- Welcome to digging deeper with backyard farmer.

I'm your host, Kim Todd on digging deeper.

We have those in-depth discussions with extension and industry experts about important landscape topics.

Tonight, we'll be talking about a wonderful thing with J Schwanke.

He is a very, very special guest.

We have had J, who is a Nebraska boy or man at this point.

We've had him in Lincoln a lot of different times.

And of course we're zooming because he doesn't live here anymore, but he has this fabulous, fabulous title which doesn't even do him justice.

He's sort of the flower person.

And of course he has his own television show and he's on YouTube and all these great things.

And so it is my pleasure to actually have J and to be able to talk to him from Michigan.

Right, J?

- Right.

Grand rapids.

Thanks Kim.

It's like, you're like family.

It's family time, right?

- Yeah.

It is.

- Wow, I love that.

- Yeah.

You know, it's not the same thing as being able to sit and watch you do all your magic with plant material and talk to the audience and tell us all wonderful things about what you do and then help us feel part of your family.

But maybe that's one of the very good things about zoom.

We probably wouldn't have gotten to get you at all.

If we would have said, gosh, J drive to Nebraska for 20 minutes and then go home.

If you don't have time to see your family.

- Well, hopefully, hopefully I'll get back there one of these days and we'll actually do that in person.

So that would be, I would love it.

I would love it.

- That would be fabulous.

So what we really want to have you concentrate on is what you're best at J and that is life in bloom.

And what exactly is the connection between all of those fabulous flowers and making people feel better helping them feel better, making life in general be something that just puts a smile on your face every day.

Let's talk about that.

- Awesome.

So, you know, it's so interesting for about two decades, a wonderful lady named Dr. Hamlin Jones did a lot of studies about flowers and how they help us with our health and wellness benefits.

And she worked with Rutgers university with Boston university.

Then there were other people who picked up on the research she was doing to do extra research and found that when we have flowers in our presence, we feel happier.

Obviously flowers make us happy but they also make us feel less depressed.

They can reduce our stress levels that can make us feel creative work and especially more creative or help us find solutions at work.

When we have a few flowers on our desk.

They help us in larger circles of friends.

They, older people, seniors, they somehow, it helps them reach out for health benefit for health, you know with health problems that they would have to seek more advice about that.

Homes have flowers in them have less arguments.

So I always joke with guys that I think that it's important that when you bring home flowers, you might get pie.

That would be a really good thing.

I love pie, I guess one of my favorite things.

And I know that when I bring home flowers I'm going to get pie.

So yeah, the, the health and wellness benefits are, are astounding.

Actually.

We've compiled them all at you.

bloom.com.

We have a special link.

You bloom.com, backslash research, where I compiled all of them and you can go and you can read them and and see more about it because I think it's fascinating that flowers truly are powerful.

We talk about flower power and you know, the the, the sixties and the seventies, but it's true.

Those flowers have the power to alter or change our life and give us health and wellness benefits.

So those existed, and I felt like nobody was really talking about them.

And so when we, when we did the pilot for J Schwanke's life in bloom, we focused on those health and wellness benefits.

And actually our entire second season was all about the health and wellness benefits.

And it coincided with the pandemic, which that was not something that I planned, not something that I knew about but it was something that was extremely wonderful because we get hundreds of emails and pieces of mail every week from people telling me how great the flowers make them feel - Well.

And that's just fabulous because you know that none of us really expected a pandemic.

- Right.

- And you know, I mean 16 million new gardeners last year.

And now of course, we're in the second season.

We're hoping we keep those gardeners.

And a part of that would be, you know maybe you don't want to grow something to eat.

Maybe you just want something just want something that is absolutely beautiful or smells good.

Because to me, one of the huge things about bringing flowers into a home or a building is that scent, the scent is just spectacular.

- We're on the verge of peonies happening.

Lily of the valley, Lily of the valley is is in bloom right now.

My sister in law lives across the street from me.

And she was like, Hey I have Lily of the valley go pick some.

So I picked it and I just sat there and held it.

You know held the little face by my face while I was working on the computer.

Cause it's just that fragrance is amazing.

My, one of my favorite flowers is freesia and I like freesia.

And I always tell everybody freesia just smells like fruit loops.

