Hello, and thanks for joining us for another episode of Mid American gardener.

We've got a special show today.

And we've got three very knowledgeable panelists here to answer your questions and show you some things from their yards.

Before we get started though, let's have them introduce themselves and tell you a little bit more about where you can find them.

So Chuck, we'll start with you.

Okay, I'm Chuck voigt.

Longtime retired from the Department of Crop Sciences at the University of Illinois.

herbs and vegetables.

Were my specialties there.

But as an undergraduate, I did the whole gambit.

So we can we can cover that.

Yeah, okay.

Awesome, Marty.

Hi, I'm Martie Alangna.

And I actually think I'm retired now.

I was landscaper for a long time, and I still have it all up here but my knees disagree violently.

So yeah.

Okay.

All right.

I'm Jim Appleby with the Illinois natural history survey, retired entomologist.

So I deal with the insects and mites attacking trees, shrubs and flowers.

Excellent.

Okay, well, let's jump in and get started.

We've got some pictures here that Chuck sent in.

And we'll get to those while I'm pulling those up.

Tell us a little bit about what we're going to see.

Okay, well, the last time I was out with Marty, we were talking about four clocks.

And this year, I had a really good, really good success with them.

These are grown from seed when you get a package of seed, and it's 35 or 40 seeds, and that's plenty for most people, almost every one of them germinates.

They're interesting, because the flowers come out about four or five o'clock in the evening.

They're open through the night.

So they're pollinated by nightflyers.

Like Moz, and some of those things.

Phil just had a new book on miles.

And so we really enjoyed him.

This is about 10 o'clock in the morning, which I would say usually they're they're closed up by then.

But the morning we were taking these pictures, the they've stayed quite nice and color array kind of pinks, yellows, almost whites.

Occasionally, there's one that's got striped flowers, there's one, I don't think you can see it very well in that picture, but it's red and yellow striped, but they do very well.

And as soon as it for us, you know they're done.

But as I found out a few years ago, they were selling the the roots at at the Chicago Flower Show.

And of course at the Chicago flower show they were extremely expensive.

Of course, it was just a little a little bag of these dried up looking roots.

So I said well that doesn't look very promising.

But this year just because I had a little time yesterday I went out to see what what I could see.

And Doggone it they a pretty didn't look like little log.

Yeah, you know kind of like a little Dahlia.

Although I don't think there is as reliable No, I'm talking about dahlias is a much more luscious wet route.

This one I think has more tensile strength.

Gotcha, but remains to be seen how to I have no idea I may have to look it up and see if somebody has it posted somewhere but so you started those seeds.

They were seeds.

You can see a little bit of the seeds of the medium still clinging there was just a potting soil.

I have so many questions about the so you're gonna overwinter this I'm gonna try.

I'm gonna try give it a shot and see what you get.

So and since these close up during the day, what light Did you grow them in?

Well, they're their best and full sun.

Interesting, they would they would probably they would probably survive with a little you know, shade but basically they're out out in the full glory of the sunshine.

Interesting.

And it's interesting because they're really easy to start from seed.

So I'm not sure digging them and hauling them around saving them somewhere warm and bringing it back out.

But of course being a gardener I gotta try I gotta say I gotta try plus these are free and not like $9 a dried up route at the flower show so how will you store these good question I I have a feeling that once they get dried out I may want to put something like potting soil or something dry ish poly soil around them just so that they don't completely completely get desiccated like the ones that they were selling in March at the at the flower shop, so you won't water them, but you would just put something on them to keep them sort of Yeah, I think Get.

Basically it's like giving a dahlia although dahlias are usually pretty, pretty tough and you can just kind of put those in a in a quiet section session of the basement and they'll they'll do Okay.

Hopefully, we'll see how these.

Alright, we'll say we'll report back in the spring, and we'll see what kind of shape they're in.

All right, Martie, we're gonna go to you.

We've got a couple of questions.

We were talking about this a lot before the show, Margie Brewer sent in a picture and wants to know what help we can offer about the deer rubbing on her trees.

And she sent this picture in pretty, pretty extensive damage there.

So it is, what are your thoughts on deer prevention?

Wow, do you like venison at all?

Because eat more deer?

Is that the answer?

There's plenty of them out there.

I'm looking at who among us thinks they know what kind of tree that is.

Because it looks a little bit like Apple maybe.

Which was surprised me.

I thought Magnolia when I first saw it, but that's not necessarily true.

Could be right could be an apple decide what to do.

But um, yeah, I know I hadn't thought of that either.

There are sprays that you can that are dear preventive, because they just smell bad.

They're made of rotten eggs.

And they really stink.

But you have to reapply them every time it rains.

If it's feasible, Jim, to my left here knows all about deer, deer guarding and prevention.

If it's feasible, you can encircle the the entire plant with some fencing to have to be four feet high anyway, and close enough that they can't jump in.

So they just know just go back past it.

Or you could wrap the individual branches or trunks with wire.

You can do that too.

So like hardware cloth.

Yeah, but I'm thinking they'll probably still rub on it.

But at least they'll wire and not damage your trees because they are amazingly strong and can do.

You know, a few weeks ago when you came in with that tree wrap, that would not work in this instance, would it?

I don't think it'd be sturdy enough?

I think because it's designed to expand with the tree.

You know, as it grows, I mean, you could fit it around that.

But I don't think it would protect them the bark enough because if the buck wanted to rub on there, I think the plastic would just shift around.

Gotcha.

Okay.

And is there any saving this repairing this?

No, that's no it's, it's not all the way around the tree trunk itself.

