Thanks for joining us at the Ogden Botanical gardens,
today we're having our planting day.
My name is Susie Jones, I work for Utah State Extension.
Today we're going to plant our annuals.
And as we've just learned in class,
we're going to use the system called skeleton tendon flesh.
And before we start planting we have just
prepared our bed for planting.
So to get ready to plant, then we clean out
any debris from the winter, we till it up and make sure
that we clean out everything, any
weeds any rocks that are the size of an egg or bigger.
And then we till everything up, add organic matter which
would be compost so that the plants have
a good healthy chance to get going for the season.
As you can see in these beds, we have some perennial grasses
that we use as one of the skeleton type plants.
And this is a muhly grass.
It's a really pretty grass that gets 24 to 30 inches tall.
In the late summer it gets a really pretty soft pink color
of plum on it and it's just a really beautiful grass.
So we have that in this area we call
these the wedding beds, a lot of people
get married here in the summer.
So we try to use a lot of soft subtle colors
so a lot of people could get married here.
So we use that as one of our skeleton plants.
And as we've talked about in our design class,
the skeleton plants are more of a sturdy plant,
an upright plant, so we're going to use that as one
of our 20% types of plants.
And we're also today going to use this coleus.
As you can see, it's really pretty.
This will also get about that same height.
We're going to use some of this salvia, that's really pretty.
And that with the grasses and these two other plants,
that's going to take up about the 20% of our design.
And I'll show you how we're going to throw
the design in just a minute.
But after we throw all of the skeleton plants,
then we're going to move on to the tendon plants.
And just like in your body, on top of the skeleton
you have muscles, you have tendons,
and so we move on to our tendon type plants.
Those are going to be supportive of the skeleton,
they're a little bit shorter, but they support the skeleton.
So what I have today to use in our design
these plants are called lisianthus.
They're a beautiful plant, they get a little bit taller,
so they need to be supported by other plants around them.
This is a beautiful osteospermum.
We have two colors of osteospermum
actually that we're using in this design today.
We're going to use a light purple and a yellow.
Then we have some dahlias that are gorgeous,
these are really nice plant.
I've got again two colors of dahlias
that we're going to use in this design this year.
And then on top of the tendon plants,
then we use what we call flesh plants
and just like on your body, then the flesh goes on the outside
and in our design then we use the flesh plants
and that uses up about 50% of the design,
and it's on the outside, it fills up the gaps,
fills in the holes, and they're just beautiful.
It ties the whole design together.
So the plants we're using in our design today
we've got this sunrise rose lantana and lantana is
a great plant.
We've also got some lobelia, we've
got ipomoea or a potato vine.
We've got two different colors, this is called marguerite
and this is raven, it's a really beautiful dark color.
And a lot of people use potato vine in their pots
but they do beautiful in the ground.
They'll spread through the design
and really just fill in those gaps and it's a nice plant.
We also have calibrachoa, and this is a really nice plant
as well.
It'll fill in the gaps and just make a really nice design.
So we'll go ahead and get started,
and we'll start throwing the design.
OK so before we start throwing the design,
I just want to show you something really quick.
So these just came from our greenhouse
or you will purchase them at a nursery.
So just one thing.
So when you take them out of the pot,
you can see that these are a little bit root bound.
So one thing that you're going to want to do before you
plant them is, so take them out of the pot
and you can see that these have nice healthy white roots,
but they're root bound.
And a lot of people don't want to do this,
but your plants are going to thank you.
So what I want you to do is come down here and literally rip
those apart a little bit, so that your plants will have
a better chance of growing.
Well, sometimes we've pulled plants out in the fall
and literally they haven't grown very well.
And when we pull them out of the ground we can see why.
It's just because the right in the root ball
just like they have been all since spring.
So loosen those up, tear them apart a little bit.
Also, these are tall and they're beautiful, just like that.
But we want them to branch out, we want them to push out.
So I want you to come down here and literally we're
going to take about half of it off.
So take that out, throw it, I mean
we're going to throw the design right now and then plant it.
But I want you to come back and pinch that back,
so that they will bush out.
Because I want the concentration to go into the roots and I
want it to go into bushing out.
So that's one thing that you want to remember.
When I say throw, I really literally
mean throw the design.
So I know that because in the class
we've already talked about 20% of the design
is going to be my skeleton type plants.
So I've taken into consideration how much
room these grasses are going to be full
grown at the end of the summer, they're
going to be about 2 feet wide, 3 feet tall,
so take that into consideration when
you're doing your planning.
OK and literally we're just going to come back in
and we're going to throw down the center.
We're going to see how much room these take up,
and I want these, just think of your skeleton in your body.
We're going to take and put these down in the center.
And because they're going to be the structure,
they're going to be the things that
hold that design, they're going to be firm,
they're going to be tall and add a lot of structure
to your design.
And this bed is viewed from both sides.
We have people that visit here, we have weddings here.
So you've got to take that into consideration
because if your design is up against a house
or the foundation of your house, you're
going to plant a little bit differently because your taller
things will go in the back.
I don't want you to plant in rows,
that's always a big mistake.
Rows are not natural.
If you go up into the mountains, you're
not going to see mother nature plant in rows.
I want it to look natural.
I want people to have to look around and see
what's in between and what's around the next corner,
so don't plant in rows.
Make it look more natural because that's
going to add a lot of creativity to your design.
So let's go ahead and I think that's probably enough coleus.
With the grasses when they grow in,
there's probably enough coleus for this design.
So we'll go ahead and start with the next plant.
OK, the next plant we have is angelonia.
