 Hi, I'm Shane Harris with the Alderman Corp. Extension System. It's officially a Zaya season. Zayas are blooming and garden centers are full of the plants that's ready for you to go purchase them. So what do you do with the Zayas once you've supposedly bought them or you brought some home for the new landscape? Today we're gonna show you how to plant those Zayas. When it comes to site selection on your new Zaya, you need to take a lot of time to look where you're gonna wanna put this particular plant. Does it need to be near the house? Does it need to be more of a natural area? You wanna give it room to grow. Zayas prefer filter sun and afternoon shade. In other words, they would prefer morning sun maybe more shade in the afternoon. They will tolerate sun, but they can get very hot in the summertime. Also look for an area that's gonna be well-drained. Zayas prefer well-drained soil but cannot have any wet feet. So an area that provides filter sun maybe under pine trees, just a few hardwoods, maybe an open area that gives a plenty of sun in the morning and afternoon shade when it's hot this summer is gonna be ideal. Zayas should be grouped together based on color or variety and spaced properly around three to four feet apart depending on the maturity size. Now let's put the Zaya in the ground. The planting holes should be no deeper than the depth of the container it came in, but at least twice as wide to allow the proper root development. One common mistake is playing the Zayas too deep in the ground. Adjust the depth of the planting hole by adding more soil underneath the root ball or under the pot to get the correct height and depth. Remove the Zaya from the container and massage and loosen up the roots along the root ball. This allow those fibrous roots to grow out properly and keeping it from being pot bound while in the ground. A common horticulture saying with the Zayas is plant them high and they'll never die. You wanna be sure that the root ball is about one inch above the native soil level. This, again, if they're planted too deep, they will not survive. Before adding the native soil back into the planting hole and around the Zaya, it's a good idea to add a little bit organic matter into the native soil to have the best of both worlds. Common soil amendments would include compost or fine pine bark or the store bought soil amendment. Almost finished. Let's add the native soil and organic matter mixture back around the Zaya. Gently pushing it on each side and pressing downward so that root ball is covered and all air pockets are removed. Be sure not to bury the plant above the top of the root ball. Gently spread it out and firming the soil with your hands. Now add a layer of mulch around the plant. Choices could be pine straw or even pine bark. This is very critical for the first year of the Zaya as it will lose moisture since its roots are not fully established. This is very critical the first year to maintain that moisture in order to survive the hot summers. The last step is to give the Zaya a drink of water. You'll want to water the Zaya at least once a week depending on the amount of rainfall and how hot the summers may be. Again, spring planted Zayas will need at least one year for those roots to get well established. So again, be sure to water them throughout the year. Zayas are one of our prized southern landscape plants because they last so many years. For more information on Zayas and other home and garden information, visit us online at aces.edu or contact your local county extension office.