So it's not girdled completely so there's three quarters or two thirds of the cambium is still working to keep the top of that tree alive.

If I were you I actually would recommend calling an arborist and and ask them what they think.

See if they want to trim it up at all or something like that.

There's it looks to me to be salvageable.

But, ask asking a tree expert really?

Probably.

All right, Jim, we are to you and tis the season almost.

So we are going to be talking about Holly's now.

We're going to break this up into two we're gonna do photos this round.

And then he's got some actual live specimens too.

So talk us through your your pictures here.

Tanisha a couple of months ago, I had a call from a couple that last year.

And I think they said September when they purchased some three Holly bushes loaded with just huge amounts of berries on the bushes.

They planted the trees I mean the bushes last year and that September.

They did extremely well this year.

No I didn't new growth, beautiful foliage and everything.

But they call me because they said not a single red berry on any of the three not not one.

So the question was, what did they do wrong?

I said, Well, you didn't do anything wrong.

Because if they did well where you put them placing putting, you know soiler it must be perfect because it's all in this new growth this year.

So I said what you did wrong is that you did not have a male plant nearby.

So people you gotta remember when you have highways, you gotta buy two plants.

You got to at least two plants you got to have a male and you have to have a female and the male will pollinate the female flowers so that you have berries the next year.

So this couple went out and they bought a meal plan.

So this coming year, they'll probably have some berries.

Okay, all right.

So this will tell us how to know the difference right?

In your in your I have it Grow Hollies.

And I thought, well, it might be nice to show people how you can tell the sexes of the plant just by looking at the flowers, both the male plant is what was the female plant will produce flowers.

So but you know, they're different.

Okay, so here we see the one that is a male flower.

And when you look at the male flower, you notice those four yellowish objects, those are the statements at the end of the statements is called the anther at the very end, and you can see they're sort of a yellowish, and that's the pollen that the male flowers produce.

And then look at the center of that flower.

Notice you see the four petals, but at the center, it's hollow, it's a depression there.

So that's always the characteristic of the male flower, it has that center there has nothing that's just the depression.

And then they got the four statements.

Okay, so let's go to the next one, this is a side view, the male flower tool, you can see this one, it shows very nicely the four statements with the yellow pollen at the ends.

Next slide.

Now, this is the female flower flour.

And you can see in the center, it's not how it's not depressed, it's got the object right in the center, and then that one to the right hand side of the screen, you can see that extension out of the center.

So that's how you can tell the male and the female floor and then you notice, it still has those four, sort of statement like objects.

And you know, that's true with, you know, many points.

I mean, I mean, many plants have the rudimentary meal, Oregon's I mean, just like we humans, males have, have the nipples and functional mail, the mail, human being.

So the same way with the flowers, they have sort of rudimentary statements here.

And you can see those four statements, but there's no pollen on that.

But the center of the flower is the call the style.

And that's where pollination takes place.

So let's go to the next one.

Here's another good photograph of the Hollies and see the center part there that's full.

And then you see the, for the schedule, stamens.

And so you can tell right away whether you have a male or female by just looking at the flowers.

Now the flowers and the holidays will be produced, they'll start producing flowers in late April, and you'll see them flower through the month of May.

And here's now this is the female.

Notice how different it is.

You see the for the schedule, and other words, non operating statements, and the four petals.

But look at the center that's got the big style that is called in at the end there, that's Mary and large.

So when the insects like wasps and bees visit the male flower, they get, they get all covered with pollen, and then they visit the female and the pollen rubs off on the female part.

And then you have fertilization and then you have the very for this was a whole bunch of female flowers.

You can see the centers that are full.

So that's the female flower directly.

That's how thick the berries can be as they get pollinated.

Now let's talk a little bit about the varieties.

I have several varieties of holly.

This is the American Holly and notice this is the one that we usually think about traditional but the American Holly does not do very well in the Midwest.

I think it's our winners.

If you go into Washington DC around the federal buildings, they got some beautiful hallways or big tall Hollies maybe maybe 20 feet, 30 feet and tall American holidays they do well in that area, and further south to in the Carolinas.

But here in the Midwest, they just don't do very well.

And this next slide shows you a slide the reason why they don't do so well is it's subject to an insect called the holly leaf miner.

And this little fly and the maggot stage mines the leaves of holly, this is American Holly so American Holly is does not do so well because it's also susceptible the holly leaf miner.

Now you can use some insecticides to get rid of that.

But as an entomologist, I was pleased when my Holly bushes became invested correct good study that came a little laboratory.

Right?

Jim only most people would not like to use these kinds of lease declarations.

Next one is a this is one that I really like.

It's in them observe Holly's these are pushes.

Now these are not trees or bushes.

My bushes without any pruning at all probably get the height of maybe five or six feet if you don't prune them, but I really love this Holly this is in the Missouri of Holly's just several different varieties of Missouri of holly but this is called Blue princess.

This is the female plant with the berries and Luke princess.

This is called China Girl.

This is another Missouri Holly and it has a red bears.

The leaves are much smaller now with them observe Hollies.

The nice thing about them, they're resistant to Hollyleaf minor.

So let's show the next one.

This is the main This is the blue Princess male.

And you can see no berries.

But it has, you know, if you just want to have nice Holly foliage, just brace a male client, just raise a male plant very nice.

Okay.

And you know what now I feel like I can walk in and pick the right one.

And I can get my little magnifying glass out and know a female from a male and even when they're mislabeled, which even when they're labeled all No Oh, no.

Okay, we're gonna take a pause right here, and we're gonna go check in with our friend Liz, and tell she's gonna tell us how you can become a friend to the show.

