<Narrator>: Making It Grow is brought to you in part by certified South Carolina is a cooperative effort among farmers retailers And the South Carolina Department of Agriculture to help consumers identify foods And agricultural products that are grown harvested or raised right here in the Palmetto State.

The Boyd foundation supporting outdoor recreational opportunities, the appreciation of wildlife educational programs, And enhancing the quality of life in Columbia, South Carolina And the Midlands at large.

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

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

Additional funding provided by the South Carolina Farm Bureau Federation And Farm Bureau insurance And BOONE HALL FARMS.

♪♪ Amanda: Good evening, And welcome to making it grow.

We're so glad that you can join us tonight.

I'm Amanda McNulty.

I'm a Clemson Extension agent.

And I get to come over here And learn from all of our wonderful guests And also enjoy learning from Terasa Lott who coordinates the Master Gardener program statewide, which is a lot of coordinating to do Terasa.

And then you still are kind enough to be a co host for us.

What would we do without you?

<Oh, goodness,> Terasa: It's The pleasure is all mine for sure.

As is coordinating the Master Gardener program, we have a talented group of extension agents that coordinate locally And then wonderful master gardeners like Tom here on our panel that really helped us extend the reach so that we can, you know, take research based information to any hopefully anyone in South Carolina that is looking for it.

Amanda: And then they do certain things like have gardens in certain areas And just do so much to help the communities.

Terasa: Yes, demonstration gardens symposia speaking to civic groups demonstrations, a long list of of job duties that they fulfill.

Amanda: They fortunately, because the extension agents are a little bit, you know, they have a lot going on, And the master gardeners can kind of double And triple And quadruple their input.

<Exactly.> Yeah, well, thanks.

Okay.

Herrick Brown, who is now the curator of the AC Moore Herbarium at the University of South Carolina.

I think we get it all right.

And I think y'all still if somebody wants to know what something is, can they send a picture to you?

Or how does that work?

Dr. Herrick: The easiest way to do that if you have a digital camera, a lot of smart phone sort of thing, you can send it to us at plantman@herbarium.org .

Okay, And we'll be happy to try to identify whatever you're focused on And whatever is in the background as well.

(laughter) Amanda: A good picture helps.

And you And I both got something the other day And I asked the people that first of all, it could have been a little more focused.

But you know, they took each can take a picture of the whole plant, but then if it has a flower, give us a close up of the flower.

And I think sometimes I like to see the bark as well.

Because if It's going to be a Prunus species, sometimes the bark can be helpful too?

Dr. Herrick: Yeah, any any of the characters of the plant are going to be helpful in making a positive identification.

So yeah, don't shy away from sending us more than one image.

And I meant that sincerely that a lot of times we'll look at the background we can look at like the leaf that's on the forest floor And that can kind of clue us in on what species it might be as well.

Amanda: Thank you so much.

Tom Nelson is in fact a Master Gardener with the lake lands as Master Gardeners And y'all pull in from a rather rather big area because It's Greenwood And then some of the places nearby.

Tom: We are primarily in Greenwood but we also cover Abbeyville And have some master gardeners who are from Lawrence And McCormick county as well.

Amanda: And Do y'all do some work in the communities with gardens And things?

Tom: We do.

There are a lot of Master Gardeners particularly this summer who are preparing not only for our South Carolina, festival of flowers in June, June the eighth through the 11th, <Thank you.> but also for the America in bloom symposium.

Which Greenwood will be one of the host communities.

So many of our gardens in the town will be featured.

Amanda: Gosh, And y'all do have an extraordinary gifted horticultural staff.

And I think that the city government has just been wonderful about realizing the importance of attractive, not boring horticulture.

<Yes.> Pretty, pretty special area out there.

Thanks so much for coming And being special with us today.

And then Davis Sanders, you are with South Pleasantburg Nursery, And you come And you bring all these wonderful up from Greenville.

And your car or truck has a funny name.

<Davis>: Yeah, It's the Black Pearl.

<How many miles now?> 495,000.

<That's a lot of miles.> I'm sorry.

395,000.

Oh, shoot.

But still, a child.

Today I drove (laughter) the youngster I drove the the old Toyota that's as old as the Black Pearl.

And she's only got 245,000 miles on it.

Amanda: Oh, my goodness gracious.

Well, I hope that your bride has something a little more current.

<Davis>: She does.

It's a young horse, but It's actually actually yeah, she has she has a much newer vehicle.

(laughter) Amanda: Terasa.

I think we need to (laughter) especially if one has a horse or mule, (laughter) or donkey or jacka#*#*?

Terasa: I'm not sure we'll get any of those.

(laughter) Let's take a look.

It's our time to do a virtual field trip throughout the state of South Carolina.

See what you're growing in your Yards gardens.

Sometimes perhaps you've captured a beautiful place in South Carolina or maybe some indoor plants.

We begin with Ted Hood, who shared a close up of Virginia bluebells Mertensia virginica.

From Dennis Johnson he has "ajuga" (Lamiaceae) serving as a ground cover at the base of his black walnut tree.

Karen Titcomb shared a view of what's blooming in her garden in Greer, South Carolina.

From William Black, the red flowers of Carolina all spice Clianthus floridus also called Sweet shrub or sweet Bubby Bush.

And we round off the day with Robert Beede who shared a view of his water feature complete with fish.

If you look closely, you can see them making an appearance.

Thanks to everyone who shared their photos.

