IN RECENT rising seasons, the “new regular” of a altering local weather has typically been making me really feel like my Northeastern backyard has relocated farther to the South. So perhaps that’s a part of what caught my consideration after I noticed information of a brand new e-book referred to as “Secrets and techniques of Southern Gardening: Professional Ideas for Success” that was simply revealed by immediately’s visitor, horticulturist, nurseryman and backyard designer Jenks Farmer.

He joined me to share a few of these tips about smarter planting, particularly of timber, and watering how-to’s and extra, a lot of them relevant for wherever you backyard.

Augustus Jenkins Farmer, aka Jenks Farmer, is a longtime horticulturist and backyard designer and the previous director of Riverbanks Botanical Backyard in South Carolina, and creates a Substack e-newsletter referred to as “Plant Folks.” He’s additionally the creator of a number of backyard books, together with most just lately “Secrets and techniques of Southern Gardening.”

True to his surname, he’s a farmer, too, specializing in rising and promoting Crinum lilies and some different goodies from his organically managed, 18th-century South Carolina farm.

Plus: Enter to win a replica of his new e-book by commenting within the field close to the underside of this web page.

Learn alongside as you take heed to the Sept. 15, 2025 version of my public-radio present and podcast utilizing the participant under. You possibly can subscribe to all future editions on Apple Podcasts (iTunes) or Spotify (and browse my archive of podcasts right here).

backyard suggestions from jenks farmer

Margaret Roach: Hello, Jenks, how are you?

Jenks Farmer: Hey, Margaret. I’m nice. It’s sizzling down right here.

Margaret: Effectively, yeah, I’m in my Southern backyard, too, as I say [laughter]. It’s not sizzling right here in the intervening time, however there are lots of occasions this summer season that I assumed, “Oh my goodness, what the heck’s occurring?” And it’s humorous as a result of chapter one among your e-book I feel known as, “Our Loopy Southern Local weather,” and I assumed, yeah, our loopy local weather in all places, huh?—however sure. So your loopy Southern local weather, how is it nuts? What’s loopy about it?

Jenks: Even in regular occasions earlier than issues received actually loopy, I’ll say now we have six seasons. We have now a very lengthy fall, so for us, I feel it’s very complicated when folks transfer down right here from the North they usually count on fall to occur in September and October, the place actually we don’t even get a frost till about Thanksgiving. So that offers us principally two rising seasons in the summertime. We are able to begin in April planting issues that individuals plant, squash and zinnias and all the simple annuals, however these sorts of issues peter out. So for August, September and October, now we have a complete new summer season. So now we have Crinum lilies are coming into flower within the vegetable backyard, okra, and we harvested like 9 kilos of eggplant yesterday.

Margaret: Oh my [laughter].

Jenks: So now we have that type of two separate summer season seasons. After which for us, winter will be simply outrageously variable. So we are able to go from 70 levels on New Yr’s Day to 13 levels that night time, and it’s at all times been that means in our local weather, and that’s very onerous on vegetation. However I feel the important thing for people who find themselves shifting right here, and even people who find themselves excited about visiting, is remembering how variable it’s and that we are able to have completely spectacular lovely days in February and once more in September, however then like tomorrow it’s going to be 95.

Margaret: And the place are you, what metropolis? The place are you precisely situated? What’s the identify of it?

Jenks: It’s close to Augusta, Ga., so folks will know precisely the place that’s, nevertheless it’s a little bit city referred to as Beech Island. There isn’t any seaside and there’s no island right here, however we’re proper in South Carolina alongside the Savannah River, not too far up from Savannah.

Margaret: O.Ok. So talking of humorous names, I like that you’ve got a Beech Island with no seaside and no island. Studying as a Northern gardener within the new e-book, I like noticing a number of the regional variations, not simply in plant decisions or the timing of whenever you do what and so forth and the way you do issues, but additionally the widespread names that we use in several areas and different vocabulary decisions. Like an exquisite extra Southern native—not the place I’m, however extra southerly—Chionanthus virginicus, that I can develop too, although. I name it the perimeter tree and also you name it-

Jenks: Granddaddy graybeard.

