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

I'm Chris Cooper.

Spring is a great time to plant a tree.

Today, we are planting a balled and burlap Japanese umbrella pine.

Also, we'll be planting a rose bush.

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 The Family Plot, I'm Chris Cooper.

Joining me today is Dale Skaggs.

Dale is the Director of Horticulture at the Dixon Gallery & Gardens.

And Bill Dickerson will be joining me later.

Alright, Dale, how you doing today?

- I'm doing great.

- Yeah well, we're out in the beautiful Dixon Gallery & Gardens, and thank you so much for being here today.

So, what are we gonna do?

- Well, we're gonna look at planting this Japanese umbrella pine.

And it's not a true pine.

It's kind of rare for this part of the world, but they do really well, they're slow growing.

But we're gonna plant a balled and burlap version of this.

So, just to show you how to treat a balled and burlap planting.

And we're starting out here with some pretty good Dixon soil.

It's recently been weeded and mulched, so we're good to go.

And, Kyle McLane.

- Kyle is gonna help us out today.

- I am.

- Thanks for being here, Kyle.

- Glad to be here.

- So how would you like- - Kyle is the manager of Grounds Horticulture here at the Dixon, so we got the all-star team here planting today.

- Oh, we're ready to go.

- All right.

- This is gonna be real neat, looking forward to it.

- All right.

- So, we've chosen the spot, we're just gonna pull the mulch back.

[rake scraping] - How's that ground, Dale?

- Good rich Dixon soil right there.

So we're gonna try to dig out, we don't wanna go too deep.

But we can go wide.

So, we'll do about twice the width of what the root ball is.

- So better to go wide than too deep.

Got it.

- Yeah, too deep, we're gonna set it on some harder ground.

[shovels scraping] All right, we'll use our spade to measure, up to there.

We want a little high, we'll dig a little deeper.

This particular plant, and a lot of plants don't like our heavy clay soil.

And so, planting them high has drainage, you want the crown to be high, and it to slope away.

You don't want water going into the... You don't wanna plant it in a hole.

I think we're about ready to go in.

All right, so when you're handling a balled and burlap tree, you always wanna handle it from the ball.

You don't wanna handle it from the top.

And you wanna be careful not to break the ball up.

So, we're gonna go easy into the hole.

And then we wanna look, step back and look.

I think this side is better.

Chris, what do you think?

I think this is the face.

- Yeah, I think, I do agree with that.

- Okay, so we're gonna turn this thing.

A little bit more.

How does that look?

All right?

We'll shift it over that way just a little bit.

- My way?

- Yes.

Okay.

Now, first thing we're gonna do is get some dirt under it to make sure it's plum, straight.

So, how's that?

There you go.

How's that?

- It's still leaning.

- Still got a lean?

- Leaning a little bit.

[shovel scraping] - Now, we'll see how it does.

- Is that better, Kyle?

- It is, it's good.

- All right.

So, sometimes you'll see this synthetic rope that they use.

And that does not biodegrade.

It takes a long time for that to break down.

It's got plastics in it.

So if you have this, you definitely wanna get all of that off of the root ball.

But this has jute twine.

And so, it will decompose, but we still wanna pull the burlap away from the base of the tree, and tuck it down into the hole.

So Kyle is gonna cut the rope there.

And peel that back.

- The burlap is there to hold the soil onto, to the roots, and not let it fall off.

Some, when they get larger, you're gonna have a wire basket.

And you wanna leave that on until you get it in the hole, and some soil around it.

Because you don't want it to fall away from the roots.

So, we got this in here, we'll add a little bit of, we're gonna add some amendments.

- For amendments, you can use soil conditioner.

We actually used just the pine bark.

This is a little bit composted.

But it really aerates it.

And if you think about most of the nursery stock that's grown in containers, they're growing in end bark.

So, it's a really good soil amendment.

It is slightly acidic.

If you're planting something that likes alkaline, you might wanna add some lime.

That's not the case here, this is a pretty adaptable tree.

And then we add red sand.

The red sand has different sized particles in it.

If you use white sand, that's mason's sand.

And if you mix clay and mason's sa nd, and you get concrete.

So, you wanna make sure it's red sand, if you're incorporating sand into the mix.

