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Coming up on the first half of Virginia, Home Grown will discover the benefits of working with a landscape designer.

And in the second half of our show, we'll be visiting a beautiful landscape.

The oasis in the western part of Richmond.

We'll also be learning about some insects found in that garden, as well as found in yours and mine.

As always, we welcome your questions via phone call or email.

Stay tuned for Virginia Homegrown.

Have you ever wondered how a certified landscape designer can breathe new life into a landscape?

Tonight, you'll find out how.

Im Amy Williams.

And I'm Peggy Singlemann.

And welcome to Virginia Home Grown and the second half of our show.

We'll be going to a private garden, and then we'll be learning about those insects found in that garden as well as yours.

As always, we welcome your gardening questions via phone call or email.

Amy.

Well, Peggy, a few weeks ago, I had the chance to meet with Vic Coleman, Junior at a garden in Richmond and see the work that he had done creating a beautiful landscape space.

Take a look.

We're here today with Vic Callanan Junior, a certified member of the Virginia Society of Landscape Designers.

And Vic, we're here today to talk about the benefits of hiring a landscape designer.

Our viewers are going to hear in the background that someone has hired someone to do some tree work in a garden.

But this property is gorgeous.

Talk to me about the history of this property and how you came to be here.

It is gorgeous.

Amy The home is an English Tudor revival style built in 1920.

And it's important to understand in any design the architecture of the home so that that architecture can be complimented in the landscape.

And you've done a great job with that.

But you didn't only have to take into account the architecture, you had to take into account the homeowners and their furry friends, right?

This was a fun project because of the homeowners and their three dogs.

They're fine people.

The dogs are an important part of the design because it's their playground.

The backyard is their playground.

So careful consideration was given to the dogs, for example.

English gardens often have Texas plants are use in the design.

However, those are toxic plants to animals.

So obviously we didn't use any use in this garden.

And there's one of the benefits of hiring a landscape designer, because I might go to the library, pull out a book on the architecture that my house covers and see some of those plants and not think twice about putting them in.

You would know, and that's really helpful to have a professional who can guide you in that way.

Absolutely.

And I see you have done a great job of sort of creating spaces here.

Talk to me about what the homeowner's needs were and how how you came to have these spaces.

Sure.

I considered the garden had three or four subthemes or outdoor spaces, one of which is the patio area.

The homeowners enjoy cooking outdoors, and they also enjoy entertaining friends around the firepit.

So you made sure to really highlight that space close to the house.

It is.

And in fact, we've supplemented that with some pleasurable elements, such as fragrance.

We have summer fragrance with gardenia, and then we use the edge worthy of plant for winter fragrance.

And it is a great idea because you're sitting there and it's off a night, so you're not seeing necessarily the plant material choices, but you can smell them.

Absolutely.

Really interesting.

And then this part of the garden you were telling me earlier is an older part that you've rejuvenated.

Yes.

This was built in 1934.

And we consider this the the wife's garden or her playground.

As you can see, we've used a number of evergreen shrubs for year round interest.

But the real beauty is derived from the many containers of flowers and hanging baskets and herbs.

She enjoys cooking with herbs and that goes along with the harvest from her husband's vegetable garden.

Okay, wonderful.

And I see one thing that you've done here is you have things like mint, which we would often be afraid to incorporate in a small garden space like this, but you have wisely placed them in a container.

We put all the possibly invasive herbs in containers, and we've also group the containers together to make watering much easier.

And time saving makes sense.

Really, really good thought and beautiful space.

And there are a couple more spaces that I'd really love to check out.

Do you mind showing them to love to show them?

I think a lot.

CEVIK You describe this area of the Garden as sort of a meditation space.

Why is that?

Well, Amy, this is the dominant focal point in the entire garden.

And as you can see, it's a very relaxing setting suitable for mindful meditation with the trickling water, which is very soothing.

And also the fragrance from Cal Acanthus and Mark Orange make it a very relaxing environment, inviting space.

I like that it draws you in from the other aspect of the garden.

So often we get stuck in the space we live and don't explore more and.

But you've done more of that drawing through the garden over here.

And if we could take a walk and look at it.

Sure, you repeated elements and that really draws people through repetition of plants or materials is a landscape design element and it really ties spaces together.

It provides movement through the garden and it can be repetition of plant material or colors or even hardscape materials.

And here you repeated those white colors that you were using earlier, but you've thrown in the addition of purple.

Yes.

We went from the tranquility of the white color scheme at the fountain to a more lively purple color scheme in this area.

And I see that it's sort of pulling you through to a, I would say, more active portion of the garden and the vegetable garden.

And the husband is very pleased with this vegetable garden.

He had one request in this entire process and that was to have some real estate for his vegetable garden.

And when you're dealing with these large old trees, you had to pick the sunniest location in the garden.

Absolutely has the southern exposure.

So it gets afternoon sun all day.

Wonderful.

And now some of the other challenges that you had.

I see overhead lines.

Yeah.

So what did that limit you with?

Well, especially in the city, you have to be mindful overhead power lines.

So it's important, one to select a tree that will mature without encroaching upon the power lines.

And two, these trees were offset, so they're not directly underneath the lines.

So we hope to have addressed that situation.

Absolutely.

And they serve another benefit with the dogs.

Yes.

They they provide breaks so that the dogs can't run the perimeter of the property.

Anyone who has dogs love to do that right now.

One of the other things that I noticed is some really interesting architectural elements.

The fountain, the gates are gorgeous.

There's a birdbath, there are some stones.

You told me these are all refurbished.

It was very interesting in the site analysis and discovery phase, what we found here, the fountain was refurbished, the hinges on the gates.

