Hello.

It's Tinisha, Spain, host of Mid American gardener.

Thanks so much for joining us for another show, and I'm joined today by two of my pals here at Prince plaza at wi ll Studios.

We're going to have them introduce themselves and tell you a little bit about their specialty.

About their specialty.

So Martie, we'll start with you.

Hi out there in TV land.

I'm Martie alagna.

I'm a semi retired landscaper.

I typically work in the smaller yard, you know, the the homeowner's garden, where they want lots of fabulous stuff, but in a minimum amount of space, so we try to cram a jam.

But you know, the the upside of that is, the closer the plants live to each other, the less weeds perfect.

And I'm John Bodensteiner.

I am a vermilion County Master Gardener.

I enjoy just doodling a little bit of everything.

I volunteer at schlarman High School, and I take care of the greenhouse, and I've got a couple of classes there that I help with, and just enjoy the kids.

Yes, just keeping busy.

Keeping busy.

Okay, so we've got a lot of stuff here to talk about, as you can see.

So Marty, if you're just now watching the show, Marty does the most beautiful dried flower arrangements always around this time of year.

So take it away.

Tell us what you got.

Duncan Ronco has recently come out with the new non watering flower arrangement.

That's right, folks, no more slimy vases.

Mm, hmm.

So these are all things, except for the beauty berry here, which John generously donated.

These are all things that I've clipped this morning in my garden.

So there's, there's, some of them are cultivated, and some of them are volunteer, volunteer.

We like to call weeds volunteers.

So there's some golden rod, as you can see, which volunteered.

But there's also sedum, and there's also hydrangea, dry hydrangea heads.

I got a couple different ones of those.

Here's some bachelor buttons.

Some people call them cornflower ready.

I've got some foxtail in here somewhere.

I think it's sticking out that way.

And then also, if you can follow me just a second, people will look around their yards and they'll say, Oh, I can't use that.

Oh, I can't I can't use that.

That's not pretty, but the little bits of color will accentuate the the other things you put in for architecture in your arrangement.

So voila, we have some daylily stems with no flowers at all, but they're cool looking.

So we're gonna add them to the arrangement.

Yes, yes, yes.

I have the dullest.

Here we go.

Okay, yes, we are.

Look at the look at the shape textures.

They're so true.

And then I'm gonna go over here.

If you could follow me, because I spotted these on the tree here.

So with a nod to the grounds department, I'm just going to help him prune a little bit.

So you never know what.

That's a Japanese lilac.

That's a Japanese lilac.

That's right, some people call them lilac silk trees.

They bloom white in the spring.

They're very beautiful.

And I brought everything because it's tall in my new sprayer box, because I need a box, and it was tall.

I'm like, oh, oh, awesome.

Okay, so, so why are you putting that together?

Because if we want it, we want to do a surprise reveal, sure.

And I use the same kind of Rural King sprayers, you know that y'all, I mean, we're not.

I'm not.

I'm not using a 60 or $70 sprayer, because just the good old, yeah, you know.

And I also want to point out this for a minute.

When I was kid, this is my grandmother's face.

I remember, even as a child, gardening around our house and in our yard, flowers and vegetables and fruits and everything.

And I remember noticing this on my grandma's shelf when I was 10 or 11.

And I don't know if you can get a tight shot of that or not, but this is a little vase, and the flowers on it aren't just flowers.

They're zinnias.

They're Zinnia flowers, very pretty.

And I noticed those even as a child.

I thought they just didn't scrabble something on there.

I actually know who those are.

These are our little friends from the vegetable garden.

That's right.

So I thought I'd bring grandma along, excellent who is also amazing gardener, by the way.

Okay, well, while you're creating, we're gonna go.

Talk to John and see what he's got.

So you where do you want to start?

Because you've got it all.

You've got it all.

We did have somebody.

Let's do the can of question.

Okay?

Because it's time to start moving and grooving those around so the bulbs are reaching.

They've been flowering.

A lot of them, some of them haven't.

If you put them in late, they may not have bloom, but that's okay.

You just dig up the roots and they'll come back to the bulbs next year.

But if you do have some flowers, you're probably going to have these dried little combs up atop and if you break them open, you're going to find these seeds, these Arcana bulb seeds.

And I've tried germinating them.

And what I've had to do to get 100% or near 100% germination, I've had to what we call stratify them.

In other words, you take a fingernail file or or some sandpaper and just nick the the exterior coating so that the moisture gets in there.

Then you plant them in some in some good potting soil.

And I usually put them in a bigger pot so that, because I know I'm going to overwinter them in that.

And I and you don't have to bring them well, yeah, you do have to bring them inside.

You don't have to dig them up.

