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

I'm Chris Cooper.

We know that in your yard, some plants will do better than others, but certain types may be attractive, but will do terrible.

Today we'll discuss long-term losers and what you should plant instead.

Also, summer in the vegetable garden can bring some problems.

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.

Joining me today is Celeste Scott.

Celeste is the horticulture extension specialist for UT.

Ad Dr. Natalie Bumgarner will be joining me later.

Hi, Celeste.

- Hey.

- Always good to see you and have you here.

- Oh, thank you, I'm excited to be here.

- All right, so we're gonna talk about long-term losers, right?

- Yes.

- And we're gonna talk about those plant materials specifically for the southeast.

- That's right.

- All right.

- Okay, so the concept with these long-term losers are plants that don't perform well in our southeastern region over the long term.

- Gotcha.

- So, I hate to say, you know, that there are any hard and fast rules with gardening, but in this situation, there are a few reasons why we would discourage you to plant some of these plants and look for alternatives.

- Gotcha.

- Does that make sense?

- That makes a lot of sense.

- That might be disease, it might be insect, it might be proper siting of that plant.

So that's kind of how this whole concept for me came about.

- Okay.

So let's get started with Leyland cypress.

- So Leyland cypress is a plant that we see used large scale on a regular basis.

That trend started maybe 15, maybe 20 years ago.

You planting 20, 30 of them in a row.

And now we're seeing serious issues with Leyland cypress, and have for a number of years.

We're strongly recommending to kind of stay away from the Leyland cypress here in our growing region.

There are other places in the country where these plants can thrive and do well.

We get further west, there's less humidity, less heat.

And they just really struggle in our environment with a disease called seiridium canker that can often be influenced by our droughts that come in the late summer.

So we'll have a drought one summer, and then the following year, those plants start to decline.

And people wonder, "Why do I have a brown branch here?

Why do I have a brown branch there?"

Well, that is a disease called seiridium canker that has kind of settled into that stressed plant.

So anyway, let's talk about some alternatives.

- Let's do that.

- We've got great alternatives.

Eastern redcedar.

People see this on the side of the streets, highways, fence rows, think it's a junk tree.

If you have ever seen an eastern redcedar growing in full sun out in the open, it has beautiful form, beautiful color.

It's native, it's tolerant of many soil types, dry and wet.

- Okay, so it's not picky.

- It's not picky.

So that's a wonderful option.

And then Arborvitae is also, would be very comparable to Leylands as far as their rate of growth, and also shape and just, you know, it's an evergreen conifer.

So lots and lots of options as far as a size, color, form, in that Arborvitae family.

- Like it.

- Yeah.

- Okay, all right.

- So let's see, what's next after evergreens?

- Uh-oh.

- Should we talk about ornamental?

- We can do ornamental.

- Ornamental trees?

- We sure can.

- Okay.

So trees to stay, a few trees to stay away from when we're talking about medium-sized ornamental trees.

Bradford pear, I hope is top of everyone's list.

This is a plant that I will say, do not ever plant this plant.

I told you I don't do a lot of rules.

- Okay, but this rule.

- But this is one rule- This is one rule.

- Okay.

- So it reseeds.

- Yeah.

- And in these disturbed sites, it will be prolific and you'll have a thicket- - I've seen it.

- Of Bradford pear or Callery pear, right?

Bradford is just a cultivar name, and people have started calling all of them, all the Callery pears a Bradford pear.

And they are thick, and when they come back from seed, they have thorns.

- Yes, I've seen some of those, yeah.

- And in a home landscape, they are not long-lived anyway, because they've got weak branch intersections, or crotches, what we call them.

So if we get a lot of rain or wind or snow, they have a tendency to break in half.

But guess what?

We have a lot of better options- - Yeah, let's see those options.

- Than that, lots of better options.

- Let's see that.

- So eastern redbud, that is a native tree for us.

You'll see that up and down the interstates, wild spaces, wooded areas, in early, early spring.

Has a beautiful purple bloom.

I know a lot of people like the Bradford pear because it has that early white spring bloom.

So this does still have the bloom.

Has a beautiful heart-shaped leaf.

- I love it.

- Lots of cultivars out there that have really cool color patterns on their leaves.

So some are chartreuse, some have red new growth that kind of moves into a golden color.

And then others even have variegation on their leaves.

So lots of option there to kind of shake things up in the home landscape.

- I like eastern redbud.

I actually have one in my backyard.

- You do?

- I sure do.

- Oh, good.

- Love it.

- So only good things to say about redbud, right?

- Only good things.

- Good.

