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♪ (upbeat music) ♪ <Amanda McNulty> Good evening and welcome to Making It Grow.

We're so glad that you can join us tonight I'm Amanda McNulty I'm a Clemson Extension Agent.

Our show is a joint production between SCETV and Clemson and tonight we are really a bunch of Tigers as we everyone here is an associated with Clemson.

I would like to start off by introducing you to a new member of the horticulture team Stephanie Turner.

And Stephanie you're based in Greenwood and although you are new to the hort team I don't think you're new to horticulture or Greenwood so please tell us a bit about what you've been doing during the years before you came to be a part of our group.

<Stephanie Turner> Hi, Amanda.

Sure.

I moved to Greenwood actually to be part of the Park Seed Company when I worked there for many years in their research and development and planning and planting the chard gardens and then moved into brand management for Park Seed.

From there I worked for the city of Greenwood managing their uptown market farmers market and looking for farmers in the area.

I'm really glad to be with Extension today.

>> Well, we welcome you and we know you enjoyed your work it was always such a joy to go to Park Seed on the open house days and see the beautiful gardens.

And then we have been to Greenwood and seen the wonderful work there.

I hope that the farmers market has continued Stephanie to be a large part of the community because so many people seem to want access to fresh fruits and vegetables.

A farmers market is a pretty safe way to get outside to go shopping.

Isn't it?

>> Yes.

It's been a great asset for the community.

It's really grown over the past few years with farms and people interested in their products.

>> Okay, well you can give us updates on the wonderful things that are happening in Greenwood, because I'm sure lots of the organizations will be calling on your expertise.

We're glad that you'll share some of that information with us today.

Christopher Burtt is a relatively new member of the horticulture team, I guess.

Christopher how long have you been stationed there in Charleston working with us?

<Christopher Burtt> This April would be about two years.

<Amanda> Okay and you have a hat with a lot of tags on it, I believe.

So tell us, which counties you cover and what some of the responsibilities besides helping homeowners who have a question.

I think you also do some commercial work.

<Christopher> That is correct.

So, I cover Berkeley, Dorchester and Charleston counties.

So I not only cover the homeowners, but I also help to cover landscapers and nurseries as well, as well as being the master gardener coordinator here.

Yes, I do have a few different hats on but thankfully I have a lot of great people around here.

<Amanda> Well, you got a note from the past.

Y'all have a really active master gardener groups down there and they're always doing wonderful programs.

I'm sure they're itching to get back out.

We look forward to when we can enjoy some of the wonderful presentations they have.

Thanks being with us.

<Christopher> Thank you.

<Amanda> Terasa Lott is of course a major part of the Making It Grow team.

Every week she is so faithful about answering questions on Facebook and I think Dr John is going to give her an honorary Botany degree.

She's become quite good at playing ID.

My hat's off to you Terasa and answering questions.

Of course, Terasa is the master gardener coordinator for the state, which means that she's had to keep people calm.

They're worried about not getting their hours.

Aren't they, Terasa?

You've done a lot of hand patting.

We know that there will be plenty of opportunities when once again we can have a assemblance of normal life.

Terasa, you usually start us off with a wonderful overview of what other people in the state are doing.

Have you got some garden pictures for us today?

<Terasa Lott> I do, Amanda.

It is such a fun time each week to look and see what others are doing and I think very uplifting especially during these times of COVID precautions when our lives have been dramatically altered.

So, let's take a look.

First up, we have a photo from Lyman with frost on a pansy submitted by Sharon Merrow.

From Charleston Leslie Blanchard shared a patch of violets.

A yellow flowered Phalaenopsis orchid was shared by Sandra Hare McClendon.

Kathleen Keady posted her white flowered orchid.

If this one looks a bit strange.

I had to rotate the photograph in order to make it appear larger on the screen.

So don't worry, the floor is not actually on the side of the picture.

(giggles) We'll wrap up with a planter of pansies sent in by Kathy Hutcheson of Leesville.

We can never use all the photographs submitted, so I encourage you to visit our Facebook page where you can see all of the photos and you can post yours for submission.

Whenever we make a call, please do remember to make those photos nice and long so they fill up the TV screen.

Amanda?

>> Terasa, you have quite a few orchids at your house I think now when, you've told me the trick is to not be too - one of the things is not to be too fussy about watering them.

>> Yeah.

I mean, the Phalaenopsis anyway kind of thrive on negligence.

I water them once a week and I make sure that I allow the water to thoroughly run through, let that drain as well, so it's not sitting and I provide them with - they like kind of a lot of light but not direct light if that makes any sense and I've had great success.

>> Great!

Thank you and of course we have our own orchid nursery here in South Carolina in Newberry and I'm and when things are normal I think they even allow people to come and take tours.

So, we have a lot going on in South Carolina.

Thank you for sharing this with us, Terasa.

This time of year, we're always trying to discourage people from going out and starting to put fertilizer on their turf grass too early.

Terasa have we had some questions about what would be maybe some good things to do, maybe about tidying up our plants, that maybe we could get Christopher to help us with?

