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

I'm Chris Cooper.

Winter can be hard on plants, especially if it gets unusually cold.

Today, we're going to see what to do after the damage is done.

Also, to keep critters out of the garden, you may need to build a fence.

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 Joellen Dimond.

Joellen is the Director of Landscape at the University of Memphis.

And Mr. D will be joining me later.

Alright Joellen, we're here on the grounds of the University of Memphis, your playground.

- Yes.

- Alright.

So let's talk a little bit about the winter damage that you've been seeing.

- Yes.

- You know, throughout the landscape here.

- Yeah.

Well, like this is an azalea here.

And you see azaleas are normally evergreen.

They're zones five through nine, so they survive in this area.

We're in zone 7B.

But we've got some single digit temperatures for an extended period of time.

In fact, it was like under 32 degrees for over 24 to 36 hours.

So that was very stressful for our plants that are normally more accustomed to having a hundred degree temperatures.

- Yeah.

Right.

- So, but if you look at this plant and you find the bark and peel it back, you'll see that it's green.

- Right.

- So that means that it is alive and you can test all of your plants that have, normally are evergreen, 'cause we've had a lot of problem with our broadleaf evergreen plants not taking those single digit temperatures very well.

Azaleas aren't the only ones that are affected, but if you notice these have buds on them, so.

- Yeah, they've got a lot of buds.

- They're gonna get ready to bloom because they can take colder temperatures.

- Okay.

And before you talk about those other plants, anything we should be doing now, you know, with the azaleas or some of the other plants that you're gonna be talking about?

- I would let Mother Nature take its course.

- Yeah.

- And see what happens.

There might be some dead spots 'cause of prevailing winds that was harder on some plants and some areas than others.

And I would let, I would wait until about May, end of April, May.

- Yeah.

- Just to see what all comes out of this.

And now if you scratch something and it's not alive and it's an azalea and you, well, you know, there might be other stress factors that have occurred before.

- Right.

- Because we had a drought this last summer in this area.

- That's right.

- And so, you know, and then maybe the plant is not in the right place.

Maybe it's getting too much sun for it.

- That's right.

- So it might be other factors that the cold just finally was the last straw for that particular plant.

- That's right.

That's good, that's good.

I would agree with that.

Alright.

So let's talk about those other plants, right?

- Other plants.

We've got nandinas.

Now they're zone six through nine and they all defoliated.

- Yeah.

- But they're still alive.

I mean the stems bend and everything, so, I mean.

- So long as it's still pliable.

- Yeah.

And it'll take the cold, but the leaves did drop off, but they'll come back.

- Not a problem.

Alright.

- The Helleri holly, it's zones five through eight.

So it can take the cold, but it also defoliated.

But you know, it may come back too.

So because it can take the colder temperatures.

- Okay.

- Then you've got skip laurels.

They also did not like the temperatures, but they are zones five through eight, so they should be able to come back.

- Okay.

And the thing about some of those, the leaves actually remained attached, you know.

- A lot of these, some of the leaves remained detached.

- Yeah.

- But they can take colder temperatures.

Then there's the Otto Luyken laurels.

They are also zones six through eight.

They seemed to not do well, but their leaves are still on there.

They may come back.

- They may come back.

- Then you've got abelias.

Those are zones six through nine.

They all defoliated.

They are normally evergreen.

The plum yews are zones six through nine.

And they were definitely hurt by the cold, but they did retain some more green than some of the other plants.

- Okay.

So hope there.

There's hope.

- Hope there, yeah.

Then we've got a Chamaecyparis, which is a false cypress.

They're zones five through eight, but they did not like the cold temperature.

- They didn't like it at all.

- So they all browned up.

- Okay.

- Indian hawthorn.

Now there is a problem.

Those are zones 7 through 10.

So see we are on... - The edge.

- The very edge of the limit.

So that cold five, six zone temperature that we had may have finished them off.

- Sure.

- Or cut them back to the ground.

- Okay.

- Then there's Japanese Cryptomeria.

