Show: Master Gardener Station: KNCO File: 9:5.mp3 Air date: 2026-09-05 Source: OpenAI whisper-1 · shrunk from 123.6 MB to 24.7 MB, split into 8 pieces --- transcript --- Well, good morning, folks, and welcome to Master Gardeners and Friends radio show. I am Master Gardener, Christine Smith. Christine Smith, I slurred my words, good heavens, and I had my two cups of coffee. And I'm here today with my Master Gardener, Lisa Marsh. Yes, and you're a Master Composter too, huh? No, I'm not a Master Composter, just a Master Gardener so far. Oh, they organized it differently. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. So we don't see when I became a Master Gardener, the Master Composting was part of the program. Okay, part of them, the training. And but you know, they change things around from time to time, because there's so much information. There's so much. Oh, it's crazy. Yeah. And so fun. And so steam. I love that. I love my training. Yeah, it was I was just on fire. But anyway, I'm here. And I'm your host and here with my co host Lisa. And our program is brought to you by the University of California Cooperative Extension, the United States Department of Agriculture, Nevada County Master Gardeners, and KNCO News Talk Radio along with all their fine sponsors. And this is a two way radio program. And we're here to answer your questions and take your comments anything about home gardening, no commercials, questions, just home gardening. And our phone number is 530-477-5626, or 530-477-KNCO. And we have a text line if you're feeling shy, or if you want to send us photos, that's a wonderful way to get some information across. And our text line is 530-913-4685. So get ahold of us, we really want to hear from you because your questions make it all worthwhile. Right? Lots more fun. Yes, it does. You know, because always folks bring up wonderful subjects that are often quite pertinent to the current situation. Yep. And to everyone listening. Yes, yes, yes. And how about this rain we just had? So great. Oh, man. Yeah, it cleaned up the air, washed off the dust, and gave my plants a little bit of a drink, which always rocks my world because anytime Mother Nature waters for me, that's right. I'm a happy camper. Yes. So exciting. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Now, let's see. We have workshops, and we have a really interesting, this is, wait, oh, but, is that for Master Gardeners only? No, this is for everyone. Oh, okay. Yeah. Okay. Just had to make sure. Yeah, no, this is something we wanted to make sure everyone was aware of, and it is a wildfire preparedness walking tour that is being put on by the University of California Cooperative Extension, and it is free, but you do need to register. The tour takes place on Monday, September 14th from 530 to 730 in Grass Valley, and the exact location will be provided you register. Like I said, it's free, and the description is all about preparing yourself and your property for wildfire. So you're invited to learn about simple, low-cost actions that you can do to protect your house and property from future fire exposures, and it's put on by the UC Cooperative Extension, CAL FIRE, and the Rattlesnake Neighborhood Firewise Community, so that's probably a hint as to where it's happening, actually. Perhaps. Probably in the Rattlesnake Neighborhood. Yeah, a great place to address wildfire prevention. Yeah, so again, the event, the tour is happening September 14th at 530. You need to register by the day before, September 13th, and I guess probably that what I'm reading has a link, but I think if you just searched wildfire preparedness walking tour, you'd probably find that. Do they give a website? Well, it is a whole long unreadable deal. Oh, it's unreadable? Well, it's just lots of numbers and letters, but if you search wildfire preparedness walking tour, Grass Valley, I think you'll probably find it. Yeah, that's certainly how to get you there. I'd rather do things like that. Right. Sometimes these wrong URLs are hard to get in correctly. Yeah, so anyway, that's, I mean, it sounds like a very interesting one if you want to learn more about what to do, how to prepare your home for wildfire, because, you know, break those leaves. It's inevitable. Yeah, it happens every year, folks. It's not a if, it's a when, and so the more we can do to be prepared and prepare our houses. Keep our houses and property safe. Yeah, keeps our animals safe. Yeah. It's just a good, good thing to be aware of, and the more you learn about it, the safer you'll end up being. Right, and actually now I'm reading the email says that there'll be a link to this posted on our website, on the Nevada County Master Gardeners website. So if you go to our wonderful website, you'll be able to find the link there. Yeah, so Nevada County Master Gardeners. Yeah, that's always a good one. Yeah, our website's really cool. It is chock full of all kinds of information and links to even more information. Yes. And so, and you can get videos, you can go see videos of previous workshops, you know, radio shows, all kinds of great information, and access the IPM website through there. Yeah, which is great. I love that. I love looking at the pictures of the bugs. Yes. So many amazing bugs. Okay, oh, oh, the purpose, I didn't finish our get-go. Oh, we got so excited. I know, we got so excited. I did. That happens to me sometimes. The purpose of the University of California Master Gardener program is to inspire foothill home gardeners to embrace research-based sustainable gardening practices so our community and environment thrive. And there you have it, folks. Oh, so if anybody wants to call, we'd love to hear from you. And we have, and we have a workshop coming up on September 12th, that's next Saturday, Lawns and Native Grasses, Planting with a Purpose. Oh, and that is going to be, yes, that's our last workshop in the series and Chrissy and I, Chrissy talked about it extensively last Saturday. It's going to be a great workshop. Okay, and we have a call. Jim in Nevada City, what can we help you with? Hi, good morning. I planted, I'm out by Mountain Bounty Farms, and I planted some petunias 20 years ago. Yeah. And they have like three inch diameter trunks. I just let them run wild. I'm out there pruning with a chainsaw. Yeah. And we have some kind of a, I don't know what it is. It grows up through it. It's light gray, and it looks like it has almost a smallish inch and a quarter by five eighths or three quarters. It looks like an oak leaf, but it's not. And it bears berries, but it comes up and it's like a snake. It wraps around all the branches. Oh, so kind of a vining thing. Yeah. Yeah. And you start pulling on it, you can swing on it like Tarzan. Wow. And so you're wondering what this plant is? Yes. I'm not a cell phone or a computer person. I'm an old retired union plumber, but my wife is shopping, she could send you some pictures of it if I could get a phone number from you. Oh, yeah. The text line is 913-4685. And you can text photos to us. And that's really helpful if you want us to have a look at something. We can do a much better job if we have a photo. Yeah. I think we'll need photos of this particular situation. Yes. Yeah. I'll be 79 tomorrow. I'm not that fast writing. I got the 913-4. 685. 685. Yes. Okay. Thank you very much because I've been out there with a chainsaw. It's about an inch and a half of stem at the ground. Really? So does it strike you as being tree-like as opposed to vine? It's coming out like a vine. It's coming out of the ground and it goes up with nothing on it. And then it starts wrapping around the branches. And you said the leaves are like shape of oak leaves? Well, no, no, it's small, like a small oak leaf, but not, not the, you know, like a, like an oval, a small little oval. Okay. Okay. Okay. Yeah. The pictures will help us immensely. Yeah. Okay. Alrighty. Yeah. Cause I'm no help for anything except, you know, cutting. Oh, nonsense. You got us on the phone and explained it. So it's all good. Yeah. We'll, we'll be on till noon. So you've got time and we'll watch for, we've got the text phone right here. We'll watch for your texts with the photos. And, and put a phone, phone number in the, in the texts because we'll probably end up having to do a little research off the air and then I could call you. Okay. Yeah. She knows how to do that stuff. Okay. Cool. Great. All right. Okay. Thank you, Jim. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Oh, so fun. Well, that sounds interesting. Yeah. Doesn't ring any bells for me. Oh, so some sort of vibe could be anything. It's time to take a break. Yeah. You're right. It is. We're overdue. Whoops. We'll be back folks. 