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♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ Aaron Steil: Welcome to Gardening with Steil.

Mushrooms are getting a lot of attention these days as a health-promoting super food.

They are both good for us and good for the planet by absorbing pollution and fighting off viruses.

You could describe them as nature's recycling system.

In Iowa, spring temperatures and wet conditions bring out the coveted Morel mushroom.

And for many, that means the hunt is on.

But beware!

These mushrooms can be tricky to identify and difficult to find.

Cindy Haynes takes us on a mushroom hunting and safety lesson with fungi experts Lina Rodriguez Salamanca and Leonor Leandro.

♪♪ Cindy Haynes: Thank you, Lina, for showing us around and taking us mushroom hunting today.

We've got a gorgeous day to do it.

And I'm a novice hunter so I appreciate your help in doing this today.

Fungi are your life.

You've been doing this for a while.

Tell me, how long have you been mushroom hunting?

Lina Rodriguez Salamanca: Well, I love fungi and mushrooms in general.

I am a microbiologist by training and I used to hunt in the tropics where I'm from.

And actually I learned to hunt for morels here in Iowa with Mark Vitosh.

Cindy: Oh, he's a good guy to learn stuff from because he spends a lot of time in the woods.

That's true.

So before we begin, before we get into the woods you've brought us a lot of things to kind of consider to have on your treks in the woods when you're mushroom hunting.

Can you explain what you have here and where it goes because you have certain stuff that goes in the basket and certain stuff that goes in a fanny pack.

Lina: That's right.

So, first, take care of yourself.

Remember to pack some repellent with you.

Ticks are always around.

So make sure to use them on your ankles and reapply as needed.

Sunscreen is also a good idea, protect yourself from the UV light, it's very important.

Inevitably you will get your hands dirty so it's always good to have something to clean your hands with, so there you go.

If it rains or if it's too sunny at some point a good poncho and a hat will be great.

This one is one that Mark taught me.

It's a little brush.

So it turns out that as you walk in the woods you may be tracking things that you don't want to track, like invasive species and plants.

So every time you're going to enter make sure that you're brushing your shoes.

And then when you're out of the woods brush them again.

Cindy: See, I would have thought that was for the mushroom itself.

But it's to clean your shoes.

Lina: That's a great point.

For the mushroom itself, we have something a different.

Cindy: A little softer.

Lina: More delicate, that's right.

So we do have that for the mushroom, the little brush.

And then we'll put this one here.

Now, when you use the brush you want to make sure that you're cleaning it.

So I normally carry some alcohol swabs or a little bit of ethanol with you and I'll carry those in there.

This also works great if you happen to cut yourself, you can clean yourself.

Cindy: First-aid kit all ready to go.

Lina: That's right.

Now, when you're going to be looking at mushrooms and if you don't know what you're looking at you're maybe taking some photos.

A ruler is a great tool because it will give you the idea what is the size and whomever you're consulting with will absolutely love to have that perspective of what you're looking at.

Cindy: So if you need a mushroom identified, if you take a picture with a ruler then it makes it easier for you to identify.

Lina: That's right, excellent.

And then a camera, a good camera, lots of point and shoot that do a very good job but also phones these days.

Cindy: Yeah, mine is pretty good.

Lina: They do great and you can save your spots in there, takes lots of photos and video.

Phones are great for that.

I also carry resources in my phone.

So I have this little booklet, know your plants, your trees, mushrooms definitely are associated with certain plants and trees.

So things like this are great.

And there is also a website that I often use in my phone from the university, from ISU that is an interactive guide to identify trees.

So I love that one but I have a copy of this one so I carry it too.

And then I also have a booklet on mushroom identification here.

Cindy: Right, that's a great resource too.

Lina: Yes.

Let's see.

What else?

If you're getting into identifying more you're going to need to be looking at the very fine details of the mushrooms.

And so there's plenty of -- Cindy: Magnifiers.

Lina: Hand lenses.

So for every need you can find one.

So I carry one, a couple and one with illumination.

Cindy: Way to be a scientist.

I like it.

Lina: Absolutely.

And then last thing, I think this little knife here, it's nice to harvest mushrooms above the soil level so that you're not carrying any soil debris with them.

So I'll put that there.

And take notes.

Where did you collect it?

What was the date?

You can kind of make your own diary on what you hunted, what you saw.

Cindy: That's good for next year when you decide whether or not that's a good spot or not.

Lina: That's right.

And the last thing I think for personal care, if you get hungry carry some food with you, some good snacks.

And if you end up hunting for a variety of mushrooms the best way to pack them is in parchment paper or paper bags.

Cindy: I was wondering why you had parchment paper.

So paper, not plastic.

Lina: Right.

Plastic, the humidity in the plastic will be problematic and then the mushrooms will start decaying.

Cindy: Okay.

♪♪ Cindy: I'll get the basket if you've got that.

Let's go hunt some mushrooms!

Lina: Sounds good.

♪♪ Cindy: Got it?

Lina: Yes.

Cindy: We're ready!

♪♪ ♪♪ Lina: I only know the Jack-in-the-pulpit because of the rust that comes -- Cindy: It's a wonderful wildflower, Jack-in-the-pulpit.

Leonor: Hey guys!

I found some!

Come here!

Lina: Yay!

Cindy: All right!

More than Jacks!

♪♪ Leonor: Look what I found.

A nice little patch over here.

Cindy: Thank you so much for scouting it out early for us.

Oh yeah.

Nice!

Cindy: Wait, I don't see any.

Okay, so they're kind of dark and the same color.

They're well camouflaged in the leaves.

There it is!

Do you see these two little guys over here.

Those are tiny!

I found this one a little while ago.

Oh it's beautiful, absolutely.

That's a good size for sure.

Oh there's another.

Do you see those?

Look at those!

Those two over there.

Very cool.

Cindy: Very nice.

So are there -- these look a little different than one another.