Margaret: Granddaddy graybeard [laughter]. I find it irresistible; I find it irresistible. It’s like I by no means heard that. It was like I used to be so delighted by these sorts of issues. And it’s simply one of many many Southeastern natives that’s hardy up North, too, and has been marketed as a backyard plant like Oxydendrum, and bottlebrush buckeye, Aesculus parviflora. I imply a few species of Fothergilla, we consider them as Southeastern natives, however they’re hardy up right here they usually’re fashionable backyard vegetation in plenty of the nation, and perhaps they had been native up right here, too, earlier than the final glaciers. Who is aware of, proper?

Jenks: Oh yeah. It’s such a loopy query with nativity as a result of issues transfer they usually have, after which plenty of occasions what we consider as native was solely primarily based on what European vacationers wrote about after they received right here and what they noticed. So perhaps they didn’t see the Chionanthus that was rising on the shore of New Jersey-

Margaret: Or now they’d use the fossil data, in fact, as effectively, so there are some extra data in comparison with again then, however yeah. However it’s actually attention-grabbing that now we have plenty of overlap in vegetation though we’re far aside and our climates are supposedly so totally different.

So it’s fall planting time in plenty of locations, and there’s this part within the e-book about planting, particularly timber and different woody issues, I feel. And plenty of your recommendation—and in spite of everything, I imply the e-book known as “Secrets and techniques of Southern Gardening: Professional Ideas for Success”—and there have been so many suggestions, so many issues that jogged my memory of after I’ve violated them, the way it went improper [laughter], and the issues that we actually want to recollect.

And I simply beloved your means of explaining the why and the how of whenever you purchase a tree in a nursery pot or ball-and-burlapped and so forth, and determining what degree, how deep it ought to go, and get it able to be within the gap within the floor that you simply’re going to make for it and do aftercare it, water it.

I simply thought, as an example, that was one of many actually nice classes, and it might sound primary to folks, however I feel lots of people simply take it out of the pot and put it in a gap the identical degree it was at within the nursery pot, and that’s not at all times a good suggestion, is it?

Jenks: No. So I’m a nurseryman and I develop largely within the floor, however I’ve some issues in containers. The purpose within the nursery is to have a potting media that makes that plant look nice within the nursery. As a result of rising in a pot with fixed irrigation, with wind, is a complete totally different factor from rising within the floor. So my potting media, and never simply me, however any nursery’s potting media, is about our success in order that we are able to promote that plant. It’s not about success in transplanting, proper? And plenty of massive nurseries particularly are on the lookout for methods to save cash, so that they’re incorporating waste supplies into their potting combine. A number of bark will get blended in now down right here; peanut shells will get blended in.

These issues are high quality for the nursery, however they’re super-dry, so anytime that I’m planting—I do panorama planting, design work—if I can, I saturate these vegetation, even the large ones. I’ll tackle a job 5 – 6 child swimming pools [above], and fill these swimming pools up and attempt to let these vegetation soak in a single day as a result of it may be so tough to get that potting combine moist.

Then the subsequent factor I do is after I take that out, I beat off plenty of that potting combine and take it away. I would like, particularly for woody vegetation, I nearly bare-root them and put them again within the floor. Now I’ll combine in a few of that bark; I’m not saying it’s horrible stuff, however for root contact together with your soil, the most effective factor to do is to eliminate a bunch of that.

Margaret: And the opposite factor is the depth. There was one image within the e-book displaying I feel a tree that had simply gotten planted or had simply come out of its nursery pot, and I imply, it was so on the improper degree. And sure, you level out within the e-book, you couldn’t see the basis flare the place the trunk meets the uppermost roots, they usually type of do flare step by step outward to start the basis zone, and it was like bark was buried, and that’s usually the case. It’s not very best.

Jenks: That specific tree, that was one I purchased for myself, not for a consumer, and I splurged on this little 2-gallon tree from an excellent connoisseur’s nursery [above left]. However after I received dwelling, I spotted that it was 2 inches too deep, so 2 inches of that soil on the highest of that pot, I needed to lower it off with a hand noticed. And this isn’t unusual.

