Propagation, Hail Recovery & Summer Garden Tips

We're joined this week by horticulturists Karen Ruckle and Ella Maxwel as they discuss summer garden care. Karen shows how to refresh overgrown annual containers by selectively cutting back coleus and petunias and giving them a boost of fertilizer so they look good into fall.  

 

Ella turns a lost ZZ plant into a long‑term propagation project, using stem cuttings, rooting hormone, and a well‑drained, humidity‑controlled setup, while Karen shares the massive root system of a 15‑year‑old butterfly bush that finally gave up.

Ella encourages gardeners to enjoy “around‑the‑garden” bouquets, mixing blooms like phlox and lead plant with foliage such as hosta leaves, Japanese forest grass, and variegated Solomon’s seal. Karen repurposes fallen oak branches as natural plant supports and explains that small leafy twigs dropping from oaks and walnuts are usually squirrels nest‑building, not tree damage.

Ella closes with a deep dive into hosta health and Hosta Virus X, showing how her hosta society uses Agdia immunostrip tests to distinguish virus symptoms from normal variety traits, and stressing that HVX is mostly cosmetic but can spread via cutting tools and compromise the integrity of named cultivars.

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