(upbeat music) - Welcome to Blue Richard and the Garden of Lintroder. - And I'm Aaron Thompson filling in for who knows where Julio Zamora is. - Where's Waldo? (laughing) Do you love amorles as much as I did? This beautiful flowering bulb has a story, almost as beautiful as the flower itself. Learn all about amorles during our first segment. - Christmas cactus are an extremely popular holiday plant. Hear about the differences from Thanksgiving cactus and Christmas cactus and how to grow them in our second segment. - Bring a sense of nostalgia to this holiday season by using fresh greens everywhere in your home. Hear about their use in history and the Lord during our third segment. Before you go out and buy a cut Christmas tree, consider a potted, bald and burlap tree you can plant after Christmas. We'll weigh in the options in our fourth segment. - After listening to our fig winterizing segment, a listener contacted us about how to winterize a fig that they have growing in a container but don't have a cool spot to put it. Hear all about it during our final segment. - So stay tuned to we'll be back in the garden after these messages. (upbeat music) - Bloomers in the Garden is brought to you each week by Bloomers from the Garden Center. Bloomers is an award-winning garden center just 20 minutes from Philadelphia. Bloomers has been providing expert advice turning brown thumbs green for over 30 years. At Bloomers, we want you to ask us every question. Even if you think it's silly, we share information in a friendly, non-judge, bent away that is meant to teach and spread the joy of gardening. Visit Bloomers from the Garden Center in Washington Township, Gloucester County. For directions, go to bloomers.com and we'll see you in the garden. - High-yield brand bone meal contains 10% slow-release natural phosphorus. It helps all plants to develop sturdy root systems and stimulate healthy growth. You'll use it every time you plant bulbs, but it also is an excellent supplement fertilizer for roses, flowers, and vegetable gardens. High-yield bone meal is sourced from steamed bone meal, which provides a clean, natural source of phosphorus. High-yield is brought to you by VPG, the Fertilome People. You're listening to Bloomers in the Garden Radio. Listen anytime through your favorite podcast provider or see and hear us by subscribing to Bloomers YouTube channel. Bloomers in the Garden Radio is heard in Philadelphia and throughout the whole Delaware Valley every Saturday. First, wake up with us at 6 a.m. on WNWR The Word at 953 FM and 1540 AM. Tune in at 8 a.m. to Bloomers in the Garden Radio on Talk 860 WWDB. A rebroadcast of Bloomers in the Garden Radio is played each Saturday evening at 5 p.m. on the word 953 FM and 1540 AM. On Sunday at 8 a.m. we can be heard throughout the New York Tri-State area on classic oldies, 1250 a.m.W.M.T.R. Thanks for listening and we'll see you in the garden. (upbeat music) - Welcome back to Bloomers in the Garden. Lynn loves amarellis. - I do. - They're definitely a beautiful flower and they're huge. Like they have, the flowers are huge. - Stocks are tall. - Big red, crimson, yes. - Strapped like leaves. - Right, they're great. - I mean, just seeing it from the process of as a bulb, right, where it looks just like a clump of... It's a bulb. It looks like a big potato. - I mean, it doesn't look like a big potato, but it just, I guess you could put it around. - It's around the potato, right? Okay, all right. - But it's been around for a long time. And those of you watching on YouTube, this is a time where you won't see a number less. We just don't have any at the moment, but we do want to talk about it. They have a great big flower on the top of a big stalk. Like that stalk has got a girth of probably about one inch and it's probably about, I don't know, it can get to be 18 inches tall than the flowers or like trumpet style flowers. Most popular is red, but now, of course, they have different hybrids that are pink with white throats and different variations of basically pink red and white. So everybody, like, you know, oh, you know, what's the one thing I hate? - What's that? - That where landscapers or people that hire landscapers only think of them and the worst expression in the world and my son has used it and I hate it when he does. We're just hold diggers. We're just hold diggers. No, no, no. Gardening in the art of horticulture is not just a science, but it's an art in that-- - That's kind of an ill-informed statement. - Ill-informed? - Yeah, hold digger. - You know, we're just doin' on it. I mean, it's always when he's tired. - Oh, okay. - Okay. All right, and he's dug about-- - Oh, yeah, I gotcha, I gotcha. - The plant shrubs, but-- - He's got a lot of art. He's just thinkin' about the work. - That's right. - Gotcha. - That's right. But there's more to what we do, what Aaron and I do. I mean, Aaron's lucky 'cause he gets all these great stories. A lot of people on the front line, like our cashiers and stuff, they never hear this stuff. Even though we do play the radio show through the story once in a while, and I go and I'll close 'em now and then and they don't. They don't, they don't now. Anyway, but the thing that, this story about the Amarilis, I mean, just sit back, relax, if you're driving, relax, don't shut your eyes. - Please don't shut your eyes. - Please don't shut your eyes. So the name Amarilis, it actually needs to sparkle in Greek. And it was a poem by Virgil, that only sounds smart, more than hold acres. And the flower was named for a shepherdess who fell madly in love with a gardener named Othello. The shepherdess, Amarilis, was her name, walked a path to his door every day for one month. And she pierced her own heart each day with a golden arrow and the drops of blood where the Amarilis's heart spell created a path of Amarilis right to his door. That is pretty cool. - Sounds dramatic. - I don't