The gates were rebuilt, the hinges are actually handmade, and we were able to reuse them, which we're very pleased about.

The slates we found we've used those in the garden as well, and the birdbath was in disrepair and we resurfaced that and put it back in action.

Really wonderful.

And I think it's a great lesson to our viewers of the value that a landscape designer brings to your space.

We try to save the client money, save the client money and reuse things that are part of the garden.

And I think what I've learned in this space is how beneficial, even in a small scale and maybe even more so on a small scale, a landscape designer is it's probably more important in a small garden to have a designer, actually, because there are more constraints.

Well, Vic, it's been wonderful information and a beautiful garden on a lovely June day.

So nice to have long sleeves on set.

Thank you for sharing it with us.

Amy.

Thank you so much.

It's hard to believe we were there in June.

As cool as we were, it was a beautiful garden.

Vic, thanks for sharing it.

Thank you.

Before we get started, I want to tell everyone that our phone number and email is on the screen, so go ahead and send in your questions now and we'll get to those in a few minutes.

Now, Vic, I want to know about VSL D. It stands for Virginia Society of Landscape Designers.

And what is the benefit of working with that organization?

Well, little background.

The organization was founded in 1960, so it has a long track record.

Currently, we have over 90 certified designers across the Commonwealth.

The benefit is that these are professionals who will save the client money and they do that because they are competent and fundamental design suitability of plants and graphic design and you say certified, they have actually been reviewed by peers.

That's correct.

And so they are can't just put out a shingle and say this is what they know how to do it.

Someone has really looked at their work and they would submit a master plan to the design board and the board reviews and critiques the plan and accepts or rejects prospective applicants.

And I think we're very lucky in Virginia to have an organization like that, as well as some of the landscape and horticulture certification programs, because there are so many people who have businesses that are landscape related and it's hard to pick and choose and know who the right person is, isn't it?

Well, these are top flight people.

They really are problem solvers because what we find is that homeowners often have similar problems with either wildlife or privacy issues.

They really want to create outdoor spaces.

And what we hear quite often is we want it to be low maintenance.

Sure.

And that's where the professionalism of VSL designers comes into play.

And it's easy as the homeowner to be sucked into a pretty plant at the store or your neighbor telling you how great something's doing in their yard, but it doesn't necessarily mean it's going to translate and do well at your place.

No, it doesn't.

And it really we have designers that actually specialize in certain types of gardens, anything from edible gardens to healing and meditation gardens to pollinating gardens, just a wide range of specialties that we have historic garden renovations and so forth.

And that garden was a great example of how with the help of a designer, you can get so much out of a pretty small space.

We did.

And what was neat about it too, is that there were a lot of re claimable materials that some were literally, literally buried in the ground that we found and we were able to put those things back together and reuse them.

And I suspect that for the viewer, that's probably the biggest fear of contracting with a designer is cost.

But when you start thinking about all of the plants that you've gone to the store and brought home that have not been successful or that have been too successful and have to be removed, it really is going to save you in the loss.

In the long run.

It does.

And really our designers fall into one of two categories.

They're either design only or design build and design only would be submitting the plan to the client.

And at that point they could find their own contractors.

The value of a VSL designer is that the vessel's designers have relationships with the best contractors.

Sure, So they can hook up the client and it saves the client time and headache of having to go out and find that by themselves.

The other design build is more of a turnkey operation and really it's from A to Z.

The the firm that does design build can handle the design itself, the implementation plans, the after maintenance.

If there's hardscape irrigation, landscape lighting, those things involved, they can handle it all.

And if you were inclined to want to do the work yourself, that's a possibility with a designer.

Absolutely.

You have brought with you some examples of what you might get from a landscape designer if you were hired.

And so let's take a look at the first one.

This would help a homeowner who wanted to do the installation himself.

Absolutely.

In the landscape, design can be as simple as a one page sketch.

Really.

It's basically to communicate the concept and the idea.

And this one is a black and white site sketch, and it brings up a good point, and that is sometimes client may not want to do the entire project all at once for budgetary reasons.

So the design can be done in phases so they can implement as they is they're able to afford it.

So a designer might say, first thing to do, put in the larger trees and then we'll come in and do smaller plant.

Absolutely.

So this is a good example of a small scale or almost a foundation planting with a a bed out there.

I know a lot of people can't read that.

It's two dimensional.

It's black and white.

It doesn't they are not used to reading plans.

Right.

So you might be able to ask for something that would help someone who doesn't have that ability to read.

And we have a sample of that.

This is, as you can see, it's more elaborate color render, full blown landscape plan.

This one is really neat.

It has a pull.

But what's interesting is that there are many garden rooms in this plan, and that's something that people really like as to almost like in their house where they have rooms in their house, they have rooms in their garden.

Sure.

And before the show started, you and I were talking about the seasons here in Virginia.

And I mean, we have a beautiful spring.

If we're lucky enough to get a spring and our falls are amazing.

And so to be able to use that space rather than being locked inside is a tremendous benefit.

Oh, absolutely.

And it also reflects the diversity of our members because they're all over the state of Virginia.

So they work in different regions where the conditions are different and they have different specialties and styles and styles.

And that was a very traditional plan.

And the next example that we have is quite contemporary.

Yes, it is.

That's computer aided design, which is very contemporary, and the graphics on that are consistent with the contemporary design of the garden and the structure, how appropriate that they match each other, which helps because I would imagine that the client who has that esthetic is going to be able to read this more easily than another.

Absolutely.

I'm having flashbacks to college where my professor, who did not do CAD, said No one's ever going to do CAD design, but they're really helpful and useful, especially so many people are digitally minded.

That makes sense to them.

And I think we have one final one that we can take a quick peek at.

Okay, This one is in a state so a landscape planner can be something as simple as a small site or a large estate.

And this one has a lot of specimen trees in it, both old and new.

And it was integrated very nicely to mix in the old plants with the new.

So that's wonderful.

That's a master plan that shows an inventory of what is existing, which is a great example to say that a landscape designer is not going to come and clean, cut your property and start anew.

It's right.

Doesn't have to be a start from scratch.

Right.

One more thing.

Okay.

Virginia's society of Landscape Designers, the website is L.D.

Talk, and I would encourage people to go there.

We also have a Facebook page with great information on it.

Wonderful.

Vic, thank you so much.

I think this is great information and really helps guide our our viewers.

So thank you.

While we get ready to take your questions, we're going to take a look at this tip from Peggy at Mammoth.

You know, when it comes to plant identification, even the best of us have our days where we get things mixed up and evergreens seem to stump everybody at some point in time, whether you're a novice or whether you're a professional.

And so I want to share with you a few of the tricks that I use to help keep them straight.

First of all, we're going to compare Ann Arbor Variety with a Cami Cypress or Hinoki Cypress, and we're going to show you a fir versus a spruce.

So let's start first with our variety versus our Hinoki cypress or cami Cypress.

And first of all, things can get confusing because some cultivars both have yellow tips to them and in this case they do.

And the other thing about them, though, is that you need to understand is that in looking at them, though, there are marked differences here.

Notice that the are provided sprays of green are they're small, leaves are flat.

We're over at the cami Cypress it's anything but has a nice soft texture sort of world to it.

The other thing is that our providing the young cones and even the mature cones are kind of like rosebuds and an oval shape.

The Cami Cypress, when they get their cones, will be little round balls about the size of peas that are brown.

But the easiest way to tell the difference that you can do any time of year is going over and looking at the back of the plant.

You'll notice here that the arbor righty is nice and green is soft green all the way through, But the Cami Cypress has actually little deposits of wax between the small scaly leaves.

And that's your clue to say that too.

Cami Cypress or hinoki fall cypress.

So just a nice simple little trick there.

A little bit of knowledge will help you identify the two of these.

It's the same over here with ferns and spruces.

You know, here we have a fir and here we have a spruce.

The spruce cones have a tendency to grow down from the plant branch while the fir cones actually grow up, much like candles on a candelabra.

Another way, of course, is by pulling off a little needle and rolling it in your thumbs.

The Spruce Needle generally has more of a square feel to it when you roll it in your hand, where a fir needle when you pinch it off and roll it is more flat in your fingers.

But finally, that surefire method that's good all year round is knowing how those needles are attached and the fir needle is attached to the little suction cup.

So when you pull them off, that stem is nice and smooth fluff and easy to roll down with your finger versus the spruce.

Those needles are actually on small little branches that are attached to that main branch.

And so when you take them off, there's a rough texture to them.

I always say spruce is have little stands, why firs are flat.

So these are some tricks of the trade you can use.

And to be honest, we use these tricks here at Marmont to help clarify some of the plants that we have because our arboretum is filled with plants from all over the world and you can now use them in your home or even at your friends garden to be able to clarify who is who in your garden.

Great tips, Peggy.

Thank you for that.

Thank you, Amy.

Before we get started, I want to remind everyone that we have a Facebook page where you can like us and follow along.

And throughout the month you can ask gardening questions and a group of us will respond and get those questions answered for you.

So please follow us along there.

And you can also check out our Web page where we show past episodes.

And this show will show up in a couple of days so you can go back and review things that we have done in the past.

So we encourage you to follow along and ask your questions throughout the month.

Well, folks, we've got some questions, so let's get started.

Grace has two lilacs, a white and a purple and wants to know what the best time to prune them is.

Do you know the answer to this one?

I would say right after they finish blooming.

Sure.

Spring flowering plants you prune after they bloom.

Definitely.

So you're starting to get a little late.

Yeah.

Yes, you could do it now, but it's probably getting a little bit late to do it.

Yeah.

So be patient.

And next year you can do what will happen if she prints now?

Well, she'd probably lose some blooms from next year.

Sure.

And in Virginia, we kind of have questionable lilac blooms, so you might want to.

Yeah, well, back to the New Yorker here is smiling.

I will say the most important thing she can do, though, is climb that lilac to get that soil patch up.

That's the there's two in Virginia and New York and great time to do that.

Exactly.

And especially as we keep getting these afternoon thunderstorms.

What is that line?

Right.

And Joanne from Richmond wants to know which plants you recommend as deer resistant.

Do you have any favorites?

Let's let's narrow this down.

And we we have to preface this by saying that the deer never read the list right.

So they don't always follow the rules.

How about a couple of perennials that you like, Rebecca?

Come flowers.

And those are so nice because in this heat they just don't give up.

Yeah, they don't.

They smile.

Yeah.

Do you have a favorite?

Yes.

Tuberose, as a native, that seems to survive the deer.

Sure.

Amazonia directly.

It's in the milkweed family.

So.

Great, Great, great.

For this after for the pollinator segment that we'll do.

What about a couple of shrubs that you would throw?

Yeah.

Do you have a favorite?

Actually, I'm going to say a bill, a grand of flora.

I just moved and we now have 17 at my house every night and there's a billion and boxwood in the box.

What's another one?

And that's nice because you get year round green interest and don't have to worry about it.

And then let's do a favorite tree.

Oh gosh, I'm going to say, Oh well it's it's a large shrub, small tree, but a vortex, a chess tree have they haven't touched it.

