Petunia's
Eric comments that Delilah made some wonderful plant selections for Victoria’s garden and he would like for her
to talk us through each one selected for this design. Delilah explains PETUNIA'S are excellent for people
getting started. Importantly, they can be in full sun. One of her favorite varieties is the Surfinia Heavenly
Blue.
For More Information Click Here
Scaevola
Let's talk about some of the other plants that that you've selected. You’ve got SCAEVOLA, which is an amazing
plant that Eric thinks too few people know about. Delilah agrees, they are bred in Australia.
For More Information Click here
Fuchsia
There is also some FUCHSIA in this planting, which Eric thinks is a wonderful tropical touch. He loves plants
that actually do have some heartiness, yet provide that really lush tropical look. It too is a great selection.
They're not in flower now, but the Angel Earrings Fuchsia will dangle. They'll be white and red and kind of
upright, so they will look really pretty in the center of the container and they've also been selected for heat
tolerance.
For More Information Click here
Plant Care
Eric brings Victoria into the conversation. He knows she is newish to gardening, are there any questions she has
regarding the care and maintenance of these plants or what might she like to know to be successful with these
plants? She does - watering has been an issue. It’s somewhat under control because these are in pots but is
there anything she might have neglected? Do they need fertilizing, that kind of thing? Delilah would say that
with the leaf yellowing perhaps they could benefit from a jolt of FERTILIZER. Many gardeners when first planting
add some slow release granules, then follow every two weeks with a well balanced water soluble fertilizer.
For More Information Click here
How Much Water
One question that we get from viewers all the time is HOW MUCH WATER do plants need? And are there ways for us
to measure that? Are there ways for us to think about how do we appropriately water plants? Ron thinks those are
great questions. The first thing we need to understand is how much water is coming out of our garden hose. Do
you really know? Because if you don't, you don't understand how much water you're placing on the plant.
For More Information Click here
Where You Put The Water
It's also really important to understand WHERE YOU PUT THE WATER as well. And we know that as horticulturists
that roots are hydrotropic, which means they're going to follow the water. Healthy plants have deep roots and
that’s important because the soil farther down doesn't get dry as quickly, it holds moisture and it stays cool.
So you want the roots to grow deep so when the soil on the top does get hot and it does dry out, those plants
still have access to moisture.
For More Information Click here
In-Ground Irrigation
Ron, many American homes are equipped with IN-GROUND IRRIGATION systems, which definitely do a great job of
getting everything wet. But they don't necessarily do a great job of understanding the individual needs plants
might have. Ron thinks there are a better uses of water than those systems and they are more accurate and keep
in mind the needs of the plant. Let's talk about different options we have from a standpoint of how to more
accurately water the plants in our garden. Ron likes to talk about his toolbox. What we use to water are tools,
just like with any other home improvement.
For More Information Click here
Water Wand
There are lots of tools, hand watering is one of them. Ron points out a tool invented back in the 40s. It's
called a rain wand. Generically people call it a WATER WAND. It’s a shower head that produces a flow of water
that you put at the base of the plant. So if we want to water an individual plant and we talked about how much
water comes out and this plant came in a four inch container Ron can go one thousand one, one thousand two, one
thousand three and that's plenty of water for that small plant. He's just soaked the area surrounding the root
ball and the water's naturally going to go down into the soil and he hasn't watered the rest of the bed.
For More Information Click here
Soaker Hoses
There are other tools one can use. We have some SOAKER HOSES laid out here. By definition it's designed to
slowly emit water everywhere. Imagine a hose that leaks, but it leaks evenly. Compare this to a sprinkler system
that sprays the water up in the air. What can happen then is if we need the water during a hot day the sprinkler
system sprays the water up in the air, then the sun helps evaporate it and the wind blows it away, meaning the
water doesn't go where it needs to be. But a low profile design like a soaker hose weeps the water, which means
water goes into the soil and it gets absorbed.
For More Information Click here
Heirloom Roses
Jim Moneyhun is the flower garden curator at The State Botanical Garden of Georgia at the University of Georgia
and joins us to discuss HEIRLOOM ROSES and how to care for them. Eric welcomes Jim to GardenSMART. Thanks for
having me. Victoria has selected some really nice heirloom roses for her garden, and we are fortunate to have a
rose expert here with us to tell us everything she needs to know about having success with roses. Eric would
like for Jim to start by talking about the cultivars that have been selected and what Jim thinks makes them
special.
