.

So lots of options there for asters.

And goldenrod.

- Oh yeah, sure.

- And I always wanna make a couple of clarifications there, 'cause people always feel like goldenrod is a weed, right?

They're seeing it on the sides of the road, they feel like it's making them sick.

Goldenrod is not making you sick.

I promise you.

The pollen is too heavy to be carried on the wind.

That is not what you're inhaling into your nose.

Those spores are coming from ragweed, which is also blooming at the same time, but doesn't have a showy bloom.

And so the goldenrod gets, you know, blamed for that.

So look for some goldenrod, cultivated varieties that are gonna be a little bit more well-behaved in your garden.

Aren't gonna maybe look quite as "weedy".

I love one called Fireworks.

It's a pretty tight stature, probably only two-and-a-half, three feet tall.

And instead of having that plume-type bloom, it shoots off with these like rays of blooms along those pedicles.

And so it's called Fireworks.

- Fireworks.

- And it's super-cute.

And so those would probably be my two for adding a lot of color to the landscape, providing for our beneficials to help make sure we can carry their nectar sources over.

Of course there's lots of other cool things that we could use just for color.

Oakleaf hydrangea has great fall colors.

So that's one that I like to try to intentionally use just to put some pops of color in the landscape-- - Amsonia hubrichtii.

- Ooh, yes!

- Amsonia, that threadleaf amsonia, it turns a really brilliant kind of butterscotch yellow-color.

- Like the color.

- It's got a ferny texture.

I have a plant combination where I have that amsonia with an aster in front of it.

And they play off of each other so well.

So lots of opportunities for color in a fall landscape.

- Yeah, and salvias I feel like- - Yeah, I like some salvias.

- You know or, and even just like lantana.

I feel like is one of the strongest ones.

- It goes.

- Yeah, yeah.

- It just keeps going until the frost happens, for sure.

- Loves the heat, yeah.

- Yeah.

- Love lantanas.

Yeah, Celeste was about to geek out.

- Yes, yes- - Oh my- - See, yeah.

Asters and tomatoes, you get us going.

[panelists chuckling] - Get 'em going.

Thank you all for being here today.

That was fun.

[panelists cheering] Did y'all enjoy that?

- Yeah!

- Did y'all enjoy that?

[audience cheering] Remember, we'd love to hear from you.

Send us an email or letter.

The email address is questions@familyplotgarden.com And the mailing address is Family Plot, 7151 Cherry Farms Road, Cordova, Tennessee 38016.

Or you can go online to FamilyPlotGarden.com That's all we have time for today.

Thanks for watching.

We hope some of these answers will help you in your garden.

To get more information about any of the questions we answered today, go to FamilyPlotGarden.com.

We have all of them listed on the homepage.

We also want to thank all the gardeners here at Summer Celebration in Jackson, Tennessee for asking all these great questions.

Be sure to join us next week for The Family Plot: Gardening in the Mid-South.

Thank you, be safe.

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