And then the American fringetree is another favorite that I feel like is way very underutilized in our home landscapes.

It can be a little difficult to find, so you might need to ask your local nurseryman if they can source that for you.

Lots of times we'll see Chinese fringetrees out there as well.

They're also gorgeous and would suit well for a home landscape.

But I always tend to kind of gravitate towards native options if we can.

But they have beautiful, fringy, white billowy blooms in, we'll say late spring, not early spring.

Again, a nice, dark green, shiny foliage that comes on that plant.

Obviously it's deciduous, but certainly comparable to that Bradford pear in size and cool attributes.

- Yeah, I like it.

So no Bradford Pear.

- No Bradford Pear.

- All right, just making- - Let's stay away from Bradford Pear.

- Wanna make sure.

- Yes.

And then if we have time to squeeze in one more category- - Yeah, let's do that.

- I think let's talk about flowering shrubs.

- All right.

- Okay.

- All right.

- People are gonna be so mad at me when I say these two.

- Hold on, y'all, hold on.

- Roses, oh.

- But I know why.

- And azaleas.

Stab me through the heart.

- Oh gosh, oh gosh.

- So you know, we've got issues with roses.

- Yes.

- And rose rosette.

I know we've had lots of questions on the Q and A about rose rosette here in the past.

But it's spread by an eriophyid mite.

There's not a thing in the world we can do to control it.

They do not have any proven bred resistance for this virus at the moment, but that's ongoing.

- Right, so research is happening.

- It is, and UT is part of that research.

- Good, that's good.

- So definitely have that going on.

- Okay.

- Up in that Crossville area at the UT Gardens at the plateau.

- That's good.

- And the azaleas, I just gotta say- - Azaleas?

- Yeah, azaleas.

If they are not sited correctly, they're gonna be a failure in the landscape.

So they prefer low pH.

Most people do not even do a soil test before they install an azalea.

Azaleas will be stressed in full sun situations where they don't have irrigation.

- That's right.

- Majority of home landscapes do not have automatic irrigation.

So azalea lace bug kind of comes into play, and once that pest is there, it's a constant struggle.

So just making sure, I'm gonna say you can still do azaleas [laughs] if you're siting them appropriately.

You can still do roses.

I still have roses.

- I do too as well.

- But I don't have 20 of the same type of rose planted in one mass planting, right?

So I have some of my favorites scattered in and among my other plantings.

- Smart, smart.

- So trying to slow that spread of the rose rosette.

So there are a few things we can do there to kind of help us.

But if we're just looking for alternatives, I have to brag on this plant.

Some people call it a red twig dogwood, but technically it's a silky dogwood.

Yes.

- Technically.

- Cornus Amomum, okay?

- Okay.

And it's a cultivar called Cayenne.

- Oh, I like the name.

- I love it.

- Yeah.

- It is gorgeous.

It's a plant for all seasons.

So in the wintertime, after the shrub loses its leaves, the stems are bright red.

They're gorgeous.

So if you have them in placed properly in the landscape where they can shine off of something solid behind them, they really stand out in the landscape.

Then when spring comes, those leaves begin to leaf out.

They have beautiful white spring blooms on them.

And then the foliage- - There's more.

- There is more.

The foliage that like, in the middle of the growing season is gorgeous, no, like, severe pest or disease.

- Oh, I'm convinced.

- I see very little leaf spotting, and then- - And more?

- And more.

- Okay, all right.

- And then in the fall, those leaves begin to change colors into the realms of purple.

- Oh, okay.

- Purpley red.

- I am truly convinced.

- Yes.

- Okay.

- So this truly is a plant from, a flowering shrub for me for all seasons.

And then of course, we can't go without mentioning hydrangeas.

If you need a flowering shrub, we can find a hydrangea species to suit your growing conditions, whether that's shade or sun or whatever it be.

- Okay.

- And then viburnums.

- Viburnum.

- We are under utilizing viburnums in Tennessee landscapes.

We have eight native species of viburnum here in Tennessee.

And even those that aren't native still can perform really well in our growing conditions.

One that's kind of gained popularity in the market the past few years is called Spring Lace.

- Spring Lace.

- And it is a gorgeous lace cap-type bloom.

And some people actually think it's a hydrangea when it's in bloom, because the blooms look so similar.

So lots and lots of options out there when it comes to flowering shrubs.

Again, I don't wanna put any hard and fast rules out there.

- Oh boy, oh boy.

- But just know that we can dig a little deeper.

And this is, you know, only a smattering of the options.

- Just a little bit, all right?

- Yes, that are out there.

- Just a little smattering.

Oh Celeste, that was great.

