By Garden Supply Company
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The podcast currently has 53 episodes available.
Shannon: What's next in garden supply? .
Keith: I'm here with Shannon from Garden Supply Company. We're talking about what's next what's next for Garden Supply Company and what the stuff we've got coming in and changes we're making. We're moving away from. Some of the mass produced products and going with more local products a new look.
Or an old look if you will, a modern sixties, seventies kinda look. But she's got a long list of stuff that we've, that we're bringing in that Renee and the girls are picking up in Atlanta and from local vendors. But it's exciting.
It's, we're changing it up and trying to come up with a new look.
Shannon: Yeah, they're really doing an amazing job. Picking out some products turning our boutique more into an outdoor living space. Which is really exciting. Yeah.
Keith: And, and working house plants, They go hand in hand. Yeah. Interior furniture with house plants and with. With new modern containers and that kind
Shannon: of thing. Absolutely. And also that patio living. Absolutely. We've got some bistro sets coming in, the little table and two chairs. Sure. And then some family gathering type of things like outdoor games.
Which can always be fun. Yeah. There tons of fun serving sets.
Keith: Yeah. We were just talking about how bad TV was. Yes. So that's getting away from tv, and getting back to board games and things that bring families
Shannon: together. Absolutely. Some of that like backgammon almost.
Keith: Sure. We did an outdoor living space recently and when I'm not out there, it still makes me really happy because it's I'm viewing it from afar.
. But it's, it's a covered space. It's got a ceiling fan and, there's outdoor furniture out there and it's just a, such a relaxing, fun
Shannon: space. I've seen it and it really turned out stunning. And then the way you've brought in, Plants, like the white bird of paradise right out there is just,
Keith: yeah.
And they're thriving out there because they're in the North Carolina humidity and got a fishtail palm out there in, real modern pots. And, that's a way you can change up the look of your, the front porch or the look of your back porch. Is to update the pots and get away from some of the big heavy urns and start incorporating, you know, more modern pots and containers.
Shannon: Some of the ones I love that Renee's been able to bring in are those lightstone. Or light white pots, the fiber clay. Yep. It has that look of concrete or ceramic but is so lightweight that I can pick it up all by myself. And
Keith: especially like the two that we just talked about that are in my backyard the fishtail palm and the whiteboard of paradise.
Both of 'em are six foot plants, seven foot, seven foot plants. In the next week or two I'm gonna be bringing them in because of frost. You can separate the plant from the pot and easily carry both of them inside and give 'em a nice, warm spot for the wintertime.
Shannon: Absolutely. And really, even with those type of pots, you don't even need to separate necessarily.
Keith: Exactly. They're light enough to.
Shannon: for a one or two person job.
Keith: Yep. Yeah, you were talking about the bistro sets. And I don't know, it's a folding type chair. I don't know if I'm, if I can destru describe it exactly, but we've got 'em on order now.
We've got a couple of 'em in but they're an old sixties chair. Mm-hmm. That kind of folds up a clam shell type of design. We've got 'em in natural Jude and we've got 'em in black. I love the look of that. It's beautiful. It's Mac May material and MACRA Mays come back in with, of course it has with with hanging house plants and wall hangings and that kind of stuff.
So that's a fun, fun piece of it.
I love
Shannon: the palettes that we're bringing too. The colors of all of this. We've got this soft blue sage, green, matte gray, and a blush color right, that are. On point for the trends. They are,
Keith: and I, we're talking about updating pots and containers, I think updating wall colors. We do it in the store all the time.
, every time we change a set or come up with a new idea we're do, we're changing the backdrop of the color. It's something you can do at your house too. Going out and picking some of these colors that are really, The color of the year or that fits with, the furniture you've got and the new stuff that you're bringing in.
Really update the space. It
Shannon: does, and it's not that you have to revamp and redesign every single thing or change out all of your furniture. You can do it with just a quick little Walt color change or a pot color change. A blanket, a throw, some of. Some of that stuff that we've brought in too has
Keith: been right.