And that's why I like it.

And then gardenias too.

I love gardenias.

I love peonies, the Iris, the bearded Iris right now to have smells that remind me of Memorial day.

Because as a kid, we did 2000 bouquets for the cemetery every year.

- [Kim Todd] Oh my goodness.

2000.

- We would take them out, my dad and grandpa and my brother-in-law and I would go out and we would place those on Sunday morning, before Memorial day.

And we would cover two cemeteries.

And we were just like the little machines my dad would find the grave and my brother would fill up, my brother-in-law and I would fill up the vase with water and clean off the grave.

And I would put the flowers in there.

And when I smell the, smell the peonies and the Iris it makes me think of those days.

And, you know, we would go back to the house and mom would have a pancake breakfast for us too.

And then we would go back out and deliver more, you know and then we would drive through the cemetery to see all the flowers.

And I think that, that's just a really cool part about you know, some of the memories that I have coming from a fourth-generation family flower shops.

- And you bring up again another perfect point about why people should enjoy flowers in some form.

And that is those memories because my earliest memory of flowers was a little round garden in our backyard.

My mother loved flowers.

I don't ever remember growing a vegetable at home but the great big asters that really don't want to live in Nebraska.

You know, there's sort of a Michigan east coast kind of a thing in purple and pink.

And I was probably four maybe.

And so of course, for all of my adult life I've been growing flowers in some form or picking them and bringing them in.

And you know, my, I have sons and sons have wives and now I have granddaughters and they are also flower people.

And those memories that, you know they're either triggered by scent or by an experience.

And there's, if there are flowers involved in it that brings people back to those memories which is just so cool.

Way so cool.

- I think that's the best, you know, every every week when I, cause I, so I have the Mr. Rogers thing, I want to make sure that I respond to all the emails that I get and all the letters that I get.

And so I take my time and I and I do that and I enjoy every second of it but what's so interesting is those similar stories just like the one that you told about the asters how each person has that connection to flowers.

And I always joke that you can't ruin someone's day by giving them flowers.

I was just like, oh, flowers for me.

Sure.

I'll take them.

And, you know, I spent, I spent a whole lot of my childhood on the delivery trucks and I loved that because you got to see the people's faces.

And I always joke, this is my advice for guys for Valentine's day is deliver the flowers yourself because I always got to see what your girlfriend and your wife or your, you know, got all excited and how how much they, and they would hug me and kiss me sometimes, you know, you made to get that.

You could deliver them yourself, you know, because the that look on those people's face and the experience that you have is amazing.

- Well, you know, and again, it's, I mean, it's a flower, it's like this living thing and there's color involved and there's form And there's the unexpected, especially if it is well, sure.

I always get flowers for Valentine's day, but who cares.

If you get flowers for Valentine's day, it's like, okay when are the, when are those flowers going to show up and what are they going to be?

- There would be, there would be no pie - No pie.

There would be no dinner for a very long time in my household.

So yes, yep.

No, exactly.

So J, you know, one of the things that the new guard that's been a trend for for two or three years now is succulents and houseplants.

So, you know, the not normally do people buy them for the flower because let's face it the flowers on some of those are really weird, but so so talk a little bit about, you know form and color and how that really helps people respond in different ways to being happy and healthy.

- Well, I think, you know the interesting thing about the succulents is that they do have weird and odd shapes.

And typically they're very vibrant colors.

And most often with a succulent, there's not a pleasant fragrance because they're dependent on predators and flies and things like that to be attracted to them.

So they'll generally be the color of meat and then they'll smell kind of funny.

So, I mean, you know, I think that that's interesting but the other thing about a succulent is that in Feng shui, the succulent is a symbol of coins and, and and richness and wealth.

And so I put succulents with the, the, the, the S Cheveria with the little, with the little pedals like that in certain areas in my house to help encourage that.

Now, the one thing that you want to remember though is if you have a succulent that's spiky, don't put that in the relationship area of your house because it will bring that thorniness to the relationship.

So that's a good thing now, remember, all right.

So then as far as the plants go here's the thing that's so amazing to me.

We have an episode coming up in season three that you guys will be showing in a few weeks about houseplants.