suggest anyone do that, but again, this is Greek mythology. - Very Shakespearean, right? - I mean, it's a tale is certainly a dramatic beginning to one of my well-loved flowers. The symbolism of the flower also in Victorian times that a man wouldn't give roses, but he would give Amarilis to a woman he admired. The red was sent to symbolize beauty, of course. And perhaps that's why Amarilis today represents beauty, love, determination, strength, and success. I know a lot of women that would would exude that. - Absolutely. - Yeah, you hear my cold? - I do. - You hear my cold out there, everybody? Yeah, I got my cold from Danielle. And I said, you know, how come you weren't as sick as I is and she was because I'm a woman? I thought, I told her, I said, my late wife and my mother are applauding in heaven. She said, that's right, girl. - You tell him. - You tell him, women don't get a chance to slow down. So again, if you give an Amarilis to a woman, okay, beauty, love, yeah, but her determination, strength, and success. - Definitely sounds like it. - There you go. - Like a poem. - Do you think about, next time you're thinking about roses, maybe go Amarilis, but you better include that part of it. So. - How come you didn't get me roses? But on Valentine's Day, you get roses. - Yes, no exceptions. - No exceptions and send them to the office. You'll be the talk of the office. All right, so we talked about it. Amarilis's bill can be like big, like a softball. And a lot of times you'll get them in, they'll be in those plastic pots where they're already pre-planted and that they're good. But again, if you can find them loose and can plant them in your own decorative container and a nice pot, rather than having to go with just a, you know, chinchy, you know, crummy plastic green pot. And size does matter, no matter what anybody says, that the bigger the bulb, the better the flower. And that they'll, usually if the bigger bulbs will produce two flower stalks and that each one will have between two and five individual blooms. So when you're, you know, you're trying to find those great big Amarilis, you're not gonna find them at Home Depot or Lowe's. Go to your local garden center and that's where you're gonna find them. And that they're gonna have the top size. We talk about bulbs from your garden centers. They get top size bulbs, not the cheapest ones that they can make the most margin on. They get top size bulb. They may seem a little pricier, but they'll be top size bulbs. And to think these bulbs are not like, you know, from around the corner that Jimmy went and grew them. These are from South America, I'm sorry, South Africa, South America, Holland. It's not something that you just pick up at your, you know, your local, your local, you know, re-wholesaler. - Right. - So these come a long way to get to your home. So Amarils can re-bloom, we get that a lot. It's like, how do you make them re-bloom? So once it's done blooming, okay, the flowers all fall off or they start to dry on the end. And once it's absolutely done, there's no flowers left, no buds. You're gonna take that stalk of the flower bud, 'cause again, it has long, a long stalk. And then it has these like strap-like leaves. You leave them alone, but you take the flower stalk and about an inch above where the leaves meet is where you cut it. And you're just gonna treat it like a house plant. Just keep it watered. You make sure it gets a good sunlight and you're gonna let it grow like a house plant all the way through spring and into the middle of summer. You start getting ready 'cause what you're gonna do next is gonna surprise you. You're going to take it around mid-August and you're gonna stop watering it completely. Why are you doing that? You have to force it into dormancy and you let the leaves dried up and they're gonna look ugly, but you're going to create and get that cycle started for new blooms and you have to let them dry up. So you cut those leaves once they get all dry, you cut them off and then you take the bowl and you store it in a cool dark, heard me now, dark, dark place for about eight weeks. It has to go through that dormant cycle to initiate its blooming. It has to go into the dark for about eight weeks, okay? And it's gotta be completely dry. Don't feel sorry for it. This is what it needs to do. All right, it's gonna dry up. - Right, and honestly, you're basically creating the environment where it would naturally grow, that it would go through a drought period and this would all happen to get it to re-bloom. So get your calendar out and you say all right, so I want it to bloom, let's say, I wanna go from this point, this date and then you work six to eight weeks backwards from that date you want it to bloom. And that period, so I want it to be, say, I don't know, so what's eight weeks from today? Let's, today's the 30th, say, for your December 1st. So if you want it to bloom December 1st, get your calendar out. So you go eight weeks back, so you basically have all of November and you have all of October. So you would start it at the end of September. That's when you would bring it out. - Professor Steve called earlier in a year. - Absolutely, I remember-- - Yeah, he said he's got his going. - Yeah, I was thinking about that, maybe Saturday, I'll stop by. - He'll be in, yeah, right? - He'll be in it, just say, you stole my spot. (laughing) Anyway, but so you would start that in the beginning of September. Now that's not gonna be enough time for it to really go truly dormant, so I think you need to, 'cause you have to make it go dormant in mid, say the 15th of August, it's not gonna be put away long enough for it to go through that period, 'cause you've gotta be maybe eight weeks. So now you're talking middle September, middle of October, and so you're six to eight weeks from then, so then you're talking the end of December. So for Christmas, that's why they're sold, so