Once more, I’m saying that is from a very good nursery. A number of our vegetation come from field shops and nurseries which are actually massive, they usually’re even worse. In order that high layer can inhibit the plant development first as a result of the bark that’s inside that layer [above right] is topic to rot and subsequently topic to a lot of pests.

Margaret: And it may well keep all moist and decay, nearly, like funky.

Jenks: Fungus. After which on a bigger scale, as a result of we do some massive tree planting with tree spades the place we’re planting like 10-inch timber, these timber usually have the identical factor, the identical downside, however that soil on an even bigger tree will really inhibit the expansion of that trunk under floor. So you find yourself with this type of slender trunk that’s under floor, this little spot that’s restricted, and then you definately slowly get an even bigger trunk rising larger girth above floor, however you at all times have that weak spot. So for us, in hurricanes, that’s horrible, as a result of that tree’s received a built-in place to snap.

Margaret: And even with out a hurricane [laughter], improper loss of life, particularly too deep, could be a killer. It type of nearly suffocates the plant, can’t it doubtlessly?

Jenks: Oh, yeah, undoubtedly. And I simply see this time and again, and a technique I wrote this e-book was from the attitude {that a} house owner who might not be planting their 30-gallon vegetation—they may herald a landscaper to do it—however they should know this, so after they’re on the market watching their landscaper work, they’re ensuring it’s completed proper. Finally, it’s your accountability for those who’re hiring someone to do it. It’s like with me hiring a physician, I additionally listen and browse up in regards to the points in order that I’ve some concept that what that physician is saying is making sense. Does that comply with?

Margaret: Yeah. And the opposite factor that you simply level out within the e-book, which I by no means see anyone besides longtime horticulturists with old-style coaching do like us [laughter], however it’s so important: I see folks make that gap, get the plant within the gap, pack it with the soil, get all of it tamped down, after which attempt to water it. And it’s like, what?

Jenks: And that’s the most effective case that they attempt to water it. A number of occasions you’ll see an organization say, “Oh, we’re going to activate the irrigation.”

Margaret: Effectively, that’s hopeless to irrigate massive, in depth new plantings and stuff like that. It’s not going to do the job for all these transplants.

Jenks: So we had been planting this morning some 30-gallon magnolias, and I took a little bit video of us mudding it in. I don’t know for those who can embed a video.

Margaret: Yeah, I can. And also you say, it was so humorous as a result of within the e-book you clarify this system, mudding it in [or muddling it in], which I name puddling it in. And I don’t know who informed me to name it that one million years in the past or no matter, nevertheless it was the identical approach, and I assumed, I’m the one particular person I do know—after I’m with folks the place I reside and stuff’s being planted—I’m the one particular person I do know who does this.

Jenks: Man, I’ll inform you, that is one thing I battle with my guys on a regular basis. Once we’re planting on a job, I would like that hose operating all day lengthy, as a result of each plant… And we’re simply shifting it. We do this mudding in the place we’re jamming the dampen within the ground-

Margaret: Earlier than we’ve, once more, completely absolutely backfilled and tamped and made every thing look good.

Jenks: Precisely.

Margaret: So inform us, simply I ought to backtrack and stated, what’s mudding in or puddling?

Jenks: O.Ok., so that you dig your gap, you place your plant in there that you simply’ve knocked plenty of soil off of, and you’ve got your water operating the entire time that you simply’re backfilling. The explanation for that’s that it doesn’t matter what you do, there are at all times going to be air pockets that you could’t see and may’t tamp in, however that water operating creates like little mudslides and it fills in all these spots.

Margaret: So that you muddle, I puddle. [Laughter.]

Jenks: And see, I like doing that and I’ve beloved doing that since I used to be a child. Each time I do it, I keep in mind after I was a child punching that dampen within the floor and making little tunnels.

Margaret: As a result of these vegetation solely have one likelihood to get a very good begin in our soil, don’t they? This isn’t a time to stint or to emphasize them out additional. It’s sufficient already.

Jenks: Completely. Completely.

Margaret: Transplanting is sufficient stress, even when it’s completed accurately; it’s a stressor. So we wish to give them the very best.