And then we go with something that's, this is some composted cow manure, it has some nutrients to it.

And this is kind of the cat's meow here.

This is worm casings, worm castings.

- Oh, okay.

- It starts out as peat moss.

It just has a lot of humic acid, and then it has a lot of enzymes.

And Kyle likes to add some mychorrhizae to it, as well.

[crosstalk drains out dialogue] - This is a plant starter that has beneficial bacteria, and mychorrhiza.

The mychorrhiza is a fungi that attaches to the roots of the plant, and helps the plant take up more nutrients and more water.

- I think we got a generous helping of that on there.

So what we'll do now, is we'll kind of mix this all together.

We don't wanna just put this directly in the hole.

We wanna mix and amalgamate all this stuff together, and then put it in the hole.

So we'll mix this in with the native soil and then fill it.

You don't want big pockets of just the mix in there.

You wanna mix it to where you have sand, bark, and the native soil all mixed together.

But yeah, we wanna kind of mix all this together, even when I'm turning into there.

And like I said, this is pine bark, so, I'm not worried about the mulch getting in there, at all.

Because we're using composted pine bark, as you may recall.

Air pockets are always a thing.

You wanna make sure you don't have air pockets.

When you discover those in the heat of the summer, your plant will probably be dead if you- - Oh, wow.

- If you leave an air pocket in there.

So we wanna tamp that down, plus- - Tuck this burlap- - And this is a smaller plant, you don't really need to stake this.

And I think staking we kind of only do when it's necessary, because it's extra work, it's ugly and... [Chris laughing] - It's ugly.

- You know, but-- - You can either tuck the burlap down, or you can actually cut it out.

We're just gonna tuck it down.

- Okay, so you don't cut it out.

- And we'll rake the mulch around it.

- Just kind of go over the top of it.

- So this is the existing mulch?

- Mm-hm.

That's why we pulled the mulch back to kind of keep it clean.

- So what about the first watering?

- The first watering you'll do it really thoroughly.

Even if you have an irrigation system, get a hose out there.

Get a hose with a water breaker on it.

You can use your thumb, but go ahead and invest a few dollars in a water breaker.

And just give it a real good drenching all the way around.

And when you think you have enough water on it, water it again.

And so, you want that first watering to be very thorough.

Again, you're settling on air pockets.

And then, planting something like this, you're gonna wanna give it, if you don't get an inch of rainfall in a week, you're gonna wanna give it an inch of rainfall, or so.

But you'll wanna watch it and see if it needs a little bit more water than that.

But in the heat of the summer is the first year.

Once you get through that first summer, you're in good shape.

But yeah, this is a real special tree.

I'm really proud to add this to our living collection.

- That ought to be good.

Well Dale, Kyle, thank you so much.

We appreciate that demonstration.

- Thank you.

- It looks like y'all done this before.

Y'all done this before?

- Many times.

- Are you gonna come back and visit the tree?

- Of course we are.

- All right.

- We'll come back and visit it, of course we are.

[upbeat country music] - So, one of the things that we like to use at the Dixon are organic fertilizers.

This particular one has not only slow release fertilizers in it, it also has mychorrhiza fungi, which is a beneficial fungi that attaches to the root of the plant, and allows the plant to take up nutrients, more nutrients and more water than it normally would.

Mychorrhiza is a fungi that is found all over the world.

If you go out in the woods and dig in the soil, you're probably gonna find some of that fungi.

There's also beneficial bacteria in this.

So, you're actually feeding the microbes that are in the soil.

[upbeat country music] - Alright, Mr. Bill.

We're planting roses, right?

- Yes, sir.

- All right, what do we need to know?

- Well the first thing, I recommend going to a local nursery.

And you'll get a potted plant.

And they're just the newest plants that are out.

They're more vigorous than the old plants.

They're more money.

[Chris chuckling] But for example, if you go to the box stores, you'll get a plant that the patent ran out in '65.

When I picked these out, there was only 2 roses out of 40 that I ever heard of.

And I take care of a lot of roses.

And so, I wanted to show just the difference between, this is a bare-root rose.

And when you open it up, it just got a little bit of dirt, and it's just- - It's just roots.

Okay.

- So you have to, there's a little bit of more special care.

And it'll grow, but you're just starting out with a much better rose, and a current rose.