often at Christmas, but you can force them to bloom at any time you want by using this method. So, okay, all right, six to eight weeks. You're gonna have this plan, and the flower stalk will show, and that you wanna keep them staked so that they don't fall over. They can get real top heavy, real top heavy, so consider using a stake. Then what you do is that you've gotta give it, you've gotta give it regular water, even though it looks dormant, you'll see the leaves will start growing, and then all of a sudden it'll start buttoning up, and you just bring it back into that same environment where it was when it was blooming before you started the dormant cycle. Any questions? - No, not at all. - Or, you throw it out and you get a new one. - I mean, that's probably what I would-- - Yeah, what you do? - Yeah. - You would do? - Sorry. - You could also, like, after Christmas, somebody came in today, I'd like to buy your Amarillis, and it's after Christmas. - Sure. - And I'd say, hey, I'd like to sell 'em to you. You may be able to get a deal after Christmas and you can play with 'em, so, and see what you can do. You can keep it in, have Amarillis time so that they're blooming, you know, like every two weeks. - Last year, I got the pre-warms there. - Pre-potted one, then the plastic pot. - Yep. - Yeah, could have good success. - Yeah. But we ended up throwing it out. - I mean, they're plants, not puppies. - Right, I got you. - So, with Amarillis, I mean, they're not cheap. - No. - They're, like, 15 to $20. - Right. - You know, at least. But again, there's something special in that with the story behind it. Everything else? - It always got to work. - I love it. - I love it. - I like 13, 14 inches. - Yeah. - Yeah. - Yeah, it's awesome. - They're great. And they make actually a great gift that there actually a lot of them, like, will sell them in pre-boxed so that you can just give the box to somebody and, you know, basically just add water. - Right. - And, you know, sometimes it's actually ready starting to grow in that box. And I give it a try. If you've got questions about getting Amarillis, like Professor Steve went and called us and told us about how he had his Amarillis and he was in the stage where he was starting to take it out of dormancy. So. - Yup. - Anyway, give us a call. Call that out. Line 609-685-8800. We'll be back in the garden right after this. (upbeat music) - Hi, this is Len Schroeder from Bloomers in the Garden. Do you have a landscape garden or plant question? If so, call or text us using the Bloomers in the Garden Hotline. Dial 609-685-1880. That's 609-685-1880. Don't be shy, we want to hear from you. Call or text us and let us know what problems you're facing. Let us know how we're doing. Call or text 609-685-1880. If we use your comment on the air, we'll send you a free Bloomers T-shirt. Call or text us at 609-685-1880. That's 609-685-1880. And we'll see you in the garden. - Dreaming of a gorgeous garden? Give your azaleas rotadendron, blueberries, and evergreens a powerful boost with the number one acid-loving plant food, aspoma organic hollytone. Hollytone is a perfect blend of natural long-lasting ingredients that nourish plants for stronger roots, faster growth, and bountiful blooms. Plus, it's easy to use and save for people, pets, and planet. Visit aspoma.com for a retailer near you and helpful gardening tips. Aspoma, a natural in the garden since 1929. - If you're like me, then you absolutely love birds. The birds sanctuary at Bloomers Home and Garden Center has you covered. They're dedicated to the care and living of wild birds of all sorts. One of the more birds to your yard that you got to see this place. Bloomers has a huge flock of feeders, birdhouses, bird seed, and much, much more. Whatever feed the birds and not the squirrels, they have this absolutely cool bird feeder that will drive those sneaky squirrels nuts. They'll be moving to the next door neighbor in no time. OMG, Bloomers have the absolutely adorable birdhouses that will turn your yard into the perfect bird B&B. They carry all types of wild bird seed, sweet seed cakes, and millworms. Bloomers stocks, leorick, cold, CNS, pine tree farms, and much, much more that will keep those beautiful birds coming back for more. Bloomers Home and Garden Center is located in Washington Township in Gloucester County for more information and directions. Check them out on the web at bloomers.com. Bloomers Home and Garden Center, you got to see this place. - Welcome back to Bloomers in the Garden. So also a fun plan. Christmas cactus. - Nat and Aaron, all right. I always do this to Julio. Are all Christmas cactus the same? - No. - No. - My aunt will be no. - Okay. - I'm gonna say ask why. - Because I've heard of Thanksgiving cactus. - I see. - And I've heard of also Christmas cactus, which I'm assuming is because-- - They are two different plants. - Okay, so if they're completely two different plants, then what I was about to say is completely wrong. 'Cause I was gonna say that just 'cause they bloom at different times. - Well, that too. - Okay. - That too. So all right, how do you know? All right, so here's the on a Thanksgiving cactus. - All right. - You know how they're serrated on the top, right? - Yeah. - They're kind of tooth on there. So a Thanksgiving cactus is more rounded where it's a softer seration where on a Christmas cactus, they're more pointy. - Okay. - Full of your friends. - All right. - Impressed your family. - I got you. - That's cool. - I think I got my family. - My family's gonna laugh at me like this. - That's great. That's great. Now, we, anyway. It also, you gotta look at the pollen 'cause the anthers on the Thanksgiving cactus are actually more yellow and a Christmas cactus. They're more pink and purplish. Purple, like a purplish brown. So there is a difference. And when you go to buy them and you want it for Thanksgiving or for Christmas, make