 Welcome, everyone, to the 2021 Field to Fork webinar series. My name is Julie Garden Robinson, and I'm a Food and Nutrition Specialist with NDSU Extension on campus in Fargo, and I will be your host for today's webinar. Our upcoming webinars are featuring two of my colleagues, Barb Ingham from Wisconsin and Karen Blakesley from Kansas State. There are 10 webinars in all, and we certainly hope that you join us for the entire series. We are using a different feature this year. We are using Zoom webinar, so you all will be in listening mode today without cameras or microphones. People watching this segment live will be able to ask questions in the chat box, so you see the chat box at the bottom of your screen most likely, and you can go ahead and type your questions in the chat, and after Don finishes his presentation today, I will pose those questions to Don. Next, I have a special request for all viewers of the live talk and any of the archives. To maintain our funding sources and offer these types of programs in the future, I ask that you take the very short survey that will land in your email box shortly after today's talk. We will have some random prize drawings, so you might receive a prize in the mail if you win. So please take the survey and the follow-up survey that asks you for your name and mailing address. I also have two acknowledgments today. First, to the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service for our Field to Fork funding. This is our sixth year, by the way, of doing these webinars. And we also have a contribution from Purdue University through a grant from the National Institutes of Food and Agriculture. We thank all of these entities for their support. And now what you've all been waiting for, it's time for our featured speaker. I'm very pleased to introduce Don Kinsler. Don is the NDSU Extension Horticulture agent for Cass County. Born and raised in Lisbon, North Dakota, Don is a lifelong gardener. He and his wife owned and operated a garden center in South Fargo for 25 years before Don joined Extension. He writes a weekly garden column and is also the host of WDAY's lawn and garden radio. Thank you, Don, for sharing your expertise today and take it away. Thank you, Julie, and greetings to each of you. And it's a pleasure to be here. I've been looking forward to today for four months. Well, welcome to the garden center. We are going to take a field trip today. We are going to journey to garden centers and we're going to learn some tips at how we can get the most out of that experience. Now, the garden center is kind of a catch all term used to be known as a nursery. Now nurseries were generally for producing trees and shrubs or sometimes these businesses were called a greenhouse, which produced primarily flowering type plants. But the term garden center, that business kind of encompasses everything, trees, shrubs, flowering plants and the products that go along with them. Now, for me, this has been a trip down memory lane. My wife and I really enjoyed our years in the garden center business. And these photos were taken 37 years ago at the business that we had. You can see the greenhouses and our sales house, etc. And gosh, I've aged a bit since that photo from 37 years ago. Now, when we talk about garden centers, there are really two types. Now, there are garden centers that are attached to the national chain big box stores and there are independent locally owned garden centers. Now, the independent locally owned, those are the ones that we're going to focus on today. The field to fork series generally connects producers with customers, consumers. And so really the locally owned garden centers are the ones that usually produce a great share of the product that they sell rather than just, you know, trucking them in and reselling. So we're talking about the locally owned independent garden centers today. Now, in the locally owned garden centers, the experience is unique and especially for younger, maybe newer gardeners. If their experience has been at a garden center connected to a big box store. We should all make sure that the younger newer gardeners experience the locally owned garden center. It is absolutely awesome. The experience itself, just being in there, smelling the aroma of the earth, smelling the plants, viewing everything. In a locally owned garden center, you can really relish the experience in addition to buying plants, just that experience. And of course, the selection of plants in our greenhouse. I got a kick out of raising a hundred four different named varieties of petunias. I mean, not the customers needed that many different kinds, but it was just fun to say, well, we've got a hundred four different kinds of petunias and all the other things, too. So selection is wonderful and locally owned garden centers. And of course, the service that goes along with the products and very important, the knowledge of the plants that they sell to help the customers, the right plant in the right place and quality quality. Locally owned garden centers are able to raise the quality plants that they have control over the types of plants that they sell. So many of the plants are homegrown and that's kind of fun, too, to see the plants actually being grown in a greenhouse. Now, tips for customers and managers, really, they want the same things. They want the plants to thrive. You want your plants to thrive. Now, the managers and owners of the garden centers, they want your plants to thrive, too, so that your entire experience is positive. You know, the experience in a garden center, especially this time of year. Now, not all garden centers are open all year long. Some garden centers are seasonal, some open first part of April. Other garden centers are open all year long. The experience in that garden center when you walk in, whether it's in the wintertime or whether when they open in springtime, that experience is just