And thank you Tinisha, I am so excited to be joining you here in the studio for this very special man, American gardener as we wrap up the end of the year here at Illinois public media, which means we are coming to you and asking for your support so that next year can be just as strong and even better bringing you the shows that you love like MidAmerican gardener, a gem of Illinois public media, well over 30 years of bringing you the gardening advice that you want answering your phone calls, and now meeting you in the spaces that you are in social media and on the app and making sure that you are getting your trusted expert advice to keep your hobby strong, keep your passion strong.

And that's what public media is all about lifelong learning and your support for Mid American gardener and all that we do here at Illinois public media is so appreciated, especially as we wrap up this calendar year.

So please give us a call 217-244-9455 or you can go online at we'll give.org support everything that Tinisha.

And these expert panelists bring you each and every week with Mid American gardener.

And speaking of that, let's check in with Steve who's going to learn some things from Tanisha.

Thank you so much, Liz and Steve, welcome to the to the max.

Thanks for having me.

I always enjoy coming because I always learn something new.

Yes.

And you know what, now that you're a homeowner, you're I see you're talking more and more and more about landscaping and guards and all that kind of stuff.

So always a work in progress.

You and I so on the show, not only do we talk about gardening, we talk about crafting, decorating all kinds of things.

So you and I a little bit later are going to put together a porch pot.

I'm very excited.

It's going to test us both because normally I am the student but in this voice, I'm going to be the teacher reading on teaching to know.

Okay, so it's just me.

It's just, it's just that's right.

Yeah, yeah.

Okay.

So welcome.

Welcome.

Thank you.

I'm excited to be here.

And we're excited to have you here too.

And you can continue to support me in American gardener at 217-244-9455 continue to support it so you can make fun of me while I make a porch pot later.

Yes.

And you know, this is just one of the wonderful things we do now.

It had I known you were coming.

I may have invited Kelly to bring I don't know a hissing cockroach to bother me.

They don't know.

Oh, man.

Okay, well, next time I'm not going to eat no, no, no.

Okay, just one of the fun things that we do here on the show.

But yes, on our next segment, when we come back to us, I'm gonna have you put this together, Jim brought in some holly and this thing is just gonna look fantastic on our porch for the holiday season.

I'm excited.

My mom makes these things all the time too.

So I'm sure she'll be very excited that I get to make one.

Yeah.

So you can continue to support Mid American gardener and everything that we do here along crafting at 217-244-9455.

Online at willgive.org.

Being a friend of Mid-American.

Garner supports everything that Tinisha does all the expert panelists that come on every week, not just talking about gardening, but talking about crafting and gardening and putting it Holly in pots and making great holiday gifts for all those.

So if if the end of the year is a time where you'd like to celebrate on Big Brown being family, maybe making one of these is something that you can do together.

It's 217-244-9455.

And if you do become a friend of wi ll today you can support us and be and get a gift you can get a gift, a cup a mug at $8 a month, or a book at $10 A month or the combo at $15 a month.

I always like to Cambodia and this is really cool too because native plants are a huge buzzword right now everybody wants to put nails in their yard and their spaces.

And so this is a really great resource to have if you are trying to build that native sort of pollinator pocket in your in your landscapes.

I really need to get that because people keep telling me about it.

It's 217-244-9455 online, and we'll give.org And thank you with your ongoing monthly gift of $7 or one time gift of $84 we'll say thank you by sending you our special Mid American gardener mug.

Perfect for drinking coffee in the morning or you plan your day gardening with your ongoing monthly gift of $10 or one time gift of $120 You can select the Midwest native plant primer 200 25 plants are an earth friendly garden by Allen brannHagen.

This source book includes 225 recommended native ferns, grasses, wildflowers, perennials, find shrubs and trees.

It's everything you need to know to create a beautiful and beneficial Midwest garden.

With your ongoing monthly gift of $15 or one time gift of $180 You can select the mug and the Midwest plant primer.

The perfect combination to help jumpstart you and your garden this spring Alright, so some great gifts Yeah, now it's time to get crafting.

All right.

All right, go.

Let's do it.

Make your mom proud.

I'm gonna try.

So you know what, we're just going to put this guy here and we're going to Bob Ross it there's no rules, right?

No problems, just happy accident.

So grab a few things.

And let's just make a party.

Marty can greet us afterwards because somebody is because I have a feeling we're just gonna pop this stuff in here.

And we're making a porch pot.

So why why would you make these with the like fake flowers and everything else?

Well, along with the real stuff.

Well, you know what poinsettias are kind of fickle creatures and so we don't want them out on the porch during this this time of the year.

And just as easy.

Yes, look at you.

I know a little things.

So we're just gonna put these in here make that look nice.

See how it's filling in actually see we're not doing too bad.

Hey, I got some crafting.

I guess somewhere along the line, Joe, this is gonna look lovely in this pot.

This is just a little pot that I picked up somewhere.

And I had my kids put paint on their hands and put their hand prints on.

So you could do something like that to to make it special.

And I got all of these little food things at a certain store where everything was $1.

But it's now $1.25 Trying to name drop the store.

Pick up what you're putting out.

So what did we put in here?

That was real?

Just the Holly, and I'm not sure what kind because Jim's gonna have to tell us about that.

Jim, which one is this one with a little pine cones on it.

This is hemlock.

Okay, so we'll find a spot for this guy in the back.

Because it's really big and pretty.

Look at that.

Even when it's frumpy.

It looks nice.

I don't see we even have extra for maybe another one.

Yeah, we do.

Okay, wonderful.

