AMANDA MCNULTY: Well, Laurie Watson
is the proprietor of Mill Creek Greenhouses
out there is Leesburg, right?
You're my fan.
[LAUGHING]
Your fans are legion, because for one thing, last year,
I had to do a native plant demonstration.
And you really like native plants,
but you also are still a plant geek.
And so you're always getting plants that aren't native too.
It's a really nice mixture.
And so many people just get kind of bored
and always order the same thing.
But you're always mixing it up.
But this actually is an older and established garden plant
from way back.
But no one gets tired of it.
So tell us what this fabulous thing is.
Well, people know it as a tiny snowball Bush.
And then, I do have some people come in and say,
I want that white hydrangea bush.
AMANDA MCNULTY: I know.
LAURIE WATSON: Yeah, but it's actually a Viburnum
macrocephalum sterile.
So it's going to put all its energy into its blooms, which
it's absolutely showing now.
The beauty about this is it be a small tree, medium-size tree.
Limb it up, beautiful.
I would call it almost semi-evergreen.
It just seems to--
AMANDA MCNULTY: The foliage does hang on a little bit.
LAURIE WATSON: It does, and then it
just appears quickly in the spring right after the bloom.
AMANDA MCNULTY: And I think what you said is really important.
We're always talking about finding out what the plant--
how big it's going to get.
Mine got like 25 feet tall.
I mean, a beautiful big plant, and just
been magnificent when it's blooming.
And no pest problems whatsoever.
Not at all.
I mean, you can just hit it to the ground.
Or as you said, limb it up.
Yeah, but if you limb it up, then you
can't cut those beautiful blossoms
and use them when you want to decorate.
Right, you're right.
And then, down here, we have a Pieris.
And you know, a long time ago, those
were just limited to people who lived in upstate.
But there are a lot of new cultivars now.
So tell me about this one, where it can be grown.
The one I sort of started out learning about
was the one called Mountain Fire, which I never
thought did fully well here.
But the Japanese Pieris, it does well here.
It'll take our heat and humidity with careful consideration,
afternoon shade, a little bit of morning sun.
It's a little finicky toward water,
so it's not a big water hog.
You just want to be careful.
But this is a varigated.
I've never seen a varigated one.
This is called Flaming Silver.
It is beautiful.
The red grows on it.
And that will last until it gets a little bit hot.
AMANDA MCNULTY: And of course, that raceme of flowers
is so exotic and gorgeous right now.
But again, this is one that brightens its corner,
and a shady corner at that.
Right.
And it's very slow growing, so it'll
get half the size of the other regular Japanese--
It's a wonderful thing for some of the newer gardens
if somebody's got of small little shady areas where they
like to sit in the summertime.
Yeah, OK.
And then, it looks-- you know, viburnums,
I can now tell them because they are opposite leaves.
And so we've got a great looking viburnum.
And I think it's a cultivar-- a cross between ones
that we're familiar with.
It is, whereas this one will tolerate
absolute full blazing sun, this one will want the afternoon
shade for sure.
It's a cross between Davidii and Tinus.
AMANDA MCNULTY: Now, Davidii is not
really one that does well down here for us.
LAURIE WATSON: No, and we try one early on, it didn't.
The foliage is absolutely gorgeous, but it's just--
AMANDA MCNULTY: So this has that gorgeous foliage,
but has the temperament of Tinus?
LAURIE WATSON: Tinus.
Yes, that's good.
But it'll only get about 5 feet tall--
AMANDA MCNULTY: Which is a little bit smaller.
LAURIE WATSON: Which is smaller.
And it's evergreen.
And the burgundy stems are gorgeous on it.
And the flowers will hurt a tiny bit,
but normally they're not.
And it really is such an early bloom.
It's fun to have in the yard.
LAURIE WATSON: Yeah, this would have been probably all white.
But it is still pretty.
AMANDA MCNULTY: And then way over there?
Yes, that's a rhododendron.
It is a Catawba rhododendron.
I looked that up and made sure.
But it's called Lee's Dark Purple.
It's a hybrid.
I wasn't sure of the exact cross,
but it will tolerate a little more sun.
