(gentle guitar music) (upbeat music) - Oklahoma Gardening is a production of the Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service, as part of the land grant mission of the Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources at Oklahoma State University.

Dedicated to improving the quality of life of the citizens of Oklahoma through research-based information.

Underwriting assistance for our program is provided by the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food, and Forestry, helping to keep Oklahoma green and growing.

(upbeat music) Today on the Best of Oklahoma Gardening, we have a kaleidoscope of annuals that will brighten even the dullest of winter days.

Stay tuned as we cover annuals from the largest to the smallest.

Some will attract pollinators, but they're all sure to attract your attention.

(upbeat music) Today, I wanted to show a couple of plants that you probably are not used to seeing in the Oklahoma landscape, and that is eucalyptus.

We have three different eucalyptus that we planted in our gardens this season.

Now, of course, we know that eucalyptus are not native to Oklahoma, especially, and they are tropical, but there's no reason why you can't add 'em into your landscape.

So the first one that I want to show with you is this lemon eucalyptus.

These plants are actually been growing for two seasons and they were planted out here when they were just a couple of feet tall, last spring.

But you can see how it has shot and taken off now.

And it's about 12 feet tall.

So you eucalyptus, when you add it into the landscape, it's nice, because it brings in this kind of grayish greenish foliage into your plant palette.

Now, lemon eucalyptus in particular, you're gonna notice that it has kind of a sandpaper feel to the leaves, that are lanceolate.

If you don't want something that's this tall, you can easily control the height of it by planting it in a container, which will usually keep it around a height of about four feet.

If you do plant it in the landscape, you want to make sure to stake it.

You can see, we had to stay cars with a T post in there, because the lemon eucalyptus in particular is very shallow rooted.

And so it will flop, especially in our Oklahoma winds.

Now, traditionally, this will get to be about a 60 foot tall tree in its native Australia.

Next to it here, we have another eucalyptus that is a little bit smaller, and I think it's 'cause it got overshadowed by our lemon eucalyptus, but this is our peppermint eucalyptus.

And I have to say, the lemon eucalyptus smell of it is kind of comparable to the size.

It's very pungent.

Whereas the mint is a little bit more of a mild smell to it.

The other thing to kind of differentiate 'em, is even though the leaves have these nice willow lanceolate-like shape, that are similar to the lemon eucalyptus, it's much smoother.

It's not sandpapery.

Again, you'll notice, especially on the new growth, that you have some nice red branching on them as well.

Now it's a little deceiving in our landscape here, but actually the peppermint eucalyptus will get much taller, again, in its native Australia, reaching about 150 feet.

The other thing that we can't really appreciate as an annual is that it'll develop this beautiful exfoliating bark when it becomes a mature tree.

Now, next to it, we have one more eucalyptus that I want to share with you.

And this is probably the eucalyptus that you're most familiar with.

And far too often, we see it as a fake plant in different hobby stores.

And this is the silver dollar eucalyptus.

You can see how it got its name, by these silvery spoon shaped leaves that are stacked on the stems.

It's very unique foliage to add into the landscape.

Again, that's why it's kind of fun to play with as an annual in your landscape design.

Now, the other thing that you'll notice about this is that it not only has different foliage, but again, it'll have sort of that red stems to it, contrasting that blue foliage.

And of course, we've got that traditional eucalyptus fragrance that comes with this.

So why settle for fake, when you can go out and harvest your own fresh eucalyptus to put into your garden?

Now, again, all of these eucalyptus are annuals here in our Oklahoma landscape, so we're gonna be removing them pretty soon.

Again, they were just started, two of them, the lemon and the peppermint, were actually started by seeds two years ago.

Whereas this silver dollar, you can start it from cuttings.

And so, we're gonna be taking cuttings from it again to overwinter for next year.

Now, of course, if you're above zone nine in North America, you'll probably be using this as an annual in the garden.

Eucalyptus is, however, high in oils, as I mentioned, and often referred to as the gum tree.

And when we're removing this, this is a good reminder that anytime you're removing or messing with plants that are either new to you or have high oil contents, you want to make sure to use some protection, some skin protection, gloves and long sleeves, in order to handle those, because you never know how you're gonna react.

Of course, eucalyptus, we know, is toxic to both humans and animals, except for the koala, which has adapted in order to eat it.

(dramatic music) (dramatic music continues) - Today we are joined by a guest here at the botanic garden, and you might recognize her from a previous segment.

This is Diane Blazek, who is also the executive director of All-America Selections.

