Narrator>> Making It Grow is brought to you in part by certified South Carolina is a cooperative effort among farmers, retailers and the South Carolina Department of Agriculture to help consumers identify foods and agricultural products that are grown, harvested or raised right here in the Palmetto State.

The Boyd Foundation supporting outdoor recreational opportunities, the appreciation of wildlife, educational programs, and enhancing the quality of life in Columbia, South Carolina and the Midlands at large.

McLeod Farms in McBee, South Carolina, family owned and operated since 1916.

This family farm offers seasonal produce, including over 40 varieties of peaches.

Additional funding provided by the South Carolina Farm Bureau Federation and Farm Bureau Insurance and Boone Hall Farms.

♪ opening music ♪ ♪ Amanda>> Good evening and welcome to Making It Grow.

We're so glad you can join us tonight.

I'm Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension, and we have a great panel for you tonight, And we also have a special guest, a program on houseplants from BB Barns Garden Center.

Terasa, we're so pleased that you can join us from your always busy Master Gardener coordinator duties but you do so much for us.

Terasa>> I'm never too busy to be a part of Making It Grow.

I feel like it's such a good avenue for getting information out to those who are looking for it.

Amanda>> We thank you for all you do.

You do Facebook with us with some help from other people.

>> Yes.

>> That's a good place for people to put questions if they want to, I believe.

Terasa>> It really is.

Yes, and they can do it either by posting to our page which goes under the community section or they can send us a private message either way works just as just as well.

Amanda>> Okay.

Amanda>> And then Adam, Gore, you are the horticulture agent up in Abbeville?

Adam>> Yes, ma'am.

>> You are working on a big degree.

Adam>> That's what they tell me.

(laughs) Just we're looking into heavy metal toxicities on Bermuda grass golf, Bermuda grass golf green.

So see if we can't try to improve them coming out of dormancy.

Amanda>> Okay, and this will be a PhD.

>> Yes, ma'am.

>> when you finish, which is going to happen pretty soon we hope.

Adam>> Yes ma'am.

That's the goal.

I'm sure my wife would like for it to be done.

Amanda>> That's a lot to have a full time job and be going to school that much.

Well, thanks for taking time out to be with us today.

Eric Shealy, you are one of the horticulturist at Riverbanks Zoo and Gardens.

Usually when I talk to you, you're in a greenhouse, but I think they're all torn down at the moment.

Eric>> They're almost torn down at this point, but yeah, we're rebuilding them and we're going to go from like 1980s technology to 2022.

Amanda>> Is that make it easier on you and your staff?

>> So I would have to climb a ladder to change temperatures in the greenhouse.

Now I can do it from my phone Amanda>> Really?

>> Yeah, it's going to be nice.

Well, I hope.

Knock on wood.

(laughs) Amanda>> Well, I don't think we have to worry about any sudden freezes this summer.

Eric>> No, don't say anything about freezing.

(laughs) Amanda>> Okay, well, Terasa, usually you start us off with happy things, which is Gardens of the Week.

Terasa>> I agree that they are very happy.

It's so much fun to see what you're doing in your yards, gardens, and sometimes we get to see houseplants, or perhaps you've snapped a great photograph at one of the beautiful places in South Carolina.

Let's take a look first from Ron Kotula.

We have some deep blue hydrangeas, I don't know that I've ever seen such a deep blue color.

From Deana Baker.

We have a canna in front of a windmill palm and if you look very carefully, you can also see a hummingbird feeder which she reports was drained in just two days.

From Betty Frye spotted wintergreen and that's a native woodland plant that just happens to be growing wild in her yard.

Tommy Kemmerlin shared a gorgeous Agapanthus with bi-colored flowers that are purple at the base and fade to white.

From Veronica Gallo Bamberry, we have a Zen Garden featuring two different Japanese Maples, Inaba shidare and...crimson queen, and we finish up with a pollinator garden sent to us by Linda Yonika.

So thanks everyone for sharing your photographs.

Don't be shy whenever you see us make a call on Facebook.

Please post your photos in the comments.

We do need to have them nice and big and also horizontally oriented so they show up nicely on your screen.

You can always email me if Facebook isn't your thing.

And these are just chosen at random.

We can't show all the photos we receive.

So do visit our Facebook page and see all the submissions.

Amanda>> Eric, I think you have an Agapanthus that you brought with us.

Eric>> Oh, yeah, I have a - well, it's back here in the back of this arrangement.

But yeah, it's kind of similar to what Terasa was saying about the light petals, but at the very base, they're purple except these are kind of blue, and Agapanthus is just one of those just wonderful South African plants that we can grow pretty well here, and people often complain about them not flowering as much.

Amanda>> That's true.

I've heard that.

I was going to ask you, I've heard they like to be crowded and this and that.

Eric>> The best use of them is in between if you have your driveway and your house, and that little strip right there, where it's just we call it the hell strip, and it's just a hellish little place to grow plants.

I mean, it's just no water, very cramped conditions, but Agapanthus, there is a person in a neighborhood in Columbia and I drive by there quite often, and it is just, I mean, right now it's, she must have 75 blooms.

Amanda>> Whew!

But, what if you don't have that little strip between your house and the driveway?

Eric>> I've seen a lot of people plant them in terra cotta pots and sink them in the ground.

>> Oh, sink them in the ground?

>>Yeah, you can do that.

You can put them in any, you can bind their roots with gravel or something like that.

Just put some gravel down and like really make it, I mean, difficult for them, what you would think difficult, but I have mine bloom in sandy soils, in Cayce quite regularly.

Amanda>> So don't if your neighbor wants one don't offer to divide yours and give her one?

Eric>> No, just keep it.

>>Cause dividing them might set, Eric>> It does.

