- Hi, thanks for joining us for The Family Plot: Gardening in the Mid-South.

I'm Chris Cooper.

Winter is a slow time in the garden, so we figured we could answer some viewer questions.

That's just ahead on The Family Plot: Gardening in the Mid-South.

- (female announcer) Production funding for The Family Plot: Gardening in the Mid-South is provided by the WKNO Production Fund, the WKNO Endowment Fund, and by viewers like you, thank you.

[upbeat country music] Welcome to The Family Plot.

I'm Chris Cooper.

Joining me today is Joellen Dimond.

Joellen is our local horticulturist.

We have Celeste Scott.

Celeste Scott is a UT Extension horticulture specialist.

And Mr.

D is here.

Mr.

D is a retired UT Extension agent.

Thank you all for being here.

- Yeah, always fun to come.

- Thank you.

- This is fun, right?

- Question and answer- - This is fun, this is fun.

Excellent questions, right?

Here's our first viewer email.

'What tree is this?

"It blooms in the spring with lilac-colored flowers.

Then it forms large dark brown or black pods."

And this is Ed.

So what is that, Celeste?

- Okay, so this was really fun.

Again, I had to research this, just like we had to do some research earlier.

When I saw the picture of the bloom initially, my brain and Joellen's too, went to catalpa, right?

The catalpa tree.

It has that signature trumpet-shaped lavender bloom with the long pods.

But then when I saw the leaves, it didn't match.

That leaf structure didn't match.

So this particular plant has a really unique palmately lobed leaf, a five-lobed leaf.

And so I just had to dive in and do a little researching, keyed that out, and first I found that it belongs to the Bignoniaceae family, right?

So when you're using a key, it just kind of helps you narrow things down.

And so once I got into the right family, things really started coming together because catalpa trees are in that same family.

Our trumpet vine, we have a native trumpet vine, is in that same family.

Those blooms look really similar.

I felt like we were on the right track.

And finally ended up at a plant, the common name is lavender trumpet tree, or Handroanthus impetiginosus.

That's a long one.

- Quite impressive.

- Yeah.

[panelists laughing] So, I'm not sure where this question was sent in from, but that particular plant is only hardy to about 25 degrees Fahrenheit, so this is not something that's going to be growing as a perennial tree in the southeastern region.

So maybe they're in a warmer growing area, but I am, you know, without further investigation and having the leaf right in front of me, I'm about 98% sure that that's where we've landed, yeah.

Handroanthus or lavender trumpet tree.

And it is related to plants we're more familiar with.

Yeah.

- That is real good.

Keyed it out.

- It was so fun, yes.

- They actually do work, right?

- They do.

- They actually just step by step, you know, you get to what you need, right?

Because, yeah, we had several thoughts about that just looking at the leaf, you know, arrangement itself.

But there you have it.

So you can use those keys.

- You sure can.

- All right, thank you for that question, Mr.

Ed.

Thank you, so that's good.

- All right, here's our next viewer email.

"My gooseberry plant is sending out tons of suckers.

"How do I control them?

They are trying to take over."

And this is Olaf from Stevensonville, Ontario, Canada.

So what do you think about that, Mr.

D?

- I think I had to contact the Ontario Ministry of Food and Agriculture, which I guess is their Department of Ag.

I did a little research on gooseberries because I don't have any personal experience with them.

And I found that that is not that uncommon a problem.

You got a couple of options.

You can try to establish a sod and then mow under your gooseberries.

And so the mowing would take care of any suckers that come up.

However, the sod, and creeping red fescue is the sod that is recommended, that they recommend for up there, and we do grow a little bit of that around here.

But that will reduce the yields of your gooseberry plant because, by about 30%, because the sod is competing with the gooseberries for the water and nutrients.

So that's a trade-off there.

Another option is cultivate.

And if you cultivate around your gooseberries, you're gonna take out your suckers and also increase, you know, thirty percent yield over the sod production.

So those are the only two options, you know, mechanical removal, and if you establish the sod and mowing, that is a combination of mechanical remover- - That is interesting.

- Mulching might help suppress a little bit, but the suckers are going to come up through the mulch.

- So here's the secondary question.

"Can I transplant the suckers?"

- That depends.

- Depends, okay.

- The most common way of propagating gooseberries is by layering.

