Making It Grow is brought to you in part by, The South Carolina Department of Agriculture.

Certified South Carolina grown helps consumers identify, find and buy South Carolina products.

McLeod farms in McBee South Carolina.

This family Farm offers seasonal produce.

Including over twenty two varieties of peaches.

Additional funding provided by International Paper and the South Carolina Farm Bureau Federation and Farm Bureau Insurance.

[♪] Well good evening and welcome, welcome, welcome to a beautiful new set for Making It Grow.

Here we are, we are all meeting all the requirements for safety, and it means that we can be together again, and this wonderful set, that we're so happy, is our inaugural day coming back to you this week.

Thank you for staying with us during the times that we all had different colored shower curtains behind us and we were doing our very best.

The staff has just been marvelous.

We couldn't have done it without this great crew that we have here.

You all have been nice about writing us please keep up.

Tell us what you like.

You can do it on Facebook or you can do it by writing to Terasa.

I'll give you her email in just a minute.

I am Amanda McNulty and I'm a Clemson Horticulture Agent.

I get to come here and be the host of this show on every Tuesday and our show is a collaborative effort between SCETV and Clemson University.

How about that?

Clemson University is very fortunate to have Terasa Lott, who is doing the master gardener program.

Hi gal.

>> Hi Amanda.

<Amanda> Terasa, of course you do so many wonderful things for us and I'm glad to be sitting here with you.

>> Me too, it is so exciting to be here in person after a very long hiatus, but kudos to everyone is still made the show go on, and that even though we are physically distanced in here, it is nice to be together, and what a gorgeous set.

I'm a little jealous, I'd like to bring it home with me.

>> Me too and Terasa as I said if people want to get in touch with us and if they don't use Facebook, I believe they can easily get to you through your email, is that right?

>> That's right.

You're welcome to email me.

Just do be sure you spell my name correctly terasa@clemson.edu I may not have all of the answers, but we have a great team of folks with Clemson Extension, so I'm sure we can point you in the right direction.

That's the truth and tonight we really do have a great set and we're going to start off by welcoming our old friend Davis Sanders, who has made the trek down from Greenville, and Davis thank you for being with us and thank you to South Pleasantburg Nursery for letting you come.

I think you brought some wonderful plants to share with us.

>> Well, thanks for having me back.

It's really an honor and I'm flattered to be part of the inauguration of this beautiful new set.

<Amanda> Well, we can't think of anything better to happen.

>> Thank you.

<Amanda> Of course, all that wonderful research information that we have that can be presented in ways that make it interesting to learn about, I want to thank Christopher Burtt who is from down there in the Low country and I know you're in charge of Charleston and Dorchester.

Is that another county too?

>> That is correct.

I cover Berkeley, as well.

>> You've got a big foot print.

>> I sure do.

Definitely a lot of people to cover, but thankfully a very similar climactic requirements for plants.

So, it makes it a little bit easier.

>> I guess the one thing that happens though is sometimes the coast probably gets a lot more rain and slightly cooler temperatures, so you do have a little bit of variation that you have to deal with don't you?

>> Absolutely, so especially closer to the coast you get a little bit more microclimates as well.

So people can grow more tropical and subtropical whereas closer inland we are a little bit more restricted on that, but you are correct.

>> Well, I tell you that with the way things are going I feel like all of us have been able to grow things in our yard and have them even over winter that before we thought were just going to - that the freezes would take out, but tonight we're glad to have you with us to give us some answers to questions.

Thank you so much.

Then from Abbeville County Adam Gore who is going to be watching the sweet gum trees in his yard turn their beautiful color.

Adam how are things going up your way?

>> They're going well.

I know you mentioned my beautiful sweet gum trees.

They are beautifully irritating, but we're getting into the time where we're starting to put our lawns to bed preparing them for winterization, so it's an exciting time for all plants related.

>> Well, and we're so glad you're here because the questions about lawns never ever stop, and I think a lot of people, Adam if they would just do less might do better, but we'll talk about that a little bit later, how about it?

>> Sounds great.

>> Terasa, one of the things that is a happy way to start off since a lot of times we're solving problems is people send you pictures of their gardens and that's not problem oriented, that's joy oriented, isn't it?

>> Yes.

Joyful, inspiring.

So, let's take our virtual field trip across the state perhaps outside the borders and see what you're doing in your yards and gardens.

First up, we have Barry Strohl who sent us a plot of sunflowers.

He said a little bit of sunshine.

From Gerald McElrath, a gardens space accented with a white picket fence.

Joanna Ellis sent us her fresh from the garden harvest, a bountiful one at that.

Julie Felton had an unusual use for a window.

She hung it up to separate her backyard from her cutting and veggie gardens, and wrapping up Teresa Thompson shared with us her rock bordered landscape bed.

Thanks to everyone for all of your submissions.

Please do remember, if you send us photos hold that camera horizontally, so that we can show the photograph on the television screen and it will take up lots of space.

You're welcome to send them to my email if you like, if you're not on Facebook.

Amanda.

