The Garden Thyme Podcast
A monthly podcast where we help you get down and dirty in your garden, with timely gardening tips, information about native plants, and more! The Garden Thyme Podcast is brought to you by the University of Maryland Extension. https://extension.umd.edu/. This institution is an equal opportunity provider.
The Garden Thyme Podcast
504: Plant Shopping
Hello Listener,
Sorry for the late episode. We had some computer issues and had to redo this episode.
This month, we discuss something near and dear to our hearts–shopping for plants. We have some great tips to help you make wise purchases with regard to landscape plants.
Marylanders Plant Trees Program- $25 off coupon for native tree species at participating nurseries: https://dnr.maryland.gov/forests/Pages/MarylandersPlantTrees/Print-Your-Coupon.aspx
We also have our:
- Native Plant of the Month - Redbud- Cercis canadensis (~ 30:35)
- Bug of the Month – Cabbage White Pieris rapae (~35:50)
- Garden Tips of the Month – ( ~43:15)
If you have any garden-related questions, please email us at UMEGardenPodcast@gmail.com or look us up on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/GardenThymePodcas. For more information about UME and these topics, please check out the UME Home and Garden Information Center and Maryland Grows Blog at https://marylandgrows.umd.edu/.
We currently have an open survey for ALL listeners. Whether you’ve listened to all of our episodes, or this is your first time. We developed an evaluation to determine if the information we share on the podcast has made a difference in your practices at home. We promise that it is a short, easy 5-minute survey, and we even have exclusive podcast stickers to give to those who participate. We are so thankful for the feedback, and we appreciate you tuning in for the podcast!
The Garden Thyme Podcast is brought to you by the University of Maryland Extension. Hosts are Mikaela Boley- Principal Agent Associate (Talbot County) for Horticulture; Rachel Rhodes- Senior Agent Associate for Horticulture (Queen Anne's County); and Emily Zobel- Senior Agent Associate for Agriculture (Dorchester County).
Theme Song: By Jason Inc,
University programs, activities, and facilities are available to all without regard to race, color, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, marital status, age, national origin, political affiliation, physical or mental disability, religion, protected veteran status, genetic information, personal appearance, or any other legally protected class.
Garden Thyme Podcast Transcript: S5:E04
Plant Shopping
Note: The Garden Thyme Podcast is produced for the ear and is designed to be heard. If you are able, we strongly encourage you to listen to the audio, which includes emotion and emphasis that's not on the page. Transcripts are generated using a combination of speech recognition software and human trancribers, and may contain errors.
: Up Beat Music:
Mikaela
Hello, listener. Welcome to the University of Maryland extension presents the Garden Time podcast, where we talk about getting down and dirty in your garden. We're your hosts. I'm Rachael.
Emily
I'm Mikaela.
Rachel
And I'm Emily.
Mikaela
In this month's episode, we're talking about something that's near and dear to all of our hearts: shopping for plants.
: Up Beat Music:
Emily
Yeah. We all get a little bit excited about plant shopping because you can talk yourself into thinking, I'm only going to go in for this one thing, and then you come out with a whole landscape later.
Mikaela
It's like going to the grocery store hungry.
Emily
That's right. Except you're never satisfied, and you can always buy more plants.
Rachel
You can be 100 %.
Emily
But what we're going to concentrate on today also is smart plant shopping. We've made all the mistakes when it comes to buying plants, and we are hoping to save some other people heartache when it comes to shopping.
Rachel
100 %. This is also do as I say, not as I do.
Emily
Yeah.
Mikaela
And spring is great time, not just for planting, but it's also the prime time for selling plants. And it's when plant nurseries and garden stores really up the ante and they're trying to get you excited, which we already are. Don't worry. We're tired of the dreary landscape and We're really excited about the thought of lush green plants and blooming things and all things green.
Emily
While many of these tips, we're going to focus a little bit more on some of our larger purchases, such as trees and shrubs. It's It's hard to note that most of them will also hold to smaller purchases, such as your annual vegetables or annual flowers or bulbs as well.
Rachel
I think to kick it off, and I feel like we talk about this almost in every episode, but you need to get a soil test before you do any major planting. I don't mean going to one of your big box garden centers and getting your soil test strips and doing it like you're mixing chemicals for your pool. I mean, taking a soil test and sending it to a lab located in your geographic region. This is really important, especially if you plan on purchasing trees and shrubs and any other long woody plant species, because these plants are an investment, and you need to see the baseline of what your soil looks like to make sure that those plants are going to be situated for the right area have the right growing conditions. This is incredibly important if you plan on using plants that are pH sensitive, like azaleas or strawberries, or maybe you want to change the color of your hydringes. You need to know what your baseline PH is first. Sending it to a certified lab for your region is a great way to start off with doing that. Not only will it give you your PH results, but it will tell you your nutrients, your organic matter, and anything that could really impact the health of your plants.
