Narrator: Making It Grow is brought to you in part by Certified South Carolina is a cooperative effort among farmers retailers and the South Carolina Department of Agriculture to help consumers identify foods and agricultural products that are grown harvested or raised right here in the Palmetto State.

The Boyd Foundation supporting outdoor recreational opportunities, the appreciation of wildlife, educational programs, and enhancing the quality of life in Columbia, South Carolina and the Midlands at large.

McLeod farms and Mc Bee South, Carolina family owned and operated since 1916.

This family farm offers seasonal produce, including over 40 varieties of peaches.

Additional funding provided by the South Carolina Farm Bureau Federation and Farm Bureau insurance and Boone Hall Farms.

♪ Well good evening, and welcome to Making It Grow.

We're so glad that you can join us tonight.

I'm Amanda McNulty.

I'm a Clemson horticulturist, and I get to be here with my co host Terasa Lott.

Terasa you have an interesting job with Clemson.

Terasa: I do.

It's different every day, as I think is the case with most extension employees.

I coordinate the Master Gardener Program.

And we are really getting excited about our State Master Gardener conference coming up.

So It's one opportunity here for everyone to come together and to get continuing education and this year.

Our keynote speaker is Dr. Andy Davis from the University of Georgia and he's going to be talking about monarch science.

Amanda: Wow.

He's there's some new discoveries aren't there?

Terasa: Indeed there are and I think this is going to be some some pretty exciting news that he has to share.

Amanda: Terasa, if if seats are available, can people who are not master gardeners attend or not?

Terasa: It's really designed to be a special opportunity for master gardeners.

So It's not open to the general public.

but a master gardener can bring a guest.

Amanda: Oh, there you go.

That's Fun.

Okay.

and when is the date?

Terasa: It is October the 19th and It's being held in Columbia so centrally located to allow hopefully most people to be able to travel back and forth in a day.

Amanda: Well, that's very thoughtful of you.

and I think there's a lot of fun, and I hope people will take advantage of this great opportunity.

<I hope so too.> Okay.

Carmen Ketron.

You are hailing over from the Florence area where you are a Clemson Extension Horticulturist, and we're so happy to have you with us.

Carmen: Yes.

Happy to be here.

Amanda: What do you been up to lately besides the new baby?

Carmen: Well, we've been I've been rocking and rolling with the new class of 2023 Master Gardeners are going through.

Well, I'm enjoying my new baby and I'm building a new house.

Amanda: Gosh, you got a lot going on.

Yeah.

Thanks for making room for us.

We should appreciate and Christopher Burton and Berkeley Charleston Dorchester.

Just saying it makes me tired.

And that's a lot of people to try to help and I wonder do Master Gardeners help you some sinse you got all these offices to cover?

Chris: So yes, they help me tremendously.

In fact, if without them I don't think I could probably do my job.

and so they they help cover offices, they help answer questions.

They actually are at a lot of the farmers markets as well as do ask the Master Gardener tables at various different events.

Essentially, they allow the Clemson extensions presence to be all over the low country.

Amanda: That's terrific.

I'm so glad that they have you as their fearless leader.

Okay, and Jackie Jordan, you have a lot of counties to Fairfield Kershaw and Richland and uhm when you when I first met yours considered you a turf specialist, but now you've your knowledge is just exploded.

I mean, I think you have some blueberry farmers so you help and you have some flower farmers, what's going on with you?

Jackie Jordan: All kinds of stuff and I've got a few small vegetable growers who are grown on three acres all of it do all of it in Richland, Kershaw and Fairfield.

[laughter] [laughter] Amanda: Well, and that's that's so different.

I mean, we're seeing we think of as being kind of populated now that a lot of open spaces, but Fairfield may have a lot of open room It's not as densely populated.

Jackie Jordan: Right.

So I have a lot of kind of few small vegetable growers in Fairfield that are growing and selling directly at the the Winnsboro Farmers Market.

I've had a couple of vegetable growers and flower farmers in Richland and in Kershaw.

Amanda: Okay, well, thanks for making time for us today.

I sure do appreciate it.

Well, we're gonna have some fun things for you during the show.

We're gonna have Mary Vargo's very unusual yard.

Mary is a Clemson horticulturist, and then Jackie McCauley with Jarrets Jungle.

We have something really fun with her for you to watch and then Scott's Barbecue.

Because this is the 30th Anniversary.

And so this is when Rowland Alston got to go down and do something which he loves, which was to eat barbecue.

And that's happening because we're this is our 30th Anniversary year with for Making It Grow and on September the 25th.

We're going to celebrate that at the Opera House in Sumter.

And it will start at 5:30 in the afternoon, and we're going to have a little reception, then we, you know, just so we can chat a little bit.

and then at 6:15 We're going inside the Opera House and Opera House is just wonderful.

If you haven't seen it, um, you should come just to do that.

And we'll have people for the beginning of the show all the way through than some of the newcomers.

And It's going to be great, great fun, and we hope that we can see you then September the 25th starting at 5:30 in the afternoon, and there's lots of parking, so don't worry about that.

And if you want to wear a hat, that would be fun.

Okay, well, Terasa usually get to start us off with something lots of fun before we try to answer your questions.

So let's see if we see something beautiful that people have shared with us.

Terasa: We have a little bit of a unique take today.

Instead of gardens of the week plural.

We have a singular garden of the week.

So sort of a spotlight.

These pictures were taken by a master gardener Kathy Watkins at the Greenwood Uptown Market edible garden.

So we support from the city of Greenwood horticulture department a group of local Master Gardeners transformed a flower bed into an edible garden in the spring of 2023 And Master Gardeners maintain it and the produce harvested is used to feed the hungry in the community.

So let's take a look at some of what they're growing.

We begin with an Armenian cucumber which is not actually a cucumber more It's actually a musk melon but it tastes like a cucumber.

In the second shot we see basil Luffa and Malabar spinach so in keeping with the theme Malabar spinach is not a true spinach Next we see corn and Swiss chard I love Swiss chard is not only edible but fun for using with its colorful stalks.

and then we see okra Of course, which is a southern staple.

Watermelon, this is a really large one in the photo, a refreshing summer treat, and we finish with squash fruit and flower and I wonder if that squash might end up in a squash casserole.

Amanda: Wow, that's fun.

The Lakeland Master Gardener Correct?

Yes.

Just terrific, Thank you.

Okay.

Well I bet you have some questions?

and let's see if we can help some people.

Terasa: And we do our first question comes in from Jean in Long's and Jean says that two years ago, she moved here bought a new home had a great irrigation system that the builder preset last year, the centipede lawn looked fine, but now it is starting to decline.

What happened?

Amanda: Oh, my goodness gracious.

I don't know.

Terasa: It is not set it and forget it.

Right.

There used to be some commercial on TV that said set it and forget it.

but we'll go on, I suspect that a problem.

Amanda: So, Carmen, I'm sitting here thinking what this year has been like, no, It's been surprising.

So what do you think?

Carmen: I think I think the surprising rains and just the deluge really mixed with a crackpot style irrigation system was probably too much for the yard.

A lot of these really great irrigation systems that come standard in these new builds.

A lot of people I mean, It's like working a rocket ship, it can be very hard to turn on and turn off and adjust if you're not aware.

And that was what the case was with Miss Jean.

<Oh, really?> Yes.

What I actually ended up going and seeing her and this is a problem that I have with a lot of folks who come down here and It's the first time they're getting an irrigation system, which we don't really need it on our centipede lawns anyway.

But the builder will set it to make it so that it will establish the yard, the first couple of months.

Amanda: That's so different from after you've lived there and It's a couple of years old.

Carmen: Oh Exactly.

and even the seasons are different.

You don't need to water and at the same time in summers we do a winter.

So you really want to make sure that you're adjusting that irrigation system if you're not really sure to get out the book and figure out how to change it because we don't need that much water and even during the wet seasons.

A lot of times you can just turn off that for a week, two weeks at a time, because it especially centipede does not need a lot of water and we get a lot of it just from nature without having to up that water bill.

Amanda: And so some, some things have to be watered, you know.

and so you know, that Centipede, as I understand it, I mean, you can go buy houses that are a couple, two or three years old, and they still have centipede lawns, and nobody was out there.

I mean, so they can even through a prolonged drought, I guess just kind of go dormant and then come back.

Is that correct?

Carmen: Yes after It's established, it can go.

and it helps even more Christopher taught me this years ago, but it helps even more if you don't walk on it.

If you just admire it from afar.

[laughter] Terasa: It doesn't really like a lot of traffic.

[laughter] Amanda: When we were little we had, I mean, I'm 73.

So you know, this is a long time ago.

and we had a Zoysia lawn because my brother liked to play football, you know, the neighborhood kids and centipede lawns.

Even if you have a dog trot, and dog trots around the house, you'll have a path and a dog, which is kind of sweet, but It's not made for that kind of stuff.

but It's a great, great turf to have and just some low of maintenance doesn't take much fertilizer, really ecologically a very good thing to put in if it will fit your needs.

Carmen: And so that's the big thing you have to take away as you please don't feel like you need to baby this.

Amanda: Okay, thank you so very, very much.

Well, let's see that we can come up with something else that we just won't go to say, Oh, don't worry about it Terasa.

Let's see what you got.

Terasa: This might fit the bill because this is more of a suggestion rather than a problem.

It seems that Alan is located in Florence, but has moved here from New Jersey and has dreamed of having a palm tree.

So Alan says what types can I grow here?

and how would I need to protect them in the winter?

Amanda: Oh, my goodness, Christopher.

I don't think much needs protecting anymore.

Chris: Yeah well, the good news is is so we have four species of palms.

As far as palms go, they're gonna grow extremely well here.

and of course, the most common one being the cabbage palm or the sable palmetto, which is our state tree.

Amanda: This is actually a grass <Exactly.> Chris: This is going to be kind of the perfect so they're natives natives.

Of course they're used to our climates They're use to our soils.

So we're not generally worried about cold tolerance when it comes to native species.

So if you pick one of the four, so you've got your cabbage palm, you've got your sable minors, your saw palms and your needle palms.

Amanda: And say this person wants a tree, then he would probably want the... Chris: He would want the cabbage palm now, he's thinking that that's not going to be the right one, he can also go with one of our non natives, that still is going to be fairly tolerant, something like a Pindo palm or windmill palm.

Both of these generally are going to tolerate most of our winters really no matter what, we have to be a little bit more careful when you start getting into things like date palms and others but for the most part, if you stick with one of our natives, you're going to be just fine.

Amanda: Well, I mean, why not stick with a native because the flower inflorescence is so dramatically attractive for pollinators.

Chris: It really is, in reality, it supports a whole lot of other insects as well, as well as birds.

and for the most part, It's just such a, It's a better tree to plant in my opinion.

Amanda: If I can say one of my pet peeves, and it doesn't make any difference, because people don't do it anyway, is because it's like cutting back crape myrtles is they want to go in as soon as the leaf starts to get brown a little bit and cut the leaf off.

Well, half of the leaf is still green, photosynthesizing.

And so I just hate it.

I see them doing that all the time.

and you really are harming the plant.

I mean, you've got this, It's got this kind of balance going between the green and the roots.

Chris: Yeah, so it takes a lot of energy to make these very, very sturdy leaves.

and of course, they don't last very long.

and so that plant is going to actually try to recycle as much of that material as possible.

and so the best thing to do for the palm itself, is to allow those fronds turned completely brown before you cut them off.

and these are not plants that you need to prune.

These are not plants that you need to baby really in any way.

Once established, you really kind of just leave them be you cut off the old fronds, just for aesthetics, but even that you can probably leave them be if you want to.

But again, cutting them off.

You want to wait until they're completely brown.

Amanda: Well, and we talked about habitat loss, but they're even for small things like insects and bats.

Uhm Jackie, you know, they are suffering habitat loss as well.

Yeah.

and so if you leave the fronds on, I've heard that bats like to go under them and there are a lot of insects and other things that could take advantage of that.

Is that something that you agree with?

Jackie Jordan: Oh, definitely.

Yes.

Amanda: Okay.

So um, be a little lazier.

Jackie Jordan: Yeah.

and the other thing, especially with your palms, a lot of people don't realize that you prune off the fronds too early because penciling where you actually get a thinning of the trunk itself and you can weaken it until you see See these palm trees that have come in and thin and thicken out?

So you're supposed to keep your pruning with the horizon?

Three o'clock and nine o'clock.

I'll wait for it to dip below.

Oh, before you prune them off.

Amanda: Thank you three o'clock at nine.

That's good.

Good thing to keep in mind.

I sure appreciate.

Okay, Terasa.

Terasa: Well, this one is maybe not a happy question we'll see.

Comes from Harley in is it Cassatt or Cassatt cast Carolina?

I'm not sure how you pronounce it, Rowland would know, because he used to know, like the back of his hand.

There's a large knot at the... Amanda: He would know which hi way it takes, you there.

Terasa: I know, there's a large knot at the base of my live oak tree, is it something I should worry about?

and this came with a photograph as well.

Jackie Jordan: Jackie, so this actually is bacterial canker.

It's really was a sad situation, I went out and did a site visit on this.

Harley had bought 34 live oak trees to line his driveway.

Amanda: Which was I hope, miles and miles long.

But yeah.

Jackie Jordan: And all but one of the trees have it.

Unfortunately.

Yeah, It's pretty much a loss for the trees, unfortunately, the sad thing is, is you know, whenever you are getting a container tree, you do want to be careful, do your due diligence at the nursery, make sure that you inspect the tree look over and when you're planting, we've talked about washing the soil away and making sure that you have that root flare exposed, that you're not burying it with too much mulch.

Oh, make sure that you know, you give it the best care that you can from the very beginning.

Amanda: So do you think that this was a problem after it came home and that people sometimes want to...

I mean, he wants this beautiful, you know, driveway and that perhaps he just wanted to make the holes full of all kinds of great compost and stuff like that, that, that you're really not supposed to.

Because of course, compost degrades over time, and you'd save the trees gonna sink.

Jackie Jordan: Right?

You know, you definitely want to plant your trees in their native soil and you want to come in and lightly top dress with some compost and then rightly top dress this Yeah.

So we always say, you know, you really amend the bed, and for large trees, you really want them to grow in the native soil.

So Oh, I'm so sorry.

Yeah, it was really sad.

Amanda: Yeah, well, I hope you didn't pay a whole lot of money for them and get small ones to start with.

Let's hope for that.

I'm trying to find a little blue bird of happiness.

Terasa: I was just to say it reminded me that It's a good reason why we should plant multiple species if we're trying to have a screen or along... Because if something comes along and is particular to a species and wipes out everything, you know, if you've planted different species, you're more likely to be able to like and replace it with something else.

and it might not look so odd and and hopefully it didn't, you know, get to everything in that screen.

Amanda: Well, and also so often the conditions at one end of your yard, if you want to screen are different from the other end.

and so you and anyone, It's just kind of It's more interesting, you know, you've got and Terasa.

So you could might want to plant like three, three, a grouping of three and you don't want to make it a straight line either.

Perhaps you want to vary it a little bit.

So if one does,die it doesn't look like ah.

<Exactly.> We're going to visit the garden of Mary Varga Mary's a Clemson horticulturist, and it is a very, very different take on having a yard but a wonderful one.

You're going to enjoy this tremendously.

♪ I'm in Piedmont, South Carolina, sitting in the wonderful, wonderful garden of Mary Vargo, your passion is having a wild cacophony, definitely of pollinators and all sorts of plants.

This is just a joy.

Mary Varga: Yeah, I mean, this is kind of my lab, my experimental zone where I've tried new plant, see, learn something new about a new pollinator and then share it with Master Gardeners and share it with the public and Greenville County.

So It's really fun.

and now you're Amanda: Now sharing it with our people.

Yeah, <I'm so excited about it.> I'm looking across the street at an old J.P. Stevens looking over the fence, Stevens plant.

and this was a mill village house.

So two families lived in this house.

and fortunately, there's not a homeowner's association because I don't think they'd like it.

Mary Varga: I would be kicked out for sure.

I can't Yeah, I couldn't be in that rigid set of rules.

So thank God there's none here.

Amanda: But starting on the front yard.

You do have steps going up to the house, but then It's just a It's a meadow of it looks like nature planted it but I think you made a lot of decisions about what went in there.

So let's talk about some of your favorite things that we see on the front And what are some things you've done to give some structure to it?

Mary Varga: Definitely.

So when I first started, it was a lot of herbaceous annuals and perennials.

and then I realized in the winter when all that dies back, I don't really have a whole lot of structure.

So I started this garden has been a work in progress for three, four years.

So each winter, when something dies back, I'm kind of able to evaluate, I see what's left, I see what's still giving some sort of ornamental component to the garden.

So I added in Woody's later in so you'll see there's a succession of plants, and still, they're really small stages, some are mature.

A lot of my favorites are flowering right now, like monarda.

Lots of Rudbeckia have lots of butterfly bushes that all the pollinators love and having such a big variety of plants, too.

I see almost a new insect every day, which is really cool.

For me.

Amanda: What are out front, what are some of the more unusual plants that you have?

Can you remember?

Mary Varga: Let's see, I have some interesting lilies, I have several types of pink manthimum.

So I have three different species of them, which is really kind of hard to find.

Usually you just find the Unicam species widely available, but that's kind of fun to have different species of certain plants.

So that's kind of my favorite.

Clary Sage is something I grew for the first time I started it in the fall over winter and It's flowers for me now.

and I'm totally obsessed with it.

So that's new to me.

So It's kind of my new obsession.

Artemesia is that I've that I've propagated, and gosh, lots of different grasses.

and there's there's so much in there.

I think I forget what I planted in there until it blooms.

And then I'm surprised.

Amanda: And then there's succession there because you've got things that start blooming in the fall and summer things start to, to fade away.

<Yep.> The backyard looks in spots, like a more traditional suburban backyard kinda sorta.

Your wonderful husband, Daniel has made some terrific furniture giving you a greenhouse, which is great.

and I've never seen such a fancy grill.

So that's kind of fun.

<It's nice.

I don't have to cook.

That's a plus for me.> and a swimming pool for you to jump into.

Absolutely.

but you have borders here with plants.

and um, and again, I think you've tried to get some structure to make everything kind of settle in.

So let's talk a little bit about the things here.

Mary Varga: Yeah so I'm constantly evaluating, try to see what's working spring summer, tried to have some kind of bloom maybe if It's not blooming, It's giving me some sort of foliage interest or texture or its structure you know, that's important too in gardens.

So right now most of this is spring summer blooming.

I'm trying to add more fall bloomers in here and there when I see something kind of on the way out the bachelors button is starting to go out that's a cool season annual.

So I know I'm gonna have to replace that so I have mums in the greenhouse that I'll just pop in their place and that will be my fall bloomers.

I've got you know Kiwi vine in the corner It's kind of sited in the wrong spot.

It usually it should be protected to get zapped every every winter just planted a clianthus Aphrodite that I'm really excited about growing I love this huge flowers got an interesting spirea that I planted the other day, constantly adding something constantly trying to see what works.

Amanda: Wow, the little cactus stuck around here and there.

Mary Varga: Yeah, the cactus are for my dogs they love to get in my garden bed.

So I kind of put cacti in certain areas where they might get in and maybe they'll get a poke and I don't have to have that problem with them trampling in my beds anymore, but it works sometimes not all the time.

Amanda: Mary or you have a fenced area that looks like that one wasn't designed for beauty that was designed for purpose.

Mary Varga: Yeah, absolutely.

I started going back there before I feel they the beds back here.

Now It's sort of a stock plan generator, I take things that receded putting them in other beds.

So It's a nice way for me not to have to buy plants or start seeds an adult that the dog and the dog can't get in which is really nice.

So It's totally gated off.

So now I've kind of just let it reseed.

It provides like I said plants for other areas of the yard that I might want to replant.

I've got lots of hollyhocks in there that reseed the giant giant giant plants.

I leave a lot of weeds are considered a bunch of people but I love the structure either in the spring something like dock, which has really interesting seed has when it pops up in the spring and then as it fades into the summer and fall It's left with like a bronze sort of purpley color seed head that looks great and arrangement.

Yeah, I Amanda: was gonna say because you like to use flowers and It's not necessarily a flower I mean, It's the dried seed head but it would be fabulous component to those sorts of things.

and then when you're not picky, you don't say it has to be a native or it has to be this.

Mary Varga: Definitely not if there's a problem with a non native maybe It's spreading a little too aggressively or It's getting a disease repeatedly.

I am responsible and try to take that out of my garden but It's a free for all I don't discriminate when it comes to a plant in my garden.

I'm really inspired by the shapes and forms and flower types and the types of pollinators they attract.

So if it if it works for them and works for me, I keep it.

Amanda: Have you had some neighbors who have said Could I have a little starter spreading?

Mary Varga: Absolutely.

I have a neighbor across the street that's really been getting into plants and a couple other people down the street that I'll lay plants out tell them that they're welcome to have, you know, free plants, those kind of things.

but for the most part, not everybody keeps up their yard.

I'm definitely the you can tell what yard is mine when you pull on my street, I guess you could say, but It's a fun thing.

but people I like to see people drive real slow when they're maybe driving by looking at all the plants.

and that's a good feeling that they're enjoying it as well.

Amanda: They're the inside of your house, thanks to your wonderfully capable husband has been changed from what was originally in in one room.

It's kind of Mary's room for when you need to settle in and maybe focus.

and tell me some of the things you do there.

It was quite fascinating.

Mary Varga: Yeah I love not only do I garden, but I'm somewhat of an artist too.

I love to press, flowers, foliage from my garden from other people's garden.

and it really works well.

As you know, I think your friend has pressed flower cards for people.

So if It's a red holiday or birthday, I can kind of make a little gift and give them and share my garden in that aspect.

I'll kind of keep track of my garden through pressing.

So I'll write the month what's flowering, and then I try to press everything that's maybe flowering in that month or that week.

So then It's a really good way to go back and look and, and have those special specimens to look back on when there's not much blooming.

Amanda: And then the way that you think every day, um, take some time to take some of the things that you've pressed, and make a display of them and share with people on social media, I believe.

Mary Varga: Absolutely.

Yeah, I tried to do that.

It's a great way for me to be present, kind of get grounded again.

Like as we were talking about earlier, It's a really good way to just study plants and learn botany, you know, maybe you're seeing that a leaf is more serrated than than others or you learn specific botanical terms when you're seeing that over and over again.

So I find It's a really nice practice.

Amanda: Especially when you're inside and looking at a plant individually instead of outside here with everything.

There's always a pollinator, this taking your eye away from what we are talking about.

Mary Varga: Always a distraction.

So when you isolate it in there, and you're able to get it alone, you become more intimate with that plant.

Amanda: Well, I have just been thrilled to be here with you today.

and everybody on the crew has been it was hard to get them to get started because the pollinators are just so fascinating because unless you have a variety of things, you don't realize that different plants attract different pollinators.

I think that's one of the wonderful things about having this kind of a yard Mary.

Mary Varga: Definitely I That's how I learned constantly to I'm not I wasn't super into entomology when I did my horticulture training.

So this is a way that I've I've really learned and I've grown in my job and, and throughout growing different plants is just seeing what visits what and taking notes and pictures.

Amanda: Well we know that insects have remarkable.

Whatever goes on in their brains.

and I'm sure that the next generation is going to remember that this was here.

Mary Varga: Yeah, they over winter a lot in my landscape.

So they revisit.

Yeah, so here.

Amanda: So this is the place that's on anybody's trip that comes through Piedmont .Thanks Mary.

♪ I was picking up my puppy and riding home and he was wanting to go and get his supper.

and I kept stopping to pick stuff off the roadside.

And one of the things that I got is this beautiful, I think It's beautiful vine, which is Autumn clematis.

and what is it Terasa to tell us again.

Terasa: Clematis terniflora.

Amanda: And It's not a native and It's really kind of a bad guy.

Terasa: It is it is invasive.

the good news is we have a native species that looks almost identical.

So the flowers very similar, but we can tell the difference by looking at the leaves.

and so I'm not sure if we can see closely on your hat, but those leaves should be smooth around the edge or we call that an entire margin and then our native species would be have a toothed margin.

Amanda: Well, anyway, it was quite beautiful, but you can kind of see from how It's growing, that It's, you know, not like anything normal.

There's so much of it, but and then I've got some I've stopped and got some grass seed heads, and Jackie your a turf specialists and this isn't a turf.

You want to tell people what they are?

Jackie Jordan: Sure.

So you've got the seed head from goose grass, okay.

and you have the seed head from yellow foxtail okay.

Amanda: and the goose grass is in my garden and I've been cutting it and putting in arrangements is just beautiful, but I would I think It's not something I want to have seed down in the garden.

Jackie Jordan: No, It's definitely a annual.

It's a common grassy weed, and we typically see it more in compacted soils.

Amanda: Anyway, there's one out there but Have like to use it in arrangements.

You don't just have to have flowers and sometimes you don't have any flowers anyway, but it was, we did get blue home and he did enjoy his supper.

You'll be glad to know that.

Okay.

So I think that there's something sitting in front of you, Carmen.

and I don't guess it just appeared there magically.

So imagine you want to talk about it.

Carmen: now I brought it.

This is my friend, leaf tea.

Camellia.

I picked up about 20 of these because you've got to have a new house.

Yeah.

So I'm picking my landscaping.

and just like the Lakewood master gardeners, we're talking about edible gardening.

Amanda: And I forgot to say Stephanie Turner Of course, It's their wonderful horticulturist.

Yes, I didn't mean to interrupt you.

Carmen: And I think Stephanie probably gave them a lot of really good ideas.

But instead of annuals, I was thinking about what we could landscape with, it would be a nice little perennial, and I thought, Oh, we can we could do tea plants.

So we're gonna we're gonna do our Amanda: Camellia sinensis.

Now?

Carmen: Yes, yes.

and this is a Camellia sinensis.

and it has, it has a red tips and as it grows when it starts, and that's where you get the red leaf for the common, and I'm so excited I these little, a little love and cherishing.

but when I found when we found them, I said, Oh, I have to have them.

But It's just so fun.

Because this is the one that you get to make all of your different types of teas out of.

Amanda: That'll be fun.

We'll tell people a little bit about how what its habits like compared to sasanquas in other communities.

Carmen: It's gonna stay as a small shrub, It's going to have a very cute little pink fluorescence.

and you can keep it very small, but the same kind of growing conditions it loves right here, and it loves early morning sun and late afternoon shade.

So if you've got something on the east side or something that gets a fairly nice afternoon shade, they're gonna like that the best.

Amanda: And so how far away from the house so you got to plant it so that you have the right spacing?

Carmen: We thought we've got six to nine feet is what I'm looking at, because I didn't get gutters.

So we're going to have a nice little area where the rain drops.

and so I gotta pull out from there.

Amanda: But you won't have to clean them out.

Carmen: Well, no, I won't have to clean them.

That's fun, Carmen: But we're very excited.

and this one's just a really nice one.

Especially if people are looking like you said for the edible garden option.

and maybe you do have an HOA This one's very nice that you can use you can take the new growth, make tea, and no one will yell at ya.

Amanda: Unless, unless you make the tea too strong.

You don't give them enough sugar.

You put it exactly.

Okay, well, that was lots of fun.

Thank you so very much.

Terasa.

That was fun.

but I guess there's something that's not so happy that we may help someone with.

Terasa: Well, yeah, this one is a problem.

but It's the theme with edibles still fits.

So Thomas in Colombia says I have all this wonderful basil in my yard.

and It's done great all year.

But now I'm getting brown on the leaves.

What is it and how can I treat it?

Amanda: Um, gosh, nothing is wonderful is having basil in the garden.

and I'll let you move that.

Carmen: You know, I never know what I'm making too much noise?

Amanda: No, no, You never do.

Well, Christopher What do you?

Chris: So it looks like you actually have basil downy mildew.

Unfortunately a disease that is relatively common specifically in the fall.

and so a lot of times when we're growing basil, we have beautiful basil kind of throughout the year.

and then towards the end of the season, you start to see some some yellow, some browning leaves.

and a lot of times if you look underneath those leaves, you can actually see kind of a purplish hue to it.

Ah, that's the actual water mold specifically growing.

Now it is It's just one of those things that happens there's not really a treatment for it.

Usually you say okay, I'm done with the basil for the year.

You cut it back, you can sometimes re trim it get it to regrow if you can get it before the first frost.

But there are a lot of different cultivars now and species that are actually going to be Downy Mildew resistant.

<Wonderful.> and so if I'm going to grow basil, especially in the fall, growing something that's resistant to Downy Mildew is actually Maybe kind of the best chance because again, these are things you don't really want to spray too much.

Amanda: Well, do you have other resistant cultivars ones that would also go well through the summer.

You think I mean, you don't have to switch and go back and forth.

Chris: No, absolutely.

So you can grow these really at the beginning of the year.

So a lot of the ones that are coming out.

These are going to kind of just take the place of our standard basil, sweet basil, anything else and we're just going to grow these kind of throughout the year.

They're going to love the heat.

Amanda: Okay.

and so, when you're looking through a catalogue, they would tell you had had resistance.

Chris: Yes, that is kind of the key that you're going to look for if you're going to buy the seeds, you want to make sure that it says it is Downy Mildew resistant.

Terasa: I actually tried some this year.

So normally I would just use transplants but I wasn't able to find one that was resistant.

So I did get some seeds.

I have one called prospera compact and the labeling has DMR for Downy Mildew resistant.

So this one is a shorter, more compact variety.

So someone's looking to grow in a container it would be good for that.

and I think there's there's at least four Downy Mildew resistant cultivars that that Ruckers has has bred so so they're out there, but you may have to grow from seed if if that's a problem for you.

Amanda: Well, that's pretty easy to establish.

Yes, that's, yeah.

Great.

and what do you like to do with your... Terasa: I actually wrote a blog about like, what to do with your basil.

I like to make pesto.

I like to dry it so that I have that kind of fresh from the garden all year.

I like to make tomato mozzarella like Capri salads.

So there's lots of things you can do with it.

Amanda: Okay, well, thank you.

You'll have to share some bring us a little lunch edition.

Next time we do something that'd be fun.

Okay, well, we're now going to have Jackie McCauley from Jarrets Jungle come down and show us one of the fun things that she likes to do that are also so beautiful to have in your house.

♪ I'm with my friend, Jackie McCauley from Jarrett Jungle up in Colombia on Sunset Boulevard and the jungle is full of tropical plants.

Jackie: Yes, it is, and these these are tropical cut flowers and we get them in from Hawaii every week from Hilo actually went to Hawaii to find the flower grower to get them sent over.

So we do have them regularly.

That's a lot of fun.

and today, I was just going to take some of them and show you how to make a really really simple arrangement that has some rules that you can use for any kind of flower not just the tropical's.

So I'm not going to make this one too terribly tall, because it would take too long to make.

So I'll put this heaviest one in the center of my oasis.

I've already prepped my container with some oasis.

and then this is another heavy when I do all my water they call this is a ginger This is Awapuhi If you went to the woods in Hawaii, you could find these growing wild and the grouchos will actually take them and squeeze them and get out this real cream rinse you know that you can wear on your hair.

But um, they're they're real different look and I say that look like a club.

Like you could take it and go down somebody on somebody's head.

but um, anyway, alright, so I have cut this one and then this one's about half the height of it.

Alright, and your your largest flowers go toward the bottom of your arrangement.

Okay.

and these are these are grown as a potted plant.

This is an and Anthurium, Anthurium andraeanum.

<Okay.

and so these grow in Hawaii.> They do.

They grow wild in Hawaii, and the lava rock is really a good spot for them to grow <In lava rock.> Amanda: That's amazing.

<All right,> Jackie: this I'm cutting.

Alright, so this is about about half like this one, this one's gonna be about a third.

and then I'm going to use another kind of taller one.

Probably back this way.

All righty.

That's going to be Amanda: plants last tropical flowers.

Last?

Jackie: They do I once had an anthurium, in my kitchen that lasted for over three months.

And it was short stemmed whenever I finished, you know, because you started out with a long stem and you just keep cutting it to freshen it.

and so I've got the three in three rooms, I've got my Hello, this is a false bird of paradise that I had a bird of paradise, I would have used that.

but It's good to have like a lot of different colors in it and this one's gonna be about half of the height.

You can even though they're similar heights, you can adjust the way that the flowers look by just changing the direction that they're of course, going so some of them have curved stems and some of them I can't get this one to sit right.

So you just have to work with what they give you.

If they give you a curved stem, you better figure out how to work that in somehow.

This is a beautiful Phalaenopsis Orchid, oh, now you may not have these, you know at home to use or you might have when you bought it somewhere and you can use Yeah, you can use the cut flowers for it.

Use it for cut flower, I'm gone put this down here.

This is going to be so really beautiful.

Variegated Monstera which we had to cut off on our plants at the shop.

So I'm going to use that as the backing really easy.

Sometimes if it won't sit right you may have to adjust the length.

Okay, and put it in a little backwards.

And then I brought some of the I'm gonna have to turn it around just briefly so I can see what I'm doing.

<That's fair.> And I'm gonna put some Selloum philodendron leaves down at the bottom, which you could cut off or your planet won't hurt, you're plant just to cut just a couple of leaves off of it.

Incidentally, these philodendron leaves last for about a month and water so they're very long lasting and they don't make the water stink, you can have some flowers, the water stinky, not tropical flowers.

Amanda: Long lasting, no stinky water.

Jackie: I appreciate that, believe me.

This leaf I like to cover the mouth of the base.

<Yes.> And this is a shorter range, you know, short bass, so you don't have a whole lot to cover in it.

But uhm, how are we looking over there?

<It's just lovely.> And I like to put different kinds of foliage.

Amanda: Totally different from what you'd expect with the cut flower arrangement.

Jackie: True.

and It's easy for you to make because you're using the the floral foam.

Which is not hard to work with.

Amanda: oh, this was wonderful.

<It really does help.> When I was little, we'd have to stand there.

and you know, help hold it under the water.

Because before they had the incent, Oasis.

<It wouldn't> Jackie: come out with it.

Sorry about the back view there.

but I just wanted to make sure I had it looks fair.

and then have a little bit of greenery right here.

You can really use any kind of greenery.

These are some little bamboo orchids, that I just think look tropical, you probably wouldn't want to use anything that that looked too basic because we want you want to try to be different.

and we can't Amanda: go to Hawaii, let's bring Hawaii to us.

Jackie: And keep your flowers kind of different heights.

You know, because they're big flowers.

and if you have them all the same height.

Amanda: Just put this in a cylindrical container and have it go Jackie: Yeah I mean you can make a shorter one but yeah, It's better to have it says that It's very Oh, in the red.

Oh, I call that when done except for one thing that bowl over there by you.

If you did not like it one sided, like you're not putting it against a wall, all you would need to do is either finish out the square, or set it up in a nice bow like this.

and then you can continue your arrangement, you know, around the back.

So that you would have you know all sides done.

Amanda: Isn't that fun?

Well, I think we'll have to go home and put on a moo moo, and have a tropical drink and enjoy this.

Thank you so much Jackie.

Jackie: Thank you, Amanda.

I I enjoyed it.

♪ Amanda: Jackie McCaulay came down and filmed several things with us.

and we've been sharing them with you.

and I hope you're enjoying them as much as we are and as much as we enjoy the day that she came down, Terasa what's next?

Terasa: It seems that Carol in Forest Acres is worried she may have a sick tree in her yard.

Carol said my river birch is dropping leaves prematurely.

Should I be worried?

and is there anything I can do to help?

Amanda: Oh, well, It's a great native tree.

but I think in nature, they're usually kind of near water and kind of, you know, in a kind of mixed area, and not in the middle of right by somebody's house and Jackie, is this something to worry about?

What do you think's happening?

Jackie Jordan: Well, as long as they're the interior leaves, the older leaves that are dropping, uh huh.

She shouldn't be worried about it.

and trees will do that you can easily lose about a third of the leaves in response to heat stress and drought stress.

So probably, we've had right things that we've been dealing with this past summer.

So It's in response to the environmental conditions and basically just go out there and take a look at your tree, make sure that the newest leaves are still on there.

And I wouldn't worry about it dropping a lot of leaves.

Okay, the other thing I would say is take a look at the crown, the overall health of the Crown will reflect the health of the trees.

So if it looks fairly full, all the way around.

So walk back and look up.

Walk back and look up and take a look at it.

If It's fairly full, then you're good.

Amanda: Okay.

Um, I've been to people's houses and I'm so glad when they asked me over and we sit out maybe sometimes on a raised deck or something, and they'll have a river birch right there.

and that, to me, seems kind of problematic because although It's a great tree, I don't feel like It's one to have right right by where you live.

What do you think?

Where do you like to put them?

Jackie Jordan: Oh, definitely out in the yard away from the home and give them the space that they need.

A lot of people don't realize how big easily 40 feet so you want to keep that a good 20 30 feet away from the structure.

Amanda: Okay and then find something else to have right by the house.

That's the wonderful thing about trees there's so many options.

<There are Yeah.> And they're wonderful native options too.

and I think nowadays with you know, with habitat loss the fact that natives of course as you keep reminding us Terasa it can be so important in keeping the whole ecological balance going.

That I think we should try to use those don't you?

<We should.> Okay.

Okay.

Well, people in South Carolina certainly like barbecue and um then It's a good thing you can kind of argue about what kind of you know sauce you like on your barbecue but Rowland Alston was quite a barbecue aficionado and he went to a very, very wonderful barbecue place.

♪ Rowland: Barbecue divides South Carolina each year, just about as much as the annual Clemson, Carolina rivalry.

We've got tomato base, mustard bass, and of course my favorite vinegar and pepper.

We're in Hemingway, South Carolina on highway 261 in Williamsburg County.

At Scotts Barbecue.

Follow me now as we go visit a young man that's gonna tell us about some of the best barbecue in the Palmetto State.

♪ Rodney Scott, I'm Rowland Alston with team Making It Grow.

We certainly appreciate you letting us visit your family operation.

Good to meet you.

Looks like you shoveling some coals.

Rodney: Yeah, I'm getting everything ready to get in the woods my coals Ready.

Start cooking my pigs.

Rowland: And your wood man versus a gas man.

Rodney: Wood over gas.

Gas goes in cars.

Rodney: <I heard that.> Gas is for cars.

Wood is for real barbecue.

Rowland: It's getting a little warm right here.

Rodney: Yeah, let's go someplace where It's a little bit cooler.

♪ Rowland: Rodney, you mentioned that gas goes in a car and wood goes under a hog, a lot of different types of wood.

One can barbecue a pig with.

What's your favorite.

Rodney: My favorite is oak and hickory to blend because it gives you that hard, nice flavor from that hardwood.

Rowland: And once you split these big logs, you put them in a big barrel, you get the charcoal takes a lot of shoveling and doesn't it?

Rodney: A lot of shoveling a whole lot of shoveling back and forth.

Rowland: When you get the pig on the grill and I know it must take some time because barbecueing a pig if you want it to be just right.

You can't rush it.

How much time does it take?

Rodney: It averages about 8 to 12 hours depending on the size of the pig.

Rowland: Well how do you determine when It's ready to pull off the grill?

I know a lot of people just look at that skin separating from the ham or the shoulder.

Rodney: Yeah, exactly.

That's about the best way that I like to that's my personal preference.

Rowland: And when you flip this hog It's got to be a delicate process because you don't want this tender to meat the tear up you put your sauce on it and of course there's vinegar there is pepper but It's also got a secret ingredient shared with me I'm not gonna tell us soul.

Rodney: Now Okay, since It's you I'm gonna tell you a secret ingredient to our sauce is love.

You put love in it.

You'll get love back.

Stanley: Well Rowland Alston absolutely loves Scotts BBQ.

and I'm beginning to smell some of that right now.

So let's go inside and taste it.

Rodney: Let's go.

♪ Rowland: How are you doing today?

You just don't know who you got run into at Scotts BBQ.

Stanley: How you doing?

Rowland: Doing Good .Stanley Paisley is the County Administrator for Williamsburg County also works very closely with Santee Electric Cooperative.

Stanley why do you think Williamsburg barbecue is some of the best?

Stanley: It's because of the tradition and the preparation, the vinegar base, the ingredients that is not used in other areas.

Rowland: And of course Scott's has a lot of tradition right here dosen't it goes through several generations.

Stanley: Absolutely.

and it is one of the oldest prepared and they still prepare the very old fashioned way by using wood.

Rowland: Well I see you've got some skin and some barbecue to go.

I'm gonna find Rodney right now and get some for me.

Stanley: I would hurry up if I were you to try to do that.

♪ Rowland: Rodney I'm glad I found you but it looks like my friend Dr. John Nelson, who's the curator and director of the Herbarium at University of South Carolina.

He's dropped in too.

John, you always talk about mustard barbecue on Making It Grow when we're talking about that mystery plant.

Now you've got a real test.

Dr. John: That's right Rowland.

You always tease me about being from the central Midlands and only knowing about mustard based barbecue.

and I'll have to confess this looks mighty good.

Rowland: Well, Rodney, it all starts in the kitchen and I know you have some ladies back there that stay busy just about all day long.

Rodney: Pretty much All day preparing sandwiches pounds whatever the customers prefer.

Rowland: Well in addition to the barbecue, you've got skin and a lot of people don't realize that skin is an important part of Scotts Barbecue.

Rodney: Exactly.

We take the hall we flip it over roast the skin to perfection and then we take another piece of skin deep fry it to this like crunchy like a potato chip.

Rowland: Rodney as I travel around South Carolina, I don't believe I've ever seen a sign in a business that explains credit the way Scott's barbecue explains it.

Explain it to us.

Rodney: Well, It's basically credit is dead funeral's on Saturday.

Reverend devil is in charge.

Rowland: Well, I know we've got some people like to find out more about Scott's Barbecue.

Y'all are located on Highway 261 Just outside of Hemingway.

But you also have a phone number and you receive a lot of calls.

Rodney: Oh, yeah.

Phone numbers.

843-558-0134.

Rowland: Well, I see John Nelson's already started.

So let's go ahead and dig in right now before he gets a head start on us.

Rodney: Lets dig in.

Dr. John: Yeah, I'm there.

♪ There was one location for Scott's Barbecue and Rowland made that visit.

and now you can go to Charleston.

and I think there's a wonderful way that you can have Scott's Barbecue without having to go to Hemingway, South Carolina.

and we appreciate the fact that he let Rowland come and film with him.

A good many years ago now.

Okay, well Terasa?

Who can we help now?

Terasa: This question comes in from Kings Tree I love or East land Oh, I'm not sure how she says her name.

but she has a question about her ligustrum my sunshine ligustrum started growing a dark green.

Just on one side.

Why is this happening?

Amanda: Hmm.

Well, I kind of hate for people to grow ligustrum at all because they are a super invasive invasive tree.

But you know the nurseries sell them and so, but uhm Carmen, what do you think?

Carmen: This specific cultivar at the sunshine ligustrum she wants what they're looking for is that, like chartreuse, limey, green.

and what's happening is that it is reverting back to the original.

That dark green.

A lot of people will know it more as the Chinese privet and so what needs to really happen is if she wants to keep the that color and the bush she's to cut out that branch that is reverting and make sure that it doesn't take over back to that that green.

But I know that a lot of people on this panel are suggesting that she just rip that out, to make it easier on everyone.

Amanda: Well, and the sad thing is that the barn doors been open and now It's an incredible invasive that you're going to run into almost everywhere you go and out so rain up not a rain garden, Terasa, but what do you call it when businesses have to put in those areas around to catch the water?

Terasa: Oh bio retention.

It's an engineered rain garden essentially.

Yeah.

Amanda: And they had surrounded with with ligustrum, with Privet.

and, um, of course, the seeds are going to fall in there and then go down to the nearest watershed and I think that in areas that are in lowlands like that in swampy areas, where many of the plants that grow are deciduous, and yet they have a very important place in the ecosystem, the ligustrum is evergreen, and just out competes the heck out of it is really disruptive to the habitat.

So.

Terasa: Williamston Park in in the heart of Darlington has had major issues and tried to to mitigate remove some you've been to Kalmia gardens.

I know, Dan Hill, they've been fighting ligustrum over there as well.

It's the message really is, you know, to try to do your research ahead of time just because a plant is available doesn't mean It's a great thing to put into your landscape.

Amanda: And there are so many things available.

Now there's so many cultivars, you can find something that has the color that you like, yeah.

Well, I hope that you will consider joining us on September the 25th.

We're going to have a party celebrating our 30th anniversary at the Sumpter Opera House.

and that's September 25, starting at 5:30 PM.

In the afternoon, we'll have a reception.

and then at 6:15 PM.

We're going to go inside, It's a beautiful Opera House come to see it.

and I'm have everybody from the beginning of the show to some of these young young young whippersnappers who come with us now It's going to be a lot of fun, and we do hope that you could see us then, and if you want to wear a hat, that would be a lot of fun too.

But anyway, if you don't see you can certainly see us next week right here on Making It Grow.

Night, Night.

♪ ♪ Making It Grow is brought to you in part by certified South Carolina is a cooperative effort among farmers retailers and the South Carolina Department of Agriculture to help consumers identify foods and agricultural products that are grown harvested or raised right here in the Palmetto State.

The Boyd Foundation supporting outdoor recreational opportunities, the appreciation of wildlife educational programs, and enhancing the quality of life in Columbia, South Carolina and the Midlands at large.

McLeod farms in Mc Bee South Carolina family owned and operated since 1916.

This family farm offers seasonal produce, including over 40 varieties of peaches.

Additional funding provided by the South Carolina Farm Bureau Federation and Farm Bureau insurance and Boone Hall Farms.