Don't be shy when you see us make a call for gardens of the week on our Face Book page.

All you have to do is post your photos right there in the comments.

We can't choose them all this is just a random sampling.

But we do encourage you to visit the Face Book page And see them there.

Amanda: Thank you, um, Herrick, sometimes we hear about walnut trees, not letting anything grow under them.

What's the deal on that?

Do you know?

Dr. Herrick: Yeah, so they produce, a chemical that's in the leaves And the fruits And that sort of thing.

And when that falls to the ground, sort of It's like a natural herbicide, if you will, prevents things from sprouting.

Taking a foothold.

Amanda: Um, does it prevent young walnuts from sprouting, too?

I mean, I wonder why they do that.

It's a curiosity, isn't it?

Dr. Herrick: Good question.

Yeah, It's a large tree.

So ideally, It's going to want to disperse it seeds further.

Maybe a squirrel might try to gnaw through one of the... Or might wash downstream, that And so that that helps to kind of get the younger trees away from the parents, Okay.

Amanda: And we're taking you to exciting places DOKO farm where they have all kinds of heritage animals.

That's really fun.

And a lot of them go cockadoodledoo the whole time that we're there.

And then we're gonna go back to riverbanks zoo, with our dear friend, Andy Cade.

Davis, I think you've got something to show us.

<Davis>: I do.

Everybody loves Begonias Begonia's is one of the most versatile annuals that you can you can put in your gardens or in your flower boxes.

They come in all shapes And forms.

All sorts of leaf forms.

You've got the little wax bedding begonias, you've got the big leaf series.

And over the past few years, they've they've developed the what's known as the wing series.

Everybody's familiar with the red dragon wing begonia that gets fairly large.

It's sort of expansive, It's really nice.

"Got you" plant for a large planter when It's mature.

And for years, everybody wanted a white dragon wing.

Well, they worked And worked And worked And finally they came out with one called Baby wing that was very similar to the dragon wing.

That was white but but the leafs were very small well this year they finally brought out the dragon wing white.

This one is a It's a It's a very large leaf once It's established Unlike most of the Green leaf, we're going this leads this one will take morning sun prefers a little bit of afternoon shade.

But It's an excellent addition to the wing series.

Another one that's actually been around for a few years, but It's only becoming popular now, for the people that really need a pop of color And a dark corner is the canary wing.

This is just like the Red Dragon wing, but you can see the chartreuse in the leaves here really stands out in a, like a covered porch where there's not a lot, a lot of light going in.

Amanda: Does it prefer that does it would it not want to as much sun as some of the others?

<Davis>: Right, right, this one, this one is a great one for deep shade.

Amanda: Okay, And that's where it needs to be.

Okay, They're beautiful.

<Davis>: And then the two smaller ones in the front here are a brand new offering.

This is a trailing begonia.

This is the hula series have hula red And hula pink, these are going to sprawl And spread And droop.

They're not going to be nearly as upright.

The growth habits probably going to be a little bit more like the Rex begonias or the ascargo begonias.

The angel wing begonias going to have more of a cascading growth habbit.

Amanda: So this is a container plant.

<Yes.> My goodness.

So like, like, so?

<Davis>: Probably 10 to 12 inches, but probably was a 30 inch spread by the end of the summer.

Amanda: Really?

So don't crowd them.

<Right.> Yeah.

Okay.

Well, what a vigorous little planet seems like.

<Davis>: They are beautiful plants.

Amanda: Well, thank you so much for telling us about more new stuff.

They just, everybody's m...

They're just doing new stuff every time you turn around.

<Yes, they are.> Okay.

Okay.

Terasa: Well, Teresa, whom, can we help?

Try to help?

We will try to help Ian in Ninety Six, who has recently been traveling And came back with a question.

He said while visiting Florida.

Amanda: A great big lemon that looks like a grapefruit.

Terasa: That's what he says.

Amanda: Tom, I believe that you actually grew up down in the citrus industry part of Florida.

Have you ever heard of this?

Tom: I did.

I grew up in central Florida.

And while the the tree that's being talked about is not particularly common, And is grown as a novelty.

Yes, those do exist.

They're called Ponderosa lemons.

And, in fact, we are attempting to grow three of them in Greenwood for our gardens this summer.

So we've got three that have already set some fruit.

And the interesting thing about the mature fruit And even the maturing fruit is that it it is very bumpy on the outside has a fairly thick pith spongy pith on the inside that surrounds a beautiful yellow flesh.

And growing up, my grandparents actually had one of these trees in their yard.

And you can get probably at least a cup of juice out of those, each lemon.

It's that large?

Amanda: Is it just as good as a regular lemon?

Tom: You can use them interchangeably.

Absolutely.

Makes great lemonade.

Amanda: And you could certainly have the whole the whole neighborhood over if you get Yes, yes.

Okay.

And y'all have three of them that you're trying to... Tom: We do.

We're we're trying to create an edible garden in one of the city gardens.

And we chose this particular citrus, because it will attract some attention And draw people to it.

Amanda: And it sounds like the bumpy exterior is just another attractive feature.

So I can't wait to can't wait for you to bring some lemonade.

Yeah, that'll be fun.

Okay, I think you've got to show and tell for us.

Dr. Herrick: I do, was going to talk about the collection that we have at USC.

And It's quite varied.

We have about 130,000 specimens, And we get some weird stuff.