Rachel
There is a list of labs for the Mid-Atlantic on the Home and Garden Information website. Evaluating your site is the next step before planting. Check how much sun your location receives, how wet or dry is the soil, what soil do you have, is it Is it loam? Is it clay? Is it sand? And what purpose would you like your plants to serve? Do you want spring flowering plants? Do you want evergreen? Or maybe you have a shady garden. What type of plants are you going to... You can't put a full sun perennial in a shady location. It's just not going to thrive. So plant for the location, not for the plant that you want. And now is the little caveat. If you've just or maybe you're building a house, or maybe you have a new condo unit and you have a new balcony, you really need to take time to evaluate that situation and get through a few seasons to see how your landscape transitions through those seasons. And that is so incredibly important because you might think in the spring or the fall that you don't really have a full sun location, and then it really turns into a full sun location.
Rachel
Or maybe you might not realize that there's one area in your landscape that's really, really wet in the spring and really, really wet in the fall, but it's really, really dry in the summer. It takes a few seasons to know your landscape and to know what the plants you have in place are really doing.
Mikaela
Another thing to keep in mind is that if you are planting a large enough area or maybe you're renovating an old garden bed and trying to put in something new, think about using a verified landscape design, and that can either be done by contracting the work out to someone who does this specifically or just using a planting template to help guide your purchasing decisions. There's a lot of those resources available now, by the way. They have templates out there that have a certain square footage for a certain sized bed. Or maybe if you're looking for a pollinator garden, there's lots of templates out there for attracting those pollinators and what combinations of plants can be used. There's a lot of resources out there available. But of course, we tend to encourage the ones that are backed by a verified organization such as extension. Certainly, there's a lot of other resources out there, but you can always contact your local extension office to see if they have any recommendations for your region. Now, another thing for approaching a new landscaper renovation project, purchase your larger and more expensive plant material first. This really translates to key trees and shrubs, especially the pricier ones that might be focus plants in your landscape.
Mikaela
This is especially important if you're trying to budget appropriately because you may not be able to purchase all of your plant material in one year. It can be very expensive. But getting the trees and the shrubs out of the way first, not only are those your biggest cost items, but they're also the ones that have the most longevity. You want to plant those trees and shrubs first before purchasing subsequent perennial plants or annuals. We know people get really excited because those tend to be the flashier flowering things. But If you're working with your budget, if you don't even really know where you want to go with your landscape yet, you might want to hold back until those trees and shrubs are in the landscape. What you decide to buy can also influence other plant purchases. For example, once those trees you've planted start to get larger and provide more shade, you're going to need shade-loving plants that can grow near or under the tree. So it doesn't make sense to try and put in sun-loving perennials right next to a brand new tree, even though it looks small at the moment, obviously, it's going to get much bigger with time.
Emily
Our next tip is going to be to take the time to research the best varieties for your region. Looking for specialty plants like fruit trees or native shelves, This is not the time to make an impulse purchase. You can check with local extension websites. You may find it to be more beneficial to invest in plants that don't require as much maintenance because they are better suited to your landscape than trying to force a certain one into your landscape. It would be less stress on you to find the variety that works in your environment. It pays to do your research not only on the variety of plants you're putting, but the proper nursery your place to find them. On that note, it's okay to shop around. You might find a location that might have the cheapest option, but the plants may not look as nice or it may not be the variety that you really want. So don't spend money on necessary things just because they're available. Take the time to search around and to find the plant that's right for you, that's in good shape.
Rachel
So with that, while you're searching for the right plant, you want to talk to people Talk to your local extension agent, the nursery staff, or maybe it's just a friend that really loves plants as much as you do to get some perspective. With your nursery staff, they're going to have some degree of knowledge about the plants being sold there. Now, you're going to find that some nursery staff are well-versed and some people are just brand new on the scene. So take it where you can get it and value the source. So you have to know where you're shopping and who you're buying from to get the degree of knowledge that you're going to need.
Mikaela
Within reason, too. Don't go ask the high school student that's watering the plants and then make a judgment because you asked the youngest person on staff who doesn't know anything about plants. It's not their fault. So I'm not saying walk up to every person and they will know everything. But chances are somebody is on staff who is very knowledgeable about the plans and can get an answer to you.
Rachel
I feel like I've been going to the same nurseries for a while now, and I have learned to recognize the people that have been there for a long time, and I automatically go to that person and I'm like, Hey. And I'm thinking about buying this. And I have one that will automatically tell me no. And he will be very, very frank with me and say, That's a very poor choice for our area.
Emily
The question is, do you heat his warning or do you buy the plant anyways?
Rachel
I have heated his warnings. I've listened. I've paid attention. That doesn't mean I'm not going to ask him every year.
Emily
Sometimes you just don't have the right landscape for every plant.
Rachel
Emily, I feel like we have this conversation every time I show you a dog picture. You're the voice of reason for me. I am.
