Hello, and thanks so much for joining us for another episode of mid American gardener.

I'm your host Tinisha Spain and j ining me today are two of our v teran panelists ready to a swer your questions and also s ow you some things that they h ve found outside in their g rden.

So, first, we always h ve them introduce themselves a d tell you a little bit more a out their specialty.

And M rtie, we'll start with you.

Hi, my name is Martie alagna.

I' retired landscaper I'm a privat landscaper I did a fe commercial jobs but mostly th home landscape, shrubs perennials, ornamental trees that kind of thing.

Do lawn bu I, you know, I have to have gun to my head to make me d that.

But other than that, yo know, the other stuff.

I' alright with.

So okay, question that involve that.

I'm havin here Wonderful.

All right, john, we'll go to you.

I am a vermillion county Master Gardener I live up just north of Danville and near the town of Bismark village of Bismark.

I l ve out in the country so I've g t about three acres that I g ow just about if I think I can g ow it I'll try it try it at l ast once it doesn't work.

It's o t of here but hostas are one o my big favorites because I've g t a lot of shape.

Okay, all right guys.

Well we're gonna just jump right in.

I know both of you brought some things from out in the yard.

So john, we'll start with you.

For your first show and tell item would you bring us the first one I'm going to share is this it's it's a shrub that I got.

It's a perennial I got from one of the other Master Gardeners I think it shows up pretty good there.

It's called beauty Berry.

At this year, it just puts on this beautiful color of purple little berries.

The birds will eat them I you know and and when they're flowering, the butterflies and bees are on there.

It does get to I'd say five to six feet tall and about six to eight feet across.

Again it does multiply a little bit but I've had it now for about eight years and I would say it's the base of it is about 18 inches.

So it isn't it isn't invasive or anything like that doesn't spread by seeds that I know of.

I've never found another one in my yard anywhere.

But I just think it and when you go out there the purple is just striking especially when the sun hits it.

But this light here probably doesn't do it justice but it is really pretty you can see the contrast those berries are really pretty purple.

Anyway, that's that's my first show until now does that flower john?

Yeah, it's insignificant.

It's a very insignificant flower.

I don't grow it for the flower I grow it for the berry.

Because at this time of year, things are winding down there's just not as much in the yard that looks neat and I just I just and it is a cascading type flower it's you know like that and berries are on the top they they're in the top of the plant.

So they do really show off you know very very nicely and I think I'm going to split this and try to make two or three of them.

So I can have it in more than one place because it is you know, I don't have any insect problems on it.

It's it's been hardy it's, it does take a while for it to come back in the spring.

It's one of those you have to be patient with.

But again, it It keeps these flowers and these are really nice for cut flower arrangements, you can add that into a cut flower arrangement and get a nice purple.

You know, you may really only want something like this.

It really is pretty nice in a cut flower arrangement.

Okay, thanks john.

And now we're going to go to Marty for Herschel and Titan What do you got guys out there in TV Land.

I'm I kind of depend on the fact that you watch me constantly on the show because you're this rabid fans and you can't live without me.

So the last couple times I was on.

I think it's time last time I was on.

I want to pick some things out a yard.

We're doing kind of autumnal theme the and I just grabbed some things and when I was done they were foxtail grass there were cultivated things and and weedy things but I liked them.

So I picked those and I showed them to you and then when the show was over, I put them in a base and then I just set them on that on this shelf right here.

You're getting good at this zoom life Marty like a green screen this is excellent.

So yeah, I mean I just stopped these are these are dried come walk us through a little bit more yeah tell us a little bit more what you put in there.

These are dry coneflowers This is a little bit of Bill here.

This this unbel thing here that looks like Bill there's some calamagrostis some Karl Foerster ornamental grass This is just foxhill this is just a sale.

Here we have some hydrangea dried pinky Winky hydrangea there panicle hydrangea they have an extra long cone shaped flower This is autumn joy see them autumn joy tends to flop a little bit but it gets the tallest of anybody and I like it so I planted on careful flops and then this airy little fellow over here is panicum it's an ornamental grass also it comes in greens and blues and then some of them turn red in the fall and some of them turn a really soft butter yellow in the fall.