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I was checking out Budget Blinds in Grass Valley. They've got so many options. Blinds, shades, shutters, you name it. Sounds good. I wonder if they offer cordless options for safety. They do. They're all about keeping it safe, especially for younger kids and pets. That's important. And where are they located? Right on 310 Colfax Avenue. Plus, they do free in-home consultations. Can't beat that convenience. Perfect. Let's give them a call at 530-274-1122 and set something up. Explore a variety of stylish options, including child-safe and cordless solutions. Upgrade your home with Budget Blinds in Grass Valley, located at 310 Colfax Avenue. Or call them at 530-274-1122 to set up your free in-home consultation today. Transforming your windows. Transforming your home. Imagine Mill Street glowing with lights, music filling the air, and friends gathering for one unforgettable night. It's Magical Evening on Mill, Sunday, September 13th from 6 to 10 in beautiful downtown Grass Valley. 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The Flatline describes a main line of resistance in your soul built on God's Word. Join us each Sunday for 30 minutes of inspiration, motivation, and education, all without manipulation. That's The Flatline with Rick Hughes, every Sunday at 8 a.m. right here on KNCO News Talk 830. Welcome back folks to Master Gardeners and Friends Radio Show. I'm Master Gardener Christine Smith. And I'm Master Gardener Lisa Marsh. Okay, we're having fun. Yes we are. And we've already had a call. We had a call. Yay. Thank you, Jim. And we'll look forward to getting photos from your lovely wife. And I was just letting you all know about our last native plant workshop that's being offered on September 12. Always at the Demo Garden at 1036 West Wait, wait, wait, wait. Did I say that right? Yeah. 1036 West Main Street in Grass Valley behind the NID building. So that'll be a real good one. And it'll wrap things up for the native plant. And that's a new series this year, right? Yes, that was a brand new series. And it just has been popular, super popular. Because you know, everybody's getting more interested in native plants, thankfully, and including myself. Yes. And it's been a real fun learning experience. And, you know, we all need to get more native plants in our yards to help those pollinators and all the wildlife. Yeah, because it's all a cycle and a circle. Yes, it is. And, you know, we get more natives, they feed our native insects and birds and, you know, mammals. So it's a good thing. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. The critters like my coffee berries. Oh, I don't have any of those yet. Yeah, I planted a bunch of those. Well, four or five along my driveway, excuse me, years ago. And I'm so happy that I get get the berries. They're pretty. Nice. I've been slowly adding native plants to my yard. There weren't there basically none. We bought a house five years ago. Yeah. So and there really wasn't anything native there when we moved in. So little by little every year when the Native Plant Society has their sale, yeah, I find things around. I'm trying to they do such a good job. Yeah. And, you know, that's how I did it. Because same thing when I bought my place. Well, honestly, I only had besides the weeds, I had a really sad cherry tree, a lilac that was planted in the shade. And that's it. And so, you know, I was like ground zero and dug the lilac up, cut that sad cherry tree down and took it from there. Nice. And I, you know, and just it was kind of by accident that I have planted right away, several native plants that I just already knew about and happened to love. So we've got those going. And then, then I met Chrissy and started really learning more about native plants because she's a native plant. She's an animal with them and her whole. Is she the one that's doing the workshops? A lot of them. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Okay. And yeah, she knows so much. She did their whole yard, you know, in her old house. Nice. And, and she's really good. She turned a whole bunch of lawn into, you know, a native plant area. Nice. And so it was just really nice. And, you know, I would, I've been to her place a few times and seeing what they look like. So then I can, you know, imagine it at my place and I put in the things that I like. That's great. Yeah. We're working little by little. Our house had a very lovely landscaping. Yeah. But it's lovely landscaping, you know, and not a lot of wildlife. And so little by little over the last few years, as we add more, I've noticed just every year we have more and more wildlife. It's pretty, it's pretty amazing. We had a bobcat yesterday. Whoa, really? Right past my window. Yeah. Wow. Foxes and it's just really fun. We have deer, of course. Oh yeah. That was the one thing that was always. Deer are doing some pruning for me now. Oh, they get quite carried away most of the time. Yeah. We have our deer family that have been there. They were there when I moved in. They're still there growing. And we have a doe that throws twins every year. Been doing it for years. Wow. Those little Bambi's are so cute. Oh my God. And I finally stopped hating them so much. And now that I am down to plants that they don't eat, you know, I virtually don't have any plants left that, you know, after a couple of snowmageddons wiped me out big time. Right. I have a lot, I have lots and lots of containers because I also have such a bad gopher and mole vole problem. Oh yeah. So I got frustrated and started planting in containers. Okay. And, you know, big ceramic pots, you know. They're so gorgeous. And the colors. Yeah. You know, I want to get more of those. Little by little. I really want more. And I just place them around, you know. Wonderful. It's so much fun. Yeah. And then the gophers don't eat the roots out. Right. Because there's nothing like, you look at a plant all of a sudden. Huh. He's wilted. I'll throw a little extra water on him. Still wilted. You go over and you pull on him a little bit and you pull the whole shrub up and there's just this little nub where a whole root ball is supposed to be. That used to really make me irritated. Yeah. So that's when I started really getting into the containers big time. I've always been a container planter. Yeah. Because I had a greenhouse and so forth. I do think they look so pretty. I was at a friend's this summer up in the Pacific Northwest, which of course the gardens there are very lush. Her mother's garden is very lush. But one of the things I loved that I just never really think about was she had all these beautiful containers just in the landscape. Yes. Which was so pretty. There'd be this pop of color of a bright blue pot amidst all of the beautiful green lush. I want to do more of that because it just looked so pretty. I always think of putting containers in places where there isn't the ground to plant in. So on the patio, on the deck, on the porch, by the driveway, things like that. But this was just all just in this beautiful landscape. Within the landscape. These big gorgeous containers. It's so really, really pretty. Yeah. And because you can make in your landscape, you can, if you're real clever and creative, you can make little vignettes. Yes. And so you can, you know, have a stroll through your garden down your garden path and then turn a corner and oh, here's a little, maybe a bench. Yes. With a beautiful pot. You know, maybe a little fountain or a birdbath. That is lovely. And the birdies can take a bath. Oh God, the birds are so cute. Yeah. Garden art. Little bits of garden art. Little ceramic things. Yeah. Not too much. But yeah. It can be quite lovely. I don't have a big enough yard to do that because I only garden in a very small part because of the way the property's situated. Yeah. And then down the driveway and we have to take another break. Okay. So we'll be right back. 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Prospector's Nursery's Vintage Market Days are celebrating autumn days. They have so many new arrivals that they're ready to share, including beautiful fall decor, spooky Halloween favorites, and new finds to help you welcome the season. Plus, with summer winding down and cooler days coming in, it's the perfect time to refresh your home. This Thursday through Saturday, 9 to 5, September 3rd through the 5th. For more information, call 530-470-0973. We'll see you for Vintage Market Days at Prospector's Nursery, 1003 Grand Home Lane, Nevada City. Installation required. Disposal fees and shop fees extra where permitted. C-store for pricing. Eligibility may vary. Not valid with other offers. 