Good choice.

And I saw those coming into Richmond today.

They're beautiful this time of year.

I like them compared to a butterfly bush because they give you the same sort of appearance color wise.

But their structure is a little tidier.

Much bigger.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Thanks.

Plant.

All right, so there are less and less and less.

And it depends what neighborhood you live in as to what your deer will eat.

Yeah.

And sometimes if they just don't like you, they'll eat everything regardless of what the list says.

Okay, we have a couple of questions about insects.

Are all insects that we see on our flowers pollinators?

No, not really, no.

Some are opportunists and some are pollinators.

And I think one thing that we've discussed in the past that is important to note is that all of the flowers that we see pollinators on aren't necessarily particularly beneficial to them, are they now?

But, you know, we've got a guest coming on in a few minutes, so let's ask for that.

And that would be good.

Yes, Darryl has a question about what insects other than bees are pollinators.

And I know we'll get to that with Karen, But of course, butterflies are the big ones, right?

Yes.

Everybody that everybody loves to say got more questions coming in.

Native plants.

John in Midlothian wants to know what natives you like in this area.

I like Amazonia, the Tuberose, or Scorpius Tuberose, which is milkweed.

It's a nice orange plant and it's so nice that people are adding more of that these days.

Yeah, it's sort of What's the good pollinators?

Yeah, wonderful and beautiful plant and that.

But orange is lovely, very vibrant.

Yeah.

I am a big fan of it here.

I am too.

It's one of my favorites.

It's so tough and in just about any condition.

And so that that's a nice shrub.

And depending on what variety you get, ranges in size.

I'm a fringe of fringe tree fan, fringe trees for that beautiful, soft white blossom and make just absolutely beautiful, lovely choices.

So we are lucky that we have a wonderful collection of native plants in the states to choose from.

And so the Native Plant Society can help guide that.

And Peggy, you were just sharing with me new information that they've put out about invasives.

Yes, we have a new invasive plant list that we need to share and talk about more.

And when you said Adelia, I thought of that because that makes the look it doesn't live with.

Yes.

So there are a lot of plants when you are thinking native that we see often in the environment that aren't native, they are actually invasive, that have made themselves so happy in our environment very much at home.

Yes.

Yes.

So it is wise to consult with a professional designer who knows nurses as well.

So, Peggy, I want to know what is going on at Vermont these days.

Oh, we've got so much blooming at my mind.

It's absolutely wonderful.

And we're able to be able to come out and people to enjoy the gardens.

You have beautiful hibiscus blooming.

We've got our phlox is about ready to burst into bloom and we've just got lots of fun things in the gardens and then of course we have just a lot of programs that you can learn more about the we may Montauk, but we have a glow run coming up this weekend, which is a new thing and it is fun.

It's in the evening and you put on the all those glow paraphernalia, glow in the dark things.

And it's just a fun family event for family as well as, you know, people who just are interested in exercise a and in a unique and fun way.

That's great.

Wonderful.

Yes.

Now back to the questions.

We have one about tomatoes.

Tis the season to get our tomato questions.

What is your advice for tomatoes that you just can't keep going upward?

They just keep falling.

Well, you missed the boat.

You should have started actually getting them and forcing them up that wonderful support when you planted them.

And then what you have to do is some are indeterminate and some are determinate.

And you've also got to watch your vines.

If you're getting your plants from a retail nursery, you've got to be to ask which ones you have versus if you're buying seed, it'll say in the packet which to purchase, but you're indeterminate.

We'll just go crazy all over.

Y Your determinants will be one sort of forced main stem and you want to basically sucker these to encourage them to keep growing up singularly.

And people say, Oh, I'm taking off plants, well, you're going to lose some to gain a lot more fruit that way.

But right from the get go, you've got to do that staking because now if you were to start, you're going to break.

Breaking now break.

Yeah, absolutely.

Lots of great information.

And we're have some more questions come in and that we'll get to in the next segment.

But right now we're going to take a look at the segment that you taped at a beautiful garden and talk about what they're growing there and how they're attracting pollinators.

So take a look.

What a special treat, what a beautiful place that you have here.

And I will tell you, when I rolled around the corner, I knew that I was at your home.

So beautiful, just so full of color and flowers.

Where did you start with all of this?

When we first moved here in 99, we had Karen Kelly with Chip and Wilson do the initial layout and and planning of the yard and with several iterations and with stuff dying and being replaced.

And all that over the years is just devolved into what we have now.

Well, obviously you too are gardeners and I can see it because it's, it's very obvious that you aren't just somebody that the design was done and then you let it be.

This is your garden.

And I can tell when I walk around with you and tell me about it and the colors and the choices, you know who chose the lilies?

What a beautiful bed.

Right now, at this time of year, I think it was a compromise.

The yard, the yards, a compromise with both of us.

Okay.

And the succession of blue here.

I mean, I was here in March and there were daffodils and we had daffodils, all sorts of daffodils.

And this early from early spring through the I guess you call it the daffodil season and that and then as that's going on, the peonies are coming up.

Right.

And most of the peonies are kind of later in the season.

But we do have tree peonies that are early in their right and the peonies do their thing as the lilies are coming up and now the lilies are doing their thing.

And we plant throughout the yard probably about £2 of zinnias seeds.

Yeah, the real thing you see, and a big kind of a big white cloth bag.

And we throw the zinnia seeds around literally, and that gives our summer color.

And we have zinnias from summer and the what?

Before us.

Oh, the frost.

And I'm sure you cut them and enjoy them in the house as well as out here in the garden.

A little.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Oh yeah.

We've actually had some that were seeded themselves from last year that are blooming now.