And a lot of this is not necessarily collected in our own backyard.

That is our strong suit.

We focus on stuff from South Carolina, but every now And then we like to diversify the collection with some specimens from other parts of the world.

And this here is a specimen that was sent to us from a university in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

And it is a specimen of something called Nepenthes.

The Nepenthes Mirabilis Yes, And this is one of the tropical pitcher plants they there's about 170 species of these worldwide, most of them in the, in the Pacific, not something that you would see here, but through our partnership with the folks in Ho Chi Minh, we're able to kind of, you know, have a chance to study these plants in our collection.

Amanda: But We do have pitcher plants here.

Dr. Herrick: Indeed we do.

Yeah.

Not the same kind.

Yeah, we have the Serianias, which are, you'll probably see sometimes in roadside ditches, a lot of protected lands also as well, they are kind of a desirable plant to try to grow.

Amanda: So Do y'all have conferences where people from different herbaria come And y'all get to meet each other?

Or How do y'all start shipping things back And forth?

Dr. Herrick: This this partnership actually was started by Dr. Nelson, my predecessor, he just kind of randomly went down the list of places we haven't communicated with before And said, Well, how about this one?

And sure enough, they responded, And we arranged sort of a reciprocal agreement where we would send about 500 specimens to Vietnam, And they would then send complimentary 500 back from Vietnam to us.

Amanda: Well, that's fascinating.

So if I can't go to Vietnam, I could come And see what some of the things look like.

There once they've been pressed And dried.

Yep.

At the AC Moore Herbarium.

Dr. Herrick: Absolutely.

Amanda: Well, thanks so much for sharing that with us.

Yeah, no problem.

Okay.

Amanda: Davis, did you bring something that relates to that?

<Davis>: I certainly did.

I actually have a living specimen of the, the Nepenthes this I'm not sure which species This is, as Herrick said, there's over 170 species, but you can not you can see if you can get a little bit of a close up there.

These are the developing pitchers.

And a lot of these Nepenthes are epiphytes, like orchids, And bromeliads, they actually grow in the crotch angles of trees And that kind of thing.

Amanda: So they don't, they don't have roots that have to be in soil.

<Davis>: They don't necessarily have to but they are the roots are substantial enough that you can grow it as a potted plant.

Another interesting fact of this of these plants is that the the cups not only serve to sometimes trap insects, but in a rainforest environment And up out of the out of the ground.

They catch water so they they also assist the plant in acquiring water.

Oh, I'm not sure if this is your Amanda: hitchhiker you're, you're buying a tank of gas every now And then.

<Davis>: Hence the the other common name for it is Monkey cup.

Amanda: Okay, because It's gonna use it, I think it was capturing water.

<Davis>: Right And then these are a couple more of the sarracenia is the ones that are that are a little more common And as Herrick mentioned.

A lot of times these are saying these are seen often in in agricultural drainage ditches And roadside ditches because they love the environment that little bit full sun.

And they're very popular aquatic plants for for koi ponds And Home Water Gardens, that kind of thing.

<And what are these charming little plants?> Those are sundews, sundews are not seen quite as as frequently in a in a greenhouse setting, but they are very intriguing little plants.

If you can, if you can look real closely at the leaves, they're tipped with all these really fine hairs.

And if you if you had a magnifying glass, you would see a little tiny drop of sugary secretion on the tip of each one of those little hairs.

All well And good.

It attracts some insects, particularly ants And some of the sweet... Amanda: This is when I guess they're small, right?

<Davis>: The leaves are a little bit different configuration.

But they have the same mechanism when they output an insect detects that sugar they crawl onto the leaf.

And while they are enjoying that, that sugary substance <Uh huh.> The rest of those little hairs are slowly closing over the insect And trapping it in place And that's when the plant begins to digest it.

That's since they are chlorophyll bearing plants.

They are capable of producing their own their own food, their own sugars, but the but they have evolved to have a need for protein And that's where the insects come in.

Okay, all right.

And probably the most fascinating And the most famous of the carnivorous plants is the venus flytrap.

This one is actually a North And South Carolina native they they're grown they're found almost exclusively in the Carolina bays area along state line between Horry County And Wilmington.

There, they are native to Sandy wet open areas, which the Carolina Bays fit that perfectly.

But It's actually a much harder plant then you might think I know a couple of people that that have koi ponds with a bog filter And they have the venus flytrap actually growing in the bog filter in upstate South Carolina, And they survived the winter And are hardy.

The interesting thing about this one is that their sensory apparatus consists of three hairs on eye on each wing of the of the trap, And to prevent a false alarm from triggering the trap to close.

The insect gets in there has to touch two of the hairs at the same time.

The trap closes immediately.

Now I would stick my finger in the trap And demonstrate how that works.

But the reason that the plant has evolved to have that trigger mechanism is that once that trap is opened And closed once or twice that entire leaf dies, And it does continue to regenerate from the middle of the of the plant.

But if someone comes along And just pokes all the all the traps And makes it close, it could actually kill the plant.

<Yeah, yeah.> Amanda: And they're real special And have just had requirements about where they are.

So we need to protect these.

<Davis>: Right.

It's in a very small area.

And there's development going on all around that area right now.

But they're working extremely hard to to preserve the habitat of Venus flytrap.

Amanda: Hope they're gonna be successful.

<Davis>: Just just on a more humorous note.

I actually had someone come into the nursery one day And ask if we had any native houseplants?

