>>We have a lot of community science initiatives that observe different plants or different animals and their seasonal changes.

Depending on what people like to observe, there is a program for that; I almost guarantee it >>Everywhere you look there's something to do, but, you know, nothing really has to be done in nature.

But if we didn't prune, it wouldn't be a garden.

It's not like you have to control everything, but gardening sort of is control.

>>Production funding for Virginia Home Grown is made possible by.

(bird chirping) (upbeat music) >>Welcome to the new season of Virginia Home Grown, and we are so excited to have both of us in the studio.

This month, we're talking about the signs of spring, and how they are signals we need to follow as well as document, Keith.

>>Well, I'm so thrilled to be in the studio with you, Peggy.

>>Yes.

>>And we are always welcoming your questions through our website, vpm.org/vhg.

A little later in the show, I'll be visiting Leslie Harris's garden in Charlottesville to talk with her about strategies for pruning the early spring garden.

Peggy, where are we off to first?

>>Well, we're going to Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, to talk with Laurel Matthew about phenology, something not very many people know about.

So, let's get going.

>>Here we are at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden on a beautiful early spring day surrounded by flowers.

So special, but these flowers tell you more than just Springs coming.

>>These flowers here on the Bellflower cherry and the other spring blooming trees are telling me to get up and start observing nature because big changes are about to happen.

>>Exactly.

And why do you wanna take that time to observe nature though?

>>I mean, I think it's important to understand the interconnected and seasonal changes of the plants and animals in the world around us in general, but also because the timing of those life cycle events is so important between the organisms to make sure we have a healthy ecosystem.

And so making observations on those seasonal changes really contributes to a better understanding.

>>[Peggy Singlemann] Absolutely.

I mean, I grew up knowing that when the shadbush bloom, the shad were running in the Hudson river and that it was time to start fishing.

But that's a connection there that people don't really when you break it down to is here's a seasonal occurrence of this one plant blooming connected with the migration of a fish in the river.

>>Exactly.

>>And we have so many other connections like that.

>>We really do and we call those seasonal changes in the life cycle events of plants and animals, we call that phenology.

Things we think about all the time are the bulbs breaking, the early crocus, and narcissists and daffodils, they are all blooming and we get excited about that.

Our spring flowering trees and shrubs we pay a lot of attention to that.

>>[Peggy Singlemann] Yes we do.

And what we need to understand is that those triggers, those blossoms, those bulbs emerging are connected with the day length, the temperature as well as just the amount of rain even.

>>And there's a lot of variables that go into tracking those seasonal changes, but we have programs in place that let us track those years and years and years, a long running set of data.

So we can understand when the extra rain is just a one off or the extra warm winter, like I feel like we've had this past year.

>>[Peggy Singlemann] Yes, it is.

>>Is making some early changes.

>>Exactly.

And we think about record keeping.

And I know for, you know, doing a little reading myself is that in Japan with the cherry blossom festival which is such an important part of their culture is that they've been tracking cherry blossoms since the sixth century so that they could determine when the blooms would occur and so that they could set their festival date.

>>And I think you're bringing up the point that everyone pays attention to these changes and plan an animal life around them, even if they didn't know that that was called phenology.

>>[Peggy Singlemann] Yeah.

>>Some people plan trips around them, right?

We wanna know when to go up to Washington DC for the cherry blossom festival, or if you're like me, when to hit fallage peak time.

>>[Peggy Singlemann] Out in the mountains.

(Peggy Singlemann laughing) >>Out in the mountains, that would be the trip that I would make.

But farmers and gardeners they need to know when to plant, when to prune.

Have you heard when to prune your roses?

When the forsythia bloom is when we always, I always had heard before.

>>[Peggy Singlemann] Yes.

So many connections.

Earlier, we were at the Glen stream area and I saw a lot of things happening down there.

So what other events are you tracking here at Lewis Ginter?

>>We have a number of different volunteer groups that are helping us track some of those seasonal changes.

One is the Bluebird trail.

So volunteers from the Virginia Bluebird Society have 17 Bluebird boxes that they monitor.

That group of volunteers has been coming out since 2007.

>>[Peggy Singlemann] Wow.

>>And so they are very dedicated.

>>Oh, that's fantastic.

>>Another project that we have is the blue orchard bee houses.

And we have installed three of those built by the river and chapter of the Virginia Master Naturalist.

>>[Peggy Singlemann] Wonderful.

>>They are down at the Glen stream as well.

And so we are excited to see if we have enough new habitat after that project to observe some of those solitary bees nesting and reproducing in those houses.

And finally, we have frog watch data down there.

And that is an observation protocol that we have volunteers from another group of Master Naturalists that come out and some staff member that listen for the frog watches.

And all of those observations actually are not just put in the notebook and kept here.

>>[Peggy Singlemann] Right.

>>We send that and contribute it to a bigger body of data.

And I think it's important that a project as big as that Glen stream restoration is made possible only by the grants from national fish and wildlife federation and the Virginia environmental endowment >>[Peggy Singlemann] Wonderful support.

>>[Peggy Singlemann] And that support comes from us also being able to articulate how bad those changes are needed down there in that area.

>>[Peggy Singlemann] When we were down there and we were walking and talking, you had shared you'd gone to Maymont to learn about frog watch.

>>I did.

>>And that you all were just stunned at silence >>Silence, right?

And we knew they were frogs and toads here because we could hear them and be jealous of them.

>>[Peggy Singlemann] yes.

>>Over in other areas of the garden.

But we do, we do expect that that habitat recreation is going to be a big boon for the nature, the wildlife, the insects, and the birds >>[Peggy Singlemann] Who knew that just a citizen science program or a phenology, listening, observing nature could give you the data to say, "Hey, we've got a problem here," and to be able to then find the funding.

And I know in a few years that restoration is just gonna be beautiful.

>>Right?

>>[Peggy Singlemann] Maymont has been involved with the frog watch for years and it's fascinating for the environmental staff to share with us the results of their data.

>>Right.

