- Welcome to Oklahoma Gardening.

Today we are joined by former host Kim Holmes.

As we learn how to divide perennials.

We learn about the patio garden design.

We then look back when Oklahoma Gardening visited Japanese gardens.

And more recently, Kim shares how she created a wildlife garden in her backyard.

Underwriting assistance for our program program is provided by the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, food and Forestry, helping to keep Oklahoma green and growing.

Oklahoma Gardening is also a proud partner with Shape Your Future, a program of the tobacco settlement and endowment trust shape your future provides resources for Oklahomans to make the healthy choice the easy choice.

Oklahoma Gardening's 50th anniversary.

I love sharing with you guys the cool things that plants can do.

- People in Oklahoma love their gardens.

I feel like this is the People's show.

- We all know we're working towards the common goal, and that's to produce the best quality television and information for our audience.

- How often you divide a perennial is gonna depend on what you're growing Plants like Hardy Chrysanthemum and Asters benefit from division every year or two.

While other plants like peonies rarely ever need to be divided.

There are a number of plants that you should never divide.

These include oriental poppies, Columbine and butterfly weed.

Fall is the time to divide our spring blooming perennials.

While those that bloom in the fall should be divided in the spring just after the new growth emerges.

Summer bloomers can be divided in either the spring or fall, but more preferably in the fall.

There are a number of signs that you can look for that indicate your plant needs to be divided.

You may find that it is flowered more sparsely than usual.

Either the flowers are smaller or they're just far fewer in number.

The stems might be weak and topple over easily, or you may find dead regions or hollowed out regions, especially in the centers of the plants.

Another sign that a plant might need to be divided is poor foliage, especially towards the base of the plants.

I'm gonna divide this clump of iris.

Before you divide plants, you wanna make sure to water 'em a day or two ahead of time.

And if you're planning to move the divisions to another location in the garden, be sure to prepare the soil there so that you're ready to plant.

Iris is spread through an underground stem called the rhizome.

The roots grow out of the rhizome, as does a fan leaves.

Now the rhizome also acts as a mechanism for storing food for the plant, which allows the iris to survive over the winter months.

As you can see down here, the rhizomes are crowded and pushing up out of the soil.

We're going to divide these so that we could spread 'em out a little bit more.

But before we do that, we need to cut back the foliage to about six inches from the ground.

This is gonna help to retain some of the moisture in the plant, and it also makes it a little bit easier to lift and move the plants using a shovel or a a fork.

You wanna dig around all four sides of the plant.

It's good to dig about four inches away from the base of the plant so that you don't damage the roots beneath.

Irises are fairly shallow rooted so you don't have to dig down too deep to get 'em out.

S other plants are gonna need to dig a bit deeper.

You can lift the plants up out of the ground, either with your shovel or with the fork.

Before we divide this clump of iris, we need to remove some of the excess soil.

You can shake it off, sometimes you can lift it up in the air and just drop it, and that'll loosen large chunks of soil off.

Some plants are a little more tender, so you're not gonna wanna drop them too high.

We're gonna just loosen this.

It'll make us easy, make it easier to see where the rhizomes themselves are and also make the job a little bit easier.

Okay, that looks pretty good for now.

Now that we've lifted the plant, it's time to make our divisions.

Some of the pieces broke off into nice sets already, but others will have to cut.

Use a sharp knife to make your divisions.

Each division should have a section of rhizome and single fan of leaves.

So you can see here you wanna discard older sections that look shriveled.

You may see signs of disease or even insect damage.

The younger pieces towards the edge of the clump are gonna be more vigorous.

You don't want your divisions to dry out while you're working, so keep a pae of water handy and wet your divisions as you go.

Or you could keep some damp cloths or pieces of wet newspaper to cover your plants while you're working.

This is especially important if you're working with a large patch of plants.

These divisions look ready to plant, so we're gonna go ahead and put 'em back in the ground where we lifted them.

I've already prepared the hole here where I'm gonna plant my iris.

You want the hole deep enough so that the roots have room to go spread out, down and out.

Iris are fairly shallow rooters, so when you plant it, the rhizome should be just beneath the soil surface.

Gently pat the soil down around the base of the plant and water it well.

Your divisions are gonna need to be well watered throughout the rest of the growing season until a healthy root system develops.

Some of the content was just seasonally based, you know, now it's time to do some pruning.

So kind of looking at the calendar and what should we be focusing on right now?

The thematic stuff was, it just varied.

What, what did I think people were interested in from feedback that I had, you know, 'cause even as a show host, we still get out and work with master gardeners and homeowners and all sorts of things.

So you get a lot of feedback of what people are interested in.

And of course your own interests play into it, right?

The the Botanic Garden provided a lot of opportunity as well.

There was a lot of expansion during my time as host.

When I first started, I was just working on the show and, but the botanic garden was this hidden oasis.

Nobody really knew about it.

It wasn't even called a botanic garden.

Yeah, and so during my time, the department worked to introduce the public to this space.

You know, we have these beautiful gardens, and so we opened it up more to the public.

For many gardeners, the patio is the entire garden.

For others, it's just a small piece of the larger landscape.

Either way, you may be surprised what can be accomplished in such a small space.

We can apply all the elements of design that we would use in the larger landscape or in our flower beds right here on the patio to create a diverse arrangement of plants that match any grower's style.

Now, most of us think of space in terms of the soil surface, but when we're working in small spaces, we have to break away from this convention.

We wanna utilize the vertical space in and around the patio.

This not only provides us a larger area to grow plants, but also increases the complexity and diversity of the garden.

Now, there are a number of ways that we can grow vertically, and perhaps the most traditional of these is the hanging basket.

Pet patas are probably the most popular plant grown in the hanging basket, but each year, more and more selections are offered that do well in hanging baskets.

For example, in the shade, you can use the wishbone flower reia.

You also wanna think about foliage when you're selecting plants for your baskets.

There are a wide variety of plants with draping and trailing foliage, such as coleus that add color and texture to your baskets.

Using trellis and other structures to support vines and climbing plants is an excellent way to lift our gardens up from the ground.

You could use traditional trellis like this metal frame, or you could construct your own from a variety of materials.

Here we have a unique structure built from welded metal that will make a magnificent support system for climbing plants.

You can create a more rustic structure by building a trellis from fallen branches.

Now, many of us don't think of using grasses in the patio garden, but grasses have a lot of the elements we're looking for.

They grow often very tall, and so they give us this nice vertical element without taking up a lot of space.

On the soil surface, there's a variety of ornamental grasses available with a number of different color leaf blades like the purple fountain grass, and many of them have interesting seed heads like this feather reed.

Grasses also do well in containers and can tolerate fairly dry soils.

Another way to add height to your patio is to plant in tall containers or pots raised up on pedestals or stands.

When you're planting in containers, you wanna think of filling the space at three levels.

Select tall flowering plants or grasses like the zebra grass to fill the vertical space above the pot.

You also wanna use plants like this coleus that'll grow at the soil surface and include trailing or vining plants like this sweet potato vine to utilize the lower space.

This same three-tiered method can be applied to raised planters or beds.

One last way to add some vertical height is to include a small tree or shrub around your patio.

You can either plant these in small patches of soil or in containers.

When selecting shrubs and other plants for our containers.

You wanna think about how you're gonna winter the plants.

Tropicals like this orange have to be moved indoors over the winter.

Other perennials can survive if they're given some protection.

A layer of mulch beneath some burlap can protect a number of perennials.

Others, you might wanna move into the garage to provide a little extra protection.

Next time you plan your patio garden, remember to think vertically climbing plants, hanging baskets, grasses, and containers can all be used together to create a diverse and dynamic assemblage of plants.

Our biggest travel, the one abroad was to Japan.

We tagged along with the study abroad program that Paul Shu in the landscape architecture program led.

He did this every year, and so I think it was the 10th anniversary and we tagged along with them, Kevin and I, and we got to film some of the most amazing gardens in the world in Kyoto, that area.

And Tokyo, We are visiting the Murinan Garden in Kyoto, Japan.

And as far as Japanese gardens go, this is a relatively new garden.

It was built in 1896 during the Maji period.

And this was a time where there was a great deal of Western influence.

It was a time of modernization, and we see a lot of western influence in the surrounding landscape.

And the most notable example of that here is the use of lawns.

In more traditional Japanese gardens, we would see stone or perhaps moss covering bare ground, but here we see turf grasses starting to be used.

Another western influence that we see is that the landscape, the scenery is a little bit more flat than what we would see in a more traditional Japanese garden.

Another change that we see in Japanese gardens during the Maji period is the way that water's used in the landscape.

In traditional Japanese gardens, we see either water represented by stone or the use of water in ponds, but here we have flowing water in streams.

And this was again, another western influence.

Another notable aspect of this garden is the use of what they call borrowed scenery.

And this uses a view that's outside of the garden.

