 Well, great. Thank you. It's great to be here. And what a fun topic, flowers. And you know, I enjoy all aspects of gardening. And one thing that I like is that there's something for everybody in gardening, whether you like vegetable gardening or tree shrubs, landscaping, flowers, I like it all. And it's going to be fun today to talk about flowers, growing flowers for fun or profit. And as flowers make our homes and cities just so beautiful, there's so much that we can do. And now humans have a long history with flowers. We've been growing flowers for beautification ever since the days of the ancient Romans and Greeks. And of course, Europe has a long history with flowers. The palaces and public gardens in old Europe were filled with flowers. And many of those same traditions from Europe, their love of flowers came with our immigrants when they came to this country. So many of our ancestors are parents and grandparents, great grandparents. Many of them when they came to this country brought that tradition of enjoying flowers with them. So for many of our early settlers, after they got their houses built and maybe their barns built, then decorating the outside of their homes with flowers was just a natural. In fact, on many old homesteads, you can still find peonies that were planted in the days of the homestead. So we have a long history of enjoying flowers. And they make our yards and businesses so beautiful. And in many ways, flowers just make summer come alive for us, just natural. Now, whether we're growing flowers for fun or for profit, many of the principles are the same. The growing principles, the care that the flowers take are much the same, whether you're growing flowers in your backyard, or whether you're growing them acres and acres for a livelihood, the basic care is very much the same. Now, when we talk about flowers, there are really two broad categories of flowers, annual flowers and perennials. So we're going to talk about those two types today. There's actually a third type called the biennial, but there aren't many flowers that are actually like that. Those are ones that live only two years specifically. So let's talk a little bit about each of the main types of categories. Now, annual flowers, annual flowers are types of flowers that just live for one growing season. And what they do is they grow, produce the flower, then they make a seed head, and then their purpose in life is done, they die over winter. So annual flowers just live for the one growing season. Oftentimes, they're referred to as simply as annuals or bedding plants. Now, take a look at the photo of marigolds. Notice the dry flowers, and those dried flowers are going to produce a seed pod. And that is an annuals goal in life is to produce that seed pod. We're going to talk about removing those later. So it's interesting the life of an annual flower. The next category are perennial flowers. Oftentimes in flower gardening, there's some people called perennials. Now those are plants that live for two or more years. Their plants that died to the ground are in winter and then come back in the spring. So perennial flowers living more than just seeds. And if we take a look at, if we take a look at annual flowers, a few more growing things about annual flowers. Annual flowers are really unparalleled in color and excitement. There's just so many different types, the colors, the heights. A fascinating thing about annual flowers is that they produce their bloom for most of the growing season. They start blooming early and continue right on through till frost. That's one of the main advantages is that they have that long summertime of bloom. And of course, one of the disadvantages is that they do need to be replanted each year. So if we take a look at some of the growing techniques for annual flowers first, one of the key points is to fit the annual flowers into whether they like sun or shade. So on the left side, the zinnias are sun loving. They can take a full all day sun. On the right side are the impatience. And impatience and some other types of annuals prefer the shade. So it's a key point to fit the flowers into their preferred light, whether sun, shade or part. For full sun, those flowers should really have a full eight hours of sunlight each day. Now let's take a look at some ways that we could use our annual flowers. Of course, you could do a flower bed composed completely of annual flowers. That's fun. The entire flower bed you can create it very nicely with totally annuals. Or another good way is to combine annuals with perennial flowers. Annuals work very well tucked in between the perennial flowers. We'll talk a little bit more about that in a minute. A third way to use annuals are in containers. Our pots and planters, we can use those on apartment balconies, decks, doorsteps. The nice thing about annuals in containers is that we can use those in spots that you don't have soil for a flower bed. You can still decorate and have the advantages of flowers even without needing a regular flower bed. Let's talk a little bit about using annual flowers in a flower bed. Annual flowers love organic material. When you start the annual flower bed, if you work in organic material, things such as compost or peat moss, bags of manure work well. You can add up to about three inches of that material over the flower bed and work that in. And then when you plant those annuals are really going to enjoy that. On how to plan a flower bed, an annual flower bed, you could put those in rows as we see on the photo to the left. Annuals in rows are very beautiful. That gives kind of a little more of a formal look. And in some spots that it really looks well. Another