wonderful. In fact, I'd almost be willing to pay an admission to get into a garden center just to smell the aroma and enjoy the humidity and the warmth. And so a wonderful, wonderful experience, even before you start buying any plants. So we're going to divide our field trip into a couple of different things. We're going to talk about some tips, things to do before you even go to the garden center. Then we're going to talk about some tips when you're in the garden center and then some ideas after you get home with your plants. So let's talk first about the things to the tips before you even go to the garden center. A good idea to make a list. Make a list of the plants that you need and intend to buy. Now, we've probably all had the experience of going to the garden center and gosh, those plants all look good. So you come home with more than you have space to plant. And of course, if you're like me, you think, well, gosh, I need to tear up a little more of this lawn so I can plant a whole another section landscape. Another idea is to before you go, line your trunk with plastic or some boxes or plastic totes or something so that when you bring your plants out of the garden center and open up your trunk so that you don't wish, gosh, I should have brought something to line that trunk with. So do that beforehand. Very important also before you go, write down some measurements. This really comes in handy at the garden center. For example, the diameter of your pots and planters. Otherwise, when you get to the garden center, you know, when the helpful salesperson is talking with you and you kind of hold your hands together and say, well, let's see, I've got a container kind of about this size. How many plants would you recommend putting in that? Same is true with landscape beds, an area that you want to plant shrubs in. If you have the exact measurements when you're at the garden center, you can better successfully choose how many shrubs go in. You know, otherwise, you kind of have to stand there and say, well, gosh, my planting area is kind of like from here to there. How many plants should I put in? Same with flower beds, much easier to measure them beforehand and write them down. There's some basic terminology that we all see at a garden center. Very basic. But of course, we need to know these things. Annual flowers, those are the types of things you put in your pots and planters and containers and fill in for flower beds. And then when fall frost comes, those are gone. Pranials, of course, we want them to come back each year. We'll talk more about pranials later. Trees are generally plants with one single trunk, large, usually large. Sometimes they have multiple trunks also, whereas shrubs are multi-trunked. Many branches coming from the base. Now, the best days to shop at a garden center are really Monday through Thursday, because once April, May and June hit, garden centers get really, really busy on the weekends of Saturdays and Sundays. Now, it's it's fun on a Saturday and Sunday when the garden center is packed with customers for the owners and managers and salespeople. You know, that that's a kind of a neat rush to have that many people in the days go by fast and it's fun for customers, too. You know, you kind of all get caught up together in the planting craze. But if you need some individual attention or have some individual questions, it's maybe better to go a Monday through Thursday. Then you're more likely to be able to spend a little time with a salesperson. Now, when can we start buying in the garden center? The main the main concept is don't be fooled by a false early spring. Now, every few years we'll get an April that is just beautiful. The entire month of April can be so nice and warm and spring fever hits. And we're all anxious to get going. But in April, there's there's almost always a 90 percent chance that we're going to have a killing frost yet in late April or into May. So it's it's fine and wonderful to shop at a garden center in April. Do some planning, trees and shrubs we can buy and plant. Many of those are dormant trees, shrubs, perennials. Those can be start being planted in April. Like I say, they're dormant, so frost isn't going to hurt leaves that that haven't formed yet. But for bedding plants or perennials or anything that is actively growing, there's there's a 10 day time period of planting year in and year out over the decades. The 10 day window for planting containers out in the flower bed, getting tomatoes out in the garden. A 10 day period window is May 15th to the 25th. And just if you follow that year in, year out, you're safe. Now, that doesn't mean you all you have to go shop at the garden center only those 10 days, you know, shop earlier, you know, do planning. You can maybe buy things. We'll talk about what to do with plants when you buy them early. But do look at that for frost sensitive plants. Do look at that window, the wonderful window of opportunity. And it prevents the heartache of doing too much planting too soon in April. We used to have customers that would come in after we had a frost in early May. Sometimes people would say, well, I suppose that's good for the greenhouse business, you can sell twice. But actually, it's not, you know, greenhouse, we're all in it together. And no one wants people's plants to get frosted because you get downhearted. No one wants that. So we've arrived at the garden center. So when you arrive at the garden center, especially a new one that you haven't been there before, kind of get your radar out and kind of observe where the annual section is, where the perennials are, the trees, shrubs, oftentimes the shade type plants versus sun loving plants. Shade type plants will often be under a protective screen. If you look at the photo on the lower right, you'll see the area protected by a shade cloth. So it's kind of fun to see the different areas. And next, locate where the