>>[Peggy Singlemann] They heard the frogs early this year.

They heard the frogs later, maybe another year.

And it's a, a trend that we can, I'll say, just be aware, and with tracking it now becomes data.

>>And it's publicly available, frog watch, The Virginia Bluebird Society has data and nature's notebook, which is another project part of the USA national phenology network where anybody can gather data on phenology, those seasonal changes, and submit it to a body of data that is used by natural resource managers, by researchers and is available to the public.

So we can see those long term trends in the changes of over 1,400 plants and animals that are tracked by nature's notebook.

>>[Peggy Singlemann] That is excellent.

And this is not just in the United States, this is worldwide this tracking is happening.

>>[Peggy Singlemann] Right.

By understanding the life cycles of plants and animals, we can use resources in an efficient and effective way.

>>[Peggy Singlemann] Yeah.

>>So if you understand the life cycle of a pest in your plant, you'll know exactly when you can apply pesticides in the smallest amount to get the most efficacy for that.

Same with fertilizers in your lawn, if you understand the life cycle of the grass in your lawn, you'll know when you can apply fertilizers so that it's used by the plant and not that it runs off and it goes into our storm >>Absolutely.

>>storm water or our drains.

>>We have to move away from just blindly doing something because it's April >>Exactly.

and more to understanding the life cycles around us.

So as you're saying, our applications are effective and efficient, but not at all damaging.

>>Right.

And it's interesting we kind of note these little items as bullet points, but all of these relationships are so tightly interwoven.

And I think observing those life cycle changes allows us all to understand and be more in tune with them.

>>[Peggy Singlemann] Which is very important.

>>Yeah.

We need to really, really pay attention to the world the natural world around us.

>>[Peggy Singlemann] We do.

Laurel Mathew, this has been fascinating.

And I thank you so much for sharing, you know, the citizen scientist work of what's you've actually been doing, and also what the Master Naturalist have been doing in our community.

And to be able to explain to us more about phenology and the importance of how it proves statistically that everything is so interconnected.

>>Exactly.

Exactly.

We have so many people, a whole community of people out there working on these different projects and it's really inspiring.

>>[Peggy Singlemann] It is.

Well thank you for inspiring us.

>>Pleasure.

The gardens at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden were just alive with spring blossoms.

It was a such a joy to be there that day.

But now we have Laurel here in the studio with me to talk about phenology and to explain a little bit more.

But before we get started, remember to send in your gardening questions from our website on vpm.org/vhg.

And so, Laurel, phenology, I just really I'm fascinated by the science of phenology, and I know it's something very few people know about.

So, quickly, what is phenology?

>>Well phenology is the seasonal changes in the life cycle events of plants and animals.

That's the basic part.

>>And watching the seasonal changes, we've been talking about record keeping and the importance, but what is the, I'll say the organization or the whole big body behind the record keeping?

>>There's a National Phenology Network, and one of its programs that lets everyone in the community collect information and data about phenological changes is "Nature's Notebook."

>>Oh, that sounds exciting.

>>It really is.

>>So how do you get started with, I'll say citing "Nature's Notebook," what kind of kicks you off for the season?

>>Oh, well, spring is a great time to start making observations.

There are hundreds of plants and animals you can choose from to make those observations and submit them.

We recommend you choose something that's really close to your house or some place that you visit on a daily basis, because when spring starts getting rolling and all the changes start happening, we wanna visit those plants or animals a couple times a week, just to make sure we don't miss anything.

>>So that you can really observe.

So, in your mind, what's the plant or flower that kicks you off?

>>Okay, well, red bud, for me.

I know for Cynthia, cherry blossoms, they get a lot of attention, but our native red bud is one of the most interesting and beautiful small trees we can have around.

And that's this one right here.

It's edible, it's long lived, it's beautiful.

It has these really great heart shaped leaves, but the emergence of flower buds and then open flowers is a great observation that you can make, and I think they're just really precious.

>>Yes, and we're talking about there's buds, opening buds and flowers, or some of the observations.

>>Exactly, so, on "Nature's Notebook," that stage will be flower buds or flowers.

You can also have open flowers at the same time.

So those would be two different stages that would be observed here on these red buds I brought in.

>>Well, it's easy to notice the beautiful plants that are bloomy, but what people don't realize is there's a lot going on in our trees right now.

>>Oh, right.

And this is just a quick selection of oak trees from my yard and from Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden.

And you can see that oak trees are one of those foundational habitat plants.

They support hundreds of lepadapron species, mammals and birds.

>>Yes.

>>And they make big changes.

But when they're competing against all that color, it's kind of hard to notice them.

>>(laughing) Exactly.

>>So I will just quickly put a couple of these branches.

This is an oak from my backyard.

And you can see right here that it has buds, and these buds are just breaking.

>>Oh, I can see that.

>>So the stage we would call this would be flower buds and flowers, but they're not quite open or elongated enough to be called open flowers.

So let me show you one of those.

This beauty is a willow oak from the garden.

>>Oh, look at those cute little leaves.

>>Oh my goodness, they're so fabulous.

But you can see right here that these long flowers have extended, so they've extended there.

So they're not kind of short and still compact, like I showed you before.

So these would be open flowers, and the leaves themselves are not quite open or fully grown yet.

So they would be leaf or leaf buds happening on this plant.

>>And my allergies would start screaming right now.

>>I Know, and that's another reason that phenology is of such importance to so many people.

You need to know when to start taking your allergy meds, when the hay fever kicks in.

>>And when to do some gardening chores or when fish are running and other things like that.

>>And so you see, this is another type of Oak.

This is the Scarlet Oak, but it is not showing any flowers or flower buds.

And the leaf buds haven't broken yet either.

>>Everybody's an individual, even plants.

>>And Oaks are one of the native trees that will hold onto a few of their leaves, even after most of the leaves on other deciduous trees have dropped.

So you can tell oaks and peaches, they're holding onto some of those brown leaves, which is why I was really excited to bring 'em.

>>I'm gonna share with you the name of the leaves are called marcescent leaves.

