Great Spring Garden Tips and Tricks You Will Want to Try

On today’s Wednesday walkabout, I hope to share some great spring garden, tips and tricks. I think you will want to try. Some of them are experiments, and some of them are tried and true Gardening is an adventure for sure! #gardening #gardendecor #gardendesign #cottagegarden #backyard #cottagestyle

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well come on you guys let’s do my
Wednesday walkabout and when I open the
door I just want you to see how
incredible it is and not just because
the Tulips look beautiful but because
the light has been
incredible lately simply
incredible I mean look at that look at
how the colors
pop and I’m going to be doing in um my
next newsletter I’m going to be doing my
best tulip tips I shared a lot of that
this weekend when I was talking at the
Home and Garden uh Home and Garden shows
both in Indianapolis and in here in
Oklahoma City so I’m going to do a
Roundup of all of those so you can have
them and put them in your garden journal
for for next year but the colors that I
wasn’t happy with
originally um oh my goodness they have
changed and this is what I was going for
and the reason that they please me so
much more now is because the yellows
have started to come out and it’s the
yellows that make them harmonize with
the yellow and the blue and the white
pansies and violas before it just looked
like okay what it just like it didn’t
make any sense like it was just to
Disneyland and it’s still a little bit
too Disneyland for me um but
nevertheless I think it now is starting
to look gorgeous especially since the
Salvia and by the way you guys have
asked me what that is it’s East freezin
f r i s l a n d but may night also is
wonderful and it just looks it just
looks gorgeous okay some things that I
want to talk about today so steuart
let’s come over here and we’re going to
kind of shoot this in in sections so I
don’t forget to tell you things as I’m
kind of wanding around I got my cup of
coffee you guys get your cup of coffee
so let’s go over here and I’ll show you
something kind of
[Music]
[Music]
fun now I
think I don’t think I have told you this
but if I did forgive me because in my
head I’m always talking to you guys and
I think I Shar with you that there were
some in a pot right here that some
pumpkin seeds had germinated from a
rotting pumpkin before now we’ve all
experienced that but it’s just so fun
and I use that pot for something else
but here they are right now just kind of
hanging out until I give them to a kid
or I decide what to do with them so um
so there is that now
someone told me that they thought these
shoots
that came up here which I did not
recognize they said they thought that
those might be dollas because that’s
where I had dollas planted but no that
is not a doia I do not know what it is
and that’s my question of the day what
is this plant if you recognize it please
let me know it may be something that
came from my friend Gail winds last year
I’m not really sure but please let me
know we will take a Ste of that so you
can research it
more look at I mean just look at this
boxwood this is all that better boxwood
and stay tuned because later this week
I’m going to do a whole video on nothing
but boxwood and I’m going to be talking
a lot about better boxwood the blight
resistant boxwood um and the different
varieties and how they can be used
because I’ve got every variety here
but they’re and while they’re very
similar in appearance it’s their growth
habit that distinguishes them so I’m
going to go over that okay I’m a little
bit
nervous uh if you live in the Oklahoma
City area and you have been checking
your weather forecast depending on what
app you use there’s a possibility
tonight and tomorrow night I believe of
getting down to freezing getting yeah
getting down to like 32 or 33 I’m not
too concerned about it because the
ground temperatures are so warm but what
I am going to do with my Eugenia
topiaries is number one I can do one of
two things I haven’t decided yet I can
just lift them up and out of the
ground in these pots one of the benefits
one of the benefits of burying the pot
instead of the plant and then I can put
them anywhere even in my living room if
I so choose or I could get a frost cloth
and I could put I could cover them with
that but I’m going to just check I
really don’t think it’s going to be too
much of an issue because why because
even if it gets down to freezing I think
it’s not going to be freezing for much
more than an hour and I know that
because my friend at at Jen at bricks
really kind of did a deep dive into that
and if it’s it’s not only how cold it
gets but it’s for how long it is cold so
there’s a tip okay I’m going to show you
this a because I don’t want you to trip
over it but also because it has proven
to be a pretty good
solution so since my umbrella not all of
the time but periodically was blowing
over I decided that it might give it
more stability if I just completely
buried the umbrella stand so there’s a
tip right there uh bury your umbrella
stand and then I just covered it
up with flagstone and the gravel that
was already here so then all I have to
do is just
put my umbrella then fall off yes in
here now I I’m I’m getting a new
umbrella because the other one um I I I
won’t even go into it it wasn’t the
umbrella’s fault but something happened
and it got it was operator error and
something got caught up in there in the