Appreciate that information, real good.

- Yeah, I'm so glad to be here and talk with y'all.

- That was good, that was good.

Thank you much.

- Yeah.

[upbeat country music] We are gonna look at this Japanese maple, and as you can see, there's a wound right here.

Let me pull it back here.

That wound is there because it's rubbing, right?

These two limbs are rubbing.

We always recommend to prune out limbs that are rubbing, that are crossing, or that are dying, or that are dead.

What happens is when you have this wound, it can be an entry point for diseases and insect pests.

What should have been done when this plant was younger was to remove this limb here, right at this point, right?

So you wouldn't have the crossing that you have here.

But no fear, you can still do that now.

Make sure you have a clean cut here as you're removing this limb.

And that way you won't have to worry about any more rubbing.

[upbeat country music] - Hi, doc, as always, good to see you.

- Yes, you too.

- Always good to have you here.

- It's great to be here.

Talking vegetables.

- Talking vegetables.

And guess what, we're gonna talk about?

Five common problems of vegetables.

- Yeah, and I took a little walk in the trial plot the other evening.

I brought a few samples with me.

- Okay, so where do you wanna start?

- Well, I would say, let's begin with tomatoes.

We know- - Let's talk tomatoes.

- King of the garden, right?

Everybody's favorite crop to grow.

And probably, maybe the most common question that we get has to do with leaf diseases on tomatoes.

- You'd be exactly right.

- Yeah.

And so I brought a sample here that most likely, we never say 100%, right?

You know, we don't have a lot of samples.

But most likely is an example of some early blight.

And so you can kind of see we look and we comment on the bullseye pattern.

You know, and so of course there are times when it may be, you know, on the tips of leaves, we may have a little bit more damage.

I actually sometimes see early blight even look a little bit different, you know, on some of my different cultivars.

But I think that this is probably the most characteristic pattern.

- Yeah, that's perfect That is perfect.

- Yeah.

- Sure.

- So Alternaria, fungus, and we can address it in, well, we need to address it in a variety of ways, right?

- Okay.

- So one of the things that I do a lot in my trials is actually grow some of the newer early blight-resistant tomato cultivars.

- Okay.

- And when I say resistant, I don't mean bulletproof 100%, but they can get you a little bit further in the season.

Some of those have early blight, some of them also have Septoria, which is another very similar leaf disease, which sometimes we may actually see on the same leaf at the- - Yes, I have.

- Yeah, at the same time.

So if you like a determinant tomato, a medium-sized slicer, we have some good options there.

- Okay, good.

- If your favorite selections are more beef steak or heirloom, we don't have as many resistant options for early blight.

So your best option there is gonna be good preventative sprays.

But first I would probably actually say, probably sanitation, and- - I would.

- Yeah.

- Pick up those diseased leaves.

I would start with that for sure.

- Yeah.

So, rotation.

- Rotation, crop rotation is always good.

- Yeah.

And so, you know, a couple, three years rotation, of course, ideally, we might say four, but at least get those away for a couple of years.

And then one thing that I try to do, as much as time allows, is actually in-season sanitation.

So we know that early blight spreads by, say, last year's leaves, and you know, some residual inoculum bouncing up from the soil.

But when we get to this stage of the season, it's very possible that a lot of the spread that's occurring is actually spreading within our canopy.

And so, I know this sounds like a lot of fun, but I actually go through and clip off diseased leaves to the best of the ability, especially in that June period when there's not very much infection and a little bit of sanitation can hold it down.

And preventative sprays.

- Okay, yeah, preventative sprays.

- Yeah.

- Okay, that's good though.

- So I bounce back and forth between some organic options.

Sometimes I'll use a biological product, Serenade or something like that.

I use Daconil quite a bit.

Copper is an option.

- Okay, so those are good options.

All right, so what's the next leaf that we're gonna talk about, right?

The next disease.

- Rolling down, well, I'll bounce to the other tomato example here.

And if you, now, ignore the wilt.

- I've seen that before.

- Right, yeah.

So we're looking at the distinct lack of- - Yeah, what happened to the leaves?

- Yeah, lack of vegetation.

And so the little critter that does this, I actually, I spared his life just for an example today.

So this is the always formidable in the garden tobacco horn worm, but they are voracious leaf feeders.

And so it actually takes a little bit of work to spot them.

So they'll hang underneath the leaf like that.

But most of the time my, you know, my scouting in the plot is kind of looking for these chewed off leaves.

And it's amazing how fast just a few caterpillars can do damage.

And so there are some great biological options.

Bt.

- Bt.

- Yeah.

That is ingestion.

- Yes.