sure you're not buying the leftover Thanksgiving cactus because they are on their way out of bloom. Why do I know this? - I was in Sam's Club. I go there and I was picking up the grocery order and they have really nice Christmas cactus. Actually, they call them the Saigot cactus. And that way, they didn't have to say whether they were Thanksgiving or Christmas. And the fact was they were Thanksgiving cactus and they were going out of bloom and they were not a value. The plant with no blooms on it was nice, but only to people that are in the industry. If for somebody to buy that at bloomers, they would have said, "Oh, aren't you throwing these away?" - You think the regional manager or whoever orders for the store knew that? - No, they go and they send, they give it back to the growers. - Well, I mean, when we sold 12, you have to, you know, we're only paying you for 12. - Or like to go to the grower. Or no, if the retail manager-- - It's a widget, man. It's a widget, just, you know-- - 'Cause they look at it and it was just like a blanket way to just say it could be-- - It's probably a pain in the neck for them. - You had to figure it out? - Like, oh, and they've got points that I said. - Yes. - They're big, but they're just plain ugly. I mean, they're destroyed. They're just thrown around the same way that they throw around their produce. - Sure. - You know, it just, you know, you'll, they don't see the damage that happens when that kind of stuff is handled in that environment, like Home Depot will probably have some special thing for points that is coming up. But they're treated like such garbage. - For 'em, right? - And that-- - Running a door under that industrial heater. - Right. - And bake 'em. - Right? And then what happens, you bring it home and here we go again. It's like, I have a brown thumb. - Right. - It's like, you know, Home Depot has a brown thumb. And that, you know, maybe you can get some deals once in a while, but-- - Sure. - But honestly, for any of the seasonal plants, they become just another seasonal decoration. It's not-- - Right. - It's only for that season, it's not that they're skilled or anything else or can tell you how to take care of it. But the poinsettias are another show. But Christmas cactus are what we're talking about. - You know, how much light they, you gotta think of, first of all, how these things grow and that they both are native to Brazil and they're found like, they're ethethitic. So they grow in like the crotches of trees and stuff and on rocks and shady humid conditions to kind of hang down. But the light, and they'll do better in brighter light. But it doesn't have to be like direct sun, like so many of our house plants. It's like, yeah, full sun, you know, or shrubs. It's like, I need full sun, but moist. It's like those two don't work very well together. But if you give them just sprite natural light, it's enough. You don't want them in direct sun because it actually will burn their leaves and they'll get kind of funky. So if you ever had one where it like all of a sudden shriveled like an old woman, I'm gonna get in trouble for that, you know? Aaron told me to say that. So send your complaint, send your complaint now to Julio Zamora. Absolutely. Where are you? And anyway, see, Julio usually gets me in trouble. But what they do is they do shrivel up and then all that there's drop all their buds and you don't get any flowers. You want to kind of treat it like a succulent kind of. So it doesn't need a lot of water, but give it a drink for water, but let it dry out. Don't let it sit in water, you know, that will, you know, they'll start to rot. The temperature inside the home is perfect. Right. Perfect. So for example, if I were to pick up one... Right. And I wanted to re-pot it. Well, soils, would you suggest? Cactus soil. Cactus soil, yep. Okay. Well draining, but will still retain some moisture. Okay. Not something like a heavy peat based soil. Okay. You know, not a, you know, not, not any of the professional potting mixes. Gotcha. You're going to want to go to, and you'll see a lot of, it's cactus and succulent mix. So you want to go with something like that. Did you know that they are photo periodic? I did. There's a, as aware, horticulturist. That what that means is just like Point said is, they need to get 12 to 14 hours of complete darkness per day just to start the bloom cycle. And it has to start eight weeks before you want it to bloom. So it's kind of like how we were talking about the amaryllis in the previous segment. You have to start that eight weeks before you, you want it to bloom. So it's another, you know, don't, you know, don't just look at it. It's like, ah, look at the thing. It grows on these metal racks. No, they don't. That what happens is that the grower has to give them complete darkness for 12 to 14 hours. And things will throw off a crop. I tell the story and I'll tell it again when we do Point said is that I knew a grower and the town came through and was like, oh, we're putting street lights up. And they put street lights up and his Point said a crop was completely thrown off because the lights from the street lights screwed up that 12 to 14 hour period of darkness that was required for him in order to get the Point said is to start coloring up. So there's a little bit of science. That's what it's all about. But I think Christmas cactus, Thanksgiving cactus are a nice enough plant on their own to be kept in the house all year long. It's not just a holiday plant. You may find that you get that all of a sudden they're blooming in June and why they blooming in June is because that's when that 12 hour light and dark comes in. So the natural growth or flowering period is gonna be different because you have to force it into that growth period to get it to bloom for certain holidays. So don't worry about it. Be happy with it. I mean, I've seen them where they're