It's way early and I love how you've got lilies there.

But also behind us is a lily just sort of tie in.

And behind this are some peonies which tie in.

So you, you pull that through into the beds up close to your house.

Two very, very important design elements here.

But it makes the garden cohesive.

It brings it together and we have hyacinths that actually grow before this variety comes up.

Oh, and then the variety takes them over and there's a few more down by the mailbox, but that bed over there is full of them and I just ordered 500 more 500?

I want to come back next spring and see those come in the fall and help us plan.

Oh no, you need to have a party for that hyacinth planting party.

Well, you know, you've got some beautiful plants here.

They're very healthy.

You amend your soil at all in the spring.

We have mushrooms, soil put in and to try to build the beds over either over the years because the soil so poor we've had composted.

Yeah.

Cow manure.

Wonderful.

Yes.

And that's what's develop what soil we have here because it is it was so poor.

Well you know I think gardeners are learning the importance of adding compost to enrich that soil and have become alive.

Yeah.

And obviously the beautiful soil here is is obvious because of the beautiful plants that you have.

But if you don't mind, I'd like to go to another part of your yard here and talk a little bit more about the design elements that you have.

Okay.

You want to go that way.

We'll go that way.

This is Belle's jungle.

This little spot of the yard is beautiful, and my eye is drawn to those lovely Orange Day lilies.

And then it's leads up to how it complements with the forest pansy red.

But, I mean, just what a beautiful combination.

The redwood tree in the spring causes people to stop as they drive by.

It is loaded with flowers.

Oh, when it's in full bloom.

And you've got some things tucked under that red.

But as well, there are several types of hostas, and some of them are some of the houses that we originally put in that have been divided three or four times.

As you can see from there.

And over the years, we've put in additional hosta for different colors and and to give some accent, I guess more than anything else, right, to give some some color and accent in particular with that beautiful red foliage with the dead.

We've taken the day lilies and this year have brought them around, have planted new ones and other Asiatic and oriental lilies as we've cut the redwood tree up a bit, I guess you call it the canopy of the tree.

Let me it up so that it can get some sun.

The area can get a little sun there.

But what I love to have is that you've got this wonderful curved line and then it swings back over to the front of the house to where we are.

But we've got Boxwood and we have Hollies and Pines and we even have some vertical with some irises here and great myrtles.

And of course the great myrtles, which might be blooming a little early this year.

Yes, but the backyard mimics this.

You've continued that curve back there.

What are some of the plants that you've added back there?

We've had tree wise, they're magnolia and Norwegian spruce.

I believe there are.

There's a big maple tree in the back.

We also have peonies in the backyard and hostas and some annuals.

Ralph's planted a blackberry vine this spring that I think we've gotten two or three quarts of Blackberries, all of one vine.

Fantastic, right?

And there's lettuce that we've planted that our rabbits, Fred and Earl, like.

And we have some zucchini and zucchini and I think yellow squash too.

Yeah.

So you've combined vegetables and a little with your perennials, which is why in the back of the yard is a little garden where there's cabbage and brussel sprouts and broccoli and tomatoes.

The important point is, is that the way you've used the design of the beds and the flow of the way you and Karen have worked together in creating a space to have your vegetables and your flowers and your your beautiful magnolia trees and everything else.

But you don't feel like you're on a rectangular lot.

No.

In a neighborhood, when you walk on to your property, you are immediately enclosed with plants.

And as you walk through your property, you know, you'd never get that sensation of it being a rectangular corner lot.

And I think your neighbors really appreciate you sharing your passion and your love.

And I know we do.

And I really appreciate you putting the effort into having us out here and to talk about your garden to do it.

Thank you so, so much.

Oh, and I have little boys that steals is in the fall to go talk to their teacher down here.

That's fantastic.

Isn't that wonderful?

And I said, if you just stop a minute, I'll give you a pair of scissors and you can cut her a bunch.

Oh, he said, Now she ain't that nice.

But they, they'll stop and I let them break out of that bed.

They are by the mailbox and they yell out, the kids don't bother nothing, Nothing at all.

They appreciate and think of how you're teaching them to appreciate something beautiful.

So maybe when they get older and have their own space, it will create a beautiful environment, a beautiful home, just like you have.

So we hope.

Yes.

Thank you, guys.

You're welcome.

You know, it's always so fun to go to a garden and see new things and to get some new ideas.

But I'm very fortunate to have somebody who I consider very highly educated in entomology, and that's Dr. Karen Kessler from VCU.

But we get before we start talking at our pollinators, first, I want to remind you to please, you know, our phones are open and you can also email in those gardening questions so we can answer them for you throughout this show.

What we don't cover, we'll get to later.

But Karen, you've brought in some wonderful information.

We had a few flowers in that garden and one of them there is the Zinnia, which is right here.

But there are other flowers that we as gardeners can include in our gardens to encourage our pollinators.

Yes, these are some of my favorite flowers for attracting pollinators.

Most of these are from my yard, and a few are from the bug garden at James River.

Most of them are cultivated, and the couple are native.

Mm.

And so basically these are butterfly plants.

Yeah.

Butterfly weed is a very common one, but yeah.

But, Leah, Brazilian verbena.

This is like a butterfly magnet later on.

Yes.

Yes.

And Echinacea.

Echinacea is a great plant.

It's also it's actually more of a beet plant if you look at it.

It's symmetrical.

Mm hmm.

Okay.

So bees like symmetry, either radial symmetry, and you can see this repeated with the Rebecca, the Marguerite's all of this, but they also like things that have what are called what's called bilateral symmetry.

So like the salvia right here.

