Narrator> Making It Grow is brought to you in part by Certified South Carolina.

This cooperative effort among farmers, retailers and the South Carolina Department of Agriculture helps consumers identify foods and agricultural products that are grown, harvested or raised right here in the Palmetto State.

McLeod Farms in McBee, South Carolina, family owned and operated since 1916.

This family farm offers seasonal produce, including over 40 varieties of peaches.

Wesley Commons, a full service continuing care retirement community located on more than 150 wooded acres in Greenwood, South Carolina.

Additional funding provided by the South Carolina Farm Bureau Federation and Farm Bureau Insurance and Boone Hall Farms.

♪ ♪ ♪ > Well, good evening, and welcome to Making It Grow .

We sure are glad that you can find time to be with us tonight.

I'm Amanda McNulty, and I studied horticulture at Clemson a good long time ago, and some things have changed, but fortunately some things have remained the same.

Like some of my coworkers, Terasa Lott, who's so wonderful for us.

Thanks for helping us out all the time.

> It's an absolute pleasure to be part of team Making It Grow.

I feel fortunate that I just kind of happened to be in the right place at the right time.

And now I think I joined the Making It Grow team around 2012, possibly.

So time flies when you're having fun.

But, I know our viewers enjoy it.

I love when they tell me about how much they enjoy the show, when I'm out and about and I wanna make sure that they know there's a lot of people behind the scenes that they don't see that really make all the magic happen.

Amanda> They do.

Yeah, yeah.

But you said it's been fun for you to be recognized.

Do people come up and talk to you?

<Oh, yes.> It means you have to behave if you're me.

But you always behave.

Terasa> Well, I try.

Amanda> Yeah, Zack Snipes, you're down in Charleston and you are a commercial hort agent.

And there's a lot going on down at the coast now.

And that's where we see people planting a lot of heirloom crops and things for the market there.

Don't the restaurants and all want certain things sometimes?

> Oh yeah, we grow a lot of specialty produce.

Fruits, vegetables, cut flowers, nuts, herbs, you name it.

You know, sounded like Bubba Gump there, but, yeah, we grow a lot of things, and we have a lot of good markets because of, you know, the Charleston tourism industry.

Amanda> And I think, there's a person who's trying to put a little orange grove in or something that you've worked with.

Zack> Oh yeah, we got some citrus acres going in and we've been doing citrus research at the research station for about ten years now, so... Not that we figured it all out, but we feel pretty confident about some things we got going on.

Amanda> It's just we don't want a late, unexpected freeze.

Zack> That's right.

Exactly.

Amanda> Thanks for coming up and being with us today, John Nelson, who was my professor at the University of South Carolina a long time ago, is retired now.

And you were the, a teacher and also the curator of the herbarium.

But now you go back and help at the herbarium, I think.

> I do and Amanda, I wanted to tell you that, just the other day, we had our last botany boot camp meeting.

Amanda> How was it?

Everybody had a wonderful time?

Dr.

Nelson> It was great.

We had, I remember advertising it on the show here.

Amanda> Did you get a nice class?

Dr.

Nelson> We had a great class and they had a lot of fun, and... I hope they're watching tonight.

Amanda> I hope so too, yeah.

What field trip do you think they particularly enjoyed?

Dr.

Nelson> The very last one.

Which was not so long ago, but we went to the arboretum.

The Belser Arboretum, where you've been.

Amanda> Yeah.

Oh, that's wonderful.

Right in town.

Dr.

Nelson> Oh, yeah.

We had a big picnic, so everybody brought something.

Amanda> What did you take?

Dr.

Nelson> What did I bring?

I brought well, you'll love this, chicken salad.

Amanda> Chicken salad?

<Oh, yeah.> Richard didn't make it.

You got it somewhere.

Dr.

Nelson> I got it at- <Someplace> Yeah, I got it at somewhere.

Amanda> You got it someplace.

Yeah, okay.

Well, fun for you.

Okay, and Steve Bennett, I am so happy that you're here.

Because John's always doing things with you, and I'm like, "grr" So here you're doing things with us, and you and John, were both with DNR and the heritage program, is that right?

> Well, I started with the Heritage Trust Program as the zoologist and then program coordinator, and then I sort of worked my way to being the herpetologist for DNR, which is the reptile and amphibian guide.

So that was 32 years.

Amanda> Isn't that fun.

Steve> Oh, it was, it was fun.

Amanda> And I hear that amphibians are having a little bit of a problem these days.

Steve> Well, everything is but amphibians in particular, have been hammered by some diseases.

And then, of course, the climate change, it's changing the weather patterns.

<What can we do?> And, you know, amphibians, for the most part, rely on wetlands to breed.

And so, yeah, there can be some problems.

Amanda> So we want land to be protected.

Steve> We do need land to be protected.

Amanda> I'm so glad that you came down here.

Steve> Well, thanks for having me Amanda> We're really happy to have you.

Well, and we're going to have some fun things for you to learn from.

Davis Sanders from South Pleasantburg Nursery, comes down with some houseplants.

And, Terasa, I think you went somewhere a lot of fun that we're going to visit with you.

Terasa> Yeah, so last year I had the opportunity to visit with the mayor of Columbia and learn about an ordinance change that was making it easier for residents to garden with the environment in mind.

Amanda> Isn't that wonderful.

The grass doesn't have to be that short, necessarily.

Yeah, great, great fun.

Well, Terasa, did anybody have a garden of the week that they were going to share with us?

Terasa> They sure did.

Multiple gardens of the week.

This has become your time to shine.

It's when you get to tell us what's growing in your yard, your garden, inside your house, with house plants.

Maybe you've captured wildlife or a beautiful place within the state of South Carolina.

Sometimes we even have submissions from out of state from our neighboring states of Georgia or North Carolina.

Amanda> And we appreciate they're watching us.

Terasa> Absolutely.