I called it salvia before, it was the angelonia.
Again, tall is too tall.
I mean it's beautiful plant, it's healthy,
got good healthy roots what am I going to do?
I'm going to split that up a little bit.
Pull those apart, and I'm going to cut it in half.
OK literally take that top off because I know what I have,
I'm going to start throwing those.
Again, this is a skeleton type plant
and I'm going to put these again where your skeleton would
go in your body.
Down the center it's going to add strength and structure
to your design, so they're going to go literally just down
the center and add a couple of those there.
And again, it's viewed from both sides.
So you need to make sure that you've
got flowers on both sides.
OK we're moving on to tendon plants.
I've got some of them thrown down already,
but we're just going to keep going.
This is an osteospermum, beautiful plant.
One thing I want to make sure that you understand again,
that you need to pull the root apart so that they grow really
well.
Another thing when you're in the nursery
and purchasing your plants, make sure
that you don't get the ones that are blooming.
You can, but then pull those blooms off,
but I always go for the ones that are--
I don't buy the ones that are blooming,
I go for the ones that are shorter and still
haven't bloomed yet because those are going to be better
for you in the long run.
Also don't plant the tags, tags don't grow.
Pull those out, throw them away.
OK, and then you can throw your tendon plants then.
Support the skeleton, but they will be a little farther
out in your design.
They're going to be more toward the middle of your design,
and just throw them out toward more the middle,
going toward the outside.
And if it's not exactly right where you want it,
then when you plant you can put it right where you want it.
And again, when we plant, we plant really
close together because it helps us
for a couple of different reasons.
Helps eliminate some of the weeds,
because weed seeds need sunlight to germinate,
and when we plant close, 6 inches apart, then it
helps to cut down on that weed situation
and it also helps retain water.
So now we're going to move on to our flesh part of the design.
This makes up about 50% of our design.
It goes mostly around the outside of the design,
it ties everything together.
But don't be afraid to tuck some back in a little bit farther
because again I want to create interest
and I don't want everything.
I don't want anything in a row.
So just kind of place them where you're going to see them
but I want variety and I want interest.
So I want them to have to look and see it.
So this is one of our really fun plants.
So lantana is really cool because it's very,
it likes the heat but it has a lot of colors in it
and it's just a really fun flower.
There's a lot of different varieties of lantana,
this one's called sunrise rose, it's one of my favorites.
This flower is calibrachoa and some people
call it million bells.
It's a really nice they almost look like a petunia
but a lot of people use them in their pots, they trail.
So in the flower beds, they're nice because they again
fill in the gaps they are really nice in the flower beds, as
well as pots.
So we're just going to put them toward the outside
again as a flesh type plant and we're just
going to go ahead and put them near the edge,
but not necessarily just at the edge.
Potato vine is a great filler, they trail, a lot of people
use them in their pots.
Again, that's very root bound, I would
tear that apart so they will, I'll leave it to my planters.
And when we actually get to the planting,
we'll go ahead and tear those roots up
a little bit so that they have a good start, 2 to 3 feet.
So I'm going to call that good for that bed
and I'm going to start on this darker color, and this one's
called raven.
And I'm probably just going to add just a very few.
A dark color in a flower bed is always fun
because it adds a really dramatic flair.
And you can see that I'm not adding very many.
I don't have a lot to put in the three beds
so I have to divide them between the three.
And then the last thing I'm going to do
is add this lobelia, and this is a trailing lobelia.
So it will spread, fill these in,
they will go toward the edge.
This is the last of my flesh plants
and these I'll just fill in nice and bring that whole design
together.
Again, after you get it off thrown,
after you get the design thrown, then you stand back
and you see where you need extras
or if you need to move anything before you plant.
And you'll notice I'm not putting everything right
on the edge some of it can, but I
want to be able to see it mixed in all the way through.
We're heavy down on this side with flowers
but, OK I think that's good.
So there's the design all thrown.
So then you could go back through and have a look at it,
and make sure everything's placed where you want it.
It's going to show you really quickly
how to plant very basic.
So again, very root bound.
So we're going to split that up a bit.
OK just need to just dig a hole, just loosen the soil
and just dig a hole, lightly put that in and then
just pack the soil lightly around it.
You don't have to dig a well around it,
some people think you do, you just really
don't need to do that.
I'm going to make sure that I'm roughly about 6 inches apart
on my placement.
OK loose hole, get those roots spread apart,
get it down in there, that's it.
So that's basically it, it does not,
you don't have to spend a ton of time
or put fertilizer in each of the little holes,
just go through and make sure that everybody's
got a good start, like I said compost is a good thing
to start your beds with, that gives everybody
a good healthy start.
These ones that were in the pot, so you can see it
has good healthy roots but it's not super well established
with its root system.
So just going to carefully put those in there.
And again make sure you leave room for these grasses
to get tall, so we need to leave some room for that.
I'm going to put this potato vine back here a little ways
because like I said, it's going to spread about 2 to 3 feet.
So we're going to give it room to spread out and down.
But basically, that's how fast you can go
and you just eyeball it.
Because as we throw the plants they tend to roll a little bit.
So as you plant, just make sure that you're eyeballing
and make sure you have them about 6 inches apart,
and that's basically it.
And then just make sure you're watering regularly,
you can fertilize with just a regular 16-16-16 fertilizer,
we do it here about we'll give it about two weeks
and then we'll put a fertilizer down and then maybe once
a month during the summer.
But just keep the weeds out, and then
as they fill in you'll have less and less weeds
because they won't germinate as much because they'll
be so close together.
Anyway that's it.