They're zones five through eight and they're beautiful trees, but you know, some of them have turned all brown and, but mine at my house are all green.

- How about that?

- So I don't know why some people have brown Japanese Cryptomeria and some people have green ones.

- That's interesting.

- That I don't know.

- Hmm.

Microclimates maybe, I mean I don't know.

- Could be.

- Yeah.

Interesting, yeah.

- But I live even further north from here and have prevailing winds are out in the middle of the field, so I don't know.

- That's interesting.

Okay.

- I don't know why that's like that.

Of course, then there's the Loropetalum.

Again, zone seven through nine.

They maybe couldn't take the temperatures and they might actually be gone also.

- Sure.

- And then Carissa hollies lost a lot of their evergreen leaves.

Some of them did, some of them didn't.

It's very sporadic of where they lost all of their leaves.

But they're still green so they most likely will come back too.

- Okay.

That's good.

- But they are zones considered seven through nine.

So if we're at the upper limit of that one too.

But look at the dwarf Vomitoria holly.

They're still green, all of them.

They didn't lose any leaves.

But that's a native holly.

- A-ha, it is.

Okay.

- So I'm wondering if native seem to do better than some of the others.

- Okay.

So they seem to adapt a little bit.

- They seem to have done a little bit better than some of these other broadleaf evergreens.

- Okay.

- And of course, Mother Nature's coming out.

There's some star magnolias that are starting to bloom.

- Beautiful.

Yeah.

- The Okame cherry is starting to bloom.

- Beautiful.

Yeah.

- And look at the witch hazels.

They got, you can tell they got hu rt by the cold 'cause... you can't really tell 'cause the leaves actually died and stayed on the tree, which they normally would fall off.

- Okay.

- And then the blooms would show be tter on the branches.

But you know, they are blooming, so it is alive.

And they're gonna start the new... - Yeah.

As long as they're blooming.

Okay.

- Yep.

- It should be okay.

- Should be okay.

- We hope.

It should be okay.

Okay.

- That's of course, and then there's the Anthony waterer spirea.

- Yeah.

Okay.

- Look, it's starting to leaf out.

- New foliage.

- So new, spring is coming.

- It's coming.

Hopefully.

Hopefully.

[Joellen laughs] - So I think we'll see a lot of our plants that did brown out in the cold come back.

For those that didn't, then we might have to replace them.

And if it's limit of zone seven for those plants, I might consider a plant that has a zone six or five as a limit.

- Okay, so Joellen we're in zone 7B in Memphis, Tennessee have a lot of winter damage.

This damage probably can happen anywhere.

- Yes.

- So what are some of the general care rules that we need to know about these plants?

- First, don't panic.

- Don't panic.

Okay.

- Just because it's gotten brown when it normally isn't, is not a sign, a bad, bad sign.

Know your plant material no matter where you are.

Give it some time to recover in the spring.

Make sure the temperatures are warm enough that the plant starts to recover, and then you can see, don't prune it right away.

- Yeah.

- Make sure you see what's coming out and what's alive.

And then you can selectively prune out what's not coming back.

- Okay.

- And if it's too much damage and you decide to take it out and you can replace it then.

- Okay.

- But yeah, and it's, watch your zones when you are replacing the plants.

- Zones are important.

- If your zone is zone five and you need, you seem to have zone four or three weather, you need to get a plant that might be a little bit hardier, a little further north than you.

- Yeah.

Got it.

So general rule again.

Yeah.

No need to prune.

- No need to prune.

- No need to fertilize.

Be patient.

- Be patient.

- Spring is coming at some point.

- Yes.

- Right.

So we just need to be patient with that.

- Yes.

- Thank you very much.

[upbeat country music] - Inflorescence.

- Yeah.

- And you actually have examples of that, right?

- Yeah, you kinda alluded to that as something maybe bad.

- No.

- It's not bad.

- Do you have it in your garden or what?

[laughs] - Yeah, you want it in your garden.

If you want flowers, you know.

Yeah.

You got inflorescence.

And that's a term that means the entire flower structure.

