- Hi, thanks for joining
us for T he Family Plot:

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

Welcome to a new season.

Ferns make a great houseplant,

but they can be
  tricky to propagate.

Today, we'll learn how to do it.

Also, daylilies are
  a flowerbed favorite.

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.

[cheerful country music]

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

Joining me today is Kim Rucker,

Miss Kim is the cutting
guard and greenhouse manager

at the Dixon
Gallery and Gardens.

And Lucas Holman will
be joining me later

to talk about daylilies.

The Memphis-area master
gardener Spring Fling 2019,

it's almost here Miss
Kim, and I understand

you're gonna be a
part of that event.

- Yes.

- You're talking
about ferns right?

- Yes.

- What exactly
will you be doing?

- Thank you for having me.

I'm going to do a fern
propagation demonstration

on how to get more ferns
from your existing plants.

Ferns are very ancient plants,

they are vascular plants
  so they do have roots,

and they do pull up
  their nutrients and water

through a vascular system,
  which they are the first

in the evolutionary
  chain that do that,

but they do not have
  flowering parts or cones,

so they're evolutionary
  less advanced.

They do have two basic
forms of the plant.

You have the sporophyte,
which is, this is what you see

out in the woods and
it's spore-bearing,

which is what sporophyte means.

And then you have the
gametophyte, which is in here,

and if you can see it's the
little green mossy looking,

it's not moss, but that is
the gametophyte generation.

And so in order to
propagate these,

you can either divide
'em by splitting them,

wait 'til the crown splits
or some have rhizomes

so you can split
up the rhizomes.

But what we're gonna
do is take the spores

and propagate that way.

So these are some immature
spores on this plant.

And the reason I
know they're immature

is because they're green.

Generally what you
  want to look for

are either black or brown spores

and this usually is gonna
  happen mid-summer, late summer.

So that's when you collect.

And you can collect
'em and store 'em

for a little while.

What we do to collect 'em is
you will cut off the piece,

the frond, when it's ready.

And then this is kinda what
it looks like, it dries,

and what you can do is take off

the individual little
leaflets or pinna,

and I put 'em into an envelope,

and close it up and leave 'em
that way for a couple of days,

and then I just kinda
flick it like this,

and the spores dry, the sori,
on the back, the little caps,

dry out and then they dehiss
and the spores come out.

And so what you will get
down in the very bottom

of the envelope,
and it's very fine,

which is good because
they're wind-borne,

so in nature to get 'em,
they have to hit the wind,

and then land in a spot

that's optimal for
growing conditions.

What we will do, once you get
your fern, labeling, labeling,

if you want to know what
they are, because on these,

my labels are gone,
so what I've done here

is just put a number one,
several places on here,

and then I'll have
notes that I take

that have the actual
name written down,

maybe the date
that I started 'em,

and possibly where I
collected 'em, you know,

Dixon Gardens or whatever.

And then what you're gonna do,

you can use any kind of
basically clear container

that has a lid, and what we
will use is a sterile mix.

And I'm using seeding
mix, which is just peat,

ground very fine with a little
bit of vermiculite in it,

it is sterile, though, you
don't want to use garden soil

unless you sterilize it.

You can do that by
baking it in the oven,

and I don't recommend it
'cause it really stinks.

It's easier to just
go buy seed mix,

you can get it at any
nursery, big box store.

So you put just a thin layer
down in the bottom like this,

and it also has no
fertilizer in it,

you do not wanna fertilize it.

So no fertilizer.

Then you take, this is
horticultural grade vermiculite.

You take a little bit of
this, and vermiculite,

one of the properties
and why we're using it,

is because it retains moisture.

So once the germination
process of the spores starts,

you don't want it to stop.

And so what I do is really
just sprinkle it to one side,

like that, so you kinda
have half and half.

Then what I'm going to do
is you take distilled water,

again, because it's been
sterilized basically,

and I will moisten it,

and this is good also
for people to see,

because once the water
hits the vermiculite,

it kinda jumps, it's
really kinda cool.

I'll just.
- It actually does.

- You just kinda
mist it a little bit.

Once you get this going,
you put the lid on,

and you don't have
to keep misting it,

unless it really dries
out, but the lid on it,

the condensation, will
just keep it moist.

- So you don't have to
put that much water,

just as long as it
gets a little moisture.

- Just a little moisture in
there, and what I kinda do,

is make sure that you can
kinda see where the moisture

is showin' up, 'cause
it gets darker.