string that raises and lowers it and
finally I just couldn’t get it to to
lower and so I’m going to get a new one
and that’s that’s okay because that kind
of stuff happens so I will be getting
that and I’ll have it in time for Easter
but but prior to that it turned out to
really be very very helpful to bury my
umbrella stand so there there’s a tip
for you okay come back around here
because this is one of the things that
is absolutely thrilling me and that is
the performance of the
agapanthus you guys know that last year
I planted a lot of agapanthus from the
Southern Living plant collection now
I’ve got some here and this is an
experiment I’m trying if it works for my
Eugenia why couldn’t it work for my
agapanthus so there’s a new variety out
ever White AG aan this this grows a
little bit shorter in stature but it’s
still not hearty to my zone but I ab and
it blooms a little bit earlier but look
at that I just love love those blooms
and I’ve got big thick buds so what I am
going to try this year
is I am just going to dig big holes for
the
pots and then I can bring them in in the
fall before Frost and I can set them
into the holes right here and I’m going
to try that and I think I might have
some success why because agapanthus
actually really likes to be rootbound to
bloom more profusely now it may be that
at the end of the season or next year
whatever I need to repot it in a bigger
pot but I am going to try that and I’ve
got three pots of this new ever white
agapanthus so that’s exciting o i just
spite another spied another bud that I
didn’t even know was there I love the
fact that this blooms a little bit
earlier now what I’m really excited
about is my favorite agapanthus the
Indigo Frost again this is a Southern
Living plant we’ll make sure to put the
links below but I wasn’t sure whether or
not it would come back despite the fact
that it is supposed to be uh Frost
hearty and appropriate for my zone but
with a little bit of patience
I just held out hope and sure enough I
am getting a return of the Indigo Frost
so look here this just has me giddy look
at all this coming
up so there’s a big Clump here it’s also
starting to put up shoots around the
perimeter so there’s a big Clump here
there’s a big Clump here and then some
other clumps that I was dispar ing that
they may not be coming up I just waited
a little bit longer because even within
your own Gardens you have different
microclimates and I found that that some
areas will just the agapanthus will
emerge sooner than other areas just like
in the back in my raised garden beds how
the nasams in in one end came up more
quickly than in the other so look over
here this was one I did not think was
going to come back and in indeed it is
but it is a little bit further north
than the other so look it’s coming up
here from the
base and this is indigo Frost is the one
and we’ll do um a screenshot this plant
profile at the end so you guys can uh
know what to order but this is a
beautiful white it’s really tall which
actually I love and it’s tinged in
purple which I love even more so so I
have I’ve identified several toughs of
it here but I’ve also identified some on
the other side which is a little bit
tartier but that’s but that’s okay as
long as it comes up and in fact right
here as you were bending down steuart
look
here this this you were you were
smushing it that one’s coming out too
next to a Fox Glove which will be okay
cuz when the Fox Glove is done I I will
just pull it out and looky there so that
is very fun let’s take a break here and
I’m going to show you some other
exciting things and as we go to a
commercial Stuart look at this look at
this beautiful Ann this is one of the
sisters saucer
magnolia a number of you have asked me
about it and it’s very very
sweet now I know you guys are going to
want to know what blend this is and
largely right now it consists of French
Rose blend not French blend but French
Rose blend and I think it’s absolutely
studing now one of someone asked me what
was my favorite tulip and that’s kind of
hard for me to say but boy this dordon
right here this is absolutely gorgeous
and it’s because of its color palette
this one right here so it’s pale
pink and then it’s kind of a orange
sorbet in the center and and then it’s
got these this wonderful lining to it I
don’t know if you can see it this one
you can kind of can you see yeah this
yeah it’s just spectacular and then the
trick to keeping your display looking
good I think is to come in here and any
blooms that are not fresh I just break
them
off and then yes the foliage remains
there and I can pull it out later but I
think it’s really beautiful and this is
the way this is a way to keep your stand
looking fresh at all times because
sometimes if I just see a bare stem that
makes me kind of sad and it makes me
think oh tulip season is almost over now
I tried here’s an answer to a question
I’ve been asked several times and here’s
the answer a lot of you wanted to know
about my experience my experience and uh
the results of my garden risk worth
taking when I planted some Hol Hawk
seeds in the alley
and you asked me if they had come up no
they haven’t come up and I’ll tell you
why because my neighbors behind me are
having a bunch of work done some um
renovation and there was a car that just
kept parking right there right up
against the fence so if that little
Holly Hawk tried to emerge it probably
would have been run over now that
