- Hi, thanks for joining
us for the Family Plot,

Gardening in the Mid
South, I'm Chris Cooper.

A nice flower arrangement
  brightens any room,

but they can be expensive.

Today we'll show you how
  to make a great arrangement

with grocery store flowers.

Also spring means flowers.

Today we're going to show you
  how to plant them in containers.

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

Good Winds Landscape
  and Garden Center

in Germantown since 1943
  and continuing to offer its

plants for successful gardening
  with seven greenhouses

and three acres of plants,
  plus comprehensive landscape

services.

International Paper Foundation.

The WKNO Production Fund,
  the WKNO Endowment Fund

and by viewers like you.

Thank you.

(guitar music)

- Welcome to The Family
Plot, I'm Chris Cooper.

Joining me today is Mary Heim.

Miss Mary's an extension
master gardener right here

in Shelby County and
local gardening expert

Tonya Ashworth will be
joining us later to plant

a flower container garden.

Miss Mary, welcome.

- Thank you.

- Now we're gonna talk
about flower arrangements.

- Mmhmm.

- I go to local grocery
stores from time to time

to buy flowers for the
Mrs., but I don't think I do

a great job of
arranging those flowers.

So you're gonna help
me out today, right?

- Yes I am gonna try.

- All right, let's go for it.

- Okay.
- Okay.

- I got these flowers
last night at a store.

And they do a good job
of combining your colors

and sizes of flowers.

But the thing that most
people do incorrectly

is just take this bunch
and jam it into the vase.

- Oh boy, I think I do that.

- Yeah, everybody does that.

So we're gonna show you
how to make them look

a lot better than just
how you're given them.

The first thing I did
when I got home was to cut

the ends off of the
flowers, fresh cut.

- Fresh cut.

- 'Cause I wasn't going to
arrange them right away,

so I cut the ends off just
a little and put them down

in some water last night.

And cutting the end,
always cut at an angle,

gives you more surface
for the water to get in.

And it just keeps them fresh.

This is a vase you would
normally get from a floral

arranger, like if you
ordered, got flowers delivered

to the house.

And they use this because
it's nicely shaped

and this narrow size right
here keeps your flowers

from flopping from
one end to the other,

they'll often do that.

Another little trick,
you don't have to do it

with a vase like this, but
you can get this really

easily manipulated wire and
put it down into your vase.

This is something you can
get at the Dollar Store,

and it does, I'm not gonna
do it because it's so small,

but it does help hold
your flowers like a little

armature for your
movement of your flowers.

- Okay, all right.

- I mean, look at your
flowers, they'll usually

give you three to five
large, major flowers.

So they gave us
three of these mums.

- Okay, those are mums.
- Uh huh.

- They look good.
- Yeah they do.

And you can always, when
you're at the store,

shake 'em a little, make
sure they don't fall apart.

Because they will start to
just disintegrate on ya.

Just make sure you're
getting a fresh,

- [Chris] Oh all right.

- So you're going, the main
thing is see how they're

all the same height.

- Okay.
- That's a problem in design.

So you're going to
cut quite a bit off

and you're gonna stagger
the size of the cut.

Make sure you don't
have any leaves

that will go down
into your water,

'cause it'll make your water
smell, and get it dirty

and cause bacteria.

So we're gonna remove all that.

You're gonna estimate how
far up you want your flower,

your main flower to go, and
then cut it off at an angle

and put it in there.

The next one, you're
gonna make smaller.

- [Chris] Boy am I making
mistakes when I do this, okay.

- [Mary] And yet smaller again.

- [Chris] And smaller, oh.

- So now you have, you
know, a basis to move from.

One thing about these
little daisies are that they

well, they're chrysanthemums
also but they have that

daisy look, you'll get a
bunch of the in one stem

and that really doesn't
look really natural when you

put it in a vase.

So I would cut off,
we have one here.

- [Chris] So you would
put the one in there?

- Yeah.
- Ah okay.

- [Mary] And then
start eliminating and
you'll end up with

something that looks
a lot more natural.

- [Chris] Somebody at
home is probably like Ah!

She's cutting them off!

How about that?

- Yeah, no you have to be
kinda brutal about that, but,

so you would arrange them
in a way that looks freer

than just a big
clump of daisies.

This is like a little hydrangea.

- [Chris] Oh, it's little bitty.

- [Mary] Yeah,
it's little bitty.

If the leaves don't look
good just cut 'em off.