I would leave them in the pot because the bulb is going to be very small, and so you don't want to disturb it.

You may not even see the bulb.

It will be so small, but there will be one there.

So just leave them in the pot for the first year, the next spring, when, when you're getting ready to put your other cane bulbs out, then you can take that pot, take them out of the pot, and put those in the soil, and by the following fall, that's when you're going to have nice size.

They're still going to be smaller than the real big ones, but they should be substantial enough for you to have many, many bulbs.

And I don't know if there's how many 1000s, there's probably 1000 plants in here, you know, like peppercorns.

Yeah, they do.

Don't mix them up with your pepper.

If they're good or not.

Well, we're going to stick with you while I'm already still creating art.

So let's talk about the food, because my stomach's kind of rumbling.

Okay, so let's get to that.

Indeed, this is pawpaw, and I think I brought those on before they smell.

So they're much better than that.

That cactus I brought the last they'd have to be, they'd have to be this is, this actually is perfect, right here, and they're soft.

This is still, I just picked this one off the tree.

It was still hanging on, but they are dropping, and you want to get them the next day, because otherwise, the squirrels, the raccoons and the varmints, it won't get any.

They'll get them, and all you'll find is the little seeds.

And they're not little seeds, they're big seeds.

But I have found, I picked many of them, and I, you know, it's, it's a real process to to clean them.

What I found is, if I cut through here and squeeze out the the pulp and the seeds into a food processor that has a dough blade, a dough blade is not sharp, okay, and so it goes around and knocks all the the pulp off of the sea, and I had just separates them, and it separates so then I had just maybe an ounce of water just to make it a little bit more viscous.

And once it does it, that blade really cleans up.

So one time, I've run it for about two or three minutes, and then I take a salad spinner, I take it and put it in that and spin it and whizz it around.

All my pulp goes through the little holes, and I've done in 10 minutes.

I've done hours worth of work.

And then I asked my wife, what can we do with this pulp?

And she says, Well, I said, Can you make me some banana bread?

Actually, it's Papa bread.

And she made us a whole bunch of little loaves.

We're going to taste it.

Yes, it definitely has a mild pawpaw taste.

Pawpaws are kind of a cross between a banana a mango pineapple.

Some people get a pineapple.

Yes, all about it.

To me, it's, and it's, it's, it's the largest Native fruit in North America, yeah, you know, apples, oranges, and all that those are all formed.

It is also the host to the zebra swallowtail butterfly, my favorite.

Well, next to the Turks, the only place that zebra swallowtails will lay their eggs.

Interesting, did.

Not know that, so I have to get one.

It's pollinated by flies.

The in the spring the there's little tulip looking flowers hanging they're brown.

And if you had a real sensitive nose, you would think that it smells like like a dead animal.

Yes, we smelled them at Chuck's house.

He has a little grove, if you will.

I had to get up, and I had to really smell, hard to get but the flies see it, and they're the pollinators.

Also need two different trees from different seeds for it to get really good pollination.

A lot of you know, you know the song The Papa patch, yes, and way down yonder, way down yonder, you're gonna have all these little suck suckers coming up.

Chuck has one those are not going to cross pollinate, because that is technically a clone of that original plant, because it's gone over the root and come up, and it's so actually it's a clone of that same plant.

Got it, you will get some cross pollination, but not as much as if you have two different trees, two different seeds.

Every seed is going to be, even if it's from the same pawpaw, it's going to have a little bit different genetics just because of the pollination.

You know, the your your AABB, that there's all those crosses.

And so it's going to be a little bit enough different that it's, it's going to cross pollinate, so Okay, you'll be able to have the fruit then it and it does fine in partial shade, the paw paw tree.

It's an edge plant or an understory plant, really, I don't know that it does real, real, real good in a full, full, you know, sun with 14 hours, it's got beautiful, big leaves.

I've only ever seen it in partial shade.

Yeah, it does, I think probably.

And it's like, I say it's native, so it's going to be growing where it's how many years after you plant, will you bear?

Well, the tree bear crop I had.

I've actually had some on mine in four years.

When I planted mine, I had some in four years.

Okay, they were growing fairly quick.

It's fairly quick compared to apples or so.

It is fairly quick.

But I love the tree.

It's a glossy leaves, and I love to see the zebra swallowtail butterflies.

And does it get pretty tall, the paw paw tree, I would say mine.

Now it's been in about 12 years, and it's probably a good 15 to 20 feet tall.

It's a nice shaped tree.

It's but and it's just just one of those that I enjoy, and squirrels enjoy the fruit, and that the raccoons easier fighting I don't if I don't pick them up by the next morning, they're all gone, and all I find is the big seat, speaking of which, yeah, a lot of people don't know what the seeks look like.