Emily
Well, that's just like getting a pet, particularly these long term perennial plants, is a long term investment. Yeah, you can rip them out later and put something else in there, but then you've wasted your money. And especially something like a tree or a shrub, they're harder to dig up and remove. So you really do want to make sure that you're getting the right one for your landscape and that you're putting it in the right location as well. So do research upfront, I think. We're going to keep repeating that.
Rachel
We are. So we've talked about our soil testing. We've talked about knowing your location and when to shop around. But I think it's equally as important to make a list before you go to a nursery or a landscape store because I get very easily distracted by all of the different types of leaves and foliage and colors of blooms and different varieties. If you know you're looking for a specific type of native shrub, have it listed so that you're not as distracted as I am, because then I go in and buy a ton of other things and totally miss what I was there to buy.
Mikaela
And it's okay to be inspired by what you see if it's not on your list, especially because we can do research all day, but I'll go to a garden store and they have a new variety or something I've never seen before. And it's okay to take inspiration away maybe take a picture of the plant label and then go do your research to make sure that that's something... Because if it's brand new, they might not even know how it grows well in this area or not. There's still a lot of room for error.
Rachel
I do that all the time. I take pictures of plant labels all the time. And then I add it to my list for next year if it's still around. I know that I say this a lot, but Rome was not built in a day. And I think that you have to get over this idea that everything has to be in place at one specific time in the spring, and it's going to look beautiful because it's not, and it's a process. And it takes a long period of time to get our gardens the way that we have them envisioned in our mind.
Emily
Well, and I think... So one thing you can do is if you are investing in, say, a lot of trees and shrubs that are smaller that are going to grow into the space, is mix and match them with annuals. Because annuals are, for the most part, can be cheap. It's easy to spend lots of money on annuals. But if you want that pop of color right away, get some annuals knowing like, Okay, these aren't going to be that long term investment. So I'll put them in my landscape. I'll enjoy the color this year. They'll either summer heat kill or their frost kill. And then next year I can invest in those more long term ones slowly over time.
Mikaela
That's smart.
Rachel
That is really smart.
Mikaela
Likewise, I think we should all keep in mind that the landscape is not static. It is going to evolve. Things will not look the exact same. It might bloom again next year, of course, but plants change sizes, they age out. So don't be afraid to take things out that have reached the end of their age or to mix these different species, different ages of different species, because it is evolving. It's not like painting a wall inside and it's green forever. Everything changes with not just the season, but year to year.
Rachel
That's very, very true. I think while you're at the nursery and you're looking at plant labels, you need to keep in mind that we have this thing called invasive plants. That That term is not necessarily required on the plant label. The Maryland Department of Agriculture has a list of plants that are not eligible for sale in the state of Maryland, and they shouldn't be bought outside of the state and brought into the state. And these plants are labeled as Tier 1 plants for their ecological impact. So that means that they're going to have an adverse ecological impact in the State of Maryland. And that has been determined by the Maryland Department of Agriculture. And there's also a Tier 2 list of plants. They are allowed to be sold at plant nurseries, but they must be labeled with signage to warn customers about their aggressiveness and invasiveness in nature. And I would say to stay away from these plants altogether and educate yourself about what plants are invasive but still allowed to sold without any signage or warning, such as Miscanthus, or English ivy, or Common Day lily. And there are many more species that are on that list.
Rachel
And you can go on to our Home and Garden Information Center website for a comprehensive list of plants that can be invasive.
Mikaela
Another really good resource is the Maryland Invasive Species Council. They have a much more comprehensive list because they can dedicate a lot more time and energy to creating that list. And not just for terrestrial plants, which is what we're mostly talking about, but also aquatic plants, animal species, insects. They have lists of these other invasive species, not just plants.
Rachel
They are a great resource.
Mikaela
Like Rachel said, the Home and Garden Information Center also has pictures of the plants, which are helpful so you can see what they look like when you're out shopping. Speaking of shopping and looking at plants, of course, we always want to encourage people to purchase what we call healthy plant material. I know that's easier for me to say than to actually point out. People don't necessarily know right off the bat what healthy material looks like, but we're talking about looking for damage. Is the bark on a tree nicked? Is there evidence of chewing? Like there's been a creature eating at it? Or just other generally healthy appearance. You can tell when things aren't looking so good. So looking at tree trungs for damage to the bark, holes, or any other damage from being handled, shipping, things like that. It does happen. Of course, that happens when things are in transit and moved around, but it doesn't have to be your plant. Look for new growth that looks good. It doesn't look abnormal. If it does look abnormal, maybe talk to somebody and say, Hey, what's going on with this? Is that just the color of the leaves?