It'll actually, It'll set back them.

They like to be in the ground for a really long time.

They're kind of like peonies.

The longer you leave them, the more they're just going to be happy.

Amanda>> Okay, well, while we've got this beautiful arrangement up there, let's talk about the other things.

Eric>> Of course, there's some crinums.

I can't come on here without a crinum in the arrangement, up top there.

Yeah, the beautiful lilly.

There's some Pineapple Lily up here in the front as well as Eucommias.

Our eucalyptus that we love so much, the willow leaf eucalyptus and we actually have some panicle hydrangeas in there.

We can turn them around, and some lovely echinacea in there as well.

Amanda>> Okay, and this is the eucalyptus and you said it's a little hard to find Eric>> It is and we actually grow it from seed, just because we have never ever found it in a nursery.

Amanda>> Well, are the seeds difficult to source.

Eric>> They're not difficult to source.

You can always look for willow leaf eucalyptus, the Latin name is eucalyptus nicholii, And you can find it - we find it out of England a lot.

So and they will ship to you.

>> They will?

>> Don't worry.

They shipped to us.

and usually germination is pretty quick with them.

It's just the eucalyptus grows really fast, so you need to be potting them up quite regularly.

Amanda>> I've heard really that you're better off buying a small eucalyptus than a big one.

Eric>> You are, because the roots if they bind themselves up in the pot, they will girdle themselves and choke themselves out.

Amanda>> I want to talk a little bit about this original rattlesnake master... Eric>> Rattlesnake Master, yeah, that is, Oh, it's tied in their tight, I'm sure, but that is actually a native plant that grows pretty tall.

I would say three feet tall Amanda>> and has a really strong stem.

Eric>> Yeah, and it's great for floral arrangements, but also it has like a totally different set of pollinators than you what you would expect for a native plant.

I'm not an entomologist, but it's it's something that looks like a wasp or a fly.

So you get a whole nother set besides bees and wasps and moths and butterflies on those and it's just a way to diversify your yard with something that is both wet and dry tolerant.

It's a very versatile plant Amanda>> Adaptable.

Eric>> Yeah, very, very much so.

Amanda>> I've got the blooms about this high up in the air.

Eric>> and I mean a lot of nursery owners told me they cannot sell it for the way it looks because people think it's going to be very spiky, because the leaves had those little hairs on them and it's not spiky at all.

It's not and it will make a pretty big plant, if you leave it in the ground he's got to leave them.

Amanda>> I think it's just wonderfully attractive.

>> It's a beautiful plant, yeah.

Amanda>> a very different flower.

>> It's like all those thistles that they can grow in England that we can't grow.

This is our thistle.

(laughs) Amanda>> Well, thank you so much, and thank Diane because she probably went out there.

Eric>> Oh, yes, yeah, she's always doing our floral arrangements for us.

Amanda>> I'll let you put that back down.

Thank you so much, and that was fun to learn something about Agapanthus, something that you want to just, you can forget about it once you've got it in the ground.

Eric>> I do like an Agapanthus.

Amanda>> Well, Terasa, do we have some questions we can start?

Terasa>> Oh, you know there is never a shortage of questions.

We're going to begin today with sort of a trivia, I guess, a plant identification.

Ken from Inman sent us two photos, and he said, can you tell me what this is?

I see them along fence lines here in the upstate, and I will say it's not just limited to the upstate.

Amanda>> Okay.

Adam?

Adam>> It's definitely not limited to the upstate.

In fact, if you go down any major highway, you will see those pink or orange blossoms and they just look so beautiful, and then you think about it, and you find out that is an invasive tree called the mimosa.

Amanda>> Oh!

Adam>> Everyone is aware of mimosa, but it was brought here because you know, it does have a very pretty look to it, but unfortunately, it can spread just so drastically, and it loves our climate, and, you know, I may get fussed at when I get home, but planting it is a little reckless, considering how quickly they can spread.

Amanda>> Well, and I think there's a mimosa wilt or blight that comes through occasionally, but it seems like it needs to hurry up and come back, (laughs) because I think when it comes it knocks them back.

Yeah.

Yeah, and so the least they Adam>> with how prolific they will seed out and spread, you know, and it might give us you know, a few years to catch up.

Amanda>> I think they're still for sale in nurseries.

Eric>> Oh, and you can find - and there's cultivars of them, too, dark leafed cultivars.

Terasa>> Not only do they spread and out compete with our native vegetation, but they don't host the same diversity of caterpillars, and most people probably don't think about it, but you know, we've talked before how important caterpillars are for songbirds, they play a huge role in the diet of the mom and dad feeding those young, young birds.

Amanda>> Even birds that are seed eaters, you have to give the babies protein, >> Right!

>> so that they can get big enough and get out of the nest fast enough.

Terasa>> Exactly.

So certainly, you know, try not to be deceived by a plant's beauty and think about the long term implications.

Amanda>> because of co-evolution, unless it's some kind of invasive caterpillar that we've gotten, most of our caterpillars evolved with our native plants, and so that's what they eat, as their larval food sources.

I think an oak tree has like, three or four hundred different, Terasa>> It's gonna give you the most bang for your buck, in terms of diversity of caterpillar species.

Amanda>>People say, well, I don't want to plant a tree that's going to be full of caterpillars, and I said, Eric>> Can you notice them?

Amanda>> ...I've never had a caterpillar...(laughs) oak trees all over the place.

Eric>> My friend, Jay Keck from South Carolina Wildlife Federation looks at an oak tree as a buffet, you know, for birds and wildlife, and it's just like, you know, bang for your buck, and it's definitely not a mimosa.

Amanda>> They do a great job, by the ways.

Eric>> Yeah, they are wonderful.

That's a wonderful organization.