So this is a great gift idea along with the other gifts.

And you can do that at 217-244-9455.

Online at willgive.org.

Not only do you learn about everything gardening, you learn about crafting with that some of the stuff that you did garden, it's 217-244-9455, online at will give.org.

And being a friend of wi ll is super, super easy.

And you learn great stuff from Tanisha and the penile experts here.

It's 217-244-9455 or online at willgive.org.

Thank you Tinisha.

And Steve, great job.

By the way, the pot really turned out lovely.

And that is a really great gift idea.

Something that you can even do with the kids, as Tanisha said, makes it really special and homemade.

But those premium gifts are great as well, as Denise, you mentioned for that gardener in your life, the fan of Mid American gardener, perhaps Perhaps yourself because I believe in treating yourself around the holidays.

But the best gift of all, if you're just really struggling with someone on your Christmas list or your holiday list or whatever holiday it is that you celebrate, perhaps a gift of membership.

Maybe this aligns with their values, and they would like to invest in something in their community that connects us all.

A gift a membership is wonderful, you can give that to someone else at 217-244-9455 or online it will give.org and the gifts don't stop there.

Because with that membership, they also get passport which unlocks so many more things that you can stream.

Of course, you can always stream in American gardener on the PBS app for free.

But there's a lot there that you can start binging as a part of your membership and your investment in Illinois public media.

It is about time to get back to Tinisha.

She has joined the rest of the panelists back in the mid American gardener set and I hope that you stay for the rest of this episode.

But first, give us a call with your support before the end of the year 217-244-9455 or online at willgive.org.

Back to you Tinisha.

All right, and we are back and Chuck.

Well, I think we're back to you.

Okay.

Well, last week, I got a sort of a cryptic email from my friend salga Bertie, who's an herb grower in Connecticut.

Okay.

I met him early 90s and international herb association.

So we've stayed in touch over the years.

He's come out and done programs for me a year and at some of our meetings.

He said, I'm going to send you a package and it's gonna make you smile.

Well, regular viewers might remember how obsessed I was with black walnuts a couple of years ago.

Well, Sal has chickens.

And they have an honor system a table out in front of their place, and people bring back cartons and he sent me six or eight of these which are from black walnut farm, which if you know Chuck Yeah And in the same package, he sent me his new book on microgreens, which had been hot enough for 10 or 15 years and don't show any sign of letting up.

And it's very inclusive, you get a lot of species that he goes through.

And if you're really interested in microgreens that is, I think that's a good place to start, because Sal knows what he's doing.

I love sales, sales, business philosophy, which is, don't get bigger until you can't get better.

So I think that folks make that mistake.

Yeah, you try to things are going good.

And you just get overextended.

And I think he got that either from his father or grandfather.

But I tried microgreens last year for the first time grew them.

And really, it was just because I wanted something to look at in the wintertime.

But I really enjoyed them.

They were actually not bad.

And I was like making trays to give to Ethan as well.

Like it was it was fun.

It was like a little cheer Pat.

Well, I have to read it all yet.

But the thing that comes to my mind is where do you get quantities of seed enough to do well flats of these things, but there must be a source or people will be doing at other friends in Wisconsin who were doing this 10 or 15 years ago, and some of the restaurants around Madison area that they just had.

I think it's I think it's fun.

And what's his name again, just in case algo.

Birdie.

If you watch national TV, he's been on with Martha Stewart.

Many times they were in a similar area in Connecticut.

And he's also been on some of the morning shows out there out of New York.

So he's, he's a stitch.

Besides, besides being very knowledgeable about what he does, well, look.

That's the second time Martha has been noted on this program at the Great Pumpkin Patch and Arthur.

She has the growers there.

Either decorate or cook with her or that kind of thing.

So yeah, she's kind of got a yeah, they have had been contracted to do like a tower of pumpkins and squash different places.

Yeah, but let's see on with Snoop Dogg.

Now.

I think he was pre Snoop Dogg mainly.

Oh, Doc mark.

grafted herself.

I'm not I'm not sure.

All right, Marty, we've got a question for you timely as well.

This is from Susan in Aurora.

She says after a light cross.

I lifted the cannibal and elephant ears.

The candles were on my palms spilling out of the pots.

Should I divide the now before storing in the basement?

I'm afraid if I if I don't they'll rot being so close together.

So she sent in some pictures of a let me get to the one where they're kind of clumped.

There we go.

So would you this is the one I'm assuming that was in the pot in the pond.

Right?

I would imagine.

Yeah.

What would you do with this?

We were discussing this before the show and I don't, I don't think I would divide them before spring.

Because die back can occur.

And I know you're concerned about rot.

When I trim rot from a from bulbs like that, that are going to overwinter.

Make sure you cut all of the rot out, you get down to the just the white flesh of the tuber.

And if there's any brown at all, cut it out, cut it back farther, gouge it out, get it out.

Also, before you store these, leave them in a in a warm ish, airy location.

So they don't freeze but they get good and dry before you store them for the winter.

So that rot that's gotta go.

So just keep cutting back until you get the flesh of this tuber is going to be the white like a like a parsnip, you know or something.

So get rid of all that.

Yeah, get all that brown on the on a cut and you know if it feels mushy, it's gotta go.

Now what about all the extra route there that will die back or do you cut that off?

It'll drown it'll dry out but don't worry about that so much.

Yeah, and then I pack those and I mean they're really hardy have overwintered cannabis for years.

When when I was working, I don't grow them myself but I grew up here's the big cana lady and she uses pine shavings a lot of time and like a like a plastic grocery bag.