For More Information Click here
Garden Lighting
LIGHTING A GARDEN is a wonderful way to make it come alive at night and extend our time enjoying the garden.
Jason Shanabarger, with Unique Lighting, is here to talk us through the many options available to us in the
world of outdoor lighting. Jason, thanks so much for joining us. Welcome to the show.
For More Information Click here
Lighting Technology
If one hasn't been paying attention to outdoor lighting for the last 20 years or so, what has happened in the
industry? What have we missed? TECHNOLOGY'S rapidly changing, everything is addressed with a smartphone now for
on-off control. We can do color now, we can change the white balance on the lights, also known as kelvin
temperature to highlight evergreens with a little bit cooler temperature.
For More Information Click here
Lighting Materials
One thing Eric noticed with this install is the quality of the MATERIALS that are being used. It seems like
outdoor lighting 30 years ago was more rugged and utilitarian, and there were extension cords everywhere, thus
not super practical. And also not anywhere as beautiful as some of these fixtures. Let's talk about the
materials and the upgrades to the category. Jason notes they have three different lines of products - a marine
grade aluminum alloy, a lightweight brass and copper as a mid grade, and then castle brass is a premium option.
For More Information Click here
In this episode GardenSMART is headed back to our tiny house garden project to discuss plants and products that
put a magical touch on the landscape. It goes without saying plants are the star of the show and finding the
right selections and combinations of plants is what makes a garden truly sing.
We have the pleasure of meeting today with a tremendous plants' woman Delilah Onafrey from Suntory Flowers.
Delilah discusses some amazing new plants and how they were used in this design. Delilah, thanks so much for
joining us. Welcome to the show. Delilah says it's nice to be in Athens, she comes here for the UGA trails. She
feels it is fantastic to talk about the tiny house project, as soon as she heard about it she wanted to check it
out.
Eric has always been really fascinated with the process of bringing a new cultivar to market and almost no one in
the world does a better job of that than Suntory Flowers. It's amazing how prolific their program is. Eric would
like for Delilah to talk us through the process, starting with seedlings and then launching new cultivars. How
does all that work? Delilah reflects that it all started with the Surfinia Petunia. Suntory was involved with
petunias as a flagship brand 30 years ago. Since then they’re always trying to unlock new color, new plants that
some say is impossible. But, today they have some Mandevilla’s that are shades of yellow. Now one called
Bluephoria. So they are always unlocking the potential of what's possible or even rethinking a genus entirely.
Eric comments that Delilah made some wonderful plant selections for Victoria’s garden and he
would like for her to talk us through each one selected for this design. Delilah explains PETUNIA'S are
excellent for people getting started. Importantly, they can be in full sun. One of her favorite varieties is the
Surfinia Heavenly Blue. With it you get this multitudinal effect of nice shades of sky blue and it remains very
beautiful and controlled as it grows and expands. The deep red's also been a top seller for a long time. It's
hard to breed reds that don't fade slightly as the season goes on. This plant doesn’t and those are the reasons
these two are top sellers.
Let's talk about some of the other plants that that you've selected. You’ve got SCAEVOLA, which
is an amazing plant that Eric thinks too few people know about. Delilah agrees, they are bred in Australia. The
Surdiva Scaevola are called fan flowers because the blooms are fan shaped. They have an excellent series with
many colors ranging from shades of blue, pink, purple and white. They are Classic City award winners at the
University of Georgia. And are excellent planted in masses in a bed, even mixing three colors together makes it
really easy.
There is also some FUCHSIA in this planting, which Eric thinks is a wonderful tropical touch. He
loves plants that actually do have some heartiness, yet provide that really lush tropical look. It too is a
great selection. They're not in flower now, but the Angel Earrings Fuchsia will dangle. They'll be white and red
and kind of upright, so they will look really pretty in the center of the container and they've also been
selected for heat tolerance. People usually think of Fuchsia for early spring but even in her home in Ohio
Delilah was shocked at how cold tolerant it is. In the middle of October, they still looked amazing. It's very
versatile plant. Of course, down here in the southeast, heat tolerance is at the very top of the list of things
that are important. It seems like the summers are getting hotter and dryer so much of the effort of the breeding
program behind these plants is certainly focused on how do we help the home gardener succeed with annuals? And
Eric thinks Suntory has done a wonderful job with this program.
