Unknown: Hello, and thanks for joining us for another edition of mid American gardener.

I'm your host TInisha Spain and we're going to do a bit of a special show today, we're gonna check in with a champagne gardener who invites us to her home and shows us native plants, talks about how to divide plants and also shows us how she's raising some butterflies that's later.

But first, we're going to check in with one of our veteran panelists, Ella Maxwell, and she is going to talk to us all about the thing that is troubling all of us right now at home, the weeds in the garden and in the flower bed.

So Ella, before we get into that, introduce yourself to everyone and tell them about your interest outside in the garden.

Okay, thanks.

I'm Ella Maxwell.

I'm in Tazwell County, and I'm like Tazwell county Master Gardener as well as a horticulturist at a local nursery.

And I am a big home gardener.

So I like perennials, I have a large vegetable garden, and I have a very large yard with lots of trees, a lot of shaded areas, as well as, as son.

So we have weeds out the wazoo.

And you were outside kind of working on those today.

So however you want to start we're going to talk about identifying weed controlling them.

So you you tell us where you want to start today.

And we are going to be your attentive students, because the weeds are taking over everything.

That's right, they certainly are and weed control, I think it's a very important part of gardening.

Because it, it doesn't reflect badly on you.

But you can certainly drive by and notice some yards are not as tidy as other yards and and of course, being a professional, you want to put your best foot forward.

And so what we're going to talk about are some of the different challenges that I have in my own garden.

And the first thing that you want to understand about weeds is to be able to identify it, is it first off a grass weed, they require a different type of control, or is it a broadleaf weed like a dandelion, many of us are very familiar with lawn weeds, dandelion plan, teen clover, and the horrible creeping Charlie.

But some of us may not be as familiar with some of the weeds that will show up in our flower beds or in our vegetable garden, especially with making your own compost.

Sometimes you can disturb that weed or that seed bed and have a lot of weed seeds germinate.

So we will talk about how to control them too.

But I wanted to share a book that I have that has been quite helpful.

This is the weeds of the North Central States.

And I received this book in 1979.

That one was one it was re printed from a 1960 update.

And it has weeds arranged by the plant families so you'll see weeds that have the same flowering parts and and different things like that.

But it's important to identify weeds.

Unfortunately, this book is not showing some of the new weeds that have become problematic in our landscape.

Because over time new weeds have been introduced into our areas, just like introduced insects or jumping worms or you know, whatever it is.

So we're gonna see some other problems that maybe I didn't have when I first started out gardening, but now we're seeing them.

So tell me why as a home gardeners just a lay person.

Why do I need to know the specifics about types of weeds?

What's in it for me as the gardener?

Well as the gardener, the best way to control your weeds is to understand how they reseed or how they propagate so that you can choose the best way to control them.

Hand weeding is hard work.

And so if you can avoid as much of that as possible.

That's going to be what's going to For me, so in that vein, we also want to know is this a perennial weed is this same plant there in that same location year after year, and there are some perennial weeds, but most of the time, we can eliminate them in the garden and we don't see them again.

The one that's problematic for a lot of people are some of the perennial grasses.

And you can see here this is quack grass, and it kind of normally it's a lot shorter if it's in your lawn because you're mowing it.

But this was in the flowerbed, but you can see this long rhizome.

And so it's very difficult to eradicate.

And, you know, I have been fighting it for a really long time.

But then there are some of these annual weeds, and one that I find the most infuriating.

Here, it's it's a huge clump, but this de flower, and I don't know if you can see it's kind of like a little wandering Jew.

And it is it can grow overnight, I think.

And it recedes.

And it's a problem I have in lots of parts of my landscape.

So that's, that's one.

It's a common Lina, I think, again, these weeds have lots of regional common names, but you can then specifically identify them by their botanical name.

So I just wrote a little cheat sheet, on on these.

So these are the ones that have a few more that I can share.

Some things can actually even be vines, a lot of people have problems with the bind weeds, I have more of a problem with hops.

Again, it kind of has a very sandpapery like stem, it's a clinging twining vine.

And so that's some things to control.

So how can we control some of these things?

besides just gonna ask you are mentioned how frustrating it is, when you're out there working.

And you you're pulling, and you hear it snap, but you know that there's still some more root down there that you didn't get?

And it's coming back.

Right, right, really frustrating.

That's the perennial weed, and this one happens to be kind of like a carrot.

This is a very wilted pokeweed.

But in natural areas, you're going to find that it's a problem.

So I don't have it really where I'm more aggressively flower gardening, but in a more natural area, I have that.

And if you try to pull it up and the like you say it snaps off, and you know, it'll be back, it'll be right back.

There's a couple of things that you can do in like an annual bed where each year you are planting flowers or in your vegetable garden, you might find that you want to use what's called a pre emergent herbicide.

So this can be sprinkled on the ground after you've planted your annuals to prevent other seeds from germinating.

And so I have used those kinds of products along the edge of my beds.

In my vegetable garden, I rely on mulching to smother the weeds to keep them from coming up.

I use newspaper and straw between my plantings.

And that's been very effective.

But you can use the pre emergent type herbicide.

And then there is also some of the post emergent types where they're, again, broken down into two categories, one that will target the broadleaf or the grass like weed, but they could also damage your flowers.

Because they are, you know, indiscriminate, I mean they work and and then there's the non selective that just kills anything green.

And again, you have to be so careful with overspray and things like that.

And sometimes because of that, I've actually taken plastic pots and set them over desirable plants and sprayed around them so that I don't get that kind of overspray.

So in these days, where we've had all of this rain and we've had you know, a lapse of getting out and waiting I've heard a lot of people say that, you know what is the best way once it's away from you to sort of catch back up is it getting out there and manual Pulling or what, What tips do you have for folks who have just, it's out of control?

Well, I think I'm up in my beds, I'm trying to stay on top of it a little bit more.

But one thing that I've also found that works well is weed whacking, it kind of cuts them down.

And then maybe I can do some spot spraying.

Also, sometimes, the most important thing to do with the weeds is not allow them to complete their lifecycle like an annual and set seed.

So if you can weed whack off the flowers, maybe that's enough to maybe reduce the problem for the following year.

And sometimes in natural areas.

That's what I do with something like garlic mustard, because I can't pull it all.

I don't want to try to spray it.

But I can go in there and weed whack.

And there are lots of strategies these weeds want to live.

And a lot of them have little sticky, green seed codes that stick to everything you walk through, you pick those up, I just hate them.

We have one at my house that I just call achy weed.

It's really a story I think is its common name, I did investigate what it really was.

But it's it's just insidious.

And now I can recognize it as a seedling.

And I can pull it even before it flowers and and become such a stick to you magnet.

Are you talking like the birth?

Sort of pretty?

Yeah, yes.

I think I have I have that.

So most of the weeds that we have that we have problems with our annual weeds, and they have little sticky seeds.

And and if you don't control them, they just will be back.

And so again, I do like mulch, I use a pre emergent herbicide along the edges.

I weed whack, I do spray some non selective chemicals on occasion.

And and those are my strategies.

Is there anything you mentioned this at the very beginning?

I think you were heading in that direction about disturbing weeds that have already flowered or are going to have flowers.

Is there anything there about just containing perhaps interrupting that live sec cycle?

Yeah, that's that's what I'm saying with weed whacking.

Hopefully that cuts them down.

And but I do a lot of hand pulling early in the spring.

A lot of these weeds before they've set seed, I feel comfortable composting them.

But once they are full of the little birds, or the little ticks, or the little whatever they are, I no longer put them in my compost, they're going to go and dry out and become part of the materials that in my location are we are allowed to burn.

Gotcha.

Gotcha.

And I want I'm curious about the book that you got back in Did you say 7979 it was a college, you know, book that was required reading or purchasing interesting photos in there.

What now is not visit a picture book are there pictures of the weeds in there.

So I marked it for you.

Here.

It's well, you can't really see.

But this is like prickly lettuce.

So it gives its distribution throughout the state.

It gives its life cycle.

It gives where it can be found it gives, you know, it shows a picture of what the seed looks like and things but like I said, not all of them anymore there.

This is a new kind of weed and I think we can kind of see it has a little globular seed.

And this is called mulberry weed.

That's its common name because the little fruit kind of looks like a mulberry.

And I was one that I have not seen before.

And just in the last couple of years, it's become more of a problem.

Interesting.

Thank you so much, Ella.

That is a common thing that I've been saying in our emails, and just in talking to people is oh my gosh, the weeds are out of control.

So identifying what we do got and then learning how to control and treat sounds like the plan of attack.

So thank you so much for coming on and talking to us about weeds and hopefully we can all play catch up now from that rainy July that we have All right.

And now, as promised, we're going to check in with Judy Seyb in champaign.

As she walks us around her yard in this edition of other people's gardens.

On this edition of other people's gardens, we are joined with Judy side of the University of Illinois, and she is going to walk us through her beautiful Yard and Garden.

And also, if you've got some perennials that are thriving and ready to divide, dude is going to show us how to do that.

So we're going to start out with some spider wart, is that correct?

Yes.

Okay, tell us a little bit about the plant, and then where you're going to be moving it to Okay, well, spider warts, one of my favorite plants.

It's a native perennial plant, that's the butterflies and bees and hummingbirds like it.

And this is it right here.

And it's got pretty little flowers in bloom for about two months, which is a good amount of time for a perennial.

Now, this is the one that you were telling me that opens in the morning, right, it's only open for the mornings, it's, it's getting ready.

A lot of them the closed up already doesn't like the hot sun afternoon.

So usually by 11 o'clock in the morning, if it's sunny, there'll be closed.

If it's cloudy all day, they'll stay open.

So it's a really pretty plant.

And I had a couple of them come up as volunteers, right here, and they're even blooming.

And I thought I did one of those up.

And it's all closed up now.

Okay, but I thought I did one of those up.

But we could see the root structure can also dig from the big clumps.

Now, how long has this mature patch?

How long have you had these?

I've had these for probably three, maybe four years?

Oh, wow.

More than four years?

So that's really great.

Oh, yeah, it has it has filled in.

But that's just more plants to give away.

or so.

So are these fairly easy to maintain?

These are very easy to maintain, there's really nothing to to do to them.

If we don't get enough rain, by mid year, I might end up watering them.

This is fresh dill.

So this is a little milkweed plant.

Oh no, there's there's all kinds of things.

But I'll show you.

Let's get down to the get rid of some of this because we don't need it.

Now what is it about this plant that you like?

I like I like that it's a perennial.

Because I like things that come back every year, things that flower nicely.

I get up in the morning and I come out and the first thing I look at are these flowers.

And when they're open in the early morning, they are so beautiful.

So this has a nice, a nice root structure.

And we'll take this to the backyard, I've got a spot where I want to put it.

Okay, so you've got your hole dug.

And I found it interesting that you said you water the hole before you plant.

Yeah, so talk a little bit about that.

Even though we did have some rain, I always water the hole because that way the water is all the way down to the roots.

And the plant can get settled in really well.

So I can put the dirt all around it.

So I'm putting this in from the front yard to the backyard.

I don't have a whole lot of spots, open spots anymore, which is always a good thing.

But I love giving away plants.

And people like to get this plant, I think I'm going to start watering the hole I you know, like most people, I always get a hole, put the plan in and then water it all in.

But I really liked this method.

You want to do it this way.

I like this matter of fact, I'm going to add some more water right now.

Because I want I want that dirt to settle all around the roots.

And I'll give it some more water.

And it's off to a good start now, because I know it's wet all the way down, but down to the roots.

So even if I transplant a little plant, I dig that hole and I put a whole cup of water in it.

If the water goes down quickly, you need to keep filling the hole.

But like I say the grounds a little bit wet from from the rain that we had.

But I'm always always water the hole.

Okay.

Now this is another unique technique that you do that I'm really interested in.

So you collect leaves from a couple folks in the neighborhood and just walk us through what you do with this pile.

Well I do if people have rake their leaves up into a big pile I say, Oh, can I take those leaves?

And they say Yeah, sure.

And this a lot of them are my own leaves also from my trees, but then in the fall I just pile them up in a big pile always here in the back.

They're going to degrade during the winter.

And then in the spring when my garden plants are they got to be a little bit taller.

Then it's time that I can tuck them in with this mulch.

And I'm a lazy gardener.

So you're in good the last the last I have to water and the less I have to weed the better.

Let's advance nutrients to the soil and you also Have a chemical free yard.

Is that right?

Do I have not put any chemicals on my yard for 25 years?

So I think that's why my perennial plants do so well.

I think they, they appreciate that.

And the earth lines are another good indication that they really like your soil.

And they That's right, I think a lot of the chemicals that are put on the yards, kill the earthworms.

And you can't have good soil without earthworms, right.

So this is the garden that the rabbits Don't bother.

I don't have to fence it in.

So I have squash, butternut squash, and then the tomato plants.

And this is easy to do.

And it makes a big difference.

Now throughout the summer, this will break down Yeah, do you buy your break it in or do you just leave it right on tie, just leave it on top.

Okay, the best time to do it is after a really big rain, the ground is already wet.

The plants love it keeps the soil cool and moist the weeds out and makes my life easier.

And by by fall, there won't be a whole lot left.

And by the time winter happens, all these leaves will just be gone.

They'll just be into the soil.

A lot of these plants I took from the front yard and brought them back here.

So it's free plants.

And this is the common milkweed which the insects love, especially once it's going to flower and the monarch butterfly, like caterpillars have to have that to to survive.

So I've had quite a bit of it coming up, but it'll be used for food for the caterpillars.

And this is pen stamen.

And it makes a very pretty flower by a little bit more into the summer.

And once again, they were coming up in the front yard and I brought him back here to fill in.

And I do give a lot of them away.

So that's that's the the idea.

And this is the blazing, blazing prairie star plant.

And this will get very tall, this will get seven feet tall, and has a beautiful spike of purple flowers on the top of it.

And it's kind of known as jewel of the prairie.

Whoo.

So it's a wonderful plant.

This is a these look like this.

But this foliage is different it is this is a different type of pen statement.

And it once again, I bought one plant last year and then this spring about four or five came up and I divided them and gave them away.

I bet a lot of you there this year, that put in flowers last year, and now they've got big patches like this that have come up.

So everyone's looking to divide and share and relocate some of their flowers.

And you also grow vegetables too, right?

Yes, and I have a vegetable garden.

And this is the garden that the rabbits like.

So that's why it's that's why it's fenced off.

But the other part of the garden that I already showed was the squash, butternut squash.

And this is a butternut squash from last fall.

It's kept all winter long in my house in a box and kind of a dark corner.

And it's still delicious.

I've been eating them all winter.

And and it was was they're very easy to grow and it's solid, solid throughout.

The whole thing is hard to get you have to have a good knife for these guys.

Yeah, well I use a potato peeler.

Oh, I PLM and then I scoop out the seeds in the middle and then I dice them up and make butternut squash soup.

Nice.

So that's, that's how I do it.

You have to cut the ends off with a sharp knife, but then a potato peeler to get rid of the the it's almost like peeling a potato.

And in the in the garden.

I have these are carrots coming up.

And I do like carrots but they are mostly for the benefit of the black swallowtail caterpillars because that's one of their favorite food sources.

So every year I find many eggs on here.

And I take them and and put them in my little cage and I raise the black swallowtail butterflies and it's a lot of fun and some of them hatch last year but a lot of them over winter.

So I still have summer I still have chrysalis is waiting to hatch.

And I'll show you I'll show you those Also, these look a lot different than the monarch chrysalis that that I'm used to.

They I mean they really blend in Yes, yes, they're they're well protected.

They look.

I don't know if you get close up and then you can see there's there's three of them on here.

So I've got one, one there.

And this one has hatched so it's it's empty.

It's all done.

These guys some of them hatched.

Last fall last summer some overwintered and they'll take their time hatching they might not hatch until mid summer.

Wow, they really aren't on a schedule.

What are they?

No, they're not.

They're not.

But they're the black swallowtails a beautiful butterfly.

And they'll do it on there or they'll hang themselves up.

Oh, so yeah, this is more like what monarchs do, but they'll hang themselves up and each one is, is also suspended by a very thin, one strand of silk.

Right?

Right there if you can see it.

And that's how they that's how they stay suspended just one strand and then the, they kind of have a silk button to hold them down also.

Well, if we learned nothing else, today, we learned how to incorporate our flowers and our food and everything into I love how you just weave in everything into nature.

And everything is included.

You've got the thoughts about the butterflies, even down to your grass.

It's very thoughtful.

So thank you for sharing this with us.

Thank you.

It was my pleasure.

And a big thank you to Judy and Ella for their participation in today's show.

And if you've got a yard or a garden you think we should see send us an email to your garden@gmail.com or you can send us a message on Facebook.

And as always join us every Thursday at seven for MidAmerican gardener on WILL-TV.

Goodnight.