530-913-4685 530-913-4685 530-913-4685 530-913-4685 530-913-4685 530-913-4685 530-913-4685 530-913-4685 530-913-4685 530-913-4685 As hot of a summer this year as we usually do, but I've had some melons but here's the problem I'm having is I think I have rats. Rats would be eating them. Somebody's eating them. Do you have jackrabbits? We do have jackrabbits. They could come in at night and it might look similar. But somebody has been... Somebody's been gnawing on their skunks and raccoons. I mean they're hollowed out. Wow. I got one honeydew before they got to it and I got a cantaloupe but then there's a cantaloupe right there next to the one I got that's completely hollowed out. It might be. So I'm thinking it might be rats and I was looking up like how to prevent that from happening if I want to try growing them again and I think you have to do like little cages or bags or... Yeah. Because that's kind of a bummer because there is nothing that tastes as good as a homegrown melon. I mean I used to actually not be a big cantaloupe fan until I grew one. And it was last year or the year before where we had our first cantaloupe and I am telling you it was the sweetest thing I have ever tasted. So I did that... There's nothing like homegrown fruit. I'm not kidding. Yeah. They're so good. So I'm having this problem with somebody, most of the time I don't mind when the critters have some. Yeah. But don't be greedy. You know. But don't be greedy. Exactly. Like I really wanted more than one cantaloupe. So we're having that issue but so we'll see. And that's just something that will take some experimentation with different methods to figure out what will work to keep them the heck out. Have you noticed any other signs of critters getting in? No. I mean I haven't looked that close. I'm kind of a lazy gardener. Oh well thank you and welcome to my club. And I have always been a like, you know, most of the time I just sort of plant something and then it's like you're on your own. I'll water you but otherwise you're on your own. Go for it. Yeah. So I don't, you know, I get out there and browse around and look at the stuff but I'm not like super fussy about it. Oh yeah. So I don't, you know, I haven't looked that. I'm not like down there looking for scat or to figure out who's doing what. Who's doing what in my garden when I'm not around. Yeah exactly. I don't work that hard. You're not pulling weeds, critters. Dang it. So therefore you don't belong there. Right. So I grow things that are easy that don't require a whole ton of fussy messing around with and then I can just go out there and enjoy and pick things and snack but I'm not getting fussy about it. Yeah. I get it. That's basically how I roll too, you know, and now I don't do veggie garden anymore because of where I live now. It's too shady and veggie gardens need full sun. But my plants, I always, I'm a talker and I talk to my plants constantly and I tell them when I bring them home I said okay, you know, you got to be tough to live in my yard and so I'll plant them and, you know, I cage, actually I cage a lot. I cage a lot of plants and I'll cage them when they're new because the deer aren't used to them yet and they like to try things they're not accustomed to and then all the commercial nurseries juice up the plants to get them all to bloom at the same time and, you know, anyway they're all full of, well, I call it plant drugs. That's a non-technical term. Make them extra tasty. Yeah, and so I give them some extra care at the beginning, but then they got to be tough and most, like I say, I'm way down. I've stopped buying a lot of quantities of plants and so the stuff that's left in my yard is pretty much, they're tough. One of my favorites and I always, people, you're probably tired of hearing me talk about this plant, but I love this plant because it grows so well. It's so tough and it's beautiful and wonderfully fragrant in the wintertime and the deer have never touched it and it is Sarcococoa Ruscafolia. Okay, I don't know that. Yeah, it's, one of its common names is Sweetbox. I've heard people call that. What it is, it's an evergreen, dark green leafed plant that gets to be about three foot, between three and four foot tall. It has really tiny white flowers that pop in the wintertime. The flowers are very small and you can, you know, they're not that big a deal. However, the scent that they throw out is awesome. Oh, it sounds wonderful. And reminiscent of Daphne. Okay. You know, it's that agreeable of a scent. Just sweet and nice. But without, see, this plant, I love it because Daphne is finicky. Okay. I only have one Daphne plant because I've brought home others, but they didn't make it and Daphne's notoriously fickle. Got it. And, but this Sarcococoa Ruscafolia, it kicks buns and it just, it's really tough and just, it's so beautiful. It's a wonderful background plant. You know, that pretty dark, shiny green leaves and then you plant in front of it, shorter, you know, pretty flowers. See, I need to get better about remembering the names of the plants because I always just, you know, plant something else. Is that pretty Daisy-like flower over there? Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah. Hey, trust me. I don't know what that is. I've spent lots of years that way and then I, for some reason I got it in my head. I wanted to know all the botanical names. There you go. Good for you. So I said forget about, forget about these common names because common names are misleading because five different plants can have the same common name. Oh yeah, and depending on where you are in the country, people call things differently. Oh, Clematis and Clematis. Yes. Don't get me started with that. Wow. And yeah, it depends on where you're from, how you pronounce things and, you know, for crying out loud, it's gardening. We don't need to get ruffled up about it. But yeah, so I, anyway, that's how it is and I love that plant. I've got it growing all over my yard. It's very successful. Nice. Okay. And the shade. It sounds like you have a lot of shade. And the shade. It does handle sun also. Okay. Not, it can't handle our all-day sun. You know, our summers are so harsh on the plants that it needs some afternoon shade in high sun areas. Yeah. I get, I have it out where it does have full exposure, but I have so many really large trees that hit it with shade. Nice. This one particular spot. Sounds like a nice balance. Yeah. It's a perfect balance. Yeah. And it's going crazy. Yeah. Oh, I love that. And it blooms in the wintertime when you're just feeling a little sad and bleak and nothing else is blooming. There you go. And there's probably been rainy and you walk outside, walk through your garden and you're hit with this lovely scent that is just immediately uplifting and you experience, I experience aromatherapy in my garden. Nice. Okay. Okay. On that note, folks. I'm going to take a break. We're taking a break. Life's most meaningful moments aren't just seen, they're heard. 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They have a clearance center and gift store called The Nest at 3880 Highway 49. They're right here in Grass Valley. 410 Brunswick Road, right next to Safeway. When you've got more stuff than room, when you're finished with the project and no longer need the tools, when you've outgrown, moved on or stepped up from, eliminate the clutter with Swap Shop. 307 days a year, 614 hours annually, Nevada County knows where to turn when their stuff becomes overwhelming. Swap Shop. Join the parade to profitability. It's more fun than should be allowed in the public airways. Swap Shop and The Shopping Show, weekdays 10 to 1130 and Saturdays from 9 to 10, only on KNCO News Talk 830. Alright folks, we're Master Gardeners and Friends Radio Show. Welcome back, I'm Master Gardener Christine Smith. And I'm Master Gardener Lisa Marsh. And oh, so much fun. We just keep chatting about plants, during the break even. I know. You missed out. Well, you know, plant crazy ladies. Right. That's us. That's right, yeah. I have a soft spot for rhododendrons and you were mentioning camellias and azaleas. I lived in the Pacific Northwest for 25 years and, yeah, you just learn to love them out there. Well, they're everywhere and they're so fabulous. They're so beautiful and lush and green and I actually didn't know they grew here. And then when we moved here, the house we bought, there were quite a few established ones in the yard and I was so happy to have them. So I do love those and they are so... I feel like they just add a lushness and a richness to a garden. So much so. Yeah. I agree. I love everything that you said. It's so true. I have a rhododendron. I used to have a lot more, but the one I still have is Jean-Marie Montague. I might have Jean-Marie de Montague. I think that is how you pronounce it, but it's a really vibrant, dark