Eric brings Victoria into the conversation. He knows she is newish to gardening, are there any
questions she has regarding the care and maintenance of these plants or what might she like to know to be
successful with these plants She does - watering has been an issue. It’s somewhat under control because these
are in pots but is there anything she might have neglected? Do they need fertilizing, that kind of thing?
Delilah would say that with the leaf yellowing perhaps they could benefit from a jolt of FERTILIZER. Many
gardeners when first planting add some slow release granules, then follow every two weeks with a well balanced
water soluble fertilizer. Petunias especially get hungry and the yellowing is a sign. Victoria was surprised
when she got them in the mail and they looked so good. But how long is it safe to keep them in the box before
planting? Delilah recommends that as as soon as you can, definitely in less than a week, get them in the ground.
The plants will get somewhat stressed in the box so the sooner you get them in their new home the better. Eric
thanks Delilah for joining us and sharing her knowledge. We’re really enjoying these wonderful plants. Thank
you.
Once we have our plants in the ground, the most important nutrient of all is water. Getting the right amount of
water to our plants at the right time is so important to the survival of our new plantings. Ron Greening is an
expert in irrigation, and is here to help Victoria learn what she needs to understand to keep all of her plants
thriving. Ron, welcome to the show. People oftentimes ask Eric, what is the most important nutrient for plants?
It's water. We can talk about many different elements but it really is water. And Eric is glad Ron is here today
to educate us on water.
One question that we get from viewers all the time is HOW MUCH WATER do plants need? And are
there ways for us to measure that? Are there ways for us to think about how do we appropriately water plants?
Ron thinks those are great questions. The first thing we need to understand is how much water is coming out of
our garden hose. Do you really know? Because if you don't, you don't understand how much water you're placing on
the plant. What Ron recommends is that you take a container with a known quantity, for example, a watering can
that's half a gallon, take the garden hose that you’re going to water with and measure over a period of time how
much water comes out. If you have a small four inch container and that’s what the plant came in and you’ve
determined that water at the end of your garden hose comes out at eight gallons a minute. Then it will take less
than three seconds to fill that small container. So if you're standing in your garden and you're going one
thousand one, one thousand two, one thousand three, that's all the water that root mass needs.
It's also really important to understand WHERE YOU PUT THE WATER as well. And we know that as
horticulturists that roots are hydrotropic, which means they're going to follow the water. Healthy plants have
deep roots and that’s important because the soil farther down doesn't get dry as quickly, it holds moisture and
it stays cool. So you want the roots to grow deep so when the soil on the top does get hot and it does dry out,
those plants still have access to moisture. By soaking the plant at the root zone it's much better for the
plant. And, it’s a much more efficient use of water than it is to sprinkle water over the surface, then have it
dry out and evaporate. You get a much healthier root zone and a much healthier root ball, importantly plants are
healthier and drought resistant when watered deeply because they don't dry out when the soil dries out. So his
advice for Victoria is don't water as often, but when you do water, give it more water so the water goes deeper
and draws the roots down to where they're more protected. Plus and importantly, by placing water at the plant,
you're going to conserve water and put it where it needs to be. Also, sometimes the root zone needs to dry out,
because otherwise you get root rot, you get fungus, you get all kinds of problems with the plant when you over
water.
Ron, many American homes are equipped with IN-GROUND IRRIGATION systems, which definitely do a
great job of getting everything wet. But they don't necessarily do a great job of understanding the individual
needs plants might have. Ron thinks there are a better uses of water than those systems and they are more
accurate and keep in mind the needs of the plant. Let's talk about different options we have from a standpoint
of how to more accurately water the plants in our garden. Ron likes to talk about his toolbox. What we use to
water are tools, just like with any other home improvement. And consumers can have an assortment of tools. Some
of them are general use tools, like a pliers or a hammer. But when you start to get to specialized jobs, you
need special tools. So an irrigation system can put water all over the place, but are you putting the right
amount of water in the right place? And that's really the use of the tools. And that can be specialized if
you're an avid gardener. If you want to raise your plants from seed, you may just need a nozzle that creates
half a gallon of mist just to get the seeds wet to germinate. Or if we're in a yard like this, we want to put
water at the base of the plant, not all over the mulch because the mulch doesn't grow. So by utilizing the
correct tools, we can get water in the volume we want, in the place we want it
There are lots of tools, hand watering is one of them. Ron points out a tool invented back in
the 40s. It's called a rain wand. Generically people call it a WATER WAND. It’s a shower head that produces a
flow of water that you put at the base of the plant. So if we want to water an individual plant and we talked
about how much water comes out and this plant came in a four inch container Ron can go one thousand one, one
thousand two, one thousand three and that's plenty of water for that small plant. He's just soaked the area
surrounding the root ball and the water's naturally going to go down into the soil and he hasn't watered the
rest of the bed. So he's placing the water where it needs to be. The other advantage when watering by hand is
that one is looking at the plant. And can readily see that it looks like there's disease on that plant. It looks
like it's being eaten by a bug. We're literally surveying the yard as we water. So hand watering makes us look
at the entire garden. If we have an irrigation system and it comes on automatically at 2 o'clock in the morning
we don't see any of that and then two weeks later we walk out and go - what's going on with my plants?