>>Yes.

>>And it's a fun name to share.

>>You're right.

>>Look at the marcescent leaves.

>>Yes, you're right.

And this is another oak that I wanted to really show off.

This is the southern red oak, and you can see here, this has gone all the way to the stage.

We have those flowers open, elongated and letting pollen out, but you also have, the leafs are fully out of their leaf buds and you can see the petiole.

So that stage would be leaves open and from now on they're going to be growing.

>>Fantastic.

Now all these oak leaves do fall off as well as other leaves.

And we end up with leaf litter and there's some little treasures in that litter that we don't know about.

>>And we do talk and encourage people to remember to leave some of their leaves, particularly at the base of trees, particularly on oak trees.

And let me show you real quick why.

We have brought in luna moth cocoons.

Inside, these are actually live.

So there's little luna moth friends in there.

And inside there is a luna moth that's over wintered in leaf litter.

So if I was raking or leaf blowing, I wouldn't- >>You wouldn't see them.

>>Know how to protect them.

There's something else you might see.

This, I'm not 100% sure we have the ID, but I found this while I was cleaning up in my garden.

>>Fascinating.

>>I have a couple of thoughts, but if a viewer knows for sure, I would love to know.

You might also find some manted planted egg cases.

>>Yes, I found six in my garden this weekend.

>>Do you know which is our native Virginia, Carolina manted?

>>Yes, I do.

This one here is our native Virginia Carolina.

>>That's right, if you see one of these, you are in luck because you have a native mantis and, don't bring it in the house though.

>>(laughing) No.

>>Because if you bring it inside the house, you're gonna trick those insect into emerging from that uthika, the name of the manted egg case.

Early, and you'll have hundreds inside your house.

This is a little bit alarming.

This would be a Chinese mantis.

And they have become a little bit invasive here and out-compete the Carolina mantis.

>>I have to admit I found they were all Chinese mantis egg cases.

>>Oh, you did?

>>Yeah, sorry.

>>That's okay.

>>Moving on.

>>Yeah, finally, we have a cecropia moth.

All of these can be easily buried under leaf litter.

So you wouldn't know it.

So keep that in mind when you're cleaning up your yard.

And this is, a lot of people call us an umbrella tree, big leaf magnolia.

And that would be the leaf bud for that.

>>And the leaves are about this.

Well, it's about this big (laughing).

>>They get even bigger than that, absolutely.

I just think they're so fun.

Visitors at the garden love to play with those.

>>Well, we gotta keep moving along.

So we have all these just emerging, can we quickly go through these?

>>Sure, I'll quickly go through these.

Papa, okay.

Everybody, this is a native tree.

It's kind of an under story tree.

>>Just put on that so we sure can see that one.

>>Under story tree.

The phenophase that it's in is flowers or flower buds.

And you see you'll have an open flower.

The flowers considered open if you can see the reproductive parts inside.

So this is great.

And then one more, and this is my question.

We have dogwood.

I'm gonna try and pull it out and put it there for you.

So is another native tree.

It's used as food or habitat by, almost every part of it can be used.

The seeds are toxic to humans, but not to birds.

And so what phenophase do you observe on the ?

>>Oh, the flowers have not broken bud yet because the flowers of the dogwood are actually within.

These are all brax or modified leaves.

>>That's right well.

(laughing) I didn't think I would tempt you but- (Peggy laughing) >>That's exactly right.

So this one might be tricky, but "Nature's Notebook" has a full phenophase guide for- >>To help you out.

>>To help everyone out.

And so there is no guessing needed because they would be able to notice that those are flower buds, but not fully open flowers.

>>So what we do is we need to look to see and observe what ones are open flowers, what ones even are kind of past open, and which ones are even in our cone stages, how they're coming along.

And we need to even watch our plants as we do some pruning, and to be able to recognize these different stages.

So Laurel, this has been so interesting and so fascinating.

>>Great.

>>And I thank you for bringing all of this to help explain the various stages of plants so that they can learn to be noticed in more of an observational manner.

So maybe folks will be interested in starting a nature cycle.

>>I certainly hope so.

It's easy enough for anybody to do and we're excited to have more people working on it.

>>And it's so important 'cause it's shared nationwide.

So thank you.

>>Absolutely.

>>Thank you.

Well, now we're going to get ready to answer your questions.

But first we have a tip from Serome Hamlin about caring for dwarf conifers.

>>Spring is now upon us.

And it's time for us to start working on that, never ending gardening list.

One thing that I do have and I do love is my dwarf conifers.

I think the dwarf conifers are a very underutilized plant in the landscape.

Let's take this Hinoki falsecypress, for instance.

This will only get about four feet tall and it works great in the landscape partial shady area and it's very happy.

Over here we have Cryptomeria.

This Cryptomeria gets white tips on the spring.

It's new growth and then gets about four feet tall but in a container, of course, it stays a lot smaller.

Other options that you can have is maybe you can try, Thuja pancake.

Thuja pancake only gets about two feet tall, by three feet wide, and it can take more sun.

You can also have a dwarf Cryptomeria that gets about two feet tall as well.

If you need something that's gonna be in a shady area, look into a dwarf Hemlock.

Hemlock can survive in a darker shade and will be very happy.

One of the things that happens in the spring is that we have to go through and start cleaning up our conifers and evergreens.

So when you see the browning of these limbs, it's just very easy to go through and just do some clipping.

Getting the brown out and some just start looking and seeing if there is any other dead or dying branches that you need to clip out and just get those all cleaned up for spring.

As far as mulch goes, I like to use stone.

But if you don't want to use stone you can still use a hardwood mulch.

There's so many different options that you can choose.

I personally like stone just because it gives it a nice alpine feel.

I hope that everyone will give a dwarf conifer for a tribe.

But if you do decide to grow one in a container, just remember, try to find one that grows in a zone low word than yours.

Here in zone seven, always try to find one that will survive in zone six.

So further out in the west, try looking to ones that will survive in a zone five.

That way that will ensure that your plant will survive the winter being outside of the ground because the air temperature is a lot colder.

