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

I'm your host, Tinisha Spain, and joining me today out on friends Plaza are two of my friends, Ella and Jim.

So we'll have them introduce themselves, and then we're going to take off.

So tell us a little bit about you.

Well, I'm Ella Maxwell.

I'm a Master Gardener from Tazwell County and a horticulturist, and I'm kind of free, tired, and I love gardening, and can answer all kinds of questions.

Excellent.

All right, Jim.

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

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

Excellent, and they brought a ton of stuff to share with you today.

So we're just going to jump right in.

We got a lot of questions that came in on Facebook, so thank you guys for sending those in.

But we're going to start with one about cannas.

This is from Valerie.

She wants to know if you can grow cannas from the seeds that they produce.

So okay, I brought a Canna that is currently flowering.

This is a Canova Canna, one of the shorter, more compact varieties, but it can set seed.

And so this is what the seed pod would look like as they begin to dry, and the seeds are very interesting in that they look like little black babies.

So I have had we recycle or compost our Canna waste when we cut them down in the fall, and I've actually had cannas germinate in in my compost.

So I know that you can grow them from seed.

But I wanted to know more, so I looked it up online.

And the thing about the can of seed here is that it has a very hard seed coat, so for moisture to penetrate, because that's the first thing that starts growth.

The seed coat has to be abraded, and that's something called scarification.

And so what you do is you can just take sandpaper and you can rub these little seeds on the sandpaper, and it begins to wear away on the seed coat.

And then you would soak them in some water overnight, and hopefully the moisture will penetrate through that seed coat and start the germination process.

And then you can plant the seeds, they have no other dormancy.

Now I was reading somebody said you could make a little box with sandpaper and shake it.

I thought that was kind of dumb, so I made, I took a little pill bottle and lined it with also with sandpaper, and then you just give it a shake.

Give it a shake.

But nothing beats old fashioned.

Now, do you have to do that all the way around, or just one side, just one side enough for moisture to penetrate, and you could check to see if this works.

What I'd recommend is folding some up in a little damp paper towel, putting them in a Ziploc plastic bag and letting them sit on top of the bridge is my secret spot.

There you go and see if they were moist enough to germinate.

If not, you might have to go back and do it a second time.

Do it again, but I think it could work.

I'm going to try it now.

The thing to remember is that this is a hybrid.

I have no idea if the seed will give a plant similar to the parent, so I'm going to be interested to see how this works.

It'll be a surprise.

Yes.

Thank you very much.

Okay, so you, Jim, you brought some poisonous plants from the landscape, which is good to talk about, because this is very timely.

Well, this is a plant that produces a large number of seeds.

This is called pokeberry.

An interesting story about pokeberry is that as a kid, I was about four years old, and I was sitting on the wood pile in in northeastern Ohio, we had a small farm, and I was eating these things.

I come into the house, and my mother said, What have you been eating?

And I told her, it was great.

She said, No, no, no, those are not grapes.

My mother, being a nurse, knew what to do.

She said, those are pork berries.

You could die.

So she grabs a cup, and she puts in a bunch of baking soda and warm water.

She takes me to the bathroom, and she says, You gotta vomit this up.

So I drank the soda water, and it's not my favorite beverage ever.

Boy, oh boy.

And the up.

Comes this beautiful froth in the toilet bowl.

I mean, it was just beautiful.

These are really pretty.

You know, the stain from these and Ellen, you're going to talk about the stain, right, right?

Yeah.

Pokeberry is has a natural dye.

And you can see that Jim and I, our fingers are already this beautiful purple color.

But what I found out about the berries is that it's a fugitive dye in that it will not it's really pretty permanently stain, unless you do something to the fabric to make the these these colors stick.

And you can also change and make the dye better by adding vinegar.

So I did try this as a natural dye, and unfortunately it did not work.

Okay.

Now question, are these mildly toxic to skin?

Do people need to take special care when handling I've heard that it is somewhat toxic, particularly the berries are not that toxic, but the leaves are.

So my feeling here might if you're allergic and what's really toxic is a root, the root of the pokeberries, really.

But you know who would be eating the root?

I think it's oxalates, isn't it?