Now, when you're looking for roses, a number one cane has at least three nice-sized canes.

This is about as good a rose as you can get, as far as the canes.

If you'll notice, it's got the bowl shape in the middle, which you want for good, for air ventilation.

It cuts down on funguses and disease.

This rose is fine.

You don't see many that's just this ideal.

- Yeah, this is perfect almost, right?

- It is.

I mean, it's just perfect.

This is a Mr. Lincoln, which is an older rose.

And you'll find them like these ones in the box stores.

But it's a great rose, and it's got great fragrance.

So when I dig a hole, you want a good hole.

You want it, you want the graft to be ground level or above.

And so you can raise a little bit up.

And I mean this rose is grafted, it's a vigorous root stock underneath this little ball.

And the top is red rose, yellow rose.

The root stock itself is, it's just a little red, rose for goes so, a little red almost like a wild rose would have 5 petals, versus a big 40-petal yellow rose.

- And so, the graft needs to be above the ground?

- Above the ground.

- Gotcha, okay.

- So, I dig a hole, I got room to add amendments.

Now what I typically do, these were bare-root roses similar to this, end of January.

Depending on when the suppliers get them.

So, they don't recommend planting them 'til about end of April, first of May.

Because those roots are just starting to come out.

Now, what I do... Is, I cut the bottom- - Oh, look at that- - Of the rose out.

[knife sawing] And then when I stick it in the ground, it's not gonna disturb or tear up all those roots.

- Gotcha.

- So, the next step, depending on your soil type, you wanna add some amendments.

And you want the rose to grow out.

They only grow about a foot deep, but they grow out more at the top- - Gotcha.

- Than down.

I'm gonna put a little gravel.

You can use pea gravel, or whatever.

- So, tell us what the gravel is for.

- Well, the gravel...rose don't like wet feet.

They don't like to sit in it.

It fits...I started to hit a little hard clay at the bottom.

But, that'll get those roots off of the bottom.

And they'll grow through that.

But the gravel will kind of keep the drainage down, and the water will settle to the bottom.

- Gotcha, gotcha.

- Here, I'm gonna add a little, any kind of garden soil from a nursery.

If you got composted stuff, that's great.

Leaves, whatever.

But, they like loose soil and those roots will grow, and give it a big head start.

- Gotcha.

- Now... That's about where I want it.

So what I'll do first off, I got a product, it's a fairly new product.

That's got feathers in it, it's got kelp, it's got worm casings.

- Which is good stuff.

- So, it's got a lot of the micronutrients.

[container shaking] Plus, it's got some soil release that'll help feed that plant as you go along.

And I wanna add... Another thing that I use a lot of is good 'ole Epsom salt.

Magnesium sulfate.

That's just, it's a wonder drug like aspirin.

[Chris laughing] I mean, it's great stuff.

For tomatoes, roses, almost anything that you wanna plant.

- So, just a good handful for something like this, or two?

- You know, I put a couple of handfuls, that's probably about half a cup.

On established roses, I put about a cup in the spring.

It gets basal breaks, which is a new cane will start from the root graft.

Then I'm on to, add a little more, of course, it's mighty wet out here, and it has been for awhile.

So, I'm putting a little soil in here so that I can pull the bottom out.

- Good cut, how about that?

- I can pull the bottom out, and I'm gonna spread, I'm gonna start, and I'm gonna make, start at the bottom, and cut about halfway up.

Then, I spread this soil around.

And about halfway, I'll probably add just a few more- - A little bit more.

- Amendments.

Bone meal, any of the organics that's just gonna kind of feed those roots when they come out.

Phosphorus, super phosphate, bone meal is really good.

And, I'm gonna add a little more soil.

[container shaking] I'm gonna tamp it down a little bit.

Bring my cut up some more, I'm almost through it.

[container shaking] Now, normally I would get some more of the dirt that came out of the hole, and I'd add, I'd mix some of that with it.

Then, when I get it planted, the bottom is already out.

- Right.

- And this is kind of packed in.

Well then I can just gently- - Ah, how about that!

- Pull this off.

- Ah!

- And it does not disturb the roots.

- Gotcha, gotcha.

- Because at this point in time, coming from the nursery, they're just a little tiny, it's like about like grass, they're just little.