I was hoping you'd open one.

You know, the taste is not bad at all.

It's the texture that's that sends me with Paw Paws.

Yeah, it's the texture.

So I'm sure, I bet the bread is delicious, because the paw paw does have a nice taste to it.

It's just mushy.

I'm going to clean one up here as much as I can.

Okay, and is it like a pit?

It's Oh, there it is.

Oh yes, it's fairly big size.

And if you want to plant this, you can, you can get another pop off from tree from this.

The thing is, you can't let it dry out, so it's, it's, it's one of those seeds kind of like, well, there's a number of trees that that the seeds, if it dry out there, they're dead.

They're dead.

So this is one that might as well, right now what you need to do with this is stratify this also okay.

So what you do is put it in some peat moss, in a baggie, moist peat moss.

Put it in your refrigerator for at least 40 days, maybe 49 weeks, and then it'll, you'll, you'll start to notice that it may release, it may be out, okay, be very, very careful with that, that you don't break that root off, and then you can plant it, and then you have a new pop pot tree.

Okay, excellent.

So that's kind of this just got to be patient get to four or five year mark.

Yes, I know that's why I don't grow asparagus.

But we've already talked about that.

Okay, so one of the other things I get, I get a lot of questions, no, not a lot, but every once in a while, people ask me, I have the handed chicks and I left it outside and it didn't come back.

Well, there are you?

Hearty hen and chicks, and there are non hearty hen and chicks, kind of like our mums.

We a lot, we go to our box stores unless it says garden mum, and then, even then, I some people are calling garden mums, and they're not.

Now, what does that distinction mean?

That it's going to come back, it's a perennial, so kind of like hens and chicks.

This is a non hearty and then chick.

It's too fancy, just like mums, the fancier you they get, the fussier they are.

This is a party perennial hen and chick.

This is one I can leave outside.

Does like full sun.

If you put it in full shade, it's not going to, it's going to wither away.

Got it.

It's kind of like that cactus that likes it hot and needs good drainage.

Don't get don't let it get wet feet.

Same.

But this one, this kind of likes the same thing, except for this has to, I have to bring this into the greenhouse.

Got it.

So, got it very nice.

Okay, so one of the other things that we're doing right now, we're picking apples.

Yes, what do you do with if you've got an apple tree that has hundreds and hundreds of apples, go to the hardware store, and you get yourself an apple peeler that actually peels the apple, cores it, and dries it, and then you put it to the counter.

Yes, it's yes, I use the suction to cut.

Oh, they're fun so and it then you just cut down.

And you've got all these beautiful little ways put them in, either in your oven or I have a dehydrator.

I have a, of course, 1111, sheet big dehydrator.

Then I can program to whatever temperature I want.

I find that 100 to 105 overnight is perfect for apples.

And these will last 1015, years.

I think, oh my god, yeah, long as you keep them sealed, I've been drying a lot of elderberry this season and wine later, because you're old.

No first cough syrup.

Those two kids of mine start hacking barking later on this fall and winter.

But yes, I'm gonna have to try that.

Yeah, just go and it's one of those wheels that, yeah, they're funny apple on.

And you just turn it, it peels it, cores it, you take it off, take it off the thing, and then you just slice it down.

Otherwise you've got the long some apples work better than others.

Oh, yeah, yes, Granny Smith, your good apple apple pie.

Apples are the best rule.

If it's good in pies, it'll be good.

You want something apple crisp?

I apple crisp does good, okay, yeah, something that holds its shape after it's cooked.

Yeah, and you can actually look that up online and see which apples hold their shape when they're cooked, and which ones mush down, mush down.

And if they if they mush down, and it's it just falls apart because it's dry dice.

But these are delicious snacks.

They're healthy.

If you look, I have to show you, too.

Some of them are nice, and so I did do some with cinnamon, so you can see the difference.

Lisa got cinnamon powder, and I usually use a a Vietnamese.

It's the best.

It's true, true cinnamon.

Oh yeah, sometimes if you buy cheap cinnamon, it's really not cinnamon.

Anything.

Is the bell.

It's got the best flavor sorts of stuff.

Oh, it's sweet.

We need to get choosy with our cinnamon.

Oh, god, yeah.

I mean, oh yeah.

The other will taste like cinnamon, kind of but if you want a good, strong cinnamon, yeah, you want go with the Vietnamese, it costs more because it's worth it.

Okay?

Noted, all right, let's check in with you, because you've made some significant progress.

Oh, yeah.

Now this is one, and I've heard you talk about before.

You'll make one of these.

Yeah, pop it on a shelf and look at it all fall and winter, and then throw it out and start all over.