>> And I remind people that it's Terasa, T E R A S A and I say that's because she is for us a ray of sunshine.

So, that should help you keep the correct spelling of Terasa's name in your mind.

Well, Terasa from these questions that you have gotten, let's see what's on the top of the pile, and see if we got somebody here who can help us?

>> Sure thing.

So we're going to start with a question from Risa in Hodges, South Carolina.

Looks like it's about mowing.

Risa asks how important is the height of cut?

<Amanda> So that means, how much grass you leave I guess when you cut the grass.

Well, Adam for people who have hair cuts, I know some people want their hair just the right hair cut length and I think some grasses are just as particular about hair cut length as we are.

>> Yes ma'am.

So, just like you said with our hairs, we have a certain way we like that it cut there's a certain height I know whenever I go to the barber, I always tell him or her the exact right guard to put in to cut my hair and grass is the exact same way, you know, depending on the species that you have there's a range that grass height should be, and the reason that's important is because if you are cutting it too low or too high, you can actually be creating a situation that either encourages weeds or encourages thatch development.

So, if you have centipede grass you should be cutting somewhere around somewhere about one and a half to two and a half inches.

I like to put it around two.

Bermuda grasses should be no taller than two inches.

Zoysia grasses, about two inches, St. Augustine grasses or Charleston grass should be - I like to have about three inches, you can go as low as two and a half, and tall fescue should be no lower than three inches and again the reason for that is those are the ranges that promote the healthiest growing environment for most plants.

A lot of questions I've gotten have been people putting in these high profile high quality grasses that you see on sports fields or golf courses and those grasses are designed and created to be mowed at a very low mowing height.

So, if you're looking for something that you want to be a little bit taller, then maybe you should look into a different variety of grass.

>> Then also you have to decide when you should cut the grass.

I mean you're not supposed to let it get real tall, and then wack it back, are you?

>> No ma'am.

So, when we're mowing we always try to follow what we call the one third rule, which means that whenever you mow, you shouldn't take off more than one third of the plant's total height.

So, if your grass is supposed to be at two inches, you should mow it by the time it gets to three inches.

Otherwise you can do what we call scalping, and it leaves - it takes off too much of the leaf surface and it can leave you with a bunch of stems or bare ground and it also makes a plant more susceptible to disease development.

So I know, right now we're dealing with hurricane season.

So, there may be those instances where it's raining and you can't get out there and mow, so what you should do instead of just keeping your mower on that same height, you should mow it at a different height that first time, and two or three days later, come back and mow it at the height that you originally wanted to.

So, if it's supposed to be at two and you forget to mow it for a week or it's raining and it's gotten up to four inches, come back and mow it at say three or two and three quarters, and then two or three days later, the plant has healed, and then you go and lower it to that two inches.

>> Okay and then if the ground is real wet and you go out there with the lawn mower, can you compact the soil or can you tug on the grass?

Should you try to wait until the ground dries out a little bit?

>> Yes ma'am, especially having riding mowers.

If the ground is wet, you know especially up here in the upstate we have these clays that like to sink when they're wet or if you have a thatch layer that'll sink a little bit, and they can leave ruts as well as also give you an uneven height of cut, but when you're sinking in, you can increase the risk of compaction and also just give you a poor mowing.

>> Okay.

Okay.

So, find out what kind of grass you have and if I'm not mistaken, Adam at Clemson HGIC, we have a fact sheet for the different types of turf grass, and I believe it gives you the mowing heights on that.

So, if you can't remember, you can always call your extension office or call HGIC or just read the fact sheets to get an overall idea about your particular turf grass because all turf grasses do not want to grow equally.

>> Correct.

<Amanda> Okay, well that was great information.

Thank you so much.

>> Yes ma'am.

Thank you.

>> Well it's so exciting to have Davis back, because we can have some show and tell.

Davis, I think you were going to bring some groupings of things that might be useful in certain situations or relate to each other in some way.

So, what's this first batch that we're going to talk about.

>> That's right Amanda and thanks again for having me.

A lot of times people do these beautiful containers for the porches and front yards their patio areas and they fill them with annuals which are just magnificently bloom all summer long and then all of a sudden they're all gone and you're wondering what to put next.

Well, why not put a few perennials in your containers.

Things that will come back every year, maybe even the evergreen, low maintenance flowering.

There's all sorts of different uses for perennials and a lot of people sort of overlook them as container plants.

Starting here I brought some sedums, which sedums are an extremely varied group of hearty succulents.

The the two on the front here are part of the sun sparkler series, which you can see even within one series you get a lot of variation.

>> I'll say so.

This one is called firecracker, for obvious reasons.

It's a beautiful blue gray color, but the new growth comes out is a rich Burgundy color that persists year round and the colder it gets in the winter time the more pronounced that purple is going to be.

<Amanda> The winters not going to harm it.

>> These are going to be pretty much evergreen unless we have a much colder than normal winter.

Just to the right of that.

I have one called blue elf, which is another really pretty one of the sun sparkler series, which you can see these nice little dense rosettes of foliage on this.

