Check out my Neighborhood Gardens

[@ThreeRunHomer]

Video idea: “What to plant in your hell strip instead of crepe myrtles”

[@cajunlady4893]

I like Korean Cherry

[@alanerpington5698]

Or just crape myrtles that are actually size-appropriate for a hell strip.

[@annwoleben5439]

I enjoy the neighborhood garden tours and I learn so much about the plants as you highlight them. Thank you.

[@judymckerrow6720]

Thanks Jim and Stephany 🫠❄️💚🙃

[@rhohoho]

Our neighbor has a Texas Persimmon that I admire every time we walk by. Maybe this is the year I get my hands one one.

[@RobinDavies-b4c]

Hello Jim, I just wanted to thank you for taking the time from your schedule to do these. I truly look forward to finding a new video from you!!! Thanks again. God bless you and yours.

[@GardenKath]

“A screening plant for 20 foot tall people” - thanks, I had a mouthful of cereal when you said that. 😂

[@cajunlady4893]

I hope it wasn't wheaties! Bc you might need those hedges LoL

[@alanerpington5698]

He says that about cryptomerias, too - the larger varieties tend to lose their lower branches with age.

[@someguy5927]

The theme of the video...right plant right place

[@joshuamcleod6547]

Jim, I love all of your videos. I'm not particular about the exact topic, I just love listening to you talk about plants. Thanks for all of the great content!

[@kathleenvadney6217]

We lived in Corpus Christi, Tx and had a loquat tree 12’ ht. When we had the snowpocalypse ice storm in 2019 or was it 2020 we lost the end growth on every branch back to about 12” to 14”. We cut it back to healthy tissue in the spring and it survived. The retail and wholesale nurseries were cleaned out that spring.

[@juliabinford6500]

I enjoy your focus on plants around your neighborhood. The ones that haven’t gotten much TLC show what will happen over time. It’s also useful that you discuss what care/planning might have been helpful

[@karinhamann5019]

I chuckled because I am one of those people from the north (Chicago and Minnesota) who always lusted over crape myrtles. Now I can grow them in my Maryland garden. In fact, I have to pull the seedlings that start up from fallen seeds. There is a Sitka spruce in my neighborhood-at least that is what my plant identifier called it-that has a perfect form and dense needles with a beautiful blue-green color.

[@jamieraible9946]

I appreciate seeing the large scale landscape design of Raleigh. You are very knowledgeable and honest.

[@ramgiberson7180]

❤hello everyone, Khun Jim putnam and Stephany and garden ers. Happy winter time. Happy day. ❤😊.

[@joem2745]

For those who haven't, there is nothing like taking a walk through a neighborhood. You see, smell, and hear so much more than you do driving in a vehicle. It's like a whole different world. It's also an opportunity to check out what is growing successfully in your microclimate.

[@khayescobar1819]

Thank you for another neighborhood garden tour I love them all we need color this time of the year.👍😊❤️🙏

[@susankilpatrick2918]

Enjoy the garden walkabouts !

[@gracepeterson7483]

Such a great video on my favorite subject--plants!

[@urchinsushi2041]

I always look forward to walking my dog in the spring to the house with the huge exbury type yellowy orange azalea, fragrant too!! Mr. Buddy Lee, if you’re listening, I will gladly trial any encore azaleas with yellow and orange!!

[@EastRiverHomestead]

Good to see you smile and lighten up after all of these years. Love to Ms. Holly.

[@jeffk1543]

Great neighborhood garden tour. You are so knowledgeable!

[@cajunlady4893]

I have a dwarf grape colored crepe myrtle tree. Blooms abundantly and stays about 7'. Just a little over my 6' fence

[@BigGary79]

Really enjoyed the neighborhood tour. Thanks for sharing.

[@MickF04]

I do like Crape Myrtles, but like you, I see far too many planted in narrow strips and in parking lots here in Central Texas. Those that are planted away from structures, concrete, and power lines can be quite attractive here in the summer, where the Texas heat can be unforgiving to most flowering trees and shrubs. Unlike the Live Oaks, which have suffered greatly in recent years (drought period, winter cold storms), Crape Myrtles have performed quite well.

[@litaforlong1923]

Yesterday, Today Tomorrow plant- would love to have one and have it thrive.

[@Collington23]

If you’re in central FL, definitely check out the ones at Leu Gardens. They have been nonstop blooming for months now

[@oneblockwonderwoman6833]

Those are gorgeous shrubs. But we moved to a colder zone where they would just die.

[@karenschwartz5209]

Nice tour!😊

[@HandcraftedintheFoothills]

My 3 camelia are struggling in our East TN snowstorm and cold from last week. Sure hoping they are okay when this all melts

[@Collington23]

Loquats are also a delicious fruit. They’re planted very commonly here in central FL and their berries in February are delicious and super showy.