And if you've got a room that's painted white, I just painting one wall in, in the background or two walls in the background, you can paint half the room and still give it a great updated look. Add some of this, a change of furniture, change of pots or containers, and I think you see, really see an update.
Shannon: Yeah. I'm also loving some of the things that they're bringing in, like gardener's diaries. Something which I think has been so beneficial for me in just tomato gardening. That's my big thing. Yep. And I'm keeping track of all of the plants that I'm doing while they're flowering or when they start flowering, when they're producing the fruit, how much fruit I'm getting, which ones are getting disease or.
Ones aren't. That's tons of fun. It's so much fun. It's beneficial for next
Keith: year. Yep. I always love somebody that can do that. I could buy a hundred diaries. Never fill him out. Nothing's ever gonna get written in, unfortunately. Yeah. I I'm not trying to Yeah, no squash diary sales. No. No.
My grandfather used to write everything down , and he was a tomato gardener. And he kept notes on everything and he, Thomas Jefferson, he used to tell me, Thomas Jefferson wrote down everything, and I'd go back and read what Thomas Jefferson wrote. And I'm like, man, I need to do that.
I start something and I write on the first page and that's the end of it. So
Shannon: maybe you're more of a flower press kind of a guy. Yeah. Or we are bringing in some of those pocket flower press
Keith: journals. Oh yeah. Those Those are super cool. Yeah. Yeah. Especially in a pansies. I always talk about, I'm always talking about pansies and how amazing pansies are, but.
Those press so beautifully. They do. It's a super easy thing and it's a fun thing for kids to do too. Absolutely. Have the kids, kids, especially girls, but the kids in general to pick flowers. , have 'em go out and pick pansies and then bring 'em in the house and press 'em.
It's a good project for a rainy day. And
Shannon: perfect segue. The one, the last thing I wanted to talk about was how we're bringing in some of these tools and gloves. Things like that for children. . So we're bringing in that next generation and getting them interested early.
Keith: My favorite thing to do, and hands down and I've, I think I've created thousands of gardeners, , is to hand them a plant.
It's like in, in the garden center when we've got plants that are not perfect. But we, I know they're gonna grow, , give 'em to a kid and as that next flower rolls out, I mean you've got a budding gardener kind of
Shannon: thing. Absolutely. And succulents are a great way to continue that trend.
Yep.
Keith: Cut a piece of a succulent off, hand it to 'em and let them watch the roots grow. Exactly. Yep. That, that I'm really looking forward to spring and the change...
Keith: So today I've got Shannon here with me from Garden Supply Company., we've talked about unicorn plants plants that are just, you just don't think you're gonna see 'em out there. Things that bloom throughout the year that are evergreen, that will handle wet or dry, that really fit a landscape plant kind of qualification.
What are some of your favorites, Shannon?
Shannon: So we talked already in the previous one, about sun unicorn plants. Yeah. But now I wanted to talk about shade. Of course camillia is one of the first things that comes to mind, but so many people think about cams as being these huge. Giant shrubs and they don't have to be right.
We've got quite a few that are three to four feet tall and wide. The first one that comes to mind is the October Ruby Magic. . That's a great plant. Yeah. Flowers red in the late October to Christmas almost, and stays within that realm. Controllable.
Keith: Yeah. So for people that don't know, su sanks are gonna bloom in the fall.
And then japonica is bloom in the spring. Su sank was are the smaller leaf cames and japonicas are the larger leaf and flowers that you know. . The su sanks are always the smaller leaf and smaller flowers, but they have more flowers. Japonicas will have great big rose like flowers or piney like flowers.
And and then they flower, winter into spring.
Shannon: And truly the waxy leaf of that evergreen is so beautiful all year round. It is, it doesn't matter if it's flowering or not, it's a stunning shrub. It's,
Keith: it looks perfect 12 months out of the year.