way on the right side, the lower right side photo, shows annuals used in a little more of a random pattern. And now I like to say it's a random pattern, but yet we plan the randomness. For example, we need to take a look at the height. If we take a look at the plant tag to see the height of the annual flowers. So that generally you're using the taller material to the back and the shorter growing material toward the front. But even in kind of a random natural, that can give a very good look too. Another point about annual flower beds is the fall cleanup. And of course, since annual flowers do not come back each year from the roots, in the fall it's wise to clean them up. If you wait until the next spring, oftentimes the tops have become kind of limp and more difficult to deal with. One thing that I've enjoyed doing in our own annual flower beds in the fall is simply running over them with a lawnmower. That might sound a little funny, but after they've been killed by frost, you can chop up that material and return it back into the soil. It makes a good organic material. So setting your lawnmower fairly high and mowing over several times that grinds it up good. Now, if any of the material was diseased, for example, if it had the grayish powdery mildew, we should remove that and not work that back in to the soil. So a good way to return that material back and that helps to improve our soils. Perennials combine very well with perennials. So that's another good way to use annual flowers. Take a look in the photo of how the green hosta are interplanted with impatience, both like shade. And notice how the colorful red impatience give pops of color in that. So a wonderful use of annual flowers is in amongst perennials. Another way, of course, that we mentioned about using annual flowers is in containers. And there's a fun way to design a container. And it's kind of easy to remember it's with a designing with a thriller, a spiller and a filler. Now, the thriller is something eye catching. For example, take a look at the photo. The caladiums, which are kind of the pinkish red larger leafed plant. The caladiums would be considered a thriller, something to kind of catch the eye, something that makes the planter pop. And a spiller would be the sweet potato vine, which is the light bright green material. The spillers spill over the edges of the container, giving a nice pleasing natural look. And the third thing is a filler. The purple leafed material is called purple heart. And the purple heart kind of spreads and fills in. There are a few other plants in the container too. But anytime you have a chance to design and plan your pots and planters, try doing it with a thriller, a spiller and a filler. It gives a nice look. Another tip about growing annual flowers is that they're considered heavy feeders, meaning that they like a lot of nutrition. And it does take a lot of nutrition in order to keep blooming as long as the annual flowers should. Now a couple of ways we can produce or provide that nutrition. In a flower bed, you could incorporate a fertilizer, either a chemical type or an organic fertilizer. You can incorporate those that at planting time. A couple of other fertilizer types. If you notice on the left hand slide is a product that is a slow release fertilizer. That works very well for pots and planters. The label tells how much to apply to a certain diameter pot. And that type of slow release fertilizer will give nutrition for a month. Oftentimes the entire growing season. On the right hand of the screen we see the water soluble type of fertilizer. And that works very well too. Now if you read the directions on the slow release granules, the directions oftentimes say that you can supplement that with the water soluble type fertilizer. So you can use both. Water soluble type should probably be applied every two weeks or so. So that nutrition is very important for keeping annual flowers blooming as long as possible throughout the summer. Another tip for growing annual flowers and keep them blooming as long as we can, is a process called deadheading in garden terminology. And deadheading means that you remove the spent or withered flowers before they set a seed pod. See as we mentioned before an annuals purpose in life is to flower, produce seed, and then die. If we can prevent seed pod formation the annuals will continue blooming and trying for much longer. So to remove that seed head it's important not just to remove the withered flower petals, but to remove the enlargement at the base. For example the petunia seed head on the right hand. If we just take off the withered flowers we are not getting the seed pod. So it's important to go right below the withered flower petals and remove that seed pod. That's the type we're trying to prevent so the annuals will keep blooming. Well how do we go about getting our annual flowers? How do we obtain them? Well one way is to visit garden centers and to buy transplants. Oftentimes these are sold in multiple packs such as the petunias and vinca or the marigolds and vinca shown here. They may be sold in six packs or four packs oftentimes called cell packs. Another way to buy annual flowers at garden centers is in individual pots. Many of the plants that are sold for container gardening are sold in individual pots as well. Another fun way to get your annual flowers is by starting them yourself from seed indoors. And my wife Mary and I enjoy doing that. This is me transplanting petunia seedlings grown from lights in our basement fluorescent lights. So it makes a fun hobby too. So we can grow our own annuals started from seed indoors. A third method is direct seeding flowers outdoors. Now