So, it's going to give you a much finer texture to compliment some of the coarser textures that you may have in an evergreen planter, particularly if you're using conifers or anything like that.

This will make a nice floral for that, and in the back is a relatively new sedum.

This one is called Thunderhead.

If you look at it closely, you can see the flower buds on it.

They look almost like broccoli it's so dense.

These are going to explode into little tiny white flowers with just a little bit of pink accent that are completely cover this plant for about four to six weeks, which is an extremely long bloom period for a perennial.

Yeah, and it is like a lot of sedums.

It is going to be evergreen unless we have a colder than normal winter.

>> How much sun can these take?

These thrive in full sun.

Most of the sedums have a slight shade tolerance, but the more sun they get, the happier they are and the one thing about these being out in full sun they're also extremely drought tolerant.

You don't need much water for these.

>>Pretty nice.

Okay.

So really just using sedum, you could get a lot of difference in texture and color.

>> You sure can and growth habits.

They're ground covers.

They're mounding types They're some that are more rigid.

They're the rigidly upright ones like the Autumn joy Sedum and some of those.

You can even use euphorbias in with them, and that gets you into an entirely different category, which we may address later.

>> Well, let's see what's next.

>> Well, what's next for people that really want a lot of color and still a low to moderate amount of maintenance in their containers.

These are perennials that either have a very long bloom season such as the Gauras here.

Most people think of Gaura or wandflower as being a big sprawling perennial.

These are part of the Belleza series of Gaura which is a much more compact.

>> Say it again.

>> Belleza B-E-L-L-E-Z-A >> All right.

They're much more compact.

They're sort of a semi dwarf habit, but the wonderful thing about this plant is when the blooms start to fade and it starts to look little ratty, just cut it way back.

It's going to flush right back out and this is one of the few perennials that will bloom sporadically throughout the summer with just a little bit of extra care.

It combines particularly well with some of the gray foliage plants such as the Stachys or lamb's ears.

I bought a silk fleece lambs ear, we're used to seeing the great big thine with the huge leaves, but there are a couple of ground cover varieties this particular one is called silky fleece.

A much, much smaller plant, and much more compact and dwarf in both size and growth habit.

>> And have the same or happy in the same pot?

>> Right, certainly are.

Same exposure.

Along with that a lot of us are familiar with our good ole' Eucomis or pineapple lilies.

These are excellent landscape plants.

These are not evergreen at least up in our zone seven eight area, and, as you probably know these can be pretty aggressive in the landscape if they're happy.

So, this is another reason to put plants, hearty perennial plants in a container, so you can keep them under control whenever they get out of hand, you just take them out divide them and put some of them back give the rest to your friends and neighbors.

>> Now, in the winter.

could you go ahead and over plant that area, if it was going to be bare with some pansies perhaps?

>> Certainly can, because these have about same light and moisture requirements.

Most perennials that do die back in the winter don't particularly like wet soils when they're dormant, and pansies don't need much water.

So, an excellent choice.

>> That sounds perfect.

>> And just give it a little bit more interest in the spring summer and fall.

I brought some Ceratostigma or false plumbago.

This is a beautiful deciduous ground cover.

It does die back in the wintertime.

Lovely blue flowers that come on in mid late summer, and it's a cooling color at a time of year when we actually need some cooler and then in the fall all of this foliage you see is going to turn a brilliant red before it dies back.

So, you can have a progression of color for nine months throughout the season with this particular grouping of plants and not have to replant them next year because these are going to come back next year when it warms up again.

Then finally we haven't really talked about the shade yet, but one of the biggest issues that people have with container grown plants or container gardens is what to put in them in the winter if they've got a lot of shade because they're just a very few plants that will do well in the shade.

This particular grouping with the exception of the large one in the center here are going to be evergreen and here again you can fill in with a cast iron plant, Aspidistra or something like that in the winter, but what we have here are, most people when they think of ajuga as a bronzy leaf, a purple leaf or even the tri colored Burgundy glow.

Well, this year we discovered the tropical toucan variety, which is a bright neon green in the spring and summertime.

It does tend to turn a darker green the hotter it gets, but it really does make a pop - >> I don't think dark green, when it's hot is anything to turn up your nose is anything to worry about.

Not at all.

I have that grouped with a golden spikenard Aralia, one of the Japanese aralias.

This one is call sun king it is not to be confused with spikenard, it's often used in herbal remedies.

This is not a True spikenard it's an Aralia.

I and the reason I brought this one for container gardens is because in the upstate we have red clay and this plant needs perfect drainage.

It does really well, in well drained soils deep soils and have a lot of organic matter and even sandy soils within our upstate clay, that can be certain death for this plant.

So it does wonderfully in containers I had one of these in a clay pot in my backyard for about four years before I finally bit the dust and it was probably three feet across by the by that time so it's also fairly long lived perennial and that combines particularly well with the Korean Rock fern which is a variegated evergreen hearty fern, its got that little bit of yellow of the center which kind of picks yellow in spikenard.

