Welcome to Garden Time - Season 8
 

Garden Time is Portland's #1 garden show, and is owned and produced by the same person who started the In the Garden TV show and the former garden show on Good Day Lifestyles on KPTV-12.  It is our goal to give you the best gardening information in the Northwest.  We are a local show and we will always be a local show.  What does that mean?  It means we will stay topical and seasonal.  You will see what works in the Northwest, what you can plant here and how it will grow.  It is information that will help make you a successful gardener.

Garden Time is owned and produced by Gustin Creative Group and is not affiliated with any television station or network.  To advertise on "Garden Time" or have your business featured in a segment, please e-mail us at gustingroup@comcast.net.

Hosts William McClenathan and Judy Alleruzzo 

SHOW ARCHIVE

Episode 290 • July 20, 2013

VIDEO ARCHIVE


Our garden is looking great!  How’s yours?  We have already gone through the flush of spring blooms and flowers and now our summer favorites are taking over and they are looking fabulous!  A couple of years ago we went to our local garden center and pick up some summer blooming perennials.  They were on sale and we got to see them in full bloom when we planted them.  That is the funny part of gardening.  Everyone plants for a great spring garden and then they get too tired to follow up with a good summer garden.  If you go to your garden center this weekend you can get some great summer color right now.  Enjoy it now, but look forward to enjoying it for many more years to come!

We also have to pass on some bad news.  Our friend Ted Gitts of Swan Island Dahlias lost his battle to injuries he suffered in a car crash over a month ago.  Ted’s wife Debbie passed away from her injuries right after the accident.  We dedicate this week's show to their memories.

Oregon Garden Wildfire House

Oregon Garden Wildfire House

With recent developments dealing with wildfire we thought we would take a look at ways to prevent wildfires from damaging and destroying your home.  We found an excellent demonstration for wildfire prevention at the Oregon Garden in Silverton.  They have a wildfire prevention house that you can check out on the grounds of the garden.  Kris took us on tour and filled us in on things that you can do to lessen your risk of fire damage.  We talked about spacing.  Kris recommended that you leave a buffer zone that is ‘plant free’ away from the foundation of your home.  We also talked about spacing your plants so they are not so tightly grouped.  Kris also recommended that you use native plants that were fire resistant.  The big problem is those plants that can accumulate dry material or that have a high sap content.  These can help fuel fires and create more damage.  These plants include arborvitaes and other landscape plants that can hide flammable materials.  We also talked about ‘ladder’ fuels.  These are plants that help the fire climb up off the floor of the forest and into the canopy where it spreads faster and is harder to control.  If you are concerned about the threat of wildfire you can check out www.KeepOregonGreen.org and www.Firewise.org for more information on prevention or come on up to the Oregon Garden to see the wildfire prevention house.

Baja Chimineas

Baja Chimineas

Even though we are in the ‘summer’ season, there are nights where we still get a chill.  To take the chill off we stopped at Little Baja (503-432-8959) to look at the ‘Baja Chimney’, an outdoor fireplace for your deck or patio.  Jared gave us a couple of tips for making your chimney (chiminea) last for years and years.  Always start your fire small and let the chimney slowly warm up.  Never use a metal poker, it can damage the clay and cause cracks.  When burning a fire, use a hard wood or pressed log.  This will minimize the ‘popping’ of softer woods, and never burn garbage in the chimney.  Finally make sure you keep all combustibles away from the area around your fire.  Little Baja will also help you in selecting a metal fire pit or instructions on how to create your own.  Stop by for instructions and tips.

Moon and Star Trees

Moon and Star Trees

We have a ton of heritage trees in the state of Oregon.  Now you may think that heritage refers to old trees, and that is what William thought too, but a heritage tree could just be a tree that has some cultural significance to the state of Oregon.  We met up with Annie from Oregon Travel Experience (800-574-9397) on the grounds of the state capitol to see a couple of trees that will have you seeing the moon and the stars differently.  The first tree was the ‘Moon Tree’.  The ‘Moon Tree’ was grown from seeds that were carried to the moon on Apollo 14 in 1971.  This tree was an experiment to see if the seeds would grow differently due to the lack of gravity during the trip to the moon.  It turns out that there was no impact to the growth habit.  It is now just a very cool tree that has been to the moon. 

On the back side of the capitol, on the grounds of Willamette University we found the ‘Star Trees’.  These 5 giant sequoias were presented to Willamette on its 100th anniversary in 1942.  They are planted in a star pattern and if you stand in the center of the trees and look up, the sky is framed as a perfect five-pointed star.   If you would like to see these trees or learn more about the Oregon heritage tree program, check out the Oregon Travel Experience website.

Jan’s July Tips

Jan’s July Tips

The summer may be a time to relax, but it’s also a good time to get your old flower beds in shape too.  We stopped by to see Jan McNeilan and her latest project of cleaning and rejuvenating her garden beds.  Now is a great time to do it because the plants are pretty much at their peak right now.  Jan removed some of her plants and divided others.  If you do move plants remember to water them well in this heat.  A lot of times they will tell you if they are stressed by wilting a little bit. 

We then moved to another part of the garden and saw a ‘lovely’ rhododendron that Jan had removed from her front yard.  This rhody was over 35 years old and it really didn’t have much of a root structure.  It shows that some plants are not that hard to remove or replace.  In this bed Jan had also cut back some tall plants and that caused a little more sunlight into the garden, which sun-burned some of the plants.  It’s just another thing to consider when you cut back plants in the summer.  Sometimes the plant will acclimate to this new sunlight and other times you may need to move the plant to another area.  If you are looking for more tips for the summer garden, check the OSU extension website.

Sedum Towers

Sedum Towers

Sedums are known as a low growing plant and a lot of people will use them in a rock garden as an accent plant.  Recently William got an idea from his friend Dawn Hummel about building a sedum tower.  He used some old bricks and then built 2 towers at Viscaya (503-761-7757), his nursery on Division Street in Portland.  The first one was just a stack of brick with the sedums at the top.  They only had a little bit of soil, but that is all they need!  The second tower was made with cinderblocks that were offset as they were stacked and that allowed him to place little 4 inch pots in the holes of the bricks to create a stair-step pattern of sedums all the way to the top.  In both cases the sedums were brought up off the ground and it allows you to enjoy their unique structure even more.  Stop by his nursery and check them out!
 

 
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