that's not the preferred way because it takes a long time for annual flowers to germinate and grow a green plant and begin blooming. So if you plant flower seed directly outdoors into a flower bed in the soil, oftentimes they won't start blooming until maybe well into July or August. There are some very fast growing types that that does work for. Some of those are Zinnia, Cosmos, four o'clock grow fast and maybe sometimes marigolds. Nestertium is another one. Other than possibly those, it's wise to start with plants that have already been started. In fact, each of these types also, Zinnia, Cosmos, marigolds, four o'clock, they can all be planted from pre-started plants and then they bloom that much quicker. Now let's go on and talk about perennial flowers and some of the tips for growing perennials. Now perennial flowers are plants that live for two or more years. And sometimes the perennials that we grow in our flower beds are called herbaceous perennials. And that's because the tops die back to ground level each winter and then they come back from the base. Now trees and shrubs are perennials too because they live from year to year. Those are called woody perennials because they burst forth, they bud forth from the woody tops each year. So perennials that are considered winter hardy for our region each year they're coming from ground level. And of course that is a key point winter hardy. Perennials vary greatly in their ability to survive in a given region. Now our hardiness zones are U.S. Department of Agriculture hardiness zones. Most of us in North Dakota and Minnesota are considered in zones three and four. Most of us are zone four, zone three in the northern reaches. So when a person is choosing perennials to plant it's important to look for those that would be winter hardy in hardiness zones three and four. So they need to really survive winters down to about 35 degrees below zero. And so those will be winter hardy perennials. Well those winter hardy perennials are coming back ground level each year. And if we were to dig up perennials we find that there are some several different structures below ground from which they are arising. And one way as shown in the picture is some perennials grow from a very fibrous root system, very fibrous. And sometimes when you're reading garden books or magazines you'll hear the term the crown of perennials. And the crown is the area between the roots and the above ground stems when they grow. And that's important to tell where the crown is because that's the point if you want to divide a perennial we divide down through the crown of the perennial. So good term to know. Other perennials grow from a bulb the structure that's coming back each year for example hardy lilies. When we dig those up we would find that they're coming from a bulb and the hardy types of lilies that bulb is winter hardy enough so it survives well. And so each year they come back from a bulb underneath yet other structures that are surviving underneath look at these iris. The enlarged portion is actually a modified stem called rhizome. So iris grow back each year from a rhizome. The true roots are below that rhizome, kind of fun botany. Now some of the underground structures from which plants grow are not fully hardy. These are gladiolus corms and they aren't winter hardy enough to last. If we were way down south in the United States we might be hardy. These might be hardy enough to last over winter. But in our area these structures such as gladiolus need to be dug each fall about the time of frost and then brought and stored in indoors. And then each spring we could plant them back out again. In that category besides gladiolus are the canas and dahlias, tubers, begonias, things such as that. They kind of act like a perennial if we dig them up store them and then plant them out. Some ways that we can use perennial flowers. Now they can be in a flower bed all their own that looks beautiful. We also mentioned they can be combined with annual flowers and that looks great too. Now notice how good these perennial tulips look in the landscape. Perennials not just tulips but almost all types of perennials could be planted in amongst the shrubbery in our foundation plantings. And that gives color. Many of our shrubs you know don't have much blooming but annual perennials added can give very nice color to our landscapes. Another thing that's very important is to consider the lifespan of a perennial. Now even though all perennials live two years or more some of them have longer lives than others. So some are long lived some are short lived. Now take a look at the peonies down kind of in the left hand portion of the photo. Now perennial peonies have been known to live for centuries even in North Dakota. There are many pioneer peonies still living. So peonies have a very long life some such as bleeding heart, hospita, day lily, iris, long lived perennials. Other types of perennials such as the Delphinium here have a shorter lifespan. They may live for three to five years then sometimes they need replacement or digging and dividing. Even though they have a shorter lifespan they're certainly worth planting they're beautiful aren't they? But we should keep in mind that certain perennials have long lives and others have a shorter lives and so then we replant as we need. For successful perennial bed it's very important to combine a number of different types of plants. The reason for that is that most perennials have a certain bloom time. Most of them bloom for a two to six week period either in spring and early summer or mid summer or fall. So when planning a perennial flower bed it's important to choose types from each of