[@thebuddinghomemaker]

Oh I miss loquats!! So delicious! I'm an NC dweller now, but spent 2 years in Florida and loved the loquats!

[@RoscoPColtrane17]

That’s an amazing Camelia

[@judymiddleswart9350]

I have 2 nellie stevens Hollie’s about 4’ from each other i limbed them up 7 or 9 years ago and now love being able to see thru them toward the garden beds best move I did here.. they are at least 40 or so years old and provide good shade for some shade plants underneath …. Thanks Judy in pensacola fl

[@L4sleeko]

Before I became a Jeweler, I worked one season at UNCW setting up the through-campus arboretum. One plant that stood out, and you showed it at the end of the video, was the Loquat tree. Absolutely loved them. Just so different than anything else we planted.

[@joannlessner1551]

I have two loquat trees I grew from seed. They set fruit, but the squirrels get them before I can. They don't seem to mind if they aren't quite ripe!

[@AspiringGardeners]

I absolutely LOVE Crape Myrtles and will never get enough of them..... The bark is so beautiful and I've never seen one that didnt have some flowering..

[@joannlessner1551]

You haven't seen mine! Too much shade in my yard. Wish they would bloom more.

[@Tofog22000]

That Camilia is spectacular!

[@julieh2935]

How fun, thanks so much! 😊

[@kso808]

I've thought about planting winter jasmine over the past few years. I think there are some in my neighborhood too. Just as decorative as forsythia, IMHO. That 'Professor Sargeant' red camellia is beautiful! I guess they're like rhododendrons in that one needs to give them many years to mature and bloom well. I've also got an archway with Carolina jessamine growing on it. Is winter honeysuckle also called 'Sweet Breath Of Spring?"

[@richardhigel5612]

Jim, just a heads up. Our State magazine has some garden pictures this month.

[@BackyardFlorida]

I didn't realize that Loquat trees grew that far north. Interesting.

[@stephaniesharkey3538]

Could u do a close up of the leaf when Jim starts yo talk about it? Thx🌿

[@stephanycoakley7352]

Will do

[@pinetreesnflowers]

I’m in zone 8b and someone has an established eucalyptus (baby blue) that I would love for flower bouquets!!

[@glendapeters8899]

Another informative video. Thanks!

[@thebuddinghomemaker]

Who is responsible for choosing the plants to go in the hell strips, and how do we revoke their rights? 😅

[@rootelation486]

It's a silly process. The code of Ordinances usually just says plant a certain number of trees every so many feet. But very few trees are suitable for that space. As a designer I am always fighting with building departments because they want plants that will either die or cause problems and I'm forced to do it. It's a real problem.

[@scoobydoo5447]

I’m lucky in my town. I had mammoth sunflowers planted in my hellstrip this last year and no one said anything.

[@sherriianiro747]

​@@rootelation486Same here. They only want the trees that are cheap that have extensive root systems that trash the sewers. I personally had to fight to get a tree replaced that was taken down for no reason and their pruning jobs are horrendous!

[@KaitlyntheGardener]

I always thought mint would make a great hell strip plant 😂 contained, tough as nails, and low growing.

[@rootelation486]

@@KaitlyntheGardener 🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣🤣😂🤣😂

[@BloomCatBloom]

We have 4 crepe myrtles under our power lines (with what looks like an open space where one was lost). Looking forward to getting them taken out this year!

[@cajunlady4893]

Thanks for the info. They must of touched the back of my little bulb fridge. It's frozen on the back of the fridge. I am doing an experiment b4 throwing them away. If they continue to get softer. I will throw them way. 9 bulbs...various degree of softness

[@dylan8285]

Being in MI a northern climate we really dont see a lot of interesting plants it’s usually the same like 30 plants everywhere for landscaping. The only beautiful rare but findable plant is when I come across an established beech tree, Tri color is the best, then copper, then just the regular green.

[@dia9491]

My roses have blooms on them as well in TN. Sometimes I wonder if below freezing temps can trigger growth of certain plants even when they’re not winter flowering. I’ve seen so many things flowering around the neighborhood.

[@litaforlong1923]

Very informative!

[@MadiC714]

The world would be a better place if people pruned trees correctly or just left them alone! We don’t have crape myrtles where I live but people still manage to butcher trees and put them in the wrong place. Thanks for the video

[@cajunlady4893]

I just trim branches that are low and in the way. I leave the rest of the tree grow wild. Birds like the seeds evidently bc they always hopping around the branches.