I almost took a picture of one is last year still sitting the one from two years is still sitting on the shelf.

I almost took it.

I was looking for it in my phone, and I couldn't find it.

And I thought, Oh, well, but really, this wall dried down the other one I had, I had put in some, oh, you know, butterfly bush flowers, and they had a lovely, subtle color at first, and then they dried down to a to a nice, dark, rich brownie.

And this is all stuff that we all have.

And I noticed you, these are hydrangea.

Oh, yeah, but the Annabelle hydrangea is those.

That's where the green balls.

Yeah, you pick those.

They'll last all winter.

It's.

They will put them in the sun, yes, oh, they will.

So I'm going to cut this beauty berry.

Will these very short fall off?

What they get dry in the house?

Like, let's say you they will.

Let's say two kids are running through the house, yeah, and they bump, and they will, but they're right there.

Yeah, I always have to think about that, see, because I almost, I almost picked some.

This is so some Fern loot from Ferny leaves, from my asparagus.

But the thing is, asparagus, when it dries, all those tiny little whiskers, they fall, they fall like crazy.

I'm not I'm still plugging these little, these little guys in the last here, because they're so full of color.

Okay, stuff that, all right?

John, you have one more plant, right?

Oh yeah.

We'll come back to Marty with the big reveal in just a moment.

Okay, got five minutes.

This is one of my most popular succulents.

Is this is Dorian.

This.

Dorian this, you can see, it's got beautiful, bright pink flowers, flowers, yes, it loves full sun.

Takes very little care.

Water once a week.

Good, and it's good, good potting soil.

And the nice thing is, it's so easy to propagate.

The lady that's at the desk in there.

I gave I already cut one off.

I gave her that all you do is break it off and lay it on the ground and cover it with and wet it.

That's all it.

Smoosh it into the ground a little bit, and you're gonna get another Dori.

And this, I've got a couple of pots, and the pots are almost as big as this table, and it's on its fourth year I bring it in, but it's the flowers.

It's like this, all the way down to the ground and spreading out.

So what I'll have to do to move it is actually have to trim it, and then I'll make, I can make up to a couple 100, yes, plants, wow.

But it's, it's one of my it's just, it's variegated.

It's just, that's what, and the flowers will bloom all summer.

You said that likes full sun.

Full sun.

Very nice.

I liked we were talking about this other one off camera before the show, because sometimes nature just happens, right?

Yes, this, this is a clancha, or Mother of 1000s, and it was growing in a pot, and it, it got to be really tall, and I didn't notice it, but it, it actually went around, touched the ground, rooted.

And now look what's happening.

It's air layered itself, called self air layering.

And so now it's got a whole bunch of little stems.

I thought about cutting this off and making like a little bonsai force.

It looks like a bunch of little trees, and taking some of the lower leaves off and making like a, you know, a little bonsai force.

Well, you'll have to send us a picture or bring it back you when you've created it.

Okay?

I think we've got like two or three minutes left, so Marty, let's Okay.

Let's do the big reveal.

So I've got a little this is one of those shows, okay?

Design under pressure.

That's okay.

So okay, I do want you to notice that the daylily dead stems.

Yeah, and the lilac silk tree pods are over here.

This one came out goldenrod.

Stick it back in there.

Foxtail.

This is feather Reed grass.

Is the common name.

It's Calamagrostis.

There's a couple different grasses.

Plus, you know foxtail that grows in the ditch.

Please notice that the foxtail is all on this side.

I have one coneflower.

Most of the beauty berry is on this side.

This you don't have to worry about making everything symmetrical when you make an arrangement, like all the cornflowers kind of over there.

But it's just really lovely, and I adore it in my grandmother's face.

Now, do you have to do anything to this?

Do you have to snow?

Do you have it's no, just make it and look at it.

And yeah.

And now, some of the leaves, some of the leaves that are green, are gonna fall.

Sure, like John said, some of the beauty berries, when they get good and dry, they'll fall.

But, I mean, yeah, throw it in the compost.

You're gonna be dusting around it anyway, so, yeah, very nice.

And I love that these are just everywhere, like you said.

Get these in the dish.

Those.

Grab some from your neighbor's house.

Yeah?

You know, accessible.

God plants, though the earth loves, longs to be green, excellent.

Well, sometimes not weeding turns out to be a you get things like, amazing, yeah, one man's weed into another man's flower.

That's right.

There we go.

That's right.

All right, guys, we are out of the early to the field.

Thank you guys so much for coming in and sharing your time and talents with us, and thank you so much for watching.

If you've got questions, send them in to us at yourgarden@gmail.com or you can look us up on social.

Your search Mid American gardener and we will see you next time.

Goodnight.

You