boxes or trays are that management wants you to collect your purchases in. And so a tip for managers, make sure that the boxes or whatever you want people to put the plants in, make sure those are very visible in a number of locations throughout the garden center and tip to customers, look for those. You know, don't take don't take plants out of other trays and grab the plastic tray underneath, you know, unless it's, you know, you see nothing else, but, you know, do put them in the carrying tray that is intended for that. And of course, look for the prices to see how the price structure is determined. The best garden center invention, I think of all times, well, maybe the plastic nursery pot, but next to that is the plant tag. That allows us to self shop. We can take a look and a key source of information. Now, a couple of things that plant tags sell tell. One is the mature height and width. Now, by studying that tag, we can avoid a couple of problems. You know, in the photo of the evergreens, you know, those evergreens looked so small and so cute when we bought them. You know, who would have known that they get that tall? Well, of course, by examining the plant tag, we'd know the size and also the shrub that needed to be cut off because people needed to drive in on the driveway. If if a person had looked at the width of that, the mature width of that shrub, we could have given it the footprint that it needed so that we could have spaced it without having to lop off about a third of it. Plant tags also tell the preferred light conditions, which is especially important, of course, for annuals and perennials, but also shrubbery. So on a plant tag, you'll see a couple of key words. Sometimes it'll say full sun. Now, that needs six hours or more of direct sunshine. Part sun can do four to six hours of sun, such as morning sunshine. And so what's the difference between part sun and part shade? Well, part shade, we start getting into the shadier realm two to four hours only of sun and full shade. You get less than a couple hours of sun or no direct sunshine at all. Tags tell the very important winter hardiness zone, which is vital for perennials, trees and shrubs. Now, in the upper Midwest, we're in the USDA hardiness zones three and four, which can be a little tricky. Zone three material is rock hardy all the way down to 40 below. But zone four, take a look at the map and notice that zone four covers a large area from north to south. And zone four, all these hardy zones are divided into a zone A and B. But most plant tags, I've noticed, do not say zone four A and zone four B. They just say zone four. So when we shop at a garden center for hardy materials, zone three is going to be fine. Zone three, two, one, perfect. Zone four material, we should do a little more investigating. Do a little more searching to see exactly how hardy or ask at the garden center. Because sometimes zone four plants can be a little borderline. Now, I've noticed some plant tags, instead of giving the hardiness zone, they will just say hardy to 20 below. Now, you might think, oh, 20 below, boy, that sounds sounds pretty good. But if you look at the temperature chart, 20 below is kind of zone four to five. A plant that is hardy to 20 below, you know, we get in Fargo, North Dakota, Northern Minnesota, you know, we get 30 below, 35 below. And all it takes is one time for that plant to be killed. So one winter in the course of a shrub that's a zone kind of zone four, zone five, one winter where it dropped to that temperature is enough to kill it. Tags should also tell the botanical name of the plant. Now, not that we all need to become plant scientists, but there are some good cases and hydrangea is my favorite case for describing the importance of botanical names. Now, there are two types of hydrangea species of hydrangea that are well adapted for the Northern Plains. Zones three and zone four, North Dakota, Northern Minnesota. They are hydrangea paniculata and hydrangea arborescens. OK, well, we probably won't remember that. But in a garden center, if you take a look at the different named varieties, for example, vanilla strawberry in I've highlighted in yellow, it says hydrangea paniculata. So I say, oh, well, that's a member of a well adapted species. I'll plant that. If we take a look at the blue one, that is the endless summer. Now, endless summer hydrangea, we look at the fine print on the label that I've highlighted in yellow and it says hydrangea macrophila. Well, macrophila is not one of the two best adapted. That's more related to the florist type hydrangea. So the endless summer hydrangeas are not as well adapted. So good case of where you can look at that. Should garden centers handle endless summer hydrangea? Yeah, they should. There are many reports of them doing fine if you give them certain care, but that's the key we kind of need to. But that could be a whole another program on hydrangeas. Good labeling and good signs are such an excellent sales person. So do make use of the wonderful signs that garden centers provide. Next, we're going to take a look at some tips for selecting specific types of plants. How to select the best annuals, the perennials, trees, shrubs, et cetera. So let's walk through some of those. Let's start with annual flowers. Annual flowers, things like petunias, marigolds, geraniums, things that we fill our pots and planters and flower beds with. So if you look at a an individually pot, an individually potted annual flower or a pack, they should be well branched from the base, you know, not leggy. And rich green foliage indicates that they've had good fertility and good nutrition along the way. Notice the geranium down in the lower right corner. Isn't that beautiful? Look at the the nice husky basal branching. You can just picture that going into your container outdoors that's going to do beautifully. Now, quite a number of you are going to cringe at