So please give it a try.

I think there is a dwarf conifer that can fit into any landscape.

On Facebook right now Cerone and other members of our team are answering your question.

So please send them in via Facebook or through our website.

We always enjoy hearing from you.

Keith, let's get right into these questions.

>>Sure, so we've got Mary from Chesterfield who's asking if there's one thing I should pay attention to this spring in my yard.

What do you recommend?

>>I recommend paying attention to the habitat opportunities that you have planted and think about how you can improve them.

We're looking for shelter, nectar, flowers, fruit, what can the insects and birds eat and make a habitat with so, interesting.

>>Everything.

>>Yeah, the interconnectedness makes everything important to look at.

>>Sure.

>>So it's that network that we're trying to identify and to become more aware of.

And that's interesting.

>>Yeah.

>>I know I recently cleaned out my garden and as I was doing so, I was looking for the hollow tubed stems and I was trying to cut them up and leave them in the garden just in case there was still some critters in there.

>>I do, and I think it's a little bit of a challenge because stems can feel unsightly to neighbors, but I do cut them and leave them in place just in case.

I never know if it works, but in my heart, there's some insect or two that I have left there to come back.

>>And that's so important.

>>Absolutely.

Brian from Chesterfield has asked, will the freeze we've had in Richmond the past two nights be damaging to the many plants that have started to bud out?

>>Yeah.

It'll be damaging to a few of them, especially some that have tender petals or flower growth or brand new leaves, but a lot of them can bounce back.

So we just wait and see.

On the same tree, we have some flowers that have a little frostbite and some that are still perfect in coming out.

So it won't ruin 'em or kill the show, yeah.

>>At home, my apple trees were just leaving out and my peach tree, my peach tree use a dwarf.

So I could move it into the garage unlike professional growers who can't, but some things will get burned and just kind of start all over again.

And that's what we go on madly cover things and help the desire.

(all laughing) >>Yeah, they're not down for the count, but they're gonna have to work a little bit harder to get to full show.

>>Exactly.

>>Absolutely.

Amanda from Chesterfield is wondering, some winters azaleas drop their leaves but some years they don't.

Does that actually affect the amount of spring blooms?

>>I don't know that I have a lot of experience.

I think it would definitely depend on the cultivar.

Peggy.

>>Yeah, in the azalea world, we have evergreen azaleas.

We have deciduous azaleas and we have sort of semi-evergreen, and this sounds like a semi-evergreen.

The flower buds are all still there.

They haven't been affected.

It's just the leaves that you're looking at.

And this would be a great nature's notebook to be able, opportunity to jot down what years that a lot of the leaves fell and the temperatures, and what years that they didn't an all fall.

And so again, this sounds like a semi-evergreen azalea, but your flowers are actually fine.

>>Indeed.

And Pat from Charlottesville is wondering about propagating waxy aucuba, what is the best time and what methods are suggested.

>>Oh, this is such an easy one.

Laurel, you wanna give it a try.

(all laughing) >>Many people love to propagate aucuba by cuttings.

And when plants are pushing out fresh new growth is a really good time to take a lot of those cuttings.

It's also a good time to think, is there a native plant that could provide some of the same benefit as aucuba, but also be a liable host or a specific fruit bearing habitat plant that we could think.

So that might be what I would think about before I propagated aucuba for my yard.

>>(laughing) Yes.

>>That's a great point.

>>I think people have success with one plant in their yard and they wanna just completely continue on with that and hope they need to get some confidence and maybe venture out of that.

And there are other evergreen opportunities such as I think of some of our bayberries would be a great substitute as a screen.

And I'm sure Keith, you've got a few thoughts too to add.

>>Yes, bayberry, absolutely.

Is definitely one that I always suggest and a great substitute for aucuba for habitat, and for beauty.

>>Yeah, and I think with the aucuba's with the shade, you could go with rhododendrons, our native rhododendrons, like our maximums and our roseums.

And there's also, I'm thinking through mayman's landscape very quickly as to some other evergreen opportunities.

And they're looting me right now (laughing).

>>There's plenty of options out there.

>>Their wonderful plants.

>>Well, we have another question that is, let's see here, Becky, who is wondering, how do I know if it's too late to prune and shape boxwoods?

>>Yeah.

I generally prune in shape boxwoods almost all year round.

What I don't wanna do is do it so late into the fall, that I initiate new growth, but I pluck them while they're dormant in December.

And I won't shear them until after their new flesh of growth in the spring if so.

I'm a plucker rather than a shearer.

Laura, how about you?

>>I actually don't have boxwoods in my own yard, but I would probably go with you one a little bit at a time, little shape.

>>So that works out well.

And I know there's so many plants, like all of the different ilex vomitorias that are good substitutes for boxwood that are our native plants, a nice little roundy moundy evergreen, that could actually be used like schilling's dwarf, as well as boudox are great boxwood substitutes.

But if you're a boxwood person, and you want to have that old English food formal garden look, I fully understand.

It's just sort of the timing, stay away from that late fall to initiate the new growth and you'll be fine.

>>So I think berry can also be a nice alternative as well, a native alternative for boxwood on certain situations so.

>>Absolutely, that was a good suggestion too.

But, people are just trying their best to learn how to do and also to learn different alternatives so.

And Laurel, I thank you for being with us tonight so that, sharing your time with us and sharing your, I'll say enthusiasm and expertise on phenology.

>>Well, thank you.

It's great to be here.

>>Thanks Laurel.

And next, we're going to meet with Leslie Harris at her private garden in Charlottesville.

She and I talked about some common landscape shrubs and the care they need as we go into the spring season.

Let's go take a look.

>>Thanks for having us out here.

Your garden is beautiful!

>>Well, thank you.

I enjoy it.

It is a beautiful piece of land and we've been, you know, I've been working on it.

It used to be covered with Ivy, but somebody gardened here years ago.

But I just love it with the stream and the huge trees.

It's beautiful.

>>Yeah, here we are, right on the cusp of spring.