- Okay.

- Which could be the flowers, the bracks, the little stems, you know, and the branches that encompass the whole floral part of the plant.

And for example, there's all kind of terms to describe those different kinds of inflorescence.

And people would be very familiar with the single flower like a hibiscus.

- Right.

- That's called a single inflorescence.

You've just got the big flower and that's it.

But now, for example, there's other types that, this one that I brought is called an umbel.

And it's a type of inflorescence that is a grouping of flowers.

And if you can see, these little individual dudes right here are actual flowers.

Each of these little things are flowers, little trumpet flowers.

But they're on a structure that they're all connected together, you see.

And that's called an umbel.

So it's a grouping of, you know, different inflorescence together.

And another example of an umbel that people might be familiar with is the Queen Anne's lace.

You know, everybody knows Queen Anne's lace.

- That's right.

- That's an umbel inflorescence.

And then we have another one called... there's all kinds.

There's one called a raceme, which would be the arrangement of flowers that are really close to the stem, like a foxglove.

- Okay.

- You know that.

So there's, but that's the term for the entire flower structure, including you know, the different parts.

- Okay.

Inflorescence, alright.

- Yeah.

You want that in your garden.

- Yeah.

You want that.

- Yeah.

- That's good stuff.

[upbeat country music] Alright, Mr. D, let's talk about the kinds of fencing.

- Okay.

- Where would you like to start with that?

- Well, first you need to try to determine what you're trying to keep out.

- Okay.

- Or keep in, whatever the case might be.

But you know, here in the Mid-South, probably the main critters that folks want to keep out of their garden or landscape are deer.

- Yes.

- Maybe rabbits, if they have vegetable gardens, maybe raccoons, because they can create a lot of problems around the house.

And you need different kinds of fences for all of these critters, probably not, there's no one fence that would work for all of them with maybe one exception.

- Uh-oh.

- No, it wouldn't work.

- That wouldn't work?

- The raccoons would get up.

- Okay.

Alright.

- Raccoons, whatever.

What I was thinking, a privacy fence that like a lot of folks have a solid wooden privacy fence.

- Okay.

- That would probably might work for deer simply because they can't see on the other side of it.

- Oh, okay.

- If it's you know, tight enough where they can't see through their, you have overlapping wood or lapping wood.

- Okay.

- Because even though there may be something on the other side that smells real good, like, you know, a vegetable garden or something like that, they tend to... since they can't see what's over there, maybe they're thinking that there may be something dangerous over there.

So they don't tend to jump the solid wooden fences, even though they're shorter than...

I mean, they could easily jump a six foot wooden fence.

Deer can jump between eight and nine feet high.

- Yes.

- And they can jump probably 15, 20, sometimes 25 feet long.

- Wow.

- You know.

That wide a spread.

Now they can't jump eight or nine feet high and fifteen or twenty feet wide.

They can't do that.

- Yeah.

- They can either jump high or they can jump long.

- Right.

- So a wooden fence, a solid wooden fence in a landscape situation might do a pretty good job of keeping out deer.

Rabbits can burrow under a wooden fence.

So a combination of a wooden fence with woven wire or you know, expanded wire sunk down from three to six inches into the ground, buried three to six inches in the ground, that combination would keep deer and rabbits out.

- Right.

Okay.

- And it would probably protect your garden.

- Okay.

- It wouldn't be cheap.

It'd be pretty expensive.

- Yeah, I reckon.

But that would probably be the trick for you.

Now, the raccoons could climb that.

They would scramble up the top of that, you know, six foot wooden fence and jump over.

So that would take care of deer and rabbit.

That's pretty expensive.

If you have a large garden or if you don't wanna spend that much money, a real tall, either metal or poly... - Wow.

- They have poly deer fencing that you can make eight to nine feet tall.

They would need to be at least eight feet tall.

That would keep most of the deer out.

- Most.

[laughs] - But again, that's very expensive.

Beause you gotta put posts and you've gotta do all that.

And the posts have to be fairly close with that, a metal fence or a poly fence.