Then Then she'll she said she usually goes down at like, February ish and just kind of gives them a peek.

And if any any other rod has, you know, happened, she Chuck's.

Yeah, yeah, take a good had sharp knife.

Yeah.

But they should.

They're, they're really, really resilient.

And obviously, you've overwintered them before.

So I have every confidence in your ability.

I also have a couple of comments on on what the gentleman were talking about earlier.

Sure.

The, the four clocks.

I had a client who loved these.

And she had a bed on the south east corner of her house that I also built as flagstone.

It's a little bit raised, we had a hydrangea standard in there, I think it was Pinky Linky.

Beautiful, funny name.

Beautiful.

And then she loved for clocks.

So we seated them in, in this low res bed, and the bed was probably Oh, I don't know, twice as big as this table we're sitting at so no, not not gigantic, who's in a corner.

And the four clocks would stay open later than yours did because there were some massive trees to the east.

And it kept it stayed pretty shady and cool.

And I don't know what makes for clocks close isn't the day length, the brightness or the heat?

Yeah.

Could be any one of those things or a combination.

I don't know.

Interesting.

I but they receded I only planted those once.

And they receded themselves freely.

And there was a huge difference of color.

And then you know, they'll produce seed and they'll you know, when the mommy four o'clock and the daddy four o'clock love each other very much.

They have seeds, like much like the holly that Jim was talking about before.

And then you get all sorts of vibrant colors and things.

So they are indeed really easy to grow.

And they're really rewarding to they're very nice, interesting.

And also, when Jim was talking about the Holly, I was thinking I've I've planted lots of holly over the years.

Different kinds.

And you don't need to think to yourself, I don't want a male Holly because it doesn't have any berries on it.

Don't plant them in a row children plant them in a clump.

Okay, and one male Holly, depending on the proximity of the females, he can pollinate 567 other female plants, you just need him.

And you put him a little bit in the background because he's utilitarian, he's not pretty.

And then you put the girls in front, you know, as they should.

So, I'm just saying we should name one of those lottario.

Yeah, but you know, you can plant plant a bank of them or a planting of them.

And, and, you know, put lottario in the back where, where he can not draw attention to himself and still get the job.

Job done.

Yeah.

Okay, so sexy show.

We better get to you.

Before we get out of here.

I don't know, pollination.

We talked, we saw your pictures.

And now we're gonna talk about live specimen.

Well, this is, you know, during the winter season, thinking about how you're going to decorate the house, outside as well as inside.

You can grow taxes very easily in the Midwest.

So it does vary.

And there's all kinds of varieties.

You know what the varieties there are lots of different ones.

I have the spreading me too and ever loads you right?

And they're really nice.

I mean, you can use these in decorations.

And so I would say Grow Your Own Hollies grow your own taxes so you had plenty of greens for the holiday season.

So Texas is easily go.

Now in Texas like collies, you have male taxes plants as well as female tax.

It doesn't make any difference in the in the taxes because, you know, the berries on the female taxes are really small and simple.

Yeah.

So birds eat them, right.

So you don't want to, but I have to warn you, Texas is tech toxic to animals.

So it's fine to use these decorations like I mean Texas on the outside, but inside if you have cats or dogs, they might nibble on some of that.

So you got to be careful.

I would not use taxes as a decoration indoors or if you have pets.

So anyway, but it's a nice planet to use.

Now, there's a whole bunch of other evergreens that I IRA's.

Some of them are here like the this is the Norway spruce.

So Brittany, and you know, it's nice.

As a kid.

I grew up on a small farm and they raised Norway spruce.

The problem is they drop their needles.

If you take them indoors quickly, so it's a fast growing evergreen, probably not suitable unless you have the space.

Another nice evergreen is a hemlock.

They're very slow growing, but they they're used as a sometimes as a Christmas tree.

But you know more for ornamental purposes, but it's really a nice, beautiful lacy looking plant that does quite well in that Midwest, but they're slow growing, that is really pretty.

You talked about using little sprigs of that in wrapping packages.

These these little tiny cones are really darling worried.

Quite interesting.

I mean, they're a little old.

So they really make a nice, nice addition to your outside.

This tiny little cones are great for doing arrangements, I mean, even like, on on something you're decorate that you're making as a as a decorative accent indoors, because they're cones, they're not going to dry up and drop, you can clip those off and hot glue them wherever you want them to stick and they're just, they're adorable.

They're so tiny.

They're very cute.

Some of the other evergreens that I grow, this is called a Cana for c a n for it looks a lot like the Boltzmann effect a one time thought it was the same species, but it is different.

But can ufer is really nice.

It's a little bit better plant than a ball.

It's my as a kid, I raised balsam fir in Ohio.

But it did not even do too well in Ohio.

But here in the Midwest, the Canna fur does much better.

So it's a nice plant you can use for, you know, ornament tation.

The other very nice evergreen is concolor.

For now, these get to be big trees.

But it's a very nice plant and does extremely well in the Midwest.

One that I think I would avoid is the we love a cautionary tale.

They make nice Christmas trees I grew I have some on my property are probably about 75 feet in height.

So there are big trees, you don't want to plant a white pine.

And when you got a small yard, they just take up too much space.

They make nice Christmas trees you got if you share them.

But there's a lot of drawbacks with the white pie.

And first of all, the branches are very brittle.

Several years ago, we had a severe ice storm in the Midwest.

And it just, I mean, I heard all night long crashing crashing crashing.

Because the branches are in big limbs were falling.

So you got to be careful if you have any white pine, you don't want to plant white pine, or any kind of building of any kind.