While we've talked to her in that capacity, she wears a second hat and that's being the executive director of the National Garden Bureau.

Welcome, Diane, appreciate you coming today.

- Oh, thank you very much.

- So, Diane, tell us a little bit about the National Garden Bureau and what their role is.

- National Garden Bureau is now 101 years old.

So we are even older than All-America Selections, but our purpose and our mission is really to encourage and inspire people to do more gardening, to plant more plants.

- [Host] That's something we all love, right?

- [Diane] Exactly, right, so we love working with public gardens and we have a lot of different programs that do that.

One that I think you're very interested in is New Plants.

- [Host] Uh-huh, absolutely.

- [Diane] So we do a whole program, so if you wanna know what's new from the industry, you go to our website and you click on New Plants and you're gonna find out about what new petunia there is and what new perennial there is and what the new pepper is and all that.

- [Host] And this isn't just classified information for television hosts, right?

It's for the consumer to find this information.

- [Diane] Exactly, right, yeah, because they can go to our website and find it and then hopefully go to their favorite local garden retailer and find it there.

- So who are your people that you work with to get this information?

- Yeah, it's actually the seed breed, not just seed, it's all breeding companies.

It's way more than just seed now.

So if there is a flowering shrub breeder, if there is a vegetable breeder, if there's vegetatively propagated breeders that are working, you know, with whatever crops, those are all of our members and they submit their new varieties to us and we help market them.

- Okay, and you also do horticulture-related products too, is that correct?

- Well, we also feature a lot of horticulture-related products, yes, from our members, the same kind of thing, like hard goods, like, you know, what's the newest and greatest knife or hoe or, you know, pruners or anything like that.

- [Host] Yeah, yeah, it's all kind of related.

- [Diane] Exactly, yeah.

You need it all in your garden.

- [Host] Yeah, and tell us, there's another little program that you guys do, not little program, it's a national program, but about the plant of the year.

So this is something that you regularly do.

Can you tell us a little bit about that?

- We do, yes, and it's been growing like crazy, so it's really fun.

It's called the Year Of program and what we do is we focus on a specific plant class, not a specific variety, because there are Year Of programs out there that are specific varieties.

So ours is we have one annual, one perennial, one flowering shrub, one edible, and one bulb crop.

So this year, the reason we're standing here, is it's the year of the hardy hibiscus for our flowering shrub.

And then our edible is the garden bean, which, I mean, there's so many different kinds of beans.

Our bulb crop is the hyacinth.

I'm gonna save the best for last, I think.

Our perennial is the monarda and then our annual is the- - [Both] Sunflower!

- Yeah.

We all love sunflowers.

And all of those do really well here in Oklahoma.

So is that something that you look for when you're doing the Plant Of is, not Oklahoma but just nationally, that they tend to do well across the country or?

- Yes, that is a criteria and, you know, it doesn't always happen, but we try to, so like this year we may have a flowering shrub that does well just in a certain region.

Well, next year then it will be one that's from all over.

So, I mean, it is gardening.

It is Mother Nature we're dealing with.

So it's kind of hard to do one thing for everybody when we have so many different climates throughout North America.

- Well, we do love our hardy hibiscus here in Oklahoma- - That's great!

- As well as our sunflowers and other plants.

So this is a great to know, so the website again is where you can find all of this information.

- Absolutely, it's where you can go to be inspired.

It's ngb.org.

- Okay.

Thank you so much, Diane.

- Thank you.

(peaceful music) (upbeat music) - Today I wanted to take a minute and share with you some of the All-America Selection annuals that we have on display here in our demonstration garden.

Now you've seen some of these previously mentioned.

We mentioned the Big Duck series, the Big Duck Yellow and the Big Duck Gold marigolds, but they're a lot larger and that's something different than what I want to show you today.

Those in fact, the Big Duck series, are known as African or American marigolds, which are Tagetes erecta.

Now this particular one is a French marigold, which is known as Tagetes patula, so it's a different species of marigold, and, as you can see, it's much smaller in stature.

The Big Duck or the African marigolds are usually much larger, whereas the French marigolds are much more petite.

But the nice thing about the French marigolds is they tend to really hold up because they're bushier, sturdier.

- Plant, they really hold up well, especially in rainy seasons, which we have been experiencing this summer.

Now, this Super Hero Spry, what's really noted for it as being exceptional is the fact that it has so much consistency within each of its flowers.

You'll notice it has a really dark maroon lower petals and then the bright yellow center petals to it.