There it is.

Amanda: Isn't that fun?

Cool, All right.

Well, thank you so very much well.

So now we're going to DOKO farms.

And they are part of the ag And art tour that's put on every year, which is just a fascinating way to get people out of their homes And out to where agriculture is taking place.

And It's usually in a very fun way.

So let's now go down And visit DOKO farms.

♪ opening music ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ I'm talking to Amanda Jones.

I'm at her farm Doko Farms in Blythewood, South Carolina and Amanda y'all have decided to specialize in heritage breeds, I think.

How did that come about?

>> That's right.

Well, before we moved back to start the farm, I was originally a field biologist, and so it turns out that hogs are just like land seals and poultry is kind of like a marine bird and it just transferred really naturally.

When we first moved back and opened in 2007, and we opened the farm in 2009, we tried a little bit of everything.

We were growing fresh flowers, cut flowers, herbs, veggies.

We had some fruit.

We had eggs from our chicken and we quickly learned that we couldn't be all things for all people, and we narrowed down the scope of our farm to what we do best, and that turned out to be heritage breeds on pasture.

<Amanda>...and if I can explain for a minute that you and your husband met in California.

You were from California, and but this farm was actually a family farm for him.

So can we go back to how he's come to heritage breed himself?

<Amanda Jones> Yeah, so the original part of the farm house and the farm by extension was built by my husband, Joe's great, great grandfather.

and every generation of our family since then has lived at least part of their life in the farmhouse, our children our the sixth generation to call this home, and almost every generation has farmed here, as well.

It's skipped a generation with his parents.

<Amanda> This wasn't ever a farm where you had row crops out near where near Cedar Creek, and it's hilly and heavily forested, and so there's not a lot of just flat arable land.

and so did that make it better for you to make some of the choices that you did about making it a place for animals rather than just crops in the ground?

<Amanda Jones> Definitely, we do have a small annual garden and that's about the only flat mostly at this point after 6, 5, 6 generations rock free area.

We do have a lot of field rocks as well.

In fact, the foundation of our house is field rocks from the farm, but again, we were looking for a source of sustainably and humanely raised meat for our family, and we weren't really able to find that at the time.

and so we decided that if that's something that we wanted to have in our diet, we would do that ourselves.

<Amanda> There's a lot of crowing (ba ba ba ba ba) going on around here.

So let's start with the chickens and turkeys.

Can we?

<Amanda Jones> Absolutely.

So we raised Buckeye heritage chickens.

They're a dual breed of chicken, dual purpose breed which means we are raising them for both meat and eggs.

With the heritage breeds and this is true for all the breeds, they are bred for a long, productive outdoor life.

So they're on pasture.

Our chickens are on pasture for 16 weeks or more, which is double more than double sometimes that of a Cornish Cross.

<Amanda> Your son decided that he wanted a little sideline.

So let's talk about his chickens.

<Amanda Jones> He did.

He brought another breed of chicken onto the farm.

He has Americanas, which lay a really pretty blue and sometimes green tinted egg and so our egg CSA customers get a really beautiful variation of color in their egg cartons each week.

<Amanda>...and at Thanksgiving, y'all have people who sign up way, way, way in advance for a Heritage Turkey, I believe.

Let's hear about that.

<Amanda Jones> That's right.

So we raise Narragansett Heritage turkeys.

The original stock for that is a cross between a black Spanish and a wild turkey.

So they're able to run, fly, forage for up to 60% of their diet, and they live for 28 weeks on our pasture, ready just in the nick of time for Thanksgiving, and again, without long sustained growth, you get amazing depth of flavor.

<Amanda> With these small chickens and turkeys out you need some protection because we know they have coyotes around, and I believe you have some special dogs that help you keep the animals safe.

<Amanda Jones> We do.

We have Great Pyrenees livestock Guardian dogs.

We miss-timed a little bit starting our next, our next group of security dogs, and our older dogs aged out before this next group was quite ready.

So we do have a three year old working dog on pasture.

He's great with poultry.

He watches the skies for hawks and black vultures, and then behind me here we have Tonx, who is a year old and is still working through some of her puppy issues but she'll, she'll get there.

<Amanda> The dogs also helped protect some of the other animals.

You've got some sheep here that are an unusual sheep, at least to me.

<Amanda Jones> Right, so we raise St. Croix heritage sheep.

They're a hair variety of sheep, which means they naturally shed their winter coats in the spring.

When sheep are domesticated, they were selected either for wool production or meat production, and these were specifically selected for their sweet, mild flavored meat, and like their name suggests the original breeding stock came to this country from St. Croix which like South Carolina is a hot humid environment.

So they're well adapted to our climate and they also have a higher level of parasite resistance which helps as well here in South Carolina.

<Amanda> You also have a type of heritage hog or pig.

What can you tell me about them?

<Amanda Jones> So we raised Guinea hogs, which were the homesteading hog in the southeast.

They're a small, black lard type of pig.

That flat coat and skin really helps them with sun protection, though we do run ours mostly in the woods, in some fenced areas of woods we have and also they help with some privet knocking back some invasive privet that we have here on the farm.

They're known for their leaf lard, their leaf fat, which is prized by pastry chefs.

and they also have a well marbled again those lard qualities, dark red meats.

So this isn't the other white meat from the pork commercials of our youth.

<Amanda> You've told us that there's not a lot of land for your vegetable garden, although you do work hard on that, but so you've decided to find a way to use some of the trees and garden under them.