Yeah now let's talk about because in the summer particularly you're going to have to do a good bit of watering.

How often do you feel like you should add a little slow release fertilizer?

Well it really depends on how often you're watering because most potting soil are porous.

So a lot of the nutrients are going to percolate.

I would probably add a little bit slow release fertilizer about every six to eight weeks and possibly supplement it in between with just a light dose of an organic fertilizer it's going to be natural slow released, because it has to be broken down by microbial activity.

Ok well these were really exciting and to think that you don't have to go out every year and say "Oh, I have to start over completely from scratch because there's always some something else that needs to be done in the landscape isn't there?

>> Yes there is.

>> Well, Davis, that was just great.

Thanks so much.

>> Thanks for having me.

>> Well Terasa, I think that you've got a stack of questions over there.

So, let's see what else is popping up.

>> That was a fascinating segment as always and it makes me rethink maybe what plants I incorporate in containers at home.

Well moving on to our next question Maggie Bowles from Cullowhee.

So, in North Carolina asked, I just found out this leaf on my grapevine and it has obviously been visited by some thing.

Can you enlighten me as to what it might be?

Goodness well Christopher you know I've always thought the wonderful thing about muscadines is that you don't have to worry about it much, but is this something to worry about or is it just a curiosity?

So thank you Amanda said no well the good news is this is not something to worry about.

It is actually a very interesting issue.

This is an insect called Grape phylloxera.

I was actually an aphid like insect that causes the galls on both leaves and roots.

So what's fascinating about this is the American and muscadines and cultivars and species of grapes and the ones that are native here, especially these are the ones that actually carry this insect most.

The back the good thing is this only affects the leaves of these grape vines.

In this area.

The bad news is that if you have a European cultivar.

Grape phylloxera can also infest the roots.

Very similarly to root knot nematodes.

So if they do infest the roots it will eventually cause decline of the vine itself.

It's actually because the grape, The French grape decline in the 1860s So, what happened was is a botanist became a little over eager decided to take a bunch of samples from the American vines not thinking that it would transfer over the phylloxera and then of course it spread throughout France and caused a huge decline on all their vineyards.

The good news is, this is not a serious issue here it does cause the galls that you see, but thankfully it's nothing to be too worried about.

>> So it just goes to show you sometimes it how important it is before you introduce something into another eco system that you do tremendous and years worth of research on it, but at least for this person she didn't anything to worry about.

We hope she's going to have a great crop of muscadines and can make some jelly or whatever she wants to out of them.

>> Absolutely.

>> Well, that was curious.

Thank you so much for telling us.

I wish it didn't have the sad European aspect for it, but at least that makes me feel better about not getting take a trip to Europe right now.

I don't think that's in the cards okay.

We'll come back later in the show and get some more information from you.

We're glad you're with us tonight.

>> Thank you.

>> My friend Liz McDonald is always telling me about fabulous things that are happening in Newberry, and I'm trying to talk my husband into moving up there, but I'm but that's not going to happen but I sure like to go up there, and I am so glad I went up for a garden tour they had, because I got to see a tremendously beautiful garden, and we got to go back and film it, and we're going to share it with you, right now.

♪ (bluegrass music) ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> We are in Newberry South Carolina at the garden of Dr. John Green I came to this garden, because the Newberry Chamber of Commerce was having a Gardens festival that was being organized in a very safe manner, and oh my goodness, when I got here it was just the most wonderful thing, and in addition to taking us to such beautiful Gardens, they had artists doing plein air in each gardens and Robert Matheson was sitting here painting a Mutabilis rose, and it is quite beautiful, and I enjoyed meeting him, as well, but the person responsible for this garden is Dr. John Green, and we want to thank you so much for letting us come.

>> My pleasure.

>> This is full sun, and it's a warm day, but your yard has great diversity, and you have deciduous trees that really give you a chance to do things a little differently.

<Dr.

Green> Particularly in the front, and on the side, we're able to get enough sun in to have good blooming of the camellias, of the native azaleas, with the hydrangeas now, and then coming around to the side, we have some blooming of the Kerria, and of the Rose of Sharon that allow in that section, sun, which by the end of the summer we'll have become very shaded.

>> And then that is also a place where you very interestingly have a completely seasonal winter vegetable garden, I believe.

<Dr.

Green> Yes, these are the cabbages, the broccoli, the cauliflowers, the beets, the spinaches that we'll start in seed, and they will put them out in the February early March, and watch them grow during that time, but by the time it hits 90 degrees, those plants will have run their course and that garden will be put to sleep.

<Amanda> Fortunately, you have other areas where you can grow vegetables.

>> Yes.

As we come around to the back of the house the space becomes a little bit smaller and there you start using rock and getting some three dimensional beds there and I think that there's actually a purpose for that.

Yes the in there behind the house we did for brick four foot high three and half foot high raised beds for seasonal flowers.

To help bring color closed into the house and then we brought in a lot of the rock we found around on the property to help outlined some of the beds of in the perennial beds in the back of the house just because it makes it part of the the nature of the property.