Amanda>> It really is and they're putting birdhouses up for unusual birds that are kind of need houses.

Eric>> Yeah, and not birds that you normally see Amanda>> somebody making an effort to try to help.

Eric>> Yeah, exactly.

They're wonderful people.

Amanda>> Yeah, they really are, and I think they've even done some work on the birds flying into windows.

They've done some studies on that, and you could go to the website, I'm sure find that out, because a lot of birds actually do fly into windows.

Adam>> They do.

It's never a season without getting at least one or two, why is this bird you know, constantly flying into the window or what's happening.

It's like, you know, there's a, there's a plethora of reasons, Amanda>> Sometimes there are males who think they see somebody and they go to mirrors on cars, Terasa>> Their reflection, but they perceive it as another bird.

Amanda>> Well...to do something like this, in the garden is fun, you just go out with your pruners, but you've got some other tools, including pruners, that you were going to share with us.

Eric>> So we just we have a bunch of tools in the garden that we just really love, and we try to get them out in the world and try to tell people about them.

Amanda>> Because it makes life easier.

>> It does, and honestly, we don't have a lot of time to sit there in a bed anymore and just like detail it to death.

So, we now implement things that are power tools that are handheld.

This is a one of the greater tools that we have for that right now, and I actually used it the other day to prune up a Japanese maple, because it was Amanda>> - it needed it.

Eric>> It did.

It needed to be thinned out and it needed some airflow into it, and really this is just a handheld chainsaw.

I tell people don't cut anything with hand pruners bigger than a pencils width, Now after that you have options.

You have hand saws, you have, you know, chainsaws, of course, but this kind of fits between a handsaw and a chainsaw.

So, and it's really portable.

This fits in a golf cart Amanda>> Turn it around.

>> Yeah.

This fits in a golf cart really easily.

It does have a little safety guard.

Amanda>> Pull the trigger.

Let's hear it.

>> Oh, I know.

You're very fond of that, but yeah, it loves to.

Oh, it doesn't have the battery in.

(laughs) I took the battery out for safety.

(laughs) Amanda>> He took the battery out for safety.

Eric>> But the battery does last a good long while.

I will say that, and I mean it runs.

It's kind of noisy, (whirring) but I mean it's I mean, it's kind of light.

Amanda>> Oh, I could use that.

Eric>> It does have a safety switch on it.

So you have to push it down before you.

(whirring) Amanda>> Cool!

Eric>> It's not too bad, (whirring) Amanda>> That's all... Eric>> It kind of grips and it runs.

Amanda>> I mean, I wouldn't want or need anything bigger than that.

I'd get a professional.

Eric>> Yeah, I mean, some people are not comfortable, after this.

>> Yeah.

Eric>> But yeah, there are, we use small chainsaws.

This.

We also have some hedge trimmers that run similar Amanda>> On the same battery.

Eric>>Yeah, on the same battery.

>> But yeah, we have that and of course we have our I was talking about handsaws and this is one that we really like it because it can fit in your pocket and it folds out really easily, and they just it's good for after pencil size.

Amanda>> And I think they work in both directions Eric>> They do.

So, those blades are - Yeah!

So you get pull and push.

Yeah!

This is something that I really love.

...It's called a dividing knife, and something that a lot of gardeners don't know about dividing knives are they're not as firm as you would think, - so you can get down in there especially with something like hibiscus roots, if you're trying to divide your hibiscus or day lilies or anything kind of like you need something that kind of Amanda>> works around >> warming perennial that works wonders to divide especially in spring I use that a lot in spring for weeding in the garden.

We use soil knives Amanda>> - Soil knives.

Eric>> Yes >> So this looks like a little trowel, but it's not.

Eric>> Yes, so this soil knife a lot of them will just have this edge that is actually pretty sharp.

This one has a cutting side as well and a - what we use this for is to cut strings on pine straw bales.

(Amanda laughs) We use it.

I use it a lot for that.

It can also cut small stems as well, but digging up like rooted in weeds this really, and this is a Japanese thing.

Their knives are called Hori Hori knives and you can find them as Japanese weeding knives.

You can find them as Hori Hori knives or you can just, a weeding knife, and on the reverse, it has a depth guide for bulbs.

Amanda>> It's a useful little tool.

Eric>> Yeah, it's a great tool for the, and they're not that expensive, and of course Amanda>> Do you usually have to order these?

Eric>> Yeah, I mean I found them in garden centers before.

>> It's so easy to order things.

Eric>> Yeah, it is I mean especially when you can type it in a search.

Amanda>> So, this is the part used to cut the pine straw bale, this notched yeah notched part here.

Eric>> Sometimes those can be tied really tight and we need to move on some projects, yeah.

Amanda>> You got to boogie out there.

Eric>> Yeah, sometimes, but our number one tool for out in the garden is of course a pair of pruners, and we love the ones with the little notch where you can cut.

It's a wire cutting notch.

Amanda>> Well, I have to have that to make my hats.

otherwise you ruin the blades.

Eric>> This is florist, I mean, horticultural workers, agricultural workers all love a good pair of pruners and to be honest with you, people balk sometimes at the costs of pruners, but I will tell you right now, you always, always should spend money on the tools that you're going to use the most.

Amanda>> Well, this brand, which happens to be Felco, and the many people that make it when you order it, you can get this part which I've had to replace all the time.

Eric>> You can get all of those parts.

That's what I like so much about that brand because you can replace the blades without having to replace the, and I have other favorite pruners that are not Felcos, but Amanda>> this is just for everyday >> For everyday >> almost everything and I have one that has an ergonomic handle because I had kind of was getting carpal tunnel syndrome from Eric>> Yeah, we have we have some gardeners that use those.