- That's a thick stem.
- This is pretty high.

It is thick, it's a
little bit harder to cut.

- Okay.

- They gave us
some little roses.

The roses I like, they're a
little bit too close together,

I'm gonna trim some out.

- Oh my.

- Again, measure how
high you want it.

- [Chris] I've never done
that, the measuring thing.

Wow.

- Yeah, just put it on the
side of the, side of the vase.

I learned a lot of
this hit and miss,

but I learned a lot of it
just taking little courses

like at The Dixon
or the Botanic Garden.

You'll see those in the paper
and you can sign up for them.

Now here's one you're
really gonna have to remove

all these leaves.

'Cause they're gonna get
below that water line.

- [Chris] And what are those?

- [Mary] I don't
know what those are.

- [Chris] We have to figure
out what that is, huh?

- [Mary] That's another
thing about buying flowers

at a grocery, they don't
always tell you what they are.

- [Chris] Right, yeah,
they're not labeled.

- Yeah, they're not
labeled adequately.

- [Chris] Those
are pretty though.

- Mmhmm, so you're start
to have the different

heights in it, more interest,
it looks a lot better

than just plopping
them into the vase.

I also, you can try
just the one bouquet,

but a lot of times I like
to buy something else

to supplement them.

Maybe a different color,
I didn't like the colors

that they picked.

- Or it could be something
in your own yard,

right as well?

- Uh huh, they happened to
last night have some greenery,

just greenery, and I went
ahead and bought that,

but certainly you can
go out to your yard

and find a, a bush or
something that has some fresh

clean looking greenery to
it and put it in there.

But always recut,
notice I'm recutting.

And at the end of the
couple of days when it looks

not fresh anymore, take
'em out, try to start over,

cut it again, put
your fresh water in.

And probably it'll look
better the second time.

This is the kind of
thing, the more you do it,

the more you get a feel for it.

- [Chris] So I understand you
have to make the fresh cuts

of course, right at
the bottom of the vase.

- Uh huh, see that makes it
look just a little fuller

and a little nicer.

You can move the height of
them now that you've cut 'em

and they're not all the
same, if you don't like it,

just lift 'em up a little bit.

But you see how the narrowness
of this vase is really

helping with that.

- [Chris] I see.

- I like these
little white flowers,

of course this is Alstroemeria
and it is a full flower.

If you don't have
a lot of fullness,

then certainly get some of these
to put in your arrangement.

'Cause it makes it look
a little bit fuller.

I like loose arrangements
myself, I don't like anything

that's really tight.

I like the feeling of it's
a garden, so you've just

picked from your garden
and it looks natural to me.

- Okay, let me ask
you about the water.

So we're gonna change
that water out every day,

every other day?

- Yeah, I would do it every day.

- Every day, okay.

- And you can, if you don't
want to re-cut, you know,

just tilt it out and at
least put new water in it

every day I think.

It'll keep your flowers
longer and I think you'll

be happy with it.

It looks a little better
than your original.

But spread your main
flowers, these big yellow,

spread them out in your
vase so that it's not

all on one side.

That's another thing a lot
of people do is they'll put

all the flowers on one side,
and all the different ones

on another side and it
just doesn't help with the

cohesive look.

- [Chris] That'll be me.

I do that as well.

Now while you're doing that too,

now what about using
these little packets

that they give you?

- I like to use 'em
but I don't always.

I don't even always put
the full packet in there.

Just half of it or so
and stir it up in there.

And you could, if you changed
your water you'll save

a little for the next day.

It does help it somewhat.

And really, the grocery stores
have got really good about

having some
fresh flowers for you,

they're in pretty good shape.

But always look at 'em
'cause if they're in a bunch,

you'll have one or two
that are just not looking

really good and they'll, I
don't know if they do that

on purpose or not, but
be sure and check it all

and make sure that
they're all fresh.

- [Chris] So what do you think?

- I like it.

Do you like it?

- [Chris] I do like it,
I think it looks good.

- Do you wanna take
that home to your wife.

- I think I just might do that.

- Okay, you can have it.

- We appreciate that
demonstration, all right?

- Mmhmm.

- Thank you much.
- Thank you.

- [Chris] There are a number
  of gardening events going on

in the next couple of
  weeks here are just a few

that might interest you.

- All right Tonya, so we
have our containers out here.

You did this for us last
year and we're gonna have you

back again to do it for us now.

- Thank you so much for having
me back here to make some

pretty flowers for your garden.