So then what you do is you
just take your little spores,

I'm gonna pull the
other pieces out

that have the sori on
'em and then you will,

basically I will take it and
just drop it in there like this

and like I said, it's
a very fine dust,

and the only way you
really know you got it,

is it's gone out of your, yeah.

Also, if you're really wanting
to keep certain species or

cultivars separate, I suggest
doing 'em one at a time,

because they are very
fine and they will blow,

in the wind and so you'll
get cross-contamination,

so do one set, then
get rid of those,

and then do your next ferns.

So then you just put the lid
on it, close it up like this,

and put it in a window
or a well-lit room,

you want it warm, but you don't
want direct sunlight on it.

And what you should see, even
within a short amount of time

are condensation droplets
on top of, on the lid.

And then that's the
way it stays moist.

The next thing you need to
do is go away on vacation

for about two weeks,
because, at least,

before you check on it,
because the first thing

that people say is,
oh, mine didn't work.

I just came back and there
was all this green stuff

growin' all over it.

That's what you want,
that's what you want!

Like I showed you before,
the green stuff there,

is the actual, the next
stage of the plant.

So this is the sporophyte,
  those are the gametophytes,

and it's actually this little
  flat, heart-shaped disk,

and then underneath are the
  gametes, the male and female.

And they get together and
  the next thing you know,

you've got little
  ferns, like this.

So the next thing you would
do is to move them up,

and I usually just because
they're still so small,

I would just move them
again into germinating mix,

I don't usually put plants
that I'm gonna put out

in the garden in a
mix that has perlite.

And then once that
grows on and your plant

is more established,
then I would maybe put it

in a bark-based mix and
grow it on a little bit

before you plant it.

But you do have to be
patient, like I said,

'cause these were
started about a year ago,

so it takes about a year
to get 'em to this point.

And it's different
for different ferns,

but that's your basic.

Once you get 'em up like
this, you can start slowly,

you can take the lid
off to check 'em,

and then you can kinda
pull the lid like this.

You want to gradually
expose the new little fern

to dry air, so you may
need to pull the lid off,

and then mist it a little
bit, and then gradually,

maybe over a week to two
weeks, you can open it up more,

and it gets used to being
out in the bright sunlight.

That's fern propagation!
- That's fern propagation.

Thank you Miss Kim, we
appreciate that demonstration.

Okay, and to see this
demonstration, again,

Spring Fling 2019,
Memphis-area master gardeners.

It'll be at the Red
  Barn at the Agricenter,

Friday, March 29th,
  Saturday, March 30th,

9am to 5pm both
  days, free gardening event.

There's gonna be speakers,
  demonstrations, things for kids,

food trucks, all that good
  stuff, so come on out.

[cheerful music]

Alright Lucas, let's talk about
a real man's plant, right?

- That's exactly right.
- Daylilies!

- It's my favorite flower!
- It's your favorite flower?

- That's right.

- I actually have some at home,

so I can't wait
for this segment.

- Yeah, you're a real man's man.

- Real man's man, yeah.

We'll tell it to my wife
then, real man's man,

how 'bout that?

So let's talk about the major
types, let's start with that.

- Right now, daylily hybrids,
there's probably over 60,000

different hybrids.

And people get lost
trying to figure out

which ones they wanna grow
because there's so many

different colors and diversity
in the daylily itself,

because you have
some that are double,

some that are spiral in form,
some that are miniature,

and the list goes on and on.

But there's two
main distinct types,

you have a diploid
and a tetraploid,

and a diploid daylily has
two sets of chromosomes,

and a tetraploid has
four sets of chromosomes.

Theoretically, if you were
gonna become a hybridizer,

you're really
concerned about that,

because tetraploids only
breed with tetraploids,

and diploids only
breed with diploids.

A lot of people aren't really
concerned with the tetraploid

and diploid unless you're
really going into hybridizing,

but a lot of the tetraploid-type
daylilies are more showier

and diploids are
more the older ones,

but there's still some
beautiful diploids

that people are still
breeding with today.

- Diploids and tetraploids,
how 'bout that.

So let's talk about
proper planting.

- All daylilies need full sun,

so what's full sun mean to you?

How many hours?

- Six or more.

- Basically six or more hours
is what a daylily needs,

and I see people put
'em in a lot of shade,

and they don't bloom well.

Daylilies will live in shade,

but they just
won't bloom enough,

so we recommend six
hours of full sun.

Proper planting, most daylilies
are pretty temperamental,

are not temperamental,
excuse me, to soil,

they're very tough,

so we always call this
the perfect perennial.