So what is what?

Leonor: Well, these are Morcillas -- and they are the Morel that is more seasonally confused with a false Morel because the cap is not completely attached to the stalk.

So when we cut them open I'll show you the difference.

Cindy: And that's different than that one?

Yes.

That is an Americana, the more common one that people love to eat.

Cindy: Nice.

Yes, that looks more like it.

So this particular site they were here, it's seems a little wet, a little damper, we're kind of in a lower spot.

What else do we look for when we want to find a good Morel hunting site?

Leonor: Definitely the wetter areas are going to be best, so low areas.

When you're at a river here, the creek, so when you have these moister areas, more shaded so the moisture doesn't get evaporated as quickly.

So those are good.

And then often times if you are around the base of trees like Elms or Ashes, Hickory.

And sometimes they are live trees and they're around the base of those trees.

Or sometimes they are just feeding on dead organic matter.

So stumps, freshly cut and then just other downed logs.

So you just kind of have to train your eye to look for those.

And you may need to move the leaves around a little bit because they're hiding, they're popping up from under all this leaf material.

So sometimes you really have to -- I thought there was another one somewhere in here.

They will surprise you.

Cindy: They are perfectly camouflaged.

Very well camouflaged.

In the leaves, I agree.

Cindy: Can we grow our own mushrooms?

Well, it's complicated.

You could, but this -- Cindy: It would be easier, wouldn't it?

It would.

So there are a lot of mushrooms that we can very easily cultivate indoors.

You just get a little kit and they will go quickly and grow.

But these guys will go into this resting stage so it's hard to lure them out of that resting stage.

And so they won't fruit in a way that you can predict when the fruiting body is ready.

Cindy: Right, so that's why Morels are so expensive because they have probably been harvested, not grown.

Leonor: They're hard to find and also the conditions that make them fruit are not really well understood.

They're kind of a mystery.

So that makes it even more exciting to hunt for them because you feel very lucky when you do find them.

I think that makes them tastier.

Yes, it's part of the experience.

Cindy: So, we need to harvest these and then we need to find some more.

Should we mark the spot and let some of these get bigger or harvest some of them or should we -- We can take the bigger ones.

Cindy: Okay, we've got one.

There was a third one, oh there's another one.

So when harvesting just always remember to go a little bit above the soil.

You can pinch or use a knife, just be very careful.

Now, with Morels I always make sure that the stalk here is hollow, that's really important.

And if you happen to get any debris on it that is where your little brush will come in handy.

See how hollow that is?

Yeah, that is nice and hollow.

That is one of the distinguishing features of the Morel is that there is no cottony fibrous material inside the stalk.

Always, if it's not hollow do not swallow it.

It always has to be hollow in the stem.

So you see, this guy is completely hollow there and so this attachment is halfway in the cap, very important.

So it has that attachment right there.

If you compare with the other little guy.

Where did it go?

Oh, that one is over here.

So if you compare with the other ones, this one is just attached at the base of the cap.

This is more of a normal Morel.

Yellow, gray Morels is the Morcilla.

Americana are the tasty ones that everyone is looking for.

So should we hunt some more?

Let's go hunt for some more.

♪♪ Two or three is not enough!

♪♪ Cindy: I just want to find a Morel.

One of the Americana ones.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ As soon as we get more rain they'll probably -- So here's another mushroom.

Oh, something important too is as you are moving plants around, be very aware of any poisonous ones.

Poison Oak, Poison Ivy, all of those things.

Right.

Yeah.

Cindy: We're in the Wild Ginger now so it's okay.

Oh, I don't know what this one is off the top of my head.

Cindy: So, if you don't know what it is, you don't eat it.

No, definitely do not eat it.

Cindy: So that is the one thing I know about mushrooms.

That is the most important one.

Yes, definitely always seek, you need to seek expert help.

And just knowing even the big categories is not enough, you really need to get the species because sometimes different species within the same group, the same genus may vary in how toxic they are.

Cindy: Right, so you're looking on your phone on the mushroom guide.

Lina: Yes, we have a little booklet that is called Safe Mushroom Foraging.

And so in here I'm just looking in the calendar and what will be popping up right now.

So I'm thinking it may be Spirulina, maybe.

I'm going to follow up and go find it in the photo and read what -- Cindy: And so it doesn't look like a typical Morel at all.

And I spotted it because it was a totally different color than everything else.

And it has got a very interesting underside to the cap.

Leonor: Yes, so this is, there's two big groups of what we call mushrooms in general terms.

One is what we call the Basidiomycetes and so these kind of mushrooms that have gills, they have a cap, a stalk and they have these little gills, these are in the Basidiomycetes.

The Morel is actually a completely different group and they are the Ascomycetes.

And so there's not a lot of edible Ascomycetes, but Morels and Truffles, which are very famous, two of the best, are in the Ascomycetes.

And it is in the way they produce their spores in little sacs in the Morels and Ascomycetes in little club shaped cells outside of that cell.

So there's many other things, the Bracket fungi, the Jelly fungi, Puffballs, they are all in the Basidiomycetes, the big group, because of the way they produce their spores.

Morel are kind of unique.

Cindy: That's true.

But just because it's in the Basidiomycetes doesn't necessarily mean it's all edible.

Leonor: No, no, no.

There's a lot of poisonous mushrooms.

You really have to know.

And it's a lot harder often times to identify correctly something in this group than in the Morels because Morels have that hollow stalk and have this pitted cap that really helps us distinguish them.

You still have to be careful.

There's some look-a-likes that we're going to have to look carefully.

Cindy: Okay, so we found more mushrooms, but not more Morels.

So should we continue hunting for Morels?

Sure!

You want a full basket.

I do!

♪♪ Cindy: That was so much fun.

I'm glad we found a few.

Lina: Yes.

There's a couple of things I would like to show you though.

Cindy: Okay.