what I'm about to say. Now, when I get those petunias home and right before I'm going to plant them, do you know what I do? I take a scissors or shears and I cut off all the blossoms. That's the secret that my mom taught me. I started gardening with her when I was about five. And my mom always said, well, because the old greenhouse person taught her this and my mom always said, well, you take off the blossoms and buds because that allows the energy when you transplant it into the soil. That allows the energy to go into rooting and producing a good stocky plant that is capable of producing lots and lots of blossoms in the long run. Yes, you you do sacrifice, you know, a few days of bloom, but it'll bounce right back in. So, you know, if you don't do your plant isn't going to die if you don't cut those blossoms back, but try it sometime. Try try cutting off those blossoms when you plant an annual flower. And it does. It works very well. The energy will go into the rooting and the production of a really nice plant that in the long run for the entire summer, then you'll get many more blossoms. Now, the geranium on the lower right, geraniums, when they're growing the greenhouse are the first blossoms are usually pinched off a number of times to develop a good stocky plant. So when I'm buying a geranium like that, I would not remove all the blossoms but packs of annuals, I feel it. I feel it works well. Let's talk next about choosing perennials, perennial flowers. If they're well branched to the base is great and multiple shoots coming from the base, that'll mean it'll kind of produce a circular crown a little quicker with the, you know, eventual more blooms. One thing I should mention about perennials also. Now, most perennials require until about the third year from planting to really get going well. Some some take a little longer than others, such as peonies. But most perennials come into their glory in about the third season. So, you know, don't be afraid to have some patience and kind of wait. Now, blooms are optional on perennials. Actually, when you plant them, I think it's a good idea to remove that blossom again to let the energy go into rooting and developing a nice structured plant. Now, we should also understand the difference between a long lived perennial and a short lived perennial. Now, both types of perennials can be well adapted, but not all perennials have the same long lifespan. For example, peonies, iris, dailies, hosta, bleeding heart, those can be around for the next 100 years. There are many peonies that have been on homesteads that are 100 years old. So one category of perennials. And sometimes it takes a little, you know, either experience or investigating to find those long lived types. The other category are short lived perennials. Now, absolutely worth it planting, you know, don't give up on them. But some perennials will will get the enjoyment for maybe five years or so. Foxglove, lupins, delphinium, echinacea, several types like that. We enjoy them for a shorter lifespan, but don't don't give up on them just because they they aren't in the same category as a peony. But do be aware that there are the different categories. Next, let's move to the section of vegetables. Now, everybody likes tomato plants to buy at the garden center. Look at these. Doesn't that just make your mouth mouth water for not only fresh tomatoes, but just to be in a garden center, selecting these the uppermost photo, look at the fresh green of the leaves and generally stocky plants, they look quite nice. Those are those are good tomato plants. They photo to the right. Those plants are taller, but they're still a nice rich green. And I'm not afraid to buy taller tomato plants because tomato plants are a little unique. You can just remove the lower leaves and plant those deeply into the garden right up to the uppermost leaves so that just the top is sticking out, then they won't get windwipped. And also tomatoes, plants will root from all along that stem, creating a much sturdier, more productive plant. The plants, the photo in the lower left hand are yellow. And so try to avoid those. That means they've been starved for nutrition. Now, if you plant those out and give them some fertilizer, they'll recover. But you know, it takes a little bit of time, a few weeks, you know, kind of for them to get the nutrition back. So we may as well start with something that's already good and green. Now, tomatoes are very important to study the plant tag because tomatoes fall into a few categories. If it says 50 to 65 days to maturity or harvest, those are an early group, you know, for the earliest tomatoes. But if you want main season tomatoes for lots of eating, canning, kind of a good main season, look for the varieties that are 65 to 78 days. If they're later than that, 80 to 110 days, those are quite late. So for example, if a gardener picks a tomato that is 100 days, they might come back to the garden center and say, well, gosh, my tomatoes didn't start ripening until September. Well, you know, maybe maybe they chose a variety that was later. It's kind of a nice idea to do when you're buying tomato plants, pick varieties from each of those categories. So you've got some early, some mid season and some later as well. And also that days to maturity, that is from the date and that's average. A lot depends on the temperature and growing conditions, but on the average. And that is the days from the time that they are transplanted out into the garden soil. That's not the number of days from seeding. So that is the days from transplanting. I once happened to be in a garden center and a customer was questioning those days and the employee kind of mistakenly said, well, that's the number of days from seeding. So don't don't be alarmed that it's 100 days because that that's from seeding and they've already been growing 45 days. But if you follow that way of thinking, OK, a 65 