Unknown: Hello, and thanks for joining us for Mid-American gardener.

I'm your host Tinisha, Spain and today's show, we're going to talk all about holiday plants.

Some you'll recognize right away, while others are a little bit more unique.

And Kelly also now joins us in the studio.

We're going to talk holiday plant arrangements and just she's going to give you some tips on decorating and some do's and don'ts of our holiday decorating.

So first, tell us a little bit about you, Kelly, where we can find you and your specialty.

Um, hi, everyone.

My name is Kelly Allsup.

And I'm a Horticulture Educator for University of Illinois Extension, and I'm based out of Bloomington.

My experience before I became an educator was actually a greenhouse grower.

And I grew a lot of these plants that I taught I'm actually going to talk about today, but really my specialty is pollinators and beneficial insects.

And I like talking about invasive species.

But no, I shouldn't say that.

But I'm really passionate about you brought some critters on the show before.

What was the one it was an Eastern lover, Grasshopper, grasshopper.

And then there was like a Madagascar Hissing Cockroach hissing cockroach.

I remember, I remember you were always good for the the critters because when you teach beneficial insects and pollinators, you have to get people over that initial hump of thinking that bugs are bad.

Yes.

And so what I was learning in my own field was that I had to go back to the basics.

You know, I couldn't just say, Hey, these are great, because they pollinate this type of food or this I had to be like, Here, hold an insect.

Learn the mouth part.

It's not going to hurt you or what does it do?

And so just had to go back to the basics all the way back all the way.

Best hissing cockroach and Let's appreciate it.

Yes, yes, I like it.

And it's not that bad.

I didn't hold it.

Maybe next time.

But but But you, but you kind of cerebrally understand how important insects are?

In our world?

Yeah, right.

I think you're doing you're out.

Just You're doing fantastic work.

You're doing great.

Thank you.

So holiday seasons.

Now your greenhouse grower.

So this is right up your alley, right?

This is as folks are out, we're all going to be shopping for our decor if we haven't already.

And you get to the checkout.

And you see these points that are these cactuses.

Tell us give us the inside track on how to pick out a healthy one.

And which one we want to bring home.

Well, poinsettias are everywhere.

They are the number one greenhouse crop.

They used to be kind of a pain in my side, because they are actually kind of difficult to grow and get them to color up and be perfect.

Right in time for the holidays.

So one of the things you want to look for you see the beautiful red Brax.

These are not actually the flowers in the middle of the red Brax you're going to see these little tiny yellow flowers.

There's actually one we've got on the well, this is an example of spent ones right?

Yes, yes.

So this I bought this poinsettia maybe two weeks ago.

And this one I bought maybe a week ago and it's flowers are a little bit more yellow.

On the in the center.

And these have definitely been have bingo are spent.

And then when you see them, you want them to be as closed as possible.

Usually what I'm picking one out, none of the flowers are open, they are tight.

And so that's what you want to look for.

You want to look for, where they're where the flowers are not open, like right what you see right here.

Now once you put them inside your house, that's going to happen because what do we have?

That is the poinsettias don't like we have heat, right?

We all turned our heat on, right?

So they're there, their flowers are opening a little bit faster than I would have liked.

So the best thing for me to do would be to put it in a cooler spot, or put it further away from the heat draft.

Or make sure I don't have it near a window either because these are super sensitive to cold temperatures.

Interesting.

So not too warm, but definitely not too cold.

No.

So you know kind of like a flower arrangement almost with roots because you want to keep it cool because you want it to stop progressing, right?

You stop transpiring, just you know, you kind of want to freeze it in time to stay just like however, they will not freeze.

And then eight weeks you're gonna have a very leggy, plant that's all green leaves.

Okay, so this is where I interject right?

I have it, this is going to be my shame that I tell Kelly who never tell a greenhouse grower that you've kept a poinsettia from the year before, because they don't want to hear it.

So I did it.

Okay.

And it's beautiful.

