Fall is my favorite season to put new plants in the ground. Learn why, when my former neighbor Corey visits and we plant a new flower in my garden that gets us feeling nostalgic...

(episode marked as explicit solely due to one incident of sassy language)

Want to see pics from the garden? Instagram: @freshclippings

Show art by Alison McKenzie

Production guidance from Evan Roberts

Special thanks to Jeremy Bloom

Episode music from Blue Dot Sessions:

Our Son the Potter (Love and Weasel)

Pigpaddle Creek (Sour Mash)

Gamboler (Pglet)

Spring Cleaning (Love and Weasel)

Frank and Poet (Reflections)

So it may sound counterintuitive, but my favorite time of the

year to garden is actually the.

. Most people think of it as a time when the garden's dying, but actually

it's a really cool time to put stuff in the ground and start to imagine

what your next year is gonna be.

So for me, it has a very back to school feeling where you're like imagining

all the best of the future and even more special today as I get to share.

Some fall planting time with a very special person.

Please introduce yourself.

Hi everyone.

I'm Corey.

And who are you?

To me?

I am your old Brooklyn neighbor and as far as old goes, not that ancient.

No, I couldn't let you go too far.

, . But, uh, we, our relationship goes deeper than just being neighbors.

In fact, you are also the adoptive foster mom to all.

My old Brooklyn plants.

I know.

I had such a wonderful experience getting to know all your different plant

babies, , because there were a lot.

Yeah, are a lot.

Yeah, Yeah, yeah.

Well, they seem very happy in your care.

So you're doing a wonderful job.

Thank you.

So we're gonna explore together what the excitement of fall planting

is gonna bring in the garden.

Um, but before we can do that one crucial thing, Will you do the honors?

Totally.

Let's get outside.

Let's do it.

I always like to, when I just like step outside for a little

bit, I always just kind of.

, what's the garden saying to me today?

I'm curious what the garden is saying to you today.

Well, first and foremost, as we walked out earlier, same thing.

It's the smells.

Oh yeah.

The lavender here.

Uhhuh.

. It's, it hit me right in the face.

Yeah.

Actually, I'm getting that pretty hard today too.

It's showing off.

Yeah.

like it's not usually it put on, its Sunday.

Best for you.

I'm thrilled.

Unfortunately, the lavender that you left in Brooklyn passed away.

Oh, no.

It didn't make it through a very intense heat wave.

Oh, in the summer.

Oh.

Um, when I was away in Greece.

Yeah.

So, but, so it's nice to connect with its cousin . Did you check it?

No.

You could just chop it back and then see if it comes back.

That's what I did.

Oh yeah.

Yeah.

It might come back.

I hope so.

Yeah, because it was robust, right?

Yeah.

Yeah.

I think you might see it again.

I have a.

Throwing things.

I do the same thing too.

I'll just leave it . And there's, there's been a few times where like

something seems like it's dead and then I kinda wait for a little bit, but I get

impatient and then so I just replace it.

And then when I'm digging into the root ball mm-hmm.

, I notice the stem is like nice and green and there's like healthy

roots in there and I'm like, ah.

It's like, ugh.

But it's just chopped it open, you know, like, and now I killed it.

Patients virtue.

Yeah, just like waiting to see what comes back.

Okay.

Um, so when I say fall planting is like a fun moment to be in the garden, for me

it's because you're kind of past the time where the summer is like a little bit of

a hall where you have to water everything.

Every day I get a little hose weary.

Mm-hmm.

and then things are cooling.

But you've had the opportunity to see how stuff in your garden is gonna

grow and how big it's gonna get.

And so, you know, spaces where you need to put new things.

Or for example, you did have a couple things that die over heat

wave or something like that.

Um, so you know what you need to replace that gives me the opportunity

to start to create a shopping list and to say like, What am I gonna, you know,

what, what else can I put in here?

Um, and like, maybe where do I need some color balance?

So, for example, on this one that we're looking at the Victorian moonlight

section, I needed a little bit more white blossom, so I've only bought

flowers to fill in the spaces on here that have white to kind of balance

out the purple from the, Russian sage.

Is this one also gonna have white blossoms?

Yes.

Beautiful.

That is a baby's breath.

Oh, wow.

Isn't that crazy?

My goodness.

Yeah.

I didn't know what baby's breath looked like.

So they don't just pop out of the ground in a bouquet.

Right, exactly.

Yeah.

And like on those fancy little twigs.

But yeah, I guess you can see like here's an area where maybe

those will start to sprout.

Yeah.

Wow.

That would be wonderful.

, so yeah, let's get some of these things in.

Sweet.

Where's your, where's your tools?

All right.

What kind of, what kind labor are you in for?

What do you wanna do?

Do you want like a big.

Shovel, like you can work with the travel in my garden.

Okay.

So that's what I'm most comfortable with.

Thank you.

I got you.

You want a glove?

Yes, please.

All.