So if you cut that flower in half, the two sides would look the same.

Okay, these are also like blue's yellow purple.

But then, you know, just like deer haven't read the list of pollinators, don't read the theory books.

So this is awesome.

This is a native plant.

This is Mt.

Mint.

Yeah.

This is just crazy busy with pollinators and wasps.

And that's a wonderful plant.

You know, I just put those in my Montgomery Butterfly garden because we did a segment in Charlottesville, and I saw the activity on this plant, and I knew I had to have it, although it gets a little aggressive.

Yes.

So so earlier in the season, Lamb's ear.

Yes.

Everybody's lovely buzzing.

It lands here and now, of course, be bomb.

So you can see it's got a lot going for it.

It's symmetrical.

And then it also each of the influences is bilaterally symmetric.

Yes, I see that.

So also B plants have fragrance.

Okay.

And when we talk bees, we're not talking our not only our European honeybees, but we're reisen Thank you for saying European honeybee Iris That's a that's a that's a trick question on my exam every year Native bees.

Yeah.

Because they are introduced and they are cultivated.

So this box, we have a lot of bees, so different bee families here.

So in the upper left hand corner.

Uh huh, upper left hand.

Sorry, you're just learning something.

I don't know.

Carpenter bees.

Yes.

And so people are familiar with them as passed, but they're, they're important pollinators beneath them, the bumblebees extremely important, especially if you want to grow tomatoes.

Anything in the solid AC because of the buzz pollination beneath them, leaf cutting bees.

One of the interesting ones in the leaf honey bees is hibiscus bee.

And so it's like dedicated to hibiscus.

That's fascinating that it's just that's its plant, that's its flower, the hibiscus.

And so some of the native bees are kind of specialists in Virginia Summer.

They're not like extreme extreme, but they're kind of specialized and more so than than the honey bees.

Okay.

And then so it's by flower shape, but also flower size.

So you see these little tiny like this is a listen.

Uh huh.

So the little tiny bees like that, a little tiny bees need little tiny flowers, right?

Oregano.

Uh huh.

These also this will also attract flies.

So we have some flies over there.

But some of the important plants, the fly pollinators, are just little tiny things you would never consider pollinators.

Fantastic.

We've got some other beautiful things over here, too, right?

People forget that beetles are also pollinators.

So we have some longhorn beetles and then the little tiny, tiny one all the way to the right.

That's a so we have some tumbling flower beetles and they go there and they just kind of fall in magnolias.

People like magnolias, those are those are pollinated by beetles.

So beetle plants tend to be white, small, kind of fruity and with lots and lots of pollen because they like to eat the pollen.

That's fascinating.

Who do we have down here?

Okay, these are flies.

Very these are various families of flies are inside.

Some of the little tiny ones are important.

But look at the first, the top row right there.

Yes.

And these are really cool because these are bee mimics.

These are surface flies, flower flies, hover flies.

They have different names.

Interesting.

They mimic not only the appearance of bees, but also their behavior.

So if you happen to pick one up, the look like they're trying to sting, they're just faking it all the way.

And then, of course, we have our butterflies are less about, you know, butterflies really aren't as effective as the circus.

Pretty.

They're gorgeous.

They're gorgeous.

And if you want butterflies in your yard, in addition to plants, you have to grow some of their houseplants.

So for many of these insects, we need their their host or they're able to have their habitat for them because they.

Right.

But some of them are very specific, like the zebra only feeds on papaya.

And we know that monarchs feed on milkweed with that little white yellow one.

Yes.

The imported white cabbage worm that will feed on anything in the course of her family.

Yes, he's in Jack's vegetable garden all the time.

You know what I say?

Will feed on has clone me.

Oh, really?

Because even though it isn't related, it produces the same group of chemicals.

That's interesting.

So how about these guys down in the Queens are really cool.

I get a lot of calls about these These are scarlet wasps.

There are they are also called flower wasps.

You will see them.

There are a lot of name on it actually.

Two of those are from May Mott from the Bumble Bee Jamboree.

Those are really fascinating because in addition to feeding on plants, they're also parasitic on on scarab beetle grubs.

So you can see them going over lawns a lot.

So they're looking for them.

I've seen them.

So so some of these are not only really awesome pollinators like some of the other bees there, the hover hover flies in the middle, in the middle, in the middle right here, some of those are they immature feed on aphids.

Oh, fun.

So you have you know, they're pollinators and they're natural enemies, so they're pretty cool.

But the native bees are really important.

Yeah.

Whose worth?

Our little mason bees and all my little cutter lip cutter.

The leaf cutter bees are down here.

That's amazing.

Be right there that you're touching.

Okay.

And so those are really cool.

I get calls about that, too.

If you have a leaf and it looks like someone cut out a perfect.

So yes, like a horse.

This is a leaf cutter.

Bees and different sizes are different.

One of those is fairly uncommon.

It showed up in my backyard.

I was very happy about that.

That's exciting.

That's kind of me finding a cool new plant, you know, tiny, collected bees in the upper right.

They're all different ones that that green one with yellow stripes.

That's very common.

But there are some that are even tiny years in that the plaster bees beneath them, we have a few species of those.

Those are the ones that I get calls about, too.

There are a bunch at Belle Isle.

They are they're called Philip Patrick.

So they they tend to start their families in the same place that they developed in Oak and but they dig holes and they poke up their little heads and they're really cool.

They don't leave the hood, huh?

No, they don't.

Thanks.

Pretty much same the same area.

But with the exception of the bumblebees, all of the other native bees are solitary sometimes, so they some species will share an entrance holes like an apartment building.

You go in the front door, but they have their own apartments, so they don't have queens and workers.