doesn’t mean I can’t try it again later
and I might but that’s okay you know my
my
grass that I planted one of my other
gardening ribs rks because the seed was
as it turned out to be was too old but I
tried to grow an Easter basket of grass
and that didn’t work out because the
seed was indeed too old but do I regret
it it was a gardening risk worth taking
and I didn’t lose anything by trying so
what is what what am I leading up to I’m
leading steuart’s going okay come on I
am leading up to another gardening risk
that I’m going to take or I’m going to
try it’s a gardening
experiment and that is you you have
asked me what do I do with my tulips
when they’re finished and historically I
told you that I’ve just pulled them out
and discarded them and that’s because I
don’t want 800 tulips turning brown and
maturing and ripening so that that
ripening foliage can feed the bulb for
next year also because even as the bulb
cataloges will tell you tulips just
don’t reliably come back the next year
and even if they do they won’t be nearly
as gorgeous as they were that first year
but I’m going to try something so I
planted a number of them in
pots
and the reason that I think this might
work is because number one I can take
this pot and put it in a Hideway place
where the foliage can mature and brown
but the other reason that tulips don’t
reliably come back is because they need
really really good drainage and they
don’t want overwatering well anywhere
that I have planted tulips now or in the
past I then plant subsequently something
else or there are perennials in the
ground that continue to come up that
need to be watered and what that does is
it really puts those tulip bulbs at risk
of rotting but I can control that in
pots because I just won’t overwater them
I will just kind of leave them alone
leave them alone I’ll tuck them away for
the foliage to mature and brown and I’ll
just leave them in place watering them
every once in a while but I’ll also give
them in late winter and maybe even in
the fall of this year I will give them
some bulb boost some bulb booster food
to see if that kind of helps them come
back I don’t have anything to to to lose
it may work it may not but if it does
that’s the way that I can save a little
bit of money and I won’t have to repot
these Planters with tulips of my choice
so you guys might give me your thoughts
on that if you have ever done it if you
think my experiment will work and like I
say it’s a gardening risk worth taking
so let’s take a little break before we
come
back and here we go from top to bottom
is my outfit dour my sunglasses are rayb
bands that I got on Poshmark I really
like this color of blue my top is a
ballet pink lightwe sweater photo behind
you that’s what it somebody’s taking a
photo behind me um there’s been a lot of
photo takers um but my sweater is from
Banana Republic and these were on sale a
number of years ago and I got them in
almost every color because they are just
the perfect weight for this time of year
when you want something that um well
that is just suitable for spring my
britches I bought online I will see if I
find a link to them they have pockets
and you guys know I’m all about pockets
and then look at my cute hey boots and
look at how cute they look look at how
they coordinate with my tulips Stuart
yeah they do aren’t they cute these are
so I mean they are so stylish and what I
love is that number one they are stylish
but number two they are at such a good
price point and they just I don’t know
they’re really on trend right now in
fact Leah got some too and we’ll we’ll
try to do maybe a her way my way I don’t
know but they I I just think they’re
really really cute and I like them and I
love that pop of orange I think earlier
when I was in Indianapolis you guys did
an Easter boot Leah put some Easter
boots together for some little friends
of ours and um but now these are my
Easter boots these are my Easter boots
from high sea uh let me see my earrings
I I got at Burlington Coat Factory a
while ago I believe um my sweet sweet
just very thin gold necklace was a gift
from
hubs just last year uh what am I
forgetting I think that’s pretty that’s
pretty much it so there you go there is
my outfit
dour now in one of my previous videos I
said oh could this get any more
beautiful and yes it can and why uh why
I say that is because this area in here
particularly right now at this at this
point in Spring not in the summertime
not for later in the season but at this
point in Spring what this area needs in
here is more visual weight to kind of
ground this side of the property and and
it needs more height and I think
somebody pointed that out too now
eventually I’m going to have height
from these butterfly candy budia that
are here and they will get pretty tall
they will get very tall last year they
did they did I had some height from this
but I believe and I don’t even remember
what it was I’d have to check back to my
notes I I bought it at bustani and it
was one that I was not familiar with and
I tried pruning it up and I think it
succumbed to those Z degree temperatures
so what I think I’m going to put in here
is some kind of of large shrub slash
small tree that will give this height
that I can prune up because you guys
know I love to prune things up and and
it will give me height and visual weight
even in the early spring late winter and
then I’ll also get and this is just I
have to be patient these boxwoods will