Well in being of proponent of nature you decided that she would have another's another type of animal back there.

The July fourth holiday that I decided to add red clay dig down a two foot deep fish pond is a memorable.

There's got to be a better way to do it.

But still it's now so enjoyable to have the little Koi, and the goldfish back there.

To help remind that nature has a lot of different beautiful forms.

The greenhouse is when your apparent addiction to football is over.

You retreat to the greenhouse and what all do you do there?

<Dr.

Green> In January, is the prime time to start all the seeds.

Although you have to time them out so that you don't get them to mature too quickly, but that makes life enjoyable out there.

I tend to have the orchids that will bloom in the winter or early spring so that I can enjoy them and then there are a lot of just plants that I have accumulated.

That you try to propagate do some cuttings on, but just makes life during those winter months that tend to be a little bit gray and dull outside, you bring a growing greenness inside.

<Amanda> Then, we come to a part of the yard where I should have put on a little more sunscreen for today, because we have full sun over here even though we're surrounded by trees.

We have been able to open this area up so that plants they do like a full sun seem to thrive.

You have what is a daunting soil type for many gardeners.

It is red clay and that can be pretty hard to deal with and you have done I think a pretty wonderful engineering project with creating these beds so that they can hold water, but you can move excess water off the property tell me how you've gone about that process.

By terracing the area with the walkways in between it allows both the raised beds to be unique into themselves and they can then the water will travel then down the pathways.

Each of the beds for the roses tend to hold water into as a large container type thing and with the clay you tend to be able to then take and hold week or two of heat.

Have no problem with the moisture.

Because you water more by hand.

You do not have automatic irrigation.

That is correct and in the front it just I just wish I could come up and have super about a month, because the vegetables look like they're just off to a wonderful start.

They are part of that early greenhouse growing that makes that part fun, and then you see what the seeds do?

They reward you with these plants be it the tomatoes, the melons, the peppers, the beans, the squash.

You can try different varieties and see which ones you prefer.

They're probably eight or ten different tomato types out here or there's four five different cherry tomatoes out here.

Just to be able that if you like them fine, if you don't next year find something different.

Oh my goodness the roses and you've doing roses for about twenty years as a relatively new passion and they are exquisite but they do take work and you first start with pruning I believe at a somewhat unusual time of the year.

by the end of the year many of the bushes are six to ten feet tall.

So in January I will come and try to bring them down to about five feet.

with a pruning bit.

It also helps protect them from high winds that we get and then when first of March comes around I will come back and re pruned down to the a level to allow the early spring flush to come out as it has try to open up the centers You do not use insecticide and hello little pollinator on the Rose But you do because it's South Carolina, find it necessary to use fungicides.

Yes I don't know that there is an organic way in South Carolina to grow roses like this so we use a mixture of a contact and then the systemic fungicide.

That we'll put on about every two to three weeks.

But then that time comes when those Japanese beetles come and you really come out and Hand work on them and try to keep the numbers limited.

Yes we'll make two three rounds a day we'll get hundreds of the Japanese beetles knocked off they'll they tend will fall straight down.

So I'll hold a soapy water container under it.

They fall down.

And after they stated that water for a little while there are no longer living and you can dump them out and come back two hours later and start over again.

It almost seems when you finish the end you can almost start over again sometimes.

I love the way that you've used all this granite and native rock that you've found in the woods surrounding and we were just talking about the fact that my back hurts sometimes and you told me that you have gotten tired of bending over all the time.

So, the miniatures you've kind of created an upbed for them.

I was neglecting the miniatures because you meant you had to get down on your knees.

So I said would you have got these areas that are into the bank.

I'll just go ahead and use that natural slope.

So using the granite block on this one using the fieldstone on that one we've raised area now for about twenty five miniatures or so we have lined around and I'm enjoying them a lot more.

One miniature you said as is especially known for South Carolina and was developed by the very famous rosarian we had here.

>> Michael Williams was a his with the world class hybridizer of miniatures, many florists.

In fact, this is one of his roses too.

But the Palmetto Sunrise is a fantastic manager that I'm enjoying over there, but he was he was a much of a person who had gotten me do Roses and to do them better.

There's some fun things here one of them called ketchup and mustard which is just kind of a curiosity reminder that but one Rose has a lovely story with it and really is I think should get credit for the huge interest we have in all the re-blooming roses.

Would you shared that story with us, please?

Old blush the pink Chia rose over here.

Was the first repeat blooming Remontant Rose it was brought from China into the western world back in the seventeen fifties.

There was no repeat blooming roses before that time in the western a world but since then the hybridizes available to bring that trait into so with the hybrid teas floribundas miniatures so many floors things that we take for granted are repeat bloomers all have that ability because of a China rose that was brought out of China back in the seventeen fifties.

And reminds us that we should respect our ancestors and that is even on its own without the remarkable story still a lovely rose for people to include their Gardens.

Well this is been such a joyful day for us thank you so much for sharing your expertise and beauty with us.

My pleasure.

♪ Well I was out looking for stuff to put on a hat and the naked ladies were up.