So today, let's take a look and see what kind of submissions we had.

From EJ McGee, who is a master gardener in Mecklenburg County, so in North Carolina, she shared a picture of her sign with a clematis that she thinks might be called Josephine, that she says has bloomed profusely.

And if you look at the sign very carefully, you'll see that there is a little green annul that is blending in quite well.

<Oh, what fun.> From Hartmut Veil, a former vegetable garden.

They said they gave up on that, but it now has a thriving patch of larkspur, that flower.

Pam Knox shared a photo of her favorite Midnight Kiss Million Bells basket, but she said that right after she took the picture that evening, half of the basket became a meal for some hungry deer.

She was a little sad about that, maybe it recovered.

Patti Walker shared a small but mighty front yard with clematis, phlox, pansies, hosta, daylilies, and much more.

And last but not least, from Annette Barrett.

We have purple coneflowers starting to bloom in her garden in Manning.

But, thanks to everyone that shared photos.

You can go to our Facebook page and see other submissions.

This is just a random sampling and I encourage you to participate whenever you see us make a call for gardens of the week, post your photos in the comments and they may just appear on air.

Amanda> Terasa since your computer's up and running.

Does somebody have a question we could help someone with?

Terasa> I noticed that we've got a beautiful vase of flowers there, so I thought, hopefully Zack's going to tell us a little bit more about that.

Zack> So just for the record, I didn't make this.

Amanda> You didn't grow those and you didn't arrange them either.

Zack> I did not.

So I got this from my friends at Rosebank Farms.

Amanda> Tilt, push it towards, let me see it a little bit more.

Oh, God.

Beautiful!

We got a bunch of different species in there, and, you know, this time of year, you know, a lot of our cut flowers are coming in, and you can get these at local road stands and things like that.

But the reason I bring this in is because, we at extension, a team of extension agents and specialists over the past year and a half have been working on a cut flower guide, for producers.

And so this cut flower guide- Amanda> Hold it upright just a little bit more.

There you go.

Thank you, thank you.

Zack> So this cut flower guide was originally written in the year 2000 by NC State.

<That was a while ago.> In 26 years, things have changed.

And we have a real surgence, I guess, of cut flower growers in the state, both hobbyist, backyard growers as well as commercial growers that are just kind of adding something, offering to their farm.

So we updated this guide and ended up pretty much rewriting most of it.

We had a... a graphic designer help us make it look real pretty.

And so we have a lot of pictures in here, but this manual, we go through infrastructure, we go through fertility, a lot of different things that would help a home gardener as well as a commercial grower.

But what's really neat in here is we have an updated insect, disease, and weed management section, with both cultural practices, IPM practices, as well as pesticides if folks choose to do that.

So, we kind of put all this together and that's really the first manual I know of that has all those things kind of in one area.

Another thing I'd like to point out about this manual is we spent a lot of time with some specialists on campus that do a lot with post-harvest management on cut flowers.

<Oh, okay!> And so there's a lot to it, you know, you think you just cut a flower and stick it in water, but there's a lot of different temperatures and humidities you need to hold them at, different times when you cut them.

Some things you want to cut before they bloom, some things you need to wait until they bloom.

And so we have charts telling you, you know, how to make the post-harvest shelf life on these things lasts for weeks and weeks and weeks.

Amanda> And what to or not put in the water?

<Correct> There's all these old wives tales out there about that.

And so y'all cover all that with the scientific methods.

Zack> So this manual is available as a free PDF online.

And then if for folks that want a hard copy like myself, you know, to put it on the windshield of your truck, They're, you can go to Clemson Marketplace and pick one up there.

Amanda> Okay!

I went to a bakery in Columbia and dang, if they didn't have cut flowers there that they were offering.

And several other places I've been, I just think it's wonderful to go and get some fresh vegetables or fresh bread and also come down with some beautiful flowers.

Zack> And part of this grant, we got to write this manual, we sent out a survey, asking the cut flower growers in South Carolina what resources they needed.

And what we found is there's hundreds of cut flower growers in South Carolina.

And who knew?

So I'm really glad that now that they have a resource this local and specific to South Carolina.

Amanda> And you don't have to have 100 acres.

Zack> No, no and I work with- Amanda> Which is really fun.

Zack> And I work with several cut flower growers and it's literally, you know, in a neighborhood in their backyard.

And you know, when you're getting 3 to 5 dollars a stem, it doesn't take three acres, you know, to make a decent living.

Amanda> It's wonderful, it really is.

A lot better than lawn.

Zack> Yes.

Absolutely.

Terasa> Zack, that's such a great example of extension in action.

You talked about a needs assessment.

You kind of polled growers asked them what they needed and here, now you've come back with this scientific research based information that is going to help them with their business.

Zack> Absolutely.

And I can't say enough about the group of extension agents and specialists that, you know, they took on extra responsibilities to help write chapters and edit this thing.

<That's a lot.> It's a labor of love to publish something.

So, anyway, kudos to the team that helped put this together.

Amanda> Yeah, well, thank you for telling us all about it.

Zack> Yeah, absolutely.

Amanda> Okay.

Well Terasa, I'm gonna peek around and see if there's somebody else we can try to help.

Terasa> Now you want to dig into some questions, right?

Well, it just so happens we have a question from Mimi in Columbia who said, "I have some muscadine vines, but want to look for some additional native species.

I'd like to know how many native grape species there are."

Amanda> Goodness!

John, I remember when I was taking botany with you, if we found any in the woods, you said that you had to sample them first to be sure that they weren't going poison us.

Dr.

Nelson> Right, because you never know, they might be.

Yeah, okay.

It was a joke.

[laughter] Well, you know, grapes... I see grapes all the time when I'm out, you know, botanizing and they don't always have grapes on them, but you can easily recognize grape vines.

And sure enough, I guess that muscadine is probably the most common one that we've got.