My favorite is prairie sky now it has to be really dry and really sunny because it is tall and it'll flop so don't be nice to it at all it'll be and I just I just can't I just can't get over those those airy little they're very little to him You can hardly see him unless you have a you know a group apps but oh my gosh I very wizzy so so yeah you put all those items in last time you were on the show when you picked all those were they dried were they completely dried out then or have they just sort of settled into the their range dried out more Yeah, the season was a little green the foxtail grass was a little bit green yeah the Congress had it had just squeak a color left on him but not very and I was gonna cut there were a couple that still had some more color and I thought yeah now How long will that go here so I'll just leave those for me and you can have the dead ones there you go there you go.

Now how long will that sit on the shelf?

How long will you keep that oh god it's me too nice just so you know it could be like 2014 2424 I guess yeah sorry we're farther along than I thought it's rocky but until next spring Yeah, yeah what I'll probably do is just leave that until I decorate for Christmas because it's just soon and my I don't know how much you can tell from the camera shot but my my painting here is a real sky blue.

So these up against they're just they just really look nice.

Shall I see him when I walk in like it's nice it's a nice pop of color I like the textures and the you know the varying textures in the vase so very nice and that's I like that it's something that any of us can go out and grab and you know yeah, just because they're dried and dead doesn't mean that they're not beautiful not at all that's that it's autumn celebrate that you know everything's going into sleep mode but such a blast a fantastic before it does.

Absolutely wow oh thank you when john when john had that callicarpa beautyberry there's the newest variety that I can think of is called pearl glam and the foliage on that one is just a little bit more purple rather than just plain green.

And you're exactly right I planted those in a Memorial Garden and I was so excited for them because they're right by the door where everybody will see them and they took forever to break in the spring and I thought they were expensive and I'm gonna have to replace them like at last hallelujah finally perform and they look fabulous now but I mean they but the the top it's really windy out there on the top side.

So I had to get growth from the bottom and it was like that big and I'm like come on you quitter look great.

I got some armor provided behind them and some some kalama groceries Some are no grass.

Next time you're there snag a picture for us so we can see I should.

I should Yes.

Okay, thank you.

Alright, we're gonna go back to john with more of your adventures in the garden.

This is one that I like it this time the year.

Oh yeah, we still have a few hummingbirds and hummingbirds just love this.

This is a pineapple sage.

It's a gold the Golden One.

And it's salvia elegance.

But they they these long shoots aren't made just perfectly for for hummingbirds.

And this one here is getting not enough real sun.

So it's a little bit greener than what I like it's it's a little bit more shade if I would have it in full sun this would be just golden bright and that the difference between the gold and the yellow or the red then is just striking but even at this I you know, I like the bright red the like I say the, the butterflies and hummingbirds are still coming on it and I've I still have one feeder up because I still have one or two hummingbirds which is I've heard that a lot of people are taking their hummingbird feeders down but you want to wait two weeks until after your last sighting of a hummingbird to before you take them down and then make sure you clean them because hummingbirds are just killed almost instantly if you get mold or mildew in that in that liquid so change your your feed your nectar religiously, if it's discolored get rid of it change it make some new stuff sugar is relatively inexpensive and that it can be just deadly for hummingbirds.

mold and mildew so make sure you that before you put your feeders away you give them a good wash, let them air out and then you're ready for and then I give them another rinse in the spring before I put them out to pineapple Sage which is salvia elegant a lot of times you'll see it at the garden centers early spring it you know it doesn't really bloom until late summer you know early fall but it will bloom now until it freezes so I hope to get a good month out of this and it just you can see all the little little flower shoot on the side so it's it's just really starting right now but by the time that this is mature, it will have all kinds of red little flowers and as you can see they're very pretty very pretty okay all right that's a great that's a great variety they're not perennial like other sounds to live in Tennessee maybe or something but gosh you know they're so beautiful and they're extra tall to my room they're like 30 inches like that.

Probably 48 inches tall.

Wow.

Yeah.

And I again I think it's probably because it's there stretching a little bit in the sate and in the shade, but Sage in the shade.

Say that three times fast right?

So Marty I've got a question for you from my yard.

This is about seed saving.

DJ This is the blueberry Iris photos please.

These were a gift actually.