Things are starting to grow.

We've got beautiful boxwoods here.

How do you go about pruning a not garden like this with this boxwood?

>>Well, luckily, these are never, these particular boxwoods are never gonna be more than two feet tall but they do need a shearing.

I don't like to shear at this time of year because, you know, we're still kind of in winter.

We could have a really low temperature at night and those leaves would say, "Yeah, you cut me halfway off.

I will now turn brown at the edge."

So I actually reach in and go for something, if it's something's outta place.

And I just put some air in it that way with my pruners really fast.

Later in the year, I would (tongue clicks) to make this really tighter.

>>Got you!

We've just passed an area of the garden that needs to be cut back for winter and you've left it deliberately long until the plants have started growing in the spring.

Why did you do that?

>>It's so different than the way I was trained to garden and, that I used to garden.

But the longer you can leave things, dead perennials, leaves, even sticks.

Although, I do get a little weary of them, the better you have habitat for the little bugs native.

And otherwise, I suppose I'm not controlling who's living here.

>>Sure.

>>But I want more native habitat and I can leave those hollow stems, for instance.

All those Sedums over there.

I mean, there could be a lot of native bees that are just hunkering down and waiting to wake up in spring.

>>And I know we had a lot of damage back early in the winter.

So how do you go about kind of pruning for those conditions?

How do you address that after the fact?

>>You know, you have to remember that mother nature doesn't have anything like this.

And so, these damaging things will happen to these trees and they will survive.

But if there's something that you really care about on your property, it's great to go ahead and take that ripped cut or that jagged thing that happened in that storm and make a clean cut.

So yeah, we lost a tree.

We lost some big branches off of some trees.

In fact, there's a little Carolina Cypress down there that we lost the leader off of it.

>>Hmm.

>>And so I have an arborist who was, I was talking with her about it and she said, "Yes, the leader's gone.

That means, we're not going up anymore."

She said, "This will be sort of a medium-sized bonsai tree.

Enjoy."

(Keith chuckles) And I love to prune, so that's fine.

(chuckles) >>Nice, that's great.

So I see we've got some, obviously, smaller boxwood here and then we've got some larger specimens.

How would you approach pruning these differently?

>>Well, they had been severely pruned.

They were twice this tall when I first moved here but I wanted to sit on the terrace that's there and look out into the yard.

So I took 'em down to sticks.

You know, they call that a rejuvenation pruning.

>>Sure.

>>And they've bounced back really nicely.

Right now, it's probably time for me to do some thinning cuts on them.

So these are very slow-growing, the English boxwood.

And what happens is, they grow on the outside.

I do like to shear them into these green meatballs, 'cause that's the look I want.

They don't need this, very little pruning actually has to be done.

It's my control that I wanna impose on my garden.

I'm having fun with it.

>>Sure.

>>But a good thing to do with boxwood is to reach in.

(scissors snaps) And prune something like that.

And you actually create a hole.

It looks kinda silly, unless you make a series of them and then you've got a pattern and then it looks intentional.

>>Nice, so also, you're doing that of course, to increase airflow and to combat disease and different things, right?

>>Yeah, exactly.

>>Yeah.

>>We had a really bad period of the blight a few years ago.

I never got it.

And we did have a drought last year, which makes the blight sort of go to the back burner.

But that could happen.

And if you really care about your boxwoods, they're just such a popular plant here in Virginia.

Air circulation is really gonna help combat that.

>>Excellent.

Well, thanks for showing us how you go about approaching your formal garden.

Let's go ahead and take a look at more of the informal sections of your garden.

>>Okay, let's have a look.

Come on, there's a lot!

And in fact, I have a ton of Hydrangeas back there and we could talk about how or when to prune different types.

(stream gurgles) We're very lucky to have the water featured.

It's just a stream that was already going through the neighborhood.

We borrow it, recycle the water, so that it gurgles a little bit and doesn't hatch so many mosquitoes.

>>Yeah.

>>And then it goes along its way.

>>And you've got, of course, these foundational trees here that have obviously been here a great long, long time.

>>A long time.

Yeah, we figured this must have been a pretty tight forest because the tulip poplars and even the Oaks are so vertical.

And of course- >>Uh-hmm.

>>I've lightened them up for more light in my garden.

>>Sure, and you also have some snags in here as well.

>>Yeah, so you know what they say when a tree dies?

Everything else starts to live.

>>Yeah, it does.

>>And so, it could be dangerous to have a dead tree on your property, but they do a pull test on them every year to make sure that they're steady and they host tons of wildlife.

>>That's excellent.

And that brings up safety in the garden.

That's one of the main reasons to prune, right?

>>Yeah, absolutely.

I mean, it's one thing to have a dead and ugly branch that's just bothering your aesthetic quality of the garden.

But there's another one to have, a dead branch that weighs 200 pounds and it could kill you.

So you have to have the arborist come and remove those things.

You must have safety.

>>Yeah.

So we're approaching Hydrangea alley here, huh?

>>So many Hydrangeas.

>>Yeah.

>>And I have a real concentration of types right here for you.

>>Uh-hmm, nice, great!

>>Yeah, so we have four different types wherever there is the Oakleaf, that doesn't need any attention from me at all.

And in fact, most of these don't.

But it just seems like at this time of year, it just feels a little funny to see something like that.

You know, we're ready for bright and green and spring.

So you can take away a lot of this.

Oakleaf, I would simply take away the dead flowers.

This is a native arborescens, the Annabelle.

I would go way down to, like, six inches.

>>Okay.

>>Because it's gonna bloom a new wood.

Same for the paniculata type.

I'd go, I'd take most of these branches away.

And any skinny branches that would be too skinny to support a flower well.

>>Uh-hmm.

>>But the macrophylla, no, no, no.

They bloom on old wood.

That means, if I prune this hard now, all those flowers will be gone.

And yet, I don't really wanna look at this.

>>Sure.

>>This old flower.

So I'll find the next bud that looks like it might have been fried in the snow the other day.