<Amanda Jones>Right.

So, we do have a little bit of an edible forest garden that we started here at the farm.

Our land naturally wants to be a forest so instead of fighting that, we're working with it and we have an over story of pecan and nut trees with an under story of some native fruits like Paw Paws and persimmons, and also perennial vegetables.

We have sorrel growing there as well as some pollinator plants for our native pollinators and some medicinal herbs as well.

<Amanda> I think everyone now is getting involved in community supported agriculture and trying to help spread that story, and y'all have some days when people are invited to the farm when you provide educational opportunities.

Can you tell me about those, please?

<Amanda Jones> Absolutely.

So, we do three free community events throughout the year.

We host a spring farm fest with a farmer Olympics It's a chance for people to come together and compete for prizes and to be crowned our Farm Olympic champions for the year.

We also with the Farm Spring Fest have farmer led guided tours of Doko Farm, as well as some farmer led workshops.

We invite other small local sustainable farms to join us and that's really just a way for us to celebrate a new growing season and bring everyone together.

In the summer, we are one of the Richland County Ag and Art tour stops.

The Ag and Art tour is a multi weekend, multi stop farm tour, and that's a time where artisans come out to the farm and bring all their beautiful creations.

It brings a very diverse and fun mix of people out to our farm.

For that event, we host our locally famous chicken races, which is just more farm shenanigans that we can we can get into.

and then our third event is our harvest market, where, again, we invite others out to our farm to tour the farm, but also pick up everything they need for their holidays.

<Amanda>...and I think that there's a active group of farm kids, you've said and your kids have picked up a skill that they can show up as their art form, I believe.

<Amanda Jones> They do.

So they have... a few different skill sets, but the one that they like to do at Spring farm fest is Balloon Art.

So they've been working on their balloon bunnies, they also do some pretty good poodles and cats and hats, <Amanda> I think it's wonderful that you're finding a way to keep this family property in agriculture, and as you said, it's like a conservation spot going all the way down to the creek, and also, you're able to continue the sustainability that has always been a part of farming here.

I want to thank you for letting us come and tell your story today.

<Amanda Jones> Thank you so much.

It's been a pleasure.

♪ Amanda: We sure had a lot of fun with that chicken race.

Chickens are wonderful animals to have.

if you've never had chickens, I would encourage you to do that.

And if you want to know more about the Ag in art to go to agandarttour.com And, And pack your family up And go And see a local farm And have a wonderful time while you are there.

Terasa: There didn't seem to be a lot of speed with that race going on.

Are you sure we can call it chicken racing?

Amanda: I was going as fast as I could.

(laughter) About my race.

Maybe I only watched a little bit of it well they certainly were out that it for it.

Yes, they were.

Anyway, we had a real good time.

Um, so Teresa, what's next?

Terasa: Well, you know, we like to do weird And wacky And wonderful plants.

And I think Tom brought one that is fits those characteristics And has a unique application Tom: Little donkey tail or burrows tail.

<Yes.> And this is a sedum that grows on stems that will lengthen quite quite away.

And these little jelly bean like Amanda: Individual little pieces of it.

Tom: Those are all the leaves.

And in fact, I have a smaller version what I got this from the the city of Greenwood greenhouse And before I was leaving town that one of the horticulturalists waved me down And she said, I've got one with a flower on the terminal end of it.

Amanda: It's so pretty.

Now are these things that they sometimes incorporated into the topiaries you think?

Tom: They do.

I look at something like this.

And I don't really claim to have much of an imagination.

So I don't know how to use this creatively, but they are used in geniusly in two particular topiaries in Greenwood, one the the elephant, And another on the mermaid.

Amanda: Now gracious.

I can't quite put those two together.

But my imagination when I'm awake at two in the morning, I'm trying to go to sleep I will try to figure it out.

And then you can send me a picture.

How fun is that?

Something that was interesting.

Um, And the topiaries I Greenwood is so fortunate.

I mean, even just the normal city places that little corner lots And places where you would want to do something nice are also attractive, but then to think of the topiaries that you're doing.

It's a very cool place to live.

Tom: The thing that I enjoy so much about those topiaries too is the way that they so ingeniously incorporate different shapes of plants And flowers into those frames And create just these remarkable results.

Amanda: And keep them looking good for several weeks of sitting on a sidewalk.

Well, that was so much fun.

Thank you.

I appreciate it.

Okay, Herrick, I think you've got something very unusual indeed, a Donkey tail was something.

Dr. Herrick: so, but brought another unusual specimen in our collection.

And as sometimes we do like to have specimens of material that has been cultivated, cultivated in South Carolina, And so we'll stamp it appropriately.

This is a specimen of Welwitschia Mirabilis, which is something that I actually grew at my house, just interested in weird And unusual plants.

So this was something I got through mail order.

But the plant itself is somewhat of a Enigma, like, scientists or botanists, more specifically, I haven't been able to really agree on where this thing fits into the grand scheme of the plant kingdom.

And by that, I mean, it has characteristics that are similar to pine trees, similar to cycads, like the Sago palm.

And it also produces little nectar glands, which is more something you would see in a flowering plant.

So It's very unusual, it doesn't have what what we're seeing right now is basically a very large taproot.

And the two mature leaves that it produces, it only produces two adult leaves throughout its entire lifespan, which may range for about 2000 years, Amanda: Two leaves.