I had one that was near my home I had it was probably it was about 65 or 70 feet in height, had it taken down because it couldn't afford to have a great big limb Paul in the house, you got to watch with the white pine, I mean, they're nice trees, but in certain areas, they also have a tendency to produce a lot of SAP, particularly on the cones.

And so you don't want to put your picnic bench underneath a white pine because you're holding the sticky stuff all over the place.

So there's some disadvantages of the white pine.

Thank you so much, Jim.

And we are going to throw it back over to Liz and then we will join you right here in just a few minutes.

And thank you Tinisha so delighted to be here in the Mid American gardener studios tonight kind of getting in the holiday spirit with that segment with all the different evergreens versus Hollies, I believe, don't quote me on that either way, it is the season of giving if you can, believe it or not.

It's the end of the year fundraising for us as well.

So we hope that when you're in that giving spirit, you include Illinois public media in your giving plans 217-244-9455, or online at willgive.org.

And there are many ways in which you can give if you're already a member, perhaps you want to become a sustaining member, you figure out what's good for your monthly budget and you know that you can set it, forget it.

But each and every time you tune in, you're supporting what you love about Illinois public media and public media here locally.

Or perhaps if you are a sustaining member, you can up that to 1012 $15 a month.

It's whatever works in your budget.

And we do hope that we will be a part of your giving season and supportive Mid American gardener and the many ways that connects you to your community will give dotwork but let's get to that demo space and see what they're up to.

Thanks, Liz and Martie is joining us because the last time when I was the teacher, I got some things wrong.

So we brought in the muscle Right exactly.

I asked if you're gonna get graded on being a teacher, is what I like but I think you were a junior because as soon as I got back over there, they let me know that I was not in fact putting Holly no into the pot.

Not at all.

So Martie just help us okay.

All right.

So what is it you're putting in there now this is concolor for It's kind of a bluish fur.

And when you have a lot of evergreens like we fortunately do, thanks to Jim.

We put these in first.

So kind of break off those bottom ones.

So they have a nice stick that goes in there and don't worry about them hanging over the edge of the pot.

That's kind of party.

See, this is why we keep you around.

That's That's my only my merrily.

That's what I do to clean up after me.

Yeah, this is great.

Because it kind of well, I mean, it's great.

But MidAmerican burger mafia, we'll put it there.

This is great.

Because it's you're showing us that my name is Anna Valley, you know, hey, so taking off these, these end stems really helps solidify it in the birth.

Yes.

And they sit they sit in there a lot better.

Already looking way more lush than mine.

When you tear those stems off, then you have to notify us in the pot.

Yeah.

So I'm learning here.

Well, it's like flower arranging.

You do the you do the bass part first.

And then you put the pretties in last.

Okay.

So, Steve next year?

We'll nail it next year and speak of next year.

You've been on the go a lot this year.

Yes.

So where have you been so far?

So we went to the pumpkin patch, which was absolutely amazing.

That show we aired that a few weeks ago, that was really cool.

We're going to be doing some wreath making a little bit later on this year.

So yeah, we are really trying to get out of the studio and more into the spaces that we're talking about.

You know, we always do plant swaps with the CEU plant people just find ways to get out and connect.

We've been at the farmers market before.

So just look for more of that in 24.

We want to be out and about and answering your garden questions.

We've actually had people come up at farmer's markets, and bring sick plants and ask folks like Marty to tell them what's going on if there's a scale issue.

So it's dying by another.

Yeah, that's usually what her advice is.

And the only reason that we're able to do that is because of the gifts from friends like you it's 217-244-9455 online, it will give that work continuing to support wi ll and Mid American gardener helps us get out into the community more gets us into into where we need to be into the places that you are so you can bring up your your dead plants.

And Martin is telling me that the dead Yeah, that's what I do.

Also, these sprays come on wires, so open them up.

I've done this a time or two a couple a couple times.

So I've been waiting.

And these are pretty inexpensive to make.

Like I was saying the first time I already have this pot and I had my kids do a little art project.

Jim brought these in for the show.

So on the house.

And then I got these guys at the store where everything used to be $1.

I'm still bitter about it.

Still bitter about it.

So you can this is less than 10 bucks and you've got a porch pot.

Gift.

It's something that you could do with your family around the holidays.

It's a great maybe something you could do on a Saturday afternoon when there's nothing else going on.

Maybe there's some college board games and you have nothing else better to do than to make a planet pot like this.

It's a great team is losing nationally.

Well probably.

You're mad about that.

To do take your anger out on the dirt instead of the team, which is great.

Oh Martie You really outdid yourself much better than what we did.

I'm sorry.

No, no.

This is a she's done this a time let's see what her natural plants are.

Now we have a gift here about native plants.

It's for $10 a month a one time gift $120 or any of these native to Illinois.

Any of the world.

Let's see, oh gosh.

Evergreens or any of the evergreens native I'm pretty sure the white pines live here.

I mean, I didn't you listen when Jim was talking about these because that would have been useful.

We're going to be our first round porch pot are not native here.

Okay, they come from much farther south and in South, all like Mexico or the the Virgin Islands, places like that.

I saw poinsettia This is largest tree, you could put a bench under it and under.

It was the coolest.

It was really really nice.

Well if you're like me and don't know what native plants are in Illinois, you can give a gift of $10 a month a one time gift $120 and learn about all the native plants in Illinois and this running out of stone you can continue to support wi ll admin American gardener at 217-244-9455 online at willgive.org and this is amazing and better than what we did before.

And that's okay because we're not experts.

It's 217-244-9455 online at will give.org.

Become a friend of wi ll today.