(Keith chuckles) But we're being optimistic, and we'll just prune right (scissor snaps) in front of that.

And now, you know, I was happy to look at that all winter, but I'm done now.

>>Yeah, it's a great demonstration on how to approach different species of plants.

I'm just wondering if there are tips for approaching spring blooming plants versus fall and summer blooming plants?

>>Yes, and it's pretty easy if you just think like the plant.

If you're a spring shrub that's about to bloom, you just wanna say, "Okay, just let me do my thing.

And then, after I'm done blooming, if I need to be pruned, that's when you do me.

Because I will have time to form new buds for next year's flowers, all summer and all fall.

Whereas, if I'm a fall blooming shrub, then I just wanna do my show in the fall, sit tight all fall."

You know, Keith, when you prune any sort of plant, it's like telling the plant to grow.

And so, if you could avoid any kind of pruning right before, like, really tough winter temperatures.

>>Uh-hmm.

>>That's a great idea.

It just gives that plant a little bit of a break away from the stress that it would have.

So for those fall blooming shrubs, the great time to prune them is early spring.

It has time to form those buds for flowers all summer long.

>>Yeah, that's great.

Are there any other general tips that you, or guidelines that you go by when you're thinking about pruning?

>>Yeah, I would say that one thing that people can keep in mind and this isn't hard and fast, but it's a great just rule of thumb.

If you have something that's completely overgrown, and you're afraid of stressing it out, think about taking away a third of the plant at a time.

Now, you could cut it down to nubbins and say, "You know what, I didn't really like you anyway."

(Keith chuckles) "So if you grow back, fantastic, but if you don't, I'll shop."

(Keith chuckles) But if you really care about that plant and you wanna give it a good chance, take a third away, let it recover for a year.

Take another third away, and gradually, it'll get back to what you want it to be.

>>Yeah, well, you are so full of great tips and ideas.

This has been a really informative experience.

We've learned so much and you're quite an educator.

How can we learn more and follow you?

>>Well, it's easy, because I just love to talk about gardening.

I call it garden explaining.

And you can go to my website, and I also have a weekly podcast called, "Into the Garden with Leslie."

So thanks for coming over, Keith.

>>Yeah, thanks so much.

Well, pruning plants is a very important task early in the season, and there's a lot to consider from when to cut, where to cut, and what tools to use.

And to give us more insights, I'm joined here by Jason Henderson, who's a Master Arborist, and the Co-Owner at Waters Edge Specialty Pruning and Plant Healthcare.

But before we begin, I want to remind you to please send in your questions, via our website, vpm.org/vhg.

Good, let's get started.

So thanks for coming in, and why don't we talk a little bit about pruning with the hand tools from the smallest to the largest tools that you use?

>>Absolutely, yeah.

In the business we have, most of our pruning is done with hand tools, very likely I'm not gonna pull out a chains off unless it's something odd, but we start with a good pair of hand pruners.

I'll open 'em up and lay 'em here.

One thing that we do like is a pair of bypass hand pruners, not the old anvil style where the blade goes down and hits a flat surface, because in a lot of cases that will in itself kind of tear the foliage or compress the foliage and not make a clean cut.

Similar to what a pair of scissors does, it kind of passes if you've cut paper, obviously with scissors.

We have the same type of a cutting mechanism with this type of pruner.

One thing that we do recommend to our homeowners that to get out and do things themselves is to buy a nice pair.

Buy a pair that fits your hand well, there are a lot on the market now that are ergonomically suited for certain people, if they have carpal tunnel or things of that sort.

So get yourself a good pair of hand pruners and go at it.

But one thing to keep in mind with these is when you're cutting, I think we all, as horticulturalist, arborist, gardeners, we have the tendency to wanna try to cut something too big.

You get into it and you say, "Well, I can go to that next branch and I can go to that next branch."

And before you know it, you're two hands on the pruner.

You really don't wanna do that.

At that point what you want to do is move up to the next tool in your toolbox.

And for us, and notice too that we have a scabbard that does keep the tool in our pocket or on our belt.

And it also protects the tool when it's not in use.

So very important, especially on an expensive pair.

So when we get up to that next level there's kind of two options.

One is, everybody's seen this, this is a pair of loppers.

And you're getting into the stems that are again, getting uncomfortable to cut with the hand pruners themselves.

So it gives you a lot more leverage, again, a bypass cut, as you can see here, the blade crosses.

So it makes a cleaner cut, but the other thing it does is when you're dealing with shrubs where you need to get up into the shrub, it allows you to do that without getting torn up.

And a good example of that is maybe you're really reducing some old roses or roses that are just a lot of dead wood in the middle.

So you don't have to get quite as far up in the middle up.

So a great tool.

So if the hand pruners are kind of done, then you wanna move on to the next one.

In the same sense, if you're pruning limbs, say on a tree, we move into a hand saw.

And the hand saw is something that you can purchase as you have it here.

Or it could be a folding hand saw, which a lot of homeowners have too which is perfect.

>>I really like those, yeah.

>>Yeah, so they're very convenient, they store well, you can put 'em in your pocket.

The thing to keep in mind is when you open them up, make sure they lock, because if they don't lock, they'll come back.

And these things are super sharp in the sense that they cut on the push and the pull.

So most of your hand saws, if you're out in your workshop making something outta wood, they're gonna cut one way or the other, are not gonna cut both.

This one cuts both ways.

So it's critical to be very safe.

Keep in mind, don't get your arm under what you're cutting.

>>Oh boy, yeah.

>>You'd be surprised in how much that happens.

And in the agricultural industry, all the guys out there, gals out there using chainsaws, they're more likely to get injured with a hand saw than they are with a chainsaw.

So it kind of goes against the grain, but super great tool for making a quick cut.

On branches, it depends how big the tree is or what type of plants you're working on, but you can cut decent size branches with this tool.

>>I hope you're not speaking from experience in terms of the injuries.

>>No, absolutely, not.

Thankfully, not thankfully- >>That's good.

>>But no, we're very careful with them and accidents do happen.