And then how do you feel about the placement of all these things?

Okay.

So that little one will be matching that one, which I thought would help

emphasize the white a little bit more.

Mm-hmm.

. And then I liked these because their fr feathery, leaves will match this one over

here, but then the flowers are different.

Yeah.

So it kind of ties in that, but in a different color of leaf.

I like that a lot.

And then I echoed.

White one over here too.

Oh, beautiful.

Oh, I didn't see that one.

Yeah, I think everything feels really balanced.

Okay.

This is the, the baby's breath is the only one that I'm not totally sure about.

Honestly.

This is a little hidden, which could be fine cuz some of it is,

I want, I want this garden to be as a able to be appreciated from

the other side as it is this side.

Yes.

So I do want there to be surprises.

Mm-hmm.

. But does it feel crammed in a little?

, I feel like I could stare at this thing forever.

The just the, Just keep moving them around and Yeah, this is, I get myself in

trace paralysis all the time doing this . Cause it's like, that's why usually,

when I buy a bunch of plants, like they don't get planted for a week or two.

Not two really?

Mm-hmm.

. But like I would not plant everything the first day, cuz I'm just kind

of like, I put them around and then I kind of let them just sit there.

Yeah.

Get acclimated.

Yeah.

Well, if you were to switch these two,

This is a much more vibrant green.

I would say better.

I think you do like it.

I do.

There's just something about the shape of the baby's breath there

that just seems very sweetened.

. So what about,

if the baby's breath is a problem child, maybe we need to

address the problem Child first.

. What if it just sat there in.

and we took that over and put that over there too.

Maybe just needs to be the center of attention.

Yeah.

. , you know, in the flower world, baby's breath is usually

seen as a little, just ugh.

Little addition.

I know.

And maybe it needs its time.

It's a boss bitch in this garden.

. Yeah.

Okay.

All right.

, all right.

Decision.

, it's nicer when there's somebody else to help you.

Trouble this out in your head.

. I know.

I'm sure you could just hang out there for a while staring.

Yeah.

Yes.

Where do you wanna start?

Do we need to start this up?

It looks pretty loose.

Yeah.

I mean, we need a little bit here, but You want me to get

in here with this big shovel?

Yes, please.

I amended all this soil already, so it's pretty, should be pretty good.

. Great.

Um, do you need help with this stuff?

No, I think I'm good here.

Thank you.

Okay.

So maybe I'll start working on the other stuff.

All right.

Sounds good.

Okay.

All right.

Baby's.

Ready?

. There we go.

Ooh, these roots are really busting outta here.

. Ooh.

Yeah.

Oh my gosh.

It was ready.

Yeah.

And you know what to do with those when they're like that, right?

Kind of like, I would even just like chalk cut, cut the bottom in quarters.

Cut with your sp like, um, you said in quarters, like chop.

and chop it into four pie pieces.

Yeah.

If you flip it upside down mm-hmm.

, like across and across, like you're cutting a pie.

When you flip it upside up.

Oh, okay.

And then pull the roots apart, all the way up to half.

Mm of the, cuz that's gonna basically like all those roots, if you just plant

it like this, they will, it will think it still needs to grow in the pot.

Okay.

You need to teach it that its roots can go outward.

Okay, Gotcha.

If there's any big roots, like you see this big one that's like a tap route.

Totally.

You don't wanna cut that one.

Okay.

If you can avoid it.

Mm-hmm.

. So everything else you can kind of like create your cuts and kind of tear it, but

then when you get there, see if you can sort of gently unwind it a little bit.

Okay.

Um, yeah, like it goes all the way.

Yeah.

Yeah.

That's definitely connected.

Yeah.

Okay, thanks.

Yeah.

And that'll be, then you can kind of, when you plant it in, I even will.

Once I have it spread out, I'll like spread them out like starfish kinda.

Okay.

And then plant them spread out so that it tells the plant

to like go out, Go explore.

Yeah.

Yeah, exactly.

Okay.

Be free

So this one's not as bad.

So you can just.

Oh yeah, that's more appropriate.

Yeah.

You just kind of like give it a little bit of, a little grab.

Yeah.

Grab and pull.

Yeah.

So this is a lot harder than it looks, what the heart?

Yeah.

And I wanna make sure I'm to be too.

I wouldn't worry about being perfect.

Okay.

It's not about like making a for exactly what piece is, it's

just about teaching the lead.

Spread out.

Okay.

Hang in there.

Baby's breath.

Yeah.

I feel like all I think you can, Let's go more.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Have more.

Yeah.

Gimme this thing.

A lot of times what I'll do is I'll just kinda like stab whoa, and then stab.

And then kinda open it up a little bit and that should be good.

And then maybe we sing it a little for our baby's breath.

Maybe we sing it like a little eighties song when we put it in

Don't you feel good about me?

Right.

That was good.

Don't, don't, don't, don't.

And we gotta make our little bowl.