And it grows in every county in the state.

So that's what Mimi is probably... used to, and they're apparently easy to grow.

And I think that the people like Zack probably know how to grow 'em.

Amanda> I think the pruning is extraordinarily important, but we'll skip over that.

Dr.

Nelson> Of course, I don't know how that works, but... [laughter] As far as native species, I would think that, just sort of off the top of my head, there are probably, well, I know there are three different species that are also these broadleaf grape species that make- Amanda> What's the scientific category?

Dr.

Nelson> Well, they're all in the genus of Vitis.

<Vitis, okay.> And the one that people most commonly see is called summer grape.

<Alright> Now it doesn't have big ol' grapes like muscadines or scuppernong but they have smaller grapes that are in a larger bunch of... fruits.

And so summer grape is a Vitis aestivalis and it's a real pretty one.

Amanda> How do they taste?

Dr.

Nelson> They taste pretty good.

You know, I don't always see them in fruit, you know, at the end of the summer, but, but they're, you know, palatable.

And of course, the critters like them.

Zack, you were nodding your head, have you, does anybody produce those for homeowners who want to have something different.

Zack> Yeah, so it's interesting.

There was a gentleman came into the office years ago, and he had some grapes and he wanted them identified, and I'm like, well, that's a grape.

You know, I need to send it to you.

But we did send it off and get it tested.

But he was making wine out of these grapes.

But they got Pierce's disease, so he always had to continuously propagate them in order to have his vineyard.

But, yeah, it was good tasting wine.

Dr.

Nelson> Yeah, I haven't had it, but it'd be kind of fun to try.

Amanda> Yeah, I didn't mean to interrupt.

So what else?

Dr.

Nelson> Well, there's some others that grow.

By the way, summer grape grows all over the state.

There's another one called fox grape.

Which has got a sort of a foxy name.

Vitis, of course is the genus, Vitis vulpina.

Which means fox grape.

<Yeah> And I think again, a lot of wildlife species, like, animals, like to chew up on these grapes.

But fox grape is another one.

Similar to summer grape, but they're two different species.

Amanda> All right.

Zack, a lot of people are moving down to South Carolina and they want grapes like they used to grow.

And will you please give them some advice and tell them that they live in South Carolina now.

Zack> Yeah.

Grow muscadines.

<Yeah> They, as Dr.

Nelson said, I mean, they do well in every area of the state.

It's kind of hard to kill a muscadine.

The European grapes that people are used to that live up north.

We just have so many diseases and our humidity and everything.

And in certain parts of the state, I think very high elevations, I think we can okay grow 'em.

But anywhere else in the state.

Amanda> If you're in the coastal plain- Zack> Don't.

Don't waste your time and money.

Amanda> Yeah and, you know, it's interesting because I'll go to big box stores sometimes and they'll be offering those because it's like somebody in Chicago ordered everything that's being offered for purchase.

You know, and I'm like, oh, I feel like standing there and saying, "Don't get that, don't get that, don't get that," because it's not going to work.

<Yep> Yeah, okay.

And I just think muscadines are wonderful.

I love them, yeah.

Zack> And there's some new cultivars that are coming out of muscadines that are a little more thin skinned, that don't have seeds in them.

That're kind of more palatable and closer, you know, to a table grape.

That I think, you know, are coming out.

And so we're starting to see them on farms.

And so you'll start seeing them at farm stands and then- Amanda> Yeah, but muscadines are so wonderful!

The flavor's so wonderful!

And people talk about all that cotton candy grape and everything.

You just need to eat some muscadines, in my opinion.

That's me.

Okay, okay.

Well, thanks John, for helping us out.

Dr.

Nelson> You know, muscadine sometimes are called scuppernongs.

<Yep, they are.> And then some people will recognize it.

Muscadines tend to be purple when they're ripe, I think I'm getting this right, and that's scuppernongs tend to be sort of bronze colored or even I think silvery looking.

Amanda> But aren't they all- Dr.

Nelson> They're the same species.

Zack> I think that's a marketing thing.

<Yeah> Amanda> Okay, alright Aren't they just, I can't wait.

It's gonna be fun when they come in.

Alright, Ms.

Terasa.

Terasa> Let's see what we've got next.

This question comes from Orangeburg.

James would like to know how many different kinds of poisonous snakes are found in South Carolina.

And the teacher in me says there's something wrong with the question.

But I won't answer it.

Amanda> Okay, former herpetologist for the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources.

Steve> Terasa's right.

And without being too rude, we're going to correct James and say, now we call them venomous snakes these days.

I think when I was growing up, even the Boy Scout handbook said poisonous snakes.

And what we're doing is we're separating.

The thing is, venom is injected, poison is ingested.

So you eat a poisonous mushroom, but you get struck or bitten by a venomous snake.

Amanda> Which does not happen very often.

Steve> Which is- Amanda> Very seldom.

Steve> Incredibly rare.

And especially in South Carolina, but so there's about 38 different kinds of snakes in South Carolina, and only six of those are venomous.

And so we have the rattlesnakes, the eastern diamondback rattlesnake, the timber rattlesnake, which in the coastal plain is called canebrake.

They're the same species.

And then the little one, the pygmy.

So those are our three rattlesnakes.

And then we have the copperhead and the cottonmouth and they're related.

And sometimes they can look a little bit alike but cottonmouth in general, you're going to find them in the swamps, water, ponds, and stuff.

And copperheads are upland.

In fact, one of the old names for copperheads was upland moccasin.

Terasa> And that kind of, So, cottonmouth sometimes called a water- Steve> Water moccasin, cottonmouth, same thing.

There's no such thing as water rattler.

So those are the same species, cottonmouth and water moccasin.

And those are the five that are the most common.

And there are also pit vipers.

They have these loreal pits in their face, and- Amanda> What does loreal mean?

Steve> Just a location.