reddish pink. Nice, nice. Really a pretty one. Oh, they're so pretty. Well, mine were... See, there's a sprinkler system. There's irrigation in my house, but then we messed up the irrigation because we put in a pool and so we had to dig up half the yard. So we had a couple of years where... And then also, irrigation is an education. Oh, truly, truly. What kind are you going to use? Well, yeah. And you're either committing to paying somebody regularly to keep this maintained for you or you're learning how to do it yourself. Bingo. So, I mean, I'm not paying somebody to maintain my irrigation given how often it needs maintenance. Yeah. Right? We keep paying tomatoes, but that only works in the summertime. Right, yeah. So, the last few years I have learned how to work on my irrigation all myself. We have some sprinklers. We have some drip. We kind of have a little bit of everything. I've learned how to work on it, but anyway, that's a whole circular way of getting around to the point that, like, I think a couple of years my rhododendrons weren't getting quite enough water, so they didn't flower a lot. They weren't looking so great, and I was so proud of myself this year, this spring. They just were gorgeous with the bright pink and purple flowers, and I just... Every time I drove up and down the driveway, I was, like, pointing to my kids, like, look at the flower. Look at the rhododendrons. You have to look. You have to look at how pretty they are because I felt like that was a real, like, level of accomplishment for me, not just as a gardener, but as, like, managing my own irrigation clearly to the point where these plants, who do need water. They were sheltered. me that they were happy. Yes. And I felt really good about that. That was your reward. Yes. Yes. And it's a lot of work. For seeing and listening. Yeah, it is. It is. It is a lot of work managing an irrigation system. Yeah. For sure. But around here, if you want to have plants that are used to being in areas where they have a lot of water. So it's good, you know, we learn about irrigation. We learn about having different zones of your garden. Yes. Having things grouped together. So I do have just a couple of areas of my yard with the things that want a lot of water. Exactly. Like the rhododendrons. Yes. And the azaleas. Camellias. Camellias. And those things kind of together. So I can have my couple of lush areas. Yeah, I think of those three. Camellias, azaleas, and rhododendrons. They kind of like always go together. Yes. And you know, and actually hydrangeas. Yeah, rhododendrons and azaleas are the same family. Yes. Yeah, and hydrangeas. That's another one. Yes. You know, acid lovers. Yes. And they like extra water and really do so much better when they get it. The deer like the hydrangeas. Oh boy, don't they? Yeah. So I did put some of those in my... I have one area that's not fenced where I have some rhododendrons and things that the deer will leave alone. And then I have another area inside the fence where I took out some Buddleia. Butterfly bushes. Oh yeah. Buddleia. Buddleia. I don't know how to say that one. And I put in some hydrangeas. Oh yeah. The Buddleias were just getting a little too big and out of control. Oh, they do. The full size. Yeah, they were big. They do that. So we took those out. But they keep coming up volunteer. I just pulled a bunch more out actually. You know, they're really amazing, the full sized ones. Yeah. They're so hardy. I used to grow them and propagate them. And they can be nice out. Yes. You know, further out in your landscape. They don't need a lot of water. Although they do will look much better with some water. But I had one at my old house in the front yard. That thing was so happy that it grew so large. It was taller than the first story of the house. Uh-huh. And then I had to have the hubby cut it down. I would have him cut it down like every year. Yeah. With the chainsaw. Yeah. And Jim, our caller mentioning he was chainsawing his Spotinia. His Spotinia. And it brought back that memory. Uh-huh. Yeah. He had to come out there. And he'd take it down to you know, it was a big gnarly crown of big branches sticking up. And he would just chainsaw that thing. Yeah. And then come back full size a year later, right? Oh my gosh. The thing would be ginormous. It was great. Yeah. You know, they're great fun. Yeah. I moved. So the ones this area where I put in some hydrangeas and I took out the Buddleia. Uh-huh. Most of them I moved. I like to try to transplant things rather than just. Where possible. You know. Yeah. Kick them to the curb. So I did. I moved them to a further out where they can just. Do their thing. Do their thing. Yeah. And go crazy. Yep. Yeah. And most of them survived. Yeah. That's not bad. That's cool. Yeah. And again, I'm not fussy as I said. I'm kind of a lazy gardener. So even when I transplant something, I'm mostly. Yeah. You know, there's right ways and wrong ways to do it and I'm mostly doing it the wrong way. Oh no. Not always. But you know. The learning process. It takes, you know, it takes a few trials and errors. Yeah. I'm aware of the correct way to do it. I just don't always want to work that hard. But I did. You know, we dug the hole and we did fill it with water. Let it drain out. So that's good. And most of these are done pretty good. Good. That's good. I joke that my gardening style. You familiar with the Hunger Games? Have you seen the movies? It's been so long. Well, there's a quote in the movie that one of the characters says is, may the odds be ever in your favor. Indeed. Yes. I like that. I joke that that's my gardening style. I put it in there and I'm like, may the odds be ever in your favor. Best of luck, child. Bless you, plant. Bless you and good luck. See, there's more than one way to approach gardening. There's a lot of ways to approach it. No wrong way. No. And that's another thing I'm always telling my kids is different isn't wrong. And as long as they're happy with their input and their results, then it's not wrong. Sometimes we come out with our technical ways of doing things. Old timers have been doing something one way for 40 years. I'm not going to try to convert anybody. No. I say, babe, if that works for you, I'll do you. Well, I mean, one of the things I love about the Master Gardener program, of course, is that the science-based and research-based philosophy and the testing things and demonstrating not only what works, but why things work. Using that research and that testing and that knowledge from the University of California to help us understand why things work. So there absolutely is a lot of science in gardening. But I also think there's a lot of luck in gardening. Yeah. Sometimes something just works because you just got lucky. Yeah. Honestly, sometimes I think that is very true. So it's nice to have a balance of both, right? Where we can look up the science and we can refer to the science and we can look on the IPM and we can look for the research if we're struggling with, why can I just not get this to work? We can find the actual information. Yeah. And it's interesting because sometimes it just takes a lot of trial and error. And that, honestly, that is the fun part for me. I think so, yeah. This girl loves an experiment. Yeah. When I first moved into my house, I really didn't do anything outside or inside for the first year. Except for, what I did outside was pull weeds. Well, you have to learn a property. You have to get to know your property. Exactly. You got to learn the property, learn as much as you can about the microclimate. Every property has multiple microclimates. Well, we've been in ours five years and I feel like I'm just really getting to know the situation after five years. Absolutely, I agree. Oh, we're at the top of the hour. That's our top of the hour music. This is our long break, so we will be back in about seven minutes. music music music music music music The Master Gardeners never run out of great advice on KNCO Grass Valley, Nevada City. 106.9 FM and 830 AM. It's 11 o'clock. Well, good morning folks and welcome to Master Gardeners and Friends radio show. I am Master Gardener Christine Smith. I slurred my words good heavens and I had my two cups of coffee. I'm here today with my Master Gardener Lisa Marsh. Yes, and you're a Master Composter too, huh? No, I'm not a Master Composter, just a Master Gardener so far. Oh, they organized it differently. Yeah. See, when I became a Master Gardener, the Master Composting was part of the program, part of the training, but they changed things around from time to time because there's so much information to cover. Oh, it's crazy and so fun and so stimulating. I love my training. Yeah, it was fun. I was just on fire when I came out