(nature sounds) Lina: Especially if you're a beginner hunter.

Cindy: I am.

Lina: There's a couple of things that you really want to be aware of.

There's a couple of false Morels.

So those are not in the genus Morcilla and they look very similar to the ones that we were just hunting.

So this is the guy, the Morcilla -- we have it right here.

Remember, hollow stem attaches halfway.

So this is a good one.

Now, when you compare it with this Verpa Conica and Verpa Bohemica, they have a lot of similarities except that the stem is not hollow.

There's a little bit of fuzz on the stem and the attachment of the cap, you can see it on this one here, is at the very top.

Cindy: So it's not all the way like the typical Morel.

Lina: That's right.

Cindy: Hmm.

So you really have to kind of dissect some of these to make sure you know what you're getting.

Lina: Yes.

And if you're not sure, always remember if it's not hollow, don't swallow.

Don't eat anything that you don't know what it is for sure.

Leonor: And the consequence of eating something like a false Morel, these Verpas or there is another Gyromitra genus, could be pretty serious.

You could get really serious gastrointestinal symptoms, you could get into a coma, it can even kill you.

And the other thing that also you should know is that some people don't respond very well to eating mushrooms in general.

So even though they're not poisonous, if you're a first-time eater, if you're eating something for the first time, eat a small amount -- Cindy: Field test it.

Leonor: Yes.

And always cook them.

With Morels, you should always cook Morels before you eat them.

Lina: And do not mix them with alcohol.

Leonor: Yes.

And some Morel species are toxic if ingested with alcohol.

And then of course, always be really careful about selecting a good area to collect the Morels because, for example, if you're collecting them near a farm where there's animals or a contaminated site with pesticides or herbicides or if they're getting old and maybe have been partially eaten, you could be ingesting other things that would be poisonous to you.

Cindy: So food safety issues.

Leonor: Food safety issues, yes.

Cindy: Wow.

Thank you so much, ladies.

Thank you so much for the lesson.

I'm so glad I went Morel hunting with you.

Thanks!

♪♪ Aaron: Walking through the woods, looking for mushrooms, you can almost imagine coming across a magical woodland creature like a fairy.

Inspired by that, we're going to create our own fairy garden.

A fairy garden is any miniature garden that features plants and whimsical decor that is meant to lure fairies and bring good luck to the gardener.

But more broadly speaking, you can define a fairy garden as any miniature garden with some decor in it.

And they can be very simple like this succulent garden with a simple piece of decor like this one here or something a little bit more elaborate like this container here that has decor in it that is specifically made for fairy gardens.

They can be in containers or your very own garden.

You're really only limited by your creativity.

Aaron: Today, we're going to be creating our own fairy garden and I'm going to walk you through the steps to create something like this.

We're going to start by coming up with a theme.

And that theme is really important because it helps define and narrow down what we're looking for.

There are so many things out there that you can potentially do when it relates to fairy gardens that a theme can help kind of hone in.

So we can do things like colors, places, even locations or styles.

So it can be beachy or it can be woodland, it can be pinks and reds or something like that.

Aaron: After we have our theme, I like to start by looking at some of the decor.

There are lots of different options out there for you to use.

You can start with little figurines like these.

They range from all sorts of different things.

A lot of times they have really nature-themed ideas here like frogs and birds and insects and other things like that, including fairies of course.

You also want to include things like rocks and stones, shells and marbles.

You can do twigs and bark, dried pods and seeds and flowers and other things like that.

Any of these things like these acorns and pinecones are all really fun additions to a fairy garden.

Aaron: Most fairy gardens also have some kind of moss whether it is sheet moss or Spanish moss, reindeer moss or things like that.

And you can also create your own art for your little miniature garden.

This little fairy house here was something that was put together with just a little bit of hot glue and some bark and other pieces of wood and moss.

Aaron: Of course, we also need plants for our fairy garden.

And over here I have a variety of plants.

We're looking for things that will do well in the same light, soil and water requirements.

After that, you can use any plant that you want.

I'm creating mine for indoors so I'm going to be using houseplants.

And a lot of places that sell houseplants will sell little miniature plants like this.

They're great for terrariums and they're great for things like fairy gardens.

Aaron: When I pull all my plants together, not only do I want to make sure that they have the same light, soil and water requirements, but I also want to look at some of the forms and shapes, I want things that are moundy and upright, maybe even trailing.

And I also want to look for things that have different textures and colors.

So I have a nice variety of colors here as well as some fine textured things and some more coarse textured things.

Aaron: Finally, after that, I have to find my right container.

And you can really use any container.

The only requirement is that it has drainage so that the excess water can go out the bottom.

This is a really nice one because it has a nice, broad, wide top and it gives me more room to kind of do my fun things in my fairy garden.

They can be anything from a boot or a broken clay pot to a whiskey barrel to a window box or a large saucer like this one.

Aaron: The potting soil in here is perfect for the plants that I have.

It's just typical potting soil.

If I were doing a succulent one I might use something that is a little more sharply drained.

Whatever works well for the plants that you choose will work well for a fairy garden.

Aaron: I like to start by placing the major items first.

My theme for this is going to be kind of like a rustic woodland fairy garden.

So I'm going to place some of this in and kind of plan out how I want to in general put this in.

So I've got my little fairy house here for my fairy friends to live and I think I'm going to have a small little path here and then plants and some other little rock outcroppings over in this area.

Aaron: So I can start by I kind of want to get an idea of how I want to lay these out.

So I'll just kind of set these all in place.

Here, like this and this.

I kind of like how that looks.

So now I can get all of my plants potted up.

We're just going to pot these up like we would any other dish garden or indoor planter.

Just pulling them out of pots.

If they're really root bound we might break up those roots a little bit.

These are all relatively happy and healthy.

You can find these plants in any garden center.

In many cases there's a lot of really wonderful variety.