It's big, and it's lush.

And the leaves are really this really dark, almost black, green.

And I put it in the basement, right where it's pitch black.

And I have a light timer, boom, everything's happening.

I did 12 hours on 12 hours off, because I was going to be so proud when I got this to turn.

And it didn't.

So what did I do wrong?

And should I just chuck it?

Well, I mean, when I was I did my grad research on poinsettias and I had to have at least 11 and a half hours of nighttime you had looks at 12.

So maybe you had a poinsettia with what we call a different response period.

Meaning that poinsettia, I have to have this poinsettia have 11 and a half hours of dark every night for at least eight weeks.

And so in the greenhouse, we do things where we pull curtains, because we don't want the light contaminating we want it to be you know, sight read, read, read read, or we're not going to sell them.

Wow.

And so aside from if there's like contamination everywhere, you can say that there's nothing there.

But even if you just barely open the door, you can contaminate really, and it can really alter turning up however, some people it turns it turns colors, they live in the country, it turns colors, they're just fine.

Now, for me, you know, I call them flower arrangements with roots because they really are like, these are the number one greenhouse crops and my industry grows them and relies on the cells from them.

I told you know to you know, that's part of you know, if we can't sell poinsettias, we lose a huge profit plus I can grow appoints at a much better than you can.

Yes, that is that is true, right?

Because I'm measuring it.

I'm giving it perfect fertilizer.

I'm starting it and I'm pinching it on monitoring it unlike you would ever do with a houseplant.

No, no, it's not getting that much attention from right.

So I think next year, you're right, I'll just have to go out and get another one.

I I so badly wanted to bring this to you and be like, Look what I did.

But no, it's beautiful and healthy.

But it just is not.

The blacks are not going to turn for me.

And I'm seeing a lot of trends.

One of the trends that I'm seeing is much larger sizes.

You know, usually it's the four and six inch pot that we buy.

And it's standard standard bread, but I'm seeing much larger sizes for sale.

Interesting.

And then we see this little tiny guy right here.

I mean, this guy was probably on a plant like this, it got stuck maybe three or four weeks before.

I'm guessing that's how they did it.

They probably did it that way.

And it colored up.

And it has just a root system, but it's not going to last forever.

But many points area.

Now how do we get because in the last few years, and they could have been like this, but now my brain is into it.

The pinks and the yellows and the sort of white colored ones.

How are we getting all of these new?

Or are they new colors?

Is this something new?

Or am I just new to the party?

Well, I mean, there's there's new colors all the time.

I meant, I think yellow and orange are some of the big colors that they've braided for this year, but that's not really on the market just yet.

Yeah.

You know, we have those beautiful pinks in this the splotches and the reds and whites.

And even though you are mesmerized by those, it's the red poinsettia that sells every religion.

Yeah, people want that traditional red.

Yes, I see that and see that and then we can't quite get the purest of white poinsettia.

It's still kind of an elusive color.

People are getting closer and closer and closer and closer to it.

Not that I think that there's this huge white poinsettia market never know.

But yeah, you never know.

People love the splotches, I love the different red and whites and so how do you keep yours?

Do you chuck it on the 26th?

I usually no I don't.

I when I was a greenhouse grower, it was in the it was in the trash on the 26th but for me they usually last longer than I want them to.

So I'm usually just I'm early because I'm really good at watering.

Ah, gotcha.

And that is that leads into another point, you get this beautiful poinsettia in these foils.

And then you think that you need to water that, well, you've made three mistakes, I'll tell you, the first one is to always take it out of the foil, you never water it in the foil.

One of the things that I do is I will put this underneath the faucet, and I'll let it flow lightly, right, I don't want to drown it Yeah, Flash all this and then I have and then I let it start draining out and then I let it drain in the sink and then I'll let it drain on the towel.

And then I'll put it back in here because the worst thing I can do is have my roots that in water you won't buy and another thing is when you are watering it in here, you're going to just give it like little shots.