<Okay, okay.> The loreal scale facial.

So they detect infrared radiation, and they detect very minute changes in infrared radiation and that's the way they get food.

Then the way I would explain that to people is if you've ever seen the news where they're hunting for the lost boy in the swamp, and they're flying over with that thing, and you see the red blob, well, that's what these snakes have in their face.

So if a mouse or a rat comes down the trail, they're sitting there waiting on it and they go.

The other one, the sixth venomous snake is the coral snake.

It's the candy cane, and it's the one, red on yellow kills a fellow, red on black venom lack.

It's a very- <Or a friend of Jack.> Or friend of Jack.

That'll work too.

It's an uncommon to rare snake now.

One of the things with that snake and there's some other animal species in general, they may be the most common snakes in South Carolina.

We just don't know, because they're underground most of their life.

We see them generally when they're reported.

It's in April and October and, you know, they're just underground the rest of the time, and they're snake eating snakes.

So they're actually preying on other snakes.

Amanda> But they're little.

Steve> Well, they actually can get close to three feet in length.

<No, come on!> Most people see them as small.

But yeah, they can get certainly two feet in length.

And there's, I've seen some fairly big ones, but in general they are little compared to the pit vipers.

And the other thing that I was talking with a friend of mine the other day and he, he said, "You know, you never see a skinny, venomous snake," and said, "Well, except for the coral snake," which is not a big, but for the pit vipers, they're ambush predators.

They sit by a trail or sit somewhere and they wait for food to come to them, and then they have that, I mean, it's basically a spring loaded strike and that extra weight that they have, that sort of balances them or keeps them.

Otherwise they'd be flinging themself into the air.

So yeah, they're very large bodied and that helps them in actually the way they get food.

So six venomous snake species.

Amanda> Because, you know, a lot of people shoot snakes or try to kill snakes, but and I've known people who had ponds who shoot the black snakes in the ponds.

And I've always heard that the water moccasins tend to be like down by the dam and all.

And there's a snake that looks similar that you might see in ponds and how do you easily tell the difference?

Steve> Well, once again, this is about pattern recognition and seeing these things and getting some pictures.

In general, cottonmouths are animals of the coastal plain.

Amanda> I was talking about the water moccasins.

Steve> The cottonmouths and water moccasins the same thing.

People call anything that's around the water a cottonmouth or water moccasin.

Like if you go up to Lake Murray there.

Through my career, everyone called, We have water moccasins at Lake Murray and the chances of it are very, very slim.

It's in the Piedmont.

It's a red clay reservoir.

It's an impounded river.

The habitat is just not right.

But what you do have, is... Midlands water snakes and brown water snakes and brown water snakes can get very big and very dark and heavy bodied.

And those are the ones that people think are water rattlers because they look.

So they think they are.

But they're not.

Amanda> So it's unlikely that there's something that is in the water where your kids are swimming, that- Steve> If you're in the Piedmont, now if you're in the coastal plain and you like to swim in very dark, overhung swamps with black water and lots of cypress, yeah, they could be there.

But the other side of it is they don't want to have anything to do with you.

They can't eat you.

And so yeah.

So, you know, I think the thing about it is what I always would tell people, and there was a study done in the United States before the passage of the Medical Privacy Act that looked at real envenomations presenting at emergency rooms.

And something like 70 percent of those real snake bites by venomous snakes were accounted for by people who were either trying to catch or kill that snake.

So you just leave them alone, walk away, turn around.

They don't want to bother you.

Get away from them.

Amanda> Yeah, okay.

Thank you so very, very much.

And they do a lot of things for us.

Eating things that we don't want around.

Well, Davis Sanders comes down from South Pleasantburg Nursery, and always has fun things to show us.

And this was not a different time.

Again, fun things from South Pleasantburg Nursery.

Amanda> Davis Sanders came down from South Pleasantburg Nursery up in Greenville.

If people think leaves are just green and boring, I think you're gonna teach us something else.

Davis> Well, and, you know, with the, the renewed interest in house plants with people not having yards to tend to, <That's right, yeah!> they do want to bring the outside in occasionally.

So I brought a few plants that might be a little more challenging than what we used to, we used to grow.

Things like the pothos and peace lilies, and Chinese evergreens.

Young people- Amanda> These would be rewarding, though.

Davis> Right, and young people today, come into the nursery, they know more about house plants than we do because they have been spending a lot of time with them.

I brought a couple of examples of plants, not only, plants that might be a little bit more of a challenge, but plants, these two are going to be pet safe.

You know, almost every houseplant, every tropical plant has some level of toxicity to dogs, cats, people, children.

And, so these two, the calatheas are safe, are pet safe.

They need bright, indirect light, and they like to be kept evenly moist.

Calatheas do not like to be, <They don't like to dry out> They don't like to dry out, at all.

But they don't like to stay wet, so just keeping them evenly moist- Amanda> So don't leave them sitting in a saucer.

Davis> Right, and use that digital moisture meter.

Check the moisture, when the surface of the soil is dry, it's time to water it.

But, the calatheas come in a lot of different, different flower or rather foliage forms and colors.

One of the common names for the calathea is the peacock plant.

Because a lot of times they do have lots of vivid colors in the foliage.

But this particular one has, it's just got a nice modeling, but almost symmetrical.

It looks almost like a leaf within a leaf.

Amanda> It does!

Davis> But that's just the natural coloration.

Amanda> Did you polish these?

Davis> No.

These came straight out of the greenhouse into my car, down to Sumter.

This is another one that, on first glance, people might mistake this one for a... for a type of pothos or philodendron because it does not have that classic rounded leaf that calatheas do.

But here again, you get a really intense white variegation, juxtaposed with the dark green, and then it sort of blends in together so you got the different shades of green- Amanda> Golly, that's just beautiful!

Davis> And the other thing about the calatheas is if you look at the underside of the leaves, it's always a contrasting color.