And one of the things that we talk about is how there are certain houseplants that will help clean the air in your home.

They take all of the toxins out.

They exchange the CO2 that we admit and turn it into oxygen.

And there are specific varieties, like sensitive area corn plant Monstera that if we put them in our bedrooms will give us more sound sleep.

I am, I have five different plants in my bedroom and their corn plant Monstera sensitive area.

And I go crazy for Monstera.

So just so you know, I have a lot of monsters in my house cause I love that plan specifically but it helps me sleep better.

And, you know, having them here, one of the things that NASA found out was sending plants into space allowed it to clean the air in the space station.

And with the plant, there was nothing to break down and there was nothing that needed to be repaired.

And there was no parks that they had to worry about.

Simply the plant just does its business.

And it's so great.

Cause like, you know, when you have new carpeting or you have new paint in your home, you're going to have some toxins that come along with those but plants take care of them, absorb them, get rid of them for you.

And so that, that, you know, this new fascination with houseplants, I think is really interesting.

And they talk about the fact that for some people the house plants can be like a, a surrogate child because they do want to take care of it and they and they want it, they want to nurture it and they want to do all those things and know that it's okay.

And there's not as much of a risk, you know, with a plant and there is with the baby - Or with a puppy.

- With a puppy.

True, true, true.

A plant will not chew up your shoes.

- Or paddle on the carpet, unless you over-water it.

And it spills out of the saucer.

- Right, right, right.

So yeah.

- Yeah.

So, so you really, in, in, in what you do with all of your you know, fabulous ways to work with plants, flowers in particular, it's everything from cooking to art to crafting to the living elements of, of all of those.

If you were to choose one that you absolutely.

If you had to give up everything else you do with flowering plants or flowers or plants, what would be the one that you would say, this one I must do forever - Arrange flowers every day.

I arrange flowers every day.

- And what are your tips for people to arrange them?

- So, you know what, that's part of my gardening influence.

Cause you know, in the winter time, obviously we're in Michigan.

So we're like you in Nebraska there's not a lot of flowers outside.

So then I'm picking up flowers at my flower sellers and flower sellers can be my professional florist.

It can be a grocery store.

It can be someone, you know, it can be online.

You know, there's all sorts of options that you have there in the summer.

We also have farmer's markets things like that, local farms, there's lots of local farms in Nebraska that are growing flowers too which is really cool.

And, but then in my garden I have the term arranged plant.

Everything I have in my garden can be cut and used in flower arrangements.

That's my specification.

So I don't, I don't plant things that can't be cut and used in flower arrangements and people have this fascination.

They're like, oh, like, oh, I must see your garden.

Your garden must be so magical.

I mean, it's magical.

I think that's true, but I'm also cutting off of stuff.

So like this week I had tree peonies my tree peonies right back here and I had 63 peonies.

So I made bouquets and I passed them out to friends.

I passed them out to my family.

I've cut them myself.

And as they are, they're coming on and they're getting, and they're opening up I'm cutting them and putting them in another arrangement.

And I, I love that because I think my time, I've created a ritual I think that I read a book I read a book that's that talks about artists rituals.

And that one of my rituals is taking time for myself to cut those flowers and put them in a vase.

The thing that's the most important is that you please yourself.

I know that a lot of people feel intimidated and they're like, what, what should I do?

You know, what do I do?

And, and you have to jump in and do it.

But the short cut is a friend.

You know, if you cut a flower shorter it's going to fit in a base better than leaving it long.

I like people to take their time to put on their favorite music, to get a cup of coffee to get a glass of wine, whatever that might be and enjoying placing those flowers in there.

Cause when we do that, part of Dr Jones's have lunch at Dr. Helen Jones research was that when we placed the flowers in the vases our body secretes endorphins that make us feel more zen-like make us feel happier, make us feel less depressed.

And so it's really a part of that.

Antidepressant for me is being able to arrange flowers and then knowing too that when you're in the garden and you're digging there are literally the, the, the little the little bacteria that get under our fingernails are actually anti damp depressants that are absorbed into our nail beds that make us feel happier when we're digging.

So that's why when we're gardening, we feel great.

You know - I think you just gave me a great excuse to never wear gardening gloves because I never do all - Right.