We'll go back to learn about the PBS app here in just a little bit.

Up to 217-244-9455 myself alone to a place far away from everything I'd ever known thank you for the invitation.

Everyone wants us to be textbook but it's not enough.

I really think we should be friends.

And that was a little bit more about the PBS app, which is a great resource.

It's a place that you can go and watch mid-american American gardener episodes catch up on the latest ones.

We also offer that on YouTube and corpsmen, American gardener has its own social media channels, the show has grown and evolved so much in its 30 plus years.

And it always strives to meet you where you are.

Right.

So as Tinisha was talking about, the show is going to be out and about even more.

And we love to see it.

We're so proud of what Tinisha has done with men, American gardener, and bringing you the gardening advice that you need, where you need it when you need it, how you need it.

And your support goes towards all of Tanisha his efforts, this team's efforts and Illinois Public Media's efforts as a whole.

And so we'd love to hear from you, especially if Mid American gardener is your top show.

It's the thing you never miss whether it's on the app or live on will TV 217-244-9455 you can give online at will give.org in that comment section where you're talking to someone on the phone, tell us what's motivating you to give in your season of giving.

Thank you.

All right, thanks, Liz.

And we've got a couple more things that Chuck brought in to share.

Also timely, right, it's we're right at the end of garlic planting season.

And if if you haven't heard me say it before, garlic is a foul ball like tulips and daffodils.

You want to get them in from about the middle of October, you probably get it to the middle of November, but that you know starting to push it.

I just happened to get this one back.

It's a variety called music.

And for years in my trial, I had like 40 garlics.

This was always the most productive, has huge cloves.

As you can see, a bulb like this might only have four or five or a big one may only have six.

But it's super productive.

It's a hard neck.

And those generally have more complex flavor and more gourmet types.

You break it up into the individuals planted about three inches deep three or four inches apart and harvested next July when it still has a couple of green leaves on it.

Because the leaves are attached to these papery wrappings.

And once the leaf dies, these start to deteriorate.

So if you wait till they're all brown here in the human Midwest, good to know, you'll have bear cloves and those don't, those don't.

Don't keep nearly as well.

And then I was also out in the league patch and dug this one up for you.

Our league school season I don't know much about well, they're kind of all season all season.

But they'll take a good amount of chill.

So I just buy him in a cell pack lately.

And they don't they don't seem to singulate them.

So there's usually two three fours in a cell.

And this year I tried to pull them apart a little bit.

So I didn't get you know, I've had had them about as thick as my wrist.

Oh my god, but but this is pretty nice.

Eat all separated.

Yeah.

Oh yeah, me too.

Or depending how I'm feeling at the time, sometimes I have three or four and a spot and just have baby legs.

In most people just use the the white part but the green The greens are also very useful and maybe a little tough, you know, but certainly if you're making a vegetable snack or something the greens are good.

Usually a slim cut like this.

That's mainly to keep them from transpiring too much and getting getting getting wilted but I liked leeks to some degree where raw onions kind of turned me off because they had that nasty sulfurous thing.

Leeks are much, much kinder, gentler, sort of a flavor or something else that you prefer over onion.

shallots, shallots.

Yes.

Yes.

I've never find it.

Well that's true.

And with those, you know if if you say a shallot is just a small onion, then you don't deserve to have shallots because they're not that much the same.

Gotcha.

Okay, and you should only have onions In spite of that, he brought he brought this in here yeah, that were originally was inside the acre, but he was not fooling us because we're professionals, okay.

She knew there was no, there were no eggs, I don't have stamps.

So since I have six or eight of these, I was trying to think of something wonderful that that that I could put in there 12 To give as Christmas gifts or something, just to pass along this, this this smile, it sounds sent me garlics a Christmas.

So you can you could do that.

Let's have Christmas some holly very nice.

We've got about a minute left.

I want to thank you guys, for coming in today.

And for bringing all of the wonderful things that you brought with you, I really appreciate your time and talents.

And now we're gonna go back to Liz one more time.

So she can tell you about how to become a friend to our show.

Thank you so much Tinisha I continue to learn from the show still don't have any green thumbs.

But anytime that I tune in, there is something that I walk away going, I didn't know that.

And now I do whether I'm actually able to make anything happen in the garden or stay alive doesn't matter.

Point is public media is all about lifelong learning, learning, excuse me and enriching your lives, meeting you at your passions.

Entertaining you along the way.

We have a breadth of options, programs, services, projects, ways that we are connecting you in your community and right here in your living room.

So you support all of it.

But if Mid American gardener is your favorite, it's really important to give during this program tonight 217-244-9455 online it will give.org Tell us why you love Tanisha.

And what you would like to see in 2024 Because as we wrap up this year, and this is our end of year giving, we are planning for a really powerful year next year, and you are such an important part of that.

So again, will give.org or 217-244-9455.

But let's check in with that demo space.

Steve and Tinisha.

It's all you.

All right.

Thanks so much, Liz.

And thanks for everything we've done here.

Today, we've made this planter Well, we've tried to make a planter and that Marty showed us how to actually make the fire which is amazing.

I can't believe how different it looks.

Yeah, the same thing is and it's crazy that everything that you guys do here, you make it look so easy.

All the experts that come on, I don't know garlic was so easy to grow.

I'm going to try and probably fail, but that's okay.

The first thing the best thing is you got to try and true everything they do here you can really try it and I'm telling you I every week I'm learning like crazy amounts of information, the leaks, the garlic, the I called these highly last time but evergreen, so I mean you just every when you're in proximity to these panels, you just learn by osmosis.