also probably by the end of the season
be almost twice as large as they are as
will This itsab breeze Rose so steuart
if you will look at the itsab breze Rose
right
here which by the way has buds on it I’m
so
excited this one was planted late last
year I’ve mentioned this before but look
at the one on the other
side oh wow yeah they were the same size
at planting this one was just planted
like 3 months later l so ultimately this
one will catch up and then I’ll also
have some height from this white
blooming rose which I think will be
spectacular and again I’ll get all sorts
of height from the from the budia that’s
over here waiting in the
wings to come up are all sorts of
perennials in here so I’ve got some
goats beard here
some pent stemon Husker red pent stemon
I’ve got uh some tall flocks that is
starting to emerge I have all sorts of
things that have gone to seed all sorts
of of larks spur and see all that fny
stuff right there here too right yeah
and right there it’s it’s in a number of
places that is Menan lace which is like
a short tame more more delicate version
of Queen an’s lace and and it has gone
to seed rather prolifically which is
fine but what I’m going to what what I
have found is that what I will do is
edit out I won’t plant anymore but I’ll
edit out some of of what has emerged so
that it doesn’t look too crowded but all
sorts of perennials that haven’t even
begun to appear will start showing
themselves down here on Autumn’s
Edge and then and always always always
as I am walking about I look at things
and how things are performing so one
thing I
noticed my my biggest concern right now
is this yopon Holly this one in
particular but probably the others as
well they are showing signs of closis
and closis is an indication that it
needs some iron so I will be applying
some iron in the form form of ironite or
maybe some fertilizer steaks or
something to make sure that this foliage
is Evergreen and really really deep
green so if you look up this one see all
of that new
growth and yet on this one there’s some
new growth but not as much now am I
worried that this is going to die
absolutely not but I am observing that
it needs to be tended to so let’s take a
little break here and I want to show you
my Nelly Stevens on the other
side now I also noticed this spring
something disturbing and that was this
Bank of Hol it was doing great and then
all of a sudden it started to drop some
leaves they started to yellow and drop
some leaves now that would not normally
concern me because that’s very common
for this time of year but I have
spotting on these leaves which tells me
that there’s probably some kind of
fungal issue so I am researching it I
yeah I have actually already called
someone and they are going to be
treating this with a Fungicide and they
will be doing that probably this week
whether uh permitting am I concerned yes
but am are these going to die no it is
just a matter of treating them and and
actually if they defoliate some that’s
not so bad because there will will be
better air circulation through here in
general and it will kind of open them up
now what I am going to do in short order
is all of the fungal leaves that have
dropped while I am also weeding down
here all of these leaves I will clean
them up so when it rains again it won’t
continue the cycle of splashing those
fungal spores from the ground and these
leaves back up onto the plant so we will
treat this and we’ll be pretty
aggressive about it but that’s why we do
our walkabouts is so that we can
identify these kinds of issues in
advance and I’m I am also thrilled this
year we had a full season of Bloom on
these Stuart you know they were in bloom
they never froze out they were gorgeous
and now they’re starting to Leaf out so
I’ll probably be doing some minimal
pruning on these so that they have that
kind of open cascading feel like they
did at my former home and I will be
doing that so let’s take a break and
we’ll see some other things that are
happening now one of the tricks and I’m
going to do I I don’t know a whole blog
post or something on ways when you are a
garden maximalist to keep it from
looking too cluttered and I know a lot
of you already think it looks too
cluttered that’s a matter of that’s a
subjective thing but one thing that
disturbs me that I will be addressing
this year last year it was just get
things in place for practicality etc etc
this year I’m thinking I have the luxury
of thinking a little bit more from a
design perspective and a lot of these
stepping stones that look too small when
they are exposed before everything fills
out and is Lush they are contributing to
kind of um oh kind of a cluttered messy
look so some of these will be put
together to mimic one large Stone some
of them will be replaced by larger
Stones you can see right here where one
of them was taken out that didn’t match
that is something that I’ll be working
on over the next couple of weeks it’s
not really that mandatory because once
everything fills out you can’t see them
but again it’s what can I do so that it
looks better in late winter very very
early spring before everything fills out
so that is something that I am going to
be working on and I want to show you
something over here I just noticed it
this
morning that I’ve got my first
blooms on this Salvia and I’ll have to
check back because I can’t remember what
variety it was I was I was Salvia crazed
last year because it performed so so