Shannon: Exactly. And I know you know this, but I'm from Wisconsin and the only evergreens we have are conifers, right? And it's a very limited number of conifers. Yep. That will stand that zone. And so to be down here with things that will stay evergreen. And flour. To me it truly is a unicorn .
Keith: It's the same as a crate myrtle in the middle of the summerside.
Exactly. People come down there oh my God, what is that plant? I have to have three of 'em. Yes. The Chails work really well. I The japonica, some of the larger japonicas really work well as a accent plant or something off the corner of the house. And in that case it's a smaller plant in a lot of cases than like in Nellie Stevens, Holly.
To . Put off a two story house or a, one and a half story house where you got, you've got the space for it to fill out.
Shannon: Absolutely. And they can be worked as a privacy shrub as well. They can in the shade. Yep. Or afternoon. Yeah.
Keith: Shade a little bit. The only thing with the chails that, that that people need to know is they're a little bit slow to establish and, but you put 'em in and you take, give 'em some.
And they're, they definitely have the value in the end.
Shannon: Absolutely. One of my personal favorites, and I can't think of the name of it, is the it's one that flowers, pink, red, and white, but is all completely,
Keith: yeah, I can't remember. Okay. It maybe Deb, Debbie to It
Shannon: might be, we'll have to circle back to that, but we will the Andromeda?
Yeah. Or PIIs. Yep. My ultimate favorite. Yeah. In that
Keith: section. That's a great plant. I always tell people to put one of one of 'em in at a time as a more of a specimen plant. , because they'll, they tend to grow on, irregular in shape, which is of the beauty of the plant. Like a Japanese maple almost take, they take character, but if they, if you don't if you put three of 'em in, it's likely one of 'em will be slow to take off and one of 'em will grow really tall and one of 'em will grow really wide.
So I always. Like 'em by the ones, but it is, it's a perfect plant.
Shannon: It is the veining in that evergreen leaf. It's a narrow leaf, but the veining in the center is really pretty and I love how the new growth comes up. And is either bronze or the mountain fire red? Yep. That comes up. It looks like it's flowering through the summer.
Yeah. But that's just the new leaf growth. Yep. And then in the fall, those buds that come up and. Tiny little bell flowers.
Keith: Yeah. It's a perfect plant, I think. . Absolutely. It really is. One of my favorites in the landscape is sweet Box Sara Coca. Yeah. That, that plant only gets four feet tall, four feet wide takes a little bit a little bit of time to get going, and it doesn't really want to be pruned.
It needs to have a natural, like waterfall type habit, like a. Like a versaci, but in the early, late winter, early spring, it blooms, and the blooms are insignificant other than they're very fragrant. Oh. So it's a nice shiny leaf plant and as, and the fragrance is there, so and it handles dry. It's something that's gonna handle dry shade really well. So that's one of my all time
Shannon: favorites. Yeah. We've gotta talk about the anus as well. Yeah. Perfect plant, the woodland, ruby, and, but I also love the Florida sunshine. Cause when you have that deep, darker shade area that char yellow comes out like a So brilliant.
Yeah. It just
Keith: looks like it's blooming year round.
Shannon: It does. And it looks like it lightens up the whole space. Yep.
Keith: That's a perfect plant. That's a plant that I love to break a leaf off of when I'm walking around the yard. and crunch it up in my, I just, I love aromatherapy, kinda Yes. But a very natural, just, grab a rosemary and grab a, a. A a niece and let it just the fragrance waft into the air. Absolutely. When I'm with working with a customer, and they're looking at it and they're like it's open. It's this, you break a leaf off and hand it to 'em and some people don't love that fragrance, but the people that do are like, okay, I'm sold.
It's
Shannon: sold. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. I love it. I love the Duke U as well, even though that doesn't flower. It's something local. No, but
Keith: when the new growth comes out, it almost looks like it does. Like it does. It's really stunning. So the bright, that bright green almost looks like a flower when it's first starting to pop.
