Garden Talk: Beautiful Blooms

Air Date:
Heard On The Larry Meiller Show
Allen Centennial Garden
Photo Credit: Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (CC-BY-ND)

This week on “Garden Talk,” Larry Meiller tells us what’s currently in bloom at the Allen Centennial Gardens in Madison. Plus, he shares some handy tips for keeping your flower garden beautiful all season long! [Originally broadcast May 23, 2014]

Featured in this Show

  • For Some Invasive Plants, Run-Of-The-Mill Herbicides Won't Cut It

    Don’t use common herbicides like Round-Up on woody invasive plants like cottonwood and honeysuckle — it won’t do the trick, according to a Madison plant expert.

    “Round-Up has become the Kleenex of pesticides,” said Ed Lyon, the director of the Allen Centennial Gardens in Madison. “In other words, the general public thinks, ‘Use it on everything and anything,’ and it is a very specific herbicide.”

    Instead, Lyon recommends using herbicides specifically crafted for taking on woody plants. Although these tougher herbicides might be more effective on woody plants, he also said that it may take a while to see progress.

    He said sumac, for example, is very resilient and may still produce new shoots after an herbicide is applied. It may take several different applications before it is truly killed.

    “I think a lot of people think if you cut it, you put the herbicide on, it’s instant death — and that doesn’t always happen,” Lyon said.

    Lyon said he wants to keep people from putting more herbicides into the environment, and recommended that they only be applied judiciously and immediately after the plant is cut down: “Don’t go spraying it all over,” he said.

Episode Credits

  • Larry Meiller Host
  • Cynthia Schuster Producer
  • Ed Lyon Guest

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