It can be a little dangerous actually because there are so many fun things and because they're so small you can often get a lot of really fun things for a really good price.

♪♪ Aaron: So once I have all of these plants potted up I can then add my major decorations, which in this one is going to be my little fairy house here that I built.

I'm going to set that in here.

And then I really like to kind of cover the soil, it gives a really nice finished look.

I like to cover the soil with a little bit of sheet moss.

Sheet moss you can also find in just about any craft store and garden center, especially if they specialize in fairy garden decor and fairy garden materials.

So I can break some of this up and place it in, it really kind of finishes off the way that it looks.

♪♪ Aaron: And then I can add, this is the more fun part, I can add in some of my fun things.

So I'm going to put in a little rock path here for my fairy.

♪♪ Aaron: I have a few little pinecones here I'm going to set up here.

I've got my little Sweetgum seed pod there.

I've got my little owl friend, he's going to sit kind of right over here.

And then this is actually one of my favorite little whimsical decorations.

I'm going to squeeze my little guy in here.

♪♪ Aaron: I'm going to set him over there.

And I have my fairy garden.

Care for this fairy garden is going to look like many of our houseplants because this is made up of houseplants.

If you're using annuals or perennials you would care for them much in the same way.

In a container we're going to water this in because we always water in plants after we plant them and water when dry.

This one needs good indirect light indoors and all the plants here would be really happy with that.

When it comes to fertilizer we're going to use very little fertilizer.

We don't want to encourage a lot of growth with this because it will change the way that our fairy garden looks and we want to kind of keep it miniature and small for as long as possible.

So an all-purpose fertilizer maybe once or twice through the growing season at half strength is probably all we'll need.

In many cases, our potting soil already has a little bit of fertilizer in it so we're really good.

Aaron: The last thing I'll mention is that your fairy garden will change over time and as things get tired or grow or as things start to decay or change you can change it up.

That is part of the fun of a fairy garden.

There's always something that can be tinkered with, changed, added, swapped out.

Have fun with it.

Aaron: As we leave you, enjoy a tour of another whimsical art exhibition.

Ribbit the Exhibit features larger-than-life frogs in a garden setting.

Thanks for joining me on Gardening with Steil!

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ Aaron Steil: Welcome to Gardening with Steil.

Shade gardens have always been popular and most people have a shady spot where they find it difficult to get plants to grow.

For some of us it's our entire yard.

Today, we'll visit two thriving shad gardens, each with a completely different approach to conquering their shady situations.

Aaron: For our first stop, Cindy Haynes takes us to meet Don Draper to get his take on creating a shady haven.

Cindy Haynes: Thank you so much for allowing us to visit Draper's Hillside Hosta today.

It is a true collection of hosta.

How many hosta do you have here?

Don Draper: Well, Dr. Haynes, we have over 1,600 plants, hosta plants, and we have 950 different cultivars.

Cindy: Wow.

That's a lot of hosta.

And you've been here about 40 years so plenty of time to -- Don: 44 years.

Cindy: -- plenty of time to accumulate hosta.

One of the things I like about hosta in the shade is that you can mix all these different types and they all work well together.

But one of the things I like about your garden is that you have also introduced some other things as well.

Don: We have a lot of different shade perennials that we have incorporated into our design.

Cindy: Yes, so things like Coral Bells, which have some nice kind of interesting foliage colors, mimic some of the hosta colors.

Cindy: Then Lenten Rose or Helleborus.

Don: Right.

Cindy: Blooms in -- Don: This one was blooming in early May, late April actually.

Cindy: Late April, early May, so it's blooming just as the hostas are coming up.

Goat's Beard, which just finished blooming.

Don: Just finished blooming.

Cindy: Creamy white blooms in June sometimes.

Don: Right, adds great texture to the yard.

Cindy: I know, it gives that kind of ferny texture doesn't it?

And then the blue, gray, green leaves of Heartleaf Brunnera.

This one is a really nice one because it pulls into the gray of some of the others.

Don: Right, mm-hmm.

Cindy: And then Doll's Eyes.

Don: Doll's Eyes, that is a unique plant.

Cindy: It is a very unique plant, very big, gives you that kind of difference in texture, nice flower.

And then they call it Doll's Eye because it has this really unusual fruit that is white like an eye.

Don: White like an eyeball and it's got the little black dot for the pupil.

Cindy: Right, it's got the pupil as well, which is kind of cool because that's usually a fall thing.

Lungwort, which has the spotted foliage.

How do you determine how you put the hostas in here?

I see some tall ones.

I see some short ones.

Don: We try to put the taller plants in the center of the bed or in the back of the bed if it's along a fence or a border.

And then we put the medium-sized ones in front of that.

And then the smaller hostas that you can see here, they form the border of the bed that way.

That way you can get different, quite a few hostas in.

If you had them all tall you wouldn't be able to see them as well.

So this way you're able to see the individual plants.

And so they will tell you how tall they're going to get and how wide they'll get.

Don: For example, this plant will probably get another 6 to 10 inches tall and probably another at least a foot wider than what it is now.

So it's going to be a very large plant.

Cindy: It is.

So when you plant, you plant for plenty of room, even if it takes three years for it to get there, three to five years.

Don: And that's something that most hostas take to get to their mature size, it's usually about 5 years.

Cindy: Okay, so give them the time to get there.

Don: That's right.

Cindy: Excellent.

I love it.

Astilbe's look great in here too.

More Doll's Eyes.

And then just more hosta.

Don: Cindy, here's something that you may be aware of, but a lot of people that are growing hostas, they're trying to introduce red into the plants.

And so we have a plant here that has red petioles and sometimes that red color can extend out into the leaf and into the veins.

So if you pull this up -- Cindy: Oh, I'll let you get it.

Don: If you pull that up you can see the leaves or the petioles in there how red they are.

Cindy: They are very striking kind of burgundy red.

Nice, very nice.