. And the, back to I know we talked about this in the sun, but texture's, I'm colorblind, so Yeah. . Texture's very important to me. . But the texture of a, of the you versus the. Some, like the Sara Coca or the the Florida and East the, big broad evergreen leaf. With that fine texture makes it, absolutely. At a glance that really makes everything pop. , what are some of your other favorites? Let's see. I
Shannon: love the Mahoney. Mahoney is a good one. Great pollinator for the fall and winter. Yep.
That yellow flowering kind of pop of sunshine at the top of it Yeah. Is just stunning. And then how it changes to the berries that turn darker gray, blue.
Keith: The bee and the bees go crazy. The bees love it. Yeah. The interesting thing about being a beekeeper, the interesting thing about a lot of the winter blooming plants, they really they attract bees really well, really easily.
And I think a lot of 'em are, a lot of the winter plants are fragrant. And I think the fragrance is there to attract. There aren't as many pollinators out, so they wanna attract pollination, so Sure. Mahoney is one of those. Fatia. Oh, fat in the landscape is amazing. It looks like a tropical plant.
It looks like something you might have to cut down or keep warm or winterize or bring in the house, but it's just hearty as can. And it, again, blooms in the dead of winter, big sphere like bloom that like no other plant has. And the bees go crazy over it. And it'll bloom late, fall through early spring, depends on the year.
But in the dead of winter it gets pollinated every year. The
Sh...
This morning I've got Shannon with me from Garden Supply Company. She's got a, a couple subjects we're gonna talk about. Shannon, what, what did you have in mind this morning? I wanted to talk about some unicorn type plants that I consider customers who come in and look for something that's evergreen flowering.
And can tolerate full sun. Yeah. We get that question all the time. They want, they want something that's bulletproof, that, that flowers all year long, that's evergreen. That handles sun and shade. And there are few of those out there. Isn't that a plastic plant? , I mean, I mean, a plastic plant always works in that situation.
Exactly. But sometimes people just don't wanna stick that plastic plant. It gets sun damage after a while. It's kinda fade. Looks like a cemetery. I put a plastic plant in my mailbox thing. You know how that mailbox got plants in the back sometimes. Yeah. And my wife is like, Man, that plant's doing well. I'd just be it.
Spot it for my Kia. Yeah.
home run Ron. Yeah. So I just wanted to talk about that a little bit. One of my personal favorites is the Laura Petal. Yeah. Laura Pet's a great plant and so many people come in and when I talk about it with them, they immediately think about the 12 foot one that they have in their yard that's overgrown.
Yeah. And has been there for years. But there's so many other varieties that will. Actually do what they say they do. Exactly. Yep. That will stay small. Specifically, specifically that purple daydream. Mm-hmm. Purple. Purple Daydream's. A great plant. I love that one. Flowers twice a year stays that beautiful purple dark color.
Color. Yeah. The color's a good contrast with just about any other plant in, in the landscape. I think the way it contrasts with that dark. in any other landscape with Boxwoods or Hollys. Yep. Or blue plants or another plant. And I think we, we had talked about in that list is a gold thread, Cypress. Yes. You know, so you take the gold thread cypress and then put the, the lower pedal up against it.
Oh, it's stunning. Yeah. Those are two perfect plants. I really love those. And when you mention the sunshade, wet dry, right Nandina, so many people have negative opinions of it. They think it's invasive, right? Because it has that bamboo. Quality. Right. And there is, I mean, there's, the, the, the na and domestic I think is probably seeds itself and spreads a little bit more than other plants.
But even that, where I see it naturalized in the woods mm-hmm. , it's not clogging up streams or taking up native habitat. It's just an additional plant in the landscape. Exactly. And not on, like, so I, when I moved in four years ago to my place, there were several of the flirts. and sure some of them have send out babies, but the babies are making it look like a nice full shrub.
Exactly. The ones that have become a nuisance, I've just pulled out up the most and it's easy. Yeah. It's so easy, Lord. And Dan is a magical plan. I think I agree. The way the the leaves are bluish silver and then that new growth comes up, that bright red is. It's beautiful. Yeah. And nandina is definitely, you know, there are, there aren't a lot of plants that I think without, without question you can say wet or dry sun or shade.
