I visited a garden in East Texas where they limbed up their loropetalum into small trees. They were beautiful, especially while blooming even in winter with their red leaves.
Thank. You for the information regarding "purpeling"" of tomatoes indicating a phosphorus deficiency. You provide great information! Gardening sure can provide a lifelong education.
Thank you for talking about the those mandated rules on landscaping. I was the one who asked about the restaurants. I have really enjoyed seeing these gorgeous plants and how some even have themes. Right after I messaged about that I noticed one of the local grocery stores has dug up part of the parking lot to plant trees. I thought that was so nice. It’s basically an advertisement for their new garden center but it’s gorgeous.
My wife and I spent the first three days of our honeymoon in Mobile in March. Bellingrath Gardens was beautiful. The azaleas were blooming in force. Loved that place!
For person who ask about climber, Bugenvillia if your climate alow it, it doesn't root in house siding and need some support, however, with time it will form a thick stock, carefully with variety, some bllom April to Jun, but some will bloom spring to fall.
I agree on fescue not being a southern grass. I have Zoysia ‘Compadre’ and when fertilized and mowed taller it will have the look of fescue in the growing season.
I was going to plant zoysia last year for a neighbor and everyone was out of it. All I could find were tiny packs of seed for over $200. It was crazy! Is it normally so expensive?
A Bower Vine vines, but be sure it’s not too close to plants or trees you don’t want it to grab onto because it will. It has really pretty flowers when it gets plenty of sun. I also have a Carolina Jessamine on a trellis away from the house.
I'll take flooded and very wet conditions, along with the buildup of the water system, over continued low rainfall years and restrictive outdoor water usage.
For the direct seeding question, I just leave the mulch but I put two inches of compost soil or good topsoil and sow the seeds that way . Had great success without having to pull the mulch back . The soft soil is needed for the seeds to root in and once established, it can root into the mulch layer
Jim- I am a Florida 9a gardener who is really struggling with my gardenias. They have leaves at the canopy, however I suffered severe leaf drip on the base of the plant. I don’t want to prune back if not necessary, so thought I’d ask what your suggestion is. I have fertilized last spring and again in the fall with an organic Azalea fertilizer.
Florida usually has wet summers and dry winters. And our lowest rain months are April, May and December. Loving this rain fixing extreme drought. Central Florida suffered severe drought.
I've planted it at the base of 4 of my trees. They should bloom where I can enjoy them from my elevated porch. On their 3rd year now and starting to take off. I get lots of hummingbirds at my feeder and want more plants for them. Started red Lobelia from seed and they love those!
You mentioned not burying wood in the flowerbed. Will be setting up a few new raised beds for vegetables. There are a lot of videos showing the use of logs, branches, old firewood cardboard, leaves, and other organic matter in the bottom as a filler that would turn into worm food. Is this really a good idea? is there a better filler to use? Will be filling the top 12" with Soil3 compost that I have on hand.
Mulch stacked on mulch can lead to anaerobic conditions. Lack of oxygen creates an unfriendly environment for microbial life. Takes longer for the mulch to break down (taking longer to feed the soil). The size of the mulch matters, specifically when layering beds (like hugelkulture (sp). I am still learning/experimenting with layering various organic matter in my beds/planters but I did the lasagna method for my veg raised beds and it was from bottom: stacks of newspaper>dried garden trimmings/twigs>kitchen and yard scrap compost (barely decomp)+shredded newspaper>finished compost>shredded pine bark mulch. Turned out pretty good this past season, lots of sinking.
Thanks Jim! You just answered why my Cotoneaster Parneyi are practically bright violet right now. Zone 8 Northern Arizona we went down to low 20s about 10 days ago.
I’m in 6b/7a at the northeastern corner of Oklahoma with brutal winters and summers. I have a MurrayxLeylandii and you mentioned in a video how easy they are to dislike in time. I planted it in summer of 2022. It’s doing great now but I’m wondering if I should get rid of it now while it’s at 6’….or just judiciously keep it trimmed. I had 5 in the beginning but 4 froze to death in the 2022 winter blasts. Thank you!
Jim, you talked about wet areas in this video. I was wondering what a municipality could plant in a flood plain area like a garden swale (after maybe a current building is razed to ground). Thanks!
Welcome back to North Florida Jim. I want to add or move some shrubs to areas around a well established crepe myrtle and mule palms. The area is for the most part full sun based on the position in my yard. Last year I planted a few Spring Sonata indian hawthorne that have survived and Purple Daydream that are pretty much dead. I thought it was due to too much sun but now I think it's just water and space competition. Do you have some tips for dealing with roots and how I can give the shrubs a fighting chance? North Florida 9A Cheers!
Hi Jim thanks for answering the tough gardening questions. My question is the leaves of all my tropical trees are turning yellow with green veins, is there a nutrient they are missing? Thanks in advance.
Hi Jim, hope it's a little warmer over on that side of Florida than it is over here in the panhandle. It's warmed up some today but the lows for the next three days are 23, 24 and 29F. I would like to suggest doing some videos for gardening in sand, particularly soil building, for your viewers in these areas. You've done many about gardening in clay soil but I haven't seen many focused in sandy areas.
Just built a new office last year and my city outside of Denver CO. required me to plant a tree and a shrub per so many square feet plus required sod and use of reclaimed water. I wanted more of a xeriscape. We’re so dry in Colorado and it’s crazy wasteful to irrigate all the sod. But we do what they make us do. Definitely only planted the bare minimum!