Yes.

Oh, I'm glad you're paying attention.

I am a great student, . Yeah.

The bowl is crucial.

Yeah.

So here's my trick in making the bowl, okay.

Is the other thing that you definitely have to do in your

planting plants is once you put it in, you really have to smash it.

Oh.

Because you want, you don't want there to be any air pockets

trapped underneath the thing.

So when you get the plant in, Smash it in and then you can fill in around it

cuz you know what your lowest point is.

So the lowest point of the center, the plant is right here.

So then the rest of this I can kind of just clear out.

Do you see how like clear from the center?

Oh.

And then just like stack up on the outside.

Gotcha.

And then you're pretty good.

Great.

Wow.

It was really, uh, treating this plant with a.

Delicateness.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

And I just came in here and manhandled it.

Yeah.

You're like, Welcome to the real eighties prom.

It's not all 16 candles, my friend.

Oh, man.

All right.

We both got one in.

Woohoo.

All right.

Scoot me all over doing good.

So my,

Oh man, I just love these.

They're just the cutest little flowers.

That's what I'm about to work on, right.

The Achi group.

Oh, wait, that was here.

Gotcha.

Okay.

Incoming make.

That just came out, that research study that there's 2.5 million

ants for every human on earth.

That's amazing.

Right.

Wow.

I remember, um, reading a statistic somewhere about how, like even

not just like numbers game, but also like insects outweigh us.

Oh, you could just weigh all the insects and all the humans.

Insects would outweigh humans.

Oh, that hits different . , whoa.

Okay, punish.

I think that's love enough.

Yeah.

That great.

All.

All right.

Number three.

Finish up the trifecta.

. How many different types of

Three Now.

Well within the Sal family that includes sage and mint.

I have a fair amount.

Mm.

There's a lot of sage.

There's a lot of s and a lot of Artesia.

Um, they do great in drought.

They are reliable perennials.

and they're also great for pollinators.

So, uh, all around win.

Yeah, they're good.

They're good bets for a lot.

These look great.

Yeah, they do.

I like this placement we came up with.

Get this one smashed in.

Good, good, good.

This one looks nice and happy in there as well.

Uh huh.

And then our pro date.

Yes, . looking good too.

Yeah.

I think these are great and I've got the others in.

Okay.

Let me take a peek.

Okay.

Whoa, I didn't see those before the blueish.

Yeah.

Oh my goodness.

Isn't that.

That's beautiful.

That works really well together with Awesomes.

Yeah.

And then I have some over here.

I noticed the absolute sweetest thing in my garden this year.

What I was.

Quarantining.

Well, I had Covid.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Just in the backyard.

Yeah.

In the sun with a fever.

. Living my best life in my baby pool.

Yeah.

And I have my sunflowers, which are some of my, Yeah.

Things I spend a lot of energy on.

Yeah.

And every single night, maybe one to five honey bees would

fall asleep in the sunflowers.

Oh.

Just between the center and the pedal.

And they would cuddle up together really.

And.

and then they would be gone the next morning.

Yeah.

Then they would wake up and go, No.

Oh, how cute.

I know.

So of course I'd do a little research on it and I always thought

like, Oh, they'd just go back home to their hive at night, I assume.

And sometimes they work so hard that they just fall asleep or they're working.

Aw, I know.

That's so cute.

It was adorable.

. I've actually seen that every now and then.

Like this monster over here.

Mm-hmm.

the.

Borage.

That one Honey Bees will like kind of climb in there and just kind of

hang out during the day, like sleep, like maybe at the end of the day.

Wow.

Yeah.

But I thought they were dead.

I was like, Oh, bummer.

R I p.

Yeah.

Nice coffin.

Yeah, little flower.

Cause cup's a nice spill.

Like you like flowers and you get to die on one.

Yeah.

Like that doesn't seem like the worst thing for a honey bee.

Mm-hmm.

. But I like it even more that it's just going to take a little nap.

All right.

Well, I think our fall planting session was a huge success.

we filled in the Victorian moonlight garden.

We s sun some songs.

. Uh, anything you want to add to our fall extravaganza before we say farewell?

. Give.

a little bit of a fall mantra to bring us into this special season.

It's okay to let summer go and to prepare for rest and recuperation and

all the goodness that that could bring.

Love it.

And I wish that not just for us, but for our gardens and.

, let's enjoy the rebirth as much as we enjoy the relaxation.

Totally.

And a cozy sweater.

And cozy sweater is a much better way to say that.

I don't like how I said it at all.

Okay.

I like how use that.

Okay, . We'll keep your mantra like a mantra machine right now.

Yeah.

I think you nailed it.

Thanks.

Thanks for joining us and thanks for.

Doing some chores.

You're welcome.

It was so great.

If you wanna see pictures from the garden, we're on

Instagram at Fresh clippings.

Thank you everyone for joining.

Corey and me on Plant Time for Clippings.