those blooming seasons. So choose some perennials that bloom early spring some in mid summer some in fall and by doing that you'll have color throughout and if you locate in a perennial bed locate some of those from each blooming season kind of throughout then your perennial bed will be always changing and it will look nice and have bloom throughout the summer. One of the beauties of a perennial flower garden is that it's continually changing as the different types bloom. There are few if any perennial flowers that bloom from spring until frost. Most of them have their specific bloom period and that's why we combine the different types. Just like we did with annual flowers with perennial flowers we need to examine the type of light that they preferred. Some perennials love the shade such as on the left side the hosta and bleeding heart and ferns. They love the shade and that's where they do their best. Other perennials like the iris on the right side need full sun in order to bloom their best. And so when deciding what to plant and where to plant it make sure that we investigate the light requirements. For example if the sunny iris were put in the shade they just don't bloom as well and hosta that like the shade they certain types of hosta might not do well in the sun. Now perennials give us a chance to be patient. Now perennials it does take them a few years to develop a root system and a structure in which they can burst forth in bloom. So many perennials will take up to about three years and then in that third year they'll begin their nice full bloom that we're accustomed to and then they'll bloom strongly thereafter. But that gives us a chance the first few years to be patient and they're well worth waiting for. Nearly all perennials love soil that has been amended with organic material such as peat moss, compost, bags of manure. Now perennials since they like organic materials so much can be planted into soil in which we've already added the organic material. At plant for example if you're starting a brand new perennial bed we can incorporate those materials from the start. Even if we have an existing perennial bed that maybe doesn't have much organic matter in the soil we can add handfuls and then kind of work that in around. Perennials grow much better in a soil rich in organics. And it's always important too to check the height and the width of perennials so that we don't locate short growing perennials behind the tall ones. So we should kind of plan our perennial beds so that we are situating them right. Very important is to look at the width or the spread of each perennial type so that we give each of them the footprint that they need in order to develop and grow so that our perennial beds don't become crowded. Now when you first develop a perennial bed the first year of planting it's maybe going to look a little bit skimpy because we're allowing the room for them to grow and develop. A good technique is to during that first year especially maybe put some annual flowers in between the blank spaces just to kind of give a person something more to look at while the perennials are developing. Mulch is very important in a perennial bed. We mentioned that perennials like a soil rich in organic material. They also tend to like a cooler soil and a good layer of mulch three to five inches of wood product mulch does wonders can even be combos does wonders for keeping the soil cool. It helps conserve moisture. Also it helps diminish the weeds. Now a common question is should we be adding landscape fabric under that mulch. Now perennials do grow better if they just have the mulch applied over the soil without the landscape fabric landscape fabric can be used on perennials. But the perennials seem to like it better without plus if weeds get started through that landscape fabric makes a little more difficult. So just a good layer of mulch over the soil in a perennial bed and we don't necessarily need the landscape fabric. We mentioned in annual flowers the importance of deadheading to remove the withered blossoms. And that's equally important with perennial flowers because forming a seed pod is an energy drain and the energy instead of going to seed pod formation which they don't need that energy can go into forming a better plant structure. And it can go into energy for the plants so that they will bloom better the following year. So as soon as the blossoms wither and before the seed pod is enlarging remove the withered blossom including the seed pod. Now when Mary and I had our greenhouse business sometimes customers would ask for perennials because they wanted to do something with which they didn't have to work any longer. And that's kind of a nice idea in theory but actually perennials aren't necessarily less work than annuals. It's true that you don't need to plant them each year but some of the things such as weeding can actually be a little more difficult. Some of the perennial type weeds establish closely within the crown of perennials. Dandelions are a good example. Quackgrass, thistles can easily become embedded in the central crown of perennials. That makes getting rid of weeds a little bit of a challenge but if we keep with them we can persist. Now ways to control weeds in a perennial flowerbed we can hand dig. If a person makes the rounds several times a week you can get some of these weeds when they're young. I like to think of that as giving us a chance to view the flowers and then you pull some weeds or dig them out as you're working. Another way is the mulch that we mentioned. If you put mulch and for weed control it really has to be about five inches thick. Mulch can help suppress weeds. There are some weed