They're usually forgiving
wherever you put 'em

in the landscape,
whether it's really clay,

or really loose-type soil
or really sandy-type soil,

they do well in just
about everything,

so they're really forgiving
of where we put 'em

in a landscape.

- Yeah, mine are
actually in a spot where,

the drainage is not the best,

and they still actually
do pretty good.

- They're great plants!

- They are great plants.

All right now, let's talk
about hybridizing though.

- This is probably the one area
that I'm so passionate about

because people always
wanna improve on things

that are in the past, so one
of my favorite things to do

is see what hybridizers
are doing today,

and see what seedlings
they're coming up with,

and it's really easy for
people to do that today,

but you need to determine
whether it's a diploid

or tetraploid daylily
to begin with.

So for today's purposes,

we're gonna assume that all
these are tetraploid daylilies,

and that they'll
breed with each other.

So the main thing is
you have to make sure

that you get out
there before the bees

and any other pollinators
to pollinate that flower,

'cause all it takes
is one pollen grain,

so it's easiest to go through,

and we'll say I wanted
to use this pollen,

and I wanted to go
down to this yellow one

with this red eye, and I wanted
to actually cross these two.

So I take the pollen
from this one,

and I actually go to
the pistil of this one,

and all I do is a little
dab, and that's all it takes.

And then I'll leave it alone.

So the flower will
actually close up,

I don't know if you
can see it right here,

it'll close up, and within a
few days, if it actually took,

the flower will fall off and
you'll see a little bitty

seed pod start to form.

So it's really simple to do,

and that's probably why there's
60,000 different cultivars

on the market, because
it's so simple to do that,

because we're always
trying to improve

on the older daylilies.

- So you mentioned
seeds and the seed pods,

so can you tell us a
little bit more about that?

- Yeah, luckily we were
able to find a little bitty

seed pod right here, so
this is a fertile ovary,

basically, producing the
seed, so theoretically,

this one had been crossed
with something else.

So this is the seed pod,
and once the seed pod

gets large enough, it turns
brown and it cracks open

to reveal the black seeds.

Once the seed pod cracks open,

that means the seeds are ready.

But all daylily seeds need to
go through like a cold period,

like a stratify, so a lot
of people will put them

in the refrigerator until
springtime and plant those,

but, to get a bloom
from a seed on a daylily

in Tennessee takes
about two years.

So this is for patient people.

- Wow!
- Yeah.

- So let's talk about dividing,

what are ways to divide
and when to divide?

- It's easiest and
it's best on the plant

if you can divide it
in the springtime,

if we go really late
into the summertime,

they're stressed out
with drought stress,

'cause in Tennessee,
we have no clue

when it's gonna rain sometimes,

we can go two weeks
every day with rain,

and then we can go eight
weeks without rain.

So sometimes, we always tell
people it's best to do it

in the springtime, leave
it alone in the fall time,

and just wait 'til the
springtime, 'til it comes up.

So when the foliage gets about
three or four inches tall,

that's a great time to dig
and divide in the springtime.

- So how do you
divide it though?

- It's best, it's
really forgiving also,

people will dig it up,
and I've seen people

just take a shovel and
cut it down the center,

but if you kinda
bring up the plant

and you shake off all
the soil, typically,

those plantlets, once it
actually propagates itself,

they'll kinda pull
off on their own.

And if you had a knife,
or I've seen people

with different spades go through
and cut 'em pretty easily,

the clumps that way, too,

it's just like dividing
any other perennial.

Kinda the same way, but
they're pretty forgiving

on that aspect, also.

- We thank the daylilies
for being so forgiving,

how 'bout that?

That's pretty tough.
- And beautiful!

- And beautiful all
at the same time.

So let's talk about resources,

for more information
about daylilies.

- I'll tell you the first
one, around the Memphis area,

is the Memphis Area
Daylily Society,

and I think you told me
you spoke there recently.

- I sure did.
- And that's a great group

of garden people and
they actually hosted

our regional daylily meeting
I believe it was last year,

so we got to tour a lot of
daylily gardens around Memphis

and Mississippi and
it was just beautiful.

Also, the American
Hemerocallis Society,

is the national, basically
American daylily society,

it's the national organization.

And they put out a magazine
called The Daylily Journal,

four times a year, and it's
a fantastic magazine to show

what's happening with daylilies
all across the country.

And I'm a member of the
American Hemerocallis Society,

so I'm always encouraging
people to do that,

because it's a great
organization to learn more

about my favorite plant.

- Your favorite plant.
- My favorite plant!

- So if people wanted more
information about daylilies,

could they call you?

- They could call me
directly at the office,

they can email me.

I'm pretty active on
Twitter, Instagram, Facebook.

So they can hit me up anywhere

and I'd love to chat daylilies

but if they're around Memphis,

I would look about the
Memphis Area Daylily Society,

'cause they always have
speakers come in and visit them.

But look on the American
Hemerocallis Society website

also, and there's a lot of
different hybridizers' websites

that you can go see what
people are actually creating

in the ways of daylilies today.

- How did you learn that,
did somebody teach you that,

did you read about how
to hybridize daylilies?

- My high school biology
teacher actually really

kind of instilled
this passion in me,

he was a daylily
and a hosta person,

and when I was 16, 'cause most
16-year-olds like daylilies,

right?
[Chris laughing]

He would always sell
daylilies and I would go,

and he was breedin' some, and
he was from east Tennessee,

a little town
called Spring City,

so I would always go
over there and see

what was blooming everyday,
because a daylily,

the bloom only lasts 24
hours, thus the name daylily.

So the Latin name is
hemerocallis, which is Greek

for beauty and day, so it's kind
of an older-type name, so you

can know that for Jeopardy!
when you go on Jeopardy!

But I've always been fascinated
since I was about 16,

and now that I'm
the old age of 34,

I'm still really passionate
because I always loved

all the different hybrids
and see what people

are coming up with today.

- Well, we're glad you brought
that passion today, for sure.

Luke, we appreciate that, good
information about daylilies,

a man's!
- That's right,

a man's, that's right!

- Thank you much.
- Appreciate it.

[cheerful music]

- 'Kay, just like on Goldilocks,

the three bowls of porridge,

the soil has got to be
the right condition too.

Example being this right
here, this pile right here,

will not form a ball,
so it's kind of,

a little bit on the dry side.

This one right here,
this is way too wet.

This is one you're gonna
let set for at least

two or three days, and
test it to find out

if it's tillable.

You don't wanna put
a tiller in that.

This middle piece, however,

if I form a ball and I
throw it up in the air,

oops, and it breaks apart, then
it's just right for tilling.

[cheerful music]

- All right, here's
our Q & A session,

y'all ready for these questions?

- Yes.
- They're real good questions.

All right, here's our
first viewer email.

"Help!

"I have yellow aphids on
two swan milkweed plants.

"Each day for the past three
days I have hosed them off,

"but they come back.

"How many days will I have
to hose off the aphids

"before they give up?

"It takes 10 minutes and I
get covered with water too.

"Maybe I should give up and
cut off most of the stems

"and just leave one or two.

Any suggestions?"

Never lost for words,
  Melbourne, Australia.

- Wow.
  - So they have problems

with aphids in Australia,
  how 'bout that?

Pretty good, so Miss Kim,
she's usin' the hose!

But they just keep comin' back!

- That's never really worked
for me, I think it's just,

they're so tiny, they
hold on really tight,

I still think, encourage
your good bugs.

Praying mantis, and you can
actually buy in biological.

Wasps, people don't like
wasps but they're actually

very good for
taking care of bugs.

You can use insecticidal
soap, don't spray that

in the hot part of the day,
it will burn the plant.

- Yes.
- That's true.

- That is on the label.
- That's on the label,

so always read your label.

And part of it is, if you have
a good, strong, healthy plant

they say you won't get
bugs, that's not true.

You still get bugs.

- You'll get aphids!

There's almost an aphid
for every plant species,

it seems like.
- That's true.

Just kinda keep an eye on 'em
and get rid of what you can.

- Right.

And again I would say,
don't encourage too much

of that succulent growth
with the nitrogen fertilizer.

And then there are
some, of course,

we talked about insecticidal
soap, pyrethrins came to mind,

something else
that's safe as well.

So I would go with
those safer products.

Oils, again, Neem oil,
horticultural oil,

can be used as well.

So there you have it.

Never lost for words, Melbourne,
Australia, who knew, right?

Aphids!
- Aphids.

- They get around, don't they?

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

"I covered my gardenia
  for the winter,

"but when I uncovered it,
  the leaves were all brown,

"some green, but mostly brown.

"I do not know what
  to do, can you help?

"I love gardenia, and this
  would be the second year

"that it's in the ground.

"Do I wait to see if it
  blooms in the spring

before I prune?"

And this is from
  Carmen, Hendersonville.

Miss Kim, you probably have a
  gardenia somewhere, don't ya?

- I do.

And it has been hit by the
cold, so what I usually do

is just trim out
what looks dead.

And then wait for spring
to see if it comes on out.

And they have surprised me, so
she is a little farther north

than here, but--
- Right, Hendersonville.

- Just one of those,
they call prayer plants.

[all laughing]

- Oh yeah, Miss Carmen.

I always encourage folks,
wait to see what happens!

- Wait to see.

- Isn't that half the
battle anyway, to see,

what's gonna take place.

And you'll know what
to do the next time.

- We gardeners have killed
many plants, most of 'em.

So it just happens sometimes.

- Yeah.

How should you cover it though?

- Well, I don't generally
cover mine here,

but make sure you have
mulched it real well,

the roots, 'cause you want
to encourage good root growth

and in the winter you
wanna protect those roots.

And the top die back, a lot
of that is just winter damage.

But if you wanna cover
it, we use frost cloth,

don't use plastic, we
use, they call it Reemay,

don't know if
that's a brand name.

But it's a real thin, that the
air flow still gets through

but it provides some protection.

- And it usually has to come
all the way down to the ground.

- All the way down to
the ground, yeah, 'cause

wind whippin' up--
- all the way to the ground.

- You can put bricks or
rocks around to hold it down

so the wind doesn't blow it off.

- There's a lot
around town here.

- Yeah, there are.

Very fragrant,
wonderful in the summer.

- Beautiful plants.
- Yeah.

- So there you have
it Miss Carmen.

Just wait, it'll come
back, I'm sure, just wait.

Here's our next viewer email.

Interesting question here.

"Can I air layer a branch
  of a hardwood tree

like a paperbark maple?"

And this is from
  Lois in Bartlett.

So air layer, hardwood tree.

- That's out of my expertise,

but I know you can do that
with some plants like azaleas,

and hydrangeas you can,
azaleas are hardwood,

but you can lay them
down on the ground,

or air layer 'em like that.

Now doin' a maple, that's not
something that sounds like

it would be possible,
but hey, who knows?

- I don't think it's
possible either.

You could give it a try, surely,
give it a try, gardeners

we like to experiment,
and I would give it a try.

But I don't typically think
that you would do that,

that you would propagate it.

I don't think so, Walter?

- No, I just can't really
see why you would do that.

- So Lois, yeah, just.

- The air layering is when
  you put moss around it,

you make a little nick in it
  and then you put moss around it

and maybe like wrap it, and
  then hopefully you'll get roots

to come out, so I
  mean, it might work,

but I've never heard of anyone
doing that, so give it a try

to see how it works.
- Yeah, give it a try

and just see how it works
and if it does work,

do let us know, for sure.

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

"Two weeks ago, I planted a
dogwood in prepared clay soil."

Prepared clay soil, right?

"We've had lots of rain
since I put it in.

What can I do to save my
  new dogwood from soggy soil?"

And this is from
  Sue, New Zealand.

So obviously, the
  dogwood is already in

this prepared clay soil, right?

What can she do
though to save it,

'cause they've had a lot of
rain, just like we've had

a lot of rain here.

- Maybe try to improve the
drainage around the tree.

If it's planted in a low spot,
she may want to think about

moving it.
- Yes.

- The other thing, which is
basically the same thing,

is lifting it, make
sure she doesn't have it

planted too high.

But the other is be patient
and maybe it'll quit rainin'.

[everyone laughs]

- That's pretty much it.

- Yeah, improving the drainage
is gonna be the big thing.

'Cause yeah if you have a
lot of rain, clay soils,

we know what that would do.

- Hold water.
- Right, it's gonna hold

a lot of water.

- And you get those root rots
and all that to deal with.

It's a tough situation.

- Yeah so we're hoping
it's not in a low area,

you'd still have a little
time, it's just two weeks,

to maybe look for another
spot, maybe a higher spot.

- Or a slope--
- or a slope,

that's a good idea.
- Good drainage.

- Yeah, good drainage is gonna
be key for that, Miss Sue.

There you have it,

appreciate that question
from New Zealand.

And if it makes you
feel any better,

we've had a lot of soggy
soils here as well.

Right.

So keep that plant
out of the water.

So Miss Kim, Walt, thank
you for being here,

it's been fun.

- Thank you for having me.
- Yes.

- 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,

thanks for watching us
for this first episode

of the growing season.

It's time to start working
on this year's garden.

To get a jump on it, head on
over to familyplotgarden.com.

We have over 1,000 gardening
videos on all sorts

of gardening topics.

Be sure to join us next
week for The Family Plot:

Gardening in the
Mid-South. Be safe.

[cheerful country music]

[acoustic guitar chords]