This that this is the lily that's in here.

It's in the spider lily family.

And my husband says they remind him of me because they're big and pink.

So I don't know if that's a compliment or not but anyway.

So I have a naked lady in my hat.

but I but I've been married for fifty years so it's okay.

and then I also have some calla lilies and I kind of opened them up a little bit so that you could see them and I took some of the foliage off the calla lilies to because it's a pretty and then that wonderful garden phlox on we have these cultivars now that don't get mildew.

So are we lucky that in South now and the central part of South Carolina and other places we can grow the phlox that you used to have to be up in the mountains to grow.

Terasa I think you've got those questions piled up from people anxious to learn about things we can do to help them in their garden or their landscape so what do you think we should take next?

How about a question on weeds.

This is from Billy in Abbeville Billy says how do I prepare for winter weeds?

Well I guess it's like what is the taxes and certain death and taxes you know that what they said and weeds to that list too.

Adam we you know people think they're not going to be any weeds in the winter because it's cold and we sometimes don't see them until kind of late but when let's talk about that because I think that they actually start sooner than we think they do sometimes.

Yes ma'am Amanda so with winter weeds I know right now we're just getting three thinking about the heat of summer but now is when we really need to start planning for winter weed control and that's if you want to have control your weeds.

You know some people leave the weeds for friends of pollinators and if that's what you want to do you know there there's no problem with it but if you're looking to control you know things like annual bluegrass or one of the most annoying weeds that we end up talking about in April and March is lawn burweed.

Now is really well we have to start thinking about it because as you said, they're going to start germinating in the next couple of months.

So the number one way to prevent weeds and we always say it but it's very true is that having a thick dense fully functioning living yard is the best way to prevent weeds.

So taking that in mind, so making sure our lawns are well fertilized during the growing season.

So for warm season grasses that's May through about mid August.

If you down in the low state it goes through September.

Making sure that height of cut is correct.

But you know with that talk about the height of cut.

When we start to get into the later part of the season is actually good to raise that height a little bit.

Because what you do by raising it high because you know shading the ground out a little bit more so any sort of newly germinating plants they don't get that initial hit sunlight.

So it slows their growth down.

It also makes the grass more thick.

So it's more competitive.

So that's what this was one of the biggest things you can do that doesn't involve a herbicide, but will slow down your winter weed chances.

Would you raise it like a quarter or a half inch like if you've got a grass that's got a short cut could you raise it as much as a half inch and if it's a taller grass could you raise as much as maybe a half?

Yes ma'am.

The if we're if you're mowing height is normally an inch to an inch and a half.

Going that quarter to a half inch isn't going to hurt.

Ok.

If you've got some weeds taller grasses are normally three inches going two and a half inches very easy.

For my St Augustine section in my yard I mow it three three a quarter and I end up leaving it somewhere between three and three quarters and four inches during the winter.

Ok, all right.

Yes ma'am and we take care of that in the spring so it there there's no issue there.

But the other thing without herbicides is with your fertilizer.

So a lot of people like to try to keep the grass as green for as long as possible.

So they'll put in a last round of nitrogen in the middle or end of August and what happens is that a lot of these fertilizers have some of that slow, slow release nitrogen qualities to them.

Which at the end of the season the grass can't use it but you still got nitrogen in the soil.

So what does that mean?

A competitive plant is more than happy to take it.

So you end up fertilizing some of these newly germinating weeds.

So I don't like to put out any sort of nitrogen after the middle of August.

Just so that we're not feeding anything else can compete for growth and then you can get into your pre emergent herbicides I like to have pre emergence in the ground the middle to end of September because October is kind of the the golden hour for plants like annual bluegrass to start germinating.

So putting your pre-emergent in, about the middle to end of September is a really good idea.

If you're worried about plants like lawn burweed, Florida betony whatnot, then you're using a product called Gallery.

it has Isoxaben in it, and that is a must if you're trying to stop some of those more pesky broadleaf weeds.

But if you like herbicides, just by limiting your fertilization at the end of the year, and raising your mowing height, can really reduce the chance of those winter weeds.

>> Now, it seems like you've told me in the past that sometimes you need to vary your pre-emergents to some extent, if you can.

I guess what you're saying is that for certain weeds there are only certain ones that are going to be effective.

So, is it maybe good to go ahead, and I think you've been nice enough to let people call you, but we have people at HGIC I would imagine who also have a pretty good knowledge of these pre-emergent herbicides, and how you might sometimes vary them from year to year.

>> Yes ma'am.

So, we alternate what we call a mode of action, which is really how these herbicides actually affect the plant.

So, it's good to alternate those just, because if you end up using the same herbicide year after year after year, over a time of 10 to 20 years, those herbicides stop working.

So, we've actually got some weeds, especially annual bluegrass that become resistant to some of our pre-emergent herbicides, because people just use the same thing constantly.

So, alternate what you use, but also you can alternate or spread out the time when you put them out, so you don't have to go at a whole full rate, right at the beginning.

You can split, We call it split rate, so you can split the application in half to increase the longevity of these products.

