GardenDC Podcast Episode 110: Self-Sowing Plants

In this episode, we talk with horticulturist Holly Shimizu all about self-sowing plants. The plant profile is on Borage and we share what's going on in the garden as well as some upcoming local gardening events.

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The SHOW NOTES: 1:26 Meet Holly Shimizu, nationally recognized horticulturist, consultant, and educator! 2:18 Born as a nature girl who loved being near the river and garden 3:48 Worked in Europe for three years after graduating from Penn State 4:12 Landed dream job at the National Arboretum in charge of national herb garden 5:22 “I am still a student…I never will stop learning.” — Holly 6:23 Gardening as solace during COVID-19 shutdown 7:17 Family of horticulturists 9:00 Organizing trips for the American Horticultural Society 11:31 Garden in Lewes, DE, with hardy plants 12:40 History and relevance of dooryard gardens 15:07 Historical property in Glen Echo, MD, which is now home to Holly’s water garden 15:59 Lots of Japanese plants in this garden 16:30 Japanese maple is sowing itself too prolifically 18:29 Self-sowing herbs…cilantro! 20:32 Cilantro hates the heat. Holly combines different varieties for longer harvesting periods 21:58 Mulching lightly with shredded, composted leaves will help plants sow themselves 22:40 “Scratching” - using a three-prong tool used to scratch the soil to disperse seeds 23:14 Chervil is one of Holly’s favorite self-sowing herbs 24:10 Dill germinates quickly and shows up here and there spontaneously 25:36 Sweet Chamomile reseeds even in pathways! 27:24 Latin names are important to differentiate varieties 28:55 Common Rue is a great host plant for butterflies 29:46 Marvel-of-Peru (4 O’Clocks) plants are gorgeous additions to the garden 32:24 Weeding self-sowing plants can be difficult due to identifying what’s the plant versus the weed 33:14 A cooler day is better to weed the plants than a hot, sunny day 34:05 Peruvian zinnia is a compact zinnia and a beautiful reseeder 35:53 Identifying seedlings comes with experience and flowers can be the most difficult 37:54 Native self-sower in MD is the Cardinal flower 40:18 Kathy relies on Brazilian Verbena to reseed in her garden as well as Holy Basil 41:14 Vernonia reseeds very well and is native! 44:31 Holly relies on her Columbine to come back and reseed itself 46:28 Holly is trying to get annual poppies to grow as reseeders 48:48 Holly’s book “Figgy and Fiona Search for a Home” based on frogs that came to her garden 49:27 Letting the garden be and not cleaning it up can create habitats for wildlife 50:25 Contact Holly through her website: https://www.hollyshimizu.com/ 51:21 Learn all about Borage in this week’s plant profile! 53:06 New this week in the garden: Garden Blogger’s Fling in Madison, WI, journey to Rehobeth Beach, DE, to see gardens, tomatoes in community garden with early blight signs, dug ⅓ of garlic bulbs and they will be replaced with zucchini and squash, hydrangea in home garden 55:18 Local gardening events: Montgomery County local farm tour, Temperance Alley garden, and Garlic Festival at Takoma Farmer’s Market!

If you liked this episode, you may also enjoy listening to:

~ GardenDC Podcast Episode 40: Latin and Labels

https://washingtongardener.blogspot.com/2020/12/gardendc-podcast-episode-40-latin-and.html

~ GardenDC Podcast Episode 45: Seed Starting Tips

https://washingtongardener.blogspot.com/2021/02/gardendc-podcast-episode-45-seed.html

This episode is archived online at: 

https://anchor.fm/gardendc/episodes/Self-Sowing-Plants-e1l00l6

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Episode Credits:

Host and Producer: Kathy Jentz

Editing and Show Notes: Tori Vandergriff

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