In this case, it's the Meshigama hills in the distance, and it allows a view of that distance scenery and kind of brings it into the garden.

And one thing this does is make the garden look larger, and it also can feature a highlight off in the distance.

We are in the gardens of the Suku in Kyoto's Ume Kouji Park, and this park was built in 1994 to commemorate the 1200th anniversary of Kyoto.

The gardens themselves are a very modern representation of traditional Japanese garden design.

In Japan, the art of gardening is considered a high art.

And traditionally, the practice was passed from a sensei or a teacher to the apprentice.

The garden at Ume Kgi Park encompass many traditional design concepts applied to a modern landscapes.

It includes three elements that are central to Japanese garden design.

These are water, whether real or symbolic.

Stone and plantings.

Japanese garden design reflects the strong connection that people of Japan have with nature.

And this relationship guides the use of the three elements.

In design.

For example, water appears as a natural part of the garden's surroundings.

This is why we see streams, ponds, and waterfalls, but not fountains.

The sensory qualities that water provides in landscape are integral to the Japanese garden, the sound, the motion, the flickering of light on its surface.

But also important is the visual space provided by a sheet of water or in a dry landscape by the raked expansive gravel.

Stones are used functionally to create paths, walls, or bridges, and are also used symbolically to represent land or mountains to create the imagery of mountains, large boulders are often set at sharp angles so that they seem to be erupting from the earth.

Smaller stones are commonly placed in odd numbers and in groups that reflect a triangular shape, again, representing mountains.

The most common grouping is called san zan, which is a group of three rocks that together create a focal point in the garden.

Rocks may also be used as religious imagery in the landscape where certain rocks are believed to contain a spirit or a supernatural power.

But rocks are also used simply for their sculptural beauty.

Plant material, of course, is very important.

And in Japanese designs, preference is given to subtle green tones and much less emphasis is placed on flowers.

We do find seasonal bursts of color, such as the cherry blossoms and fruits, or when the azaleas and irises are in bloom.

The variety of plants used in older Japanese landscapes was fairly narrow, and that was influenced by zen principles of simplicity.

Today we see a broader plant palette emerging.

The gardens here at Ume Koji Park bring these three elements together in beautiful harmony, and they also represent a wide variety of traditional garden styles.

So here we have, for example, a landscape garden.

And a landscape garden is designed to either recreate a famous scene from the landscape or just represent what we might commonly see in the countryside, such as the rolling hills with a stream.

And in the foreground here we have a rice patty, which is very common to see throughout the countryside.

Another style of garden that we have here is the strolling garden.

And these gardens were designed to be enjoyed while moving through the landscape.

So they incorporate a lot of pads and tight spaces.

And finally, we have a magnificent viewing garden.

And this is reminiscent of the ponds and islands that we see outside of many temples and shrines.

But this one has a much more modern twist to it.

One of the great joys of gardening is the abundance of wildlife that comes into our landscape with the plants we put in the ground.

It is a pleasure to be back on Oklahoma gardening as we celebrate.

50 years.

During my time as host, I welcomed a variety of guests from across the state to talk about gardening for wildlife.

And I've adopted their lessons as I build my own home garden.

And I've primarily focused on bringing in a lot of birds as well as pollinators.

Now, every wildlife garden begins with three things, food, water, and shelter.

And so as you design your garden, you wanna think about those things.

Let's start with shelter.

If you look at any natural habitat, you find layers of vegetation.

And this is true for forests as well as grasslands.

So my garden, I'm mimicking the forest edge, and I start with an upper canopy of trees, step down to understory trees and shrubs, and then an herbaceous layer closer to the ground.

Now, I started building this garden in 2021 after I lost a huge cottonwood tree to an ice storm.

And I wanted to replace that with a tree that had great wildlife value.

And for that, you cannot oaks.

So we settled on a shumar oak.

It's relatively fast growing for an oak.

It's also a really good urban tree if you're in an urban area and wanting to build a wildlife garden.

I also have a black locust.

This is one of the few trees that was here in this area.

It was just Bermuda grass and a couple of trees.

And unfortunately, it's slowly dying.

So my plan is that over time, the Schu Mart oak will replace its canopy.

In the meantime, the woodpeckers absolutely love it, and the spring blooms are incredibly fragrant and always buzzing with native bees.

Next, we have a shrub layer.

And here I have plants that have a different, different types of wildlife value, including shelter and particularly fruits.

That's something I paid attention to because I'm really interested in attracting birds as well as pollinators.

So on my right, I have an American elderberry.

It's pretty much picked over now, but those summer fruits were a favorite of a variety of birds.