So I did a little research and I found that that is not the only way of propagation.

There are also, there's a couple of rootstocks commonly used for gooseberries, so sometimes they're grafted.

If your gooseberry plants were propagated by layering, then it's fine to use suckers and move them.

If they were grafted, if you use the suckers, you're gonna have either jostaberry or Ottawa 3 rootstock's gonna come up.

So you need to know whether or not your plants have been propagated by layering or were they purchased, even the purchased ones, many of them are propagated by layering.

But if your plants were propagated by grafting on the rootstock, then you don't need to transplant those suckers.

Layering is easy.

To be on the safe side, I'd go with layering if you want to make sure you get the variety that you want.

- Just take one of those branches, put it down to the ground, put some soil over it, put a brick on top of it, and it will root.

- Get her done in about one season.

- One season.

- In one season, cut it loose from the mother plant, and put it where you want.

- Right.

- Olaf, research.

That's good, Mr.

D., that is good.

Appreciate that, appreciate that question, too.

We learn so much, don't we?

- Yes, so much.

- So good.

- Here's our next viewer email.

"What is happening to my Schefflera?

"I've kept it in the same place for two years, "but recently a few leaves turned brown and fell off.

"Now some of the green leaves fall off at the slightest tap.

"I repotted it a few weeks ago, "but it has not stopped the problem.

"The roots looked healthy, some new leaves have come on, "but they are pointed down.

What is going on?"

So what do you think, Celeste?

- Well, I wanna say that was an excellent description.

Thank you, question submitter.

So, Scheffleras are so, they're just so finicky.

They do not like to be disturbed, once they have found a place and they are thriving in your home landscape, indoors, we really just kind of want to leave them there.

And so this is a common problem, I guess, what I'm trying to get at with the leaves falling.

Any change in the growing environment can cause Schefflera to just want to shed leaves for no apparent reason, even if it's not detrimental, per se, to the plant's overall health.

If you shifted it from one window to another window, maybe that new light would actually be better for that plant, but it has trouble adjusting to these, you know, anything new in the environment.

So some things that came to my mind that may be causing this initial leaf drop that he was experiencing is just any kind of change.

So are they moving into a new season, right?

Is it colder outside and maybe being exposed to cold drafts from an exterior door being opened?

Is it being, or were they moving into a warm season and now it's getting drafts from air conditioner vents, right, blowing on it that it wasn't at first used to having.

So even these minor changes like this can cause, or trigger leaf drop in those plants.

I admire that he, you know, took initiative to try to repot it, thinking maybe it's root bound, maybe we need to do some things.

And I'm glad that the roots looked healthy.

After he got it repotted, it continued to drop leaves.

Again, this is something that I would expect.

The plant was already shedding leaves, disturbing that root zone, repotting it just adds to the stress of that plant, the change of growing environment.

So, the continuation of dropping leaves is fine.

But I do want to give him hope to know that since he is seeing that new growth coming out and since the roots looked healthy, I think the plant itself is fine, okay?

So this is just all circumstantial.

Just be patient.

Let that new growth push out.

You know, usually as long as the plant is healthy, in 2 to 3 weeks we're gonna see new growth.

And on those palmately lobed type leaves, it's natural for when they unfurl to kind of be pointing downwards.

So, you know, don't let that alarm you.

As they mature, they'll open and hold themselves more widely, kind of like the umbrella plant that we're used to seeing them as.

So, I mean, I can't say for sure exactly what caused the start of the leaf drop, but it was probably just a change in that environment, whatever that small change may have been.

- Yeah, so a lot of things there, right?

It could be humidity.

It could be something else, too, as well.

- Yes, humidity.

Or you had mentioned watering frequency.

- Yeah, it looked like it was real wet.

And, you know, if he's repotted it, he might think, "Oh, I need to water it more."

And maybe it doesn't need as much water like he was watering it before, so just watch the watering, make sure that the soil was at the same level the other soil was, and you know, just a few little changes.

- Yes, that could be another cause for initiation of the leaf drop, you know, say it's used to being watered regularly on a regular basis, having that consistent moisture, then you leave for vacation for a week, and you think, oh, it's gonna make it, ten days while I'm gone, you know, it can even tell, you know, with that amount of change, So just keeping things real steady and even.