preventative products. One commonly seen on the market is one called preen, P-R-E-E-N preen. Now those are products that need to be applied. They're usually granules that are applied to flowerbed soil but the flowerbed soil has to be weed free. They prevent weed seeds from sprouting and they can help reduce, not totally eliminate but sometimes reduce the hand weeding. If some of the perennial weeds become established we can spot spray with an herbicide but great care needs to be taken because most of the herbicide chemicals that would kill weeds would also injure perennials. Weed control in perennials can be a whole topic for a whole series as well. Let's talk about dividing perennials, digging and dividing. Now sometimes perennials as they grow become quite large in a clump. There's a way to tell if your perennials need digging and dividing and that's to look at the center of the clump. If the good healthy parts of the perennial are all on the outside perimeter and if the center of the clump has become old and woody and not growing it's a good sign that the perennial should be dug and divided. We dig it up, take the good parts, the vigorous parts from the edges and then reset that. Now some perennials like iris which are in the upper left hand corner on the screen, iris benefit from dividing about every four years. You just dig them up and then reset a good healthy clump. On the right hand side in the photo are peonies. They can last many decades and as long as they're growing and blooming and the plant looks healthy there's really no need to dig and divide if the plant looks healthy. Now how do we know what season to dig and divide our perennials? Maybe you've heard that some need dividing in the fall and September, some in the spring. How do we know? There's an easy rule of thumb to remember and that is the time to dig and divide a perennial is the season opposite its bloom time. For example, if a perennial blooms in spring or early summer, you divide in the fall. An example would be tulips. If you're dividing tulip bulbs, which bloom in the spring, you do that in the fall. Also peonies, which bloom in early summer, late spring, early summer, peonies are always divided in the fall in September. In the central photo we see mums, chrysanthemums, which are a beautiful fall blooming perennial. Now, since they bloom in the fall, mums are always divided in the spring. So you choose the season opposite of the bloom time. If the bloom happens to be in the middle of summer, then what do we do? For example, tall flocks that bloom in July and August. Generally those are done in the spring time. So what forms do we buy perennials in? Well, let's take a look. On the left hand side, we see dormant roots. And sometimes you can buy dormant roots of perennials in the spring of the year and sometimes in the fall of the year. Things such as hosta and daylilies, peonies, those are oftentimes sold as dormant bare roots. Other ways of obtaining perennials in the picture, the central lower, we see perennials that are already growing in pots as would be sold in a garden center. So that's a good way to get a start on perennials. On the right hand side, some of the perennials are planted from a bulb, such as tulip bulbs. And lily bulbs are sometimes also planted. You can buy potted lilies, but oftentimes you just plant the dormant bulb. I might mention a fourth way to get perennials, and that's if you get divisions from a friend or a neighbor. You can dig at the appropriate dividing time and get your start that way as well. Let's talk a little bit about what we do with a perennial bed in the fall. In the fall, we used to think that a perennial bed should be cleaned up in the fall, get it all cleaned up. But then we discovered that perennial flowers actually survive winter best if the tops, the above ground portion, if the tops are left on over winter. Now take a look at the photo. Isn't that pretty? There's beauty in the tops of perennial flowers, even in the winter. Of course, if we get deep snow, then you don't see them for salon. But isn't that beautiful? Even in the fall and winter, a perennial garden, the mixture of browns can be really, really quite pretty. But the main concept, of course, is that they survive winter better. The tops help to catch snow, which is a great insulator. And so the winter survival is almost always best if you just leave the tops on, don't clean them up in the fall and then remove the tops by cutting back in the spring before the new growth starts emerging from the ground. Now there are a couple of types of perennials that should be cut back in the fall. And one of those is peonies. A peonies tend to harbor the grayish powdery mildew disease and cutting the tops back to about an inch above ground level in the fall after frost and disposing of those tops instead of leaving them lay. But disposing of them, that can help reduce the disease. A couple of other types of perennials that do benefit from cutting back in the fall are hosta, daylilies, and iris. The reason for that is after they freeze and get a little snow, the tops just kind of turn to mush over winter. And next spring it's a little difficult to clean those up. So those types, iris, hosta, daylily, we may as well cut those back in the fall. But the rest of the tops really are best left on. Now if you have some perennials that might be a little tender or maybe the first year until they really get established, they can benefit from a covering of leaves. These leaves are straw, a good layer of 12 to 24 inches placed over the perennials. Now it's important to wait until the ground has frozen. So protective mulches would usually be put on in November, the first half of November. The object of a winter mulch is to keep the perennials comfortably frozen and to prevent freezing and thawing. If we put the mulch on ground that is warm and thawed, the perennial crowns can actually rot under that. So we let the ground freeze and then apply the protective mulch and that keeps them what I like to call comfortably frozen for the winter time. And then that protective mulch would be removed in spring before any growth would start from below. Now these same principles apply really if you're growing annuals and perennials for fun or if you're growing them for profit. And it's kind of fun to see flower farms where they're growing acres and acres, flowers are oftentimes grown for cut flowers. So a few ways that if you would like to grow flowers for profit, there's a few ways you can do that. Now there's a high demand for cut flowers at farmers markets and also we can wholesale them to florists. Some types that work very, very well for cutting are the gladiolas shown here. Gladiolas, they store well, keep well and that really works well. Another way that a person can make profit from flowers would be to start a greenhouse, smaller, large, and raise the bedding plants for sale in a greenhouse. You would be starting from seed and transplanting into cell packs to create a finished pack of flowers such as the marigolds or petunias or tomato plants that we would buy at a garden center. Or another alternative for growing flowers for profit would be to grow them such as in a field situation for the underground structures. Let me give an example. If we have a peony root, we could divide that peony root into small sections. Each one needs to have several of the buds or eyes down below in the roots, but we could take a large peony, divide it up into sections, plant those out. Then in another year, dig those up, multiply them, and eventually we would have quite a few peony roots that we could dig and sell. The same thing could be done with hosta or daylilies. We can multiply them in a field situation and then dig, divide, and sell those. Now anytime we would be doing some of these things, it would be important to check with the State Department of Agriculture to see if there are any restrictions or guidelines when growing some of these things for profit or end sale. Well now, so whether we're growing annuals or perennials and whether we're doing it for fun or profit, growing flowers is fun. I have enjoyed it my entire lifetime. And you know, I hate to think of our summers without flowers. They mean a lot to us, especially after kind of a long winter. Now I will open up for questions and Scott, are you able to share the questions with me? Yes, Don, I can read them to you from the chat or if you want to click on the bottom next to the share button is the chat button too and you could go ahead and read them. I think there's only one that's come through so far. On my computer, I'm not seeing the chat box so if you wouldn't mind reading them that would be great. Yeah, that's fine and this person actually sent it privately to me anyways or thought they were sending it to Julie. So if anybody sends them to Don personally, he won't see them. But yeah, go ahead and send your chat messages, type them down in the bottom right hand corner. Make sure it says everyone and then just go ahead and type and then I will read them to Don. So first one, Don. What annual flowers can we start indoors now from seed for a zone three climate? What annual flowers can we start indoors from seed? The important concept when starting annual flowers indoor from seed is to check the preferred recommended starting date. If we start annual flowers in the same holds true with vegetable plants, if we start them from seed too early, the plants tend to get too large and languish indoors. So for most annual flowers, they begin the earliest to begin would be about March 1 seeding things such as petunias about March 1 then about March 15 would be items like marigolds. And my wife and I enjoy starting these plants under fluorescent lights in our own basement. And so for quite a number of years we've kind of used that calendar. So beginning about March 1, the only items that would require starting earlier because they take a long time to grow one would be begonias, begonia seed. They could be started now in February. And also one called Lysianthus, beautiful annual flower, but takes a long time to grow from seed would be really January. And if you were to grow geraniums from seed, really January also, but most geraniums we are grown more like from cuttings and bought from a greenhouse so starting geraniums from seed isn't as common. I might might mention too, at the end, Scott, if we share my like email address, I can certainly provide the calendar of when to start some of these things but as a rule, March 1, March 15, and then April 1 is when things such as zinnias would be started from the first of the 15th. Yeah, I'll go ahead and drop your email down in the chat here. Okay, so the next question from Kristen was, do you make any special considerations for deer when choosing perennials? Yes, now that's a great, great question. Any special considerations for deer. And I've battled deer for, well, let's see, probably 40 years or so, and repellents are kind of hit and miss some work, some don't. Now it's interesting also, sometimes a person will see published lists of deer, deer proof plants, whether it be annuals or perennials, deer proof. But if deer are hungry enough, they will eat almost anything. And what I've noticed is some of the plants on those lists that are supposedly deer proof, I've experienced deer eating them. So, you know, it's