But when I heard that you were bringing this kind of look, I mean, these leaves can be like, from here to the sidewalk.

Yep.

They just keep they I mean, can't they just... Dr. Herrick: they continuously, grow out of this, what they call a codex, which is just kind of this lumpy part of the stem And the apical meristem basically never develops.

So it has to seed leaves when it starts when it sprouts.

And then shortly after that, kata laden leaves, right, exact Come on.

Yep.

And then after that, it produces the to mature leaves, And they just continue to lengthen throughout the plant's lifespan.

Amanda: Now lives in an unusual, inhospitable, it situation pretty, Dr. Herrick: pretty dry, where this thing comes from deep quartzite sands in southwestern Africa, so the the Namib desert, the plants are not very widely distributed.

They're just restricted that part of the globe.

And the fortunate matter of circumstances that a lot of the land they occur on is owned by diamond mining companies.

They don't like people traipsing around on their property.

Amanda: So that kind of protects the planet protects the plants.

Yeah.

So how deep do the roots go?

How How does it get watered?

<I don't know> Dr. Herrick: that they've ever really been able to dig up a mature plant.

They they go down for several yards, or meters, if you will, just looking looking trying to trying to find Yeah, some some soil, some moisture way down.

In the sands.

And I also, I think this is one of those species where the leaves kind of act as a sort of a wick, where they'll capture any of the atmospheric moisture as well.

And then off of the the south southern Atlantic.

And that'll kind of help keep some on the roots.

Amanda: It seems like somebody would want to eat it, doesn't it?

But obviously, they live maybe several 1000 Dr. Herrick: years, you'd have to be a really strong grasshopper or something that would nibble through the leaves are very, they're almost like plastic.

<Wow.> Yeah.

And gosh, very tough.

Amanda: So this is just a marvel of some kind of very strange adaptation.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

And you've got one in your your yard?

Dr. Herrick: I've got a couple in pots.

Fun to grow.

Amanda: Okay, well, I am fascinated, thank you so much, And for telling us about this And for having it in the herbarium And sharing with us.

Thank you.

Okay, Terasa.

Terasa: This one is somewhat of a mystery solving.

So we'll see how good our panel is.

Bobby Kimsey sent us a photograph of an azalea with what he thought maybe was something weird going on.

He said: I would love some info on flower coloring.

I think It's called braking on only a few azaleas, the rest on this plant are entirely light pink, And we can see in the photo that this one has, you know, is partly more of like a dark pink or magenta colored.

So how do we explain that?

Amanda: I'm hoping maybe Davis will explain it for us.

<Davis>: Well, from the picture it appears to be one of the Encore Azaleas to re blooming type spring fall.

It appears to be one called autumn twist, which is primarily that magenta color with with white accents or white with the magenta accents.

That way, when you go to the store in a, I'll say in a sterile setting like being pot grown, where, where the where the pH is neutral And all nutrients are added by the, by the nursery.

And a lot of times we have found that with the the, the variegated oncourse, like that, once they're in the ground, some some environmental trigger often causes them to revert to being more like one of the parents species.

In this case, if I'm not mistaken, the Formosa is or one of its close relatives was one of the parents of the autumn twist, which is which approximates the purple color, the fuchsia color that's in that that flower.

But we've actually seen it in a number of other encores that while they're being grown in the containers, they they exhibit all the characteristics that the tag says they'll exhibit but as soon as they're planted in the ground, within two or three years, they have reverted to a solid color or potentially one of the colors of the color one of the parents.

Amanda: I've got a pittosporum Terasa that, a variegated one when that when I was doing flower arrangements And that kind of stuff, I just love because it was so And I have to go back every now And then because I'll get a fully green piece coming out.

And I've noticed if I don't pay attention to it And cut that off.

It'll take over the whole plant is more vigorous.

I think that which might kind of make sense because, you know, the variegated wouldn't, it doesn't get photosy... that photosynthesis quite as dramatically.

And then also, you And I were talking the other day about some of the sports of some of the azaleas that we love.

So yeah, um, that those, you know, like, George Tabor And Mrs. Gigi Gerbing.

I mean that those were sports of ones that were in a nursery, And they watched my belief for six or seven years And when they stayed true to that difference, they started propagating them And putting them on the market.

So that's not all that unusual.

And then one thing that I think, Terasa, you And I always worried about invasive species And all that kind of stuff.

And privet which you can't kill, which is why people started planting it originally was green, And it has lots of flowers that smell wonderful And the bees love them.

It's really sweet smelling And then they came up with the variegated privet And so this is the variegated And this is the normal, but then here's one of the same plant.

Uh huh.

And look at that.

I've got the the variegated And I've got the normal And this was a place when I watched when they planted it And they were all variegated And three years later this is happening so And then now.

Terasa: The moral of that story is don't plant privet.

(laughter) Amanda: It's everywhere now It's but anyway, I just kind of remind people that that is And if you do have something that's like that And you like the pittosporum cut the green part out so if you want to keep the the varigated part.

Okay, well, I'm going to Riverbanks Zoo is always a treat.

summer winter is fun to go when the kids have their shoes off And get to run on the grass barefoot if It's children don't get to do much more.

And then things are always in bloom.

So let's take a trip to Riverbanks Zoo And Garden.

♪ I'm talking to Andy Cabe who's the Director of Horticulture for Riverbanks Zoo and Garden.