of it. But anyway, I'm here and I'm your host and here with my co-host Lisa and our program is brought to you by the University of California Cooperative Extension, the United States Department of Agriculture, Nevada County Master Gardeners and KNCO News Talk Radio along with all their fine sponsors. And this is a two-way radio program and we're here to answer your questions and take your comments. Anything about home gardening. No commercials, questions, just home gardening. And our phone number is 530-477-5626 or 530-477-KNCO and we have a text line if you're feeling shy or if you want to send us photos. That's a wonderful way to get some information across. And our text line is 530-913-4685. So get a hold of us. We really want to hear from you because your questions make it all worthwhile. Makes it lots more fun. Yes, it does because always folks bring up wonderful subjects that are often quite pertinent to the current situation. Yep, and to everyone listening. Yes, yes, yes. And how about this rain we just had? So great. Oh man, yeah. It cleaned up the air, washed off the dust and gave my plants a little bit of a drink. Yes. Which always rocks my world because anytime Mother Nature waters for me, I'm a happy camper. Yes, so exciting. Now, let's see, we have workshops and we have a really interesting, this is wait, oh but is that for Master Gardeners only? No, this is for everyone. Oh, okay. Just had to make sure. No, this is something we wanted to make sure everyone was aware of and it is a wildfire preparedness walking tour that is being put on by the University of California Cooperative Extension and it is free, but you do need to register. The tour takes place on Monday, September 14th from 530 to 730 in Grass Valley and the exact location will be provided when you register. Like I said, it's free and the description is all about preparing yourself and your property for wildfire. So you're invited to learn about simple, low-cost actions that you can do to protect your house and property from future fire exposures and it's put on by the UC Cooperative Extension Cal Fire and the Rattlesnake Neighborhood Firewise Community. So that's probably a hint as to where it's happening, actually. Probably in the Rattlesnake Neighborhood. Yeah, a great place to address wildfire prevention. So again, the tour is happening September 14th at 530. You need to register by the day before, September 13th. I guess probably what I'm reading has a link, but I think if you just searched wildfire preparedness walking tour, you'd probably find that. Do they give a website? Well, it is a whole long, unreadable deal. Oh, it's unreadable? Well, it's just lots of numbers and letters. But if you search wildfire preparedness walking tour in the Valley, I think you'll probably find it. I'd rather do things like that. Sometimes these URLs are hard to get in correctly. It sounds like a very interesting one if you want to learn more about what to do, how to prepare your home for wildfire because it's inevitable. It's not a if, it's a when. The more we can do to be prepared and prepare our houses. Keep our houses and property safe. Keep our animals safe. It's just a good, good thing to be aware of. The more you learn about it, the safer you'll end up being. Right, and actually now I'm reading the email says there will be a link to this posted on our website, on the Master Gardener's website. Our wonderful website, you'll be able to find the link there. Yeah, so Nevada County Master Gardeners. Yeah, that's always a good one. Yeah, our website's really cool. It is chock full of all kinds of information and links to even more information. And so you can get videos, you can go see videos of previous workshops, radio shows, all kinds of great information. And access the IPM website through there, which is the bomb. I love that. I love looking at the pictures of the bugs. So many amazing bugs. OK, oh, the purpose, I didn't finish our get go. Oh, we got so excited. I know, we got so excited. I did. That happens to me sometimes. The purpose of the University of California Master Gardener program is to inspire foothill home gardeners to embrace research-based, sustainable gardening practices so our community and environment thrive. And there you have it, folks. Oh, so if anybody wants to call, we'd love to hear from you. And we have a workshop coming up on September 12th, that's next Saturday, Lawns and Native Grasses, Planting with a Purpose. Oh, and that is going to be, yes, that's our last workshop in the series. And Chrissy talked about it extensively last Saturday. It's going to be a great workshop. OK, and we have a call. Jim in Nevada City, what can we help you with? Hi, good morning. I'm out by Mountain Bounty Farms, and I planted some petunias 20 years ago. And they have, like, three-inch diameter trunks. I just let them run wild. I'm out there pruning with a chainsaw. And we have some kind of a, I don't know what it is, that grows up through it. It's light gray. And it looks like it has almost a smallish inch and a quarter by five-eighths or three-quarters. It looks like an oak leaf, but it's not. And it bears berries. But it comes up, and it's like a snake. It wraps around all the branches. Oh, so kind of a vining thing. Yeah, and you start pulling on it. You can swing on it like Tarzan. Wow. And so you're wondering what this plant is? Yes. I'm not a cell phone or computer person. I'm an old retired Union plumber. But my wife is shopping, and she could send you some pictures of it if I could get a phone number from you. Oh, yeah, the text line is 913-4685. And you can text photos to us. And that's really helpful if you want us to have a look at something. We can do a much better job if we have a photo. Yeah, I think we'll need photos of this particular situation, yes. Yeah, I'll be 79 tomorrow. I'm not that fast writing. I got the 913 and dash 4. 685. 685. Yes. OK, thank you very much, because I've been out there with a chainsaw. It's about an inch and a half of stem at the ground. Goodness. Really? So does it strike you as being tree-like as opposed to vine? It's coming out like a vine. It's coming out of the ground, and it goes up with nothing on it. And then it starts wrapping around the branches. And you said the leaves are like shape of oak leaves? Well, no, it's small, like a small oak leaf, but not like an oval, a small little oval. Oh, OK. OK. OK. Yeah, the pictures will help us immensely. Yeah. OK, all righty. Yeah, because I'm no help for anything except cutting. Oh, nonsense. You got us on the phone and explained it, so it's all good. Yeah, we'll be on till noon, so you've got time. And we'll watch for, we've got the text phone right here. We'll watch for your text with the photos. And put a phone number in the text, because we'll probably end up having to do a little research off the air, and then I could call you. OK, yeah, she knows how to do that stuff. OK, cool. Great. OK, thank you, Jim. Thanks for calling. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Oh, so fun. Well, that sounds interesting. Yeah, I don't know what that means. It doesn't ring any bells for me. No, me neither. Oh, so some sort of vibe. Could be anything. I think it's time to take a break now. Yeah, you're right. It is. We're overdue. Whoops. We'll be back, folks, very shortly. Yeah. Around here, when there's work to do, we roll up our sleeves and get it done. Rental Guys helps you do it right. Tell us what you're tackling. From a weekend property project to a full-scale construction job, our local team will find the right equipment and keep your job moving. 