Yes, it is an oxalate poison.

Yes, yes, but hope Berry is harvested early in the spring as a salad green, and if it is cooked, it is then edible.

Now they I also read about rhubarb.

Rhubarb also has an oxalate in its leaves, and it's very poisonous as well, yes, but it does make a die.

Who knew?

Who knew?

But you know, Ellen with that, you gotta take that water off when you boil the the spring sprouts of this, you gotta rinse it, rinse that, and then put another bunch of new water in, and then boil that, and then do that about three times before you eat it.

Yeah, don't worry about it.

Don't worry anyway.

That's the pokeberry.

And this is the immature dairy as you can see there.

It's a beautiful plant, really.

In England, they say they use this as an ornamental.

Well, I have a variegated one, and I let it grow every year because it comes back from Yeah, yeah.

Anyway, the robins and the Catbirds love the berries.

Now they're able to eat it.

No toxic effect to them, but we can, as humans, we can enjoy them real quick.

Jim, while we're talking to you, there was a question that came in, and my laptop is not working right now.

There was a question that came in about bringing indoor plants back inside now that it's the end of the summer, and not wanting to take insects in with you.

So what do you recommend for that?

I think, if I would be I think I'd use a soap spray.

I agree, you know, just to spray, be sure you silk spray under the underside of those as well.

Yes, I would, just as a, you know, a caution.

But, and, you know, Ellen, and you're familiar with this, the company Bonide, B, O, N, i, d, e, has a vast number of products for the homeowner.

It's one of the companies that has a vast product selection.

So they do have this soap spray you can buy from Bonide.

But other you're probably yes, insecticidal soap is manufactured for insect control.

It is a safe product you don't want to make up the Dawn dishwashing, you know, kind of homemade recipe, it's better to buy a a product that is labeled and that you can follow the directions.

That's what we as Master Gardeners would certainly recommend.

Okay, all right, we had another question about lilac dropping leaves, right?

Talk about that.

Dropping leaves is one thing, but getting blooms this time of year is another.

So for the common lilacs, the old fashioned French lilacs, they are very prone to a lot of leaf spot diseases, and they also have a relatively poor root system and can suffer from a lot of over and underwatering problems as such.

So this year, my old fashioned lilacs lost all their leaves early about maybe starting about a month ago, and people were talking about that.

And what happens is the lilacs make their flower buds in the early summer after the flower.

Flower is done.

So here was the flower from Spring.

Here was where there was a flower bud, and you can see it's blooming out of sequence.

So a lot of people have been seeing this, and they will probably still stay alive next spring, you'll just have reduced flowering.

But it's just wonderful to be able to cut and to, yes, enjoy a lilac re blooming.

Now there are a couple varieties.

There's a Bloomerang that is been bred to re bloom, but it doesn't really have the scent as nice, or as nice of flowers that you might get with these kind of rogue flowering plants, and you might see this with Magnolia, crabapple, any of the early spring blooms, if the plant goes through stress, then we get some cooler temperatures, the shorter days will be Again, mimicked in the spring, and they think it's time to bloom, interesting.

So those little buds there, those will not survive the winter.

Yes, they will, okay, yeah, they'll probably survive the winter and be leaf buds for next year.

Gotcha, okay, but there will be no flower on this particular branch.

Gotcha.

Okay, all right, Jim, we're back to you with more plants.

Well, this is a condition I'm sure a lot of people are seeing on their white pine, you get discoloration yellow needles and they drop.

But this is perfectly normal.

There's no insects that's causing any damage to that, so I wouldn't worry about that.

Okay, anything else you'd like to share on those while we're not on the white pine.

I do have this flower here, which I think is really a pretty little flower.

It's native.

It's called jewelweed.

And the hummingbirds absolutely love this thing.

Interesting too.

It has a seed pod here that these are not mature enough, but if you squeeze those things, they spout, they send their seeds all over the place.

So it's a common plant.

It looks like a little orchid.

I really think it's a pretty little plant with orange flowers.

Jewelry, jewelry, yeah, very that jewelweed that you can take the leaves from jewelweed, it grows kind of in the same place where stinging nettles grow.