- Okay.

- All right so the thing to
know about container gardening

is it's been around for
literally thousands of years.

People have been putting
plants in pots forever.

And you can put just about
anything in pot and grow it.

Think about bonsais, ya know.

But vegetables, herbs,
flowers and today we're gonna

plant some flowers for you.

- [Chris] All right.

- Now after you
pick your container,

and I always like to choose
one that has drainage holes

in the bottom, it's not
absolutely necessary if your

container's large enough, but
I like to have drainage holes.

You wanna fill it up
with some kind of soil.

Now if you have a very large
one, you do have the option

of filling the
bottom with fillers.

You don't have to use the
really best potting soil

through the whole thing,
but you wanna make sure

the top six to 12 inches,

depending on
what you're planting

has the good stuff in it.

So any kind of good bagged
potting soil will work.

So we already have
ours filled with soil

and ready to go.

Then next thing you wanna
do is choose your plants.

So there's lots of things
to consider there too.

You know is your container
gonna be in full sun?

Is it gonna be in shade?

Is it gonna be in part shade?

Part of the day sun,
part of the day shade,

so you have to think
about the conditions

that your plants are gonna be
in and then choose all plants

that can tolerate
the sun or the shade.

You may even wanna
think about watering.

If you have things in
there that are low water

and things that are, you
know, heavy drinkers,

then that might not be
a good combination so,

- [Chris] Right, okay.

- Um, I like to plant colors
depending on the container too.

So for a barrel I'm
thinking rustic.

So oranges, reds,
purples, greens.

Your primary colors are
good for a rustic look.

If you've got a formal
looking container

and it's go in front of your
nice fancy little porch,

then greens and whites
make a nice elegant look.

Anything like white
and dark purple.

White usually is kind
of a classic look.

And if you're kinda going
for the country cottage,

pastels are good for that.

So think about the look
and the feel that you want

for your container.

Okay, so now that we've
got our plants chosen,

we've got mostly sun plants
here and the next thing

we wanna do is think
about different heights.

- Okay.

- So to make a really nice
presentation, it's just like

you're gonna do a flower
arrangement in a vase.

You want something kinda tall,

you want something to
be kind of a filler

and then you want something
to spill over the edge

to break up the hard
edge of the container.

And we call that thriller,
filler and spiller.

- [Chris] Spiller (laughs).

- So for our thriller, which
doesn't look very thrilling

right this minute, but
it will be eventually.

We have got Canna Tuber
so, this is the top part

of the package
that it came from.

And we're gonna plant this
in the center to be our

tall thriller kind of a plant.

- [Chris] I'm gonna sit
here and watch you do that.

- So we've got our trowel here.

And you can see that
this has signs of life,

so that's a good thing.

It's trying to poke out already.

And because it's like that,

I'm not gonna plant
it really deep.

- Okay, so we don't have to
do anything else with that

to plant it, doesn't have
to be teased or anything.

- That's pretty much it.

- Okay.
- Nope.

That's pretty much
it, then it's going to

go in the center.

And then around, I'm going
to choose some marigolds.

- Marigolds.

My dad loves marigolds.

- Yeah, it gives it a nice
kind of garden feel, ya know.

Take these little
plastic things out y'all.

Don't leave those in there.

- And again, we don't have

to tease the roots or anything,

you just plant 'em
right in there?

- Well, these are pretty
loose so not too much to worry

about there.

Now if it was very very, ya
know, nothing but a white mass

of roots and like they're
growing out the bottom of the

plastic container, then yeah,
you wanna do something extra,

but, probably not
necessary with that.

- [Chris] Okay.

- So there's our marigolds
and we've got some nice

verbena here.

Now when you're at the
store choosing your plants,

keep an open mind.

So don't have in your head
okay I'm gonna go to the store

and I'm gonna buy
this, this and this.

Because they may not have
what you need exactly.

So keep an open mind about
what things you could

substitute with if they
don't have the exact plant

that you had your heart set on.

- [Chris] That's a pretty
good size root ball there.

- It is!

You wanna check for
nice white roots

when your at the store
choosing your plants.

And this one has a
nice root system.

I'm gonna put this one
kind of in the front.

And you know, I'm kinda planting
these all the way around,

if your container is
going against a wall,

you can kinda do your tall
thing right in the back

and everything up in the
front, everything else,

but this we're gonna
see from all sides.

- [Chris] Now do you do this
with your containers at home?