So not a whole lot of red on the top yet, but that is the newest thing is red petioles and they're trying to get some red or burgundy into the leaves?

Don: I would say within probably 5 years we will see hostas with red leaves.

Cindy: Ah, another color to add to the garden.

I like it.

I like it.

Let's go see some other new things.

Don: Okay, we've got a few more things to show you.

Cindy: Awesome!

(nature sounds) Don: Dr. Haynes, I'd like to show you one of our newest gardens.

The bed that you see over here on the left, this will be its third year.

And some of the plants in here are, were moved in and many of the plants were all new like two years ago and there were a couple that were put in just this spring.

Cindy: It doesn't look like it's a new garden.

I mean, look at those Bleeding Hearts, they're big already.

Don: That is a unique Bleeding Heart because the foliage stays bright on that all summer long.

Cindy: Right.

I can see a few open spaces, but there's lots of things that are going to fill this in, like the Martagon Lillies and Thalictrum.

Don: Thalictrum, right.

Cindy: Right, or Meadow Rue, that is a pretty one.

Of course plenty of hostas, ferns adding nice texture, very cool.

And then is this one new as well, this side?

Don: This bed is a couple of years older than that.

There's some Solomon's Seal over here on the right-hand side.

Cindy: I love it.

I love it.

And then lots of other shade plants in here as well.

Now, I notice you're not using any mulch.

Don: Yeah, we don't use wood mulch.

I can show you, if I can pick some of this up and I'll just drop it for you, it's ground leaves is what it is.

We grind that up and we put about, every fall we put it on and cover the beds and it turns into compost and it adds a lot of nutrients back into the soil.

Cindy: So you collect all the leaves that drop and shred them.

Don: We shred them and then put them back on.

Cindy: So you do have a mulch, but it's not your typical wood chip mulch.

And that actually saves you quite a bit of money I bet.

Don: Well, it does.

Cindy: And it's organic.

Don: It's organic, right.

It's returning some very important nutrients back into the soil.

Cindy: What's in this little woodland garden?

Don: Well, this is a true woodland garden.

This is a place that we converted several years ago from a forest into a beautiful hosta glen.

Cindy: Ah.

And I see the woods on one side and then manicured, managed hosta glen on the other.

Don: That's right.

It's a very striking image.

Cindy: It's beautiful.

Don: It has lots of unique opportunities to display shade plants.

For example, the ground cover that you see here is really a good one for -- Cindy: It's Galium.

That's awesome.

It's a great ground cover.

Don: There's another ground cover right here on the right, the Astilbe Pumilas.

Cindy: That's a good idea to have the ground covers underneath the hostas because that helps control your weeds and the hostas grow through them.

Don: Right.

There's some Wild Ginger underneath the hosta.

Cindy: Another good ground cover.

(nature sounds) Cindy: I just love how you have combined all of these different types of hostas with all these different textural plants as well.

So it's something interesting to look at around every corner.

Thank you so much for inviting us to Draper's Hillside Hostas.

Don: Well, you're so welcome.

Come back again.

Cindy: I will.

I will.

♪♪ Aaron: The Draper's traditional collection of hostas creates a serene oasis and took many years to become fully developed.

Ed Lyon's shade garden is a much younger example and a more eclectic mix of plants that do well in the shade.

Ed Lyon: Hi, Cindy.

Cindy Haynes: Hi, thank you so much for having me in your garden.

Ed: Well, welcome to Lyon-Hart Gardens.

Cindy: Oh, I love it.

I love it.

Now, you've only been here a few years.

Ed: This will be my sixth season.

Cindy: It is packed for six years, that's amazing.

And I love the trees around here.

So this is a good example of a shade garden.

Ed: It is and the problem that creates the shade in the first place.

Cindy: This is true.

Show us your garden.

Ed: So there's a lot of shade but then there's also some transition to sun areas.

So, when you're designing a garden of this nature you kind of have to keep in mind where are some of the deeper shade spots?

Where are some of the spots where you might be going then into some sun?

And so it's kind of tricky sometimes getting that transition from one area to the other.

Ed: One of the things I do, though, because we rely so heavily on foliage for the color, the shape and form for the visual interest in the garden is then I will also use annuals.

And you'll see shade tolerant annuals to give that color all season you might not have otherwise.

Cindy: Right, so you just tuck them in here and there until things fill in.

Ed: It's actually wherever there is a hole.

Cindy: That's good.

I also see lots of ferns, Jack-in-the-pulpit.

Those are some typical woodland shade, native perennials that you can include in here.

And I see shrubs and trees.

Ed: Absolutely.

There needs to be all of the various layers in a garden so visually as you're walking through it's not all flat and above.

Our eyes are at this level so we should have different plant materials that also meet our eyes that way as well.

Ed: You also might notice I use my hostas a little bit different than a lot of shade gardeners do.

I use them as specimen plants as accents in the garden.

So, as you go down through you'll see they're almost like little exclamation points that come up and out rather than just simply having them in masses.

Cindy: Right, you see one here, one there.

Yeah, there are never a cluster of them, they're all the way dotted throughout.

Ed: And it draws the eye more than if you're massing them.

And then the other great shade garden plant, you have to have the fern, because you're contrasting textures.

So you have the very bold of the hosta and the fine of the ferns and they work so well together.

Cindy: Right.

And you've done also a really good job of putting things that bloom at different times.

So, I know we're here in the middle of June or July, we're looking at things, but I know in October the Toad Lilies are going to be in bloom, later you're going to have Oak Leaf Hydrangea's in bloom.

So there's these nice little surprises in bloom throughout the season.

Ed: Yes, and I tell people, don't always shop only in the spring because you tend to buy what you see in bloom in the spring and then you don't have a summer or fall garden.

Cindy: You're right.

Ed: And many of the trees you see in here, they were selected because they will have beautiful fall color as well.