So if you got stinging nettles on you, you can macerate the leaves and rub that on the edge from the nettles, and it's supposed to go away.

And I agree it does.

It does work for you.

You know, I use the whole stem because the stem has more juice.

Oh, okay, or juice, but you can do that for poison ivy or nettles.

It does help.

Oh, excellent.

Okay, well, helpful.

There we go.

All right.

Well, back to you, Ella.

I brought a pepper plant just for our producer here for DJ.

This is a habanata pepper.

So it looks like a habanero, but it has no heat, so you can see that it starts out as a little green pepper, and then when it's ripe, it's orange.

So I'm going to share one.

Would you like to try it right here on the program?

Yeah, it's a habanata.

Would it taste good with ranch?

Oh, it'd be delicious with ranch.

There really is very little heat with it, but it's, we've been looking all over for it, so we're growing it in a pot, and I'm going to try to overwinter it indoors, so that next year I can have an even bigger one.

So that's interesting, but you can see the progression of the ripening of the peppers.

And I had seen on Facebook that they talked about the red jalapenos, that if you let a green one go and ripen, fully ripen, you can get red, and it does really enhance the flavor.

So I brought aren't this really hot?

Though, these are hot.

Now, these in my hands are hot.

We're not going to eat those on camera, because what Wait, what is that show where hot ones?

Is that it?

I don't know.

This is Serrano.

And so I personally like the red ones.

I think they're a little a little sweeter, but they do have the heat.

And then this is one that we grow.

This is a Shishito Pepper.

This is more like a Korean or, I think it's Korean pepper, and when it's fully ripe, you can see that it goes from green to red.

Now in the store, this is where you'd find it at, like the international market.

But have you fried these?

I'm.

Yes, you could saute them.

Usually I would take out the membrane and the seeds, because that's even hotter.

And then the last little one, this is the hottest one.

This is chili de Arbo.

It's called rat's tail.

And this is it when it's red, and this is it when it's green.

And this would be one that you would just, you know, kind of chop up maybe, yes, yes.

This is 2500 Scoville, you know.

So it's really interesting that if you leave a green pepper on your plant, it will eventually turn either red, orange or yellow when it's fully ripe.

And I, of course, like to buy the colored peppers in the stores, and I really like the little snacking colored peppers best.

Yes, same.

All right, Jim.

We are back to you.

Well, I brought in another poisonous plant, and it's in bloom at this time of year, in very early fall.

This is called snake root, and it's really a very beautiful little bloom on snake root.

But the story behind this is that in the early 1800s Nancy Hanks, that was Abraham Lincoln's mother died because she drank milk from a cow that ate this that potent, huh?

Yes.

So if you have any cattle, don't let them eat snakeroot.

And I have, I live out in the country, and it's just all over the place, yeah, very, very, very common, but it's a beautiful flower when you look at a close snake root.

So anyway, that's a story.

You just don't want to let your cows eat snake root at the end of the day.

Keep in mind, this is something, again, I love food so you can eat.

And these are two native North American fruits.

This is a pawpaw.

And these are from my trees.

And I have a little pawpaw right here.

It has a tropical like leaf.

It's just really a lovely small tree, and it requires two different Paw Paws to cross pollinate.

And the raccoons love these, so they usually get them before I do, but you can peel them and they have this beautiful yellow flesh that is very custard like and then what's most interesting to me is saving the seeds, because I have successfully germinated them.

So here's the little seed that's inside.

Now, the important thing to remember is the seed has to be kept moist and cool.

You need that is called stratification.

So this seed I actually wrap in damp paper towels and put it in the refrigerator, and then probably around Oh, February or March, I'm going to winter sow them outside, and then they'll germinate.

The same is with the persimmon.

So this is the American persimmon, and persimmon seeds are the same way.

I haven't taken off all of the now.

We did see how you could do that with tomato seeds, right?

And mine are pretty gross, right now, right?

Well, it's just easier to put these under some running water and take the the the rest of that gelatinous fruit off.

But again, you can store them in a damp paper towel in the refrigerator to give them the the the reproducing, the wintering that it needs for the dormancy of these seeds before they will germinate.