or a 60 day tomato. OK, if they're seeded April 1st, set out May 15th, that's already 45 days. So you should almost get you should get tomatoes in 15 days. You know, that doesn't happen. So anyway, it is from the time of transplanting into the garden. But the number of days gives a good determination of early, mid season and late. OK, let's move out to the shrub shrub area. So when choosing shrubs, look for those that are well branched from the base, healthy foliage and very important to look at the tag to see what the mature width is as well as the height, but determine what the footprint is of that. And that's important when you're planting a combination of shrubs together in a landscape bed, sometimes it will say space this far apart. Well, that that works if you're planting 10 spireas all the same, then you can space them if it says space two feet. OK, but if you're planting a big dogwood that's that's going to get six foot diameter next to a two foot spirea, you know, that spacing doesn't work. But if you if you consider, you know, thinking your your mind, what the what the width is the mature width of that, for example, a dogwood that will get six foot diameter. Think of that as a footprint. So when you're planting these shrubs, give that dog a dogwood, give that it's six foot footprint. Then next to it, the spirea that's going to get two foot, give that one it's two foot footprint. So that really works well to decide these the spacing is think of it as a footprint. Shade ornamental trees look for straight trunks, of course, nicely branched. Here's a key point that has really changed over the years. And that is the depth of planting, depth of planting over the years. Trees have been planted too deeply out in our yards and boulevards. And they've suffered as a result. There have been many, many cases of tree death from being planted too deeply. We didn't realize this until things started having a lot of problems. So here's here's the key. Take a look, look for the blue arrow down at the base there, where it's pointing down in the pot. When you're at the garden center, look for that, that is called the root flare or the trunk flare. You can see the spot where the roots are going down into the potting soil. When you get that tree home to plant, make sure those uppermost flare roots are only an inch or so below your soil. If they were planted too deeply in the pot, where you can't see those, well, just scrape away a little of the top potting mix and plant it at the proper depth. So we used to plant our trees way too deeply in the pot. We didn't didn't know any better. That was the recommendation. We planted them really deeply so they wouldn't topple over in the wind in the pot so badly. And so anyway, do look for that very important in the garden center and very important when you're planting them at home. Choosing fruit trees, be certain to choose varieties that are well adapted to our climate and our zone. And that's so much easier in a locally owned garden center that is honed in on the area in which you plant. National chains struggle with this because they may be providing stock for a much wider geographic area. It's interesting also to note on fruit trees, the wider the branch angles, the stronger those branches are, less likely to break. So look for branches that are more horizontally out with a wider branch. They also have been known to bear quicker if the branches are more wide angled horizontally out instead of so tightly angled upright. Now, apples as a rule will bear in about five to seven years. Sometimes you'll get a couple apples on the third year, but fruit trees require patience. So do be patient, keep the sod away from the apples for a number of year, mulch them with a ring of mulch. Plums will usually bear earlier in about three to four years. Here's a special note on this type of display. Very common in garden centers, we see displays of these kind of dry or packaged bulbs and roots and rhizomes. And in that in that display, there are materials usually that are not winter hardy. They need to be dug and brought in and stored over winter. Such as gladiolus bulbs, dahlias, canas. But often in these displays, they also have material that is winter hardy and that can stay out in the flowerbed. Here I see there are some lilies. Let's see. Well, there's asparagus, but there's also lily of the valley. That's good and hardy. So one suggestion to a garden center manager would be to separate these and label them. So this group needs to be dug and brought in for the winter and stored and planted again the following. And this group are fully winter hardy. Let's talk about the jargon that is used for sizes of plants. So trees and shrubs are oftentimes sold in what's called a gallon, you know, one gallon pot, a two gallon juniper, a 25 gallon tree. Now, they oftentimes aren't exact volumes. I don't think you could dump, you know, five gallons into that container and maybe come out with the same thing, but it gives a good relationship. Now, sometimes pots are sold by the inch, you know, a four inch pot, a four inch geranium or a six inch pot. So sometimes if a garden center refers to something, oh, we have a four inch geranium sale, that doesn't usually that doesn't usually mention or talk about the height of the plant is talking about the size of the pot. Let's talk a little bit about garden center etiquette. Now, this is always fun. Now, I know we've all been cooped up all winter, so it goes without saying once you get into the garden center, you know, no pushing or shoving to get to the to get to the good plants. Now, gardeners aren't like that. But if you take a if you take a tag out of a container to read, make sure you put that tag back in the same container that it came out of, especially in born with something like tomatoes. You know, I've shopped for tomatoes and sometimes I'll find two tags in the same pack. And then I think, gosh, is