personal preference on the deer's taste. But some things that they particularly enjoy, deer seem to love hosta, and they love lilies. But to plant certain materials and not have the deer affect them usually doesn't work. The better ways are to try to use some of the most effective repellents. And the most effective repellents, there's a couple of types. One, the ingredients are rotten eggs, garlic, and so it sounds kind of funny. But those are the ingredients in the repellents, such as the one called liquid fence, liquid fence. Another ingredient that is in some of the other products is blood, and a product called plant skid, plant skid, is a repellent that has blood in it. So if a person kind of looks at the ingredients, those are the two types. And of course, repellents have to be applied fairly regularly. And so deer are definitely a problem. And but there are really no deer proof perennials as such. Okay, thanks. From Charlotte, she asks, Can you dig and divide hollyhocks? Dig and divide hollyhocks. Now, we mentioned how perennials are flowers. Most flowers come are in two broad categories, perennials and annuals. There is actually a third one called biennials that grow one year and flower the next, second, then die, biennial, meaning two. Hollyhocks are a biennial, meaning they grow the first season, then produce a flower stock the second, but they also drop their seed. So at any time in a hollyhock flower bed, you usually have new little seedlings coming up. So they kind of act like a perennial. So instead of digging and dividing, you're actually digging up little seedlings. So yes, in the spring of the year, if you see little, they're probably actually seedlings. But if you see those around kind of what was the original plant, yes, in spring as soon as you see a little growth, then you can reset those. And also, if some of the older plants too that maybe haven't exceeded their two year, you can dig and divide that. So the answer is yes, you can be separating and dividing hollyhocks as well. All right. Next one here is from Lila. In regard to mulch in perennial beds, can annuals densely planted among the perennials take the place of mulch? That's a great question. She answered that. Doesn't break down of woody mulch, deplete some nitrogen, although I understand eventually that isn't an issue. Okay, so let's talk about mulch on perennial flowers. We mentioned three to five inches of wood product mulch, and in time that will decompose. And right on the surface, a person would probably see a little bit of nitrogen depletion because you see the organisms that decompose the wood use a little nitrogen in the process. But it wouldn't sap enough nitrogen out of the root system to show any measurable effect. So generally, wood mulch does not adversely affect the nutrient content. A person could add some 10, 10, 10 well-balanced fertilizer just for good measure or an organic type fertilizer. But generally, the rotting type organisms won't suck that much nitrogen or fertilizer out. Now that's a good question about using annuals in amongst perennials. That's a good idea. Most annual flowers don't have a root system that will be that vigorous because they only grow for one season. So most annual flowers have a fairly mild root system in most cases. So they blend well with perennials. The advantage of some annuals in amongst the that would shade the root system, keeping the perennial roots shade ear and conserve moisture. And plus the use of annuals among perennials kind of bridges the bloom time because most of the annuals bloom most of the summer season. So annuals and perennials are very compatible. So yeah, good idea. Okay, thanks. The next one is from Diane. She's asking, when do you transplant rhubarb? When do you transplant rhubarb? Great question. Rhubarb, the old time-honored method is digging and dividing rhubarb in the fall around Labor Day, September, around Labor Day. That works beautifully. The second time that it can be dug and divided is in early spring just as a little bit of growth is starting to poke out of the ground. So probably late April, maybe the first part of May, depending on the season, just as soon as you see a little bit of life so you can kind of see what you're digging and dividing, that is secondary time. Okay, next one's from, I'm not sure if I'm saying the name right, but Barrel. What time of the year would you recommend to start Cleome from seed indoors? Cleome from seed, that's in a few, if you aren't familiar with Cleome or Cleomy, look at that beautiful tall annual flower. We enjoy growing that each year. And Cleomy usually started about the 1st of April, the 1st of the 15th of April. Cleomy grows fairly rapidly, so we don't want to start it too early. Now Cleomy is interesting. The germination improves if you put the seed in the refrigerator for two to three weeks before your planting time. So that can help improve the germination also on Cleome. Okay, well there's two more here. Does the same sprays apply for deer repellents also to rabbits in the landscape? Yes, deer repellents and rabbit repellents, the most effective ones work for both. And in most cases they need to be reapplied after heavy rain. Most of them have the ones that I mentioned, such as liquid fence or plant skid. I think another one is called deer away. Those products have kind of a spread or sticker type material. So in most cases they'll last about a month or after heavy drenching rain. And for rabbits, anytime we can do some fencing with chicken wire sized fencing, that will also help too. Okay, a couple more have come in here. When is the best time, I'm assuming time, when is the best to transplant a Chinese peony? Chinese