Hi, I'm Chris Cooper.
Welcome to "The Family Plot:
Gardening in the Mid-South."
Thanks for joining us.
Scientists estimate that one
out of every three bites of food
exist because of
pollinators like bees,
butterflies, moths,
birds, bats and other insects.
But during recent years, there's
been a noticeable decline in the
number of these
beneficial creatures.
So today, we're going to talk
about ways we can reduce the
impact of pesticides and
help restore our pollinators.
And while gardening can be
a source of pleasure and
relaxation, there are a number
of hazards that can result in
accidents and
even injury if caution
and care are not observed.
So today, we're going to give
you a few safety tips to help
you be safe and
successful in your garden.
All of that and
more is just ahead on
"The Family Plot: Gardening in
the Mid-South" so stay with us.
(female announcer)
This is a production
of WKNO-Memphis.
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.
[soft music]
[theme music]
Hi, welcome to
"The Family Plot."
I'm Chris Cooper.
Joining me today is Carol Reese.
Carol is the
horticulture specialist
for University of
Tennessee Extension.
And Genie Ashworth is here.
Miss Genie is a master gardener
right here in Shelby County.
Thanks for joining me ladies.
Thank you.
Let's talk pollinators.
Okay, I've heard a lot..
that people are not
seeing any pollinators.
Why not?
Well we just have to
look at the facts.
They're just down.
The numbers are down.
We have talked
about this for years.
At some point in the future,
if we don't take care of our
pollinators, we're really
going to have this problem.
But it looks like it's here.
I think it's here
because, you know,
people are actually
calling the office like,
"I don't see bees or anything."
(Carol)
It's really scary.
(Chris)
It is.
(Carol)
I started really noticing it
last year when we had the talk
on butterflies at the station.
And there were just no
butterflies out there.
It's scary.
And now this year, I
know Jason Reeves,
my colleague that works there,
just recently posted on his
Facebook page that he's
excited to see the butterfly,
that he is only the fifth
butterfly he'd seen this year.
And he works
outside all the time.
(Chris)
Wow, the fifth!
(Carol)
Isn't that scary?
That is scary!
So how many different
pollinators are there out there
besides the bees?
Well the bees and the
butterflies get all the press.
But there are a whole
lot of other pollinators.
You know, you sort of say,
well, we keep talking about the
honeybee when there's all
these other pollinators.
But in truth, a lot of our
practices are affecting all the
pollinators, not
just the honeybees.
So we've got to
really think about that.
But some very important
pollinators besides honeybees.
I was just reading some
astounding figures on the blue
orchard bee, which is also
called the mason orchard bee.
Your son is named Mason so
I thought I would say that.
(Chris)
That was pretty good!
(Carol)
And they are actually
very effective pollinators.
And they're one of a group of
bees we call solitary bees.
And this particular bee is
such a good pollinator that the
figures I read, 2,000 of these
orchard bees can do the work of
100,000 honeybees.
(Chris)
Wow!
(Carol)
So they tend to go to work
earlier and they work later.
Honeybees are
apparently kind of..
They are!
And they're a little bit more
particular about the temperature
and the hours that they work.
Also when a problem
affects a honeybee,
it may carry that problem back
to the hive and affect the whole
hive where as a solitary bee,
that bee may die but it may not
affect the whole colony.
So maybe we could do a little
better job of protecting the
solitary bees.
Besides the bees, people don't
like to hear the word wasp.
But wasps are good pollinators.
And besides, they're
good predator insects.
(Genie)
Exactly!
The flies!
There's a lot of good
flies that are pollinators,
especially the hover flies
are very important pollinators.
They don't
necessarily look like flies.
Some of them look like little
what I used to call sweat bees,
the hover flies.
Beetles are
pollinators for certain plants.
(Genie)
Ants!
Definitely on some of
the smaller, tiny flowers.
Hummingbirds, even
though they're birds.
Bats, we've talked
about all those.
And I know the figure you quoted
about how much of our food is
pollinated and is important
that it's pollinated by these
pollinators.
That's certainly a matter
we should be concerned with.
But I think it's a
little short sided.
I mean plants in general we need
in this world to produce oxygen
and the carbon sink.
You know we talk about all the
carbon dioxide that we produce
and the way we live these days.
And we depend on
plants the ocean does.
Even the soil will
provide some carbon sink.
But if we need
oxygen, we need insects.
Yeah, yeah.