Now, cheaper alternative, and this is one that we use out at Agricenter, and I even had to use it for the first time up at Murray State this year, to keep rabbits and raccoons out of some of our plots is electric fences.

- Okay.

- You can go to a farm supply store, or probably any of the hardware stores have a fairly cheap just wire.

It's real thin wire.

And you can use a plastic fence post that you push into the ground that are only like 30 inches tall.

If you do that for deer, you need at least two strands, in my opinion.

The top strand about 30 inches tall.

The lower strand about 15 inches tall.

The lower strand will keep the little deer out, keep the fawns out.

And the bigger strand will, I mean, the deer's gonna walk up there and stick their nose to it probably.

And it does a pretty good job, especially if you lean it out at about a 45 degree angle.

And that's what we do at Agricenter and it pretty much keeps most of the deer out of our plots out there.

Now you might get by with 1 strand about 30 inches tall, that would keep the big deer out.

But the problem that I've seen with just one strand is that the fawns will walk underneath it and then the mother's going to blow through there if she needs to.

And she's gonna tear your fence all to pieces.

- Now what about the raccoons though?

- Well, the raccoons, electric fence.

- Electric fence.

- See, it works most of the time for raccoons.

You'd need a shorter fence.

It needs to be ideally two strands, one about six inches off the ground and 1 at about 12 inches off the ground.

I've had success.

We had some success, we kept raccoons outta sweet corn up at Murray State this year with one strand at about 12 inches off the ground.

And it kept them out.

And this is a planting where last year we had a 100% loss.

- Wow.

- Of sweet corn.

They ate every bit of it.

[Chris laughs] And this year as soon as we took the fence down, we took the fence down during harvest when we started harvesting it, and of course harvest lasted a week or so.

And as soon as we took the fence down, it was like... - Yeah.

[laughs] - They were coming in and we were getting some and they were getting some, we were getting some... - It's down, it's down!

- Yeah.

- But I think we out-harvested them.

But electric fences work really well, and you might not have a power source.

- Yeah.

I was gonna ask you about that.

- Handy, like, we don't have a power source at Agricenter or at Murray.

So we use the solar powered chargers.

- Oh, okay.

- And you could buy those at any place that sells fencing materials.

And they're fairly inexpensive and you have to charge them first, you know, connect the batteries and then charge them and, you know, for like 24 hours before you hook it up to the fence.

If you do that, pretty good little shock, you know.

If you don't believe me, just grab ahold of it.

- Test it and find out.

- How do you maintain those electric fences though?

I mean, of course you have to keep the grass from growing up around it.

- Well, it's the... the new generation chargers will shock through grass.

- Oh, how about that?

- If you, the chargers will, many of them will say that they'll shock, you know, 10 miles of fence.

And so they wouldn't, but it's better to keep the grass.

And what, and we do, we use herbicides.

- Okay.

Okay.

- You know, we just spray herbicide, Roundup under the electric fence.

You can weed eat.

- Right.

- But if you, don't worry if you get some grass that gets up in it a little bit.

It's still gonna, still, it's gonna run right through there.

It'll shock right through there.

So they have really improved in the past few years.

But, you know, that's the... and you can, if you, if it happens to be in your backyard, you can, you don't have to buy a charger.

I mean, you don't have to buy a solar charger.

They have chargers that you just plug into a 110 outlet.

And they'll do the trick too.

That is really probably better.

You don't have to worry about if you know, you have a lot of cloudy days, sometimes your solar power charger can get weak on you.

But that's the cheapest route to go, is with electric fence.

- Electric fence.

- Mhmm.

- Alright.

Appreciate that Mr. D, it's good stuff.

Be careful when putting up that electric fence though.

- That's right.

- Do be careful.

[upbeat country music] - We're in late winter now, and it's... a lot of the annual color that has been put in is starting to look ratty, so we're going to clean it up.

One way to revitalize the plants in your landscape after a hard winter is just to prune back the dead and the ratty looking plants.

When you do prune an annual, you want to go all the way to the base of the stem that looks ratty.