- Yes, mostly.

- [Chris] (laughing) Mostly?

- It depends on what
I'm growing in it.

I grow a lot of
herbs at my house,

so I don't really do this
little formula with those.

I have one pot that I
really like with my herbs.

I grow lavender and I
grow it in a purple pot.

So when it blooms it has
a nice purple flowers

and then in that
nice purple pot,

I really like the look of that.

So I usually will do a
smaller container than this

and grow all of one thing.

But then different
sizes of container.

So I'll have like,
instead of doing the height

in one container, I've got
three containers of different

heights that I'm planting
all one thing in each one.

Does that make sense?

- It makes sense, it does.

- So it's kind of a three
piece arrangement instead

of an all in one look.

- Gotcha.

- All right so now I'm
gonna start adding in

my things that are gonna
spill over the edge.

- These are spillers.

- Yes.

These are spillers and
they break up the hard edge

of the container, and
this is our wave petunias.

Nice roots.

- [Chris] Now do we
need to attend to,

we have something like
that on our plants

do we pinch that off?

- Yeah, I mean that's not
gonna get any better so,

yeah, we'll take care of that.

- Just pinch it.
- Mmhmm!

Now during the season,
during the growing season,

you have to keep in mind
your containers are probably

gonna dry out a little
bit quicker than the stuff

planted directly
into the ground,

so you want to check on the
watering probably every day.

Go out and check your containers

and see if they
need any watering.

It's also good to have
containers for water management.

Can usually take less water
than in you did a huge bed

full of annuals, but you get
just as much of an impact

with your container when it
becomes full in the summer.

Also you want to scout for
insect and disease problems

during the season.

And I'm gonna scoot this
marigold over a smidgen

to make room.

- Yeah, I would also tell
folks to check those pots

to make sure they don't have
any weeds growing in 'em.

- Oh yeah, that's a
good point, Chris.

I'm gonna break this up
'cause it's kinda big.

This root ball.

And it will not hurt it
to you know, get in there

and really mess around with it.

It will grow back,
all those roots will.

So that's kinda how
we do our containers.

Also, you want to have to,
you may want to dead head

your spent blooms during
the year, during the season.

And it may not look like much
when you first get it planted,

(Chris chuckles)

But with a little
bit of sun and water

it won't be long before
it's nice and full for you.

- Right and this is full
sun, so it's definitely

gonna get that.

- Mmhmm.

- All right well Tonya,
we definitely appreciate

the demonstration.

- Thank you.

- Can't wait to see what
it looks like later on in

through the season.
- Me too, me too.

Thank you.

- We have birdhouse here
tied by pieces of rope,

as you can well see.

If you look here,

the rope is actually
cutting into the tree.

Now this could be very
dangerous to the tree

because it can weaken the
tree and leave it susceptible

to fungal diseases, bacteria
diseases or insect pests.

So what we're gonna do here
is we're going to loosen

the rope.

I'm gonna tie it back, and
we're gonna make it just

a little looser this time.

And I'm sure the tree will
definitely appreciate it.

You can see here how much
this rope has been cutting

into the trunk of this tree.

If you're gonna decide to
tie a bird house to a tree

using a rope, make sure
you check it every year,

just to make sure you're
not weakening the tree.

All right here's
our Q&A session.

Miss Mary help me out okay?

- Okay, I'll try.

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

I have small green bugs all
  over my clematis leaves.

What are they?

And this is from Miss
  Debbie.

As you can see there,
  they're aphids.

Do you know about aphids?

- [Mary] Yes.

- Aphids have pierce,
sucking mouth parts,

so they're sucking plant
  sap which can weaken,

ya know, your plant.

- [Mary] Mmhmm, mmhmm.

- [Chris] All right, and here's
  the deal about aphids though

I think is pretty neat.

They actually have live births.

- [Mary] Oh really?

- [Chris] So you can have
  an explosion of aphids

just that quick.

Live birth, okay.

Of course they secrete honeydew,

and that honeydew supports
the growth of city mold,

so which is why you see
  that black city mold, okay.

It's because you have
  the aphids which secretes

the honeydew, all right.

Again it's a problem.

Now this is what I
advise folks to do

before you pull
out the big guns,

how about just get
the water hose out,

heavy spray, just knock 'em off?

- Spray 'em off, mmhmm.
- Just spray 'em off.

Or, you know, if you want
low impact pesticides,

insecticidal soap
will do the job.