Mikaela
Is that just the variety? Because sometimes there are varieties that have warped leaves or coloration that's different, like it's streaked. So that's not an accident. That's actually on purpose. We've gotten calls about that before. Avoid plants that are overly leggy so they look weak and they might flop over when you put them in the landscape. Maybe they just didn't get enough sun where they were grown. And I even encourage people gently so that you aren't actually damaging plant material, but looking at the roots. Taking it out of the pot, if you can do that gently and safely, looking for healthy white roots you don't want, anything that's been water logged for a long time or greasy-looking roots are really brown. Obviously, you can tell when things aren't looking so good. So examine your plants whenever possible. Like I said, any discolouration, physical root injury might be an issue. You'll notice sometimes plants, their roots have been in the pots for so long, they'll actually start to creep out of the holes in the bottom. We call that root bound. It doesn't mean the plant is in bad shape. It just means you might have to clip some of those roots off when you plant it or make sure you're ruffing up the root ball sufficiently enough so those roots don't continue to keep growing in a circle when it's in the ground.
Mikaela
Check under the leaves and the stems for small insects, as aphids, white flies, mealy bugs. They do happen when they're out in the nursery in the open air, but you're looking for extensive populations of them that would be beyond control.
Emily
Especially if you have plants that were grown in other nurseries in other states that were shipped in, this is incredibly important because this is how some of our invasive insects have spread. Looking at you, create myrtle bark scale.
Mikaela
Well, just another reason to not invest in non-native or native plants. We're not saying take your magnifying glass and trying to take samples and stuff while you're at the nursery. We're not? Well, maybe I do. But just give it a really good once over, just like you would anything else. You're looking to buy produce at the grocery store, you're looking for blemishes, you're looking for things that don't look right, that things that don't look healthy, that thing.
Rachel
I was thinking the same example in my head going, just like you look at bananas.
Mikaela
It's the main reason I can't do pickup at any grocery store because I feel the innate need to look over my produce, and I like to select my own produce.
Rachel
See? And I love Express Pickup. It's my favorite thing in the world.
Mikaela
I know you do. I can't do it.
Rachel
I just don't trust. But that's because I wholeheartedly trust that establishment. There's another one that I can't use. I won't use it.
Mikaela
That shall remain nameless.
Rachel
That shall remain nameless.
Mikaela
And while you're taking a look at the plant label, make sure, especially if you weren't using a landscape design or anything, that you're looking at what the mature size of the plant is going to be. I think that's I think all of us have run into the circumstance where somebody has bought a plant, and because you buy them when they're relatively small, unless they are a dwarf variety, chances are they're going to get too big for the spot you put them in, or they're planted close together. We always say plant according to what the mature size is estimated to be, because even though it may look strange the first year, once they get established, they're going to grow, and then you don't have to spend as much time trying to cut it back and keep it into a space that was too small to begin with. So make sure it fits the location of planting. Trees are often planted way too close to houses. They grow into the eves, and so then you have to prune every year or spend money on someone who's an arborist to reach up high. So we know they look small now, but we promise they are going to get bigger.
Mikaela
That's what plants do. And just make sure you aren't putting things too close together because you either are going to have to retransplant them and the plants are going to have to get reestablished or you're going to have to take them all together.
Rachel
Yeah.
Emily
Okay. Our next tip is that bigger is not always better, particularly when it comes to buying trees to put into your landscape. Research Research says that larger containerized or balled and barreled up trees take time to recover from transplanting than their smaller counterparts would be. They tend to catch up within a year or two, but you're going to have a few years of stunted growth if you go with these oversize trees. The larger it is, the longer it's going to take for it to establish a good root system and acclimate itself to your landscape.
Mikaela
And speaking of instant gratification, I think that's the mistake a lot of people make, is of course they want the big tree, but a lot of those bigger trees do not like being moved. And in fact, it sets them way, way back by trying to transplant them. So don't always think bigger is better. I think what did they decide between an inch to an inch and a half caliper tree? And a caliper is the diameter of the tree trunk at 4 feet tall, I think is. Anything bigger than that might It might not be worth your time or money. Actually, it's your money that it might not be worth because the bigger trees are going to be much more expensive.
Emily
They will be. Although I do always get a chuckle when I see people buying trees at big box stores, and then they try to put them in their tiny cars to get home. And I'm like, You just in pulse bought that.
Rachel
For sure.
Emily
So if you are buying plants, particularly large scale landscape ones, think about how you're getting them home as well. As someone who bought a- Really good point, Emily.
Rachel
It's such a good point.
Emily
Well, and I raise this point because when I bought my red bud tree, I distinctly measured the tree because I knew that in my SUV, I could only fit a seven foot tree And that's seven foot from the tip all the way to the base of where it was in order to be able to close my trunk. So that limited me. And in this case, I happened to have one that was a small enough caliber to work. But yeah, you need to note that if you were buying one of these larger trees or even a smaller tree, you have to be able to get it home with you.
Mikaela
That's a good thing to keep in mind, too, is if you're looking for instant gratification, no plant is really going to do that. But if you're looking for quicker gratification, go for faster-growing species. So things like birches, sycamores, poplars.