- Steady and even, I like it.

So thank you for that question.

- Mad because you didn't take it on vacation.

- Oh, [laughs] didn't take it with him.

- Hurt its feelings.

- Didn't get to go to the beach.

- All right, yeah, so appreciate that.

That was good, that was good.

All right, here's our next viewer email.

"Why are the flowers on my Chinese snowball green?"

And this is Jillane, and this is Joellen.

So what do you think about that?

- Yeah, I had the same problem with mine.

- Oh how about that?

- Yes, but you know what- - Is it a problem, though?

- They start out green and then they turn white.

And mine is getting more shade now than it used to, so they're smaller and they're taking longer to turn white because they don't have as much sunlight.

So I think that is the issue she's having, is not enough sunlight.

And I had the same problem.

But I know it eventually does turn white.

- Yeah, so it'll eventually gets there.

- Yeah, it eventually does.

- Yeah, anything you wanna add?

- Nope, I just like them in all forms.

I'll harvest them and bring them inside and use them for arrangements in their tight, green clustered form, and then I'll use them too when they've popped out into their snowball form as well.

- So it's good to know.

Same issue, right?

- Same issue.

- She's not alone in that.

- No.

- She's not alone.

- You sure this is not your question?

No.

Thank you both so much for the question.

Appreciate that.

Here's our next viewer email.

"Why did my mangoes rot and split on the tree?

"It has happened two years in a row.

How do I fix it?"

And this is Ann from south Florida.

So, how does Ms.

Ann fix it, Joellen?

- Well, you know, mangoes like to be watered more consistently when they're young.

But once they get older, three, four years old, they don't like a lot of care.

And so, I'm thinking that, you know, maybe it was so droughty there, and just so dry and hot, she thought maybe it needed more water, and maybe watered it inconsistently.

Maybe she watered it a lot, didn't water it a lot, but because the fruit is splitting, makes me think that there was too much water at one time, that it got a flush of growth, and that's like tomatoes.

Tomatoes will do that too, when they're ripening, and they've had a lot of water suddenly in their system.

So I think consistent watering is the issue, and just remember that mangoes prefer to be on the dry side, and they don't like a whole lot of wet around them out on regular basis.

They like to let it, you know, they like to be kind of natural and more dry situation.

But there is a publication, and we may have that on the website about growing mangoes for homeowners in the landscape.

And he can read over that and see if he's following the recommendations there and see if he has any better luck with his mangoes.

- We sure hope so.

So Ms.

Ann, we thank you for the picture.

Thank you for the question.

All right.

Here's our next viewer email.

"Around town this year, I've seen many arborvitae trees "brown and die.

"They are often near another one that still looks healthy.

What is going on?"

We've received this question several times recently from several people here in this area, Memphis, Tennessee.

And we've had numerous calls at the office.

- Yes.

- Same question.

- That's what they're supposed to do, call their local county agent.

Right, yeah.

- So, they're listening.

So, what do you think, Joellen?

- Well, you know, I know she says that they are talking about one is dead and then the other one is alive and healthy.

But in that picture, the other one looks like it's going to.

- Yeah, I know.

- So I mean, it's on its way out.

It's on its way out.

And you know, we had a really wet spring.

Then we had a really dry end of the summer.

- A drought.

- And we were in a drought condition here.

And I think that kind of thing is what is causing the problems with the arborvitae.

Because arborvitae prefers consistent moisture in their ground around them.

And if there's out in the middle of like a subdivision or some place that's not near an irrigation system or not part of an area that you would actually water and just out there, I can see in the environment really affecting the health of these plants.

And the other thing you might think of is they may have had an infestation of bagworms and they didn't even know it.

- Yes.

- Bagworms, spider mites.

- There's all sorts of plants, I mean, bugs that attack arborvitae.

So, you know, that's scouting for them is a good idea.

Because I had bagworms on mine.

And it's easy to... If you scout, you see them.

I saw something move in the tree and I went, "Wait a minute... Those are bagworms."

So, I got the Bt out with the little dial.

- Hose-end sprayer.

- Yeah, hose-end sprayer.

And I took that hose-end sprayer and I put Bt all up in there.

Took care of them.

No problem.

- I'll add that I received pictures and phone calls from lots of agents who were going on site visits, right?