And while it is more of a petite plant than the African marigold, it's gonna give you a lot of bang for your buck in this bushy little plant.

So now let's go take a look at some zinnias.

Here is one zinnia that we just love to have in the garden.

And this is called Queenie Lime Orange.

And not only does it have a fun name, but it has a fun flower to match as well.

With this dahlia-like flower that fades from a kind of a limy yellow down to more orangy pink colors.

It's almost like an ombre of sunset colors there in this one flower.

And then you can see how large those flowers get also.

And as you can see it is a favorite among the pollinators.

In addition to a pollinator garden, it works well in cut flowers with these really long stems that will last up to three weeks.

Now this particular zinnia is a Zinnia Elegance, which is kind of related to some of the traditional old-fashioned zinnias that we used to have in our garden, our grandma's garden.

But there's also another zinnia that I wanna show you just down the way here.

This is a zinnia, Profusion Red Zinnia.

Now this particular one is a cross between the Zinnia Elegance and the Zinnia Angustifolias.

So that cross combines and you really get the best of both of those types of zinnias, meaning that you have a more sturdy, stout, short, compact plant, but also one that is more disease resistant.

In fact, it holds up really well to humidity, which a lot of times zinnias don't like because of powdery mildew.

Now this particular one was noted because it has exceptional red color that does not fade, especially in the heat of the summer as that sun can get really strong on those, the color of the petals.

You can see we still have a great color.

Also, we still have plenty of buds that are still gonna open up, which is a nice addition as well.

Now down the way we also have a Zinnia Bicolor, red and yellow.

It is also in the Profusion series so you can see it has a very similar compact habit to the Red Perfusion Zinnia, but with a little bit different and more appealing flower because of the variability in it.

You can see that the center has a nice kind of dark hot pink color to it.

Then the tips of the petals are dipped in yellow, making a nice contrast.

But as those flowers age, they start to take on more of an apricot rosy look to 'em.

And so, as you see again, we're still getting new buds that are opening so you still have that sharp contrast.

But overall, you can see we have a lot of variability between the colors, creating a nice bouquet of different shades of color.

Now, both of these Profusion Zinnias are a nice addition to the garden because they don't need deadheading.

And again, disease resistant.

So while marigolds and zinnias have been around in the garden for many ages, they aren't the same ones that your grandma might've planted.

(relaxing guitar music) As we finish out that fall landscape which is so often recognized by the classic mum, especially the garden mum that we have, before we head into poinsettia season we wanted to stop by King's Mum here in Sand Springs, Oklahoma, to talk with Brian Kanotz.

Brian, thank you for joining us and letting us be here to see your display.

- It's my pleasure.

Thank you for coming.

- So let's first talk about what King's Mums is and what you guys are actually selling 'cause it's not the flowers, right?

- No, no.

We don't sell the flowers.

So we sell small rooted cuttings and we sell to public gardens, mail order only, public gardens, homeowners, and a lot of cut flower growers.

- [Casey] Yeah, so your product is very small that you're shipping on at this point.

- [Brian] Yeah, it's just a rooted cutting, hopefully in the three to six inch range with a root ball about the size, maybe a little bigger than a quarter.

- Okay.

So at this point though, I mean, a lot of times we're talking about mums blooming.

A lot of times we've bought our small round mum, you know, for our either pumpkin or Thanksgiving display.

- Sure.

- But you've got quite a selection and I know there are a lot of varieties.

Can we talk through some of these?

- Sure.

Love to.

- So what do we have here?

- So chrysanthemums, people think of the garden type like you're talking about, the little mounded balls you see everywhere in the fall.

But they're actually classified by flower form kind of like a daffodil would be.

- Okay.

- So we've got 13 different classifications, but the last classification is unclassified.

So those are just ones we like.

- Okay, misfits.

(Casey laughing) - So yeah.

And this system was taken from Europe.

They're really big into their flowers over there, you might have heard.

- Yes.

Yeah.

- So we've got all the different classes here just to give you an idea of what can be seen in chrysanthemums.

A lot of these people just don't remember, have never seen.

- [Casey] Right.

Right.

So, I mean, it's kind of, if you don't mind, talk through each one of 'em with us and tell us what we're lookin' at.

- [Brian] We can go through one through 13.

So these are the Irregular Incurves.

I think you remember these as the football mums the people called.

And this is not as big as it can get.

So that's class one.

Class two would be Reflex and this one in the front where the petals are reflexing down.

- [Casey] Okay.

- [Brian] So that's what we're really after in this one.

Class three is Incurve.