Because insects are pollinating
all these other plants that we
don't necessarily eat but
that are basically the cleansing
agent for our
atmosphere and also,
the other things
that insects do.
They break down.
They're always
recycling the material,
helping create soil.
There's just..
You could go on and on about
how important insects are to our
world in general.
So sometimes people that go,
"Well they're just being sort of
"greeny, touchy-feely."
Everyone talks
about the almond crop,
you know, in California, how
that's so important with the
honey bees
pollinating the almonds.
I could do without almonds.
But we can't do
without these other things.
(Genie)
No, we cannot.
Mhmm.
So how do we go about
saving these pollinators then?
Do we need to cut
back on insecticides,
pesticides in general or what?
We do, we do.
We need to think about different
ways that we're going to do this
because you and I,
maybe as a gardener,
can do a little bit.
(Chris)
Yeah.
But I think we've got to think
about it on a bigger scale.
We really do.
And the people get kind of
upset when you bring that up.
I know our economy
depends on agriculture.
We are from an
agricultural state.
And everything that we do here
depends on that as a base a lot
of times.
So we're not
trying to, you know,
negate that need.
We're just trying to
seek that balance and say,
"How can we do
this more safely?"
So sometimes people, you know,
get upset about the G-M-Os.
And I don't want
to get in to that.
It gets very political.
But sometimes I think would that
not be a better alternative than
dumping
insecticides on everything.
I've often asked people who
get upset about the G-M-Os,
"If I could insert a gene that
saved the American Chestnut,
"would you let me do that?"
So sometimes you've got
to weigh the benefits.
(Genie)
Balance!
Yes, there's a balance there.
And people that are smarter than
I are going to have to help make
these decisions.
But I'm hoping just bringing
these issues to the forefront
and getting us all talking about
it and not just thinking the
hippies, the greenies
are all about this.
The tree huggers!
Yeah, the tree huggers.
It's important to
every one of us.
Right.
It's an important
issue, you know,
I think.
And some of these issues are
pretty touchy with the G-M-Os.
But I understand.
Right.
But luckily, we are in an
era where they are making more
targeted insecticides safer,
which I think is the way to
grow, to go.
I be as organic as I
can but occasionally,
I'm going to have to kill
something that's eating a valued
plant.
(Chris)
Agreed.
And I know you're a big
proponent of these very targeted
and safer things.
And you're right.
The soap
products, a lot of times,
if you've just got a few plants,
you don't really need to be
blasting it with a broad
spectrum insecticides.
Alright, just pick
them off if you can or,
you know, just, "Hey,
that plant is gone."
Prune it away.
Put something else there
whatever the case may be.
Now what about inter-plantings
to attract those pollinators.
Yep, that's always fun, too.
To me, a vegetable garden is
pretty when you've got things
blooming out there
and kind of mix it up.
And of course that's been a
big movement in the landscape
industry is making your
vegetable garden look pretty,
attractive.
We call them a kitchen garden.
We even see them done in the
front yard with ornaments and
structures and they can
be very cute and fun.
Mix in those herbs in there
too because a lot of those are
really good, sort of,
pollinators as well.
So I think all of
that is the way to go.
Using those more targeted
insecticides and upping our
tolerance level for
a few chewed leaves.
(Chris)
Yes.
Can you deal with the damage and
can you live with that damage?
I can in my home garden.
You know I don't
have a problem with it.
Just clean that off and just..
I'm fine.
But most people can't.
(Carol)
Right.
So I think for those people, if
we think about the consequences.
If you've got to have that
shrub looking perfect or have no
pollinators for
your garden plants,
you know, you might want to
think about those choices.
And I think even, you know,
in the agricultural community,
we've got to start thinking
about these things and better
ways that we can do them.
Good information, Miss Carol.
Alright.
There are a number of gardening
events going on in the next
couple of weeks.
Here are just a few
that might interest you.
[theme music]
Alright, Miss, Genie,
let's talk about garden safety.
Well let me start
by saying annually,
there are 400,000 E-R visits.
That's emergency room visits
secondary to somebody goofing up
in their yard or their garden.
I have to tell you both my
husband and I contributed to
those counts.
Yes, from the
voice of experience,
it happens.
And accidents do happen.
Many of them are preventable.
(Chris)
Okay.
And, uh, I know I want to
talk about chemicals because..