Cindy: So all seasons represented.

Ed: Absolutely.

Ed: And then you get some of your grasses, that's a whole other architectural form.

One of the suggestions I make when I'm teaching classes about shade is if you look at my garden you'll recognize a lot of maybe more common shade plants, I use them as the foundation.

But intermixed in here are all kinds of collections of more rare type plants.

But doing it this way, if I lose some of those plants, I still have a garden structure.

Cindy: You're right.

There are a lot of plants in a fairly small amount of space just providing that nice texture and color and interest.

Lovely.

♪♪ Cindy: I really appreciate, Ed, how you have used every inch of space.

You have plants packed in everywhere.

It's so cool.

Ed: I think that is in part because I'm a fanatic about plants, but there is a practical reason as well.

And everybody is always concerned about weeds and all the weeding they're going to have to do.

But when you put plants in like this, the weed seeds are not going to be able to get down in and germinate.

So I actually have far less weeding than most people do because of that philosophy in planting.

Cindy: That's a great idea.

And then you end up with these combinations that are so fantastic.

So here's Bugleweed, which is a pretty common ground cover.

Japanese painted fern, which is an easy perennial to get at a garden center and they look great together here.

The ferns, the peony, the Bugleweed, it's just great.

Ed: And when you've got a shade garden, you're not missing the flowers when you have that kind of combination.

Cindy: I love it.

I think it's fantastic.

Cindy: Do I see Mullein in the garden?

Ed: You sure do.

And you're probably commenting because that's a sun plant, not a shade plant.

Cindy: It is.

This doesn't do so well in the shade.

Ed: No.

And so I must have done something right with my transition from shade to sun that you didn't notice that there was a transition.

Cindy: That is nice.

And they're beautiful, they're doing very well.

I also notice a lot of other Alliums and look at the Lilies that you have in here.

So, you're right, this is transitioning to sun because these Lilies need at least six hours of sun.

Ed: Yeah, the more sun the better.

Cindy: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

And then look at these, I bet this was gorgeous in the spring, look at this Allium there.

Ed: That is a Schubertii Allium and it looks like a little explosion or firework.

Cindy: It does, it's almost alien-looking.

And then I bet this was absolutely gorgeous with those Alliums there.

Ed: Big purple balls floating through the garden.

Cindy: Which Allium is that one?

Ed: That is Globemaster.

Cindy: That is gorgeous.

Cindy: So, what happened here?

Ed: That is sunburn.

And a hosta is a good, cheap, easy plant.

We talked about doing that transition, testing that transition and how much sun you're getting into.

This plant has shown me I've probably come out a little bit too far, we're out of the shade, we're now in the sun.

Cindy: It's good to do this with a hosta because it can take it.

Ed: It can.

Cindy: And it will probably be fine.

You may have to move it into more shade.

Or next year it may be just fine.

Ed: Absolutely.

Cindy: That's kind of cool.

All right.

So what else do we have in the garden?

Ed: You haven't seen my brand new crevice garden and many people probably don't even know what a crevice garden is.

Cindy: This way?

Ed: Absolutely.

Cindy: Excellent.

♪♪ Cindy: Oh, I think I see it.

Ed: This is it.

Cindy: That's amazing!

Ed: This is a rather unique garden to the United States, although you'll find it quite a bit probably in Colorado and areas that do more of the Alpine plants.

Alpine plants are those that are above 10,000 feet and they are more difficult for us to grow so we need a very specialized way to grow them.

Cindy: So you have amended the soil?

Ed: Actually there's no soil in here at all.

You place the rocks and everything that has gone in it is a mix of sand and pea gravel because these plants in their indigenous areas there is no soil and they have adapted to grow in this type of substrate.

Cindy: That's amazing!

A great idea for showcasing some of these little plants as well.

Ed: A whole new kind of collection, a whole different group of plants.

Cindy: And most of them are hearty so they come back year after year because they're Alpine.

Ed: Right, you will notice that some are in terracotta pots.

Now, those do go inside.

But I do like the look that they also provide.

And then in the winter I have these beautiful potted plants to enjoy inside.

Cindy: Oh, that's fantastic.

I have learned so much from your garden.

Thank you so much, Ed.

I might just have to bring my students by, give them a quiz in the garden.

Would that be okay?

Ed: That would be absolutely wonderful.

Cindy: Excellent.

Thank you so much for having us today.

Ed: You're welcome.

♪♪ ♪♪ Aaron: Cindy shared with us some gorgeous examples of well-planned and executed shade gardens.

They can be beautiful, colorful spaces.

But sometimes they're a little monochromatic and one-layered.

So adding color and height is beneficial.

And containers are a great way to do that.

Today I'm going to show you how to put together a nice shade container for your shade garden.

Aaron: Let's start with the container itself.

You want a nice, large container, something at least this big.

It helps with the watering later on in the season to have a large soil mass.

A large whiskey barrel or even bigger is great.

And it also really helps with adding in the height.

We'll put regular potting soil in this and now we're ready to add our plants.

Aaron: When we look at plants we want to select those that have the same growing requirements.

That is the same light, water and soil requirements.

The light part is relatively easy for us.

We have already decided everything here needs to grow well in the shade.

The soil here is important too.

All of the plants we're using here today like the same moist, well-drained soil.

And we want to be sure too that they have the same soil and water requirements because that way they can all grow and look well together.

Aaron: The other big consideration when we're putting together a container is color, texture and size.

We want a nice blend of all of those things.

For our shade garden in particular, we want to look at color very carefully.

Lighter colors like silvers, whites, pinks and chartreuses really pop in the shade and darker reds and purples can sometimes blend away.

So we want to use those very strategically in our container to help highlight the brighter colors.

Aaron: Looking at texture we want to mix the textures between really broad-leaf things like this and really finer foliage like this fern.

We also want to make sure that we're varying the size.