And it's probably not going to be enough water to completely saturate.

You want to let it dry down but you want to completely saturate the, the root ball when you water it.

So when people when people don't water like that, where they're looking for the water to come out the bottom, they tend to Whitewater lightly.

And so I'd say maybe weekly 10 days.

That's a good yeah, I meant I've meant right now this is I'm definitely checking on twice a week, but I've had it in the past where I've checked.

One twice a month safe.

Okay, now you brought another plant that is a holiday favorite and it's Thanksgiving, Easter and Christmas cactus.

Which one is this?

The first question which one is this?

And then I want to know how you can tell them apart.

Right?

This is Thanksgiving cactus.

It is actually being billed as Christmas cactus.

The the majority of the time you are going to run into Thanksgiving cactus just because it's easier to grow easier to propagate.

The way that I can tell is by the protrusions on the.

You want to hold it up in front of here.

Yeah.

Oh, sure.

Sure.

The protrusions on the end.

Oh, see right here.

I do.

Right here, right here.

Pointy.

Yeah, these little protrusions, that right there told me that it is Thanksgiving cactus for Christmas cactus, this little leaf segment is a stem segment actually would be rounded.

And if it were Easter, then it would be much thicker.

Okay.

I never knew so the majority of the time it's Thanksgiving cactus just be if it's pointed.

It's just because it's easier to grow.

Gotcha.

Okay.

And it has more, more color varieties.

And so you're gonna find that, but, you know, I love I love a poinsettia.

Right?

I gotta, I gotta Yeah, I gotta support my fire.

Yes.

But when I think about houseplants, and I think about gifts, this is the one that I'm truly going to go for.

Because I can grow this plant for five to 10 years in this six inch pot.

It actually likes to be received flowers for free.

Great.

And I always chat, I always check, it actually likes to be rootbound.

Okay, and did performs very well.

As soon as how I lit up when you're like it likes abuse, I'm like, perfect.

right up my alley.

I meant I've abused a Thanksgiving cactus where I have used it for propagation class for Master Gardeners twice a year for the last 10 years.

And it still blooms reliably twice a year for me.

So they can really be super abused.

And so if you're going to go out and you're going to buy a fancy six inch pot, buy it for this buy it because it's probably going to be in there for 10 years.

And this is the gift that keeps on giving.

Yeah, this is the one you you know, you want to you want somebody to remember you each year or twice a year.

Yes.

There you go.

This is the one you get.

So I've seen these growing down flat, but you're this one's growing up.

Is that is that just how you position them or tell me a little bit about that?

Because I will eventually it's gonna lay it well.

Okay, you know, it'll see younger plant so it's a little bit more vigorous, eventually it's gonna lay down.

But you know, you're always, you know, taking cuttings from a minion, you know, eventually I'm gonna pot it up a little bit, but not too much.

And this guy that you tore off, I could, I could probably plant that and that's a stem segment.

So yeah, you can plant that you're going to have, you're going to take those flower buds off because you definitely don't want it supporting any flower buds but you're going to actually stick that part in soil and roots are going to start to come from that.

Well, I will go ahead didn't take that home with me.

So now it might take you five years to get to this size.

I love experiments though you could you know, support a grower and go out and buy see?

See every time.

Well thank you, Kelly, thank you so much for coming in and bringing me to Lastly, always want to ask pets.

Are these pet friendly guys?

Actually, they are fine.

Okay.

You know, this one does have latex in it.

And it can that's the sticky Yeah, it can.

It can get on your skin, even your skin and not not be the best.

Some people are allergic.

Some people aren't.

You don't want your pet consuming lots of it.

Yes, these are considered non toxic.

And so people think that they have to choose poinsettias or their cats.

And you don't think your cat is going to eat that whole poinsettia.

I think you're safe.

Thank you.

Good to go.

Okay.

Well, thanks for coming in today and bringing your show Intel's with you.

And keeping with our festive plant theme, Jennifer Nelson is going to join us now on Skype.