Emily
Okay, so our next tip is one that's near and dear to my heart, which is we all feel really guilty and bad about the sad, sad sales rack. I know our hearts bleed green, but the sales rack can be risky business. So this is one of those things where don't buy a bunch of stuff off the sales rack that you didn't come and attend it for, but you can find some good deals on them. You do want to take those steps that we talked about earlier and checking to make sure that they are still healthy plants, that they have a good strong root system, that they are not deceased. A lot of times the sales rack might just be ones that are looking a little wilted because they didn't get water. So pick them up, weigh them, take an examination of those roots. If you're okay with having a plant that might be slightly stunted, this can be a place where you can find deals. I've noticed that a lot of times by mid-summer, you can get a lot of more typical shrubbery there. So things like knockout roses are really easy to get on clearance, but then you're planting them in the middle of summertime.
Emily
So you have to note that if you're going to do that, there's extra steps being taken to care for that plant because the root system is going to take you longer to establish in summer time. So the sales rack can be a good place for deals, but just make sure that they're deals that you came in looking for and that you're not wasting time and money on a plant that you cannot not safe. The house plant sale clearance rack is always what gets me.
Rachel
It gets me every time.
Mikaela
Well, isn't that the mealy bug trap? Yes. Isn't that how you got mealy bugs, Rachel? Is that how we got mealy bugs on my house?
Emily
Yeah.
Rachel
Because I bought the discounted plants. But I think I have some really great discounted plant success stories. But not every discount plant you're going to get is going to be awesome. It's true. So take our warning. Don't bring mealy bugs into your house.
Emily
Well, treat the sales section the way you would treat it as though you were paying for that plant full price. So if you weren't willing to pay that price for it full price, maybe it's not the right plant for your landscape. And just because it's discount, it doesn't mean you should overlook diseases or insects or bad-looking roots or foul-smelling soil, because ultimately, you're still paying money for it.
Mikaela
Very wise. Emily, you're so wise. So wise.
Rachel
This is why she's the voice of reason.
Emily
It's because I've made these mistakes, and I don't want you guys to make them, too. So along that note, after you've purchased your plants, you do need to transport them home. So again, be cautious of making sure that you can transport all of your purchases home in a secure way so that they don't get damaged. And then when you get them home, you need to maintain their health until you're able to actually get them in the ground. So that might mean giving them a good drink of water as soon as you get them home. Ideally, you're going to want to try to get them in the ground as soon as possible. But if you cannot make sure that they're getting water routine, that they are getting the sunlight requirements that they need, When you do take them out of their container, you may need to use a knife to loosen up or cut those roots if they have started wrapping around, like Mikaela talked about being root bound, so that they don't distress the plant further. Then you're going to want to spend some time and energy making sure you dig a proper hole for them.
Emily
Typically, most of these plants, you want a hole as deep as the container, if not a little deeper.
Mikaela
On that same note, if you are using a truck or an open bed of some securing those plants that you put in the back is a really good idea because if the pots tip over, you can get broken branches, then you just wasted a lot of money. Also, the wind can actually damage plants, especially trees, if they're standing up tall behind the bed. And even putting a tarp or something over the top to keep things tucked in is not a bad idea.
Emily
Mikaela, do you want to give a shout out to the Maryland tree program?
Mikaela
Yeah, man, because we love shopping and we love good deals, man. The Maryland Department of Natural Resources have what's called the Marylanders Plant Trees program. And this is a $25 off coupon for purchases on trees that are over $50. So you have to make that base purchase. These are usually native tree species at participating nurseries. I think most nurseries participate in this, but it's actually a coupon. You can print off yourself at home, bring it in, you fill out a part, and then the nursery fills out a part and sends it to the DNR. And then you get $25 off for pretty little effort. So the link to that coupon is going to show up in the show notes, hopefully.
Emily
Yeah. $25 off of a native tree? Let's plant math this. Native plants are so good for the environment. They give you oxygen. They help feed our bugs, our bees, our birds. Take the thought on how long that plant is going to be there and multiply it and take off the $25. You can plant math this way down using that coupon.
Mikaela
Right. And it's not eligible for wholesale purchases, but most of us are not doing that anyways. And they do use a recommended tree list, and that's where the native plant that's come in. But you can also check out that list online before you go try and make a purchase and then are disappointed if the tree is not on that coupon list. But it's a good deal. So pretty minimal purchase, too. $50 is not very much for a tree.
Mikaela
It's the Native Plant of the Month with Mikaela
Rachel
Oh, I love this one. . This one's my favorite spring.
Mikaela
I can't believe I haven't talked about it in the last four years as the featured native plant of the month. And this will probably strike really well with listeners because this is a heavily shopped native tree, is red bud or cérsus canadencis. April is the super bloom period of the year. Everything is coming out and flowering. Things are going wild. I had a lot of tough decisions to make to narrow it down to this, but I'm very happy with this decision. It's very popular and has Fantastic curb appeal for many properties. So red buds are a smallest tree, and they tend to be multi-stemed, but they don't have to be. In fact, I usually favor a single stem just because it tends to be a little bit stronger. But You'll see a lot of multi-stems, and they reach mature heights of about 20 to 30 feet, so not very big. They are abundantly popular for sale as an attractive tree in the home landscape. For good reason. It flowers in April with clusters of small, bright lavender to pink flowers. Now, they have varieties that do have white flowers, but I don't know why you would purchase that because honestly, the pink colors are so much better.