peony, a wonderful group of peonies slightly different from our old fashioned type. But Chinese peonies really the fall is a good time with those as well. September. Around Labor Day is a great time for peonies, either the Fernleaf type, Fernleaf or Memorial Day on the Chinese type peonies, the other species type peonies as well as the old fashioned. September seems to work quite well about Labor Day. Okay, have, wait here I missed one there from Leslie. How do I work wood chip mulch into my garden already established perennials? All right, the wood chips if they're actually fairly, if they're wood chips with a fair amount of structure yet, it's better not to incorporate those down into the soil too far. For the reason we mentioned a couple questions ago, because in the rotting process, the little organisms will borrow some nitrogen fertilizer from the surrounding plants. So it's better to let wood chips that have some substance just remain on the surface and decompose. Other products, organic products that are more broken down, compost, peat moss, things such as that, those are the types that can be worked down into the upper 68 inches of soil. But the types of wood products that are more substantial should stay on the surface until they break down. Okay, have you had any luck starting Lantana from seed? Lantana, no. You know, on my bucket list is to have experienced as many things plant wise as I can. And I've never grown Lantana from seed. Now some Lantanas are propagated from cuttings, many of the type that are grown and sold by a greenhouse. So Lantana, I don't have any words of wisdom on Lantana. That's right. Is it okay to plant herbs among the flowers? Herbs among flowers. It would depend on the types of herbs. And of course, herbs fall into also two categories. Some are perennials that come back from the roots. Others are just annual herbs that live for one season. And they would do well among perennials except the types that would be invasive. Some of the mint type herbs are very invasive and could become too competitive. So other than mints, chives can become, they can seed themselves and become too spreading. So avoid the types that would be too invasive. And but noninvasive type herbs would do well in perennials and beds. Alrighty. Do we need to be concerned with copyrighted plants? Copyrighted plants. Plants that have patents, which is fairly common now, a lot of the annual plants that we would buy and put in our plant, or as many of those are patented, and some of the perennials that we plant are patented. And so a person does need to be aware of that. And as a rule of thumb, any plant that is patented, you cannot propagate and sell the propagations. Using it for your own use is usually permitted, but definitely not to propagate a patented plant for a resale. So a person would need to check on if the particular plant you had was patented. Alright. Last one here. Any recommendations on good places to buy seed starting supplies? Seed starting supplies. It's fairly, fairly easy to do a search on the internet for seed starting supplies, as you ask. And there are a couple of good companies. One, let's say, I hope I get the name right. I believe it's Gardner supply or growing supply. And many of these seed catalogs also have seed starting supplies. And I've also had very good success buying seed starting supplies at the local garden centers. Some of the home improvement stores also supply them. But garden centers have good seed starting supplies, things such as the lights that would go above. You can use regular fluorescent lights. But also the heating pads. Bottom heat is very important when starting seeds indoors. And garden centers sell heat pads, especially made for putting trays of germinating seeds. Alright. I spoke too soon. There was one comment and one more question here, and then maybe we'll wrap it up. The one comment was that her fern leaf peony grows beautifully in the spring, blooms beautifully, then turns brown and withers and comes back the next year. So I think she's just saying that it gets kind of smothered by the surrounding plants. Yes, fern leaf peony, which are a very beautiful type species of peony. And that's kind of the way that they grow. They will come up early, bloom beautifully, but then that's what they tend to do. A bleeding heart tends to do the same too. By mid-summer, oftentimes they've done what they needed to do for the summer, and then they just kind of turn brown and then go dormant, come back the next spring. One thing that a person can do, you don't need to do anything about that because it's natural, is to plant some annual flowers, not so much that they'd smother them or detract, but just plant some in the near vicinity so it gives something else to look at for the remainder of the summer. All right. Oh, the hydrangeas. So Carol has strawberry, vanilla, and limelight hydrangeas, and they're bent over by the heavy snow. Are there any ideas for them? Yeah. Let's see, and there are two categories of hydrangeas. Some come back from ground level each year, the big, great, big, round white-flowered ones. So if the tops bend, no problem, they come back from the ground anyway. But the types that were mentioned, such as vanilla strawberry, they leaf out each year from the above ground branches, and they can take a good, severe pruning. So if you can now, if they're bending too much, if you can go do some pruning on them to try to make them less top-heavy. I think after all this snow, this winter, I think we're going to have a fair amount of pruning, myself included. So try to do a little bit of pruning, maybe two, so they're quite so rambly and top-heavy that might help.