And if our container is meant to be viewed from all sides the tall stuff will go in the center.

If it is meant to be viewed from one side we'll put the tall stuff towards the back.

And we want to try to vary not only the size but the shapes of those plants too.

So upright and moundy and trailing plants are all nice to mix.

A good blend of all of those things makes a very attractive mixed container.

Aaron: When we talk about the types of plants we can use in a shade container, there are a couple of different options.

We can start with the tried and true annuals, things like these Coleus or Impatiens or Begonias.

These are very easily found in garden centers and greenhouses all over and they make great, easy additions for a shade container.

Aaron: There are other options besides those typical annuals.

Things like perennials can be used in containers.

So I have here a nice Coral Bell, a miniature hosta can work really well too.

These plants usually are cheap enough that they make sense to put in a container.

If you want to save them for the following year, pull them out of the container in early fall and establish them in your garden before winter.

If they were cheap enough you might just be able to treat them like an annual or give them to a friend.

Aaron: The other group of plants that are really good in shade gardens that we don't always think about are houseplants.

These tropical plants grow well indoors because they take really low light well.

And so in our shade gardens they can do well too.

And houseplants are very easily found in garden centers and greenhouses and big box stores all over the place.

So I have a nice assortment here of different tropical houseplants that I might use in my container.

Aaron: So we have all the plants here ready to go.

We're going to assemble our container keeping in mind I'm trying to mix colors, textures and sizes.

So I'm going to kind of lay out what I hope to do here.

I have my fern.

I like the way that this more bold texture here mixes with the fern.

This is a nice fine texture.

And this Mukdenia here is a nice kind of bold texture, coarse textured plant too.

Aaron: Now, one of the things to keep in mind actually this plant may not be a good cohice for us.

Remember I mentioned that growing conditions, matching the growing conditions is so very important.

This plant really prefers full sun and well-drained soil.

And my container here is in much more shade than that and probably holds a little bit more water than that.

So I'm going to swap it out with something different.

This Carex, this Sedge here has a similar look to it, kind of drapes over the side, and will work really well for that.

Aaron: I have kind of laid mine out here.

I think we're ready to get planting.

So all we really have to do is just pull these out of their containers and put them in the soil.

If the root balls are really compact we can pull those apart.

Aaron: Sometimes folks wonder how many plants to put in a large mixed container like this and it really depends on what your preference is.

Sometimes it can be really nice to fill it up really quickly and have something that is relatively full.

And that is what I'm doing here, this is going to be relatively full right off the bat.

But what that means is that later on in the season it may get a little big and crowded.

Aaron: So I can approach this in a couple of different ways.

I can decide to trim things out.

Or later in the season I can replant it and start over with something different and new.

There's nothing wrong with either of those approaches.

Both can be fun and be a nice way to introduce some variety.

Aaron: So there we are.

We have our container all pulled together here.

The next thing we want to do is water it in and move it to its new location.

Fertilizer will be important throughout the season.

Often these containers have potting soil that has a little bit of fertilizer in them, but if you wanted to use a slow release fertilizer or a water soluble fertilizer at half or full strength when you water, these plants would really take off as a result.

Aaron: The great thing about plants is that they always look nice together so experimentation never ends in failure.

Don't be afraid to try something bold or new.

As long as all the plants have all of the same light, water and soil requirements you'll have a container that looks good all season.

Thanks for joining me on Gardening with Steil!

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ Aaron Steil: Welcome to Gardening with Steil.

Today's topic is vegetable gardening.

You don't have to have a huge yard to grow fresh food.

I'll show you one way to utilize small spaces for growing your own vegetables.

We'll also visit with a gardener who found a love for vegetable gardening at a very young age.

But first, gardeners are known to be very generous with their bounty.

We caught up with a group of volunteers from Plant a Row to see how their local food collection efforts are helping feed the hungry.

♪♪ ♪♪ Aaron: Carolyn, tell us what Plant a Row for the Hungry is.

Carolyn Jons: Well, it is a wonderful way to provide fresh produce for people who might not be able to afford the produce.

And it is also a wonderful way for people who garden to be able when things come on and there's too much, we provide a way to get them to the right people.

Aaron: So, as volunteers for Plant a Row for the Hungry, what do you do each week?

Carolyn: We come to Reiman Gardens on Monday morning.

We are here by 7.

And we advertise that gardeners can come and bring their extra produce.

We set up tables and people drive by and they drop off their extra produce.

We weigh the produce and then we pack our cars and take them to Salvation Army, Mid-Iowa Community Action, Primary Health Care and the Bethesda Food Pantry.

Roger Ginder: The volunteers are just fantastic.

I mean, it makes this real easy.

You come in once a week.

I'm not sure I could do it on this scale if I had to make individual deliveries.

How long are you guys going to be doing this?

Our schedule is until the third week in October, the 24th or something like that.

Aaron: What about it do you find most rewarding?

Jan Haugen: Well, I guess seeing the people that get the produce.

Usually at each place we go there are people lined up waiting to get the produce.

There is a great need even in the community of Ames.

This goes to Mid-Iowa Community Action.

Carolyn: It really feels good when you go to deliver at one of the places and the eyes pop open and they say, oh, how wonderful!

♪♪ Carolyn: And then when you happen to see the families come and pick up produce, they are so grateful.

♪♪ Carolyn: We don't want people to be hungry and it does feel good to be kind of the middle man between the growers and those who are actually distributing.

♪♪ Aaron: Volunteer organizations like Plant a Row exist across the state.

And it's easy to get involved whether you help distribute to those in need or contribute your own produce.

A love of gardening can come at any age.

We visit with a gardener who found their passion for growing vegetables at a very young age.

♪♪ Hi, this is Brayden.

Welcome to my garden.

I rent a plot in the community garden.

Everyone else here has been gardening longer than I've been alive.

Brayden: This year I grew zucchini and butternut squash, tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, onions, cabbage and huckleberries.