Mikaela
So they truly embrace the essence of spring. The leaves are heart-shaped when they do emerge. So it will flower first in April, and then the leaves will start to emerge. And the leaves add great texture to the landscape because it's a bit larger of a leaf and it's a nice shape. And this is a great native tree to Maryland, and it prefers drier to moderate moisture soil types in loam to sandy soils. And a bonus surprise, this tree is a legume and fixes nitrogen, so it tends to do okay in nutrient-poor soils, although in its native habitat, it probably has better soils. It's a popular wildlife tree, and you'll notice this in many landscapes or used as a street tree for a lot of the The quality is mentioned above. But I'm going to use this moment to do a little public service announcement because I love my red buds. And red buds are a natural understory tree in the wild. But what we do as humans and consumers is we tend to put it in locations and plant them in locations that they do not like. So as an understory tree, they occupy the edges of forests and woodlands, so they receive part to full shade in usually well-conditioned soils.
Mikaela
Forest soils tend to have a lot of organic matter. They've had leaf litter for a very long time. So purchased red buds will sometimes be placed in full blazing hot sun, which they don't like because they're used as a specimen tree. And it happens. The soil in these locations also tend to be poor because if they're developed, it could be backfill construction material or areas where the top soil has been stripped, and then you only have two to three-inch layer of sod or grass of some kind. So not a lot of organic matter to work with. In these conditions, red buds are unlikely to thrive, although they can live. Maybe they'll do well for a while and then start to decline, but it makes them very hard to survive in those conditions. As a result, they tend to be susceptible to diseases like canker or rot on the trunk where you actually can see decay. And when that happens on a trunk, it's hard to prune that out. You pretty much have to cut it behind where the canker is, and that could be the whole tree. It could be fatal to the tree. They have shorter shelf life in these conditions if they survive at all.
Mikaela
I'll stop my little preaching there for a second because we've all made these mistakes. It's fine. I'm just trying to forewarn people who are looking at this and thinking about making a purchase because that's the tune to what we're talking about today. But like any plant, especially long-lived species like trees and shrubs, proper growing conditions are critical for healthy growth. That's what we want, healthy growth. Evaluate your site and condition the soil if you can. And there are some species that can thrive in really poor soil conditions, but not all like this environment. And red bud can be one of those species. And that's my plant of the month. It's beautiful tree. It's a beautiful tree. Most people would recognize it, even if they weren't super familiar with Yes.
Emily
It's a high wildlife value one, too. You've got several species of caterpillars that feed exclusively on it.
Mikaela
It's popular with leaf cutter bees, too. You'll notice those perfect circular bites taken out of the... Which I love. I love that.
Emily
What's buzzing? It's the Bug of the Month with Emily.
Emily
So I wish I would have thought this through because I would have picked one of the ones that feeds on, one of the red buds the host plant of. But instead I went with a common pest.
Mikaela
A common pest.
Emily
A common pest. Common. I still like my Bug of the Month. I think this is a good choice for this one.
Mikaela
I did, too, actually. Don't sell your common pest shirt.
Emily
My common pest. It's a common pest, but everybody knows it, and everyone loves this because you love the adult, but then you hate the larvae.
Rachel
I don't know. I think the larvae is pretty cute, too.
Emily
You think it's cute until you literally are picking individual ones out of the other head of your broccoli.
Rachel
Just extra protein. That's what they have it for. They can do it.
Emily
Because there's lots of frass in there, too.
Mikaela
I actually like the caterpillars because I find it deeply satisfying to pick them off.
Rachel
See?
Mikaela
I I don't know why. I know they're gross if you accidentally bit into one. And then they are super green if you squash them.
Emily
They are super green if you squash them. Super green.
Rachel
The kids are going to love it.
Emily
Okay. So my Book of the Month this month is the Cabbage White Butterfly, which is Pureus rapidae. So they are often among the first butterflies to emerge in the spring, and they have a very long season in that we will have them march through October. The species's natural range is Europe, Asia, and North Africa, but it was accidentally introduced to Quebec, Canada, around the 1860s and rapidly spread throughout North America. The adult butterflies have a wingspan of about one-fourth to three-fourths of an inch or 3.2 to 4.8 centimeters. These are iconic. Everyone here has probably seen a cabbage buy a butterfly, and it's probably one of the easiest ones to identify. You're going to have a dark body with white to cream-colored wings. The forewing or the front wings are often going to have a small charcoal tip, and they'll have spots. Interesting enough, the males will have one spot on that forewing, and the females will have two dark spots on that forewing. You'll oftentimes see the males fluttering around the same area day after day in search for females. And or this is one that you will commonly see doing what we call puddling, which is when you have a lot of butterflies that will hang around like muddy areas or puddles.