Amanda>> Also they come and this is really something and left handed versions, and people who are left handed are just, I mean, imagine Eric>> You have to specify when you order those.

Amanda>> And so if you know anybody's that's left handed, get them a pair of these, and they will worship and adore you for the rest of their lives.

Eric>> And the last thing that I will say, (Amanda laughs) and people laugh at me, but this hat, this poor hat goes everywhere with me, and it's in my bag.

I take it, Amanda>> Let's put it on, here.

Eric>> Oh, I know, right?

You'd love this.

You'd love to see that, but people... Amanda>> Whoa!

Eric>> I know, right!

(Amanda laughs) People often ask me where I got it from, and honestly, it was just a search online.

But I...

I don't like those hats that cling around me, especially in this heat, 100 degree heat, and I want some airflow, but this is big enough to get over my shoulders, and most importantly, down the back of my neck, because I was just getting so much sun on the back of my neck, and it's just when you are bent over weeding, because that's basically what I'm doing in the nursery all day, weeding, moving plants organizing, you're hunched over in that and if it can go down the back of your neck, that is a really good hat.

Amanda>> And you and I both talked about this, that we go to the dermatologist every whipstitch.

>> Yeah.

>> And any of y'all who don't, It's just so important for anybody with sun exposure, which almost everybody in the South has to go and get checked.

Eric>> And I know I'm out in it.

Amanda>> And you and I both have, You've got blue eyes.

>> Yeah, Well, I could be fair skinned, I'm sure, if I wasn't under the broiler all day.

Amanda>> Yeah.

Are you careful about that?

Adam>> Oh, yes, ma'am.

You know, anytime we're hopping on mowers or anytime we're out, you know, it's wide brimmed hats like that, sunscreen.

You know, especially in this time of year, it's not just the sun exposure, it's heat in general.

So I mean, there's always sunscreen, wide brimmed hats and then some sort of some form of hydration.

Amanda>> Yeah, absolutely, and of course watermelon is a great way to hydrate.

(laughing) So besides something that you're carrying with you when you come in eat some wonderful South Carolina certified grown watermelons.

How about that?

Okay, Terasa, another question.

Terasa>> This one comes in from Cindy in Lexington, and she sent us a photograph of a piece of grass and she just wants to know what kind of grass is this?

Amanda>> A piece of grass?

A photograph of a piece of grass?

Terasa>> It's a good photograph.

(laughs) Amanda>> It's a good photograph.

Adam, is this something you can, - is there enough information?

Adam>> Oh, yes.

In this situation there is because the very first thing I say is whenever you send a picture to an extension agent for identification, please make sure that you have some type of way to scale it so that we can tell how wide... Amanda>> That would meant like just put your pen down next to it or something?

Adam>> Just something that people can commonly associate with size.

There's many times that I get pictures where it looks like they've been driving down road at 40 miles an hour and just snapped a picture What is it?

Amanda>> They may have.

>> But with this picture in my opinion, this looks like a variety of zoysia, zoysia japonica.

In South Carolina, we typically see three different types of zoysias, but with this, you have very stiff leaf blades at 45 degree angles and a excessively hairy stem.

Amanda>> Really?

Adam>> The only other grass this could really be confused with is a very invasive and problematic weed that started down in the Charleston area and has moved its way up.

Last I heard was - the most west has been in Irmo and the Lexington area it's called torpedo grass.

Eric>> Oh Great.

(laughs) I love that name.

Adam>> And torpedo grass it was brought in in the early 1900s by the USDA for forages.

It turns out livestock don't really care for it, but the issue with that is with the torpedo grass is that we can't chemically control it.

You know, everyone thinks that chemicals will stop it.

We've done trials where we've sprayed it seven eight times with Roundup.

Amanda>> No.

Adam>> It just pops right back up after a while, because it's due to its very deep rhizomes.

It has rhizomes that can go up to six feet deep.

And you know, we don't necessarily recommend landscape fabric but this plant has spikes on its rhizomes that actually puncture through even your harshest of landscape fabrics.

Amanda>> It's just a nightmare.

Adam>> It is.

Amanda>> Wow.

So you have to dig it up?

>> Yes, ma'am.

I mean, it's one of the things that you need to watch for it as soon as you get it.

You need to find some way to dig it up or are constantly just control it and control it and control it.

Otherwise, you know, it does become a problem, but this also brings the point of the way that spreads, and a lot of times it's either through water movement, because that's how it naturally moves with water, but also where people are bringing topsoil for land developments.

You know, try to find people that will give you some type of clean bill of health for what you're bringing in, and we talked about the Mimosa earlier.

You know, people just automatically trust what they buy and what brings in, and sometimes it's nasty stuff.

Amanda>> Topsoil is just whatever, somebody can dig up and find somebody to buy.

There are no requirements or things that it has to be.

It's just you say topsoil and a lot of people just say, well, I need some topsoil and somebody says, well I'll bring you some and then it could have all these things in it.

So does this spread by seeds too?

Adam>> It does spread by seed, by seed and by rhizomes Amanda>> And by rhizomes, yeah.

Eric>> Is it, like Johnson grass?

>> It's similar to Johnson grass, but Johnson grass we can control it with one or two applications Eric>> I know Johnson grass has a deep rhizome.

Adam>>- which Johnson grass I mean, 13 weeks you can get 85 feet of rhizomes on Johnson grass.

Eric>> Yeah.

That's tough >> Just, so where Johnson grasses can have a lot of lateral movement, torpedo grass can have more vertical movement?

Eric>> Okay.

Amanda>> Oh, goodness.

What a cheerful topic.

(laughing) Terasa>> Before we move on, maybe you could talk about like, what key identifying features does someone need to identify a grass?

Adam>> Okay.

(laughs) Amanda>> Smart extension agent.

Terasa>> That's why when I get a question, I just say, Adam.

Eric>> Yeah, extension's great.

Adam>> So, the easiest way to identify grasses, we're going to look for seed heads.

You know, grasses do have flowers.

It's just we call them seed heads.

So a seed head is a very key identifying characteristic.

Amanda>> So Bahia grasses is the easier one?

>> Yes ma'am.

Bahia is the highway grass just passing you, the peace sign, but also, if you can show us what do the leaves and the nodes and the stems look like, but more specifically on the leaves, we look at what we call the ligules and the auricle in the collar, which is where the actual leaf blade attaches to the sheath and the stem.

You know, the seed head in those ligules, those are what we really look for.

Amanda>> The distinguishing features.

Adam>> Yes, ma'am, and there are some grasses that you can identify just based off of how commonly you see it by color, and we don't really get that as much because grass is supposed to be green.

You got yellow green, sometimes you get darker green.

So the biggest things for us would be seed heads, and if you have a good enough camera and are sturdy enough with your hands, the ligules and auricles.

Amanda>> Alright, well, and you can always bring it into your extension office and hope someone there can help you.

They may not have a specialist.

Adam>> I do love live samples more than pictures, (laughing) Eric>> Those are nice.

Amanda>> Okay, well, I appreciate that.

Well, do we have some garden spotlights?

Terasa>> We do, so this will be probably a little bit happier than talking about torpedo grass, which we don't.

I don't think that this has any torpedo grass in it.

This is from Alan Wise in the heart of the Pee Dee in Florence.

Allen's yard has a very manicured appearance as you can see in our first two photos that both include a pergola covered swing.

Pops of color can be found throughout the beds through use of plants like pink Asiatic lilies, magenta Phlox, and a variety of echinacea with a kind of a reddish burnt orange flower.

Our tour of the Wise yard ends with a shot of the deck which looks to be a perfect place to sip some coffee in the morning or a cold lemonade in the afternoon and enjoy the view around.

So thank you, Allen, for sharing a little bit of your yard with all of us.

Amanda>> Well, that was fun, and um, when I was young with my Aunt Liza had a nice outdoor terrace, and we often had a Coke float, which, yeah, I think those were kind of, You remember those?

I don't know if people still do that.

Eric>> I had them as a kid.

Terasa>> Or a root beer float?

>> A root beer float is good too.

Yeah, not exactly, diet food, but (laughs) everybody needs to treat every now and then.

Terasa>> Sure, and if you've been working out in the yard, you've probably expended a good bit of energy and you've lost some fluid so maybe we can just say we're replenishing what we've lost.

Amanda>> You brought something might be pretty and the color is lovely.

Eric>> Okay, so this plant we had never seen a hibiscus like this before.

I mean, we have seen big hibiscus but this one gets pretty tall and gets about 8 to 10 feet tall, Well, this is mature now.

Amanda>> Okay, but still.

Eric>> Everybody was saying that this was like a Hibiscus mutabilis or mutabilis.

It's not actually.

It's hibiscus rubrum, is the variety.

So it's a weird hybrid between a tropical hibiscus and our native moscheutos, which is mallow.

Amanda>> Did it occur naturally?

Eric>> I don't know if it occurred naturally, but it I think it was.

It's an old heirloom kind of plant that's kind of been rediscovered, and we found it on an availability and ordered it, but it's a hibiscus that looks kind of like a very nice cross of both because in the middle of that hibiscus, you can tell that it has some tropical parentage.

It has that tongue that comes out with the pistol and stamens, and it looks very, very tropical, as opposed to our hibiscus, that's perennial, but this one is completely perennial for us.

>> Is it?

Eric>.

It will last up until frost blooming until frost, I actually have one in the ground at my house that has been blooming last week and will continue until at least November.

Oh, yeah, it is a good plant, and we are really happy to have it.

Amanda>> To have that bloom season.

Eric>>Yep, and since it's so it's such an old plant.

there's, I think that it needs to be reintroduced into people's yards.

I mean, people are scared of big perennials, but they just make such an impact.

Amanda>> And I imagined that this one, once it's established you don't have to water it every time.

Eric>> Oh, no, this is a pretty drought tolerant one.

Yeah.

>> Isn't that nice?

>> It is very nice, yeah.

Amanda>> Tell us the name once more.

Eric>> It's hibiscus Rubrum.

Amanda>> Rubrum All righty.

Well, it's perfectly lovely.

Thank you so much.

Eric>> You're very welcome.

Amanda>> Well, Terasa, we got another question?

Terasa>> We sure do.

This one rolls in, from Ware Shoals and Gary, it sounds like has some new property.

He says we bought a new piece of property and would like to establish a lawn?

Can you give us some advice?

That's a pretty wide open question.

(laughs) Amanda>> Well, Adam, I think they're probably lots of questions, you have to ask somebody before you can make a recommendation.

One being how much?

How hard do you want to work on it?

Adam>> Yes, ma'am.

So anytime I get the question of how do I, what grass do I have, or how I started, that pretty much starts an hour long conversation with me asking lots of questions, because my very first question is you have to ask yourself is what do you expect of your yard, and it's something that we should ask whether we're trying to plant for grass or for more ornamental plants, you know, what do you want your landscape to look like?

I always tell folks, your landscape should reflect you as a person.

What do you prefer?

So with grasses, how much do you want to play in your yard?

You know, Amanda>> because some of them, if you've got to want to have a, you know, baseball team or a football team out there every afternoon to play even volleyball, then it's got to be able to take wear and tear.

Adam>> Exactly.

So you know, Bermuda grasses and Zoysia grasses, they hold up to traffic a lot better.

If you are what I would call more of a passive or a lazy lawn, man.

Then there's extra grass that is nicknamed lazy man's grass and it's centipede grass.

Amanda>> Poor Man's grass.

Adam>> Yes, with that you sacrifice some of the color, you know, it's got more of a yellow green color, but you don't have to fertilize it that often.

You don't really mow it that often.

Amanda>> How drought tolerant is centipede grass?

I heard that it's pretty drought tolerant.

Adam>> It's medium.

What we see is that it might be the first grass to start to go dormant during drought, but it'll also be the first grass to wake back up.

Amanda>> Aha.

Adam>> You know, this summer, my centipede grass in my yard because I actually have three different grasses in my yard.

My centipede grass is always want to go dormant first, but always comes back first, since I water it.

So you know what's - So that again, What's your traffic?

How much do you want to work on it?

Are you looking for yard of the year or do you just want something to hold your yard in place?

So that's an entirely different conversation, but in terms of establishing then you get into a completely different set of rules.

You know, do you want a yard now?

Or do you want to work towards it Amanda>> And finances come in to play there too?

Adam>> Yeah.

So you know it, there is a good deal of money that you can spend on it.

So with seeding, we always taught wherever you're seeding or sodding or springing, you need to get your soil correct.

I always joke that as an extension agent, we don't get paid unless we say do a soil test, but me it really is crucial, so that we can not overuse certain nutrients.

So getting your soil right is the very first step and then from seeding, the two biggest issues are seed to soil contact ratio, you want about eighth of an inch of soil around your grass seed and you want as much soil to touch it as possible, and then keeping it wet.

It needs to be watered.

Make sure that two inches stays fairly moist for the first three or four weeks of saturation until that grass gets to be an inch to two inches tall.

Amanda>> Okay, well, that's a lot to think about.

It sounds like it'd be worthwhile having the conversation with a turf specialist.

Adam>> That's just an introduction course.

(Amanda laughs) Amanda>> We reached out to Bill Guess at BB Barns Garden Center to talk about house plants.

We always have all these beautiful outdoor plants, but you know, it's nice to have your garden in the house and some people don't have much yard and he just brought all kinds of wonderful suggestions.

Amanda>> I'm so pleased today that I'm speaking with Bill Guess, who is the General Manager of BB Barns, which was formerly >> Willie's Garden Center.

We're now BB Barns.

We have two locations, one in Irmo and one in northeast and I'm the manager at the northeast store.

Amanda>> Okay, and although y'all have everything in the sun out there, today, we're particularly going to talk about house plants.

Bill>> House plants, tropicals.

We've got a whole selection here, Amanda>> And we've all been - These are fun to talk about because everybody's been so stressed about getting their yard watered because we've had periods where we didn't get any rain.

One nice thing about houseplants is they don't need - you don't have to be quite so worried about getting them watered, Bill>> and you can enjoy them even when it's hot outside.

Amanda>> Yeah, well, let's start down here with something that you said are super easy.

Bill>> These are the easiest houseplants that you can really get.

These are commonly known as snake plants.

You can see they're kind of snake looking.

They don't need much light.

They don't need much water, and they can stay in a pot for a very, very long time.

Amanda>> Even if it's - I've got one that looks, I've just been worried and worried like it needs to be separated.

Bill>> They do not mind being root bound.

They really like it.

If you look at this one really close, you can kind of see where it's starting to bulge the pot out.

>> Oh look, >> That's perfectly fine.

I do not re-pot mine until they are busting the pot out.

>> Wow.

Bill>> They are perfectly happy, being just really tight in there.

Amanda>> And how much water?

Bill>> Very rarely, it kind of depends on how much light you're giving them, but mine at home, I only water him on holidays, they get water at Christmas, and Fourth of July, and Easter.

If it's a holiday, I may give it a little bit of water but basically they're on their own.

Amanda>> Okay, and I guess the soil gets so dry that you really need to let the water put it like in the kitchen sink and let it drip on it or something so that it can really absorb the water and rehydrate the soil.

Bill>> When I do water them, I water them three times.

You water once to sort of get the soil going, and another time another time to make sure it does get wet when you water it, but then I a very long time until the next watering.

Amanda>> Okay, and this one, the color is so beautiful.

>> So, these are only three different ones of the same plant, but you know there are hundreds of snake plants that all have basically the same characteristics, and they all are very easy to maintain.

Amanda>> I think you did a real nice job matching this plant with that kind of glaucous leaf with this.

Bill>> With the blue.

Yeah.

Amanda>> That's really handsome.

I like that a lot.

Okay, Snake plants, we're not going to worry about you.

Bill>> You don't need to worry about those.

We also have a Euphorbia.

This is a milk cactus.

Also, another plant that can go a long time without watering.

This was my first house plant as a kid, my mother gave me her house plants when I was 11 and gave me a book and one of these and I grew it from something about this size to about a six foot tall plant over the years.

Amanda>> This one the color is very unusual.

Bill>> The color will vary.

This one has been in a lot of bright light, so it turns red and pink.

If it has a little bit less light, it may be more green, and also sometimes in less light you'll get some leaves that actually form on it also.

Amanda>> My goodness, and if it gets too tall for your space, if you had it at your desk at work, can you cut it?

Bill>> You absolutely can cut it.

When you cut it, you would want to leave it just laying on a paper towel or something for a few days and let it scale, a scab, form on it, and then you would just be able to stick it right back in some soil it would put out roots and you'd have another new plant.

Amanda>> All right, and with light you said, it can vary how much they need.

I doubt if any of them want to have the sun blazing on them through a window, that would been too much, Bill>> He would be able to take that.

It's one of the few - some of the succulents can take that direct light, and he would be okay with that.

Amanda>> Okay.

Bill>> He actually can go outside for the summer, >> Oh, really >> and be perfectly happy.