We are the lowest zone, so it will take the afternoon shade.
AMANDA MCNULTY: And I've always been
told if you want to have rhododendrons in this area--
and we're in the Midlands, and this is what I've looked for--
always try to be sure that it has Catawba in the title.
And that's the genetic gene makeup
that makes it able to take some of the heat.
And that one is covered, covered,
covered with blossoms--
I mean buds, yeah.
It's going to be unbelievably gorgeous.
LAURIE WATSON: Yeah, very pretty.
And then, this just looks like an exploding fireworks.
It's so much fun.
I know, this is a new little grass.
You'll get a little confused over the series,
but it's called the Ever Color series.
Yes.
But then, they've got Everillo, which is gold,
and they've got Everlime, which is a green and gold.
And they've got a green and white.
But it's a grass, a Carex that seems
to just take the wet, the dry, the sun, or the shade.
And the shade, still stay gold.
AMANDA MCNULTY: And Carex-- unlike some of our ornamental
grasses--
Carex can take water when many of those can't.
And this is evergreen.
And so just really think how handsome
that would be in a spot--
maybe a spot that was a little bit low and damp.
You could fill it up with a couple of those,
it would just be stunning.
I have it at home.
I remember this just a little bit ago--
I have it at home-- and I hardly ever water it.
And it's gorgeous.
AMANDA MCNULTY: So it can take-- it's just easy.
LAURIE WATSON: Very.
Now, I'm going to skip this and move over here
so we can save the piece de resistance.
And so Nandina--
Heavenly bamboo-- of course, in my yard,
they're 20 feet tall because I've got the old ones
from a million years ago.
But a lot of the newer cultivars that are shorter
had kind of unattractive leaves.
But this one has a gorgeous leaf shape.
Tell me who this is.
LAURIE WATSON: It's a Nandina called Lemon Lime.
And it'll do a little shade, and it'll do sun.
I'm pretty sure it would still keep this lemon-lime color--
chartreuse color-- in the shade.
But it's only going to get about 2,
2 and 1/2 feet tall and wide.
So it's a good little pot plant, especially just
getting it in a gallon to under plant with some black foliage
would be really pretty.
Wouldn't that be handsome?
Sure would be.
And again, this one doesn't fruit.
So you don't have to worry about a little seedling popping up
here and there.
LAURIE WATSON: Right.
I mean, the red berries would be pretty on that, but--
AMANDA MCNULTY: But it's beautiful like it is, yeah.
And also, this is one of those things-- tough, tough, tough.
Well, there's not an azalea in Columbia
left with a flower on it.
But you had to-- you ran up to Lavonia, Georgia.
Yes.
Thank you so much.
I got this one.
This is the Bloom-a-thon series, a very simple series.
And we've really liked it the last couple of years.
It's been around for a while, just not advertised quite as
much as other series.
But this is a double pink.
There's a lavender, there's a white.
And there's a red.
There's a red, also.
But they'll stay about the three to four range.
AMANDA MCNULTY: Oh, so it really has a nice habit.
LAURIE WATSON: It does mounded.
And it will want the shade.
Treat it just like one of our southern azaleas.
AMANDA MCNULTY: And we were talking--
Davis and you were talking earlier and saying that
y'all like this one, that the Encores azalea tends to not
give good bloom in the shade, whereas this one is just like
our regular, old fashioned azaleas.
Right, and a bigger leaf.
And the leaf is so handsome compared
to some, just beautiful.
Well, when are you all open at Mill Creek Greenhouse?
We are now Tuesday through Saturday, 9:00 to 5:00.
OK, Tuesday through Saturday, 9:00 to 5:00.
And I'm always amazed when I go there, because I say,
who's going to put this great big pot in the car?
Laurie comes over there, and she does this.
And she picks it up.
And then I say, who's going to take it out when I get home?
[LAUGHING]
LAURIE WATSON: Who's going to take it in?
[LAUGHING]
AMANDA MCNULTY: Thank you so much for all
the beautiful things that you bring this year to us.
It's a pleasure.
AMANDA MCNULTY: OK.