I want to get that dirt under my fingernails.

You know?

I mean, it's, it's great.

It's so good for us.

- Exactly.

Well, you know, and right now you mentioned peonies and in Lincoln or in Eastern Nebraska at least the peonies are actually maybe going to be still flowering by Memorial day.

Some of them are beginning and some of those plants that we use again, the, you know the nostalgia about them, they're also so long lived.

So certainly annuals are fabulous because you change your mind or, or something new comes out.

But you know, those stalwart plants in the garden that are almost shrub like that you can cut something off of and enjoy.

And I love that.

You're willing to cut your tree peonies, you know there are people.

- Yeah.

Yeah.

I mean, it's just like we got to cut those.

We got to get them off there.

So my favorite for Nebraskans, this is my favorite thing about Nebraska though.

The Lee actress, the gay feather, which is a long spike purple flower was hybridized for cut flower production by Dr. J Fitzgerald at the university of Nebraska in Lincoln in the department of horticulture.

Correct.

Do you know Dr. J J - Yeah.

I started teaching when he was still on campus.

Yeah.

Oh my gosh.

- Yeah.

So, you know, I love that.

And, and, you know, I have the actress in my yard just for that reason because it's in Nebraska it's an Nebraska legacy for me.

And I think that, you know, and now, and they have the purple the actress and the Whiteley actress that they've developed, and it's still a, you know, a stand by and it grows so great in our garden here in Michigan.

I love that.

That's, that's a Midsummer thing.

That's a, that's a Midsummer thing.

So yeah.

Well, in - Our backyard farmer garden has we call it the rain chain, five different gardens in it.

And the Lee actress has seated itself and beaten Ben carried about by critters and, you know, it's, it's a it's our native and it'll stand six feet tall.

And then of course here, come here, come the pollinators.

So you get with the flowers all of that movement, that is the, the F the flutter errors.

In addition to that, just fabulous.

That's a great story too, to, to know that you know, in Michigan, you've got something from here.

- Absolutely.

The other thing I have here is tall purples.

And so that's by viburnum C and I call it viburnum globosa and that's not right.

Cause my, my cause, cause I'm not an expert at that stuff.

That's and so Beretta yet Bremy anthis brand granny, ANSYS something like that.

Okay.

So that my viburnum it recedes itself and it's a swallow tail attractor.

And so we let it go last year in the garden and we had thousands of stems of it.

It was there.

And so it's reseeded itself is starting to come up again now.

So now I'm going to have to thin it out.

That's what you're thinking about, what you've done look at how good you are.

See, you know, I'm like, yeah, that - We have just a little bit of time left.

I want you to talk again about your life in bloom series.

Tell, tell our audience about that, where they can see it and so that we can make sure we promote that and get to have as much of you as we can get.

- I believe it's on Saturdays at 11:00 AM.

I think that's right.

If I remember correctly on Nebraska public media and I appreciate that my mother is very excited.

Season three, I think you started last week.

So we've got 13 brand new episodes.

We are going into the studio on Monday morning here in Michigan, and we are filming season four.

So we're getting ready for that.

You can also see it if you want to catch pat back episodes that we have, we have it also on our website you bloom.com and the, if you click on the life and bloom logo on the front page, you can go watch any of the shows that have, that have aired so far.

And you can also check out that's where our recipes are.

That's where our behind the bloom series is which is like this, where we, where we get we delve a little bit deeper with some of the people or some fun stuff that we couldn't show on the show.

And then we also have bios for our guests and things like that.

So you can learn more and of course, flower cocktail hour because every show we have a flower cocktail hour and that's what we do at five o'clock here in Michigan.

We, I make a flower arrangement and Kelly and I have a cocktail and we talk about our day and what went wrong what went right?

And it's just our way to unwind and be, you know, now it's on the deck.

We get to do it on the deck because the weather weather's nice.

So yeah.

- I love it.

You know and unfortunately that is really all the time we have for digging deeper with backyard farmer.

I can't thank you enough, J, for coming in and talking to us and we will, of course be back again do be sure to watch backyard farmer live every Thursday at 7:00 PM central on Nebraska public media.

Thanks for digging deeper with backyard farmer.

I'm looking forward to actually seeing those dimples in person.