>> Okay, and I'll just remind people that this is a pesticide, and you always read the label, and you read the whole darn label, because it might have some special information like watering something in it, if I'm not mistaken.

So, read that label.

Isn't that right?

>> Yes ma'am.. >> Okay, well thank you so much, and I hope especially that nobody will have lawn burweed to contend with, because that really is a tough one, and it makes - It's not quite as bad as those sweet bumble balls as my son used to call them, but it's just as bad.

Thanks Adam.

>> Thank you.

>> Davis, you came down in that - How many miles are on that car?

>> Three hundred and sixty four thousand.

<Amanda> Well, it did a good job bringing plants.

Here we got another group, and they look like they made the trip just fine.

So, tell us what these are about.

>> Well, with all the interest in native plants over the last couple of decades, I decided to bring some native perennials.

We'll start over here.

This is a Stylophorum or the wood poppy.

Stylophorum diphyllum, I do believe.

It is a woodland native to the eastern United States.

It has some beautiful yellow blooms.

This one has popped out later than it's normal bloom season.

It normally blooms in late spring and early summer.

<Amanda> Does it need to have some shade?

<Davis> It does need to have shade.

This one is a deep shade native.

It can tolerate a little bit of dryness, but it prefers damp shade.

The flower is very similar to a common poppy, but it's not a poppy at all.

It's got interesting foliage.

The more the foliage matures, the more segmented it becomes.

It's a beautiful plant and sometimes these blooms can come up three or four feet above the plant - <Amanda> So, it's going to be showy in a dark, it can brighten its corner.

>> It really can.

Next to that, we have our most common southeastern native fern.

This is the Christmas Fern.

Polystichum acrostichoides, the name is actually derived, not from any bloom or any growth season or any coloration, but the fact that the individual leaflets on the frons, look like a little Christmas stocking.

<Amanda> And I've heard that they look like Santa Claus, sitting in his sleigh, so it just goes to show how we could all find a fun way to enjoy common names.

<Davis> Well, in South we don't get enough snow at Christmas for Santa to have a sleigh down here.

He drives a pickup truck.

[Amanda laughs] But, and next to that another one of our a very common natives that you normally see around back to school time is the Joe-Pye weed, the Eupatorium.

There's a vast number of these.

Only a few of them are in cultivation.

This is one of the newer, newer cultivars to come down the pipe.

This one is called Ruby or Euphoria Ruby.

It is one of the Eupatoriums.

It does stay a little more compact, but even the dwarf Joe-Pye weed is still going to get up to four or five feet tall.

This one has a much deeper pink flower, and a much longer bloom season.

Here again, this one will stay in bloom for around three to four weeks, instead of that big puff of pink, that you see right before back to school time.

<Amanda> How lovely!

>> Some of my friends have often referred to the Joe-Pye weeds as the back to school weed, because it's always in bloom when it's time to go back to school.

<Amanda> That's kind of putting an unfortunate name on it.

Isn't it?

>> And on the other side, we have a couple of old favorites here.

We have Mountain Mint.

We have Pycnanthemum flexuosum.

This is a beautiful plant for attracting pollinators in late summer, when so many of the other nectar producing plants that the pollinators love so much are not blooming anymore.

This one can be a little bit aggressive.

It is in the mint family.

Be sure to plant it someplace where it can be contained.

<Amanda> Or you could put in a container.

<Davis> Exactly.

<Amanda> If you want it to be able to see the pollinators near your house, you could put it in a container.

<Davis> Certainly can.

Just be careful, and watch for it to come in root bound, because as fast as this spreads it will become root bound, pretty quickly.

>> You would have to - <Davis> Have to take it out, divide it periodically, probably every couple of years.

Next to that, we have another of what I like to refer to as a garden monster.

This is the cut leaf coneflower.

It is a Rudbeckia.

It can be very aggressive.

It's going to get up about four feet tall, and the blooms are going to come up another foot above that.

So, it's really showy.

It's got these beautiful tri-lobed leaves, and the flowers are typical Rudbeckia flowers by bright yellow sweat back petals.

This particular one has a green center, similar to the Irish eyes cultivar of the annual Rudbeckias.

>> Well, do you feel like it's so aggressive that you have to worry about it or just keep your eye on it?

<Davis> Just keep your eye on it.

It doesn't quite cross the line from aggressive to invasive, but it will spread wherever it has the opportunity to, and but what's wrong with a beautiful plant spreading?

Especially, if it's a native?

And last but not least, we have Amanda's favorite flower.

We have Vernonia.

This is an iron weed.

This one's called iron butterfly, and unfortunately I did not have one that was in bloom.

<Amanda> But we can see some little bits of the buds on it.

<Davis> It does have some really purple buds.

As they open up, it's going to be one of the richest most beautiful shades of purple you ever saw.

<Amanda> Even though we think of purple as being recessive, this one to me stands out, the color is so strong.

>> Especially if you're a Furman fan.

[both laugh] >> How big will that one get?

Is this the regular type?

>> Well, it's like it's one of the more common iron weeds.