I keep saying blueberry that's the second time I've done that I can't get it out of my system blackberry I received these seeds as a gift from a lady Judy cyb we did a we did a bit with her in the spring about her yard and these blooms this year they grew beautifully and now I've got these pots here and I would like to save some seeds so if you guys could walk me through how to do this.

what to look for when to pull them do I cut them do I snap them?

give me give me the rundown What do I do the will the common name for those especially blackberry Lily although the looks like Iris and the reason it has that name is because of the seedpods because the seedpods develop after the flight which of the flowers are great, aren't they they're just so so pretty Yes, they're bigger than Toad lilies but they've got that speckly kind of a look on them you know painted they're just really beautiful I love them.

But the seed platforms like the green ones like you have and then you leave them on until they turn brown and they start to open if you want to save those seeds I probably cut them after the the the husk on that seed pod will begin to crack open and the seeds inside are shiny black clusters and stunning so that the seed potters get their name not the bloom at all.

There really aren't a metal if you leave I don't know how many 1000s of seeds you'd like to save but you know there's a lot in there so I just leave mine and I like the way they look like that but yeah what's the pod is brown and starts to crack open then I probably clip them then put them in somewhere dry, put them in a plastic bag but leave the leave the top open maybe a bunch of them and hang them someplace you know so that they get air but when the seeds fall out, they don't run down the drain or you know gotcha okay so leave them well I cut them in the in the winter before it gets cold or while I cut the tops off.

In the springtime, when will I know, probably in a month, whenever, when they start when the pods are in their green right now, starting to brown, okay, they're going to dry off.

And this is the in Autumn is when they shine because of their name.

So the crack open, and they kind of peel back.

And then you have this little spike of blackberry seeds and they're like, I don't know, they're about half the quarter of the size of a pea.

Really, but they're shiny, shiny black, they're really blue.

And yeah, they're easy to harvest because they're way big.

Okay, so I will leave them alone.

Are you going to try starting those in the spring?

Yes, you may want to bring their shiny and hard, you may take a little bit of a fingernail file or a file and just what they are by those just you don't want to go into the past the seat code, but you'll want to get into it just to and then soak them for a little bit.

And they they should sprout them for you but they're shiny shiny hard.

Sometimes the germination time is beyond our, our patient.

Our lifetime.

Yeah.

So break open and germinate where you don't want them outside.

Clarify them and okay.

Okay, that's a good point.

Yeah, thank you.

Thank you.

Okay, well I will let them be for another month or so until they give me the signal when they turn 10 and they start to split.

You're on okay.

Okay, all right, john, we're back to you.

Okay, one of these things and I did not grow these but one of the other Master Gardeners Christie hair Bartos grew these.

This is called a cook Melon and they are a little cucumber like plant that tastes like they look like a watermelon little baby watermelon.

But they are actually a cucumber and they are good just just like this.

I'm saving these few here for seed but they are even more delicious.

If you dill pickle them I use a dill pickle recipe and I just pick all these and process them and then I've got them you know I put some parsley, dill, garlic and some pickling spices and then I use the apple cider vinegar so it's a little brown because I like that that apple cider vinegar taste and I do a little bit of white vinegar just to get it a good shot of vinegar and then some water and process some and these are good for a long long time but I like him just out of the garden.

They are a an annual but right now they are just producing like crazy.

She had she get we gave a lot of them away at garden share people thought that that was they were just wonderful and people came back and said you have any more of those little baby cucumbers.

But they're fun to look at for sure they're definitely there.

I think they are I have not had them pickled.

And that's that's a really good idea actually.

They stay nice and crisp when you pick them just Yeah, that's good.

Interesting.

Okay.

Nichols.

Yeah.

I got a little bite to them.

Oh yeah, you can if you want to make them spicy you can add peppers to these.

You know like a jalapeno.

Are you like a really hot habanero if you'd like I'm really a scotch bonnet on how hot you want it.

I did not add this because most people I'm going to be sharing this with you're not like heat so I sacrifice cuz I like him better with heat.

But this match I just made without heat.

So took one for the team on that one jaw, huh?

All right.

Okay, Marty, we're gonna go to you.

And this is question number 72.

And it's about moles.

This is from Trisha Gail.

She writes in how do you get rid of moles.

They're making huge mounds of dirt up to eight inches tall under my ground cover in our yard, even uprooting small trees that they've transplanted.

They're everywhere with some runs, but mainly huge mounds of dirt here and everywhere.

We've tried traps, poison pellets, worms, everything.

Their house sits on seven acres of timber, they have some mowing to do just kind of setting the scene.