this an early one or is it the later one because both tags are in it. So do put the tag back where you found them. And if you pick up a plant to examine it, you know, get it back where you found it and be gentle with with plants to and be patient. It is a busy place in the spring. So so be patient and monitor children. Greenhouses and garden centers are fun places for kids. Fun places for kids to roam around through the benches. But but for the safety of your children and in the safety of everyone else, you know, do keep children by you. You know, I know it's tempting to play hide and seek throughout the benches. Maybe even do a little bit of homework on some of the plants to beforehand. Here are some tips for some for new homeowners, because there's a lot to do. You've got furniture and you've got drapes and you got lots of stuff to do in a home. But maybe invest some money in putting trees in. Get the trees going since they take a while to so get them going. And then, of course, the landscape shrubs get them going. And then followed by perennials, you can always add those in later. And if you want some quick impact like the first years, well, everything else is getting developed and established. A plant, annual flowers, annual flowers give a quick reward for the first season while your other landscape items develop. Now, here are some tips for saving money. Not all material is sold in a variety of sizes, but if there are choices between a one gallon and a 15 gallon shrub, you know, maybe choose the lower, the lesser size. Also, perennials, if you look closely, many perennials in a pot can be divided into several. Now, that will probably delay the bloom time, but you can certainly divide also. Here's a word about plant guarantees. Now, what I'm going to say might shock you a little bit, but I'm I'm not really in favor of plant guarantees, not just because I had a garden center. We always offer to guarantee. But, you know, I actually I can't give you a one year guarantee that I'll be alive next year. And I don't really think we can expect plants to guarantee be guaranteed like that, because we just can't guarantee the unknowns of life. You know, some garden centers do provide guarantees and that's fine. But if a garden center doesn't provide a guarantee, I'm I'm OK with that, too. But I do want a garden center to provide a good, healthy, well named plants. Now, we've shopped at the garden center. When we get our plants home, here's here's some ideas. First of all, we used to be asked a lot because it's fun to shop early like late April, early May. It's fun to shop. We used to get the common question from customers that I'm not ready to plant these yet. I can't plant for a week or so yet. Is it OK if I leave these in the garage? And the answer is no. The plants from a garden center are used to being in the optimal light and optimal conditions of a greenhouse or garden center, and they're going to quickly languish if left inside our garages. So instead, move them, keep them outside in a well protected, wind protected spot, give the sunny plant sun, give the shade plant some shade, move them into the garage on chilly nights but outdoors during the day. And that also helps to harden off the plants. That helps get them accustomed to your conditions before you're actually ready to plant and again, remove flowers. I think on annual flowers, I like to remove the flowers. Save the tags and the receipts. Develop a journal, a three ring binder in which you can keep the tags and receipts. That's fun to know what it is that you planted. Here are a few miscellaneous tips for customers. Develop a relationship with your garden center. It's fun when they see you coming through the door or you can greet them. They'll greet you and that that makes for a nice experience. Don't be afraid to ask questions. The lowest prices at an establishment isn't always the best bargain, but I'm living proof of that. I bought some bargain at a big box store, bargain fruit tree. And I wished I would not have the one that I paid three times as much was well worth every penny of it. That's a program for a whole another day, too. Here's a few more customers tip. Make sure you read the tags, bloom cell, but don't be afraid to buy plants that are green, too. Now, here's a fun concept. Pranials are not always less work. I always chuckle it a little bit when a customer would come in and say, I want to plant perennials because I don't want to have quite so much work. Well, that's kind of the equivalent of saying the work is finished once the baby is born. So there there is work with perennials, too, but they're fun. There really aren't perennials that bloom all summer long. For example, the potted lilies that you see there are beautiful, but they they're not going to maintain that bloom all summer. Perennials are wonderful in that they have certain bloom time, some bloom early in spring, some mid season, some fall and all together, if you plant lots of types of perennials, you've got bloom all over. I want to mention a little bit about the expectations in a garden center. Now, garden centers are filled with all kinds of plants. Some plants will last a long, long time. You know, lilacs and rhubarb, they'll be here long before the rest of us are long after the rest of us are gone. Other types of plants in a garden center don't last that long, but that's that's OK. Delphiniums aren't going to last 100 years. The northern lights, Azalea, beautiful and adapted, but it's it's not going to probably last the same as a lilac wood. But those are all still worth planting. And a good garden center stocks all of these types of things that are adapted, even though they aren't all as long lived as others. So we need to make sure our expectations of our plants is adjusted. Here are a few tips for managers. It helps if the annuals and perennials are separated. Clearly mark the prices. Now, here's an interesting