And if you're just turning... Later on in about two months, you can take that pot, and turn it upside down, and it just comes out, and it's almost root-bound, but not quite.

But now if it falls off, you just knocked the three or four weeks worth of root growth.

You've just kind of taken that away.

Then I pretty much fill this full of soil.

If you got pots or something died in- - So, you can use some of that soil.

- Yeah.

It's good, and then you got a pot that you can do something else with.

And I like to say that this was filled up to about the top of the ground line.

At that point, I would- - Go ahead and mulch it.

- I would add mulch on the top, which is gonna break down.

It's gonna keep the plant, keep the weeds out.

[bag shaking] And I'll actually build this up a little high.

If it didn't have this new growth on it, I would almost cover it up.

- Wow, okay.

With the mulch?

- Cover it up with the mulch.

Especially with the bare roots.

You cover that, you cover it up with the bare roots.

And then, as it starts sprouting up, you take the hose, and you just wash it down.

And by May, end of May, starting in June, you can just take a hose, and wash it away, and it's settled in.

- So let me ask you this, so the mulch is not gonna bother it, right, because we usually tell people don't pile the mulch up against your stems.

Or against your trunk, so that's not a problem?

- Not at this point.

I'm gonna break it back down.

- Gotcha, okay.

- So this is just to keep that plant moist.

Because, it doesn't have many roots.

So it's just, all cylinders are going, new roots, new canes will come out of these.

And they just need that.

Of course, we got plenty of moisture now.

We all know that.

- Right, right.

- It's just ridiculously wet.

And then at the end, I'll just pull this back down.

- Gotcha, gotcha.

- At almost ground level.

And that'll keep weeds out, and then you're fertilizing it.

And then I would probably go with a little bit more top dressing.

If it's dry, you would water this in.

And get all the air pockets out.

But right now, I'm sure we'll get rain in the next day or two.

[chuckling] And that'll just kind of do it.

Then I kind of mash the whole thing down, and that'll compress it.

And that just pretty much... Now, another important thing is these look pretty good.

But if you, where this cane is coming out, nothing is gonna grow above that.

- So, you'll just cut it off?

- I'll just cut that off.

Right here, you got this little small cane, that I don't know why they left.

And there's nothing coming out of this.

But I can see a break down here.

- Yeah, I see it.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

- And, I'm just gonna take that off.

And then, if this thing starts dying back, if it starts getting brown; I mean, it'll get a little brown, it'll harden off.

Mother Nature likes you to do it a quarter of an inch.

But if it starts getting a little brown, all you gotta do is just come over and take a little bit off.

See there's a little brown in there?

- Yeah.

- And you just want white pith.

- Gotcha.

- And, it doesn't hurt the plant.

[pruners snipping] - Okay, I see it.

- And then, just keep it watered.

- And from there, it'll be okay, huh?

- And then, you're good to go.

- Mr. Bill, we definitely appreciate that demonstration.

- Thank you, sir.

- I think you've done this a time, or two, right?

[Bill chuckling] - I have indeed.

[gentle country music] - Tulips in, zones seven, eight, usually do not last in the ground through the summer, especially if their soils are really tight like ours are here.

They sometimes rot in the ground.

So, we dig them up and treat them as annuals.

And this is the same concept you can use for any bulb that you want to move somewhere else.

You take a trowel, move dirt out of the way.

And dig down as far as you can to hopefully gather the bottom of that bulb.

And pull it up.

And then, you can transplant this to some other place.

Or, put it in the compost pile.

[upbeat country music] - All right, here's our Q&A segment, y'all ready?

- We're ready.

- These are great questions.

All right, here's our first viewer email.

"How do I eliminate Canadian thistle?"

Martin from Edison, New Jersey.

He says "even with digging and spraying, it still comes back," Kyle.

So, what do you think about that?

Canadian thistle is tough.

- It is very tough to get rid of.

I think a lot of diligence, you just have to stay on it.

Both with digging and spraying.

I think you can, you know you can do a glove method where you put a glove on, and dip your hand into whatever chemical, and wipe the plant down instead of spraying.

But, it is very tough to get rid of.

- I think it has that long tap root as it goes down into the ground.

And so you pull it, you leave a piece behind.

And lo and behold, what happens?