Amanda>> Okay.

Now these fellows are tropical.

Bill>> Tropical.

These are all bromeliads, all three plants across here are all bromeliads.

They would grow up in a tree, maybe where the trunk and limb intersect leaves and different things fall in there, and that's where they would normally grow is in that leaf matter.

So, they're normally up in the air.

Amanda>> They get all their water.

These leaves capture the water.

Bill>> A lot of the water that they use does wind up down in the middle, and this is also a source, they have little African tree frogs that will live down in that little water source.

They will actually have their tadpoles down in that water source, because they are in a rainforest where it's constantly, Amanda>> This is the whole environment for that, for that.

Bill>> That fern >> That animal.

That's just the loveliest story.

Bill>> Up in a tree.

>> Wow, >> And even this one is the same, >> This looks so different.

Bill>> Quite a bit different, but in that same family.

Amanda>> And this one has flowers on it.

Quite lovely.

Bill>> The blooms are beautiful on this one and yellow.

Many of them bloom just down inside.

Some have spikes that stick up out of them, but this one has a beautiful yellow flower.

Amanda>> And this fellow hadn't seen dirt since the beginning of time?

>> No soil.

This one, you would take him and put him in the shower or put them in your sink, hose them off, go get them nice and wet, and then put him back on his little log, and he's perfectly happy just to live like that.

Amanda>> That is truly amazing, and even the container.

Tell me about this fascinating container.

Bill>> This is a trunk from a cactus and these little holes around the outside are where their spines would come out, and as they naturally die, they cut them into pieces and they make lovely, you know, holders for these kind of bromeliads.

Amanda>> That's really fun.

This is just that's one of the coolest things I've ever seen, except for the frogs being in and tadpoles swimming around.

>> Yeah.

>> Okay.

We talked a little bit earlier, this is something that's really fun.

Bill>> So mother of thousands, or mother of millions.

It's a Kalanchoe, and what happens with these guys is their propagation method, they form little tiny baby plants at the ends of their leaves here.

Amanda>> At first, I thought these were flowers, but actually it is a plant.

Bill>> It's a whole 'nother little baby plant, and so when you have this growing on the ground underneath it, you will see hundreds of little baby plants growing underneath there, and I took - this is a very low water plant, and I took some of those little babies and dropped them in this bottle, and I water them very sparingly.

This is sort of an experiment.

Amanda>> Now, this was from a different cultivar than this.

Bill>> Similar.

This is another similar plant.

>> Okay.

>> This one and this one are the same, Amanda>> Which is to believe.

So, you've got some of the little tiny, tiny, tiny things that were ready and put just a drop of soil in there and dropped them in there?

Bill>> Correct, seven years ago.

So I only water these maybe once a year, twice a year, something like that Amanda>> Come on.

Bill>> But they're able to survive and they they've done quite well.

I'm pushing them to the limit of their capability, but this is a prime example really, of things need to dry out.

We see probably the most common problem that we see is over-watering in house plants.

The environment in your house is not exactly pulling moisture out of the air.

You're not having as much sun, you tend to over water.

Most things you want to at least, at the very least, feel the top of the soil and make sure it's dry before you water it again.

Amanda>> And so this and this are the same cultivars?

Bill>> Same plant, same exact plant.

I believe they're from the same mother, and this one I did water.

This one, I did not water.

Amanda>> But how often do you water this fellow?

Bill>> He gets a lot of water, maybe once every three months.

(laughs) Amanda>> That is just way too cool.

Now, will he start to make some little babies some day.

Bill>> He does have a couple of little babies on there that may have fallen off.

He also will just start shooting out roots.

>> I saw that.

>> where he lays down.

It's a very tough plant.

He's ready to grow anywhere you give him a chance.

Amanda>> Whatever circumstance Bill>> Yeah.

Amanda>> Cool.

Now, you said, this peace plant is probably the most, the... Bill>> The most common.

This is one of the most common plants that you're going to see out there anywhere, and he would be more on the moist side, we'd like a little bit more water but also needs to dry out, Amanda>> I'm going to turn it back because this spathe and spadix is such a handsome, beautiful structure Bill>> Its gorgeous, and they keep putting these out, we want to cut these off as soon as they look bad.

It will help encourage it to put out new ones, and these will actually tell you when they need water.

When they're growing and they're perfectly well watered, their little points, of their leaves are straight up.

As they dry out, they will kind of curl over.

As soon as they hit that curling over point.

That's when you want to water.

Amanda>> And you said this one actually uses gets water, more than a lot of other house plants.

Bill>> More than a lot of other ones.

It uses a fair amount of water, and he doesn't want to go quite as dry as some of these other things that we've been looking at.

Amanda>> And you said, if you go, if you miss that point, and it gets to that point, they - it takes a good while to recover.

Bill>> It does, they can go completely flat.

They will lay out completely flat.

You'll water them and they'll stand back up, but it's stressful.

So you may not get blooms after something like that.

It takes a while for it to recover.

That point is where we want to be.

It's just a little dry.

So, ficus tree, Ficus Benjamina is another one of those very, very widely distributed house plant.

You'll see it in every mall, every, Amanda>> That does not look like something I've seen... Bill>> This one has been grown to be variegated.

It's also the tip of the leaf doesn't come to a point.

It's kind of rounded it off.

This is Ficus Triangularis, because the leaves are triangle shaped.

Again, kind of one of those things where when they keep looking for something different and they'll select for a certain trait, and keep selecting for that trait until you end up with what looks like basically a completely different plant.

Amanda>> That's quite fascinating.

Bill>> It's the neatest, Ficus Benjamina I know.

Amanda>> Low light?