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That's The Flatline with Rick Hughes, every Sunday at eight a.m. right here on KNCO News Talk 830. Woo, welcome back, folks, to Master Gardeners and Friends Radio Show. I'm Master Gardener, Christine Smith. And I'm Master Gardener, Lisa Marsh. Okay, we're having fun. Yes, we are. And? We've already had a call. We had a call, yay, thank you, Jim. And we'll look forward to getting photos from your lovely wife. And I was just letting you all know about our last native plant workshop that's being offered on September 12th, always at the Demo Garden at 1036 West, wait, wait, wait, wait, did I say that right? Yeah, 1036. Demo Garden, yeah. 1036 West Main Street in Grass Valley behind the NID building. So that'll be a real good one, and it'll wrap things up for the native plant workshops. And that's a new series this year, right? Yes, that was a brand new series, and it just has been super popular. Because, you know, everybody's getting more interested in native plants, thankfully, including myself. And it's been a real fun learning experience. And, you know, we all need to get more native plants in our yards to help those pollinators and all the wildlife, because it's all a cycle and a circle. Yes, it is. And, you know, we get more natives, they feed our native insects and birds and, you know, mammals. So it's a good thing. Yeah, the critters like my coffee berries. Oh, I don't have any of those yet. Yeah, I planted a bunch of those, well, four or five, along my driveway, excuse me, years ago. And I'm so happy that I get the berries. Nice. They're pretty. Nice. I've been slowly adding native plants to my yard. There weren't, there're basically none. We bought our house five years ago. Yeah. And there really wasn't anything native there when we moved in. So little by little, every year when the Native Plant Society has their sales, I find things around, I'm trying to bring that back. They do such a good job, yeah. And, you know, that's how I did it. Cause same thing when I bought my place. Well, honestly, I only had, besides the weeds, I had a really sad cherry tree, a lilac that was planted in the shade. And that's it. Uh-huh. And so, you know, I was like ground zero and dug the lilac up, cut that sad cherry tree down and took it from there. Nice. And I, you know, and just, it was kind of by accident that I have planted right away several native plants. And I just already knew about and happened to love. So we've got those going. And then I met Chrissy and started really learning more about native plants. Cause she's a native plant. She's an animal with them and her whole. Is she the one that's doing the workshops? A lot of them. Yeah. Okay. And yeah, she knows so much. She did their whole yard, you know, in her old house. Nice. And she's really good. She turned a whole bunch of lawn into, you know, a native plant area. Nice. And so it was just really nice. That's great. And, you know, I've been to her place a few times and seen what they look like. So then I can, you know, imagine it at my place. And I put in the things that I like. That's great. Yeah. We're working little by little. Our house had a very lovely landscaping. Yeah. But it's lovely landscaping, you know, and not a lot of wildlife. And so little by little over the last few years, as we add more, I've noticed just every year we have more and more wildlife. It's pretty, it's pretty amazing. We had a bobcat yesterday. Whoa. Right? Really? Bobcat. Out my window. Bobcat. Yeah. Wow. And we've had foxes and it's just really fun. We have. The deer, of course. Oh, yeah. That was the one thing that was always. The deer are doing some pruning for me now. Oh, they get quite carried away most of the time. Yeah. We have our deer family that have been there. They were there when I moved in. They're still there growing. And we have a doe that throws twins every year. Oh, nice. And we've been doing it for years. Wow. And those little Bambi's are so cute. Yes. Oh my God. And I finally stopped hating them so much. And now that I am down to plants that they don't eat, you know, I virtually don't have any plants left that, you know, after a couple snowmageddons wiped me out big time. Right. I have a lot, I have lots and lots of containers because I also have such a bad gopher and mole vole problem. Oh, yeah. So I got frustrated and started planting in containers. Okay, okay. And, you know, big ceramic pots. Oh, I love those. They're so gorgeous. And the colors. Yes. You know, I love the colors. I want to get more of those, little by little. Yeah. I really want more of those. And I just place them around, you know. Wonderful. So it's so much fun. Yeah. And then the gophers don't eat the roots out. Right. There's nothing like, you look at a plant all of a sudden. Huh, he's wilted. I'll throw a little extra water on him. Still wilted. You go over and you pull on him a little bit, and you pull the whole shrub up, and there's just this little nub where a whole root ball is supposed to be. That used to really make me irritated. So that's when I started really getting into the containers big time. I've always been a container planter, because I had a greenhouse and so forth. I do think they look so pretty. I was at a friend's this summer up in the Pacific Northwest, which of course the gardens there are very lush. Her mother's garden is very lush, but one of the things I loved that I just never really think about was she had all these beautiful containers just in the landscape, which was so pretty. There'd be this pop of color of a bright blue pot amidst all of the beautiful green, lush. I want to do more of that, because it just looked so pretty. I always think of putting containers in places where there isn't the ground to plant in, so on the patio, on the deck, on the porch, by the driveway, things like that. But this was all just in this beautiful landscape, these big gorgeous containers. It's so pretty. Because you can make, in your landscape, if you're real clever and creative, you can make little vignettes. So you can have a stroll through your garden, down your garden path, and then turn a corner and oh, here's a little, maybe a bench with a beautiful pot, maybe a little fountain or a bird bath. That is lovely, and the birdies can take a bath. And try and get more of those things. Yeah, garden art, little bits of garden art, little ceramic things, little metal things. Not too much, but yeah, it can be quite lovely. I don't have a big enough yard to do that, because I only garden in a very small part because of the way the property's situated. And then down the driveway, and we have to take another break. Okay. 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Installation requires disposal fees and shop fees extra where permitted. C-Store for pricing. Eligibility may vary. Not valid with other offers. And hello there, folks. And welcome back to Master Gardeners and Friends. I'm Master Gardener Christine Smith. And I'm Master Gardener Lisa Marsh. Cool. And we're here. It's a two-way radio program, so give us a jingle. Our phone number is 530-477-5626. We also have a text line. And that number is 530-913-4685. And you can send us photos on the text line. So that's that's a winner winner. Yes. Chicken dinner. Me and my little jokes. OK, so, Lisa. Yeah. What's happening in your yard? Well. What's blooming? Well, the deer have been very busy pruning. I think actually what they're eating. I noticed that a whole area that was kind of overgrown with alyssum, white alyssum. Oh, yeah. It was all kind of looking. I think they've been eating it, which I was quite surprised. I'm surprised. It looks like it's been mowed. I'll be darned. Yeah. Which is fine. Well, yeah. The wonderful thing about white alyssum is it's hardy as heck. So it'll probably just pop right back. It's fine with me. It'll give it a nice refresh. Right. Yeah. So I'm surprised because it does have a strong scent when you get up close. And typically they don't like that. The deer. Yeah, that's interesting. I've noticed this. We've had a lot of deer the last couple of weeks. And we have we have an eight acre property. I have a small area that's fenced that I have my vegetable garden and some flowers in. But most of it is not fenced. And so I mostly have things that I either the deer aren't interested in or I don't care if they nibble a bit of. Right. That's how you have to handle it if you don't want to be really upset all the time. But I have noticed the last, this is the time of year when they're nibbling on the things that they even normally don't seem to bother with. Because I think there's not a whole lot of green going on around. But that's fine. So we've had a lot of animal activity. And then in my fenced area, I have my vegetable garden and I don't do a lot because it is a lot of work as we were discussing. I have two raised beds that I have tomatoes and cucumbers and herbs. I love to grow herbs. I have a lot of herbs. Herbs are wonderful. And then I have a small flattish area where I have some pumpkins and I actually have I'm watching my pumpkin every day because I have one gorgeous. I don't know. What is that? It's like two feet around. It's big. It's like the biggest pumpkin I've ever grown. Oh, and it's really looking beautiful. And I'm I'm never quite sure when to pick the thing. So I've been watching. Are you wanting to eat it? No, no. Just to just, you know, let it go. I might let my children carve it. I might not. Last year, I didn't let them carve the pumpkins I grew. I just put them on the table as decoration. So I'm watching my pumpkins. I have some melons. I'm always like I love the idea of growing melons, but I don't know. They need so much heat. Well, they've had and we haven't had as hot of a summer this year as we usually do. But I've had some melons. But here's the problem I'm having is I think I have rats. Rats