Emily
They're using that in part to take up the moisture from the puddle, but also to get minerals out of the soil. After they mate, females will lay a cream to yellow-colored egg on the underside of the leaves of almost any member of the mustard family, also known as coal crops or brassicas. So think, cabich and broccoli tend to be some of their favorites. The eggs will hatch in about 40 to eight days, and then the larvae or caterpillar will mature in about 2-3 weeks. It'll pupate on the host plant, and then it will develop into an adult, and the whole cycle will repeat. Here in the Mid-Atlantic, we can get anywhere from about three to five generations per year, and they will be overlapping generations. The larvae is also known as the imported cabbage worm. It is a pest on spring and fall brassica crops, again. You're going to find this if you grow any broccoli or cabbage or cauliflower or cauliflower or anything like that. It's a green caterpillar with a faint yellow line that runs the length of the body. And it's covered in these fine white hairs that give it a velvety look.
Rachel
And they are really difficult to see when they're small.
Emily
Oh, they are. They camouflage super well, and they have a tendency to hang out on the underside along the vein.
Rachel
They love to be on the vein.
Mikaela
Yeah.
Emily
So they are not the easiest one to see at all. So the young caterpillars will initially eat holes in the leaves, but eventually, as they get larger, they'll start to scelinaize the leaves, which means they'll eat all the centers out but will not eat the veins of the leaves themselves. And they will poop a lot. So So oftentimes you will not see the caterpillar itself because of how much it camouflages in, but you will notice the holes, and then you'll notice the frass or poops everywhere. So they do have, I think, probably one of the most interesting-looking chrysalis. It's plain to some people where it's just green to speckle, tan, depending on the season, but it's very pointy. So it has a very pointy head to it where it's attached to the plant. And then it's got two small ridges or mountain points along the sides of it. This is the overwintering stage for this butterfly as well. When our temperature starts to decrease, particularly at night, and the day length gets shorter, this triggers the caterpillars in that last generation to pupate, and oftentimes, they'll go down a little bit closer to the base of the plant, and they will pupate there, and they will overwinter.
Emily
Again, if you are growing coal crops repeatedly, when we talk about good field sanitation, removing that debris will help cut back on the population that will emerge next year. Because these are a common pest that you will have in home garden situations, if you are growing coal crops, some other things you can to deter them from getting into your cabbage heads or your broccoli heads would be to use things like floating row covers, which is a fine mesh fabric. You can use PVC pipes or other things to drape over the top. And because none of these brassicas or coal crops need to be pollinated, you don't necessarily have to worry about excluding other insects from them. Another option for those that don't want to use floating row covers would be to use BT or Bacillus therereogenesis, specifically the one that's meant for caterpillars. This can be an effective control method for these that would be considered organic and safe to use. The downside is that any time it rains or the plants get wet, you would have to reapply it, and you likely need to apply it probably on a weekly basis. The caterpillars do have to digest this to work, and it's only really effective against the small larvae.
Emily
As soon as you start to see the butterflies flying, you really need to get this out and apply it and apply it on a routine basis. These butterflies do like to feed on a wide variety of our native plants. While the caterpillar likes the brassicas, the actual adults themselves will feed on things like black-eye susans, butterfly milkweed, the asters, purple cone flowers. And then even when the cabbage or the coal crops themselves, if you let them bolt, the butterflies will come back and feed on the nectar and the pollen there. So a really common butterfly that you see in our landscape. I feel like we all love and hate it at the same time. But to me, the first one I see is really the sign to me that spring is coming. And that's my Bug of the Month.
Rachel
Get your Tip of the Month here with Rachael.
Mikaela
It's spring. You've got tips coming out of everywhere.
Rachel
The wazoo. I know. I feel like I need to weed. Like weed, everything.
Mikaela
Oh, my gosh. The weeds, you guys.
Rachel
So many spring weeds. If you haven't listened to our episode about spring weeds, you should go do that now.
Mikaela
And it's our number one most popular episode. Now I know why.
Rachel
Because who likes spring weeds besides us? I saw a giant field of purple dead nettle on this weekend, and I was like, Oh, it's here.
Emily
It's so pretty. It's so beautiful.
Rachel
I don't know why people don't like them, but whatever.
Mikaela
They'll be gone in a couple of weeks now.
Emily
Okay, Rachael, tips of the month. Let's go. All right, everybody. You didn't get a long list.
Rachel
I know that you've heard it. The delightful hum of lawn mowers has begun. So why not treat your lawn mower to a new set of blades? It deserves it. It does a lot of hard work for you. Dull blades cause ragged cuts, and these ragged cuts tear the tops off the blades of the grass. And these are rough cuts result in bigger openings in the grass blades, which causes grass to lose more moisture, especially in our hot, dry northeast. First summers. These rough cuts also can increase the likelihood of diseases that will invade your grass. So sharpen your blades or buy new blades. Just make sure they're sharp. And then you want to cut your grass at about a 3 to 4-inch level. And when you do that, you're going to shade out your weeds by 80%. Look at that. Higher, sharper cuts, less weeds. It's what everybody wants. And if you've moved on from your grass and you're thinking about your vegetable garden, it's time to harden off your transplants at least one week before transplanting them into full outdoor condition. So how are you going to harden You're going to slowly move your transplants outside over the course of about 10 days.