one. Now, I was guilty of this. OK, customers come up to the cash register with three boxes of plants. Well, and I also I was kind of doing well by consolidating them into like one box because then they'd have less to carry. But I would notice customers would oftentimes kind of grimace a little bit because I was kind of crowding those in. I was being careful. But now when I go to a garden center to shop and if the salesperson, the clerk kind of does the same thing, I kind of wince a little bit, too. Maybe instead of crowding them tightly into box, maybe maybe keep them spaced out a little bit as the customer maybe feels less like they're kind of being crowded too tightly. Plus, when you get the plants home, they're a little easier to take out of the box without breaking branches, too. And I really want to thank the independent garden centers just for being there and doing what you do and making life so wonderful for the rest of us. And my top tip for garden center shopping is just enjoy. What a wonderful place to simply be and enjoy. Thank you. Thank you. And if you ever need to get ahold of me for any follow up questions, we're going to leave my email address up. Don't hesitate to contact me. And now we're going to open it up to see Julie can indicate if there are any questions that we can answer right now. Sure. And thank you, Don. This was very interesting and inspirational on a minus 20 degree day. So you have a couple comments at the start. You talked about the wonderful aroma and a couple of our attendees agreed with that. And I think they're looking forward to that time. So Sarah has a question on mature plants and size on tags. And here's your comment. Plants don't just stop growing once they reach maximum size, right? Someone told me that once the maximum size on tags was 15 years of age. Is that right? No, I don't. Well, there there's maybe some truth to that, but some not truth to that. For example, an elm, an elm tree that is listed at a mature height of that. It's not going to. OK, if it's going to top off at a mature height, listen, at 65 feet, you know, it's it's not going to keep growing until it's 200 feet tall. There is a maximum capability. And for example, a spirea dwarf spirea that's listed at a mature height of two feet. It will top off at two feet. It won't keep going to become eight feet tall. But there are some when I say there is some truth to that. A plant doesn't stop growing. It might stop growing and increasing in height, but it keeps growing in that it keeps producing more branches, more leaves and etc. But there is there is a maximum height into which these fall, which which helps. We have a question. I'd be alarmed if my little dwarf spirea was going to get up to the eve of my house. OK, I have another question for you. When you were talking about zones three and four, Becky is wondering if we might be able to push it for a zone four if we protect the plant with straw or mulch. Yes, and you bring up the wonderful concept called microclimate microclimate. And by that we mean it's possible to have a more favorable little climate within the broader climate. Here's an example that northern lights, Azalea that we photographed with a nice pink blossoms, that does well in a microclimate such as, OK, in town in an established town where you have large shade trees and an in town yard where there's established plantings. A northern lights, Azalea does quite well, catches good snow cover versus a new housing development that's kind of out on the prairie with no established trees, windswept northern lights, Azalea would be much more difficult to grow there. So you also mentioned mulching. Some borderline plants can be improved with mulching. Now, remember, I mentioned the hydrangea, the endless summer hydrangea with the blue flowers mulching helps greatly to increase the survivability. It keeps it more moist, gives it some winter protection and absolutely. And that is some of the finesse that is fun to acquire with experience. You kind of learn how to locate certain things, zone four things that might be a little borderline, you learn how to develop those within your yard to within your yard to mulch or provide what's necessary. That's another good case for when you buy a new home to start the trees, start the trees and shrubs get going. If it's in an unplanned area, get those going so that you soon develop your own microclimate. All right, and you've got a kudo here from Beryl who says, thank you for the most enjoyable presentation. It was like being in a garden center without the smell. We do have another question. Do you prefer bear root or potted trees? And second, do you have any suggestions on trimming the roots of either for planting and to fit into a hole properly? All right, potted trees and shrubs versus bear root. Prior to the invention of the plastic nursery pod, most nursery stock trees, shrubs were sold bear root. They were kept in cool, humid storage areas. And the selling window was brief, April and kind of into May. Then in June, when temperatures start warming up, it was difficult to keep those unless you had refrigerated storage. It's difficult to keep bear root material. So with the with the invention of the nursery pot, it allowed garden centers to pot up, you know, to get in bear root material, pot them up and then that material will grow and stay in its pot and can be sold and planted all summer long. So that greatly increased the window of plantability. But now some garden centers, not all, some do still offer bear root as well as potted bear. Root works very, very nicely where it's offered. You can sometimes it's a little more economical. They plant well, they take off very well. So you can have good success with both bear root and potted. Now, the second part of your question is about the rooting. When you're the roots, what to do with the roots when you're planting. So if we dig the hole and a person should as