How about your oils?

I mean, there's neem
oil, horticulture oil,

or you can use pyrethrums,
that's low impact,

but those'll do the trick.

And do be careful because
the larva of lady beetles

are probably around and they
  actually like to eat aphids.

So most people don't
  know what they look like

and figure hey that must be
  another pest or something

and probably wants
  to nuke that as well.

So just be careful,
they're doing their job.

They're trying to help you out.

But yeah, aphids, you know,
they like new succulent growth,

so if you put too much
nitrogen fertilizer,

you know your plants,
you get that burst

of succulent growth, you
probably gonna have aphids.

- [Mary] Man.

- Yeah, they like that,
ya know, and again,

the populations just explode.

Again live birth, I
think that's pretty neat.

- Yeah, it is.

- All right, so there
you have it Miss Debbie,

just use those low impact
pesticides, insecticidal soap,

pyrethrums, or just get the
water hose out, knock 'em off.

I think that'll be just fine.

All right, here's our
next viewer email.

Why are my African
  violets not blooming?

They are large and
  healthy looking.

And I think you might
  know something about that.

- I think it's probably
doesn't have adequate sun.

I've read that African violets
like an eastern exposure.

And it's healthy, it's getting
sun, but it needs to have

a little more sun
is what I think.

- Okay, so bright light,
but not necessarily--

- Not direct,
indirect bright light.

- Okay, indirect bright light.

- Mmhmm.

- Okay, and
make sure, obviously,

I mean
they're growing,

so he's keeping a
pretty good eye on them.

So they get watered
and all that stuff.

But yeah, just not the bright
sunlight, indirect light.

- [Mary] Right.

- Okay, I can go with that
Miss Mary, sounds good to me.

All right here's our
next viewer email.

I have black swollen
  growths on the branches

of my plum tree.

Is this a problem and
  how do I take care of it?

And this is Miss Liggins,
  right here in Memphis.

I see this a lot
every year on plums.

You can also see
them on cherries.

That growth starts out
  as a soft textured gel.

And you can find it along
  the branches and twigs

of your plum trees.

Throughout the season that
  gel starts to get hard

and it turns into a gall.

Now here's to deal with it,
it's a fungus that causes that.

It's going to be hard to treat.

I mean you could use
Captan, but you have to read

the label on that and
you're gonna be spraying

from the beginning of the
season pretty much to the end

of the season ya
know, seems like.

But just read the label on
that if you're gonna use that,

but here's where I always go to.

Resistant varieties, so
you don't have to worry

about that problem or
the second thing is this,

pruning, so I would go maybe
six, eight inches below

where you see the Black
Knot is what it's called.

And prune it out.

It's gonna
be a lot of work,

especially if you
have tall trees,

but yeah, six to eight inches
below the Black Knot itself

which is the fungus,

cut it out, hope for the best.

- That's right.

- That's what I would do.

But this is also a lesson in
practicing good sanitation.

Because this fungus,
actually over winters,

in all of that debris.

- Oh yeah.

- Yeah, so you gotta
get that stuff up,

because again you're gonna
have your spores in there,

when ya know the wind
starts blowing or rain will

splash those spores
back up or in the air.

It's gonna be a problem.

So practice good sanitation,
get all those limbs

and things like that up,
collect 'em throw 'em

in the trash, not
in the compost pile.

And you'll be just
fine Miss Liggins.

But yeah, I would
prune that out.

I wouldn't so much
worry about the spraying

because it's gonna
be a lot of spraying

and if it rains you have
to go back and spray again.

I would just go ahead
and prune that out.

And then practice
good sanitation

and that should help you out.

- [Mary] Okay.

- All right Miss Mary,
we're out of time, good job.

- Thank you.
- Thank you, okay.

Remember we love
  to hear from you.

Send us an email or letter.

The email address is
  familyplot@wkno.org

and the mailing address is

Family Plot 7151 Cherry Farms
  Road, Cordova, Tennessee 38016

Or you can go online to
  familyplotgarden.com.

That's all we have
time for today,

if you want to get more
information on anything

we talked about today,
or re-watch Mary's flower

demonstration just go
to familyplotgarden.com.

Thanks for watching,
I'm Chris Cooper.

Be sure to join us next
week for The Family Plot

Gardening in the
Mid South, be safe.

(guitar music)

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The Family Plot, Gardening in
  the Mid South is provided by

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  gardening with seven

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  of plants plus comprehensive

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