These are purple.

<Gosh!> The one that we had up here are-- the pattern is reflected in the underside only, instead of it being green and white.

they're beautiful plants, they really are.

<Golly!> And like I say, these two are pet safe.

The same can't be said for the, this anthurium this is-- the anthurium is also known as the flamingo plant or flamingo flower.

Most people are familiar with the ones that look kind of like a peace lily that's got the, they have the red spathe and the little, yellow spadix in the center.

This one does produce that same type of flower, but they usually bury it down under the foliage.

They don't come up- Amanda> Oh!

So that's not the showy part?

Davis> Right, right.

But these are grown because of this texture of the leaf.

Amanda> Oh, it's so thick too.

Davis> It's a thick leaf.

This one is called luxuriance is the common name for this one.

<Golly Pete!> The trade name, I should say.

And it's a beautiful plant, but these are highly toxic to pets.

So this is not one that you'd want to put on a table, if you have a kitty that likes to gnaw on leaves or if you have a dog that wants to taste everything.

But like- Amanda> Or a toddler.

Davis> Right, right.

But like all the other anthuriums, they do like to get a little bit root bound.

They don't like a lot of excess moisture around the roots.

So, when you have one, make sure that you don't repot it into too large a pot.

Because if that happens, the soil doesn't dry out enough, and the roots can rot.

But these are very rewarding plants, and they're not that difficult.

Amanda> So when you get a potted plant, you really need to come to some place where they can tell you about it.

If you just pick it up, who in the heck would know?

Davis> Right, and a lot of times we do have people that bring plants in to us that want it to be repotted because it's dying.

Well, it's dying because it's been repotted.

<Oh, Goodness!> Peace lilies are a prime example.

People get a peace lily as a gift, and they immediately take that little 6-inch peace lily and put it in a 12-inch pot.

And peace lilies like to dry out between watering.

Amanda> La la la la la.

A lot to-- You have one more for us?

Davis> I have one more.

This one is a challenge.

This is one of the alocasias.

A lot of people are familiar with the, with the African mask alocasia, that looks like a dragon face almost.

This one is one called 'Stingray,' which is- <Perfectly> Yeah, it's perfectly named.

I personally have never had any luck with the alocasias.

I either overwater them or I underwater them.

But, we also have people that come in that have 50 different alocasias, and they all thrive.

And I don't know what their secret is, so I just let them grow them and I stick with things that I can take care of.

Amanda> Isn't that more fun?

That is just delightful.

So, what do you think it likes?

Davis> It likes to get a little dry between waterings, but not bone dry.

I would say if you had one of the tensiometers, a true moisture meter, I would probably, you would probably, if it was graduated on a scale of one to four, you would probably want to water this at about between two and three, if it's one of the more accurate ones that's graded on a scale of one to ten, you'd probably want to water it at a five or six.

Amanda> So much for the easy houseplants.

Look at the stem on this.

It's already wonderful, too.

This is just more Stingray.

That's just a hoot.

Thank you so much for sharing this with us.

Davis> Thank you.

Thanks for having us.

> It's such a treat when Davis comes in and always brings us fun things doesn't he, Terasa?

<He sure does.> Well, hats, hats, hats.

So, as you know, what would I do without my friend Ann Nolte because once again, I went to her garden and, got this wonderful lily.

I thought it was a very unusual looking lily, don't you think?

<Gorgeous colors.> Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Anyway, so, and it's still holding together pretty good.

And, Yeah, I just thought this was a real fun thing to have and, it was, this one I was going to show people because we've had people talk about the, pollen, and this one's a little past its time, but I think it's cats that are stunningly, endangered by lilies.

Somebody came on and told us that, so.

Don't put lilies out if you've got kitty cats in the house because, you know, kitty cats will go around and try different things.

Terasa> I could never have plants in the house when I had cats.

I mean, it had nothing to do with them being, you know, harmful to the cats.

It's just the cats would want to eat them or knock them over.

Amanda> Knock them over.

Yeah, yeah, they can be, well, cats are curious, right?

They are there.

Yeah, yeah.

Alrighty.

Well, let's see, Terasa.

Terasa> I have been eyeing up this tray of blueberries over here, I'm hoping it involves a taste test.

<Woah!> Zack> Yeah, and I'm hoping this is not a blooper reel to set it up here.

I had a blooper reel earlier, getting ready for this.

So yeah, I brought some blueberries in today, I've been doing blueberry variety trials at the Coastal Research Center for about ten years now.

Amanda> What are you looking for?

Zack> Yeah so, good question.

You know, I think the consumer, when you buy blueberries at the store or wherever, you know, it's in a clamshell and it is what it is.

But there's so much that goes on behind the scenes in developing those varieties and get them to market.

And so what this variety trial really is trying to aim to do is check a lot of boxes for a bunch of different growers.

And so we're looking at a bunch of different cultivars or varieties.

And I'm looking at when they come in.

So that's important for our labor to make sure that we have the right amount of labor to be able to harvest.

Amanda> Woah, because that's... yeah.

Zack> Yes, It's very labor intensive.

For sure.

And, the other things we're looking at are yield, when they bloom.

Because a lot of these varieties that I have here are high bush varieties.

And so high bush we can grow on the coast because they're low chill hour, but in probably the Midlands and the Upstate we can't grow the highbush varieties.

And so trying to look at when they bloom to escape that last frost.

But then come to market early because we have a very narrow window.

Amanda> We're asking a lot of these blueberry plants.

Zack> We are, we have a very narrow window when Georgia gets done with their blueberries, but before North Carolina comes in.

And so we're trying to look for that perfect goldilocks- Amanda> Because if you've got, only person who has them at the market, you're going to get a premium price.

Zack> Absolutely, and so that's something we look at.

Obviously we're looking at yield.

We're looking at, you know, how vigorous the plants are, how much fertilizer they use.