Mm-hmm. , no insect, no disease problems. I mean, pretty hard to beat. The only thing, you know, Van Nandina, when it goes in, it takes a little bit of time. It, you know, it could shed some foliage, it could thin out. You've gotta, you've gotta push it with a little bit of fertilizer. But can handle the drought, can handle the wet, can handle shade.
So if you've got a situation where you're the, you know, front of your house isn't mm-hmm. , you know, half sun, half shade, that's a plant that can tie the whole thing in. Absolutely. Absolutely. And I love the way it puts out berries over the winter, so it gives it that seasonal interest. Yeah. And so both of those plants that we've talked about are both I mean, it's a, it's a wide range of plants and, and heights and color and everything else.
Mm-hmm. . You've got obsession that gets three to four feet, you know, so it's three to four foot shrub or, or a flirt that gets, you know, 1, 1, 1 and a half feet. So you've got a wide range and they needed domestica that that'll get, you know, six, eight feet tall if you let it get that tall. Absolutely. And mushroom out probably to stick to eight feet tall.
So lower pedals the same way. You've got, you've got a wide range from, you know, a foot or two to, you know, 10 to 12. Right. Zoo lore petal and makes a nice tree, almost like a crate Myrtle. You just have to keep it brewed and mm-hmm. take care of it. Yeah. The dark fire is also one of my favorites.
It seems to hold the color so much deeper and darker than the rest. Yep. I love that one. Yeah. Dark fire is an amazing plant. Yeah. Another one too is the abi. ABIs a great, one of my favorite things about ABI is growing up there was, they were always pollinator plants. You know, you, they'd be covered in butterflies and bees and so that's a nice attribute to speaking to that they seem to flower more toward the fall or this time of year.
So when everything is. You know, losing its flowers, it is a great pollinator for, for those butterflies and bees. Yep. And it's definitely a 12 month plant. Mm-hmm. , I mean, it's, you know, great foliage in the spring, flowers in, you know, through the summer and fall. And then pink, you know, usually has a little bit of pink color in going into the, into the fall and winter.
Right. And that kaleidoscope, the way it changes color seasonally. Right. . Gorgeous. Yep. And if you don't like the yellow, yellow, green in the landscape there's the radiance. Yeah. Radiance is perfect. Mm-hmm. The Ralston by Burnum is one I wanted to talk about as well. Yeah. The, the that whole Ralston Plant series is amazing.
It's, it's a, it's a collective group of Chip, Chip sits in, in all of those meetings, I, I spent some time in those meetings, but we select the plants with a group from the abo. And local growers and the, a portion of the money goes back to the arboretum, which is a huge win. Yeah, absolutely. Double bonus.
Yeah. But the rawton a the Rawton by Burnham has probably been one of the better selections that we've made. I love that one. And the way it, it sits low the evergreen leaves, but then the, that red stemming that comes out. Yep. And then even taking on the fall color in. Foliage. Yeah. And that's one that I think you could probably easily say that, you know, you get a bloom in April or early May, you get blooms sporadically through the whole year, and then a really good flush in the fall, So mm-hmm.
I mean, I think it's, you can, you can say blooms three to four months, five months outta the year. Yeah. So that's a good one. And the height is perfect in the landscape and the, and that the. The texture of the foliage, I think, you know, is easy to put something against, you know, the texture and the color.
Absolutely. Yeah, that's a perfect plan. I also cannot neglect the nano OSA Krypto area. Even though that's a green one, you know, it stays green all year doesn't flower, but it's still, the texture is so different than anything that's a conifer. Yep. That's, you know, that kind of replaces the Carissa Holly for me, I mean, and Carissa Holly, I still use lots of, but I've, you know, it's, you're better off having a plant that looks perfect, 12 out, 12 months out of the year requires no pruning, requires no real a.