>.

I think we have a good question.

We have a viewer to express some confusion about pruning and I can understand why.

The viewer said, I still don't understand the difference between thinning cuts and heading cuts and the overall goal of pruning.

Do we have some advice?

>> Aha!

I guess a lot of it depends on - some of its personal preference but also the habit of the plant.

Some plants, come up from the bottom and then some are more structured like smaller trees.

Christopher, I'm sure there are some general tips and rules, so to speak, to follow.

So help us understand this kind of complex subject, please.

<Christopher> Absolutely, so pruning is probably one of the most common questions I get.

This is kind of the right time of year to start thinking about pruning depending on the plant.

So, really good just general rules for pruning is really the first thing you want to think about is your tools.

So to go through proper pruning, you want to make sure you have good sharp tools.

You want to make sure those tools are nice and clean.

I do want to kind of talk about how to do both of those things.

One of the things, first is I want to show a pair bypass pruners and so that name implies that the blade actually bypasses the anvil portion of the pruner versus the anvil pruners which actually cuts down onto it.

Those are meant to make bigger cuts with smaller pruners, but unfortunately they cause damage.

So, we always recommend a good sharp pair of bypass pruners.

They come in multiple different sizes.

I can definitely say I have multiple different sizes on me at all times, because it depends on the size of the cut, make sure you have the proper pruners.

When it comes to sharpening, having a good sharpening stone is kind of key.

There are tools that you can use.

Keep in mind these tools are really meant for not just the one sided blades but for the two sided blade.

A lot of times you really need something like a sharpening stone which is going to be the best use for that.

>> Christopher, if I may interrupt for just a moment, I'd like to share a tip I have.

I used to do private gardening where I'd have to spend hour after hour working on boxwoods and my hand would get sore and I found that the Felco Brand - I'm not saying that there are not others but there's one that's ergonomically designed with a swiveling handle.

That has been a great up to me and also we ought to realize that people have different sized hands.

And so I found it very valuable to go ahead and get a smaller pair designed for my smaller hand.

Then, I have a friend who is left handed and for Christmas I gave him a pair of pruners, the bypass pruners designed for people with left hands and I don't think the time but he got a go-kart for Christmas, he wasn't nearly as excited, when he was a little kid, as he was when he was a grown up and he finally got a pair of pruners for a left handed person.

So, they really can.

I think it's worth it.

...the investment of getting one that really suits you, if you're going to do a fair amount of pruning.

I just wanted to throw that in.

Thank you for letting me share that.

>> Absolutely and I do absolutely agree.

You want to make sure that you spend some time picking out the right pruners.

That's something that I've gone through 5, 6, 7 pairs to pick out the ones that feel the best for my hands.

And so I do encourage especially if you're constantly in the garden, having a good pair of pruners with you at all times and making sure those players feel good because again you tend to make quite a lot of cuts.

Not just making sure if they feel good, but also I wanted to mention you really want to make sure they're clean.

One of the things that's very important when it comes to pruning is you have to remember that you are cutting into a plant.

There's always a chance for disease.

There's always a chance for infection to get into it.

So, the best thing to do especially with plants that are disease prone is to keep a bottle of something like isopropyl alcohol.

I tend to use 70 percent.

I tend to use alcohol because it's cheaper and also it's much safer to use than something like bleach.

I don't tend to damage any my clothes with the alcohol, but you want to rinse it off, let it sit for a couple, about 10, 15 seconds and then rinse it off with water and essentially you cleaned those.

You want to kind of picture that very similarly to what a doctor would do with his scalpels or any tools he would use in a surgery room.

>> Thank you.

All right.

>> So, pruning that's kind of the basics with tools there's kind of a lot of different pruning tools.

But one of the things - you mentioned boxwoods.

So , Terasa mentioned that the heading cuts versus thinning cuts.

When it comes to most of our shrubs, especially the ones that tend to have that shrub form that grow from the bottom up, we tend to do the heading cuts where we take hedge trimmers and we just go straight across the top.

We can make a box and that's what boxwoods are really named for.

A lot of times that can be a little bit detrimental.

So, when you're doing thinning cuts - this kind of gives you an example - this is one that actually took and actually thinned.

So it doesn't look like I really pruned much, but what I did was I allowed more air, more circulation to get through the entire plant and of course when I go through it, I'm picking the branches that are crossing.

I'm picking branches that are really crowding each other out.

I go down to the next branch, to the next node and I'll cut there.

If you do decide that you want to still stick with that hedging, one of the good things, Amanda you mentioned this is once you've done that, just go through and still do some of those thinning cuts because you don't want it to kind of create a layer on the top that if you hedge too much, you'll actually find that all the growth inside the plant starts to disappear, because there's no sunlight and there's no air circulation.

>> And that can really lead to disease in insects, can't it?

Because we know that sunlight and air and movement can do so much for...health, but just like we want good ventilation and we want good sunlight at times.

I mean that is very important for the overall health of the plant, I believe.

>> Absolutely.