And then ultimately, you know, what they taste like.

And then some of these varieties that I have here, the firmness is a little better on them.

So those are more commercial varieties that We would, you would see in a grocery store.

But then some varieties just taste amazing, but maybe they're not as firm.

<I understand.> So, you might see them at a u-pick.

<Fun!> So, but today I brought nine varieties or cultivars.

Seven of the nine are the southern highbush.

And so it's actually in a different species than our rabbiteye.

Rabbiteye really is the workhorse for South Carolina.

So anybody can grow rabbiteye in South Carolina.

And the two rabbiteye varieties I brought, and these are the two earliest rabbiteye varieties, are Climax and Vernon.

They're going to do well along the coast.

And then there's some other cultivars that come in a little more into June and July that are going to do better in the Midlands and Upstate.

But we do have a fact sheet on that.

The different cultivars and where they do and how many chill hours they need, so... Amanda> Well, are we going to taste?

Zack> Yeah, if you want, you want to start with the best one or the worst one?

Amanda> I like to save the best for last.

Zack> The best for last, alright.

All these are good.

I was just kind of joking.

But we have been doing around the state, we've been doing- Amanda> And Zack, excuse me for interrupting, but sometimes you'll just see some blueberry bushes for sale, and that's not a good way to pick them, because they need to be pollinated by somebody that's blooming at the same, I think it's kind of a... and then you got to get the pH just right.

So you need to do a little research, I think, before you just go pick up a blueberry and stick it in the ground and think, "Oh, I'm going to have blueberry pancakes next year."

Zack> Absolutely, they like really acidic soil.

And so if your soil is not ready, you need, you know, six months to get that soil ready.

Okay well, he says yes, Sean says to let us, while we're talking let's start- Zack> Tasting them?

<Yeah> Alright, well, we're going to start with Camelia and we'll pass that down.

How about some Suziblues for Terasa.

Those are a darker blue color, as opposed the other ones.

Some of the other ones are more matte blue.

Amanda> I think, is everybody supposed to be tasting these?

Zack> Sure, yeah.

I mean yeah, we'll pass around.

Alice Mae to me, I really like this cultivar.

It is going to be, I think, better for pies and stuff because it's kind of got a little tart taste to it.

Sunshine Blue is, what I call, we were talking about it before the show, Sunshine Blue is a dooryard blueberry.

And so it's going to be a dwarf plant, and so it's going to do well in small places, maybe even a patio or in a pot.

But the berries are a little bit smaller, so you can try those.

Dr.

Nelson> Here, try these.

Amanda> If you're sitting on your patio and just plucking them off.

[laughter] A little boy picked some blueberires from the plant in my house and gave him to his teacher as a thank you for teaching me this year.

Terasa> That's a great idea!

Zack> She probably deserved it, though.

Amanda> Is he a chip off the old block?

Zack> He's got some energy.

And then my favorite cultivar that we're growing.

It's called San Joaquin, so I'll pass that around.

And again, this is a highbush cultivar that you're probably not going to be able to get your hands on, but commercial, growers could.

Terasa> That's very good.

Zack> And then the last two are very good.

These are rabbiteye type.

And again, these are going to be, you can grow these throughout South Carolina.

Amanda> These will be easier for us.

Zack> Yes.

And these are going to come in a little later in the season.

These highbush cultivars, they're about done.

But that is climax.

Terasa> I think I've had Climax before.

Climax... and then this is Vernon, and Vernon is a big ol' berry, as I like to say.

Terasa> Giant.

[blueberry crunching] Zack> I heard the pop on that one.

[laughter] Dr.

Nelson> They're good for you too.

Amanda> Are blueberries native?

Zack> Yes, they are native to South Carolina.

And they are very good for you.

I actually went to a talk recently in Savannah, and it was a lady who studies indigenous tribes and they, you know, eat with the seasons hunter gatherer, essentially, and they have a lot of berries in their diet.

And what she kind of pointed out was we all know that they're good for you.

They have antioxidants and anti-cancer properties.

But really, we should be eating blueberries, strawberries, like any kind of berry, but then exercise after you eat it.

So not going to the gym, but just going for a walk and getting your blood flowing, really maximizes the, you know, getting these through your blood system and how well it works in your body.

So that was pretty interesting.

So eat some blueberries and go for a walk.

Dr.

Nelson> Let's go.

Zack> Let's go.

Amanda> How about that.

Zack> Which one is your favorite?

Amanda> The next to the last one was not very sweet.

<Climax, okay.> To me, but... they're all absolutely delicious.

Zack> They'd all be good in a cobbler, right?

Dr.

Nelson> I like the very first one the best.

Zack> The Camellia, okay.

And a lot of times what they do on commercial farms is they'll have a bunch of different cultivars.

And they're mixing them all together as they're packing 'em.

So you'll never, you rarely will you get a straight species.

Amanda> Just one.

But they're all delicious.

<Absolutely> And supporting local farmers, which is what we want to do.

Anything we can do to help them out.

<Absolutely> Yeah, okay.

Thanks so much.

Zack> Yes, ma'am.

Amanda> Terasa.

Terasa> I'll just sneak this bowl away.

No one will ever notice.

[laughter] I think what is interesting though, you know, is if you asked all of us what our favorite was, we could have different.

So I've kind of like a little bit of a tart to my blueberries.

Amanda> Well, who grew up with rhubarb?

Terasa> I did.

You're right.

[laughter] [indiscernible] Blueberries are good to mix with rhubarb.

[laughter] Alright, let's see if we can help Paula in Columbia.

She said, " I have waterlilies in my pond, but a different plant seems to have shown up with slimy leaves that look like footballs.

What is it?

And how do I get rid of it?"

And thankfully, we have some pictures.

As Zack knows, as an extension agent, we sometimes get questions like this, but without a photo and it's pretty much impossible to know what someone is describing.