Than to have something that's real showy, like an azalea old-fashion azalea that blooms for two weeks and then it's just kind of soso the rest of the year. Right. So that's a big win. And son or shade too. I mean, I think that the crypto meial will work into a fair amount of shade. The only thing I, I mean, the only d...
Keith Ramsey: [00:00:00] Hey, Keith Ramsey with the Garden Supply Company. I've been talking a lot lately about hiring and our team, the length of time our team has been there, what a difference a good team makes, and how to manage them.
I think it's the key part of a business. It's having the right people and people that enjoy people; owning a local business is a core in the community. You want people to. To look forward to coming out and seeing people they know, you see the same faces.
You get the same advice from people, and it's, so it's not all about selling somebody, something. It's about creating a space. Where people can come and enjoy themselves, where they can unwind, people [00:01:00] consistently say garden supplies, their happy place. And when you need to be perked up, going and standing around in a bunch of green and flowers is not bad.
It's a great environment. But when you show up there and people that you've known for 25 years. they're seeing the same people, so their friends are theirs.
They're their friend that knows how to garden, a friend with an answer. I feel like that's probably like one of the biggest successes we've had is having a really good team. When we're looking for new people, we're looking for people that have a great attitude, that wake up in the morning, excited about going and doing something.
And that have an extreme interest in gardening. They garden with their grandmother or they garden with their mother or their father. Stay-at-home moms, that, it's more interest than it is like strong knowledge. And [00:02:00] then, when you have somebody that's excited about the world, excited about waking up and going out and doing so.
They'll figure it out.
Then we train, we're constantly training people and teaching people, but I just feel like, every time I go into a business that is thriving and that and that you're excited to go to it's because of the team. Yeah. Just, it makes all kinds of difference.
, we've got lots of people that'll that it's a second job for 'em, they're they've, a lot of times I'll find people regular customers that I've known for, you know, back to the, how long have you known some of these people? I've known most of my customers I've been there 26 years.
So it's they're like friends, they're like family, you're excited to see 'em when they come in. But then there'll be people. They'll come in. They're talking about what's going on in their life. And we just got back with the grandkids. I retired two weeks ago. And I'm like, well, you're gonna get bored. So when you know, it's somebody, I already know, it's a friend, it's, and you know, what kind of gardener they are and how much knowledge they have. And so we'll, I'll talk, people like that into coming into the team.
And it's just, I feel like having people that like [00:03:00] people and that and that like plants it creates an environment that's welcoming and people are excited to, to come in and see their friends basically. I just thought that was worth mentioning. I think it is crucial.
Making an inviting, fun place in the community where you've got, you've got a friend in the gardening.
Keith Ramsey: [00:00:00] Hey, Keith Ramsey with the garden supply company. I wanted to outline yearly maintenance things we do at our house and recommendations for people. People always call in the middle of spring and want mulching done, that kind of thing. And just laying it out the way I think it should be.
Mulching is a, from a company standpoint, if you're paying somebody to do it, it's always an off-season thing. It fills a void when companies are slow. But if you're digging into a mulch pile, that's a hundred degrees. You also don't want to do it in spring or summer heat.
And the plants have already broken ground. Perennials are starting to come up, so you're mulching around them. It's something that, that I always recommend that people, [00:01:00] mulch and then and then power wash, get cleaned up for spring. So you know, planning to do that kind of thing.
So in the wintertime. Doing some of your plantings, ordering seeds, picking out plants at a garden center, starting to come up with your plan, and then planting in the winter is ideal. So if you do big planting, go ahead and get that out of the way. Disturb the dirt, get, pick your plants out and get the big stuff done while it's fantastic.
And the plants can acclimate to the soil. They don't require a lot of water. And then get your mulching done and get it done ahead of daylilies and perennials and stuff like that. That's going to come back up, it can come through the mulch, and it just has a nice, fresh look, and you're ready for spraying.
Instead of playing catch up, you're mulching around many different things or mulch, and then try to come back and put plants in.