And Andy, no matter what time you come here, this place is just ablaze with color from flowers, but also from greenery.

<Andy> You know, Amanda, there's always something blooming here at Riverbanks.

So that's one thing we pride ourselves on.

And, you know, in South Carolina, I mean, we can garden 12 months out of the year.

And we certainly do here at Riverbanks.

<Amanda> Which is a joy, but also, you never get a break.

<Andy> You never get a break.

And I think my staff would tell you that it's just as soon as something's looking good, it's time to pull it out and plant the next thing.

<Amanda> And there is a lot of that that you do.

Right now, we're kind of in a transition period.

And so we've got snapdragons and larkspur and things like that.

But we've also, I guess, due to Eric Shealy, and some of your other staff members, you've got a lot of spring things that are that were ready early to put out.

<Andy> Yeah, you know, Eric grows a lot of our annuals down in the greenhouse and gets things started for us.

So we normally start usually about the middle of April, switching beds out.

And we've gotten most of the garden done.

Now, we're over here at the zoo, switching things out over there.

But definitely being able to grow our own plants, that helps us.

Number one, that helps us get exactly what we want.

We don't have to go searching around for it.

And it gives us, you know, ready-made plants right down in our greenhouse so we can just take right up here to the garden and put straight in the ground.

<Amanda> And also, you've got a lot of conifers, many of which have some color blended in with the green.

<Andy> Yeah, you know, the conifers are great!

Especially, there's so many varieties out there that might have hints of cream or gold on them or white.

They're just great to help brighten up things, you know, evergreens, it just, it really brighten things up and can kind of break up the whole monotony of just too much green.

<Amanda> Well, and also, when you've got little things on the ground you need some larger scale things behind them.

And so that's one of the things that happens here.

You don't have just a carpet of one thing, although you may see a large swath of it, but it's not going to be just a total bed of one color.

<Andy> Right, and doing layering things is important, based upon their height and their spread.

That's important too.

And, you know, we don't want this to be a very two dimensional garden.

We want it to be 3-D. We want you to see from the ground up.

<Amanda> You have a lot of fool proof plants, you've got hellebores that I think have jumped into beds, <Andy> Oh, they see them everywhere, yep!

<Amanda> But they're wonderful!

<Andy> Oh, it's a great thing to have seed in.

<Amanda> And dry shade, I mean, who could ask for more?

<Andy> There's not a whole lot better for dry shade.

<Amanda> Yeah, but also, I guess, partially due to one of your former directors of horticulture, what a huge crinum collection.

<Andy> Yeah, when I started here, I kind of inherited the crinum collection.

Our previous management here decided crinums were going to be a core collection at Riverbanks.

So I inherited the crinum collection and have been building it ever since.

And, gosh, I think we're up to probably close to 200 different varieties right now.

You know, they're just so great.

I mean, they're, like you said, foolproof.

Depending on the variety, our first ones might bloom in February or March, our last ones, maybe in November, December, just depending on the frost, so.

<Amanda> And right now you've got some regular lilies that are starting to come in.

And again, they're just not, there's not much problem.

You don't have a lot of problems with those.

I think y'all try to find plants that aren't going to need a lot of attention.

You don't have time to be spraying.

<Andy> Right, and we, you know, we've grown enough things over the years to know what works, what doesn't work, what looks is best, and what looks as best with the least amount of care.

So all those are important factors in selecting plants for a particular area, so we do a lot of that.

<Amanda> And I believe that this is hard work.

And people have to work when it's hot and when it's cold.

And you really try to give your staff some decision making.

<Andy> Sure, they have different areas in the garden and zoo that they're responsible for.

For a large part, we try to let them design how they feel and what inspires them.

I think it gives them a sense of ownership.

And I think lots of times, you're much more apt to want to take care of something and devote your time to something that you have a vested interest in, that you pick those plants.

<Amanda> If you decide to come in the Botanical Garden entrance, as you walk by the bog garden, you have wonderful pitcher plants there.

I think everybody should get down and look at how they work, not only, you know, the tube that collects insects, but the flower is very complex to make sure it gets pollinated.

<Andy> And, you know, the interesting thing about pitcher plants is the actual pitchers themselves.

Lots of people think that's a flower because it's just so pretty, but really, that's actually a leaf, it's a modified leaf.

The little pitcher with the tube in it, that's actually a leaf, but the flowers, when they come in the spring, are absolutely amazing!

And yeah, one kind of neat thing that I sometimes do on garden tours is I'll pull an old pitcher off and I'll open it up, especially if there are kids in the group, and they can see all the bugs in there.

Yeah, that worked really great until one time I was on live TV doing it, and there were fire ants in there.

I was getting stung left and right and trying to keep my composure on live TV and act like it didn't hurt, but uh, but it was a good example of they really do, insects do go down in there.

<Amanda> And also a good reason to tell people, the public, that they're not supposed to pick flowers.

I love century plants and you've got a lot of them out front if you came up on the tram side.

And I'm thinking, gosh, are they going to, you know?

And you said fortunately now, we need to pay more attention to cultivars that are available.

<Andy> Right, there's so many different cultivars of century plant out right now.

There are variegated cultivars, there are green cultivars, there are gray cultivars, blue cultivars, I mean, there are a whole bunch of different ones out there.

But you can just about find one for any setting in the garden.

It doesn't have, you don't have to have a six foot by six foot space to put in a century plant necessarily.