And a lot of times they happen to the guys and gals and professionals who've been doing it for a long time because they get complacent.

>>Sure.

>>And it's easy to do that.

A lot of hand pruners, you'll cut your hand not so much with the loppers, but definitely with the hand pruners or the hand saw.

>>So how about the pull pruner over there?

>>Absolutely, so we'll put this back.

again, putting in on a scabbard.

>>Always important.

>>Keep it safe, and keep it sharp.

>>Safety first.

>>Yeah, so the pole pruner, we've got two pieces of equipment here, and then we have a pole that they attached to.

And I don't know if everybody can see that, but basically this clips onto here, in a lot of cases, I'll hand that back to you, Keith.

>>Sure.

>>In a lot of cases, you'll see homeowners having more of a box store type of pruner where the blade is on one side and the actual pole clip, as we call it, the pole pruner is on the other side.

And that works perfectly fine.

Again, this gives you a little bit more opportunity to get up a little bit higher in the tree.

If you're reaching limbs, you don't wanna get to the extent to where you're putting two or three of those together.

Because you're getting unsafe or you're getting up on a ladder.

We really don't like to see homeowners getting on a ladder because before you know it, your tendency with this is to be sewing this way.

And before you know it, you look up and you say, well, I'm gonna get the next branch.

And then before you know it, you're sewing right over your head, so.

And same goes with the pole clip, as we call it here, I'm not gonna unwind it, but if you pull it down, the blade bypasses, it makes a nice cut.

So it gives you the opportunity to reach up a little bit higher in the tree to make those cuts that you might not be able to reach from the ground, keeping you off of a ladder, hopefully as well.

>>So how about keeping your tools clean?

I know hygiene's really important before you're going to cut different plants to try to prevent disease from spreading.

>>Sur, hygiene and maintenance.

So we'll start with the hygiene.

If we're, and this is just a bottle of isopropyl alcohol, which is rubbing alcohol.

So we'll spray this on our pruning tools, typically our hand pruners, say if we're pruning roses and we know maybe there's rose rosette, which is a disease that affects roses, or we're dealing with fruit trees where we may have fire blight as an issue.

So we wanna make sure that we're sanitizing our tools between the trees that we're dealing with or the shrubs that we're dealing with.

So, very simply to spray the blade when you're done and you move on to the next.

>>I think we're gonna, why don't we demonstrate how to do rejuvenating cuts here- >>Yep.

on a bit of an overgrown shrub.

>>Okay, I'm gonna go back to the hand pruners.

So this is a wax myrtle that is a young plant, obviously a potted plant, but one that is not in the best of shape.

It was about to be thrown out by the kind nursery that gave it to us.

But what we do, what Ian and I do is we focus most of our pruning in the winter months, we do our plant healthcare during the summer months.

But we look for shrubs that are maybe a little bit too thick.

So thinning is critical.

Leslie talked about that in her segment.

And with this wax myrtle or bayberry, you can look at it and you can see that it has kind of a mass of rubbing, crossing, just unhealthy looking branches.

So basically we're gonna come in here and prune out if you can see this branch crossing.

We're gonna prune that one back and take that one out.

And then we're just gonna go through the plant and take off kind of the unnecessary growth that's there obviously deadwood.

Deadwood would be the first thing to come out.

>>Crossing branches, diseased- >>Crossing, rubbing, diseased.

It gives us a great opportunity too when we're doing this in the winter to look for insects, to look for mites and scale, a lot of times you can see scale on the plant.

So it's giving us an indication that I have another issue to deal with when springtime comes around.

The other thing, root collar, make sure that your plant doesn't have too much mulch and or soil around the base of it.

If it does, it's a great time to get in there and pull it back.

But basically thinning, removing the dead wood, the rubbing and crossing, and the structurally unsound branches on your shrubs.

>>Yeah, and I know oftentimes things tend to get over mulched, but applying mulch is of course very recommended this time of year, but oftentimes it's overdone and- >>Yeah, well, mulch is great.

It's meant to be over the root system of the plant, not up against the root.

>>That's right.

>>So absolutely, 2 to 3 inches of mulch is great.

>>Okay, well, Jason, we really appreciate you coming in and explaining the tools of the trade that you use for your plant healthcare and specialty pruning business.

So we thank you so much.

>>My pleasure.

>>And now we're gonna get ready to answer your questions.

But first, we have a tip from Amy Rose Fall to help with getting ready for the spring vegetable garden.

(upbeat music) >>It's spring, and while it might be enticing to get outside and get your hands in the dirt right now, it is only March, our garden is still sleeping.

You can see there's a lot of leaf litter and debris, we've got some grasses and some stalks left over from last year, and we do that purposely, because there's a lot of beneficial insects that actually bed down and a lot of pollinators that bed down in our gardens waiting for the weather to warm up.

Right now, we're basically going to be removing large items.

This wire grass, the bane of many gardeners existence, and some larger stalks that have left over.

Ah, there we go.

It looks like a messy garden, but it's this way for a reason.

The decay and decomposition from some of our leaves will help amend the soil, because in the trees, most of the nutrients are actually going to be in the leaves and the most distal branches, the smallest branches of that tree in the canopy.

Right now, it's very tempting to get out in the garden and start planting too much too early, but you'll end up wasting seeds or having plants stunted that are never gonna be as productive as the otherwise could be if you had waited for the right plant at the right time a little bit later in the season.

So right now, you can start with planting your arugula and fennel, those are great choices for this time of year here in Virginia.

Fennel grows really great, sometimes they come back, ours came back last year, but we always save our seeds, they're really great for native pollinators, our native bees and butterflies love these, so it's a good thing to get out, because once those bees wake up, they will have a feast ready to go.

I'm not gonna plant this whole thing, we actually only need probably one of these tiny little inflorescence.

So fennel, turnips, purple globe turnips, those are great to plant now, and arugula.

When you plant arugula though, you're gonna wanna make sure that it's an place where you're gonna want it for a while, because it is very, very resilient, it will stay all year, sometimes through the wintertime and it will reseed itself.

