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Perennials for All Seasons

air date: November 15, 2014

Meet new exciting grasses and succulents with Janet Rademacher from Mountain States Wholesale Nursery. On tour, Sara Breuer updated an old garden style, removed lawn, and turned it into a Certified Backyard Habitat with help from her family. Daphne explains what plants we can move in winter. Plant of the Week is green germander, an evergreen drought defiant groundcover, perfect for borders. John Dromgoole explains how to put fall’s falling leaves to use.

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Episode Segments

On Tour

Updated Garden for Food, Wildlife and Lifestyle

Sara Breuer had lots on her hands in her new garden—mainly sticky lifeless soil, along with an outdated design with lots of lawn. A weekend at a time, she charmed up style and soil for abundant organic vegetables, native plants for wildlife, chickens and expansive outdoor living. In front, she swapped lawn for a front door patio and raised vegetable beds, built by husband Tim Mateer.  In back, she covered dead grass with an extensive deck for outdoor living. Son Henry championed for chickens and as a Boy Scout certified them as a Backyard Habitat.

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Question of the Week

What plants can we move now and what should wait?

The best rule of thumb for moving plants in winter is this: if your plant thrives in the heat, it may not want to be messed with in the cold.  Some examples would be yellow bells, lantana, rosemary, plumbago and any plant that is native to hotter, drier areas. Better to wait until last frost in March or early April.

For herbaceous perennial salvias (that die to the ground in winter) move their rosettes after last frost.

In fall and winter, we don’t want to move tropical plants (including shrubs like oleander and Pride of Barbados) or any plant that needs protection in winter. Wait to move those after any chance of frost is over in spring.

Wait until April or later to move succulents, cactus and grasses.

TO MOVE IN WINTER: Winter IS the best time to move trees, evergreen shrubs, roses and native dormant perennials like turks cap, rock rose, asters, coneflowers, firebush (Hamelia patens), flame acanthus, mistflower of all varieties, liriope and other evergreen groundcovers.

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Plant of the Week

Green Germander

Green Germander

Teucrium chamaedrys

Green germander is a perennial Mediterranean herb that makes a great little groundcover, especially in dry areas of the landscape. It thrives in full sun, but can take a bit of shade, and needs very little supplemental irrigation, even in the hottest, driest of times. Green germander stays very small, getting only about 12” tall and spreading to about as wide. Hardy all the way down to zone 5, this shrubby groundcover is often evergreen in warmer climates. But even if it doesn’t die back in winter, green germander will perform better with a little early spring shearing to keep it in shape. In the late spring or early summer, it forms lavender flowers, similar to most of its other relatives in the mint family. After it’s done flowering, green germander may get a little leggy, and if so, just shear it back about an inch or so, to encourage new growth. Regular shearing will make for a fuller, more robust plant, which will look much more attractive in the garden. Green germander can tolerate all different types of soil, although it will perform best in well-drained, even rocky garden beds.

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