And so we talked about poinsettias, and cactuses.

And another popular plant that you see usually around this time of year is the amaryllis, which is my unicorn plant, because I can't get it to bloom.

I've been trying for years now.

So Jen's got a couple of those that she's going to show us tell us a little bit about those.

Okay, well, I'll start with the fact that I don't need any more emeralds in my house at all.

But I complete sucker for seeing something marked down 60% at the store.

So the other day, I picked up another amaryllis, and it was marked down because it was starting to grow.

Some of them were all kind of like, curled up and growing around in the bag.

I found one that was just starting to come out.

And so it wasn't going to break off or anything.

So it's grown probably a couple inches in a week.

In there's actually there's two buds on it.

So there's this one will bloom first and then the second one.

And then you can see kind of the bundle of leaves that will come up in the center.

If you found one for sale, that hopefully it's marked down where it's all circled around in the box or the bag, the way it's packaged.

You can still salvage it, it may not bloom this year, or it may bloom with kind of a wonky stem that's all curled up depending on how far along it was in growing.

But it just needs to go in a pot that's slightly bigger than it you can see this is not huge, not a huge pot compared to the bowl, and it's just regular old potting mix like general purpose.

Now, Are they heavy feeders, I remember at some point somebody telling me I might not be having success getting them to flower?

Because they're heavy feeders Do you do you use fertilizer?

Or do you just buy potting soil that already has it in there?

What I'm using now I think has a little bit of fertilizer in it.

But they're not heavy feeders while they're blooming that can actually that can actually shorten the life of the bloom if you fertilize them when they're in bud like this.

But after they're done blooming, yes, fertilize the heck out of them, especially when you put them I put them outside for the summer.

And I'll show you one that is not growing yet.

This is one that I've had for a couple years now.

And it's not growing at all yet.

Over the summer, I put it just in a garden bed, just off to the side kind of partial sun and let it grow and it had a lot of foliage and I have heard some I don't know how much of an old wives tale it is, as I think there's there is some validity to this that the more foliage the more likely it is to bloom again.

I've heard the number four thrown around in some garden circles about needing to have at least four leaves on it to build up enough energy to bloom again, that seems to hold up at least from what I've observed in my own garden.

Now don't I don't that's not a scientific study by any means.

But, and this one started this one's going to need to be repotted it's been in this pot two or three years.

And what I do in about September is I set the pots like this sideways so that I don't water them anymore, and they don't get rained on and let them dry down and let the leaves die.

And what happened is the roots started growing out the side here.

Limestone away, right?

Yes, this whole thing out and any kind of dead, old roots, I'll remove them and report them in fresh soil.

But this is cool.

They are very ready.

It's kind of a double.

It's really pretty.

And you've brought some succulents as well to share I did again.

I don't need another succulent in my life but You're among friends Jen.

No need to apologize.

No, I'm among enablers is what I mean.

Okay that to that to the way I was looking for some small succulents, I have a little small react in my kitchen with a girl light and it was had a blank shelf.

So it needed something.

This is one called Tiger jaw.

And I, I picked it up for two reasons it had really cool leaves, you can see where it looks like teeth that probably were the name Tiger jaw comes from.

And it's got a flower starting to bloom.

So why not?

I'm not sure I've never, I've never grown this one before.

But it was you know, less than $5.

So I can have some fun over the winter watching what happens with this.

I'm not sure if it'll keep growing or sometimes succulents that grow in this sort of Roset pattern may or may not continue living after they flowered, but I may see some buds at the base some pups as they call them.

We'll see I don't know enough about this one at this point.

Okay, keep us posted.

And you've got another one.

Sure.

Yeah, true tales from the the panelists garage, right.

I was bringing plants in for the winter.

And I have this zigzag cactus.

Wow.

Really cool leaves.

And it's it's related to the common name is orchid cactus.

I think it's a phylum.

I'm not sure if I'm remembering that correctly.

But it has a really cool flower.

I have yet to see it on plant, but I believe they're just really cool.

That is cool.

I dropped it.

I dropped it in the ground.

Oh, no, it's a big plant.

So it's got several other branches.

But this is cracked off.

And it already has kind of some aerial roots on it.

So I'm gonna go ahead and plant this in with the rest of the plant and see it should grow just fine.

I did this with another piece of it a couple weeks ago, and it's doing fine.

But fear not if you have some sort of succulent mishap at your house.

One thing to remember is wherever it broke is going to be wet because succulents carry a lot of moisture in their leaves.

So you don't want to plant that right away.

So you want to let that dry off for a few days.

In my case, a couple of weeks.

A year round, it is going to be fine.

And you could plant this as a separate plant, but I'm going to put it in there's kind of a blank spot in the back of the original.

That's a really cool plant.

I really like that.

So hopefully it'll it's able to catch on and not not croak on you from the disturbance.

I'll save you next time.

I'll save Yes, please.

Do you guys know I love the gifts.

I love your accidents.

They always come to me.

And that's just fantastic.

So Jen, thank you so much for coming on today.

And thanks for bringing your show Intel's.

You're welcome.

Thank you.

And we're joined now in the studio with John Bodensteiner, who is going to answer a viewer question about hydrangeas.

This is from Janet Schweizer.

And she says, do I cut her hydrangeas back for winter?

They've never flowered.

And they're about 15 years old.

This is the first time that she is seeing buds like this before winter, and just sort of wondering what to do and wanting some advice.

So John, you saw the pictures?

These are pretty established.

They're very established.

Yeah.

So first, is it normal for them not to blue?

No, I'm you know, I'm I'm wondering if you know, if he likes the foliage.

It's probably one of those hydrangeas, that requires a lot of special situations for it to bloom the next year, I would not if she's seeing those buds, that's next year's growth.

It'll also it'll be where the leaves come out.

Plus, it's going to be where those flower buds are.

So what happens a lot of times as Mother Nature cuts it back for us.

And if it dies, all the way freezes all the way to the ground.

You're not going to get flowers that following year and it sounds like that might because those you could see are just very established plants so I would not cut them back.

Now I would protect.

What you need to do is find some way to protect those buds that are on there.

Whether it's maybe a bunch of dried mulch sleeves and put it kind of in a ball maybe have a little fenced area around that a little chicken wire.

I was gonna say some people use tomato cages, tomato cages, put that down and set it upside down.

fill that up with dried shredded leaves not wholly because holies will compact and they may actually cause some rotting in there.

Apparently this is not a Annabelle hydrangea because Annabel's will bloom on what we call new wood.

This needs to be blooming on old wood.

Those buds are on basically old wood.

So those Bugs wouldn't say erupt next spring, that would be what we would consider flowering on old wood.

If it hasn't bloomed in 15 years, we've had some pretty mild winters, I would have thought that unless she's been cutting them back to the ground that she would have something that would have survived, she at least had some flowers, maybe not as as good.

So either she has a lighting fact, factor it or it could be nutrients, I wouldn't give it a lot of of fertilizer, maybe a little bit of 1010 10.

But the main thing would be to either mulch it very heavily with and put some chicken wire around or like you say, tomato cage, get that on there.

And the other option is to dig it up, throw it away and get a new start.

Because some plants just are not, you know, we're bringing all these plants into our environment.

And they're not happy.

Yeah.

Another thing that, you know, a lot of plants will bloom when they feel that they're going to die.

So maybe she's been treating it too well.

Maybe she's been fertilizing.

So if she has been fertilized, I would get that.

Okay, and not do that because maybe that's why she's not getting because too much nitrogen especially will cause a plant not to bloom.

All right.

All right.

Thank you for your question.

And thank you, John, for answer, and we're out of time for this week's show.

If you have any questions, you can look us up on Facebook, or send us an email to yourgarden@gmail.com and we'll see you next week.

Good night.