Bill>> It can go into some lower light, but he will be happier and bright, indirect light, and they're, known for being finicky.

If you move them, they might drop a few leaves, and then you don't stress out about that.

Let it realize where it's living, but every time you move around, I'm going to take him back and he's probably going to lose a few leaves when I take him back.

Amanda>> Okay, he's a real homebody.

He likes his own spot.

Bill>> So true.

Amanda>> Then next to it.

Bill>> That's a philodendron.

That's a Monstera.

Everybody's into Monstera.

You can get T-shirts and bumper stickers and you'll see it all over the Internet.

Everybody is very thrilled about Monstera.

Why?

Because it's just a great plant.

It's super easy to grow.

You've got these cut leaves in it, And if you ever make it down to like South Florida, you'll see them growing right up the side have a tree, Amanda>> Really?

Bill>> and they can have leaves up to two or three feet around, but it makes a great house plant.

He's fairly easy to maintain.

Just let them dry out a little bit.

Again, one of those things, don't over water it.

He needs to dry out a little bit.

Amanda>> If it starts getting tall, do you need to give it a support sometimes?

Bill>> They absolutely need a support.

He does not make a true, so he needs something to lean on a stick or a pole or something along those lines.

Amanda>> Well, they're all kinds of y'all probably have stakes.

Yeah, pretty things, Bill>> Absolutely.

Amanda>> rather than just a plain Bill>> Absolutely.

You'll see I saw somebody come in to work the other day with Monstera earrings on.

So they're very, very popular.

They're very, very... Amanda>> And then you said, you know since these are in the house, and people have children or dogs now.

I guess everyone has dogs and cats and says oh what about things being poisonous, and normally, I mean everything if you eat enough that you'd have to eat like bushels and bushels of these things to get toxic levels, but you said this last plant which is very attractive, you do actually warn people about Bill>> That's a dieffenbachia and its other name is dumb cane and it can affect your vocal cords and it can make you where you can't speak.

So we talked about what plants are toxic.

Most of them simply aren't that toxic.

This one, we do want to make sure that we are careful that you're not letting kids play with it.

Dogs play with it, and if you're doing pruning and stuff, maybe don't lick your fingers.

Amanda>> Be careful.

Yeah, well, what else?

What are the good attributes?

Bill>> The good attributes is that it will grow in a variety of conditions.

The leaf coloration, we have probably eight different ones, with like bingo stripes and dots in solid greens You can see the dots on this one, and that does have a trunk.

So he can grow straight up with a solid trunk and maintain his own, Amanda>> So, if you want that look, this is a good plant for that.

Bill>> He's a great plant, and they've been around for years and years.

This is probably one of the first house plants.

So, even back in the 60s, 50s, dieffenbachia were a house plant, Amanda>> Which probably means that pretty easy >> They've been around, they stayed around because they're popular and easy.

Amanda>> Okay, well, I just am fascinated, and a few of them can go outside in the summer, but most of them don't want that much light.

Bill>> Correct.

So, they all could go outside.

They all were outside somewhere.

>> Oh, that's true.

So if you had a bromeliad, he would want to be in the shade outside.

>> Sure, okay.

>> The Euphorbia could go out into almost full sun.

These guys can go out in the full sun also.

Amanda>> But they're going to get a lot more rain, and they might grow a lot faster, and then you might have to re-pot them.

Bill>> And there's bug issues.

There's a lot of issues, and probably the bigger issue is transition.

So if you've had this inside all winter, and you put them out for spring, he can burn just like you going to the beach for the first time.

You want to be very careful transitioning them out, and then also bringing them inside for the winter.

You could be bringing bugs that were sort of naturally under control outside.

Once you bring it inside, there's no natural enemies, and all of a sudden you're having a bug infestation.

Amanda>> I think a lot of people get a hose with a wand on it and wash it off outside, kind of you know, hold it upside down and wash, wash, wash, wash. >> Absolutely.

Amanda>> Before they bring them in.

Bill, I've just had such a good time learning about all of this, and if people want to see you, where's your location again, Bill>> We're on Two Notch Road.

Right near Brickyard Road.

Amanda>> And I guess you've got websites and all that kind of stuff.

Bill>> BB Barns.com, and you can find both locations there, Our hours and ask us any questions that you might have.

Amanda>> Okay, well, thank you so very much for sharing this information.

Bill>> Thank you.

>> We thank Bill Guess for coming down and being with us and we'll hope that he'll come and see us again.

Eric, at first I thought you brought dog fennel in here and I thought, What the dickens is this all about, but this on closer look, this is a far more attractive plant.

It doesn't have that odor, so tell me what it is and how do you like to use it?

Eric>> This plant it's Rhodocoma capensis.

It's called Cape Restio, and that means nothing to anything, any of those names mean nothing to anybody in South Carolina, I'm sure, but it's a South African plant that we are finding is very adaptable for our gardens here, and we're always trying to push limits and find new things for the garden.

So we have several of these planted in the Botanical Garden and in the zoo, too, and of course, it goes along with the zoo theme.

It's kind of wild, and it's from South Africa as well.

So we're finding that it's actually pretty drought tolerant.

It lives happily in a very wet situation or a very dry situation.

It's a very versatile plant as well, but we always think it's a cross between like horse tails and dog fennel.

Yeah, but it's a very architectural plant, because when it comes out in the spring and it's evergreen, so you have this in your garden year round, it comes out with something that looks like asparagus, but or horsetail, because it has those, those nodes all the way down and they're dark.

They have a callus around them, that's pretty dark, but it's just a beautiful form in the garden, especially in that mid range because it doesn't get very, very tall.

Amanda>> Well, that was fun.

Thank you all for being here and thank you for being with us at home, and we'll look forward to seeing you next week.

Right here on Making It Grow.

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