The great thing about that is arugula is expensive in the grocery store, but it grows abundantly, so you can actually turn one of these little $2 packs of seeds into quite a saving throughout the year.

It's also really low maintenance, you don't have to worry too much about it, it's a great plant for a beginning gardener.

So we're gonna just broadcast these indiscriminately around, and you should see these sprouting in about seven days.

They're a great choice for right now, and you you can give yourself some time to relax, enjoy the slow days of the spring, and get ready and energize for everything that you wanna accomplish in your garden this year.

>>From the landscape to the vegetable gardeners, there is so much we wanna do to get ready for a new growing season.

But as we have seen here tonight, it's important to take our cues from nature, and not to just to do tasks, but to do what the calendar says so.

Pruning, planting or anything done at the right time will result in the longer and healthier plant.

And now we have some more questions to answer, which I'm very excited about.

So I have a question to start off with, what should people do as they're taking their tools out of the shed to use for the first time.

>>That's a great question.

If they've been over wintered, I guess is what you're asking.

You wanna make sure that they're in good working order and maintenance is critical there, making sure that they're lubricated properly, they may need to be sharpened, but making sure that they are functional.

Because a lot of times people will not do the proper maintenance on their tools, and they get gummy and sappy and they're not working properly.

And that's when people tend to get hurt, is when they get frustrated and they don't have the proper functionality of that tool that they see fit at that time.

So a lot goes into it.

>>And there's a question here from Roberton, how do you sharpen tools?

>>Yeah, like the pair of hand pruners that we've demonstrated a few moments ago, the brand of hand pruners makes a sharpening stone for the actual pruners that it's a diamond sharpening stone.

There's plenty of videos on YouTube.

So it's a very easy fix, but sharpening is something that the general homeowner can do.

>>Yes, and Mike from Ashland is asking what's the important of that single clean cut when pruning?

Once you get your tool sharpened.

>>Great question.

If it's a larger branch, then you wanna make what we call the three pruning or the three cut pruning method, where you're taking a little weight off first, and then you're making that final cut right outside of that branch bark ridge or the branch collar as it's called, it's a little swollen area.

So you wanna make sure you cut there, so that the tree will then form its ceiling wood or its wound wood over top of that.

And I'll tell you an easy way to tell if you've made a good pruning cut a couple years later, if that little donut of new growth is uniform, then you've made a good cut.

You haven't made it too flush, and you haven't left too much of a stunt.

>>And it's a great feeling.

(all laughing) >>Absolutely, yeah.

>>Well, we have a question here from Sean of Chesterfield, and her English boxwoods have yellow leaves all over it.

Could this be blight or insect damage Jason.

>>More than likely not, blight, because blight, one of the three symptoms of blight is defoliation.

And defoliation is such that the leaves are gonna fall off.

So if she's still seeing the yellowing leaves, then I would say it's more of probably moisture issue, too much moisture which there are many types of root rot, phartapthro being the most common.

That's probably more than likely.

So I would ask her to look and see if that plant is in a wet area, or maybe to you dig down in the soil and see if it is wet because it sounds more root rot-ish to me.

>>And there are some products that they can put in the soil to help stem, or suppress the growth of that for a period of time so you can change the conditions.

>>Absolutely, there are.

>>Well, we have Andrea from Richmond and before winter, she bought six sky pencil plants, sky pencil hollies, and they are all appearing to be dying.

Is there anything that she can do to save them?

>>That's a great question.

There's so much involved there that could be from so many different angles where they root down, when they were planted, were they not watered?

Were they overwatered?

>>Again, I would suggest looking at, to make sure that there's proper moisture in the soil, and just keeping an eye on them for pest and diseases and definitely making sure that they were not planted too deep.

She sees a root collar.

She sees a taper at the base of those plant.

>>Yeah, thank you.

And Rose has sent in a question.

When do I prune lavender?

>>I'm gonna send that one right back to you.

(all laughing) I not a lavender guy, so.

>>Rose, I really wait till the new growth starts to come out, and then the plant will tell me how far to cut it back.

And so I really kind of wait until few more weeks, you'll be able to start seeing those sprouts.

And it's the same for rosemary, as well as sage.

I wait for these herbs to kind of start growing, to tell me when it's time to prune and to what point to prune back so that you don't scalp it too low.

But if you've got lavender in your yard, you're doing really good.

That's a hard one to grow.

So, I also wanted to share that it's very important to make sure you check the pH of that soil as well.

Well, Jason, it's been a joy having you with us and I wanna thank you.

Just thank you so much for coming and sharing your expertise.

>>It's been my pleasure.

>>It's a joy to have you on every time.

>>Thank you.

>>I wanted to share that "Virginia Homegrown" has a great Facebook page where you can find upcoming events, and stay connected with us between the shows.

This season, Jen Neiller, is going to be sharing her passion for cooking and eating fresh from the garden.

You'll see her first post right after the show.

Now we have some upcoming events in Richmond, in the month of April.

Herbs Galore and More plant festival at Maymont is April 30th, and I'll be there in the morning.

In the afternoon of that day, I'll be at Henrico County's Dorey Park, for the Native Plant Festival and so will Doug Tallamy.

Statewide, of course, what's Virginia without Historic Garden Week, which is April 17th through 24th, with over 100 private gardens on display.

And Keith what's happening in your world.

>>Sure, well, we've got the Piedmont Master Gardeners 2022, Virtual Spring Lecture Series, which is ongoing over the next few weeks, as well as the Botanical Garden of the Piedmont is having a wildflower walk.

And on our show next month, we'll actually be talking about garden design and I'll be in Bridgewater looking at a woodland garden.

>>And I will be checking out a suburban garden in Richmond with lots of sun.

I wanna thank again Jason and Laurel for being here tonight, and also for Leslie Harris for sharing with us her beautiful garden.

And Siram and Amy Rose, we welcome them to the team, all this and more on "Virginia Homegrown."

Thanks for watching.

>>Production funding for Virginia Home Grown is made possible by.

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