Probably, the best things I ever learned when it comes to gardening is the best disinfectant is sunlight.

So if you do have disease issues, a lot of times making sure there's plenty of sunlight to really help take care of it.

Now, of course, not all plants like sunlight, but sunlight is going to really help to dry things out and to help dissipate some of those disease issues absolutely.

Thank you so much.

That was a good overview and I believe we have fact sheets about heading and thinning, pruning at Clemson with some drawings.

So if somebody out there wants to delve into it a little bit more I get some reinforcement I think our Clemson H.G.I.C, pruning would be a good place to go.

One thing is we are coming up on the time when some of our areyas and forsythias will be in bloom and I think they take a different - we take a different approach to those, if I'm not mistaken.

You want to spend a minute explaining those kind of vase-shaped plants for us, please, Christopher.

>> Absolutely and I probably should mention, if you have spring blooming plants you don't want to prune them until after they're done blooming.

Things like spirea azaleas especially.

That's one we run into here in Charleston is people pruning azaleas in February and not getting any blooms in March and April and so the spring flowering shrubs and trees, you want to make sure you're pruning after they're done blooming.

Anything that's going to bloom in the summer or fall, you can do that really right now.

When it comes to the vase-shaped plants as you mentioned, I'm the best thing to do, you still don't want to do too much of that hedging.

You want to really focus more on those thinning cuts, because that way it gives it more of that airy look, absolutely.

>> And I generally end up kind of almost lying on the ground and I look inside and I'll look for the older stems sometimes, because I feel like they aren't as floriferous.

And so I'll get down and try to make a cut close to the bottom of the ground where it will send up some new shoots sometimes, the more set flowers and just keep the plant revitalized, perhaps.

>> Absolutely and one of the plants I actually did want to mention, something like a chameleon which is something that will be blooming now.

It kind of gives you an example of where the buds are and so you mentioned cutting towards the bottom.

A lot of times older stems and older branches aren't going to produce as many flowers.

They tend to reduce their quality and so a lot of times we want to cut it back after it's done blooming to allow newer shoots and newer flower buds to form and of course when you are cutting back, I mentioned cutting back to the next node and so, if you are cutting back something after flowering you see where the leaves are, right here, that's actually what's known as a node and so you want to cut above that because that's where the latent buds or the dormant buds are going to be.

And so those are going to break once that cut is made, those are going to break and you're going to get new growth coming out in different areas.

>> Okay and if there is a visible bud, not a flower bud, but what's going to be a leaf bud, you don't want to cut just like right on top of it because that might desiccate it.

Don't you want to give just a little bit of room so that callous can form and not desiccate that bud, Christopher?

>> Absolutely and as you saw with the Camellia, if it is an alternate where the leaf is only on one side, you do want to angle it away from that bud coming out, so that way you're not cutting into it.

Of course, if its opposite like the boxwoods it's kind of hard to angle it, but it is good to really make sure it's above that latent bud so that way you're not cutting into it.

>> Okay, well boy - it is interesting.

There's so much pruning to do.

It's hard to do it on time.

Mrs Whaley said and it's kind of nice because she's such an icon especially among South Carolina gardens.

Mrs Whaley's garden and she said the best time to prune is when you find yourself in the garden with some pruners and you see something that needs attention.

So, we don't have to be quite too rigid about it.

Sometimes we can just say, while I'm here I think I'll just do this.

(chuckles) Christopher we're glad that you got a wealth of knowledge to share with us.

Sure, are glad you could join us today we'll be back with you in a few minutes, Let's see if Terasa's got another question that she thinks pertinent that Stephanie might be able to help us with.

<Terasa> I do but I need to interject that I have lots of things that require some pruning so I invite Christopher to come to my yard and do a demonstration there anytime.

We do have a related question.

I think will be good for Stephanie.

Hydrangeas are popular in South Carolina, but a hydrangea...they're not all the same, we have different species and someone asked about the hydrangea paniculata.

Could those flowers be left alone or do they need to be removed right away?

<Stephanie> I have one of those hydrangea paniculata.

Actually have several in my yard.

I have the limelight hydrangea and actually I brought some of those blooms to bring in.

And you'll see on the paniculata, they have these showy bracts that dry really stiff and papery and they're very long lasting This is from our pod, just this past fall but you can leave these plants all winter long for interests and they're really quite lovely and they make a nice sound in the breeze.

And you will still have success in the next season with blooming.

You can in the end of the winter right before spring and cut those back.

I actually cut my hydrangea paniculata back to about 6 inches from the soil.

I cut them back very far so that they will come back in that season and not grow to be at around 5 feet in one season.

This is very vigorous growing.

It will grow like new wood, so paniculata is one of those hydrangea species that you can leave those old blooms on and grow winter interests all season.

<Amanda> Stephanie, there are a lot of older cultivars and then there's some new ones, the limelight series, I think is quite lovely and attractive I believe that one is under a patent, probably still.

Is that correct as far as you know?

>> Yes, limelight is still in a patent.