Leave the new foliage.

A lot of the old foliage has been protecting the new growth that's coming out.

So what I usually do is go back and take out any stem that has lost foliage off of it, or has a lot of brown and dead looking.

And you cut it all the way back to the base of the plant.

As you can see, this looks a whole lot better.

Just a little winter cleanup.

[upbeat country music] - Alright, Joellen, here's our Q and A segment.

You ready?

- Oh, I'm ready.

- Oh, these are great questions.

Here's our first viewer email.

Interesting question, right?

- Yes, it is.

- "I've seen several reports and heard several people say "you need a male and female tree to produce fruit.

"How do you know when you buy a tree if it's a male or female?"

And this is Craig from Middleton, Tennessee.

So that's a good question, right?

- It's a good question.

- Yeah.

How do you know?

- And you know, it's interesting, mostly this concerns fruit trees because fruit trees notoriously need a male and a female to pollinate each other.

- Right.

- So, but the thing is, most of them are labeled and somebody selling fruit trees is gonna say, "Hey, you know what, if you need this tree "and this tree to be able to produce fruit for your, for this particular tree you've got."

- Okay.

- So, you know, they usually tell you because they want you to be successful.

- Sure, sure.

- Then there's things like, just take the Ilex verticillata.

- Okay, let's do it.

- It's a ornamental, it needs a pollinator too.

But the name of the male who... - I love this.

- To who fertilizes all this is called Southern Gentleman.

- Oh, Southern Gentleman.

- Yes.

And of course, you know, there's a lot of other like winter, Winter Red, and a few other things.

- Yeah.

- You know, there's a lot of the females that have, some of them have yellow berries and some have red.

- Okay.

- So there's a lot.

But the Southern Gentleman pollinates those.

- Pollinates those.

That's nice.

- That is how all of that works.

- Okay.

- But they're mostly labeled 'cause everybody wants you to be successful.

- Sure.

- So they're usually labeled.

- Sure.

Alright Craig, thank you for that question.

Appreciate that.

Alright, here's our next viewer email.

"Hello.

I would love to plant some perennials and shrubs "in the area by my house that gets a lot of "afternoon and evening sun.

"I want green plants year round.

"Our soil has quite a bit of something that makes it "very hard to dig in.

"Maybe some clay and of course rocks.

Any help will be appreciated".

And this is Debbie from northeast Oklahoma.

So I like this question, right?

- Yeah.

- The soil has a little bit of something in it.

- Yes.

- You know, but she wants green plants year round, and this is northeast Oklahoma.

- Yes.

- Okay.

- And you know what, we're gonna put a link on for the Oklahoma State University's landscape plants so that she can figure out which ones that are evergreen.

'Cause they have all kinds on there.

- Okay.

- But I know she wants all evergreen and I know she can mix up a bunch of evergreens, like the dwarf Arborvitae, the dwarf junipers, dwarf mugo pine.

- Okay.

- Abelia, but I would suggest throwing in a few that bloom, and then our deciduous like the Fothergilla.

- Okay.

- Maybe some ornamental grasses here and there just to break up that solid green.

- Okay.

- And to give it some interest.

- So you want some interest?

- I like some interest.

- Instead of the green.

Okay.

- But it will be mostly green.

- Sure.

- You know, through the winter, but then it'll have other interests other times of the year.

- I got it.

Okay.

So Ms. Debbie, let's get that soil tested, right?

Oklahoma State University Extension.

- Yes, it is.

- Oh, okay.

Okay.

Yeah, go by there.

We'll have that publication on our website and I think she'll be fine.

- Yes.

- Yeah, Ms. Debbie.

Thank you for that question.

Good luck to you.

Alright, here's our next viewer email.

Ah, I think you might know a little something about this one, right?

"I would like to plant some fruit trees "along my back property line.

"My house backs to a pond, "which occasionally hosts a beaver.

What can I do to keep the beaver fr om feasting on my trees?"

And this is Robert from Elton, Maryland.

- Yes.