That's what we mean by solitary.

And so having the nesting sites is important.

So don't mulch everything, keep some bare soil.

Well, aerated, we'd like sandy soil and some species have different things.

I've also seen the collected sand berms or a big tree that fell over.

Yeah.

Don't make everything so tidy.

Karen, this has been wonderful.

You've been a wealth of information and you've shared so much with us, and I know you've shared it quickly, but I think all of our viewers now know that, you know, we've got a lot more out there than just the bumblebees, the butterflies, the hummingbirds and the and the European honeybees and things that meet the eye, that there's a lot of activity going on that we really don't catch.

So thank you for having us.

And right now, we're going to go to the plant of the month.

Today, I'm in the lower grove at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello, and I want to talk about a beautiful woodland wildflower that literally lights up the forest with these long, tall spires of white flowers that tower above the very lush, dark green foliage.

And this is the black cohosh or snake root, as Jefferson called it.

And the flowers are very curious if you look closely at them, you'll see that they don't even have petals.

We're looking at very long stamens and a stigma in the center.

It's in the Buttercup family.

And when the foliage first emerges in the springtime, it almost looks like fern fronds unfurling.

It likes a deep, rich, moist soil environment.

And so it does quite well in a garden.

And in fact, it looks like a giant is still be under cultivation.

It has a very wide range and its growth habit, its native from southern Canada south to Georgia and west to Arkansas.

Now it's Latin name that I learned in school was send as a few of the racy Mosa.

But in fact, Carl Linnaeus originally named it actually a racy Mosa and today the scientists have turned back to the original name of this plant.

Now, when Thomas Jefferson mentioned this in this flower, he included it in Notes on the State of Virginia, his only published book, and it was under the classification of a medicinal flower.

And obviously the Native Americans believed that it would cure diseases and inflammation and possibly snakebite.

And in fact, today it's been studied by scientists for its medicinal qualities.

For these and many other reasons, I've chosen the black cohosh as the plant of the month.

As always, we're very thankful to Peggy Cornett for helping us with that, and especially thankful that she chose a beautiful plant in the nice, shady, cool location, Monticello.

It was a hot day out there, and that's a great plant.

It is a great plant.

Beautiful plant.

Before we get started, I want to remember that or to remind you that if you have a question between shows, you can always write to Richard Nunley at the Richmond Times Dispatch.

And he is very good at getting back to you.

And you may even see your question appear in a future column of his.

So please do that.

And we are always very appreciative that Richard continues to support us.

So, so well, we have lots of questions, folks.

Mary from Montpelier wants to know what your favorite plants to include in the garden to attract pollinators would be.

Well, the two of the flowers that we spoke about a few minutes ago, there are certain ones that are just magnets.

So is it peewee goldenrod and the bloom too early this year like it did last year?

But that's like a magnet to all kinds of things.

Anything that golden yellow late in the season, especially to extend that that attraction period.

That's a that's a color for lots of things the bud leaf for butterflies and skippers that vortex for bees and wasps and then that mountain.

It was incredible.

Now we've had guests in the past who have warned against, introduced things such as Budleigh and pushed the idea of using more native plants.

Is it more beneficial for us to include the natives or are they as beneficial to a wide range as that more specific to the butterflies that we should try and well, what I've learned from Peggy over the years seriously, my garden includes some cultivated plants and some natives.

A mixture with that with the idea of extending the blooming season.

So some people say, Oh, you have to have natives because the pollinators have adapted to them, but not that strict here in North America.

So like I just showed you, a bee flower is radial symmetry with lots of things that you cultivate.

The important thing is, is that the, the, the characteristics that attract the pollinators remain intact.

Okay?

A garden is not going to get pollinated unless it sends out sent for them off shore, for example.

I've seen badly as and I don't know what's going on with them, but I don't see any butterflies on them.

And then for a lot.

So maybe it's not as fragrant.

I don't know.

The other thing is that sometimes in in and Peggy is a horticulturist in producing certain hybrids and varieties that are eliminated reproductive organs.

Right.

Right.

And if you're a pollinator, that's not going to do it for you.

So if I see pollinators on my plants, they're good.

I mean, that's it.

I'm not doing harm.

No.

When I when I buy new plants, I wherever I go to a garden or whatever, I see where the pollinator action is.

And you can do that in the garden center, right?

If you hang out long enough, you will see that they they come and go in a day.

Yes.

Go with that.

Yes.

That's a good question for you.

If I am interested in assistance from a landscape designer, but I don't think that I need a full on plan.

Is there someone who can help me?

Absolutely.

Any of the vessels members can help with that on a consultative basis.

Sometimes folks just need to bounce some ideas off you and they're just looking to do some tweaks and certainly the member can help with that.

Very good.

And I would imagine that if you are an avid gardener, those consultations might be a great method for you to follow because you'll understand the language that you're speaking versus if you're not into gardening.

That sounds like left, right, right.

So that's a great opportunity.

And I will say even as a landscaper, and I know Peggy and I have had this conversation, I call in designer friends all the time for advice and horticulturist friends and I don't think any of us just does it all ourselves.

Well, it's about different creative ideas.

And we as gardeners, you know, you know, sort of get in our little groove and sometimes you need somebody just to look at it from a different perspective and to show you another way of approaching.

And it's good to bounce ideas off, as you said.

And I have a friend, Van Anderson, who's been on the show, who is my gardening marriage counselor, because sometimes my husband doesn't believe me if I say something should be done.

But a van comes over and says, you know, those three trees really ought to go.

I can actually get my yard bulldozed.

So it is helpful.

It's really helpful to have them.