But I want to also,
before we get in to that,
suggest everybody, um, if you're
doing anything in the yard,
you have
children, you have pets,
you're outside walking from your
back door to your mailbox to get
your mail, everybody needs to
have a simple first aid kit at
their back door or on their work
bench or someplace right outside
so that should you have tripped
and fallen -- it happens over
hoses, it happens just because
you're in a pair of flip-flops
and slipped on the driveway --
or you accidentally cut yourself
using one of your
tools or whatever,
having something
at the back door,
not that you come inside
bleeding running around the
house looking for a Band-Aid.
So it is easy.
I'm a nurse so, consequently, I
have a little bit more in my bag
than some of the
rest of you may.
But I highly recommend
some plain old Band-Aids,
some rubber gloves.
Okay, plain old rubber gloves
because if you've been out
gardening, your hands are dirty.
And it is much easier, instead
of trying to get your hands
clean, is put the rubber glove
on the hand that isn't cut.
Then you've got a clean hand to
work with the one that's soiled.
Handy wipes are wonderful but
don't ever use them if you think
you've got poison ivy because
the handy wipe will spread the
poison ivy Urushiol
oil and cause problems.
But just to clean
up, it's wonderful.
Um, Band-Aids, of course.
For a bigger accident, some type
of clean or sterile pad that you
can put on and put pressure.
If it's a hand and you
need to put pressure,
put the band-aid on and put
the other rubber glove over it.
That way you're not
running blood down your arm.
But it also applies a little bit
of pressure and helps hold that
so that you can get
proper treatment.
If you have to, you can even
drive yourself some place to get
stitches if you needed to.
Okay.
The other thing is frequently
people get things in their eye.
And it may be a little speck
of dirt because you've been
digging.
It may be a critter that
just happened to pass through.
What do we all do?
The first thing is
we put something,
like a finger, in our eye and we
start pulling our eye lashes and
our eyelid.
And actually, we probably are
contributing more dirt from our
hands.
And, uh, there's also the
possibility that we embed it.
Years ago, one of the emergency
room physicians that I worked
with made a suggestion that
y'all have to concentrate on
this.
If you get
something in your eye,
before you ever touch your face,
close both eyes and occlude the
nostril opposite the eye
and sniff a couple of times.
And what happens is your tears
will pull or the moisture in
your eye will pull across
to the corner of your eye.
But you've got to
program your mind to do that.
And of course if
that doesn't work,
you can have some
plain old normal saline,
which is just
plain old eye wash,
in your little bag that you
put your gloves on because your
hands are dirty and just
put a drop or two in there.
And try to flood it.
But don't do all
this sort of thing.
Okay.
Wow!
And I do that!
Its much easier because it
washes naturally that way.
Your bigger tear
ducts are right in here.
Yeah, that's perfect.
The other thing
is is an Epi pen.
And I have a husband who's
allergic and we've had a
daughter who is very allergic.
If you are allergic to bee
stings -- and I'm not talking
about plain old poison ivy.
That's something else.
But nature
anaphylactic type responses.
There are children.
We've all heard about peanut
allergies and things like that.
If you have a member of your
family that is allergic to bee
stings, wasp stings,
whatever, catastrophic,
you do need to keep
an Epi pen available.
The last two deaths of
copperhead bites in the state
were anaphylactic
shock reactions,
not from the venom.
(Chris)
Okay.
Interesting, yes, wow, yeah!
So just as some thoughts, okay.
When you go outside routinely
to do anything in your yard,
if you are a diabetic,
have high blood pressure,
on blood thinner, have seizures
or something along those lines,
wear your medical alert.
And have your neighbors
know what's wrong with you.
You're not betraying
personal information.
You just want somebody to
know in case you need help.
Always carry your
bottle of water,
okay, because the water can wash
but also the water is to help
hydrate you.
Okay.
Your car keys, lock your house.
Here in Memphis, we have folks
that pay attention to folks that
go out to do the yard work.
And we get so
absorbed in to the garden,
we forget about that.
There's a alert on your car.
If you fall or you are hurt and
you can't get help other than
through your telephone, which
hopefully is in your back pocket
right along with your car keys,
you can always hit your alert
button, okay.
So those are just some simple
things to do and it can be kept
at the back door.
Don't keep all your
first aid supplies inside.
They're not doing you a
bit of good in there.
You need to carry something
in your car all the time.
But this is dual purpose for us.
My husband's work bench is right
out there as well as all my
potting stuff.
So it'll do it, okay.
Now let's talk quickly
about chemical safety.