[@nadia_rem8511]

I gave up with trying to get cornus florida to thrive in my front yard (full sun, high winter winds, clay soil) as a specimen tree, and just threw in a crepe myrtle like every other boring yard. I really wanted an Oklahoma Redbud. My neighbor has a beautiful cherry, and its roots are massive and very raised. New owners moved in and cut down a huge norway spruce that was in the backyard. Im still salty about that. The cherry may go as well. Sigh. Lots of wrong tree, wrong spot in my neighborhood. I feel like narrow hellstrips just dont work with trees.

[@ddgardner5671]

I'm surprised to see the oleander. I wonder what variety it is.

[@HoosierDaddy_]

It's funny how in the south, people don't love crepe myrtles at all, and up north we kind of don't like redbuds for the same reasons. They're everywhere and they're always in the wrong places, lol.

[@alice_rabbit8345]

Is that yellow flowering shrub also known as a forsythia? I’m in PA.

[@reginaclifton203]

Any comments on Chipdrop, I signed up Tuesday. Hoping for load before spring. love the shows.

[@karlaplatt5538]

@reginaclifton203 - regarding the above chipdrop inquiry. I'm in Maryland and have used them a few times. Expect a large load like ~20 cubic yards. My personal experience was the tree service companies; from our neighborhood, had higher quality chips. One drop; from a tree service company not used in our neighborhood, had a lot of trash in their chips and lots of branches and a couple of logs. You can specify no logs; which I did. Lastly; I've never paid the optional $20 and received chips within a month.

[@davidvanspybrook6549]

I waited 2 months for chipdrop on my first try. The 2nd time, it took 2 days. In my area, Raleigh, tree companies tend to have a lot of work after a storm brings down trees in the area so you could try to time your order ahead of a big storm.

[@annadam]

I'm in Cary and received a load of the most perfect drop I've ever received this past September, less than 12 hours after I ordered it. I kid you not. I was shocked. It had to be more than 20 yds, but I spread it all by myself within the week after the drop. Kinda proud of that 😊@@davidvanspybrook6549

[@lindagriffin510]

So worried about so many plants and trees in my yard that are budding out and now with this cold snap coming after 70 degree days.

[@debrabray8855]

Do you think I could grow camellias in south texas, zone 8b-9? In spite of the zone designation, our winter temps can be under 20 for a couple of weeks, several times during winter and our summer temps are in the 100s for months. Thanks for any info. They are so beautiful.

[@threeriversforge1997]

A good illustration of the damage that the hort industry does to that "sense of place" areas were once known for. Invasives and mass-production have really done a number on the local ecosystem, fragmenting it so badly that we've lost millions of songbirds and the monarch butterfly is now listed as endangered by at least one group. When you can drive around and see the same plants time and time again, like those wretched crepe myrtles, it's just plain sad. A landscape designer said he was really sad that he flew all the way to Ireland and when he arrived..... he thought he's never left America because all the landscaping around him was using the same plants in the same ways he saw back home. Dr.Doug Tallamy has done a good job of curating studies on just how big the impact of ecosystem fragmentation has been, and I'm afraid it will only get worse. When folks are talking about how there's nothing that can be done, that the plants are "naturalized" or whatever, that's part of the problem. I was real happy to pull down four crepe myrtles I'd planted in my front yard years ago, and I look forward to replacing them with Yaupon Holly and other native plants to serve the same purpose.

[@annerose7571]

Are there smaller crape myrtles that could grow in the hell strip under the power lines?

[@alanerpington5698]

Yeah, there's varieties that only get a few feet tall. But for whatever reason, people seem to always go for the big ones, whether they're appropriate for the space or not.

[@cajunlady4893]

I planted my tulips and hyacinths that were prechilling for 12 weeks today. A few hyacinths bulbs felt slightly soft. I didn't plant those. I brought them in the house in a box hoping they will firm up. Do you think they will recover?

[@SandraSElam]

No, they will not firm up. They are rotting. All soft bulbs should be thrown away. I've planted all kinds of bulbs for 30 years.

[@HandcraftedintheFoothills]

Most of the crapes in our neighborhood have been left alone thank goodness but the most beautiful Natchez was butchered last year when a home was sold. New owner hacked it😢

[@maureenbrophy7852]

Lively chat

[@donnajoy6951]

Can someone make a decision to cut down the Crape myrtle

[@SMElder-iy6fl]

I wish people would plant oaks!

[@marleneegan-hm7lr]

I don’t know if I could trust my sweet pug not to eat oleander, she’s smart but not that smart 😂

[@Flower_hoarder]

🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺

[@mitzi605]

My neighborhood here in Oregon zone 8b is pretty boring for any plants I would like,but one neighbor has a fishing pole lily. I think it is called. I am so zealous, I have never found one to purchase. They take alot of space but the blooms are real pretty.

[@judymckerrow6720]

I just ordered a crepe myrtle for my zone 6a garden, it SAYS it’s hardy here so we will see. 🫠❄️💚🙃