More questions.

Felicia in Charlottesville says, Are all bees pollinators?

Are all bees pollinators, for the most part, because bees, unlike wasps, have lots of hair, and the hair is branched.

And so certain bee species have hair concentrated in certain parts of their body.

And so when they enter a flower, the pollen through electrodes, static action adheres to the hairs.

So what have they're not so hairy.

And if they are, they have on branched hairs.

So and for butterflies don't have a you know, they don't have the hair to pick up the pollen.

That's why they're not as effective.

But pretty much they are.

And some of them are going to be better than others, depending on the flower.

Now, there is one instance when they're when the same species is a pollinator sometimes, but not other times like carpenter bees and bumblebees.

So I showed you the black and blue salvia over there, one of my favorite plants.

Well, they can't get into it because it's too tiny.

So the same with Wisteria, Virginia, Bluebells.

So what they do is they go to the base of the crow, they take a bite and they suck out the nectar.

So they're actually nectar wrappers, so they're not pollinating cheating.

Okay, so that I don't have to feel bad when I chased away the carpenter bees.

That's what I try to tell people.

Yeah, Yeah.

Because I was feeling a little guilty here watching this.

But now I'm glad to hear that it may be okay, but caterpillars.

Aaron says she has found a very large green caterpillar with white protrusions on its back on her tomato plants and grapevine.

What are these?

My solar system has been working with.

So this is the tobacco horned worm, even though it's feeding on tomato, it's called tobacco home remedy to the little white protuberances.

These are the cocoons of a parasitic what's called cotija congregate a and that little was when the caterpillar was younger later takes inside the caterpillar the eggs, the wasp grubs grew by feeding on the nutrients in the insect blood.

And then they chew their way out.

They spin cocoons, and these elegant little black wasps come out.

So if you find them, leave them because they are going to take care of that caterpillar for you.

Well, that caterpillar has already done a lot of damage.

So it's not so much that caterpillar, but you to keep the population of the natural enemies up so they can zap more.

So we need the good guys to win, right?

Yeah.

Now I have a question that's sort of connected to the two of you.

I know designers frequently get people who call and say, I want a beautiful garden, but I'm allergic to bees.

And so can you plant something that flowers.

But is it I'm not going to have bees there.

And actually maybe this to all of you, if those bees are busy working, are they really that much of a threat to us?

Bees are just busy doing their job.

You have to go out of your way to annoy them some.

Some are more sweet tempered than others.

I've the only time I've been stung by a bee is when I stepped on a honey bee and clover.

Seriously.

And I'm in and out and they're very sweet honey bees.

If they sting, they die.

But that's not true with some of the others.

They can sting you.

So thick plants, a beautiful perennial garden next to a patio.

And the homeowner has a bee allergy.

She's probably going to be able to enjoy her perennial garden with.

I think it depends on the plants.

I wouldn't sign a right, but they're not going to swarm out at you when you know well.

And certain plants draw bees more than others.

And that's one of the questions I ask on initial meeting with the client is are you or any members of your family allergic to these things?

I'll stay away from certain plants like a value.

They're bee magnets and some others.

But I also think people have to understand that yellow jackets are not.

That's right.

Okay.

And we tend to lump them in the word bees, but they're not.

So.

All right, we only have 30 minutes.

I better push through Echinacea, ancestor regulations has tiny white moth like bugs that leave white residue on them.

She thinks they are whiteflies.

She also has a koi pond within a few feet of the plant.

So what can she do to get rid of them without hurting her big healthy fish?

I'm going to refer to an example earlier when Peggy said I have these orange beetles on the side of my house.

What are they?

And my first question is, are you sure they're beetles?

And I mean, if they're growing outside, they're most likely not Whiteflies I have seen a lot of hoppers this year, a lot of leaf hoppers, and it look like white waxy stuff on stem and just rub them off.

But they don't really do, as I say, tenacious, so tough it's going to outgrow that.

So it may not be attractive, but just to rub it off the wax it and at the end of the season, cut it back and okay, we're running out of time.

So let's do another quick one.

Wilting tomatoes.

Larry said his tomato plants are starting to wilt at the top.

They look better by the morning, but in the evening they start to wilt again.

What is going on?

Sounds like they don't have a very good root system or they've got something feeding on the root system to cause the stress because we've had a lot of heat stress going on, which means as the day continues on and the plant loses water, it starts to wilt a little.

But we've also had a lot of rain lately.

And I'm going to say you've probably got something going on with your roots.

Maybe it's got some early root rot settling in.

Maybe we've got something munching on the roots, reducing that amount of roots to be able to sustain that plant throughout the day.

That's going to be my first guess from the way you've described it.

So investigate is my response very good.

We only have one minute, so probably time for one more question.

Jody in Richmond says This year she pruned her fig tree about halfway back.

Will it bear fruit this year?

You know, a lot of the fig trees got cut back by the weather this year.

And I'm going to take a hankering nut and say, no, it's probably not going to probably.

And if it does, a couple of be a couple of them.

So but the wise thing to do and I'm really glad if yours didn't die back to the ground, you're ahead of the game of many, many other gardeners.

They're envious, I'm sure.

But cutting it back and getting it back into what I want to say, control, is a smart step.

Well, Vic, Karen, Peggy, as always, thank you so much.

So much information didn't get to all of our questions, but we'll try and get those answered.

And next month we'll be back here on your community idea stations learning about beekeeping and cut flowers.

So we'll see you next month here on Virginia.

Homegrown.

Thank you for watching.

Virginia Home Grown.

For information on how to become a financial partner, please contact Lanny Fields at 804608226 or L fields at ideas stations dot org.