Additionally with an automatic watering system everything's been watered the same amount. The succulents didn't
need much water but got watered. The plants that needed a lot of water may not have gotten enough water because
all of that water that gets sprayed on the surface oftentimes doesn't soak in.
And, that's one of the key factors to having success with plants. Victoria's landscape, her garden, is a new
installation and that's a tricky time for plants. There can be transplant shock and a lot of plants have varying
water needs. We see that in this design. It's not uncommon. There are plants that want a lot of water planted
next to plants that want just a little bit of water. A dumb system, if you will, just a sprinkler running
doesn't know that. So we need to get the gardener involved in the act of gardening when it comes to watering.
There are other tools one can use. We have some SOAKER HOSES laid out here. By definition it's
designed to slowly emit water everywhere. Imagine a hose that leaks, but it leaks evenly. Compare this to a
sprinkler system that sprays the water up in the air. What can happen then is if we need the water during a hot
day the sprinkler system sprays the water up in the air, then the sun helps evaporate it and the wind blows it
away, meaning the water doesn't go where it needs to be. But a low profile design like a soaker hose weeps the
water, which means water goes into the soil and it gets absorbed. You're soaking the landscape instead of
spraying it or sprinkling it. It's a much more efficient use of water. A soaker hose like this will weep about
two and a half gallons over the 50 feet of hose in a minute, that's two and a half milk jugs per minute that
comes out of this length of hose. If it runs about 30, 40 minutes you have multiple gallons coming out each
minute and you're getting the soil wet but it's not broadcasting it everywhere. The water will be absorbed into
the soil and naturally spreads out about 18 inches on either side of the soaker hose. This means you're actually
wetting the whole bed, you're not just watering a little strip because the water will spread out because the
soil has osmotic pressure and will draw that water out to where the soil's dry. So again, you're efficiently
using water, not running your water bill up. And you're not putting water where it doesn't need to be, meaning
the plants have that moisture available to take up and live. All right, go forth and garden.
Jim Moneyhun is the flower garden curator at The State Botanical Garden of Georgia at the
University of Georgia and joins us to discuss HEIRLOOM ROSES and how to care for them. Eric welcomes Jim to
GardenSMART. Thanks for having me. Victoria has selected some really nice heirloom roses for her garden, and we
are fortunate to have a rose expert here with us to tell us everything she needs to know about having success
with roses. Eric would like for Jim to start by talking about the cultivars that have been selected and what Jim
thinks makes them special. Jim thinks Victoria has selected some really neat cultivars. All four of them are
modern roses, meaning that they were bred after 1867. They were developed mostly in the latter part of the 20th
century.
Dancing in the Dark is an interesting one, it's an interspecific hybrid tea rose, meaning that it's from two
different species. It's a deep red, a double bloom and mildly fragrant. It's going to bloom in clusters, and
it's going to bloom in flushes throughout the season. It's really great for cut flowers. It can handle a little
bit of shade, which is great, because you have a little bit of shade in this part of the yard. It's been on the
market about 20 years and is very disease resistant, which is good news. In fact, all four of the varieties
chosen are very disease resistant.
The next rose is Sunny Sky. It is from the Elegonza collection, it's a nice yellow rose, a hybrid tea. It's a
double rose, meaning that it has more petals than a basic single rose. It's moderately fragrant and will also
bloom in flushes throughout the season. It will grow to about four feet tall and very resistant to black spot
and powdery mildew which are two of the most common fungal diseases that we see with roses.