Joe Woolworth: do most people remove last year's mulch or whatever's left, or throw it right on top? Just throw it
Keith Ramsey: right on top.[00:02:00]
Every once in a while, I like to switch the mulch up. I think it's good for the soil. So if I've used hardwood mulch three or four, three or four times, I'll sometimes switch it up to pine straw to give it a different product going into the soil. But all that stuff, microbes break them down, and they'll build the soil.
Mulch is a little bit slower to break down. If I'm trying to get rid of mulch or if it's built up, you should put enough down that there would be a lot left on the ground. If you have
Joe Woolworth: a lot of weeds in your mulch bed. Do you put it down? Paper. Yeah. So you can put
Keith Ramsey: down paper
Joe Woolworth: do you put that right over the old mulch?
Or do you have a dig that up or just, you can
Keith Ramsey: yeah, just put it right over the old mulch and then put mulch on top. There are lots of new organic chemicals out that you can spray that are A broad. It's going to kill any wide leaps or grassy weeds.
So you can spray weeds. You can also apply pre-emergence before you do the mulch. But brown newspaper paper, packing paper, that kind of stuff. If you can put it down over the top of weeds and then mulch it out, it really [00:03:00] helps, but pre-emergence is something that if you put it down twice in the spring and once in the.
You can eliminate about 90% of the weeds you have to pull. Which I think is an excellent way, too. My pre-emergence makes pulling weeds fun. When you're getting into spring, I always say you've got your mulching done. Having a prepped annual bed that you change out regularly is super easy.
And it gives you that color that carries you through as perennials come and go. Perennials are probably one of the more popular things we sell these days because they correspond with pollinator plants, which are super easy to put in the spring-summer.
You can plant 12 months out of the year, but filling in some holes by adding new plants and various native plants is perfect for pollinators. I've recently told people to plant flowers for pollinators and pollinator habitats.
And then you'll have hummingbirds, that kind of thing. Show up in your yard. You don't [00:04:00] necessarily have to feed the hummingbird if you want to do something. That's a little on the different side. Add a bird bath, sand, or a handful of pine straw, and then add one to one water to sugar and feed the bees.
You can stand right in the middle of it. Honey bees will find it. They'll come in. They'll empty a bird bath in the afternoon. And it's a frenzied activity. It's almost like what, like watching a hummingbird. It is cool. It's a bigger experience. And you can let your kids go out there and stand in the area.
And the bees are just going to fly in and out. All they're looking for is the sugar. That's a nice twist on, yeah. Feeding
Joe Woolworth: hummingbird, sometimes I look at people's lawns, and I'm like, ah, I'm just overwhelmed. I'm never going to catch that guy. You move into a neighborhood, but I like the idea of doing one thing a year.
There for ten years and all of a. Exactly. That was nice looking, yep. Environment
Keith Ramsey: that you built in your yard. Sure. That's the other thing a landscape is not a once-and-done project. It's sometimes it. You can hire a firm and
Joe Woolworth: for once and done, $75,000. [00:05:00] But then
Keith Ramsey: you, but then a year later, there's something else that needs to be done, so too, so is, to me, it's, it is an ongoing project. So biting off small projects too, people come in sometimes, and they're like, I want this, and I don't want that. Not, I was thinking about putting a pool in, and we maybe want a pool house, and I'm like, okay let's start with, tightening up your patio and making it lush and, an inviable space put a, put an Arbor over your deck and put a ceiling fan out there.
So it's comfortable to sit out there. We did that this year, and it's been a game changer. Yeah.
Joe Woolworth: I have a ceiling fan in my sunroom, and I just realized that it wasn't on a high. When I turned it up, I was like, oh my gosh. Yeah. This is so much better out here.
Keith Ramsey: Yeah. We sit out, we don't have a screen, but we have a, it's not a, it's not the labeled, big ass fan, but it's a big ass fan.