So Marty, what are your thoughts here to help them with their mold problem?

Okay, most don't live in your yard because you're so nice.

Because there are insects in your yard that they like to eat.

So you don't have a mole problem.

What you have is a grub problem.

My suggestion would be to get some milky spore it's a it's a bacterium, you put it it's a bacteria that comes dry in my I don't know john has become liquid I don't know but powder is powder.

I was only thinking it was a powder two but I don't know, I don't usually have this issue um, you put it in, you know like one of those, one of those one quart sprayer things you put on and your hose and mix it accordingly and you put it in the ground, it would be better if you water your lawn first or wait till after a nice rain like an inch of rain at least so it's nice.

So what you're doing is you're putting out this bacterium.

And then as the grubs are in the soil, they're exposed to it, and it kills them.

Yay.

So we're eliminating the food source rather than eliminating the actual Yeah, mole is not the problem.

If you close the buffet, the moles will leave.

Clearly your company it's not what they're enjoying.

Now how do you do that over several acres because she said they've got acreage, so do you concentrate on you probably don't have to do that.

Except like where they're, I would do the lawn and I would do the edges of the lawn proper.

I'm pretty sure they're not mowing seven acres of timber.

So I would say the lawn around the house.

You know, where where are you going to cut where you're pulling weeds?

So like that.

The these are, these are Japanese beetle.

grubs and Junebug grubs.

Sir, those are the two correct?

Am I correct on that john?

earthworms to know both.

Yeah.

They've You know, a lot of people put out the poison peanuts and things like that.

They're not vegetarian.

So that No, we're not.

Yeah.

I mean, the two grubs you're trying to eradicate.

Are those two?

And yeah, you want to get crops but you want right.

And it's and that gnocci spores effective against both of those correct?

I think.

Yeah, very difficult to establish, but once you do, then you you're on your way.

Yeah, likely likely.

The earthworms are not going to be bountiful enough.

The problem is the grubs it's just that's that's usually 90 plus percent of the time, that's the problem.

So try that might be quite a bit of it.

And you it's not a poison.

Remember, number with this little longer key.

If they dig up stuff, keep stuffing it back down, put some flat rocks around it or something, you know, but this milky spore once it's in the ground, it won't leave.

So once you've applied and you get it in the ground, then it will slowly eradicate the ones you have and any future generations that want to move in.

Got it so it's a slow process.

One of the things he can do and that was going to be my next show and tell so I'm just going to go right into it.

Yay.

Is the caster B Yeah, yes, yes, I forgot all about that.

This is a castor bean plant and I just wanted to show it because right now it's it's I've cut it a little bit too early so it's awfully floppy but it's got these really neat little flowers on it.

And this this this this is the actually the seed pod.

You can see the little tiny flower right there.

All parts of the castor bean are poisonous.

Yeah, this so the moles are not going to eat this but they know it's poisonous.

So if you make a oil based spray with this and you can buy it in your garden centers and spray it over the lawn.

It's going to chase the moles away it's not going to poison them.

They just know that it's how they like it.

And they're going to leave and go to the neighbor's but but I don't like them anyway.

This is one of these plants I had two years ago was taller than my garage it was over 18 feet tall.

The trunk like that.

And it I literally had a hard time getting rid of that because it still died in the wintertime.

So but I had a hard time getting rid of the root in the trunk and it's hard hard wood But again, it's one of those things I like to make cast leaf casting to the Leafs because it is kind of it is a pretty leaf.

It is yet to be about 18 inches across a big one.

I've made you know, I've got one.

I had one nice that was 24 inches, and I didn't make a casting of that.

Oh, those are fun.

And so but anyway, that was my show and tell and I just thought it fit perfectly with you know, luckily did and it again if you have a well maintained good lawn that the insects are going to burrow in, you're probably going to have grubs, you're going to have good earthworms.

And then you're going to you know, the like, she said, the buffet is open.

So come on over, come on over, okay.

And tell me tell us again what the name of that product is.

gnocchi spore and it wants to know the things you want.

It kills those two grubs and other grubs.

But it won't be here.

All right, goodness.

We're out of time.

So thank you guys so much for coming on.

Thank you for sharing your time and talents.

It goes so fast.

It goes so fast.

So thank you and thank you for watching and we will see you next week.

Good night.