<A good photo.> Oh yes, it needs to be a good, in focus photo.

Amanda> Like you were taking a picture of your baby to send to the grandparents.

I mean, a good picture, right?

<And lots of photos.> Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah.

John, slimy.

Yuck > First of all, Paula in Columbia, you know, kudos to her for having a pond with waterlilies.

And of course, waterlilies are wonderful, native plants that like to be in ponds.

Nymphaea, is what she's calling waterlilies, you know, Nymphaea odorata.

And I guess that the other part of this is that we got a lot of different aquatic plant species.

And some of them are very, very common, and others, not so much.

Some of them are easy to get along with, and then others are kind of terrible.

For different reasons.

And I'm glad she sent those pictures in, because this is a real easy one.

So this is a plant called the water shield.

And this is a native plant.

In fact, it's probably all over the eastern United States.

Amanda> All right.

That sounds okay.

Dr.

Nelson> And the thing about it is... most people look at this when this stuff is growing in a pond, They think, oh well, it's a baby water lily or something like that.

[laughter] They're not related.

These species are, waterlilies and water shield are not related at all.

And their flowers are completely different.

So what water shield does, is it's rooted in the muck or whatever is on the bottom of the pond, and it's little stems and leaf stalks will be coated with this really wonderful clear mucilage.

That's the slimy part.

I mean really slick and slimy, it's kind of neat, I think.

And then the under, the underside of the leaves will also be covered with this exuded substance.

And why does it do that?

Well, you know, in botany there are a lot of questions that shouldn't be asked as "and why" questions.

So we don't really know what exactly this affords to the plant.

But that's what this is.

This is a water shield.

The problem is, it is a native species.

Sometimes it does get a little bit what people would think is out of control.

<Very vigorous.> And if you're fishing, you know, forget it.

If there's a whole lot of this stuff on the surface of the pond.

And as far as getting rid of it, you know, I'm not the right person to talk to them about that.

Amanda> We have specialists who will help you.

Dr.

Nelson> Yeah and, well, one option would be to try to learn to live with it.

If you can't get rid of it.

Amanda> Okay.

Alright, well, thank you for that.

And well, from that, we'll go to landscaping for wildlife when you went up to Columbia and isn't it just wonderful that we can do things now that coexist with nature and help nature.

So, let's learn a little bit about this.

Terasa> We're in the Rosewood community within the city of Columbia, where Bob Askins is on a mission.

Bob, thanks for inviting us to your yard.

Tell me a little bit about the motivation to move from traditional turf to a landscape that incorporates native plants.

> Well, a lot of my inspiration comes from, my involvement with the Midlands chapter of the South Carolina Native Plant Society.

I'm also a Master Naturalist, I think, a Clemson Extension program.

Terasa> That's right.

Bob> So, I've always been interested in nature and, and in plants, but... largely I was a big birder.

And, if you love birds, you have to love insects because, birds need insects, particularly to raise their young.

And if you want to have insects, you have to have native plants.

Our native plants co-evolved with our insects.

And so, you know, we hear about things like milkweed, supporting monarchs.

But we also need, other plants that local insects can make use of, to raise their young and feed birds and other animals as well.

Terasa> So let's, talk about the process.

I understand maybe there was a fence that was here in the yard prior.

And so that was the first step?

Bob> Right.

We were, we bought this, purchased this property in 2018.

And there was a, an old cattle wire fence along one side that was, had been overtaken by English ivy and other vines.

There was Chinese privet, and all sorts of- Terasa> All those invasive species.

Bob> All those invasive species.

So, the first step was editing, taking that stuff out.

And then we began, adding native plants to replace the things we had removed.

And it was amazing, Terasa.

Within the first year, we saw a huge increase in the number of lizards, spiders, butterflies, bees.

Terasa> Love it.

It's like if you build it, they will come.

<Exactly> So what are some of the species that you started incorporating?

Bob> Some of the first things I put in were, milkweed.

But if you, if you want milkweed to be most effective, you need to provide some food for the adult monarchs that are laying eggs.

So, also started adding, flowering perennials, things like asters and goldenrod and... things that would be blooming at the times, that monarchs came through, to lay their eggs.

Terasa> And monarchs aren't the only things that you want to attract to your yard.

So, what are some strategies for ensuring that you have things that are going to flower over long periods of time?

Bob> Well, that's a good point.

I do try to pick, perennials that bloom at different times of the year.

So we've had a number of things that have already bloomed and finished.

But... one good example is blueberries.

Everybody loves blueberries.

I have several varieties, of Vaccinium here, they're an early bloomer and they help support some of our native bees that also are early emergers.

Our southeastern blueberry bumblebee, <Mhm> is a very, efficient pollinator, you know, so that plant, those plants help to support that insect.

Terasa> Sure.

And not only do you have the benefit of being able to see those bees in the yard and you know, they're doing their job, but then, you can benefit from that fruit production as well.

Bob> Exactly.

Yeah.

Everybody loves blueberries.

Terasa> How about some native grasses.

You have those incorporated as well.

Bob> Yeah.

So native grasses are very, very important but sometimes overlooked.

You know, we'll have Indian grass and switchgrass.

I just added some purpletop, excited to see how that works out this year.

But... our native grasses put down very, very deep roots.

So they are, very resilient for that reason.

They can handle our hot, dry weather in the summertime, without any, any real problem.

And then they also provide food for a number of, moths and butterflies.

They, some of the seed is used by native birds.

And then... and then they also provide shelter.

One thing that, we sometimes overlook, but those, our native bunch grasses give insects, butterflies a place to hide out when there are storms or when the weather turns cold.

Terasa> What do you think is the most unusual species that you have in your yard?

Bob> I have a couple of very rare native plants.

One is, Schweinitz's sunflower, which is, I think, the rarest, sunflower species in North America.