- So Robert, I think Joellen knows a little bit about beaver damage right?

- Lots of beaver damage.

Yes.

- Alright.

- Yeah.

We have a couple of ponds and the beavers were coming out and chewing on all the trees that were against it.

So I said, "oh no, what do I do?"

So I went on the state wildlife website.

- Yeah.

- And found out when they have trouble with beavers in their area, they put orange construction pl astic tape around the base of the trees.

- That's interesting.

Yeah.

- And I thought, "Well, that would be a good idea".

And then I realized on my property, I didn't wanna see orange construction tape everywhere.

So I changed it to plastic green or silver chicken wire.

To use, it's plastic.

And so you put it loosely around the base of the tree and it's worked for over 20 years, keeping the beavers from eating my trees.

- And it worked.

- It worked.

Yes.

- Because they can cause a lot of damage, as you well know.

They can cause flooding, you know, through your timber to some of your agronomic fields and things like that.

- Yeah.

- To your landscape, so yeah, it's gonna be tough.

- It is.

- Alright.

But yeah, I think that's interesting though.

- Yeah.

- In using that.

Okay.

Alright, Robert, hope that helps you out there.

Alright, here's our next viewer email.

"Good day folks.

"We have 30+ acres of woods and swamp.

"Would a beehive be advantageous wh en trying to develop "food plots for deers and turkeys?

"It's possible we'll be planting bl ends with three or four "types of clover, Brassica, chicory, Sorghum, elderberry, "alfalfa, oats and radish.

"Also, we're not sure if the wildlife would disturb a hive.

Would appreciate your thoughts."

And this is Andy from Kalamazoo, Michigan.

- Oh wow.

- I like that question.

Right?

- Yes.

- So would beehives be advantageous?

- Oh, most definitely.

- Of course.

It will increase food plot production.

- It's a definite of course.

Yes.

And then it will encourage to, you know, even spread, right?

Yeah, you get thick canopy, you know, of these blends that he's talking about.

- Yeah.

- Yes, it would do that.

Yes.

But I think you told me about something else we might need to consider.

Right?

[Joellen laughs] - What you, you gotta think about the wildlife.

And what likes honey more than anything else?

- Mm... - Bears.

- Bears.

Oh, okay.

Yeah.

Yogi and, yeah.

- Yeah.

- Okay.

Alright.

- That's, and you know, Michigan State University has a publication we can put on about bees.

- Okay.

- I mean, yeah, about bees and beehives.

And then they also, there's a publication on how to bear proof your beehives.

- Bear proof?

- Bear proof your beehives.

- Aye.

That's probably what, does it involve an electric fence or something probably?

- Yes, it does, electric fence.

And you know, even though, "Well I don't have electricity."

Well, there's a lot of solar-powered electric fences these days, so I mean, it is possible, but you'll have to put it in an open area so that sun can be on the photocells.

- Right.

Wow.

But having the bees, yes, would definitely help.

- Oh, definitely.

Yeah.

- He's gotta watch out for the, yeah, the bear.

- And you know, the publication for the bees will explain how much honey you have to leave in the hives during the winter.

- Oh, okay.

- Because up there it's even colder.

- Sure.

- But the bees have to have enough energy to keep the hives at ninety-five degrees all winter long, so.

- Ninety-five degrees?

- Yes.

That's what it says, yeah.

- Wow, okay.

- Yeah.

- Wow.

But yeah, good question.

- Yeah, good question.

- Yeah, go for it Andy, but... - Send us some pictures.

- Yeah, yeah, send us some pictures and you know, watch out for Yogi and the rest of those bears up in here, huh?

Alright, Andy, we appreciate that question.

Joellen, that was fun.

- It was.

- Thank you much.

Remember we love to hear from you.

Send us an email or letter.

The email address is familyplot@wkno.org.

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 need more information about winter plant damage, garden fences, or anything else we talked about today, head on over to FamilyPlotGarden.com Be sure to join us next week for The Family Plot: Gardening in the Mid-South.

Be safe.

[gentle country music] [acoustic guitar chords]