From homeowners who were having these same issues and giving them tips on what to look for.

And in a lot of those instances, they were able to discover cankers on the inside canopies of those trees, on the limbs, even on the main trunks.

So lots of vertical cracking on those trunks.

We saw lots of oozing.

I always encourage people, use all your senses.

If you just take a big deep breath, and you smell that evergreen scent, you know what I'm talking about?

You need to investigate further and get it to the inside of the canopy of that tree.

So saw a lot of canker development, and generally the cankers may not have, they may have been there already, but weren't causing a lot of damage, but then when we had the drought stress, like you mentioned, that further brought that problem to the surface and just really did that plant in.

So maybe it wasn't, you're like, well, yeah, it was a drought, but I mean, we've had more severe droughts other times, but coupled with the already, you know, existing presence of that canker just kind of proliferated things.

- Without a doubt, yeah, so it's been a common question, you know, this fall, summer to the fall.

And I can tell you, I've been on a couple of sites too, this is also what I saw.

They were planted too deep.

- Oh yes, too deep.

So many, so many.

- And then of course the mulch was piled up.

You know, you had the volcano mulch, right?

But I would pull that mulch back and guess what?

I mean, the mulch was essentially decomposing the tree.

- Have you even seen where the limbs themselves were buried?

It wasn't just buried up the trunk.

It's like whole limbs were buried in the soil.

- Too deep.

- So I've seen that too as well.

That's a common question we've gotten.

- Definitely.

And then one last thing that I'll add.

If you're seeing some yellowing on them as we're moving into the fall, but maybe not that drastic browning that we saw in those images, that's when I would for sure go out and check for mites because we have cool season spider mites that would be active at that time of year.

So, definitely stay on top of that.

- Yeah, so that would be good.

Yeah, so a lot of things there, right, to consider, but yeah, it's been an interesting year.

- It has been very-.

- In the gardening world, it's been an interesting year.

- And yeah, we've seen them around town, too.

- Yeah, we definitely have, that's good.

- There are a lot of issues to consider with them.

- That's the fun about gardening, right?

- Always learning.

- Always fun, and always learning, too, as well.

All right, here's our next viewer email.

This one's good.

"What plants can I place on a shady porch "or plant near sunny or shady windows that can tolerate Florida heat and emit a nice scent?"

And this is Bob from Naples, Florida.

He says he's a transplant from New England to Florida and he misses fragrant flowering plants like lilacs.

- Yay.

- So let me say this, Mr.

Bob.

Welcome to the South.

- Yes, welcome.

- Hot, humid.

Not exactly New England, you know?

Not exactly.

Celeste, can we help Mr.

Bob out?

- We sure can.

We have lots of plants that have plenty of fragrance that I think he's really gonna love.

So for planting on a porch or, you know, near a shady area like that, I'm gonna say gardenia.

They're gonna have a wonderful aroma.

And that far down into the South, they're gonna be hardy, depending on where you're growing.

Like especially here in zone seven, gardenias can be iffy for me.

But I think they're gonna do really good for him in that area.

Another one that I love that I don't get to appreciate as much as I would like to is tea olive or Osmanthus.

My goodness, they have a really cool, it's called a false holly is another common name for, they have really cool leaves.

They look super prickly, but they're not.

You can get variegation in the leaf.

So, some with like white and speckles of green, even speckles of pink in there.

Really beautiful.

And then they have insignificant bloom.

But the bloom is so, so fragrant.

It's one of the strongest smelling fragrances.

So, yes, those are more shrub-type plants.

So, they would need larger containers.

But I think they would be great for that area.

If they want some, like, smaller scale plants, I was thinking things like lavender and rosemary.

Plumeria is another that, you know, you see all over Florida that has a really strong fragrance.

Butterfly gingers are hardy in that area and also have a really strong aroma to them.

That would be something more that you would plant like in the landscape than in a pot.

And we could go on.

I had options for vines and trees.

- I was gonna say, I was thinking Confederate jasmine.

- Jasmine, yes, that was on the list.

- And Carolina allspice also.

- Yes, yes, oh I love, yes, I love that.

And even the leaves are aromatic when they're crushed.

So lots of options.

- Lots of options.

- Definitely lots of options.

- Lots of good options.

Yeah, Mr.