It's coming on it's 20 years since introduction, so once that patent expires that plant would be one that you could propagate from cuttings.

Paniculata you can do a softwood cutting from the new growth and you can reproduce your plants with cuttings but you need to wait on the limelight because right now that one is still patented and you need to check any plant that you want to get home, you need to make sure that it's not patented.

The older varieties, you could reproduce yourself at home.

>> Now, we know the mop heads, the kind of traditional ones we think of will fry if they get too much sunshine.

Are the paniculatas as picky about location or are they a little bit more adaptable.

What's been your experience?

So the paniculatas are more adaptable.

lime light in particular can take full sun and it can also take partial shade.

Actually in my yard, I have several plants and I have them in both conditions.

And so that's a very versatile trait for this one.

You don't have to have that afternoon shade, but the mop head types need that break from the sun and the heat.

So it's a little bit more tolerant of that sun and heat conditions.

>> Okay so you can enjoy those beautiful blossoms in a lot of different locations in your yard.

Couldn't you?

>>You sure can.

I do want to say if you're going to cut them and bring them in like I did, you want to wait until those bracts fill out at the tip.

You can see that they're completely unfurled and matured at the top.

If you cut them too soon, those bracts are not fully developed and they're too soft, they'll welt on you.

>> They really need to be dried I guess is what you're saying.

>> They need to be almost dried on the plant before you cut and bring them in.

<Amanda> Well, I just think that's a hydrangea that we don't think about often enough and it's just so easy.

And you don't have to worry I don't believe it takes quite as much water either if I'm not mistaken.

>> I've not had any problems with having to give it supplemental water.

They do like an evenly moist like a lot of plants, but they don't need a lot.

They're not water hogs for sure.

A low maintenance plant.

If I just have to prune it once a year, that's great.

<Amanda> At a time when a lot of people are at home, juggling children and work and everything else, it's nice to think there's something that's not going to be calling them from the garden and just requiring lots of work to still look pretty.

Thanks for sharing and telling us to not overlook these next time we're out shopping.

I appreciate it.

>> Yes, great.

We had a lovely conversation with Walter Edgar about a topic while we were on the phone, he said you ought to come out here where my dear wife and I are living now, because we just are so proud of the landscaping and he and his wife Nela have moved to Still Hopes, which is a retirement home under the auspices of the South Carolina Episcopal church.

It's right outside of Columbia.

And we went out there and Chris Spearen has taken over as the grounds crew leader and landscaper and he has done a beautiful job taking what could and had been attractive but institutional style landscape and turning it into a marvel of delight and beauty for all the residents.

♪ (folk music) ♪ <Amanda> Well, this is a real treat for me today, I'm with my fellow hosts from SCETV another host from SCETV.

Walter Edgar whom you all know.

We are at still hopes and I'm going to let Walter tell you the real name and the history of Still Hopes.

<Water Edgar> Amanda great to be with you.

This is officially the Episcopal Home and stay at Still Hopes.

It's operated by the two Episcopal Dioceses here in the state.

The real history begins about 1950 when Ms Caroline Guignard and the ladies of Trinity the Daughters of the Holy Cross, that's the women's group thought there needed to be a care place for older women.

<Amanda> Women at that time.

<Walter> Women at that time.

It took about 10 years for things to get going and then Ms Caroline Guignard and her sister Dr. Jane Bruce Guignard decided that they would leave the family home, Still Hopes to the Episcopal church.

Actually, they left it to Trinity in the sixties and it involved over ten years, but they decided to do more than just the home.

They needed to add a facility a kitchen and what have you.

It opened actually in 1977, with just seven residents.

The first seven were all ladies and if I would give you the names, they were your mama's friends, you would have known them.

But now we've got 300 residents in probably 220 units and so it's gone from just the house to a 60 acre campus.

And when our new Hopewell high rise opens up, we'll have 300 units and about 450 people.

>.

Well, Walter since you are an historian, I shared with you that Dr. Guignard who we talked earlier went to the medical school for women because that was all that was there at the time had come when my father contracted diphtheria, and had quarantined and even taken my Aunt Mary to live with her.

She was one of the first women physicians here and then neither she nor her sister married and so we were always told that Still Hopes was perhaps that they were still hoping.

>> Well, that's one of the - >> - for a knight on a white horse.

>> That's one of the rumors because there was another spinster sister.

but the Guignards had three plantations.

The first one they had was called Champs in Edgefield County, then Rising Hopes, which still exists down on the Congaree River and then Still Hopes and the family will tell you that people were still hoping to make something out of agriculture in difficult times.

> And of course this is a brick building and we associate that with the Guignard family.

>> Yes of course.

They had Guignard Brickworks down there on the banks of the Congaree.

Since I do some gardening, I can tell you with the sand and clay, I know why they had better luck with the brickyard than they did with trying to grow cotton.

>> Walter you now are a resident here with your second wife.

You unfortunately lost your first wife.

And you told me about the wonderful transformation of the grounds.

And so I'm going to speak with Chris Spearen who has caused this beautiful transformation and I want to thank you so much for telling me what a marvelous job he's done and arranging for us to come and visit today.