Yeah, quickly.
Okay, most of us buy chemicals.
Okay, I don't because I am
very opposed to the use of them.
I have dogs, grandchildren, cats
and we've got a lot of mother
nature in our yard.
However, I am aghast when I go
to the grocery store and I see
the folks that have
bought Hot Shot or Off,
not necessarily
just those brands,
or they buy the bag of pesticide
or fertilizer that they put in
their grocery cart right along
with their groceries with your
fresh fruit, your
eggs and your milk.
And it's going through right on
the same conveyor belt in to the
bags to go in to your car.
So please keep
those items separate.
They are not something that
you want to be handling the
container and then
handling your food products.
Just a little bit
of wisdom there.
Only buy what you need.
But before you buy it, read the
label and make sure it's what
you want and it is there to
treat what you are supposed to
be treating, okay.
Don't buy the giant economy
size bag of something or the big
bottle if it says you only use a
tablespoon to a gallon or four
gallons of water.
You don't need the quart size
or the half-gallon size of that
stuff.
Share with your neighbors.
This is a good opportunity to
get to know your neighbors on
either side, especially if
they've got some roses and
you've got some roses and you're
going to use a fungicide because
you all got black spot.
Then find out if they would like
to go in on something with you,
not necessarily pay for it but
would they like what you mix up
so that you are only mixing
up what you need at the time.
Don't go pour it down the drain
out at the curb or down your
toilet or where ever else
you might want to pour it.
There is a place here in
Memphis called Hazardous Waste.
In fact, can I take two seconds
just to tell them what happens?
(Chris)
As she puts
her glasses on, quickly!
(Genie)
Okay.
They take oven
cleaners, toilet cleaners,
varnishes, oil paints,
flammable liquids like gasoline,
kerosene, paint thinner, oil.
They also take
poisons such as herbicides,
pesticides,
fertilizers, pool chemicals,
insect repellants.
In other words, those
bottles of insect repellant,
you don't throw that.
You recycle that.
It goes to hazardous waste.
It goes to hazardous
waste says Miss Genie.
Thank you for that information!
And if you're
mixing any of it up,
wear a mask, gloves and goggles
if you don't wear glasses.
And wash those clothes.
Long sleeved shirt, long sleeved
pants separate from the family
load of clothes.
Separate!
She got it!
She got it covered!
Alright, here's
our Q and A session.
And Miss Genie, you
jump in there with us,
alright.
Here's the first question.
When you are deadheading your
plants -- and this person is
talking about petunias -- do you
remove the spent flowers only or
the green part just
below the flower?
Actually, I thought that
was a pretty good question.
It is a good question.
What do you think?
I cut down to the next node.
(Chris)
So do I.
So I am cutting in
to the green part.
And of course if you cut
down to that next node,
just above it, then it's going
to send out new shoots and you
get new flowers.
Just pulling the
flower off won't do that.
Just pulling the
flower out doesn't do that.
And if you just
pull the flower off,
you might break the stem
off if you don't pull right,
too.
So a nice, fresh cut.
A good cut.
Alright, here's
the second question.
And you'll like this one.
What is the best tree to plant
that will have pretty flowers?
(Carol)
Do I like that question?
No, I don't like that question.
That's like saying
who's your favorite dog?
[laughter]
You know, I can't
say the best tree.
There's a lot of great trees.
It kind of depends on what
time of the year you want it to
bloom, what size it will get,
what color flower you like.
You know for spring, I like to
recommend fringe trees a lot of
times.
They're late spring bloomers but
they're very trouble free and
easily grown.
I also love the deciduous
magnolias because they're,
again, about bullet proof and
they're going to outlive us.
They're really great
long-lived, durable trees.
I'd rather tell
them what to avoid.
Well let's tell
them what to avoid.
Well the ornamental cherries.
They're so prone to
canker and bores.
Usually short-lived so we're
going to have some problems with
those.
Of course we know the Bradford's
are going to split on us about
the time they
start to look good.
I guess some of the crab apples.
There's good crab
apples and bad crab apples.
I love crab apples but you need
to do your research on which
ones are resistant to the rust
disease that they're so prone
to.
And also careful placement of
crab apples because a lot of
people object to the fruit
that falls on their driveway or
patio.
But out in the yard, it might
not be a problem and it's good
for wildlife.
Okay.
Well since we are in the summer,
so what about a tree for the
summer?
Well I love the Magnolias.