Now, Eleanor, I got to ask you about the paw paw I have several paw paw trees, but I heard that you have to have a several of them.

Well, the thing about Paw Paws is that they can become monoclonal so that means that one paw paw sends out these surface roots that sends up all these little trees, but they're genetically identical, and they cannot cross pollinate.

So when we planted our Paw Paws, we bought some some different grafted varieties to get that cross.

That's what I need to do, because mine never produce any fruit, right?

Well, that's what you need to do.

The same way with the persimmon.

Unfortunately, there's male and female trees as well.

You don't know what you're getting, but these are there's.

Are ripening a little early because of the dryness, I believe, because usually you let them go through a frost, and they're supposed to be sweeter and better and be sure that you don't eat them when they're immature.

Oh yeah, puckered up all right, Jim, did we get through all of yours?

Or do you still have another Well, I just we haven't talked about mention this flower right now.

This is called, What's this?

Wing, foot wing for wing.

Wing, foot, wing stem, too.

Yeah, wingstem.

You see the stem here has got several wing one, it's blooming at this time of year and early fall.

It's just about done, though, blooming.

It's rather pretty little thing.

And then, of course, golden rod, which I think is really beautiful, such a bad reputation.

Yeah, all wrong about both so many different varieties, or, I mean, species, different species across the United States.

That's true.

They're really pretty, though, yeah, but that's the Canada golden rod.

The kind of weedier, spreadier they do tend to be a little bit aggressive though, yeah, but you can control them.

It's, it's not one that I dislike at all.

I actually, I made a dye out of its flowers as well.

Getting back to this, how do you make the die out of this one.

Well, I just took scissors and cut off that stem with the fruit, yeah, and then I put it in a small amount of water, and I had a large amount of fruit, and I put in three tablespoons of vinegar, was about a quarter of a cup, and I cooked it on the stove.

And then, you know, you macerate them.

They break down, and then you strain it through like a chip, and then it will retain the color.

It will help to retain the color.

But you do have to mordent your fabric, and that's using a special type of additive to the cotton.

There's only two really fabrics you can dye a a cellulose which is cotton or linen, or a protein fiber, which is silk or wool, and so it's, it's really interesting, but and then you can use modifiers.

I learned so much about natural dye.

Have to come back, and we'll have to just do a whole show on Oh, that would be fun.

Let's see if we can get one more question in Dahlia wintercare.

This is from Karen Hoyt shirts.

She says, I tried growing dahlias for the first time last year, attempted to unsuccessfully save the tubers over the winter, just bought another one, and wondering if she should just let it die back at the end of the season, or put the whole pot in the basement.

What are your thoughts there?

Put the whole pot, but don't put it in your basement.

Dahlias are one bulb that appreciate warmer winter storage, or at least that's what I found.

I store them, not in the pot, but shake the dirt off.

I don't wash them off, but I store them in a box in a closet upstairs.

Okay, actually, in the house, yes.

Now Karen, she can give us the lowdown on Canna storage, because she's the queen.

Okay.

Did we get through all of your show and tells?

We didn't talk about the Buckeyes?

Did we?

They're not Buckeyes.

These are Chinese chestnuts, so this is edible.

This is, again, for you foragers out there.

There are so many cool books and interesting things and yeah, don't go for the pokeweed, because you're going to have to throw it up.

But with the Chinese chestnuts, these, you can score them, boil them, and then you can roast them.

You know, they're really good.

I love these things.

Oh, well, good.

I have not tried them yet, but there is a tree near where I live.

And the thing about them, the American Chestnut, which has kind of, it's not extinct there.

There's actually millions of them, but it's not commonly found.

But the Chinese chestnut is resistant to this disease, but both of them have a spine covering their fruit.

That is like a dangerous weapon.

I should have brought that too, because it's like, needles.

Oh, wow, yeah, they're really, really, I mean, you have children or pets, gotcha you want to go somewhere else to find these.

I really, like, okay, that's so bad.

That's the show guys.

Yeah.

Thank you guys so much for coming in.

Thank you so much for watching.

If you've got questions, send them in to us at yourgarden@gmail.com, and we will see you next time you.