Rachel
And each day, you're going to increase the amount of time they spend outside until they can spend all their time outside. Now, you're not going to do this if we're dipping down in the 40s at night. You're going to bring those plants back inside because they're little tiny babies. We don't want to create shock with our plants and kill your little tiny babies that you've worked so hard at growing. Just remember that. It's not a wham-bam, thank you, ma'am. You're going to take your time with them. Things that you can seed outside right now are your lettuce, your spinach, your Swiss chard, your beets, or any of your other salad vegetables. How about radishes? There's so many different varieties you can start with. After you've seeded them and they've germinated for a couple of weeks, you're going to start to thin out those seedlings. So you're going to pull up some of the little ones in between and create a little gap of a couple of inches. And this is going to allow the roots of your beets and your radishes to grow bigger and your carrots as well. If you don't feel like pulling them out, you can cut them with some scissors as well.
Rachel
That works well. And then you can eat those tops because they're delicious. Use them on your salads. If you're gung-ho to plant things outside and you want to warm up your soil, you can do that as well by putting some plastic mulch down to warm up about 2-3 weeks before planting, but you're going to need to take that off because we don't like plastic mulch here. You want to get ready to plant your tomatoes and your peppers and eggplants and melons, so you can do that by one, hardening off, getting your tomato cages prepped and ready. If you didn't clean those in the fall when I told you to, now is the time to clean them and get them disinfected so that they're ready to go in the ground. It's time to start inspecting your outdoor furniture If you didn't take that and store that in a place or the sides of your house or even some of your trees and shrubs for spotted lanternfly eggs, they should be hatching between late April and early May, depending on the weather. So you need to be inspecting your shrubs and the sides of your houses and any of your lawnornuments for egg cases.
Rachel
And many of our spring bulbs have fully emerged and are flowering. I know you guys know I love those daffodils and tulips, so they're out and they're about. After they have fully emerged, you can remove the spent flowers, but you're going to leave the green leaves because the bulbs will actually absorb some of the nutrients from those leaves. So you're going to leave them for about 6 to 8 weeks. And when they naturally turn yellow, that's when you can cut them. Don't braid them because that can also reduce the food that's going down to that bulb. So don't braid them, don't tie them, just let them go like your little troll's head. They'll be fine. You're going to see a lot of wildlife emerging this month. So your Eastern box turtles, various species of snakes and frogs are coming out of hibernation. They're going to visit your landscape gaps. Observe them, leave them in the wild. Don't handle them, okay? Just let them do what they want to do in nature. That's all I have.
Mikaela
Well, that's all we have for this episode, listener. We hope you enjoyed it, and we'll tune in next month for more gardening tips. If you have any garden-related questions, please email us at umegardenpodcast@gmail. Com, or look us up on Facebook at Garden Time Podcast. That's Garden, T-H-Y-M-E. For more information about the University of Maryland extension and these topics, please check out University of Maryland extension, Home and Garden Information Center website at go. Umd. Com. Edu/hgic. Thanks for listening, and have fun getting down and dirty in your garden.
Emily
Goodbye.
Rachel
The Garden Time podcast is a monthly podcast brought to you by the University of Maryland extension, Mikaela Boli, Senior Agent Associate for Talbot County, Rachel Rhoads, Senior Agent Associate for Queens County, and Emily Zobel, Senior Agent Associate for Dorchester
University programs, activities, and facilities are available to all without regards to race, color, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, marital status, age, national origin, political affiliation, physical or mental disability, religion, protected veteran status, genetic information, personal appearance, or any other legally protected class.
Mikaela
Impressed friends and family. That's what I'm all about. I try and make people impressed with my plant knowledge, and it doesn't work.
Rachel
Works on us.
Emily
It does. Thank you. I'm always impressed by your plant knowledge, Mikaela.
Mikaela
Thanks. I appreciate that.
Emily
It's good. We are an award-winning podcast, guys. We got this.
Rachel
So true. Oh, my God. I recognize your voice.
Mikaela
I know. I feel really famous.
Emily
You guys are famous. You're like Taylor Swift of Garden Podcasting.
Mikaela
Of Garden Podcast. It's good to know that it's not all podcast. I don't even know if it is for garden podcasting.
Emily
I'm sure there's some garden podcasts out there that get thousands of downloads. Oh, 100 %.
Mikaela
Like the Royal Horticulture Society.
Rachel
Oh my God.
Emily
I love listening to them. Me and the Taylor Swift of Mid-Atlantic extension garden podcasting. That's right.
Mikaela
Let's set the standard right there for us.