Bob, sounds like they want to join you down in Florida.

- Yes, please.

- How about that?

- Yeah, we're gonna help you out.

- Yeah, so I appreciate that question.

Again, yeah, Florida, yeah, not New England.

- More options than he had in New England.

- Yeah, more options than he had in New England, though.

That's right, that's right for sure.

Here's our next viewer email.

"How can I attract butterflies to my yard?"

And this is Constance from Cleveland, Ohio.

She says she has lots of bees, but no butterflies.

So how can we help her, Joellen?

- Oh, you know, we had our butterfly garden out here.

- Oh yes we did.

- And there's a lot of things, but one thing that is consistent that she needs that butterflies love is a flower that has a flat surface.

And they're attracted to, of all things, purple.

That's their number one thing that they're attracted to.

Yellow, orange, and reds.

So purple, yellow, orange, and red flowers that are flat.

And let's see, what annual, first annual that I can think of is zinnias.

Zinnias are great for that.

They like heliotrope.

That's an annual.

Dahlias, anything that's large, you know, the flat.

Ageratum, sunflowers.

For perennials, you've got Gaillardia, Joe Pye, yarrows.

You also have some Maximilian sunflowers that are perennial, too.

So, there's a lot of plants, and think about it, a lot of those are the purples, the yellows, the oranges, and the reds, and they're flat surfaces.

I think they like something to land on, so they're bigger than the bees, so they like something to land on to be able to- - So they don't have to hover while feed, they need a spot to- - Yeah, a spot to land.

- Yeah, I love that, and I love butterflies as well.

And another that I would have to add would be Asclepias.

They love the butterfly milkweed.

They just love it.

So if you're looking for a pretty orange perennial to add to the list, that's definitely one of my favorites.

Another thing that came to my mind is if we want to have a really healthy population of butterflies, we need to make sure that we're providing host plants for those butterfly species as well.

A lot of them have really specific genuses of plants that they need to lay their eggs on or near so that their larvae have something to feed on.

- Milkweed serves one of those purposes.

- Definitely, yeah.

- Out in the garden, we planted parsley and dill.

- For your swallowtails.

- And so, you know, those are some other, and you have to research.

Depending on what kind of butterfly you were trying to attract, it'll have a different host plant.

- Yeah.

So, just some things that came to my mind.

We want to provide nectar, but we also want to make sure that we've got a good supply of host plants if we really want to build a good, diverse population of butterflies for sure.

- I would definitely agree with that-- - But you don't want tomatoes to be your host plant.

If you're trying to grow homegrown tomatoes.

- Not tomatoes.

And then, those plants that you all named, those plants, will they grow up in Cleveland, Ohio?

- Yes.

- Okay, good deal.

So here's something I would like to mention, though.

I would keep pesticides away from that area.

- Oh, yes.

- Yeah, for sure, right?

So yeah, full sun, yeah, you wanna encourage the butterflies to come, but yeah, stay away from the pesticides in those areas.

I think you can attract more butterflies that way.

- Definitely, and a lot of those plants that Joellen mentioned also attract other beneficial, like predacious insects.

So there, if we can bolster those populations, we're gonna have more natural pest control, thus less need, hopefully, for some insecticides.

- I would agree, I would agree.

- Don't they need a little water source?

- Yes, they do.

- And Joellen, tell them about what you did.

- Well, out in the garden, we did.

We had, we put, actually, they like a place to rest, and so we put stones out, and then we buried a saucer where we put sand in, and then we put water in the sand so that they would have a place to get some minerals from, and rest, and that completes all the things that they need, you know, in the area for food, host plants, water, nectar, you know, minerals, place to rest.

- I love that pollinator puddler concept.

I've seen butterflies out in the wild just sipping water in muddy puddles.

I know everybody's seen that, and that's what they're doing.

They're drinking those minerals through that muddy water, so that is really a necessity for them.

- That's impressive, that they can do that, yeah.

For me, it's just a day at the beach is what I call it, right?

All right, so there you go, Constance.

We appreciate that question.

Hope that helps you out.

A lot of good information there.

So fun as always, y'all.

- Very much so.

- We learn so much.

Fun as always, so Joellen, thank you.

Celeste, thank you.

Mr.

D., thank you for being here.

- Thanks for asking us.

- All right.

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