It's a smaller incurve.

It's not the really big ones.

- So incurve meaning the petals move up?

- They will incurve down.

- Okay.

Okay.

- So actually these will reflex down.

So yes.

So yeah, curved in.

- Okay.

(Casey laughing) - We're probably gonna redo that one.

Um... - Class four is decorative, and this is probably the one people think of the most, but I wanted to show you some of the different forms of the petals cause you wouldn't think of that as a decorative type.

- Right.

- But this is more commonly what you would see as that decorative flower.

- Okay.

- So then-- - And these are big.

So these aren't the football mums.

- No, those are incurves as well.

And that one is a special one that I picked out.

That's actually a peacock type flower, that's the oldest one we have.

And it was imported from Europe and it dates back to 1920.

- [Lady] Wow.

It's beautiful cause its got these kinds of, I've never seen that on petals before.

- [Man] Yeah, and you don't see that at all.

There's only a few of them left.

And as far as I know, I don't know of another one in this country-- - Really?

- That's being offered.

- And are they all pink like this too?

- That's the only cultivate I have like that.

- And the little button moms.

- Yeah, pompons.

Another really common one you see in the flourish trade that's commonly grown just because they can last so long.

- [Lady] Okay.

- [Man] So people love those.

And then the others, the singles and semi-doubles are daisy type flowers.

- [Lady] Yeah, I was gonna say with the classic eyes.

- [Man] Right.

And they're really common, again, in the flourish trade, you see those everywhere.

Then we've got the anemones, and we've got some wild forms here with one.

It's still in that classification, but to give you an idea of the different forms there.

The spoons, and I really try to get you to look at the, it's really at the end where that spoon tip is, and you can see the different sizes and different forms on those.

- [Lady] So the petal is actually kind of curled up and then it opens up at the end.

- [Man] Yeah and it's that spoon at the end that makes it that, you can literally take that off and actually can imagine using it as a spoon if it would work for that.

So these are quills, and we have different colors in there and just different sizes and shapes.

So where... Again, where the quill has a tube at the end more.

This one almost is a spoon, but it's not quite, it's more lance shaped.

So it's similar to spoon, but a little bit different.

And then these are, my daughter would call these fireworks, but they're the spiders.

And I can see why she calls them fireworks.

She just loves that.

So that's what I call them now.

And then the-- - [Lady] And there are those old ones that have many more at the end.

- [Lady] Yeah, these...

The mums are really late this year, but these are what are called thistle brush or thistle types.

And you really see those in the Japanese style.

- [Lady] Okay, so that's the look of them?

- [Man] Yeah, they're just not many open.

And then we've got just the other forms there.

They kind of hit one form or classification or another, but they don't meet all the criteria for classification, but they're really pretty.

- [Lady] Are they hybrids of some of these?

- [Man] These are all hybrids.

Chrysanthemums don't...

Growing them from seed is really, you never know what you're going to get.

So once you do a hybridization.

If you germinate that seed, they all could be different flowers.

- [Lady] Right.

- [Man] So that's why you don't see them growing from seed much.

- [Lady] Which is why your role here in this position is so important because you're providing cuttings to gardens all across the country.

- Right.

The gardens for historical purposes.

And then we're maintaining these, the genes, the genetics.

If we didn't do it, they might be lost in this country because we're about the last supplier of them left.

- Wow, that's amazing.

So as we look at this, obviously they're classified by their flowers, but they each take different forms as plants too.

- As plants or as we want them to take.

So it just depends on what, you know, what the plant will do or what you want the plant to do.

- So often I look at something like this but you get trailing ones or even some much taller ones.

- Yeah.

And it's again, the height variation and this one could actually be even taller.

I sprayed it with a growth regulator to keep it a little shorter.

But when we write four to five feet, the plants can actually get four to five feet taller even if you have enough time.

I've seen them eight, 10 feet tall.

- [Lady] Wow.

- [Man] So yeah.

- [Lady] So obviously they all take on different forms, but some of that is manipulation based off of how you prune them, correct?

- [Man] Yes.

Yeah, pruning or training, tying all of those things.

So we've got this plant here, and this is the football mum that you alluded to earlier.

And we talk about looking at these flowers and they'd be different, but this is just one flower.

And this is where we get into this budding to get a different form.

So this, we just removed all the flowers.

Where these we didn't, and you can see how much larger that flower is.

And this isn't even a great example.

They can get much larger than that.

That eight to 12 inches for a football mum is not out of the question.

And it's not fully relaxed yet and open.

- Okay.

So that center mum is usually the biggest, you removed all the other ones.

- You can see that right here on this stock that I left where that middle one is the largest.

- Oh, that's middle, okay.

- Yeah.

If we had left it, removed all of these, you could do that.

- And that happens when the buds are very tiny.

- Yeah, before they're even open, you want to be doing that because otherwise the plant is putting energy into flowers it doesn't, you don't want.

- Right, right.

Okay, so let's talk a little bit, you're not after the flower so why have you let all of these go to flower at this point?

- I'm checking to make sure they're blooming right.

Because I'm human, I make mistakes.

I take cuttings.

I might take the wrong one, which I did this year.

So now I don't have the right plant and I don't want to sell that to someone next year they're expecting a yellow flower and I send them a pink one.

So-- - [Lady] So what's your season kind of look like?

Cause I know most people are looking at buying mums, you know, going into fall, but yours are being sold when?

- [Man] I sell in the spring.

So I open my sales in January.

Depends on when I sell out cause I can only root so many.

And then I start shipping in March, and that goes through to June.

And it just depends on where you live and your facilities on when you might want them.

- [Lady] Okay.

So yeah because they'll be growing out longer.

- [Brian] Right, right, so generally I recommend if you're a homeowner, get them around your last Spring frost date.

- Okay.

- [Brian] So, of course this is Oklahoma.

So that could be.

- Who knows.

Well, Brian, hopefully we can make it back in the Spring to see some of that propagation in action.

And thank you so much for sharing all of this with us today.

- You're welcome, I'll see you in the Spring, hopefully.

- Yes, thank you.

(cheerful music) I just love those annuals that really help transition our Spring color all the way into our fall color that will soon be approaching.

Now, today I wanted to show you this Luscious Citron Lantana.

And a yellow Lantana is nothing new to the market.

But what I really love about this is it's more of a butter yellow versus the bright-gold yellow that you often see on Lantana, which makes it a nice compliment to such a variety of colors, whether it's that bright Spring color that you want to compliment it with, or the softer oranges and reds as we transition into the Autumn time.

Lantana is a great addition to the garden because it allows that consistency through those seasons.

Now, of course, we know that Lantana is a nice, durable plant.

And you guys know that I often like to walk through our trial gardens here at the Botanic Garden, because a lot of times later in the season, you can really start to see which annuals are proving themselves after a tough season.

And of course we've been in a drought.

And so there are plants that are definitely showing some stress.

But this Lantana, it will stop you in your tracks as you're walking through the trials, because you can see here it is a showstopper.

It's not proving to have any trouble with our drought conditions or the heat of the summer so far.

So this Luscious Citron Lantana is a nice addition to the garden.

Of course it continues to provide these flowers, numerous flowers throughout the season, without any deadheading and maintains a nice two-foot height without any pruning or anything else.

So a very low maintenance drought-tolerant annual to add into your garden.

The other thing to keep in mind, while we love the flowers visually, to be able to see them in our garden, what's nice about this, and we often think about it in the Springtime, is providing nectar for our pollinators.

But it's just as important to have those nectar sources available for our pollinators in the Fall, as a lot of them will be migrating through.

So not only do we appreciate those flowers, but the pollinators do as well.

Luscious Citron Lantana is a nice annual to add into your landscape to help carry your garden from the Spring all the way into Fall.

(cheerful music) There are a lot of great horticulture activities this time of year.

Be sure and consider some of these events in the weeks ahead Next week, join us as we shift our focus from ornamentals to vegetables.

(joyful music) To find out more information about show topics, as well as recipes, videos, articles, fact sheets, and other resources, including a directory of local extension offices, be sure to visit our website at oklahomagardening.okstate.edu.

And we always have great information, answers to questions, photos, and gardening discussion on your favorite social media as well.

Join in on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

You can find this entire show and other recent shows, as well as individual segments, on our Oklahoma Gardening YouTube channel.

Tune in to our OK Gardening Classics YouTube channel to watch segments from previous hosts.

Oklahoma Gardening is produced by the Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service as part of the division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources at Oklahoma State University.

The Botanic garden at OSU is home to our studio gardens, and we encourage you to come visit this beautiful Stillwater gem.

We would like to thank our generous underwriter, The Oklahoma Department of Agriculture Food and Forestry.

Additional support is also provided by Pond Pro Shops, Greenleaf Nursery, and the Garden Debut Plants, the Oklahoma Horticultural Society, and Tulsa Garden Club.

(joyful music continues)