>> It's my pleasure and I hope to talk to you soon.

♪ ♪ >> After all Walter Edgar's description of Chris Spearen's horticulture skills, you can see why we come here to learn from him, today.

Chris tell us what your position here is at Still Hopes and how you learned to be such a creative gardener.

Well, my title here is landscape supervisor and myself my crew we do all of the landscaping and garden maintenance here on the campus.

So, everything and anything associated with gardening is what we do here from turf grass management to laying out the vegetable gardens all the flower beds, choosing plants, planting and the maintenance of all that.

It's what we do on a day to day basis and my history with gardening here in South Carolina goes back several decades, almost to the point where I've been doing professional gardening in public settings for about 20 years.

>> Walter said that until you came that there was very well maintained an attractive landscaping that it was relying on just kind of a few standard plants.

>> That's right, a lot of the landscaping here was monochromatic.

It was the same selections of let's say azaleas or Loropetalums or Japanese Hollies.

Anyone that is serious about gardening in South Carolina knows you can do so much more than that.

For instance I have been utilizing a lot more varieties of Camellias of hydrangeas, other woody plants, palms, so many different kinds of evergreens and then mixing in and incorporating all sorts of perennials with different colors and textures.

Not only the flowers for the foliage too, to create something that is aesthetically pleasing your round and really the same kind of maintenance time associated with this landscape to something that's monochromatic.

<Amanda> I think since the residents here mostly had been gardeners and they certainly appreciate having things that are more like what they would enjoy doing themselves and coming out and appreciating.

Let's start actually with as you drive in, it is does not look like the women of Altar Guild at Trinity designed your entrance.

(both laugh) <Chris> There's some bold colors and patterns out there.

<Amanda> Talk about what's in there.

<Chris> One of my favorite plants is a plant called Farfugium japonicum.

>> For the agriculture and horticulture sometimes tractor seed plant.

>> That's right.

That's right It basically it kind of almost looks like an evergreen hosta..

It has big rounds lossy leaves and then it also has a wonderful yellow daisy like flowers in the fall and winter time and then I combine that with different textures like there's a Carex out there yellow evergreen Carex or a sedge called everillo.

And that combination of bright yellow with the glossy boldly leaves is quite striking.

And then you can see that around this the use of vegetables in our flower beds too.

A lot of the different kinds of lettuce and kale that we grow it's not only edible but they're beautiful plants.

So I like to utilize winter vegetables and herbs with my pansies and violas and snap dragons and everything else.

and just give the landscape a little bit more diversity in color texture.

>> Well and yard art which is related to the actual plants is a specialty of yours.

You love to make castings of elephant ear.

>> Yep.

One person described me as having the gift of gaud, like gaudiness.

(both laugh) >> Yes.

Behind me here are some leaf castings that myself and my staff did.

We basically took some elephant ears laid them on sand, mixed up some concrete, poured it over the leaf let it cure for a few days.

We flipped it over, peeled the leaf off, left a perfect imprint.

We painted them in, threw in some colored pumpkins and POW!

<Amanda> Throughout the campus, we see that and it's fun.

It just brightens it, makes you feel like coming to a retirement home might sound a little bit grim, but it puts you in the mood of people who are having a wonderful life experience.

>> Absolutely and that's one of my favorite things.

I'm here to serve our residents, but my interactions with our residents, it's wonderful.

A lot of them were plants men and plants women before they came here to retire.

And we have wonderful conversations on a daily basis.

We talk about the plants they love and use.

<Amanda> Well let's go back to number four, building number four, where when you came it was a hedge of Juniper, I guess, far taller than I am.

And that was all that was there and I think that immediately hit the chainsaw.

<Chris> Yes indeed.

Building four, which is called our McDowell building is one of our focal entry points for residents and guests.

It was essentially just swallowed up by this giant evergreen juniper hedge that was 6,7 feet tall.

So we ripped all that out and started from scratch and utilizing the same theme of working with colors and textures and seasonality of plants, we put in a mixed bag of different kinds of shrubs.

<Amanda> Let's talk about the fact that right now you've got three woody perennials.

<Chris> I've got the gold Aurinias <Amanda> Yes.

<Chris> I've got Purple Loropetalums and then I've got a grayish blue rosemary.

<Amanda> Your vision is that eventually you'll have that kind of hedge down the road.

<Chris> Absolutely.

So that whole area was planted just this past summer.

But my idea for the back of one of those beds is to have that evergreen hedge that will be different colors and textures.

I'll allow the plants to get around three to four feet tall and start the hedge them into a solid hedge.

I think it would be nice.

>> You and I have talked about the fact you're not going to shear, you're going to punch holes because shearing if you don't go in and punch some holes to allow for air and sunshine you end up with unhappy plants and I've got a lot of experience.

One of my mentors, her name is Tommy Moody.

She is a wonderful gardener and she actually taught me that technique when I was in my 20s.

She had all sorts of boxwoods throughout her garden and she was very, very meticulous about how to prune, window prune those and so she showed me that technique of like you're saying punching holes in little areas so you can kind of hide a little bit with strategic pruning to allow light and air flow into the interior of the shrubs in the hedges.

>> Well, you've got some other wonderful things that won't last through the winter but that fuchsia, good heavens!

I mean the salvia.

<Chris> That's right.

The cultivar name on that one is called rocking fuchsia.

It's a tall about a three and a half to four foot tall salvia and that thing is a blooming machine.

It was blooming when we planted it back in April and so in November and it has no signs of slowing down.

It's a great plant.

The homeowners love it.

<Amanda> Then you got some fall color.

You got some pansies and purple elephant ears.

<Chris> That's right.

<Amanda> It is just a wonderful riot of colors but it blends very successfully with different textures and colors and I can't wait to see how it evolves over time.

As we walk up towards the door, you've got two marvelous containers that are sitting on I guess I call them river rocks?

<Chris> Yes ma'am.

Mexican beach stone - <Amanda> Okay.

A better word for it.

<Chris> But I had basically framed in an area where I put that decorative stone and then put my planters in the center and they're matching planters I mean this side, so there's symmetry there kind of walking up towards the door.

In those planters.

I've got wonderful bottlebrush shrubs and then some of the yellow Carex.

I've got the Purple Tristania the one that trails over the pots and it looks nice.

<Amanda> You've got the surprise, surprise, surprise.

We have succulents and cactus.

<Chris> That's right and that's one of the things I'm a huge fan of using those types of plants.

I've been fortunate enough to travel throughout the southeastern U.S. into northern Mexico.

So, I've brought back a lot of plants from my travels and succulents are one of them.

I adore them because in the right spot they require literally zero maintenance.

You don't have to water them.

Occasionally, I go and clean up any of the dead, but they're great plants, very low maintenance and they provide wonderful color and texture.

<Amanda> The prickly pear cactus that you have is not prickly.

Tell me a little bit about that.

<Chris> That one is called Old Mexico.

It's kind of like a pass along plant from the desert southwest and it is virtually spineless.

And I found some of it growing in an abandoned parking lot and took some of it threw out in my luggage and brought it home.

>> It didn't ruin your clothes because it didn't - >> That's right.

I've spread that plant out in a couple of different places around the campus.

It's easy to root.

I just pluck off one of the pads and let it kind of callous over and then stick it in the ground Three months later, it's rooted.

<Amanda> Tell me what you've done when the pads get real big.

>> I'll carve smiley faces on them (both laugh) Or I tried to do a peace sign one time but that didn't work.

and then also carve the H. and I. for Hi!

So, little things like that <Amanda> I think one of the residents had the sculpture leaves and asked if you could incorporate them and of course you did.

<Chris> Oh yeah!

I love working with my residents here with all sorts of creative ideas.

<Amanda> Where we're sitting right in front of the mansion there had been a very, very large oak that declines and y'all removed that and replaced it with- <Chris> A gingko tree.

That's right.

It's a male so it won't produce any of the fruit but we only have two other ginkgo trees on the campus, right here in the mansion was a great place for one.

They have some of the best fall color, albeit short lived.

But even the bark, the structure of the tree is quite lovely.

And we were able to source one that's a good 14 to 15 feet tall.

It's already got some size on it and I look forward to watching it grow.

<Amanda> Then around the edge, I just can't believe the variety of plant material you got, it's just wonderful.

You can't stop using elephant ears but that's fun.

That's right.

Then you've got a guava for some color you've got some Chamaecyparis.

Tell me some of the other plants that are your favorites that you managed to install and blend together so harmoniously.

<Chris> One of my favorite plants it's a perennial.

It's called muelle grass or sea grass is another common name.

It's a fall bloomer.

<Amanda> A native.

<Chris> Yes.

Their blooms almost look like floating cotton candy in the air.

It provides movement in the garden with the wind.

It blows around and it looks rather attractive.

I love the textures.

I love the bold and the fine textures of like you were saying the Chamaecyparis, the Gold Mop Cypress mixed with the pineapple guava that's a bluish gray mixed with some Purple Cordylines, Yellow Ligustrums I've got a Goshiki False Holly which is a tea olive relative.

Rosemary.

I've got papyrus, some European fan palms, all sorts of things.

<Amanda> It really is delightful.

And because it is a South Carolina campus around on the other side of the parking lot you still have some wonderful azaleas that we all love so much.

<Chris> We have a mix of all sorts of azaleas.

We have the Encore Azaleas Then we have the traditional Formosa Azaleas.

We have Pride of Mobile.

<Amanda> Yes, which Walter Edgar would want you to have since that's his home city.

>> That's right.

So we have a good mix of the traditional and non-traditional.

<Amanda> You said you have noticed that with the warmer weather we're having year after year the pruning is more demanding than it has been and you got fig vine in places and things that have to be sheared at times and pruned.

Y'all are very conscious about not wasting things.

You've got as we look down the hill we look into a beautiful wooded area.