Yeah. It's a. Five-foot or six-foot fan or something, I picked it up at low. It was reasonable. It was three or $400. Yeah. Makes a huge difference. And it keeps all the mosquitoes away. Yeah. It just observes. It [00:06:00] keeps them at bay. So we could go out there and sit outside and read and have our coffee.
And it's been a game changer, and it wasn't a massive project. If you're
Joe Woolworth: going to spray for mosquitoes. What time of year do you recommend?
Keith Ramsey: So spraying form, you need to spray every, I think it's every 12 days or every 14 days. There's a life cycle.
Joe Woolworth: for it.
And you need to convince your neighbors to do it too. You
Keith Ramsey: No, you don't. We have a company that sprays for mosquitoes at the house. That's an organic company. Oh yeah. That's safe for bees. And I wish I knew their name. But if you look up organic bee company in care, they'll say it's garlic, I think, spray, and it does a fantastic job.
I've seen one or two mosquitoes this year in our yard, and our yard used to be filled with a mosquito. We've been really excited about that, but you must start fairly early. You can got, and you have to spray with the life with the reproductive cycle of the mosquito.
I hate the typical spray because it's a by ING product. It just kills any [00:07:00] insect, any pollinator, anything that crawls across it. And there are more beneficial insects than there are detrimental insects. So you're killing the whole environment.
You or you kill the lizards or the spiders that eat the mosquitoes. I lik...
Hey guys, Keith, with the Garden Supply Company. Today I wanted to talk to people about all the things that you can do that are close to the garden center. Basically coming over and spending half a day spending the afternoon at the garden center. And in that thought centering it around lunch or going out and getting a drink or.
And we've got some really good places around the garden center and, it's, I've been there 25 years, so I frequent all these places pretty often. I thought it
that's true. Every time I go to the pizza place, I run into
Epic. Exactly. And right down from the pizza place is Phil's Cigar shop, Tobacconists of Cary. I thought I would I would feature some of these businesses, and I think that they're a good combination for swinging over to the garden center and meeting a friend hang out at the garden center, go get lunch or go get lunch and then come take a stroll around the garden center.
It's something fun to do a place to. Down, right on the corner of Cary Parkway and Old Apex Road. There are some great businesses. There's a small pharmacy, that's a local business, Bee Well Pharmacy that I frequent pretty often when I need something for, or vaccination or whatever happened to happen to be doing.
It's a great little pharmacy.
Kinda off-topic, but the tobacconists, if you're a cigar smoker he does a great job. He's got a huge selection.
He'll bring in new stuff pretty consistently and fills a wealth of knowledge as far as what he's got in there and grab a cigar and then hit Salvio's Pizza. Salvio is just like two doors down. Yeah. Two doors down Salvio is, it's. It's an old-school pizza place it's been there.
As long as we've been there, I think it's about 25 years old. It's my and my family's favorite pizza place in Cary.
The other place that I had dinner there or picked up dinner there from last night is the Tangerine Cafe. I walked by for 15 years, for some reason or another. And one day, I was like, I'm tired of Salz. I've been there. , I'd been there two or three times in a short period of time.
I'm gonna check this place out. And it's a kind of Asian fusion. Unbelievable food. Great soup, great calamari, all kinds of just great food. I would recommend popping in there. They're just doing takeout right now. Still, it's a great spot to pick something up and bring it over to the garden center.
Find a little table or a bench and have your lunch. On the other end of the world. We've got the Abbey Road Tavern and Grill. They're known for their burgers.
You can sit out there and have a nice lunch, meet somebody over there.
Just a casual environment, And then down the road on Maynard. There's Big Mike's BBQ. And then there's Great Harvest Bread Company. Great harvest bread company is always just a nice fresh sandwich. They've, bread's baked this morning. They do all kinds of typical sandwiches and then And then, and they'll let you sample stuff while you're there.
And then you can take a little bread home with you, but both of those are good, really good stops. Pan a day, pick up some food, bring it to the garden center, and do a tailgate. It's a good spot to eat and check out some of these local businesses.
I think it's really important that people support local businesses.
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