Right now they're
blooming like crazy.
The little gem, the
southern magnolia,
the ones with the
big flowers are also.
They're going to.
Little gem will continue
to bloom on in to the fall.
And the sour woods
are just now in bloom.
But sour woods are a
little bit difficult to grow.
You have to have a really good
acid site with good drainage.
(Chris)
Okay.
Another one I just thought of.
Crepe Myrtles can be
big enough to be trees.
So a 30 foot
crepe myrtle, to me,
counts as a tree.
It's a tree if falling out of it
will kill me or if it falling on
me will kill me.
That's a good definition, yeah.
Alright, here's
our next question.
I have an area that receives
about six hours of sunlight.
What kind of shrub can I
plant there besides a boxwood?
That's plenty of sunlight.
You can plant most anything.
Nine bark would be beautiful
because the leaves are pretty.
(Carol)
I do love the nine barks.
I'm a big Abelia fan.
(Chris)
I know you are.
(Carol)
And the Abelias will bloom for
you throughout the summer and
there's all sorts of variegated
forms out there that
give you a lot of interest.
But actually, six to eight hours
is considered sort of full sun.
Now if it were morning sun
that would be a little different
because the
afternoon sun, of course,
would be hotter.
But even the oak leaf
hydrangea, for example.
If it were six
hours of morning sun,
I would think that would be
fine right there, as well.
(Genie)
The red twig dogwood is pretty.
(Carol)
Yes, that would be great.
And they'll do in
sun or some shade,
not deep shade.
So that would be great.
The blooms insignificant but
the leaves and the stem are
beautiful.
(Chris)
Well there you have it.
Let me ask you about the
boxwoods while we have a little
time.
Give us your spill about
the meat balls please.
I'm not a fan of shrubs that
are tortured in unnatural forms.
You know we see meat balls
and cones and ding dongs.
I've seen corndogs.
Yes, I've seen terrible
things done to shrubs.
And I think a boxwood can
be a very beautiful plant.
And recently at the
Rosson Arboretum,
I was there by myself and went
off to different parts of the
garden that I'm not normally in.
And they have a big boxwood
collection that had been allowed
to grow naturally.
And I was so impressed with
the different growth habits and
textures.
And I thought,
"Gosh, what lovely,
"lovely plants if you
leave them alone!"
The English box, too, does like
a little bit of shade in the
deep south at least.
The Japanese little leaf and the
Korean boxwoods would take full
sun just fine.
Okay.
Alright, here's
the last question.
Something is feeding on my
hibiscus leaves and it is
wearing them out.
What is it and how
do I get rid of it?
This came out of our own garden.
No, it's not my question.
But it came out
of my own garden.
Okay, look at that.
Perfect example.
They eat right in
between the lines.
It's kind of pretty.
Especially that.
Of course if you look close,
it looks like a little tiny
caterpillar.
But it is not.
It has too many prolegs.
It's a saw fly larva.
So while we like to
recommend B-t for caterpillars,
you're going to waste your time.
(Chris)
You're going to waste your time.
Saw flies, of course, are
in the order hymenoptera,
which is the same
order as wasps and bees.
So you're not going
to be able to use B-t.
Now what I use at
home, insecticidal soap,
if I must.
Otherwise, I just do this.
Just kind of nip it
off and, you know,
the rest of them look just fine.
It is true.
It doesn't kill them.
It does kind of
destroy the looks of them,
even a little bit
on the flowers.
But there's a certain phase they
go through and then they kind of
outgrow it.
And then they don't have it
for the rest of the summer.
But it's, again, not anything
to really get terribly alarmed
about.
But if you want to groom
them, like you do personally,
if you don't have a
whole lot of them,
that's the way to go.
(Chris)
It's pretty neat though.
The female actually has a
saw-like blade on the tip of her
abdomen.
She cuts in to the tissue and
deposits the eggs there between
the tissue.
You know they're breeding some
that are resistant to saw fly
larva very soon.
It's a fuzzy
native hibiscus leaf,
the grandiflora.
And apparently the insects don't
like the fuzz in their mouth.
And so they're hybridizing it
with some of the more showy ones
and creating some forms
that are now more resistant.
I need to get that.
Alright, thank you ladies.
Appreciate that.
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That's all we
have time for today.
Thanks for watching.
I'm Chris Cooper.
Be sure to join
us next time for
"The Family Plot:
Gardening in the Mid-South."
Be safe!
[theme music]
(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
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