Jenks: Completely. My design shoppers will ask me typically, do you assure your vegetation? I’m like, no, these vegetation are like puppies. I’m going to plant them proper, and in the event that they’re planted proper, they’re going to thrive. And I’ve little doubt of that. Its aftercare is necessary, however that first 20 minutes is vital.

Margaret: Type of additionally associated to giving issues a very good begin is—and once more that you simply cowl within the e-book—is deciding the place they are often positioned within the microclimates or the totally different areas of 1’s panorama, one’s backyard, one’s dwelling backyard. And also you make the necessary level that I feel plenty of us don’t take into consideration. All of us as gardeners, I feel, take into consideration is it a solar plant or a shade plant? However we don’t take into consideration soil moisture as a lot, proper? And so we’re grouping for mild plenty of occasions. However that’s not the entire story, is it?

Jenks: No. And particularly with us, we are able to go from purple heavy clay to actually 100 ft away will be like white sand, and people are completely totally different vegetation. They require completely totally different soils and drainages, and totally different vegetation thrive in these totally different soils.

You talked about microclimates, you’re in all probability going to assume that is humorous, however I used to be a spot the opposite day and it was like a north-facing wall, and it’s a little bit heavy clay. It’s shady on a regular basis; it doesn’t get any winter solar. And I assumed perhaps I can plant some anemones there as a result of for me, that’s a chilly microclimate that I would be capable of make some anemones, some extra Northern vegetation, thrive.

Margaret: They wouldn’t simply bake and sulk due to the warmth.

Jenks: Yeah. However I feel usually when folks consider microclimates, they consider how can I match this someplace hotter?

Margaret: Proper, a hotter place. Proper. Effectively, that’s a very good level additionally as a result of I keep in mind one million years in the past after I needed to have this magnolia. After I was first making the backyard, I needed to have a magnolia, an early-blooming magnolia, however a distinct one. And I requested the most effective native nurseryman and he stated, effectively, right here’s one, and he pointed one out to me and he stated the flowers of this one won’t ever get ruined by a late frost for those who plant it just like the form of spot you’re simply speaking about. Extra within the east or the northern facet of your home, someplace the place it’s not going to be toasted on a regular basis [laughter], the place it’s going to get up later, not get up early. And he was proper.

I’ve had the factor 30 years or one thing. ‘Ballerina’ it’s referred to as, a kind of Loebner hybrids; I don’t understand how you pronounce the person’s identify who developed the the sequence of them. And he was completely proper. He was on the lookout for the microclimate that will delay its awakening, these buds, forestall from turning into susceptible.

Jenks: And I simply see there’s an instance of whenever you’re a a lot better gardener than I’m because-

Margaret: Oh cease [laughter].

Jenks: I’ve simply accepted that these magnolias at all times have a brown interval, and I’ve taught myself that we would as effectively name it fairly [laughter].

Margaret: They’re lovely creatures although, aren’t they? So I used to be actually drawn that entire chapter that includes watering within the e-book, referred to as “Conscious and Environment friendly Watering.” I beloved it. It sounded very Buddhist [laughter] as a result of frankly, rising up as a Northeastern gardener, we used to have that outdated type of proverbial inch of rain per week form of factor. It was extra common, and it’s not the case anymore. So I’m not as professional at watering. And also you had this one tip a couple of 5-gallon bucket with a gap in it. Inform us about that [laughter].

Jenks: Yeah, in order that’s an actual redneck option to do it, but-

Margaret: However I beloved it. I beloved it. It’s nice.

Jenks: It really works. We do this rather a lot. You should purchase these tree luggage which are principally a giant water balloon with a gradual drip on them, however these issues are super-expensive. And we simply take a 5-gallon bucket and put a nail gap within the backside, and fill it up a couple of times per week and let it slowly drip.

After which the opposite tip, I suppose that is what makes it actually professional, is that we put a purple spray paint mark on all these buckets, since you positive as hell don’t wish to decide up that bucket and fill it up with water to hold it to water one thing and have its squirting water out in your sock the entire means.