This one is a cultivar that was bred for being a little more compact, but it's still going to get up four five feet and like all the iron weeds.

It is going to get kind of leggy at the bottom as it grows.

So, it's best to have this behind an under planting of something's going to be a little bit lower and a little bit more voluminous - >> It is a beautiful, beautiful plant.

<Davis> Absolutely.

>> Awwe.

it just goes to show what the variety there is among natives and how we really can use and to enhance the beauty of our yard and make it more, more part of the ecosystem, can't we?

<Davis> Well and so many of the native plants have been selected or cultivated for particular traits that where you used to have the choice of tall Joe Pye weed or a huge prairie coneflower.

>> Yeah.

>> Now, you've got so many different variations that you can find a spot in almost any landscape for something of each group.

>> That's a lot of fun.

Thank you for sharing them with us.

>> Thank you.

>> Terasa, sometimes you have a panorama of the week, if someone sent you several pictures of their yard.

Do we have something like that today?

>> Well, I decided that folks might take a look at a unique container in my yard, which is a planter built into the mailbox post.

[laughs] >> A planter built into the mailbox post.

All right, Terasa well if anybody can find a place to have a container that's unusual it would be you.

Let's see this.

>> Thanks Amanda, well this was one of the things that intrigued me as we went to look at the house.

You know plant lovers always look for places to put plants but little did I know, it would be such a challenge because it has a small volume of soil.

That means it dries out really quickly.

So, my normal go to container plants through trial and error just didn't work, but I came up with an idea.

Amanda what do you think would fit in a small soil area?

>> I'm going to guess that it's something that might have a name that would make it seem like it wouldn't work.

Some of those ice plants or something, related to those?

>> An ice plant would be a great idea.

I was looking for something that was a succulent.

So, it's designed to thrive in dry areas and doesn't need a whole lot of water because I can't get out there and water three times a day.

So, I chose purslane.

That's the genus Portulaca.

Sometimes people might think of it as being weedy, because there are varieties.

It'll come up in the lawn, but it is perfect for this, and its cascading habit just allows it to drape over the edge, and this is probably a hybrid that I have.

I do have a picture to show you some of the seed capsules that will form.

So, if you don't want it to see into your lawn, you can just break those off.

Otherwise, it really doesn't need much maintenance at all.

<Amanda> Well, it really makes it so nice when you go and find a bill and you have something else to look at besides just that you owe somebody some money doesn't it?

<Terasa> Definitely.

>> Okay, let's see if we can have a question before we have to say good night.

>> Sure.

Well, we have friends in North Carolina that reached out.

Matt and Ruth Hurley from Wilmington, sent us a photograph and asked, do we have any ideas what's going on with my palm tree?

I probed for some additional information and they said the lower trunk has lichen and moss where the sprinkler hits, but otherwise the palm is green and growing at the top.

>> Christopher, if there's one place that there are a lot of palm trees growing is down there in the part of the world that you find yourself in.

Do you have any idea what's going on with this?

>> Yeah absolutely.

So, this is actually a very common question I get when it comes to palms.

So what you see actually coming off the base, that's what's known as a boot.

It's just the base of the leaf frond, and so once most palms are generally going to lose this over time.

The way palms are kind of determined, they actually are going to lose it is almost purely genetics.

So, a lot of times, you'll get one palm that'll keep it for 50 years and then one palm that'll keep it for five to ten.

So, it's kind of the roll of the dice, but when palm growers actually are growing these palms they will actually shave these off to give you that smooth trunk, or what they'll do is leave it on and create what's known as a booted palm.

The only problem with booted palm is you might have one that's going to lose those boots naturally, but this is a very common occurrence.

The good news is it's not one that's overly serious.

Though, it can be aesthetically unpleasing.

>> I've seen people go in if they have the boots there, and actually put some little ferns and things in them sometimes.

So, I mean, it can't just be for somebody like Terasa so yet again another planting spot, couldn't it?

A little container of sorts.

>> Absolutely, palms are actually very unique.

They're not built like a normal tree.

They're actually closer related to grass.

So, generally that outer bark is not actually something that you need to be as concerned with protecting as with, say a standard tree.

So yes, you can kind of have a little bit of fun with it, and generally it's a lot more rock resistant than say other trees.

>> Okay.

Well, that was a very interesting thing.

I found out that there's genetic.

I had absolutely no idea.

Well, I want to thank everyone who was with us tonight.

I hope you enjoyed being back together as much as we all did it, in what we think is our very beautiful new set.

I want to thank my friends, Mike and Lilly for my beautiful new sink that I'm going to use one day.

And I want to say goodnight to everybody, and we'll see you next week.

♪ Making It Grow is brought to you in part by The South Carolina Department of Agriculture, certified South Carolina grown helps consumers identify, find and buy South Carolina products.

McLeod Farms in McBee South Carolina this family farm offers seasonal produce including over twenty two varieties of peaches.

Additional funding provided by, International paper and the South Carolina Farm Bureau Federation and Farm Bureau Insurance.