The next rose is Iceberg, it's a Hall of Fame rose and was a voted world's favorite rose in 1983. It was
developed by Kordes in the late 1950's. Its parentage is a red hybrid musk rose and a white hybrid tea rose.
It's usually categorized in the floribunda group and will bloom in clusters, it's moderately fragrant, has big
blooms and is very disease resistant. It can get up to six feet tall in very hot climates. So here Jim would
expect it to grow to around five feet tall and just about as wide.
The last rose is Carefree Wonder, which is the only one of these roses that Jim has actually seen before. It's a
fantastic rose, developed in the ‘90s. It has large pink semi double blooms with about 26 to 30 petals per
bloom. It will bloom in small clusters, a continual bloomer rather than blooming in flushes. And it will
actually produce some nice ornamental hips, meaning that after it flowers, the fruit that it will set, the hip,
will be attractive in color or size.
Jim recommends deadheading roses as they're blooming, but particularly towards the end of the growing season. If
you stop deadheading, they'll set hips that will signify to the rose that it has done its job for this season
and could begin to go dormant. Then you can enjoy those hips through the winter season. All this info is good to
know. Thank you Jim.
LIGHTING A GARDEN is a wonderful way to make it come alive at night and extend our time enjoying
the garden. Jason Shanabarger, with Unique Lighting, is here to talk us through the many options available to us
in the world of outdoor lighting. Jason, thanks so much for joining us. Welcome to the show. Eric remembers,
probably 25 years ago, the first garden that he put outdoor lighting in and the enormous transformative
difference that it made. It went from being this beautiful, well curated garden to something that was just -
Wow.
But, the technology has changed, lighting has changed from solar lights to halogen to incandescent, now LEDs.
Light quality has gotten a lot better on the products we use. And that’s important because we're trying to
enhance the landscape so people can see at night what they did during the day. Now we're able to extend the use
of the outdoor garden with lighting, meaning we can enjoy and appreciate all the little nuances, all the hard
work that we did during the day. Plus, now lighting can be very directed so we can uplight trees, we can enhance
architectural features, and we can highlight certain plantings by creating soft lighting. Jason agrees, today
they try to take a holistic approach when they look at a lighting design and address the functionality, the
safety, security, and highlight focal points such as the beautiful fountain, highlight the house or the
structure is very important. Outdoor lighting adds such a warmth and an elegance.
If one hasn't been paying attention to outdoor lighting for the last 20 years or so, what has
happened in the industry? What have we missed? TECHNOLOGY'S rapidly changing, everything is addressed with a
smartphone now for on-off control. We can do color now, we can change the white balance on the lights, also
known as kelvin temperature to highlight evergreens with a little bit cooler temperature. We can introduce some
different things and show off the natural color of plant material and siding or brick, things like that.
Importantly a lot of the new lighting options are significantly more energy efficient, too. An average lighting
job in this area is about 20 fixtures, and to run those 20 fixtures on an annual basis is about $40 a year.
One thing Eric noticed with this install is the quality of the MATERIALS that are being used. It
seems like outdoor lighting 30 years ago was more rugged and utilitarian, and there were extension cords
everywhere, thus not super practical. And also not anywhere as beautiful as some of these fixtures. Let's talk
about the materials and the upgrades to the category. Jason notes they have three different lines of products -
a marine grade aluminum alloy, a lightweight brass and copper as a mid grade, and then castle brass is a premium
option. Having those three options allows Jason to meet different price points and also complement the property.
How has the electronics changed, because Eric knows now everything's gotten smaller and more weather resistant.
True, in halogen days they had 900 watt transformers, 1,200 watt transformers. Now we're able to do those same
jobs with a 300 watt transformer or a 600 watt transformer. They’re much smaller and much more energy efficient.
And, that has changed so much, now any homeowner with an outdoor space, with a garden should absolutely be
looking at outdoor lighting because it changes everything. And, Eric thinks ornamentally, looking at these
fixtures, they have a beauty of their own, even when the lights are not illuminated. And this garden at night is
beautiful, the lighting and the way Jason designed the placement of the lighting really makes this garden a show
piece at night. Great job Jason.
We've learned quite a bit about selecting the right plant, understanding how to water them correctly, and how to
make them shine with outdoor lighting. Be sure to tune in next week as we complete the installation and
landscaping of the Tiny House.
Spring is right around the corner, that means most gardeners are craving color. click here for an interesting article in which experts provide their top 7 selections for go-to plants with early blooms.
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