There are some compacts that fit well in the garden.

<Amanda> And one of the things that happens here is things aren't going to stay as static as they might at home.

You've got some really, really big crape myrtles, and crape myrtles are going to be susceptible to crape myrtle bark scale, and some of them have kind of gotten bigger than their space requires, so y'all change things occasionally.

<Andy> Okay, you know, this garden opened in 1995.

And I think the first things were probably planted in '94.

We're getting close to 30 years on some of these plants that had been in the garden since day one.

And what we're seeing now is after close to 30 years, we're experiencing the growing pains of a maturing garden, and a lot of these things are planted in confined spaces.

And after, you know, 20 or 30 years, sometimes it's time to do something new.

And whereas I would cringe getting rid of some of these things in my own home because they're such beautiful trees, our purpose here is a little different than the home landscape.

We want you to see new and different things each time.

And, you know, after a plant's been out for 25 or 30 years in the trade, you know, maybe we need to showcase something new and different.

So that's what we do.

<Amanda> And you've installed some ginkgos.

And I'm thinking, gosh, this place has a lot of sun plants around it, but you said again, staying up on the cultivars, you've got some that aren't going to be just too broad spreading.

<Andy> Yeah, and especially, especially in our walled garden, a lot of spaces over the zoo that are confined.

You kind of have to pick and choose, and we don't have room for a ton of trees, especially in the botanical garden, trees that will get big and mature and that's why you were scratching your head when you saw I planted the ginkgo.

And when I told you this is a, an upright columnar cultivar, that's not going to cast a lot of shade, it made sense, but that's the thing now is people are breeding so much and discovering new plants that, you know, they're taking your plant that, you know, and making it work, breeding it so it will work in a different space.

<Amanda> Of course, when I got here had to walk up into the Children's Garden and all that, you know, people say, "Oh, little children's feet," they're not gonna make a difference because you've got a great big green space there and they can go barefooted, but I think about school yards, little children's feet can be very compacting.

And so y'all have to give that turf area there a lot of special care.

<Andy> Yeah, that turf gets well it gets special care, and no care at all at the same time.

That area has probably been mowed about twice in six years.

<Amanda> Oh, the children keep it down.

(laughs) <Andy> The children keep it mowed down.

If we keep it well aerated, weeded, fertilized, it can keep up with the kids.

<Amanda> And then it's hot.

And mothers come and sit with babies and strollers and their children are playing.

And you've got so many opportunities for shade.

And instead of just a boring umbrella canopy, you put stuff on it that looks kind of like palm fronds.

<Andy> Yeah, we got some that look kind of thatched-like and, and that's the thing that we have to really take into consideration.

And just both of our horticulture and overall layout of our zoo and garden is, number one, we attract a lot of kids.

So you need shade, you need shade for the kids, you need shade for the moms and dads who are out there watching them.

So we factor in shade quite a bit.

Whether it's through plants or umbrellas or something like that, we definitely factor in shade a lot.

<Amanda> Or pterodactyl wings.

(laughs) <Andy> Or pterodactyl wings like in our in our dino dig, our giant sandbox, the pterodactyls create shade.

<Amanda> And I saw kids sitting up there and then there was actually a small shoe that I guess one of your staff had found that they put out in case somebody came back to find the shoe they lost.

<Andy> After a busy day or a busy weekend you find some shoes and water bottles and stuff like that.

But kids are having such a good time they forget about their shoes.

<Amanda> Then, oh, water, water, water!

You've got a wonderful water.

I mean, everywhere you go, you can hear water, which I think is very soothing.

But you've got water children can play in safely.

<Andy> We've got play water too, and that's great.

In our children's garden, Waterfall Junction that opened in 2016, we made sure there were water elements included, so kids could have a safe place that their parents can watch them to splash and play.

And so that's going to be opening up here soon again for the summer.

It just really is nice.

You know, in another month, we won't be able to sit here and have this conversation because you'll hear all the kids out there playing.

<Amanda> I can't wait.

Well, I think it's just wonderful.

You're right here, it's so easy to come in.

You can have the Botanical Gardens then the regular zoo entrance, both of which are beautiful, and your staff takes care of both.

The containers are so lovely.

I remember the last time we were here, we found that y'all even pick pansies and feed them to the turtles.

<Andy> Absolutely.

We try to make sure nothing goes to waste, <Amanda> Including bamboo and every tree limb that falls.

<Andy> We find a reason way to use it, re purpose it, for sure.

<Amanda> We had such a good time today and if other people want to find out about your hours and when you're open what's the best way to do that?

<Andy> The best way is to go to our web site or Facebook page, all the information about our hours of operation, everything you need to know can be found there.

<Amanda> Alright.

And um, perhaps you should bring your sunscreen with you.

<Andy> Absolutely.

♪ <Amanda> Well, it's time to say goodnight.

Thank you to Ansley Turnbled for all of the flowers in my hat, and we'll see you next week.

♪ ♪(Thanks for watching)♪ <Narrator> Making It Grow is brought to you in part by Certified South Carolina is a cooperative effort among farmers, retailers, and the South Carolina Department of Agriculture to help consumers identify foods and agricultural products that are grown, harvested or raised right here in the Palmetto State.

The Boyd Foundation supporting outdoor recreational opportunities, the appreciation of wildlife, educational programs, and enhancing the quality of life in Columbia, South Carolina and the Midlands at large.

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

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

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