- So they, you know, they need to consume it, and really as soon as they consume that material, they will stop feeding.

They might not immediately die, but they will stop feeding very soon.

So once we get in the middle of summer, you know, just getting that reapplied enough so that there's always some there for them to consume.

It totally messes with their digestive system.

- Yeah, we don't want those things around.

- Yeah, tears 'em up, yeah.

- Tears them up, all right.

So let's go to the next tomato issue that we have.

- Yes, the last tomato, I guess I did bring, sixty percent of the issues were, in fact, tomato, which may actually be fairly representative.

- Because everybody grows tomatoes for the most part.

- Yeah.

- That's fine.

- So this is maybe our most common physiological, not actually pathogen problem, blossom-end.

- Blossom-end rot.

- And if we were to list all of the things that are put up as cure-all solutions to blossom-end rot, we'd probably be here for a while.

But the geeky definition is what, a localized calcium deficiency.

- Yes.

[laughs] - Which leads people to want to immediately fertilize with calcium.

- With calcium, of course.

And and of course I'm sure you heard all the home remedies, the calcium tablets and pills and things like that.

- Yeah, Tums, right?

- Tums, Rolaids.

- Yeah.

- Yeah, I've heard all that.

- So really what this is, and to a certain extent, physiologists are still kind of arguing a little bit about some of the mechanisms.

Is the calcium deficiency a cause or is it effect?

But what it really is, is the plant not really balancing its uptake and movement of water that has dissolved calcium with the leaves and the fruit.

So lots of times we'll see this happen early in the season when there's both rapid vegetative growth and a whole lot of fruit set.

Because if you're a tomato plant and you're competing for water, the leaves are gonna outcompete the fruit.

And so there'll be more transpirational demand moving through those leaves than through the fruit.

And so some of these young cells that are just developing may be deprived of calcium.

- That's a good way to think about that, okay.

- Yeah, so it's kind of a competitive issue.

There are some times when it truly may be a soil issue.

I don't mean to say that that never happens.

But we wanna to do good soil tests before, Because if we're in the middle of the season, we're not gonna adequately address our soil issue.

But very often it's an environmental issue.

And so the best thing we can do is even moderate moisture, good mulching.

- Good mulching, right, helps.

- Yeah.

- Okay.

- And a little bit of patience.

- And a little bit of patience, all right.

Good deal.

So what are we gonna move to now?

- Well, I guess we can talk pepper.

We're still in the same family.

And so, you know, we give a little bit of a similar disclaimer in the sense that we haven't put these under a scope, but we look at leaves like this and we think, bacterial spot.

- I do, yeah.

Anytime I see those, what yellow halos that are there, that's the first thing I think about.

- Yeah, so we see some of the yellowing around the leaf.

We see kind of a light center, and it tends to be one of the most common things we'll see on peppers.

- Yeah, yeah.

- So I can say that I have done a little bit of hopefully preventative for the younger leaves, copper spray on these plants.

So there are some sprays that we can use.

Overall, we try to not get into bacterial spot, bacterial leaf spot in the first place.

There are several resistant cultivars on the market now, especially when we talk about the bell peppers.

And as a bacterial disease, it can be spread by seeds.

And so when transplants are young in the greenhouse, a lot of overhead watering going on, a lot of splashing.

So being picky when we buy our transplants is another way to kind of avoid it out of the gate.

- Okay, all right, good deal.

So our last sample that we have here is?

- Last.

But well, maybe, least.

He is a sad, sad guy.

- That is sad.

That is sad.

- So maybe the most common leaf disease that we see on our cucurbit family, powdery mildew.

- Powdery mildew.

- And we have it on the top, we have it on the bottom of the leaf.

And he's gonna be in detriment in a couple of ways.

- Okay.

- So he is, of course, pulling nutrients from the leaf.

So he is essentially parasitic at this point in time.

But with this level, he is also kind of interfering with the ability of the plant to, you know- - Yes, the photosynthetic process.

- Yeah.

- Yes.

- Yeah, and cucurbits really like their leaf area.

So I'll readily admit that at this point in time, we're not gonna get a lot of control of this leaf.

But I've put a preventative fungicide on the plants to try to protect the younger leaves.

There are some cucumber, there are several pumpkin cultivars that have, butternut squash, some powdery mildew resistance.

But what's interesting about powdery mildew is oftentimes we may see it more on the edges of the season than the main season.

It is not a hot, hot weather pathogen.

I actually see it more, well, you see it in our zinnias.

We see it in a lot, yeah.

- Yeah, all the time, yeah.

- In a lot of our flower beds.