Brayden: My family's favorite types of tomatoes are white cherry tomatoes and black cherry tomatoes.

Brayden: Everyone always asks me, what are these?

These are huckleberries and my family uses them to make pie.

We pick them right before the first frost.

Brayden: Since I have to carry my own water across town, I use these coffee cans to funnel down the water to its roots.

When digging sweet potatoes you've got to make sure that you dig farther away from the center of the plant because the roots travel very far.

Brayden: I use ice cream buckets to carry my produce home.

Brayden: The best thing about growing vegetables is that you can eat them.

I'm learning how to cook and how to use my garden vegetables.

And my favorite thing to make with them is zucchini pancakes.

Brayden: My advice for growing gardens is that you need to rotate where you plant your plants to make sure that the soil doesn't deplete of its nutrients.

The most enjoyable part of growing a garden is watching your plants grow and seeing how far you have come.

Brayden: It was fun to show you guys my garden.

Thank you for stopping by!

♪♪ Aaron: Growing vegetables in containers is a great way to get fresh food when space or land is not available.

Here is how to get the most out of your container grown vegetables.

First, you want to start with the right varieties of vegetables.

Not everything we typically grow in a vegetable garden will do well in a container.

But there are many that will, including things like leafy greens, lettuce, spinach, kale, even microgreens.

You can also grow things like herbs, in particular cilantro and basil and parsley do really well in containers.

Looking at other plants, things like bush varieties of cucumber and squash.

We want to try to find and select compact cultivars of vegetables whenever we're using them in containers.

Eggplant, potatoes, beets, radishes, even peppers, both hot and sweet varieties, do really well in containers.

And of course, our favorite, the tomato, is a great addition to a container.

Aaron: Keep in mind when selecting tomato varieties to find and look for either those that are sold as container, great for containers, or those that say they are determinate.

Tomatoes come in two types, indeterminate and determinate.

Determinate types stay smaller and shorter.

They also tend to bloom and fruit in one big lump instead of continuously throughout the season.

Aaron: Once we know what we're going to be growing in our containers, we need to pick the right container.

And in most cases as large as we can get it is what we want to do.

Even as big as this one would be great.

They can be any kind of material from terracotta to glazed.

They can be plastic.

They can be things like this window box here.

And smaller vegetables like the leafy greens or herbs can do well in smaller containers or things like this window box.

But larger vegetables, in particular things like potatoes, peppers and tomatoes need to be in a large container.

Aaron: I'm going to be using for our example here today just an old nursery container.

The price was right on this one.

I'm reusing it from something I had planted earlier in the season and it has both of the things I am looking for in a container for vegetables.

It is a good size and it has great drainage at the bottom.

Aaron: Once we have our container we need to fill it with something that works well in a container.

Garden or topsoil, which is usually really inexpensive in the stores, is not good for containers.

That garden soil or topsoil changes structure when we put it in a container and it tends to be too wet and not provide enough air for the roots to grow well.

Instead, we want to look for a good quality potting mix, even though it is a little bit more expensive.

Ideally, we would fill the container with potting mix.

If the container is really large and you're worried about moving it or are having a hard time being able to get all of the potting soil to fill it, you can put voids in it, things like upside-down containers, packing peanuts in a plastic bag, pool noodles.

Those kinds of things can help fill some of the void.

But hopefully you can fill it all with soil because a good soil volume means we have plenty of water and nutrients available for our vegetables to do well.

Aaron: Now that we have our container and I have it full of soil I am going to pot up our vegetables here.

And I have here just a seedling of a tomato that I am going to place in this container.

If we were growing something from seed like a lot of the greens are grown, or even some herbs, we can sow the seed directly onto the surface of this and then cover it with the right amount of soil, which is says on the back of the package.

Otherwise, we're just going to transplant this into the container.

Aaron: Pop it out and set it in.

When we get done with this, this plant is going to look a little lonely in this container and that's okay.

These things get much larger throughout the season.

So don't worry about that.

Don't be tempted to fill it in with other little things unless you are planning to remove those things later on in the season.

Aaron: Once we have it planted, we need to get it watered.

We always water in newly planted things and watering is one of the most important, and can be one of the more challenging things about growing vegetables in containers.

The reason why this is such an important factor is because most vegetables, including things like tomatoes, need a good consistent source of moisture and containers are so much more likely to dry out than a vegetable garden in your yard would be.

And so being on top of that watering is critical to doing a good job of producing high quality vegetables that you are really happy to eat.

Aaron: You might want to use some fertilizer as well, although most potting mixes that you find in the store now have a slow release fertilizer in them.

You don't want to overdo the fertilizer in these containers.

Too much fertilizer for vegetables often means a lot of leafy growth and very little fruiting, flowering and fruiting.

So, if the potting soil you have had fertilizer in it, you're probably good.

You can use something like a slow release fertilizer, which I prefer to use, or water every once in a while with a water soluble fertilizer throughout the season.

Aaron: The last thing we're going to do is make sure that this container gets put in the best location for light.

All vegetables need full sun to perform their best.

In particular, things like peppers and tomatoes, all the bush varieties of cucumbers and squash, they will need full sun, at least six hours of light hitting the leaves.

If you don't have quite full sun, some vegetables like a lot of the leafy greens, some of the herbs, will do okay with a little bit less light, but they still need as much light as possible if you can't quite get six hours of direct sunlight a day.

Aaron: Vegetable gardening can be one of the most rewarding forms of gardening and one of the easiest to start with.

It gets you connected with the outside and nature and you get food.

It's the perfect way to introduce kids to gardening and healthy foods, getting them engaged in the great outdoors and invested in trying new food.

Nothing tastes better than a vine-ripened tomato or fresh sweet corn grown by your own hands in your own garden, whether it is in your yard or in a container on your patio.

Thanks for joining me on Gardening with Steil.

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