in like 16 inch pots in these gigantic, just massive plants. They become like a big, it's kind of like a mound. So get your Christmas cactus. It's too late for Thanksgiving cactus. Again, the way that you tell the difference is when you look on the tip of the leaf, you'll see that it's real pointed. That's Christmas cactus. If it's kind of like rounded instead of points, that's Thanksgiving cactus. You don't want that one 'cause that's already done blooming. It's the Christmas cactus is the one that you want. All right, any questions? We'll be back in the garden right after this. (upbeat music) - Hi, this is Len Schroeder from Bloomers in the Garden. Do you have a landscape garden or plant question? If so, call or text us using the Bloomers in the garden hotline. Dial 609-685-1880. That's 609-685-1880. Don't be shy, we wanna hear from you. Call or text us and let us know what problems you're facing. Let us know how we're doing. Call or text 609-685-1880. If we use your comment on the air, we'll send you a free Bloomers T-shirt. Call or text us at 609-685-1880. That's 609-685-1880. And we'll see you in the garden. - We are proud to announce that Bloomers in the garden has partnered with Renewal by Anderson of Greater Philadelphia, Delaware, South Jersey and Southern Maryland. Renewal by Anderson is the top window and door company in the United States, specializing in replacement windows and doors. You might be thinking right now, what the heck do windows have to do with gardening? Well, Renewal by Anderson makes this beautiful garden bay window that's energy efficient and made from recycled materials. It's perfect for growing the finest indoor plants possible. When you're looking out your windows, filled with plants in your beautiful garden, you don't want to see old windows that are cloudy, warm, or even rotting. That's why people in the horticulture community love Renewal by Anderson. Not only do we want our gardens to be beautiful, but their homes as well. Renewal by Anderson participates in horticultural events such as flower shows, earth days and eco-fares to get more information and set up a free home consultation. Please visit www.philadelphiawindow.com and be sure to tell them bloomers in the garden sent you. - Welcome back to bloomers in the garden. Garland, mantle pieces, table runners. You name it, Garland and roving. Phew, they're all variations. - Get fresh. - All the same thing. - Get fresh. You know, like, so when, I guess there's certain areas, like in the, like for instance, if I went to my hose sailor or my, the maker of Garland and I said, "I need Garland," he would kind of say, but if you say, "I need roping," they said, "Oh, all right, all right, I understand." They're basically the same thing. I expect a homeowner to tell me they want Garland, but honestly, we use the term roping. So, all right, so what is it? Roping is because it's followed. Now, on YouTube, you can see this. I'm messing up your whole display. Now, if you see this, can you see that? - Yep. - You got that? See this black rope? Can you see that? - Yep. - Real up tight. All right, so on Garland, okay, I have in my hand, it's white pine garland that is actually, it is mixed with boxwood. And there's a black rope where they follow it and they take small bunches of white pine and periodically put boxwood in it and that they're feeding it on this line. And a wire comes around and it wires it all together. So, you have to have the bunches prepared before you do the, you start making it. You can't just kind of throw it all together. There's a process. There are lots of different roping, but white pine is the most popular, okay? There is cedar, which is very nice, sometimes it's called western cedar and a lot of times that comes from, obviously, the areas like Oregon. There's also, you can sometimes get laurel, but laurel has been very hard to get. If you see princess pine or ground pine at bloomers, we stop selling it and we used to sell a lot of it and it's very great, great texture, it's very soft. It's a great garland except where it is not renewable. So, if somebody goes out and that we would get guys that would come in and that they would, during this time of the year, they would go into the woods and harvest ground pine. Once it's gone, it's gone. It grows very slow. It's not something you can transplant back in. And so we decided, you know what? I took a walk around Parvin State Park and I saw some wild ground pine and where I just don't think it's right for, I don't think it's right to be doing it because it's been, you know, it's one of those things that can go extinct. And it is something that is plentiful in South Jersey, but I just, as a business and as far as a moral standpoint, I decided not to sell any longer. So, if you see princess pine out there and you know, that's just, that's, again, that's just what it is. You'll see mixes like we have the boxwood and pine here, but there's also sometimes cedar and pine mix. You'll see some other mixes like, we have what's called here, this is a mantle or a table runner and that that is, you see this there and you know, that's called? - What's that? - It's not awesome. It's not Fraser, but it's noble. - It's never even heard of it. - It's a noble fur. It looks a lot like Fraser and balsam and that it has a little bit more of a waxy coating. This is also from the West Coast. This is from Oregon, Washington State, that area. They also, there's berry juniper, which is, that's plentiful around, you know, in the Northeast for sure. I encourage you to get bases of like something like, "This is about five feet," and it's a table runner and for your Christmas dinner or for your kitchen table or for a coffee table, you use it, but you also get some of your own greens from your own landscape and add it to it and make it custom to yourself. People say, "Where'd you get that?" I was like, "Well, I made it myself." And