well and this has this pretty kind of
lilac purpley pink it may be that I
relocate this somewhere else there’s
another huge tuft of it right there uh
to really optimize its beauty I can move
it to someplace where uh it won’t be so
cramped I fully expected that to be the
case when I planted things last year
look at all I say look Stuart probably
doesn’t know what I’m talking about but
look at all the Fox Glove in here oh
actually no Fox Glove yeah look at all
of this Fox Glove
some of it it’s different varieties some
of it is huge some of it is smaller some
of these are just the little ones you
put little tiny pieces in yeah little
pieces in and they but they will come
back and I’ll have this
whole drift of gorgeous Fox Glove which
by the way is it’s digitalis the same
thing as the heart medicine it is
poisonous though I have never seen any
animal just chewing down on it but um
that is something to be mindful of and
then as it drifts into Lemon Lane I
think it’ll be spectacular Hello Kitty
Hello Kitty meow to you too don’t go in
my front door hey
Leah shut the front door so Miss Kitty
doesn’t come in oh she did a turnabout
now the reason so so full disclosure the
reason my front door is open so often is
because my
1930 uh brass handle
locking mechanism and everything
something’s wrong with it and and when
you shut it you can’t even if it’s not
locked you can’t get back inside so we
are taking care of that hopefully this
week but it but it’s it’s an issue
because we we’re an old house um all of
these white wedding hydrangeas it’s kind
of hard to tell because the foliage
between the Larks or between the Fox
Glove is very similar but the white
wedding hydrangeas that are this huge
Rift through here I anticipate will be
incredible this year because they were
fabulous last year and this year they
have that much more maturity so that’s
kind of that’s they’re they’re
incredible and then they go to fabulous
that’s my that’s my definition and I
think it’ll be it’ll be really
spectacular this side has the components
of height and visual weight that I want
the other side if you torque around
Stuart
and just go straight on to the east
that’s where you’ll see that there needs
to be a little bit more heft and rather
than doing something just real temporary
right now to just plop in there I’m just
going to wait until I find the right
thing I’ve also considered maybe limming
up a a
weila uh I don’t know give me your
thoughts on that it will really have to
be able to handle tough tough conditions
in the summer time I am looking forward
to replanting my window box I’m so
excited about the raised bed vegetable
gardens in the back because they are
looking stunning I am almost to
completion of of the backyard I want to
show you one more thing before we sign
off on Autumn’s edge here
this fire chief Herber VA oh I’m so
thrilled with it it it really turned
fiery red and bronze in the winter but
now look at how it’s starting to grow
out it’s growing out green that bronzing
is starting to go away and it is turning
that beautiful green and the new growth
is just wonderful it’s pretty dri it’s a
pretty drift of the sunshine lustrum in
the back and then it comes you know it
comes forward and then the Kaleidoscope
ofilia so it’s a wonderful Rhythm and
repetition of that gold that’s back
there and then moves and then notice I
don’t know if you noticed Stuart but
these I have clipped rather tightly here
but those in the back I’m leaving free
form and who knows maybe I’ll start
leave letting these Go free form I
haven’t decide that decided that right
now I just like them in a little bit
tighter form but yeah this
Trio that I came up with last year and
we should probably do a screenshot this
on this Trio Stewart because the
Kaleidoscope abilia the orange rocket
barbery and the fire chief arbiv this is
brilliant and it’s it’s brilliant in the
winter it’s certainly brilliant in the
fall and as these get larger but not too
large let me pick up some trash in here
um I think it’ll really be
wonderful and let me show you one more
thing I keep saying one more thing and
then we’ll sign off okay here is a
boxwood right here and some boxwood is
more prone to this bronzing than others
now I can get this to revert to Green by
giving it some food by fertilizing it
and I am I feel fairly confident that It
ultimately will be green all the way
around and I’ll give it a little a
little haircut there’s a a matching one
a symmetrical one on the other side but
let me show you why I have faith that I
I think I can get that one to recover
and the bronzing can go
away
because this one up
here just off of the social
patio
see this segment right
here that had been that same deep bronze
but see how it’s starting to go back to
green and to speed that green up along
it’s really helpful to to fertilize your
plants and I’m just using an organic
granular fertilizer to do that so have I
missed anything steuart I I I’ve been
spending a lot of time in the backyard
I can’t tell you how much joy I’ve had
and I especially feel joyful now because
as much as I love meeting all of you at
the Home and Garden shows it took me
away from my beloved garden and now I am
back in it hubs and I can sit outside in
the evening so many people have have
come by and it’s just truly it is truly
my joy and spring is fleeting so you
guys get out there and enjoy the
flee the Ethereal nature of spring
because it just doesn’t last
[Music]
long