would be eating them. Yeah. Somebody's eating them. Do you have jackrabbits? We do have jackrabbits. They could come in at night and it might look similar. But somebody has been. Somebody's been gnawing them. They're skunks and raccoons. I mean, they're hollowed out. Some of these. Wow. I got one honeydew before they got to it. Oh, yum. And I got a cantaloupe. Oh, yum. But then there's a cantaloupe right there next to the one I got that's completely hollowed out. It might be. That might be. I'm thinking it might be rats and I was looking up like how to prevent that from happening if I want to try growing them again. And I think you have to do like little cages. Yeah. Or bags. And up. Yeah. Yeah. Because that's kind of a bummer because there is nothing that tastes as good as a homegrown melon. I mean, I used to actually not be a big cantaloupe fan. Until you grew one. Until I grew one. Yeah. And it was last year or the year before where we had our first cantaloupe. And I am telling you, it was the sweetest thing I have ever tasted. Yeah. There's nothing like homegrown fruit. Oh, they're so good. I'm not kidding. Yeah. They're so good. So I'm having this problem with somebody. Something eating. Most of the time I don't mind when the critters have some. Yeah, but don't be greedy. No, but don't be greedy. Exactly. I really wanted more than one cantaloupe. So we're having that issue. Yeah. So we'll see. And that's just something that will take some experimentation with different methods to figure out what will work to keep them the heck out. Have you noticed any other signs of critters getting in? No. I mean, I haven't looked that close. I'm kind of a lazy gardener. Oh, well, thank you and welcome to my club. And I've always been a, like, you know, most of the time I just sort of plant something. Lazy fair. And then it's like, you're on your own. I'll water you, but otherwise... Yeah, we'll throw some water at you, but... You're on your own. Go for it. Yeah. So I don't, you know, I get out there and browse around and look at the stuff, but I'm not like super fussy about it. Oh, yeah. So I don't, you know, I haven't looked that. I'm not like down there looking for scat or to figure out who's... Who's doing what. Who's doing what. Who's doing what in my garden when I'm not around. Yeah, exactly. I don't want to work that hard. You're not pulling weeds, critters. Dang it. So therefore you don't belong there. Right. So I like to, I grow things that are easy, that don't require a whole ton of fussy... Like speciality. Messing around with. And then I can just go out there and enjoy and pick things and snack, but I'm not getting fussy about it. Yeah. I get it. That's basically how I roll too. You know, and no, I don't do veggie garden anymore because of where I live now. It's too shady. And veggie gardens need full sun. They need the sun, yes. But my plants, I always... I'm a talker and I talk to my plants constantly. And I tell them when I bring them home, I said, okay, you know, you got to be tough to live in my yard. And so I'll plant them and, you know, I cage. Actually, I cage a lot. I cage a lot of plants. Okay. And I'll cage them when they're new. Right. Because the deer aren't used to them yet. Yes. And they like to try things they're not accustomed to. And then all the commercial nurseries juice up the plants to get them all to bloom at the same time. And, you know, anyway, they're all full of, well, I call it plant drugs. That's a non-technical term. Make them extra tasty. Yeah. And so I give them some extra care at the beginning. Yeah. But then they got to be tough. Yeah. And like I say, I'm way down. I've stopped buying a lot of quantities of plants. And so the stuff that's left in my yard is pretty much... It's hard, huh? Yeah. Good. They're tough. Yeah. One of my favorites, and I always, people, you're probably tired of hearing me talk about this plant. But I love this plant because it grows so well. It's so tough. And it's beautiful and wonderfully fragrant in the wintertime. And the deer have never touched it. Oh. And it is Sarcococoa Ruscafolia. Okay. I don't know that. Yeah. It's... One of its common names is Sweetbox. I've heard people call that. Huh. Okay. What it is, it's an evergreen, dark green leaf. Plant that gets to be about three foot, between three and four foot tall. Okay. It has really tiny white flowers that pop in the wintertime. Oh, nice. The flowers are very small and they're not that big a deal. However, the scent that they throw out is awesome. Oh, it sounds wonderful. And reminiscent of Daphne. Okay. It's that agreeable of a scent. Just sweet and nice. But without... See, this plant, I love it because Daphne is finicky. Oh, okay. I only have one Daphne plant. because I've brought home others, but they didn't make it, and Daphne's notoriously fickle. But this Sarcococoa Ruscafolia, it kicks buns, and it's really tough. It's so beautiful. It's a wonderful background plant, that pretty dark, shiny green leaves, and then you plant in front of it, shorter, pretty flowers. See, I need to get better about remembering the names of the plants, because I always just plant something, and yes, nice, yeah, exactly, yeah, I don't know what that is. I've spent lots of years that way, and then for some reason, I got it in my head. I wanted to know all the botanical names, so I said, forget about these common names, because common names are misleading, because five different plants can have the same common name. Well, yeah, and depending on where you are in the country, people call things differently, and yeah. Oh, Clematis and Clematis, don't get me started with that, wow, and yeah, it depends on where you're from, how you pronounce things, and you know, for crying out loud, it's gardening, we don't need to get ruffled up about it, but yeah, so anyway, that's how it is, and I love that plant, I've got it growing all over my yard, it's very successful. Okay, and it's shade, it sounds like you have a lot of shade. It does handle sun, also, it can't handle our all day sun, you know, our summers are so harsh on the plants, that it needs some afternoon shade, in high sun areas, you know, I get, I have it out, where it does have full exposure, but I have so many really large trees that hit it with shade, this one particular spot, it's a perfect balance, and it's going crazy, and oh, I love that, and it blooms in the winter time, when you're just feeling a little sad and bleak, and nothing else is blooming, and there's probably been rainy, and you walk outside, walk through your garden, and you're hit with this lovely scent, that is just immediately uplifting, and you experience, I experience, aromatherapy in my garden. Okay, on that note, folks, we're taking a break, we'll be right back. 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And the bottom line on the bottom line, no one beats their price or financing. Check out the sleep shop in their three great locations. Two of those are in Auburn, Highway 49 at Palm. They have a clearance center and gift store called the Nest at 3880 Highway 49. They're right here in Grass Valley, 410 Brunswick Road, right next to Safeway. When you've got more stuff than room, when you're finished with the project and no longer need the tools, when you've outgrown, moved on, or stepped up from, eliminate the clutter with Swap Shop. 307 days a year, 614 hours annually, Nevada County knows where to turn when their stuff becomes overwhelming. Swap Shop. Join the parade to profitability. It's more fun than should be allowed in the public airways. Swap Shop and the shopping show weekdays 10 to 1130 and Saturdays from 9 to 10 only on KNCO News Talk 830. All right folks, we're Master Gardeners and Friends Radio Show. Welcome back. I'm Master Gardener Christine Smith. And I'm Master Gardener Lisa Marsh. And oh, so much fun. We just keep chatting about plants during the break even. I know. You missed out. Well, you know, plant crazy ladies. Right. That's us. Yeah, yeah. I have a soft spot for rhododendrons, and you were mentioning camellias, like azaleas. I lived in the Pacific Northwest for 25 years, and yeah, you just learn to love them up there. Well, they're everywhere, and they're so fabulous, and beautiful, and lush, and green. And I actually didn't know they grew here. And then when we moved here, the house we bought, there were quite a few established ones in the yard, and I was so happy to have them. So I do love those, and they are so ... I feel like they just add a lushness and a richness to a garden. Oh, so much so. Yeah. I agree. I love everything that you said. It's so true. I have a rhododendron. I used to have a lot more, but the one I still have is Jean Marie Montague. I might have ... Jean Marie de Montague, I think that is how you pronounce it. But it's a, ooh, really vibrant, dark reddish pink. Nice, nice. Really a pretty one. Oh, they're so pretty. Well, mine were ... See, there's a sprinkler system. There's irrigation in my house, but then we messed up the irrigation because we put in a pool. Oh. And so we had to dig up half the yard. Redo, yeah. So we had a couple of years where ... And then also, irrigation is an education. Oh, truly, truly. What kind are you going to use? Well, yeah, and you're either committing to paying somebody regularly to keep this maintained for you, or you're learning how to do it yourself. Bingo. So, I mean, I'm not paying somebody to maintain my irrigation given how often it needs maintenance. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We'd be broke. Right. We'd keep paying tomatoes. Yeah, exactly. But that only works in the summertime. Right, yeah. So the last few years, I have learned how to work on my irrigation all myself. We have some sprinklers. We have some drip. We kind of have a little bit of everything. I've learned how to work on it. But anyway, that's a whole circular way of getting around to the point that ... I think a couple of years, my rhododendrons weren't getting quite enough water. So they didn't flower a lot. They weren't looking so great. And I was so proud of myself this year, this spring. They just were gorgeous with the bright pink and purple flowers. Every time I drove up and down the driveway, I was pointing to my kids, I look at the flower. Look at the rhododendrons. You have to look. You have to look at how pretty they are because I felt like that was a real level of accomplishment for me, not just as a gardener, but as managing my own irrigation to the point where these plants who do need water, they were showing me that they were happy and I felt really good about that. Well, that was your reward. Yes. Yes. And it's a lot of work managing your own. For seeing and listening. Yeah, it is. It is. It is a lot of work managing an irrigation system for sure. But around here, if you want to have plants that are used to being in areas where they have a lot of water. So it's good. You know, we learn about irrigation. We learn about having different zones of your garden and having things grouped together. So I do have just a couple of areas of my yard with the things that want a lot of water, like the rhododendrons and the azaleas and the camellias and those things kind of together so I can get my couple of lush areas. I think of those three, camellias, azaleas, and rhododendrons, they kind of like always go together. Yes. Yes. And you know, and actually camellias. And the hydrangeas. Yeah, rhododendrons are the, and azaleas are the same family, so you know. Yeah, and hydrangeas, that's another one. You know, acid lovers, and they like extra water and really do so much better when they get it. Yeah, so much fun. The deer like the hydrangeas. Oh boy, don't they? Yeah. So I did put some of those in my, I have one area that's not fenced where I have some rhododendrons and things that the deer will leave alone. And then I have another area inside the fence where I took out some buddleia, butterfly bushes. Oh yeah, buddleia. Buddleia, I don't know how to say that one. And I put in some hydrangeas. Oh yeah. Because I really, you know, the buddleias were just getting a little too big and out of control. Oh, they do, the full size, they do that. Yeah, they were big. They do that, yeah. So we took those out, but they keep coming up, volunteer. I just pulled a bunch more out, actually, that were coming back up. You know, they're really amazing, the full-sized ones. They're so hardy. I used to grow them and propagate them. And they can be nice out, you know, further out in your landscape. They don't need a lot of water, although they will look much better with some water. But I had one at my old house in the front yard. That thing was so happy that it grew so large. It was taller than the first story of the house. And then I had to have the hubby cut it down, I would have him cut it down like every year. With the chainsaw. And Jim, our caller, mentioning he was chainsawing his fotenia, and it brought back that memory. He had to come out there, and he'd take it down to, you know, it was a big gnarly, you know, crown of big branches sticking up, and he would just chainsaw that thing. And then come back full-size a year later, right? Oh my gosh, the thing would be ginormous. And it was great. You know, they're great fun. I moved, so the ones, this area where I put in some hydrangeas, and I took out the Buddleia. Most of them I moved. I like to try to transplant things rather than just, you know, kick them to the curb. So I moved them to further out where they can just do their thing, and go crazy. And most of them survived. That's not bad. That's cool. And again, I'm not fussy, as I said, I'm kind of a lazy gardener. So even when I transplant something, I'm mostly, you know, there's right ways and wrong ways to do it, and I'm mostly doing it the wrong way. Oh, now. Not always. But, you know. But, you know, the learning process, it takes, you know, it takes a few trials and errors. Yeah. I'm aware of the correct way to do it. I just don't always want to work that hard. But I did, you know, we dug the hole, and we did fill it with water, let it drain out. So that's good. And most of these have done pretty good. Good. That's good. I joke that my gardening style, you familiar with the Hunger Games? Have you seen the movies? It's been so long. Well, there's the quote in the movie, the one the character says, is, may the odds be ever in your favor. Indeed. Yes, I like that. I like that. I joke that that's my gardening style. I put it in there, and I'm like, may the odds be ever in your favor. Best of luck, child. Bless you, plant. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Bless you, and good luck. Oh, that's cute. See, there's more than one way to approach gardening. There's a lot of ways to approach it. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. And I think it's all good. You know, there's no wrong way. No. You know. And that's another thing. I'm always telling my kids. Exactly. You know, you look at how someone else is doing something, and as long as they're happy with their input and their results, then it's not wrong. Yeah. As long as you're happy with it. It works for them. Yep. And that's, you know, sometimes, you know, we come out with our technical ways of doing things, and it's normal. Yeah, we do our work. Our technical ways of doing things. Of course. And old-timers have been doing something one way for 40 years. Yes. I'm not going to try to convert anybody. Right, right. No, I say, babe, if that works for you, I'll do you. Well, I mean, one of the things I love about the Master Gardener program, of course, is that the science-based and research-based philosophy, and the testing things, and demonstrating not only what works, but why things work. The why. Yeah, using that research and that testing and that knowledge from the University of California to help us understand why things work. So there absolutely is a lot of science in gardening, but I also think there's a lot of luck in gardening. Sometimes something just works because you just got lucky. Yeah. Honestly, sometimes I think that is very true. So it's nice to have a balance of both, right? Yeah. Where we can look up the science and we can refer to the science and we can look on the IPM and we can look for the research if we're struggling with, why can I just not get this to work? We can find the actual information. Yeah. And it's interesting because, and sometimes it just takes a lot of trial and error. And that, honestly, that is the fun part for me. I think so. Yeah. I, I, cause this girl loves an experiment. I used to, what I used to do when I first moved into my house, I really didn't do anything outside or inside for the first year because, except for I did, when I, when I did outside was pull weeds. Yeah. Yeah. Well, you have to learn a property. You have to get to know your property. Exactly. Yeah. You got to learn the property, learn, you know, as much as you can about the, the microclimate. Every property has multiple microclimate. Well, we've been in ours five years and I feel like I'm just. Yeah. Yeah. Really getting to know the situation after five years. Absolutely. I agree. All right. Oh, we're at the top of the hour. That's our top of the hour music. This is our long break, so we will be back in about seven minutes. All right. Okay. Come back up. The Master Gardeners never run out of great advice on KNCO Grass Valley, Nevada City, 106.99 FM and 830 AM. 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