it just, you can do so much if you've got certain things. Beauty berry, we talked about a few weeks back, I think. There's other types of like winter berry holly is another one that can be put in. All of these are a great, great asset. Now we do have a wreath here as well. This is a balsam wreath from Canada. Oh no, no, take it back, this is a Fraser. This is a Frasier wreath from North Carolina. This is a one-sided wreath where the back of it is a clamped ring. Can you get that in there? You see it? Yeah, nice there. If you're looking on YouTube, now please subscribe and please forgive us a review of five stars of you. We would love that and certainly our sponsors would like that. And where that's clamped together when it starts to dry out, sometimes it can shake loose. So you gotta make sure that if it's really dry outside or you have it inside the house that you need to mist it once in a while. But so all of these things, where did it come from? Where do you start using it? Do you know it became popularity? And it became really popular when it was actually, oop, did you wanna drop that? Very good. I'm showing my age. Okay, so that crank call used to be, do you have Prince Albert in a can? Because it was actually like a tobacco. In a can? Yeah, Prince Albert, okay. Was from Germany in that he was the husband of Queen Victoria of England. Right. All right, keep with me folks. I'm going with you. All right. And Germany is where they used a lot of Evergreen to decorate their homes. Got you. And so Queen Victoria, and this is 1848, and Queen Victoria said, "Look, I want for my husband's sake, "I wanna bring in and start using some of the Evergreens "as decorations around the castle, around the palace." And so that's when they start using Garland, and Garland's like the original Christmas tree decoration. And certainly it's evolved since then, but they would just decorate it with dried fruits and things like that. And the farmers would love that because the dried fruits are basically stuff that they couldn't sell and it was left over. So like, like, have you ever strung popcorn? And cranberries, I mean, somebody out there has it. I know, yeah, I'm sure if you have strung. Oh, we want, all right. Blue is in the garden nation. If you have strung popcorn and cranberries together to make a Garland call the hotline, we wanna know, 609-685-1880. - It takes us a picture too. - Yeah, you didn't have to do it today if you've done it in your lifetime. Okay, it can be tedious, but so all right. So how do Christmas trees become, you know, why do they become a thing? Christmas trees were Martin Luther. Nice, stick with me everybody. Martin Luther, the reformist, right? You know, tacked on the Catholic church door, his reformation that he was walking through the forest and he was looking through the evergreen trees and he saw the stars, and this was at night, and saw the stars as if they were placed on each individual branch of the evergreen tree. All of a sudden, Martin comes in with a tree in the house. What are you doing? And they put candles on each branch of the tree to reflect on the evergreen that, for instance, evergreen in, basically in Roman cultures and cultures previously. It was evergreen, okay, evergreen, so that it was eternal, it was associated with eternal life. Christians, internal life, that same type of thing. Holly, like, well, so where does Holly come from? Holly, can you ever grab Holly and it's got some points to it? Yeah, they stick. The Holly represents the crown of thorns on Jesus. And the red berries were drops of blood during the crucifixion. So a lot of these things, the circular wreath, it's infinity, it's all of those things. Have something to do with the Christian faith, but it's basically, well, say it, it's ripped off from previous pagan cultures. So, but hey, I think that's, wait, everything's done, we're in a way. But that's why, I mean, it's important for me, I'll always have a fresh Christmas tree in my house. I would have an artificial tree. We do both. Do you do both? Good for you. We have the artificial one in the family room and the rural one in the living room. Yeah. Can't beat the smell. Yeah, that's right. Like, right now in the studio, it is booming. Yeah, like, I have a cold, I can't smell anything. But then again, after making all this stuff, I become, I can't smell it. So, any case. Yes, if nothing else for the smell, but I mean, I wanted to rewind for a minute. Kudos to you for doing something to stand up for horticulture, for what? In terms of... The environment? Yeah. For the, for the princess mine? Yep. Yeah, yeah. To be honest, the retailer capitalist in me wishes that I could use that as a ground cover and sell it. Yeah, I understand. But knowing that I can't, and then also to think that you'll never be able to see it. Sure. I mean, it literally looks like an evergreen that only grows about three inches tall and will fill in a complete area. Yeah, if I was walking through the forest, I might have been tempted. Dented to stake it? To take the clip in. I'm sure there are some guys. I know the name of a guy where I can get it. And he goes through, and he goes out and he takes it from the state forest. Yeah, the state park police don't play though. No, they don't like that. Yeah. All right, we're gonna be back in the garden right after this. Hi, this is Len Schroeder from Bloomers in the Garden. Do you have a landscape garden or plant question? If so, call or text us using the Bloomers in the Garden Hotline. Dial 609-685-1880. That's 609-685-1880. Don't be shy, we wanna hear from you. Call or text us and let us know what problems you're facing. Let us know how we're doing. Call or text 609-685-1880. If we use your comment on the air, we'll send you a free Bloomers T-shirt. Call or text us at 609-685-1880. That's 609-685-1880. And we'll see you in the garden. Fartilome's triple action contains 70% neem