Yeah, exactly, exactly.

And I love that she took our entire pot apart, torn apart and reassembled and it looks 10 times better.

I will say she did mention that there is Holly in this yes, it's just not real.

So it's the gold things are Holly.

Obviously Holly is in gold in real life.

With that.

I know.

We learned that today.

And then there's some other ones here but they have acorns in them.

And Holly doesn't have acorns.

So nice.

Twin.

So yeah, we tried, we tried but you know what, she made a beautiful, beautiful porch pot here.

And this is gonna look lovely on the porch.

And the most important thing is to try and you can make these as gifts and we've got some gifts as well.

Yes, we do.

We have a coffee mug or water mug.

If you really enjoy MidAmerican gardener with its logo and where you can find it and the hashtag green thumb club.

I didn't know that was a hashtag, you can't go wrong with this.

Obviously, it's the little terracotta pod that we all love.

At my house.

This is a perfect size cut for my eight year old so I never get to use it.

But it's it's a great mug, I really need to get one and then also the native plant and book.

I myself know nothing about native plants.

So this is a great way to learn and get everything you need to know about all the Midwest native plants to under 25 plant.

That's a lot of plants.

Yes.

And I know native plants are big now replacing your lawns with native plants because it's healthier.

So you are great.

It's a great opportunity to learn about what you can actually grow here pretty easily.

And if I may, if you get this book you've got all winter to sort of create your plan of attack right with the native plant.

So get this book and then plan all winter and you'll be ready to go and spring and it's a great opportunity and show to listen and learn about how to grow these native plants.

It's 217-244-9455 online it will give.org You'll see now opportunities to get these gifts at right now.

With your ongoing monthly gift of $7 or one time gift of $84 we'll say thank you by sending you our special Mid American gardener mug, perfect for drinking coffee in the morning or you plan your day gardening with your ongoing monthly gift of $10 or one time gift of $120 You can select the Midwest native plant primer 225 plants are an earth friendly garden by Allen brand Hagen.

This source book includes 225 recommended native ferns grasses, wildflowers, perennials find shrubs and trees.

It's everything you need to know to create a beautiful and beneficial Midwest garden.

With your ongoing monthly gift of $15, or one time gift of $180 You can select the MCG and the Midwest plant primer, the perfect combination to help jumpstart you and your garden this spring.

Such wonderful thank you gifts for the gardeners in your life, perhaps you're going to treat yourself this holiday season or that's going to help check off some holiday shopping on your list.

Whatever the case may be, we do hope that you'll step up with an additional gift.

A brand new gift if you're a new friend that wi ll now is a wonderful time to join and become a friend become a sustainer.

Whatever level of giving is comfortable for you.

We would of course love to have you if you've been a longtime friend, maybe you want to give a gift of membership perhaps you want to up your annual giving or become a sustaining member or up your sustaining membership.

There are so many ways that you can support min American gardener a 30 plus year legacy of DIY lifelong learning right here on wi ll 217-244-9455. or online at will give.org.

I don't know about you.

But I've been delighted to watch Tinisha and Steve in the demo space.

We're going to check in with them one more time to see how they're doing.

But it's been such a fun program.

Thank you so much for having me.

And thank you so much for your support as we wrap up another powerful year at Illinois public media.

Thanks so much, Liz.

And that is the show.

That's all the time we've got.

Thank you so much for watching, and we appreciate our panelists for coming in and building this beautiful porch pot.

And Steve, thank you for stopping in and hanging out with us.

And this is the last fun drive of the year, right?

Yes, it is.

It is the end of the year fun drive.

So it's the best time to become a friend of wi ll if you haven't already, you are a friend of wi ll it's a great opportunity to enhance your gift.

You can do so in many different ways EFT payroll, deduction, credit, debit, cheque, cash, carrier pigeon carrier pigeon, all the ways to become a friend of wi ll.

One of the ways is also give us a call at 217-244-9455 or online it will give.org and I really appreciate you letting me come on the show.

I always learn something new.

This time I got to make this really cool thing and then get told we did it wrong and they get made even better.

Which was okay, because it works, right.

I mean, they're the professionals we're here to learn.

And that's that's how it is.

And this can make a really great gift.

And we have some other gifting options as well, right?

Yes, you can get the coffee mug, Mid American gardener coffee mug that has the hashtag green thumb club on it and the Mid American gardener logo.

And also learn about native plants in the Midwest.

225 of them great times to be a friend of wi ll $7 A month or one time gift of $84 for the mug.

$10 a month one time gift of 120 for the book, and the combo is $15 A month or one time gift of $180 become a friend of wi ll today it's 217-244-9455 online at will give.org We made this planter pot.

And you're also making some other things later on.

Yes.

So to finish out the year, we're going to be doing some wreath making in the next few weeks.

And we'll have that on before the holiday season.

So if you feel so inclined and inspired to to make that craft, we'll have that out in plenty of time.

So yeah, we're just trying to think outside the box.

Think of new ways to get out of the studio, but also keeping folks kind of green and learning and growing.

So yes, it took to be a friend of who am an American gardener, I get thanks for having me on the show.

Thank you for coming in.

See we really appreciate it.

And hopefully you'll get this and get some of those native plants in your yard.

I'm gonna try.

I think I know we want to plant a garden in the backyard some vegetable garden stuff.

So maybe native plants will surround it or think of something.

All right, and thank you so much for watching.

If you've got any questions for our panelists, you can send those in to your garden@gmail.com or you can search for us on Facebook and Instagram.

Just look for Mid American gardener and again, thanks so much for watching, and we'll see you next time.

Good night.