I also have... Stachys caroliniana, which is, a plant that, your frequent guest, John Nelson rediscovered- Terasa> That's right.

Bob> On the coast of, South Carolina, near where I grew up.

And so I have a little sample of that here.

Carolina bogmint is another rare plant.

It's not a difficult plant to grow, but it just, because of habitat loss it's become somewhat rare.

Terasa> So we talked about monarchs, and their need for milkweed as a host plant.

But one of the common, is called butterfly weed or butterfly milkweed.

Most people probably aren't going to just flock to want to put a weed in their yard.

Bob> But it's such a showy, beautiful plant.

It really has, in fact, we have some blooming right now.

It's, it's a gorgeous, flowering plant to have in your landscape.

It also is a very deep-rooted plant.

So it's, capable of surviving very well once it's established.

And then, as you mentioned, it provides, food for both adult and caterpillar stages of monarch butterflies.

Terasa> I see that you have really embraced the idea of gardening with the environment in mind.

And have several certifications that reflect that.

Bob> Yes, indeed.

One that, is probably near and dear to your heart, Carolina Yard Certification.

<Absolutely!> I think, I got last year and then, the Gills Creek Watershed Association Champion, Watershed Champion, is another one that's important to me because, really concerned about maintaining, water quality levels and concerned about our rivers and other waterways.

Terasa> Until recently, I understand that a yard such as yours may not have been allowed within the city limits.

Bob> That's right.

City ordinances, restricted the height of vegetation, particularly in front yards.

The Native Plant Society, recognized this as a potential problem for our members.

And so we worked with the city, with Mayor Rickenmann and Dr.

Bussells to modify those, those requirements so that, it would allow people a little more latitude in doing naturalistic plantings in their home lawns.

Terasa> Sounds good.

I look forward to learning more from the mayor.

Mayor Rickenmann, thank you so much for taking time out of your schedule to speak with us.

I understand there's been a recent ordinance change to allow for more naturalistic landscaping within the city.

> Absolutely.

And this was brought to us by our constituents and folks in town who really wanted to embrace a lot of our natural species and plants and get them growing.

But it was very hard for our code enforcement people to really understand because their limited knowledge of plants, they looked at some of our natural species that are growing and plants growing that we want to have grown here as weeds because of the height and where it is.

So really addressing that, but also getting people to register their yards, which is really important to say, "Hey, this is what we're doing, we're building a natural setting."

And when you look around yards like, that we have here, it makes a big difference.

I mean, since we've been sitting here, I'm watching all the bugs and the bees and everything and watching them pollinate.

Get in there and, and be part of it.

So it's what we want to happen.

Terasa> It really is.

I'm so glad to hear that you and council were receptive and to making that change because ordinances are in place for a reason.

And you mentioned specifically the process that citizens would need to take on, to let everyone know that this is an intentional thing.

And we're not just kind of ignoring our landscapes.

Mayor Rickenmann> 100 percent.

But I do think this is, this is why public input is so important and people reaching out, because there's probably ordinances on our books that don't really relate to what's happening today.

And so we've got to change a lot of that.

And we want to see more of this.

I think today, more than ever, at least in this community, I feel as a capital city, we want to preserve our natural assets.

We want more investment.

What you're seeing us do at the river.

What we're doing with these ordinance changes, the bioswales and the things we're thinking about for the future, getting rid of all these parking lots and, and really embracing our natural resources to protect them.

Everybody wants to have the beauty of South Carolina to stay for generations, and little things make a big difference.

Terasa> They do, the little things that each person can do in their own backyard.

Thank you so much for being receptive to change, for appreciating the value of native plants, and allowing the citizens of Columbia, to protect natural resources in their own yards.

Mayor Rickenmann> Well, and... I think what we want to do too, is encourage people to see what they can do and how they can have a balance of this and how we can have better opportunities to share information, you know, plants that people ought to be thinking about planting.

Reaching out to, if it's the Clemson Extension or Gills Creek Watershed folks who have invested, you know, heavily in it, or you know, National Wildlife who can help you design, why not take advantage of this?

And I think part of it is we got to continue to share information.

Terasa> We really do.

And there are so many educational resources out there.

You mentioned a lot of them.

We encourage people to take that education and put it into practice.

Mayor Rickenmann> I'm with you on that.

♪ Amanda> Terasa, you often find interesting things for us to learn about and we appreciate this very much.

Terasa> It was my pleasure.

Amanda> Steve, we've got a picture of somebody had something in his pool, and we need you to help us.

Steve> Yeah, I looked at it and he said, "Was it a baby garter snake?"

Not a bad guess, but it's actually a brown snake.

when I was growing up, we called them DeKay's snakes, and now they're called northern brown snakes.

And they are actually relatives of the garter snake.

But a lot of people don't know that there's probably about, of the 38 different species of snakes we have, there's a whole bunch of them that don't get much bigger than 15, 16 inches.

So it's not a baby snake, it's a full grown northern brown snake.

<Alrighty> Harmless completely.

Amanda> Okay.

Well, I don't know if it needs some help getting out of the pond, but it probably doesn't want to stay there.

Okay, well, thank you all so very, very, very much.

And at home, thank you.

We hope you'll be with us next week, night night.

♪ ♪ ♪ Narrator> Making It Grow is brought to you in part by Certified South Carolina.

This cooperative effort among farmers, retailers and the South Carolina Department of Agriculture helps consumers identify foods and agricultural products that are grown, harvested or raised right here in the Palmetto State.

McLeod Farms in McBee, South Carolina, family owned and operated since 1916.

This family farm offers seasonal produce, including over 40 varieties of peaches.

Wesley Commons, a full service continuing care retirement community located on more than 150 wooded acres in Greenwood, South Carolina.

Additional funding provided by the South Carolina Farm Bureau Federation and Farm Bureau Insurance and Boone Hall Farms.