Now, it doesn't require free water to sporulate, like many other leaf fungal diseases, but you can tell it's reproducing pretty well.

That high humidity will- - Yes, and crowding too, you know, can be an issue.

You wanna make sure you get good air circulation.

- Yeah.

- Right.

- Yeah.

- So it can dry off.

Good deal, Natalie, we appreciate that good information, and these nice samples from your trial garden.

So thank you much.

[upbeat country music] - We chose sweet potato vines, and you know, there's different kinds of sweet potato vines.

There are some more dwarf varieties, but we chose this large sprawling one.

But you know, you have to keep it contained.

It's kind of gotten out of control.

So we're just gonna help it a little bit.

And some wayward vines, we're gonna make sure they grow underneath our other annuals.

And the ones that are coming out of the bed, we are going to trim back a little bit.

When you're cutting here, you see that there's a point of growth.

So that's what you're cutting just about 1/4 of an inch.

And when we cut it here, that bud right there will break and come back out and continue to vine.

So we will cut a few more here that are wayward.

So again, the two ways we are keeping the sweet potato vine in check here is by either trimming them back or making them, direct them in the right way.

We want them to grow in the bed.

This is nice for now.

And since they'll keep growing, we may have to visit this again in a few weeks and trim them again.

[upbeat country music] - All right, Celeste, here is our Q and A segment.

You ready?

- I'm ready.

- Oh, these are some great questions.

Are you ready to dive in?

- Yes, what do we have?

- Alright, here's our first viewer email.

"How can I control or eliminate pepper flies and maggots in my garden?"

And this is Tim from Detroit, Michigan.

So, pepper flies.

- Well, I wasn't super familiar with pepper flies.

Had to do a little research on that.

And we were talking earlier, they're attracted to rotting fruit, essentially.

- That's right.

- So, you know, cultural controls that we can implement in the garden, keeping those ripe fruits harvested before they get to the point where they rot or fall off the vine and then are drawing in those insects.

What are some other things that come to your mind?

- Right, so culture controls, of course, practice good sanitation, like you mentioned before.

Now, he has tried Spinosad, pyrethrins, insecticidal soap, neem oil.

So the thing about the pepper flies or maggots gonna be this, they're gonna be feeding inside of the fruit itself.

- Right.

- Right, so you wanna be careful when you are using insecticides, right?

So you can use pyrethrins, okay?

You can also use Spinosad, has mixed reviews, though.

- Well, because- - Mixed reviews.

- Those products need to touch the insect to be effective.

- They have to contact them.

- Right.

- Have to contact.

- And if the active life cycle is inside the fruit, then those sprays I see would not be effective.

- They're not gonna be beneficial, right.

- Right.

- So again, practice good sanitation, crop rotation.

Don't plant peppers in the same ground year after year after year.

I think that will help.

- And is it just, it's not just peppers, right?

It's peppers, tomatoes, anything in that family, I think, eggplant too?

- Solanaceae family.

- Yes.

- Right, right.

So yeah, you wanna be cognizant of that.

- Make sure you're not rotating your peppers with your tomatoes.

We wanna rotate outside of that Solanaceae family.

Good, yeah.

- All right, Tim, so thank you for that question.

Hope that helps you out, all right?

Here's our next viewer email.

"Our tall, thin crape myrtles only flower at the top.

Will pruning help them bush out and have flowers all over?"

And this is Carla from Kelso, Tennessee.

Are you thinking what I'm thinking?

- I'm thinking shade.

Is that what you're thinking?

- That's exactly what I was thinking.

- Okay.

- Yep.

- So they are stretching- - Stretching.

- To find the sunlight.

- Yep.

- They wanna find that sunlight.

So I think that is likely why they're super tall and thin and only bloom at the top.

So in this case, pruning, yeah, you're definitely gonna get new growth at the places where you prune, but that doesn't necessarily mean the plant is gonna stay bushy, or that it would even increase bloom for that much.

Because if you reduce the height of the plant, then it's that much further away from the sun, right?

It was stretching to grow towards the sun.

So I would consider, if you wanna have a really beautiful, full, heavy-flowering crape myrtle to look at siting that in a place that has more sun.

- I would agree with that as well.

So I hope they helps you up there, Carla.

Celeste, fun as always.

- Yes, sir.

- Fun as always.

Thank you much, thank you.

Remember, we 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.

If you want to learn more about any of the plants Celeste talked about, or find solutions for problems in the vegetable garden, head on over to familyplotgarden.com.

We have tons of information about this and everything else we talked about today.

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

Be safe.

[upbeat country music] [acoustic guitar chords]