It comes back.

- Yeah, that's pretty much how it's gonna reproduce.

You know, by the root fragments, seeds.

Of course it's a perennial weed, you see it out with pastures, road ditches, and things like that.

It can be definitely tough.

- The problem is, it's not fun to pull, either.

- No, it has those little spines on the leaves, right?

It has the spines on the leaves.

So yeah, you have to be diligent, Martin.

Yeah, I would keep cutting it back, cutting it back.

You know, don't let it go, set seed.

So I would cut it back, mow it, cut it back, mow it.

Probably, maybe use a herbicide.

Something glyphosate, tr iclopyr, something like that.

Read and follow the label.

It may help slow it down, it may help.

So there you have it, Martin.

Good luck.

All right, here's our next viewer email.

"What are these black patches in my lawn?"

This is Deborah from Knoxville, Tennessee.

She wants "a simple and natural way to get rid of it."

Kyle so, you and I had a little discussion about this earlier, so what do you think about it?

- It's probably brown patch, I'm thinking.

It's a water mold fungus that gets on the grass.

I think the first thing is cultural.

Make sure that you have good drainage, and add in some organic matter to help with that.

And there are some biological ways that you can treat that without using chemicals to control it.

- What kind of grass do you think they're growing in Knoxville?

- Probably fescue, you know, would come to mind.

- Perennial rye grass, maybe?

- Maybe some rye?

There's probably a little Bermuda or zoysia.

But we don't know what kind of grass she's growing, but I do know they grow a lot of fescue up that way, maybe some rye.

- Well, I don't have a lot of comments about that because you two guys are turf grass experts.

- Yeah, cultural practices.

[all chuckling] Yeah, cultural practices is the first thing I'll talk about before I even start mentioning a chemical.

So fertilizing according to your soil test.

Improve your drainage.

- Would watering be, a lot of plants that we have fungal issues here, we control the watering, do it early in the morning, so it has a chance to dry out, instead of watering in the evening, is that?

- Yeah, yeah, that's something you can do, as well.

Yeah, and then of course if you have compact soils, you wanna look at that.

You know, aeration, you know can help out with that as well.

But yeah, all of that could be good, Dale.

And I think that'll work.

So, Ms. Deborah, yeah.

Go to your local Extension Office there in Knox County, they be sure to help you out, all right?

Thank you for that question.

Okay here's our next viewer email.

"Can I cut back large Japanese maples without harming them?"

And this is Carla from Ridgewood, West Virginia.

So Dale?

- Yeah, I don't know if I would rejuvenation prune.

I would probably take it down over time.

And I would take it down, maybe getting a third of where you want it.

And the next year take more out, and kind of work it down slowly.

I wouldn't do it all at once.

And you certainly don't want to cut anything.

Even if it's sprouting at the bottom.

That's below the graft.

Because most Japanese maples are grafted.

But I wouldn't... You're not gonna have the growth that follows on a Japanese maple.

Unless it's growing it's own roots.

And there are some like Glowing Embers, and a few others that are growing their own roots.

And those you can be a little bit more vigilant about cutting back.

But, I would caution you not to get too crazy with that in one sitting.

Do it over time.

- And she did mention that she wants to reduce the size, and she lives at an elevation of 2300 feet.

So does that differ in any way from what you were saying?

Probably not?

- No, I don't think so.

- You don't think so?

Anything you wanna add to that, Kyle?

- I just, do it when it's dormant.

And do some thinning on it.

And then as Dale said, take a third off.

And the next year, you could take another third.

And then, the third year.

And then you've got it down to more of what you want, and you're not taking too much off of it.

- Well because maples have opposite leaves.

So they sort of fork on you.

And so, they show you where to cut them, really.

It's kind of easy to follow where to cut them.

- So, they show you.

You like that?

[all chuckling] Well there you go, Ms. Carla, they show you.

All right?

All right.

So Dale, Kyle, we're out of time.

Thank you so much.

- All right, thank you.

- Thank you for having us.

- Thank you.

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.

If you want to learn more about planting shrubs, or planting rose bushes, head on over to familyplotgarden.com Be sure to join us next week for The Family Plot: Gardening in the Mid-South.

Be safe.

[upbeat country music] [acoustic guitar chords]