Margaret: Proper. So that you’re putting this bucket with this little gap in it, you’re putting it close to specimens that want that additional assist throughout powerful occasions or no matter. So that they’re going to get this additional water. I neglect what these vessels are referred to as, these clay vessels. What are these? Anyway, there are conventional vessels like that which are fancy that do that? Olla, is that the phrase: Olla? Yeah.

Jenks: Keep in mind I do not forget that phrase, however I’ve by no means stated it.

Margaret: [Laughter.] No, me neither. So the purpose being, nonetheless we do it, now we have to be attentive, aware, as you say about watering, and particularly when vegetation are getting acclimated.

Jenks: All totally different vegetation have totally different wants, and that’s a method that we use primarily on new vegetation. However in a drought summer season—and we’ve been actually fortunate for the previous three or 4 years, we’ve had very moist summers—however September, October is at all times very dry. There are occasions that there are specific vegetation that simply want that little little bit of water to thrive.

Margaret: So now we have one thing else in widespread in addition to muddling and puddling [laughter]. We each have found the fantastic thing about the nighttime exercise within the backyard, the night time shift, as I name it. And also you really hosted this 12 months a moth occasion that I feel you referred to as the Moth Ball, ha ha ha. Very humorous.

Jenks: We did, we referred to as it the Moth Ball, and I did this graphic for it that my younger buddy stated, “No person’s going to return to that as a result of it appears prefer it’s a techno-dance.” However we had ended up having 70 folks. We had three entomologists from three totally different universities who arrange screens whereas folks grabbed a drink and a few hor d’oeuvres and wandered round from display screen to display screen, so that they received three totally different interpretations of the night time bugs that had been attracted to those screens. I suppose I ought to have stated every display screen had a distinct form of mild on it, so it attracted totally different bugs. It was primarily about moths, however the night time shift, as you name it, was all there.

Margaret: And the closing chapter within the e-book is about that, which is fantastic as a result of so many people gardeners, we all know our place so effectively, however not after darkish.

Jenks: And I spotted in scripting this, not that many individuals actually wish to backyard after darkish, however nonetheless, it’s actually necessary that we perceive it, as a result of the world and the backyard after darkish is completely as energetic and actually perhaps much more necessary.

Moths are actually principally extra necessary pollinators, I feel, than butterflies. After which all of the decomposers come out. It’s vital that we perceive that in order that we deal with—particularly with mild—mild could be a downside—but additionally with different issues that we’re doing, now we have to pay attention to herbicide and fertilizer harm, and even extreme raking and cleansing can take away the locations that these larvae want, the moth caterpillars must pupate.

You really impressed that entire chapter, Margaret. Thanks a lot.

Margaret: Effectively, as a result of I’m moth loopy. So the brand new e-book, Jenks Farmer, is “Secrets and techniques of Southern Gardening: Professional Ideas for Success.” And as I stated, at the same time as a Northern gardener, I discovered a lot info that appealed to me. And so it’s fantastic. I at all times get pleasure from speaking to you, and I hope I’ll speak to you quickly once more, thanks a lot.

extra from jenks farmer

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I’LL BUY a replica of “Secrets and techniques of Southern Gardening” by Jenks Farmer for one fortunate reader. All it’s a must to do to enter is reply this query within the feedback field under:Are you a muddler/puddler like us, or do water your transplants, particularly timber and shrubs?

No reply, or feeling shy? Simply say one thing like “depend me in” and I’ll, however a reply is even higher. I’ll choose a random winner after entries shut Tuesday Sept. 24, 2025 at midnight. Good luck to all.

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MY WEEKLY public-radio present, rated a “top-5 backyard podcast” by “The Guardian” newspaper within the UK, started its sixteenth 12 months in March 2025. It’s produced at Robin Hood Radio, the smallest NPR station within the nation. Hear domestically within the Hudson Valley (NY)-Berkshires (MA)-Litchfield Hills (CT) Mondays at 8:30 AM Jap, rerun at 8:30 Saturdays. Or play the Sept. 15, 2025 present utilizing the participant close to the highest of this transcript. You possibly can subscribe to all future editions on iTunes/Apple Podcasts or Spotify (and browse my archive of podcasts right here).