Right now, this American beauty berry is at its prime, and those gorgeous purple fruits are gonna feed cat birds, mockingbirds, wood thrushes, and other songbirds.

Behind me, I have a leather leaf fi burnum, and I chose this one because it's semi evergreen.

It's really important to incorporate some evergreen structure into your wildlife garden, particularly to provide roosting sites over the winter.

Now, in other areas of the landscape, I have Holly's and our entire property is bordered by a cedar, and that's where most of the nests in our landscape are found.

The trees are always buzzing with birds, and those blueberries feed a variety of songbirds.

Of course, cedar wax wings.

But I've also seen cardinals mocking mockingbird and even yellow rumped warblers feeding on those berries.

And I have some milkweed here.

It's not looking its best because it's done its job.

It's fed the monarchs and a variety of other insects.

I grow it also for the nectar rich blooms.

But this time of year, one of my favorite nectar plants is Greg's mist flower.

And last year there were at least half a dozen monarchs flocking to it as they migrated south for the winter.

When we think about shelter in the garden, we wanna think beyond just the leaf canopy.

I left this pretty unsightly stand of monarda here to demonstrate a different type of nesting site.

This was pretty hit, pretty hard by mildew 'cause it was so rainy this year.

But that's okay.

It's still gonna demonstrate for us if you cut a stem of monarda, inside is hollow and a variety of native bees and other insects actually nest inside the hollow stems.

And so to create a nice nesting site, I'll just cut this entire stand back to a height of 12 to 24 inches.

Now, of course, you need to let those stand the following year so they can continue to provide those nesting sites, but the new growth will grow in and hide the stems.

I also use brush piles, or you could use piles of sticks, logs, even rock piles to create different types of habitat for wildlife.

I've even seen toads underneath just a simple rock edge like this, and accidentally disturbed them during their winter's wrist.

Now a lot of wildlife leaves our gardens in the winter, and right now millions of songbirds are passing through Oklahoma on their way to their southern wintering grounds.

And we could support those by planting native fruiting shrubs and and trees.

And one of my favorite for that is this Carolina buckthorn.

It has these beautiful blackberries.

It also has nice glossy foliage, which is about to turn golden yellow for fall.

So this is a wonderful plant to support our migrating birds.

Let's go look at some plants that support migrating hummingbirds.

Three different species of hummingbirds migrate through Oklahoma, of course, are ruby throated, but also the blackchinned and rufuss hummingbirds.

Now, we could support those by putting out feeders, and if you do that, keep them up through the end of October or two weeks beyond your last sighting of a hummingbird.

I prefer to let Mother nature do the work.

So I plant a variety of nectar rich plants in the garden to support hummingbirds.

These bulia here have been blooming nonstop all summer long, and they show no sign of stopping.

They are visited by bees, butterflies, and of course hummingbirds.

I also have a variety of salvias planted throughout the landscape.

These are beloved by hummingbirds as well as butterflies.

And one of my favorite hummingbird plants for fall is the Turks cap.

I love those beautiful red blooms, and the plan is really hardy.

It adapts to a variety of settings from shade to sun.

If you're interested in learning more about wildlife gardening, the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation has some wonderful resources on their website.

Well, thanks for visiting me in my home garden and happy anniversary Oklahoma Gardening.

- There are a lot of great horticulture activities this time of year.

Be sure and consider some of these events in the weeks ahead.

Join us next week as we share some of my segments from the past 10 years.

As your host of Oklahoma gardening - Water gardens are widely used to create a space for relaxation and meditation.

At the end of a busy day, there's nothing better than relaxing beside the soft trickle of a bubbling fountain.

- To find out more information about show topics as well as recipes, videos, articles, fact sheets, and other resources, including a directory of local extension offices, be sure to visit our website at Oklahoma gardening dot OK state.edu.

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You can find this entire show and other recent shows, as well as individual segments on our Oklahoma Gardening YouTube channel.

Tune into our okay gardening classics YouTube channel to watch segments from previous hosts.

Oklahoma Gardening is produced by the Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service as part of the division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources at Oklahoma State University.

The Botanic Garden at OSU is home to our studio gardens, and we encourage you to come visit this beautiful Stillwater Gem.

We would like to thank our generous underwriters, the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, food and Forestry, and Shape Your Future, a program of the Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust.

Additional support is also provided by Greenleaf Nursery and the Garden Debut Plants, the Oklahoma Horticulture Society, the Tulsa Garden Club, and the Tulsa Garden Center.