much as possible, dig the hole farther than what the roots are going to extend. So for a bear root tree, you know, you could trim some excessively long roots, but it's probably better to dig a planting hole that's wide enough to accommodate the roots. Above all, do not circle the roots inside the planting hole. It would be much better to cut off. Circling roots will continue to grow in a circular fashion and eventually can strangle the tree, literally strangle the life out of that tree. So bear root, make sure the roots are outward instead of curling. We get potted. When a potted tree or shrub is taken out of the pot, slipped out of the pot, it's very common to note that the outside of the soil ball is totally circled with roots. We used to say, don't disturb those because it'll disturb the plant. Transplant them as is. And then decades later, research, thanks to research, showed that those trees were having a problem called stem-girdling roots. Those circling roots just kept going in circle. And eventually, like a boa constrictor, constricted the life out of the tree. So when you take a pot tree out of its pot, gently kind of feather out the roots or cut them even, you know, cut in a number of sections throughout, cut across the bottom, or tease the roots apart so that they are not circling around. Disturbing the tree a little bit is secondary. We need to get those roots aimed outward. And you have another question. I think you've kind of answered it already, but how aggressive can you be when untangling roots in a root-bound pot? As I mentioned, we kind of used to say, don't disturb those roots because it's going to disturb and set the tree back. But then, you know, suddenly we had lots of tree problems with girdling roots circling. OK, so how aggressive should you be? Sometimes cutting down with a knife doesn't always get those roots aimed outward that they should be. So here's a way to do it. Get the get the whole dug first, so that's all ready. OK, have everything ready to go. Then slip the pot off the tree and as quickly as you can either cut off some of the roots. You can even shave off an inch or so from the outer perimeter or tease them apart. And sometimes you have to be fairly aggressive, tease them apart. But do all this quickly. And then as soon as you do that, get the plant, get the tree into the planting hole, backfill with soil and immediately have water. Do this quickly. The quicker you do this, the less the less interrupting it will be for the tree there. Thank you. And Liz has a question about transporting trees. She says, what would be the least damaging method of transporting a six to eight foot tall tree in a pickup box? Stand it up or lay it down? I would lay it down, lay it down pointed, you know, kind of back with the top of the tree pointed backwards. The wind flows better through that. If you only had a couple of blocks, well, then maybe just drive really, really slow and set the tree upright. But they do tend to they do tend to go better if pointed backwards. Now, it does help, you know, buy a couple of bags of potting soil while you're there. And then when you lay the tree down on its side, wedge a bag of potting soil under that pot. So it kind of stays in place. But but much better to lay them down than then going up, especially if you've got a ways to go. And here's another tree question. Lots of tree questions with trees of any kind. Will a smaller tree catch up with a larger tree, which may cost a lot more? I love I love that question. Oftentimes a a five to six foot tree or let's call a six foot a nice tree versus maybe a 10 foot potted tree. The six foot has a better root to trunk ratio and will usually establish itself and take off with growth and catch up with the taller tree. Absolutely. If you need a little kind of quicker gratification, well, then I guess the taller one maybe gives that. But absolutely, the smaller tree will normally catch up and surpass the the larger tree. Also, I should mention too, OK, on a shade tree, you know, you can expect to pay, you know, 75, 80, 100, $150 for a tree. Is it worth it? You know, if if a couple goes out a couple of times and has a supper and a supper and a few beverages a couple of times, you can easily pay $100 or $150 and it's gone, you know, a tree will last for centuries. And are they worth it? Absolutely. So Renee says so it's recommended not to water a transplant directly into the hole. What could happen? Let's see, I'm not quite not quite understanding what. Once again, Julie. I'll read exactly what she wrote. So it's recommended not to water a transplant directly into the hole. What could happen? So are you supposed to water a plant in? I think that's the question. Yeah, immediately after a plant is planted, whether tree shrub, perennial or annual, immediately after planting, they should be thoroughly watered. That gets rid of air spaces and it brings the soil, your soil in contact with the roots. So put the soil and the plant, get it in there, and then water it. Is that what you're saying? Exactly. OK. Good, we did that right last summer at my house. Right, you have everything ready, get the plant out of its pot into the hole, backfill with soil, fill in with soil, and then immediately water and water thoroughly so that everything is thoroughly soaked and saturated. OK, well I think we are all out of questions and I just want to thank you, Don, for taking us on a trip into a nursery. I really enjoyed it, I needed it. And I hope that all of you will join us next week for our next session. And it will be the same Zoom link that you used this week. So if you had any problems getting in and you got the link a little later, save that link because we'll use it again. And I thoroughly enjoyed our visit, so thank you all for participating. Yes, thanks everyone, thanks Don. And please take the survey. So we will wrap up our webinar first one and great to have you all here.