There are low water native grass sod options becoming more available in some areas. I really hope landscape requirements move toward native plants & low water.
Nope just creeping blue grass sod here in Colorado. Mowed by large gas waisting mowers. Wish I could’ve done better. But our hands are tied by our city.
I want to take part of my gravel driveway and make it a planting area. I was thinking I would scrape away the gravel, lay a heavy layer of compost and then hardwood mulch and leave it for about a year before I try to plant into it. Will that work. I’m 6b in the Blue Ridge Mountains, planting into heavy clay and rocks. (I garden with a pickaxe. Literally.)
Jim and Tony Avent have mentioned before how they supercharged the soil by covering the undesirable (for gardening) soil with arborist chips and let it go for a while. (Scraping back gravel first as you indicated)
Jim do you know much about grafted dwarf weeping pussywillows? I’ve recently found a local shop that has them and they’re gorgeous. I am zone 7b with full sun and Rocky, clay soil that is slowly but surely getting amended by wood chips. Do you think it could survive or even thrive in our area? I’ve never seen one until that day. My flowerbed can stay moist in the winter and that’s an issue for some plants. However in the spring and summer it does dry out so we are on a regular watering schedule.
What do you think about the ground cover vinca minor? I learned that its invasive and I live in zone 8a Georgia. I want a good ground cover to plant under my two huge water oaks. Trying to fill in with dry shade plants.
Jim, I know that you have collaborated with several gardener's here in the US. Is there a possibility of doing a collaboration with gardener's 'across the pond'? Thank you.
Question: I have a large sloping yard, zone 6 in West Virginia. I would like to create a flower garden. I have a large pine I can anchor it too. But how to do I create a new garden bed that floating this space. How do I make it not look awkward in the space? How do I prevent erosion I have about a 5-7% grade on the slope. Thank you!
I feel the same about Asters Jim, taxonomy is grand but I'm old 😂 Tried my best to keep a yellow Buddleia going, but finally gave up. I've got a few winter sow jugs out, they're definitely getting plenty of freeze/thaw activity in north Georgia this month. I got creative with covering the Mizz America, probably lost the biggest leaves but hopefully the center and roots survived. It's just drop dead gorgeous with Caramel Heuchera and violas in my large porch containers. Pictures don't do it justice! Enjoy Florida, Joey Santoro has some good Florida botanizing videos with a DNR naturalist. Funny edit; Joey's channel is Crime Pays but Botany Doesn't 😂
Hey jim i have some very large crepe myrtles that are proballyb40 yrs old im in central arkansas zone 7 im sticking with the old map by the way sooty mold is becoming a problem in my area luckily hasnt affected mine yet but when i cut them back would it be a benefit to spray dormant oil on them to hopefully protect them from sooty mold this year ?
Question….I covered my jessamine ( just planted in September) …because we in the Pacific Northwest went down to 14 degrees….the leaves still turned brown? I used harvest cloth…should I use something different in the future? It’s the juiced orange
How long does it take for hardware mulch to breakdown. I put some last summer and in the late fall I put mowed leaves on top. In the spring what should I put down? More hardwood mulch?
I live in Charlotte NC Zone 8A… my pieris japonica has got red leaf spotting on the foliage. Should I do anything about this or just hope for the best? Is the plant at risk of dying during this wet winter?
Is there such a thing as a plant or small tree/ shrub “ heaving” ( a term I heard my mom use many many years ago ) . We got hit in 7b south Jersey with a LOT of rain and then the freeze . Two of our evergreens are pushed up and partway out of the soil and leaning . One was a recent planting but the other is an almost 8 foot eastern red cedar that we planted there when 2-3 feet tall 4 years ago !! We had 50 mph winds we were not here for but could that have lifted it !
Zone 8a milton, Florida. We had a 14-degree night, and now my hostas and amaryllis foliage have melted. I know the hostas will recover, but will the amaryllis? (All in-ground)
Hi Jim! Do you know if it is advisable to have your roof rain gutters empty into your foundation beds? Would this be situational (i.e. redirect the gutter extenders out of beds during sustained, heavy rain)?
I have some bearded iris that I did not prune back in the fall in the typical fan shape. They have been trying to bloom the last couple of months. I found that odd but the recent cold in GA I believe took those buds. Do you have to prune back iris and if so is it too late to do that now? If I had pruned them in the fall would I have prevented these early blooms? I’m afraid I won’t get blooms in the spring.
Jim: How much did the sunniness, access to / the changing path of the sun, the sunlight -- have to influence you, when deciding which property you + Steph selected to purchase as your new home?
you mentioned naturalizing snowdrops in your lawn in the bulb video this week. We have turf and young kids and I want a lawn (and I enjoy the stand of really healthy fescue), but an early spring bloom would really appeal to me. Would the bulbs prevent me from using pre-emergent in late winter like I usually do.
Yes it will - when I ordered my smaller bulbs years ago for the lawn I was told no fertilizers in those areas because it eventually kills them off. You may have blooms for awhile but I noticed the yards that don't use pre emergents have bulbs that substantially increase in number like mine have. Just my experience!😊
34:00 oh wow I been wondering about this bc I planted Vinca and they have been re-seeding themselves but I really need to mulch again if I put down compost weeds grow like mad maybe leaves I got unlimited supply 🤣🤣🤣🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍
