Ep. 468: Expert Gardening Tips with Katie Tamony of Monrovia Plants

32:57We don't ship plants. We sell plants online too, but we again are very careful about whether those plants ship to. so I think people sometimes are confused there's a lot of terms out there about you know natives and invasives and sometimes we oversimplify oh it's either native or it's invasive but there are lots of plants that you can grow happily and sustainably in your garden that are not invasive and they're not native either so there's it's not just an a and b choice I think the ideal that we recommend that people think about is plant a garden that's got a lot of diversity in it, biodivers.

33:37I think it's great when people plant natives that are local really to where they're reaching and then mix that in with plants that are climate appropriate, but could be what we call cultivars. So we don't introduce new species, but we introduce a new variety. Right. Thank you. Yeah. A new variety is a cultivar of an existing variety. So sometimes I think not to nerd out too much on plant talk here, but people sometimes think, you know, a species of plant. So it's genus, species, variety. That's the order of things. Got it, yeah. They might know a species plant is native to their region. And so they think every variety of that species is native, but it's not.

34:26Some of those varieties are early cultivars, but that's probably okay to grow, too. Okay. That's a good rule of thumb. Yeah. Yeah. I think if you know a species is, yeah, is native to where you live, it's okay to plant a cultivar of that species, too. Okay. Well, I apologize because in the intro I said species, but what I really meant was variety.

34:51Why is planting native plants so important to your area? I think planting a few natives, it's really good for the pollinators, local wildlife in your area. you know, native bees, butterflies, other, you know, other pollinators kind of need natives. But I think the misnomer is that you need to plant only natives. You don't need to do that. And in fact, the pollinators will thrive best the more diverse your backyard is. So if you have a few natives and then you have a few other kinds of plants with different flower structures, that's actually really healthy for pollinators. So maybe you want some that are kind of daisy-like and some that are tubular and some that are different, you know, colors.

35:40That is really going to be good for the pollinators. So I think thinking about biodiversity is more important than thinking about natives. You want natives, but make them part of a diverse landscape. Are natives also more likely to be appropriate for your climate, like your amount of rain and your soil and all that stuff? I mean, I would think that, I mean, they would already be acclimated to the amount of rain and seasons. I think what's a misnomer though is that natives are used to growing wild, right? Out, they're not used to being in your backyard, you know, and planted. So sometimes we want natives to behave in ways that natives aren't meant to behave.

36:26For instance, we want a native to stay, you know, to not get too big. And a lot of natives in your backyard will get larger than maybe you had intended. Or they won't bloom very long. Natives tend to have a shorter blooming cycle. so if you plant a garden in nothing but natives um i think what we find a lot of people do that and then a few years later feel like their garden doesn't look very good a lot of the time so that's why i think it's interesting it's good to have a mix um i think sometimes when people say native what their meaning is i want something that's good for the climate that's good for pollinators that's good for my water conditions that thrives you know here but there's so many other plants that will do that right or you know that should be in your consideration so natives has become a a term that's applied to a lot of things when people mean i want something drought tolerant or i want something that's good for pollinators but if a plant is native then it is inherently tolerant of your amount of right right because no one's out there watering it Right.

37:38No, it's usually natives are, natives are usually, you know, plant it and don't worry about it. Right. So they, like, I suppose you could prune it, but you wouldn't need to prune it? Well, you'd probably prune it because it got too big because it wasn't looking, you know. Right. Or it was, you know, I'm just trying to think about. Like the wrong shape or something. Yeah, I have several natives in my backyard and they tend to be, they just are wilder. And I like that look. So I'm, they need more pruning sometimes than other plants. How has working at Monrovia changed your own gardening habits? I think I've introduced more chaos in my garden.

38:26I can't resist a new plant. I mean, I really want to try everything. So I don't follow the, oh, plant a mass of one thing. Because I'm taking in so many different types of plants and testing things out. I think it's made me try things out that I never thought I'd like before. I honestly, I was never a fan of roses before. I thought they were kind of old-fashioned and could get really long, spiky. But now I have several roses in my garden. I love them. They attract bees. They do really well in the sun. Cut them and bring them indoors. So, yeah, my gardening has really changed. And like I said, I've tried out things.

39:11I never would have. I have a kiwi in my garden. I never imagined having a kiwi. I grow more hydrangeas than I would have thought of. Again, that was sort of a new plant for me. But I'm kind of fascinated. And I grow a lot of plants for the foliage. too. Like I really am fascinated by leaves in a way that I wasn't before. So it's me, I think working for Monrovia has made me more observant about plants in general. And, you know, I just, I look at the world with like different glasses now, which is kind of nice. What plant did you put in most recently that you're most excited about? Oh, that's interesting.

39:49Well, I did plant a couple, of course. I planted for the first time forsythia this spring you know it gets the beautiful yellow blooms that are just like so dramatic so and I always thought forsythia was really for colder zone areas not really for me but I'm trying it out um so that's one new new one and then um I think the other one I planted a ceanothus which um does well especially you know in the west where I am um and it's um this is interesting because it's a native plant to California, but I'm planting, I planted a cultivar of a native plant. So it has all the traits of a wonderful native, doesn't need a lot of water, you know, does well with our rain, et cetera, handles the heat really, really well, but it has these beautiful, really intense little lilac purple flowers.

40:47And the Native Americans in California used to use the blooms of ceanothus, almost like a soap. You can rub it in your hands and it's kind of a cleaning and it has a really nice fragrance. So I just got really fascinated by that plant and I wanted to have it in my garden. So like I said, it's a hodgepodge out there. It's a potpourri of plants.

41:12I'm fascinated because you're in the front of the cool trends. you know all the cool plants oh yeah i got there's and i imagine there's samples that you can yeah come occasionally to try out yeah try out things you know and then yeah i'm able to we're able to say oh this this you know it's really perfect for your feedback yeah and actually we look for that we we try to get our plants out into gardens around the country to sort of test them out we do a lot of trialing and testing at our nurseries you know to make sure that plants are going to be good in different kinds of climates. Like roses, for instance, we do a lot of testing at our Georgia nursery because it's very hot and humid there that if roses are going to get some sort of disease, they're going to get it in Georgia.

41:58Yes, we know. I was going to say, outside is literally the rainforest today. Oh my gosh, it's so gross. Yeah. So we did trial and testing for a couple of years before we release a plant out into the market. And we're really looking for plants. We trial them with very little support. We don't give them extra fertilizer. We don't, you know, we just give them like regular watering. We don't prune them. We just want to see kind of what they do. And that's always fun, you know, that part of the process. Because some things will be really look kind of exciting. And then after two years, it's kind of a dud actually.

42:33So we won't pursue that. Yeah. So a lot of plants get rejected, actually. What are some things that we should know before we go to our local garden shop to buy? Like, is there anything that we should be doing differently when we're, when we've got our cart and we're loading things up? Is there anything we should do differently when we're planting? Sure. You know, get it in the ground? Yeah, I think when you go to the garden center, you know, I was talking about how our eyes are attracted by the bright, shiny, the blooms, you know, but I think choosing a plant that has a lot of potential is a good way to go.

43:13And you look at a hydrangea, for instance, you can see the buds that aren't yet in bloom and look for a plant that has buds all over it. So you're going to choose a plant that's going to be blooming for you longer than a plant that's already in bloom before you plant it. So I like to tell people, choose the one that's not yet in bloom. You know, there's a good. Oh, I've so made that mistake. Because in my mind, I'm like, oh, this one has the most blooms. Therefore, it's the healthiest. Right. Yeah. But then you get, it's already half bloomed by the time you get a home. Yeah. Yeah. For instance, like peonies, you really want to buy those when, before they're in bloom, you want to buy them at the garden center when they're just like, it almost looks like you're buying a pot of dirt.

44:00You just want to get what's called the eye of the peonies. That's when you want to get it and take it home and plant it so that you'll really get the most blooms, the longest blooms. Interesting. Makes sense. So when you get it home, I think one tip that I would say that a lot of people don't think about roots when the when the plant is sending out roots into the landscape it's going to send out kind of all you know around it and I think some people dig a hole really deep but not really wide and we recommend doing the the hole that you dig should be at least twice as wide as the plant and you know a little bit deeper than the plant but You really want to dig a hole that's very wide.

44:46And then you want to make sure that if your soil is really clay, you want to put in lots of amendment. You need to loosen up that soil to make it easy for the roots to get established. So having some amendment, but not planting a plant only in potting soil or soil mix. You want to mix it with your natural dirt, too. You want to really, amending is mixing. So you don't want to just put it in a hole that's not soil native to your backyard. You want to mix that. That's pretty important. I like to put in a little bit. It's like baking. Yeah. Like fold in your wet to the dry. That's right. That's right.

45:30You want to mix. Make sure you do this. So I add a little bit of slow release fertilizer too before I plant, like right in the bottom before I put the plant down. because that's going to just help the plant get off to a good start. We add something to our plants that Harry Rosedale, the guy that founded us, his team really created the insight into this, which is that plants that are grown with a beneficial fungus, which is called mycorrhizae, it's natural material, it's natural, it's fungus. So we add it to the plant when we grow it here at the nursery. It's in the soil. And when you take it in plant, a Monrovia plant in your yard, that beneficial fungus is going to help the roots uptake nutrients and water and get established more quickly into your garden.

46:22I think a lot of people have heard more and more about, you know, the benefits of fungus in nature. And so this fungus really helps the plant get off to a good start. Interesting. I had no idea. And then I think that the other thing that, so you've got your plant in the hole that's twice as wide and make sure that you're not burying that plant in there. Like you should make the plant, you know, just kind of the soil should just cover the root ball for most plants. And then you want to water it in really well. And then the thing that a lot of people forget is to add mulch on top of that. Mulch is going to help suppress weeds.

47:01It's also going to help the plant retain moisture, especially if you plant later in spring. You know, you're just, your plant is going to encounter heat pretty quickly. You know, you want to keep them from, you know, the roots from getting too baked. So you really want the mulch on top. So that's the last, that's your finishing, your dressing on top is really, really important. And I think the other thing that people don't think about is you can get plants off, especially shrubs and trees, off to the best start if you plant in fall. That's really a great time for planting. But everybody's dazzled in spring.

47:43You know, that's when you want your garden to be alive and look wonderful. You've got people coming over. You want it to look great. But I really encourage people to think, what can you plant in the fall? Because it's cooler. And you're going to let the plants going to be able to settle in and start to get the rain. And by next spring, it's going to be just fantastic. If you can, if you're larger, like if you're going to do a big hedge planting, I recommend fall for something like that. What's the best, if we say the spring does dazzle us, like you said, yeah, what's best to buy in fall versus spring?

48:22Like you just gave one example, but is there anything in the spring that you definitely see? annuals obviously yeah so annuals you know and a lot of perennials you know a lot of your you know the sort of like fun stuff the the color the dressy stuff um that's wonderful and i also think something like you know peonies you know buy them like i said buy them in um spring when they're just up over the the lip of the uh the pot and get them in the ground before they before they really take off um why are they like that why why the peonies got to be that way they are so beautiful i know it's one of those things that i think we love them too because they're sort of fleeting you know that's it she's picky yeah that's right i just think it's the amount of layers and i mean to your point a lot of a lot of flowers have a lot of layers but yeah Yeah.

49:16Yeah, peonies are, they're unique and they're, you know, it's a bulb, it goes back down to the ground, you know, and then it comes back up. I just, I think that's one of the things that's wonderful about plants is that, like I said, they're fleeting. You know, you look forward to that mass of color, you know, it doesn't last all year. It's worth having something like that in your garden, in addition to things that look good all year longer, a little bit longer. Yeah. Yeah. And bulbs are all pretty much in fall, right? Well, I mean, you plant a lot of them in fall, but some, you know, are... Or like even in winter.

49:56Yeah. But some of it is a plant that, like hostas, you know, you plant that in spring, you know. So it just, I think a lot of times we think of bulbs, the flower kind, like tulips and... That's what I'm saying when I say that, right? That's in fall and then you get it in spring. But I think others, you know, we plant in spring and get it a little bit later in spring. And then when do you, what about separating plants? Because I know that's a thing. Dividing, yeah. Yeah. When are you supposed to divide and who, how, why, when? It depends on the plant. But, you know, when plants are getting kind of crowded, you know, that's a, it goes back to pruning, I think.

50:40Some people are afraid. It's the same. Yeah. No, it's very scary. go for it you know um plants are a lot tougher than you think and um yeah dividing your um you know whether it's hostas or something else you can absolutely do that you know at the beginning of spring or in fall you can do that as well yeah have you ever tried that taran i've never tried dividing i have this pasta that she i forget because she dies away in the winter and then i'm like oh she's not that big and she came back this year and i was like dear lord you're taking over the walkway like she needs she needs i need to scoot everything in this one bed around you know like now that i've kind of you know i uh grown up and realized okay there's different heights here that aren't working and then the seasonal part is we have a whole bunch of daffodils in there and then they die yeah and then the um pastas come up and there's a fern in there that's ever it's sort of my evergreen yeah you know well even the fern probably kind of he kind of does but he doesn't fully disappear right and is that like where we are yeah but to your point yes we're i i mean i love plants because they're living i think that's why they are such a um great thing to sort of collect is like the but the way people like they will kill one and be done and i have been like no you there's the sacrificial one you gotta like i had the sacrificial fig tree fatal fiddle leaf tree yeah and i learned a lot yeah um and now we're just like propagating it we've had to snap off and then propagated that you know and that's been um so fun like you said it's like all of a sudden you're like i oh look what i can do and make more of right right it's fascinating um and you know i think the um the other thing that this is funny is that sometimes you'll think a plant is dead right and completely and then you'll see a little bit of wait something's happening there you know come back that's that's happened to me with plant with a plant I thought I had killed it was a little uh jacaranda actually I had a sort of a more compact shrub type and I thought it it was it was just sticks and I moved it and now it's thriving so yeah right don't moving is Yeah.

53:00Don't be afraid to move your plant. Definitely don't want to move it. I think fall is a great time to move plants and divide plants. You want to choose your timing. You don't want to move it in the heat or when the plant's going to get stressed. So yeah, fall or winter, depending on where you live, great time to relocate a plant that's been struggling. Or maybe your sun exposure has changed because of something. Your neighbor cut down a big tree or, you know, what's in your garden. So sometimes plants just need a new location. Yeah, that's good to hear. Don't give up. I know this. Well, this is it reminds me of I was just reminded of this the other day.

53:44We did an interview with James Farmer. Oh, I love James. Yes, he's the best. But he was saying, I could have been a gambler, but instead I'm going to misquote him. But it was like, I could have been a gambler, but instead I had a more expensive hobby and it's called gardening. And it's like there's always something to move, something to replace. Oh, another little patch of space you can figure something else how to do with it. I mean, there's always something to do in the garden. You know what's funny with James Farmer is we gave him some roses that we wanted him to try out. And we gave him kind of the rent of the litter, like a rose that people weren't really, you know, they didn't know if it was really going to become popular.

54:29It was called Nitty Gritty White. And it's a kind of a lower growing. Did he turn it into a bestseller? It's yes. We popularized it. Well, one of the things that he helped us discover was that Nitty Gritty White, its behavior in a container is really amazing. It just like explodes with blooms. And we hadn't really seen, it's funny, this is a funny case where the color of that rose, the white, behaves in a very different way than the yellow, the peach, the pink. And we didn't realize that, that the white kind of comes out in these like sprays of bouquets almost on the plant. And James planted many of them in containers that are around his pool.

55:15And they've just become like the focal point of his pool area. And he's just loved them and told us that and told, you know, his followers about it. So that plant has become really popular. Yeah. I know exactly which plant you're talking about. You've seen it. But yeah, it has a yellow center to it. Yeah, it gets a little pink. Amazing. Yeah, it's really, really pretty. that is so funny that again trending plant i'm still dying because it's so true it's so true i think i just hadn't really thought about i mean i remember the first time we saw a fiddle leaf going back to that and being like what is that oh my gosh oh and magazines the visual space yeah we were just like magazines totally popularized that yeah you know another plant that's really taken off similar to and catalogs have um popularized this is olive you know the olive Yes.

56:09Small olive tree or like we have a shrub called Little Ollie, dwarf olive. Looks great in a container. That's a really good choice. But now everybody wants an olive tree. They want to grow it indoors, which is really not good for, you know, you don't want to do that with an olive. But that's one that's really taken off and people are, you know. Ironically, my husband bought two of them with some containers in the back. Were they from Monrovia? I don't know. He's my gardener. I'm going to have to ask. And I've learned so much from you today. I know. I know. I've seen the stacks of the green pots.

56:44So, like, I mean, that part of me, I'm like, I know. He likes to keep all those pots. And I'm like, oh, sure. Yeah. Reuse them, plant other stuff. Yes. We have a greenhouse. And he is always like. How lucky you. I know. Yeah. One, two. It's a it's just for fun. It's a hobby all the way. But he keeps one too many of the plastic containers. And I'm like, should we switch them for some prettier pots? I'm filthy of that, too. I keep holding on to containers. I don't know what I'm going to do with that, but I'm going to use it for something. I know. It feels so big, though. You're like, I can put something.

57:18I love to use the containers to scoop. Oh, yeah. When you're scooping, you know? Oh, yeah. But no. My husband's past, like, keeping a few. Like, I will wait until he's, like, kind of gone. And I'll go to the stack and, like, toss a few. carry them and like recycling so i can't see them um so ironically back to the main point i was like olive trees yeah that's his his new we had tried we tried a peach tree and uh like you were saying trees and planters we tried a peach tree and a pear tree oh and um we got a good season two good seasons and then one got zapped by heat and one got zapped by cold yeah and the planters and so we've actually moved them to the yard because they were still living they just were like less attractive like again half of it kind of alive and the other branches weren't yeah and that will happen too i think that some plants like i said they can only do so long in a container they really want to be in the ground um so i sort of advise that to like think about something in a container like three years and then it's time to although i have a japanese maple in a container for a really long time but yeah i think the three is really good to know actually kind of like to set expectations We'll see if these olive trees make it a season.

58:33Currently, they're getting drowned. And I think they like the dryness that we had before this week in the rain. But yes, I think it's so funny that there's trending. But we sell a lot of faux florals at Mallard. And I think that I've also realized through that, like what is trending. Oh, yeah. Yeah, for sure. Because I just remember we had the ugliest fake tree upstairs. And this like little like loft railing when you came in. And like that was the entrance to our home. No offense, mom. Yeah. And I feel like that probably started my whole like fake living. And then I was like, once I got in a real plant inside, I was like, oh, yeah, this is.

59:15But what is trending in fake florals these days? It's a good question. We, the olives are definitely, especially the little trees, which I know, again, I think the living ones are so sweet. um i think we have a is a lemon balm yeah one two fruit see i'm gonna embarrass i would say also just in stems it's like stuff that looks why stuff that looks like you could have cut it out of your yard yeah you know like um yeah willowy kind of yeah sure branches or the modern meadow Yeah, there you go, modern bio. But in branches, yes. But that kind of makes me wonder, what would be, say you want to do that, but you want to do that with real.

1:00:02Like, what are some things you could plant for cutting? Like, if you knew that you loved fresh-cut plants and instead of constantly going to the store, what are some things you might recommend for that? Well, I mean, I think unusual, I mean, we already talked about roses and hydrangeas, et cetera, which are all great choices for the cutting garden. But things like leucodendron, you know, that's a really interesting structural plant. Forsythia, beautiful for cutting garden. Actually, we grow a crepe myrtle shrub, which is amazing. and that would be a stunning choice and really different for a cutting garden.

1:00:51It only gets like three or four feet tall and it has these amazing flowers and you can get darker foliage. I love things with dark foliage for unusual arrangements inside. There are a lot of interesting choices like even physocarpus. you could grow that for because the leaves are sort of interesting and that could be part of your you know your your arrangement um yeah so many choices i i go out in my garden just walking around with you know scissors and you know yeah i grow um laura petalum it's a pretty common you know shrub and that that's a really nice makes a nice addition to an arrangement because the leaves are so delicate and um you know i've got the deep deep purple foliage one and then the bright green uh one as well so i cut sippings off of that that's that's a great place actually i was gonna say say that plan again because my spelling is oh uh laura petalum laura okay oh you will recognize it darren it's like you see it everywhere yeah um but that's a that's an easy one um and it Gets the little fringe flowers on it.

1:02:05So that's pretty and different kind of choice. Yeah. Yes. Yes. Those are always so pretty. They stand out just because they're coloring. Amazing. No, thank you. I think those are some great because we always want to bring more of the outdoors in. Yeah. Definitely. Lots of garden lovers around here, too. Well, Katie, thank you so much for joining us. What a treat. Can you tell everyone where they can find you, follow you, and see your work? Sure. So, again, I'm Katie. and come to monrovia.com or follow us on social media at monroviaplants on every, you know, every platform. You can explore on our website.

1:02:43We have a tool called Plant Finder and you can put in your zip code and then what you're interested in. Like I need something deer resistant and I want it to bloom in spring and you'll see the plants just for you and your area that way. So I recommend use my Plant Finder and follow us at monroviaplants. Yeah. Wonderful. Agreed. The website is great. Oh, thank you. It's amazing. It is a good, it is a great way to start to figure out everything. Good planning tool. Yeah. Thank you. It's great to be with you today. Thank you so much. All right. That's our show. And that's our show. You can find all of the show notes on our blog, howtodecorate.com slash podcast.

1:03:28To send in a decorating dilemma, email your questions to podcast at BallardDesigns.net so we can help you with your space. And of course, be sure to follow us on social media at Ballard Designs. Don't forget to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts so you never miss an episode. And please leave us a review. We'd love to hear your feedback. Until next time, happy decorating!