And so tell me what you do to improve this clay, sandy soil.

<Chris> Well I've been composting just as long as I've been gardening even from when I was a child and one of the first things I implemented was a program to compost a lot of our cuttings or trimmings from pruning a lot of the old pine straw and leaf litter that we rake out and very quickly we were able to make some pretty large mounds we have to turn with the big Bobcat.

I started that composting about two and a half years ago.

We're at a point when we have usable compost to renovate large areas.

We can bring in several cubic yards of fresh compost when we do a new planting.

So, this is all house made.

It reduces, reuses and recycles.

And I enjoy it.

It makes the plants healthy.

Healthy plants and healthy gardens are definitely built from the roots up.

So it's made a dramatic impact on the health of our collections.

>> Talking about the health of things, shown in the past, as every body in the South has, you used crepe myrtles extensively and you have now had the unfortunate outbreak on your campus of the crepe myrtle bark scale.

That means that you're going to have to treat those every year.

<Chris> Yes ma'am.

We actually found one tree recently brought and implanted.

<Amanda> Probably came from the nursery.

<Chris> Right and we immediately, we took that tree out we destroyed it.

But it's just a matter of time before it spreads around the campus.

So we're being preemptive and we're treating all of the crepe myrtles with a with a systemic insecticide it's called safari.

It'll take it up through the roots and it will prohibit their crepe myrtle bark scale from from taking hold of other crepe myrtles.

<Amanda> You said you are cautiously figuring out the proper time to apply it so have the least affect on any pollinators that come later, but also you decided not to plant anymore that you're going to start using Chaste trees.

>> Yes ma'am.

Chaste trees are vitex.

that would be a good alternative in my opinion.

<Amanda> Wonderful pollinator plant.

>> That's right.

That's right But in my opinion we should hold off on planting any more crepe myrtles until we have a full understanding of the pest pressure associated with this new insect.

And we've got plenty of crepe myrtles in the meantime.

We have nearly a hundred.

So we've got plenty here.

<Amanda> You do continuity even though you do like to change things around and plant kale and all kinds of stuff and parsley.

But there is continuity.

You have a beautiful magnolias.

You have beautiful camellias and cypress things that you would expect to see throughout the south and are used very effectively here <Chris> I love all those plants.

I love the history behind them.

I love the variety in color, the different blooming cycles through Sasanquas to the Japonicas.

I love the fragrance of like august gardenias.

And tea olive, of course you got tea olive everywhere.

<Chris> That's right.

Tea olive is probably my favorite shrub.

A gentleman by the name of Ted Stevens, he owns a nursery in North Augusta.

He's been able to introduce all these newer varieties of tea olives, somewhat variegated foliage.

To me, tea olives have the most heavenly fragrance.

I tell people when I die and go to heaven, the gates of heaven are going to smell like tea olives.

I truly love them.

<Amanda> I truly love what you've done here and what I've heard.

So, do the residents.

They see things that remind them of their own gardens and they learn about new plants and gardeners always want to be on the cutting edge.

You have certain provided a marvelous way for people to keep their gardening knowledge up to the standards here.

Thank you so much for what you done and for letting us come and visit.

>> You're welcome.

I appreciate your visit.

♪ (folk music) ♪ I want to thank Walter Edgar for telling us about the beauty at Still Hopes and Chris Spearen for spending an afternoon sharing his wonderfully creative ideas.

I just love the smiley faces on the prickly pear patch, the non prickly prickly pear cactuses and other fun things that he's done out there.

My sister and her husband went out one Sunday and parked.

Of course there's no visiting or anything going on, but the ground are so spacious that they are able to take a short stroll and see some of the beauty.

I want to give everybody a heads up that later on this year, we're going to see the garden Walter Edgar established at his new property out there.

It's a delightful garden, as well.

Terasa, this time of year we all are thinking, it's going to be nice and we'll be out there working in the garden but planning your garden can be a lot more important than actually going out there and digging in the soil, sometimes.

There's some questions that might be important before you actually start the groundwork.

<Terasa> Yes, Amanda we had someone to write us that indicated she had been kind of dabbling in gardening here and there but never really serious and would like to get a little bit more serious about it now having some more time to spend to dedicate to gardening, has a small lawn, as well as some landscape beds and a little bit of a vegetable garden and says "I hate to admit it but I "have never conducted a soil sample.

Could you tell "me what I need to do to get off on the right foot?"

<Amanda> Why is soil sampling so important?

>> Absolutely, so one of the things we always say in Extension is that no matter what the question is, have you taken a soil sample and if not please do.

Soil samples are extremely important.

Soil is kind of the basis for all our plants to grow in.

We really want to know what's in there and what's going on.

Soil samples tell us a lot of different things.

The first, perhaps the most important is the PH.

That PH is really going to affect how plants take up nutrients, certain plants prefer certain PHs It tells us the macro and micro nutrients, all of which are extremely important in plant growth.

So, the soil sample will tell you what you can fertilize with and what you should avoid fertilizing with, not to add too much.