oil and 0.25% pyrethrins as they concentrate and ready to spray. It is an insecticide, fungicide, and midicide label to use on vegetables, fruits, nuts, herbs, spices, and ornamentals. This organic, amory-listed product controls a wide variety of insect pests and diseases, including aphids, scale, spider mites, white flies, rust, leaf spot, and powdery mildew. This insecticide is an all-in-one bottle that will cure just about any problem you may run into throughout the year. Fartilome's triple action has been helping gardeners across the country for years. Best to apply in late evening and early morning hours. Mixed one ounce, which is equivalent to two tablespoons in a gallon of water. The best part is triple action may be used up to the day of harvest. So the next time you are visiting your favorite garden center, ask for Fartilome's triple action and expect to have the best-looking plants in the neighborhood. Welcome back to Bloomers in the Garden. Hey, it's early. It's not even December. It's the last day of November, actually. And if you're thinking about a Christmas tree, think about this. Instead of just getting a cut tree, or God forbid, an artificial tree, what I'd like you to think about is how about putting in a bald and burlap or a potted spruce and bring that into the house and use that as your Christmas tree. You're only gonna keep it in for a short time and that you plant it outside after Christmas. Yeah. Don't think because it's gonna be growing. You don't want it to grow in your house because when you bring it, remember, it's nice out right now. We've had a great stretch of weather, but it's gonna get cold. Think January, that when you put it outside, it's gonna be cold. So here's what you gotta do. First, dig the hole. Yes, dig the hole now because the problem is, if you dig it when it's time to plant it, the ground may be frozen solid and you'll be using a pickaxe and you'll be doing all this other stuff. Dig the hole now, take a piece of plywood, put it over the hole so you don't lose anybody falling in the hole. All right, so you wanna make sure that you dig the hole now. What do you do with the soil? Don't leave it outside. Leave it in the wheelbarrow. Bring it into your garage and then that way, when you go to backfill around your tree, it's not frozen solid clumps. You with me? All right, now spray the tree with Wilt Stop. Wilt Stop, chap stick for your plants, okay? You gotta follow the label instructions and a fancy word, anti-transparent, what it does. It basically encapsulates the needle so that it doesn't let off a lot of the moisture out of the plant. I don't care if you have a cut tree or a live B&B tree, but you want to do that either way. Now, don't bring your B&B tree and B&B, what does it stand for? Bald and burlap. It could be in a plastic pot, that's a container. But when it's done in burlap, it's called B&B. Don't leave it in your house too long. The shorter you have it in the house, the better. I say only a week. Like you bring it in just before Christmas and you take it in right after Christmas or right after New Year's. You don't want it in the house more than a week. It has to acclimate out of your house if it's real warm or you've had it in too far. You almost have to take it out in stages, like put it in the garage for a couple of days and then move it out. So it doesn't go right from 70 degree temperature all the way to 20 degree temperatures 'cause you can kill it that way. That's the biggest killer. And also, make that room the coolest room in the house. You gotta shut those vents off. You don't want heat blasting on your tree. It is more, it's really important that you don't, you try to accommodate the tree. And even on a cut tree, if you cut down the amount of heat that's in that room, your tree is gonna hold up a whole lot better, a whole lot better. Watering, it's a house plant. It may be a sprucer, maybe a Douglas fir or maybe something else, but it's a house plant. It's in your house and it's a plant. You're gonna have to water it, but don't go and just water it. You're gonna, first of all, when you bring that plant in, you know, like metal buckets that they use, like usually throw sodas in at parties and stuff like that. That you're gonna place that, the root ball of the tree in one of those. And I want you to go and take, find those beach towels, I know it's off season. Find those beach towels that you had and I want you to saturate those beach towels so that it is what gets watered. And it keeps that moisture around it. I've had people that have come to me and said, I've got five gallons of water that is in my tub. What am I supposed to do? And it's killing the plant. The plant doesn't have a good shot of living. Plants don't drink water like we do, okay? It's moisture that they derive from the root system. So you just have to keep it moist. A container tree, you don't necessarily need to put it in a bucket, you could do it in a saucer. But again, you have that same issue. You're gonna water it more like a house plant than with the, again, a bean beet tree, you're gonna do the towels with the container tree. You're just gonna water the root system, but you wanna make sure that it's not in any standing water at any time. Every other day, something like that. But again, you don't wanna keep it in long. And when you take it out, you take it out from your living room, then you bring it into your garage, you let it sit there for a couple of days, get used to that acclimation back to the outdoor temperatures. And then when it's time to do the deed, you take it in and you put it in the hole, and you install it the same way, we have twice the size of the bottom is what you should have dug that hole. You bring that soil from the garage, you mix it with bumper crop, pack it all around the root system, and you're gonna push it down real, real firm so that it doesn't blow in those winter weeds