<Amanda> Once, I can remember that it seemed to me that were one of the macro nutrients that was just always coming back kind off the charts and it has a lot to do with what Terasa had originally started with with was water quality.

Could you talk a bit about how we coming with these huge phosphorus numbers and why it seems to persist so much, where some of the nitrogen other things seem to dissipate more quickly.

>> Yes, so phosphorus is one of those macro nutrients all plants require, but unfortunately it tends to stick around in the soil.

So, a lot of times when we're adding our complete fertilizers, our 10-10-10s we're just constantly adding phosphorus when plants aren't needing as much of it is as some of the other things.

Of course nitrogen dissipates very quickly.

And potassium is one of those very necessary ones where it gets used up quite a lot, and phosphorus tends to stick around in the soil.

>> Then there will be some Cation-exchange Capacity which sounds way too hard to understand, but that kind of gives us an idea possibly of the amount of organic matter which can make a big difference in our soil, I believe.

>> Yes and that the CEC, which is one that comes with every standard test.

We don't tend to have very high numbers here in South Carolina.

What that number just means is how well is your soil going to hold on to those nutrients once you add it.

So you want that number to be at least in the double digits if not higher, but generally most of the soil samples I get back in Charleston tend to be single digit 6, 7, which is really not ideal.

We want to see that go a little higher.

Organic matter is one of the best ways to increase that number.

It does take quite a lot of time, but adding organic matter is pretty much the go to no matter what your soil test tells you.

>> Is there a place at Clemson H.G.I.C where we can get instructions on how to properly take the soil sample and are we bringing them to the office or do we check with each individual office to find out what to do?

>> So, yes there are a number of fact sheets, not only about how to take a soil test, but also how to interpret the soil test when you get it back.

Unfortunately right now a lot of the county offices are closed.

So we are recommending check with your local extension office and check with them and figure out what's the best way that they are receiving samples.

We are trying to get a little bit creative in how we're being able to transfer those samples to the lab.

>> And then when you get your results, you can call your local extension office or call H.G.I.C.

and they will help you with interpretation, because sometimes you feel like you need guidance.

>> Yes, yes and I encourage, if you have questions about your soil samples contact your local horticulture agent or H.G.I.C.

We're always happy to help.

>> So we always say "Don't guess, soil test" and I guess we should also say don't guess about your soil test results.

Thank you, Christopher.

>> Thank you.

>> Terasa, it's chilly once I go outside and start working hard in the garden, I'm ready for something refreshing when I come inside and I believe that iced tea is the state beverage, the hospitality beverage or something like that.

Do people like two grow mint or are they worried about having it take over their gardens?

Do you think we could get some help from Stephanie?

>> Well I don't think it has to be either, or, people might want to grow it, but look for tips on how to contain it.

We had exactly that question.

Someone wanted to know, how can I incorporate into my yard but keep it from taking over.

>> Stephanie, why is mint sometimes considered kind of a thug in the garden> What is it about the way that it grows and what recommendations do you have?

>> Well mint can be very aggressive in the garden even though it's very enjoyable to grow and enjoy.

It's actually spread through these underground structures called rhizomes.

I have a little piece here to show you and so those rhizomes creep under the soil away from the plant wherever you placed it and they can go away as far as three to four feet away from the location where you started with that plant.

So, mint does have a reputation of being a bully in the garden and taking over, You can remedy that with some barriers in your garden.

You can put an around the mint.

Put that about six to eight inches deep.

Keep those rhizomes from creeping away on you.

You can contain that planting area for your mint.

>> I got some flashing and cut it and I put it pretty deep down so you can't just put it like an inch or two.

You have to really go after it and make it a good deep place to insert that containing material.

Is that what you're telling us?

>> Yes, cause those rhizomes, they tend to go pretty shallow but they can go deep when they hit something that's interacting their girth.

They can climb under things and around.

I have mint that's grown between the boards in the raised garden bed.

So, they can be pretty persistent.

>> I guess you could get a pot and just keep it in a pot, even sink the pot if you wanted to and let it go that way.

>> Yes.

That's a good example of a way to keep it contained and then just keep it in an area you want it.

You can use a plow, 14, 16 inch pot plant your mint in there and sink it in the ground and you'll have the appearance you want in your herb garden, you'll keep that mint contained.

>> Okay.

I want to thank all of y'all so much for joining us.

Stephanie we're so happy to have you as a first timer I hope you'll come back again and I don't think we saw your kitty cat.

I met it earlier when we were talking.

I hope she'll make an appearance next time.

I want to thank everyone for watching, being with us tonight.

We hope you'll join us next week on Making It Grow.

Night Night.

♪ (closing music) ♪ Making it Grow is brought to you in part by the South Carolina Department of Agriculture.

Certified South Carolina grown helps consumers identify, find and buy South Carolina products.

McLeod Farms in McBee, South Carolina.

This family farm offers seasonal produce including over 22 varieties of peaches.

Additional funding provided by International Paper and the South Carolina Farm Bureau Federation and Farm Bureau Insurance.