and tip over. And you should have a great success. I know families that they basically plant one when each one of their kids, you know, and they go on rotation and they end up with a beautiful screen, not of our variety, but they have a beautiful screen, a blue spruce or a Norway spruce or a mixture of Norway and Douglas. And it looks like a natural setting. It's a great idea to kill two birds with one stone. You've got your Christmas tree and now you've got a nice screen started. Again, do it, but you have to do it right. Don't leave it in the house for too long. Any questions, Aaron? - No. - There you go. We'll be back in the garden right after this. (upbeat music) - Hi, this is Len Schroeder from Bloomers in the Garden. Do you have a landscape, garden or plant question? If so, call or text us using the Bloomers in the Garden Hotline. Dial 609-685-1880. That's 609-685-1880. Don't be shy, we want to hear from you. Call or text us and let us know what problems you're facing. Let us know how we're doing. Call or text 609-685-1880. If we use your comment on the air, we'll send you a free Bloomers T-shirt. Call or text us at 609-685-1880. That's 609-685-1880. And we'll see you in the garden. Here's the dirt on potting mixes. They're not all created equal. Aspoma organic potting mix gives roots the ideal balance of air and moisture. It contains a special blend of beneficial micro-riza to help grow stronger roots, bigger plants and more bountiful blooms. Try aspoma organic potting mix indoors and out for all your potted flowers, vegetables, and you'll see why it's the best. Visit aspoma.com for a retailer near you. Organic potting mix from Aspoma, a natural in the garden since 1929. - Welcome back to Bloomers in the Garden. A listener reached out to us on our YouTube page commented on a post about winterizing their fig tree. And they wanted to know if they had the option to be able to pot it. - Well, they had it in a pot, right? - Right, it wasn't a pot, but the issue is-- - They didn't have a cool place to put it. - And they wanted to know whether they could bring it inside in a fully heated place. And I think the answer to that is probably no. - It's better off not to. It becomes what we call soft. Just like the last thing we were talking about, you have to transition it back outside, no. And this was a segment that we did on how to winterize your fig tree. And when did we do it now? - October? - It was last month, yeah. - So we did that in October, and that it was all about how to make a superstructure around your tree that was planted, or if you had a container tree, you could bring it into like an unheated garage or sun porch or something where it didn't get to the total element. So here's what they need to do. And this is what you texted them, right? - I haven't responded yet, but I definitely wanted to make sure that I got everything that I needed to get back with them. So I think I found out what I need. I think the key ingredient is mulch. - Yeah, basically. I mean, you could take it, depending on what the pot is like. If it's just a nursery pot, you can actually take the whole pot and plant it in the ground as if it were, and just you're gonna take it out in the spring. - I have to pot mulch it. - Yup, but if it's a nice pot, you're gonna have to mulch it, and you're gonna need like a foot, 18 inches of mulch all around it. And then you're gonna start that wrapping process of wrapping it in. You're gonna wrap it in cardboard, then you can use chicken wire, and then you're gonna just make sure it has a good insulation layer in it so that you're not going to have it freeze. Gonna keep it being you can move it. You can put it in the warmest part of your yard that's not subject to winter wind, and that that will be the thing that helps. So you're basically doing the same thing as we recommended in our fig tree section, but you have to put that pot in a big section of mulch, and they call it healing in. It's like, oh, we just heal 'em in, and that when people talk about that, they're basically taking the root ball of plants, and getting them in mulch, and kind of pho planting them in the mulch. But the key is, is it's gotta be enough mulch so that it keeps it insulated. The root system insulated. It's the only and best way to do that if you can't bring it into a cooler spot. Bring it into the house can be a mess, so I don't suggest you do that. So again, plant the pot. If it's too nice a plot, you're gonna cover it in mulch with about 18 inches of mulch on each side. You're gonna plant it deep so that you're gonna go over it probably over the edge of the pot, about anywhere from six to 12 inches. Then you're gonna build the cardboard superstructure around the fig tree, and then you're gonna hope and pray. It's gonna be fine. Pray for a mild winter. But honestly, you should probably had pretty good success. A lot of people don't do anything and they're fine. All right, we'll be back in the garden right after this. (upbeat music) Hi, this is Len Schroeder from Bloomers in the Garden. Do you have a landscape, garden, or plant question? If so, call or text us using the Bloomers in the garden hotline. Dial 609-685-1880. That's 609-685-1880. Don't be shy, we wanna hear from you. Call or text us and let us know what problems you're facing. Let us know how we're doing. Call or text 609-685-1880. If we use your comment on the air, we'll send you a free Bloomers T-shirt. Call or text us at 609-685-1880. That's 609-685-1880. And we'll see you in the garden. ♪ See me before you're down by the school yard ♪ Well, me, me, I don't know. We're gonna see who will be on this tomorrow. In the school yard. All right, we're running out of time. Hope you guys had a great time. Hope you had a great Thanksgiving, by the way. And that we'll see you next week, right here in the garden. See you in the garden. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪
